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Lord’s Day Meditation: “Thou Shalt Guide Me” by C. H. Spurgeon

Lord’s Day Meditation: “Thou Shalt Guide Me” by C. H. Spurgeon (Morning and Evening, September 1, Morning)

“Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.” (Psalm 73:24)

The Psalmist felt his need of divine guidance. He had just been discovering the foolishness of his own heart, and lest he should be constantly led astray by it, he resolved that God’s counsel should henceforth guide him. A sense of our own folly is a great step towards being wise, when it leads us to rely on the wisdom of the Lord. The blind man leans on his friend’s arm and reaches home in safety, and so would we give ourselves up implicitly to divine guidance, nothing doubting; assured that though we cannot see, it is always safe to trust the all-seeing God. “Thou shalt,” is a blessed expression of confidence. He was sure that the Lord would not decline the condescending task. There is a word for thee, O believer; rest thou in it. Be assured that thy God will be thy counsellor and friend; he shall guide thee; he will direct all thy ways. In his written Word thou hast this assurance in part fulfilled, for holy Scripture is his counsel to thee. Happy are we to have God’s Word always to guide us! What were the mariner without his compass? And what were the Christian without the Bible? This is the unerring chart, the map in which every shoal is described, and all the channels from the quicksands of destruction to the haven of salvation mapped and marked by one who knows all the way. Blessed be thou, O God, that we may trust thee to guide us now, and guide us even to the end! After this guidance through life, the Psalmist anticipates a divine reception at last–“and afterward receive me to glory.” What a thought for thee, believer! God himself will receive thee to glory–thee! Wandering, erring, straying, yet he will bring thee safe at last to glory! This is thy portion; live on it this day, and if perplexities should surround thee, go in the strength of this text straight to the throne.

 

MBTS Spring Graduation: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Today, we celebrate commencement. It is a day that we have looked forward to for many months, indeed many years for so many of us. Today we also have many guests and friends in the room and, for them, this commencement ceremony will appear somewhat indecipherable. What is Christian ministry? Why these hymns? Why this Bible from which we speak and from which these men and women are being commissioned to minister from? What do these things mean? More broadly, beyond the seminary context within the academic community, why robes? Why regalia? Why the formality of the hour? It all signals something very special, something significant, something of consequence, something of gravity. Commencement, graduation itself, is heightened when you consider our work here at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Midwestern Baptist College. This is what we give our lives to do, and in this moment, what these men and women are being commissioned unto.

The context of graduation does not permit a full sermon or a full exposition of Scripture, and especially not the passage I will be reading here momentarily. But I do want to just bring seven simple words of exhortation to our graduates today. I will be speaking to them specifically but also speaking beyond them to every man and women in the room. I will be reminding ourselves anew as a seminary community what our lives are about, and seeking, again, to inform and to challenge friends and family members in the room today what life in ministry is all about as well.

1 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 18-31 is what I will be reading. Listen closely to the word of God. Keep in mind the church at Corinth. This is a church marked by great tumult, great trouble, false doctrine, immorality, dissension, litigation, abuse of the spiritual gifts, abuse of the Lord ’s Table, and so much more. Paul writes this letter with tremendous concern and he gets straight to the heart of the matter in chapters 1-3 regarding the issue of unity. He goes at it specifically through the message of the cross. Starting in verse 18, he writes, under the inspiration of the Spirit:

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

My aim is straightforward in the minutes that follow, to challenge our graduates anew to embrace the foolishness of gospel ministry. This passage reeks of such foolishness. The passage is one of great contrast, is it not? It is a contrast between the wisdom of the age and the wisdom of God; a contrast between the glory of God and the glory of man; a contrast between the way of the world and the way of God; a contrast the reveals two paths and two destinies; two messages that are preached and cherished, and two end results that every man and woman on this planet shall know. What does it mean to embrace the foolishness of gospel ministry? Here are seven brief words of exhortation this morning.

Exhortation number one: ladies and gentlemen, is to rightly value your degree. Now, at commencement services across the country this time of year a president will stand behind a podium or lectern and say something along those lines. “You need to rightly value your degree,” and what he or she means by that typically, is that you need to rightly value your degree with a premium to it and to sense that this is special, and that this helps to define who you are and what accomplishments you will obtain in life. But I mean that you should rightly value the degree that the institution has given to you, the degree that you have earned, in a different sense. I take a detour this morning from what is typically meant. We value the degree, and I challenge you to value the degree, not for the credential that it gives you, but value the degree for what it represents. That is, a season of ministry preparation and training. I warn us all that God has used many men and women without credentials. He has passed over many men and women with them. See your time here as preparation for your ministry, but not a validation of it. You will stand, and I will stand, before a higher court, a higher judge that far outstrips the assessment of man. Your diploma that is being given today has been received previously, and others will receive it, and these are celebratory achievements, they are great accomplishments that you should look to with pride for the duration of your life in ministry. But oh, my friend, do not over assess it. As we are reminded from this passage, we are consigned to the number that is despised by the wise of this age.

