           The
     STANDARD
          BEARER
f          A REFORMED  SEMI-MONTHLY  MAGAZINE





               SPECIAL ISSUE
                                  ON
       THE  SAVING  CALLING
       The saving calling is that work of God's
     mighty grace in Christ, through the Holy
     Spirit, and by the preaching of the gospel,
     whereby the elect, regenerated sinner is
     changed from darkness into light, so that he
     repents and consciously embraces Christ
     and all His benefits.



                                                 Vol.  LXIII, No. 12, March 15, 1987  -


     266                                           THE STANDARD BEARER




                            CONTENTS                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                        ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                            Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
       Meditation -                                                          Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                  Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
            Rest For The Weary ..................... .266          Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                   Department Editors:  Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
        Editorial -                                                D. Decker, Rev. Barry Gritters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko,
                                                                   Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. Kortering, Rev. George C. Lub-
            About  This Special Issue ................. .269                                                         IT
                                                                   bers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev. James S opsema, Rev. Gise J. Van Baren,
                                                                   Rev. Herman Veldman, Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
       The Call: External and Internal .............. .270         Editorial  Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
                                                                                       4975  Ivanrest Ave., S.W.
       The Calling And The Gathering Of The Church .272                                Grandville, Michigan 49418
                                                                   Church News Editor: Mr. Ben Wigger
       The Indispensable  Preacher ................ .275                                   6597  - 40th Ave.
                                                                                           Hudsonville, Michigan 49426
       The Address  of The Calling ................. .278          Editotiaial  Policy: Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his own ar-
                                                                   ticles. Contributions of general interest from our readers and questions for the
       Witnessing And Preaching ................. .280             Question Box Department are welcome. Contributions will be limited to approx-
                                                                   imately 300 words and must be neatly written or typewritten, and must be
       Serious  Call or Well-Meant  Offer? ........... .282        signed. Copy deadlines are the first and the fifteenth of the month. All  corn-
                                                                   munications relative to the contents should be sent to the editorial office.
       Book Review ............................ .285               Reprint Policy: Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of articles in our
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       News  From Our Churches. ................. .286             reproduced in full; b) that proper acknowledgement is made; c) that a copy of the
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     MEDITATION



                                      Rest For The Weary*

                          Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
                                                                                                        -Matthew  11:28



       Toiling!                                                      the  picture  of  the  daily  laborer  in  the  shops,  or  of
       Do  you  know  by  experience  the  sad  and  dis-            the husbandman in his field, who rises early  in the
     heartening  implication of that word?                           morning  and  returns  home  in  the  evening,   tired
                                                                     and weary,  and longing to forget  the burdens of the
~      Nay,  if  you  would  understand  its  meaning,   do          day  in  restful  sleep,  For,  however  heavy  the  work
     not  summon  before  the  eyes  of  your  imagination           may  be  which  he  finds  awaiting   him  every  morn-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              267


ing, and however fatigued his frame may be when            and been oppressed by it, till you succumbed in
the daily task is finished and he lies down to rest, in    grief and despair?
the evening of every day he returns home in the               Take, courage, then . . . .
consciousness that  the, task is accomplished and
that he may forget the struggles of the day.                  For "the wise and the prudent" do not know this
                                                           weariness. They care not to be righteous or boast of
  Rather imagine the man who is groaning under             a righteousness that is a vain thing before the Lord.
burdens too heavy for human strength to bear. Or           And never would they acknowledge that the
think of the man who is laboring at a hopeless task.       natural man can only increase his sin daily.
All the strength of body and mind he exerts to ex-
haustion. To accomplish the work is the ambition              Take courage, for the Lord calls you by name:
of his life. From early morning till late at night he      Weary toiler, come unto me!
struggles and strives and ponders and plans. In-              He will give you rest!
cessantly he labors with all his might. Yet he fails.                  * * * * * * * * *  *
And after all his attempts he finds in the end he is
farther from the goal than at the beginning. Real             Rest!
toil is to strive with all our strength of body and           Blessed word!
mind for an end that is never achieved. It is to labor        Thrice blessed for the weary and toiling soul!
hard and incessantly at a hopeless task that can
never be accomplished.                                        It is not simply to cease from toil and struggle, it
                                                           is far more. It is to cease in the consciousness that
  And are you acquainted with the spiritual                the task is accomplished, that the work is done, that
significance of the word?                                  the end is achieved, and to rejoice in the finished
  It is the spiritual toilers under burdens too heavy      product. It is the glorious feeling of body and soul
for them that the Lord calls in the text.                  that we may enter into and enjoy the fruit of a com-
  It is a toiling which in its deepest root is born        pleted work.
from the heart's desire to get right with God, to             Thus it is naturally.
know that we have peace with the Most High and                And thus it is spiritually.
that His favor is with us. The heart, then, somehow
realizes that His lovingkindness cannot be enjoyed,           Ah, what a task to be accomplished pressed
and that the objects of His favor we cannot be, ex-        down upon our weary soul! What mountains of sin
cept on a basis of a righteousness that is valid           and guilt rose up before our consciousness to be
before Him. For He is righteous, we know, and              removed. Sin in our actual walk, sin with all the
spotlessly holy. It feels, too, that this basis of         members of our body, sin in our thoughts and sin in
righteousness and justice cannot be established, ex-       our deepest heart and in all our planning and desir-
cept the law be fulfilled and all its demands are          ing, sin in what we did and said and thought and
perfectly satisfied. And we begin at the task to gain      wished and sin in what we did not do and think and
the desired peace in the way of accomplishing our          say and wish, sin in the present and sin in the past,
own satisfaction of the entire law. But as we labor        sin everywhere, as far as the eye could see . . . .
and toil to fulfill the law of the Lord, we experience        And then, when we penetrated more deeply into
that she is a severe mistress. And though we may           this horrible reality of sin, we found that it was not
labor with all our might, anxious to hear from her         merely a matter for acting but a question of our
the sentence that it is enough, repeatedly she flings      very being. For out of the heart are the issues of
us back with her terrible, "Cursed is he that doth         life. And that heart is corrupt, hopelessly corrupt;
not abide perfectly in all that is written in me!" And     and from it, as a boiling and bubbling fountain, rise
toiling on still, we find that we increase our guilt       all these actual sins. So that, before we could hope
daily, that the task is a hopeless one, and, groaning      to remove the mountain of our actual guilt, that
under heavier burdens than before we commenced             heart must be cleansed. The corrupt fountain of ini-
the struggle, we are inclined to abandon the at-           quity must be changed into a clear stream of
tempt and hang the harps in the willows, still long-       love . . . .
ing, yet despairing . . . .                                  And searching more deeply still into this awful
  Are you sin-weary?                                       mystery of sin, we discovered that the deepest
  Do you find the burden of the law too heavy to           source of this foul fountain of iniquity is not even in
bear? Have you toiled with it and groaned under it         our individual hearts and lives, but that it is con-
                                                           nected with a rushing stream of sin and guilt that
"This meditation is from the pen of the late Rev. Her-     leads us, for its source, back into paradise of yore.
man Hoeksema and is reprinted from Volume I, No. 10        And we found that it would be of no avail even to
(July, 1925) of The Standard Bearer.                       attempt to cleanse the fountain of foul sin in our


268                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



own heart, unless we could first cleanse that                 He accomplished the task.
deepest and original source of it all . . . .                 With Him there is rest.
  What a task!                                                And the Rest-giver He is, too, because it is He
  How disheartening to know that there is no life,          that causes us, by the irresistible operations of His
no peace, no comfort and joy for our troubled soul,         Spirit and grace to enter into His rest.
unless the task is finished, guilt is blotted out; the        By nature we would not even seek to enter into
stain of sin is removed, the heart is cleansed, the         that rest. Surely, we may seek rest, but we do not
foul fountain of iniquity is changed into a stream of       desire His. Rest we seek and imagine to possess in
living love! And then, to have struggled and toiled         the accomplishment of our own righteousness,
till all our strength was exhausted, and to know that       which is abominable to Jehovah. But He never
we utterly failed, so utterly that the end of all our       forgets His people, neither leaves them alone. Into
toil is greater sin and heavier burdens . . . .             their hearts and minds He enters by the Spirit of
  And then to learn that there is rest!                     grace. In that heart He knows how to create unrest
  To know that the task is accomplished, that the           and worry. He reveals unto them the greatness of
stream of our guilt is washed away, that we may             their sin, the abomination of their vain righteous-
cease from toiling, in the blessed knowledge that all       ness, their own impotency to fulfill the demands of
is finished, that there is righteousness and sanctifi-      the law, their proneness to all evil, and the corrup-
cation, wisdom and redemption, peace and joy and            tion of their heart and mind . . . .
comfort and eternal life in God's blessed com-                And with unrest He fills the heart., till every last
munion.                                                     basis of self-confidence is removed, till from the
  Comfort, weary toiler, for you.                           heart the cry is wrung: "0 God, be merciful unto
                                                            me, a sinner!"
  The task is accomplished.                                   And then, when all the wisdom and prudence, all
  Accomplished for you.                                     the righteousness of works, all self-conceit and self-
  Rest!                                                     confidence to carry our own burdens and remove
           * * * * * * * * * *                              them is uprooted, and the heart longs for a
  I will give you rest!                                     righteousness that is not its own but God's, He
  He is the Rest-giver because it is He that ac-            stands forth in all the beauty of His salvation, in all
complished the task.                                        the glory of His power, and says: "Weary toiler, it is
                                                            finished. The task thou laborest to accomplish is
  He put His shoulders under our burdens, the               completed. The work is done!"
burdens of our guilt and sin and condemnation. For
the Father gave Him a people from before the foun-            It was done for you.
dations of the world, a people whose Savior He was            Completely finished by Me.
to be, their Head and their Redeemer, and whom                I will give you rest!
He was to bring from the horrible slavery of sin and                  * * * * * * * * * *
death into the glorious liberty of the children of            Come unto Me!
God. He, therefore, was to take their place, and to
assume their burdens of guilt and sin, to carry them          Blessed summons, when by the gracious call of
way down into the dark and deep valley of His               His Spirit, He makes it resound in our soul!
agony and death, to leave them there forever.                 And blessed soul that obeys that summons and
  And He did so, according to the will of His               comes!
Father.                                                       It is a coming which is the result of Father's
                                                            drawing. For no one can come unto Him except the
  He did put His shoulders under their heavy                Father which sent Him draw him. The drawing is
burdens, under which they would have been                   first, and the coming second. The drawing is the
crushed into death and hell.                                cause, and the coming is the result. It is the drawing
  And He was strong, for His Name was Almighty              of that love which is always first, and the coming of
God.                                                        faith which relies on that love.
  He was able to bear these burdens even unto the             It is a coming which begins when we cast away
accursed tree of the Place of Skulls, to enter with         all our own righteousness and every basis of con-
them into the dark abyss of death and hell, to toil         fidence in self. For we cannot come unto Him with
and labor with them until He had shaken off the             aught of self. Empty and poor and naked, weary
load of guilt and the shackles of death, and, first         and exhausted, as the drowning man who struggled
from Calvary, then soon from Joseph's garden, He            with the tempestuous sea till his strength was gone,
might send forth the glad tidings: It is finished!          thus we must come to Him Who is our all.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              269


  It is a coming that continues when we see Jesus         return to the old burdens and the slavery of sin and
as we never see Him with out natural eye, full of         death, He draws us back unto Himself and assures
grace and glory and life and rest and peace, the          us, "Your sins are forgiven." He fulfills it, when
fulness of our wisdom and righteousness and sanc-         amid the battle and strife of this present life in the
tification and complete redemption, and when our          midst of the world, He makes us partakers of the
soul, hungering and thirsting after righteousness,        peace that passes all understanding.
desires to possess Him above all the treasures and          And He will fulfill it to the last.
pleasures of the world.                                     For the final rest is not yet.
  It is a coming by which we draw nearer, when
we hear Him address us, as with the natural ear we          There still remains a sabbath for the people of
could never hear, so clearly and distinctly as if He      God.
were calling us by name: "Weary toiler, heavily             The eternal sabbath.
burdened one, cease from toiling at your impossi-           And the Rest-giver will surely bring that final
ble task. I have finished. Come unto Me and rest!"        rest. When all of life is over and all the weary night
  It is a coming whereby we know and trust that           is past, and the last one of His toiling people shall
when He bore the burden of His people's sin, our          have been brought into the rest He accomplished,
transgressions and our iniquities were also upon          then He shall come again and lead His people into
Him, so that we believe His promise and trust for         the perfect rest. Then the toiling and groaning crea-
life and death with all our soul in that promise: I       tion shall be delivered from the yoke of vanity and
will give you rest!                                       corruption and partake of the rest of God's
  And that promise He fulfills.                           children.
  He fulfills it when He sheds forth the love of God        God, through Christ, shall have completed His
into our hearts, that love in which there is no fear,     work.
and when He gives us the faith by which we shout            And into that completed work we shall enter.
in joy and redemption: "We, therefore, being                God's tabernacle over all!
justified by faith, have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ." He fulfills it when, if we would        The rest of eternal joy!

