eChurch Blog

World powers accept global warming limit

As the story goes, the courtiers of the 11th-century Anglo-Scandinavian king, Canute, told him that he was “so great, he could command the tides of the sea to go back.”

Knowing that this was nonsense, Canute, a pious Christian, had his throne moved to the beach. As the waves came in, he commanded them to desist. When the waves paid him no mind, he proclaimed, “Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings. For there is none worthy of the name but God, whom heaven, earth and sea obey.”

Twenty-first century governmental leaders could learn a lot from this 11th-century Viking king.

At the recent G8 summit, the leaders of the world’s largest industrialized economies agreed to stop the world from getting too warm. Really. In their communique, they said that “the increase in global average temperature above pre-industrial levels ought not to exceed 2 degrees [Celsius].” Or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

Just like it’s one thing to command the waves to desist and another to literally stem the tide, saying that temperatures ought not to rise and actually making that happen are entirely different matters.

By way of making that happen, the G8 communique calls for the 32 industrialized nations to cut CO2 emissions 80 percent by 2050. As you no doubt realize, 32 nations are more than 8 nations. That means that the G8’s plans to limit the world’s temperatures require that other countries join them in standing athwart the climate and saying, “Go back!”

Or, as Germadn Chancellor Angela Merkel put it, “even if all G8 countries cut their emissions, we will not meet the 2 degree goal without the emerging economies.”

And the problem is that the emerging economies like China, India, and Brazil have no interest in yelling, “Go back!” Brazilian president Lula spoke for many when he said, “We don’t want to continue to be second-class citizens. We want to go to the top floor.” For that matter, Russia, a member of the G8, has said that it won’t “sacrifice economic growth for the sake of emission reduction.”

Nobody knows how, or even if, the kind of cuts being discussed can be made without sacrificing economic growth.

What is certain is that simply declaring that the world shouldn’t warm up more than we want won’t magically solve the technical and economic challenges.

To be fair, not everything about the pronouncement was Canute-like. For one thing, I am fairly certain that nobody was seated on a throne when the communique was released.

But while the Viking king knew the limits of his authority and competence, the hubris of world leaders today, in contrast, has us imagining that we can control the weather. As the G8 was setting the global thermostat, Bill Gates and others claimed to have developed a technology that suppresses hurricanes. I’m serious.

It isn’t only the weather. We also speak about “directing our evolution” through biotechnology. Our confidence in our ability to control nature knows no bounds.

Eventually, the tide will come in. Let’s pray that it’s only our vanity that gets washed away.

“For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.” 1 Corinthians 5:7

THE more you read the Bible, and the more you meditate upon it, the more
you will be astonished with it. He who is but a casual reader of the Bible,
does not know the height, the depth, the length, and breadth of the mighty
meanings contained in its pages. There are certain time” when I discover a
new vein of thought, and I put my hand to my head and say in
astonishment, “Oh, it is wonderful I never saw this before in the
Scriptures.” You will find the Scriptures enlarge as you enter them; the
more you study them the less you will appear to know of them, for they
widen out as we approach them. Especially will you find this the case with
the typical parts of God’s Word. Most of the historical books were
intended to be types either of dispensations, or experiences, or offices of
Jesus Christ. Study the Bible with this as a key, and you will not blame
Herbert when he calls it “not only the book of God, but the God of books.”
One of the most interesting points of the Scriptures is their constant
tendency to display Christ; and perhaps one of the most beautiful figures
under which Jesus Christ is ever exhibited in sacred writ, is the Passover
Paschal Lamb. It is Christ of whom we are about to speak to-night.

Israel was in Egypt in extreme bondage; the severity of their slavery had
continually increased till it was so oppressive that their incessant groans
went up to heaven. God who avenges his own elect, though they cry day
and night unto him, at last determined that he would direct a fearful blow
against Egypt’s king and Egypt’s nation, and deliver his own people. We
can picture the anxieties and the anticipations of Israel, but we can scarcely
sympathize with them, unless we as Christians have had the same
deliverance from spiritual Egypt. Let us, brethren, go back to the day in
our experience, when we abode in the land of Egypt, working in the brickkilns
of sin, toiling to make ourselves better, and finding it to be of no
avail; let us recall that memorable night, the beginning of months, the
commencement of a new life in our spirit, and the beginning of an
altogether new era in our soul. The Word of God struck the blow at our
sin; he gave us Jesus Christ our sacrifice; and in that night we went out of
Egypt. Though we have passed through the wilderness since then, and have
fought the Amalekites, have trodden on the fiery serpent, have been
scorched by the heat and frozen by the snows, yet we have never since that
time gone back to Egypt: although our hearts may sometimes have desired
the leeks, the onions, and the flesh-pots of Egypt, yet we have never been
brought into slavery since then. Come, let us keep the Passover this night,
and think of the night when the Lord delivered us out of Egypt. Let us
behold our Savior Jesus as the Paschal Lamb on which we feed; yea, let us
not only look at him as such, but let us sit down to-night at his table, let us
eat of his flesh and drink of his blood; for his flesh is meat indeed, and his
blood is drink indeed. In holy solemnity let our hearts approach that
ancient supper; let us go back to Egypt’s darkness, and by holy
contemplation behold, instead of the destroying angel, the angel of the
covenant, at the head of the feast,-”the Lamb of God which taketh away
the sins of the world.”

I shall not have time to-night to enter into the whole history and mystery of
the Passover; you will not understand me to be to-night preaching
concerning the whole of it; but a few prominent points therein as a part of
them. It would require a dozen sermons to do so: in fact a book as large as
Caryl upon Job-if we could find a divine equally prolix and equally sensible.
But we shall first of all look at the Lord Jesus Christ, and show how he
corresponds with the Paschal Lamb, and endeavor to bring you to the two
points-of having his blood sprinkled on you, and having fed on him.
First, then, JESUS CHRIST IS TYPIFIED HERE UNDER THE PASCHAL LAMB;
and should there be one of the seed of Abraham here who has never seen
Christ to be the Messiah, I beg his special attention to that which I am to
advance when I speak of the Lord Jesus as none other than the Lamb of
God slain for the deliverance of his chosen people. Follow me with your
Bibles, and open first at the 12th chapter of Exodus.

We commence, first of all with the victim-the lamb. How fine a picture of
Christ. No other creature could so well have typified him who was holy,
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Being also the emblem of
sacrifice, it most sweetly portrayed our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Search natural history through, and though you will find other emblems
which set forth different characteristics of his nature, and admirably display
him to our souls, yet there is none which seems so appropriate to the
person of our beloved Lord as that of the Lamb. A child would at once
perceive the likeness between a lamb and Jesus Christ, so gentle and
innocent, so mild and harmless, neither hurting others, nor seeming to have
the power to resent an injury.

“A humble man before his foes, a weary man and full of woes.”

What tortures the sheepish race have received from us! how are they,
though innocent, continually slaughtered for our food! Their skin is
dragged from their backs, their wool is shorn to give us a garment; and so
the Lord Jesus Christ, our glorious Master, doth give us his garments that
we may be clothed with them; he is rent in sunder for us; his very blood is
poured out for our sins; harmless and holy, a glorious sacrifice for the sins
of all his children. Thus the Paschal Lamb might well convey to the pious
Hebrew the person of a suffering, silent, patient, harmless Messiah.

Look further down. It was a lamb without blemish. A blemished lamb, if it
had the smallest speck of disease, the least wound, would not have been
allowed for a Passover. The priest would not have suffered it to be
slaughtered, nor would God have accepted the sacrifice at his hands. It
must be a lamb without blemish; and was not Jesus Christ even such from
his birth? Unblemished, born of the pure virgin Mary, begotten of the Holy
Ghost, without a taint of sin; his soul was pure, and spotless as the driven
snow, white, clear, perfect; and his life was the same. In him was no sin.
He took our infirmities and bore our sorrows on the cross. He was in all
points tempted as we are, but there was that sweet exception, “yet without
sin.” A lamb without blemish. Ye who have known the Lord, who have
tasted of his grace, who have held fellowship with him, doth not your heart
acknowledge that he is a lamb without blemish? Can ye find any fault with
your Savior? Have you aught to lay to his charge? Hath his truthfulness
departed? Have his words been broken? Have his promises failed? Has he
forgotten his engagements? And, in any respect, can you find in him any
blemish? Ah, no! he is the unblemished lamb, the pure, the spotless, the
immaculate, “the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world;” and
in him there is no sin.

Go on further down the chapter.; Your lamb shall be without blemish, a
male of the first year.” I need not stop to consider the reason why the male
was chosen; we only note that it was to be a male of the first year. Then it
was in its prime, then its strength was unexhausted, then its power was just
ripened into maturity and perfection, God would not have an untimely
fruit. God would not have that offered which had not come to maturity;
and so our Lord Jesus Christ had just come to the ripeness of manhood
when he was offered. At 34 years of age was he sacrificed for our sins; he
was then hale and strong, although his body may have been emaciated by
suffering, and his face more marred than that of any other man yet was he
then in the perfection of manhood. Methinks I see him then. His goodly
beard flowing down upon his breast, I see him with his eyes full of genius,
his form erect, his mien majestic, his energy entire, his whole frame in full
development,-a real man, a magnificent man-fairer than the sons of men, a
lamb not only without blemish, but with his powers fully brought out. Such
was Jesus Christ–a Lamb of the first year-not a boy, not a lad, not a young
man, but a full man, that he might give his soul unto us. He did not give
himself to die for us when he was a youth, for he would not then have
given all he was to be, he did not give himself to die for us when he was in
old age, for then would he have given himself when he was in decay; but
just in his maturity, in his very prime, then Jesus Christ our Passover was
sacrificed for us; and, moreover, at the time of his death, Christ was full of
life, for we are informed by one of the evangelists that “he cried with loud
voice and gave up the ghost.” This is a sign that Jesus did not die through
weakness, nor through decay of nature. His soul was strong within him; he
was still the Lamb of the first year. Still was he mighty; he could, if he
pleased, even on the cross, have unlocked his hands from their iron bolts;
and descending from the tree of infamy, have driven his astonished foes
before him, like deer scattered by a lion, yet did he meekly yield obedience
unto death. My soul; canst thou not see thy Jesus here, the unblemished
Lamb of the first year, strong and mighty? And, O my heart! does not the
thought rise up-if Jesus consecrated himself to thee when he was thus in all
his strength and vigor, should not I in youth dedicate myself to him? And if
I am in manhood, how am I doubly bound to give my strength to him? And
if I am in old age, still should I seek while the little remains, to consecrate
that little to him. If he gave his all to me, which was much, should I not
give my little all to him? Should I not feel bound to consecrate myself
entirely to his service, to lay body, soul, and spirit, time, talents, all upon
his altar; and though I am not an unblemished lamb, yet I am happy that as
the leavened cake was accepted with the sacrifice, though never burned
with it- I, though a leavened cake, may be offered on the altar with my
Lord and Savior, the Lord’s- burnt offering, and so, though impure, and
full of leaven, I may be accepted in the beloved, an offering of a sweet
savor, acceptable unto the Lord my God. Here is Jesus, beloved, a Lamb
without blemish, a Lamb of the first year!

