Nick Roark's Blog, page 34

“The center of God’s purpose for the universe” by Joel Beeke

“Although the church is not a building, when the people of God gather, their meeting is sacred, for God is among them.

Christ promises, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20).

He also promises that as the church makes disciples of all nations, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matt. 28:20).

The gathered church is God’s house, where He manifests His special presence on earth. Calvin said, “God Himself appears in our midst,” and “His voice” is heard in the preaching of the Word.

The church is like a portal between heaven and earth, a Beth-el, or “house of God,” because it is joined by faith to Christ (Gen. 28:10–19; John 1:51).

When we draw near to God in the church’s worship while exercising faith in Christ, we enter the holy places (Heb. 10:19–22).

John MacArthur notes that in the offering of worship, the exaltation of Christ, the pursuit of holiness, and the fellowship of saints, “the church is an earthly expression of heaven.”

What an immense privilege it is to approach heaven while on earth! We should treasure every opportunity to participate in the church’s worship services and prayer meetings.

God created all things for the sake of His Son (Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2). He sent the Lord Jesus to redeem his people (Gal. 1:4–5; Titus 2:14).

He exalted Christ to the highest place and “gave Him to be the head over all things to the church” (Eph. 1:22).

Therefore, the church stands at the center of God’s purpose for the universe.

God’s mysterious plan, “which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ,” is to make known “by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Eph. 3:9–11).

Culver said, “The preeminence of the church in God’s scheme of things could hardly be stated more vigorously.”

It is God’s intent to display his “glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages” (Eph. 3:21).

Therefore, God’s purpose for creating the world can be summarized as follows: to display His glory in Christ through the church.

This thought should fill our minds with wonder: the purpose of the Creator in making all the universe revolves around the church of Jesus Christ.

Since God is sovereign, all things are working together to make Christ the preeminent Son among many redeemed brothers and sisters who bear His image in God’s family (Rom. 8:28–29).

If you desire to have a part in God’s great purpose for the universe, be part of His church.”

–Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley, Reformed Systematic Theology: Church and Last Things, vol. 4, Reformed Systematic Theology (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2024), 4: 51–52.

“The power of the truth in the heart” by John Owen

“Let us labour to have our senses abundantly exercised in the Word, that we may be able to discern between good and evil; and that not by studying the places themselves only that are controverted, but by a diligent search into the whole mind and will of God as revealed in the Word.

Wherein the sense is given in to humble souls with more life, power, and evidence of truth, and is more effectual for the begetting of faith and love to the truth, than in a curious search after the annotations of men upon particular places.

And truly I must needs say that I know not a more deplorable mistake in the studies of divines, both preachers and others, than their diversion from an immediate, direct study of the Scriptures themselves unto the studying of commentators, critics, scholiasts, annotators, and the like helps, which God in His good providence, making use of the abilities, and sometimes the ambition and ends of men, hath furnished us withal.

Not that I condemn the use and study of them, which I wish men were more diligent in, but desire pardon if I mistake, and do only surmise, by the experience of my own folly for many years, that many which seriously study the things of God do yet rather make it their business to inquire after the sense of other men on the Scriptures than to search studiously into them themselves.

That direction, in this kind, which with me is instar omnium (“an example for all”), is for a diligent endeavour to have the power of the truths professed and contended for abiding upon our hearts, that we many not contend for notions, but what we have a practical acquaintance with in our own souls.

When the heart is cast indeed into the mould of the doctrine that the mind embraceth; when the evidence and necessity of the truth abides in us; when not the sense of the words only is in our heads, but the sense of the things abides in our hearts; when we have communion with God in the doctrine we contend for,—then shall we be garrisoned, by the grace of God, against all the assaults of men.

And without this all our contending is, as to ourselves, of no value.

What am I the better if I can dispute that Christ is God, but have no sense or sweetness in my heart from hence that He is a God in covenant with my soul?

What will it avail me to evince, by testimonies and arguments, that He hath made satisfaction for sin, if, through my unbelief, the wrath of God abideth on me, and I have no experience of my own being made the righteousness of God in Him,—if I find not, in my standing before God, the excellency of having my sins imputed to Him and His righteousness imputed to me?

