Doubts and assurance
I once knew a good woman who was the subject of many doubts, and when I got to the bottom of her doubt, it was this: she knew she loved Christ, but she was afraid he did not lo
ve her. “Oh!” I said, “that is a doubt that will never trouble me; never, by any possibility, because I am sure of this, that the heart is so corrupt, naturally, that love to God never did get there without God’s putting it there.” You may rest quite certain, that if you love God, it is a fruit, and not a root. It is the fruit of God’s love to you, and did not get there by the force of any goodness in you. You may conclude, with absolute certainty, that God loves you if you love God.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
My First Book of Questions and Answers
Children always have questions about what it means to be a Christian. Do they need a long philoso
phical answer? Not always and it is simple answers to deep questions that feature in this book. If you have ever wanted to know how to explain the Christian faith to young children in bite-sized chunks then the 114 profound questions and answers, backed by scripture proofs provide an invaluable tool to get you started.
Truth, clarity and simplicity are the great virtues of this God-exalting catechism for children. It was a great pleasure to watch our daughter learn these answers. As usual teaching a child great truths enriched our thinking and our own worship.
John and Noel Piper
God centred. Christ honouring. Character building
Sinclair B Ferguson
To order this book, click here.
Christmas is more than Santa Claus and Christmas trees
By James Montgomery Boice
HOW SHOULD WE CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS?
If you are not a Christian, the best way to celebrate Christmas is by becoming a Christian, that is, by believing in Jesus, asking Him to come into your heart and determining to follow Him as His disciple. But perhaps you already are a Christian. Perhaps you already have believed in Jesus. How should you celebrate Christmas then?
The story of Mary and the shepherds and the angels gives us some clues.
First, the shepherds “spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child” (Luke 2:17 NIV). This means that they became witnesses to Jesus. That God used them to spread this heavenly message must have stunned them. Shepherds were a despised class in first-century Palestine. The nature of their calling kept them from observing the ceremonial law, which meant a lot to religious people. Shepherds were also considered unreliable and were not even allowed to give testimony in the law courts.
But the angels came to shepherds with the great message that Christ the Lord – the Savior of the world – had been born in the town of David. And despite what others thought of them, the shepherds knew that lost people needed to hear that great message. It is the same today. Jesus is the world’s Savior. And people are still lost without Him.
Second, the people who heard the message “were amazed at what the shepherds said to them” (verse 18). People today are hardly amazed at anything, but it is hard to see how anyone can understand what Christmas is about and not be amazed. Christmas is the story of God becoming man, like us, in order to save us from our sins. This truth was so astonishing that people believed even shepherds!
But aren’t you amazed when you think about what God did for us? Yes, there is much about God becoming man that we cannot understand, but even if we could understand every bit of it, we still would be amazed.
Third, Mary “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (verse 19 NIV). What Mary did went beyond mere amazement, though she marveled too. This wonderful woman also made an attempt to remember everything that was happening to her in those days and then to figure out what each of these things meant. That is, she took time to think about spiritual things, just as we should do. Christmas is a very busy time. But our time is badly spent if we allow the business of Christmas to keep us from reading the Christmas story again and again, thinking about it.
Fourth, the shepherds “returned glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen” (verse 20 NIV). This means that they spoke not just to others about the birth of Jesus. They also spoke to God, praising Him for it. They saw the birth of Jesus as something God had done, and they wanted to thank Him.
Here’s a suggestion. If you are willing to try to celebrate Christmas like Mary and the shepherds did, don’t begin with verse 17, which tells us to tell others about Jesus. Begin with verses 18-20, which tell us to wonder at the birth of Jesus, to ponder its meaning, and to praise God for it. Praise God for sending Jesus. Think about why Jesus came to earth on that cold night so long ago. And marvel that, because of His birth, life, death, and resurrection, you have not suffered God’s just punishment for your sins but rather have been saved from them.
From The Christ of Christmas, by James Montgomery Boice, Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, ©1983.
Does God Lie?
Trinity - Makoto Fujimura
By John Piper
Short answer: No. God never says anything like: “I am not God.” Or: “You are not sinful.” Or: “Christ is not a great Saviour.” Or: “If you believe in Christ, you will not be saved.” Or: “It is foolish to follow my counsel.” Or: “My word is unreliable.”
But God does ordain that lying happen as part of his judgment on the guilty. That is why the question comes up.
- The prophet Micaiah stood against all the prophets of Ahab and said that the king would fall in battle. To explain why all the other prophets were saying the opposite, Micaiah says, “Now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the Lord has declared disaster for you” (1 Kings 22:23).
- Similarly, God says he will punish those who try to use prophets to buttress their sin. In that situation he says, “If the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. And they shall bear their punishment—the punishment of the prophet and the punishment of the inquirer shall be alike” (Ezekiel 14:9-10).
- And at the end of this age, God will ordain a “strong delusion” as part of the punishment for those who “refused to love the truth.” “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).
When we say that God never lies, but ordains that lying happen, we do not mean that he approves of lying or that his law permits lying. We mean that God governs all things in the universe, including the sins of sinful men. Sin does not cease to be sin because God governs it and guides it for the good of his people and the glory of his name.
That is what he did in the sin of Joseph’s deceptive sale into Egypt—and Judas’ deceptive kiss of betrayal. The one led to the greatest act of salvation in the Old Testament (the Exodus from Egypt), and the other led to the greatest act of salvation in history (the death of Christ for our sins).
When God says, “I have deceived that prophet” (Ezekiel 14:9), he means that he can and does govern a sinful prophet’s mind so that the prophet believes a lie; but God does it in such a way that he himself is not lying. God is able to superintend a thousand circumstances and influences so that a sinful prophet will think a lie, without God himself lying or in any way compromising his perfect truthfulness.
Let the word of God about the word of God stand firm:
- “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” (Numbers 23:19).
- “The Glory of Israel will not lie” (1 Samuel 15:29).
- “The word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness.” (Psalms 33:4).
- “This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true” (2 Samuel 22:31).
- “Every word of God proves true” (Proverbs 30:5).
- “The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times” (Psalms 12:6).
John Piper
God can be trusted. But do not play games with him. Do not begin to be careless with the truth. Do not “take pleasure in unrighteousness” and forsake the “love of the truth.” If you do, you may be abandoned to a strong delusion and never be able to see again.
Basic Christianity – John Stott
This is a simple book by John Stott, which explains the basic beliefs of Christianity. Stott begins by showing
us who Jesus Christ really was, and then goes on to explain the reason for and significance of His death. Stott then concludes with a section on what it really means to become a Christian, and then what it actually means to be a Christian.
This book is well written, easy to follow and simple to understand. It will clear up some misconceptions in the modern world as to what a true Christian really is. This is a good book, which has proven to be a blessing to many down through the years.
