The Calvinist by John Piper

I tweeted out a link to this poem a few days back, and the folks at Desiring God have updated their video with subtitles.

Both a beautiful poem and video.

With a special "two for the price of one" deal here at the blog, I'm going through in, absolutely free, this quote from Spurgeon. Also, if you object to the term Calvinism, then coin a single word to describe the doctrines of Grace and God's sovereignty and get the rest of the world to catch on and replace it. Let me know when you do (or would you have to let me know?) but until then, we live in a world with words and words have meanings. Right now, the term Calvinist has a meaning and I don't have to define it because you know what it means too.

 "I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do not preach justification by faith, without works; nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out upon the cross; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned in the fires of damnation after having once believed in Jesus. Such a gospel I abhor."

DP Newell

Dying of Dignity

"It is easy enough among Dissenters to find regulations as rigid as could be invented by any bench of bishops; you may not vary the length of the hymn or the order of the service by a hair’s breadth, or you will sin against your own reputation and the feelings of the conservative portion of the congregation. There are few of such places now, but quite enough. and, where the evil rules, the good folks are as tenacious of their established nonsense as ever the Church of England can be of her printed prayers and rubrics; and the preacher must submit to all the regular fudge as if it were Scripture itself, or be pronounced eccentric and wanting in decorum. A man that is a man will yield for peace sake as far as his soul is unhampered, but beyond that he will ask, “Who makes these regulations, and to what end are they made?” Finding them. to be worthless and injurious, he will put his foot through them, and there will be an end of the rubbish. Some congregations are dying of dignity, and must be aroused by real life. People said that Mr. Hill rode on the back of order and decorum, and therefore he called his two horses by those names, so that if he could not ride on the back of them he might make the saying nearly true by being dragged behind them. Order and decorum, in some of our churches, have manifested themselves to be deadly sins; dead and burying the dead. Some congregations are so very orderly that they are like a vault in which the corpses lie, each one in due place, and none dares to move or lift a voice loud enough to be called a chirp. This will not do. Bring the trumpet! Sound a blast and wake the sleepers! Eccentric! Yes, eccentricity, if you like to call life by that name. Heaven knows it is sadly wanted."

C.H. Spurgeon from Eccentric Preachers




DPN

Baptism

Excerpt from the sermon I preached at Elijah's baptism. 

We have come today to replay an ancient picture. For going on 2,000 years, believers have gathered about a body of water to witness this very same baptism. You have an ancient heritage, church. You don’t have to go search out your genealogy to find a connection to your past. Here is your connection.

Upon baptism you will join the ranks of Peter, James, John, Andrew, Stephen, Philip, Apollos, Timothy, Paul, and those men and women who followed their doctrine. Every church planted that sent out its own men to preach the word, make disciples and baptize them as the Lord's churches spread like wildfire. Down through the ages and through the dark valley of persecution. Across the continents, men have confessed their sins, trusted in the Christ, and followed Him in baptism.  Starting in a muddy river in Israel by a man sent from God, to Jerusalem, through Samaria and Asia. Down southward to Africa and westward across the mountains plains into the land of the Barbarians believers were immersed upon profession in Christ and united with the church. On to Europe, then to the Americas this same ordinance was give for the same purpose. Age after age, church after church acting out this drama, making this confession, Jesus Saves.

Silently, yet publicly proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. Confessing that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, the Word made flesh, came, born of a virgin and entered into His own creation to save His people from their sins. We declare in baptism that the Godman was nailed to the cross and was the Lamb of God, the substitutionary sacrifice and completely saved every single person for whom the sacrifice was intended. On that terrible afternoon, Jesus cried it is finished and gave up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.

Jesus, the Lord, the Saviour, the King, the Christ was dead. They took his lifeless body from that wretched tree and laid His lifeless body in a rich man’s tomb. Sad, dejected, and faithless, the disciples had given up in despair.

But lo, at the dawning of the first day of the week, the two Mary’s came to the tomb but the stone was rolled away. They were terrified, but the angle said “Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” The reports were flying about, the tomb is empty! Jesus had risen! He met with them, spoke with them, ate with them, and preached to them. He was alive! He had the power to lay his life down and he took it right back up. This same Jesus, in His same body spoke to these same disciples, bodily risen and forever defeating death for those He had died and risen for.

The same Jesus who had the power to raise himself from the dead has the power to give life. To give life to the dead to raise them from spiritual death unto spiritual life and to one day raise their bodies from the dirt.

As a church, we are to go with this message of the gospel and preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins in Christ. We have been charged to make disciples and baptize them.  We baptize them symbolizing how we are made disciples. As Jesus died, was buried, and was resurrected – we symbolize that in the water. We are buried in baptism. As Jesus rose from the dead for our justification, we come up out of the water raised to walk in newness of life.

Baptism symbolizes what Christ has already done. We baptize the believers, the disciples of Jesus to show the world that we have died to the old life (repentance) and have been born again and are new creatures in Jesus.

Holiness of God

God has revealed Himself to us and I believe that He has revealed that He is a Holy God. All of his other attributes flow from His holiness. If you have not read Stephen Charnock’s The Existence and Attributes of God, I highly recommend the book, especially his chapter the Holiness of God. 

God’s has shown us that “He is holy” and His name is holy (Psalm 99:3). See how often God reveals to us that he is the “Holy One” or “Holy One of Israel”. 

He is the Holy Spirit. 

He is a holy High Priest (Hebrews 9:8.) 

He is the Holy Father. 

God swears by His holiness (Ps 89:35; Amos 4:2) because He can swear by no greater. 

His angles are holy angels (Matthew 25:31). 

His word is a holy Word. 

In His presences is holy ground. 

When He was in His temple, it was a holy temple. 

His men are holy prophets. (2 Peter 3:2) 

His love is holy love. 

His hate is holy hatred. 

His Strength is his holy arm– (Isa 52:10) 

All his works and ways are holy ways (Psalm 145:17) 

His promises are holy promises (Psalm 105:42) 

His law and commandments are holy (Rom 7:12) 

His calling is a holy calling (II Tim. 1:9) 

He could have had the angels fly about Him declaring “Love, Love, Love” or “omnipotent, omnipotent, omnipotent” but He desires to have His holy angles cry “Holy, Holy, Holy”. 

It is this otherness, this mystery, this fearfulness of God’s holiness that drives us from God in fear while it pulls us to God in beauty, because God’s holiness is beautiful (2 Chronicles 20:21; Psalm 29:2; Psalm 96:9). Holiness is beautiful because it is pure, it is perfection, it is separate from all this is impure. God’s holiness is the beauty of all His other attributes. His goodness is holy goodness. His love is holy love. His power is holy omnipotence and his knowledge is holy wisdom.

Quote:

“Holiness is the sum of all excellence and the combination of all the attributes which constitute perfection of character”. Boyce

The Loss of an Idol

"Love not anything in this world so much that the loss of it would throw you quite off your guard, and make you abandon yourself to wild and extravagant methods of relief. Let your affections be so subdued and kept in good order that the common calamities of life may not utterly confound, though they may surprise you. If you place your whole happiness in any of the attainments of this world, you expose yourself to this bloody temptation when you suffer the loss of those idols." Isaac Watts

HT: Paul Levy

Holy Scriptures

"The supreme judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and by which must be examined all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, and doctrines of men and private spirits can be no other than the Holy Scripture, delivered by the Spirit. And in the sentence of Scripture we are to rest, for it is in Scripture, delivered by the Spirit, that our faith is finally resolved."

