Category: David’s Digest (Page 12 of 15)

David’s Digest: Do & Don’t Do Unto Others

August 19, 2016 / David & Susan Sifford / 0 Comments

Matt 7:12 – “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.“

This is often looked at in the positive — be charitable, help those in need, etc. However, the reverse is also implied — do not do to others what you would not have done to you. And God is paying attention!

Puritan Thomas Manton discusses this in his sermon on Matt 7:12:

III. The third thing to be considered is the illative particle, ‘therefore.’ From what is this inferred? In the foregoing verses our Saviour speaks of audience in prayer: ‘If ye, being evil, know how to give good things unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father know how to give good things to them that ask him? Therefore, whatsoever ye would,’ &c. Christ makes many notable arguments, and shows that God is ready to give good things to us: ‘Ask, and ye shall have,’ &c. He proves it from the kindness of earthly parents to their children. And, now, therefore, to intimate this, that if men have their prayers granted, they must observe this rule; they must perform all duties of civil righteousness, as well as be earnest in acts of piety. Upon this limiting it to the audience of prayer, it plainly implies three things:—

1. That God is the judge of human actions; he will take cognisance of this, whether you do to others as they do to you, and you shall hear of it in your dealing with God; that is the first and lowest thing; and remember, you have to do with God as much as they have to do with you. He shows this to bridle the excesses of those that are in power. There are a sort of men that think they may do anything if they can do it safely: Micah ii. 1, ‘That do evil because it is in the power of their hand.’ They eagerly prosecute their purposes and desires when they have power to effect them. Now a Christian should pause upon the matter, and consider not only what is possible to be done, but what is just and lawful to be done; and conscience should put a severe restraint when nothing else can hinder us; as Joseph said, Gen. xlii. 18, ‘This do, and live; for I fear God.’ He had a full advantage against them that wrought him so much mischief, but he had an inward principle laid up in his heart which begat a tenderness, ‘I fear God.’ But when men will do everything they are able to effect, and will do anything as far as their power will reach, remember you must come before God, and God can requite it, though they cannot. It is not conscience which governs the greatest part of the world, but interest. When it is not for men’s interest, they will do no wrong; but when they have power enough to do what they intend, they care not how they trample upon their own brethren, hate and pursue them with all that is evil. It is hard to avoid this snare when we are in power. Men forget God and abuse their power, and many times, by a strange providence, they are brought to suffer the like hardness themselves. When we see the oppressions of the innocent, and things carried so perversely, we are apt to say, Lord, who shall call these men into question? who shall accuse them? Why, the sighs and groans of the oppressed before God’s tribunal upon all persons depend every moment, these will be more authentic witnesses than any matters of fact can be produced in a lower court.

2. It implieth this, and it enlargeth the rule, that whatsoever usage we expect to meet with at God’s hands, the same in some measure we should dispense and deal out to others. He is willing to give all, provided you are willing to do to others as you would be done unto. All the mercy and goodness we expect from him, that must sway our practice and conversation with men. Whatever need others have of us, the same need have we of God: Eph. vi. 8, ‘Whatsoever good thing any man doth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.’ So for other relations. In the practice of this rule Christians are to consider not only how they would be dealt withal by men, but with God himself for Christ’s sake, which carrieth the precept far beyond the heathen latitude, and mightily enlargeth the rule. Alas! from God we have nothing but undeserved mercy, pardon of sins, &c. So we are to practise this rule, not only to those that love us, but to our enemies; we must show mercy to the worst for Christ’s sake. Strict justice, by the light of nature, requires the injurious should suffer according to the wrong is done to me. Ay! but what do I expect from God? Therefore, I am to consider how God will deal with me if I am rigid, severe, exact, and stand upon all things to the uttermost.

3. Another consideration which mightily enforceth the rule is, that if you do such things to others as you would not have them do to you, God will do that to you which you have done to others; for vengeance is his. They are not to do the same to you again, nor exact nor desire it, but God will. It is good to consider God’s judgment, of counterpassion or retaliation: ‘As thou hast done, so shall it be done to thee; thy reward shall return upon thine own head,’ Obad. ver. 15. They that were pitiless, merciless to their brethren in the day of their flight from Jerusalem, God will pay them home in their own coin: ‘And with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again,’ Mat. vii. 1, 2; Gen. ix. 6, ‘Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.’ It is not only a law what is to be done, but a rule of providence, what God will do. What more usual than malefactors to be dealt withal according to their own wickedness? There are many instances of this judgment of counter-passion, God doing to them what they have done to others.

Adonibezek, when the people caught him and cut off his thumbs and his great toes, said, ‘Threescore and ten kings having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.’ Usually this is the dealing of God. The Israelites had their children drowned in the water by Pharaoh. What then? Pharaoh and all his host, within a little while, all his nobility and men of war, were all drowned in the water. Ahab’s blood was lapped up by dogs in the place where they shed the blood of Naboth; and Jezebel, being more guilty, was devoured with dogs. Ahab only permitted this contrivance, but Jezebel acted it. Ahab humbled himself, therefore he was buried with honour; but Jezebel was entombed in the belly of dogs, and her flesh devoured by them. A gallows, we read, was made for Mordecai, and Haman was hanged on it himself. Henry the Third of France, in that very chamber where the massacre was contrived against the Protestants, there he was slain; and his brother before him, Charles the Ninth, was found flowing in blood in his bed, who had shed so much of the blood of God’s saints. Judges ix. 18. 19, compared with ver. 23, 24. When the men of Shechem had done great injury to the house of Jerubbaal, ‘Ye are risen up against my father’s house, and have slain his sons, threescore and ten persons upon one stone.’ What then? ver. 23, ‘Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, that the cruelty done to the threescore and ten sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother, which slew them.’ So also the observation of Austin is not to be passed by, upon the parable of the rich man; he that denied a crumb, could not find a drop to cool his tongue.

