Month: June 2021

Gospel for Life

Posted on by Michael Wine

I’d like to recommend you to the ministry of a man named Jay Wegter who writes theologically rich essays on worldview and the Christian life. He also has written a variety of books. You can find all his resources on the Gospel For Life website – http://gospelforlife.org.

One of the strengths of Jay’s writing lies in the thoroughness of his research. Many of the articles I have read have numerous quotations from other scholars and thinkers. The nature of the quotations Jay chooses, along with his clear and direct style, makes his articles hard hitting in our day.

For example take this opening paragraph to Jay’s article “Abortion, The Sanctity Of Life, And The Judgment Of God” which also contains a quote from John O. Anderson’s The Cry of the Innocents.

The fundamental biblical issue in abortion is that it constitutes the shedding of innocent blood. The real question today is not when people’s lives begin, but what is the value and sanctify of human life? The blood of millions of aborted children cries to God for vengeance. Their silent screams are heard loudly by Almighty God. America’s hands, and most of the nations of the world are covered with the guilt and stain of innocent blood. “That innocent blood cries to God for vengeance. Those cries are reaching a thunderous crescendo, and God will answer in judgment just as he did with Israel and Judah” (John O. Anderson).

Jay Wegter

In an evangelical culture that has lost its way, Jay’s voice is like a light house in the fog, guiding us back to sound biblical doctrine.

Going Humbly to Jesus

Posted on by Michael Wine

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14

It struck me today as I read the above passage that Jesus Himself was more like the tax collector who beat his breast than he was like the Pharisee. He was unlike both of them in one sense, being sinless.

But in another sense he was similar to the one who knew he was a sinner in the eyes of God. Why? Because of his humility. Notice Paul say in Philippians 2:8 that Jesus did the same thing that the tax collector did in the parable – He humbled Himself.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

The cross that saves sinners requires sinners to come to it on their knees, humbled, just as the savior was humbled while hanging on it.

To draw near to Jesus, we must humble ourselves before Him, not because He is looking down on us from a position of judgement, distain, or disgust, but because He already humbled himself to draw near to us. We must go to him in humility, because He came to us in humility.

The only realm we will be able to find Him is in the realm of humility. For it was only through the humility of death that He was exalted in resurrection. And it is only through the humility of repentance and faith in Him, death to self, that we can join Him in is exaltation and life.

Living by the Faith that First Received Jesus

Posted on by Michael Wine

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. Colossians 2: 6-7

How did the Colossians receive Christ? By faith. (Col. 1: 4) Walking in Christ must use the same faith in which the soul first received Him. Obedience to Jesus is, therefore, no more a work of ours than was our salvation. For both are through faith which rests only in God’s power, not our own.

Once the seed of the soul is planted in the soil of faith, we are “rooted and built up” in Christ. We became strong trees that stand firm in times of suffering, because our very souls are tapped into Christ by faith. And the fruit produced is an ‘abounding thanksgiving’ to God for His mercy in granting us faith to receive the Son.

How wonderful God is, who loved us enough, while we were his enemies, to grant us faith to receive his love. Thank you Jesus for your infinite grace.

Money and Evil

Posted on by Michael Wine

It is hard to have a southern overseer; it is worse to have a northern one; but worst of all when you are the slave-driver of yourself. Henry David Thoreau, Walden

When we devote ourselves only to the pursuit of wealth, we become as Thoreau puts it our own slavers. We lower ourselves to the level of a computer, a robot, a thing to make money with.

“The love of money is the root of all evil.” I Timothy 6:10 (KJV)

For when we love money, we begin to believe that all we are is an object to be used to make more of it. The world becomes cold, metallic, gray, and loveless.

If the greatest commandment is to love God and ones neighbor, then all evil is linked to a lack of that love. Nothing depletes our love for God and others like love of money.

Around the Wicket Gate by Charles Spurgeon

Posted on by Michael Wine

If you would like a solid dose of pure gospel, I highly recommend Around the Wicket Gate by Charles Spurgeon. Find for free as an eBook here at Project Gutenberg.

To give you a taste of it, here is a quote:

To suppose that the Lord Jesus has only half saved men, and that there is needed some work or feeling of their own to finish his work, is wicked. What is there of ours that could be added to his blood and righteousness? “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” Can these be patched on to the costly fabric of his divine righteousness? Rags and fine white linen! Our dross and his pure gold! It is an insult to the Saviour to dream of such a thing. We have sinned enough, without adding this to all our other offences.

