Dear Beloved Flock of Jesus,

With the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriages, there is potential persecution coming for Christians who seek to be faithful to the Gospel, and who long to see Jesus glorified in the salvation of sinners enslaved to sin. With this landmark decision, how should we then live as Christians? It is easy to be tempted to fear the worst, to overly worry, and to feed on unhealthy opinions and the words of men.

We should remember to feed first on Christ and His Word, to seek to hear His Word preached, to study, meditate upon it, and digest it (watch your diet of talk radio and news and social media—especially if you are prone to worry, and to get angry (er, “passionate”). Note how much you’re feeding on God’s Word, and how much your feeding on the wind?! We should remember to continue feed on Christ in the Word, the Sacraments, and pray…pray a lot! We should remember to continue to be faithful to the end as a congregation (2 Tim. 4:7-8). These times should cause ever soul at our congregation to fast and pray, to daily seek and communion with God, and to show up for every prayer meeting! In fact, our next prayer meeting on Sunday, July 5th will be dedicated to praying for these things below!

We must remember at KCPC, dear ones, Jesus tends His flock like a shepherd, and he carries you in His bosom with love and gentleness; nothing can separate you from God’s love to you in Christ (Isa. 40:11; Rom. 8:31-39). Let us hear the words that God spoke to Joshua as he was living in a confrontational time of conflict in making the Gospel known in the midst of entrenched evil and an ungodly, idolatrous culture:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
– Joshua 1:9 (ESV)

Our confidence is in the God who is with us! Our Immanuel, our God with us, will never leave us nor forsake us, but strengthen us, sanctify us, teach us, love us, conform us to Christ! Amen.

How then should we live in light of the Supreme Court’s decision to make legal same-sex marriages?

• God is Sovereign. Let us remember that God is sovereign king over heaven and earth! All that happens in our lives is perfectly according to God’s good will and purpose for history to glorify and exalt His King, the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:3-11; Acts 4:28). Let us not say: “My way is hidden from the LORD,” but let us remember that God is the Everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, his understanding is unsearchable, and He will give strength to those tempted to be faint and weary (Isa. 40:27-31). His thoughts are higher than ours, His ways are not our ways, but He is sovereign, good, and faithful.
• Pray. Let us remember to pray for our leaders and authorities that they would be shown mercy from our God, and that we can live at peace to make the Gospel known (1 Tim. 2:1-4; 1 Pet. 2:13-17). Pray specifically for boldness, yet with tender love and compassion for sinners, especially for Ministers of the Word and ordained teachers and elders of the Gospel (Acts 4:23-31; 5:42; Eph. 6:18-20). Note how the disciples in Acts 4 go to prayer for boldness immediately when they are experiencing persecution…and the church increases, grows, and they preach with power!
• Faith, NOT FEAR. Let us remember not to fear and worry, but to trust our faithful God! Let us have faith and be fully persuaded that God is able to do what He has promised to do for His people! (Rom. 4:19-21; Eph. 3:20-21; 2 Cor. 1:20-22). God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind. It is easy to feed on fear during these times. Fear and worry sell, and so be careful of your news and social media influences on your mind and thinking that can lead you to worry and fear (2 Tim. 1:7). Always be praying and worshipping God, but don’t give way to fear. Remember how often we are told to not fear, but to believe (Isa. 40:9; Matt. 6:30; 8:26; Luke 12:28; John 11:40). Remember how often God’s people were to march forward by faith, trusting God in whatever confrontational situation, no matter what the conflict! (Deut. 1:21; 31:6, 8; Joshua 1:9).
• Grace. Let us remember grace and mercy from God the Father, that has been meditated to us graciously through the Son, by His Spirit! (Titus 2:11-14). We have been called out from darkness, into His marvelous light (Col. 1:13-14; 1 Cor. 6:9-11). We are recipients of God’s grace, and from Jesus, there is a fountain, a fullness of grace and power for all of us—let us just touch the hem of His garment with the least amount of faith, and we shall know this grace in its fullness! (John 1:16-18; Col. 2:9; 2 Tim. 2:1). “…Be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 2:1).
• “For All the Saints”. Let us remember that saints before us have been persecuted and have lived under far worse cultural and political situations, and the Gospel has thrived and souls have been abundantly sanctified! (Acts 2:27; 9:31; 12:24; 16:5; Heb. 11:32-40). Let us remember the happiness or blessedness that Jesus says characterizes disciples who stand for the truth in times of opposition, and the full reward that Jesus will grant us by His grace for being faithful (Matt. 5:10-12; Rev. 6:9-11; 14:12-13; 22:12; cf. Isa. 40:10; 62:11). “Well done! …Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:21, 31-34). Get your hymnal out today and sing ‘For All the Saints’ to remind you of your privilege of being in such a glorious family!
• A “Pilgrim’s” Progress. Remember that you are only guests here–pilgrims, sojourners on this earth with eternal life and treasure safely preserved for you in heaven by the Lord Jesus Christ! Remember that although you have callings and a stewardship to tend to faithfully here in this world as pilgrims on the way in the wilderness, your ultimate citizenship is in heaven, and from there you are patiently awaiting a Savior who will restore all things! (Gen. 23:4; Psa. 39:12; Psa. 119:19; 1 Pet. 1:5ff; 2:11; Phi. 3:20-21; Rev. 21:1-7). Remember that the nations (including the USA) are “like a drop from a bucket” (Isa. 40:15). Remember that as members of Christ’s Church, you are part of the only true and holy nation under God that will never perish, nor pass away! (1 Pet. 2:9-11).
• Be Holy. Remember to live holy lives before the world, glorifying God in your bodies, watching and praying, communing with God, fulfilling your calling or work with joy, gladness and obedience to God’s commandments. Remember that we have all we need in Christ for life and godliness, and let that be evident in our lives. Remember to live the Gospel, to speak the truth in love, to avoid falsehood, sinful and angry passion, stealing, but rather showing mercy, tenderheartedness, humility, and forgiveness (1 Thess. 4:3-5; 1 Cor. 6:19-20; Eph. 4:25-32). Remember you who teach others to live godly lives, and to do God’s commandments, do you teach yourself? (Rom. 2:21). Especially in times of persecution, we need to live in reliance upon God’s grace showing the truth of Titus 2:11-14, and that while we are not perfect, we nevertheless, are growing in grace and the knowledge of the Lord! (2 Pet. 1:3-12). Watch and pray for your battle is not against flesh and blood, but a spiritual battle, and the Accuser of the Brethren seeks to devour you and expose your secret sinful heart and life (Rev. 12; 1 Peter 5:8; Eph. 6:10-18). Go now to the Searcher of Hearts, confessing your sin and walking uprightly (Psa. 139:23-24; 1 Jo. 1:7-2:2).
• Mercy. Remember to pray for God to have mercy on many enslaved, sinful souls who cannot be happy in their lifestyle because they’re made in God’s image, and will never find satisfaction or fulfillment in their sinful behavior. Pray that God doesn’t give them completely over to their sins, and lost sinners will acknowledge that they know God’s righteous decree against such behavior (Jer. 2:19; Rom. 1:26-32). Be merciful, knowing that only God can free those enslaved to sin! (John 8:32; Eph. 2:1-4; 2 Tim. 2:24-26). Pray that you will have Jesus’s love for sinners combined and balanced with a love and zeal for righteousness and truth (contrast Jesus as well with Samaritan woman and Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem). Jesus was merciful, but also vehemently zealous for what was right!
• Wisdom. Pray for wisdom and the fear of God for your church leaders and elders in our congregation and denomination (Prov. 1:1-7; James 1:5-8).
• Glory to God! Pray that Christ would be glorified and enjoyed daily in our lives! Pray that God would bring great glory to Himself through this major historical event in the life of our country.

