Here is the summary of our messages this week.

Bearing a Name but Blaspheming THE Name (Rm 2.17-24)

In this message, we work our way through the logic of Paul’s accusation of the Religious Man. The Religious Man thinks that the blessings of his religion inoculate him against the judgment of God. The truth is that the religion of the Religious Man, true though it is, has not enabled that man to escape from his nature. His sins have caused the name he claims to bear to be blasphemed. The Religious Man is found to be likewise under the scrutiny of the penetrating judgement of God. The only hope of this man is for a righteousness religion cannot give to him.

Doubting Castle and the Delectable Mountains

Today we watch Christian and Hopeful seek the easy way out of difficult times only to end out in great difficulty and deep depression. It is only when they remember to pray (and subsequently remember the Promise of God) that they are able to escape Giant Despair. From thence they head to the Delectable Mountains, where the shepherds Knowledge, Experience, Watchful, and Sincere give wise guidance and insights to the pilgrims

Chosen for Cleanness (Lev 11)

Our Communion message this month comes again from Leviticus. We begin the section on the laws of cleanness and uncleanness which lead up to the Day of Atonement in Lev 16. Our first chapter in this section concern the laws of clean and unclean animals for food. As we seek understanding, we discover that the clean and unclean animals fit in with God’s other pictorials in the OT Law which describe the rights of access to his presence. Since the creation was marred by sin, men can enter his presence only under cover of the blood of acceptable sacrifices. This picture of the acceptable sacrifice all the way to the unacceptable, unclean animal (or worse, the dead animal), picture the depths to which the Saviour had to sink in order to redeem us from the chaos of death.

In him, we are cleansed, we have life, we have access to God, and all things are made new and clean. The OT laws of cleanness and uncleanness are abolished in Christ, and we in him have no more restrictions on clean and unclean foods.

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We had a fuller house than usual today with several visitors. Thank the Lord for that. A few comments afterwards reveal ways that the Lord is working in lives. It is a blessing to see.

Thirty-eight years ago today Nov 2 was also a Sunday. I was sitting in a Vespers program at BJU and the Lord began to impress on my heart the need to give my life to the Christian ministry. (I was a business major.) We have had some successes and some failures, but the greatest blessing of all is to see those lives who “walk in the truth” (3 Jn 1.4).

Portrait of a Good Religious Man (Rm 2.17-20)

Our passage finds us in the midst of Paul’s argument against those who are religious men. Pagan man is under God’s wrath for rejecting natural revelation; moral man is subject to God’s judgement for ignoring conscience; now we will find religious man under condemnation for disobedience to God’s word.

The argument begins with a description of the religious man as a religious man. He thinks possessing the blessings of his religion are sufficient for his justification without requiring an obligation to total holiness on his part. Today we are attempting to paint a portrait of what that man looks like.

By-ends and Hopeful [Pilgrim’s Progress]

Our next section of the Pilgrim’s Progress concerns Christian’s departure from Vanity Fair, his new companion Hopeful, won by the testimony of Christian and Faithful, and their encounter with a crowd of characters whose only interest in religion is how they may profit from it. Christian’s answer is a powerful argument against the purveyors of ‘health and wealth’ Christianity.

A Church Organized around Preaching [various texts]

why we call ourselves ‘the Bible-preaching centre’

Our afternoon service gives us an opportunity to return to our occasional series “Our Church”, which is a discussion of our philosophy of ministry. This message deals with the central focus of our ministry, the focus on preaching and teaching God’s Word. The message is mostly simply a reading of passages teaching the Importance of God’s Word, the Imperative of Preaching God’s Word, and the Impact of God’s life-changing Word. It is essential that church ministry be dominated by the Word of God. Everything we do flows from this overriding purpose.

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Another great day to serve the Lord. One couple returned for a second visit! May the Lord grant an increase.

If You Bear the Name ‘Jew’ (Rm 2.17)

As we work our way through Romans, we find the apostle Paul systematically proving the guilt and condemnation of all men. In Romans 1, the pagan man is under God’s wrath, in the first half of Romans 2, we find the moral man subject to judgement. Now as we begin the second half of Romans 2, Paul’s attention turns to the religious man, the Jew, who depends on his ritual and heritage for his standing with God. Though Paul’s message applies directly to the 1st century Jew, it ultimately applies to any man who depends on his religion for right standing before God.

Vanity Fair

This week we cover the experience of Christian and Faithful as they go through Vanity Fair. No one can escape the Fair, since the Way to the Celestial City leads through it. It represents the world, with all things respectable and profane, but things which distract Christians from the Way. The pilgrims do not fit in with the fair and offend the residents of the city so are held in a cage. Ultimately Faithful gives his life for his testimony, but some are won to the Way as a result.

