WORLDLY SAINTS...being salt and light in a pagan society

Let us press on then, beloved, to see how the Lord gave Paul clear instruction for young Titus facing a difficult culture and society on the island of Crete. The Apostle Paul answers the Evangelical Co-Belligerent dilemma completely in Titus 3:1-8. Four key things he instructs Christians learning to live in a pagan society: 1. recognize your duty; 2. remember your depravity; 3. rejoice in your deliverance; and 4. render good deeds.

1. Recognize Your Duty
Paul says in Titus 3:1-2, Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, 2to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men.

Notice here that the Apostle is calling for believers on this very troubled and immoral island of Crete to honor those in authority over them. Listen to how he describes their culture: “who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. 12One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons." This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, 14not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. 15To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. 16They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed” (Titus 1:11-16).

Their culture was full of false teachers propagating philosophies for money—destroying families; they were liars, evil beasts (in other words, slaves of depraved instincts) and lazy gluttons. They turned aside from the truth of God’s Word to myths and the commandments of men; their minds and conscience were defiled (tested, tried and found useless); they deny the Lord by their evil deeds; are detestable and disobedient—worthless of any good work. Even a form of “terrorism” was present; pagan gods abounded; evil was rampant in the streets; and sexual immorality was unbridled. This was a very corrupt and morally destitute place.

What does Paul offer as a solution to Crete’s unrestrained lasciviousness? Picket them? Boycott them? Try to bring a surface cultural spiritual morality through the political powers that be? No. He encourages Titus to do the unthinkable: evangelize! Bring them the transforming power of the gospel (Titus 2:11-13); call them back to sound doctrine refuting those who contradict (Titus 1:9); and live the transformed life in the marketplace of paganism (Titus 3:1-8). No political legislation could turn back the tide of moral decay; no governmental body would change the human heart and make it pure; no co-belligerent rally around even the most noble of social causes could add one drop of righteousness to please God and regenerate sinful mankind to new life—to moral rightness. Paul would never stoop to such trivial means as these in the struggle for the soul. He only took the spiritual weapons of prayer, the Word, the gospel, and the testimony of righteousness lived out by genuine believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. In short, only through life conversion through Christ Jesus the Lord can there be any real morality whether you reside on Crete, in Corinth, under Nero, in Washington D.C., in Wheaton, in Nashville or even in Colorado Springs. The new life in Christ evidenced by a new way of living is the “salt and light” that impacts our communities and brings glory to God (Matthew 5:13-20).

the Biblical imperative
Paul desires Titus, “[his] true child in the common faith”, to “speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1); “in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us” (Titus 2:7-8); to be dedicated to “the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness” (Titus 1:1b); and that he “would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you” (Titus 1:5).

And how does this transformed life manifest itself? Paul begins precisely at the crossroads of where church and culture find themselves today—in the arena of government—living under God’s appointed authority (Romans 13:1-2).

The Apostle Paul begins by saying, be subject to rulers, to authorities. He is speaking here of magistrates; governments and its leadership. He is encouraging submission to the governing authorities as a sign of their salvation (Titus 2:11-13). They were in danger of forgetting their duty, though knowing it. They were prone to disregard what is a basic principle in Christianity—submission. And here the Apostle says to be submissive to the powers that be—and even if those authorities are ungodly (cp, 1 Peter 2:11-17). Cretans were marked by what Diodorus Siculus calls a “riotous insubordination”—not a comfortable or easy place to live for the Lord. The Christian was not to be identified as being insubordinate to those whom God had sovereignly placed in society to restrain evil and keep societal order—but to be known for being submissive.

The fruit of that submissive will manifested itself by being obedient, ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to peaceable, gentle and showing consideration to all men. He is describing the fruit of real regeneration in how they are to live their lives in a culture that is adverse to the gospel and to Christ. All of these qualities are in direct response to the political authorities over them. Be obedient to them—that is, in all that is not contrary to the Word of God; ready for every good deed, willingly, in response to the magistrates, the governing laws and all that is good—beneficial in society; to malign no one – not speaking evil of others, especially of those in authority over you is prohibited. Peaceable, not a brawler, quarrelsome, not attacking others or being contentious; but in stark contrast be peaceable (not being a political agitator, (cp, 1 Peter 4:15). Showing consideration to all men, in acts, if at all possible, the opposite of passionate severity—demonstrating meekness (having a small opinion of self and a high esteem of God); and this to all people as a witness of the gospel of grace. There is no “selective consideration” in Christianity; it applies to all people equally (cp, Matthew 5:40-48).

One of the ways that submissiveness manifested itself was through being gentle. The word gentle here is very powerful. At face value, people may construe this to mean a soft, introverted, quiet, shy demeanor that is sheepishly easy going. However, that is not the case. Instead, it has a profound meaning, that by God’s grace, should characterize every believer in the Lord. It means: to submit to maltreatment, hardship, persecution; knowing that God is sovereignly in control of your situation; doing acts of kindness to your accusers; free from revenge, malice and retribution. It carries with it the idea of the complete personality of the individual brought into submission to Christ so that you are not demanding your own rights out of desire to get even through retaliation, but to stay in the provocation until the breach is mended. Wow! I don’t know about you, but I surely haven’t even begun to arrive at that quality in my life. No wonder the Apostle Paul says in 2 Cor. 10:1, “…I am mindful of the meekness and gentleness of Christ…” This is my daily prayer for my life—Lord make me a “gentle” man. And this can only be accomplished by God’s grace (cp, Titus 2:12). Living this way in society will make impact for the gospel and the cause of the Lord. Not co-belligerence—but Christlikeness!

2. Remember Your Depravity
What is the motivating factor to surrender your rights, trust in God’s sovereignty purposes and plans, living free from revenge and being able to submit to ungodly governmental authority? Because we were once foolish ourselves.

When unsaved people mistreat or take advantage of us; or are engaged in all kinds of acts of lasciviousness, that should not drive us to disdain or criticize them, but to show empathy for them. Why? Because “we were once foolish ourselves.” Listen to how Paul describes any believer in the Lord before coming to salvation in Christ: we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.

We cannot minimize this beloved. This was you and I before we met the Lord. This is our testimony. We were foolish (thoughtless, wicked, living without God), disobedient (to law, to parents, to civil authority, to God), deceived (by the enemy Satan, by false teachers, by our own hearts, by the flattery of others), lustful (indulging corrupt passions and propensities—slaves to…), malicious (in evil intent), envious (displeasure of the prosperity or happiness of others), hateful and hating (our conduct was worthy of the hatred of others; with no real brotherly love or true affection of others).

This is a hopeless condition that all have; worthy only of inheriting hell itself for all eternity (Romans 3:10-18; Ephesians 2:1-3). The Apostle Paul also described the sinfulness of sinful mankind in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 as made up of fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers and swindlers. In Galatians chapter 5 he describes human fallenness as engaging itself in immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing and things like that. And to the Ephesians he gives this description, they are futile in their minds, darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, ignorant, hard of heart, callous, sensual, practicing every kind of impurity with greediness.

And in Ephesians 2:1-3 Paul sums up the depraved life we are all conceived into (Psalm 51:5) by saying, “they walk according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the sons of disobedience. They are driven by the lusts of their flesh, the desires of the flesh and of the mind and are by nature the children of wrath.” That is a description of man before he is rescued, before he is saved. I was born in a wonderful Christian family and raised in a very religious town—Wheaton, Il. But even with that evangelical pedigree, I had known a more hellish iniquity than any prostitute that ever walked the evening boulevards; I had a worse sin issue than any heroine addict ever dreamed of having; and I was more trapped in sin than any alcoholic could imagine. What was my transgression against the Lord? I was full of self-righteous religious pride! It’s the worse of all sins, isn’t it? It’s the cocaine of the church; we sell, snort it, and call it “normal” Christianity. It took a profound work of God’s grace to save this wretched man; religion numbed my sin sick soul to the wrathful condition I was truly in. Don’t minimize this. There are millions of people in churches all over America in the same state I was—they are what Matthew Mead calls, “the almost Christian.” They come to church, but have never come to Christ. They love religious things, but have not taken up their cross, denied themselves and followed the Lord. They give Sunday to God, but Monday through Saturday is “their” time. Almost Christians…

Paul completely shatters the notion that good works are sufficient enough to produce salvation for anyone. In order for us to be saved we had to be regenerated, invaded by the grace of our Lord, granted saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. No Pope could redeem us; no prayer to Mary could help us; no purgatory could cleanse us; no Treasury of Merit could make us righteous; no mass could propitiate our sin; no saint could pray for us or us to them; no priest could absolve us of our sins (mortal or venial). We were hardened in the clay of our rebellion against a holy God. We were enslaved with various lusts, terribly lost. This is how the Lord found you; this is how He found me.

Therefore, shouldn’t this produce empathy in our lives for those that don’t know Christ? We shouldn’t display attitudes towards unsaved people which are full of self-righteous religious pride; spiritual arrogance; or a Pharisaic condescending manner of “I am glad I am not like that sinner…” This is sadly, though maybe unwitting, the attitude that pervades much of ECBers and especially the tone of FOTF’s attitude toward those they challenge in the marketplace—homosexuals, politicians, abortionists, etc. We should rightly ask the sobering question of FOTF, “How would you all be living if you didn’t know the Lord?” The Apostle Paul gives us sobering words about the unregenerate: “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness” (Romans 6:20). Did you hear that? Unsaved people are free in regards to righteousness before coming to Christ. We should not be accusing an unbelieving world for acting like an unbelieving world; but we should be concerned when Christians are living like an unbelieving world when claiming to know Christ (1 Corinthians 5). That is why church discipline is invaluable for dealing with unrepentant sin and guarding the purity of the church (Matthew 18:15-20; Galatians 6:1-3).

