Providence Reformed Baptist Church

Reformed Baptist Church in Remlap, Alabama

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The Worst Kind of Enemy

One thing I have always found so comforting about the Book of Psalms is how they meet God’s people in every imaginable situation. For this very reason, John Calvin (1509-1564) described the Psalms as “the anatomy of the soul.” Whatever the journey may be in our spiritual pilgrimage in this fallen world, the divine Psalter aids us to see that we have a cloud of witnesses surrounding us who have themselves trekked the same path. They tell us that they feel both our joy and pain, while always pointing us to fix our eyes on the Lord no matter what circumstances we encounter.

One constant thematic thread running throughout the Psalms is the dreaded reality that God’s people will have enemies. For instance, we see this fact in the most beloved psalm in the entire Psalter – Psalm 23. In verse 5, David says of the Lord, “You [Lord] prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” While the great theme of this particular psalm is reassuring the believer of the ever-loving Shepherd the Lord is to him, yet David shows how the Lord shepherds His people by leading them not only in pleasant paths, but even in the precarious paths. That is, those paths which place us in the very presence of those who despise and hate us.

But of all the enemies that the Psalms refer to pertaining to the experience of God’s people, there’s no enemy more foreboding than one who appears to us as a trusted friend, yet only to discover in time that their “friendship” was a ruse. In Psalm 55:12-14, David testifies to facing such a person of this sort. He laments: “For it is not an enemy who taunts me – then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me – then I could hide from him. But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walked in the throng.” Moving a little further in the psalm, David describes this man again, by reporting, “My companion stretched out his hand against his friends; he violated his covenant. His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords” (vv. 20-21).

There is no enemy we could ever face worse than this. The reason why is due to the fact that they will not appear as an open foe but a pretended friend. To our face they will not reveal how their heart has turned against us. But behind our backs they have already changed camps and have set themselves in plotting our ruination. Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) once observed why the villainy of such a person like this is so roguish: “None are such real enemies as false friends. Reproaches from those who have been intimate with us, and trusted by us, cut us to the quick; and they are usually so well acquainted with our peculiar weaknesses that they know how to touch us where we are most sensitive, and to speak so as to do us most damage. The slanders of an avowed antagonist are seldom so mean and dastardly as those of a traitor.”

A traitor. This is what David confronted. A man who he once counted on with his heart. A man whose advice he once treasured. A man who he let into his confidence. A man with whom he even congregated in the Lord’s house. Nothing on the outside gave any indication that this man had “war in his heart.” But war was there. And in time it revealed itself in the most detestable ways. For one who has known us so well can do the worse damage to us, as Spurgeon marks, by capitalizing on our weaknesses and exploiting them to his own advantage.

Have you ever experienced this kind of adversity from this kind of adversary? I have. In fact, when I read Psalm 55, I think David has read my mail. With all the trials I have endured as a pastor, none has been more painful than when I faced the traitor. He was a man I had known for several years and who I considered as one of my closest and dearest friends. We shared so much together in what I sincerely believed was the sweet fellowship of “Christian” brothers. But little did I know that over a period of a year, war began settling in his heart. A war wherein he would garner support through deception and manipulation, speaking twisted things that would discredit me as a trustworthy pastor. The result of his chicanery would end up destroying what was once a good and sound church where the gospel was faithfully preached every week. It was sad, tragic, and appalling. What happened seemed unthinkable. If someone were to have told me years ago the things this man would end up doing, I would have renounced such a prediction as utter nonsense! Impossible! No, not this man. Even so, the one person I never suspected, ended up being my Judas. 

What’s worst of all, however, is not that he betrayed me personally – but he betrayed the Lord. Out of one side of his mouth, he promoted everything biblical; while out of the other side of his mouth, he lied, slandered, fabricated the truth, and sowed the seeds of an awful schism within the congregation. And he did these things so subtly, with such shadiness, that his duplicity could not be detected but only by a very few. To the membership in general, he appeared like a humble, meek, and mild man who loved Jesus and the church. But he was not this. He was a traitor. A traitor to his pastor, to the common good of the church, and to what he professed as a Christian.  

