Sound of Grace, Issue 208, June 2014

8/11/2019 Sound of Grace, Issue 208, June 2014

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that you can determine what really matters and can be pure

and blameless in the day of Christ, lled with the fruit of

righteousness that comesthrough Jesus Christ to the glory

and praise of God. We can glean four things from this

God-centered prayer.

First, we learn that we should pray for one another.

We saw this in verse four of chapter one where Paul praysfor all the Philippians. He prays for all of them and for

their love. He asks that their love would abound yet more

and more.We should absolutely pray for those outside our

church family, but we shouldprioritizethose in our own

immediate faith family.

Second, we should pray with affection for those in

our faith family. Paul deeply misses this church. We

should long for our church members. You say, I just re-

ally dont care that

much for anyone in

This article was transcribed from a sermon. It was left very much as verbally

presented, which accounts for the way some things are stated.

We previously have covered nine things to do, or not to do, when introducingsomeone in an understanding of the doctrines of grace. This article concludes

the series.

Number 10:Never preach sovereign grace without appealing to the mind as

the means to reach the heart.

Our goal in preaching is to have the truth of Gods word affect the mind,

the heart or emotion, and nally to move the will to obey the truth; however,

the order is very important. If we try to move the will to choose to obey without

carefully explaining precisely what is to be obeyed,we will wake up tomorrow

not knowing what we chose. We will have a religion based totally on emotions that has, by bypassing the mind, unwit-

tingly rejected the Word of God as the foundation and authority for what we believe and how we are to live. We will have

Issue 20 8 June 2014

It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace Hebrews 13:9

How To, and How Not To Preach theDoctrines of GracePart Three

John G. Reisinger

Who should pray more? All hands go up. Robert Mur-

ray MCheyne writes, What a man is alone on his knees

before God, that he is, and no more.1Similarly, J.I. Packer

says, I believe that prayer is the measure of the man, spir-

itually, in a way that nothing else is, so that how we pray is

as important a question as we can ever face.2It is easy to

make people feel guilty about our lack of prayer. Perhapswe need some of this, but rather than being reminded of

how terrible we are at Christianity, I think we need inspi-

ration. Philippians 1:8-11 gives us just that: For God is my

witness, how I deeply miss all of you with the affection of

Christ Jesus. And I pray this: that your love will keep on

growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so

1 Quoted in D.A. Carson,A Call to Spiritual Reformation

(Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992), 16.

2 J.I. Packer inMy Path of Prayer, ed. David Hanes (Worthing,

West Sussex: Henry E. Walter, 1981), 56.

Praying Gods Way (Phil. 1:8-11)A. Blake White

ReisingerContinued on page 2

WhiteContinued on page 12

In This Issue

How To, and How Not To Preachthe Doctrines of GracePartThree

John G. Reisinger

1

Praying God's Way (Phil. 1:8-11)

A. Blake White1

Apologetics and Reformed Theol-ogy, Why Bother?

Steve West

3

Heaven on Earth or ParadiseLost? Part 1 of 2

Dr. J. David Gilliland

5

Reections on JGR's Ministry fora Younger Generation

Steve West

7


2/20

Page 2 June 2014 Issue 208

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ReisingerContinued from page 1


a religion based on emotions that fails

to be the true Gospel. We will preach

fervently, believe, believe, but will

not root what we are to believe in

the Scriptures. We, even if unknow-

ingly, will have denied the authority

of Scriptures. We have given ouremotions the nal authority to decide

truth. This is dangerous.

I remember listening on the radio

to the keynote message of an inter-

national charismatic conference. The

speaker said, You will never know

the fullness the Holy Spirit until you

put your brains into a box and shoot

it to the moon and totally open your

self up to the Holy Spirits leading. I

will agree in insisting that our religionmust have a denite emotional con-

tent, but emotions are not the control-

ling element. Paul is quite clear that

the spirits of the prophets are subject

to the prophets (I Cor. 14:32). The

mind controls the emotions, the emo-

tions do not control the mind.

The other extreme is to preach to

the mind as an end in itself and not as

the means to arouse the emotions to

desire the will to choose the truth. A

mere intelligent decision and sincerebelief of the truth of the Bible does

not, in itself, save the soul if it is only

an intellectual belief. Believing that

Columbus crossed the ocean blue is

not the same as believing in Christ

to be saved. A Gospel that affects the

mind but not the emotions is not the

Gospel of the Bible. Thats the way

we must preach all the time: we must

not be satised until our preaching

has Biblically instructed the mind, the

heart and the will.

I remember a man who loved to

have dinner with me because he loved

to discuss theology. He was very or-

thodox including a clear grasp of the

doctrines of grace. Im not sure if the

man was really converted. He knew a

great deal about theological concepts

but very little about Scripture itself.

He worshiped the Canons of Dort and

always wanted to argue on the basis

of the creeds. He was more interested

in what Calvin said than in what the

Apostle Paul said. He never wanted

to discuss the Scriptures alone. One

time he said to me, The real dif-

ference between us is your attitude

toward the Scriptures. You will notbelieve anything unless you can see it

in a specic text of Scripture. I said,

Thats right. He said, That would

be awfully boring. At the last meal I

had with him he said, There are two

things I have learned from you. Num-

ber one: I now believe for the rst

time that you can be both Calvinistic

and also be evangelistic. I didnt use

to believe you could be both, but you

are really both. The other thing he

said he learned was what the LordsTable means and what it means to

worship at the Lords Table.

We must preach with an appeal to

the will, but that appeal must come

from Scripture. We must be evange-

listic, but the content of the message

must be from the platform of the

sovereignty of God. We dont hide our

belief in the sovereignty of God until

Christians are more mature. Romans

chapter 9 is an awesome chapter. Cananybody, without looking, tell me how

chapter 10 begins? It says, Brethren,

my hearts desire and prayer to God

for Israel is that they might be saved.

You might be ready to say, wait a

minute! Thats a contradiction of

everything you just said! So be it. I

dont care if Im consistent with John

Reisinger, just so Im consistent with

Scripture. The same man who wrote

in Romans 9 that God sovereignly

chooses to either damn or save whomhe will also wrote in Romans chapter

10 that he prayed and worked to see

all his Jewish brethren be saved. A

rm belief in Gods sovereign election

did not hinder Pauls evangelistic zeal.

Sometimes people say to me, Mr.

Reisinger, how do you get these two

things that seem to be so opposite of

each otherhow do you get moral


3/20

Issue 208 June 2014 Page 3

WestContinued on page 15

Apologetics and Reformed Theology: Why Bother?

Steve West

The subject of apologetics gener-

ates inordinate amounts of friction inthe Reformed community. There are

at least three majorapologetic meth-

ods that are endorsed by Reformed

thinkers, and these major approaches

can be subdivided into schools that

can themselves be subdivided. Not

only are there a plethora of opinions

about apologetic method, the strength

of certain arguments, the value of par-

ticular bits of data and evidence, etc.,

there are some Reformed folk who are

convinced that apologetics is a wasteof time at best, and dishonoring to

God at worst.

All of this can be very confus-

ingnot to mention frustratingfor

people who do not have the time,

interest, or technical background to

comb through the enormous volume

of literature written about apologetics

from a Reformed perspective. This

can be particularly difcult for pas-

tors. Many people in the congrega-tion look at the pastor as the churchs

resident expert on all matters of the

Christian faith. If you have a question,

you ask the pastor. Unfortunately, to-

day there seem to be more questions

than ever before. A culturally and

philosophically pluralistic society is,

of course, an environment where the

sheer diversity of life will challenge

assumptions that a more homogenous

group takes for granted. Not only is

this the case, but contemporary com-munications technology makes it

possible to nd any opinion on any

subject under the sun. Add to this a

zeitgeist that is distinctly following a

trajectory from favoring Christianity

to distancing itself from Christianity,

to increasing in its hostility toward

Christianity, and all of a sudden the

average pastor is going to nd them-

selves serving a congregation where

many, many people are facing chal-

lenges to their faith and looking forhelp.

