Jul 26
5
“The Great Whore”
Revelation 17:1
The standing symbol of false religion in the Word of God is whoredom. When men and women worship for God that which is not God, give their hearts to false gods, or institute doctrines, ordinances and practices into the church to replace what God has revealed and appointed, they have begun to practice adultery and fornication. Their religion is whoredom. Their church is a whore. And when they go to their places of worship in the name of God, they are going to a brothel to buy gratification for their carnal hearts (Jer. 3:6-9; Ezek. 16:28-37; Hosea 1 and 2; Rev. 2:22). The woman which John saw in his vision is called “the great whore”, because she represents all idolatry, false doctrine, and false religion in the world. This old whore was not born yesterday. She has been around for a long, long time. She is the mother of all harlot churches and abominable doctrines that have ever existed in the world. They all come from the same womb.
I would be remiss in my responsibility to God and to you, if I did not plainly identify the most prevalent and most damning form of idolatry this great whore has produced in our day. It is not the worship of stocks, stones and statues. The whorish religion of our day and our society is the worship of a god who is weak, frustrated and defeated, the worship of a redeemer who tries but fails to redeem, and the worship of a spirit who seeks but is not able to save. The time for pretty speech and polite words is gone. The souls of men, the gospel of Christ, and the glory of God are at stake! With Solomon of old, I warn you to stay away from the strange woman “which flattereth with her words.” Free-will, works religion is the house of the great whore. “Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.” “Let not thine heart decline unto her ways, go not astray in her paths.”
Don Fortner
“Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the other apostles, Men and brethren what shall we do?” Acts 2:37
A cut to the heart is very painful. To be cut anywhere is not a thing to be desired, but a cut to the heart would not merely be painful, but, in a natural and literal sense—it would be fatal. There are a great many different kinds of impressions made by preachers upon their hearers, but blessed is that preacher who makes a wound right in their hearts!
C.H. Spurgeon
Let us always think of the Holy Spirit with holy awe and reverence, remembering that . . .
it is the Spirit who quickens us,
it is the Spirit who instructs us,
it is the Spirit who sanctifies us,
it is the Spirit who preserves us,
it is the Spirit who makes us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light!
So unto the ever-blessed Spirit be glory and honor and praise, forever and ever!
C.H. Spurgeon
“The Wrath Of God Is Revealed”
Romans 1:18
Yes the God of heaven is a God of wrath. In a generation which has given itself unashamedly to the gods of greed, ambition, sex, pride, and self-will, the church mumbles on about the love, tenderness, goodness, kindness, and grace of God. We rejoice that “God is love”, and that there is forgiveness with him that he may be feared. But, we dare not fail to warn perishing sinners that God is also a God of wrath, that he is angry with the wicked every day, and that he will by no means clear the guilty. Read your Bible through again. The prophets and apostles, and Jesus Christ himself, pressed upon men the terror, fury, and eternality of God’s wrath.
The wrath of God is revealed in every man’s conscience by nature, so that they are without excuse. The wrath of God is revealed in history. Go and ask those who have perish ed under God’s wrath whether God will punish sin… Adam…Cain…Noah’s generation…Sodom and Gomorrah…Pharaoh…The Sons of Korah…Judas…Jerusalem. The wrath of God is revealed at Calvary. Go to Mt. Calvary, and behold the God-man as he is made to be sin for us. Hear him cry, under the terror of God’s wrath, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” I say, the wrath and justice of God were more fully displayed in the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ than would have been possible if all the world had perished in hell.
Hell is a place of eternal wrath reserved for God’s enemies, where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. All men by nature are sinners perishing under the wrath of God. You do not need to do anything to go to hell. You are condemned already! The only thing that keeps you out of hell for one moment is the mere good pleasure of God. What will you do when God ceases to restrain his wrath! “Who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? Who can stand before his indignation?”
Is the sinner, then, without hope? No! Blessed be His name, God is willing to show mercy to perishing sinners for Christ’s sake: Upon the merits of his Son’s satisfactory redemption, God in justice, will forgive sin. Flee away to Christ! Seek his grace! Believe his gospel! Sue for mercy! Why will ye die?
Don Fortner
The importance and truth of the Gospel salvation is witnessed to in heaven, by “the Father, the Word, and the Spirit.” It is witnessed to on earth, by “the Spirit, the water, and the blood,” 1Jo. 26 5:7-8. The spirit, in 1Jo. 26 5:8, (I apprehend) denotes a Divine light in the understanding, communicated by the Spirit of God, enabling the soul to perceive and approve the truth. The water seems to intend the powerful influence of this knowledge and light in the work of sanctification. And the blood, the application of the blood of Jesus to the conscience, relieving it from guilt and fear, and imparting a “peace which passes all understanding.” And he who believes has this united testimony of the Spirit, the water, and the blood; not by hearsay only, but in himself. According to the measure of his faith (for faith has various degrees), he has a living proof that the witness is true, by the effects wrought in his own heart.
