Aug 27, 2022
The preaching of the Word is the testimony of God and the profession of the knowledge of Christ, not of human skill.
William Perkins
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The preaching of the Word is the testimony of God and the profession of the knowledge of Christ, not of human skill.
William Perkins
St. John's account, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has as its purpose the strengthening of our faith in Jesus Christ through reflecting on what our Lord said and did. Like the Fourth Gospel, we shall never be able to capture the full richness and depth of Our Lord's personality. 'Once one begins to be interested in Christ, one's interest can never cease. There is always something more to be known, to be said--infinitely more. St. John the Evangelist ends his Gospel making this very point (John 21:25). Everything to do with Christ is so rich, there are such depths for us to explore; such light, strength, joy, desire have their source in him. [...] His coming to the world, his presence in history and culture and [...] his vital relationship with our conscience: everything suggests that it is unseemly, unscientific and irreverent ever to think that we need not and cannot advance further in contemplation of Jesus Christ' ([Pope St.] Paul VI, General Audience, 20 February 1974).
The Navarre Bible: St. John Catholic biblical commentary (link to 1991 edition because that’s the edition the page number corresponds to) for John 21:25 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)
Lukewarm Christians
by Samuel Davies
"I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth." - Revelation 3:15-16
Nothing can be so important to us as God's favor, and nothing so terrible as his displeasure. If he be our Maker, Benefactor, and Judge, then it must be our greatest concern to serve him with all our might. If Jesus Christ is such a Saviour as our religion represents and we profess to believe, then he demands our warmest love and most lively service. If eternity, heaven and hell, and the final judgment are awful realities, then the most weighty concerns of the present life are but trifles in comparison. If prayer is our duty, then certainly it requires vigor of soul.
Consider who and what God is. He is the original uncreated beauty, the sum total of all natural and moral perfections, the origin of all the excellencies that are scattered throughout this glorious universe. He sustains the most majestic and endearing relations to us, our Father, our Preserver and Benefactor, our Lawgiver and our Judge. And is such a Being to be put off with heartless, lukewarm service? What can be more impious than to dishonor this supreme excellency with a languid esteem; to trifle in the presence of the most venerable Majesty; to treat the best of Beings with indifference; to return such a Benefactor only insipid expressions of gratitude; to be dull and spiritless in obedience; and to be indifferent about the favor or displeasure of such a Judge! Let heaven and earth attest if this is not the most shocking conduct imaginable. It is astonishing that God should bear with such treatment so long.
Are there not some lukewarm Laodiceans here? Jesus knows your works, that you are neither cold nor hot; and it is fit that you also should know them. Are your hearts habitually indifferent toward God? You may have a theoretical esteem or a good opinion of him, but are your souls alive toward him? Do they burn with his love? Are you fervent in spirit when you are serving him? Do you consider lukewarmness a suitable return for that love which brought Christ down from his native paradise into our wretched world, kept his mind for thirty-three painful and tedious years intent upon the salvation of sinners, rendered him cheerfully patient of the shame, curse, and tortures of crucifixion? Is it a suitable return for that love which makes him the sinner’s friend still in the courts of heaven, where he is our prevailing Advocate and Intercessor?
My fellow-sinners, you who are the objects of all this love, can you put him off with languid devotions and faint services? If so, then every grateful and generous passion is extinct in your souls. Was Christ indifferent about your salvation? Was his love lukewarm toward you? No. Your salvation was the object of his most intense prayers night and day, and it lay nearest his heart in the agonies of death. His love! What language can describe its strength and ardor? Never was a father more anxious to rescue an only son from the hands of a murderer, or to pluck him out of the fire, than Jesus was to save perishing sinners. You expect everlasting happiness from him, purchased at the expense of his own blood. And can you hope for such an immense blessing without feeling yourselves most sensibly obliged to him? Can you be content to do nothing for him or hurry through his service with lukewarmness and languor? Can anything be more absurd or impious than this? If this be your habitual temper, then you may expect him to reject you with the most nauseating disgust and abhorrence.
View a lukewarm professor in prayer. He prays to an omniscient God with bended knee. Yet in addressing the Supreme Majesty of heaven and earth he hardly recollects in whose presence he is, pouring out empty words into the air. He is a needy, famishing beggar, pleading for such immense blessings as everlasting salvation and the joys of heaven, yet prays as if he did not care whether his requests were granted or not. He is an obnoxious offender confessing his sins with a heart untouched with sorrow, worshiping the living God with a dead heart, making great requests which are forgotten as soon as he rises from his knees. Can there be a more shocking, impious, and daring conduct than this? For a criminal to catch flies or play with a feather when pleading with his judge for his pardon would be but a faint shadow of such religious trifling.