EDITORIAL



                           About This Special Issue



  This is the second of our special issues in the cur-       The subject of the Saving Calling brings us, of
rent volume-year. It is devoted in its entirety to the    course, into the whole area of the preaching of the
subject of the Saving Culling, and is the second in       gospel and its place and part in the salvation of
our projected series of special issues on the general     God's people, a subject to which considerable at-
subject of the Order of Salvation. That Order of          tention is paid in this issue. It is a phenomenon
Salvation, remember, is the arrangement or order          which is so obvious in our day that it needs no
in which the various blessings of salvation are ap-       proof that we live in a day of "easy believism" and
plied to the elect, but in himself lost and dead, sin-    "decisionism" and that Reformed and Presbyterian
ner. And as previously stated (in the issue on            churches have not been immune to this by any
Regeneration,  12/l/86)  we are following the order: .    means. The truth that God is a calling God, the God
Regeneration, Calling, Faith and Conversion,              Who calls the things that are not as though they
Justification, Sanctification, Preservation and           were, and Who quickens the dead (Romans  4:17), .
Perseverance.                                             along with the entire Reformed emphasis that


270                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



salvation is of the Lord alone and is strictly a matter       result is that I have omitted my own assigned con-
of sovereign grace, is largely denied and subverted           tribution on Regeneration and Calling. Even so, due
in our day. Even among Reformed people the no-                to space limitations some of the contributions will
tion is not uncommon that God desires to save all             have to be continued in our next issue.
men. And along with this, the call of the gospel has            If you are interested in further reading and study
been perverted into a general, well-meant offer of            not only on the subject of Regeneration and Calling
salvation on the part of God to all men. The in-              but also on the subject of the Saving Calling in
evitable corollary of this error is that salvation is in      general, here are a few suggestions:
last instance up to man and his will. It is by no             Herman Hoeksema, Reformed Dogmatics, pp. 452
means amiss, therefore, to re-emphasize the                     464 (Regeneration) and pp. 465-478 (The Calling)
distinctive Reformed truth of the efficacious call-           Herman Hoeksema, The Wonder of Grace, Chapter
ing.                                                            6,  pp. 49, ff.
  We hope you will profit from the treatment of               Herman Hoeksema,  The Triple  KnowZedge,  III, pp.
various aspects of this subject in this issue. We               59, ff.
hereby thank all who contributed and extend a                 David J. Engelsma, Hyper-Calvinism & The Call of
special word of thanks to two guest writers in this             the Gospel
issue, the Rev. Engelsma and the Rev.  Houck.                 In addition, of course, there have been numerous
  Our planning committee was somewhat op-                     articles on this subject in past volumes of our Stan-
timistic in its plans for this issue, and some of our         dard Beaver+, as well as many pamphlets.        HCH
contributors overly zealous in responding. The





                 The Call: External and Internal
                                                   Gise J. Van Baren





   "For many are called, but few are chosen" (Matt.             This call is not to be confused with an "offer" or
22: 14). The words of Christ have resounded                   even an "invitation". Another article in this issue
through the ages. Many are called  - but few                  will treat that question. But it must even now be
chosen! Christ explains the meaning of that great             clearly understood: the call of the gospel is God's
fact when He spake the parable of the king's mar-             requirement, yea, demand, that the sinner turn
riage feast for his son. Those bidden refused to              from his evil way. Many, both through the ages and
come. The servants were then sent forth into the              especially today, hear that call.
highways to gather as many as they could find.                  Yet only those chosen are brought to repentance
Later, when one of the wedding guests came with-              and a godly life. God's elect, chosen from eternity,
out the required wedding garments, he was bound               believe.
and cast into outer darkness. Even so: many are
called, but few chosen.                                         Why should God determine that the Word be
                                                              proclaimed, the call presented, more extensively
   There is the call from God which goes forth to             than merely to those whom He has chosen? Would
the ends of the earth when the gospel is pro-                 it not be far easier for God to identify His own  -
claimed. Jesus had commanded His disciples, just              and command His church to proclaim the Word
before His ascension, "Go ye therefore, and teach             directly to them?
all nations . . . " (Matt. 28: 19). All who hear that call
are confronted with the demand of the sovereign                 Obviously, God has His own Sovereign purpose.
God to repent and believe.                                    It is not to give everyone a "chance" - for then,
                                                              why would He not send this Word to everyone who
Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed        ever lived? If He desired the salvation of all, He has
Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.                              the power to direct the Word to all. But God does


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                271



not work that way. Rather, He determined to reveal          light of comprehension or understanding, demands
the impenitence, the hardness of the heart, of all          regeneration or rebirth. The working of new life,
the wicked reprobate. He shows that when He                 Christ's life, in the heart of the elect sinner makes
reveals Himself in creation: His power and God-             possible the effective call and conversion.
head (Rom.  1:19-20).   That is to leave the wicked           The call has been distinguished commonly as
without excuse. These know that God is, and they            having two aspects: an "external" and an
reject Him. The wicked hold this truth under in             "internal" call. These are not two calls; it is  one
unrighteousness.                                            call. Even the external aspect of the call is not to be
  But God has also revealed to many of the wicked           confused with the general proclamation of the
reprobate the wonder of the cross. These also hear          gospel to all to whom God in His good pleasure will
of sin and grace; of death and life. That revelation is     send it.
sufficient to show their rebellion and disobedience.          Canons III-IV: 11 sets forth this powerful, saving,
  Still, God does not reveal the gospel to every per-       call: "But when God accomplishes His good
son who ever lived. Many live and die without               pleasure in the elect, or works in them true conver-
hearing of the cross. But the Word is presented to          sion, He not only causes the gospel to be externally
enough that it might be very evident that the repro-        preached unto them, and powerfully illuminates
bate unbeliever WILL NOT be saved. He will reject           their minds by His Holy Spirit, that they may right-
the gospel with his whole being. Our Canons of              ly understand and discern the things of the Spirit of
Dordt speak to this point in Head III-IV:9, "It is not      God; but by the efficacy of the same regenerating
the fault of the gospel, nor of Christ, offered             Spirit, pervades the inmost recesses of the man; He
(presented; set forth - G.V.B.) therein, nor of God,        opens the closed, and softens the hardened heart,
who calls men by the gospel, and confers upon               and circumcises that which was uncircumcised, in-
them various gifts, that those who are called by the        fuses new qualities into the will, which though
ministry of the Word, refuse to come, and be con-           heretofore dead, He quickens; from being evil,
verted: the fault lies in themselves; some of whom          disobedient, and refractory, He renders it good,
when called, regardless of their danger, reject the         obedient, and pliable; actuates and strengthens it,
Word of life; others, though they receive it, suffer it     that like a good tree, it may bring forth the fruits of
not to make a lasting impression on their heart;            good actions."
therefore, their joy, arising only from a temporary           The "external" aspect of the call includes more
faith, soon vanishes, and they fall away; while             than having the "gospel externally preached to
others choke the seed of the word by perplexing             them. . .  ." It does require that external preaching,
cares, and the pleasures of this world, and produce         but also, "powerfully illuminates their minds by
no fruit. - This our Savior teaches in the parable of       His Holy Spirit, that they may rightly understand
the sower. Matt. 13."                                       and discern the things of the Spirit of God . . .  ."
  But God, in His own good pleasure, sends forth            The wicked reprobate do not have their minds il-
the gospel to the ends of the earth, particularly           lumined. These hear but reject intellectually that
where He has His elect people who must be                   gospel. But to the elect of God are given eyes to see
brought to repentance and complete salvation. God           and ears to hear the things of the gospel. By virtue
knows where His elect people are. He will, through          of regeneration, God's chosen people receive eyes
various ways, indicate to the church where the              which can see the truth and reality of things
gospel must be preached in order that these might           heavenly and spiritual. Their minds grasp and hold
be saved. To all of His chosen ones, there comes the        for truth all that God reveals through the gospel.
call of the gospel. These will hear and surely              These have the kind of understanding that no
believe. And so, all of His people shall be saved.          reprobate person could possibly have.
  It is especially this call to the elect, but still un-      In this knowledge, the church can confidently go
converted sinner, that must occupy our attention            forth to preach the Word of life. The missionary is
here. Both Scripture and our creeds recognize a call        not, therefore, "effective" only if he is a great
which comes powerfully and uniquely to God's                orator or a powerful persuader. Rather, his task is
elect people. It is to be distinguished from the            to set forth the gospel. (The Canons speak of "offer-
general proclamation of the gospel. In addition to          ing" that gospel  - but this is in the sense of
that general proclamation, there is the unique,             "presenting" or "setting forth" that gospel.) The
special~call that comes to the elect of God. It is the      Holy Spirit must apply that  ,Word so that God's
call which must be preceded by regeneration in its          own may hear, understand, and confess the truth of
narrowest sense. Jesus declared to Nicodemus,               that Word of God.
"Except a man be born again, he can not see the               God uses this "external" aspect of the call
kingdom of God" (John  3:3). To see, to have the            because He would treat His people as moral,  ra-


272                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



tional creatures. He does not simply move them as          "offer" nor even an "invitation", but the revelation
stocks and blocks  - as the charge has often been          of the powerful working of the Almighty.
made. His people must be under the preaching of            This beautiful manifestation of the grace of God
the Word. These must carefully and thoughtfully            is at the same time that which serves not only to ex-
study the Word of God. They live `in close commun-         pose the wickedness of the reprobate unbeliever,
ion with God through earnest prayer. Thus they             but in fact actually hardens him in his sin. So Scrip-
also understand with their minds the glorious truth        ture also declares in II Corinthians  2:15, 16,  "We
of the Word of God.                                        are unto God a sweet savor (smell) of Christ, in
  But that call of God has also an "internal" aspect.      them that are saved, and in them that perish. To the
The Canons state,  ". . . by the efficacy of the same      one we are the savor of death unto death; and to the
regenerating Spirit, (He) pervades the inmost              other the savor of life unto life. And who is suffi-
recesses of the man; He opens the closed, and              cient for these things?" And in Matthew  11:25-26
softens the hardened heart . . .  ." The Word pro-         Jesus declares, "I thank thee, 0 Father, Lord of
claimed serves as the rain and sunshine on the             heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these
planted field. Where there is no seed, there is no         things from the wise and prudent, and hast re-
growth nor production. But where there is seed,            vealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it
there is also sprouting and development. So the            seemed good in Thy sight."
Spirit works in the hearts of God's own. He plants           These passages teach that it is (1) God's good
Christ's life into their hearts in that wonder-work        pleasure not only to present  His gospel, but at the
of regeneration. Now He causes that the Word pro-          same time, to hide its significance and beauty from
claimed will be applied to the heart in order that         the "wise and prudent." No matter how intelligent
Christ's life may manifest itself in our lives. The        and clever are the wicked, these do not see the
"internal" call makes the elect of God to know with        things of the kingdom. In fact, God hides it from
personal experience and assurance that Jesus is his        them. So Paul also declares in II Corinthians 2. For
own Savior. Jesus' death on the cross was truly also       the wicked, the work of God is such that these are a
for him.                                                   "savor of death to death". The Word serves to
  This call, with its two-fold aspects, is efficacious,    develop  the. corruption of the natural man. It is
i.e., powerful and effective to accomplish the pur-        "from death to death", indicating progress. The
pose God intends. Jesus sets forth this fact in John 6     more these hear, the more they show hatred of the
when He declares in verse 37, "All that the Father         truth of the Word.
giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to           But for the Christian, the call of the gospel re-
me I will in no wise cast out." And again in verse         mains the wonder of grace to him. How should God
44, "No man can come to me, except the Father              show this mercy to him, a sinner? Why should God
which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him          choose him from all eternity  - now to save him
up at the last day." The call, therefore, surely           from death unto life? It is grace, all grace, which is
brings to repentance and conversion. It is not an          seen in this wonderful call of God.





