
12.31.2009
PERKINS on the REGULATIVE PRINCIPLE OF WORSHIP

12.30.2009
DEBATING GOD? The REAL COLLISION


Showdowns always attract an audience. We live in a competitive dog-eat-dog world, and we love to see someone on top take a tumble. Growing up, I couldn't wait to watch the Bulls play the Bad Boy Pistons. Bill Lambier and his dirty entourage did nothing but intimidate their opponents. Who could stop them? They were the dominant force of the late 1980s. But then came one like no other, and his name was Michael Jordan. And every year I waited for #23 to step out and show these Bad Boys that their "Jordan Rules" were totally impotent against his great talent. Every year I waited anxiously for this showdown, ugly as it was, angry as I felt--those Pistons were so foul and I loathed them! But I always came out on top, because, well, my guy won. There he stood, #23, triumphant over his foes holding that great golden ball in the air. Ultimately, something felt real good about those Pistons going back to the locker room in shame. I had won along with Jordan.
This drive to shame our opponent is in us all. We love to see someone fall; we enter into the conflict, and identify with our hero, only to feel uplifted when this iconized warrior wins what has become our battle. Adding a little baseball in the mix, who doesn't want to see their favorite player in the dugout walk to home plate and point to the far wall as the other team reels and sends its personality to throw their team's best curveball? It meets some sort of fleshly desire for vengeance that we can obtain along with the one with whom we have come to identify. It's painful to admit, however, that we haven't won much of anything. Next year another team comes, another championship game is played, and all before is forgotten.
In the Christian world, there is a different kind of showdown that has become more en vogue as of late, namely, public debates over key points of doctrinal difference. Who doesn't want to hear something like this? It's the Christian sport, if you will, not in the physical arena, but in the arena of our pride--the mind. It too fulfills a form of fleshly vengeance against the person challenging the hero that I have come to iconize on my side, whose wit and personality I have best identified with.
A sparing of the minds and dueling of the intellect! There is nothing quite like it when two great debaters step up to the platform to display their unyielding argumentation and genius of word choice. But what is accomplished? Well, as good Americans, that is determined by who was "on their game" that day. Who made the best arguments? Who was the most articulate? Who spoke with the most authority? In other words, who won the audience? The sad reality, however, is that not much was accomplished except a further pandering to the people's carnality of hoping their guy wins. All said, very few in the audience are theologically capable enough to weed through all the superficiality, and really think through the implications and consequences of each particular viewpoint. The debate, more often than not, is won by the best display of personality.
As if this does not create enough conflict in the Christian realm, there is something far worse among Christians today that has become an acceptable platform of discourse, the debate with the atheist. Vicious attacks against Christianity have risen over the past decade by notable atheists such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. In fact, Hitchens a few years back scoured the country looking for an evangelical pastor/theologian who was willing to tour with him and debate the existence of God. Douglas Wilson, pastor in Christ’s Church of Moscow ID, agreed to this debate. Since then, various debates have taken place in public media forums such as the Joy Behar Show and Imus in the Morning. Recently, the movie Collision was produced which is essentially a debate tour arguing the topic “Is Religion Good For The World?”. The debate has gained quite a bit of publicity, and many Christians have flocked to watch the movie.
I have asked numerous Christians what they thought of the film, and the general response goes something like this, " it was alright, Wilson is a nice guy, Hitchens is a fool, but, overall, it was interesting." Interesting? Such an important topic as the existence of God is just interesting? What did it accomplish? The responses are seriously troubling. How can we take such a casual nonchalant approach over such a debate? This debate is framed as a question over the veracity of what God has made known of himself in his Word, and we treat the whole thing as if it's just a bar-room kind of sparing match? Fact is, Hitchens is clearly hostile to the Christian message, especially the exclusive claims of Christ. What profitability comes from something like this? And, should this be permissible?

