Dogma

Jim Bublitz over at Old Truth has posted a great quote from Horatius Bonar which truly refutes the idea of having a faith without doctrine.

Christianity, say many among us, is a life, not a dogma; and they reckon this the enunciation of a great and unappreciated truth. It is, however, a mere truism, or it is an unmeaning antithesis, or it is an absolute falsehood. It sounds oracular and great; it is only pompous.

Christianity is both a life and a dogma; quite as much the one as the other. But it is a dogma before it is a life; it cannot be the latter till it has been the former. It is out of the dogma that the life emerges; not the dogma out of the life; and the importance that is attached in Scripture to knowledge,--right knowledge,--should make us cautious in disparaging doctrine, as if it were harmless when wrong, and impotent or uninfluential when right. ... Remain ignorant of the doctrine, and you remain ignorant of the person [of Christ]; nay, that person becomes a mysterious shadow,--vague, unintelligible, and unlovable. --Horatius Bonar

Rendered Useless

With all the attention that Steven Furtick of Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC is getting of late I thought this quote really sums up his messages of course his are without the wisdom of words.

"What a number of elaborate sermons have been preached to no purpose! Even the truth that is in them is rendered, in a great measure, useless, by the wisdom of words with which it is clothed." —Joseph Milner (1744-1797)

Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats?

I know that this is a popular post on the net but to often I believe it has been forgotten or over looked and to think that it was written over 100 years ago makes it even more profound, thank you Mr. Spurgeon!!!

An evil is in the professed camp of the Lord, so gross in its impudence, that the most shortsighted believer can hardly fail to notice it during the past few years. It has developed at an abnormal rate, even for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them.

From speaking out as the Puritans did, the church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses.

My first contention is that providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the church. If it is a Christian work, why did not Christ speak of it? "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature". That is clear enough. So it would have been if He had added, "and provide amusement for those who do not relish the gospel." No such words, however, are to be found. It did not seem to occur to him.

Then again, "He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers., for the work of the ministry". Where do entertainers come in? The Holy Spirit is silent concerning them. Were the prophets persecuted because they amused the people or because they refused? The concert has no martyr roll.

Again, providing amusement is in direct antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all his apostles. What was the attitude of the church to the world? Ye are the salt", not the sugar candy--something the world will spit out not swallow. Short and sharp was the utterance, "Let the dead bury their dead" He was in awful earnestness.

Had Christ introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into his mission, he would have been more popular when they went back, because of the searching nature of His teaching. I do not hear him say, "Run after these people Peter and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick Peter, we must get the people somehow." Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them.

In vain will the Epistles be searched to find any trace of this gospel of amusement! Their message is, "Come out, keep out, clean out!" Anything approaching fooling is conspicuous by its absence. They had boundless confidence in the gospel and employed no other weapon.

After Peter and John were locked up for preaching, the church had a prayer meeting but they did not pray, "Lord grant unto thy servants that by a wise and discriminating use of innocent recreation we may show these people how happy we are." If they ceased not from preaching Christ, they had not time for arranging entertainments. Scattered by persecution, they went everywhere preaching the gospel. They turned the world upside down. That is the only difference! Lord, clear the church of all the rot and rubbish the devil has imposed on her, and bring us back to apostolic methods.

Lastly, the mission of amusement fails to effect the end desired. It works havoc among young converts. Let the careless and scoffers, who thank God because the church met them halfway, speak and testify. Let the heavy laden who found peace through the concert not keep silent! Let the drunkard to whom the dramatic entertainment has been God's link in the chain of the conversion, stand up! There are none to answer. The mission of amusement produces no converts. The need of the hour for today's ministry is believing scholarship joined with earnest spirituality, the one springing from the other as fruit from the root. The need is biblical doctrine, so understood and felt, that it sets men on fire. - Charles Haddon Spurgeon - (1834-1892)

Quote of the Day

I am afraid a vicious taste is gaining ground, both among preachers and hearers; all glare and paint, little to the understanding, and nothing to the heart. —Robert Hall (1764-1831)

Preaching to Preachers

Today my pastor Jonathan Sims who is the senior pastor at Shelbyville Mills Baptist Church brought a powerful message from the text of Matthew 3:1 which he titled "The Greatest Preacher" which introduces us to the subject of John the Baptist in which he calls for preachers to be faithful in preaching the whole counsel of God. You can stream or download this sermon at The Bororean Podcast.

