The Three-fold Task of the Preacher

The simple, straight-forward, three-fold task of the preacher...

1 Timothy 4:13

Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.

Thus, the preacher is to...

• READ the Word ("public reading of the Scripture" - communication of  the Gospel) 

• DECLARE the Word ("exhortation" - call to godliness effected and produced by the Gospel)

• EXPLAIN the Word ("teaching/doctrine" - clear exposition and explanation of the Gospel)

 This is what is meant by "Expository Preaching"

Affirmation of Faith for January 1, 2012

We believe that God freely justifies the persons whom He effectually calls. He does this, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins and by accounting them, and accepting them, as righteous. This He does for Christ's sake alone, and not for anything wrought in them or done by them.The righteousness which is imputed to them, that is, reckoned to their account, is neither their faith nor the act of believing nor any other obedience to the gospel which they have rendered, but Christ's obedience alone. Christ's one obedience is twofold-His active obedience rendered to the entire divine law, and His passive obedience rendered in His death. Those thus justified receive and rest by faith upon Christ's righteousness; and this faith they have, not of themselves, but as the gift of God. (11.1)

Affirmation of Faith for December 25, 2011

We believe that the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, is at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards His Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards His manhood; like us in all respects, yet apart from sin as regards His Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards His manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, born of Mary the Virgin, He Himself being the God-bearer; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation, indeed God in the flesh.

(based upon Council of Chalcedon - 451 A.D)

Affirmation of Faith for December 18, 2011

We believe God's effectual call is the outcome of His free and special grace alone. Until a man is given life, and renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is dead in sins and trespasses, so is entirely passive in this work of salvation, a work that does not proceed from anything good foreseen in him, nor from any power or agency resident in him. The power that enables him to answer God's call and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it, is no less than that which effected the resurrection of Christ from the dead. (10.2)

Adapted from the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 rewritten modern English (click here for full confession)

The avoidance of sin is not my righteousness!

The avoidance of sin, however increasing, however complete, is NOT my righteousness and therefore does NOT fit me for heaven.  It is the righteousness of Christ alone graciously imputed to me, granted to me by God that fits me for heaven. 

I will not be able to stand be the throne of Heaven and declare, "Because of my avoidance of sin, I may enter into God's heaven."  Rather, my confession will be, "Because of the righteousness of Christ freely bestowed upon me by the grace of God and upon which I alone trust to make this sinner a saint, I enter into God's heaven."

Galatians 6:15

But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Philippians 3:8-9

More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,

Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Titus 3:5-6

He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior...

What is your righteousness?

-

What is sin?

The man who is disposed to think of his sin as a great calamity, rather than as a heinous crime, is not likely either to reverence God or to respect His law. 

- John Kennedy, 1873

Grace at Work

Ephesians 2:8-10
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

These are familiar verses, sometimes too familiar as we can be prone to neglect their significance for everyday living.  There is no doubt we are taught here that salvation is "by grace"; by God's undeserved, unmerited and most benevolent favor.  But we might forget to see that verse 10, being "His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works," is also then by grace.  We need God's enabling grace, His divine power at work in us to change us, to conform us and to cause us to live according to His ways of good and righteousness rather than in our ways of selfishness and pride.

Through the prophet Ezekiel, the Lord describes how it is His grace, His doing that we are now enabled to live for Him, to be "His workmanship", that is, His masterpiece saying in Ezekiel 36:26-27;
 

26 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and [I will] cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

[emphasis mine]

Let us never forget that God's grace working in us is a both a delight [for we do not deserve it] but also a duty [as we then become responsible to see this grace at work in us].  As the apostle Paul said in Philippians 2:12-13;

12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. 

This is grace, God's working in us His will and good pleasure and our enabling by God to do those things that reveal His grace at work in us.  Bob Kauflin captures this idea in song;

Grace abounding, strong and true
That makes me long to be like You
That turns me from my selfish pride
To love the cross on which You died

Bob Kauflin / © 2005 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)

Grace "makes me long to be like" Jesus.  Grace "turns me form my selfish pride".  And grace causes me "to love the cross on which" Jesus died. 

