*UPDATE* RICK WARREN TO BE FEATURED AT DESIRING GOD 2010

*UPDATE* RICK WARREN TO BE FEATURED AT DESIRING GOD 2010

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Palm Sunday Sermon: Supernatural Savior

[You can hear the audio of this sermon by going to Christ Church Longwood: Sermons.]

Scripture Lessons for Palm Sunday:

Isaiah 6:1-12

Psalm 110

Ephesians 2:1-22

John 12:12-36

Supernatural Christianity: Temporary Suffering and the Eternal Kingdom

A man dies and goes to heaven. St. Peter meets him at the pearly gates.

St. Peter says, "Here's how it works. You need 100 points to make it into heaven. You tell me all the good things you've done, and I give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you reach 100 points, you get in."

"Okay" the man says, "I attended church every Sunday"
"That's good, says St. Peter, " that's worth two points"

"Two points?" he says. "Well, I gave 10% of all my earnings to the church"
"Well, let's see," answers Peter, "that's worth another 2 points. Did you do anything else?"

"Two points? Golly. How about this: I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans."

"Fantastic, that's certainly worth a point, " he says.

"hmmm...," the man says, "I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated on her, even in my heart."
"That's wonderful," says St. Peter, "that's worth three points!"

"THREE POINTS!!" the man cries, "At this rate the only way I get into heaven is by the grace of God!"

"Come on in!"

Introduction:

Often we do not realize how fragile our lives are. At any moment tragedy can strike and we are caught off guard and moved out of our false sense of security and our comfort zone. At such moments we are confronted with our bare mortality and the impending hour of our death. Death comes to us all yet we have a supernatural Savior who conquered sin and the curse of death for us by dying a criminal's death on the cross in our place.

Recently, the Science Channel aired a television special called, Apollo 11: The Untold Story. In that documentary we're told how close the Apollo mission to the moon came to disaster on several occasions. First, Neil Armstrong was nearly killed in a training accident when he was flying a mock version of the lunar lander. Later, during the landing on the moon, the guidance computer went haywire and the lander was able to land with only 15 seconds of fuel to spare. To make matters worse, on the take off from the moon the instruments designed to discharge the rocket broke off and Armstrong had to use a ball point pin to get the lander back to orbit for docking. The lander itself was made of what can only be described as tin foil because weight was such a critical issue that heavier shielding was unthinkable. The most amazing thing is that the computers actually on board the Apollo spacecraft were no more powerful than what you get today in a $20 digital watch. Our lives are literally in the hands of Almighty God from one second to the next. It truly was providential that the Apollo missions were successful because they were all in fact highly dangerous and the lives of the astronauts were continually at risk as even the movie Apollo 13 shows. Likewise, our lives are in the hands of Almighty God literally from one moment to the next.

I. First of all, we have a problem accepting the supernatural power of God. If this world is all there is, then basically there is no hope here or ever. Our lives are merely a temporary illusion before we pass into absolute non-existence. There really is no such thing as right or wrong since those are merely human inventions for the well being of society as a whole.

a. We have a problem accepting that Jesus Christ is Lord. We have no problem accepting that Jesus was a good man whose example we should follow but do have a problem accepting that He is fully God just as He claimed to be and just as Scripture portrays Him.

b. John's Gospel is primarily about proving that Jesus is really God come to earth in a true human body and nature. John 1:1-3 tells us:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1-3 ESV)

c. How great a miracle is that? The miracle of creation itself is attributed to Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God who was in the bosom of the Father before He became incarnate in human form. And John tells us that Jesus did supernatural signs to confirm that He really was God come to us in the flesh:

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; ³¹ but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31 ESV)

d. According to John's Gospel, a sign is not simply something a wise man does but rather a sign is something a divine man does. The sign points to a greater reality behind the man and in fact points to the fact that He is not just a good man or a wise teacher or a good example but He is in fact the Son of God who came to earth on a mission from God.

II. The Proof that Jesus is God in the Flesh

a. Jesus is God because He does miracles by His own authority and His own divine power.

Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days." ⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me." ⁴³ When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." ⁴⁴ The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." (John 11:39-44 ESV)

b. Our text tells us that the crowd witnessed this miracle and told others who were on the way to the festival in Jerusalem so they all came to see this Jesus who had performed such a great miracle.

c. There is no doubt about the miracle in the minds of the people. Today we doubt the miraculous because we are told that God cannot supernaturally intervene in the natural world. What we wind up with is a form of religion without the power thereof. Religion from below—that is religion in this world is natural. Man-made religion cannot see the revelation of God but rather views religion as just so much myth. Religion is composed of fairy tales and stories, according to the world.

d. The fact is, however, that materialism and science can only tell us the mechanical aspects of the natural world. Science cannot speak to the issue of "why". Christianity is not just another religion but is the ultimately true religion because it is revealed from above. Basically, atheism and agnosticism have no scientific basis for objecting to supernatural religion. Rather the truth is that materialism, atheism, and agnosticism are as much based on dogma as any other religion. How can it be proved that dead men never rise from the dead ever? This is not an empirically verifiable statement which can be scientifically proven and is therefore not based in science but in presuppositions and dogma.

e. So what sets Christianity apart from every other world religion and from even scientific materialism? Christianity is the ultimate and most advanced religion on the face of the earth precisely because it has the highest morality of any religion and because Christianity is not like other religions. Other religions are towers of Babel—man-made ladders which attempt to climb from the earth up to God in heaven. But Christianity is God reaching down to helpless sinners in His Son Jesus Christ.

III. Modern technology cannot give us immortality or eternal life and modern civilization cannot bring us a utopia or paradise on earth.

a. Just as in Jesus' day people follow God for all the wrong reasons. We think that if we follow God that somehow we are guaranteed that there will be no suffering in this life and we will have security until we die. We think the answer lies in belonging to the right political party or to the right country or government on earth. But the Apostle Paul said:

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. (Philippians 3:20-21 ESV)

IV. Too Often We Bargain with God

The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. ¹⁸ The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. (John 12:17-18 ESV)

We say things like, "God if only you will do this for me then I'll serve you for the rest of my life." But we don't realize that there is no bargaining with God. He does not owe us anything. In times of desperation we pray for miracles and demand signs from God. "God, if you will just give me what I want, I will do whatever you ask. I'll believe in you if you will raise someone I love from the dead." But the Bible says that there will be no sign given to this wicked generation except the sign of Jonah. Just as Christ was three days and three nights in the belly of the earth, so we too will be raised from the dead at the last day. Jesus said:

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26 ESV)

And even if we get the miracle that we ask for we often still do not believe. In the parable of Lazarus and the rich man Jesus says that if we do not believe Moses and the prophets we will not believe even if someone rises from the dead:

But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.' ³⁰ And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' ³¹ He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'" (Luke 16:29-31 ESV)

Conclusion:

The fact is, we cannot believe because we are powerless to believe God. Christianity is a supernatural religion because even our faith is supernaturally given to us from above. Jesus said, "You must be born again or born from above." Unless and until God supernaturally touches us, John says that we are unable to believe:

Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, ³⁸ so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: "Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" ³⁹ Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, ⁴⁰ "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them." ⁴¹ Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. (John 12:37-41 ESV)

We have an overinflated sense of our own power, not realizing that God controls not only nature but that He can also supernaturally intervene. He does not need our faith to do anything just as Lazarus had no faith when he was dead and in the grave. In the same way, God supernaturally raises us from spiritual death and transforms us by His grace into the image and likeness of Christ. The signs or miracles point us to the God who is there. He will never leave us nor forsake us because we were bought by the precious blood of Jesus Christ who suffered on the cross to reconcile His Father to us.

Modern churches often make it sound as if we need to apologize for God. It is as though God is in the hands of angry sinners and somehow we need to appease sinners so they will accept God. But that isn't the biblical picture at all. The Bible clearly says that we are sinners in the hands of an angry God and it is God's wrath which needs to be appeased or propitiated. We can only have peace with God through the cross of Jesus Christ who bore the sins of the whole world that we might believe in Him.

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36 ESV)

Since God demands 100% holiness—not 95% or even 99%-- only the perfect obedience of Christ credited to our account can pass God's test. The bank account of holiness is give to us as if it were our own. And Jesus pays the penalty for our sins and grants us a full pardon so that we no longer face the curse of the law and the curse of death. Jesus literally is our resurrection and our life. The point of Palm Sunday is not that we will not suffer in this life but that through suffering we inherit eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. If we would see Jesus we must see Him on the cross and we must take up our cross and follow Him.

