REFERENCE MATERALS FOR MESSAGES

SHORT STATEMENT OF THE CONFESSIONS OF FAITH

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SHORT STATEMENT OF THE CONFESSIONS OF FAITH
(COPIED FROM THE RODGERS BAPTIST CHURCH STATEMENT OF FAITH)

1. We believe the whole Bible from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21, as the verbally inspired and infallible Word of God.

2. We believe Jesus Christ was born of Mary the Virgin, and is the Son of God, and God the Son.

3. We believe that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, the Just for the unjust that He might bring us to God

4. We believe that He arose from the grave the third day according to the scriptures.

5. We believe that He, only, is the great High Priest, and we need not the intercession of any man, but that Christ ever liveth to make intercession for us.

6. We believe that Christ will come again in Person bodily, visibly, to establish His Kingdom on the earth.

7. We believe that in order to be saved, the soul must be born again — “Ye must be born again.”

8. We believe that every truly born again soul should declare his faith by the act baptism, (immersion in water) setting forth the Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection.

9. We believe that the church is a body of baptized believers whose only mission is, not to “reform the world,” but to preach and teach the Word of God to the individual soul.
We invite all New Testament Baptist Churches to enjoy this fellowship with us on the ground of the Scriptures as briefly outlined in these statements of faith.

Strictly speaking, a Baptist church cannot belong to any organization. But, it is clearly taught in the New Testament that the churches had fellowship with each other in both doctrine and practice.

AN HISTORICAL STUDY OF BAPTIST ELDERS–I PETER 5:1-4

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AN HISTORICAL STUDY OF BAPTIST ELDERS
I PETER 5:1-4
By Paul Burleson at Trinity Baptist Church in Norman, Oklahoma.

(Note: The following is a transcript from a sermon entitled, The Case For Elders, preached by Paul Burleson at Trinity Baptist Church in Norman, Oklahoma. Trinity is a church affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention utilizing eldership. This message is used with Pastor Burleson’s permission.)

Now, I want to give you the Baptist background for elders. One of the biggest accusation against some of us who understand this and function in this way as churches, is that we’re not Baptist because we do. Let me make several statements on this thing of Baptist background for elders. First, I want to make this statement: Baptist have always had elders. Here is a piece of paper xeroxed out of a book written by Dr. Leon MacBeth called a source book for Baptist heritage. These are the Baptist of 1608. Listen to it now, “We hold that the government of the churches uniform and that the presbytery or the ministry consist of elders, pastor/teachers and deacons. We hold that all the elders of the church are pastors.” Now, that’s 1608. Dr. Charles Deweiss, who is the Director of the Historical Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. And, Dr. Deweiss was one of the men that we met with last Monday. In this article, Baptist Elders in America in the 1700’s, a hundred years after that statement, listen to what Dr. Deweiss writes, “the office of elders is to assist the ministers in maintaining such rules of order in government as Christ has established in His church, so much is implied by their titles of elders, rulers and so on. Their qualifications are the same as pastors, except aptness to teach and so on. Their work is none other than the part of the ministerial office.” In other words, in 1700’s pastors were called elders and were recognized to be plural in number in every church.

Here’s an interesting article, let me tell you who the fellow is, his name is William Bulletin Johnson. What a name. He was the first President of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1846. The Convention was formed in 1845. He was the first elected president in 1846. Now listen to what Dr. Johnson says, “Remember them that have the authority over you, who have spoken unto you the Word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their way of life, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and so on and so forth”, and he gives Hebrews 13. Now, listen to this: “These rulers are designated by various titles in connection with duties which they are to perform in the church. The messengers from Antioch were received of the church and of the apostles and the elders at Jerusalem. From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.” and he goes through several other passages. Now he concludes his study with this, “In review of these scriptures we have these points clearly made. One, that over each church in the New Testament era a plurality of elders was ordained who were designated by the terms elders, bishop, overseer, pastor with the authority of the government of the flock of God.” Second, this authority involved no legislative power but was ministerial and executive and in it’s exercise the rulers were not to lord it over, but to be an example to lead the flock in the performance of ministry. Third, that the duties of these rulers consisted in taking heed generally to themselves and to the flock, and to watch for their souls. Fourth, while all were elders, some labored in word and doctrine and in the preaching to the people. Fifth, that great responsibility rested upon these elders, for they watched for the souls of their flock. Sixth, these elders were all equal in rank and authority, no one having a preeminence over the rest. This satisfactorily appears, in fact, from the same qualifications that were required of all. Seven, these elders, pastors, bishops, overseers were made so by the Holy Spirit, recognized by the congregation and charged by them. Eight, that the members of the flock were required to follow, imitate the faith of the elders.

Now, listen to this, it is of particular attention that each church had a plurality of elders and although there was a difference in their respective departments of service there was perfect equality among them. Now, that’s the first president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Who, by the way, had elders in his church as did every church that formed…in the newly formed Southern Baptist Convention. I want to share a word from Dr. Dragen. It’s not dragon, it’s Dragen. Probably the greatest theologian Southern Baptist had at Southern Seminary writing in 1897. Now, listen to what he says, “As to the officers of the churches there are some items of interest among the earlier Baptist churches of our country, we find these officers: pastors, teachers, elders and deacons. As to the office of deacon, little need be said as it has substantially the same in all of Baptist history. Except, now notice this, that in it’s modern tendency has been to encroach upon and even to absorb that of the elders. As to the eldership, we may note that the title was always inclusive of every pastor until a recent date. It is in our day….in our day it has almost disappeared as a title in ministry, though in some quarters the preacher is still call by the sanction, scriptural title of elder. It is greatly to be regretted that there is a decline in the use of so venerable and so scriptural a designation and a revival of it’s usage is greatly to be desired. Now this is our greatest theologian at the turn of the century, Dr. Dragen. His library is in the Southern Seminary.

