Reformed Baptist Congregation Exaltation | Edification | Evangelism
Luther’s famous dictum (probably not his exact words-but certainly his conviction) is still true for us today:
“Justification is the article by which the church stands and falls” (justificatio est articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae).
Don’t let anything stand in the way of this great point. Don’t add anything to it either. God imputes the righteousness of Christ to us through the instrument of faith only. this is how we are right with God.
Happy Reformation Day!
We distinguish between our sufferings in general and evil or wickedness. The persecution of the believer is constituted ‘sufferings.’ The killing of many people in Las Vegas is evil. It is the evil of man . It has always been so. We recognize the difficulty in saying that God knew of such an evil and did nothing to prevent it. We do not know, first of all, how much God did actually prevent, so it is pointless to speculate. We must acknowledge that God is on control of all things, even the evil of man. If God did not then he is not God. To say that God does not care or God did nothing is to seriously misrepresent all that Scripture reveals about God. [Read more…]
Geerhardus Vos (in his Reformed Dogmatics, Vol.1) defines these as:
Immensity – That perfection of God whereby He is exalted above all distinction of space, yet at every point in space is present with all His being and as such is the cause of space.
Immutability – That perfection of God whereby He is exalted above all becoming and development, as well as above all diminution, and remains the same eternally.
And then, there is Psalm 46:1-3, “God is our refuge and strength, Avery present help in trouble, therefore, we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be removed into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.”
As hurricane Irma descends upon us with frightening ferocity and devastation, we must remind ourselves that we are safe and secure from all alarms because we are leaning on the everlasting arms. It’s the ‘everlasting’ part that is significant and, therefore, what have I to fear, what have I to dread?
Jonathan Edwards distinguishes so clearly in his little sermon “The Reality of Spiritual Light” between real enlightenment for the believer and (any) light that might be given to the unbeliever. He says,
“In this spiritual light…(there is) a true sense of the divine and superlative excellency of the things of religion; a real sense of the excellency of God and Jesus Christ, and of the work of redemption, and the ways and works of God revealed in the Gospel. There is a divine and superlative glory in these things; an excellency that is of a vastly higher kind and more sublime nature, than in other things…He that is spiritually enlightened truly apprehends and sees it or has a sense of it. He does not merely rationally believe that God is glorious, but he has a sense of the gloriousness of God in his heart. There is not only a rational belief that God is holy, but there is a sense of the loveliness of God’s holiness.”
(Works, Vol. 2, p. 14)
Such a sense can only come as a result of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. The reality of it is sweet indeed.