Helpless in the Storm
Comments(0)A couple of days ago it came a really bad storm in our city. It was lightning and thundering and the wind was blowing really hard. We have been teaching our 20 month old son to say “back!” to things that were bothering him, such as the dog or the waves in the swimming pool. Well, when the storm really got going he looked out the window and put up his hand, and with the most serious look on his face he said “Back thunder! Back!” Much to his dissappointment the storm mocked him and continued to scare him while daddy held him in his arms.
My mind immediately went to the disciples as they were in the boat in Mark chapter 4. I bet they felt helpless, just like my son. But that’s not the end of the story. There was one on the boat who the storm really obeyed. Jesus. Even the blinding flashes of lightning, the loud claps of thunder, and the roaring white caps were as nothing when the Lord of Creation uttered his command to be still! Thanks be unto God that he is our Saviour when the storms rage in our lives…even though we may feel sometimes like my little 20 month old son.
“And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”” -Mark 4:37-41
Hebrews 6:7-8 – Habitual Hardness
This is one of the hardest passages in Scripture to interpret and it has caused many a conscience to shake in fear they have passed the point of no repentance, i.e. John Bunyan (read Grace Abounding). One thing I noticed recently while reading through this chapter was the verse that followed this very serious warning to Christians (that’s who the book was written to, right?). Verse 7-8 state “For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.” The idea here I think is not one of someone who committed a very bad sin that may be unforgivable, or even one of someone who slipped into a temporary season of sinning (even on purpose!). Notice that the author points out that the people that he is talking about received the rain “often” most likely over a period of time. But even after all the rain and cultivating and care by the sower, the ground still yields nothing but thorns and thistles, and is worthless.
The rain here signifies the blessings received from hearing and being taught the gospel: “…have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come.” Instead of softening the ground (the heart of the hearers) the rain and seed were met with hard ground and thorns. This should point us back to Jesus’ parable of the soils where the seed that fell amongst the thorns was choked out by the cares of this world and fell away from their belief in the good news, which is exactly what the author of Hebrews is talking about here.
We should take much care when we sit under the gospel to receive it with meekness and thankfulness so that the ground of our hearts would be softened with the exhortations and warnings of Scripture.
New Home
This is the new home of my More Grace Abounding Blog! I’ve moved here because of the better options offered by Word Press. Not that Blogspot was bad, it’s actually pretty cool, but I thought I would give this one a try. Blessings!
T. Huskey
He Stood With Them
John in his gospel has a strong theme running through his book, and can be a scary one. It’s a theme of those who close their eyes to who Jesus is and step off into the dark hole of unbelief. There are the Jews who see his miracles and hear his claims, and then crucify an innocent man as a blasphemer. There are the Pharisees who knew the OT Scriptures and saw them fulfilled before their eyes to the most minuscule detail of every prophesy, and carried out a plot to kill the Son of God.
Worst of all, there’s Judas, who walked with Jesus and heard his heart piercing teachings on the dangers of loving money more than Him. Judas also saw him have compassion on the worst of sinners. Somewhere in the middle of all that Judas’ heart became grace-proof, warning-proof, and repentance-proof. He had a hard heart of unbelief. If there was any doubt to Judas whether what he was doing was spiritual suicide or not it should have all cleared up for him when Jesus said, “…woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” If Judas ever doubted that Jesus was talking about him when he kept talking about the one who would betray him, Jesus confronted him here so as to leave no doubt.
John Owen on Sin in Believers and Unbelievers
“Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known
lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” -Romans 7:7
That which in the entrance he calls “sin” indefinitely, in the close he particularly terms “lust,” as being the hidden, secret cause of all sin, and which, once discovered, swallows up the thoughts of all other sins, it being altogether in vain to deal with them, or to set a man’s self in opposition to them, whilst this sinful womb of them is alive and prevalent. This is that which we call original sin, as to that part of it which consists in the universal alienation of our hearts from God, and unconquerable, habitual, natural inclination of them to every thing that is evil; for this sin works in us “all manner of concupiscence,” Romans 7:8. This, I say, is the womb, cause, and principle of sin, both in believers and unbelievers, the root on which the bitter fruit of it doth grow, wherever it is. No man ever sins but it is from his own lust. And in this there is an agreement between the sins of believers and others, they are all from the same fountain.” -Owen
More from Spurgeon…
Here is another great post from Spurgeon at the Reformation 21 blog. This one concerns the subject of the unpardonable sin. Spurgeon is great at magnifying God’s grace and minimizing man’s fallen reasoning.
Anatomy of Apostasy – Not Seeking the Lord
“They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness” -Jeremiah 2:6
One of the first sins we see God charge his people with is that they are guilty of not seeking him. The charge here is two sided. On one side they had forgotten all that God had done for them, especially concerning his redeeming them from slavery in Egypt and providing for them for forty years. Calvin says this, “We now then understand what the Prophet means by saying, they did not ask: for God here sharply reproves the stupidity of the Jews, — that they did not consider that they were under perpetual obligations to him for his great kindness in delivering them in a manner so wonderful from the land of Egypt. By saying that they did not say, Where is Jehovah, he intimates that he was present with them and nigh them, but that they were blind, and that hence they were without an excuse for their ignorance, as he was not to be sought as one at a distance, or by means tedious and difficult…they did not choose to make any effort, or to apply their minds to seek or to inquire after God.”
The second side is not that they are ignorant of what God thinks about what they are doing, but that they do know and are willfully not seeking him. Calvin again states, “…so that they could not have sinned except willfully, even by extinguishing, through their own malignity, the light presented to them, which shone before their eyes.” One of the things that sometimes fails to shock us is not necessarily the sins Israel fell into, but what they fell from. Again, Calvin says in his commentary, “But the first thing to be observed is, that the Jews were inexcusable, who had not considered that their fathers had been wonderfully and in an unusual manner preserved by God’s hand for forty years; for they had no bread to eat, nor water to drink. God drew water for them from a rock, and satisfied them with heavenly bread; and their garments did not wear out during the whole time. We then see that all those circumstances enhanced their guilt.” The Jews were blessed more than any nation on the face of the earth and had been the recipient of God’s covenant promises and blessings. However, covenants also contain curse stipulations in them. And knowing the curses that God promised, Israel still plodded forward in their rejection of him.
One can’t help but think when we read the book of Jeremiah that if Israel would have just stopped for a minute to seek the Lord things might have been a lot different. But if we read on, we will see that it wasn’t just the little stuff that they weren’t seeking the Lord about, but it was everything. The children of Israel had settled into a state of disobedience and disregard to God’s commands. In fact, they were in such a hard-hearted condition that they were warning proof and they said no thanks to God’s gracious offer of forgiveness if they would return. Their condition was bad indeed.
Spurgeon on Unbelief
Here is a great post over at Pyromaniacs of a short discourse of Spurgeon’s view of the sin of unbelief and the many forms it takes.
Witherington on Hebrews 6
Paper on Apostasy/Sin Against HS
I ran across this great paper on the internet that deals with the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit in its RH context. It has some great stuff in it to go with the thought process I’m trying to follow right now. It’s kind of long, but worth the read.
p.s. If you are reading this blog, I apologize for the scatterdness of the posts lately. My job is requiring a lot of hours right now, so thanks for your patience. God Bless.