The subject now expands and the interest deepens. Let me have your very
serious consideration to the next point, which has much gratified me in its
discovery, and which will instruct you in the relation. In the 6th verse of
the 12th chapter of Exodus we are told that this lamb which should be
offered at the Passover was to be selected four days before it, sacrifice,
and to be kept apart:-”In the tenth day of this month they shall take to
them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for
an house: and if the household be too little for the lamb let him and his
neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls.
every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.” The
6th verse says, “And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same
month.” For four days this lamb, chosen to be offered, was taken away
from the rest of the flock and kept alone by itself; for two reasons: partly
that by its constant bleatings they might be put in remembrance of the
solemn feast which was to be celebrated; and moreover, that during the
four days they might be quite assured that it had no blemish, for during that
time it was subject to constant inspection in order that they might be
certain that it had no hurt or injury that would render it unacceptable to the
Lord; and now, brethren, a remarkable fact flashes before you-just as this
lamb was separated four days, the ancient allegories used to say that Christ
was separated four years. Four years after he left his father’s house he went
into the wilderness, and was tempted of the devil. Four years after his
baptism he was sacrificed for us. But there is another, better than that:-
About four days before his crucifixion Jesus Christ rode in triumph through
the streets of Jerusalem. He was thus openly set apart as being distinct
from mankind. He, on the ass, rode up to the temple, that all might see him
to be Judah’s Lamb, chosen of God, and ordained from the foundation of
the world; and what is more remarkable still, during those four days, you
will see, if you turn to the Evangelists, at your leisure; that as much is
recorded of what he did and said as through all the other part of his life.
During those four days, he upbraided the fig tree, and straightway it
withered; it was then that he drove the buyers and sellers from the temple;
it was then that he rebuked the priests and elders, by telling them the
similitude of the two sons one of whom said he would go, and did not, and
the other who said he would not go, and went; it was then that he narrated
the parable of the husbandmen, who knew those who were sent to them;
afterwards he gave the parable of the marriage of the king’s son. Then
comes his parable concerning the man who went unto the feast, not having
on a wedding garment; and then also, the parable concerning the ten
virgins, five of whom were wise, and five of whom were foolish, then
comes the chapter of very striking denunciations against the Pharisees:-
“Woe unto you O ye blind Pharisees! cleanse first that which is within the
cup and platter;” and then also comes that long chapter of prophecy
concerning what should happen at the siege of Jerusalem, and an account
of the dissolution of the world: “learn a parable of the fig-tree: when his
branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is
nigh.” But I will not trouble you by telling you here that at the same time
he gave them that splendid description of the day of judgment when the
sheep shall be divided from the goats. In fact, the most splendid utterances
of Jesus were recorded as having taken place within these four days. Just
as the lamb separated from its fellows did bleat more than ever during the
four days, so did Jesus during those four days speak more; and if you want
to find a choice saying of Jesus, turn to the account of the last four days’
ministry to find it. There you will find that chapter, “Let not your hearts be
troubled,” there also, his great prayer, “Father, I will;” and so on. The
greatest things he did, he did in the last four days, when he was set apart.
And there is one more thing to which I beg your particular attention, and
that is, that during those four days I told you that the lamb was subject to
the closest scrutiny, so, also, during those four days, it is singular to relate,
that Jesus Christ was examined by all classes of persons. It was during
those four days that the lawyer asked him which was the greatest
commandment? and he said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy might, and thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself.” It was then that the Herodians came and questioned
him about the tribute money, it was then that the Pharisees tempted him; it
was then, also, the Sadducees tried him upon the subject of the
resurrection. He was tried by all classes and grades-Herodians, Pharisees
Sadducees, lawyers, and the common people. It was during these four days
that he was examined: but how did he come forth! An immaculate Lamb!
The officers said, “never man spake like this man.” His foes found none
who could even bear false witness against him such as agreed together; and
Pilate declared, “I find no fault in him.” He would not have been fit for the
Paschal Lamb had a single blemish have been discovered, but “I find no
fault in him,” was the utterance of the great chief magistrate who thereby
declared that the Lamb might be eaten at God’s Passover, the symbol and
the means of the deliverance of God’s people. O beloved! you have only to
study the Scriptures to find out wondrous things in them; you have only to
search deeply, and you stand amazed at their richness. You will find God’s
Word to be a very precious word; the more you live by it and study it, the
more will it be endeared to your minds.

But the next thing we must mark is the place where this lamb was to be
killed, which peculiarly sets forth that it must be Jesus Christ. The first
Passover was held in Egypt, the second Passover was held in the
wilderness, but we do not read that there were more than these two
Passovers celebrated until the Israelites came to Canaan; and then, if you
turn to a passage in Deuteronomy, the 16th chapter you will find that God
no longer allowed them to slay the Lamb in their own houses but appointed
a place for its celebration. In the wilderness, they brought their offerings to
the tabernacle where the lamb was slaughtered; but at its first appointment
in Egypt, of course they had no special place to which they took the lamb
to be sacrificed. Afterwards, we read in the 16th of Deuteronomy, and the
5th verse; Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates,
which the Lord thy God giveth thee; but at the place which the Lord thy
God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the
Passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou
camest forth out of Egypt.” It was in Jerusalem that men ought to worship,
for salvation was of the Jews; there was God’s palace, there his altar
smoked, and there only might the Paschal Lamb be killed. So was our
blessed Lord led to Jerusalem. The infuriated throng dragged him along the
city. In Jerusalem our Lamb was sacrificed for us; it was at the precise spot
were God had ordained that it should be. Oh! if that mob who gathered
round him at Nazareth had been able to push him headlong down the hill,
then Christ could not have died at Jerusalem; but as he said, “a prophet
cannot perish out of Jerusalem,” so was it true that the King of all prophets
could not do otherwise,-the prophecies concerning him would not have
been fulfilled. “Thou shalt kill the lamb in the place the Lord thy God shall
appoint.” He was sacrificed in the very place. Thus, again you have an
incidental proof that Jesus Christ was the Paschal Lamb for his people.
The next point is the manner of his death. I think the manner in which the
lamb was to be offered so peculiarly sets forth the crucifixion of Christ,
that no other kind of death could by any means have answered all the
particulars set down here.

First, the lamb was to be slaughtered, and its blood caught in a basin.
Usually the priest stood at the altar; the Levites, or the people, slaughtered
the lamb, and the blood was caught in a golden basin. Then, as soon as it
was taken, the priest standing by the altar on which the fat was burning,
threw the blood on the fire or cast it at the foot of the altar. You may guess
what a scene it was. Ten thousand lambs sacrificed, and the blood poured
out in a purple river. Next, the lamb was to be roasted but it was not to
have a bone of its body broken. Now I do say there is nothing but
crucifixion which can answer all these three things. Crucifixion has in it the
shedding of blood-the hands and feet were pierced. It has in it the idea of
roasting, for roasting signifies a long torment; and as the lamb was for a
long time before the fire, so Christ, in crucifixion, was for a long time
exposed to a broiling sun, and all the other pains which crucifixion
engenders. Moreover not a bone was broken; which could not have been
the case with any other punishment. Suppose it had been possible to put
Christ to death in any other way. Sometimes the Romans put criminals to
death by decapitation; but by a such death the neck is broken. Many
martyrs were put to death by having a sword pierced through them; but,
while that would have been a bloody death, and not a bone broken
necessarily, the torment would not have been long enough to have been
pictured by the roasting. So that, take whatever punishment you will-take
hanging, which sometimes the Romans practiced in the form of strangling,
that mode of punishment does not involve shedding of blood, and
consequently the requirements would not have been answered; and I do
think any intelligent Jew, reading through this account of the Passover, and
then looking at the crucifixion must be struck by the fact that the penalty
and death of the cross by which Christ suffered, must have taken in all
these three things. There was blood-shedding; the long continued sufferingthe
roasting of torture and then added to that, singularly enough, by God’s
providence not a bone was broken; but the body was taken down from the
cross intact Some may say that burning might have answered the matter
but there would not have been a shedding of blood in that case, and the
bones would have been virtually broken in the fire. Besides the body would
not have been preserved entire. Crucifixion was the only death which could
answer all of these three requirements. And my faith receives great strength
from the fact, that I see my Savior not only as a fulfillment of the type, but
the only one. My heart rejoices to look on him whom I have pierced, and
see his blood, as the lamb’s blood, sprinkled on my lintel and my doorpost,
and see his bones unbroken, and to believe that not a bone of his
spiritual body shall be broken hereafter; and rejoice, also, to see him
roasted in the fire, because thereby I see that he satisfied God for that
roasting which I ought to have suffered in the torment of hell for ever and
ever.

Christian! I would that I had words to depict in better language; but, as it
is, I give thee the undigested thoughts, which thou mayest take home and
live upon during the week; for thou wilt find this Paschal Lamb to be an
hourly feast, as well as supper, and thou mayest feed upon it continually,
till thou comest to the mount of God, where thou shalt see him as he is,
and worship him in the Lamb in the midst thereof.