Exhortation number two: celebrate your accomplishment, but never forget your weakness. Don’t we see that in this passage this morning? Again, we see this contrast where Paul speaks to the believers in the church at Corinth and to us throughout the ages. We are assigned not to the wise, but to the foolish. In fact, many of you populating these front rows this morning are here graduating and you came to pursue theological education, ministry preparation, in spite of what family and friends told you, not because of it. You came not only lacking their encouragement, you came through their protest. “You are wasting your life.” “How much does a minister make anyway?” “Do you want a life of hardship?” “Do you want to spend three or four or five years getting a degree for ministry?” If you showed up here as a student with that being said to you, I have a little encouragement for you: you are going into a world where that will be said to you all the more. But it is a glorious reality to be in a defined minority that is guaranteed to be victorious. Celebrate your accomplishment, but never forget your weaknesses.

Exhortation number three: I want to exhort you this morning to embrace the collision of worldviews. Be one who joins the battle, who does not dodge the battle or explain it away. We minister amidst a collision of worldviews. We see this fleshed out here amongst the ancients 2,000 years ago. This great contrast between what the Greeks were looking for who prized wisdom and philosophy and the Jews, wanting a sign. To preach Christ and him crucified, and the simple message of the Word of God in ancient times, as in modern times, puts you on a never ending, always intensifying collision course with the wisdom of the age. Embrace that. The quicker you do, the more satisfied your ministry will be and the more secure you will be in your own skin.

I told some folks recently in jest, as I was reflecting with some friends and colleagues here about how we view ourselves as men and women, and how we view God, and how we interact with other people, and I was talking about the liberty of becoming increasingly comfortable in your own skin and caring less and less what people think of you. I said I will confess, when I was in my 20’s, I cared too much what people thought of me. In my 30’s, with each passing year, I cared less and less what people thought of me. Now that I am 40, I realize that no one is ever thinking about me. I say that in jest, but there is a grain of truth to that. The quicker gospel ministers, who stand on the word of God, who are willing to say antiquated things, like God created man and woman in his image with distinct roles and assignments; a willingness to preach a message that is ridiculed by so many; and a gospel message of a crucified Lord. The quicker we are willing to stand on these truths and embrace them and own them and realize that puts us right in conflict with the world; the quicker you will be secure and satisfied in your life in ministry.

Exhortation number four: be committed to the foolishness of preaching. Notice in this passage, we see great contrast being outlined between the way of the world and the thinking of the world, and the way of God and the plan and wisdom of God. This is plopped right in the middle of it is this call to preach Christ crucified. Indeed, Jews ask for signs, Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. Why? Because it is the foolishness of God that is wiser than men and the weakness of God that is stronger than men. I said I am committed to the foolishness of preaching, not foolish preaching or foolish ministry. There is a difference. But I think it is good for all of us, on occasion, to venture out and do a little street preaching just to be laughed at and gawked at and to be reminded anew of who we are in Christ and what we are called to do. That is, to be committed to the foolishness of preaching. It is central to the health of the church; it is central to the worship service, and it is central to every healthy ministry. It is God’s appointed means to convey his message to the world.

Exhortation number five: make the cross central to your ministry. In verse 18, he says this, “The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.” And verse 23, again, he says, “We preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling-block, to Gentiles, foolishness.” Be committed to a cross-centered ministry, a cross-centered pulpit, and a cross-centered life. The message to the ancients, just like in modern times, was a message that was classified as foolish. You mean God has a son and he was born of a virgin, and he lived a sinless life and he chose to die for us, to die on the cross, to receive in his body the wrath of God to satisfy the payment of our sins, be raised again, and that men and women everywhere must believe in that message and submit their lives to Jesus as Lord to be saved? That is a message that is 1,000 times true regardless of what the vast masses of humanity think of it in any given generation. We are a people of the cross; a people of the gospel. The death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ is not ancillary to our ministry. It is in the very heart of it. I say to you this morning, guests, if you are here today and you do not understand what this is about, and you think “boy the president seems awful serious and these hymns we sing seem awful dated,” and “boy everything about this seems like these people take these things a little too seriously,” it is because we do. But we do so on solid ground, because we believe with all that we are that the gospel is true, that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation, that the men and women walking across this platform this morning are giving their lives to serving the church and there is no grander or more glorious thing to give their lives to.

