The Wanderer

I was preaching today at the Wessex Conference.  I was seeking to address the question, “Should we relate to the 21st century?” of which more later.  At the end of the sermon, I quoted a poem by Horatius Bonar that seemed to strike a chord with many.  It is no bad preparation for the Lord’s day.

Passing Through

I walk as one who knows that he is treading
A stranger soil;
As one round whom a serpent-world is spreading
Its subtle coil.

I walk as one but yesterday delivered
From a sharp chain;
Who trembles lest the bond so newly severed
Be bound again.

I walk as one who feels that he is breathing
Ungenial air;
For whom as wiles, the tempter still is wreathing
The bright and fair.

My steps, I know, are on the plains of danger,
For sin is near;
But looking up, I pass along, a stranger,
In haste and fear.

This earth has lost its power to drag me downward;
Its spell is gone;
My course is now right upward, and right onward,
To yonder throne.

Hour after hour of time’s dark night is stealing
In gloom away;
Speed thy fair dawn of light, and joy, and healing,
Thou Star of day!

For thee its God, its King, the long-rejected,
Earth groans and cries;
For thee the long-beloved, the long-expected,
Thy bride still sighs!

Horatius Bonar

Regular readers of this blog will know that both neonomianism and antinomianism are bugbears of which we are much aware.  The quote that follows is from The Marrow of True Justification by Benjamin Keach (Solid Ground Christian Books, 2007).  The first part is his eleventh argument for the exclusion of all works done by the creature, or any obedience of his, in the matter of our justification with God.  Keach explodes all attempts to make our own works any part of our standing righteous before God with regard to our justification with the true doctrine of God’s grace in Christ, while making plain that such grace has nothing to do with antinomianism.  Rich stuff!

11 Arg. Is, because Christ is tendered or offered to Sinners as Sinners; not as righteous persons, but as ungodly ones, without any previous Qualifications required of them to set themselves to receive Christ; they are all as poor, lost, undone, weary, and heavy laden Sinners required to believe in Christ, or venture their Souls upon him, though they have no Money, no Righteousness; if they have, they must cast it away, in point of Dependence, Trust, or Justification: These are they, Christ came to call; these are they he invites to come to him, these are they he came to seek and to save, who see nothing of Good in themselves; but contrariwise, are sensible of their filthy Hearts and abominable Lives: And yet though it be thus, if they come to Christ, they shall be at that very instant justified, which Faith or Divine Grace will soon make them holy and sanctify them; for holy Habits are at that very instant infused into them, though Sanctification is a gradual work: This being so, it follows all Works done by the Creature are excluded, in point of Justification of a Sinner before God.  What said Paul to the ungodly Jailor, when he cried out, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?  Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved and thy house, Acts 16.31.  The Apostle did not put him upon doing to be saved, but upon believing.  But O how contrary is this to the Doctrine some Men preach now-a-days; they tell Sinners what they must do, what good Fruits they must bring forth, and this before the Tree is good, or they have closed with Christ, or have real Union with him; nay, bid the People take heed they do not too soon believe on Christ or venture on Christ.  Sirs, you cannot too soon believe in Christ, I mean truly believe; I don’t say you should get a presumptuous Faith, but true Faith: But is it not strange a Minister should be heard lately to say, A Man must get a new heart before he can be justified.  I though a Man could not have a new Heart before he had true Faith: Is not a new Heart one of the absolute Promises of the New Covenant, Ezek. 36.26.  Can any thing, short of Almighty Power, make the Heart new, or for the Image of God in the Soul; or can a Man that hath a new Heart be under Condemnation, for are not all in that Condition who are not actually justified?  Or can a dead Man quicken himself, or dead Works please God?  Or the Fruit be good before the Tree is good?  Are not all that are new Creatures in Christ Jesus, and have union with him, 2 Cor. 5.17? (82-83)

A little later, he urges the comfort of these things for sinners before raising and answering an objection:

Here is Comfort for Sinners; but if you are self-righteous Persons, or go about like the Jews of old, to establish your own Righteousness, down to Hell you will fall, Rom. 10.2.  This Doctrine will support you that are weak, and doubt for want of inherent Righteousness, take hold of it, A Robe of Righteousness, Put it on, Believe on Christ, as poor Sinners come to him, you that have no Money, no Worth, no Merit, no Righteousness, this Wine and Milk of Justification and Pardon is for you: Cry to God to help you to believe; Christ is the Author of your Faith, ’tis the Gift of God, ’tis a grace of the Spirit; Do you see you are wounded?  Look to Christ, Believe, and thou shalt be saved, Mark 16.16.  John 3.15, 16.  If thou can’st not come to God as a Saint, come as a Sinner; nay, as a Sinner thou must come, and may’st come.

