Deeper Conference 2009

Angels damned, men saved?

From Matt Johnson's blog:

Angels damned, men saved?

From Spurgeon's sermon, "ELECTION AND HOLINESS"

God has CHOSEN to himself a people whom no man can number,out of the children of Adam- out of the fallen and apostate race who sprang from the loins of a rebellious man. Now, this is a wonder of wonders, when we come to consider that the heaven, even the heaven of heavens, is the Lord's.

If God must have a chosen race, why did he not select one from the majestic orders of angels, or from the flaming cherubim and seraphim who stand around his throne? Why was not Gabriel fixed upon? Why was he not so constituted that from his loins there might spring a mighty race of angels, and why were not these chosen by God from before the foundations of the world! What could there be in man, a creature lower than the angels,that God should select him rather than the angelic spirits? Why were not the cherubim and seraphim given to Christ? Why did he not take up angels? Why did he not assume their nature, and take them into union with himself?

An angelic body might be more in keeping with the person of Deity, than a body of weak and suffering flesh and blood. There were something congruous if he had said unto the angels, "You shall be my sons."

But, no! though all these were his own, he passes by the hierarchy of angels, and stoops to man! He takes up an apostate worm, and says unto him,"You shall be my son," and to myriads of the same race he cries, "you shall be my sons and daughters, by a covenant for ever."

"But," says one, "It seems that God intended to choose a FALLEN people that he might in them show forth his grace. Now, the angels of course would be unsuitable for this, since they have not fallen." I reply, there ARE angels that have fallen; there were angels that kept not the first estate, but fell from their dignity. And how is it that these are consigned to blackness of darkness for ever?

Answer me, you that deny God's sovereignty, and hate his election -- how is it that angels are condemned to everlasting fire, while to you, the children of Adam, the gospel of Christ is freely preached?

The only answer that can possibly be given is this--God wills to do it. He has a right to do as he pleases with his own mercy.

Angels deserve no mercy: we deserve none. Nevertheless, he gave it to us, and he denied it them. They are bound in chains, reserved for everlasting fire to the last great day, but we are saved. Why, if there were any reason to move God in his creatures, he would certainly have chosen devils rather than men--Had the angels been reclaimed, they could have glorified God more than we; they could have sang his praises louder than we can, clogged as we are with flesh and blood. But passing by the greater, he chose the lesser, that he might show forth his sovereignty, which is the brightest jewel in the crown of his divinity!

Our Arminian antagonists always leave the fallen angels out of the question- for it is not convenient to them to recollect this ancient instance of election. They call it unjust, that God should choose one man and not another. By what reasoning can this be unjust, when they will admit that it was righteous enough in God to choose one race -- the race of men, and leave another race -- the race of angels, to be sunk into misery on account of sin?

Brethren, let us be done with arraigning God at our poor fallible judgment seat! God is good and does righteousness. Whatever he does we may know to be right, whether we can see the righteousness or not.

God's Election is marvelous indeed--God had unlimited power of creation. Now, if he willed to make a people who should be his favorites, who should be united to the person of his Son, and who should reign with him, why did he not make a NEW RACE? When Adam sinned, it would have been easy enough to strike the earth out of existence. He had but to speak and this round earth would have been dissolved, as the bubble dies into the wave that bears it. There would have been no trace of Adam's sin left, the whole might have died away and have been forgotten forever!

But no! Instead of making a new people- a pure people who could not sin, instead of taking to himself creatures that were pure, unsullied, without spot- he takes a depraved and fallen people, and lifts these up, and that, too, by costly means--by the death of his own Son, and by the work of his own Spirit; that these must be the jewels in his crown to reflect his glory for ever!

Oh, singular choice! Oh, inexplicable Election! My soul is lost in your depths, and I can only pause and cry- "Oh, the goodness, oh, the mercy, oh, the SOVEREIGNTY of God's grace!"

Now, when you think that God has chosen YOU, you may well pause and say in the language of that hymn- "Pause, my soul! adore, and wonder! Ask, O why such love to ME?" Kings passed by and beggars chosen! Wise men left, but fools made to know the wonders of his redeeming love! Publicans and harlots sweetly compelled to come to the feast of mercy; while proud religious people are allowed to trust in their own righteousness, and perish in their vain boastings!

God's choice will ever seem in the eyes of unrenewed men to be a very strange one-- He has passed over those whom we should have selected, and he has chosen just the odds and ends of the universe, the men who thought themselves the least likely ever to taste of his grace!

Before your sovereignty, I bow, great God, and acknowledge that you do as you wish, and that you give no account of your matters.

Reality Check '09 Student Conference...

For those of us who live locally and would not need lodging, registration is only $75.

Our Trip to the Georgia State Capitol...

David Ring...

Winter Jam / Downtown Chattanooga

Friday evening, Kevin and I met up with our evangelism team and went to the UTC Arena where Winter Jam, a Christian concert, was being held. There were hundreds of people lined up outside waiting to go in so it was the perfect opportunity to hand out tracts.

Here is a video of Ty Cooper talking to some of the people that were in line:


The highlight of the evening for me was getting to see a visiting team member open air preach. I have only seen videos of people open air preaching so to witness it live and in person was a real treat! When we arrived at the arena Ty introduced us to Keith who had come up from Atlanta to help us out. He said that Keith had just finished preaching. I was disappointed that we had missed it so I asked if he would be doing it again. I meant sometime before the night was over but he said sure and walked up the sidewalk and started preaching.

Here are a couple of short videos of Keith's OA. They are not the best quality because they were recorded on my cell phone but they actually turned out better than I thought they would.




After the lines went down, we moved downtown to continue our outreach. After we finally found a place to park, we set out to catch up with the rest of the group. As we made our way down the sidewalk, I was handing out John Piper’s Ten Reasons Jesus Came To Die tracts. I gave one to a man who when he looked down and realized what it was, turned around and stopped us and asked if we could help him. He said that he was out of job and had been looking everywhere for one…he even had a pocket full of job applications. He said he just wanted something to eat. I told him that we might could help him but I wanted to ask him a few questions first. He smiled and said “go for it”. I asked him what he believes happens to people when they die. That was all I had to say…from that point on he began sharing his testimony and ended up preaching. There were people all along the sidewalk listening to what he was saying to. I honestly cannot tell you everything this man said because I was floored but it was Biblical and covered all the bases. The only thing that I did not hear him say specifically was the word repentance so I asked him if he felt that repentance was necessary and he said “oh yes ma’am…you have to repent…do a 180 turn” and then he kept going again. I asked him what his name was so we could pray for him and he held both his hands out…one to me and one to Kevin…and said when people want to pray for me I ask them to pray right now, don’t wait. So we were going to pray for him and before either one of us could get a word out, he started praying. He thanked God for us and what we were doing. He prayed for our families and for our ministry and that God would protect us as we shared the gospel with people. Now I realize that he could have been just be telling us what we wanted to hear but I will give him the benefit of the doubt because he was telling me what I wanted to hear and it was sound and seemed sincere. We gave him some money to get something to eat. That was by far the most interesting conversation of the evening. The rest of the evening went well. We did have quite