But you will say, Is it so with good men also, the children of God, if they should break his law, doth the Lord give them according as they have done to others? Yes; God observes the same justice; though he doth pardon the eternal punishment and take it off, yet here in this world, as to temporals, they shall have like for like. Jacob supplanted his brother; he came to Isaac as the elder, the younger instead of the elder; and Laban brings him the elder instead of the younger, Leah instead of Rachel. Asa, which put the prophet into the stocks, we read of him that he was diseased in his feet. Nay; I shall give you greater instances than that. Joseph’s brethren they were not flexible to their brother, and did not hear his cry; at length they came to Egypt upon an honest errand for corn in time of famine, and the man is inexorable: Gen. xlii. 21, ‘We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.’ What was the matter? How comes this to work? In a storm, things at bottom we see come up to the top; so ever sins in trouble will bubble up, and we shall see that we saw not before. How come they to remember the trouble of their brother, for they knew not Joseph, and twenty years were past since they sold him? They found the man as inexorable as they had been to their brother. God s judgment of counter-passion sets their conscience a-work. A greater instance we have of Paul, that consented to the stoning of Stephen, and was present too at his execution; and it is said, ‘They laid down their garments at Paul’s feet;’ and he himself takes notice of it with great remorse afterwards, Acts xxii. 20. Well, what then? after his conversion how doth God deal with Paul? Stephen had prayed for him too among the rest, ‘Lord, lay it not to their charge;’ yet God gave him some smart remembrance of his sin. When Paul and Barnabas had been preaching at Iconium, though Barnabas had irritated them as well as Paul, they called Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Barnabas, who was equal with him in preaching, God ordered it so he was not stoned; but Paul, that had consented to Stephen’s stoning, was stoned himself and carried out for dead. What need have we to be exact in observing what is required of us here, for the Lord by one means or other will return it into our bosoms. We have done that to others which we would not should be done to ourselves, and therefore will God do that to us which we do to others.

So, not only is this a command of God, but in summary:

God certainly takes notice of our actions to others
If we desire His mercies toward us, we need to be merciful (Matt 5:7)
And if we are unmerciful (including reviling, not forgiving, etc.) to others, that is inviting and basically asking God to be unmerciful, even in those same ways, to us, and we should expect them!
And this also applies to those who call themselves Christians! (albeit, for a true child of God, it is chastisement for their good, Rom 8:28, so they learn from their sin and pray and work to not sin in those ways anymore)

May we heed these words, and may we be full of charity, by God granting us His graces, and may we pray to these ends.

— David

David’s Digest: Forgive Them

July 15, 2016 / David & Susan Sifford / 6 Comments

Several years ago, I was reading through Puritan commentator John Gill’s commentary, going through the New Testament, and when I came to the last verse of this parable, something struck me:

Matt 18:23-35 – 23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.

24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.

25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.

26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.

29 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.

31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.

32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:

33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?

34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

And here is Dr. Gill’s notes on verse 35:

So likewise shall my heavenly Father
This is the accommodation and application of the parable, and opens the design and intent of it; showing that God, who is Christ’s Father, that is in heaven, will act in like manner towards all such persons, who are cruel and hard hearted to their brethren, and are of merciless and unforgiving spirits; for so it is said,

he will do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
The phrase, “their trespasses”, is omitted by the Vulgate Latin, the Arabic, and the Ethiopic versions, but is in all the Greek copies; and designs not pecuniary debts, though these are to be forgiven, and not rigorously exacted in some cases, and circumstances; but all injuries by word or deed, all offences, though ever so justly taken, or unjustly given; these should be forgiven fully, freely, and from the heart, forgetting, as well as forgiving, not upbraiding with them, or with former offences, and aggravating them; and should also pray to God that he would forgive also. It is certainly the will of God, that we should forgive one another all trespasses and offences. The examples of God and Christ should lead and engage unto it; the pardon of sin received by ourselves from the hands of God strongly enforces it; the peace and comfort of communion in public ordinances require it; the reverse is contrary to the spirit and character of Christians, is very displeasing to our heavenly Father, greatly unlike to Christ, and grieving to the Spirit of God.

Wow. Forgiving, even if I could be just in taking offense; forgiving and forgetting (like we would want God to) and not reviling the person; God’s forgiveness being withheld for my being unforgiving of others!

But here was the kicker for me: It’s easy to say I forgive someone who has done me wrong. But the level of forgiveness I need to have for someone is to where I want God to forgive them — for Him to forget their wrong against me, to where He never holds them accountable for it!

In honestly examining myself, that was much harder to do, as I think deep down I might desire what I may envision as “justice” on them by God.

But what if God gave me all the same kind of “justice” for my offenses that I deserve?

I have looked to God for help by praying to be able to actually and fully desire that God not hold to an offender’s account wrongs against me, as I believe that is the degree of forgiveness we need to have, and what I believe true forgiveness includes.

