Friday, December 30, 2005

ELEVEN THINGS TAUGHT IN THE WORD OF GOD ABOUT ELECTION


Don Fortner

Here are eleven things expressly taught in the Word of God about election.
1. Election is "IN CHRIST". No less than fourteen times in the first fourteen verses of Ephesians chapter one the Holy Spirit expressly tells us that every benefit and blessing of grace that comes to sinners from God is in Christ.
2. Election is UNTO SALVATION. Certainly, there is a sense in which it must be said that God's elect were saved from eternity (Rom 8:29); but we must never be deceived into thinking that election is salvation. Election is unto salvation. Election is not, as some teach unto "Christian service". Election is unto salvation.
3. Election is an act of pure, absolute, DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY. God has mercy on whom He will have mercy (Rom 9:11-18). God was not moved by anything outside Himself to choose the people He chose to save.
4. Election took place in ETERNITY. God did not choose His people in time, but before time began, in eternity. He chose us before the foundation of the world, from the beginning, when nothing existed except God Himself in the trinity of the eternal Godhead.
5. The source and cause of election is God's eternal LOVE for His people. He loved us freely, from everlasting, before ever the earth was made. Our love to Him is not the cause of His love toward us, but the result (Jer. 3 1:3; 1 JN 4:19).
6. God's election was an act of free, UNCONDITIONAL grace. Grace is always free and unconditional. The moment a condition is put on it, it ceases to be grace. To say that God chose us because of something He foresaw in us, or foresaw we would choose to do, is to frustrate the grace of God, making it the reward of our work (Rom II: 6).
7. Election is God's PERSONAL choice of specific sinners to eternal life in Christ. Here is a sweet cordial of grace which shall never cease to amaze and rejoice the hearts of believing sinners - The Lord God chose me to eternal salvation in Christ, because He loved me with an everlasting unconditional love!
8. Election is IRREVERSIBLE. "The gifts and calling of God are without repentance" (Rom 11:29). Those who were chosen to salvation in eternity shall not be unchosen in time!
9. Election is EFFECTUAL. There is no possibility that one of God's elect shall perish (2 Tim 2:19).
10. Election is DISTINGUISHING. To talk of universal love in God toward reprobate men is to talk nonsense. (Isa 45:14).
11. Election is BLESSED, for it is the cause of all blessedness (Psa 65:4; Eph 1:3-6).

WHAT IS THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE?


Don Fortner

Is the Bible a sealed book to you? Do you have great difficulty understanding its doctrines, its precepts, and its ordinances? Many people do. To them it is like a treasure chest with a lock on it. They know that it contains many rich gems. But they have no key to open it.
There is one key which will open the Book to you and reveal its golden treasures. That key is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Foundation, the Center, and the Mainspring of all Divine Truth. This is what he said, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." If we would avoid error in interpreting and applying the scriptures, we must understand that everything in the Bible speaks of and relates to Christ. Divorce any doctrine from Christ and that doctrine becomes heresy. Divorce any precept from Christ and that precept becomes self-righteous legality.
For example, I have heard men preach on the doctrine of the church as though the church were nothing more than a physical religious organization begun by our Lord during his earthly ministry. But the church is much more. It is the body of Christ. It is a spiritual building, made up of men and women redeemed by Christ and vitally joined to him by faith. Christ is the Foundation upon which the church is built, the Head by which the church is governed, and the Bread upon which the church lives. I have heard men talk about the Kingdom of Christ as though it were nothing more than a continuance, or re-establishment, of the physical kingdom of David. Again the Kingdom of Christ is spiritual. Our Lord entered his kingdom by the door of the cross. And he builds his kingdom upon the cross. Christ sits upon the throne today as a direct result of his finished work at Calvary. Whether we are talking about the kingdom in its present or its future manifestations, being a part of this kingdom is nothing more or less than surrendering to the claims of Christ as Lord and King. I have even heard men preach on election as though it were nothing more than a logical part of a theological system. Election is a precious truth of Divine Revelation when it is understood properly. Our election is in Christ. God predestinated us to be conformed to the image of Christ. Election is nothing more or less than God loving a people before all worlds., putting them in Christ, and determining to make them like Christ. Election is God choosing to save us rather than damn us, as we justly deserve, for Christ's sake.
As for the precepts of scripture,, these too are centered in Christ and motivated by him. Those things that we call "practical godliness" ought to be preached. But they must be motivated by gospel principles. The Christian life is not an extension of the Mosaic law or merely a system of morality. It is obedience to Christ. It is following his example. Wives are to be submissive to their husbands, as the church is submissive to Christ. The husband is to love his wife. as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Servants (employees are to serve their masters (employers) "as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart". Believing business men are to treat their employees with kindness and generosity, knowing that Christ their Master is in heaven, treating them with kindness and generosity. Believers are to forgive offences against them, even as God for Christ's sake forgives us. We are to love one another, as Christ loved us. We are to give with a willing heart, generously, even as Christ willingly gave all for us and to us. This kind of service to Christ is free, spontaneous, unconstrained and motivated by a loving heart. It arises from a knowledge of the gospel.
I know that these are only a few of the doctrines and precepts of the Bible. But they will suffice to illustrate my point. Christ is the key to sacred scriptures. Every doctrine of the Bible must be understood and taught in the light of the gospel. Every precept of godliness must be motivated by gospel principles. We truly preach the whole counsel of God only when we preach it in the light of Christ and him crucified.

THE SINNERS ADVOCATE

I John 1:21
Don Fortner

"...We have an Advocate with the Father." I John 2:1
Sometime ago, I read that "it is possible to exaggerate the Advocacy of Christ." The Apostle John does not seem to be of that opinion. He was not afraid of doing harm by stating, in the plainest and boldest terms possible, the full forgiveness of sins by Jesus Christ. He declares that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. But, he does not stop there. He goes on to say "if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father". Many would shy away from such bold declarations, fearing that such preaching would lead men into licentiousness. It is clear from our text that John was of another mind. His purpose in assuring us of God's forgiveness of our sins was that we "sin not".
We must not ever suppose that God's children must be beaten into virtue with the whip of the law. A confident assurance of God's grace does not lead men into antinomianism and sin. Those who assert that it does, know not whereof they speak. The exact opposite is true. We are loved of God; therefore we must love him in return. Realizing that Christ shed his precious blood for our redemption, we hate the sin which he bore on the cross, and we love the One who died for us. There can never be a greater motive for Christian obedience than this - "The love of Christ constraineth us."
There have always been wicked men who would pervert the truth of God. But we shall not allow such men to rob us of the soul-cheering truths of the gospel. Gospel truth will never lead the children of truth into sin. Therefore, I set before you the blessed message of this text, with the hope of comforting the people of God and promoting their sanctification. - The children of God are sinners in need of an advocate in heaven; and the Lord Jesus Christ is our all-sufficient advocate with the Father.
I. Remember, my brethren, that all of God's children, at their very best, are still sinners. The tenderhearted pastor uses mild and gentle terms, putting it as a matter of supposition, "and if any man sin". He writes as though it were an astonishing thing that any of us who have experienced God's rich grace in Christ should ever sin. Yet, his supposition is a certainty, for we are still sinners. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." To be sure, there is a great difference between the believer and the unbeliever. But that man who grows the most in the grace and knowledge of Christ grows most in the awareness of his own sinfulness.
Such is our nature that we cannot avoid sin. But sin is driven off the throne. It no longer reigns. It is still present, and will be until we die. We are so polluted with sin that everything about us has the filth of iniquity upon it. Who among us will not confess, "We are altogether as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are but as filthy rags?" I dare say that the best faith, or the highest degree of sanctification to which a believer ever attained on earth, considered in itself, is worthy of God's eternal wrath! I say these things, not to excuse your sin and mine, but to urge us to guard against sin, and to show us that we have great need of our advocate.
II. Our text is full of comfort for God's sinning children. John teaches us that our sins do not deprive us of our saving interest in Christ! The text reads, "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father." Yes, beloved, though we do sin, we have an advocate still. We are not told, "if any man sin he has forfeited his advocate." It says, "we have an Advocate", sinners though we are! We may fall into sorrowful transgressions, dreadful sins, and shameful iniquities, but these cannot, by any possibility, separate us from the heart of Christ.
There are certain characteristics by which Christ is revealed, which I can claim only as I own myself to be a sinner. Only as a sinner can I claim Christ as my Redeemer and Savior. Only as a sinner can I claim Christ as my Advocate.
Mark it down, my friend, as a solid pillar of gospel truth, that" notwithstanding all our sin, we are perfectly justified in Christ, if we are indeed true believers. We are pardoned only through his blood, accepted only in the Beloved, and sanctified only in his personl Jesus Christ is our advocate. He will not forsake his erring child, nor leave his wandering sheep. Though I am a sinner, I am still a member of Christ's body. And when the members of his body become diseased, he does not amputate them, he washes and heals them. Sin may mar our enjoyment of Christ; but it can never destroy our saving interest in Christ. David lost his joy, but not his Savior. Peter wept in bitterness, but Christ dried his tears.
III. But how can these things be? John tells us, "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous: and he is the Propiation for our sins." God has provided his son, Jesus Christ, as the Advocate for his sinning children. Here is the great, source of our comfort, God knows that we are but flesh, weak, sinning people. Therefore he gave us an allsufficient Advocate.
An Advocate is one who is called along the side of another, for his comfort and help. He is a lawyer to plead our cause in court. The judge with whom our Advocate pleads is his Father and ours. A crime is urged against us, deserving the sentence of death. Now it is the place of our Advocate to plead for his clients. Behold, Jesus Christ, the sinner's Advocate, as he pleads our cause in heaven.
Our Advocate is "Jesus" the Savior, one in our own nature. He was tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, he is sympathetic to our weakness. He is "Christ", God's anointed one. He is our Advocate by the Father's own appointment. Surely, God will hear him. Our Advocate is the God-man. As such he knows our needs, and knows how to prevail with God.
Our Advocate is Jesus Christ the righteous. This is the blessed thing John is driving at. We are charged with sin and unrighteousness. Our Advocate cannot plead our innocence. He cannot plead the extenuating circumstances of our transgressions. But he does plead his own righteousness! He pleads for the non-imputation of sin on the grounds that we are clothed in his own righteousness.
Do we have any assurance that God will accept our Advocate? Indeed we do, "He is the propitiation for our sins." Jesus Christ is the propitiatory sacrifice by which God and sinners are reconciled. His blood covers the record of God's broken law, so that in Christ. God can show mercy. God slew his Son in our place. And now our High Priest points to his righteous life and substitutionary death, and says, "Father forgive these my children, your law has no claim against them! " All of those for whom the Advocate thus prays are fully forgiven!
What do we say to these things? God forbid, that we should ever sin against such love and grace. But, when we do sin, let us not despair. Jesus Christ is the sinner's Advocate.

