Conviction of Sin

“The more one observes the condition of the Church, the more one feels obliged to confess that the conviction of sin is a great mystery’ which can be produced only by the Spirit of God. Proclamation of the law, in word and in deed, can prepare for the experience, but the experience itself comes from God. When a man has that experience, when a man comes under the conviction of sin, his whole attitude toward life is transformed; he wonders at his former blindness, and the message of the gospel, which formerly seemed to be an idle tale, becomes now instinct with light. But it is God alone who can produce the change.

Only, let us not try to do without the Spirit of God.

The fundamental fault of the modern Church is that she is busily engaged in an absolutely impossible task–she is busily engaged in calling the righteous to repentance. Modern preachers are trying to bring men into the Church without requiring them to relinquish their pride; they are trying to help men avoid the conviction of sin. The preacher gets up into the pulpit, opens the Bible, and addresses the congregation somewhat as follows: “You people are very good,” he says; “you respond to every appeal that looks toward the welfare of the community. Now we have in the Bible–especially in the life of Jesus–something so good that we believe it is good enough even for you good people.” Such is modern preaching. It is heard every Sunday in thousands of pulpits. But it is entirely futile.

Even our Lord did not call the righteous to repentance, and probably we shall be no more successful than He.” ~ J. Gresham Mechen

Monergism and Synergism

Hawking Jesus by Herman Hoeksema

Jesus actually and fully saves

By this proposition I mean that Jesus does not offer salvation but works it. His name is Jesus, because through Him salvation has become, not a possibility, but a reality. He is called Jesus, because He is Jesus. The name Jesus, Joshua, Jeh-oshua, signifies: Jehovah-saves. In Him Jehovah, our Triune Covenant God, is revealed as the God of our salvation. Therefore He receives His name by a special injunction from heaven: Thou shalt call His name Jesus.

And the reason for this name is also expressed by the heavenly messenger:

“Because He shall save His people from their sins.” Note: He shall save His people. He shall not throw out a lifeline which you may, perhaps, grasp, that He may pull you to safety; or which you may, at your pleasure and folly, sneer at and refuse to grasp, so that you perish in the raging sea. No, He shall save. He shall not beg you to allow Him to save you, to come to Him, to accept Him, to let Him in, so that you may make it possible for Him to realize His name, Jesus. His name is Jesus, for He shall surely save His people from their sins.

What is salvation? It is that work of the God of our salvation whereby He lifts us from our present misery into the glory of His heavenly kingdom and covenant.

What is our misery from which we must be saved? What is the natural state and condition from which Jesus lifts us into eternal glory? Is it to be compared to the condition of a drowning seaman struggling with the waves, whom you may save by calling to him to take hold of the lifeline? No, he is a man who is already drowned. Not drowning but drowned is the word that describes his condition. Not dying but dead. Salvation is no rescuing of the dying, but raising of the dead.

Still more. That death is spiritual death. And spiritual death means that our nature is become so corrupt that we are enemies of God and cannot be of ourselves anything else than enemies of the Fountain of Life. We will not, we cannot, and we cannot will anything but sin. We are in darkness. We are perverse of mind and heart. We are corrupt in all our thoughts and desires and ways. We are blind, deaf, dead. We are alive unto iniquity and dead unto righteousness. We are children of our father the devil rejoicing to do his will. We are hateful and hating one another. And in that condition we are enslaved as willing slaves. Our will is not free, except to do evil. We are shackled by sin and death and we could not even will to let anyone break those shackles.

Yet more. We are in this condition because we are all under the guilt of sin. Sin makes guilty, for God is just and He is angry with the sinner every day. We are born in sin. And we increase our guilt daily. Hence, we have no other right than to be damned. We have no right to life. We lie under the sentence of death.

Such is our state and condition by nature. Such is the testimony of the Holy Scriptures. For the Word of God declares that by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men (Rom. 5:12); and that by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation (v. 18). The Scriptures declare that by nature we are carnally minded and do mind the things of the flesh, that the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be, and that they that are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom. 8:5-8). The Bible teaches that all are under sin, that there is not one that doeth good, not one righteous, not one that understandeth and seeketh after God; that all have gone astray; that their throat is an open sepulcher; that they use deceit with their tongues; that the poison of asps is under their lips; that their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet swift to shed blood; that destruction and misery are in their ways; that they have not known the way of peace; and that there is no fear of God before their eyes (Rom. 3:9-18). Holy Writ pictures the natural man as being full of unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; that men are backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boastful, inventors of evil things; disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful (Rom. 1:29-31). The natural man, according to the divine Word, is foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another (Titus3:3). He is dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). By nature he is a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3); he is darkness (Eph. 5:8). He is so dead that except through faith in the Son he shall not see life, the wrath of God abideth on him (John 3:36). They are children of their father the devil and will do their father’s lust (John 8:44). – Source

