Everything about Christianity is holy: it is a holy faith, believed by holy people, who offer a holy God holy obedience through a holy Saviour by the Holy Spirit speaking in His holy Word. The words qadosh (Hebrew) and hagios (Greek) that are translated ‘holy’ confirm this understanding. They are rich with meaning. They suggest separation, consecration, purity, brightness and shining.
Perhaps the Puritans came nearest to it when they focused on the character of God. Holiness, they said, is that awesome quality with which all God’s attributes are filled. God is light, God is life, God is purity, God is truth, God is good. In His essential nature - as infinite, eternal, unchangeable, transcendent, immanent, mysterious - He is holy. His knowledge is holy knowledge, His power is holy power, His truth is holy truth, His justice is holy justice, His love is holy love. In His tri-personality He is holy: the Father is holy, the Son is holy, the Spirit is holy. In all His Word, ways and works God is holy.
When this holy God is pleased to enter into a relationship with His creatures, He stamps on them the same holy quality. Hence the holy angels (Matt 25.31), holy ground (Exod 3.5) and the holy nation (Exod 19.6). In this relationship the word holy signifies the presence of God, marking them off as sacred, distinct from the profane.
In the case of people, their separation from all that is common or unclean acquires a moral significance. Hence the command: “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” (1 Pet 1.16) Explains Robert Leighton: “It is no matter that the profane world (which so hates God that it cannot endure His image) do mock and revile; it is thy honour to be...more vile, in growing still more like unto Him in holiness.” This holiness includes both “the renouncing of the lusts and pollutions of the world, both in heart and life,” and “the filling of their room with the beautifying graces of the Spirit of God”, so that His people are “like Him who hath called them.” “Consider whose you are,” he exhorts, “and you cannot deny that it becomes you to be holy. Consider your near relation to the holy God... You were running to destruction in the way of sin, and there was a voice together with the Gospel preached to your ear, which spake into your heart, and called you back from that path of death to the way of holiness, which is the only way of life. He hath severed you from the mass of the profane world, and picked you out to be jewels for Himself. He hath set you apart for this end, that you may be holy to Him... It is sacrilege for you to dispose of yourselves after the impure manner of the world, and to apply yourselves to any profane use, whom God hath consecrated to Himself.”
It is therefore God’s presence in His people that creates a holy church in an unholy world. God dwells in His people as in His own temple: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” (1 Cor 3.16-17) Comments Charles Hodge: “This truth the Corinthians seem to have forgotten... He therefore asks them: ‘Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?’... A temple is a house in which God dwells; and therefore it is added, ‘and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.’ This indwelling of the Spirit constitutes each believer, every separate church, and the Church collectively, the temple of God.” Just as the Shechinah glory of God gave the temple its awe-inspiring power, so the indwelling Spirit makes the people of God holy in an unholy world.
‘What has all this to do with us?’ you may ask. Well, man by nature is unholy. He is of the world, he is opposed to the Church, he is not sacred, but profane. He is not consecrated to God. He lives for himself. And now, under the influence of ‘globalization’, modern man’s whole mind and spirit is enslaved to technology, information, communications and electronic networks. The more he is involved in them the more he is enslaved by them. Consequently the world’s nations are increasingly interdependent and forced to sustain the ‘god’ they have created. Everyone is so trapped in the world’s affairs that they have no time for the true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
But not only is this world-wide trend diametrically opposed to holiness. It has created its own ‘secular holiness.’ Culture, eroticism, drugs, sport, violence, technology and revolutionary idealism are the modern substitutes for God. The secular news of the mass media has taken the place of listening to the voice of God. Mystical music, theatre, art, film and fashion now replace spiritual communion with God. In short, this ‘depraved holiness’, with its unholy philosophy, unholy ‘clergy’, unholy worshippers and unholy rituals, is a rival religion to true Christianity.
Can such a world accommodate Christian holiness? No, it cannot. Therefore it will try increasingly to exterminate it. Christians can expect the most merciless persecution in the days to come, unless God in mercy intervenes. A world that lies in wickedness is bent on their removal, and will stop short of nothing to achieve it.
What must be done in this seemingly hopeless situation?
First, we must pursue a holiness that is intensely personal. We ourselves must be holy. When by grace we are living in a right relationship with God, we will form a holy community, the Church. This holy church will be separated from the secular, profane world and will live to God. It will be in the world but not of the world. And it will leave the mark of God’s indwelling presence on the world. Christ once turned the old pagan world upside down, not through power-structures or knowledge or new methods or coercion, but by His Word and Spirit operating through a holy Church. The same is true of every revival and reformation in the Church. At a Christian conference years ago papers were given on two men greatly used by God in the 19th century. What was their secret? After considerable discussion, it was agreed that these two men, in dependence on God alone, prayed, preached His Word and lived holy lives.
Second, we must continue to witness against evil in the world and the church, despite the insistent demand for ‘political correctness’, and proclaim the Gospel of God’s grace. Though our iniquities have separated us from God, yet His hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. (Isa 59.1) He is able to convert the most unholy and make them holy. To that truth His people’s experience bears witness. (Psa 86.2) Did Christ not say, on the eve of His departure from this world, leaving His Church to battle away in its midst: “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16.33)?
Let us then in the strength of His grace labour on, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
John Brentnall
Owing to ill health, John Brentnall has sadly had to lay down his work as General Secretary of the SGU, and as Editor of Peace & Truth. We are very grateful to him, and to the Lord, for all the excellent work he has done. On a temporary basis, Robert Dale, Pastor of Lincoln Evangelical Church, and a member of the SGU Committee, has taken over as Acting Editor. We hope to announce a new Secretary shortly.
