Going with the Gospel
On the first Lord’s Day in June I plan to begin preaching through the wonderful letter of Paul to the Ephesians. I absolutely love the book of Ephesians. It is such a powerful and comprehensive epistle. It is full of encouragement and edification. It is challenging and it is fully relevant to the lives of believers in the 21st Century. As one who holds to the doctrines of grace [or the five points of Calvinism], I am always excited that Ephesians begins with a grand and glorious treatment of God’s sovereignty in the matter of salvation. In the first chapter of that letter, Paul writes of God’s election, predestination, and adoption of all who would ever be saved. He makes it clear that this work of God took place before creation and that it redounds to the glory and honor of God Himself. I always find great encouragement in those Biblical truths.
As a Calvinist, I am very much aware that one of the charges that is frequently made against Calvinists is that we are not evangelistic. There is a notion that somehow holding to sound doctrine in the area of soteriology eliminates the need for evangelism or cancels out God’s call to evangelize. Sadly, this charge proves to be all too true in far too many cases. I have been preaching a series of sermons to the wonderful congregation of Sovereign Grace Bible Chapel where I serve as Pastor-Teacher on the matter of evangelism and our call to take the gospel to those who are unsaved. A recent visitor to our church who has a Dutch Reformed background made it abundantly clear to me that he was no fan of such a message. In fact, he was far more concerned over the fact that I used the term "gee" in my sermon than he was with the challenge to be evangelistic. Let me be clear, I should not have used the term "gee," but the gentleman’s response reminded me of what Jesus said about straining out a gnat in order to swallow a camel. Unfortunately, this sort of thing is all too common among those who are reformed or Calvinistic. Little if any thought is given to evangelism, but we readily embrace the role of word police.
If we who are Calvinistic really believe what Paul wrote in Ephesians 1, we should have great encouragement in the matter of evangelism. We are told in verse 4 that God chose us [believers] in Christ before the foundation of the world. What could possibly be more reassuring than to know that as we go out into the world with the gospel, there will be those whom God has chosen who will hear our proclamation of the gospel and be saved. To be sure, there will be those who hear and reject, but there will also be those who hear and who repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Rather than kill evangelism, the belief in the sovereignty of God in the matter of salvation should empower it. If you do not believe that God has chosen certain individuals for salvation and that He will most certainly save them, then how can you have any confidence that anyone will be saved? Election and predestination and adoption encourage and empower evangelism; they do not kill it.
I know that many Calvinists would say "Amen" to these thoughts, but what do our actions say about our attitude toward evangelism. I am ashamed to write this, but it has been my experience that many who embrace the doctrines of grace and who believe that we are to share the gospel with unbelievers make it a practice to only share with those unbelievers who happen to attend their church services. For them, the call to evangelize has been reinterpreted from going into the world with the gospel, to simply telling people that they will hear the gospel if they come to church. "Go ye" has become ‘Ya’ll come." If we are to be faithful to the Word of God, however, we must realize that the command of Christ in Matthew 28.18-20, Mark 16.15-16, Acts 1.8 is to take the gospel into the world; it is a call to "go" with the gospel. This means going door to door into our communities with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must take the gospel to unbelievers and not simply tell them to come and get it.
I do not want to give anyone the wrong impression about my own obedience to the Great Commission. For the overwhelming majority of my pastoral ministry I have been blatantly disobedient to the Lord in this regard. I have not gone door to door with the gospel; I have made little if any effort to "go" with the gospel. At the same time, however, let me also say that I am in the process of repenting of this great evil. I have made a commitment to go out and engage in door to door evangelism each Saturday and by God’s grace I have been able to do so for the past month. It has been a great blessing to have my wonderful wife going out evangelizing with me. This is only a start, but at least it is a start. In that time God has allowed me eight opportunities to share the gospel with unbelievers. While I have not yet seen anyone with whom I have shared repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, I know that I am now being obedient and the seeds of the gospel are being sown and God will save those whom He has chosen from the foundation of the world.
I write all of this as an encouragement to those who hold to the doctrines of grace. We are called by God to go into the world of unbelievers with the gospel and we have the assurance that there will be those who will hear and who will repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let that Biblical truth spur us on to even greater obedience to "go with the gospel."
