Crying for the LORD to Work

(Article for publication week of 7-2- AD 2015)

 "It is time for thee, LORD to work: for they have made void thy law." (Psalm 119:126).

Surely this must be the prayer of everyone who loves the LORD in the day in which we live. Surely all of us must see that we have reached a point in our country where no arm of flesh can help, but only the omnipotent arm of our Great God.

Our text speaks directly to the time and place in which you and I live. "They have made void Thy law." Sadly the professing church is guilty of having made void the law of God. The liberals (who we have no reason to suppose are saved) have made void the law of God by denying the inspiration and authority of scripture. Sadly whole denominations are under the control of this ilk. But even in more conservative churches where faith in the Bible is outwardly affirmed, the law of God has been made void by antinomianism, that is by anti-law teaching and preaching and practice. While no true Christian hopes to be saved by keeping the law of God, all true Christians should consider the moral law of God as their rule of life. The scriptures make it clear that the gospel of grace does not make void the moral law of God (Matthew 5:17; Romans 3:31). But it is widely believed that the moral law of God has been made irrelevant by the New Testament. Many teach that Christ came to give us a better and nobler law, but the fact is there is no higher code of morality than that commanded by the moral law of God briefly comprehended in the Ten Commandments. To be sure our Lord gave us further instruction in the law as to its spirituality and corrected the erroneous teachings of the scribes and Pharisees concerning the law, but He nowhere condemned the Old Testament, but upheld it in His life and teaching. Dispensationalism has led to making void the law by essentially teaching that God saved sinners in a different way under the Old Testament than as He does now under the New, but such places as Romans 4 make it clear that Old Testament Saints were saved by grace alone through faith in the imputed righteousness of Christ just as we are. It is time for the professing church to repent of having made the law of God void. I will just ask you preachers, when was the last time you preached a series of messages on the Ten Commandments? When was the last time you explained to your congregation the three-fold classification of the law as moral, civil and ceremonial? Have you ever preached these things? Do you understand these things yourself? Be honest with yourself and the Lord. It is time for the Lord to work for the professing church has made void the law of God either by silence or by erroneous teaching.

But I declare to you also that the nation has made void the law of God and has sought to enact laws of human origin rather than Divine. Now I speak to you who hold office in the Commonwealth and I declare unto you that you are obligated to obey God's law and you have no authority to enact laws contrary to His law. No nation will ever enact a better code of laws than the civil laws that God gave unto Israel under the Old Testament. Although there are things in the civil laws that were especially pertinent to that dispensation, the principles of those laws should be the foundation of all nations that desire the greatest degree of earthly happiness. Now I am going to give you a case in point that is presently on everyone's minds. The recent mass murders in South Carolina have fueled much sensationalism. And as you read the various accounts and comments no one that I have heard in the public arena is calling for national repentance and a return to the law of God. There is much jack-leg psychobabble about the piece of vermin that committed this heinous crime. There are those who are blaming the crime on the Confederate Flag. There are those who are clamoring for the scum bag to be tried for a "hate" crime (as if there were crimes that are not hateful). There are some in the professing church who are saying we have to "forgive" the murderer. But what saith the scriptures? "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed" (Genesis 9:6). See also Exodus 21:12 and Acts 25:11. Now here is a vile miscreant that murdered nine innocent people and there are numerous eyewitnesses. God's law says the man must be put to death. And it should not cost the State of South Carolina millions of dollars to put the evil wretch to a trial and long drawn out appeals.

It is time for You to work LORD for Church and State and individuals have made Your law void. We pray that you will regenerate many in our nation and churches and write your laws in their hearts and put them in their minds. We pray for a true revival in our nation; and we pray in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only Mediator between us and a thrice Holy God. Amen.

Not Your Own

(Article for publication week of 6-25- AD 2015)

"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's"  (I Corinthians 6:19-20).

