Our Confidence

 Our Confidence comes from knowing God as not only the sovereign Creator who created all things, and upholds it, but also in the fact that He sent his one and only son to die upon the cross for the sins of the elect alone.

How does providence help us?

The Heidelberg Catechism says

What advantage is it to us to know that God has created, and by his providence doth still uphold all things?

That we may be patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity; and that in all things which may herafter befal us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall separate us from his love; since all creatures are so in his hand, that without his will they cannot so much as move.

The purpose is so that we may be patient in suffering.

Ultimately the believers comfort lies in Knowing that their sins have been expiated and the wrath of God has been propitiated on their behalf.

Either Christ saves or we save ourselves

"Every doctrine, then, which teaches us to do or endeavour any thing toward our acceptance with God, stands opposed to the doctrine of the Apostles; which, instead of directing us what to do, sets before us all that the most disquieted conscience can require, in order to acceptance with God, as already done and finished by Jesus Christ." - Robert Sandeman


"To illustrate this matter, let it be remembered that the saving truth which the apostles believed was, That Jesus is the Christ. The apostles had one uniform fixed sense to these words, and the whole New Testament is writ to ascertain to us in what sense they understood them. Every one who believes that Jesus is the Christ in a different sense from the apostles, or who maintains anything in connection with these words subversive of their real meaning, believes a falsehood; so his faith cannot save him. In the days of the apostles many affirmed along with them, that Jesus is the Christ, who yet meant very differently from them. The far greater part of Christendom will affirm in like manner; yet we shall not easily find many who, when they come to explain themselves, have the same meaning with the Apostles. Let us, then, lay aside all questions about faith, or how a man believes; and let the only question be, What does he believe? what sense does he put on the apostolic doctrine about the way of salvation?" - Robert Sandeman, Theron and Aspasio, Pg. 258 - 259


Joseph Hussey would concur with Sandeman. He says, "If there were such kinds of hearers now in our assemblies, yet there would be none amongst any of us who have received the common doctrine of the Gospel to deny, that the said doctrine of Grace was to be preached unto them, according to the precedent in which the apostles did it. Here then we all agree without dispute, in one and the same affirmative." - Joseph Hussey, God's Operations of Grace, Pg. 26

Salvation is a work of God alone

"Conversion and salvation must, in the very nature of things, be wrought and effected either by ourselves alone, or by ourselves and God together, or solely by God Himself. The Pelagians were for the first. The Arminians are for the second. True believers are for the last, because the last hypothesis, and that only, is built on the strongest evidence of Scripture, reason and ecperience: it most effectually hides pride from man, and sets the crown of undivided praise upon the head, or rather casts it at the feet, of that glorious Triune God, who worketh all in all." - Jerome Zanchius, Absolute Predestination, pg. 105

Not a result of works in any sense

"Neither salvation, nor calling, is according to our Works: Grace and works are set in opposition, whenever the causality of our salvation is treated of: They cannot be, therefore, Con-causes of it. If it is of Grace, then it is no more of Works, otherwise Grace is no more grace: If it be of Works, then it is no more of Grace, otherwise Work is no more Work. It is not of works, lest any Man should boast." - John Brine, The Causes of Salvation and Vocation Considered, Pg. 13

No matter how much we sin even after conversion Christ's blood has purged us from it's results

"If any man repent truly and come to the faith and put his trust in Christ, then as oft as he sinneth of frailty, at the sigh of the heart is his sin put away in Christ's blood. For Christ's blood purgeth ever and blesseth ever." - William Tyndale, The Obedience of a Christian Man, pg. 138

No where in this paragraph does Tyndale say that a Christian who sins after conversion is not saved. Macarthur says this and tries to ground it in the Reformed view. We need to beware of those who call themselves teachers and judge what they say.

