Nick Roark's Blog, page 35

“The precious ‘shalls’ and ‘wills’ laid up in the Bible” by J.C. Ryle

“Few Christians realize the number, and length, and breadth, and depth, and height, and variety of the precious ‘shalls’ and ‘wills’ laid up in the Bible for the special benefit and encouragement of all who will use them.

Yet promise lies at the bottom of nearly all the transactions of man with man in the affairs of this life. The vast majority of Adam’s children in every civilized country are acting every day on the faith of promises.

The labourer on the land works hard from Monday morning to Saturday night, because he believes that at the end of the week he shall receive his promised wages.

The soldier enlists in the army, and the sailor enters his name on the ship’s books in the navy, in the full confidence that those under whom they serve will at some future time give them their promised pay.

The humblest maid-servant in a family works on from day to day at her appointed duties, in the belief that her mistress will give her the promised wages.

In the business of great cities, among merchants, and bankers, and tradesmen, nothing could be done without incessant faith in promises.

Every man of sense knows that cheques and bills, and promissory notes, are the only means by which the immense majority of mercantile affairs can possibly be carried on.

Men of business are compelled to act by faith and not by sight. They believe promises, and expect to be believed themselves.

In fact, promises, and faith in promises, and actions springing from faith in promises, are the back-bone of nine-tenths of all the dealings of man with his fellow-men throughout Christendom.

Now promises, in like manner, in the religion of the Bible, are one grand means by which God is pleased to approach the soul of man.

The careful student of Scripture cannot fail to observe that God is continually holding out inducements to man to listen to Him, obey Him, and serve Him; and undertaking to do great things, if man will only attend and believe.

In short, as St. Peter says, “There are given to us exceeding great and precious promises.” (2 Pet. 1:4) He who has mercifully caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning, has shown His perfect knowledge of human nature, by spreading over the Book a perfect wealth of promises, suitable to every kind of experience and every condition of life.

He seems to say, “Would you know what I undertake to do for you? Do you want to hear my terms?”—“Take up the Bible and read.”

But there is one grand difference between the promises of Adam’s children and the promises of God, which ought never to be forgotten. The promises of man are not sure to be fulfilled.

With the best wishes and intentions, he cannot always keep his word. Disease and death may step in like an armed man, and take away from this world him that promises.

War, or pestilence, or famine, or failure of crops, or hurricanes, may strip him of his property, and make it impossible for him to fulfill his engagements.

The promises of God, on the contrary, are certain to be kept.

He is Almighty: nothing can prevent His doing what He has said.

He never changes: He is always “of one mind:” and with Him there is “no variableness or shadow of turning.” (Job 23:13; James 1:17)

He will always keep His word. There is one thing which, as a little girl once told her teacher, to her surprise, God cannot do: “It is impossible for God to lie.” (Heb. 6:18)

The most unlikely and improbable things, when God has once said He will do them, have always come to pass.

The destruction of the old world by a flood, and the preservation of Noah in the ark, the birth of Isaac, the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, the raising of David to the throne of Saul, the miraculous birth of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the scattering of the Jews all over the earth, and their continued preservation as a distinct people,—who could imagine events more unlikely and improbable than these?

Yet God said they should be, and in due time they all came to pass. In truth, with God it is just as easy to do a thing as to say it.

Whatever He promises, He is certain to perform. Concerning the variety and riches of Scripture promises, far more might be said than it is possible to say in a short paper like this.

Their name is legion. The subject is almost inexhaustible.

There is hardly a step in man’s life, from childhood to old age, hardly any position in which man can be placed, for which the Bible has not held out encouragement to every one who desires to do right in the sight of God.

There are ‘shalls’ and ‘wills’ in God’s treasury for every condition:

—about God’s infinite mercy and compassion,

—about His readiness to receive all who repent and believe,

—about His willingness to forgive, pardon, and absolve the chief of sinners,

—about His power to change hearts and alter our corrupt nature,

—about the encouragements to pray, and hear the Gospel, and draw near to the throne of grace,

—about strength for duty, comfort in trouble, guidance in perplexity, help in sickness, consolation in death, support under bereavement, happiness beyond the grave, reward in glory,

—about all these things there is an abundant supply of promises in the Word.

