“The Secret Rapture False Teaching”

By Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
“I have said that the teaching about the secret rapture did not appear before 1830. We have, in fact, an authoritative statement as to how it began.

There was a New Testament scholar called Tregelles, who belonged to the so-called Plymouth Brethren. In 1830 and subsequently he was present at the Powerscourt Conferences which were attended by J.N. Darby and B.W. Newton, and others belonging to that school.

This is what Tregelles says: 'I was not aware that there was any definite teaching that there should be a secret rapture of the Church at a secret coming until this was given forth as an utterance in Mr. Edward Irving's church, from what was then received as being the voice of the Spirit - it was from that supposed 'revelation' that the modern doctrine arose.'

The teaching of the secret rapture of the Church at the coming of our Lord was first taught as the result of a prophetic utterance in Edward Irving's church.
It originated as an Utterance in Tongues, interpreted by somebody, and, indeed, Tregelles emphasized this by saying that this teaching was a 'revelation'.

As I understand the New Testament, we should always be suspicious of a teaching that is based upon some supposed 'revelation'.

According to Tregelles, the teaching with regard to the preliminary rapture of the saints, which first came in as a prophetic utterance, was accepted by certain people present at the 1830 conference, including J.N. Darby.

But it was not accepted by B.W. Newton, nor by George Mueller, and there was a division even among that circle.

Only J.N Darby and certain of his followers accepted it.

D.L. Moody, the evangelist, adopted J.N. Darby's teaching and because Moody was such a well-known man as a result of his evangelistic campaigns, it was popularized immediately.

The formation of the Moody Bible Institute popularized it still more and the publication of the Scofield Bible was possibly most influential of all in spreading this 'new revelation' teaching.

That, then, is the teaching about this Preliminary Rapture and the friends who believe this claim that there are certain scriptures which prove it.

So let us look first at 2 Thessalonians 2:8: 'And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming' - or, 'the epiphany of His parousia' or, 'the manifestation of His coming'. There is, it is claimed, a distinction between His 'coming' and the 'manifestation of His coming'.

But this is surely answered by 2 Thessalonians 1: 9-10 where the destruction of the sinners and the glorification of the saints occur together.

Furthermore, 2 Thessalonians 2:1 identifies the parousia with the coming of the Lord.
With regard to Matthew 24:40-41 which reads, 'Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left', the whole setting is that of judgment and in the context is comparable to the flood.

This verse therefore means that at the final judgment there will be a separation.
Finally, in John 5:28-29 our Lord says, 'Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in which ALL that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation'; while in John 6:39-40 He refers to 'the last day'.

So, the clear teaching of Scripture is that there is Only One Coming, not two; nor are there two stages. There is NO 'Secret' Rapture, and No coming of our Lord at any moment. Certain things must happen first, as we have seen.

The Scripture declares plainly that the Lord Jesus will NOT come until the Apostacy shall have taken place, the Man of Sin, the son of perdition shall have been revealed as in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5.

Many other portions also of the Word of God distinctly teach that certain events are to be fulfilled before the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because His appearing is our blessed hope to which we look forward, let us purify ourselves now, seeking to live as children of the light, and obviously different from the children of night and of darkness."
- “Great Doctrines of the Bible” by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

God incomparable

 If God be an incomparable God, then they are incomparably blessed who have him for their happiness - George Swinnock

Buy without Price

 Isaiah 55:1 (ESV): "Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price."

Revelation 22:17 (ESV):  "The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come.' And let the one who hears say, 'Come.' And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price."

Rev 3:15  “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!   So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.   For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.   18  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 

“**John 4:10 (ESV):** "Jesus answered her, 'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.'"”

Winners are Weepers

 "Winners of souls are first weepers for souls."

— Charles Spurgeon

"Had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, God would have put you there." — Charles Spurgeon

In times of adversity, believers comfort themselves with the solace that they suffer nothing except by God’s ordinance and command, for they are under his hand. -- John Calvin

I find myself frequently depressed ... and I find no better cure than to trust in the Lord with all my heart.

-- Charles Spurgeon

Because of our sin nature, we can’t trust our feelings! -- Answers in Genesis (probably Ken Ham).

We must judge our feelings against the absolute authority of God’s Word. --Answers in Genesis.

TELL HIM YOU ARE LOST AND UNDONE

 No, you must come in full dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ, looking on him as the Lord who died to save sinners. Go to him, tell him you are lost, undone, miserable sinner, and that you deserve nothing but hell. And when you thus go to the Lord Jesus Christ out of yourself, in full dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ, you will find him an able and a willing Savior.

