Six Items Recently Read

Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving

The Rip Van WInkle story is better known by name than actuality. To avoid confusion let me advise that Van WInkle sleeps only twenty years not a hundred and time goes by in the usual way. Crucially he misses the American Revolution and so when he sleeps, George III is King and when he awakes the American Republic has come into existence. It is a well told story, a little old fashioned and mysogynistic in its view of marriage, perhaps. It is chiefly good fun. This edition includes four Rackham colour plates and is based on a 1905 edition.

The Grace of Repentance (Redesign) (Today's Issues) by Sinclair B. Ferguson

Came across this short book recently (at the Catalyst Conference) and read it in one sitting. It focusses on Luther's first thesis (of the 95) and Psalm 51 and is a very good all levels discussio of a vital subject that is too often neglected. Good to pass on.

Preaching for God's Glory (redesign) (Today's Issues) by Alistair Begg

There are a few good books on expository preaching, the good thing about this one is that it is short and punchy and memorable. He quotes Stott, Dick Lucas, Lloyd-Jones and (sadly) Roy Clements as well as older writers. One fears he may fall into the trap of claiming that exposition is everything but he does not make that mistake quite. Read in one sitting a long time after the publication date.

Gospel Evidences of Saving Faith (Puritan Treasures for Today) by John Owen

This nicely presented little work is one of Owen's lesser known practical items. It is well worth reading as it recalls the Christian to holy living and repentance. This whole series from RHB looks like a very worthwhile effort.

Spurgeon's Forgotten Sabbatarianism: Examining the Role of the 4th Commandment in His Life and Theology by Brandon Rhea

Academic pieces don't always translate easily into popular works but this one does okay. It picks up on a forgotten or overlooked aspect of Spurgeon's life and writing - his adherence to the Lord's Day Christian Sabbath. It is not difficult for Dr Rhea to establlish his thesis and it is useful to have the full evidence of the position that Spurgeon (like many others) took. Spurgeon's position would be considered extreme even in conservative circles today, perhaps, but he is shown to be consistent with his roots and Scripture and he stands as a loud reminder to us that we really need to take this matter more seriously.

Is the Trinity Practical? by Ryan M. McGraw

This brief but helpful booklet by systematician Ryan McGraw begins by raising the question of whether the Trinity matters, moves on to what Trinitarian devotion looks like and then describes three pracical ways all this can be implemented in our lives - by developing a Trinitarian piety, seeing the importance of unity and diversity in church life and gaining great comfort from the work of all three. Good stuff.

Begg on Lloyd-Jones

Some of you may be interested in this link here

Rutherford on Providence

Rutherford to Lady Kenmure, as quoted by Alistair Begg.

Madam, when you are come to the other side of the water, and have set down your foot on the shore of glorious eternity, and look back again to the waters, and to your wearisome journey, and shall see in that clear glass of endless glory nearer to the bottom of God's wisdom, you shall then be forced to say, “If God had done otherwise with me than he hath done, I had never come to the enjoying of this crown of glory.”

Banner Lite 2020

As the usual Banner Conference was not possible this year, Banner very kindly sent us all a box of books and organised a series of messages on All Things for Good. Ian Hamilton, a very familiar face, kicked us off in an obvious place, Romans 8:28. He was followed by someone unfamiliar to me, Hensworth Jonas, a Baptist in Antigua and Barbuda. he took us to Psalm 27:14 in a fresh Al Martin style that was helpful. We then had a book review of Thomas Watson's book on the conference subject. Ian was backed by a word map and I guess Hensworth was in his church - a slick production with camera angle changes and words appearing appropriately. Jeremy did the no, no, and had his library behind him. Not a problem for Banner types I guess but some may have been tempted to try and assess what he has (everything) and does not have.(nothing). The final session was good old Alistair Begg on lessons from the life of Joseph and Genesis 50:20, the Old Testament Romans 8:28. It was a relief to have a little bit of humour at certain points. The messages are all on the Banner site at YouTube. I enjoyed the music between sessions too, courtesy of YouTube I guess.

Ligonier London Conference

Mike Reeves and Mez McConnell on the question panel proving that these Reformed types are all just clones of each other

Today and yesterday evening I have been attending the first Ligonier Conference on the British mainland. We met in the huge Westminster Central Hall. I guess there were about 800 present. I know about 10% of the people present, mostly ministers. A diverse group gathered not just from the UK but further afield too. I met people from Germany, Italy and the USA plus Scots, Welsh, English and the pastor of the Korean church that meets in our building on Sunday afternoons. Two of my sons and their wives and several other family members were present.

The conference was well organised and what one might have expected from a group like Ligonier keen to expand their work among the Lord's people and beyond. Several men spoke - Mark Johnston and Alistair Begg on the Friday night; Al Mohler and Sinclair Ferguson this morning; Mike Reeves and Burk Parsons this afternoon. There was also a panel with Drs Ferguson and Reeves plus Jeremy Walker from Crawley, Paul Levy from London and Mez McConnell from Edinburgh.

