Two Testimonies You Need to Hear Today, Church

“To our dear brothers in the church of Geneva: Grace and peace from our good God and Father through Jesus Christ our Savior be multiplied to you Amen!

Very dear brothers in our Lord Jesus Christ, since you have been informed of our captivity and of the fury which drives our enemies to persecute and afflict us, we felt it would be good to let you know of the liberty of our spirit and of the wonderful assistance and consolation which our good Father and Savior gives us in these dark prison cells, so that you may participate not only in our affliction of which you have heard but also in our consolation, as members of the same body who all participate in common both in the good and in the evil which comes to pass. For this reason we want you to know that although our body is confined here between four walls, yet our spirit has never been so free and so comforted, and has never previously contemplated so fully and so vividly as now the great heavenly riches and treasures and the truth of the promises which God has made to His children; so much so that we seem not only to believe and hope in them but even to see them with our eyes and touch them with our hands, so great and remarkable is the assistance from God in our bonds and imprisonment. So far, indeed, are we from wishing to regard our affliction as a curse from God, as the world and the flesh wish to regard it, that we regard it rather as the greatest blessing that has ever come upon us, for in it we are made true children of God, brothers and companions of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and are conformed to His image; and by it the possession of our eternal inheritance is confirmed to us. Further, we are bold to say and affirm that we shall derive more profit in this school for our salvation than has ever been the case in any place where we have studied, and we testify that this is the true school of the children of God...we therefore praise God with all our heart and give Him undying thanks that He has been pleased to give us by His grace not only the theory of His Word but also the practice of it, and that He has granted us this honor – which is no small thing for vessels so poor and fragile and mere worms creeping on the earth – by bringing us out before men to be His witnesses and giving us constancy to confess His name and maintain the truth of His holy Word before those who are unwilling to hear it, indeed, who persecute it with all their force...we pray you most affectionately to thank our good God with us for granting to us so great a blessing, so that we may return thanks to Him, beseeching Him that, as He has commenced this work in us, so He will complete it, to the end that all glory may be given to Him, and that, whether we live or die, all may be to His honor and glory, to the edification of His poor Church, and to the advancement of our salvation. Amen.”

Sent by five young men imprisoned in Lyon (July 1552), from Philip E. Hughes’ The Register of the Company of Pastors of Geneva in the Time of Calvin (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 1966), pgs. 191-192.

They would be burned at the stake.

“Having made profession of the glorious gospel of Christ a long time, and preached the same about five years, I was apprehended at a meeting of good people in the country...at the sessions after I was indicted for an upholder and maintainer of unlawful assemblies and conventicles, and for not conforming to the national worship of the church of England; and after some conference there with the justices, they taking my plain dealing with them for a confession, as they termed it, of the indictment, did sentence me to a perpetual banishment, because I refused to conform. So being again delivered up to the jailer’s hands, I was had home to prison, and there have lain now complete twelve years, waiting to see what God would suffer these men to do with me. In which condition I have continued with much content, through grace, but have met with many turnings and goings upon my heart, both from the Lord, Satan, and my own corruptions; by all which (glory be to Jesus Christ) I have also received among many things, much conviction, instruction, and understanding, of which at large I shall not here discourse; only give you a hint or two, a word that may stir up the godly to bless God, and to pray for me; and also to take encouragement, should the case be their own – not to fear what man can do to them. I never had in all my life so great an inlet into the word of God as now...”

Written by John Bunyan, in his Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666).

Don't Know What You've Got Till It's Gone

After lifting up the gift of repentance with the Church in the Philippines, on the way home over the Pacific I thought about the warnings in Scripture that the gift can be withdrawn. May we be warned into diligence!

Choosing the world over the promise of God: "But Jacob replied, 'First sell me your birthright.' 'Look,' said Esau, 'I'm about to die! What use is the birthright to me?' But Jacob said, 'Swear an oath to me now.' So Esau swore an oath to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew; Esau ate and drank, then got up and went out. So Esau despised his birthright" (Genesis 25:31-34, N.E.T.).