It is a measure of the great spiritual distance between the founding fathers of the Church of England and ourselves that, whereas we can do little more than wrangle over it, they knew the doctrine of election to be “full of sweet, pleasant and unspeakable comfort.” (Article XVII of the Thirty Nine Articles of Religion.) In this short article we shall consider what a comforting doctrine Election was to them and why it is not so to us.
Lest any reader should protest that Election is a peculiarity of Genevan Calvinism, and unworthy of any normal Christian’s credit, we merely draw his attention to the following texts of Holy Scripture. After all, that is the test: Is it a Scriptural doctrine, or is it not? If it is not, we are perfectly justified in rejecting it. But if it is, we should immediately receive it, whether we can grasp it or not, for it is the testimony of God.
1. “For the elect’s sake the days shall be shortened.” (Matt 24.22)
2. “If it were possible they should deceive even the elect.” (Mark 13.22)
3. “Shall not God avenge his own elect?” (Luke 18.7)
4. “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” (Rom 8.33)
5. “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God.” (1 Pet 1.2)
6. “...make your calling and your election sure.” (2 Pet 1.10)
These texts settle the issue. They clearly teach that God chooses some to salvation, and that those so chosen are called God’s elect. When considered en masse, these form a number that no man can number. Yet each individual in that mass is known and loved by God from all eternity. The texts cannot refer to the election of nations rather than individuals; for Scripture itself sharply distinguishes between the two: “Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it.” (Rom 11.7) Besides, both the Book of Psalms and the Saviour Himself speak of elect individuals: “Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee.” “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.” (Psa 65.4; John 15.16)
William Plumer is right, therefore, to point out that “the doctrine of a divine election of sinners to the blessings of salvation is as certainly taught in the Old Testament as in the New,” and also to regret “that a truth, which has often caused the hearts of God’s servants to break forth into thanksgivings, should have been rejected by some and by others received with suspicion.” Whether we realize it or not, our salvation depends on our election. And whether Arminians deny it or not, as John Wesley and Fletcher of Madeley did, their salvation too depends on it. To hold the doctrine of election may not be essential to salvation, but to be one of God’s elect certainly is. To realize that God has chosen us in Christ to eternal salvation, and in that realization to exclaim: “Why me?” is one of the most joyful experiences of a believer’s life.
Let us savour some of the “sweet, pleasant and unspeakable comfort” that our early Reformers drew from the doctrine of election.
First, they made it the source of all their loving obedience to God:
“God chooseth us first and loveth us first, and openeth our eyes to see His exceeding abundant love to us in Christ; and then love we again, and accept His will above all things, and serve Him in that office whereunto He hath chosen us.” (William Tyndale)
Second, they saw it as the fountain of all their holiness:
“We must serve God in holiness in respect of Himself: we must serve man in righteousness in respect of God... Holiness is the end of our election: ‘He chose us before the foundation of the world that we might be holy.’” (Edwin Sandys)
Third, they traced to it both their conflict with sin and recovery from sin:
“This is the difference between God’s children, who are regenerate and elect before all time in Christ, and the wicked castaways, that the elect lie not still continually in their sin, as do the wicked, but at length do return again by reason of God’s seed, which is in them hid as a spark of fire in the ashes; as we may see in Peter, David, Paul, Mary Magdalene, and others... And therefore they ought to rejoice, and herethrough to comfort themselves in their conflicts, which are testimonials, and most true, that they are the elect and dear ‘children of God’; for else they could not nor should not feel any such strife in them.” (John Bradford)
Fourth, they found it the basis of their perseverance in the faith:
“And this certainty of our salvation the Spirit of God testifieth to our spirit...being assured of God’s constant favour and eternal love towards us; who never leaveth unfinished that which He hath begun, nor forsaketh him whom He hath chosen.” (Edwin Sandys)
“God hath chosen you from the beginning: His election is sure for ever. The Lord knoweth who are His. You shall not be deceived with the power and subtlety of antichrist, you shall not fall from grace, you shall not perish. This is the comfort which abideth with the faithful when they behold the fall of the wicked... Although all the world should be drowned with the waves of ungodliness, yet will I hold by the boat of His mercy, which shall utterly preserve me. If all the world be set on fire with the flame of wickedness, yet will I creep into the bosom of the protection of my Lord; so shall no flame hurt me. He hath loved me, He hath chosen me, He will keep me.” (John Jewel)
Fifth, they found in it their comfort when suffering martyrdom for Christ:
“and in that glorious resurrection he [the martyr] shall not only see continual and perpetual joy and consolation, but also the victory and triumph over all persecution, trouble, sin, death, hell, the devil, and all other persecutors and tyrants of Christ and of Christ’s people...their souls for ever praising the Lord, and conjunction and society everlasting with the blessed company of God’s elect in perpetual joy.” (John Hooper)
“All ye that be my true lovers and friends, rejoice and rejoice with me again, and render with me hearty thanks to God our heavenly Father, that for His Son’s sake, my Saviour and Redeemer Christ, He hath vouchsafed to call me, being else without His gracious goodness in myself but a sinful and a vile wretch, to call me (I say) unto this high dignity of His true prophets, of His faithful apostles, and of His holy, elect and chosen martyrs: that is, to die, and to spend this temporal life in the defence and maintenance of His eternal and everlasting truth.” (Nicholas Ridley)
Why do so many of us today lack such “sweet, pleasant and unspeakable comfort”?
