How should we respond to confessions of faith | Clip from Sanctification

Well, the sermon really, he has this opening kind of introductory section, which is a little mini-sermon in itself. And then he has his main sermon. So, let me read the verse that he uses for the sermon.

Barnabas Sees the Grace of God in Acts 11:23

It's Acts 11, verse 23. Who, when he came, now this is speaking of Barnabas, and the context is that Peter has preached the gospel to the Gentiles by God's very clear direction, in spite of Peter's hesitancy.

You remember in the book of Acts. And so, Gentiles have been converted, and also the gospel is being spread after the persecution of Stephen. Stephen becomes a martyr, and the Christians are running from that, you know, the center of persecution, and carrying the gospel.

So, some of the Jews are Hellenistic Jews. They speak Greek, and so when they go throughout the empire, they take the gospel to Greeks. So, with Peter, and with these Hellenistic Jews, the gospel is going to the Greeks, to the non-Jews, and Barnabas is sent by the churches to kind of see what it looks like.

So, it says, Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. And so, what Chandler does in this is, he gives this introduction to the sermon, and he just takes the verse apart, and kind of gives a summary.

He came, number one. Number two, having come, he saw the grace of God. Number three, he rejoiced in what he saw. And number four, he exhorted them. That's all introduction. And then he comes to a sermon, and it has four major points.

First, he endeavors to unfold the nature and importance of the duty to which we are exhorted, that is, to cling to the Lord. So, what is the nature of clinging, and why is it so important? Second, he says, he offers some reasons for the duty with the design to enforce it.

So, he gives some arguments that give weight to that command. You must cling to the Lord. Third, he lays down some directions, or we would say applications, to assist us in a cheerful discharge of that duty.

And that really, I think we both feel, is the heart of the sermon. He gives seven or so exhortations or directions of, if you're going to cheerfully cling to the Lord, you need to consider these things.

So, we'll take some time on those. And finally, he addresses himself to all such who are poor, unhappy souls who have not yet so much as turned from their vanities to the Lord. So, an evangelistic ending there.

How to Respond to a Profession of Faith

Well, there's a lot in this chapter, so we thought that it might be good just to kind of hit some of the high points again, as we try to do most weeks. And the first high point we want to hit, I guess we could put it in the form of a question.

So, I'm going to shoot it to you in the form of a question, Chuck. How does the passage here guide our thinking about, you know, a profession of faith and our response to that? We hear, you know, so we often hear, especially, you know, in churches where perhaps you're not following kind of a cultural pattern.

And so, in the Mid-South, that means everyone around you, family come to you and say, Joey's four years old and he asked Jesus into his heart at Vacation Bible School. And they look at you and they want to know, are you going to be happy?

Or are you going to kind of condemn us because your church doesn't do that? Or, you know, or you're against the sinner's prayer, or whatever. How biblically ought we to respond? And does this passage help us?

It does help us. Barnabas came and he saw. He saw evidences of their faith, and it was because of what he saw that he rejoiced. So, he's not basing his response simply on something that has been said, you know, not just a profession, but that there has been evidence that that profession is genuine.

And so, yes, it helps.

Paul on Faith, Love, and the Fruit of the Gospel

I think of another passage in Colossians chapter 1, let me read verse 3 through 6, where Paul has heard, so he's in prison, but he's heard of the work of the gospel in the lives of these young believers, this new church.

So, notice what he says. He starts off by saying in verse 3, We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. So, he's grateful about something, and this is moving him in his prayers to give thanks to God.

Then the next verse opens up with the little word in the New American Standard, Since, since, because, there's a foundation, there's a reason for the thanksgiving. Because, or since, we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints.

So, there is something that the gospel does in the life of a person who's a true convert that is reportable, that's hearable, you know. He goes on to say, Because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth the gospel, which has come to you just as in all the world also, listen to his description of what the gospel does, it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth.

So, a two-fold picture of the gospel's increase. You know, geographically, the gospel is spreading from city to city. But also, within each individual, when the word of God, when life is implanted, and through the preaching of the gospel, the Holy Spirit opens the eyes, you know, regenerates, and faith and repentance are exercised, it is the kind of thing, like in Barnabas' day, that can be seen.

