WALKING WITH GOD- GEORGE WHITEFIELD

How we need men like the blessed Whitefield today in our wretched day of apostasy! I would like to write about him, but I feel unworthy. Besides, if you are a good reader, one of the greatest biographies of a Christian ever written (IMHO), is the late Arnold Dallimore's two volume set George Whitefield; published by Banner of Truth, and also Crossway. You can find it at Christian booksellers online such as Monergism, ChristianBook.com and even at Amazon.com. If you feel you can't possibly read 1200 plus pages just now, or cannot find a reasonable price on the set, try Dallimore's own condensation of 224 pages also published by Crossway. I think it will whet your appetite for more. As Principal G.A. Adams of Toronto Baptist Seminary said: "This condensation of the author's classic two-volume edition contains 23 fast-moving chapters of highly interesting material. A powerful rendering of a life wholly consecrated to God."

Here are two pleading paragraphs from one of George Whitefield's sermons:

Genesis 5:24, "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him."
"And now, what shall I, or, indeed, what can I well say more to excite you, even you that are yet strangers to Christ, to come and walk with God? If you love honor, pleasure, and a crown of glory, come, seek it where alone it can be found. Come, put ye on the Lord Jesus. Come, haste ye away and walk with God, and make no longer provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lust thereof. Stop, stop, O sinner! Turn ye, turn ye, O ye unconverted men, for the end of that way you are now walking in, however right it may seem in your blinded eyes, will be death, even eternal destruction both of body and soul. Make no longer tarrying, I say: at your peril I charge you, step not one step further on in your present walk. For how knowest thou, O man, but the next step thou takest may be into hell? Death may seize thee, judgment find thee, and then the great gulf will be fixed between thee and endless glory for ever and ever. O think of these things, all ye that are unwilling to walk with God. Lay them to heart. Show yourselves men, and in the strength of Jesus say, Farewell, lust of the flesh, I will no more walk with thee! Farewell, lust of the eye, and pride of life! Farewell, carnal acquaintance and enemies of the cross, I will no more walk and be intimate with you! Welcome Jesus, welcome thy word, welcome thy ordinances, welcome thy Spirit, welcome thy people, I will henceforth walk with you. O that there may be in you such a mind! God will set his almighty fiat to it, and seal it with the broad seal of heaven, even the signet of his holy Spirit. Yes, he will, though you have been walking with, and following after, the devices and desires of your desperately wicked hearts ever since you have been born. 'I, the high and lofty One', says the great Jehovah, 'that inhabiteth eternity, will dwell with the humble and contrite heart, even with the man that trembleth at my word.' The blood, even the precious blood of Jesus Christ, if you come to the Father in and through him, shall cleanse you from all sin.

But the text leads me to speak to you that are saints as well as to you that are open and unconverted sinners. I need not tell you, that walking with God is not honorable, but pleasant and profitable also; for ye know it by happy experience, and will find it more and more so every day. Only give me leave to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, and to beseech you by the mercies of God in Christ Jesus, to take heed to yourselves, and walk closer with your God than you have in days past: for the nearer you walk with God, the more you will enjoy of him whose presence is life, and be the better prepared for being placed at his right hand, where are pleasures for evermore. O do not follow Jesus afar off! O be not so formal, so dead and stupid in your attendance on holy ordinances! Do not so shamefully forsake the assembling yourselves together, or be so niggardly or indifferent about the things of God. Remember what Jesus says of the church of Laodicea, 'Because thou art neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth'. Think of the love of Jesus, and let that love constrain you to keep near unto him; and though you die for him, do not deny him, do not keep at a distance from him in any wise."
(from Walking With God.) This, and other Whitefield sermons can be found online, in their entirety, at: http://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/documents/Whitefield.html

CHRIST OUR ALTAR--MATTHEW HENRY

This brazen altar was a type of Christ dying to make atonement for our sins. The wood had been consumed by the fire from heaven, if it had not been secured by the brass; nor could the human nature of Christ have borne the wrath of God, if it had not been supported by a divine power. Christ sanctified himself for his Church, as their altar, John 17:19; and by his mediation sanctifies the daily services of his people, who also have a right to eat of this altar, Hebrews 13:10; for they serve at it as spiritual priests. To the horns of this altar poor sinners fly for refuge when justice pursues them, and there they are safe in virtue of the sacrifice there offered.