This is nothing new. Martyn Lloyd Jones faced the same thing in his day. In 1942 he was asked to debate the great atheist Dr. Joad, a well-known radio speaker. Jones was asked to debate religion with him at the Union Debating Society in the University of Oxford. Now Jones was no slacker and could debate with the best of them. The stage was set; thousands would come and hear this great debate. But Jones turned down the invitation and refused to take part in the debate, after which many Christians criticized him for dodging a "wonderful opportunity for preaching and presenting the gospel". Jones' comments are interesting and worth citing. Jones writes,
I think it is wrong as a total approach. My impression is that experience of that kind of thing shows clearly that it very rarely succeeds, or leads to anything. It provides entertainment, but as far as I am aware, and in my experience and knowledge of it, it has very rarely been fruitful or effective as a means of winning people to the Christian faith.
But more important still are my detailed reasons. The first is, and to me this was an all-sufficient reason in itself, that God is not to be discussed or debated. God is not a subject for debate, because He is Who He is and What He is. We are told that the unbeliever, of course, does not agree with that; and that is perfectly true; but that makes no difference. Holding the view that we do, believing what we do about God, we cannot in any circumstance allow Him to become the subject for discussion or of debate or investigation. I base my argument at this point on the word addressed by God Himself to Moses at the burning bush....draw not night hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thy standest is holy ground. That seems to me to be the governing principle in the whole matter...God is always to be approached with reverence and with godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire.Jones continues,
To me this is a very vital matter. To discuss the being of God in a casual manner, lounging in an armchair, smoking a pipe or a cigarette or a cigar, is to me something that we should never allow, because God, as I say, is not a kind of philosophic X concept. We believe in the almighty, the glorious, the living God; what whatever may be true of others we must never put ourselves, or allow ourselves to be put, into a position in which we are debating about God as if He were but a philosophic proposition...
The second argument I adduce would be that in discussing these matters we are dealing with the most serious and the most solemn matter in life. We are dealing with something which we believe is not only going to affect the lives of these people with whom we are concerned while they are in this world, but also with their eternal destiny. In other words, the very character and nature of the subject is such that it cannot possibly be placed in any context except that of the most thoughtful and serious atmosphere that we know, or can create. Certainly it should never be approached in a light spirit, or in a mere debating spirit; still less should it ever be regarded as a matter of entertainment.
What then is there to debate? The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishness to him (1 Cor. 2). Have we forgotten that our message is foolishness to the world? Didn't Jesus warn about casting pearls before swine? Isn't Hitchens just the kind of person from which our Lord commanded us to shake off the dust from our feet? Can you imagine our Lord setting up a theater to debate in that Samaritan village which rejected him in Luke 9? When Christ was challenged by Pharisees, his responses were not presented as being open for discussion; it was all or none, repent and be converted or face the wrath to come.
I hope we recognize, at the end of the day, that debates like the one outlined above end up becoming nothing more than an iconizing of the personalities to whom we have become attracted. It panders to a certain fleshly desire for vengeance in all of us, while we forget the glory of the one who must free sinners from this present darkness. Have we really longed for the salvation of their souls? Or have we not forgotten that God has chosen to foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise? We need to remember just whose name is at stake when debates like this are going on. As God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM. This is certainly a name we don't want to forget, unless, of course, we want to bring about the worst kind of Collision.
Abounding Grace Radio--The Primacy of Preaching

Abounding Grace Daily Broadcasts January 6-10, 2010
Rom 10 That Word Which We Preach
Tuesday January 7, 2010
Rom 10 That Word Which We Preach
Wednesday January 8, 2010
Rom 10 That Word Which We Preach
Thursday January 9 2010
Rom 10 That Word Which We Preach
Friday January 10, 2010
Gospel Talk Pastors Wes Bredenhof & CJ Gordon
Nine Commandments or Ten? On Sabbath Observance

By Lachlan Mackinnon
SCOTS rugby international Euan Murray has spoken for the first time about why his faith led him to quit playing on Sundays. The 29-year-old has told how he even snubs coffee or dinner invitations on the Sabbath as he does not want to "encourage other people to work". Euan said: "It's basically all or nothing, following Jesus. I don't believe in pick 'n' mix Christianity. I believe the bible is the word of God, so who am I to ignore something from it? "I might as well tear out that page then keep tearing out pages as and when it suits me. If I started out like that there would soon be nothing left." Euan's recent decision to keep Sunday as a day of worship means he will miss Scotland's opening Six Nations game against France on February 7 and, potentially, some key matches with his club, Northampton. Despite his religious stand, Euan has played for Scotland before on a Sunday - in the 2008 Six Nations against France. But he said turning out on the Sabbath grew increasingly painful. Euan, who has 28 caps, said: "I was going against my conscience and it became impossible to enjoy. "I realised it's quite simple, really. "Jesus said, 'If you love me, keep my commandments' and there are 10 commandments - not nine."
12.29.2009
The MORTIFIED CHRISTIAN by Christopher LOVE (1618-1651)

