Gleaning a few choice excerpts from "George Whitefield's Journals," one of my favorite books (boldface & italics mine). These are all taken from the year 1739...

Monday, March 19.  After having refreshed myself and friends by reading a packet of letters from London, and dispatched some other business, according to appointment, I set out for Bath, and got thither about three in the afternoon.  Dinner being ended, through great weakness of body, and sickness in my stomach, I was obliged to lie down upon the bed; but the hour being come for my preaching, I went, weak and languid as I was, depending on the Divine Strength, and, I think, scarce ever preached with greater power.  There were about four or five thousand of high and low, rich and poor, to hear.  As I went along, I observed many scoffers, and when I got upon the table to preach, many laughed; but before I had finished my prayer, all was hushed and silent, and ere I had concluded my discourse, God, by His Word, seemed to impress a great awe upon their minds; for all were deeply attentive, and seemed much affected with what had been spoken.  Men may scoff for a little while, but there is something in this foolishness of preaching which will make the most stubborn heart to bend or break.  "Is not My Word like fire," saith the Lord, "and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?"

Friday, May 12 ... Many came to me this morning, acquainting me what God had done in their souls by my preaching in the fields.  In the evening, I preached to about twenty thousand people at Kennington as usual, the weather continuing remarkably fair whilst I was delivering my Master's message.  I offered Jesus Christ to all who could apply Him to their hearts by faith.  Oh that all would embrace Him!  The Lord make them willing in the day of His power.

Sunday, May 13. Preached this morning to a prodigious number of people in Moorfields, and collected for the orphans £52 19s. 6d., above £20 of which was in halfpence.  Indeed, they almost wearied me in receiving their mites, and they were more than one man could carry home.  Went to public worship twice and preached in the evening to near sixty thousand people.  Many went away because they would not hear; but God enabled me to speak so that the best part of them could understand me well, and it is very remarkable what a deep silence is preserved whilst I am speaking.  After sermon, I made another collection of £29 17x. 8d, and came home deeply humbled with a sense of what God has done for my soul. I doubt not but that many self-righteous bigots, when they see me spreading out my hands to offer Jesus Christ freely to all, are ready to cry out, "How glorious did the Rev. Mr. Whitefield look to-day, when, neglecting the dignity of a clergyman, he stood venting his enthusiastic ravings in a gown and cassock upon a common, and collecting mites from the poor people." But if this is to be vile, Lord grant that I may be more vile.  I know this foolishness of preaching is made instrumental to the conversion and edification of numbers.  Ye Pharisees mock on, I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.

Friday, May 18. ... As the walls of Jericho once fell down at the sound of a few rams' horns; so I hope even this foolishness of preaching, under God, will be a means of pulling down the Devil's strongholds, which are in and about the City of London...

Thursday, June 7.  Received two letters from persons, confessing that they came to hear me out of a bad motive, but were apprehended by the free grace of Jesus Christ...

Wednesday, July 18. ... I reached Abingdon, twenty-two miles from Cirencester, about seven, and preached to several thousands soon after I came in.  Much opposition had been made against my coming.  The landlord, whose house we offered to put up at, genteellly told us he had not room for us; and numberless prejudices had been industriously spread to prevent my success.  But God's Word will make its own way, let men say what they please.  Our weapons are not carnal, but mighty through the Divine Power, to the pulling down of Satan's strongholds.

Thursday, July 19.  At the request of several well-disposed people, preached again this morning, though not to so great a number as before.  A sweet power was felt amongst us.  The hearers melted into tears under the Word.  Oh, what a sudden alteration does this foolishness of preaching make in the most obstinate hearts.  'Tis but for God to speak the word, and the lion is turned into a lamb.  Oh, that we were like that dear Lamb of God, Who died to take away the sins of the world.

Saturday, July 28.  ... Preached at Blackheath in the evening and came home rejoicing.  The bills which are sent to me, plainly prove that God has worked on numbers of souls. At the judgment day, we shall see what good has been done by this foolishness of preaching.  Many, I believe, come to the fields to worship the Father in spirit and in truth.  God seeketh such to worship Him.