Beloved, these are just a few things that come to mind to encourage us and to guide us in times like these. How shall we then live? Knowing God is God, and has a purpose to glorify Jesus Christ and to sanctify His saints through every difficulty. Let us know that He is with us and will never leave us nor forsake us! Let us say with courage, fearlessness, faith and great confidence:

“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
– Jude 24-25 (ESV)

In Christ’s love, I am praying for all of you this day! Your elders have been praying and thinking about these things, and I am confident that we will have further encouragement and guidance for you, God’s congregation at KCPC, as the Lord Jesus leads us through this next stage of our pilgrimage.

Pastor Biggs

^ESV Romans 8:6-13 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. ⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. ¹² So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

What is mortification? A habitual weakening of sin. Although we are united to Jesus Christ by faith and sin has lost it’s dominion, or rule and reign over believers, nevertheless, sin remains in us, and is hostile to our spiritual growth (Romans 6-8).

Mortification consists in constantly fighting against sin. We must understand that the Christian life is a conflict, it is a great spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:10-20).

• Know that God hates sin and will judge it.
• Know that you have such an enemy to deal with.
• Labor to be acquainted with the ways, wiles, methods, advantages, and occasions of its success.

You must be a believer to mortify sin. Without the Spirit of God, you cannot mortify (Rom. 8:13). There must be sincerity and diligence in a universality of obedience. Read 2 Cor. 7:1. Consider whether your lust has these dangers symptoms accompanying it:

• It has long corrupted your heart and it has had power and prevalency over you for some time.
• Secret pleas of the heart approving of itself and making excuses for why you do it in order to remain in you.
• Rather than fight the sin, you seek to find evidences of good things you do to give you peace, rather than dealing with the sin that is corrupting you through its power.
• Has it had a frequency of success in you?
• You have sought to mortify the sin simply by being frightened of judgment or the consequences for you and your reputation.
• Has God dealt with you about your sin, particularly through the discipline of affliction?

Get a clear and abiding sense upon your mind and conscience of the guilt, dangers and evil of your sin. Load your conscience with the guilt of your sin. Bring your lust to the Gospel, not for relief (yet!) but for further conviction of its guilt; you might say:

“What have I done? What love, what mercy, what blood, what grace have I despised and trampled on! Is this the return I make to the Father for his love, to the Son for his blood, to the Holy Spirit for his grace Do I thus treat the Lord in this way?! Have I defiled the heart that Christ died to wash, that the blessed Spirit has chosen to dwell in? …Do I account communion with him of so little value? …I daily grieve that Spirit whereby I am sealed to the day of redemption?!”

Constantly long and breath after deliverance from the power of sin (Rom. 7). Consider whether the distemper is rooted in your nature and increased by your constitution/temperament (Psa. 51; 1 Cor. 9:27). Rise mightily against the first actings and conceptions of your distemper. Use and exercise yourself to such meditations as may serve to fill you at all times with self-abasement and humility before God and thoughts of your own vileness.

• Think on the majesty and holiness of God and His infinite distance from you.
• Think much of how little you yet know Him and seek to commune with Him.