I asked the youth group last night how they can know if this grace of God is at work in them.  We noted in singing the words above that one means is by noting how we are turned from our own selfish pride, turned from wanting our own ways, from reacting according to our own desires (which often results in anger, frustration, impatience, lust and the like) and by grace carefully considering how Jesus would have us give of ourselves.  I asked them to carefully take pause when they thought about something they wanted, good or bad, and then to prayerfully asked the Lord how they might turn that moment into an opportunity to do something for someone else to the glory of God.

How about you, will you take pause today and in your moment of reacting to something according to your desire, prayerfully ask the Lord to turn you from any selfish pride to respond to the good or benefit of another to the glory of God.? This is grace abounding.  This is grace at work in you and this is working out your salvation with fear and trembling.  I believe it was John MacArthur who wrote, "Grace that does not affect one's behavior is not the grace of God."  

Oh, Lord, may Your grace affect both our affections and our actions to live our lives wholly to You.

SDG,

Ed

Christianity is Discipleship

If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, 

and take up his cross daily and follow Me. (Luke 9:23)

There can be no doubt from reading the New Testament that definition of Christianity is "discipleship" - a submitting to and following after Jesus Christ as Lord.  While we will all struggle with following Jesus perfectly due to our sin nature, the genuine desire and overall characteristic of the Christian life is a seeking and striving to be like Jesus.  Any profession of being a Christian without an ongoing practice of being a Christian is deficient mutation of genuine, biblical Christianity.

James M. Boice articulated this well when he wrote:

There is a fatal defect in the life of Christ’s church in the twentieth century: a lack of true discipleship. Discipleship means forsaking everything to follow Christ. But for many of today’s supposed Christians—perhaps the majority—it is the case that while there is much talk about Christ and even much furious activity, there is actually very little following of Christ Himself. And that means in some circles there is very little genuine Christianity. Many who fervently call Him ‘Lord, Lord’ are not Christians (Matthew 7:21)...There are several reasons that the situation I have described is common in today’s church. The first is a defective theology that has crept over us like a deadening fog. This theology separates faith from discipleship and grace from obedience. It teaches that Jesus can be received as one’s Savior without being received as one’s Lord...Discipleship in not a supposed second step in Christianity, as if one first became a believer in Jesus and then, if he chooses, a disciple. From the beginning, discipleship is involved in what it means to be a Christian....Is ‘faith’ minus commitment a true biblical faith?...If faith without works is dead—how much truer is it that faith without commitment is dead...True faith involves these elements: knowledge...heart response...and commitment, without which ‘faith’ is no different from the assent of the demons who ‘believe...and shudder’ (James 2:19) (James Montgomery Boice, Christ’s Call to Discipleship (Chicago: Moody, 1986), pp. 13, 14, 16, 21).

The Word of God teaches us that Christianity is discipleship, a learning and following the precepts and practices of our Lord Jesus Christ.  May we apply the great desire of the Psalmist who wrote in Psalm 119:34-38:

34 Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law And keep it with all my heart. 35 Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it. 36 Incline my heart to Your testimonies And not to dishonest gain. 37 Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, And revive me in Your ways. 38 Establish Your word to Your servant, As that which produces reverence for You.

Blessings!

Ed

A Unique Definition for Man's Sinful Condtion

Here is a unique definition for man's radical depravity and therefore his need for the grace of God to mend him:

...and Heaven have mercy on us all - Presbyterians and Pagans alike - for we are all dreadfully cracked about the head and desperately in need of mending.

Herman Melville Moby Dick

Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?

Ezekiel 36:26-27
Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. 

Thank You, Lord for saving my soul from my own "dreadfully cracked" condition!

SDG

Glory to God in the Highest - a praise of salvation!

