And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested. (1 Chronicles 4:9-10)
*1/ Jabez - the man.
2/ Who he called upon - The God of Israel.
3/ What he prayer for.*
**Sermon summary:**
The sermon centers on Jabez's prayer in 1 Chronicles 4:9–10 as a profound example of faith, dependence, and divine response, highlighting how a man named for sorrow became a model of a praying soul whose life was defined not by his past but by his intimate relationship with the God of Israel.
It emphasizes that true prayer arises from a deep awareness of God's character—revealed through Israel's history—as the one who blesses, enlarges, sustains, and protects, and who alone can grant spiritual transformation and eternal security.
The fourfold request—blessing, enlarged coast, divine presence, and deliverance from evil—reflects a heart oriented toward God's glory, not merely personal gain, and illustrates how genuine faith seeks not only provision but spiritual growth, sanctification, and the assurance of God's sustaining hand.
Ultimately, the story of Jabez points to the redemptive work of Christ, where sorrow leads to blessing, and prayer becomes the means by which God's people are drawn into His presence and transformed by His grace.
Sermon Transcript
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Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayerful attention to the first book of Chronicles, chapter 4, and reading from our text, verses 9 and 10, the subject of which we have been singing, Jabez. 1 Chronicles 4, verse 9 and 10. And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren, and his mother called his name Jabez, that is, Sorrowful, saying, Because I bear him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Thou that thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldst keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me. And God granted him that which he requested. 1 Chronicles 4 verses 9 and 10.
The books of Samuel and the kings refer to events in both Israel, that is the northern kingdom, and also Judah. but Chronicles almost exclusively deals with the history of Judah. The first nine chapters are genealogies, lists of names. We would be reminded whenever we come to lists of names, this is one of the ways that God uses to assure us that we have not followed cunningly devised fables. Peter speaks of this in his epistles where we have in the holy scriptures a real history of mankind and running right through Israel and the line to Christ. And so though the names may be wearisome or hard to read often, yet we should always remember that in them is really a stamp for us and one token that the Word of God is the Word of God. It is not just the design of men that have thought up something and added in as if it wasn't part of history.
The whole life of God, the work of God in the world is set forth throughout the scriptures, and especially with Israel and Judah, the line to Christ. chapter 10 it comes with the death of Saul and then from chapter 11 through to the end it is the reign of David.
But it is in the first chapters in the midst of all of these names that suddenly you read about Jabez and about his prayer and so that is what we want to look at this morning. So firstly, Jabez, the one that is praying. And then secondly, who he called upon on the God of Israel. And then thirdly, what he prayed for, which was four parts to his prayer. The prayer and the substance of these verses you cannot separate from the person.
And right through scriptures we have not only names as we have here, but they represent persons. They are those that have lived before us, living souls, those like Jabez that are the Lord's people and are called by God. And God has chosen to include them in his word and in some cases, like Jabez here, tell us things about him, about his life, and the very small amount that we're told here should really focus our attention upon him and upon what is said of him. It may be that those of you here, or that hear the word, that would not view prayer as a thing noteworthy or to be noticed in a person's life, maybe in your own life, passed over it and not counted it as something that is very precious and worthy of notice.
But here we have one man and all that is really noticed and said of him is one prayer and what he prayed. If God has taken notice of that with one called Jabez, do you not think he takes notice of you or of me? When we pray, especially when, like Jabez, we have answers to prayer, really it just pushes away everything else and just focuses on this one point. You rob Jabez of his prayer and there's nothing more you can really say about him, is there? With a man that was born blind, he said, one thing I know. And if the one thing that you and I know is that God has taught us to pray, then we can join in with Jabez here.
We're told the reason for his name was born in sorrow. You might think with a name like that, he would be discouraged in his life or think that, well, with a start like that, how can I be blessed or favoured? No, there are many that in this life you might say have had a bad start or things that are than many young people, and they might blame their parents, or blame economy, or blame something else, why they are what they are. But it's good when we see a person of which their very name means sorrowful, and that they were born And the mother says, because I bear him with sorrow.
And yet out of that sorrow comes blessing. And out of that thing that is not good comes that which is good. And how many times that that is repeated through scripture. We see with Joseph, he meant it for evil, God meant it for good. Times in our life that we might get very low because everything seems, like Jacob said, is everything is against me. And yet it wasn't. Good came. And so maybe a timely word for one this morning. We've been looking at things. This is against me. That is against me. This is called sorrow. This is distress. This is, how can this work for good?
