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“We all love the fact that children are a blast, and nobody should mind the fact that we love it. But this psalm is not about the patter of little feet around the house. This is not about your Christmas photo album. The ancient world, when they went to war, had a clearer view of what was at stake than do we. A kindergarten class is a packet of warrior seeds. A quiver holds arrows... The blessed man who has children in his youth is a man who has grown children when he is still active and in the fray. But here is the difference between faith and presumption. Children are not an 'automatic' blessing. Samuel would not have been more greatly blessed if he had five sons who took bribes instead of two sons who did (1 Samuel 8:3)... The city council of an ancient city was found in their gates. It is where their elders sat. It is where decisions were made, and where transactions were conducted. If a showdown occurred, that is where it would occur. So there are two things to note about this. The first is that a man is contending with his enemies in the gate, and his sons are there with him. His sons are present in the gates when this happens, and (this is important), they are on their father’s side. He has not brought up soldiers for the enemy. The second thing is that these are not foreign enemies, besieging the city from outside, but rather domestic adversaries, belonging to the opposition. A righteous man, together with his arrows, stands against all enemies, foreign and domestic. The issue is righteousness, not party, or tribe, or nation. And a blessed father brings his children along with him in their shared loyalty to truth and righteousness. The glue that holds such families together is [a shared allegiance to Christ]. This is fundamental. Every attempt to get families, or nations, or churches to hold together apart from Christ (Colossians 1:18) is idolatry. And according to our psalm, it is also vain.” -Doug Wilson

The federal parliament of Canada passed Bill C-4 with the support of all political parties and no opposition from any elected member of parliament. This bill, while purporting to protect individuals from coercion and abuse in the form of “conversion therapy,” will instead criminalize Christianity in our country.

This bill’s wording is sufficiently broad to allow for the criminal prosecution of Christians who would speak biblical truth into the lives of those in bondage to sexual sins like homosexuality and transgenderism. If passed by the senate, even a mother or father who offers their children freedom from sexual sin through repentance and faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 6:9-11) could be threatened with five years in jail.

Our King is greatly displeased with our Members of Parliament for their sinful disregard for the spiritual and eternal well being of Canadians. But it is important to note that they have also committed high blasphemy by referring to biblical teaching as “myths” in this legislation. We all must therefore tremble to consider what terrifying judgments will be visited upon our nation for this bold gesture of hatred towards the most high God. May the Bride of Christ commit herself to mourning, fasting, and crying out in solemn prayer for forgiveness for the sins and worldliness in the church of Canada that have led to this calamity…

Remember that “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). Consider also the words of Martin Luther: “If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved. And to be steady on all other battlefields is merely flight and disgrace if he flinches at that one point.” Rather than allow intimidation to mute our proclamation of the biblical truth about sexual sin, we earnestly pray that all the churches who confess the name of Christ would come together and stand in the gap at this critical time (Ezekiel 22:30).

May our King Immanuel supply you with all grace and wisdom in these matters.

In His Service,

Liberty Coalition Canada

“Let a man be ever so bent upon building [a house]… yet, if the Lord does not give success, it will all be in vain; the building will fall down, or be consumed by fire before it is finished; or by one providence or another he will be obliged to desist from it, as in the case of the builders of the tower and city of Babel... Whether it be understood of a family… or whether it be understood of the church of God… yet if the Lord does not prosper the work, all is in vain. For the principal builder is God.” -John Gill

“Let a man be ever so bent upon building [a house]… yet, if the Lord does not give success, it will all be in vain; the building will fall down, or be consumed by fire before it is finished; or by one providence or another he will be obliged to desist from it, as in the case of the builders of the tower and city of Babel... Whether it be understood of a family… or whether it be understood of the church of God… yet if the Lord does not prosper the work, all is in vain. For the principal builder is God.” -John Gill

The psalmist is not content to merely “know” the precepts of the Lord, but to “understand” these precepts. In
other words, he possesses an insatiable desire to logically flesh out the intimate workings of God's Law so that he might apply them in practical ways to every area of his life.

According to his sovereign election, God has decreed from eternity past that he might save a people for himself from among every tongue, people, and nation. In the same way that God predestined the ends, namely that the nations would be saved, God also predestined the means, namely that the Gospel would be preached to all peoples. And not only this, but God has also predestined the ultimate and eternal fruit of the redemption of all nations; that all the nations will extol the Lord and praise him forever. In other words, Psalm 117 serves not merely as a command issued to all peoples in all times, but Psalm 117 serves as a prophetic declaration of what God has promised to bring about.

“Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.” -John Owen

“When [Israel] had got the good land God had promised them they had no zeal against the wicked inhabitants whom the Lord commanded them to extirpate, pretending pity; but so merciful is God that no man needs to be in any case more compassionate than he.” -Matthew Henry

In this psalm, David is not praying to the Lord. Instead, he is doing what all Christians should regularly do: David is preaching the Gospel to himself. David is not listening to his feelings and following his heart. David is recounting the promises of the Gospel and preaching to his soul. Rather than succumbing to his feelings of discouragement, David contends with these feelings. David rightly recognizes that in moments of discouragement, the goodness of God is often forgotten. Therefore, he begins to compile a list of all the benefits of the covenantal mercy of God, lest any of them should be forgotten.

This week Pastor Connor Hensley preaches on Thankfulness from Psalm 100.