1689 London Baptist Confession

"We believe that the Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired, and is a perfect treasure of heavenly instruction; that it has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter; that it reveals the principles by which God will judge us; and therefore is, and shall remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions should be tried."

The New Hampshire Baptist Confession, 1833


Doug

Bold Sinner, Fearful Saint

“O how uncomely a sight is it to see, a bold sinner and a fearful saint, one resolved to be wicked, and a Christian wavering in his holy course; to see guilt put innocence to flight, and hell keep the field, impudently braving it with displayed banners of open profaneness; [to see] saints hide their colors for shame, or run from them for fear, who should rather wrap themselves in them, and die upon the place, than thus betray the glorious name of God, which is called upon by them to scorn of the uncircumcised. Take heart therefore, O ye saints, and be strong, your cause is good, God himself espouseth your quarrel, who hath appointed you his own Son, General of the field called “the Captain of our salvation’ . He shall lead you on with courage, and bring you off with honor.”

The Christian in Complete Armour - William Gurnall

William Tyndale and Congregation: More than Defensible

William Tyndale in his translation of Matthew 16:18 rendered it this way,  “And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter: and upon this rock I will build my congregation.  And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”  David Daniell, author of the introduction to the 1989 Yale University Press edition of the Tyndale Bible said 

“The Bishop of London hunted down and burned many thousands of Tyndale’s successive New Testaments and Pentateuch’s with fanatical thoroughness, a ruthlessness that seems close to hysteria – only a dozen in all survive.  King Hevry VIII’s chancellor, Sir Thomas More, showed himself less than gentile, reasoned, saintly and urbane in his long, and indeed violent polemics against Tyndale.  He calls him in his Confutation, ‘a beast’, as one of the ‘hell-hounds that the devil hath in his kennel’, discharging a ‘filthy foam of blasphemies out of his brutish beastly mouth’.  Elsewhere, More calls him a deceiver, a hypocrite; puffed up with the poison of pride, malice and envy’.  Yet the best that More, in all the great length of his tirades, can summon against Tyndale, when all is boiled down, is the he translated the Greed word for ‘elder’ as elder, not priest and the Greek word for ‘repentance’ as repentance, not do penance, the Greek word for ‘congregation’ as congregation not church…Even Erasmus, More’s friend, had translated the Greek  ekklēsia, as congregation, not church. Every change that Tyndale makes is more than defensible: it is correct.”  

You Can't Please Everyone

Charles Spurgeon from his excellent book The Eccentric Preacher.

"He who hopes to preach so as to please everybody must be newly come into the ministry; and he who aims at such an object would do well speedily to leave its ranks. Men must and will cavil and object: it is their nature to do so. John came neither eating nor drinking; he was at once a Baptist and an abstainer, and nothing could be alleged against his habits, which were far removed from the indulgences of luxury: but this excellence was made his fault, and they said, "He hath a devil." Jesus Christ came eating and drinking, living as a man among men; and this which they pretended to desire in John became an offense in Jesus, and they libeled him as "a drunken man and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners." Neither the herald nor his Master suited the wayward tastes of their contemporaries. Like children playing in the market-place, who would not agree about what the game should be, so were the sons of men in that generation. They rejected the messengers because they loved not the God who sent them, and they only pretended to object to the men because they dared not avow their enmity to their Master. Hence the objections were often inconsistent and contradictory, and always frivolous and vexatious."

This Time

Make sure you check out the end of the video.

It's Right There in the Text

I read one man’s commentary on Revelation who mocked men who take a literal interpretation of Revelation, describing the absurdity of believing in monstrous locusts and the like. Then, with presumably a straight face, in the next paragraph informs us that the locusts were symbols of “neo-orthodox seminary professors, the so-called higher critics of our day.”

 Of course. I should have known, it's right there in the text.

Take it to the Lord in Prayer

A couple years ago a started keeping a journal. Actually, I have several notebooks that I write in, and they are in no particular order and there isn't much rhyme or reason to the system. It probably would have been better to have one and start at the beginning and go to the end, but where is the fun in that? Anytime I am reading, I have the notebook beside me to catch my thoughts, jot memorable quotes, argue at length with the author, or apply what I have learned. This has been a tremendous help in my devotional life by going slowly through a book and writing down what I have learned or needed to apply to my heart. You really should not read a book without a pen in hand. 

The nice thing about doing this is going back through your notes. You can see how the Lord is bringing you along and remember things you forgot. I was reading through one of my journals and found this entry from a couple years ago when I was working my way through a puritan work.

Don’t hide your failures, faults, and sorrow from God. There is a temptation to deeply bury our sin and our pain and to straighten up before we go to God.

1. You are not able to “hide” anything from God
2. A Christian does not need to hide from God
3. We do not need to fix ourselves before coming to Christ.

This is my temptation. That I’m too sad or to broken to pray. But that is exactly when I need prayer most of all. I’m forgiven, loved, and cared for by my Priest-King- Saviour. I shouldn’t try to atone for my own sins with my tears and break the reed that Christ would not break. Yes, confess. Mortify. Repent. But keep going till you reach the healing cross. 

Prayer and Care

"Carefulness and prayer cannot stand together. In every thing - great and small - let your requests be made known. They who by a preposterous shame or distrustful modesty, cover, stifle, or keep in their desires, as if they were either too small or too great, must be racked with care; from which they are entirely delivered, who pour them out with a free and filial confidence."

John Wesley on Philippians 4:6

In Christ

“How do we receive those benefits which the Father bestowed on his only-begotten Son – not for Christ’s own private use, but that he might enrich poor and needy men? First, we must understand that as long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value for us. Therefore, to share with us what he has received from the Father, he had to become ours and to dwell within us”

Book 3 of The Institutes of Christian religion
Picture courtesy of BGM.


 John Piper well said:

"Do you want to be free from the blinding effects of spiritual ignorance? Do you want to have the righteousness of Christ credited to your account and be accepted and acquitted and justified by God? Do you want to have the sanctifying power of Christ in your life helping you overcome canceled sin? Do you want to be delivered in the end from misery and death? If so – and I pray that you do – then cherish your union with Christ. Love being united to him. Grow in your grasp of these things. Live in them. Savor them. Carry them with you through the day. Make them your meditation day and night. Think often on what it means to be united to Christ. What it means that "by God's doing you are in Christ Jesus"

I Rejoice; Rejoice Ye!

Alexander MacLaren  on Philippians 4:4 from Expositions of Holy Scripture:

"It has been well said that this whole epistle may be summed up in two short sentences: ‘I rejoice’; ‘Rejoice ye!’ The word and the thing crop up in every chapter, like some hidden brook, ever and anon sparkling out into the sunshine from beneath the shadows. This continual refrain of gladness is all the more remarkable if we remember the Apostle’s circumstances. The letter shows him to us as a prisoner, dependent on Christian charity for a living, having no man like-minded to cheer his solitude; uncertain as to ‘how it shall be with me,’ and obliged to contemplate the possibility of being ‘offered,’ or poured out as a libation, ‘on the sacrifice and service of your faith.’ Yet out of all the darkness his clear notes ring jubilant; and this sunny epistle comes from the pen of a prisoner who did not know but that to-morrow he might be a martyr."

