A Reformed
Semi-Monftdy
Magazine





                         Sharing papers at
                     Officebearers' Conference:
                    March 5, 1991, Randolph, WI

                                                   q
 Vol. 67, No. 14
 April 15, 1991


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  ,._.
Contents                             `
                                           .                 "                     II:               I,           .%           ~&                              .      .       .Abri[                               ,5,             ,g9;              THE
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                s7-ANDARD
Meditation  - Rev. James D. Slopsema  _.                                                                                             !,
      CO)JSTR&NIfiG   L'$/E  ??`!~+  .:,;.
                                                                            . . . . . . . . . . .   _  ;,-
                                                                                                   ..t.......i....................*.......~~~..~....***..*.
                                                                                                                         ),  j .                                                                                  `~..........       3i
Editorially  &f  iDavid&  ,Cng&/&lg.  ..;  ii,  .:  :,'  ,.,,                                                                                                               ,:'                            .:               `-             '       B&JR@" .
      AN "ELECTION THEOL&&"  OF COVENANT (3) . . . ..*.............................. 31
Letters  : ;,,l..a+;.; .,.; ;;:' .,.:: .`y,`:: ..`<": ::>`J:; ;. i                                                                                      "i                          . .
                                                       _... `.`.),..i . . . . 4 . . . . . i,r .`. %.I`.:.,.,&.2L~ ,..... (; . ...*.. i ,..........,*....' . . . . . . . . . . . ;;... 31.                                                       ,/SW  0 3 6 2 - 4 6 9 2   1
Special Article - Mr. Joel Sugg                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
      OFFICEBEARERS' CONFERENCE  '
                                                                                                            . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...*.32               Published by the Reformed Free Publlshlng Assoclatlon, Inc.
Special Article i Rev. Ronald L. Cammetya                                                                                                  ,.            . . .                      ..                                                          Second Class Postage Pald at Grand Raplds, Mlchlgan.
      JESUS CAME PREACHING ~....~..~~~~~~.~~~.~~.............................~.........~............ 32                                                                                                                                         Poabnaatar:  Send,address changes to the Standard Bearer,
Special Article Rev. Ronald  4:;.  VanOverloop  . _                                                                                                                                                                                             P.O. Box 6064, Grand Raplds, MI 49516.
      EVALUATING S@MOy CRITICISM . . . . . . . ..~................................................32                                                                                                                                            EDfTOFtfAL COMMR-TEE
A Word Fitly Spoken - Rev.  @I~ H.  ~l(uiper  _                                                                                                                                                                                                 EdItor:: Prof. David J. Engelsma
      tiESP&T OF PERSONS . . . . . . . . . . m...............,....................: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32                                                                                                Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Managlng Edkor: Mr. Don Doezema
Search the SdriljtqeS  + ,R@v.*,gah J. Haak
T h e   Bddk  of  Rtifhjlll)                                                                        "                                            .'                                        -                                                    DEPARTMENT  EDfTORS .
                  CC&EKING  R&W' I'.                                                                                                                                  .
                                                                          . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..).......~....~.......................................... 32                                                           Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev. Arie
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                denf-iartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry Gdtters, Rev.
Taking Hee`d td the Doctrine`- Rev; Bernard Woudehberg                                                                                                                        ."                                                                Cad Haak, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. John Heys, Rev. Marvin
      THE SOWER OF SEED *                                                                   .`.                                                               .i9             .,
                                                                            ..*..,..~.............*..~........***.........,....................~........*. 33                                                                                   Kamps, Rev. Kenneth Koole, Rev. Jason Korterlng, Rev. Date
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Kulper, Mr. James Lantlng,  Rev. George Lubbers, Mrs.
The Strength of Youth i `Rev; Barrett L Grit&s                                                                                                                                                                                                  MaryBeth Lubbers, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev. Charles
      The  Ehd Times  (llj  ...  .:'  .z  5'                                                                                                                                                                                                    Terpstra, Rev. GlsaVanBaren.  Rev. RonaldVanOv~srloop.  Mr.
                  THE ,uST BATTLE (II) .a:.:..;: . . . . . . . . . . . . . Y.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ..~... 33                                                                   Benjamin Wigger,  Rev. Bernard Woudenberg.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             ,
Book Review                                                                               . . .
                               . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*...............................................................33                                                                   EDtTOR~COFFlCE              CHURCH NEWS EDITCR
Report of .Classis West .`~,"..:....r..........~..................................~.....~.....................                                                                                                                       33         The Standard Bearer         Mr. Ben Wlgger
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                4949 Ivanrest               6597 46th Ave.
News from  our Churches,_.  M(...Benjamin Wigger . . . . . ..*........*......................a...... 33                                                                                                                                         Grandvllle MI 49416         Hudsonvllle, Ml-49426
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                BUSINESS OFFICE           NEW ZEALAND OFFICE
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                The Standard Bearer         The Standard Bearer
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in Randolph a  few  weeks  ago,  The,theme  chosen  ("Preaching")`was  surely                                                                                                                                                                   you have a change of address, please notify the Buslness
timely one, given the decline,of,preaching.m  the church today. And the topic                                                                                                                                                                   Off& as early as possible In order to avold the InconvenIence
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                of Interrupted dellvery. Include your zip or Postal Code.
chosen for  the,various presentations  wer~e most attractive. To mention just                                                                                                                                                                   ADVERTtSlNG POUCY
few:,. "Applicatory  Preachin&".",Pyeachipg.ChSist  and the Cross," "Delivery,                                                                                                                                                                  The SfendardBesrerdoes  not accept commsrclal advsrtlslng
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                of any kind. Announcements of church and school events,
"The Elders Oversight ofthe Preaching.`!. To.give our readers a bit of the flavc                                                                                                                                                                annlversarles, obltuarles, and sympathy rasolutlons will be
of the event,. we decided.  to., include  two  .in. this issue: Rev. Cammenga'                                                                                                                                                                  placed for a 93.00 fee. These should be sent to the Business
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Offlceandshouldbeaccompanled  bytheS3.00fee. Deadline
keynote address, and  Rev.?VanOverloop's sectional on  "Evamating   Sermo                                                                                                                                                                       for announcemants Is the 16th and the 25th of the month,
Criticism.~~                        :, .                          _._       ;             .,         I                               :                                                               I.                                         previous to publlcatlcn on the 1st or the 15th respectively.
        we thank also Mr., Joel.$ugg  for providing an overview of the day. Yo                                                                                                                                                                  BOUND VOLUMES
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for the opportunity for "indivjdual conversations." Above, Rev. Arie denHa                                                                                                                                                                      possible after wmpletlon of a volume year.
tog, pastor, ,of Redla,nds  ;PRC,.and  Mr. Dqwey  VanderNoord, elder in Sout                                                                                                                                                                    16mm  microfilm, 35mm microfilm and 105mm  microfiche, and
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Holland PRC, ,share insights over coffee..                                                                                                               ,                                                                                      Intematlonat.
                                                                                    .;                                                                                                                                              D.1

314 1 Standard.Bearer/ApriI  15,.1991


Meditation                                     Constfainirig  L,ove
Rev. James Slopsema



        For the love of Christ constraineth    motive of God's glory and the wel-               If one died for all, then were all
us; because we thus judge, that if one died    fare of the church.                          dead.
for all, then were all dead:                        Paul goes on to explain. In His              A proper understanding of this
        And that he died for all, that they    love Christ died for the church, in-         requires an understanding of legal
which live should not henceforth live          cluding Paul and his co-workers.             representation. We have a legal rep-
unto themselves, but, unto him which           Christ's purpose in all this is that they    resentative before God.  ' Originally
died for them, and rose again.                 no longer live unto themselves but           our representative was Adam. He
                  II Corinthians  5:14,15      unto Him who gave His life for them.         represented the whole human race in
                                               ThKgreat love constrained Paul and           the garden in such a way that all bear
                                               his fellow-workers to put aside all          personal responsibility for his actions.
                                               self-seeking motives and labor zeal-         Hence, ,when Adam sinned, all sinned
        There were those in the church         ously for the cause.of God.                  in and through him so that all are
of Corinth who bitterly opposed Paul,               Pray that the love of Christ may        liable. to the `punishment of eternal
Very wickedly they accused Paul of             so constrain us.                             death.
dealing with the Corinthians out of                     *  *  * *  *  *  *                       God has graciously given the
evil and ulterior motives. They also                We thus judge, that if one died         church a new representative in the
said that Paul was beside himself  -           for all, then were all dead.                 place of Adam. He is our Lord Jesus
out of his mind, insane.                            The one who died is Jesus Christ.       Christ. Consequently, Jesus has, be-
        Paul responds to these dreadful        The death He suffered was the death          come responsible before God for our
charges by assuring the Corinthians            of the cross. This death was beyond          sins and the punishment of these sins.
that, whetherhewasinhisrightmind               description in its horror. For at the        That punishment Jesus bore on the
or not, all he did in Corinth was to the       cross Jesus endured the punishment           cross. Because He is our representa-
glory of God and for the advantage of          of God's wrath for sin that the un-          tive, we died in and through Him.
the church.                                    godly will only begin to taste in an              If one died for all, then were all
        In the verses we consider for          eternity of hell.                            dead.
this meditation, Paul adds that he                  Jesus endured this agony for                 This death we died through
and his co-laborers were constrained           others. Personally Jesus had no sin.         Christ is our salvation. For it renders
to work in this manner by the love of          There was nothing in His life that           us righteous before God, worthy of
Christ. The love of Christ is Christ's         made Him liable to this horrible             all His favors and blessing!
love to His church. Paul and his co-           punishment. But others had sinned.                Allthis is connected to the love
workers labored in the awareness of            Jesus died for them, suffering the           of Christ.
this great love. That love constrained         terrors of hell in their place.                   Christ loves us! Christ loves
them to labor only out of the pure                  In fact, Jesus died for all. This       exactly because the Father has chosen
                                               does not'mean that Jesus died in the         us and given us to Him. Christ knows
                                               place of every individual of the human       each of us individually and loves every
                                               race. We know from the rest of Scrip-        one of us.
                                               ture that this is not the case. The               It was that love that sent Chirist
                                               context is the church. Paul is seeking       to the cross to die for us and secure
                                               to convince the church of Corinth            our salvation.
                                               that his motives have been pure as he             Stop and consider!
                                               dealt with them. The contrast, there-             What else, but love, could have
                                               fore, between IIthe one" and fl the all"     moved Christ to  die.for  us?
                                               is between Jesus and the members of             `What a horrible thing was the
                                               the church. The one (Jesus) died in          death of the cross. We really can not
                                               the place of all the members of the          fully comprehend it. Jesus had to
Rev. Slopsema is pastor of Hope Protes-        church. And let us bear in mind that         endure the agonies of hell, not just for
tant Reformed Church in Walker, Michi-         the membership of the church is de-          someone else but for a countless
gan.                                           termined by God's eternal election.          throng.  How He dreaded that hour.

                                                                                                      Aprii 15,1991/  StandafcfSearef/315


                                                                                           and talk with God as friend with
                         No sense of obligation alone                                      friend. This is the true joy of man.
          could have brought Jesus all the way to the cross.                                       Secondly, the life lived unto
                                                                                           Christ has its eternal reward -- the
                              It had to be love. . .                                       perfect enjoyment of God's friend-
                                                                                           ship and fellowship in heavenly glory.
                                                                                                   What a great blessing to be de-
It was the one great event that cast a       no longer any room for God or the             livered from a life lived unto self to a
shadow over His whole earthly life.          Lord Jesus Christ in man's life. All is       life lived unto Christ!
He spent much time in prayer to re-          for self.                                             To this end Christ both died and
ceive strength to face it. Just the                Jesus died for us exactly that we       was raised.
anticipation of it caused the agony of       should no longer live unto ourselves                  What moved Him was love. He
Gethsemane.                                  but unto Him.                                 loved us with the love of the Father.
     Certainly it was love and love                This purpose of Jesus in His death      In love He surrendered Himself to
alone that moved Jesus to surrender          was the purpose of love.                      the horrors of the cross that we might
to the cruelty of the cross. No sense of           This will become clear when we          nolongerliveuntoourselvesbutunto
obligation alone could have brought          understand what a horrible thing it is        Him.
Jesus all the way to the cross. It had       to live unto ourselves. Those whose                      Y *  * *  *  *  *
to be love, and eternal and infinite         minds are darkened by unbelief do                     This love of  Christ constrained
love, for His people!                        not understand that. They imagine             Paul to live, not unto himself, but
         * * *  *  * *  $                    that living to themselves is the key to       unto Christ, who died for him.
     Jesus died for us that we should        a happy life. However, nothing could                  Let us understand Paul's situ-
no longer live unto ourselves, but           be farther from the truth. The life           ation.
unto Him.                                    lived unto self is a meaningless, empty               Because he was born again in
     One either lives unto himself or        life. Those who live it find true joy to      Jesus Christ, Paul's life had been
he lives unto Christ. A third altema-        be elusive. The reason is that happi-         changed. The basic direction of His
tive there is not.                           ness is not to be found in earthly            life was towards Christ. However,
     To live unto yourself means that        things, earthly honor, or earthly pleas-      the work of grace was not complete
your chief concern is yourself. You          ures. If you doubt the truth of this,         in his life. There was much that was
live for yourself. You are self-seek-        read what Solomon relates in the book         still inclined to live unto self.
ing self-serving. Your pleasure, your        of Ecclesiastes. He found the  self-                  What held these sinful tenden-
comfort, your honor is the only thing        centered life He lived for years to be        cies in Paul in check and also com-
that really matters to you. Hence, all       nothing but vanity (emptiness). If,           pelled him to live daily unto Christ
you do is calculated somehow to              having read Solomon's woeful tale,            was the love of Christ. Paul lived in
advance and realize your self-cen-           you still have doubts, then consider          the consciousness that Christ loved
tered goals.                                 all the broken marriages, broken              Him. In love Christ gave Himself to
     The opposite of this is to live         homes, and broken lives the world             the horrors of the cross exactly that
unto Christ.                                 over. They all find their source in           we might live unto Him. How could
     To live unto Christ means that          lives lived unto self. If that is not         Paul, then, live unto Himself? To do
your chief concern is not yourself but       enough, consider that the life lived          so would be to despise the great love
Jesus Christ. His cause and kingdom          unto self also has its eternal reward         and sacrifice of His Savior!
are the all-important things to you.         - hell.                                               The love of Christ constrained
Everything else in life (whether it be             True and lasting joy is to be found     him to live unto Christ.
riches, pleasure, comfort, honor) you        only in a life lived unto Jesus Christ.               May that same love also con-
are ready to sacrifice for the cause of            This is true for two reasons.           strain us to live unto Him who died
Jesus Christ. Your whole life is calcu-            First, the life lived unto Christ is    for us and rose again.  0
lated to advance the cause of Jesus'         a life of fellowship and companion-
kingdom.                                     ship with the ever-blessed God. Those
     The sorry fact is that the natural      who live unto Christ are able to walk
tendency of every human being is to
live to himself. This is the result of
the fall of the first man, Adam, in
paradise. His fall left the whole human                                      Jesus died for us
race spiritually dead. The chief char-               exactly that we should no longer live unto ourselves
acteristic of this spiritual deathis that                                      but unto Him.
it makes mankind hopelessly  self-
centered and self-serving. There is

