Nick Roark's Blog, page 37

“He was sent to be our righteousness” by John Calvin

“Paul says that in the upbuilding of Christian teaching we must keep the foundation that he had laid among the Corinthians [cf. 1 Cor. 3:10], ‘beside which no other can be laid, which is Jesus Christ’ [1 Cor. 3:11].

What sort of foundation have we in Christ? Was He the beginning of our salvation in order that its fulfillment might follow from ourselves? Did He only open the way by which we might proceed under our own power?

Certainly not. But, as Paul had set forth a little before, Christ, when we acknowledge Him, is given us to be our righteousness [1 Cor. 1:30].

No man, therefore, is well founded in Christ unless he has perfect righteousness in Him: since the apostle does not say that He was sent to help us attain righteousness but Himself to be our righteousness [1 Cor. 1:30].

Indeed, he states that ‘He has chosen us in Him’ from eternity ‘before the foundation of the world,’ through no merit of our own ‘but according to the purpose of divine good pleasure’ [Eph. 1:4–5, cf. Vg.].

He states that by His death we are redeemed from the condemnation of death and freed from ruin [cf. Col. 1:14, 20].

He states that we have been adopted unto Him as sons and heirs by our Heavenly Father [cf. Rom. 8:17; Gal. 4:5–7].

He states that we have been reconciled through His blood [Rom. 5:9–10].

He states that, given into His protection, we are released from the danger of perishing and falling [John 10:28].

He states that thus ingrafted into Him [cf. Rom. 11:19] we are already, in a manner, partakers of eternal life, having entered in the Kingdom of God through hope.

Yet more: we experience such participation in Him that, although we are still foolish in ourselves, He is our wisdom before God; while we are sinners, He is our righteousness; while we are unclean, He is our purity; while we are weak, while we are unarmed and exposed to Satan, yet ours is that power which has been given Him in heaven and on earth [Matt. 28:18], by which to crush Satan for us and shatter the gates of Hell; while we still bear about with us the body of death, He is yet our life.

In brief, because all His things are ours and we have all things in Him, in us there is nothing.

Upon this foundation, I say, we must be built if we would grow into a holy temple to the Lord [cf. Eph. 2:21].”

–John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, vol. 1, The Library of Christian Classics (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 1: 793. (3.15.5)

“We ought to read the Scriptures with the express design of finding Christ in them” by John Calvin

“Again, we are taught by this passage, that if we wish to obtain the knowledge of Christ, we must seek it from the Scriptures; for they who imagine whatever they choose concerning Christ will ultimately have nothing instead of Him but a shadowy phantom.

First, then, we ought to believe that Christ cannot be properly known in any other way than from the Scriptures. And if it be so, it follows that we ought to read the Scriptures with the express design of finding Christ in them.

Whoever shall turn aside from this object, though he may weary himself throughout his whole life in learning, will never attain the knowledge of the truth; for what wisdom can we have without the wisdom of God?

Next, as we are commanded to seek Christ in the Scriptures, so He declares in this passage that our labours shall not be fruitless; for the Father testifies in them concerning His Son in such a manner that He will manifest him to us beyond all doubt.

But what hinders the greater part of men from profiting is, that they give to the subject nothing more than a superficial and cursory glance. Yet it requires the utmost attention, and, therefore, Christ enjoins us to search diligently for this hidden treasure.”

–John Calvin, The Gospel According to St John: 1-10, Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries, Vol. 4; trans. T.H.L. Parker, Ed. David Torrance and Thomas Torrance (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1961), 4: 139. Calvin is commenting on John 5:39.

“True piety” by John Calvin

“True piety consists rather in a pure and true zeal which loves God altogether as Father, and reveres Him truly as Lord, embraces His justice and dreads to offend Him more than to die.”

–John Calvin, Instruction in Faith (1537), Trans. and Ed. Paul T. Fuhrmann (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1537/1977), 22.

“Our whole salvation” by John Calvin

“We see that our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ [Acts 4:12]. We should therefore take care not to derive the least portion of it from anywhere else.

If we seek salvation, we are taught by the very name of Jesus that it is ‘of Him’ [1 Cor. 1:30].

If we seek any other gifts of the Spirit, they will be found in His anointing.

If we seek strength, it lies in His dominion; if purity, in His conception; if gentleness, it appears in His birth. For by His birth He was made like us in all respects [Heb. 2:17] that He might learn to feel our pain [cf. Heb. 5:2].