"Remember dear preacher brother that only the Lord's opinion of you matters in the judgement, be faithful to proclaim His Word only, do not resort to man-centered techniques or cave in to the many pressures placed upon you in a self-centered world. Be faithful and true to the Word of God and the God of that Word." —Jonathan Sims

Doctrines Will Prevail!

"We have known men who believed Calvinistic doctrines, but who preached Calvinism in the morning and Arminianism in the evening, because they were afraid God's gospel would not convert sinners, so they' would manufacture one of their own. I hold that a man who does not believe his gospel to be able to save men's souls, does not believe it at all. If God's truth will not save men's souls, man's lies cannot. If God's truth will not turn men to repentance, I am sure there is nothing in this world that can. When we believe the gospel to be powerful, then we shall see it is powerful. If I walk into this pulpit, and say, "I know what I preach is true," the world says I am an egotist; "The young man is dogmatical." Ay, and the young man means to be; he glories in it; he keeps it to himself as one of his peculiar titles, for he does most firmly believe what he preaches. God forbid that I should ever come tottering up the pulpit-stairs to teach anything I was not quite sure of; something which I hoped might save sinners, but of which I was not exactly certain. When I have faith in my doctrines, those doctrines will prevail; for confidence is the winner of the palm. He who hath courage enough to grasp the standard, and hold it up, will be sure enough to find followers. He who says, "I know," and asserts it boldly in his Master's name, without disputing, will not be long before he will find men to listen to what he says, and who will say, "This man speaks with authority, and not as the Scribes and Pharisees." That is one reason why we do not succeed: we have not faith in the gospel. We send educated men to India in order to confound the learned Brahmins. Nonsense! let the Brahmins say what they like. Have we any business to dispute with them? "O, but they are so intellectual, and so clever." What have we to do with that? We are not to seek to be clever in order to meet them. Leave the men of the world to combat their metaphysical errors. We have merely to say, "This is truth: he that believeth it shall be saved, and he that denieth it shall be damned." We have no right to come down from the high ground of divine authoritative testimony; and, until we maintain that ground, and come out as we ought to do, girded with the belt of divinity,—preaching not what may be true, but asserting that which God has most certainly revealed,—we shall not see success. "We want a deeper faith in our gospel; we want to be quite sure of what we preach. Brethren, I take it, we have not the faith of our fathers. I feel myself a poor, drivelling thing, in point of faith. Why, methought sometimes I could believe anything; but now a little difficulty comes before me; I am timid, and I fear. It is when I preach with unbelief in my heart that I preach unsuccessfully; but when I preach with faith, and can say, "I know my God has said, that in the self-same hour he will give me what I shall preach; and, careless of man's esteem, I preach what I believe to be true," then it is that God owns faith, and crowns it with his own crown." —C. H. Spurgeon

Excerpt taken from a sermon titled "Gospel Missions" by C. H. Spurgeon, Published in 1883

FYI

I was not aware until today that the famed search engine Google now has a book search, I know so what right? Well to my amazement it is chalked full of old Puritan books in their entirety. Books by such men of God like Horatius Bonar, Jonathan Edwards, C. H. Spurgeon, John Owen, Richard Sibbs and just about anyone else you can think of, for example they have the complete works of John Flavel right at your finger tips. This is a great resource for any serious reader who would like to preview books before you purchase. Anyway; I think its a great resource. Google Book Search

Quote of the Day

"The devil knoweth that he hath a foul cause to manage, and therefore will get the fairest hand he can to manage it, with the less suspicion. —John Flavel (1627-1691)

Where is The Cross?