Let's think of Jabez and what flowed forth from his sorrows to raise up your spirits, raise up a hope and who can tell that from these things shall come joy at last. The Lord says to his disciples, you now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again, your hearts shall rejoice and your joy no man taketh from you. In Jabez here, we also have a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. You might say, how do we have a type of him?
Well, if you think of the type of Melchizedek, with Melchizedek, he met Abraham. when he returned from the slaughter of the kings in Genesis, when he fought against those that had taken away Lot. And Paul takes up this in Hebrews 7, where he draws the parallel that with Melchizedek, he suddenly came on the scene There is no mention of his mother or of his father. And so he says he was like Christ, without father, without mother, without descent. He suddenly comes upon this scene, made a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Well, here, we're not told Jabez's mother's name, just that His mother called his name Jabez, saying, because I bear him with sorrow. But you don't read of his father mentioned either, nor of his descent. This is a list of genealogy, posterity of Judah. But Jabez doesn't link in.
He's just inserted in the middle here. and of course he is from the tribe of Judah from which our Lord was to come as well. Also by his prayers we read of our Lord that our Lord he prayed and that he feared and was heard in that he feared. In again Hebrews is made mention of the Lord's prayers and restlings in the garden of Gethsemane. And so in that way, we get just another little glimpse. It's good for us when we go through the scriptures to get these little glimpses of our Lord Jesus Christ. Moses making intercession for the children of Israel. A prophet, he says, shall the Lord thy God raise up unto you like unto me. Him shall you hear.
So Moses was a time. of Christ. We have Jonah, the little that we know and are told of Jonah's life. And yet our Lord says that as Jonah was three days and three nights in the heart, in the world's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Joseph again, God sent me before you to preserve your lives by great deliverance. Again a time of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Mordecai in the book of Esther and he is there at the end speaking peace for all his seed. Next unto the king, we have that common with Joseph, raised up to a high position Right next to Pharaoh, Joseph was. Right next to King Ahasuerus was Mordecai. And they were speaking for the good of their people.
And there's a beautiful picture of our Lord next unto his father, intercessing and interceding for us, a friend at court. And what a blessing it was for Israel, for the children of Israel to have one of their own right in the highest court of the land. And so, Jabez, a little glimpse of our Lord, but also, of course, of God's people. A picture of a praying soul, one is brought to call upon the name of the Lord. May we be known in this way, that we call upon the name of the Lord.
We read in Genesis where man began to call upon the name of the Lord. We read of the Apostle Paul, sore as he was, he was persecuting and hailing men and women to prison who were calling upon the name of the Lord. He identified that as being something that he should persecute the true people of God for, because he did not receive the Lord Jesus, did not believe in him, and he specifically noted that that was why he persecuted them. And when you think of Daniel, It was again because of his praying that he was persecuted and cast into the lion's den. The Lord puts a great store on the blessing of a praying soul, one that calls upon the name of the Lord. And so I want to look at that secondly, who he called upon.
Our text says, and Jabez called on the God of Israel. Again, it is noticing the nation of Israel. It could have been put, Jabez called on the God of heaven and earth, or the one true and living God. It could be said that Jabez called upon the God the Creator or Jehovah, but in specifically saying called on the God of Israel, there is drawn together all of what God did with Israel and how he formed Israel. how that that God was the God that took Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees and called him alone and brought him to Canaan and gave him the promises, a God then that worked the miracle of though Sarah was barren and Abraham was old, that he gave a son according to his promise. And then having given Isaac, he gave Esau and Jacob and blessed Jacob and raised up from him the 12 tribes of Israel.
And so the God that's set before us is not just something in imagination, is not just something that is immaterial or set forth as unable to do. But the whole history of Israel is full of the working of this God, of his character, of his ways, of his holiness, his justness, his majesty, his might, his power. Everything is bound up as he is seen acting and working and revealing his law and revealing his beloved son in and through Israel, in the types, in the shadows, in the sacrifices, in the offerings, in the Passover, in the going through the Red Sea, through the wilderness, the smitten rock they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, that rock was Christ, in the God of Israel is encompassing all that is revealed.
Now we could have today you think of many different gods and many people that would say well they pray and they pray to this one or that one and it may not have any knowledge of to whom they're praying or with not any understanding We read in Hebrews 11 verse 6, he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a reward of them that diligently seek him. So here is Jabez, a man of faith, and he is calling upon the one true and living God. and the Holy Spirit has chosen to describe the one that he called on as the God of Israel. And in that sense, it opens up everything that we can more fully understand and comprehend God.