But what should be our response to a traitor? This is where the Psalms always turn our focus from our hurt to the Lord. In Psalm 55, while David laments over the traitor he faced, yet he intermingles his grief with hope in the Lord. He says: “But I call to God, and the Lord will save me. Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice. He redeems my soul in safety from the battle that I wage, for many are arrayed against me. God will give ear and humble them, he who is enthroned from of old” (vv. 16-19). How wonderful and deeply encouraging to know that our Lord and God is there for us in the worst of times. To know that we can pour out our hearts to him at all hours of the day, and He doesn’t push us away. Moreover, what a comfort it is that our God is a God of justice! As David reassures himself that the Lord will “humble” this man who has betrayed him. In fact, in verse 23, David goes as far to declare, “But you, O God, will cast them down into the pit of destruction; men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days.” Such men like this, David is saying, will get their due. What goes around comes around. They will reap what they’ve sown.

But where is David’s trust, confidence, and hope for this? It’s all in the Lord. For he exhorts us to, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved” (v. 22).  The burden of dealing with a treacherous man is a burden our loving, omnipotent Father will shoulder for his children. And for me, personally, I can testify to this in truth! God delivered me from the traitor and He took the traitor to task. And while I am still recovering from the blows I took by that man and those who he led astray, yet this recovery is being nursed by the Lord in a place of peace. Thank God for His goodness and the tender mercies of His providence which do not leave us to those whose only wish is for our ultimate doom. So, while you may at a season face the worst kind of enemy in the traitor – remember this: you will never face such a wicked man alone. The Lord will keep you and make a way for your safety.

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How to Deal with Divisive People

Titus 3:10-11 contains what is perhaps some of the hardest words in the New Testament scriptures concerning what would be a particular case in the matter of corrective church discipline. It has to do with a certain type of person who may rise up in the life of a local church. “A person,” whom the apostle Paul describes as one, “who STIRS UP DIVISION.”

This expression is the translation of the Greek term airetikos. It’s root meaning has to do with the power of choosing, but came to characterize those people who were self-willed in their opinions and assertions which they placed above the truth, refusing even to consider views contrary to their own. In short, they are a law to themselves, having no concern for either truth or unity. It is very significant that from this same Greek word is derived the term “heretic.”

But here in Titus 3:10, Paul is employing this word to describe anyone in the church who is both divisive and disruptive. And what we must especially understand about such a person, is that they are some of the most destructive and dangerous people that any local church may have to face. Why is this? R. Kent Hughes, in his commentary on Titus 3:10, answers this question by helping us to see what is behind the factious or divisive person. He writes:

Those who are divisive…lust for the fray, incite its onset, and delight in being able to conquer another person. For them victory means everything. So in an argument they twist words, call names, threaten, manipulate procedures, and attempt to extend the debate as long as possible and along as many fronts as possible.

In John Calvin’s (1509-1564) exposition of Titus 3:10, he said of the factious person that there is no end to their quarrels and disputes. They will never lack words, and they will gain fresh courage from their shameless bold endeavors to keep on fighting. And Calvin observed, that for faithful pastors, such divisive people in the church are the tools of Satan to entangle them and draw them away from their diligence and calling to shepherd the flock of God. This is why Calvin warned the church of such people by saying:

This person so described includes all ambitious, unruly, contentious people, who, led away by sinful passions, disturb the peace of the Church, and raise disputing. In short, every person who, by his overweening pride, breaks up the unity of the Church…Whenever the [stubbornness] of any person grows to such an extent, that, led by selfish motives, he either separates from the body, or draws away some of the flock, or interrupts the course of sound doctrine, in such a case we must boldly resist.

Needless to say, the factious or divisive person in the church, is not to be taken for granted nor handled with “kid gloves.” They are an opposing menace to the peace and unity of any local church. So, how then, does God inspire His apostle to instruct the church in the way they must deal with divisive people? Consider the rest of Titus 3:10 – “…after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him.”

What does this mean? What’s the application we’re to follow here? It’s really simple and direct. A factious person in the church is to be given ONLY two warnings to repent. They are to be admonished concerning their divisive behavior only “twice.” And if these two efforts in calling them to repent prove ineffective and unfruitful, then the church and its leaders are to “have nothing more to do with him.”