Do we really believe God's Word is a hammer and a fire? Do we believe God's Holy Spirit delights to work through preaching and prayer to save souls just He did in the days of George Whitefield? How often are we as 21st century Christians tempted to think we have evolved in some way from the 18th century days of Whitefield, or from the 1st century days of the early Church, so that when we look up and see those high and thick Jericho walls –– those stony, hard hearts of unbelievers, skeptics, mockers, and doubters –– rather than standing firm in faith, we begin to slip and slide into compromising –– and soon enough we have cast aside God's appointed means to convict and arrest and save souls and magnify His glory:  this foolishness of preaching? When faced with intimidating and daunting Jericho walls, how often do we find ourselves relying on worldly wisdom, carnal weapons, earthly power, human ingenuity, and fleshly manipulation –– rather than standing fast on God's Word, trusting in God's might, relying on God's wisdom and power, and preaching Christ and Him crucified? Are we all too ready to jettison God's instrumental means out of fear of looking vile, undignified, foolish, and weak in the eyes of men?

I Corinthians 1:18  For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 19  For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. 20  Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21  For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 22  For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23  But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 24  But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 25  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

II Chronicles 16:7  And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and NOT relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand. 8  Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the LORD, he delivered them into thine hand. 9  For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. 10  Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time.

A.W. Tozer speaking on true oneness in the church . . .

And I don't mean the oneness of course of passivity and compromise.  In order to stay one, some churches compromise, and there's a oneness of passivity –– nobody cares much anyway, so they just compromise. That's the beautiful unity of the dead. And I suppose that there isn't anything that is any more united than a cemetery. Everybody out there, no matter whether they are Democrats or Republicans, or whether they were Tories or Conservatives –– well, while they lived –– they all lie there calmly together –– because they're dead.

And when you go into a church where the pastor's careful never to say anything that can be pinned down because he's afraid of hurting somebody who has a good, big pen and a large checkbook, so he's careful to say nothing at all and take no position. And everybody gathers around him, he's dead, and there he gathers a lot of dead people around him, and they call that a church. Not a church at all! Simply an agglomeration of dead men afraid to have an opinion. The beautiful tolerance of the dead.

~ From Tozer's sermon "Unity that Brings Revival" found at http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1017072247584

 

Please watch R.C. Sproul's message on Justification, The Article on Which the Church Stands or Falls from No Compromise ~ The 2013 Ligonier National Conference.

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As the Roman Catholic Church was choosing a new Pope this past week, I was doing a little reading on Martin Luther and the Reformation, and was reminded of the motto of the Protestant Reformation:

"Post tenebras lux"
"After darkness, light"

I was familiar with the Reformation Wall in Geneva, but I didn't realize that motto is engraved on either side of the four largest statues there:

Theodore Beza (1519 – 1605)
John Calvin (1509 – 1564)
William Farel (1489 – 1565)
John Knox (c.1513 – 1572)

And beside those four figures, there are three others on either side:

William the Silent (1533 – 1584)
Gaspard de Coligny (1519 – 1572)
Frederick William of Brandenburg (1620 – 1688)
Roger Williams (1603 – 1684)
Oliver Cromwell (1599 – 1658)
Stephen Bocskay (1557 – 1607)

As I looked at that picture, I was profoundly humbled to realize that each and every one of us who are longing for and working toward reformation and revival in the Church, though we are little, yet we too are part of the lineage of the great cloud of witnesses on that wall, as well as all the saints throughout all the ages who were commended through their faith (see Hebrews 11-12:2).

* * *

All of us who are Christians are part of that great cloud of witnesses. Though not all of us will be called to formal ministry in the office of a pastor, etc., yet in some sense we are all entrusted with the good deposit of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, and each of us must guard and steward it well, for we will each be held to account one day before our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I know I will stand before the living God and I know that I will need to give an account of every thought I think, as well as every word I speak, and every word I write here, including every idle and every careless thought and word! And every idle and every careless thought and word is going to be burned up for our God is a consuming fire!

