The Last Sermon of John Calvin

On February 6, 1564, an era came to an end. The man who had done as much as any other to forge the theology of the Reformation, preached his last sermon. Unable to walk, John Calvin was carried to church in a chair. Calvin's mouth filled with blood as he preached his last sermon. He had ruptured a blood vessel in his lungs. He had great difficulty in breathing, and before he finished he had to leave.

These are among his final words:


"I have lived amidst extraordinary struggles here; I have been saluted in mockery at night, before my door, by fifty or sixty shots from guns. Think how that would terrify a poor timid scholar such as I am . . . While I am nothing, yet I know that I have prevented many problems that would otherwise have occurred in Geneva . . . God has given me the power to write, but I have written nothing in hatred . . . but always I have faithfully attempted what I believed to be for the glory of God."


Having preached my first sermon at age sixteen and having preached an innumerable number of sermons since, I can sympathize with not wanting to stop preaching. The prospect that God could choose to end my usefulness with this privilege is daunting. I would hope to God that I have a few thousand sermons left.


However, should that day come I too hope it is not because of sin or foolishness that prohibits me from opening this wonderful book, enjoining the congregation to turn to the text of the moment, and in the Spirit's enablement, explain the text in such a manner that God's people would say, "Didn't the Word of God burn in our heart?"


God forbid, but if I am able, with a collapsed lung, difficulty in breathing, and blood in my mouth, may I continue to proclaim the truth of his gospel until death calls the "game."

Friends for the Journey

Wow, would you look at this? The Gospel-driven Disciples Blog has been blessed with another award! This latest award is called Friends For The Journey (Blog) Encouragement Award. This award, which originated with Beautiful Chaos and comes to me from ArleeBird at Tossing It Out.

First, I say thanks to Beautiful Chaos who designed and originated this beautiful award. Second, thank you Lee, from Tossing It Out for your kind words as you summarized your decision to award The Gospel-driven Disciples:

Gregg at Gospel Driven Disciples has continually offered 

support, encouragement, and enlightenment to me.

Third, The Rules for Passing It On: 

1. Pass it on to 7 other bloggers and tell how they've encouraged you. 


2. Please let your recipients know that it started at Beautiful Chaos. 

3. Leave a comment on this post when you've posted on your blog. So, here goes:

Welcome to my Word of Poetry - Yvonne has been awarded this by Alex also, but for the same reason he chose her, I choose her. She is my most faithful commenter, she always leaves insightful comments which shows she read the post, understood it, and often was blessed by it. I am only sorry I couldn't award this to Yvonne first, but thanks Yvonne for your continued encouragement.

Atone - Brad always has a very thought-provoking and insightful blog. He loves our Lord and has always blessed and encouraged me each time I have read his posts.

Little Miss Wretched - Patience's blog is always exciting and uplifting. I am excited by her journey to graduate school and as a student of theology. As she blogs her journey and experience in upper education I am encouraged, challenged, and "envious" of this new stage in her life.

Seams Inspired - Larri has always encouraged me with her faithful comments and her posts. She is so upbeat, uplifting, and creative. I find it challenging to comment sometimes since I only desire to comment with a meaningful comment and her sewing and such sometimes leaves me with little to say, but I love to read her ideas. I love her joy and buoyancy as she "twirls" with her dear family.

So Much to say, So little time ... Cathy has always encouraged me with her insightful comments and emails. I always look forward and read almost immediately her posts as she updates them.

Theology for girls - Diane is so insightful! Also, as you know theology is very close to my heart and I love to read her insightful posts. They challenge me, encourage me, and cause me to think.

Tried With Fire - Persis always has an uplifting and encouraging post. She has had some very severe trials and I love her transparent sharing of her spiritual growth. In some ways I can empathize with her trials and I always learn from them. She has a wonderful sense of humor and unique way to display the graces of God being developed in her life.

Herlong - The Sequel

When we last met around the final paragraph in Herlong - Part II, I left you with this parting paragraph:

 I was wondering what God was doing with us and what was up. How could I be so wrong. 

I was so sure God wanted us in Herlong, at least at the Sierra View Baptist Church. That awareness never left me, it nagged me and dogged me everyday. What was I to do?

