Article – Page 19 – The Burning Bush

A CONTENTMENT born of COLD INDIFFERENCE and an ANGUISH born of a LOVE FOR CHRIST!

Fools make a mockery of sin, photo by Austin Lowman on Unsplash

“For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you,” 1 Corinthians 1:11.

Commenting on the above verse, Dr John Gill said:

‘The person the apostle speaks of was one that very probably lived at Corinth, and was a member of the church there, and at the head of a family of great worth and credit; who being grieved at the growing animosities, and disturbances there raised, wrote to the apostle, and gave him a distinct account of them, desiring him to use his interest to put a stop to them.’

Here was a grief that was born out of a love for the Saviour and a distress born out of a holy jealousy for the honour of His name and His cause, which had been stigmatised by the divisions and sins in Corinth!

I believe that there is such distress aplenty within the ranks of the Free Presbyterian Church at present. Such is not wrong but most proper and good.

The Lord is grieved at sin

Sin amongst the people of God grieves the Lord!

“Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God,” (Hebrews 3:8-12.

Those who “have the mind of Christ” will share in that grief and vexation. It is impossible for the holy person to avoid being grieved at the state of the Free Presbyterian Church at present.

Mocked

There are ministers and elders who publicly have mocked the idea that there has been a departure from the path upon which our founding fathers stepped out in 1951.

Such a view is born of either indifference to the reality of the backsliding all around today or of an ignorance of the nature of the holy paths ventured upon in Crossgar in March 1951! (more…)

The Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster Covenant – Signed 28 February 1988

Part of the copy of the 1988 Covenant which hangs for all to see in the porch of Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church. I wonder how many other churches, which took part in the signing of the Covenant almost 40 years ago, have their copy on display?

As God providentially raised up Elijah, we believe He is 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 be 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.

As worshippers of the one God of heaven and earth, in the Trinity of His sacred persons, Father Son and Holy Spirit, to whom be all honour and glory for ever, Amen.

As a Witness to the whole Word of God, the Bible, in its sixty-six books, verbally inspired by God the Holy Ghost, as the final authority on all matters of Doctrine, Faith and Practice – the infallible Word of God to man.

As a witness to the Infallibility of the Person and Word of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who was and is God — God manifest in the flesh by the Virgin birth, and essentially not only Son of God but God the Son.

To maintain Testimony to the Glory and Honour of the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ in His three mediatorial offices, Prophet, Priest and King. He alone is the sole King and only head of the Church.

To maintain a Testimony to the Crown Rights of Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords, the Prince of Kings of this earth and Governor among the nations.

To maintain Testimony to the Gospel of Free Grace of Almighty God and the Power of the Precious Blood of the Lamb, in a day of apostasy, declension and compromise.

To maintain a Testimony to the truth of Christ against the lie of the Roman anti-Christ, the supernaturalism of Christianity against the anti-supernaturalism and modernism-called, the divine unity of the Church against the delusive uniformity of the ecumenical movement headed up in the World Council of Churches, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit’s infilling against the deceptions of charismatic fanaticism and the fervour of true Christian zeal against the formality of a dead and defunct orthodoxy.

“We preach Christ Crucified,” His Virgin Birth, His Vicarious Death, His Victorious Resurrection, His Vivid Ascension, His Vitalising Intercession and His Visible Appearing.

These blessings and this complete victory of our adorable Lord are secured and sealed to us by the precious blood of the eternal Covenant. Heb 13:20-21

“Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” Jude 3.

“Wherefore, take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Ephesians 6:13

The price of breaking a covenant with the Lord

“This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them; that every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother. Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go. But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.

Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, saying, at the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear. And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name: but ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids.

Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth,” Jeremiah 34:8-17.

I read these words on August 6th, and saw how offensive to the Lord were the actions of the rulers of Jerusalem when they made a covenant with those in their service in keeping with that commandment the Lord had established for Israel and recorded in Exodus 21:2:

“If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing”.

Sadly, they had almost immediately gone back on it and forced those liberated back into bondage. Upon reading this, I thought of the ‘Covenant’ made before the Lord that the ministers, elders committee men and members of the Free Presbyterian Church entered into on 28h February 1988, the 350th anniversary of ‘The National Covenant of Scotland’. To read this 1988 Covenant, click here.

It was a Covenant which may be summarised by the synopsis, “To stand faithfully for all that Christ is for and against all that He is against.”

Most of the older Free Presbyterian ministers, office-bearers and members would have signed that Covenant.

I must say that there are many who have failed to faithfully keep that which they solemnly swore to uphold before the Lord, by signing their name to the Covenant! (more…)