The signs Jesus did prove to us that He is who He said He was. He is both God and man precisely because only a divine man could possibly pay for our sins. The Heidelberg Catechism puts it this way:

14. Can any mere creature make satisfaction for us?

None; for first, God will not punish any other creature for the sin which man committed;[1] and further, no mere creature can sustain the burden of God's eternal wrath against sin and redeem others from it.[2]

[1] Ezek 18:4, 20; Heb 2:14-18; [2] Ps 130:3; Nah 1:6

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15. What kind of mediator and redeemer, then, must we seek?

One who is a true[1] and righteous man,[2] and yet more powerful than all creatures, that is, one who is also true God.[3]

[1] 1 Cor 15:21-22, 25-26; Heb 2:17; [2] Isa 53:11; Jer 13:16; 2 Cor 5:21; Heb 7:26; [3] Isa 7:14, 9:6; Jer 23:6; Jn 1:1; Rom 8:3-4; Heb 7:15-16

Bishop J. C. Ryle said:

What is the true cause of self-righteousness? How is it that such a poor, weak, erring creature as man can ever dream of deserving anything at God's hands? It all arises from ignorance. The eyes of our understandings are naturally blinded. We see neither ourselves, nor our lives, nor God, nor the law of God, as we ought. Once let the light of grace shine into a man's heart, and the reign of self-righteousness is over.

The roots of pride may remain, and often put forth bitter shoots. But the reign of pride is broken when the Spirit comes into the heart, and shows the man himself and God. The true Christian will never trust in his own goodness. He will say with Paul, "I am the chief of sinners." (1 Tim. 1:15) "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Gal. 6:14.)

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

http://www.eskimo.com/~lhowell/bcp1662/

www.reasonablechristian.blogspot.com

The Silence of the Shepherds, by John Robbins

The Silence of the Shepherds

May 2006

One of the remarkable things about the current justification controversy is the silence of the most prominent and visible Presbyterian shepherds: men such as D. James Kennedy and R. C. Sproul. I understand that both these men are older and have had their health problems, but they are also the most visible spokesmen for Presbyterian theology in the United States. They have created and are backed by large and prosperous organizations, Coral Ridge Ministries and Ligonier Ministries; they have regular, coast-to-coast television and radio programs; they host many regional conferences and seminars; they publish hundreds of books, recordings, and periodicals; and they send out fundraising letters by the million. Why have they not spoken out clearly and forcefully against the heresies dividing the Presbyterian churches and seminaries in the United States? R. C. Sproul is undoubtedly distracted by his wayward son and namesake, Junior, a longtime fellow traveler of Douglas Wilson and the Federal Vision cult, who was recently removed from office by his denomination, the Reformed Presbyterian Church General Assembly, for just cause. In Junior's previous difficulties, such as his rejection by the Presbyterian Church of America, Senior, a Teaching Elder in the PCA, stood shoulder to shoulder with his son, defending his un-Biblical beliefs and practices. There is no indication that he will do anything less during the present debacle. Already Senior Sproul is suggesting that the RPCGA charges were fraudulent, and they are charges to which Junior confessed. Back in the 1990s, Senior Sproul was an outspoken critic of Charles Colson's, J. I. Packer's and Cardinal Cassidy's cult, Evangelicals and Catholics Together, but in the twenty-first century, he remains silent on the New Perspective on Paul and the Federal Vision, both forms of heresy rife in his denomination, the PCA; and he is silent on Norman Shepherdism, the form of Neo-Legalism rife in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Junior Sproul, while he was editor of Table Talk, the monthly devotional publication of Ligonier Ministries used to advance its theological agenda, made sure that Douglas Wilson appeared in the magazine monthly, and that his friends, Steve Wilkins and Steve Schlissel, appeared occasionally. The present editor, Keith Mathison, also shares those views, having published a book attacking the Biblical and Protestant view of Scripture (though it purports, as the most clever attacks do, to be defending the 'real,' 'traditional' Protestant view). What appears to be happening with the Sprouls, and with D. James Kennedy as well, is entirely to be expected: Their philosophy is undermining their theology. Their Thomist / Romanist / evidentialist philosophy, which denies that Scripture is the axiom of Christianity, and which tells us that we must demonstrate the existence of God and the reliability of God's Word by arguments taken from sensation and observation, is subverting and compromising their Presbyterian theology. Kennedy, for example, invites Roman Catholics to speak at his conferences; he features N. T. Wright on his television program; he preaches the Gospel in the Zodiac; and he allows his political agenda, which is futile, to obscure and pervert his proclamation of the Gospel. It is very difficult for men and ministries that feature proponents of the New Perspective on Paul, Federal Vision, and Roman Catholic theology to criticize the Romanizing movements in their own churches. In fact, they have contributed to those Romanizing movements. In his most recent effort, the movie, The DaVinci Delusion, Kennedy includes several Roman Catholics as spokesmen, thus blurring the critical and crucial distinction between the Roman Catholic Church-State, whose theology and philosophy is a pack of historical and traditional lies, and the Church of Jesus Christ, which rests solely on the inerrant Scriptures. By their complicity, the prominent Presbyterian shepherds turn the whole DaVinci Code debate into an atheist versus Romanist debate, and Christianity is completely obscured. The silence of the shepherds in dealing with the heresies in their own churches stems from their compromised philosophy and theology. They cannot clearly articulate their differences with Rome, or practice what those differences require, because at bottom they agree with Rome. The reject Biblical philosophy and accept the Thomism of Rome. That common ground inexorably leads them to seek common ground elsewhere, such as in political action. John Robbins The Trinity Foundation May 17, 2006

