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Showing posts with label Gospel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gospel. Show all posts
Monday, 5 September 2022
Podcast on the curse bearing Christ
Monday, 4 April 2022
Bread enough and to spare
And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! (Luke 15:17)
Preached in the Martyrs Memorial FPC (Belfast)
Lord's Day 3rd April, 2022
Friday, 20 May 2016
Easy Believism - McGee
See also:
* AW Tozer on "Instant Christianity"
* AW Tozer on the Scribes of Fundamentalism
* AW Tozer on a divided Christ - Saviour but not Lord
* AW Tozer on No half Christ
* Lordship Salvation
* General Booth on Fundamentalist Compromise
* AW Tozer on the Scribes of Fundamentalism
* AW Tozer on a divided Christ - Saviour but not Lord
* AW Tozer on No half Christ
* Lordship Salvation
* General Booth on Fundamentalist Compromise
One of the greatest
dangers for us preachers of the gospel is that we like to see people converted,
and we are willing to accept a brazen and flippant yes from some individual who
says, “Yes, I’ll trust Jesus.” However, it may be just an impertinent, impudent,
and insolent nod of the head; it is so phoney as a three-dollar bill.
The story is told
that the Devil had a meeting with his demons to decide how to persuade men that
God was non existent. Since they themselves believed in His existence, they
wondered just how to do it. One demon suggested that they tell people Jesus
Christ never really existed and that men should not believe such fiction,
Another demon suggested that they persuade men that death ends all and there is
no need to worry about life after death. Finally, the most intelligent demon
suggested that they tell everyone that there is a God, that there is a Jesus
Christ, and that believing in Him saves, but all you have to do is profess
faith in Christ and then go on living in sin as you used to do. They decided to
use this tactic and it is the tactic the Devil uses even today.
Friday, 11 March 2016
God calling sinners
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| http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/commentaries.html |
Right from the very beginning of his long ministry, CH Spurgeon professed himself to be an admirer of John Calvin. Early on in his first volume of published sermons, he described John Calvin as being an able writer and preacher on the doctrines of grace. The tributes grew to telling us that he knew more about the gospel than almost any uninspired man who ever lived, and again, that John Calvin was the
most consistent expositor of the Bible that ever lived. When under bitter attack from some very vocal Hyper Calvinists because he believed in duty faith and duty repentance and the free offer of the gospel (they branded him as a mongerel Calvinst) Spurgeon retorted that this mongerel Calvinist had read most of Calvins commentaries and Calvin's Institutes (pictured above). This was not the only reference, Spurgeon made to the Institutes of the Christian Religion (effectively Calvin's systematic theology book). He called them later on "a most wonderful production for thought if not for accuracy" although (rightly so) claiming that he believed nothing nor drew any inspiration because Calvin wrote it but simply because he found the sentiments contained therein to be Biblical.
An interesting observation flows from the pen of Spurgeon, which will detain us here, for a short while. With all his fundamental endorsement of Calvin's Insitutes, Spurgeon claimed that there were times when Calvin cut them to pieces when expounding the Scriptures from his pulpit. I must give the whole quote here because it is important:
"Good Calvin says, and his remarks are always weighty, and always excellent — (I do not hesitate to say that Calvin is the grandest expositor that ever yet thought to make plain the Word of God; in his commentary I have often found him cutting his own Institutes to pieces, not attempting to give a passage a Calvinistic meaning, but always trying to interpret God’s Word as he finds it) — Calvin says this man had in the first place, only a faith, which relied for one thing upon Christ." (MTP: Vol 6 #317)
Yesterday, while travelling home on the bus from evangelistic outreach in Dublin, I may have come across such a passage. I was reading one of Calvin's sermons which he preached on Jeremiah 23:36 about God judging the wicked people to whom Jeremiah ministered. Calvin preached:
"In forbidding them to mention the word burden, it was the same thing as though he had said, “Let not this form of speaking be any longer in use among you.” He then adds, For to every one his word shall be his burden. By these words he shews that what is bitter in prophecies is as it were accidental; for God has nothing else in view in addressing men, but to call them to salvation. The word of God then in itself ought to be deemed sweet and delightful. Whence then is this bitterness and hatred towards it? even from the wickedness of men alone. As when a sick person, eating the most wholesome food finds it turned into poison, the cause being in himself; so it is with us, it is our own fault that the word of God becomes a burden. It was, moreover, the Prophet’s design to shew that the Jews had no reason to complain that prophecies were grievous to them, and always announced some trouble; for God wishes to address men with lenity and kindness, but he is forced by their wickedness to deal sharply with them."
One thing, though, whether in the Institutes or in the commentaries, Calvin always held that while salvation was always by grace, the cause of man's damnation always lay within himself. No wonder CH Spurgeon thought so highly of him and recommended his writings to others.