Each day that I drove to the Dairy and worked those cold and long shifts pulling ice cream and loading trucks, my mind would go back to that high desert community of Herlong and those wonderful people in that little church. Each day I replayed the same tape in my head of the things they wanted and needed and what I had planned to do there. It plagued me to no end. As a matter of fact, it so plagued me that one after noon I picked up the phone and called Elbert H. 

We had a long chat about what might have went wrong, what was really the issue (s) and what could be done. I apologized for my departure, Elbert apologized for their response and behavior.  We decided that maybe we were really meant for each other and he invited us back to the pastorate of Sierra View Baptist Church.

Irene and I packed the car one more time. We gave our notice on our apartment. I gave my notice at Alta Dena Dairy. We were headed north once again to that little desert community in the middle of nowhere, somewhere precariously perched on the edge of the world. I was elated!

 We arrived in Herlong after another grueling 450 mile drive up Interstate 5 and Highway 395 packed to the gills with four, count em, four little girls. I believe this was in 1984 which means that Shannon was 9, Sonja was 8, Sharon was three, and Stacy was two. Fun, huh? 

We found a single wide mobile home in the only Trailer Park, no it wasn't a mobile home park, it was a trailer park in Herlong and we rented it. It was OK. It had a wood stove and it was next to the washer and dryer building. 

I was able to get work at the Sierra Army Depot in the civilian police department. I went to work attempting to do my best as the pastor of our little church. We still met in the community center building which as adequate. We started preaching teaching as faithfully as we could in that little church.

It soon became obvious why we had left. These folks had been taught, really indoctrinated with the "party-line" dogma and they were not going to be taught differently. Some of the differences centered on doctrine and some on practical issues. They truly thought that the pastor was "hired" to do everything. After all he is the "paid professional." Their expectation was that I would do all the work necessary to grow the church and add people, workers, and finances. Their expectations centered on a few key points:

• I was to do all the work and  they receive the benefit and blessing
• I was to lambaste all the sinners who came and visited but don't lambaste them
• I was not to meddle in their personal and private lives
• We were to be "agin" (against) all the "sins" on their legalistic and Pharisaical list of don'ts for independent, fundamental, sin-hating, devil-fighting, separated KJV only baptists.
• I was to stop turning "liberal" by using the NKJV or NASB, teaching instead of preaching, discipling instead of just plain ole "soul-winnin" and including others into the body of Christ

Now you can see the trouble. I made the mistake of trying to teach the bible, like Ephesians 4, where the pastor/teacher equips all of the people to do the work of the ministry; I preached through books of the bible expositorily rather than "ride the favorite hobby horse" of the week. I did think a shepherd needed to be involved in their personal life as it was affected by their walk with God and level of discipleship. (oops, bad word) I wasn't willing in every sermon to rant and rave against all those things they were against.

We really came to a showdown when I began teaching the letter of Paul to the Ephesians verse by verse. Quite frankly, I really teach phrase by phrase which sometimes includes more than one verse. You should have seen "the bad moon rising" when I got to election. Of my goodness! Those poor Charles Finney Armineans thought I had offered a pig on the altar.

I ignorantly, immaturely, and naively thought that if I taught the scripture, taking the congregation through the exegetical process, and explaining it expositionally they would get it. I was wrong. At about the one year mark they decided once again, I wasn't the guy.

On one Sunday evening Irene, the girls, and I showed up at our usual time, 20 minutes early to straighten chairs, put out hymn books, and to freshen up our meeting area. The service was to start at 6:00 PM. 5:45 came and no one showed up, 6:55 no one, 6:00 no one, 6:10 no one, 6:15 none, and finally 6:20 came and no one had showed up for the service.

I told Irene that if no one else wanted to be in church that evening, I did. Calvary Baptist Church in Susanville met at 7:00 PM. It was about a 40-45 minute drive. We locked the doors, drove lickety-split to Susanville. Naturally they had already began their service but we hoped to quietly sneak in sit in the back and enjoy the teaching. Low and behold, as we walked in the back and looked at the back row for seating, who do you think we saw? That's right! Our entire little church had decided without telling us to abandon us and head into town. Awkward!

