an oxgoad, eh?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Enchanted Grounds [Pilgrim’s Progress]

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

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

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

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A smallish crowd today, but blessed services nonetheless.

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

An Open Door and many Adversaries (1 Cor 16.9)

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

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

Wayward Travelers

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

Entering the Harvest (Jn 4.27-35)

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

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

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

Here is the summary of our messages this week.

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

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

Doubting Castle and the Delectable Mountains

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

Chosen for Cleanness (Lev 11)

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

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

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

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