Now, having said that, I want to read you a portion of a paper that was given me Monday by one of our present day writers in Southern Baptist life. This fellow is the leadership consultant for Preaching and Worship, Pastoral Leadership in Administration Department of the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Listen to this, “One of the most frequently discussed and potentially divisive topics currently sweeping our denomination has to do with the organization, leadership of the local church, within that debate perhaps the most dominate issue is the elder leadership. This Presbyterian form of church government is being promoted by several prominent non-Southern Baptist evangelical pastors such as John MacArthur. Many new churches…new church starts…in Southern Baptist life, particularly in California have adopted this form of government. This is taking place despite the fact that elder rule is alien to traditional Southern Baptist polity; from our earliest documents and so on and so forth, it has not be found. The purpose of this article right here, is to explore the fundamental question of what is an elder, what is elder leadership, and so on and so forth. We took this in hand, shared our material, and they gave us their commitment that this would not be published because it is erroneous. It is erroneous. You see this thing of elders is both biblical in it’s basis and Baptist in it’s background.

Now, somebody might ask the question, well what happened to us for crying out loud? It’s a good question. What happened to us? Let me feed a little more ammunition to the understanding of the historical perspective. Did you know that in every Baptist Confession of Faith all the way back to England, all the way up to Southern Baptist Confession of Faith of 1923, it always refer to elder. Until 1963, the Baptist Faith and Message – 1963. The ‘63 Statement of Faith is the first one where the word elder is dropped. And, it’s the first one where the phrase democratic…in fact, let me quote for you, “Operating through democratic procedures.” was written into the Statement of Faith. What happened? Where have we come to the place… we don’t understand that it’s biblical and we don’t even understand that it’s Baptist.

What happened to us? Can I give you my opinion? I think several things happened; for instance I think the expansion west in the early 1800’s caused a decline of understanding of church government. When American started moving from the east coast to west coast groups of elders didn’t move. Usually, it was one elder leaving and going west with his family. He’d get to a little town and he would grow a little church. And, of course he was an elder, a pastor, a bishop. So he would teach the word. He was the parson. The number one person of the community. That’s where the word parson comes from. But, he wasn’t just in this community, he would move to this community, he would move to this….in other words, he was a circuit riding minister. And, unfortunately while circuit riding ministry was an assist to little towns and little churches as they moved west it did cause us to lose the understanding of a plurality of leaders in a local congregation. Then second, was the rise of landmarkism. Now, if you’re not familiar with what landmarkism is…do some research on it. But, landmarkism gave five points that make a New Testament church. And, one of them was democratic rule with no elder rule. Landmarkism has greatly influenced Southern Baptist life. Third, was the rise of the Campbelites. That’s what Baptist called them early on, we now call them the Church of Christ. You see the Church of Christ used the word elder almost exclusive. And so early on, when…as Baptist said, the Campbelites became a group and begin to grow; they used the word elder exclusively. Baptist threw it out and chose the word pastor when it’s only used one time in the New Testament as a noun.

We Baptist are funny critters. Somebody makes too much of something and we throw out the baby with the bath water. Somebody misinterprets something and we’ll have nothing to do with the truth, because somebody else has misinterpreted. And, so the Assemblies of God interpret the fullness of the Spirit in a particularly Pentecostal way and we Baptist say, that’s not what it means to be filled with the Spirit and since they’ve misinterpreted we just won’t talk about it. Oh, that’s terrible. Because the Bible says, “Be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit.” We’d be a lot better off if we’d be more concerned with being filled with the Spirit than we are those who get drunk with wine. The fact is you don’t have to make a choice, be concerned with both. If it’s sin against God to be drunk with wine, it is a sin against God to not be filled the Spirit. And, when someone misinterprets we throw out the baby with the bath water. So, when the Campbelites came into existence, we now call them the Church of Christ. And, I call them the Church of Christ. They don’t enjoy being called Campbelites, and I respect their opinions. But, when it begin to grow, we lost the use of elders. It’s interesting that no one doubts that elders (plural) in a church as leaders is a biblical fact. No one doubts that. Let me give you two churches, I’ll not say where, but one of them… the pastor shared this on Monday. When he moved there, some seven years ago the church had just split because of a pastor who was immoral. They were running about ninety on Sunday, discouraged, defeated, down. And, God begin moving in John’s heart; now I had the privilege of being John’s pastor at South Cliff while he was in the Seminary. And, God begin moving in John’s heart, that he wanted a church to be biblical in everything they could be biblical in as far as their understanding. And, so one day he asked about twenty men to study this thing about elders. He said, I’m not going to meet with you. I don’t even what to know what you’re discussing. He shared this story last Monday. He said, I don’t want to know what’s going on, but I want you to study for X number of weeks, this thing of elders; and I want you to come out from this study and I want you to share with me what you believe the church needs to do. And, he was scared. He didn’t know what they’d come out with. But, he said one day they called him, they were meeting on Thursday nights; they said Brother John get over here. He went over there and he said there was a spirit of revival, these men had seen things in scripture they’d never see….they had begun to understand leadership like they had never understood it before. And, they were so thrilled beyond words, and they went back to their church, they presented it and John had nothing to do with it. And, that little congregation embraced leadership in a plurality of pastors and elders and bishops. I was in that church in a meeting one month ago and I’m so grateful for what God’s doing.