George Whitefield

Delight in God not Dead Orthodoxy

 “Calvinism is natively experiential. Before it is a theological system, Calvinism is deeply affectional, God-centered, cross-magnifying religion.

“A man may loudly trumpet his adherence to the distinctive tenets of Calvinism, but if his life is not marked by delight in God and His gospel, his professed Calvinism is a sham.

“In other words, there is no such thing as ‘dead Calvinism.’ Such is a theological oxymoron for one simple reason: Calvinism claims to be biblical religion, and biblical religion is not only profoundly theological, it is deeply experiential and engagingly affectional!

“Wherever men and women claim to be Calvinists, their lives and their ministries will pulse with life—the life of living, Spirit-inspired, Christ-glorifying, God-centered truth.”

— Ian Hamilton

Optimistic Amillennialism

 A Case For Optimistic Amillennialism -- An Article from Mason S. Craig.

Introduction This post presents a case for optimistic amillennialism, which is somewhat of an eclectic position drawing upon both classic amillennialism and postmillennialism. This post doesn’t convey a complete eschatology, but highlights and clarifies a few points. Although my distinctions may seem slight to some, I aim to convey my current view, which doesn’t seem to fit neatly into either of the previously mentioned eschatological camps. As one of my professors once said, “The higher in theology you go, the more precise your theology must become.” --- The Kingdom of God The Expectation of Kingdom Expansion on Earth Throughout the gospel narratives, Jesus’ teachings regarding the Kingdom of God suggest an expectation that the Kingdom would expand. The Lord’s Prayer not only anticipates the kingdom, but earnestly asks for it to come (Matt 6:10). The parables of the Mustard Seed and Leaven foretell the inevitable growth of the kingdom (Matt 13:31-33). Jesus Christ proclaims his Church will be built and says, “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18). In The Great Commission, Christ grounds his command to make disciples in the statement, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt 28:18). Since the gates of hell will not prevail, Christ has authority and disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities of this world at the cross, and he is with us always, we can have a humble confidence that the Kingdom of God will continue to grow through the success of the gospel going forth in power. Now to be clear, Christ’s kingdom is not derived from this world (Jn 18:36), but that doesn’t discount the fact that Christ condescended to His earthly creatures, in an earthly body, to establish his earthly church. Everything about our existence as we know it happens on earth, so to think of the kingdom of God as wholly unearthly is to deny a dimension of its presence in our existence. So, technically, the Kingdom of God is not of this world, but we can expect its effects to be seen in this world. Ongoing Hostility Although I am convinced and confident that Christ’s kingdom will grow through the gospel’s success, I also believe that in ever age until Christ’s return, there will be hostility towards the Church. Whether Christianity spreads to 1%, 10%, 51%, or 99% of the world, the Scriptures seem to also teach that believers must be prepared to endure ongoing suffering. The wheat field will continue to grow with tares within it. That is not to say that a Christian majority is impossible, but that in every age, Christians will have to grow up alongside sons of the evil one (Matt 13:24-30, 36-43). --- The Millennium The Binding of Satan Common to both amillennialism and postmillennialism is the present limited state of Satan. In Revelation 20:1-3, John depicts Satan as bound and sealed within the bottomless pit “so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended” (Rev 20:3). The triumph of Christ over all cosmic powers occurred with His crucifixion and resurrection, which simultaneously limited Satan’s ability to deceive on a national level and prepared the way for the gospel to spread on a national level, as Christ commands in the Great Commission. With the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth, Satan’s ability to deceive is fleeting. The Millennium is Now In Revelation 20:4-6, John writes of a time when believers will reign with Christ for a thousand years. According to amillennial thought, this period is currently taking place and constitutes the entire church age, beginning at Christ’s first advent and terminating in His second coming. In contrast to classic postmillennialism, I do not believe the Millennium to be a distinguishable future golden-age. Rather, saints are reigning in heaven with Christ as we speak! --- Christ’s Second Coming According to traditional amillennial thought, Christ’s second coming will simultaneously actuate the final defeat of Satan, the resurrection of believers and unbelievers, the Final Judgment, and the new creation. Also, just as the old man passes away and believers are regenerated into new creations, our current world will also pass away and be renewed (2 Cor 5:16-17). Romans 8:19-22 discusses the current condition of creation under the curse of sin, anticipating the coming day when it will be set free from its bondage. Also, in 2 Peter 3, the day of the Lord is depicted as a refinement rather than destruction. We can expect this “glorification” of the cosmos to occur at Christ’s second and to be the foundation for the new creation. --- Conclusion While these may be elementary for some, I needed to record my current eschatological position. My primary aim is to simultaneously hold the Lordship of Christ over all and the success of the gospel without the triumphalist mentality that disregards potential suffering and pushback to the gospel in every age. Thus, the label optimistic amillennialism. Thank you for taking the time to read it, and if you have any questions, comments, or any other concepts I should consider, please comment below. Or, if you just want to talk theology, I am free until the end of the age!