316 I Standard Bearer/April 15,199l


                                                              An "Election
                                                                  Theology"
                                                               of Covenant
Editorial                                                                                 (3)
Faith a Condition?                           The Canons are a sworn foe of "con-                 and purpose of God the Father, that
     In his letter in the March 15,          ditions." This is undeniable. Every-                the quickening and saving efficacy
1991  issue of the  Standard Bearer,         one may read it for himself.                        of the most precious death of His Son
"Liberated" theologian Dr. J. DeJong                 The reason why1 did not refer to            should extend to all the elect, for
responded to my charge that the              the passages brought up by Dr. DeJong               bestowing upon them alone the gift
"Liberated" doctrine of the covenant         (and the reason why he should not                   of justifying faith.
makes the covenant dependent upon            have referred to them either) is that                  The "command" of Canons II/ 5
the will and work of the baptized            none of these passages teaches that            is not a "condition." So far is it from
child. This, I contended, is the clear       faith is a condition. One would not            being true that the command is a
and necessary implication of the teach-      expect that the logical Canons would           condition that 1) God eternally de-
ing that the faith of the child is the       contradict themselves by denying that          creed to give faith to the elect only; 2)
condition for the fulfillment of the         faith is a condition in one place, while       Christ earned faith for the elect only;
promise that God is supposed to make         affirming that faith is a condition in         and 3) the Holy Spirit irresistibly
to every baptized child. I appealed to       another place. Nor do they. In  I/3,4,         bestows faith upon the elect as a gift,
the Reformed confession, the Canons          the Canons teach that God gives faith          thus bringing them infallibly to sal-
of Dordt, which repeatedly deny, in          to some men (the elect, according to           vation. Applied to the children of
so many words, that faith is a "condi-       I/6) by the preaching of the gospel            believers, this means that God gra-
tion" unto salvation (cf.  I/9,10; I,        and that through this faith they are           ciously purposes and promises to give
Rejection of Errors/3; III,IV/14; and        delivered from the wrath of God and            faith to the elect children only; that
III,IV, Rejection of Errors/6). Appeal       have eternal life conferred upon them.         Jesus purchased faith by His death
to the confession is a weighty, indeed       There is nothing here about faith as a         for the elect children only; and that
conclusive, argument among Re-               condition.                                     the Spirit gives faith to the elect chil-
formed Christians.                                   Canons  II/5 speaks of a "com-         dren only, through the Word and
     The response of Dr. DeJong to           mand" to believe on Jesus Christ that          sacrament, in particular, sovereign
this appeal to the confession was that       comes to all who hear the preaching.           grace.
he directed the attention of our read-       It is the duty of every man who hears                  Canons V/ 14 does not even re-
ers to other passages in the Canons:         the preaching to believe on Christ             fer to faith, but rather reminds us that
I/3,4,12;  11/5; and V/14. He asked          presented in that preaching. Also,             God uses the means of the Word and
why I quoted the passages I did, and         the command sets before every hearer           sacraments to preserve and perfect
passed over other passages. The              the only way of salvation, so that             the work of grace in us. Not even
answer is simple and obvious. I di-          those who refuse to believe have only          remotely does this article so much as
rected attention to those passages that      themselves to blame, as II/6 goes on           hint at the teaching that our faith is a
treat the issue under discussion: "Is        to assert. But the command that comes          condition for receiving the contents
faith a condition according to the           to all is intended and used by God to          of a promise made to everybody.
Reformed creeds?" Nowhere do the             give faith to some only, in sovereign,                 There is not a shred of support
Canons teach that faith is a condition.      particular grace. This is the clear            in the Canons of Dordt for the teach-
Again and again, the creed denies,           teaching about the "command" in111             ing that faith is a condition unto sal-
more than once exphcitly,  that faith is     7,8:                                           vation, whether in covenant lines or
a condition. The Canons instruct Re-           But as many as truly believe. . . are        on the mission field.
formed Christians to see the teaching          indebted for this benefit solely to the
that faith is a condition as an aspect of      grace of God, given them in Christ           Condition or Instrument?
the grave error that compromises the           from everlasting, and not to any merit               The reason for this is that the
gospel of salvation by sovereign grace.        of their own. For this was the sover-        Canons are thoroughly biblical. And
                                               eign counsel, and most gracious will
                                                                                                      April 15,1991/  Standard Bearer/317


the Bible does not teach faith as a         faith, the promise surely is not sure to       In stating the third cause of Puritan-
condition unto salvation. It does           anyone. DeJong, however, thinks that           ism's apostasy, Packer speaks to the
indeed use what Dr. DeJong calls            I "have strange glasses on" to read            issue; `whether faith is a condition
"conditional language": "If you will        the text  asproof of anunconditional           unto salvation:
not believe, you will not- be estab-        promise to the-  eIect. DeJong gives             The third relevant denial (by an apx-
lished" (Is.  Z9). But this language        the text  this,.way:..                           tat&zing Puritanism-DJB) was that
makes faith known `as the z&y to sal-       That is why it  ,depends on faith,  m            the covenant of grace is a relation-
vation and-:as  the  insfiumentul  means     order .that the promise may rest on             ship which God imposes unilater-
of salvation, not as the condition unto       .grace and be guaranteed to all his            ally and,unconditionally,  by efifec-
                                                                                             tualcalling, sayingtohiselect, "Iwill
salvation.                                    (Abraham's)  descendants-not,only              . `1; and iou shall 1. . U The Arrninian
        Nor  is. this distinction negli-    to the adherents of the.law but also             alternative was that the covenant of
gible-a distinction without a differ-         those &ho share the faith of Abra-
                                              ham, for `he is the father of us all.          grace is a new law, offering present
ence; It is fundamental to the gospel       DeJong then explains, "Paul stresses             pardon on condition of present faith
of grace, and, therefore, to Reformed       the condition (his emphasis-DJE) of              and finzil salvation on condition of
orthodoxy, that faith is not an act of      the covenant: the call to faith!"                sustained faith (p. 156).
man upon which righteousness and                  There is nothing strange about                     .
salvation depend, but the  means,by         my glasses. What is strange  is  `his          Christ's Death for  the Children  of
which God justifies and saves a man         translation, specifically the words,           Believers
and the way in which the sinner             "That is why it depends on faith."                  Two other charges against the
embraces the righteousness and sal-         The apostle did not write, "It depends         "Liberated" doctrine of the covenant,
vation of God'presented in the gos-         on faith." He wrote, as the Ring               Dr. DeJong brushes aside as having
pel.  Nowhere does the New Testa-           James Bible correctly translates, "It is       little or no weight in the debate. But
ment teach that the sinner is justified     of (Greek: e/c) faith." The inheritance        they are not as flimsy as Dr. DeJong
or saved "on account of" faith. Right-      that God promised to Abraham and               supposes. One is the charge that the
eousness and salvation are rather "by"      his seed comes to us out of faithas the        "Liberated"      teaching necessarily
faith (as means) or "out of" faith (as      source, and not out of the law. Faith          implies that the death of Christ fails
source).                                    is not the condition, but the sourcebf         to secure the redemption of some
        The Reformed confessions in-        the inheritance. And the diffeience is         persons for whom He died. At the
sist on the distinction between faith       that "faith-as-condition" means that           heart of the `Liberated" covenant view
as the means, or instrument, by which       reception of the                               is the teaching that God makes the
                                                                 inhe$ance   depends
the sinner receives righteousness and       upon an act that we perform, whereas           covenant promise to every child at
salvation and faith as the ground,          "faith-as-source" means that the in-           baptism. But our Reformed  confes:
basis, or cause of righteousness and        heritance comes to usfrom Christ (to           sion teaches that the baptism of the
salvation. This distinction spells the      whom faith unites us), without any             children of the faithful is based upon
difference between the truth of gra-        working to fulfill conditions on our           Christ's death for them and that our
cious salvation and the lie of salva-       part. If the inheritance  de,nends upon        children are to receive baptism as a
tion's dependency  .upon the will and       faith, it is not "by grace," as the apostle    sign and seal of that which Christ has
workofman (cf.  theHeidelbergCate-          states in Romans 4:16.                         done for them on the cross (Belgic
chism, Q. 61; Belgic Confession, Art.            It must be  sharpiy proclaimed            Confession, Art. 34).
22).                                        (and everyone who hopes to be saved                 The Reformed baptism form
                                            must believe it): Never does the gospel        similarly teaches that the promise of
        If the promise at baptism           of the Scriptures teach that the prom-         baptism that the Holy Spirit will Idwell
            is for every child,             ise, righteousness, or salvation de-           in us and sanctify us is the promise to
  conditioned by the child's faith,         pends upon faith. Faith is not a basis,        apply to  us "that which we  have in
            the promise surely              ground, or condition of salvation. So          Chrisf. rr The prayer after baptism
          is not sure to anyone.            to present and view faith is fatally to        expresses that the baptism of the chil-
                                            compromise the,gospel  of grace.               dren seals and confirms, not a j'uture
        Dr:DeJong is very seriously in           This is not an insight peculiar to        forgiveness of sins on the condition
error, therefore, in his translation and    the  PRC.. J. I. Packer expresses it           that the children will someday be-
explanation of Romans  416. I had           clearly in his recent book, A Questfor         lieve, but a past forgiveness of the sins
appealed to thistext in support of-the      Godliness (Crossway Books, 1990).              of the children "through the blood of
Protestant Reformed teaching that the       He is explaining how it happened               . . . Jesus," regardless of the fact that
covenant promise of God is to elect         that Puritanism in England fell away           the children cannot as yet believe.
children only. For the apostle writes       from the truth; Their first error  tias             ,If, now,. as the "Liberated" teach,
that the promise is "sure- to all the       that they began to deny that faith is          the promise of baptism  isfor every
seed." If the promise at baptism is for     the gift of God..Their  second was that        child; if the sanctification of which
every child, conditioned by the child's     theycametodenylimitedatonement.                baptism is a sign and seal is promised
318  I Standard Bearer/April  15,199l


to every child; if, in short, the cove-       Is baptism a sign and sacrament of a             taken none effect." This is indeed the
nant is made with every baptized              sanctification that Christ has accom-            apostle's emphatic declaration that
child, Christ must have died for ev-          plished for  ev.ery child of believers?          the wordof God did not fail. It is the
ery child of believing parents. But           Does every child have in Christ the              apostle% declaration that the-word of
since some-baptized children perish           .washing away  of, his sins? Has the             God's promise did not fail. It is the
in unbelief, the death of Christ  Afor        Almighty God and merciful Father                 apostle's declaration that the word of
some persons failed to secure their           forgiven the sins of all the children of         God's promise to establish the cove-
redemption.                                   godly parents without exception?                 nant, with believers, and their chil-
     Dr. DeJongnmst  not respond to           Were the blood and death of Christ,              dren did not fail.  But.God's word of
this charge by stating that atbaptism         Mediator of -the new covenant, the               promise did not fail, the apostle ex-
God promises the children that He             redemption of the transgressions of              plains in the following verses, becuuse
will wash them in Jesus' blood if they        all the children of ; believers (Heb.            that promise never wus made to every
believe. No one disputes that the             9:14,15)?                                        child of Abraham (and of believing pur-
promise at baptism is a promise that                  If so, the death of Christ failed to     ents).  The children of Abraham  `(and
God will fulfill and that the children        save many for whom Christ died. If               of believing parents), to  whore the
will enjoy in the way of repentance           not, the promise at baptism; accord-             promise is made, are not all the physi-
and faith. But the "Liberated" theo-          ing to the Reformed confessions,                 cal children, but only some of them-
logian must explain the relationship          cannot be for every child. For the               the "children of the promise" in dis-
between the promise to wash every             .promise, based as it is on the death of         tinction from "the children of the fl.essh"
child from his sins  and'lhe death of         Christ, is exactly as extensive as was           (v. 8).  `The word of promise exclu-
Christ,,  the ground of the covenant          t h a t   d e a t h .                            sively refers and is addressed to cer-
and the basis-of the promise. :                                                                tain of Abraham's (and our) children,
     Question 66 of the Heidelberg            Does thk Word of God Fail?                       those namely whom God has eter-
Catechism is pointed and conclusive                   The other charge that Dr. DeJong         nally elected (vss. 9ff .). Believers and
regarding the truth that the promise          dismisses, as a "caricature of our               their elect children are God's Israel.
is based upon the death of Christ.            stand$oint," is that the "Liberated"             The other children are merely "of
"The sacraments . . . declare and seal        doctrine teaches that the "word and              Israel." But the word of promise is
to us the promise of the gospel." This        promise of God have failed" in many              alone to "Israel" (v. 6).
promise, declared by baptism, is that         cases. The point here is simply that,                  It is the argument of the apostle
God "grants us freely the remission           on the "Liberated" understanding of              Paul inRomans 9:6ff.  that, if the prom-
of sin, and life eternal, for the sake of     the covenant, God promises the es-               ise is for all the children without
that one sacrifice of Christ, accomplished    tablishment of the covenant and the              exception, no other conclusion is
on fhecross." Thegroundof theprom-            covenant blessings to many children              possible than that the word of God
ise to "us" is the death of Christ for        who nevertheless perish in hell. Ei-             has failed.
us. . . If, now, the promise of God at        ther God never fulfilled His promise,                  It is, therefore, the judgment of
baptism is to every child, Godprom-           or the children fell away from the               the apostle upon the "Liberated"
ises every child that He grants him           grace of the promise. In either case,            doctrine of the covenant that it teaches
forgiveness and eternal life on the           the word of God has failed.                      that the word of God's promise fails.
ground that Christ died for him.                   It is nothing less than astonish-                 1beseechDr:DeJong to take this
     Does Dr. DeJong believe that             ing that Dr. DeJong quotes  Remans               judgment seriously.  0             - DJE
Christ shed His blood for the wash-           9:6 in his response to this charge:
ing of all the children of the faithful?      "Not as though the word of God hath

