“A Clean Heart”

“Unless you become like little children, you can not enter the Kingdom of God.”

In this sermon from the late Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, a prominent British surgeon, turned preacher, he gets right to the main problem with man–the care of his soul. He applies his surgical mind and his careful, soul searching biblical exposition to this passage from Matthew 18:2-4 when Jesus’s disciples were arguing over who was the greatest in the Kingdom. Our LORD masterfully sets a child before Him, a child whom He loved as one of His creation and calls them out for their prideful and self seeking question.

It reminds us not to think more highly of our self than we ought. Without His Spirit we can do nothing to become humble like the child. We can not self flagellate ourselves, nor recite repetitious prayers to “achieve” this status. We can not buy our way, bribe our way, cajole our way to heaven. Faith is a gift of God. A gift which we do not deserve. Which He gives, not based upon our works which are like filthy menstral rags polluted by our own self righteousness, but based upon His perfect works and fulfillment of the Law. He is the only One with perfect righteousness. But be encouraged–with God all things are possible. There are many promises for those who believe. Nonetheless, lest we be tempted to think we’ve got the goods ourselves, Dr. Jones sets us straight. A perfect diagnosis and prescription for the healing of what truly ails us.

Who is the Christ?

In reading the Gospel of Matthew, we come face to face with Who Jesus is. The testimony of the genealogy of Christ clearly shows the Davidic lineage of Jesus Christ as fulfilled and proven by the Temple records at the time. Prophecies of a coming Messiah, attested by great signs and wonders, healings unheard of in such mass numbers which confirm His identity.

A survey of believers conducted by Ligonier Ministries sadly reveals the weakness of our theological foundation of understanding about exactly who Jesus actually is.

The following link provides more details of what we believe and do not believe about Christ and the Biblical passages which underscore our beliefs about Christ as the third person of the Trinity.

We are called as believers to be able to give a reason for our faith.

“sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; ” ( 1 Peter 3:15).

The LIGONIER STATEMENT
on CHRISTOLOGY

We confess the mystery and wonder
of God made flesh
and rejoice in our great salvation
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

With the Father and the Holy Spirit,
the Son created all things,
sustains all things,
and makes all things new.
Truly God,
He became truly man,
two natures in one person.

He was born of the Virgin Mary
and lived among us.
Crucified, dead, and buried,
He rose on the third day,
ascended to heaven,
and will come again
in glory and judgment.

For us,
He kept the Law,
atoned for sin,
and satisfied God’s wrath.
He took our filthy rags
and gave us
His righteous robe.

He is our Prophet, Priest, and King,
building His church,
interceding for us,
and reigning over all things.

Jesus Christ is Lord;
we praise His holy Name forever.

Amen.

https://christologystatement.com/

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Fruit of the Spirit word cloud

Bible Helps:

Did you know how The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge Came About?

I didn’t know that The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge was not composed by R.A. Torrey. It was originally pulled together by Samuel Bagster. Here’s an excellent background of the project by Fred Sanders, a systematic theologian with an emphasis on the doctrine of the Trinity. He and his wife Susan have two children, Freddy and Phoebe. They are members of Grace Evangelical Free Church.

http://scriptoriumdaily.com/what-was-the-treasury-of-scrip…/

“Samuel Bagster (1772-1851) was a London publisher (first in the Strand, then at Paternoster Row) whose company specialized in producing multilingual Bibles, or polyglot editions with several languages printed in parallel. Aside from the TSK, his greatest publishing success was the Biblia Sacra Polyglotta Bagsteriana (1817-28), which apparently included up to 8 languages side by side, but could also be purchased with any two languages you liked interleaved on facing pages. That was an important resource for scholars. Bagster’s most popular work for ordinary people, however, was Daily Light, which was for decades the world’s best-known book of daily private devotional readings taken entirely from the scriptures. It’s still in print, still worth using, and available electronically as well.

When the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge was first published, its sub-title boasted “Consisting of Five-hundred Thousand Scripture References and Parallel Passages from Canne, Browne, Blayney, Scott, and Others, with Numerous Illustrative Notes.” This list of names points to editors of previous study Bibles that emphasized the value of cross-references for profitable Bible study. Bagster’s big idea was to harvest the best insights from all of them, and produce the most comprehensive set of judicious cross-references ever. So the half-million decisions do not represent the work of one student: They are a collection from many sources, and each of those sources in turn encoded decisions made by previous generations, reaching all the way back to patristic commentaries in many cases. I have followed TSK cross-references to surprising texts, only to discover that the same pointer had also been given by the Book of Common Prayer, by an ancient liturgical usage, or by a second-century church father like Irenaeus.

Bagster’s goal was to present an “entirely new Selection and Arrangement of References, in which it has been endeavoured faithfully to exhibit the Scripture as its own Expositor.” He goes on, “The greatness of the advantages that must accrue to a sincere and diligent reader of the Sacred Pages, from having constantly before him a reference to similar and illustrative passages, carefully investigated, and suitably applied, must be obvious to every one; and has been well understood by many pious and able men, to whose diligent and useful labours the Public is unspeakably indebted.”

More like this on Exploring God’s Library FB page. You’re invited to share your discoveries as well.

Word cloud designed by http://www.tagxedo.com/about.html. If you’re interested in Word clouds, you should definitely check out his gallery of word clouds, pretty amazing assortment. http://www.tagxedo.com/gallery.html.
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