An Odd Couple

The thought occurred to me, as it sometimes does, that there is a similarity between the Lutheran position on infant baptism and the Arminian position in decisional regeneration. If you have been reading the comments of prior posts, you may have a headache. Buy you also may have noticed many of the arguments of the pro-Luther party were lobbed in the general direction of the pro-Arminius constituency. I did observe something peculiar as I looked at the scorched remains of the Arminian straw man. He looked vaguely familiar.

Like I’ve noted before, there is a strange kinship between errors that, on the surface, seem to oppose one another. The antinomian is just as focused on the law as the legalist. One runs from the law, the other to the law, but for the sake of the law, they both do run.

The Lutheran and the Arminian have a strange kinship in regards to the sovereignty of God in salvation while they firmly deny the resemblance. Neither truly believes that God has the absolute freedom to choose who will be saved. Both believe it to be unjust and unfair for God to chose to show mercy on some and not others, to one degree or another. Whereas the Arminian applies this to all mankind, the Lutheran applies this to children. Both think they can do something to make God save someone. One calls sinners to the “altar” in the front of the church to make a decision while the other sprinkles water on a babies head. Both positions think that their actions will move God to save and both will call it grace. Both sides will get upset when you point out that this is a work, and both positions will say these things are done in faith. But when you boil it all down, making a decision is a work, and so is baptizing babies. What precedes faith will determine if you truly believe in grace. An odd couple.

The wreckage of decisional regeneration is no different than that of infant baptismal regeneration. In both instances a well meaning adult convinces a child that they are saved. The child takes their word for it and moves on, walking (or crawling) in darkness. A church full of false converts, nominal Christians who have taken the word of someone that they were baptized and believed the report that they repented of their sins and trusted in Christ. Do many later come to saving faith? Sure. Do many die in their sins trusting in the words of men assuring them that their decision saved them, or their baptism saved them? Sadly, yes.

Faith is substantive. True, living, God given faith awakens the dead spirit to life, opens the blind eyes to sight, and causes the dead sinner to see the kingdom of God and come to Jesus Christ. The Lutheran can parse words all day long, but an unconscious infant does not have faith, as faith is defined by the Bible (Hebrews 11:1). How many legs does a dog have if you call his tail a leg? He has four - calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it so. Redefining faith may help a well meaning parent or pastor to sleep at night, but it does not change God’s Word, nor does it regenerate the soul of the deceived.

This is an emotional issue, especially for parents of young children, like myself. If there were something I could do to save my children, I would do it - but it would do them no good to impose upon them a religious ritual that has no power to save and lie to them in order that I might feel better. The well meaning Arminian will do the same. They will ask the child if they love God and want to go to Heaven and then ask if they love Jesus and then tell them they are saved. This makes the parents rejoice, for  a season, until they wonder why their teenager is cooking meth in the back yard instead of at Bible study.

My children are in God’s hands. Salvation is of the Lord. I tell my kids of the gospel daily. We have daily family worship and daily Bible reading. I pray for the salvation of my children. I do all that the Lord has required of me,all that I can do and their souls are in His hands - and there is no other place that I would rather they be. I desire nothing more than to see my children walk in the truth, but I cannot change the leopard's spots in family worship and only God’s grace can give a heart of flesh, faith, and true repentance. I preach the gospel, I call them to repentance - but their souls are not in my not in my hands, not in the hands of the church, but in the Hands of God.

Does Titus 3:5 Teach Baptismal Regeneration and Support Infant Baptism?

In case you have missed the fun.
Part 1
Part 2

 The book of Titus is a pastoral epistle, penned by Paul to instruct the Gentile minister on the work of pastoring a church. Chapter three, to which we have our present controversy, begins with the charge to Titus to preach that Christians are not to be subversive rebels, but live gently and meekly in this present evil world. We didn't always live a holy life, because we used to be foolish and disobedient, serving our lusts and pleasures. We used to be the hateful ones, living in hate, speaking hate, and hating one another (3:3). Christians are to live a life to the glory of God – a way that is contrary to the world, and a way that is contrary to our old lives. We also see a radical shift in worldviews. We used to believe one way and we used to do things a certain way, a wicked way, an evil way. Now, we don’t. How did that happen? How did we get from hateful and hating to gentle and meek?

Titus 4-7 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 

 Not by our works, but by God’s work. We did not change ourselves but God changed us. Not because we are good, but because He is merciful. Not because of our work, because of His work. Not by decisions, water, church membership or any other thing we did, but he saved us by a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ. We are not justified by baptism, but by Grace. Verses 8-12, show us that because of the work of God in salvation, we are urged to maintain good works. We do not do good works in order to be saved, but because we are saved, we do good works. One problem those that baptize infants have is applying faith and repentance to the unconscious infant. Our text illustrates repentance – turning from sin unto Christ. The thrust of the passage is we are saved from our evil ways unto good works. Something that actually happens on account of the new birth. This does not happen with the infant. Indeed, we are born into sin, but does the infant repent of the depraved nature and confess that he is born in guilty in Adam, before he is able to know his own name?

Baptism is something God commands that we do. Our text, very clearly is telling us this washing has nothing to do with our works. Baptism is a work that we do in obedience to the Lord's command to be baptized. It is an act of obedience of the church to baptize believers. It is a good work, a righteous work to follow the Lord in baptism. But...

 (5) Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (6) Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour 

Verse 5 makes it clear that it has nothing to do with our works that we are saved, but we do good works because of the good work of God in us. Titus 3:8 tells us that those who have believed are to do good works, not those who have been baptized. The washing and renewing are Divine acts of the Holy Spirit of God. The same is found in 1 Cor 6:9-11 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?..... And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. We were sinners, God cleaned us by His blood, now we are different. This verse has nothing to do with baptism. We are born again by the power of God. God using the instrument of His Word in regeneration.

The only other time the word "washing" appears in the New Testament is in Ephesians 5:26, in which, speaking of the church, says God will "sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the Word.” It is the Word of God used to “wash” the sinner from the filth and defilement of sin. In fact, the Word of God is the instrument of God the Holy Spirit in salvation (James 1:18; Gal 3:1-2). 

1Pe 1:23-25  Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.   For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:   But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

The same eternal Word that is preached is the gospel that is preached and believed. We evangelize by preaching God's Word. If God is pleased to use His Word to quicken a dead sinner to life, He will do so. Salvation comes by faith in Christ, through the preaching of the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation. We are not born again by the power of baptism, but of the incorruptible seed, by the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17), not by the water. I believe it is incumbent upon those who believe this verse refers to Baptism to prove it. It is assumed this washing refers to baptism; however, since the whole of scripture teaches we are saved by Grace through faith, not by baptism, and that regeneration is a work of the Holy Spirit by His Sovereign will, not by the will of priest and parent. The sad thing is that those that baptize their babies lie to their children and tell them that they are saved because of what they did for them by having them baptized. 

