No Servant Can Serve Two Masters

by Mike Ratliff

No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Luke 16:13 ESV)

When the Protestant Reformation took off in the early 16^th Century one of the motivating factors for the cruel retaliation by the Roman church was the teaching by the reformers from God’s Word to the common people that wealth and power were not indicators of God’s blessing on the prelates, priests, monks, bishops, and the Popes. Luther preached a sermon on the parable of the unjust steward (Luke 16:1-13) telling all who heard it and read the published versions of it that salvation is by grace through faith alone and it is for all who trust in Christ alone, not for those who accumulate wealth and power as a pretense of God’s blessing.

Be Not Overcome by Evil

by Mike Ratliff

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2 ESV)

In our daily Christian walk it is a rare day in which we take every thought capture and, through our active repentance, successfully deny ourselves through every circumstance. I don’t think I could claim that I have successfully done this the majority of the time. However, our God is wise and omniscient. It should be a matter of great rejoicing on our part that our perseverance is in His hands and is based on the work of the Holy Trinity on our behalf, not on our will power.

Born to Love

 

by Mike Ratliff

By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:10 ESV)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23 ESV)

As I have mentioned in other posts, I am re-reading the biography of William Tyndale by David Daniell. I am doing this because I believe God desires that I do so. I read it over a year ago, but this time I am picking up a great deal more about many different things than I did before. Through this I have seen that there are many parallels between our time and that of the Reformation. One of those parallels is how ungodly and cruel professing Christians can be. Another is how man-made religion has become accepted as Christianity while genuine Christians are few and far between. These genuine believers see the fallacies of the false, man-focused religion going on in their churches. Many have left. Others stay and fight it out. 

The Old Gospel and the New

by James I. Packer

The old gospel of Owen, first of all, contains no less full and free an offer of salvation than its modern counterpart. It presents ample grounds of faith (the sufficiency of Christ, and the promise of God), and cogent motives to faith (the sinner’s need, and the Creator’s command, which is also the Redeemer’s invitation). The new gospel gains nothing here by asserting universal redemption. The old gospel, certainly, has no room for the cheap sentimentalising which turns God’s free mercy to sinners into a constitutional softheartedness on His part which we can take for granted; nor will it countenance the degrading presentation of Christ as the baffled Saviour, balked in what he hoped to do by human unbelief; nor will it indulge in maudlin appeals to the unconverted to let Christ save them out of pity for His disappointment. The pitiable Saviour and the pathetic God of modern pulpits are unknown to the old gospel. The old gospel tells men that they need God, but not that God needs them (a modern falsehood); it does not exhort them to pity Christ, but announces that Christ has pitied them, though pity was the last thing they deserved. It never loses sight of the Divine majesty and sovereign power of the Christ whom it proclaims, but rejects flatly all representations of Him which would obscure His free omnipotence.

The Reality of Sin

 

The Simple Gospel
by
John MacArthur
All Rights Reserved

(A copy of this message on cassette tape may be obtained by calling 1-800-55-GRACE)
John 8:21-30    Tape GC 1246

Introduction

It’s wonderful when a person comes to Christ…they no longer are under the tyranny of sin and guilt or of lust and desire, and they no longer are under the bondage of a purposeless and meaningless kind of existence. Christ not only gives meaning to life, but He restores harmony to our spiritual lives by completely forgiving our sin.

Now, what happens when somebody does not want to establish a relationship with the living God through Jesus Christ? What happens when a person maintains the masquerade of Christmas, giving homage to an event, but not tolerating the individual in which that event finds its meaning? If receiving Jesus Christ results in an abundant and eternal life, then not receiving Jesus Christ results in receiving the curse of God.

As we find in this passage of John 8 some very alarming statements by Jesus, I must admit they make the passage a difficult thing for me to discuss, let alone understand. I sometimes want to cry out with Richard Baxter, “Oh, for an empty hell and a full heaven!” It is not my desire, nor is it Jesus’ desire for anyone to enter hell, for God is“not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9b). It is not condemnation, but rather warning that Jesus speaks in these verses.

Family Time

I am in OKC through Wednesday. I will try to post and cover comments the best I can. In the meantime please enjoy the articles I have posted from John MacArthur and J.C. Ryle etc. about the Gospel and Christian Authenticity.

In Christ

Mike Ratliff

A Place of Discernment

 

by Mike Ratliff

Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. (1 Corinthians 14:29 ESV)

For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. (Matthew 24:5 ESV)

Not long ago I posted a piece titled Proclaiming Christ Crucified.  I believed at that time, and I still do, that this must be the number one focus of the Church. We must preach it. We must hold it and guard it by defending it against all attacks. These attacks come from every direction. Some are direct, but most are subtle and easy to overlook if we are not vigilant and discerning. Christ and Him crucified is the gospel. It is constantly under attack for that very reason. What tells us the truth throughout about this? Isn’t it Sacred Scripture? This is why there are so many assaults on its inerrancy and completeness. 

John Calvin’s Commentary on the Denial of Jesus by Peter

 

As I have assisted my daughter and son-in-law and my wife after the birth of our first grandchild this week I have been struck by people I have encountered in the hospital during this. Some are so obviously Spirit-led believers like the Sunday School teacher and his family of my daughter and son-in-law. Then there are the overheard conversations in the hallways and waiting rooms that are all about the fruits of the flesh. I have been under very severe conviction during all of this to stand firm and give God the glory in all things. I have a few hours until I have to return to the hospital this evening so I am posting a commentary on Peter’s denial of Christ. What Peter did was heinous. When we walk through our days in this world as if Christ meant nothing to us so that we won’t stand out in the crowd then aren’t we just a guilty as Peter?