* Calvin's Commentaries online here
* Calvin's Institutes online here
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Monday, 1 February 2016
It is finished
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| Click on picture to enlarge |
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Sunday, 6 December 2015
Monday, 19 October 2015
Book review - Blanchard
Title of book: Why are you here? Searching for the meaning of life
Author: John Blanchard
Publisher: Evangelical Press
Publisher’s Address or address where book may be obtained: EP Books,
Faverdale North, Darlington, DL3 0PH, England
Year of publication: 2014
Number of Pages: 281
Hdbk or pbk: pbk
Price: £9.99
ISBN: 978-1783970681
This book is another gem by an prolific author and evangelist.
Obviously very Biblical, it may also be described as philosophical in nature.
However, it is engaging philosophy, written in popular style. It could never be
described as “heavy going” and, where there are no time restraints, the reader
will just simply keep turning the pages.
John Blanchard follows a well devised plan. He charts how man cannot
but ask about the purpose of his own existence.
He then documents some of the evolutionists’ and atheists’ response
before introducing the gospel and concluding with an evangelistic appeal to the
reader to repent and believe the gospel if they have not already done so. He is
very clear on the gospel, faithfully expounding the nature as well as the
necessity of repentance.
He does not berate the evolutionists, but simply lets them
speak for themselves. Some of these quotes range from Darwin’s “Imagination must fill up the very wide
blanks” (p.70) to Atkins’ insult that we all are but “a bit of slime on a planet” (p. 131) through to Dawkins’
classic admissions that we are “yet more
distant cousins of bananas and turnips”(p.75) and (when challenged about
the need of evidence for evolution) “We
don’t need evidence, we know it to be true.” (p.80)
Many of Mr Blanchard’s quotes are neutral while others are
sympathetic to the Bible cause. One of his own observations, which I have noted
on a Sticky Note in the fly cover is,
“He [Jesus Christ] did not come into the
world as a diplomat, a politician, an economist, a psychologist or a scientist,
but as a Saviour.” (p.207) Some of his illustrations from real life have
occurred only in the last few months, so they will still be fresh (at least for
a while) in the minds of the reader.
The book is introduced by Professor Sinclair and endorsed
in the blurb by professing Christian, Dan Walker who is also a leading BBC
sports presenter. One advantage in Mr Walker’s endorsement might well be the
evangelistic thought that it will make the book appeal a little more to a secular reader. The book is well produced to
Evangelical Press’s usual high standard with clear print. The Bible text used
throughout is the ESV.
End of Book Review
(Review this book by the British Church Newspaper)
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Friday, 4 September 2015
vietnam
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| Click Picture To Enlarge |
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Saturday, 12 April 2014
Thursday, 6 March 2014
deathbedrepentance
ARE YOU PLANNING A DEATH BED REPENTANCE?
(MAYBE THAT'S NOT SUCH A GOOD IDEA)
(MAYBE THAT'S NOT SUCH A GOOD IDEA)
PICTURE THE SCENE: There YOU are lying dying either at home or in
some hospital ward. The doctors have done all they can for you and it
is left to the nurses to make you as comfortable and as pain free as
they can. Your grieving family have been assured that you will "die
with dignity" and they gather with tear filled eyes around your death
bed. Even though nobody says anything, yet you get the general drift that
your days are seriously numbered and so you start thinking, perhaps for
the first time in years, about God, ETERNITY and the need to be saved.
Funny how the nearness of death somehow silences all those objections
and excuses which a hale and hearty lifestyle can so quickly throw up.
You send for a clergy man and in the privacy of a few moments, you let
it be known that you want to make your peace with God. You make no
mistakes in your choice of spiritual advisers. You manage to avoid the
heretical ones (I'm thinking now of Roman Catholic priests etc.,) and
the compromisers who try and tell you that since you have lived a
pretty decent life and did some good then you really haven't much to
worry about. You get a real good Bible man. And he is faithful to your
soul. Nice and kind but firmly, he tells you what you already know i.e.
that you are a sinner and you need to be saved and that only Jesus
Christ can save you. The kind of message we have on this blog.
And
maybe even you do get saved because there is mercy with the Lord and if you really do repent and believe
the gospel (Mark 1:15) then all your past will be pardoned and you will
die and go to be Christ which is far better (Philippians 1:21).
BUT JUST BEFORE YOU START THINKING:'GOOD! THAT'S THAT TAKEN CARE OF' PLEASE READ ON!
Actually, please read back a little. I put the conditional clause (..."if you
really do repent and believe...") in italics for a very good reason.
