"Dedicated Service" by Pastor Rich Hurlbert

It Is Finished

"The Death of Jesus Christ is the performance in history of the very Mind of God. There is no room for looking on Jesus Christ as a martyr; His death was not something that happened to Him which might have been prevented: His death was the very reason why He came.

Never build your preaching of forgiveness on the fact that God is our Father and He will forgive us because He loves us. It is untrue to Jesus Christ's revelation of God; it makes the Cross unnecessary, and the Redemption "much ado about nothing." If God does forgive sin, it is because of the Death of Christ. God could forgive men in no other way than by the death of His Son, and Jesus is exalted to be Saviour because of His death. "We see Jesus because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour." The greatest note of triumph that ever sounded in the ears of a startled universe was that sounded on the Cross of Christ - "It is finished." That is the last word in the Redemption of man.

Anything that belittles or obliterates the holiness of God by a false view of the love of God, is untrue to the revelation of God given by Jesus Christ. Never allow the thought that Jesus Christ stands with us against God out of pity and compassion; that He became a curse for us out of sympathy with us. Jesus Christ became a curse for us by the Divine decree. Our portion of realizing the terrific meaning of the curse is conviction of sin, the gift of shame and penitence is given us - this is the great mercy of God. Jesus Christ hates the wrong in man, and Calvary is the estimate of His hatred."

Oswald Chambers - My Utmost For His Hightest

Guide To Understanding & Enjoying Wine

(HT 22 Words )

But Does the Bible Believe You?

But Does the Bible Believe You? from Russell Moore on Vimeo.

Our Worship Is Regulated By God Himself

Tullian Tchividjian:

"Contrary to what many modern people believe, we can’t approach God any way we please. Trying to do so is extremely dangerous, as the Bible makes clear (see Cain, Nadab, and Abihu, for example). In the Bible, God provides us with commands, instructions, examples, and stories to illustrate how he wants us to worship him. Our worship, therefore, is to be regulated by God himself through his Word."


Read the entire article here.

Borrowed Time

"The average person in the world today, without faith and without God and without hope, is engaged in a desperate personal search throughout his lifetime. He does not really know where he has been. He does not really know what he is doing here and now. He does not know where he is going. The sad commentary is that he is doing it all on borrowed time and borrowed money and borrowed strength; and he already knows that in the end he will surely die! Man, made more like God than any other creature, has become less like God than any other creature. Created to reflect the glory of God, he has retreated sullenly into his cave; reflecting only his own sinfulness. Certainly it is a tragedy above all tragedies in this world that man, made with a soul to worship and praise and sing to God's glory, now sulks silently in his cave."


A.W. Tozer

Creation: What's the Point?

Christ As Savior & Lord

"I cannot conceive it possible for anyone truly to receive Christ as Savior and yet not to receive him as Lord. A man who is really saved by grace does not need to be told that he is under solemn obligations to serve Christ. The new life within him tells him that. Instead of regarding it as a burden, he gladly surrenders himself – body, soul, and spirit- to the Lord who has redeemed him, reckoning this to be his reasonable service."

C.H. Spurgeon

The Days of Darkness Will Be Many

Desiring God Blog:

"One thing the Bible isn’t is utopist about life in this world. It gets unfairly criticized for encouraging a pessimism that makes people passive about doing anything to improve things; people who are “too heavenly minded to be any earthly good.”

Of course, that’s a lot of hogwash. History has shown that those who have a hope of heaven are far more likely than their agnostic or atheist neighbors to willingly make the personal sacrifices necessary to seriously address the horrors and hopelessness in the world.

But the Bible doesn’t gloss over horrors. Reading the whole Bible through, we wince a lot. And it is pretty frank about what we can expect during our sojourn on earth:

So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 11:8)

When Jesus walked the earth he was not a bouncy, positive-thinker. He was “a man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3). And he promised his followers, “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33).

Life is hard. The days of darkness will be many. And you know what? That’s hopeful.

When we find ourselves experiencing “weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities” (2 Corinthians 12:10), something strange isn’t happening to us (1 Peter 4:12). It is what we must expect living in a creation subjected to futility (Romans 8:20).

But it was subjected to futility in hope—hope “that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). And yes there is deep groaning as we wait for the completion of our redemption (Romans 8:22-23). But it is a hope-infused groaning, full of anticipation for what is coming.

And it’s this Spirit-empowered dynamic in the soul that allows us to be both “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10). We expect sorrow from the world and redemption from our Savior, who will work even our sorrows for ultimate good (Romans 8:28).

So in your days of darkness, Jesus understands (Hebrews 4:15) and wants you to take heart:

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33) "

Read the entire article here.