Does this look familiar? Sure you've seen it before. That's right its a Globe, or better yet "The World", a might pretty one at that I might add. Looks like its covered in gold but not the real stuff probably fools gold, but it still looks nice right? One might expect to see The World in a class room, a museum, or even displayed in public as a piece of art. But do you really think it belongs in a church? What does it say when "The World" is the dominant center piece of one of the largest church's in America? I don't know if you have seen many pictures of Lakewood Church; home of the Smiling Preacher Joel Osteen but one thing that you will not find very easily is the display of the Cross. The Cross NO! The World YES!!!


Pictures are worth a thousand words!


Nope; don't see a Cross on the outside either.


No Cross in the foyer, but there is a scripture verse of Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." now that's a verse everyone loves to hear!


No Cross is visible at the Lakewood Bookstore which is huge, I wonder what they sell in there? Do you think they might have a John MacArthur book or two in there?


Imagine that? No Cross in there either.


Hey if you incorporate the big video monitors it almost looks like a cross. I know this is how Lakewood Church looks most of the time, but...


I wish it looked more like this!!!

Pastors Repent!

Here is a post that is directed to pastors that have fully embraced the Seeker-Sensitive methods of preaching, it is a Call to Repentance.

Proud Nonsense

"We have some who preach Calvinism all the first part of the sermon, and finish up with Arminianism, because they think that will make them useful. Useful nonsense!—That is all it is." —C.H. Spurgeon

"Hence it is, that natural men are generally so fond of Arminian principles. "Do and live," is the native language of a proud, self-righteous heart." —George Whitfield

"If you don’t believe that God is the Sovereign One who is determining who is being saved, then you must believe it’s your job. I’d be out of the ministry if I was an Arminian. I don’t want that responsibility." —John MacArthur

"There are many would have peace with the destroying of truth; peace with Arminian, Socinian, Antiscripturist. This is a peace of the devil’s making." —Thomas Watson

"If we sum up the evidence that has been given, we shall find its amount to be, that Arminianism came from the Church of Rome, and leads back again to the pit whence it was digged." — Augustus Toplady

"I have not discovered half the poison contained in the Arminian doctrine concerning God’s decrees, I will in brief present to your view the opposition that is in this matter betwixt the word of God and the patrons of free-will." —John Owen

"So that let Arminians turn which way they please with their notion of liberty, consisting in the Will determining its own acts, their notion destroys itself." —Jonathan Edwards

"[Arminianism is] the Pope's Benjamin, the last and greatest monster of the man of sin; the elixir of Anti- Christianism; the mystery of the mystery of iniquity; the Pope's cabinet; the very quintessence of equivocation." —Alexander Leighton

"What are the new Arminians but the varnished offspring of the old Pelagians, that makes the grace of God to lackey it at the foot, or rather, the will of man? that makes the sheep to keep the shepherd?" —Christopher Ness

"Arminianism is thus guilty of confusing doctrines and of acting as an obstruction to a clear and lucid grasp of the Scripture; because it mis-states or ignores the eternal purpose of God, it dislocates the meaning of the whole plan of redemption. Indeed confusion is inevitable apart from this foundational truth [of election]." —C. H. Spurgeon

---

So if you would allow me to paraphrase.

"Arminianism is a half poisoned self righteous man of sin who's heart is full of proud nonsense that is of the devil's own making which leads back to the pit of Rome and produces a confusing offspring of the old Pelagian monster that destroys itself and truth in the mystery of iniquity."

That may have been a bit over the top.

The Devil of Devils

What is Conversion? Man must be a new creature, and converted from his own righteousness to the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Conviction will always precede spiritual conversion, therefore the Protestant divines make this distinction; you may be convinced and not converted, but you cannot be converted without being convinced. And if we are truly converted, we shall not only be turned and converted from sinful self, but we shall be converted from righteous self; that is the devil of devils. - George Whitfield (1714-1769)

Taken from 20 Centuries of Great Preaching; Volume 3 (Waco, TX: Word Books Publishing, 1974), p. 139. and excerpted from Whitfield Gold, Pure. Refined. by Ray Comfort (Gainsville, FL: Bridge-Logos, 2006), p. 102.