 

Last week we showed how a child of God is a servant  (slave or "doulos" in the Greek) of the Lord Christ (see again Romans 1:1, etc.). This week we will show you more particularly what this means.

 

Our text this week tells us that we do not belong to ourselves, we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. He bought us lock, stock, and barrel, and we are His property. The Lord Jesus Christ bought us (believers)with His Own blood. He sends His Holy spirit into the hearts of all those for whom He died and thus the people of God are the "temple" of the Holy Ghost. Thus we see that God's elect people are obligated to glorify God in body and spirit because we are the property of Christ.

 

So firstly, we see that the Atonement is the believer's incentive to live a holy life. Believing that Christ has paid the price of our redemption in full begets in us a spirit of obedience to the One that redeemed us and made atonement for us. There is nothing that will encourage obedience to Christ like the sight of blood bought pardon. As dear Joseph Hart wrote, "law and terrors do but harden, all the while they work alone. But a sense of blood bought pardon soon dissolves a heart of stone." People who are trying to earn salvation by their own efforts and merits can only find disappointment, but those who serve Christ as bond servants bought by His blood find it their greatest joy. There is a world of difference in trying to serve Christ to earn salvation and serving Him because you are saved.

 

Secondly, our text tells us that Christ has property rights in His people. Actually the elect of God were His in eternity because God the Father gave us to Him from before the morning of time. But the elect of God fell in Adam with all the human race and so God the Son became a Man to come and satisfy our debt to Divine Justice. We are "bought with a price," the blood of the God-Man. Oh! What a high price! the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ! Dear reader if you are one of Christ's blood-bought ones you belong to Him and He has property rights in you.

 

Thirdly, let us see in our text that believers only have one "right"- that is the right to live a holy life. "Ye are not your own."  Christians will not be found amongst those who are always demanding their "rights." A Christian knows that if he got what he deserves in and of himself he would already be burning in hell. The only right that concerns us is the right we have to glorify God and enjoy Him forever! We had forfeited that right by our sin, but Christ bought it back for us. We can live a holy life, by the help of the Holy Spirit indwelling us whether we are masters or slaves. We can live a holy life whether we live in a Constitutional Republic, or whether we live under a monarchy, or under mob rule (sometimes called "democracy"). Dear reader, if you are more interested in civil rights or political rights or property rights or gun rights than in living a holy life you are not saved. Now you put that in your pipe and smoke it.

 

I pray that some of you may be given peace in believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and be given a sense of blood bought pardon and that you may see that you are not your own, but you are the property of the Dear Saviour.

Christ's Slave

(Article for publication week of 6-18- AD 2015)

 

"Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ" (Romans 1:1a). As we announced last week, we plan to be writing for the next several weeks on the institution of domestic servitude from a Biblical perspective. We call upon our readers to learn to think Biblically. It takes some labour to do this, for the world and the Devil are trying to get us to think as they would have us to think, and our flesh is more than willing to yield to this unholy and anti-God pressure. I urge you dear reader to lay aside every worldly ambition, and every human philosophy, and every devilish idea, and discipline your mind to think as God would have you. We urge you to examine everything you see and hear and read by the inspired Word of God.

Now, note well how the Apostle Paul describes himself. He describes himself as a "servant" of the Lord Jesus Christ. This word "servant" in our text is translated from the Greek word, "doulos." The best authorities tell us that the Greek word, "doulos" literally means a "slave." This is the same Greek word used in Ephesians 6:5 and numerous other times in the New Testament. Some modern translations of the New Testament often  translate "doulos" as "slave", rather than as "servant" in the Authorised Version. There is nothing faulty with the Authorised Version's translation of doulos, for in 1611 the English word "servant" carried essentially the same meaning as "slave." Nor is this the only place that Paul describes himself as a doulos, i.e. a slave. He uses the same description of himself in Titus 1:1. Peter, James and Jude use the same word concerning themselves (2 Peter 1:1; James 1:1; Jude 1:1).

