March 21^st 2021

9:30 am ---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- --- True Discipleship – Luke 14:25

10:00 am ------------------------------------------- Burnt Offering of the Son – Genesis 22

Wednesday: 7:00 pm

Practical Theology -- by Henry Mahan

How blessed it would be for us, and for all who cross our paths, if we could put our theology into deeds and not mere words. We profess to believe in God’s immutable sovereignty and then constantly mourn over our lot in life. We claim to believe in God’s purpose and providence, but fill every ear that will listen with our discontent and our sad state of affairs. Usually those who do the most complaining have, in reality, the least to complain about; while those who have serious handicaps, heavy burdens, and deep sorrows find a reason to praise the Lord and rejoice in His blessings. I need not remind you of God’s anger with Israel because of their murmuring, or to remind you of the words of our Lord, “Take no anxious thought for what you shall eat, drink, or wear” or to remind you of the words of Paul, “Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have.” No! I need not remind you of these words; for you have read them, taught them, and perhaps preached them. Then our problem is not ignorance of the Word and will of God (perhaps it would be better if this were our problem); our problem is identified in Hebrews 4:2, “The Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” It is a heart problem, for out of the heart the mouth speaks. And truthfully, our complaints are not with men, who are but second causes, but with God WHOM WE SAY is the first Cause and Lord of our lives. I can understand the free-willer (whose God is but a puppet of man’s permission) complaining, murmuring, and finding fault with all about Him. But the most inconsistent person living is the professed Christian who says he believes, “The Most High rules in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever He will” or “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you”, and then fills the air about with a constant stream of complaints and reasons why he should be somewhere else or doing something else, or blessed in a more abundant measure. A certain cure for anxious care is TRUST. “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!”

They Repented Not To Give Him Glory

“And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, Which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give Him glory.” – Revelation 16:9

All things were created by God for His glory. “The heavens declare His glory”; and the created things in the earth give Him glory . . . the trees clap their hands, the birds sing, all things declare God’s glory as they were made to do. All but man that is! Man rejects God’s glory. Man attributes the glory of God’s creation to evolution and the glory of God’s salvation to man. Rather than glorify God’s choice of men, man glorifies his choice of God. Rather than glorify God’s mercy to guilty, hell-deserving sinners, man glorifies himself for letting God into his life. Rather than glorify God’s sovereign Spirit and power which quickens, grants repentance, faith and fruit, man glorifies his supposed free-will and works. Rather than glorify the Son of God Whose righteousness and shed blood alone grants salvation; man glories in ‘accepting Jesus, letting go and letting God, letting Jesus into his heart, and deciding for Jesus.’ And so God created a Hell to put these vain glorious creatures in. And even though they will clearly see God’s holiness and power, yet they still do not repent to give Him glory! In the words of Thomas Adams: “They curse Him for their pains and sores, but repent not of their deeds. They weep not for the cause of their sufferings, but for the loss of their comforts. I believe it will be found that the repentance of most men is not so much the sorrow for sin as sin, or real hatred of it, as sullen sorrow that they are not allowed to sin.”

“All our murmurings, which are so many arrows shot at God Himself, will return upon our own heads: they reach not Him, but they will hit us; they hurt not Him, but they will wound us; it is better to be mute than to murmur, . . . it is dangerous to provoke a Consuming Fire.” – Thomas Brooks