Authority

I just finished the book Authority by Martyn Lloyd-Jones. It is broken up into three sections:

1. The Authority of Jesus Christ
2. The Authority of the Scriptures
3. The Authority of the Holy Spirit

The question of authority is one of the most important problems facing us today. People contend, "Is there such a thing as objective truth? Can truth be known? Can it be defined?"

"Truth is so great and marvelous that it cannot be defined and therefore you cannot say definitely that this view is right and that view is wrong," one may argue. One man wrote a book in which he set out to question the Christian faith and its authority. In the end, he suggests that truth cannot be defined in creeds and confessions and that the situation is something like this:

A man has been told that if only he climbs to the top of a certain mountain he will obtain a magnificent view. Very well, the man is excited to see this. He begins to climb and goes on and on. The sun beats down on him and the ascent becomes so steep that he has to get down on his hands and knees. Despite his struggles, he keeps going and at last he arrives at the summit, and there, behold, is the grand panorama. What does he do about it? Does he try to reduce that view to prepositions and state it in theorems? Impossible! The view is too grand and too magnificent and he just stands there with his eyes and mouth wide open in wonder and amazement. He cannot write out all he has seen and felt, nor define it. It's something that can only be experienced and felt.

It's with this backdrop that Martyn Lloyd-Jones approaches the topic of this book. Yes, there are different ways of getting to the summit and the experience differs from person to person, but the view itself and the magnificence of it is unmistakeably true. In the book Authority, the truth and authority of Jesus Christ, the Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit is asserted as the evidence is broken down in this outline:

1. The Authority of Christ

• God can be known -- He has revealed Himself
  
• The Central Fact of Christ - The whole Bible is about Him. History revolves around Him.
• The Witness of the Gospels and other Writers
  
• The Lord's own claims, actions, and direct assertions
• The Lord's death, resurrection, and ascension

2. The Authority of the Scriptures

• The context of the New Testament message - understood by expounding the Old Testament Scriptures
• Liberalism - man decides what is true
• The Right Approach
  
• Scripture must be viewed as a whole, matter of faith (Word of God is inspired through the Spirit of God)
• Truth is to be asserted not defended (There is no need for you to defend a lion when is is being attacked. All you need to do is to open the gate and let him out. --C.H. Spurgeon)
• The whole Bible is the Word of God
• The Uniqueness of Scripture - the manner of speech in the Bible is profound, simple, clear and brief. It is the power of God unto salvation.
• Scripture's own claims of authority - "The Word of the Lord came... God revealed... The Lord said..."
• The Lord Jesus Christ's Teaching - "It is written!"
• The New Testament view of the Old - "All scripture is given by inspiration of God..."
• The authority of the apostles recognized by the early church

3. The Authority of the Holy Spirit

• Test the spirits
• The Holy Spirit takes His own Word, illumines it, and takes our minds and enlightens them.
• The Church's attempts to recapture authority by rational arguments and worldly wisdom have by in large failed.
• The authority of the Spirit in the life of the Lord - "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me."
• The authority of the Spirit in the life of the believer
• The work of the Spirit in conversion
• The work of the Spirit in assurance
  
• The work of the Spirit in giving understanding
• The work of the Spirit in defense of the truth
• The work of the Spirit in evangelism
• The authority of the Spirit in the church

I'll conclude with excerpts from the last few paragraphs of Authority:

"I very rarely hear any Christians today praying for revival. What do they pray for? They pray for their own organized efforts, either at home or in various other lands. We should do that but the trouble is that we start with ourselves and our efforts and ask God to bless them. We are guilty of forgetting the authority of the Holy Spirit. We are so interested in ourselves and in our own activities that we have forgotten the one thing that can make us effective. When God sends revival He can do more in a single day than in fifty years of all our organization. That is the sheer history which emerges clearly from the long story of the Church. This is the greatest need today, indeed it is the only hope. Let us decide to spend our time before God pleading for revival. But foolish as we are, we will never do so until we come to the end of ourselves. We will do so only when everything else has failed and we have come to see what our Lord spoke in simple truth when He said, 'Without me you can do nothing' (John 15:5). Let us wait upon Him, let us plead with Him, let us learn to agonize in prayer and let our one prayer be:

Revive Thy work, O Lord, Thy mighty arm make bare; Speak with the voice that wakes the dead, And make Thy people hear. 'O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy' (Habakkuk 3:2)."

I'm currently reading The Surprising Work of God by Jonathan Edwards. In this book, Pastor Edwards recounts and outlines the miraculous events of the Great Awakening in which thousands of hearts from his town and far reaching regions were transformed, experiencing the insuppressible joy of Christ, trembling before the justice, holiness, and righteousness of God, and receiving the grace and mercy with deep humility and inexpressible ecstasy. This is the great revival that Martyn Lloyd-Jones pleaded for. This is the revival that we need today.

The Judge, Our Savior

God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished —- he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:25-26 NIV)

A judge had a reputation for extreme severity. It was aid that he "sat like a graven image on a case, seldom opened his mouth, and had a cold eye, which seemed to look into the very heart of a witness."

Everybody feared him. Even the reporters dreaded him -- or they used to. This is all over now. Once these reporters were accused of accepting bribes to withhold publication of the names of certain prominent people who had appeared in court. The charge was false, but the reporters didn't know how to clear themselves.

Help came from an unexpected source. The judge rose in his place and said that for years he had watched the reporters, knowing they would be tempted by bribes; yet he was convinced they had done their work honestly, and he could not remain silent while honest men were publicly charged with fraud. His statement was printed next day, and the charges were immediately withdrawn.

