Tag:

Offer

One of the Highest Insults

26 Jul 2018, by

About sixteen years ago, I heard a young man from Hoxton (Association Baptist) Academy make the following remarks: “I now offer you Christ, and Christ stands with open arms ready to receive you. Yea, he begs, and prays, and beseeches you all to come unto him and have life; and yet some of you will not come. Nay, it is as if God the Father came and…

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In: William Gadsby, Fragments (Complete) | Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Chapter 9: The Future

3 Oct 2016, by

“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His Name.”—Malachi 3:16

Neither Luther or Calvin held those shallow Pelagian views, now so common, of a gradual amelioration and Christianising of the world. Calvin writes, “It is a superstition to think that the world is improving in religion and morality. It is not improving but it is always going back.” Luther says, “I know that the world is becoming epicurean; that is to say, they will lose faith in God and immortality, and give themselves up to the pleasures of the things of this world, and then suddenly shall be heard the voice, ‘Behold, the Bridegroom cometh.'” These statements are Scriptural; we have no warrant to expect the conversion of the world, but in the words of James to the Church at Jerusalem, God visits the…

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In: John E. Hazelton, "Hold-Fast" (Complete) | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

High-Calvinism: Fleshing It Out

27 Apr 2016, by

First, at no time is a sinner duty-bound under both covenants simultaneously.

Second, so long as the sinner remains unregenerate, he/she is held accountable under the terms and promises of the Covenant of Works (not the Covenant of Grace).

Third, once the sinner has been born again, he/she is delivered/released from the Covenant of Works, being brought experientially under the terms and promises of the Covenant of Grace.

Fourth, the non-elect have absolutely no part in the Covenant of Grace—it is not their duty to believe savingly on Christ, nor is it the duty of the preacher to offer…

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In: • High-Calvinist Views On The Biblical Covenants,• The Duty-Faith And Free-Offer Issue,Jared Smith, Bits And Pieces | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hyper-Calvinists: A Caricature

4 Apr 2016, by

Wade Burleson wrote an article entitled, “The Problem of Calling People Hyper-Calvinists”. Having attended the John 3:16 Conference in 2008, he described how Dr. David Allen, Professor of Preaching at Southwestern Theological Seminary, circulated a handout that listed a dozen names identified as “Hyper-Calvinists”. Following Dr. Allen in the pulpit, was Dr. Steve Lempke of New Orleans, who made the observation, “I am not sure that there is such a thing as a living hyper-calvinist. I find that those who call others hyper-calvinists have simply run into people more calvinistic than they are.”

Yet, there is a listing for “Hyper-Calvinism” in the New Dictionary of Theology. The definition is framed by Dr. Curt Daniel, who earned a doctorate studying “hyper” Calvinism…

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In: • High-Calvinist Views On The Biblical Covenants,• The Duty-Faith And Free-Offer Issue,Jared Smith, Bits And Pieces | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Classic Misrepresentation of High-Calvinism

29 Mar 2016, by

Here is a classic misrepresentation of High-Calvinism, and the misleading assertion that Fuller was the hero who rescued the Particular Baptists from ‘Hyperism’:

“Fuller’s pastorate at Soham, which lasted until 1782 when he moved to pastor the Baptist church in Kettering, Northamptonshire, was a decisive period for the shaping of his theological outlook. It was during his time there that he decisively rejected High Calvinism (i.e., an emphasis on the sovereignty of God in salvation to an extent which denied the free offer of the gospel and seriously hampered effective evangelism. Fuller said that his predecessor ‘had little or nothing to say to the unconverted.’).”

First, denying the free-offer is not an extreme emphasis on the sovereignty of God in salvation, it is a consistent application of His sovereignty in salvation.

To “offer”, is to “present or proffer (something) for (someone) to accept or reject as so desired”. An offer of the gospel reduces God to an ineffectual, pathetic beggar, desperately…

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In: • High-Calvinist Views On The Biblical Covenants,• The Duty-Faith And Free-Offer Issue,Jared Smith, Bits And Pieces | Tags: , , , , ,

Sermon Notes on Romans 9

24 Mar 2016, by

Having not been able to complete the scheduled Bible study for the mid-week service, I threw together some notes on the ninth chapter of Romans. It is not often I go ‘old school’ by scribbling on the nearest blank piece of paper. After teaching the study, I proceeded to broaden my notes for future reference. As the notes set forth a statement on High-Calvinism, I’ve chosen to include them with the online resources of the AHB. There are two sets of notes—the handwritten scribble is what I used in the pulpit (I haven’t bothered typing them out); the typed notes are what I jotted down after teaching the study.

