Treasuring God's Truth in Your Heart

Psalm 27:9-10: In Case of Emergency: Pray

Psalm 27:9-10: Hide not your face from me.

                        Turn not your servant away in anger,

O you who have been my help.

                        Cast me not off; forsake me not,

O God of my salvation!

            For my father and my mother have forsaken me,

but the Lord will take me in.  [1]

In these verses, David gives those of us facing difficulty two principles for praying during trials. First, David teaches us to pray urgently: he knows that if God is not with him there is no hope. [2] Second, in his urgent prayer, David leans on God’s promises, trusting that the Trinity will keep His Word. [3]

No one lived these principles better than Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus prayed earnestly before going to the cross, to the point He sweat as if He were bleeding. [4] But before entering the garden He also prayed resting on what He knew to be true. [5] Though Christ was abandoned far worse than David, His trails in life and on the cross made real hope possible for those of us facing trials. [6]

Prayer may not remove our trials, but when we pray to Christ we communicate with someone Who has suffered as we have, and Whose death gives us hope. [7] A hope that our present sufferings are not worth thinking about with Christ’s coming restoration. [8] A hope that the Holy Spirit meets us in our struggles and helps us in them. [9] A hope that there is a good God orchestrating His children’s suffering for their benefit because nothing is greater than Christ’s finished work. [10] This hope is for all who embrace Christ. If you desire this hope, confess the false hopes you have held to and cling to Christ as your exclusive hope for forgiveness before a just God. If you believe but wrestle, you are not alone. I encourage you to memorize Romans 8 and to urgently pray and believe it in your trials.

This blog was written by Seth Dunn

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Logos Bible Software. All Scripture references will be ESV unless noted otherwise.

[2] William S. Plumer. Psalms: A Critical and Expository Commentary with Doctrinal and Practical Remarks. (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2016), 361.

[3] Plumer, Psalms, 361, Joshua 1:5; Psalm 27:10;

[4] Luke 22:44.

[5] John 17.

[6] Plumer, Psalms, 361.

[7] Hebrews 4:14-16.

[8] Romans 8:17-25.

[9] Romans 8:26-27.

[10] Romans 8:28-39.

Treasuring God's Truth in Your Heart

1 John 1:7-8: Gospel Realities

I John 1:7-8: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. [1]

John unashamedly discusses sin’s reality. In fact, in verse eight John uses sin as a noun to describe humanity’s continued state of justly deserving God’s wrath for breaking His holy law. [2] Further, John argues that if any one denies sin, they are lying about their natural state (v. 6), lying to themselves (v. 8), and say God and His Word are lying (v. 10). [3] But in the Gospel sin is not the only reality: the Triune God’s redeeming grace tempers sin’s existence. [4] The Trinity’s promised cleansing in verse seven means God forgives us our sins “and cancels [our] debts.” [5]

Are the realities of sin and Jesus’ redemption ruling features in your life? Are you able to sincerely sorrow over sin while clinging to Christ’s compassionate cleansing? Even believers struggle to hold these two truths: some despair over their sins while others hardly acknowledge them. John wants us to see both because without both we will not see Jesus properly. If you are someone who struggles with these truths, please think on these passages this week: Isaiah 53:1-6; Romans 6 and 8; and Hebrews 13:8.

This blog was written by Seth Dunn

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Logos Bible Software. All Scripture references will be ESV unless noted otherwise.

[2] Joel Beeke. The Epistles of John. (Webster, NY: Evangelical Press, 2006), 41-42.

[3] Colin G. Kruse The Letters of John. General Editor: D.A. Carson. (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2000), 66.

[4] John Colquhoun. Repentance. (London, England: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1965), 18-19.

[5] Kruse, The Letters of John, 69.

Communion With God Introduction

Today we begin a new blog series, working our way through John Owen's book, "Communion with God". For those who are unfamiliar with Owen, he was one of the great leading English Puritan thinkers of the 17th century. He served as both a minister and as Dean of Christ Church in the University of Oxford.

For this blog, we'll be using the abridged "Puritan Paperback" edition published by Banner of Truth. 

The goal of this blog, just like the goal of the blog we did on Owen's, "Mortification of Sin" two years ago, is to read this book together. Please read the corresponding chapters of the book prior to each blog post. We're aiming to publish the blog every Thursday. So that means that before next Thursday, June 15th, we'd encourage you to read chapters 1&2 of the book.

So why are we reading this book? What can we learn from a 17th century Puritan today in the 21st century? 

Well, there are a few reasons why we chose this work.

First, this is a blog Troy and I have talked about doing for quite some time. In fact, we were discussing this book in 2015 while working through "The Mortification of Sin". For the past 3 years, we've had the privilege of attending the "Banner of Truth Minister's Conference", held at Elizabethtown College. The first year we were there, one of the speakers was talking about John Owen's writings, and said that "we should always read 'The Mortification of Sin' together with 'Communion with God'". So, 2 years later, we're finally going to take that advice and read, "Communion with God"! 

Secondly, if you've been joining us for our sermon series on the book of Ephesians, then you'll remember Troy speaking about how to make the best use of our time in his sermon on Ephesians 5:14-21. One of his suggestions was to spend at least 15 minutes a day reading. Here, then, is a great book to be reading this summer! It's devotional, it's remarkably Trinitarian, and hopefully it shapes the affections of your hearts and influences the thinking of your minds!

Thirdly, and most importantly, in this book, John Owen offers us a wonderful reminder of the hope every Christian has: Through our union with Jesus Christ, we have restored communion, that is, restored fellowship, with the great and holy Triune God. This communion with God is not just a future promise, but a present reality for the believer. And this book will remind us of that reality, helping us to reflect on what this communion means for our lives here and now. 

R.J.K. Law, the editor of this edition of the book, writes, 

John Owen believed that communion with God lies at the heart of the Christian life. With Paul he recognized that through the Son we have access by the Spirit to the Father. He never lost the sense of amazement expressed by (the Apostle) John: 'Our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son, Jesus Christ'. In this outstanding book he explains the nature of this communion and describes the many privileges it brings.

We hope that your hearts are encouraged and lifted up in the gospel as we read this book together, and it's our prayer that none of us ever loses the sense of amazement that "through the Son we have access by the Spirit to the Father". 

This blog was written by Andy Styer