10 Invitations from the Bible

1. An invitation to cleansing Isaiah 1:18-20

"Come now, let us settle the matter," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword." For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. 

2. An invitation to satisfaction Isaiah 55:1, 2

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. 

3. An invitation to seek the LORD and call on him Isaiah 55:6-9

Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

4. An invitation to be healed of backsliding Jeremiah 3:22

"Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding." "Yes, we will come to you, for you are the LORD our God."

5. An invitation to return to the LORD Hosea 6:1

"Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds."

6. An invitation to rest Matthew 11:28-30

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." 

7. An invitation to discipleship Mark 1:17

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people." 

8. An invitation to refreshment and refreshing John 7:37, 38

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." 

9. An invitation to fruitfulness John 15:4

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

10. An invitation to fellowship Revelation 3:20

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

Death of Billy Graham

Billy Graham went to heaven this morning. Not without his faults and failures, the Arminian Graham was a man of God and for the most part, a faithful preacher, as the sound bites all testify. Plenty of material here at NBC.

Wednesday September 28 2016

Nine of us were present last night (four men, five women, including one lady we don't see very often). I have been preparing six messages for pastors in South Africa (I'm en route there as I write) so I thought one might suit for our midweek meeting. I chose the one on the pastor as preacher of Law and Gospel. I hope it was helpful and will be. I've been reading Sinclair Ferguson's book on the whole Christ today and thinking how much more nuanced I should have been/will need to be. Anyway, I think the message was appreciated and we had a good long time to pray, nearly everyone leading in prayer. Saying goodbye to three young women this week off to Uni, etc. Anyway I'm in Dubai as I write (the modern world, eh?) and I have limited wi-fi so I'll try and get this off now. Very much looking forward to these APCs in Estcourt, Queenstown, East London and Bloemfontein and two Sundays preaching in churches. Do pray.

Run John Run

 

At the Carey Mike Bullmore alluded to the following ditty which I had not heard before

 

Run, John, run, the law commands
But gives us neither feet nor hands,

Far better news the gospel brings:
It bids us fly and gives us wings

 

The couplets are usually spoken of as John Bunyan's (it's certainly his style). According to Justin Taylor, Jason Meyer pins it on Ralph Erskine. (Spurgeon goes for John Berridge).

More here.

Opportunites for evangelism abound

I came across a young man wearing this t-shirt today. I saw it from the back first. It's difficult not to say something. He wasn't sure what a sinner was. His girl friend thought it was a criminal. I explained that we are all sinners and need God's grace. I should have gone further.

Banner 2013 06

And so very quickly it seems we have come to the last day of the conference. First up today was Jeremy Walker who took us to 1 Corinthians 15 to speak on the resurrection and the security and hope of the church. He spoke about the vital importance of the fact of the resurection. If it is not so then preaching is pointless and so is faith. Because it is so, our resurrection is guaranteed. This is not only a promise but the setting of a pattern. He sought to encourage us to preach Christ.

Banner 2013 04

Apologies that we are not keeping up very well. I was chairing the session this morning. We began with a helpful short piece first off from Andrew Swanson who, approaching 70 this year, reflected on the eternity of God and the brevity of life.

The first main address of the morning was from Warren Peel, who continued to looks at the gospel, which he had already noted is the A-Z not the ABC. He quoted Don Carson's warning that "a litany of devices designed to make us more spiritual or mature or productive or emotionally whole threatens to relegate the gospel to irrelevance, or at least to the realm of the boring and the primitive". Whereas yesterday he was reminding us about justification, he took us today to sanctification. First he quoted William Romaine who wrote that “No sin can be crucified either in heart or life, unless it be first pardoned in conscience; because there will be want of faith to receive the strength of Jesus, by whom alone it can be crucified. If it be not mortified in its guilt, it cannot be subdued in its power.”  Warren commended a clearer grasp of the gospel in order that we may have our motives purified, our distrust cured, our desires satisfied and humbles our hearts. He had an excellent illustration from classical mythology referring to the sirens. Odysseus had the ears of his sailors blocked but Jason had Orpheus play. The point being that if we focus on what God offers we will not be drawn away to anything lesser.

After coffee, Jeremy Walker spoke from 1 Peter 2 on gospel character calling on us to mine the gospel deeply and widely, to present the Saviour winsomely, to apply the message faithfully and wisely, to deliver it easily and sweetly and to preach persuasively and prayerfully.