If we have tasted and drank deeply of His grace (1 Peter 2:3) isn’t the natural inclination of our hearts to share that good news with another so that they can be free from their sins and know the sure forgiveness of a living God for eternity rather then condemn them for being faithful to their depravity?

3. Rejoice in Your Deliverance
This is praise and worship to the Lord for the great salvation He has wrought for us. Paul says here, “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5He 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, 6whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

This is one of the richest passages of our great salvation we have in Christ Jesus our Lord found anywhere in all of Scripture. Notice the banner of our salvation surmised in three key words: He saved us… This again is cause for great humility. We couldn’t save ourselves not [even] on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness. Our best works, our best religious works are filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) sufficient only to damn us to hell, but save us? Never! This is the nail in the coffin of Romanism—of any good works/human achievement system of obtaining favor with God. All our good works, even religious ones, are nothing but rubbish, human excrement compared to knowing Christ Jesus as Lord of our lives by grace through faith alone (cp, Phil. 3:1-8). We were only saved according to His mercy (not our works); by the washing and renewing of the Holy Spirit (not by our merits plus grace or our works plus faith); through Jesus Christ our Savior (not through a surrogate Christ in the Roman Church; or Mary; or Papal infallibility); justified by His grace (not through infused righteousness of works, but through the imputed righteousness of Christ alone) made heirs according to the hope of eternal life (not through the suffering in purgatory to be purged of our sins and then maybe one day will be made good enough to enter glory). We have hope beloved, eternal hope, in the Lord alone!

4. Render Good Deeds
What is the Christian’s responsibility in a pagan society? How are we to live? What does the Lord require of His people? Paul doesn’t say, “Organize, boycott, picket and petition against sinful, immoral, cultural moorings. Make sure you politically align yourselves with the right conservative constituency so that you can create a good and pure social goodness for your fellow man to ward off the wayward indulgences of a liberal society.” Nonsense! Here is what the Apostle calls, a “trustworthy statement”: This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men. The trustworthy statement is what has been stated in verses 4-7—the great doctrine concerning our salvation. Paul is saying that it is the highest of importance; entirely worthy of belief; and is God’s gratuitous gift to us. This is what the Holy Spirit places as a priority to what should occupy our speech; our emphasis in message is the gospel of Christ. Concerning these things I want you to speak confidently… This is what the gospel produces and what we are to declare with confidence—that it leads people to holy living. No wonder he commands us all to be careful to engage in good deeds. Good deeds is all that is holy, true, honest, upright and good—the fruit of regeneration in our sanctification. We are to render works concomitant with our salvation. This is good and profitable for men. Is there anything sweeter, more joyous or hopeful to the ears of sinful man than forgiveness and peace before a holy righteous God is possible through our Lord Jesus Christ?

Jesus Is the Answer
This is how we are to live in a pagan society. Not in prideful arrogance, battling the powers that be to insure our religious rights or produce the veneer of morality absent of Christ; but in submissiveness to all authorities for they are ministers of God. We are not to live in prideful self-righteousness forgetting the depth of depravity we have been saved from. The world does not need to hear our scorn over their immorality or wayward living. They need to hear the good news of the gospel of grace; they need to hear of Christ and Him crucified; they need to hear of repentance from sin and eternal life through faith in Christ alone. And lastly, as we rejoice in our deliverance from sin, we should always remember that it was He who saved us and not we ourselves. Again, this should give us a burden to call others to salvation—not to a political civil cultural form of Pharisaic righteous morality.

Political reform, Evangelical Co-Belligerence, moral rightness, culture of life is nothing but the crumbs off the “rich man’s c0-belligerent” table to the hurting Lazarus’s of this world. They can offer no hope, no peace, no promise of life, no genuine morality, no impact on society. It is the message of pubescent believers who are either ashamed of the gospel; who’ve lost their confidence in the gospel; or have an integrated view of “culture plus Christ” that is unbiblical at its core values.

The secret longing of all God’s creatures is how to have peace with God; and the great work of the church is to bring that “good news” of the gospel to all, urging all men everywhere to repent from their sin and turn to Christ to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. God is sovereign over all earthly governments beloved. May we each dedicate ourselves afresh to do the work of the gospel and in doing so you will love our neighbor as our Lord Jesus Christ has intended.

As the Day draws near,
Steve
2 Cor. 4:5-7

THE RUSHING WIND OF THE REFORMATION...the ministry of the Holy Spirit

"... the testimony of the Spirit is more excellent than all reason. For God alone is a fit witness to himself in His Word, so also the Word will not find acceptance in men's hearts before it is sealed by the inward testimony of the Spirit. The same Spirit, therefore, who has spoken through the mouths of the prophets must penetrate into our hearts to persuade us that they faithfully proclaim what has been divinely commanded… By this power we are drawn and inflamed, knowingly and willingly, to obey him, yet also more vitally and more effectively than by mere human willing or knowing.” -John Calvin

"In the virginal conception God is fulfilling His promise to redeem His people by a work of divine restoration. What is in view is not "creation ex nihilo" but a new creation which is in the context of the old creation. The flesh by Mary weakened by the fall in which the Spirit operates in a way so mysterious that Scripture sheds no light on it whatsoever. Out of that humanity weakened by the fall, joining it to the persons of the Son of God the Holy Spirit sanctifies that human nature at the moment of His conception so that, that which is conceived in her is called holy, the Son of God. What then we have in the gospel testimony to the virginal conception is the notion that the Son of God enters into the closest possible union with humanity in its falleness in such a way that by the Spirit in the moment of conception that humanity is, by union with the Son of God, through the Spirit, sanctified in order that there may be in him the beginning of a new and holy creation. And the Spirit of God is however mysteriously active in this right from the very beginning of the human life of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is present and active from the very inauguration of the life of Jesus so there is no point of Jesus existence as the Son of God incarnate in which the Holy Spirit is not already both present and active. This is one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith." -Sinclair Ferguson

The Gospel of the Holy Spirit's Love
By Horatius Bonar

Does the Holy Spirit love us?
There can be but one answer to this question. Yes! He does. As truly as the Father loveth us, as truly as the Son loveth us, so truly does the Spirit love us. The grace or free love which a sinner needs, and which has been revealed and sealed to us through the Seed of the woman, the "Word made flesh," belongs equally to Father, Son, and Spirit. That love which we believe to be in God must be the same in each Person of the Godhead, else the Godhead would be divided; one Person at variance with the others, or, at least, less loving than the others: which is impossible.

Twice over it is written, God is love (1 John 4:8,16); and this applies to each Person of the Godhead. The Father is love; the Son is love; the Spirit is love. The Trinity is a Trinity of Love.

When it is said, "God is a Spirit" (John 4:24), the words refer to each Person. If we lose sight of the love of one, we shall lose sight of the love of all. That which is the glory of Jehovah, is the glory of each of the three Persons. Let us beware of misrepresenting the Trinity by believing in unequal love, a love that is not equally large and free in each.

When it is said, "God is light" (1 John 1:5), we know that these words are true of the whole three Persons; not merely of the Father or of the Son. The Father is light; the Son is light; the Spirit is light. As of light, so of love; and he who would doubt that the Spirit is love, must needs also doubt that the Spirit is light. That which is written of God, is written of the Spirit of God. That "name" which God has proclaimed as His, belongs to the Spirit as certainly as to the Father and the Son,- "The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands" (Exo 34:6). Shall we rob the Holy Spirit of that blessed name? His personality claims it; and the gracious characteristics which go to make up the name, are as much those of the Spirit as those of the Father and the Son. The personality of the Spirit requires that what is thus written of one should be applicable to all. We are wont to say of the three Persons, "They are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory." If so, then the love which we affirm of the whole we must affirm of each. They must be equal in love, as well as in "power and glory."

Let not the old question of unbelief come in "How can these things be?" We cannot "find out the Almighty unto perfection" (Job 11:7); but shall this inability of ours lead to doubt? Shall it not rather lead to faith? Shall we rob the Spirit of His love, because we cannot understand the deep wonders of Godhead? Shall we not rather say, If there be love in God at all, there must be love in the Spirit? For to Him it is given to carry out in human hearts the purposes of redeeming love, in striving, awakening, drawing, convincing, quickening, comforting; so that it is impossible to suppose that His love can be less warm, less tender, less large, less personal than the love of the Father and the Son.

Laying aside the disputes of intellectual pride, the questionings of vain human reason, the puzzling suggestions of unhumbled self-righteousness, the fond endeavours to comprehend the hidden things of God, the stubborn determination not to believe unless we see "signs and wonders" (John 4:48), let us recognize in that simple formula, God is love the foundation of our faith as to the Spirit's gracious character, and the solution of all our perplexities as to His personal and ineffable love. True, He did not take flesh for us; He did not become poor for us; He did not die for us; He did not weep for us the human tears which the Son of God wept over Jerusalem; but none the less does He love us; and none the less is His work for us and in us the work of love,-love without bounds, or change, or end.

We are baptized "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matt 28:19). That threefold name is love; or rather, that one name in its threefold connection with the three Persons, unfolds itself as the expression of the threefold love of Father, Son, and Spirit. The name thus named upon us is the divine declaration and pledge to us of "the love of the Spirit." Our baptism says, not only, "God the Father loveth us," not only, "God the Son loveth us"; but also, "God the Spirit loveth us." We are baptized into the love of the Spirit.

Perhaps much of our slow progress in the walk of faith is to be traced to our overlooking the love of the Spirit. We do not deal with Him, for strength and advancement, as one who really loveth us, and longs to bless us, and delights to help our infirmities (Rom 8:26). We regard Him as cold, or distant, or austere; we do not trust Him for His grace, nor realize how much He is in earnest in His dealings with us. More childlike confidence in Him and in His love would help us on mightily. Let us not grieve Him, nor vex Him, nor quench Him by our untrustfulness, by disbelieving or doubting the riches of His grace, the abundance of His loving-kindness.

