Showing posts with label holy spirit. Show all posts

Two Voices

17 September 2012 by Tom Chantry

Q. 68. Are the elect only effectually called?
A. All the elect, and they only, are effectually called; although others may be, and often are, outwardly called by the ministry of the Word, and have some common operations of the Spirit; who, for their willful neglect and contempt of the grace offered to them, being justly left in their unbelief, do never truly come to Jesus Christ.

Preachers long for one Sunday in a thousand: the sermon seems as effective in the pulpit as it was in the study. The tongue doesn’t trip over the lips, illustrations are clear, and the Spirit seems to bless. But when that day comes, nothing happens. The post-church ritual of “Nice sermon, pastor,” is unchanged, and everyone wonders off to the parking lot, and the pastor returns to his routine.

A preacher may have a great burden for one lost sinner in the congregation. He wants that soul to reach heaven, and so he crafts his sermons to touch the precise points which that listener needs to hear. Again, nothing happens. The target audience smiles pleasantly on the way out of church, and the pastor’s heart sinks.

Then one day the preacher leaves the pulpit shame-faced. Such poor preaching must indicate inadequate preparation. The right word constantly eludes him, the illustrations miss he mark, and everything ends in an uncertain muddle. But on this day some timid soul comes quietly and says, “Pastor, I need to sit down and have a talk with you. I need to know the Lord.”

Why are men saved under mediocre preaching while extraordinary preaching so often accomplishes little? The answer is that there are two voices in every true sermon. One is the voice of the pastor, known in Scripture as “the ministry of the Word,” which on its own cannot touch the heart. The other is the voice of Christ, who speaks through preaching, or, to put it another way, “by his Word and Spirit; savingly enlightens their minds, renews and powerfully determines their wills, so as they (although in themselves dead in sin) are hereby made willing and able freely to answer his call, and to accept and embrace the grace offered and conveyed therein.”

Calvin as Gadfly

01 March 2012 by FX Turk


Usually I paraphrase John Calvin for the rest of us when we post him as Gadfly, with commentary on a Catechism prooftext.  Today I offer him up on John 14:13 unconstrained:

The Spirit, whom Christ promised to the apostles, is declared to be perfect Master or Teacher 96 of truth And why was he promised, but that they might deliver from hand to hand the wisdom which they had received from him? The Spirit was given to them, and under his guidance and direction they discharged the office to which they had been appointed.

He will lead you into all truth. That very Spirit had lead them into all truth, when they committed to writing the substance of their doctrine. Whoever imagines that anything must be added to their doctrine, as if it were imperfect and but half-finished, not only accuses the apostles of dishonesty, but blasphemes against the Spirit If the doctrine which they committed to writing had proceeded from mere learners or persons imperfectly taught, an addition to it would not have been superfluous; but now that their writings may be regarded as perpetual records of that revelation which was promised and given to them, nothing can be added to them without doing grievous injury to the Holy Spirit.

When they come to determine what those things actually were, the Papists act a highly ridiculous part, for they define those mysteries, which the apostles were unable to bear, to be certain childish fooleries, the most absurd and stupid things that can be imagined. Was it necessary that the Spirit should come down from heaven that the apostles might learn what ceremony must be used in consecrating cups with their altars, in baptizing church-bells, in blessing the holy water, and in celebrating Mass? Whence then do fools and children obtain their learning, who understand all those matters most thoroughly? Nothing is more evident than that the Papists mock God, when they pretend that those things came from heaven, which resemble as much the mysteries of Ceres or Proserpine as they are at variance with the pure wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

If we do not wish to be ungrateful to God, let us rest satisfied with that doctrine of which the writings of the apostles declare them to be the authors, since in it the highest perfection of heavenly wisdom is made known to us, fitted to make the man of God perfect (2 Timothy 3:17.) Beyond this let us not reckon ourselves at liberty to go; for our height, and breadth, and depth, consist in knowing the love of God, which is manifested to us in Christ. This knowledge, as Paul informs us, far exceeds all learning, (Ephesians 3:18;) and when he declares that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ,  (Colossians 2:3,) he does not contrive some unknown Christ, but one whom by his preaching he painted to the life, so that, as he tells the Galatians, we see him, as it were, crucified before our eyes,(Galatians 3:1.) But that no ambiguity may remain, Christ himself afterwards explains by his own words what those things are which the apostles were not yet able to bear.

So basically, Calvin Says the Holy Spirit comes to debunk all the fraudulent religions that spring up around the true faith in Christ, the true salvation in the Gospel, and the true people of God.  Nice Work.

