Paul Christianson

The declarations and prayers of Psalm 27 are made against the dark frame of a host of enemies: evildoers who slander, do violence, and seek the destruction of King David, the author of this psalm. David likens them to “wild beasts,” verse 2, and like an army encamped around him, verse 3.

Against such odds the king is incredibly defiant, writing in verses 1 through 3: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evil doers assail me, uttering slanders against me, all my adversaries and foes, they shall stumble and fall. Though a host encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.”

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John Reuther

My earlier article – “Good Books & Good Thinking”- was based on Philippians 4:8 where we have a good word that is applicable to reading:

“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”

Much is at stake in our attention to the whole section starting at verse 4 and ending at verse 9. Paul tells us to rejoice in the Lord (4:4). He counsels us to turn our worries and fears into prayer requests (4:6). The peace of God will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus as we follow these commands. And it’s all dependent on how we engage our thoughts, what we are looking for in life, and whether or not we devote ourselves to the very best (4:8). Paul loved books. He told Timothy: “When you come bring the cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments” (2 Tim. 4:13). The selection of books to choose from is enormous. Truth and godliness are on the line in what we read and digest. Allow me to suggest three issues for consideration: SELECTION, DIGESTION, & VALUATION.

The first issue in regard to our reading is the selection of the book. It is important to stop at the outset and remember, however, that in the Bible we have a divine selection of 66 books which is the only sure guide to salvation and sanctification. God has selected these books for us and they are our daily manna. As Christ’s disciples we devote ourselves to the daily, systematic, devotional reading and study of God’s word. As important as good reading is, the reading of all other books is subordinate to the Bible. So when we contemplate buying, borrowing, and reading any other book, we must consider why we are selecting a particular book and whether or not we should read it, and how it can support our divinely mandated reading of the Bible.

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More than 30 years in the making, from Greg Nichols’ class notes comes a new volume that will help those who are Reformed and Baptistic understand the vital subject of God’s Covenants from the perspective of those persuaded of Disciple’s Baptism.

Purchase Covenant Theology: A Reformed and Baptistic Perspective on God’s Covenants at Trinity Book Service.

“Baptists who embrace their historic Calvinistic and Covenantal roots have long since needed a robust and comprehensive treatment of Covenant Theology that includes the nuanced interpretations of the biblical covenants that a baptistic hermeneutic requires. This treatment by Greg Nichols does just that and more. As a devotee of the Westminster tradition (including its chapter, ‘On God’s Covenant with Man’), I differ here and there; sometimes significantly so. But there is so much to applaud in this volume and Baptists will do well to read this volume carefully and with much gratitude. A splendid achievement. I, for one, will insist that my Presbyterian students read it.” – Derek W. H. Thomas, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology, RTS, Minister of Preaching and Teaching, First Presbyterian Church, Columbia, SC, Editorial Director, Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals

“There has been an urgent need for a Reformed Baptist to produce a work on the covenants. I am so thankful that Greg Nichols has engaged in this very weighty work. It is a very timely addition on a vitally important topic and adds much to a growing Reformed Baptist literary body.” – James R. White, Alpha and Omega Ministry, author of numerous books, including ‘Pulpit Crimes’, published by Solid Ground

• Covenant Theology: A Reformed & Baptistic Perspective

   

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• From the Preface

   

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• What is a covenant?

   

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• Excerpt from Chapter 8

   

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• From the Conclusion

   

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“Greg Nichols has done a wonderful job of articulating a genuinely reformed and baptistic model of covenant theology. The fruit of decades of study and teaching on his subject, this volume should be read by all who want to understand the proper framework of divine revelation. My counsel to all ministerial students is ‘Tolle lege’ (take up and read).” – Dr. Robert P. Martin, Emmanuel Reformed Baptist Church, Seattle, WA, Author of “Guide to the Puritans”

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Alan Dunn

The Puritan Samuel Chadwick says,

“Satan dreads nothing but prayer. Activities are multiplied that prayer may be ousted and organizations are increased that prayer may have no chance. The one concern of the devil is to keep the saints from praying. He fears nothing from prayer-less studies, prayer-less work, prayer-less religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.”

