“Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD,” Joshua 24:14.
(Bible reading for July 17th)
To the end of his days Joshua laboured to strengthen the obedience and dedication of Israel to the Lord their God.
Equally tenacious was the spirit of disobedience found amongst many in the ranks of that nation.
Note how in the verse above Joshua says, “Put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.” Incredible as it would seem, there were still those Israelites who, despite all that they had seen and witnessed of God’s kindness and saving power toward them and His hatred of idolatry, worshipped idols.
Joshua faithfully warned of the consequences of disobedience.
“If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good,” verse 20.
He felt it necessary to repeat his call to reject idolatry.
“Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel,” verse 23.
This exchange took place just before the great man died.
“And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old,” verse 29.
But we must note the ominous assertion in verse 31.
“And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the LORD, that he had done for Israel.”
The clear implication is that their obedience and their adherence to the covenant they made at Joshua’s insistence would not last long.
“And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God. So Joshua let the people depart, every man unto his inheritance.” verses 24-28.
Israel’s adherence to the solemn covenant they made with the Lord lasted only for one generation. Proof of this is given us in the second chapter of the next book, Judges.
“And an angel of the LORD (this is a title of the Lord Jesus Christ) came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I (the use of the ‘first person singular pronoun’ proves this was the Lord Jesus speaking) made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you,” Judges 2:1-3.
This has been a pattern of behaviour that has been seen in every generation of God’s people. The words of Judges 6:1 are stamped upon virtually every generation of God’s people.
“And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD.”
I challenge any to deny that there are signs of a departure from the terms of the covenant that we made with the Lord no longer ago than 1988! Is this not tragically true of this generation of Free Presbyterians?
It was back in February 1988 that the Free Presbyterian Church membership signed a solemn covenant, the wording of which was compiled by Dr Ian Paisley, the then Moderator, and approved by the Presbytery and 28th February 1988 appointed as the day it would be signed by all our congregations. (See sermon notes from that day at the end of this article).
Here is the essence of the oath signed up to on that day by the members of the Free Presbyterian Church.
“As God providentially raised up Elijah, we believe He is now calling out a faithful remnant to maintain a testimony, free from compromise against every opposition of the enemy.
As a separated Church of God, sinners saved by grace and born again of the Holy Spirit, conscious of the violation of God’s commandments so rampant in this evil age, and conscious also that we could have a name to live and are dead, we humble ourselves before God and solemnly covenant together , by His grace to stand with Christ in this evil day, for all that He is for, and against all that he is against.”
How true is that final statement today of our denomination?
I have pointed out that in the last edition of the denomination’s ‘Official Organ’ , a minister urged upon the readership to pray a prayer of Thomas Aquinas, a mass-mongering idolatrous priest of Rome!
There is absolutely no excuse for such a statement by one who has graduated after four years of theological instruction in the Whitefield College of the Bible.
I do not believe that he was taught such sentiments there and he is expressing his own perverted views on popery.
As such this cannot be an ‘error of judgment’. No one who has a true view of Bible Christianity could ever write such words. They would, as we say, ‘stick in your throat’!
It has been noted that there are ‘out there’, amongst professing ‘Reformed Theologians’ those who admire the ‘intellectual gyrations’ of the likes of such Romanists as Thomas Aquinas and what is termed ‘natural theology’. ’Natural’ it is indeed for it has sprung from man’s depraved nature in utter contradiction to what God has revealed in His Word.
Sadly, men such as John Henry Gerstner, R. C. Sproul, founder of Ligonier Ministries and Dr. Arthur Lindsley, Senior Fellow at the C.S. Lewis Institute, among others, are considered to be ‘flavour of the month’ with young and aspiring ‘theologians’ who desire to abandon the ‘old paths’ and adopt instead something more ‘modern and with it’!
‘Intellectual academics’ is the true god of such individuals as named above and their ilk. They like to ‘swing through the high branches’ of intellectual anti-Bible twaddle that freely flows from them and their like.
As one friend wisely put it: “They especially embrace Thomas Aquinas’ ‘metaphysics’ which only they can understand. In fact, NOBODY that disagrees with it really ‘understands’ it. It’s like some new, gnostic ‘secret knowledge’ that is so complicated and obscure that only the ‘initiated’ can understand it!”
How different is the Word of God.
“And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name,” John 20:30-31.
“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God,” 1 John 5:11-13.
The Bible was written, not for the self-inflated ‘intellectuals’ of this world and those foolish enough to fawn at their feet and believe their foolish pontifications. Rather it was written for the ‘common’ people. Such were those who flocked to hear the Saviour. “And the common people heard him gladly,” Mark 12:37.