Encouragement from Romans 6
One of the great and wonderful Biblical truths concerning every Christian is that we have saved from our sins and we have been saved to be a Godly and holy people. A corollary Biblical truth concerning Christians is the not so wonderful truth that we continue to sin. As 1 John 1.8-10 makes clear, sin remains a reality in the life of the child of God. No Christian remaining on this earth has yet reached the place of sinlessness. We will get there when we step into glory, for for here and now sin remains a daily reality. The way we view sin is different from what it was when we in our unsaved condition. We used to love our sin and to live for it, but now that we have been redeemed, we are to sorrow over our sin and have longing to be fully and forever free from it. Until we step into eternity we will continue to commit sins and we will do so on a daily basis.
The Apostle Paul understood this struggle with sin in the life of the believer. If you read Romans 7 you see where he shares his own firsthand account of this struggle. Paul clearly understood the struggle, yet he did not look upon it with despair. He knew that every believer was fully equipped for this battle and that they were on the winning side. When we look at Romans 6 we are given a glimpse of what Paul had to say to believers about how to go about striving against sin in this life. In this passage, Paul sets forth a number of wonderful truths that we must always bear in mind as we engage in this daily fight against sin. Let me offer a summary of what he said.
We have died to sin [2].
We have been baptized into Christ’s death [3].
We are to now walk in newness of life [4].
We are united with Christ in both His death and resurrection [5].
Our old self was crucified with Christ [6a].
Our body of sin has been done away with [6b].
We are no longer to be slaves to sin [6c].
We have been freed from sin [7].
We live with Christ [8].
We are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus [11].
Sin must not reign in our mortal bodies [12a].
We must not obey the lusts of sin [12b].
We must not present the members of our body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness [13a].
We must present ourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness to God [13b].
Sin is not our master [14].
We are no longer slaves of sin [17].
We have been made slaves of righteousness [18].
We must present our members as slaves to righteousness for the purpose of sanctification [19, 22].
Sin leads to death [23 a].
God’s grace leads to eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord [23b].
The purpose of all of that is to show us how we can live in victory over sin each and every day. It is a battle and we often fail quite miserably, but it does not have to be that way. Christ has done all that is necessary to not only deliver us from the penalty of sin, but also to break its power over us. What we must do is to rely upon His gracious provisions moment by moment always be ready to take the way of escape when temptation arises [see 1 Corinthians 10.13]. What Paul writes in Romans 6 should be a great encouragement to all Christians. It is a wonderful reminder of what Christ has done on our behalf. It is wonderful assurance of victory over sin in this life. God has called us to be a holy people. While we will never achieve perfect holiness in this life, let us endeavor to appropriate God’s gracious provisions more faithfully so that we sin less and less.
Liberty or License?
I will confess at the outset of this post that I am a bit angry as I write these words. A short while ago I read a blog post that made my blood boil. The post, Alcohol, Liberty and Legalism was written by Justin Taylor who works at Crossway and is quite a prolific blogger. This post came on the heels of another blog post by Taylor a day earlier that had to do with the Guinness Brewing Company. That particular post elicited a number of comments about the matter of the consumption of alcohol and the Christian. With the post Alcohol, Liberty and Legalism, Taylor seeks to diffuse some of the negative comments attached to the earlier post by putting forth the position that, while he does not advocate alcohol consumption, he believes the matter to be a question of Christian liberty. In other words, the position that Taylor advocates is the position that an individual Christian is free to choose whether or not he or she will consume intoxicating alcoholic beverages.
This whole question of the consumption of alcohol is a part of a much larger issue that I see in certain Reformed/Calvinistic circles that I have been planning to write about for some time now. There are those who either refer to themselves or who are referred to by others with the label “New Calvinists” or “New Calvinism.” While I wholeheartedly embrace the Biblical truths that are put forth by the five points of Calvinism, I have some problems with those in the so-called “New Calvinist” camp. For instance, I have noticed a propensity among this new breed of Calvinist for the use of foul and vulgar language, the sort of speech that Ephesians 5.4 says Christians are to avoid. Somehow, these men [and women?] find this sort of speech to be uplifting and edifying and so some of them bring the foulest of words in the pulpit with them. I know that they think that they are being provocative or cool, but they are just being plain sinful. There are also those in this camp who go in for body piercing, tattoos, smoking and the consumption of beverage alcohol. At some point, I want to address all of these issue, but for the time being, I just want to make some remarks that are related to the alcohol issue.