Obviously some speakers got on better than others but it was all worth hearing. The applause got a bit much, it is true, but our American hosts did their very best to adapt otherwise. Lovely to see so many old friends.

The messages are all here.

Holy, Holy, Holy: Proclaiming the Perfections of God

This Ligonier book is a collection of ten addresses on the general subject of the holiness of God given at a conference back in 2010 or so. The opening and closing chapters are from the late R C Sproul. Other chapters are from the hands of the usual suspects (Thabiti Anyabwile, Alistair Begg, Don Carson, Sinclair Ferguson, Robert Godfrey, Steven Lawson, Derek Thomas). The chapters inevitably vary in their usefulness. I particularly appreciated Sinclair Ferguson on the holiness of the Father and Robert Godfrey on Isaiah 6. Beautifully presented in hardback once again.

The book ends with a great illustration from Sproul

My favorite illustration of how callous we have become with respect to the mercy, love, and grace of God comes from the second year of my teaching career, when I was given the assignment of teaching two hundred and fifty college freshman an introductory course on the Old Testament. On the first day of the class, I gave the students a syllabus and I said: “You have to write three short term papers, five pages each. The first one is due September 30 when you come to class, the second one October 30, and the third one November 30. Make sure that you have them done by the due date, because if you don’t, unless you are physically confined to the infirmary or in the hospital, or unless there is a death in the immediate family, you will get an F on that assignment. Does everybody understand that?” They all said, “Yes.”
On September 30, two hundred and twenty-five of my students came in with their term papers. There were twenty-five terrified freshmen who came in trembling. They said: “Oh, Professor Sproul, we didn’t budget our time properly. We haven’t made the transition from high school to college the way we should have. Please don’t flunk us. Please give us a few more days to get our papers finished.”
I said: “OK, this once I will give you a break. I will let you have three more days to get your papers in, but don’t you let that happen again.”
“Oh, no, we won’t let it happen again,” they said. “Thank you so, so, so much.”
Then came October 30. This time, two hundred students came with their term papers, but fifty students didn’t have them. I asked, “Where are your papers?”
They said: “Well, you know how it is, Prof. We’re having midterms, and we had all kinds of assignments for other classes. Plus, it’s homecoming week. We’re just running a little behind. Please give us just one more chance.”
I asked: “You don’t have your papers? Do you remember what I said the last time? I said, ‘Don’t even think about not having this one in on time.’ And now, fifty of you don’t have them done.”
“Oh, yes,” they said, “we know.”
I said: “OK. I will give you three days to turn in your papers. But this is the last time I extend the due date.”
Do you know what happened? They started singing spontaneously, “We love you, Prof Sproul, oh, yes, we do.” I was the most popular professor on that campus.
But then came November 30. This time one hundred of them came with their term papers, but a hundred and fifty of them did not. I watched them walk in as cool and as casual as they could be. So I said, “Johnson!”
“What?” he replied.
“Do you have your paper?”
“Don’t worry about it, Prof,” he responded. “I’ll have it for you in a couple of days.”
I picked up the most dreadful object in a freshman’s experience, my little black grade book. I opened it up and I asked, “Johnson, you don’t have your term paper?”
He said, “No”
I said, “F,” and I wrote that in the grade book. Then I asked, “Nicholson, do you have your term paper?” “No, I don’t have it.” “F. Jenkins, where is your term paper?”
“I don’t have it.”
“F.”
Then, out of the midst of this crowd, someone shouted, “That’s not fair.” I turned around and asked, “Fitzgerald, was that you who said that?”
He said, “Yeah, it’s not fair.”
I asked, “Weren’t you late with your paper last month?”
“Yeah,” he responded.
“OK, Fitzgerald, I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. If it’s justice you want, it’s justice you will get.” So I changed his grade from October to an F. When I did that, there was a gasp in the room. I asked, “Who else wants justice?” I didn’t get any takers.
There was a song in the musical My Fair Lady titled “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face.” Well, those students had grown accustomed to my grace. The first time they were late with their papers, they were amazed by grace. The second time, they were no longer surprised; they basically assumed it. By the third time, they demanded it. They had come to believe that grace was an inalienable right, an entitlement they all deserved.
I took that occasion to explain to my students: “Do you know what you did when you said, ‘That’s not fair’? You confused justice and grace.” The minute we think that anybody owes us grace, a bell should go off in our heads to alert us that we are no longer thinking about grace, because grace, by definition, is something we don’t deserve. It is something we cannot possibly deserve. We have no merit before God, only demerit. If God should ever, ever treat us justly outside of Christ, we would perish. Our feet would surely slip.

Crazy Lazy

We live in the age of the little book. Back in 2014 this one was published. I'd not seen it but enjoyed reading it recently. I guess itis from a sermon and in some ways a balance to Kevin DeYoung's Crazy Busy. Both books are worth a read. One mistake in the transcription is the appearance of the phrase "its dreadful, ravishing impact" on page 29, which should surely read "its dreadful, ravaging impact".

Free Christmas Ebook

You can download a free Christmas ebook this month by Alistair Begg. See here.

