"But Now..."

At the heart of what we do in speaking about Jesus, is to call people to turn from serving dead idols, and to trust in the living Lord Jesus that they might have real life.

Here are three encouragements from the end of Pauls sermon in Athens to equip us to speak the gospel to our unbelieving friends. You’ll find it in Acts 17:30-31.

1) Speak Boldly

“…but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” (v30)

This passage begins with a command. God commands everyone everywhere to repent. He calls them to turn from their rebellious ways and to submit to His rule in Jesus.

If we understand this we can speak boldly and urge our non-Christian friends, family and co-workers to ‘do a u-turn’. The God who alone has all authority demands repentance of every single human being, therefore we can speak boldly as we calling people to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus.

2) Speak Urgently

“For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.” (v31)

The passage continues with a reason. This is the reason God commands all people to repent. The next big date in God’s diary is that day when all must stand before Jesus as judge. It will be a day of infinite joy for those who have trusted in Jesus, but a day of infinite terror for those who have continued to rebel against His rule. On that day it will be too late to repent. Every day is a day closer to that day. Therefore, we must have a ring of urgency as we speak.

3) Speak Confidently

“He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” (v31)

The passage finishes with proof. Here is Gods proof that there will indeed be a judgment day: He has raised the judge from the dead. Jesus has been raised from the dead, and so shall all people shall be raised to stand before Him as judge. Some will go to everlasting joy in His presence and some to everlasting pain. That day will come.

As we speak and call people to repent in light of that coming day, we can do so with full confidence. Why? We have a historical and public proof from God that judgment day is coming.

Jesus has been raised. Therefore, let us speak the gospel boldly, urgently and confidently as we wait for His coming.

It Starts with the Heart

I am quite confident that I am not the only one who finds talking about Jesus with non-Christians hard. I cannot be the only one who has sighed to themselves after an awkward conversation, “I wish I could be better at talking to people about Jesus. The words just don’t seem to come naturally to me.”

What is the solution? I could swat up on an outline of the gospel. I could spend time practicing clever answers to questions people ask. These are helpful and useful things to do. However, we need to start further back and deeper in than this.

We need to start with the heart.

We need to start here because our words flow out of our hearts. Jesus tells the Pharisees that “…out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:34) The Pharisees have been spreading some nasty rumours about Jesus. They claim that He works by the power of the devil (verse 24). Jesus tells them that the reason they say such evil things is because their hearts are evil. They are like a diseased apple tree that will only produce rotten apples. The fruit of their mouths shows up the rot in their hearts.

What is in my heart will eventually bubble out through my lips. This means that what my heart delights in most, my lips speak about most. If my heart is in love with sport, then I am going to spend most of my time talking excitedly about the latest football scores. If I have a heart that is in love with something other than Jesus, then I’m going to struggle to speak naturally and excitedly about Him. However, if my heart is a heart that is beating with delight in the Lord Jesus, then this will bubble out through excited lips.

This means that when I want to get better at talking to my friend about Jesus, the first place I need to work on is my heart. I need to grow my heart in enjoying the truth of the gospel, and allow it to be shaped by the gospel. I need to take the truth of the Gospel and work it deep into the soil of my heart. As we do this we will slowly find the fruit of natural and excited gospel conversations begin to grow.

Here are some practical pointers to doing this heart work:

1) Pray, pray, pray. God is the heart surgeon. Changing our hearts from idol loving hearts to Jesus loving hearts is the work of His Spirit. Cry to Him to do this work because we cannot do it.

2) Feast yourself on the Word of God. The Bible is the surgical scalpel that God uses to do this heart work. It alone goes deep into the heart. The more deeply we soak ourselves in the Word, the more our hearts will be growing to delight in Jesus, and the more naturally we will speak about Him

3) Encourage one another regularly with Bible truth. God has given us one another as fellow labourers in this work.

Now, I need to warn you. Heart work is hard work. It’s a daily slog. Keep at it, because it is the best type of work.

A Short History of Student Missions

Judgment, Salvation, the Living and the Dead

Common Grace and Evangelism (4): A Gracious God and Evangelism

In the previous posts in this series we’ve spent some time thinking about what God’s common grace is. In this final post, I shall explore how understanding common grace can help us in one particular area: In the area of evangelism. I want to apply what we've previously seen about common grace, to how we speak with our non-Christian family members and friends.

