~Alan Redpath (Referring to Lazarus being freed from his grave clothes in John 11:43)

It is impossible for a man chosen of God to be at peace with the children of the devil. A man anointed of the Holy Spirit is immediately the target of Satan…It is possible that for a while you, like David, may be able to soothe your enemy and make him happy if you play your spiritual harp to him. But the moment the world discovers what you are, when the obvious evidence of heavenly reality rests upon you, they will begin to sling the javelins at you.

The story that Redpath has in mind is found in 1 Samuel chapters 16 through 18. The teenage David would play the harp for king Saul whenever Saul was depressed and melancholy, and David’s playing would refresh the king. The situation changed, however, after David slew the Philistine giant Goliath and became a national hero in Israel. Following that, Saul became so insanely jealous of David that one day, while David was playing the harp for him, Saul threw a spear in an attempt to pin David to the wall. The spear missed but the point was made. From that moment on, Saul was out to get David.

Whereas Redpath spoke of javelins being slung at David, the Israelite patriarch Jacob spoke of arrows being shot at another man of God, his son Joseph. In Genesis 49:22-26, the elderly Jacob offers up his deathbed description of Joseph, verse 23 of which says:

The archers have bitterly grieved him, shot at him, and hated him.

Now, was Jacob talking about literal archers with literal arrows, just as Saul had thrown a literal spear at David? No. First, Jacob was talking about his ten oldest sons, whose jealousy and hatred of Joseph had led them to sell him into slavery (Genesis 37:1-36). Second, he was talking about Potiphar’s wife, who had falsely accused Joseph of attempted rape when he had spurned her sexual advances (Genesis 39:1-18). Third, he was talking about Potiphar, who had sided with his wife in that whole scandal and had ordered that Joseph be thrown into prison (Genesis 39:19-20). Fourth, he was talking about Pharaoh’s chief butler, who had reneged on a promise that he had made to Joseph (Genesis 40:1-23). You see, each of these individuals, with his or her actions toward Joseph, had shot an arrow at him in an attempt to wound him.

But why am I telling you all this? I’m doing it to let you, the man or woman of God, know that when you step out into the world and start serving God in an uncommonly high way, you’d best know how to duck. Trust me, stuff will start flying at you! I don’t figure that it will be literal stuff, but, hey, you never know. Just ask David on that one. The point is, though, that the world recognizes the person who walks out of step with it, let alone the one who stands as a daily rebuke of it.

But please don’t let this warning deter you from going all out for Christ. Remember that the same David who had the spear thrown at him wrote about the Lord preparing a table for him in the presence of his enemies (Psalm 23:5). That tells us that God can not only keep His servant safe against the world’s spears and arrows but also provide a bountiful table of blessing for that servant right in the midst of the servant’s enemies. I like the sounds of that, don’t you? So don’t give up on serving the Lord when those spears and arrows start flying. Instead, start looking for God’s table of blessing. It will be there.

“Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.” Thomas à Kempis, Imitation of Christ

“If you live gladly to make others glad in God, your life will be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be full.”  John Piper

“What is God’s remedy for dejection at apparent failure in our labours?  This—the assurance that God’s purpose cannot fail, that God’s plans cannot miscarry, that God’s will must be done.  Our labours are not intended to bring about that which God has not decreed.”  Arthur W. Pink

“We are prepared to serve the Lord only by sacrifice. We are fit for the work of God only when we have wept over it, prayed about it, and then we are enabled by Him to tackle the job that needs to be done. May God give to us hearts that bleed, eyes that are wide open to see, minds that are clear to interpret God’s purposes, wills that are obedient, and a determination that is utterly unflinching as we set about the tasks He would have us do.” Alan Redpath

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

In chapter five of First Corinthians, we come to a major sin issue that was infecting the Corinthian church. The church was tolerating the sin of a brother and it was destroying their testimony in the world. Not only that, but their tolerance exposed their pride in worldly wisdom and human philosophy. Rather than mourning the sin of their brother, they were patting themselves on the back for being “open minded.”

This was not simply a breakdown in the life of one individual, but the wide influence that sin was having on the life of the church that tolerated it. The purpose for which they existed, to reach the lost, was in danger of total collapse because of the sin they had allowed to remain in their midst.

Alan Redpath paraphrases Paul:

“And ye are puffed up,” Paul accuses them, “you are haughty and proud, so occupied with your discussions and theological arguments that you are closing your eyes to this terrible thing that is going on right in the very center of your church life.”