Let me begin by offering a caveat of sorts. First of all, I do not drink alcohol in any form. I do not drink it; I do not serve it; I will not allow it to be served in my home. I do not promote its consumption in any way. Second, I went to live with my grandmother when I was eleven years old. Until that time I lived with my parents and my two siblings. I never saw my mother drink, but my father was a drunkard. I know that the politically correct term is alcoholic, but I prefer the Biblically correct term: he was a drunkard. In fact, he died in 1994 at the age of 60 from Cirrhosis of the liver which was caused by his drinking. He literally drank himself to death. He committed slow suicide. As a result of what I saw and lived through as a youngster, I absolutely despise beverage alcohol. I have no doubt that will come across in this post, although I really do endeavor to be as objective as possible.
In the blog post referred to above, Justin Taylor defends the consumption of beverage alcohol by declaring that it is a part of God’s creation. Let’s think about that statement for a moment. There can be no doubt whatsoever, that God did in fact create all of the so-called naturally occurring ingredients that go into the making of beverage alcohol. He created the various fruits and grains that are manipulated by man to make alcoholic beverages. Taylor’s position, then, is that since God created these things that man makes into a drink, then that drink is a good thing ["it is still part of God's good creation" - to use his own words]. I wonder just how far Taylor would take this line of reasoning. God created the marijuana plant; God created the poppy plant; God create the coca plant. Would Taylor then conclude that since these plants are all a part of God’s good creation, we are free to smoke marijuana or shoot heroin into our veins or snort cocaine up our nostrils? I cannot imagine for a moment that he would take such a position. But if he is going to do so with alcohol, then why not with these others? The logically consistent position would be to view all of these things in the same way. Since I am sure that Taylor would not advocate the use of marijuana, heroin, or cocaine in the way that he does advocate the use of beverage alcohol, he holds to a very inconsistent position.
Taylor also brings up the matter of Jesus’ consumption of alcohol and declares that Jesus drank enough that He was accused of being a drunkard. The text that he references is Matthew 11.19. Here is the text of that passage and its parallel in Luke 7.34.
“The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” [Matthew 11:19 NAS]
“The Son of Man has come eating and drinking; and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man, and a drunkard, a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners!’ [Luke 7:34 NAS]
Neither of those passages say that Jesus drank to an excess any more than they say that He ate to an excess. They do say, however, that during the time of His incarnation, He did the normal things of life such as eating and drinking and His enemies viewed His use of those very ordinary matters of life as opportunities to attack and slander Him. Those verses say nothing whatsoever about the amount that Jesus drank or the amount that He ate. Taylor’s use of this passage is terrible misleading. I find it very interesting that Taylor fails to mention the fact that the New Testament does not contain a single verse that speaks of Jesus drinking “wine” except for those verses which all speak of the sour wine [mixture of wine and vinegar] that Jesus was given on the cross [Matthew 27.34, 48; Mark 15.23, 36; Luke 23.36; John 19.29, 30]. Such a drink was meant to be an anesthesia.
Let me also point out that the Greek word translated as wine is not found in any of the New Testament passages that deal with the Lord’s Supper. I bring this up because there are those who ridicule other Christians who do not serve wine at the Lord’s Supper.
I am also struck by the fact that Taylor does not bring Proverbs 23.31-35 into his discussion of the consumption of alcohol. Is he like many others who simply pretend as though that passage does not even exist? Proverbs 23.31-35 says:
Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly; 32 At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper. 33 Your eyes will see strange things, And your mind will utter perverse things. 34 And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, Or like one who lies down on the top of a mast. 35 “They struck me, but I did not become ill; They beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink.” [Proverbs 23:31-35]
The reference in that passage to the wine being red and sparkling in the cup has to do with the fermentation process. We are being told by the Lord in that passage that we are not to even look upon such a drink, much less consume it. That passage is a part of God-breathed [2 Timothy 3.16] Scripture. As such, it is both true and authoritative. I fail to see where it is not binding upon Christians. I fail to see where we free to simply ignore what God says here.
The Word of God makes it very, very clear that Christians are to be Godly and holy people.
“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. [Matthew 5:48]
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” [1 Peter 1:14-16]
God tells us to flee from sin. His Word says we are to strive against sin. We are to grow to be like Christ. What I would like to know is this: how does the consumption of beverage alcohol move us along in the sanctification process? How does drinking alcohol contribute to holiness?
