Good Friday and Easter are so precious to observe.
Not really because they mark the advent of Spring.
Because flowers, the birds, Easter feasting and finery are here today and gone tomorrow.
But why then? Because the Cross and the Empty Tomb are the antidote to fear. Good Friday and Easter elicit and kindle faith to dispel all OUT fears. If fear were not so prevalent, debilitating, and enervating, our Lord would not have spoken so often to rid us of it.
Not having gone to the trouble to count, I accept It on the authority of someone else that there are 365 “Fear nots” in the Bible. one for everyday in the year, It must be then that fear is definitely not to he on the church and kingdom agenda our Lord has placed before us.
Of course, fear is so understandably human. How good it is therefore to know that the Lord has compassion on us in this frailty. Also with respect to all our many fears:
“The tender love a father has
Far all his children dear,
Such love the Lord bestows on them
Who worship Him in fear.”
But fear is foreign to faith in our Lord whose atoning death and glorious resurrection are all-sufficient as a catharsis for all our fears. Although our fears will not keep us out of heaven they can do so much to keep heaven out of us, and our Risen Savior would have us to be done with them. Moreover, unless fear is expelled it can be so malicious in undermining our energy and drive for the work of our Lord in His church and Kingdom.
The Arab folk tale someone relates is worth repeating to make the point. It happened one day that an Arab chief and his caravan met Pestilence on the desert track to Bagdad. “Why,” said the chief, “must you hasten to Bagdad?” “To take five thousand lives,” Pestilence answered. On the way back, the Arab chief and his caravan again came face to face with Pestilence. Knowing what had happened, the chief was angry and said: “You deceived me. Instead of five thousand lives you took fifty thousand.” “Not so,” Pestilence replied. “Five thousand and not one more. It was Fear who killed the rest.”
To be in the grip of fear concerning our personal destiny, or that of our dear ones, or that of Christ’s cause on earth, is so often our lot that we are no strangers to the misery experienced by so great a believer as Martin Luther when the black dog of depression was at his heels or on his back. Wisely at such a time Luther would say to his friend Melanchton: “Come, Philip, let’s sing Psalm 46, God is our refuge and strength.”
In our day also the church and the cause of our Lord are so sorely in need of stouthearted reformers brave enough to endure the disfavor of others whose chief concern it is to be in the mainstream of modern “Christendom” whether it be in the way of truth or error. The secret of remaining loyal even unto death in reformational thinking, teaching, writing, and living is to see no man save Jesus only and to heed no one’s command save His alone.
The true believer may be more sure of the presence and the power of his divine and risen Lord than he is of the sun by day, of the moon by night, or of humans standing with him whether they be few or many. To the believer this is real when, in the darkest hour of the night or when in the throes of controversy bitter enough to break one’s heart, he hears the reassuring word of his living Lord, Fear not, Fear not, and once again, Fear not.
Think of the stupendous assignment the Risen Lord gave His small band of followers in the face, mind you , of an apostate church establishment and a hostile Roman Empire. But even then they were not to be afraid. “All authority,” Jesus told them, “bath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth . . . and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matt. 28:19, 20).
However much the infidel may scoff, it is the reality, the presence, and the power of our risen Lord that gives this ironclad guarantee of freedom from fear. Skeptic that he was, the late Clarence Darrow is reported to have once said in a debate: “They tell me there is a God, but I have never seen Him, I have never touched Him. I have no personal acquaintance with Him.” Roy L. Smiths should have put the infidel attorney properly in his place when he said: “It is credibly reported that Mr. Darrow has a mind; but I have never seen it, I have never touched it, I have no proof of it at all.”
Even so, neither do we by the five senses of our bodies ascertain the freedom from fear that radiates from our Risen Lord. But, nevertheless, the reality of His presence is so real to him that the believer will permit no man or demon to call it into question. It is His presence and power and His Fear nots that are the secret of the courage of the martyrs, the exploits of the heroes of faith, the perseverance of His Church, and the onward march of His Kingdom. The radiance and the presence of our risen Lord are so real and precious that we can make the lines of Emerson our own as a profession of faith and confidence in His service:
“So nigh is grandeur to our dust,
So near is God to man,
When duty whispers low, Thou must, br/> The youth replies, I can.”
By our crucified and risen Lord we have been saved to serve. Taking our cue from Mordecai’s pointed word to Queen Esther: Who knows whether we as concerned members of the church today are not come to the Kingdom for such a time as this?