Let me give you another one scenario. A church in Texas, a First Baptist Church, the pastor began to have a burden toward this biblical understanding of elders and so he asked the men to study it. They went with their Bible opened, their hearts opened, they began to study the Word of God and they came out …now watch it…unanimous, that this was the biblical method of leadership in the church and they said, but pastor, we can’t do this. Why, we’re a First Baptist Church; what would Southern Baptist think of us? And, they chose not to embrace what the Spirit of God had shown them in the scripture. The pastor left there not long after, and now pastors a church with a commitment of being biblical… when you see it in the scripture and standing on it. What I’m saying to you is…there is no question that it’s biblical. There isn’t even a question that it’s Baptist.

Now let me close by sharing just a few of the blessings and benefits of elder leadership. You know what happens when we understand elders, pastors, (plural) leading a congregation? It gives the church multiple hearts in leadership, not one man. Kinda like a family. You can make it with one parent, but, oh it’s tough. And, that one parent would be honest to tell you it’s hard to be everything that the children need. God has ordained that leadership be multiple even in the family. And, as a single parent with children will testify, it can be done but oh, it’s difficult. There are pressures upon that one parent that are not in a family where there is the dual parent, the multiple parent as God originally intended. Now, can I tell you from a pastor’s perspective, that when a pastor is the only pastor of a church there is incredible pressure upon that man. I know personally. And, a church needs more than my heart. We need true spiritual parenting in church life. And the Bible calls them elders, pastors, bishops and that’s what you as a church embraced some two years ago.

Let me give you another benefit in blessing. It gives the teaching/pastor benefit of counsel. In other words, kinda a check and a balance. The simple language, it keeps one man from playing God. Listen carefully to what I’m going to tell you. I have a deep conviction that as there are abusive family situations where a strong husband authority figure literally intimidates a wife, intimidates children with verbal or emotional abuse and demands his way, which is absolutely ungodly and unscriptural in like manner, there are abusive church situations where a demanding pastor (singular) has set the course. And, that is never God’s way. You see it creates a check and a balance. With our interim elders, it’s amazing how in our retreat just a few days ago, we would hear each other’s heart…we would hear each other’s heart. Check and a balance can be built in. Third, it permits people to be close to a pastor. Do you know, now listen to me very, very carefully on this, we’re going to be finished in just a moment, listen carefully; did you know no one can know more, it’s a proven fact, that no one can know more than twenty people in any given situation intimately. In other words, you will never know more than twenty people intimately in this congregation. But, now the only thing is, when you run forty on Sunday morning in Sunday School, you know half the church. Then, when you’re running eighty, you still just know twenty, intimately, but you know you have an acquaintance with the others. But, when you’re running eight hundred as we are or when you’re running a thousand, you can’t be close to a pastor. You can’t be intimate with him. But, did you know with a multiplicity of elders, the congregation can be broken down where when there’s illness, when there’s crisis, when there is disturbance in family life, a pastor, a elder, a bishop can be there and relate to you on an intimate basis as long as you don’t demand that it be the pastor for there is no such thing in the New Testament. There are the pastors in the New Testament and they are to shepherd the flock of God. Benefit and blessing, it removes impossible burdens from the pastor’s family. — Paul Burleson at Trinity Baptist Church in Norman, Oklahoma.

HAVE YOU TRULY COME TO CHRIST?–BY ARTHUR W. PINK

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HAVE YOU TRULY COME TO CHRIST?

BY ARTHUR W. PINK

 
By the way of introduction let us bring before the reader the following Scriptures:

1. “Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.” (John 5:40).

2. “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28).

3. “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him” (John 6:44).

4. “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me: and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” (John 6:37).

5. “If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:26,27).

6. “To whom coming, as unto a living Stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious.” (1 Peter 2:4).

7. “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25).

The first of these passages applies to every unregenerate man and woman on this earth. While he is in a state of nature, no man can come to Christ. Though all excellencies both Divine and human, are found in the Lord Jesus, though “He is altogether lovely” (Song of Solomon 5:16), yet the fallen sons of Adam see in Him no beauty that they should desire Him. They may be well instructed in “the doctrine of Christ,” they may believe unhesitatingly all that Scripture affirms concerning Him, they may frequently take His name upon their lips, profess to be resting on His finished work, sing His praises, yet their hearts are far from Him. The things of this world have the first place in their affections. The gratifying of self is their dominant concern. They surrender not their lives to Him. He is too holy to suit their love of sin; His claims are too exacting to suit their selfish hearts; His terms of discipleship are too severe to suit their fleshly ways. They will not yield to His Lordship – true alike with each one of us till God performs a miracle of grace upon our hearts.

The second of these passages contains a gracious invitation, made by the compassionate Saviour to a particular class of sinners. The “all” is at once qualified, clearly and definitely, by the words which immediately follow it. The character of those to whom this loving word belongs is clearly defined: It is those who “labour” and are “heavy laden.” Most clearly then it applies not to the vast majority of our light-headed, gay-hearted, pleasure-seeking fellows who have no regard for God’s glory and no concern about their eternal welfare. No, the word for such poor creatures is rather, “Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee to judgment” (Ecclesiastes 11:9). But to those who have “laboured” hard to keep the law and please God, who are “heavy laden” with a felt sense of their utter inability to meet His requirements, and who long to be delivered from the power and pollution of sin, Christ says: “Come unto Me, and I will give you rest.”

The third passage quoted above at once tells us that “coming to Christ” is not the easy matter so many imagine it, nor so simple a thing as most preachers represent it to be. Instead of its so being, the incarnate Son of God positively declares that such an act is utterly impossible to a fallen and depraved creature unless and until Divine power is brought to bear upon him. A most pride humbling, flesh-withering, man-abasing word is this. “Coming to Christ” is a far, far different thing from raising your hand to be prayed for by some Protestant “priest,” coming forward and taking some cheap-jack evangelist’s hand, signing some “decision” card, uniting with some “church,” or any other of the “many inventions” of man (Ecclesiastes 7:29). Before any one can or will “come to Christ” the understanding must be supernaturally enlightened, the heart must be supernaturally changed; the stubborn will must be supernaturally broken.