Paul makes it clear that the church should judge the sin of the offending Christian (5:3-5). We do not judge the world; God will take care of that judgement in the future. We do however judge the conduct (not motives or ministry) of those who are inside the church.

His words may seem harsh: “taken away from among you” (5:2), “deliver such an one unto Satan” (5:5), “purge out” (5:7), and “put away” (5:13). This was the action to be taken regarding the guilty party, however, he was not left to be abandoned. He was, after all, a sinner for whom Jesus had died. The remainder of verse five gives the goal: “To deliver such an one…for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”

Church discipline is never easy but it is necessary to maintain our testimony in the world and to achieve its ultimate purpose — the salvation of the erring believer. According to 2 Corinthians 2, that is exactly what happened in this case.

If the church allows sin to remain, it paralyzes its witness, takes away the power, and removes the power of the Holy Spirit. An unholy church is a defeated church. The extent to which sin is permitted is the measure in which appetite for the Word of God will depart.

The Christian who is pure is powerful, but the man who is compromising is spiritually impotent. – Redpath

Right through this first chapter of First Corinthians Paul contrasts wisdom and foolishness: the wisdom of men and the foolishness of God, then the foolishness of men and the wisdom of God. It was the wisdom of men that had seduced this church. Division was a plague that was destroying the spiritual health of the people. The remedy for the situation was not philosophy or “the wisdom of words,” but the wisdom of God given through revelation by the Holy Ghost.

The moment any Christian departs from the principle of revelation, relying rather on human intellect for understanding God’s Word, all spiritual authority is lost. If we submit the Word of God to our own intellect and refuse to believe in the possibility of absolute authoritative revelation, we lose the power and authority. It’s not in us; it’s in Him.

If the church in our day is to invade a city for God, then it must get back to a place of absolute dependence upon the wisdom of God.

-Alan Redpath

Each of us is faced with a choice every day. Will we depend upon our human intellect and education to meet the need of the day? Or will we depend on the wisdom of God? Will we trust human wisdom and reasoning? Or will we trust the Spirit to lead and guide us? Please don’t misunderstand me. I don’t downplay the importance of reason and thinking. I only intend to question the source: the wisdom of God or the wisdom of man.

Alan Redpath makes a challenging statement, “The moment a man begins to put his confidence in his own mind… in his personal criticism of Scriptures, he is finished as far as divine revelation is concerned.” You must choose the principle on which you will guide your life, on which you will study the Word, and on which you will serve the LORD.

Come to the cross. Take the place of death to self. Glory in the LORD. The Holy Ghost will illuminate the Word in a way that human wisdom cannot and give you understanding.

Studies in First Corinthians

Corinth was a proud and wealthy city. It has been called the “Vanity Fair” of the Roman Empire. In fact, the word “Corinthian” had become synonymous with loose living. The Corinthians were famous for their fleshly appetites, their love for arguing, and the pride of their knowledge.

It is here that Paul plants a seed of the Gospel and works to build a church for approximately eighteen months (Acts 18). Even though the church at Corinth had many problems, there is no doubt that Paul considered these people to be the “ekklesia” (called out) of God. As Raymond Woodward points out, “Paul calls them “sanctified” (1:2) in spite of their many problems. They were genuinely saved (1:4), generously endowed with teaching (1:5), securely established by preaching (1:6), spiritually gifted (1:7), and prophetically alert (1:7-8). Yet they were carnal, and were at risk of forfeiting it all!”

Paul deals with this carnality in the first eleven chapters. He exposes the tragedy of their living in sin and worldliness, and applies the positive remedy of the cross of Jesus Christ. For carnality, Paul prescribes the full message of the Gospel of Christ.

There are many today who do not follow Paul’s example here. We must preach and practice the gospel of forgiveness of sins but it must be accompanied by the gospel of deliverance from sin. We must move beyond pardon to purity!

Rather than lashing out at the Corinthians, Paul begins by lifting them up and reminding them of the glory of their salvation and of the great privileges that are theirs in Christ. He reminds them that they are “the church” (1:2), the “called ones”. They have nothing to be ashamed of. They were to live godly in the midst of an ungodly people. He called them “sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints” (1:2). This is what they were in the sight of God, and not them only, but every member of His Church. We are God’s separated, called-out ones to a position of authority; a position in which we know what we believe, live it, and proclaim it.