Once again to catalog the disturbing innovations as well as the rapid erosion of the commitment to the historic Christian faith in churches that are a howling success whereas Calvinism is bound to be a flop.
Nothing is farther from the truth!
And no one less than the Lord Himself is our authority for saying so!
Jesus puts Missions and Evangelism in their proper focus, and He highlights them in their sorely needed divine perspective or dimension when He says of those not yet saved:
“And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear mil voice; and they shall become one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:16).
John Calvin and the authors of the Canons of Dort were Predestinarians because they took this and other teachings of our Lord at their face value. By ascribing to unregenerate man a power of choice that man does not have, the Arminian denigrates and compromises the divine factor in Evangelism; and, in so doing, he is at the halfway house to Modernism and has also unknowingly rejected the only real assurance of success in Evangelism and the true incentive for it.
It is disconcerting, to say the least, when someone, who professes to believe the Canons of Dort and is active with Evangelism Thrust material, feels free to dismiss another’s insistence on retaining the Scriptural and Reformed doctrine of Election by saying in effect: Why get hung up with that? The answer is simple; either we believe what the Bible plainly teaches about Predestination and the Canons of Dart or let’s be frank and honest enough to say that we repudiate them.
Predestination and Evangelism do go hand in hand.
Notice how Jesus made this very clear.
1. First, in speaking about bringing in the “other sheep” in John 10:16 our Lord calls attention to the divine purpose.” And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring . . . .”
Our Lord had in mind “other sheep” who were not yet evangelized and converted but who, nevertheless, were already His. The salvation of these “other sheep” in response to the preaching of the Gospel was absolutely guaranteed because, in the council and by the decree of the Triune God, they had already been given to Christ in eternity. That’s why Jesus says that He has these “other sheep” and also that He must bring them.
This is altogether in line with what our Lord says also in John 17:6: “I manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world; thine they were, and thou gavest them to me . . .” For Paul’s encouragement, in the face of opposition and even blasphemy at Corinth, the Lord also called attention to Election as the guarantee of missionary success when in the night by a vision He said to the Apostle: “Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace; for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to harm thee; for have much people in this city (Acts 18: 10, 11). Take note He already had them. If it were not for Election, no one would ever be saved because no one would be willing or able to believe. It is only due to Predestination that we have proof positive that the Lord will surely redeem His own, whose identity, always unknown in advance to us, is fully known to Him.
2. Next, in speaking in John 10:16 about bringing in the “other sheep” Jesus calls attention also to the divine power by which He brings this about: “And other sheep I have . . . them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice . . . .”
Real and genuine results and success in Evangelism are achieved only by the sovereign, saving power of the Lord whose power is infinite. He could, of course, exercise this power altogether apart from the agency of human evangelists and missionaries, but for His own good reasons He chooses not to do so. In the great work of Evangelism we have the privilege and the honor of being co-workers with Christ; but, as to the blessed results, we are to take no honor to ourselves, for all the praise and glory belong to Him alone now and for ever.
The salvation of those “other sheep” is, in the last analysis, not the work of Paul, William Carey, David Livingstone, Billy Graham, or mention whom you will—but, beginning, middle, and end, it is the achievement of Him who said: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself” (John 12:32).
And what follows from all this? Surely, that in our Evangelism we are to trust our all-powerful Lord without reservations, that we are to pray to Him without ceasing, and that for success and achievements we are to praise Him without end.
3. Finally, in speaking in John 10:16 about bringing in “the other sheep” the Lord also calls attention to the divine promise which assures Evangelism of certain success. Jesus says: “And other sheep I have . . . them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and they shall become one flock, one shepherd.”
The Lord has given His own word for it that bona-fide Evangelism cannot possibly fail. What more powerful encouragement and incentive for Evangelism could one possibly ask!
If you and I were joined in the search for someone’s kidnapped child we would probably lose heart and give up after days and weeks of looking everywhere in vain. But how different it would be if we could have positive assurance that the child would at last surely be found alive. But not even the multimillionaire could give such assurance as that.
But now about those “other sheep” we have been commissioned to seek, even though they are held captives by sin and Satan, God knows who they are and where they are. And, almighty as He is, the Lord can and does give a sure and absolute promise that they will be found and saved unto life eternal.
Evangelism without Predestination and divine sovereignty becomes a merely human venture and is therefore bound to end in failure. When we begin with man we end with man. It is only when we begin with God that we also end with Him, and also with glorious success in our mission to seek and to find the “other sheep.”
Predestination and Evangelism incompatible?