Banner 2013 03

This evening Sinclair Ferguson took us through the wonderful closing verses of Romans 8. Because of the gospel, he reminded us,

1. There is no opposition that can prevail against the Christian

(Who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas, for money; not Pilate, for fear; not Jews, for envy; but the Father, for love! - Octavius Winslow)

2. There is no accusation that can stick against the Christian

3. There is no accusation that can stand against the Christian

4. There is no separation from the love of God

Hallelujah! He is my Saviour.

Great stuff.

 

Banner 2013 01

Apologies for the slow start with reporting on this year's Banner at Leicester. I found it a little difficult to get set up. Good to be here though with the other men. We made a gentle start last night with Sinclair Ferguson and Jonathan Watson.

Dr Ferguson moved around his advertised sequence of addresses a little to begin with the greatness of the gospel's power. Going to Romans 1 and 3 he spoke about those three big words - propitiation (turning away God's wrath) – using the language of the Temple, justification (declaring us to be without guilt) – using the language of the court room and redemption (setting us free from bondage) – using the language of the slave market. One of the interesting questions he raised was why more space is given to Jesus trials than to the crucifixion. The answer being the need to see what is happening when he is crucified. Two charges are made – blasphemy (religious) and treason (political). They all declare him innocent (see Luke especially). Would that the therapists of the world knew of the power of the gospel to deliver from guilt, he said. He also reminded us that it is not commodities that we have from Christ but realities in him. Unless we are joined to Christ nothing is of any value to us. It is a plague in evangelicalism that we have the idea that we can have the blessing without Christ. The applications were to do with glorifying God, excluding boasting, universalising the message of salvation and upholding the law.

After the evening meal Jonathan Watson spoke from Acts 20 quite helpfully on the work of the ministry. Like others perhaps I was a little tired and didn't benefit from the message as much as I might.

The work of University Christian Unions

Along with a few others I had a brilliant email this last weekend from an old college friend. It went like this

 

.... It was around this time 35 years ago that I first heard the gospel preached at Fresher's Tea in Alex Basement with the text 'You must be born again'.
By God's grace He saved me and has kept me since.
And you were all there too (maybe not all right at the beginning) and God has kept you too.

Though I have not seen some of you for quite a while now, your friendship is still special to me and you, your wives and families are all still in my thoughts and prayers regularly. I say that to encourage you in your lives and ministries. 35 years is a long time praying but hearing how God has worked and is continuing to work in your lives shows that God has been faithful in answering those prayers.

To God be the glory.

'being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus' ...

 

It's a reminder I guess to pray for the work in colleges today and to be thankful for all that has happened in the past.

Bunyan Illustration

I once heard a story from a soldier who...had laid siege against a fort, that so long as the besieged were persuaded their foes would show them no favour, they fought like madmen. But when they saw one of their fellows taken and received with favor, they all came tumbling down from their fortress and delivered themselves into their enemies’ hands. I am persuaded that if men believed that there is that grace and willingness in the heart of Christ to save sinners, as the Word imports there is, they would come tumbling into His arms. But Satan has blinded their minds so that they cannot see this thing. Nevertheless, the Lord Jesus has, as I said, that others might take heart and come to Him, given out a commandment that mercy should,in the first place, be offered to the biggest sinners.“Begin,” says He, “ at Jerusalem”.

UQ App

EP have just done their first app. It is free.

Details:

Ultimate Questions Mobile Application

Android Platform – Initial Release 22 November 2011
Searching for the App from a standard PC (Non-Tablet/Mobile Device)
By navigating to the following link, key information about the app is displayed*
(*They are aware that the wording on the main page requires an update, the current wording is a bit clunky and needs some work). https://market.android.com/details?id=com.ultimatequestions.app

Anti-St Valentines

There is a lot of misunderstanding regarding the gospel. Some things some of us hardly realise are causing problems. I was reminded recently of an example.

Back in February this year activists of the Hindu Makkal Katchi, a regional party in Tamil Nadu, protested against the celebration of the Valentine's Day and warned locals to refrain from all celebrations in Coimbatore. The party's activists were apparently seen demonstrating by raising slogans and tearing Valentine's Day cards. "We are protesting against the cultural exploitation because of Valentine's Day, which is being celebrated by lovers, who have engaged themselves in uncultured manner in public places in the name of Valentine's Day," Prabhu, a protestor, said. "We strongly condemn this act and today, we are stating this protest by destroying these greeting cards," he added.

It was also officially banned in Iran this year and is regulalry opposed by religious police in Saudi Arabia.