The Sovereignty of God

by Mike Ratliff

Not that I had any doubts about the complete sovereignty of God, but when I witnessed the birth of my fearfully and wonderfully made grandson yesterday along with this little boy’s uniqueness and his very strong self-will, the truth of why our salvation must be totally in God’s hands was made crystal clear to me. My daughter and son-in-law deeply desire to be the best parents they can be, but there is a third party involved in how that goes, my grandson. He is already exerting his demands and desires on them as well as his 4 grandparents. God is sovereign. There is not one part of creation that is not under His sovereignty including the self-will of each of us. Our salvation is included in that. Unless God intervenes our lives then none of us will seek after Him or desire to know Him on His terms. The following article is by John Murray enjoy and be blessed my brethren.

Calvin Leon Mays

This is to announce the arrival into this world of Calvin Leon Mays. My wife and I got up this morning around 4am so we could drive our son-in-law and daughter to the Lakeside Women’s Hospital in OKC. The delivery of their son was to be induced at 5:30am. However, after monitoring the baby’s vitals for about an hour it was discovered that every time my daughter had a contraction that his pulse would drop to half. It was decided that it would be best for the baby if my daughter had a C-Section.

She became very frightened when they said that. I called my son, a second year resident at GWU Hospital in Washington, D.C.; I asked him about the procedure. He wanted me to take the phone in so he could encourage his sister. I tried to do that, but the best I could do was let my wife hear what he had to say.

They moved us all to the other end of the hospital then called us to the delivery area around 8:00am. At about 8:20am my son-in-law came out holding my grandson. He was born at 8:15am on September 9, 2008 to the relief of many people. I thanked God for answering our prayers then marveled at this exquisite little boy who weighed in at 5 pounds and 14 ounces.

Follow this link to see some of the pictures I took over the last few days since we have been here as well at those on this tremendous day.

I want to thank everyone who has been praying for this baby boy and my daughter and son-in-law.

In Christ

Mike Ratliff

Inducement

I am currently in Oklahoma awaiting the birth of my first Grand child. Tomorrow (Sept 9, 2008) my daughter will go the hospital so the birth will be induced. Please pray for the safety of my daughter and grand child through this. If all goes well then I will be returning home on Thursday so I can overnight my wife’s medication to her so she can stay here for a while longer.

To God be the glory.

In Christ

Mike Ratliff

Out of Town

My daughter is in the last week of her pregnancy (we hope.) 🙂 I am leaving to head that way. If she does not have my first grandchild by Tuesday her doctors will induce. I am going to lend my support to my son-in-law. I will try to post something about this when I can. Please pray for a good and safe delivery.

In Christ

Mike Ratliff

Why Psalm 12:6,7 is not a Promise of the Infallible Preservation of Scripture

In light of our inadvertent discussion yesterday that detoured into the realm of the reliability of certain biblical texts and the insistence of one person that we examine Psalm 12:6,7, I did a bit of research today on this. It seems that some have interpreted this passage to state that this is a proof text that teaches an infallibly preserved Bible. My own study of Psalm 12 made it clear to me that using these two verses this way is a violation of the context of the Psalm. That isn’t the message David is giving us here. In any case, I wanted to write my own exposition of this, but decided to allow someone who is much more educated in Hebrew than I to explain this.

Please pray for my friend Jim Bublitz

When God drew me out of the seeker-sensitive darkness, one of the men God used to assist me with His wisdom and discernment was Jim Bublitz. I thank God for this man and his ministry. In any case, he is very ill. Here is a note from His website Old Truth.

Dear Readers:
After three years of posting, the blog will be closing, though the Old Truth site will remain up and you will still find past postings, videos, and resources.
I’ve enjoyed interacting with many of you and posting on so many of the issues that effect today’s church. I have, as of late experienced some medical problems that make it impossible for me to continue blogging at this time. I recently learned that I have “Non Alcoholic Cirrhosis of the Liver” which will require a liver transplant in order to survive beyond the next several years. For the past month I’ve spent a double-digit number of hours per day sleeping and have lost over 60 pounds in water retention. As some of you know, I’ve also been battling broken bones this last year, several of which are still giving me some problems.
Through all of this, my family and church in Milwaukee have been incredibly supportive, and I’d like to thank them all. A special thanks goes out to Chad who has not only helped me with blogging through the months, but has also been a loyal friend and brother in the Lord. I am looking to the Lord through all of this and know that he has good that comes from these things (Romans 8:28). I’m at a loss as to how unbelievers are able to make it through these types of things without looking to the Lord for strength.
I would love to return to blogging one day, perhaps after I receive a transplant, but that may be months or even a couple of years. For right now, I’ve been told to expect to get more sick as the months go on, so needless to say – I have some big challenges ahead of me. I do hope that the Old Truth website will continue to be a valuable resource for people. Until I get the site reorganized, use the menus in the left and right margins of this page to navigate your way around, or use the Google search box to the left to search this site. Commenting has been turned off.
Though I am currently very behind in answering emails, you can feel free to send me a message. Thanks again to all of my regular readers and participants on the blog; I’ve learned more from you over the years than you have from me; you have been a blessing to me.
–Jim B.
7/22/08

My brethren, this has caused a great deal of stress to Jim and his family. Please lift them up in prayer for encouragement and healing.
In Christ

Mike Ratliff