Die to Self, Surrender to Christ - Paul Washer

The Cross Work Of Christ

"The cross work of Christ is central to the Christian faith and its proclamation, because of who it was who died on the cross and what it was he did there. With the apostles the church affirms that it was the eternal Son of God, the Word who became flesh, the Lord of glory, who died on Calvary (Rom. 9:5; Titus 2:13; Heb. 1:8; 2 Pet. 1:1; John 1:1, 14; 20:28; 1 Cor. 2:8). Accordingly, in its best moments, the church has “gloried in nothing but the cross” (Gal. 6:14) and has “resolved to know nothing among [the nations] except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). It has done so even though it knows that the preaching of the cross is “a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Cor. 1:23). It has done so, not only because it knows that “God was pleased through the foolishness of preaching [the message of the cross] to save those who believe” (1 Cor. 1:18, 21), but also because it recognizes that the cross of Christ is “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:24). For Paul to characterize the cross of Christ the way he did in 1 Corinthians 1:24—”the power of God and the wisdom of God”—implies that God accomplished a truly great salvation through the cross work of the Lord of Glory. One can sketch the momentous outlines of that “so great salvation” simply by surveying what the New Testament epistles affirm about the “body,” “blood,” “cross,” and “death” of Christ, words which taken in their contexts represent that great work in terms of a sacrifice (see also 1 Cor. 5:7; Heb. 7:27; 9:26, 28; 10:10, 12, 14)."

Robert R. Reymond - A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith

Fighting the Urge to React Like "the Sinners" by Randal Pelton

Fighting the Urge to React Like "the Sinners"

Luke 6:27-36

Churching The Unchurched

"Churching the unchurched is an absolute fallacy – it is like purposing to let the tares in. It is absolutely bizarre to want to make unsaved people feel comfortable in a church. The church is not a building – the church is a group of worshiping, redeemed, and sanctified people among whom an unbeliever should feel either miserable, convicted and drawn to Christ, or else alienated and isolated. Only if the church hides its message and ceases to be what God designed the church to be, can it make an unbeliever comfortable."

John MacArthur

The Beauty of Jesus Christ

If God Forgives You, You Are Forgiven

"What do you do with the person who says, “I’ve asked God to forgive me about this, but I still feel guilty”? I hear that statement over and over again. I usually say to these people, “If you still feel guilty, then pray to God again. But this time don’t ask Him to forgive you for the sin that is haunting you. Rather, ask Him to forgive you for insulting His integrity by refusing to accept His forgiveness. Who are you to refuse to forgive yourself when God has forgiven you? When God promises to forgive His people when they repent, He is not playing games. If He says He will forgive you, then He will forgive you. And if God forgives you, you are forgiven.”

R.C. Sproul - The Intimate Marriage, P&R Publishing, 1975, p. 127-128.

The Great White Throne Judgment - Steve Lawson

I Want Nothing To Do With Free Will

Once there was free will in paradise, and a terrible mess free will made there, for it spoiled all paradise and turned Adam out of the garden. Free will was once in heaven, but it turned the glorious archangel out, and a third part of the stars of heaven fell into the abyss. I want nothing to do with free will, but I will try to see whether I have got a free will within. And I find I have. Very free will to do evil, but very poor will to do that which is good.

C.H. Spurgeon

God's Decrees

"God decrees all things harmoniously and in excellent order; one decree harmonizes with another, and there is such a relation between all the decrees as makes the most excellent order. Thus God decrees rain in drought because he decrees the earnest prayers of his people; or thus, he decrees the prayers of his people because he decrees rain.

I acknowledge, to say God decrees a thing "because," is an improper way of speaking, but not more improper than all our other ways of speaking about God. God decrees the latter event because of the former, no more than he decrees the former because of the latter.

But this is what we [mean]: when God decrees to give the blessing of rain, he decrees the prayers of his people; and when he decrees the prayers of his people, he very commonly decrees rain; and thereby there is an harmony between these two decrees, of rain and the prayers of God's people.

Thus also,

- when he decrees diligence and industry, he decrees riches and prosperity;

- when he decrees prudence, he often decrees success;

- when he decrees striving, then often he decrees the obtaining of the kingdom of heaven;

- when he decrees the preaching of the gospel, then he decrees the bringing home of souls to Christ;

- when he decrees good natural faculties, diligence and good advantages, then he decrees learning;

- when he decrees summer, then he decrees the growing of plants.

Thus, when he decrees conformity to his Son, he decrees calling; and when he decrees calling, he decrees justification; and when he decrees justification, he decrees everlasting glory.

