1689 2nd LBCF Chap 11 & 12

Okay, this morning we're picking up our study of the Confession of Faith in Chapter 11. Every time I come to Chapter 11, I get a little kick out of it because in bankruptcy law, Chapter 11 is bankruptcy, and we come to justification, and the reason I laugh about it is because if you look at our spiritual condition before Christ, we are completely bankrupt, so I just find a little irony in that, but again, remember, I want to remind you of the order of the confession.

Notice we've gone through, you know, the fall of man, Christ the mediator, we've talked about effectual calling, et cetera, and so the next logical subject is justification, and I'll just put the scripture proofs right on up there, let me read what it says.

Justification by Faith Alone

Those whom God effectually calls, he also freely justifies, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins and accounting and accepting their persons as righteous, not for anything wrought in them or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone, not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness, but by imputing Christ's act of obedience unto the whole law, and passive obedience in his death for their whole and sole righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God.

Okay, this is one of those confessions, again, that makes this specifically a Protestant confession, where you look in that first line, God effectually calls, those whom he effectually calls, he freely justifies, not by infusing righteousness into them, that phrase is put in there specifically to refute the Catholic doctrine.

The Roman Catholic doctrine is that God saves us by infusing righteousness into us, and that ties in with the fact that they also teach that because that righteousness is infused into them, it can be depleted, it can leave them, all right, which is why they have the ongoing acts of penance and confession, et cetera, because as leaky vessels, so to speak, that righteousness leaves, and you have to constantly rebuild that righteousness, and that's by acts of contrition, et cetera.

So, that's why this phrase is in there specifically, not by infusing righteousness. Our doctrine of how righteousness comes to us is by imputation, all right? We are justified by imputation of Christ's righteousness, and that's what this paragraph specifically says.

Notice it goes on, it's by parting sins, accounting, and accepting the persons as righteous, not for anything in us or done by us. This is, again, grace alone. You can see how this comes right from the scripture.

By grace alone are we saved, all right? How? For Christ's sake, and notice, again, this next line, not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other obedience to them, but by Christ's act of obedience.

That's the imputation. It's what Christ has done. Those acts are what is imputed, or what are imputed to us, and what, in fact, justifies us, okay? Now, this confession was obviously written long before the modern word of faith movement, but it refutes that as well, because what the modern word of faith movement teaches is that it's faith, it's our faith that justifies us, and nothing could be further from the truth.

It is the imputation of Christ's righteousness that saves us, not our faith. Our faith is what brings us to that place, all right, but it doesn't save us, and, in fact, the word of faith movement actually starts to teach, it gets very convoluted.

They say, well, you'd have to have faith in your faith, all right? We were talking around the table this morning, just a few moments ago, and talking about how the word of faith movement so contradicts the Bible, all right, in this sense of faith that they won't even pray.

In fact, if you pray this way, they will reprimand you. Thy will be done. If you pray a prayer in front of somebody who's part of the word of faith movement, you say, nevertheless, Lord, your will be done.

They will vehemently object to that. That's a faith killer, they say, all right? Of course, we know that's the only prayer that is efficacious, is the prayer that is prayed in the will of God. We've gone through that on our Sunday morning service here, just in the last couple of months.

We talked about how the prayer in faith is the one that is prayed in the will of God, prayed in the name of Jesus, all right? So, this paragraph actually refutes the modern word of faith movement as well.

So, it's specifically standing against the Roman Catholic doctrine of infused righteousness, and by showing that we believe in imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, and his whole obedience, both passively and actively, all right?

And the last phrase is very important, which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God. Even the faith we have to believe, all right, is a gift of God. Okay, let's move to the next paragraph.

Sorry, come on in. It's not a, this is very informal there. This is not, you know, it's okay. We have a minute. Okay, paragraph two of chapter 11, again, is just an expansion upon our doctrine. Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification, yet it is not alone in the person justified.

It is ever accompanied by, accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but works by love. Okay, again, this is a very important one. If you remember, well, let me, let me ask you if you do.

Does any of you remember that Martin Luther had a particular problem with one book of the Bible? In fact, he went so far as to say that he didn't think it belonged in the Canada Scripture. Anybody know what he's referring to?

Martin Luther didn't like the book of James. Okay, remember in the book of James, James is saying that, you know, you say you have, you say you have faith, you know, faith alone, that's good, but I'm going to show you my faith by my works.

And he goes so far as to say that faith without works is dead. Martin Luther hated that because he was so careful to try to preserve the doctrine of justification by faith alone that he didn't want you to add anything to it.

Okay, and so he, he, he just, he hated the book of James. Of course, our understanding of the book of James is in no way contradictory to salvation by grace through faith alone. And that's what this portion of the confession deals with.

