Every Pastor’s Desire:
1. To exalt the grace of God.
2. To proclaim salvation alone through the blood
and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. To declare the sinfulness, helplessness, and
hopelessness of man in a state of nature.
4. To describe, as far as I am able, the living
experience of the saints of God in their trials,
temptations, and sorrows–and in their
consolations and blessings.
– J.C Philpot
And now let me commend this remission by the shedding of blood to those who have not yet believed. Mr. Innis, a great Scotch minister, once visited an infidel who was dying. When he came to him the first time, he said, “Mr. Innis, I am relying on the mercy of God. God is merciful and He will never damn a man forever.” When he got worse and was nearer death, Mr. Innis went to him again and he said, “Oh, Mr. Innis, my hope is gone, for I have been thinking if God is merciful, God is Just, too. And what if, instead of being merciful to me, He should be just to me? What would then become of me? I must give up my hope in the mere mercy of God. Tell me how to be saved!” Mr. Innis told him that Christ had died in the place of all believers—that God could be just and yet the justifier through the death of Christ. “Ah,” he said, “Mr. Innis, there is something solid in that! I can rest on that. I cannot rest on anything else.”
. . . Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the LORD God of Israel . . . (Ezra 4:3)
In this verse of scripture, the nation of Judah was now free from Babylon and were sent of God to rebuild the Temple. Then came adversaries who desired to build with them (v1). They wanted to mix their pagan gods with the worship of the Living God. But Zerubbabel resisted and said, “Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God . . . ”. Believer in Christ, this world of false religion is always seeking to mix their free will and works with the gospel of God’s free grace in Christ (Romans 11:6). Therefore we must resist compromising with them. But as these adversaries caused Judah trouble, even so, when the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached without compromise, this world will hate you and the message you preach. When we preach the message of Salvation by the free Grace of God through faith in Christ alone, we will be mocked and rejected (Eph.1:8-10). If we hold that the Bible is the infallible word of God and that it is all about Jesus Christ, we will be counted ignorant and unlearned (1 Peter 1:24-25; Luke 24:27). They will ask, “You don’t mean that God chose a people before the world began (Eph.1:2-3)?” “You don’t mean that Jesus Christ died only for those elect and that the Holy Spirit will quicken them all to life and faith in Christ (John 6:37-40)?” “You don’t mean that all who will not believe on Jesus Christ alone as the only way to God will go to hell (Mark 16:16)?” The answer we give must be a very compassionate but a firm “yes!” From then on, beware. They will try to trip you up or delay the ministry that God has given us to do; “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Believer, beware! When you are following the will of God, trouble is not far behind. But rejoice. For the trial of your faith is much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire. And herein is our comfort; that we who believe — who hold fast to the end — shall be forever received of our Lord Jesus. (1 Peter 1:5-7)
– Fred Evans
“Babylon is fallen, is fallen” (Revelation 14:8)
In this book of Revelation false religion is pictured by this great whore because it is very seductive and attractive to the natural man (Rev.19:2). It is also pictured by this great city Babylon because is its great size and power in this world. But no matter its attraction to men or its greatness in the earth, all false religion is fallen. It is fallen and cannot save for it always uses carnal means to produce a spiritual result.
Babylon says to sinners “do this and live. Obey the law and be acceptable to God. Exercise your free will to save your soul. Be baptized, and God will cleanse away your sins.” These are all carnal actions of men that cannot produce a spiritual result. The only hope for men is that God the Holy Spirit come and quicken the dead sinner to live (John 3:3-8). Therefore Paul said “Neither circumcision or uncircumcision availeth anything, but a new creature.” God must in Sovereign Grace and according to His Sovereign will quicken us with the word of Truth (James 1:18; John 1:12-13).
This Word of Truth is the only True Gospel; that God has chosen a people before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:3-6). Jesus Christ, in a covenant of Grace, became the mediator, redeemer, and Saviour of these elect people. Thus He has come into the world as a man and accomplished all their righteousness and Redemption for sins (Hebrews 9:12; 10:14). Then, at an appointed time, the Holy Spirit comes to them and quickens them to life and faith. And they will all believe on Christ and endure in the faith unto the end (John 6:37-40).
False religion is fallen and cannot save, but Jesus Christ is the victorious savior. He has come and redeemed His people. He who cannot fail nor be discouraged has saved all that the Father gave Him and not one of them will be lost. They will all come to God by Him. They will not come by the carnal means of the flesh but by the Sovereign Action and power of the Holy Spirit of God (Psalms 110:3; John 6:63). Therefore, you who believe, rejoice, for Babylon is fallen but Christ is victorious. The Great whore shall be destroyed, but the Bride of Christ which is His church shall be exalted forever by the side of Christ our Lord.
Oh, that sinners would come out from the great whore and believe on Jesus Christ Alone!
– Fred Evans
Jesus told them this parable: Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into the pit?” Luke 6:39
See the great danger of listening to false religious teachers. Our Lord compares such teachers and their hearers, to the blind leading the blind; and asks the reasonable question, “Will they not both fall into the pit?”
