3/3/24:
Psalm 18 Devotional:

Psalm 18: 1 This Psalm is the first beginning of his gratulation, and thanksgiving in the entering into his kingdom, wherein he extolleth and praiseth most highly the marvelous mercies and grace of God, who hath thus preserved and defended him. 32 Also he setteth forth the image of Christ’s kingdom, that the faithful may be assured that Christ shall always conquer and overcome by the unspeakable power of his Father, though all the whole world should strive there against.

To him that excelleth. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord, which spake unto the Lord the words of this song (in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul) and said,

18:1 I will love thee dearly, O Lord, my strength.

2 The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, and my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

3 I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

4 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of wicked men made me afraid.

5 The cords of the grave compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.

6 In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

7 Then the earth trembled, and quaked; the foundations also of the mountains moved and shook, because he was wroth.

8 Smoke went out at his nostrils, and a consuming fire out of his mouth: coals were kindled by it.

9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.

10 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, and he came flying upon the wings of the wind.

11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

12 At the brightness that was before him his clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.

13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave 1his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.

14 Then he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.

15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.

17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.

18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay.

19 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

“As before we looked at the general context of this Psalm and the natural response of the saints to the goodness and grace of God towards them, even as David shoots forth in praise and adoration of the name of God which had been his help and stay and comfort, even honoring God with such titles as His magnificent goodness warrents, and we also looked at the necessary element of the heart in such praise, even to confess and declare that God is worthy, and deserves our confidence and worship, (for without which sincere affection our prayer is worthless in His sight,) so also important to note is the doctrinal content of this confession in opposition to heresy that leads to such doubt and mistrust. For as we have said before that unbelief and doubt is like impudent atheism, so the cause of this is either due to indwelling sin, which affects even the elect, but more prominently in the false opinions concerning the nature of God, which is common in the false church and heretical circles, which blasphemy and ignorance of true worship we are delivered from. You can see the importance of right worship in verse 3 and verse 19 where David says, “I will call upon the Lord who is worthy.” and again, “he delivered me because He delighted in me” which shows that just in the Psalms this doctrine is not just spoken of once or twice, but repeated again and again for our instruction and comfort, and is central to our understanding of praise and worship, as we have seen also in previous Psalms. For if one denies that God is sovereign, and that He is all powerful, how can they pray with confidence for deliverance in any single trial or calamity that befall each of us regularly on this earth? Will they not shrink in despair, and doubt whether His arm can reach them in any one of their troubles, if He is not able to save them from all? And does not then this pestilent doctrine of free will utterly abrogate the grace and power of God in delivering us from our trials and providing us with good? Yes, verily, for if the very nature of salvation be determined by man’s work and not God’s, this  utterly overthrows His wonderful care over the lives of His people, seeing this care and watchfulness is in their mind to be attributed to all in general, and therefore the care and provision is to be sought for in themselves and not in God! What a horrible monster is this doctrine then that deprives the saints of all cause of worship, and their comfort also. Away with such an abomination, let it be burned with the rest of the idols of the world and never mentioned in the church of God, except in execration and disdain. Let us therefore, as many as are of the people of God, continue to worship Him according to His power and love, which is freely given to us in His Son, as it written many times in scripture, saying, “The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor chose you, because ye were more in number than any people: for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers…” and again, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” And in such holy admiration of His love and power and calling upon Him who is worthy, let us bear in mind His right as sovereign Lord, for that those who deny it are among the rebels whom He will destroy from off the face of the earth. As it is written, “And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will dash him to pieces.” and again, “Therefore walk thou in the way of good men, and keep the ways of the righteous. For the just shall dwell in the land, and the upright men shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressor shall be rooted out of it”
In conclusion then, let us remember that the basis and strength of our comfort is in the power and sovereignty of God, and that as long as men will be proud and self sufficient creatures they will bark and cavil at this doctrine, wishing to be free from the care and providence of the almighty. Let us as many as are united to Him by baptism, cast off doubt and despondency, and call upon Him who is worthy to be praised, so shall we be saved from our enemies.