No one can form an idea of its abundance unless he carefully searches the Scriptures, keeping the subject steadily in view.

If any one doubts it, I can only say, ‘Come and see.‘ Like the Queen of Sheba at Solomon’s Court, you will soon say, ‘The half was not told me.’ (1 Kings 10:7)”

–J.C. Ryle, Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties and Roots (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1877/2014), 360-363.

“Christ is the Alpha and the Omega” by Herman Bavinck

“Christ is the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, who stands higher than all the angels not only but can lay claim to their worship also, who is an eternal God and an eternal King, who always remains the same and whose years shall not fail (Heb. 1:3–13).

He was rich (2 Cor. 8:9), found Himself in the form of God so that He was like the Father not only in essence, but also in form, status, and glory.

He regarded this equality with God not as something which He should keep and use for Himself (Phil. 2:6), but instead He laid it aside to put on the form of a man and a servant (Phil. 2:7 and 8), and in that way was exalted to the Lord who was from heaven and as such was a contrast to Adam, the man of the earth (1 Cor. 15:47).

In one word, Christ, just as the Father, is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end (Rev. 1:11, 17; and 22:13). Hence the activity of this incarnate Son of God did not begin only at His appearance upon the earth, but goes back to the creation.

By the Word were all things without exception made (John 1:3 and Heb. 1:2 and 10). He is the firstborn, the head, the beginning of every creature (Col. 1:15 and Rev. 3:14).

He is before all things (Col. 1:17). Creatures are made through Him not only, but they consist by Him also (Col. 1:17) and are from moment to moment upheld by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3).

And they are also created for Him (Col. 1:16), for God appointed Him, who was the Son, as the heir of all things (Heb. 1:2 and Rom. 8:17). Hence from the very beginning there is a close relationship between the Son and the world and an even closer one between the Son and men.

For in Him was life, the full, rich, inexhaustible life, the source of all life in the world, but that light was for men who were created after the image of God, and were in possession of a rational, moral nature, a source of Divine truth which men had to know and regard (John 1:14).

It is true that man by sin then became darkness, but the light of the Word nevertheless shone in that darkness (John 1:5), it lightened every man that came into the world (John 1:9), for the Word was and remained in the world, and continued working in the world, although it was not known by that world (John 1:10).

The Christ who appears on earth in the fulness of time is therefore, according to the account which Holy Scripture gives of Him, not a man as other men are, not a founder of a religion and a preacher of a new moral law. His position is unique.

He was from eternity as the only-begotten of the Father. He was the Creator, Sustainer, and Governor of all things. In Him was the life and the light of men.

When He appears in the world, He comes to it not as a stranger, but as its Lord, as one who is related to it.

The redemption or re-creation is related to the creation, grace to nature, the work of the Son to the work of the Father. Redemption is built on foundations laid in creation.”

–Herman Bavinck, The Wonderful Works of God (trans. Henry Zylstra; Glenside, PA: Westminster Seminary Press, 1909/2019), 264-265.

“Christ is the fountain of living water” by J.C. Ryle

“‘If any man thirst,’ says our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, ‘let him come unto Me, and drink.’ (John 7:37)

There is a grand simplicity about this little sentence which cannot be too much admired. There is not a word in it of which the literal meaning is not plain to a child.

Yet, simple as it appears, it is rich in spiritual meaning. Like the Koh-i-noor diamond, which you may carry between finger and thumb, it is of unspeakable value.

It solves that mighty problem which all the philosophers of Greece and Rome could never solve,—“How can man have peace with God?”