Do not speak peace to your soul before God speaks it to you; but hearken to what God says to your soul. Raise your heart by faith to an expectation of relief from Christ. Consider Jesus’ mercy, tenderness and kindness to sinners, as He is particularly Priest at God’s right hand. Consider his faithfulness to help you as he has promised. Act faith on the death of Christ: Have an expectation of power and expectation of conformity to Him by His Spirit.

• The Spirit of Christ alone reveals unto us the fullness of Christ for our relief.
• The Spirit of Christ alone establishes the heart in expectation of relief from Christ.
• The Spirit of Christ alone brings the cross of Christ into our hearts with its sin-killing power.
• The Spirit of Christ is the author and finisher of our sanctification.

“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret…- 2 Corinthians 7:10a

How do we know that we have truly repented from our sins, and turned by faith to God in Christ?

William Perkins (1558-1602), one of the Pioneers of Reformed Spirituality wrote with clarity on this topic. He  defined repentance as “a work of grace, arising from godly sorrow; whereby a person turns from all her sins unto God, and brings forth fruits worthy of an amendment of life by faith in Christ.”

Genuine Repentance Consists of Seven Things:¹From William Perkins, “Two Treatises: Of the Nature and Practice of Repentance, and Of the Combat of the Flesh and the Spirit,” quoted in The Works of William Perkins (Grand Rapids, MI: … Continue reading

• The knowledge of the law of God, the nature of sin, the guilt of sin, and the judgment of God. One realizes what God requires, that one’s sins has offended God and transgressed his commandments; there is a realization of guilt and condemnation, and that punishment from a Holy God is deserved.
• The application of this knowledge to the heart by the “Spirit of bondage” (Rom. 8:15ff). The Spirit first acts as the “Spirit of bondage” to show how one is enslaved to sin (John 16:8-11; John 8:32; Eph. 2:1-3).
• The consequent fear and sorrow. There is real godly grief and sorrow accompanied by fear of punishment (1 Jo. 4:18).
• The knowledge of the glorious Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ for sinners! God saves repentant sinners by faith alone, receiving His perfect righteousness alone, understanding that Jesus has been condemned in the sinner’s place, and has removed transgressions as far as the East is from the West (Psa. 103; Rom. 5:1-11; 8:1-4).
• The application of this knowledge to the heart by the “Spirit of Adoption” (Rom. 8:15ff). One realizes that she is no longer a slave to sin, and under the just condemnation of God, but an adopted son who has been redeemed to please her Heavenly Father by faith and obedience (Rom. 6:17).
• The consequent joy and sorrow. The response is true and deep and abiding joy with sorrow to ever have offended such a Glorious, Gracious, and Wonderful God!
• The “turning of the mind,” whereby a person determines and resolves with himself to sin no more as he has done, but to live in newness of life. One resolves in reliance upon God’s grace, to avoid sin, and seeks God for new grace and strength each day to put it to death and live a godly life (Rom. 6:1-14; 7:16-25; 8:5-14; Col. 3).

Christus meus est Omnia

“Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.”
– Ephesians 6:24

How do you know that you love the Lord Jesus Christ “in sincerity”? What are the genuine characteristics of a soul that loves Jesus in sincerity?

* Sincere Love is Gospel Love: This sincere love for Christ is focused on His Person and His gracious excellencies as He is revealed in the Gospel. Sincere love for Christ is a “Gospel love”. It is a love driven to seek union and communion with Him because of the wonderful grace that He has bestowed on you (1 Jo. 4:7, 16, 19).

* Sincere Love is Love that Surpasses Knowledge: This sincere love for Christ is more than a rational, mere notional love. We must have knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ from the Holy Scriptures, but we must have more than a rational love. Our love should be described as “surpassing knowledge” (Eph. 3:17-19); a love that is felt easier than expressed sometimes.

* Sincere Love is Delighted by God: This sincere love for Christ delights in Him. When the believing soul, having taken a view by faith of the excellencies of God, and its own sweet relation to Him as a gracious Father in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is carried forth in a holy rapture and exultancy of spirit; it is “ravished”. Sincere love wants to delight in and praise God; it is “joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Pet. 1:8).

* Sincere Love Says “Christus meus est omnia: My Christ is My All!”: This sincere love for Christ accounts Christ to be the soul’s greatest treasure. There is a longing desire to enjoy the nearest communion with Him. The soul that loves Christ will love other things, but will describe nothing else but Christ as “Altogether Lovely” (Song of Solomon 5:10, 16). The soul that loves Christ will say as its motto: “Deus meus est omnia!” “My God is my all!” Their confession will be “Whom have I in heaven but You, and what on earth do I desire but You?” (Psa. 73:25). The love-sick soul often says: “None but Christ.” The worthy and noble love values not Christ merely for what He brings, as by what He is in Himself.

* Sincere Love Meditates Upon Christ: This sincere love for Christ desires to be often meditating and contemplating about Him; it is a soul “smitten” by Him. “The soul dwells as much where it has fixed its love, nay, more there, than where it has its most natural operation.” True love will find Christ enthroned in heaven but will be frequently sending up their hearts to Him.

* Sincere Love is Wholly Devoted : This sincere love for Christ is willing to part with all for Him; it is a soul wholly devoted and undivided. This love makes one willing to lay down one’s life for Him (Matt. 10:37ff; Rev. 12:11).

* Sincere Love Serves: This sincere love for Christ will be a willingness to stoop to the lowliest service for Christ to be honored. This love stoops with Christ to serve and wash filthy feet (John 13:5-14).

