Righteous Noah

7 January

And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Genesis 7:1

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Romans 3:21-26

Our duty is to hear God speaking to us. We are not through depraved fastidiousness to reject those exercises by which he cherishes or excites or confirms our faith, even though our faith is tender, or languishing, or weak. Nor must we reject those exercises as superfluous. For thee have I seen righteous, God says.

When the Lord says He preserves Noah because he is a righteous man, He seems to attribute salvation to the merit of works. For if Noah is saved because he is righteous, it follows that we should also deserve life because of good works. But here we must cautiously weigh the design of God, which is to save one man, in contrast with the whole world, so that He might condemn the unrighteousness of all men. The punishment that God is about to inflict on the world is just, seeing that one man is left in whom righteousness is cultivated, and for his sake God was propitious to his entire family. 

Should anyone object that this passage proves that God respects works in saving men, the response is that this is not repugnant to gratuitous acceptance, since God accepts those gifts which He Himself has conferred upon His servants. We must observe, in the first place, that God loves men freely. He finds nothing in them but what is worthy of hatred, since all men are born as children of wrath and are heirs of eternal malediction. But God adopts them to Himself in Christ and justifies them by His mercy. After He has reconciled them unto Himself, He regenerates them by His Spirit to new life and righteousness. Out of this flow good works, which of necessity are pleasing to God Himself.

FOR MEDITATION: Even the most holy saints have only a shred of the obedience required of them by God. No matter how long we have been growing in the Lord, we must stand under the blood of Jesus Christ the righteous and nowhere else. How can we remember this truth more often and more gratefully?

John Calvin

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke

Running From Sin

6 January

If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. Genesis 4:7

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Ecclesiastes 8:1-14

God will pronounce a dreadful sentence against Cain if the man hardens his mind in wickedness and indulges himself in his crime. The warning is emphatic; God not only repels Cain's unjust complaint but shows that Cain could have no greater adversary than the sin that he inwardly cherishes.

God so binds the impious man in these concise words that he can find no refuge. It is as if He says, "Your obstinacy will not profit you, for, though you would have nothing to do with me, your sin will give you no rest but will sharply drive you on, pursue you, urge you, and never allow you to escape." Cain rages in vain but to no profit. He is guilty by his own inward conviction even though no once accuses him. The expression "sin lieth at the door" refers to the interior judgment of the conscience that convinces man of his sin and besieges him on every side. 

The impious may imagine that God slumbers in heaven. They may strive to repel fear of His judgment. But sin sill perpetually draw these reluctant fugitives back to the tribunal from which they flee. 

The expression of Moses has peculiar energy. Sin lieth at the door, meaning the sinner is not immediately tormented with the fear of judgment. Rather, gathering around him whatever delights he can to deceive himself, he appears to walk in free space and to revel in pleasant meadows. However, when he comes to the door, he meets sin, which keeps constant guard. Then conscience, which before was at liberty, is arrested, and he receives double punishment for the delay.

FOR MEDITATION: When we sin and God convicts us of that sin, we run from judgment in many different ways. But why is it impossible to escape the effects of sin? What kind of punishment can we expect when we finally stop running?

John Calvin

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke

Finding Peace in Suffering

5 January

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Gen. 3:19

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Philippians 3

Those who meekly submit to their sufferings present acceptable obedience to God if this cross-bearing along with increased knowledge of sin teaches them to be humble.

Truly it is by faith alone that one can offer such a sacrifice to God. But the faithful also labor in procuring a livelihood with the advantage of being stimulated to repentance and customizing themselves to the mortification of the flesh. God often remits a portion of this curse to His own children lest they sink beneath the burden. Psalm 127:2 says, "It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so He giveth His beloved sleep."

As those things which have been polluted in Adam are repaired by the grace of Christ, the pious feel more deeply that God is good and enjoy the sweetness of His paternal indulgence. But because even at best the flesh is to be subdued, it not infrequently happens that the pious are worn down with hard labor and with hunger. So it is best that when we are admonished of the miseries of the present life, we should weep over our sins and seek relief from the grace of Christ, which not only can assuage the bitterness of grief but mingle sweetness with it.

FOR MEDITATION:

When we feel overwhelmed with work, illness, or other difficulties, it helps us to bring those matters to God in prayer. Why is this so? How does Christ our Savior graciously teach us to be humble as well as to enjoy the sweetness of His presence?

John Calvin

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke

Creation Groaning

4 January

"And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Genesis 3:17

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Romans 8:18-25

In response to Adam's sin, God announces that the earth will be cursed. Since Scripture tells us the blessing of the earth refers to the fertility which God infuses into the earth by His secret power, so the curse is the opposite privation, in which God withdraws His favor from the earth. Thus the condition of the world varies with respect to men, according to whether God is angry with them or shows them His favor. We may add that punishment is exacted, not from the earth itself, but from man alone. For the earth does not bear fruit for itself but to supply food to us. The Lord, however, determined that His anger should, like a deluge, overflow all parts of the earth, so that wherever man might look, the atrocity of his sin should meet his eyes.

