Loveland Protestant Reformed Church
709 East
57th Street; Loveland, CO 80538
Services: 9:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. June
through August)
Vol. 6, No. 18 Pastor: Rev. Garry Eriks Phone: (970)
667-9481
Homepage on Internet: http://www.prca.org
Contents:
Preaching (1)
The Irresistible Call of the Gospel (1)
What is the Gospel (Against Hyperism)?
Preaching (1)
What is preaching? Is it just another form of teaching, the only difference being that the Bible is taught? If it is just another form of teaching, why does Scripture emphasize so strongly its importance? Is preaching, perhaps, something unique?
To understand why preaching is of vital importance, we must understand what it is and that it is unique. The Bible tells us what preaching is, and tells us a great deal about it, in one of the words the NT uses for preaching.
One NT word tells us what the content of preaching is. That word is really the word "gospel," in Greek the word from which comes our English word "evangelize." The other word, the one we are talking about, shows us instead what preaching is all about.
Translated, that word means "to be a messenger." The reference, though, is not to any messenger, but to the kind of messenger once called a "herald." A herald was a messenger commissioned, usually by a king or great ruler, to bring a specific message to the people in the words of the king himself. A herald was not allowed to add anything to, to leave anything out of, or to "interpret" the message. He had simply to say, "Thus says the king!" He was, then, very similar to an ambassador (cf. II Cor. 5:20; Eph. 6:20).
Applied to preaching, this word teaches us, first, that anyone who preaches must be commissioned or sent by the King of kings, Christ Jesus. No one has any right to appoint himself a preacher or to take up the work on his own (even Christ did not do this - Heb. 5:5). If he does, his message has no official weight and no one is obliged to hear it.
An illustration may help here. As a private citizen, I may have some knowledge of what my (American) government's plans are, and living here in the UK may take it upon myself to inform the British government of these plans. Even if my information is correct in every particular, what I say has no authority and no one here is obliged to pay any attention to it. Only if the American ambassador or some other official representative of that government brings the message is the British government obliged to recognize it.
Thus Scripture tells us that those who preach must be sent (Rom. 10:15). If they are not sent, no one is obligated to give any heed at all to what they say. And this sending is done by the Holy Spirit through the church by means of ordination or the laying on of hands, as Acts shows so clearly in the case of the Apostle Paul himself (Acts 13:1-3).
This implies, too, that the minister is accountable not only to God, but to the church or churches that send him (cf. Acts 14:27). Calling always means accountability. Even as Christ uses the church to send a minister, so He also uses the church to call him to account with regard to the message he brings. For these reasons, therefore, we believe in an ordained ministry, contrary to Brethrenism. For the same reasons we also do not believe that lay "preaching" is Biblical, and insist that men like Billy Graham, who are sent by no one and accountable to no one, are not true ambassadors or heralds of Christ. But more next time. Rev. Ronald Hanko
The Irresistible Call of the Gospel (1)
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:44
The reader of our Newsletter who sent in this text, submitted it without an question attached, and apparently would like to have some general comments made on the text. This I am happy to do because it is such a crucially important text in the Gospel according to John.
However, we should consider this passage in connection with the verse which follows it and forms a part of it. That verse reads: "It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me."
* * * *
I recall reading a book many years ago in which the author was explaining what led him to believe the doctrines of sovereign and particular grace. He told the story of being isolated an entire winter in the frozen wastes of Alaska. While in a cabin by himself he had a great deal of time to study his Bible. He wrote that the one book which, more than any other, convinced him of the truths of sovereign and particular grace was the Gospel according to John.
I have no difficulty believing this. If we may summarize the doctrines of grace as consisting of the five points of Calvinism, we find every one of these five points writ large in John's beautiful gospel. Sovereign predestination, including election and reprobation, are throughout the book, but especially in John 10:4, 26; 12:37-41. A denial of the free will of man because of his depravity is taught in 6:44, the passage which we are considering. Particular redemption is taught in John 10:15. Irresistible grace is also taught in the verse we are treating. Perseverance of the saints is explicitly taught in John 10:27-30. But these are only a few passages where these truths are specifically mentioned. And notice how often John 10 is a key chapter.
* * * *
John 10:44 is part of Jesus' discourse which He spoke to the unbelieving Jews in Capernaum. We ought to have the setting clearly in our minds.
The first part of the chapter records the miracle which Jesus performed of feeding 5000 men with five loaves and two fishes. That Scripture considers this to be one of the most important of Jesus' miracles is evident from the fact that it is the only miracle, other than the resurrection of our Lord from the dead, which is recorded in all four gospel narratives.
