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Sola Scriptura
Thy Word, our great authority
All claims by it we weigh
None else can bind our hearts and minds
No matter what they say
No Popes, no creeds, nor councils great
Dare stand above Thy Word
What Thou hast written there for us
Must first and last be heard
Sola Gratia
No merit can be found in man
Commending us to God
And all pretentious goodness claims
At root are sinful fraud
Since Adam’s fall and ours in him
Sin barred us from God’s face
And naught can bring us back again
But solely God’s free grace
Sola Fide
Nor can our striving labors plied
However noble thought
Though infinitely multiplied
Sincere and tireless wrought
Can bring us one mite closer to
Salvation from God’s wrath
But faith alone in Christ alone
There is no other path
Solus Christus
T’was Christ alone was crucified
On Him our sin was laid
And by His blood alone we’re cleansed
No other means was made
In Him alone we’re made complete
No sacerdotal means
Can add to Jesus’ cross-work done
None other intervenes
Soli Deo Gloria
All glory, praise and honor be
To God the three in one
Salvation by His arm was wrought
By Him alone was done
No man can claim the least of praise
Our guilt was all we brought
But to His just and endless praise
We by His blood were bought
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Lamb of God,
For sinners slain
Healing Balm,
For all sin’s pain
Crucified,
But ris’n again
We lift our hands to You.
Christ The Lord
The cosmos’ King
Sovereign God
O’er everything
Savior, Friend
To You we sing
We lift our hands to You.
Come breathe afresh
Still make us new
Change every grain
Save through and through
Break, and shape and mold anew
Till all – is gloried You.
Son of God
And son of man
Sum of all
The Triune plan
Finish all
Thy hand began
Come make us more like You
Purge all sin
And cleanse each stain
By Thy blood
Let nought remain
Spirit work
Christ, all our gain
Come make us more like You.
Come breathe afresh
Still make us new
Change every grain
Save through and through
Break, and shape and mold anew
Till all – is gloried You.
Fill with love
Of holiness
All our frame
In pow’r possess
Christ’s own form
In all fullness
Come make us all like You.
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I am struck that Jesus used barley bread when feeding the 5,000. As commentators note, this was the bread of the poor. It was not the best quality. Jesus gave them only plain bread – not a lobster and steak dinner. And He certainly could have. It was already a miracle. But miracles are not usually the stuff of gold dust and flash.
But in His hands it is sufficient.
It was not plentiful, but in His hands, it is sufficient.
It was even borrowed, but in His hands, it is sufficient.
What an encouragement to preachers:
We do not have to possess the eloquence of Chrysostom or Spurgeon.
We need not the voluminous mental capacities of Luther and Calvin.
We may not have an original thought in our heads – the simple Word will do.
In the Master’s hands, the plain Word will do.
And it will be more than sufficient for those who hear, and beyond.
And now a word for congregants:
Your preacher may not be an orator or one who possesses great style, if, by the Spirit, he is breaking the Bread of Life to you.
He may not have a towering intellect that delves into and unpacks all the mysteries of life and how to respond to and deal with all the complexities of all the issues which face us in the world today – if he is faithfully giving you God’s Word.
He may not be inventive, creative, entertaining, provocative, edgy, hip, woke or anything else – if he simply teaches you God’s will as plainly expressed in His Word.
If he preaches Christ and Him crucified – and you will have it – you too will go away satisfied.
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The truth is that there is no “norm” in God’s work. He calls some to white harvests and notable “success.” He calls others to faithful labor with little or no visible reward. Still others live in a day of cold, hard hearts, in which the lack of faithfulness of God’s people can only result in disaster for the church, unless God graciously sends revival. Sometimes he chooses not to send revival, and a church dies. In the short term, even if not in the long term, the possibility is real that church history may indeed be a record of tragedy—of missed opportunities, of fatal choices, of conclusive and irrevocable defeats. We may need to learn how to lament and weep before the Lord and recognize our sins and those of our fellow Christians that have caused God to depart from our midst. In the midst of the pain of our lamentation, however, our confidence may yet be placed in God’s faithfulness. As Lamentations 3:22–24 puts it:
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”[1]
[1] Iain M. Duguid, Ezekiel, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999), 251–252.
You may be written down and registered among God’s people; you may be reckoned in the number of the saints; you may sit for years under the sound of the Gospel; you may use holy forms, and even come to the Lord’s table at regular seasons;—and still, with all this, unless sin be hateful, and Christ precious, and your heart a temple of the Holy Ghost, you will prove in the end no better than a lost soul. A holy calling will never save an unholy man.[1]
[1] J. C. Ryle, Living or Dead? A Series of Home Truths (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1851), 61.
The saddest road to hell is that which runs under the pulpit, past the Bible, and through the midst of warnings and invitations.[1]
[1] J. C. Ryle, Living or Dead? A Series of Home Truths (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1851), 66.