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

http://www.eskimo.com/~lhowell/bcp1662/

www.reasonablechristian.blogspot.com

Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Living Out the Gospel and the Sovereignty of God

Either God supernaturally intervenes or He does not.  He is both immanent in the world and transcendent above it.  In fact, God existed before all worlds and is the uncaused first cause of the whole creation.  Not only are miracles supernatural interventions by God into the natural creation but salvation itself is a supernatural breaking into the natural, material world.  Since the fall of Adam all human beings have been corrupted in their human nature and all freely and willing sin from the time of their birth.  The whole human race died spiritually in Adam and inherit a total corruption of their human nature or being directly from Adam.  Thus, only the supernatural rebirth or regeneration from above can bring individual men and women and children to saving faith in Jesus Christ.

 

This difference between the Gospel and salvation by works is so great that only a divine man, Jesus Christ, could live a completely sinless life for us and die for us on the cross and bear the divine wrath of God against us in our place.  Even our sanctification is imperfect because the corruption of Adam remains in our human nature even after we have been justified by faith alone.  So the process of sanctification is as much a supernatural gift of God as is our initial rebirth or regeneration.  God regenerates us and then we believe.  (John 3:3-8;  3:16-18; 3:36; 5:24; 6:44; 6:65).  We should never forget that salvation is all of God and is a monergistic work of God in us and not something we cooperate with as if God does His part and then we do our part.  God is not our co-pilot.  God is our King!   (Philippians 2:11-13).

 

God supernaturally provides for us through the secondary means of providence in this world.  He gives us all that we have--including our jobs and our homes and our food on the table.  For this we ought to give continual thanks.  Often at meal times we say a perfunctory prayer of thanksgiving, taking for granted that all God gives us is His. 

 

But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. (1 Chronicles 29:14 KJV)

I am currently out of work due to the economic down turn.  The home where I was renting burned to the ground and I now find myself with limited options.  Although God continues to provide through unemployment compensation, I am literally at God's mercy.  It is times like these when we learn to trust God completely even when things look impossible.  I even had a job offer which was withdrawn due to problems in my past which occurred more than ten years ago.  The Lord gives and the Lord takes away and we must continue in faith without complaining and grumbling.

 

When I finish the race it will not be because I endured in my own strength but because God Himself gave me everything I needed to get there.  (2 Timothy 4:7).  It is not a matter of cooperation but of trusting God to do it all.  God does not help those who help themselves.  God gives us faith and everything else.  Salvation is truly all of God and we contribute absolutely nothing no matter how holy we think we are.  God could justly cut my life short but I trust in His promises for His eternal salvation through the covenant of grace established in Genesis 3:15 and Genesis 17:1-7.

