“Men will not consider, will not look ahead, will not look around them, will not reflect on the end of their present course, and the sure consequences of their present days, and wake up to find they are damned for a lack of thinking. . . . Believe me, this world is not a world in which we can do well without thinking, and least of all do well in the matter of our souls. “Don’t think,” whispers Satan; he knows that an unconverted heart is like a dishonest businessman’s financial records–they will not bear close inspection. “Consider your ways,” says the word of God–stop and think–consider and be wise. The Spanish proverb says it well, “Hurry comes from the devil.” Just as men marry in a rush and then are miserable with their mate, so they make mistakes about their souls in a minute, and then suffer for it for years” (J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 32-33).

“Young men, if you would be wise, if you would be happy, remember the warning I give you–Beware of pride” (J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 26).

Yellowstone Valley Christians for Life sponsored the local March for Life here in Billings on Sunday, January 19th. We gathered at Soup and Such and marched to the Court House, where Mike Rapkoch, member of YVCfL, provided a brief talk before keynote speaker Dr. R. C. Sproul, Jr. (RC Jr. also provided the opening prayer at the Court House.) I had the privilege of leading the crowd in a closing prayer.

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1:30 PM
Sunday, January 19, 2014
March for Life
Billings, MT

Our Father in Heaven, sanctify us through thy word; thy word is truth (John 17:17). We praise you for Jesus Christ, for having ransomed sinners like us from sin’s curse. We praise you for Jesus Christ, who prays for us and intercedes on our behalf right now at your right hand in Heaven. And we thank you for the gift of the Holy Ghost, who regenerated us—giving us new natures, making you our Heavenly Father.

O Lord, we are reminded of what Christ told his disciples: “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Lord, we know that tribulations occur according to your all good and wise providence, and that they are the means by which you cultivate our faith and craft our souls to desire you, our Triune Lord, more and more and more. And Lord, we do not fear tribulations; for You are our strength and defense (Psalm 59:9).

And Lord, because you are our strength and defense, we pray and ask and beseech that you would teach us how to be both a strength and defense for the innocents—teach us how to be penitent defenders of the unborn and of the downtrodden. We also pray for our prayers: fill us with your Holy Ghost, and in filling us make us powerful and diligent, make us humble and submissive before you in prayers-of-repentance and prayers-of-intercession on the behalf of children in the womb. And we pray for the salvation of men: we pray that you would give the gift of saving faith to the fathers and mothers whose hearts have turned away from their children; we pray that you would give the gift of saving faith to the butchers who perform abortions, that they might confess their sin, repent, and find salvation in the Redeemer-Jesus.
 
And Father, we pray to you corporately:

Prayer to End Abortion

“Young men, take to heart the Scriptures just quoted [Romans 12:3; 1 Corinthians 8:2; Colossians 3:12; 1 Peter 5:5; John 13:15 (Christ is a young man’s great example.); 2 Corinthians 8:9; Philippians 2:7, 8; 1 Kings 3:8 (Regarding the wisest man that ever lived–King Solomon.); Proverbs 26:12]. Do not be too confident in your own judgment. Stop being so sure that you are always right, and others wrong. Don’t trust your own opinion when you find it contrary to that of older men and especially to that of your own parents. Age gives experience, and therefore deserves respect” (J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 25-26).

Regarding private prayer, Charles Spurgeon said: “The more you are on your knees alone the better.”

Westminster Confession of Faith, 7.2, 3. The first covenant made with man was a covenant of works. . . . Man by his fall having made himself incapable of life by that covenant, the Lord was pleased to make a second, commonly called the Covenant of Grace; whereby he freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in him, that they may be saved. . . .

Westminster Confession of Faith, 7.5. This covenant was differently administered in the time of the law, and in the time of the gospel: under the law it was administered by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the paschal lamb, and other types and ordinances delivered to the people of the Jews, all fore-signifying Christ to come, which were for that time sufficient and efficacious, through the operation of the Spirit, to instruct and build up the elect in faith in the promised Messiah, by whom they had full remission of sins, and eternal salvation; and is called the Old Testament.

