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The Law of God I
Pastoral Exhortations

The Law of God

Dave Chanski

AUDIO

The following is a lightly edited transcript of a sermon delivered on Monday morning, October 15th, 2011 during the annual pastors’ conference at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, NJ. This is the opening session and the preacher is Pastor Dave Chanski.

I will say something, as I begin here, about the theme of this year’s conference. It is the law of God. We have the quote from Psalm 119, “I love your law,” on the cover of our conference brochure, and this really began (this, what led to our having the whole theme of the conference on the law of God) with a suggestion that I made sometime last year, I believe, when we began to talk about what should we do for next year’s conference and I suggested that we at least have a message on the subject of antinomianism.

I said that because I think there’s a sense in which I see an Antinomian behind every bush. I kind of feel like John Gill. Spurgeon, I think, wrote about John Gill, that he saw an Arminian behind every bush, and I don’t think the Arminians were always there were Gill saw them, but I think I do see an Antinomian almost behind every bush.

It’s a subject that I’ve been concerned about over the years and so I brought this up for discussion with my fellow elders. We discussed it a little bit and then we continued the discussion when a couple of the brethren who are here with us from NJ also drove with us, three elders from Trinity, out to a pastor’s fraternal in Grand Rapids Michigan back in—I think it was March (either that or April) of this year.

And then while we were driving I had said to the men, “Well, why don’t we have further discussion about the subject for next year’s conference and we could even get the input of these other brethren.”

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Pastoral Exhortations →

Modern Examples of Ignoring, Forgetting, Spurning, and Mistaking Counterfeits for God’s Authentic Word in Scripture

Scripture

This is the second part of a two-part series on “Discerning the Word of God, An Exposition and Application of 1 Kings 13.” You can read the first part here

D. Scott Meadows

Given the limitations of this presentation, we can only quickly survey some modern challenges to the orthodox Reformed view of Cessationism and the sufficiency of Scripture—some even coming from the Reformed community. The order of my concerns is like a series of concentric circles from the outermost rings to the center, where the last ones are the most likely ways in which we ourselves have sinned against the biblical principles we have seen.

Postmodern Language Skepticism

While postmodernism is probably impossible to define to everyone’s satisfaction, one of its conspicuous traits is a skepticism regarding any objective, fixed meaning from language texts of any kind, and this applies to the postmodern view of Scripture. Alphabetical characters and the words and sentences they form are merely the use of symbols that may mean different things to those who write them and those who read them. There is no single “correct” interpretation to any given text. Each reader must experience the text for himself, and decide for himself what it means to him.

We hear this philosophy informally “in the street” by people who have never heard of postmodernism when they deny that the Bible can be objectively and universally interpreted. Their motto seems to be, “That’s your interpretation,” with the suggestion that your interpretation is only valid for you.

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Discerning the Word of God

Scripture

D. Scott Meadows

An Exposition and Application of 1 Kings 13

INTRODUCTION

Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer wrote a book about God entitled, He Is There and He Is Not Silent.1 In a terse way, this expresses two of the most basic convictions of the whole Christian religion. God exists and God speaks.

Theologians argue whether God’s existence can be proven without assuming it in the first place, with two conspicuous perspectives. Presuppositionalism championed by scholars like Cornelius Van Til argues that God’s existence is patently obvious to all and that men only become atheists by a flight from reason and experience. Evidentialism represented, for example by John Gerstner, holds that without presuppositions, the existence of God may be proven by logical arguments to the satisfaction of any fair-minded and serious inquirer. Both are serious positions held by godly Reformed men and worthy of careful consideration. An important biblical passage bearing on the issue is Romans 1.18-23,

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.2

This text states that God’s wrath against sinners is “revealed,” from the Greek word apokalupto, translated the same way throughout the NT.3 It is a compound with the literal sense of “off-cover,” and hence to uncover, lay open what has been veiled, make bare, and by extension, to make known or manifest, to disclose what was before unknown, and bring to light. In a theological sense, it has the special meaning of a divine disclosure of certain supernatural secrets.4 Romans 8.19 and 16.25 furnish important biblical examples of this sense.

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A Heart for the Lord’s Day

The Lord's Day

Gordon Cook

Again turn in your Bibles to that great prophet of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 58.

I think I said last Lord’s day that we had the last message on the Lord’s day in terms of Sabbath Lord’s day (when do we worship? we worship God on a special day) but there’s one final message and that’s going to be this evening, Lord willing.

Isaiah 58, verse 13. (Again when you read that word Sabbath, it has no negativity in it, it simply means rest. It’s a rest day.) Verse 13,

If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable and shall honor Him not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasures nor speaking your own words and you shall delight yourself in the Lord and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.

We have been doing some mountaineering–that’s right, climbing mountains–seeking to appreciate the biblical panorama with respect to the whole subject of worship.

It’s a big subject. It’s hard to find a bigger subject and a more important one in the Word of God because you and I were made to worship God.

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Lord’s Day Observance

The Lord's Day

Gordon Cook

If you have a copy of the Scriptures with you, please turn with me to Mark’s gospel, Mark, chapter 2.

We’re continuing our series on the subject of worship. We are focusing upon the question, When do we worship? and we have argued from Genesis to Revelation that there is a distinctive worship day; and no one had more to say about keeping a Sabbath day, or how to keep a Sabbath day, than the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here in Mark, chapter 2, He has a controversy with the Pharisees; and we read in verse 23 of Mark, chapter 2,

Now it happened that He went through the grain fields on the Sabbath; and, as they went, His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain; and the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they go do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry (he and those with him)—how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the High Priest; and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests; and also gave some to those were with him?”