The fourth passage is also one that is unpalatable to the carnal mind, yet is it a precious portion unto the Spirit-taught children of God. It sets forth the blessed truth of unconditional election, or the discriminating grace of God. It speaks of a favoured people whom the Father giveth to His Son. It declares that every one of that blessed company shall come to Christ. Neither the effects of their fall in Adam, the power of indwelling sin, the hatred and untiring efforts of Satan, nor the deceptive delusions of blind preachers, will be able to finally hinder them – when God’s appointed hour arrives, each of His elect is delivered from the power of darkness and is translated into the kingdom of His dear Son. It announces no matter how unworthy and vile he be in himself, no matter how black and long the awful catalogue of his sins, He will by no means despise or fail to welcome him, and under no circumstances will He ever cast him off.

The fifth passage is one that makes known the terms on which alone Christ is willing to receive sinners. Here the uncompromising claims of His holiness are set out. He must be crowned Lord of all, or He will not be Lord at all. There must be the complete heart-renunciation of all that stands in competition with Him. He will brook no rival. All that pertains to “the flesh,” whether found in a loved one or in self, has to be hated. The “cross” is the badge of Christian discipleship: not a golden one worn on the body, but the principle of self-denial and self-sacrifice ruling the heart. How evident is it, then, that a mighty, supernatural, divine work of grace must be wrought in the human heart, if any man will even desire to meet such terms!

The sixth passage tells us the Christian is to continue as he began. We are to “come to Christ” not once and for all, but frequently, daily. He is the only One who can minister unto our needs, and to Him we must constantly turn for the supply of them. In our felt emptiness, we must draw from His “fulness” (John 1:16). In our weakness, we must turn to him for strength. In our ignorance we must apply to Him for wisdom. In our falls into sin, we must seek afresh His cleansing. All that we need for time and eternity is stored up in Him: refreshment when we are weary (Isaiah 40:31), healing of body when we are sick (Exodus 15:26), comfort when we are sad (1 Peter 5:7), deliverance when we are tempted (Hebrews 2:18). If we have wandered away from Him, left our first love, then the remedy is to “repent and do the first works” (Revelation 2:5), that is, cast ourselves upon Him anew, come just as we did the first time we came to Him – as unworthy, self-confessed sinners, seeking His mercy and forgiveness.

The seventh passage assures us of the eternal security of those who do come. Christ saves “unto the uttermost” or “for ever more” those who come unto God by Him. He is not of one mind today and of another tomorrow. No, He is “the same yesterday, and today, and for ever (Hebrews 13:8). “Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end” (John 13:1), and blessedly does He give proof of this, for “He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Inasmuch as His prayers are effectual, for He declares that the Father hears Him “always” (John 11:42), none whose name is indelibly stamped on the heart of our great High Priest can ever perish. Hallelujah!

DIVINE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE–BY ARTHUR W. PINK

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DIVINE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE
BY ARTHUR W. PINK
The Character of its Teachings Evidences the Divine Authorship of the Bible