Precious Promises

 2 Peter 1:4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises.

-------------------------------------------------------------

For a promise to be considered precious, especially within the context of Christian theology, it signifies that the promise holds immense value, importance, and worth to the believer. Here are some key aspects of what it means for a promise to be precious:

Divine Assurance: A precious promise often originates from God, who is faithful and unchanging. Such promises are guaranteed by God's character, making them utterly reliable and trustworthy. For example, God's promise of salvation through Jesus Christ is precious because it is rooted in His eternal nature and unwavering love (2 Peter 1:4).

Spiritual Richness: Precious promises provide profound spiritual benefits. They offer comfort, hope, and strength to believers, particularly in times of trial and suffering. The promises of God's presence, guidance, and ultimate victory over sin and death are examples of spiritual richness that believers treasure deeply (Romans 8:28-39).

Eternal Perspective: These promises often have an eternal dimension, pointing beyond the temporal and transient nature of earthly life to the everlasting joy and fulfillment in God's presence. The promise of eternal life with Christ is invaluable to believers, giving them a hopeful perspective that transcends present circumstances (John 14:1-3).

Personal Relevance: Precious promises are personally meaningful and applicable to the individual believer's life. They speak directly to personal needs, fears, and desires, offering assurance that God is intimately involved in every aspect of their lives. This personal relevance enhances their value, making them a source of constant encouragement and motivation (Psalm 23).

Moral and Ethical Guidance: These promises often come with moral imperatives or ethical guidance, helping believers live in a manner that is pleasing to God. For instance, the promise of wisdom in James 1:5 is precious because it guides believers in making godly decisions that reflect their faith.

Fulfillment in Christ: Many precious promises find their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ. He embodies God's faithfulness and love, making Him the ultimate recipient and fulfiller of God's promises. This Christocentric fulfillment underscores the preciousness of these promises, as they lead believers to a deeper relationship with their Savior (2 Corinthians 1:20).

In summary, a promise is precious when it is divinely assured, spiritually enriching, eternally significant, personally relevant, morally guiding, and ultimately fulfilled in Christ. These attributes combine to make God's promises invaluable treasures for the believer's faith and daily life.

Freewill Post

 Jonathan Edwards: "God did not choose us because He foresaw we would come to Christ. Faith is the consequence of election, not the cause of it. You contribute nothing to salvation except the sin that made it necessary."

"The greatest judgment which God himself can, in the present life, inflict upon a man is to leave him in the hand of his own boasted 'free'-will." Augustus Toplady

Martin Luther: "If any man describes anything of salvation, even the very least thing, to the free will of man, he knows nothing of grace, and he has not learned Jesus Christ rightly."

John MacArthur: "You and I believed the gospel, not because we were wiser or more righteous than anyone else, but because God graciously intervened, opening our hearts to heed His Word and believe."

____________________

God must miraculously change a sinner's heart before he will choose to repent and believe in Christ. The sinner does not have a completely free will. His will is in bondage to sin. Yes, he freely chooses to do what he wants to do, but he cannot and will not do what he should do apart from God's enabling grace.

"Free will is not...

1. Free will is not what many think it is. The bible clearly teaches that unregenerate people cannot freely choose to do what they should do. Unregenerate sinners will not and cannot choose by their own willpower to repent and to be truly righteous, but, according to the Scriptures, people always choose to do what they want to do and make decisions according to their natures -- their hearts. So even though all people freely choose to do what they want to do, they cannot all choose to do what they ought to do.

2. Free will is not what saves sinners. The wills of unregenerate sinners are in bondage to sin. Unregenerate sinners have sinful, rebellious hearts and therefore cannot and will not choose to surrender to the Lord and trust in Christ unless the Lord changes their hearts. And if God grants repentance to a sinner, if God regenerates a sinner, that person will freely and immediately repent, love and trust Jesus.

