Don't Go Down to Egypt!

What is it that grows a church? Here's Spurgeon's answer:

Are you afraid that preaching the gospel will not win souls? Are you despondent as to success in God’s way? Is this why you pine for clever oratory? Is this why you must have music, and architecture, and flowers and millinery? After all, is it by might and power, and not by the Spirit of God? It is even so in the opinion of many. 

Brethren beloved, there are many things which I might allow to other worshippers which I have denied myself in conducting the worship of this congregation. I have long worked out before your very eyes the experiment of the unaided attractiveness of the gospel of Jesus. Our service is severely plain. No man ever comes hither to gratify his eye with art, or his ear with music. I have set before you, these many years, nothing but Christ crucified, and the simplicity of the gospel; yet where will you find such a crowd as this gathered together this morning? Where will you find such a multitude as this meeting Sabbath after Sabbath, for five-and-thirty years? I have shown you nothing but the cross, the cross without flowers of oratory, the cross without diamonds of ecclesiastical rank, the cross without the buttress of boastful science. It is abundantly sufficient to attract men first to itself, and afterwards to eternal life! 

In this house we have proved successfully, these many years, this great truth, that the gospel plainly preached will gain an audience, convert sinners, and build up and sustain a church. We beseech the people of God to mark that there is no need to try doubtful expedients and questionable methods. God will save by the gospel still: only let it be the gospel in its purity. This grand old sword will cleave a man’s chine [i.e., spine], and split a rock in halves. 

How is it that it does so little of its old conquering work? I will tell you. Do you see the scabbard of artistic work, so wonderfully elaborated? Full many keep the sword in this scabbard, and therefore its edge never gets to its work. Pull off that scabbard. Fling that fine sheath to Hades, and then see how, in the Lord’s hands, that glorious two-handed sword will mow down fields of men as mowers level the grass with their scythes. 

There is no need to go down to Egypt for help. To invite the devil to help Christ is shameful. Please God, we shall see prosperity yet, when the church of God is resolved never to seek it except in God’s own way.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 1888, vol. 34, p. 563

Tuesday Teaching| The Honesty of Sorrow (Psalm 51)

Here is the third sermon in a series of five sermons in the penitential Psalms with Christopher Ash. This week we are in Psalm 51 where we see The Honesty of Sorrow.

You can listen to the sermon by clicking here.

Tuesday Teaching| The Weight of Sorrow (Psalm 38)

We come to the second in this five part series in the 'penitential' Psalms with Christopher Ash, learning what it means to say sorry the Bible way.

This week we're in Psalm 38 where we see The Weight of Sorrow. You can listen to the sermon by clicking here.

Why Preach?

Christopher Ash has written a great piece for the Gospel Coalition on the importance of preaching. 

In it he has a particular challenge to the preacher:

But here's the rub: to be a faithful preacher I need to be gripped, humbled, and transformed by the word of Christ. Moses's successors (the prophets) were not cold functionaries who merely expounded the written Torah; they were men in whom the covenant word burned because they walked in close fellowship with the covenant God (e.g. "Your words were found, and I ate them," Jer 15:16). In the same way, those who expound the apostolic word of Jesus must be those in whom these words burn, who are being humbled and transformed by these words.

And a great reminder for the hearer of the fact that...

As a believer, I don't just need to hear the word of God; I need to hear it taught and pressed home to me by a pastor who knows and loves me. There is no substitute. His skills may be surpassed by more famous preachers; but they do not know and love me, and he does.

You can read the whole article by clicking here.

The Gospel in One Minute

Tuesday Teaching| The Safety of Sorrow (Psalm 32)

Over the next few Tuesdays I shall be posting a series of sermons by Christopher Ash on the Psalms. This series looks at five of the 'penitential' Psalms, showing us what it means to say "sorry" the Bible way. Christopher has called this five part series Sorry: the Hardest Word. 

This week we are in Psalm 32, where we see The Safety of Sorrow. You can listen to the sermon by clicking here.

How Not to Read Your Bible in 2013

Over at the Gospel Coalition Matt Smethurst has written a helpful article on how not to read your Bible in 2013. Well worth reading, especially if you have just undertaken a new plan for personal Bible reading for a new year.

You can read the article by clicking here.

Killing Sin

John Owen once said, "Be killing sin or it will be killing you." One of the battles at the heart of the Christian life is the battle to put sin to death. Sinclair Ferguson has written a very helpful little article, where he focuses on Colossians 3:1-17 and draws out a number of lessons on how we ought to go about mortifying sin (that is, how we put sin to death).

One of the points he makes is that, in the fight against sin, dying to sin does not happen in isolation to living to righteousness. That is, we do not simply stop doing sinful things. No, we must instead replace sinful attitudes and behaviours with Christ-like attitudes and behaviours. Ferguson says:

The negative task of putting sin to death will not be accomplished in isolation from the positive call of the Gospel to “put on” the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 3:14. Paul spells this out in Colossians 3:12-17. Sweeping the house clean simply leaves us open to a further invasion of sin. But when we understand the “glorious exchange” principle of the Gospel of grace, then we will begin to make some real advance in holiness. As sinful desires and habits are not only rejected, but exchanged for Christ-like graces (3:12) and actions (3:13); as we are clothed in Christ’s character and His graces are held together by love (v. 14), not only in our private life but also in the church fellowship (vv. 12–16), Christ’s name and glory are manifested and exalted in and among us (3:17).

The whole article is well worth reading, you can read it by clicking here.

Teaching Luke

I've been spending my time this week getting to grips with the big picture of Luke's Gospel. As I've been doing so I've come across these videos from William Taylor, Rector of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate in London. William gives some helpful thoughts on how to understand Luke on his own terms and how to begin thinking about preaching or teaching the Gospel. Well worth a watch.

