Martyn Lloyd-Jones on What True Repentance Is and Is Not

In a sermon on "False Prophets", the Doctor distinguishes the marks between a false and spurious 'repentance' versus the biblical record of what true and saving repentance looks like. Lamenting the soft preaching of the contemporary evangelical landscape of his time, he says,

It does not emphasize repentance in any real sense. It has a very wide gate leading to salvation and a very broad way  leading to heaven. You need not feel much of your own sinfulness; you need not be aware of the blackness of your own heart. You just "decide for Christ" and you rush in with the crowd, and your name is put down, and is one of the large number of "decisions" reported by the press. It is entirely unlike the evangelism of the Puritans and of John Wesley, George Whitefield and others, which led men to be terrified of the judgment of God, and to have an agony of soul sometimes for days and weeks and months. John Bunyan tells us in his Grace Abounding that he endured an agony of repentance for 18 months. There does not seem to be much room for that today.

Repentance means that you realize that you are a guilty, vile sinner in the presence of God, that you deserve the wrath and punishment of God, that you are hell-bound. It means that you begin to realize that this thing called sin is in you, that you long to get rid of it, and that you turn your back on it in every shape and form. You renounce the world what ever the cost, the world and its mind and outlook as well as it's practice, and you deny yourself, and take up the cross and go after Christ. Your nearest and dearest, and the whole world, may call you a fool, or say you have religious mania. You may have to suffer financially, but it makes no difference. That is repentance. The false prophet does not put it like that. He heals "the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly", simply saying that it is all right, and that you have but to "come to Christ", "follow Jesus", or "become a Christian." They offer an easy salvation, and an easy type of life always.

Although preached in the year 1952, it is as if Lloyd Jones is surveying the common evangelical landscape today. Truly, there is nothing new under the sun.

May God raise up a faithful generation of prophets to call a spade a spade. God's glory in the gospel is at stake. Little do we realize that because of our faulty view of sin or our natural inability to come to Christ savingly apart from regenerating grace, the world looks at a 'church' full of goats, and to quote Paul, "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you" (Romans 2:24).

In Christ, and for His glory to the ends of the earth,
pastor ryan

Thanksgiving

Every second Monday in October, Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving Day. Traditionally, this holiday was instituted to celebrate the harvest and other blessings of the past year.

From Wikipedia:

The history of Thanksgiving in Canada can be traced back to the 1578 voyage of Martin Frobisher from England in search of the Northwest Passage. In this, his third, voyage to the Frobisher Bay area of Baffin Island in the present Canadian Territory of Nunavut, it was also the intention to start a small settlement and his fleet of 15 ships were so fitted out with men, materials and provisions for this purpose. However, the loss of one of his ships through contact with ice along with much of the building material was to prevent him from doing so. The expedition was plagued by ice and freak storms which at times had scattered the fleet and on meeting together again at their anchorage in Frobisher Bay, Writes Frobisher in his journal, “Mayster Wolfall, a learned man, appointed by her Majesties Councell to be their minister and preacher, made unto them a godly sermon, exhorting them especially to be thankefull to God for their strange and miraculous deliverance in those so dangerous places…They celebrated Communion and The celebration of divine mystery was the first sign, scale, and confirmation of Christ's name, death and passion ever known in all these quarters. "

Though Thanksgiving Day has degenerated to virtually a pagan holiday of gluttony, its roots go back to the gospel of Jesus Christ, as Frobisher was simply being obedient to the innumerable passages that exhort God's people to give Him thanks.

The one that most clearly comes to mind is his exhortation to the Thessalonian church, wherein the apostle Paul writes:

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (5:18)

This is why God has saved us in Christ: to give thanks to Him in everything and for everything.

Yes, we are thankful for our country. And yes we are thankful for the many physical blessings such as full fridges, closets, garages, and bank accounts.

But ultimately, we are thankful for the true Spiritual riches that we have in Christ Jesus (Eph. 1:3ff.).

Beloved, God has saved us in Christ that we might praise Him for His glorious grace (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14). God, through Christ, has made us His very own possession, that we might proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9).

The "continual offering" God seeks from His people is "the sacrifice of praise, that is the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name" (Heb. 13:15).

These are all saying the same thing: God has saved us to give thanks to Him.

What we call Thanksgiving Day, the French call "Jour de l'Action de grâce." Spending a day together to celebrate [God's] "action" grace. I like that. And so does our great King.

As you celebrate Thanksgiving this year, make sure you take time to "give thanks to the LORD, for His steadfast love endures forever."