 

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. ³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:28-32 ESV)

 

  Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
    Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

 

http://www.eskimo.com/~lhowell/bcp1662/

 

www.reasonablechristian.blogspot.com

R. Scott Clark on the Similarities Between Theonomy and Federal Vision

 

 

The True Cause of Self-Righteousness by J.C. Ryle

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The True Cause of Self-Righteousness Posted: 25 Mar 2010 06:00 PM PDT What is the true cause of self-righteousness? How is it that such a poor, weak, erring creature as man can ever dream of deserving anything at God's hands? It all arises from ignorance. The eyes of our understandings are naturally blinded. We see neither ourselves, nor our lives, nor God, nor the law of God, as we ought. Once let the light of grace shine into a man's heart, and the reign of self-righteousness is over. The roots of pride may remain, and often put forth bitter shoots. But the reign of pride is broken when the Spirit comes into the heart, and shows the man himself and God. The true Christian will never trust in his own goodness. He will say with Paul, "I am the chief of sinners." (1 Tim. 1:15) "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Gal. 6:14.) ~ J.C. Ryle Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 2 , [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1998], 228, 229. Filed under: Pride

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R. C. Sproul: Sovereignty of God

The Annunciation of Mary: From the 1662 Book of Common Prayer

The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This Festival (fixed in date by Christmas) is of early origin, being apparently an old established Festival in the 7th century. Like the Purification, it is properly a Festival of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and this idea is preserved in the Collect. But as it dwells on the Blessed Virgin, as highly favoured of the Lord, it naturally passed into a commemoration of her; and (as is shown by its popular name "Lady Day"), became the chief of the various Festivals, which in later times marked the ever-increasing reverence directed towards the mother of the Lord -- prolific of a mass of extraordinary legend, and of a veneration, which has become actual worship. It is beyond all dispute that Holy Scripture and primitive antiquity, while they bring out her blessedness and dignity, give no vestige of authority for all that has gone beyond this, both in the Eastern and in the Western Church. -- March 25th.

D A I S Y Versus T U L I P

Red Herrings Characterize Attack on Biblical Inerrancy at Erskine College

Leaving a Church? Think Twice

Phillip Jensen asks Mark Dever - When is it ever right to leave a church? from Audio Advice on Vimeo.

Michael Jensen Defends the Sacraments Against Overreaction

The following comment is from Michael Jensen's blog, The Blogging Parson:  Sacraments.  While Michael Jensen gets particular atonement wrong, he is surely correct in his assessment of David Broughton Knox's overreaction against the sacraments and Knox's highly tendentious reading of the texts dealing with water baptism in the New Testament.  Knox's biases led him to extremely untenable positions on the sacraments such that at one point he even sounds like a oneness pentecostal in his discussion of Acts 2:38.

 

Part of the heritage of living in a society where the Protestant-Catholic divide used to be more prominent in our consciousness than it now is is an extreme jitteriness about the sacraments. In evangelical Anglican churches, we have been so afraid of appearing Catholic, or of appearing to say that the sacraments actually do something, that we have denuded the sacraments of any significance in our church life entirely. It was also part of a reductionistic and rationalistic turn in Sydney Anglican theology (in my opinion) of which Broughton Knox was the father.

This was an unfortunate and unnecessary overreaction which has robbed a generation of hearing the power of the Word of God preached in this way. The sacraments are powerful precisely because they are the enacted word of God - and the word of God is powerful indeed! It is a shame, because by focussing on controversy, we became afraid of doing something wrong and so missed out on something that is so very good. Of course you don't have to be baptised, if it is understood as a work that achieves your salvation. But you do have to do it as a command of the Lord Jesus. The logic here is the same as saying "you don't need to have sex to be married - sex is only the symbolic physical enactment of your marriage, and we are beyond it and also, people often mistake the symbolic physical enactment for the real thing so we should avoid confusion by making sure we never even appear to have sex."

I think there is an important principle BEHIND the issue for evangelicals however. Do we do only that which is ordained in the Bible? Or, given that the Bible does not speak about many matters, do we listen to and give heed to tradition in its stead? For example, the Bible tells us not very much about how the Lord's Supper was celebrated. But since the earliest times (and I mean the very earliest times) it has been celebrated in a particular form. Isn't that worth something? I am not saying that it has an absolute authority, but surely it allows that this was the way in which early Christians understood this matter and so we would not be wrong to do the same.

 

Michael Jensen teaches at Moore Theological College and is the son of Archbishop Peter Jensen.