Will it be any advantage to me, in the issue, to profess and dispute that God works the conversion of a sinner by the irresistible grace of His Spirit, if I was never acquainted experimentally with the deadness and utter impotency to good, that opposition to the law of God, which is in my own soul by nature, with the efficacy of the exceeding greatness of the power of God in quickening, enlightening, and bringing forth the fruits of obedience in me?

It is the power of truth in the heart alone that will make us cleave unto it indeed in an hour of temptation.

Let us, then, not think that we are any thing the better for our conviction of the truths of the great doctrines of the gospel, for which we contend with these men, unless we find the power of the truths abiding in our own hearts, and have a continual experience of their necessity and excellency in our standing before God and our communion with Him.”

–John Owen, “The Mystery of the Gospel Vindicated,” The Works of John Owen, Volume 12 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1684/2000), 12: 51-52.

“A good seasoning of Cranmer” by Robert Letham

“A good seasoning of Cranmer will add spice and flavor to the blandest fare.”

–Robert Letham, “The Doctrine of God and the Pulpit,” in Theology for Ministry: How Doctrine Affects Pastoral Life and Practice, Eds. William Edwards, John C.A. Ferguson, and Chad Van Dixhoorn (Philipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2022), 34.

“The little decisions you make every day” by C. S. Lewis

“Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance.

The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of.

An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.”

–C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: HarperOne, 2001), 132.

“Perhaps you neglected to pray for the preacher” by John Newton

“I advise you, when you hear a Gospel sermon, and it is not in all respects to your satisfaction, be not too hasty to lay the whole blame upon the preacher.

The Lord’s ministers have not much to say in their own behalf. They feel (it is to be hoped) their own weakness and defects, and the greatness and difficulty of their work.

They are conscious that their warmest endeavours to proclaim the Saviour’s glory are too cold, and their most importunate addresses to the consciences of men are too faint.

And sometimes they are burdened with such discouragements, that even their enemies would pity them if they knew their case.

Indeed, they have much to be ashamed of; but it will be more useful for you, who are a hearer, to consider whether the fault may not possibly be in yourself.

Perhaps you thought too highly of the man, and expected too much from him; or perhaps you thought too meanly of him, and expected too little.

In the former case, the Lord justly disappointed you; in the latter, you received according to your faith.

Perhaps you neglected to pray for him; and then, though he might be useful to others, it is not at all strange that he was not so to you.

Or possibly you have indulged a trifling spirit, and brought a dearth and deadness upon your own soul; for which you had not been duly humbled, and the Lord chose that time to rebuke you.

Lastly: as a hearer, you have a right to try all doctrines by the word of God; and it is your duty so to do.

Faithful ministers will remind you of this: they will not wish to hold you in an implicit and blind obedience to what they say, upon their own authority, nor desire that you should follow them farther than they have the Scripture for their warrant.

They would not be lords over your conscience, but helpers of your joy. Prize this Gospel liberty, which sets you free from the doctrines and commandments of men; but do not abuse it to the purposes of pride and self.

There are hearers who make themselves, and not the Scripture, the standard of their judgment. They attend not so much to be instructed, as to pass their sentence.

To them, the pulpit is the bar at which the minister stands to take his trial before them; a bar at which few escape censure, from judges at once so severe and inconsistent.

For, as these censors are not all of a mind, and perhaps agree in nothing so much as in the opinion they have of their own wisdom, it has often happened, that, in the course of one and the same sermon, the minister has been condemned as a Legalist and an Antinomian, as too high in his notions, and too low, as having too little action, and too much.

Oh! this is a hateful spirit, that prompts hearers to pronounce ex cathedrâ as if they were infallible, breaks in upon the rights of private judgment, even in matters not essential, and makes a man an offender for a word.

This spirit is one frequent unhappy evil, which springs from the corruption of the heart, when the Lord affords the means of grace in great abundance.

How highly would some of the Lord’s hidden ones, who are destitute of the ordinances, prize the blessing of a preached Gospel, with which too many professors seem to be surfeited!

