Ecclesiastical Confusion

Anglicanism in Northern Ireland is still seeking to 'suck' ministers from the non-conformist tradition into its ranks, and has had some success.

In the past, in their ecumenical drive, they have appointed non-conformists to the role of canon in St Anne's cathedral in Belfast, and now they have appointed a female Methodist minister and a Romanist priest as canons of the cathedral.

I can understand the Romanist priest having no difficulty in accepting this appointment given that his religious tradition is identical to that of Anglicanism.

But for non-conformist ministers to accept such a dubious honour is for them to betray their past and also to forget all that Anglicanism has done to oppose the Gospel and to eject some 2,000 ministers from their churches because they refused to conform to the dictates of Archbishop William Laud in the seventeenth century.

The Methodist female academic views it as a great honour to be so 'elevated' to the role and rank of canon within Anglicanism.

This shows one very clear thing: these people are totally ignorant of the Scriptural teaching regarding the offices of the church, and secondly, they are ignorant of church history.  Further, all forms of Anglicanism have been resolutely opposed to the Gospel and to Gospel preachers, yet even evangelicals within Anglicanism will shore up the church at all costs.  Why?  Because the church always comes before the Gospel in the minds of ecclesiastics of every denomination. 

That the church of Christ in our land is hopelessly confused about the basics of the Gospel and church order is abundantly clear.  That the church must have another reformation and revival of true and vital religion, is also clear.

But so long as its ministers and members are prepared to shore up what they know to be rotten to the core, so long will reformation and revival be delayed.  Yes, they will pray for revival and have their half nights of prayer for revival, but in so doing they are merely mocking God.  they themselves are not prepared to do anything to sort out the spiritual and ecclesiastical mess in which they find themselves.

Until the church leaders are convinced of the need for church reform according to the Scriptures, there will be no change.  Men can bring change into the church as visible, and they must do it; but only God can give life. 

Ecclesiastical Indecency

Richard Baxter in seventeenth-century England:  

“Nothing is more indecent than a dead preacher, speaking to dead hearers the living truths of the living God!”

Lloyd-Jones and R W Dale

Forthcoming:

Watch this space for comment on the positive influence that Dr R. W. Dale (1829-1895), minister of Carrs Lane Congregational Church, Birmingham, had on the thinking and preaching of DMLJ on the doctrine of the atonement.

It was through reading Iain Murray's biography of DMLJ (Vol.1) that I discovered that Dale, James Denney and P. T. Forsyth were instrumental in changing the theology of DMLJ to a more fully biblical content.

Initial impressions are that Dale believed that Christ died for the sins of the world, as did DMLJ.  Both held that Christ died for mankind, for the human race, for humanity, for all men.  Both agreed perfectly with Calvin's soteriology.

So, so far as soteriology is concerned, Dale agreed with Calvin and DMLJ agreed with Dale.  Christ died for all men.  His atonement was offered for all because it was intended for all.  "...the Death of Christ as a Propitiation for the sins of mankind."  "It almost appears as if the Death of Christ, which expiated before God the sins of the human race..."  "... the Propitiation offered by Christ for the sins of the world."  "...the effects of His Death extend to the whole universe."  "...His Death could be the ground on which God forgives the sins of mankind..."  "the Christian Church has maintained that the Death of Christ is the ground on which God grants to mankind the forgiveness of sin."

'Kids' or Children?

Have you discovered that many Christians are now referring to children as 'kids'?  How many 'kids' have you?  What does the church run for the 'kids'?  Are the meetings for 'kids'?

They have obviously not been told this, but I am taking it upon myself to tell readers, and would ask them to pass this information on, that 'kids' are the offspring of goats!  Christians do not have 'kids' but children, children of the covenant, children with innumerable privileges that other children do not have.  They are taught the Scriptures and the Gospel, are provided with access to the means of grace, are shown what Christian believe and how they live, have opportunities to see Christianity at close hand, can enjoy fellowship with other Christians, etc.  These are the children of believers, not their 'kids.'

So when you hear someone else, Christiuan or non-Christian referring to children as 'kids,' then just gently remind them that they ought to refer to children as 'children, and not as the offspring of goats.

The Power of the Spirit - Absent

In a few more years—I know not when, I know not how—the Holy Spirit will be poured out in a far different style from the present. There are diversities of operations; and during the last few years it has been the case that the diversified operations have consisted in very little pouring out of the Spirit. Ministers have gone on in dull routine, continually preaching—preaching—preaching, and little good has been done. ( Emphasis mine) I do hope that perhaps a fresh era has dawned upon us, and that there is a better pouring out of the Spirit even now. For the hour is coming, and it may be even now is, when the Holy Spirit shall be poured out again in such a wonderful manner that many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased—the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the surface of the great deep; when his kingdom shall come, and his will shall be done on earth even as it is in heaven. We are not going to be dragging on for ever like Pharaoh with the wheels off his chariot. My heart exults and my eyes flash with the thought that very likely I shall live to see the out-pouring of the Spirit; when “the sons and the daughters of God again shall prophecy, and the young men shall see visions, and the old men shall dream dreams.” Perhaps there shall be no miraculous gifts—for they will not be required; but yet there shall be such a miraculous amount of holiness, such an extraordinary fervour of prayer, such a real communion with God and so much vital religion, and such a spread of the doctrines of the cross, that everyone will see that verily the Spirit is poured out like water, and the rains are descending from above. For that let us pray: let us continually labour for it, and seek it of God.
For meditation: Spurgeon saw answers to his prayers in the 1859 revival. What are your visions for revival? Lots of excitement with extravagant claims that the Holy Spirit is involved? Or a genuine work of the Spirit which speaks for itself in real conversions, true fellowship and godly living ( Acts 2:37-47)?
Sermon no. 30, preached on 17 June 1855