Exhortation number six: remain tenderized to the plight of the lost. Notice what we see in this passage in verse 18, “The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” Starting in verse 23 he says, “We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” This reads like a Shakespearian tragedy. People who think they are so wise, given their rejection of Christ are counted in the scales of eternity as fools. They have been measured in the scales of heaven and been found wanting. In all their learning, they have become increasingly distant from the truth. Have you ever had a gospel conversation with someone where you talk about life in Christ, you talk about how he has changed your life, and you talk about what he has done, and then they say something like, “I just don’t see it?” It pierces your heart because you know they clearly do not. I think about that every time I read this passage. Brothers and sisters, I challenge us, graduates, I challenge you, never become anesthetized to the state of the lost. Never lose your burden for the unconverted. Never become complacent to those who think they are wise but are counted as fools in the eyes of God.

Finally, exhortation number seven, minister for God’s opinion, not man’s. This is how the passage comes to this great conclusion, is it not? Paul says, “Consider your calling, brethren.” We all put ourselves in this group. We have a distinguished faculty with degrees from leading institutions in the world over, but all of us would joyfully assign ourselves to this classification.

“There were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

If evangelism ministry was all about having a slicker argument than the next guy, who gets the glory? You do. If ministry was all about us, as an institution, calling through our applicants and only permitting those with the highest ACTs and the highest GPA and the highest MRE or whatever scores to narrow it down so that we feel like we are only graduating the best and brightest, that is a foul of this passage. We are told that there are not many mighty, there are not many noble, there are not many wise according to the flesh, and all that is according to God’s plan so that when the boasting is done, the boasting is done in the Lord. Orient your lives and ministry to where a conscious waking inner-dialogue in your mind and heart is, “How does God get most glory in my life and ministry day to day?”

I am amazed sometimes as I look out in the world of evangelicalism and see how churches are led, how ministry unfolds, and how decisions are made. Sometimes it leaves you scratching your head like, “Is this person ministering for the glory of God or for their own personal advancement?” And if you want to talk about something that throws off the magnet of the true north and that soon becomes the untrue north, the inner-motive will do it. I grew up in a wonderful middle-class Southern Baptist home in Mobile, Al. Back in those days, as a kid in the 1980’s,  our house had the family room where life happened, a kitchen where life happened, and then we had a living room where life, very intentionally, never happened. It had nice furniture, nice lamps, and nice decoration. If I had a death wish, all I had to do was to go into the living room. Some of you grew up in houses like that. It was always kept perfect. We never went into it. I literally have no childhood memories of our family being in there. It was this room that was like a cocoon within a house. I remember thinking one day that this room was clearly designed for some unfathomable guest. If President Regan or Billy Graham ever stopped by our house, we were set. But the room was off-limits to everyone and everything. That room, given what it was for, was like the tail that wagged the dog in our family’s life for years. We did not go in the room so that we would make a good impression if President Reagan or Billy Graham stopped by. It is a funny story, but it is interesting to me how a decision driven by respectability or presentability can send a family, or in our case, lives and ministries on a variant trajectory. Do not have a life and a ministry and a calling that is always about being tidy and clean and respectable and meeting the approval of the neighbors and everyone feeling good about you as a nice, warm human being. Have a life and ministry and family in which you aim to please the one who matters, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, when your time is up and your service is over, and some boasting is done, you and those affected by your ministry are boasting in the Lord.

 

Lord’s Day Meditation: “If We Walk in the Light” by C. H. Spurgeon

Lord’s Day Meditation: “If We Walk in the Light” by C. H. Spurgeon (Morning and Evening, August 31, Evening)

“If we walk in the light, as he is in the light.” (1 John 1:7)

