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.

“Human communication was meant to be based on humans’ “response-ability” to God’s commandments. In fact, the Hebrew word for “listen” derives from “obedience.” Good speakers must first be obedient listeners so they know what they are talking about” (Quentin Schultze, An Essential Guide to Public Speaking: Serving Your Audience with Faith, Skill, and Virtue, 27).

“The world has embraced lawlessness because the church has embraced lawlessness. We have carnal presidents because we have carnal “Christians.” We have a culture saturated with ennui because we are too bored, waiting for the end to come” (R. C. Sproul Jr., Eternity in Our Hearts: Essays on the Good Life, 53-54).

A parable is more than a story. It is a story on target, set to shatter any listener who gets in its way. Yet a parable’s trajectory is unpredictable, except to one who knows a man’s secrets (152).

BOOM SHAKALAKA. Satire fans can direct their twinkling-eyes on this newly repackaged (and edited) read, and my guess is that fresh recruits will join the woe-singing-chorale in decrying the foibles of 60’s and 70’s Christian E.V.A.N.G.E.L.I.C.A.L.I.S.M. [Doh-Re-Mi-Fa-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-So-La-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha]

Having not read satire in a while, it was a bit difficult to get back into the genre at first . . . I read a page, and cringed, read another page, and cringed some more. I had just about loosened-up to Bayly’s roughhousing, however, when . . . when . . . how do I put it? Ah, yes — it was when, for the first time in my life, I simultaneously laughed-out-loud (LOL!) and thought I had thrown-up in my mouth. Bayly’s sketches of Christian hypocrisy, neo-Judaizers, and squirrelly-Saints are brutal, indeed. But they are brutal because they are parables; they are more than a story.

Yes, these stories are on target. So, like the narcissistic teenagers who cringe when they read Catcher in the Rye–because they can relate with Holden Caulfield, The Gospel Blimp (And Other Parables) will make evangelical Christians cringe–because, if we’re honest with ourselves, we can relate to some of the less-than-honourable-characters. As the copy on the rear jacket says, “And, really, if you’re not looking in the mirror you’re missing the point.”

Read this book. And don’t miss the point.

Disclaimer: Clearnote Press provided me with a review copy of this book. 

“There is something wrong with a Christianity which rejects the Old Testament, or even with a Christianity which imagines that we are essentially different from the Old Testament saints. If any of you are tempted to feel like that, I would invite you to read the Book of Psalms, and then ask yourself whether you can honestly say from your experience some of the things the Psalmists said. . . . Read the Psalms and the statements made in them, and I think you will agree that these men were children of God with a great and rich spiritual experience” (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Faith on Trial, 11-12).