"Building Bridges" Audio Now Available

You can listen to audio files from the "Building Bridges" Conference here. I started working my way through them today.

JTR

Sermon of the Week: "Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret"

Picture: Hudson Taylor as a mature man.

I have let this series go for a while, but here is another audio suggestion. Last night I did a missions biography of Hudson Taylor and quoted generously from the little book "Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret." You can listen to a reading of the book online here. It is a great book to listen to while you drive or it might make for good listening for a family devotion or Lord's Day afternoon.

JTR

Fruit Bearing Involves Cross-bearing

Picture: Hudson Taylor as a young man.

The Christmas season has long been a time when Christians have set their hearts on missions. Indeed, the Incarnation, the Word made flesh, is at the heart of the Christmas story: "For God so loved the world, that he have his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16 AV).

I recently read the biography of Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) the pioneer missionary to China and founder of the influential China Inland Mission.

Even as young man, Taylor was overcome with a passion for taking the gospel to China. He wrote to his mother:

Think, Mother, of twelve millions—a number so great that it is impossible to realize it—yes, twelve million souls in China, every year passing without God and hope into eternity…. Oh, let us look with compassion on this multitude! God has been merciful to us; let us be like Him….

Taylor did go to China and led pioneer gospel efforts into the interior. The call was costly to his health and family. He buried two children in China. His beloved wife died at the age of only thirty-three. Taylor would reflect:

There is a needs-be for us to give ourselves for the life of the world. An easy, non-self-denying life will never be one of power. Fruit bearing involves cross-bearing. There are not two Christs—an easy going one for easy going Christians, and suffering, toiling one for exceptional believers. There is only one Christ. Are you willing to abide in Him and bear much fruit?

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Note: Evangel article November 28, 2007

What is Adoption?

Note: Below is the outline of the message last Sunday evening at JPBC on "Adoption" in our Order of Salvation Series.

What is Adoption?
JPBC November 25, 2007

I. Introduction:

Spurgeon’s Catechism:

Q 33: What is adoption?

A: Adoption is an act of God’s free grace, whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges, of the sons of God.

Part of salvation is attaining a status of sonship. We are made part of God’s family. We are co-heirs of Christ.

The Biblical word for "adoption" is huiothesia, literally "to be placed into sonship [the status of son]."

II. Key Biblical examples with explicit use of "adoption" language:

1. Galatians 4:4-7:

4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

2. Ephesians 1:3-6:

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.

3. Romans:

a. Romans 8:15:

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."

b. Romans 8:23:

Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

Note: Here adoption is linked with the ultimate redemption of the body at the final resurrection. This implies that adoption, like sanctification, is something that begins in the here and now but is not completed until the end of the ages in our final glorification.

c. Romans 9:3-4:

3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;

Note: Here adoption refers to ethnic Israel’s relationship with God. Now Christians—Jews and Gentiles—share in this sonship status.

III. Passages that do not explicitly use "adoption" language but where the concept is implied:

Examples:

1. John 1:12-13:

12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

2. Romans 8:16-17:

16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs -- heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

3. 1 John 3:1:

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

IV. Some implications of this doctrine:

1. Before we are saved, we are not "children of God."

One of the chief conceits of human nature is to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. Liberal Christianity spoke of "the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man." Even today you will hear someone say, "We are all God’s children."

The Bible rejects this concept. We only become God’s children when we are saved. Before that, we are sons of the devil who deserve God’s wrath (see John 8:39-47 "You are of your father the devil" (v. 44); Eph 1:3 "by nature children of wrath").

2. Christians hold a distinct status of privilege given us by God.

As with our discussion of definitive sanctification, we see that it will not do to speak disparagingly of the one who is saved. He is no longer a wretch, an orphan, but he has been made a child of God.

3. The concept of adoption is linked with the theology of the church.

To be saved is to be made part of a family. It is to receive brothers and sisters who have also been adopted into this family. We have an elder brother, Christ, who is a child by nature. We join with our adopted siblings into God’s family.