And we have prime examples from the Bible, from Christ and from Stephen, unsolicited by the offender, even right when the wrong to them was being done — the ultimate wrong someone can do to another — kill them!

Luke 23:34 – “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.”

Acts 7:59-60 – “59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.“

May God grant us this Christ-like forgiveness.

— David

David’s Digest: The Blessings of Death

May 20, 2016 / David & Susan Sifford / 2 Comments

Generally, people balk at the thought of death, and do much to hedge against it. Makes sense, and is quite natural. But for the Christian, physical death is part of the salvation process!

Puritan Thomas Manton has an excellent sermon called “The Saint’s Triumph Over Death” Here is a great description of the blessings of death from Manton. I include it all because it is all important:

2. The next question is, How far he has delivered us from death? We see the godly are obnoxious to [subject to] the changes and decays of nature, yea, to the strokes of violence, as well as others; and how are we delivered? I answer—It is enough that ‘the second death hath no power over us,’ Rev. xx. 6; nothing to do with us, Rom. viii. 1, ‘not one condemnation,’ etc. We may die, but we shall not be damned; and though we go to the grave, yet we are freed from hell.

But this is not all. In the first death believers have a privilege — they do not die as others do.

[1.] The habitude and nature of it is changed. That which is penal in death is now gone. It is not a destruction, but a delivery. Believers have wrong thoughts of death. We are delivered from it as it is a punishment and a curse. Now it is a blessing, one of Christ’s legacies to the church: 1 Cor. iii. 22, ‘All things are yours.’ While death was in the devil’s hands it was an enemy; but it is made a friend and a blessing in Christ, a passage from the vale of tears to the kingdom of glory, the end of a mortal life, and the beginning of that which is immortal. As Haman to Mordecai, it intended a mischief, but it proves a privilege.

To a wicked man it is properly an execution, but to the godly a dismission of their souls into the bosom of Christ: Luke ii. 28, ‘Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace;’ they quietly send away their souls, but a wicked man’s soul is taken away. It is twice so expressed: Luke xii. 20, ‘This night shall they take away thy soul from thee;’ and Job xxvii. 8, ‘When God taketh away his soul,’ &c. They would fain keep it longer, but God takes it away whether they will or no. A godly man resigns, and sends away his soul in peace. His life cannot be taken away — it is only yielded up upon the call of providence; and he dies, not because he must die, but because he would die. He may die sooner than he thought, but not sooner than he would; for when God wills it, he submits.

But to return. The blessing of death lies in three things:—

(1.) The funerals of the godly are but the funerals of their sins and frailties and weaknesses. Peccatum moritur, miseria moritur, homo non moritur. It is not the man dies, but the sin, the misery dies. All other means and dispensations do but weaken sin, but death destroys it. When God justifies, the damning power is gone; when God sanctifies, the reigning power is gone; but when by death we come to be glorified, then the very being of it is gone.

When the house was infected with leprosy, so as scraping would not serve the turn, it was to be digged down; we are so infected with sin that all other remedies are too weak, nothing but death will serve the turn. When ivy is gotten into a wall, it cannot be wholly destroyed till the wall itself be demolished: cut off the stump, the body, the boughs, the branches, still there are some strings that are ready to sprout again. So it is here, original sin cannot be destroyed, the constant groans of the faithful are, ‘Who shall deliver us from this body and mass of sin?’ Rom. vii. 24. But now death is a sudden cure; sin brought in death, and, as it were in revenge, death destroys sin.

(2.) There is a way made for a present and complete union of the soul with Christ: Phil. i. 23, ‘I desire to be dissolved and be with Christ.’ We are loosed from the body and joined to Christ. It is better a soul be separated from the body than absent from Christ. We have a union here, but not a presence.

Now judge you, which is better — to be present with the body or to be present with the Lord; to have the company of the body or the company of Christ? Here the soul is enclosed and imprisoned, as it were; but there thou hast the free enjoyment of Christ, without the clog of an earthly estate. The soul, as soon as it departs the body, goes immediately to Christ. As when Potiphar’s wife laid hold on Joseph’s coat, he escaped, so you leave your upper garment in death’s hand, but the soul flies to God. The body came from Adam, and runs in a fleshly channel, and what we had from Adam must for a while be mouldered to dust, to purge it from the impurity of the conveyance; but the soul, by a natural right, returns to God who gave it, and by a special interest to Christ, that redeemed and sanctified it by his own Spirit.

(3.) The body, which seems most to suffer, hath much advantage; a shed is taken down to raise up a better structure. ‘It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body,’ &c., 1 Cor. xv. 44. Here it is not capable of high enjoyments; it is humbled with diseases, unfit for duties.

Again, ‘It is sown a corruptible body, it is raised an incorruptible body.’ Here it is liable to changes, there it may live for ever without change and decay. If we love long life, there is eternal life. It is carnal self-love that makes us willing to abide in the flesh; if we did but love ourselves, but love our own flesh, we would not be afraid to die; for to die is to be perfected, to have body and soul free from sin and corruption.