After the service, needless to say, it was a little tense. They acknowledged I was an excellent teacher and I seemed to know the scriptures well, but. There is always a but, isn't there? They wanted a preacher like Don E. and what they were use to. They decided not to "stand in my way." I could have the little community building and keep a going if I wanted but they were going to do something else. Now the "score" was tied! I left once and they left once. It was 1 to 1, bottom of the ninth, 2 outs, full count, and they threw a curve ball and I swung and missed. I was out.

So, I had my job at SIAD. I decided not keep the building or the name, we just sort of closed her down. The sequel ended like the original. We decided not to go back to LA again. We escaped California and wanted to stay gone. We moved into Reno, NV. Actually we move into Stead, NV.    Stead, NV was a community of homes that had served as base housing during World War II. Reno Army Air Base housed army units that flew in World War II. It was shut down in 1945. In 1948 the Air Force took it over and operated it as Reno Air Base. When Lt. Croston Stead crashed his P51 Mustang in 1949 and lost his life it was re-named Stead Air Force Base. When we moved in in late 84 or early 85 it was simply base housing turned into civilian duplexes for rent. We rented 12081 Himalaya Street.

That's the sequel to the Herlong saga. I eventually left Reno and moved to Cedarville, California and left Sierra View Baptist Church and Herlong behind. Later on Elbert H. became the pastor of the group, they renamed the church Bible Baptist Church and it is still in Herlong. I heard Elbert died a few years back, I sure liked that old man. Was always sorry we weren't on the same page.

The Infecitous Smoke of Patrick Hamilton

THE YOUNG MARTYR PATRICK HAMILTON

On the first of March, 1528 , some eight years before Tyndale was betrayed by a Romish spy, Archbishop Beaton condemned Patrick Hamilton to be burned because he advocated the doctrines of the Reformation and exposed the errors of popery.

The principal accusations were that he taught that it was proper for the poor people to read God's Word and that it was useless to offer masses for the souls of the dead.

Hamilton admitted the truth of these charges and boldly defended his doctrine. But his judges, Archbishop Beaton and the bishops and clergy associated with him in council, could not endure the truths presented by their prisoner, which indeed were greatly to their disadvantage. For a people before whom an open Bible is spread will soon test by it the lives and teachings of their pastors, and to abolish masses for the dead is to cut off a chief source of the revenues of Rome 's priesthood. Hamilton therefore was quickly condemned, and in a few hours afterwards, to avoid any possibility of his rescue by influential friends, the stake was prepared before the gate of St. Salvador College.

When the martyr was brought to the stake, he removed his outer garments and gave them to his servant, with the words, "These will not profit me in the fire, but they will profit thee. Hereafter thou canst have no profit from me except the example of my death, which I pray thee keep in memory. For, though bitter to the flesh and fearful before man, it is the door of eternal life, being a release from this life into the presence of Christ, which none will attain who denies Christ Jesus before this ungodly generation."

His agony was prolonged by a slow fire so that his execution lasted six hours. But, through it all, he manifested true heroism and unshaken faith in the truth of the doctrines, which he preached. His last words were "How long, O Lord, shall darkness brood over this realm? How long wilt thou suffer this tyranny of man? Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."

Thus, in the bloom of early manhood, died Scotland 's first reformation martyr, and his death was not in vain. A Romanist afterwards said, "The smoke of Patrick Hamilton infected all it blew upon." His mouth was closed, but the story of his death was repeated by a thousand tongues. It emboldened others to seek a martyr's crown and stirred up many more to defend the truths for which he died, and to repudiate the hierarchy, which found it necessary to defend itself by such means. "Humanly speaking," says the author of 'The Champions of the Reformation,' to whom we are chiefly indebted for the facts of our sketch, "could there have been found a fitter apostle for ignorant, benighted Scotland than this eloquent, fervent, pious man? Endowed with all those gifts that sway the heads of the masses, a zealous, pious laborer in season and out of season, what Herculean labors might he not have accomplished! What signal triumphs might he not have achieved!" So men may reason, but God judged otherwise. A short trial, a brief essay in the work he loved and longed for, was permitted to him, and then the goodly vessel, still in sight of land, was broken in pieces.