If we seek redemption, it lies in His passion; if acquittal, in His condemnation; if remission of the curse, in His cross [Gal. 3:13]; if satisfaction, in His sacrifice; if purification, in His blood; if reconciliation, in His descent into hell; if mortification of the flesh, in His tomb; if newness of life, in His resurrection; if immortality, in the same; if inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom, in His entrance into heaven; if protection, if security, if abundant supply of all blessings, in His Kingdom; if untroubled expectation of judgment, in the power given to Him to judge.

In short, since rich store of every kind of good abounds in Him, let us drink our fill from this fountain, and from no other.”

–John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, vol. 1, The Library of Christian Classics (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 1: 527–528. (2.16.19)

“God is the author of all true happiness” by Thomas Brooks

“Nothing can make that man truly miserable that has God for His portion, nor nothing can make that man truly happy that lacks God for His portion.

God is the author of all true happiness.

He is the donor of all true happiness, He is the maintainer of all true happiness, and He is the centre of all true happiness and blessedness.

And, therefore, he that has Him for His God, for His portion, is the only happy man in the world.”

–Thomas Brooks, “A Matchless Portion,” in The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, Volume 2, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1866/1980), 2: 25. Brooks is preaching from Lamentations 2:21.

“I will not break myself by despair” by Richard Sibbes

“Christ will not ‘break the bruised reed.’ (Isaiah 42:3) Consider His very name Jesus, a Saviour, given him by God Himself.

Consider His office answerable to His name, which is that he should ‘heal the broken-hearted,’ (Isaiah 61:1).

At His baptism the Holy Ghost rested on Him in the shape of a dove, to show that He should be a dove-like, gentle Mediator.

Never fear to go to God, since we have such a Mediator with Him, that is not only our friend, but our brother and husband.

If Christ be so merciful as not to break me, I will not break myself by despair.”

–Richard Sibbes, “The Bruised Reed,” The Works of Richard Sibbes, Volume 1 (ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1639/2001), 1: 45-46.

“The least degree of grace is an everlasting possession” by J.C. Ryle

“The second thing which demands our notice in this passage, is the encouraging description of our Lord Jesus Christ’s character, which St. Matthew draws from the prophet Isaiah:

‘A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench.’ (Matthew 12:20; Isaiah 42:3)

What are we to understand by the bruised reed, and smoking flax? The language of the prophet no doubt is figurative. What is it that these two expressions mean?

The simplest explanation seems to be, that the Holy Ghost is here describing persons whose grace is at present weak, whose repentance is feeble, and whose faith is small. Towards such persons the Lord Jesus Christ will be very tender and compassionate.

Weak as the broken reed is, it shall not be broken. Small as the spark of fire may be within the smoking flax, it shall not be quenched.

It is a standing truth in the kingdom of grace that weak grace, weak faith, and weak repentance, are all precious in our Lord’s sight. Mighty as He is, “He despiseth not any.” (Job 36:5)

The doctrine here laid down is full of comfort and consolation. There are thousands in every church of Christ to whom it ought to speak peace and hope.

There are some in every congregation that hears the Gospel, who are ready to despair of their own salvation because their strength seems so small.

They are full of fears and despondency, because their knowledge, and faith, and hope, and love, appear so dwarfish and diminutive.

Let them drink comfort out of this text. Let them know that weak faith gives a man as real and true an interest in Christ as strong faith, though it may not give him the same joy.

There is life in an infant as truly as in a grown up man. There is fire in a spark as truly as in a burning flame.

The least degree of grace is an everlasting possession. It comes down from heaven. It is precious in our Lord’s eyes. It shall never be overthrown.

Does Satan make light of the beginnings of repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ? No! indeed! He does not. He has great wrath, because he sees his time is short.

Do the angels of God think lightly of the first signs of penitence and feeling after God in Christ? No! indeed! “there is joy” among them, when they behold the sight.

Does the Lord Jesus regard no faith and repentance with interest, unless they are strong and mighty? No! indeed!

As soon as that bruised reed, Saul of Tarsus, begins to cry to Him, He sends Ananias to him, saying, ‘Behold he prayeth.’ (Acts 9:11) We err greatly if we do not encourage the very first movements of a soul towards Christ.

Let the ignorant world scoff and mock, if it will. We may be sure that “bruised reeds” and “smoking flax” are very precious in our Lord’s eyes.

May we all lay these things to heart, and use them in time of need, both for ourselves and others. It should be a standing maxim in our religion, that a spark is better than utter darkness, and little faith better than no faith at all.