[2.] The hurt of it is prevented. As you are chosen and sanctified in Christ Jesus, it cannot hurt you. I say again, death may kill you, but it cannot hurt you, it hath no power over the better part. Like a serpent, it feeds only upon your dust; nay, and for your bodies, that which dies as a creature, is sure to live as a member of Christ. The Lord Jesus is our head in the grave; your bodies have a principle of life within them; believers are raised by the Spirit of holiness; the same Spirit that quickens them now to the offices of grace shall raise their mortal bodies. So Rom. viii. 11, ‘He shall quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.’ The Holy Ghost can never leave his old mansion and dwelling-place. How many grounds of comfort have we against the mortality of the body! Christ is united to body and soul, and he will not let his mystical body want [lack] one sinew or joint. In the account that he is to make to the Father, he saith, he is to ‘lose nothing,’ John vi. 39. Mark, he doth not say none, but nothing. Christ will not lose a leg, or a piece of an ear.

Again, God is in covenant with body and soul; when you go down to the chambers of death you may challenge him upon the charter of his own grace. God is the God of Abraham’s dust, of a believer’s dust; though it be mingled with the remains of wicked men, yet Christ will sever it, Mat. xxii. 32. Christ proves the resurrection of the body by that argument, that ‘God is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ The ground of the argument is, that God made his covenant not only with the souls of the patriarchs, but with their whole persons.

Again, Christ hath purchased body and soul; so much is intimated in that place, 1 Cor. vi. 20, ‘Ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your bodies.’ Christ hath paid price enough to get a title to body and soul, and therefore he will not lose one bit of his purchase; the Lord will call the grave to an account, Where is the body of my Abraham, my Isaac, my Jacob? It is said, Rev. xx. 13, ‘The sea gave up her dead, and the grave gave up her dead, and hell gave up her dead.’ Let me note that hell is there taken for the state of the departed, or else what is the meaning of that passage that follows afterward, ‘and death and hell were cast into the lake that burneth’? etc. Well then, all the dead shall be cast up; as the whale cast up Jonah, so the grave shall cast up her dead. The grave is but a chest wherein our bodies are kept safe till the day of Christ; and the key of this chest is not in the devil’s hands, but Christ’s. See Rev. i. 18, ‘I have the keys of death and hell.’ When the body is laid up in the cold pit it is laid up for another day. God hath an especial care of our dust and remains; when our friends and neighbours have left it, Christ leaves it not, but keeps it till the great and glorious day.

[3.] We are eased from the terrors and horrors of death. Death is terrible, as it is a penal and natural evil, as I distinguished before.

(1.) As it is a natural evil. Death in itself is the greatest of all evils, said an heathen (Aristotle), which, in Job’s language, may be rendered, ‘The king of terrors,’ Job xviii. 14. We gush to see a serpent, much more the grim visage of death. Moral philosophy could never find out a remedy against it. Heathens were either desperate, rash, stupid, or else they dissembled their gripes and fears; but Christ hath provided a remedy, he hath delivered us not only from the hurt of death, but the fear of death: Heb. ii. 14, ‘To deliver them from the fear of death, that all their lifetime were subject to bondage;’ by his Spirit he fills the soul with the hopes of a better life.

Nature may shrink when we see the pale horse of death approaching, but we may rejoice when we consider its errand, it is to carry us home; as when old Jacob saw the chariots come from Egypt, how did his heart leap within him, because he should see his son Joseph. Death, however we figure it with the pencil of fancy, is sent to carry us to heaven, to transport us to Jesus Christ. Now, who would be afraid to be happy? to be in the arms of our beloved Jesus? Let them fear death that know not a better life.

A Christian knows that when he dies he shall ‘not perish but have everlasting life,’ John iii. 17. The world may thrust you out, but you may see heaven alluring, ready to receive you, as Stephen saw heaven opened, Acts vii. 56. There is an intellectual vision, or persuasion of faith, which is common to all the saints, though every one hath not such an ecstasy and sensible representation as Stephen had; yet usually in the hours of their departure faith is mightily strengthened, and acted so that they are exempted from all fear and sorrow.

(2.) As it is a penal evil. It is sad when death is sent in justice, and clothed with wrath, and comes in the quality of a curse. You know what was said before, ‘The sting of death is sin;’ they die indeed that die in their sins; death is a black and gloomy day to them, they drop down like rotten fruit into the lake of fire. Now Christ hath taken away the sting, the dolours and horrors of it; he hath taken away death as he hath taken away sin; he hath not cast it out, but cast it down, taken away the guilt and power of it, though not the being of sin: so the hurt, the sting is gone, though not death itself; it is like a serpent disarmed and unstinged, we may put it into our bosoms without danger. There are many accusations by which Satan is apt to perplex a dying soul; these make death terrible and full of horrors; but ‘they overcome by the blood of the Lamb,’ Rev. xii. 11, and get the victory of these doubts and fears; when sins are pardoned fears vanish. Luther said, Feri, Domine, feri, absolutus sum a peccatis meis — Strike, Lord, strike; my sins are pardoned.

[4.] It will be utterly abolished at the last day. We scarce know now what Christ’s purchase means till the day of judgment. It is said, 1 Cor. xv. 26, ‘The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death;’ it is weakened now, but then it shall be abolished as to the elect: Rev. xx. 14, ‘And death and hell shall be cast into the lake of fire, this is the second death.’ The dominion of death is reserved for hell; it must keep company with the damned, whilst you rejoice with God; for the present it is continued out of dispensation, it doth service to promote God’s glory; but then the wicked must share death and hell amongst them, and be kept under a dying life or a living death: but ‘all tears shall be wiped from your eyes,’ Rev. vii. 17; death shall be no more, and you shall take the harps of God in your hands, and in a holy triumph say, ‘O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?’ It is true we may say it, yea, and sing it now in hope, as some birds sing in winter; but then we are properly said to triumph.

