Let There be Light (Gen 1.1-5)

From our “Moravian star” Christmas theme:

Of course we are talking in our passage about our natural, material universe, but light and darkness are emblematic of spiritual themes, not only in the Bible but in the consciousness of man. Thus we see these themes recurring in other religions as well, albeit corrupted as all false religions are.

It is only as we consider the theme of light in the Bible that we really understand it properly.

But more than mere understanding, I am going to submit to you that the theme of light and your personal relationship to it, as well as the Biblical presentation of it, speaks very loudly to man’s absolute need of and dependence on God.

A Biographical Sketch of Count Zinzendorf

From our “Moravian star” Christmas theme:

One of the most fascinating stories of Church History (among many) is the story of Count Zinzendorf.

The apostle Paul said:

^KJV 1 Corinthians 1:26 ¶ For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

Count Zinzendorf and a few others are very thankful that the apostle didn’t say: “not any” — he just said “not many.”

So today for our study time I’d like to give you a bit more detail concerning the life of Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf.

The Days of Her Purification (Lev 12)

In our context, this part of the Bible seems utterly foreign to us. We read through it, if we are in the habit of reading through our Bibles, because it’s there, not because we derive great insight and blessing or instruction from it.

• Isn’t that true?

My goal in preaching through these passages is to help you discover what God was saying to Israel through this ‘enacted spirituality’, these visible, physical pictures of an inner, spiritual reality. I want you to get this principle:

The externals of Judaism embody the internals of Theism.

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Our messages today were all blessings to me, I hope they were to our people. I am especially enjoying our communion series in Leviticus, it is a fascinating book. Our morning message also stirred us as we considered how Light brings life, how man sinned in the light and against the light, and how our Lord Jesus, the Light of the World gives us life out of darkness once again.

Not by Rite, Not by Power, but by My Spirit (Rm 2.28-29)

or, What makes a True Jew?

Our concluding message for the second chapter of Romans concludes Paul’s main argument against the Religious man. The Religious man thinks he is exempt from God’s judgement because he has divinely revealed Rites and special judgement escaping Power because of his superior morality and way of life. These notions misunderstand the nature of true acceptance by God, a regeneration of the inner man by the power of the Spirit instead of the works of the flesh.

Pilgrim’s Progress: The Celestial City

We conclude the first half of The Pilgrim’s Progress as we see Christian and Hopeful finally reach the destination of all believers, the Celestial City. We see them linger first in Beulah land, the land where the seasoned saint is partly in this world and partly in the next, then they cross the river of death, entering into the joy of their Lord. Bunyan says (as in his vision the gates to the City close) “After that they shut up the gates; which, when I had seen, I wished myself among them.”

In our own ministry, we have seen many saints go on ahead of us. I can sincerely say that I wish myself among them. Our folks gave what I thought were moving testimonies at the end of this session on that subject. I amplified their words so that you can hear them also, hopefully the distortions at that amplification will not be too distracting.

The Moravians and their Star (Lk 18.18-30)

We begin our Christmas season with an introductory message. The Moravians have a Christmas ornament that is a multi-pointed star. It began as an educational project but quickly became a beloved symbol of Christmas. Four passages are associated with its meaning, these will form our theme for the month of December, all related to the ’star’ and its association with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our first message introduced this theme by taking a look first at the rich young ruler and the spiritual investment to which the Lord called him – give up everything. Then the Lord taught his disciples the principle of multiplied returns – give up everything and get one hundred fold in this life and in the life to come, everlasting life! Exactly what the rich young ruler asked for.

We compared these themes to the spiritual investment Count Zinzendorf made in the 1700s. He was the spiritual leader of the Moravian movement, called by some ‘the rich young ruler who said Yes!’ When Zinzendorf died, his Moravians and their mission sent out over 228 missionaries, seeing many thousands come to Christ, simply because they made the right spiritual investment.

Unfortunately, the modern Moravian church does not match the orthodoxy of former days, but the missionary efforts of the 18th century Moravians are an inspiration to us today.

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My apologies for the delay in posting this! (I know the world was waiting with bated breath.) We had a blessed day yesterday and a busy day today.

The Rite judged by the Un-Rite if the Un-Rite is Right (Rm 2.26-27)

In this message we look at what good our religion is if we have the right rites but the wrong lives. Paul proposes a situation where the uncircumcised (the Un-Rite)nevertheless keeps the righteousness of the Law. He asks, will not his law keeping equal the value of your circumcision? Moreover, will not his law keeping judge your law breaking? Jesus gave examples, the men of Nineveh and the ‘queen of the south’ (Mt 12.41-42). The same problems attend our religion today. We have the Bible,we have baptism, we have the customs and practices of Christianity, but when we sin (as professing Christians) we stand judged by the lives of non-Christians who don’t sin in the same ways we do.

All of this builds the case that neither morality (Rm 2.1-16) nor religion (Rm 2.17-29) can exempt us from the judgement of God and the sentence of wrath that has fallen on mankind. (Rm 1.18-32). We need something superior to morality and religion.