 There is a twofold operation of the Holy Spirit in salvation, namely cleansing and renewal. Cleansing from the defilement of sin and the new birth. What does wash away our sins? The precious blood of Christ; Hebrews 9:22; Hebrews 12:24; Heb 9:13-14 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 

Faith, which is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, comes by hearing the Word of God. You cannot have faith without an object of hope and a conviction of the reality of the unseen. None of which applies to the infant. Repentance means to turn. No infant has ever repented of their sins upon their baptism. Infant baptizers get around this by redefining the words hearing, faith, repentance, and the Word. The Bible can mean anything if you get to define what the words mean.

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Please keep the comments on topic. If you want to discuss THIS post and THIS passage, well by all means, comment away. 


Thanks.

Does Colossians 2:11-13 Teach Baptisimal Regeneration?

There were heretics in the church at Colosse and through vain deceit and the traditions of men, they were leading men away from Christ in religion rather toward and after Christ in truth. The issue in Colosse was the beginnings of what is known as Gnosticism. The heresy was a mixture of a type of Judaism, mysticism, and philosophy that corrupted the truth about Jesus Christ. Much like many of the cults today, the wolves at Colosse were using the words of Christianity, but applying different doctrines and philosophies and meanings to the words. They used familiar Christian terms but applied their own definition.

There was the pre-Gnostic idea of “the fullness”(Pleroma) which was "...the mediating eons or angel-powers or spiritual manifestations supposed to be intermediate between God and the world... the entire series of angels or eons, which filled the space or interval between a holy God and a world of matter, which was conceived of as essentially and necessarily evil." (ISBE).  Paul declares that this is not fullness and true fullness is not found in mysticism, or works, or ritual but Christ is the fullness: Christ is all and we are complete and full in Him.  Christ is sufficient. Christ is fully God, Christ is the fullness of God in creation, Christ is the fullness of God in redemption, Christ is the fullness of God in the church, and Christ is the power and the purpose of living our lives. By positively asserting Christ, Paul as inoculated the church from the heresies that were (are are still) being taught. For the most part in this book, Paul battles the heresy by showing the truth.

When we get to second chapter, Paul is dealing specifically with Christ and our salvation (Col. 2:9-10).  How are we full and complete? Paul gives two examples – not two options in verses 11-13. These examples are to illustrate what the symbols were/are given to illustrate - that we are complete & made full in Christ. The first example is showing the true meaning of circumcision and what it actually represented.

Col 2:11  In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:

Circumcision was never given to impart faith. There was a twofold purpose for circumcision – one a sign of the physical part of the covenant with Abraham (a land and a nation) and the second part was a token of God’s work in redemption.  When a person is born again, God takes away the flesh, i.e. sin, the "old man". God preforms a circumcision of the heart. The Gentiles believers were not encouraged to be circumcised but he is explaining from the physical token what had happened to them spiritually by using the token that God had used with Israel to demonstrate that very point. The covenant given to Abraham was based upon the promise God gave to Abraham, not upon the works of the flesh (Gal. 3:17-19). Circumcision never conferred grace (Romans 4:8-10), it was a sign (Romans 4:11-12). This had always been the spiritual aspect of circumcision (cf. Lev 26:41-42; Deut 30:5-6; Deut 10:12-17). In order to be a citizen of the nation of Israel and to partake of the inheritance of the land, one had to be circumcised, but this did not preform any spiritual work. The Old Testament taught the same principle as the new, a heart circumcision (Ezk 11:10 and Col 2:11). However, circumcision never saved.

Moving on to Col. 2:12, we see the second part of the same sentence giving the same thought.

Col 2:12  Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

As circumcision is being used to illustrate a point, so is Baptism. It has never been something that confers grace, but it is a picture of the work of God in regeneration. We are buried under the water (immersed, not sprinkled) and raised to walk in newness of life. The act of going under the water pictures death, our death to sin and Christ’s death FOR our sins - does not bring faith. Our coming up out of the water pictures our walking in newness of life on account of Christ’s rising from the grave for our justification. Like circumcision in verse 11, baptism shows the operation of God who raises men from the dead. We were dead in our sins and God gave us life in regeneration, forgiving us our sins. This does not teach us that we are born again through the waters of baptism or through the ritual of circumcision. Not only does this passage not teach that circumcision replaces baptism, it illustrates that neither had the power to save. Nothing can be as clear in the New Testament as the fact that Paul did not believe that circumcision had any efficacious saving power. Paul using both examples here in a positive light, Paul is showing that neither baptism or circumcision has efficacious saving power, but was given as a picture and a sign of God's redemptive work in regeneration. 

It was the Gnostics and the mystic Judiazers who were trying to pull the Christians into sacramentalsim and offering works and rituals to be forgiven. When you read the rest of the chapter, Paul continues on by condemning rituals, ordinances, and other aesthetics to gain salvation.

The analogia scriptura (analogy of scripture) is that we are saved by Grace, through faith. Not by right, not by ceremony, not by works, not by knife, and not by water. We are saved by faith, cleansed, not by the water, but by the blood of Christ.

Series introduction found here.
The next post in the series is found here.

Grace & Peace, 

Dunkin' Babies

On November 22, 2010 I wrote a blog post on infant baptism and happily last week, Gary the Lutheran Blogger commented and thoroughly disagreed (this is the internet after all). After some back and forth, I decided to bring the old post back to the front. No since in letting good discussion get lost in a 3 year old meta. Gary has suggested that I do not read the Bible literally, and if I did, I couldn’t help but dunk babies under the water in the baptismal pool. Because, if we read what the Greek work for baptism LITERALLY means, we surely wouldn't sprinkle, but let's let those napping canines rest.  In the comment sections of that post, Gary offered the following proof texts to prove baptismal regeneration:
Titus 3:5 
Colossians 2:11-13 
I Peter 3:20-21 

Then he offered this challenge.

"Read this verse literally and what does it say: Baptism saves us. Period. Sit down. Read the entire New Testament. Read it literally unless God is VERY clear that he is not speaking literally. What will you end up with: God forgives sins in baptism. God saves in baptism. They only way to believe it doesn't is to establish your doctrine FIRST...and then try to interpret God's words to fit your doctrine. God doesn't need you help to explain what he was trying to say. He is very clear...if you read the Bible literally."

Let’s do, shall we? Let’s read the Bible literally and let us read it in context and let us exegete the text. I plan on in the next three posts to exegete the passages that Gary provided. After that, I hope to examine the paradigm of infant baptism. It is not a matter of texts. Saying “Titus 3:5 – BOOM!” dropping the mic and walking off stage with an assured nod of the head, is not how one proves a theological matter.

Here we go...

Part 1 Colossians 2:11-13 click HERE.

The Limits of Atonement

"Let there be no misunderstanding at this point. The Arminian limits the atonement as certainly as does the Calvinist. The Calvinist limits the extent of it in that he says it does not apply to all persons...while the Arminian limits the power of it, for he says that in itself it does not actually save anybody. The Calvinist limits it quantitatively, but not qualitatively; the Arminian limits it qualitatively, but not quantitatively. For the Calvinist it is like a narrow bridge that goes all the way across the stream; for the Arminian it is like a great wide bridge that goes only half-way across. As a matter of fact, the Arminian places more severe limitations on the work of Christ than does the Calvinist."  