One of the things Ive discovered

in the ministry is that I spend more

time dealing with apologetic questions

that come from Christians than from

non-Christians. In my experience, the

likelihood of being challenged by a

militant atheist is far smaller than the

likelihood of meeting with a believer

who is struggling with doubts about

the intellectual credibility of theirfaith. (In fact, I must say that the athe-

ists Ive talked with about the faith are

actually usually remarkably civil and

respectfulthe more atheists I meet,

the more Richard Dawkins seems like

an anomaly, for more reasons than

one.) In the last few months, I have

met with three university students

from other churches who are seriously

doubting the truth of the Christianity

they were taught while growing up.

Pastors, teachers, and leaders cannotafford to neglect learning how to de-

fend the faith: part of todays reality

is that there are many Christians in

those very churches who need apolo-

getics.

Fairly obviously, saying this

clearly places me outside of the camp

of those who believe that apologet-

ics is a subject that Christians should

avoid. The reasons frequently given

for why we should stay away fromapologetics tend to make fair points,

but then end up throwing the baby

out with the bathwater. For example,

it is sometimes noted that apologetic

arguments are never directly respon-

sible for someones conversion. This

is true, and people who subscribe to

Reformed theology should know it

better than anyone! Total depravity

guarantees that nobody will respond

to the gospel apart from Gods sover-

eign grace. Certainly nobody is going

to be argued into the kingdom. Why,then, engage in apologetics? Why

notas some suggestsimply preach

the gospel, and trust in the regenerat-

ing power of the Holy Spirit? If the

apologetic arguments wont convince

a totally depraved sinner to accept Je-

sus, what good are they?

In my judgment, as well-inten-

tioned as this objection is, it is based

on a fairly elementary fallacy. There

are many things that are not directlyinstrumental for conversion, but

that hardly means theyre valueless.

Thankfully, today there is an increas-

ing realization that evangelism nor-

mally requires building bridges and

establishing relationships with the un-

saved. Having people over for meals,

informal chatting, or any one of a mil-

lion relationship-building activities is

worth doing. It seems strange, then,

that of all the conversations were al-

lowed to have with unbelievers, theonly one that is ruled out involves the

intellectual credibility of the faith!

Furthermore, if we are going to have

real discussions about sports, politics,

the economy, morality, and religion,

how will we be able to share our

perspectives without at least tacitly

engaging in apologetics and defending

what we believe?

Of course, it is only the gospel

that saves, but apologetics gives peo-ple the opportunity to be challenged

by the reality of the gospel. It gets

them thinking about it. Sometimes an

apologetic discussion actually allows

for a direct ar ticulation of the gospel.

For example, a defense of the resur-

rection of Jesus Christ from the dead

is a discussion about the resurrec-

tion, and if you are capable of talking


4/20


responsibility and sovereignty togeth-

er? I show them texts like John 6:37.

The rst par t clearly teaches election,

All the Father giveth me will come

to me. There will be no empty chairs

in heaven catching cobwebs because

mans so-called free will could not bepersuaded to believe the Gospelthat

is sovereign election. However, the

verse does not stop there. Jesus con-

tinues, And him that cometh to me, I

will in nowise cast out. We can, and

must, say, Sinner, whoever you are,

when you come to Christ and trust

him to save you, you will be saved. I

say without fear of contradiction, My

dear friend, the problem is not how do

I get free moral agency and sovereign-

ty together. The question is how canyou get them apart? It isnt my job to

get them together; but you must gure

out some way to get them apart. Jesus

put those two together, and you must

twist the very words of God to deny

either one of them. Read John 6:37

again, but be sure to read the whole

verse.

Look at the eleventh chapter of

Matthew. When Jesus lifted up His

eyes to heaven and said, Father, Ithank you that you have hidden these

things from the wise and the prudent

and revealed them unto babes, and

then that awesome verse: No man

knoweth the Father save the Son and

he to whomsoever the Son chooses to

reveal him. You cant get any higher

theology than that? You cant know

God unless the Son chooses to reveal

him, and he reveals him to whomso-

ever he will. Look at the next verse?

Come unto me, all ye that labor andare heavy-laden, and I will give you

rest. That is the free offer of the Gos-

pel addressed to sinners. You cant get

the sovereignty of God and appealing

to the hearts of sinners apart from

each other in these verses if you be-

lieve and you preach the Scriptures.

Number 11:Never preach the

truth of grace unless we demand the

fruits of grace in our lives as evidence

that we really believe.

What I mean is this: do not preach

your own election. We must insist

that believing in election is not the

same as having the truth of election

pierce our heart. Effectual calling

is not a doctrine you argue over. Its

an experience of being brought toa living faith by the Spirit to trust

Christ. John 6:44-45 are two verses

that should never be separated. No

man can come to me except the Fa-

ther which has sent me draw him.

No man can come to Christ, except

or unless, thats depravity. Whats

the next verse? They shall all be

taught of God; every man therefore

that hath learned of the Father cometh

to methats effectual calling. No

man canunlessdepravity. Every

man will come when--thats effectual

calling. Thats

not theology

that you argue

about; thats

experience.

The question

is not, Do you

believe in elec-

tion? but, Do

you believe in the God who graciouslysaves? Not, Do you believe in ef-

fectual calling? but, Have you been

brought by the power of the gospel to

trust and love Jesus Christ?

We must preach the necessity of

experience. The Jews made this tragic

mistake. Do you know what the Jews

believed? They believed God hated

the Gentilesjust because they were

Gentiles,and he loved the Jewsjust

because they were Jewsirrespective

of the way they lived. Unfortunately,

we sometimes think God loves the

Calvinists just because theyre Cal-

vinists regardless of whether they

preach the gospel or not. We think

God doesnt have anything to do with

the Arminians just because theyre

Arminians. Thats nonsense, utter

nonsense! Sometimes we chide our

covenant theological friends in the

Presbyterian denomination. They

tease me about covenant children, and

I say, I believe in baptizing covenant

children. I really do. I believe in bap-

tizing covenant children as soon as

they prove, by their faith and repen-

tance, that they are covenant children.

This becomes an example of preach-

ing your own election. We can do thesame thing if we substitute a personal

knowledge of the truth for the per-

sonal experienceof the truth.

Number 12:Use great men with

whom you agree as examples.

I am a nobody, but C.H. Spurgeon

agrees with me on this point. Spur-

geon was beyond question both a Cal-

vinist and a great soul-winner. Always

add, that great soul-winner when

you quote Spurgeon! As I mentionedbefore, there was only one person

in the church I pastored

in Canada who believed

in the doctrines of grace

in the whole church. God

blessed our ministry, and

we saw people converted.

I did not give altar calls.

One night after the service

a couple of deacons came

to me and said, Pastor, if

you would have given an altar call tonight, twenty people would have come

forward! They would argue about

altar calls, but they never once ques-

tioned whether I preached the Gospel.

They saw the evidence of the grace of

God in real conversions. Their biggest

problem was often expressed, Why

didnt we ever hear this before? The

people thought they had to disown

all the godly pastors they knew. It

seemed to them that I was claiming to

be the only one that was right.

I invited Dr. Harold S. Laird, who

was then about 75-years-old and a

Presbyterian preacher that God had

greatly used in my life, to speak at a

missionary conference. I asked him

to speak on the doctrines of grace and

missions. He is one of those people

who looks like a saint when he smiles.



I believe in baptizingcovenant children. I reallydo. I believe in baptizingcovenant children as soonas they prove, by their faithand repentance, that theyare covenant children.


5/20


GillilandContinued on page 10

Whether by the theories of evolu-

tion, modern humanistic psychol-

ogy, or socialistic political systems,

modern manunder the tutelage of

the philosophers, scientists, and politi-

ciansseeks to rid the world of a God

and sin consciousness. We romanti-

cally cling to the notions reected in

the old Beatles song:

Imagine theres no heaven / Itseasy if you try / No hell below us /

Above only sky.

This is all with the goal of elevat-

ing the status and glory of man, as

William Faulkner in his Nobel Peace

Prize address so aptly summarized:

I believe man will not merely en-

dure: He will prevail. He is immortal,

not because he alone among the crea-

tures has an inexhaustible voice, but

because he has a soul, a spirit capableof compassion and sacrice and en-

durance.