He is no mere "influence," but a living "Personality"; and there is a vast difference between these two things. An "influence" cannot love us, and we cannot love an "influence." If there is to be love, there must be personality; and, in this case, it must be the personality of love.

The fresh breath of spring is an influence, but not a personality. It cannot love us nor call on us to love it. The voice of that which we call "nature" is an influence, but not a personality. There can be no mutual love between it and us. But a being with a soul is a personality, not an influence; and the love of man or woman is a personal thing, a true and real affection-one eye looking into another, and one heart touching its fellow. So is it with the love of the Spirit.

There is a personality about Him passing all the personalities of earth,-passing all the personalities of men or angels; and it is this divine personality that makes His love so precious and so suitable, as well as so true and real. There is no reality of love like that of the Spirit. It has nothing in common with the coldness or distance of a mere "influence." It comes closely home to a human heart, because it is the love of Him who formed the heart, and who is seeking to make it His abode for ever.

The proofs of His love are abundant. They are divine proofs; and, therefore, assuredly true. It is God who has given them to us, that no doubt of the Spirit's love may ever enter our minds. They are spread over all Scripture, in different forms and aspects. While the Bible was meant to be specially the revelation of the Son of God, it is also the revelation of the Holy Spirit. He reveals Himself while revealing Christ. He utters His own love while showing us the love of the Father and the Son.

The thoughts of the Spirit are thoughts of love.
The apostle uses the words, "the mind of the Spirit," in connection with His gracious intercession (Rom 8:26,27); and we know that intercession implies love. The "groanings that cannot be uttered" are awakened in us by the Spirit in His love. He thinks of us; and His thoughts are "precious" (Psa 139:17). Yes; He thinks of us; and His thoughts are thoughts of peace (Jer 29:11). The Bible is filled with the thoughts of the Spirit; and they are love. They breathe in every page of Scripture; for holy men of God "spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

The ways of the Spirit are the ways of love.
His manifold dealings with the sons of men, in "opening hearts" (Acts 16:14), teaching, sanctifying, chastening, are the dealings of love,-love which many waters cannot quench, and which the floods cannot drown. The faintest touch of His hand is the touch of love. The gentlest whisper of His voice is the whisper of love. All His dealings from day to day, whether of cheer or of chastisement, whether of warning or of welcome, are those of love. In a thousand ways He beckons us to come to the Cross; He draws us, unconsciously and imperceptibly, but irresistibly, away from sin and self to God and heaven. He has not, indeed, human tears to shed, like the son of God when he wept over Jerusalem; but not the less are His yearnings true and tender, and all His ways toward us are ways of unutterable compassion (see Gen 6:3; Psa 51:11,12; Isa 55:8). He is "very pitiful, and of tender mercy."

The works of the Spirit are the works of love.
When He "garnished the heavens" (Job 26:13), it was the work of love. When he moved upon the face of the deep (Gen 1:2), it was in love. When He came upon holy men of old, it was in love. When He wrote the Scriptures, it was in love,-love to us. When He anointed Jesus of Nazareth to preach the gospel to the poor, it was in love to us. When He fulfills His office of "guiding into all truth," it is in love. When He opens eyes and hearts, it is in love. When He chastens, it is in love. When He comforts, it is in love. When He sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts, it is in love. When He, as one with the Father and the Son, wrote the seven epistles of the Revelation, it was in love,-as the close of each of them shows: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches" (Rev 2:7). His works in the soul of man, in regenerating, upholding, and perfecting, are the works of love,-love like that of Christ, "that passeth knowledge": love to the chief of sinners; love to those who have vexed and resisted and quenched Him; love which says, "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel?" (Hosea 11:8).

The words of the Spirit are the words of love.
That which we call "the word of God" is specially the Spirit's word: and it overflows with love; love which, while it condemns the sin, presents pardon to the sinner; love which, while it spreads out before us "the exceeding sinfulness of sin," proclaims aloud, to the guiltiest of the guilty, free forgiveness and "deliverance from the wrath to come." The gospel of Christ contains in it the good news of the Spirit's love. "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost" (Matt 3:11) are the words in which is described the fitting out of men for preaching the good news; and in this baptism we have the manifestation of the Spirit's love. He baptizes because He loves. He sends out men to tell of His love; and the baptism with which He baptizes them is to fit them for this message of love. By this baptism the words of love are put into their lips; and these words are truly those of the Spirit Himself, from whatever lips they may come, by whatever pen they may be written down. They are the words of sincerity and truth. He means what He says when He sends out His servants with the language of love upon their tongues.

Hear some of His words of grace,-grace as boundless and as suitable as that of the Father and the Son; grace which has lost none of its largeness or freeness by the lapse of ages or the desperate resistance of human hearts:

"Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies" (Psa 103:3,4); 

"O Lord, I will praise thee: though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away" (Isa 12:1); 

"Seek ye the Lord while He may be found" (Isa 55:6); 

"Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isa 1:18); 

"As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked" (Eze 33:11); 

"I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love" (Hosea 11:4); 

"Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity" (Micah 7:18); 

"The Lord is good; a stronghold in the day of trouble" (Nahum 1:7); 

"How great is His goodness" (Zech 9:17). 

These are the Spirit's own words; and He writes them as the witness for God, the revealer of the divine character, the Unfolder of the love of Father, Son, and Spirit. They are the words of the Spirit, spoken before the Son of God came into the world to reveal and to embody in Himself the love of God to man. The New Testament is yet more abundant in its utterances of love: and in every one of them the Spirit has His part: till all is summed up in the wondrous words which time cannot weaken, and which long use cannot make stale: 

"The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Rev 22:17).

The Holy Spirit is no mere mechanical agent in the great work of a sinner's deliverance, and of the Church's upbuilding, obediently doing the work appointed to Him. "I delight to do Thy will" is as true of the Spirit as the Son. He loves the sinner; therefore He lays hold of him. He pities his misery; therefore He stretches out the hand of help. He has no pleasure in his death; therefore He puts forth His saving power. He is longsuffering and patient; therefore He strives with him day by day; and though "vexed," "resisted," "grieved," and "quenched," He refuses to retire from, or give up, any sinner on this side of eternity. The extent to which we resist Him, and the amount of His forbearing love, we cannot know. This only we may say, that our stubbornness is something infinitely fearful and malignant, while His patient grace passeth all understanding.

We are little alive to the injury we do to ourselves by any misunderstanding as to the mind and the work of the Spirit. The injustice which we do to Him is great; and the wrong which we inflict upon ourselves is no less so. No mistakes as to the Spirit's gracious character can be trivial or harmless. To regard Him as "austere," or "hard," or inaccessible, or needing to be persuaded to do His work in us, is to treat Him as at variance with the Father and the Son; slow to carry out the great purpose of divine love, in which purpose the three Persons of the Godhead are equally concerned. To raise questions as to the riches of His grace is to misread Scripture, and to put a dark and false construction upon His testimony for Christ, as well as upon His dealings with the sons of men,-His dealings with those who have been saved, as well as with those who are lost. For what do the saved ones not owe to His love; and what would that love not have done for the lost, had they not stubbornly set it at nought to the last! "How often would I have gathered thy children" were the words which accompanied the tears of the Son of God over the rebellious city; and they are words equally expressive of the Spirit's feelings toward the stout-hearted of every age and nation.

Imperfect views of the Spirit's character may not be regarded by some as serious or fatal, but it is hardly possible that they can be entertained without exercising a darkening and deadening influence upon the soul: not in the same way as defective views of Christ's work affect us, but still with a most evil result both upon the conscience and the heart,-as if there were something in the Spirit which repelled us, whatever there might be in Christ to attract us; as if the light which the Cross throws upon the love of the Spirit were not quite in harmony with that which it reveals of the love of Christ; as if the Spirit were not always as ready with His help as is the Son.

All wrong thoughts of God, whether of Father, Son, or Spirit, must cast a shadow over the soul that entertains them. In some cases the shadow may not be so deep and cold as in others; but never can it be a trifle. And it is this that furnishes the proper answer to the flippant question so often asked, Does it really matter what a man believes? All defective views of God's character tell upon the life of the soul and the peace of the conscience. We must think right thoughts of God if we would worship Him as He desires to be worshipped; if we would live the life He wishes us to live, and enjoy the peace which He has provided for us.

The want of stable peace, of which so many complain, may arise from imperfect views of the Spirit's love. True, our peace comes from the work of the Substitute upon the cross, from the blood of the one sacrifice, from the sinbearing of Him who has made peace by the blood of the cross. But it is the Holy Spirit who glorifies Christ to us, and takes the scales from our eyes. If then we doubt His love, can we expect Him to reveal the Son in our hearts? Are we not thrusting Him away, and hindering that view of the peace-making which He only can give? Trust His love, and He will make known the Peacemaker to you. Trust His love, and He will show the precious blood by which the guiltiest conscience is purged, and the peace which passeth all understanding is imparted. He is the Spirit of peace, and His work is the work of peace. His office is to make known to us the Prince of Peace. Can there be peace without the recognition of the Holy Spirit's love? Can there fail to be peace when this is recognized and acted on? Doubts as to the love of the Spirit must inevitably intercept the peace which the peace-making cross presents to us.

Perhaps the want of faith, which we often mourn over, may arise from our not realizing the Spirit's love. "Faith [no doubt] cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God": yet it is the Holy Spirit who shines upon the word; it is He who gives the seeing eye and the hearing ear. Under the pressure of unbelief, have we fled to Him and appealed to His love? "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief," may be as aptly a cry to the Spirit as to the Son of God. He helpeth our infirmities; and in the infirmity of our faith He will most assuredly succour us. It is through Him that we become strong in faith; and He loves to impart the needed strength. He giveth to all men, liberally, and upbraideth not. Yet in our dealings with Him regarding faith, let us remember that He does not operate in some mystical or miraculous way, as if imparting to us a new faculty called faith; but by taking of the things of Christ and showing them to us; so touching our faculties by His mighty yet invisible hand, that, ere we are aware, these disordered souls of ours begin to work aright, and these dull eyes of ours begin to see what was all along before them, but what they never had perceived, "the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord."