Obj. But this Doctrine is decried for Antinomianism.

Answ. They know not what Antinomianism is, that thus brand us, as here-after I shall God-assisting prove.  If this is to be an Antinomian, we must be all such, and let them mock on; the Lord open their Eyes: We are for the Law as Paul was, and for Holiness and sincere Obedience, as any Men in the world; but we would have Men act from right Principles, and to a right end: We would have Men act in Holiness, from a Principle of Faith, from a Principle of Spiritual Life, be first married to Christ that they may bring forth Fruit to God, Rom 7.4.

We preach to you, Sinners, that Jesus Christ will entertain you, if you come to him, bid you welcome, and not cast you off, because of the Greatness of your Sins, though you have no Qualifications to recommend you to him.  Would you wash your selves from your Sins, and then come to the Fountain of his Blood to be washed; we hold forth Christ to be your whole Saviour, and that he is set forth as the Propitiation through Faith in his Blood; whom if you close with, and believe in, you shall be justified.  We tell you God justifies the Ungodly, i.e. that they are so before justified.  (88-89)

Sinclair Ferguson’s new book is out from Ligonier.  You can order it here, and probably half a hundred other places.  Ligonier’s blurb:

Are you truly amazed by God’s grace? Or have you grown accustomed to it? Yes, we sing of God’s “Amazing Grace,” but do you truly understand what you as a Christian have experienced in receiving the grace of God? Or do you take divine grace for granted?

In By Grace Alone: How the Grace of God Amazes Me, Dr. Sinclair B. Ferguson laments that “we have lost the joy and energy that is experienced when grace seems truly ‘amazing.’” In an effort to restore the wonder of divine grace, he reflects on it from seven angles, each built around a stanza from a rich but little-known hymn, “O How the Grace of God Amazes Me,” written by Emmanuel T. Sibomana, a pastor in the African nation of Burundi.

This book poses probing questions for today’s believer: “If I am not amazed by God’s grace, can I really be living in it? Can I really be tasting, and savoring, and delighting in it?” But those willing to delve into God’s Word with Dr. Ferguson will come away with a deeper astonishment at the depths of God’s grace.

David Murray (Professor of Old Testament and Practical Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary) has put into one document his material on How Sermons Work.  The material is relatively brief and helpfully clear, evidently drawing on the best models of pastoral theology past and present.  I have yet to read through the whole thing in detail, but this looks like an excellent resource (either as introduction or refresher to the homiletical and hortatory side of pastoral theology), perhaps alongside something like Preaching Pure and Simple by Stuart Olyott.  To download, click the photo or here.

Warrington  L.M.

How shall the mortal lip convey
The glory of the Lord Most High,
His radiance greater than the day,
Brightness unpierced by mortal eye?

How shall we praise our glorious King,
Give him the glory he is due?
Though age on age his praises sing,
Each generation fails anew.

How many prayers, and how much praise,
Should daily pierce the holiest place!
The joy of saints’ unnumbered days
Is gazing more upon his face.

Though helpless to complete the task
Of rightly praising God the Lord,
Yet every day more grace we ask
To sweeten each attempted word.

Lord, let that grace our hearts inspire
To praise the more, the more we see,
And stir up with a holy fire
Our whole redeemed humanity.

©JRW

See all hymns and psalms.

William Cunningham’s advice to theology students (and, by implication, pastors) is sound.  It has the same tone as B. B. Warfield’s penetrating little volume on the religious life of students of theology.  Cunningham says:

Your professional studies may rightly occupy the principal share of your time and attention for six days in the week, just like the ordinary lawful secular business of other men; but on the Lord’s Day you ought to be chiefly influenced by the consideration, not so much that you are students of theology preparing for the work of the ministry, that you may be made instrumental in promoting the salvation of others, but rather that you are, in common with many of the poorest, humblest and most illiterate of the human race, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, who are bound to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, and to become progressively more meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.