You say, “What could that mean?” It means you have nothing more to do with him. This expression is the translation of a Greek term that means literally “to reject.” Moreover, it is used as a present middle imperative. The rejection is a divine command of God and it is a rejection that is total and ongoing. You don’t keep company with them. You don’t break bread with them. You don’t do business with them. You don’t have little private meetings with them. And if they have already left the church, then you don’t, under any circumstances, seek to reach out to them because you think that somehow you can help them and win them back. No, you can’t! God says, “Have nothing more to do with them” – and God means what He says!

But it might be asked, “Why is God’s command so severe about divisive people?” The answer to this question is found in the next verse. Titus 3:11 says, “…knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.” In these words we are given, by divine inspiration, what is really going on in the heart of a factious person. First, they are “warped.” This term, used in the perfect tense, describes a factious person in a continual state of moral perversion, being twisted and turned out in their thinking, wholly out of touch with the truth. Second, they are “sinful.” This is a present tense verb. It means the divisive man is sinning by deliberately missing the mark of God’s divine standard, through his refusal to receive correction and repent. Lastly, they are “self-condemned.” This term describes the divisive person as someone who knows that in his deliberate refusal to abandon his self-chosen views, he is wrong and stands condemned by his own better judgment.

Is it any wonder then, that God commands us as the church to have nothing more to do with divisive people? A person in this spiritual condition, in this settled pattern of sin, cannot be reached. They do not care about the truth. They do not care about the peace and unity of the church. All they care about is their self-willed agenda. It’s their way or the highway. And they will do whatever it takes to win their agenda and reach their goal, as long as people in the church give them an audience. Thus, God, in His infinite wisdom, orders us as His church to admonish the factious person only twice – and if these two efforts fail to bring them to repentance, then we’re to cut off all our ties with such a person – because they are “warped and sinful; [being] self-condemned.” This therefore is how we must deal with divisive people.

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Two Sittings

“Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes” (Psalm 119:23). The great biblical principle set forth in this verse is that in spite of our most trying circumstances with other people, yet what we must constantly rehearse in our minds is the truth of God’s Word. Consider the circumstances described in this verse. Rulers and authorities in the land were plotting against God’s servant. Not just common people, but people with power to take away land, livelihood, and life. People who could destroy one’s reputation and credibility that could be irrecoverable.

However, even with this dreaded knowledge, what does God’s servant choose to do? “Your servant will meditate on your statutes.” Rather than being overtaken with carnal fear and losing sleep with anxious thoughts about the future he could not see – God’s servant spent his time musing and mulling over God’s divine statutes. He did not care what men were planning and plotting against him; but rather, all his concern was wrapped up in what God wanted him to do. The statutes of the Lord are His rules, laws, and instructions. This is where God’s servant was spending his waking hours in the deepest thought and consideration. “What does God want me to do?” as opposed to “What are men plotting against me?” was the question that dominated his thoughts.

And this is where we must live as well. We must learn to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to what the scoffers and slanderers are saying and plotting against us. They’re in God’s hands and under His control, therefore, they will not take a single step nor utter a single word that God has not first permitted – and that for our good (cf. Romans 8:28). Where the Lord wants our thoughts to be fixed is on His instruction for us. Whatever we do then in the face of those plotting against us must be in response to what God has commanded, and not in reaction to the sin of our enemies. In Charles Spurgeon’s (1834-1892) commentary on Psalm 119:23, consider his encouraging observation:

This was brave indeed. He was God’s servant, and therefore he attended to his Master’s business; he was God’s servant, and therefore he felt sure that his Lord would defend him. He gave no heed to his princely slanderers, he did not even allow his thoughts to be disturbed by a knowledge of their plotting in conclave. Who were these malignants that they should rob God of his servant’s attention, or deprive the Lord’s chosen of a moment’s devout communion. The rabble of princes were not worth five minutes’ thought, if those five minutes had to be taken from meditation. It is very beautiful to see two sittings: the princes sitting to reproach David, and David sitting with his God and his Bible, answering his traducers by never answering them at all. Those who feed upon the Word grow strong and peaceful, and are by God’s grace hidden from the strife of tongues.