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

Tuesday Teaching| When I Don't Desire God (3)

We come to the third and final talk in John Piper's series on how to fight for joy in God. You can listen by clicking here.

Anti Santy Ranty

Tuesday Teaching| When I Don't Desire God (2)

Here's part two of John Piper's series 'When I don't desire God', which looks at how we battle for joy in Him.

You can listen by clicking here.

Judgment, Salvation, the Living and the Dead

Tuesday Teaching| When I Don't Desire God (1)

Over the next three Tuesdays I am going to post a series of talks from John Piper looking at how we battle for joy in God.

You can listen to part 1 by clicking here.

Why Memorise Scripture?

Tuesday Teaching| Brothers, we must not mind a little suffering

Charles Simeon was, for many years, the minister of Holy Trinity church in Cambridge. Throughout his time there he endured faithfully under much suffering and opposition.

John Piper has given a helpful biographical sketch of Simeon, where he examines what it was that kept him persevering in the midst of his trials, and draws out lessons to be learnt today.

You can listen to the talk by clicking here.

Good Habits or Legalism

Some challenging words from John Piper on one lie about prayer that we're prone to believe:

But the hard truth is that most Christians don’t pray very much. They pray at meals—unless they’re still stuck in the adolescent stage of calling good habits legalism. They whisper prayers before tough meetings. They say something brief as they crawl into bed. But very few set aside set times to pray alone—and fewer still think it is worth it to meet with others to pray. And we wonder why our faith is weak. And our hope is feeble. And our passion for Christ is small.

The Duty of Prayer

And meanwhile the devil is whispering all over this room: “The pastor is getting legalistic now. He’s starting to use guilt now. He’s getting out the law now.” To which I say, “To hell with the devil and all of his destructive lies. Be free!” Is it true that intentional, regular, disciplined, earnest, Christ-dependent, God-glorifying, joyful prayer is a duty? Do I go to pray with many of you on Tuesday at 6:30 a.m., and Wednesday at 5:45 p.m., and Friday at 6:30 a.m., and Saturday at 4:45 p.m., and Sunday at 8:15 a.m. out of duty? Is it a discipline?

You can call it that. It’s a duty the way it’s the duty of a scuba diver to put on his air tank before he goes underwater. It’s a duty the way pilots listen to air traffic controllers. It’s a duty the way soldiers in combat clean their rifles and load their guns. It’s a duty the way hungry people eat food. It’s a duty the way thirsty people drink water. It’s a duty the way a deaf man puts in his hearing aid. It’s a duty the way a diabetic takes his insulin. It’s a duty the way Pooh Bear looks for honey. It’s a duty the way pirates look for gold.

Means of Grace: Gift of God

I hate the devil, and the way he is killing some of you by persuading you it is legalistic to be as regular in your prayers as you are in your eating and sleeping and Internet use. Do you not see what a sucker he his making out of you? He is laughing up his sleeve at how easy it is to deceive Christians about the importance of prayer.

God has given us means of grace. If we do not use them to their fullest advantage, our complaints against him will not stick. If we don’t eat, we starve. If we don’t drink, we get dehydrated. If we don’t exercise a muscle, it atrophies. If we don’t breathe, we suffocate. And just as there are physical means of life, there are spiritual means of grace.

"...my studies are just beginning."

Augustine, was one of the greatest theologians in church history. One writer describes him as having "...by far the greatest influence on the beliefs, practices and spirituality of Western Christianity." Even with all the learning and understanding that God graciously gave Him, Augustine never got bored of the Bible. In fact,it was quite the opposite. The more he studied and understood the more of an appetite he had for Scripture. In a letter he says this about the Bible:

There is such depth in the Christian Scriptures that, even if I studied them, and nothing else, from early childhood to worn-out old age, with ample time and unflagging zeal, and with greater intellectual ability than I posess, I would still each day find new treasures within them. The basic truths necessary for salvation are easily found within the Scriptures. But even when a person has accepted these truths, and is both God-fearing and righteous in his actions, there remain so many things which lie under a great veil of mystery. Through reading the Scriptures, we can pierce this veil, and find the deepest wisdom in the words which express these mysteries, and in the mysteries themselves. The oldest, the ablest, and the most eager student of Scripture, will say at the end of each day: "I have studied hard, but my studies are just beginning."
 

This stands as a challenge to us when we're tempted to think that we've 'mastered' the Bible. Or when we begin to think that we, pretty much, know what it all says. Let us be those who are ever saying, "My studies are just beginning."

Happy Reformation Day!

It was Saturday October 31st 1517. Martin Luther, a theology professor at Wittneberg University, was 33 years old. With a piece of paper in his hand, he walked over to the Castle church in Wittenberg, and nailed it to the door. In God's providence, this simple act became a key moment in church history. It was the moment that sparked the reformation into flame.

Today is reformation day. It is the day that the reformed church remembers Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg, and gives thanks to our God for the impact of the reformation.

There have been quite a number of articles posted today on the significance of this simple act.

On the significance of what Luther did:

• What was Luther doing when he nailed his 95 theses to the Wittenberg door - Justin Taylor
• It's Reformation Day! - Justin Holcomb

On the doctrine at the heart of the reformation - Justification:

• Five Key Concepts in the Reformation Understanding of Justification - Kevin DeYoung

On lessons to be learnt for today from Martin Luther:

• 9.5 Theses on Martin Luther Against the Self-Indulgences of the Modern Church - Carl Trueman

And Finally...

• 9 Things you should know about Halloween and Reformation Day - Joe Carter