Thus He works in us, often slowly and imperceptibly, 

but with divine power, making us to understand the gospel 

and to draw out of it that light and life which it contains 

for the dead and the dark. Looking at the cross, 

under the Spirit's enlightenment, we grow in faith. 

For never does He produce or increase faith in us 

without keeping our eye steadfastly fixed upon 

the great redeeming work of the incarnate Son. 

He is not the Spirit of unbelief or bondage, 

but of faith and liberty; and His desire is that 

we should be delivered from unbelief and bondage. 

He loves us too well to be indifferent to our remaining in distance or in distrust. He longs to see us children of faith, not of unbelief; to make us strong in faith; to remove whatever from within or without hinders its growth. Trust His love for the increase of faith; for deliverance from the evil heart of unbelief; for revealing to you the bright object of faith,-Christ, and "God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing unto men their trespasses." As truth is the foundation of faith, so, as "the Spirit of truth," He guides us out of error into truth, and thus leads us out of unbelief into faith; making us to see that the root of what we called our want of faith, was not that we were believing the right thing in a wrong way (as is so often said), but that we were not believing the right thing, but something else which could not bring rest to us in what way soever we might believe it.

Perhaps our want of joy may arise from our over-looking the love of the Spirit. Peace is one thing; joy is something more,- "joy unspeakable and full of glory." Assuredly He is the Spirit of joy, and as such delights to impart His joy. He who, by the lips of His Apostle, said, "Rejoice in the Lord always," wants to see you a joyful man. Will you trust Him for this? Will you rest in His love for this gift? Do not say, Joy is a secondary thing: a man may be a Christian without joy; some of the best of God's people have gone mourning all their days. These are poor excuses for not possessing what God wants you to possess, and what would make you ten times more useful to all around. God wishes you to be joyful. Your testimony to God is imperfect without joy. Cultivate joy; and in order to do so effectually, take firmer hold of the Spirit's power, and rest more implicitly in His love. He loves you too well to wish you to be gloomy. Be filled with the Spirit and you will be filled with joy. Joy is a great help in living a holy and consistent life. Holiness is joy, and joy is holiness. Accept the Spirit's love for both of these.

The "seal of the Spirit" (Eph 1:13); the "witness of the Spirit" (Rom 8:16); the "indwelling" of the Spirit (Rom 8:11); the "inworking" of the Spirit (Eph 1:19); the "help" of the Spirit (Rom 8:26); the "liberty" of the Spirit (2 Cor 3:17); the "strengthening" of the Spirit (Eph 3:16); the "fullness" of the Spirit (Eph 5:18); the "teaching" of the Spirit (John 14:26); the "baptism" of the Spirit (Mark 1:8);-all these are most closely connected with the "love of the Spirit"; and he who would separate them from that love, would rob them of all their meaning and power and consolation.

It is the loving Spirit that seals, and witnesses, and indwells, and inworks, and helps, and liberates, and strengthens, and teaches, and baptizes. So that in seeking these blessings we must ever remember that we are dealing with one whose love anticipates our longings, and on whose side there exists no hindrance to our possessing them all. Nowhere in Scripture has God led us to suppose that the Holy Spirit would be awanting to us in any time of need, or that we could be beforehand with Him in any desire of ours for any spiritual blessing. "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" (Luke 11:13).

In our day, when that which is miraculous or supernatural is suspected or scorned, it is not easy even to gain a hearing for such truths. The Holy Spirit, we may say, is discarded as the most incredible part of the supernatural and impersonal. He Himself is regarded as an airy nothing, or as mist; and His direct and divine agency is treated as the dream of diseased enthusiasm. The removal of the supernatural from religion means specially the removal of the Spirit. To retain Him personally in our theology is considered to be retaining the most incredible part of the supernatural,-the most visionary article in our creed.

Hence the need of bringing fully into view both His personality and His character. That modern unbelief should dislike the whole subject, and treat it as incompatible with reason, and therefore incapable of proof, as being wholly beyond the range of our senses, need not surprise us: nor would we attempt to meet Rationalism on its own ground. But what we say is this: Our information regarding the Holy Spirit must come wholly from revelation; and the question is, Does the Bible bear us out in the above statements? It certainly does seem to contain the doctrine we have been affirming. Its Author evidently meant us to accept that doctrine as true. If that doctrine cannot be true, it must be honestly struck out of the Bible; not by explaining texts away, or misinterpreting whole chapters, but by boldly affirming that Scripture is inaccurate. The words regarding the Spirit are too plain to be diluted into unmeaning figures. He who inspired the Bible has used language that cannot be mistaken. He has not left us in any doubt as to what He intended. Hence the quarrel of unbelief is a quarrel with revelation, and more specially with the Author of revelation. This is the real point at issue in these days, in the controversy with Rationalism.

The doctrine of the Holy Spirit's person and work must stand or fall with the Bible.
If it is incredible, then Scripture has utterly deceived us, and the God who made us has given us a book, as the revelation of divine truth, which contains what no man ought to believe or can believe. If the innumerable references to the Spirit be mere figures of speech (Orientalisms) meaning nothing real, then to accept them as literal, and to believe in a personal Spirit, must be pure fanaticism; and as to such a thing as the love of the Spirit, only visionaries or mystics would accept it.

Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure; and the Word of God is true and real. Heaven and earth may pass away, but one jot or one tittle of what is written in Scripture cannot. What God has made known to us concerning the Spirit,-His wisdom, love, holiness, and power, remains unaltered throughout the ages; as true to us in these last days as it was in the beginning.

That the Holy Spirit is the producer in the human heart of everything that God calls religion, is beyond question to any one who accepts Bible statements as divinely true. He begins, carries on, and consummates in us all spiritual feeling, all spiritual worship, all spiritual life and energy. Nor can there be anything more hollow and unreal than religion without the Holy Spirit. That which is external and superficial,-which manifests itself in dress, and music, and routine service,-may flourish without Him; nay, can only flourish in His absence. But the deep and the real must be His work from first to last. The love of the Spirit is absolutely necessary to a religion of love, and liberty, and joy. Religiousness is at every man's command. Any man may get it up in a day; but religion cometh from above, and is the product of the Spirit dwelling and working in the heart.

The bustle of the present day hinders our discernment of this difference; nay, it grieves the Spirit provoking Him utterly to depart; thus leaving us with a hollowness of heart which yields no rest nor satisfaction, and which cannot be acceptable to God. "The Spirit of God," says Melanchton, "loves retirement and silence; it is then He penetrates into our hearts. The Bride of Christ does not take her stand in the streets and cross ways, but she leads her spouse into the house of her mother" (Song 8:2).

"The gifts of the Holy Ghost"
This is the Church's heritage (Acts 2:38,39). How far she has claimed it or used it is a serious question; but that this gift was meant for her in all ages is beyond a doubt. The whole book of the Acts of the Apostles is evidence of this. "My Spirit remaineth among you," is a promise for the Church as truly as for Israel (Hag 2:5).

From the beginning it has been so; and the holy men raised up by God to speak His words or do His works were men "filled with the Holy Spirit" (Exo 31:2). It is this Spirit that has been the life of the Church. When He came, all was life; when He departed, all was death. Nothing was lacking so long as He was in the midst, and when He left nothing could compensate for His withdrawal. When He was present, the Church was the garden of the Lord; when He forsook her, every herb and flower of that garden withered.

Even in Old Testament days it was so; but since Pentecost, more largely and more powerfully. The indwelling and inworking Spirit, who is the promise of the Father and gift of the Son, is that which belongs to the Church of every age, little as she may have claimed or welcomed her peculiar glory.

"The gift" and "the gifts" are, both of them, expressions used in connection with the Spirit (Acts 8:20-10:45). He is one, yet manifold; called "the seven Spirits of God," and "the seven lamps of fire," and the "seven eyes," and the "seven horns" (Rev 3:1; 4:5; 5:6). He is not only spoken of in connection with each saint, but with the body, the Church universal, which is the "habitation of God, through the Spirit" (Eph 2:22); "the temple of the Holy Ghost" (1 Cor 3:16; 6:19); and, as such, possessor of His love.

Such is the manifold fullness of the Spirit which as the gift of Christ, is the property of the whole Church of God. That fullness is not only the fullness of peace, and wisdom, and holiness, but of love. It is given her, not for herself only, but for the world out of which she has been called. She is to shine in the light of this love upon a dark earth. She is to pour out of the fullness which she receives upon a parched and needy world; out of her are to flow rivers of living water (John 7:38). Great is the world's need; but not greater than the provided supply: for the fountain of love, out of which the Church receives and pours this living water, is inexhaustible and divine.

The love of the Spirit is, like that of the Son, a love that passeth knowledge, a fountain whose waters fail not: "A pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Rev 22:1).

In the possession of this heavenly gift (of these sevenfold gifts) the Church is unspeakably rich, whatever her outward condition may be. Enjoying the fullness of this abiding Spirit, she manifests her character as the witness for Christ and as the light of the world. These gifts of the ascended Christ (Eph 4:8) made her what she was meant to be in the midst of the world's evil and of the powers of darkness, "a burning and shining light." In the power of such gifts she went forth to do battle with the idolatries and immoralities of heathendom. Boldly entering the cities of classic fame, she took possession of pagan temples and Jewish synagogues; and thousands everywhere, through apostolic preaching gathered round the throne.

It was not the gift of miracle, of healing, or of tongues, that did the work. These were not subordinate things, and in many places never used by the apostles. These were not "the best gifts" which we are commanded to covet (1 Cor 12:31).

It was the fullness of spiritual power, possessed and exercised by holy men, awakening, quickening, sanctifying, that wrought the mighty changes which history records.