Notice, even though it is by faith alone, that's the only instrument of our justification. All right, it is always accompanied by other saving graces. In other words, how do you know that your faith is real?

By the works that accompany it. Are you saved by that faith plus the works? No, but the works are a demonstration that the faith is in fact real. Does everybody follow that? There's a difference between, it's not faith and works.

It's not works that lead to faith. It's faith that are demonstrated by your works. Big difference. Okay, everybody understand that? Okay, so we come now to chapter, paragraph three of chapter 11. Christ, by his obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are justified and did by the sacrifice himself in the blood of his cross, undergoing in those that the penalty due unto them, make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God's justice in their behalf.

Christ’s Real Satisfaction for Sin

Now, notice, one of the charges leveled against us, especially as reformed theologians and reformed Christians, by the Roman Catholic churches, they claim that our doctrine of justification by faith alone, that we are positionally perfect.

They call it a legal fiction. All right, they say, how can you be declared just and yet still remain a sinner? All right, Martin Luther summed it up in a Latin phrase. He said, simul justus et peccator.

Okay, that means simultaneously, at the same time, righteous, but sinner. And we know that. We know that we're justified by faith, but we all know, every one of us knows, we still sin. All right, and that's the doctrine that the Roman Catholic church comes against us by saying that, no, if you're saying that you are truly justified and you can never lose that, but yet you're still sinning, that's a legal fiction.

That can't be. This section of the confession, notice what it says, make a proper, real, and full satisfaction of God's justice. In other words, Christ actually paid the price. What you and I deserve as penalty for our sin, Christ really and truly took upon himself on the cross.

It wasn't just symbolic. All right, so we have a lot of symbols in the Christian religion. Some authorized, some not authorized, but you know, like the bread and the wine at communion, those are symbols.

We understand that. All right, God does use those and as we partake of them, they are a means of grace as we do that, but the penalty that Christ bore on the cross was real and in full satisfaction to the justice of God.

That's why it's no legal fiction because the price was paid. In fact, I can go so far as to say that if God were to hold us responsible for our sin once we have been justified by the blood of Jesus Christ, God would be guilty of double jeopardy.

You follow? So, it's not merely a symbolic act that he did. He really and truly paid the price for our sin. He agonized on that cross. I mean, so much so that he cries out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Okay, and that's what this part of the confession is talking about. It says, yet inasmuch as he was given by the Father for them and his obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead both freely, not for anything in them, their justification is only a free grace that both the exact justice and rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners.

Basically, what the confession is saying is while it is still real, he paid the price, the price of that sin is imputed to us only by his free grace. So, it's both the satisfaction of the law and the free grace offered in Christ.

So, it's both grace and law. One of the things that we see in Scripture that refutes a lot of today's Arminianism and dispensationalism that's in the church is they make a big distinction between law and grace, law and grace, you know, like the two have nothing to do with one another.

But in Christ, we see the importance of understanding the relationship of law and grace. The law of God needs to be obeyed. Any disobedience to the law of God requires a penalty, all right? So, therefore, when Christ died on the cross, he paid the real price for that sin and then he has the option, all right?

The authority is a better word, not option. He has the authority to give that redemption to whomever he pleases. That's where it's free grace. He doesn't look down the corridors of time and find out, well, let's see, this person is worthy of it, that person is worthy of it.

No, no one is worthy of his grace. That's why it's free grace, okay? And that's what the confession is talking about, so that at the same time, in fact, I do this a lot of times when I'm teaching, you know, Bible classes and we get to this topic and I'll say, how many people here, you know, were saved by keeping the law, all right?

And, of course, nobody raises their hand. And then I'll say, well, you all were. Trick question. You all were. You were saved by Christ keeping the law. If Christ didn't keep the law, you'd still be dead in your trespasses and sin.

But his keeping the law, because he kept the law and earned that righteousness as the God man, and again, remember, this ties into what we've been studying in the Sunday morning service in the Gospel of John.

Remember, we have to always keep in mind the dual natures of Christ, the two natures, all right? As the second person of the Trinity, Christ was, is, and always will be God. Never diminished in any way, never changed in any way, because as God, he can't change.

He can never be diminished. He never gave up anything in his divine nature. But he earned, remember, we looked at this, he earned the right to ask for the glory of God, be to be communicated to him because of his obedience as the God man.

We're going to look at something similar to that again this morning. All right. So it's that it's the fact that Christ as a man was our redeemer and he had to be because Adam who transgressed was a man.

And Paul says in Romans 1 Corinthians 15 that by sin, but through one man's sin entered into the world by one man's sin was paid for. Does everybody follow that? It's you can never forget the uniqueness of the person of Jesus Christ.

