PERFECTING OF THE SAINTS

William Andrew Dillard

In His tremendous “Sermon on the Mount.” Jesus taught His the newly formed nucleus of His church to “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” This admonition is a stopper, a virtual brick wall to disciples who pass around it, leaving it in the bin of incomprehensible possibilities. Much of the problem with the statement is that of accepted, or colloquial, assignment of word definition to the contrary. In modern day preachments and personal castigations, “Perfect” is implied and inferred as meaning without sin or error. In many modern contexts as well as in biblical usage, the term means “Complete.” Jesus wanted His disciples to grow in knowledge and grace to be complete in their understanding of God’s will and way for human life.
A brief look at how the term is used in the Bible is in order. Noah was perfect [compete] in his generations, and walked with God, Genesis 6:9. When God appeared unto Abraham He said, “I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou [complete, whole, not fragmented] perfect.” Genesis 17:1. God Himself testified of Job to Satan, “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect [complete] and an upright man. . . “ Job. 1:1. Such usages continue.
The apostle Paul reminded the church at Ephesus that Jesus upon His resurrection and ascension gave gifts unto men “For the perfecting of the saints. . . till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, . . . “ Eph. 4:12-13. In keeping with that, Paul prayed in ceaseless thanksgiving for the church that God would give to them “A spirit of wisdom and of revelation in full knowledge of Him.” Eph.1: 17 That spirit would bring the church at Ephesus and every other New Testament church into a state of maturity known as perfect or complete.
The world, even the religious world cannot comprehend the faith once delivered unto the saints. Salvation by grace through faith plus nothing else is totally foreign to their thinking, and it simply cannot be apprehended by the carnal mind. The same is true with other cardinal doctrines of the Word, especially including the doctrines of the church. So Paul made such prayers for the church which are similar to Jesus’ prayer for the church in John 17:23, “. . . That they may be made perfect in one. . . “
The churches and pastors who may be treading water, so to speak, by engaging in religious activity without any plan to impart the tenants of the faith once delivered to the saints fail in bringing disciples to that biblically enjoined state of perfection and its subsequent peace and rest. It seems there is time for everything but prayer and meditation in the Word. But even the ancient prophet Isaiah wrote, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect [complete] peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” Isa. 26:3. Yes, saints may arrive at that blessed state of maturity in the faith that is called “Perfect,” but even then there is no stopping to the learning process. How wonderful!

AFFLICT AND THE AFFLICTED

The same sermon that

comforts the afflicted

can afflict the comfortable.

TWO PREACHERS-ONE SERMON

HEBREW HONEYCOMB

William Andrew Dillard
TWO PREACHERS-ONE SERMON

“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matt. 3:1-2.
Reading further in Matt. 4:17, it is written, “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” So, Jesus and John delivered the same initial message to the Jewish nation, and it was not a new plan of salvation of the spirit, but something new, and at hand: the kingdom of heaven.
Dr. Fred G. Stevenson, instructor of Old Testament Hebrew for many years in Missionary Baptist Seminary, stated often that the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God as it is variously called are one and the same, and what constitutes it is the righteous ways of God being carried out by righteous men.
Truly, the concept of such a kingdom was in play as early as Eden, but took on the necessary processes applicable to sinful men after the fall to bring them to a state of spiritual maturity. Those processes are the Bible story, the full fruition of which, men still struggling with sinful flesh, is realized in this age of grace through the New Testament church. The complete fullness of it will be realized in the millennium and subsequent heaven ages.
The Lord’s church, a mystery hidden in ages past, is the heavenly designed climax of four thousand years of experience designed to bring men to the position of mature sons by virtue of spiritual growth aided by the anointing of the Holy Spirit which came to permanently reside in the church on Pentecost, Acts 2. The church is the bride of Christ, the branches of the vine, and kingdom representative and executive in the present age.
Make no mistake about it. The kingdom of heaven did not exist prior to the ministry of Christ Jesus even though it was in preparation. Both Jesus and John declared it was at hand. Some may object because Jesus said to the rejecting Jewish nation that the kingdom would be taken from them and given to another bringing forth the fruits thereof. That simply means what was intended for Israel would not be received by them, but by another.
Thus was the kingdom of heaven entrusted to a prepared people to receive it. This was the mission of John the Baptist, and the message of both John and Jesus. What a treasure beyond words God’s obedient people have today, but individual decisions are still necessary to be positioned in it.
Opening the mind to ultimate truth is God’s Work: exposing the mind to the Word is ours! How sad it will be for some to go out into eternity having had copies of the Bible in their possession, but not knowing what it was all about. Hear then the message of two heaven sent preachers. Learn its meaning!

