Ordination Sunday

It is 2:30pm on March 25th after the installation and ordination service at GRPC. I am a little more than wiped. I just wanted to take a few moments and just thank the congregation of GRPC for participating in the service, for calling me, and for supporting me and my family through all of this. What an outpouring of worship we had this morning as the Lord Jesus Christ was lifted high.

I want to thank all of the men and women who planned the service and refreshments and countless details. Of course I will be sure to thank you in person, but while things are still fresh in my mind I wanted to share with you my gratitude.

God has truly been faithful throughout this entire journey. He has continued to refine me in the fire as all of my imperfections and sin are constantly at war with the Spirit. He has changed me in many ways and continues to work out His will in my life. We are in this together. We are in the battle together and I couldn't be any more joyful than to be fighting the good fight, side by side with my brothers and sisters of GRPC.

Thanks again for encouraging me on and spurring my family on toward love and good deeds. I pray we will do it all the more as we see the great Day of the Lord approaching.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Dan Betters

How Does It Feel?

Friday Night, the ice storm came in and shut down Delaware. I was lying down on my couch with my PDA in hand as I was going through each section of power point slides--theology, English Bible, Church History, PCA History, the Sacraments, back to Presbyterian History--ugh, I am tired of these slides...so I stopped in the middle of Presbyterian History and came to the realization that if I passed the ordination exam the following day, I would never have to see those slides again. I was a bit sad in that these power point slides on my PDA have been a part of my life for almost 3 years now! Should I keep studying? Nah, they probably wouldn't ask too many Presbyterian History questions. It was time to relax and go to bed.

Saturday didn't start off so great. 2 inches of solid ice on my wife's car made me think that the Presbytery meeting for my ordination might be cancelled or at least postponed indefinitely. It was freezing cold and I was getting frustrated as my nerves were rattled.

However, we were able to make it out of the treacherous neighborhood and make it to the church with time to spare. Of course, attendance was light. This was to be expected at a specially called meeting and especially with an ice storm. But you know what was really awesome? Many of the presbyters had called me as soon as they heard about the special called meeting to let me know why they couldn't be there and that they were praying for me. That was a real encouragement.

The meeting went as scheduled once we had more than a quorum requirement. The Bible and Theology exams zipped by. The sacrament questions were interesting as I discussed with the brothers what I might do in certain situations. The final oral exam was the history exam and guess what question came up? That's right. Presbyterian European History. My weakest point and the exact area I stopped studying from the night before. After stumbling and mumbling through a few points I finally conceded and said, "This isn't my best area of history." The brothers were gracious enough to move on in the exam and I did a fine job through the rest of history.

All the exams were sustained and I was asked to leave the room for the vote. The rest is history. What an incredible experience. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I started out on this journey knowing nothing and now I begin a new journey knowing I don't know enough. The study of God, theology, is humbling. It is never finished. It is incomprehensible. We can't qualify everything even though we try. We find out how insignificant our knowledge is in the face of the knowledge of God.

Do I feel good? You betcha! I was driving into work today and another pastor brother's family pulled up beside us at a red light. She rolled down her window and was so happy and congratulating that I had passed the exams. You see, she went through this with her family years ago. A man couldn't possibly serve without his completer. My wife is my completer. I never could have done this without her total support. There was a particular night where I was having a tough time studying and had to devote more time to studying than the family. I told her how sorry I was and she just kissed me and said, "I will be here waiting for you." My wife truly is my completer.

Thank you brothers and sisters for your prayers through all of this. You have been encouraging, sharpening and a huge support as you always have throughout my entire life. I am looking forward to serving the Lord with you in this role as a pastor. To God be all the glory forever and ever, Amen!

Rescued by Sovereignty

Pastor Dan's sermon from 3/18/2007

Scripture Reference: Romans 8:28-30

Click here to listen.

