Saturday, January 24, 2009

Election: A Mystery Revealed

"If you take the Bible as God's Word, you must expect that Bible to have in it some things that are dark to you. Mystery is dark and God is mysterious. 'Lo, these are parts of His ways, but how little a portion is heard of Him.' (Job 26:14) 'How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!' (Romans 11:33) 'Great is the mystery of godliness.' (I Timothy 3:16)

If the Bible is the Word of God it will tell us things that are strange to us, things that reason did not know and could not guess. What were the use of God's giving down from Heaven a revelation of things which we already know?

If the Bible is the Word of God, not only will it contain things strange, but contradictory to nature. 'For My thoughts are not your thoughts; neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.' (Isaiah 55:7,8,9.) 'The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God neither can he know them, but God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.' (I Corinthians 2: 10-14)"

George S. Bishop "The Doctrines of Grace"

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The Lord Direct Your Hearts Into the Love of God (II Thessalonians 3:5a)

"All religion is in effect love. Faith is thankful acceptance, and thankfulness is an expression of love. Repentance is love mourning. Yearning for holiness is love seeking. Obedience is love pleasing. Self denial is the mortification of self love. Sobriety is the curtailing of carnal love."


A.W. Pink "Gleanings in Paul"