Do You Love the Faith and the Name of Jesus Too Well to See Them Trampled On?

"We admire a man who was firm in the faith, say four hundred years ago...but such a man today is a nuisance, and must be put down. Call him a narrow-minded bigot, or give him a worse name if you can think of one. Yet imagine that in those ages past, Luther, Zwingle, Calvin, and their compeers had said, 'The world is out of order; but if we try to set it right we shall only make a great row, and get ourselves into disgrace. Let us go to our chambers, put on our night-caps, and sleep over the bad times, and perhaps when we wake up things will have grown better.' Such conduct on their part would have entailed upon us a heritage of error. Age after age would have gone down into the infernal deeps, and the pestiferous bogs of error would have swallowed all. These men loved the faith and the name of Jesus too well to see them trampled on...

It is today as it was in the Reformers' days. Decision is needed. Here is the day for the man, where is the man for the day? We who have had the gospel passed to us by martyr hands dare not trifle with it, nor sit by and hear it denied by traitors, who pretend to love it, but inwardly abhor every line of it...Look you, sir, there are ages yet to come. If the Lord does not speedily appear, there will come another generation, and another, and all these generations will be tainted and injured if we are not faithful to God and to His truth today. We have come to a turning point in the road. If we turn to the right, mayhap our children and our children's children will go that way; but if we turn to the left, generations yet unborn will curse our names for having been unfaithful to God and to His Word."

-- Charles H. Spurgeon, Sermons, 1888, 83-84, cited in The Forgotten Spurgeon by Iain Murray, The Banner of Truth Trust, 1986

Warnings or Judgments?

Note that Owen assumes covenantal (societal) sin and warnings/judgments, not sin/warning/judgment of individuals only:

"When a land, a nation, a city, a church, is filled with sin, so as that God gives them warnings or indications of His displeasure by previous judgments, or other extraordinary signs, if they are not as warnings complied withal by repentance and reformation, [then] they are tokens of approaching judgments, that shall not be avoided." --John Owen, from Works Vol 8, [1681] (Banner of Truth, 1967, p. 604)

Hear Ye the Rod, and Who Hath Appointed It - Japan Relief Fund

"It is a part and duty of spiritual wisdom, as also an evidence of a due reverence of God, to take notice of extraordinary occurrences in the dispensations of His providence; for they are instructive warnings, and of great importance in His government of the world. In them "the voice of the LORD crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see His name: hear ye the rod, and Who hath appointed it (Micah 6:9)." And there is a mark left on them, as profligate persons, who will not see when His hand is so lifted up."

--John Owen, from Works Vol. VIII (Banner of Truth, 1967, p. 597)

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...As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die...Ezek. 33:11

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Letter from Japan Presbytery RPCNA, Relief Committee, March 18, 2011 - "Again please pray for grace from God to Japan. Please pray for our sincere humiliation, hope in Christ and evangelism."


RPCNA Global Missions Board (GMB) Japan Relief Fund

An Unlawful Oath Is Not Binding

"An oath cannot bind to that which is in itself unlawful, because the obligation of the law is imposed upon us by the will of God, and therefore takes precedence of all obligations imposed upon us by the will of men or by ourselves; and the lesser obligation cannot relieve from the greater. The sin is in taking the oath to do the unlawful thing, not in breaking it. Therefore Luther was right in breaking his monastic vows."

--A. A. Hodge [1869], from The Westminster Confession: A Commentary (Banner of Truth, 2002, p. 289)

An Excellent Way to Prevent Swearing

"...an excellent way to prevent swearing is to use a constant truth in our speeches, then we need not interpose an oath; the credit of our communication will be enough. Oaths give suspicion of men's falseness and lightness. If men were serious and sincere in their discourses, their word would be equivalent to an oath, and their very affirming would be swearing; whereas others in a doubtful case are hardly credited, though they swear never so deeply, because they swear so commonly; for having prostituted the highest and most solemn way of assurance to every trifle, they have nothing left wherewith to establish a controverted truth."
--Thomas Manton [1693],  from The Works of Thomas Manton Vol IV, James 5:12 (Banner of Truth, 1962, p. 438)

Dead in the Pit - Arminianism Refuted

"A man that is fallen into a pit cannot be supposed to help himself out of it, but by one of two ways; either by doing all himself alone, or taking hold of, and improving, the help offered him by others. Likewise an unconverted man cannot be supposed to help himself out of his natural state, but either in the way of the law, or covenant of works, by doing all himself without Christ; or else in the way of the Gospel, or covenant of grace, by exerting his own strength to lay hold upon, and to make use of the help offered him by a Saviour.

