Drippings from the Honeycomb
More to be desired are [the rules of the Lord] than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. (Psalm 19:10)
What is the biblical teaching (doctrine) of justification by faith alone (known in Latin as sola fide)? Martin Luther said it is “Easy to talk about; difficult to grasp.” Yet because justification answering the question, "what must I do to be saved (or justified)?" it is of fundamental importance. This is why Martin Luther said it was, “the doctrine on which the Church stands or falls,” and John Calvin would likewise describe it as “the hinge on which all true religion turns.”
Justification means to declare someone as just, righteous or perfect. Justification is necessary because of our sinfulness and inability to justify ourselves. God's demand is perfection (Mt 5:48). Yet who can keep the whole moral law every day all the time? No, if we break one law (Ja 2:10) we are a lawbreaker and guilty before the Judge and deserving of hell. Justification is the irrevocable and instantaneous act whereby God, by virtue of the finished work of Christ in His life, death and Resurrection, declares the penitent believer in the Gospel to be not only pardoned but just, right or perfect in His sight. Jesus’ righteousness is imputed, or credited, to our account. It follows that we are made acceptable to God, gain acceptance into His family and receive the gift of the Spirit to practically impart righteousness (or justness) until the day we are actually made just. Justification is the great fountainhead in the order of salvation. Read more here. Justification teaches us that we are helpless to help ourselves. Our works cannot save us. We may only be saved by the works of another. This is perhaps best illustrated by quicksand. When stuck in quicksand one must be rescued by the works of another. If we move we sink. We must cry out that someone else rescue us and trust them to do so. When we confess we are sinners (recognize we are in trouble) and repent (turn from our works to Jesus), turning instead to the Son of God (perfect, crucified and risen) and ask Him to forgive us and grant us eternal life by virtue of what He has done then He promises to forgive us and impute His righteousness to us. He bears our sin and in return we receive His righteousness and resurrection life. My hope is built on nothing less...all other ground is sinking sand. I recently had a fascinating conversation. It went like this.
I was chatting with some relatives. The subject was about something very old that had been refurbished. I made the remark, “It will last for another X years or until the Lord returns.” “That is a very odd statement,” came the reply, “I’ve never heard anyone say that before. What do you mean by that?” “It is a common Christian saying,” I replied simply. “I’ve never heard anyone say it,” came the reply from the person who has a Catholic background, “What do you mean by that?” Now, knowing the person would at least be familiar with the Apostles Creed, I said/cited, “Well, the Apostles Creed says Jesus will ‘come again, to judge the living and the dead.’” Rather than provoking more conversation this resulted in the person saying, “Ok, Chris, let’s stop being religious.” (Though I know they had been struck even by this truth). Behind the surface discomfort with “religion” this individual was unnerved by at least 2 things: Jesus’ coming judgement, and [related] their own mortality. The Bible says, “the wages of sin is death” (both physical and eternal) (Ro 6:23a). Jesus' return, which is a glorious prospect to the believer, is a terror to the unbeliever, because they are ill prepared to meet the Judge. Death is likewise a haunt because it foils our pride that believes we are immortal and ushers in Judgement. People fear death and judgement. (And they mock us for reminding them of their deepest fear. However, when they do their conscience has been pricked and we need to pray for them). The good news is this person, and the many unbelievers who live under this tumultuous burden, may have peace if they believe in the Gospel. 1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” (Those who have become recipients of the love of God through faith in Jesus). May they stop putting off the thought, seeking to suppress the reality, and repent and trust in Jesus today. Many Christian perceive the Protestant difference between believer’s baptism by immersion (credo-baptism) and infant baptism (paedo-baptism) to be merely one of different forms—little difference. However, the heart of the divergence can be seen in comparing their traditional views on baptism, covenant and Scripture, as seen in the sister confessions of the Westminster Confession of Faith (Presbyterian) and in the 1689 Baptist Confession.