SOME BELIEVED AND SOME BELIEVED NOT - WHY?

Acts 28:24
Don Fortner

The preacher was the apostle Paul. The message preached was the gospel of Christ. Paul expounded the Scriptures, testified of his own experience of the Christ. Yet, we read that "some believed... and some believed not." Why did Luke write that down? What does the Holy Spirit intend for us to learn from this fact?
Without question, the intention of the Holy Spirit is to teach us that THE SALVATION OF SINNERS IS NOT DETERMINED BY THE ABILITY OF THE PREACHER. I do not mean to suggest that a person can be saved apart from the preaching of the gospel (Rom. 10:17; James 1:18; I Pet. 1:23-25). And I do not suggest that it does not matter who you hear (I John 4:1-3; II John 10). If you feed upon the poison of a false religion, you will perish under the wrath of God. But the Holy Spirit does mean for us to understand that saving faith is in no way dependent upon or determined by the gifts, abilities, education, or spiritually of the man who preaches the gospel. No one excels Paul in these areas. Yet, some who heard him "believed not." He preached pure gospel truth. He preached the truth in love. His heart was in his message. He wanted those who heard him to know Christ. Yet, "some believed not."
WHY DID SOME BELIEVE WHILE OTHERS BELIEVED NOT? All heard the same preacher the same sermon under the same circumstances. Only one explanation can be given for the faith of those who believed. They believed because God chose them in eternity, Christ redeemed them at Calvary, and now the Holy Spirit called them and gave them faith by his irresistible power and grace (John 1:12-13; Rom. 9:16-18). Their salvation was entirely God's fault and the result of God's work.
WHY DID SOME NOT BELIEVE? Their unbelief was their own fault and the result of their own work. They did not believe because they would not believe (John 5:40). They would not believe because they had no need of Christ (Luke 9:11). ALL WHO ARE SAVED ARE SAVED AS A RESULT OF WHAT GOD DOES. ALL WHO ARE LOST ARE LOST AS A RESULT OF WHAT THEY DO.

CAN A SAVED PERSON EVER BE LOST?

CAN A SAVED PERSON EVER BE LOST?
John 10:28
Don Fortner

Let the question be answered by the plain statements of Holy Scripture with an emphatic "NO!" "They shall never perish!" 1. Salvation is THE WORK OF GOD ALONE; and the work of God is DONE FOREVER (Eccles. 3:14). 2. Salvation is THE GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE; and eternal life is ETERNAL (Rom. 6:23). 3. Salvation is BY GRACE ALONE. Works have nothing to do with it, neither good nor bad. Sin could not keep God from bestowing his grace. And sin cannot compel God to withdraw his grace (Eph. 2:8-9). 4. THE COVENANT OF GRACE CANNOT BE BROKEN; and eternal security is one UNCONDITIONAL PROMISE of the covenant (Jer. 31:3; 31-34; 32:38-40). 5. THE PURPOSE OF GOD IN ELECTION MUST STAND; and that purpose could not stand if even one of the elect were to perish (Rom. 8:28-30; 9:11). 6. THE BLOOD OF CHRIST CANNOT MISCARRY OR BE SHED IN VAIN. If one redeemed sinner should perish,for that sinner, the death of Christ would be a miscarriage, his blood would have been shed in vain (Isa.53:9-10). 7. THE SEAL OF THE SPIRIT CANNOT BE BROKEN (Eph. 4:30). 8. CHRIST CANNOT FAIL; and he would miserably fail in his appointed work if one whom he came to save were to perish (Isa. 42:4; Matt. 1:21; John 6:39). 9. The Lord our God is IMMUTABLE. He cannot change. And if one whom he loves were to become an object of his wrath in hell, he must cease to be God (Mal. 3:6). 10. THE JUSTICE OF GOD, once satisfied, CANNOT PUNISH ANY FOR WHOM ATONEMENT HAS BEEN MADE (Rom. 3:24-26). 11. GOD WILL NOT IMPUTE SIN TO HIS ELECT. Where sin is not imputed there is no danger of perdition (Rom.4:8). 12. FAITH, SALVATION, AND ETERNAL LIFE ARE THE GIFTS OF GOD. The gifts of God cannot be taken away (Rom.11:29). 13. CHRIST'S INTERCESSORY PRAYER MUST PREVAIL(John 17). 14. THE BODY OF CHRIST MUST BE COMPLETE; and it cannot be complete if even one member has perished (Eph. 1:23). 15. We are KEPT BY THE POWER OF GOD (I Pet. 1:5). 16. OUR LORD HAS PROMISED TO BRING ALL HIS ELECT TO GLORY; and he will do what he has promised (Eph. 5:25-27).

FIVE IRREFUTABLE FACTS

FIVE IRREFUTABLE FACTS ABOUT REDEMPTION
Romans 3:24-26
Don Fortner

Here are five statements that cannot be denied or refuted from the Word of God. Learn them and you have learned the gospel doctrine of redemption by Christ.
1. ALL MEN AND WOMEN SINCE THE FALL OF ADAM ARE SINNERS, ALIENATED FROM GOD (Rom. 3:23; 8:7). The wages of our sin and enmity toward God is death. All sin must be punished, either in the sinner or in the sinner's Substitute (Heb. 2:2). But...
2. IT IS THE WILL OF GOD TO SAVE SINNERS. "He delighteth in mercy!" God has decreed the salvation of some (Eph. 1:3-7). Christ came to save some (Matt. 1:21). There are some people in this world who must be saved (John 10:16), because it is the will of God to save them; and the will of God cannot be frustrated.
3. HOWEVER, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR A HOLY, JUST, AND TRUE GOD TO SAVE ANY SINNER APART FROM THE SATISFACTION OF JUSTICE (Heb. 9:22). He declares, "I will by no means clear the guilty." I know that God is omnipotent and sovereign. He does what he will! No one declares that glorious truth more fully, more frequently, or more forcibly than I do. But God cannot do that which is contrary to his nature. We do not rob God of his sovereignty when we repeat the declaration of Scripture and say," God cannot lie." Neither do we rob God of his sovereignty when we assert this truth of Holy Scripture: God cannot forgive sin without the satisfaction of justice. The holy, just, and true God must punish sin.
4. THE ONLY WAY THE JUSTICE OF GOD COULD EVER BE SATISFIED IS BY THE SUBSTITUTIONARY SACRIFICE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST (Rom. 3:24-26). Would God almighty slay his darling Son if there were any other way to save his people consistent with his justice? Did not the agonizing Savior cry, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me"? If the salvation of his people could have been accomplished by any other means, would not God the Father have granted his tormented Son the desire of his soul?
5. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD, IN HIS HOLINESS, TO PUNISH ANY SINNER FOR WHO'S SINS JUSTICE HAS BEEN SATISFIED BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST (Isa. 53:11). He who satisfied jus- tice "shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied!" That is to say, all for whom Christ died must be saved! Satisfied justice demands the release of every prisoner for whom satisfaction has been made!

THREE ASPECTS OF SALVATION

THREE ASPECTS OF SALVATION
Romans 13:11
Don Fortner

It is a common mistake among many to think of salvation only in terms of the experience of faith. But the Word of God never limits salvation to a time, a place, or an experience. When Paul writes, "Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed," he is clearly speaking of salvation as an on going process of grace. It is a process of grace that began in eternity past before the beginning of time, is experienced by faith in Christ in time, and shall be consummated in eternity to come when time shall be no more.
This great work of salvation is the work of God alone. It was planned by God, purchased by God, produced by God, is preserved by God, and shall be perfected by God. From start to finish, "Salvation is of the Lord!" Therefore God alone shall have the praise for it. God's work of grace that is called "salvation" must be understood as a work consisting of three things.
Salvation is what God has done for us in Christ. In eternity, before the worlds were made, the Lord God loved us, chose us, predestinated us to be his own, adopted us, accepted us, and blessed us in Christ (Eph. 1:3-6). Our salvation was arranged and accomplished in that covenant of grace ordered in all things and sure made between the three Persons of the holy Trinity before the world began. In that everlasting covenant, God the Father became our Father, God the Son became our Surety, and God the Spirit became our Sanctifier. In time, our salvation was obtained by the obedience of Christ as our Substitute. We have been forgiven, justified, and sanctified by the merits of his righteousness and shed blood.
Salvation is also what God has done and is doing in us. We were dead. He made us alive (Eph. 2:1-4). He made us new creatures in Christ. He gave us a new heart, a new will, and a new nature in sovereign regeneration. He produced repentance and faith in us (Eph. 2:8-10). He is working in us to will and to do of his good pleasure (Phil. 2:13) and preserving us in life and grace by his almighty power (II Pet. 1:5).
And salvation is what God shall do with us. When the Lord God is finished with us, when our salvation is complete, we will be exactly conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). And he shall at last present us faultless before his throne and in the ages to come shall "show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:7).