 

  Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
    Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

 

http://www.eskimo.com/~lhowell/bcp1662/

 

www.reasonablechristian.blogspot.com

Solid Ground Books: Reformed Christian Classics and Theology

I picked up a book during the Reformation Society meeting last weekend. I will be reviewing Biblical and Theological Studies: A Commemoration of 100 Years of Princeton Seminary, reprint of 1912 edition, (Birmingham: Solid Ground, 2003). One article, "On the Emotional Life of Our Lord," by Benjamin B. Warfield holds particular interest for me. Be on the alert for the upcoming review.

Anglo-Catholic Church Joins CANA and Gets Publicity on the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals Website

I find it amazing that the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals does not know that CANA or the Convocation of Anglicans in North America is essentially a "conservative" Anglo-Catholic denomination. Anglo-Catholics do not accept the five solas of the protestant reformation and they certainly do not uphold sola scriptura or the doctrine that Scripture alone is the final and infallible rule for doctrine and faith. Rather, Anglo-Catholicism has the same doctrine of Scripture that Rome has. In other words, the church is equal in authority to Scripture and tells people what to believe rather than pointing them to Scripture.

Any minister who refers to himself as "father" is obviously not "reformed"! The pastor signed this letter as "Father," or "Fr. Don Helmandollar". To see the original letter click on, "Why We Left the Episcopal Church." It seems to me that cobelligerency is continually being confused with the Gospel. The two are not the same thing at all. For this reason I am calling all reformation believers to separate from Anglo-Catholics, Federal Visionists, and Arminians. The Gospel cannot be compromised with false teaching for the sake of political goals.

Charlie

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

http://www.eskimo.com/~lhowell/bcp1662/

www.reasonablechristian.blogspot.com

The Reformation Society of Central Florida

Last night I heard two speakers at the conference for the Reformation Society of Central Florida, held at First Baptist Church of Markham Woods, Lake Mary, Florida.  The first speaker was Kenny St. John and the second was R. C. Sproul, Jr.  Those in attendance at the conference were predominately Reformed Baptists as were the books at the book table.

 

Kenny St. John's message was interesting and focused on the sovereignty of God.  However, during his presentation his Baptist predispositions kept appearing.  In one part of the sermon St. John said that a favorite professor his in seminary preached in a large church and St. John sensed an "anointing" was on the preacher.  This is not "reformed" theology but rather pentecostal theology.  The term "anointing" is never used of any preacher in the Bible except for Jesus.  Also, St. John's heavy emphasis on relationship with Jesus and love for Jesus and one's neighbor were unwittingly a return to law.  The escape of a "relationship" defined by "doctrine" was merely giving lip service to the Gospel. 

 

Surprisingly, R. C. Sproul, Jr. gave a much more biblical message and stole his father's thunder with his message that we are all naturally "pelagians."  In fact, Sproul pretty much slammed the first speaker and even directly referred to St. John's "testimony" of being once a heroine addict as somehow "works" as a means of keeping ourselves saved.  Sproul rightly pointed out that we do not start out with grace and then keep ourselves by doing good works.  Rather, we are saved by grace and kept by grace until the very end.  At the hour of our death we no longer sin but through glorification become sinless as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was sinless.

 

I was suspicious of R. C. Sproul, Jr., however.  He is ordained by the Christian Reformed Evangelical Church, which is openly affiliated with the federal visionist movement.  There was one point in Sproul's sermon where he said that when we stand before God He will ask us why He should let us into His heaven we won't be able to say, "Lord, because I believe in justification by faith alone."  Rather, according to Sproul, we will say, "Lord, it is because I trusted in Christ alone to save me."  This is a false dichotomy.  The doctrine of justification by faith alone is defined precisely by the five solas of the Reformation, which Sproul also hinted were not the focus of Christianity in and of themselves.  It made me think that perhaps Sproul does not fully believe the five solas are biblical?  Of course, we believe in the person of Jesus Christ but right doctrine is essential to understanding who Jesus is.  The disjunction between the theology and apologetics of Cornelius Van Til versus the propositional apologetics of Gordon H. Clark come to mind here. 