It is the kind of thing that can be reported. I think this helps us with a couple of errors. One would be kind of the easy-believism of maybe, you know, the sinner's prayer approach. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with a sinner crying out to God.

What we're concerned about is if someone gives you a formula prayer and says, once you say these words, then you have the thing that you kind of named, you know. So, God, come and save me. I'm asking Jesus in my heart.

Amen. And then the preacher turns to you. I mean, this is kind of probably how you were dealt with. This is how I was dealt with as a kid. You ask Jesus to do your heart, and you kind of look at the preacher like, uh, and he said, did you just say that prayer?

Well, yes. And, you know, and you ask Jesus in your heart, yes. Then where is he? You know, you say, in my heart? Yes, he is. You know, never doubt it. Well, in the last decade or so, you know, that approach has been, you know, dissected.

And, you know, culturally, it's not as popular as it used to be. But I find that Reformed people are oftentimes, they swing the other way, and there's this danger. If a person can agree with you about five points of Calvinism, you know, if they know the truth, if they agree with the truth, and they come to a church which teaches the truth, then it is assumed they are regenerate.

We had an older man in our church at one time, a really sweet older man, who would always, whenever he looked at a life of a person who claimed to be a Christian, and then they just walked away and lived for self, this older man's response was always the same.

He would say, I don't know how they could do that. They know the truth, as if they were born again because they agreed with five points. And I would always say, knowing, you know, aligning facts in your head that you've been told by your pastor, and appreciating how they fit together, that is not equivalent to regeneration.

So, it is good for whether you belong to a church that does the sinner's prayer, you know, with little children at the end of VBS, and you have another hundred kids saved. Some of them, a lot of them were saved last year, you know.

Or whether you belong to a church that has reacted against that, and maybe not looking for any real changes, as long as the intellect is informed. I think that Isaac Chandler's emphasis there at the beginning of the sermon is pretty helpful.

Pastoral Wisdom for Rejoicing Without Presumption

So, John, what do we do with the family member or friend who comes up to us excited that their child has made a profession of faith, and asks Jesus in their heart. And we don't want to be, you know, a bucket of cold water, but maybe we don't want to rejoice in the same way they're rejoicing just yet.

How do you respond?

Yeah, I think that, really, I think it's our attitude that probably would be the most important part of that response. Of course, I agree that there are some wrong responses. You know, if we jump on them and say, you know, you led them through a sinner's prayer, and you know that's dangerous, and, you know, it's detrimental to your kid's soul, and why would you do that?

Well, that obviously wouldn't be right. And then jumping on board and saying, wonderful, another person is headed to heaven without seeing some changes. I don't think that's right either. So, in those kind of touchy situations, especially if you are the person in your family that's become known as, oh, so you're reformed, so you don't think anybody gets saved, you know, at a young age, which is not true.

We do have many wonderful examples of young people being wonderfully converted. If we believe that God is sovereign, then He can convert at any age, you know. Yes. So, I think that if there's some concern in our mind about knowing the way that family maybe approaches the whole issue of, you know, salvation, I think that we can lovingly express hope that what you're saying, that's really good news, and I'll be praying, you know, as God continues to work, and through the changed life, it just becomes so apparent that nobody would ever doubt it.

Yeah. You know, and so, let's say it's like a nephew or a niece in your family, you know, to write them a letter and to say kind things, but to point them to Christ, not as if they're lost, but not as if they're saved either, you know, rather saying, you know, you profess faith in Christ.

He is such a perfect Savior. This is what I found Him to be, and just talk about Christ. And if they are a believer, they'll grab hold of those facts and live on them, you know, at their level. And if they're not a believer, you know, in a sense, in time, they kind of shrug their shoulders and say, well, I already did all that, and it'll be made clear.

The same thing could, to some degree, be said about an adult that had to just be a child.

Right, right. Yeah, yeah. When we talk about new believers, we don't mean 7-year-olds. We mean a person who's recently embraced Christ, so it could be a 60-year-old. We really do appreciate being able to interact with you through the comments.

So if you have questions or just comments you'd like to leave, leave them below, and we'll get back to them as we have a chance.