If for one minute you lose the fact that he was fully God and then or lose the fact that he was fully human, you will wind up in some sort of heresy. Okay? All right. Let's go. Paragraph four, God did from all eternity decree to justify all the elect and did Christ did in the fullness of time die for their sins and rise again for the justification.

Nevertheless, they are not justified personally until the Holy Spirit does in due time actually apply Christ unto them. Okay. This is important for a couple of reasons. Number one, it's what truly makes us a reformed church.

The doctrine of election is probably one of the most hotly debated subjects in the church of Jesus Christ today and has been ever since the days of the reformation. All right. But it's clearly what the scripture teaches in eternity past.

This is that covenant of redemption that the Trinity entered into long before the foundation of the world was, uh, was made and God elected a people for himself. Christ had to come and actually die for them.

And the Holy Spirit applies the work of Christ to the individual. All right. But notice, even though you and I, those, those in this room who are truly Christians from all eternity, God had set his affection upon you yet until that time actually came in time and in history, when the merits of Christ were applied to you, you were still a child of wrath.

What Paul says that very clearly, we were children of wrath, just as the rest, he says. Okay. So even though it was certain, there is no way that if you were the elect of God, there is no way that you could not have been born again because it was decreed by God that you would be saved.

But even with that being said, there's still had to come a place in time and history for you to hear the gospel, the Holy Spirit, regenerating your heart and giving you the gift of faith that you could believe and repent.

That time had to come just like Christ is declared to be the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. There was no way that Christ was not going to go to that cross. There is no possibility that he was not going to pay for your sins.

But until the fact that he came and actually did it, the cross was not efficacious. That's why, and this is again, getting back to the covenant. This is why we have the view of the covenant that we do.

The new covenant came in Christ's blood when he actually fulfilled the terms of the covenant by dying on the cross. This is one of our problems with the Presbyterians. They say, no, the covenant of grace began in the garden after the fall.

And we say, no, that's the old covenant. Okay. Because Christ actually had to come in time and in history and do it. That's when the new covenant came into effect. However, all the old Testament saints were saved because they believed the promise of the new covenant.

That's what Hebrews 11 is all about. All those old Testament saints. In fact, we're going to get to that later on in this same chapter. Stoning that old covenant saints, new covenant saints were all saved in the same way by the blood of Christ.

There's never, there's not two different ways. That's our big problem with dispensationalism is they make a separate covenant for the, for the Jew and a separate covenant for the church. It's not what the scripture teaches.

Questions on that? Paragraph five, God does continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified. And although they can never fall from the state of justification, yet they may, by their sins fall under God's fatherly displeasure.

And in that condition, they have not usually the light of count of his countenance restored unto them until they humble themselves, confess their sins, beg pardon, and renew their faith and repentance.

Perseverance of the Saints and Fatherly Discipline

Here's our doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. If you're saved, you can never lose that. Can you stray far from it and back into gross sin? Absolutely. What happens at that point? God doesn't cast you out.

He disciplines you as a father. All right. And you can actually lose the, they call it the light of his countenance. If you ever see a Christian who is in disobedience, you can, you can almost see it on their face because having known the grace of God and have an experience, they know that they don't have it.

And it's a terrible thing to be, to be in that condition as a, as a true believer. All right. And they will not receive that the light of his countenance until they confess their sins, beg pardon, and then renew their faith and with, with repentance.

That's why every Sunday in my, in my prayer of invocation. Okay. What do I do? I give you all an opportunity, quiet meditation. You're coming into worship. We all know we've sinned this week. You know, when, when I'm standing up there and I, I'm confessing my sins just like you guys are.

Okay. And, and asking for forgiveness because the promises, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins. And that particular verse is written to Christians that really is not calling for salvation.

That's calling for renewal of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Many other places where it calls for to the non-Christian, but that's not one of them. Okay. And there's our scripture references. Okay.

Here we go. Paragraph six, the justification of believers under the old Testament was in all these respects, one in the same with the justification of believers in the new Testament. There's our scripture references.

This is not talking about the terms of the covenant. It's talking about how a person is saved. All right. Again, we make a sharp distinction between the old and the new covenant. Why do we make it? Let me ask you that.

Why do we make a sharp distinction between the old and new covenant? As we, as we go, that's the answer I was looking for. Because Jesus said it. Jesus said it very clearly. This is the new covenant in my blood.

And then when you go to Jeremiah 31, 31, you know, he says, I will make a new covenant with my people, not like the old one, which they broke. So there's a, the scripture itself teaches is a sharp distinction between the old covenant and the new covenant.

Okay. But that doesn't mean that people were saved differently under the old covenant. They just had to look forward to the promise of the new covenant and believe Abraham believed that it was reckoned unto him as righteousness.