I readily place myself amongst such common members of society. I am, as the apostles were deemed to be by their enemies, one of those “unlearned and ignorant men” (Acts 4:13). I make no claim to learning or any great level of intellectual ability. I have no tertiary degree to flaunt but I would claim a little understanding and knowledge of the mind and will of God obtained from my Bible that comes from sixty years of reading and believing it.
It is on the basis of that knowledge that I make these observations.
It was with the arrogant intellectualism of the sort that many in the ‘Reformed Theological world’ manifest today, that the Pharisees reacted to the response of those they sent to arrest Christ but who found themselves unable to do so. “The officers answered, Never man spake like this man,” John 7:46.
“Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed,” John 7:47-49.
Thus an awareness of the unique person of the Saviour is cursed! That fits right in with the attitudes found amongst those who hold up the likes of such heretics as Thomas Aquinas as one to be admired and emulated!
May these considerations help to bring us back to the faith of the ‘common people’ who gladly heard and believed and treasured the words of Christ.
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
THE KING’S BUSINESS
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you,” Matthew 6:33.
Notes of a message preached in Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church, by the then minister, Ivan Foster, on the morning that the 1988 ‘Covenant’ was signed by the congregation — 28th February 1988.
Today we hold a ‘business’ meeting to discuss and consider the affairs of the Kingdom of God. For many, this is an unknown Kingdom, an ignored Kingdom, but for every true believer it is a Kingdom more real and more important than any of the earthly affairs of this life!
Our business today is the ‘King’s business’. It is ‘Royal business’, ‘Heavenly politics’, we are engaged in!
The Covenant we will sign today is a testimony to the overriding position that the affairs of God’s Kingdom have in our lives. Our text and the business we are about today serves to remind us __— :
I. THERE IS A KINGDOM OF GOD.
How many today, even though they profess to believe in this Kingdom, have little or no real knowledge of this Kingdom!
1. An earthly kingdom is an independent territory, bounded by borders, within which the laws of the sovereign rule supreme in the lives of its inhabitants. Even so it is with the Kingdom of God. It is a sovereign entity, distinct from all other kingdoms.
2. It is called the Kingdom of God because of its characteristics. God’s presence, power, purpose extend throughout it.
It is a wonderful contrast to this world which is the domain of the devil. The devil is termed the ‘prince’ and the ‘god’ of this world (John 12:31, 2 Corinthians 4:4) and its whole character displays his influence. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world,” 1 John 2:16. The devil is very active in this earth and leaves his mark upon it. “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them,” 2 Corinthians 4:3-4.
3. It is established in the hearts of repentant, believing sinners. The Saviour Himself teaches us this truth.
“Behold, the kingdom of God is within you,” Luke 17:21.
“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost,” Romans 14:17.
It starts small within us and grows to take over our being! It starts with the setting up of God’s throne within our hearts and then it is God’s purpose to bring all of our being under His rule and out from under sin. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you,” James 4:7.
The flag of holiness should be seen flying over the converted sinner if their conversion is genuine.
4. It will have a full manifestation one day. Being within the hearts and lives of poor weak sinners, little of its glory is seen. But that will change.
“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever,” Daniel 2:44.
“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth,” Revelation 11:15-18.
That will be a glorious day of manifestation of who and what the Christian really is.
“And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:49-57.
II. IT IS A KINGDOM WHOSE INTERESTS WE ARE COMMANDED TO KEEP.
Those in God’s Kingdom will be seen to be seeking ‘His righteousness’, that is, His ‘interests and honour in this world’.
1. This is the mark of the true believer. The interests of God are all important, overriding all other matters. It was for this reason that the martyrs gave up their lives for His cause. Thus, “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men,” Acts 5:29.
2. This often sets, if not always sets, the believer in conflict with the world. The world comes to a decision regarding any matter after judging it in an entirely different light from the Christian.
The believer’s ‘yardstick’ is the Bible!
“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them,” Isaiah 8:20.
Worldly men judge by self-advancement, appetite, appearance and profit!
3. Christians must ever give priority to the affairs of God’s Kingdom. The Scottish Covenanters, in keeping with other like-minded people throughout the ages, put the ‘Crown Rights of King Jesus’ before all other considerations, even their own lives!
This especially so at a time when God’s Kingdom is under attack by evil men.
III. IT IS A KINGDOM IN WHICH ITS FAITHFUL CITIZENS WLL BE SUPPLIED WITH ALL THE NECESSITIES OF LIFE.
“ . . . and all these things shall be added unto you.” “These things” refers to those matters listed in verses 31 and 32.
“Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things,” Matthew 6:31-32. Note the term ‘added’. They will not necessarily be ‘multiplied’ unto us! The word “added” means “joined to you”.
The reward of faithful service is the King ministering to us and supplying our every need. “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus,” Philippians 4:19.
No king is so good to his subjects as is our King!
“Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places,” Deuteronomy 33:29.
“Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD,” Psalm 144:15.
“Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God,” Psalm 146:5.