SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM BINARY EXPRESSIONS

William Andrew Dillard
In the discipline of math, much is made of binary expressions. Moreover, since God is the author of all truth, including that of math, we may glean a lot of understanding of spiritual truth from it as well. Consider the binary diagram above. It is not meant to produce a headache, but to give you rejoicing as you understand it.
Out of the universe of all men only a fraction of them have any relationship with God. Circle 1. represents all men who are saved. Circle 2. represents all men who are baptized. Circle 3. represents active church members. Now notice how the lines overlap or bind. Some saved men are active church members, but have never been baptized, 1 & 3. Some baptized men are active church members but have never been saved, 2 & 3. Some are saved and baptized, but not active church members, 1 & 2.
While God wants all men to trust Him and thereby be saved, He also wants saved people to follow Him in scriptural baptism. But it does not stop there. He wants all saved, scripturally baptized people to be active and learning in the fellowship of His New Testament church.
Therefore of all the possible positions that men may find themselves in spiritually, there is only one position that is totally compliant, and submissive to the will of God. That is the area where all three circles intersect noted as 1, 2, and 3. Where do you fit?

124– May 03 – This Day in Baptist History Past

A timely snowstorm, a changed life
On the first Sunday in 1850 at the age of fifteen Charles Spurgeon converted to Christ. On January 6, 1850 a snow storm made him seek shelter in a Primitive Methodist chapel in Colchester. The scheduled speaker could not keep his appointment, and one of the men attempted to preach. His text was Isaiah 45:22, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” After exhausting his thoughts on the passage, he looked straight at the young Spurgeon and said: “Young man, you look very miserable! You always will be miserable-miserable in life and miserable in death, if you don’t obey my text: but if you obey now, this moment you will be saved. Young man, look to Jesus! Look! Look! Look! You have nothing to do but to look and live”
Young Spurgeon heard, not the voice of the inept preacher, but the voice of the Spirit of God and was gloriously saved. Realizing his need to be baptized “He walked from Hew Market to Isleham, seven miles, on May 3rd, 1850, where Rev. Mr. Cantlow buried him with Christ in Baptism.”
Dr. Dale R. Hart: Adapted from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 180-181
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117 — April 27 – This Day in Baptist History Past

Saved, Baptized, Called to Preach
The power of Holy Spirit conviction

Otis Robinson was asked to open his home for the occasion of having Rev. Eliaphalet Smith to preach in Livermore, Maine. Otis did not stay but later asked his wife what was the Sermon topic: “Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”  Though convicted, it was several weeks of great conviction before Robinson obtained the peace of salvation.
On April 27, 1793 Robinson was baptized by Smith and united with others in forming a Baptist church in Livermore. His growth in grace was rapid, and soon he experienced the call of God upon his heart to preach.  Being licensed by the church, he visited the town of Sanford and preached several Lord’s Days in a Baptist church there. He was called to become their pastor and was ordained on June 7, 1798 the day of his 34th birthday. His ministry was blessed of the Lord in revival, and the work grew as he baptized one hundred and sixty-five there and many others in his itinerant work throughout the area.
Having a heart burdened for missions, Robinson resigned in the fall of 1809 and moved to Salisbury, Hew Hampshire, to establish a church. In the spring of 1810, he had gathered enough converts to begin a church and was settled as pastor. His labors were continued for sixteen years, and he finally resigned the pastorate in 1826. The church had grown to one hundred and thirty members and many more were in attendance.
Dr. Dale R. Hart Adapted from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 171.
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91 – April – 01 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

First Baptists in Kentucky
1776 – On this date the Baptists arrived in Harrodsburg, Kentucky and the first recorded Baptist preaching was done by William Hickman and Thomas Tinsley.  Two years later Hickman was ordained in Virginia and spent eight years of service there.
Though not imprisoned at that time he received a great deal of rude persecution.  In the summer of 1784 the Hickman family moved permanently to Kentucky and for the next four years William ministered at every opportunity  which resulted in the establishing of the Forks of Elkhorn Church, where he pastored until his death in 1834.  That was a period of forty-five years except when he was out of fellowship with the church for two years over the issue of slavery, which he opposed.
During the great revival period of 1800-1803, Elder Hickman baptized over five hundred converts.  William was born in Virginia on Feb. 4, 1747.  His parents died while he was but a lad, and he became a ward of his grandmother.  His educational opportunities were limited, but his grandmother gave him a Bible and insisted that he read it.
When he was fourteen he was apprenticed to learn a trade, and in nine years he was secure enough to marry his master’s daughter Sarah Sanderson.  Soon after, he learned that the Baptists (then called New Lights) were in the area, and against his wife’s wishes, he went to hear the preaching.
The next day he went to a public “dipping” of converts and was deeply moved even to tears.  The next fall they moved to Cumberland County, KY, and the Lord brought his wife to faith in Christ.
William was saved under the preaching of David Tinsley on Feb. 21, 1773 and baptized two months later, after rejecting Episcopal christening.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon, from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson /, pp. 133.
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71 – March – 12 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