Okay. Final questions on chapter 11. And I think we do have time. Yes, we definitely have time to go to chapter 12. So let's pause this for a second. All right. We're moving now to chapter up. That's supposed to be chapter 12.

I made a mistake on the slide of adoption. There's only one paragraph in this part of the confession. So let's look at it. All right. And again, notice the progression. All right. You're justified. Okay.

Okay. We're justified. And what happens when we're justified? We're adopted. So look at this paragraph, all those that are justified, God vouchsafed in and for the of his only son, Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of adoption by which they are taken into the number and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God, have his name put upon them, receive the spirit of adoption, have access to the throne of grace with boldness, are enabled to cry, Abba, father, are pitied, protected, provided for and chastened by him as a father, yet never cast off, but seal to the day of redemption and inherit the promises as heirs of everlasting salvation.

Adoption as Sons and Daughters of God

All right. This is a precious, precious doctrine. And I never really grasped this one fully until I adopted my own children. It became just so much more real to me. I can remember sitting in Ukraine. My wife and children had come over with us.

You know, we went over as a family to adopt our first child and we had already gone through the proceedings, et cetera, and my family went home. So I was alone in Ukraine, didn't speak Russian. And so I spent a lot of time in the word on my computer.

And I started to study this doctrine. It just hit me. We were adopting a child and this is such a precious, precious doctrine because what God does is he takes us from being his enemies and brings us into his family and gives us all the blessings that his only begotten son, Jesus Christ has accrued.

And we share in that doctrine, in all of those blessings as though we were born into his family. And so when we were adopting our child, I can't tell you how it works. I can only tell you what my experience was.

When we first saw Julia, we hadn't even met her yet, saw her coming. She was walking probably two, 300 feet away. They were bringing her from the office. They were going to bring her over and she was walking with a caregiver and I can describe what she was wearing.

She was wearing a red dress with white polka dots on it. She had her long brown hair in a ponytail. And as she was walking, the ponytail was bobbing up and down. From two, 300 feet away, we all looked at each other and we knew that was our daughter.

Knew it. And I'm not mystical. You know, I'm not saying that this was some sign. No, we just, it was one of those things. And then when we met her, there was no question. All right. And as you know, she's been with us.

She's now 27 years old. She was nine at that time. She's now has her own baby. All right. Married, happily married. And we don't look at her any differently than the four natural children we have. And again, I can't describe to you how that happens, but it's just absolutely true.

And that's the way God looks at us that when, when I was studying this, sitting in that apartment in Ukraine, this just all came to me. I says, that's what God has done to us. And he looks at us, no difference.

Now here's, and these are some of the things that really blew me away. When I started to understand this doctrine. When Christ looks at you, if you're a true believer, all right. He looks at you with the same love as Jesus Christ.

That almost, and when you first hear that, it sounds heretical. All right. Because wait a minute, how can he love me the same way he loves Jesus Christ, the perfect son of God, because that's what the scripture says, because he sees in us, because everything that he sees in us has been imputed to us by Jesus Christ.

Not only that, but the love that he looks at you with, that he, that he holds you with can never increase and it can never decrease because it's perfect love. The same way the love for Christ can never grow, can never wane because it is perfect love.

And that's sealed by the fact that he looks at us. We are now his very sons, his very daughters. That just blows me away. We need to understand these doctrines, because if you understand that, it should affect how you live your life.

I don't know how it cannot. Okay. So we are taken into his number, enjoy the liberties, the privileges of the children of God. Have his name put upon us. All right. That's the name of Christ. All right.

We have access to the throne of grace with boldness, not arrogance, but boldness. We boldly come before the throne of grace. Some people today teach boldness as like arrogance, like we're going to demand things from God.

No, an obedient child doesn't come and demand things from his parents. He comes and asks. Our children ask us with confidence. Why? Because they know we love them. You know. All right. And that's the same way we come with boldness before the throne of grace, because he's told us, whatever you ask in my name, I'm going to give it to you.

All right. We receive the spirit of adoption, have access to the throne of grace with boldness, and able to cry, Abba, Father. And again, Abba is a familial way of saying father. There's disputes over how personal it can be.

But as I've talked to Jewish people that I know, most Jewish people use it in a very familial sense, like daddy or dad. But it is that personal relationship. And our pity protected, provided for, chastened by him, yet never cast off.

And we inherit the promises of the years of everlasting salvation. All of that is through Christ. To me, this is one of the most amazing doctrines as to how it affects me personally, and how I view God, and how I think, and hopefully acting in accordance with it.

Like I said, this is a short chapter. There's only one paragraph, but it's loaded. Any questions on this doctrine? The doctrine of adoption. Okay.