Just Look – We Won’t Say A Word

Pope’s Points

Julian Pope

Just Look – We Won’t Say A Word

I saw a sermon in an ad one day. Over the picture of a new model automobile were these words: “Just look – we won’t say a word!” Thinking of my efforts to get people to believe in God, I was reminded that my only task is to get people to look at Him. Although science proves God on every hand, you nowhere trying to prove God to one who will not look at Him, just as the beauty of a rose is lost to one who has his head to the ground, and as food is of no avail to one who will not eat. My task as a soul-winner is not to argue religion or try to prove God by logic but to introduce the sinner to God. I will let God speak for Himself! Read His Word, His precious promises.

“O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.” (Psalm 34:8

282 – Oct. 09 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

 

Rev. Isaac McCoy

The “Real McCoys”

October 09, 1825 – Rev. Isaac McCoy, one of the “Real McCoy’s” preached the first sermon in English ever delivered in the Chicago area. Christiana Polk, the wife of Isaac, was the daughter of Captain E. Polk, a soldier and pioneer. Prior to Christiana’s birth, her mother and three siblings had been captured by the Ottawa Indians and held prisoners for several years before being found and freed by the valiant husband and father.

Following her marriage on Oct. 06, 1803 to Mr. Isaac McCoy, the Lord would lead this precious couple to pioneer missionary work among Indians of that tribe. The Isaac’s had 13 children, and they were all raised primarily on the move on the frontier. The children knew the privations of early missionary living but apparently accepted the necessary sacrifices. This is evidenced by the fact that the two oldest sons, after having graduated from Columbian College in Washington, D.C., and the Kentucky Medical College, both died in severe weather in missionary work.

Isaac was ordained on Oct. 13, 1810, by his father, Rev. Wm. McCoy. Isaac’s older brother, James McCoy, was an ordained pastor as was his younger brother Rice McCoy. The younger brother is “supposed to have been the first white child born in the North West Territory. Isaac McCoy authored a 600 page book on theHistory of Baptist Indian Missions without a “study” or secretarial help in the midst of continual travel. His life and labors were truly the connecting link between barbarism and civilization in this region of the country and over a large portion of the West. For nearly 30 years he was truly the apostle to the Indians.

Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 418-20.

Religious Liberty

 

 

Religious Liberty Promotes Greatest Revival of True Religion

CALLED UNTO LIBERTY, FOUNDING ERA SERMONS: JOHN LELAND

1791

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Divines generally inform us that there is such a time to come (called the Latter-Day Glory) when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters do the sea, and that this day will appear upon the destruction of antichrist. If so, I am well convinced that Jesus will first remove all the hindrances or religious establishments, and cause all men to be free in matters of religion. When this is effected, he will say to the kings and great men of the earth, “Now see what I can do; ye have been afraid to leave the church and gospel in my hands alone, without steadying the ark by human law; but now I have taken the power and kingdom to myself, and will work for my own glory.” Here let me add, that in the southern states, where there has been the greatest freedom from religious oppression, where liberty of conscience is entirely enjoyed, there has been the greatest revival of religion; which is another proof that true religion can and will prevail best where it is left entirely to Christ.

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Source: Excerpt from John Leland’s 1791 Sermon, “The Rights of Conscience Inalienable,” as found in  Political Sermons of the American Founding Era, 2 Vols., Ellis Sandoz, Published by Liberty Fund, Inc.

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Called Unto Liberty is researched, compiled, and edited (with occasional introductory notes and commentary) by Steve Farrell, Founder and Editor In Chief of The Moral Liberal. Copyright © 2009-2014 Steve Farrell.

 

 

13 – January 13 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

The gospel chases exposes an atheist

 

1872 – Elder J.N. Hall was ordained to the gospel ministry on January 13, 1872. He was born in 1849. An indefatigable laborer, Hall preached an average of a sermon a day and edited several Baptist journals of his time. But most of all he excelled in debating. The infidel club of Trigg County, Kentucky had made great strides and the atheist members continually challenged the Christians to debate. The Baptist pastor in the area realized that his disregarding of the demand was being interpreted by the general population as a sign of weakness and therefore something had to be done. The atheists sought the services of the famous atheist Robert Ingersoll and the pastor invited Elder J.N. Hall to meet him in public debate. Ingersoll refused but recommended the President of the Free Thought Association of America, a certain Mr. Putnam. The terms and time of the debate was set and accepted by both men but on the evening of the debate Elder Hall did not show up. Putnam went on with his speech which lasted for two hours. At the end a lad came to the platform and explained that Elder Hall was detained but would be there the next morning to give his rebuttal. The next morning before a full house, he drew Putnam aside and asked him to give him his arguments which he did. For the next two hours Elder Hall spoke and totally decimated his opposition. Putnam never rallied again, and at the end of the second day, the atheist debater announced that he had pressing business in New York, and left.   Elder Hall then turned to the multitude and preached the gospel including a sermon from the text: “What think ye of Christ?” Forty-seven came to receive Christ.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon; adapted from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 17-18.