V. Conclusion:

In Charlottesville when a child is adopted the Judge has him stand with his family in the courtroom and he declares the legally binding status of family. A bell is wrung. When you hear that bell ringing you know that a new "forever family" has been formed. So, when a person is saved we might say that a bell is rung in heaven. An adoption is finalized and formalized. You become part of God’s family. You become his child. You become heir to a vast fortune and wealth that you did not earn but that was given to you by grace.

JTR

A New Old Breed: Young SBC Calvinists in the Pulpits

A Baptist press article from the "Building Bridges" Conference on Calvinism in the SBC reports on Lifeway's Ed Setzer's presentation of a survey indicating that one in three SBC seminary grads are self-described Calvinists. A past report indicates that at present only one in ten SBC Pastors is a five-point Calvinists. From the article:

Referring to recent graduates, Stetzer explained, "The percentages tick up each year and if they continue to increase, then obviously the percentage of Calvinists in our churches and church leadership will continue to increase as well.

"Calvinism is on the rise among the most recent seminary graduates. If present trends continue, Calvinism will continue to grow as an influence in our convention."

JTR

Thankfulness For What We Have

Do you have a thankful heart?

At the start of Daniel Defoe’s classic novel Robinson Crusoe, the shipwrecked hero is a rebellious, ungrateful young man.

As he reads a Bible salvaged from the wrecked ship, however, his attitude gradually changes. The hero reflects:

I frequently sat down to my meat with thankfulness, and admired the hand of God’s providence, which had thus spread my table in the wilderness. I learned to look more upon the bright side of my condition, and less on the dark side, and to consider what I enjoyed, rather than what I wanted… All our discontents about what we want, appeared to me to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.

Psalm 95:2 says, "Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving."

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Note: The devotional above is the text from one of our "60 Seconds in the Word" spots currently running on AM 1260 in Charlottesville.

Evangel article, November 21, 2007.

Book Review: R. T. Kendall's "In Pursuit of His Glory"

NOTE (MAY 29, 2009): I WILL NO LONGER BE ACCEPTING COMMENTS ON THIS POST. MY REVIEW IS OBVIOUSLY NOT VERY FAVORABLE TO R.T. KENDALL; NEVERTHELESS, I DO NOT WISH TO ATTACK HIM PERSONALLY. I HAVE HAD A STEADY FLOW OF COMMENTS THAT I HAVE REJECTED (MOST LIKELY FROM THE SAME PERSON). THESE HAVE CROSSED THE LINE INTO GOSSIP AND UNRELIABLE ACCUSATION AND WILL NOT BE POSTED. FOR THIS REASON, THERE WILL BE NO MORE COMMENTS APPROVED FOR THIS POST.

Book Review

R. T. Kendall, In Pursuit of His Glory: My 25 Years at Westminster Chapel (Charisma House, 2004): 310 pp.

As a missionary back in the early 1990s I picked up a copy of R. T. Kendall’s book Jonah in London and found it, at the time, to be spiritually helpful. I did not know then that the book came from Kendall’s first expositional preaching series in 1977 as the successor of Martin Lloyd-Jones at central London’s famed Westminster Chapel. It is the strange direction Kendall’s ministry took in subsequent years at Westminster that is the subject of this book.

In Pursuit of His Glory is a pastor’s memoir of Kendall’s controversial and, by his own admission, disappointing tenure at Westminster from 1977 to 2002. In some ways, one might say that Kendall’s ministry was doomed from the start. He began with at least two strikes against him. First, he was an American coming to serve a British congregation. Second, he was succeeding the famed pulpit ministry of the deeply influential Martin Lloyd-Jones. Kendall began behind in the count and never measured up to Westminster standards.

The strange aspect of the story is Kendall’s account of his embrace of the charismatic movement in an effort to produce revival at Westminster. It began with his welcoming of the Jesus movement street evangelist Arthur Blessit, the introduction of contemporary choruses in worship, and the extending of altar calls. In retrospect these changes were mild compared to what would come. Stunning is Kendall’s subsequent bold and rapid embrace from there of the most fringe elements of the charismatic movement. This included his welcoming of the "Kansas City Prophet" Paul Cain into membership and the pulpit at Westminster and then laughing evangelist Rodney Howard-Browne of the notorious "Toronto Blessing." In some ways, one might say that Kendall merely returned to his Nazarene roots, but was this what the Chapel members who called him in 1977 bargained for?