LORAINE BOETTNER ON LIMITED ATONEMENT

Presbyterian theologian Loraine Boettner gave us 12 volumes (perhaps more), of excellent, reflections on theological subjects. Most are still in print in 2009. His work called Roman Catholicism is a classic. Mr. Boettner, while living in Washington, DC from 1937- 1948 attended the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church where the famous future Senate Chaplain, Dr.Peter Marshall was pastor. Though I do not adhere to Loraine Boettner's view on the millennium, his book titled The Millennium is well worth reading to help grasp the standard Post-Millennial view. He was a very generous man who lived the last 32 years of his almost 89 years near his birthplace in Rock Port, Missouri. I fondly remember ordering the book Studies in Theology, a hardback which he sold "at cost". He wrote to me a nice short letter in the 1980's which I still have. (cw)

"Concerning this doctrine the Westminster Confession says:'...Wherefore they who are elected being fallen in Adam, are redeemed in Christ, are effectually called unto faith in Christ by His Spirit working in due season; are justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by His power through faith unto salvation. Neither are any other redeemed by Christ, effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified and saved, but the elect only' (Westminster chapter 3, section 6.)

"It will be seen at once that this doctrine necessarily follows from the doctrine of election. If from eternity God has planned to save one portion of the human race and not another, it seems to be a contradiction to say that His work has equal reference to both portions, or that He sent His Son to die for those whom He had predetermined not to save, as truly as, and in the same sense that He was sent to die for those whom He had chosen for salvation. These two doctrines must stand or fall together. We cannot logically accept one and reject the other. If God has elected some and not others to eternal life, then plainly the primary purpose of Christ’s work was to redeem the elect." (Reformed Doctrine of Predestination; Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, Philadelphia; sixteenth printing, 1971, pages 150, 151. Used by permission of author)

(Dr. Boettner had more to say in a later, small book more focused on the atonement itself).

When we speak of the atonement as "limited" we do not mean that any limit can be set to its value or power. Its value is determined by the dignity of the person making it; and since Christ suffered as a Divine-human person the value of His atonement is infinite. It is sufficient for the salvation of the entire race, and might have saved every member of the race if that had been God's plan; but it is efficient only for those to whom it is applied by the Holy Spirit. It is limited only in the sense that it was intended for, and is applied to, particular persons, namely, for and to those who actually are saved. It is indifferently as well adapted to the salvation of one man as to that of another, thus making objectively possible the salvation of all men. But because of subjective difficulties arising out of the in­ability of fallen men either to see or appreciate the things

of God, only those who are regenerated by the Holy Spirit respond to it and are saved. God could change all human hearts by His mighty regenerating and convincing power if He chose to do so. He wrought mightily in the heart of Saul of Tarsus and made him into a new man, as He has wrought mightily in the heart of every other member of this fallen race who has been translated from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. But for reasons which have not been fully revealed He does not apply this grace to all.

The Gospel is, nevertheless, to be offered to all men, with the assurance that it is exactly adapted to the needs of all men, and that God has decreed that all who place their faith in Christ shall be saved by Him. No man is lost be­cause of any deficiency in the objective atonement, or be­cause God has placed any barrier in His way, but only be­cause of subjective difficulties, specifically, because of his own evil disposition and his freely exercised wicked will prevent his believing and accepting that atonement. God's attitude is perhaps best summed up in the parable of the marriage feast and the slighted invitations, where the king sends this message to the invited guests who, he foresees, will reject and never take part of the feast: "I have made ready my dinner; my oxen and my failings are killed, and all things are ready: come to the marriage feast," Matt. 22:4.

In reality Arminians do limit the atonement as certainly as do Calvinists. For while Calvinists limit its extent in that they say it is not applied to all persons (although they believe that much the greater portion of the human race will eventually be saved), Arminians limit its power or inherent value; for they say that in itself it does not save

Limited Atonement; Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids, MI, 1941; pages 92, 93, now out of print.

IS KNOWLEDGE AFFECTING OR AFFLICTING THY HEART?

"Reader, remember this: if thy knowledge do not now affect thy heart, it will at last with a witness afflict thy heart; if it do not now endear Christ to thee, it will at last provoke Christ the more against thee; if it do not make all the things of Christ to be very precious in thy eyes, it will at last make thee the more vile in Christ's eyes." Thomas Brooks