Fear Not

29 February 2012 by Brad Williams

Q. 58. How do we come to be made partakers of the benefits which Christ hath procured?

A. We are made partakers of the benefits which Christ has procured, by the application of them unto us, which is the work especially of God the Holy Ghost.

It has been said before, but it bears repeating: if it were not for the Holy Spirit, you and I could never be saved. It is true that our Lord Jesus Christ has won us redemption by his own blood, but if the Holy Spirit had not extended His finger to apply it to our black hearts, we would have perished in our iniquity.

And how does the Holy Spirit apply these benefits to us? He cleanses us by the blood of Christ, to be sure! But how does He apply to us our Crown of Life, our Immortality of Spirit, and our titles as kings and heirs of God? How does He sanctify us?

Dearly beloved of God, we are not cleansed by our own efforts and made fit for the kingdom by our wits and our discipline. The Holy Spirit has delivered the death blow to your old self; He is the sword of God, and He has pierced the transgressor through by the power of Christ's resurrection. That old man lays dying; he will never inherit a thing. And though he may be wretched in his death throes, God the Holy Spirit has crowned you as a child of the King, and He is revealing to you the marvels of His glory. Let the devil rage, and let the old man die. Christ has bought you redemption, and a crown, and a kingdom, and He means for you to have it. "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32). The Holy Spirit will lead you into this kingdom by the hand, and He will serve as your Master and Protector along the way.

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Paternity Test

28 February 2012 by David Regier

Q. 58. How do we come to be made partakers of the benefits which Christ hath procured?

A. We are made partakers of the benefits which Christ has procured, by the application of them unto us, which is the work especially of God the Holy Ghost.

B*** P*****, 28, of Denver, a first-year season-ticket holder, longtime Tebow fan and a Christian but not a churchgoer, said Monday that he opened a Bible to check out John 3:16. "If that's where Tebow gets his inspiration, nothing wrong with trying that." USA Today 01-09-12

Dude! Where do we start? Christian but not a churchgoer? Opened a Bible to check out John 3:16? Gets his inspiration? Nothing wrong with trying that!!?? Obviously, B***, you're not even close to what you think you are, and you're not headed to the place you think you're headed. You're exactly what's wrong with Evanjellyfishicalism today, your theology is crap, your soteriology is non-existent, and your ecclesiology, well, case closed!

Except for this: before his arrest, trial, conviction, and sentencing, we failed to read this man his rights: But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - John 1:12 (ESV)

Chances are, as far as B*** knows, he has received Jesus, and believed in his name. Chances are, as well, that he is not prepared, nor even inclined, to argue with you unless you present yourself as an adversary, or an accuser.

Note well that the application of the benefits of Christ's redemption are fully the work of the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Ghost gots means, and he gots people. And his people - his ministers, his ambassadors, his witnesses - they don't use the means of his enemy, the adversary and the accuser.

So when you meet B***, on the bus or at the store or at the office, and you get to talking about these things, remember first that he has received what was passed on to him, and save the vitriol for the wolf that passed it along. Then remember who you're working for, who's doing the applying, and then point the way to the one that he's pointing to.



Victory, Somehow

27 February 2012 by Tom Chantry

Q. 58. How do we come to be made partakers of the benefits which Christ hath procured?


A. We are made partakers of the benefits which Christ has procured, by the application of them unto us, which is the work especially of God the Holy Ghost.

I love Southern Baptists. My first pastorate was in a Calvinistic SBC church in a remote area short on fellowship. The SB pastors up there in the hills didn’t care that I was an oddball who had gone to a Presbyterian seminary; they loved Jesus and anyone who preached Him. When I think of Southern Baptists, I don’t think about the power brokers of the national convention, I think about the preachers in little, out-of-the-way places who live, eat, sleep, and breathe gospel.

One thing you automatically learn when you go to Southern Baptist meetings each month is the hymn “Victory in Jesus.” Since the pastors only get together in the fellowship hall around coffee you have to sing a hymn they already know, and everyone knows that one, right? So I learned to sing that hymn, and then I learned to love it. It expresses a joy in the sacrifice of Christ for sins which ought to lie at the heart of every Christian’s experience.

But when I walk around whistling it (as I do until my family is driven to distraction) I am sometimes frustrated - not by what the song says as by what it is missing.