3. Free will is not the ultimate determining will in the universe. Even though people are fully responsible for their choices, and even though their choices result in certain consequences, God's sovereign will is the final determining will in all instances. God's sovereign will trumps the wills of human beings. Ultimately God is the one who determines what will happen. He causes all that is good and permits those things that are evil, but is He alone is the Architect of a plan that cannot be thwarted by humans or Satan, and a foreordained plan that will most certainly happen.

No one has ever been saved by exercising his or her free will. The sinner's will is in bondage and it refuses to surrender.

Keep in mind that God is dealing with sinners who deserve hell. No one has ever deserved to be saved. No one will repent, no one will believe in Christ, unless God first changes his heart. Justice would leave sinners under the wrath of God. Mercy and grace is shown to those who were appointed for salvation.

Acts 13:48 "All who were appointed for eternal life believed."

God both saves some sinners and damns other sinners as He manifests his various attributes. He does what He does for his own glory. His justice, power and wrath are demonstrated with those who are condemned and his mercy, grace and compassion are demonstrated with those who are saved. God's supreme commitment is not to the welfare of mankind, but to his own glory." (Exodus 9:16; 14:4, 17-18) hfd

____________________

Scriptures

Romans 3:10 "There is no one righteous, not even one. 11 There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away; all alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one.

Romans 8:7 "The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God."

Genesis 8:21 "The Lord said...Every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood."

1 Corinthians 2:14 "The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit."

Romans 9:16 "So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy."

2 Thessalonians 2:10 "They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 12 ...All will be condemned — those who did not believe the truth but delighted in unrighteousness."

2 Timothy 2:24 "The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient, 25 instructing his opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to the knowledge of the truth. 26 Then they may come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will."

Ephesians 2:1 "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously lived according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!"

Ezekiel 36:26 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh."

John 6:37 "Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. 65 He said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by the Father."

Romans 6:22 "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life."

Philippians 2:13 "It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose."

____________________

Quotes

Kevin DeYoung: "God does not turn anyone away who genuinely comes to him in faith. But if you come, it is only because God has supernaturally, unilaterally, sovereignly, and effectually enabled you to come."

J.I. Packer: "Evangelism is man's work, but the giving of faith is God's."

R.C. Sproul: "The greatest act of mercy that God performs is giving the gift of faith. Faith is the fruit of regeneration, not the cause of it."

Louis Berkhof: "Election does not in any way depend on the foreseen faith or good works of man, as the Arminians teach, but exclusively on the sovereign good pleasure of God, who is also the originator of faith and good works.

Dr. MacArthur: "...Well, the doctrine of election simply means that God, uninfluenced and before creation, predetermined certain people to be saved..."

Alistair Begg: "Faith is not ultimately a condition of salvation; faith is really an evidence of salvation. The very faith by which we believe is a gift from God Himself."

C.H. Spurgeon: “Free will has carried many souls to hell, but yet never a soul to heaven.”

C.H. Spurgeon: “I do not come into this pulpit hoping that perhaps somebody will of his own free will return to Christ. My hope lies in another quarter. I hope that my Master will lay hold of some of them and say, “You are mine, and you shall be mine. I claim you for myself.” My hope arises from the freeness of grace, and not from the freedom of the will.”

Comfort Rests on Christ

When a man’s peace and comfort rests only and always upon his sanctification: surely, when the joy of sanctification is greater than the joy of justification, it is an evidence of a legal temper.

  Ralph Erskine, (Law-Death, Gospel-Life, p.87)

It concerns every minister

 It concerns every minister of the gospel to put a stop to any opinion which hath the least tendency to Arminianism. We are not as idle spectators, to stand by with patience to see the truths of the gospel either openly invaded, or secretly supplanted, but as long as we are able to frame a thought, or hold a pen, it is our duty to make a vigorous opposition. Thomas Goodwin

ORDERED BY INFINITE LOVE

 She was 23.  They had three children. All the children died.   The first baby Nameless.  They drop (the baby) in the water between India and Rangoon.   The second, Roger Williams Judson 17 months old dies.   The third, Maria Elizabeth Butterworth Judson outlives her mother by two months or six months and dies.  

 Now Anne who lost two children then died and another child died wrote this after her second child died.   

 “Our hearts were bound up with this child.  We felt he was our earthly all.  Our

only source of innocent recreation in this heathen land.  But God saw it was

necessary to remind us of our error and to strip us of our only little all. Oh

may it not be in vain that He has done it.  May we so improve it that he will

stay his hand and say it is enough.”