Consider the differences:
Contrast the two yourself: [1] https://www.proginosko.com/docs/wcf_sdfo_lbcf.html (We recently heard of Paul's biography and testimony in Philippians 1 and were also encouraged by a visiting evangelist to use our testimony as a means of sharing the Gospel with others. This is my testimony. What is yours?).
I was born and raised in a nominal Christian family. Such nominalism, however, did not prevent the Holy Spirit preparing my heart and from hearing and responding to the Gospel. From as young as I remember I cannot recall not knowing that God existed (c.f. Ps 22:10b). Likewise, I knew that we should do what was right in His eyes. For example, around 5 years of age, my parents stopped going to church one summer. I knew this was morally wrong and so we began going to church again in the fall because I insisted. Going to church and Sunday School established many of the basics of the Faith in my life. I even stopped going to Sunday School at a very young age so that I could stay up and listen to the sermon. But belief in God, worship and good morals is not the same as believing in the Gospel; that’s a lesson that a paper clip taught me. Yes, a paperclip! One day I accompanied my father to Sketchley’s Dry Cleaners to pick up his uniform. At the counter there was small container of paper clips. When no one was looking I stole one. I broke the 9th commandment. As we walked back to the truck I felt so miserable for what I had done that I tossed that paper clip into the grass along the sidewalk. Yet, my conscience continued to convict me that I had not only sinned but was a sinner. Then Pastor Fehr, who was converted wonderfully during WWII, invited anyone from the church who might be interested in Baptism to attend a series of classes on what it meant to become a Christian and how Baptism was the ordinance to express this. You didn’t have to be a Christian to attend but could attend to explore these matters. Very simply in those classes Pastor Fehr shared from the Bible of how Jesus was sent to die for sinners and that if we repent and trust in Him Jesus would forgive our sins and grant us new life. That was enough, I did not need much convincing. I believed. Upon profession of faith I was baptized at an evening service on the Lord’s Day, December 11, 1994. I was 9 years old. Since that time God’s persevering grace kept me from straying too far from following Jesus, even during my teenage years. I wasn’t perfect but was spared many youthful sins. I continued to grow in the Faith, in a knowledge of the Scriptures, in a reliance on the Holy Spirit, all while humbly proclaiming, “I am a great sinner, but Christ is a great Saviour.”
My testimony is that simple and all of this took place when I was very young. Many Christians consider it a great privilege to be led to Christ through some type of “Damascus road experience” after having blatantly pursued a life of sin. Certainly there is great grace in these conversions, but God’s grace also works in other ways, including my experience. In the parable about of the vineyard workers from Matthew 20 these ‘Damascus road’ conversions would be those perhaps hired at 5 o’clock in the afternoon. Responding to God’s providential care and grace at a young age you might say that I was a worker called “early in the morning.” Though the attitude of the early workers is portrayed negatively, in practicality it is a blessing to be called early and it is a privilege to know Jesus from a young age and have longer to get to know Him. I count it as God’s wonderful grace that I was positioned in a place where I could respond to the Gospel early to know and follow Jesus. There is a big difference between falling into a puddle of sin and swimming in a pool of sewage.
This is the difference John draws as he speaks of perseverance: the possibility of believers to temporarily/occasionally fall into sin; and the persistent unrepentant sin unbelievers/false professors are pleased to remain in. Speaking of puddles John acknowledges the reality for saints, that as sinners, we may still sin. This is why he speaks not only of once for all legal forgiveness (1:9) but also ongoing relational forgiveness (2:1). Speaking of pools of sewage John says, “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practise the truth” (1 Jn 1:6) and “No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.” (1 Jn 3:6). If you are swimming in sewage, repent! If you’ve fallen in a puddle, repent! 1 John is full of 30+ tests of assurance to see whether we are in Christ (that you may know, 1 Jn 5:13). To read more on perseverance see here. On a recent trip to England my wife and I were travelling somewhere and stopped at Ashby De La Zouch, a small market town in the midlands, for a walk and a bite to eat. As we explored we went inside the local Church, St. Helen’s. Here, without looking for it, I realized I was standing over the marker of a famous evangelical Christian, Selina, the Countess of Huntingdon (1707–1791). How incredible!