                                              Lette.iS

                                              on the same way of Truth. God bless
                                              ysu.                                             ingly more like the dispensational
E Bouquets                                                                   _ Andre Coste     premillennialist, and  this. definitely
    I am renewing my subscription                                       Paris,  F r a n c e    .affects your biblical world view and,
to the  Standard  Bearer  by interna-         b       . . . and Brickbats                      we believe, hampers the growth of
tional  .postal money order. It is  .al-              We do  not wish to renew our             the Kingdom.  0
ways with great ,interest that I receive      subscription to the Standard Bear&                         (Mr. and Mrs.) Charles Parry
the  SB.  In France, we have nothing          Your eschatology seems to be increas-                                     Matthews, NC

                                                                                                      April 15,1991 I Standard Bearer/ 319


                                                           Officebearers'
Special Article                                                  Conference
ML Joel Sugg


      An officebearers' conference was
held in Randolph, Wisconsin on Mar&
5,199l. For a number of years now,
such a conference has, with only oc-
casional exceptions, been an annual
event associated with the meeting of
Classis  West. It came about first
through the organizing initiative of a
few ministers from the west. Their
efforts were aided by various minis-
ters from both east and west and
from the seminary, many of whom
have presented papers for discussion.                                Sectional on "Missiona y Preaching"
Of great encouragement also is the
good attendance on the part of dele-           to these men, it is yet open to anyone       assembly takes most of them many
gates to Classis  West, members of the         who is interested. Its limited ex-           miles from home and their daily
host church and other nearbycongre-            penses (including a mid-day meal             routine. In addition, many of the
gations, visitors from  Classis East,          prepared by the ladies of the host           congregations in the west are geo-
and local ministers from other de-             congregation) are defrayed by pass-          graphically isolated in terms of con-
nominations.                                   ing the hat among those present.             venient fellowship with other con-
      While not an official part of the             Such conferences have particu-          gregations. This brief detachment in
meeting of  Classis West, the confer-          lar value to the elders in attendance,       time and distance, along with per-
ence takes advantage of this assem-            especially to those who come as clas-        sonal contact with others in like situ-
bly by scheduling its work on the day          sical delegates only at extendedinter-       ation, provides a fertile soil both for
before and at the place where  classis         vals. Not only is the subject matter         quiet mutual reflection and for ani-
meets. Set as an officebearers' con-           pertinent to their calling, but discus-      mated discussion. The additional
ference because of its principal value         sion of the subject, both during the         opportunity for fellowship  whiclh  the
                                               conference proper and afterward              conference provides is coveted by
                                               during individual conversations, gives       many elders because they attend clas-
                                               them additional depth and breadth.           sis much less frequently than some
Mr. Sugg is an elder in Trinity Protes-             Delegates to  Classis West have         others and far less frequently than
tant Rejormed  Church in Houston, Texas.       an unusual fellowship because that           their pastors. This opportunity not
                                                                                          ' only expands the elders' knowledge
                                                                                            of the truth and its application,, but
                                                                                            also encourages the development of
                                                                                            friendships with other elders and the
                                                                                            ministers.
                                                                                                 The conference in Randolph was
                                                                                            unusual in two respects. First, its
                                                                                            subject, "Preaching," was divided into
                                                                                            nine separate presentations. Those
                                                                                            sectionals  were offered three at the
                                                                                            same time in each of three individual
                                                                                            schedule-periods. Those attending
                                                                                            were therefore able to select a total of
                                                                                            three presentations out of the nine
                             Elder Joel Sugg,  Rev. Curl Huuk                               offered. The conference  was  also
320  I Standard Bearer/April  15,199l


unusual in that it was a continuation          topics the second time around which              ences. A topic which was especially
of last year's program at South Hol-           he could not get in during the first.            encouraged, incidentally, was "`The
land. A number of the sectionals                       Both the quality of the presenta-        Conduct of Censura Morum."
were in fact repeats of those given            tions and the active participation of                 All present were thankful for
last year. Of the topics which were            ministers and elders alike during the            the efforts of those who contributed
repeated, about half were introduced           lively discussions which followed were           to the success of brethren studying
by men different from those who                a clear indication of the appreciation           together the doctrines of truth. "And
served a year ago. So there was a              that there is in  Classis West for the           they continued steadfastly in the
fresh approach even in the "old" topics.       importance of these events. Further              apostles' doctrine and fellowship . .."
But repetition of sectionals is a practi-      indication of enthusiasm for it all came         (Acts  2:42).  0
cal expediency, too, from this point of        in the offering of suggestions for
view, that it enables one to select            subjects to be treated in later confer-


                                                                 Jesus Came
Special Article                                                        Preaching
Rev. Ron Cammenga


                                               sermons. When Jesus came, He came                was faithful to His calling. He was
         And he cume to Nazareth, where he     preaching.                                       focused -He knew what His calling
had been brought up: and, us his custom                In this passage Jesus teaches            was. And He was faithful to carry
was, he went into the synugogue on the         several important truths about preach-           that calling out.
sabbath day, and stood up for to read.         ing.                                                  It is striking that the first official
And there wus delivered unto him the                                                            act of Jesus' public ministry recorded
book of the prophet Esuius. And when he        Preaching -Jesus'Central Task                    in the gospels is preaching. That is
had opened the book, he found the place                Jesus makes plain here that He           what He did in Nazareth. And what
where it was written, The Spirit of the        has been sent to  preach.  This is His           He did there in Nazareth set the tone
Lordisuponme, becausehehuthanointed            first, this is His main, this is really His      for His whole ministry.
me to preach the gospel to the poor; he        only, work.                                           What was true of Jesus must be
hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to             He has not been sent to counsel,         true of His servants today. If His
preach deliverance to the captives, and        although He does give personal,                  calling was essentially and primarily
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at    pastoral counsel. He does meet with              a calling to preach, so is ours.
liberty them that  are  bruised, To preach     a troubled Nicodemus. He does
the acceptable year of the Lord.               comfort a weeping Mary Magdalene                 Jesus The Preacher of the Gospel
                            Luke 4:16-19       at the tomb. But personal counseling                  Not only has Jesus been sent to
                                               is not His primary work and calling.             preach, but He makes plain here that
         This sermon preached by Jesus         He has not been sent to perform mir-             He is  THE  Preacher of the gospel.
in the synagogue of Nazareth is a              acles, although He does perform many             That is what He says about Himself.
significant sermon. It is significant          mighty miracles. Nowhere is it ever              "The Spirit of the Lord is upon ME. fl
because it is thefirst recorded sermon         recorded that Jesus baptized. There              "He hat-h anointed ME to preach the
preached by Jesus. But for our pur-            is not one reference to His having               gospel to the poor." "He hath sent
poses it is especially significant be-         officiated at a funeral or a marriage.           ME to heal the brokenhearted and to
cause it is a sermon about preaching.                  Jesus' main work was to preach.          preach deliverance to the captives."
Jesus' first sermon was a sermon about         He makes that clear in this passage.                  ,Fundamentally there is one and
                                               "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,              only one Preacher of the gospel, and
                                               because he hath anointed me to preach            that one is Jesus Christ. He is the
                                               the gospel to the poor; he hath sent             Prince of Preachers, the preacher's
                                               me to heal the brokenhearted, to preuch          Preacher.
                                               deliverance to the captives . . . . To preuch         That Jesus is  THE  Preacher of
Rev. Cammenga is pastor of the Protes-         the acceptable year of the Lord." The            the gospel carries with it several
tant Reformed Church of Loveland, Colo-        record in the gospel accounts of Je-             implications.
rado.                                          sus' ministry demonstrates that He                    First, since Jesus Christ is THE

                                                                                                      April 15,199i / Standard Bearer/ 321


                                            That is indicated when He says, "He          be impressed with our preaching. They
                                            hathanointed me to preach the gos-           must not be impressed with our au-
                                            pel to the poor." That is indicated          thority. But they must be impressed
                                            when He says, "He hath sent me to            with the authority of the Lord God
                                            heal the brokenhearted, to preach            who sends us, on behalf of whom we
                                            deliverance to the captives." He has         speak, and whose Word we bind upon
                                            been "sent" to do this. The word             their hearts.
                                            "send" is the Greek word  aposkdlo,
                                            the word from which we get our               Jesus' Preaching was Exegeticad
                                            English word "apostle." An apostle                Jesus' preaching was exegetical,
                                            is one who has been sent out, one who        expository preaching. Jesus preached
                                            has been sent out with a mission to          out of the Scriptures. He read the
                                            accomplish, a mandate to carry out.          Scriptures and then proceeded to
                                            Jesus has been sent out by God.              explain the Scripture that He had
          Rev. -Ron %ammenga                     That Jesus has been sent out to         chosen as His text. The portion of
Preacher, it is Christ who is speaking      preach is indicated by one of the two        Scripture that He read was Isaiah 61.
to His people through the preaching         words that He uses here for preach.          The text of His sermon was the first
office and through the man who oc-          It is the word that He uses in verse 18      two verses of this chapter.
cupies that office. The preacher does       when He says that He has been sent                Jesus' preaching was NOT a
not merely bring a message about            "to preach deliverance to the cap-           forum for discussion of current social
Christ. But in his preaching, Christ        tives," and again in verse 19 when He        and political issues. He did not, in
Himself is addressing the people of         says that He has been sent "to preach        His preaching, simply use the Scrip-
God. Jesus says that to His disciples       theacceptableyearofthelord." That            tures as a springboard to launch, into
in Luke  10:16, "He  thatheareth  you       word "preach" is the Greek word              consideration of some other topic of
heareth me; and he that despiseth           kzrusso. The meaning of this word is         personal or popular interest. His
you despiseth me."              .           "to herald, to function as a herald."        preaching was not a sharing of His
      In the second place, since Christ     Now in Bible times a herald was a            own personal religious experience.
is  THE  Preacher, we human preach-         special sort of person. He was the                But His preaching was exposi-
ers stand in dependence upon Him.           official messenger of the king. He           tion of the Scriptures. Exposition
Apart from Him, we cannot preach.           brought the kings word to the people         means "to set forth." In expository
Without His sustaining strength and         in the name of the king. The authority       preaching the sermon "sets forth" or
grace, all our efforts come short. Our      of the king stood behind the message         "exhibits" the truth of a certain bibli-
sermons are ineffective. There is no        that he brought. To reject him and his       cal text. The sermon is designed to
peace, no joy in  the, work. Because        message was tantamount to rejecting          say what the text says. Though using
Christ is THE Preacher of the gospel,       the king. He did not come in his own         different forms and different words,
we must stand `in constant, daily           authority, but with the authority of         it really only repeats (with illustra-
dependence upon Him in our work             the one who had sent him. Just so,           tion and application added)  whak the
of making and preaching sermons.            Christ has been sent.                        text says. Expository preaching sets
      And, thirdly, since Christ is THE          It is of fundamental importance         forth neither more nor less than the
Preacher of the gospel, we human            that the preacher of the gospel be           truth of the text.
preachers are going to be called one        conscious of the fact that he has been
day to give an account of our preach-       sent. So important is this that Paul                  The importance of
ing to Him. As preachers we are             says in Romans  l&15, "How shall                     expository preaching
answerable to Him who is  THE               they preach, except they be sent?"              is that only when the preacher
Preacher. We had better remember            There can be no genuine preaching               expounds the text of Scripture
His warning, especially sobering to         unless the one who is doing the preach-           is the Word that he speaks
preachers, that every idle word is          ing has been sent.                                  the very Word of God.
going to be brought into judgment.               The importance of the preacher's
                                            being sent is that he comes with au-              Traditionally the science or art
Jesus "Sent" to Preach                      thority, the authority of the God who        of sermon construction has been called
      A third important truth that          sends him. This was the thing that           "homiletics." The word "homiletics"
comes out in this passage  is. Jesus'       impressed the people with the preach-        is derived from two Greek words:
certainty that He has been  SENT  to        ing of Jesus. A little later in the chap-    homo,  which means "the same," and
preach, sent by God.                        ter, Luke  4:32, we read, "And they          Zego, which means ti to say or speak."
      That is indicated in several ways.    were astonished at His doctrine: for         Thus homiletics is the technique of
That is indicated when Jesus says,          his word was with authority."                making the kind of sermon that "says
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me;"             In a similar way our people must        the same thing" as the text says. The