Theological Lectures, (1878, reprinted 1990), 95.

HT: Iain D. Campbell.

Ray Ortlund hits home with a few thoughts about the necessity of grace embraced in the vertical dimension (from God to man) working out on the horizontal dimension (between those who have enjoyed God’s grace in Christ).

I don’t know who he is aiming at, but he hit me.

Paul Helm gives a helpful analysis of elements of B. B. Warfield’s thoughts on inerrancy.

Martin Downes quotes from and points to a helpful analysis of Brian McLaren’s latest deviation.  They really are quite fearful, and not remotely Christian.

No tip of the hat on these, so you cannot trace the answers too quickly.  Answers on a postcard (well, in a comment), please.

How is this man levitating?

And, for this one, consider the shadows of the two men with frisbees, and then explain the frisbee shadows that you see.

If people get frustrated, or I get lots of wrong answers, I will try to remember to post the truth in due course.

Coming up on Saturday 20th February at 3pm is the Wessex Conference 2010, hosted by Spring Road Evangelical Church, Southampton.

I am scheduled, God willing, to be preaching alongside Pastor Jonathan Stobbs of Penzance.

I have been given the provocative title, “Should we relate to a 21st century world?” while Brother Stobbs takes “The influential Christian life.”

Should there be any friends in the offing, the poster says that all are welcome and that tea is provided between the sessions.  I am working on my sermon at present, although the outline has been germinating for some months.  If you are not able to come, and are minded to pray, please do seek God’s blessing on the preaching of his word and the fellowship of his people.

A reader kindly wrote in and pointed to a lucid, coherent and powerful testimony to life as a Christian rugby player from Euan Murray.  It is great to hear someone explaining what it means to approach life – including rugby – as a Christian.  That is, it is plain that Christian is not an add-on, but part of the fundamental reality that conditions the way we go through the world.

At one point, the interviewer asks about whether anyone makes fun of his Christian convictions.  I was dying for him to say, “Make fun of me?  I have one of the thickest necks in the world and the rest of me matches up.  Who in their right mind is going to make fun of me?”  Sadly, he is wiser and more gracious than I am.

Here he is again, more recently, with his hair shorn (though nothing of Samson here!) and his neck, if anything, even thicker.

Several men of note have been falling over themselves to commend John Sailhamer’s The Meaning of the Pentateuch.  David Murray applies a necessary brake to the adulation by identifying a significant problem.  He quotes an early paragraph:

The Pentateuch is a lesson drawn from the lives of its two leading men, Abraham and Moses. The Pentateuch lays out two fundamentally dissimilar ways of “walking with God” (Deut. 29:1): one is to be like Moses under the Sinai law, and is called the “Sinai covenant”; the other, like that of Abraham (Gen.15:6), is by faith and apart from the law, and is called the “new covenant” (page 14).

Says Murray:

I read the passage again and again, just to make sure I had not misunderstood. How can you write 600+ pages on the Pentateuch and go so wrong in such a fundamental way at the very outset? Sailhamer is saying that there were two ways to be saved in the Old Testament. Like Moses, you could be saved by obeying the law. Or, like Abraham, you could be saved by believing in the Gospel.

That leaves me with three possible conclusions. First, Moses is in hell, having tried and failed to be saved by keeping the law. Or, second, there are two groups of people in heaven who have been saved in totally opposite ways. There are those like Moses who were saved by the works of the law, and there are those like Abraham who were saved through faith in the Messiah. Hard to see how there can be much fellowship when some are praising themselves and others are praising Christ. The third possible conclusion is that Sailhamer is wrong.

Ouch.  Murray runs with the third conclusion for a few more paragraphs, then concludes:

I’m going to force myself to keep reading, hopefully to the end of the book, as I’m sure that there is much to learn from Sailhamer’s extensive work. But it’s hard to see how Sailhamer can correct this fundamental error without contradicting himself or greatly confusing his readers.

I was hoping to get hold of Sailhamer.  I may still do so, as there will doubtless be vast quantities for me to learn.  However, I am not now half so eager, as this seems like a disastrous stance, and – as Murray says – surely such a fundamental error does not leave much to build on.

