Peter - Filled With The Holy Spirit

Calvin: "...Luke wanted to show that Peter was strong only because he was filled with the Holy Spirit," (Sermons on Acts, p.129).  Standing before the mighty Jewish Sanhedrin accused of the healing of the lame man, Peter and John made their defence statement.  That statement was a reaffirmation of the fact that it was Jesus of Nazareth, Whom they crucified, who raised this lame man to full physical agility, not them.  They gave Jesus all the credit and glory for this mighty act of healing.

But what empowered Peter to speak like this, being an ignorant and uneducated man, was his being "filled with the Holy Spirit."  This is not the first time Peter experienced this infilling of the Spirit. It happened before on the Day of Pentecost when God poured out His Spirit on the apostle's preaching.  Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit. But this was not the last time this happened to the apostle.  Every time he had something significant to do for Christ, he was endued with "power from on high."

Calvin is correct: we are weak and inform when we are deprived of Him.

But there is much more to this than just help when we need it.  This is a special filling for a special purpose.  And it is this that preachers need more than anything else today.  We have all our theology and correct doctrine; but we do not have the Spirit in power.  We can preach well-constructed sermons, but have no power.  We can woo congregations with our weepy concluding stories, but no power.  It is power we need, power to live, power to preach, and power to witness to Christ in every situation.  Without this heavenly enabling, all our preaching and witnessing are in vain.

The preachers of old were men who knew the filling of the Spirit in great measure.  Think of men like John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, Daniel Rowlands, Jonathan Edwards, R. M. McCheyne, etc.  They knew the Spirit's power on their lives and ministries. How we need to know that today.

Let us pray to the sovereign Lord that all Gospel preachers will be Spirit-filled men, and that when they stand up to preach, it will be "in demonstration of the Spirit and of power."

A Pastor With GUTS!

 

 

This is absolutely great ! ! !

Prayer given in Kansas at the opening session of their Senate. It seems prayer still upsets some people.. When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done.

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed  our values.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare..

We have killed our unborn and called it choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem....

We have abused power and called it politics.

We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.

Amen!

The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls

responding negatively.. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from   India , Africa and   Korea .

Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, 'The Rest of the Story,'and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired. With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called 'one nation under God.'

If possible, please pass this prayer on to your friends.... 'If you don't stand for something, you will fall for everything.'

Think about this: If you forward this prayer to everyone on your e-mail list, in less than 30 days it would be heard by the world.

Slavish Adherence

"...we must beware of a slavish adherence to old forms," preached Dr Lloyd-Jones in his Ephesians sermons (Vol.6, p.289).  How often has DMLJ not pressed this point!  And the apostle Paul warned about the same kind of thing.  Yet we tend to become enslaved by what are good things - old forms of ding things, old ways of thinking, old practices that once had great significance but now are no more than of historical significance.

For example, why are some churches today asking congregations to stand for prayer?  True, the Scottish covenanters stood for prayers, with the backs of members turned to the minister.  Why was this done? Because at that time, Christians were persecuted relentlessly so while prayer was being offered by the minister, at least some of the worshippers kept their eyes open to watch for potential attack.

Is this relevant in today's church situation?  Hardly.  But some Christians have to keep the tradition going on, a "tradition of men," as Peter called it, and for no apparent reason; certainly their is no spiritual or theological reason for such a practice.  But to do otherwise would be to take these Christians out of their comfort zone, and leave them confused.

We need to beware of the traditions of men, and well did DMLJ warn the churches against such a practice.  How easy it is to adopt like practices, such as, the way Presbyterians all seem to sit in the back pews of a church, etc.  Slavishness to a particular translation of the Bible, or to the insistence that women cover their heads for worship, or do not wear 'men's clothing,' or the exclusive use of Psalms in the public worship of God, etc; the list could go on interminably. 

Once we succumb to any 'old form' is a sign that we have been defeated by the devil, according to DMLJ.  So watch out.  Stay alert.  And dont become a slave to anything or anyone but Christ and His truth.