Selina’s usefulness made her the subject of many works, both popular and academic. (Click here to see a book, here to watch a children’s story, and here to read a summary blog).
Here is a brief summary of her life: Selina was born into a well to do family and married into an even greater one, moving in such circles as the King! Thus she had both great wealth and influence. Always a moral woman, she learned her works could not save her and she was converted in 1739 and was “all aflame for Jesus.” Though an Anglican she became associated with Methodism, knowing the Wesleys and George Whitefield. Later, through her own study, she followed Whitefield and support Calvinistic Methodism. She became an influential leader in the Evangelical Revival, particularly by the desire that all she knew, including the nobility, would become Christians. Because evangelical clergy were frowned upon she used her peerage to appoint evangelical clergy as her “chaplains.” She also built some 60 chapels were evangelicals could preach (later known as The Countess of Huntingdon Connexion) and funded other works. She also funded Travecca College (1767), a place for training evangelicals. A woman of great piety (and wealth), she lived simply so that Jesus might be known. She was buried with her husband and three people in attendance. Though she is largely unknown today, she is well known to the Lord (2 Cor 6:9). "In Lev 10:1 there is a story of the priests, Nadab and Abihu, offering a “strange fire” in worship before a holy God and as a consequence their death by fire. The reason is because this holy God, a consuming fire, had prescribed or regulated how He was to be worshipped (“which He commanded them not”). What was true under the Old Covenant, is true of all time and today under the New Covenant. We must worship God corporately as He wants to be worshipped and not as we wish. We must worship in “spirit and in truth” (Jn 4:24)
This discussion has generally been framed between the regulative principle (we are only to worship God how He has expressly said He should be worshipped) and the normative principle (we may worship God in any way that He has not expressly forbidden) (though some have taken the normative to an extreme some have called the affective principle, if I like it and it makes me feel close to God it is good). The danger with the former is we can lose the “spirit” from “worship the Lord in spirit and in truth” and settle for nominalism. The danger of the latter is we can compromise the “truth” under the guise of spiritual liberty. Truth is what God has said about worship; the spirit is joy and love and self-control as we commune with Him. Maintaining spirit and truth is the regulative principle (and it is important to recognize it is a principle. It regulates the elements and spirit, yet not the form [e.g. written or extemporaneous prayers, or styles of sermons] nor the circumstances [e.g. a 9 a.m. or an 11 a.m. service, pews or chairs, etc]. A number of years ago I, the guest preacher, was almost taken out by a lady swinging flags in a church I was visiting. In many mega-churches and Pentecostal churches, sometimes in the extreme vein of attractionalism and sometimes because of poor or bad theology, there is no end to the true tales of what goes on in worship (something the window of Youtube reveals). Recently Transformation Church, OK, USA, made the news for an Easter service that was dubbed “the Christian Grammy’s” (not a compliment). Likewise, during Covid I watched a liberal church service that included non-Christian readings, a gong and eastern meditation (and I’ve even heard of inviting Imam’s, etc, to preach the sermon). The regulative principle protects the Church from expressive individualism, the abuse of authority by leaders and bad theology. We should all know what to expect when we gather for corporate worship because God has instituted the worship of Himself lest our pride turn worship into a mockery. "But all things should be done decently and in order." 1 Cor 14:40 "…self-made religion..." Col 2:23 Our Baptist (and Protestant) forbearers put it this way:
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? (Lk 24:26)
The darkness of Good Friday can be difficult to swallow. Understanding why it was necessary, to use Jesus’ own words, is helpful to move from a foul stench to a pleasing aroma. Jesus’ death was necessary for a few basic reasons:
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