 

I preach to produce mothers like mothers like that.  There are not many around.  

 Judson inherited a deep belief in the sovereignty of God; and, the great

importance of stressing that here for me is not primarily soteriological, though

it had that function of course for the way he understood people getting saved

in Burma. But it mainly, and my point here is that it stabilized him in the midst

of incredible and never-ending calamities in his life.   

 

Let me read you a beautiful sentence that I hope you all will be able to say.

 

“If I had not felt certain that every additional trial was ordered by infinite love and mercy, I could not have survived my accumulated sufferings.” 

 

There's another reason why I want to build fences around the sovereignty of

God.  I listen to the people in my church.  I listen especially to the suffering

people in my church.   and I don't know what I would tell them, if I could not

tell them,  

 

“This has been ordered by infinite love and mercy, not --- he just

didn't know this was gonna happen.”

The Love of the Father is Prior

 "Christ did not first by his work move the Father to love and grace, for the love of the Father is antecedent [in other words: prior] and comes to manifestation in Christ, who is himself the gift of God’s love.”

—Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 3:368

Simul Justus et Peccator

 Perhaps the formula that Luther used that is most famous and most telling at this point is his formula simul justus et peccator. And if any formula summarizes and captures the essence of the Reformation view, it is this little formula. Simul is the word from which we get the English word simultaneously. Or, it means 'at the same time.' Justus is the Latin word for just or righteous. And you all know what et is. Et the past tense of the verb 'to eat.' Have you et your dinner? No, you know that's not what that means. You remember in the death scene of Caesar after he's been stabbed by Brutus he says, "Et tu, Brute?" Then fall Caesar. And you too Brutus? It simply means and. Peccator means sinner.

And so with this formula, Luther was saying, in our justification we are one and the same time righteous or just, and sinners. Now if he would say that we are at the same time and in the same relationship just and sinners that would be a contradiction in terms. But that's not what he was saying. He was saying from one perspective, in one sense, we are just. In another sense, from a different perspective, we are sinners; and how he defines that is simple. In and of ourselves, under the analysis of God's scrutiny, we still have sin; we're still sinners. But, by imputation and by faith in Jesus Christ, whose righteousness is now transferred to our account, then we are considered just or righteous. This is the very heart of the gospel.

Will I be judged in order to get into heaven by my righteousness or by the righteousness of Christ? If I had to trust in my righteousness to get into heaven, I would completely and utterly despair of any possibility of ever being redeemed. But when we see that the righteousness that is ours by faith is the perfect righteousness of Christ, then we see how glorious is the good news of the gospel. The good news is simply this, I can be reconciled to God, I can be justified by God not on the basis of what I did, but on the basis of what's been accomplished for me by Christ.

But at the heart of the gospel is a double-imputation. My sin is imputed to Jesus. His righteousness is imputed to me. And in this two-fold transaction we see that God, Who does not negotiate sin, Who doesn't compromise His own integrity with our salvation, but rather punishes sin fully and really after it has been imputed to Jesus, retains His own righteousness, and so He is both just and the justifier, as the apostle tells us here. So my sin goes to Jesus, His righteousness comes to me in the sight of God.

Gill on Repentance

IV. The Author, and cause, and means of repentance.

1. The Author and efficient cause of it is not man himself, but God; “then hath God also granted repentance to the Gentiles”, <441118>Acts 11:18 it is not in the power of man to repent of himself, for he is by nature blind, and has no sight and sense of sin; his understanding is darkened with respect unto it, and he is darkness itself till made light in the Lord; and until he has a sight and sense of sin he can never truly repent of it; his heart is hard and obdurate, his heart is an heart of stone, and he cannot really repent of sin until that stony heart is taken away, and an heart of flesh is given; and whenever he becomes sensible of his need of repentance, he prays to God for it, saying, “Turn thou me, and I shall be turned”: nor do exhortations to repentance suppose it in the power of man to repent of himself; since these are only designed to bring him to a sense of his need of it, and of his obligation to it, and of his impotence to it of himself through the hardness of his heart, and to direct him to seek it of God, who only can give it; for,