II. HOW WE DERIVE BENEFIT FROM THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. Christ our
Passover is slain for us. The Jew could not say that; he could say, a lamb,
but “the Lamb,” even “Christ our Passover,” was not yet become a victim;
and there are some of my hearers within these walls to-night who cannot
say “Christ our Passover is slain for us.” But glory be to God! some of us
can. There are not a few here who have laid their hands upon the glorious
Scapegoat, and now they can put their hands upon the Lamb also, and they
can say, “Yes; it is true, he is not only slain, but Christ our Passover is slain
for us.” We derive benefit from the death of Christ in two modes: first, by
having his blood sprinkled on us for our redemption; secondly, by our
eating his flesh for food, regeneration and sanctification. The first aspect
in which a sinner views Jesus is that of a lamb slain, whose blood is
sprinkled on the door-post and on the lintel. Note the fact, that the blood
was never sprinkled on the threshold. It was sprinkled on the lintel, the top
of the door, on the bed-pest, but never on the threshold, for woe unto him
who trampleth near foot the blood of the Son of God! Even the priest of
Dagon trod not on the threshold of his god, much less will the Christian
trample under foot the blood of the Paschal Lamb. But his blood must be
on our right hand to be our constant guard, and on our left to be our
continual support. We want to have Jesus Christ sprinkled on us. As I told
you before, it is not alone the blood of Christ poured out on Calvary that
saves a sinner; it is the blood of Christ sprinkled on the heart. Let us turn
to the land of Zoan. Do you not think you behold the scene to-night! It is
evening. The Egyptians are going homeward-little thinking of what is
coming. But just as soon as the sun is set, a lamb is brought into every
house. The Egyptian strangers passing by, say, “These Hebrews are about
to keep a feast to night,” and they retire to their houses utterly careless
about it. The father of the Hebrew house takes his lamb, and examining it
once more with anxious curiosity looks it over from head to foot, to see if
it has a blemish. He findeth none. “My son,” he says to one of them, “Bring
hither the bason.” It is held. He stabs the lamb, and the blood flows into the
bason. Do you not think you see the sire, as he commands his matronly
wife to roast the lamb before the fire! “Take heed,” he says, “that not a
bone be broken.” Do you see her intense anxiety, as she puts it down to
roast, lest a bone should be broken? Now, says the father, “bring a bunch
of hyssop.” A child brings it. The father dips it into the blood. “Come here,
my children, wife and all, and see what I am about to do.” He takes the
hyssop in his hands, dips it in the blood, and sprinkles it across the lintel
and the door-post. His children say, “What mean you by this ordinance?”
He answers, “This night the Lord God will pass through to smite the
Egyptians, and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel and on the two side
posts; the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to
come into your houses to smite you.” The thing is done; the lamb is
cooked; the guests are set down to it, the father of the family has
supplicated a blessing; they are sitting down to feast upon it; and mark how
the old man carefully divides joint from joint, lest a bone should be broken;
and he is particular that the smallest child of the family should have some
of it to eat, for so the Lord hath commanded. Do you not think you see
him as he tells them “it is a solemn night-make haste-in another hour we
shall all go out of Egypt.” He looks at his hands, they are rough with labor,
and clapping them, he cries, “I am not to be a slave any longer.” His eldest
son, perhaps, has been smarting under the lash, and he says, “Son, you
have had the task-master’s lash upon you this afternoon; but it is the last
time you shall feel it.” He looks at them all, with tears in his eyes-”This is
the night the Lord God will deliver you.” Do you see them with their hats
on their heads with their loins girt, and their staves in their hands? It is the
dead of the night. Suddenly they hear a shriek! The father says, “Keep
within doors, my children; you will know what it is in a moment.” Now
another shriek-another shriek-shriek succeeds shriek: they hear perpetual
wailing and lamentation. “Remain within,” says he, “the angel of death is
flying abroad.” A solemn silence is in the room and they can almost hear
the wings of the angel flap in the air as he passes their blood-marked door.
“Be calm,” says the sire, “that blood will save you.” The shrieking
increases. Eat quickly, my children,” he says again, and in a moment the
Egyptians coming, say, “Get thee hence! Get thee hence! We care not for
the jewels that you have borrowed. You have brought death into our
houses.” “Oh!” says a mother, “Go! for God’s sake! go. My eldest son lies
dead!” “Go!” says a father “Go! and peace go with you. It were an ill day
when your people came into Egypt, and our king began to slay your firstborn,
for God is punishing us for our cruelty.” Ah! see them leaving the
land; the shrieks are still heard; the people are busy about their dead. As
they go out, a son of Pharoah is taken away unembalmed, to be buried in
one of the pyramids. Presently they see one of their task-master’s sons
taken away. A happy night for them-when they escape! And do you see,
my hearers, a glorious parallel? They had to sprinkle the blood, and also to
eat the lamb. Ah! my soul, hast thou e’er had the blood sprinkled on thee?
Canst thou say that Jesus Christ is thine? It is not enough to say “he loved
the world, and gave his Son,” you must say, “He loved me, and gave
himself for me.” There is another hour coming, dear friends, when we shall
all stand before God’s bar; and then God will say, “Angel of death, thou
once didst smite Egypt’s first born; thou knowest thy prey. Unsheath thy
sword.” I behold the great gathering, you and I are standing amongst them.
It is a solemn moment. All men stand in suspense. There is neither hum nor
murmur. The very stars cease to shine lest the light should disturb the air
by its motion. All is still. God says, “Hast thou scaled those that are mine?”
“I have,” says Gabriel; “they are sealed by blood every one of them.” Then
saith he next, “Sweep with thy sword of slaughter! Sweep the Earth! and
send the unclothed, the unpurchased, the unwashed ones to the pit.” Oh!
how shall we feel beloved when for a moment we see that angel flap his
wings? He is just about to fly “But,” will the doubt cross our minds
“perhaps he will come to me?” Oh! no; we shall stand and look the angel
full in his face.

“Bold shall I stand in that great day!
For who aught to my charge shall lay?
While through thy blood absolved I am
From sin’s tremendous curse and shame.”

If we have the blood on us, we shall see the angel coming, we shall smile at
him; we shall dare to come even to God’s face and say,

“Great God! I’m clean! Through Jesus’ blood, I’m clean!”

But if, my hearer, thine unwashen spirit shall stand unshriven before its
maker, it thy guilty soul shall appear with all its black spots upon it,
unsprinkled with the purple tide, how wilt thou speak when thou seest flash
from the scabbard the angel’s sword swift for death, and winged for
destruction, and when it shall cleave thee asunder? Methinks I see thee
standing now. The angel is sweeping away a thousand there. There is one
of thy pot companions. There one with whom thou didst dance and swear.
There another, who after attending the same chapel, like thee, was a
despiser of religion. Now death comes nearer to thee. Just as when the
reaper sweeps the field and the next ear trembles because its turn shall
come next, I see a brother and a sister swept into the pit. Have I no blood
upon me? Then, O rocks! it were kind of you to hide me. Ye have no
benevolence in your arms. Mountains! let me find in your caverns some
little shelter. But it is all in vain, for vengeance shall cleave the mountains
and split the rocks open to find me out. Have I no blood? Have I no hope?
Ah! no! he smites me. Eternal damnation is my horrible portion. The depth
of the darkness of Egypt for thee, and the horrible torments of the pit from
which none can escaper Ah! my dear hearers, could I preach as I could
wish, could I speak to you without my lips and with my heart, then would I
bid you seek that sprinkled blood, and urge you by the love of your own
soul, by everything that is sacred and eternal, to labor to get this blood of
Jesus sprinkled on your souls. It is the blood sprinkled that saves a sinner.
But when the Christian gets the blood sprinkled, that is not all he wants.
He wants something to feed upon; and, O sweet thought! Jesus Christ is
not only a Savior for sinners, but he is food for them after they are saved.
The Paschal Lamb by faith we eat. We live on it. You may tell, my hearers,
whether you have the blood sprinkled on the door by this: do you eat the
Lamb? Suppose for a moment that one of the old Jews had said in his
heart, “I do not see the use of this feasting. It is quite right to sprinkle the
blood on the lintel or else the door will not be known; but what good is all
this inside? We will have the lamb prepared, and we will not break his
bones, but we will not eat of it.” And suppose he went and stored the lamb
away. What would have been the consequence? Why, the angel of death
would have smitten him as well as the rest, even if the blood had been upon
him; and if moreover, that old Jew had said, “there, we will have a little
piece of it; but we will have something else to eat, we will have some
unleavened bread; we will not turn the leaven out of our houses, but we
will have some leavened bread.” If they had not consumed the lamb, but
had reserved some of it, then the sword of the angel would have found the
heart out as well as that of any other man. Oh! dear hearer, you may think
you have the blood sprinkled, you may think you are just, but if you do not
live on Christ as well as by Christ, you will never be saved by the Paschal
Lamb. “Ah!” say some, “we know nothing of this.” Of course you don’t.

When Jesus Christ said, “except ye eat my flesh, and drink my blood, ye
have no life in you,” there were some that said, “this is a hard saying who
can bear it?” and many from that time went back-and walked no more with
him. They could not understand him; but, Christian, dost thou not
understand it? Is not Jesus Christ thy daily food? And even with the bitter
herbs, is he not sweet food? Some of you, my friends, who are true
Christians, live too much on your changing frames and feelings, on your
experiences and evidences. Now, that is all wrong. That is just as if a
worshipper had gone to the tabernacle and began eating one of the coats
that were worn by the priest. When a man lives on Christ’s righteousness it
is the same as eating Christ’s dress. When a man lives on his frames and
feelings, that is as much as if the child of God should live on some tokens
that he received in the sanctuary that never were meant for food, but only
to comfort him a little. What the Christian lives on is not Christ’s
righteousness, but Christ; he does not live on Christ’s pardon, but on
Christ and on Christ he lives daily on nearness to Christ. Oh! I do love
Christ-preaching. It is not the doctrine of justification that does my heart
good, it is Christ, the justifier; it is not pardon that so much makes the
Christian’s heart rejoice, it is Christ the pardoner; it is not election that I
love half so much as my being chosen in Christ ere worlds began; ay! it is
not final perseverance that I love so much as the thought that in Christ my
life is hid, and that since he gives unto his sheep eternal life, they shall
never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of his hand. Take care,
Christian, to eat the Paschal Lamb and nothing else. I tell thee man, if thou
eatest that alone, it will be like bread to thee-thy soul’s best food. If thou
livest on aught else but the Savior, thou art like one who seeks to live on
some weed that grows in the desert, instead of eating the manna that
comes down from heaven. Jesus is the manna. In Jesus as well as by Jesus
we live. How, dear friends, in coming to this table, we will keep the
Paschal Supper. Once more, by faith, we will eat the Lamb, by holy trust
we will come to a crucified Savior, and feed on his blood, and
righteousness, and atonement.