It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
   to sing praises to Your Name,
      O Most High;
to declare Your steadfast love in the morning,
   and Your faithfulness by night. (Psa. 92:1-2)

"Your blood has washed away my sin, Jesus thank You;
     The Father's wrath completely satisfied, Jesus thank You.
  Once an enemy, now seated at Your table, Jesus thank You."

In Christ, and for the sake of His glory to the ends of the earth,
Pastor Ryan

Knowing About God is Not Enough!

The following from a John MacArthur sermon was a sobering reminder of the insufficiency and folly of those who seek to accrue more and more "knowledge" about God alone, without "mixing it with faith" (cf. Heb. 4:2, KJV):

A famous actor was once the guest of honor at a social gathering where he received many requests to recite favorite excerpts from various literary works. An old preacher who happened to be there asked the actor to recite the Twenty-Third Psalm. The actor agreed on the condition that the preacher would also recite it. The actor's recitation was beautifully intoned with great dramatic emphasis, for which he received lengthy applause. The preacher's voice was rough and broken from many years of preaching, and his diction was anything but polished. But when he finished there was not a dry eye in the room.  When someone asked the actor what made the difference, he replied, "I know the psalm, but he knows the Shepherd." Salvation does not come from knowing about the truth of Jesus Christ but from intimately knowing Christ Himself.

As Leonard Ravenhill used to say, there is a great difference between knowing the Word of God, and knowing the God of the Word.

Indeed, there is a pervasively deceptive danger of faithless, lifeless knowledge that has crept not merely into many of our churches, but many of our pulpits.

May God rescue us from the deceptive lie that a mere & shallow head knowledge of the gospel is to be equated with a robust and living faith in our living Savior.

In Christ, God's Word incarnate,
Pastor Ryan

Life is More than Lip- Service

In a tiny little gem entitled, "A Guide to Christian Living", the eminent pastor-theologian John Calvin wrote the following which cut me to the quick.

In the first chapter, under the 4th subheading entitled "Life is More than Lip Service" he writes:

Something should be said at this point to those who, having only the name of Christ, wish nevertheless to be known as Christians. How bold they are to glory in His holy name, seeing that none enjoy His friendship save those who rightly know Him through the gospel...Clearly, when such people claim to know Christ, their claim is false. In the process they do Him much wrong, however persuasively they prattle on about Him.

The gospel is teaching intended not for the tongue, but for life. Unlike other disciplines it involves more than just the mind and memory: it must take full possession of the soul and must have its seat and home deep in the heart. Otherwise it is not really taken in. So let these people cease to shame God by boasting of what they are not, or let them prove themselves to be disciples of Christ.

In the matter of religion, we have so far given priority to what is taught, since that is the beginning of our salvation. But to bear fruit and to be profitable, what is taught must lodge in the heart and demonstrate its power in our lives. More than that, it must transform us so that its nature becomes ours.

I confess that often I am content to let the truth dwell in my mind and intellect, but never really worry about its transforming voyage into my heart and soul. Why? Because it's easier to look holy by quoting (or blogging or tweeting or Facebooking) a lot of other noble theologians or philosophers, or (gasp!), even the holy Scriptures themselves than actually living them out.  And the scary thing is this: we seemingly get away with it, and begin to harden our hearts further, resulting in a life that is utterly and completely hypocritical. Or as Jude warns, "clouds without rain." Scary stuff. This is perhaps one of the worst forms of God's judgment (i.e. giving us over to sin, even if outwardly everything looks "sinless").

Oh how I praise God for the gift of His Spirit's conviction! I praise Him that in His mercy, He has not let me go too far in my proud downward spiral. 

What is the life my Savior wants us to exhibit? The life of faith. Like Abraham, who simply took God at His Word and lived in light of it.  He didn't merely talk about God's promise in ivory towers when visiting theologians stopped by to talk shop.  No, he walked by faith. Or, as James puts it, Abraham showed he was right in the eyes of God because his works backed up his profession.

This is the life I want to live for my Savior.  I want to live like a little child, simply taking God at His Word and then obeying it immediately.  Paul was right: in those who are prone to pride (i.e. me), "knowledge puffeth up." Lately I have been so puffed up, and yet so empty inside.

Please deflate, or if necessary burst, my intellectual bubble, O God, if it draws attention to my intellect instead of Your glorious gospel, wherein Jesus, the Son of God, died a humiliating death at the hands of sinful men and bore the divine wrath my sin had heaped upon Him.