Thus all the decrees of God are harmonious; and this is all that can be said for or against absolute or conditional decrees. But this I say, it's improper to make one decree a condition of another, any more than the other a condition of that; but there is a harmony between both."

Jonathan Edwards - Miscellanies # 29

(HT Desiring God)

You Cannot Blame God for What Happened to You - Diego's Testimony

Spiritual Depression

"The question is not merely whether we can rest in our faith, but whether we can rest in the doubt that is the necessary alternative of faith. We pass sometimes through periods of very low spiritual vitality. The wonderful gospel which formerly seemed to be so glorious comes to seem almost like an idle tale. Hosts of objections arise in our minds; the whole unseen world recedes in the dim distance, and we think for the moment that we have relinquished the Christian hope....

My mother [spoke to me] in those dark hours when the lamp burned dim, when I thought that faith was gone and shipwreck had been made of my soul. “Christ,” she used to say, “keeps firmer hold on us than we keep on him.”

My mother’s word meant...that salvation by faith does not mean that we are saved because we keep ourselves at every moment in an ideally perfect attitude of confidence in Christ. No, we are saved because having once been united to Christ by faith, we are his forever. Calvinism is a very comforting doctrine indeed. Without its comfort, I think I should have perished long ago in the castle of Giant Despair."

J. Gresham Machen: Selected Shorter Writings, 561

Blessed Are The Ignorant (1 Sam 28:1-25)

Blessed Are the Ignorant (1 Sam 28:1-25) from Russell Moore on Vimeo.

Divine Love Shall Not Fail

"And at the end of the world, when the church of Christ shall be settled in its last, and most complete, and its eternal state, and all common gifts, such as convictions and illuminations, and all miraculous gifts, shall be eternally at an end, yet then divine love shall not fail, but shall be brought to its most glorious perfection in every individual member of the ransomed church above. Then, in every heart, that love which now seems as but a spark, shall be kindled to a bright and glowing flame, and every ransomed soul shall be as it were in a blaze of divine and holy love, and shall remain and grow in this glorious perfection and blessedness through all eternity!"

Jonathan Edwards

The Potential of Faithful Presence by Randal Pelton

The Potential of Faithful Presence

Matthew 5:3-16

Sovereignty and Freedom

Why So Critical?

Tim Challies Blog:

"As Christian “critics” our take away from this statement is not to unequivocally endorse new things, new ideas, and new practices across our culture simply for the sake of newness. Rather, we should not be afraid to speak positively of new ways the truths of Christianity can be seen in the world around us. We should be unafraid to speak negatively about what we see that is counter to what we know to be true.

If we are unduly harsh or condescending in our assessments, then yes, they are of little meaning. But when we are gracious and thoughtful in our critiques, examining the item or issue in question next to the light of Scripture, then the reflection we create is of great value. To facilitate such conversation among those truly striving to know that truth, is a high calling indeed."

Read the entire article by Stephen McGarvey here.

The Will Of God And The Will Of Christ Are These, To Save Sinners

“Jesus finds meat and drink in his Church, and you are afraid he would find neither in you. I want to tell you a truth which perhaps you have forgotten. There was a woman that was a sinner; she had five husbands, and he with whom she then lived was not her husband. She was an adulteress and a Samaritan. But Christ said, after he had conversed with her, that he found meat to eat that his disciples knew not of. Where did he get it then? If he had drunk that day, he did not get it from Jacob’s well, for he had nothing to draw with, and the well was deep. He found his refreshment in that poor woman, to whom he said, ‘Give me to drink.’ The Samaritan harlot refreshed the soul of Jesus, when she believed in him and owned him as the Christ. Have you never read that word of his, ‘My meat and my drink is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work’? And what is the will of him that sent him? Well, I will tell you what it is not. ‘It is not the will of your Father that is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.’ The will of God and the will of Christ are these, to save sinners. For this purpose was Jesus born and sent into the world. He came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost.

See, then, poor lost one, in saving you Christ will find both meat and drink. I trust, therefore, that you will look to him and cry to him and cast yourself upon him, and you will never, as long as you live, have any cause for regretting it.”

C. H. Spurgeon - The Treasury of the Old Testament (London, n.d.), III:353-354.

(HT Ray Ortlund )

Piper’s Caution To The Young, Restless, And Reformed Crowd

(HT Justin Taylor )

Loving Foreigners As We Love Ourselves by Randal Pelton

Loving Foreigners As We Love Ourselves

Leviticus 19:33-27; Deut. 10:18-22

Turn From Sin And Embrace God's Righteousness

"The gospel Jesus proclaimed was a call to discipleship, a call to follow Him in submissive obedience, not just a plea to make a decision or pray a prayer. Jesus’ message liberated people from the bondage of their sin while it confronted and condemned hypocrisy. It was an offer of eternal life and forgiveness for repentant sinners, but at the same time it was a rebuke to outwardly religious people whose lives were devoid of true righteousness. It put sinners on notice that they must turn from sin and embrace God’s righteousness. It was in every sense good news, yet it was anything but easy-believism."