Rescued by Sovereignty

I am at a crossroads today. As many of you know, I am preaching through some doctrinal points concerning the nature of salvation. Where does it come from? What is our role in salvation? What is God’s role? Are we truly chosen? Does God really pass over some and elect others? A lot of tough questions. I originally thought I could preach a five week series on TULIP (the five points of Calvinism) and realized that this had to be much more than a sermon series. It needs to be a spiritual journey for me. I hope to take the congregation along with me. I hope God uses the blessings in my life through His Word to edify His people on His Day.

Oh yes, the crossroads. I am currently teaching on the sorry estate of mankind. If we don’t understand depravity and our total inability to choose God, we can never understand the fullness of salvation. We can be saved even if we ignore this doctrine, but we miss the blessing. A real blessing. We miss the depth to which Jesus went for his people. We actually cheapen the Cross if we miss the point of depravity. But I am at a crossroads. I want to teach on election and the Calvinist in me can’t wait to search the Scriptures on this great doctrine. I know it must be handled with special care and prudence but I also know it is full of God’s blessing. If I am completely depraved, how did I come to faith? God, in his infinite wisdom, chose me, a simple insignificant man. In a way, God’s redemptive purpose is really all about me in that it is all about His glory!

So I turned to Romans 8. A passage on the power of life in the Spirit. We are joint heirs in Christ and will certainly be glorified when our time has come. But right in the middle of Romans 8 is this often quoted passage in verses 8:28-30. Read it before Sunday. Pray over it and praise the Lord for these words. This is the gateway, as it were, from the doctrine of depravity to God’s sovereign will and election. You see, because God is sovereign, we have been rescued. In God’s eternal decree he predestined me to be adopted as his son through Christ Jesus in accordance with his pleasure and will.

What do I see in Romans 8:28-30 that has to do with God’s sovereignty? First off, God CAUSES all things to work together. God is the cause of all things. He brings all events to pass. Matthew 10:29 says that he even knows when a dirty bird falls from a tree. Acts 2:23 says that God purposed for the greatest event in world history to take place in the crucifixion of his son. He knew who, what, when, where and why they would do it. God was in control! He caused it.

I also notice that God has CALLED a certain people and that the apostles use of the word “those” indicates that this is a selected group of people according to God’s good purposes. I also notice that it is God who calls his people to their purpose (Phil. 2:12-13). God wills in us to act according to his good purposes. These few verses proclaim the sovereignty of God. God is control of all things. He understands us because he made us. Isn’t it awesome to know that God is in control of all of the details?

The apostle continues with a statement that so crushes any kind of Pelagian claim that we ought to be embarrassed to even suggest that there is something in us that chooses God without His grace and Spirit first enlightening us. Paul says through the Holy Spirit that those God foreknew, he also predestined. Predestination is simply God’s purpose for his moral creatures. Predestination not only secures the certainty of God’s purpose but also every event in the process of reaching that purpose. Check out King Ahab’s timely demise in I Kings 22. The narrative account says that a stray arrow killed Ahab. By Chance? FAT CHANCE! Later on in Scripture we find out that it was GOD who killed Ahab and not a “stray arrow”. Even “chance events” are not chance or fate at all. Rather, it is God who works to bring about his predestined purposes in his moral creatures.

And finally in Romans 8:30 we see a statement of God’s order of salvation. Before all time began, he predestined us to be conformed to the image of his son (Eph. 1:4-5, II Tim. 1:9 etc). Those He predestined He also called in temporal history, that is in real time (Matt. 16:17, Titus 3:4-5, John 3:3) by the work of his free grace through the operation of His Holy Spirit. Those who were called where declared righteous (justified) and will certainly be glorified (Romans 8:18). What a picture of God’s work in salvation. No where do you find a person making the initial move toward God. It is always God who first calls and man responds. God is sovereign even in our salvation.

Of course these are just a few thoughts that I plan to develop over the next couple of sermons. Read Romans 8 this week. Pray over it. Study it. Let God’s Word reign in your life—it is a shield for all who take refuge in it.

Wake Up Dead Man!

