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.