He preached politics from the pulpit

1807 – Samuel Stillman, Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Boston during the Revolutionary War died on this day at seventy years of age.  He was converted to Christ and baptized under the ministry of Oliver Hart when his parents moved to S.C.  He later founded a Baptist Education Society in Charleston.  Always weak in health he moved back to N.J. to improve his physical condition.  He was called as the assistant pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Boston.  After one year, he became the pastor of the historic First Baptist Church of that city on Jan. 9, 1765 where he stayed until his death.  The Baptists, with only two or three exceptions stood solidly behind the Revolution.  Stillman was one of the strongest proponents.  His heart blazed for liberty.  He despised the Stamp Act and preached against it from his pulpit.  He was outraged over the inflicted Baptists of Ashfield, Mass., and authored a petition to the general court against it.  The issue had to do with a general assessment for the support of the state church (Congregational).  He was a powerful preacher who drew crowds from great distances including dignitaries such as, Washington, Adams, John Hancock, and Gen. Knox.  He lifted high the cross, preached sin black, and hell hot and saw great revivals.  His flock was scattered during the war but he returned, gathered them together again, and First Baptist was the only church in Boston that stayed open for the duration.  The forty-two years he spent in Boston covered the great debates of the Revolution, the war itself, the birth of the nation, the Federal Constitution, and the presidencies of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson.  Samuel Stillman was a remarkable man for remarkable times.  But history shows that God always has His man for the times.

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20 – January – 20 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

 

First Black Baptists in Savannah, GA

1788 – Andrew Bryan was ordained into the gospel ministry. Bryan pastored the first Negro Baptist church in Georgia. The church was founded by Abraham Marshall whose father, Daniel, founded the first Baptist church in Georgia. Abraham baptized forty-five black believers and along with others who had been previously baptized he formed them into a church and called and ordained Andrew Bryan as pastor. Bryan had been a convert of George Leile who had been a slave of Deacon Henry Sharp of the First Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia. When Deacon Sharp detected that his servant was called of God, he emancipated the stirring preacher so that he could give himself totally to the preaching of the gospel. Ordained in 1775, Leile labored in and around Savannah before leaving in 1775 for Jamaica in 1779. Thus Leile predated the service of William Carey, “the founder of modern Baptist missions.” Upon Bryan’s death a resolution was passed  by the Savannah Baptist Association in 1812. It read in part: “the Association is sensibly affected by the death of the Rev. Andrew Bryan, a man of color, and pastor of the First Colored Church in Savannah. This son of Africa, after suffering inexpressible persecutions in the cause of his divine Master, was at length permitted to discharge the duties of the ministry among his colored friends in peace and quiet, hundreds of whom through his instrumentality, were brought to a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus…”
Dr. Greg J. Dixon from; adapted from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 26-28.

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06 – January 06 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

 

“Blest be the tie that binds…”

 

1740 – John Fawcett was born, who later became the pastor of the Baptist Church at Wainsgate, England. He had been converted under the preaching of George Whitefield. At age 19 he had been baptized into the fellowship of the Baptist Church at Bradford. His ordination took place in 1765, when he became the pastor at Wainesgate. Six years later Dr. John Gill died, leaving the famed Baptist church at Southwark, London, without a pastor. Fawcett was offered the position, but upon news of their leaving Wainesgate, the congregation was filled with grief. In those days it was rare for a pastor to move, and he would live and die among the people that he served in the gospel. When the fateful day came, a van was sent from London to remove their belongings. Tearful men and women stood around and watched them carry the pastor’s things to the van. Mrs. Fawcett went back into the home weeping, and said to her husband, “I know not how to go.” He replied, “Neither do I.” At that they ordered the things to be taken off the van and placed back in the house. After the moving men and the good people had left them alone, John Fawcett sat down and wrote the beloved hymn: “Blest be the tie that binds, Our hearts in Christian love; The fellowship of kindred minds; Is like to that above.” In later years he became a Dr. of Divinity and was invited to be the Principal of Bristol College, but he died as he had lived, among his own people. King George III having read some of his writings contacted to ask him if he could do anything for him, which he declined. Later his influence with the King was used to save a man from being executed, and several others from heavy legal penalties.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon; adapted from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 08-09.