‘Who hath despised the day of small things?‘ (Zechariah 4:10) It is not despised by Christ. It ought not to be despised by Christians.”

–J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Matthew (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1856/2012), 126-128. Ryle is commenting on Matthew 12:14-21.

“Love comes down to us” by Thomas Goodwin

“It is the manner of bridegrooms, when they have made all ready in their father’s house, then to come themselves and fetch their brides, and not to send for them by others, because it is a time of love.

Love descends better than ascends, and so does the love of Christ, who indeed is love itself, and therefore comes down to us Himself; ‘I will come again and receive you unto Myself’ (says Christ), ‘that so where I am, you may be also.’ (John 14:3)

That last part of His speech gives the reason of it, and in addition reveals His entire affection.

It is as if He had said, ‘The truth is, I cannot live without you, I shall never be quiet until I have you where I am, that so we may never part again; that is the reason of it. Heaven shall not hold Me, nor my Father’s company, if I have not you with Me, my heart is so set upon you; and if I have any glory, you shall have part of it.’

And as not content with these expressions of desire, He adds over and above all these, ‘and will not tarry;’ (Hebrews 10:37) and all to signify the infinite ardency of His mind towards His elect below, and to have all His elect in heaven about Him.

He will not stay a minute longer than needs must, He tarries only until He has throughout all ages by His intercession prepared every room for each saint, that He may entertain them all at once together, and have them all about Him.”

–Thomas Goodwin, “The Heart of Christ in Heaven Towards Sinners on Earth,” The Works of Thomas Goodwin, Volume 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage, 1862/2006), 4: 100.

“The beauties of gospel-holiness” by Robert Traill

“I know no true religion but Christianity.

I know no true Christianity but the doctrine of Christ: of His divine person, (the image of the invisible God, Col. 1:15.); of His divine office, (the Mediator betwixt God and men, 1 Tim. 2:5.); of His divine righteousness, (He is the Lord our Righteousness, Jer. 23:6) and of His divine Spirit, (which all that are His receive, Rom. 8:9.)

I know no true ministers of Christ, but such as make it their business, in their calling, to commend Jesus Christ, in His saving fulness of grace and glory, to the faith and love of men.

I know no true Christian, but one united to Christ by faith, and abiding in Him by faith and love, unto the glorifying of the name of Jesus Christ, in the beauties of gospel-holiness.

Ministers and Christians of this spirit, have for many years been my brethren and companions, and, I hope, shall ever be, whithersoever the hand of God shall lead me.

May the Lord, of the harvest, who ministered this seed to the sower, make it bread to the eater, and accompany it with His blessing on some that are called to inherit a blessing, and I have my end and desire.

The reader shall have the benefit and the Lord shall have the glory: for from Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things, to Him be glory forever. Amen.

LONDON,
ROBERT TRAILL.
March 25, 1696.”

–Robert Traill, “Sermons Concerning the Throne of Grace (Hebrews 4:16),” The Works of Robert Traill, vol. 1 (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1810), 1: ix–x.

“The Great Story which no one on earth has read” by C.S. Lewis

“Everyone you had ever heard of (if you knew the history of those countries) seemed to be there. There was Glimfeather the Owl and Puddleglum the Marsh-wiggle, and King Rilian the Disenchanted, and his mother the Star’s daughter and his great father Caspian himself.

And close beside him were the Lord Drinian and the Lord Berne and Trumpkin the Dwarf and Truffle-hunter the good Badger with Glenstorm the Centaur and a hundred other heroes of the great War of Deliverance.

And then from another side came Cor the King of Archenland with King Lune his father and his wife Queen Aravis and the brave Prince Corin Thunder-Fist, his brother, and Bree the Horse and Hwin the Mare.

And then—which was a wonder beyond all wonders to Tirian—there came from further away in the past, the two good Beavers and Tumnus the Faun.

And there was greeting and kissing and hand-shaking and old jokes revived, (you’ve no idea how good an old joke sounds when you take it out again after a rest of five or six hundred years) and the whole company moved forward to the center of the orchard where the Phoenix sat in a tree and looked down upon them all, and at the foot of that tree were two thrones and in those two thrones a King and Queen so great and beautiful that everyone bowed down before them.

And well they might, for these two were King Frank and Queen Helen from whom all the most ancient Kings of Narnia and Archenland are descended. And Tirian felt as you would feel if you were brought before Adam and Eve in all their glory.

About half an hour later—or it might have been half a hundred years later, for time there is not like time here—Lucy stood with her dear friend, her oldest Narnian friend, the Faun Tumnus, looking down over the wall of that garden, and seeing all Narnia spread out below.