Christian Acrostics 08 GOSPEL

God's
Only
Son
Promises
Eternal
Life

Easter Apology

I found this Easter apology to TV broadcaster Richard Madeley here

Dear Richard
About fifteen years ago you walked into Tesco, picked up a couple of bottle’s of champagne and left, forgetting to pay. You were subsequently accused of shoplifting but declared not guilty. In spite of this I took great delight in laughing about you with my friends. Being teenagers we found that the mention of your name brought gales of laughter and so you became subject of a cheap gag. Today I feel guilty about that. I’m a 32 year old man with three small and distracting children; a Tesco over the road which I visit almost every day and a rapidly decreasing attention span. These elements have created a perfect storm. Since Christmas I’ve unwittingly taken things out of the shop without paying on three different occasions. On each occasion I have gone back and paid without anyone realising, and on each occasion I’ve gone home thinking of you. There’s no difference between us. We both wandered out of a shop without paying. It was an accident when you did it just as it is an accident when I and a million people like me do it from time to time. So why was I so keen to mock you? One reason is that when I was 15 I lived to make people laugh and you were an easy target. But maybe there was more to it. I wonder if you provoked my sense of justice like a man hitting a wasp nest with a stick. After all you were a wealthy celebrity stealing champagne while I, a school boy, had to buy the things I wanted with money from a paper round. So on some subconscious level I refused to believe that you had just made a mistake. Even when the British justice system got taken in, I knew the truth and I determined that I would not forgive you. Of course that sense of justice is less pronounced now. One day when the inevitable happens and an overweight and red faced security guard collars me and asks me why I’m leaving Tesco with a block of cheese and no receipt, I’m hoping that the staff in Tesco will accept my explanation that I was distracted and forgot. I hope they will look at the children tugging at my coat, the baby sick on my shoulder and the three day stubble on my face and understand. I hope they will go easy on me. That’s the odd thing about Justice. We demand it for everyone else without prejudice and yet when we find ourselves in a similar position we cry out for understanding, leniency even mercy. It’s double standards of course and also impossible to allow in a civilised country. Sometimes, no matter how many tears are shed and apologies made, Justice must be done at the expense of mercy. If that frightens us in this life it should be terrifying when we think of our relationship with God. After all God is holy and cannot tolerate sin and yet none of us is perfect. In fact the Bible tells we have all fallen short of the glory of God. If God is going to be just he will have to punish us for declare us all guilty and separate Himself from us for ever. But God is a loving God and wants to share Eternity with us so he faces a dilemma. On the one hand He must be just but on the other hand He wants to show mercy. It’s in the Easter story that we see this dilemma resolved. In the darkness and violence of Calvary, we see Justice done; a man called Jesus is punished for sin. The amazing thing is though, that the man is innocent! The sin He is punished for is not His own. More amazing still, the man punished is God’s own son! He willingly entered in an agreement with his father that together they rescue sinful people. And so on the cross, God acts justly, punishing sin, so that he may forgive the sin of everyone who asks, in his mercy. I hope that this Easter you will know the forgiveness and Grace of God for yourself. Yours sincerely.
Jonathan
PS Please do not hold your breath for any accompanying apology from me concerning the number of times I have shouted/ cringed/ chewed my fist at the television when you have been on doing your Alan Partridge impression.

Banner Leicester 08

Our brief preliminary session on Wednesday was an exhortation from Alun McNabb to give ourselves to preaching for Holy Ghost conversion - the most glorious thing in the world. He drew attention to the story of John Ashworth, an 18th Century preacher who knew great blessing in evangelising the poor in lodging houses in the north of England. He started a chapel called The Chapel for the destitute. If the angels rejoice over conversions then so should we. Too often we miss opportunities to preach the gospel. Like Paul we should see such preaching as the crown of our ministries. We should pray for impossible cases. Do read the chapter Conversion as our aim in Spurgeon's lectures.

Free £5 notes

I was pointed to this item here. The exercise is concerned with attitudes to money but I think there is some interest here as far as the gospel is concerned. What seems like an asset - that it is totally free is not seen in that way by some.

Brits Fail To Cash In On Free £5 Notes
• Just 28 people took free fivers in two busy crowded streets

• And further research shows that half of all Brits claim they would also turn down free cash