The reason with some is their lack of assurance that they are among the elect. “How dare I claim to be one of God’s elect,” they say, “when I still find so much sin and love of sin in myself?”
My dear friend, let me encourage you from my experience of probably the most godly and gracious man I ever knew. My fellow theology student and I were visiting the late Rev Donald MacFarlane, Dingwall. During family prayer he prayed: “Lord, Thou knowest how much we love sin.” For a man so near to Christ and heaven to acknowledge this was a tremendous relief to me. I thought: “If such a godly man as Mr MacFarlane still finds the love of sin in his heart, there is hope for me yet!”
The reason why others derive no comfort from the doctrine of election is that they secretly despise it. They say: “If I am chosen, I shall be saved, live how I like. If I am not, I shall be lost, do what I can.” So they sit down and do nothing.
Still others take umbrage in antinomian presumption. “I once had an experience of conversion, and know I am saved. I do not need to strive after holiness. Christ is my holiness. Neither am I under the law. I have the Spirit, and He guides me through life. Calls to mortify sin, and crucify self, and watch, and pray, are legalistic. And even though I sometimes sin, God sees no sin in me, and He loves me just as I am. Why do you make such heavy weather of religion? I am one of God’s elect, and I am going to glory.”
What shall we say to those who speak in this way? Well, we must tell them plainly that they are self-deceived. First, they pervert the doctrine of election; then they abuse it to their own destruction. My dear friend, God will never excuse you for turning the great source of comfort to the godly into a pillow of security in sin for the ungodly. You must use all the God-given means at your disposal to make your calling and election sure. You must seek the Lord with all your heart. You must come to Christ. You must turn from your sins. You must wrestle, and fight, and pray. If you do not, you will be lost. You will not fall short of salvation because of the doctrine of election, but because you “neglect the great salvation.” Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die? Christ receives sinners, and why not you? Unless you find salvation in Him, the Day of Judgment will leave you condemned, not because of election, but because of unbelief, and impenitence, and sloth, and hatred of God and Christ and holiness. May God grant you faith, and repentance, and a holy life, that you may dwell with God’s elect now and in eternity.
Master John Hus, an unprofitable servant of God, to all the elect and to those who are zealous for the Lord Jesus Christ and His word, dwelling in the city of Prague: grave, mercy and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour.
Dear friends, I greatly rejoice in this, that you constantly attend the preaching of God’s word, and that the merciful saviour is granting to you leaders powerful in the truth. May it therefore please the Almighty to bestow upon you grace, mercy and peace through our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; grace for your good, that you may make good progress in that same grace, in like manner as you have begun, and come to a profitable issue therein; mercy to be kept in your remembrance and gratefully received, seeing that the Eternal God, the supreme Goodness, for us sinners deigned to become man, afflicted, spat upon, shamefully entreated, condemned of His own, vilely rejected in such wise that the common people, led away by the counsel of the priests and having to choose between the two, chose, instead of Jesus the innocent Saviour, a robber and villainous homicide, and placed the Saviour in such derision and shame that He uttered a lamentation in the words of Jeremiah: Hear, I pray you, all ye people and see my sorrow. And again: O all ye that pass by the way, attend and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow. Also He cried to His Father saying: O God, why hast thou forsaken me? Such was indeed His cry, as He hung on the cruel and shameful cross and suffered the blasphemy of the priests, who surrounded the cross and shouted and hissed out the mocking words: He trusted in God: let him now deliver him. Thou that destroyest the temple of God...come down from the cross! But His cry was: O God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? It is that cry that calls upon us to mark His boundless mercy, to suffer blasphemy in the spirit of love along with Him, and to be thankful for the mercy wherewith He redeemed us from everlasting damnation.
Such, then, is the mercy that comes to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour, Who grants you also peace. Our Master, the Peacemaker, taught His disciples to be peacemakers, so that, in whatsoever house they entered, they were to say, Peace be to you. When He rose from the dead and entered into the midst of them, He said: Peace be to you. When, too, He was minded to depart from them to His death, He said, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. After His manner, therefore, I desire peace for you also, dear friends - peace to you from Him, that you may live virtuous lives and overcome the devil, the world, and the flesh - peace to you from Him, that you may love one another, ay, and your enemies - peace to you, that you may peaceably hear His word - peace to you, that you may speak with discretion - peace to you, that you may know how to be silent with advantage. For he that hears in a humble spirit doth not contend in a cause with malice; he that speaks with discretion, overcomes the contentious; he that keeps silence to good purpose doth not quickly wound his conscience. For these reasons, peace be unto you, grace and mercy - grace that preserves from sin; mercy that delivers from eternal fire and the peace of eternal repose in the eternal joy, which comes to all the faithful after this paltry life - from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, to whom be praise for ever and ever. Amen
Islam is very much in the news at present. The world is afraid of Muslim terrorists - although moderate Muslims protest the peaceful nature of their religion. Christians are persecuted in many Muslim countries, and yet some still seek after “inter-faith dialogue” between the two religions.
