crookedfingers

One of the first people I read when the Lord brought me into the Doctrines of Grace was a man named A. W. Pink. His writings on the doctrine of election are worth reading. Below is a quote by A. W. Pink from his book "The Doctrine of Election". All of Pink's writings are online.

"Nowhere does the sovereignty of God shine forth so conspicuously as in His acts of election and reprobation, which took place in eternity past, and which nothing in the creature was the cause of. God’s act of choosing His people in Christ was before the foundation of the world, without the consideration of the fall, nor was it upon the foresight and footing of works, but was wholly, of grace, and all to the praise and glory of it. In nothing else is Jehovah’s sovereignty so manifest: indeed the highest instance of it was in predestinating the second person in the Trinity to be the God-man. That this came under the decree of God is clear, again, from the words of the apostle: "Who verily [says he in speaking of Christ] was foreordained before the foundation of the world" (1 Pet. 1:20) and who is said to be laid "in Sion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious" (1 Pet. 2:6). This grand original of election, so little known today, is of such transcendent importance that we dwell upon it a little longer, to point out some of the reasons why God was pleased to predestinate the man Christ Jesus unto personal union with His Son.

Christ was predestinated for higher ends than the saving of His people from the effects of their fall in Adam. First, He was chosen for God Himself to delight in, far more so and infinitely above all other creatures. Being united to the second person, the man Christ Jesus was exalted to a closer union and communion with God. The Lord of hosts speaks of Him as "the man that is my fellow" (Zech. 13:7), "mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth" (Isa. 42:1). Second, Christ was chosen that God might behold the image of Himself and all His perfections in a creature, so that His excellences are seen in Christ as in no other: "Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person" (Heb. 1:3), which is spoken of the person of Christ as God-man. Third, by the union of the man Christ Jesus with the everlasting Son of God, the whole fulness of the Godhead was to dwell personally in Him, He being "the Image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15, 19).

The Man Christ Jesus, then, was chosen unto the highest union and communion with God Himself. In Him the love and grace of Jehovah shine forth in their superlative glory. The Son of God gave subsistence and personality to His human nature, so that the Son of God and His human nature are not merely one flesh as man and wife (which is the closest union with us), nor one spirit only (as is the case between Christ and the Church: 1 Cor. 6:17), but one person, and hence this creature nature is advanced to a fellowship in the society of the blessed Trinity, and therefore to Him God communicates Himself without measure (John 3:34). Descending now to a lower plane, the Man Christ Jesus was also chosen to be an Head to an elect seed, who were chosen in Him, given a super-creation subsistence, and blessed in Him with all spiritual blessings.

If God will love, He must have an object for His love, and the object must have an existence before Him to exercise His love upon, for He cannot love a non-entity. It must therefore be that the God-man, and the elect in Him existed in the divine mind as objects of God’s everlasting love, before all time. In Christ the Church was chosen from everlasting: the one the Head, the other His body; the one being the bridegroom, the other His bride: the one being chosen and appointed for the other. They were chosen together, yet Christ first in the order of the divine decrees. As, then, Christ and the Church had existed in the will, thoughts, and purpose of the Father from the beginning, He could love them and rejoice in them. As the God-man declares "Thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.. . for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:23, 24).

The Son of God being, before all time, predestinated to be God-man, He was secretly anointed or set up as such, and His human nature had a covenant subsistence before God. In consequence of this, He was the Son of man in heaven before He became the Son of man on earth; He was the Son of man secretly before God before He became the Son of man openly and manifestly in this world. Therefore did the Psalmist exclaim, "Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for Thyself" (80:17); and therefore did Christ Himself declare, "What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?" (John 6:62). "God, out of His eternal and infinite goodness of love, and purposing Christ to become a creature, and communicate with His creatures, ordained in His eternal counsel that person in the Godhead should be united to our nature and to one particular of His creatures, that so in the person of the Mediator the true ladder of salvation might be fixed, whereby God might descend to His creatures and His creatures ascend unto Him" (Sir Francis Bacon)." A W. Pink "The Doctrine of Election"

http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Election/elec_03.htm

It is now in the flow of existence 9:31 AM Tuesday morning. Carol has come home from work and gone to bed for the day. It is snowing and the wind is blowing today. A good day to hide from the evil powers of darkness.

I got out these books to look at the doctrine of election this morning.

"A Divine Cordial" by Thomas Watson

"The Sovereignty of God" by A. W. Pink

A. W. Pink The Doctrine of Election
http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Election/elec_03.htm

"An Antidote to Arminianism" by Christopher Ness

"Calvin's Calvinism: 1. The Eternal Predestination of God 2. The Secret Providence of God" by John Calvin

"The Harmony of the Divine Attributes" by William Bates

"Poor Man's Morning and Evening" by Robert Hawker

I got the above books out to look at, but not to read. You can read them if you want. I suppose these days I am not into historical Calvinism, but the Bible and prayer.