Christopher Ness,
It has ever been the lot of truth (like the Lord of it) to be crucified between right-hand and left-hand thieves. Truth’s enemies, on all hands, are various. While some men consider the Bible to be an imposition on the world, and treat salvation by Christ as mere priestcraft and deception, there are others who tell us they have Christ, and are one with Christ, and yet with audacious effrontery cry down the ordinances of the gospel, and consider the means of grace as too burdensome for a free-born conscience, and too low and carnal for a seraphic spirit. There is as much beyond the truth as on this side of it; as much in outrunning the flock of Christ and the Lamb that leads them, as in straggling and loitering behind. Truth has evermore observed the golden mean. The Socinians decry the divinity of Christ and His satisfaction, as if His sufferings were exemplary only, not expiatory. The Roman Catholics turn the true worship of God into will-worship, and teach their own traditions for the commandments of God, spoiling God’s institutions with man’s inventions. And the Arminians call the justice of God to the bar of reason; they dare confidently wade in the deep ocean of divine mysteries, and in stating the decrees of God, where blessed Paul could find no bottom, but cried out “O the depth” etc.
(Rom 11:33); they dare undertake to fetch the Apostle from off his nonplus, saying, “God foresaw that Jacob would believe, and that Esau would not believe; therefore, the one was loved and the other hated.” Thus Arminius’ school teaches deeper divinity than what
Paul learned in the third heaven. And they not only gratify the pride of man’s reason with the Socinians, but also the pride of man’s will, in extenuating and lessening both the guilt and filth of original sin; even as Popery, their elder sister, gratifies the pride of outward
sense. Hence Dr. Leighton calls Arminianism “the Pope’s Benjamin, the last and greatest monster of the man of sin; the elixir of AntiChristianism; the mystery of the mystery of iniquity; the Pope’s cabinet; the very quintessence of equivocation.” Alike to this, Mr.
Rous (Master of Eton College) adds, “Arminianism is the spawn of Popery, which the warmth of favor may easily turn into frogs of the pit.” And what are the new Arminians but the varnished offspring of the old Pelagians, that makes the grace of God its lackey at the foot, or rather, the will of man; that makes the sheep keep the shepherd; that puts God into the same extremity with Darius, who would gladly have saved Daniel but could not (Da 6:14)? What else can their doctrine signify which they call a prescience or foreknowledge in God, the truth of which depends, not on the decree of God, but on the free-will of the creature? This is to make the creature have no dependence on the Creator, and to fetter Divine Providence. Thus that fatal necessity, which they would lay at our doors, unavoidably remains at theirs, and (according to their scheme) God must say thus to man, “O My poor creature. That fatal fortune which has harmed you must be endured more than bewailed, for it was from all eternity, before My providence. I could not hinder, I could not but consent to those fatal contingencies; and unavoidable Fate has, whether I will it or not, pronounced the inevitable sentence.” What else is this but to overthrow all those graces of Faith, Hope, etc., to expectorate (to cast off) all vital godliness; and to pull the great Jehovah Himself out of His throne of glory, setting up dame Fortune to be worshipped in His stead? These and many other great abominations have been discovered in the “chambers of imagery” in our days, and are nothing but
measuring supernatural mysteries with the crooked metewand of degenerate reason.”

Therefore believing in God, the true God, He who has power over heaven and earth, over everlasting life and damnation, over the souls of men, let us fear and worship Him, knowing that those who come to Him with a false heart are not acceptable, yet He has given us the knowledge of His will that we might worship Him in truth. Let us pray therefore for His gospel to be truly known that men might fear and worship His holy and awesome name. 

Lectures on “the Preface to the Westminster Confession by Thomas Manton.”

Lesson 9. The substance of our doctrine is everlasting life. Part 2.
Obedience and Holiness of Life.

Would parents but begin betimes, and labour to affect the hearts of their children with the great matters of everlasting life, and to acquaint them with the substance of the doctrine of Christ… Intro. God is everlasting and created man for fellowship with Himself.

4. We exhort to obedience because rebellion against God is death. (obedience to the faith, obedience to the commandments)
Heb. 3-4, Rev. 14:12, 22:14

5. We exhort to holiness and purity of life, because sin and iniquity is death.
Heb. 12:14-29, Eph. 4-6

6. We warn against the temptation of the world, because the love of the world is death.
1 John 2:15-17, Luke 12:13-21

Conclusion.

YouTube Audio: https://youtu.be/dgDVINjaxms