Don’t you ever believe it!
Not really because they mark the advent of Spring.
Because flowers, the birds, Easter feasting and finery are here today and gone tomorrow.
But why then? Because the Cross and the Empty Tomb are the antidote to fear. Good Friday and Easter elicit and kindle faith to dispel all OUT fears. If fear were not so prevalent, debilitating, and enervating, our Lord would not have spoken so often to rid us of it.
Not having gone to the trouble to count, I accept It on the authority of someone else that there are 365 “Fear nots” in the Bible. one for everyday in the year, It must be then that fear is definitely not to he on the church and kingdom agenda our Lord has placed before us.
Of course, fear is so understandably human. How good it is therefore to know that the Lord has compassion on us in this frailty. Also with respect to all our many fears:
“The tender love a father has
Far all his children dear,
Such love the Lord bestows on them
Who worship Him in fear.”
But fear is foreign to faith in our Lord whose atoning death and glorious resurrection are all-sufficient as a catharsis for all our fears. Although our fears will not keep us out of heaven they can do so much to keep heaven out of us, and our Risen Savior would have us to be done with them. Moreover, unless fear is expelled it can be so malicious in undermining our energy and drive for the work of our Lord in His church and Kingdom.
The Arab folk tale someone relates is worth repeating to make the point. It happened one day that an Arab chief and his caravan met Pestilence on the desert track to Bagdad. “Why,” said the chief, “must you hasten to Bagdad?” “To take five thousand lives,” Pestilence answered. On the way back, the Arab chief and his caravan again came face to face with Pestilence. Knowing what had happened, the chief was angry and said: “You deceived me. Instead of five thousand lives you took fifty thousand.” “Not so,” Pestilence replied. “Five thousand and not one more. It was Fear who killed the rest.”
To be in the grip of fear concerning our personal destiny, or that of our dear ones, or that of Christ’s cause on earth, is so often our lot that we are no strangers to the misery experienced by so great a believer as Martin Luther when the black dog of depression was at his heels or on his back. Wisely at such a time Luther would say to his friend Melanchton: “Come, Philip, let’s sing Psalm 46, God is our refuge and strength.”
In our day also the church and the cause of our Lord are so sorely in need of stouthearted reformers brave enough to endure the disfavor of others whose chief concern it is to be in the mainstream of modern “Christendom” whether it be in the way of truth or error. The secret of remaining loyal even unto death in reformational thinking, teaching, writing, and living is to see no man save Jesus only and to heed no one’s command save His alone.
The true believer may be more sure of the presence and the power of his divine and risen Lord than he is of the sun by day, of the moon by night, or of humans standing with him whether they be few or many. To the believer this is real when, in the darkest hour of the night or when in the throes of controversy bitter enough to break one’s heart, he hears the reassuring word of his living Lord, Fear not, Fear not, and once again, Fear not.
Think of the stupendous assignment the Risen Lord gave His small band of followers in the face, mind you , of an apostate church establishment and a hostile Roman Empire. But even then they were not to be afraid. “All authority,” Jesus told them, “bath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth . . . and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matt. 28:19, 20).
However much the infidel may scoff, it is the reality, the presence, and the power of our risen Lord that gives this ironclad guarantee of freedom from fear. Skeptic that he was, the late Clarence Darrow is reported to have once said in a debate: “They tell me there is a God, but I have never seen Him, I have never touched Him. I have no personal acquaintance with Him.” Roy L. Smiths should have put the infidel attorney properly in his place when he said: “It is credibly reported that Mr. Darrow has a mind; but I have never seen it, I have never touched it, I have no proof of it at all.”
Even so, neither do we by the five senses of our bodies ascertain the freedom from fear that radiates from our Risen Lord. But, nevertheless, the reality of His presence is so real to him that the believer will permit no man or demon to call it into question. It is His presence and power and His Fear nots that are the secret of the courage of the martyrs, the exploits of the heroes of faith, the perseverance of His Church, and the onward march of His Kingdom. The radiance and the presence of our risen Lord are so real and precious that we can make the lines of Emerson our own as a profession of faith and confidence in His service:
“So nigh is grandeur to our dust,
So near is God to man,
When duty whispers low, Thou must, br/> The youth replies, I can.”
By our crucified and risen Lord we have been saved to serve. Taking our cue from Mordecai’s pointed word to Queen Esther: Who knows whether we as concerned members of the church today are not come to the Kingdom for such a time as this?