2. Though God may give men space to repent, yet if he does not give the grace of repentance, they never will repent. Thus he gave space to the old world, threatened with a flood, which some think is meant by the one hundred and twenty years allowed them, when the longsuffering of God waited in the times of Noah, while the ark was preparing, but without effect; so Jezebel, or Antichrist, is said to have “space” given her “to repent of her fornication, and she repented not”, <660221>Revelation 2:21 and this God sometimes gives to the children of men to show his sovereignty, that he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and give repentance to  whom he pleases; and for the sake of his elect, not willing that any of them should perish, but that they should all come to repentance, and therefore his longsuffering towards them is salvation; and this also he sometimes gives to show his forbearance of the vessels of wrath, and to leave them inexcusable. Nay,

3. Though some men have the means of repentance, yet grace not being given them of God they repent not; the word, unless attended with power, is ineffectual; the most severe judgments inflicted on men are insufficient, as the plagues on Pharaoh, whose heart was the worse and more hardened under them, <021110>Exodus 11:10 and though the children of Israel were smitten with famine, with the pestilence, and with the sword, yet they repented not, nor returned unto the Lord, <300406>Amos 4:6-11 so the fourth and fifth vials poured forth on men, which will scorch and fill them with pains and sores, instead of repenting of their deeds they will blaspheme the God of heaven and his name, <661608>Revelation 16:8-11. And on the other hand, the greatest instances of mercy and goodness to men, and singular deliverances wrought for them, which should, and one would think would, lead men to repentance, and yet they do not, <450204>Romans 2:4,5

<660920>Revelation 9:20,21 yea the most powerful and awakening ministry that a man can sit under, has no influence on the minds of men to bring them to repentance, without the power and grace of God; such as was the ministry of John the Baptist, who was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, preaching in a loud, vehement, and powerful manner, the baptism of repentance; and yet though some publicans and harlots believed, the Pharisees repented not afterwards that they might believe, <402132>Matthew 21:32 our Lord spake as one having authority, yet few believed; and many cities where he preached, and mighty works were done by him, yet repented not; and if one was to rise from the dead, and describe all the happiness of the blissful state of the saints in heaven he was capable of, or paint all the horrors of the damned in hell, it would have no effect, neither to allure nor frighten to repentance, or bring men to it, without the exertion of powerful and efficacious grace, <421631>Luke 16:31.

4. The sole efficient cause and author of repentance is God, Father, Son, and Spirit. God the Father, “if God peradventure will give them repentance”, <550225>2 Timothy 2:25. Christ, the Son of God, as mediator, is exalted “to give repentance unto Israel, and forgiveness of sins”, <440531>Acts 5:31 and the Spirit of God reproves for sin, convinces of it, and works repentance for it, <431608>John 16:8.

5. The moving cause of it is the free grace of God; it is a grant and favour from him, a gift of Christ, which he, as a prince and a saviour bestows,

<441118>Acts 11:18 5:31 and an operation of the power and grace of the Spirit of God, and entirely flows from the sovereign will and mercy of God, “who hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth”,  <450918>Romans 9:18 not giving grace to repent.

6. The usual means and instruments of repentance are the word, and the ministers of it; as faith, so repentance, comes by hearing the word; the three thousand were pricked to the heart, and were brought to repentance, through the ministry of the apostle Peter; and as all the apostles were ordered by Christ to preach repentance in his name among all nations, so they went forth everywhere, and God in and by their ministry commanded all men everywhere to repent; and when and where the command was attended with power it produced the effect; and so the apostle Paul declared to Jews and Gentiles, that “they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance”; and the hand of the Lord being with him, great numbers everywhere believed and turned to the Lord, <422447>Luke 24:47 <441730>Acts  17:30 26:20.

John Gill, Body of Divinity, n.d.

CHRIST IS A BETTER PROMISE

 God can no more condemn a believing soul when he looks upon Christ, than he can drown the world against his promise when he looks on the rainbow.

—Puritan Stephen Charnock, Works 3:489

FULLNESS OF JOY

 “Lord, grant that from hence I may learn to withdraw thoughts, affections, desires, and expectations entirely from the world, and may fix them upon the heavenly state, where there is fullness of joy; where reigns heavenly, sweet, calm, and delightful love without alloy; where there are continually the dearest expressions of this love; where there is the enjoyment of this love without ever parting; and where those persons, who appear so lovely in this world, will be inexpressibly more lovely, and full of love to us. How sweetly will those, who thus mutually love, join together in singing the praises of God and the Lamb. How full will it fill us with joy, to think that this enjoyment, these sweet exercises, will never cease or come to an end, but will last to all eternity.”

~ Jonathan Edwards.

ORTHODOX HEAD, REBELLIOUS HEART

  "How tragic to have an orthodox head wedded to a rebellious heart!" Dr. James Montgomery Boice