Last week I wrote that I am blogging for your progress and joy in faith (Phil. 1:25, ESV). If you are a Christian, I want you to know the highest felicity that comes from knowing God through our Lord Jesus Christ... But you can't even begin to progress in faith or experience joy in faith if your faith is not rightly rooted, i.e. - if you don't understand the work of salvation as God Himself defines it in and through the Scriptures alone –– as being by grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone to the glory of God alone.

Given the dearth of Biblical doctrine in this day and age, given the wide-spread idolatry of tolerance, given the great variety of theological backgrounds from which my readers come, and given the lack of pastors who are valiant for truth (even in so-called evangelical churches and denominations), I have to back up and say that I'm also blogging to lift up the God-glorifying, Christ-exalting, life-giving, darkness-shattering, bondage-breaking, joy-enhancing, holiness-inflaming, mission-fueling Biblical doctrines that were unveiled and brought to light during the Protestant Reformation, and which are now once again being cloaked, minimalized, and marginalized, and all but discarded in the name of love and tolerance and unity –- and I regret to say this is happening even in denominations which had been founded on and rooted in the evangelical tradition. More and more churches are NOT true churches at all in the Biblical sense, for they are dead:  the devil has come in as an angel of light, and souls have been bewitched and lulled and finally succumbed to that beautiful tolerance of the dead! Their lampstand has been taken!

Paul wrote the book of Colossians in the 50's A.D. to combat wolves in sheep's clothing who were coming in among the flock with a host of false doctrines in order to undermine the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ. In his introductory remarks to his lectures on the book of Colossians, John Davenant wrote:

Now, as to the occasion of the writing, we must recollect that the Church of Colosse was founded in purity, and rightly instructed in the mystery of the Gospel by Epaphras, and other faithful Ministers of the Word. But there soon sprang up ministers of Satan, whose great aim was to obscure the Gospel, and trouble the Church. Some of these, as though the simplicity of the Gospel were unworthy the wisdom of man, obtruded philosophical subtleties upon the Colossians; others, as though Christ were not sufficient for salvation, recalled the abrogated ceremonies of the Law. Thus, whilst they attempted to confound Theology with Philosophy, Christ with Moses, they threw that Church into the greatest danger. The devout Minister of Christ could not patiently bear these troublers; he hastens, therefore, to Paul, then a prisoner at Rome; he gives an Epitome of the Evangelical doctrine which he had been preaching; he shews the errors and impostures of the new teachers. Upon that, the Apostle, under the impulse and direction of the Divine Spirit, confirms the doctrine of Epaphras by his own authority, and exhorts the Colossians to persevere constantly in the same, despising the foolish subtleties and absurdities of all heretics.—Such was the occasion of his writing.¹

I read those words yesterday and started to weep –– to weep tears of joy and thanksgiving and relief... These things are written to us as examples! These things are written to me as examples! All the way back at her very beginnings, the New Testament Church was already under attack, just as she is today. Of course, I already knew that, but I needed the reminder once again! The devil has always sought to work the people of God woe! He is the adversary of Jesus Christ, and therefore he is our adversary. He is a hireling who works to steal, kill and destroy! The father of lies is continuing to prowl and scheme to deceive us and to rob God's people of a fuller and higher and deeper knowledge of God and of our inheritance in the saints, of the unsearchable riches of Christ, and of God's great and very precious promises. Satan is attempting to obscure the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, so we aren't able to see and savor Christ's all-surpassing worth and treasure Him as we ought! Every trial and temptation and testing of the Church in the past is to be instructive to us. And know this:  if Christian ministers and Christians today in the 21st century don't have that same Spirit-led response to false teachers and false doctrines that Epaphras had, then we are in a sad and miserable state and to be greatly pitied and in grave danger. Having the closed canon of Scripture, but still in the spirit of Epaphras, we must hasten to Paul (along with all the other writers of Scripture), and seek the wisdom of God through the Spirit of God, so we might reform the Church according to the inspired, infallible Word of God!

