The counsel of the wicked

The counsel of the wicked

Arthur Pink "The Blessed Man"

Conversion is the soul's surrender to God, and acceptance of God--as Guide through this world of sin.

"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked." Psalm 1:1

Notice exactly how this is expressed--it is not "does not walk in the open wickedness" nor even "the manifest folly of the wicked," but "does not walk in the counsel of the wicked." How searching that is! How it narrows things down!

The ungodly are ever ready to "counsel" the believer, seeming to be very solicitous of his welfare. They will warn him against being too strict and extreme, advising him to be broad-minded and to "make the best of both worlds." But the policy of the "ungodly"--that is, of those who leave God out of their lives, who have no "fear of God"--is regulated by self-will and self-pleasing, and is dominated by what they call "common sense."Alas, how many professing Christians regulate their lives by the advice and suggestions of ungodly friends and relatives--heeding such "counsel" in their business career, their social life, the furnishing and decorating of their homes, their dress and diet, and the choice of school or avocation for their children!

But not so with the "blessed man." He "does not walk in the counsel of the wicked." Rather is he afraid of it, no matter how plausible it sounds, or apparently good the intention of those who offer it. He shuns it, and says "Get behind me, Satan!"

Why? Because Divine grace has taught him that he has something infinitely better to direct his steps. God has given him a Divine revelation, dictated by unerring wisdom, suited to his every need and circumstance, designed as a "lamp unto his feet and a light unto his path." His desire and his determination is to walk by the wholesome counsel of God, and not by the corrupt counsel of the ungodly.

The "blessed man" does not walk according to the maxims of the world. "But his delight is in the Law of the Lord." "The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the Law of God" (Romans 8:7). The worldling seeks his "delight" in the entertainment furnished by those who scorn spiritual and eternal things. Not so the "blessed" man--his "delight" is in something infinitely superior to what this perishing world can supply, namely, in the Divine Scriptures. The unregenerate delight in pleasing self--but the joy of the Christian lies in pleasing God. His Word is the daily bread of the "blessed" man.

"And in His Law, he meditates day and night" (Psalm 1:2). Thereby does he evidence his "delight" therein--for where his treasure is, there is his heart also! Here, then, is the occupation of the blessed man. The voluptuary thinks only of satisfying his senses; the giddy youth is concerned only with sports and pleasures; the man of the world directs all his energies to the securing of wealth and honors; but the "blessed" man's determination is to please God, and in order to obtain a better knowledge of His will, he meditates day and night in His holy Word. Thereby is light obtained, its sweetness extracted, and the soul nourished!

"Your Words were found, and I ate them; and Your Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart!" (Jeremiah 15:16). Meditation stands to reading--as digestion does to eating. It is as God's Word is pondered by the mind, turned over and over in the thoughts, and mixed with faith--that we assimilate it. That which most occupies the mind and most constantly engages our thoughts--is what we most "delight" in.

"He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season." Fruit is an essential character of a gracious man, for there are no fruitless branches in the true Vine. "In season," for all fruits do not appear in the same month, neither are all the graces of the Spirit produced simultaneously.

Times of trial--call for faith.

Times of suffering--call for patience.

Times of disappointment--call for meekness.

Times of danger--call for courage.

Times of blessings--call for thanksgiving.

Times of prosperity--call for joy.

How far, dear reader, do you resemble this "blessed man"?

Grace Gems has posted Arthur Pink's outstanding five page article, "The Blessed Man"

How often do professing followers of Jesus Christ look to the wisdom of the world

whether knowingly or not. We follow our feelings instead of Thus saith The Lord.

The Power of Sin

If you will have death unto sin, you shall have sin unto death.
There is no alternative.If you do not die to sin, you shall die
for sin. If you do not slay sin, sin shall slay you.

C.H. Spurgeon

The word "sin" should never be separate from the word
"death." Sin has its pleasures for a season but its way is
the way to Death. We are told in Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
We see that we have a choice to obey God or follow our natural man. Who do you want to
follow? I know I can say with Paul that I war within myself my "old man" fighting an insurgent
war with the spiritual man, the new creature I am in Christ (2 Cor 5:17).
So how do we win that war?????