In verse three, Paul begins to list a few of the things that God has given us for the journey; “Grace and peace” (1:3). There is grace to make me like the Master, grace to give me triumph when I would fail, grace to enable me to glorify God in every situation. His peace brings perfect harmony. It brings balance and unity to every part of my life.

Not only has He given us grace and peace, but we are “enriched by Him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge” (1:5). We have a message to proclaim! God has given us His Gospel to preach, His Word to live by, and His life to live out.

Finally, in verse nine, Paul completes the list of the Christian’s great privileges: “you were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (1:9). The Greek word for “fellowship” here is koinonia, which means having everything in common. This is your victory over flesh and carnality, all He has belongs to you! His victory is at your disposal now. All He asks is that all you have be at His disposal in return.

Let us not forget who we are. We are the Church!

“Yes, there is coming a day, bless God, when the buffeting will be over, and the last tear over a lost soul will have been checked, the last sentence of death will have been concluded, and the last pain of anguish over people who care nothing for our Lord Jesus will have finished, and God shall wipe away all signs of sorrow and concern. Let us covet a compassion that costs, so that on that day He may have many tears to wipe away.”

- Alan Redpath, from Blessings Out of Buffetings: Studies in 2 Corinthians, p. 211

Never was there a time when there was a greater need for men of passion, men of principle, men of Holy Spirit vision, in the service of the Lord.  It is impossible for any of us to become any of these things unless first we have stood in the midst of the work which the Master have given to us and have seen the futility of everything that can ever come from our own imagined strength or weakness.  These are lessons which most of us learn the hard way, and we learn them in a school from which we never graduate until we enter the very presence of the Master Himself. 

~Alan Redpath, 1958, Victorious Christian Living, Studies in the Book of Nehemiah, p7

- Alan Redpath, from Victorious Christian Service: Studies in the Book of Nehemiah, p. 115

Alan Redpath

“Obey God in all things today ! Drive out the enemy ! Lay the ax to the root of the tree, and the capacity for Jesus Christ will be increased tomorrow. Always the soul of the Christian either grows or shrinks; it never remains the same. Either it increases in capacity for life because it obeys and is determined to lay the ax to the root of sin, or it shrivels until the Christian experience is lost behind a cold steel wall of doctrine and dogma.”

- Alan Redpath, from Victorious Christian Living: Studies in the Book of Joshua, p. 186

“In heaven’s name, I call on you to make your decision quickly, for the days are short. Do not sit under the ministry of the Word and trifle with God and play with New Testament holiness. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is not the place for you if you are not in earnest. We have too big a job to do, too big a challenge to face, for too soon the Lord will be here. Remember that Gideon got on better with three hundred men than with thirty thousand men. In Jesus’ name, I call on you, my dear worldly Christian, my dear man who is not right with God, to get to the Cross and get right with God.”

- Alan Redpath, from Victorious Christian Living: Studies in the Book of Joshua, p. 118

As a young man, Alan Redpath was a successful accountant. One day, he was talking with a Christian friend who told him, “Alan, it is possible to have a saved soul and a wasted life.”

Redpath couldn’t forget those words. He knew he was guilty of having a saved soul and a wasted life. He prayed, “Lord, I want Your will for me. I don’t want to waste my life. I dedicate it to You.”

God redirected his course, and Redpath ultimately became an evangelist, pastor, author, president of a missions organization, and a dean of a Bible school. He served the Lord until the end of his life.

It’s possible that some of us could have a saved soul but a wasted life. In other words, you have the assurance of heaven, but you’re wasting your life here on earth. You’re not serving Christ to the fullest.

Every person’s life is filled with opportunities to serve the Lord. What we do with the opportunities is the big question. Do we let them slip by? Or do we seize the day and serve the Lord so that we can hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant”?

If you desire to hear those words, then make a change in your life like Alan Redpath made. Take what God has given you and make the most of it.

You might say to yourself, “But I don’t have much.” You have everything you need. You have God’s most precious gift, Jesus Christ. You have the Holy Spirit to empower you.

God has instilled in your life certain gifts for His glory. That means your life is valuable.

Take what God has given you and dedicate it to His glory. Just watch what He will accomplish.

http://www.harvest.org

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• Foxe’s Voices of the Martyrs

It’ll be interesting to see how they respond when people start leaving the church as a result of the new onslaught of bible teaching.