Many of you are so like true Christians, that the difference can hardly be seen. You are no opposers of true religion. You have no objection to the preaching of the Gospel, and often take pains to hear it. You can enjoy the company of believers, and appear to take pleasure in their conversation and experience. You can even talk of the things of God as if you valued them. All this you can do.
And yet there is nothing real about your religion,—no real witnessing against sin,—no real separation from the world,—no peculiarity,—no warfare. You can wear Christ’s uniform in the time of peace, but, like the tribe of Reuben, you are wanting in the day of battle. Times of trouble prove that you were never really on the Rock. Times of sickness and danger bring out the rottenness of your foundations. Times of temptation and persecution discover the emptiness of your professions. There is no dependence to be placed upon you.—Christians in the company of Christians, you are worldly in the company of the worldly. One week I shall find you reading spiritual books, as if you were all for eternity,—another I shall hear of your mixing in some earthly folly, as if you only thought of time. And so you go on, beating about in sight land, but never seeming to make up your mind to come into harbor; showing plainly that you have an idea of the way of life, but not decided enough to act upon your knowledge.[1]
[1] J. C. Ryle, Living or Dead? A Series of Home Truths (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1851), 69–70.
No man ever came back from the narrow way, and reported that he was sorry for his choice.[1]
[1] J. C. Ryle, Living or Dead? A Series of Home Truths (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1851), 78.
I believe there never were so many lukewarm saints as there are now;—there never was a time in which a low and carnal standard of Christian behavior so much prevailed;—there never were so many babes in grace in the family of God,—so many who seem to sit still, and live on old experience,—so many who appear to have need of nothing, and to be neither hungering nor thirsting after righteousness, as at the present time. I write this with all sorrow. It may be too painful to please some. But I ask you, as in God’s sight, is it not true?[1]
[1] J. C. Ryle, Living or Dead? A Series of Home Truths (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1851), 82.
Let us reckon it a painful thing to go to heaven alone,—let us endeavor, as far as we can, to take companions with us. Let us no longer be silent witnesses and muffled bells. Let us warn, and beseech, and invite, and rebuke, and advise, and testify of Christ, on the right hand and on the left, according as we have opportunity,—saying to men, “Come with us, and we will do you good,—the light is sweet, come and walk in the light of the Lord.”[1]
[1] J. C. Ryle, Living or Dead? A Series of Home Truths (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1851), 98–99.
John Corrie identifies the following trends as typical of postmodern culture:
It is a culture characterized by freedom of choice in which we are invited to “pick’n’mix” our own philosophy of life. Furthermore … it is hedonistic and materialistic; it generates a breakdown of respect for authority, confusion on moral absolutes and a fierce individualism which destroys community values. It is a culture in search of meaning, significance and purpose, since it breaks down any unified sense of reality, creating anonymity and atomization.
Ezekiel has some hard words for such a generation that has institutionalized and glorified rebellion under the banner of “choice.” It summons a people who think that the world revolves around themselves to a Copernican change in their thought: We are called to accept the truth that the world rather revolves around God.[1]
[1] Iain M. Duguid, Ezekiel, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999), 266–267.
We are surrounded by a generation of seekers, who assume that God can be found whenever and wherever they choose to seek him. For them, “seeking” is another word for “shopping.”[1]
[1] Iain M. Duguid, Ezekiel, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999), 268.
Two simple presuppositions govern [Richard] Baxter’s view of the ministry: (1) every flock should have their own pastor (one or more), and every pastor his own flock; and (2) flocks must be no greater regularly and ordinarily than we are capable of overseeing or taking heed of. “God will not lay upon us natural impossibilities. He will not bind men to leap up to the moon, to touch the stars, to number the sands of the sea.… Will God require one bishop to take charge of a whole county, or of so many parishes or thousands of souls, as he is not able to know or to oversee? Then woe to poor prelates! This were to impose on them a natural or unavoidable necessity of being damned.… O happy Church of Christ, were the labourers but able and faithful, and proportioned in number to the number of souls!”[1]
[1] J. A. Caiger, “Richard Baxter’s Reformed Pastor,” in Puritan Papers: 1965–1967, ed. J. I. Packer, vol. 4 (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2004), 250–251.
The pastor must be addicted to pleasing God, and making Him the center of all his actions, living to Him as his God and happiness.[1]
[1] J. A. Caiger, “Richard Baxter’s Reformed Pastor,” in Puritan Papers: 1965–1967, ed. J. I. Packer, vol. 4 (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2004), 251.
“He that delighteth not in holiness, hateth not iniquity, loveth not the unity and purity of the Church, abhorreth not discord and divisions, and taketh not pleasure in the communion of saints and the public worship of God with His people, is not fit to be a pastor of a church.”[1]
[1] J. A. Caiger, “Richard Baxter’s Reformed Pastor,” in Puritan Papers: 1965–1967, ed. J. I. Packer, vol. 4 (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2004), 251.
