Consistent with thy Eternal Counsels

How do we pray as believers who trust in God’s eternal decrees? According the the Westminster Shorter Catechism, “The decrees of God are his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath fore-ordained whatsoever comes to pass”. Do we always just pray “if it is your will?” Sometimes that becomes a trite phrase due to constant repetition - is there not a richer way to pray?

In Valley of Vision there is a portion of a prayer titled “The All Good” that expands on praying for God’s will.

If it be consistent with thy eternal counsels,
the purpose of thy grace,
and the great ends of thy glory,
then bestow upon me the blessings of thy comforts;
If not, let me resign myself to
thy wiser determinations.

February 8, 2006  |  Permalink   |  Comments (0)   |  TrackBack (0)

Election & Calvinism

Here is part of an intriguing post of one Pastor’s journey from Arminianism to Calvinism:

I was also exposed to the results of “decisional” conversions. I can remember preaching one evening of a revival service (no comments please) and when it came to the invitation (again, no comments), I was able to get seventeen people to come forward. As they came, I asked them why they were coming. Few could communicate a clear answer. To my knowledge, none profess Christ to this day. I was shaken. My approach to ministry was shaken. I returned to my study the next week with different questions in my mind. Thank God for the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit through His word.

Read the whole thing at Coming to Calvinism - A Personal Journey (2 parts).

Reformation Theology has a wealth of information on Election and Predestination. Here is a great quote they posted today:

After giving a brief survey of these doctrines of sovereign grace, I asked for questions from the class. One lady, in particular, was quite troubled. She said, 'This is the most awful thing I've ever heard! You make it sound as if God is intentionally turning away men and women who would be saved, receiving only the elect.' I answered her in this vein: 'You misunderstand the situation. You're visualizing that God is standing at the door of heaven, and men are thronging to get in the door, and God is saying to various ones, 'Yes, you may come, but not you, and you, but not you, etc.' The situation is hardly this. Rather, God stands at the door of heaven with His arms outstretched, inviting all to come. Yet all men without exception are running in the opposite direction towards hell as hard as they can go. So God, in election, graciously reaches out and stops this one, and that one, and this one over here, and that one over there, and effectually draws them to Himself by changing their hearts, making them willing to come. Election keeps no one out of heaven who would otherwise have been there, but it keeps a whole multitude of sinners out of hell who otherwise would have been there. Were it not for election, heaven would be an empty place, and hell would be bursting at the seams. That kind of response, grounded as I believe that it is in Scriptural truth, does put a different complexion on things, doesn't it? If you perish in hell, blame yourself, as it is entirely your fault. But if you should make it to heaven, credit God, for that is entirely His work! To Him alone belong all praise and glory, for salvation is all of grace, from start to finish. - Mark Webb

Born and raised on the Scofield Reference Bible, having walked down the aisle many times, railing at God for not letting everyone in - by God’s grace and the work of the Holy Spirit I’m finally beginning to see the “joy of my salvation”. The doctrines of Election and Predestination, the books of Romans and Ephesians, the work of the Spirit have pointed the way. Glory be to God!

February 3, 2006  |  Permalink   |  Comments (0)   |  TrackBack (0)

Westminster around the Web

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted. We’ve been studying God’s Eternal Decree. A difficult area that has taken me full-time to the books. Even in 4 weeks - we left so much to uncover. Maybe next time....

Meanwhile - for deeper study on the Infralapsarianism and Supralapsarianism issue this link will get you started. Here Jason Robertson has posted some helpful charts and lists. Make sure you click on the B. B. Warfield chart at the bottom. Don’t spend to long on this - your brain may cramp up!

Over at this same blog Fide-o - I found this interesting quote:

There, I am persuaded, I shall see dear Mr. Wesley convinced of election and everlasting love. And it often fills me with pleasure to think how I shall behold you casting your crown down at the feet of the Lamb, and as it were filled with a holy blushing for opposing the divine sovereignty in the manner you have done.
-- excerpt of the famous letter from Whitfield to Wesley

At one of my favorite blogs, Reformation Theology, Rev. John Samson posts on Ordo Salutis in the Reformed and Arminian camps. He effectively shows the difference between the placement of regeneration and faith.

Lastly, I can’t recommend enough some of Sovereign Grace Ministries music. Today we listened to The Look - which reminds of Christ’s pure atoning grace. I really like 2 CD’s, Songs for the Cross Centered Life and Upward: The Bob Kauflin Hymns Project. You can listen to clips of all the songs at their website. They are also available in ITunes.

That’s it for God’s Eternal Decree - so much to say, but almost impossible to blog about. As we move on to Creation and Providence expect more!

February 2, 2006  |  Permalink   |  Comments (0)

Is Judas Misunderstood?

According to The Times, Judas Iscariot is undergoing an extreme makeover by the Catholic Church.

Judas the Misunderstood - Europe - Times Online:

The proposed “rehabilitation” of the man who was paid 30 pieces of silver to identify Jesus to Roman soldiers in the Garden of Gethsemane, comes on the ground that he was not deliberately evil, but was just “fulfilling his part in God’s plan”.