                 The Calling And The Gathering
                                       Of The Church
                                                Herman C. Hanko




   "What believest thou concerning the `holy               himself by his Spirit and word, out of the whole
catholic church' of Christ?"                               human race, a church chosen to everlasting life,
   "That the Son of God from the beginning to the          agreeing in true faith; and that I am and for ever
end of the world, gathers, defends, and preserves to       shall remain, a living member thereof."


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                             273



   In these beautiful words the Heidelberg                   He determined each one by name; He wrote their
 Catechism explains the believer's confession of the         names upon the palms of His hand; He formed in
 truth of the Apostolic Creed: "I believe an holy            His own eternal mind the whole church, Christ's
 catholic church."                                           body, the number of those chosen. Because He
   This confession does not mean very much any               gave them to Christ, Christ redeemed them by His
more today. Almost every single part of the confes-          own precious blood. For each one, whether already
sion is denied in some form or another. The truth of         dead, whether living at the time of our Lord's suf-
eternal election ("chosen to everlasting life") is           fering, whether yet to be born, Christ paid the
held by very few. Modern ecumenism rides                     penalty for their sin and guilt. From the moment of
roughshod over the statement that the unity of the           Calvary, not one sin any longer could be laid to the
church is a unity of true faith. Dispensationalists          charge of God's elect. And not only were all the sins
deny that this one church is gathered from the               of all the elect paid for perfectly, but everlasting life
beginning to the end of time. And perhaps most im-           was merited for them through the precious blood of
portant of all, one is hard pressed to find people           Christ.
who still believe that "the Son of God . . . gathers,           That one church is, bit by bit, born in the course
defends and preserves to himself by his Spirit and           of the history of the world. This in itself is an amaz-
word" this one, holy, catholic church.                       ing truth. God sees to it that these elect, redeemed
   Partly in dissatisfaction over the growth of  ir-         in the cross, are each born at the time appointed.
religion in our day and partly because men pretend           He sees to it that each is born under circumstances
to be wiser than God, more and more emphasis is              and in a country which He has planned. He sees to
placed upon man's efforts to gather the church. Ar-          it that each is born in such a time and way that
minian heresy teaches that people become a part of           never, in all the history of the world, is history
the church by the choice of their own free will; and         without some elect upon this earth. He sees to it
ministers catering to this proud heresy proclaim a           that from the time when the gospel was preached to
Christ Who is unable or unwilling by His power to            Adam and Eve until the time when Christ returns
gather His church. High pressure evangelists are             with power and glory some of these elect are pres-
brought in to conduct huge and well-organized                ent in this world. He sees to it that, especially in
crusades to persuade people to become a part of the          the new dispensation, they are born in every land,
church. Where the social gospel has seized the               from every nation and tribe and tongue, in every
church in a death-grip, the church becomes a                 ' ' religion' ' which this world has seen, in every
political force for social betterment or a social            "culture" which the world has produced. He sees
organization for the physical and psychological              to it that they are born as a part of the human race,
development of its members, a sort of club which             fallen in Adam, sunk in the degradation and hope-
one can join by paying annual "membership dues."             lessness of sin, without hope in this world, a part of
The result is that pews are empty in the church              the rushing river of mankind that empties at last in
buildings; the Sabbath is openly desecrated by those         hell.
who want no part of spending the Lord's Day in the             Because these elect, chosen by God unto ever-
Lord's house; humanism and atheism grow; church              lasting life, redeemed in the blood of the cross of
membership is an outward pretense of religion; the           Calvary now some 2000 years ago, but born in the
pulpits of the land are sterile, and dynamic                 human race destined for destruction, must be
preaching is all but a thing of the past.                    gathered as the church of Christ, the calling goes
  The Son of God gathers His church. This is the             forth by which this mighty wonder is accom-
`truth of Scripture and this is the truth so                 plished.
dramatically set forth in what has got to be one of            It must be emphasized that the Son of God gathers
the most beautiful sections of the Heidelberg                His church. How can men ever do this? They do
Catechism.                                                   not know who the elect are nor for whom Christ
  Several elements in this answer underscore this            died. They cannot tell who must be gathered and
great Biblical truth. And these elements graphically         who must not. Only God knows this - and Christ.
describe the relationship between the calling and            The Son of God knows each elect by name. After
the gathering of the church.                                 all, He spilled His own blood for them in awful suf-
  The church is the number of God's elect. God               fering to secure their redemption. He knows when
chose His church from before the foundations of              they are born, where they are, in what land  they_
the world in Christ. He set the number of the elect;         are to be found, what are all the circumstances of
                                                             their lives. He only  can gather that church.

Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church History and New         This must be underscored so that never can any
Testament in the Protestant Reformed Semina y.               mistake be made about it. The whole work of


274                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



gathering the church is the work of the Son of God.       generations of Adam to the devil are made a part of
Man contributes nothing at all to that work. In no        the body of Christ. People who are enemies of God
respect can it ever be said that this gathering           are made His covenant friends. People who hate
belongs or has been entrusted even in part to man.        God are made to cry: "I love the Lord, the Fount of
It is not his will which actively impels him to seek      life and grace." People who are filthy sinners, cor-
membership in the church. It is not the efforts of        rupted and polluted in their guilt and evil are made
preachers or evangelists, of revival campaigns or         sinless saints who wear garments spotlessly white
mass rallies which bring men into the church. From        - whiter than the robes of the angels. People who
beginning to end, the work of gathering the church        are hellbound are made fit for everlasting life in
belongs to the Son of God. The Heidelberg                 heaven.
Catechism does not say: ". . . the Son of God, with         No word of a man can perform such an amazing
the aid and assistance of man, gathers . . . a            transformation. No power on earth can accomplish
church . . ." The work is solely the work of the Son      such startling things. No words which men speak
of God.                                                   can bring about such profound spiritual alterna-
  One may object to all this and say that, while a        tions. Such great changes lie beyond human power
certain element of truth can be found in this em-         altogether. Somehow, in some way, by a wonder
phasis, nevertheless it is quite clear that men have a    far beyond our understanding, these transforma-
role to play and work to do; and that, indeed, if they    tions are brought about when a preacher mounts
do'not  do it, the gathering of the church will never     the pulpit and preaches a sermon.
take place. We insist that only the Son of God              The Heidelberg Catechism gives us the answer to
gathers His church. He even calls and sends               this when it says that this is done by Christ's word
preachers so that, though preaching is the means          and Spirit: "The Son of God . . . gathers . . . by his
which He uses, this work is also His and His alone.       Spirit and word . . . a church . . . ." Notice that the
But this matter of preachers is the crucial point         "word" referred to is Christ's Word. Of course, it is
here, for we are discussing the  caZZing  and the         Christ's Word first of all because it is the Word of
gathering of the church.                                  the Scriptures; and that Word of the Scriptures is
  Christ summons His church to the task of                not the word of Paul, of Moses, of Isaiah, of the
preaching the gospel, and He, with divine authori-        body of Johanine literature - as some are wont to
ty, entrusts this responsibility to her task. But this    put it, but the Word which Christ gave through in-
is the very church which He Himself has gathered,         fallible inspiration to the church. But that Word is
and the preachers through whom the church per-            Christ's Word also because Christ really speaks it.
forms these labors are summoned irresistibly to           We may be somewhat puzzled by this, for only
their calling by the Head of the Church. Only             rarely do we go to church on the Lord's Day to hear
because this is true could Paul say, "Woe is me if I      what Christ has to say to us; but Christ speaks
preach not the gospel." The calling comes through         through the preacher (See John  10,  especially such
preachers.                                                vss. as 3-5, 14, 16, 27; Rom.  lo:14 and other pas-
  The call goes forth through the whole world. It         sages).
goes forth through the whole world as the promise           How does the word of the preacher become the
of everlasting life to all who believe and is accom-      Word of Christ? It is the Word of Christ both
panied by the command to repent and turn from             because it is the Word of the Scriptures and
sin. It is the call which publicly and universally        because it is spoken by one who is called by Christ
proclaims what God has done in Christ to bring            to preach it. Surely this is true. But it is also the
salvation to His elect. It is the call which confronts    Word of Christ because that Word is not only
all with the serious obligation to repent and believe     spoken "in the air," so to speak. It is not a word
upon penalty of everlasting hell. It is the call which    which agitates the surrounding air, creates waves,
sounds forth in clearest and boldest language what        hits the eardrums of listeners and stimulates the
the Spirit caused to be recorded in the Holy Scrip-       aural nerve to send messages to the brain  -
tures. It is  the. call, proclaimed by the church         although most emphatically it is that, and cannot be
through her preachers  - whether in the estab-            anything else without being that. But that very
lished church or on the mission field.                    word of the preacher is, at the same time it is
  All this we firmly believe. And in this we all have     spoken, by a wonder of grace, a Word of Christ
a responsibility and obligation.                          which is spoken by Christ Himself in the hearts of
  But the question persists: how does this call           His elect through the Spirit of Christ. By this Spirit
serve as the means of gathering the church? This is       it is a Word as powerful as (if not more powerful
a persistent and crucial question. After all, the         than) the Word which God spoke at creation when
gathering of the church is an astounding miracle.         He gave life and existence to every separate
People who belong by virtue of their birth in the         creature. It is that Word uttered powerfully by the
                                                                             -


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                275



Son of God through the voice of the Spirit in the            world so that the gates of hell can never prevail
heart which has such amazing and transforming                against her. Not only is she preserved in such a way
power. Little do we know what goes on inside us              that the church is always present in the world, but
when we listen attentively and humbly to the                 every individual elect is preserved as a member of
preaching. That powerfully creative, transforming,           it. Not one can be lost. Not one can be overcome by
saving Word destroys sin and its power, silences             the enemy. Not one sheep can be snatched from the
blaspheming mouths, changes hatred into love,                hand of the Son of God.
brings cursing sinners to cry out with tears for               But this too takes place "by his Spirit and word."
forgiveness and pardon, creates a holiness such as           That is, it takes place by means of the calling. Each
this world has never seen, and forms a spotlessly            saint is called by name. Each saint is first called in
white saint out of the foulest of sinners.                   that powerful voice which plucks him out of death
   I once heard a man compare the preaching of the           and darkness; but each saint is called every time he
gospel and its effect to the work of a giant magnet          is brought by the Son of God to church. He is called
which is gradually pulled over a huge pile of saw-           away from his sin; he is called to his knees in tear-
dust with many iron filings in it. The giant magnet,         ful repentance and heart-rending agony; he is
as it sweeps the world, draws out of this fallen             called to holiness; he is called to walk the pilgrim's
human race those who are elect. By its own power,            way to his everlasting destination. That call is
the power of the Son of God, it efficaciously calls          always powerful, creative, renewing, transforming,
out of darkness into light the elect redeemed host           redeeming. The Son of God, by his Spirit and Word,
which no man can number.                                     gathers, defends and preserves a church . . . . It is
   Yet the Heidelberg Catechism says more. Not on-           all His work by His powerful call.
ly does the Son of God gather that church: He also             And at last the day comes when each saint hears
defends and preserves it. This too is His work and           that call which once again powerfully, irresistibly,
His alone. No man can defend that church; no man             graciously, summons him out of this world to be
can preserve it. It seems sometimes as if that               transformed into the church triumphant where
church is overcome by the armies of evil and                 already a great host of saints is gathered to be with
destroyed by the hosts of enemies in which it is             the Son of God. And one day, when the last elect is
found. But it is always defended by Christ. It is like       called, then that call shall go out to the ends of the
Mount Zion, beautiful for situation, the joy of the          earth to call our bodies also out of the dust of the
whole earth. It is an impregnable fortress, and you          grave so that these bodies, so long decayed in the
may see this if you walk about Zion and consider             earth, may now be transformed into the glorious
her palaces and count her bulwarks (see Psalm 48).           body of the Son of God.
But her defense is the Son of God. And because her             Of that church I am and forever shall remain a
defense is the Son of God, she is preserved in the           living member!





