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  Bible reading for May 10 -- 11 May 10 -- Isaiah 8 and James 2 May 11 -- Isaiah 9 and James 3 ================    "To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn." (Isaiah 8:20) THE PROPHET'S SON (ch 8). Isaiah names his child "Swift-booty-speedy-prey", which refers to the speed of the prey (Judah) in evading the predator (Assyria). This child is not the same virgin-born child mentioned in chapter 7, who is "Immanuel" (v 8; 7:14). The Assyrian army will fail in its attempt to capture Jerusalem and gain hold of Judah (vv 9-10). Meanwhile, many Jews are fearful and panicking, trying to uncover political conspiracies (such as between neighboring nations and Assyria) and seeking information by occult means. They want a political or military solution -- or a situation they can control -- rather than deal with their real problem, which is spiritual and moral (vv 11-22). The people are ca...

Bible reading for weekend April 23 -- 25 NOTICE: Google will no longer be supporting the Feedburner email service which has been a part of this website. This service will soon be phased out. So, if you receive this newsletter by email directly from the myburg website, you will need to subscribe to the newsletter via this service . If you are using an RSS aggegator, like Feedly, no change is necessary. Thanks for reading! Apr 23 -- Ecclesiastes 10 and Titus 2 Apr 24 -- Ecclesiastes 11 and Titus 3 Apr 25 -- Ecclesiastes 12 and Philemon  ================    "The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd." (Ecclesiastes 12:11)  WISDOM WRAP-UP (ch 10-11). The book winds down with a collection of proverbs relating to authority (dealing with rulers), work, and speech. When we read of kings and other rulers in the Bible we should think about the one truly good King to come (whom Solomon calls "th...

Bible reading for Nov 20.  1 Chronicles 15. "So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, to the sound of the horn, trumpets, and cymbals, and made loud music on harps and lyres." (15:28)  CELEBRATION.  With great joy the Jews are bringing the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. Consecration came first (vv 1-14), then celebration (vv 15-28). David was now more careful to walk with God in the way God directs. Consecration means to be set apart for the Lord, cleansed and separated for his will and purposes.  But this is not the only or even the final purpose. Rather, it is the worship and enjoyment of God to his glory. The Levites designated musicians and singers to play a variety of instruments -- harps, lyres, cymbals, horns, and trumpets -- to celebrate and "raise the sounds of joy" (v 16). David wrote in Psalm 16, "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures fo...

Bible reading for Nov 4.  2 Kings 17. "'You shall not fear other gods, but you shall fear the LORD your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.' However, they would not listen, but they did according to their former manner." (2 Kings 17:38-40)  FALL OF SAMARIA. This chapter reports the Assyrian siege against Samaria and the resulting fall of the northern kingdom in 722/21 BC. The divine explanation is given in full. The northern tribes are lost, not in the sense that they are off wandering somewhere, but that they are resettled and mixed with the surrounding peoples. Their ethnic identity will be mixed (vv 6, 24). It's a sad conclusion to the story of the northern kingdom of Israel. Here's the summary: "'And the statutes and the rules and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, you shall always be careful to do. You shall not fear other gods, and you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You sha...

Bible reading for Aug 14.  I Samuel 4. "And she named the child Ichabod, saying, 'The glory has departed from Israel!' because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband." (1 Samuel 4:21) GLORY DEPARTED. The day comes at last when judgment falls on the house of Eli. The ark of the covenant (Ex 25:10-22) is captured by the Philistines. The Israelites were treating the ark as a kind of talisman, or good luck artifact, that would guarantee victory in battle. However, the ark was a symbol of the covenant relationship that was to exist between Israel and God. It was not a magical device or mysterious object with powers, such as portrayed in the movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark (Paramount, 1981). The loss of the ark to the Philistines signified God's judgment upon the Israel. It is the Lord, not a gold box that gives victory. Even if we were to find the ark of the covenant today in an archaeological dig, it would be a stun...

"Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.  And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness..." (Romans 4:4-5 ESV) "The Gospel does not command us to do anything in order to obtain life, but bids us live by that which another has done; and the knowledge of its life-giving truth is not labor but rest—rest of soul—rest which is the root of all true labor; for in receiving Christ we do not work in order to rest, but we rest in order to work... "The divine order then is first pardon, then holiness; first peace with God, and then conformity to the image of that God with Whom we have been brought to be at peace. For as likeness to God is produced by beholding His glory (2 Cor. 3:18), and as we cannot look upon Him till we know that He has ceased to condemn us, and as we cannot trust Him till we know that He is gracious; so we cannot be transformed into His image t...

"Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.  And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness..."  (Romans 4:4-5 ESV) "We must always distinguish what faith is from what faith does .  Faith does many things; it is always active, bearing fruit.  However, in the act of justification, faith only receives, embraces, and clings to Christ; it does not do anything but receives everything .  Faith is not a probable opinion or conjecture, nor mere assent to an external authority -- even the Bible or the church.  Nor is faith an immediate certainty, like the knowledge of logical, geometrical, or mathematical axioms.  Nor is it merely something we infer from sense experience.  It is not a general attitude, characteristic, or virtue -- such as an optimistic outlook or positive thinking.  Faith is not a genus of which faith in Christ is a species, as...