As a Christmas present, my mother-in-law gave me a book of Spurgeon Sermons. The first series of sermons were, in fact, Christmas messages and the first message, which set the tone for the book, was based on Luke 2:14, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

What I find so wonderfully amazing about Spurgeon's preaching is how easily he understands and links the glory of God and the gospel in his messages. Spurgeon's concern is always that God be recognized as Almighty Sovereign, particularly in salvation, and that man recognize his own need of all-grace, all-mercy, and all-effort on the part of this benevolent God to even have the hope of eternal life. In other words, if God did not act on His own for His own, His "own" would never have believed, would never have repented, and would never experience the bliss of salvation in Jesus Christ. All glory to God who first loved us and first opened our eyes to behold the beauty of Christ as Savior and who first instilled in us the very faith to come to Christ (John 6:44).

The following excerpt so firmly communicates what is at stake if we undermine the truth of Jonah 2:9, that salvation comes from the Lord. May I remind you again that this was found in a Christmas message entitled "The First Christmas Carol." This is no side issue for even in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ we find the sweet doctrines of grace, of God's goodwill toward man so evident. Please be in awe of the great truths communicated here as well as wary of any system of thinking or theology that undermines these biblical truths. May our longing be that God receives all the glory for salvation, for as the Scriptures say of God...

Revelation 4:6

Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.

And of Jesus it says:

Revelation 5:9

"Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

Spurgeon spoke:

But, let me say one word here before I go away from this point. We must learn from this, that if salvation glorifies God, glorifies him in the highest degree, and makes the highest creatures praise him, this one reflection may be added—then, that doctrine, which glorifies man in salvation cannot be the gospel. For salvation glorifies God.

The angels were no Arminians, they sang, "Glory to God in the highest." They believe in no doctrine which uncrowns Christ, and puts the crown upon the head of mortals. They believe in no system of faith which makes salvation dependent upon the creature, and, which really gives the creature the praise, for what is it less than for a man to save himself, if the whole dependence of salvation rests upon his own free will?

No, my brethren; there may be some preachers, that delight to preach a doctrine that magnifies man; but in their gospel angels have no delight. The only glad tidings that made the angels sing, are those that put God first, God last, God midst, and God without end, in the salvation of his creatures, and put the crown wholly and alone upon the head of him that saves without a helper. "Glory to God in the highest," is the angels' song.

May we sing with the angels and give all glory to God for so great a salvation as found in Jesus Christ our Lord!

A Synopsis on God's Sovereignty

There is no reason to reinvent the wheel and so, as I have been asked about this very issue by several people, I found it providential to have such a great synopsis concerning how God can be sovereign over all things and at the same time man held responsible for his sin. The following was posted on Grace Community Church's “Shepherds Fellowship” - This is the direct link, however I have posted the entire article here for both your own as well as for my convenience:

http://www.shepherdsfellowship.org/pulpit/posts.aspx?ID=4144

Our Sovereign God
(By John MacArthur)


No doctrine is more despised by the natural mind than the truth that God is absolutely sovereign. Human pride loathes the suggestion that God orders everything, controls everything, rules over everything. The carnal mind, burning with enmity against God, abhors the biblical teaching that nothing comes to pass except according to His eternal decrees. Most of all, the flesh hates the notion that salvation is entirely God’s work. If God chose who would be saved, and if His choice was settled before the foundation of the world, then believers deserve no credit for their salvation.

But that is, after all, precisely what Scripture teaches. Even faith is God’s gracious gift to His elect. Jesus said, “No one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father” (John 6:65). “Nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Matt. 11:27). Therefore no one who is saved has anything to boast about (cf Eph. 2:8, 9). “Salvation is from the Lord” (Jonah 2:9).

The doctrine of divine election is explicitly taught throughout Scripture. For example, in the New Testament epistles alone, we learn that all believers are “chosen of God” (Titus 1:1). We were “predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11, emphasis added). “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world . . . He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will” (vv. 4, 5). We “are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son . . . and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (Rom. 8:28–30).