How precious is the Word of God?  To these people, it is better than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.  Reminds me of Richard Rogers.

Remember this next time you open your Bible, and consider what you hold in your hands.

HT: DG.

Four helpful articles from the smoking keyboard of Al Mohler:

Hijacking the brain: how pornography works.  Pointing to a helpful looking book about the way in which pornography invades and captures healthy desires.

Mandatory sex education for ten year olds.  Welcome to our world, Mr Mohler!  Battle lines being drawn in the US that are very familiar to UK readers.

Where are the young men? Considering the absence of young men from higher education, and calling for Christian men to consider the stewardship of their minds.

The crisis of manhood.  General feminisation of society drives some young men towards hypermasculinity as a way of stating their credentials, and – guess what – there are churches, as always, hanging desperately on to the coat tails of a frantic society.  So we now have a Jesus who came to help us tap into our inner cage fighter.  Michael McKinley chips in here.

John Bunyan exhorts:

Reader, you have heard of the necessity of coming to Christ; also of the willingness of Christ to receive the coming soul; together with the benefit that they by him shall have that indeed come to him. Put thyself now upon this serious inquiry, Have I indeed come to Jesus Christ?

1. Thou art in sin, in the flesh, in death, in the snare of the devil, and under the curse of the law, if you are not coming to Jesus Christ.

2. There is no way to be delivered from these, but by coming to Jesus Christ.

3. If thou comest, Jesus Christ will receive thee, and will in no wise cast thee out.

4. Thou wilt not repent it in the day of judgment, if now you come not to Jesus Christ.

5. But thou wilt surely mourn at last, if now thou shalt refuse to come.

6. And lastly, Now thou hast been invited to come; now will thy judgment be greater, and thy damnation more fearful, if thou shalt yet refuse, than if thou hadst never heard of coming to Christ.

Rockingham  L.M.

Psalm 16
In you, O Lord, I put my trust;
Preserve me in my time of need,
I lie before you in the dust,
And have no goodness there to plead.

Among the saints on earth I reap
Pleasures exceeding all below;
This is the company I keep,
These are the truest friends I know.

Let others choose the stuff of earth,
And worship empty idol thrones;
My riches spring from heavenly birth,
Through Jesus who for sin atones.

I bless the Lord who counsel gives,
And in the darkness grants me light;
I stand near him who ever lives,
Secure and happy in his might.

My heart will therefore gladly sing,
Possessed of an eternal joy:
In life and death with Christ my King,
A bond that nothing can destroy.

You show your saints the path of life,
Great joy with you whom we adore;
An end to every grief and strife
At your right hand forevermore.

©JRW

See all hymns and psalms.

Conrad Mbewe has some stimulating challenges, directed primarily to missionaries but equally relevant to pastors on the home front, about the practical atheism that often cripples the would-be minister of the gospel:

What is it that is stopping them from laying both hands to the plough? The common answer to this question is something along these lines: “I need to build a house first before I can go.”

He points to the example of our Lord Christ:

My argument here is that the worthiness of a cause can be seen by how much people are willing to suffer for it. Look at the price that Jesus paid when he incarnated among us. He left the splendour of heaven knowing his destiny was not only the lonely hill of Golgotha but also years of hardship and tears. Why? It was because of the worthiness of the cause. His sacrifice was going to result in the salvation of billions and, above all, it was going to bring glory to our great God.

Here is his closing appeal:

Let me end with an appeal to all of us to bear in mind that the Lord will certainly reward us for any sacrifices we make on his behalf. He is no man’s debtor! When Peter said to Jesus that they had left everything to follow him, his reply was, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life” (Mark 10:28-30). Think on these things!

We are often concerned to establish a given level of comfort, security and stability before we make a decision to serve Christ.  We say, in effect, “I will serve you, as long as you do not make it too hard.”  Again, we need to remember that the crucified Christ called upon his disciples willingly to embrace a cross, to take up an instrument of death, and to follow him.  Perhaps today we are too inclined to take up our pillows.