Place it in your memory side by side with six other golden sayings of your Lord:

“I am the Bread of life: he that cometh unto ME shall never hunger; and he that believeth on ME shall never thirst.”—“I am the Light of the world: he that followeth ME shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”—“I am the Door: by ME if any man enter in, he shall be saved.”—“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father but by ME.”—“Come unto ME, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”—“Him that cometh to ME I will in no wise cast out.” (John 6:35; 8:12; 10:9; 14:6; Matt. 11:28; John 6:37)

Add to these six texts the one before you today. Get the whole seven by heart. Rivet them down in your mind, and never let them go.

When your feet touch the cold river, on the bed of sickness and in the hour of death, you will find these seven tests above all price.

For what is the sum and substance of these simple words? It is this.

Christ is that Fountain of living water which God has graciously provided for thirsting souls. From Him, as out of the rock smitten by Moses, there flows an abundant stream for all who travel through the wilderness of this world.

In Him, as our Redeemer and Substitute, crucified for our sins and raised again for our justification, there is an endless supply of all that men can need,—pardon, absolution, mercy, grace, peace, rest, relief, comfort, and hope.

This rich provision Christ has bought for us at the price of His own precious blood.

To open this wondrous fountain He suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, and bore our sins in His own body on the tree. He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. (1 Peter 2:24; 3:18; 2 Cor 5:21)

And now He is sealed and appointed to be the Reliever of all who are labouring and heavy laden, and the Giver of living water to all who thirst.

It is His office to receive sinners. It is His pleasure to give them pardon, life, and peace.

And the words of the text are a proclamation He makes to all mankind,—’If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.‘”

–J.C. Ryle, Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties and Roots (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1877/2014), 356-357.

“Christ will never fail” by J.C. Ryle

“Ministers may preach, and writers may write, but the Lord Jesus Christ alone can build. And unless He builds, the work stands still.

Great is the wisdom wherewith the Lord Jesus Christ builds His Church! All is done at the right time, and in the right way.

Each stone in its turn is put in its right place. Sometimes He chooses great stones, and sometimes He chooses small stones.

Sometimes the work goes on fast, and sometimes it goes on slowly. Man is frequently impatient, and thinks that nothing is doing. But man’s time is not God’s time.

A thousand years in His sight are but as a single day. The great Builder makes no mistakes. He knows what He is doing.

He sees the end from the beginning. He works by a perfect, unalterable, and certain plan.

The mightiest conceptions of architects, like Michael Angelo and Wren, are mere trifling and child’s play, in comparison with Christ’s wise counsels respecting His Church.

Great is the condescension and mercy which Christ exhibits in building His Church! He often chooses the most unlikely and roughest stones, and fits them into a most excellent work.

He despises none, and rejects none, on account of former sins and past transgressions. He often makes Pharisees and Publicans become pillars of His house.

He delights to show mercy. He often takes the most thoughtless and ungodly, and transforms them into polished corners of His spiritual temple.

Great is the power which Christ displays in building His Church! He carries on His work in spite of opposition from the world, the flesh, and the devil.

In storm, in tempest, through troublous times, silently, quietly, without noise, without stir, without excitement, the building progresses, like Solomon’s temple. “I will work,” He declares, “and who shall let it?” (Isaiah 43:13)

The children of this world take little or no interest in the building of this Church. They care nothing for the conversion of souls.

What are broken spirits and penitent hearts to them? What is conviction of sin, or faith in the Lord Jesus to them? It is all “foolishness” in their eyes.

But while the children of this world care nothing, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God.

For the preserving of the true Church, the laws of nature have oftentimes been suspended.

For the good of that Church, all the providential dealings of God in this world are ordered and arranged.

For the elect’s sake, wars are brought to an end, and peace is given to a nation.

Statesmen, rulers, emperors, kings, presidents, heads of governments, have their schemes and plans, and think them of vast importance.

But there is another work going on of infinitely greater moment, for which they are only the “axes and saws” in God’s hands. (Isaiah 10:15)

That work is the erection of Christ’s spiritual temple, the gathering in of living stones into the one true Church.

We ought to feel deeply thankful that the building of the true Church is laid on the shoulders of One that is mighty. If the work depended on man, it would soon stand still.