John MacArthur, The Gospel According To Jesus, p. 21.

God’s Sovereignty

I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes—

that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit, as well as the sun in the heavens—

that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses.

The creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence—

the fall of sere leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche.

C.H. Spurgeon

(HT Justin Taylor)

Rest In Christ

"Do not tell me that there is no rest for us till we get to heaven. We who have believed in Jesus enter into rest even now. Why should we not do so? Our salvation is complete. The robe of righteousness in which we are clad is finished. The atonement for our sins is fully made. We are reconciled to God, beloved of the Father, preserved by His grace, and supplied by His providence with all that we need. We carry all our burdens to Him and leave them at His feet. We spend our lives in His service, and we find His ways to be ways of pleasantness, and His paths to be paths of peace. Oh, yes, we have found rest unto our souls! I recollect the first day that I ever rested in Christ, and I did rest that day. And so will all of you who trust in Jesus as I trusted in him."

C.H. Spurgeon

John Piper - If you could say one thing to the next generation of church leaders, what would it be?

Are You a Child of the Devil or of God?

Is God Almost Sovereign?

Chuck Swindoll:

"Just before Moses died, he spoke these words to God. Read them carefully:

“May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the LORD will not be like sheep which have no shepherd.” So the LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; and have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and commission him in their sight.” (Numbers 27:16–19)

I don’t know your circumstances today. I cannot be certain how God intends to use this episode from the life of Moses in your own life. But I do know what it’s like to be a shepherd . . . and so I can imagine some possible scenarios.

It may be that these words fall on a very hungry heart. Or perhaps you have been strengthened and encouraged with the thought that you’re exactly where God wants you to be. Or maybe you’re engaged in the challenging task of finding a man or a woman for a position that carries a huge weight of responsibility . . . and you’ve been reminded that you are dependent on God, more than ever, to locate His “Joshua.” Or perhaps you are that Joshua, and you’ve been asked to accept a responsibility broader than you ever dreamed.

Whatever your circumstances, I want to remind you that our heavenly Father cares about areas of your life that would seem insignificant to a distant deity. I know you’re aware of these things—you’ve preached them often. But may I remind you of what I often remind myself? He’s never too busy to hear your hurts, to wipe away your tears, to whisper words of encouragement, and to put His big shoulder under your load. He’s the God who cares about the details.

As I write these words, I’m praying that our sovereign Lord might be a very personal comfort to you this week. I pray especially for you pastors who are wrestling with loneliness and discouragement. Even though you’re surrounded by people and their admiration, deep inside there’s an ache. Believe me, my friend, God can meet your need as only He can, even as He did in the heart of Moses just a few hours before the great man’s death.

If you’re God’s Joshua, you don’t need to worry that you’ll be forgotten. You needn’t fear that the shadow of your predecessor will eclipse you and your ministry in the years to come. In fact, you don’t need to worry about anything. If you’re God’s Joshua, you’re right where you ought to be.

Remind yourself that He is sovereign. He has everything under His control. He will have His way in His time and for His glory. That includes your life, your position, your past, and your future. Worrying over any of that is a waste. He’s got every detail covered.

Yes, every one.

Think of it this way: there’s no such thing as God being almost sovereign."

Read the article here.

Jesus Did It All

"Our faith itself, though it be the bond of our union with Christ through which we receive all His blessings, is not our saviour. We have but one Saviour; and that one Saviour is Jesus Christ our Lord. Nothing that we are and nothing that we can do enters in the slightest measure into the ground of our acceptance with God. Jesus did it all."

B.B. Warfield

MacArthur & Sproul On Baptism

You can listen to John MacArthur makes his case for Believer's Baptism here.

You can listen to R.C.Sproul make his case for Infant Baptism here.

Why Christians Need to Seek and Pray for the Peace of America by Randal Pelton

Why Christians Need to Seek and Pray for the Peace of America

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7, 10-14

Baptism As A Public Response To The Gospel

"Most American evangelicals are familiar with what Billy Graham does at the end of his preaching, calling people to walk to the front. Sometimes these are called "invitations." Sometimes "altar calls." When you look for something like this in the Bible there is no clear example...