                      The Indispensable Preacher
                                                  Robert D. Decker





   Romans  10:14, 15a teaches that no one can be             preacher who is sent. Thus, there is no salvation
saved without a preacher. One needs to call upon             without a preacher. This is the teaching of this text
the name of the Lord in order to be saved. One               and of all Scripture. It is so simple that even our lit-
needs to believe in Christ in order to call upon His         tle children can understand it. Precious few, how-
name. One needs to hear Christ in order to believe           ever, believe this anymore. People say that
in Him and in order to hear Christ one needs a              preaching is only one means of communicating the
                                                            gospel. There are other, better, more effective
Robert D. Decker is professor of Practical Theology and     means than preaching. The result of this is that
New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.          very little real preaching is going on today. The


276                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



fruits are devastating in the church.                      voice and I know them and they follow me." There
  In verses 11 through 13 of this chapter the Scrip-       is a fundamental principle involved in all this.
tures declare that whosoever believeth on Christ           Christ is the office bearer in the church. Christ is
shall not be ashamed. `There is no difference be-          God's prophet, priest, and king. Christ and no man
tween the Jew and the Greek. Once there was a dif-         saves His people. Christ gathers the elect out of the
ference. In the Old Testament salvation was limited        nations. This means that the word of man, mere
to Israel with but few exceptions. But now Christ          man, sinful man, is not sufficient to save. One may
has come and through His cross and resurrection            be a brilliant theologian and be able to tell people
and exaltation the shadows of the Old Testament            all about Jesus and the Bible, but he cannot give
have been fulfilled. Now God gathers His elect out         people faith or the peace of forgiveness or the joy of
of all nations and the same Lord over all is rich unto     salvation. One's pastor cannot do this. One must
all that call upon Him. That calling upon the name         hear Jesus say: "Come unto me all ye that labor and
of the Lord includes, but is not to be limited to, the     are heavy laden, I will give you rest."
formal worship of God. It implies the recognition of          This obviously has a great deal to say about the
sin, confession and repentance, fleeing to the cross       content of the preaching. If God's people are to
of Jesus for salvation.                                    hear the voice of Jesus, they must hear the word of
  The crucial question is: how is a person brought         Jesus. The word of Jesus is the holy, inspired, in-
to that point? What moves a person to call upon the        fallible Scriptures. The preacher who comes with
name of the Lord Jesus? What opens his eyes to see         anything else than God's Word is a hireling, a false
his sin? What causes him to repent? What moves             teacher, a wolf in sheep's clothing. He is no herald
him to cast himself upon the mercies of Jesus              of Christ. The content of preaching must be God's
Christ? The answer to these questions is plainly           inspired word. That word is profitable for doctrine,
given in this text. The one answer is: the preaching       for reproof, for instruction in righteousness. This is
of the Word.                                               the word of the cross, the word which proclaims
  What then is preaching? The text in Romans 10            Christ crucified. It is the word of Jesus, the only
speaks of "one preaching." The text speaks of a            name given among men whereby we must be saved.
preacher and the question becomes: what is a               Because it is the word of Christ, it proclaims God in
preacher? The word preacher itself means to be a           Christ in all His sovereignty and glory. A faithful
herald, to officiate as a herald, to proclaim after the    preacher says two things always. Man is nothing
manner of a herald. The idea of a herald is that he        but a sinner and God is everything. This is the word
was the official representative of the king. He was        the preacher must herald. This word alone is able
charged with proclaiming the king's word through           to make us wise unto salvation.
the realm. The herald came in the name of the king,          This fact also determines the preacher's method.
with the authority of the king and with the word of        There are many wrong ways to go about the
the king. All of this applies to the preacher. He is       business of preaching. There is only one correct
the herald of Christ, the King. In the name of Christ      way, the exegetical-expository method. God must
and with the authority of Christ he proclaims the          speak and Christ must be heard by means of the
Word of Christ.                                            preacher expounding, explaining, and applying
                                                           Scripture. This takes much time, much effort, and
  The preacher, therefore, is one through whom it          much prayer. If the preacher fails to expound the
pleases Christ to speak to His people. The text asks:      word he will come with his own or another man's
"How shall they believe in Him whom they have              word. A truly astounding miracle happens every
not heard?" Notice, the word "of" in the King              Lord's day in God's church. A sinful, human
James does not appear in the original. It is not,  of      preacher mounts the pulpit and expounds God's
whom they have not heard, but  whom  they have             word. And when he does that, Christ Himself is
not heard. The difference is significant. To hear          heard and God's people are led to the cross for
about someone from someone else is quite different         salvation.
from hearing that person directly. We may hear
much about Christ, but that will not produce faith.          This gives the preaching of the Word its authori-
To believe in Jesus we must hear Jesus Himself.            ty. The text says: "How shall they preach except
This is the teaching of Scripture. In John 5:24 Jesus      they be sent?" The preacher must be sent. The
says: "He that heareth my word and believeth on            word, sent, means: to order or command one to a
him that sent me hath everlasting life." And in            certain place or task. The sender is Christ. The
verse 25 of the same chapter Jesus says: "the hour         preacher is sent by Christ in the sense that Christ
is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the          calls him to proclaim the gospel. Christ qualifies
voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall           and gives a man the authority to preach the Word.
live." In John lo:27 Jesus says: "My sheep hear my           This means most emphatically that Christ must


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               277



send a man, authorize and qualify him to preach, or        believed? God's people need to be bound to Christ
he may not and he cannot be a preacher. The                by a true and living faith so that they know Him as
reason is: how shall they preach except they -be           Saviour and Lord. Only by faith can God's people
sent?                                                      call on Him and be saved. But there is no faith apart
  The question is how is the preacher sent? With           from hearing Christ. How shall they believe in Him
the apostles the answer was easy. The risen Lord           Whom they have not heard? Only by hearing Christ
Christ personally sent them out with the words of          do God's people receive the gift of faith. And all of
the great commission: "Go ye into all the world and        this, calling on Christ's name, believing and hear-
preach the gospel . . . and lo I am with you alway         ing Christ, depend on a preacher who is sent-by
even unto the end of the world." Their very name           Christ. How shall they hear without a preacher and
indicates this. Apostle means sent out or away. But        how shall they preach except they be sent? The text
the same is true today. The great commission               plainly teaches that the preacher is indispensable.
comes not merely to the apostles personally but to         Without a preacher one cannot hear Christ, believe,
the church. The apostles with the prophets and             call upon His name and be saved. It is just as simple
with Christ as the cornerstone are the foundation of       and serious as that.
the church. To the church Christ still says: "Go ye             The question at this point is: what about family
into all the world preaching and baptizing." And           devotions, personal Bible reading and study,
Christ promises to be with the church even unto            witnessing for Christ, parental instruction of the
the end of the world. The Scriptures teach in Ephe-        children of the covenant? Are not these means used
sians 4 that the ascended Christ gives to the church       of God too? There can be no doubt but that God
pastors and teachers for the work of the ministry          uses these means for the edification, admonition,
and for the edification of the body. Christ still calls    and instruction of His children. They are absolutely
preachers. He inclines their hearts to seek the            necessary as well. Without covenant instruction by
ministry, opens the way for their training, qualifies      their parents children with but rare exceptions will
them and through the church calls and ordains              forsake Christ and His church. God's people must
them to the ministry. Through those thus lawfully          search the Scriptures daily after the manner of the
called Christ is pleased to instruct us, comfort us,       Bereans. There is no blessing of God apart from
admonish us, and save us.                                  prayer, daily prayer, and prayer without ceasing.
  This has one utterly serious implication. It is a        But, and this is the point: the power which makes
matter of life and death. The preacher when he             all these means effective to one's salvation is
preaches as commissioned by Christ through the             preaching. God's people must hear the voice of the
church comes with the authority of Christ. The             Good Shepherd or they will not and cannot follow
preacher does not come with offers of the gospel,          him. That voice is heard by means of the preaching.
he does not come begging and pleading and cajol-                The final word is plain. God's people must not
ing. The preacher does not say: "I think so" or "in        neglect the preaching of God's Word. They must
my opinion." Clothed with the authority of the             not despise it, for to do so is to despise Christ
Christ who called him the preacher commands all            Himself. God's people must not pretend to be wiser
men everywhere to repent and believe. He heralds           than God and use means other than preaching.
or proclaims the word of the king. The preacher            There are always those who try. ,They say they do
beseeches God's people in the stead of Christ: "Be         not need to come to church but can study the Bible
ye reconciled to God." After the manner of the             at home and can worship God there. Both Scrip-
prophets he says to God's people: "Thus saith the          tures and experience show that these soon depart
Lord;" and God's people must listen and obey not           from the faith and that they and their children go
because the preacher is a very learned man,                lost. God's people must be faithful to the preaching
capable man, eloquent and persuasive preacher,             of the Word. The elders in the church must insist
but because the preacher is sent by Christ and             on the pure, faithful preaching of the Word. God's
through him Christ is pleased to speak His  life-          people must pray for their preachers and support
giving word. To ignore or neglect that word is to re-      them in their awesome task. And when the
ject Christ Who sends His heralds.                         preacher preaches they must hear the voice of 
                                                           L                                                 lesus
  This is why the preacher is indispensable. The           say: "Come unto  me,? will give you rest." -
text says: "How shall they hear without a
preacher?" Whosoever calls on the name of the
Lord shall be saved. Calling on the name of the                       Read and Study
Lord implies knowing and confessing one's sins. It
means God's people go to Christ for forgiveness                 The Standard Bearer!
and deliverance. That they cannot do without faith.
How shall they call on him in whom they have not


278                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



                         The Address Of The Calling
                                                    Cornelius Hanko