Thank You, glorious God, for giving us the gift of men like John Calvin, who point us back to Your Word afresh.  Forgive us for making men like him our boast, rather than the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Christ alone, through whom we have adoption as sons,
Pastor Ryan

The New Liberalism in Christianity (Man-Centered "Evangelism")

In an article entitled, "Is the Megachurch the new Liberalism", Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Seminary, writes:

Theological liberalism did not set out to destroy Christianity, but to save it from itself. Is the same temptation now evident? The Great Commission, we must remind ourselves, is not a command merely to reach people, but to make disciples. And disciples are only made when the church teaches all that Christ has commanded, as the Great Commission makes clear.

In a nutshell, Mohler states that the church's infatuation with numbers is a great threat to orthodoxy.  The primary example he gives is from a recent sermon delivered by Andy Stanley, Pastor of Northwood Community Church in Atlanta, which is the 3rd biggest church in America, wherein he implicitly stamped his - and by implication his church's - hearty approval of same-sex marriages, including them in his definition of "the modern family."

Being a pastor myself, I feel the pressure that "evangelicalism" places on churches to be "successful."  Of course, being completely ignorant of any time in history but our own, we as North Americans assume that successful has always been defined in terms of numbers and public approval.

I think this is the dangerous mentality that has permeated most (note: not all) megachurches.  When their god becomes numbers and not faithfulness to God's Word, this is inevitable.  However, as Mohler notes, this is not peculiar to megachurches.  Many small churches, that haven't reached that status, are trying to.  And how do we fill our pews, er, cool movie theater seats? By cheapening the gospel.  Whether or not they are "in" the Kingdom of God is besides the point.  They are in our church, and therefore we must be doing something right.

Let's face it. Jesus didn't suffer for preaching a soft-sell gospel.  He died because He preached a message that confronted sin, and only offered forgiveness to those willing to part with their sin.  As Leonard Ravenhill once said, if all Jesus preached was our American gospel, He would still be alive today.

Like adultery, stealing, gossip, blasphemy, lust, and covetousness, homosexuality is a sin.  If this message keeps homosexuals from attending our church, we must be faithful to the Scriptures, and trust that the Holy Spirit will bring them to repentance through regeneration.  If our message keeps people who are living in adultery from attending our church, we must preach the gospel & likewise trust that God will bring true conviction and repentance.  (By the way, I truly believe that the church has compromised on what the Bible teaches on divorce & remarriage for this reason alone, namely, that our churches are filled with people who treat marriage with such indifferent contempt. God forbid they go across the street to another church! So we let all kinds of people divorce for unbiblical reasons, so they and their families can stay in our church....and keep tithing, of course).

If we "tweek" the gospel, we take away the only tool the Spirit has to bring about the new birth.  It's that simple.  We can fill our churches with people who pray prayers that are not found in the Bible, but we may be inadvertently filling Hell with people who have been given a false bill of sale.

Satan is no fool.  The word "liberalism" is scary, and most 'evangelical' pastors would denounce those who have denied the authority & sufficiency of Scripture in the past.  So Satan gives us something noble, namely "soul-winning via a goat's gospel" to destroy the witness of the church, filling it with unregenerate 'members' who have never truly known what "Jesus is Lord" really means.  Such professors show up to church on Sunday, sing some songs, laugh at some jokes, give some money, are entertained for 25 minutes, then leave so they can return to 'reality'. One little addition to the gospel can completely change it, just as one molecule can radically change the outcome of a chemical reaction.  Since we pander after unbelievers who love their sin, we preach a feel-good gospel that tells them Jesus is OK with our sinfulness.  After all, He came to save sinners, right?  However, Jesus came to save His people "from" their sin (Matt. 1:21), not "for" their sin. One letter makes all the difference!

I close with a quote from Mohler, who is implying that many of the 'pastors' filling pulpits today are the successors of well-known liberals from the past.  This is scary stuff.

The current cultural context creates barriers to the Gospel even as it offers temptations. One of those temptations is to use to use the argument that our message has to change in order to reach people. This was the impetus of theological liberalism’s origin. Liberals such as Harry Emerson Fosdick claimed that the Christian message would have to change or the church would lose all intellectual credibility in the modern world. Fosdick ended up denying the Gospel and transforming the message of the Cross into psychology. Norman Vincent Peale came along and made this transformation even more appealing to a mass audience. Fosdick and Peale have no shortage of modern heirs.