 

The error of both speakers last night was to emphasize "relationship" over against "right doctrine."  The Scriptures over and over again emphasize sound doctrine and right doctrine as the only means of being in right relationship with God.  (Jude 1-7;  2 Timothy 3:15-17; 1 Timothy 6:3-4).  Popular Baptist pietism and an over-emphasis on holiness, as R.C., Jr. rightly pointed out, can lead even those in the Reformed camp into the same sort of pride and arrogance we observe in the Wesleyan holiness, entire sanctification theology of some Arminians.  We begin to focus on the outward works of the law and outward behavior rather than recognizing that we are totally depraved and corrupt in every part of our human nature and being.  There is nothing good in us at all and we must all cry out to God for mercy and for His grace.  (Romans 3:9, 3:23; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Galatians 3:22; 1 John 1:8-10).

 

Over all, however, I must say that Sproul preached the Gospel and upheld the doctrines of grace while St. John's commitment to Baptist tradition made him give mere lip service to the doctrines of grace and emphasize instead a pietistic emphasis on the law to love Jesus and love one's neighbor.  Law is still law no matter how we sugar coat it or dress it up as if it were the Gospel.  I think Baptists could profit greatly from reading Luther on this.

 

In fairness to St. John, however, he rightly pointed out that often there are conversions in Baptist churches where emotional appeals are made and the Gospel has not even been clearly presented.  People come to the front to shake the minister's hand because they are sorry they have a broken marriage rather than recognizing that they are lost sinners in the hands of an angry God.  It's not as though we are angry with God and Jesus comes to help us understand God and reconcile us to God.   The typical image is of a good God with lots of people who are wrongly angry with God.  If only we could persuade them that God is good they would be converted is the popular message.  But that is pelagianism.  The real picture is that we are not good.  We are totally depraved and it is God who is angry with us and that is the problem.  God needs to be reconciled to us and not that we need to be reconciled to God.  God does not answer to creatures but the creature must answer to the Creator for our rebellion both as original sin inherited from Adam and for our own actual sins. (Genesis 6:5-6; Romans 5:12-14).

 

Moreover, the event last night was encouraging because more people are being introduced to the doctrines of grace and the sovereignty of God.  However, more work needs to be done to broaden the exposure to other Christian denominations besides Southern Baptists and Presbyterians in the Presbyterian Church in America.  I think I was the only Anglican there last and there were only a few Presbyterians.

 

The Reformation Societies are part of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.  I am still curious as to why Michael Horton and the White Horse Inn folks have separated from the ACE.  I suppose that story might never be revealed.

 

 

  Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
    Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

 

The 1662 Book of Common Prayer

 

Free Masonry: Another Cult

Evangelical Archbishop, Peter Jensen Condemns the Election of Mary Glaspool as Bishop

Lesbian Episcopal Priest Elected as Bishop

Quote of the Day: Carl F. H. Henry on Relativizing the Scriptures

On the surface of it, to speak of the Bible as divinely authoritative may seem—and some modernist critics have formulated this as a theological objection—to elevate a second authority alongside that of God himself, or alongside Jesus Christ as Head of the church, or alongside the Spirit as the Giver of life. But does the Protestant principle sola scriptura really elevate a historical phenomenon to the level of divine majesty, ascribing too little to the living God because it ascribes too much to the Bible? Does it confer godlike worth in a subtle or sinister way on a human book with its human phrasing and vocabulary, thus putting it in devilish antithesis to the authentically divine and thereby affirming what must be devoutly resisted in the name of God, Christ, Spirit, revelation, and (some would even say) of the prophets and apostles themselves? Are the modern theological motivations for relativizing the Bible really nourished by a determination to preserve or protect the uncompromised absoluteness of God? Or does not the assault on an absolute Word or Bible and on an absolute God rather go hand in hand? Does not the substitution of exotic theological notions for the authoritative doctrine of Scripture involve the denial to God of one or another of the priorities that are rightfully and biblically his?

Carl F. H. Henry.  "The Authority and Inspiration of the Bible:  God's Word as Dynamically Vital".  The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Volume 1.

  Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
    Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

 

http://www.eskimo.com/~lhowell/bcp1662/

 

www.reasonablechristian.blogspot.com

Walter Martin: Free Masonry Is a Cult

Honouring Christ: Anglican Church League

Who Eats Inwardly, Not Outwardly; Who Eats with the Heart, and Not with the Teeth

15. Hence the distinction, if properly understood, repeatedly made by Augustine between the sacrament and the matter of the sacrament. For he does not mean merely that the figure and truth are therein contained, but that they do not so cohere as not to be separable, and that in this connection it is always necessary to distinguish the thing from the sign, so as not to transfer to the one what belongs to the other.^D123 Augustine speaks of the separation when he says that in the elect alone the sacraments accomplish what they represent (Augustin. de Bapt. Parvul.). Again, when speaking of the Jews, he says, "Though the sacraments were common to all, the grace was not common: yet grace is the virtue of the sacraments. Thus, too, the laver of regeneration is now common to all, but the grace by which the members of Christ are regenerated with their head is not common to all" (August. in Ps. 78). Again, in another place, speaking of the Lord's Supper, he says, "We also this day receive visible food; but the sacrament is one thing, the virtue of the sacrament another. Why is it that many partake of the altar and die, and die by partaking? For even the cup of the Lord was poison to Judas, not because he received what was evil, but being wicked he wickedly received what was good" (August. in Joann. Hom. 26). A little after, he says, "The sacrament of this thing, that is, of the unity of the body and blood of Christ, is in some places prepared every day, in others at certain intervals at the Lord's table, which is partaken by some unto life, by others unto destruction. But the thing itself, of which there is a sacrament, is life to all, and destruction to none who partake of it." Some time before he had said, "He who may have eaten shall not die, but he must be one who attains to the virtue of the sacrament, not to the visible sacrament; who eats inwardly, not outwardly; who eats with the heart, and not with the teeth." Here you are uniformly told that a sacrament is so separated from the reality by the unworthiness of the partaker, that nothing remains but an empty and useless figure.

Institutes of the Christian Religion.  John Calvin.  Book 4.14.15

 

  Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost;
    Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

 

http://www.eskimo.com/~lhowell/bcp1662/

 

www.reasonablechristian.blogspot.com

The "Failure" of James I. Packer

Erskine College Obtains Restraining Order Against ARP Synod

Do Not Be Rash But Wise by J.C. Ryle

May we all learn a lesson from this insightful excerpt from J. C. Ryle's sermons and writings.

 

The Proper Perspective in Persecution by J.C. Ryle

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The Proper Perspective in Persecution Posted: 11 Mar 2010 12:00 AM PST The servant of Christ undoubtedly is not to be a coward. He is to confess his master before men. He is to be willing to die, if needful, for the truth. But the servant of Christ is not required to run into danger, unless it comes in the line of duty. He is not to be ashamed to use reasonable means to provide for his personal safety, when no good is to be done by dying at his post. There is deep wisdom in this lesson. The true martyrs are not always those who court death, and are in a hurry to be beheaded or burned. There are times when it shows more grace to be quiet, and wait, and pray, and watch for opportunities, than to defy our adversaries, and rush into the battle. May we have wisdom to know how to act in time of persecution! It is possible to be rash, as well as to be a coward – and to stop our own usefulness by being over hot, as well as by being over cold. ~ J.C. Ryle Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 318, 319. Filed under: Persecution

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God's Medicine: Affliction by J.C. Ryle

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God's Medicine: Affliction Posted: 10 Mar 2010 12:00 AM PST Affliction is one of God's medicines. By it He often teaches lessons which would be learned in no other way. By it He often draws souls away from sin and the world, which would otherwise have perished everlastingly. Health is a great blessing, but sanctified disease is a greater. Prosperity and worldly comfort, are what all naturally desire; but losses and crosses are far better for us, if they lead us to Christ. Thousands at the last day, will testify with David, and the nobleman before us, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted." (Psalm. 119:71.) ~ J.C. Ryle Day by Day with J.C. Ryle, "Ministry (Miracles)", [Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus, 2004], 203. Filed under: Trials, Worldliness

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Do You Want To Be Holy? by J.C. Ryle

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Do You Want To Be Holy? Posted: 09 Mar 2010 12:00 AM PST Do you want to attain holiness? Do you feel this day a real hearty desire to be holy? Would you be a partaker of the Divine nature? Then go to Christ. Wait for nothing. Wait for nobody. Linger not. Think not to make yourself ready. Go and say to Him, in the words of that beautiful hymn: "Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling; Naked, flee to Thee for dress; Helpless, look to Thee for grace." ~ J.C. Ryle Faithfulness and Holiness: The Witness of J.C. Ryle, "Holiness", [Wheaton: Crossway, 2002], 155. Filed under: Holiness

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