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Articles by Reformation Scotland
Believing in Jesus goes hand in hand with loving Him. As soon as we know Him well enough to trust Him, we can’t help loving Him too. Yet some people who have heard of Jesus somehow don’t fall in love with Him. Dear friend, The glorious person who is both Lord, and Jesus, and Christ, has suffered and done and promised just the kind of things that might win the love of sinners to Himself. By these things He pleads with sinners to set their affections on Him.
If it is the duty of ordinary Christians to be able to instruct others, how much more is it the duty of ministers, heads of families, parents, and those who have responsibility for others? What a shame it is for them to be unable to be teachers! It becomes us therefore to give the more earnest heed to the things we hear (Heb. 2:1), so that we may profit the more by them, and still more and more grow in knowledge, till we come to be able teachers.
Narrowing Down a Call to the Ministry
We are to distinguish between an outward call and an inward call.
When the Mission Field Comes to Us
The work of gaining souls to Christ by the gospel is so great and profitable, and the reward of those who are instruments in saving sinners is so great, and the danger of those who slight this work is so great, that those who are employed in the work of the ministry should spare no pains, travail, labour, and industry to woo souls to Christ. Ordinarily, sinners are saved by hearing the Word of God preached in a local church. But what if the sinners who most need the preaching don’t come to church?
Read This Before You Rush Into Debate
Those who participate in a public debate should do so in a spirit of self-denial. This is the appropriate attitude for those who are convinced how difficult the task is, how feeble and ineffective they themselves are, and how subtle the principal adversary which they have to do with is.
How Can Christians Confront the Fear of Dying?
There is a natural fear of death, and the devil, and hell, rooted in all people, always. It may not be always felt, yet it is easily wakened. This fear puts people in bondage. Because of it, they do not dare to meditate on death, or God’s judgement, or hell, as deserved by themselves. However, Christ’s death delivers His people both from the danger of this evil, and from the bondage of this fear also.
There must be a conformity between God and souls. This is the great purpose of the gospel, to repair the image of God which was originally on man, and make him like God again. Now, this is the way that Jesus Christ repairs this image, and brings about this conformity with God. As the soul worships God in a way that is suitable to His nature, it is the more and more like God, and happy in that likeness.
Reasons Why Ministers Must be Diligent in Their Ministry
We must take heed to our ministry, when we consider what a great Lord and master we have received it from. His eye is always on us, to see how we manage this trust, as it was on the angels of the seven churches. The fact that He wrote to them after He ascended, exposing their failures and shortcomings, and the punishments due to them, should be a warning to ministers in all succeeding ages of the Church, to take heed to their ministry. Little is known about the minister called Archippus.
How and Why to Run the Christian Race
Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 9, in summary, is, “I am an apostle, and am as free as any other believer, yet I not only abstain from things which are lawful and profitable, but I even adapt myself to the infirmities of all. I keep myself under control for the good of the gospel, and therefore you also should do the same.” In the first part of 1 Corinthians 9, Paul has asserted his own right. He then shows how he moderates his use of that liberty.
How Remembering Leads to Refreshing
O Lord, I here desire to enter solemnly into covenant with Thee, taking Thee for my Lord and Master, and accepting Thee on Thy own terms, taking Thee for my King, Priest, and Prophet, and in my station, through Thy grace, to stand by truth, and cheerfully to take on Thy yoke, and follow Thee. Lord, Thou knowest my weakness — I desire to believe that Thou wilt be a present help in the day of need to me, according to Thy promise, and in the faith of this I go on.
Three Signs of Spirit-Given Prayer
If we realise, indeed, our own condition — how low it is, how base it is, how we cannot endure the clear sight of our own consciences — we cannot look on ourselves steadfastly without shame and confusion of face at the deformed spectacle we present. Much less could we endure to have our souls opened up to the view of other people.
What Kind of King does the Church have?