One of the first modern missionaries to a Muslim country was the saintly Henry Martyn (1781-1812) The following extracts from his journal describe the Muslim Fast of Ramadan (which he calls “Ramazan”) in Shiraz in 1811. Although coming from a faraway land and a faraway time, this description is still recognizably similar to modern Islam, and reveals the emptiness of a religion based on ritual. It also reveals the heart of a missionary, concerned to make Christ known amongst Muslims, not in a spirit of antagonism, but out of a desire for the glory of God and the salvation of precious souls - RD
Sept 20 - First day of the fast of Ramazan. All the family had been up in the night, to take an unseasonable meal, in order to fortify themselves for the abstinence of the day. It was curious to observe the effects of the fast in the house. The master was scolding and beating his servants, they equally peevish and insolent, and the beggars more than ordinarily importunate and clamorous. At noon, all the city went to the Grand Mosque. My host came back with an account of new vexations there. He was chatting with a friend… when a great preacher, Hagi Mirza, arrived, with hundreds of followers. “Why do you not say your prayers?” said the newcomers to the two friends. “We have finished” said they. “Well”, said the other, “if you cannot pray a second time with us, you had better move out of the way”... Hagi Mohammed Hasan preaches every day during the Ramazan. He takes a verse from the Koran, or more frequently tells stories about the Imans. If the ritual of the Christian churches, their good forms, and everything they have, is a mere shadow, unless a Divine influence attend on them, what must all this Mohammedan stuff be? And yet how impossible is it to convince the people of the world, whether Christian or Mohammedan, that what they call religion is merely a thing of their own, having no connection with God and his kingdom. This subject has been much on my mind of late. How senseless the seal of churchmen against dissenters, and of dissenters against the Church! The kingdom of God is neither meat nor drink, nor anything perishable, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Sept 22 - Sunday - My friends returned from the Mosque, full of indignation… The former governor of Bushire complained to the vizier...that some of his servants had treated him brutally. The vizier...ordered them to do their work a second time; which they did, kicking him with their slippers in a most ignominious way. This unhappy people groan under the tyranny of their governors; yet nothing subdues or tames them. Happy Europe! how has God favoured the sons of Japheth, by causing them to embrace the Gospel. How dignified are all the nations of Europe compared with this nation! Yet the people are clever and intelligent, and more calculated to become great and powerful than any of the nations of the East, had they a good government and the Christian religion.
Sept 29 - The Soofie, son of the Moojtuhid, with some others, came to see me. For fifteen years he was a devout Mohammedan, visited the sacred places and said many prayers. Finding no benefit from austerities, he threw up Mohammedanism altogether, and attached himself to the Soofie master. I asked him, what his object was, all that time? He said, he did not know, but he was unhappy. I began to explain to him the Gospel; but he cavilled at it as much as any bigoted Mohammedan could do, and would not hear of there being any distinction between Creator and creature...
Aga Baba was also for many years a zealous Mohammedan, often passing whole nights in prayer. His father, who at first, had encouraged his religious propensities, found them at last so troublesome, that he was obliged to leave the house, not being able to get to sleep for the noise his son made in prayer. Finding, after many years, that he was growing more and more proud and contemptuous, he could ascribe it to nothing but his prayers, and therefore, from really conscientious motives, left them off.
Jaffer Ali Khan was also once a great sayer of prayers, and regularly passed every afternoon, for fourteen years, in cursing the worshippers of Omar, according to the prescribed form; but perceiving that these zealous maledictions brought no blessing on himself, he left them off...
Mirza Seid Ali seems sometimes coming round to Christianity, against Soofeism. The Soofies believe in no prophet, and do not consider Moses to be equal to Mirza Abuleasim. “Could they be brought” Seid Ali says, “To believe that there has been a prophet, they would embrace Christianity.” And what would be gained by such converts? “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.” It will be “an afflicted and poor people” that shall call upon the name of the Lord, and such the Soofies are not: professing themselves to be wise, they have become fools.
Oct 7 - I was surprised by a visit from the great Soofee doctor, who, while most of the people were asleep, came to me for some wine. I plied him with questions innumerable; but he returned nothing but incoherent answers, and sometimes no answer at all. Having laid aside his turban, he put on his night-cap, and soon fell asleep upon the carpet. While he lay there, his disciples came, but would not believe, when I told them who was there, till they came and saw the sage asleep. When he awoke, they came in, and seated themselves at the greatest possible distance, and were all as still as if in church. The real state of this man seems to be despair, and it will be well if it do not end in madness. I preached to him the kingdom of God, mentioning particularly how I had found grace from the Son of God and the Spirit of God: through the first, forgiveness; through the second, sanctification. He said it was good, but said it with the same unconcern with which he admits all manner of things, however contradictory. Poor soul! he is sadly bewildered.
Oct 18 - The Ramazan ended, or ought to have ended, but the moon disappointed them. The Moollahs not having seen the new moon, would not allow the fast to be over, and the people were, in consequence, all in confusion, for not having eaten in the night, they were not at all disposed to go through the day fasting. At last some witnesses appeared, who vowed that they had seen the silver bow...and the feast was proclaimed.
Much of the material in this magazine comes from the centuries after the Reformation - and rightly so, since this was a golden age for theology, when many of the doctrines of the apostles were rediscovered. God did not, however, leave Himself without witness in the intervening years. Augustine, in particular, was a fearless champion of the grace of God.
Augustine was born in North Africa in AD 354. This year is therefore the 1,650th anniversary of his birth. He was converted in AD 386, and was Bishop of Hippo from AD 396 until his death in AD 430. He is best known for his autobiographical “Confessions” and for his great work, “The City of God”, but also wrote many theological treatises, and was a tireless preacher of the Word.
The following extract from the beginning of his Sermon on Psalm 32 shows him not only declaring the doctrine of justification by faith, but also contending with those same errors that we have to answer today, antinomianism on the one hand, and reliance upon works on the other.