Limited Faithfulness To Scripture

It is not in the least surprising to realise that some reformed preachers emphasise the particularity of atonement to the point where it becomes suffocating.  These men are so tied in to confessional Christianity that they are hampered in what they can offer to a sinful humanity, or more specifically what they have to offer to sinful men.  If the only thing they have to offer sinners is the offer of salvation through faith in Christ alone, then the mere offer is useless.  These dear brothers are so hampered and restricted in their preaching of the Gospel.

But when these same men only quote those verses of Scripture in part in order to support a particularly philosophical interpretation of the Bible, then they have plunged to a new depth.  Christ did not only "taste death," which is how the verse was quoted recently; He tasted death "for every man," (Heb.2:9).  The latter part of the verse does not suit those who hold to scholastically restricted atonement teaching, so they leave out that part of the verse that teaches that!

Or again, another preacher quoted, "God was in Christ reconciling to Himself."  The big problem is that Paul did not say that in 2 Cor.5:19. What he said was "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself."  But this extremely reformed preacher deliberately omitted the words the world, clearly because he held to limited atonement. 

Now when reformed men resort to that kind of unfaithfulness, there is little hope of any change within the church, certainly not so far as reform is concerned. 

Listen to Calvin.

I discovered this in Calvin's second published sermon in his Acts series.

"For many will be found who will say they have faith, but of they look into their hearts, they will find they foolishly believe they have that faith which they truly believe they have simply because they think they do.  Just let some slight hint of testing arise, and they are overwhelmed," (pp.14,15).

How many there are who are exactly like that!  Because they think they have faith, they must therefore have it!  Because someone else, some religious official, accepts they have faith, they must have it.  The applications are many.  And those who fall into this category are so overwhelmed by the realisation that they do not have the faith they thought they had that they then take it out on the minister.

The more I read Calvin, the more timely are his thoughts and expositions.  He is so contemporary despite having preached these sermons in the mid 1550s.  The seeds of application just jump out at you. he is a delight to read and be ministered to by.

"Think on these things."

See also my book on Calvin's Gospel Preaching by clicking here.

Owenism Under The Microscope

Despite the many good things that Owen has written, I am afraid that his influence within the churches has been pernicious rather than helpful.  Owenism cuts the umbilical cord of biblical evangelism.  It could be argued that this is because these men have not understood the essence of Owen's theology; or it might also be that they have, and it is now like a noose around their necks with the attendant fear that the non-elect might be saved under Gospel preaching!  How ridiculous can things become!  I think also that Owenism is so focussed on predestination and election that there is really no need for Gospel preaching at all!  

I am also convinced that only those who adopt an Owenite position on matters relating to the Gospel will be welcome to preach to many of their congregations.  I think Owenism allows unbelievers to remain undetected within the church as visible and only the spiritually discerning can identify this. 

That is why I love John Calvin, the reformed evangelist, so much.  He yearns for souls to be saved, longs to see sinners come to Christ and pleads with them to leave their life of sin and trust the only Saviour of the world.  He knows the Gospel so well, and refuses to complicate it with the clogging influences of medieval scholasticism.  He allows the Scripture to speak out its own plain message to the perishing world.  He holds out the only life-line there is to all the world, begging them to come in.  Owenites appear to believe that the Gospel and Gospel preaching is unnecessary - as some of your people have told you, and the same impression is given by many ministers.  The Owenite Gospel is essentially 'another Gospel,' (Gal.1:6, 7), which is not another.  If we are to return anywhere, it must be to the Gospel as preached by Calvin and Baxter, and the faithful followers of Christ.

Maybe I am rambling here, but do you see any merit in what I am saying?  Will a return to authentic Calvinism save the churches and the Gospel in the churches?  I am convinced it will!  And how we need such a return, and need it urgently!