But, alas! the unconverted man is dead in the pit, and cannot help himself either of these ways; not the first way, for the first text (Rom 5:6) tells us, that when our Lord came to help us, 'we were without strength,' unable to recover ourselves. We were ungodly, therefore under a burden of guilt and wrath, yet 'without strength,' unable to stand under it; and unable to throw it off, or get from under it: so that all mankind would have undoubtedly perished, had not 'Christ died for the ungodly,' and brought help to those who could never have recovered themselves. But when Christ comes and offers help to sinners, cannot they take it? Cannot they improve help when it comes to their hands?

No, the second text (John 6:44) tells us, they cannot; 'No man can come unto me,' that is, believe in me, 'except the Father draw him.' This is a drawing which enables them to come, who till then could not come; and therefore could not help themselves by improving the help offered.

It is a drawing which is always effectual; for it can be no less than 'hearing and learning of the Father,' which, whoever partakes of, come to Christ (verse 45). Therefore it is not drawing in the way of mere moral suasion, which may be, yea, and always is ineffectual. But it is drawing by mighty power (Eph 1:9), absolutely necessary for those who have no power in themselves to come and take hold of the offered help." --Thomas Boston, from Human Nature in its Fourfold State (Banner of Truth, 1964, pp. 183-184)

Christ Is Exercising All Authority and Power

"Christ has exercised and is exercising all authority and power. 'He must reign till all his enemies shall be made his footstool.'

'Christianity is Christ.' It is not a philosophy, indeed not even a religion. It is the good news that 'God hath visited and hath redeemed his people' and that He has done so by sending His only begotten Son into this world to live, and die, and rise again. Our Lord Jesus Christ is 'the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last'. In other words, He is the one Authority!" --D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, from Authority (Banner of Truth [Sept 1957] 1985, p. 29)

Have We Bartered the Gospel for a Substitute Product?

"There is no doubt that Evangelicalism today is in a state of perplexity and unsettlement. In such matters as the practice of evangelism, the teaching of holiness, the building up of local church life, the pastor's dealing with souls and the exercise of discipline, there is evidence of widespread dissatisfaction with things as they are and of equally widespread uncertainty as to the road ahead. This is a complex phenomenon, to which many factors have contributed; but, if we go to the root of the matter, we shall find that these perplexities are all ultimately due to our having lost our grip on the biblical gospel. Without realizing it, we have during the past century bartered that gospel for a substitute product which, though it looks similar enough in points of detail, is as a whole a decidedly different thing. Hence our troubles; for the substitute product does not answer the ends for which the authentic gospel has in past days proved itself so mighty.

The new gospel conspicuously fails to produce deep reverence, deep humility, a spirit of worship, a concern for the church, Why? We would suggest that the reason lies in its own character and content. It fails to make men God-centered in their thoughts and God-fearing in their hearts because this is not primarily what it is trying to do. One way of stating the difference between it and the old gospel is to say that it is too exclusively concerned to be "helpful" to man--to bring peace, comfort, happiness, satisfaction--and too little concerned to glorify God.

The old gospel was "helpful" too--more so, indeed, than is the new--but (so to speak) incidentally, for its first concern was always to give glory to God. It was always and essentially a proclamation of Divine sovereignty in mercy and judgment, a summons to bow down and worship the mighty Lord on whom man depends for all good. Its center of reference was unambiguouly God. But in the new gospel the center of reference is man. This is just to say that the old gospel was religious in a way that the new gospel is not. Whereas the chief aim of the old was to teach men to worship God, the concern of the new seems limited to making them feel better. The subject of the old gospel was God and His ways with men; the subject of the new is man and the help God gives him. There is a world of difference."

--J.I Packer, from The Death of Death in the Death of Christ (Banner of Truth, 1967, pp. 1-2)