The amount of evil which unsound religious teaching has brought on the Church in every age is incalculable! The man who hears such a false teacher runs a fearful risk himself of being lost eternally! “Will they not both fall into the pit?”
If we would escape the danger against which our Lord warns us, we must not neglect to prove the teaching that we hear, by the holy Scriptures. We must not believe things merely because ministers say them. We must not suppose, as a matter of course, that ministers can make no mistakes!
We must remember the advice of Paul and John “Test all things.” “Test the spirits, whether they are of God.” With the Bible in our hands, and the promise of guidance from the Holy Spirit to all who seek it — we shall be without excuse if our souls are led astray.
The blindness of ministers is no excuse for the darkness of the people! The man who from indolence, or superstition, or affected humility — refuses to test the teaching of the minister whom he finds set over him, however unsound it may be — will at length share his minister’s portion!
If people will trust blind guides — then they must not be surprised if they are led to the pit!
So spiritually, the fear of the Lord is hidden in the heart, and lies deep in the soul; it is not spread out ostentatiously to view, but is buried out of sight in a man’s conscience. But though hidden from others, and sometimes even from ourselves, this “fear of the Lord” will act as circumstances draw it forth. There may be times and seasons when we seem almost hardened and conscience-seared; sin appears to have such power over us, and evil thoughts and desires so carry us away, that we cannot trace one atom of godly fear within; and the soul cries, “What will become of me! Where am I going now! What will come next on such a wretch as I feel myself to be!”
But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. (2 Peter 3:18)
In the natural realm, the more we grow up — the more independent we become. When we were infants we depended on our parents to feed us, clothe us and change our soiled diapers. But soon we were able to eat on our own, change our own clothes and clean ourselves without their help. When we are come to full age we are then said to be self-dependent or self-reliant. We work and provide for our own needs as well as for the needs of our children.
Now consider that the opposite is true concerning spiritual maturity. The more we grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, the more dependent upon God we become (Proverbs 3:5). The more mature we become, the more we are able to see the vileness of our nature and the deceptive nature of our own heart. We are made to feel and know our proneness to all sorts of sin and uncleanness (Isaiah 51:1; Romans 7:18-25; Philippians 3:8-11; Job 40:4).
Therefore, we are made to cling more tightly to Christ. We are made to labor to enter into the rest of Christ’s one perfect offering for sin. We are made to trust in God’s promises, power, and providence when all of life seems to be contrary to His word. Spiritual maturity is not less dependence on Christ but more dependence upon the Salvation of God. As believers spiritually grow up, our faith in Christ, our hope that is by Christ and our love for Christ also grow. And all the while, our confidence in — and dependence upon — the flesh decreases (Philippians 3:3).
The children of God live by faith. Thus they began and thus they are to end. “We walk by faith, not by sight.” Their whole life is a life of faith. Their daily actions are all of faith. This forms one of the main elements of their character. It marks them out as a peculiar people. None live as they do. Their faith is to them “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
It is a sort of Substitute for sight and possession. It so brings them into contact with the unseen world that they feel as if they were already conversant with, and living among, the things unseen. It makes the future, the distant, the (untouchable), appear as the present, the near, the real.
Such is the power of faith. It throws back into the far distance the things of earth, the things that men call near and real; and it brings forward into vital contact with the soul the things which men call invisible and distant. It discloses to us the heavenly mansions, their passing splendor, their glorious purity, their blessed peace. It shows us the happy courts, the harmonious company, the adoring multitudes. It opens our ears also, so that when beholding these great sights we seem to hear the heavenly melody and to catch the very words of the new song they sing, “Thou art worthy . . . for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:9-10).
(Faith), moreover, points our eye forward to what is yet to come: the coming of the Lord, the judgment of the great day, the restitution of all things, the kingdom that cannot be moved, the city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is GOD. While thus it gives to things invisible a body and a form which before they possessed not in our eyes, on the other hand, it divests things visible of that semblance of excellence and reality with which they were formerly clothed. It strips the world of its false but bewildering glow, and enables us to penetrate the thin disguise that hides its poverty and meanness.
It not only sweeps away the cloud which hung above us, obstructing our view of heavenly excellence, but it places that cloud beneath us to counteract the (false) brightness and unreal beauty which the world has thrown over itself to mask its inward deformity. Thus it is that faith enables us to realize our true position of pilgrims and strangers upon earth, looking for the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is GOD.
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Corinthians 13:5)
There is nothing on this earth more fearful than the carnal security of religion without Christ. Let us bring our faith to the Word of God and examine it. May it please God to search our hearts and let us see if we have the faith of God’s elect (2 Pet. 1:10; Ps. 139:23-24).
If our faith is the faith of God’s elect, if it is sound, if it is a God given faith, examination will only strengthen it, and cause us to cling more firmly to Christ. If our faith is false, examination may expose it. If we have built for ourselves a refuge of lies, in which we are trying to hide from God, may he graciously destroy our false refuge and hide us in Christ by his almighty grace.