The people were astounded at the miracle and delighted by it. They were so delighted in fact that they decided to make Jesus their king. What could be better than a king who could miraculously create bread? They would never have to work again; their rather barren land would be changed into a virtual Paradise; they would be the envy of every country in the world; they would have a king who could, conceivably, drive out the hated Romans.
They were even prepared to take Jesus by force if He showed any reluctance to do what they desired (see verse 15). And the disciples were as eager as the people to have Jesus seize His crown.
The trouble was that they wanted an earthly king who could fill their stomachs; and Jesus was not that kind of a king. And so, Jesus sent His disciples away over the Sea of Galilee, and He disappeared into the surrounding mountains to pray -- as He often did in times of crisis.
The whole narrative suggests a series of miracles which surrounded this one miracle. Jesus not only created food for the people out of nothing -- just as God had done when He created the worlds and formed things that were not as though they were. But Jesus sent a terrible contrary wind upon the sea so that His disciples could make no progress in their efforts to cross the sea. That was a second miracle.
And when they were desperate in the teeth of the gale, Jesus came to them, walking on the storm-tossed seas, showing the disciples in dramatic fashion that the storms of life were all under his sovereign control. That was a third miracle.
When Peter began to sink beneath the waves, Jesus took Peter by the hand and enabled him also to walk on the water. That was the fourth miracle.
When Jesus was in the ship with them, the fierce and relentless winds ceased. That was the fifth miracle.
And when He entered the boat, "immediately" the ship was at land. That was the sixth miracle.
This is enough for now. We shall continue next time. Prof. H. Hanko
What Is the Gospel (Against Hyperism)?
We continue here with the question: "What is Hyper-calvinism?" And we wish to show in this article why the command to repent and believe must be preached not only to those whom God has chosen to save, but also to those whom He has not chosen, i.e., to elect and reprobate both. There are two reasons.
First, as far as the elect are concerned, the call or command of the gospel is the power by which God brings them to faith and repentance (according to His purpose and by the sovereign operations of the Holy Spirit). This is what we sometimes refer to as the effectual call of the gospel. When the gospel is preached, it is with saving effect!
Augustine showed that he understood this when he said of the rebukes of the gospel that "the rebuke is the grace," the grace, that is, by which God convicts His elect of sin, and begins to draw them to Himself (Jn. 6:44). In that too the gospel is, then, the means by which God sovereignly, powerfully, irresistibly calls to Himself His own.
Psalm 19 speaks of this when it says that God's law converts the soul, His testimony makes the simple wise, His commandment enlightens the eyes (vss. 7, 8). Romans 1:16 adds that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Romans 10:17, 18 tells us that faith comes by hearing the word of God. I Corinthians 1:18 says that the preaching of the cross is the power of God (cf. also verse 21).
Preaching is this because Christ Himself speaks through gospel preaching. Hyper-calvinists have said that the call of the gospel as preached by Christ and the Apostles could be such a power, but not the preaching of preachers today. Nevertheless Scripture assures us that all preaching is the means by which Christ Himself sovereignly calls His own.
He says in John 10:27, "My sheep (and there are no exceptions) hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." Indeed, it is only because they hear Christ's voice that they can be saved. No other voice has the power to give them life like Lazarus and bring them out of darkness into marvelous light. So too, we read in Ephesians 2:17, that He came and preached peace not only to the Jews but to the Gentiles, to those who were far off.
With respect to those who are not chosen, the preaching of the call of the gospel is also important. Because Christ speaks through it no one can ever come under the preaching of the gospel and not be affected for good or for ill. To those who are not chosen and who continue in unbelief, the gospel is the means for hardening and condemnation.
This is the difficult part of preaching, the part concerning which Paul is thinking most of all when he says, "Who is sufficient for these things?" (II Cor. 2:16). No preacher wants to see this negative fruit nor does he actually seek to be a means of hardening, but if He understands Scripture and his own calling then he cannot avoid it. If the gospel is to be the power of God unto salvation it must also be a power unto condemnation.
Scripture itself speaks of this in Isaiah 6:8-13 (notice Isaiah's response) and in II Corinthians 2:16, where we read that the gospel is a savor of death unto death to some.
The sweet savor of Christ is unto death to some in the preaching of the gospel!
All this is simply to say that the gospel is its own power. It needs not the eloquence of the preacher, nor anything else. Its power is manifested in all that is preached but especially in the glorious call of the gospel, the call to repent and believe, the call that brings and gives repentance and faith to those whom God has chosen.
Rev. R. Hanko