From a Sermon by Augustine on Psalm 32 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
This Psalm is about the grace of God, and how he justifies us without our doing anything to deserve it first, the mercy of the Lord our God getting ahead of us every time. It is of special interest to us, because St Paul quotes it, as you will have gathered from the epistle which was read just before we sang the Psalm (Romans 4)...
Human nature is an unreliable thing. It swings lightly from a confession of weakness to a mood of rash self confidence… Thus supposing it gives in to its weakness, and is tempted to say that the infinite mercy of God is ready to receive all sinners, however much they persist in sinning, provided they believe that God delivers them, God forgives them, so that none of the faithful, however wicked, will perish in the end...anyone who takes that view has made a bad mistake... That is one frame of mind which brings a man to ruin.
But now suppose someone else, who is on his guard against this danger...relying only on his own justice and strength of character, makes up his mind to fulfil all justice, to keep every commandment of the Law without breaking a single one, to manage his life so well that he never slips up...even if he seems to succeed in the eyes of men, and there is nothing in his conduct which men can find fault with, yet God will and must condemn his overweening presumption and pride.
So what happens if a man tries to justify himself, and presumes on his own justice and his own goodness? He falls. And id, being aware of his own weakness, he presumes on the mercy of God without troubling to mend his ways and tackle his sins, but plunges into every sink of iniquity - why, he falls too. So let us listen to God when he says to us, “Turn not aside to the right hand or to the left”...
“What am I to do then?” you ask. This psalm gives us our instructions... “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered”.
Here is the psalm beginning at last, and understanding has begun too... The first thing you must understand is that you are a sinner, and the second thing is that when you begin to do good out of faith through love, this is not to be put down to your own ability, but to God’s grace and favour... “Blessed is he whose sins are covered” - not he in whom no sin is found. So it says in another Psalm, “Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.” May he not see your sins!
Augustine contended fearlessly with the Pelagians and semi-Pelagians, and provoked much controversy with his teaching on divine sovereignty. One of those who rose in his defence was Prosper of Aquitaine, who attempted to answer many of the questions people wrestle with today - Prosper of Aquitaine on the Fall. Objection: “God is the author of our sins, by making man’s will evil.” Answer: This groundless objection emanates from the same school which affirms that human nature is free from Adam’s sin and remained unharmed. And because we say that all men are born in sin and liable to damnation, and that they would be reprobate if they were not reborn in Christ, they pretend that we make the creator of their nature also the author of their sin. We reject this conclusion...
Man contracted these evils when he renounced the faith and obedience he owed to God and was induced by the devil to prefer his false promises to God’s law; by vitiating the very stem of the human race, the devil made of all its offspring his slaves. Accordingly, “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature”, he is made free from the slavery of the devil and becomes a servant of God, free from his deformity and remoulded “after the image of him that created him”. But if one is not reborn in Christ, he remains in Adam, in whom all die, and has no part with Christ, in whom all are made alive... The freedom which our nature lost by its free action it cannot recover except through Christ the Saviour, “for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
“If God is sovereign, does that not make Him the author of sin?”
“If Christ is the Saviour of the world, why are so many lost?” and so on. His answers are not always entirely satisfactory, but they show that these questions were considered. Here he deals with our fallen nature.
“The church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20.28)
Sin inflicted an injury on the Majesty of Heaven to which the creation, consuming in an universal flame, had been an unproportionable sacrifice; but the sacrifice of Himself, the Immanuel, God-man, would be defective in nothing; it was both suitable and equal to the exigency of the case - suitable to man, because He was man, and equal to the wrong done to God, because He was God. Long before this sacrifice was offered, the expectation of it, and since, the remembrance, have been precious. It was of sufficient virtue to work and diffuse its influence at the greatest distance, and not of time only, but of place; to perfume the world and scatter blessings through all the parts and nations of it, as well through all the ages. When no other sacrifice or offering could avail anything, lo, He comes into a body prepared on purpose, which, though it was not formed and assumed until the fullness of time, was yet reckoned as slain from the beginning. This was the seed in which, though it sprung up only in Judea, yet all the nations of the earth were to be blessed. Long was this body in preparing, and the seed transmitted through many generations, whence it was at length to arise; into which, as its last preparation, the Deity descended, and, that it might be a sufficiently costly sacrifice, filled it with the divine fullness - for in Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. When we read Abel’s sacrifice to have been more excellent that Cain’s, the Greek word is, it was fuller. How full a one was the sacrifice of Christ! That was filled by faith with a derivative fullness; this, immediately by God Himself, with His own self-fullness, which filleth all in all, and whence all must receive. “Destroy this temple” - the temple of the in-dwelling God. Strange mystery! The very temple itself a consuming oblation, self devoted even to destruction, and out of that again self-raised! The divine justice could not but hereby be well-satisfied, and say, “It is enough,” when the whole temple became all-propitiatory, and the profanation of the former temple was expiated by the immolation of the new.
Now may the Lord reveal His face,
And teach our stammering tongues
To make His sovereign, reigning grace
The subject of our songs.
Grace reigns to pardon crimson sins,
To melt the hardest hearts;
And from the work it once begins
It never more departs.
The world and Satan strive in vain
Against the chosen few;
Secured by grace’s conquering reign
They all shall conquer too.
Grace tills the soil and sows the seeds,
Provides the sun and rain,
Till from the tender blade proceeds
The ripened harvest grain.
Twas grace that called our souls at first,
By grace thus far we’re come,
And grace will help us through the worst,
And lead us safely home.