Men Under Authority (Ac 6.1-6)

Our afternoon message concerned our philosophy of church governance: our congregation is pastor-led and congregationally governed. This message covers some of the biblical rationale for our philosophy and illustrations and applications to show how that works.

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None of our visitors from the last few weeks came back, but we had a great day worshipping the Lord nonetheless.

Bless the Lord O my Soul (Ps 103) [Thanksgiving Day]

Today we were blessed with our annual Thanksgiving Day dinner and service. Pastor Rick Coursen of 1st Baptist Church of Sedro Woolley. WA was our guest and speaker.

Pastor Coursen’s message took us through Psalm 103, giving us reasons as the Lord’s people to give thanks for the many benefits, especially spiritual benefits, that we have through faith in Christ.

We thank the Lord for a good day among God’s people.

The Judgement of Secrets (Rm 2.16)

Our message today sums up the case against the moral man – God will judge all men, pagans and moralists, on the day when God judges the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. The whole argument of Rm 2.1-16 comes to completion in this reference to this black day. The darkness of the day makes the gospel stand in sharp relief, like a sparkling diamond laid out against the background of a flat black cloth. Paul says that this whole concept is ‘according to my gospel’. So against the backdrop of the Day of Judgement, against the backdrop of the judgement of secrets, against the backdrop of the flaming eyes of the risen Christ judging the sins of mankind… against all this is laid the gospel of salvation by faith in the finished work of Christ.

Pilgrim’s Progress: Faithful and Talkative

In this session, Christian meets up with Faithful who becomes his companion for a part of the way to the Celestial City. Faithful recounts his experience till the point he meets Christian and although they travelled the same way, their experiences differed. In this we see that though there is one way, one destination, one faith, and one Christ, the means by which the Lord brings about our spiritual growth differs with each one. The temptations and trials Faithful experienced are different, but the grace of God in overcoming them is the same.

As they go, the two pilgrims encounter one Talkative, a man who has much to say about religion, but no corresponding testimony. He is an illustration of many a vain boaster who finds Christianity very interesting, except when it comes to actually living out the Christian faith.

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We had a number of visitors today with a total attendance of 57, so praise the Lord. Now if some of the visitors would come back!!

The Lord blessed in the services today, with good responses from several people.

You may wonder why no third service today. The reason is that tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day in Canada, so we will be having our annual Thanksgiving Dinner and Service. Our good friend, Pastor Rick Coursen of First Baptist Church of Sedro Woolley, Washington, will be our guest speaker tomorrow. We will have the audio up sometime tomorrow afternoon.

A New Perspective or an Old Lie? (Rm 2.13)

In our message today, we look again at Rm 2.13, a passage that is much misinterpreted by the false teachers of the “New Perspective on Paul”. In this message, we briefly summarize these false teachings and point out the subtlety that unstable Christians may miss in the teachings of these or any false teacher. One goal of local church ministry is to stablish the saints so that they might be better equipped to notice when teaching goes subtly awry.

Two Dark Valleys

This week we had a brief review of a couple of points from last week’s lesson and began to look at Christian’s progress through two valleys. The first involves his encounter with Apollyon, where Christian wins the day by virtue of his humility and use of the Word of God. The second is the Valley of the Shadow of Death where Christian must navigate between the ditch of false doctrine and the quag of cloying and defeating temptations.

Strange Fire is Not Good (Lev 10) [Communion]

Our Communion service brings us back to Leviticus where we consider the death of Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s eldest sons, on the first day of Aaron’s priesthood. The shocking death of these two priests, for what appears to be a minor deviation, illustrates God’s exacting standard for worship. This standard is not reduced in the New Testament, but heightened – no longer external and ritualistic, the standard is now internal and spiritual, a standard that requires more than we can possibly perform and calls, in the end, for the grace of Our Lord to save us.

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It was good to be back in the pulpit again this Sunday. We enjoyed a good day worshipping the Lord, one visiting couple from Montreal, our first visitors ever from that city, I think.

Unfortunately, I was out sick this weekend, the second time in 25 years of ministry. I led our men’s breakfast Saturday morning then went to my study and proceeded to feel increasingly terrible. By the time the day was out my temperature had soared over 100 degrees and I could barely get two thoughts together in succession (when it I am well, it is a challenge once I get past those first two thoughts!!). In any case, two of our men stepped in for me in our services. We cancelled our afternoon service, but that meant an extended time of fellowship for our people as my wife and daughters didn’t arrive home until almost the usual time on Sunday afternoon.

By the way, after a couple of days of sleeping (and zero interest in eating), I am back to normal and out and about. We had the stump removed at church today and the sewer is almost hooked up. (Video will follow soon, I promise! The removal of the stump was quite a sight, the excavator operator did it in about two hours.)