This sincere Gospel love for Christ manifests the following characteristics particularly:

* “I was lost, but now I’m found—and redeemed!” Where love of Christ is sincere, there has been a conviction of the soul’s undone condition without him, and of the sufficiency, ability and willingness of Christ to recover the soul out of that sinful condition (Isa. 61:1-3; Matt. 11:28-30). If there is no conviction of our sinful condition, there can be no love; if there is no contrition of heart for sin, there can be no affection in the soul for Christ (1 Jo. 1:7-2:2; 1 Pet. 1:5-8).

Behold, the love of Jesus Christ for sinners in His ability and willingness to relieve sinners from condemnation and guilt, and to reconcile us to the Father! Glory, Hallelujah!! (Rom. 5:1-11). It is brokenness of heart (Isa. 66:2b), and a sense of approaching ruin, that gives the soul the first occasion of acquainting oneself with Christ’s goodness and grace (Matt. 9:12; Acts 9:5-6). This love grows by the work of the Holy Spirit as we continue to understand the depths of what God in Christ has done for us, until we are able to say: “I am sick with love for Him” (Song of Solomon 2:5, 5:4, 10). Ask yourself: “Have I ever found myself lost and undone; Not able to bear up against the terrors of an accusing and condemning conscience? And then known under this conviction to put my whole trust and faith in the Lord Jesus?”

* “I cry ‘Abba, Father’!” Where love of Christ is sincere, there has been an experiential impression, taste, and feeling of the Father’s love to the soul in Him; there is some sweet assurance of the Father’s love as it is revealed in Jesus (Rom. 8:15; Rom. 5:5). There has been a realization that the only reason why you have closed with Christ and have become one of His disciples is because of the Father’s love to you, drawing you, and enabling you to come to Christ (John 6:44; 14:6, 9; 2 Cor. 5:19; 1 John 4:19). Do you know that you have been reconciled to God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ (John 3:16-18), and has declared you righteous in Christ, and has adopted you as His dear child? Have you felt these bonds of divine love that have been thrown upon you? Do you see God to be your ultimate happiness?

* “I love Jesus the God-Man!” Where love of Christ is sincere, our affections are drawn to Jesus not merely as a historical person who has been historically made known to us, but according to His true character as God and Man in one Person, as one filled with the Spirit of God above measure, as one who laid aside His Divine splendor and majesty to be an obedient servant unto death, raised from the dead and enthroned at God’s right hand (John 1:14; 3:36; 8:58; Phil. 2:5-8; Acts 2:29-34).

These four graces will be evident in our lives if we know Jesus in this way:

* A humble and reverent admiration of Jesus Christ: We will have an admiring love for Him. Though we admire Him, we do not fully comprehend Him (Song of Solomon 5:16; Eph. 3:17). We admire and love Him as God and man (John 1:1,14; 1 Tim. 3:16). As we meditate on His glorious Person, our souls will have a holy rapture of admiration and this admiration will always be increasing.

* Sweet and refreshing delight in Jesus Christ: It is a delighting, rejoicing love (Song of Songs 2:3). Aquinas said: “Love is the rest and satisfaction of the soul in the object loved.” The nature of love lies much in delight (1 Pet. 1:8; Psa. 37:4). If you love Jesus Christ, you will be delighted with Him!

* Deep gratitude and thankfulness: It is a grateful and thankful love begotten in the soul because of the sense of Christ’s unspeakable goodness and condescension toward sinners. Meditating upon this often helps maintain gratitude and increase it for the glory of God. Christ voluntarily undertook our salvation and redemption, even though we were God’s enemies (Rom. 5:8). He took our human nature upon Himself permanently (Heb. 2:16). Christ was unwearied in His diligence, and invincible patience in fulfilling the law of God that He had willingly submitted Himself unto. Although the terror of the Lord was against Him in Gethsemane and on Golgotha, He went quietly and submissively like a lamb to the slaughter for sinners (Isa. 53:7). Christ was willing to communicate to sinners the benefits purchased for us, bidding us to do nothing but to turn to God in repentance and believe in Him (Matt. 11:30; Rom. 10:8-10). Thinking upon His great work for you, will you not now empty your heart into the bosom of the Lord with love and thankfulness for who He is and what He has done for you?!

* Supporting hope and confidence: It is a hoping and condiment love; it is not a languishing affection, but that which brings life into the soul from the fullness of that Christ it feeds upon by faith (John 1:16; Col. 2:9; 1 Jo. 4:18). “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?! …We are more than conquerors in Him who has loved us!” (Rom. 8:35-39). Love gives confidence and boldness of access to Christ, and unto God the Father by Him at the throne of grace (Heb. 4:16). This hopeful and confident love will manifest itself in enduring and persevering to the end.

To be continued. Part 2: “How may that love for Jesus be kindled and enflamed? How may it grow and increase in my life?

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs

Six Ways to Keep Your Heart before God

“Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this…” (1 Tim. 4:16a); And… “Is it I, Lord?” (Mark 14:19).

1. Converse with your heart. Listen to what it is saying, both evil and good. Where is it disputing with God? Where is it joyful? What is making it joyful? Where is it angry, vengeful, bitter, lusting? What is it resisting, fearing, loving too much?