How sad and frightening is our church situation in Ulster!  What a judgement awaits those who have failed so dramatically to present Christ alone as the means and ground of salvation for all repenting sinners!  Unless God intervenes, Ulster churches will decline even further.  Members are being fed a diet of clinically detached and sanitised Bible Studies which are passed off as sermons and messages from God.  If the true saving Gospel is not everywhere apparent in our sermons, they do not honour God or glorify Christ.

I leave these few rambling thoughts with you for your consideration and to be reflected upon.  If we can see what our theology is doing, and the negative effect it has had on the churches, then I think we may have hit upon the one thing that will improve the spiritual condition of many within the church and the whole church as well; it will re-focus our minds and hearts on true and rigorous evangelism; it will lead to the conversion of 'covenant children;' and it will be instrumental in the reformation and reviving of the church as she is today. 

May God bless you all abundantly in all you do in His holy service.

For further examples of Calvin's Gospel preaching, please visit here.  This paper was delivered at the 2011 Amyraldian Association Conference in Attleborough, NORFOLK.  It expounds Calvin's evangelistic approach and the content of the Gospel he so powerfully declared.  Here is authentic Calvinistic evangelistic preaching.

Owen's Negative Influence on the Churches

Having reflected on the influence of Owen within the reformed churches in Northern Ireland with their inordinate emphasis on covenant children, there is surely a reason why this is the case.  The reason might not be obvious to many people in the churches, but I think a stab at understanding this unfortunate state of affairs must be made.  The fact that there is so little Gospel preaching within the denominations would suggest to me a possible explanation, and its this.  Because the great Puritan theologian, Dr John Owen, did not have any reported conversions from his ministry but was deemed to be faithful to the Word/Gospel, that in some way justifies non-Gospel preaching that is clear and pointed and direct in those churches that have adopted Owen as their mentor, because God will bring the covenant children to faith in His own time.  For them, being a covenant child equals being a Christian.  Therefore, covenant children are not urged to come to Christ, to repent, to trust the Saviour, and the need to be 'born again' is not emphasised, nor is it welcome in many  congregations - pure and mixed alike.

Because the great John Owen was not a 'successful' evangelist like Baxter et al, the position seems to be that so long as a man is faithful to the Word of God, conversions do not matter (really).  Good, mature and spiritual Christians are leaving their churches because the Gospel is not being preached with clarity and conviction, the emphasis being on the covenant children, an idea that is substituted for the Gospel of Grace.  Many hearts are broken by this retrograde development within evangelical and reformed churches. How can any church claim to be a reformed church if it does not preach the mighty Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes?  Is it because the preachers do not believe in their hearts the message they are preaching, therefore it comes across as a cold lecture of sorts?  Or is it because they do not see the eternal danger of covenant children who die without Christ that they decline to make the Gospel clear?  Perhaps it could be termed in another way: these 'reformed' preachers have not themselves been gripped by the awfulness of the hell that awaits every unconverted sinner.  In this way they are buttressing the old theological liberalism of the major denominations which they rightly criticise.

How sad and frightening is the church situation in Ulster!  What a judgement awaits those who have failed so dramatically to present Christ alone as the means and ground of salvation for all repenting sinners!  Unless God intervenes, Ulster churches will decline even further, and be lost.  Members are being fed a diet of clinically detached Bible Studies which are passed off as sermons and messages from God.  If the true saving Gospel is not everywhere apparent in our sermons, they do not honour God or glorify Christ. 

The question arises: is the Gospel absolutely dispensable for the salvation of sinners?  Is there another way of salvation apart from, and beside, the Gospel of God?  Reformed evangelicals and Arminians are convinced that there is no other way of reconciliation with God except through faith in Christ alone.  But the 'neo-reformed' men, why, they hold to a different Gospel which is no Gospel at all.  They believe that the covenant alone, and membership in it, saves the sinner. There is no need for this 'new birth' business that Jesus and Peter and Paul preach. 

For further information on issues that are germane to this subject, please visit here.