John Newton
The divine hammer!
Spurgeon, “Preach, Preach, Preach Everywhere”
You do not know who the elect are.
You do not know whose heart will be broken by the divine hammer of truth.
But it is your responsibility to use the divine hammer on the hard heart.
And as the gospel is preached it will attract to itself, by its own power, through the Holy Spirit, those whom God has ordained unto eternal life.
“Is not my word like fire?” saith the Lord,
“and like a hammer that breaketh a rock in pieces?”
Jeremiah 23:29
Conversion
Jeremiah 31:18-20
Conversion is the turning of God’s elect to Christ by the power of his grace. It is a willing turn of rebels to Christ as their King, surrendering to his dominion. Yet, it is a turning that is caused by God’s free grace. We turn to him, because he has turned us by his grace. Yet, unlike regeneration and effectual calling, conversion is not something in which we are passive. Conversion is both God almighty turning us, and us willingly turning, under the influence of his grace, to him. Conversion is the willing response of the newborn soul to the effectual call of God’s grace. As John Gill put it, “Conversion lies in a man’s turning to the Lord actively, under the influence of divine grace, being thoroughly convinced that there is salvation in no other but in Christ.” If you read the Scriptures carefully, you will find that repentance, faith, and conversion always go hand in hand. They are inseparable gifts of God’s grace (Acts 11:18-21).
Notice once more what great emphasis is placed upon the instrumentality of Gospel preaching in the gracious operations of God. As in regeneration and in effectual calling, so also in conversion, the Lord God has been pleased to save his elect through the instrumentality of gospel preaching (James 5:19-20). It is as plain as the nose on your face that James declares by divine inspiration that
God uses human instrumentality to accomplish his purpose of grace toward chosen sinners. God is pleased, in his infinite, inscrutable wisdom, to work the conversion of his elect by the instrumentality of converted sinners. C. H. Spurgeonsaid, “Instrumentality is the plan of the universe.” So it is in the new creation God’s invariable rule that he converts sinners by the instrumentality of converted sinners. Specifically, sinners are converted by other sinners, in one way or another, preaching the gospel to them. Several things need to be stated and clearly understood in this regard. (1) The use of human instruments is in no way a necessity with God. It is his pleasure. (2) The employment of human instruments in the work of saving his people is honouring to God, both as an act of amazing, condescending grace and as an act of infinite wisdom and sovereignty. (3) If God almighty is pleased to use you, or me, or any other human being for the conversion of his elect, it will be the conferring of the highest possible honour upon us.
Don Fortner
The cross has not become obsolete!
(Horatius Bonar, “The Surety’s Cross”)
“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18
The whole world looked with contempt-indignant at the audacity of a few humble Christians, thus . . .
affronting and defying the “public opinion” of nations and ages;
assailing the religions of earth with the cross as their only sword;
striking down their idols with this as their only hammer; and
with this, as their one lever, proposing to turn the world upside down!
From that day the cross became “a power” in the earth; a power which went forth, like the light-noiselessly yet irresistibly-smiting down all religions alike, all shrines alike, all altars alike-sparing no superstition nor philosophy.
This power remains-in its mystery, its silence, its influence, it remains. The cross has not become obsolete! The preaching of the cross has not ceased to be powerful and effectual!
There are those who would persuade us that, in this modern age-the cross is out of date and out of fashion, time-worn. But this does not shake us. It only leads us to clasp the cross more fervently, and to study it more profoundly, as embodying in itself that gospel which is at once the wisdom and the power of God.
Yet the cross is not without its mysteries:
It illuminates – yet it darkens.
It is life – yet it is death.
It is honour – yet it is shame.
It is wisdom – but also foolishness.
The cross is . . .
both pardon, and condemnation;
both strength, and weakness;
both joy, and sorrow;
both love, and hatred;
both medicine, and poison;
both hope, and despair.
The cross is Christ’s humiliation – yet it is His exaltation!
The cross is Satan’s victory – yet it is Satan’s defeat!
The cross is the gate of Heaven – and the gate of Hell!
The cross is the key . . .
to God’s character,
to God’s Word,
to God’s ways,
to God’s purposes.
The cross is the summary of all the Bible – the epitome of Scripture Revelation!