The Christian MUST die to receive the reward of eternal communion with his/her love, Jesus Christ! It is something the Christian looks forward to, is terrifying to the wicked, and so our state before it is of utmost importance that we be sure we are in the faith when we die.

As infinite blessings came from the death of Christ, a Christian’s physical death brings great blessings, and is a means of by which a Christian fully receives Christ, the truest and highest blessing, and His graces!

— David

David’s Digest: 10 Years On & Why I Still Desire To Be Here

September 27, 2015 / David & Susan Sifford / 6 Comments

Ten years ago this past Wednesday, Sue & I arrived here after four days of travel from San Jose, CA, with all of our stuff. Fast forward, and most of that is junk to us now and a lot of it is gone, as our desires for how to live life here have changed from having all of the city comforts and entertainment to not striving to maintain those things as much anymore, continuingly trying to get away from them, with our sole dependence on God and His sufficiency and providence.

Much of the ten years have not gone like I had thought they would. You learn this quickly out here in day to day life. But, you also have to learn to let go of how *you* want things and let them happen in God’s timing.

We’re sometimes asked what the hardest part of being out here is, and my answer is the putting down of self, which is what is required of us. Being intimately involved with other families, much like the internals of a family, you get the best and worst of people, and of course, they get the best and worst of you. But, what do you do with that?

First, I’ve always looked at my commitment here to the group in a way similar to a marriage commitment, which requires a choice to work through things.

But second and most importantly, the graces of God are required.

The marks of a true Christian are not only having the truth in doctrine and beliefs, but the fruit of God’s Spirit. And the only way to know if you have that fruit is by evidence, and the only way for these to be made evident are by the testing of them to see if they are there. And they must be true graces written by God on the heart, not fake or external-only ones, which can look correct on the outside, but don’t last, and, just like the real ones, will be made evident in such an environment as here.

Gal 5:22-23 – “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

I’m going to focus on only a few of them because they are often the most difficult for a situation like out here.

Interacting with people, and in the spirit of denying ourselves, often requires longsuffering with what you perceive as faults, and meekness in not being easily offended or wanting to offend. Think about the INFINITE longsuffering and mercy of Jehovah God toward you, as a sinner deserving eternal hell and separation from God for the least sin, and how does that not lead us to want that kind of forbearance from us? Same with meekness. The carnal man bristles at this immensely, and this is when I believe many fall short in a place like this. And the flesh reeling against it leads to two paths — ask God for the graces to be merciful, longsuffering and patient, waiting on Him, and for graces for others; or try to mold others in your image. And with the latter, when that doesn’t work, cause further strife and division, and leave.

Longsuffering and mercy also require a trust in God in His work and His timing, letting the Almighty and All-Knowing work things out according to His perfect will and wisdom.

All of these can be coalesced into charity, or godly, Christian love, which includes meekly bearing the injuries received from others, humility, unselfishness, and being willing to undergo all sufferings in the way of duty. Read Jonathan Edwards’ “Charity and Its Fruits“, or listen to a reading of it here for the first half, and here for the second half.

Our lack of these graces should drive us to fervent prayer for them, if we truly desire to be molded in the image of Christ.

Why do I want to remain here? Because I believe this is a place where the graces of Christ are shown in me to be lacking, which affords me an opportunity to go to the Source of them and plead for them, and where they can be exercised, where they hopefully grow by the work of the Holy Spirit.

And what further helps is that there are the fewer worldly distractions out here, allowing us to focus on studies in the means of grace; and living the agrarian examples of the Bible and being reminded of spiritual reality via the temporal around us.

We also as a group have been going through John Owen’s “The Glory of Christ” for the last several years, and in my opinion, this is one of the, if not the, most important book outside of the Bible and Puritan Bible commentaries one can study.

And I have come to believe that none of this around me matters in how life’s circumstances roll out, but that the most important things are seeing Christ and His glory by faith now and by sight later, that God would grant my heart to be motivated out of love for Him with an eye to His glory, which evidences itself in obedience to Him, and love to and putting myself below the brethren around me.

I always pray the Lord glorify Himself through us, and that His glory and the benefit of His Church would be our primary focus, however long God graciously and mercifully grants us to be able to remain here.

Today we’re remembering the Lord Christ and His atoning work in the ordinance of the communion of the body of Christ, with like minded believers. There’s no place on this earth I’d rather be.

Luke 9:23 – “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

Matt 5:7 – “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”

1 Cor 13:1-7 – “1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. 4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”

Matt 7:3-5 – “3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”

James 1:2-8 – “2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. 5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

Psalm 27:14 – “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”

John 17:24 – “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.”

Psalm 73:25-26 – “25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. 26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.”

— David

David’s Digest: Of Reviling

April 22, 2015 / David & Susan Sifford / 3 Comments

I came across these verses as I was going through 1 Corinthians in Puritan Dr. John Gill’s commentary:

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 – “9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.“

Reviling is listed here by Paul as a great sin. But what does reviling mean? Here is what Gill says:

Nor revilers;
who are free with other men’s characters, load them with reproaches, and take away their good names; either openly or secretly, either by tale bearing, whispering, and backbiting, or by raising and spreading scandalous reports in a public manner.

That’s pretty clear, and convicting.