DAMNABLE HERESIES II Peter 2:1

DAMNABLE HERESIESII Peter 2:1

Let me warn you about three damning forms of heresy to which all people are naturally attracted because they are all appealing to the flesh.
FREEWILLISM - Freewillism is that doctrine that says, "God loves you, Christ died for you, and the Holy Spirit is calling you; but it will all be vain unless you choose to be saved." Freewillism makes the determining factor in salvation to be the will of man. It makes the work of the Triune God and the grace of God to be impotent without the consent of man's "freewill." Freewill religion is in direct opposition to the gospel of the free grace of God. The Bible declares that salvation is not accomplished, determined by, or dependent upon the will of man, but by the will of God (John 1:12-13; Rom. 9:16). The word "freewill", when used with reference to salvation is a blasphemous obscenity!
LEGALISM - Legalism is the teaching that sinners are saved (justified, sanctified, and accepted with God) upon the basis of their own works of legal obedience. Legalism is as damning to the souls of men as Hinduism, Mormonism, and atheism! We are not saved by our obedience to the law of God (Rom. 3:20; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8-9). We are not sanctified by our obedience to the law of God (Gal. 3:1-3). Our inheritance in heaven is not, to any degree, won or earned by our personal obedience to the law of God (Rev. 7:9, 10, 14, 14). Salvation is, in its entirety, by grace alone. Believers are not, in any sense whatsoever, under the yoke of the law (Rom. 6:14-15; 7:4; 8:1-4; 10:4; Gal. 5:1-4, 18; I Tim. 1:9-11).
ANTINOMIANISM - Antinomianism is that doctrine that says, "Since we are saved by grace it does not matter how we live. We have no law by which to regulate and govern our lives. Character and conduct are of no importance to the believer." Antinomianism means "lawlessness," or "against the law." I realize that it is impossible to preach salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone without being denounced by legalists as an antinomian. The Pharisees accused our Lord of being an antinomian, and the Judaizers accused Paul of being and antinomian; but anyone who really is an antinomian is as lost and ignorant of God as the freewiller and the legalist (Tit. 1:16).

CULTS, SECTS, DOGMATISM

CULTS, SECTS, AND DOGMATISM Acts 28:22
Don Fortner

When men cannot refute our doctrine, or choose not to pay the price of being decidedly committed to the message of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ, their only weapon is slander. One of the surest ways to raise suspicions about a preacher, a church, or a religious group is to refer to it as a "sect," or a "cult." That immediately congers up images of horror. This has been one of Satan's ploys since the beginning. When the Jews came to visit Paul in prison, they said, "Concerning this sect, we know that it is every where spoken against." Do not allow such slanders to scare you or make you feel uneasy in standing firm against the tide of human opinion. Let men call me sectarian, cultic, and dogmatic, or scandalize my name if they must. I rejoice to walk in the company of a great multitude, though scandalized and always in the minority in their day. Yet, I am not, in the least, daunted by the fear of standing alone against all the opinions of men. Here are three things I affirm with every fiber of my being. They are not rash, youthful, novice opinions, but the deliberate statements of thoughtful judgment and consideration.
First, THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IS THE MESSAGE OF SALVATION PURPOSED BY GOD THE FATHER, PURCHASED BY GOD THE SON, AND PERFORMED IN CHOSEN, REDEEMED SINNERS BY GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT (Eph. 1:3-14). I do not care for the nickname, but that which men call "Calvinism" is neither more nor less than the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The biblical doctrines of Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints are not merely logical points of theology, but vital gospel doctrines, clearly revealed in Holy Scripture (Rom. 3:9-19; 5:12; Eph. 1:4-6; Heb. 9:12; Psa. 65:4; John 10:28). To deny these blessed, gospel doctrines is to deny the faith of Jesus Christ.
Secondly, ARMlNIAN, FREEWILL, WORKS RELIGION IS NOT CHRISTIAN, BUT ANTICHRIST RELIGION. This is not my opinion, but that which the Holy Spirit has clearly revealed in Holy Scripture (Gal. 1:6-9; 5:2, 4; Col. 2:23). Those who deny the accomplishment of redemption and the certain salvation of the redeemed deny that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. "This is a deceiver or and an antichrist" (II John 7). If Arminianism is embraced as Christianity, then Mormanism, Campbellism, Russellism, and Romanism must also be embraced. In that case, the reformation was a horrendous mistake, our forefathers died for nothing, and the sooner we all unite with Rome the better!
Third, IT IS THE RESPONSIBlLITY OF ALL WHO BELIEVE THE GOSPEL TO DO WHAT WE CAN lN THESE DARK DAYS TO MAKE IT KNOWN TO ALL MEN. Confess the faith of Christ before men. Let those who preach, preach it with boldness, clarity, and distinctiveness. The souls of men, the glory of God, and the truth of God are at stake. Let us be found faithful! God requires no more and we can give no less than faithfulness.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

THE WHOLE ARMOUR OF

THE WHOLE ARMOUR OF GOD

by J. C. PHILPOT

Preached at Eden Street Chapel, Hampstead Road, London, on Lord's Day Morning, August 3rd, 1851

"Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." (Ephesians 6:13)
EVERY child of God is a soldier, and a real one. In the Christian army, there are no feather-bed, no fire-side soldiers. All to a man are actual combatants. Are not their enemies real? Flesh and blood real? The world real? And Satan real? – a real devil? And if their enemies are real, the conflict with their enemies must be real too. "Every battle of the warrior," we read, "is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood." And such is "the good fight of faith." It is no sham fight, no Hyde Park review: but a hand to hand battle, in which wounds are inflicted, blood shed, and life, according to our feelings, often at stake.
But how shall we be able to fight this sore battle, and so to withstand the enemies of our soul's salvation as to come off more than conquerors? Weak as we are and &fenceless, without one weapon of sufficient temper and strength: through sin, like the children of Israel, "made naked unto their shame among their enemies," (Ex. 32:25) fall we shall, defeated we must be, unless we have some better weapons than our own armory can furnish. God, who knows the strength of our enemies: God, who knows the weakness of our flesh, has therefore provided in the heavenly armory weapons whereby, and whereby alone, we can make an effectual stand.
Of this heavenly armor the apostle speaks in the text, where, addressing his Christian brethren, he says, "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." He here makes it imperative upon them to take not a part of, but "the whole armour of God." assuring them that it is indispensable to their safety: that only by being clad in it from top to toe, can they "withstand in the evil day." when all the powers of earth and hell are arrayed against them: and that even then, when they have. in the strength of that heavenly armor. "done," or "over-come all," they must not put it off: but will still need it "to stand."
In opening up the words of our text, I shall endeavor, with God's blessing, this morning,
I. First, to describe the heavenly armor; its various pieces and accoutrements, as indispensable to the Christian soldier:
II. Secondly, to show how this heavenly armor is taken, worn, and used.
I. In order to do justice to our text, it will be necessary that I should take up, one by one, these several pieces of the heavenly armor; for it says, "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God." If, then, I, as a combatant, am without one piece, I run the risk of defeat; and if I, as a minister, in laying open this text, omit one, I am so far unfaithful in neglecting a part that may be for our spiritual defense. As a Christian, then, and as a minister, I must take the whole, each and all being alike indispensable.
1. The first piece of heavenly armor that the apostle speaks of is, the Girdle: "Stand, therefore," he says, "having your loins girt about with truth." The loins, or lower part of the back, is the seat of strength, as well as of activity and motion. No heavy weights can a man lift, no hard work can he perform unless he be strong there. The prophet therefore says, "Make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily." (Nah. 2:1) Of Behemoth, we read, "His strength is in his loins." (Job 40:16) These loins, then, the seat of activity and strength, need to be guarded by a piece of heavenly armor, lest Satan make a deadly thrust there. If he can get a blow at our unprotected loins, it will paralyze every movement. A stroke here, so as to reach the spinal marrow, prostrates indeed. "Smite through the loins of them that rise against him, and of them that hate him, that they rise not again." (Deut. 33:11) We need, therefore, to have our loins girded about with a piece of heavenly armor which shall effectually protect them from these paralyzing blows.
This heavenly girdle is "Truth," What truth? By "truth" here we may understand. I think, two things.
First, generally Christian sincerity; "Truth," as the Psalmist speaks, "in the inward parts." (Ps. 51:6) Uprightness of heart lies at the base of all true Christian profession. If a man have no sincerity Godward, he has nothing. Our loins, therefore, or the seat of strength and activity, need in this sense to be girt about with what the apostle calls "simplicity and godly sincerity." (2 Cor. 1:12) If there be insincerity in our profession, O what advantage is given to Satan! A blow from his hand against our profession, when there is no consciousness of sincerity Godward, must be fatal. Here he smote Judas, Saul, and Ahithophel; and they fell to rise no more. Against, then, these fatal blows, we need a girdle of truth –to be sincere Godward; to have truth in our inward parts; and, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, to be made upright in our Christian profession. "I was upright before Him, and kept myself from my iniquity."
But we may observe further, that the ancients wore loose dresses; and as these were often in their way impeding their movements, they kept them tight round their body by a girdle. So we are continually impeded by the loose dress of unbelief, "the sin that doth so easily beset us," as the apostle calls it, alluding to it as an encumbering garment, which clings round the limbs, and impedes all free movements. But when the loins are girt about with sincerity and truth, it braces them with flesh activity and strength.
But secondly, the word "truth" is also used in a more particular and restricted sense to signify Christian truth, "the truth as it is in Jesus." A man may be sincerely wrong. Do you think that there is no sincerity but what God implants? Are not many Papists sincere? many Mahometans sincere? many utterly devoid of grace, and bitterly opposed to the work of the Spirit, sincere? Yes, surely. Not spiritually, but naturally sincere. View the crowds of persons this day going to church and chapel where we know the truth is not preached, must we make a broad sweep with them all, and say, They are all of them wretched hypocrites, dishonest and designing, doing it to be seen of men.' I dare not say so. Christian sincerity is one thing; natural sincerity another. Was not Saul of Tarsus sincere? And the mariners that threw Jonah overboard?
But spiritual sincerity itself, in deadly conflicts with sin and Satan, is not sufficient without a knowledge of "the truth as it is in Jesus." Young converts are spiritually sincere, but how unable to fight in this great battle!
The truth, then, as revealed in the gospel of the grace of God must be the foundation of our spiritual strength. We cannot fight against Satan with lies. If we fight against him, it must be with truth. The truth of the gospel made known to the soul, revealed and applied to the heart and conscience by the Holy Spirit, must be the girdle to strengthen and guard the loins in the day of battle.
2. We pass on to consider the second piece of Christian armor, "the Breastplate of righteousness." Now as the loins are the seat of activity and strength, so the breast is the seat of the heart, the fountain of the blood, which it propels through every artery, and of the lungs, which alternately inspire and expire the air, the vital breath of heaven. These are two vital parts. We need, therefore, to have this double seat of life specially secured.
Spiritually viewed, the heart may represent two things: –Firstly the conscience; and secondly the affections. And the lungs may represent two things also: 1. the inspiration of life and feeling, of prayer and supplication from God; and 2. the expiration of desires and breathings after his favor and presence. Now all these vital parts – the peculiar seat of life and feeling, the special domain of heart religion – need to be covered with a heavenly breastplate; for if Satan could pierce any of these, that thrust would be fatal.
But how often does he aim his thrust against the heart, as the seat of conscience! and would, if he could, by deadly thrusts at that tender point, plunge the soul into despair! He would, were it wholly unguarded, hurl dart after dart, and shoot arrow after arrow into the conscience, till he made it bleed to death. We need conscience, then, to be guarded by a piece of heavenly armor. This is provided from the heavenly armory – "the Breastplate of righteousness" – not our own, no, not our own, but Christ's imputed righteousness.
Let Satan strike that, if he will. He could not pierce it when worn by the captain of our salvation, though, in the wilderness and in the garden, he thrust sore at it; as the Lord speaks, "Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall, but the Lord helped me." (Ps. 118:13) Let him strike at it now as worn by the soldier. It is to strike against a wall of flint, against a breastplate of steel. If that breastplate be on, let him accuse: let him tempt to despair: let him say, Your sins are too great to be forgiven: you have backslidden beyond all hope of recovery: you have no real religion; your beginning was wrong, the middle is wrong, and the end will be wrong; you are only a hypocrite, who will die in despair; there is no fear of God in your heart. These are some of the "fiery darts" of Satan aimed against conscience. If, then, we put on our own righteousness to shield us from these thrusts, it is but a wicker breastplate which the first fiery dart will set in flame, or the slightest thrust pierce through. We need a breastplate of steel, not of wicker-work such as our own fingers may intertwine, but Christ's righteousness imputed; as Hart justly says,
"Righteousness within thee rooted, May appear to take thy part; But let righteousness imputed, Be the breastplate of thy heart."
And our affections also; for the heart is not only the seat of conscience, but the seat of the affections. What fiery darts can Satan throw into our affections! What lusts he can kindle through the eye! What love of the world; what greedy desire of gain; what sensual imaginations can he kindle into a flame! Even the tender affections which sweeten the bitter cup of life, the social relationships of husband and wife, parent and child, how he can distort even them, and pervert into idolatry the most hallowed ties! David's overweening love to Absalom nearly cost him his throne and his life. Eli loved his sons till he ruined them, and brought a curse upon his house. Nay more, the heavenly affections themselves; the pure desires, the celestial love of God's own implanting, need to be guarded. These affections the breastplate of Christ's righteousness only can guard, and preserve pure, holy, and tender, that the sacred flame may be ever kept burning upon the altar of a broken heart.
But the heart is also the seat of the lungs, that important organ of life, by which we alternately inspire and expire the breath of heaven. This may represent, in a spiritual sense, 1. the inspiration, or breathing in of God's Spirit, whereby we draw in the breath of heaven, "Come from the four winds, O breath;" (Ezek. 37:9) and 2, the expiration, or breathing out of these heavenly desires whereby the soul pours itself out before God. This inspiration and expiration, these inflowings and outflowings of life divine, need to be covered by the breastplate of righteousness; for soon, soon, Satan would strike a dart through the lungs to stop all inspiration of God's favor, and all expiration of desire, thankfulness, or praise. But our own righteousness – what a poor defense! Can it guard or protect the vital seat of these heavenly operations? But when the impregnable breastplate of Christ's imputed righteousness is received at the hands of God, fitted on to the bosom, and firmly clasped all around, the conscience, the affections, and the life of God are all shielded as with adamant.
3. But we pass on to the Greaves. "Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." There is armor for the legs and feet; for these too may be assailed by the Prince of darkness. The feet have often to tread in miry ways; to walk amidst thorns, and snares, and pricking bushes; and, in ancient warfare, the uncovered feet were liable to be wounded by a weapon called "caltrops," or balls with three spikes of iron issuing from them, strewed on the ground.
By "the feet," we may spiritually understand our walk and conversation. Against this Satan may aim a fearful thrust. He aims at every unguarded spot; sometimes at the loins, – the seat of strength and of activity; sometimes at the heart and lungs, – the conscience, the affections, and the life of God; sometimes at the feet, – the walk, the conduct, and conversation.
Here is one of our greatest temptations – lest Satan should entangle us in anything disgraceful, inconsistent, or unbecoming! O how we seem to walk amidst snares and temptations! and how Satan is aiming deadly blows at our legs and feet, to cut them off, and lay us low. We need, then, "greaves," as they are called, or shoes reaching half way up the legs, in order to protect them from these deadly thrusts of Satan. And what has God provided? "The preparation of the gospel of peace." There is something very sweet and expressive, though perhaps at first sight obscure, in the word "preparation." It seems to my mind to convey the idea that the "gospel of peace" is prepared for and fitted to the feet and legs. It is not a loose leather shoe that may be kicked off and on: not an old, easy slipper: but a tight, firm, strong, clasped, and buckled boot, or greave, of polished steel: "Thy shoes shall be iron and brass." This fits closely and tightly round the leg; and is "the preparation of the gospel" – the leg and foot prepared for the gospel, and the gospel prepared for the leg and foot.
Thus, the apostle does not send us to Sinai to get a greave from that fiery mount, nor to the smithy of Moses and Aaron, that they may forge a piece of armor to protect and guard our life, walk, and conversation. But he sends us to the gospel, "the preparation of the gospel of peace;" not the law of war, but the gospel of peace. Here is firm standing. To be at peace with God through this gospel gives firm foothold. To be shod aright, the foot must be neither in the tight pinching boot of the law, nor in the loose slipper of our own obedience; but in the firm yet pliant, strong yet soft, easy yet impenetrable greave of the gospel. And observe, it is "the gospel of peace," not wrangling and quarrelling. Get only a sweet sense of peace into your heart; let the gospel of peace reach your soul, and you will find a piece of armor that will guard life and conduct and conversation, and be your best preservation in this wilderness from the thrusts of Satan at your daily walk.
4. To make the body armor complete, before I pass on to the shield, I shall next take in order "the Helmet of salvation," which is to cover the head. The head, we may consider, as the seat of two special things: – 1, of energy, activity, authority, movement; 2, of apprehension and understanding. Now Satan aims his deadly blows at our head, sometimes to destroy and paralyze all energy and movement, all life and feeling in the things of God, and sometimes to confuse our understanding, to thrust us into some error, or draw us aside into some heresy. How stunning is a blow on the head when unprotected by any defense! All energy and movement cease. So in grace. Were our head not guarded, how should we be stunned and paralyzed by Satan's blows! And we may observe, that there is an intimate relationship between consciousness and energy. The same organ, the brain, which apprehends, communicates influence to every muscle. If Satan, then. can confuse our mind. how he paralyzes all the springs of motion!
Has not your mind sometimes been sadly tempted with erroneous doctrines? When you have heard of some deadly error that has been going abroad, has there not been something in it that seemed to lay hold of your mind and carnal understanding so that it seemed almost true? Now here is Satan confusing the mind, stunning and bewildering it with his plausible errors. What need, them a piece of armor to guard the head. And we have it provided: "the Helmet of salvation."
But why is "the Helmet of salvation" so suitable to the head? Because all truth contains in it salvation, and all error involves in it damnation. There are no trifling errors. All errors, examined to the root, are fatal. Satan never troubles himself to introduce an unimportant error. His blows are at the head. If you examine every error that comes abroad, you will find that it always is aimed at Christ, to deny his Godhead, his actual Sonship, the efficacy of his blood, the imputation of his righteousness, the truth of his grace, the power of his resurrection; or in some way or other to destroy and put away salvation, complete salvation, through the Person, work, and blood of Jesus. As Satan, then, aims these deadly blows at our head to confuse our judgment, we need a piece of armor to guard and shield it all around, which is called here "the Helmet of salvation."
A child of God is made very tender about the truth. To part with truth is to part with life; to embrace error is to embrace death; and the more that he lives in communion with Christ, the more he will value "the truth as it is in Jesus." Never give up truth. If you give up truth, what is there then to save your soul? But "the Helmet of salvation" must be put on and worn; and it is put on and worn when salvation is laid hold of as it stands in the Person of the Son of God. Salvation by grace, what but this can shield the head in the day of battle? Keep it firmly braced round your temples. Legality and self-righteousness, heresy and error will strike, but will glance harmlessly off the helmet of salvation.