322  / Standard Bearer/April  15,199l


very word used to  designates  the sci-                  There are two -sorts, of doubts that            ing,Snc~~s.~descriptios,:of  those, to
ence of sermon construction indicates                    ministers wrestle with. -There is the           &l-&g `r;ie hai `@e& ::s&; @`pre&h.
that all genuine preaching is exposi-                    ministey's  doubt concermng hisown              f~~~~~~~~e~oott~ebrolce~~e~rtirb-,
tory preaching.                              -.          personal call to the ministry. Anyone           &~$$$.&$;the@ind,  and the. bruised,
      .The. importance of expository                     who has been a minister for more                . ~$.:-; ~,Those;to;~wh~m~  Jesus hasbeen.
preaching is that  omy when the                          than. a year  `has wrestled with this           se$topre.ach are those who are poor,
preacher expounds the text-of Scrip-                     doubt. But there is also. the doubt             poor&$irit~ spiritually poor,  abso-
ture is the Word that he speaks the                      that in his preaching  thevery Word             h.itely~e4~itute  of any spiritual good.
very Word of God. This is thebiblical                    of God is heard, especially when there          They  -are'the brokenhearted, that is,
view of preaching. Preaching is not                      appears to be little or no results to his       those `who are  .broken in heart over
merely the word of man;. it is the                       preaching.                                      their sins  an,d*the guilt of their sins.
powerful, saving Word of. God. But                             We have to be  renewed.in our             They  are:cap@es.  `.t'Captives" here
preaching is the Word of God only if                     conviction concerning the- deep,                d;sesnot. refer. to .prisoners in a jail,,
the preaching expounds the Word of                       mysterious, powerful nature of preach-          gilt  i&r~efers.:.to  .+ri+ners  of  Warj
G o d   i n   t h e   B i b l e .   .   ~    .,:         ing. We have to be renewed in  our.             dragged  ,mto~exil.e.by the conqueror.
       One of the strangest ,paradoxes                   conv@ion that in our preaching God's            These are captives to the Devil, en-
in evangelical and Reformed churches                     people do hear God's, own Word;                 slaved to his power, with absolutely
today is a very high view of the Bible,                  through us God does-speak to them.              no hope of escapein  themselves. They
on the. one  ,hand,. and  on,the other                   We have. to  bereminde,d,  as Elijah            are blind, blindto the Word of God,
hand a very low view of -preaching.                      needed to be reminded, that God is              blind to the will,of God, blind to the
On the one hand a vigorous defense                       notin the strongwind, that Godisaot             truth, blind to every spiritual reality,
of the Bible as the very Word of God,                    in the earthquake, that God is .not in          so blindthat .they cannot even sele the
but on the other hand a low estima-                      the fire, but that God is present in and        kingdom of God. And they ate bruised.
tion of preaching as the Word of God                     God works through the still, small              Not onlyare they captivesto the power
for the salvation and building up of                     voice, the voice of the preaching of            of sin and Satan, but they are wounded
the church. Many preachers these                         t h e   g o s p e l .                           and bruised from  the,.awful  conse-
days do not even like to think of                               But then we must work at it that         quences of their sins., They are bro-
themselves as preachers, much less                       our preaching is expository  preach7            ken, miserable, troubled, without
have others view them this way.                     .    ing. In the preparation of our  ser-            peace, lacking-all joy,
       Any view of preaching-that comes                  mons we must labor with the text, so                :i To these, the preaching. of the
short of holding that thepreaching is                    that  we. ourselves understand its              go.spel addresses itself and to these
the very Word of God to His people,                      meaning. We must pay attention to               has the  .preacher   ofthe gospel been
the prophetic "Thus saith the Lord,"                     the words and the meaning of the                s e n t .
is less than the biblical view of what                   words, the phrases, their position in               He: has been sent to. preach to
true  preaching.is.                                      the text and.their relationship to each         them because  they.are in need, des-
       But if the preaching is to be the                 other. We must identify the main                perate' need of His preaching. And
very Word of God to His people, it                       thought of the text and understand              the point is that by means of- His
mustbe  Gods Word that is preached.                      how everything else in the text is              preaching their  needis met. Jesus
The sermon can only be the Word of                       connected to this main thought. We              does not simply  ,.preach  to the poor,
God if the sermon expounds the Word                      must interpret the text in relationto           batHis preaching is the means for the
of God. The sermon as the proclama-                      its context  - its immediate context,           delive-rance. of- the. poor from their
tion of the Word of God is inextrica-                    itscontext in the chapter and book of           poverty, the.  meansto their spiritual
bly bound to .the written Word of                        the Bible in which:it  appears, and u17         enrichmenti  ..He does not sirnply
God in the Bible. Apart from the                         timately in the context of the central          preach30  thebrokenhearted, but His
written Word of God and its exposi-                      message of the Bible as the revelation          preaching is. the.means  to the comfort
tion, there can be no sermon. If what                    of God in Jesus Christ. T-hen we must           of the brokenhearted. He does not
the minister proclaims is human in-                      put this all down in a well-organ,ized          simply preach fo the.captives,  but His
sights, however valid and perceptive                     outline, logically  .developed, and             preahi@.s the,means by which these
they may be, what is happening is not                    present it clearly and forcefully to the        captives are delivered. He does not
what the Bible regards as preaching.                     congregation.            This, is expository    simply preach to  the, blind, but His
To the,degree to which this happens,                     preaching!                                      preachingis the means by which the
God's Word is silenced in the church                                                                     blindreceive their sight.  .He  doesnot
and the pew is impoverished.                             Jesus' Urgency in Preaching                     simply-preach tpthe bruised, but His
       We ministers must .be convinced                         The. fifth important principle            preaching is the means to the binding
of it that when we preach we bring                       about preachingtaught by Jesus here             up and the healing of those that are
Gods Word to Gods people.  That.is                       is the urgency of preaching.                    bruised.  I Thus,  Jes.us preaches the
theseriousness of the callingwe have.                          -He teaches the urgenq of preach-         acceptable year of .the Lord, verse 19,

                                                                                                                qprll 15,1991 I Standard Bearer1 323


          The preaching                      sermons. God demands it of us and             reducing the gospel to trite  moral-
                                             our people are in need of it.                 isms, by preaching obscurely, by poor
        is the onZy means                                                                  sermon preparation, by turning the
           to the comfort                    Jesus Preached Himself                        pulpit into a personal stage, by poor
     of the brokenhearted;                        It also comes out in this passage        speaking and delivery, by disregard
   there is no other comfort                 that ChristpreachedHimself. He did            for organization and logic. But he
     to be found anywhere                    that in the synagogue at Nazareth.            cannot make the Word.effective.  God
                                             That was the very thing that so of-           must and God does see to that.
    for the brokenhearted.                   fended and angered the people.                     That the preaching is effective
                                                  It is plain that the passage that        does not mean that the effect of the
the year or time when sinners are            made up Jesus' text that day refers to        preaching is always positive. The
acceptedby the Lord. His preachingis         the coming Messiah, the Christ. The           reaction to Jesus' preaching in the
the means by which sinners are made          passage cannot be speaking merely             synagogue at Nazareth was not posi-
acceptable to the Lord.                      of the prophet. Neither can it be             tive but negative. They rejected His
     The urgency of the preaching is         speaking of God, since God is said to         preaching and they rejected  Hilm for
that it alone is able to accomplish these    anoint and send the one who is spo-           His preaching. "Is not this Joseph's
things. The preaching is not one means       ken of. Isaiah  61:1,2 is an outstand-        son?" they asked in disdain. Then
alongside of other possible means,           ing Old Testament prophecy of Christ.         theytriedtokillHimbypushingHim
but it is the only means. The preach-             Jesus applies that prophecy to           off the cliff. If Jesus' preaching was
ing is the only means to the relief of       Himself in verse 21, "This day is this        met with a negative reaction, we
the poor. If the poor are not relieved       scripturefulfilled in your ears."             should not be surprised that our
by the preaching there is no place                Faithful preaching of the gospel         preaching does also.
else to which they can go for relief.        is preaching that centers in Jesus Christ,         Even in that negative reaction,
The preaching is the only means to the       His person and work, His death and            however, Jesus' preaching was effec-
comfort of the brokenhearted; there          resurrection. Preaching that is gos-          tive. Sinners were confronted with
is no other comfort to be found any-         pel preaching, preaching that an-             the gospel. The will of God was made
where for the brokenhearted. The             nounces the "good news," is the               known to them. And by that prleach-
preaching is the onZy means by which         preaching of Christ. He is the One            ing they were hardened in their unbe-
enslaved sinners are freed from sin's        who sets free the captives, gives sight       lief and made inexcusable before God.
awful power; there is no other pos-          to the blind, and heals the bruised.
sible means of deliverance. The pmach-            Charles  Spurgeon once said, "I                 If Jesus' preaching
ing is the only means by which the           take my text and make a bee-line to                         was met
blind are given eyes to see; apart           the cross." Every faithful preacher of
from the preaching there is only dark-                                                        with a negative reaction,
                                             the gospel ought to take his text and
ness and death. The preaching is the         make a bee-line to the cross.                  we should not be surprised
only means to the healing of the bruised;         The late Prof. George Ophoff is                 that our preaching
if the bruised are not healed by the         reported to have counseled his semi-                       does also.
power of the preaching of the gospel,        nary students that when they make
they will not be healed. The preach-         their sermon outlines, they should                 But the preaching is also effec-
ing is the on2y means by which guilty        put a cross in the upper right-hand           tive positively. That too is indicated
sinners are accepted of the Lord; there      comer of every page in order to remind        by Jesus' word here. The poor  ore
is no possibility of acceptance with         them to preach Christ and His cross.          enriched.    The brokenhearted are
God outside of and apart from the                 We must imitate Paul here and            comforted. The captives  ure set free.
preaching of the gospel.                     determine to know nothing among               The blind do receive their sight. The
     This must bring home to us              our people in our preaching except            bruised  are  healed.
preachers the urgency of our preach-         Jesus Christ and Him crucified.                    That has to be the incentive to
ing. The souls of our people are at                                                        the preacher of the gospel. That makes
stake; their eternal blessedness de-         The Effectiveness                             all the hard work, the blood, sweat,
pends on the Word that we bring. We          of Jesus' Preaching                           and tears worthwhile. Then it is
have to be convinced of that. No one              Jesus' preaching was effective.          possible to face the setbacks and endure
is going to do the hard work of mak-         The preaching is always effective.            the negative reactions. God does  use
ing and preaching good sermons, if                It is not the duty of the preacher       the preaching of His Word, and He
he is not convinced of the urgency of        to make his preaching effective. If it        will continue to use the preaching of
preaching. Conversely, if we are             were, he would be faced with an               His Word to gather His people, to
convinced of the urgency of preach-          impossible task. He can do many               build up His church, and to accom-
ing, we are going to put forth the           things in his preaching to place stum-        plish His saving purpose.  0
effort to make and to preach good            bling blocks before his hearers: by

324  / Standard Bearer/April  l&l991


                                               Evaluating .Sermon
Special Article                                                        Criti-cism.. . .
Rev. Ronald VanOverloop


The Fact of Criticism                        the Word highly in love for their work's         the Lord returns there is going to be
      Sermons are criticized. A semi-        sake (I Thess.  5:13). In addition, the          sermon criticism. And in the nature
nary student becomes painfully aware         judgment of every sinner (even that              of the case, some of it will be just and
of that in the course called "Practice       of the most sanctified) is inclined              some unjust.
Preaching." And if he should think           toward negative and destructive criti-                   It is not my purpose in this ar-
that with graduation from the semi-          cism. And there are some Christian               ticle to detail the responsibility of the
nary and ordination into the ministry        lay-people (like some ministers) who             critics. Rather we will deal only with
.he has seen the last of sermon critics,     seem to be of a very critical bent.              the way in which criticism is to be
he will soon enough learn otherwise.         These seem to believe that they are              received and evaluated by the minis-
      That there is criticism of ser-        God's specially appointed agents to              ter.
mons arises, first of all, from the fact     keep the minister humble.
-that God uses mere men. They are                  The fact of criticism was also             From Whence Criticism Arises
the weak and base things He is pleased       reality for the perfect Preacher, Jesus                  Some criticism never reaches the
to use to accomplish the "foolishness        Christ. He was the object of some of             minister's ears. It stays whispered
of preaching" (cf. I Cor. MS-31).  They      the severest criticism. He was ac-               behind cupped hands, is gossiped
are also the "earthen vessels" in which      cused of being a blasphemer, a law-              over telephone lines, or serves like
Godis pleased to place the "treasure"        breaker, an imposter, and someone                gastric juices at Sunday dinner for the
of the "light of the knowledge of the        who should be institutionalized. Also            easier digestion of "roast preacher."
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ"    the apostle Paul received his share of                   Some sermon criticism does reach
(II Cor.  4:4-7). Whereas the treasure       criticism, of which he speaks in I               the minister's ears. This comes from
of the gospel is beyond reproach, the        Corinthians  49-13. "We are made a               primarily three different sources. It
earthen vessels are but weak means           spectacle . . . we are fools for Christ's        comes from consistory members,, who
and in themselves are very worthy of         sake . . . we are despised . . . are buf-        are responsible to God for supervis-
criticism. If such a vessel is the in-       feted . . . being reviled, being perse-          ing the preaching, and must evaluate
strument to convey the gospel, thenit        cuted . . . being defamed . . . the offscour-    the preaching in light of the needs of
is understandable that no preacher           ing of all things."                              the congregation. Secondly, the (other
escapes his fair share of criticism.               As far as the fact of criticism is         members of the congregation bring
      Secondly, that there is criticism      concerned, we can conclude that until            criticism, either personally or via
of sermons arises from the fact that                                           Rev. Ron VanOverloop
the hearers are just as imperfect as
the preachers. Being not yet perfect,
they do not always view those that
labor faithfully in the Word as wor-
thy of double honor (I Tim.  5:17).
Their sinfulness sometimes interferes
with their esteeming the ministers of





Rev. VanOverloop is, pastor of Bethel
Protestant Reformed Church in Elk Grove
Village, Illinois.