But, the catastrophic political and

geographic events of the last few

years have shaken this philosophy to

the core. As the dust settles or the wa-

ters recede, one can hear the voice of

the prophets, Who art man that thou

are mindful of him?Gerard Baker,

writing in The Australianshortly after

the 2004 Tsunami reected:

We stand in awe of nature and feel

helpless before its apparently insuper-

able power. The rising death toll in

Southeast Asia seems to mock our

pretensions to progress. We may have

been to the moon, eradicated small-

pox and created eBay, we think, but

when the tectonic plates move we are

no more secure than were the barefoot

citizens of Pompeii.

Martin Kettle, writing for The

Guardianechoes this awareness of

helplessness:

The modern era atters itself that

human beings can now know and

shape almost everything about the

world. But an event like the Indone-

sian earthquake exposes much of this

for the hubris that it is.

But in the midst of this epistemo-

logical bedlam we should ask, Where

are the answers? Gerard Baker con-

tinues,Inevitably, confronted with a trag-

edy of unimaginable scale, the human

mind looks for someone to blame.

In the Dark Ages, disasters were as-

cribed to the wrath of God In the

absence of a deity to decry or appease

when the earth moves in such devas-

tating fashion, humankind reaches for

the next best thingworldly author-

ity. Authority should have known

it was coming. Authority didnt do

enough to prevent it. Authority was

too preoccupied with its own nefari-

ous priorities to care.

Boris Johnson, writing for the

Opinionin mocking despair adds:

If we can persuade ourselves that

there is some divine justice in a terri-

fying ood, then we have the consola-

tion of believing that man may be in

some sense the author of his own mis-

fortunes. Of course, we are no longer

quite so primitive as to think, with the

writers of the ancient scriptures, that

natural calamities may be casually

connected to human bad behavior. If

there are any loonies out there who

think that Phuket is being punished

for being the modern Nineveh, they

have had the good sense to keep it to

themselves In this largely godless

age, we have a more subtle interpreta-

tion of the relation between human

excess and natural disaster But,

whatever you say about the slipping of

tectonic plates on the seabed off Su-

matra, it had nothing to do with global

warming. It was not caused by deca-

dent use of Right Guard, or George

W Bush, or the outing of the Kyoto

Protocol, or inadequate enforcement

of the Windows and Doors Regulation

of April 2002 And if the priests

and the scientists have nothing useful

to say on the matter, the same goes in

spades for politicians and journalists.

We yearn, with that immemorial hu-man ache, to nd someone to blame

but whom?

The biblical message comes to us

in the midst of this arrogant confu-

sion. That message can be summed up

in one word judgment and these

events explained in one sentence:

man is ultimately at fault, and God

is the ultimate cause.In the words of

Martin Luther in his epic work The

Bondage of the Will,God always has

His hand in the action of the sin, but

never in the sin of the action.Did

God not say, The One forming light

and creating darkness, causing well-

being and creating calamity; I am

the LORD who does all these?(Isa.

45:7). If God were the ultimate cause

of calamity, what would be one of the

purposes of such catastrophic events

if not the judgment of God? Even the

non-believers recognize it in some

sense. Regarding the recent tsunamione Buddhist monk remarked, Its

the punishment of nature. If there are

many people who are selsh, thinking

about only themselves, then the nature

will punish.

But there is perhaps no subject that

will draw the angst and ire of profess-

ing Christians like a discussion on the

justice and judgment of God. Even if

Heaven on Earth or Paradise Lost?Part 1 of 2

Dr. J. David Gilliland

This article was rst presented some

years ago by Providence TheologicalSeminary. We consider it worthy ofreprinting. Ed.


6/20



do is draw a picture of a horse. For

others you need to write underneath

your drawing, This is a horse. There

are still other people for whom you

have to put a picture of a cow and

write underneath it, This is a cow.

In our day of theological ignorance we

have to say to most people, This isnot a horse; its a cow. We really have

to do that when we teach. We have to

say, This is truth and this isnt truth,

it is error, and this is why the rst is

truth and the second is error. The sec-

ond is error because

it will not t into the

Scriptures. It is not

consistent with the rest

of the Word of God.

Number 14:I would suggest

that you dont attack any man or any

movement.

We do not preach against or for

Billy Graham. God has been pleased

to use him. Remember when Jesus

disciples said, There are some fel-

lows over here preaching in your

name, call re down on them. Do

you remember what Jesus said? He

said to leave them alone. He did not

say go over and join them, and he did

not say condemn them. Billy Grahamis responsible to God not to me. Mar-

tyn Lloyd-Jones was mentioned by

Bill Payne as not going along with the

Billy Graham Crusade. Billy Graham

personally came to visit Lloyd-Jones

and twisted his arm to cooperate, but

Lloyd-Jones refused. He would not

for two reasons: because of Billy Gra-

hams theology and use of altar calls

and secondly, because of his open

cooperation with liberals. Shortly

after that I heard a sermon on tape by

Lloyd-Jones, and I heard his prayer

before the sermon. I looked on the

date of the tape, and it was the week

that Billy Graham was holding a city

wide evangelistic meeting. Lloyd-

Jones stood in his pulpit and prayed

for God to bless Grahams efforts to

reach men with the gospel. Lloyd-

Jones could not in good conscience

publically participate in Grahams

You almost see and feel the grace of

God when he preaches. He preached

his way right into the hearts of our

people. I mean they really loved him.

For the next two years I said, As Dr.

Laird said when he was here

Our job is to impart truth, not tomake disciples. Ill tell you what will

happen if you get people to come and

teach the same thing you believe. If

they teach it graciously, they will af-

rm what you believe. You will often

see people that have

struggled with what

you teach begin to

understand. They

may have been very

vocal in their oppo-

sition. They fought with you so oftenthey do not want to admit they were

wrong. A guest preacher, like Dr.

Laird, comes along and preaches the

same thing you preached but with a

slightly different twist. That gives that

person a bridge. He can come to you

and say, Pastorif you would have

said it that way, I would have under-

stood it. What do you care if hes us-

ing a bridge and doesnt want to admit

he was wrong? Who do we think we

are that we think people have to publi-

cally admit they were wrong? Lets

just rejoice that they believe the truth.

This will happen because of the prin-

ciple: by the mouth of two or three

witnesses shall everything be estab-

lished. If they choose another preach-

er, maybe with grey hair, to establish

the truth, all the better--especially if

that gray hair is walking in the way of

righteousness.

Number 13:Be clear, patient, andhonest when you teach.

Dont be ambiguous. As I men-

tioned before, always start by admit-

ting that there are Christians who

disagree with you. Be very clear about

this! When you do teach a theologi-

cal truth, make sure that you teach it

clearly and people understand what

it means. For instance, to teach some

people about a horse, all you have to

crusade, but he also felt no compul-

sion to openly condemn it. He also did

not hesitate to publically pray for the

crusade. That should be our attitude,

and we can do it without denying

what we believe. We dont have to join

things that we cant conscientiously

publically be a part of. However, ifGod chooses to use somebody who

does not line up with me 100%, then

I say, God bless them. Is that right?

We need the spirit of John the Bap-

tist: He must increase, and I must

decrease. Imagine losing all of your

disciples overnight. That is what hap-

pened to John the Baptist. Imagine

somebody pointing to Jesus and say-

ing to John, Isnt that the man that

took all your disciples? John would

have replied, Yes, but thats the wayit should be. That is a servants heart.

We should rejoice wherever God is

pleased to work and not think that he

has to work through us and us alone.

If you are forced into openly criticiz-

ing someone, make sure that you dont

take a statement that somebody makes

and push it to a logical conclusion and

create a caricature that the person re-

ally doesnt believe. God has not made

you or me his sheriff. I cant join

some things; there are some things Icant participate in, but Im not going

to publicly criticize things that God

seems to be using and blessing in the

lives of other people.