As he is in the light! Can we ever attain to this? Shall we ever be able to walk as clearly in the light as he is whom we call “Our Father,” of whom it is written, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all?” Certainly, this is the model which is set before us, for the Saviour himself said, “Be ye perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect;” and although we may feel that we can never rival the perfection of God, yet we are to seek after it, and never to be satisfied until we attain to it. The youthful artist, as he grasps his early pencil, can hardly hope to equal Raphael or Michael Angelo, but still, if he did not have a noble beau ideal before his mind, he would only attain to something very mean and ordinary. But what is meant by the expression that the Christian is to walk in light as God is in the light? We conceive it to import likeness, but not degree. We are as truly in the light, we are as heartily in the light, we are as sincerely in the light, as honestly in the light, though we cannot be there in the same measure. I cannot dwell in the sun, it is too bright a place for my residence, but I can walk in the light of the sun; and so, though I cannot attain to that perfection of purity and truth which belongs to the Lord of hosts by nature as the infinitely good, yet I can set the Lord always before me, and strive, by the help of the indwelling Spirit, after conformity to his image. That famous old commentator, John Trapp, says, “We may be in the light as God is in the light for quality, but not for equality.” We are to have the same light, and are as truly to have it and walk in it as God does, though, as for equality with God in his holiness and purity, that must be left until we cross the Jordan and enter into the perfection of the Most High. Mark that the blessings of sacred fellowship and perfect cleansing are bound up with walking in the light.

 

Five Rules for Sermon Illustrations

Have you ever heard a sermon illustration that did more harm than good? I have. In fact, just recently I heard a sermon illustration that was an absolute train wreck. It sent God’s people on an unhelpful diversion, had nothing to do with the passage, and compromised the sermon’s final, concluding thrust. In other words, it was a disaster, and the results were debilitating to the sermon.

Yet, a well-chosen illustration can illumine the passage and strengthen the sermon. That is why generations of seminary students have been taught that good sermons include explaining, illustrating, and applying the text. Of the three, illustrating the text is the least important, but it is important nonetheless.

Therefore, how should we view sermon illustrations? Consider these five rules.

1. Make sure the illustration amplifies the text and does not distract from it. This is a non-negotiable rule. If your illustration makes the meaning of the text clearer and more memorable, mission accomplished. If a week later your hearers still remember your illustration, but not the point it was making or the text connected to it, that is a problem.

2. Make sure the tone of your illustration matches the tone of your text. I do not want to take this point too far, but we need to be mindful of the emotional affect our illustrations will have on our congregants. Recently, I heard a sermon on a sober, weighty passage of Scripture. Oddly, though, the preacher chose a silly illustration to amplify the text. To make matters worse, he re-wove it throughout the sermon. Every time we brushed up against the depths of the passage, the trite illustration reappeared. The crowd needed a dose of emotional Dramamine they were so off balance throughout the sermon.

3. Never illustrate the illustration. If you find yourself needing to clarify, explain, or illustrate the illustration, it is better to abort it. The sermon illustration will likely be a verbal quagmire, helping no one. A good illustration is like fast-casual dining, you can get in and out quickly, without added commitments or complications.

4. Look for value added in your illustrations. Work to find illustrations that have added punch, helping in ways beyond merely assisting the passage under consideration. For instance, an illuminating biblical cross-reference or a moving story from church history both provide added value, as opposed to, say, a humorous aside about a mishap when changing your toddler’s diaper. Always seek to feed your people, do not settle for unhelpful—or even less helpful— diversions.

5. Do not overestimate the importance of sermon illustrations. Every sermon must explain the text, and every sermon should apply the text. But a text can stand on its own without an illustration. An illustration is merely a tool, and its utility depends on the passages need for clarification and the illustrations helpfulness in doing so. Do not feel like every sermon point needs an illustration to top it off.

In Conclusion

Illustrations are not an end unto themselves. Faithful preachers do not begin with a zinger of an illustration and then find a biblical text to go with it. They begin with the text and employ illustrations for added clarity, amplification, or to bring the passage home with added force. In other words, the text is the dog, and the illustration the tail. Make sure the latter never wags the former.

 

Lord’s Day Meditation: “On Mine Arm Shall They Trust” by C. H. Spurgeon

Lord’s Day Meditation: “On Mine Arm Shall They Trust” by C. H. Spurgeon (Morning and Evening, August 31, Morning)

“On mine arm shall they trust.” (Isaiah 51:5)