   “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” – Proverbs 4:23
   “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” – Psalm 139:23-24

2. Let the evils of your hearts grieve and humble you. God allows us to see the evil that still remains in our hearts to humble us, and to make us more dependent upon Him. Where can self-righteousness and pride spread out in your heart, when you see the evil that still remains, and your desperate need of God’s grace in Christ?!

   “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:6-7
   “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?!” – Romans 7:24
   “He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” – John 21:17

3. Pray for grace. This is what we need, isn’t it—more grace??! There’s a place for guilt when we see the evils of our sin, so that we will not be tempted to think that we are without sin, or have no real conflict on our hands, and we can confess our sins, knowing He is faithful and just to forgive us and restore us.

   “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret…” – 2 Corinthians 7:10
   “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:8-9

4. Resolve to walk more carefully God. We are here on this earth ultimately for God’s glory and the enjoyment of Him. When we see the deeper needs we have for Him, let us seek to repent of our indifference, apathy, and ingratitude, and seek to live soberly, and to watch and pray.

   “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you…” – Job 42:5
   “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” – Mark 14:38
   “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.” – Luke 21:34

5. Be jealous (zealous!) for holiness and afraid of sin. Pursue holiness, stretching forth yourself agonizingly, reaching to the goal of taking hold of Christ Jesus more completely in your life, because He has taken hold of you! Remember that each sin has enough danger in each drop of sin to ignite all of hell on fire, to provoke God to manifest His just and eternal wrath, and to destroy lives and people.

   “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” – Hebrews 12:14
   “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:12-14

6. Be aware of God’s omniscience. Be the same person publicly that you are privately, because the same God sees all things. Let Him be pleased by your life in Christ. You are a His child in Christ, and He wants to say: “This is my Beloved Son,” not only with regard to your justification, but also in the fruits of your sanctification.

   “The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man…” – Psalm 33:13

   “For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps.” – Job 34:21

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be enslaved by anything” (1 Cor. 6:12).

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Here is something I learned from our Puritan forefathers recently. We desire to sincerely please our Lord and Savior who has redeemed us (2 Cor. 5:9; Heb. 11:6). Here may be something that will help us. These are six things to ask when you’re about to spend time and/or money (all from 1 Corinthians).

Six things to ask yourself when you’re about to spend extremely valuable time and/or money:

1. Does this thing I’m about to do and/or spend money on glorify God (1 Cor. 10:31)?

2. Is this thing I’m about to do and/or spend money consistent with the Lordship of Christ (1 Cor. 7:23)? Pray about each thing, and ask: “Will God be pleased?”

3. Is this I’m about to do and/or spend money consistent with biblical examples? (1 Cor. 10:1-11)

4. Is this I’m about to do and/or spend money on lawful and beneficial for me, mentally, spiritually, physically (1 Cor. 6:9-12)?

5. Does this I’m about to do and/or spend money on going to help others positively and not hurt others unnecessarily (1 Cor. 10:33; 8:13)?

6. Does this I’m about to do and/or spend money on going to bring me under any enslaving power (1 Cor. 6:12)?

May we redeem our time (and resources) wisely! Amen.

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” – ESV Ephesians 5:15-17

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In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs

“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens , Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” – Hebrews 4:15-16

The Heart of Christ in Heaven towards Sinners on Earth (1651) is a wonderful sermon series by Thomas Goodwin (1600-79) to stir up our affections to know the love of Christ that He has for us in His exalted state in Heaven. The subtitle of the sermon is “A Treatise Demonstrating the Glorious Disposition and Tender Affection of Christ, in His Human Nature Now in Glory, unto His Members, under All Sorts of Infirmities, Either of Sin or Misery.”

The immediate purpose of the sermon was to reject the popular idea that Christians in the post-apostolic age were at a disadvantage to Christians who knew Christ on earth because Christ was now glorified and less affected by humanity. Goodwin asserted from the Holy Scriptures that Christ feels strong affections, deep compassion, and emotional sympathy toward His suffering people even while seated at God’s right hand.

Goodwin said that the Bible “does, as it were, take our hands and lay them upon Christ’s breast, and let us feel how his heart beats…toward us, even now [when] he is in glory.”

It is important to understand how Goodwin defined faith, and how it could be powerfully used to build up and edify the Christian as it focused on Christ. Gordon Crompton says that Goodwin defined faith as the spiritual sight and knowledge of Christ. In Goodwin, “we see Christ’s spiritual excellencies and His glory, and our heart is taken with them.” Michael Horton asserts that Goodwin’s favorite definition of faith was this:

“Now this Spirit, when he comes down thus into the heart, works eyes, and feet, and hands, and all to look upon Christ, and to come to Christ, and to lay hold upon Christ…. And faith is eyes, and hands, and feet, yea, and mouth, and stomach, and all; for we eat his flesh and drink his blood by faith.”

What problem does Christ’s exaltation of passing into heaven pose for our faith? What is the solution?

The Problem: Goodwin recognized that sinful men might be put off by the words “a great high priest that is passed into the heavens” (Heb. 4:15). Believers might think that the greatness of the exalted Christ might cause Him to forget us, and think something like:

…But now He has gone into a far country, where He has put on glory and immortality,” Goodwin points out. He sits as king at God’s right hand in heaven. His human nature is aflame with glory. How can we boldly approach such a king? How can we expect Him, in exalted power and holiness, to bear patiently with us when we are so weak, foolish, and sinful?”

Solution/Encouragement: Goodwin taught that Christ’s mercy is so certain that Scripture uses a double negative to forcefully declare the positive truth: “We have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.”