The book "A Divine Cordial" by the 17th century English Puritan Thomas Watson I remember buying many years ago. I remember I got these book when Tykie and I were lovers. I noticed inside this slim volume a note

Doctrines of Grace or Five Points of Calvinism
Total depravity
Unconditional election
Limited atonement
Irresistible grace 1/29/77 Night

I told Carol this morning I wished I had not destroyed my private diaries from 1968 to 1977 because I like to read what I wrote on January 29, 1977 at Night.

Now my past from 1968 to 1977 is lost in darkness. I do have private diaries from 1978 to February 8, 2010 in my possession right now, but maybe tomorrow the whole world will go up in smoke and my diaries will be no more. I will be forgotten. I pray my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life (the decree of election). We read in Revelation chapter 20 these words; "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged each one according to his works" Rev. 20:11-13.

I plan to go to a thrift store around 11 o'clock AM and then go to our local public library to return a DVD. While I am at the library I will check out their used book room. It should be a normal quiet day for me. But we never know what will attack us each day to make life a living horror.

Well I will close to look at my books and pray for mercy.

"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God" Rev. 2:7.

It is 7:51 AM Tuesday morning in the flow of existence. I got out of bed around 7:14 AM this morning. It is a cold dark snowy morning. We are suppose get hit with a snow storm today and tomorrow.

I woke up thinking about the biblical doctrine of divine election. Last night I quoted from the Canons of Dort on election. I really like Article 7 First Head Of Doctrine Of Divine Predestination---

"Article 7

Election
Election [or choosing] is God's unchangeable purpose by which he did the following:

Before the foundation of the world, by sheer grace, according to the free good pleasure of his will, he chose in Christ to salvation a definite number of particular people out of the entire human race, which had fallen by its own fault from its original innocence into sin and ruin. Those chosen were neither better nor more deserving than the others, but lay with them in the common misery. He did this in Christ, whom he also appointed from eternity to be the mediator, the head of all those chosen, and the foundation of their salvation. And so he decided to give the chosen ones to Christ to be saved, and to call and draw them effectively into Christ's fellowship through his Word and Spirit. In other words, he decided to grant them true faith in Christ, to justify them, to sanctify them, and finally, after powerfully preserving them in the fellowship of his Son, to glorify them.

God did all this in order to demonstrate his mercy, to the praise of the riches of his glorious grace.

As Scripture says, "God chose us in Christ, before the foundation of the world, so that we should be holy and blameless before him with love; he predestined us whom he adopted as his children through Jesus Christ, in himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, by which he freely made us pleasing to himself in his beloved" (Eph. 1:4-6). And elsewhere, "Those whom he predestined, he also called; and those whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified, he also glorified" (Rom. 8:30)."

Notice in Article 7 the writers of the Canons of Dort quote Ephesians 1:4-6 "just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved."

I have not thought about the biblical doctrine of election deeply in a long time. Most Christians do not hear sermons on the doctrine of election and reprobation. Like I said yesterday how many Christians have heard a series of sermons on the Epistle to the Ephesians. If I have been a Christian going on 40 years and have never heard sermons on the Epistle to Ephesians, I doubt if other Christians have heard sermons on this epistle either.

Yesterday I mentioned the writings of the 17th century English Puritan Thomas Goodwin. I mentioned that I have in my library the 12 volume set "The Works of Thomas Goodwin". In Goodwin's Works there is a whole volume devoted to divine election in volume 9 "A Discourse Of Election". I wonder how many Christians in the last four hundred years have read Thomas Goodwin's discourse on election? How many Christians have had Goodwin's 12 volume Works to read for devotions? I have read a great deal over the last 30 years the writings of Thomas Goodwin. Maybe that is why I am not happy to join hands with american evangelicalism?

Well I suggest you buy the 12 volume set of "The Works of Thomas Goodwin" they are still in print.

It is now in the flow of existence 8:12 AM Carol will soon be home from work. I have no plans for the day. I will read my Bible and pray for assurance of salvation. Do I have within myself "the unmistakable fruits of election"?

"Article 12

The Assurance of Election
Assurance of this their eternal and unchangeable election to salvation is given to the chosen in due time, though by various stages and in differing measure. Such assurance comes not by inquisitive searching into the hidden and deep things of God, but by noticing within themselves, with spiritual joy and holy delight, the unmistakable fruits of election pointed out in God's Word— such as a true faith in Christ, a childlike fear of God, a godly sorrow for their sins, a hunger and thirst for righteousness, and so on."

"But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief of the truth" 2 Thess. 2:13.

Today I mentioned in my blog that I am beginning to read the apostle Paul's Letter to the Ephesians. In the first chapter of the Ephesians the apostle Paul writes about the doctrine of divine election; "just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved" Ephesians 1:4-6. I believe the Canons of Dort sets forth clearly the biblical doctrine of election, so I will quote from the section of the Canons of Dort setting forth the doctrine divine election.