Along the same line, dont ever

say to someone who professes to

be a Christian but does not agree

with some of your theology, Well,

you dont believe the Bible or, He

doesnt believe the Bible. When

people reject my understanding ofpredestination that does not necessar-

ily mean theyre not Christians. They

may reject my version because they

do believe the Bible. They will object

because they misunderstand it. The

rst time they hear biblical election,

everything they have been taught

about sovereignty and free will is

called into question. They have never


Our job is to impart truth,not to make disciples.


7/20


ReectionsContinued on page 19

This Spring, John G. Reisingerturned 90 years old, which means he

is slightly more than 55 years older

than I am. I remember years ago at a

summer camp hearing him say: Soon

Ill be 70: thats terrible! I was unable

to attend a gathering for his birthday

since I was teaching a modular semi-

nary course on the Saturday it was

held, but I did think of him. As I was

thinking about this milestone in his

life it gave me pause to consider some

of the things about his ministry whichshould encourage a younger genera-

tion of preachers. What follows is not

exhaustive, but rather represents some

of my personal reections on this

topic. I thought about trying to have

90 reections, but I settled on six.

1.Be a student of the Word. I

think this is one of the most impor-

tant aspects of Johns ministry. He

was a student of the Word. He read it

and studied it and meditated on it. He

clearly read many other books, but his

messages and lectures were never just

cut-and-paste quotations and ideas

from commentators and theologians.

The Bible itself shaped his thinking

and warmed his heart.

When I was just starting in min-

istry around 20 years of age, I heard

John preach and teach at several

camps and conferences. Ill never for-

get how I came away from those times

excited to study the Bible. SometimesI hear people speak and it makes me

want to buy and read their booksbut

with John I always wanted to go out

and get right into the Word itself. He

knew it, understood it, and loved it,

and that was infectious. When I think

of Johns ministry I think of a min-

istry that was Biblicist. He never just

gave lip-service to the importance of

the Bible, he demonstrated it every

time he spoke.This Bible-centeredness some-

times brought criticism because of

the views he had to abandon and the

views he had to accept. But I appreci-

ate so much the stand that John has

taken: our theological systems need

to t into the Word, not vice versa!

No matter how cherished the doctrine

or how seemingly logical the deduc-

tions, if our theological formulations

are out of step with biblical texts then

we simply have to stand with theScriptures. Johns study of the Bible is

where he got his Calvinism. His study

of the Bible is where he broke some

truly new ground in New Covenant

Theology. If he had only studied the

Westminster Confession, or if he had

been content to stick with the old-line

Dispensational notes in his Scoeld

Reference Bible, we would never have

the biblically-groundedAbrahams

Four Seeds (in my opinion, his best

book, and still an excellent resource).

Johns theology was informed by oth-

ers, but it was truly formed by the

Scriptures. That is well worth remem-

bering and well worth imitating.

2.Be a teacher of the Word. This

might sound like something that

doesnt need to be said, but teachers

and preachers of the Word need to

teach and preach the Word! I recog-

nize that John was uniquely gifted in

being able to teach theology in a waythat everyone could understand, but

that would also have been a conscious

choice. Going over everyones head to

demonstrate your theological acumen

is useless. Teachers and preachers

must serve their audiences rather than

their egos.

John did such a good job of teach-

ing theology to everyone that one

might have been forgiven for some-

times thinking he wasnt that well

read, or he wasnt able to plumb the

depths of theology like some other

people. I can tell you from personal

experience that John was very well

informed! Twice in the last few years

I was able to drive him down to the

John Bunyan Conference in Lewis-

burg, and on the way he would ask

questions and give answers and talk

about things he was thinking about. In

the car I saw a side of him that wasntseen in the pulpit. It was the deep

thinker who worked carefully and

logically through an issue, and who

then gured out how to express it so

clearly in the pulpit that it seemed like

no effort at all had gone into it!

You dont have to be a profession-

al scholar to have a deep understand-

ing of the Bible, and you certainly

dont have to present yourself as an

academic in order to actually have aprofound grasp of biblical truth. Per-

haps many of our ministries would

be much stronger if we spent more

time in the Bible, less time in other

books, and more time thinking about

the clearest and simplest possible way

to teach other people. Johns style is

inimitable, and his gifting extraordi-

narily unique, but there are some prin-

ciples behind his teaching ministry

that are well worth imitating.

3.Be approachable. I remember

the rst few times I talked with Mr.

Reisinger. I was well aware that he

was very respected by many people I

knew, and I was reasonably nervous.

But he was always kind and invariably

warm. My wife and I attended the

Seaside Heights Conference in New

Jersey when we were in our early 20s,

and John sat with us at one session,

Refections on John G. Reisinger's Ministry

for a Younger Generation

Steve West


8/20


heard anyone teach what you are say-

ing. They sincerely think you are

contradicting the Bible. They think

that somehow youre twisting verses.

They dont know how youre doing it,

but you must be doing it some way.

They rebel out of their love for whatthey think is the truth, not because

they dont believe the Bible. They

object because they sincerely believe

the Bible. They just do not understand

it. Be patient with them and teach

them. Try to show them what Scrip-

ture means. Dont do or say anything

that cuts the ears off people. Can you

imagine what Peter would have done

the next day if he had a chance to wit-

ness to that guy whose ear he had cut

off? Thats what we do. We get in adiscussion, and we cut the guys ear

off. We cut off the friendship, destroy

the relationship, and weve lost the

eargate which is the only gate we can

use to get the truth into his heart.

Number 15:Make sure that your

own heart is always in a state of

wonder, awe and worship when you

preach the doctrines of grace.

If theres ever a subject that you

should not preach on with a coldheart, it is the truth of sovereign

grace. You should remember your

own case, and then you can preach

with joy, power, and fear. Doc Berry

is one of the businessmen who helped

with this conference. Years ago I went

down to Lancaster to hold meetings in

the congregation where he attended.

He picked me up at the airport. He

was always joking, and when he got in

the car I said, Doc, its a good thing

election is true or you wouldnt have

made it; even I wouldnt have voted

for you! Now if you would know Doc

Berry, youd know that hed have three

responses ready, but he was silent. I

saw a tear in his eye as he turned his

head and looked away. I felt awful. I

thought I had hurt his feelings. That

night I said, Doc, maybe I owe you

an apology. Did I hurt your feelings

this morning when I said, its a good

thing election is true or you wouldnt

have made it; even I wouldnt have

voted for you! No, no, he said.

When you said that at the airport,

it reminded me of an incident about

ten years ago right after I became a

Christian. I ew 165 ights with the

same crew in a plane in the SouthPacic during the war. After the war

I stayed in contact with the bom-

bardier. Every year at New Years

we would get together. One year he

came to my house, and the next year

I went to his house. When he came

to my house, I wanted to go to the

nightclubs and go boozing. When I

went to his house, he didnt want to

do anything. Then the Lord saved me,

and the next year it was my turn to

go out to his house. I remember mysurprise at seeing an Episcopal prayer

book. I got the prayer book down and

asked my friend, Whats this, and

he said, Thats a prayer book. I said,

What do you do with it? He looked

surprised and said, We use it for de-

votions every morning. I said, Do

you believe this religious stuff? My

friend half stuttered, Ye . ye. Yes.

There were a couple of

Bibles lying there, and

I picked one of them upand said, Whats this?

He said, Its a Bible.

I said, Do you believe

the stuff the Bible teaches? He again

stuttered, Y-e-e-eah! I looked him

in the eye and said, Are you a born-

again Christian? He was shocked but

managed to stutter, Yes. I said, How

long have you been born again? He

said, Since I was thirteen. I grabbed

him by the shirt and shook him and

said, You mean to tell me you went

up in an airplane with me 165 times,

and I could have been shot down and

gone to hell, and you never once told

me about Christ! My friend started to

cry. When you said what you did this

morning, I could just hear my friends

voice. He said, Doc, I wanted to talk

to you, butI thought you were too far

gone!

We were all too far gone, werent

we? Do not forget that when you

preach election. Remember that God

loved you when you hated him. He

showed grace to you when you de-

served his condemnation. Maybe your

lips, like mine, used the name of Jesus

Christ as a curse word. Remember itwas his sovereign electing grace that

chose you unto salvation. It was his

Holy Spirit that effectually calling

that brought you to himself. Nothing

should melt your heart and make you

able to appeal to the worst sinners as

believing in sovereign election. Al-

ways remember that if God could save

you, he could save anybody. Remem-

ber your own case.