Lorraine Boettner, The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination

Justified

The Canons of Dort- First Head, Article 7

Election is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby, before the foundation of the world, He has out of mere grace, according to the sovereign good pleasure of His own will, chosen from the whole human race, which had fallen through their own fault from the primitive state of rectitude into sin and destruction, a certain number of persons to redemption in Christ, whom He from eternity appointed the Mediator and Head of the elect and the foundation of salvation. This elect number, though by nature neither better nor more deserving than others, but with them involved in one common misery, God has decreed to give to Christ to be saved by Him, and effectually to call an draw them to His communion by His Word and Spirit; to bestow upon them true faith, justification, and sanctification; and having powerfully preserved them in the fellowship of His son, finally to glorify them for the demonstration of His mercy, and for the praise of the riches of His glorious grace; as it is written "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves." (Eph 1:4-6). And elsewhere: "And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." (Rom 8:30).

Read it all here.

Try a Lazy Boy

C.H. Spurgeon -

"I recollect an Arminian brother telling me that he had read the Scriptures through a score or more times, and could never find the doctrine of election in them. He added that he was sure he would have done so if it had been there, for he read the Word on his knees. I said to him, "I think you read the Bible in a very uncomfortable posture, and if you had read it in your easy chair, you would have been more likely to understand it. Pray, by all means, and the more, the better, but it is a piece of superstition to think there is anything in the posture in which a man puts himself for reading: and as to reading through the Bible twenty times without having found anything about the doctrine of election, the wonder is that you found anything at all: you must have galloped through it at such a rate that you were not likely to have any intelligible idea of the meaning of the Scriptures."

HT: Phil Johnson

Careless with Fire

God forgive me.

(HT Justin Taylor) - Doug

I Go to Prepare a Place for You

A.W. Pink
"God never has, and never will, take His people into a place un-prepared for them. In Eden God first "planted a garden," and then placed Adam in it. It was the same with Israel when they entered Canaan: "Deuteronomy 6:10-11  And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,  And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full." And what can we say of the grace manifested by the Lord of glory going to prepared a place for us? He will not entrust such a task to  the angels. Proof, indeed, is this that He loves us "unto the end."

A Pedigree Without a Horse

 Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do. - 1Timothy 1:4

BH Carroll from An Interpretation of The English Bible:

"Later, these fables grew into the Talmud, which may be likened to a "continent of mud," or, on

account of the dryness of the matter, to the "Sahara Desert minus its oasis. It is as unpalatable as sawdust bread. Its diet is as void of nutritive properties as the sick soldiers's soup, according to his own hyperbolic description "A piece of blue beef held up between the sun and a pot of boiling water, so as to boil its shadow.

Old Testament genealogies had an intelligent purpose till Christ came, for they located Him. After that they were of no value, and when they were arbitrarily spiritulized they became vicious.

In a political race in McLennan County one of the candidates devoted an hour to the tracing his honorable descent from illustrious families. The other won the race by a reply in one sentence "I would rather be a horse without a pedigree than a pedigree without a horse."

Book Review: The Full Armor of God

The Full Armor of God:

Defending your life from Satan’s Schemes

Larry Richards

Bethany House Publishers, Chosen Books

Christians are in a spiritual war. The Full Armor of God, by Larry Richards is an attempt to help Christians understand the battle and use the resources God has provided to endure to the end. Richards uses the book of Ephesians as the outline to instruct the believer in “spiritual warfare”.  Unfortunately, I believe that the book fall short in what it sets out to accomplish.

There are some helpful aspects to the book, but I would not recommend this book. The book is a combination of the Biblical text with affirmations of self worth. Not in every case, but I did notice a theme that the “demons” were bad feelings over a bad childhood. The Christian does have the answer to emotional issues, pain, and struggle -- satisfaction in Jesus Christ. He is where you find peace, love, and forgiveness.  Richards seeks to apply worldly salve to a spiritual problem. For example, in the chapter on “Putting on the Helmet of salvation” one part of the application is to “Tape a picture of yourself as a child on the bathroom mirror. Each time you see the picture, bless the child that you were, and remind her or him of how deeply she or he is loved by Jesus.”  This kind of worldly wisdom cannot free a person from the true pain that they receive. The Bible is sufficient to teach and guide, these exercises are not.

There is a chapter on casting out demons. It is three pages long. Half of the three pages are dedicated on how to cast demons out. Five paragraphs. First, let me say that I do believe in demon possession. Secondly, I do believe that Apostles and the early churches had the power to cast out demons. Thirdly, I believe these gifts ceased.  The Bible does not teach us to go about and cast demons out of things, and the Bible does not teach us how to recognize demon possession, so in a chapter to instruct, there should be a theological foundation, and Biblical instruction. There wasn't, and there is a reason for the absence.  The rest of the chapter was another plug for the “Freedom Workshop”.

From the start, I felt like the book was a advertisement for his Freedom Workshops that he teaches all over the country.  Through the book, we are reminded of the Workshop and given an appendix of exercises to be done in group settings, in “Live Free” sessions -  not what one would expect when purchasing a book on spiritual warfare.

I’m very grateful Bethany House Publishers and Chosen Books for sending me this review copy. Though I did gain some from the book, I would not recommend this book.

Tender Majesty

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. John 14:1

The twelve were sitting in the upper chamber, stupefied with the dreary, half-understood prospect of Christ’s departure. He, forgetting His own burden, turns to comfort and encourage them. These sweet and great words most singularly blend gentleness and dignity. Who can reproduce the cadence of soothing tenderness, soft as a mother’s hand, in that ‘Let not your heart be troubled’? And who can fail to feel the tone of majesty in that ‘Believe in God, believe also in Me’?

Alexander MacLaren

But what are you REALLY trying to say?

“The Greek word baptize, which we borrow, was of very common use, as is seen in every period of Greek literature and was applied to a great variety of matters, including the most familiar acts of everyday life.  It was thus a word which every Greek speaking hearer and reader in apostolic times would at once and clearly understand.  It meant what we express by ‘immerse’ and kindred terms, and no one could then have thought of attributing to it a wholly different sense, such as ‘sprinkle’ or ‘pour’ without distinct explanation to that effect…..[speaking of protestants who sprinkle]. Such are the unavoidable defects of language, that strongly biased and ingenious minds can always cast some apparent doubt over the mean of the plainest words.”  John Broadus

Locust and Honey - there is no app for that

Matthew 3:4  And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

It would have been difficult to follow the Old Testament dietary laws. John didn’t have a Bible app or the ability to google “can Jews eat locusts?” How did John know it was OK to eat locusts? John had to know the law. He had to have it hidden in his heart. First, he had to go where the Word was to hear and read it, memorize it so he could go and keep it and apply it. After all, it would be hard for the Jewish people carry all those scrolls when they were walking by the way, lying down and waking up. The Word of God had to be foundational - an entire worldview, which is the way it should be for us. It can become easy to use the Bible as a reference book, to go to for recommendations on how you should live rather than the authoritative Word of God that informs how we live and think. The Bible should shape and form our thoughts, transforming our minds and the way we think. That was why it was difficult for Peter to eat unclean things. Think how deeply ingrained these food regulations had to be to live in those times, knowing what you could and couldn’t eat. If you were at sea, on the sea shore, in the wilderness, in the market place, what can you eat and how would you know? The Word of God had to be the lens in which you looked at the world. Sources close to me tell me that the nutritional labels we have on our food came much later in history, besides, how would you put the calorie intake on the back of a locust?