I pray God to preserve you from such a spirit (which I fear is spreading, and infects us like the pestilence), and to guide you in all things.”

–John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 1 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1988), 1: 224-225.

“Why the Supper was instituted by our Lord” by Francis Turretin

“After God has received us once into His own family (that He may have us in the place not only of servants, but of sons that He may fulfill the parts of our best Father, solicitous about His offspring), He also immediately receives us to be nourished in the course of life that He may from time to time conserve and renew the life which He once gave until we reach heavenly immortality.

And not content with this (a pledge having been given), He wished to assure us of this liberality. For this purpose He gave another sacrament to His church through His only begotten Son, for a spiritual feast, where Christ testifies that He is the living bread by which our souls are fed unto a true and blessed immortality.

Because this mystery of the secret communion of Christ with us is incomprehensible to our minds, He exhibits its figure and image in visible signs best adopted to our capacity; yea, by giving pledges and marks He makes it as certain to us as if we saw it with our eyes.

Therefore, as by baptism, the sacrament of our initiation and entrance into the church, He wished to adumbrate our regeneration, so the holy Supper seals our spiritual nourishment and support by Christ, in memory of His death, in which He prepared for us the food of life by which we are sustained.

Threefold end: (1) the commemoration of the death of Christ.

Therefore, the end of this whole institution can be threefold. (1) A commemoration of Christ and of His death:

“This do in remembrance of me” (Lk. 22:19);
“As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come” (1 Cor. 11:26).

This commemoration is not only theoretical, but also practical—of things which Christ did and suffered for us, to celebrate with grateful minds the immense love of Christ, who did not refuse to suffer a dreadful death for us and to pour out his blood, as in the old Passover (which was a memorial of deliverance from Egyptian bondage) they celebrated the wonderful blessing received from God.

He wished to give the most appropriate symbol of this in the broken bread and the poured-out wine; and not only broken and poured out, but distributed to us that even from this it might be evident that all this was designed and obtained for us and that Christ offered Himself as a victim for the expiation of our sins for no other end than that He might afterwards give himself to us for food, upon which we may feed and be supported unto eternal life.

2. Our union with Christ and participation in His benefits.

(2) Our union with Christ and communion in His benefits, which are represented to us best by eating and drinking, as the food eaten by us is most intimately united with our nature and coalesces into one with it. Hence the partaking of the symbols is called the “communion of the body and blood of Christ” (1 Cor. 10:16) and Christ is said “to dwell in us, and we in Him” (Jn. 6:56). And He thus dwells and is united with us that we can call ours whatever is His.

3. The certainty of remission of sins and eternal salvation.

(3) Hence follows the certainty of remission of sins (Mt. 26:28) and of eternal salvation obtained for us by the death of Christ. This can no more fail us than the merit of His death and the efficacy of His Spirit can be void and fruitless.”

–Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, ed. James T. Dennison Jr., trans. George Musgrave Giger, vol. 3 (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1992–1997), 3: 428-429.

“Spiritual fathers must display unbounded tenderness” by Charles Spurgeon

“Children expect kindness from a father. Let them not he disappointed. It is ours to be all things to all men, if by any means we may save some.

Even to those who are without, we must show a tender consideration.

Even to those who reject our gospel, we must display unbounded tenderness.

It should fill us with deep sorrow that men refuse the Saviour, and follow the way of destruction. If they will persist in ruining themselves, we must weep for them in secret places.

Having lovingly preached the gospel to them, if they will not repent, we must break our hearts because we cannot break their hearts.

If Absalom has perished, we must go with David to the chamber over the gate, and bitterly lament him, crying, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

Do you ever mourn over your hearers as one that weepeth for the slain of his people?

Can you bear that they should pass away to judgment unforgiven?

Can you endure the thought of their destruction? I do not know how a preacher can be much blessed of God who does not feel an agony when he fears that some of his hearers will pass into the next world impenitent and unbelieving.

On the other hand, survey the picture of a father who sees his child returning from the error of his way. In the New Testament, you see the portrait Divinely drawn.

When the prodigal was a great way off, his father saw him. Oh, to have quick eyes to spy out the awakened! The father ran to meet him. Oh, to be eager to help the hopeful! He fell upon his neck, and kissed him.