"The First Main Point of Doctrine

Divine Election and Reprobation

The Judgment Concerning Divine Predestination
Which the Synod Declares to Be in Agreement with the Word of God
and Accepted Till Now in the Reformed Churches,
Set Forth in Several Articles

Article 1

God's Right to Condemn All People
Since all people have sinned in Adam and have come under the sentence of the curse and eternal death, God would have done no one an injustice if it had been his will to leave the entire human race in sin and under the curse, and to condemn them on account of their sin. As the apostle says: "The whole world is liable to the condemnation of God" (Rom. 3:19), "All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23), and "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23).*

Article 2

The Manifestation of God's Love
But this is how God showed his love: he sent his only begotten Son into the world, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Article 3

The Preaching of the Gospel
In order that people may be brought to faith, God mercifully sends proclaimers of this very joyful message to the people he wishes and at the time he wishes. By this ministry people are called to repentance and faith in Christ crucified. For "how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without someone preaching? And how shall they preach unless they have been sent?" (Rom. 10:14-15).

Article 4

A Twofold Response to the Gospel
God's anger remains on those who do not believe this gospel. But those who do accept it and embrace Jesus the Savior with a true and living faith are delivered through him from God's anger and from destruction, and receive the gift of eternal life.

Article 5

The Sources of Unbelief and of Faith
The cause or blame for this unbelief, as well as for all other sins, is not at all in God, but in man. Faith in Jesus Christ, however, and salvation through him is a free gift of God. As Scripture says, "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is a gift of God" (Eph. 2:8). Likewise: "It has been freely given to you to believe in Christ" (Phil. 1:29).

Article 6

God's Eternal Decision
The fact that some receive from God the gift of faith within time, and that others do not, stems from his eternal decision. For "all his works are known to God from eternity" (Acts 15:18; Eph. 1:11). In accordance with this decision he graciously softens the hearts, however hard, of his chosen ones and inclines them to believe, but by his just judgment he leaves in their wickedness and hardness of heart those who have not been chosen. And in this especially is disclosed to us his act—unfathomable, and as merciful as it is just—of distinguishing between people equally lost. This is the well-known decision of election and reprobation revealed in God's Word. This decision the wicked, impure, and unstable distort to their own ruin, but it provides holy and godly souls with comfort beyond words.

Article 7

Election
Election [or choosing] is God's unchangeable purpose by which he did the following:

Before the foundation of the world, by sheer grace, according to the free good pleasure of his will, he chose in Christ to salvation a definite number of particular people out of the entire human race, which had fallen by its own fault from its original innocence into sin and ruin. Those chosen were neither better nor more deserving than the others, but lay with them in the common misery. He did this in Christ, whom he also appointed from eternity to be the mediator, the head of all those chosen, and the foundation of their salvation. And so he decided to give the chosen ones to Christ to be saved, and to call and draw them effectively into Christ's fellowship through his Word and Spirit. In other words, he decided to grant them true faith in Christ, to justify them, to sanctify them, and finally, after powerfully preserving them in the fellowship of his Son, to glorify them.

God did all this in order to demonstrate his mercy, to the praise of the riches of his glorious grace.

As Scripture says, "God chose us in Christ, before the foundation of the world, so that we should be holy and blameless before him with love; he predestined us whom he adopted as his children through Jesus Christ, in himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, by which he freely made us pleasing to himself in his beloved" (Eph. 1:4-6). And elsewhere, "Those whom he predestined, he also called; and those whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified, he also glorified" (Rom. 8:30).

Article 8

A Single Decision of Election
This election is not of many kinds; it is one and the same election for all who were to be saved in the Old and the New Testament. For Scripture declares that there is a single good pleasure, purpose, and plan of God's will, by which he chose us from eternity both to grace and to glory, both to salvation and to the way of salvation, which he prepared in advance for us to walk in.

Article 9

Election Not Based on Foreseen Faith
This same election took place, not on the basis of foreseen faith, of the obedience of faith, of holiness, or of any other good quality and disposition, as though it were based on a prerequisite cause or condition in the person to be chosen, but rather for the purpose of faith, of the obedience of faith, of holiness, and so on. Accordingly, election is the source of each of the benefits of salvation. Faith, holiness, and the other saving gifts, and at last eternal life itself, flow forth from election as its fruits and effects. As the apostle says, "He chose us" (not because we were, but) "so that we should be holy and blameless before him in love" (Eph. 1:4).

Article 10

Election Based on God's Good Pleasure
But the cause of this undeserved election is exclusively the good pleasure of God. This does not involve his choosing certain human qualities or actions from among all those possible as a condition of salvation, but rather involves his adopting certain particular persons from among the common mass of sinners as his own possession. As Scripture says, "When the children were not yet born, and had done nothing either good or bad..., she" (Rebecca)" was told, "The older will serve the younger." As it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated"" (Rom. 9:11-13). Also, "All who were appointed for eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48).