Many people claim to be seeking reformation in the Church, but our efforts must always be according to the Word of God, not according to our own common sense, nor according to our worldly wisdom, nor according to human expediency. We can have a passion and a zeal –– yet it may not be in accord with Biblical knowledge.

Will we walk in that good way in the 21st century, or will we rely on our own understanding?

In Daniel 11:32, we read that those who know their God will be strong and stand firm, they will not be corrupted or seduced with flattery.

If you don't know God and His way of salvation as revealed through the Holy Bible, you will be corrupted and seduced with flattery, and you will be "tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes" (Eph. 4:14), and though you may think yourself to be saved, you may end up being eternally lost. The remedy we must return to is found in the following verse:

Ephesians 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ...

We're to speak the truth in love –– no matter what it may cost us, no matter if it may make us unpopular, no matter what. Remember the reaction Jesus Himself received after our Lord spoke the truth in love:

Are we willing to go outside the camp with Him bearing His reproach? Are we going to be controlled by the love of Christ and a love for His truth and for His Gospel and for His glory and for His renown and for His Church –– or are we going to be controlled by our love for human affirmation and earthly popularity and accolades? Galatians 1:10  For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

We can't jettison truth. And we can't say we're loving anyone if we are withholding truth from them. We can't say we are loving anyone if we are shaving truth or sugar-coating truth or compromising truth in any way.

Christianity is made up of a body of truth, including this beautiful and precious doctrine of justification by faith apart from the law, apart from works, given to us by the one true God that shows how He justifies unjust sinners... It is not of our own works, so no one can boast! All our boasting must be in Jesus Christ and the cross, and all our glorying must be in the LORD alone! Nothing in our hands we bring, simply to His cross we cling!

On Calvary, the Just One suffered for sins for the unjust, that whoever believes in Him might be brought to God... that hopeless, helpless, powerless, alienated, and dead sinners like us might be saved from God's just wrath and condemnation, by grace through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ, our sins might be covered, our guilt taken away, and Christ's righteousness credited to us, so we might be justified and reconciled to a holy God and have peace with God; made alive in Christ, adopted into the family of God as children of God, so we might call on God the Father as "Abba," and be joint-heirs with Jesus, and stand before the throne of God unashamed, and have boldness and access to the Most Holy Place, and enjoy eternal fellowship with God beginning in the here and now.

Truth is not how we define it in the 21st century, but rather truth is what God Himself says it is in His written Word. (I Peter 1:24  for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25  but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.)

Romans 3:21  But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22  the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24  and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25  whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

27  Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28  For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29  Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30  since God is one. He will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31  Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

Galatians 2:15  We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16  yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

As we read through the New Testament, we find that this is the very same fight that has been fought since the first century:  that battle for the cardinal doctrine of justification by faith, for it is "the main hinge on which religion turns" (Calvin), and "If the article of justification is lost, all Christian doctrine is lost at the same time" (Luther). And I'll add here that if the article of justification is lost, all true and genuine assurance and joy of God is lost at the same time, for on this article your highest felicity and your experience of exceeding Joy hinges!

Justification by faith is for our happiness and our joy –– and for the joy of all the nations (remember that the Biblical word blessed = happy!):

Romans 4:1  What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2  For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3  For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4  Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5  And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6  just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

7  “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8  blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

Isaiah 61:10  I will greatly rejoice in the LORD;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11  For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise
to sprout up before all the nations.

* * *

The first and chief article is this, that Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, "was put to death for our trespasses and raised again for our justification" (Rom. 4:25). He alone is "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).... Inasmuch as this must be believed and cannot be obtained or apprehended by any work, law, or merit, it is clear and 25 certain that such faith alone justifies us, as St. Paul says in Romans 3, "For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law" (Rom. 3:28), and again, "that he [God] himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus" (Rom. 3:26). Nothing in this article can be given up or compromised, even if heaven and earth and things temporal should be destroyed.... On this article rests all that we teach and practice against the pope, the devil, and the world. Therefore we must be quite certain and have no doubts about it....