5. The next piece of armor that I shall take, is, "the Shield of faith." We have seen the body guarded on every side, except, as Bunyan, I believe, says, there is no armor for the back.' At any rate, we have seen the body guarded in front: for it is a front to front battle; a face to face, hand to hand, foot to foot, shoulder to shoulder engagement. We have seen the loins, the legs, the feet, the breast, and the head all protected; but there may be haply some unguarded part. We have to fight with a very skilful enemy, who watches every movement and every unguarded place to make a deadly thrust. We need then one piece of defensive armor more, which in ancient times was a very useful one – the Shield; so that by looking on every side where the darts fly, we may oppose it in an instant.
This shield is "the shield of faith." How needful is this! What are we, where are we, how can we fight for a single moment, when unbelief seems to gain power and prevalence? We faint, we sink, we have no strength to lift up a finger, when unbelief and infidelity work so powerfully in our carnal mind. O how we need the shield of faith, faith in lively exercise, that it may be opposed against Satan, come from whatever quarter he may, thrust on whatever side he will! This shield of faith is "above all," or "over all," so as to protect whatever part may be unprotected, and to guard every portion unguarded. But one reason is especially mentioned, "Whereby we shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the Wicked."
The ancients were accustomed to employ "fiery darts," that is, arrows tipped at the end with tow, which they kindled, and then threw against their enemies. How beautifully this represents the fiery darts of Satan! his blasphemous and obscene injections; for how they set on fire the carnal mind! Like the burning arrows used by the ancients, wherever they stick they set on fire. But these fiery darts of the devil, these infidel, blasphemous suggestions, these dreadful injections which this Prince of darkness shoots into the carnal mind, we cannot, with all our own strength, resist. We need heavenly armor, and the shield of faith, so as not to give credit to Satan's lies; but when the fiery darts come, to hold up the shield, that they may spend all their strength on that. That they cannot set on fire. Our carnal mind is very inflammable; the least fiery dart can set it all on flame. But not so with the shield of faith: that is made of materials which can quench every fiery dart.
When we believe our interest in the Son of God: that our name is in the book of life: that God is our Father. Christ our Brother, the Holy Ghost our Friend and Teacher: when we can believe that all Satan says is lies, and lies only: that all these imaginations are but his contrivances, all these base workings of his raising, all these vile thoughts of his suggesting, and not take them as our own: when we can thus object "the shield of faith;" they drop off, they do not reach the soul; they meet with no materials which they inflame. They fall down quenched by "the shield of faith." But begin to doubt and fear and sink; to believe all that Satan suggests: to fall in with his carnal reasonings; to listen to his infidel suggestions, and give way to his vile thoughts, and the whole carnal mind is immediately set on flame. O how we need, deeply need the shield of faith to "quench the fiery darts of the Wicked!"
6. Now the pieces that I have thus far considered are pieces of defensive armor. But I pass on to one piece, and only one, of offensive armor, the Sword; for in this battle we have not merely to receive blow upon blow, and thrust after thrust; but we have to maintain the offensive as well as the defensive; we have to thrust at Satan as well as to be thrust at by him; to fight with him as well as he to fight with us. And what is our weapon? One only. But O, what an effectual one, called here "The Sword of the Spirit!"
This is the only piece of offensive armor provided, and yet about the last that we are enabled to take hold of. How apt we are to meet Satan upon Satan's own ground! He reasons for, and we reason against; he brings his arguments, we bring perhaps our counter arguments; he tempts, and we are seduced by his temptations; he speaks, and we listen; he finds words, and we find ears; he lays the snare, and we lay a foot to be caught in it. If we attempt to fight, it is often by some sword of our own forging, not the right Jerusalem blade, not the sword from the heavenly armory. Resolutions, promises, tears, acknowledgments, confessions – all these are but weapons of earthly make and temper. How slow, how unable are we to take the only true weapon, "the sword of the Spirit; which is the word of God!" What an example the blessed Lord left us when he was tempted. Thrice did Satan bring his temptations to cast Jesus down: and thrice did Jesus meet him with the sword of the Spirit, "It is written, it is written, it is written." He used no other weapon: and that weapon made Satan quail.
Now "the sword of the Spirit" is "the word of God." But we can only use this sword so far as it is opened up to our understanding, applied to our heart, sealed upon our conscience, and faith is given to lay hold of it. A promise, a precept, an invitation, a warning, an admonition, a truth –it matters not what part it be of God's word suitable to our state and case, it becomes "the sword of the Spirit" when laid hold of by faith, and is the only effectual weapon whereby to beat back Satan. Through the temptations of Satan, the soul sometimes seems ready to sink into despair. It is almost as though he had got the victory, so fast and thick does he hurl his fiery darts, arrow upon arrow, suggestion after suggestion.
Well, how can you stand? You have no strength in yourself; you never had any; and the little you had in Christ, or thought you had, seems gone. Just at this critical moment, some promise seems to drop into your soul just suitable to your case; it is caught up as "the sword of the Spirit;" and by that the enemy is beaten back. Or Satan is tempting you to some sin, and painting before your carnal mind some pleasure or profit to be gained by committing it. Here you are, wavering and wavering, and standing upon the very brink of a fall. In this critical moment the Lord drops some precept, admonition, or warning; the word comes with power to your soul. Here is "the sword of the Spirit, the word of God;" and by that the temptation is defeated, and Satan driven back. O! without "the sword of the Spirit" we are, as it were, only a target for Satan's arrows. But when, in addition to the defensive armor which repels, there is the offensive weapon, "the sword of the Spirit," which thrusts, he not only gains no ground, but is for a time beaten back.
II. And then comes the heavenly recipe, how to take, wear, and use this armor aright. "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." It is by faith, as we shall presently see, that the heavenly armor is received, worn, and used: but it is chiefly by the "prayer of faith:" for by believing prayer is the armor taken: by continual prayer ("praying always") kept on: and by spiritual prayer ("supplication in the Spirit") used and wielded. If we do not continually "pray in the Spirit," the limbs will, so to speak, shrink: and the armor drop off.
The knights of old exercised themselves every day in their full armor, or they could not have borne it, nor used their weapons with dexterity and strength. So must the Christian warrior, by prayer and supplication, "exercise himself unto godliness." Without "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance" – standing sentry in the armor, keeping ward and watch – its very weight will crush us. But it is "praying in the Spirit." Not loud, long, formal prayers, nor vain repetitions; but, as Jude speaks, "praying in the Holy Ghost," by the help and intercession of the Spirit; and that "always;" at all seasons, all times, all places, everywhere, and whenever the Spirit of grace and supplication may fall.
Again; it must be "all prayer;" that is, all kinds of prayer – public prayer, private prayer, mental prayer, crying prayer, groaning prayer, weeping prayer, meditating prayer; prayer feeble, prayer strong; prayer of necessity, prayer of importunity; prayer of distance, and prayer of nearness; the prayer of the publican, the leper, and the outcast, as well as the prayer of the believing, the hoping, and the loving. With prayer, must be joined "supplication, "that is, beseeching the Lord, weeping at his feet, begging of him to appear, clasping his knees, and pouring out the soul into his bosom. To this must be added, "watching thereunto." To watch for the answer; to wait for the appearing of the Lord "more than they that watch for the morning." And this, "with all perseverance," never giving it up, taking no denial, begging of the Lord again and again, and wrestling with him till he appear to bless, visit, and shine upon the soul.
O how this heavenly recipe keeps every part of the armor bright, and the soldier active and expert in its use! The armor indeed of itself, as being from heaven, gets neither dull nor rusty. It is we who get sluggish in its use. But, to our apprehension, faith and prayer make it glitter more brightly. How, for instance, "the prayer of faith" brightens up the girdle of truth, and makes it glitter and shine! How it burnishes the breastplate, and makes it fit tightly round the bosom! How it makes the helmet glitter in the sun, and its noble plumes to wave in all their native luster! How it beats out every dent the shield may have received from the fiery darts, arid fits it for fresh encounters! And how it sharpens "the sword of the Spirit," gives it a brighter polish, and nerves the arm to wield it with renewed activity and vigor! O this is the secret of all true victory! All is, all must be well, when we are in a prayerful, meditative, watching state: and all is ill, when this heavenly recipe is neglected: when the hands droop, and the knees faint, and prayer seems dead and motionless in the breast. Let there be in the soul an abiding spirit of prayer, and victory is sure. Satan has little power against the soul that has an abiding spirit of prayer, and is "watching thereunto with all perseverance." But, without this spirit of prayer, we are a prey to all his temptations, and can neither take, wear, nor use the only armor against them.
Such, then, is the armor that God has provided: and such is the way in which it is to be taken, worn, and used – taken by faith, worn by prayer, and wielded with perseverance –for it is never to be laid by till death unclasps it. And, you may depend upon it, that God would not have provided such an armor as this, so complete a panoply, unless there were a real battle to fight. Christian warriors are not Chinese soldiers, who wear armor of pasteboard, painted to resemble iron; but their armor is of real steel. As, therefore, God has provided such an armor as this, it is plain they have no puny enemy to fight.
Now Satan's grand stratagem is to conceal and hide his strength. He is like a skilful general, who does not show all his army, but conceals them behind hedges, walls, and trees, and keeps them close in the trenches, so that the enemy may not see all his force. Satan is never so powerful as when we know least of his power, and he is never so successful as when he shoots at us from behind the trench. The apostle, therefore, says, "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." It is his devilish craft and subtlety that we have so much to dread. Lay aside one piece of the armor, and you are at once shot down.
The text speaks of "an evil day;" that is, a day of danger, of alarm: a day on which the Prince of Evil is plotting: and an evil. dark. and gloomy day for us. unless we have on the heavenly armor, and know how to wear and use it. "Put on," says the apostle: "take unto you the whole armour of God." There is a putting of it on. It is not like the Armory in the Tower. where guns. and pistols, and other military weapons are hung up in ornamental circles to be looked at as a spectacle: but it is to be taken, to be put on, to be received from the hands of God, and clasped round by his own fingers.
I have already shown how needful prayer and watchfulness are to the putting on of heavenly armor. But I may further add, that it is by faith we put on every piece. If we have no faith, we have no Christian sincerity, nor spiritual knowledge of the truth; therefore, "the loins are not girt about with truth." If we have no faith, we have on no breastplate of Christ's righteousness; for that is only put on by faith. If we have no faith, we have no defense for our feet; for by faith we stand and walk; and therefore the feet are not "shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." If we have no faith, we have no helmet, because "salvation" is laid hold of by faith. If we have no faith, we cannot have "the shield of faith;" that is evident. If we have no faith, we cannot use "the sword of the Spirit," which is only wielded by faith. If we have no faith, we have no true prayer; for it is "the prayer of faith" that is effectual with God.
By faith, therefore, is every piece of the heavenly armor put on; and by faith, living faith, is every piece of it used. What strange characters we are! Able to fight one day, fleeing the next; resisting Satan this moment, and giving way that. How is this to be accounted for? Because at this moment we have faith; at the next, we have, or seem to have none. Faith is to the soul what a main-spring is to the watch. The main-spring is broken, or wanting. What is the watch worth? So faith is the main-spring of the soul. Let there be no faith, there is no inward movement. There may be hands, but like the hands of a child's watch, they are made for show, not for use: a bauble and a toy, not a working instrument. There must be faith in the soul in order that the hands may move in accordance with the will of God, and keep right time with the dial of the Sun of Righteousness.
Faith too, we need not only to wear, but to wield this heavenly armor, so as to "withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." It is, in the margin, "having overcome all, to stand." And what a flood of light does this cast upon a Christian's path – that the greatest danger lies in, and after victory! Bunyan has beautifully touched upon this, where he represents Christian as stumbling and falling immediately after he had got the start of his brother. When you have, in the strength of Christ, overcome one temptation, you are standing upon the brink of another: and the very pride that may lift up your heart for having gained one battle, only opens a way to fall by the next encounter.
What a strange warfare! Paul's maxim would not do for the Duke of Wellington, "When I am weak, then am I strong." That would not do to go to Waterloo with. We are never so weak as when in ourselves we are strong; we are never so strong as when in ourselves we are weak. Let me think myself secure, I fall; let me fear to fall, I am safe. O the mysteries of the Christian life! O the paradox of the heavenly warfare! And therefore, with the deepest wisdom, the apostle has said, "Take unto you the whole armour of God." Do not leave a single piece out; your life is at stake; forget not one buckle; leave loose not a single clasp; "that ye may withstand in the evil day." There is an evil day coming; a day of temptation, an hour of trial; an evil day when the clouds gather blackness, the welkin is overspread with gloom, and the enemy comes forth in all his strength. In that "evil day," the hour of temptation, who can stand? None but he who has on "the whole armour of God."
Well; the evil day passes over; the sky clears, the clouds break, the sun comes forth, and its bright beams glance upon the warrior's armor. It is unharmed; it has effectually shielded him; the fiery darts have dropped quenched at his feet. Is he safe now? When one Waterloo is gained, is peace to be proclaimed, and maintained for five-and-thirty years? Not so in the heavenly warfare. "Having done all," or, as it is in the margin, "overcome all," and gained the victory, then comes the difficulty – "to stand." Why, it is as though there were greater danger after the victory than before it: that when the battle has been fought, and the enemy fled, then the devil was stronger than ever; because then we are for laying aside the heavenly armor. We perhaps say, We have fought and conquered: let us enjoy victory; get our furlough: hang up the armor: take a quiet nap to refresh ourselves.' But Satan sleeps not; he never rests, nor tires; and therefore, when the Christian warrior has laid the armor aside, and said, Now let me sleep, I have gained the victory!' that is the moment for his unsuspected adversary to take him at unawares, and aim at him a deadly thrust. Therefore, the apostle says, "Having done all, or overcome all, to stand."
O, we must never lay aside the heavenly armor! And this is a mercy, that if we have one piece, we have all. God does not send us to the battle half armed. He who has provided one, has provided all. Let this too be remembered, and laid to heart, by way of encouragement – that the Lord, in choosing recruits, does not, like our army sergeants, choose the strong, active, stout, lusty, vigorous, and healthy. He admits strange characters into his regiment; those whom no army doctor would pass; the halt, and the lame, the blind, the crippled, and asthmatic, the wheezing, and the paralyzed; the consumptive in lung, the diseased in heart, and the withered in limb; he enlists them in his heavenly regiment, makes them all whole by a touch of his finger, clothes them with his heavenly armor, sends them forth to battle, and fights for them as "the God of armies." Thus, weak in themselves, they are strong in Christ, and in the power of his might. And every such soldier will eventually win the day, gain the prize, and come off more than conqueror through him who loved and gave himself for him.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