Consider now the Word of God. You believe it to be divine, the standard of your religion, and the most excellent book in the world. It is God's letter to you. How impious and provoking, then, must it be to neglect it as an antiquated, useless book. How impious must it be to read it in a careless, superficial manner and hear it with an inattentive, wandering mind? How would you like it if when you spoke to your servant about his own interest he should turn away and ignore you? Would you like it if you wrote a letter to your son and he did not carefully read it or labor to understand it? But do not some of you treat the sacred oracles in this manner? One would think you would be all attention and would reverence every word, drink it in, feel its energy, and acquire the character of that happy man to whom the God of heaven condescends to look upon.
Consider how full of energy, fire, and hurry men are in other pursuits. What labor and toil, schemes and contrivances, solicitude about success and fears of disappointment! Hands, heads, hearts, all busy. And all to procure enjoyments which at best cannot be long retained, and which may be torn from them the next hour. What hardships are undergone, dangers confronted to acquire a name or obtain riches and honors! On sea and land, at home and abroad you will find men eagerly pursuing some temporal good. Here men act like themselves, showing they are alive and endowed with powers of great activity. And shall they be zealous and laborious in the pursuit of earthly vanities but quite indifferent and sluggish in the infinitely more important concerns of eternity, solicitous about a mortal body but careless about an immortal soul?
If you are possessed with this Laodicean spirit, I beseech you, indulge it no longer. It mars all your religion and will end in your eternal ruin. Let the best of us lament our lukewarmness and earnestly seek more fervor of spirit. You know where to apply. Christ is your life, so cry to him for the communication of it. “Lord Jesus! A little more life, a little more vital heat to this languishing soul, I pray.”
Rev. James Smith’s Daily Bible Readings for the Lord’s Household (1841–1850)
"Partakers of the heavenly calling." - Hebrews 3:1
BELOVED, God hath called us by His grace and gospel, into the knowledge of Christ; into the favour of Jesus; to partake of the Spirit of His Son; to enjoy fellowship with Christ; to wear the image of Christ; and to possess and enjoy His righteousness, strength, wisdom, unsearchable riches, and eternal glory. This calling is heavenly in its origin, nature, tendency, and consummation; it is from heaven and to heaven. All believers partake of the same calling; they are called by the same voice, to the same Cross and Throne, to possess and enjoy the same title, and to claim and use the same blessings. This calling is the greatest honour that can be conferred upon a sinner; it is altogether a favour, the fruit of free and everlasting love; its enjoyment calls for gratitude and praise. Are we called with an heavenly calling? Then we should come out from the world, walk with God, imitate the Saviour, set our affections upon things above, and prepare for, and hasten to, our blessed home, our glorious inheritance. Let us make our calling and our election sure, and then sing--
As Thou wilt dispose of me Only make me one with Thee; Make me in my life express All the heights of holiness: Sweetly in my spirit prove All the depths of humble love.
Spiritual knowledge of Jesus is personal knowledge. I cannot know Jesus through another person. No, I must know Him personally. How is your knowledge of Christ increasing daily?
The Believer's Daily Remembrancer
Devotional for September 26
"Partakers of the heavenly calling." - Hebrews 3:1
BELOVED, God hath called us by His grace and gospel, into the knowledge of Christ; into the favour of Jesus; to partake of the Spirit of His Son; to enjoy fellowship with Christ; to wear the image of Christ; and to possess and enjoy His righteousness, strength, wisdom, unsearchable riches, and eternal glory. This calling is heavenly in its origin, nature, tendency, and consummation; it is from heaven and to heaven. All believers partake of the same calling; they are called by the same voice, to the same Cross and Throne, to possess and enjoy the same title, and to claim and use the same blessings. This calling is the greatest honour that can be conferred upon a sinner; it is altogether a favour, the fruit of free and everlasting love; its enjoyment calls for gratitude and praise. Are we called with an heavenly calling? Then we should come out from the world, walk with God, imitate the Saviour, set our affections upon things above, and prepare for, and hasten to, our blessed home, our glorious inheritance. Let us make our calling and our election sure, and then sing--
As Thou wilt dispose of me Only make me one with Thee; Make me in my life express All the heights of holiness: Sweetly in my spirit prove All the depths of humble love.
If God’s favor could be earned, Paul’s impressive religious resume would have secured his acceptance. After he met Jesus, however, Paul’s accomplishments and pedigree no longer mattered to him; he only desired to know Christ and be found in Him. Walking us through the doctrine of justification, Alistair Begg explains that our righteousness comes from our union with Jesus, not our works. Though unfit for heaven, we need not fear judgment, because our sins were judged in Christ.