The Apostle Paul delightfully declared himself to be a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. He knew himself to be the purchased property of Christ, and as such he was obligated to do the bidding of his Dear Master in everything. And so it is with everyone who is saved by the Lord Jesus Christ- we are His slaves. Christ does not save sinners and leave them to themselves. He saves them to bring them into His service. Some of you would like to have Jesus to be your saviour and keep you out of hell, but you refuse to be the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus you show yourself to be unsaved and on the high road to hell.

Now, the fact is that everyone is either a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ, or else they are a slave of the Devil. Dear reader, you are not free- you are either a slave of sin and the world and the Devil (Romans 6:20; John 8:34), or you are a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. I will submit to you that it is far better to be Christ's servant! Christ loves His slaves, but the Devil hates his. Christ demands nothing of His servants except what is for their good, but the Devil requires that which will destroy both body and soul an hell. The Lord Jesus is a gentle Master, but the Devil is a cruel one. The Lord Jesus Christ died for His slaves to purchase them from eternal ruin, but the Devil leaves his slaves to fend for themselves with nothing but their own self righteousness which will damn them forever. I ask you dear reader, would you not prefer the service of Christ to that of the Devil? Why don't you cry out to Him now for mercy and ask Him to deliver you from your present master and make you His servant?

You see, a Biblical perspective of servitude is fundamental to our understanding of salvation itself. I implore you to consider what the scriptures say concerning what it means to be a "doulos" of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a wonderful thing to belong to Christ and to be His doulos. Those of us who belong to Him would never think of leaving Him to go back to our old master.

The Bible and Slavery

(Article for publication week of 6-11- AD 2015)

 

"Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as unto Christ;" (Ephesians 6:5). During the months of April and May we wrote a series of articles for the Narrow Way about the Great Revival in the Confederate Armies. We stated that our purposes for the articles were to give glory to God for the salvation of sinners, encourage the Lord's people to pray for revival, urge the lost on to Christ, and to defend the honour of our Southern Forefathers. We shall keep these purposes before you as we commence a new series of articles in defence of the institution of domestic servitude.

Now, I can hear the mob crying out for my blood already. And my few friends are likely to enquire, "Floyd, why in the world do you want to write on that subject? Don't you have enough enemies as it is?"! Our answer is we care not for making friends and influencing people. We will leave that to people pleasers and politicians. The desire of the true man of God is not to win friends and influence people, but to declare the whole counsel of God. And there is no part of Biblical Truth from which a true man of God will shy. And some other well meaning people, perhaps some who are true Christians will say, "Floyd, how will you ever get any African-Americans to come to your church if you write on this subject?" To which we answer, anyone who wants to worship Christ in Spirit and in Truth is welcome to come to church with us, but we are not in the business of worshipping any man or any group of men or any ethnic group. So we just say as we introduce this subject that true preachers must preach all the Bible, not just pet or favourite texts or subjects. We must preach things that are unpopular and the truth is always unpopular, and always will be.

The subject that we introduce this week is vitally important for at least three good reasons. First because we must define sin by the inspired scriptures, not by political correctness. This generation of worldly minded church members are "ashamed" of their forefathers who were slaveholders, but they are not ashamed of their children becoming sodomites and fornicators. Whole denominations have "apologised" for slavery, while tolerating unbiblical divorce in their churches. I John 3:4 says that "sin is the transgression of the law" (of God), not the transgression of political correctness. But the modern "church" wants desperately to be politically correct rather than Biblically correct.

Secondly, we will defend the institution of domestic servitude from the scriptures because the race-baiters, liberals, and modern day abolitionists continue to stir up hatred between the races because slavery was practised in this country for 245 years, though it was ended as an institution 150 years ago. Certain agitators continue to cry for reparations (so-called) to the descendents of slaves, and the liberals continue to agitate class warfare and encourage our African-American citizens to self pity and to think of themselves as "oppressed," because many of their ancestors were servants. We as Christians, both black and white need to rise above this fray and view all of this from a Biblical standpoint. All I am asking is that professed Christians learn to think Biblically, not as the world.