Reviling is highly divisive and strife-causing, allowing the devil to drive in wedges, which he knows works to destroy (Matt 12:25). Even secret reviling is a grievous sin. Sadly, I find this in myself at times, for which I ask God for forgiveness and that He grant me repentance and help against this.

David’s Digest: Charity and Its Fruits, Part 2

March 21, 2014 / David & Susan Sifford / 2 Comments

The Lord graciously granted that as a group we finish a study that has been extremely beneficial to me — Jonathan Edwards “Charity and Its Fruits.” I can’t tell you how important I believe this study is, and probably something that should be re-studied at times.

We posted the first 8 parts here, and now here are the last 9 parts, part 16 broken up into two parts:

Charity and Its Fruits, by Jonathan Edwards

Chapter 9: The Spirit of Charity the Opposite of an Angry or Wrathful Spirit

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Chapter 10: The Spirit of Charity the Opposite of a Censorious Spirit

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Chapter 11: All True Grace in the Heart Tends to Holy Practice in the Life

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Chapter 12: Charity, or a Christian Spirit, Is Willing to Undergo All Sufferings in the Way of Duty

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Chapter 13: All the Graces of Charity Connected

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Chapter 14: Charity, or True Grace, Cannot be Overthrown by Opposition

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Chapter 15: The Holy Spirit Forever to be Communicated to the Saints in the Grace of Charity, or Divine Love

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Chapter 16: Heaven a World of Charity, or Divine Love, Part 1

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Chapter 16: Heaven a World of Charity, or Divine Love, Part 2

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One thing that stuck out to me was the idea Edwards mentions that a Christian needs not only the LIGHT of truth and understanding, but the HEAT of Christian love in their hearts as well:

From Chapter 1, Charity, or Love, the Sum of all Virtue:

“(1 ) That love is an ingredient in true and saving faith, and is what is most essential and distinguishing in it. Love is no ingredient in a merely speculative faith; but it is the life and soul of a practical faith. A truly practical and saving faith is light and heat together, or light and love. That which is only a speculative, is only light without heat. But in that it wants spiritual heat or divine love, it is vain and good for nothing. A speculative faith consists only in assent; but in a saving faith are assent and consent together. That faith which has only the assent of the understanding is no better faith than the devils have, for the devils have faith so far as it can be without love. The devils believe and tremble. Now the true spiritual consent of the heart cannot be distinguished from the love of the heart. He whose heart consents to Christ as a Savior loves Christ under that notion, viz. of a Savior. For the heart sincerely to consent to the way of salvation by Christ cannot be distinguished from loving the way of salvation by Christ. There is an act of choice or election in true and saving faith, whereby the soul chooses Christ for its Savior, and accepts and embraces him as such. But as was observed before, election whereby it chooses God and Christ is one act of love. It is a love of choice. In the soul’s embracing Christ as a Savior there is love.”

We somewhat recently had a small ice storm roll through here, and when the sun shone again, and the ice started melting, I thought it was an interesting example of what happens when the heat of Christian love, from the Sun of Righteousness (Mal 4:2), is there:

The verse I mention in the video is 1 Cor 1:8: “Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.

Here is Puritan commentator John Gill on that verse:

Now as touching things offered unto idols
This was another of the things the Corinthians wrote to the apostle about, desiring to have his judgment in; it was a controversy that had been before moved, whether it was lawful to eat things that had been sacrificed to idols. This was considered in the council at Jerusalem, ( Acts 15:28 Acts 15:29 ) and it was agreed to, for the peace of the churches, that the Gentiles, among other things, be advised to abstain from them; which, it seems, the church at Corinth knew nothing of, for the controversy was now moved among them: some that were weak in the faith, and had not, at least, clear notions of Gospel liberty, thought it very criminal and sinful to eat them; others that had, or boasted they had, more knowledge, would not only eat them privately at home, having bought them of the Heathen priests, or in the common meat markets, where they were exposed to sale, and at public feasts, to which they were invited by their friends; but would even go into an idol’s temple, and sit and eat them there, to the great grief and prejudice of weak Christians; and what they had to plead in their own defence was their knowledge, to which the apostle here replies:

we know that we all have knowledge;
said either affirmatively and seriously; and the meaning is, that the apostles and other Christians knew, and were conscious to themselves of their light and knowledge, and were assured, and might affirm with confidence, that they all, or the most part, only some few excepted, see ( 1 Corinthians 8:7 ) had the same knowledge of Christian liberty as they had; knew that an idol was nothing, and that eating meats offered to them could not defile, or do them any hurt; for they were very sensible there was nothing common or unclean of itself, and yet did not think fit to make use of their knowledge to the grieving and wounding of their fellow Christians: or else this is said ironically, we are wise folks; you particularly are men of knowledge, and wisdom will die with you; you know that you know; you are very knowing in your own conceits, and very positive as to your knowledge. It was the saying of Socrates, that that this one thing he knew, that he knew nothing; but men wise in their own opinions know everything:

knowledge puffeth up;
not true knowledge; not that which comes from above, which is gentle and easy to be entreated; not sanctified knowledge, or that which has the grace of God going along with it; that makes men humble, and will not suffer them to be puffed up one against another; but a mere show of knowledge, knowledge in conceit, mere notional and speculative knowledge, that which is destitute of charity or love:

but charity edifieth;
that is, a man that has knowledge, joined with love to God, and his fellow Christians, will seek for that which makes for the edification of others; and without this all his knowledge will be of no avail, and he himself be nothing.

