Posts Tagged ‘confession of faith’

Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 16, Section 5

Monday, April 19th, 2010

In Luke 17, the rich young ruler asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replies by saying that no one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.

The young ruler responds by saying “All these I have kept since I was a boy.”

When Jesus heard this he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me.”

When the ruler heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth.
Today’s confession points us to this reality… God’s perfect law demands perfect obedience. Whatever good we think do in this life to fulfill God’s perfect law is tainted with sin… every good work that we do is merely fulfilling what God requires, so nothing we do can be called extra credit or bonus points to make up for past failures or earn us future glory eternal life.

Even as the rich young ruler thought “All these I have kept since I was a boy” Jesus points him back to the perfect law. We deceive ourselves if we think we can do over and above what God requires of us. In fact, we are merely doing our duty and we fall far short of God’s perfect standard.

We are reminded again that it is by God’s Spirit that we do good works and it is our abiding by faith in the perfect work of Jesus that makes us acceptable to God, not our works by themselves.

5. We cannot, by our best works, merit forgiveness for sin or eternal life at the hand of God. This is true because of the great disproportion between our best works and the glory to come, and because of the infinite distance between us and God. We cannot benefit God by our best works nor render satisfaction for the debt of our former sins, for when we have done all we can, we have done merely our duty and are unprofitable servants. This is because, insofar as they are good, these deeds proceed from the Spirit; and, insofar as they are done by us, they are defiled and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection that they cannot endure the severity of God’s judgment.

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Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 15, Section 6

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

To summarize the previous five sections concerning repentance:

1. It is a Gospel Grace meaning true repentance brings life. Godly Sorrow leads to repentance which leads to salvation. 2 Cor 7:10.

2. By repentance we mean hating sin and turning to Christ and seeking his mercy. In repenting we recognize that we are sinners, that it is only through Christ that we are righteous and only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can change.

3-4. We recognize the need for repentance and even daily repentance we are not mindful of the things of God. No sin so small that it does not deserve damnation nor any sin so great that it can bring damnation to those who truly repent.

5. Our repentance should be to repent of each particular sin particularly. Each specific sin reveals or is an indication of some part of our heart that is still captivated by something besides God.

As we close off Chapter 15, we note that God’s desire for repentance is not only in a right vertical relationship between God and man but also a right relationship horizontally, between man and man.

We see two aspects in this horizontal dimension of repentance:

The offender (the one who sins against his brother or the church) confessing his sin, and having sorrow for his sin, declaring his repentance to the offended party AND
The offended party being reconciled to the offender and receiving him in love.

We have few passages regarding horizontal repentance:

James 5:16 Confess your faults to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Matthew 5:23″Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

Matthew 18: 21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” 22Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven.
True repentance means confessing specific sins specifically, recognizing our fallen condition and that we all desperately need Christ and recognizing that those that sin against us also desperately need Christ. We are called to pray and forgive them when they fail and have them pray and forgive us when we fail. There is also a great urgency to do this quickly. We are not to let unconfessed sin nor unforgiveness linger or simmer as it will destroy relationships. True repentance leads to true worship and true fellowship.

As genuine repentance is the gift of Christ, its exercise is an indication that the person exercising it is forgiven by Christ.

We, then, as sons through faith in Christ, can have Shalom with our Father… wholeness and peace, reconciliation and love… just as Jesus had with his Father. This Shalom is what God desires for us to have with one another…

6. It is the duty of each one to make private confession of his sins to God, praying for pardon (and whoever confesses his sins, prays for forgiveness, and forsakes those sins shall find mercy). Similarly, anyone who has scandalized a brother, or the church of Christ, ought to be willing by private or public confession, and sorrow for his sin, to declare his repentance to those that are offended, who are then to be reconciled to him and receive him in love.

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Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 15, Section 1

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

Two responses of Christians to God’s salvation through Jesus Christ is faith and repentance.

Faith as we recall is belief and trust in the promise and work of Jesus Christ for salvation, Repentance is the turning away from sin and turning to God, it is the putting off sin and putting on righteousness.

Romans 2:4 says that it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. We recognize that repentance is a grace given to us from God. It is not something we can boast in because apart from Christ we cannot truly repent, it is a gift of God.

