Joseph's Resolve and the Unreasonableness of Sinning Against God


Book Description

One of the greatest depictions of God’s providence in Scripture is the historical narrative of Joseph, who was sold into slavery, and worked under Potiphar, the chief steward of Pharaoh. Within the course of this narrative, while Joseph is in his house, Potiphar’s wife comes to him many times to lure him off to sin in one of the most bold and forthright temptations to be recorded anywhere in the Bible. She had longing, wandering eyes and comes to tempt him, assaulting him, “day by day,” constantly, and audaciously. Joseph’s reaction to this wicked assault is an instant refusal to the temptation. “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9). What biblical directives can be found in this amazing statement of holiness and godliness? From this one text McMahon meticulously explains how Joseph’s victory over temptation against Potiphar’s wife can be used by the believer today for their own victory to the glory of Jesus Christ. Christians need to be prepared to deal with temptation in a manner in which they will be victorious in the power of Christ’s Spirit. But they can only do this if they understand what Joseph understood in regards to God, temptation and the heinous nature of sin. He covers such topics as: the great evil of sin, the relationship between sin and God’s holiness, how to live faithfully before God’s omniscience and omnipresence, the nature and character of temptation, what it means to resist temptations, how holy fear aids the Christian in light of temptation, what the Spirit works in a Christian motioning them to holiness, how one can cultivate a sensitivity to the Spirit’s work, the inconsistency in sinning against God, how usefulness in God’s kingdom is linked to holiness, the power of Christ’s Gospel as the full remedy to temptation and sin, as well as a number of other important considerations. (He also includes a study on the “hedge of protection” that is mentioned in Job 1:10 as an appendix to the work.) This book faithfully explains and applies Genesis 39:9 demonstrating Joseph’s godly resolve and the unreasonableness of sinning against God. Here you will find what steps you can take, following devout Joseph, to keep yourself from falling into sin through the craftiness of temptation, that you may bring the most glory to Jesus Christ in your walk before God.




5 Marks of Christian Resolve


Book Description

There is no real commendability in a mere resolve. If Christians resolve to do something, and never actually get around to doing it, what good is that? A weak and wobbling resolution in this way, holds in it nothing of real value. But if Christians desire to glorify the living Christ in their kingdom service, then such service does, truly, come in light of biblical resolution. For a true and Spirit-guided resolution to take place, the Christian mind considers many things. All Spirit-filled Christians turn all resolving powers into execution. Having a resolve to do something is a wonderful beginning. It ties two parts of a duty together for the Christian; to resolve and to do. Being resolved as a Christian, sets forth a deliberation of the mind about the thing to be resolved on. No wise Christian will ever resolve to do anything until he has considered the action, and weighed it in the balance of Scripture with himself, and fully debated its necessity and expedience. How might a Christian be resolved in the work of doing good always before God? And in what main categories might resolution take place? In considering a holy resolve, a fixed determination of serving King Jesus, this book will cover five marks: Mark 1: resolved to do great works for the glory of God in everything. Mark 2: resolved to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. Mark 3: resolved to reject all earthlimindedness. Mark 4: resolved to righteously use the means of grace for further sanctification as Christ prescribes. Mark 5: resolved to continue to do good without growing weary.




Christ the Apple Tree and the Joy of True Religion


Book Description

God delights in the infinite purity of his holiness. Consequently, he desires his people to delight in those things which he delights in. A holy disposition relishes and delights in holiness. God, being infinite in his delight, has an infinite desire and will to experience infinite happiness and joy and he does so by delighting in his own holiness. His people, in this, are to love what he loves. God supplies his people with word-pictures that are often used in similitude or type. Jesus Christ is typified by things like the ark, the temple, the mercy seat, etc. One of the most disregarded types found in Scripture is set in the greatest song of all time, inspired by the Spirit, which speaks directly to the sweetness, delight and sustenance of that which Christ ministers in his covenant to the believing soul – the picture of an Apple Tree among the trees of the forest (Song 2:3). God desires them to find special delight and singular pleasure in this tree of trees; to have a love and liking to it in such a way that it is not only pleasant to their sight, but pleasing to their taste. In this tree they are to find comfort, sustenance and refreshment. Song 2:3 supplies God’s people with a grand picture of Jesus Christ to be seen as an Apple Tree among the trees of the woods. What? Is this word-picture not so grand in your eyes? Have you not thought about the nature of the Apple Tree for your comfort, sustenance and refreshment in furthering your walk in holiness? Have you not considered him as an Apple Tree, sweet to the taste, comforting from the scorching sun of wickedness, an ever present help to the starving soul for that which is pleasant? Well, then, this study is for you.