Alcohol is such a terrible stumbling block and if professing Christians consume it and encourage others to so, they are guilty of laying stumbling blocks before others.
One fear that I have in this whole issue of the consumption of alcohol is the fear that some have confused the matter of liberty with the matter of license. The words that they use to promote Christian liberty are really words used to justify license. This is most unfortunate and does great damage to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. In far too many instances already, local churches bear far more resemblance to the world than to Christ and if there is this continued promotion of alcohol, the situation will only worsen. Local churches will become so much like the world that one will not be able to distinguish between the two. I am certain that this is already happening. What a sad and shameful situation.
I am filled with grief each time I hear of professing Christians supporting the consumption of beverage alcohol. To promote, encourage or advocate the consumption of intoxicating alcoholic beverages is to promote, encourage, or advocate that which God does not promote, encourage, or advocate. You are not going to be holy as He is holy with that bottle of beer in your hand.
Philippians 1.18
For some time now I have been absolutely amazed by the statement that Paul makes in Philippians 1.18 regarding some individuals who were sharing the gospel but doing so out of selfish ambition and a desire to do Paul harm. Evidently those people were not too fond of Paul and they shared the gospel in such a way as to elevate themselves and debase him. What I find so amazing is that Paul did not confront, criticize or condemn those individuals, rather, his attitude was that as long as the true gospel was being shared he did not care if part of the motivation behind the sharing of the gospel was this desire to inflict harm to him. Paul’s concern was only that the true gospel was what was being shared. Had his enemies been proclaiming a false gospel, Paul, no doubt, would have confronted them just as strongly as he confronted the Judaizers in his letter to the Galatians. The situation in Philippi was not that a false gospel was being proclaimed, but that unscrupulous characters were proclaiming the true gospel. Even though they did so in order to hurt Paul, he refused to take offense at the personal attacks leveled at him.
It seems to me that what we see here is Paul putting in practice what Peter put into words in 1 Peter 4.8:
Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
Paul was unwilling to take personal offense at what was happening. He was willing to allow love to cover the sins being committed against him. Certainly, that does not mean that Paul approved of the tactics of his enemies. Nor does it mean that Paul viewed their sin as no big deal. Rather, it means that he simply refused to take offense and instead demonstrated a willingness to extend forgiveness. Paul was content to let God handle the matter.
How often do we take the opposite approach? How often are we so easily offended at even the most minute or subtle of perceived slights? How often do we find ourselves at odds with others over a glance or word or action that could just as easily be overlooked? How often do we elevate self to the place that any personal offense becomes the worse crime ever committed and we will have our revenge on the offending party? Such attitudes are not what Paul exhibited. They are not what Peter called for in his first epistle. They are not the kinds of attitudes that please and honor God. As Christians, we must be quick to forgive [even when forgiveness is not sought] and slow to anger.
Some may object and say that if we readily and quickly grant forgiveness to those who offend us, we are guilty of giving tacit approval to their sin. Not so. At no point in this post have I even remotely suggested that we react or respond to the sin of others in such a way as to encourage more sin from them. It is possible and, I would add, Biblically necessary, that we not only grant forgiveness to those who sin against us, but that we also go to the offending party and make them aware of their sin. But we must absolutely sure that we do this in the manner prescribed by Scripture [see Matthew 18.15-20; Galatians 6.1]. Sin must be lovingly confronted. We are obligated by God to do that. We are also obligated by God to allow love to cover a multitude of sins [refuse to take personal offense at every perceived wrong]. Those truths go together; they are not in conflict with one another; they are not mutually exclusive. The Biblical precept is that we go to the offending party in this way: "I want you to know that I am aware that you have sinned against me by ____________. I also want you to know that on the basis of 1 Peter 4.8 I have fully forgiven you. However, you need to understand that the Word of God says that what you did was sin and God instructs us to turn from our sin." By dealing with others in this way, you have not taken personal offense at their actions as 1 Peter 4.8 says, and you have pointed out to them their sin as Galatians 6.1 says to do.
As we return to Philippians 1.8, what we clearly see is that Paul exposed the sin of those who sought to do him harm. He said they were motivated by selfish ambition. They were doing what they were doing because they sought to elevate self. But at the same time, notice that Paul refused to take personal offense at the personal attacks being leveled against him. He was quick to forgive and slow to take offense. Oh that there was much more of that sort of spirit in our churches today!