Thirdly, we will defend the institution of domestic servitude to defend the honour of our Christian forefathers. Actually there were only about ten per cent of the Southern People who ever owned slaves, but that is another subject. Actually, domestic servitude was practised in all the original thirteen states, including the northern ones, but that is another subject.  My great-great-great grandfather owned eight slaves according to records I have. He was also a faithful member of the Baptist Church in a day when you had to have a credible confession of faith and live a holy life to be a member of the church. I refuse to try to put my great-great-great grandfather in outer darkness when the scriptures do not. So I end this article by urging you to read my text and look up the word "servant" in your Strong's Concordance and Lord willing, we will continue next week.

The Real Reason for the War

(Article for publication week of 6-4- AD 2015)

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).

 

Back during the month of April we commenced a series for the Narrow Way column on the Great Revival in the Confederate Armies in conjunction with Confederate Heritage Month and Confederate Memorial Day. This week I would like to present for your consideration the real reason for the War.

Now, when I say the "War", my regular readers will know, as will informed Christian Southerners that when we refer to the War, we refer to the War for Southern Independence, also known as the War Between the States and the War of Northern Aggression , more generally known as (though erroneously), the "Civil War." First of all you should be clear that the War that was fought on this continent from 1861 through 1865 was not, in fact a "civil" war. A "civil" war is a war fought between opposing factions for control of the same country or government. Our Southern Forefathers never attempted to overthrow or take over the government of the United States. They seceded from the United States as the original thirteen colonies seceded from Great Britain. When we refer to the War for Southern Independence as the "War", it is because well informed Christian Southerners know and understand that for the South in particular, but in reality for all of America, the Country was changed by this War more than any other war in which our people have ever been engaged. The defeat of the South destroyed the Old Constitution and headed the whole country, South and North toward communism. Most all of the social and political ills now facing America have their roots in the overthrow of the Constitution by the Red Republicans who took control of the federal government in 1860.

When we begin to consider the real reason for the War for Southern Independence the Southern Partisan would quickly assert that the War was over the  Constitutional sovereignty of the States which was being usurped by an increasingly intrusive federal government. Those who have been brainwashed by the Godless public school system would insist that the War was fought to free the slaves. More careful students of history would say that the unfair tariffs that made the South a captive trading partner of the northern Industrialists and capitalists was the real cause. The truth is that humanly speaking all of these and other issues were factors that led to the division between the South and the North. But the real reason for the War, and indeed the real reason for all things is found in my text in Romans 8:28.

The real reason for all things are found in the eternal purpose of our great God who has foreordained all things for two great purposes. God's first purpose in all things is HIS OWN GLORY! Though God's Sovereign purpose does not force any man to sin, He does cause all things, including sin to work out for His Own Glory. Psalm 76:10 declares, "surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee: the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain." Evil men do things for evil, but God always means it for good (Genesis 50:20), which is God's second great purpose in all things, the eternal and spiritual good of His elect. Only those who believe the Bible ever have a true understanding of history, for history is indeed His- Story. The history of man is the story of the unfolding of God's sovereign purpose to get glory for Himself and do good to His people.

Now let us come to a more direct point. We may not know until the Great Day all of God's purposes in the War, but we do know that God used the War to save about 150,000 Confederate soldiers. God is sovereign in the time of every elect person's conversion (Psalm 102:13; Galatians 1:15), and in the particular instruments He uses. On the surface we see the Red Republicans agitating for a strong central government, and the South ready to defend her Constitutional Rights. But behind the scenes we see a Sovereign God putting 150,000 Southern men in the camps where the gospel was preached. You will ask, why in the world would God do that when there were faithful preachers all over the South from whom these men could have heard the gospel and been converted?! All I can tell you is, you will have to ask God Who works all things out in history for His glory and the good of His people! Go read my text and Romans 11:33-36.