People That Leave the Reformed Faith

Luther wrote this many moons ago,

"If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved to be steady… (It) is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point (of attack)."

We see people leaving Reformed churches for a more "historic" church.  They have abandoned Jesus Christ and have left with the world.  It is those of Orthodoxy and Romanism that have shipwrecked their faith by outward testimony.  They add things to the simplicity of the gospel of God and there commonality is exalting Mary's intercession in their behalf from the anger of Jesus Christ.  Jesus clearly proclaimed that He would cast none out that come to Him.  We see that man's sinful nature of adding to the God-breathed Scriptures makes everything wrong.  God help them.

C.H. Spurgeon on Assurnace of Salvation

C.H. Spurgeon wrote on assurance,

If one dear saint of God had perished, so might all; if one of the covenant ones be lost, so may all be; and then there is no gospel promise true, but the Bible is a lie, and there is nothing in it worth my acceptance. I will be an infidel at once when I can believe that a saint of God can ever fall finally. If God hath loved me once, then He will love me forever.

The “Spiritual Goodness” Controversy, Section 1

Below is only Section 1 on the theological subject of spiritual goodness.   I am working on the second section on the biblical teaching on the nature of man. 

The “Spiritual Goodness” Controversy:  Discerning the Difference Between the Teachings of World Religions on the Nature of Man and the Doctrine of Man According to biblical Christianity, Section1

Contents

1.     The Absolute Authority of the Written Scriptures

2.     The Biblical Teaching on the Nature of Man

3.     The World’s Teachings on the Nature of Man

4.     What If You Are In Hell:  A Call to Faith and Repentance Now

 Section 1:

The Absolute Authority of the Written Scriptures

The written Scriptures are the Word of God.  It contains everything we need to know about what to believe about spiritual salvation and to live rightly before God.  It is a complete and divine document.  It is indeed infallible, inspired and inerrant!  The hermeneutical method of interpretation is Scripture in light of Scripture.  No teacher or organization or church is above Scripture.  We are called with the holy responsibility to search the Scriptures daily to investigate whether or not the matter is true or false (John 5:39 cf. Acts 17:11). 

The Bible is all-sufficient for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).  The only way to do a “good work” is through the Holy Spirit.   No work is meritorious deeds.  Rather Christ alone accomplished the only good work possible for actual salvation and life everlasting in His unified righteousness of His perfect life and perfect death. Let us dwell on the divine and unified righteousness of Christ alone imputed to us by the instrument of faith alone:  “Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:24-26). 

This is the message of the divine Scriptures.  The answer of the written Scripture is not cooperation with God.  It is not a will subject to good works to earn heaven in anyway or through scaling the balances of good works and bad works.  It is not a will that has faith made by human hands through baptism and a participation in the sufferings of Christ.  No man is able to do a good work.  All works are thoroughly tainted with radical sinfulness (see Romans 3ff).  There is a civil goodness that men do but it is a far cry from meeting the divine standard of absolute perfection.  The Bible calls the works of men filthy rages (Isaiah 64:6).  The heart is desperately wicked and beyond natural cures.  That is, the heart is spiritual indiscernible and incompressible (Jeremiah 17:9-10). 

The Old Testament calls the written Scriptures the words of God (Numbers 24ff).  Divine revelation is God’s writing with His finger on the tablets of stone (Deuteronomy 9:10).  That is, this is a special revelation of God.  We are called to obey all the words of God:  “Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the Lord thy God” (Deuteronomy 12:28).  We are also called not to listen to religions of men (Deuteronomy 13:3; 28:14) and to hearken upon the words of God to fear Him and obey Him alone (Deuteronomy 17:19). 