And now, in concluding, let me ask you, are you hoping to be saved my
friends? One says, “Well, I don’t hardly know; I hope to be saved, but I do
not know how.” Do you know, you imagine I tell you a fiction, when I tell
you that people are hoping to be saved by works, but it is not so, it is a
reality. In travelling through the country I meet with all sorts of characters,
but most frequently with self-righteous persons. How often do I meet with
a man who thinks himself quite godly because he attends the church once
on a Sunday, and who thinks himself quite righteous because he belongs to
the Establishment; as a churchman said to me the other day, “I am a rigid
churchman.” “I am glad of that,” I said to him, “because then you are a
Calvinist, if you hold the ‘Articles’.” “He replied “I don’t know about the
‘Articles,’ I go more by the ‘Rubric’.” “And so I thought he was more of a
formalist than a Christian. There are many persons like that in the world.
Another says, “I believe I shall be saved. I don’t owe anybody anything; I
have never been a bankrupt; I pay everybody twenty shillings in the pound;
I never get drunk; and if I wrong anybody at any time, I try to make up for
it by giving a pound a year to such-and-such a society; I am as religious as
most people; and I believe I shall be saved.” That will not do. It is as if
some old Jew had said, “We don’t want the blood on the lintel, we have
got a mahogany lintel; we don’t want the blood on the door-post, we have
a mahogany door-post. Ah! whatever it was, the angel would have smitten
it if it had not had the blood upon it. You may be as righteous as you like:
if you have not the blood sprinkled, all the goodness of your door-posts
and lintels will be of no avail whatever. “Yes,” says another, “I am not
trusting exactly there. I believe it is my duty to be as good as I can; but
then I think Jesus Christ’s mercy will make up the rest. I try to be as
righteous as circumstances will allow and I believe that whatever
deficiencies there may be, Christ will make them up.” That is as if a Jew
had said, “Child, bring me the blood,” and then, when that was brought, he
had said, “bring me a ewer of water;” and then he had taken it and mixed it
together, and sprinkled the door-post with it. Why the angel would have
smitten him as well as anyone else, for it is blood, blood, blood; blood!
that saves. It is not blood mixed with the water of our poor works; it is
blood, blood, blood, blood! and nothing else; and the only way of salvation
is by blood. For, without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.
Have precious blood sprinkled upon you, my hearers; trust in precious
blood; let your hope be in a salvation sealed with an atonement of precious
blood, and you are saved. But having no blood, or having blood mixed
with anything else, thou art damned as thou art alive-for the angel shall slay
thee, however good and righteous thou mayest be. Go home, then, and
think of this: “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.”

Please see my previous posts on Richard Branson’s Global ‘Council of Elders’

Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan, and Other Global Council of Elders Slam Christian Churches for Not Ordaining Women

The Elders a group of eminent global leaders say Religious and traditional practices discriminate against women and girls

Former President Jimmy Carter (One of the ‘Global Elders’) On The Gospel Of Oppression!

Evangelical leaders chastised former president Jimmy Carter this week for comments he made regarding the alleged faith-based discrimination of women.

“It is true that some have abused Scripture in pursuing oppressive agendas, like arguments for slavery, apartheid, and the denial of rights to women and minorities. But these abuses cannot be supported by an appeal to God’s word, especially when Scripture is interpreted according to the grand tradition of the Church,” said Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

Last week, Carter submitted an op-ed to newspapers including the U.K.-based Guardian and Australia-based The Age to draw greater attention to a new initiative launched by The Elders, an independent group of public figures who seek to solve problems using “almost 1,000 years of collective experience.”

The initiative, announced earlier this month, seeks to get men and boys – particularly religious and traditional leaders – to “change the harmful and discriminatory practices against women and girls and give their full support to the equality of all.”

“This discrimination [against women], unjustifiably attributed to a Higher Authority, has provided a reason or excuse for the deprivation of women’s equal rights across the world for centuries,” wrote Carter, who is among the members of the 12-person organization brought together by former South African president Nelson Mandela.

“At its most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime,” he added. “But it also costs many millions of girls and women control over their own bodies and lives, and continues to deny them fair access to education, health, employment and influence within their own communities.”

In comments Thursday, the Rev. Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr. said the former president’s arguments “should embarrass any serious person who considers this question, for it is grounded in little more than his own sense of how things ought to be.”

“He makes claims about the Bible that are reckless and irresponsible and historical claims that would make any credible church historian blush,” the highly respected evangelical theologian added.

Colson, similarly, criticized Carter’s suggestion regarding the Bible’s teachings, especially over the parallel he draws between such teachings and the horrors of forced prostitution, genital mutilation, rape, and slavery.

He also criticized Carter for making statements that paint every religious tradition with the same brush.

“Scripture teaches that men and women play complementary roles. For example, the wife is to submit to her husband exactly as the Church submits to Christ. The husband is to give his life for his wife, as Jesus gave His life for the Church-hardly discrimination or oppression,” Colson commented.

“So, please, let’s not confuse Christian teachings with the offensive practices of other faiths-such as radical Islam’s deplorable treatment of women,” he added.

This is just brilliant from Virtue Online

A Satirical Essay

By David W. Virtue

My dear Wormwood,

Word of your enormous success has reached our father’s ears. What you achieved in Anaheim this past week was beyond our wildest imaginings.

That you should have obtained a public confession from that Jefferts Schori woman that personal faith or conversion of any sort was unnecessary and was actually a Western heresy must surely go down in the annals of hellish history as a first.

We have atheists and agnostics, unbelievers and disbelievers, but to have someone actually masquerading as a Christian and publicly denying one of its central tenets is a feat of uncommon performance. You are to be congratulated.

Your success at undermining that vile religion so adroitly through a female leader, (equality has its plusses) no less, only proves our point that heretics who rise through the ranks of the priestly classes only aid and abet our side. Jefferts Schori is the apogee of the feminist and pansexual revolution roaring through the churches of the West. Spong is her alter ego. Our success in undermining mainline churches like The Episcopal Church with pansexual acceptance and then calling it a “justice” issue rather than a moral issue deftly deflects it away from the truth that it will ultimately destroy their souls making them all hell bound. Heaven’s loss, Hell’s gain.

Our father has placed the highest priority on undermining Western Christianity. The successes achieved this week in The American Episcopal Church will undoubtedly be followed by more of the same with the Lutherans, Presbyterians, United Church of Christ, Moravians and, in time, and a lot of effort on your part, the United Methodists.

The thin end of the wedge has penetrated the heart of the Christian behemoth; you will continue to hammer it home, opening up more fractures here and there till we have swallowed them all up. They will, in time, be ripe, for our ultimate goal – the triumph of Islam and the imposition of Sharia Law.

Let them cry out for justice for all oppressed peoples, but make sure that any talk of “justice” for orthodox types is glossed over with talk that when they were in charge, they gave nothing to the other side. Now it is their turn to hold the crown of victory. Never mind that the cry of repentance for all peoples was undermining OUR cause. It is important to focus away from any such talk and on to the whine of inclusion, diversity and justice for all peoples.

Add to all this the undermining of Western morality with abortion, Internet porn, divorce, the abandonment of children, further undermining of the educational system, preaching moral relativity (keep the pressure on homosexual acceptance in the schools) and the rejection of absolute truth …and our work will almost be done.

That lesbian Ragsdale woman at Episcopal Divinity School preaching that abortion is a blessing was further sweet music to our ears. It is emptying their churches faster than we could have hoped or imagined.

Now it is very important, Wormwood, to keep the institution alive. To do so, you must keep the remaining orthodox dioceses and parishes in TEC. If they leave, TEC will wilt and die even faster. If The Episcopal Church dies, and on its present trajectory it most certainly will, then it will be apparent to everyone. That will only undermine our cause. Whatever you do, keep it going, if only to make their case (and ours) that this church is where it is at – the seeker friendly church, the inclusive church, the emergent church, full of new ideas, taking the e-word (evangelism) and giving it a whole new definition and meaning.

The thing is not to kill off the church, but to undermine it from within, to change the definition of things, making words mean the opposite of what they originally meant and keeping people seduced by the language of inclusion.

Keep Robinson smiling and hopping from one event to the next while making sure he stays off the booze. Keep him going to AA and announcing he now believes in a “higher power”. Good stuff that changes nothing. Hell is filled with people who believe in a higher power. His upcoming appearance at Greenbelt, England, is a major coup. There he will preach his inclusive god and seductive gospel that embraces all manner of sexualities. The only sexual “sin” left in The Episcopal Church is heterosexual adultery. We need to trot that out occasionally to remind the world that TEC still has standards. (Grin)

Marriage, that horrid institution that has provided so much stability for societies and cultures for centuries, must be undermined. If not, then it must be twisted to meet the new sexual realities of the world and church. With your able assistance, we have taken it out of the sphere of heterosexual behavior and procreation, and have turned it into a narcissistic, self-absorbed past-time. Keep pushing the issue of rights – rights for gays, rights for women, rights for the transgendered, rights for same-sex marriage, and rights for dogs, if need be. Let them keep talking about the “other”, but under no circumstances must this talk move into an understanding of a transcendent “other” – of a loving G-d who demands obedience and faith.

Keep that Jefferts Schori woman well supplied with heresies. Above all, keep her focused on this worldly transformation. Under no circumstances must she be given a glimpse of another world, a heavenly realm, a kingdom not made with hands…keep her believing that MDGs will change the world making it a better place with heaven just an extension of this world as SHE knows it.

Your work has been masterful, Wormwood. Our father broke open a pint of Pike’s blood the other evening just to celebrate your incredible success.

Let the darkness roll on.

You remain in our warmest embrace,

Your affectionate Uncle,

Screwtape

Christian Today

Pro-family congress to consider abortion, marriage

Organisers of a worldwide gathering of pro-family leaders say the number of registrants and responses is overwhelming.

Christian leaders from over 50 countries have registered to participate in the World Congress of Families V to be held in Amsterdam early next month.

Larry Jacobs, Managing Director of the World Congress of Families, commented: “We’re delighted by the way national representation is shaping up at World Congress of Families V. Delegates will be coming from 11 African states, and from as far away as Venezuela, South Africa, Moldova, Pakistan and Australia.”

Jacobs continued: “In terms of nations represented, this will truly be a World Congress of Families. And we expect that other countries will add their voices to a rising chorus in the next few weeks.”

Pro-family leaders, activists, scholars and officials from over 50 countries on five continents will gather in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, from 10 to 12 August to discuss abortion, marriage, pornography, and the exploitation of women and children.

The organisers say more countries are still expected to sign up for what it considers to be the first truly worldwide congress of families.

Jacobs noted: “The broad national representation at WCF V demonstrates that the issues we’ll discuss – including abortion, marriage, declining birth rates, child-care vs home care, education (including home-schooling), Internet pornography, the exploitation of women and children, threats to the family from radicals and multi-national organisations, and the role of faith in sustaining families – are universal, touching families in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. A challenge to the family somewhere is a challenge to families everywhere.”

An anti-family group in the Netherlands, the Autonomous Feminist Action (AFA), has been mobilising against the congress. It is calling upon its supporters to stop the congress which it claims is against the “right of persons”.

An article posted on the IndyMedia Netherlands website by the AFA called the World Congress of Families a group of “fundamentalistic Christians” who “will plead for going back to the Christian traditions of traditional relationship between man and woman; whom it claims is against the right of persons, how they want to form and live their lives.”

The AFA characterised the Congress as “anti-feminist, anti-choice, homophobic and against divorce”.

“They see the Netherlands as a good place now to spread their ideas, which is not acceptable,” AFA stated.

“Clearly, the social left is terrified of the Congress bringing a pro-family message to what it considers its turf,” Jacobs responded. He has called upon more pro-family leaders to add their voices.