Oh, for a heart overflowing with love, to joy and rejoice over seeking ones! As that father was, such should we be; ever loving, and ever on the outlook.

Our eyes, and ears, and feet should ever be given to penitents. Our tears and open arms should be ready for them.

The father in Christ is the man to remember the best robe, and the ring, and the sandals; he remembers those provisions of grace because he is full of love to the returning one.

Love is a practical theologian, and takes care to deal practically with all the blessings of the covenant, and all the mysteries of revealed truth.

It does not hide away the robe and ring in a treasury of theology; but brings them forth, and puts them on.

O my brethren, as you are the sons of God, be also fathers in God! Let this be the burning passion of your souls.

Grow to be leaders and champions. God give you the honour of maturity, the glory of strength!

But courageously expect that He will then lay upon you the burden which such strength is fitted to bear. We need you to quit yourselves like men.

In these evil days, when the shock of battle comes, it will have to be sustained by the fathers, or not at all.

Our young and immature brethren are invaluable as light troops, leading the way, and advancing into the enemy’s territory; but the solid squares, which stand firm against the fury of the charge, must mainly be composed of the Old Guard.

You of experience in the things of God; you experts, who have fought the battles of the Lord over and over again; you must stand fast, and having done all, you must still stand.

I call upon you fathers to hold the fort till Jesus comes. You must be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

If you fail, where are we to look? It will be “as when a standard-bearer fainteth.” But lest you should feel pleased with the fact that you desire this high honour, and fancy that the mere aspiration will fulfil itself, let me remind you how the Saviour lived.

He never settled down in desires and resolves, but girded Himself for constant service. He said, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work.”

Soul-winning must be meat and drink to us. To do the Lord’s work must be as necessary as food to us. His Father’s work is that in which we also are engaged, and we cannot do better than imitate our Lord.

Tell me, then, how Jesus set about it. Did He set about it by arranging to build a huge Tabernacle, or by organizing a monster Conference, or by publishing a great book, or by sounding a trumpet before Him in any other form?

Did He aim at something great, and altogether out of the common line of service? Did He bid high for popularity, and wear Himself out by an exhausting sensationalism?

No; He called disciples to Him one by one, and instructed each one with patient care. To take a typical instance of His method, watch Him as He paused in the heat of the day.

He sat upon a well, and talked with a woman,—a woman who was none of the best. This looked like slow work, and very common-place action. Yet we know that it was right and wise.

To that single auditor, He did not deliver a list of clever maxims, like those of Confucius, or profound philosophies, like those of Socrates; but He talked simply, plainly, and earnestly with her about her own life, her personal needs, and the living water of grace by which those needs could be supplied.

He won her heart, and through her many more; but He did it in a way of which many would think little. He was beyond the petty ambitions of our vain-glorious hearts.

He cared not for a large congregation; He did not even ask for a pulpit. He desired to be the spiritual Father of that one daughter; and, for that purpose, He must needs go through Samaria, and must, in His utmost weariness, tell her of the water of life.

Brethren, let us lay aside vanity. Let us grow more simple, natural, and father-like as we mature; and let us be more and more completely absorbed in our life-work. As the Lord shall help us, let us lay our all upon the altar, and only breathe for Him.

Certain of you will go abroad, some of you may find a grave on the banks of the Congo. We cannot all do this; but, brethren, we must all live unto the Lord, and lay down our lives for the brethren.

The Thames and the Clyde must have their consecrated ones as well as the Congo and the Ganges. London and Bristol must witness to as true a heroism as Canton and Calcutta.

Because we belong to Christ, the zeal of the Lord’s house must eat us up. I wish I could have spoken to you with all my strength, but it may be that my weakness may be used of God to greater purpose.

My thoughts are few by reason of pain, which disorders my head; but they are all on fire, for my heart remains true to my Lord, to His gospel, and to you.

May He use every man of us to the utmost of our capacity for being used, and glorify Himself by our health and our sickness, our life and our death! Amen.”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, An All-Round Ministry: Addresses to Ministers and Students (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1900/1960), 192-195.