Lord, when this changing life is past,
If we may see Thy face,
How shall we praise and love at last,
And sing the reign of grace.
I. The meaning of the words: “My times”
By these words is meant not merely the several parts of the course of life, but the various phases of experience by which that life is chequered. Birth-time, life-time, death-time are all in the hand of God. So is each movement of life between birth and death, coming as it does from the divine hand as a new token of goodness and a new product of power. We live, move and have our being in God.
But we speak of good times and hard times, of glad times and sad times, and we must reckon on the latter as surely as we desire the former. All these are under the absolute control of God, and let none of us venture into our future without realizing this truth. The sovereign will of God determined the plan of our life down to its minutest details; and as we are taught that every good and perfect gift is from above, so [too] we may ask: “Is there evil in the city and the Lord has not done it?”
All that is determined in the purpose [of God] shall infallibly occur in the providence of God, for His will is His power, and He will accomplish all His pleasure. Without either His permission or His direct operation nothing can occur. How absolute, then, is the divine sway over us, and over all with whom we are associated. One cannot wonder that souls [de]void of faith and love should shrink from the stern-ness of the truth, for stern to awfulness it truly is to each. How can they, while hopeless of God’s favour and swayed by enmity to Him, endure to think of their being so entirely in His power? A very prelude of hell must it yield to such to think of the omnipotence of divine control.
Let no-one be satisfied till he can so think of his times being in the Lord’s hand that he is helped to hope and stirred to praise.
II. The feeling expressed in the text
The psalmist was content that his times should be in the Lord’s hand. His faith as to this encouraged him to pray hopefully in time of trial and moved his heart to thankfulness.
To the attainment of this resignation and rest three things are essential:
1. A broken heart.
The contrite spirit has made acquaintance with divine love. He knows as others cannot what divine grace is, and there is an impression of the divine name in his heart that inclines him to expect what is good from God. He has been at the cross of Christ, and has looked on a love that [sur]passes knowledge, and has discovered it amidst all the awfulness of an exhaustive expression of divine wrath. He cannot abandon all hope of help from that love, and he cannot expect an expression of it on earth not attended with some share of trial. He cannot be absorbingly possessed by hard thoughts of God, like others who know Him only as against them[selves]. And his sense of unworthiness disposes him to think favourably of the Lord’s most trying dealings. He can see mercy where others cannot, and is disposed in the time of sorest trial to say: “It is of the Lord’s mercies that I am not consumed.”
2. Faith fixing a loving eye on the glory of the Lord.
The believer finds in the Lord’s name security for the perfection of all His ways. Shaped by wisdom, bright with holiness, and weighted with mercy are all the times faith sees coming from the divine hand. Here, at any rate, is there good ground on which to repose under the efficient government of God. It ought to content us that the way of the Lord is perfect. He cannot err in judgment. He cannot fail in government. But how rare is peace of heart under such a sway!
3. A child’s hope in God.
The divine promise presents to the believer the object of his hope. That promise cannot fail. It declares that all things work together for his good, and that the course all along which the gracious providence of God shall take effect is to end in eternal glory. His experience can never furnish any real contradiction to this word of grace. All that God does is consistent with the cross, as well as with every word of His mouth. To the divine eye this harmony is always evident, though it is hidden from His child. He may reckon that all things are against him, while the current of providence is surely bearing him on to the promised deliverance. But when he can cry: “Abba! Father!” in faith, as he lifts up his eyes to Him who is seated on the throne of grace, he will resign himself without reserve to His wise, holy and gracious disposal.
III. The lessons taught by the text.
1. Is it true that God has all our times in his hand? Then surely our first care should be to be at peace with Him. How absolute is God’s power over us! He has brought that power to bear on us [either] in an expression of wrath or in a work of grace. Have you truly cared to have God on your side? Was there any hour in your past life in which this was your one great anxiety? Your conscience must answer this question, though you should refuse to listen to or express the utterance.
2. Is it true that our times are in the Lord’s hand? Then it is folly to wish to have them in your own. That would be to give to the weakness, folly, injustice and cruelty of a sinful worm the management claimed for omnipotence, acting according to infinite wisdom, righteousness and love.
3. Are our times in God’s hand? Then you cannot find fault with them without dishonouring God. Think of passing an adverse judgment on the ways of God! Let all who would shrink from presumption and blasphemy seek grace to preserve them[selves] from mourning because of the dealings of providence. Is it not presumption to pass judgment on the ways of God? Is it not blasphemy to charge Him with having erred in counsel and failed in acting according to His Word?
4. Are your ways in the sovereign hand of God? Then seek to be in His gracious hand yourself. There is One in whose hand is all the Father’s pleasure, and His name is Jesus. He came to save sinners, and He calls you to come as a sinner to Him for a free and full salvation. O come and yield yourself into His outstretched arms, that He may receive and save you. And from Him, who assures the coming sinner of salvation by His grace, can come no times that shall not be found to have been good, when the end of all things shall be.
It cannot be denied that man is imprisoned on one of the smaller planets, that he is enveloped by infinity on all sides, and that he lives but for a day in what seems to be a pitiless procession. The things in which he is interested, the whole of his world, form but an imperceptible oasis in the desert of immensity... Man is certainly finite.