What brings us to the Cross? If we are so depraved, how can some actually be wrought to salvation? The heart of man is desperately sick, yes even fatally so. We are a desperate people without hope outside of the mercy of God. Romans 3:10 says that there is no one righteous—not even one! Yet many of us attempt to argue that there is something good in us that enables us to embrace Jesus Christ as He is offered to us in the Gospel. Our claims cheapen the unmerited love that is God’s grace.

Slap a dead body on the face, call the body by name, and tell it to wake up and see what happens. Of course we wouldn’t expect anything to happen lest a miracle were to be performed. And yet, we who are dead in our transgressions assume something even more ludicrous! Spiritually speaking, we believe that the dead body can wake itself up. If we are so depraved and sinful, dead in our transgression, unable to approach the Throne of Grace, then it is well to say that some kind of miracle must come about to wake us up. This is the miracle of regeneration. An awakening if you will. This regeneration comes by the free grace of God through the work of His Holy Spirit as He works in us, renews our minds and effectually enable us to embrace Jesus Christ as He is offered to us in the Gospel.

But we cannot speak of total inability to choose God and the miraculous work of regeneration without also speaking of God’s great sovereignty, predestination and election. These terms are completely misunderstood by many Christians today. The word election even causes some self-proclaimed “Calvinists” to shudder in that they become defensive and over-protective (as if the Almighty Sovereign God needed protection or could be qualified and explained). However, election is all part of God’s redemptive plan. If we ignore election, we ignore the role of God the Father in the plan of Redemption.

Before we talk about what election is, let’s talk about what it is not. Election is not salvation in and of itself. It is only part of salvation and is crucial to salvation for without election there is no salvation. But election does not save a person. Election is the special work of God’s providence and sovereignty that assures the certainty of salvation yet it is not salvation in and of itself.

There is sufficient Biblical evidence that the three Persons of the Triune Godhead made a covenant with each other from all eternity (Zech. 6:13, Jn. 5, 6, II Tim. 1:9, Ps. 2, Heb. 10:22-25). In this covenant of Redemption as it has come to be known, the Father agreed to elect, the Son agreed to provide redemption, and the Holy Spirit agreed to apply that redemption to the elect of the Father. As you can see, election is only part of the plan. The entire Godhead is involved with the redemptive work.

We cannot fully understand election without also understanding the sovereignty of God, His eternal decree and his acts of providence. God’s decree is His eternal purpose, according to His own council by which He has forordained all that has and will come to pass. He accomplishes his decree by His work of creation (which is already complete) and his acts of providence. God’s acts of providence are His most holy, wise, powerful, preserving and governing acts over all His creatures and all their actions. In other words, to quote a 1990’s contemporary Christian artist, “God is in control.”

God governs us, preserves us, curbs the destructive power of sin, causes us to act according to his purpose and yes, He has elected us. His works of providence are those acts that bring us to our purpose and ultimately to salvation through Jesus Christ. And what is our purpose? Our purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. But none of this happens without God’s decree.

An interesting point on God’s decree. We often think of God having many decrees. But God has one eternal purpose which is His decree. His decree is founded in wisdom (Eph. 3:9-11), it is eternal (II Tim. 1:9), it comprehends all events (Matt. 10:29), it is permissive of evil (Acts 2:23), and yet it is one eternal decree. In this decree God has elected that some should be saved and still other should be passed over (Rom. 9:18-20).

We think this is unfair. Why would God do something like this? Could not the all powerful God save everyone? Why save anyone at all? Because in God’s eternal decree he has foreordained some men and angels unto death and others unto everlasting life. God, as our Creator, owes us nothing and we owe Him everything. What is man that God is even mindful of him? Why not ask a different question? Why would God choose me?

There is certainly no one who is righteous so God’s election is a free act of God’s own will and rooted in His love and mercy. How dare we proclaim that we had a part in our salvation that was not first born of grace!