                                                                                                       April 15,1991/ Standard Bearer/ 325


family  .visitation.  And, finally; some             not the  person.who occupies the of-            not all ministers are alike, Each
criticism comes to the minister from                 fice. The forty and two young people            `man is different, with his own God-
his wife and children..                       . .    of Bethel who were mauled by two,               given abilities. The fact that I am
           :                       ..:               angry she-bears were guilty of mock-           not  like or as good as another min-
Kinds-of  Criticism :                                ing the office of Elisha.                       ister must not be allowed to shake
or Examples of Criticism              2  :                It.issad  if the preacher takes all        my assurance of my call to the of-
1     Two of the most popular criti-                 or most criticism as a personal af-             fice.. At the same time, confess the
cisms of sermons are that they are too               front, and makes the matter a con-              :weakness  and do not cease striving
long or too-doctrinal.. But  .there are              frontation: He must rise far above              to overcome them. And  nevelr   for-
many others. Sermons .may  be. de-                   personal  pride, and consider the needs         get that also the strengths are char-
clared to  be:too superficial, or not                of the precious Body of Christ  to.be           acterized as being "filthy rags" (Is.
pertinent,  ~missingthe needs  .of the               far more important  than.himself.               -646).  ..
congregation.. The preacher may be                        Any defensive reaction to criti-               3. The preacher must know that
said to be guilty of not sticking closely            cism is sinful on at least two counts.          he,has applied himself to the task of
to, the text, with. the  resultthat the              First, even the harshest critic must be         sermon preparation and sermon de-
main thrust of the text is not.  clearly             given'respect. And secondly, defen-             live,q to the best of his ability (within
brought home. Some sermons  .are                     siveness closes the mind and soul of            the context of his weaknesses)`. He
said to be just "blah,:' lacking iscon-              the minister to the realization that            ,knows the constant tendency to-
viction or lacking the  -power of the                God has His purposes even in invalid            w a r d   c o m p l a c e n c y .   -
Spirit. And, finally, there may be                   criticism.
criticism of a preacher  b.ecause he                                                                                The minister
does not preach like another preacher.               Some Suggestions Toward the Proper                    .       must always be
           Someone summarized sermon                 Evaluation of Sermon Criticisms                               his own critic.
criticism thus: "If he preaches sorind,                   A. There is an umbrella under
doctrinal sermons, he ought to be                    which the preacher must stand when                 4.The minister must always be
more interested in the everyday prob-                he receives criticism. This umbrella            his own critic. He must ask himself
lems of the people. If he focuses on                 is the proper view of his office and of         whether the sermon was orthodox,
practical life situations, it is because             himself in that office.                         clear, lively, etc. This he must do
he does not know theology;. If he                         l.He must have the assurance               prayerfully, because we are the most
makes a point of conveying `basic                      that God has called him to the of-            honest when we stand before the
spiritual, truths that he may be all                   fice and to this congregation. Criti-         Lord, our Master.
things. to all people,. he tends to be                 cism must not be allowed to cast                  5. The preacher must realize that
vague and too general.  Jf he ad-                      doubt upon the call to the ministry.          ultimately it is God who will ble his
dresses specific sins within the con-                  Such doubts- often sap the  minis-            final critic, and there is no escaping
gregation,  hehas.quit  preaching and                  terls ability to do his work. fin such        His judgment and criticism. But
begun meddling."                                       a case what is wrong is not the fact          God is also merciful and ready to
     -.                                                of criticism, but the manner in which         forgive.. Then criticism will be
Wrong Evaluation                                      the criticism is received.                     viewed as a God-sent goad to prod
           If sermon criticism can. be lik-               2.The preacher  .must be some-             the  preacher of God's Word unto
ened unto the throwing of lemons,                      what conscious of his God-given               faithful and diligent labor.
then it must be said that the minister                 gifts: his personal strengths and                B. In all of his relationships with
must not chew on the rind. To do so                    weaknesses. Each preacher and               the elders and  with, the members of
only makes him, rankled, then bitter                   each congregation must realize that         the.congregation the man of God must
and miserable. Jt does no good to the
church of Christ as a whole, nor to the                                             Group discussion  of topic
believers in the pew or in the pulpit, if
the minister responds- to criticism by
becoming defensive or if he conveys
in various ways the impression that
he considers himself tobe above criti-.
c&m..
           It is wrong, too, for ministers to
hide behind the office they hold. Some
clergy take the position that it is a sin
to criticize the office and those in the
office. It is better to maintain that the
office is above criticism, but certainly

326 I Standard Efearer/Aprill6,1991


show himself open. This openness to                   2.At such a time the minister        hesitate to consult with an elder or
receive criticism must be done with             must remember that he is a great           with the whole  consistory.  Do so
care because the authority of Christ's          sinner, and that the one who has           especially when you fear that the criti-
preaching must not be compromised,              criticized him does not really know        cism is invalid. Not only do the eld-
and because the minister must be                the worst about him.                       ers have a more objective  pers,pec-
careful not to have "itching ears"                    3.Also it is most helpful to re-     tive, but also it must be remembered
according to which he allows the                member that Christ, our Master,            that their oversight is part of the re-
opinions of members to sway him                 endured the contradiction of sin-          sponsibility Christ has given them.
from God's Word. Nevertheless, the              ners, and that He did so for the sake      They are committed to caring for the
minister must have a certain open-              of us, His servants. No servant is         flock of Christ, of which the pastor is
ness. This begins by stating to the             greater than his Lord.                     a part. Often they can better formu-
elders of the church that he is open to                                                    late criticism or can encourage their
all construclive criticism. Let the elders            . . . it must be realized            pastor in light of the criticism.
know that they are competent to criti-                that God is the only One                  F.The minister of the Word of
cize because they know God's Word                                                          God must realize that God has His
andbecause they know the congrega-                     whom we ultimately                  reasons for decreeing in His all-com-
tion. And then his demeanor must                           have to please.                 prehensive, wise, and good counsel
reflect that openness. When bringing                                                       that specific criticism arises at a par-
to the elders the criticism of others,                4. Always forgive the improper       ticular time. In part, it is so that His
the minister must show that he wants            critics. Some criticism has to be for-     servants never lose the perspective
to learn and grow in his preaching.             gotten. Commit the matter quickly          that they are only servants and that
This willingness to be criticized must          to God, asking Him to remove all           all the glory must and will be His. It
be reflected in his demeanor. A good            resentment or counter-criticism. In        is folly and shame for a man of God to
and proper attitude must be evident             such a situation it must be realized       ignore the purpose of his sovereign
towards those who disagreewith him              that God is the only One whom we           Lord.
in Bible studies. As someone said,              ultimately have to please. Forget-
the minister must remember that God             ting those things which are behind                     *    *      + *    *    *
gave him ho0 ears and only one mouth.           and reaching forth unto those things
                                                which are before, we must again            In Conclusion
          It is the minister who                press toward the mark for the prize             The preaching man of God must
            is first responsible                of the high calling of God in Christ       take sermon criticism seriously.
                                                Jesus.
           to keep the criticism                                                           Prayerfully consider the criticism to
                                                      D. With regard to obscure or         the sermon to ascertain whether it is
           from developing into               hesitantly given criticism. Some             valid. If the criticism is valid and
        an adversarial relationship.          members of the congregation find it          constructive, then be grateful for it
                                              difficult to articulate their criticism.     and try to learn from it. '
        C. With regard to those criti-        Many are nervous about approach-                  The true preacher/pastor puts
cisms which are obviously invalid or          ing the minister and they find it hard       the good of the churchbefore his own
are of the nature of personal charges,        to express themselves.                       comfort. He knows that he exists for
rather than criticism of the preach-                  It is helpful gently to press the    the church's sake, and not the church
ing.                                          critic for specifics. Try to help the        for his sake. Faithfulness to the Lord
        l.It is the minister who is first     critic in formulating his own criti-         is what matters in the end. He must
  responsible to keep the criticism           cism, always trying to make the criti-       cry out to the Lord to encourage him
  from developing into an adversar-           cism constructive.                           with enduring consecration for the
  ial relationship. II Timothy 2:23,24                In some cases the criticism  re-     great work he has been so graciously
  is most appropriate in such a situ-         mainsveryvague. Try tounderstand             given.
  ation. "But foolish and unlearned           the problem or question. Try to read              May the servants of the  L,ord
  questions avoid, knowing that they          between the lines. There are times           magnify their office by their diligent
  do gender strifes. And the servant          that there is something else that lies       labors, by their holy lives, by their
  of the Lord must not strive; but be         behind that of which the critic is speak-    powerful preaching, and by their
  gentle unto all men, apt to teach,          ing.                                         consecration to the greatest work of
  patient." He must not become party                  Ask yourself whether the criti-      all. And may the churches "esteem
  to unlearned questions and to               cism has validity to any extent.             them very highly in love for their
  unprofitable wranglings. Rather,                    E. We would suggest that, when       work's sake" (I Thess.  5:13). Q
  he must be gentle, patiently work-          faced with severe criticism from
  ing to solve the problem.                   members of the congregation or from
                                              one elder, the preacher should not

                                                                                                     April 16,169l / Standard Bearer/ 327


        A Word Fitly Spoken
        Rev. Dale Kuiper
                                                       Respect of Persons
             Although our title is composed of three words, the New Testament Greek has one word for respect  of
        persons. This one word is really a compound: one part has the meaning "to receive," and the other part means
        "person." Since the person is perceived most clearly in the face, this word is often translated as "face." Hence,
        n to receive the face." The word "face" stands for the appearance one presents by his wealth or poverty, by his
        rank or low condition. To be a respecter of persons is to pay attention to outward circumstances and external1
        conditions, to regard appearance, and to allow the outward appearance to influence us in our judgment and
        treatment of a man or a woman. We sense immediately that something is amiss when we do this; indeed, the
        Word of God throughout forbids us from being respecters of persons.
             The great reason why we are forbidden this is that God Himself is no respecter of persons. God did  no4
        respect persons when He chose the church unto salvation (I Cor.  1:27-29). He taught Peter that there is no
        difference between the Jew and the Gentile, "but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness
        is accepted with him" (Acts 10:34). Those that seem to be somewhat (false teachers, for example) ought not to
        be held in admiration, for God accepts no man's person (Gal. 26 and Jude 16). God is no respecter of persons
        in judgment, but in perfect justice and impartiality He judges according to each man's work in the light of His
        holy law (Col.  3~25). Masters are enjoined to treat their workers justly and without threatening, knowing that
        their Master in heaven is no respecter of persons (Eph. 6:9). Rather than admire someone's wealth, looks, social
        position, or influence, we ought to admire God, who is not influenced in the slightest by such things. And wh:y
        should He be? Has He not given wealth, positions, and abilities in the first place?
             As God has no regard for persons, so there ought not to be found among us this tendency. One cannot
        believe in Christ and at the same time show this partiality. In James 2:l the apostle warns us away from trying
        to hold faith in the Lord Jesus Christ with respect of persons. The two are incompatible; it is not merely diffi-
        cult to do so, it is impossible. James goes on to show that having respect of persons is sin (2:9), for it leads to
        partiality in judgment and to a despising of them who are in need. Besides, those who would impress us with
        power and wealth are often those who oppress the church and blaspheme the name of Jesus.
             There is something in us that regards the outward appearance. We fawn over the rich and powerful, whine
        distancing ourselves from the poor and weak. This is true of society in general, but this is also true in the church.
        Children, young people, and adults are guilty of this for various reasons. Perhaps we think that by cozying up
        to the wealthy a little bit will rub off! And by keeping away from the poor and "unsuccessful" we will avoid
        failure! If God were a respecter of persons, where would you be? Where would I?
                                                                                                                            -

                                                                The Book of Ruth
                   .    -                                                          Lesson III
Search the
Scriptures                                               "Seeking Rest"
Rev. Carl Haak                                                                   Ruth 2:18-3:5


        When Ruth returned home that          the dark clouds of her bitterness and       Ruth to Boaz's field. The fact that
night after her first day of gleaning         poverty. As she listened to Ruth tell       Boaz was a kinsman is especially the
and recounted all that had transpired,        of the kindness of Boaz, and when           reason for Naomi to rejoice in the
Naomi began to see the merciful               she saw the material blessings Ruth         kindness of God's providence.
providence of God breaking through            brought back, Naomi blessed the Lord                Why? Because she sees in Boaz
                                              "who hath not left off his kindness to      a potential redeemer, one to marry
                                              the living and to the dead." Espe-          Ruth and redeem Elimelech's inheri-
                                              cially when Ruth told her of Boaz,          tance. According to the decree of the
Rev. Haak is pastor of the Protestant         whom Naomi knew to be one of her            covenant  (Deut:  25:5-lo),  the re-
Reformed Church  of  Lynden, Washing-         closest relatives (kinsman), did she        deemer's duty was not only to buy
ton.                                          see that it was the Lord who had led        back the field she had been forced to