Article 11

Election Unchangeable
Just as God himself is most wise, unchangeable, all-knowing, and almighty, so the election made by him can neither be suspended nor altered, revoked, or annulled; neither can his chosen ones be cast off, nor their number reduced.

Article 12

The Assurance of Election
Assurance of this their eternal and unchangeable election to salvation is given to the chosen in due time, though by various stages and in differing measure. Such assurance comes not by inquisitive searching into the hidden and deep things of God, but by noticing within themselves, with spiritual joy and holy delight, the unmistakable fruits of election pointed out in God's Word— such as a true faith in Christ, a childlike fear of God, a godly sorrow for their sins, a hunger and thirst for righteousness, and so on.

Article 13

The Fruit of This Assurance
In their awareness and assurance of this election God's children daily find greater cause to humble themselves before God, to adore the fathomless depth of his mercies, to cleanse themselves, and to give fervent love in return to him who first so greatly loved them. This is far from saying that this teaching concerning election, and reflection upon it, make God's children lax in observing his commandments or carnally self-assured. By God's just judgment this does usually happen to those who casually take for granted the grace of election or engage in idle and brazen talk about it but are unwilling to walk in the ways of the chosen.

Article 14

Teaching Election Properly
Just as, by God's wise plan, this teaching concerning divine election has been proclaimed through the prophets, Christ himself, and the apostles, in Old and New Testament times, and has subsequently been committed to writing in the Holy Scriptures, so also today in God's church, for which it was specifically intended, this teaching must be set forth—with a spirit of discretion, in a godly and holy manner, at the appropriate time and place, without inquisitive searching into the ways of the Most High. This must be done for the glory of God's most holy name, and for the lively comfort of his people.

Article 15

Reprobation
Moreover, Holy Scripture most especially highlights this eternal and undeserved grace of our election and brings it out more clearly for us, in that it further bears witness that not all people have been chosen but that some have not been chosen or have been passed by in God's eternal election— those, that is, concerning whom God, on the basis of his entirely free, most just, irreproachable, and unchangeable good pleasure, made the following decision:

to leave them in the common misery into which, by their own fault, they have plunged themselves; not to grant them saving faith and the grace of conversion; but finally to condemn and eternally punish them (having been left in their own ways and under his just judgment), not only for their unbelief but also for all their other sins, in order to display his justice.

And this is the decision of reprobation, which does not at all make God the author of sin (a blasphemous thought!) but rather its fearful, irreproachable, just judge and avenger.

Article 16

Responses to the Teaching of Reprobation
Those who do not yet actively experience within themselves a living faith in Christ or an assured confidence of heart, peace of conscience, a zeal for childlike obedience, and a glorying in God through Christ, but who nevertheless use the means by which God has promised to work these things in us—such people ought not to be alarmed at the mention of reprobation, nor to count themselves among the reprobate; rather they ought to continue diligently in the use of the means, to desire fervently a time of more abundant grace, and to wait for it in reverence and humility. On the other hand, those who seriously desire to turn to God, to be pleasing to him alone, and to be delivered from the body of death, but are not yet able to make such progress along the way of godliness and faith as they would like—such people ought much less to stand in fear of the teaching concerning reprobation, since our merciful God has promised that he will not snuff out a smoldering wick and that he will not break a bruised reed. However, those who have forgotten God and their Savior Jesus Christ and have abandoned themselves wholly to the cares of the world and the pleasures of the flesh—such people have every reason to stand in fear of this teaching, as long as they do not seriously turn to God.

Article 17

The Salvation of the Infants of Believers
Since we must make judgments about God's will from his Word, which testifies that the children of believers are holy, not by nature but by virtue of the gracious covenant in which they together with their parents are included, godly parents ought not to doubt the election and salvation of their children whom God calls out of this life in infancy.

Article 18

The Proper Attitude Toward Election and Reprobation
To those who complain about this grace of an undeserved election and about the severity of a just reprobation, we reply with the words of the apostle, "Who are you, O man, to talk back to God?" (Rom. 9:20), and with the words of our Savior, "Have I no right to do what I want with my own?" (Matt. 20:15). We, however, with reverent adoration of these secret things, cry out with the apostle: "Oh, the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways beyond tracing out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Or who has first given to God, that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen" (Rom. 11:33-36)." Canons of Dort

The Dead Weather "Horehound"

Townes Van Zandt "If I Needed You"

Tindersticks "Falling Down a Mountain"

The House of Love "The German Album"

Kings of Convenience

Scout Niblett "Cherry Cheek Bomb"

All the old heroes

Bardo Pond "Bufo Alvarius

"Life in the Spirit: Spiritual Formation in Theological Perspective" Edited by Jeffrey P. Greenman & George Kalantzis

Xiu Xiu "Dear God, I Hate Myself"

Richard Beck website Experimental Theology
http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/

Massive Attack "Heligoland"

Martyn Lloyd-Jones "Exposition of Ephesians" 8 Vol. Set

Experimental Theology

the Wild Beasts "Limbo, Panto"