No man is so great a sinner that he cannot be saved

"I say that no man is so great a sinner, if he repent and believe, but that he is righteous in Christ and in the promises: yet if thou look on the flesh and unto the law there is no man so perfect that is not found a sinner. Nor any man so pure, that hath not somewhat to be yet purged." - William Tyndale, The Obedience of a Christian Man, pg. 59

Not by works of any kind no matter how perfect

"Let me tell you, that the Lord hath so established Christ, for the rest and life of men, that if they could yield angelic obedience, be perfect throughout in obedience to the whole law of God, and not fail in one point of it; if, I say, from such perfection of obedience they would gather up their own comfort, or conclude their own salvation; these persons should be damned, as well as those that sin ever so much: for God hath established Christ, and only his righteousness, to be the salvation of man; I say, only the righteousness of Christ; that if a man were so perfect, and in respect of that perfection, would leave the righteousness of Christ, and lean to the perfection of his own, for his peace, and salvation; that man would miscarry, and be damned." -Tobias Crisp, Christ Alone Exalted, pg. 157


Martin Luther says in the Large Catechism found in the Book of Concords, "Therefore the Ten Commandments do not by themselves make us Christians, for God's wrath and displeasure still remain on us because we cannot fulfill his demands. But the Creed brings pure grace and makes us upright and pleasing to God." (Pg. 420)

Our Righteousness can do nothing but procure for us the Wrath of God

"All our righteousness will prevail nothing at all with God, nor move him a jot, except it be to pull down wrath: there is not one act of righteousness that a person doth, but when that is finished, there is more transgression belonging to him, than before he had performed it: and there no composition, there is no buying out of evil by good doings; the doing of good doth not make a recompense for what sin doth; we pay but our debts in doing good; so that as is a new righteousness performed, there is still a new reckoning added to former; by acting of righteousness, you make up a greater number of sins than before; so that it is only Christ from whom we must have the expectation of success, in whatsoever thing desire." Tobias Crisp, Christ alone exalted, pg. 148

Christ is our High Priest

Just reading through Leviticus. I am in chapter 8 and so far I am seeing the tedious tasks of the levitic priesthood to make atonement of sin on behalf of the people.

As the Hebrew writer makes this so clear. Christ is the great high priest who actually atoned once for all by his effectual death on the cross for the sins of the elect alone.

"If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron? 12For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.13For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar. 14For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. 15And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, 16Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.

17For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

18For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. 19For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God. 20And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest:

21(For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)

22By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.

23And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: 24But thisman, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.25Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

26For such an high priest became us,who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; 27Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself. 28For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore."

1 Peter 1 is about the holiness that comes from Christ's imputed righteousness

1 Peter 1 talks of the holiness that comes by the blood of Christ alone. It is because of him (by his death which he took our sins and by his imputed righteousness to us) that we know and believe the gospel.

The only grounds of acceptance before God is the death of Christ alone imputed to the elect alone

When the Bible says in 1 John 3 that believers in Christ does not commit sin it does not at all say that believers do not continue to sin either by habit or accident. But what it is saying is simple the Bible tells us how to please God. It also tells us that no one has pleased God and that God will one day judge the nations on account of their sins. Now it also tells us the only ground of acceptance before God which is in Christ alone. For after the sin of the first parents who were our representatives all of us also fell in them. Because of this the law demanded our death for lack of perfect obedience. No one is righteous but that one that gave his life on the cross for the sins of the elect alone. It is this death that is now imputed to the elect so that in Him they live.

Doctrine has an influence upon practice

"Doctrine has an influence upon practice, especially evangelical doctrine, spiritually understood, affectionately embraced, and powerfully and feelingly experienced; so true is what the Apostle asserts, that the Grace of God, that is, the Doctrine of the Grace of God, that bringeth Salvation, the good news, the glad tidings of salvation by Christ, which is peculiar to Gospel Doctrine, hath appeared to all men, Gentiles as well as Jews, in the external ministry of the word; teaching us, to whom it comes with power and efficacy in the demonstration of the Spirit, that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, Tit. ii. 11, 12." - John Gill, Introduction to the Body of Divinity, Pg. xxiii


I like what he says here. Doctrine has an influence upon practice. Of course we know that we may believe the truth and yet sometimes what is believed does not right away translate in what we practice. But the order is first doctrine and then practice. Not that we look to doctrine first and then second to our practice but rather it is the case that as we look to doctrine always that it SHOULD turn out to practice.