John 6:44

John 6:44
By John Gill
The Cause of God and Truth, Part 2, Chapter 4, Section 8

No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. -- John 6: 44
  1. THIS passage of Scripture is no inconsiderate proof of the doctrine of the powerful and efficacious grace of God in the work of faith and conversion. To come to Christ, is to believe in him. This is not to be attributed to the free will and power of man, but is owing to the Father's drawing; which is to be understood not of moral suasion, but of the internal and powerful influence of his grace. This act of drawing, is an act of power, even almighty power; as appears from its being something distinct from and superior to both doctrines and miracles. The Capernaites had heard the doctrine of Christ, which was taught with authority, and had seen his miracles, which were full proofs of his being the Messiah; and yet believed not, but continued murmuring at his person and parentage. This gave occasion to Christ to observe to them, that something more than these was necessary to their coming to him, or savingly believing in him, even the powerful and efficacious grace of the Father in drawing. Besides, if this act of drawing was only an act of moral suasion, and not of almighty power, then a lesser action is ascribed to the Father who sent Christ, than is to Christ himself; though he is here spoken of as Mediator; since he takes to himself the power of raising such up at the last day who come unto him, which must be allowed to be an act of omnipotence; when moral suasion is what belongs to every ordinary minister of the word. Add to this, if it be considered what men, in conversion, are drawn off from and to, from their beloved lusts and darling righteousness, to look unto and rely upon Christ alone for salvation; from what was before so very agreeable, to that which, previous to this work on their souls, was so very disagreeable; to what else can this be ascribed, but to unfrustrable and insuperable grace? But then, though this act of drawing is an act of power, yet not of force: God, in drawing of unwilling, makes willing in the day of his power; he enlightens the understanding, bends the will, gives a heart of flesh, sweetly allures by the power of his grace, and engages the soul to come to Christ, and give up itself unto him; he draws with the cords of a man, with the bands of love. Drawing, though it supposes power, yet not always co-action, or violence. Music draws the ear, love the heart, and pleasure the mind, trahit sua quemque voluptas. The Jews have a saying, that the proselytes in the days of the Messiah shall be all of them proselytes drawn, that is, such as shall freely and voluntarily become proselytes.
2. In answer to this sense of the word it is said, "that to be drawn of God, cannot import our being moved by any inward and irresistible impressions to believe in Christ; for then no man could come to Christ without this irresistible impression; and then no other person could be blame-worthy for not believing on him, because they could not do it without that powerful attraction which God was not pleased to afford them; nor could it be praiseworthy to believe in him, because they only did so when they could not choose but do it, as being moved in so doing by a force they were not able to resist." To which I reply, that if by an irresistible impression, is meant such an internal influence of the grace of God upon the soul, which, though opposed, cannot be resisted so as to be overcome, and rendered ineffectual, we affirm, agreeable to these words of Christ, that without this no man can come to him; yet, notwithstanding this, persons may be blame-worthy, as the Jews were, for not believing on him as the Messiah; though without this powerful attraction they could not come to him, and believe in him to the saving of their souls. Besides, though the ability of coming to Christ in a spiritual manner is owing to the powerful grace of God in drawing; yet the disability of coming to Christ does not arise from a defect, or want of that powerful attraction, but from the corruption and vitiosity of nature, which being blameworthy, what springs from it must be so likewise. Moreover, we readily allow, that it is not praiseworthy in men to come to Christ, and believe in him, but that all the praise is due to God, and to his efficacious grace, by which they are what they are in conversion; since faith is the gift of God, and of his sole operation: nor could any come to Christ, unless it were given unto him of the Father; and therefore he ought to have all the praise and glory.
3. Whereas it is affirmed, that to be drawn of God can only signify,

(1.) "To be persuaded and prevailed upon to come to Christ, by the consideration of the mighty works which God had done to justify that he was the true Messiah; to which Christ appeals as divine testimonies of him, and by which the unbelieving Jews became inexcusable." I answer, it is true, that miracles were proofs of his Messiahship, and which left the Jews, who rejected him, without excuse; but then these works, properly speaking, were done by Christ himself, and the conviction of his being the Messiah from them, and the persuasion to come to him, and believe on him, on the account of them, were from the Spirit; and neither of them the acts of the Father, and so not intended by this act of drawing. Besides, multitudes of souls, both under the Old and New Testament, before, and since the coming of Christ, have been enabled to come to him for life and salvation, who never were persuaded and prevailed upon so to do, by the consideration of miracles. And many who did see the miracles of Christ, did not, in a spiritual manner, come to him, and believe in him. Wherefore our Lord ascribes faith in him to a superior power, to the unfrustrable influences of divine grace, which are here signified by the Father's drawing. Or,