OM "Unitive Knowledge of God"

Gil Scott-Heron "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"

It is now in the flow of existence 2:21 PM Monday afternoon. Carol and I are back from our errands. Carol has gone to bed since she works the next three nights. I am down in our open basement (there are seven widows in our basement). I can now write about my spiritual history reading and studying the apostle Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians. I mentioned the last time I wrote that William Gurnall wrote a treatise titled "The Christian In Complete Armour" in the three parts in 1655, 1558, and 1662. Years ago when I was working at a skid mission one of the first 17th century English Puritan reprints I bought was this massive treatise on the saints war against the Devil. I bought this book over 35 years ago and still have it in my library (I have this volume next to me as I write these words).

The next thing I remember reading on the apostle Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians was also by a 17th century English Puritan named Thomas Goodwin (1600-1679). In my library I have Goodwin's works "The Works of Thomas Goodwin" 12 volumes. In volumes 1 and 2 of Goodwin's Works is an exposition of chapters 1 and 2 of Ephesians. I read these volumes when our first born son Caleb was a baby and we were at Reformed Bible College. I borrowed these volumes from Calvin Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids. Now I have my own set of "The Works of Thomas Goodwin" 12 volumes in my cell.

When we graduated from Reformed Bible College back in the early 1980's a friend gave me as a gift a book titled "Sermons on the Epistle to the Ephesians" by John Calvin.

After Bible College I do not remember hearing Ephesians preached or taught. I am sure when we were in seminary I heard one of my Seminary Professors lecture on Ephesians. But I have never heard anyone ever preach or teach from the Epistle to the Ephesians. I do remember reading many years ago A. W. Pink's book on the prayers of the Apostle Paul. In Ephesians we have one of the apostle Paul's prayers recorded for us to read on our knees.

A. W. Pink 19. Prayer of Doxology Ephesians 3:20-21
http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Gleanings_Paul/paul_19.htm

So what do I have on the Epistle to the Ephesians in my cell today I can list for the you? I will make a list of books for your private study of the apostle Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians---

"The Epistles Of Paul"by James Fergusson (1621-1667) a Puritan reprint published by the Banner of Truth Trust 1978

"Expository Reflections on the Letter to the Ephesians" by Leon Morris

"A Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians" by Charles Hodge (1797-1878)

"The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians" by F. F. Bruce [The New International Commentary on the New Testament]

"Ephesians" [42 Word Biblical Commentary] by Andrew T. Lincoln

"Paradise Now and Not Yet: Studies in the Role of the Heavenly Dimension in Paul's Thought with Special Reference to His Eschatology" by Andrew T. Lincoln

"The Letters to Philemon, the Colossians, and the Ephesians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on the Captivity Epistles" by Ben Witherington III

"The Letter To The Ephesians" by Peter T. O'Brien [The Pillar New Testament Commentary]

I could list other commentaries on Ephesians in my book collection, but the ones listed above are the ones I consider to be of value in studying the Letter to the Ephesians.

All of sudden I feel drained of energy. I suppose I am weary so I will close to wander my cell.

"to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" Ephesians 3:19

The morning is almost finished. Carol is not home so I might as well keep spilling my guts. I wanted to mention that the first set of books I bought when I came to know with my heart the doctrine of grace was Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones "Exposition of Ephesians" 8 Volumes---

Vol. 1 "Ephesians 1,God's Ultimate Purpose"
Vol 2 "Ephesians 2, God's Way Of Reconciliation"
Vol. 3 "Ephesians 3, The Unsearchable Riches Of Christ"
Vol. 4 "Ephesians 4:1-16, Christian Unity"
Vol. 5 "Ephesians 4:17-5:17, Darkness And Light"
Vol. 6 "Ephesians 5:18-6:9, Life In The Spirit"
Vol. 7 "Ephesians 6:10-13, Christian Warfare"
Vol. 8 "Ephesians 6:10-20, The Christian Soldier"

When I started reading Dr. Lloyd-Jones I was living and working at Richmond Rescue Mission located in Richmond California. That was in the early 1970's. I sold this eight volume set on Ephesians by Lloyd-Jones a couple of years ago, because I needed some money for bread and water. I sold almost all my Lloyd-Jones books because they were sermons. I do not read sermons much any more. I still have in my book collection a couple of books by Lloyd-Jones. But Lloyd-Jones sermons on Ephesians were a blessing at one stage of my spiritual life.

One of the first 17th century English Puritan books I bought back in the early 1970's was an exposition on Ephesians 6:10-20 titled "The Christian In Complete Armour; A Treatise Of the Saints War against the Devil" by William Gurnall (1616-1679)--

"10: Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11: Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13: Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14: Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15: And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16: Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17: And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
19: And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,
20: For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak."
Ephesians 6:10-20

I have to leave now to go with my wife on the rest of her errands. Hope to be able to write more later on Ephesians, Lord willing. We never know when we will be killed off.