We must daily die to self
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

We can not be a flash in the pan Christian, you know the type..
"It is too hard to live this"
" The world is a different place now"
" I do not feel like doing it" my favorite is
"But this is what feel like doing!!"

Our Lord has given us the way of escape from our trails and temptations.
1Co 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

We do not avail ourselves to this "way of escape" like we should.
There is a story told of a man whose house is hit by a flood.
As he is sitting on the roof to escape the water a neighbor rows up in a boat to help
him. The mans says "No thank you God will save me". Next a rescue helicopter lowers
a rope to lift him off. Again the man says " No thank you God will save me".
When the man drowns from the water he asks God "Lord why did you let me drown?"
God tells the man I sent you help thru a man with a boat, and an helicopter, but you
refused my help.

How often do you refuse God's help thru the people around you????

Gal 6:1-2 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Those times that we have others come along side do we listen? Are we coming along side those
who are hurting?
Are looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith???

If you are reading this and you are not born again or if your do not even know what that means.
Please contact me!! I would be glad to show you from the Scriptures what it means to be
born again. Because this will make NO sense to you. But if you are born again what are you doing with your life???? Living for yourself? Or are you living your life for Jesus??

That the Lamb might have the Full reward for His suffering

-Layman_

The Big Umbrella

The Big Umbrella is an article written by Dr. Jay Adams. I believe this is an insightful essay on
Nouthetic Counseling.....Layman


The Institute for Nouthetic Studies is pleased to make available once again one of the seminal essays of the Nouthetic counseling movement. The Big Umbrella was first presented in lecture form to the student body of the Reformed Episcopal Seminary and then presented in numerous ministerial gatherings. It was ultimately presented in this written form and published in a volume by the same name along with a number of other lectures and essays by Dr. Adams in 1972. The Institute for Nouthetic Studies has made this essay available again (it is now out of print) because of the many questions that have come to us about the nature and characteristics of Nouthetic counseling. This essay answers most of those questions and addresses the great need for a truly biblical model and approach to counseling. Please remember it is still under copyright and is not to be reproduced.
During the last generation a big umbrella was opened. Beneath its huge, over-arching expanse you now find people with the most diverse problems and difficulties. Under its shadow they have been gathered together according to the novel idea that nearly everybody who is having problems, regardless of what his difficulties may be, is sick. The name of this umbrella is Mental Illness.
This umbrella was designed and opened by Charcot and Freud and others who worked with them. Until their time, "illness" meant physical illness. But they stretched the concept of illness until it pertained to nearly any and every sort of difficulty in life. I cannot review the historical reasons for this radical change, but if you want to learn more about how it came about, borrow Thomas Szasz's book, The Myth of Mental Illness, and read the first two chapters. You will find that he explains very plainly how this happened. What is of importance is that Szasz shows how Charcot and Freud used the medical model (illness) to declare those who previously had been called malingerers, to be sick. You will find this history most enlightening.
Regardless of the historical background, we are all aware that the umbrella is wide open today. Huddled together under it are people with organic problems and people with non-organic problems; people with perceptual difficulties and people with behavioral difficulties; people whose brains have been damaged and people who, to put it simply, have never learned how to get along in life. Those who are criminal or guilty or lazy have found shelter beneath the umbrella together with those who are senile and those who have glandular problems. This is truly a most motley mob.
All sorts of people, then, have been labeled mentally ill. My thesis is that you who are ministers of the gospel must not be content with these current conditions. You may not condone the practice of confusing illness with behavioral deviation; such a position is clearly contrary to the Word of God. Instead, you must do something to alter this serious situation. You must take out of the rack an entirely different umbrella, a much smaller one, for that big umbrella is the product of a wholly wrong concept. It was manufactured according to non-Christian specifications and has been used for humanistic purposes. You must do all that you can do to reduce the big umbrella to its proper size.

The Rest of this article can be viewed at this web address
http://www.nouthetic.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=72&Itemid=88

God has the answers.

2Ti 3:16-17 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

We see from the passage above that God's word is inspired by God...that word inspired does not mean what we think of today it literally means "God breathed". What we see is that the Holy Bible is God's breathed out word.
It is good for what is right, what is not right, how to get right, and how to stay right. So that those who truly are followers of Jesus will be mature (perfect). He has done this for the purpose of having us do good for those around us/