10 Actors turned preachers

There is a reference in the Spurgeon biography to James Sheridan Knowles, an actor turned preacher. I also read of Thomas Barnardo's conversion recently where there was an actor turned evangelist involved at one point (John Hambleton I think). Here are ten names I have found who more or less meet the description. Perhaps the list can be improved.

1. Stephen Gosson English satirist and Anglican clergyman 1554-1624

2. George Whitefield Methodist Evangelist and amateur actor in his youth 1714-1770

3. James Sheridan Knowles Irish Dramatist, actor and latterly Baptist preacher 1784-1862

4. John Hambleton Evangelist and one time actor 1820-1889

5. Spencer Houghton Cone American Baptist Chaplain and some time actor 1785-1855

6. Charles B Parsons American Methodist preacher and former actor 1805-1871

7. Gu Ren'en or Ku Jen-en Flamboyant Chinese evangelist and one time movie actor 20th century

8. Peter Trumper former equity card holder and friend of Anthony Hopkins who became a Presbyterian minister in Wales lived 1934-2015. See here.

9. R Gary Heikkila Former Hollywood actor and ordained minister now retired 193*-*. See here.
10. Kirk Cameron American actor and street preacher 1970-. See here.

The well-known preacher Alistair Begg appeared in the 2004 film Bobby Jones: stroke of genius

Aber Conference 2013 Morning Meetings

The main conference speaker this year was the US based Scot Alistair Begg. He has a wide ministry and is at ease and at home in a hall of over a thousand. His irrepressible wit did not seem to spoil his addresses at all but added to the ease with which they could be listened to. Pastor Begg clearly works hard on his material and is more concerned to be pastorally helpful than convince you that he has the last word on how a certain passage should be exegeted. What he did on this occasion was to look at four passages (John 3, Mark 4, John 4, Luke 24) under the heading "In Christ's school of evangelism and discipleship". Lots of very helpful things were said about these matters. Perhaps it was the passion and commitment that came over best and this was of an infectious kind that both held interest and will hopefully have an effect in the lives of those who heard. On the first morning we had several quotations (Iain Murray, Baxter, Spurgeon) and finished with Spurgeon's conversion (perhaps he wanted to reassure us of his reformed credentials) but that pattern was not repeated subsequently (perhaps there was no need). I also enjoyed his frank take on being a minister in the seminar on the Tuesday afternoon.

Atonement (Book)

Atonement is another in the series that includes Solid Ground reviewed earlier. This one on a very relevant subject  is assembled in the same way, using past sermons at the Philadelphia Conference organised by ACE and edited by Gabriel Fluhrer. The contributors are Packer, with an excellent message on the Necessity of the atonement, Boice (propitiation), Sproul (satisfaction), Gerstner (Limited atonement), Ferguson, De Witt (reconciliation) and Alistair Begg.

Banner 2012 Final Session

The final session was from Alistair Begg on Titus 3. He simply worked his way through most of the passage so bringing to a close on the note of grace what has been a most helpful and useful conference. It has been good to be here.

The dates for next year are April 15-18. Among the speakers it is hoped will be Sinclair Ferguson, Jeremy Walker and Warren Peel.

Banner 2012 09

On Wednesday evening we had a helpful question session and then after the evening meal a second address from Alistair Begg, this time on Titus 2. Again it was very warm and beautifully illustrated with quotations and pictures. He began with a quotation from Dr Lloyd-Jones “The glory of the gospel is that when the church is different from the world, she invariably attracts it. It is then that the world is made to listen to her message, though it may hate it at first." He then observed how amazing it is that people today can square feminism, environmentalism and even yoga with Scripture. He then proceeded by isolating the verses addressed directly to Titus (2, 7, 15) and dealing with those first and then the various categories in the chapter before briefly tackling some of the other verses. He quoted Leo the Great on the deposit. It is "a thing not of wit, but of learning; not of private assumption, but of public tradition; a thing brought to thee, not brought forth of thee."

Banner 2012 06

On Tuesday evening we had the first session from Alistair Begg who is to take us through the Book of Titus. This first session was on the opening chapter. Obviously not every verse could be covered but we had an excellent survey with lots of useful things in it.

He began by saying that the book, written at a critical moment in church history when Paul was about to die, is a personal letter but not a private one. It was meant to be read by the congregations. Even today churches need to have things straightened out. Once we straighten out one thing there will soon be something else to deal with. He spoke on

1. The greeting

The long greeting (only the one in Romans is longer) is not intended to inform Titus but to remind the congregations of important truths. When we teach Scripture we are in part telling the people what to expect from us. He also spoke of the way older men can be such a help to younger ministers.

2. Leadership

It is noteworthy that Paul starts here. We need to see how important this is. He protested against the feminisation of the Church of  Scotland and spoke of the great help that good elders can be - like those who defend the quarter back in American football. He then went through the various qualifications negative and positive.

3. The empty deceivers

He closed by warning against these who elders must be able to deal with.

Audio sermons by Alistair Begg on Titus can be found here.

Also here