The autobiography of the late William Still, Dying to Live, minister at Gilcomston South in Aberdeen, Scotland, gives the appropriate response. Mr Still went through a similar change of direction. He was appointed at Gilc in 1945 with the remit to “fill the kirk”, which he did “to overflowing, by the use of Redemption songs and fiery evangelistic sermons which soon set the town agog!” Billy Graham and Alan Redpath ran missions there and after 18 months over 2000 people attended on Saturday night rallies and Sunday morning services.

Mr Still writes:

It took a great struggle to come to the point where I knew that I had to call a halt to the Saturday night rallies in the church. …It was obvious that the necessity for maintaining a high level of novelty was too time-consuming and was taking up too much of our energies. I was tired of trying to be an evangelistic entertainer…

The change in direction was the same as Willow Creek’s, from attractive sub-culture to producing attractive “well rounded” Christians by applied, relevant, systematic bible teaching:

If I said eighteen months’ experience of ardent evangelistic work caused disillusionment, that was only part of the truth, and was really beside the point. The truth is, as I have said, that I was beginning to discover, almost by accident although I know the Lord has another name for it, the value of the systematic teaching of the Word of God. And as that took grip of me in the pulpit during the latter days and months of 1946, I saw that a commission was given me, which was to be my task for the rest of my life, rather than that of superficial evangelism which, alas, leaves so much of the glorious Word of God untouched. And if it is true, which I fervently believe (and with some experience to back up my opinion) that there is no part of the Word of God which can be left out if fully rounded Christian characters are to be formed, then there is no alternative to ministering the whole Word of God.

[My emphasis added]

The congregation dwindled from 2000 to around 500. Mr Still was accused of failure, burnout and there was concern for church finances. But out of that reduced congregation came 42 Church of Scotland ministers and over 300 missionaries, not to mention those who passed though and enriched other churches. Oh yes, and at least one Church of England minister.

Some of you might like to know that one of our former church secretaries, Dr Ian Balfour has just had his book published – ‘Revival in Rose Street’ charts 200 years of Charlotte Chapel history recounting the ministries of some well known preachers – Christopher Anderson (it’s founder), Joseph Kemp, Graham Scroggie, Sidlow Baxter, Gerald Griffiths, Alan Redpath, Derek Prime (& one of his assistants, Alistair Begg) and Peter Grainger, the current senior pastor with 15 years of faithful ministry under his belt, and counting.

The book is amazingly available for the bargain price of £10 and can be purchased at the church itself or by emailing info@charlottechapel.org.

Standard Parcel postage in the UK is £5.68 for one copy, £8.24 for two, £9.35 for three, £10.97 for four, £11.45 for five and £13.13 for six to ten (same price). Surface mail to anywhere else (European Community, the Americas, India, Australasia, etc) is a standard £10.66 for one copy. Airmail to overseas countries is £20.66. Weight is 1.916 kilo.

You might like to know that our wee blog of only 15 months even gets a mention!

“Can you think of His lowly birth in utter poverty, all the toil and labor in His life, the pain and suffering of His death as He was made sin for us, the constancy of His intercession for us at the throne ever since – can you think of it all and not love Him ?

“Yes, we can, and it stamps upon our character such utter baseness, and it makes the language of our text speak to us with heavenly authority: ‘If any man love not the Lord Jesus, let him be accursed.’ When I think about it, I have it in my heart to say, ‘Amen, Lord. You couldn’t do anything else. Hell is no more than we deserve.’”

- Alan Redpath, from The Royal Route to Heaven: Studies in First Corinthians, p. 247

I must come to Him with a broken heart and hear Him say to me, "A humble and a contrite heart I will not despise."

Before God makes you, He breaks you.

Alan Redpath
Bible Scholar/Teacher

“You may be thinking, ‘But you don’t know the pressure of my life: how many hours I have to study, how many problems I have to cope with, how many people I have to try to satisfy.’ But if you say you have no time to see the spiritual building of your life, then I say to you in the name of the Lord, you are just too busy ! For you will never have more time in your life than you have right now. There will never be less pressure; indeed, if I may venture to say so, the more you go on with the Lord, the greater the pressure will become.

“You are the sanctuary of God; you are intended to reveal the glory of the Lord. Most of all, you belong to Him, every bit of you ! How could we ever live on the low level of carnality when we have such a Saviour as He !”

- Alan Redpath, from The Royal Route To Heaven: Studies in 1 Corinthians, p. 52.