Mr. Herendeen, the man who pub-

lished Pinks books, was a member

in the rst church that I pastored. He

gave me a tract on limited atonement

written by A. W. Pink. I tore it in half

and threw it into the waste basket. I

said, Youll never make me believe

that! He said, I know that I can-

not teach you that is true, but I know

somebody who can. I look back on

that with shame at how absolutely

arrogant I was.

Mr. Herendeenprayed for me, and

God was pleased

to open my heart

to understand the

truth of the biblical doctrine of effec-

tual atonement.

Ill never forget the rst time I

tried to talk to my brother Ernest

about election. He took a Bible, and

his face was livid with anger. He grit-

ted his teeth, and said, If I believed

that, Id tear this Bible in half. About

a year later he said, I believe election

is in the Bible, but you ought to only

teach it to very mature Christians.

About another year later he said, You

ought to teach it, but you oughtnt to

harp on it. After another year he said,

If you dont believe election, you just

dont understand the gospel correctly.

I wonder how many who read this re-

acted just as negatively the rst time


Always remember that ifGod could save you, hecould save anybody.


9/20


you were confronted with the bibli-

cal view of the sovereignty of God.

Pink in his book on sovereignty said,

Theres a sense in which we do not

believe in the sovereignty of God, but

we believe in a God whos sovereign.

One is theology and the other is wor-

ship. One is a person and the other is apersonal relationship.

I read an illustration used by Don-

ald Barnhouse where he said, What

would you think if I went down to

Atlantic City, and I got one of those

very expensive beachfront rooms and

wrote a letter to my wife. In the letter

I said, Honey, I wish you were here.

Theres a window in my room. It is 6

3 1/2 wide and 7 9 3/4 high. I mea-

sured the glass. It is 5/16 of an inch

thick. Its one whole pane, and on the

side theres special putty that doesnt

expand. There are beautiful drapes

that close and keep the sun out. The

hangers are 1 7/8 apart. Barnhouse

then said, What would you think of

me? Youd think I was a nut! The only

point of the window is to let you see

the ocean! Is that right? Whats the

point of our theology? To let us see

our God! Our theology is the materialwe use to build a throne upon which

to seat our blessed Lord and Savior.

If we are not worshiping him with

our hearts and our lives, well never

be able to preach grace. I think you

have to feel grace to preach grace ef-

fectively.

John Newton said that if by the

grace of God he made it to heaven

there would be three things that

would amaze him. One, there are a

lot of people he expected to see there

that wouldnt be there. I think thats

true. I think a lot of people we might

look at and say, Man, thats the

epitome of holiness,are not going

to make it. He said the second thing

is there are going to be a lot of people

there that he never expected to see

there. He then said the most amazing

thing of all is that old John Newton

himself is there. Thats the thing wemust not lose and that will help us to

preach aright. We once were sinners

that were lost until God sovereignly

brought us to a knowledge of the

truth. However, we did not learn

all the truth immediately. Many of

us did not get converted in a church

that understood and taught the sover-

eign grace of God. We none the less

loved the Lord Jesus. We loved God

as much then as we do tonight. We

prayed, we read his word, and we wit-nessed to friends and loved ones. Let

never deny our own experience.

Council on Biblical TheologyTuesday Evening July 22 to Friday Noon July25, 2014

Grace Church at Franklin

4052 Arno Rd., Franklin, TN 37065

Theme: Gods Eternal Kingdom Purpose:

NCTTime for a More Accurate WayTony Costa. Christian Apologist & Adjunct Professor, Providence Theological Seminary (PTS). The Sabbath and Its

Relation to Christ and the Church in the New Covenant.

Peter Gentry. Professor of OT Interpretation, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. (Two Messages) Ephesians 3:4-6:What the OT Says about the Inclusion of the Gentiles & Gods Dealings with Abraham: Conditional or Uncon-ditional? One or Two Covenants?

Gary George. Evangelist & Pastor, Sovereign Grace Chapel, Southbridge, MA; Board Member PTS. The RegenerativePower of the Holy Spirit in the OT and the NT

Frank Gumerlock. Professor of Church History and Systematic Theology, PTS. Hebrews 11:8-19: Gods Land Promiseto Abraham and the New Covenant

Zach S. Maxcey. Graduate of PTS and Blog Administrator for PTS. Daniel 9:24-27: The Messiah and the New Cov-enant

W. W. Sasser. Pastor, Grace Church at Franklin and Board Member PTS. Grace and Law: Whats the Big Deal?Greg Van Court. Pastor, Dayspring Fellowship Church, Austin, TX & Adjunct Professor PTS. 2 Timothy 3:16-17: The

Protability of All Scripture

Kirk Wellum. Principal, Toronto Baptist Seminary, Toronto, Canada. The Ecclesiological Implications of the New Cov-enant

Stephen Wellum. Professor of Christian Theology, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. (Two Messages) What IsNew about the NC? and The Nature of Typology Revisited: Do We All Agree?

Blake White. Pastor, Spicewood Baptist Church, Spicewood, TX. 1 Corinthians 9:19-23: Not Under Law But Not With-out Gods Law.

For more information please visit http://ptsco.org then click on Council on Biblical Theology


10/20


GillilandCont inued from page 5 and judgment is the reasonbe it the

result of the Adamic curse in general

or the actions of a specic nation or

group. That does not mean that we

can always know what sinindi-

vidual or corporateGod is judg-

ing. For example, the destruction of

Jerusalem was the culmination ofcenturies of rebellion by Gods people.

But the Scriptures do give us dramatic

examples of the type of sinful activ-

ity that has brought his judgment on

a society in the pastand will again

in the future. There are few places in

Scripture where these principles are

more clearly seen than in the Book of

Revelation.

One of the main reasons given for

judgment is the vindication of Gods

people. Just as God responded to the

cries of his people in their deliver-

ance from Pharaoh (which by the way

is one of the types of judgment that

we see throughout Revelation), so he

does in our day. As we see in the fth

seal in chapter 6, the souls of the mar-

tyrs (or witnesses) pray continually

for vindication and their prayers do

not fall on deaf ears. Later in chapter

8 we see the result of those prayers, as

well as the prayers of all the saints onearth:

Another angel came and stood

at the altar, holding a golden censer;

and much incense was given to him,

so that he might add it to the prayers

of all the saints on the golden altar

which was before the throne. And the

smoke of the incense, with the prayers

of the saints, went up before God out

of the angels hand. Then the angel

took the censer and lled it with the

re of the altar, and threw it to the

earth; and there followed peals of

thunder and sounds and ashes of

lightning and an earthquake (Rev.

8:3-5).

This by the way is one of the ways

in which the saints rule on (or over)

the earthin this age. Ok, but what

you ask does this have to do with

the tsunami in Indonesia? Let me read

you some rarely reported statistics.

This is a list of events that have been

recorded in the same region from the

years 2000-2003:

Petrian Malenge, a Christian

police sergeant, was shot while

riding his motorcycle.

A Torajan Christian man wasshot to death on his plantation

Two Christian men and ve

Christian houses were shot at by

a group of armed men, killing

and injuring several.

At the Al-Fatah Mosque, Mus-

lims were called to take up

arms against Christians. Two

days later armed attackers bru-

tally murdered Christians in the

village of Soya. A Muslim mob destroyed a

Christian church in Makassar.

A Christian was burned to

death when a mob of angry

Muslims began throwing stones

and burning vehicles in Ambon.

During an attack on Christian

villages, a 3-year-old child was

strangled to death.

Muslims in a speedboat shotand killed 9 Christian passen-

gers.

Muslims burned the Christian

village Sepe to the ground.

Jihad terrorists murdered four

Christians during at unofcial

checkpoint. Jihad warriors tar-

geted four Christian neighbor-

hoods in Ambon. They knocked

on doors and anyone opening

them was stabbed with a bayo-net. Grenades were thrown re-

sulting in 9 dead and 17 injured.

