Come Down, Lord!

  A few listeners have requested a pdf of the following sermon, which was preached in November of 2020. I have attempted here to transcribe the sermon as closely as possible with only very minor edits. Quotes from the Bible are taken from the KJV unless otherwise indicated. That morning, following the service, I found the police waiting for me in the lobby. Though I was not fined on that occasion, the timing of the visit struck us all. This morning I want to face the issue head on; but before I do, I want to make a few preliminary comments. So, five preliminary comments. 1. Number one, there are good men — men that I love and admire — who will not agree with my conclusions. On this I am convinced that they are wrong, but my love for them is not diminished in the least. My hope and prayer is that you will all play the part of Bereans, that you will search the Scriptures to see if these things are so. It is sometimes tempting to play favourites, or to go along with the crowd, to be ...

  The Frankfurt declaration is an outstanding statement regarding Christian and civil liberties.  A number of statements have been put together in the last decade but possibly none are as important as this one . I was glad to be among the initial signers, and I would encourage you to sign it too. You may read it here . The declaration begins, "In the course of human events, it sometimes becomes necessary for people of good faith to speak out against the abuse of power. This should be done only after serious and prayerful deliberation, and even then, in an attitude of humility and with respect for the authorities that have been established by God. Such protest should be expressed in the hope that civil authorities who are found to be eroding rights and liberties may yet fulfill their responsibility as their rightful guardians. A few concerned pastors from different continents, moved by an emergent totalitarianism of the State over all realms of society, and particularly the C...

  In a recent series of Facebook posts Gerhard Visscher (former professor at the Canadian Reformed seminary in Hamilton) offered a critique of James Coates’ recent sermon on Romans 13.  Visscher worries that Coates’ sermon is “causing confusion” in their church community.  I assume he means the Canadian Reformed churches.  He writes, “I am not posting the sermon itself here because I do not wish to promote its content, which I find wanting… please be careful how you share it.”   Those are strong words.  Not “be a Berean and search the Scriptures to see if these things are so” not “here’s how the passage should be understood” but “be careful how you share it” and don’t listen to it yourself.     I won’t attempt here to respond to all that Visscher wrote.   Instead, I would like to address a couple significant problems with Visccher’s position as he articulated it.   First , he claims that it is an exaggeration to say that...

Someone recently commented on one my articles with these words: " Nobody is above the law.  Not even pastors."  She was responding to my comments about James Coates.   I found the comment very interesting.  And then a number of days later I saw someone suggest that since  Faith Presbyterian Church  didn't follow covid regulations we couldn't be trusted to lawfully handle other matters.    Fascinating logic... But, are we above the law?  I guess it depends on what is meant by the question.  The irony, of course, is that Christians are generally some of the most law abiding citizens in the country.  We are taught to obey our magistrates and pray for them.  The Bible is our rule of faith and practice, and we are told there by God to obey governing authorities. But of course every Christian knows the exception.  There is a higher authority .  It is God who told us to obey our magistrates, and so we obey the...

  * I have heard some say that I have changed .  They mean by that that I am not preaching and teaching what I used to, that my emphases have changed, my convictions have changed, my leadership has changed.  In fact, it hasn't .  Anyone can go back and listen to the sermons preached at Faith even 8 years ago, and they will find I was saying the same things then.  Actually, I used to grieve over the fact that people seemed to be hearing without hearing.  I suspect that with the onset of the pandemic and the legal implications of what I was teaching that suddenly congregants who weren't hearing began to hear.  And that is why they have become unhappy under the preaching, because they are hearing now with ears that hear!  And now it isn't just theoretical but profoundly practical. The following is a sermon preached in December of 2013.  I have not updated it except to highlight in bold portions particularly relevant now.       Rom...