Jared Longshore's Blog, page 25

The LORD Builds Up Jerusalem

Psalm 147 says that the LORD builds up Jerusalem. And this table agrees. As we go about our work on the walls, this table reminds us that it is not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord. In making this point, it would be easy to think that the message is: you need to take a break from your productive work on the walls to be refreshed at this table. There is certainly truth in that. But it doesn’t get to the central thing.

The heart of the matter is that coming to worship the LORD, and renew covenant with Him at this table is the most productive thing you can do for the kingdom of God. It was when Samuel offered up a sacrifice and looked to the heavens that the LORD thundered against the Philistines. It was when Paul and Silas prayed and sang that the earthquake came and their chains fell off. It was at an altar and through sacrifice and prayer that Elijah saw the fire of the LORD fall from heaven. 

We would like to think that our victories are ultimately attributed to our know how, and our hard work, and yes, yes, of course, the LORD helped us at certain points. But our victories are far more like the king of Israel’s victories over the Syrians because God kept telling him through Elisha where the Syrian army was moved their forces. Imagine the interview after the battle, “Do tell us. How did you do it?” “Well, God told me where they were hiding.” 

So it is with us. How did you come to be forgiven? How did you come to have life, joy, peace, and walk under the heavy blessing of God? It is quite simple: Christ died for us. So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ.

The post The LORD Builds Up Jerusalem appeared first on REFORMATION & REVIVAL.

Steadfast, Immovable, Always Abounding

Given the recent uptick accusations that have come our way, there are many exhortations I want to give you. Things like “let your reasonableness be known to all.” “rejoice not when your enemy falls.” “Vengeance belongs to the LORD.” “don’t be a hot head.” So more along those lines will certainly be coming your way. But I want to lead off with this one: 

Amid accusations from the enemy, you must keep up the full court press. 

You must keep the tempo moving. In the words of the apostle, you must be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58). When the enemy hurls his accusations at one of the saints, one of his strategies is to get the others to flinch. And you must not flinch. He wants you to lay off, and lay low (granted, you may be in a particular season where you need to lay low in a certain regard, if that’s you then make sure you do that). But, on the whole, you must understand that the false accusations come when you have started to do something that the enemy does not like. And that is why we rejoice.

This is an exhortation particularly to those of you who might be thinking, “If this keeps up, what are they going to do my son? What are they going to do to my grandchildren?” 

This is the kind of thing that a follower of our Lord might have thought when the rumors had boiled over and out of Jerusalem that the power brokers in town were planning to kill Jesus. And imagine sitting there with our Lord only a couple days journey from that Jerusalem, and he tells you by the fire, “When I get there, I will enter the temple with a whip and turn over their tables.” “Oh,” you say, “so you will be turning the dial up, not down. I see.” 

Note well, we can turn the dial up. Because the dial we are turning up is righteousness and good works. We can keep the pressure on. Because the work we are doing is the work of kindness, godliness, indeed works of love, the work of the Lord. So don’t get in the flesh. And if the flesh is the only thing that can motivate you then you must remain unmotivated and repent.

But, don’t for a minute slow down or hesitate in your public Christian living and your bold witness, and your work of dominion. You can’t work at the plow while looking back, and our Lord has told us that such a man is not fit for the kingdom of God (Luke 9:62).

The post Steadfast, Immovable, Always Abounding appeared first on REFORMATION & REVIVAL.

Offended by the Masculine

You are offended by the masculine itself: the loud, irruptive, possessive thing—the gold lion, the bearded bull—which breaks through hedges and scatters the little kingdom of your primness as the dwarfs scattered the carefully made bed.

C. S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength

The post Offended by the Masculine appeared first on REFORMATION & REVIVAL.