But, blessed be God, the work is in the hands of a Builder who never fails to accomplish His designs! Christ is the almighty Builder.

He will carry on His work, though nations and visible Churches may not know their duty.

Christ will never fail. That which He has undertaken He will certainly accomplish.”

–J.C. Ryle, Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties and Roots (London: William Hunt and Company, 1889), 311-312.

“A whole life spent in carrying the cross” by J.C. Ryle

“Count up and compare, for another thing, the trouble that true Christianity entails, and the troubles that are in store for the wicked beyond the grave.

Grant for a moment that Bible-reading, and praying, and repenting, and believing, and holy living, require pains and self-denial.

It is all nothing compared to that ‘wrath to come’ which is stored up for the impenitent and unbelieving.

A single day in Hell will be worse than a whole life spent in carrying the cross.

The ‘worm that never dies, and the fire that is not quenched,’ (Mark 9:48) are things which it passes man’s power to conceive fully or describe.”

–J.C. Ryle, Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties and Roots (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1877/2014), 107-108.

“Christ is Himself Christianity” by Herman Bavinck

“Christianity stands in a very different relationship to the person of Christ than the other religions do to the persons who founded them.

Jesus was not the first confessor of the religion named after His name. He was not the first and the most important Christian. He occupies a wholly unique place in Christianity.

He is not in the usual sense of it the founder of Christianity, but He is the Christ, the One who was sent by the Father, and who founded His Kingdom on earth and now extends and preserves it to the end of the ages.

Christ is Himself Christianity.

He stands, not outside, but inside of it. Without His name, person, and work there is no such thing as Christianity.

In one word, Christ is not the one who points the way to Christianity, but the way itself.

He is the only, true, and perfect Mediator between God and men.

That which the various religions in their belief in a mediator have surmised and hoped, that is actually and perfectly fulfilled in Christ.”

–Herman Bavinck, The Wonderful Works of God (trans. Henry Zylstra; Glenside, PA: Westminster Seminary Press, 1909/2019), 263.

“The overflowing abundance in God” by Herman Bavinck

“There is certainly no book in the world which to the same extent and in the same way as the Holy Scripture supports the absolute transcendence of God above each and every creature and at the same time supports the intimate relationship between the creature and his Creator.

On the very first page of the Bible the absolute transcendence of God above His creatures comes to our attention. Without strain or fatigue He calls the whole world into existence by His word alone.

By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth (Ps. 33:6). He speaks and it is done; He commands and it stands fast (Ps. 33:9).

He does according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, what doest Thou (Dan. 4:35)?

The nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, He taketh up the isles as a very little thing.

And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted to Him as less than nothing and vanity.

To whom then will you liken God? or what likeness will you compare unto Him (Isa. 40:15–18). For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord (Ps. 89:6).

There is no name by which He can truly be named: His name is wonderful. (Gen. 32:29; Judges 13:18; Prov. 30:4)

When God speaks to Job out of the thunder and displays the magnitude of His works before him, Job humbly bows his head and says:

Behold, I am vile. What shall I answer Thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth (Job 40:4). God is great, and we know Him not (Job 36:26). Such knowledge is too wonderful for us. It is high. We cannot attain unto it (Ps. 139:6).

Nevertheless, this same sublime and exalted God stands in intimate relationship with all His creatures, even the meanest and smallest.

What the Scriptures give us is not an abstract concept of God, such as the philosopher gives us, but puts the very, living God before us and lets us see Him in the works of His hands.

We have but to lift up our eyes and see who has made all things. All things were made by His hand, brought forth by His will and His deed. And they are all sustained by His strength.

Hence everything bears the stamp of His excellences and the mark of His goodness, wisdom, and power.

And among creatures only man was created in His image and likeness. Only man is called the offspring of God (Acts 17:28).

Because of this intimate relationship, God can be named in the terms of His creatures, and He can be spoken of anthropomorphically.