   The calling of the gospel is the almighty, ef-             ing death of the cross is an enemy of the truth of
ficacious power of God whereby He draws the sin-              Scripture, of the infallible Word, and of God
ner who is dead in trespasses and sins out of the             Himself! Jesus declared Peter blessed upon his con-
darkness of death into the marvelous light of His             fession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living
life.                                                         God, assuring him that flesh and blood has not
   The question that always arises in Reformed                revealed that to him, but the heavenly Father
circles and demands an answer is: Who are ad-                 reveals that to whomsoever He will. When we con-
dressed in this call of the gospel?                           fess that Jesus Christ is God's Son, we are ap-
                                                              propriating to ourselves the glad tidings of salva-
   Closely related to this is the other question: What        tion, namely, that the God of our salvation is come
is the content of God's calling, or, what are the glad        to us in His Son Jesus Christ, to merit for us and to
tidings of salvation?                                         work within our hearts eternal life in covenant
   To that question we can answer: Jesus Christ is            communion with Himself. "God was in Christ
the content of the gospel, appealing to Paul, who             reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing
says: "For I determined not to know any thing                 our trespasses unto us," (II Cor. 5: 19).
among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."               The promise of the gospel is: "Believe on the
This is in complete harmony with his declaration in           Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Ever
Galatians 6: 14, "But God forbid that I should glory,         since the fall in paradise and throughout the entire
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom           old dispensation God promised the Savior, who
the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the                would save His people from their sins. Immediately
world." The apostle bases this on his own personal            after the fall this promise came to our first parents;
experience, as he states in Philippians 3:8-11, "Yea          it was repeated and enriched through visions and
doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the ex-        dreams, through types and shadows, and by the
cellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord:            mouths of the prophets. Inspired poets sang of
for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and          Him, believing parents spoke of Him to their
do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and            children, saints rejoiced in Him, and died in the
be found in him, not having mine own righteous-               hope that would never put them to shame  (Heid.
ness, which is of the law, but that which is through          Cat., Lord's Day 5, question and answer 19).
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith: that I may know him, and the power                In the Old Testament we have the promise, in
of His resurrection, and the fellowship of his suffer-        the New Testament we have the fulfillment. The
ings, being made conformable unto his death; if by            Christ is come, born of a virgin. As the Good
any means I might attain unto the resurrection of             Shepherd He laid down his life for His sheep. He is
the dead."                                                    risen and is gone into glory, from whence He now
                                                              blesses His Church with every spiritual blessing
   All of Scripture testifies that all our salvation is in    and prepares all things for His return with the
Jesus, who is the Christ, the Son of the living God.          clouds, when He will take His own unto Himself,
His name is Jesus, Jehovah salvation, for He is the           condemn the world of unbelief, and make all things
God of our salvation, born of a virgin, mighty to             new to the glory of the Father. In that hope the
save. He saves us by His atoning death of the cross,          believer lives, and in that confidence he dies, with
and now blesses us with every spiritual blessing by           the prayer on his lips, "Come, Lord Jesus, yea,
His indwelling Spirit in our hearts. He is our salva-         quickly!"
tion, even as we are united to Him as members of
His Body by a bond of living faith!                             Thus Scripture speaks of the heirs of the prom-
                                                              ise, who are brought into God's covenant life to
   Indeed, God forbid that we should glory, save in           enjoy Him and praise Him forever. Abraham
the cross of Jesus Christ!                                    becomes heir of the world through faith, and his
   Anyone who denies the virgin birth and the aton-           spiritual sons become heirs with him (Rom.  4:13,
                                                              Gen.  15:4). Both believing Jews and believing Gen-
Cornelius Hanko is a pastor emeritus in the Protestant        tiles are drawn to Christ by a living faith as fellow
Reformed Churches.                                            heirs with Christ (Eph.  3:6). Now we are sons, we


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               279



know not what we shall be, but this we know, that          And therefore it includes all those who are in
when God reveals Himself to us in all His fulness in       Christ. These are the heirs of the promise.
Christ Jesus, we shall be like Him in His glory to           Jesus addresses these elect as "ye that labor and
tell His praises into endless eternity!                    are heavy laden," assuring them that coming to
  From this follows that the calling of the gospel is a    Him they will receive rest for their souls (Matthew
general proclamation  of  God's particular promise ad-     11:28).
dressed to His elect (Canons II, 5).                         In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus addresses the
  To His Church God has entrusted the "great               true citizens of the kingdom in distinction from
commission", "Go ye into all the world, and preach         those outside of the kingdom, as "the poor in
the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and        spirit," "the meek," "those that mourn," "they
is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not      that hunger and thirst after righteousness," "the
shall be damned."                                          merciful," "the pure in heart," and "the peace-
  From this commission all Arminians conclude              makers." All of these characteristics are the fruit of
that God desires to save all men, and that God of-         God's grace in the hearts of His elect.
fers His salvation to all men, dependent upon man            These elect are also addressed with the term
to accept. This error appeared in England soon after       "whosoever will." The teachers of man's free will
the Reformation, as is evident from many "free             like to say that this applies to all men, whoever may
will" hymns that are still sung today, such as             reach out a hand or breathe a sigh of willingness.
"Jesus is tenderly calling you home." It has been          Yet by nature we hate God, despise His Word and
said that the Arminians came singing into the              always refuse the waters of life. God must make us
Netherlands, where these Arminian songs were               willing, that is, thirsty for the waters of life. Those
soon translated and adopted. We are all acquainted         thirsty are assured that they shall drink of the
with the Remonstrant controversy that led the              waters of life freely (Rev. 22: 17).
Synod of Dordt to express in Canons III, IV, B, 4,           Many other names are given to those called by
    "The Synod rejects the error of those who              the gospel, far more than we can mention. But let
   teach: That the unregenerate man is not                 me make one more reference. In John  lo:16 Jesus
   really nor utterly dead in sin, nor destitute           says: "Other sheep I have (not, I will have, or might
   of all power unto spiritual. good, but that he          have), which are not of this fold: them also I must
   can yet hunger and thirst after righteous-              bring (not evangelists, crusaders, ministers, or
   ness and life, and offer the sacrifice of a con-        others, but Christ must bring), and they shall hear
   trite and broken spirit, which is pleasing to           my voice: (there is no doubt about it in Jesus' mind)
   God."                                                   and there shall be one fold and one shepherd."
  In a slightly different strain, the Puritans spoke         The objection is raised: How about man's
of a "preparatory grace," and in that connection of        responsibility? Just as God's providence controls
"seeking souls," who for a shorter or longer period        the minutest details of our lives, and yet leaves man
of time never come to the full assurance of faith,         completely responsible (doesn't God bring to every
but continue to complain of their sin and misery.          man his own wife?), so also the very fact that the
They distinguished between "awakening" and                 calling of the gospel is preached promiscuously
"converting grace," which implies that the                 leaves every one who hears  it. without excuse.
burdened sinner must experience a traumatic con-           When that Word is preached the sinner declares
version before he can be assured of his salvation. In      that it does not apply to him. He wants no part of it.
the meantime, he can pray for regeneration and
faith, and must be urged to come to Christ by                In the parable of the wedding feast (Matt.
tender entreaties and kind remonstrances.                  22:1-14), the application is that "Many are called,
                                                           but few are chosen." In the old dispensation the ex-
  Scripture speaks of God's infallible promise,            ternal preaching of the Word went out to all those
sealed by His oath, that comes to us by the preach-        who declared themselves to be citizens of the
ing of the Word, calling us by name. God declares:         kingdom of heaven, informing them of that great
"Thus saith the Lord that created thee, 0 Jacob,           and blessed event, the wedding feast of the Lamb,
and he that formed thee, 0 Israel, Fear not: for I         and calling them to attend. We might ask, who
have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy              would ignore such an announcement, who would
name; thou art mine" Isaiah  43:l.                         not count it the greatest of privileges to sit at the
  Scripture distinguishes between "the seed of the         King's table and rejoice with the Bridegroom on
woman" and "the seed of the serpent," the church           this grand and glorious occasion? Would any man
and the world. Later that seed of the woman is             who has the least bit of respect or love for the King
called "Abraham's seed." Paul in the Epistle to the        despise him by refusing to come? This is not an in-
Galatians says that this seed is Christ (Gal. 3: 16).      vitation which can be accepted or rejected  accord-


280                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



ing to man's fancies. This call reveals the inner-           ple is given, namely of a man who wants to be ac-
most attitude of heart and mind toward the King              cepted at the wedding feast in his filthy garments of
and toward His Son, as well as toward the wedding            self-righteousness. He refuses to wear the garment
feast. The King is maintaining His name and honor            of the righteousness of Christ's atoning blood. He
when He punishes those who love the things of this           also deserves to be cast out, for though many are
world more than the things of the kingdom; and               called by the external preaching of the gospel, only
who mistreat or kill His servants. In the new                the elect are saved, and that by grace through faith
dispensation the gospel goes out to the highways,            in Jesus `Christ! Salvation is of God alone, that to
even to the ends of the earth, and again the                 Him may be the glory forever and ever! (Eph.
thoughts of men's hearts are revealed. One exam-             218, 9)





                          Witnessing And Preaching
                                                   Steven R. Houck





   All of God's people are called to be witnesses of         you can not be a faithful witness without the
the glory of God and His Son, Jesus Christ. W-e are          preaching.
to show forth the beauty of God's holiness and the             The relationship between witnessing and preach-
wonder of God's works. Jesus said, "Let your light           ing is three-fold. The preaching determines the sub-
so shine before men, that they may see your good             ject of the witnessing, the motive of the witnessing,
works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven"           and the method of the witnessing.
(Matt.  5:16). We must be shining lights which                 Without the preaching of God's Word the Chris-
reflect the glory of God to the world around us. It is       tian has nothing to say. He has nothing of which to
as impossible to conceive of a believer who does             be a witness. For the subject of which he speaks in
not witness of the wonder of God and His works as            witnessing is the subject also of the preaching of the
it is to conceive of the sun without its shining ra-         gospel. We are to be witnesses of God and the won-
diance.                                                      drous works which He performs through His Son,
   The witness of God's people, however, is im-              Jesus Christ. We are not to speak of ourselves and
possible apart from the official preaching of God's          man's  accomplishments. We must speak of God
Word. Biblical witnessing is completely dependent            and  PIis glory. The Psalmist says concerning God,
upon the saving call of God that comes through the           "I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty,
preaching. When God calls His elect people to                and of thy wondrous works" (Ps. 145:5). When the
salvation, He gives to them faith, love, obedience,          gospel is faithfully and properly preached, God's
and all that belongs to the Christian life. The Apos-        people witness the glory of God's majesty and the
tle Paul says, "Whom we preach, warning every                wonder of God's works. They know the true God
man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that              and therefore can faithfully witness of His glory.
we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus"              The believer must take care that he faithfully at-
(Col.  1:28).  The Apostle preached Christ in order          tends worship services where he hears the
that God's people might grow in faith and become             preaching of God's Word so that he develops in His
mature Christians. Witnessing is a part of the               knowledge and understanding of God. The more
Christian's spiritual life. Therefore, it is as depend-      we sit under the preaching and the more we learn
ent upon the preaching as any other aspect of the            about God, the better we are able to be faithful
Christian life. Just as you can not grow in faith            witnesses of ~God -and His-works. This is why -doc-
without the official preaching of God's Word, so             trinal preaching is absolutely necessary. If you do
                                                             not hear about God in the preaching, you can not
Steven R. Houck is a Protestant Reformed missionary-         speak of Him. If you do not learn about His at-
pastor in Modesto, California.                               tributes, if you do not learn about His works, what