Recognising that God is gracious to all will give us confidence in speaking the gospel to non-Christians. There are two main ways that common grace gives us confidence in evangelism:

1) The non-Christian has a constant testimony to God’s grace

We live in a world where God restrains sin and enables good. This means that the non-Christian is constantly experiencing God’s grace. They are surrounded by pointers to the fact that God is a gracious God. They cannot escape the

Think about it. Without realising it, the non-Christian is completely dependent upon God’s common grace. All that is good and beautiful in this world, all that they enjoy, all their favoirite hobbies and activities, they would never experience without God’s common grace. Further, without his grace restraining their sin, the non-Christian would completely destroy themselves and others. What is more, if God had not held back the day of judgement, they would be in hell right now. However, in His grace He is holding back that day, so that people have opportunity to repent and turn to Jesus before it is too late.

The non-Christian, even though he refuses to submit to God's rule and wants to live life without Him, it completely dependent upon Him for life, and everything they enjoy (This is why one writer has described the non-Christian as being like a child sitting in his fathers lap and slapping him in the face!). They daily experience God's common grace. They live in a universe that is constantly testifying to the grace of God.

All of this means that no conversation is ever far from the gospel. This is because no conversation is never far from a gracious God. This world is constantly testifying to God's grace.

2) The non-Christian will be inconsistent at some point

This is because God is restraining their sinful nature from being worked out to the full in their life. If they were completely consistent with who they are they would be as wicked as they could be. But they are not. God restrains sin in them, which makes them inconsistent (as we saw in our previous post).

Because the non-Christian is inconsistent it is possible to have conversations with them. It means that we are able to talk with non-Christians about the gospel. Their opposition to God is not fully worked out in this life, making gospel conversations possible.

More than this, when we do speak with our non-Christian friends or family members, their inconsistency makes it possible for us to challenge them to repent and turn to Jesus. Because God graciously makes them inconsistent there will be things that they do, beliefs they hold or desires that they have that they will not be able to explain without the God of the Bible.

Let me give an example: Suppose you have an work collegue who is a strong atheist, they constantly remind you that they believe in the survival of the fittest. Well, there will be some things that they will not be able to explain. An atheist cannot explain hospitals without God. They will never be able to give a reason why they think medical care is a good idea, unless they believe in God. It would be a very rare thing to find an atheist who does not think medical care is a good thing. Almost any atheist you speak to will agree that hospitals are good. However, he cannot hold this view and be consistent with his view of the world. Why should they care about something that provides for and cares for the weak? Huge amounts of money that is spent to care for babies who are born with defects and for those who are chronically ill. Why should your atheist friend care about this if he believes in the survival of the fittest? This provides an opening for us to challenge their view of the world, and to call them to look at the gospel, which alone makes sense of reality.

The fact that the non-Christian is inconsistent at some point gives us opportunities to challenge them on where they stand, and to share the gospel of grace with them.

Now, you don’t need to be super-clever to be able to discover these inconsistencies. All you need to do is to take a genuine interest in people, and ask them questions about what they believe. The more you do this the more obvious their inconsistencies will become.

It is in this way that God’s common grace serves his special grace. Because God, in his common grace holds back people’s sinfulness,making them inconsistent, people will be able to hear the gospel, which gives life.

God is a gracious God. He is good to all that he has made. He is gracious to both the Christian and the non-Christian, and shows this common grace by restraining sin and enabling people to do good.

The more we recognise this,the more confidence we will have in evangelism. The more we recognise that God is a gracious God, the more bold we will be in challenging false ideas of the world, and calling people to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus.

Previous posts in this series

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Common Grace and Evangelism (3): How God is Gracious to All

This is the third post in a series on the doctrine of  'common grace' and its significance for evangelism. Click here to read the first and second posts in the series.

In the previous post we established that God is gracious to all, both to those who are His people and to those who are not. However, we also made an important distinction, a distinction between saving grace and common grace. Common grace is a grace that God shows to all people whether Christian or non-Christian, saving grace is a grace that only those whom He has chosen will experience.

In this third post I want to focus on how God is gracious to all people in a non-saving way. That is, how he is commonly gracious. This will shed light on the question that we asked in the first post about how the unbeliever can do good things if they are totally depraved.