God is known by the judgment that he executes. And through the God of Israel, We see all his judgments that he executes, and we get an idea of him. We learn the fear of the Lord. We learn how he dealt with David, how he dealt with those who have gone before us.
And of course we have in Hebrews, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever. And as a help then to us, in our prayers in calling upon God that we bear this in mind to call to pray to the God of Israel that he is the one that worked all the wonders to Israel that made them what they were.
And He is our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. You think how the Lord introduces Himself, I am that I am, to Moses, and then in John 10, I am the Good Shepherd. If you've seen me, you've seen my Father also, I and my Father are one. In the Psalms call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
It is through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that we come to God and make our petitions to God. It's a very sad thing when there are those that do not sing or do not and have not seen the need to pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's absolutely vital. It is through the Lord Jesus Christ that we come before God. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name. Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
We would remember that those Old Testament saints, it was by faith they were looking to Christ. Abraham, our Lord said, saw my day. and rejoiced at it. They weren't ignorant of what the Lord was. Abraham himself, a wonderful type of Christ in making intercession for Lot. If there be 50, if there be 45, and he goes right down to 10, he made intercession for Lot. Lot was brought out of Sodom and Gomorrah. Moses made intercession for the children of Israel when they had sinned. The God of Israel is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who makes intercession for us.
The two on the way to Emmaus were taken by our Lord through all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. And so may we in our prayers come before the Lord with knowledge of who the God is that we're coming before. mindful of his deeds before, of his ability to hear and answer prayer, how he can do so justly because he has settled the debt for his people, how that he is honoured and glorified in answering prayer.
He himself has instituted prayer. That can't be said of any other supposed God, can it? The Lord himself has bid his people pray. The great mystery is he's revealed that he has planned and performed everything that will happen. But he'll have his people pray before it happens and for it to happen. And he answers those prayers. He said, before they call, I will answer.
But Daniel, when he understood by books that the 70 years were coming to the end, Then he took himself to prayer. I saw Daniel prayed all the time during that captivity. But when he realized that a time was coming up, time for the Lord to act and deal, then he'd pray more specifically. God made him aware of that time.
And when we are aware of things that are going to happen, or things in our lives, then we are to pray. We're not to just think, well, it'll happen anyway. or God's appointed it, and it'll come to pass anyway. If things have bought your mind at need, the Lord to intervene, the true living God, God able to hear and answer prayer and appear for us, then pray. Put those things into words and make our petitions before Him. able to do exceeding far abundantly all that we can ask or think.
Another thing just to notice, before we even come to what he's asking for, he is coming to the God of Israel. The world, a natural man, he comes to God without much knowledge of him, but only just wanting from him. wanting to get his gifts, but not him. Wanting like those nine lepers, the Lord healed all ten, but only one returned to give glory to God. He says, where, where are the nine? But here it is noticed of Jabez's coming. to the God of Israel, and may that be with us as well, that whatever be the trial, the difficulty, the burden that is bringing us to prayer, look upon it firstly. God has used something to bring us to him.
I remember once over in Australia, I remember that part of the road that was driving on, and I was saying to the Lord I'd be a much better Christian if I didn't have my own wicked heart. and my temptations and my evil nature. And I believe the Lord showed me, if the Lord, if he'd have granted that request, I'd have no need to go to him. I wouldn't value him. I wouldn't have need of his precious blood, of his forgiveness and of his mercy. It might have been thought or asked in a right motive, but as the hymn writer says, sinners can say none but they.
Our precious is the Saviour. And so may our coming to the Lord, firstly in the whole plan of salvation, is to bring man back to God. It is to bring us who are far off by wicked works to be brought nigh. And if there ever is a way of being brought nigh, it is through prayer. It is through coming to the throne of His grace.
So Jabez called on the God of Israel. Want to look then at that which he asked. There are three things that he asked for. The first one that he asked for was an indeed blessing. O that thou wouldest bless me indeed. And indeed blessing will be an undeniable blessing from God. That which is true, that which only God can do, and that which cannot be imitated. If you remember when God sent Moses to Egypt, He sent him with signs to prove that God had sent him. But the magicians in Egypt, they imitated all of those signs.
Moses cast down his rod, it turned into a serpent. They cast down their rod, it turned into a serpent. The difference was, though, that Moses' rod swallowed all of theirs up. They could make the river turn into blood, but they couldn't take that away and make it clean again. But the first two of the signs, they did indeed imitate. They were able to turn the river into blood. They were able to bring frogs. But when the Lord brought lice, they turn and they say to Pharaoh, this is the hand of God.
