Charles Spurgeon on Christ's Redeeming Work:

Charles Spurgeon on Christ's Redeeming Work:

In this verse the human race is described as a sick man, whose disease is so far advanced that he is altogether without strength: no power remains in his system to throw off his mortal malady, nor does he desire to do so; he could not save himself from his disease if he would, and would not if he could. ... While man is in this condition Jesus interposes for his salvation. 'When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly'; 'while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,' according to 'his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins.' The pith of my sermon will be an endeavour to declare that the reason of Christ's dying for us did not lie in our excellence; but where sin abounded grace did much more abound, for the persons for whom Jesus died were viewed by him as the reverse of good, and he came into the world to save those who are guilty before God, or, in the words of our text, 'Christ died for the ungodly.'

- Sermon on Romans 5:6, delivered on September 6, 1874

Church History: Era of the Seven Ecumenical Councils

Era of the Seven Ecumenical Councils

• 330 - Ethiopian King Ezana of Axum makes Christianity an official religion
  
• 334 - The first bishop is ordained for Merv / Transoxiana (area of modern-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and southwest Kazakhstan) ^[29]
  
• 341 - Ulfilas begins work with the Goths in present-day Romania
  ^[31]
  
• 354 - Theophilus "the Indian" reports visiting Christians in India;^[16]
  Philostorgius mentions a community of Christians on the Socotra islands, south of Yemen in the Arabian Sea^[33]
  
• 370 - Wulfila translates the Bible into Gothic, the first Bible translation done specifically for missionary purposes
  
• 378 - Jerome writes, "From India to Britain, all nations resound with the death and resurrection of Christ"^[24]
  
• 380 - Roman Emperor Theodosius I makes Christianity the official state religion^[35]
  
• 382 - Jerome is commissioned to translate the Gospels (and subsequently the whole Bible) into Latin (Price, p. 78</ref>
  
• 386 - Augustine of Hippo converted ^[36]
  
• 432 - Patrick goes to Ireland as missionary ^[38]
  
• 450 - First Christians reported in Liechtenstein^[24]
  
• 496 - Conversion of Clovis I, king of Franks in Gaul, along with 3,000 warriors ^[39]
  
• 499 - Persian king Kavadh I, fleeing his country, meets a group of Christian missionaries going to Central Asia to preach to the Turks
  
• 500 - First Christians reported in North Yemen; Nairam becomes Christian center
  
• 563 - Columba sails from Ireland to Scotland where he founds an evangelistic training center on Iona
  ^[43]
  
• 596 - Gregory the Great sends Augustine and a team of missionaries to (what is now) England to reintroduce the Gospel. The missionaries settle in Canterbury and within a year baptize 10,000 people ^[45]
  
• 635 - First Christian missionaries (Nestorian monks, including Alopen, from Asia Minor and Persia arrive in China ^[49]; Aidan of Lindisfarne begins evangelizing in the heart of Northumbria (England) ^[50]
  
• 697 - Muslims overrun Carthage, capital of North Africa
  ^[54]
  
• 720 - Caliph Umar II puts heavy pressure on the Christian Berbers to convert to Islam
  
• 716 - Boniface begins missionary work among Germanic tribes
  ^[55]
  
• 724 - Boniface fells pagan sacred oak of Thor at Geismar in Hesse (Germany) ^[56]
  
• 740 - Irish monks reach Iceland
  ^[57]
  
• 771 - Charlemagne becomes king and will decree that sermons be given in the vernacular. He also commissioned Bible translations.^[58]
  
• 781 - Nestorian Stele erected near Xi'an (China) to commemorate the propagation in China of the Luminous Religion, thus providing a written record of a Christian presence in China ^[59]
  

Archeology: Threshing Floor

"The threshing-floor is a flat place in the neighbourhood of the village. If possible, a rocky place is chosen, so that it may be easily swept. Where this is not obtainable, a hard, flat piece of ground is made to answer the purpose. The floor is common property, but each thresher keeps to a certain part of it. For four months the Fellah has nothing to fear from rain or bad weather. During that time he almost lives at the beiyâdir (threshing-floor) and some of the villages are nearly deserted, at least by the men. The wheat, &c., is spread out, and the oxen and asses are driven round so many hours a-day to tread out the grain with their hoofs, at the same time treading and softening the straw so that it becomes fit for fodder. This straw is called tibn, bundles of ordinary straw and stubble they call kash. The animals as a rule are not muzzled" --F. A. Klein, "Life, Habits and Customs of the Fellahin of Palestine," Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement (1883): 41-48.