There are two particular ways that God shows His common grace that helps us aswer this question:

1) He Restrains Sin and Its Consequences

God is gracious to all by restraining sin and its consequences in the world. He does this by holding back peoples sinfulness from being worked out to the full.

We’ve already seen that sin has affected every part of us, that we are ‘totally depraved’. However, this does not mean that people are as bad as they can be. That’s not true. A look at the world around us shows us this.

The reason that people are not as wicked as they could be is because God, in his grace, restrains sinfulness from being worked out to its fullness in peoples lives. Even though people are totally depraved, this is not expressed fully in this life. God shows His common grace by restraining their sin.

More than this, God is also gracious by restraining the consequences of sin in this life. Think about it: The world would be a horrific and chaotic place to live if we faced the full consequences of sin in this world. Sin causes disintegration and disorganisation in every area of life. Simple things such as the relationships we take for granted would be impossible if God had not restrained the effects of sin. Friendships, marriages, parent and child relationships, none of these would be possible without God's restraining grace. Neither would society be able to function if human sinfulness was allowed to express itself fully. But God, in His grace holds back this sinfulness, so that society and human relationships are possible.

God also holds back the punishment sin deserves. The anger of God that we deserve has not yet been poured out. Each one of us deserves to be in hell this very moment. But God, in His grace, is holding back that day of judgement that more  Peter tells us that the Lord "is patient...not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." (2 Peter 3:9). God is patient. He is holding back that day of wrath so that people may come to repentance.

We need to be clear, this does not mean that God will not punish sin. He will. He has set a day when He shall judge the world through Jesus His appointed judge (Acts 17:30-31). On that day the fullness of His wrath shall be poured out, as sin is punished.

God is gracious to all is by restraining sin and its consequences. If you want to do a bit more thinking on this read and think through Genesis 3:22-33; 4:15; 20:6; Acts 17:30; and 2 Peter 3:9.

2) He Enables People to Do Good

Not only does God show His common grace by restraining sin and its consequences in the world, He also, positively, enables people to do good. Now, they are not able to do good in the full sense of good. The non-Christian does not do things to the glory of God. Nevertheless, they are able to do things that are, in a sense, good. God graciously enables them to do this.

This explains why non-Christians are able to live good lives – God not only restrains sin, but also enables them to do good.

In Luke 6:33 Jesus says to his disciples: “…if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.” Those who are ‘sinners’, are still those who do good. This is because God in his grace enables them. This is why non-Christians can be great husbands, wives and parents, why they can be faithful workers, why they can be involved in aid work, hospital care and providing for others in need, and sometimes even better than us.

Not only this, but God also enables people to make progress and create things for the good of society. In his grace, God enables people to create technology, literature and art. Advances in society, standards of living, excellent medical care: none of this would be possible apart from God’s grace restraining sin and enabling good.

God is gracious to all by enabling people who are totally depraved to do good. If you want to do a bit more thinking on this read and think through Luke 6:33; Matthew 5:45; Romans 2:14; 1 Timothy 2:1-2; 1 Peter 2:14.

Self-Unaware

How does God do this? How does he restrain the non-Christian's sin, and enable him to do good? The answer is that in both these things – the restraining of sin and the enabling of good – God makes the non-Christian unaware of who they truly are.

Think about it. The non-Christian is in complete opposition to God, and refuses to submit to his rule through Jesus. Yet, God makes them unaware in their thinking and inconsistent, so that this opposition is not worked out to the full in every area of life. This means, that, without realising it, the non-Christian does God’s will in some areas of their life. This is why a non-Christian can be a faithful husband, and care for his family, even though marriage and family are God’s institutions. If he was fully aware and consistent with his opposition to God, he would have nothing to do with them because they are from God.

Implications

If we understand this, that God is gracious to all by restraining sin and enabling good, it has a number of important implications:

This makes governments and rulers possible. Peter tells us that rulers are sent by God “to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good.” Government is only possible because of God’s common grace (restraining sin and enabling good), and they are themselves a means of restraining evil and promoting good. This is why a non-Christian government can make good policies.

It means that it is possible for a Christian to be faithful, and to work in a secular job, under a non-Christian boss.