Sorry to upset your plans, but it is a very big "if" and in the matter
of the eternal welfare of your immortal soul, you must avoid any
"ifs" big or otherwise. Here are some things you should think about
while the matter is still fresh in your mind.
[1] YOU DON'T KNOW IF YOU WILL HAVE A DEATH BED OR NOT:
In your dreams, you picture your old hoary head with fevered brow
lying on a snowy white pillow. In your dreams, you can hear your tired
rasping voice confessing your sins to God in the presence of your
spiritual adviser as above. In your dreams, the clock is ticking away
and you make it to God and salvation with about 5 minutes to spare. A
bit like the old westerns on the television. But this is the
problem! It is all in your dreams and for all you know, you might
never have a dying bed like that at all. Your deathbed might be the
bonnet of a car or the cold uncompromising concrete of the road. You
might just drop dead in the street or quietly but suddenly leave this scene of time in your
sleep. You might not have any time say goodbye to your loved ones,
because death doesn't always give you 30 minutes notice. If your
deathbed repentance exists only in your dreams, then it won't keep you
out of hell.
[2] YOU MAY NOT EVEN BE CONSCIOUS ON YOUR DEATHBED:
You could lie for weeks or months on end in your deathbed, but not be able to speak to anyone or even think. And while some preacher man might come to your bedside and pray and read the Scriptures, it's not so much for you but for your grieving family. Because you're out of it. Your day has come and gone and with it your hopes of a deathbed repentance. Who are you fooling?
[3] YOU CANNOT SAY THAT YOU HAVE THE POWER TO DECIDE TO COME TO GOD WHEN YOU WANT:
Do you remember when Pilate interrogated the Lord Jesus? When the Lord Jesus declined to answer him, proud arrogant Pilate said, "Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?" (John 19:10) Pilate carried the germ of a thought that is in your head at this moment as you plan your deathbed repentance. It is this: I can do what with God. And I do what I want and when I want. I can keep God waiting until the moment of my choosing and then, when it is convenient for me, I can in effect snap my fingers and God will be there waiting for me. Looks bad in cold print, doesn't it? The Lord Jesus gave a reply to Pilate which shattered his pet theory. "Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above..." (John 19:11) This idea that you are in the driving seat and that God is a back seat passenger is a bit of a myth. God warned so long ago: "My spirit shall not strive with man" (Genesis 6:3) What did He mean? Well, you need the Spirit of God to convict you of your sin and to bring you to Jesus Christ for salvation (John 16:8/1 Corinthians 12:3) but God is not obliged to tender to you the Spirit's help. He can leave you alone in your sins and never bother you again. If this happens, then you're finished. Your door of mercy is slammed shut and your deathbed scenario is worse than the final scenes of a Greek tragedy.
[4] DEATHBED REPENTANCE'S ARE OFTEN DONE IN A HURRY, AND THINGS DONE IN A HURRY ARE NOT OFTEN DONE RIGHT:
Supposing you do get a bit of breathing time at the end. Supposing you are comfortably propped up on your dying pillow and the preacher man with his message of life and salvation makes it to your bedside. The matter is only really beginning. Salvation from sin is the fruit of repentance towards God and repentance is a lot more than a few tears after the stirring of a guilty conscience. The Bible warns about a sorrow which is worldly in its character and leads to death (2 Corinthians 7:10) Not much good to you as the grave closes in quickly around you. Judas Iscariot got himself worked up when the full consequences of his sin came home with a vengeance, but it was not a real godly sorrow unto repentance and therefore of no advantage whatsoever. I think in this death bed scenario of yours, there is a great danger that you will run out of time. Events will overtake you and all your good intentions and carefully worked out plans will evaporate before your doom laden eyes. Salvation is much more than merely nodding the head to a few evangelical propositions. It is with the heart that man believes unto righteousness (Romans 10:10) and that is not something that can be worked up or turned on at will.
[5] THE ONLY TIME GOD PROMISES YOU SALVATION IS HERE AND NOW:
You can bank on God's promise of salvation here and now but you have no warrant from the Bible to bank on anything for tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes. Tomorrow is always a future event. Tomorrow is just eternity hidden from your view. That's why the Bible says: "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." (2 Corinthians 6:2) That's why the Bible says: "To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. (Hebrews 3:15) The Lord is to be sought while He "may be found" and called upon "while He is near" (Isaiah 55:6)
If you come to Christ and receive salvation now, if you ever have a deathbed, then it can be a glorious one. You can die knowing that it is well with your soul. You can die with a lifetime of knowing and enjoying Christ personally, having experienced the reality of His salvation. This is a far different cry from slipping in at the end i.e. if you do manage to get in at all. One is certain while the the other is frightenly uncertain. Why take the risk?
THE END
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