HAPPY FATHERS DAY

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

In honor of Fathers Day, I put a picture of my four wonderful kids. These four people have been a tremendous blessing to me since their birth. God's true gift to a father is the love of his children. I will be on the road for fathers day visiting my own father in Eastern Kansas, so I will not be posting anything new this weekend, but I will try to put the next installment of the London Confession up when I get back.

Happy Fathers Day to all of you dads out there...count your blessings. For those of you who are not fathers, give thanks for the dad he has given you. At the very least thank God for the Father that your Heavenly Father is to us. He is all we need, even if we are without an earthly Father, our Father in Heaven is there for us at all times.

God bless you all

Jeff

LONDON CONFESSION OF 1644, ARTICLE V

[Yes, another photo from one of the trails I have hiked. This one is a hike that my daughter Rebekah did while she was visiting over the Christmas holiday this last year. It is a rock outcropping on the Waldo Canyon Trail.]

I am posting Article V without comment for the time being. Feel free to comment in the mean time. I would invite you to take the few bible references at the bottom and look for the language used in the bible reference in the article itself. I think you will be amazed at just how biblical the thinking was in that day. This biblical language came out of the people in their speech, their writings and their thoughts. They were deeply steeped in the vernacular and phraseology of scripture.
(See highlights)

All mankind being thus fallen, and become altogether dead in sins and trespasses, and subject to the eternal wrath of the great God by transgression; yet the elect, which God has(1) loved with an everlasting love, are(2) redeemed, quickened, and saved, not by themselves, neither by their own works, lest any man should boast himself, but wholly and only by God of(3) His free grace and mercy through Jesus Christ, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, that as it is written he that rejoices, let him rejoice in the Lord.

1) Jer. 31:2
2) Gen 3:15; Eph. 1:3, 7; 2:4, 9; 1 Thes. 5:9; Acts 13:38
3) 1 Cor.5:21; Jer. 9:23, 24

WHY A CONFESSION?

Some may wonder why read study or discuss a creed confession or any other digest of biblical teachings. I believe that these historic documents divulge to us what our predecessors believed. It is instructive and even encouraging to see how their thought process worked. In the Baptist tradition; Baptists have not historically been a creedal nor a confessional denomination. But throughout history it has at times been necessary to identify what you believed so as to avoid persecution confusion or other misunderstanding. The London Baptist Confession of 1644 is no different. The Baptists at that time needed to identify how they viewed the scripture and declare where they stood. Below is a quote that, I think, very clearly defines the difference between a confession and a creed.

"A confession is voluntary and serves to inform, educate, and inspire; a creed is required and serves to discipline and exclude. A confession offers guidelines under the authority of Scripture; a creed tends to become binding authority, in subtle ways displacing the Bible."

H. Leon McBeth

The reason I like this particular confession is that the very words of the confession very closely mirror the words of scripture themselves. I would encourage any who are interested to look at the particular articles and the scripture references and see how closely the 1644 Baptists explanation were with the very words of scripture themselves.

LONDON CONFESSION OF 1644, ARTICLE IV

This forth article starts out with the glories of the creation. That God in the beginning created all things and declared them to be “Very Good”. That man himself was created in that beautiful image and likeness of God himself. In citing Ecclesiastes 7:29

“Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.”

We see the pattern from creation to the fall. “God hath made man upright…” But in his desire for self he has “…sought out many inventions.” It is the inventions of man that got us in trouble in the garden and that continued to this day to be our downfall. We invent a God after our own image rather than fall in worship to a god who transcends man. We invent a religion of works dependent on the will of man, and yet these 17th century Baptists knew full well that “Salvation is of the Lord”…and so they boldly proclaimed. We have a tendency to blame Adam for our sinful nature once we have come to accept that he stood in our place in the garden. But we would have done no better. As Ecc 7:29 states, “God hath made man upright”, the word for “Man” in that verse is the same root Hebrew word that is translated Adam. It is Adam who was made upright, had we been there to represent our self we could have fared no better. Since that day none have been created upright, but have been conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity. We are standing in peril of the judgment of the very sin that we want to deny. We must come to grips with that sin by way of repentance, agree with God about that sin and see that our nature is bound in sin until he looses it. At that time we can then find the satisfaction for that sin in the person of Jesus Christ who also stood in my stead and place when he died for those very sins that I could not pay for. He (the second Adam) has set in motion a new creation to restore to even better than the original the place of man in relationship to God. The fall is a tragic event that we cannot gloss over and must not take lightly. But it was an event that did not take God by surprise and he has more than satisfied the need for restoration and reconciliation in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
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ARTICLE IV