This means that, as Christians, we are able to enjoy art and culture and have hobbies. And we are able to do this all the more so because we know that they are ultimately only possible because of God’s grace. We ought to be all the more thankful for these things, because we know they come from the good hand of a gracious God.

It means that as Christians we are able to benefit from non-Christians. It is possible for our children to get a decent education at the hands of a non-Christian. We are able to enjoy music and movies made by non-Christians. We are able to benefit from the services that non-Christians provide. Think about the vast amount of good quality medical care we receive from non-Christian doctors and nurses.

Also, as we will explore in the next post, it makes conversations possible between Christians and non-Christians.

Common Grace and Evangelism (2): A Gracious God

If sin has affected human beings right down to the core of who they are, then why is there so much good in the world?

This is the question we were left with at the end of the previous post. Over the next couple of posts we are going to answer this crucial question as we explore the Bible's teaching on common grace. In a final post we shall tie things together by looking at the implications our answer has on how we do evangelism.

The first thing we need to do is to establish an important truth about God. That God is a gracious God.

God is Gracious to All

As we turn to the pages of the Bible we see that God is a God who is gracious to all that he has made.

Psalm 145:9 tells us: "The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made." That’s pretty comprehensive! He is good to all, to all people. More than that, He is good to all of his creation. He has compassion on all that he has made. Notice that this is a goodness that he shows both to those who are his people, and to those who are not.

Consider Matthew 5:45, where Jesus tells His disciples that "your Father who is in heaven...makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." God gives the blessings of sun and rain to the righteous and the unrighteous. Sun and rain are a sign of God’s goodness and favour. Notice how he shows this goodness and favour both to those who are his people and those who are not his people. He is gracious to both the Christian and to the non-Christian.

There are plenty more passages we could look at (such as Luke 6:35; Acts 14:17; 17:30). What we see, from this short study is that the Bible affirms that God shows undeserved kindness to all people. This includes both those who are his people and those who are not.

An Important Distinction

Now, we need to be clear here. The fact that God is gracious both to the believer and the unbeliever does not mean that all people will be saved. The Bible does not teach this.

Before the world was created, God chose some to be saved and others for destruction (See Romans 9:21-23; Ephesians 1:3-10). This means that some receive the special grace of God’s salvation, and others do not. However, at the same time we must affirm that he is gracious to all, even to those who will eventually end up in hell.

This means that we need to make a distinction: A distinction between what theologians call ‘common' grace and ‘saving' or 'special' grace. Common grace is a grace that God shows to all people whether Christian or non-Christian, saving grace is a grace that only those whom He has chosen will experience. Our focus in this series of posts is on ‘common grace’.

In this post we’ve laid an important foundation, and have shown that God is gracious to all people (and indeed all of his creation) with a common grace. In the next post I shall look at one particular aspect of how he shows this common grace. It is there that we shall begin to see more clearly the answer to the question of how totally depraved people can do so many good things.

Common Grace and Evangelism (1): Introduction

God is by nature a loving God. He is a gracious God.

This is a foundational truth. This is how God reveals Himself to Moses in Exodus 34:6: "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious...". It is what many of the Psalms delight in. Psalm 136 repeatedly tells us "...his steadfast love endures forever." It is what Jonah recognises when he says "...I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful..." (Jonah 4:2). It is what we are told of the Lord Jesus, that He is "...full of grace and truth..." (John 1:14). It is what John recognises when he says: "God is love." (1 John 4:16). God is a gracious God.

What implications does this have for how we speak with our non-Christian friends and family members? How does knowing a gracious God equip us to do evangelism?

In a short series of posts I want to explore this question by looking at a specific aspect of God’s grace, and examining its significance for how we do evangelism. I am going to look at an area of doctrine that theologians call ‘common grace’.

It's always good to be clear on what I'm talking about. So, what do I mean by common grace? A helpful definition of what we mean by common grace is given by the theologian John Murray. He defines common grace like this:

Common grace is “every favour of whatever kind or degree, falling short of salvation, which this undeserving and sin-cursed world enjoys at the hand of God.”

We shall come back to this later. However, before we can explore common grace further and the significance it has for how we do evangelism, we need to recognise something important about human nature first. This is what I want to focus on on this post.