It is well that we should look back to Pentecost, with wistful eyes, longing for a ministry of Pentecostal power, as the only remedy for the unbelief of the last days. But mere physical miracles are not the desirable things. The gifts of the Spirit, the Church's inalienable inheritance, are quite apart from bodily manifestations; and they remain with us still. But do we claim them? Do we use them? Do we not trust in other strength? Do we not lean on learning, on science, on talent, as if by these we were to fight and overcome? And, in so doing, do we not mistake our true position, and character, and mission? Nay, do we not grieve and quench the Spirit?

Yet, the love of the Spirit is unquenchable.
He is unwilling to depart. He despises not the day of small things; but He bids us look beyond and above them. Formalism, routine, and external religion, the excitements of mysticism,-these are poor substitutes for the life, and glow, and energy of the Holy Spirit. Nothing but His own presence can avail to lift us out of the unreal religiousness into which we have fallen; to transform creeds into realities, and the bodily bowing of the head, or bending of the knee, into spiritual worship; turning the "dim religious light" into the sunshine of a heavenly noon; drawing out of our hymnals the deep heart-music of divine and blessed song; delivering us alike from Rationalism and Ritualism, from a hollow externalism, and from an impulsive and unreasoning fanaticism.

It is His presence only that can vitalize ordinances; clothe ministry with power; unite the broken Church; fill the void of aching hearts; impart to service, liberty and gladness; ward off error; and make truth mighty,-filling our sanctuaries with living worshippers, and sending forth men of might to preach the everlasting gospel; and to proclaim, as in primitive days, the Christ that has come, and the Christ that is to come again.

He has come, in His love, to quicken the dead in sin;
and He is daily moving upon the face of the waters,-bringing life out of death. Nor is His arm shortened, that it cannot save.

He has come, in His love, to give light for darkness.
Nor is there any human heart too dark for Him to illumine. He lights up souls. He lights up Churches. He lights up lands, making them that sit in darkness to see a great light.

He has come, in His love, to gather in the wanderers, far and near.
No strayed one has gone too far into the wilderness for Him to follow and to bring back. The "ends of the earth" form the vast region into which His love has gone forth to seek, and find, and save.

He has come, in His love, to guide the doubting heart.
He takes lovingly and gently the hand of the perplexed and inquiring, and leads them into the way of peace. He knows all their troubles and fears, so that they need not fear being misunderstood. He teaches their ignorance and shows them their mistakes, and points their eye to the cross.

He has come, in His love, to bind up the broken-hearted.
His name is the Comforter, and His consolations are as abundant as they are everlasting. "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people," are the words which he has written down for every sorrowful one (Isa 40:1). In all trial, bereavement, pain, sorrow, let us realize the love of the Spirit. That love comes out most brightly and most tenderly in the day of mourning. In the chamber of sickness or of death, let us find strength and peace in the presence, companionship, and sympathy of the gracious Spirit.

He has come down, in His love, to seek after the backslider.
From a heart that once owned Him, He has been driven out, and He has retired sorrowfully. But He has not ceased to desire a return to His old abode. He still pities, and yearns, and beseeches. "Turn, ye backsliding children, for I am married unto you," are His words of longing and pity.

He has come, in His love, even to the misbelieving and the deluded, seeking to remove the mists with which a rebellious intellect has compassed itself about; and to lead them out into life, and love, and day.
They are groping for an idea; and He brings them into contact with a Person, even God Himself. They are crying vaguely for knowledge; and He presents to them the wisdom deposited in the Person of the Word made flesh. They are in search of sympathy for their wounded hearts; and He places Himself before them in the fulness of His all-sympathizing love. They are asking for a creed of certainty and perfection, on which their faith may rest; He offers Himself to them as a living and unerring Teacher,-the Author of an infallible Book, all whose pages sparkle with the love of its loving Author. They crave beauty in worship, something to please the eye,-aesthetic beauty, as they call it! He draws the eye to Him who is "the chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely."

He has come, in His love, to build up His own.
He seeks to fill, with His holy presence, the soul into which He has come. He wants, not a part of the man, but the whole,-body, soul, and spirit,-the entire being, that it may be altogether conformed to Himself. He has come to His temples, and His purpose is to make them in reality, what they are in name, the "habitation of God, the temples of the Holy Ghost."

THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY...why this is essential truth

"Elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood: ¶ May egrace and fpeace be multiplied to you." (1 Pet. 1:2)

In light of the confusion and dastard display of tepid truths by the adherents of ER2, I thought it would be helpful to demonstrate the necessity and importance of the doctrine of the Trinity.

Though people who are genuinely saved may have questions surrounding this great truth, no genuine believer in the Lord Jesus Christ will ever deny it! To deny the existence of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit as being co-eternal, co-existing, and co-equal from all eternity, is to deny the God of the Scriptures and worship another god… which is idolatry… which is damnable. Anyone who teaches the Sabellian, modalist, anti-Trinitarian view of God is teaching doctrine of demons, is a false teacher, and not of the faith. Sadly, the star of ER2 – Bishop T.D. Jakes – is still numbered among the unregenerate and worshiping another god than the One Triune God of the Bible. Pray for Him beloved.

The doctrine of the Trinity simply expressed is:

There is One true and living God - indivisible, infinite; co-eternal, co-equal, and co-existing in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each possess the same essence and attributes of deity; deserving our obedience and reverence. However, the Father is not the Spirit; the Spirit is not the Son; and the Son is not the Father (see chart below). Our God exists to glorify and enjoy Himself forever. He is infinite in being and perfection, a Spirit invisible, personal, omnipresent, eternal, dependent on none, unchanging, truthful, trustworthy, almighty, sovereign, omniscient, righteous, holy, good, loving, merciful, long-suffering, and gracious. (Exodus 3:13-14; 34:4-7; Deuteronomy 6:1-9; 1 Kings 8:27; Nehemiah 9:32-33; Job 22:2-3; Psalm 5:4-8; 90:1-2; 95:1-7; 115:1-7; 119:65-68; 145:17-18 Proverbs 16:4; Isaiah 6:1-3; 40:10-31; 46:9-13; Jeremiah 10:10; 23:23-24; Daniel 4:34-35; Malachi 3:6; Matthew 28:16-20; John 1:1-18; 4:21-24; 14:1-11; 15:26-27; Acts 7:2-50; 20:28; Romans 11:33-36; 1 Corinthians 8:5-6; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Galatians 4:4-7; Hebrews 4:12-13; 11:6; Revelation 4:8; 5:11-14)

With that as a foundation, Thomas Watson gives us a weighty, biblical, and unwavering defense of the One Triune God of the Bible in his following article. I pray that it will be a joy to your heart and an encouragement to your mind to feast on this great truth. May it cause you to worship afresh the God of the Bible.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
be with you all. (2 Cor. 13:14)

POST TENEBRAS LUX
Steve
2 Cor. 4:5-7



Q: HOW MANY PERSONS ARE THERE IN THE GODHEAD?

A: Three persons, yet but one God.

‘There are three that bear record in
heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost,
and these three are one.’ (1 John 5:7)

God is but one, yet are there three distinct persons subsisting in one Godhead. This is a sacred mystery, which the light within man could never have discovered. As the two natures in Christ, yet but one person, is a wonder; so three persons, yet but one Godhead. Here is a great deep, the Father God, the Son God, the Holy Ghost God; yet not three Gods, but one God. The three persons in the blessed Trinity are distinguished, but not divided; three substances, but one essence. This is a divine riddle, where one makes three, and three make one. Our narrow thoughts can no more comprehend the Trinity in Unity, than a nut-shell will hold all the water in the sea. Let me shadow it out by a similitude. In the body of the sun, there are the substance of the sun, the beams, and the heat; the beams are begotten of the sun, the heat proceeds both from the sun and the beams; but these three, though different, are not divided; they all three make but one sun: so in the blessed Trinity, the Son is begotten of the Father, the Holy Ghost proceeds from both; yet though they are three distinct persons, they are but one God.

First, let me speak of the Unity in Trinity; then of the Trinity in Unity.

I. Of the Unity in Trinity. The Unity of the persons in the Godhead consists of two things.

[1] The identity of essence. In the Trinity there is a oneness in essence. The three persons are of the same divine nature and substance; so that in Deo nonest magis et minus, ‘there are no degrees in the Godhead’; one person is not God more than another.

[2] Unity of the persons in the Godhead consists in the mutual inbeing of them, or their being in one together. The three persons are so united that one person is in another, and with another. ‘Thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee.’ John 17:21.

II. Let me speak of the Trinity in Unity.

[1] The first person in the Trinity is God the Father. He is called the first person, in respect of order, not dignity: for God the Father has no essential perfection which the other persons have not; he is not more wise, more holy, more powerful than the other persons are. There is a priority, not a superiority.

[2] The second person in the Trinity is Jesus Christ, who is begotten of the Father before all time. ‘I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, was I brought forth.’ Prov viii 23-25. This Scripture declares the eternal generation of the Son of God. This second person in the Trinity, who is Jehovah, is become our Jesus. The Scripture calls him the branch of David, Jer xxiii 5, and I may call him the flower of our nature. ‘By him all that believe are justified.’ Acts xiii 39.

[3] The third person in the Trinity is the Holy Ghost, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, whose work is to illuminate the mind, and enkindle sacred motions. The essence of the Spirit is in heaven, and everywhere; but the influence of it is in the hearts of believers. This is that blessed Spirit who gives us the holy unction. I John ii 20. Though Christ merits grace for us, it is the Holy Ghost that works it in us. Though Christ makes the purchase, it is the Holy Ghost that makes the assurance, and seals us to the day of redemption. Thus I have spoken of all the three persons. The Trinity of persons may be proved out of Matt iii 16. ‘Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him; and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son.’ Here are three names given to the three persons. He who spake with a voice from heaven was God the Father; he who was baptized in Jordan was God the Son; he who descended in the likeness of a dove was God the Holy Ghost. Thus I have shown you the Unity of essence, and the Trinity of persons.