~ Martin Luther in the Smalcald Articles
(HT: http://bookofconcord.org/confessionsandgospel.php)

May God help and strengthen me by His grace not to compromise but to stand on this article of justification, for your joy, for my joy, for the joy of all the nations, and for His glory!

Related posts:

• Martin Luther on assurance
• "The just person lives by faith." Luther's assurance received! (letter 87 on assurance & joy)
• who are we to say . . . (Christ's atonement and assurance)
• Jack Bauer & the Atonement
• Luther's Commentary on Galatians
• April Fool's Day: Have you become like the foolish Galatians?
• Luther on Galatians 4: any & all false gospels = idolatry
• Reformation Day: Martin Luther on "How One is Justified before God, and of Good Works"
• Labor Day: Do you know the blessedness of not working? (Romans 4:1-8) (about penance)
• Bible Reading: Jeremiah 23--THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
• Bible Reading: Ezekiel 7–"But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more"
• "Salvation unto Us Has Come by God's free grace & favor"
• O, Church, to whom are we listening: the frogs or the nightingale?
• Good Friday: Are you glorying in the cross or in your works?

• Why I blog and the only kind of recommendation I should seek
• Why I write and minister - My credo for being a godly encourager
• dedication 2010 (reflections on God's Word & God's grace) ~ no sugar coating...
• blogging to build up the ruined Church of God / expository exultation
• Here I stand & from here I cast (devoted to prayer & the ministry of the Word)
• Reformation Rebels: Are you willing to be a rebel for the sake of the Church?
• Advent #4 WHY HAS JESUS COME? "I have not come to bring peace, but a sword"
• my desire: "fearless and uncompromising" like Duncan Campbell, Moses, and Paul

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Information on the Reformation Wall taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformation_Wall / CC BY-SA 3.0.

¹ John Davenant, "Colossians (Geneva Series of Commentaries)," (Banner of Truth Trust: Edinburgh, 2005, 2009; reprinted from the English translation by Josiah Allport, 1831), lxxii-lxxii.

Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peterculter_cemetery_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1629769.jpg  by Alan Findlay / CC BY-SA 3.0 / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Work found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ReformationsdenkmalGenf2.jpg by Picswiss / CC BY-SA 3.0.
Work found at http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/files/2013/03/wolf-in-sheeps-clothing.jpg.

This is a follow-up to my last post, a Calvinist, a Wesley bobblehead, the holy catholic Church & the communion of saints. (I'd actually begun writing this post almost a year ago, put it aside at the time, but now I've pulled it out again...)

Some of you may be aware of George Whitefield's differences with John Wesley, Whitefield being a Calvinist, and Wesley an Arminian.

   

A while back, as I was reading Arnold Dallimore's biography of George Whitefield, I ran across a letter written by George Whitefield in response to John Wesley.¹ Whitefield's sentiment in that letter is a demonstration of the quality of fellowship God wants us to have with Christians who differ from us, and his words here set the tone all of us as Christians should seek to aspire to.

Prior to presenting the letter itself, Dallimore brings us a little background:

Among the letters brought to Whitefield by his brother there was one from John Wesley.¹ It is to be regretted that this letter has not been preserved, but from Whitefield's reply it is evident that Wesley introduced the matters on which they differed and sought to provoke him into dispute. Whitefield answered:

Savannah, March 26, 1740

HONOURED SIR,—

Since I returned here, I received your letter and journal –– I thank you for both, and shall wait almost with impatience to see a continuance of your account of what God is doing or has done amongst you –– He knows my heart, I rejoice in whatever God has done by your hands. I prae, sequare, etsi, no passibus equis. ["Go before, I follow, though with unequal steps."]