Because they couldn't do that. They couldn't imitate that. And when we have an indeed blessing, we want a blessing that cannot be imitated. So we have to say with those in Egypt, this is the hand of God. Or to be able to say with Bethuel and Laban when Abraham's servant came And the Lord had answered his prayer at the well, and Rebekah had come, and they say the thing proceedeth from the Lord. They were able to trace this was the Lord's doing. This is the Lord's doing, it is marvellous in our eyes. Very often when the Lord grants such a blessing like this, He proves first That is something we cannot do ourselves.
Abraham was promised children, but he goes 20, 25 years with no children. And Sarah barren and him old, then God gives him children. That which is impossible with man, not impossible with God. It was the same with Elizabeth, Zacharias. When John Baptist was born, she was barren. We find the same with Hannah, and she went how many years with no children, couldn't have children, and then prayed.
Eli thought she was drunken, but she says no. She is a woman of a sorrowful spirit, poured out her heart before God. And Eli just said to her, the Lord grant thee thy petition. But they asked of him, he didn't know what that petition was. But she went away no more sad. She had been given faith, faith that that prayer that she had offered up was answered even before it was. She didn't know whether she was going to get pregnant. She didn't know whether she'd have a man child or a girl. And yet she'd asked for a man child. She promised to lend him to the Lord for all the days of his life. And the very effect on her showed the faith that God had given that that would come to pass.
And I've known what that is when we prayed for so long over in Australia that our house would sell, the house that I'd been in for 10 years, and no sign of movement at all. And then the Lord blessed my soul one Saturday in my study. So much so, I came out and said to my dear one, the house is sold. It is done. I can remember to this day that there was not a shadow of a doubt. I believe the Lord had done it. And the Monday, the agent brought people around. By the Thursday, it was all signed and sealed and done. And God gives that faith. And God gave Hannah.
And those things you know, these are not imagined things, it's answers to prayer, it is the faith that is given, and it's the fulfilment of those things that God only can do. And so often this comes in many things. Struggling with the fear of man, struggling with our corruptions, our sins. Struggling with hardness and coldness, or even prayerlessness. Feeling first what we cannot do. We cannot fulfill the law of God. We cannot keep the commandments of God. We cannot keep alive our own soul. We need the Lord to do these things.
So when it is an indeed blessing, then it is a blessing that is something that God only can do. Of course, the main one that we would think of is the new birth. To be quickened into spiritual life from being dead in trespasses and sins, to be given eternal life, I pass by thee and bid thee live. He that hath begun a good work in you, That is the work of God. That is something that only he can do, and indeed, blessing. We might say, how is the new birth then really evidence? You've got to break it up into its parts to recognize and to be able to answer the prayer.
If we think of the Apostle Paul, In his new birth, first, there came the conviction of sin. I was alive without the Lord once. When the commandment came, sin revived and I died. That which was ordained unto life, I found to be unto death. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? The good that he would, he did not. The evil that he would not, that he did. That was his experience when the Lord began life with him.
But what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemns sin in the flesh. The righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in them which walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.
There's another. a blessing, to be given the Spirit, to walk after the Spirit, a spiritual blessing. The new birth is a spiritual birth. The natural man receiveth not the things of God, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. An indeed blessing is to begin for the first time to value and look for spiritual blessings. not just healing if we're sick, not just answers to prayer when we need something in providence, but that we might have a spiritual blessing for it. There are indeed blessings of answers to prayer in providence, of healing of sickness, of course there are.
But when it comes to spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, as Paul says to the Ephesians, They are blessings that can never be taken away. You and I might be healed, but one day we must die. We might have answers to prayer and providence, but providence will change. But what the Lord gives us in our souls and does for us for eternity, that will never change. And we look upon that truly as an indeed blessing that shall never be reversed. So with the new birth, the Lord gives his people a new heart. All things passed away, all things become new. And with that new heart, they will find other things there.
Instead of pride, the Lord will humble, and there'll be very real things in our life that he shows us, that he allows us to fall or do, that when we think of them, if we were to tell them to someone else, and some things we wouldn't dare tell another, The very thought humbles us.
We feel ashamed, ashamed of our sin. And it is in that way the Lord humbles. One of the greatest marks, you might say, of the unregenerate heart is that he walks in pride. But the mark of God's work, he humbles. John Baptist, he says, I must decrease, and he must increase.