And of course, in the 1 Corinthians 13 text we’re studying, vs 2: “And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.“

All of these examples show, and Edwards says it directly, that it’s possible to have light — even true doctrine — without the Spirit savingly being there (like the devils that believe and tremble), as the sun can shine while everything remains frozen. But we know His Spirit is in our hearts by His fruit, summed up in Christian charity, being in hearts as well, evidencing itself as charity does, in the ways the Scriptures mention, and Edwards expounds upon, here in 1 Corinthians 13. This is why I believe this sermon series is so critical.

May the Lord grant us His light and heat, and we pray He mix His charity, in all of its forms, in all of our hearts, thoughts, words and actions, for His glory.

— David

David’s Digest: Entitlement

February 28, 2014 / David & Susan Sifford / 6 Comments

A few years ago, our teacher had mentioned something about being careful about not having a sense of entitlement. I hadn’t really ever considered that, and started to really ponder how I might be having a sense of entitlement.

What am I entitled to in this life?

As a sinner, I’m entitled to the wages of my sin: death (Rom 6:23) — physical, spiritual and eternal.

One of the first things I remember where I really saw it in myself was during the drought summer. It was day after day of relentless 100+ degree F heat. It was difficult, and I found myself murmuring about it.

I’ve always struggled when any of the animals we have die, as I talked about several years ago in this blog post, although it seems the Lord has granted some graces since then in this area.

Last year, when some things were being taken that I felt shouldn’t, I reacted extremely carnally toward the people, confronting them angrily, yelling at them. I felt badly about it that night and asked God to forgive me for that, and for besmirching His name and the group, and the next day I apologized to those involved, and my reaction was disgusting to me.

But my reaction really got me examining myself. Am I entitled to any temporal thing, as if God owes me something? Comfort, a place to live, the animals, shelter, money, a family, successful gardens or crops (even if I do all of the right things with them), good health, nourishment from our daily bread (which is one reason we say meal blessings, and as a type of asking for nourishment from spiritual food)…….my next heartbeat…….anything?

And then something clicked. I have been seeing things from my carnal, in-the-moment vantage point, and not seeing them as God sees them. I have been holding on to things temporal, when in reality everything is His to do with as He pleases, in any way He wants; every temporal thing around me is really just a fleeting vapor in time; whatever He is doing — in the temporal or spiritual realms — is for His glory and the benefit of His Church. And I saw my sense of entitlement.

And a sense of entitlement inevitably leads to ungratefulness.

In the end, am I really entitled to anything temporal? Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? How would that be answered in light of the Christian martyrs? Or with regards to those who have spent year after year after year in prison for Christ’s sake? How about all the times He allowed His people to come under bondage? If temporal freedom is an entitlement to man from God, and since God is all-powerful and sovereign over all, then it would seem to me that it follows that God would have failed in supplying man’s just due, thus making Him unjust, which obviously cannot be.

Am I my own? As Jonathan Edwards mentioned in “Charity and Its Fruits,” I am not my own — God owns me, and in each situation, I am due worse because of sin, and anything better than that is a grace and mercy from our Creator.

Am I entitled to things going “my way”? ANY thing to go “my way”? To go according to my expectations? I believe God is the only One entitled to such, and it also seems to me any sense of expecting things to go how I want them (ie. entitlement) is putting myself as god. Plus, even my best thoughts on how things should go are going to be tainted with sin, so why should I put any trust in them? Why shouldn’t I put my trust in Him who is all knowing, all wise, all good, all righteous, and all holy?

Is anything actually “mine”? Everything is God’s; and so, if anything is “taken from me,” even unjustly, it is by God’s sovereign will they were, for His glory. And so, there is nothing supporting any sense of entitlement to anything that I might think is mine, which is really only God putting it under my care for whatever time-span He deems right.

How about Job? First, by God’s decree, “his” things were taken from him, one might say “unjustly” (ie. not for anything specific he did). But second, Elihu upbraided him for justifying himself more than justifying God and His providence — see Puritan commentator John Gill’s commentary on Job 32:2, and then read the entire exchange between God and Job, and Job’s eventual responses (including his first response, which wasn’t good enough for God), in Job 32-42. The irony is that denying God’s justice in anything, even perceived injustices, is charging God with injustice.

Further, while I should observe Luke 6:31, “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise”, am I entitled to receive the same from others? What did the Lord Jesus, who actually *was* entitled to all glory, honor and respect, face here on earth?

Matt 22:15 – “Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.

Ps 56:5-6 – “5 Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil. 6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.”

Matt 26:14,16 – “14 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests,…16 And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.”

Luke 19:47 – “And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him,”

Matt 27:20 – “But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.“

And then they murdered Him (Acts 2:22-24).

If I want to follow Christ, here’s what I can expect, and what’s expected of me, since the servant is not above his master (Matt 10:24; Gill on Matt 10:24):

Luke 9:23 – “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.“

John Gill says “that afflictions, trials, and persecutions of one sort or another, are to be expected every day by the people of God, and to be continually submitted to, and borne with cheerfulness.” (emphasis added); and we learn that Christ even grew in the exercise of graces through His sufferings (Heb 5:8).

And then I ask for Jehovah God to help me wait on Him, in His perfect will, with strength of heart and courage (Ps 27:11-14), and be still and know that He is God (Ps 46).