I could now send a particular answer to your last; but, my honoured friend and brother, for once hearken to a child, who is willing to wash your feet. I beseech you by the mercies of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, if you would have my love confirmed towards you, write no more to me about misrepresentations wherein we differ. To the best of my knowledge, at present, no sin has dominion over me; yet I feel the stragglings of indwelling sin day by day. I can, therefore, by no means, come into your interpretation of the passage mentioned in your letter, and as explained in your preface to Mr. Halyburton. The doctrine of election, and the final perseverance of those that are truly in Christ, I am ten thousand times more convinced of, if possible, than when I saw you last. You think otherwise:  why then should we dispute, when there is no probability of convincing? Will it not, in the end, destroy brotherly love, and insensibly take from us that cordial union and sweetness of soul, which I pray God may always subsist between us? How glad would the enemies of the Lord be to see us divided? How many would rejoice, should I join and make a party against you? How would the cause of our common Master suffer by our raising disputes about particular points of doctrines?

Honoured Sir, let us offer salvation freely to all by the blood of Jesus; and whatever light God has communicated to us, let us freely communicate to others. I have lately read the life of Luther, and think it in no wise to his honour, that the last part of his life was so much taken up in disputing with Zuinglius and others; who, in all probability, equally loved the Lord Jesus, notwithstanding they might differ from him in other points. Let this, dear Sir, be a caution to us. I hope it will to me; for by the blessing of God, provoke me to it as much as you please, I do not think ever to enter the lists of controversy with you on the points wherein we differ. Only, I pray to God, that the more you judge me, the more I may love you, and learn to desire no one's approbation, but that of my Lord and Master, Jesus Christ."

Ere this reaches you, I suppose you will hear of my late excursion to Charles Town. A great work I believe is begun there. Enclosed I have sent you Mr Garden's letters –– They will serve to convince you more and more, of the necessity you lie under to be instant in season and out of season.

Oh, dear honoured Sir, I wish you as much success as your own heart can wish. Was you here I would weep over you with tears of love, and tell you what great things God has done for my soul, since we parted last. Indeed and indeed, I often and heartily pray for your success in the Gospel: May your inward strength and outward sphere increase day by day! May God use you as a choice and singular instrument of promoting His glory on earth, and may I see you crowned with an eternal and exceeding weight of glory in the world to come! this is the hearty desire of, honoured Sir,

Yours most affectionately in Christ Jesus,
G.W.

* * *

I will say that I consider myself a Calvinist, and that I love Calvinism and the doctrines of grace / TULIP (total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace & perseverance of the saints). I know the name of John Calvin and the term Calvinism conjure up a lot of negative, misguided, flawed, and faulty connotations (understatement!), so for a brief summary of Calvinism / the doctrines of grace / TULIP, I'd encourage you to read this article.)

Over the past several years, I've been brought to the same deep and abiding conviction which Charles Spurgeon also held:

"I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else."

~ from Spurgeon's "A Defense of Calvinism"

I want to make it clear that I very well know that souls can be saved and not hold to the tenets of Calvinism. I know this because for years, I was saved, but I wasn't a Calvinist! (In my post, "True Calvinism is not," I wrote about how I balked at and rejected many of the doctrines of grace for years. I'd encourage you to read that account here.)

However, don't get me wrong... I'm not at all squishy or soft when it comes to doctrine. Along with Whitefield, I'd say I am ten thousand times more convinced of Calvinistic doctrine than I was at this time year. I believe it is critical and vital that the doctrines of grace are preached and taught. And I strongly and urgently assert that one reason why the Church is in such a sad, sorry, and ruined state right now is because those doctrines have not been preached and taught as they ought to have been –– since those doctrines provide the true kindling for the fire of personal and corporate reformation, renewal, and revival –- which results in an overflowing love and zeal for God, God's glory, God's Word, God's Gospel, and God's mission –– exactly what happened on the Day of Pentecost. O! We are in desperate need of the heavens being rent again and the Holy Dove to descend with His baptizing fire!

WELCOME ONE ANOTHER FOR THE GLORY OF GOD

However, all that said, I am compelled by the Spirit of Christ to welcome ALL the saints (both Arminians and Calvinists) whom Christ Himself has welcomed, for Christ's sake and for the sake of the Gospel, for the glory of God. (Makes for an interesting tension in my soul, to say the least!)