But that is not the whole truth. Man is not only finite; for he knows that he is finite, and that knowledge brings him into connection with infinity. . In the midst of his trivial life, there rises in his mind one strange and overpowering thought - the thought of God. It may come by reflection, by subtle argument from effect to cause, from the design to the designer. Or it may come by a ‘sunset touch.’ Back of the red, mysterious, terrible, silent depths, beyond the silent meeting place of sea and sky, there is an inscrutable power. In the presence of it man is helpless as a stick or stone. He is as helpless, but more unhappy - unhappy because of fear. With what assurance can we meet the infinite power? Its works in nature, despite all nature’s beauty, are horrible in the infliction of suffering. And what if physical suffering should not be all? What of the sense of guilt? What if the condemnation of conscience should be but the foretaste of judgment? What if contact with the infinite should be contact with a dreadful infinity of holiness? What if the inscrutable cause of all things should turn out to be, after all, a righteous God?...
There is for us no hope; we stand defenceless at length in the presence of unfathomed mystery, unless - a wild, fantastic thought - unless our Saviour, this Jesus in whom we had trusted, were Himself in mysterious union with the eternal God. Then comes the full, rich consolation of God’s Word - the mysterious sentence in Philippians: “who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God”; the strange cosmology of Colossians: “who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature: for by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist”; the majestic prologue of the Fourth Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”; the mysterious consciousness of Jesus: “All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him.”
These things have been despised as idle speculation, but in reality they are the very breath of our Christian lives. They are, indeed, the battle ground of theologians; the Church hurled anathemas at those who held that Christ, though great, was less than God. But those anathemas were beneficent and right. That difference of opinion was no trifle: there is no such thing as ‘almost God.’ The thought is blasphemy; the next thing less than the infinite is infinitely less. If Christ be the greatest of finite creatures, then still our hearts are restless, still we are mere seekers after God. But now is Christ, our Saviour, the One who says “Thy sins are forgiven thee”, revealed as very God. And we believe. It is the supreme venture of faith; faith can go no higher. Such a faith is a mystery to us who possess it; it is ridiculed by those who have it not. But if possessed it overcomes the world. In Christ all things are ours. There is now for us no awful Beyond of mystery and fear. We cannot, indeed, explain the world, but we rejoice now that we cannot explain it. To us it is all unknown, but it contains no mysteries for our Saviour; He is on the throne; He is at the centre; He is ground and explanation of all things; He pervades the remotest bounds; by Him all things consist. The world is full of dread, mysterious powers; they touch us already in a thousand woes. But from all of them we are safe.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Ministering Like the Master - Three Messages for Today’s Preachers - Stuart Olyott. Pbk. 86pp. £4.50
This is a most stimulating little book. These messages were delivered at the Leicester Ministers’ Conference of 2000 and have been published in book form in response to demand from those present. Rev. Olyott writes from a deep concern that the preaching of the Word of God should be as relevant as Christ’s preaching was.
He begins with a chapter entitled “Our Lord Was Not a Boring Preacher”. It focuses on the Sermon on the Mount and contains much valuable practical material on avoiding boring those who listen to sermons. He also points out that in the Sermon on the Mount, Christ addresses no fewer than twenty two sorts of people! Olyott is keen that all sermons follow the pattern of “State - Illustrate - Apply” and certainly shows evidence for this from Christ’s own preaching.
The second chapter, “Our Lord Was an Evangelistic Preacher” also contains some important material. He raises the question of our not seeing many coming to faith in our day perhaps being caused by our failure to preach the whole Gospel of Grace. He ends with a short chapter entitled “Our Lord Was Not Just a Preacher” which challenges those who minister to be as fully involved with people as our lord was. Olyott focuses here on the First Chapter of Mark and shows just how wide was Christ’s ministry.
There is much in this book which those who preach would benefit from. -M Lowrie
Richard Hobson of Liverpool - An Autobiography. 359pp. Hdbk. £13.50
This remarkable story of one man’s ministry in a Liverpool slum district is not only a valuable social portrait of a Victorian parish, it is also an account of the transforming power of Almighty God. Into these ‘sixteen acres of sin’, with no church building, comes a man of God preaching the Word of God, and seeing the Holy Spirit touch lives, change attitudes and bring a God-glorifying reformation into the community. Those who had no hope in Christ amidst the squalor of their lot became a fellowship of believers who made the very streets and houses of ill-repute echo to the singing of God’s praises for all His blessings to them. From holding his first service in a house cellar with a congregation of three women, one old man and a child, Hobson lived to see a large church building, three mission halls and a congregation of three thousand souls each Lord’s Day.