User Friendly

• "There is no fire and brimstone here... Just practical, witty messages."
• "Services at our church have an informal feeling. You won't hear people threatened with hell or referred to as sinners. The goal is to make them feel welcome, not drive them away."
• "As with all clergymen our pastor answer is God– but he slips Him in at the end, and even then doesn't get heavy. No ranting, no raving. No fire, no brimstone. He doesn't even use the H-word. Call it Light Gospel. It has the same salvation as the Old Time Religion, but with a third less guilt."
• "The sermons are relevant, upbeat, and best of all, short. You won't hear a lot of preaching about sin and damnation, and hell fire. Preaching here doesn't sound like preaching. It is sophisticated, urbane, and friendly talk. It breaks all the stereotypes."
• "Our pastor is preaching a very upbeat message... It's a salvationist message, but the idea is not so much being saved from the fires of hell. Rather, it's being saved from meaninglessness and aimlessness in this life. It's more of a soft-sell."

So the new rules may be summed like this: Be clever, informal, positive, brief, friendly, and never, never use the H-word.

"I fear there are some who preach with the view of amusing men, and as long as people can be gathered in crowds, and their ears can be tickled, and they can retire pleased with what they have heard, the orator is content, and folds his hands, and goes back self-satisfied. But Paul did not lay himself out to please the public and collect the crowd. If he did not save them he felt that it was of no avail to interest them. Unless the truth had pierced their hearts, affected their lives, and made new men of them, Paul would have gone home crying, "Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" - C.H. Spurgeon

Taken from an article from John MacArthur titled "What's Wrong with "User Friendly"?"

Clear Evidence

I have heard sermons and read blogs by some seeker-driven pastors about how important it is that church's today become a first century church, and how wonderful it would be to have fellowship like the first century church did. Well I don't think they have thought this all the way through, first and foremost in order to have a first century church one would have to have some first century preaching right? Well that blows it right there for most church's today, because most preachers today don't preach Law, Atonement, Resurrection, Hell, Judgement, Justification, Repentance or the Cross at least the seeker-driven pastors I'm referring to don't.

Also first century church's didn't have the complete cannon of scripture, so I guess we would all just have to use the Old Testament like the Bereans did or rely on oral tradition for the better part of 300 years. Third; just imagine how hard it would be to grow your church when the leader of the known world is killing off your members just as fast as they join your congregation, can you imagine how hard it would be to take role from one Sunday to the next. The persecution of the Christians under Nero was so harsh, that even the inhabitants of Rome resented his cruelty, I think its safe to say that Nero would not have been onboard with Rick Warren's PDC Plan!

Forth; a first century church was open 7 days a week, Acts 1:46 "And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart", you see in order for church's today to be a first century church there would be little time left for today's relevant pastors to ride their Harley's or blast their bass boat to the nearest fishing hole. Fifth the early church regularly had to deal with many "heretical" groups trying to infiltrate the church with false teachings as Arianism, Gnosticism and Montanism which are still with us today in some forms, but today we don't have this problem because almost every idea is accepted into today's emerging church's where truth is vague and style is king. Lastly there was severe church discipline taking place in the first century for instance Ananias and Sapphira in chapter 5 of Acts, but today church discipline is all but UN-heard of with divorce running rampant and the homosexual community allowed to sit under pastoral leadership without confrontation of their sin would never fly in the first century. So with all that said all true believers do have "singleness of heart" and "all things common" with his fellow believers but for a pastor to think that pursuing these two traits define only a first century church is clear evidence that he is not a first century pastor.

Quote of the Day

Miserable are those who measure the authority of a doctrine by the numbers receiving it. Truth always overcomes, though for a time it is found among the few. - Athanasius (296-373)