Understanding Ourselves

What we are about to look at in this series of posts will only make sense if we understand something about ourselves first. We won’t be able to grasp God’s common grace, and its implications for evangelism, unless we first recognise what human nature is like.

The Bible teaches that human beings are, by nature, sinful. That is why we sin. We sin because we are sinful by nature. This is a deep problem. Sin has affected the whole of who we are, down to the very root of our being. This is what theologians call ‘total depravity’.

Jesus teaches this in Mark 7:21-22. He says:

"...from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these things come from within, and they defile a person."

Jesus says that the heart of our problem is our heart. All the evil that humans do comes from the heart. In Bible language, the heart is the control centre of all of who we are. It affects the whole of the rest of our being. Our hearts have been tainted and corrupted by sin, which means that all of the rest of us is also tainted and corrupted by sin.

Ephesians 2:1-3 sheds a little more light on our condition. Paul tells the Christians in Ephesus :

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Notice the imagery here. Paul says that we were dead. We were spiritually dead. Before we became Christians we were spiritual corpses. This means that we were unable to make a single move towards God or think or feel rightly about him. More than this, we couldn’t help but sin. Verses 2-3 say that we actively followed the world, the devil and our sinful desires (which come from our hearts). We were unable to do anything pleasing to God, and were helpless to do anything about it.

Sin has affected the whole of who we are, right down to the very core. So, there is not a part of us that remains uncorrupted by sin. Our minds and thinking, our wills, desires and emotions, all of who we are has been affected. There is not one part of us that we can say, ‘this is alright. We can trust this’.

An Important Question

Now all of this leaves us with a question. It’s a question that is right at the heart of what we are looking at in this series of posts. The question is this:

If this is the case, if sin has affected our whole person, then why is there so much good in the world?

Now, I’m not talking about Christians here. We can understand why Christians do so much good. The Bible tells us that they are ‘new creations’ in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). No, the question has got to do with those who are not Christians. How is it that those who are not Christians can do so many good things? Why is it that non-Christians can be faithful husbands, loving parents, good members of society? If ‘total depravity’ is true, then why are unbelievers capable of doing so much good?

The answer to this question is found in what the Bible teaches about God's common grace. This is what we’re going to spend the rest of this series exploring. It is vital that we answer this question rightly, otherwise we could find ourselves wanding down some very unhelpful roads.

Over the next while I shall, God willing, explore this under three headings:

1) God is Gracious to All

2) How God is Gracious to All

3) A Gracious God and Evangelism

For the moment, however, I shall leave you with an unanswered question: How can bad people do good things? That is, if people are totally depraved, why is it that they are capable of so much good?

Speech and Salvation

Over at the Briefing Lionel Windsor has written a very helpful 8-part series entitled Speech and Salvation, which gives us some very helpful thoughts on the Christian and personal evangelism. Windsor focusses on the importance of human speech in Scripture, especially in light of the gospel. He says:

We need to understand the relationship between human speech and the gospel itself. According to the Bible, there is something deeply and profoundly important about human speech, especially when we come to think about the gospel. In fact, the Bible often talks about human speech and salvation in the same breath.

This is a particularly helpful article for those who find evangelism difficult, and do not feel like natural 'evangelists'. It makes us take a step back and see evangelism in a much bigger context.

You can read the whole series by clicking on the links below:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6
• Part 7
• Part 8

If reading the whole 8 articles together feels like a daunting prospect, why not take one a week and use it as a way of thinking through how you're using your speech and how it can be shaped by the gospel.

From Every Tribe and People and Nation

What is the purpose of diversity in the church, and why is the church called to call diverse people to repentance and faith in Jesus? Here are some helpful thoughts from John Piper:

The reason God decreed that the gospel would obtain people from every tribe and people and nation is that the aim of the gospel is the glorification of his grace and this ingathering of diverse peoples into one Christ-exalting, unified people who would glorify the power and beauty of his grace more than if he had done things another way. There is a strong confirmation of this in noticing that several texts which command the pursuit of all ethnic groups are explicit that this pursuit is for the glory of Christ.

For example, in Romans 1:5, Paul says that his apostleship was given "to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of [Christ's] name among all the nations." In other words, the pursuit of "all nations" (all ethnic groups) is for the glory of Christ. Similarly in Romans 15:9, Paul says that Christ did his own missionary work in coming into the world "in order that the Gentiles [or nations] might glorify God for his mercy." The aim of Christ's pursuit of the Gentiles (the ethnically different ones) is for the glory of God's mercy, which was shown supremely in the death of Christ.