In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can trust to, and is therefore compelled to cast himself on his God alone. When his vessel is on its beam-ends, and no human deliverance can avail, he must simply and entirely trust himself to the providence and care of God. Happy storm that wrecks a man on such a rock as this! O blessed hurricane that drives the soul to God and God alone! There is no getting at our God sometimes because of the multitude of our friends; but when a man is so poor, so friendless, so helpless that he has nowhere else to turn, he flies into his Father’s arms, and is blessedly clasped therein! When he is burdened with troubles so pressing and so peculiar, that he cannot tell them to any but his God, he may be thankful for them; for he will learn more of his Lord then than at any other time. Oh, tempest-tossed believer, it is a happy trouble that drives thee to thy Father! Now that thou hast only thy God to trust to, see that thou puttest thy full confidence in him. Dishonour not thy Lord and Master by unworthy doubts and fears; but be strong in faith, giving glory to God. Show the world that thy God is worth ten thousand worlds to thee. Show rich men how rich thou art in thy poverty when the Lord God is thy helper. Show the strong man how strong thou art in thy weakness when underneath thee are the everlasting arms. Now is the time for feats of faith and valiant exploits. Be strong and very courageous, and the Lord thy God shall certainly, as surely as he built the heavens and the earth, glorify himself in thy weakness, and magnify his might in the midst of thy distress. The grandeur of the arch of heaven would be spoiled if the sky were supported by a single visible column, and your faith would lose its glory if it rested on anything discernible by the carnal eye. May the Holy Spirit give you to rest in Jesus this closing day of the month.

 

Recovering the Exclusivity of the Gospel Pt. 2

“Does it matter what you believe as long as you are sincere?” I still remember, as a boy, posing that question to my mother. It may well have been my first theological inquiry, and it was prompted by an awareness that our neighbors went to a different church.

That question I first pondered as a child reverberates through churches, homes and lecture halls today. And, as demonstrated in “No Other Name: Recovering the Exclusivity of the Gospel Pt.1,” many evangelical church members answer that question with a resounding “no.”

In an age of doctrinal minimization, one can point to any number of theological challenges facing the church. Yet, neglecting the exclusivity of the gospel comes with tragic ramifications.

No Need to Evangelize

Without a Great Commission imperative established in the exclusivity of the gospel, the logic of evangelism collapses under its own weight. If one need not believe in Christ for salvation, then one need not tell others to believe in Christ.

Dean Kelly, in his Why Conservative Churches Are Growing, famously chronicled this very dynamic. Kelly juxtaposed the belief system of the mainline Protestant denominations with more conservative, evangelical ones and tracked how a church’s convictions regarding the Word of God and the gospel impacts one’s urgency in evangelism. To reject or minimize the former always adversely affects the latter.

Perhaps the tepidness of our witness is not due to out-of-date methodologies or insufficient training. Perhaps the problem—at its core—is convictional; is theological. Do we really believe that persons must believe in Jesus Christ to be saved?

No Need to Send Missionaries

Paul, in Romans 10, sets forth one of the New Testament’s great evangelistic manifestos: “How will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him in whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent?”

The Great Commission itself rests on this Romans 10 logic: all must believe in Jesus to be saved, but they cannot believe in whom they have not heard, and will never hear unless gospel servants are sent.

The church that equivocates on the exclusivity of the gospel will not likely send forth a generation of William Careys, Lottie Moons, Adonirum Judsons or Jim Elliotts. Young adults not convinced of the necessity Great Commission will not feel the allure and romance of the Great Commission, the urgency of the gospel, and the unremitting passion to eradicate the moniker “unreached people group.”

No Need to Give Sacrificially

In my own denominational context, the Southern Baptist Convention, collective funding for missions and ministry as channeled through the Cooperative Program has been plateaued or declining for approximately three decades. Similar trends are reflected in general offering plate contributions throughout the evangelical movement.

The church member that does not understand and embrace the exclusivity of the gospel will never be moved to sacrificial giving. The church that is not consciously convinced of the exclusivity of the gospel will be more concerned with their meeting their own immediate needs than sacrificially forwarding money to reach the nations with the gospel. And the denomination that equivocates on the exclusivity of the gospel, collectively, will not mobilize itself toward Great Commission ends.

Recovering the Exclusivity of the Gospel

Losing the exclusivity of the gospel is a theological problem, not a methodological or practical one. Its recovery will be theological as well. Regaining the exclusivity of the gospel will only take place in the midst of a broader theological recovery, rooted in the full truthfulness and authority of Scripture.

Those who preach bear a special burden in this regard. We must be intentional about transmitting the full spectrum of sound doctrine in our churches, especially to our lay leaders and Sunday School teachers. A conscious awareness of the exclusivity of the gospel must also shape how we preach.

Preachers must give themselves to specific, Christ-centered sermons, wherein we iterate and reiterate the exclusivity of the gospel and the necessity of believing in Christ. Preachers, be done with vague, generic “God-talk.” Point your people specifically to Jesus Christ, and compel them to believe in him.

