Reformed Christian Studies

By Pastor Brian Schwertley - Posted at Sermon Audio: Direct Link:  Repentance and the Lordship Controversy | SermonAudio

Source:  Live Q&A on Final Justification & Mark Jones - YouTube

 By Benjamin L. Merkle - Posted at Crossway : God’s Plan in Salvation The ultimate goal of God’s plan includes the redemption of the entire cosmos ( Eph. 1:10 ) and is therefore not limited to humanity. But the renewal of humanity is the key component of God’s cosmic plan to unite all things in Christ. God’s plan to save his people is featured prominently in the first two chapters of Ephesians, especially Ephesians 1:3–14 . In the original Greek, this passage consists of one long sentence of 202 words. These verses contain an extended praise to God for his blessings that believers receive from their union with Christ; namely, God’s election, redemption, inheritance, and perseverance. The topic of God’s amazing love in regeneration is highlighted in Ephesians 2:4–10 . Election As Paul begins his letter in a typical Old Testament or Jewish style of a prolonged blessing (eulogy), he urges his readers to bless God since he has blessed us “with every spiritual blessing” ( Eph. 1:3 ). Specif

The Belgic Confession Article 17: The Recovery of Fallen Man We believe that our good God, by his marvelous wisdom and goodness, seeing that man had plunged himself in this manner into both physical and spiritual death and made himself completely miserable, set out to find him, though man, trembling all over, was fleeing from him. And he comforted him, promising to give him his Son, "born of a woman,"^31 to crush the head of the serpent,^32 and to make him blessed. ^31 Gal. 4:4 ^32 Gen. 3:15 Source:  http://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html

By John Hendryx - Posted at Monergism : A. W. Pink answers the question this way: First, by the Word of God having come in divine power to the soul so that my self-complacency is shattered and my self-righteousness is renounced. Second, by the Holy Spirit convicting me of my woeful, guilty, and lost condition. Third, by having had revealed to me the suitability and sufficiency of Christ to meet my desperate case and by a divinely given faith causing me to lay hold of and rest upon Him as my only hope. Fourth, by the marks of the new nature within me - a love for God; an appetite for spiritual things; a longing for holiness; a seeking after conformity to Christ. Fifth, by the resistance which the new nature makes to the old, causing me to hate sin and loathe myself for it. Sixth, by avoiding everything which is condemned by God's Word and by sincerely repenting of and humbly confessing every transgression. Failure at this point will surely bring a dark cloud over our assuranc

Posted at Regeneration, Repentance and Reformation : Taken, adapted, condensed, and brought into modern English, from, “ A Sure Guide to Heaven ” Written by, Joseph Alleine And truly my beloved, the Devil has made many counterfeits of this Conversion… …and he cheats some with this, and another with that. Such is the craft and artifice he has, that in this mystery of deceits, if it were possible, he would deceive the very elect. Now if I may cure the damnable mistakes of some, –who think they are converted when they are not, as well as remove the troubles and fears of others, that think they are not converted when they are; I shall show you the nature of conversion, and we will begin with the Negative. 1. It is not the taking upon us the profession of Christianity. Doubtless Christianity is more than a name. If we will hear Paul, it lies not in word, but in power, –1 Cor. 4:20. If it was to cease from being Jews and Pagans, and to put on the Christian Profession had been tr

By Josias Grauman - Posted at The Master's Seminary : Imagine the courtroom. Imagine the joy. A wicked and guilty sinner is declared innocent by a righteous judge. How is this possible? By faith we the guilty are declared righteous through the substitutionary death of the Lamb. What a glorious thought. We are saved from God’s wrath! Yet however great that might sound, the book of Hosea demonstrates that salvation is far greater than this courtroom scene. Biblical salvation is not just a past spiritual declaration that makes a sinner righteous—it is an all-encompassing salvation, spiritual and physical, in which God makes sinners the objects of His everlasting affection. Hosea illustrates this salvation story. Read more...

By C.H. Spurgeon - Posted at Daily Checkbook/ Sermon Audio : "And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering: and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him" — Leviticus 1:4 If by that laying on of his hand the bullock became the offerer's sacrifice, how much more shall Jesus become ours by the laying on of the hand of faith? "My faith doth lay her hand On that dear head of Thine, While like a penitent I stand, And there confess my sin." If a bullock could be accepted for him to make atonement for him, how much more shall the LORD Jesus be our full and all-sufficient propitiation? Some quarrel with the great truth of substitution; but as for us, it is our hope, our joy, our boast, our all. Jesus is accepted for us to make atonement for us, and we are "accepted in the Beloved." Let the reader take care at once to lay his hand on the LORD's completed sacrifice, that by accepting it he may obtain the benefit of it. I

Westminster Confession of Faith  (1646) Chapter XVIII I. Although hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in the favor of God, and estate of salvation [1] (which hope of theirs shall perish): [2] yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love Him in sincerity, endeavouring to walk in all good conscience before Him, may, in this life, be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace, [3] and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed. [4] II. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion grounded upon a fallible hope; [5] but an infallible assurance of faith founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation , [6] the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are made, [7] the testimony of the Spirit of adoption witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God, [8] which Spirit is the ea

By Dr. R. Scott Clark - Posted at The Heidelblog : Recently an influential evangelical writer (no names please, this is about truth not personalities) wrote “right with God by faith alone, not attain heaven by faith alone.” The claim is that Christians should believe that we “attain heaven” by more than faith, i.e., by our cooperation with grace. This proposition fits with a claim made by others that we are justified by grace alone ( sola gratia ), through faith alone ( sola fide ) but that salvation, because it is a broader category, because it includes sanctification, is partly through obedience, faithfulness, or works. The Argument Here is the argument in the form of a syllogism: Salvation involves justification and sanctification. Sanctification is by grace and cooperation with grace (works) Therefore salvation is partly by works. In this discussion there have also been claims about the history of Reformed theology, that the orthodox Reformed theologians of the sevent