God, Be Merciful to Me

This is my prayer tonight-

1. 'God, be merciful to me;
On Thy grace I rest my plea
Plenteous in compassion Thou,
Blot out my transgressions now;
Wash me, make me pure within;
Cleanse, O cleanse me from my sin.

2. My transgressions I confess;
Grief and guilt my soul oppress.
I have sinned against Thy grace,
And provoked Thee to Thy face.
I confess Thy judgement just;
Speechless, I Thy mercy trust.

3. I am evil, born in sin;
Thou desirest truth within.
Thou alone my Savior art,
Teach Thy wisdom to my heart;
Make me pure, Thy grace bestow,
Wash me whiter than the snow.

4. Broken, humbled to the dust
By Thy wrath and judgment just,
Let my contrite heart rejoice,
And in gladness hear Thy voice;
From my sins O hide Thy face,
Blot them out in boundless grace.

5. Gracious God, my heart renew,
Make my spirit right and true.
Cast me not away from Thee,
Let Thy Spirit dwell in me;
Thy salvation's joy impart,
Steadfast make my willing heart.

6. Sinners then shall learn from me,
And return, O God, to Thee
Savior all my guilt remove,
And my tongue shall sing Thy love
Touch my silent lips, O Lord,
And my mouth shall praise accord'

If you click on the title of this post it will take you to a page where you can listen to a demo of this song.

Powerful message!

Here is a link to a sermon by Derek Thomas, that was given yesterday at the Basics 2007 conference. Just click on the title of this post and it will take you to the page:) Very, very powerful!
His is the one called 'preaching as warfare.'

Thoughts from Titus

Let me quote a portion from Titus 2:6-3:8-

"Likewise urge the young men to be sensible;

7in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified,

8sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

9Urge bondslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative,

10not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.

11For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,

12instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,

13looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,

14who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

15These things speak and (exhort and (reprove with all authority Let no one disregard you.

Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed,
2to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men.

3For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.

4But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,

5He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,

6whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

7so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

8This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men."

The first thing that I have seen from these verses that really stuck out at me, was Paul's emphasis on 'good deeds.' He mentions good deeds four times in these few verses. He says to be an 'example of good deeds' (2:7), then he says-'zealous for good deeds' (2:14), then in 3:1-'to be ready for every good deed' and finally in 3:8-'be careful to engage in good deeds.' I guess it is just another reminder to be doers of the Word and not hearers only!

The other powerful part of these verses come at then end of the 2nd chapter. These verses-11"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,

12instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,

13looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,.."

Let me just leave a few thought from John Calvin on these verses-

"But the manifestation of the grace of God unavoidably carries along with it exhortations to a holy life.”

"By worldly desires he means all the affections of the flesh; because we look at nothing but the world, till the Lord has drawn us to himself. Meditation on the heavenly life begins with regeneration. Before we have been regenerated, our desires lean towards the world, and rest on the world.”

"Looking for that blessed hope From the hope of future immortality he draws an exhortation, and indeed, if that hope be deeply seated in our mind, it is impossible that it should not lead us to devote ourselves wholly to God. On the contrary, they who do not cease to live to the world and to the flesh never have actually tasted what is the worth of the promise of eternal life; for the Lord, by calling us to heaven, withdraws us from the earth.”

The picture on the left is Jonathan Edwards' Bible. I put it up, to remember his faithfullness in his mediation on Scripture, and to encourage me to do the same.

More from Jim Elliot

Here is another entry from Jim Elliot's journals-

"What He has shown me seems to be that the world is fading away. All that I have seen and heard, all that my heart has been set upon to know I have found as the Preacher said, "Behold, it is vanity" (Eccles. 12:8). We won second place at the tourney in Cleveland, and we took individual runner-up positions, too-but-what is that? Nothing abides. Behold, the Son of God comes! One flash of His burning eye will melt all our polished marble and burnished gold to nothing. One word from His righteous lips will speak destruction to the vast rebellion we call "the human race." One peal of His vengeful laughter will rock the libraries of our wise and bring them crashing to a rubble heap. The wise shall be taken in their own craftiness; mountains shall be brought low. What shall abide that day? Lo, "he that doeth the will of God abideth forever" (1 John 2:17). Church of God, awake to our Bridegroom! Think not to say in your heart, America, "we have upheld the common man; we have the godly for our heritage; we have respect for the religious." I say to you, God is able to raise up righteousness from your pavement stones. you have nothing but awful show before Him who comes. "Oh, that thou wouldst bow the heavens and come down!" (Pss. 144:5). Laodicea, when will you learn that fullness without Him is vacuum? Oh, the awful emptiness of a full life when Christ stands yet without."

Borrowed Prayer

John Piper quoted this in one of his sermons, and I want to quote it here-

"Search me, O God, and know my heart today; I praise Thee, Lord, for cleansing me from sin; Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray. Fulfill thy Word and make me pure within. See if there be some wicked way in me; Fill me with fire, where once I burned with shame; Cleanse me from every sin, and set me free. Fill me with fire, where once I burned with shame;"

Jim Elliot

I have been reading Jim Elliot's journals this week, and have really enjoyed them so far. I just wanted to put up one of his entries. This is my prayer also- "Father, le me be weak that I might lose my clutch on everything temporal. My life, my reputation, my possessions, Lord, let me loose the tension of a grasping hand. Even, Father, would I lose the love of the fondling touch. Rather, open my hand to receive the nail of Calvary-as Christ's was opened-that I, releasing all, might be released, unleashed from all that binds me here."

Ephesians 5:1

I was just looking up something in my James Boice commentary on Ephesians, and I came across this part on Ephesians 5:1. Here is Ephesians 5:1-"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children.." Here is what Boice says-"Be imitators of God.' It is the only place in the Bible where these words occur, and what makes them so startling is that they point to a standard beyond which there is no other. William Barclay calls this 'the highest standard in the world.' Alexander Maclaren calls it 'the sum of all duty.' To Martyn Lloyd-Jones it was 'Paul's supreme agrument...the highest level of all doctrine and in practice...the ultimate ideal." What a high calling we have as Christians!