Christians have traditionally blamed Judas for aiding and abetting the Crucifixion, and his name is synonymous with treachery. According to St Luke, Judas was “possessed by Satan”.

Now, a campaign led by Monsignor Walter Brandmuller, head of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Science, is aimed at persuading believers to look kindly at a man reviled for 2,000 years.

What does this have to do with Westminster Confession and God's Eternal Decree? We read in Chapter 3, section I - IV and VII:

I. God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.

II. Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass upon all supposed conditions; yet has He not decreed anything because He foresaw it as future, or as that which would come to pass upon such conditions.

III. By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life; and others foreordained to everlasting death.

IV. These angels and men, thus predestinated, and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or diminished.

VII. The rest of mankind God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of His own will, whereby He extends or withholds mercy, as He pleases, for the glory of His sovereign power over His creatures, to pass by; and to ordain them to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praised of His glorious justice.

These sections deal with God's sovereignty, God's election and predestination, God's foreordination, the reprobate, man's free-will and man's responsibility, and finally God's mercy.

R.C. Sproul in Essentials Truths of the Christian Faith states the Judas was no less evil or treacherous just because God ordained that Jesus be betrayed by Judas. Sproul sums up God's sovereignty over Judas in this way:

His laws, whether they be found in the Scripture or in the heart, are binding. We have no authority to violate this will. We have the power or ability to thwart the preceptive will of God, though never the right to do so. Nor can we excuse ourselves for sinning by saying, "Que sera, sera." It may be God's sovereign or hidden will that we be "permitted" to sin, as he brings His sovereign will to pass even through and by means of the sinful acts of people. God ordained that Jesus be betrayed by the instrument of Judas's treachery. Yet this makes Judas's sin no less evil or treacherous. When God "permits" us to break His preceptive will, it is not to be understood as permission in the moral sense of His granting us a moral right. His permission gives us the power, but not the right to sin.

The Times goes on to report:

Father Allen Morris, Christian Life and Worship secretary for the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales, said: “If Christ died for all — is it possible that Judas too was redeemed through the Master he betrayed?” The “rehabilitation” of Judas could help the Pope’s drive to improve Christian-Jewish relations, which he has made a priority of his pontificate.

Other than a strange turn into political correctness, what else does this statement say? It says that - Christ died for all - even the reprobate Judas. However, Jesus knew that Judas did not have a genuine faith. Jesus says, " Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?" (John 6:70). John later wrote in the same chapter of his gospel that "Jesus knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that would betray him" (John 6:64). Christ died for the elect - clearly not for Judas. Judas’ betrayal was said to be according to Scripture (Acts 1:16; John 17:12), but God does not hold him any less responsible for it. Man is responsible for their sins, the wages of sin must be paid. Christ's life of obedience and death on the cross paid that price, for those he has chosen.

Lastly, the Times says:

Signor Messori said that the rehabilitation of Judas would “resolve the problem of an apparent lack of mercy by Jesus toward one of his closest collaborators”.

Lack of mercy by Jesus??? Let's close by looking how this "rehabilitation of Judas" is what Luther called "Mistress Reason", a mistress that has a strong grip on this world:

"Reason will insist that these are not the acts of a good and merciful God. They are too far beyond her grasp; and she cannot bring herself to believe that the God Who acts and judges thus is good; she wants to shut out faith, and to see, and feel, and understand, how it is that He is good and not cruel. She would certainly understand, were it said of God that He hardens none and damns none, but has mercy on all and saves all, so that hell is destroyed, and the fear of death may be put away, and no future punishment need be dreaded!"

"[I]f God foreknew that Judas would be a traitor, Judas became a traitor of necessity, and it was not in the power of Judas or of any creature to act differently, or to change his will, from that which God had foreseen. It is true that Judas acted willingly, and not under compulsion, but his willing was the work of God, brought into being by His omnipotence, like everything else. . . .If you do not allow that the thing which God foreknows is necessarily brought to pass, you take away faith and the fear of God, you undermine all the Divine promises and threatenings, and so you deny Deity itself!" The Bondage of the Will, Martin Luther

This is a strong statement in favor of maintaining God's sovereign will over even evil events and actions such as Judas Iscariot's betrayal of Jesus. I don't believe Judas is misunderstood!

Technorati Tags: God's Eternal Decree, luther, Westminster

January 13, 2006  |  Permalink   |  Comments (0)

God's Eternal Decree - Chapter 3

Back from our Christmas break - it's time to move on to Chapter 3 - God's Eternal Decree. This is a glorious and difficult chapter. Glorious because it reminds us of God's sovereign election, difficult because it affirms that some are foreordained to everlasting death. But, this is just a part of God's Eternal Decree. It will be a full and rich study. After Chapter 3, we will be reminded how much more we owe to God's grace and mercy, more than we ever realized.

Memory Verse for Chapter 3: Ephesians 1:3-6

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Westminster Shorter Catechism question 7:

Q: What are the decrees of God?
A: The decrees of God are, his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.

Hymn: When this Passing World is Done - Trinity Hymnal, p. 545

Technorati Tags: Westminster

January 13, 2006  |  Permalink   |  Comments (0)   |  TrackBack (0)