Psalm 96: A Theology of Praise


Book Description

This work is a simple theological look at the praise the church offers to God. God requires that his people have a theology of praise. Psalm 96 delivers to them the directives they need in order to praise God rightly. It is, in and of itself, a condensed theology of praise for the Church of Jesus Christ. God has called his people to praise him. Psalm 96 shows the church what should fill their theology of praise so that they praise God in holiness and truth. This is only possible through Jesus Christ and his work on the cross for them, as the one and only Messiah; the Messiah David was looking forward to and the Messiah the church looks back to who has already come. This Psalm is a call to all people to praise God correctly, and then demonstrates God’s government and judgment over the whole earth in response to those who praise him rightly, and those who do not. God, as the glorious Savior of his covenant people, has redeemed a people of praise; those whose theology of praise extends from the word of God into their mind, then to their regenerated heart, to their mouth and finally seen in their actions. Such a people will be a community of those who offer testimony and witness to the great acts and wonders of God’s being and grace to a fallen world; from being a witness to their children, to their next door neighbor, their cities and country, to all those across the world. While such work is going on, this covenant community will also be watchful as a community of believers knowing that Christ may choose to return and judge the world in righteousness at any time, where Christ will finally usher them into an eternity of praise; a place where creation and the church will praise Christ forever, the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world.




The Ten Commandments in the Life of the Christian


Book Description

In the contemporary church biblical teaching revolving around the Ten Commandments is inconsistent at best. Paul’s statement, misunderstood, is often what Christians will run to, “for ye are not under the law, but under grace,” (Rom. 6:14). Christians often want to divorce themselves from God’s holiness. They frequently do not understand how holiness in life is attached to both God’s character, and God’s commandments. Today's church is very happy to take Christ as Savior, in some instances, as prophet, but not so much as King. Christ says, “If a man love me, he will keep my words.” The man who loves Jesus as he ought, what will the outcome be for him in this act of loving? “…and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him,” (John 14:23). Union and communion with Christ are set on keeping his words. The King commands his people and he expects them to obey. This is not legalism, as if one would work for their justification, but rather, it is obedience, that one would be made more like the King in holiness. Christ says, “If ye love me, keep my commandments,” (John 14:15). This work takes Christ’s Ten Commandments, the commands of King Jesus, and not only expounds their basic teachings, but also how those commands apply to the life of the Christian. First considered is the relationship between the Law and the Gospel. Then each command will be considered, in both their positive and negative aspects (i.e. do not lie, also means, tell the truth). Then three concluding chapters will cover, 1) those people who count the Law of God as a “strange thing;” 2) those people who turn away from the Law and reject it; and 3) how Christ is the “end” of the Law for all believers, and what that actually means in light of his covenant work and merit. This is a practical study of how the “law of Christ” applies to every Christian both in obedience and submission to Christ the King, and for the good of their growth in holiness.




Sparks of Divine Glory: A Practical Study of the Attributes of God


Book Description

Is there a good reason to study the doctrine of God? Knowing God, or not knowing God, has eternal consequences to it. The Savior came to explain the Father (John 1:18) and he said that eternal life is knowing God and knowing Jesus Christ whom God sent (John 17:3). Such a knowledge must include something more than a mere knowledge of facts. It must show a relationship of those facts, one to another, and how they relate as a whole to the life of the believer. Such a study must show what the spiritual benefits are to the redeemed, which then turns to the spiritual experience they have as they grow in Christ. This volume deals with the application of the knowledge of God, and how the doctrine of God should be a practical, every day consideration, in the life of the redeemed believer. McMahon covers all the revealed Biblical attributes and perfections of God, which also include some not generally considered. He covers that God is incomprehensible, Trinitarian, glorious, a pure spirit, self-sufficient, simple, unified, impassible, immutable, infinite, omnipresent, eternal, invisible, omniscient, all wise, light, truth, free, holy, good, faithful, love, gracious, merciful, longsuffering, sovereign, omnipotent, righteous, just, wrathful, jealous, and eminently beautiful. He ends with a concluding chapter on how the Christian should always be rejoicing in God’s majesty.




The Victorious Christian Soldier in Christ's Army


Book Description

What does it mean to be a conqueror in Christ's army? In fact, the question really is, what does it mean to be not only a conqueror, but more than a conqueror and good soldier in Christ's ranks? Oakes, in this wonderful work on answering that question, dives deep into Paul’s statement in Romans 8:37, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” The truth proclaimed by Oakes is that there is a “more than ordinary triumph” over all those enemies that oppose themselves against the progress and advancement of a Christian in his way to the fruition of the sweet fruits of the everlasting love of God in Jesus Christ. That all true believers have a transcendent, and incomparably glorious conquest and victory in all their severe engagements with the enemies of their peace and happiness, through the love of God in Christ Jesus. Every true believer is a soldier, and engaged in a warfare. Every true believer has a constant fighting work before God, and there is no end of his war in this world, not any time in which he can stop fighting. Yet, a true believer is never totally and absolutely conquered in any engagement with the enemies that war against him. Every true believer manages a successful war, and is sure of a conquest. A believer’s victory and conquest are incomparably glorious. Every believer obtains this glorious victory and conquest through the Lord Jesus Christ. The love of God in Christ is the absolute first cause of those victorious proceedings, and this infallible conquest of believers. These believers are the greatest soldiers who have ever lived, and are comforted in their fight by the blessings of Almighty God through Christ. All believers must know and consider that they are soldiers in Christ’s army, and have a fighting work, a warfare, before them until they reach heaven. They must, as faithful soldiers, improve their skill in fighting, and harness the spiritual power of the everlasting Gospel of Jesus for their victory. We wait, and pray, and look, and long for that glorious day, when our warfare shall be ended, and we shall go out of the field victorious, and triumphant, as absolute conquerors. This work is not a scan or facsimile, has been carefully transcribed by hand being made easy to read in modern English, and has an active table of contents for electronic versions.