The church has a special interest in Christ, and He has interest in His church as His own special subjects, for whose good He governs all the matters of the world. “Thy King cometh unto thee.” This is the glory of His crown, that He is so gentle and merciful to us that He will not forsake the work of our redemption, neither for our mis-deservings and provocations, nor for the injuries done to Him by His adversaries because of us.
How Can We Expect Things to get Better?
The Lord notices chiefly the disposition and affection of people’s hearts towards good or evil. It is a desperate condition, when not only your practice is out of course, but your affections also are alienated from God and inclined to evil.
How Preaching Is Necessary for Conversion
The Word doesn’t work without the Spirit. No instrument, no tool, no hammer, no axe can build a house without the mason and carpenter moving them. But it doesn’t follow that they are not instruments at all! All that follows is, “God does not work faith by the preached Word alone, but by the omnipotency of grace going along with it.” Although the preached Word, in its sound, is physical, literal, bodily, yet in its power, majesty, and the things it signifies, it is spiritual, lively, heavenly.
Four Good Responses to the Good News
Remember, after His resurrection, when He came out of the grave, when His disciples were gathered together in a room for fear of the Jews, He came in there among them, and said, “Peace be unto you” (John 20:21). Remember that in the beginning of that chapter there was some word of His resurrection. Some of them affirmed that He was risen, yet others still thought it was only imaginary and a mistake.
Three Things to Realise from the Transfiguration
The aim which Christ had in mind in the transfiguration was to give us a view of the glory which the bodies of His saints (who will be conformed to His image) shall have in heaven from His transfiguration. Not only shall their souls partake of excellent glory, but their bodies shall be changed, and made like His glorious body. We naturally shrink away from embarrassment and shame, both when it threatens ourselves and when it comes to those we love.
How Church Discipline Can Lead to Better Spiritual Health
Ministers and elders ought to carry out church discipline with such tenderness, love, and sympathy that they will not only have a testimony in their own consciences that they are acting in the best spirit but also that those who have offended, and others who observe what happens, will also be convinced of this. For if this is not the case, what can their censure gain?
What to Do When the Lord Seems Absent
In order to wait on the Lord, we must not be afraid of anyone or anything else apart from the Lord. We must focus on the promise held out to those who make Him their fear, “He shall be for a sanctuary unto them.” Waiting then involves our hearts fixing on God, and none else. “My soul, wait thou only upon God: for my expectation is from Him.” Similarly, “Help us, Lord, for vain is the help of man.” Also, let us have our expectation more on God Himself than on any created means.
Seven Ways to Identify Superstition
Something is superstitious if it gives God a merely external service and a grace-defacing worship. God does not care for this. It makes fleshly observations step into the place of God’s spiritual worship. Augustine used the word, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21), against superstitious persons, who devoted their primary concern to externals. Christian worship ought to be “in spirit.” Indeed, the kingdom of God comes not with splendour and worldly ostentation.
The Knowledge the Christian Needs
If we only seek to know things so that we will know them, and can discourse on them, we disappoint the great purpose of the whole Scriptures, and we debase and degrade spiritual things. We transform holy things into a carnal, empty, and dead letter, whereas true knowledge spiritualises earthly and carnal things into a holy use. Some people like knowing things just for the sake of knowing things.
Finding Our Way Through the Labyrinth of Providence
Home/Biblical and Theological/Finding Our Way Through the Labyrinth of Providence Finding Our Way Through the Labyrinth of Providence John Livingstone was deposed from the ministry for nonconformity in late 1631. The correspondence between these friends around this time includes the following updated and abridged letter, where Elizabeth Melville intersperses hearty exhortations with gentle encouragements. Written by Reformation Scotland | Thursday, July 20, 2023 “So I am in a labyrinth.
Not Heavenly Minded Enough to be of Most Earthly Use?
All the saints should desire and endeavour after, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ should be glorified in them. But also that you would be glorified in Christ. Labour that Christ may be glorified in your lives, and you shall be glorified in Him. We should desire that Christ may have glory in our glory, and then we shall have glory in Christ’s glory. This is a sweet and blessed life, when the saints have such hearts, that they pray to have no glory, but what God may have glory in.
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