Dying Testimonies, via The Way of Truth

"Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness,
and for his wonderful works to the children of men!" 
(Psalm 107:8)


"I would that my life be like the smoke from Patrick Henry; 
may my life infect all, for Christ and His glory, upon whom it falls."

---- Gregg Metcalf

Think Much About Heaven

The most heavenly-minded man who ever lived—Jesus and other biblical characters excepted—may have been Richard Baxter. He was a remarkable Puritan pastor/writer who lived for seventy-six years (1615-1691), despite suffering with one physical malady or another almost constantly. During the winter of 1646, ill health forced him to spend several lonely months in a house far from his home and family. His condition was so grave that he was "sentenced to death by the physicians."¹


With his life ebbing away, Baxter began thinking much about Heaven. As he put it, "I began to contemplate more seriously on the everlasting rest which I apprehended myself to be just on the borders of." ² As he was able, and so "that [his] thoughts might not too much scatter in [his] meditation,"³ he wrote down his reflections that he might review and be comforted by them. 


These were the beginnings of perhaps the most important of his 140 books, The Saints' Everlasting Rest, published four years later. He found his extended times of meditation on Heaven so helpful that, after his recovery, he continued them for the remaining five decades of his life. For half-an-hour each day, usually while walking before dinner, Baxter disciplined his mind to focus on the world to come. As a result of becoming so heavenly-minded, he became one of the most earthly-good men of his or any other time. Many of his books, as well as the example of his pastoral method (recorded in The Reformed Pastor), continue their influence centuries after his death.

Fixing your thoughts on Heaven can be a powerful practice, since there is nothing on earth to compare with the beauty, splendor, and joy of that place. To think rightly about Heaven is much more than anticipating the rest and reunions there. That's not distinctively Christian thinking; even atheists want those things. In addition to these wonderful blessings, Christians yearn to gaze on the irresistible face of Jesus and to bask in the undiminished glory of Him whose countenance is "like the sun shining in its strength" (Revelation 1:16). We groan as we longingly imagine the glorious freedom of a mind and body without sin, "eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of the body" (Romans 8:23).


So "set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:2). Let your Scripture-guided imagination wonder what living in that perfect world will be like. Doing so will simplify your spiritual life by helping you to see your spirituality (and everything else) more from the perspective of eternity. It will clarify your priorities. It will remind you of a coming glory that's worth any suffering here, knowing that "our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17).


Thinking much about Heaven—"heavenly meditation" as Richard Baxter called it—will transform us, just as it transformed him. Baxter's example of thirty minutes daily may be unrealistic for most, but thinking about the greatest, most magnificent, and most alluring of all objects is worth all the time we can devote to it.
______________________
¹Richard Baxter, The Autobiography of Richard Baxter, abridged by J. M. Lloyd Thomas, ed. and with an introduction by N. H. Keeble (introduction and notes, London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1931; reprinted with revisions, Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1974), p. 94.
² Baxter, p. 94.
³ Baxter, p. 94.


_______________________


From Donald S. Whitney, Simplify Your Spiritual Life (Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 2003).
Copyright © 2003, Donald S. Whitney. All rights reserved.

Copyright Disclaimer: All the information contained on the Center for Biblical Spirituality website is copyrighted by Donald S. Whitney. Permission granted to copy this material in its complete text only for not-for-profit use (sharing with a friend, church, school, Bible study, etc.) and including all copyright information. No portion of this website may be sold, distributed, published, edited, altered, changed, broadcast, or commercially exploited without the prior written permission from Donald S. Whitney.

Read Well...

[I do not] want to leave the impression that reading many books is important. Reading great books and reading them well is what is important. Meditative reading, reading which stops and ponders, reading which sees deep into reality—that is the kind of reading which profits. That kind of reading should never end for you. Growth and stimulation and transformation will never end for you. You will be in the company of the greatest minds and hearts for the rest of your life, and you will become their peers if you read for understanding and for life.

~John Piper

Common Grace (Part I)

"All People That On Earth Do Dwell"

All people that on earth do dwell,

Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice;

Him serve with fear, his praise forth tell,

Come ye before him and rejoice

The Lord ye know is God indeed;

without our aid he did us make;

We are his folk, he doth us feed

and for his sheep he doth us take.