 Gulp.  I would challenge you to check out the 10 Biggest Churches in America. Listen to their "messages" and tell me if the words "sin" or "repentance" are used in their "gospel" appeals.  God have mercy on us!

How different from Paul's final letter, written to Timothy.  We just finished working through it in our family devotions. It's filled with suffering for the gospel.  Sometimes I wonder how we in North America have missed one of the main themes in the New Testament: suffering for preaching & living the (true) gospel. In 2 Tim. 4, Paul reminds Timothy of what needs to be done "in these last days" which are characterized by religious wickedness (ch. 3):

"I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, Who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

 May God give us His Spirit in full measure to suffer for the gospel (2 Tim. 1:6-8).

Recommended books:

James Gresham Machen, "Christianity & Liberalism"

Michael Horton, "Christless Christianity"

Dever on Monologue Preaching

The following is taken from Mark Dever's latest book entitled, Preach.  It is extremely pertinent to a 'christian' generation that has by and large forgotten that it is through "the foolishness of preaching" that people are saved (1 Cor. 1:21, NET). Not entertainment. Not slick presentations. Not emotional appeal. Not hip youth pastors or tight worship teams. The first two chapters of Paul's letter to the immature Corinthian church are a rebuke to our insipid, post-modern, latte drinking, entertainment seeking

The empty pulpit in many of our church buildings well displays the spiritual reality. We run around seeking life for our churches and life for ourselves through a million different methods, and the one means God has given for bringing people into a relationship with Himself stands neglected and disdained. In the act of preaching—a congregation hearing the voice of one man who stands behind the Scriptures—God has given us an important symbol of the fact that we come into relationship with Him by His Word. Just as surely as Abram was called to God by the word of promise addressing him, so we as Christians are made God’s people by believing God and trusting His promises. In a word, we come into relationship with God through faith, and “faith comes,” Paul tells us in Romans 10, “from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

There is only one God, and He is a relational and communicating, personal being who speaks to us and initiates relationship with us. Those powerful, life-giving truths are not only proclaimed but also powerfully symbolized by the preaching of God’s Word. He speaks, and therefore we preach.

As Mark Dever says in an endorsement of Al Mohler's book, He is Not Silent: Preaching in a Postmodern World, "Where are the Spurgeons of this generation?"

May our Lord Jesus, in His great love for His church, send this generation many such monologue preachers who speak as God's mouthpieces to a dying, Hell-bound world.

In Christ, and for His glory to the ends of the earth,
Pastor Ryan

The Resurrection Changes Everything

I'm currently reading a book entitled, "Raised With Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything" by Adrian Warnock. His preface is just too good to not share with others.

For Christians all over the world, every Sunday is Resurrection Sunday. We meet each week, among other things, in order to celebrate the glorious, wondrous fact that Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus' resurrection really did change everything. It changed the cross from a tragedy into a triumph...This was the most powerful divine event in the history of creation, and it ushered in a new age of the Holy Spirit's activity and power in saving and transforming lives.

When considering if Christianity is true, it all boils down to the whether Jesus rose from the dead. The lives of Christians today demonstrate that the resurrection is still changing people. It changes fear into love, despair into joy. The resurrection changes people from being spiritually dead to being alive to God. It changes guilty condemnation into a celebration of forgiveness and freedom. It changes anxiety into a hope that goes beyond the grave. It can change our sinful hearts so they want to follow the Lord Jesus, and the power of the resurrection is relentlessly killing the sin in every true Christian. Because we neglect to emphasize this truth, many Christians have a meager expectation of the extent to which we can today experience resurrection life and victory over sin. The resurrection is far from being something we only benefit from in the future!

As John MacArthur says,

The resurrection is the ground of our assurance, it is the basis for all our future hopes, and it is the source of power in our daily lives here and now. It gives us courage in the midst of persecution, comfort in the midst of trials, and hope in the midst of the world's darkness.

Warnock continues,

Christians have therefore already been changed by Jesus' resurrection. Jesus really is alive today. Because of this Christians are also alive in a whole new way. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is living in every true Christian. God wants us not just to believe in Jesus' resurrection but to be transformed by it and to receive the power we need to live the way we know we ought. For all of us, the questions, did Jesus rise from the dead? and what are the implications of His resurrection? are the most important ones we will ever answer.

 If Warnock is right, we would do well to understand more deeply, and reflect more seriously, and apply more realistically the glorious truth and subsequent implications of the immeasurable greatness of God's power at work in us (Eph. 1:19ff.).