Monday, July 18, 2011

NEW BLOG

Check out my new blog @


this will be my primary blog now.


Blessings to you all in Christ,
Andrew

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Recently, I thought of this quote by John Bunyan again. He writes:

"But one day, as I was passing in the field, and that too with some dashes on my conscience, fearing lest yet all was not right, suddenly this sentence fell upon my soul, Thy righteousness is in heaven; and methought withal, I saw, with the eyes of my soul, Jesus Christ at God’s right hand; there, I say, as my righteousness; so that wherever I was, or whatever I was adoing, God could not say of me, He wants my righteousness, for that was just before him. I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse; for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever (Heb 13:8). Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed, I was loosed from my affliction and irons, my temptations also fled away... " (Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, §229-230).


Indeed, our righteousness is Christ alone who stands at the right hand of God interceding for us (Rom 8:34). Our good works do not 'positionally' make us more righteous before God, and our bad works do not 'positionally' make us less righteous before God. No, our righteousness is in heaven, consummated in Christ our Savior -who is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb 13:8). Perhaps it is this very profound reality that prompted me to right this villanelle. May this bless and encourage you.


'Tis Christ, My Righteousness (10/14/09)


Herein lays my righteousness, secure and pure it stays-

Nay, such righteousness is not mine own, but imputed freely.

'Tis Jesus Christ, that stands, the same in former -and forever- days.


A fixed foundation firm -it doth not shake in slightest stray,

Solid stance in purchased grace through Christ, eternally–

Herein lays my righteousness, secure and pure it stays.


I gaze upon Thy throne above with holiness array,

αξιον το αρνον το εσφογμενον - [φηεμι]

'Tis Jesus Christ, that stands, the same in former -and forever- days.


A flowing fount' of cov'nant blood -pardons with ransom pays,

My debt pierced, nailed –fasten tightly to a tree therein at Calvary.

Herein lay my righteousness, secure and pure it stays.


With holy hosts a hymn we sing of eternal praise,

Shouts –sing in rejoicing awe, enraptured unto reverent prostrate knees.

'Tis Jesus Christ, that stands, the same in former -and forever- days.


O Saints rise up, we're sinners all –but in triumph we will say,

"To our King be glory, to our King be glory!" –infinitely.

Herein lays my righteousness, secure and pure it stays,

'Tis Jesus Christ, that stands, the same in former -and forever- days.


~Andrew T. Preston

Thursday, March 31, 2011

The Trials of the Faithful and the Furnace of God

The Trials of the Faithful and the Furnace of God:

A brief meditation on the glory of God and the good of his people in the midst of suffering

Job 23:1-17

The Book of Job, chap. 23

I. Appeal (vv1-7)

First, we are promptly presented with Job’s appeal directly to God. The desire for advice from his friends (i.e., Bildad, Eliphaz, and Zophar) was no longer his prominent yearning. Rather, Job begins this chapter by crying for a desperate plea to enter proximately into the court of his God, “Oh that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat!” (v3). Herein, we see the heart of an upright man seeking the vindication of his soul before his God in the midst of severe suffering. Yet Job takes confidence in the acquittal of his Heavenly Judge and the divine deliverance thereof. For he asserts, “I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me. Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; he would pay attention to me. There an upright man could argue with him, and I would be acquitted forever by my judge” (23.4-7). Job, here, desires to bring his appeal before God into a law-court forensic setting. His hope lies solely in his God who would declare him righteous.

II. Anguish (vv8-9)

Nevertheless, through the avid searching, the countenance of God appears hidden and concealed. Job keenly looks forward and backward, left and right, yet the presence of his God seems dissolved amidst the immense suffering of his soul. Pain, confusion, and darkness cloud his conditions with despair. His circumstances are grotesquely bleak and sorrowful, and to add further, the presence of his God is amiss. “Behold,” Job weeps, “I go forward, but [God] is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him; on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;
he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him” (vv.8-9). Yet Job’s response does not end in unbelief.

III. Assurance (vv10-12)

Indeed, a lack of faith does not have the last word –and rightly so. As readers of Job’s experience, we arrive at the response of a righteous man and his assurance in the sovereignty of God. Truly, Job understood (even within the mystery of mourning) that suffering has a purpose in the eternal plan of God. “But [God] knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold” (v10). The fiery trials and tests from God are to refine his soul into impeccable gold. As blocks of gold are polished and purified of their impure extremities; so too the Lord has decreed that death does not have the final word in suffering. But for the believer, like Job, the final word is victory in our vindication in the court of our sovereign God.

IV. Admiration (vv13-17)

Comforted in the purposes of God, Job is also prompted to an affectionate response of awe and wonder at the Lord’s majesty. “[God] is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does. For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind. Therefore I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me” (vv13-16; italics added). Here, Job sits in awestruck reverence and admonition at Almighty God. His recognition of God’s purposes over pain and suffering leaves him in breathless wonder. But Job does not end there. The darkness of distress and sorrow neither silences his praise nor leaves him faithless. “Yet,” declares Job, “I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face” (v17). With God there is an everlasting hope and sure anchor of the soul (cf. Heb 6.19-20) that drowns out the darkness and beacons forth rays of his glory and our good in him.