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                               281



     can you say about Him? This is why so much of             sovereign working of God's grace, that person will
     what is called witnessing today is nothing but a          never embrace the truth. The believer's calling,
     counterfeit. Many who profess to be Christians            therefore, is not to save souls, but simply to witness
     know next to nothing about God and therefore can          of the God, Who alone can save the soul. We do not
     only speak about themselves and their own subjec-         have to worry about all kinds of man-made
     tive experiences. They can not testify of God. A          methods. Rather, as we live our daily lives, we take
     faithful witness, however, is one who knows God           care to show forth the glory of God by our lives and
     and therefore is able to tell others about Him. The       by our words.
     more you learn of God through the preaching of the           If the official preaching does not present God as
     gospel, the better equipped you are to witness of         the sovereign Lord of the world, the only Savior,
     God and His works.                                        then the method of the witnessing of God's people
        The preaching also determines the proper motive        becomes man-centered. This is why so many gim-
     in witnessing. Through the preaching we see that          micks are used in witnessing today. You have to
     God is worthy of being known by others. We want           learn how to be a salesman and sell a product in
     to be a witness of God just because He is such a          order to witness properly in today's ecclesiastical
     glorious God. When the eternal, all-powerful God          world. You have to know how to offer children ice
     is manifested before our eyes in the preaching of         cream and other nice things in order to get them to
     the gospel, the believer is filled with awe. He sees      Sunday School. You have to be skilled at putting on
     the grace, love, and mercy of God. We see His             the pressure at just the right moment so that you
     power, righteousness, truth, and knowledge. We            get a decision for Christ. You have to know how to
     see the wondrous things that God does for His peo-        appeal to the emotions of the one with whorr.  you
     ple. God's mighty deeds are before our eyes. The          are dealing. In fact, you have to attend all the latest
     knowledge of God fills our hearts with love and           seminars on witnessing in order to keep up with the
     adoration. As a fountain shoots forth its spray of        latest and best techniques of witnessing.
     water, we are so impressed with the glory of God            The preaching of God's Word is also essential for
     that we overflow with praise. We can not contain          the testimony which we give by our godly life. The
     the wonders of God within us, but must declare            believer must declare God's glory with his mouth,
     them to the world. Like the Psalmist we say, "I will      but that testimony is worthless if his life is not in
     extol thee, my God, 0 king; and I will bless thy          harmony with his words. We must live a life that
     name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless            reflects the glory of God to the world round about
     thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.       us. We can do that only as we live in harmony with
     Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his     the preaching of the gospel. When we see, in the
     greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall           preaching, all the wondrous things which God has
     praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy        done for us and our salvation, our hearts are filled
     mighty acts" (Ps.  145:1-5).                              with thanksgiving and gratitude. That thanksgiving
       Where there is no proper preaching of God and           causes us to seek to live a godly life that is pleasing
     His glory, the proper motive of witnessing is re-         to God. We live as those who have been redeemed
     placed by all kinds improper ones. Rather than be-        through the blood of the Lamb. Out of love for God,
     ing impressed with God and His worthiness, the            we seek to keep His commandments and to order
     professing Christian is impressed with man and his        our lives according to God's Word. The preaching
     need of salvation. Man's salvation becomes more           of the gospel even shows us what a godly life is.
     important than the glory of God. Men witness, not           Where there is no preaching of the wonders of
     because God is great and greatly to be praised, but       God, there is no thanksgiving. Where there is no
I    because man is worthy of salvation. The call goes         thanksgiving, there is no desire to live a truly godly
     out to bring the gospel into all the world because        life. Moreover, where there is no preaching of the
     thousands are perishing. Little or no concern is          holiness of God and the sinfulness of sin, there is
     given to God and His great name. The driving force        no knowledge of what a godly life even is. Thus the
     in such "witnessing" is man's love of man and not         professing Christian's ability to be a faithful
     his love of God.                                          witness is destroyed. This is the problem with
       The preaching of the gospel also determines the         much ' `witnessing' ' today. The world looks at
     method of the believer's witnessing. Proper preach-       Christians as nothing more than hypocrites because
     ing teaches us that God is the only One who can           so many of us say one thing with our mouths and
     build His Church. God is the only One Who can             another with our life. If we are to be testimonies of
     save a soul. He is the only One who can so work in        the wondrous grace of God in our lives, we must
     a man's heart that he believes the truth of the Scrip-    show forth the power of that grace in godly living.
     tures. No matter how hard a believer tries to make          Where the preaching of the gospel is missing or
     a person see the truth of the Gospel, apart from the      where it is corrupted, true witnessing is lost. When


282                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



the preacher loses sight of the God of the Bible and              preaching of the Sovereign God in her pulpits and
preaches the humanism of our age, the people                      people in the pews who are awed by that glorious
in the pew lose the subject, motivation, and                      God as He is presented to them in the preaching.
method of witnessing. This is the dilemma of the                  Then they will have something important to tell
church today. There is much activity. The church                  others. They will desire to tell it to others. They will
has many programs. The people are busy "sharing                   tell it to others trusting that the God Who saves His
their faith". There are "souls being saved." But all              people by His sovereign grace alone will use their
of this leaves out the true God of the Bible.                     testimony as He pleases.
  What the church needs today is the faithful





                Serious Call or Well-Meant Offer?
                                                      David J. Engelsma





   It is a fact worthy of note that, of late, Reformed            to enter into the discussion. Out of unfeigned love
and Calvinistic theologians have been paying a                    for the Reformed faith and for the Reformed saints,
good deal of attention to the issue of the  "well-                we can, after listening carefully to the defense of
meant offer of the gospel." Increasingly, their treat-            the offer by its advocates, both respond to their
ment of the offer has included an analysis of the                 arguments and set forth our own view of genuine
denial of the offer, in the name of confessional Re-              Reformed preaching that fulfills the Lord's man-
formed orthodoxy, by the Protestant Reformed                      date in Mark  16:15: "Go ye into all the world and
Churches. Even though these works often misun-                    preach the gospel to every creature."
derstand, or misrepresent, the doctrine of the Prot-                Writing in the religious magazine,  The Reformed
estant Reformed Churches concerning the serious                   Journal, Harold Dekker raised the issue of the well-
call of God in the gospel to all who hear the                     meant offer in the early 196Os, although he did not
preaching and even though they invariably reject                  intend an examination of the offer itself. Rather, he
the position o f   t h e s e   c h u r c h e s   a s   "hyper-    appealed to the offer, as adopted by his own
Calvinism," the fact that the offer is being ex-                  church, in support of the doctrine of universal
amined and discussed in several different ecclesi-                atonement:
astical quarters, with specific reference to the view
of the Protestant Reformed Churches, is cause for                     The universal love of God is also revealed in His in-
rejoicing.                                                            vitation of the gospel, sincerely extended to all
                                                                      without reservation or limitation. Moreover, God's
  For now, at least, the doctrine of the well-meant                   sincere invitation of the gospel to all involves His
offer is called somewhat into question. Some, in-                     desire that it be accepted by all  _ . . is the salvation
deed, give evidence `of a certain suspicion and                       which the atonement provides  available  to all men? In-
wariness concerning the well-meant offer as it has                    deed it is. Otherwise the well-meant offer of the
been taught by its more ardent advocates, especial-                   gospel is a farce, for it then offers sincerely to all men
ly in view of the tendency of the offer to undermine                  what cannot be sincerely said to be available to all.'
the fundamental Reformed doctrines of limited                        In 1983 Harry R. Boer attacked the doctrine of
atonement and of the salvation of the elect by ir-                reprobation set forth in the Canons of Dordt, par-
resistible grace. Besides, opportunity is now given               ticularly in I/6 and in I/15, in a book, The Doctrine of
to those who are convinced that the well-meant of-                Reprobation in the Christian Reformed  Church.2  One
fer is a serious deviation from Reformed orthodoxy                aspect of the attack consists of pointing out the con-
                                                                  tradiction between the Canons' doctrine of repro-
David J. Engelsma is pastor of the Protestant Reformed            bation and his own church's doctrine of the  well-
Church of South Holland, Illinois.                                meant offer. Having quoted Canons III, IV/8  & 9,


a

                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                             2 8 3



     which teach God's unfeigned call to all who come               glasses of the presentation of that position by G. C.
     under the preaching of the gospel, Boer writes:                Berkouwer and especially A. C. De Jong, Arntzen
                                                                    rejects Hoeksema's position as "very extreme." He
         Obviously, the decree of reprobation and the un-
        feigned call of the gospel do not so (i.e., harmoniously    supposes that the denial of the offer of grace is con-
        - DJE) relate to each other at all. The true relation-      demned by the teaching of the Canons of Dordt,
        ship between them can only be described as one of flat      that God is serious in calling all who hear the gospel
        contradiction. There is much in the ways of God with        and that it is pleasing to Him that those who are
        us that transcends our understanding or that is yet to      called come to Him. Yet Arntzen is uneasy about
        be revealed, but we are spared the absurdity of being       the well-meant offer: "Nevertheless, this does not
        deprived by decree of what is granted by gospel. The        alter the fact that not all are caZZed in the same wuy
        New Testament speaks again and again of mystery:            (emphasis his  - DJE). He concludes his treatment
        the mystery of the kingdom of God, the mystery of           of the offer with the fervent wish "that there ap-
        God's will, the mystery of Christ, the mystery hidden       pear once a substantial study of election and the
        for ages, the mystery of faith, the mystery of our          general gospel-offer that is not influenced by all
        religion  - but, for all that, Paul, who most used the
        concept, knows no self-contradicting God . . . Paul         kinds of modern theological and philosophical
        knows the Yes of election, he knows the Yes of the          presuppositions, but that is purely Biblical."
        gospel, he knows the Yes of the appeal "be reconciled         It is not only among the Dutch Reformed that the
        to God!" And he knows the No of judgment on those           offer has been receiving attention in recent years.
        who are called but will not repent and believe the          At a conference of Calvinistic Baptists at the Trinity
        gospel. But he knows nothing of the No of reprobation       Baptist Church in Essex Fells, New Jersey, in 1985,
        that countermands what God has affirmed by denying
        any possibility of faith and conversion to a whole seg-     Sam Waldron presented a paper on "The Crux of
        ment of humankind. (p. 70)                                  the Free Offer: God's Indiscriminate Desire for the
                                                                    Salvation of Sinners.lf4 Correctly analyzing the crux
       As Dekker appealed to the offer to deny limited              of the well-meant offer, Waldron asserts, and tries
     atonement, so Boer appealed to the offer to deny               to prove, that "God earnestly desires the salvation
     reprobation.                                                   of every man who hears the gospel. He sends them
       Some years earlier, in 1965, the Dutch theo-                 the gospel that  - with the desire and will  - they
     logian, M. J. Arntzen, noted that the doctrine of the          might be saved by it." Any denial of this desire for
     well-meant offer was being used to oppose the doc-             the salvation of all who hear the gospel is "hyper-
     trine of double predestination, election and                   Calvinism." Without this desire, there can be no
     reprobation, in the Reformed Churches in the                   serious call of God in the gospel: "To speak of a
     Netherlands. In his book, De  Crisis in De  Gere-              serious call to salvation from one who does not love
     formeerde Kerken (The Crisis in the Reformed                   you or wish you to be saved is to mock the English
     Churches),3 Arntzen warned that "the most central              language." The desire of God for the salvation of all
     truths of the Reformed confession are attacked," so            implies, according to Waldron, that God loves all
     that, unless this attack is quickly and plainly                men, "even non-elect sinners." But does not the Bi-
     stopped, "our churches will be ruined." In addition            ble teach that God hates some men? Waldron
     to the authority of Scriture and the authority of the          assures us that God can love and hate the same
     Reformed Confessions, a "most central truth" that              man at the same time. With regard to the objection
     is under attack, according to Arntzen, is double pre-          that the Scripture teach that God'has not decreed,
     destination. After he has vigorously contended for             or willed, the salvation of all who hear the gospel,
     the Biblical doctrine of election and reprobation, af-         e.g., in Romans  9:17-23, Waldron has recourse to
     firming "election and the particularity of grace,"             the distinction between God's preceptive and
     Arntzen takes note of the argument raised against              decretive wills: God commands certain things (pre-
     double predestination by means of an appeal to                 ceptive will) which He has not decreed (decretive
     "the well-meant offer of grace":                               will), e.g., (although Waldron does not give this ex-
        One of the most important arguments that men sup-           ample) that Pharaoh let the children of Israel go.
        pose they are able to lodge against the classic doctrine    Waldron, however, construes this distinction to
        of election is the following: If God has decreed from       mean that God desires in His preceptive will that
        eternity that not all shall be saved, then the preaching    which He does not desire in His decretive will, or,
        of the gospel is rendered powerless; this is a threat to    as Turretin puts it, in his refutation of this error, in
        the seriousness of proclamation. Indeed, how can one        his Institutes of Theology, God "nills" with one will
        then maintain that God seriously offers grace to all?       what He "wills" in the other will.
       In this connection, the man who has come to be                 At the end, evidently feeling altogether uncom-
     known as the "Dutch Elijah" considers the denial               fortable in his contorted theological position,
     of the well-meant offer by Herman Hoeksema.                    despite his heroic efforts to harmonize the irrecon-
     Viewing Hoeksema's position through the (colored)              cilable (and quite rightly uncomfortable - Waldron