Conclusion

In my home study, I have displayed artifacts from the modern missions movement, including William Carey’s shoe form and Samuel Pearce’s Geneva Bible. These mementos are visible reminders of the urgency of the Great Commission and our call, in this generation, to take the gospel to the nations.

But, if the gospel does not exclusively save, William Carey and Samuel Pierce were on fools’ errands. Adoniram Judson and Lottie Moon should be pitied, not revered. And Jim Elliott and Nate Saint died in vain. On the contrary, these great saints believed and ministered in light of what we must recover—an unreserved conviction of the exclusivity of the gospel.

 

*This article was originally posted on 12/15/2014*

Lord’s Day Meditation: “Heal Me, O Lord” by C. H. Spurgeon

Lord’s Day Meditation: “Heal Me, O Lord” by C. H. Spurgeon (Morning and Evening, August 30, Evening)

“Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed.” (Jeremiah 17:14)

“I have seen his ways, and will heal him.” (Isaiah 57:18)

It is the sole prerogative of God to remove spiritual disease. Natural disease may be instrumentally healed by men, but even then the honour is to be given to God who giveth virtue unto medicine, and bestoweth power unto the human frame to cast off disease. As for spiritual sicknesses, these remain with the great Physician alone; he claims it as his prerogative, “I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal;” and one of the Lord’s choice titles is Jehovah-Rophi, the Lord that healeth thee. “I will heal thee of thy wounds,” is a promise which could not come from the lip of man, but only from the mouth of the eternal God. On this account the psalmist cried unto the Lord, “O Lord, heal me, for my bones are sore vexed,” and again, “Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee.” For this, also, the godly praise the name of the Lord, saying, “He healeth all our diseases.” He who made man can restore man; he who was at first the creator of our nature can new create it. What a transcendent comfort it is that in the person of Jesus “dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily!” My soul, whatever thy disease may be, this great Physician can heal thee. If he be God, there can be no limit to his power. Come then with the blind eye of darkened understanding, come with the limping foot of wasted energy, come with the maimed hand of weak faith, the fever of an angry temper, or the ague of shivering despondency, come just as thou art, for he who is God can certainly restore thee of thy plague. None shall restrain the healing virtue which proceeds from Jesus our Lord. Legions of devils have been made to own the power of the beloved Physician, and never once has he been baffled. All his patients have been cured in the past and shall be in the future, and thou shalt be one among them, my friend, if thou wilt but rest thyself in him this night.

 

Recovering the Exclusivity of the Gospel

Known as the silent killer, each year colon cancer claims close to 50,000 American lives.[1] Though treatable if detected early, colon cancer is known as the silent killer because, if not screened for, it will grow unnoticed, undetected. By the time it is discovered symptomatically, it is often too late to be cured.

Like colon cancer, I’m convinced there is another slow, silent, growing malignancy within the church. The malignancy is particularly catastrophic, bringing with it ruinous consequences.

It hollows out the gospel message, undercuts the Great Commission, and undermines the entire logic of collaborative missions and ministry. The malignancy to which I am referring is the slow, subtle rejection of the exclusivity of the gospel.

By the Numbers

Recent research conducted jointly by Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research makes clear this challenge. For example, 45% of Americans think that “there are many ways to get to heaven” and 71% agree that “an individual must contribute his/her own effort for personal salvation.”[2]

Defining Exclusivity

Historic Christianity, throughout its creedal formulations, has affirmed the exclusivity of the gospel. In fact, this was Jesus’ self-assessment when he unequivocally asserted, ““I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the father but through me.”[3]

By exclusivity of the gospel, we mean that only those who personally, consciously, explicitly, and singularly confess Jesus Christ as Lord can possess eternal life. Let’s consider these qualifiers more closely.

Personally: Salvation comes to us individually, when one follows Christ. No one gains eternal life because of someone else’s faith, or by his or her affiliation with a family, church, ethnic or national group. Each sinner must come to repent of his or her sins and believe the gospel personally.

Consciously: To inherit the Kingdom one must do more than reflect the ethic of Christ; one must consciously embrace him, knowingly and intentionally following Jesus. There are no anonymous Christians, regardless of Karl Rahner’s assertion otherwise. Authentic believers know whom they are following.