Our infirmities stir Christ’s compassion; Goodwin argues from Hebrews that “infirmities” include both our troubles and our sins. It is as if Jesus says to His own in His exalted state:

“Your very sins move him to pity more than to anger…even as the heart of a father is to a child that hath some loathsome disease, or as one is to a member of his body that hath the leprosy, he hates not the member, for it is his flesh, but the disease, and that provokes him to pity the part affected the more.”

Goodwin gives a helpful example of this idea; he wrote: “If your child becomes very sick, you do not kick the child out; you weep with him and tend to his needs. Christ responds to our sins with compassion despite His abhorrence of them.”

How can Christ be tender-hearted toward believers now that He is glorified and freed from all earthly pain and cares? Christ’s compassion flows out of His personal human experience. Hebrews 4:15 says that He “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Earlier, Hebrews 2:18 says, “For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor [tenderly help] them that are tempted.”

Today in heaven, Jesus in His human nature knows everything that happens to believers on earth. Jesus says to His church in Revelation 2:2, “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience.” This is possible because Christ’s human nature is filled with the Holy Spirit beyond measure, and the Spirit is like Christ’s eyes in all the earth (Rev. 5:6).

Knowing our distress here in this world of sin and misery, Our kind Lord Jesus remembers how He felt when facing similar miseries. Christ even knows the experience of sin’s guilt and the horror of facing God’s wrath against sin. Although personally sinless, Christ bore all the sins of His people. His knowledge of our pain along with the memory of His pain moves His heart to overflow with compassion.

We must remember that Christ is God and man. This is a very practical doctrine for us to understand as believers. As God, Christ is infinite, eternal, and unchanging. But, as a man, He has been lifted up to a new level of glory. Goodwin said,

“For it is certain that as his knowledge was enlarged upon his entering into glory, so his human affections of love and pity are enlarged in solidity, strength, and reality…Eph. 3:19, ‘The love of Christ,’ the God-man, ‘surpasses knowledge.’”

So Christ is not hurt by our sufferings, but His human soul responds to our sufferings with glorious, beautiful tenderness.

In Goodwin’s study of the Gospel of John, chapters 13 through 20, he showed Christ’s determination and passion toward His Beloved people. In his focus on John 13 to 17, he reminds us of Jesus’ sweet words in John 13:1: “Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” Even when Jesus’ mind was set on His imminent exaltation to supreme glory, Goodwin said, “his heart ran out in love towards, and was set upon, ‘his own:’…his own, a word denoting the greatest nearness, dearness, and intimacy founded upon propriety [or ownership].”

At that precise time, Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, demonstrating that Christ’s glorification would not diminish but rather increase His love and grace service to His people. Jesus said in John 14 to 16 that He would ascend to heaven to secure our happiness as believers. He would prepare a place for us, He said. And He would return like a bridegroom to bring us to our eternal home. Goodwin wrote,

“It is as if [Jesus] had said, ‘The truth is, I cannot live without you, I shall never be quiet till I have you where I am, that so we may never part again; that is the reason of it. Heaven shall not hold me, nor my Father’s company, if I have not you with me, my heart is set upon you; and if I have any glory, you shall have part of it.’”

In Goodwin’s words, Jesus said the Holy Spirit would comfort us with “nothing but stories of my love,” for He would not speak of Himself but as one sent from Christ.

Meanwhile, Christ promised to pray for us in heaven, and to send answers like love letters from a bridegroom to his beloved. He demonstrated His commitment to pray for us by interceding even then, as seen in John 17.34. Goodwin stresses that when Jesus ascended to heaven, His last earthly act was to pronounce a blessing on His disciples (Luke 24:50–51). His first official act as the enthroned king was to pour out the Holy Spirit upon His church (Acts 2:33)—all the works of the Holy Spirit testify of Christ’s present love for His church.

Goodwin asks: Does a minister preach the gospel by the Holy Spirit? It is because of Christ’s heart for sinners. Does the Spirit move you to pray? It is because Christ is praying for you. Does the New Testament express Christ’s love for sinners? It was all written “since Christ’s being in heaven, by his Spirit.”

Goodwin proved Christ’s compassion for His people from each Person of the Triune God. Goodwin explained that Christ is compassionate because of the influence of the Trinity on the ministry of Christ. The doctrine of the Trinity profoundly shaped Goodwin’s theology. Goodwin believed the ancient doctrine that “the external works of the Trinity are undivided”—that is, everything God does in creation, providence, and redemption is the work of all three persons in cooperation with each other, each acting in His own distinct manner. Christ’s ministry of compassion flows from the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

God the Father gave Christ the office of high priesthood to exhibit mercy and compassion. Goodwin says that the priesthood “requires of him all mercifulness and graciousness towards sinners that do come unto him…. As his kingly office is an office of power and dominion, and his prophetical office an office of knowledge and wisdom, so his priestly office is an office of grace and mercy.”

Everything the Father sent Christ to do, He has done for us. As Goodwin expounded, Christ died for us; He rose for us; He ascended into heaven for us; He sits at the right hand of God for us; He intercedes for us. From beginning to end, our high priest acts as the Father’s appointed surety and representative of His elect people.

The Son’s beautiful heart is a manifestation of the Father’s beautiful heart. So Goodwin invites us,

“Come first to Christ, and he will take thee by the hand, and go along with thee, and lead thee to his Father.”