The written Scriptures in the OT and NT are powerful enough to radically change the hearts and minds of sinners through the outworking presence of the Holy Spirit (see Acts 16:14).  The primary importance of Scripture is seen in the London Confession of Faith of 1689 in Chapter 1: Of the Holy Scriptures.  For it read as follows:

1._____ The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience, although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and his will which is necessary unto salvation. Therefore it pleased the Lord at sundry times and in divers manners to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his church; and afterward for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan, and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the Holy Scriptures to be most necessary, those former ways of God's revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.
( 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Isaiah 8:20; Luke 16:29, 31; Ephesians 2:20; Romans 1:19-21; Romans 2:14,15; Psalms 19:1-3; Hebrews 1:1; Proverbs 22:19-21; Romans 15:4; 2 Peter 1:19,20 )

2._____Under the name of Holy Scripture, or the Word of God written, are now contained all the books of the Old and New Testaments, which are these:

OF THE OLD TESTAMENT: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings, II Kings, I Chronicles, II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, The Song of Solomen, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations,Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

OF THE NEW TESTAMENT: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, The Acts of the Apostles, Paul's Epistle to the Romans, I Corinthians, II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I Thessalonians, II Thessalonians, I Timothy, II Timothy, To Titus, To Philemon, The Epistle to the Hebrews, Epistle of James, The first and second Epistles of Peter, The first, second, and third Epistles of John, The Epistle of Jude, The Revelation

All of which are given by the inspiration of God, to be the rule of faith and life.
( 2 Timothy 3:16)

3._____ The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon or rule of the Scripture, and, therefore, are of no authority to the church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved or made use of than other human writings.
( Luke 24:27, 44; Romans 3:2 )

4._____ The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God (who is truth itself), the author thereof; therefore it is to be received because it is the Word of God.
( 2 Peter 1:19-21; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 John 5:9 )

5._____We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the church of God to an high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scriptures; and the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, and the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole (which is to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man's salvation, and many other incomparable excellencies, and entire perfections thereof, are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God; yet notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth, and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts.
( John 16:13,14; 1 Corinthians 2:10-12; 1 John 2:20, 27)

6._____The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelation of the Spirit, or traditions of men. Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word, and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed.
( 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Galatians 1:8,9; John 6:45; 1 Corinthians 2:9-12; 1 Corinthians 11:13, 14; 1 Corinthians 14:26,40)

7._____All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all; yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed and observed for salvation, are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of ordinary means, may attain to a sufficient understanding of them.
( 2 Peter 3:16; Psalms 19:7; Psalms 119:130)

8._____The Old Testament in Hebrew (which was the native language of the people of God of old), and the New Testament in Greek (which at the time of the writing of it was most generally known to the nations), being immediately inspired by God, and by his singular care and providence kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentic; so as in all controversies of religion, the church is finally to appeal to them. But because these original tongues are not known to all the people of God, who have a right unto, and interest in the Scriptures, and are commanded in the fear of God to read and search them, therefore they are to be translated into the vulgar language of every nation unto which they come, that the Word of God dwelling plentifully in all, they may worship him in an acceptable manner, and through patience and comfort of the Scriptures may have hope.
( Romans 3:2; Isaiah 8:20; Acts 15:15; John 5:39; 1 Corinthians 14:6, 9, 11, 12, 24, 28; Colossians 3:16 )

9._____The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself; and therefore when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which is not manifold, but one), it must be searched by other places that speak more clearly.
( 2 Peter 1:20, 21; Acts 15:15, 16)

10.____The supreme judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Scripture delivered by the Spirit, into which Scripture so delivered, our faith is finally resolved.
( Matthew 22:29, 31, 32; Ephesians 2:20; Acts 28:23)

Let us read from the Westminster Larger Catechism on the Word of God:

Q. 155. How is the Word made effectual to salvation?

A. The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching of the Word, an effectual means of enlightening,[993] convincing, and humbling sinners;[994] of driving them out of themselves, and drawing them unto Christ;[995] of conforming them to his image,[996] and subduing them to his will;[997] of strengthening them against temptations and corruptions;[998] of building them up in grace,[999] and establishing their hearts in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation.[1000]

Q. 156. Is the Word of God to be read by all?

A. Although all are not to be permitted to read the Word publicly to the congregation,[1001] yet all sorts of people are bound to read it apart by themselves,[1002] and with their families:[1003] to which end, the holy scriptures are to be translated out of the original into vulgar languages.[1004]