The World Congress of Families was founded in 1997 by Allan Carlson and is a project of The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society in Rockford in the US.

Washington Times

By the Rt. Rev. Michael Nazir-Ali | Sunday, July 26, 2009

The Episcopal Church in the United States has done it again. Having marched out of step with the majority of the worldwide Anglican Communion, American Episcopalians have declared their intention to walk even further apart.

The world knows about the ordination of a bishop in a same-sex relationship and the ways in which that has torn the fabric of the communion, as the primates have said, at its deepest level. (This, by the way, is also a classic description of schism.) It also is widely known that people have their same-sex unions “blessed” in many parts of the Episcopal Church and such people also can be candidates for ordination.

All this continues despite the clear teaching of the 1998 Lambeth Conference that it should not.

So what is new? In passing Resolution DO25, the General Convention has openly stated that ordination should be open to those living in same-sex unions, which it also regards as exemplifying “holy love.” In a further resolution, CO56, the Episcopal Church has agreed to bring liturgies for blessing same-sex relationships to the next General Convention, in 2012, for final approval.

Why are all of these developments important? Are they not simply a formalizing of what happens anyway, and is the church not just reflecting the culture in which it is set?

Let it be said, straightaway, that this issue is not a second- or lower-order one on which Christians can agree to disagree. It profoundly has to do with how men and women are created together in God’s image and together given a common mission in the world. This mission they fulfill in ways that are both distinctive and complementary.

No Bible-believing Christian can say that “men are from Mars and women from Venus.” They are not distinct species but have been made for each other in their distinctiveness and complement each other. This is the burden of the earliest chapters of Genesis that are strongly and unambiguously affirmed in the teaching of Jesus himself. As a whole, the Bible’s teaching on human sexuality clearly affirms that the proper expression of our sexual nature is within the context of married love. The alternative, for those who have this gift, is dedicated singleness in the fulfillment of God’s purposes.

In the pagan world, in which the Bible was written, such a view was vigorously countercultural. Many of Israel’s neighbors tolerated both heterosexual and homosexual practices that are rejected by the Bible because they violate the holiness of God, the order of creation and respect for persons.

It is often the case that where the fundamental teaching of the Bible regarding marriage is not upheld, the status of women, in particular, suffers and they are reduced to being either a source for male self-gratification or chattel who maintain the home while men seek gratification elsewhere.

Today also, in the context of permissive cultures, the church has sometimes to take a countercultural stand so that the dignity of persons, made in God’s image, is not debased.

As to same-sex attraction, there may be a predisposition toward it, even if we do not know all the reasons for it. That does not mean it must be gratified. Not every desire can or should be given active expression.

There may be relationship issues with a parent or a seeking of the man or the woman “I want to be” in others of the same sex. Those in such situations need to be cared for and to know that God loves them. They need to be helped so they can conform their lives to the stature of the fullness of Christ.

As they are welcomed to church and hear God’s word, they will meet with Christ and be transformed by the renewal of their minds, spirits and bodies. They will be nurtured by word and sacrament but also by friendship.

Again and again, people say it is the affirmation of Christian friends, the role model of a wise, perhaps older Christian and the fellowship of the church family that have brought them to a new place in their discipleship.

None of this seems to bother the decision-makers in the Episcopal Church (though it may bother the faithful more than we think). They will have caused a schism despite repeated entreaties by the rest of the communion not to take unilateral action that contravenes the teaching of the Bible, the unanimous teaching of the church down the ages and the understanding of the vast majority of Christians today.

There can be little doubt that the latest moves in the Episcopal Church will further damage the fellowship among Anglicans. There will be more talk of the rupture, impairment of communion and the like. The moves also will further damage ecumenical relations with other churches, such as the Roman Catholic, the Orthodox and various evangelical and Pentecostal bodies. Interfaith dialogue, especially with Muslims, also has been adversely affected, with dialogue partners asking how what they have hitherto regarded as a “heavenly religion” can sanction a practice that most religions do not permit.

In all this, those who remain orthodox in faith and morals will need to remember that any disruption of fellowship is for the sake of discipline and the eventual restoration of those who have chosen to go their own way to the common faith and life of the church. It is for this that we must work and pray.

The Rt. Rev. Michael Nazir-Ali is Anglican bishop of Rochester in England. The bishop was born in Pakistan to Christian parents.

Telegraph

By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent
Published: 9:45PM BST 25 Jul 2009

Church tells worshippers to give special treatment to overweight or bald people

A Church of England book published this week says they should be regarded as worshippers with “special needs” alongside the blind, the deaf, breast-feeding mothers, very short people and readers of tabloid newspapers.

The advice is part of an initiative launched this week to make churches more friendly and less intimidating to newcomers in an attempt to increase attendance at services.

Among those considered to warrant particular attention are people who are blind, deaf or in wheelchairs.

However, it also warns that bald people could be “in trouble from those overhead radiant heaters some churches have unwittingly installed” and that special arrangements may need to be made for people who are overweight.

“Some pew spaces and chairs are embarrassingly inadequate for what is known in church circles as ‘the wider community’,” the book says.

Consideration should be given to recovering alcoholics who want to receive communion wine, it suggests, and for those who “find loud noises from organs or music groups distressing”.

The book, called Everybody Welcome, claims that only one in ten church visitors return because existing worshippers tend to be so unwelcoming.

It urges churches to become more professional in their attitude to attracting newcomers and suggests they follow the example of department stores in appointing customer-care managers.

The book has been co-authored by the Ven Bob Jackson, Archdeacon of Walsall and one of the Church’s leading experts on growth, and the Rev George Fisher, director of parish mission for the diocese of Lichfield.

They warn that churches’ failure to realise how unfriendly they can seem to visitors could lead to long-term decline in the number of people worshipping.

Although church attendance has steadied over the past couple of years, the number of worshippers fell by 100,000 between 2000 and 2002 – a drop of nearly 8 per cent.

The book reveals that 90 per cent of people who visit a church do not join them.

“We may not realise how unwelcoming we appear to the outsider,” it says.

“In many churches it is normal not to speak to newcomers. We are not usually openly hostile, we just ignore them and eventually they go away.”

Church leaders are told that they need to adopt a new approach to including people who are not regular worshippers and to make provision for people with special needs.

“Most of us do not have to wait until we are 96 to have some sort of special need or weakness that makes a significant difference to our experience of the worship event,” the book says.

The Church’s drive to make congregations friendlier includes simple steps, such as encouraging worshippers to make eye contact, to smile and to remember people’s names.

“The first step is to find out a person’s name,” the book says. “When first introduced to someone, keep using their name in your conversation – that helps it to lodge in your memory.”

In an attempt to become more professional, churches are told they should think about appointing “customer-care managers”.

Some clergy have already attended customer service courses, run by John Lewis, the department store, to learn how to be more welcoming and create an experience worth returning for.

Clergy and their congregations are advised in the book to view the Sunday service like a football match.

“When we gather together for worship we are like members of a team taking to the pitch on match day,” it says. “How well the match goes and the subsequent result will, of course, directly impact the post-match drinks. The buzz of an exciting game will last well after the final whistle and energise many a conversation.”

A Church of England spokesman said that the aim of the initiative was to give congregations a plan in how to transform their welcome to create a church that is “compelling to join”.

“If we are to effectively reach out to the whole of God’s people in all its diversity, we have to be prepared to meet individuals’ needs.

“We want to ensure that we are a Church that is able to make people feel at home, whatever their shape or size should be, and whatever their age and background.

“While some of the ideas can sound a bit trivial, the fact is that being blasted by an overhead heater or worrying about where the toilet is doesn’t make it easy to focus on worshipping God.”

He added that thousands of people have accepted invitations to return to church, but that the challenge for the Church was to retain these people.

Around 20,000 people returned to their local church for Back to Church Sunday last year, which saw members of congregations inviting friends who had stopped attending services.

Nearly three million people attended an Anglican service on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day last year and 1.5 million attended on Easter Day.

The Church hopes that the advice given in the book will help to retain those who accept similar invitations in the future.

Telegraph

By Patrick Sawer
Published: 9:30PM BST 25 Jul 2009

Doctor sacked over gay adoptions reinstated

The Sunday Telegraph revealed last week that Dr Sheila Matthews had been removed from Northamptonshire county council’s adoption panel because she was not willing to recommend gay couples as suitable candidates to become adoptive parents.

However, following protests, Northamptonshire has now decided that she can continue with the central part of her role – conducting medical examinations of would-be adoptive parents and children waiting to be adopted. She will not be allowed to take part in the adoption panel’s votes on whether candidates would make suitable parents.

Dr Matthews said: “I’ve been overwhelmed by the support I’ve received from the public. I’m pleased with the council’s decision because it allows me to carry on providing a service to children and social services. Unfortunately, while I can now do my work as a community paediatrician, I won’t be allowed to vote on recommendations for any of the candidates.

“There is research which supports my position that a same sex partnership is not the best family setting to bring up children. As a Christian and a paediatrician I believe that children do best with a mother and father in a committed, long term relationship. Therefore, I cannot recommend a same-sex household to be in the best interest of a child, despite what politicians may have legislated for.”

Dr Matthews, from Kettering, sought advice and support from the Christian Legal Centre (CLC), which instructed Paul Diamond, a leading human rights barrister, to represent her in her dispute with the council.

Andrea Minichiello Williams, barrister and director of the CLC said: “We are hoping the Council will see further sense and allow Dr Matthews to remain a voting panel member, giving advice on health matters directly to Panel and participating in discussions, but with the freedom to abstain on the rare occasions where placement is proposed with a same sex couple.”

A spokesman for Northamptonshire County Council said: “We have told Dr Matthews that the county council has no objection to her continuing to provide medical advice to the adoption panel.

“However, we have told Dr Matthews that she cannot continue to act as a full member of the adoption panel with voting rights as she is not fulfilling the full duties of a panel member by refusing to vote on adoption issues regarding same sex couples.”