When Peter wrote that we are “chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (1 Peter 1:1, 2), he was not using the word “foreknowledge” to mean that God was aware beforehand who would believe and therefore chose them because of their foreseen faith. Rather, Peter meant that God determined before time began to know and love and save them; and He chose them without regard to anything good or bad they might do. We’ll return to this point again, but for now, note that those verses explicitly state that God’s sovereign choice is made “according to the kind intention of His will” and “according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will”—that is, not for any reason external to Himself. Certainly He did not choose certain sinners to be saved because of something praiseworthy in them, or because He foresaw that they would choose Him. He chose them solely because it pleased Him to do so. God declares “the end from the beginning . . . saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’” (Isa. 46:10). He is not subject to others’ decisions. His purposes for choosing some and rejecting others are hidden in the secret counsels of His own will.

Moreover, everything that exists in the universe exists because God allowed it, decreed it, and called it into existence. “Our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases” (Ps. 115:3). “Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps” (Ps. 135:6). He “works all things after the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11). “From Him and through Him and to Him are all things” (Rom. 11:36). “For us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him” (1 Cor. 8:6).

What about sin? God is not the author of sin, but He certainly allowed it; it is integral to His eternal decree. God has a purpose for allowing it. He cannot be blamed for evil or tainted by its existence (1 Sam. 2:2: “There is no one holy like the Lord”). But He certainly wasn’t caught off-guard or standing helpless to stop it when sin entered the universe. We do not know His purposes for allowing sin. If nothing else, He permitted it in order to destroy evil forever. And God sometimes uses evil to accomplish good (Gen. 45:7, 8; 50:20; Rom. 8:28). How can these things be? Scripture does not answer all the questions for us. But we know from His Word that God is utterly sovereign, He is perfectly holy, and He is absolutely just.

Admittedly, those truths are hard for the human mind to embrace, but Scripture is unequivocal. God controls all things, right down to choosing who will be saved. Paul states the doctrine in inescapable terms in the ninth chapter of Romans, by showing that God chose Jacob and rejected his twin brother Esau “though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, in order that God’s purpose according to His choice might stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls” (v. 11). A few verses later, Paul adds this: “He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy” (vv. 15, 16).

Paul anticipated the argument against divine sovereignty: “You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?’” (v. 19). In other words, doesn’t God’s sovereignty cancel out human responsibility? But rather than offering a philosophical answer or a deep metaphysical argument, Paul simply reprimanded the skeptic: “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this,’ will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use, and another for common use?” (vv. 20, 21).

Scripture affirms both divine sovereignty and human responsibility. We must accept both sides of the truth, though we may not understand how they correspond to one another. People are responsible for what they do with the gospel—or with whatever light they have (Rom. 2:19, 20), so that punishment is just if they reject the light. And those who reject do so voluntarily. Jesus lamented, “You are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life” (John 5:40). He told unbelievers, “Unless you believe that I am [God], you shall die in your sins” (John 8:24). In John chapter 6, our Lord combined both divine sovereignty and human responsibility when He said, “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” (v. 37); “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life” (v. 40); “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (v. 44); “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life” (v. 47); and, “No one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father” (v. 65). How both of those two realities can be true simultaneously cannot be understood by the human mind—only by God.

Above all, we must not conclude that God is unjust because He chooses to bestow grace on some but not to everyone. God is never to be measured by what seems fair to human judgment. Are we so foolish as to assume that we who are fallen, sinful creatures have a higher standard of what is right than an unfallen and infinitely, eternally holy God? What kind of pride is that? In Psalm 50:21 God says, “You thought that I was just like you.” But God is not like us, nor can He be held to human standards. “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isa. 55:8, 9).

We step out of bounds when we conclude that anything God does isn’t fair. In Romans 11:33 the apostle writes, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?” (Rom. 11:33, 34).

(Today’s post was adapted from John’s book Ashamed of the Gospel published by Crossway Books.)