 

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339 – Dec. 05 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

A Baptist church still thrives in Athens

 

1842 – Two Greek converts, John and Kyriakes, who had been baptized the previous day by Apostolos, a Greek national convert, were attacked by some rabble who screamed, “Away with the antichrists!” On the following day the mob, that had been stirred up Greek Orthodox priests, gathered near the home of Apostolos and threatened him with violence. He was accused of turning the people into Americans and breaking down their religion. Apostolos, a previously converted national, the first Baptist convert of the modern era, had been baptized in August of 1840 by Horace T. Love. He and his wife had sailed for Greece on Oct. 24, 1836 with Rev. and Mrs. Cephas Pasco. Their ship arrived at Patras on Dec. 9. Even though they applied to the government for permission to distribute scriptures they were rebuffed and received much opposition from the officials of the Greek Orthodox Church, even issuing a decree prohibiting the reading of the new Scriptures and commanded that copies should be burned wherever found. The decree actually aided the Baptist cause. By 1838 they had acquired the language and locations for their ministries. In 1839, Harriett Dickson, a widowed teacher who already knew the language came to teach in the school that they had opened in 1837. Rev. and Mrs. R.F. Buel then came and joined in to help in the work at Patras, for a time, before moving on to Malta. However, both Love and Pasco’s health failed and they went back to America. Other missionaries came, but Buel recommended that the mission be terminated and in 1855 it was halted. But today, thank God, a great Baptist church thrives in Athens. [This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: Greenville, S.C. 2000 A.D. pp. 665-67. Henry C. Vedder, A Short History of Baptist Missions (Philadelphia: Judson Press, 1927), p. 435.
Prepared by Dr. Greg Dixon

 

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328 – Nov. 24 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

He baptized over 3,000 converts

 

1802 – D.R. Murphy was born in Jefferson County, Tennessee. His father William, had served in the Revolutionary War and was a nephew of the famous “Murphy Boys” who were Baptist ministers during the struggles of the early Virginia Baptists. D.R. was a wicked young man but had a glorious salvation experience, and was          immersed and united with the Mill Spring Baptist Church on Sept. 3, 1832. He began preaching immediately and was ordained in 1834, and then spent the next five years preaching in Tenn. He married Lucy Carter in 1822 and they had ten children, then hearing of the great spiritual needs of the west, he moved his growing family to Missouri in 1839, and began his itinerant ministry. He established a church in Enon, Missouri in April of 1840. In August in the same county he had enough converts to found the Mt. Zion Baptist Church. In July of 1841, he organized the Coon Creek Baptist Church in St. Clair County. In thirty-five years he started thirty churches. When you consider the scattered population his feats were amazing. Families lived in small log cabins with dirt floors, a side door with wooden chimneys, often ten miles apart. Amazingly he baptized over three-thousand believers. In the last seven years of his life Mrs. Murphy became very ill and after her death he remarried a widow, Mrs. L.A. Cedar who labored with him until his death on Aug. 28, 1875 at 73. Her testimony follows. “My husbands death was a most triumphant one. He suffered intensely for four months, and was patient and meek…The last song we sung was, ‘I am going home to die no more…” [R.S. Duncan, A History of the Baptists in Missouri (Saint Louis: Scammell and Company, Publishers, 1882), p. 604. This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: Greenville, S.C. 2000 A.D. pp. 643-44.]
Prepared by Dr. Greg J. Dixon

 

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279 – Oct. 06 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

Thirty shots but none hit him

 

 1846 – Eugenio Kincaid, along with others, laid the foundation for the University of Lewisburg (now Bucknell University) in Pennsylvania. He had gone to the area because his heart was burdened for missions, having been turned down by the Triennial Convention for service in Burma. Instead he planted a number of churches in the interior of Penn. He grew up in a Presbyterian family in Wetherfield, CT. and was gloriously saved and baptized while attending Baptist evangelistic meetings. He was in the first class of the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institute in New York and thrilled when Luther Rice came to challenge the students in the cause of missions. By May of 1830 the TC believed he was ready and he and his wife sailed for Burma in May of 1830, by way of Calcutta, and arrived in Burma after four months, only four years after the jailing of Judson. 1831 was quite significant, 100 soldiers were converted but his dear wife also died because of the climate. In less than a year the Lord gave him another companion, one Barbara McBain, the daughter of a British military officer. He traveled 700 miles up the Irrawady River. At times he and his crew faced robbers and one time he sent his men on and stared the fiends down just as a Burman boat came into view. On the way back he was captured by boatloads of armed bandits, thirty gunshots were fired but none hit him. He was told to sit down but he refused as 70 men surrounded him with spears. For six days they debated on executing him, but he was able to escape and make it back to Ava. He ended his life in retirement on a farm in Girard, Kansas. [Lewis Edwin Theiss, CenTennial History of Bucknell University 1826-1946 (Williamsport, Pa.: Grit Pub. Company. Press, 1946), pp. 25, 45. This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: Greenville, S.C. 2000 A.D. 547-49]

 

Prepared by Dr. Greg J. Dixon