In seeing the Father’s loving heart, we are assured that His obedient Son will love us forever. Goodwin also cites Matthew 11:28–29, which reveals Jesus as God’s exalted Son. But Jesus also says in these verses, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

Therefore, Goodwin said, we are to take the sweetest thoughts we ever had of a dear friend and raise them up infinitely higher in our thoughts of the sweetness of Jesus. What a friend we have in Jesus! His divine nature as the Son of God proves that He will have compassion on every sinner who comes to Him.

How did the Second Person of the Trinity become human like us? Luke 1:35 says that the Holy Spirit worked a miracle in the womb of a virgin. Goodwin writes,

“It was the Spirit who overshadowed his mother, and, in the meanwhile, knit that indissoluble knot between our nature and the second person, and that also knit his heart unto us.”

But Goodwin says that the Spirit did more. All the “excellencies” or graces that filled Christ’s human nature were a result of the Spirit’s work in Him. Goodwin’s comforting and cogent argument here is that “if the same Spirit that was upon him, and in him, when he was on earth, doth but still rest upon him now he is in heaven, then those dispositions must needs still rest entirely upon him.”

The Holy Spirit empowered Christ’s human nature to be a channel of God’s mercy to us. Christ’s human heart has a greater capacity for kindness than the hearts of all men and angels. God is infinitely merciful. Christ’s humanity does not make Him more merciful, but makes Him merciful in a way suited to our needs. The incarnation does not increase God’s mercy, but brings His mercy near to us.

What are the four applications to believers that Goodwin gives in The Heart of Christ? How do they apply to your life?

• Christ’s heart of compassion affords us the strongest encouragements against sin. We know that Christ is not at rest in His heart until our sins are removed. Those sins move Him more to pity than to anger even though He hates them.
• Whatever trial, temptation, or misery we may suffer, we know that Christ also endured it and that His heart moves to relieve us in our distress.
• The thought of how much we grieve Christ’s heart by sin and disobedience is the strongest incentive we have against sinning.
• In all our miseries and distresses, though every human comforter fails, we know that we have a Friend who will help, pity, and succor us: Christ in heaven.

Dear believers, how full of compassion Christ is for us as He sits upon His throne of glory. Surely, reflecting on this truth should help us rejoice in Christ and set our hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Goodwin writes,

“What is it to have Christ thus dwell in the heart by faith?… It is to have Jesus Christ continually in one’s eye, an habitual sight of him.”

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs

God’s revelation of Himself as Triune is very profitable for the spiritual experience of believers. God is a personal God who has revealed Himself so that His children might walk with Him in obedience, love, fear, and happiness. What a wonderful privilege to commune with this Glorious and Personal God! Communion, or fellowship with God is the mutual exchange of spiritual benefits between God and His people based on the bond between them in Christ. There can be no communion with God except we be in union with Christ by His Spirit.

The enjoyment of sweet communion is God’s communication or giving of Himself to us, and our communion of ourselves back to Him in love, obedience and delight in our union with Christ. In our communion, we may delight in each Person of the Godhead. The Bible teaches about this communion in John 14:23; Jesus says: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love Him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” In the benediction at the end of 2 Corinthians, we are taught about the grace of Jesus, the love of the Father, and the fellowship we have God by the Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14). Jesus teaches His people in Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” What a glorious fellowship and communion we should enjoy as believers with our God!

How specifically can you have communion with God the Father as a believer, both in receiving from Him and returning to Him? Remember to acknowledge the Father as initiating your salvation, who wills to save His own. The Father is revealed in Holy Scripture as the Authority, Fountain, Initiator, and Sender of Christ for salvation. Focus yourself particularly on His love—His free, undeserved, and eternal love for you (1 Jo. 4:8-9; 2 Cor. 13:14; John 16:26-27); the Father’s love is the fountain of eternal, free, and unchangeable love. We respond to His love by faith. We look to our Mediator whom the Father has sent and provided for us to see the Father’s love fully revealed for us. We as believers rest in this love, and trust Him and learn to delight, fear and obey Him. Perfect love from God the Father, revealed in Christ and received by us will cast away all of our fears and perfect us in His love (1 Jo. 4:18-19).

How specifically can you have communion with God the Son as a believer? You as a believer commune with the Son “in grace” (“Of His fullness…” -John 1:16). Focus on Christ’s “Personal Grace” to you: Personal grace is enjoying conjugal relations with Jesus spiritually like a husband and wife. Christ gives Himself to His Bride, and the saints receive, embrace, and submit in love to Him. Jesus “stirs” the affections of mutual delight in and desire to make us joyful in Him! The Lord enjoys or delights in His people. This is love like between two lovers. Christ woos and wins His bride in an ever-deepening relationship. Focus on Christ’s “Purchased Grace” for you: This is Christ’s work of redemption for you as it is revealed in the Gospel. This is all that righteousness and grace which Christ has purchased for sinners. We have acceptance with God in our justification; we have sanctification from God, in becoming like Him; and we have privileges with and before God as sons in our adoption and the many wonderful benefits he grants to we His heirs. We respond to His love by grieving over our sins, repenting, looking to His righteousness alone, receiving and believing His promises, and being obedient to Him as a joyful, grateful, and submissive spouse/Bride.