The other day, however, I picked up a little volume in my study by Christopher Love called The Mortified Christian. I noticed that the publication date was 1654, thus preceding Owen's great work by two years. It is strikingly similar to Owen's work, and, at some points, much easier to read. I believe the volume was reprinted only once (Soli Deo Gloria 1998) since it was originally published in 1654. Already, the volume has become scarce, and Amazon has only a few copies, each of which run well into the hundreds.

For your benefit, here are some selected portions of Love's Nine Rules for those who have unmortified sin. Do spend some time reflecting on these rules, I promise they are well worth your time.
Rule 1: Count not the restraining of sin from coming into action to be a real mortifying of sin. Restraining grace is not mortifying grace...A man may for a time lay a curb and restraint upon his lusts, so that they do not come forth into action, even without the powers of mortifying grace.
Rule 2: A listlessness [indifference, lethargy] toward any kind of sin is no infallible demonstration that such a sin is mortified...[Listlessness] may proceed likewise from horror and terror of conscience. When this seized upon a man in whose face God casts the flashes of hellfire, this may make him abstain from sin for a time while the horror lies upon him. As a thundering storm sours the beer in our cellars, so, when God thunders upon the conscience, it will sour and embitter sin to a man so that he has no desires after it for the present. Yet, this is not mortifying grace upon the heart, but the horror of conscience that gnaws and grips and terrifies the man, and makes him listless after sin at such a time...Another external cause of a man's listnessless to some sins may be his natural temper. For, though every man has sin in him seminally, yet there are some sin which by nature he is more inclined to than others, according to his constitution.
Rule 3: Let mortification be extended to inward and secret sins as well as to outward and scandalous sins. Not only the lusts of the flesh, but those of the mind are to be mortified; not only the deeds of the body, but the thoughts of the heart and corruptions in the inward man are to be subdued...You must mortify the very first motions and secret propensities to any sin in your hearts.
Rule 4: Let mortification be especially directed to strike at those sins that are your master sins--that are most prevalent and predominant in your heart, that you have most prayed against and are least able to resist, that strongly assault you and most easily beset you and are master over you...So I say to you, fight not so much against any sin as against your beloved, darling, constitutional sins that most easily beset you and prevail over you.
Rule 5: Think not to compass this great work of mortification by a general, superficial sight of sin, unless you come to a distinct and particular apprehension of your sins...if you take sin apart and labor to have a distinct view and sight of each one, this is the way to overcome and mortify sin. If you shoot at random, you will never hit the mark. So, if you look at sins in general, in the lump, you will never be able to mortify them.
Rule 6: Let your mortification extend not only to particular acts of sin, but to the whole bulk and body of sin. It is a great fault among many Christian that if they are troubled with passions, they go about to mortify them while forgetting their other sins..whenever you go about to mortify any one particular lust, you should labor to bewail the whole body of sin that is in you and to strike at the very root of sin...if you do not pull up sin by the root, the other sins will but make your corruptions rage all the more.
Rule 7: When you are setting upon the work of mortification, go about it in the strength of Christ and not in your own strength...you may commit sin by your own strength, but you cannot mortify sin by your own strength. Only an arrow fetched from Christ's quiver can slay your lusts. Do no encounter sin with confidence in your own strength, for you are but a feather before a whirlwind.
Rule 8: Take heed of suffering sin to remain long in your heart without control, but labor to mortify it in its very first motions. When your nature first begins to close with a sin, then labor to root it out; for it's easier to keep sin out of our souls than it is to drive out sin once it has gotten into our hearts. Sin is like a serpent, which, if he can but get his head into any place, he will soon wind in his whole body...Sin is like the overflowing of a mighty river: once the water has made a breach in the bank, if it is not presently stopped, it will soon overflow the whole meadow. If we let sin alone in its first motions, it will quickly overrun the whole man.
Rule 9: When you have, through the strength of Christ, mortified one sin or resisted one temptation, do not sit down and think your work is done, but expect another combat. Your corruption will come afresh upon you again...Though you have cut off one lust today, it may be that another will spring out tomorrow.
12.24.2009
The CHRISTMAS SCANDAL