Use one: For confutation.
(I.) This confutes the Jews and Turks, who believe only the first person in the Godhead. Take away the distinction of the persons in the Trinity, and you overthrow man’s redemption; for God the Father being offended with man for sin, how shall he be pacified without a mediator? This mediator is Christ, who makes our peace. Christ having died, and shed his blood, how shall this blood be applied but by the Holy Ghost? Therefore, if there be not three persons in the Godhead, man’s salvation cannot be wrought out; if there be no second person in the Trinity, there is no redeemer; if no third person, there is no comforter. Thus the plank is taken away by which we get to heaven.

(2.) It confutes the execrable opinion of the Socinians, who deny the Divinity of the Lord Jesus, and make him to be a creature only, but of a higher rank. As the Papists blot out the second commandment, so the Socinians do the second person in the Trinity. If to oppose Christ’s members be a sin, what is it to oppose Christ himself? Jesus Christ is co-equal with God the Father. He thought it no robbery to be equal with God. Phil ii 6. He is co-eternal with God the Father: ‘I was from the beginning,’ Prov viii 23: if not, there was a time when God was without a Son, and so he would be no Father; nay, there was a time when God was without his glory, for Christ is ‘the brightness of his Father’s glory.’ Heb i 3. He is co-essential with God the Father. The Godhead subsists in Christ. ‘In whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.’ Col ii 9. It is said; not only that Christ was with God before the beginning, but that he was God. John i 1, and I Tim iii 16. ‘God manifest in the flesh.’ The title of Lord, so often given to Christ, in the New Testament, answers to the tide of Jehovah in the Old. Deut vi 5; Matt xxii 37. Christ has a co-eternity, and co-substantiality with his Father. ‘I and my Father are one.’ John x 30. It were blasphemy for an angel to speak thus. Yet further to prove Christ’s Godhead, consider (i) The glorious incommunicable attributes belonging to God the Father are ascribed to Christ. Is God the Father omnipotent? So is Jesus Christ. He is the almighty, Rev i 8, and he creates, Col i 16. Is God the Father infinitely immense, filling all places? Jer xxiii 24. So is Jesus Christ. While Christ was on the earth by his bodily presence, he was at the same time in the bosom of the Father by his divine presence. John iii 13. (ii) The same jura regalia, or prerogatives royal, which belong to God the Father, belong also to Christ. Does God the Father seal pardons? This is a flower of Christ’s crown. ‘Thy sins be forgiven thee.’ Matt ix 2. Nor does Christ remit sin organice only, as ministers do, by virtue of a power delegated to them from God; but he does it by his own power and authority. Is God the Father the adequate object of faith? Is he to be believed in? So is his Son. John xiv 1. Does adoration belong to God the Father? So it does to the Son. ‘Let all the angels of God worship him.’ Heb i 6. How sacrilegious therefore is the Socinian, who would rob Christ of his Godhead, the best flower of his crown. They that deny Christ to be God, must greatly wrest, or else deny the Scripture to be the Word of God.

(3.) It confutes the Arians, who deny the Holy Ghost to be God. The eternal Godhead subsists in the Holy Ghost. ‘He shall guide you into all truth.’ John xvi 13. Christ speaks not there of an attribute, but of a person. That the Godhead subsists in the person of the Holy Ghost appears in this; that the Spirit, who gives diversity of gifts, is said to be the same Lord, and the same God. I Cor xii 5, 6. The black and unpardonable sin is said, in a special manner, to be committed against the Godhead subsisting in the Holy Ghost. Matt xii 32. The mighty power of God is made manifest by the Holy Ghost; for he changes the hearts of men. The devil would have Christ prove himself to be God, by turning stones into bread; but the Holy Ghost shows his Godhead by turning stones into flesh. ‘I will take away the stony heart; and give you a heart of flesh.’ Ezek xxxvi 26. Yet further, the power and Godhead of the Holy Ghost appeared in effecting the glorious conception of our Lord Jesus Christ. The very shadow of the Holy Ghost made a virgin conceive. Luke i 35. The Holy Ghost works miracles, which transcend the sphere of nature; as raising the dead. Rom viii 11. To him belongs divine worship; our souls and bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost, I Cor vi 19, in which temples he is to be worshipped, verse 20. We are baptized in the name of the Holy Ghost; therefore we must believe his Godhead, or renounce our baptism in his name. Methinks it were better for such men not to have so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost, Acts xix 2, than to deny his Deity. They who would wittingly and willingly blot out the third person, shall have their names blotted out of the book of life.

Use two: For exhortation.
(I.) Believe this doctrine of the Trinity of persons in the unity of essence. The Trinity is purely an object of faith; the plumbline of reason is too short to fathom this mystery; but where reason cannot wade, there faith may swim. There are some truths in religion that may be demonstrated by reason; as that there is a God: but the Trinity of persons in the Unity of essence is wholly supernatural, and must be believed by faith. This sacred doctrine is not against reason, but above it. Those illuminated philosophers, that could find out the causes of things, and discourse of the magnitude and influence of the stars, the nature of minerals, could never, by their deepest search, find out the mystery of the Trinity. This is of divine revelation, and must be adored with humble believing. We can be no good Christians, without the firm belief of the Trinity. How can we pray to God the Father but in the name of Christ, and through the help of the Spirit? How believe the glorious Trinity? How are the Quakers to be abhorred, who go under the name of Christians, and yet undervalue and renounce Jesus Christ! I have read of some Quakers who speak thus: ‘We deny the person of him whom you call Christ, and affirm, That they who expect to be saved by that Christ without works, will be damned in that faith!’ Could the devil himself speak worse blasphemy? They would pull up all religion by the roots, and take away that corner stone, on which the hope of our salvation is built.

(2.) If there be one God subsisting in three persons, then let us give equal reverence to all the persons in the Trinity. There is not more or less in the Trinity; the Father is not more God than the Son and Holy Ghost. There is an order in the Godhead, but no degrees; one person has not a majority or super eminence above another, therefore we must give equal worship to all the persons. ‘That all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father’ John v 23. Adore Unity in Trinity.

(3.) Obey all the persons in the blessed Trinity; for all of them are God.

Obey God the Father. Christ himself as man, obeyed God the Father, John iv much more must we. Deut xxvii 10.

Obey God the Son. ‘Kiss the Son, lest he be angry.’ Psa ii 12. Kiss him with a kiss of obedience. Christ’s commands are not grievous. I John v 3. Whatever he commands is for our interest and benefit. Oh then kiss the Son! Why do the elders throw down their crowns at the feet of Christ, and fall down before the Lamb? Rev iv 10, 11. To testify their subjection, and to profess their readiness to serve and obey him.

Obey God the Holy Ghost. Our souls are breathed into us by the glorious Spirit. ‘The Spirit of God hath made me.’ Job xxxiii 4. Our souls are adorned by the blessed Spirit. Every grace is a divine spark lighted in the soul by the Holy Ghost. Nay, more, the Spirit of God sanctified Christ’s human nature; he united it with the divine, and fitted the man Christ to be our Meditator. Well then does this third person in the Trinity, the Holy Ghost, deserve to be obeyed; for he is God, and this tribute of homage and obedience is due to him from us.

-About the Author-

The actual birth date of Thomas Watson is unknown exactly. He was one of the non-conformists of the 1600s and was educated at Emanuel College, Cambridge, and in 1646 was appointed to preach at St. Stephen's, Walbrook. He showed strong Presbyterian views during the civil war, with, however, an attachment for the king; because of his share in Love's plot to recall Charles II, he was imprisoned in 1651, but was released and reinstated vicar of St. Stephen's in 1652. He acquired fame as a preacher, but in 1662 was ejected at the Restoration. He continued, however, to exercise his ministry privately. In 1672 after the declaration of indulgence he obtained a license for Crosby Hall, where he preached for several years until his retirement to Barnston upon the failure of his health.

Watson was a man of learning and acquired fame by his quaint devotional and expository writings. Of his many works may be mentioned, The Art of Divine Contentment (London, 1653); The Saint's Delight 1657); Jerusalem's Glory (1661); The Divine Cordial (1663); The Godly Man's Picture (1666); The Holy Eucharist (1668); Heaven Taken by Storm (1669); and A Body of Practical Divinity, . . . One Hundred seventy Six Sermons on the Lesser Catechism (1692). He died at Barnston (28 miles n.e. of London) in July of 1686.

HE MUST INCREASE - I MUST DECREASE...challenging protestant popery and the cult of personality within the pastorate

Encore Presentation

I was speaking with a friend of mine recently who asked an intriguing question: "why is it that it seems that most famous pastors of mega-churches tend to reach a point very quickly where they embrace a "cult of personality" persona in regards to ministry?" Generalizations aside, there is some truth to that in that question. I think the answer is simple: we have made personalities of them and given them power, admiration, and authority that is not in keeping with servant-leadership or imitating Christ; and their lofty platforms, prove more times than not, very difficult for any man to handle. When sectarian loyalty abounds (1 Cor. 3), then believing ones own press release becomes a real danger. Even the best-intentioned subordinates on church staffs can succumb to this pressure when much of their time is spent trying to get close to "the senior pastor" and remain in his good graces for either reasons of influence, job security, or to gain advancement by riding on anothers coattails.

Whatever the reason, what is true in the secular business world known as "brown nosing" is sadly true within the Christian community as well. We don't like to admit it; we seldom talk about it; and very rarely challenge it. And in part, if one does, one might find oneself on the outs with some "leaders of influence" in local church or greater denominational circles.