Q. 157. How is the Word of God to be read?

A. The holy Scriptures are to be read with an high and reverent esteem of them;[1005] with a firm persuasion that they are the very Word of God,[1006] and that he only can enable us to understand them;[1007] with desire to know, believe, and obey the will of God revealed in them;[1008] with diligence,[1009] and attention to the matter and scope of them;[1010] with meditation,[1011] application,[1012] self-denial,[1013] and prayer.[1014]

Q. 158. By whom is the Word of God to be preached?

A. The Word of God is to be preached only by such as are sufficiently gifted,[1015] and also duly approved and called to that office.[1016]

Q. 159. How is the Word of God to be preached by those that are called thereunto?

A. They that are called to labour in the ministry of the Word, are to preach sound doctrine,[1017] diligently,[1018] in season and out of season;[1019] plainly,[1020] not in the enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power;[1021] faithfully,[1022] making known the whole counsel of God;[1023] wisely,[1024] applying themselves to the necessities and capacities of the hearers;[1025] zealously,[1026] with fervent love to God[1027] and the souls of his people;[1028] sincerely,[1029] aiming at his glory,[1030] and their conversion,[1031] edification,[1032] and salvation.[1033]

Q. 160. What is required of those that hear the Word preached?

A. It is required of those that hear the Word preached, that they attend upon it with diligence,[1034] preparation,[1035] and prayer;[1036] examine what they hear by the Scriptures;[1037] receive the truth with faith,[1038] love,[1039] meekness,[1040] and readiness of mind,[1041] as the Word of God;[1042] meditate,[1043] and confer of it;[1044] hide it in their hearts,[1045] and bring forth the fruit of it in their lives[1046].

The written Scriptures are the sole ultimate authority.  John Calvin wrote,

Let this be a firm principle: No other word is to be held as the Word of God, and given place as such in the church, than what is contained first in the Law and the Prophets, than in the writings of the apostles; and the only authorized way of teaching in the church is by the prescription and standard of his Word. From this also we infer that the only thing granted to the apostles was that which the prophets had of old. They were to expound the ancient Scripture and to show that what is taught there has been fulfilled in Christ. Yet they were not to do this except from the Lord, that is, with Christ’s Spirit as precursor in a certain measure dictating the words...Yet this, as I have said, is the difference between the apostles and their successors: the former were sure and genuine scribes of the Holy Spirit, and their writings are therefore to be considered oracles of God; but the sole office of others is to teach what is provided and sealed in the Holy Scriptures. We therefore teach that faithful ministers are now not permitted to coin any new doctrine, but that they are simply to cleave to that doctrine to which God has subjected all men without exception. (Institutes of the Christian Religion (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960), Vol. II, Means of Grace: Holy Catholic Church, Book IV, Chapter VIII.8–9, pp. 1155, 1157).

Sola Scriptura refers to the divine sufficiency of the written Word.   However, the doctrine also recognizes other subordinate authorities.  A subordinate authority would be the London Confession and the ruling eldership in the local church.  The Bible has the spiritual answer about the spiritual condition of man.  What is man’s spiritual condition?  What is the nature of man according to the Bible?  Let us search the Scriptures to investigate the nature of man. 

Zwingli on the Nature of Justification

Zwingli wrote on justification by faith alone,

A second kind of freedom from the Law is that the Law cannot condemn any more, which yet before wrought the wrath and indignation and just vengeance of God, Rom. 4:15 and Gal. 3:10; and Deut. 27:26, where divine justice sternly thunders: ‘Cursed is everyone who continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.’ Christ, therefore ‘redeemed us from this curse of the law, being made a curse for us,’ that is, being nailed to the cross for us, Gal. 3:13 and Rom. 6:10. We are no longer under the Law but under grace; and if under grace, the Law cannot condemn us, for if the Law still has the power to condemn, we are not under grace. It is, therefore, Christ who has broken the wrath of the Law (that is, who has appeased God’s justice, which would have caused Him deservedly to rage against us), and who by bearing the cruelty of the cross for us has so softened it that He has chosen to make us not only free instead of slaves, but even sons...We are freed from the vengeance of the Law; for Christ has paid by His suffering that penalty which we owed for our sins. Indeed, we have been so completely freed from sin, as far as it is a disease, that it is no longer able to harm us if we trust in Christ. For ‘there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh’ (Rom. 8:1) (Huldrych Zwingli, Commentary On True and False Religion (Durham: Labyrinth, 1981), pp. 141–142).

