Watts: Why should the children of a king

Thursday, July 7, 2011
Meditation:
    The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
    —Romans 8:16 (NIV)
Quotation:
The Witnessing and Sealing Spirit

Why should the children of a king
    Go mourning all their days?
Great Comforter, descend and bring
    Some tokens of thy grace.

Dost thou not dwell in all the saints,
    And seal the heirs of heav’n?
When wilt thou banish my complaints,
    And show my sins forgiven?

Assure my conscience of her part
    In the Redeemer’s blood;
And bear thy witness with my heart,
    That I am born of God.

Thou are the earnest of his love,
    The pledge of joys to come;
And thy soft wings, celestial Dove,
    Will safe convey me home.
    ... Isaac Watts (1674-1748), Hymns and Spiritual Songs [1707], in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, ed. Samuel Melanchthon Worcester, Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1834, Book I, Hymn 144, p. 366 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, by Your Spirit we have assurance.

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Saphir: grace in the "Old" Testament

Wednesday, July 6, 2011
    Feast of Thomas More, Scholar & Martyr, &
    John Fisher, Bishop & Martyr, 1535
Meditation:
    Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
    —Genesis 15:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What is meant by calling the writings of Moses and the Prophets [the] “Old Testament”? Do they not set forth the covenant of grace? The doctrine of justification by faith: does not Paul in his Epistle to the Romans prove it from Genesis (case of Abraham) and from the Psalms (case of David, Ps. 32)? Where is the doctrine of substitution and the vicarious sufferings of the messiah set forth more clearly than in Leviticus and in the 53rd of Isaiah? The term “Old Testament” leads people to fancy it is an antiquated book; whereas, in many respects, it is newer than the New Testament, referring more fully to the age of glory and blessedness on the earth which is still before us.
    ... Adolph Saphir (1831-1891), Christ and Israel, London: Morgan and Scott, 1911, p. 140 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your entire word unfolds Your grace towards Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Behrends: Jesus, both God and man

Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Meditation:
    Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.
    —2 John 7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Jesus Christ is God in the form of man; God in every fiber of his being, man in every fiber of his being; as completely God as if he were not man, and as completely man as if he were not God. We cannot divide him. He is always divine, and he is always human. The truly human experiences were also divine experiences. The truly human acts were also divine acts. The personality was human from center to circumference, and it was divine from center to circumference. The one soul was human to the core, and it was divine to the core. It follows from this, that whatever is affirmed of Jesus Christ, is as true of his deity as it is of his humanity.
    ... A. J. F. Behrends, part VII. “Why Did Christ Die?”, from “Short Studies Upon Great Themes”, printed in Christian work: illustrated family newspaper, v.64, p. 173 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I do confess Jesus, fully God and fully man. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Henry: not religionists, but Christians

Monday, July 4, 2011
Meditation:
    Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
    —1 Peter 2:16-17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation [the United States] was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
    ... Patrick Henry (1736-1799), attributed, Give Me Liberty: the Uncompromising Statesmanship of Patrick Henry, David J. Vaughan, Cumberland House Publishing, 1996, p. 253 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead us to pray as You desire for our nation. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Reid: remove the barriers

Sunday, July 3, 2011
    Feast of Thomas the Apostle
Meditation:
    For [Christ] must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
    —1 Corinthians 15:25-26 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Lord, remove every barrier the enemy has put in place, so that the only barrier which remains is the cross itself.
    ... Jon Reid
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my way ends at the foot of Your cross. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tozer: the practical atheist

Saturday, July 2, 2011
Meditation:
The fool says in his heart,
    “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
    there is no one who does good.
The LORD looks down from heaven
    on the sons of men
to see if there are any who understand,
    any who seek God.
All have turned aside,
    they have together become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
    not even one.
    —Psalm 14:1-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Sin... is always an act of wrong judgment. To commit a sin a man must for the moment believe that things are different from what they really are; he must confound values; he must see the moral universe out of focus; he must accept a lie as truth and see truth as a lie; he must ignore the signs on the highway and drive with his eyes shut; he must act as if he had no soul, and was not accountable for his moral choices.
    Sin is never a thing to be proud of. No act is wise that ignores remote consequences, and sin always does. Sin sees only today, or at most tomorrow; never the day after tomorrow, next month or next year. Death and judgment are pushed aside as if they did not exist, and the sinner becomes for the time a practical atheist who by his act denies not only the existence of God but the concept of life after death.
    ... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), Man: The Dwelling Place of God, Harrisburg, Penn.: Christian Publications, Inc., 1966, p. 47 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I have turned aside to my own ways too many times. Renew my heart once more. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bruce: Christ, the complete revelation

Friday, July 1, 2011
    Commemoration of John & Henry Venn, Priests, Evangelical Divines, 1813, 1873
Meditation:
    At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
    —Mark 1:9-11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christ is God’s complete word to men; He has nothing to say which has not been said in Christ. Therefore all claims to convey an additional revelation to that which has been given in Christ (as distinct from bringing out the fuller implications of the revelation in Christ) are false claims. That is so whether these claims are embodied in books which aim at superseding or supplanting the Bible, or take the form of extra-biblical traditions which are promulgated as dogmas by ecclesiastical authority. It is true, as John Robinson said, that “the Lord hath much more truth yet to break forth out if His holy Word“—but that truth will break forth from the Word already spoken, the Word which became incarnate in Jesus Christ and has been recorded for us in Holy Writ. The Spirit of God, who spoke by the prophets and apostles, still speaks to us through their words and thus bears witness to Christ, the perfect revelation of God.
    ... F. F. Bruce (1910-1990/1), The Apostolic Defense of the Gospel, London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1959, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959, p. 81 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have given us Your Word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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