Natural Conviction is not Conversion

John Hazelton’s A Declaration of Faith,

We preach to sinners; we have no one else to preach to. We are to describe the condition of all men by nature, responsible under God’s holy law; we are to show its claims, and that “by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight;” (Rom. 3:20) we are solemnly to warn of the certain consequences of living and dying in sins. We are to preach the gospel with such ability as God gives us, telling of the riches of grace and mercy in Christ, and then we are to leave all with Him who has said of His Word, “It shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isa. 55:11)

A true ministry must be searching and discriminating. Natural conviction is not conversion; natural faith is not that faith which is “the gift of God.” Nowhere in Scripture does God speak of His work as an offer He makes, nor have we any warrant for any man offering to his fellow that which God alone has the right and the power to bestow. How many virtually tell sinners they can do the work of the Holy Ghost. This is the plain English of much modern divinity. All the feelings and gracious influences which, in the Word of God, are attributed to or emanate from the Holy Ghost, man is addressed as capable of producing; and after all the infinitely costly expenditure of the doing and dying of Christ, it rests with the dead sinner to accept, receive, believe, and so be saved. The invitations of the gospel are to character; its blessings are purely spiritual, and therefore need spiritual eyes to see them, spiritual ears to hear them, spiritual hands to embrace them, and spiritual hearts to feel and enjoy them. To throw down a number of spiritual invitations for anybody and everybody to pick up is quite foreign to the spirit of the gospel, which is for the poor in spirit, the needy, and those described in Isaiah. 61:1-3)

Is there one of God’s sent servants who preaches without feeling an earnest yearning for the salvation of poor sinners? Having experienced personally that the whole work is of the Lord, their wrestling is with Him that He would produce that wondrous life that is alone His gift. In conclusion on this point, let us ask, is there one living child of God that would affirm, “Yes, I heard the minister say, ‘Come to Christ–come now, and you will be saved;’ and so I came and was saved. It was my accepting the invitation that was the cause of my salvation?” Would not a child of God turn away from this, and sing with gratitude of heart:

“Grace first inscribed my name
In God’s eternal book;
‘Twas grace that gave me to the Lamb,
Who all my sorrows took.

“Grace all the work shall crown
Through everlasting days;
It lays in heaven the topmost stone,
And well deserves the praise.”

Some Good Preaching

…two faiths and two repentances…

J.J. West;

There are also two faiths and two repentances recorded in the Bible one true! One false!

Did not Iscariot repent?

Listen to Scripture, “when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself;” and what was the end of that repentance? “he went and hanged himself.” Now “ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.” But Peter repented! Did he go and hang himself? O! No; his was a “godly sorrow” “he went out and wept bitterly.” Now, my hearers, as a sifter in this pulpit, I hope I have drawn the line of demarcation, so that you may in your consciences distinguish between truth and error!

If there be one here who would make me an offender for a word, if there be one who has come to spy out the nakedness of the land do not misunderstand me do not misrepresent what I say I tell you distinctly, and may it be blessed to your soul that eternal life is the gift of God that it is in and through Jesus Christ alone you may hate me now for what I am preaching, but O! If it be blessed, blessed to you, how precious will the truth become. O! The mercy of having been raised to a hope in the soul, and to hope only in and on Jesus! We knew nothing of this when in “our blood” in nature’s darkness.

But what a sweet test it is to have a hope within us that we “are now made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” To be exercised about our state is an evidence. To understand the meaning of “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12,13) is a token, a sure one that we have had the work begun in us. What are we to understand by the word’s “work out your own salvation?” Have we anything to do with it? It is in fact, get at your evidences!

See whether God has redeemed you? Plucked you as a brand from the fire! And this you can only ascertain by the Spirit’s work within “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.” (Rom. 8:16,17) [source]

Peace to the Proud and the Atonement as an Opportunity

Can you feel it!!!!!

Mission Preaching by Rev. Ronald Hanko

Mission Preaching

We have been emphasizing the truth that evangelism is nothing more nor less than the preaching of the gospel. Since this is true, ALL gospel preaching is, strictly speaking, evangelism, whether it be to the heathen, to the scattered sheep of apostatising churches or to the congregation of God’s people.

Evangelism can be described, however, as preaching the gospel to those who are outside the true church with a view to their salvation. There is a difference between preaching the gospel in the church and to those outside, to Christians and to the heathen, whether to the heathen living in foreign countries who have not heard the gospel or the to the heathen who are so numerous in our own Western countries where the gospel has been preached for many years. These differences while important are not essential.

The differences, we believe, are three.

First, in preaching to those who have not heard the gospel before, the message must be simplified and preached in such a way that those who hear understand clearly what the evangelist is saying. This is especially difficult when preaching to heathen who have never heard of sin, grace, redemption and of so many other great gospel truths.

Let us remember here that Jesus, when He preached to the people, preached to them in parables, so that even those who continued unbelieving would hear and see what Jesus was saying. Thus, in His parables, he used illustrations taken from their everyday life to make the truths of the gospel as plain to them as possible.

Second, this kind of gospel preaching will address the audience as unsaved in showing them the need for repentance and faith in Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation. The preacher will beseech and exhort those who hear, pressing upon them the demands of the gospel and the urgency of their own need (II Cor. 5:18-21; cf. Matt. 3:7-12).