“The spiritual father” by Charles Spurgeon

“We must feed the flock of God. We must deal with eternal verities, and grapple with heart and conscience.

We must, in fact, live to educate a race of saints, in whom the Lord Jesus shall be reflected as in a thousand mirrors.

The apostle Paul truly says, “Though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers.” (1 Corinthians 4:15)

He calls the general run of teachers pedagogues, and says that we have myriads of such; but we have not many “fathers.”

The spiritual father is full of tenderness, and manifests an intense love for the souls of men. His doctrinal divinity does not dry up his humanity.

He was born on purpose to care for other people, and his heart cannot rest until it is full of such care.

Along our coast, in certain places, there are no harbours; but, in other spots, there are bays into which vessels run at once in the time of storm.

Some men present an open natural harbourage for people in distress: you love them instinctively, and trust them unreservedly; and they, on their part, welcome your confidence, and lay themselves out for your benefit.

They were fashioned by nature with warm human sympathies, and these have been sanctified by grace, so that it is their vocation to instruct, to comfort, to succour, and in all ways to help spirits of a feebler order.

These are the kingly men who become nursing fathers of the church.

All hail to the absurdities of holy love: long may they reign!

Baby is king: the weakest rule our hearts. The pace of the whole flock is slackened, lest we overdrive the lambs.

Our ruling is carried out by seeing that none tread down the weak, and by setting the example of the greatest self-forgetfulness.

He is not fit to be a father who does not see that this is the imperative law of love, and is, indeed, the secret of power.

We lay ourselves down for all men to go over us if thus they may come to Jesus. Our place is to be the servants of all.

If you desire to be a father in the church that you may have his special honour, you see the way to it: it comes of self-denial, patience, forbearance, love, zeal, and diligence.

‘Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.’ (Matthew 20:27)”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, An All-Round Ministry: Addresses to Ministers and Students (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1900/1960), 186-189

“The gift of the Holy Spirit” by Herman Bavinck

“The first work which Christ does after His exaltation to the right hand of the Father is to send out the Holy Spirit.

At His exaltation He Himself accepted from the Father the Holy Spirit promised in the Old Testament, and therefore He can now, as He promised His disciples He would, share it with His disciples (Acts 2:33).

The Spirit He gives proceeds from the Father, is given Him by the Father, and is thereupon given to the church (Luke 24:49 and John 14:26).

This sending of the Holy Spirit which took place on the day of Pentecost is a unique event in the history of the church of Christ.

Just as the creation and the incarnation, it took place but once. It was not preceded by any granting of the Spirit equal to it in importance, and none has ever followed it.

Just as Christ in His conception assumed the human nature, never again to lay it aside, so the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost chose the church as His dwelling place and temple, never again to be separated from it.”

–Herman Bavinck, The Wonderful Works of God (trans. Henry Zylstra; Glenside, PA: Westminster Seminary Press, 1909/2019), 367.

“Exegesis exists because worship doesn’t” by Andy Naselli

“The only sentence that many people know from John Piper’s Let the Nations Be Glad is a great one: ‘Missions exists because worship doesn’t.’

That’s true for exegesis, too. Exegesis exists because worship doesn’t. New Testament exegesis exists because worship doesn’t.

Don’t miss the whole point of exegesis. It’s to know and worship God.

As D. A. Carson often says, ‘the aim of thoughtful Christians, after all, is not so much to become masters of Scripture, but to be mastered by it, both for God’s glory and his people’s good.‘

So I pray that this book will help you exegete the text in a way that spreads a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.

Exegesis and theology are thrilling because they help you know and worship God. And only God satisfies.

You most glorify God when he most satisfies you. He’s better than sex and shopping and new iPhones and hot pizza and chocolate and money and power and anything else your heart may crave.

God reigns, saves, and satisfies through covenant for his glory in Christ. That is what you get to see from so many angles when you look at the Book.

And when you understand exegesis and theology better, the praise gets richer. So why wouldn’t you look at the Book?”

–Andrew David Naselli, How to Understand and Apply the New Testament: Twelve Steps from Exegesis to Theology (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2017), 333.