The main part of the book is taken from Hobson’s diaries, kept between 1868 and 1901. Read it as history, by all means; but ask yourself: Why do we not see such a work of God in our day? Affluence apart, are not the basic circumstances the same: sinners needing the Saviour, and the Word of God to be preached? Read it as a challenge. Praise God for it. Pray for such ministers and ministry in our day. And beg God to come to our ‘sixteen acres of sin’. - A.Ridge
Romans - An Exposition of Chapter 14.1-17 - Liberty and Conscience - Dr D.M. Lloyd-Jones. 288pp. Hdbk. £16.50
This volume, the final in a set of fourteen, will be a must for those who have been avid readers of the Doctor’s Exposition of Romans. Iain H. Murray says in his preface, “For some, volumes in the Romans series have literally been the means of leading them into the kingdom of God.” I am one of them. As Christians, Christ has given us liberty, but how do we exercise this liberty in relation to our brethren who may be weaker in the faith? The Doctor expounds Paul’s letter to the Christian in Rome who were having difficulties in this area. There is advice here for both weak and strong in the faith - S.Atkinson
The author’s theological stance is stated as being on the Calvinistic side of C.S.Lewis with some emphasis on the sovereignty of God. He sat under the ministry of William Still in Aberdeen for thirty years. Faithful to Scripture, Professor Lyall allows his training and profession as an academic lawyer to explore these well-loved sayings in an original and stimulating approach. But be warned. This book is not like a fast food service from a microwave oven. It is a thoughtfully prepared feast to relish and enjoy as each dish is set before us. Therefore do not simply read it, but study it slowly. Never read two chapters together. And have your open Bible by the book. For the author suddenly throws at you a flurry of questions; so pause, consider, re-read and answer! In this way we join the wide variety of listeners Jesus was originally addressing, from the family at Bethany, the ‘religious professionals’ to those expecting a free supply of bread. We then see how He adjusted His teaching to each group. In doing so, we wonder afresh at the magnitude of each message and experience our Lord’s nearness to us personally. The result is greater understanding and a fuller response of wonder, love and praise. Thoroughly recommended. - A.Ridge
This is the first in a series of books entitled “Classics of Reformed Spirituality”. Jean Taffin (1529-1602), a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church, wrote this book to encourage Christians who at that time were experiencing fierce persecution. The point is made that a Christian, in following Christ, may be called upon to lose home, job and reputation and even their very life. But far from this being a sign of God’s displeasure with them, it was a sure sign of their being one of His children. Christians going through trials and those doubting their salvation will find real encouragement in this book - S.Atkinson
System of Bible Doctrine - John Thornbury. 208pp. £8.95
This title is designed to be a straightforward introduction to Biblical doctrine for any lay person. It is, I am afraid, only partially successful. The author has previously written a doctrinal statement for the American Baptist Evangelicals - and for those, like this reviewer, who are not Baptists, this book can read, in places, like a system of Baptist, rather than purely Biblical doctrine. However, that said, there is much good material here. The chapter entitled ‘Learning about Man’ is excellent, and very simple, on the consequences of the Fall. Mr Thornbury also states the Biblical teaching on hell with great clarity. This volume is very clearly presented and, notwithstanding the reservations outlined above, would be useful to many - particularly for small group discussions led by one able to explain the denominational positions sometimes taken! - M.Lowrie
EP Study Commentary on Genesis - John D.Currid, Evangelical Press
Volume 1 - Genesis 1.1-25.18. 476pp. £16.95
Volume 2 - Genesis 25.19-50.26. 432pp. £16.95
A commentary which begins with a definition of “anacoluthon” might appear, at first sight, somewhat daunting for the ordinary reader! This is, however, a very valuable commentary for all kinds of readers.
Dr Currid is Carl McMurray Professor of Old Testament at the Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, and holds a degree in archaeology. He has already written a commentary on Exodus for this series, which has been well received. He says that he often describes himself as a teacher of ‘Early Church History’ - not the early church fathers like Jerome or Augustine, but “early church fathers like Adam, Abraham and Moses!” After a series of introductory chapters, on the unfolding of revelation, the Pentateuch, the Higher Critical view, the “Framework View”, the polemical nature of Genesis (answering pagan religion), and predictions of the Messiah, he gives us a verse by verse commentary, divided into short chapters (no more than a few pages each), with an application at the end of each, often drawing attention to some New Testament parallel.. The reader gains the benefit of Dr Currid’s impressive scholarship, particularly in Hebrew, literary forms, and ancient religions, without being overwhelmed by it. You will need to “gird up the loins of your mind” in places, but it is worthwhile!
Regarding creation, Dr Currid demonstrates the inadequacy of the “framework view”, and favours a literal interpretation of the days of creation, but does not delve into the scientific arguments of creation versus evolution - perhaps regarding that as outside the scope of a commentary.
This is described as a “Study Commentary” and it will obviously be of greatest value to students and preachers - but the general reader will also find it enjoyable and enlightening, and not at all difficult to read. It is attractively produced, with clear print, in an easy-to-handle A5 size.
An “anacoluthon”, by the way, is “a sentence or construction in which the expected grammatical sequence is absent”. I am still waiting for an opportunity to use the word in conversation! - R.Dale
Killearn 23 March 1862
Dear Son,
My feelings would not allow me to speak to you as I would have liked at our parting on Friday last. And what I now say I hope you will never forget. You are about to leave your native land for a foreign country, where you will most likely find the manners and customs, the scenes and scenery, as different as the two climes are.
It may also be that temptations, to sin and forgetfulness of God, may appear in a different form, as I believe that every country has its besetting sins and temptations; but I hope by the grace of God you will endeavour to resist all evil, in whatever shape or whatever circumstances it may present itself in your path; for the more righteously you live, the more happiness you will enjoy, the health of your body will be established and the life of your soul will be preserved. Be very careful with whom you associate, and be no stranger to the house of God. Be faithful to your employers, whoever they may be, and be respectful to all your fellowmen, and ever manifest a truly dignified deportment in all your transactions in life. Be careful in everything conducive to the health of your body; but O Charles, be exceedingly careful of your spiritual and eternal interests. Remember the shortness and uncertainty of human life. Make Christ your friend, and never be ashamed of Him and His cause on earth; for rest assured, if you honour God He will honour you; but if you despise Him you will be lightly esteemed.
I need not say more, but I fondly trust you will ever bear us in your heart at the throne of grace, and although we should never meet more on earth, yet if we meet habitually and sincerely there, we shall be more than mere earthly friends, and heirs of eternal life. And now, dear Charles, I bid thee farewell, and may the mighty God of Jacob be thy guide through life, thy stay in death, and thy portion through all eternity.
Your father,
Andrew Buchanan.
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