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In: • High-Calvinist Views On The Biblical Covenants,• The Duty-Faith And Free-Offer Issue,Jared Smith, Bits And Pieces | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Error Concerning the Covenant of Grace to be Resisted

9 Dec 2015, by

William Styles published a book in 1902 entitled, “A Guide to Church Fellowship, as Maintained by Primitive, or Strict and Particular Baptists”. On pages 31 and 32, under the general heading, “ Error Concerning the Covenant of Grace to be Resisted”, the following statement is found:

“Any so-called Gospel which expressly or implicitly denies these truths [anti-duty-faith and anti-free-offer]—which represents the regeneration and conversion of sinners to be contingent on the earnestness and activity of “Gospel workers”—or the progress of God’s salvation…

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In: • The Duty-Faith And Free-Offer Issue | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Duty-Faith is Denied by All Strict/Particular Baptists

9 Dec 2015, by

William Styles published a book in 1902 entitled, “A Guide to Church Fellowship, as Maintained by Primitive, or Strict and Particular Baptists”. On pages 78 and 79, under the general heading, “Duty-Faith is Denied by All Strict and Particular Baptists”, the following statement is found:

“Duty-faith is the doctrine that it is the duty of natural men to exercise spiritual Faith in the Lord Jesus, and so to obtain salvation. Its emphatic denial is a distinguishing feature of the Strict and…

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In: • The Duty-Faith And Free-Offer Issue | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

John Hazelton: What He Can Teach Us

5 Nov 2015, by

On Friday, 21st March 2014, Dr. Matthew Hyde delivered the annual lecture for the Strict Baptist Historical Society at Bethesda Chapel.[1] After the lecture, he and I shared a brief exchange on the subject of high-calvinism and nineteenth-century Strict Baptist pastors. Since one of these pastors, John Hazelton, had been connected with the church that I pastor,[2] his name naturally came up. Subsequent to our chat, Dr. Hyde graciously gave me one of his copies of William Styles’, “John Hazelton: A Memoir”.

I believe Baptists should be familiar with the life and ministry of John Hazelton for three reasons:

First, the life and ministry of John Hazelton is worth knowing because he was one of the leading Baptist ministers in the city of London during the nineteenth-century.

Second, the life and ministry of John Hazelton is worth knowing because he is among a gallant group of Baptist ministers who tenaciously subscribed to a high view of Sovereign Grace.

Third, the life and ministry of John Hazelton is worth knowing because he has much to teach this generation of professing Christians who like to call themselves Reformed Baptists.

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In: John Hazelton, Biography (Complete) | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Declaration of Faith: Part 7

19 Mar 2015, by

Offers and Invitations.

We preach to sinners; we have no one else to preach to. We are to describe the condition of all men by nature, responsible under God’s holy law; we are to show its claims, and that “by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight;” we are solemnly to warn of the certain consequences of living and dying in sins. We are to preach the gospel with such ability as God gives us, telling of the riches of grace and mercy in Christ, and then we are to leave all with Him who…

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In: John E. Hazelton, A Declaration Of Faith (Complete) | Tags: , , , , , , ,

High-Calvinism and the Strict Baptists

21 Jun 2014, by

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In: • High-Calvinist Views On The Biblical Covenants,• The Duty-Faith And Free-Offer Issue,Jared Smith, Bits And Pieces | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

High-Calvinism and Preaching the Gospel

21 Jun 2014, by

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In: • High-Calvinist Views On The Biblical Covenants,• The Duty-Faith And Free-Offer Issue,Jared Smith, Bits And Pieces | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Duty-Faith and the Free-Offer

11 May 2014, by

Duty-Faith and the Free-Offer are two of the most pernicious heresies infiltrating churches today.

Preachers that demand sinners exercise faith, as the initiating cause of the new birth, are appealing to the flesh, wherein dwelleth no good thing. Subsequently, false converts are mass produced through manipulative devices in getting people to ‘make a decision for Christ’. The scriptural concept of faith is this—the sinner believes because he has been born again; he is not born again because he believes. Hence…

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In: • High-Calvinist Views On The Biblical Covenants,• The Duty-Faith And Free-Offer Issue,Jared Smith, Bits And Pieces | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
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