That is why I am firmly against what I call "Protestant Popery"; and favor the biblical model of servant-leadership we see in the pastoral epistles. In saying that, I am blessed and very grateful to the Lord for my pastors at my home church who are a model for me of Christlike humility; who are submissive to the standard of God's Word as their final authority; who invest tirelessly in the daily lives of the people of the church; and who are content to be servants of Christ, instead of stars in evangelicalism. They have a low visibility, yet high impact for the kingdom of God. May their tribe increase!

Our Lord is not like what Tozer used to call "the glory boys of today." Paul said in 2 Cor. 10:1, "we are mindful of the humility and gentleness of Christ." What an example for pastors today. Our Lord, though King of kings and God in human flesh, humbled Himself as a bondservant (Phil. 2:5-11); washed His disciples feet (John 13:1-12); was a friend of sinners (Luke 7:31-50); embraced the cross despising the shame (Heb. 12:2); and even submitted to the injustices of evil men (Acts 2:19-23). Pastors of large influential media driven churches today need to follow Christ and His example of leadership. They need to come down to the people, take up the towel, water and washbasin, serve God’s people daily, be men of fervent prayer privately before ever ascending to the pulpit publicly. They need to be more than expositors--more than effective communicators and leaders; they need to be under-shepherds who smell like sheep and are invested in the lives of the people. They need to be on the radio less, writing fewer books, maintaining a low visibility on TV with making the news talk-show appearances a rarity, limiting personal appearances around the country, and in their churches more. They need to disciple their fellow elders, deacons and lay leaders every week. They need to be more than excellent orators; they need to servants (1 Cor. 4:1-2). Ministry in famous pulpits alone breeds not humility, servanthood and Christlikeness, but left imbalanced could result in increased power, unjustified authority, and fosters unbroken pride. What's the solution? Accountability. Who shepherds the shepherd each week beloved? Who does the pastor submit himself too for discipleship? Who is willing to challenge his words, evaluate his preaching, examine his life, and hold him responsible to his holy charge from heaven? (2 Tim. 4:1-5).

May I encourage you today to email this to as many pastors, youth group leaders, missionaries, elders and deacons as you can. It will convict them, and in turn, bless them. Pray for your pastors and leaders at your church. Love them, serve them, encourage them, exhort them, and walk with them (Heb. 13:7; 17). May the following words give you some good insight in beginning to answer those important questions above.

Grace and peace,
Steve

To God be the glory alone; and may God help the man who takes any for himself.

“When all men honor us, then we may very well he content; but when the finger of scorn is pointed at us, when our character is held in ill repute, and men hiss us by the wayside, it requires much gospel knowledge to be able to endure that with patience and with cheerfulness. When we are increasing, and growing in rank, and honor, and human esteem, it is easy work to be contented; but when we have to say with John the Baptist, “I must decrease,” or when we see some other servant advanced to our place and another man bearing the palm we had longed to hold, it is not easy to sit still, and without an envious feeling cry with Moses, “Would to God that all the Lord’s servants were prophets.”

To hear another man praised at your own expense, to find your own virtues made as a foil to set forth the superior excellence of some new rival —this, I say, is beyond human nature, to be able to bear it with joy and thankfulness, and to bless God. There must be something noble in the heart of the man who is able to lay all his honors down as willingly as he took them up, when he can as cheerfully submit himself to Christ to humble him, as to lift him up and seat him upon a throne. And yet, my brethren, we have not any one of us learned what the apostle knew, if we are not as ready to glorify Christ by shame, by ignominy and by reproach, as by honor and by esteem among men. We must be ready to give up everything for him. We must be willing to go downwards, in order that Christ’s name may ascend upwards, and be the better known and glorified among men.

“I know how to be abased,” says the apostle.” (Phil. 4:11)

(author unknown)

THE OLD GOSPEL COMPARED WITH THE NEW...discerning what it means to be a true follower of Jesus Christ

Adapted from J. I. Packer - on the gospel according to John Owen

Introduction:
by S.J. Camp

I have been in a debate of late on the content of the gospel and the call of the gospel. Some want to make the assertion that any kind of "gospel" presented is acceptable no matter how lacking in substance of message their gospel presentation may lack. Their reasoning? God will use anything in bringing salvation to lost people - even an incomplete gospel (by incomplete I mean there is no talk of repentance from sin, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, justification by faith alone, the law of God, etc.).

One writer claims that a beloved evangelical leader was converted by one obscure verse from the book of Ecclesiastes. Listen, no man is converted by such whimsical, romantic notions or casual verse reading that have nothing to do with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul says, "The gospel is the power of God unto salvation..." It must be the gospel proclaimed -unadulterated and unfettered - to bring Christ to men. "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ..." (cf, Roms. 1:16; 10:17)

We have a charge beloved to proclaim the gospel by the whole council of God and that we must. Fear no man; pay homage to no man, be swayed by no man; but let your conscience and heart be governed by the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Let not your tongue be muzzled by those who seek to control you, rather than serve you. The Word of God is like a fire to purify and burn away the chaff in our lives. And also, as Jeremiah says, the Word of God is also a hammer used to pound our transgressed lives upon the anvil of His holiness conforming us to the image of His Son.

The gospel of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ humbles itself to no one. The issue of the gospel is not how do we get sinful men to a holy God; the issue of the gospel is how does a holy God come to sinful men without violating His holiness and His justice? And the answer is the cross! Here mercy and justice kiss; here saving grace triumphs over wrath; here His electing love conquers our emnity; here holy God is satisfied and depraved man is justified.

Do not be impressed with surfboards, sentiment, scenary, and style. Be humbled at the love of God come through the propitiatory work of the Son. Be awed at the regenerating ministry of the Holy Spirit. Be rejoicing because we serve a risen, reigning, glorious Lord Jesus whose name is above every name. And be confident in the power of the Word of God to pierce and convict men's hearts, to bring them to their knees in repentance which God alone can grant. Be offended by those who seek to picture God as a lover begging on one knee for any sinner to take His engagement ring proposing as a nervous man to his girlfriend; and then waiting as an impotent Divine who can only observe what man may accept and decide.

Implore sinful men to be reconciled to God, to bow the knee before the holy dread Sovereign of Glory; to tremble at His Word; to repent of their sin crying out for forgiveness that God may grant them saving faith and take away their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Warn them of the wrath to come. Plead with them to not harden their hearts while today is still called today. God is not asking for decisions or looking for converts; God is seeking for true worshippers--disciples that will deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Him. He is seeking to save that which is lost. The Hound of Heaven is on the move--think not your little inventions add one thing to the soul in need of redemption. It is His gospel alone which transforms lives--we are but its stewards. And may we be found faithful!

"Let goods and kindred go
This mortal life also
The body they may kill
His truth abideth still
His kingdom is forever."

To that end, let us begin.

The Free Offer of Salvation:
The old gospel of Owen, first of all, contains no less full and free an offer of salvation than its modern counterpart. It presents ample grounds of faith (the sufficiency of Christ, and the promise of God), and cogent motives to faith (the sinner's need, and the Creator's command, which is also the Redeemer's invitation). The new gospel gains nothing here by asserting universal redemption. The old gospel, certainly, has no room for the cheap sentimentalizing which turns God's free mercy to sinners into a constitutional softheartedness on His part which we can take for granted; nor will it countenance the degrading presentation of Christ as the baffled Saviour, balked in what he hoped to do by human unbelief; nor will it indulge in maudlin appeals to the unconverted to let Christ save them out of pity for His disappointment. The pitiable Saviour and the pathetic God of modern pulpits are unknown to the old gospel.

The old gospel tells men that they need God, but not that God needs them (a modern falsehood); it does not exhort them to pity Christ, but announces that Christ has pitied them, though pity was the last thing they deserved. It never loses sight of the Divine majesty and sovereign power of the Christ whom it proclaims, but rejects flatly all representations of Him which would obscure His free omnipotence.

Electing Love to Sinners:
Does this mean, however, that the preacher of the old gospel is inhibited or confined in offering Christ to men and inviting them to receive Him? Not at all. In actual fact, just because he recognizes that Divine mercy is sovereign and free, he is in a position to make far more of the offer of Christ in his preaching than is the expositor of the new gospel; for this offer is itself a far more wonderful thing on his principles than it can ever be in the eyes of those who regard love to all sinners as a necessity of God's nature, and therefore a matter of course. To think that the holy Creator, who never needed man for His happiness and might justly have banished our fallen race for ever without mercy, should actually have chosen to redeem some of them! and that His own Son was willing to undergo death and descend into hell to save them! and that now from His throne He should speak to ungodly men as He does in the words of the gospel, urging upon them the command to repent and believe in the form of a compassionate invitation to pity themselves and choose life! These thoughts are the focal points round which the preaching of the old gospel revolves. It is all wonderful, just because none of it can be taken for granted. But perhaps the most wonderful thing of all - the holiest spot in all the holy ground of gospel truth - is the free invitation which "the Lord Christ " (as Owen loves to call Him) issues repeatedly to guilty sinners to come to Him and find rest for their souls. It is the glory of these invitations that it is an omnipotent King who gives them, just as it is a chief part of the glory of the enthroned Christ that He condescends still to utter them. And it is the glory of the gospel ministry that the preacher goes to men as Christ's ambassador, charged to deliver the King's invitation personally to every sinner present and to summon them all to turn and live. Owen himself enlarges on this in a passage addressed to the unconverted.

"Consider the infinite condescension and love of Christ, in his invitations and calls of you to come unto him for life, deliverance, mercy, grace, peace and eternal salvation. Multitudes of these invitations and calls are recorded in the Scripture, and they are all of them filled up with those blessed encouragements which divine wisdom knows to be suited unto lost, convinced sinners.... In the declaration and preaching of them, Jesus Christ yet stands before sinners, calling, inviting, encouraging them to come unto him.