“And ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life.” John 5:40

THIS is one of the great guns of the Arminians, mounted upon the top of
their walls, and often discharged with terrible noise against the poor
Christians called Calvinists. I intend to spike the gun this morning, or,
rather, to turn it on the enemy, for it was never theirs; it was never cast at
their foundry at all, but was intended to teach the very opposite doctrine to
that which they assert. Usually, when the text is taken, the divisions are:-
First, that man has a will. Secondly, that he is entirely free. Thirdly, that
men must make themselves willing to come to Christ, otherwise they will
not be saved. Now, we shall have no such divisions; but we will endeavor
to take a more calm look at the text, and not, because there happen to be
the words; will,” or “will not” in it, run away with the conclusion that it
teaches the doctrine of free-will. It has already been proved beyond all
controversy that free-will is nonsense. Freedom cannot belong to will any
more than ponderability can belong to electricity. They are altogether
different things. Free agency we may believe in, but free-will is simply
ridiculous. The will is well known by all to be directed by the
understanding, to be moved by motives, to be guided by other parts of the
soul, and to be a secondary thing. Philosophy and religion both discard at
once the very thought of free-will; and I will go as far as Martin Luther, in
that strong assertion of his, where he says, “If any man doth ascribe aught
of salvation, even the very least, to the free-will of man, he knoweth
nothing of grace, and he hath not learnt Jesus Christ aright.” It may seem a
harsh sentiment, but he who in his soul believes that man does of his own
free-will turn to God, cannot have been taught of God, for that is one of
the first principles taught us when God begins with us, that we have neither
will nor power, but that he gives both; that he is “Alpha and Omega “in the
salvation of men.

Our four points, this morning, shall be,-First, that every man is dead,
because it says, “Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life.”
Secondly, that there is life in Jesus Christ-”Ye will not come unto me that
ye might have life.” Thirdly, that there is life in Christ Jesus for every one
that comes for it-”Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life;”
implying that all who go will have life; and fourthly, the gist of the text lies
here, that no man by nature ever will come to Christ, for the text says, “Ye
will not come unto me that ye might have life.” So far from asserting that
men of their own wills ever do such a thing, it boldly and flatly denies it,
and says, “Ye WILL NOT come unto me that ye might have life.” Why,
beloved, I am almost ready to exclaim, Have all free-willers no knowledge
that they dare to run in the teeth of inspiration? Have all those that deny
the doctrine of grace no sense? Have they so departed from God that they
wrest this to prove free-will; whereas the text says, “Ye WILL NOT come
unto me that ye might have life.”

I. First, then, our text implies THAT MEN BY NATURE ARE DEAD.
NO being needs to go after life if he has life in himself. The text speaks very
strongly when it says, “Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life,”
though it saith it not in words, yet it doth in effect affirm that men need a
life more than they have themselves. My hearers, we are all dead unless we
have been begotten unto a lively hope. First, we are all of us, by nature,
legally dead:-”In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death,”
said God to Adam; and though Adam did not die in that moment naturally,
he died legally; that is to say death was recorded against him. As soon as,
at the Old Bailey, the judge puts on the black cap and pronounces the
sentence, the man is reckoned to be dead at law. Though perhaps a month
may intervene before he is brought on the scaffold to endure the sentence
of the law, yet the law looks upon him as a dead man. It is impossible for
him to transact anything. He cannot inherit, he cannot bequeath; he is
nothing-he is a dead man. The country considers him not as being alive in it
at all. There is an election-he is not asked for his vote because he is
considered as dead. He is shut up in his condemned cell, and he is dead.
Ah! and ye ungodly sinners who have never had life in Christ, ye are alive
this morning, by reprieve, but do ye know that ye are legally dead; that
God considers you as such, that in the day when your father Adam touched
the fruit, and when you yourselves did sin, God, the Eternal Judge, put on
the black cap and condemned you? You talk mightily of your own
standing, and goodness, and morality:-where is it? Scripture saith, ye are
“condemned already.” Ye are not to wait to be condemned at the
judgment-day-that will be the execution of the sentence:- “ye are
condemned already.” In the moment ye sinned; your names were all written
in the black book of justice; every one was then sentenced by God to
death, unless he found a substitute, in the person of Christ, for his sins.
What would you think if you were to go into the Old Bailey, and see the
condemned culprit sitting in his cell, laughing and merry? You would say,
“The man is a fool, for he is condemned, and is to be executed, yet how
merry he is.” Ah! and how foolish is the worldly man, who, while sentence
is recorded against him, lives in merriment and mirth! Do you think the
sentence of God is of no effect? Thinkest thou that thy sin which is written
with an iron pen on the rocks for ever hath no horrors in it? God hath said
thou art condemned already. If thou wouldst but feel this, it would mingle
bitters in thy sweet cups of joy; thy dances would be stopped, thy laughter
quenched in sighing, if thou wouldst recollect that thou art condemned
already. We ought all to weep, if we lay this to our souls: that by nature we
have no life in God’s sight; we are actually positively condemned, death is
recorded against us, and we are considered in ourselves now, in God’s
sight, as much dead as if we were actually cast into hell; we are condemned
here by sin, we do not yet suffer the penalty of it, but it is written against
us, and we are legally dead, nor can we find life unless we find legal life in
the person of Christ, of which more by-and-bye.

But, besides being legally dead, we are also spiritually dead. For not only
did the sentence pass in the book but it passed in the heart; it entered the
conscience; it operated on the soul, on the Judgment, on the imagination,
and on everything. “In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,”
was not only fulfilled by the sentence recorded, but by something which
took place in Adam. Just as, in a certain moment, when this body shall die,
the blood stops, the pulse ceases, the breath no longer comes from the
lungs, so in the day that Adam did eat that fruit his soul died; his
imagination lost its mighty power to climb into celestial things and see
heaven his will lost its power always to choose that which is good, his
judgment lost all ability to judge between right and wrong decidedly and
infallibly, though something was retained in conscience, his memory
became tainted, liable to hold evil things, and let righteous things glide
away; every power of him ceased as to its moral vitality. Goodness was the
vitality of his powers-that departed. Virtue, holiness, integrity, these were
the life of man; but when these departed man became dead; and now, every
man, so far as spiritual things are concerned, is “dead in trespasses and
sins,” spiritually. Nor is the soul less dead in a carnal man, than the body is
when committed to the grave, it is actually and positively dead-not by a
metaphor, for Paul speaketh not in metaphor when he affirms, “You hath
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.” But my hearers,
again, I would I could preach to your hearts concerning this subject. It was
bad enough when I described death as having been recorded; but now I
speak of it as having actually taken place in your hearts. Ye are not what ye
once were; ye are not what ye were in Adam, not what ye were created.
Man was made pure and holy. Ye are not the perfect creatures of which
some boast; ye are altogether fallen, ye have gone out of the way, ye have
become corrupt and filthy. Oh! listen not to the siren song of those who tell
you of your moral dignity, and your mighty elevation in matters of
salvation. You are not perfect; that great word, “ruin,” is written on your
heart; and death is stamped upon your spirit. Do not conceive. O moral
man that thou wilt be able to stand before God in thy morality, for thou art
nothing but a carcase embalmed in legality, a corpse arrayed in some fine
robes, but still corrupt in God’s sight. And think not, O thou possessor of
natural religion! that thou mayest by thine own might and power make
thyself acceptable to God. Why, man! thou art dead! and thou mayest array
the dead as gloriously as thou pleasest, but still it would be a solemn
mockery. There lieth queen Cleopatra-put the crown upon her head, deck
her in royal robes, let her sit in state; but what a cold chill runs through you
when you pass by her. She is fair now, even in her death-but how horrible
it is to stand by the side even of a dead queen, celebrated for her majestic
beauty! So you may be glorious in your beauty, hair, and amiable, and
lovely, you put the crown of honesty upon your head, and wear about you
all the garments of uprightness, but unless God has quickened thee, O man!
unless the Spirit has had dealings with thy soul, thou art in God’s sight as
obnoxious as the chilly corpse is to thyself: Thou wouldst not choose to
live with a corpse sitting at thy table; nor doth God love that thou shouldst
be in his sight. He is angry with thee every day, for thou art in sin -thou art
in death. Oh! believe this, take it to thy soul, appropriate it, for it is most
true that thou art dead, spiritually as well as legally.

The third kind of death is the consummation of the other two. It is eternal
death. It is the execution of the legal sentence; it is the consummation of
the spiritual death. Eternal death is the death of the soul, it takes place after
the body has been laid in the grave, after the soul has departed from it. If
legal death be terrible, it is because of its consequences; and if spiritual
death be dreadful, it is because of that which shall succeed it. The two
deaths of which we have spoken are the roots, and that death which is to
come is the flower thereof. Oh! had I words that I might this morning
attempt to depict to you what eternal death is. The soul has come before its
Maker, the book has been opened, the sentence has been uttered; “Depart
ye cursed” has shaken the universe, and made the very spheres dim with
the frown of the Creator; the soul has departed to the depths where it is to
dwell with others in eternal death. Oh! how horrible is its position now. Its
bed is a bed of flame, the sights it sees are murdering ones that affright its
spirit, the sounds it hears are shrieks, and wails, and moans, and groans; all
that its body knows is the infliction of miserable pain! it has the possessor
of unutterable woe, of unmitigated misery. The soul looks up. Hope is
extinct-it is gone. It looks downward in dread and fear; remorse hath
possessed its soul. It looks on the right hand-and the adamantine walls of
fate keep it within its limits of torture. It looks on the left-and there the
rampart of blazing fire forbids the sealing ladder of e’en a dreamy
speculation of escape. It looks within and seeks for consolation there, but a
gnawing worm hath entered into the soul. It looks about it-it has no friends
to aid, no comforters, but tormentors in abundance. It knoweth nought of
hope of deliverance; it hath heard the everlasting key of destiny turning in
its awful wards, and it hath seen God take that key and hurl it down into
the depth of eternity never to be formed again. It hopeth not; it knoweth no
escape; it guesseth not of deliverance; it pants for death, but death is too
much its foe to be there, it longs that non-existence would swallow it up,
but this eternal death is worse than annihilation. It pants for extermination
as the laborer for his Sabbath; it longs that it might be swallowed up in
nothingness just as would the galley slave long for freedom, but it cometh
not -it is eternally dead. When eternity shall have rolled round multitudes
of its everlasting cycles it shall still be dead. For-ever knoweth no end;
eternity cannot be spelled except in eternity. Still the soul seeth written o’er
its head, “Thou art damned for ever.” It heareth howlings that are to be
perpetual; it seeth flames which are unquenchable; it knoweth pains that
are unmitigated; it hears a sentence that rolls not like the thunder of earth
which soon is hushed-but onward, onward, onward, shaking the echoes of
eternity-making thousands of years shake again with the horrid thunder of
its dreadful sound-”Depart! depart! depart ye cursed!” This is the eternal
death.

II. Secondly, IN CHRIST JESUS THERE IS LIFE, for he says, “ye will not
come unto me that ye may have life.” There is no life in God the Father for
a sinner; there is no life in God the Spirit for a sinner apart from Jesus. The
life of a sinner is in Christ. If you take the Father apart, though he loves his
elect, and decrees that they shall live, yet life is only in his Son. If you take
God the Spirit apart from Jesus Christ, though it is the Spirit that gives us
spiritual life, yet it is life in Christ, life in the Son. We dare not, and cannot
apply in the first place, either to God the Father, or to God the Holy Ghost
for spiritual life. The first thing we are led to do when God brings us out of
Egypt is to eat the Passover-the very first thing. The first means whereby
we get life is by feeding upon the flesh and blood of the Son of God; living
in him, trusting on him, believing in his grace and power. Our second
thought was-there is life in Christ. We will show you there are three kinds
of life in Christ, as there are three kinds of death.