"Do you suppose that these floors which we see at Yebna and elsewhere resemble those so celebrated in ancient times? They have, perhaps, changed less than almost anything else in the country. Every agricultural village and town in the land has them, and many of them are more ancient than the places whose inhabitants now use them. They have been just where they are, and exactly as they were, from a period 'to which the memory of man runneth not to the contrary.'" --William M. Thomson, The Land and the Book (1880): 1:149-51.



The quotations is taken from the Traditional Life and Customs volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-10182).

Hymn of the Day: Angel Voices Ever Signing

Angel voices, ever singing

Round thy throne of light,

Angel harps, for ever ringing,

Rest not day nor night;

Thousands only live to bless thee,

And confess thee

Lord of might.



Thou who art beyond the farthest

Mortal eye can scan,

Can it be that thou regardest

Songs of sinful man?

Can we feel that thou art near us,

And wilt hear us?

Yea, we can.



Yea, we know thy love rejoices

O'er each work of thine;

Thou didst ears and hands and voices

For thy praise combine;

Craftsman's art and music's measure

For thy pleasure

Didst design.

Here, great God, today we offer

Of thine own to thee;

And for thine acceptance proffer,

All unworthily,

Hearts and minds, and hands and voices,

In our choicest

Melody.



Honor, glory, might, and merit,

Thine shall ever be,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

Blessed Trinity:

Of the best that thou hast given

Earth and heaven

Render thee.

Prayer of the Day

O Father, help me resolve to spend a quiet time with You every day.

May my quiet time at this moment be the open door through which I glide out onto a higher level of life.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms: Westminster Larger Catechism and Children’s Catechism on God

Westminster Larger Catechism

Q. 6. What do the Scriptures make known of God?
A. The Scriptures make known what God is,^[14] the persons in the Godhead,^[15] his decrees,^[16] and the execution of his decrees.^[17]


Q. 7. What is God?
A. God is a Spirit,^[18] in and of himself infinite in being,^[19] glory,^[20] blessedness,^[21] and perfection;^[22] all-sufficient,^[23] eternal,^[24] unchangeable,^[25] incomprehensible,^[26] every where present,^[27] almighty,^[28] knowing all things,^[29] most wise,^[30] most holy,^[31] most just,^[32] most merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.^[33]


Q. 8. Are there more Gods than one?
A. There is but one only, the living and true God.^[34]


Q. 9. How many persons are there in the Godhead?
A. There be three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one true, eternal God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory; although distinguished by their personal properties.^[35]


Q. 10. What are the personal properties of the three persons in the Godhead?
A. It is proper to the Father to beget the Son,^[36] and to the Son to be begotten of the Father,^[37] and to the Holy Ghost to proceed from the Father and the Son from all eternity.^[38]


Q. 11. How doth it appear that the Son and the Holy Ghost are God equal with the Father?
A. The Scriptures manifest that the Son and the Holy Ghost are God equal with the Father, ascribing unto them such names,^[39] attributes,^[40] works,^[41] and worship,^[42] as are proper to God only.

Children's Catechism

Q. 9. What is God?
A. God is a Spirit, and has not a body like men.


Q. 10. Where is God?
A. God is everywhere.


Q. 11. Can you see God?
A. No; I cannot see God, but he always sees me.


Q. 12. Does God know all things?
A. Yes; nothing can be hid from God.


Q. 13. Can God do all things?
A. Yes; God can do all his holy will.

Quote of the Day: What Christ Has Done

"What challenges Satan or conscience can make against the believer—hear an answer; I was condemned, I was judged, I was crucified for sin, when my surety Christ was condemned, judged, and crucified for my sins—I have paid all, because my surety has paid all."

—Samuel Rutherford, quoted in Edward Fisher, The Marrow of Modern Divinity (Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus, 2009), 126