The Real Peace of Jesus our Bodily Risen Savior: A 4-Point Sermon Study on Jn 14:27, Pt 1

"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful" (Jn 14:27 NASB).

1.  The affectionate Christ spoke these divine words before His betrayal.  This very betrayal would bring about the holy peace of God's people alone through the eternal shed blood of Jesus Christ at His Cross.  He knew well that He would be crucified the next day.  He knew all that would take place to see to it that His people would be redeemed through the precious blood of the divine Lamb of God.  The discourse began after He partook of the passover.  He instituted and established the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.  Judas Iscariot went out to betray Him and only His faithfully true disciples were left.  Jesus faithful disciples were the only ones left and He addresses them as true disciples.  This is the last discourse Jesus had with His people before His blessed and atoning death.  We see His coming dying discourse where He takes upon Himself the absolute sin and damnation of God's people.  He dies for them in their place.  The resurrection verifies that Jesus' atonement is authentic.  Therefore Christians really have true peace.  I suggest to you that true peace is only through Jesus Christ our great Savior and divine King.

2.  It is evident that this discourse is a profound statement of divine love, especially to beloved John whose heart was complete with love for the Savior.  I think beloved John is a picture of every believer's love for Jesus and Jesus' love for us in Christ.  Jesus said in this discourse that He was going away.  Jesus' disciples were filled with heaviness and sorrow.  Jesus provides them with comfort and relief of their sorrow.   He says they will have peace when He is gone.  The peace of the world is not the peace of Jesus and the peace of Jesus is not the peace of the world.  There is a strange and foreign "peace" and "comfort" of the damned and this is not the peace and comfort of Jesus.  It is a stranger to the Bible's peace through Jesus our Lord.  For Spurgeon says,  "The little world within us, like the great world without, is full of confusion and strife; but when Jesus enters it, and whispers “Peace be unto you,” there is a calm, yea, a rapture of bliss."

3.  Jesus leaves His disciples in divine peace. Waves of tribulation approach the mind of Jesus' peace and all is calm because of His all-sustaining grace.  Jesus says, "peace I leave with you."  Jesus gives that which is His own; Jesus provides His sheep with divine peace.  He bestowed heavenly peace on His blessed children.  Many seek peace in all the wrong places.  There is no peace with God in man-made religion or tradition.  Peace is only something that Jesus provides in His person and work.  Touching His human presence, Jesus had to leave this accursed world.  Touching His divine presence, He is never apart from us and He is always with us.  He is especially with us in spiritual fellowship in partaking of communion.  Jesus had no earthly wealth but what He had He gave to them; He gave His very heart of peace to them in His humiliation.  He lived for our peace; He died for our peace; He intercedes for our peace.  There is no peace like the peace of Jesus Christ.  Dr. MacArthur wrote, "He offers peace from God (Romans 1:7) to all who are the recipients of His grace. He makes peace with God (Romans 5:1) for those who surrender to Him in faith. And He brings the peace of God (Philippians 4:7) to those who walk with Him.  (God With Us, Zondervan, 1989, p. 22).

4.   Jesus provides His sheep with the joy of peace.  He enjoyed the same joy and peace that He gives to His people.  I remember when I was miserable in man-centered religion and I had no true peace or joy.  I suggest to you that the divine peace of Jesus Christ is through the perfect peace of His sinless life and the perfect peace of His sinless death through the spiritual application of God's Spirit and Word in Jesus' imputed merit alone by faith alone.  He spoke that their joy may be full in themselves.  He gave them His peace that He had before His death.  Jesus suffered so greatly but He possessed the peace of God.  He is able to see us live with this peace as He Himself did as He endured His Cross.  Though men sought to destroy the living Savior, Calvin said, "the Cross was more powerful to save, than Adam's sin was to destroy."  (Ref: J. Edwards, Sermon XII, "The Peace Which Christ Gives His True Followers").  

