Listening to the Giants

In reading The Life and Diary of David Brainerd , I observed that Brainerd wrote often about his daily, personal struggle with sin. Here are three examples of his sin-focused entries: Lord's day, June 13: Felt something calm and resigned in the public worship: at the sacrament saw myself very vile and worthless. O that I may always lie low in the dust. My soul seemed steadily to go forth after God, in longing desires to live upon him. Thursday, May 13: Saw so much of the wickedness of my heart, that I longed to get away from myself. I never before thought there was so much spiritual pride in my soul. I felt almost pressed to death with my own vileness. Oh what a body of death is there in me! Lord, deliver my soul. I could not find any convenient place for retirement, and was greatly exercised. Lord's day, May 2: God was pleased this morning to give me such a sight of myself, as made me appear very vile in my own eyes. I felt corruption stirring in my hea...

It might surprise you that the journal of David Brainerd has encouraged hundreds of thousands of Christians and missionaries over the last 250 years. Though he never intended it to be read by anyone, Jonathan Edwards gave a gift to Christendom by publishing his experiences, his hurts, his sorrows and his victories. In other words, Brainerd’s journal resonated with fellow Christians because is a brutally honest account of his journey to the Celestial City. Brainerd was a man of great highs and great lows. In future blog posts, I will examine with more exactness his bouts of melancholy, but here I wanted to simply show some examples of his legendary journal. Wednesday, May 18. “My circumstances are such, that I have no comfort, of any kind, but what I have in God. I live in the most lonesome wilderness; have but one single person to converse with, that can speak English. Most of the talk I hear, is either Highland Scotch or Indian. I have no fellow-Christian to whom I might ...

I rresistible Grace Definition : “It is the work of the Holy Spirit by which He inwardly calls the elect of God and enables them to respond in faith to the gospel of Christ. This special work of the Spirit cannot be resisted and thus cannot fail. It so changes the heart of the sinner that he comes freely and willingly to Christ for salvation.”  Did John Calvin teach this doctrine? Yes, he did. Calvin’s Commentary on John 6:41-45 Unless the Father draw him .  To come to Christ being here used metaphorically for believing, the Evangelist, in order to carry out the metaphor in the apposite clause, says that those persons are drawn whose understandings God enlightens, and whose hearts he bends and forms to the obedience of Christ. The statement amounts to this, that we ought not to wonder if many refuse to embrace the Gospel; because no man will ever of himself be able to come to Christ, but God must first approach him by his Spi...

                                            L imited Atonement   Definition: Christ’s death actually paid for the sins of those whom He knew would ultimately be saved (i.e. the elect) Did John Calvin teach this doctrine? Yeah…I don’t know about this one. Here are a couple excerpts from his commentaries:  Commentary on Romans 5:18 "Paul makes grace common to all men, not because it in fact extends to all, but because it is offered to all. Although Christ suffered for the sins of the world, and is offered by the goodness of God without distinction to all men, yet not all receive him."   Commentary on I Timothy 2:5 "This clause is of a similar import with the former; for, as there is one God, the Creator and Father of all, so he says that there is but one Mediator, through whom we have access to the Father; and that this Me...

Many individuals (both Christian and non-Christian) connect John Calvin (or his followers) to the invention of the acronym TULIP. Yet the truth is its origin should be placed on the followers of Jacob Arminius, who presented the five Remonstrances (which were constructed to oppose the teachings of Calvin’s followers and the Dutch church), at the Synod of Dort in 1618-1619 (roughly 8-9 years after Jacob Arminius died and 54 years after Calvin died). Then, because of the challenge of the followers of Arminius, the followers of Calvin responded to their “five points”, which began the “germinating process” (pun intended) of the infamous TULIP. If this is true, then when and where did the actual acronym TULIP originate? It is hard to say. Richard A. Muller states, “As far as we know, both the acrostic and the associated usage of “five points of Calvinism” are of Anglo-American origin and do not date back before the nineteenth century . It is remarkable how quickly ...

"Original sin is the only rational solution of the undeniable fact of the deep, universal and early manifested sinfulness of men in all ages, of every class, and in every part of the world." Many people think this concept is a Roman Catholic “thing”, but actually this doctrine is a biblical “thing”. Here are some key passages: Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned- 1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die , so also in Christ shall all be made alive. Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Ephesians 2:3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath , like the rest of mankind. These verses made it clear that every human inherits not only the sin of Adam, but the guilt that comes...

Out of all of McCheyne’s entries, these impacted me the most. Nov. 12—“Reading H. Martyn’s Memoirs. Would I imitate him, giving up father, mother, country, house, health, life, all—for Christ. And yet, what hinders/ Lord, purify me and give me strength to dedicate myself, my all to Thee!” It seems a common trend among the “giants” to drink of the springs of those “who have walked before them”. The reason is obvious: Encouragement to finish the race . Encouragement to finish the right way. Dec. 18—“My heart must break off from all these things. What right have I to steal and abuse my Master’s time? Redeem it. He is crying to me.” Nothing grieves my heart more than “wasted time”. Conversely, nothing strengthens the Christian more than the joy of a clear conscience (Acts 23:1). Aug. 18—“Heard of the death of James Somerville by fever, induced by cholera. O God, Thy ways and thoughts are not as ours! I saw him last on Friday, 27 th of July, at the College gate; shook h...

Do you think you were a “bad kid”? Maybe you were, but so was George Müller. Here is a look at his early years: “His own brief account of his boyhood shows a very bad boy and he attempts no disguise. Before he was ten years old he was a habitual thief and an expert at cheating. In time, card-playing and even strong drink got hold of him. The night when his mother lay dying, her boy of fourteen was reeling through the streets, drunk; and even her death failed to arrest his wicked course or to arouse his sleeping conscience. And—as must always be the case when such solemn reminders make one no better—he only grew worse.” (pgs. 18-19) Yet God is in the business of rescuing lost sinners and being patient with them, as this account below will show: “Of course a man that had been so profligate and prodigal must at least begin at conversion to live a changed life. Not that all at once the old sins were abandoned, for such total transformation demands deeper knowledge of the word and ...

In 1950, J.I. Packer, O. Raymond Johnston and the legendary D. M. Lloyd-Jones began what would be known as the Puritan Conferences. These conferences lasted for roughly 20 years and are undoubtedly the reason for the resurgence of puritan theology and puritan reprints. Here is an excerpt from the mouth of Packer himself: “The interests of the Conference are practical and constructive, not merely academic. We look on the Puritans as our fellow-Christians, now enabled to share with us, through the medium of their books, the good things which God gave them three centuries ago…And the question which we ask is not simply the historical one; what did they do and teach? (though, of course, that is where we start); our questions are rather these: how far is their exposition of the Scriptures a right one? And what biblical principles does it yield for the guiding of our faith and life today? The second half of each session of the Conference is devoted to discussing the contents of the paper ...