V. Conclusion

Perilous trials for a true believer are not without purpose. Rather, trials are an expression of God’s parental love for his children (as paradoxical as that seems). The purpose of our present pain is for our eternal good –namely, conforming us into the image of Christ (cf. Rom 8.28-19), and the vindication of our genuine faith at the revelation of Jesus Christ in praise, glory, and honor. Charles Spurgeon captures this truth beautifully:

Once more, you shall come out of the fire uninjured. It looks very hard to believe that a child of God should be tried by the loss of his Father's presence, and yet should come forth uninjured by the trial. Yet no gold is ever injured in the fire. Stoke the furnace as much as you may, let the blast be as strong as you will, thrust the ingot into the very center of the white heat, let it lie in the very heart of the flame; pile on more fuel, let another blast torment the coals till they become most vehement with heat, yet the gold is losing nothing, it may even be gaining. If it had any alloy mingled with it, the alloy is separated from it by the fire, and to gain in purity is the greatest of gains. But the pure gold is not one drachm less; there is not a single particle of it that can be burnt. It is there still, all the better for the fiery trial to which it has been subjected; and thou, dear child of God, whatever may befall thee, shalt come out of the fire quite uninjured. Thou art under a dark cloud just now; but thou shalt come out into brightness, and thou shalt have lost nothing that was worth keeping.[1]

The apostle Peter, perhaps, picks up this imagery of ‘gold’ for an analogy of ‘various trials.’ He writes, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 1.6-7; italics added). The end result of our suffering is praise, glory and honor! Oh the day when Christ returns to call home his own and we dwell with him in eternal joy! Hasten the day Lord God, and come swiftly Lord Jesus!

In conclusion, Knowing that God would refine him like gold through his fiery trial, Job trusted in the powerful, sovereign grace of God. Similarly, may God grant us the grace to trust him in our ‘various trials’ knowing that it is for our good (i.e., refining us as gold) and for the glory of his name. “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (1 Pet 4.12-13). Hold fast to the Lord, for he is good and his steadfast love endures forever! He is coming again to restore all things completely new and there will be a day when tears of sorrow and pain vanquish forever.



[1] Charles Spurgeon, from the sermon: Believers Tested By Trials (Job 23.8-10), Oct 17, 1880

Sunday, May 30, 2010

The Cross: A Duty to Die for Delight

Luke 9:23 –
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

The Cross: A duty to die for delight.
Bear strong on me shoulders beams heavy – damp
Dross mixed with blood, but death is gain in sight,
Reproach befalls with Christ outside the camp.
Splinters show no smooth compliant repose,
But of two planks – one hangs thyself secured.
Sag-fixed with nails, thrice, eyes then plucked by crows,
Herein shows sweat spilt sacrifice endured.
Is this but not the cost of hedonism?
From whence one dies in flight for highest joy,
Could such pursuit lay in grave catechism?
Yea, a holy pleasure shall one employ -
Engage man’s chief end with rigorous thrust:
Praise Christ to treasure forever – I must.


An Exposition and Examination of - The Cross: A duty to die for delight.

Lately I have been deeply moved by a common verse in scripture. However, upon recent meditation my affections have been plunged deeper within the crevasses of its lines. I am speaking of Luke 9:23. Here, Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Putting myself in the disciples’ place, the thought of denying one’s self in order to bear a cross must have sounded fanatical and foolish. Roman crosses were not a pleasant site. Rather, they were a severe act of public humiliation and disgrace. Crosses are where people condemned as criminals were pierced with three nails and left to hang in the heat of sun while crows come to pluck out their eyes. Exhaustion and dehydration would weaken the body and suffocation would make it hard to breathe. This reality, often times, is lost in our modern interpretation of it. Sometimes we are told, “Be a good Christian and bear your cross,” when the context of such statement is referring to a small deficiency or a mere personal inconvenience. Crosses are where people die, and here Jesus is saying, “Die to self and bear a cross,” for you cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). What seemed to move me even more was not just the thought of dying to oneself but rather the motivation behind it.
What would compel someone to forfeit their life and possessions in order to die? Paul saw the answer, and he tells us in his letter to the church of Philippi. He writes, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain…even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me…for Christ will be magnified in my body whether by life or whether by death.” Moreover, Jesus commands us to follow him, that is, himself. In searching the scriptures we find Jesus’ motivation which propelled him to die, even to die on a cross. We turn to Hebrews 12:2, “Looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” For a Christian, self-denial is not the abolition of joy. Rather, it is the pursuit of pronouncing lesser joys as loss and the greatest joy as gain. Paul’s act of self denial was a pursuit for greatest gain, and likewise Jesus’ act of death was a pursuit for greatest gain. Both pursuits in the act of self-denial and death on a cross were pursuits for joy. For Paul it was his fullest joy in the glory of his Savior and for Jesus it was his fullest joy foreseeing his infinite glory being enjoyed forever by his purchased people.


For His glory and our Joy,
Andrew