328 I Standard Bearer/April 15,199l


sell, but also to take Ruth as his wife.     had in mind was that Ruth have  a           Lord" (Ps.  103)? (God blesses, us.
Ruth's firstborn son would then be           place within the nation of Israel as a      What do we mean when we say,
counted as a son of Elimelech's line.        full-fledged member of the covenant.        "Blessed be God"?)
In that way Elimelech's name and             Second, it must not be thought that         C.    How had God shown his kind-
inheritance would be preserved among         Naomi was encouraging Ruth to be            ness to the dead?
his people. The family of Elimelech,         improperly aggressive in her rela-          2.    Naomi and Ruth decide that Ruth
including Naomi, would be brought            tionship with Boaz. The law speci-          should continue to glean in Boaz's
back to its rightful place among Is-         fied that a widow of a deceased and         fields.
rael.                                        childless man was free to press her         a.    Could the poor gather enough
         Would the Lord be willing to do     claim for marriage to his kinsman           to last through the winter? If not,
that? This hadbeenmore  thanNaomi            publicly before the elders of the people    what other ways could their income
could have dared hope for. Although          (Deut. 25:7). This Naomi hesitated to       be supplemented?
the law of the kinsman clearly stipu-        have Ruth do. To press such a public        b.    Who are the "maidens" of verse
lated the duty of the nearest of kin to      demand would be tantamount to               22? (Boaz's servants, or other poor?)
marry the widow and raise up chil-           accusing him publicly of neglecting         3.    Note that Naomi speaks a pr,ayer
dren to his brother, thus preserving         his obligations under the law of God.       of blessinguponBoazbefore she even
the brother's name and inheritance in        Although she would not understand           knew who their benefactor was, and
Israel, Naomi could have little confi-       why Boaz had as yet not done what           again when he is named. What should
dence this would happen. First, she          they hoped from him, she felt sure          be our attitude toward those who
knew it was a sinful day in which few        that if he were reminded of his obli-       help us? Do we need to know their
took the law seriously anymore.              gation, he would willingly do it. The       identity? Should we? Job 29:13; 31:2O.
(Already in the days of Jacob, Judah         course of action which she outlined         4.    What "rest" did Naomi seek for
had ignored it - Gen. 38.) Second,           to Ruth was designed to remind him          Ruth? (Is there a lesson here that
Ruth was a Moabitess, which would            privately and meekly how they felt          encourages parents or fellow believ-
provide more than ample excuse for           dependent on him to preserve for            ers to aid others in finding godly
anyone who wished to avoid his re-           them a place in Israel.                     spouses? Any Scriptures that speak
sponsibilities under the law  (Deut.                                                     about this?)
23:3-6).                                             Memorize Ruth 220                   5.    Was Naomi aware that Boaz was
         But now there suddenly burst              "And Naomi said unto her              not the nearest kinsman?
forth a small glimmering of promise          daughter-in-law, blessed be he of the       6.    WasNaomirightinhavingRuth
and light. Naomi has no objection            Lord, who hath not left off his kind-       take the initiative in approaching Boaz?
when Ruth proposed to continue               ness to the living and to the dead.         Isn't this more properly the man's
gleaning in Boaz's field. Looking to         And Naomi said unto her, the man is         place?
the Lord in this matter did not mean         near of kin unto us, one of our next        a.    Is there a lack of patience shown
Naomi remained inactive. She gives           kinsmen."                                   on Naomi's part? Or are Naomi and
the instruction of chapter  3:1-5, with                                                  Ruth showing faith by willingly plac-
the prayer that it would be Boaz who                   Points to Ponder                  ing themselves at Boaz's mercy?
would exercise the right of redemp-          1.    Explain Naomi's confession:           b.    Was Boaz lax in not coming forth
tion.                                        "Blessed be the Lord, who hath not          as a kinsman?
         There are two things we should      left off his kindness to the living and     7.    Is there significance to the wash-
note about this instruction of Naomi         to the dead."                               ing, anointing and dressing of verse
to Ruth. First, by seeking rest for          a.    What specifically occasioned this     3?
Ruth, Naomi meant more than seek-            confession?                                 8.    How is your memory work
ing a husband for her. What Naomi            b.    What does it mean to "bless the       coming?!!!  0

                                            I SHALL KNOW MY SAVIOR
I shall know my Savior                       I shall know my Savior                      I shall know my Savior
         When I reach that city              When He bids me enter                       When I cross the river -
          With its jasper walls                    To His presence, where                      I shall look for Him
            And shining streets of gold;           My heav'nly mansion stands;                      In heav'n first of all;
When my eyes are opened                      By His voice - far sweeter                  How my heart will quiver
In that world of beauty,                     Than the angels' music,                     With the joy of meeting Him,
         His dear face will be                     By His face, and by                         And at His feet
          The first I shall behold.                 His blessed wounded hands.                      In ecstasy fall. Standard Bearer
                                                                                                                       March  1,1933

                                                                                                    April 15,199l I Standard Beareri 329


                                                                                                                          _.


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Rev.  Bernard  W~~~~&n&?~g   ;  ,,i  i  ),  :-  `.  ,_,  ;.
               3                `.                 I 7 :


        And he `spake many` things.,unto                                                                                               z&rid, ..and, the `de&i&&e.&  of riches,      shall do the will of my Father ivhich  is
them in parables, saying,,&&ld,  a sows                                                                                                cl~okgthe word, and he becomefh  unfru$-      in `heaven, the same is my brother,
went forth to, sow; and when he' so.wed(                                                                                               ~51; Buf he thaf :rece{ved  seed `intolfhe    and sister, and'mother" (vss.  46-50).
some seeds fell by the way side, ,and the                                                                                              good ground&he that heareth the word;         His own family, which once had urged
fowls.came and devouredfhem'up:'  som'e                                                                                                and qderstandeth  &;.which  also beareth      Him to seek greater exposure (Jn. 7:2-
felluponstonyplaces,wheretheyhadnot                                                                                                    f&t;~pnd  `bringeth forth, some an hunt       4), now wanted Him to quit. .
much earth: and forthwith they sprung                                                                                                  tjTe$fold,. some sixty, some thirty,                In reality it was  inevitablle, re-
up, because they had no deepness dfearfh:                                                                                                                    Matthew  13:18-23       gardless of what others may have
and when the `sun. was: up, they were                                                                                                                :                               thought.  When.Jesus had first ap-
scorched; and because they had no, root,                                                                                                    `Jesus  inHis @time was deeply           peared with His mighty works and
they withered away., And s$efell  among                                                                                                involved. `in evangelism, and. few            gracious rhetoric, everyone rallied
thorns; and. the thorns. sprung `up, ,and                                                                                              passages are more crucial to an  un-          around, and many thought that this
choked' them: but other fell into `good                                                                                                derstandmg,  of what He was about             was the man who would unite the
ground, and broughfforthfruit,  somean.                                                                                                thantho,,parable of the sower.                nation against Rome; but such was
hundredfoid,  `some.si$yfold,  some thir-                                                                                                 At that point where Jesus began            not to be. From the beginning His
tyfoig,  ,                                                                                               :                             to speakin  parables His I& had come          ministry did not fit that pattern.
                                              I  Matthew  ,13,3-8                                                                      to  tihat appeared to be a crisis. His        Already Nicodemus, himself an ex-
                                                                                                              ,                        ministry, rather than uniting the             perienced leader, had appeared to
        Hear ye therefore, the parable of the                                                                                          people,  -as many had hoped and ex-           warn Him that He shouldn't discour-
sower. When any one hear-e@ the word of                                                                                                pected,.  tias.  ,causmg. discord and         age would-be followers as He had
the kingdom, and undersfandefh  it not,                                                                                                division on, every  aside. Dissension         (Jn.  2:23-3:3).  His Sermon on the
then cometh the wicked one, and cafcheth                                                                                               ys eve-here. Some wanted noth-                Mount, beautifully crafted though it
away that'which was sown in his heart.                                                                                                 rng qf'what He said fqom the start.           were, could not but offend important
This is he which receivedseed by-the  .way                                                                                             others folloyeh Him for a while only          people in the land  (Matt."5-7);  while
side. But he that received the seed into                                                                                               tp  .hrn away, often to become His            taking up friendship with  pubhcans
stony places, the same'is' he. that hear&h                                                                                             most `bitter enemies.: And-then there         and sinners hardly helped  (Matt. 9:9-
the word, and anon with joy receiveth iti                                                                                              were those  &ho  never seemed to be           13):. By the time He sent out His
yet hath henof root fn himself, but dureth                                                                                             able. to d&id& put n&here does the            disciples it was necessary to warn
for a- while: for when` tribulation or                                                                                                 extent of dGl.lusionment  become more         them of the opposition they would
persecution ariseth because,of the, word,                                                                                              apparent than in .me account recorded         meet wherever they went (Matt. 10%
by.and by he is oflended. `l-&z also, that                                                                                             by Matthew at thelend .of chapter 12:         28).  .And then, when He began to
received seed among the thorns is he that                                                                                              ."While he `yet `talked to the people,        disparage such favored gems of Jewry
heareth the word; and the care of this                                                                                                 behold,  hismother and his brethren           as Chorazin,  Beth&da, and  Caper-
                                                                                 .  .:  :                                              stoo"d.Githout, desiringto speak with         naum (Matt. 11:~24),  it was too much.
                                                                                            .                                          him., Then  one"s&l unto him, Be-             They began to plot His demise (Matt.
                                                                                                                                       hold, thy  mot@-and thy brethren              12:14).                          :
       .:            2                                  (.                                                    .,                       stand without; desiring to speak with              It was no. wonder that at that
                          :                 `_     :                                        .:                                         thee; But he answered'and.said  unto          Roirit His'friends concluded He was
                                                                                                                   .                   him that told.h$n, Mho is my mother?          beside Himself(Mark  3:21);  a&His
                                                                                                                                       and'who,   are.,.my brethren? And he          family: apj+a$d to try to make.Him
Rev. Woudenberg is pastor oftheProtes-                                                                                                 stretched  for&his hand toward his            cease.
tant Reformed Church  of  Kalamazoo,                                                                                                   disciples, and s&l; Behold my mother               Jesus, however, rather  `than
Michigan.                                                                                                                              and `my brethren.1' For whosoever             speaking  with `them,  went  do& to

