Blog Archives - Southside Baptist Church

Refuting the Newsweek attack on the Bible by

12/31/2014

Newsweek recently published an article that is receiving much attention. It is an attack on the truthfulness and reliability of Scripture. This is at the heart and foundation of Christianity.

I am going to provide links here for an article and programs that are clearly and easily refuting this article. Take the time to read the article and watch these programs.

The article from Al Mohler can be found here

Part 1 of a video blog by James White can be found here.

Part 2 of a video blog by James White can be found here.

The last day of the year! - J.R. Miller - Dec. 31, 1890

12/31/2014

"Jesus said unto him: Follow Me!" John 21:19

We have come now to the last day of the year! For a whole year in these daily readings, we have been walking with Christ. Is there any better word with which to close this book and close the year, than this last invitation of Jesus, "Follow Me!" This is the true outcome of all learning of Christ. Mere knowledge, though it be of spiritual things, avails nothing--except as it leads us to follow Christ.

We have seen Jesus in all the different phases of His life. We have heard many of His words. Now it remains only for us to follow Him. The outcome of seeing and knowing Jesus--should be holy living and doing. The last day of the year suggests also the same duty.

Who is satisfied with his life as it appears in retrospect? The past, however blotted, must go as it is; we cannotchange it, and we need not waste time in regretting. But the new year is before us, and if we would make that better than the stained past, it must be by following Christ more closely.

To follow Christ is to go where He leads--without questioning or murmuring. It may be to a life of trial, suffering, or sacrifice--but it does not matter; we have nothing whatever to do with the kind of life to which our Lord calls us. Our only simple duty is to obey and follow. We know that Jesus will lead us only in right paths, and that the way He takes slopes upward and ends at the feet of God!

The new year on which we are about to enter is unopened, and we know not what shall befall us; but if we follow Christ we need have no fear. So let us leave the old year with gratitude to God for its mercies, and withpenitence for its failures and sins; and let us enter the new year with earnest resolve in Christ's name to make it the holiest and most beautiful year we have ever lived.

Who could have thought? - James Smith

12/23/2014

"But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people!" Psalm 22:6

How wondrously did Jesus display His love, when He . . .
assumed our nature,
took upon Him the form of a slave, and
was found in appearance as a man!

What love--to stoop so low as to . . .
be conceived in a virgin's womb,
be brought forth in pain, and
experience all the weakness and ignorance of infancy!

Yes, He was brought forth in poverty--a stable for His birth-place, and a feeding-trough for His bed! He passed by the palaces of the noble, and the mansions of the great--yes, even the comfortable cottages of the poor--and was born in circumstances of misery and degradation!

Who could have thought, if they had entered that stable and seen that infant nursing on His mother's bosom--that that infant was the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the Prince of peace! That all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in that little babe! That it was love--incomparable and inconceivable love, which brought Deity and humanity together in such a wonderful and indescribable union! This is the mystery of Godliness--the mystery of love! He left . . .
the bright abodes of blessedness and glory,
the songs of Cherubim and Seraphim,
the bosom of His Father, and
the infinite delights which He had eternally enjoyed--
to be a worm and not a man; to be scorned and despised by all!

What privations He suffered, even from the very beginning of His career on earth! What pain He endured--from His birth unto His death! He went sorrowing, sighing, and groaning--from the stable, to gloomy Calvary; where He . . .
finished His work,
proved His love,
conquered His foes,
delighted His Father, and
merited everlasting honors and glories for His people!

Jesus was once a helpless infant, a feeble child; and yet, at the same moment--He was the Almighty, the self-sufficient God!

O mystery of mercy!

Here is love beyond measure and degree!

O my soul, admire and adore!

Trials and Pain: Happiness is Not the Goal - A.W. Tozer

12/23/2014

You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.--2 Timothy 2:3-4

That we are born to be happy is scarcely questioned by anyone. No one bothers to prove that fallen men have any moral right to happiness, or that they are in the long run any better off happy. The only question before the house is how to get the most happiness out of life. Almost all popular books and plays assume that personal happiness is the legitimate end of the dramatic human struggle.

Now I submit that the whole hectic scramble after happiness is an evil as certainly as is the scramble after money or fame or success....

How far wrong all this is will be discovered easily by the simple act of reading the New Testament through once with meditation. There the emphasis is not upon happiness but upon holiness. God is more concerned with the state of people's hearts than with the state of their feelings. Undoubtedly the will of God brings final happiness to those who obey, but the most important matter is not how happy we are but how holy. The soldier does not seek to be happy in the field; he seeks rather to get the fighting over with, to win the war and get back home to his loved ones. There he may enjoy himself to the full; but while the war is on his most pressing job is to be a good soldier, to acquit himself like a man, regardless of how he feels. Of God and Men, pp. 48-49

"Oh Lord, redirect my focus. Help me today to be a 'good soldier of Jesus Christ.' Amen."

Trials and Pain: We May Expect Troubles - A.W. Tozer

12/18/2014

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.--John 16:33

We are all idealists. We picture to ourselves a life on earth completely free from every hindrance, a kind of spiritual Utopia where we can always control events, where we can move about as favorites of heaven, adjusting circumstances to suit ourselves. This we feel would be quite compatible with the life of faith and in keeping with the privileged place we hold as children of God.