It is 10:40 AM Monday morning. I wrote in my private diary and now I am rocking to At The Drive-In. I am sure if Bernie and his toothless elder was to listen to At The Drive-In they would think I have fallen from grace. I refuse to be placed in a box. We have freedom In Christ to be real. I am a man of God and I do not worry what others think of me. Well I do want people to like me, but you can't please everyone. There will always be Christians who will want to stone me.

I suppose I am still playing over and over in my mind the hostile encounter I had the other day with Bernie and his toothless elder. Why did I get so upset by that attack on who I am in Christ? Maybe I am too sensitive? I am thin skin. I am insecure. I am always on the defensive. The reason for my insecurity is that I was not loved as a child. No one loved me growing up. The people who raised me were too messed up to give love. My spirit was broken as a little boy. I am being healed now by God the Holy Spirit. I am being saved. Please be patient with me, God is not done with me yet. "And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man" 1 Corinth. 15:49.

It is really discouraging to try so hard to be biblical and then to have some Christian kick you in the face.

All my life as a Christian I have been rejected and never allowed to join the club. The other day Bernie shoved that fact into my face. Bernie was suggesting because I never got a call to be gospel preacher it was because Christians saw no saving grace in my existence. Bernie failed to realize that I never got any job interviews. I never had an opportunity to be turned down for a job in the Presbyterian Church in America. Also I am glad I never got a call in the end because working as a teaching elder is hard because of how the typical american evangelical church is constructed. I rather be here in my cell knowing I am doing the will of my heavenly Father then being a Presbyterian professional minister. Also Bernie does not realize it but he would never be allowed even to be a ruling elder in any american evangelical church. Bernie could not pass a Presbyterian minister examination. Before a man is allowed to accept a call to a PCA church he is examined all day in the areas of Theology, Bible, Church History, Presbyterian church government etc. . . I had to be examined twice by two Presbytery's to be licensed to exhort as an intern minister. I seriously doubt if Bernie could even pass a license examine in a Presbyterian Assembly.

Well it is now 11:01 AM late Monday morning. I will close to wait it out.

OK enough watching the Cramps on YouTube. Carol just left to visit her mother. The computer tells me the Time is now 9:45 AM Monday morning in the flow of existence. I got up at 7 o'clock AM my wife was making cookies to take to a friend who is recovering from surgery. We went to a grocery store and came home. I put away the supplies and now I am writing some words in my LJ blog. Life keeps rotting away.

When Carol gets back we are going to Best Buy so Carol can buy a camera. Carol wants her own camera when she goes out to New Mexico next month.

I have nothing pressing on my brain this morning. I finished reading yesterday the Epistle to the Galatians and now I read in the New Covenant the Epistle to the Ephesians.

Last night we watched the Superbowl. I went to bed around 10 o'clock PM. Do not know what time my wife came to bed. This morning my wife said you have been with me half your life. My wife and I have been together going on 31 years! That is scary since it seems just yesterday when we got married.

I want to write on my history with the Epistle to the Ephesians, but most of the books and commentaries I want to mention our down in the basement where most of my library is located. So maybe later I will list the commentaries I have on Ephesians and other books. I do not think I have any books on the Epistle to the Ephesians in my study. I will go take a peek. I will be right back so please don't shut the door in my face.

If I was teaching a Sunday school class on Ephesians I would look at these volumes found in my cell (main study)---

"Theology of the New Testament: A Canonical And Synthetic Approach" by Frank Thielman

"Theology Of The New Testament" by Udo Schnelle

"New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ" by Thomas R. Schreiner

Well here I sit feeling tired. I do not get much sleep when my wife is off from work.

I do not know what else to confess to the wind. I read for evening devotions last night "Theology Of The New Testament" by Schnelle and watched the Superbowl.

Well I suppose I will close to wander my cage.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" Eph. 1:3

"1: Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
2: Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
3: For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
4: Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
5: For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
6: For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
7: Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
8: This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.
9: A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
10: I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.
11: And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased.
12: I would they were even cut off which trouble you.
13: For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
14: For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
15: But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
16: This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
17: For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
18: But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
19: Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20: Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21: Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
22: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23: Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24: And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25: If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
26: Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another." Galatians 5:1-26

It is now in the flow of existence on a Sunday afternoon 2:09 PM. I am down in the basement writing on my lap top because my wife is playing a card game on our main computer as she talks to our first born son Caleb Jon who is working on his Ph.D. at Boston College. Last July he got married to his long time girl friend Emily. Emily is now taking classes to be a nurse. Emily met Caleb when they were students at Michigan State several years ago. I think Emily got a degree in Health Care. Caleb is studying Political Philosophy or Political Theory. Caleb just turned 29 years old in January.