 1 Timothy 4:4-5  For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

Bing Crosby, Red Delicious, and the Gospel Ministry

My family stopped celebrating Christmas when I was too young to remember. My wife’s family had always celebrated Christmas, so when we were dating, I told her why we didn’t celebrate it and she told me what it was like to do so (We were/are not heretics unless you would consider this heresy . We refrained from the celebration, in a sort of 17^th century, non-conformist Puritan sort of way. And, we can get into that if the masses insist). I had an idea that every Christmas was like a Bing Crosby song, complete with argyle sweaters, men contemplatively resting the elbow on the mantel piece next to a toasty fire and the wafting aroma of leather and pipe tobacco. I could imagine children laughing and dancing along to the melodic sounds of a jazzy piano coming from the sitting room. It was the sort of dream that, as Psmith  said “one feels that one could gladly settle down into a peaceful retirement and grow a honey colored beard.” That was Christmas in my mind. Apparently, (according to my wife anyway, I’m still skeptical) this isn’t an accurate representation of the season.

With reckless abandon, and little regard for segue, let’s go to the farm. I grew up on an apple orchard and it was hard work that never ended. Pruning trees, fertilizing, insecticides, thinning the apples, on and on it goes. Not only is it nonstop work, but we usually were pushing to get it all done. You have to have everything ready to pick the apples, to package, to haul the apples. Tractors, wagons, picking bags and all the things that are needed to get them in and then out the door, so to speak.  Harvest always came whether you were ready for it or not. It always aggravated me at school when the kids would talk about how great it would be to live on the farm, because you only had to work two months out of the year. Pick apples in the harvest and sit back and count your money to the next year. They would talk about sauntering out (sauntering wasn’t the preferred word of the 4^th grade class at Sunshine Elementary, but work with me here). Where was I? Oh yes, sauntering out in the afternoon and selecting an apple for the tree for a lazy day snack. In fact, I could probably count on my hands the number of times I walked out and picked an apple and ate it because you can’t pick an apple when it’s ripe to eat and sell it, unless you think a rotten ball of mush is in high demand (stranger things have happened II Kings 6:25). The apples are picked a few days before they are ready to eat.  Much like my view of Christmas, my classmates had an idealistic view of farm life. We saw what we wanted to see and didn’t consider that we  live in a Genesis 3 world, fallen and broken.

When Paul was telling Timothy to get ready for the life of the ministry, one example he used was that of a farmer.  II Timothy  2:6  The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits. God gives every pastor ground, and that is the ground he is to work. Some men in history have worked in years of feast and some toil in years of famine. Many (most?) men who enter the gospel ministry have an idealistic view of what it will be like and how their ministry will prosper. Perhaps that because of their desire and faithfulness, God will surely bless them with "success" in their preaching. Then, if it isn't like they thought, they get depressed and give up. The gospel ministry is not a results based, but gauged on faithfulness, though all desire to see the results. The bossman of the harvest on an apple orchard is success based. How much did you bring in and how quickly did you do it? The only means of success in farm work is product based. The LORD of the harvest judges His laborers by faithfulness, because He is the Lord of the harvest. Our desire is not mere reformation, but regeneration. Our desire is that the dead be brought to life and we haven’t that kind of power, but the Lord of the harvest does.

 Peter Van Mastricht's book A Treatise on Regeneration Without [regeneration] he can neither see the kingdom of God -- this is, mentally, since he is blind, and perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (I Corinthians 2:14) --nor, if he could see, could he enter in to the kingdom of God, since he is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be (Romans 8:7). Of himself he is not sufficient to think anything spiritually good (II Corinthians 3:5), and therefore stands in absolute need of illumination by regeneration in order to see the kingdom of heaven and of a renovation of his will, in order to be willing to enter into it.

We desire that men come to the truth, but it is a truth that is from Heaven that God Himself teaches His people. A ministry must be able to teach, but at the same time God illuminates. 

John Calvin "...Only when God shines in us by the Holy Spirit is there any profit from the Word. Thus the inward calling, which alone is effectual and peculiar to the elect, is distinguished from the outward voice of men."

 Our labor in the Word and with men may seem to bring no result but it is doing something because God’s Word does not go forth void (Isa.55:11). The faithful man of God always triumphs in Christ when he faithfully brings the Word (II Cor. 2:14-17).  You may be an Ezekiel.

Eze 3:6-7  Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.  But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.

Consider that. If Ezekiel had been a foreign missionary and preached the same message, he would have many converts. But God had Ezekiel labor in hard ground to a people that would not hear in an act of judgment.

So, when a man begins the good work of Gospel ministry, I’m not saying he ought to despair, but he ought to trust in God. The place where God has him may be good ground, or tough ground, but it is the ground he was given to keep. The ground is rocky. It’s hard. I look at other ground and I see others reaping the harvest. I see others, whose children have been saved. I look and can only see the dirt. The dry ground. The rocky soil. The sun is hot. There is a drought and the earth is cracked. The only water I can perceive are my tears. Sowing in tears. Preparation. Labor. Toil, but the harvest hasn’t come. My hands are calloused, by back is sore. Is it fruitless? No, never. I trust in the sovereign Lord. 

Idealistic expectations reveal our will. I'm not saying that our will is even wrong. It is not wrong to desire to see many people saved. However, the man of God must preach on even when our will is not done. Do we delight in our will being done only, or when our will is crushed but God's will is done?

A More Compelling Argument

If one were to click this link and listen, at the 4:00 minute mark on, you would hear from the "fair and balanced" folks who are "looking out for us", that besides the Bible, there really isn't a compelling argument against homosexual marriage. While I don't agree with that statement, think about that assertion and you will understand why our civilization is crumbling. The Omnipotent  Sovereign God, created man,  male and female and then God Himself created the Divine institution of marriage and provides instruction on what a marriage is, what it is for, its bounds, its intentions, and how both parties are to act in the marriage. So, beside that, what other argument do you have?

The foundations are gone. Our society is making moral judgments and trying to overturn the basic foundation of human society on emotional argumentation. A people who KNOW what God says about the issue, but just do not care. Only a miracle of Divine grace can save us now. Once the "anything goes" door is open, who is going to shut it and why? Homosexual advocates are not for marriage equality because they don't want a man to marry his brother and his sister. So in five years, what answer will the Supreme Court give to these siblings who want to get married? What arguments will anyone have to say "no, that's not right."? Who is going to shut the door and why? 

When a society is overtaken by sin, as part of Divine judgment, God gives them over to their depraved thoughts. We loose our ability to think and reason and are blinded by our sinfulness. That is what you see before us now. People are given over to their rebellious thoughts and the Divine, authoritative Word of God is not a "compelling argument." We can hear things like "the Bible says that sure, but we are Americans and we believe in FREEDOM!" Without a foundation of moral law and the ability of self-control, freedom will die. Freedom to live in depravity is not freedom at all, it is bondage to sin. The further one goes into this "liberty" the more they are in bondage to their sin. 