Accordingly, the consummation of the missionary mandate to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19) is described in Revelation 5:9 as persons from "every tribe and language and people and nation" worshiping the Lamb and declaring the infinite worth of his glory. So the apostolic vocation (Romans 1:5) and the messianic example of Christ (Romans 15:9) and the consummation of all missions (Revelation 5:9) have one explicit aim: to display the glory of Christ through the ingathering of a hugely diverse and unified redeemed people.

Should The Risk of Danger Keep Me From Doing Missions?

Why Missions Exist

Not the Weapons

One of the most frequent excuses I've heard for not doing evangelism is, 'I don't know enough' or 'I'm not clever enough to answer all the questions my non-Christian friends ask'.

As Christians we are to be those who are growing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10), and are to "always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you" (1 Peter 3:15). However, very often these excuses come from an understanding of evangelism that sees my understanding, my intellect and my well reasoned arguments as the thing which will bring people to bow the knee to Jesus. Such understanding denies the power of the gospel, which is God's power for salvation (Romans 1:16). The gospel, as revealed in Scripture, is what will work the miracle of bringing people from death to life. It is God's word that does the work, not our amazing arguments, as helpful and convincing as they may be. J. C. Ryle draws out the implications of this better than I ever could:

It is a certain fact that deep reasoning and elaborate arguments are not the weapons by which God is generally pleased to convert souls. Simple plain statements, boldly and solemnly made, and made in such a manner that they are evidently felt and believed by him who makes them, seem to have the most effect on hearts and consciences. Parents and teachers of the young, ministers and missionaries, Scripture-readers and district visitors, would all do well to remember this. We need not be so anxious as we often are about defending, proving, demonstrating and reasoning out the doctrines of the Gospel. Not one soul in a hundred was ever brought to Christ in this fashion. We need more simple, plain, solemn, earnest, affectionate statements of simple Gospel truths. We may safely leave such statements to work and take care of themselves. They are arrows from God’s own quiver, and will often pierce hearts which have not been touched by the most eloquent sermon.

This means that we need to rely on God's word to do His work. Our task in evangelism is to proclaim the gospel, as revealed in Scripture, as clearly as we can. It is the clear and faithful speaking of gospel truth from the Bible that will bring people to repentance and faith in Christ.

One of the Best and Most Powerful Means of Advancing the Gospel

J. C. Ryle had these words to say about the part of every Christian in the work of the gospel globally:

Prayer is one of the best and most powerful means of helping forward the cause of Christ in the world. It is a means within the reach of all who have the Spirit of adoption. Not all believers have money to give to missions. Very few have great intellectual gifts, or extensive influence among men. But all believers can pray for the success of the Gospel, and they ought to pray for it daily. Many and marvelous are the answers to prayer which are recorded for our learning in the Bible. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (James 5:16.)

This Was Not a Travesty

Is it a waste for an extremely bright student in a reputable University with fantastic career prospects to throw this all away? Henry Martyn was such a student studying at Cambridge University with many opportinuities open to him for a distinguished career. Yet, in 1802 he decided to give all of this up to become a missionary to India. This decision did not come without huge cost to him. He gave up the possibility a bright and distinguished career, a safe and comfortable life, and he knew that it was more than likely that he would never returm to his homeland again. For many people this might seem like a complete waste. However, read what his biographer, John Sargent, wrote about this decision to become a missionary and think again:

...he could [not] adopt this resolution [to be a missionary] without the severest conflict in his mind, for he was endued with tht truest sensibility of heart, and was susceptible of the warmest and tenderest attachments. No one could exceed him in love for his country, or in affection for his friends; and few could surpass him in an exquisite relish for the various and refined enjoyments of a social and literary life. How then could it fail of being a moment of extreme anguish when he came to the deliberate resolution of leaving forever all that he held dear upon earth? But he was fully satisfied that the glory of that Saviour who loved him, and gave Himself for him, would be promoted by his going forth to preach to the heathen; - he considered their pitiable perilous condition; he thought on the value of their immortal souls; he remembered the last solemn injunction of his Lord, "Go and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" - an injunction never revoked and commensurate with that most encouraging promise, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the [age]." Actuated by these motives, he offered himself in the capacity of a Missionary to the Society for Missions to Africa and the East; and from that time stood prepared, with a child-like simplicity of spirit, and an unshaken constancy of soul, to go to any part of the world, whither it might be expedient to send him.