Several churches were de-

stroyed and 19 people killed as

bombs exploded in Sumatra.

A survivor reported that most

of the Christians were forced to

convert to Islam while as many

as 100 Christians died for refus-

they are willing to acknowledge that

God is disposed to such thoughts and

actions, surely they must be conned

to the ancient peoples of biblical his-

tory, or the recalcitrant rebels of a

nal tribulation. That may be whyat

least to some degreethe most popu-lar views of the Book of Revelation

see its fulllment predominantly in

the events of 2 centuries ago or at the

very end of history.

Permit me to digress for a moment

and let us review the fundamental

biblical principles on the doctrine of

divine judgment. First of all, the legal

basis for all hardship or calamity is

sin. Even if it is not traceable con-

temporaneously to any individual actor thought, it is certainly explained

ultimately by Adams sin. Since Adam

was our legal or covenantal represen-

tative, we all share in the guilt and

consequences of that sin. To assign

ultimate blame for a natural catastro-

phe to mere natural causes prevents

us from an honest appraisal of the

human condition as well as creation

in general. Secondly, the Scriptures

make a distinction between individual

and corporate judgment. Individualswho are innocent in a restricted

covenantal sense may still be affected

by the decisions of the leaders of the

family, church, or state. Finally, it is

our tendency to develop judicial myo-

pia; as Christians, we easily recognize

Gods judgment in the past and under-

stand the biblical rationale for a nal

judgment. What is far more difcult,

however, is to recognize and admit

that judgment is happening nowin

this ageas well. To some degree it isabout developing eyes to see.

Our quick survey of world opin-

ion showed that the non-Christian

has no spiritual ability to understand

the ultimate cause of events like the

tsunami in Indonesia, other than by

such meaningless terms as chance

or the power of nature.The Scrip-

tures, on the other hand, tell us very

clearly that God is the ultimate cause,


11/20


GillilandContinued on page 14

ing to recant their faith.

As of 2001, an estimated 8,000

people have been killed and at

least 500,000 have been dis-

placed. 5000 Christians have

been forced to undergo Muslim

conversion rituals. Those refus-

ing to embrace the Islamic faithare often beheaded. Their heads

are then paraded around the vil-

lage to strike fear into the hearts

of other Christians.

It is hard to believe that this is part

of our world isnt it? It seems to t

what we know of the rst century, or

possible the very end of history. That

it could be happening now is more

difcult to conceive. From the worlds

perspective the plight of these peopleseems bleak. It appears that they have

little choice but to patiently endure,

but it is through patient endurance

that the justice of God often comes. It

is part of the principle of the burning

coalsthat Paul refers to:

Bless those who persecute you;

bless and do not curse. Rejoice with

those who rejoice, and weep with

those who weep Never pay back

evil for evil to anyone Respect whatis right in the sight of all men. If pos-

sible, so far as it depends on you, be

at peace with all men. Never take your

own revenge, beloved, but leave room

for the wrath of God, for it is written,

VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL RE-

PAY, says the Lord

In doing this, you will heap

burning coals on his head (Rom. 12:

14-20).

But unlike the many examplesgiven us of Gods justice in the Old

and New Testaments, we are no lon-

ger able to denitively associate an

environmental catastrophe with an act

of Gods judgment against a specic

people or nation. Do we know with

biblical or historical certaintythat

the recent tsunami in Indonesia was

a specic judgment by God against

the nations that have been involved

with or given tacit approval tothe

persecution of His people? Of course

we dont.But that does not mean that

we cannot recognize the typesof situ-

ations that God has publicly judged

in the past. Furthermore, the fact that

God might bring the destruction and

devastation of a tsunami upon a nation

that persecutes his people should be ofno surprise to us. The psalmist gives

us a glimpse of Gods anger at the

willful slaughter of His people.

O LORD, God of vengeance, God

of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up,

O Judge of the earth, render recom-

pense to the proud. How long shall the

wicked, O LORD, how long shall the

wicked exult? They pour forth words,

they speak arrogantly; all who do

wickedness vaunt themselves. They

crush your people, O LORD, and af-

ict Your heritage. They slay the wid-

ow and the stranger and murder the

orphans. They have said, The LORD

does not see, nor does the God of Ja-

cob pay heed. Pay heed, you sense-

less among the people; and when will

you understand, stupid ones? He who

planted the ear, does He not hear? He

who formed the eye, does He not see?

He who chastens the nations, will He

not rebuke, even He who teaches manknowledge? The LORD knows the

thoughts of man, that they are a mere

breath (Psalm 94:1-11).

We know what kind of result this

brought on nations like Egypt, Baby-

lon, and Israel. If our understanding

of the application of this book of

Revelation is correct, we should not

be surprised to see similar judgments

in our day. Has the nature of man or

the nature of God changed? Does man

hate God, or does God hate sin any

less than he did two or three centuries

ago? But, and this is a very important

but, remember as in the days of the

Egyptian exodus judgment is also

associated with deliverance.Thank-

fully, part of the reason for Gods

judgment in historyis to warn of

a more severe judgment that is yet to

come and provide an opportunity for

repentance. Like the prophet Habak-

kuk we too can pray, in the midst of

wrath remember mercy.We should

not be surprised that the persecution

that drove many of the believers from

the lowlands into the mountains of

Thailand was also what God used to

spare them from the coming disaster.

nor should we be surprised, that thedisaster is also something God used

to open the door for the gospel. The

following report was issued by one of

the missionary agencies in the days

following the disaster:

After the tsunami, God changed

everything neighbors who used to

eye the church with suspicion and

even joined in persecuting its mem-

bers are now receiving relief sup-

plies from them. Within two weeks

after the disaster, ve families came

to Christ and began to attend church.

Seeing the congregations compassion

for the towns suffering, a community

Buddhist leader who formerly threat-

ened them with reprisals if they did

not stop preaching the gospel came in

tears asking how he could help.

That brings us to consider another

recent catastrophic eventHurricane

Katrina and the massive destruction

of New Orleans in 2005. Again theworld asks, What possible justica-

tion would there be for God to be

involved with such misery and dev-

astation? Almost two millennia ago,

Augustine characterized history as a

conict between The city of God

(the Church) and The city of man.In

describing the city of manhe said,

The earthly city will not be ever-

lasting; for when it is condemned to

the nal punishment it will no longerbe a city. It has its good in this world,

and rejoiced to participate in it with

such gladness as can be derived from

things of such a kind. And since this

is not the kind of good that causes no

frustrations to those enamored of it,

the earthly city is generally divided

against itself by litigation, by wars,

by battles, by pursuit of victories that


12/20


ally leaves it vague and ambiguous

because the two are tied together.4

Vertical love and horizontal love are

inextricably bound together. First

John 4:20-5:1 says, If anyone says,

I love God, yet hates his brother, he

is a liar. For the person who does not

love his brother he has seen cannotlove the God he has not seen. And we

have this command from Him: The

one who loves God must also love his

brother. Everyone who believes that

Jesus is the Messiah has been born of

God, and everyone who loves the Fa-

ther also loves the one born of Him.

Love for God demands love for one

another. Both must increase.

Having said that, Paul is probably

primarilyasking for their love for one

another to increase. In Philippians 2:2,

Paul exhorts the Philippians to have

the same love. In 1 Thessalonians

3:12, he prays that the Lord would

cause them to increase and overow

with love for one another and for ev-

eryone. In Ephesians 3:17 he prays

well be rooted and rmly estab-

lished in love. What is love? Giving

of self for the good of others. Here we

are back to action!5We become loving

byloving. We never arrive fully here.Paul prays that our love would abound

yet more and more.