 So what do we do now? We need to thump the Bible - more clearly and more authoritatively. We need to study this issue. We need to know what Leviticus says and why. We need to know what Jesus said about marriage and why and what He appealed to in His defense of marriage (hint: 'have you not READ?'). These are exciting times in which we live. Think about it, how many generations have been witness to the decline and fall of a great civilization? I did say exciting, not enjoyable. When we talk about this issue, we should be seen as the "Bible Thumpers" and be unapologetic about it. What is likely to happen is both political parties will want to distance themselves from this issue, and when both Republican and Democrats agree, they have to have someone to blame all this opposition on - and I wonder if there is a group of people out there they could blame? People who just won't listen to "reason" and keep going back to that Book. Who don't make compelling arguments, who just keep going back to that Book. People who won't change with the times, they just keep going back to that Book. That Book that tells me I'm a sinner and need a Savior. That Book that tells me that there is a Creator and I'm not Him. That Book, that reminds me I'm not the judge of right and wrong, and that there is a judgment coming for those who break the laws the Book contains. That Book.  How man hates that Book. Despite the "folks" who are "looking out for us" say, I think "because God said" is a pretty compelling argument. 

Consolation in Christ

It has been four hundred years since there had been a prophet in Israel. The nation was now under the rule of King Herod and under the thumb of the mighty Roman Empire. They were a long way from King David and the glories of Solomon’s reign. The ruling class in the priesthood preached a doctrine of legalism and had gone far from the truth of God’s revealed word of grace and faith found in the law and the prophets. Simeon, who was now an old man, was sorrowful. He sorrowed over the condition of his people. He sorrowed over the condition of the nation. He sorrowed over the condition of his own soul. There was no solace in possible political reform or military upheaval against Rome. There was no comfort in King Herod’s reign or the temple he built. As the Pharisees, scribes and Sadducees jockeyed for position and power and as the politicians maneuvered back and forth for power, Simeon a devout man of God sorrowed and waited. Yet he was not as those who had no hope.

Simeon, being just and devout, knew the promises of Scripture. He knew that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. He knew that all the nations of earth would be blessed through the seed of Abraham. He knew that the Seed of David would sit on the throne in Jerusalem and have an everlasting kingdom. He knew that the servant of Jehovah would be wounded for our transgressions and be acquainted with our grief. Simeon had hope and comfort from his sorrows in the consolation of Israel. Simeon knew and looked for what we know and see by faith. Our consolation, our comfort, our hope is found in Christ Jesus the Lord. He forgives the sinner of His sins. He clothes the sinner in His righteousness. Our comfort and consolation is that by grace, through faith, we are in Christ. By the death of Christ and His resurrection from the tomb, we stand in Christ clean, forgiven, and justified. That is consolation. 

The Pen is Mightier than the PC?

There was a very interesting Q&A session at the 2013 Shepherd's Conference. The men discussed their sermon preparation and outlining processes, to wit the use of pen and paper. In fact, it was such an interesting conversation, I'm considering making the switch back. If you are interesting in peeking in the study of preachers and looking over their shoulder at their notes, you will enjoy giving this a listen.

Shepherd's Conference Q&A audio.

Grace & Peace,
Doug

The Oxford Comma

I got a kick out of this. I am firmly on the affirmative with the Oxford Comma and I suppose we can still be friends if you wrong on this issue of vital importance. Enjoy a little gregarious grammatical guidance!

Source: cdn.iwastesomuchtime.com via RockRavn on Gentlemint

Exclamation of Joy

Ever wonder where the exclamation mark came from? Oh. Would you like to know anyway?

I found this interesting from the OUP word blog:

Both these punctuation marks [the ! and the ?] were originally manuscript abbreviations in Latin texts.
To take the exclamation mark first: it derives from a vertical version, written in the margins, of the Latin word Io, meaning ‘exclamation of joy’. The vertical stroke was the ‘I’ above the ‘o’, in which the ‘o’ eventually became a dot. 

The question mark, meanwhile, goes back to the word Quaestio meaning ‘questioning, investigation’ and indicating a question. Quaestio was eventually abbreviated to a curly ‘q’ above the ‘o’, while the ‘o’ became a dot. 

Why were these marks needed in the first place? Their prime function in Latin manuscripts was to show people the right intonation: a question, a surprise, a shout, etc. If you combine them you get a different effect: ?! delivers an immediate sense of incredulity: a little like smileys or emoticons in our text messages today.

This is an excerpt from What Made the Crocodile Cry? by Susie Dent.

Gun Control and Apologetics

Conservatives are outraged at the hypocrisy of people in heavily armed offices dictating that only gun-free zones will make you safe. We can easily see how foolish it is to pass more laws to stop lawbreakers who wouldn’t obey the first law. What does a gun free zone tell a criminal? It tells the criminal that the law abiding citizen has laid down their best weapon of defense.

When we engage unbelievers, being salt and light we are engaging in spiritual battle and they are wanting and expecting a “Bible free zone” of apologetic in the public square.  It goes something like “You can’t argue from the Bible because I don’t believe the Bible, so we must debate on common ground of what I consider to be good sound reason.”  They want you to give up your starting point but they get to keep theirs. You must abandon your worldview and engage their worldview FROM their worldview. They borrow Christian terms like “right” and “wrong” and “good” and “evil” that can only exist with a standard of right and wrong and good and evil. And if there is standard, where did that come from and why?

Let’s imagine you are awakened from dreaming about living in a free Republic to find you are being robbed. As a vigilant citizen you reach for your Smith & Wesson and proceed to engage the lawless and disobedient. Full of good courage, you play the man and catch the thief with his arms hugging your television. When confronted with superior firepower he says  with a furrow of anxiety upon the brow “I don’t believe in the right of a man to defend his home with a gun. I think this ought to be a gun free zone.” Would you reply “Oh, yes, certainly - allow me to holster my gun, since you don’t believe in it, and we will get on common ground.”

What has happened? You have conceded to his presuppositions. You have laid down your weapon because he doesn't like you having it or doesn't want you to use it. He may genuinely not like it and not believe in it – but should that stop you from using it?  The believer who attempts to argue apart from scripture has conceded that the unbeliever somehow is coming from a neutral position. You believe in the authority of God’s Word. He disagrees, but be sure he is not coming from an unbiased position.

If a person denies that the Bible is living and powerful, does that make it not so? Is the Bible quick and powerful regardless of what a person thinks about it? When we engage unbelievers who do not want to concede that God’s Word is truth, don’t voluntarily turn in your Sword to the proper authorities, who happen to have weapons of their own. I believe in divinely inspired Word of God. This leads to the next reason - since the Bible is divinely inspired, it is authoritative and I must bow the knee to God’s Word. And, as if I planned it this way, leads to a thirdly - I believe the Bible to be supernatural in power and sharper than any two-edged sword. That the Bible gets down to the meat & bones of the matter and discerns your thoughts and intentions. It is a powerful, spiritual weapon and our only weapon. Thus when engaging in spiritual warfare, don’t turn the debate into a Bible free zone.