 

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359 – Dec. 25 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

Preached the first Baptist sermon in Oregon

 

 

1851 – Dr. Rueben Hill, on Christmas day, organized a Baptist church in Corvallis, Oregon, making Corvallis his major point of service for the next sixteen years. Dr. Hill had come there from Albany, Oregon where he preached the first Baptist sermon ever preached in the state. He planted churches, and served for twelve years as moderator for the Central Baptist Association. He also drew up the charter for the McMinnville College. In 1870 he was made the financial agent of the college and his salary provided scholarships for impoverished Baptist preachers. He also served in the Oregon territorial legislature for two terms. Rev. Rueben Coleman Hill, M.D. was born of humble beginnings in Kentucky on March 27, 1808. He disciplined himself to obtain a good education by his own efforts. When twenty-five, he married Miss Margaret Lair. Dr. Hill received Christ and was baptized into the Knob Creek Baptist Church in Maury County, TN. He served as a deacon and at thirty-six was licensed by the church to preach. In 1846 after evidence of God’s blessings upon his ministry he was ordained as a gospel preacher. From there he founded a rapidly growing Baptist church in Keetsville, MO. Great revivals were held in Springfield and in Arkansas. The gold rush broke out in California and the Hills joined a caravan heading west. He preached every Lord’s Day and witnessed incessantly on the way. When they arrived at Mud Springs, CA, gospel services were begun in the shade of a large tree. When the diggings dried up the town dried up too. From there the Hills moved on to Oregon. Dr. Hill died on Dec. 31, 1890.

 

[This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: 2000 A.D. pp. 705-06. C. H. Mattoon, Baptist  Annals of Oregon (McMinnville, Oreg.: Telephone Register Publishing Co., 1905), 1:82.]

 

Prepared by Dr. Greg J. Dixon

 

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322 – Nov. 18 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

Fundamentalism v Liberalism

 

1910 – Lyman Stewart, a godly business man, recounted in a letter to Dr. A.C. Dixon regarding the first meeting between the two in the Auditorium of the Los Angeles Baptist Temple in 1909. Dr. Dixon had made a trip to California to speak. In one of his sermons he tore into the liberalism that was contaminating many from the University of Chicago. Stewart was in the audience and requested a meeting with the famed preacher who had pastored, at one time, the Moody Memorial Church in Chicago and the Spurgeon’s Tabernacle in London. Stewart proposed that Dr. Dixon should edit a series of booklets, which Stewart and his brother would finance, to counteract the liberalism of the day. Thus was born The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth. The first issue of twelve paperback volumes were sent free of charge to approximately 175,000 preachers in America. Though it did not stop modernism it was mightily used of God to strengthen the faith of Fundamentalists throughout the land and prepare them for the Fundamentalist-liberal battle in the days ahead. Dr. Dixon was born into the family of Thomas Dixon an outstanding Baptist preacher in Shelby, N.C. on July 6, 1854. At the age of 12 he received Christ and was baptized along with 97 other converts. He was called of God to preach and studied theology under Dr. John A. Broadus at the Baptist Theological Seminary at Greenville, S.C. He pastored several Baptist churches including the Hanson Park Baptist Church in Brooklyn, N.Y. In 1893 he was associated with Evangelist D.L. Moody in a Month long Revival Meeting at the World’s Fair. [Gerald L. Priest, A.C. Dixon, Chicago Liberals, and the Fundamentals. (Detroint Baptist Seminary Journal,) 1:113-14.  (This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: Greenville, S.C. 2000 A.D. pp. 630-32]  Prepared by Dr. Greg J. Dixon

 

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103 – April 13 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

She Saw That He Was a Proper Child

 

Spencer H. Cone, D.D., was, by nature, a man of mark, and would have been a leader in any sphere of life. He was born at Princeton, N J., April 13, 1785. His father and mother were members of the Hopewell Baptist Church. His father was high-spirited and fearless, noted for his gentlemanly and finished manners. At the age of twelve he entered Princeton College as a freshman, but at fourteen he was obliged to leave, when in his sophomore year, in consequence of the mental derangement of his father and the reduction of the family to a penniless condition; they went through a hard struggle for many years. Yet the lad of fourteen took upon him the support of his father and mother, four sisters and a younger brother, and never lost heart or hope.

 

When about fifty years of age he said in a sermon: ‘My mother was baptized when I was a few months old, and soon after her baptism, as I was sleeping on her lap, she was much drawn out in prayer for her babe and supposed she received an answer, with the assurance that the child should live to preach the Gospel of Christ.

 

He spent seven years as a teacher, first in the Bordentown Academy, having charge of the Latin and Greek department, and then he became assistant in the Philadelphia Academy under Dr. Abercrombie. For about forty years he was a leader in Home and Foreign mission work.

 

His salvation came from purchasing The Life of Newton in a book store, read the simple plan of salvation, saw himself as a hell bound sinner and received Christ as his savior. In the prime of his life Cone was said to have been the most popular clergyman in America.

 

 

 

Dr. Dale R. Hart: Adapted from: Thomas Armitage, A History of the Baptists; Traced by their Vital Principles and Practices, from the Time of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to the Year 1886 (New York: Bryan, Taylor, & Co., 1887), pp. 893-918