(2.) It is said, to be drawn by the Father signifies "to be moved by the great promise of eternal life confirmed by these miracles to do it; for where there is a firm belief and lively sense of that inestimable blessing, it must strongly engage to come to Christ, from whom it is only to be expected." To which I answer, eternal life is, indeed, only to be expected from Christ; and when there is a firm belief and lively sense of it, as in him, and to be had from him, persons will be strongly engaged to go to him for it: but then, what is it that gives that firm belief, and fixes that lively sense of this blessing, so as strongly to engage to come to Christ for it, but the powerful and efficacious grace of God? The bare external revelation of the promise, though confirmed by miracles, will not do it. Instructions by the ministry of the word are not sufficient, unless accompanied with the demonstration of the Spirit, and of power. The following words are not a proof of it, It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God; every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, comes unto me: which do intend mere external instructions, or objective teachings, for multitudes are in that way instructed who never come to Christ; but special teachings, such as are attended with the energy of divine grace, with the laws and doctrines of Christ put into the inward part, and written on the heart. Add to all this, our Lord himself explains what he means by the Father's drawing, ver. 65, where he says, No man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father; which is more than affording means and motives, it is giving faith itself. What is said to answer to the argument from Matt 7: 18, and Rom 8: 7, will be considered hereafter in the next chapter.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

An Exhortation

An Exhortation to Those That are Pardoned

by Stephen Charnock

Use 5.
1. Admire this grace of God. To pardon one sin is a greater thing than to create a world; to pardon one sin is greater than to damn a world. God can create a world without the death of a creature; he can damn a world without the death of a creator; but in pardoning there must be the death of the creator, the Son of God.
2. Serve God much. Is the guilt of sin, the cord that bound thee, taken off? It is fit that when thou art so unfettered, thou shouldst run the ways of God's commandments. A sense of pardon of sin makes the soul willing and ready to run upon God's errands, and to obey his commandments: Isa. 6:8, 'I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? Then said I, Here am I.' Then when he had received assurance that his iniquity was taken away, ver. 7, God's pardon set thee upon a new stock, and therefore he expects thou shouldst be full of new clusters.
3. Be more fearful of sin. Dispute with thyself, Hath God pardoned the guilt of sin that it shall not damn me, and shall I wallow in the mire of sin to pollute myself? Oh, thy sins after pardon have a blacker circumstance than the sins of devils, or the sins of wicked men, for theirs are not against pardoning mercy, not against special love. Oh, thaw thy heart every morning with a meditation on pardon, and sin will not so easily freeze it in the daytime. When thou art tempted to sin, consider what thoughts thou hadst when thou wert suing for pardon, how earnest thou wert for it, what promises and vows thou didst make, and consider the love God showed thee in pardoning. Do not blur thy pardon, so easily wound thy conscience, or weaken thy faith.
4. Be content with what God gives thee. If he gives thee heaven, will he deny thee earth? He that bestows upon thee the pardon of sin, would surely pour into thy bosom the gold of both the Indies, were it necessary for thee. But thou hast got a greater happiness; for it is not said, Blessed is he that wallows in wealth, honour, and a confluence of worldly prosperity, but, 'Blessed is he whose sin is forgiven, and whose iniquity is covered.'

Thursday, December 08, 2005

God So Loved The Wor

God So Loved The World
E. G. Cook Former Pastor
Philadelphia Baptist Church Birmingham , Alabama (Now In Glory)

To deny that God loved the world is to deny the precious Word of God. John 3:16 says plainly that He loved the world. But, on the other hand, if I affirm that God loved everybody would I not be denying other Scriptures that are just as true as John 3:16? Let me hasten to say there are no contradictions in the Scriptures. So, when I see Scriptures which appear to contradict each other, it behooves me to say, "Father, for the sake of thy great name, and for the sake of thy Son who became my great and wonderful Savior, and for the sake of thy precious Word which thou hast magnified above all thy name, open my eyes that I may see, and open my heart and my mind that I may understand these Scriptures for I know they do not contradict each other." Sometimes it seems that we prefer to just jump over certain Scriptures which appear to contradict some other passage rather than run the risk of having to admit that we have been wrong. But is that not a point of weakness rather than one of strength? Do we not honor our Lord by admitting that we have been wrong, and by giving Him credit for having opened our eyes to our error? If you know all there is to know on this subject it will be a waste of your valuable time to read any further because this little Bible teacher admits freely, and with out any fear of contradiction, that he does not know all there is to know about it. But, if you have an open mind and a receptive heart, may it please our dear Lord to bless our study of this subject together. May we begin our study of this subject with the question, if God has ever hated just one person among all of His created creatures, can we say that He loved every body? Then let us turn to Romans 9:13 where God says, "Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated". I know the popular teaching on this verse is that God loved Esau a little less than he loved Jacob. And in years gone by I could swallow that teaching as if it were a pod of boiled okra. But as time went on I came to see that this word "hated" comes from MISEO which means to hate. It has no other meaning. So how could I make the word "hate" mean "love" to any degree? The Greeks have two words for love. Their word AGAPAO is the one used in the case of God's Divine love. Then they have another word PHILEO which is a much weaker form. This word PHILEO expresses the love of husband and wife, or the love of parents and children. Now if God meant to say that he loved Esau a little less than he loved Jacob why did the Holy Spirit not use the weaker word PHILEO in regard to Esau rather than the word MISEO which al ways means to hate? Then in Psalms 5:5 the Psalmist says, "Thou hatest all workers of iniquity". The time was when I could jump over a couple of letters in this word "workers" and make it just plain old "work" Then I could put just a little imaginary love in the word "hate" in Romans 9:13 and go on my merry way. But, when I became willing to throw all of my preconceived ideas concerning God and His precious Word in the waste basket where they belonged and let my beliefs be in accord with the Scriptures rather than trying to make the Scriptures be in accord with my beliefs, I had to go back and put the two letters back in the word "workers" in Psalms 5:5. And then when I looked a little closer I found there was no niche, nor cavity in the word "hated" in Romans 9:13 in which I could squeeze the least tiny little bit of love. So, today, thanks be unto His Holy name, I can believe Romans 9:13 and Psalms 5:5 just as they were written, and at the same time believe John 3:16. But, before I could believe those three Scriptures just as they were written I was forced to make a sincere study of the word "world". I had been giving it the meaning I wanted it to have. Now I must either substantiate my definition of this word, or else throw it away. Well, I had to throw it away. I learned in II Peter 1:20 that no "Scripture is of any private interpretation." By that is meant that we must interpret John 3:16, or any other Scripture, in the light of other Scriptures. So for the sake of your time, may we study this word "world" in the light of other Scriptures found just in John's writings. First in John 1:10 how could the world that knew not our Lord ever include His disciples who did know Him? Then in John 1:29, if the Lamb of God took away every body's sin, why did hell enlarge herself, and open her mouth without measure in Isaiah 5:14? Since a saviour is one who saves, why is not everybody saved if the word "world" in John 4:42 means everybody? Please note, it does not say that he is the potential Savior of the world. It says He is the Savior of the world. If the word "world" in John 6:33 means everybody, how can any body be dead in trespasses and in sins? Here we are told that He "Giveth life to the world". Could the world that is gone after our Lord in John 12:19 ever include the Chinese, Japanese, American Indians, or the savages in Africa, or even the great majority of the Jews by any stretch of the imagination? Let us notice ,they are talking about a world that was in existence at that particular moment of time. They say "The world is gone (not will go) after "Him". If the world that Christ came to save in John 12:46 includes everybody, would you say His coming was a success, or a failure? Is old Satan who is the prince of this world the prince, or ruler of our Lord's own people? Could the world that hated our Lord in John 7:7 and 15:18 ever include His precious Saints who loved Him so much? Would you say that the world that our Lord refused to pray for in John 17:9 included the ones He did pray for in the first part of this verse, and the others for whom He prayed in verse 20? There are so many other references, even in John's writings, to prove to any open minded person that the word "world" in Scripture almost always means a certain group of people. In I John 5:19 for instance, "The whole world that lieth in wickedness" cannot possibly include the "we" who are of God. Our better dictionaries will give you something like twenty different meanings of the word "world". No one seems to object to such expressions as, the new world, the free world, or The religious world. And no fair minded person would dare say that the whole world in I John 5:19 includes everybody. So, in the light of that great array of evidence which proves beyond a doubt that the word "world" usually means only a part of the people, how can I ever again contend that John 3:16 means that God loved everybody? If God does not love everybody, does He tell us in His Word who it is that He does love? Since God is the only one competent to answer our question, let us turn to John 13:1 and listen closely as He says, "Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end". Here he says plainly that He loves "His own". I am waiting patiently for someone to give me the book, chapter and verse where He says He loves the devil's crowd.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

DOES GOD LOVE YOU

DOES GOD LOVE YOU?
Jack Shanks

I realize I fly into the face of sentimental, mushy religion when I ask the question, "Does God love you?" We are interested in TRUTH, not sentimentality. The truth is, God does not love everyone.
Had Noah put a sign on the ark that read, "Smile, God loves you," it would have been utmost cruelty. Those who perished in the water would have said, "If God loves us, he has a very strange way of showing it." The Word of God says plainly that God hates some people (Ps.5:5;7:11; Rom.9:13). Preachers need to quit lying to sinners. Is your preacher a liar?
God does love all who are in Christ. If you trust the Lord Jesus Christ, if you are washed in His blood, God loves you. God's love for His chosen ones is eternal, immutable love. "We love him because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). If you now trust Christ as Lord and Savior, it is because He loved you in eternity past. If you do not trust and love the Lord Jesus Christ, you have no reason to imagine that God loves you. You are under the wrath of God (John 3:36). If you are angry as you read these words, it shows clearly where you stand. God hates you.
Now we present such a God that men might realize that He is not at their beck and call, but they are under HIS absolute dominion. All of us are His subjects, we live in His world, we eat His food, and partake of all His goodness. If you do not trust the blessed Savior, I believe you must become a beggar at the back door of His mercy, for He "hath mercy on whom he will have mercy." (Rom. 9:15).