And when we think of the word, growing grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and works are completely opposite. So instead of growing in our own estimation of good works, we're growing more and more indebted to the Lord for his grace and mercy and long-suffering. These are things the Lord does for his people, gives them that which the two on the way to Emmaus had. heart warmed under the preaching of the gospel.
Natural heart's not reacting like that. When Christ is lifted up on the pole of the everlasting gospel, he says, if I be lifted up above the earth, I'll draw all men after me. That is an indeed blessing, to be drawn to Christ and to feel that drawing. Maybe not under every service, it won't be. They that have no changes fear not God.
And especially I think of Samson, the spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan. Very often when the Lord begins it is at times. You think, oh the Lord is beginning. Feel some warmth and drawing after the Lord, but then everything goes cold and dry and hard. And you think, well that wasn't the Lord's hand at all. But a week or two later or some days later, Then suddenly softened again and drawn again and go after the Lord again. And it is those changes and we realise this is not me keeping alive my own soul, but it's me in my lifeless state and the Lord coming, enlivening me and giving me life and putting His Spirit within me. Thou has wrought all our works in us. No man can keep alive his own soul. It is the Lord that does it.
So the blessings of sin pardon, the spirit of adoption, the blessing of even prayer given and answers to prayer, those blessings that are indeed blessings that trace us to the Lord and we say that this can only have come from the Lord. And it may be in things in providence, things that you can say, only the Lord knew about that. Coming to the house of God today, you might say, well, how did the preacher know this or that about my life? He didn't. But the Lord knows about your life and all what's been said and all what is done. And those times when you're persuaded that the Lord does know and does know all things.
Those are indeed blessings that lead us to know that the God of Israel, He has dealings with us. He has blessed us, taken knowledge of us. He has called us, given us eternal life. He has begun a good work in us and He will perform it to the day of Jesus Christ. And what are the other blessings, the other things he asked for? He asked to have his coast enlarged. In the literal sense, when they went into the promised land, the children of Israel, as they grew, then they were told to fight the inhabitants and to enlarge their coast, the amount of land that was theirs.
To be put in a spiritual sense, is to enlarge our knowledge of the things of God. If you think of a child and he begins at school and they might learn some basic maths, but by and by as they go through school, instead of just being able to do some basic maths, they can now have their coast enlarged and they can do all sorts of sums and then they can do all sorts of things. And as they learn, more and more things are opened up to them.
And the same with understanding. When the Lord arose from the dead, he appeared to the disciples, then opened to their understanding that they might understand the scriptures. Paul speaks to those he's writing to in Hebrews that they had need of milk, not strong drink. He says, let's go on further than the first principles. We teach deeper things of God. all God's children shall be taught of the Lord. But as our Lord said, he taught them as they were able to bear it. And as we have in Isaiah, line upon line, precept upon precept.
So in praying this, if we can pray this part of the prayer, for asking the Lord to enlarge what we know and understand of the scriptures so that we can see more deeply and see more beautifully the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, our interest in him, our security in him, all of these things are enlarging in a sense the coast for the child of God. The third one that he asked for is that thy hand be with me and that thine hand might be with me. This is one of the things that is specifically noted with Joseph.
With Joseph, though he was cast into the pit, though he was sold as a slave, falsely accused, put into prison, each place that he went, the Lord was with Joseph. In the Lord's hand, to preserve him from his brothers so he wasn't slain and killed, he was able to discern the Lord was with him. The opposite, of course. is with the children of Israel going through the Red Sea, they went through as on dry land, safely through, but the Egyptians trying to do the same, the Lord took off their chariot wheels and they drove their chariots hardly and of course eventually were destroyed in the Red Sea. Of course the Lord himself does not, this is for our ease of understanding, Lord is a spirit, God is a spirit, he does not have parts. But his hand, like it was said with the children of Israel, he brought them out of Egypt with a high hand. Very clear, very strong, certainly, not uncertain.
When Moses thought that he might see the glory of God, God said, I will make all my goodness go before thee in the way. You want the Lord's helping hand in providence and in grace, that help from the right hand of his righteousness. And of course, again, our Lord Jesus Christ is set forth here as the one that does his Father's will. one that makes intercession for his people, one that causes these things to come to pass and is done for his people. At thy hand be with me. The last one is that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me. You might think it should be said that it might not grieve thee, but it says that it might not grieve me.