How do we relate our communion with God the Spirit to the communion with the Father and the Son? The Holy Spirit teaches believers about the love and grace of God toward us. He pours out the love of the Father and the Son in our hearts (Rom. 5:5). The Spirit gives a foretaste now of the enjoyment of God (Eph. 1:14), refreshing, comforting, blessing believers with love, joy and courage (John 15:11). The Spirit brings us into fellowship with the Father and the Son (1 John 1:3). He acquaints us, communicates unto us the love of the Father, and the grace of the Son in order to console believers. We respond to the Spirit by seeking to never grieve the Spirit, but pursuing universal holiness to please God, seeking to be careful and watchful to improve all of the Spirit’s gracious operations towards us, and always subjecting ourselves obediently to God’s Word and the Gospel ministry as He teaches us. Let us seek the Spirit; ask for Him to fill us with Jesus daily; let us be filled with the Spirit! Let us enjoy our communion with God. One day we shall see Him face to face! (1 Jo. 3:1-3).

Richard Greenham (1542-1594) was a Puritan pioneer in spiritual counseling according to God’s Word, and for establishing a seminar devoted to theology and its practical application. Greenham was much respected in the later Puritan movement, and often quoted in their writings. Greenham was a master of practical divinity, or the gift of applying the Scripture to the lives of God’s people.

How do we profit from reading the Word of God? We are to use these eight ways together.

1. Diligence: Dig in the Word of God with more zeal than a man digging for treasure in a field. Come to the Word with zeal. Open the Bible expecting treasures to jump out of you! Diligence will make the “rough places plain.” Seek the “Pearl of Great Price” (Matt. 13:46).

2. Wisdom: Be wise in the choice of matter, order, and time.

a. Matter: Don’t spend the bulk of your time on difficult portions of Scripture. Accommodate the reading to your own capacities (e.g. Gospel of John probably will be easier for you than Ezekiel).

b. Order: Be firmly grounded in all the principle points of doctrine by reading all of Scripture, seeking to know the “whole teaching” of the Bible, or the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). As you go on reading the Bible, seek to try to read all the way through (“A whole Bible makes a whole Christian”). Read along with sermon series that the congregation is going through in weekly worship.

c. Time: Read a little bit in morning, noon, and in the evening (Read with every meal, or connected to every meal time if possible). As you nourish your physical person, take time to nourish your spiritual person. Doing this can accomplish at least three chapters a day. Read some scripture each day. On the Lord’s Day, when you are able to read more scripture, seek to read as much Scripture as possible

3. Preparation: Approach Scripture with a reverential fear of God in His majesty. Determined to listen and lay up God’s Word in our hearts. Approach Scripture with faith in Christ who will open the book of God by His Spirit to help us. Let us believe He will teach us (Hab. 2:1-4). Approach with a sincere desire to learn with a good and honest heart. We don’t profit from Bible reading because we come “without a heart” (Psa. 63:1-5).

4. Meditation: A “half-way house” between Word and prayer. To read so that we can pray. You meditate and reflect, then you allow that to move you to prayer. Pray the Word. Meditation helps you digest the food of Scripture. Fill your mind with a portion of scripture, a verse, and/or an image, then ponder it, and think about how God in Christ is revealed, how much you need Him, how wonderful He is, and how this can be applied to your life. Then pray these truths about God and yourself, then read more, and meditate, and find new and fresh prayers!

5. Conference: Proverbs 2:7- Iron sharpening iron is the idea. These were called ‘conventicles’ where one would read the Scripture, talk about their experiences related to the scripture, and the Holy Spirit often blesses these meetings for spiritual gain. After you read it, talk about it, and this helps you to the remember all that you have learned, and it will bless others. Remember how often we are called to “stir up” or “edify” one another! (Heb. 10:24-25; Eph. 4:32; 5:19, 21; Col. 3:16).

6. Faith: Faith is the key to the profitable reception of the Word. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:1, 6).

7. Practice: Go out and obey, and do it. Practice will bring forth increase of faith and repentance. Practicing the Word is the best way to learn the Word: “Doers as well as hearers” (James 1:22).

8. Prayer: Prayer is indispensable from beginning to the end: precede our reading, accompany it, follow it. In private reading, we can pray and read and meditate, and meditate, and pray, and read. Pray as we read and think about what is being considered. For example, if a scripture teaches about idolatry, reflect on one’s own idolatry, and how God can help us, then pray that He will and that we will repent and live more faithfully.

1. Prayer– Come with your soul prepared to hear God’s Word by praying for God’s blessing.

2. Appetite– Come with holy appetite. You are about to feast with Christ.

3. Tender Teachable Heart– “What will you have me to do? Speak to me, dear Father.”

4. Be Attentive– Discipline your mind to be attentive with your mind in preaching; keep yourself from distractions as much as possible. Try to be as involved in hearing as the preacher is in preaching (Calvin taught this).

5. Receive with meekness– Receive with meekness the ingrafted word (James 1:21); this is a submissive frame of heart (Psalm 131). Through meekness the Word gets deeper into our souls and we are more able to receive it.

6. Faith– Mingle the preached word with faith as you’re listening and as you later reflect and meditate upon the truth. The chief ingredient of listening to a sermon must be faith in order to apply the word.

7. Retain– Retain and pray over what you have heard. Don’t let the sermon run through your mind like water going through a sieve. Our memory should be like the chest of the ark where the Law was placed. Go from your knees to the sermon and go from the sermon to your knees.

8. Practice– Practice what you have heard; live out what God has taught you.

9. Beg– For the effectual blessing of the Holy Spirit; this is the “swallowing of the medicine to heal you”.

10. Familiarize– Go home and speak about it to family, friends, others, so that you will become very familiar with the truths.

***Remember each sermon as if it was the last you will ever hear, because that just may be the case.***