Consequence: "When Esau heard his father's words, he wailed loudly and bitterly. He said to his father, 'Bless me too, my father!'...Esau said to his father, 'Do you have only that one blessing, my father? Bless me too!' Then Esau wept loudly" (Genesis 27:34,38).

Application: "And see to it that no one becomes an immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that later when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no opportunity for repentance, although he sought the blessing with tears" (Hebrews 12:16,17).

John Bunyan’s illustration from “Pilgrim’s Progress,” Book 1, Stage 2:

“Now,” said Christian, “let me go hence.” “Nay, stay,” said the Interpreter, “Till I have showed thee a little more, and after that thou shalt go on thy way.” So he took him by the hand again, and led him into a very dark room, where there sat a man in an iron cage. Now the man, to look on, seemed very sad; he sat with his eyes looking down to the ground, his hands folded together, and he sighed as if he would break his heart. Then said Christian, “What means this?” At which the Interpreter bid him talk with the man.

Then said Christian to the man, “What art thou?” The man answered, “I am what I was not once.”

“What wast thou once?”

The man said, “I was once a fair and flourishing professor [Luke 8:13], both in mine own eyes, and also in the eyes of others: I once was, as I thought, fair for the celestial city, and had then even joy at the thoughts that I should get thither.”

“Well, but what art thou now?”

“I am now a man of despair, and am shut up in it, as in this iron cage. I cannot get out; Oh now I cannot!”

“But how camest thou into this condition?”

“I left off to watch and be sober: I laid the reins upon the neck of my lusts; I sinned against the light of the word, and the goodness of God; I have grieved the Spirit, and He is gone; I tempted the devil, and he is come to me; I have provoked God to anger, and He has left me: I have so hardened my heart, that I cannot repent.”

Then said Christian to the Interpreter, “But is there no hope for such a man as this?” “Ask him,” said the Interpreter.

Then said Christian, “Is there no hope, but you must be kept in the iron cage of despair?”

“No, none at all.”

“Why, the Son of the Blessed is very pitiful.”

“I have crucified Him to myself afresh [Hebrews 6:6]; I have despised His person [Luke 19:14]; I have despised His righteousness; I have counted His blood an unholy thing; I have done despite to the Spirit of grace [Hebrews 10:29]: therefore I have shut myself out of all the promises and there now remains to me nothing but threatenings, dreadful threatenings, faithful threatenings of certain judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour me as an adversary.”

“For what did you bring yourself into this condition?”

“For the lusts, pleasures, and profits of this world; in the enjoyment of which I did then promise myself much delight: but now every one of those things also bite me, and gnaw me like a burning worm.”

“But canst thou not now repent and turn?”

“God hath denied me repentance [desert rat note: remember that repentance is granted by God, Acts 3:26; 5:31; 11:18; 2 Corinthians 7:10; 2 Timothy 2:25,26]. His Word gives me no encouragement to believe; yea, Himself hath shut me up in this iron cage: nor can all the men in the world let me out. Oh eternity! Eternity! How shall I grapple with the misery that I must meet with in eternity?”

Then said the Interpreter to Christian, “Let this man’s misery be remembered by thee, and be an everlasting caution to thee.” “Well,” said Christian, “this is fearful! God help me to watch and to be sober, and to pray that I may shun the cause of this man’s misery.”

The Pastoral Heart of Interpreter

“...my Master, you must know, is one of very tender bowels, especially to them that are afraid; wherefore he carried it so towards him as might tend most to his encouragement.”

- Great-heart, speaking of Interpreter, in “Pilgrim’s Progress” (Book 2, Stage 6) by John Bunyan (1628-1688)

17^th century language aside, this is a great reminder to pastor-teachers. May we be more like the Interpreter.

“But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us...you are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers; just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory” (1 Thessalonians 2:7,8,10-12).