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The Antinomianism of the Hyper-Calvinist

Hyper-Calvinism is a killer. I don’t say this to be dramatic, but to simply be realistic about a theology which will drain the life right out of a local church. In my last post I began to unpack the “killing effects” of Hyper-Calvinism as a helpful warning to my Calvinistic brethren to veer as far as they can from this subtle slippery slope.

Specifically, I have sought to underscore five ways in which Hyper-Calvinism will ossify a church, and therefore suppress the life-giving power, compassion, and sanctification of the Gospel. The first three of these killing effects in Hyper-Calvinism was the focus of our last consideration. To begin with, we saw how the prevalence of Hyper-Calvinism will kill Gospel preaching to the lost. While the Hyper-Calvinist rightly embraces God’s sovereignty in salvation, yet he wrongly deduces from this truth (based on human reason rather than divine Scripture) that to call sinners to repent and believe on Christ denies God’s sovereign will to save. Thus, the biblical mandate to preach the Gospel to all nations (Luke 24:47) is either denied, ignored, or reinterpreted to mean something other than evangelizing sinners.

In addition to this, Hyper-Calvinism will also kill prayer. Since God has decreed everything that comes to pass, the Hyper-Calvinist reasons that prayer is useless, since it won’t change what God has willed. Hence, the Hyper-Calvinist really becomes a fatalist because he denies the truth that God ordains prayer as a means to accomplish His divine purpose (e.g., Philippians 1:19-20). Finally, Hyper-Calvinism will kill a grateful spirit in the providence of God. Inasmuch as the Hyper-Calvinist has resolved that “whatever will be, will be” –  then he cannot “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18), because he cannot see how God is personally, wisely, and lovingly working all things for the believer’s good (Romans 8:28). There is therefore no joy and gratitude in God’s providence, but only a grim stoicism to simply endure whatever God has willed.

But these are not the only “killing effects” of Hyper-Calvinism. There are two other deadly ways in which Hyper-Calvinism works against the spiritual life of a church. First, Hyper-Calvinism will kill daily watchfulness. To glory in the truth of God’s sovereignty over all things is right and healthy to cultivate a robust Christian walk (see Proverbs 16:1,9; Romans 8:28-31; 11:33-36). However, for the Hyper-Calvinist, God’s sovereignty is all there is. He eats, drinks, and sleeps divine sovereignty. Thus, when Scripture calls him to be “watchful” (1 Peter 5:8), taking heed to how he must live lest he enters into temptation (Matthew 26:41; cf. 1 Corinthians 10:12) – he skims over such warnings as something to be taken lightly, since God is sovereign. In other words, the sovereignty of God for the Hyper-Calvinist cancels out that biblical mandate which presses personal responsibility on the Christian to be careful as to the way he lives.

In effect, the Hyper-Calvinist becomes an antinomian. He therefore uses the truth of God’s sovereignty to justify his sinful behavior. He reasons to himself: “Well, I would not have committed this sin had it not been God’s sovereign will.” This kind of reasoning however is madness and blasphemy. It seeks to make God the author of sin, while rejecting the biblical truth of man’s moral responsibility for his own actions (James 1:13-15). The result of this kind of thinking in a church will be a membership of hardened, arrogant sinners who, for the most part, need to be saved. For where there is no call to repent of sin and pursue holiness as a way of life, this will only confirm sinners in their pride and unbelief. And this is a most deadly consequence of Hyper-Calvinism.

Secondly, Hyper-Calvinism kills a total conformity to all of Scripture. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 assures us that “all Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” The Hyper-Calvinist though does not believe this sacred testimony about Holy Scripture. The only thing “profitable” for him is God’s sovereignty. But as far as the rest of what the Bible teaches, it doesn’t matter. However, the indifference Hyper-Calvinism shows to the whole of God’s Word is actually a denial of God’s sovereignty. For if all God wanted us to know was His sovereignty, then this would be the only doctrine found in Scripture. But this is not the case. God intends that we take in everything He has revealed (in its proper context!), so that we will be furnished for every good work. Yet, Hyper-Calvinism denies this blessing.