The full extent of Britain’s financial inertia was laid bare today when passers-by in London and Manchester were offered a free £5 note, no strings attached.
Representatives from a price comparison website wandered the streets this morning wearing sandwich boards offering a free £5 note to anyone who asked. Despite encountering over 1800 people, only 28 passers by bothered to take advantage of the offer.
Even when those few plucky souls claimed their free booty it didn’t spark a stampede. The exercise was designed to illustrate that, credit crunch or no credit crunch, Brits are unwilling to take even the simplest steps to improve their financial situation.
Additional research found that more than half of all Brits (53%) admit they too would not be bothered to claim their £5 if they were in the same situation. This finding suggests that people actually overestimate their own likelihood of acting in such a situation, given the poor take up of the offer on the streets of London and Manchester. ...
The experiment also found a stark difference in the attitudes of men and women. On the streets of London and Manchester, all but 7 of the people who claimed the free cash were men and the research backed this up further. In a poll of 2000 people almost two thirds of women (64%) said they would not claim the free fiver, compared to 41% of money-shy men.
Additionally, the experiment found that Londoners were more reserved than their Manchester counterparts. Whilst just 1.2% of people took advantage of the offer in London, this figure increased to 3.1% on the streets of Manchester.
The research also found that the older the person, the less likely they would be to act on the free offer. Whilst some two thirds of under-twenties say they would claim the free cash, this steadily drops the older we get, declining to only a third (35%) of over 70s who claim they would ask for a free fiver.
Why do Brits believe they would fail to take up the offer?

• Six in 10 people say they their cynicism would prevent them from asking for free cash as they would suspect a catch or trick

• 20% of people would simply not believe the offer was real – a trend which increased with age. Almost a third of over 60s claimed they wouldn’t believe the sandwich board wearer

• Just over one in 10 people said they would feel too embarrassed and 3% of people said that £5 wasn’t worth the effort

Lunch-time Lecture

This is a reminder that I will be giving a lunch time lecture next Monday on Richard Baxter's little book Call to the unconverted, which was published 350 years ago this year. The lecture will be given at 12.30 pm at The Evangelical Library in Chiltern Street near Baker Street. You can read the book on Google.

Hymn of the week 17

Every week we sing eight hymns but it's nearly always the Charles Wesley that catches my eye. Here he typically rings the changes by focusing on gospel paradoxes.

1 WEARY souls, that wander wide
From the central point of bliss,
Turn to Jesus crucified,
Fly to those dear wounds of his:
Sink into the purple flood;
Rise into the life of God!

2 Find in Christ the way of peace,
Peace unspeakable, unknown;
By his pain he gives you ease,
Life by his expiring groan;
Rise, exalted by his fall,
Find in Christ your all in all.

3 O believe the record true,
God to you his Son hath given!
Ye may now be happy too,
Find on earth the life of heaven,
Live the life of heaven above,
All the life of glorious love.

Katherine Hankey Sermon Class

We sang the famous hymn Tell me the old old story recently by the Clapham sect poetess and one time missionary nurse in South Africa, Arabella Katherine Hankey (1836-1911) and it struck me that what she says there ought to be in the mind of every faithful preacher as he preaches.

1. Stick to the main thing - Tell me the old, old story of unseen things above Of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love

We want it to be fresh and relevant but not new and not earthbound - just the good old gospel and how to get to heaven. Tell them about Jesus - that's what they need to hear.

2. Keep it simple, stupid - Tell me the story simply, as to a little child, For I am weak and weary and helpless and defiled.

Don't try to be clever or expect too much. You're dealing with weak and weary and wanderers who need help.

3. Easy does it - Tell me the story slowly, that I may take it in, That wonderful redemption, God’s remedy for sin.

Don't be in a rush and don't assume things. Patiently explain it all - the whole plan of redemption and how sinners are saved.

4. Let's go through that again - Tell me the story often, for I forget so soon; The early dew of morning has passed away at noon.

Be subtle but don't be afraid of repetition. You'd be surprised how quickly people forget things. And don't be afraid of repetition. It's amazing how quickly people forget things!

5. This is serious - Tell me the story softly, with earnest tones and grave; Remember I’m the sinner whom Jesus came to save.

Don't be flippant or uncaring. There is seldom need to shout. Seek to be filled with compassion. Be earnest. Love them. Take it seriously.

6. What they really need - Tell me the story always, if you would really be, In any time of trouble, a comforter to me.

Never forget that what they need more than anything else is not your pop psychology or the latest cliches but the gospel. Whatever their particular trouble, the answer is found ultimately in the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.

7. The ministry of warning - Tell me the old story when you have cause to fear That this world’s empty glory is costing me too dear.

A warning note needs to be sounded for some. A gospel call implies a call to leave the world and its supposed charms. Don't be afraid to be negative where necessary.

8. With an eye on the goal ahead - Yes, and when that world’s glory is dawning on my soul, Tell me the old, old story: “Christ Jesus makes thee whole.”

Death is fearful thing even for the Christian and the people you are speaking to will all have to face it one day, some sooner than others. In death, as much as in life, what they really need to face the final enemy is the same gospel that they needed in life. Preach conscious of that fact.