Of course this is not all there is to say about the sovereignty of God. Over the next few weeks I plan to post some of my thoughts and questions as I work through the Scriptures and the theology of election and predestination. I am not claiming that I can answer every question and problem that comes up. But I do believe we are to search the Scriptures to grow in our faith and understanding. Why preach on predestination and election? Peter tells us to be diligent in making our calling and election sure. These doctrines are full of God’s blessing, they glorify God when they are preached, and the bless those who hear it in faith. I pray that these next few weeks will draw us closer to the Lord as we see the Scriptures reveal how much we really do rely on God’s grace for our salvation.

“For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and this not of yourselves it is the gift of God…”

If So Evil, Why So Good?

Pastor Dan's sermon from 3/11/2007

Scripture Reference: Jeremiah 17:9-10

Click here to listen.

It really is hard to preach on some doctrines and teachings from Scripture. Not because these teachings are hard to prove but because I prove them every day in my own life. It is hard to get up and preach on total depravity when you know how depraved your own mind is. I am a great sinner but I have an extraordinary redeemer!

It is my hope that you were blessed this past Lord's Day. I hope that God used the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart to edify and strengthen you in the faith. I hope that the stories were able to open a window to the heart of the Gospel--we are sinners standing in grace.

Next week I will finish up a few points concerning Total Inability as we begin to take a look at the role of God's choosing in salvation. But before we can even touch on election we have to have a good understanding of God's sovereignty and His works of providence.

So many Christians ignore the doctrine of election out of ignorance rather than disagreement. When we understand the doctrine of election in the context of grace it becomes a blessing rather than a theological sticking point.

If you would like to prepare a bit for this week read some of the following Scriptures:
Ephesians 1:4-5, Romans 9-11, Matthew 1:21, John 10:11, John 6:37-44, Matthew 16:17. Revelation 4:11, Hebrews 1:1-3.

These are just a few verses that will help us to better understand the nature of election and what role it plays in God's sovereign will and works of providence. I can't wait to be with you all this Lord's Day. Until then, Grace and Peace be with you all.

Am I As Sinful As Possible part 2

Yesterday, I began a post on Jeremiah 17 as I share some of my thoughts on the chapter. By no means are these comments exhaustive nor are they infallible. These are just thoughts as I read through the passage for the first several go arounds. Of course these areas will be much more developed as we gather together on the Lord's Day as the Word is preached and the Holy Spirit moves. The whole idea is to give what readers I have for this blog a little bit of insight into the main passage of the day. Enjoy part 2....

Verses 3-4 tell us what would eventually happen to Judah. Exile. Babylon would come in and destroy the temple, carry off of the treasures of Jerusalem and ultimately enslave the people of God. They had placed their trust in man. They had placed their trust in themselves. This sounds strangely like the self-esteem prophets of the modern day. Just turn on Oprah Winfrey and her sidekick Dr. Phil to see a picture of ancient Judah. “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength!” But Jeremiah is not finished. When we turn to ourselves and put our trust in our sinful flesh our heart naturally turns away from the Lord. It is the exact opposite action of repentance! Repentance is turning from our flesh toward the Lord. When we are told to look in ourselves all we should find is what Paul found—total depravity and inability.

Paul says in Romans 7:16, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is in my sinful flesh, for I have the desire to do what is good but I cannot carry it out.” Judah was looking toward themselves and trusting in the words of men’s wisdom rather than in the laws of God. As a result they had fallen away from the Lord into a pit of despair.

Jeremiah goes on to make the same comparison between the righteous and the wicked that the Psalmist makes in the first Psalm of the Psalter. Whereas the wicked man is dried up like chaff, like a bush in a desert wilderness, the righteous man is like a tree planted by a flowing stream. In verse 8 Jeremiah uses the Hebrew word and tense that indicate that the tree is planted not by the tree’s power but by some other power. A tree doesn’t plant itself it must be planted in order to grow. Judah had tried to plant itself in the world and became of the world when God had called them to be holy and set apart from the world. In the same way, God has called the Christian to be holy and set apart—a priestly people who are called out of darkness! But it is God who calls and plants.

