Meeting God

Last night we were blessed to have Bryan Gumpy teach on 1 John 1:5-10. At one point in the message he mentioned a story about a play that he was in when he was young. It was a church play and so at one point in the play a woman finds herself face to face with Jesus. She begins to jump around and leap for joy all the while clinging on to Jesus. After the play a women came up to young Bryan and told him that she thought that upon meeting her Lord and Savoir she would most likely fall down on her face and worship.

This not only stuck with Mr. Gumpy but is something that I have thought about a lot. Christians are far too lax in their thoughts and attitudes toward our King and God. In the Bible we certainly to not see people putting on displays of such silly enthusiasm when they encounter Jesus that would rival only the fans of the Phoenix Cardinals. When Mary Magdaline does cling to Jesus he rebukes her (John 20:17).

Here are a few other examples from scripture of people encountering God (this includes the resurrected Jesus).

Genesis 28:16-19 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." And he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.

Exodus 34:6-8 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation." And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.

Judges 13:20-22 And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground. The angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, for we have seen God."

Daniel 10:5-9 lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves. So I was left alone and saw this great vision, and no strength was left in me. My radiant appearance was fearfully changed, and I retained no strength. Then I heard the sound of his words, and as I heard the sound of his words, I fell on my face in deep sleep with my face to the ground.

Acts 9:3-9 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Revelation 1:17a When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.

Well there are more that I can think of but hopefully this should suffice to prove my point. Worship God with reverence, fear, awe, trepidation, passion, single-mindedness, for His names sake. Not in a self-styled way that reveals your true focus, Yourself!

Holy is the name of the LORD

This weeks sermon is on the phrase in the Lord's Prayer "hallowed be your name". So I thought I would give a few quotes to help prepare for worship.

"Oh, but the holiness of God is a pure holiness, it is
a holiness without mixture; there is not the least
drop or the least dreg of unholiness in God! "God
is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." 1 John 1:5

In God there is . . .
all wisdom without any folly,
all truth without any falsehood,
all light without any darkness, and
all holiness without any sinfulness.

God is exemplary holy. He is the rule, example, and
pattern of holiness. "Be holy, as I am holy." 1 Pet. 1:15.
God's holiness is the copy which we must always have in
our eye, and endeavor most exactly to write after."

Thomas Brooks

"Reader, think of His incomprehensible greatness
and majesty. Think of Him as the High and Lofty
One who inhabits eternity—
the heavens His throne,
the earth His footstool,
the light His garment,
the clouds His chariot,
the thunder His voice!

Viewing Him thus—it will be impossible for you to
treat Him with indifference, far less with scornful
disdain. If you are only brought in some measure,
to realize the fact of God's greatness and majesty,
you cannot fail to acknowledge that He is greatly
to be feared, and to be held in reverence by all
His creatures. "

John McDuff

"The death of Christ, apprehended by faith, presents
the strongest motives to holiness—by setting forth in
the most vivid and striking manner . . .
the evil nature of sin;
the holiness and justice of God;
His determination to punish transgression;
the fearfulness of falling into the hands of the living God.

Not all the judgments God ever inflicted—nor all
the threatenings He ever denounced, give such an
impressive warning against sin, and admonition
to righteousness—as the death of Christ.

The torments of the bottomless pit are not so
dreadful a demonstration of God's hatred of sin,
as the agonies of the cross!"

J. A. James

"Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. Matthew 6:9
This petition condemns much more than profane
language. Whenever we introduce the Divine name
in our speech uselessly and triflingly--when we
employ it to turn a sentence, or give emphasis to
a statement, or point to an anecdote--when we make
the Divine Word the subject-matter of jokes, punning
on solemn truths of Revelation, and quoting Scripture
with ludicrous adaptations to provoke mirth. And even
when we take this great name on our lips in worship
without any endeavor to feel the homage it demands,
we violate the spirit of this prayer."

Newman Hall

New Year And New Book

Well it is now ot9 (is that how you spell 09?). My wife and I were talking yesterday about how when we were kids we expected there to be flying cars and personal rocket packs to get around by this time. Well there is one thing that never changes... the Gospel! It was, is, and will always be the power of God that saves all who believe. The 1689 gives a clear and concise statement on the power of the saving grace of God.

Chapter 11 Paragraph 3: "Christ by his obedience, and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are justified; and did by the sacrifice of himself, in the blood of his cross, undergoing in their stead, the penalty due unto them: make a proper, real and full satisfaction to Gods justice in their behalf: yet in asmuch as he was given by the Father for them, and his Obedience and Satisfaction accepted in their stead, and both freely, not for any thing in them; their Justification is only of Free Grace, that both the exact justice and rich Grace of God, might be glorified in the Justification of sinners."

To go along with the quote here are a few passages of Scripture to meditate on: Isaiah 53:5-6, Romans 3:28, 8:32, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Ephesians 1:6-7, 2:7, Hebrews 10:14, 1 Peter 1:18-19. May the Lord richly bless the study of His Word.

On a different topic I have chosen a new book of the month. This book contains the collected writings of one of the twentieth century's foremost reformed theologians. I have read several selected works of his and this one volume is an excellent introduction to his writings. And he is a Baptist!

Roger Nicole was born in Germany in 1915 the son of a French Reformed Pastor. He came to the United States in 1938 where he earned degrees from Gordon Divinity School and Harvard. As an ordained American Baptist minister he pastored for many years in Massachusetts. He was a key figure in many of the theological controversies of the last century, including the debate on biblical inerency, American evangelicalism, and a founding member of the Evangelical Theological Society. Well you can read all about him and several of his essays in his book Standing Forth, January's Book of the Month