Fierce was the wild billow,
Dark was the night;
Oars labored heavily,
Foam glimmered white;
Trembled the mariners,
Peril was nigh:
Then said the God of God,
"Peace! it is I."

Ridge of the mountain-wave,
Lower thy crest!
Wail of Euroclydon,
Be thou at rest!
Sorrow can never be,
Darkness must fly,
Where saith the Light of Light,
"Peace! it is I."

Jesus, Deliverer,
Come thou to me;
Soothe thou my voyaging
Over life's sea:
Thou, when the storm of death
Roars, sweeping by,
Whisper, O Truth of Truth,
"Peace! it is I."

On Saving Faith and Repentance

Louis Berkhof wrote,

True saving faith is a faith that has its seat in the heart and is rooted in the regenerate life...In speaking of the different elements of faith we should not lose sight of the fact that faith is an activity of man as a whole, and not any part of man...In order to obtain a proper conception of faith, it is necessary to distinguish between the various elements which it comprises.

A) An intellectual element (notitia). There is an element of knowledge in faith...The knowledge of faith consists in a positive recognition of the truth, in which man accepts as true whatsoever God says in His word, and especially what He says respecting the deep depravity of man and the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Over against Rome the position must be maintained that this sure knowledge belongs to the essence of faith; and in opposition to such theologians as Sandeman, Wardlaw, Alexander, Chalmers, and others, that a mere intellectual acceptance of the truth is not the whole of faith.
B) An emotional element (assensus). When one embraces Christ by faith, he has a deep conviction of the truth and reality of the object of faith, feels that it meets an important need in his life, and is conscious of an absorbing interest in it – and this is assent.
C) A volitional element (fiducia). This is the crowning element of faith. Faith is not merely a matter of the intellect, nor of the intellect and the emotions combined; it is also a matter of the will, determining the direction of the soul, an act of the soul going out towards its object and appropriating this. Without this activity the object of faith, which the sinner recognizes as true and real and entirely applicable to his present needs, remains outside of him. And in saving faith it is a matter of life and death that the object be appropriated. This third element consists in a personal trust in Christ as Saviour and Lord, including the surrender of the soul as guilty and defiled to Christ, and a recognition and appropriation of Christ as the source of pardon and of spiritual life (Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1939), pp. 503-505).

Jonathan Edwards wrote,

The apostasy of man summarily consists in departing from the true God, to idols; forsaking his Creator, and setting up other things in his room. When God at first created man, he was united to his Creator; the God that made him was his God. The true God was the object of his highest respect, and had the possession of his heart. Love to God was the principle in his heart, that ruled over all other principles; and everything in the soul was wholly in subjection to it. But when man fell, he departed from the true God, and the union that was between his heart and his Creator was broken: he wholly lost his principle of love to God. And henceforth man clave to other gods. He gave that respect to the creature, which is due to the Creator. When God ceased to be the object of his supreme love and respect, other things of course became the objects of it.The gods which a natural man worships, instead of the God that made him, are himself and the world. He has withdrawn his esteem and honour from God, and proudly exalts himself. As Satan was not willing to be in subjection; and therefore rebelled, and set up himself; so a natural man, in the proud and high thoughts he has of himself, sets up himself upon God’s throne. He gives his heart to the world, worldly riches, worldly pleasures, and worldly honours: they have the possession of that regard which is due to God (Jonathan Edwards, The Works of Jonathan Edwards (Edinburgh: Banner, 1974), Volume 2, Men Naturally Are God’s Enemies, Sect. III, pp. 132-133).

Sinclair B. Ferguson on the Fear of God

Sinclair B. Ferguson author of Grow in Grace pg. 32 wrote, 

[The fear of God] is the result of discovering that the God whom we thought of with slavish, servile fear, the holy righteous, terrifying God of judgment and majesty, is also the God who forgives us through Jesus Christ… One reason why we know so little of such filial fear is that we do not appreciate the gospel! If we would grow in grace so that we fear God like this, we must first return to the gospel, and to the meaning of the cross.