Explicitly: One’s faith must be placed in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, not just generically in God. As Peter declared in Acts 4:12, “There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

Singularly: Faith in Jesus alone saves, and saving faith must be placed in him alone. The singularity of Christ as one’s faith object is especially important on the mission field, where missionaries encounter religions, such as Hinduism, where they are happy to add Jesus to their pantheon of gods. We do not add Jesus to our portfolio of faith objects. Christianity is not a both/and proposition; it is either/or.

Of course, when converted one is not necessarily thinking through these categories, like boxes to check. Rather, the point is one cannot reject or negate these gospel distinctives.

Challenges to Exclusivity

Why is the exclusivity of the gospel losing popularity? There seem to be a number of reasons. First, globalization has brought the nations near to us. This nearness should have increased our burden for the lost, but it seems to have done the opposite.

Second, the forward march of postmodernity continues to undermine absolute truth claims, especially one so audacious as the exclusivity of the gospel—that of the 7,000,000,000 inhabitants of Earth, only those that hear and believe the message of Christ can be saved.

Third, political correctness limits our willingness to offend, and asserting the full gospel message is the most offensive of truth claims. Political correctness finds the notion of a literal hell as insufferably backwards, and has re-envisioned it as a mythological—or nearly unoccupied— place.

Alternatives to Exclusivity

While universalism is often contrasted with exclusivity, it is actually not commonly accepted. There is just something disconcerting, even to thoroughgoing secularists, about the possibility of Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden spending eternity with Billy Graham. Even our most naturalistic instincts desire some sort of eternal reckoning.

More common alternatives are pluralism and inclusivism. Pluralism argues there are many ways to God, and one should earnestly follow the religious path revealed to you. Inclusivism maintains that Christ is the only Savior, but his provision can be accessed through other religions.

Ron Nash, in his Is Jesus the Only Savior?, helpfully summarizes pluralism, inclusivism, and exclusivity in two questions: Is Jesus the only savior? Must people believe in Jesus Christ to saved? Pluralism answers both questions “no”; inclusivism answers the first “yes” and the second “no.” Historic Christianity answers both “yes.”[4]

Of the many who attend evangelical churches yet deny the exclusivity of the gospel, pluralism or inclusivism—though they may not know these terms—is probably their ideological home. While they may not intend to reject historic Christianity, operationally, many of our church members—and our churches—are there.

Conclusion

To be a preacher is to be a decision maker. Each week preachers determine what to include in a sermon and what to leave out. Time simply does not allow one to say everything that could be said about every passage. Preachers intuitively triage their text, their sermon, and their congregation, asking themselves, “What can I assume they know and affirm, and what must I assert and advocate?”

Perhaps this triage has led too many pastors to assume their church members understand and embrace the exclusivity of the gospel. We can no longer assume this. We must assert and advocate the exclusivity of the gospel.

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[1] http://www.cancer.org/cancer/colonand...

[2] Ligonier Ministries, in partnership with LifeWay Research, “The State of Theology: Theological Awareness Benchmark Study,” 4. Available online: http://gpts.edu/resources/documents/TheStateOfTheology-Whitepaper.pdf.

[3] John 14:6.

[4] See Ron Nash, Is Jesus the Only Savior? (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994).

 

*This article was originally posted on 12/09/2014*

Lord’s Day Meditation: “Wait on the Lord” by C. H. Spurgeon

Lord’s Day Meditation: “Wait on the Lord” by C. H. Spurgeon (Morning and Evening, August 30, Morning)

“Wait on the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14

It may seem an easy thing to wait, but it is one of the postures which a Christian soldier learns not without years of teaching. Marching and quick-marching are much easier to God’s warriors than standing still. There are hours of perplexity when the most willing spirit, anxiously desirous to serve the Lord, knows not what part to take. Then what shall it do? Vex itself by despair? Fly back in cowardice, turn to the right hand in fear, or rush forward in presumption? No, but simply wait. Wait in prayer, however. Call upon God, and spread the case before him; tell him your difficulty, and plead his promise of aid. In dilemmas between one duty and another, it is sweet to be humble as a child, and wait with simplicity of soul upon the Lord. It is sure to be well with us when we feel and know our own folly, and are heartily willing to be guided by the will of God. But wait in faith. Express your unstaggering confidence in him; for unfaithful, untrusting waiting, is but an insult to the Lord. Believe that if he keep you tarrying even till midnight, yet he will come at the right time; the vision shall come and shall not tarry. Wait in quiet patience, not rebelling because you are under the affliction, but blessing your God for it. Never murmur against the second cause, as the children of Israel did against Moses; never wish you could go back to the world again, but accept the case as it is, and put it as it stands, simply and with your whole heart, without any self-will, into the hand of your covenant God, saying, “Now, Lord, not my will, but thine be done. I know not what to do; I am brought to extremities, but I will wait until thou shalt cleave the floods, or drive back my foes. I will wait, if thou keep me many a day, for my heart is fixed upon thee alone, O God, and my spirit waiteth for thee in the full conviction that thou wilt yet be my joy and my salvation, my refuge and my strong tower.”