Those who already died and have been judged to Hell were not redeemed by Christ's blood

"Since the world cannot receive him (Jn 14:17), it cannot for this reason say that it has been redeemed by Christ's blood. For whoever says this says nothing, and for this reason he does not say anything even now, because he does not say this in the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth (Jn 14:17; 16:13). For what he says is false and for this reason he does not say anything now because what he says is nothing. For if the baptized reprobate were redeemed by the blood of Christ's cross, they were therefore also saved and set free by him. But those who have been quite rightly already judged, already condemned, already predestined to everlasting death by Christ himself and, as has been said, rightly already hurled down into it, were not saved and set free by him. Therefore, they were not redeemed by the blood of his cross. And so let the mute dog ceasing from barking, for Christ is truly the redeemer, savior, and deliverer not of two worlds, but of one, that is, of the elect world alone, namely, his body. Whoever does not see this blind; whoever denies this is slain." - Gottschalk of Orbais, Gottschalk and A Medieval Predestination Controversy

Nothing in my hands I bring

"Perhaps it will be thought needful, that I should define, with greater precision than I have hitherto done, what I mean by the popular doctrine; especially as I have considered many as preachers thereof who differ remarkably from each other; and particularly as I have ranked amongst them Mr. Wesley, who may justly be reckoned one of the most virulent reproachers of that God, whose character is drawn by the apostles, that this island has produced. To remove all doubt concerning my meaning, I shall thus explain myself.
Throughout these letters, I consider all those as teachers of the popular doctrine, who seek to have credit and influence among the people, by resting our acceptance with God, not simply on what Christ hath done, but more or less on the use we make him, the advance we make toward him, or some secret desire, wish, or sigh to do so; or on something we feel or do concerning him, by the assistance of some kind of grace or spirit; or, lastly, on something we employ him to do, and suppose he is yet to do for us. In sum, all who would have us to be conscious of something else than the bare truth of the gospel; all who would have us to be conscious of some beginning of a change to the better, or some desire, however faint, toward such change, in order to our acceptance with God; these I call the popular preachers, however much they may differ from each other about faith, and grace, special or common, or about anything else. For I am disposed rather to reconcile than widen the various difference among them.
But my resentment is all along chiefly pointed against the capital branch of the popular doctrine, which, while it asserts almost all the articles belonging to the sacred truth, at the same time deceitfully clogs them with the opposite falsehoods. This I would compare to a chain having one link of gold and another of brass alternately: or, I would call it a two-fold cord, wherein one thread of truth and another of falsehood are all along entwisted together. If we think of its practical address to, and influence on the minds of the people, as contrasted with its formally avowed tenets, it resembles a whited sepulcher, inwardly full of rottenness." - Robert Sandeman, Letters on Theron and Aspasio

Only in and by Christ alone

"Here the gospel differs from all the devices of human wisdom. It shows us the living and true God coming down the whole of the infinite distance himself, not to meet returning man, but to overtake and prevent him, when hastening to utter ruin; to seek and to save them that were lost. It shows us God come down to men, Immanuel, God with us. The great truth for which we are indebted to the gospel is, that God was made manifest in the flesh. In the person of Jesus Christ, the distance betwixt God and man is entirely removed. There appeared man in his lowest misery that he can either feel or fear. There appeared the just god in his highest majesty of character: The fullness of the Divine good pleasure rests on him, who became exceeding sorrowful even unto death. There we see Divine vengeance executed against sin to the utmost, yet the eternal God became the refuge of the guilty. There God appears, not working deliverance by halves, not co-operating with sinful man, not restoring his depraved, faculties, and assisting him less or more to deliver himself; but working complete deliverance for man without his concurrence in the least." - Robert Sandeman, Letters on Theron and Aspasio

Saved by assenting to the propositions of the Gospel

This is really interesting. Saving faith is faith in the propositions of the Gospel. What else could it be? Assenting to the Gospel is in other words believing the Gospel. The Bible says "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? 27She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world." John 11

John 6 says "Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. 27Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. 28Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent."


"63It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. 64But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him."

Do you think the Bible is lying here?


"And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." - Acts 8


Your example does not offer up anything. The question is if assenting or believing the truth of the Gospel does not save then what else is needed?

"The further question as to the components of faith regards the status of fiducia. The Apostle said, if thou shalt believe, thou shalt be saved. But to assent to the good news is to believe. What else can be required?
A Latin dictionary may throw some light on the terminology. The Latin word fides, translated faith, means: trust (in a person or thing), confidence, reliance, credence, belief. The Latin word fiducia means: trust, confidence, reliance, assurance. This reduces the old analysis of faith to a tautology: faith is composed of knowledge, belief, and faith. Or we might retranslate it: Confidence is composed of knowledge, assent, and confidence. Clearly therefore the listing of fiducia as a component of fides is not very enlightening." - Gordon H. Clark, What Do Presbyterians Believe?