So here I sit down in our basement in a cloud of incense listening to Oneida reading my Bible on Galatians and books on Galatians. What really disturbs me is when someone looks at me as being stupid. Bernie my Baptist teaching elder friend yesterday basically said to my face that I know nothing. Bernie believes I that I have not experienced the power of the Gospel of God. That invective hurt me deeply. Bernie never went to college or seminary. He only reads Reformed theology and 17th century English Puritanism and yet he sees me as being stupid. As Bernie was going out the door he quoted to me from First Corinthians chapter 13 verse 11 "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

I do not know why I let narrow minded bigoted Christians upset me? In the end we must all stand before God on the Last Day and give an account for our words and actions. My supreme desire is to please the Lord is all things. I confess with the apostle Paul; "Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ" Phil. 3:7.

Yesterday as I was displaying before Bernie and his elder who was missing his two front teeth my book collection Bernie mentioned a book titled "The Evil of Evils or The Exceeding Sinfulness of Sin" by the 17th century English Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs (1599-1646). I got out this volume by Burroughs this afternoon to look at. I told Bernie and his toothless elder that I read the Puritans for so many years I got burnt out of them. Bernie told me as he left yesterday that it thought it was bad of me to now hate the writings of the Puritans. Once again Bernie misinterpreted me. I still recommend the writings of the 17th cent. English Puritans, but I also recommend one read the Bible. I also recommend people to read modern biblical writers like Ben Witherington III and James D. G. Dunn. We need as Christians to be widely read especially if we hold the office of a teaching elder in a Christian community.

I told Bernie and Lewis his elder who was missing teeth that a Christian should read for example George Orwell's essays and then St. John of the Cross "Dark Night". We are to love God with all our minds.

So read Burroughs on the Puritan theology of sin, but also read a book like "Paul's Letter to the Romans: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary" by Ben Witherington III with Darlene Hyatt.

I recently read a book on sin titled "We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology Of Idolatry" by G. K. Beale.

I came down in the basement to quote from a wonderful book on Christian ethics titled "Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God" by Gordon D. Fee. But now I am not sure I am in the proper mood. I am tired. I should close shop and take a nap.

What really disturbed yesterday is when Bernie told me that he believed that these Christian denominations where going to hell if they had not experienced what he believed to be a real saving conversion---the Free Reformed Church, the Christian Reformed Church, the Presbyterian Reformed Church, the Reformed Baptist and on and on it went. So I wanted to ask who has the true Gospel? Of course the answer would be Bernie T. no one else. Like I told a fellow recently all one sees around here in West Michigan are wars among the children of Abraham. (read Galatians chapter 5 "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another" Gal. 5:14,15; "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal" 1 Corinth 13:1)

This evening Carol and I plan to watch the Super Bowl. Well Carol plans to go to Covenant PCA and won't be home till 7:30 PM. But she won't miss most of the football game.

Well I will close to wander in a cloud of incense smoke. Look at Jeremiah Burroughs book on the exceeding sinfulness of sin. ("Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceeding sinful" Romans 7:13)

Before I close I wanted to say that several years ago I realize very few professing Christians have the money or ability to read 17th century English Puritan theology. To be able to buy 17th. century English Puritan literature not originals but reprints one has to be rich. Also to read 17th century theological writers one has to know how to read and at least have some understanding of classical Reformed covenantal theology. Most Christians hardly know their Bibles. Most Christians are poor or least do not the money to buy expensive Puritan reprints. In the end I realized several years ago I was reading books that most Christians had no knowledge of or cared about. Most Christians live their spiritual lives on a very simple level. Let us read our Bibles on our knees and let our light shine before a lost humanity. Faith without works is dead. Let our love burn bright and yearn for the coming of the Lord Jesus with the army of God.

It is 9:18 AM Sunday morning in the flow of existence. Existence keeps rotting away. Carol and I just got back from going downtown. Carol walked Rudy and I went to Lemonjello's coffee cafe to get a mocha and look through the Sunday New York Times. Now we are home and I am writing some words. Carol is eating mashed potatoes as I seek to summarize my morning. Soon Carol will go to Covenant Presbyterian Church in America. Yes I can agree that we are in america. These words of the apostle Paul come to my mind "even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" Eph. 2:5,6.

I have no plans for the day that is before me. I got up this morning around 6 o'clock AM. I got myself a cup of coffee and messed with the computer. Lately people from the Past have been adding me to their friends list in Facebook. To be honest I am scared to think what people might think of me now in this stage of my spiritual journey. I do not want people who claim to be followers of the Lord Jesus to think I have gone off the deep end. I want people especially Christians to know I love the Lord Jesus Christ. It bothers me to think men like Bernie who visited me yesterday with his toothless elder thinks I am not a lover of the Lord Jesus.

Last night I watched television and went to bed around 9 o'clock PM and read till late a book titled "Koestler: The Literary And Political Odyssey Of A Twentieth-Century Skeptic" by Michael Scammell.