The following excerpt is taken from A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life; it is the Conclusion of a chapter titled “The Puritans on the Covenant of Grace.” 

A basic grasp of the covenant of grace helps students of Reformed theologians in the Puritan tradition to understand their basic approach to interpreting the Bible. From the very entrance of sin into the world, God revealed His plan for redemption (Gen. 3:15). As that revelation is unfolded and enlarged through successive covenants, the plan of God for the salvation of His people becomes ever more clear. In other words, From Genesis to Revelation salvation remains firmly centered on the person and work of Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit applying the benefits of Christ’s redemptive work to those whom the Father has chosen for everlasting life and given to His Son. The covenant of grace is two-sided (dipleuric) in its administration. salvation is trinitarian, involving the three persons of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit brings sinners into union with Jesus Christ by producing faith in the elect. 

Upon believing and receiving forgiveness of sins, believers are instated into covenant with God and required to live a life of holiness in obedience to His commandments. this was as true for Abraham, Moses, or David as for Peter and the apostles, and the same is true for God’s people today. For that reason, the covenant of grace unites the people of God into one family, both Jews and Gentiles, all who are partakers of a gracious salvation that was planned in eternity and realized in time. Saints in the Old Testament looked forward to Christ’s coming to accomplish His redemptive work, whereas saints in the New Testament and beyond remember and rejoice in that work as wholly accomplished in His death and resurrection. For that reason, Christ assumes the central place in redemptive history, which is nothing but the unfolding of the mystery of the covenant of grace (Joel R. Beeke and Mark Jones, A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life, 278).

In Lectures to My Students, Charles Spurgeon urges his students to not go long in public prayers, he suggests public prayers be confined to approximately ten minutes, but he then goes on to note, “Our Puritanic forefathers used to pray for three-quarters of an hour, or more, but then you must recollect that they did not know that they would ever have the opportunity of praying again before an assembly [emphasis added, CCS], and therefore, took their fill of it; and besides, people were not inclined in those days to quarrel with the length of prayers or of sermons so much as they do nowadays” (62). After noting this Spurgeon provides the caveat, “You cannot pray too long in private.”

“The Church at the present time is in a temporary state analogous to that of Israel when she sinned against God. The Church is in something of an “exile.” Individual Christians at this point in history are in a situation analogous to that of Daniel in exile. This Christian “diaspora” is not permanent, however, Christ’s prayer will be answered, and there will be visible unity in the Church again. This unity will be the work of God. it will be a visible unity based in Christian truth, not a Roman uniformity based on late medieval papal theories or an ecumenical unity based on compromising the essentials of the faith [Think – Evangelicals and Catholics Together]. It will be a biblical and ecclesiastical unity under one Lord, confessing one faith, and administering one baptism. The one visible Church will once again recognize and confess the rightful role of Scripture and her proper relationship with it” (Keith A. Mathison, The Shape of Sola Scriptura, 325).

“Another mark of spiritual church growth is community impact. Some remarkable results followed the ministry of the early church. In Acts 4, Peter and John are in the hands of the authorities as a result of their preaching and healing ministry. After the trial the writer declares that these authorities “took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” There stood the man who had been healed. The miracle was evident. . . . If we imagine that a spiritual impact on a community will always involve social acceptance, we are mistaken. But whatever the response, we must not be satisfied until the neighborhood around us becomes aware of our presence, and as a result, recognizes our relationship to the living Jesus Christ” (Harold L. Longenecker, Building Town and Country Churches, 83).

Longenecker provides a couple benchmarks for ascertaining spiritual growth in a local church:

1. Find out if “the neighborhood around [the local church] becomes aware of [their] presence,”
2. Find out if the neighborhood “recognizes [the local church’s] relationship to the living Jesus Christ.”

In order to know these, a local church must:

1. Proclaim Jesus to the neighborhood, and–
2. Then listen to the neighborhood.

A poem by William Geddes (1600-1694) about the Covenant of Redemption, made between the God the Father and God the Son, and the Covenant of Grace, made between (by the mediation of Jesus) the Triune God and Mankind–the poem demonstrates how the former covenant is the ground of the latter covenant.