Beloved, how do you respond to those who sin against you, whether that sin is intentional or unintentional? Are you quick to forgive and slow to take offense? Is it true in your life that love covers a multitude of sins?
The Missing Element
Yesterday [May 16, 2010] I had the wonderful privilege of preaching from Galatians 1.6-9 to the body of Sovereign Grace Bible Chapel where I serve as Pastor. As I preached from that passage I shared that there are many so-called gospels that are false, but only one true gospel and that is the Biblical gospel. Any so-called gospel that deviates from the Biblical gospel in any way is a false gospel. If anything is added to the Biblical gospel, the result is a false gospel. If anything is removed from the Biblical gospel, the result is a false gospel. It does not matter how subtle the change may be; any change results in a false gospel. The Galatian churches were being thrown into a state of confusion because of the preaching of a false gospel by the Judiazers. The church today is being thrown into a state of confusion because of the preaching of many false gospels. The preponderance of false gospels is one of the reasons, perhaps the main reason, why so many local churches are in such a sad and sorry state.
At the risk of overgeneralizing the situation, I find that the church today really is in a very sad state of affairs. Consider the following questions.
It certainly seems to be the case that most local churches are characterized more by weakness and worldliness than by the power of the Holy Spirit and holiness. Why is this so?
Why is there such a dearth of commitment in so many local churches today?
Why are there so many professing Christians who have little, if any, enthusiasm for God and the things of God?
Why are there so many people who make the claim to belong to the Lord Jesus Christ who are so miserable and unhappy?
Why are some completely uninterested in church membership?
Why is there so much church hopping and church shopping?
Why is there so little zeal for evangelism and the study of God’s Word and living holy lives?
In short, why is there so much deadness to the things of God?
The reason for all of this is because there are so many spiritual corpses in local churches. Spiritual corpses are those who are nothing more than names on church rolls and semi-warm bodies in church pews.
Why are they spiritual corpses? The reason they are spiritual corpses is because they are still dead in their trespasses and sins [Ephesians 2.1].
Why are they still dead in their trespasses and sins? The reason they are still dead in their trespasses and sins is because they have believed a false gospel; they have not believed the one and only gospel that saves. These people have heard and believed a gospel, but they gospel they both heard and believed is not the true Biblical gospel, the gospel that is the power of God unto salvation [Romans 1.16], but they believed a false gospel which may give them a false sense of security, but most certainly has not saved them from the wrath to come.
The situation described above is most apparent in the evangelical world when the gospel that is being presented is the false gospel of easy believism. When people are told that all they have to do to be saved is to "ask Jesus into their heart" or "accept Jesus as their personal Savior" or repeat the words to a so-called "sinner’s prayer," they are being told a lie. That lie is the lie of easy believism and that lie is leading untold numbers straight to hell.
Easy believism is a deadly poison that has infected a great many so-called evangelical churches. This pernicious plight is fairly easy to detect by what it removes from the Biblical gospel. Easy believism takes a necessary component of the Biblical gospel and throws it on the theological rubbish heap. What is that element? What is the missing element of easy believism? That element is repentance.
There is a fairly large evangelical church in my community. The church is well-known all around town. A search of their website will not turn up even a single reference to repentance. This sort of thing is not at all uncommon. There are many, many instances in which the matter of repentance has been removed, obscured, or minimized. But the truth of the matter, from a Biblical perspective, is that if you remove the necessity of repentance from the gospel or downplay it in some way, you do not have a gospel that saves. At the same time, a person may pray to "receive Christ" a thousand times, but if there is no repentance, there is no salvation. It is this truth that makes this matter so serious.
Consider the following passages of Scripture:
Matthew 3.2.
Matthew 4.17.
Luke 13.3, 5.
Acts 2.38.
Acts 11.17-18.
Acts 17.30-31.
Read each of these passages and what you will discover is that repentance is absolutely necessary in order for a person to be saved. Where there is no repentance, there is no salvation.
My hope and prayer is that every local church and every genuine Christian would have the same sort of zeal for evangelism that is seen in Paul [see Romans 9.1-5]. I pray that we would see that we are literally surrounded on every side by unbelievers. I pray that we would understand that the only hope for those unbelievers is the gospel and I pray that we would be faithful to share the gospel with them. I also pray that the gospel that we share is the true and Biblical gospel: "repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ."