The other night there was music.

music Kruder Dorfmeister "The K & D Sessions"

I have next to me these books to read or at least look at as I head towards the grave---

Worshiping With The Church Fathers" by Christopher A. Hall

"Reading To Live: The Evolving Practice Of Lectio Divina" by Raymond Studzinski

"Theology Of The New Testament" by Udo Schnelle

I have been reading in the New Covenant the Epistle to the Galatians. Yesterday Bernie the local Calvinistic minister (I do not know if Bernie calls himself a minister since he was called by a church. Bernie is a rich business man who many years ago built himself a chapel and gathered a group of people together to meet in his building to hear him set forth his brand of Calvinism. Most ministers around here think Bernie to be an odd ball) quoted these verses from Galatians chapter 3 "But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept by faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor" Gal. 3:22-25.
I tried to tell Bernie as he yelled at me that the Mosaic Covenant was never given to Gentiles. The Gentiles were never "kept under guard by the law" only the Jews were given the Torah. In Romans the apostle Paul chapter 2 verse 14 "for when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law." The Gentiles had Natural Law whereas the Jews were under the Mosaic Covenant till the time the Seed should come. "But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor" Gal. 3:25.

It is 9:48 AM Sunday morning. I suppose I am still upset by my encounter with a rigid form small town Dutch Baptistic 17th cent. English Puritan system of doctrine/spirituality. Why can't we as Christian love one another? I told Bernie that all he does is condemn all those who do not agree with his brand of Christian spirituality. Who are we to judge other Christians. I asked Bernie do you really believe your brand of Christian Spirituality would be understood in a place like the ghettos of Chicago? I saw a long time ago that 17th century English Puritan theology was elitist. Very few Christians in Church History have experienced a conversion like one finds described in for example John Bunyan's book "The Pilgrim's Progress".

In the end I told Bernie we need to love one another and not condemn everyone to hell who does not agree with our theological convictions (which for the most part are traditions of men). The apostle Peter wrote; "And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins."" 1 Peter 4:8.

It is 10:03 AM Sunday morning. My wife just left to visit the house of God.

Bernie yelled at me that all I do is sit in my house and read books. I told him what else can I do? The Lord has not called me to be a gospel preacher. I am doing the Lord's will. I told Bernie all I see you doing is going around spreading your brand of Calvinism and condemning anyone who does not fit your model of conversion or doctrine of soteriology. Bernie quoted to me during our 30 minute rant from the Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 1 Question 2: How many things are necessary for thee to know, that thou, enjoying this comfort, mayest live and die happily? Answer: Three, the first, how great my sins and miseries are; the second, how I may be delivered from all my sins and miseries; the third, how I shall express my gratitude to God for such deliverance."

Bernie believes that for a person to be really saved he or she must know "how great my sins and miseries are". I told Bernie I agree with that, but how are we to judged the depth of someone's confession of sin? I told Bernie I doubt if my mother-in-law would answer me if I asked her to describe her conversion experience that she once saw herself as a loathsome sinner before a holy God. I have been married to my wife going on 31 years and she is a godly Christian woman. My wife has never said to me "I am a loathsome rotten sinner before the Lord Jesus." But my wife would freely acknowledge she is saved sinner so would my mother-in-law.

I think Bernie judges people based on his own conversion experience. I wish Bernie, Lewis is toothless elder and I could have had a quiet discussion on spiritual subjects, but Bernie had to prove me wrong before his disciple. Bernie sees himself as the only one who is standing for the Truth.

While Bernie was yelling at me he got once again into his rant about so many church members going through divorce. Bernie believes any Christian who gets a divorce can't be a true Christian. I reserve my judgment on that one even though I do not believe Christians should break the marriage covenant. "For the LORD God of Israel says That He hates divorce" Mal. 2:16a.

I told Bernie as we headed for the front door (my hair cut appointment was at 3 o'clock PM and it was now 2:46 PM) that I believe in marriage and also hate divorce, but what really upsets me are such things as war, poverty, the earth experiencing ecological disasters like massive oil spills etc. . . I long to see social justice among men and women. It is tragic when men put away their wives. It is sad when a professing Christian wife walks away from her marriage. But does that mean they are beyond the reach of God's saving grace and mercy? I do not know? We all sin and fall short of the glory of God (read 2 Corinth 2:1-11).

It is 10:33 AM Sunday morning. It is a bitter cold morning here by Lake Michigan. Carol told me this morning we are suppose to get up to four to eight inches of snow this week. I am glad I do not have to drive anywhere this week. I am glad I can stay here at home and do not have to drive to a work place in a snow storm.

So what else is on my mind this morning that I can write in the record book?

One more thing I want to mention about Bernie's rant, he always quotes from Romans chapters 1-4. Bernie always gives me the Reformed Puritan interpretation of Romans chapter 1 through 4. I wish Bernie would read this essay on Romans chapters 1 through 4:

http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2010/02/notes-on-deliverance-of-god-part-8.html

I do not know right Now what else to write so I will close to wake up to the first day of the week. Existence keeps rotting away. I hear these words of the apostle Paul in Romans chapter 8 "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" Romans 8:18.