He prays that our love will grow

in knowledge and every kind of dis-

cernment.This isnt about knowledge

in general. The Holy Spirit is not

concerned about us growing in knowl-

edge of physics, biology, or math, but

knowledge of Gods Word and Gods

4 D.A. Carson,Basics for Believers

(Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 20.5 Stephen E. Fowl,Philippians (Grand

Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005), 33.

ways.6Paul prays something very

similar in Colossians 1:9-10: For this

reason also, since the day we heard

this, we havent stopped praying for

you. We are asking that you may be

lled with the knowledge of His will

in all wisdom and spiritual under-

standing, so that you may walk wor-thy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him,

bearing fruit in every good work and

growing in the knowledge of God

(cf. Eph. 1:17). How do we grow in

this knowledge? It denitely does not

happen on its own! First and foremost

it comes through Bible reading. It also

comes from faithful attendance to a

worship service, Sunday school, home

groups, and other avenues your church

provides for teaching and discussion

of the Word of God. It also happensthrough exposure to Christian truth.

Do you value reading solid Christian

books that help you grasp the message

of Scripture? What is the ratio of time

spent reading Scripture or Christian

books in comparison to the TV? We

have a fridge magnet with a picture

of a television on it that reads, Think

outside the box; read a book.7

You will nd that growing in

the knowledge of God is fuel for there of worship. We never get to the

bottom. The more we love, the more

we learn and the more we learn the

more we love. This is why Paul prays

in Ephesians that we may be able to

6 Carson,Basics for Believers,20.

7 While I am not opposed to all TV,

many of us probably need to heed the

famous words of Neil Postman: This

is one use of television as a source

of illuminating the printed page.Amusing Ourselves to Death (New

York: Penguin, 1985), 83.

my church family. Well, the honesty

is appreciated, but we need to work

on that. The fastest road to affection

is the one paved with action. When

we act for the good of another, that

is to say when we love them, more

often than not our heart follows. C.S.

Lewis writes, The rule for all of us

is perfectly simple. Do not waste time

bothering whether you love your

neighbor; act as if you did. As soon

as we do this, we nd one of the great

secrets. When you are behaving as if

you loved someone, you will presently

come to love him.3

Notice it is the affection of Christ

Jesus. This shows us two things. First,

and amazingly, Jesus has affection for

us. He longs for us. Oh, how he lovesus. We are his portion, and he is our

prize. We are his bride. As the hymn

goes: The churchs one foundation is

Jesus Christ her Lord; she is his new

creation by water and the Word. From

heaven he came and sought her to be

his holy bride; with his own blood he

bought her, and for her life he died.

Second, this affection for one

another only comes through Jesus.

There are many people in our congre-gations that are totally different from

us, but because we are in Jesus Christ

through faith, our relationship is one

of affection toward one another.

Third, our prayer should be for

love to grow. He prays this: that their

love would continue to grow (Phil.

1:9).Is this love for God or love for

one another? Paul probably intention-

3 C.S. Lewis,Mere Christianity, in TheComplete C.S. Lewis (New York:

HarperOne, 2002), 110.

WhiteContinued from page 1

I nd myself frequently depressed perhaps more so than any other person here. And I nd no better cure for thatdepression than to trust in the Lord with all my heart, and seek to realize afresh the power of the peace-speaking

blood of Jesus, and His innite love in dying upon the cross to put away all my transgressions.

C.H. Spurgeon


13/20


comprehend the length, width, height,

and depth of Gods love and to know

the Messiahs love that surpasses

knowledge (Eph. 3:19). We must

strive after and pray for the knowl-

edge that is unknowable: the love of

Jesus.

Fourth, the purpose of growingin love is so we can know Gods will.

Philippians 1:10 says the purpose for

the prayer for loves increase is so

that you can approve the things that

are superior. The purpose of our

growth in love, knowledge, and all

discernment is to be able to better

determine what really matters. There

are lots of grey areas in the Christian

life, and we need Spirit-produced dis-

cernment to determine what is best.

We need sanctied common sense in

the new covenant. Romans 12:2 fa-

mously reads, Do not be conformed

to this age, but be transformed by the

renewing of your mind, so that you

may discern what is the good, pleas-

ing, and perfect will of God. There

is a freedom in the new covenant that

was lacking under the law. You would

never hear a good Jew talk of discern-

ing the will of God apart from Torah,

but this is exactly what the Apostle ispraying well do! We need to approve

the superior things so that we will be

ready for the day of Christ. Martin

Luther used to say there were two

days on his calendar: this and that. All

we do has that day in mind.

We know that becoming loving,

pure, and blameless is a lifelong pro-

cess. The process is slow, sometimes

painfully so, but it is progressive. We

are not yet what we ought to be. But

by the grace of God we are not what

we were.8Jesus said that the pure

are blessed because they will see God

(Matt. 5:8). Are you striving after pu-

rity of heart? Is there any known sin

in your life?

We want to become increasingly

pure and blameless, having been lled

8 Carson,A Call to Spiritual Reforma-

tion,135.

with the fruit that comes from righ-

teousness that comes through Jesus

Christ. This righteousness refers to

our standing before God. We are sin-

ners; God is holy. We are unrighteous;

He is righteous. Thats a problem

because none of can attain a right

standing by our own good works. Hemust provide us with a right stand-

ing before Him. And He does. This

righteousness does not come through

us but through Jesus. Nothing in my

hand I bring; simply to the cross I

cling. Philippians 3:9 is a hugely im-

portant passage in this regard: Paul

wants to gain Christ and be found in

Him, not having a righteousness of

my own from the law, but one that

is through faith in Christthe righ-

teousness from God based on faith.This is an alien righteousness. It is a

giftfrom (ek) God. My hope is built

on nothing less Than Jesus blood

and righteousness; I dare not trust

the sweetest frame, But wholly lean

on Jesus name. If we have believed,

we have been lled with the fruit that

comes from that right standing. No-

tice the order, the fruit (the life trans-

formation) comes from being declared

in the right through faith. As good old

traditional Protestant theology hastaught for 400 years, justication is

the basis from which sanctication

ows. As Tim Keller puts it, Religion

operates on the principle of I obey

therefore I am accepted by God. The

basic operating principle of the gospel

is I am accepted by God through

the work of Jesus Christtherefore I

obey.9And in good form, Paul notes

that it is all for Gods glory and praise.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Do we pray this way? Sadly, usu-

ally we do not. We tend to focus on

physical needs. We pray about jobs,

sickness, cancer, children, comfort,

and travel and praise God he cares

about such things. My Mom always

says if you cant take a pimple to

God you cant take a tumor. We can

9 Tim Keller,Prodigal God (New York:

Dutton, 2008), 114.

condently cast all our care on Him

because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).

God commands us to devote ourselves

to prayer (Col. 4:2). A good prayer

life takes devotion. It takes work.

First and foremost, we must plan

to pray. John Piper writes, Unless

Im badly mistaken, one of the mainreasons so many of Gods children

dont have a signicant life of prayer

is not so much that we dont want to,

but that we dont plan to. If you want

to take a four-week vacation, you

dont just get up one summer morn-

ing and say, Hey, lets go today! You

wont have anything ready. You wont

know where to go. Nothing has been

planned, but that is how many of us

treat prayer. We get up day after day

and realize that signicant times ofprayer should be a part of our life,

but nothings ever ready. We dont

know where to go. Nothing has been

planned. No time. No place. No pro-

cedure. We all know that the opposite

of planning is not a wonderful ow

of deep, spontaneous experiences in

prayer. The opposite of planning is the

rut. If you dont plan a vacation, you

will probably stay at home and watch

TV. The natural, unplanned ow of

spiritual life sinks to the lowest ebb ofvitality. There is a race to be run and a

ght to be fought. If you want renewal

in your life of prayer, you mustplan to

see it. Therefore, my simple exhorta-

tion is this: Let us take time this very

day to rethink our priorities and how

prayer ts in. Make some new resolve

Try some new venture with God. Set a

time. Set a place. Choose a portion of

Scripture to guide you. Dont be tyr-

annized by the press of busy days. We

all need midcourse corrections. Make

this a day of turning to prayerfor

the glory of God and for the fullness

of your joy.10Brothers and sisters,

lets plan to pray.

10 John Piper,Desiring God (Sisters,

OR: Multnomah, 2003), 182-83.