The same Scripture which speaks in the most exalted way of God’s incomparable greatness and majesty, at the same time speaks of Him in figures and images which sparkle with life.

It speaks of His eyes and ears, His hands and feet, His mouth and lips, His heart and bowels.

It ascribes all kinds of attributes to Him—of wisdom and knowledge, will and power, righteousness and mercy, and it ascribes to Him also such emotions as joy and grief, fear and vexation, zeal and envy, remorse and wrath, hatred and anger.

It speaks of His observing and thinking, His hearing and seeing, His remembering and forgetting, smelling and tasting, sitting and rising, visiting and forsaking, blessing and chastising, and the like.

It compares Him to a sun and a light, a fountain and a spring, a rock and a shelter, a sword and buckler, a lion and an eagle, a hero and a warrior, an artist and builder, a king and a judge, a husbandman and a shepherd, a man and a father.

In short, all that can be found in the whole world in the way of support and shelter and aid is originally and perfectly to be found in overflowing abundance in God.

Of Him the whole family in heaven and earth is named (Eph. 3:15). He is the Sun of being and all creatures are His fleeting rays.”

–Herman Bavinck, The Wonderful Works of God (trans. Henry Zylstra; Glenside, PA: Westminster Seminary Press, 1909/2019), 115-116.

“The precious pearl” by Herman Bavinck

“The article of the holy Trinity is the heart and core of our confession, the differentiating earmark of our religion, and the praise and comfort of all true believers of Christ.

It was this confession which was at stake in the warfare of the spirits throughout the centuries.

The confession of the holy Trinity is the precious pearl which was entrusted for safekeeping and defense to the Christian church.”

–Herman Bavinck, The Wonderful Works of God (trans. Henry Zylstra; Glenside, PA: Westminster Seminary Press, 1909/2019), 128.

“The metaphysics of mercy” by Patrick Henry Reardon

“Here, the characteristics of the lawless man are contrasted, not with those of a just man, but with the boundless divine mercy (Hebrew hesed, Greek eleos):

“Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens.… How precious is Your mercy, O God.… Oh, continue Your mercy to those who know You.” (Psalm 36:5, 7, 10)

This is not a psalm about human morality, but about the metaphysics of mercy.

The qualities of divine mercy in this psalm are indicated by the various words with which it is set in parallel—faithfulness, righteousness, judgments:

“Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep.” (Psalm 36:6)

Gazing out on the vast expanse of sky, mountains and sea, the psalmist contemplates the omnidimensional mercy of God: “that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:17–19).

When we pray this psalm, therefore, we do not need to go outside of our own souls to discover the identity of the “lawless man,” before whose eyes “there is no fear of God.”

That lawlessness is a deep dimension of ourselves that is recalcitrant to God’s infinite mercy and the righteousness of His judgments.

This lawless man lives in his own little world, its chief characteristic being that it is so terribly, so pitifully little.

The sole cure for this rebellion in our hearts is the divine gift of mercy. Only God can heal our blindness:

“For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.” (Psalm 36:9)

Traditionally this psalm has been assigned for Matins, as the dawn breaks on Monday mornings.

Knowing that all is His gift, we ask only the maintenance of God’s mercy:

‘Oh, continue Your mercy to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright in heart.’ (Psalm 36:10)“

–Patrick Henry Reardon, Christ in the Psalms (Chesterton, IN: Ancient Faith Publishing, 2000), 70. Reardon is commenting on Psalm 36.

“Rest in the Father’s heart” by Herman Bavinck

“God reveals Himself in His works to be such as He is. From His revelation we learn to know Him.

Hence there can be no rest for man until he rises above and beyond the creature to God Himself.

In the study of revelation our concern must be a concern to know God.

Its purpose is not to teach us certain sounds and to speak certain words.

Its primary purpose is to lead us through the creatures to the Creator and to cause us to rest in the Father’s heart.”

–Herman Bavinck, The Wonderful Works of God (trans. Henry Zylstra; Glenside, PA: Westminster Seminary Press, 1909/2019), 19-20.