by: John Park, June 6th, 2011
Matt Perman, on his blog, posted this quote from J.I. Packer’s Knowing Christianity that was particularly helpful for me.
We need not be discouraged by the problem of supposedly unanswered prayer. I say “supposedly” because I challenge the supposition.
While God has not bound himself to hear unbelievers’ prayers, his promises to answer the prayers of his own children are categorical and inclusive. It must then be wrong to think that a flat no is ever the whole of his response to reverent petitions from Christians who seek his glory and others’ welfare.
The truth must be this: God always acts positively when a believer lays a situation of need before him, but he does not always act in the way or at the speed asked for. In meeting the need, he does what he knows to be best when he knows it is best to do it.
The parable of the unjust judge shows that God’s word to his elect concerning the vindication for which they plead is “wait” (Lk 18:1-8), and he may say “wait” to other petitions as well. Christ’s word to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness,” when Paul had sought healing for his thorn in the flesh (2 Cor 12:7-9), meant no, but not simply no. Though it was not what Paul had expected, it was a promise of something better than the healing he had sought. We too may ask God to change situations and find that what he does instead is to give us strength to bear them unchanged. But this is not a simple no; it is a very positive answer to our prayer.
I remember a scene from my childhood. As my eleventh birthday approached I let my parents know by broad hints that I wanted a full-size bicycle. They thought it was too soon for that and therefore gave me a typewriter, which was in fact the best present and became the most treasured possession of my boyhood. Was not that good parenthood and a very positive answer to my request for a bicycle? God too allows himself to improve on our requests when what we ask for is not the best.
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by: John Park, May 3rd, 2011
It would seem that in some mysterious work of God’s providence, spiritual doubt is plaguing many brothers and sisters in Christ. Lest we fall into the temptation to think that spiritual doubt is somehow a temptation that “real Christians” never experience (and therefore don’t feel the need to show grace to those who doubt), hear the words of Jude: “Be merciful to those who doubt” (Jude 22).
I recently listened to this sermon by C.J. Mahaney entitled, “When Someone Doubts.” I would suggest that anybody who is doubting or knows anybody who is doubting listen to this sermon. In it, Mahaney referenced the following quote from Charles Spurgeon on the issue of doubt. I pray that this will provide some comfort to those who may be struggling with this particular temptation.
It seems as if doubt were doomed to be the perpetual companion of faith. As dust attends the chariotwheels so do doubts naturally becloud faith. Some men of little faith are perpetually enshrouded with fears; their faith seems only strong enough to enable them to doubt. If they had no faith at all, then they would not doubt, but having that little, and but so little, they are perpetually involved in distressing surmises, suspicions, and fears. Others, who have attained to great strength and stability of faith, are nevertheless, at times, subjects of doubt. He who has a colossal faith will sometimes find that the clouds of fear float over the brow of his confidence. It is not possible, I suppose, so long as man is in this world, that he should be perfect in anything; and surely it seems to be quite impossible that he should be perfect in faith. Sometimes, indeed, the Lord purposely leaves his children, withdraws the divine inflowings of his grace, and permits them to begin to sink, in order that they may understand that faith is not their own work, but is at first the gift of God, and must always be maintained and kept alive in the heart by the fresh influence of the Holy Spirit.
You can read the entire sermon here.
“We are not saved by the strength of our faith, but the object of our faith.” – Tim Keller
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by: John Park, April 20th, 2011
The folks at Relcaiming the Mind have put out this very helpful blogpost detailing the internal and external evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ, along with his crucifixion, together make up the most important event in human history. And it is one that must be carefully considered and the implications thought through.
C. Michael Patton organizes the blogpost by first explaining the internal evidence:
Internal Evidence:
- Honesty
- Irrelevant Details
- Harmony
- Public Extraordinary Claims
- Lack of Motivation for Fabrication
And then secondly, the external evidence…
External Evidence:
- Preservation of the Documents
- Archeology
- Extra-biblical Attestation
- Survival in a Hostile Environment
Click here to read a thorough, yet concise description of each point.