Jack Shanks, PastorLaird Street Baptist ChurchNew Caney, TX.

The Devil And The Ba

The Devil And The Baptists
E. G. Cook Former Pastor
Philadelphia Baptist Church Birmingham , Alabama (Now In Glory)

For nigh onto two thousand years now the old devil has been on the trail of the Baptists. For some fifteen centuries he tried to wipe them off the face of the earth. But after untold thousands of them had been fed to hungry lions, burned at the stake, beheaded, or buried alive he woke up to the fact that all this just made the Baptists shine all the more brightly. He saw that he was defeating his own purpose. So, in the sixteenth century he opened up his bag of tricks and started the process of weakening the Baptists by means of imitating. He soon learned that his new churches were working wonders on this thing of Baptist separation from the world. As a result of this, many Baptists were feeling over-confident by the middle of the nineteenth century. They no longer put on all the armour of God as they were commanded in Eph. 6:10-17. As a result of their over-confidence and lack of proper armour, old Satan was able to get a foothold in Baptist Churches. Very soon he made them feel that he was doing them a great favor by his taking over some of the duties that no one but the Lord of glory, who is head over all things to His church, had a right to perform. So long as Baptists looked to the Lord to guide them, He led each church into the study of that part of His Scriptures that the individual church needed most. But, when they turned that part of their church activity over to old Satan he did a wonderful job of selling them on the idea of everybody in his new churches, and in the Baptist Churches studying the same Scriptures at the same time. On the surface this seemed a wonderful thing. No matter where you might attend church you could know before you arrived just what Scriptures would be in the lesson for that day. As we said, that seemed to be a wonderful thing, and Baptists really fell for it. But, let us scrape the thin surface shell off this thing and give it a thorough examination. Would you dare say that all these Baptist Churches were in the same spiritual condition, and that they all needed the same teaching? In II Tim. 3:16 we learn that, along with other things, the Scriptures are profitable for correction. If your church has some erroneous doctrine creeping into her midst, and my church has an altogether different one creeping in, who would say that our churches needed the same treatment? Still that is what the old devil is prescribing. It's like a physician prescribing the same medication for his pneumonia patient that he does for his diabetic patient. That is why erroneous doctrines have flourished so in our Baptist churches. The one who is prescribing the remedy does not want them corrected. Now that the old devil had his filthy feet firmly set in the Baptist churches and was making them like it, he was ready to go to work on them. As soon as he got this firm foothold he began to gradually crowd our precious Lord out of His own churches. This is not to say that the devil overpowered our Lord and forced Him out. Not at all. It does mean, however, that when our Lord quickens His saints and furnishes them with all the armour, instructions, and strength they need to withstand the wiles of the devil He places the responsibility of doing that upon them. That is why we (the Saints) must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. II Cor. 5:10. After a century of this privilege of telling our Lord's people what to study, and when, let us take a close look and see how well he has succeeded in doing what he wanted to do. Let us, for the sake of your time, skip his trail through the years and pick it up in the year 1964. This trail is so open and so brazen you do not need a trained Indian scout to locate it for you. In John. 3:7 our Lord said to Nicodemus, "Ye must be born again." In Heb. 9:22 we read, "Without the shedding of blood is no remission." In I Pet. 1:18-19 we find that we are redeemed, "With the precious blood of Christ," and in I Cor. 15:3-4 we read, "how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." Now let us pick up old Satan's trail in 1964 and see if that is the way he points out. In the Southern Baptist Sunday School Adult quarterly dealing with the lesson for June 7, 1964, you will find on page 38 these words, "Men will be judged by their lives and will be separated accordingly unto their eternal destiny." You will look at those words in vain for any hint of a "new birth," any faint shadow of Jesus Christ or of His Cross at Calvary, any slight stain of His precious blood, or any brief mention of His marvelous grace. These damnable words were written by Franklin M. Segler, a professor at Southwestern Baptist Seminary. Many unsuspecting Baptists feel that their lessons are written by "screened" Baptists. If that be true, it seems to me that the old devil did the screening in this case. Just one short month later the old devil put his other foot down. And this time it seems that he slipped in his own filth and really left undeniable proof that he had been there. This time his track is seen in the Southern Baptist Young People's Training Union quarterly for July 5, 1964. On page six of this quarterly you will find a long list of books recommended to these Baptist young people by the Sunday School Board. These books were to be read in connection with the different lessons in the quarterly. On page 8 dealing with the lesson for July 5, 1 964 Ross Coggins says, "If someone in your union has read NOBODY KNOWS MY NAME or THE FIRE NEXT TIME or ANOTHER COUNTRY by James Baldwin; THE STRENGTH TO LOVE by Martin Luther King, Jr., or BLACK LIKE ME by John Howard Griffin, ask him to report." By this Ross Coggins meant for some boy in this mixed group to tell what he had read in these books. Let us just take one of these books, ANOTHER COUNTRY by James Baldwin and examine it closely to see if you would like to have a daughter sit in a union and hear a detailed report given on it. On page 23 and 24 of this book the author describes in detail every step by which a young Negro man enticed a young white woman to commit fornication with him. The author describes in very plain language the act itself, and the results of it. This author, the brazen instrument of hell that he is, has this young white woman saying, "It was so wonderful" and kissing him. We are told that some of the devil's heathen temples of the long ago had as many as a thousand prostitutes connected with the temple worship. Could it be that he has in mind converting Baptist churches into that kind of worship? If that is his goal, can you think of a better way for him to start his program than that which he did July 5, 1964? He seems to be working overtime in his efforts to convert our precious Baptist girls of today into his religious prostitutes of tomorrow. And what is so serious about the matter is that the parents of these precious girls seem to be sleeping so soundly. Certainly these young people have every right to trust the Sunday School Board, and to follow their suggestions so long as their parents remain quiet and pay their salaries. We need to put the blame for all this right where it belongs, right squarely on the shoulders of daddy and mother - and granddaddy and grandmother. If they are not willing - do not have the intestinal fortitude to do what God's precious Word tells them to do in a case like this, may our dear Lord have mercy on their children and grandchildren. Someone may be thinking that I am trying to tear up the convention, but I assure you I have no desire to tear up the convention. I am persuaded that it will continue to grow and grow and grow. In fact, I am really glad that those who love all the things that are flourishing in the convention have it to enjoy. It is the few scattered here and there in the convention whose souls are vexed from day to day by what they see and hear that I am concerned about along with the unsuspecting youth who stand to suffer so much. Lot chose the popularity and honor that Sodom heaped upon him, but what did he gain by it other than a couple of illegitimate sons by his own daughters and a couple of heathen nations for his offspring? He enjoyed the popularity and honor first, then suffered the shame and disgrace. My dear God-fearing Baptist parents how will it be with you? Will you continue to enjoy the fun and the fried chicken while your children and grandchildren slip into the filth and slime that you have ignored? It's up to you. I cannot conceive of a greater insult that could be thrust in your face than that which the old devil through his very efficient co-workers in Nashville thrust in your face July 5, 1964. Yes, I have heard about all that getting in the quarterly by mistake, but I have not found anyone gullible enough to believe it. Why should we believe it to be an honest mistake when the "FACTS" show that the Baptist young people were being prepared to accept this horrible thing during the preceding months? In their Sunday School quarterly for April May-June 1964 the writer justifies civil strife on page 34, endorses the Peace Corps, World Health Organization, and UNICEF on page 40, recommends student exchanges and wheat deals with communist countries on page 43, supports the UN and urges destruction of national sovereignty on page 44, and praises the ecumenical movement on page 50. Then in their training union quarterly for January-February-March 1964 our precious people were told twice on page 50 that the sex act itself is not wrong. If you want to know where this hellish teaching came from read pages 9 and 10 of the booklet CALLED TO RESPONSIBLE FREEDOM published by the communistic, Christ hating, and Bible denying National Council of Churches. When the Baptist leaders are confronted with this damnable stuff in the quarterly they tell us that they had the married couples in mind. That too is so thin God-fearing Baptist parents cannot eat it with a spoon. Since when did married couples have to be told that the sex act itself is not wrong? God commanded it in the Old Testament when he told Adam and Eve, and later Noah and his family to be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth. He sanctioned it in the New Testament when He said the marriage bed is undefiled. Now these Baptist leaders with courage and conviction tell us, in effect, "the bed is undefiled" and try to make us think they did not have the single young people in mind. Baptist parents who are dupes enough to believe all these horrible things are honest mistakes may very well deserve to have prostitutes for daughters and granddaughters and whoremongers for sons and grandsons. Our Baptist young people deserve the best, so for the sake of these young people who think there can be nothing wrong with all this because "YOU" are giving it your support, why don't you do something about it while you still have your influence? As you recall, Lot waited until his sons-in-law laughed in his face when he was finally forced to warn them. It will do very little good for you to just warn these young people. It has been well said that what you do sounds so loud I cannot hear what you say. Writing a letter to headquarters may soothe your conscience, but it won't deliver our precious youth from the devil's clutches. There is a way, however, and only one way that you can remove the responsibility of all this from off your shoulders. Don't let me, or any other man tell you what to do about it. Study your Scriptures on the subject and then do what you KNOW the Lord wants you to do. Jer. 5:30 says "A wonderful (an appalling) and horrible thing is committed in the land." Jer. 51:51 says, "We are confounded, because we have heard reproach, shame hath covered our faces for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the Lord's house." Verse 45 of this same chapter says, "My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord." II Cor. says, "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord." Rev. 18:4 makes it very plain, "And I heard another voice from Heaven, saying, come out of her my people that ye be not par-takers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." It won't be easy, but you will be awfully glad you did it when you come to II Cor. 5:10. "Fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings," Isa. 51 :7b. May the God of all grace see fit to arouse us to our great danger before the devil and his leaders succeed in their nefarious undertaking.