Write a picture of a child of God that is grieved because of sin. That's not something that is a natural thing. Natural man, we are not grieved. Unless we reap the rewards of our sin, then we can be grieved with it. but not just because of sin, which is transgression against the law of God. And so it evidences a tender spirit, tender conscience. The reason why we want to be kept from evil is that it does not grieve us.
We will be grieved with our sin when we sin, but it's better that we be kept from it. In one sense, in looking at this, And often my prayer is, Lord, let never the opportunity to sin meet together with the inclination to sin. There may be times that we find our hearts so wicked and so inclined to sin, you think, if I was given the opportunity now, I'd fall straight away. And other times we might be given the opportunity And yet we feel such a revulsion, a hatred against that sin, that we would not, we could not fall.
But to pray that those things do not meet. And he prays here that thou wouldest keep me from evil. If there is the evil, and do by providence, or do by inclining in my heart, or one way or another, keep me from that evil. So that I don't walk in it. Keep me from evil. God sanctifies, separates his people, but they're in the midst of this world. What an echo this prayer has in the Lord's intercessory prayer in John 17. Father, I will that thou take them not out of the world, but that thou dost keep them from the evil.
And then later on, that they be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. Though even our Lord taking up these petitions on behalf of his people. So may we pray the prayer of Jabez. The end of this verse, God granted him that which he requested. Prayer is not demanding. Prayer is requesting. And that which is given us is granted. It's not earned. It's not given with things attached to it. It's a grant from Heaven.
And it comes through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless us with such prayers, knowledge of the God to whom we come to, and specific points in prayer, not generalities, but points as to hear, so then we can more clearly say and see when those prayers have been answered. May the Lord add his blessing. Amen.
About Rowland Wheatley
Pastor Rowland Wheatley was called to the Gospel Ministry in Melbourne, Australia in 1993. He returned to his native England and has been Pastor of The Strict Baptist Chapel, St David’s Bridge Cranbrook, England since 1998.
He and his wife Hilary are blessed with two children, Esther and Tom.
Esther and her husband Jacob are members of the Berean Bible Church Queensland, Australia. Tom is an elder at Emmanuel Church Salisbury, England. He and his wife Pauline have 4 children, Savannah, Flynn, Willow and Gus.
Pristine Grace functions as a digital library of preaching and teaching from many different men and ministries. I maintain a broad collection for research, study, and listening, and the presence of any preacher or message here should not be taken as a blanket endorsement of every doctrinal position expressed.
I publish my own convictions openly and without hesitation throughout this site and in my own preaching and writing. This archive is not a denominational clearinghouse. My aim in maintaining it is to preserve historic and contemporary preaching, encourage careful study, and above all direct readers and listeners to the person and work of Christ.
Everything that exists is a thought in the mind of God.
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I spent the majority of my adult life building something I didn't know had a name. It started with the Scriptures and a lot of late nights. It ended with one sentence that generates every theological position I hold, from the nature of God to the nature of heaven and hell, without contradiction. One sentence. Thirty chapters. Sixteen appendices. And if you accept the sentence, everything else follows.
Most systematic theologies start with a list of doctrines and work through them one by one. This book starts with an ontological claim - that everything that exists is a thought in the mind of God - and derives everything from that single proposition. This is not a rearrangement of existing theology. This is a paradigm shift. Since Augustine imported Plato's metaphysics into the church in the fourth century, every major system of Christian theology has been built on a foundation the Scriptures never laid. This book identifies that foundation, names it, traces its influence across sixteen centuries, and replaces it with an ontology derived from Scripture alone. If the claim holds, this is the most significant shift in the theological starting point since Augustine. And I believe it holds.
This is not a devotional. This is not a commentary. This is a systematic theology built from the ground up by a computer programmer with no seminary degree, no denominational backing, and no one's permission. It uses the vocabulary of information theory, computer science, and quantum physics to describe realities that traditional theological language has never been able to reach. If you are a scientist who suspects that information is fundamental to reality but can't bring yourself to call it God, this book speaks your language. If you are a sovereign grace believer looking for a system that follows the logic all the way, this book does that. And if you have been told that the sharpest doctrine produces the coldest heart, this book ends with the widest arms you have ever seen in a Reformed theology.
The digital edition is free. The truth doesn't come with a price tag. - Brandan Kraft
Where this book stands in the tradition
4th century BC
Plato
Idealism — forms over particulars
The Republic ethic: “God is not the author of evil”
“Everything that exists is a thought in the mind of God, sustained by His will, authored by His purpose, and held together by personal covenants of love.”
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