Take its teaching about God Himself. What does the Bible teach us about God? It declares that He is Eternal: “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou are God” (Psalm 90:2). It reveals the fact that He is Infinite: “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee,” (1 Kings 8:27). Vast as we know the universe to be, it has its bounds; but we must go beyond them to conceive of God— “Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.” (Job 11:7-9). It makes mention of His Sovereignty: “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.” (Isaiah 46:9-10). It affirms that He is Omnipotent: “Behold I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for Me?’” (Jeremiah 32:27). It intimates that He is Omniscient: “Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is infinite.” (Psalms 147:5) It teaches that He is Omnipresent: “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.” (Jeremiah 23:24). It declares that He is Immutable: “The same yesterday, and today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8). Yea, that with Him ‘is no variableness, neither shadow of turning’. (James 1:17) It reveals that He is “The Judge of all the earth” (Genesis 18:25) and that every one shall yet have to ‘give an account of himself to God’. (Romans 14:12) It announces that He is inflexibly just in all His dealings so that He can by “no means clear the guilty’; (Numbers 14:18) that all will be judged ‘according to their works’, (Revelation 20:12) and that they shall reap whatsoever they have sown. (Galatians 6:7) It reveals the fact that He is absolutely holy, dwelling in light inaccessible. So holy that even the seraphim have to veil their faces in His presence (Isaiah 6:2); so holy that the heavens are not clean in His sight. (Job 15:15) So holy that the best of men when face to face with their Maker have to cry, ‘I abhor myself’ (Job 42:6); ‘Woe is me! For I am undone’ (Isaiah 6:5). Such a delineation of Deity is as far beyond man’s conception as the heavens are above the earth. No man, and no number of men, ever invented such a God as this. Ransack the libraries of the ancient, examine the musings of the mystics, study the religions of the heathen and nothing will be found which can for a moment be compared with the sublime and exalted description of God’s character which is furnished by the Bible.
The teaching of the Bible about man is unique. Unlike all other books in the world, the Bible condemns man and all his doings. It never eulogizes his wisdom, nor praises his achievements. On the contrary, it declares that ‘every man at his best state is altogether vanity’. (Psalms 39:5) Instead of teaching that man is a noble character, evolving heavenwards, it tells him that all his righteousnesses (his best works) are as ‘filthy rags,’ that he is a lost sinner, incapable of bettering his condition; that he is deserving only of Hell.
The picture which the Scriptures give of man is deeply humiliating and entirely different from all which are drawn by human pencils. The Word of God describes the state of the natural man in the following language: —’There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes’. (Romans 3:10-18)
Instead of making Satan the source of all the black crimes of which we are guilty, the Bible declares, ‘For from within, out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within and defile the man’. (Mark 7:21-23) Such a conception of man—so different from man’s own ideas and so humiliating to his proud heart—never could have emanated from man himself. ‘The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked’ (Jeremiah 17:9) is a concept that never originated in any human mind.
The teaching of the Bible about the world is unique. In nothing perhaps are the teachings of Scripture and the writings of man at such variance as they are at this point. Using the term as meaning the world-system in contradistinction to the earth, what is the direction of man’s thoughts concerning the same? Man thinks highly of the world, for he regards it as his world. It is that which his labors have produced and he looks upon it with satisfaction and pride. He boasts that ‘the world is growing better.’ He declares that the world is becoming more civilized and more humanized. Man’s thoughts upon this subject have been well summarized by the poet in the familiar language—’God is in heaven: All’s well with the world.’ But what saith the Scriptures? Upon this subject, too, we discover that God’s thoughts are very different from ours. The Bible uniformly condemns the world and speaks of it as a thing of evil. We shall not attempt to quote every passage which does this, but shall merely single out a few specimen Scriptures.
‘If the world hates you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you’ (John 15:18-19). This passage teaches that the world hates both Christ and His followers. ‘The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.’ (1 Corinthians 3:19). Certainly no uninspired pen wrote these words. ‘Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God’. (James 4:4). Here again we learn that the world is an evil thing, condemned by God, and to be shunned by His children. ‘Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world’ (1 John 2:15-16). Here we have a definition of the world: it is all that is opposed to the Father—opposed in its principles and philosophy, its maxims and methods, its aims and ambitions, its trend and its end ‘And the whole world lieth in the Evil One’. (1 John 5:19, R.V.). Here we learn why it is that the world hates Christ and His followers; why its wisdom is foolishness with God; why it is condemned by God and must be shunned by His children—it is under the dominion of that old serpent, the devil, whom Scripture specifically denominates ‘The prince of this world.’
The teaching of the Bible about sin is unique. Man regards sin as a misfortune and ever seeks to minimize its enormity. In these days, sin is referred to as ignorance, as a necessary stage in man’s development. By others, sin is looked upon as a mere negation, the opposite of good; while Mrs. Eddy and her followers that went so far as to deny its existence altogether. But the Bible, unlike every other book, strips man of all excuse and emphasizes his culpability. In the Bible sin is never palliated or extenuated, but from first to last the Holy Scriptures insist upon its enormity and heinousness. The Word of God declares that ‘sin is very grievous’ (Genesis 18:20) and that our sins provoke God to anger. (1 Kings 16:2) It speaks of the ‘deceitfulness of sin’ (Hebrews 3:13) and insists that sin is ‘exceedingly sinful’. (Romans 7:13). It declares that all sin is sin against God (Psalms 51:4) and against His Christ. (1 Corinthians 8:12). It regards our sins as being ‘as scarlet’ and ‘red like crimson’ (Isaiah 1:18). It declares that sin is more than an act, it is an attitude. It affirms that sin is more than a non-compliance with God’s law—it is rebellion against the One who gave the law. It teaches that ‘sin is lawlessness ’(1 John 3:4, R. V.) which means that sin is spiritual anarchy, open defiance against the Almighty. Moreover, it singles out no particular class; it condemns all alike. It announces that ‘all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,’ that ‘there is none righteous, no, not one’. (Romans 3) Did man ever write such an indictment against himself? What human mind ever invented such a description of sin as that discovered in the Bible? Whoever would have imagined that sin was such a vile and dreadful thing in the sight of God that nothing but the precious blood of His own beloved Son could make an atonement for it!
The teaching of the Bible about the punishment of sin is unique. A defective view of sin necessarily leads to an inadequate conception of what is due sin. Minimize the gravity and enormity of sin and you must proportionately reduce the sentence which it deserves. Many are crying out today against the justice of the eternal punishment of sin. They complain that the penalty does not fit the crime. They argue that it is unrighteous for a sinner to suffer eternally in consequence of a short life span of wrong-doing. But even in this world it is not the length of time which it takes to commit the crime which determines the severity of the sentence. Many a man has suffered a life term of imprisonment for a crime which required only a few minutes for its perpetration. Apart, however, from this consideration, eternal punishment is just if sin be looked at from God’s viewpoint. But this is just what the majority of men refuse to do. They look at sin and its deserts solely from the human side. One reason why the Bible was written was to correct our ideas and views about sin, to teach us what an unspeakably awful and vile thing it is, to show us sin as God sees it. For one single sin Adam and Eve were banished from Eden. For one single sin Canaan and all his posterity were cursed. For a single sin Korah and his company went down alive into the pit. For one single sin Moses was debarred from entering the Promised Land. For a single sin Achan and his family were stoned to death. For a single sin Elisha’s servant was smitten with leprosy. For a single sin Ananias and Sapphira were cut off out of the land of the living. Why? To teach us what an infinite evil it is to revolt against the thrice holy God. We repeat, that did men but see the terribleness of sin—did they but see that it was sin that put to a shameful death the Lord of Glory—then they would realize that nothing short of eternal punishment would meet the demands which justice has upon sinners.