Finally and briefly, am I entitled to salvation or God’s graces just because I say a prayer? To enlightenment from His word just because I read it? To the means of grace (the Bible, in my own language; teachings; etc.) themselves? These are all of grace, although I can and should indeed ask for them (for example, asking God for spiritual nourishment from our daily spiritual bread).

Anything I have has been sovereignly given to me out of pure grace and mercy from the Lord of all creation, all for His glory and in some way for the good of His Church (Rom 8:28; see Gill on this verse too), and I believe myself individually to be generally inconsequential in the matter.

I pray the Lord have mercy on me a sinner (Luke 18:13). I pray for forgiveness for my sense of entitlement and unthankfulness, and pray God grants me repentance from those, and help against them. May we see things as God sees them, and not hold on to anything in the temporal; may we pick up our cross daily, cheerfully, deny ourselves, and follow the Lord Christ; may He grant help in the cross-bearing; may we be thankful for His help and any graces He mercifully grants; and may He grant that His grace be sufficient for us:

2 Cor 12: 9 – “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.“

Gill:

And he said unto me
Either by what the Jews call (lwq) (tb) , “Bath Kol”, a voice from heaven, an articulate audible one; or by some extraordinary revelation of the Spirit of God; or by a divine impression upon his mind; whereby he was assured of what follows,

my grace is sufficient for thee;
the Lord always hears and answers his people sooner or later, in one form or another, though not always in the way and manner they desire; but yet in such a way as is most for his glory and their good: the apostle had not his request granted, that Satan might immediately depart from him, only he is assured of a sufficiency of grace to support him under the exercise, so long as it should last. There seems to be an allusion to the word (ydv) , “Shaddai”, an appellation of God, ( Genesis 17:1 ) , and signifies, “which is sufficient”: for God is all sufficient, and is a name that belongs to the Messiah. The angel whom God promised to the Israelites, to go before them in the wilderness, ( Exodus 23:23 ) , the Jews say is “Metatron” (which is a corruption of the word “mediator”), whose name is as the name of his master. “Metatron” by gematry is “Shaddai, one that is sufficient”: however, certain it is, that the grace of Christ is alone sufficient for all his people, to all saving purposes, in all their times of need. It is alone sufficient, not to the exclusion of the grace of the Father or the Spirit; but in opposition and distinction to anything else, that may be rightly or wrongly called grace; what men generally call common or sufficient grace, which, they say, is given to all men, is a mere chimera; no grace is sufficient but what is effectual, and that is only the grace of Christ: the light of nature is insufficient to any saving purpose; the Gospel, which is called grace, and is the means of grace, is insufficient of itself to salvation, without the powerful and efficacious grace of Christ going along with it; and so are gifts, whether ordinary or extraordinary: nothing short of the grace of Christ is sufficient grace; and this is sufficient for all the elect of God, Jews and Gentiles, Old and New Testament saints, the family in heaven and in earth, the people of God that are already called, and are to be called, and for the worst and vilest of sinners; and it is sufficient to all saving purposes, to the acceptance of their persons before God, to their justification in his sight, to their pardon and cleansing, to their regeneration and sanctification, to the supply of all their wants, and to their perseverance in grace unto glory; and it is sufficient in all their times of need, in times of bodily affliction, of violent persecution, soul desertion, Satan’s temptations, and at the hour of death, and in the day of judgment. The reason given to support this answer, and to strengthen the apostle’s faith in it, is,

for my strength is made perfect in weakness;
by the “strength” of Christ is meant, not his strength as the mighty God, but that communicative strength which he has, and is in him as Mediator, and which saints look to him for, and receive from him; this is “made perfect in” their “weakness”; not that their weakness can add perfection to his strength, for his strength is perfect in itself, not to say anything of the contradiction such a sense carries in it; but the meaning is, that the strength of Christ is made to appear, is illustrated and shines forth in its perfection and glory, in supplying, supporting, and strengthening his people under all their weakness; and if they were not left to some weaknesses in themselves, his strength would not be so manifest; see ( James 2:22 ) . The answer to the apostle’s request, supported with this reason, was wonderfully satisfactory to him; wherefore he concludes,

most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities;
in the weaknesses which attended either his body or soul, through the buffetings of the angel Satan, rather than in his visions and revelations; or rather than insist upon his departure from him, he is content things should be as they were, since he had such a promise of a sufficiency of grace to bear him up, under and through whatever was the pleasure of God concerning him; and since the strength of Christ was made illustrious through his weakness, so that Satan was not able to make any advantage over him, he is willing to remain in the same posture and condition:

that the power of Christ,
says he,

may rest upon me,
or “tabernacle over me”; he considered himself as a poor weak feeble creature, and the power of Christ as a tabernacle over him, as the power of God is represented as a garrison about the believer, ( 1 Peter 1:5 ) , sheltering, preserving, and protecting him from the insults of Satan, in every form and shape; see ( Isaiah 4:6 ) , where Christ is said to be a tabernacle, for a place of refuge, and for a covert.

Amen.

— David

Category: David’s Digest (Page 12 of 15)

David’s Digest: Do & Don’t Do Unto Others

David’s Digest: Forgive Them

David’s Digest: The Blessings of Death

David’s Digest: 10 Years On & Why I Still Desire To Be Here

David’s Digest: Of Reviling

David’s Digest: Charity and Its Fruits, Part 2

David’s Digest: Entitlement

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