How did the Chapel go from such a staunch citadel of Reformed theology under "the Doctor’s" leadership to a place promoting the Toronto Blessing? The transformation, again, is stunning. This is not to say that these changes were unopposed. Kendall cryptically describes opposition that developed to his ministry at Westminster, including a painful "church meeting" on January 16, 1985 which he barely survived. He also refers often to his "total forgiveness" of those who opposed his ministry. One of the strangest elements of the book is Kendall’s insistence that he consulted with the aged Lloyd-Jones and gained his support for the introduction of these novel teachings. Kendall’s recollections have been openly challenged by Iain Murray in a review of this book in The Banner of Truth.

Kendall speaks with disappointment of the never achieved revival he sought to bring about at Westminster. His attempt to marry his version of Reformed theology (the "Word") with charismania (the "Spirit") did not bring renewal and revival. One of the saddest parts of this memoir is Kendall’s often expressed despair at the dwindling congregations to which he preached over the years. By the end of his ministry, the cavernous chapel, capable of holding thousands, held only a few hundred at best. Sadly one wonders in the end if his desire to see vast numbers in attendance was really an effort to pursue God’s glory or an effort to gratify his own pride and fleshly desire for popularity. This book should be read by Pastors and laymen alike not as an exercise in seeking methods to employ but as a cautionary tale of what to avoid in pastoral ministry.

Jeffrey T. Riddle, Pastor, Jefferson Park Baptist Church, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903

LivingStone: "Evangelical" Monastery?

While walking through the exhibition hall at the BGAV meeting last Tuesday I was struck by one display in particular. It was for LivingStone Monastery in Newport News, Virginia. The young man attending the table saw the puzzled look on my face as I read their banner proclaiming the mission of this "Protestant monastery." The young man, a recent graduate of Trinity Divinity School in Chicago, gave me a brochure and the low down on the monastery.

Livingstone opened in 2004 in a building once owned by the Sisters of Poor Clare, an order of Franciscan nuns, who had lived there for 50 years. As the brochure says, "Now a monastery in the evangelical tradition, LivingStone is a religious community called to support the local church, to practice hospitality,and to foster an environment for spiritual formation." The Monastery has an "Abbot," and they conduct "daily offices" at morning, noon, and night.

With a little more digging I found the monastery is connected to Hope Community Church, an "emerging" church type congregation. Most interesting thing here is the fact that this church shares facilities with five partnering churches (including what looks like a conservative Anglican and an independent Doctrines of Grace church) in a "multi-church campus" called Mosaic.

Prominently displayed on the exhibit table was a book by Quaker evangelical mystic Richard Foster. The affable young man let me look at their reading list which had more Foster and the Catholic Henry Nouwen, but it also listed several books by John Piper and even J. I. Packer’s Knowing God.

After a little perusal, I asked the young "monk," "Why do you think that the Protestant Reformers closed down the monasteries as the Reformation got under way?" Why did the former monk Luther marry the former nun Katherine Von Bora and establish their Christian home as "the school for character" (as Roland Bainton puts it in his classic bio of Luther)? I also asked why evangelicals would turn to Quakers or Roman Catholics for lessons on spirituality and bypass our own glorious (and doctrinally distinct) heritage on such matters in the Puritans (none of whom made the reading list).

We have to admit that most evangelical churches are lacking the intimate fellowship, community, discipline, and commitment that these young folk are trying to find in their "monastery." But is such a communal living arrangement Biblical? Shouldn’t these folk be encouraged to marry and establish godly homes where godly children are raised and to join themselves in meaningful covenant to an authentic local church body?

JTR

The Lord's Calf

Note: A friend at JPBC recently gave me a book on the discipline of Christian stewardship titled Totally Committed to Christ (Evangelical Press, 2004). On Monday I had lunch with the author, a retired Virginia Baptist Pastor, at the SBCV meeting in Hampton. Here is one section from that book under the heading "Giving should be performed systematically" (pp. 195-96):

To be haphazard in our giving, giving as the whim takes us or giving what happens to be in our pocket when we are in church and giving nothing when we are absent, is not God’s way. Our giving to the Lord’s work through his church must be done as regularly and punctually as the paying of our personal bills and accounts.