Herman Hoeksema on Salvation and Faith

"The impression is often left by preachers who present the matter of faith as something that depends on the sinner's own will and choice, as if faith were a CONDITION unto salvation. God is willing to save us ON CONDITION that we believe. But there are no conditions to salvation. We are not saved through faith because faith is regarded as a good work, or because through faith we are able to do good works and obtain righteousness before God. For we are saved by grace; and if it is of works, it is no more of grace. It cannot even be said that faith is the hand whereby we take hold of salvation that is offered us. Salvation is not an offer, but a wonder work of God; and the sinner has no hand to accept it. But faith is the means, and that, too, God's means whereby we are implanted into Christ. It is the spiritual power whereby we cling to the God of our salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord, our righteousness and perfect redemption forever! By grace are ye save, not on condition of, nor because of, but THROUGH faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." - Herman Hoeksema, The Wonder of Grace

Calvin vs. Luther starting point?

"Now I wish to be second to none in my praise of Luther's heroic initiative. In his heart, rather than in the heart of Calvin, was the bitter conflict fought which led to the world-historic breach. Luther can be interpreted without Calvin, but not Calvin without Luther. To a great extent Calvin entered upon the harvest of what the hero of Wittenberg had sown in the clearest insight into the reformatory principle, worked it out most fully, and applied it most broadly, history... points to the Thinker of Geneva and not to the Hero of Wittenberg. Luther as well as Calvin contended for a direct fellowship with God, but Luther took it up from its subjective, anthropological side, and not from its objective, cosmological side as Calvin did. Luther's starting-point was the special-soteriological principle of a justifying faith; while Calvin's extending far wider, lay in the general cosmological principle of the sovereignty of God. As a natural result of this, Luther also continued to consider the Church as the representative and authoritative 'teacher,' standing between God and the believer, while Calvin was the first to seek the Church in the believers themselves.” Abraham Kuyper – Lectures On Calvinism

For the Believer his standing depends not on works but on the perfect rightouesness of Christ imputed

"The law which believers are under is the law of Christ, and of God in Christ, which has no promise of eternal life to them for their obedience to it. The promise of eternal life to the saints is the promise of  the covenant of grace or the gospel, and not of the law, as a rule of duty. Eternal life is promised to them not in consideration of their sincere obedience to the law as a rule of life, but on account of Christ's perfect obedience to it as a covenant of works received by faith and imputed by God. It is promised to them not as a reward of debt for their sincere obedience, but as 'the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord' (Romans 6:23). The righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to them gives them a perfect title to life; they are already heirs of it, 'and joint heirs with Christ.' They have begun possession of it, and have the gracious promise of the gospel that they shall, in due time, attain the perfect and everlasting possession."

John Colquhoun, A Treatise on the Law and the Gospel

God's love for His people alone

Calvin, Sermons on Deuteronomy, Sermon, 28, 4:36-27, p., 167..
"It is true that Saint John says generally, that he loved the world. And why? For Jesus Christ offers himself generally to all men without exception to be their redeemer. It is said afterward in the covenant, that God loved the world when he sent his only son: but he loved us, us (I say) which have been taught by his Gospel, because he gathered us to him. And the faithful that are enlightened by the holy Ghost, have yet a third use of God's love, in that he reveals himself more familiarly to them, and seals up his fatherly adoption by his holy Spirit, and engraves it upon their hearts. Now then, let us in all cases learn to know this love of God, & when we be once come to it, let us go no further.

Thus we see three degrees of the love of God as shown us in our Lord Jesus Christ. The first is in respect of the redemption that was purchased in the person of him that gave himself to death for us, and became accursed to reconcile us to God his father. That is the first degree of love, which extends to all men, inasmuch as Jesus Christ reaches out his arms to call and allure all men both great and small, and to win them to him. But there is a special love for those to whom the gospel is preached: which is that God testifies unto them that he will make them partakers of that benefit that was purchased for them by the death and passion of his son.

And for as much as we be of that number, therefore are we are double bound already to our God: here are two bonds which hold us as it were straightened unto him. Now let us come to the third bond, which depends upon the third love that God shows us: which is, that he not only causes the gospel to be preached unto us, but also makes us to feel the power thereof, not doubting but that our sins are forgiven us for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake..."