Surety.  This is a word we don't hear often today, except perhaps in legal matters.  There it means a pledge, guarantee, or bond.  And a "surety" can be in the form of a person who has pledged or made himself responsible for another.  In the gospel we learn that Jesus Christ is the surety for the believer.  He stands in our place, our substitute, who represents us before God, bears our sin, gives us his righteousness, and becomes the guarantor of the work of God in us.  And this truth gives us the freedom to live before the Lord in security and with assurance of final salvation.    "In the law of works there was no provision made for a surety; but it did not absolutely exclude one: therefore it left room for the covenant of grace, in which a provision was made in the person of Jesus Christ, for securing the divine honor of this holy law. He undertook to stand up in man’s place and stead, to magnify the precepts of the law in his life, and to glo...

In Sunday's sermon we learned how we should reject moralism and embrace God's grace given to us in Jesus Christ  (Romans 2:1-11) .  In staff meeting this morning we discussed a related question -- how then do we do good works as Christians without lapsing  back into moralism? What exactly is a good work for the believer, the kind of good work God is looking for?  How do the good works  we attempt before salvation differ from the good works that God expects of the believer after salvation? I think there are at least four differences between a moralistic approach to life and the life of the Christian seeking to do  good .    1) There's a different standard .  For the believer God's word is the source book for what constitutes a good work.  Before, it  was what seemed right or good to us at the time, or what is popularly viewed as good in our culture.  Though there are many  good works from a humanitarian viewpoint...

"For by grace you have been saved through faith . And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works , so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship , created in Christ Jesus for good works , which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV) "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love."  (Galatians 5:6 ESV) So, for the Christian, what qualifies as a "good work"? The Heidelberg Catechism summarizes this concisely...  90. Q. What is the coming to life of the new nature ? A. It is a heartfelt joy in God through Christ,[1] and a love and delight to live according to the will of God in all good works.[2] [1] Ps. 51:8, 12; Is. 57:15; Rom. 5:1; 14:17. [2] Rom. 6:10, 11; Gal. 2:20. 91. Q. But what are good works ?  A. Only those which are done out of true faith,[1] in accordance with the law of God,[2] and to Hi...

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works , so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship , created in Christ Jesus for good works , which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them ." (Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV) "You have often heard me say that the Christian life has two dimensions: the first is faith, and the second is good works. A believer should live a devout life and always do what is right. But the first dimension of the Christian life — faith — is more essential. The second dimension — good works — is never as valuable as faith. People of the world, however, adore good works. They regard them to be far higher than faith.  "Good works have always been valued more highly than faith. Of course, it’s true that we should do good works and respect the importance of them. But we should be careful that we don’t elevate good works to such an extent that faith and Ch...

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV) There are three truths about "works" in this passage, and it's important to hold all three and consider their order: 1) We are not saved by works . (v. 8-9)( Salvation really is a gift. ) 2) We are now God's work . (v. 10a)( God is graciously working in us, Phil. 2:13. ) 3) We are saved for good works , prepared by God. (v. 10b)( Not saved by works, but created for good works. ) Warfield sums up: "The very good works which we do, then, have been prepared for us by God in his electing grace, that we should walk in them. We are not chosen because we are good; we are chosen that we may be good." (B. B. Warfield)

Works done by unregenerate men, although for the matter of them they may be things which God commands; and of good use both to themselves and others: yet, because they proceed not from an heart purified by faith; nor are done in a right manner, according to the Word; nor to a right end, the glory of God, they are therefore sinful, and cannot please God, or make a man meet to receive grace from God: and yet, their neglect of them is more sinful and displeasing unto God.  ( Westminster Confession of Faith , 16.7) Dr. John Frame, in his excellent volume, The Doctrine of the Christian Life (Theology of Lordship series), explains below what goes into to making a "good work" before God.  (Relatively and humanly speaking, people may do good works toward one another, but the question here is, what is a good work before God, what kind of work is he is pleased with?)  He answers... "Note the three necessary ingredients: (1) a heart purified by faith, (2) obedience to God’s Wo...

I made the statement last week that "Jesus died not only for my sins but also for my imperfect good works." The Apostle Paul prayed for the believers at Colossae that they "walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work..." (1:10)  The problem that all of us face as believers is that even our best works are tainted with sin, with impure motives and designs. How can we ever truly please God with our feeble attempts at good? There is great liberation in knowing that God views not only our past rebellion but all of our works through the lens of his Beloved Son.  The blood of Jesus cleanses us even as we are walking "in the light" (1 John 1:7).  We can please him! The Westminster Confession states in Chapter 16...   VI. Notwithstanding, the persons of believers being accepted through Christ, their good works also are accepted in Him; not as though they were in this life wholly unblamable and unreprovea...

"The Reformation, what's with that?"   Sometimes when people ask about this, I'll draw a little sketch on a piece of paper or napkin.  It's my seven-minute overview of what happened following Luther's posting of his 95 theses (points to debate) on the Castle Church door in Wittenberg on the eve of All Saints Day, 1517.  This is a very rough generalization indeed... First key issue: authority .  The foundation.  How do we know we are right about what we believe about being right with God?  The Roman Catholic church held that it was the Scriptures, but with a caveat:  specifically, the Scriptures as interpreted and applied by the authority of the Church.  So, to the authority base of the Bible was added the magisterium , that is, what the church, tradition, councils, and Popes officially ruled.  It was the "Bible-plus."  The Reformers said, no (or nay), the councils and traditions and church rulers are very important,...