It is not a waste to give up our little earthly all to go and promote the glory of the Lord Jesus in a foreign land. Henry Martyn did not waste his life. If he had decided to stay in his comfortable life with a distuinguished career, this would have been the real travesty. He did not waste his life, or his academic ability by forsaking all that he held dear in this life to go and proclaim the gospel to a people who had not heard of Christ. His God given abilities were best used in making Christ's name known in a foreign land, rather than making his own name know in a familiar land.

Where are the men and women like Henry Martyn today? Where are those who are willing to forsake everything to see Christ glorified in His gospel being proclaimed? May God bless His church with more men and women with such a sacraficial mindset as this.

The Highest Form of Selfishness...

J. C. Ryle had these words to say about the Christian and evangelism:

Let us not only think of ourselves. Let us also think of others. There are millions in the world who have no spiritual light at all. They are without God, without Christ, and without hope. (Eph. 2:12) Can we do nothing for them? There are thousands around us who are unconverted and dead in sins, seeing nothing and knowing nothing right. Can we do nothing for them? These are questions to which every true Christian ought to find an answer. We should strive, in every way, to spread our religion. The highest form of selfishness is that of the person who is content to go to heaven alone. The truest charity is to endeavor to share with others every spark of religious light we possess ourselves, and so to hold up our own candle that it may give light to every one around us. Happy is that soul, which, as soon as it receives light from heaven, begins to think of others as well as itself! No candle which God lights was ever meant to burn alone.

May it never be said of us that we are selfish. May we instead be those who selflessly sacrifice ourselves for the sake of others hearing the magnificent truths of the gospel and coming to bow the knee to Jesus.

Taking Great Pains to Warn About Eternal Pain

Jonathan Edwards was a man who was keenly aware of the dreadful reality of hell, an eternal conscious torment for all those who reject Jesus. He is well known by many simply because of a single sermon he preached, entitled Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, which set before his hearers in vivid imagery the reality and the seriousness of hell. Edwards has much to say to us today (and not only on the matter of hell), he said these words about why we ought to speak about hell, which no doubt were part of the reason why he preached such a sermon:

If there be really a hell of such dreadful and never-ending torments, as is generally supposed, of which multitudes are in great danger—and into which the greater part of men in Christian countries do actually from generation to generation fall, for want of a sense of its terribleness, and so for want of taking due care to avoid it—then why is it not proper for those who have the care of souls to take great pains to make men sensible of it? Why should they not be told as much of the truth as can be?

(Jonathan Edwards, The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God)

If we truly believe in hell, which the Bible clearly tells us is a terrifying reality for all those who do not bow the knee to Jesus, and if we truly love people,  then ought this not drive us to "take great pains" to warn people of it and point them to the only one in whom there is refuge from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

"It was all the Gift of God": St. Patrick in His Own Words

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Patrick was one of the greatest missionaries that ever lived. He sacrificed his life to bring the gospel to Ireland. To celebrate Paddy's day here are some words from the man himself.

In a letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus he said these words about his mission to the Irish people:

I have traded in my homeland, my family, and my very life for them - even if it means my death. If I am worthy, I will devote the rest of my days to teaching the Irish - even if some of you beyond this island despise me.

At the end of his Confession, which recounts his conversion, life and ministry, he says these words about all that he had accomplished:

My final prayer is that all of you who believe in God and respect him - whoever you may be who read this letter that Patrick the unlearned sinner wrote from Ireland - that none of you will ever say that I in my ignorance did anything for God. You must understand - because it is the truth - that it was all the gift of God.

Yes, Patrick! May God be gracious to us and raise up more men and women like this, those who do not care about their own comfort, reputation and even lives, but who are willing to throw them away in the costly service of the gospel. May he give us more sacrificial gospel workers who are willing to die to bring life to Ireland. May He grant us those who at the end of it all say, "I did nothing for God, it was all of His grace."