In Romans 15, Paul reminds us of our holy obligation to welcome one another:

5  May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6  that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7  Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

THE POWER TO WELCOME ONE ANOTHER

In those verses, Paul is praying for God to endow the Roman Christians with His power so they might welcome one another because it's wholly impossible for any of us to do that apart from the power of God working in us! Plus, he's praying these things for Romans because he knows they will struggle mightily with temptations not to welcome one another and to destroy brotherly love, as Whitefield put it. Isn't it wonderful that in Jesus Christ we have a merciful and faithful high priest who was tempted as we are, who knows our weaknesses, and having been tempted as we are, and yet without sin, He has pity upon us and is ready and able to supply sufficient grace from His riches in glory as we call upon Him? (see Hebrews 2:16-18, 4:14-16)

Paul's prayer has been preserved as part of the canon of Holy Scripture because the Holy Spirit wanted to remind believers throughout the ages (including us here in the 21st century) that we will all struggle and we will all be tempted like the believers in Rome in the first century. These things were written for our example. These prayers were prayed for our example. But thanks be to God, with every commandment God gives, God gives His people the power to fulfill that commandment:  the Christ who welcomed us will empower us to welcome one another, for the glory of God. We desperately need to go boldly to the throne of grace and ask the God of endurance and encouragement to pour out grace upon us so we might welcome one another. And notice there, that when we welcome one another as Christ welcomed us, we do so for the glory of God. What does it say about our attitude toward the glory of God when we are not seeking to welcoming one another as Christ welcomed us?

THE PICTURE PORTRAYED AS WE WELCOME ONE ANOTHER

A few verses later in Romans 15, Paul launches off into a seemingly different trajectory:  a spectacular world-wide missionary vision and call, in which he cites verses from Isaiah, written hundreds of years prior.  What's with that? How does Paul get there from the first verses in the chapter? My brothers and sisters, our welcoming one another in the local church is a picture of God's welcoming us into His global family. And our welcoming one another in the local church is a small picture of what God has been and is continuing to do throughout the entire world for thousands of years. As the Gospel is preached to all the nations (people groups) to all the ends of the earth, are we not welcoming those whom Christ has redeemed to God by His blood from out of every tribe, and language, and people, and nation. And if we aren't welcoming one another in the local church (or in cyberspace, or wherever ...), how hypocritical of us is it for us to claim we're burdened for the lost? Convicting? Yes, for myself also. Greatly convicting.

Jesus Christ died to make us all one new man that we all might glorify God for his mercy.

Romans 1:1  Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2  which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3  concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4  and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5  through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6  including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ...

"For the sake of His name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ..." If you belong to Christ, you belong to Him for the sake of His name. If you have been welcomed by Jesus Christ, you have been welcomed for the sake of His name. Your salvation and my salvation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ is God's means for His name to be lifted up and praised among all the nations. Peter reminds us that we're a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light (I Peter 2:9).

When we stop and linger over and meditate upon and don't skip over those first portions of the Lord's prayer, "Our Father... hallowed be Your Name, Your Kingdom come," when we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ and His purposes for the world, as we keep the glory of God and the furtherance of the Gospel in plain view, we will keep a right perspective and be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit (see Ephesians 4:1-6), and strive to do whatever we can to avoid destroying brotherly love –– much as Paul wrote in Romans 12:  If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. And you can look high and low, but I don't see any loopholes there:  all means all.

MADE WILLING IN THE DAY OF HIS POWER

There are many, many Christians with whom I differ, but as God's grace works in me, I long to welcome them as Christ welcomed me, and I wish to support and encourage all those who belong to Christ and are preaching the Gospel, seeking to lift up Christ and Him crucified, guarding the Gospel and holding to the authority and the truth of the Scripture, and seeking the glory and praise of God in all things.