First there is legal life in Christ. Just as every man by nature considered in
Adam had a sentence of condemnation passed on him in the moment of
Adam’s sin, and more especially in the moment of his own first
transgression, so I, if I be a believer, and you, if you trust in Christ, have
had a legal sentence of acquittal passed on us through what Jesus Christ
has done. O condemned sinner! thou mayest be sitting this morning
condemned like the prisoner in Newgate; but ere this day has passed away
thou mayest be as clear from guilt as the angels above. There is such a
thing as legal life in Christ, and, blessed be God! some of us enjoy it. We
know our sins are pardoned because Christ suffered punishment for them.
We know that we never can be punished ourselves, for Christ suffered in
our stead. The Passover is slain for us; the lintel and door-post have been
sprinkled, and the destroying angel can never touch us. For us there is no
hell, although it blaze with terrible flame. Let Tophet be prepared of old,
let its pile be wood and much smoke, we never can come there-Christ died
for us, in our stead. What if there be racks of horrid torture? what if there
be a sentence producing most horrible reverberations of thundering
sounds? yet neither rack, nor dungeon, nor thunder, are for us! In Christ
Jesus we are now delivered. “There is, therefore, NOW no condemnation
unto us who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit.”

Sinner! art thou legally condemned this morning? Dost thou feel that?
Then, let me tell thee that faith in Christ will give thee a knowledge of thy
legal acquittal. Beloved, it is no fancy that we are condemned for our sins,
it is a reality. So, it is no fancy we are acquitted, it is a reality. A man about
to be hanged, if he received a full pardon would feel it a great reality. He
would say, “I have a full pardon, I cannot be touched now.” That is just
how I feel.

“Now freed from sin I walk at large
The Savior’s blood’s my full discharge;
At his dear feet content I lay,
A sinner saved, and homage pay.”

Brethren, we have gained legal life in Christ, and such legal life that we
cannot lose it. The sentence has gone against us once-now it has gone out
for us. It is written, THERE IS NOW NO CONDEMNATION, and that now will
do as well for me in fifty years as it does now. Whatever time we live it will
still be written, “There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are
in Christ Jesus.”

Then, secondly, there is spiritual life in Christ Jesus. As the man is
spiritually dead, God has spiritual life for him, for there is not a want which
is not supplied by Jesus, there is not an emptiness in the heart which Christ
cannot fill; there is not a desolation which he cannot people, there is not a
desert which he cannot make to blossom as the rose. O ye dead sinners!
spiritually dead, there is life in Christ Jesus, for we have seen-yes! these
eyes have seen-the dead live again; we have known the man whose soul
was utterly corrupt, by the power of God seek after righteousness, we have
known the man whose views were carnal whose lusts were mighty, whose
passions were strong, suddenly, by irresistible might from heaven,
consecrate himself to Christ, and become a child of Jesus. We know that
there is life in Christ Jesus, of a spiritual order; yea, more, we ourselves, in
our own persons, have felt that there is spiritual life. Well can we
remember when we sat in the house of prayer, as dead as the very seat on
which we sat. We had listened for a long, long while to the sound of the
gospel, but no effect followed, when suddenly, as if our ears had been
opened by the fingers of some mighty angel, a sound entered into our
heart. We thought we heard Jesus saying, “He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear.” An irresistable hand put itself on our heart and crushed a prayer
out of it. We never had a prayer before like that. We cried, O God! have
mercy upon me a sinner.” Some of us for mouths felt a hand pressing us as
if we had been grasped in a vice, and our souls bled drops of anguish. That
misery was a sign of coming life. Persons when they are being drowned do
not feel the pain so much as while they are being restored. Oh! we recollect
those pains, those groans, that living strife which our soul had when it
came to Christ. Ah! we can recollect the giving of our spiritual life as easily
as could a man his restoration from the grave. We can suppose Lazarus to
have remembered his resurrection, though not all the circumstances of it.
So we, although we have forgotten a great deal, do recollect our giving
ourselves to Christ. We can say to every sinner however dead, there is life
in Christ Jesus, though you may be rotten and corrupt in your grave. He
who hath raises Lazarus hath raised us; and he can say, even to you,
“Lazarus! come forth.”

In the third place, there is eternal life in Christ Jesus; and, oh! if eternal
death be terrible, eternal life is blessed, for he has said, “Where I am there
shall my people be.” “Father, I will, that they also, whom thou hast given
unto me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory.” “I give
unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish.” Now, any Arminian
that would preach from that text must buy a pair of India rubber lips for I
am sure he would need to stretch his mouth amazingly; he would never be
able to speak the whole truth without winding about in a most mysterious
manner. Eternal life-not a life which they are to lose, but eternal life. If I
lost life in Adam I gained it in Christ; if I lost myself for ever I find myself
for ever in Jesus Christ. Eternal life! Oh blessed thought! Our eyes will
sparkle with joy and our souls burn with ecstasy in the thought that we
have eternal life. Be quenched ye stars! let God put his finger on you-but
my soul will live in bliss and joy. Put out thine eye O sun!-but mine eye
shall “see the king in his beauty” when thine eye shall no more make the
green earth laugh; and moon, be thou turned into blood!-but my blood shall
ne’er be turned to nothingness; this spirit shall exist when thou hast ceased
to be; and thou great world! thou mayest all subside, just as a moment’s
foam subsides upon the wave that bears it-but I shall have eternal life. O
time! thou mayest see giant mountains dead and hidden in their graves;
thou mayest see the stars like figs too ripe, falling from the tree; but thou
shalt never, never see my spirit dead.

III. This brings us to the third point: that ETERNAL LIFE IS GIVEN TO ALL
WHO COME FOR IT. There never was a man who came to Christ for eternal
life, for legal life, for spiritual life, who had not already received it, in some
sense, and it was manifested to him that he had received it soon after he
came. Let us take one or two texts:- “He is able to save to the uttermost
them that come unto him.” Every man who comes to Christ will find that
Christ is able to save him-not able to save him a little to deliver him from a
little sin, to keep him from a little trial, to carry him a little way and then
drop him-but able to save him to the uttermost extent of his sin, unto the
uttermost length of his trials, the uttermost depths of his sorrows unto the
uttermost duration of his existence. Christ says to every one who comes to
him, “Come, poor sinner, thou needst not ask whether I have power to
save. I will not ask thee how far thou hast gone into sin. I am able to save
thee to the uttermost.” And there is no one on earth can go beyond God’s
“uttermost.”

Now another text: “Him that cometh to me, (mark the promises are nearly
always to the coming ones) I will in no wise cast out.” Every man that
comes shall find the door of Christ’s house opened-and the door of his
heart too-Every man that comes; I say it in the broadest sense-shall find
that Christ has mercy for him. The greatest absurdity in the world is to
want to have a wider gospel than that recorded in Scripture. I preach that
every man that believes shall be saved-that every man who comes shall find
mercy. People ask me, “But suppose a man should come who was not
chosen, would he be saved?” You go and suppose nonsense and I am not
going to give you an answer. If a man is not chosen he will never come.
When he does come it is a sure proof that he was chosen. Says one,
“Suppose any one should go to Christ who had not been called of the
Spirit.” Stop, my brother, that is a supposition thou hast no right to make,
for such a thing cannot happen; you only say it to entangle me, and you
will not do that just yet. I say every man who comes to Christ shall be
saved. I can say that as a Calvinist, or as a hyper-Calvinist, as plainly as
you can say it. I have no narrower gospel than you have; only my gospel is
on a solid foundation, whereas yours is built upon nothing but sand and
rottenness. “Every man that cometh shall be saved, for no man cometh to
me except the Father draw him.” “But,” says one, “suppose all the world
should come, would Christ receive them?” Certainly, if all came, but then
they won’t come. I tell you all that come-aye, if they were as bad as devils
Christ would receive them; if they had all sin and filthiness running into
their hearts as into a common sewer for the whole world, Christ would
receive them. Another says, “I want to know about the rest of the people.
May I go out and tell them-Jesus Christ died for every one of you? May I
say-there is righteousness for every one of you, there is life for every one
of you? “No; you may not. You may say-there is life for every man that
comes; but if you say there is life for one of those that do not believe, you
utter a dangerous lie. If you tell them that Jesus Christ was punished for
their sins, and yet they will be lost, you tell a wilful falsehood. To think that
God could punish Christ and then punish them-I wonder at your daring to
have the impudence to say so! A good man was once preaching that there
were harps and crowns in heaven for all his congregation, and then he
wound up in a most solemn manner: “My dear friends, there are many for
whom these things are prepared who will not get there.” In fact, he made
such a pitiful tale, as indeed he might do; but I tell you who he ought to
have wept for-he ought to have wept for the angels of heaven and all the
saints, because that would spoil heaven thoroughly. You know when you
meet at Christmas, if you have lost your brother David and his seat is
empty, you say: “Well, we always enjoyed Christmas but there is a
drawback to it now-poor David is dead and buried! “Think of the angels
saying: “Ah! this is a beautiful heaven, but we don’t like to see all those
crowns up there with cobwebs on, we cannot endure that uninhabited
street: we cannot behold yon empty thrones.” And then, poor souls, they
might begin talking to one another, and say, “we are none of us safe here,
for the promise was-’I give unto my sheep eternal life,’ and there is a lot of
them in hell that God gave eternal life to; there is a number that Christ shed
his blood for burning in the pit, and if they may be sent there, so may we. If
we cannot trust one promise we cannot another.” So heaven would lose its
foundation, and fall. Away with your nonsensical gospel! God gives us a
safe and solid one, built on covenant doings and covenant relationships, on
eternal purposes and sure fulfilments.