Grace & Peace

Doug

Fighting Today's Battles

J.C. Philpot battled a great error that was gaining ground in his day - the denial of the eternal sonship of Jesus Christ. In his introductory remarks he answered the objections some had made to confronting that heresy in the first place. One group thought the battle was not necessary because they did not understand the full significance of the error. Some were persuaded by some “Big Guns” who had decided for themselves (and for their followers) what the Bible said and that settled the question once for all. A third group thought it was a fight over words and why cause a fuss over semantics and the question should never been waged in the first place.

When confronting error there are usually these separate battles that the truth must confront. Not only do you fight the error but sometimes you have to deal with those who should be on your side but for some reason or the other decided to sit this one out. Sitting it out wouldn’t be as bad, but often they cheer for the other team which stings a little.

Philpot said 

“Those who from self-interest, love of carnal ease, entanglement in error, or cowardice of spirit, wished things to remain quiet as they were, all lift their voice against the disturbers of the general peace.” 

Come on, ye who troubleth Israel, if you were quiet, none of this would have happened (1Kings 18:17). It is amazing to see that the battles will change but the tactics and the positions of the enemies of truth rarely do. 

Considering one of the great fights of our day, which I believe is on Biblical marriage, we are starting to see these groups appear. There are groups that don’t understand what the fuss is all about. Others who think it’s better to live and let live. There are others that wish it was like it used to be and among conservative Christians we are most susceptible to the last excuse. Remembering the glory days when you didn’t have to give a definition for marriage  we can say that it should not be like this because it did not used to be like this. Both are true statements, but unfortunately, that line of argument is a useless defense of the truth because they say "so what?" and if we shrug and saunter away mumbling to ourselves away as to avoid the controversy because we did not get to pick the fight we lose the fight anyway.  

 Few who live in exciting times that we like to read about would choose the exciting time for themselves.  An old proverb went something like “blessed are the forgotten nations of history.” Why? Who wants to read a story about a country that lived in quiet peace for centuries.

There are fights in every generation that rise. Sometimes the fight is greater than we think that we can stomach. Sometimes it’s a fight we would rather not have at all. All who pick up the sword of truth wish that it needn’t be so and it grieves us that God’s Word is not obeyed. There shouldn’t be any that relish fighting – but that should not stop the men of God. We can look at the spiritual battles for truth about us and wish it were not so, wish for quieter times and peaceful seasons, but that is not for us to decide. God has placed you in this time to fight the battle that is going on now. It’s easy to be on the right side of a fight that is already over-the test comes when the battles just starting to get hot. Your story has been written, it is not for you to decide what times you live in – it is for you to decide how you will live.

Once more from Brother Philpot:

 “Old Mrs. Bigotry is dead and buried; her funeral sermon has been preached to a crowded congregation; and this is the inscription put, by general consent, upon her tombstone:

For modes of faith let graceless bigots fight;

He can’t be wrong whose life is in the right. 

But if to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints is bigotry, let us be bigots still; and if it is a bad spirit to condemn error, then let us bear the reproach rather than call evil good and good evil, put darkness for light and light for darkness, bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”

A Love that Rejoices

"Paul wants [the Philippian church] to join him in cruciformity—to follow the One who laid down his life for the spiritual benefit of to others by likewise laying down their lives for the spiritual benefit of others. This is a love that rejoices in what is best for others... This kind of love will not result in selfish behavior that sinfully exploits others but produces “sincerity and blamelessness for the day of Christ” (Phil. 1:10). This kind of love will fill the Philippians “with the fruit of the righteousness that is through Jesus the messiah, for the glory and praise of God” (Phil. 1:11). God will be glorified when the Philippians live this way because mercy and love condemn selfishness and hate -salvation coming through discerning judgment for God’s glory." - James Hamilton, God's Glory in Salvation through Judgement.

This kind of Christian love wants the best for others for the glory of God. 

False Humility is Pride

Pride is a tricky sin. Sometimes we are most proud when we think we are most humble. False humility is really pride.

Pro 16:2  All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.

It is hard to find a guilty man when we make ourselves the judges of right and wrong, and make ourselves the author of our own laws. We try and do the work of Christ in our own life and try to justify ourselves. Christ is the Just and the justifier (Romans 3:25-28). 

However, there is a false humility that decries everything in our souls that denies the truth of God’s work in our souls.

Richard Sibbes in his wonderful book The Bruised Reed was speaking to those ‘smoking flax’ Christians, who are in continual despair over their salvation because they see no fruit or deny or explain away the fruit that is evident in their life.

 We must neither trust to false evidence, nor deny true; for so we should dishonor the work of God’s Spirit in us, and lose the help of that evidence which would cherish our love to Christ, and arm us against Satan’s discouragements. Some are as faulty in this way as if they had been hired by Satan, the ‘accuser of the brethren’ (Rev. 12:10), to plead for him in accusing themselves.

Don’t bear false witness against yourself and don’t deny the work of the Spirit in your life if you are in Christ. There will be evidences of the grace of God and it is not humility to deny His work in sanctification. It is prideful to take credit. It is prideful to look down at others. It is prideful to want to be noticed and praised for the evidence of God’s grace.  However, it is not prideful to see God’s grace in your soul and to use what God has given you for His glory and thank Him for His goodness.

Bearded Gospel Man Joe Thorn in his excellent book Note to Self touches on this in his section on pride.

Poor self-esteem in not an indication of humility or meekness. In fact, It may be a disregarding of the gifts God has given you and a mocking of the work he is doing in your life. How does this connect to pride? Haven’t you used this excuse of no ability and no talent to clear yourself of responsibility? Isn't it possible that you have used poor self-esteem as an excuse for doing nothing or as a means of saving face? Who could fault you when you don’t claim to be good at anything. Make no mistake about it – you are proud.

We must remember what we are – creatures.

We must remember who we are – children of God.

We must remember where we are – in Christ Jesus.

Pride is a sneaky sin. There is no easy way to spot pride except to always be hunting it down in our lives and be killing it-to spot him when he tries to sneak in the house. Sometimes Pride will knock on the door in a T-shirt that says LIBERTY in some ultra hip font.  Sometimes Pride comes dressed in his Sunday’s Finest complete with a Full Windsor. Sometimes Pride saunters about like an extra from Downton Abbey. Sometimes Pride knocks on the door in beggars’ clothes.  We need to be careful when we open the door and be quick to show Pride to the door when he sneaks through the vestibule. We need to keep him "screwed to the sticking place".

The answer is to think much of Christ and the cross. To remember what He did for us, what He does for us, what He is doing for us, and what He as promised us. 

You and Your Sword

Paul W. Martin at Unashamed Workman has some good advise for the preacher specifically but for all Christians in general.

So preacher, if you are not already, then begin today to:

• Read your Bible. 
• “Eat” your Bible (Jeremiah 15:16), 
• study your Bible (Ezra 7:10), 
• run your life by your Bible (Psalm 119:9-11) 
• and do not add a thing to your Bible (Revelation 22:18).

Chapter and Verse

“You are well aware, dear friends, that the division into chapters has only been made for convenience’ sake, and is not a matter of inspired arrangement. I may add that it has been clumsily made, and not with careful thoughtfulness, but as roughly as if a woodman had taken an axe and chopped the book to pieces in a hurry.”  
Charles Spurgeon