And if you ask what the decisive, public way of taking a Christian stand was in the New Testament, the answer is, baptism. The message Peter gave in Acts 2 ended with the words, "Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ" (Acts 2:38). Our renewed conviction is that we need to regularly offer baptism as the decisive public way for people to respond publicly to the gospel."

John Piper

What Is Biblical Theology

Jim Hamilton's blog on what is biblical theology:

"What is biblical theology? It’s an attempt to get at the unstated assumptions from which the biblical authors make their statements. The only access we have to those assumptions are the statements they make. Take Leviticus, for instance. The book has all these instructions for offering all these sacrifices, but it never states the rationale for those sacrifices. At least, it never states that rationale the way people living over 3,000 years after the book was written in a vastly different culture would like to have the rationale stated. So from what the book does say, biblical theology attempts to get at the rationale that Moses, in this case, has for the instructions, and which the original audience of the book knew, making it unnecessary for him to spell it out."

(HT For His Renown)

A True Knowledge of the True God, Part 1

Shall We Come To Them With A Joke?

"When I stand to welcome the people to worship on Sunday morning, I know that there are William Cowpers in the congregation. There are spouses who can barely talk. There are sullen teenagers living double lives at home and school. There are widows who still feel the amputation of a fifty-year partner. There are single people who have not been hugged for twenty years. There are men in the prime of their lives with cancer. There are moms who have carried two tiny caskets. There are soldiers of the cross who have risked all for Jesus and bear the scars. There are tired and discouraged and lonely strugglers. Shall we come to them with a joke?

They can read the comics every day. What they need from me is not more bouncy, frisky smiles and stories. What they need is a kind of joyful earnestness that makes the broken heart feel hopeful and helps the ones who are drunk with trifles sober up for greater joys."

John Piper, The Hidden Smile of God

(HT Symphony Of Scripture)

Al Mohler On Reading

Al Mohler on Reading from Resolved on Vimeo.

(HT Tony Reinke )

He Is Angry With You This Moment

"He is angry with you this moment – and always. You go to sleep with an angry God gazing into your face. You wake in the morning, and if your eye were not dim, you would perceive His frowning countenance. He is angry with you even when you are singing His praises, for you mock Him with solemn sounds upon a solemn tongue. He is angry with you on your knees, for you only pretend to pray; you utter words without heart. As long as you are not a believer, He must be angry with you every moment (see Psalm 7:11)."

C.H. Spurgeon

Tim Challies On Personal Bible Study

Tim Challies:

"When I think about the area of daily Bible study I find my mind drawn to the issue of assurance of salvation—whether or not a Christian can be certain that he is saved. I think I am led this way because the Bible is so central, so integral to the Christian life, that to feel no love for it, no desire to study it, must be a sign of spiritual sickness. I would certainly never say that a person who does not want to study the Bible or who does not enjoy studying the Bible is not a Christian. But I would venture to say that the Christian life is so dependent upon Scripture that a person who has no regard for the Bible and who shows little interest in it would have good reason to seriously consider his salvation. Such a person would do well to examine his soul to see if he really has come to know the Lord."

Read the entire article here.

How Not To Respond To Those Who Reject Christ by Randal Pelton

How Not To Respond To Those Who Reject Christ

Luke 9:51-56

Meditate On Scripture

"Remember that it is not hasty reading, but serious meditation on holy and heavenly truths, that makes them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the mere touching of the flower by the bee that gathers honey, but her abiding for a time on the flower that draws out the sweet. It is not he that reads most, but he that meditates most, that will prove to be the choicest, sweetest, wisest and strongest Christian."

Thomas Brooks

Randy Alcorn On Sinless Perfectionism

Sinless Perfectionism from Randy Alcorn on Vimeo.

The Way Christians Work by Randal Pelton

The Way Christians Work

Colossians 3:22-4:1

A False Peace In Their Hearts

"The writer has met many people who profess to be Christians, but whose daily lives differ in nothing from thousands of non-professors all around them. They are rarely, if ever, found at the prayer-meeting, they have no Family Worship, they seldom read the Scriptures, they will not talk with you about the things of God, their walk is thoroughly worldly; and yet they are quite sure they are bound for heaven! Inquire into the ground of their confidence, and they will tell you that so many years ago they accepted Christ as their Savior, and "once saved always saved" is now their comfort. There are thousands of such people on earth today, who are nevertheless, on the Broad Road, that leadeth to destruction, treading it with a false peace in their hearts and a vain profession on their lips."

A.W. Pink

Contextualization Without Compromise By Tullian Tchividjian

Advance10: Contextualization without Compromise by Tullian Tchividjian from Vintage21 Church on Vimeo.