14/20


GillilandContinued from page 11bring death with them, or at best are

doomed to death. (City of God, Book

IV)

In Scripture, that city was rep-

resented by Babel, Sodom, Egypt,

Babylon, Jerusalem, and Rome. But

all are a type of the City of manand referred to by John in the book of

Revelation as Babylon the Great. It

is a symbol of any city, nation, or cul-

ture that exalts itself above God and

His Word. A review of chapters 17

and 18 makes it clear that this could

represent any number of cities around

the world during the last two centuries

including many in our own nation.

Consider Isaiah chapter 14 where we

see the same near and far structure

employed. The near or historical ful-llment refers to the King of Babylon

(Isa. 14:12-15) and his kingdom (vv.

20-24):

How you have fallen from heav-

en, O star of the morning, son of the

dawn! You have been cut down to the

earth, you who have weakened the

nations! But you said in your heart,

I will ascend to heaven; I will raise

my throne above the stars of God, and

I will sit on the mount of assembly inthe recesses of the north. 14I will as-

cend above the heights of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.

Nevertheless you will be thrust down

to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit

because you have ruined your coun-

try, you have slain your people. May

the offspring of evildoers not be men-

tioned forever. Prepare for his sons

a place of slaughter because of the

iniquity of their fathers I will rise

up against them, declares the LORD

of hosts, and will cut off from Baby-

lon name and survivors, offspring

and posterity, declares the LORD.

I will also make it a possession for

the hedgehog and swamps of water,

and I will sweep it with the broom of

destruction, declares the LORD ofhosts. The LORD of hosts has sworn

saying, Surely, just as I have in-

tended so it has happened, and just as

I have planned so it will stand.

We see again in the Book of Rev-

elation, Isaiah uses the destruction of

the literal Babylon as a type of the

future and nal destruction of mans

system:

This is the plan devised against

the whole earth; and this is the handthat is stretched out against all the

nations. For the LORD of hosts has

planned, and who can frustrate it?

And as for His stretched-out hand,

who can turn it back? (Isa. 14:26-27).

With its celebration of decadence

and ofcial sanction of immorality,

New Orleans was clearly a city wor-

thy of the title Babylon the Great.

And it may not have been mere co-

incidence that hurricane Katrina hit

just days before the ofcially sanc-

tioned homosexual festival Southern

Decadence was scheduled to begin.

Do we know with certaintythat the

hurricane was in response to that

festival, and if it was that it was the

only reason? No, of course we dont.

But one thing we do know for certain

is that this type of public immorality

has been the object of Gods wrath in

the past. We should not be surprised

should it be so again, for it is a sure

sign of what will happen in the end.

Yes, these are hard sayings

especially for a Western church

that has become used to the good

times, but we too like the rest of

our brethren around the world can

expect difcult times ahead as well.

Which brings us to a nal question:

As Christians, and in light of the

increasing judgment we may well

experience in our nation, what should

our responsibility be to God and our

culture? Should we fall in step with

much of the Western church that has

embraced a sort of spiritual dualism?

A view where God is only associated

with blessing, and Satan or mother

nature is responsible for calamity?Should we work with other people

of faith toward a moral consen-

suswhatever that is? Should we use

whatever political or military force

is deemed necessary to establish a

biblical government? Or, perhaps, we

should just withdraw from society

with the hope that God will spare our

churches and families from the judg-

ment that is certain to come if our na-

tion remains on its current path? Time

will not allow a detailed analysis ofeach of these options, but clearly none

of them represents, exclusively, the

biblical mandate for the Church. In

that light, let me ask you to consider

a few foundational principles that

should guide the attitudes and conduct

of Gods people as we are confronted

with a culture increasingly hostile to

God, his Word, and his people, the

church.

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WestContinued from page 3

about the resurrection without talking

about the gospel, you should be very

alarmed. The more we share about

what it is that we believeand the

grounds on which our belief is intel-

lectually justiablethe more people

are going to listen to the gospel. Infact, I think that a winsome apologetic

contains an enormous amount of dis-

guised preaching!

As was previously mentioned,

the function of apologetics is not to

bring about conversion. What it can

do, however, is show people that their

objections to the faith are not sound.

There are many people who will say

that they would believe in God, except

for a particular intellectual issue (e.g.,

the existence of evil and suffering,

or that science and faith are enemies,

or that there is just no evidence that

Jesus ever lived, etc.). When these

objections are refuted, the person is

then left with a dilemma: they said

they would believe in God except for

perceived problemx, but now its been

demonstrated that perceived problem

xisnt insurmountableyet they still

dont want to believe. Why not? They

had insisted their lack of faith was anintellectual issue, but it turns out its

an emotional-spiritual problem in-

stead. In other words, apologetics can

demonstrate that a persons so-called

intellectual problems are really ethical

problems that have been rationalized.

We deceive ourselves into thinking

our heart problems are really head

problems: apologetics helps expose

this particular deception for what it is.

Even though it is a mistake to

reject the discipline of apologeticson the basis of Reformed theology,

it is desperately important to use an

apologetic that is consistent with it.

We must not use apologetics that ac-

tually conict with biblical doctrine.

One example will sufce. Today it

is becoming increasingly common

to argue that God has not made his

existence overwhelmingly obvious to

people, because he wants them to have

the necessary epistemic distance

to choose out of their own libertarian

free will whether or not they want to

be in a loving relationship with him. If

everyone knew for sure that God ex-

ists, the argument goes, then everyone

would be coerced into a relationship

with him. Who, after all, would refusea relationship with God when they

knew that he would punish them for

doing so? People would grudgingly

acquiesce to having a relationship

with him, but they wouldnt love him

freely. All obedience would be forced,

and the relationship would be a farce.

Now, in terms of abstract phi-

losophy, this argument isnt entirely

bad (its not entirely good either, but

that analysis will be ignored at the

present). The real problem with the

argument is that its false; it is simply

unbiblical. Romans 1:18ff. clearly

states that everyone knows that God

exists. Paul categorically afrms that

the knowledge of God is found in

every human heart, and his manifest

presence is literally unavoidable (cf.

Psalm 19). God is not a hidden deity!

It is also worth noting that, however

obscure the origins of evil really are,

and however little were actually toldabout Satan and demons, evil beings

were originally good. Satan rebelled

in full awareness of Gods being and

power. Adam and Eve walked with

God in the garden; God spoke to

them. Nevertheless, Adam and Eve

rebelled against God and broke the

relationship. Before we are out of

Genesis chapter 3, we know that the

basis of the divine hiddenness argu-

ment is false! Furthermore, if we are

Reformed in our thinking, we alsoknow that God is not trying to dance

around our libertarian free will,

largely because libertarian free will

is not something anyone possesses. In

the end, it would be more than a little

bit contradictory to hold to the divine

hiddenness argument, total deprav-

ity, and irresistible grace. Apologet-

ics must not be the tail that wags the

theological dog. Theology comes rst;

apologetics must be subordinated to

biblical truth.

Given the reality of ministry in

our contemporary society and the fact

that the faith is being attacked on all

sides, how can busy pastors and non-

specialists be adequately equipped

to engage in protable apologetic

work? How can one even begin to sort

out the tangle of arguments, issues,

and methods? It is my hope that this

article series will be a helpful intro-

duction to the eld from a Reformed

perspective. This will involve writing

a briefprcisof the major apologetic

methods that are used by Reformed

thinkers, and then providing just a

few brief sketches of how particular

arguments can be structured in a waywhich is consistent with good philoso-

phy, exegesis, and theology. The rst

prciswill be offered in the next ar-

ticle, but for the present, I think mak-

ing a few general observations may be

helpful.

First, as a pastor there is a peren-

nial temptation to pretend you know

more than you do about any given

topic. Lets be honest: we all like to

be experts in everything. The truth

is, however, were not likely experts

in anything. So when someone asks

a question we dont know how to

answer, or when someone points

out something weve never thought

about before, the right thing to do is

to acknowledge we dont know. In a

strange way, sometimes not having

an answer is the best thing possible

because it allows us to demonstrate

humility and integrity. We have every

right to say that we dont know, butif theyd like, we would be more than

happy to try to do some research and

nd out. This gives us a chance to

connect again about the gospel, and

thats always a positive thing. In a

related vein, it can also be extremely

wise to admit th

Sound of Grace, Issue 208, June 2014

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