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The Killing Effects of Hyper-Calvinism

It might seem like a waste of time to write about the dangers and errors of Hyper-Calvinism. Certainly the prevailing view among most churches is Arminianism or some abbreviated form of it. However, since the strong resurgence of historic Calvinism in the early 1980s (and especially its growing influence among a younger generation of Christians in the last ten years), it would be very prudent to understand its anomaly known as Hyper-Calvinism.

In addition to this, there’s also the confusion in many Christian circles that sees no difference between historic Calvinism and Hyper-Calvinism. In fact, depending on who you’re talking with, the moment you express your belief in the biblical teaching of election or predestination, you’re instantly placed in the camp of the Hyper-Calvinist. And the way this is identified is when the person will say to you, “Well, then, you must not believe in evangelism and missions!” To which, you’re reply has to be an explanation of what the Bible teaches regarding both God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility when it comes to salvation and missions. But nevertheless, the reason for this misunderstanding is either the ignorance or willful refusal to see that true Calvinism is not Hyper-Calvinism.

So to understand and set forth warnings against Hyper-Calvinism is not a waste of time. As I said in my last post, “Ideas have consequences.” Therefore we would do well to note the consequences of embracing the ideas behind Hyper-Calvinism.

Some years ago I was given a small booklet published by Chapel Library entitled, “The Killing Effects of Hyper-Calvinism.” The author of the booklet is a Calvinist, but he has a great burden to warn his Calvinistic brethren to beware the dangers of Hyper-Calvinism. In the first half of the booklet he lays down five things which Hyper-Calvinism kills. In this post I will cover the first three with my own commentary, and then proceed in my next post to handle the last two.

In the first place, Hyper-Calvinism will kill Gospel preaching to the lost. This is always the first biblical mandate and ministry to go in a local church that follows Hyper-Calvinism. We have to remember, that for the Hyper-Calvinist, all they can see in Scripture is God’s sovereignty to the exclusion of man’s responsibility. Therefore to call on all sinners to believe on Christ and repent of their sins is, for the Hyper-Calvinist, an outright denial of God’s sovereignty in salvation. Hence, they scorn Gospel preaching! In their erroneous thinking, they have cut out the imperative and necessity for sinners to hear the Gospel if they would be saved (cf. Rom. 10:13-17). Since God has already chosen who will be saved (Rom. 9:6-24; Eph. 1:4; 2 Thess. 2:13), then God’s elect, the Hyper-Calvinist reasons, do not need to hear the call of the Gospel unto salvation. But to believe this, not only misrepresents the doctrine of election, it denies the fact that God has ordained Gospel preaching as the divine means to bring His elect to saving faith (cf. 1 Cor. 1:18-2:5).

In the second place, Hyper-Calvinism kills prayer. As the Hyper-Calvinist muses on God’s sovereign decree, he concludes: “Well, if I pray, it won’t change things; if I don’t pray it won’t change things.” What a terrible error! First of all, God calls us to pray (1 Thess. 5:18). Second of all, like preaching, prayer is ordained by God as an instrument through which He accomplishes His purposes (Phil. 1:9-20). But the Hyper-Calvinist wants to kill such activity because he thinks it to be a sign of unbelief in God’s eternal decree. What foolish and arrogant thinking this is! How can it be useless to pray if God has commanded His people to pray? To reason otherwise is in itself unbelief in what God has in fact ordained.

In third place, Hyper-Calvinism kills a grateful spirit in the providence of God. The Hyper-Calvinist is essentially a fatalist. His view of God’s sovereignty takes no account of how God is personally, wisely, and lovingly working all things together for the believer’s good (Rom. 8:28). Thus, with all events in life, the Hyper-Calvinist concludes: “Well, what is to be will be, so what happened was just what was planned.” Where is the thankful heart in this surmising of what God is doing in one’s life? Instead, it is a grim and sour stoicism which is determined to endure, but with no joy and gratitude in how God is fulfilling His purpose. If we truly understand God’s providence over our lives, then we will be able to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thess. 5:18).