Baptism Drowns Out the Liar’s Voice

Paul said that the life he lived in the flesh, he lived by faith in the Son of God. This is true for all Christians and that faith is evidenced at baptism. Our faith is not in the water or the ritual itself, but in the covenant promise signified by this water. In baptism, God says, “I have called you by name, you are mine.” And from the beginning, Satan has temped with the question, “Did God really say?” Here in baptism, the Word of God drowns out the voice of that liar, as the true Word comes from heaven saying, “You belong to me, child. You are washed in the blood of my Son.”

The post Baptism Drowns Out the Liar’s Voice appeared first on REFORMATION & REVIVAL.

Hearts of the Fathers to the Children

One of the things God’s covenant grace does is turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of children to their fathers (Malachi 4:6). It couldn’t be any other way because the promises God makes to us, He makes to us and to our children. This heart turning is not a matter of arm-twisting. Only God’s Word can turn hearts, and that Word is named Jesus Christ. He is the one who turns our hearts to the Father and binds us to Him. And He is the one who turns fathers and children too each other all the way down the line to a thousand generations. He is the one whom this sign of baptism is ultimately about. And He is the one who guarantees that the Word in our mouth and the Spirit in our hearts, will remain in these covenant children, and their children after them.

The post Hearts of the Fathers to the Children appeared first on REFORMATION & REVIVAL.

Not Unlike a Dead Halibut

He was a long, thin old gentleman in his middle seventies with a faraway unseeing look in his eye, not unlike that which a dead halibut on a fishmonger’s slab gives the pedestrian as he passes. It was a look which caused many of those who met him to feel like disembodied spirits, so manifest was it that they were making absolutely no impression on his retina.

P. G. Wodehouse, Cocktail Time

The post Not Unlike a Dead Halibut appeared first on REFORMATION & REVIVAL.

This Is the Way

The Logos Chamber Choir singing Hear My Prayer in the Idaho State Capitol

The post This Is the Way appeared first on REFORMATION & REVIVAL.

Come Unto Me

Introduction

A perennial problem that comes upon the people of God is that they choose to die in the desert rather than come to the source of Living Water. Israel refused to enter into the land flowing with milk and honey. So that generation spent their lives wandering east of the Jordan until their corpses filled the wilderness. Isaiah 55 is designed that we might not go the way of that old generation. It is designed that we would come to the Lord and live. 

Summary of the Text – Isaiah 55:1-13

The thirsty are summoned to come to the waters. They do not need money. But they do need to have an appetite. They must also buy and eat. But marvelously, they must make this transaction without spending (v. 1). There is no good explanation for doing the opposite, which is spending all of your money in an attempt to eat the wind. The wine and milk the Lord supplies is far better for the belly, good and fat. But the only way to be satisfied with the good is to come to the Lord diligently (v. 2). This coming to the Lord means actually hearing Him, and His message to you is a covenant word secured by the Son of David, the master and commander who has been given as a sure bond to God’s people (v. 3-4). 

God will glorify His people such that nations start running their way (v. 5). And running is wise because there is a time limit on when men can seek the Lord (v. 6). In order to buy the Lord’s milk and wine, man must give up on his own foolish thoughts. The Lord’s thoughts are not only different than ours. They are higher than them as the heavens are the earth (v. 7-9). We could never climb up to hear God’s thoughts in the heavens. But He has sent them down like snow and rain. And like the snow and rain bring forth seed and bread, so God’s Word accomplishes what He plans for it (v. 10-11).

Because of our Father’s heavenly covenant rain-word, His people will go out with joy and peace. The mountains clear their throat and sing before you and the maple trees start clapping their hands as you pass by (v. 12). Thorns and thistles are replaced with evergreens that stand as never-ending witnesses to the Lord’s faithfulness (v. 13).

Come, Ye Thirsty

Nothing could be more natural than being thirsty. We are human. We are finite. We are dependent creatures. What is manifestly not natural is that you would be thirsty and not come to drink. What is downright silly is that you would go spend all of your money on that which is not bread. Why would you do that? The way to milk and wine is straightforward. Come to the Lord. Man, in his fussiness, would like to claim that he doesn’t know the way. But God is not far from us. In Him we live, move, and have our being (Acts 17:27).