284                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



now has a God Who loves and hates the same man                          Also the Presbyterians are concerning them-
at the same time and Who both wishes the man's                        selves with the offer of the gospel. In a recent, signi-
salvation and purposes his damnation, as well as a                    ficant book,  C&in and Scottish  Theology,5  M.
sinner to whom God says, "I sincerely desire your                     Charles Bell launches an assault upon Scottish
salvation, a l t h o u g h   I   h a v e   d e c r e e d   y o u r    Presbyterianism, beginning with John Knox; upon
damnation"), Waldron gratefully seeks relief in                       Federal, Calvinistic theology and upon the West-
"mystery":           "Christianity is an inherently                   minster Standards. All deviated from John Calvin
mysterious religion." Indeed! And if Waldron's                        (although Calvin too erred in his doctrine of
defense of the well-meant offer, alongside the Bi-                    predestination); and all were guilty of jeopardizing
ble's teaching of sovereign election and reproba-                     the believer's assurance of faith. Following R. T.
tion, limited atonement, and efficacious grace is a                   Kendall, Bell contends that none can have
faithful exposition of Christianity, Christianity is                  assurance, unless Christ died for all men without
also an inherently contradictory, absurd, and                         exception. A powerful argument for universal
foolish religion.                                                     atonement, according to Bell, is the well-meant of-
   Of special interest is Waldron's critique of the                   fer of the gospel:
doctrine of the call of the gospel held by the Prot-                      . . . to limit the atonement is to remove the basis for
estant Reformed Churches. He recognizes the dif-                          the universal offer of Christ in the gospel . . . The
ference between the view of these churches and                            gospel message of salvation in Christ cannot be of-
that of Hussey, Gill, and the Gospel Standard (Strict                     fered to one for whom Christ did not die. To insist
Baptist) Churches in England, who also have op-                           upon the contrary is to raise questions concerning
posed the offer, but whose opposition is a denial,                        God's veracity, and to undermine faith and trust in
not only of God's command to all to repent and                            God. Unless Christ died for all, there is no warrant for
believe (as Waldron observes), but also of the                            a universal offer of Christ in the gospel, and, thus, no
                                                                          basis for assurance of salvation. (p. 187)
preaching of the gospel to all men, promiscuously
and without distinction. Hussey and the others of                     The 19th century, Scottish Presbyterian, John
his mind thought that the church might not preach                     McLeod Campbell, corrected the deficiencies of
the gospel of the blood of Jesus to unregenerated                     300 years of Scottish Presbyterianism (by destroy-
men, but only the threatenings of Christ as Lord.                     ing historic,  creedal Presbyterianism!):
The fundamental difference between the stand of                          Campbell . . . saw clearly that the Federalist doctrines
the Protestant Reformed Churches and that of                             of predestination and limited atonement made it im-
these English opponents of the offer has not always                      possible to proclaim the gospel offer to all without ex-
been recognized; and Waldron's clear indication of                       ception, and effectively removed the foundation of
this difference ought to be appreciated.                                  one's assurance of salvation. Christ can be offered to
                                                                         all, and faith in Christ can bring assurance of salvation
   That the Protestant Reformed Churches do                              only if what he did in his atoning work was on behalf
believe that God commands all to believe in Jesus                        of all humanity. (p. 199)
Christ, and not only the elect, regenerated persons                     Two things are plain from this. First, Bell
in the audience, and that they confess the serious                    assumes the offer to be a gracious overture of God
call of the gospel to all who hear the preaching does                 to all hearers, expressive of God's love for all and of
not, however, spare them from severe stricture. In                    His desire to save all. Second, Bell insists that the
an appendix, Waldron examines "the position of                        offer, so conceived, demands a universal atone-
the Protestant Reformed Church regarding the free                     ment and a universal love of God, i.e., the abandon-
offer of the gospel."                                                 ment of the Presbyterian doctrines of limited atone-
       The consistent denial of common grace requires the             ment and double predestination. Much of Scottish
       rejection of any desire in God for the salvation of the        Presbyterianism today is in full agreement with
       non-elect. In other words, any benevolent attitude in          these notions.
       God toward the non-elect, any thought of the general             It is especially the Presbyterian K. W. Stebbins,
       love of God, must be denied. This is the crux of the
   `Protestant Reformed denial of "the offer." An offer               minister of the Presbyterian Reformed Church of
       implies the desire of the offerer that those to whom           Australia, who has put the issue of the free offer of
       the offer is given respond. For them, there is no such         the gospel before Presbyterian and Reformed Chur-
       desire in God. Hence, they assert [paradoxically] that         ches in a book written in 1978,  Christ Freely  Of-
       God calls and commands the non-elect to repent and             fered.6  Strangely, this book has received virtually no
       be saved, but does not desire that they do so.                 attention from the Protestant Reformed, although it
This position, according to Waldron, is "rational-                    is one of the few works, with A. C. De Jong's  The
istic" and  "hyper-Calvinistic." The Westminster                      WeZZ-Meant Gospel Offer,  that are expressly devoted
Confession of Faith, VII, III and the Canons of                       to an examination and refutation of the Protestant
Dordt,  II/5 and III, IV/643  condemn it out of hand,                 Reformed doctrine of the preaching of the gospel.
as unreformed.                                                          In the introduction, Stebbins states that the book


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     285



is an answer to several questions put to those who         Presbyterians should likewise believe, that God
hold the well-meant offer, from the side of the Prot-      loves all men with a love revealed in the gospel;
estant Reformed Churches:                                  that God, on His part, sincerely desires the salva-
  1. Does God desire the salvation of everyone?            tion of every man to whom the gospel comes; and
                                                           that the gospel, in the intention and attitude of God,
  2. Does God offer the gospel to all because He           is grace to all.
      loves all? Does He love all?                            Stebbins does distinguish himself by advancing
  3. Does God offer Christ and salvation to every-         the startling proposition that God hates the elect.
      one in the preaching of the gospel?                  "He (God) still must hate the unregenerate sinner
Strikingly, some 100 pages later, in his conclusion,       - even His elect" (p. 19). "Is it possible for God to
Stebbins admits that "I have not been able to say          love (sovereignly) those whom He hates (judicial-
`yes' or `no' to the questions," allegedly because of      ly)? Scripture teaches that this is so. Does not God
the ambiguity of the questions. His inability to give      love and hate the elect, while they are still by
a definite, emphatic "no" to these questions puts          nature the children of wrath . . .? . . . God . . . hate(s)
Stebbins squarely in the camp of those who defend          the elect before regeneration" (p. 61). To such
the well-meant offer, despite his efforts to               lengths will men go to protect their dear well-meant
distinguish himself somewhat from some of the              offer. In order that God may love the reprobate, He
more enthusiastic advocates of the offer, e.g., John       must be made to hate His elect.
Murray and Errol1 Hulse.                                      Hesitant as he is about certain aspects of the of-
  Although Stebbins is cautious, hesitating to say,        fer, of one thing Stebbins is certain: the denial of
in so many words, that God loves all men and that          the offer by the ProtestantReformed  is rationalistic
God desires to save all men, his differences with          hyper-Calvinism. Their doctrine hinders urgent, in-
these statements are purely semantic. Rather than          discriminate preaching of the gospel. Since the
say that God loves all men, Stebbins says that God         Canons of Dordt uphold the free offer in II/5 and in
is benevolent to all men; rather than say that God         III,  N/8, the denial of the well-meant offer by the
desires the salvation of all men, Stebbins says that       Protestant Reformed Churches is unreformed.
God delights in the salvation of all men and pursues          Our survey shows that the well-meant offer of
the salvation of the reprobate; rather than say that       the gospel is very much a live issue in the last half
the preaching is grace to all, Stebbins says that "the     of the 20th century and that it affects the Reformed
revelation of God, especially in the gospel, is            Faith in fundamental ways. In this discussion, the
another evidence of God's sovereign benevolence            Protestant Reformed Churches also have some-
towards men, and by these means He pursues the             thing to say.                                (to be continued)
communication of His own nature to them," which
is gracious. These are distinctions without real dif-      NOTES
ferences, and only confuse and obscure the issues.           "`God So Loved  - All Men!," December, 1962, p. 5.
In spite of his commendable wariness of certain              "(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983).
"dangerous" expressions by bolder proponents of              s(Amsterdam:  Buijten & Schipperheijn, 1965). All quotations
the offer, e.g., Murray's statement that "the repro-       from the book are my translations of the Dutch.
bate are the subjects of `the loving and benevolent          4To  my knowledge, the paper has not been published. Copies
will be the possession of Christ' " and R. B. Kuiper's     may be available from Trinity Baptist Church, P.O. Box 277,
                                                           Essex Fells,  NJ 07021.
statement that "John  3:16 and Romans  5:6, 8 were           S(Edinburgh:  The Handsel Press, 1985).
not written for the elect alone (but tell of) a univer-      6The  book can be ordered from Covenanter Press, Box 48,
sal love of God," Stebbins believes, and thinks all        Strathpine North, Australia 4500.


                                         Book Review

REFLECTIONS ON FRANCIS SCHAEFFER,                          greater influence on today's evangelical world than
Edited by Ronald W. Ruegsegger; Zondervan Pub-             Francis Schaeffer. Perhaps best known for his work
lishing House, 1986; 320 pp., $11.95 (paper).              in  L'Abri, Switzerland, he spent most of the last
(Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)                               years of his life in this country writing, speaking,
  Whether one agrees with him or not, one must             and preparing films. While the list of books and ar-
recognize that probably no single man has had              titles which came from his pen is very long, the


286                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



better known ones are: "The God Who is There,"            more concern to me, but is something which is not
"Escape From Reason, " "How Should We Then                so strongly criticized in the book; 4) Schaeffer's
Live?' ' , "Whatever Happened to the Human Race,"         view that the church has the calling and obligation
and "Christian Manifesto." On the wide spectrum           to involve itself in social betterment, in govern-
of evangelical thought, Schaeffer was to be found         mental policies and in efforts to make this world
firmly perched far to the right. He was closely,           (and especially this country) the kingdom of Christ
associated with Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majori-       - even to the point of civil disobedience and armed
ty as well as The Christian Reconstruction move-          rebellion if necessary (shared by such organizations
ment with its leading figure, Rousas Rushdoony.           as the Moral Majority and  Chalcedon), is a view
  This book is an analysis of Schaeffer's life and        which frightens me sufficiently to make me read
thought written by men who in some instances              with great care anything which Schaeffer has pro-
were influenced by and converted through his              duced; and this is hardly criticized in the book at
work in  L'Abri, but who are, on the whole, sym-          all, at least not from the Biblical perspective.
pathetic to him and in agreement with much that              But it is for this reason that we must know
he has written. After an Introduction on "Schaef-         Schaeffer, for we must be aware of his great in-
fer's System of Thought," the book is divided into        fluence in conservative religious thought. This
three parts. The first part, "Schaeffer's Conceptual      book is an excellent introduction to his views and
Framework," deals with his intellectual roots and         will be helpful to anyone to understand Schaeffer,
his apologetic method, the latter in large measure        whether he has read what Schaeffer wrote or
borrowed from C. Van Til's "presuppositionalism."         whether he has not.
  While the book is generally sympathetic to
Schaeffer's position, the authors are not adverse to
criticizing him sharply where they believe him
wrong. For example, in a lengthy chapter on art and
music (as well as in other areas of the book), Schaef-           The Standard Bearer
fer is criticized as not knowing enough about these
things to write in any kind of authoritative way. He               makes a thoughtful
is often taken to task for using secondary sources;
for failing to master a subject on which he speaks                       gift for the
rather authoritatively, for being historically and
factually inaccurate, for engaging in broad generali-               sick or shut-in.
zations which are only half truth at best. Whether
all this criticism is always justified, I do not know,
for I have not read by any means all that Schaeffer
has written. A few comments: 1) In his criticism of
Schaeffer on art and music, the author of this essay        Remember them today
includes a defense of common grace and its applica-
tion to art and music; 2) Sometimes the authors                     with a gift of the
criticize him for something which was not really his
purpose  - e.g., he is criticized for ignoring details
of historical fact, when in truth Schaeffer was more               Standard Bearer!
interested in gaining a broad`understanding of the
wide sweep of history; 3) Schaeffer's philosophical
starting point and orientation in his writing is of