But the great majority of men do not see the meetness or justice of eternal punishment; on the contrary, they cry out against it. In lands which were not illumined by the Old Testament Scriptures, where there existed any belief in a future life, it was held that at death the wicked either passed through some temporary suffering for remedial and purifying purposes or else they were annihilated. Even in Christendom, where the Word of God has held a prominent and public place for centuries, the great bulk of the people do not believe in eternal punishment. They argue that God is too merciful and kind to ban one of His own creatures to endless misery. Yea, not a few of the Lord’s own people are afraid to take the solemn teachings of the Scriptures on this subject at their face value. It is therefore evident that had the Bible been written by uninspired men; had it been a mere human composition, it certainly would not have taught the eternal and conscious torment of all who die out of Christ. The fact that the Bible does so teach is conclusive proof that it was written by men who spake not of themselves, but as they were ‘moved by the Holy Spirit.’
The teachings of God’s Word upon eternal punishment are as clear and explicit, as they are solemn and awful. They declare that the doom of the Christ rejector is a conscious, never-ending, indescribable torment. The Bible depicts the place of punishment as a realm where the ‘worm dieth not’ and ‘the fire is not quenched’. (Mark 9:48). It speaks of it as a lake of fire and brimstone, (Revelation 20:10) where even a drop of water is denied the agonized sufferer. (Luke 16:24) It declares that ‘the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night’. (Revelation 14:11). It represents the world of the lost as a scene into which penetrates no light—’the blackness of darkness for ever’ (Jude 1:13) —a doom alleviated by no ray of hope. In short, the portion of the lost will be unbearable, yet it will have to be borne, and borne for ever. What mortal mind conceived of such a fate? Such a conception is too repugnant and repulsive to the human heart to have had its birth on the earth.
The teaching of the Bible about Salvation from Sin is unique. Man’s thoughts about salvation, like every other subject which engages his mind are defective and deficient. Hence the force of the admonition—’Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts’. (Isaiah 55:7) In the first place, left to himself, man fails to realize his need of salvation. In the pride of his heart he imagines that he is sufficient in himself, and through the darkening of his understanding by sin he fails to comprehend his ruined and lost condition. Like the self-righteous Pharisee, he thanks God that he is not as other men, that he is morally the superior of the savage or the criminal, and refuses to believe that so far as his standing before God is concerned there is ‘no difference.’ It is not until the Holy Spirit deals with him that man is constrained to cry, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’
In the second, place man is ignorant of the way of salvation. Even when man has been brought to the place where he recognizes that he is not prepared to meet God, and that if he died in his present state he would be eternally lost; even then he has no right conception of the remedy. Being ignorant of God’s righteousness he goes about to establish his own righteousness. He supposes that he must make some personal reparation for his past wrong-doings, that he must work for his salvation, do something to merit the esteem of God, and thus win heaven as a reward. The highest concept of man’s mind is that of merit. To him salvation is a wage to be earned, a crown to be coveted, a prize to be won. The proof of this is to be seen in the fact that even when pardon and life are presented as a free gift, the universal tendency, at first, is to regard it as being ‘too good to be true.’ Yet, such is the plain teaching of God’s Word—’For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works; lest any man should boast’ (Ephesians 2:8-9) And again—’Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us’. (Titus 3:5)
If it is true that man left to himself would never have fully realized his need of salvation, and would never have discovered that it was by grace through faith and not of works, how much less would the human mind have been capable of rising to the level of what God’s Word teaches about the nature of salvation and the glorious and marvelous destiny of the saved! Who would have thought that the Maker and Ruler of the universe should lay hold of poor, fallen, depraved men and women and lifting them out of the miry clay should make them His own sons and daughters, and should seat them at His own table! Who would ever have suggested that those who deserve naught but everlasting shame and contempt, should be made ‘heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ’! Who would have dreamed that beggars should be lifted from the dunghill of sin and made to sit together with Christ in heavenly places! Who would have imagined that the corrupted offspring of disobedient Adam should be exalted to a position higher than that occupied by the unfallen angels! Who would have dared to affirm that one day we shall be ‘made like Christ’ and ‘be for ever with the Lord’! Such concepts were as far beyond the reach of the highest human intellect as they were of the rudest savage. ‘But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God’. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)
Again we ask what human intellect could have devised a means whereby God could be just and yet merciful, merciful and yet just? What mortal mind would ever have dreamed of a free and full salvation, bestowed on hell-deserving sinners, ‘without money and without price’! And what flight of carnal imagination would ever have conceived of the Son of God Himself being ‘made sin’ for us and dying the Just for the unjust?
The teaching of the Bible concerning the Saviour of sinners is unique. The description which the Scriptures furnish of the Person, the Character, and the Work of the Lord Jesus Christ is without anything that approaches a parallel in the whole realm of literature. It is easier to suppose that man could create a world than to believe he invented the character of our adorable Redeemer. Given a piece of machinery that is delicate, complex, exact in all its movements, and we know it must be the product of a competent mechanic. Given a work of art that is beautiful, symmetrical, original, and we know it must be the product of a master artist. None but an Angelo could have designed Saint Peter’s; none but a Raphael could have painted the ‘transfiguration;’ none but a Milton could have written a ‘Paradise Lost.’ And, none but the Holy Spirit could have produced the peerless portrait of the Lord Jesus which we find in the Gospels. In Christ all excellencies combine. Here is one of the many respects in which He differs from all other Bible characters. In each of the great heroes of Scripture some trait stands out with peculiar distinctness—Noah, faithful testimony; Abraham, faith in God; Isaac, submission to his father; Joseph, love for his brethren; Moses, unselfishness and meekness; Joshua, courage and leadership; Job, fortitude and patience; Daniel, fidelity to God; Paul, zeal in service; John, spiritual discernment—but in the Lord Jesus every grace is found. Moreover, in Him all these perfections were properly poised and balanced. He was meek yet regal; He was gentle yet fearless; He was compassionate yet just; He was submissive yet authoritative; He was Divine yet human; add to these, the fact that He was absolutely ‘without sin’ and His uniqueness becomes apparent. Nowhere in all the writings of antiquity is there to be found the presentation of such a peerless and wondrous character.
Not only is the portrayal of Christ’s character without any rival, but the teaching of the Bible concerning His Person and Work is also utterly incredible on any other basis save that they are part of a Divine revelation. Who would have dared to imagine the Creator and Upholder of the universe taking upon Himself the form of a servant and being made in the likeness of men? Who would have conceived the idea of the Lord of Glory being born in a manger? Who would have dreamed of the Object of angelic worship becoming so poor that he had not where to lay His head? Who would have declared that the One before whom the seraphim veil their faces should be led as a lamb to the slaughter, should have suffered His own blessed face to be defiled with the vile spittle of man, and should permit the creatures of His hand to scourge and buffet Him? Whoever would have conceived of Emmanuel becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross!
Here then is an argument which the simplest can grasp. The Scriptures contain their own evidence that they are Divinely inspired. Every page of Holy Writ is stamped with Jehovah’s autograph. The uniqueness of its teachings demonstrates the uniqueness of its Source. The teachings of the Scriptures about God Himself, about man, about the world, about sin, about eternal punishment, about salvation, about the Lord Jesus Christ, are proof that the Bible is not the product of any man