We’ve looked in our last hour at the priority of preaching. In this hour I want to survey the priority of prayer considering both congregational prayer as well as pastoral intercessory prayer.

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER

Let’s look first then at the priority of church prayer meetings. Now it traditionally has been the practice of evangelical churches in the United States to meet on Wednesday nights for prayer. Sadly we’re seeing a day when many American churches are discontinuing this practice and no longer having a midweek meeting that is devoted solely to prayer. Now, I’m not saying that a church has to meet on a Wednesday night. I’m even willing to say that a church does not have to have a meeting specifically for prayer, although there is biblical precedent for that and good reason for that and biblical reason for that, but I am saying that the church is given the assignment of corporate prayer and the pastor, as shepherd of the flock, must guide the people of God into this assigned responsibility. We must make corporate prayer a priority of the church so that the church accomplishes her duties in relation to her Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Click here to read the rest of this sermon transcript.

In case you neglected to view the video of Dr. Dennis Johnson on Redemptive-Historical Preaching posted on September 3, 2011, let me encourage you to view that two-minute video and take an additional six or seven minutes to read this post as well (yeah, I timed it). I was privileged in July to take Dr Johnson’s class on “Redemptive Historical” (RH) preaching. RH preaching emerged from a controversy in the 1930s and 1940s in the Reformed Church in the Netherlands. “The central issue in this debate was whether or not it was valid for the preacher to utilize the characters or the events of the Bible as examples or models for believers today.” (John Carrick, The Imperative of Preaching: A Theology of Sacred Rhetoric, Banner of Truth, 2002, p.108). The RH school denounced “exemplaristic” preaching as violating Scripture by transforming history into parable-like moralisms, disconnected from God’s objective historically unfolding redeeming acts. They warned against allegorizing and accused the exemplarists of fracturing Scripture, reading it atomistically out of context, and then applying it arbitrarily in preaching. The exemplarists bemoaned the absence of application characteristic of (some) RH preaching.

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Have you ever felt daunted by the very many verses in Psalm 119? The longest Psalm in the Bible has 176 verses! In Meditations on Psalm 119 Pastor D. Scott Meadows shows that each verse in this Psalm is a treasury of truth and beauty, helping the reader to find in them both delight and instruction. The heart of a pastor who is seeking to win his readers and lead them to see and apply the life-changing truth of this Psalm is evident throughout. The beauty of each verse is highlighted for the reader as he learns about the way that the psalmist uses parallelism and striking comparisons in order to praise the Word of God and encourage our faith-driven obedience to it. These are truly useful meditations, with simple wording that is to the point, but that yet startles with its profundity. Those who profess to love the Word of God will find joy, instruction, and encouragement. Reading Pastor D. Scott Meadows’ caring and careful meditations on the verses of this Psalm is an aid to meditation as well as an encouragement toward greater discipline and faith in the reading of God’s Word. The author’s enthusiasm for the Word of God is contagious.

These meditations are commendable for their warmth and simplicity. Like the writings of the Puritans, they give off both “light and heat.” One is led to hope and pray with the psalmist, “I shall run the way of Your commandments, For You will enlarge my heart.”

You can read Expositions on Psalm 119 by clicking on the link below. Stay posted for new material added weekly!

Read Meditations on Psalm 119 by D. Scott Meadows

Alan Dunn

We’re going to consider the priority of shepherding God’s flock.

We need to be the best preachers that we can be, and through the public ministry of the Word of God, endeavor to feed the sheep with the truth of the Word.

Indeed in Jeremiah 3:15, the Lord promises,

Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart who will feed you on knowledge and understanding.

The shepherd is one who feeds the flock of God with the food of the Scripture, but the pastor is more than a public speaker, and his ministry of the Word of God goes beyond preaching in the pulpit. He is a shepherd, and he is concerned that each individual sheep in His flock receives the nourishment of God’s Word personally and specifically.

We turn to Colossians chapter 1 and we read of Paul’s description of this concern for every man who sits under his public ministry.

Every man is the concern of the apostle. He speaks to all kinds of men, and he speaks to individual men. Every man. He does this at great cost with labor agonizing, striving, relying not on His own strength but on the power that works mightily within him, with an energy and ability that is given to the man of God to do the work that God has called him to do, for he is a man gifted by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit works mightily within Him as he works as hard as he can.