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by: John Park, February 7th, 2011
Michael Kelley:
Tim Keller, in The Reason for God, argues why it is profitable to trust in Christ even when you don’t have it all figured out.
This is good news for the doubter, for at one time or another, all of us, even those who call ourselves “Christians,” come to a point in life where we wonder if everything we think we believe is real. According to Keller, our faith can co-exist in the midst of the doubts, so long as we have faith in the right thing:
The faith that changes the life and connects to God is best conveyed by the word “trust.” Imagine you are on a high cliff and you lose your footing and begin to fall. Just beside you as you fall is a branch sticking out of the very edge of the cliff. It is your only hope and it is more than strong enough to support your weight. How can it save you? If your mind is filled with intellectual certainty that the branch can support you, but you don’t actually reach out and grab it, you are lost. If your mind is instead filled with doubts and uncertainty that the branch can hold you, but you reach out and grab it anyway, you will be saved.
Why?
It is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you. Strong faith in a weak branch is fatally inferior to weak faith in a strong branch.
Let’s not make the terrible mistake of believing in our ability to believe. That is weak branch indeed.
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by: John Park, January 13th, 2011
Listened to my first set of Francis Schaeffer lectures in the past few days. I can see why he was considered one of the most respected and well-known apologists of the Christian faith in the 20th century. He speaks with a level-headed intelligence and conviction with a tender, pastoral heart. You can hear the tenderness come through his speaking where he seems to empathize with those (Christians and non-Christians) who are in the midst of their struggles.
In one of the lectures that I listened to on the subject of Assurance of faith, he discussed something that was very helpful to me (and I hope will be helpful to others, as well). But essentially, he said that all Christians will have moments when storms will hit. That is, either because of moral or psychological “upheaval,” there will be times when genuine children of God will doubt whether they are genuine children of God. When those storms come, he offers a helpful paradigm that helps us make sense of those storms and, by God’s grace, begin to come out of them.
Three Levels of Assurance
1. Promises of God: This level is where we are assured that we are His children by trusting in His promises found in His Word. For instance, when the Holy Spirit reveals to us our need for a Savior because of our sin and lack of righteousness, we trust the promises that, in Christ, we have found that Savior (John 3:36) and that he will never let us go (John 10:29).
2. Fruit: This level is where we are assured that we are His by the fruit that is produced in our lives. Those who are born of God will necessarily produce fruit in their lives. Albeit, it’s a slow process, but nonetheless, there will be fruit. And so, by the observance of these fruits in our lives, we can be assured.
3. Inward Testimony of the Spirit: This level is where we are assured that we are His by the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit. This is where the Holy Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are His children. This is the quiet, settled inward conviction and assurance that we are His children (Romans 8:16).
Now, according to Schaeffer (and others), every Christian can and should attain the third level of assurance. However, as mentioned above, the storms come (brought about either by our moral failures or psychological upheaval) and we begin to doubt. In those times, it is often that we don’t hear the inward testimony of the Spirit (level 3) and we don’t see the fruit in our lives that evidence the fact that we are His (level 2).
In those moments, all we have left is to trust in the promises of God (level 1). We trust in the fact that our loving Father has chosen us from before the foundation of the world (John 3:16; Ephesians 1) and we trust that Christ has not only paid our penalty, but is also right now interceding for us on our behalf (Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:34; 1 John 2:1).
And by God’s grace, as we continue to persevere and fight to believe the promises of God, He will, in His good time, begin to bring us into higher levels of assurance.
Click here to listen to the lecture yourself (these notes definitely do not do that lecture justice). Scroll down to the lecture titled, “Biblical Doctrine Series: Westminster Confession, part 52 – Assurance.”
And click here for thousands of more lectures by Francis Schaeffer and other apologists from L’Abri.
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