Anyway, to the summaries:

Witnessing to the Blind (2 Cor 3.16)

For only the second time in 25 years of ministry, Pastor Don was ill and unable to fill the pulpit this Sunday. He thanks God for the willing hearts of the men of our church to stand up in his place and bring God’s Word to God’s people.

Today’s message comes from one of our deacon’s, Harry Lloyd. This message appeals simply to the sinner concerning the veil that lies over the sinner’s heart and prevents him from seeing Christ. It also appeals strongly to the believer to be a faithful witness and prayer warrior to friends and loved ones (and unknown ones) who live still behind the veiled heart. It is a fine message and well worth your time.

Pastor’s note: I am very deeply moved in hearing this message from my brother and friend. I have known him since before the Lord removed the veil from his heart and praise God for His wonderful work! To God be the Glory, great things He hath done. (3 Jn 4)

The House Beautiful [Pilgrim’s Progress]

Another one of our deacon’s, Bill Miner, led our Pilgrim’s Progress study this week due to the pastor’s absence. This session dealt with Christian’s time in the House Beautiful, a picture of the local church. He is guided by four sisters who equip him with the armour of the Spirit to protect him against the fiery darts of the wicked one.

Read the handout for this session as you listen.

Note: we also have a handout with answers for those who might like to use our material as teachers. All of our previous messages have been likewise updated.

Pastor’s note: I want to thank the Lord for brother Bill’s willingness to step in the gap for me today. He is the son of a missionary and a beloved brother in the Lord. We are blessed to have in our little assembly men and women who give evidence of God’s glorious grace. My recent illness was not serious or long lasting, but gave us an opportunity to see and experience the grace of God evidently at work in the hearts of our people through the men who stood in the gap today.

Having the Law is not Enough (Rm 2.13-15)

The impartiality of God’s judgement is under further consideration. The religious man (the Jew) might ask, “Aren’t we students (hearers) of the Law? Doesn’t that count for something?” The answer: No, hearing the Law (being a diligent student) isn’t enough. In fact, the sinners of the Gentiles have the Law in a sense by their understanding and performance of natural law. They have the work of the Law written in their hearts as evidenced by their consciences. So merely having, or hearing, any aspect of the Law is not enough. We still stand under the impartial judgement of God whereby all men, pagan, moralist, or religious man will face the judgement of sins. Our religion (whatever it might be) is not sufficient to make us just before God. We need Some One else for that.

Interpreter’s House

We come now to the point of salvation for Bunyan’s Christian, the entrance at the Wicket Gate. From the gate, Christian proceed’s to Interpreter’s House, a place where the Holy Spirit (or some say a preacher) guides the new believer through various rooms illustrating the things that make for a stable Christian life. Some are guides, like the illustration of the preacher (the ‘man in a thousand’) and others are warnings like the man in the iron cage and the man not prepared for judgement. All are meant to make a Christian stable.

The Head of Our Church (2) (Mt 16.18)

Not being satisfied with our message of the same name last week, our pastor offers another. The Lord Jesus is the authority of every church since the church is his idea and his creation. He it is who stands as examiner, corrector, exhorter, and encourager of His church. If our church will truly have Him as our head, we must submit ourselves to Him, allowing him to examine, rebuke, correct, and challenge every aspect of our lives.

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We had a good day with a few visitors (one of whom found us from our church web-site … yay!!!) and one young couple who just moved to the neighbourhood. Some of our folks were out of town and some sick, so we were glad to see a few extras and hope for their return.

The Moral Man’s Problem is Sin (Rm 2.12)

Our message today continues to look at God’s impartiality in judgement as Paul explains that regardless of racial or religious status, sinners will be judged. No one gets an edge by morality or pedigree. All stand before God who will judge men according to their deeds, delivering sinners over to destruction.

Worldly Wiseman

We continue our look at Pilgrim’s Progress, discussing the advice of Mr. Worldly Wiseman and the consequences of listening to the same. We also consider how to discern modern parallels to Worldly Wiseman in our secular society (much different from Bunyan’s 17th century English society).

The Head of Our Church

In our afternoon service, we begin an intermittent series on the philosophy of our local church and the emphasis we want to promote as we build up a self-supporting church for the Lord’s glory. The first of the series speaks to the notion that the head of our church is Jesus Christ.

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We had a good day in a number of ways. One young couple finally joined the church (they have been faithfully attending for some time). Another visiting family continues regular attendance, so we are grateful for the opportunity that represents. And we had a visitor who may present another opportunity of ministry. All of that was good. I wasn’t happy with the third message and am contemplating tearing it apart and doing it entirely over sometime in the near future. Be that as it may, we thank the Lord for these opportunities to serve him.