I labor says Paul, I work myself to the point of exhaustion. I drop in to bed at night sometimes absolutely exhausted emotionally, spiritually, physically, having labored to the point of exhaustion but not with my own power: laboring with the strength that comes from God.

The work of the pastoral ministry requires that we shepherd the sheep, that we feed them with the Word of God, not only publicly, in corporate worship, from the pulpit but also personally, privately, individually as we endeavor to meet with them one on one.

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Dave Chanski

The name “Christ” means “Anointed One”. Theologians have pointed out that in the OT, prophets, priests and kings were all anointed for their offices. As the Anointed One, Christ is our prophet, priest and king. This suggests a helpful way to evaluate whether a ministry is “Christ-centered”.

Christ’s work as a priest focuses especially on His saving work on the cross. A properly Christ-centered ministry will clearly proclaim and steadfastly maintain that Christ’s work, and His work alone saves sinners. We must not tolerate the notion that saving merit comes from any other source than from Christ, not even from the sinner’s own heart in his exercise of faith. Furthermore, such a ministry will emphasize the Christian’s continuing absolute dependence on Christ. Since every believer is a redeemed sinner, he will be constantly reminded to abide in Christ by confessing his sins and placing his trust in Christ for forgiveness and strength to obey (Matthew 6:12; 1 John 1:9). As the well-known hymn reminds us, “Every hour I need Thee”.

A Scripturally Christ-centered ministry will teach clearly, carefully, and unashamedly about our Lord’s saving work, including such important subjects as reconciliation and propitiation. Such teaching may not be welcomed with open arms by the MTV generation, but it is vital if we wish to prevent the gospel from being watered down to the point that it becomes meaningless. Thus will the church avoid producing Christians who mindlessly repeat “in Jesus’ name”, but she will beget a generation who intelligently and truly “glory in the cross”.

Further, a Christ-centered ministry, even when it is more directly concentrating on the Christian’s duties of obedience and mortification of sin, will always be guided, motivated and empowered by the crosswork of Jesus Christ. Moreover, its goal will always be the glory of Christ and the urging of every guilty conscience to flee to Christ for forgiveness and cleansing. As the apostle wrote, “God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14).

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Alan Dunn

If we are to locate the ‘place for guilt,’ we will have to navigate by the objective points of reference revealed in Scripture. If we merely discuss what you or I feel about guilt, we will soon be adrift on the murky sea of subjectivity. We need to fasten our moral sextant on the objective ‘stars’ of God’s revealed truth. Previously the first two points of reference were identified: first, the fact of God as our Creator, Judge, and Lawgiver; and second, the fact of our accountability to God, our Creator-Father. As His image-bearers, we are obligated to love Him and obey His words with filial trust so as to image Him accurately in creation.

Our guilt has a third objective point of reference: the fact of our sin. God commanded Adam not to eat of the forbidden fruit. When Adam ate that fruit, he sinned and incurred the punishment of death for himself and for humanity. We do not now stand in that ‘good’ relation to God in which He originally created us.

There is an aspect of ‘The Fall’ that cannot be ignored: the role of Satan. Jesus says Satan was a liar and murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). Satan deceived the couple by placing a question mark over the Word of God, enticing them to suspect God’s goodness and justice. He encouraged them to break God’s Law, promising that they would be ‘enlightened’ and become divine themselves. He tempted them to this self-idolatry with the lie of Genesis 3:4, “You surely shall not die!” when God had said, “you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). When they ate the fruit, they were ‘enlightened,’ not to become divine but to become dead.

The first thing the fallen couple did was to separate from one another. They sowed fig leaves together and covered their loins, separating from each other and from the purposes of God. They aligned themselves with Satan, believing the lie in rebellion against God. God approached the couple but they hid from Him. When Adam reluctantly admits that he knew that he was naked, God asks, “Who told you that you were naked?” This question assumes that Adam has listened to somebody other than God. Adam could not know of his nakedness in his innocence, some one had to tell him. God did not tell him. Therefore another voice has spoken to Adam in competition with God’s words. A rival revelation has been deceptively given and obviously Adam has believed it! God gives him opportunity to indict Satan and expose his lies, but he doesn’t. Instead he blames the woman and then blames God Himself! Then, almost as an after thought, he lamely admits, “and I ate.”