12.22.2009
On CATECHISM Preaching

But I would argue that the expository method (understood as that which explains extended passages of Scripture in course) be restored to that equal place which it held in the primitive and Reformed Churches...But the course of sermons on the Confession would still be inferior to the course of sermons on the Bible, because the latter gives us God's infallible arrangement, natural, historical and germinant, which the former gives us man's.
12.21.2009
Just Another Example of CREED or CHAOS

In A Joint Federal Vision Statement, signed by the central proponents of the FV, a series of affirmations and denials are presented. The statement on “Justification by Faith Alone” reads,
We affirm we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone. Faith alone is the hand which is given to us by God so that we may receive the offered grace of God. Justification is God’s forensic declaration that we are counted as righteous, with our sins forgiven, for the sake of Jesus Christ alone.
We deny that the faith which is the sole instrument of justification can be understood as anything other than the only kind of faith which God gives, which is to say, a living, active and personally loyal faith. Justifying faith encompasses the elements of assent, knowledge, and living trust in accordance with the age and maturity of the believer. We deny that faith is ever alone, even at the moment of the effectual call.
If any one saith, that men are justified, either by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ, or by the sole remission of sins, to the exclusion of the grace and the charity which is poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, and is inherent in them; or even that the grace, whereby we are justified, is only the favor of God: let him be anathema.
If any one saith, that justifying faith is nothing else but confidence in the divine mercy which remits sins for Christ's sake; or, that this confidence alone is that whereby we are justified; let him be anathema.
For did faith justify of itself, or (as it is expressed) by its own intrinsic virtue, as it is always weak and imperfect, its efficacy would be partial, and thus our righteousness being maimed would give us only a portion of salvation. We indeed imagine nothing of the kind, but say, that, properly speaking, God alone justifies. The same thing we likewise transfer to Christ, because he was given to us for righteousness; while we compare faith to a kind of vessel, because we are incapable of receiving Christ, unless we are emptied and come with open mouth to receive his grace.
The difference concerning faith is this: the Papist says that a man is justified by faith: yet not by faith alone, but also by other virtues, as hope, and love, the fear of God…we say otherwise, that faith justifies, because it is a supernatural instrument created by God in the heart of man at his conversion whereby he apprehends and receives Christ’s righteousness for his justification.
Ursinus makes clear that there is no inherent value in faith by which a sinner is justified; the ground for a sinner’s justification is the merits of Christ. Faith, understood only as instrumental, apprehends and applies to the sinner, not only the satisfaction that Christ effected on the cross, but also the merits of his righteous and holy life.Why do you affirm, that you are made righteous by faith only?” The answer states, Not for that I please God through the worthiness of mere faith but because only the satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ is my righteousness before God, and I cannot take hold of it, or apply it unto myself any other way than by faith.
We say that we are justified by faith alone: 1) because we are justified by the object of faith only, to wit, by the merit of Christ alone, besides which, there is no justice of ours, nor any other part thereof…All works are excluded, yea, faith itself as it is a virtue or work. 2) Because the proper act and operation of faith is, for a man to apprehend and apply unto himself Christ’s righteousness, yea, faith is nothing else than the acceptation itself, or apprehension of another’s justice, or of the merit of Christ. 3) Because faith only is the instrument, which apprehends Christ’s satisfaction.
The doctrine which we teach on the contrary is that a sinner is justified before God by faith, yes, by faith alone. The meaning is, that nothing within man, and nothing that man can do, either by nature, or by grace, concurs to the act of justification before God, as an cause thereof, either efficient, material, formal, or final, but faith alone. All other gifts and graces, as hope, love, the fear of God, are necessary to salvation, as signs thereof and consequents of faith. Nothing in any man concurs as any cause to this work but faith alone. And faith itself is no principal, but only an instrumental cause whereby we receive apprehend, and apply Christ and his righteousness for our justification.
What becomes of the work of Christ when faith is redefined this way? You see, if the nature of justifying faith includes obedience, what need is there for the imputation of the active obedience of Christ? Your "obedient faith" answers this need, and, therefore, the FV has no problem making this a denial: "We deny that faithfulness to the gospel message requires any particular doctrinal formulation of the 'imputation of the active obedience of Christ.'"
12.18.2009
PERKINS on the EFFICACY of the SACRAMENTS

