Preached at the evening after-church youth rally by Rev. Ivan Foster at Markethill FPC.
It is a common feature of Holy Scripture that the Lord constantly repeats what His purpose is for His people. That is because we forget so quickly. Hence the warning: “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons,” Deuteronomy 4:9. Some of you here tonight are the children and grandchildren of faithful Christians, with whom it was my privilege in years past, to share in the Free Presbyterian Church’s public stand for the Lord in these times of apostasy.
If that is your ancestry, then give thanks to the Lord for His mercy and grace to you and your forebears.
I would like to give a little of my own story of God’s mercy to an unworthy sinner for in three weeks time I will be 61 years a Christian and two weeks after that, I will be 57 years ordained as a preacher of the gospel.
Back in December 1964, I was present at the Presbytery meeting in Mount Merrion Church. I was there to preach before it, having been interviewed at the previous Presbytery meeting in November and was there given a text to preach upon at the following month’s Presbytery.
The text given me was:
“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light,” 1 Peter 2:9.
I was saved back in April of that year and, in truth, this was the first time I had come upon this verse.
On my way home from the November Presbytery, In alarm I asked Dr Paisley about the verse and its meaning. I was travelling with him for I had lost my driving licence for one year after being convicted of being drunk in charge of a vehicle, back in November 1963. I had not then had it returned to me.
Dr Paisley immediately responded, if I can recall his words correctly: ‘If I was going to preach on that verse I would deal with: 1. My Election. 2. My Intercession. 3. My Sanctification. 4. My Illumination.”
I believe that this is the outline he quickly recited and which just as quickly I noted down. I duly stood up in the pulpit in Mount Merrion and did my best to preach the outline.
I recall one elder, he was called Mr Jimmy Crooks, saying that ‘This young man has wonderful talent for someone saved very recently.’
Dr Paisley remained quiet with just a knowing smile on his face. If I have been an affliction to the Free Presbyterian Church, you now know who to blame!!
I would like to return to that verse and say first of all:
I. IT IS THE PURPOSE OF GOD TO HAVE PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD WHO SHOW FORTH HIS PRAISES.
1. That requires the setting forth of the whole counsel of God, and that accurately, regarding His purpose in mercy at the cross. As the text says: “Ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” ‘His praises’ can only be recited by those who have an understanding of His accomplishments! “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons,” Deuteronomy 4:9. “But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them,” Matthew 13:16-17. “I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day,” Luke 5:24-26.
This is the qualification needed to “shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”
2. It requires the setting forth of the utterly unworthiness of the elect. The Lord said to Israel: “For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt,” Deuteronomy 7:6-8.
3. It requires a declaring of the eternal glory God has prepared for His elect. At best, like Moses on Mount Nebo (Deuteronomy 32:52), we can only get a glimpse of the glorious land to which Christians are going but we must testify of its splendour in order to glorify the Lord. We can repeat the words of the Queen of Sheba, to illustrate the glories that await the followers of Christ in His kingdom. “And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice,” 1 Kings 10:6-9.
We can echo Paul’s statement: “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us,” Romans 8:17-18.
II. ONLY A PEOPLE SEPARATED FROM THE WAYS OF THE WORLD CAN DO THIS.
1. To speak of God requires that we know His mind. “ Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,” Philippians 2:5.
Everything about the gospel is utterly contrary to the thinking of the world.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts,” Isaiah 55:8-9.
“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon,” Matthew 6:24.
The ‘taking up of the cross’ is an expression denoting a dying to self and sin and the world’s opinion. Remember what is said of some who professed faith in Christ? “Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” John 12:42-43.
“Menpleasers” cannot bear an unfettered and bold witness of Christ.
2. The Saviour forbade His disciples to speak of His identity for they were yet in great ignorance concerning that truth. Luke 9:20-21. They were ignorant also of His sufferings, death and resurrection, the very fundamentals of the gospel! — Luke 18:31-34. The Saviour would not allow the disciples to repeat what they heard from Him and what they saw until they has grown in grace and in the knowledge of the will of God. “And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead,” Matthew 17:9. “And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. And he charged them that they should tell no man of him,” Mark 8:29-30.
3. It has ever been the purpose of God to keep His people separated from the world. “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world,” James 1:27.
The words of 2 Cor 6:14-18, have become a motto text of the Free Presbyterian Church. “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
The next verse, often ignored, is of great importance.
“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God,” 2 Corinthians 7:1.
Relevant
Separation from the world is a doctrine that will remain relevant until the return of the Saviour.
“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues,” Revelation 18:4.
Because of the ongoing compromise and backsliding away from God and His truth that has ever been prevalent amongst professing Christians, there has ever been the need to constantly call them out of denominations, associations, unions and consortium that have become contaminated by sin and rebellion!
In the case of the Free Presbyterian Church, it was recognised through the controversy arising from Dr Paisley being asked to conduct a gospel mission in Crossgar by the local Irish Presbyterian elders, that the time for believers to separate from the Presbyterian Church in Ireland had come.
Some 24 years earlier, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland had publicly defied God and His truth by giving its support to the heresies of Prof J E Davey, a man who denied the duty of Christ, His atoning death at Calvary and the inerrancy of Scripture. Some 84% of the ministers and elders of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland at the general Assembly following the trial of Prof Davey supported him — 707 votes to 82.
The outcome of that decision gave rise to the emergence of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster in 1951, when it became clear that the path taken in 1927 by the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s General Assembly was now the path the whole church was prepared to traverse!
That fact was further endorsed when, two years after the formation of the Free Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland voted into the office of Moderator, the same apostate, Prof J E Davey in 1953!
III. SUCH A SEPARATED PEOPLE ARE AT WAR WITH THE WORLD
It is this fact that causes many Christians to refuse to separate from that which is deemed ‘unclean’ in God’s eyes! From the very beginning of the Free Presbyterian Church, it was opposed from within and without! It was but an echo of the experiences of the apostolic church!
1. Consider these verses and learn. If you are saved, you are called upon to resist the world and its ways and fashions and refuse to be “conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,” Romans 12:2.
“. . ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints,” Jude 3.
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled,” 2 Corinthians 10:3-6.
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand,” Ephesians 6:10-13.
2. This ‘armour’ is not for a fancy dress parade but for WAR!
“This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck,” 1 Timothy 1:18-19.
“But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Timothy 6:11-14.
End
Paul ended his days by saying: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith,” 2 Timothy 4:7.
3. Young people, you cannot serve God in your generation, you cannot keep the faith and finish your course WITHOUT FIGHTING A GOOD FIGHT!
God called the Free Presbyterian Church into existence in order that the “good fight” might be carried on in the world in this, the final days of this age!
The Lord bless you all and enable you carry the old gospel banner high!