I Am for You: God's Power in Supporting His People


Book Description

This volume is a spiritual journey through five important Scriptures: Jeremiah 3:1, Mark 5:25-34, Luke 16:4, 1 Samuel 17:34-35, and Ezekiel 36:9. It demonstrates the cultivation of true assurance that Christians can sincerely have as believing Christians, if they trust in the work of Jesus Christ. In these pages, the Christian will find a spiritual feast in God’s love to the soul (that God is for you if you are a believer), and the soul reciprocates this to him, in service before Christ, to love him back, even into eternity. This coming of Christ to be near to his redeemed people is, in its highest and transcendent nature, seen in the incarnation of the Son of God. In this drawing near to them, he shows, by action, that he is God with us. And, he testifies that he is God for us, as Ezekiel, 36:9 says, “For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown.” God draws near to his people in Christ, to turn to them, to be for them, to till them and sow into them the glorious Kingdom of God. “What shall we say then to these things?” In the Father’s ordination of the work of redemption through Christ, even from before the foundation of the world, we find that the saint’s infirmities cannot wholly remove Christ’s love for them in their present weaknesses and fallen state, if they are truly redeemed. He does this as the great Shepherd of the sheep, the Shepherd of his people, whom he loved before the foundation of the world. Christ is the Spiritual David who was planned before the beginning of time to work and merit salvation in rescuing his lambs from the mouth of the lion and the paw of the bear. Sinners find that drawing near is to believe in him by faith, to draw great virtue from him in the Spirit. They come to understand that the way to receive the virtue of Jesus Christ is by touching him in faith, and in this they are resolved to follow Christ the King without reservation casting themselves on his infinite mercy in everything.




Christ Commanding His Coronavirus to Covenant Breakers


Book Description

This work expounds on Scripture, and outlines, from a biblical point of view, why Christ has sent his coronavirus to covenant breakers in his church. The thesis is that the world-wide virus (and other calamities which are building and exploding in our day) are here primarily for Christ’s church; his disobedient, covenant breaking church. This is a difficult and saddening time for many people. At the time this work was written, almost 689,000 people have died worldwide from the coronavirus, (158,000 in the US) and the Lord is adding more and more calamity to our country on top of the horrors of prolonged and disease-ridden death. All of it is calamity upon calamity. It’s actually “calamity” that God promises his covenant breaking church if they do not repent. What will the church do in a time like this? Since the calamity is growing and not subsiding, it doesn’t seem like the church is doing much of anything collectively to stop the plague by way of reform, much less those things that have not layered on top of that. The church needs to repent of its idolatry, its lack of scriptural precision, its confessional dismissiveness, its abominable worldliness in the sanctuary of God, and the dishonor they are continually bringing King Jesus, the one they "profess" to serve. God deals very harshly yet tenderly with his people when they break covenant with him. Taken from Leviticus 26, this work expounds and describes the following: that pestilence is a sign from Christ to his church, Christ’s remedies against the plague are sovereign prescriptions he alone commands, Christian humility is needed during times of occasional repentance (and what occasional repentance is), humility in prayer and fasting with godly zeal is required, what the nature of Christ’s afflicting providences are, and a number of other subjects related to the plague, especially if the church does not repent, that they are daring Christ to do his worst against them in their spiritual indifference.




Unmasking Self-Flattery in the Church


Book Description

Self-deception is inherent in everyone, even born-again Christians, those who have much biblical light and knowledge. And whatever degree of holiness they are currently at, they are satisfied with where they are. In this satisfaction, they often flatter themselves, believing that God is as pleased with them as they are of themselves. Many people in the church flatter themselves, believing they have discovered an easier path in the Christian walk, and in the eternal salvation which brings them to heaven, than Paul was aware of. They assume they will achieve victory and receive the crown not by battling and mortifying their own sins, but by deluding themselves into thinking they are something rather than nothing and engaging in cleverly crafted self-talk full of gracious words and empty persuasiveness. This only serves to disguise their own hypocrisy and unfaithfulness to Christ’s covenant, leading to the deception and ruin of themselves, and even other people they infect. The Christian church is filled with people like this. Are you one of them? Self-flattery is a sin against the ninth commandment which must be unmasked. In this work, McMahon seeks to uncover this very pervasive sin, showing what self-flattery is, how one comes to flatter themselves in their daily walk, and the motives to shun self-flattery in order to mortify it by the power of the Spirit. People often like to hear from the preacher, just tell me Jesus loves me and leave it at that. This delusion is the cornerstone of a self-flattering person. People always say, “I’m a Christian!” The question revolves around whether they act like it as well; do they have a life answerable to the profession they make when they say it? Or are they hiding behind the mask of smooth words they tell themselves about their spiritual condition?