You see, man is not able to answer that call unless God, in his wondrous grace, moves that person and enables him to answer the call of God’s Word. Man is totally depraved in all their body and soul. This is not to say that every person is as sinful as possible. No, rather it is the Holy Spirit that invades a person’s life and enlightens their minds and renews their will and convinces them of the message of the Cross. It is the Holy Spirit that implants new life into the person and firmly plants them by the stream of water that enables them to yield fruit.

Jeremiah proves this point of total inability in verse 9 when he says that a man’s heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. I like the way the New American Standard translates the Hebrew when it says that a man’s heart is desperately sick. It is a pretty desperate situation that the Prophet leaves man in. We are sick, beyond cure, and in need of help. WHO CAN SAVE US?

The prophet answers in verse 10. The Lord searches our heart and rewards a man according to his conduct. The Lord examines the mind. Well, if you are anything like me…this is a scary thought. I know what my mind is full of. I know what my deeds deserve.

But the message of the Gospel doesn’t stop with the depravity of man. God gave us his Son in our desperate hour. Jesus Christ makes intercession for those who have trusted him as their Savior and Lord. When God examines our heart he sees the heart of his Son. When God searches our thoughts He sees righteousness of Jesus Christ which has been imputed to us and received by faith alone. Of course this is such crude language to speaking of the God of the universe. But God has condescended to us so that we might know him.

Am I As Sinful As Possible?

I have finished a two part series on the nature of the Atonement. My original plan was to examine the doctrine of limited atonement so that we could see how special God's plan really is for each of his children. However, it is hard to preach on Limited Atonement without first addressing some of the other points of the Reformed doctrine of Salvation and what the roles of God and man are in God's saving plan.

So to that end, I am continuing the series on the Atonement by first examining our total inability to embrace the promises of God without His regenerating work in our hearts. We will take a look at Jeremiah 17:9-10 this week.

Every week as I prepare for my sermon, I write my own commentary, usually very brief, on the passage I am preaching from. This week, I am taking Jeremiah 17:1-10 into account as I place the sermon's text in it's context. I am posting some of those notes here for your own reading if you would like to see what is going through my mind as I read this great passage of Scripture. Here is part 1...

Jeremiah was a prophet in the 7th to 6th century who had been given divine revelation from God concerning the sins of Judah. Judah had fallen into the same sins of their northern brothers who had been exiled, never to be heard from again, in the late 8th century. Why hadn’t Judah learned a lesson? Why were they still turning to false gods? Why wouldn’t they rely on God’s promises and live their lives according to faith in the Covenant of God?

Jeremiah is known as “the weeping prophet”. He cared greatly for Jerusalem. It was heart breaking to watch God’s people once again fall into treacherous sin to their own peril. Once, while prophesying, Jeremiah claimed that the temple of Jerusalem was vulnerable to destruction (Jer. 7:14) because his fellow countrymen had made the Lord’s house a “den of robbers” (Jer. 711). Jeremiah’s faithfulness almost cost him his life during this famous temple sermon just as Jesus Christ would eventually lose his life on the charge of making similar claims.

Eventually, in 586 B.C. while Jeremiah was still prophesying, Judah would feel the weight of God’s wrath upon their depravity and as a result were exiled by Babylon. No one would return to rebuild the temple until Ezra would lead God’s people back into Jerusalem in 538 B.C. Now Jeremiah’s task was different. Jeremiah is unique among the prophets in that his time of ministry was not only before the exile, but during as well. Jeremiah’s message went from one of warning to a promise of a New Covenant (Jer. 31-32) that would be unbreakable with God’s people.

But one of the messages throughout Jeremiah is the depravity of man. Jeremiah 17 gives a picture of the sin of Judah. Furthermore, it is a mirror in which mankind can see their own sin. This message of depravity was not unique to Judah. It is a message for all humankind for all time. Many Reformed Theologians have wrapped much of their theology around Jeremiah 17.

Look first at verse 1. The sin of Judah is engraved! The prophet goes to great lengths to demonstrate the depth to which Israel’s depravity falls. Their sin has not only invaded their personal lives, but their worship as well. The horns of an altar may not mean much to us today but if meant everything to the Jew in the 6th century who worshipped at the Temple.