330 I Standard Bearer/April 1~,1961


the  sea;.and,  pushing. off shore in a      and. years -and even ages to come;  ,-       dramatic; and few seemed-to notice
little ship, He prepared to speak to          would come to  understand.the  pas-         or care. But there were those in whom
those who had followed Him. It was            sion of His life, His determination to      the Spirit had worked; and when the
then, it has been suggested, that He          haveHis  f i e l d   s o w n .   c          Word came to~thern  it took root. Slowly
lifted His eyes and beheld on a nearby              That field for  Hini  .was Israel;    and surely it always grew, and would
hillside a farmer sowing seed. The            and He was committed to sow it while        in the end- produce -its fruit, thirty,
sight was very.ordinary. The man, as          He yet lived. .Tlie. Gospel of the king-    sixty;  a&an hundredfold.' This He
many in Israel, had a  small,.plot of        : ,dom must'cover ,a11 :of :Israel before    knew; and, regardlessof  what others
land surrounded by a beaten path.             His work on earth  was `done. The           might think; in it He' found His joy.
He used it for growing grain, and at          time was short, the  years few, and                .  *`.  *  *, : * . .  *.  ,*  *
the moment was carefully working              there was much to do. Like the sower             And to this day it is the same.
back and forth, scattering seed into         on yonder hill, He must pass,  back&
                                              Ad h& .$.?g &$ed.vT&-e*                          &lvq as Jesus covered the land
its every comer, while a flock of birds                                                   of Israel during His brief days, His
circled overhead ready to snatch up           Erom this calling He could not  turn        last words to us were, "Go ye therefore,
every kernel of grain they could. But         back. And what He was doing was             and teach all nations, baptizing tlhem
the man labored on. He was deter-             having its effect,  :even though this       in the name-of the Father, and'of the
mined that his field should be sown;          meant that.an essential division within     Son, `andofthe H.oly Ghost: teaching
and Jesus, quick of mind and sensi-           His audience  was'being  exposed.           tl@n_  to observe all things .whatsoever
tive as  &Ie always was to the cross-               This `latter, of course, `was .exi    I have commanded youi and, lo, 11 am
currents of life, saw it as a picture of      actly what so many did  not' want,          i&h  ,yciu always; even unto the end
Hisown.                                       They wanted  l%m to moderate His            of'the world" ,(Matt.  i&19, 20). As
     ke had come into this world,             rhetoric and say things which would         our calling it remains with us rstill.
sent by'the Father, with a calling. He        be acceptable to all. But that He           we are His people, His church, built
was, during His lifetime, to preach           could not do. Fortruth and honesty's        on the foundation He laid (Eph. 2:19,
the Gospel of the kingdom into every          sake; and in submission to' His  FaT        29;  .and it is for us to continue His
corner of .that land; and now He was          ther's will, He must set forth thereal-     work, spreading the Gospel every-
doingjust that (Matt.  10:6-23). It was       ity of the kingdom as-it was, nothing       where: This is true of the church as an
taking the strength of His days, just         else. It was this that was bringing out     institute, sending its missionaries
as it did the farmer's on the hill.           fhe real distinction among men., Some       throughout the earth. And it is true
     Persistently that man worked             there were who wanted nothing of it         for us as individuals, each of whom is
back and forth, intent on covering            and t&ned from it immediately. They         given a placeand a witness to fulfill.
every part of hislittle paddock Some          were committed to'earthly goals, and           But be sure, the results for us
seed, he knew, would never bear.              cared for nothing else. But there were      will be no different from what they
The birds overhead were a testimony           the others as well.. Some saw His           were for our Lord. Many to'whom
to that. So quickly. they swooped in          mighty works, examined the  cr.owd          we speak will not care. Others will
to snatch up every grain that hit the         that  foil&d   Him, and decided He          for the moment show-interest and
path. And, besides, there were por-           was the kind of man with w,hom they         even enthusiasm;only  to turn away.
tions of his field which, for reasons         could profitably be identified, with-       And there will be those' who, while
known only to him, he had thought             out listening to what  He.s.aid.  Shal:     professing conviction, will not let go
better than to prepare. Hard rock             low people they were, without depth;        of the world. It is what the truth does;
underlay some, and the roots of thistles      and under the rigors ofgodlyrespon-         itbrings  out the hardness of umegen-
and thorns were to be found else-             sibility soon they fell away; `And then     erate hearts.'
where. Seed falling on these places           there were' those who thought they               But there are`always the others
might sprout, but it would never              could have it both ways. They wanted        as well.` God has prepared goo'd soil;
produce fruit. Some would be  with-           to'foll,ow Him, but they also wanted        and no more wonderful experience is
eredby the sun, and the rest would be         toretain  the satisfactions of the world    there than to be used by God to con-
choked by the thorns. But the man             as well. For a time they appeared           vert  ;a "sinner from-the error of `his
worked on, determined to sow  it.all;        quite committed, but soon the attrhc{        way," and to "save a soul from death"
and the fruit, when and where it came,       tions'of this world drew them farther        (James  5:20).. It may come in unpre-
would justify it all.                         and farther. away, It is what truth         tentious ways, ways few stop to no-
     This is where Jesus saw Him-             does to man; it brings out the reality      tice; it usually does. But the words of
self; and with His homely little story       of `what he is,                              the psalmist remain to the end, 126:6:
He laid it out, "Behold, a sower went               But at the same time there were       "He that  go&h forth .and weepeth,
forth.@  sow . . ..`I Msny might at first    those'who were different. This same          bearing precious seed, shall doubt-
wonder; but few would forget. And            word of truth which exposed those            less come again with rejoicing bring-
countless numbers, in meditating on          not prepared foun~d place in those           ing his sheaves with him." o
his  $cture of words through days            who `were. U&ally `it was not `as

                                                                                                Apr!l lq1991  I StgndarqSearer  I' 331


The Strength                                                 The End Times  (11)
of Youth                                          The Last Battle (II)
Rev. Barrett Gritters





        Why would the united world            prised that it stuck together ("thanks      gather all nations for the battle. This
government and church break up into           to Israel's restraint"). That is the way    is not Satan's intention, of course. The
two parts and fight against itself?           it will go before the last battle: a        last battle will be the spoiling of his
This is an important question that            common hatred of a common foe al-           great masterpiece. But the war is his
will help us to understand what is            lies odd parties. But the common            fault. This is why: Satan deceivedthe
happening in the world today as well          hatred for Christ and their common          nations to join together with the
as what will take place at the very            desire to rebuild Babel's tower of         Antichrist to form one world power.
end.                                          humanism will soon peter out. Again,        Satan made the beast attractive, in-
        First, we may learn from other        racial hatred will boil, and the hatred     viting (compelling!) everyone to bow
wars the reasons for this one. As in          of God will show itself, as it always       down to the beast's image, pointing
other wars, all kinds of natural differ-      has, as hatred for each other.              out its alluringpower and riches. But
ences come out. In this war, at first,              Especially, though, religious         the very act of the devil of waking up
the nations of the world will pull            differences will be outstanding. Gog        these nations brings about the last battle.
together because of their common              and Magog are the pagan nations,            For "a little while" he is successful. In
hatred for God and His Christ. The            idolatrous nations, non-Christian           the end, his house crashes down on
world has seen many strange "bed-             nations. But the nations of the west        his own head, by his own work. The
fellows" because of common hatred              (the old Roman empire) are "Chris-         pagan nations open their eyes and see
of a common foe. Think only of the             tian" nations. And no love is lost         the loathsome character of Antichrist.
"alliance" united against Iraq's Sad-         between them. Now the last jihad,                 We may be thankful when we
dam Hussein only months ago-so                the last "holy war," will begin in all      see how this all works out.
fragile an alliance that all were  sur-       its fury. As always, the pagan na-
                                              tions will gag at the smell of Christi-      God, finally, and not Satan, brings
                                               anity.                                       about the battle of Armagedd.on.
                                                    If we dig deeper, we find other
Rev. Gritters is pastor of the Protestant     causes for this last battle. Revelation           Especially we may be thankful
Reformed Church of Byron Center, Michi-        1623 tells us that the dragon (the         when we see that God sovereignly
gan.                                         ~ devil) sends forth the evil spirits to     controls all these things.       God,  fi-

332 / StandardSearer/April15,1991


nally, and not Satan, brings about the        up the Euphrates, giving the kings of       fight for His people and destroy His
battle of Armageddon.                         the east the ability to come against the    enemies, just as He did time and again
     When you read Ezekiel 38, the            camp of the saints in Jerusalem. (Not       for Old Testament Israel.
first passage to explain Gog and              to be taken literally, this simply means                   In the middle of the last battle,
Magog, it is plain that Jehovah God           that some obstacle is removed that          when the wicked are destroying them-
sends them to destroy wicked Israel.          kept the pagan nations from attack-         selves, and the few remaining saints
Revelation 16 says that God gathers           ing the Christian nations. God now          of God are hiding in fear, the Lord
the nations to battle at Armageddon.          removes this obstacle by pouring out        will descend with a shout, destroy
Even though the earlier verses say            His vial.) God brings about this last       the wicked, and save His church.
that Satan and his false prophet work         battle!                                                    Young people, members of the
this work, God stands behind  it-all.               God's judgment comes on the           church in the world, doesn't this show
Using them as tools in His hand, God          antichristian nations, on the beast and     us our calling? Do not join with the
brings about a beginning of His judg-         his prophet, on all those who blub-         world. Its power and work are de-
ment on those that oppose Him and             bered praise to the beast and took his      ceitful and temporary. The  worId is
hate His Son.                                 mark. Gods judgment comes on all            not able to bring about the peace and
     Do not forget, this war, as all          those who perpetrated the terrible          prosperity that it promises. The "new
war, is God's judgment on mankind.            crimes against God's "seven thou-           world order" will be man's work and
                                              sand" elect during the rule of the          man's accomplishment. Based. on
 . . . wars are God's judgment on             beast.                                      man's wisdom, it will crumble.
      mankind for hating  Him.                      But this will also be God's judg-                    Young people, be not part of the
                                              ment on the heathen Gog andMagog.           false church, or of any church that
     What is the running of the red           In the Old Testament, because the           shows itself to be worldly in its life
horse in Revelation 6 if it is not the        pagan nations came up against the           and worldly in its goals. This institu-
sending of war into the world by              city of God, God judged them for            tion, too, will perish, destroyed by
God? God brings about, ultimately,            their wicked intent. So now, even           the judgment of God.
all the battles of mankind. Yes, the          though the pagan nations are attack-                       Be not deceived by the allure of
wars are the fault of sinful men, a           ing the antichristian nations, their        the power and wisdom and great-
result of  their greed, their selfishness,    motive is hatred for Jehovah and Christ     ness of the world and false church.
their destructive hatred, theirmegalo-        His Son. God judges them for this in        The world calls out with its siren
mania. But wars are God's judgment            the last battle.                            song, "Join with us where there is
on mankind for hating Him. The last                          ****++*                      power! It is foolish to join yourself
war will be the beginning of Gods                   Terrifying? If you said that this     with the weak, insignificant church.
final judgment on sinful mankind.             does not bring fear to your heart, you      There is no future for it, no hope in it.
     Oh, the horror of war! But, oh,          would be no different from Lloyd            There is hope for you in the world."
the awful horror of the last war will         Alexander's lovable (but dishonest)                        In the end, all of us will see
surpass the horror of all the others. I       Fleudder Flam,  Taran's yellow-haired       where there is hope, where there is
have heard soldiers on the news say           friend whose little harp would break        power, what lasts.
that the battleground was hell, that          a string every time he "stretched the                      In the kingdom of God, built on
the agonies were hellish. They are            facts." When exposed in his lying           the foundation of the blood of Jesus,
wrong! That is not hell! But these            boast that he was fearless in his battle    established in the righteousness of
judgments in war certainly are a pre-         with the Homed Ring, he finally             God--there is hope;  there  is power;
view of the judgments in eternity. They       admitted, "Green, absolutely green!         that lasts!
are Gods judgments.                           Never so scared in my life!" Well,          r"y ,..:y `,;.`,g .; ), .p,,`"."~"~ C~. .,: I ;. -; i,,., ,y ,.,. )K~ ;?I ..,. c;y .,,\.,. ; ;,y ,
                                                                                          i;:"";? 1$:* `:.i$ .~i .>-:x.yi~,  ;;~; .,` ; ,+ :: :;;;;A                                            .* ; .,
                                                                                                                                                                      >
     Read through Revelation 15 and           Gods people naturally fear the last         a _jll `..&<y,p:
                                                                                          $i';:. l,~~~~~,~us~~~~,~~~~~~~~,  ,;; :i: ::::
16 and no doubt will remain that war,         battle.                                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~,~~~f~ei-,i
                                                                                          a& :"zq `je"<`f, .`,.Z ~,,;; * .."ril.) *, ,I: ,,,
and this last one in particular, comes             But God gives us reason to have        &+g >,,. c&.$:Q$ .' y.<: ,c-:; _ ,;,,4 ._ ",
                                                                                                       ur ..6cba6.: 0. keep~qxrselye~,  1,: .i
                                                                                          G%;.; P,; .B)y;,:L ;";& ?f,, $ ,..,y (,`>.>)  ::::. ,., ;,,, ;. ;: ,,I` .-:, .'
as God's judgment.        Seven angels        hope, to be encouraged. He does that        ~,~~~~jlt`~,~~~..~,~~,~~,~~~,~.~~~~~~~~~~.,;i:,  $5; 1:;`; .' ,,;' ;
                                                                                          :J;TT;<,3,:;,,.  :,,  ,~;ii::,,-.~~;~`.;r~;~;~::i:;l;;i~   :  +`,  I  :, ;
have the seven last plagues and seven         by the very rzume of the battle. Arma-      ~~~~2;;B~~h.me~~  ,;'
                                                                                          E;:~.,~j':,,;~.,~,,?;."~.:;`:;iZ.'E::-.`   :.;y',;,:   <i':  ,,.::,j;,,.  :  j  :
vials filled with the wrath of God,           geddon means fi the hill of Megiddo."       ~~~Iwheri;~~~pe~~~;~rtqn~  :j@ly,: ;j
                                                                                          ;x:.:.>.. .-;i,:.:;&.`:+  ,,:, r;.,,:;:, :,I ,,_,, `,& : :`:a;` ,1 :,: .
ready to be poured out on the earth.          In the Old Testament, this was a hill       i?$i$E fhe : $$$%mro~~,~:  #i~~i $ly &! `,
                                                                                          l;~i~,~,~-~l~~;`.:i,:- i:;.Y?;~p I'                                                                        ,j
                                                                                                                                                 , ,,, :li', ,, i' `$!
The first vial is a grievous sore on          where many battles were fought,             ~~~~,~n,~~~~o~?:-~~~~""l-r,,:~,`i.,  7::::: ,f:"i ., 1;"' :f
                                                                                          ,,,, _,l_sl. ""i .IJ y
those who received the mark of the            whereDeborah andBarakfought and             ;~~~~~,,`Wkiat:in~t~~~.~~~~e~~~~f~,~e   :
                                                                                          zzr* .":" :;-,:: `ii` . . . . . . I~;, ,,.,,, .~:;,.)j :,* 1.`;. I.  .,I ,;  i
beast and worshiped his image. The            defeated the Canaanites, led by Jabin       .g&&C$a3~~  ~~~~tl~~,~~dn.i'ta~~~~~~a~~:? i
second and third turn the waters into         and Sisera. The meaning of this is not      pLgz$$g~  :j-$J$ $&&~$`f&`, ,wwg :l-&fe !
blood. By the fourth the sun scorches         that there will be another battle over      s~~~~s~,~Q:~~~,:~~~:~;~~~,~~~~g:.  :
men. The fifth darkens the kingdom,           there on the hill in the countryside of     ~~~~~~J"~~~~,ir:i:l~~;~~~ci:-::`:i~~.~   -;;`c  :  :  ::  .,  j
weakening the beast. The sixth dries          Israel, but that God again will arise to    :lI~~~~~~~~~~~~,:;~  .~;,":~:ii:.!~,~~~~~~~~,~,~`:;.   ;'  :I'-;
                                                                                          i_3eL%i  ,~. .__L_ .,<,.AWi~....  ::-.~".::..,`~~~i:i:.:.:.~~ _.._ ;.......
                                                                                                            April X,1991 I Standard Bearer/ 333