Abounding Grace Radio Webpage
12.11.2009
EXTRA-CONFESSIONAL BINDING & The Heidelblog's Questions for the CanRC

All of these passages portray baptism as (not in isolation but together with faith) the means by which we receive the gift of salvation, including forgiveness, union with Christ and the Holy Spirit . . . the New Testament writers were not embarrassed to attribute salvation to baptism as well as to faith . . .Of course, attributing this power to bring salvation to baptism separate from faith is an abuse of the New Testament.
The agenda of the FV school of thought is to talk about the things God talks about in the way God talks about them. I remember conversing a couple of years ago with someone of substantial theological pedigree who objected to my statement that we are joined to Christ through baptism. My interlocutor insisted that baptism was a sign and seal of the covenant and not a means by which we are united to Christ. I found this statement analogous to insisting that my minivan is a Ford and not a Windstar. What really floored him, though, was my use of the prepositional phrase, through baptism." He seemed to think that nothing happens "through baptism" and that I should excise that formulation from my theological speech. I tried to explain to him that I attributed no inherent power to baptism, but wanted to be faithful to the Bible's way of speaking about baptism. Paul says in Romans 6:4: "We were therefore buried with Christ through baptism (dia tou baptismatos) into death." If Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, didn't hesitate to use this language, why do we? Well, it's risky, people say. But the risk in using these formulations is the Holy Spirit's risk and we are simply not afforded the liberty to say, "The Holy Spirit should have been a little more cautious with his vocabulary…We don't need to discard our theological explanations of baptism; we do need to ensure that our theological explanations do not eclipse the Bible's formulations. I'm therefore appreciative of the FV school of thought for reminding us to speak about the things God does in the way God does."I recognize that many Reformed expositors have explained Romans 6:4 as water baptism, but none that I have read go to the extreme of what I am hearing suggested in the comments made above. What exactly happens "though baptism"? Most describe the baptism of Romans 6:4 as a sign and seal only of the believers death to sin. In my humble opinion, the focus of Romans 6:1-4 is not water baptism (sprinkling or immersion), but about the change effected by Christ’s death and resurrection, applied by the power of the Spirit—literal water has nothing to do with this. Thus we have the use of so many aorist tenses to describe what Christ has done. Christ has secured this change, killing our old man through his death. Our baptism indeed is a sign and seal of this, but only that. These benefits are received by faith alone, which Paul has explained with great detail in chs. 3-5. So in Romans 6 he is explaining how this change was accomplished, not through the act of water baptism, but through the death of Christ.
NOTE to READERS: I apologize for the difficulty in trying to follow the comment thread; for some unknown reason, many of Rev. Dejong's comments have disappeared--not sure how this can happen? So you will notice I am responding to the air in some of these. It's too bad, the thread was quite a fascinating read.
12.08.2009
Abounding Grace Radio: REVELATION 20: THE MILLENNIAL REIGN OF CHRIST

Monday, December 14, 2009
Rev 20 The Millennial Reign of Christ Part II
Tuesday December 15, 2009
Rev 20 The Millennial Reign of Christ Part II
Wednesday December 16, 2009
Rev 20 The Millennial Reign of Christ Part II
Thursday December 17, 2009
Rev 20 The Millennial Reign of Christ Part II
Friday December 18, 2009
Pastors Wes Bredenhof & CJ Gordon
Abounding Grace Daily Broadcasts November 16, 2009
Monday ,November 23, 2009
Rev 20 The Millennial Reign of Christ
Tuesday November 24, 2009
Rev 20 The Millennial Reign of Christ
Wednesday November 25, 2009
Rev 20 The Millennial Reign of Christ
Thursday November 26, 2009
Rev 20 The Millennial Reign of Christ
Friday November 27, 2009
Christianity and Liberalism