If we did but study half as much to affect and amend our hearts, as we do our hearers, it would not be with many of us as it is! We do little for their humiliation, but I fear it is much less that some of us do for our own. Too many do somewhat for other men’s souls, while they seem to forget that they have any of their own to regard.…[1]
[1] J. A. Caiger, “Richard Baxter’s Reformed Pastor,” in Puritan Papers: 1965–1967, ed. J. I. Packer, vol. 4 (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2004), 253–254.
[Richard Baxter on Church unity] He labors to convince his brethren of the sinfulness of schism—in themselves, and in their congregations. They must demonstrate their hatred of division by joining together with their true brethren whenever this is possible, doing as much of God’s work as they can in unanimity and concord: and when they become conscious of schismatic influences at work in their congregations they must seize every opportunity of a moderate, gentle opposing of the errors, remembering that it is easier to chide a sectary in the pulpit, and to subscribe a testimony against him, than to play the skillful physician for his cure.[1]
[1] J. A. Caiger, “Richard Baxter’s Reformed Pastor,” in Puritan Papers: 1965–1967, ed. J. I. Packer, vol. 4 (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2004), 265.
We must learn to difference well between certainties and uncertainties, necessaries and unnecessaries, catholic verities and private opinions; and to lay the stress of the Church’s peace upon the former and not upon the latter.[1]
[1] J. A. Caiger, “Richard Baxter’s Reformed Pastor,” in Puritan Papers: 1965–1967, ed. J. I. Packer, vol. 4 (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2004), 266.
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I originally did this as an exercise in helping me memorize Scripture. I pray it might be useful for you too.
From Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ
Of James, a brother son
To those Beloved in Father God
And kept for Christ The Son
May mercy multiply to you
May peace be greater still
And love o’er flow your hearts as well
‘Tis this my prayerful will
In eagerness I longed to write
Of our salvation shared
But bound by need appeal to you
To let your arm be bared
To fight and strive, contending for
The faith we have believed
The once-for-all delivered faith
That we by faith received
For some have crept in secretly
Whose end has been foretold
A condemnation fitting such
Who dare to be so bold
Ungodly, they pervert God’s grace
As license still to sin
Denying Jesus Christ as Lord
In serving self, not Him
Christ always leads us out from sin
From bondage sets us free
Just as He did with Israel
From Egypt’s slavery
But those who proved they disbelieved
In judgment He condemned
They perished in the Wilderness
And met their bitter end
And even angels who rebelled
And left their proper place
Remain e’en now in dark and chains
Awaiting judgment day
Or think of all in Sodom’s plane
Whose immorality
Brought fire upon their wicked heads
Then and eternally
And yet like those are some with you
Relying on their dreams
Defile, reject authority,
And glorious ones blaspheme
Imagining exaltedness
They haughtily defame
And mock the fallen angels now
Beyond their right domain
Ignoring even Michael sent
For Moses lying dead
Refrained from using judging words
“The Lord rebuke you” said
But these, who do not understand
Serve instincts of their flesh
And are destroyed accordingly
By lusts left unaddressed
No word but “woe” belongs to them
They’ve walked the way of Cain
And given themselves over to
The vile pursuit of gain
Abandoned up to Balaam’s ways
And Korah’s lust for pow’r
Each perished in their wicked ways
Condemned in judgment’s hour
Like hidden reefs just out of sight
Their danger sight unseen
They fearlessly join fellowship
Not knowing what it means
They pose as shepherds to Christ’s flock
But feed themselves alone
As useless and as weightless, they
As rainless clouds are blown
Fruitless, like out of season trees
Twice dead, uprooted, bare
Like agitated, foaming waves
With only shame to wear
Like wand’ring stars without a course
With no God given path
The gloom of utter darkness waits
Their doom in Heaven’s wrath
Were we not warned? Indeed we were
The ancient Enoch wrote
Their words and deeds ungodly done
Our holy God did note
And when He comes to judge at last
With all His angels there
Each grumbling, restless, boasting one
Will find their shame laid bare
So you beloved, don’t forget
The Lord’s apostles told
Ungodly scoffers would arise
Divisive, fleshly, bold
Devoid the Spirit of our Christ
And married to the world
The wrath of God umixed in time
At them will sure be hurled
Be busy building yourselves up
In The most holy faith
By praying in the Holy Ghost
While for His mercy wait
Keep all yourself in heart and mind
Immersed in God’s great love
In mercy tend to those who doubt
Keep pointing them above
And those enkindled by false truths
Pluck burning from the fire
Whilst fearing lest you too be singed
And sooted by the Liar
All praise to Him whose pow’r to keep
From stumbling as to fall
That blameless we might be in Him
According to His call
Presenting each with greatest joy
Before God’s gloried face
To God, our Savior, Jesus Christ
Be endless, highest praise
For majesty, dominion’s reign
Supreme authority
From all time and forever more
Let all praise rise to Thee.
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