My Lord and my God,

I cannot manage this sin well.  With my own hands, my pride and self-righteousness, I suppress one sin only to have another sin spring up in its place.

My sins are killing me and it has shown me no mercy.

My iniquities are torturing me and it has displayed zero compassion.

My heart is ravaged with cancer of the flesh and my life is slowly being destroyed before my very eyes.

I call upon your Spirit that dwells in me.  Lord, that you would forcibly make my sins and iniquities bow and kneel before you, O Righteous and Holy King.

Take your sword up to the neck of my sins.

Take your firearm and place it against the temples of my iniquities.

Take your scalpel and cut me open and lay your instrument against my heart.

I beg of you, my God, to horrifically, brutally, graphically, violently and adamantly execute the sins upon my heart.  To terminate my iniquities with extreme prejudice.  To cut away and remove the cancer upon my heart.

I ask this, O my Lord, show no mercy upon my sins.

Yet, I cry to you, my Christ Jesus, to have mercy on me, a sinner.

I know God doth sometimes come in upon the soul instantly, in a moment as it were, wounding and healing it; as I am persuaded it was in the case of David when he cut off the lap of Saul’s garment; but ordinarily, in such a case, God calls for waiting and labouring, attending as the eye of a servant upon his Master (Psalm 123:2; Psalm 130:6).  Says the prophet Isaiah, ‘I will wait upon  the Lord, who hideth his face from Jacob.’  God will have his children lie a while at his door when they have run from his house, and not instantly rush in upon him; unless he take them by the hand and pluck them in , when they are so ashamed that they dare not come to him.

— John Owen, The Mortification of Sin

Isaiah 8:17 I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.

For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.

How long will all of you attack a man
to batter him,
like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.
They take pleasure in falsehood.
They bless with their mouths,
but inwardly they curse. Selah

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah

Those of low estate are but a breath;
those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
they are together lighter than a breath.
Put no trust in extortion;
set no vain hopes on robbery;
if riches increase, set not your heart on them.

Once God has spoken;
twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God,
and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.
For you will render to a man
according to his work.

“What we are claiming is that Evangelicalism at its best is nothing more than Biblcally-faithful Christianity at its best.” – D.A. Carson

Shocking statement, I know.  Yet I am not known for pitching softballs either.

Watch the following:

ht: The Gospel Coalition

“An eye witness who was also captured by the Islamic militants gave us details of how the pastor was killed. He told us they were persuading him to accept Islam and he said over his dead body. He was even said to have preached Christ to Mohammed Yusuf and that reportedly angered the sect leader who then as he ordered that the pastor and others be killed immediately,” he disclosed.”

So how did God harden Pharaoh’s heart?  Did He come down supernaturally and made Pharaoh resist Him?

Not necessary.

Exodus 7:1-6 And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them.  Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

The Lord sends two old dudes.

They approached this mortal  who thought of himself to be god and demanded to be worshiped as god.

These two old dudes proclaim the gospel of God.

They tell this god that he is, in fact, not god and should not be worshiped as such (Psalm 82:6-7).

They tell him the truth: God is Lord above all.

God hardens the heart of Pharaoh through relentless pursuit, absolute truth and enduring mercy.

God knew how Pharaoh would respond and yet, God did not give up.

If you do not trust in God, God has not given up on you.  He will passionately, lovingly, mercifully and graciously pursue you.

Make no mistake about it: our God is good.

ht: The Sun News Online

me: When we are born, we are born into a family of dad, mom, brother and sisters… for the most part.  Yet when we are born of God, we are given a bigger family of more than a million brothers and sisters because we are all adopted sons and daughters of God.

son: That’s because God is a bigger father.

So true.  So very very true.

Philippians 2:9-11 (ESV) Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Revelation 21 (ESV)

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement. The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Revelation 20:11-15 (ESV) Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:7-10 (ESV) And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.