Passionate Appeal - Warning and Invitation:
"This is somewhat of the word which he now speaks unto you: Why will ye die? why will ye perish? why will ye not have compassion on your own souls? Can your hearts endure, or can your hands be strong, in the day of wrath that is approaching?... Look unto me, and be saved; come unto me, and I will ease you of all sins, sorrows, fears, burdens, and give rest unto your souls. Come, I entreat you; lay aside all procrastinations, all delays; put me off no more; eternity lies at the door... do not so hate me as that you will rather perish than accept of deliverance by me.

"These and the like things doth the Lord Christ continually declare, proclaim, plead and urge upon the souls of sinners.... He doth it in the preaching of the word, as if he were present with you, stood amongst you, and spake personally to every one of you. He hath appointed the ministers of the gospel to appear before you, and to deal with you in his stead, avowing as his own the invitations which are given you in his name, 2 Cor. v.19,20,"

These invitations are universal; Christ addresses them to sinners, as such, and every man, as he believes God to be true, is bound to treat them as God's words to him personally and to accept the universal assurance which accompanies them, that all who come to Christ will be received. Again, these invitations are real; Christ genuinely offers Himself to all who hear the gospel, and is in truth a perfect Saviour to all who trust Him. The question of the extent of the atonement does not arise in evangelistic preaching; the message to be delivered is simply this - that Christ Jesus, the sovereign Lord, who died for sinners, now invites sinners freely to Himself. God commands all to repent and believe; Christ promises life and peace to all who do so.

Furthermore, these invitations are marvelously gracious; men despise and reject them, and are never in any case worthy of them, and yet Christ still issues them. He need not, but He does. "Come unto me… and I will give you rest" remains His word to the world, never cancelled, always to be preached. He whose death has ensured the salvation of all His people is to be proclaimed everywhere as a perfect Saviour, and all men invited and urged to believe on Him, whoever they are, whatever they have been. Upon these three insights the evangelism of the old gospel is based.

It is a very ill-informed supposition that evangelistic preaching which proceeds on these principles must be anemic and half-hearted by comparison with what Arminians can do. Those who study the printed sermons of worthy expositors of the old gospel, such as Bunyan (whose preaching Owen himself much admired), or Whitefield, or Spurgeon, will find that in fact they hold forth the Saviour and summon sinners to Him with a fullness, warmth, intensity and moving force unmatched in Protestant pulpit literature. And it will be found on analysis that the very thing which gave their preaching its unique power to overwhelm their audiences with broken-hearted joy at the riches of God's grace - and still gives it that power, let it be said, even with hard-boiled modem readers - was their insistence on the fact that grace is free. They knew that the dimensions of Divine love are not half understood till one realizes that God need not have chosen to save nor given his Son to die; nor need Christ have taken upon him vicarious damnation to redeem men, nor need He invite sinners indiscriminately to Himself as He does; but that all God's gracious dealings spring entirely from His own free purpose.

Biblical Gospel Evangelistic Preaching - No Surfboards Allowed:
Knowing this, they stressed it, and it is this stress that sets their evangelistic preaching in a class by itself. Other Evangelicals, possessed of a more superficial and less adequate theology of grace, have laid the main emphasis in their gospel preaching on the sinner's need of forgiveness, or peace, or power, and of the way to get them by "deciding for Christ." It is not to be denied that their preaching has done good (for God will use His truth, even when imperfectly held and mixed with error), although this type of evangelism is always open to the criticism of being too man-centered and pietistic; but it has been left (necessarily) to Calvinists and those who, like the Wesleys, fall into Calvinistic ways of thought as soon as they begin a sermon to the unconverted, to preach the gospel in a way which highlights above - everything else the free love, willing condescension, patient long-suffering and infinite kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Without doubt, this is the most Scriptural and edifying way to preach it; for gospel invitations to sinners never honour God and exalt Christ more, nor are more powerful to awaken and confirm faith, than when full weight is laid on the free omnipotence of the mercy from which they flow. It looks, indeed, as if the preachers of the old gospel are the only people whose position allows them to do justice to the revelation of Divine goodness in the free offer of Christ to sinners.

Then, in the second place, the old gospel safeguards values which the new gospel loses. We saw before that the new gospel, by asserting universal redemption and a universal Divine saving purpose, compels itself to cheapen grace and the Cross by denying that the Father and the Son are sovereign in salvation; for it assures us that, after God and Christ have done all that they can, or will, it depends finally on each man's own choice whether God's purpose to save him is realized or not. This position has two unhappy results.

The first is that it compels us to misunderstand the significance of the gracious invitations of Christ in the gospel of which we have been speaking; for we now have to read them, not as expressions of the tender patience of a mighty sovereign, but as the pathetic pleadings of impotent desire; and so the enthroned Lord is suddenly metamorphosed into a weak, futile figure tapping forlornly at the door of the human heart, which He is powerless to open. This is a shameful dishonour to the Christ of the New Testament.

The second implication is equally serious: for this view in effect denies our dependence on God when it comes to vital decisions, takes us out of His hand, tells us that we are, after all, what sin taught us to think we were-masters of our fate, captain of our souls-and so undermines the very foundation of man's religious relationship with his Maker. It can hardly be wondered at that the converts of the new gospel are so often both irreverent and irreligious, for such is the natural tendency of this teaching. The old gospel, however, speaks very differently and has a very different tendency. On the one hand, in expounding man's need of Christ, it stresses something which the new gospel effectively ignores - that sinners cannot obey the gospel, any more than the law, without renewal of heart. On the other hand, in declaring Christ's power to save, it proclaims Him as the author and chief agent of conversion, coming by His Spirit as the gospel goes forth to renew men's hearts and draw them to Himself.

God Must Give What God Commands:
Accordingly, in applying the message, the old gospel, while stressing that faith is man's duty, stresses also that faith is not in man's power, but that God must give what He commands. It announces, not merely that men must come to Christ for salvation, but also that they cannot come unless Christ Himself draws them. Thus it labours to overthrow self-confidence, to convince sinners that their salvation is altogether out of their hands, and to shut them up to a self-despairing dependence on the glorious grace of a sovereign Saviour, not only for their righteousness but for their faith too.

It is not likely, therefore, that a preacher of the old gospel will be happy to express the application of it in the form of a demand to "decide for Christ," as the current phrase is. For, on the one hand, this phrase carries the wrong associations. It suggests voting a person into office - an act in which the candidate plays no part beyond offering himself for election, and everything then being settled by the voter's independent choice. But we do not vote God's Son into office as our Saviour, nor does He remain passive while preachers campaign on His behalf, whipping up support for His cause. We ought not to think of evangelism as a kind of electioneering. And then, on the other hand, this phrase obscures the very thing that is essential in repentance and faith - the denying of self in a personal approach to Christ. It is not at all obvious that deciding for Christ is the same as coming to Him and resting On Him and turning from sin and self-effort; it sounds like something much less, and is accordingly calculated to instill defective notions of what the gospel really requires of sinners. It is not a very apt phrase from any point of view.

To the question: what must I do to be saved? the old gospel replies: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. To the further question: what does it mean to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? its reply is: it means knowing oneself to be a sinner, and Christ to have died for sinners, [and who was resurrected bodily from the grave for our justification]; abandoning all self-righteousness and self-confidence, and casting oneself wholly upon Him for pardon arid peace; and exchanging one's natural enmity and rebellion against God for a spirit of grateful submission to the will of Christ through the renewing of one's heart by the Holy Ghost.

And to the further question still: how am I to go about believing on Christ and repenting, if I have no natural ability to do these things? it answers: look to Christ, speak to Christ, cry to Christ, just as you are; confess your sin, your impenitence, your unbelief, and cast yourself on His mercy; ask Him to give you a new heart, working in you true repentance and firm faith; ask Him to take away your evil heart of unbelief and to write His law within you, that you may never henceforth stray from Him. Turn to Him and trust Him as best you can, and pray for grace to turn and trust more thoroughly; use the means of grace expectantly, looking to Christ to draw near to you as you seek to draw near to Him; watch, pray, read and hear God's Word, worship and commune with God's people, and so continue till you know in yourself beyond doubt that you are indeed a changed being, a penitent believer, and the new heart which you desired has been put within you. The emphasis in this advice is on the need to call upon Christ directly, as the very first step.

"Let not conscience make you linger,
 Nor of fitness fondly dream;

All the fitness He requireth
 Is to feel your need of Him"

So do not postpone action till you think you are better, but honestly confess your badness and give yourself up here and now to the Christ who alone can make you better; and wait on Him till His light rises in your soul, as Scripture promises that it shall do. Anything less than this direct dealing with Christ is disobedience of the gospel. Such is the exercise of spirit to which the old evangel summons its hearers. "I believe-help thou mine unbelief": this must become their cry.

Bringing Christ to Men:
And the old gospel is proclaimed in the sure confidence that the Christ of whom it testifies, the Christ who is the real speaker when the Scriptural invitations to trust Him are expounded and applied, is not passively waiting for man's decision as the word goes forth, but is omnipotently active, working with and through the word to bring His people to faith in Himself. The preaching of the new gospel is often described as the task of "bringing men to Christ " - as if only men move, while Christ stands still. But the task of preaching the old gospel could more properly be described as bringing Christ to men, for those who preach it know that as they do their work of setting Christ before men's eyes, the mighty Saviour whom they proclaim is busy doing His work through their words, visiting sinners with salvation, awakening them to faith, drawing them in mercy to Himself.

It is this older gospel, which Owen will teach us to preach: the gospel of the sovereign grace of God in Christ as the author and finisher of faith and salvation. It is the only gospel, which can be preached on Owen's principles, but those who have tasted its sweetness will not in any case be found looking for another. In the matter of believing and preaching the gospel, as in other things, Jeremiah's words still have their application:

"Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." To find ourselves debarred, as Owen would debar us, from taking up with the fashionable modern substitute gospel may not, after all, be a bad thing, either for us, or for the Church. More might be said, but to go farther would be to exceed the limits of an introductory essay. The foregoing remarks are made simply to show how important it is at the present time that we should attend most carefully to… what the Bible says about the saving work of Christ.