                                             B o o k
                                             Review
The Doctrine of Scripture, by Homer               Hoeksema answers this ques-           ture. The book concludes with a
C. Hoeksema. Grand Rapids: Re-               tion: "What has been historically,         comprehensive statement on the
formed Free Publishing Association,          and what is now, the Reformed and          concept "Organic Inspiration."
1990. 93pp.,  $6.95  (paper). [Reviewed      confessional view of Scripture?" It is            We are convinced that  thle key
by Prof. R. Decker.]                         Hoeksema's contention that this            doctrine under attack in our day is
                                             question must first be answered, before    the doctrine of Holy Scripture itself.
     The contents of this little vol-        any critical analysis of contemporary      For this reason the book is must read-
ume were prepared by Prof. Hoeksema          views of Scripture can be properly         ing for seminarians, officebearers,
for an elective class in the Protestant      d o n e .                                  Christian school teachers, and all
Reformed Seminary. The class was                  The reader will find in this book     believers.      It will provide the Re-
intended to introduce the students to        a treatment of the doctrine of Scrip-      formed believer with the necessary,
"Contemporary Views of Scripture."           ture as taught in the Reformed Creeds.     foundational understanding of this
The material found in this book was          He will also find detailed treatment       crucial truth. Thus the believer will
really an introduction, a positive state-    of "Scripture's Self-Testimony." In        be enabled to evaluate the false views
ment of the doctrine of Holy Scrip-          two very important chapters (5  & 6)       of Scripture so prevalent in our day.
ture. Prof. Hoeksema was taken to            Hoeksema argues convincingly that          n
glory before he had opportunity to           there is no "human factor" or "ele-
complete the work.                           ment" in the`production of Holy Saip-



                                             Report of
                                             Classis West
     Classis  West met on Wednes-            and to seek through Synod permis-          the church visitors in their work.
day, March 6, 1991, in Randolph,             sion for the same in Classis  East.        Accordingly, the next two meetings
Wisconsin.  Classis met in two ses-               Various elections were also           of  Classis West are scheduled for
sions and finished its business at about     conducted. Rev. R. Dykstra was re-         September 18, 1991, in Edgerton,
400 Wednesday afternoon. Rev. S.             appointed to the Classical Commit-         Minnesota, and March 4,1992  in Doon,
Houck served as President of Classis         tee, Rev. C. Terpstra was elected as       Iowa.  IJ
and Rev. R. Hanko as Clerk                   delegate  ad examina,  and Revs. D.                                     Rev. R. Hanko
     Most of the business conducted          Kuiper and R. Moore as Church Visi-                                       Stated Clerk
by  Classis  was  .routine. Classical        tors. The ministers chosen as dele-
appointments were scheduled for              gates to Synod, 1991, were Revs. R.
Hope PRC of Isabel, SD and for the           Cammenga,  .R. Dykstra, R. Moore,               Introductory subscription to the
Randolph, WI PRC. Eight subsidy              and R.  VanOverloop.  Elder dele-                        Standard Bearer
requests totaling  $146,152.00  were         gates chosen were Messrs. E.  Grit-                      is still half price!
approved for 1991 and 1992 and will          ters, L. Regnerus, E. Stouwie, and E.
be forwarded to Synod, 1991 for its          VanEgdom.
approval. The Lynden, Washington,                 Classis also decided to set the               Do your friends a favor;
congregation was given permission            dates and meeting places for the next                    let them know!
to request building fund collections         two meetings of Classis  at the spring
from the churches in  Classis  West          session of  Classis in order to assist

334 I Standard Bearer/April 15,199l


Mr. Benjamin Wigger                          Our-,Ch~~&hes
            ,. .              . _. j ,^... I_.     -                                                           .,.  .-

Evangelism Activities                        mal Saturday morning' meeting on               pa&or. :fiev.Ke~&clined the firmer
      The  Ctiuncil of the  South,Hol-       March 2, spdnsored by the Evangel-             but accepted  thejitter.
land, IL PRC approved their Evan-            ism Sodety of the Byron Center, MI                  Rev, C. Haak  &&ed the call
gelism Committee's recommendation            PRC. This meeting was held to dis-             he w& considering from Fkst PRC in
that the congregation  contintie  their      cuss coordinating projects and ex-             Grand Rapids, MI,  td serve as  Imis-
work in Ft. Wayne, IN, with a%eviizw         changing  ideas regarding evangelism           sionary to the island of Jamaica.
of the work in a  ye&.  ,Also, at  the       work of our churches for the coming
                                                                      :                          Abd,  $.nall~, our  co,ngregati?n
request' of Soveieign Redeemer Fel-          y e a r .                                      in Isabel, SD foip&d a new trio con-
lowship (SRF) inBoise,  ID, the Couti-       Congregational Highlights                      sisting of the Revs.  -B.  ,Gritters,, R.
cil approved sending them pulpit                  The  Jacoby Travel Agency  ,qf            Cammenga, and & Hanko. They were
supply for two `Sundays a month for          L&eland, CO has worked out a fund-             to  c&l from that  @io on Easter Sun-
fhe next' six months  be-g  &                raiser with the Young'People's Society         day.  .O
March. South Holland will  be using          of the Loveland, CO PRC. Jacoby will                                    .'
six pastors from Classis West, includ-       rebate 1% of all ticket sales (airplane                              .i I
ing their own.  To assist  SR.F in the       tickets, cruise tickets, etc.) to the Young
payment of transportation costs, it          People's Society for all who mention                AmEtiTlON STUDENTS!
wasdeterminedtouse$2,500.00from              the Loveland PRC when making travel                 ihe Protestant Reformed Schol-
South Holland's Mission Fund.                arrtingement  through them.                    arship Committee is taking applica-
       From an Evangelism Commit-                  The Choral Society of the Doon,          tions for scholarships to be awarded
tee News Letter  $ublished  by Hope          IA PRC presented an early spring               to future Protestant Reformed minis-
PRC of Redlands, CA, we learn that           program on February 24.                        ters and teachers for the 1991-l 992
Redlands  continues to maintain con-              The RefoSmed  Fellowship of our           school year. Each applicant must
tact by telephone with the brethren in       South Holland,  I&  PFC moved their            also submit an essay of at least three
the Santa Cruz area. Presently,  Red-        regular meeting up for a timely speech         hundred words, answering this ques-
lands cannot come up with a way to           on a Reformed  perspective;  of the            tion: "In the light of Jeremiah 6:13-l 7,
provide regular preaching  services.         Middle East by Rev. Bassam Madany,             with all the false prophets around us
for them even though they would like         director pf ye Ara,bic  radio mix-$&y          saying `peace, peace when there is no
this very  ,much.     ,.."                   df the "Batik to i;od Hour." He spoke          peace,' how should the old paths
       Redlands Evangelism Commit-           on Sunday evening, February 17, at             spoken of here be preached and
tee also made plans to, sponsor a se-        the  PR Christian school in South              taught?" For an applicatitin, contact:
ries of four messages on the sayings         Holland.                                                         Jim Holstege
of the cross beginning on March 10                 And, finally, before we mention                       1459 Spaulding S.E.
and concluding on Good Friday,               the latest ministerial calls, we want to           Grand Rapids, .lv!I 49546
March 29. This series of messages by         send a  word of encouragement to               The applicatidn, accompanid by the
Pastor denHartog were advel'tised in         Rev..John Heys, one of our emeritus            essay, must be returned by Junle 1,
the local papers, through letters of         ministers, who suffered a ,serious heart       1991.
invitation to those on their perma-          attack on March 2. Rev. Heys has
nent mailing list, by handbills, and by      returned home from the hospital af-
word of mouth.                               ter spending about two  wkeks there.           ~ RESOLU+ION OF SYMPATHY
       Members of. West-Michigan             Presently he cont&ues  to make a slow                The.council of Hudsonville-F%C
PRCs were invited to attend an infor-        but steady recovery.                           expresses `sympathy to former and
                                             Ministerial Calls                              present officebearers Jo&l Zandstra
                                                   Rev. S. Key was considering two          and V&n H'aveinan  and their families
                                             calls: one from our Hudsonville, MI            in.the recent death. of
                                                                                                     MR. GEORGE OPHOFF.
Mr. Wigger:isa  memb&-oft)e Protestant       PtiC to serve as missionary to Lame,
                                                                                                        Rev. G. VanBar&, President
Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michi-       Northern Ireland,  And  otie from our
                                             Randolph, WI PRC to  se&e as their                                            P. Hoekstra, clerk
gan*.. .                                                                                                ,.
                                                                                                     April 15,199l I Standard Bearer!335


        THE
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  STANDARD                                                                                                                                  SECOND  CLASS
     .BEARER                                                                                                                                Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                                            Grand Rapids, Michigan

      PO. Box 6064
      Grand Rapids, MI 49506


             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                              parents and for the Christian love and                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
             On April 29, 1991, the Lord will-                instruction we have received from them                          On April 5, 1991, our parents
     ing, our parents and ,grandparents                       in these many years. It is our prayer                  and grandparents,
      MR. and MRS. CASE VELDMAN,                              and hope that the Lord will continue to                   MR. and MRS. VERN KLAMER
     will celebrate their 50th wedding anni-                  keep and bless them in the yearsthat                   celebrated their 35th wedding anni-
     versary. We thank our covenant God                       He may give them.                                      versary.
     for the many years they have shared                           "ButthemercyoftheLordisfrom                                It is our prayer that our faithful
     together in His grace and for the love,                  everlasting to everlasting upon them                   God will continue to guide them and
     guidance, and instruction they have                      that fear him, and his righteousness                   bless them in the future togetheu."- '
     given us. It is our prayer that the                      unto children's children; to such as                            "Mark ye well her bulwarks,
     blessing of the Lord may rest upon                       keep his covenant and to those that                    consider her palaces; that ye may tell
     them as they continue their life jour-                   remember his commandments to do                        it to the generation following. For this ,
     ney.                                                     them" (Psalm 103:17,  18).                             God is our God forever and ever': he
             "From everlasting to everlasting                 Jim and Kathy Bruinsma                                 will be our guide even unto death"
     the Lord's love is with those who fear                        Kristen, Ryan, Eric                               (Psalm 48:13, 14).
     Him, and His righteousness with their                    Jim and Lois Rau                                       Tom and Vicky VanOverloop
     children's children" (Psalm 103:17).                          Carol, Cheryl, Kim, Rodney                                 Brandon, Heidi, Heather, Hillairy
     Henry and Barbara Veldman                                Jerry and Martha Bruinsma                              Rev. Chuck and Verna Terpstra
             Rick, Dave and Sue, Kristen                      Karen Bruinsma                                                  Corey, Amber, Kimmi, Thad, Kyle
     Peter and Fran Feenstra                                                              South Holland, llllnols    John and Valerie VanBaren
             Tom and Cherie, Michael, Mark                                                                                    Jennifer, Jordan, Jill, Jared
     James and Rita Admiraal                                    RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                               Bruce and Jo Klamer
             Julie, Eric, Beth, Melanie, Philip,                   The Ladies' Aid Society of the                             Alyssa, Jaycen
             Nathan, Daniel                                   First Protestant Reformed Church                       Dave and Vonda Jessup
     Jan and Marianne VanderLeest                             (Grand Rapids, Ml) mourns the loss of                           Nathan
             Steve and Pam, Robert, Rebecca,                  one of her faithful members,                           Steve and Brenda Langerak
             Melissa                                             MRS. HENRIETTA HARKEMA                                       Daniel
     Jack and Elma Veldman                                    who was called "Home" on March 11,                     Brent Klamer
             Tony, Jonathan, Christopher                      1991.                                                                                     Hope, Walker, MI
     Roger and Anne Veldman                                        We know from her testimony that                                  IN MEMORIAM
             Ruth Ann, Geoffrey, Randall, David               she loved the Lord and may we, and                              In memory of
     3 great-grandchildren                                    her loved ones, be assured that she is                         KYLE RICHARD FLIKKEMA
                    Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church    now rejoicing with the saints in glory.                Rev. and Mrs. R. Flikkema wish to
                                                                  Mrs. George DeVries,  President                    thank the churches, pastors, and people
                        NOTICE!!                                 Mrs. Sidney DeYoung, Secretary                      who have remembered Kyle and his
             Hope Christian School of Red-                                                                           family during the times he was in the
     lands needs a teacher for the coming                                                                            hospital and especially at the time of
     school year. For information, please                       RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                               his death. We are so grateful for the
     contact Mr. Ed Karsemeyer at the                              The Men's Society of the Hope                     prayers, cards, and gifts that were
     school, (714) 793-4584, or Mr. Bill                      PRC of Grand Rapids, Ml expresses                      given. How precious to us is the
     Feenstra, (714) 793-3597.                                its Christian sympathy to Mr. and Mrs.                 communion of saints we have experi-
                                                              Mart Daling and family in the death of                 enced. Above all we give thanks to
             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                              their father and grandfather,                          God, who in His covenant faithfulness
             On April 25, 1991, the Lord will-                         MR. JIM DALING.                               gave us Kyle and united us together in
     ing, our dear parents and grandpar-                           "For this God is our God forever                  the body of Christ. We commencl  him
     ents                                                     and ever; He will be our guide even                    and us to His eternal care and keep-
     RAYMOND and TENA BRUINSMA                                unto death" (Psalm 48:14).                             ing.
     will celebrate their 45th wedding anni-                              Pete Petroelje, President                                Rev. and Mrs. R. Flikkema
     versary. We are thankful to our heav-                             Marv Mastbergen, Secretary                                                       and family
     enly Father for giving us God-fearing                                                                           Wyckoff. New Jersey

     336 / Standard Bearer/April 16,199l