Before the fall, the world was a fair and delightful mirror of God's favor and paternal indulgence toward man. Now, all the elements show us that we are cursed. And although (as David says) the earth is still full of the mercy of God (Psalm 33:5), yet we now see signs of His dreadful alienation from us. If we are unmoved by those signs, we betray our blindness and insensibility. Lest sadness and horror should overwhelm us, though, the Lord also sprinkles everywhere the tokens of His goodness. Moreover, though the blessing of God is never seen as pure and transparent as it first appeared to man in his innocence, yet, if what remains behind be considered in itself, David truly and properly exclaims, "The earth is full of the mercy of God."

FOR MEDITATION: The disturbing savagery of the natural world around us is the result of our sin. The suffering and pain in animals is the consequence of our transgression. Should that not move us to mourn our sin and its consequences for all of creation? 

John Calvin

365 Days with Calvin (selected and edited by Joel R. Beeke)

Holy Work

3 January

 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Gen. 2:15

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Matthew 25:14-30

Moses now says that the earth was given to man with the condition that he cultivate it. It follows, then, that man was created to employ himself in work and not to lie down in idleness. Labor, truly, was created pleasant and full of delight, entirely exempt from all trouble and weariness. Since God ordained that should cultivate the ground, He also condemned all indolent repose. Nothing is more contrary to the order of nature than to spend life eating, drinking, and sleeping while having no work to do. Moses says Adam was given the custody of the garden. That shows us that we possess the things that God has given to us on the condition that we be content with frugal and moderate use of them and that we also take care of what remains.

Let him who possess a field so partake of its yearly fruits that he does not suffer the ground to be injured by his negligence. Let him labor to hand it down to posterity, either as he received it or even better cultivated. Let him so feed on its fruits that he neither dissipates it by luxury nor permits it to be marred or ruined by neglect. Moreover, so that economy and diligence with those good things which God has given us to enjoy may flourish among us, let every one regard himself as the steward of God in all things that he possesses. Then he will neither conduct dissolutely nor corrupt by abuse those things which God requires to be preserved.

FOR MEDITATION: Hard work is a gift from God, not a curse of sin; therefore, let us joy in work well done. Diligent and conscientious work brings glory to our Creator as we fulfill an important aspect of His will for humanity. Do you work "as unto God" or "as unto men?"

John Calvin

365 Days with Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke

Heretics Hard to Convert

The conversion of an inventor of false doctrine has never yet been heard of; for a sin such as this is too great, because it blasphemes God's Word and sins against the Holy Ghost. This is why God lets inventors of false doctrine become hardened. Accordingly, the word of Is. 6:9 is fulfilled: With seeing eyes you shall not see, and with hearing ears you shall not hear; for the heart of this people is hardened.

Christ converted no high priest; but their disciples were converted, men such as Nicodemus, Joseph, Paul, and the like. The prophets of old converted no false prophet. Neither could Paul convert any false prophet; but he gave the direction: After a person has been admonished twice or three times, he is to be avoided and let go, as a perverted one (Titus 3:10). Thus even the holy doctors have never yet converted a master of heresy, not because none of them ever sufficiently combated their error and refuted it with the truth but because their heart was obsessed with their own notion. They fared like a man who looks through a colored glass. Put before such a man whatever color than that of the glass. The fault is not that the right color is not put before him but that his glass is colored differently, as the word of Is. 6:9 puts it: You will see, he says, and yet you will not see it. This means: It will be put before your eyes sufficiently and clearly, so that you may see it; and others will actually see it, but you will not see it. What else could it mean? This is the reason why one cannot convert such people (says John 12:40). The truth presented to them does not do it. God must remove the colored glass. This is something we cannot do.

Martin Luther 

Source:

What Luther Says, p. 644

Compiled By Ewald M. Plass

God's Provisions in Nature

2 January

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the foul of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Genesis 1:28.

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Psalm 8

God here confirms what He said before about dominion. Man was created wit the condition that he should subject the earth to himself; but now he is put in possession of his right, when he hears what has been given to him by the Lord. Moses expresses this more fully in the next verse when he says that God is granting to man the herbs and the fruits. It is of great importance that we touch nothing of God’s bounty but what we know he has permitted us to touch since we cannot enjoy anything with a good conscience unless we receive it as from the hand of God. Therefore Paul teaches us that in eating and drinking, we sin unless faith be present (Rom. 14:23).

We are instructed to seek from God alone whatever is necessary for us. In the very use of His gifts, we are to meditate on His goodness and paternal care. For God in effect says, “Behold, I have prepared for for you before you were formed. Acknowledge me, therefore, as your Father, who has diligently provided for you when you were not yet created. Moreover, my care for you has proceeded still further. It was your business to nurture the things provided for you, but I have taken even this charge  upon myself. Wherefore, though you are, in a sense, constituted the father of the earthly family, it is not for you to be over-anxious about the sustenance of animals.”

FOR MEDITATION: God has wondrously provided for our needs and given us dominion over the earth He created. It is not, therefore, a sin to use what God has given for our use. Nevertheless, our dominion is to be benevolent and wise; we are not to abuse or recklessly consume God’s good creation but to care for it as good stewards.

John Calvin

365 Days with Calvin (A Unique collection of 365 readings from the writings of John Calvin, selected and edited by Joel R. Beeke)