As much as I have every fleshly reason to despise and reject those who differ from me (particularly those who have slandered and maligned both Calvinism and Calvinists), God Himself won't let me do so because His Spirit convicts me and His love comes to constrain and fill me. The God of endurance and encouragement has given and continues to give me Christ's supernatural, longsuffering love for those saints and their ministries:  a love for Christ and His Church that goes above and beyond my beloved Calvinism, so I might welcome them as Christ has welcomed me:  to love them as Christ has loved me, and to forgive them as Christ has forgiven me.

And the problem is this
We were bought with a kiss
But the cheek still turned
Even when it wasn't hit

And I don't know what to do with a love like that
And I don't know how to be a love like that

~ from David Crowder Band's "Surely We Can Change"

I have to pinch myself at those times I have found my heart drawn out in love, even toward those who have insulted me for my Calvinistic beliefs, and how I find found myself praying for God's blessings to fall afresh on those saints. At that I can only marvel, for that is God's doing, for it is the Lord alone who makes me willing in the day of His power (Psalm 110:3, KJV), so I might welcome all the saints as Christ has welcomed me, delight in all the saints as Christ delights in me, and intercede for all the saints as Christ intercedes for me.

THAT WE MIGHT NOT DESTROY BROTHERLY LOVE

The devil loves division, and he is constantly prowling and seeking to get a foothold to divide us one from another. I'm not saying we shouldn't ever discuss these matters of doctrine for, as I said above, I consider these matters vital –– but there may come certain points in time when we may need to refrain and restrain ourselves like George Whitefield, so that we might not destroy brotherly love. May God give each one of us His Spirit of truth and wisdom tempered with His Spirit of love, humility, patience, and gentleness, always entrusting all the saints to God's keeping ~ II Timothy 2:14-26; Acts 20:32. As we remain watchful and stand firm in the faith, may all we do, may all I do, be done with love ~ I Corinthians 16:13-14... "knowledge puffs up, but love builds up" ~ I Corinthians 8:1.

May we have the mind of Christ dwelling within us, that our manner of life would be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so we might stand firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together, striving side by side, for the faith of the gospel (Philippians 1:27), for the glory of God and the praise and renown of God's name in all the nations, until the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the seas!

~ Karen, S.D.G.

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¹ Arnold A. Dallimore, "George Whitefield: The Life and Times of the Great Evangelist of the Eighteenth-Century Revival - Volume I" (Banner of Truth Trust:  Edinburgh / Carlisle, PA, 1970, reprinted 2009), 450-452. Dallimore added in the paragraphing to Whitefield's letter, which was originally found in Gilles' "Works," pp. 155-157.

* For more on Calvinism / TULIP / the doctrines of grace, please listen to the Rev. Geoff Thomas' series of sermons on The Five Points of Calvinism at http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?sourceonly=true&currSection=sermonssource&keyword=alfredplace&subsetcat=series&subsetitem=The+Five+Points+of+Calvinism.

Related:

true Calvinism is not
I can't keep walking on eggshells here (more on Revelife, Calvinism, the Body of Christ and self)
Lent IV.-"If you love Me you will love the church"
May the mind and word of Christ dwell in us so we might arise as one man
we are a wilderness and a desolation today (lack of love in the Church | Isaiah 64:10-11)
forgive us for dividing Your Son, our Lord
Behold, how good and pleasant it is when we dwell in unity!
ALL God's people singing, "He reigns" (Letter 28 on assurance & joy)
How can we say we are unified when ... ?
What kind of pony are you asking for for Christmas?
Does oneness in Christ mean . . . ?
Is Satan stirring the pot in your congregation? (and are you helping him?)
an "ici" good-bye | a lesson in warm catholicity
The Gospel and the Lord's table
Happy 500th Birthday John Calvin (some thoughts from John Wesley)
Do you love the saints . . . ALL the saints? (reflections on church hurts)
a Calvinist, a Wesley bobblehead, the holy catholic Church & the communion of saints
Why I write and minister - My credo for being a godly encourager
Profitable Preaching ~ Kenneth Stewart: "And your soul will be a damp squib..." ~ see the 1st portion on doctrine

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