One thing is certain. If we do not give priority to our Christian giving we will find it crowded out by other financial commitments, and the Lord’s work will suffer. We must avoid the weakness of the farmer whose best cow gave birth to twin calves: one brown and the other white. In his excitement he ran indoors to tell his wife the good news and announce that he had decided in gratitude to give one calf to the Lord. Both calves would be brought up together, he said, then one would be sold and the proceeds given to the church. His more matter-of-fact wife, however, asked him which of the two calves he intended to dedicate to the Lord. ‘Ah’, he said, ‘there’s no need to decide that now. We can do it later.’ A few months passed, and then one day the farmer came into the kitchen looking very miserable. ‘My dear’, he sighed, ‘I have bad news. The Lord’s calf is dead.’ ‘The Lord’s calf?’ exclaimed his wife in astonishment. ‘But I thought you said you hadn’t decided which calf would be the Lord’s.’ ‘Yes’, he said, ‘but I always thought it would be the white one.’

The Lord’s calf has a way of dying, does it not? One of the greatest difficulties in Christian giving is to keep the Lord’s calf alive. That is the value of using church offering envelopes for our giving. It is so easy to go away on vacation or to be off sick and to forget our weekly or monthly contribution. But dated, anonymous envelopes can assist us in keeping our giving regular and systematic.

"So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or out of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7).

May God continue to grow us into responsible stewards!

Jeff Riddle

Evangel article November 14, 2007.

Baptist Meetings

I am back in the groove after attending two Baptist meetings this week.

First, I was down in Hampton on Monday for the first day of the annual SBCV meeting. I picked up JPBC’s Howard Anderson at the Newport-News Airport (he had flown in from Scottsville), and we made it over to Liberty Baptist for the meeting. We had lunch with Brian Russell, a native of South Africa who served for 16 years as Pastor of Gwynn’s Island Baptist Church and then planted Redeeming Grace Baptist Church in Matthews County, Virginia. Brian gave me a copy of his book Baptism (Grace Publications, 2000) that I look forward to reading. I also got to spend time with Pastor Rob Stovall of Providence BC and his son Bobby. JPBC was accepted into membership in the SBCV in the Monday afternoon session. The praise music for the sessions was very loud. As one person said, He felt he had stumbled into a Church of God meeting.

On Tuesday, I made my way to the meeting of the BGAV at the Richmond convention center to attend as a visitor. This was my 15th BGAV meeting and perhaps my last. This year marked the 5th anniversary of the Kingdom Advance meeting, held in Charlottesville on May 10, 2002. In general, it was business as usual for the BGAV, celebrating its "freedom," tying hard to appear relevant, and being self-congratulatory for stagnancy. Just before the lunch break on Tuesday the announced Messenger count was a mere 675 people! A friend noted the irony of the BGAV theme, "Hope is on the Way (H.O.W.)." He suggested a few possible future themes, like "S.O.S." and "D.N.R."

I’ll write a more detailed summary of both meetings in the next Evangelical Forum Newsletter.

JTR

Hogue's Epitaph

In the Union Cemetery, I also ran across the tombstone of Addison Hogue (1849-1942) and was struck by his epitaph: "He saved me. He can save anybody else." Could a believer say it any better than that?

JTR

A Visit to the Union Seminary Cemetery at Hampden-Sydney

Last Thursday Marcus Deel and I made a trip to Farmville, Virginia to visit a JPBC student at Longwood. Afterwards we made the short trip over to Hampden-Sydney College and visited the cemetery of Union Seminary on that rural campus. The historical marker notes Union as the oldest Presbyterian Seminary in the South having begun in Hampden-Sydney's Theology Department in 1812. The seminary moved to Richmond in 1898. It has since also moved far from its Southern Presbyterian and Reformed heritage.

Among the noteworthy tombstones is that of Robert Lewis Dabney (1820-98).

Also interesting is the grave marker for 20 year old Isaac Pancake Armstrong (1842-62), "A believer in Jesus Christ, Sacrificed his life defending Virginia against a ruthless invasion, July 27, 1862."