                        News From Our Churches
                                                   Ben Wigger


                                                 March 15, 1987

  The Protestant Reformed Church of Wellington,           Miersma. In connection with the formation of that
New Zealand has formed the trio of Rev. Kenneth           trio, I received a letter from the church there in
Koole, Rev. Rodney Miersma, and Rev. Thomas               New Zealand, and I would like to quote part of that


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                   287



letter. "It is a great step forward for us and our re-        ing Hands" will help the congregation experience
joicing is increased by the fact that, by God's grace,        the fellowship of the body of Christ by being active-
it is all an evidence of the love many brothers and  ;,v ly involved with those who have needs and thus
sisters in the PRC of America have for us. We                 obey God's Word in Matt. 25:40 "In as much as ye
wish to say "Thank You" to all the churches and             a have done it unto one of the least of these my
church members for the help they have given."                 brethren, ye have done it unto me".
May we all remember this group of saints in our                  And attached to this newsletter explaining the
prayers. And may we also ask God that in due time             "Helping Hands" concept was a separate sheet
He will send them a man of His own choosing.                  which contained a list of services the members of
  On February 12 the PTA of Heritage Christian                the congregation could volunteer for. Some items
School in Hudsonville met to hear Police Chief Rich           on that list were: carpentry, plumber, visiting, let-
Honholt of the Hudsonville Police speak on the                ter writing, phone calls, baking, house cleaning,
subject "Drug Awareness" which proved to be                   yard work, washing, and beauty and barber needs.
both interesting and informative. And as a  follow-              Our congregation in Houston held a work bee at
up on this subject, assemblies were scheduled at              the church Saturday, February 28. The purpose of
Heritage for February 23 for Chief Honholt to                 the bee was to reshingle the south half of the
speak to grades 4 to 6 and grades 7 to 9.                     church roof and the southeast half of the fellowship
  On February 19 Adams St. Christian School's                 hall, replacing the lighting in the fellowship hall
PTA also met to hear Rev. Kamps speak on the sub-             with  florescent fixtures, finishing the add-a-room
ject "The Spirituality Required of a Protestant Re-           addition to the parsonage, along with general clean-
formed Teacher".                                              up and some small painting projects.
  Have you noticed, as I have, that our church                   The Young Peoples' Society of Doon  sponsored a
bulletins have been filled recently with requests             PancakeSupper  in the church basement recently. A
from our different Christian schools for teachers? It         free-will donation was taken for the coming con-
seems that not only is there a shortage of seminary           vention in Loveland, Colorado.
students, but there also appears to be a shortage of             The members of Edmonton were invited to hear
Protestant Reformed school teachers. Heritage                 a program presented by their Choral Society.
Christian in Hudsonville is in need of two addi-              Refreshments were provided afterwards by the
tional teachers. Covenant Christian High is accept-           Young People, as one more way to raise money for
ing applications for a full-time teaching position, as        the `87 Convention. Edmonton's Choir presented
well as applications for choir and band director,             their program again at the Emmanuel Home a cou-
and librarian. Covenant Christian in Lynden is                ple of days later. After the program residents and
seeking a junior high/high school teacher. And                choir members alike joined in the singing of Dutch
Hope Christian in  Redlands is also in need of a              Psalms.
teacher for grades K-3 with Hope Christian in                    And from Southeast Church we find that their
Walker also needing a teacher/administrator for the           Evangelism Society is also planning to hold a Dutch
forthcoming school year. South Holland Christian              Psalm Sing at the Holland Home the middle of
School seeks applications for the next academic               March.
year.                                                            And our last bit of news was taken from Ran-
  From our church in Hudsonville we find a cou-               dolph's bulletin. "We express to the congregation
ple of interesting items. First, the congregation has         our great appreciation for all the extraordinary ef-
begun to print a monthly church newspaper. This               forts expended to help us settle in our new home.
as yet unnamed paper is especially designed better            We were quite overwhelmed by how nice the par-
to acquaint the members of the church with each               sonage is, by the abundant gifts of food and cloth-
other, as well as to inform the members of up-                ing, and by the temporary loan of furniture. We are
coming events and activities in their church. And             greatly encouraged by the evidences of Christian
secondly, the deacons of Hudsonville have initiated           love and concern for us as your new pastor."
what is called "Helping Hands". This consists of a                      Pastor den Hartog and family.
network of volunteer church members who are
willing to share their individual talents with those
who have special needs arising from physical hand-                          RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
icaps, old age, illness, etc.                                    The members of the Ladies Society of South Holland,  ill., express
                                                              their Christian sympathy to the Egbert  Hollernan  family in the recent
  It is the hope of this committee that this  "Help-          death of their mother, MRS.  JENNIE  HOLLEMAN, at the age of 83
                                                              years.

                                                                 "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain." (Philippians  I:21  )
Ben Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church      Rev. G. Lanting, Pres.
of Hudsonville, Michigan.                                     Elaine Van Der Noord, Sec'y.

               -


                                                                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                            P.O. Box 6064
                                                                                                                     Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516





288                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                       1'
                                                                                                         NOTICE!!!                      .              1t
                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                          All students enrolled in the Protestant Reformed Seminary, who
  On March 19, 1987, our parents and grandparents, MR. AND                 will be in need of financial assistance for the coming school year, are
MRS. DONALD LOTTERMAN, will celebrate their 40th wedding an-               asked to contact the Student Aid Committee, Mr. Larry Meulenberg,
niversary. We express gratitude to God for preserving them in His          Secretary, 342 Begole S.W., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49504. Phone
truth and for using them to instruct us both by Word and deed that         number is: (616) 453-8466. This contact should be made before the
salvation is by grace alone!                                               next meeting of the Committee on April  1, 1987, the Lord willing.
  "Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their
children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and                                     IN MEMORIAM
establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our            On January 19, 1987, it pleased our Faithful Covenant God to
hands establish thou it. (Psalm  90:16, 17)                                take unto Himself our beloved mother, grandmother, and  great-
Glare and Jan Kuiper                      Harry and Mary  Vanden Berg      grandmother, BERTHA LOOYENGA, at the age of seventy-three
   Deb, Doug, Brian, Marc,                   David, Daniel, Sarah,         years.
  Cara,  Kevin, Rachel, Randy                Nathan, Joy                      To know that we belong to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in life
Ed and. Mary Lotterman                    Mike and Grace Lotterman         and death, is our only comfort.
  Amy, Becky, Andy, Heidi, Lindy,            Laurel
   Rusty, Katie, Holly, Emily             Marcia Lotterman                    In times like these, we are thankful for the bond of fellowship and
                                          Steve Lotterman                  communion of the saints that only the children of God can ex-
                                                                           perience.
                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                          "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."
  MR. AND MRS. HENRY HOLSTEGE celebrated their 50th wedding                (Psalm  116:15)
anniversary on March 4, 1987. Their children and grandchildren and         ,Theodore  and Theresa Looyenga             Raymond and Louisa Null
great-grandchildren give thanks to God for the love and covenant in-       Stuart and Marilyn Looyenga                   20 Grandchildren
struction they have given them in the years past. We pray that God         Willard and Sophia Krommendyke                43 Great-grandchildren
will preserve us in our generations to be faithful unto Him.
   "For this God is our God forever and ever: he will be our guide even                       ATTENTION TEACHERS!!!
unto death." (Psalm  48:14)                                                   Hope Christian School of Redlands, California is in need of a
Len and Marcia Holstege              Larry and Elaine Lubben               teacher for Grades K-3 for the 1987-1988 school year. Teachers
Jim and Kathi Holstege                   Mark and Dawn Vander Wal          and prospective teachers interested in applying for this position
  Danny, Nathan, Lynn                    Dennise and Lonny Lubben          please write to: Hope Christian School, 1309 E. Brockton, Redlands,
Len and Tom Holstege                 Harv and Marilyn Holstege             CA 92374, or phone Ed Karsemeyer (714-793-7166 home) or
Jay Holstege                             Greg, Brenda, Heidi, Mike,        (714-793-1504 school), or Bill Feenstra  (714-793-3597).
Debbie and Mark Burgess                  Jeff, Joel
  Justen                             Clair and  Tina Holstege                                            NOTICE! ! !
Randy and Tracy Holstege                 Kelly,  Marci, Mitch, Kris                             Financial Support For Wellington

                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                        Recently there was a report in the Standard Bearer that
                                                                           $15,000.00  was collected for the Protestant Reformed Church of
   The Ladies Society of the South Holland Protestant Reformed             Wellington, New Zealand. It gives us great gratitude to witness the
Church wish to express their Christian sympathy to one of its              gracious support of our people for this cause. Many of you gave these
members, Mrs. Grace Medema and family in the recent death of her           monies even though you had other pressing financial responsibilities.
father-in-law, MR. RUDOLPH MEDEMA at the age of 87 years.                  These gifts are evidence of your love of God and His Work. The princi-
                                                                           ple of a free-will offering is healthy and well in our churches.
   "The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, he knoweth
them that trust in him." (Nahum  1:7)                                         The Contact Committee has informed the Congregation of Well-
                                                                           ington that they are now to proceed to call one of our ministers. In ad-
Rev. G. Lanting, Pres.                                                     dition, we have also made some recommendations to our Synod of
Elaine Van Der Noord, Sec'y.                                               1987, which, if adopted, will define and govern the situation when
                                NOTICE!!!                                  one of our ministers accepts the call for help in the preaching of the
                                                                           Word in Wellington.
   "Covenant Christian High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is ac-          Finally, we would remind our people and readership that more
cepting applications for a full-time teaching position. Applicants         monies are needed for this work. We are not finished. We have been
should be willing and able to teach Business Courses, English, and         asked to help support the ministry of the Word in Wellington for five
Physical Education. Applicants should have a broad-based educa-            years. We must raise a total of approximately  $65,000.00,  of which
tional background. Applications may also be submitted for the posi-        only  $15,000.00  has been gathered. Let our consistories continue to
tion of Choir Director, Band Director and Librarian. Applicants must       take these offerings.
possess secondary certification."
                                                                              May the Lord give us grace that we may joyfully do His Work.
   "Inquiries or formal letters of application should be sent to Cove-
nant Christian High School, 1401  Ferndale  S.W., Grand Rapids, Ml                   Sincerely,
49504. Attention: Miss Agatha Lubbers, principal and Dr. R. Van                         For the Contact Committee
Putten,  Education Committee Chairman. Please include a resume'."                    Rev. Marvin Kamps