Even if we had any righteousness in which we could boast; if our fig leaves were broader than usual, and were not so utterly fading, it would be wisdom to put them away, and accept that righteousness which must be far more pleasing to God than anything of our own. The Lord must see more that is acceptable in his Son than in the best of us. The best of us! The words seem satirical, though they were not so intended. What best is there about any of us? “There is none that deoth good; no, not one.” I who write these lines, would most freely confess that I have not a thread of goodness of my own. I could not make up so much as a rag, or a piece of a rag. I am utterly destitute. But if I had the fairest suit of good works which even pride can imagine, I would tear it up that I might put on nothing but the garment of salvation, which are freely given by the Lord Jesus, out of the heavenly wardrobe of his own merits.

It is most glorifying to our Lord Jesus Christ that we should hope for every good thing from him alone. This is to treat him as he deserves to be treated; for as he is God, and beside him there is none else, we are bound to look unto him and be saved.

Around the Wicket Gate, C.H. Spurgeon

I’ve never been more encouraged by someone telling me I have no shred of goodness in me!

God Is Our Fortress

Posted on by Michael Wine

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though it’s waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at it’s swelling…. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Psalm 46: 1-3, 11

A fortress protects those who go inside, who trust in it, who hide within it.

Fortresses don’t work for you unless you have faith in them.

God is strong. He is waiting, ready to be our fortress. Will we trust Him today? Will we call out to Him? Will we submit ourselves to Him? He is more than enough to shield us from all that would seek to part us from Him.

God made us to do things.

Posted on by Michael Wine

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Ephesians 4:28

I think the best way to break a habit is to start a habit. The best way to stop doing something, is to start doing something else that is not necessarily the opposite of what you want to avoid, but is on a different path altogether.

For example, the thief in the verse above steals because he spends all of his time planning how to steal from his next victim. The solution is not to merely stop stealing but to start working honestly isntead. All of the time spent stealing will be used up in honest work. There won’t be any time left to steal.

Another example is how I noticed I was staying up too late at night. I tried just going to bed earlier, but that didn’t work because I couldn’t sleep. I started noticing that I was staying up to late because I was using some sort of screen, which would do two things 1) make me lose track of time and 2) make me forget that I was tired.

So I tried starting a new behavior of turning off screens at 8pm. I wouldn’t try to force myself to sleep earlier, I would just turn off screens. What I noticed was that once I started doing that, by 9pm I was tired and ready to sleep. This also caused me to get up earlier, which helped reinforce the tiredness by 9pm the next day.

The point is that God made us to do things, not to just stop doing other things. So if you have a habit you’d like to stop, think about what you can do instead.

The Arrogance of Animals

Posted on by Michael Wine

Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases. For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down after him. For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed—and though you get praise when you do well for yourself—his soul will go to the generation of his fathers, who will never again see light. Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish. Psalm 49:16-20

The Christian and the materialist agree on all of the facts listed above, but not on the meaning of those facts.

Here are the facts: You don’t take your possessions or your fame with you when you die. While the rich live, they are blessed and people love them, but in the end, they will pass away. There is a way that humans are just like animals.

To the Christian, the meaning is given clearly in the verse – “Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases. For…” and then it lists all of the facts to support the application or the meaning. Those who trust in God need not fear the rich and powerful in this world, because this world is only a blip of noise at the beginning of a record before the real song plays. That gives us hope.

To the materialist, however, the facts mean something else: this world is all we’ve got. We have one short life to live, so we need to make the most of it. Death is a permanent end. What matters is the survival of our species. We are basically advanced animals trying to survive.

In other words, their hope is in this life only.

How can there be two such opposing interpretations of the same facts? I believe the clue is at the end of the passage – “Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.”

When a man is pompous and proud, confident in his own reasoning while he understands nothing of reality, that is when he becomes just like the animal, hoping only to survive a little longer before blinking out of existence. However, by implication, when a man is humble, relying on God for his ‘understanding’ he transcends the beasts and has real cause for hope, because his trust is in God.

Psalm 40:1-6

Posted on by Michael Wine

1 I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry. 2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD. 4 Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie! 5 You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told. 6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. (Psalm 40:1-6, ESV)

Psalm 2

Posted on by Michael Wine

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.