For more photos, look here.

JTR

Book Review: Mark Fox's "Family-Integrated Church"

Note: Mark Fox spoke last Sunday evening at Berean Baptist Church here in Charlottesville and a friend from that church gave me a copy of his book to read.

J. Mark Fox, Family-Integrated Church (Xulon Press, 2006): 184 pp.

This self-published work by Mark Fox, Pastor and part-time Communications professor, tells the story of Antioch Community Church in Burlington, North Carolina. As the title indicates, it records in particular the church’s embrace of the "family-integrated" church model. Among other things this has meant the church’s inclusion of children in its worship services and the rejection of a typical youth groups and age graded Sunday School classes. It has also meant other areas of church reform including the development of elder leadership, meaningful spiritual oversight, and the practice of church discipline.

Fox tells the Antioch story with candor. This includes the initial high hopes for numerical growth that were never fully realized, how the church dealt with an attendee who fancied herself "the Bride of Christ" dressing in a wedding gown and standing to "prophesy" in the church’s worship services (!), and how the Antioch leaders sought reconciliation with the Pastor of the church from which they split. In many ways the book is a church history for the Antioch congregation.

I found this book to be interesting reading. Most importantly it points to a movement that is underway in evangelicalism. All across the country, churches are popping up that are struggling with authenticity and Biblical faithfulness. They are interested in genuine reform and renewal. They are seeking this not in programs but in strong families. These churches also reflect the influence of the home-schooling movement in evangelical church life, as families are seeking a level of intimacy in church life that they have discovered in home education. Antioch’s story is an illustration of this grass roots movement.

There are several elements in Fox’s telling of the Antioch story, however, that appear incomplete. One is a commitment to the regulative principle in worship. Antioch appears to be deeply influenced by the Third Wave (charismatic) movement. Fox approvingly describes things like open sharing times in worship services (and some of the inherent dangers of this, as the "Bride" episode illustrates) and even "liturgical dance" that those seeking worship regulated by Scriptural norms will find incongruent. The key missing element, however, is a stress on doctrinal and confessional boundaries. The "family-integrated" church movement, in particular, has grown among those who hold to Reformed confessional convictions, and Fox shows no clear leanings in this direction. Though Fox notes the importance of the authority of Scripture, he does not proceed to stress the importance of a church adopting a confession of faith to regulate the church’s belief and practice. Antioch is also typically "modern" in that it is "non-denominational." The question might be asked whether the place to begin real reform in the church and in the lives of believers is in reformation of family or in reformation of doctrine.

Jeffrey T. Riddle, Jefferson Park Baptist Church, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903

CBF Church Double Speak Over "Gays" in Church Directory

One more Baptist Press article caught my eye yesterday. This one is titled, "Gay Couples in Church Directory Kindles Flap." It involves controversy at Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth a prominent Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Church in Texas once pastored by former CBF Moderator and BTSR Professor Cecil Sherman.

The church apparently has "gay" members but some of the traditionalist members are bucking at the notion of allowing them to be pictured in their church directory along with their partners.

One could discuss the whole issue of this church's lack of Biblical discipline or its hypocrisy. What I find interesting is the description of classic moderate Baptist double-speak expressed by Pastor Brett Younger in the following quotes:

"For decades Broadway has had gay members as part of our membership, but no couple had been pictured as a couple in a church directory," pastor Brett Younger said in a statement to the membership of the church. The possibility of including homosexual couples in the directory "was troubling to many,” Younger acknowledged, “as they saw it as a change of direction and it is understandable that they would feel that way."

Or this:

"Broadway has for years had an amazing policy on including gay people. It's not a policy that a committee came up with, or the staff or the deacons. It's an unwritten policy that came out of the shared life of this congregation, a policy I believe was inspired by the Spirit," he said. "This church has for a long time included both gay people who are committed to Christ and members who aren't affirming and who have serious questions, but who are willing to share the church. This has allowed us to be a congregation where the conversation can take place about being gay and being Christians."

Note Younger's suggestion that their confusing situation is "inspired by the Spirit." Sadly it has little to do with Scripture and is not inspired by the Spirit of God which never contradicts Scipture. In truth I have more admiration for a truly liberal church than the typical moderate attempt to dance around issues and take no firm stand in the name of false charity and diversity.