COMING TO CHRIST WITH THE WILL–BY ARTHUR PINK

Art Davison REFERENCE MATERALS FOR MESSAGES 0 Comment
COMING TO CHRIST WITH THE WILL
BY ARTHUR PINK
The man within the body is possessed of three principal faculties: the understanding, the affections, and the will. As was shown in the first article, all of these were radically affected by the Fall: they were defiled and corrupted, and in consequence, they are used in the service of self and sin, rather than of God and of Christ. But in regeneration, these faculties are quickened and cleansed by the Spirit: not completely, but initially, and continuously so in the life-long process of sanctification, and perfectly so at our glorification. Now each of these three faculties is subordinated to the others by the order of nature, that is, as man has been constituted by his Maker. One faculty is influenced by the other. In Genesis 3:6 we read, “the woman saw (perceived) that the tree was good for food”—that was a conclusion drawn by the understanding; “and that it was pleasant to the eyes”—there was the response of her affections; “and a tree to be desired”—there was the ill; “she took”—there was the completed action.

Now the motions of Divine grace work through the apprehensions of faith in the understanding, these warming and firing the affections, and they in turn influencing and moving the will. Every faculty of the soul is put forth in a saving “coming to Christ”‘ “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest”—be baptized, Acts 8:37. “Coming to Christ” is more immediately an act of the will, as John 5:40 shows; yet the will is not active toward Him until the understanding has been enlightened and the affections quickened. The Spirit first causes the sinner to perceive his deep need of Christ, and this, by showing him his fearful moving of rebellion against God, and that none but Christ can atone for the same. Secondly, the Spirit creates in the heart a desire after Christ, and this, by making him sick of sin and in love with holiness. Third, as the awakened and enlightened soul has been given to see the glory and excellency of Christ, and His perfect suitability to the lost and perishing sinner, then the Spirit draws out the will to set the highest value on that excellency, to esteem it far above all else, and to close with Him.

As there is a Divine order among the three Persons of the Godhead in providing salvation, so there is in the applying or bestowing of it. It was God the Father’s good pleasure appointing His people from eternity unto salvation, which was the most full and sufficient impulsive cause of their salvation, and every whit able to produce its effect. It was the incarnate Son of God whose obedience and sufferings were the most complete and sufficient meritorious cause of their salvation, to which nothing can be added to make it more apt and able to secure the travail of His soul. Yet neither the one nor the other can actually save any sinner except as the Spirit applies Christ to it: His work being the efficient and immediate cause of their salvation. In like manner, the sinner is not saved when his understanding is enlightened, and his affections fired: there must also be the act of the will, surrendering to God and laying hold of Christ.

The order of the Spirit’s operations corresponds to the three great offices of Christ, the Mediator, namely, His prophetic, priestly, and kingly. As Prophet, He is first apprehended by the understanding, the Truth of God being received from His lips. As Priest, He is trusted and loved by the heart or affections, His glorious person being first endeared unto the soul by the gracious work which He performed for it. As Potentate, our will must be subdued unto Him, so that we submit to His government, yield to His sceptre, and heed His commandments. Nothing short of the throne of our hearts will satisfy the Lord Jesus. In order to this, the Holy Spirit casts down our carnal imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and brings into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Corinthians 10:5, so that we freely and gladly take His yoke upon us; which yoke is, as one of the Puritans said, “lined with love.”

“No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him” John 6:44. This “drawing” is accomplished by the Spirit: first, in effectually enlightening the understanding; secondly, by quickening the affections; third, by freeing the will from the bondage of sin and inclining it toward God. By the invincible workings of grace, the Spirit turns the bent of that will, which before moved only toward sin and vanity, unto Christ. “Thy people,” said God unto the Mediator, “shall be willing in the day of Thy power” Psalm 110:3. Yet though Divine power be put forth upon a human object, the Spirit does not infringe the will’s prerogative of acting freely: He morally persuades it. He subdues its sinful intractability. He overcomes its prejudice, wins and draws it by the sweet attractions of grace.