And I Will Make an Everlasting Covenant

When man comes to the Lord to drink, He finds God making a covenant with him. The terms and conditions are clear. God promises eternal life and blessing, milk and wine without price. The conditions are that we would trust Him and obey Him. And the surety of this covenant is the Son of David. This covenant is never-ending, but it is continually renewed. David was in Isaiah’s past. This was no new covenant, but a renewed covenant. So it is today. If you would have life, then you must renew covenant with the Lord for it is in that covenant that life is found. 

For My Thoughts are Not Your Thoughts

The spirit of the age insists that you figure out all of your thoughts. But God’s word says that you are supposed to do a different thing, forsake them. Many think that if they can sort out all of their emotions, then the mountains will sing for them, and trees will clap their hands. “Where did that thought come from? Why did I think that? What kind of horrible person thinks the thoughts I think?” This person thinks that he can get all of his thoughts to fit together like a 1,000-piece puzzle and all will be pretty at the end. But God says that your thoughts simply aren’t that important, and the puzzle pieces don’t actually fit. So, burn the puzzle pieces and go listen to God’s thoughts. Think His thoughts after Him. His thoughts in your head are perfectly fine thoughts for you to have, you should keep those around.

As the Rain Cometh Down

God tells us His thoughts by His Spirit whom He has given us—”For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11-12). But notice that the Spirit helps us know the things freely given to us of God. He does not help us to know the things God hasn’t given us. The mystics who would close their Bibles and go searching for mysteries withinwill find that they discover no mysteries. They will not find prosperity either. For the Word that goes forth from the mouth of God is the mystery, the life, the bread, the seed, the wealth.

Led Forth With Peace

That is why God’s people will go forth with joy and peace. God’s covenant word always brings forth covenant fruit. And that fruit is everlasting like the Son of David himself. He is your peace and your joy. The purchase of the wine and milk has already been made. He has paid the cost at Calvary. All you need to do is come to him and drink. No money necessary.

The post Come Unto Me appeared first on REFORMATION & REVIVAL.

The Altar and the Fire

“As one of the modern authors has told us, the altar must often be built in one place in order that the fire from heaven may descend somewhere else.”

C. S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength

The post The Altar and the Fire appeared first on REFORMATION & REVIVAL.

Feelings Make Terrible Gods

Calvin was absolutely right that man’s heart is an idol factory. And the men and women of our day seem hellbent on setting up their feelings as little deities. They offer pinches of incense to them on nearly every street corner. Even so, feelings make terrible gods. You would be far better off worshipping the gods of the Roman Pantheon. If you’re really going to turn your back on the Living God, go for Zeus, Aphrodite, or Apollo. At least then, you might have an interesting story to tell, albeit a tragic one. At least then, you could pretend to be reaching outside of yourself. All of this talk about following your heart is not only worthy of the flames of hell, it is also remarkably boring.

Your feelings are meant to be commanded. They should line up and follow you along the way. If they are being unruly, that is no worry. That is what feelings often do. Just give them a spanking and tell them to sit up straight, shut their mouths, and act right. But, says an evangelical who has joined the Philistines of our age, “What then could I write in my journal if indeed I tell my feelings to hush?” Well, you don’t have to throw the journal away. But if you are going to keep it, you should start writing Bible verses down and then use your pen to describe how you are going to trust those words more fully and obey them more diligently. As Martyn Lloyd Jones once wisely said, “Most of our problems in life come from the fact that we are listening to ourselves rather than talking to ourselves.” Control your emotions. Discipline them. This work is not too hard for you. This self-control is a fruit of the Spirit, and He has been poured out in your hearts.

The post Feelings Make Terrible Gods appeared first on REFORMATION & REVIVAL.