(1) In the beginning God made all things very good, created man after His own(2) image and likeness, filling him with all perfection of all natural excellency and uprightness, free from all sin.(3) But long he abode not in this honor, but by the (4) subtlety of the Serpent, which Satan used as his instrument, himself with his angels having sinned before and not(5) kept their first estate, but left their own habitation; first(6) Eve, then Adam being seduced did wittingly and willingly fall into disobedience and transgression of the Commandment of their great Creator, for the which death came upon all, and reigned over all, so that all since the Fall are conceived in sin, and brought forth in iniquity, and so by nature children of wrath, and servants of sin, subjects of(7) death, and all other calamities due to sin in this world and for ever, being considered in the state of nature, without relation to Christ.

1) Gen. 1; Col. 1:16; Heb. 11:3; Isa. 45:12
2) Gen. 1:26; 1 Cor. 15:45-46; Ecc. 7:29
3) Psa. 49:20
4) Gen. 3:1, 4, 5; 2 Cor. 11:3
5) 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6; John 8:44
6) Gen. 3:1, 2, 6; 1 Tim. 2:14; Ecc. 7:29; Gal. 3:32
7) Rom. 5:12, 18, 19; 6:23; Eph. 2:3

VICIOUS ANIMAL ENVOUNTERED ON THE TRAIL

While Hannah, Annika and I were hiking the 12 kilometer trail in Garden of the Gods we encountered a very vicious and hungry wild cat. The sneaker is all that is left of Hannah. It was a harrowing event. We found out later that the killer feline was named "Moshie" and that he liked to wear patriotic bandanas.

LONDON CONFESSION OF 1644, ARTICLE III

[Picture is of a waterfall in Medicine Park, Oklahoma. I took this photo while visiting this past February.]



One of the precious truths of Article III is the idea of God’s “Decree”. The decree of God it will be noted was treated by these early Baptists as a singular not plural issue; that which issued forth from God in his complete and Holy sovereignty. This decree includes all things that are to come to pass, that God the eternal king rules over all the affairs of men. What comfort this brings to the believer, what faith this builds in a God whose will cannot be thwarted by the will, whiles and ways of man. Gods will shall stand as the clear statement of the first proof text of this article:

“Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do ALL MY PLEASURE.” Isaiah 46:10

Many object to the idea that God’s sovereignty extends even to the salvation of men. This it is argued limits the ability of man to come to faith in Jesus Christ. And yet It is exactly this sovereignty that allows ANY at all to be saved from their sin and enjoy the mercy, grace and majesty that is the king of kings.

To argue that man is somehow overpowering the almighty by his own will, results in the complete dethroning of God and makes man the ultimate sovereign. Any thing that can hold sway or influence by way of power over another is by definition sovereign over that other.

The harsh truth is that God chooses whom he will have mercy upon and upon whom he will harden (see Romans 9:9-24). This decree not only results in the salvation of the elect:...

“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love”. Ephesians 1:4.

...That this salvation is completely a work of God apart from the work merit or will of man is the inescapable and wonderful truth that flows from this eternal decree. But also this decree includes a basic teaching that there are some who are not elect. Who are these you may well ask. The confession refers to them as “The rest”. That is those that are not foreordained to eternal life. This is a difficult truth but one in which we find a great motive and driving force behind true evangelism. We are limited as men and we do not presume to know who the elect are, so we courageously and obediently preach the good news of Jesus Christ to every creature. Every man, women and child whom God soveriegnly brings into our lives is our opportunity to expand the kingdom and invite the elect of God to meet their creator and be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.

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ARTICLE III

God had decreed in Himself, before the world was, concerning all things, whether necessary, accidental or voluntary, with all the circumstances of them, to work, dispose, and bring about all things according to the counsel of His own will, to His glory: (Yet without being the [chargeable] author of sin, or having fellowship with any therein) in which appears His wisdom in disposing all things, unchangeableness, power, and faithfulness in accomplishing His decree: And God hath before the foundation of the world, foreordained some men to eternal life, through Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of His grace; [having foreordained and] leaving the rest in their sin to their just condemnation, to the praise of His justice.

Isa. 46:10; Eph. 1:11, Rom. 11:33, Ps. 115:3; 135:6, 33:15; 1 Sam. 10:9, 26, Prov. 21:6; Exod. 21:13; Prov. 16:33, Ps. 144, Isa. 45:7, Jer. 14:22, Matt. 6:28, 30; Col. 1:16, 17; Num. 23:19, 20; Rom. 3:4; Jer. 10:10; Eph. 1:4,5; Jude 4, 6; Prov. 16:4.