“God never treats man as though he were a brute; He does not drag him with cart ropes; He treats men as men; and when he binds them with cords, they are the cords of love and the bands of a man. I may exercise power over another’s will, and yet that other man’s will may be perfectly free; because the constraint is exercised in a manner accordant with the laws of the human mind. If I show a man that a certain line of action is much for his advantage, he feels bound to follow it, but he is perfectly free in so doing. If man’s will were subdued or chained by some physical process, if man’s heart should, for instance, be taken from him and be turned round by a manual operation, that would be altogether inconsistent with human freedom, or indeed with human nature; and yet I think some few people imagine that we mean this when we talk of constraining influence and Divine grace. We mean nothing of the kind; we mean that Jehovah Jesus knows how, by irresistible arguments addressed to the understanding, by mighty reasons appealing to the affections, and by the mysterious influence of His Holy Spirit operating upon all the powers and passions of the soul, so to subdue the whole man, that whereas it was once rebellious it becomes obedient; whereas it stood stoutly against the Most High, it throws down the weapons of its rebellion and cries, ‘I yield! I yield! subdued by sovereign love, and by the enlightenment which Thou hast bestowed upon me, I yield myself to Thy will’”( C. H. Spurgeon, on John 6:37).

The perfect consistency between the freedom of a regenerated man’s spiritual actions and the efficacious grace of God moving him thereto, is seen in 2 Corinthians 8:16,17. “But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you. For indeed he accepted the exhortation; but being more forward, of his own accord, he went unto you.” Titus was moved to that work by Paul’s exhortation, and was “willing of his own accord” to engage therein; and yet it was “God which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus” for them. God controls the inward feelings and acts of men without interfering either with their liberty or responsibility. The zeal of Titus was the spontaneous effusion of his own heart, and was an index to an element of his character; nevertheless, God wrought in him both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

No sinner savingly “comes to Christ,” or truly receives Him into the heart, until the will freely consents (not merely “assents” in a theoretical way) to the severe and self-denying terms upon which He is presented in the Gospel. No sinner is prepared to forsake all for Christ, take up “the cross,” and “follow” Him in the path of universal obedience, until the heart genuinely esteems Him “The Fairest among ten thousand,” and this none ever do before the understanding has been supernaturally enlightened and the affections supernaturally quickened. Obviously, none will espouse themselves with conjugal affections to that person whom they account not the best that can be chosen. It is as the Spirit convicts us of our emptiness and shows us Christ’s fullness, our guilt and His righteousness, our filthiness and the cleansing merits of His blood, our depravity and His holiness, that the heart is won and the resistance of the will is overcome.

The holy and spiritual Truth of God finds nothing akin to itself in the unregenerate soul, but instead, everything that is opposed to it, John 15:18; Romans 8:7. The demands of Christ are too humbling to our natural pride, too searching for the callous conscience, too exacting for our fleshly desires. And a miracle of grace has to be wrought within us before this awful depravity of our nature, this dreadful state of affairs, is changed. That miracle of grace consists in overcoming the resistance which is made by indwelling sin, and creating desires and longings Christward; and then it is that the will cries,

“Nay but I yield, I yield,
I can hold out no more;
I sink, by dying love compell’d,
And own Thee Conqueror.”

A beautiful illustration of this is found in Ruth 1:14-18. Naomi, a backslidden saint, is on the point of leaving the far country, and (typically) returning to her Father’s house. Her two daughters-in-law wish to accompany her. Faithfully did Naomi bid them “count the cost” Luke 14:28; instead of at once urging them to act on their first impulse, she pointed out the difficulties and trials to be encountered. This was too much for Orpah: her “goodness” (like that of the stony-ground hearers, and myriads of others) was only “as a morning cloud,” and “as the early dew” it quickly went away Hosea 6:4. In blessed contrast from this we read, “But Ruth clave unto her, saying, Intreat me not to leave thee, to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest I will go; and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.”

What depth and loveliness of affection was here! What whole-hearted self-surrender! See Ruth freely and readily leaving her own country and kindred, tearing herself from every association of nature, turning a deaf ear to her mother-in-law’s begging her to return to her gods Romans 1:15) and people. See her renouncing idolatry and all that flesh holds dear, to be a worshipper and servant of the living God, counting all things but loss for the sake of His favour and salvation; and her future conduct proved her faith was genuine and her profession sincere. Ah, naught but a miraculous work of God in her soul can explain this. It was God working in her “both to will and to do of His good pleasure” Philippians 2:13. He was drawing her with the bands of love: grace triumphed over the flesh. This is what every genuine conversion is—a complete surrender of the mind, heart and will to God and His Christ, so that there is a desire to “follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth” Revelation 14:4.

The relation between our understanding being enlightened and the affections quickened by God and the resultant consent of the will, is seen in Psalm 119:34, “Give me understanding and I shall keep Thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.” “The sure result of regeneration, or the bestowal of understanding, is the devout reverence for the law and a reverent keeping of it in the heart. The Spirit of God makes us to know the Lord and to understand somewhat of His love, wisdom, holiness, and majesty; and the result is that we honour the law and yield our hearts to the obedience of the faith. The understanding operates upon the affections; it convinces the heart of the beauty of the law, so that the soul loves it with all its powers; and then it reveals the majesty of the law-Giver, and the whole nature bows before His supreme will. He alone obeys God who can say ‘my Lord, I would serve Thee, and do it with all my heart’; and none can truly say this till they have received as a free grant the inward illumination of the Holy Spirit” (C. H. Spurgeon).

Ere turning to our final section, a few words need to be added here upon 1 Peter 2:4, “To whom coming as unto a living Stone … we also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house.” Has the sovereign grace of God inclined me to come unto Christ? Then it is my duty and interest to “abide” in Him, John 15:4. Abide in Him by a life of faith, and letting His Spirit abide in me without grieving Him Ephesians 4:30 or quenching His motions, 1 Thessalonians 5:19. It is not enough that I once believed on Christ, I must live in and upon Him by faith daily, Galatians 2:20. It is in this way of continual coming to Christ that we are “built up a spiritual house.” It is in this way the lift of grace is maintained, until it issue in the life of glory. Faith is to be always receiving out of His fullness “grace for grace” John 1:16. Daily should there be the renewed dedication of myself unto Him and the heart’s occupation with Him.