There is, however, no essential difference in the message that is preached to professed unbelievers and to the church. The difference is in the audience and their need, and in the aim of the preaching (saving the unsaved). This will to some extent affect the presentation and emphasis of the message, but it is the gospel which must be preached.

Indeed, we must see that even in preaching to the heathen and unbelieving, the whole counsel of God must be preached, including predestination, limited atonement, the Trinity, creation, providence and all the other truths of Scripture. Jesus and the apostles preached these truths even to those who were not saved (John 10:11; Acts 2:23; 13:17; 14:15-17). We must continue to preach them today.

These truths are very often neglected in mission preaching and even rejected as unsuitable for preaching to the unsaved. This is not only contrary to the example of Jesus and the apostles (John 6; Acts 17:22ff.), but cuts out the heart of the gospel message, i.e., that GOD was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself (II Cor. 5:19).

Third, mission preaching involves going out to preach to the unsaved (Matt. 28:19). We have already pointed out that the church is seen in Scripture as the gathering of believers and their children and that the presence of unbelievers is thought of as an unusual and exceptional thing (I Cor. 14:23). It will not do, therefore, for the church to attempt to carry out its calling to engage in missions by holding an “evangelistic service” every Lord’s Day evening. (source)

 

Does God Love His Enemies?

Ministerial Offers and The Lord’s Invitation

A few months ago I found a few works of Job Hupton (1762-1849) online. He was a Baptist minister in the UK and preached the Gospel for 65 years. He wrote, “Ministerial Offers of the Spiritual Blessings Not Warranted by the Scripture” and find his conclusions convincing. The Gospel is, “Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness, but to them that are called…”

Hupton explains, “The non-elect indeed, many of them, hear the gospel where it is preached. Before them Christ is evidently set forth as crucified, and life and salvation are proclaimed in their ears. They hear of all that Jesus has done and suffered for sinners, and the immense blessings unnumbered which flow from the celestial throne, through his obedience and wounds to the guilty and undone ; of the mighty work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of millions ; and the graces and comforts which arise from his operations in all the saints ; and of the kingdom, perfection, and glory, which God has promised to all that believe. But among all the abundance, and almost endless variety, which they hear, there is not one offer of any thing sent to them from God. To this add, that since the scriptures declare of the non-elect, that they are a people of no understanding, therefore he that made them will not have mercy upon them ; and he that formed them, will shew them no favor; that to them that are wit6ut, it is not given to understand the mysteries of the kingdom; and that he who is the Lord of heaven and earth, has hid those things from them ; it is hardly rational only to suppose, that he offers them the favour that he will not shew them, and tenders to them the things which he hides for ever from their eyes. To say that God designs spiritual blessings for all where he sends the gospel, is to renounce Calvinism and establish Arminianism ; and to say that he never designed spiritual blessings for any but the elect, and yet offers them to all, is to impeach his sincerity, and represent him as deceitful, and as mocking and tantalizing his creatures. Such representations of that Being, whose nature, names, and conduct, are all perfection, is, I must say, highly reprehensible, and quite unworthy the man of God; it is therefore necessary in order to support the character of God, our own reputation, and the honour of his gospel, to abandon offers, tenders and overtures.”

J.C. Philpot writes in “The Lord’s Invitation to the Ends of Earth,

“When the Law is placed upon the elect we flee “unto the ends of earth” in sorrow. Philpot tell us, “But when, in soul feeling, we are thus at the ends of the earth, we learn lessons there which cannot be taught us in any other place. There we learn what it is to be at a distance from God, with a desire to be brought nigh; there we are brought to know the exceeding sinfullness of sin, and there begin to learn the value of the blood of Christ to purge the conscience; there we become clothed with shame and confusion of face; there we are taught to feel our thorough helplessness and complete inability to bring ourselves spiritually and experimentally nigh, and feel what it is to wander in confusion without being able to get near the source of light, life, and truth, or feel access of soul to God. Thus, to be at “the ends of the earth,” is a painful but a profitable place; for there we learn lessons which we could not learn anywhere else, and are taught to feel something of the purity of Jehovah. and of our own defilement before Him. Now, it is to those who thus feel themselves to be at “the ends of the earth,” that the Lord speaks in the text. He will never encourage presumptuous professors, those I mean who daringly rush on without His sanction, leadings, or drawings. It is better to tarry at “the ends of the earth” all our lives long, than to rush unbidden into the sanctuary, or advance presumptuously into the presence of the Most High. For there is a day coming when the Lord will “thoroughly purge His floor;” and then how many presumptuous intruders into His sanctuary, how many burners of false fire, and offers of unclean sacrifices, will be detected, and driven out! If the will of God be so, it is better to be poor, condemned criminals at “the ends of the earth,” waiting in humility for a smile, pleading in sincerity for a promise, than rush presumptuously on, and claim His gifts as our right and due.”

This is where the Gospel is preached. It is proclaimed here, the evangelical grace (Baptist Confession, 1689) of God is given here, we are moved to believe by the power of God.