Pilgrim’s Progress: Ignorance Ignores Christian (pp. 174-187)

In this session we see the renewed attempt by Christian and Hopeful to evangelize Ignorance. Ignorance is completely confident in his own obedience, he has no sense that he needs more than his own self-justification. He does not know he needs the merits of Christ. Leaving him to his own deserts, Christian and Hopeful talk of another man, Mr. Temporary, who made a show of going on a pilgrimage, but turned back when his mind was not changed, he feared other men, could not bear the shame of religion and was grieved to feel guilt for his sin.

Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5.16-24)

Our message this afternoon returns to a theme we considered eight years ago, the fruit of the Spirit as taught in Galatians. Today’s message looked at the whole idea of spiritual fruit, the desirability of spiritual fruit, and the method of cultivating spiritual fruit. For cultivation, we must crucify the flesh — weed the garden, and so enhance the working of the Spirit in our own lives.

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We had a visiting couple today… lots of visitors lately, but not many returnees. That’s what we would really like, but so far our many visitors lately have been just visitors.

A Rite is Right only if Law is not Wronged (Rm 2.25)

Our study of Romans moves from showing the insufficiency of even revealed religion to eradicate sin (Rm 2.17-24). Now Paul attacks confidence in the rites of revealed religion. Men made idols out of the rites of Judaism, thinking that their possession and performance of the rites meant they escaped God’s wrath towards sin, failing to realize that their sin invalidated their rituals. The same condition afflicts us today, even us as independent Baptists. We easily make our religious exercises into ‘magic’ rituals that act as ‘charms’ to keep us safe from condemnation. We think that if we regularly attend church, if we’ve been baptized, if we’ve prayed a prayer or walked an aisle, we’ve escaped! But we fail to understand that sins invalidate rituals. What we need is genuine Biblical repentance and faith in the finished work of Christ for our sins. From that faith decision flows the newness of life.

The Enchanted Grounds [Pilgrim’s Progress]

In this session we see Christian and Hopeful keeping themselves wakeful in the Enchanted Grounds by engaging in ‘well managed fellowship’. The specific topic that engages their minds is a discussion of Hopeful’s salvation testimony. In this section Bunyan gives us a clear picture of a soul under conviction and turning to Christ. We made our reading shorter this week to spend more time covering this section in detail.

For Our God is a Consuming Fire (Hb 12.25-29)

This afternoon we considered another distinctive of our Church life, reverent worship. Much has been said all over the world about worship in recent years, but we stand as a body of believers committed to conservative, reverent, traditional worship. By worship we mean more than music, but everything from music to offering to announcements to preaching and all the bits in between. Our reason for insisting on this kind of worship is found in Hb 12.18-29, as the Christian experience is compared to Mt Sinai and found to be far more solemn and far more holy than that awe inspiring experience. We intend to be reverent in worship because God is who He is.

~~~

A smallish crowd today, but blessed services nonetheless.

We had a special speaker this week, read on for the details!

An Open Door and many Adversaries (1 Cor 16.9)

Today we had the great privilege of a guest speaker in our services. Scott Holloway is our pastor’s cousin (technically, 1st cousin once removed!). He received his training for the ministry in a local church Bible institute in Trail, BC where he currently serves as an assistant pastor. He plans to begin a church planting ministry in Kindersley, Saskatchewan in the New Year. We invited him out to present his ministry to our church.

Scott’s message for us in our Sunday morning worship challenged us concerning the open door God puts before us in the form of various opportunities of service. At the same time, every opportunity will be blocked by adversaries. In order to take advantage of the opportunities God gives us, while overcoming our adversaries, we need spiritual preparation, we need to employ much prayer, and we need to be persistent in our service to God.

Wayward Travelers

Our study of Pilgrim’s Progress leads out of the Delectable Mountains into new encounters with various travelers. For this session, we first covered a few points of clarification from last week’s lesson and then plunged into this week’s reading. This week begins with an initial encounter of ‘a very brisk lad,’ Ignorance, who is unwilling to hear of a gospel of salvation by faith but is content with his own works. Leaving Ignorance, we encounter one Turn-away, and a weak Christian called Little-faith. We are encouraged by the discussion of these characters, but we end finding Christian and Hopeful being chastised for being led astray by a Flatterer, who captures them in a net. All of these events serve to illustrate situations believers may experience in their Christian lives.

Entering the Harvest (Jn 4.27-35)

In our afternoon service, Scott Holloway presented his vision and plans for a church planting ministry in Kindersley, Saskatchewan. He gave the presentation on overheads, then preached another message for us.

The message comes from the Lord’s teaching of his astonished disciples when they discover him speaking to the Samaritan woman. He teaches them that there is a harvest they did not see. He teaches them that the harvest is often in a place they would not expect. Finally, he teaches that the harvest is ready. These principles admonish us today as well.

~~~

Scott and I traveled north for the evening service in my brother’s church, Grace Baptist of the Comox Valley. Scott preached another fine message for the congregation there. I was especially blessed to have this opportunity for fellowship with Scott. The trip to Courtenay is about 3 hours each way. I was 20 when Scott was born, so I have had little opportunity for interaction over the years. Yesterday blessed my heart.

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.

~~~

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.

~~~

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.