A nice reminder from Iain D. Campbell:

But even if I do feel, at a human level, that I am adequately prepared for Sunday, what do I do if I have a burning conviction in the vestry five minutes before the service God wants me to say something different, and that I should preach on something other than the material I’ve been preparing? It surely belongs to the romance of preaching that God is doing more preparing than we ever can, not only of the sermon but of the preacher too. As I type this on a Saturday night, I realise that what God intends me to preach tomorrow may be very different to what I, at this moment, intend to preach. He is able to provide a sermon in an instant, and I should be open to the terrifying fact that what I have in front of me at the moment is making Heaven laugh.

Read the whole brief piece.

A few weeks ago I preached on the righteousness of God in Christ.  Some people struggle to submit to the righteousness of God, and – in the matter of their standing with God – need to stop doing and start believing.  Encouragingly, Walter Marshall, in The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification, makes the same point against both neonomianism and outright legalism, without giving any grounds for antinomianism:

The difference between the law and gospel does not at all consist in this, that the one requires perfect doing, the other only sincere doing, but in this, that the one requires doing, the other not doing but believing for life and salvation. Their terms are different, not only in degree, but in their whole nature.

HT: Ray Ortlund.

The Letter to the Hebrews: an outstanding author in an outstanding series promises much.

The Puritan, Henry Smith:

The door that is almost shut is open; he that is almost true is a liar; he that is almost honest is a thief; he that is almost saved is lost; he that is almost reconciled to God is an enemy to God; he that is almost inside the ark gets drowned; and he that is almost a believer in Christ will be damned.

Let us not be almost but altogether Christians.

After being conscious of countless blog posts over the last few days advising Christians how to put aside the Lord’s day and watch the Superbowl to the glory of God, it was encouraging and refreshing to pick up the highlights of the Scotland-France rugby match yesterday and hear the BBC voiceover state in somewhat negative tones that tight-head prop Euan Murray, “due to his Christian beliefs, refuses to play on Sundays.”

The Guardian newspaper interviewed Euan about rugby and Christianity, described as his two great loves, and his decision to put Christ ahead of sport:

Does he sometimes wonder if he’s made the right decision? There is a very long pause. “I believe that biblically I’ve made the right decision.” And emotionally? Murray blows out his cheeks. “Well, when you really become a Christian, life’s a battle. You’re going against the tide. The crowd are going one way and you’re going another. It’s always going to be a battle to be different. The easy thing is to go along with the crowd, everybody’s doing it. You know? Try going the opposite direction to a crowd. It’s hard. You won’t get very far.”

Why did he make this decision?  Because he was able to distinguish between the passing pleasures of sin and the substantial joy of salvation in Christ:

He suggests that the path many professional sportsmen follow is “rotten”. He tries to explain. “All the shiny bubbles,” he says, holding out his big hands and shaking his head in sadness. “The money, the possessions, the fame, the great elusive relationship – all bubbles that appear perfectly spherical, all the colours of the rainbow. They’re bright and shiny and light as a feather, and you chase them because it’s good fun, but the minute you get them they burst and they’re empty.” He pauses. “I’d had enough of chasing bubbles.”

The interviewer and editors also gave him an opportunity to describe the great change of conversion:

In finding God, he says, Murray was able to change his path. He picks up a mug of tea and a glass of water and holds them out in front of him. “This is the tea, all dirty and horrible, this is me, yeah? That’s Jesus,” he says, motioning to the water. “Pure. He’s taken that filth upon himself and before God he says, ‘Punish me for it’. He’s been punished and look what he’s given me. That perfect goodness in the eyes of God. He’s declared me innocent.” He swills the dregs of the tea and smiles. Can it be that simple? “I’m ashamed of the things I’ve done. Of course I am. But I’m thankful I have a saviour. He’s saved me from that lifestyle. He’s given me a new life.”

Well done, Euan Murray.  Tight-head props know what it is to hold the line against overwhelming odds.  He will need all his resolve in future years.

Fulda  L.M.

How pleasant is the life of grace!
What great delight to seek God’s face,
To sing his goodness, give him praise,
Whose glory shines through endless days.

How precious is our gracious Lord,
By all his ransomed ones adored,
Who, stooping low, raised us on high,
Whose glory now we magnify.

Once darkness shrouded every part,
Now God’s light reigns within the heart;
Though sin may strive, in every place
Intrudes the conquering power of grace.

©JRW

See all hymns and psalms.