I urge you, do not minimize repentance; do not let the call to repentance remain the missing element in so many gospel proclamations. In short, do not embrace a false gospel.
For those who are reading this post who object to the necessity of repentance for salvation, let me encourage you to get and read the wonderful book, Repentance: The First Word of the Gospel by Richard Owen Roberts. You can read my review of that book at this link [or just scroll down to the previous post].
Book Review: Repentance – The First Word of the Gospel
A necessary component of the gospel that is sadly missing in many definitions, descriptions, and presentations of the gospel is repentance. Simply put, if repentance is not a part of the gospel proclamation, there is no gospel proclamation. At the same time, if repentance is not a part of the response to the gospel, there is no salvation. This vital point has been by many for a number of years now and the tragic result has been that church after church has added to its membership men, women, and children who are yet unregenerate. The spiritual weakness of so many churches shows this to be true. There are many who are members of churches and faithful members at that, who have never been converted because they have never come to the place of true, genuine Biblical repentance.
The book, Repentance: The First Word of the Gospel by Richard Owen Roberts is a very timely and necessary book that was written to address the problem spoken of above. This book is a challenge to the modern notion that a person can be saved without genuine repentance. Roberts puts forth the Biblical case that such a thing is impossible. If a person is to be saved, he or she must repent. There is other way.
Drawing on the revealed will of God as recorded in His Word, Roberts proves beyond question that repentance is necessary for salvation. Readers are challenged time and time again to examine themselves to see if they have genuinely repented. Churches are challenged to make sure that they are faithful to proclaim the necessity of repentance. The author also makes it clear that repentance is not a one-time event, but the ongoing pattern of the life of the believer. Christians continue to sin and they need to continue to repent.
[EDIT]: In my haste to post this review, I neglected to mention one of the strongest of its many strong points and that is the way in the author goes to great lengths to give his readers a Biblical definition of repentance. This book is not about how a particular man or theological persuasion defines repentance. Rather, it is about what God says in His Word about the matter. In order words, when it comes to the matter of repentance, what the author is very careful to do is to continually confront his readers with what God says. Any argument then, must be with God and not the author. The book is thoroughly Biblical, every page is bathed in God’s Word. This is what makes the book so powerful.
This is the best book on repentance I have ever come across. It should be a must read for everyone who professes to belong to Christ. The Biblical message that the book highlights needs to be sounded loudly and clearly for all to hear.
I urge you to get this book and be prepared to be challenged.
Rating: [Rating:5/5] [an absolute must read].
Repentance: The First Word of the Gospel may be purchased here.
Blogger’s Block
I have not been very regular with posts as of late. I suppose I could call it a case of blogger’s block or perhaps it is a severe lack of motivation, but in any event I have not been posting as frequently as I would like. I really hope to change that and I will put up a new book review later on this morning. I have a number of thoughts running around in my head related to various theological matters [especially the gospel] that I would like to put into writing. By God’s grace, I plan to be much more consistent with my posting.
Commendation and Blessing
Several weeks ago my family and I spent a few days in the Orlando area. Orlando is only slightly more than two hours from our home in SW Florida, so it makes for a convenient get-away. We spent the better part of two days at Sea World; we make our first family visit to a Cold Stone Creamery; we celebrated my birthday and had a good time together as a family. The highlight of our time in Orlando, however, had nothing to do with tourist attractions, but rather, was the time that we spent with the Pastor and the wonderful folks of Cornerstone Baptist Church. Cornerstone is an incredible church. They are thoroughly Calvinistic in their doctrine, yet they are the most evangelistic church I have ever encountered, proving that Calvinism does not kill evangelism. As the Pastor of a relatively small church, I have reached out to other Pastors in the past for encouragement and fellowship but my efforts proved unfruitful as I simply did not encounter any Pastor who took a genuine interest in us and our struggles. My experience with Cornerstone and their Pastor, Dr. David Downs was refreshingly otherwise. From the first time we spoke on the telephone, Dr. Downs demonstrated a genuine concern for our church and a willingness to do what he could to encourage and help us. Our face to face meeting was no different. Here is a man of God with a growing congregation and many, many responsibilities, yet he took the better part of a day to talk with me and encourage me and offer suggestions on how I can help the church I pastor to move in the right direction. It was a time of great blessing and I thank God for the time spent with Dr. Downs. My family and I also had the privilege of worshiping at Cornerstone on the Lord’s Day and that too was a great blessing. Cornerstone is a church that is very serious about the things of God. Their worship was lively and heart-felt. The Word of God was boldly and faithfully proclaimed. All in all, it was a great blessing to worship with that congregation. I highly encourage anyone who visits the Orlando area to make plans to worship on the Lord’s Day at Cornerstone. I have no doubt that you will be blessed as my family and I were blessed.