Meditate on these things.


I would draw your attention to the statement in bold type above.  This has been a refrain of mine for many years - preaching and more preaching, but little good being done, and nothing much to show for it.  With all the advanced education of most preachers today, the Gospel has been undermined by degrees, as has the clear witness of the Christian church.

That something is seriously wrong, none but the most blind will deny.  What needs to be done to correct this malady does not find agreement.  It seems that the church today wants entertainers rather than true prophets.  She wants men who will bring the world into the church in a 'spiritual' way. The less preaching of the Word there is, the better; hence new churches seem to place the preaching of the Gospel at a serious discount all in an attempt to get the people in and to build up their own personal empire.

Life's Ironies.

Why is it that some of the worst rascals in the world have never been in trouble with the law?  How do the most vicious criminals the world knows have no police record?  Strange, but true.

Then some of the best people in the world have gained for themselves a police record, often through no fault of their own.

But in whose company would you rather be - the former or the latter?  And which of them would you want to rule in the church? 

Well, give me the latter any day.  Why?  Because knowing some of the worst rascals around to be utterly destructive of spiritual priorities and holding office within their local churches and denominations, they are very bad company who corrupt everything good.

The churches know that these people have no spiritual life in them that comes from Christ, given their utter opposition to the Gospel.  Yet they protect and retain them in office.  These people have mouths like cesspools, which express hearts like dunghills.  They hate Christ with a passion as measured by the blasphemous way they speak of Him.  They have rejected the Gospel continually and still do.  They are highly involved in their churches, even where an evangelical minister preaches.

But one must ask how it is that unregenerate officer-bearers within local churches can sit under preaching that makes no inroads to their souls?  Do ministers not carry out a spiritual audit of fellow-elders to ascertain their true spiritual standing?  A man may be a Christian and yet unfit to be an elder; but an unconverted man is clearly unfit to be an elder because he does not even satisfy the most basic qualification for eldership - being a Christian.  Therefore he is not fit to be a church member.

Here, a distinction must be made between a man being a church member and his being a Christain.  Church laws only require a man to be a church member, regardless of whether or not he is a Christain.  This view is held in defiance of the New Testament teaching.

For the church to be reformed, ministers must take spiritual issues much more seriously than they do.  It is way beyond time for a radical spiritual audit to be carried out into the spiritual standing of every member and office-bearer, including ministers, within the church.

The Problem of Powerless Preaching

If we are too self-dependent and not God-dependent, we cannot expect God to bless our ministries, can we?  Our life before God and others is critical, as is our personal prayer life.  I think we can still miss out spiritually if we then have our dependence on our own self-sufficiency.

I know how big a challenge my suggestion would be for me, so I almost trembled after writing it.  I have found great comfort, not so much in God, but in my poor frail sermon notes.  May God forgive me for this.  

You know me well enough to know how much I value learning in the Christian ministry, so I am not discounting this whatever.  On the contrary.  What I am trying to say is that I seem to have displaced God in favour of my desk preparation, and not given sufficient time to heart preparation before entering the pulpit.  I wonder does this resonate with you, too?  I think we may have got our priorities wrong.

I am speaking here from experience in my last work when there were people who felt that the entire global victims work was dependent on their efforts, and they felt they had to be at every congress in Europe and internationally.  These men were elevated by others who kept saying how well connected they were at senior government levels and that were just the men to head up this work.  And they loved it.  I was nauseated by it.  Far too much self-promotion at the expense of what we were there to do.

I know that Donald Macleod criticised DMLJ for the same kind of reason, describing him in terms of the cardinal archbishop of evangelicalism, arguing that he should have disallowed lesser ministers attributing this position to him (See Engaging with Lloyd-Jones).  

But DMLJ, with whatever faults others saw in him, was mightily used of God.  The reason: he self-defined as a man of prayer and as an evangelist.  And no one can be an evangelist who is not first and foremost a man of prayer. 

Maybe, like Paul, we might have to go into virtual seclusion in some "Arabia" for 14 years before we can be of real use to Him.  Perhaps, Like John, Patmos is where we have to be exiled to if we can be of any use in His holy service.  Perhaps we like the praise of men too much; maybe secretly we see ourselves as being indispensable to the Cause, though we would never admit that to others.