But when you looked down you found that this hill was much higher than you had thought: it sank down with shining cliffs, thousands of feet below them and trees in that lower world looked no bigger than grains of green salt. Then she turned inward again and stood with her back to the wall and looked at the garden.

“I see,” she said at last, thoughtfully. “I see now. This garden is like the stable. It is far bigger inside than it was outside.”

“Of course, Daughter of Eve,” said the Faun. “The further up and the further in you go, the bigger everything gets. The inside is larger than the outside.”

Lucy looked hard at the garden and saw that it was not really a garden but a whole world, with its own rivers and woods and sea and mountains. But they were not strange: she knew them all.

“I see,” she said. “This is still Narnia, and more real and more beautiful than the Narnia down below, just as it was more real and more beautiful than the Narnia outside the stable door! I see … world within world, Narnia within Narnia….”

“Yes,” said Mr. Tumnus, “like an onion: except that as you continue to go in and in, each circle is larger than the last.”

And Lucy looked this way and that and soon found that a new and beautiful thing had happened to her. Whatever she looked at, however far away it might be, once she had fixed her eyes steadily on it, became quite clear and close as if she were looking through a telescope.

She could see the whole Southern desert and beyond it the great city of Tashbaan: to Eastward she could see Cair Paravel on the edge of the sea and the very window of the room that had once been her own.

And far out to sea she could discover the islands, islands after islands to the end of the world, and, beyond the end, the huge mountain which they had called Aslan’s country.

But now she saw that it was part of a great chain of mountains which ringed round the whole world. In front of her it seemed to come quite close.

Then she looked to her left and saw what she took to be a great bank of brightly colored cloud, cut off from them by a gap. But she looked harder and saw that it was not a cloud at all but a real land.

And when she had fixed her eyes on one particular spot of it, she at once cried out, “Peter! Edmund! Come and look! Come quickly.”

And they came and looked, for their eyes also had become like hers.

“Why!” exclaimed Peter. “It’s England. And that’s the house itself—Professor Kirk’s old home in the country where all our adventures began!”

“I thought that house had been destroyed,” said Edmund.

“So it was,” said the Faun. “But you are now looking at the England within England, the real England just as this is the real Narnia. And in that inner England no good thing is destroyed.”

Suddenly they shifted their eyes to another spot, and then Peter and Edmund and Lucy gasped with amazement and shouted out and began waving: for there they saw their own father and mother, waving back at them across the great, deep valley. It was like when you see people waving at you from the deck of a big ship when you are waiting on the quay to meet them.

“How can we get at them?” said Lucy.

“That is easy,” said Mr. Tumnus. “That country and this country—all the real countries—are only spurs jutting out from the great mountains of Aslan. We have only to walk along the ridge, upward and inward, till it joins on. And listen! There is King Frank’s horn: we must all go up.”

And soon they found themselves all walking together—and a great, bright procession it was—up toward mountains higher than you could see in this world even if they were there to be seen. But there was no snow on those mountains: there were forests and green slopes and sweet orchards and flashing waterfalls, one above the other, going up forever.

And the land they were walking on grew narrower all the time, with a deep valley on each side: and across that valley the land which was the real England grew nearer and nearer. The light ahead was growing stronger.

Lucy saw that a great series of many-colored cliffs led up in front of them like a giant’s staircase. And then she forgot everything else, because Aslan himself was coming, leaping down from cliff to cliff like a  living cataract of power and beauty.

And the very first person whom Aslan called to him was Puzzle the Donkey. You never saw a donkey look feebler and sillier than Puzzle did as he walked up to Aslan, and he looked, beside Aslan, as small as a kitten looks beside a St. Bernard.

The Lion bowed down his head and whispered something to Puzzle at which his long ears went down, but then he said something else at which the ears perked up again. The humans couldn’t hear what he had said either time.

Then Aslan turned to them and said: “You do not yet look so happy as I mean you to be.”

Lucy said, “We’re so afraid of being sent away, Aslan. And you have sent us back into our own world so often.”

“No fear of that,” said Aslan. “Have you not guessed?”

Their hearts leaped and a wild hope rose within them.

“There was a real railway accident,” said Aslan softly. “Your father and mother and all of you are—as you used to call it in the Shadowlands—dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.”

And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them.

And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after.

But for them it was only the beginning of the real story.

All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

–C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle: The Chronicles of Narnia, Book 7 (New York: HarperCollins, 1994), 764-766.