Preacher Arrested in Britain for Preaching the Truth
Dr. Albert Mohler has an article about Dale McAlpine of Wokington in Cumbria [in England] who was arrested while engaged in street preaching in London’s famed Hyde Park. His crime? He spoke the Biblical truth that homosexuality is a sin. Dr. Mohler’s article does not just focus on the plight of Dale McAlpine, but also alerts all Christians to the very real possibility that we may be approaching a time when political correctness is going to trump free speech, especially free speech that is Biblical. Dr. Mohler’s article is well worth reading.
You can read Dr. Mohler’s article by clicking here.
Book Review: Studies on Saving Faith
There is a great deal that passes for saving faith in the church today that is anything but genuine saving faith. The church is and has been infected with what many refer to as easy believism. This is the view that basically says that if a person simply asks Jesus into their heart they will be saved. It is a view that virtually obliterates the Bible’s teaching on the Lordship of Christ. It presents the Gospel as something that is easy to believe and receive. This view has resulted in many false converts and has lulled untold numbers into a false sense of security. It is not wonder that the church is so weak and polluted by sin. This is nothing new, however, as this wonderful little book recently published by The Northampton Press makes clear. This book is a compilation of a series of articles written by Arthur Pink that first appeared in his magazine Studies in the Scripture from 1931-1933. Dr. Don Kistler has done the church of the Lord Jesus Christ a great favor by making these studies available in this format.
I will say at the outset of this review that this is one the best books that I have ever read. It is most certainly on my top ten list. It is a book that I highly recommend to every professing believer. It is a book that I think every pastor should consider as mandatory reading. It is just that good.
Arthur Pink was a Pastor/Author who lived from 1886-1952. For those who would be interesting in knowing more about Pink, I would recommend without reservation the wonderful biography, The Life of Arthur W. Pink, written by Iain Murray.
Pink understood the Biblical gospel and he also understood that many in his day were peddling a gospel that was thoroughly unbiblical. It was a gospel that eliminated the need for repentance and surrender to the Lordship of Christ; it was a gospel that said that a person simply had to accept Jesus as his or her personal savior in order to be saved. He understood that such a gospel was bringing into the membership of local churches men and women who were unconverted, who did not submit to the Lordship of Christ, and who did not live holy lives. In other words, he was able to clearly see that such a gospel was adding people to the membership of local churches but not the Kingdom of God. Pink was rightly outraged at this Satanic attack on the gospel and wrote the articles that comprise this book as a corrective to what was taking place.
Arthur Pink’s writing is clear and forceful. He does not write as one who is worried that his words might offend. At times, his pen is a very sharp sword. I think that this is a strength of these articles. Pink was dealing with a serious matter and he did so in a serious manner.
The book is divided into four parts. Part 1 is the introduction and lays out before the reader the purpose of the articles as well as an assessment of the situation that made the articles necessary. Part 2 deals with the meaning of saving faith. In the six articles that make up Part 2, Pink shows his readers what genuine saving faith is and how one may know if he really possesses the faith that saves. Part 3 deals with coming to Christ. In this section he shows what is involved in a person coming to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Part 4 deals with the matter of assurance. In this section he shows the reader how he or she may know if they are really saved.
As I stated earlier, I highly recommend this book. It is perhaps more necessary today than when Pink first wrote these articles. The plague of easy believism has not been eradicated. If anything, it has only gotten worse. It is vital that professing Christians understand the differences between the faith that does not save and the faith that does.In 2 Corinthians 13.5 Paul wrote that we are to examine ourselves to see if we are truly in the faith and this book is very helpful in that process.
Rating: [Rating:5/5]
You can purchase this book directly from The Northamptom Press.
Welcome to my blog. I am Mark Fuss and I serve as Pastor-Teacher of Sovereign Grace Bible Chapel in Englewood, FL. I have been married to my wonderful wife, Kristy, since 1986 and we have three beautiful daughters and one precious granddaughter.