JTR

A Shocking Confession from Willow Creek

Baptist Press has an interesting article on the recent confession by seeker-sensitive guru Bill Hybels that the Willow Creek church model has failed to make mature disciples. The article reads in part:

For most of a generation evangelicals have been romanced by the "seeker-sensitive" movement spawned by Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago. The guru of this movement is Bill Hybels. He and others have been telling us for decades to throw out everything we have previously thought and been taught about church growth and replace it with a new paradigm, a new way to do ministry.

Perhaps inadvertently, with this "new wave" of ministry came a de-emphasis on taking personal responsibility for Bible study combined with an emphasis on felt-needs based "programs" and slick marketing.

The size of the crowd rather than the depth of the heart determined success. If the crowd was large then surely God was blessing the ministry. Churches were built by demographic studies, professional strategists, marketing research, meeting "felt needs" and sermons consistent with these techniques. We were told that preaching was out, relevance was in. Doctrine didn't matter nearly as much as innovation. If it wasn't "cutting edge" and consumer friendly it was doomed. The mention of sin, salvation and sanctification were taboo and replaced by Starbucks, strategy and sensitivity.

Thousands of pastors hung on every word that emanated from the lips of the church growth experts. Satellite seminars were packed with hungry church leaders learning the latest way to "do church." The promise was clear: Thousands of people and millions of dollars couldn't be wrong. Forget what people need, give them what they want. How can you argue with the numbers? If you dared to challenge the "experts" you were immediately labeled as a "traditionalist," a throwback to the 50s, a stubborn dinosaur unwilling to change with the times.

All that changed recently.

Willow Creek has released the results of a multi-year study on the effectiveness of their programs and philosophy of ministry. The study's findings are in a new book titled "Reveal: Where Are You?," co-authored by Cally Parkinson and Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek Community Church. Hybels himself called the findings "ground breaking," "earth shaking" and "mind blowing." And no wonder: It seems that the "experts" were wrong.

The report reveals that most of what they have been doing for these many years and what they have taught millions of others to do is not producing solid disciples of Jesus Christ. Numbers yes, but not disciples. It gets worse. Hybels laments:

"Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn't helping people that much. Other things that we didn't put that much money into and didn't put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for." If you simply want a crowd, the "seeker-sensitive" model produces results. If you want solid, sincere, mature followers of Christ, it's a bust. In a shocking confession, Hybels states:"We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become 'self feeders.' We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their Bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own."

Incredibly, the guru of church growth now tells us that people need to be reading their Bibles and taking responsibility for their spiritual growth.

JTR

Understanding the Doctrine of the Trinity

The series of messages I preached at the 2007 Fall Theology Conference at Providence Baptist Church in Suffolk are now available online here.

The five part series:

1. The Biblical Basis for the Doctrine of the Trinity.

2. The Trinity as Guardian of Orthodoxy.

3. The Linchpin: Jesus as God.

4. The Trinity and Salvation: The Covenant of Redemption.

5. The Trinity and Human Relationships.

JTR

What is Faith?

Note: This is an outline from our current JPBC teaching series on Sunday evenings on the order of salvation.

What is Faith?
JPBC November 4, 2007
6:00 pm Worship

Jeff Riddle

Spurgeon’s Catechism:

Q 69: "What is faith in Jesus Christ?"
A 69: "Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive, and rest upon Him alone for salvation, as He is set forth in the gospel."

We have Biblical descriptions of the exercise of faith:

The Ethiopian Eunuch:

NKJ Acts 8:37 Then Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."

The Philippian Jailer:

NKJ Acts 16:30 And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31 So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household."

The basic Christian Confession:

NKJ Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

The Greek words for "faith" are the noun pistis and the verb pisteuo. Alternative translations would be belief and to believe. With regard to the order of salvation we are talking about "saving faith."

Faith involves some basic knowledge of Jesus and the gospel facts (see 1 Cor 15:1-5). Paul says, "How will they believe in him of whom they have not heard? (Rom 10:14)."

But mere knowledge is not enough. See James 2:19: "You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe and tremble."