Which brings us to sin: sin is essentially the violation of God’s Law. Later, God reiterated the morality of creation, codifying it as The Ten Commandments. God’s moral Law in brief is: I: “You shall have no other gods before Me.” II: “You shall not make for yourself an idol.” III: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” IV: “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.” V: “Honor your father and your mother.” VI: “You shall not murder.” VII: “You shall not commit adultery.” VIII: “You shall not steal.” IX: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” X: “You shall not covet.” Jesus taught that obedience to the Law is not mere external performance, but involves the actings of the heart (see Matthew 5-7). Obedience to the Law is essentially love to God and love to neighbor (cf. Matthew 22:37-40; Romans 13:8-10). In regard to Adam, God’s creature son, his sin evidenced a heart which no longer loved God. How did Adam, who was created in righteous communion with God, sin!? I cannot say. Sin is essentially irrational. There is no logical explanation, no reasoned defense which justifies sin. We can analyze sin and discover its roots and identify it by its violation of the Law, but it makes no sense.

Death is not essentially a biological phenomenon, but is a legal punishment executed by the Divine Judge upon morally accountable Lawbreakers. The meaning of death is not to annihilate, but to separate. Because of man’s sin, death now conditions a fallen creation. When Adam disobeyed God, the created order began to crack apart. Adam experienced death’s separation in himself: his body would return to the dust; in being separated from his wife; in being separated from his labor; in being separated from creation; and in being separated from God.

Guilt is incurred when we reject God’s Word and believe Satan’s lies, when we sin by transgressing God’s Law and render ourselves liable to death. Sadly, like fallen Adam, many today believe lies, and cover sin with the ‘fig leaves’ of their supposed ‘spirituality’ in an attempt to keep God at a distance. Those who reject God ultimately get what they desire: separation from God. Ultimate and eternal separation from God is called ‘hell.’

Adam totally misunderstood God’s approach to him after he sinned. God would have been righteous had He immediately cast the couple into hell. But, without compromise to His justice, God disciplines the couple in mercy. In Genesis 3, God came to salvage creation and to give sinners the promise of salvation! Yes, we are guilty. Yes, we deserve death. But there is forgiveness with God! “The Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth” (Exodus 34:6). Do not misunderstand His dealings with you. He is not now approaching you to damn you, but to save you from the death you deserve because of your sin!

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Dave Chanski

Every sincere Christian desires a “Christ-centered” ministry. But, what constitutes a “Christ-centered” ministry? Frequently, preachers or churches which address the subjects of sin, repentance, obedience, Christ’s commands, duty, or self-denial are criticized as being not “Christ-centered”, even though Christ’s own Word overflows with teaching on these topics.

Is a sermon “Christ-centered” only if it is an evangelistic sermon which is primarily directed at the unconverted? Jesus preached and taught regarding many other subjects, often directing his words to those who were already his disciples and not to the unconverted. The same is true of the epistles of the New Testament. Certainly the teaching and preaching of Jesus and the apostles were properly “Christ- centered”. If we preach nothing but so-called “salvation” messages, we cannot fulfill Jesus’ mandate to teach those who have already been baptized to “observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20), and we will fail to produce stable, well-instructed Christians and mature churches.

It seems that in our day, “Christ-centered” is used by some to mean “positive” or encouraging rather than “negative” or convicting. This raises the question, Could it be that “Christ-centered” is often simply used as a synonym for “comfortable”? As the religion editor of a large city’s newspaper once wrote, “Church is the one place people ought to be able to go and be assured that their emotional eggshell won’t be cracked.” It seems that Jesus did not know this. The response of many who heard Him was to become angry or to go away sad (Matthew 19:22). Paul had a different opinion as well. He believed that the result of the Holy Spirit’s working in a church service would not be that an unbeliever would go away with a warm glow, but that he would be “convinced by all” and “judged by all. And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you” (1Co 14.23-5). May God the Holy Spirit so bless and attend our worship services today.

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