In thinking thus we simply misplace ourselves; we mistake earth for heaven and expect conditions here below which can never be realized till we reach the better world above. While we live we may expect troubles, and plenty of them. We are never promised a life without problems as long as we remain among fallen men....

What then are we to do about our problems? We must learn to live with them until such time as God delivers us from them. If we cannot remove them, then we must pray for grace to endure them without murmuring. Problems patiently endured will work for our spiritual perfecting. They harm us only when we resist them or endure them unwillingly. Of God and Men, pp. 121-122

"Lord, I'm so homesick for heaven. But until You allow me to come home, I do indeed 'pray for grace to endure [problems] without murmuring.' Amen."

It takes a long and painful process to purge it out! - James Smith

12/17/2014

(James Smith, "The Love of Christ! The Fullness, Freeness, and Immutability of the Savior's Grace Displayed!")

"I have refined you, but not as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering!" Isaiah 48:10

The love of Jesus will not preserve His people from trials--but rather, assures them of trials! All whom He loves--He chastens! He has a furnace to purge our dross, and refine our souls. His Word and the Spirit reveal to us our defilement and impurity--and His grace and providence co-operate to remove them. "I am the Lord God who sanctifies you."

It is divine love which . . .
prepares the furnace,
kindles the flame,
brings the Christian into it,
superintends the whole process, and
brings him out as gold, seven times purified!

"From all your filthiness and from all your idols, I will cleanse you!" He cleanses them in the laver of the Wordby the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit. But He also cleanses them by a variety ofafflictive dispensations, through which He causes them to pass.

Our sin calls for trials--His love sends them!

Our nature repines at trials--but grace submits to them!

Our corruption is enraged at trials--but the Spirit sanctifies them to our good, and our Savior's glory.

He makes His people choice ones--in the "furnace of affliction!" He says, "I will put you into the fire--and willpurge away your dross."

Believer, never repine at your trials, nor be over-anxious for their removal. They are appointed by Jesus as yourPurifier--and are choice blessings in disguise!

Seek their sanctification,
wrestle with God that you may see His love in every stroke, and
look to Jesus that you may enjoy His presence when passing through the flame!

Nothing can hurt you--while Jesus is near you; and He is never nearer to you--than when you are in the furnace!For He sits right there as the Refiner . . .
watching the process,
regulating the heat, and
waiting to effect a gracious deliverance--when the ends of His love are answered.

He is only preparing you for fresh manifestations of His glory--and fitting you for larger communications of His love.

In the furnace, you will lose nothing that is worth keeping--but you will obtain what is truly valuable!

The flesh and the soul need constant cleansings--for corruption is so deeply rooted in our nature, that it takes a long and painful process to purge it out! But in reference to the furnace, your Lord says, "The Lord did this to purge Israel's wickedness, to take away all her sin!"

~ ~ ~ ~

Are we Christians? Or are we worldlings? - Horatius Bonar

12/17/2014

(Horatius Bonar, "Self-Denial Christianity")

"Woe to those who are at ease in Zion!" Amos 6:1

What do we say to . . .
our self-indulgence,
our spiritual sloth,
our love of ease,
our avoidance of hardship,
our luxury,
our pampering of the body,
our costly feasts,
our silken couches,
our brilliant furniture,
our gay attire,
our jeweled fingers,
our idle mirth,
our voluptuous music,
our jovial tables, loaded with every variety of rich viands?

Are we Christians? Or are we worldlings?

Where is the self-denial of the New Testament days?

Where is the separation from a self-pleasing luxurious world?

Where is the cross, the true badge of discipleship, to be seen--except in useless religious ornaments for the body, or worse than useless decorations for the sanctuary?

"Woe to those who are at ease in Zion!" Is not this the description of multitudes who name the name of Christ? They may not be "living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry." But even where these are absent, there is 'high living'--luxury of the table or the wardrobe--in conformity to 'this present evil world.'

"At ease in Zion!" Yes! there is the shrinking . . .
from hard service;
from 'spending and being spent;'
from toil and burden-bearing and conflict;
from self-sacrifice and noble service;
for the Master's sake.

There is conformity to the world, instead of conformity to Christ!
There is a laying down, instead of a taking up of the cross.
Or there is a lining of the cross with velvet, lest it should gall our shoulders as we carry it!
Or there is an adorning of the cross, that it may suite the taste and the manners of our refined and intellectual age.

Anything but the bare, rugged and simple cross!

We think that we can make the strait gate wider, and the narrow way broader, so as to be able to walk more comfortably to the heavenly kingdom. We try to prove that 'modern enlightenment' has so refined 'the world and its pleasures', that we may safely drink the poisoned cup, and give ourselves up to the inebriation of the Siren song.

"At ease in Zion!" Even when the walls of our city are besieged, and the citadel is being stormed!

Instead of grasping our weapons, we lie down upon our couches!

Instead of the armor, we put on the silken robe!