And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord [κύριος (kurios)] of the Sabbath.”

The stock market has experienced a gigantic upheaval over the last year or so, especially in the last couple of weeks; and worship is often like the stock market in this sense–up and down; but in recent years it has been on a downward trend; and here’s some of the circumstantial evidence which I think could stand up in any court of law.
Sermons are getting shorter and shorter.

In many places, hymns—the good hymns of the faith—have actually disappeared.

In many places, there is no longer a corporate prayer meeting.

It all suggests (does it not?) that we are in trouble.

What’s the answer?

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The Priority of Preaching

Preaching

Alan Dunn

It’s my delight to be with you once again this year. Last year, when we were together, I was assigned the topic of the priorities of the pastor. And this year I’m going to resume on that subject picking up where we left off. Last year, we considered the priorities of the pastor in relation to himself, the care of the pastor to himself and then we saw the priority of the pastor in relation to his family and then we invested two studies on the priority of worship.

This year we’re going to consider the priority of preaching, in this hour,
and then the priority of prayer and then the priority of shepherding and,
lastly, the priority of our witness to the world.

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The Priority of Prayer

Pastors, Prayer

Alan Dunn

The Puritan Samuel Chadwick says,

“Satan dreads nothing but prayer. Activities are multiplied that prayer may be ousted and organizations are increased that prayer may have no chance. The one concern of the devil is to keep the saints from praying. He fears nothing from prayer-less studies, prayer-less work, prayer-less religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.”

We’ve looked in our last hour at the priority of preaching. In this hour I want to survey the priority of prayer considering both congregational prayer as well as pastoral intercessory prayer.

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER

Let’s look first then at the priority of church prayer meetings. Now it traditionally has been the practice of evangelical churches in the United States to meet on Wednesday nights for prayer. Sadly we’re seeing a day when many American churches are discontinuing this practice and no longer having a midweek meeting that is devoted solely to prayer. Now, I’m not saying that a church has to meet on a Wednesday night. I’m even willing to say that a church does not have to have a meeting specifically for prayer, although there is biblical precedent for that and good reason for that and biblical reason for that, but I am saying that the church is given the assignment of corporate prayer and the pastor, as shepherd of the flock, must guide the people of God into this assigned responsibility. We must make corporate prayer a priority of the church so that the church accomplishes her duties in relation to her Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

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The Priority of Shepherding God’s Flock

Pastors

Alan Dunn

We’re going to consider the priority of shepherding God’s flock.

We need to be the best preachers that we can be, and through the public ministry of the Word of God, endeavor to feed the sheep with the truth of the Word.

Indeed in Jeremiah 3:15, the Lord promises,

Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart who will feed you on knowledge and understanding.

The shepherd is one who feeds the flock of God with the food of the Scripture, but the pastor is more than a public speaker, and his ministry of the Word of God goes beyond preaching in the pulpit. He is a shepherd, and he is concerned that each individual sheep in His flock receives the nourishment of God’s Word personally and specifically.

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The Purpose of the Sabbath

The Lord's Day

Gordon Cook

Please turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 58:13-14:

If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

I grew up in Canada in several small mining towns. We lived in a province called British Columbia, in a little town about 100 miles from the Yukon border. And it was a beautiful place. It was a vast wilderness of forests, rivers, and lakes. And on more than one occasion, I believe, either me or one of my brothers got lost. It’s not a fun experience, but whatever you do, they say, “Don’t panic. Don’t just go off in any direction. If you do that you’ll end up going in circles.” No, they tell you to stay put or find some high ground. Climb a mountain. Get your bearings and see something of the lay of the land. And Christians can get lost as well, can’t we? Doctrinally, morally, even while we have a Bible in front of us.

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Lord of the Sabbath

The Lord's Day

Gordon Cook

I would turn your attention to Luke 6. If I had one verse in the Bible to build the doctrine of the Lord’s Day or the Sabbath upon it would be this text found in Luke 6:5: “And He said to them, ‘The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.’”

Heavy snow had fallen the night before and there were thoughts about canceling the event, but it was far too important. It was the inaugural address of the president of the United States. And after acknowledging the presence of distinguished guests and former presidents, the new elect president, John F. Kennedy, then spoke these words to the nation: “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay the price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to ensure the survival and the success of liberty.” Towards the back end of that address the president quoted from the book of Isaiah the prophet and said, “Let the oppressed go free” (Is. 58:6). I’m sure he borrowed those words, not only from the prophet, but from Jesus Himself. Jesus gave something of an inaugural address back in chapter 4. Notice the text, Luke 4:18—and Jesus is also speaking here about freedom, but of a greater kind:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

And Jesus doesn’t simply talk about liberty or freedom, does He? Jesus actually sets men free. And Jesus will set men free from different kinds of bondage. For example, the horrible bondage of demon possession; you read about that in Luke 4. It talks about the horrible bondage of sickness and disease. He will heal that leper also; we read of that in Luke 4. There’s the horrible bondage of sin and guilt. He forgives a man in chapter 5. And then when we open up to chapter 6, Jesus, again, is setting men free, but from a different kind of bondage. It’s the horrible bondage of false religion. And where it manifested itself in a most overt or concrete way was when it came to the Sabbath Day and its practice and observance.

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