Once again to catalog the disturbing innovations as well as the rapid erosion of the commitment to the historic Christian faith in churches that are a howling success whereas Calvinism is bound to be a flop.
Nothing is farther from the truth!
And no one less than the Lord Himself is our authority for saying so!
Jesus puts Missions and Evangelism in their proper focus, and He highlights them in their sorely needed divine perspective or dimension when He says of those not yet saved:
“And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear mil voice; and they shall become one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:16).
John Calvin and the authors of the Canons of Dort were Predestinarians because they took this and other teachings of our Lord at their face value. By ascribing to unregenerate man a power of choice that man does not have, the Arminian denigrates and compromises the divine factor in Evangelism; and, in so doing, he is at the halfway house to Modernism and has also unknowingly rejected the only real assurance of success in Evangelism and the true incentive for it.
It is disconcerting, to say the least, when someone, who professes to believe the Canons of Dort and is active with Evangelism Thrust material, feels free to dismiss another’s insistence on retaining the Scriptural and Reformed doctrine of Election by saying in effect: Why get hung up with that? The answer is simple; either we believe what the Bible plainly teaches about Predestination and the Canons of Dart or let’s be frank and honest enough to say that we repudiate them.
Predestination and Evangelism do go hand in hand.
Notice how Jesus made this very clear.
1. First, in speaking about bringing in the “other sheep” in John 10:16 our Lord calls attention to the divine purpose.” And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring . . . .”
Our Lord had in mind “other sheep” who were not yet evangelized and converted but who, nevertheless, were already His. The salvation of these “other sheep” in response to the preaching of the Gospel was absolutely guaranteed because, in the council and by the decree of the Triune God, they had already been given to Christ in eternity. That’s why Jesus says that He has these “other sheep” and also that He must bring them.
This is altogether in line with what our Lord says also in John 17:6: “I manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world; thine they were, and thou gavest them to me . . .” For Paul’s encouragement, in the face of opposition and even blasphemy at Corinth, the Lord also called attention to Election as the guarantee of missionary success when in the night by a vision He said to the Apostle: “Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace; for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to harm thee; for have much people in this city (Acts 18: 10, 11). Take note He already had them. If it were not for Election, no one would ever be saved because no one would be willing or able to believe. It is only due to Predestination that we have proof positive that the Lord will surely redeem His own, whose identity, always unknown in advance to us, is fully known to Him.
2. Next, in speaking in John 10:16 about bringing in the “other sheep” Jesus calls attention also to the divine power by which He brings this about: “And other sheep I have . . . them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice . . . .”
Real and genuine results and success in Evangelism are achieved only by the sovereign, saving power of the Lord whose power is infinite. He could, of course, exercise this power altogether apart from the agency of human evangelists and missionaries, but for His own good reasons He chooses not to do so. In the great work of Evangelism we have the privilege and the honor of being co-workers with Christ; but, as to the blessed results, we are to take no honor to ourselves, for all the praise and glory belong to Him alone now and for ever.
The salvation of those “other sheep” is, in the last analysis, not the work of Paul, William Carey, David Livingstone, Billy Graham, or mention whom you will—but, beginning, middle, and end, it is the achievement of Him who said: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself” (John 12:32).
And what follows from all this? Surely, that in our Evangelism we are to trust our all-powerful Lord without reservations, that we are to pray to Him without ceasing, and that for success and achievements we are to praise Him without end.
3. Finally, in speaking in John 10:16 about bringing in “the other sheep” the Lord also calls attention to the divine promise which assures Evangelism of certain success. Jesus says: “And other sheep I have . . . them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and they shall become one flock, one shepherd.”
The Lord has given His own word for it that bona-fide Evangelism cannot possibly fail. What more powerful encouragement and incentive for Evangelism could one possibly ask!
If you and I were joined in the search for someone’s kidnapped child we would probably lose heart and give up after days and weeks of looking everywhere in vain. But how different it would be if we could have positive assurance that the child would at last surely be found alive. But not even the multimillionaire could give such assurance as that.
But now about those “other sheep” we have been commissioned to seek, even though they are held captives by sin and Satan, God knows who they are and where they are. And, almighty as He is, the Lord can and does give a sure and absolute promise that they will be found and saved unto life eternal.
Evangelism without Predestination and divine sovereignty becomes a merely human venture and is therefore bound to end in failure. When we begin with man we end with man. It is only when we begin with God that we also end with Him, and also with glorious success in our mission to seek and to find the “other sheep.”
Predestination and Evangelism incompatible?
Don’t you ever believe it!