If you want to read more on Patrick check out Mark Driscoll's article over at the Resurgence and Eddie Coulter's article over at the Irish Church Missions website.

Avoiding Having a Wonky Gospel (Or 'Why We Need to Speak About Hell')

One of the most common reasons people give as to why we should not speak about hell is this: "But people don't like to hear about hell?" They're not supposed to! Nobody likes hearing about being run over by a double-decker bus, but that doesn't stop us from warning people about the dangers of standing in the middle of a busy road. It's not an unloving thing to warn people of a real danger.

If we merely tell people what they like to hear then we are no different to the false teachers that Timothy had to deal with, who taught what people's "itching ears" wanted to hear (2 Timothy 4:3). Just because someone doesn't want to hear about something does not mean that they do not need to hear it.

We need to speak about hell. If we neglect this it gives us a wonky gospel. The reality of God's eternal judgement is part of the gospel. In Revelation 14:6 John sees an angel "with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people." What is the content of this eternal gospel? John tells us in verse 7, the angel proclaims: "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgement has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water."

Therefore, if we are to be faithful in proclaiming the gospel, and to avoid having a wonky gospel, we need to speak about God's judgement, which means speaking about hell. Hell is a real place where real people, who have not submitted to the Lord Jesus, shall spend eternity (see e.g. John 3:36, Revelation 20:11-15). This ought to grieve us and we ought to tremble over the thought of people facing such a future. Therefore, if we love people, instead of shying away from speaking about the reality of God's just judgement, we ought to speak of it with tears in our eyes urging them to flee to the Lord Jesus that they might have life.

In order to help us think through why we shouldn't neglect speaking about hell here are some initial thoughts on what happens to the gospel if we lose our doctrine of hell. What do we lose if we ignore hell?

1) We Lose a Just God
If there is ultimately no final judgement where people recieve the justice due to them for rebelling against an infinitely holy God, then this would mean that God is not just. It would mean that there is no hope that every wrong shall one day be righted.

2) We Lose the Seriousness of Sin
If God does not judge sin fully and finally then it implies that He doesn't really care about sin. This would then lead to us not really caring about sin. If God doesn't care enough about sin to punish it, why then should I care about seeking to live a godly life and turn from it. Yet, sin is infinitely serious. Dragging the glory of the eternal and infinitely holy God through the dirt, which is what we do when we sin, is of the utmost seriousness.

3) We Lose the Glory of God's Grace Displayed in the Cross
If there is no such thing as hell then we lose the ultimate display of the glory of the grace of God: the cross of Christ. If there was no such place as hell then what was the point of the cross? If God is not going to judge sin eternally then the cross was the biggest waste of time. But this is not true. God shall judge sin eternally, therefore the cross is infinitely glorious. At the cross God is showing that He is both just and the one who justifies sinful people, who have faith in Jesus (Romans 3:21-26). At the cross the one who shall be the judge on that final day (Acts 17:31), has taken upon Himself the full weight of the wrath of God in the place of His people. If we neglect to speak about hell then the glory of the cross, the blazing centre of the revelation of the glory of God, loses its lustre.

Immortal Till My Work was Done

One of the things that understanding God's sovereignty over the work of the gospel gives us is boldness in proclaiming Christ. If we recognise that God is in control of all things then we will be prepared to risk all for the sake of others hearing of the Lord Jesus. If God is in control we need not worry what people may do to us. John G. Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) recgnised this and it gave him great courage to proclaim Christ in the face of fierce opposition and threats on his life. Listen to what he says in his biography:

My enemies seldom slackened their hateful designs against my life, however calmed or baffled for the moment. . . . A wild chief followed me around for four hours with his loaded musket, and, though often directed towards me, God restrained his hand. I spoke kindly to him, and attended to my work as if he had not been there, fully persuaded that my God had placed me there, and would protect me till my allotted task was finished. Looking up in unceasing prayer to our dear Lord Jesus, I left all in his hands, and felt immortal till my work was done. Trials and hairbreadth escapes strengthened my faith, and seemed only to nerve me for more to follow; and they did tread swiftly upon each other's heels.

Because God is completely in control over all things, we are able to say with John Paton that we are immortal until our work is done. If God has more work for us to do He will keep us in te midst of any trouble, if not He will bring us safely home to be with Christ which is better by far.