Today’s confession calls it a Gospel grace.

As Christians, God has given us the grace to turn away from sin and to turn to God. Because of this we must do this often as well as call others to repentance. Our lives must be lives of continual repentance of confessing our sins and turning to God. This is how we work out our salvation. That is why we have the confession of sin during our worship service every week.

Let’s read today’s confession acknowledging that it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance.

Repentance unto life is a gospel grace, the doctrine of which is to be preached by every minister of the gospel, just as is the doctrine of faith in Christ.
Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 15, Section 1

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Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter 3 Section 6

Monday, September 15th, 2008

I asked a friend, is it presumptuous that we proclaim God’s election? I’m not sure if it is presumptuous or not, but it should make us completely humble. Today’s confession provide a glimpse at who God is and how he operates. It should completely humble us as we affirm both God’s complete power over WHO is saved and HOW man is saved… as well as man’s complete inability to save himself.

This section of the confession teaches that God in determining the ends he intends to accomplish at the same time determines the means by which he intends to accomplish them; that God has determined that the elect shall be saved ordinarily by “effectual calling, justification, adoption, sanctification, and perseverance in grace.”

Our salvation in Christ is more than just the forgiveness of sins. Our union with Christ includes a new life in which God’s spirit is with us and sustains us, justification which is forgiveness of sins and imputation of Christ’s righteousness, we have new status as being adopted into God’s family, sanctification the process where God is continually making us holy, and finally our end is glorification with God. This all is the work of the God who will carry it on to completion.

May the elect be completely humbled when reading this portion of the confession of faith

(WCF Chapter 3 Section 6)

6. As God has appointed the elect to glory, so he has—by the eternal and most free purpose of his will—foreordained all the means to that end. Therefore, his chosen ones, all of them being fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ and are effectually called to faith in Christ by his Spirit working in due season. They are justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by his power, through faith, unto salvation. No others are redeemed by Christ, effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and saved, except the elect only.

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Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter 3 Section 1

Sunday, June 29th, 2008

Chapter 3: Of God’s eternal decree
God, from all eternity, did—by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will—freely and unchangeably ordain whatever comes to pass. Yet he ordered all things in such a way that he is not the author of sin, nor does he force his creatures to act against their wills; neither is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.

— The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 3, Sect. 1 (Modern English Version)

This week we will begin studying Chapter 3 of the Westminster Confession of Faith. This chapter is entitled “Of God’s Eternal Decree”

Note first that the word “decree” in the title is singular. God has one all-encompassing decree, which originated from eternity and has remained unchanged. God did not have to make any new decrees or backup plans.

In today’s confession, God’s decree is described as being wise, free, and holy:

1. First, it is WISE because God’s decree is in harmony with God’s perfect wisdom.
2. God’s decree is FREE because it is not constrained or influenced by anything outside of God’s nature. God ordained whatsoever comes to pass according to the counsel of his will.
3. And God’s decree is HOLY in that it is in harmony with his perfect holiness and utterly free of sin.

So to summarize God’s decree, it is according to his own holy purposes, guided by his own perfect wisdom, without necessity or influence from outside forces, and all without the possibility of revision.

However, when we look at God’s eternal decree, we have to guard against two errors:

1) God’s decree does not make God the author of sin/responsible for sin (even though there is sin in the world, he is not author of sin) and
2) God’s foreordination does not remove man’s responsibility for his own sin.

The Bible clearly establishes both truths: God’s foreordination and man’s responsibility. We recognize that God is holy and sin is a violation of God’s holy will and his holy character. Fallen man alone is responsible for his sin. And people sin freely out of their own freewill according to their own nature, without any external influences or compulsion (or what the confession calls “second causes”). God’s decree does not violate free will but instead establishes it.

The Bible clearly establishes both truths: 1) God’s foreordination and 2) man’s responsibility for his own sin and actions. And we affirm this in our confession today.

Let me now leave you with some good news, because if man is left to his own responsibility, there would be no hope. As part of God’s eternal decree, He knew that his people would fall, so he chose his people in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless in Christ. As part of God’s eternal purpose, He sent Jesus Christ into this world at just the right time to save his people.

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