IV. This brings us to the fourth point, THAT BY NATURE NO MAN WILL
COME TO CHRIST, for the text says, “Ye will not come unto me, that ye
might have life.” I assert, on Scripture authority from my text, that ye will
not come unto Christ, that ye might have life. I tell you, I might preach to
you for ever, I might borrow the eloquence of Demosthenes or of Cicero,
but ye will not come unto Christ. I might beg of you on my knees, with
tears in my eyes, and show you the horrors of hell and the joys of heaven,
the sufficiency of Christ, and your own lost condition, but you would none
of you come unto Christ of yourselves unless the Spirit that rested on
Christ should draw you. It is true of all men in their natural condition that
they will not come unto Christ; but, methinks I hear another of these
babblers asking a question: — “But could they not come if they liked?” My
friend, I will reply to thee another time. That is not the question this
morning. I am talking about whether they will, not whether they can. You
will notice whenever you talk about free will, the poor Arminian, in two
seconds, begins to talk about power, and he mixes up two subjects that
should be keep apart. We will not take two subjects at once, we decline
fighting two at the same time, if you please. Another day we will preach
from this text:-”No man can come except the Father draw him.” But it is
only the will we are talking of now; and it is certain that men will not come
unto Christ, that they might have life. We might prove this from many texts
of Scripture, but we will take one parable. You remember the parable
where a certain king had a feast for his son, and bade a great number to
come; the oxen and fatlings were killed, and he sent his messengers bidding
many to the supper. Did they go the feast? Ah, no; but they all, with one
accord, began to make excuse. One said he had married a wife and
therefore he could not come, whereas he might have brought her with him.
Another had bought a yoke of oxen, and went to prove them; but the feast
was in the night-time, and he could not prove his oxen in the dark. Another
had bought a piece of land, and wanted to see it, but I should not think he
went to see it with a lantern. So they all made excuses and would not
come. Well the king was determined to have the feast; so he said, “Go into
the highways and hedges, and” invite them-stop! not invite-”compel them
to come in;” for even the ragged fellow sin in the hedges would never have
come unless they were compelled. Take another parable: -A certain man
had a vineyard; at the appointed season he sent one of his servants for his
rent. What did they do to him? They beat that servant. He sent another;
and they stoned him. He sent another and they killed him; and, at last, he
said, “I will send them my son, they will reverence him.” But what did they
do? They said, “This is the heir, let us kill him, and cast him out of the
vineyard.” So they did. It is the same with all men by nature. The Son of
God came, yet men rejected him. “Ye will not come unto me, that ye might
have life.” It would take too much time to mention any more Scripture
proofs. We will, however, refer to the great doctrine of the fall. Any one
who believes that man’s will is entirely free, and that he can be saved by it,
does not believe the fall. As I sometimes tell you, few preachers of religion
do believe thoroughly the doctrine of the fall, or else they think that when
Adam fell down he broke his little finger, and did not break his neck and
ruin his race. Why, beloved, the fall broke man up entirely. It did not leave
one power unimpaired; they were all shattered, and debased, and tarnished;
like some mighty temple, the pillars might be there, the shaft, and the
column, and the pilaster, might be there; but they were all broken, though
some of them retain much of their form and position. The conscience of
man sometimes retains much of its tenderness-still it has fallen. The will,
too, is not exempt. What though it is “the Lord Mayor of Mansoul,” as
Bunyan calls it: the Lord Mayor goes wrong. The Lord Will-be-will was
continually doing wrong. Your fallen nature was put out of order, your
will, amongst other things, has clean gone astray from God; but I tell you
what will be the best proof of that; it is the great fact that you never did
meet a Christian in your life who ever said he came to Christ without
Christ coming to him. You have heard a great many Arminian sermons, I
dare say, but you never heard an Arminian prayer-for the saints in prayer
appear as one in word, and deed and mind. An Arminian on his knees
would pray desperately like a Calvinist. He cannot pray about free will:
there is no room for it. Fancy him praying, “Lord, I thank thee I am not
like those poor presumptuous Calvinists. Lord, I was born with a glorious
free-will; I was born with power by which I can turn to thee of myself; I
have improved my grace. If everybody had done the same with their grace
that I have, they might all have been saved. Lord, I know thou dost not
make us willing if we are not willing ourselves. Thou givest grace to
everybody; some do not improve it, but I do. There are many that will go
to hell as much bought with the blood of Christ as I was; they had as
much of the Holy Ghost given to them; they had as good a change, and
were as much blessed as I am. It was not thy grace that made us to differ;
I know it did a great deal, still I turned the point; I made use of what was
given me, and others did not-that is the difference between me and them.”
That is a prayer for the devil, for nobody else would offer such a prayer as
that. Ah, when they are preaching and talking very slowly, there may be
wrong doctrine; but when they come to pray, the true thing slips out, they
cannot help it. If a man talks very slowly, he may speak in a fine manner;
but when he comes to talk fast, the old brogue of his country, where he
was born, slips out. I ask you again, did you ever meet a Christian man
who said, “I came to Christ without the power of the Spirit?” If you ever
did meet such a man, you need have no hesitation in saying, “My dear sir, I
quite believe it-and I believe you went away again without the power of the
Spirit; and that you know nothing about the matter, and are in the gall of
bitterness and the bond of iniquity.” Do I hear one Christian man saying, “I
sought Jesus before he sought me. I went to the Spirit, and the Spirit did
not come to me?” No, beloved; we are obliged, each one of us, to put our
hands to our hearts, and say

“Grace taught my soul to pray,
And made my eyes o’erflow;
‘Twas grace that kept me to this day,
And will not let me go.”

Is there one here-a solitary one-man or woman, young or old, who can say,
“I sought God before he sought me?” No; even you who are a little
Arminian, will sing-

“O yes! I do love Jesus-
Because he first loved me”

Then, one more question. Do we not find, even after we have come to
Christ, our soul is not free, but is kept by Christ? Do we not find times,
even now, when to will is not present with us. There is a law in our
members, warring against the law of our minds. Now, if those who are
spiritually alive feel that their will is contrary to God, what shall we say of
the man who is “dead in trespasses and sins;” It would be a marvellous
absurdity to put the two on a level; and it would be still more absurd to put
the dead before the living. No; the text is true, experience has branded it
into our hearts, “Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life.”
Now, we must tell you the reasons why men will not come unto Christ.
The first is, because no man by nature thinks he wants Christ. By nature
man conceives that he does not need Christ; he thinks that he has a robe of
righteousness of his own; that he is well-dressed, that he is not naked, that
he needs not Christ’s blood to wash him, that he is not black or crimson,
and needs no grace to purify him. No man knows his need until God shows
it to him; and until the Holy Spirit reveals the necessity of pardon, no man
will seek pardon. I may preach Christ for ever, but unless you feel you
want Christ you will never come to him. A doctor may have a good shop,
but nobody will buy his medicines until he feels he wants them.

The next reason is, because men do not like Christ’s way of saying them.
One says, “I do not like it because he makes me holy; I cannot drink or
swear if he saves me.” Another says, “It requires me to be so precise and
puritanical, and I like a little more license.” Another does not like it
because it is so humbling; he does not like it because the “gate of heaven”
is not quite high enough for his head, and he does not like stooping. That is
the chief reason ye will not come to Christ, because ye cannot get to him
with your heads straight up in the air; for Christ makes you stoop when
you come. Another does not like it to be grace from first to last. “Oh!” he
says, “If I might have a little honor.” But when he hears it is all Christ or
no Christ, a whole Christ or no Christ, he says, “I shall not come,” and
turns on his heel and goes away. Ah! proud sinners, ye will not come unto
Christ. Ah! ignorant sinners ye will not come unto Christ, because ye know
nothing of him; and that is the third reason.

Men do not know his worth, for if they did they would come unto him.
Why did not sailors go to America before Columbus went; Because they
did not believe there was an America. Columbus had faith, therefore he
went. He who hath faith in Christ goes to him; but you don’t know Jesus;
many of you never saw his beauteous face; you never saw how applicable
his blood is to a sinner, how great is his atonement; and how all-sufficient
are his merits; therefore, “ye will not come unto him.”

And oh! my hearers, my last thought is a solemn one. I have preached that
ye will not come; but some will say, “it is their sin that they do not come.”
It is so. You will not come, but then your will is a sinful will. Some think
that we “sew pillows to all arm-holes” when we preach this doctrine, but
we don’t. We do not set this down as being part of man’s original nature,
but as belonging to his fallen nature. It is sin that has brought you into this
condition that you will not come. If you had not fallen, you would come to
Christ the moment he was preached to you; but you do not come because
of your sinfulness and crime. People excuse themselves because they have
bad hearts. That is the most flimsy excuse in the world. Do not robbery and
thieving come from a bad heart. Suppose a thief should say to a judge, “I
could not help it, I had a bad heart.” What would the judge say; “You
rascal! why, if your heart is bad, I’ll make the sentence heavier, for you are
a villain indeed. Your excuse is nothing.” The Almighty shall “laugh at
them, and shall have them in derision.” We do not preach this doctrine to
excuse you, but to humble you. The possession of a bad nature is my fault
as well as my terrible calamity. It is a sin that will always be charged on
men; when they will not come unto Christ it is sin that keeps them away.
He who does not preach that I fear is not faithful to God and his
conscience. Go home, then, with this thought, “I am by nature so perverse
that I will not come unto Christ, and that wicked perversity of my nature is
my sin. I deserve to be sent to hell for it.” And if the thought does not
humble you, the Spirit using it, no other can. This morning I have not
preached human nature up, but I have preached it down. God humble us
all. Amen.

Virtue Online

SCOTLAND: Minister quits over gay reverend

By KENNY ANGOVE

AN outraged minister has QUIT over the appointment of Scotland’s only openly gay reverend – as he branded homosexuality “abhorrent”.

Preacher Thomas Mackinnon, 56, insisted the controversial move to give Scott Rennie, 37, his own congregation flew in the face of Bible teachings.

And he warned other churchmen may now resign in protest.

Last night, Rev Mackinnon said: “It has been a very hard decision to make but the word of God has been questioned.

“The Bible covers homosexuality and quite simply it says it is abhorrent. If I didn’t follow to that I wouldn’t be a minister.”

Mr Rennie won his battle to take up his job at Queen’s Cross Church in Aberdeen earlier this month, despite attempts by other clergymen and members of his own congregation to block the move.

But the step has infuriated Rev Mackinnon, who has preached at the Kilmuir and Logie Easter Church in Delny, Easter Ross, since 2005.

He said: “If that which is called a sin in the Bible is allowed, then anything goes. I would prefer not to be a part of it.”

Rev Mackinnon, who announced his decision to quit to parishioners last Sunday, said he will move out of the manse with wife Julia at the end of the month.

Ministers from other churches earlier appealed the decision to give divorced dad-of-one Rev Rennie the job at Queen’s Cross.

The controversial case was eventually decided by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

Mr Mackinnon added: “I should imagine many people will be examining their position in the church.”

Last night, George Morrison, an elder at Kilmuir and Logie, said: “From a kirk session point of view we did support his decision.”

Congregation member William Pattie said: “I am very saddened. It was a very brave decision.”

A Church of Scotland spokesman stressed Rev Mackinnon was not leaving the Kirk altogether.

The spokesman added: “He will be released from his duties in September.”