Afterward the judge became as silent as ever, and many people feared him as before. But the reporters no longer feared him, for they had learned that his searching eye was their protection; they read the hearts of man and knew his kindness to them.

As the reporters misread the character of the judge, so we sometimes mistake the character of God. We think of Him as a harsh, uncaring judge, aware of us only when we sin and earn His rebuke and punishment. We hope to forget God and be forgotten ourselves.

But all the time God has been trying to attract our attention. He looks upon us and calls to us. And when we finally look to Him, we find that He, the Judge, has acted to clear our names in the name and for the sake of His Son.

--John T. Faris

The Lord's "Much More"

"And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The Lord is able to give thee much more than this."
(2 Chronicles 25:9)

If you have made a mistake, bear the loss of it; but do not act contrary to the will of the Lord. The Lord can give you much more than you are likely to lose; and if He does not, will you begin bargaining and haggling with God? The king of Judah had hired an army from idolatrous Israel, and he was commanded to send home the fighting men because the Lord was not with them. He was willing to send away the host, only he grudged paying the hundred talents for nothing. Oh, for shame! If the Lord will give the victory without the hirelings, surely it was a good bargain to pay their wages and to be rid of them.

Be willing to lose money for conscience' sake, for peace's sake, for Christ's sake. Rest assured that losses for the Lord are not losses. Even in this life they are more than recompensed: in some cases the Lord prevents any loss from happening. As to our immortal life, what we lose for Jesus is invested in heaven. Fret not at apparent disaster but listen to the whisper, "The Lord is able to give thee much more than this."

Let us not fear the enemy till he actually comes, and then let us trust in the Lord.

--C.H. Spurgeon, Faith's Checkbook

Quotes about the Bible (Part 8)

"All Sacred Scripture is but one book, and that one book is Christ, because all divine Scripture speaks of Christ, and all divine Scripture is fulfilled in Christ."
Hugh of St. Victor (1096-1141)
German-Born Monk and Writer

"The only proper response to this word which Jesus brings with him from eternity is simply to do it. Jesus has spoken: his is the word, ours is the obedience. Only in doing of it does the word of Jesus attain its honor, might, and power among us."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1905-1945)
German Theologian
The Cost of Discipleship, 1937

"The Bible sanctifies and molds the mind into the image of Christ."
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)
English Nonconformist Preacher

The Few

Quotes about the Bible (Part 7)

"After reading the doctrines of Plato, Socrates, or Aristotle, we feel that the specific difference between their words and Christ's is the difference between an inquiry and a revelation."
Joseph Park (1830-1902)
English Congregationalist Preacher and Bible Commentator

"Have your eyes ever been opened to see the glorious excellency of Jesus Christ? Has the light of the Word of God ever shined into your hearts so as to see the excellency of the Word that teaches Christ and the way of Salvation by him? Has the Word of Christ been sweeter to you than the honey on the honeycomb?"
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
American Theologian
"What is Meant by Believing in Christ"
1752 Sermon to Mohawk Indians

"The Bible has been so many words to us -- clouds and darkness -- then all of a sudden the words become spirit and full of life because Jesus re-speaks them to us in a particular condition. That is the way God speaks to us, not by visions and dreams, but by words. When a man gets to God it is by the most simple way of words."
Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
Scottish Evangelist and Writer
"My Utmost For His Highest"

Through Trials, Sufferings, Warnings... Return to the Lord

Israel Has Not Returned to God

¹ Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria,
you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy
and say to your husbands, "Bring us some drinks!"

² The Sovereign LORD has sworn by his holiness:
"The time will surely come
when you will be taken away with hooks,
the last of you with fishhooks.

³ You will each go straight out
through breaks in the wall,
and you will be cast out toward Harmon, "
declares the LORD.

⁴ "Go to Bethel and sin;
go to Gilgal and sin yet more.
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
your tithes every three years.

⁵ Burn leavened bread as a thank offering
and brag about your freewill offerings—
boast about them, you Israelites,
for this is what you love to do,"
declares the Sovereign LORD.

⁶ "I gave you empty stomachs in every city
and lack of bread in every town,
yet you have not returned to me,"
declares the LORD.

⁷ "I also withheld rain from you
when the harvest was still three months away.
I sent rain on one town,
but withheld it from another.
One field had rain;
another had none and dried up.

⁸ People staggered from town to town for water
but did not get enough to drink,
yet you have not returned to me,"
declares the LORD.

⁹ "Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards,
I struck them with blight and mildew.
Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees,
yet you have not returned to me,"
declares the LORD.

¹⁰ "I sent plagues among you
as I did to Egypt.
I killed your young men with the sword,
along with your captured horses.
I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps,
yet you have not returned to me,"
declares the LORD.

¹¹ "I overthrew some of you
as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire,
yet you have not returned to me,"
declares the LORD.

¹² "Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel,
and because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, O Israel."

¹³ He who forms the mountains,
creates the wind,
and reveals his thoughts to man,
he who turns dawn to darkness,
and treads the high places of the earth—
the LORD God Almighty is his name.

Love for Christ

Who Do You Say That I Am?

Jesus said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said to Him, "You are the Christ."
(Mark 8:29 NKJV)

Oh dear visitor, how I pray that you can too, with Peter and with the saints and children of God around the world, proclaim that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. Have you seen His miracles? Have you received His forgiveness? Have you beheld the splendor of His majesty? Have you tasted of His riches and the wonder of His works? Have you rested in His peace and trusted in His faithfulness? Have you been speechless when you considered His power and might? Oh blessed is the man or woman who has cried out, "Worthy are you, Lord Jesus. You are the Christ!"

A Call to Wonder