What is interesting about verse 1 is the progression which Jeremiah uses. The sin has been written down, even cut into, the tablet of their hearts. It is a permanent fixture in their lives. Yet their sin did not stop in their practical every day life. No, their sin has pervaded their religious worship. Where they once worshipped Yahweh, they now worshipped false gods.

When the Christian sins and does not confess this sin before the Lord the depravity invades every part of their life. Judah would not repent of their sin. What does it mean to “repent”? When the Bible speaks of repentance it means to “turn about” or to have a “change in the mind”. Repentance is threefold. It is an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, an understanding and sorrow of wickedness, and a turning toward new obedience.

Many apologize but never repent. Our knowledge, emotions and will are involved in repentance. In repentance we believe God’s promises of forgiveness and salvation, we believe it with all of heart and we act with our will to change towards God’s good purposes. Judah would not repent. They would not change and so their very heart of worship had been lost.

Not only had their sin infected their own worship but their children and the generations to follow had forsaken the Lord. All of Scripture speaks of the promises of God belonging not just to parents, but their children, and even their children after them (Deut. 6 etc). The sin of the parents had affected the following generations. Not only had Judah rejected Yahweh, but they had actively sought other gods and taught these gods to their children.

Don’t be too quick to judge! What has this current generation of “older” Christians taught the younger? Have we passed on the faith? Have we held firmly to the trustworthy message as it had been taught to us? Do our children know the promises of God and grace in Christ Jesus? In this day and age, when Christians think of their children, many think of their education, their marriage, the possibility of grandchildren, or success or happiness. Most parents only want their children to be happy even if it costs them all they have in Christ. Many Christians are perfectly content with tossing sound doctrine out the window if the answer of Jesus Christ doesn’t make our children happy. Judah had mistreated the doctrines of God and were about to face exile.

A Great Day of Reckoning - Part II

Pastor Dan's sermon from 3/04/2007

Scripture Reference: Leviticus 16:1-22

Click here to listen.

God is My Best Friend

Ask someone you know, "What is God like?" and chances are they will answer that God is loving. Good answer. God is love (I John 4). But God is not ONLY love. God is also vengeful and just (Psalm 5:5). God has attributes or what John Calvin liked to call virtues (because attributes seem to assign something to God and we cannot assign anything to God). However, God is not more of one attribute than another. In other words, we can say that God is love and just. He is fully love and fully just. He is not mostly love or mostly just. He is perfectly just and perfectly love. God and His attributes are perfectly one. Pretty heady, I know. And to be honest, I don't fully understand it.

Throughout history, there have been many attempts to define God. Usually, these definitions end up in error because some theologian decides to present God is being more of one attribute than the other. This might sound like some kind of hair-splitting theological course, but the problem is that when the Church accepts these doctrines without question or examination heresy usually follows!

For instance, the 19th century rationalists and modern liberal theologians focus on the immanence of God. In other words, "God is my best best friend." However, many ignore the wrath of God. I heard a prominent pastor on an radio broadcast say recently in response to a question on preaching sin, "No. No. You can't say that word. You are going to hurt too many people." The funny thing is that when a preacher does proclaim the sinfulness of mankind it AMPLIFIES the LOVE OF GOD!

Paul amplified the holiness and love of God in Romans 5 when he wrote, "God demonstrates His own love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." We can't ignore the just and holy nature of God. We miss the point of the cross if we do! If God is our best friend, than who needs Jesus Christ?

You see, God is made favorable to us because God presented Jesus Christ as a "sacrifice of atonement". God is only our friend because his justice has been satisfied through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Is there any greater love than this? Is there any greater exercise of justice than this great act of God?

So, yes, God is love. He loved you so much that he gave his one and only son that you might be reconciled with his holiness. Do we have a true understanding of holiness? We can talk more about that later.

If you are planning on being at the 9:15am service this week. Read through Leviticus 16:1-22 and Romans 5:7-11 as well as Romans 3:23-28. Ask God to speak to you about his holiness through His Living Word.