O enter then his gates with praise.

approach with joy his courts unto;

Praise, laud, and bless him name always,

For it is seemly so to do

For why? The Lord our God is good,

His mercy is forever sure;

His truth at all times firmly stood,

and shall from age to age endure.

William Keithe, 1561

THE DEFINITION

"...for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:17)

Adam and Eve were warned by God that if they disobeyed and sinned against God they would die. This death was separation from God. Sin brings punishment. The punishment that sin brings is death. Paul made this quite clear in Romans 6:2, "...the wages of sin is death." When people sin they become subject to this awful penalty of God's justice. Sin requires people to be eternally separated from God. Sinners are actually separated from God and from receiving any good from him. We find in Scripture that these same sinners will endure an eternity of separation from God in hell, and the Lake of Fire.

We notice very quickly when we continue reading the account of the sin of Adam that neither he nor Eve died that very moment or that very day. As a matter of fact we discovered that Adam lived some 930 years after committing that very first sin. We do know from subsequent study of Scripture that they instantaneously died spiritually and they began to physically die that very moment. 

We also are aware of the fact that several million descendants of Adam and Eve are born, sin, and do not die immediately. As a matter of fact some descendants of Adam and Eve live quite well. They seem to be very healthy, very happy, very hardy, and even very (well-) heeled. Many of these individuals not only sin, but they sin openly, flagrantly, and without regret. They, as well as believers, enjoy the manifold blessings of God.

Why? Why do sinners, both notorious and commonplace, enjoy the blessings that come from God? Why don't they die immediately? Why don't they suffer rather than savor the good things of life? The answer is that God supplies common grace. 

Wayne Grudem in his Systematic Theology defines common grace as: "the grace of God by which he gives people innumerable blessings that are not part of salvation." We must note first, that this grace is common because it is bestowed upon or extends to all men on the earth irrespective of whether one is a child of God or not. This grace of God is not restricted or limited to just the children of God. Secondly, it is grace in the sense that all the blessings of God are unmerited and cannot be earned nor deserved. Hence, we categorize or classify these "blessings of God" as common grace. It must be noted that common grace is absolutely distinct or different than "saving grace." Saving grace is that grace bestowed by God to His elect by His Holy Spirit in His sovereign timing that regenerates and secures those for whom Christ died.

Grudem is quick to point out and therefore we must be aware that God does not possess two types of grace in God, it is simply that God extends and manifests his grace in this world in two different ways. I think we can safely summarize common grace in this manner. First, common grace flows from God freely, second, common grace does not bring about nor result in salvation, and third, common grace does not flow from the work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. 

Although the unsaved do not inherit salvation from common grace they do not die instantaneously the moment that they sin. They are permitted by the unmerited favor of God to live various lengths of life and with various degrees of prosperity in this life. The sinner can and often is happy and has great blessings. The sinner achieves great success in business, fame, and can accumulate great fortunes. This reason stands out quite emphatically as to why believers should not envy those who are unsaved and yet seem to be happy or prosperous. This may be all that they ever have. They may never be brought to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. They may never be brought to a knowledge of God and his glorious being. Would we really begrudge a man who is condemned to spend an eternity separated from God all the while suffering in a Lake of Fire simply because he has lived a long, happy, healthy, and prosperous life?

I caution you to not begrudge the blessings of sunshine, snow, hail, blue skies, painted deserts, full harvests, warm breezes, powerful horses, sleek ski boats, vacation homes, Beemers, and et cetera to those who are not part of the family of God through Jesus Christ and His atoning work - this may be all that they have. (portions of this original paragraph were missing when it posted this morning, I don't know what happened to the rest of the paragraph)

Keithe in 1561 in his first stanza called for the entire earth to sing to the Lord the praise God deserves. Why? Because of the common grace, those blessings that flow from the character of God which falls us upon every living human being!

What common grace of God did you experience today?

Has there been a time that you begrudged an unconverted individual of God's common grace due to their long life, prosperity, or material possessions?

Why should God bestow common grace on even the unconverted?