We rhapsodized about Christ’s sacrifice for sin, and at the conclusion of the first verse sang (quite truthfully) “then I repented of my sin and had the victory.” Of course that’s true, but how did it happen? It seems the hymnist asked that too, because the second verse ends with “and somehow Jesus came and brought to me the victory.”

And that one line sums up why I love the hymn and why I’m frustrated by it. That sense of mystery - how did He ever bring me the victory? - is exactly the sense every Christian ought to have when he first realizes that he, chief of sinners though he may be, is victorious in Christ. And yet, it isn’t as though the Bible leaves this particular mystery unsolved. “Somehow” is “the work especially of God the Holy Ghost.”

So yes, I hope I can retain that sense of joyful awe at what Christ has done for me, and at the same time I am glad that the Scriptures reveal to me the Triune God, each of the Persons of which loved me with an everlasting love and played an indispensible part in giving me the victory.

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Catechism Buzz: Gasp

18 March 2011 by Brad Williams

Q. 11. How does it appear that the Son and the Holy Ghost are God equal with the Father?

A. The Scriptures manifest that the Son and the Holy Ghost are God equal with the Father, ascribing unto them such names, attributes, works, and worship, as are proper to God only.

We Reformed, confessional types get that Jesus, God's Son, is fully God. The Church is absolutely dogmatic, staunch, and unyielding on this glorious truth. We see clearly what is at stake in this truth. If the Son of God is not God, then we cannot worship him lest we become idolaters. This would eviscerate our identity; it would destroy our worship; it would shipwreck the faith. We know that there is no salvation outside of God, for God alone can save. Therefore, Jesus can be no mere man; he must also be God. He is adored eternally by the Father, has the worship of the angels, and is the everlasting Hero of the church. We easily rejoice in the deity of the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

But the Holy Spirit? We confess that he is also equal with God, but we are a bit uneasy with Him. Just look at the affirmation of the Nicene Council regarding the Holy Spirit in comparison with what it says about Jesus as the Son of God! I understand that this happens because we see the revelation of God most clearly in Jesus Christ, and I know that we have to spend so much time cleaning up after brethren who claim every impulse and behavior is of the Holy Spirit that we rarely reflect on what the Holy Spirit actually is doing. This post is written to encourage you to be unashamedly thankful for God the Holy Spirit, so that you might dare to worship him.

I wonder if you realize that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is as important to you as the cross of Jesus Christ? Does that cause you to gasp? Do you fear that I blaspheme? Think about this: without the Holy Spirit, there is no man named Jesus. However God was joined in the womb with man in Jesus, that was the work of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18). There is no planet earth. There is no Bible. There is no Israel, and there is no Church. The fact that you and I read about Jesus at all is because the Holy Spirit wrote of Him. But let me back up a bit, I'm going to need a little more space to get at the glory that belongs to the Spirit.

No one loves Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit does, save the Father alone. From the time that the Holy Spirit hovered over the dark waters of a freshly created world, he was hovering there in anticipation of the revelation of the Son of God. The Holy Spirit is co-creator of all worlds. He inspired the creation account, and every other book of the Bible, in order to point us to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. How is it that we have a Bible? It is because God the Holy Spirit has preserved for us a witness by preserving his witnesses. He preserved the Bible, Israel, and now the Church, and if you are in Christ, he is preserving you as well. In his wisdom, he has loosed the mouths of donkeys and of men to accomplish his purposes. All this hardly even begins to speak of his glory and goodness toward us, and yet it should already be enough to move us to worship him.

Have you ever known the sting of sin and the terror of the judgment to come? Have you ever seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ? The Holy Spirit gave you those revelations (John 16:13-14). He applied the atonement to your wicked heart. He flew, more gracefully than a seraph, from the bosom of God with the gospel of Jesus. He cried to your dead soul, "Arise! And see the glory of the Son of God!" And you awoke and saw Jesus (2 Cor. 4:6). Even now, he guards you from sin, despair, and death. Even now, he whispers to you that you have God for a Father and Christ for a Savior (Gal. 4:6). If he were to abandon us, even for a moment, we would fail for despair, we would return to the mire from which we were washed, we would fall from grace. We absolutely need him every moment, and he knows this. He is so gracious that he has sealed us, not with a magical stamp or some holy wax, but with his own person (Eph. 1:13).

How much we owe to God the Holy Spirit! Ought we not pause to thank him for the salvation he has shown us in Christ? Ought we not praise him for his manifold ministries of grace toward us? Yes, we ought and we must. Thank you, God the Holy Spirit, for making our world, for giving us life, and most of all for revealing to us your glory, the glory of God that you share in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.