 

On Preaching and the Public Invitation System

Several years ago, I preached a series of renewal services at Rosedale Baptist Church in Abingdon, VA. Commonly referred to as a “revival,” or, in previous generations, a “protracted meeting,” each service carried a specifically evangelistic emphasis. I prayed the Lord would be pleased to honor the preaching of His Word, call many to faith in Christ, and produce spiritual fruit that remains.

Each service, I preached the gospel and called sinners to repentance and faith in Christ. My week of evangelistic preaching reminded me of a question a student recently asked me, “Should the sermon conclude with an invitation?” I responded, “Yes, a sermon certainly can conclude with an invitation, but, more importantly, the sermon must be an invitation.”

Such is the New Testament pattern. Preaching is to inform the mind, impact the emotion, and challenge the will. Real preaching is confrontational, always calling for a verdict, and that should happen throughout the sermon, not just during the conclusion.

Invitations without Sermons

I once sat through a sermon that began, literally, with the invitation. The entirety of the sermon was given to explaining the forthcoming invitation and to encouraging the listeners to come forward during it. There was no preached word; no gospel presentation to which one should respond. I kept thinking, “Come forward in light of what? Come forward for what?” I didn’t have a seminary degree then, but I had a hunch that merely changing one’s geographic location in a room wouldn’t save.

This is not to argue for the impropriety of calling on people to respond publicly to Christ. In fact, every time I preach I do just that. I gave my life to Christ, as a college student, during a Sunday-morning public invitation. My pastor preached the gospel, the Holy Spirit convicted me of sin, and I responded. In fact, many of the people I know most cautious of the invitation system were actually saved in the context of a public invitation. Just like faith in faith doesn’t save, but faith in Christ saves, so walking an aisle during a public invitation doesn’t save, but responding to a call to follow Christ does.

Sermons without Invitations

Similarly, I have sat through sermons where the pastor explained the gospel, but it came without a sense of urgency or a call for response. The text had been appropriately explained, and the work of Christ expounded, but no plea for repentance and submission to Christ. Such sermons are like setting a plated meal before a hungry guest, but never inviting them to eat.

To be sure, unregenerate church members plague the modern church, and emotionalism, decisionism, and manipulative invitations have produced their share of them. False converts hinder the congregation’s witness and undermine the glory of Christ in his church. But, if not careful, a minister can become so afraid of making false converts that he never gets around to making converts at all. This is tragic as well.

The Sermon as Invitation

A better way—and, I believe, a more biblical way—is for the sermon to be an invitation. Seeking to persuade is integral to biblical preaching. Paul’s ministry evidenced such persuasion. He “was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.” Paul testified, “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”[i]

If you haven’t invited, you haven’t preached. If you haven’t persuaded, you haven’t preached. If you haven’t begged, you haven’t preached. You may have lectured, led an inductive Bible study, or presented an insightful exposition, but to be a preacher is to be a pleader, a persuader, a beggar.

Viewing the sermon as an invitation helps ensure the sermon is intentionally evangelistic throughout. It also forces the preacher to connect the text to Christ; to preach the text in light of Christ, which is a part of faithful exposition. The gospel deserves more than to be politely tacked on to the end of a sermon. When the sermon is an invitation, the entire discourse is a frontal assault on the human heart. Such preaching leads to more gospel, not less; and makes the sermon more direct, and more evangelistic.

This does not negate an opportunity to respond, it ensures it. Whether the sermon concludes with a long, formal invitation, a short, formal invitation, or no formal invitation, the sinner has been consistently presented the gospel and consistently challenged to follow Christ.

Whether the response is at a dedicated time following the sermon, later after the service, or a follow-up meeting, the preacher must apply the urgency of the gospel, give his hearers a way to respond, and their commitment must ultimately get public, most appropriately in the waters of baptism.

Conclusion

Should the sermon conclude with invitation? Yes, a sermon certainly can conclude with an invitation, but, more importantly, the sermon must be an invitation.

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[i] Acts 18:4, II Corinthians 5:20.