We are cowards, when we should be brave!

We are faint-hearted, when we should be bold!

We are lukewarm, when we should be fervent!

We are cold, when we should be full of zeal!

We compromise and shuffle and make excuses, when we should lift up our voice like a trumpet! We pare down truth, or palliate error, or extenuate sin--in order to placate the world, or suit the spirit of the age, or 'unify' the Church.

Learn self-denying Christianity. Not the form or name, but the living thing. Let us renounce the lazy, luxurious, self-pleasing, fashionable religion of the present day!

A self-indulgent religion has nothing in common with the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ; or with that cross of ours which He has commanded us to take up and carry after Him--renouncing ease and denying self.

Our time,
our abilities,
our money,
our strength--
are all to be laid upon the altar.

"Woe to those who are at ease in Zion!" Amos 6:1

Such poor, depraved, insignificant creatures! - James Smith

12/17/2014

(James Smith, "The Love of Christ! The Fullness, Freeness, and Immutability of the Savior's Grace Displayed!")

"I have loved you, My people, with an everlasting love! With unfailing love, I have drawn you to Myself!" Jeremiah 31:3

The love of Christ is unending; it is not a passion of His humanity--but a perfection of His divinity. He has alwaysexisted--and He has always loved His people. His people . . .
always had a place in His thoughts,
have ever been before His eye, and
have always been loved by Him!

He has loved them ever since He knew them--and He knew them from eternity! His love ran through the boundless ages of eternity past--and fixed upon poor sinners who were to appear during the existence of time; and having fixed upon them--His love maintains its hold!

When He created the earth, spread abroad the Heavens, and gave His decree to the sea--His love was fixed upon His people! Their welfare, in connection with His Father's glory--was the object which He sought in all things.

Wonder, O heavens, and be astonished, O earth! That Jesus should have fixed His love upon such poor, depraved, insignificant creatures--and that from eternity past!

When we meditate upon eternity past--we can say in reference to the most distant periods, "My Savior loved methen! He loved me from all eternity!" Glorious truth! He always has loved me--and He always will love me! He loved me . . .
before angels existed,
before devils appeared,
before sin was committed!

He loved me--when the Godhead dwelt all alone! O the depths! Surprising mystery! It seems almost too good to be true! But God has said it, and my soul shall rejoice in it and praise Him for it!

His love to me is as eternal as His nature--without beginning of days, or end of years. From His love, as from amighty ocean, flows . . .
all the acts of His power,
all the displays of His benevolence,
all the manifestations of His grace, and
all the provisions of His gospel.

It is sweet to silently meditate upon the thought, of such a vile and insignificant creature as I am--that Jehovah-Jesus not only thought of me--but eternally loved me with all the strength of His Deity! He so loved me, as to be willing, when it became necessary--to take my nature, and to save me by His humiliation, sufferings, and death!

God takes a safe course with His children! - Richard Sibbes

12/9/2014

(Richard Sibbes, 1577-1635)

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose!" Romans 8:28

Whatever is truly good for God's children--they shall have it, for all is theirs to further them to Heaven. Therefore . . .
if poverty is good for them--they shall have it;
if disgrace is good for them--they shall have it;
if crosses are good for them--they shall have them;
if misery is good for them--they shall have it;
for God makes all things work together for the good of His redeemed people.

God takes a safe course with His children--that they may not be condemned with the world.
He permits the world to condemn them--that they may not love the world.
The world hates them--that they may not love the world.
That they may be crucified to it--the world is to be crucified to them.
Because He will not allow them to perish with the world--He sends them afflictions in and by the world. Therefore they meet with such crosses and abuses and wrongs in the world.

God afflicts us outwardly--that we may be more humble inwardly.
He humbles us and makes us poor--that we may be more poor in spirit.
When God designs to humble us--we should labor through grace to abase ourselves and mortify pride.

God's providence is often mysterious--yet He is just and righteous in all that He does. Therefore when any difficult thing befalls us for which we can see no reason, yet we must reverence the Lord and adore His counsels and submit to Him who is infinitely more good and wise than we.

Glory follows afflictions--as the spring follows the winter. For the winter prepares the earth for the spring--so dosanctified afflictions prepare the soul for glory.

Trials and Pain: Piles of Ashes - A.W. Tozer

12/3/2014

Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.--Hebrews12:11

If God has singled you out to be a special object of His grace you may expect Him to honor you with stricter discipline and greater suffering than less favored ones are called upon to endure....

If God sets out to make you an unusual Christian He is not likely to be as gentle as He is usually pictured by the popular teachers. A sculptor does not use a manicure set to reduce the rude, unshapely marble to a thing of beauty. The saw, the hammer and the chisel are cruel tools, but without them the rough stone must remain forever formless and unbeautiful.

To do His supreme work of grace within you He will take from your heart everything you love most. Everything you trust in will go from you. Piles of ashes will lie where your most precious treasures used to be. That Incredible Christian, pp. 122-124

"Lord, give me the grace to withstand 'the saw, the hammer and the chisel.' I want the finished product; I often chafe under the process. I submit myself today to Your working. Amen.