We might also say that knowledge and approval are not enough. Grudem here sites Nicodemas (John 3:2) and Agrippa (Acts 26:27).

Saving faith requires a fundamental, personal trust in Jesus. Grudem: "Saving faith is trust in Jesus Christ as a living person for forgiveness of sins and for eternal life with God" (p. 710). It is trust in one who has shown himself trustworthy.

Seven key observations about Biblical faith:

1. Regeneration precedes faith.

See the conversion of Lydia in Acts 16:14: "The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul." The new birth is essential for saving faith (John 3:3: "Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.").

2. Personal, conscious faith in Christ is essential for salvation.

NKJ John 3:36 "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
Compare Acts 4:10:

NKJ Acts 4:12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

BFM 2000: "There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ."

Also note that its is possible for saving faith to be exercised in the OT, so that there are OT saints. See Romans 4:3 quoting Genesis 15:6:

NKJ Romans 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."

Note that the Bible rejects both universalism (all are saved with conscious profession) and hyper-Calvinism (some are saved with conscious profession).

3. Saving faith is not irrational.

The Bible does not speak of taking "a blind leap of faith." It does not ask for an irrational commitment. Faith is reasonable. It has a real object in Jesus and the brute facts of the Gospel.
We are called to faith by hearing about the object of our faith: Christ (see Romans 10:17: "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God."

We do not ask for blind faith but faith in Christ, the object of Christian preaching from Scripture.

4. Faith is also described with other terms.

One would be "receiving Christ" as in John 1:12:

NKJ John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name

Another would be "coming" to Christ:

NKJ John 6:37 "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

NKJ John 7:37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.

NKJ Matthew 11:28 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

But note the absence of decisionistic language.

5. Saving faith is accompanied by genuine repentance.

To gain hold of Christ, you must let go of the world.

BFM 2000: "Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace."

See Peter at Pentecost:

NKJ Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" 38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Grudem combines repentance and faith in the unifying concept of conversion: "Conversion is our willing response to the gospel call, in which we sincerely repent of sins and place our trust in Christ for salvation" (p. 709).

John Murray in Redemption Accomplished and Applied speaks of "penitent faith" and "believing repentance" (so Grudem, p. 714).

6. You cannot have Jesus as Savior and not also have him as Lord.

You cannot claim to believe in Jesus and see no change in your life.

An early view called Sandemanianism, after Scottish theologian Robert Sandeman (1718-1771), said that saving faith comes through intellectual assent alone. This view has influenced Campbellites and the easy-believism evangelism of much contemporary evangelicalism.

In recent years there was the so-called "Lordship salvation" debate between John MacArthur and Zane Hodges.

We cannot divorce faith from repentance.

Jesus said that false prophets were to be discerned by their lack of fruit: "Therefore by their fruits you will know them" (Matt 7:20).

Faith without works is dead (see James 2:17).

Good works are not the root of salvation but the fruit of salvation:

NKJ Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

7. Faith and repentance are to be continuously exercised.

Faith is listed along with hope and love as one of the three cardinal theological virtues (1 Cor 13:13).

Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

JTR

In Defense of "Legalism"

In the Galatians Bible Study class last Sunday, one of the members requested a moratorium on the use of the word "legalism." His point, I think, was that too many people want to escape the restrictions of clear boundaries to justify unruly behavior, so they make a straw man out of "legalism." When Paul stressed salvation by grace and not by works in Galatians he was not suggesting that we simply live as we please. He was not saying that "anything goes." He was saying that believers are bound to live by the more excellent law of Christ. Consider the following verses:

Matthew 5:17 Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

Galatians 6:2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

1 Timothy 1:8 But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully,

James 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well;

This member also suggested that those who denounce "legalism" are prone to throw around the word without ever properly defining it. That sent me to Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary which offers two possibilities for "legalism": (1) strict, literal, or excessive conformity to the law or to a religious or moral code; and (2) a legal term or rule. I think we would agree that "legalism" that adds to Biblical expectations is to be avoided while "legalism" in terms of zeal for keeping the law of Christ faithfully should be sought. We want to be conformed to the moral law of God and to the new law of Christ as the rule and guide for living.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Evangel Article 10/30/07.