God Loves… Himself

Let us know for a certainty that free justification is the very head, heart, and soul of all Christian religion, and true worship of God; without the true and joyful knowledge thereof, our religion is headless, our profession and worship heartless, and our very zealous conversation is a mere corruption of the Gospel, and rottenness, like a body without a soul that stinketh before God. Briefly in a word, as the perfect righteousness of Christ is only worthy to be acknowledged for the wedding garment; because all the righteousness of our imperfect sanctification is {as the Prophet saith} as filthy, menstrous, stained rags – Isaiah 64:6; so true faith of free justification, being the having on of this wedding-garment, because it alone doth truly abolish all the filthy nakedness of our sins out of God’s sight, and it alone doth make us perfectly holy, and sufficiently righteous in the sight of God freely, without works. Therefore it alone doth make us fit brides, and is only meet to marry us to so glorious a Bridegroom, as is the King of glory – Christ Jesus. John Eaton {Honeycombe of Free Justification by Christ Alone – 1642, Taken from Supralapsarian.com}

The Gospel is not something that just/only has to do with becoming a Christian; it has everything to do with the whole of being a Christian. Apart from the free justification of sinners in Christ, there is no true worship of God and there is no true godliness. The Gospel is vital to all areas of life and is indeed the good news of the glory of God to lost sinners, but it is also the good news of the glory of God to saved sinners. Those who become Christians are in great need of the good news of the glory of God at all times. If God has become our chief love, then we should want to hear the good news of His glory at all times.

The truth of the matter, though this is perhaps a bit of an overstatement, is that believers need the Gospel as bad if not worse than unbelievers. The point in this context is that believers need to know more and more of the Gospel and they need to know depths of the Gospel that unbelievers cannot understand and cannot know. In the modern day it seems as if we want to give people some simple message and then if they say a prayer or make a profession of faith then we want them to hear mostly of works. It seems as if the Gospel is viewed only in terms of saving sinners while maturing in the faith has to do with works and duty. This is a horrible error and glorifies works rather than the free-grace of God in saving sinners and then manifesting His life in them by the life of Christ.

Saved sinners never get beyond the infinite depths of Christ and His Gospel. Saved sinners need to hear more and more of their very life and that life is Christ. Saved sinners need to hear more and more of how it is that Christ works His live in them, and that is by free-grace alone. Saved sinners do not become more holy by doing more works, but by dying to self, growing deeper and deeper into knowledge of their own helplessness and sinfulness, and then having more and more of Christ and His free-grace.

What we must understand is that sinners need the Gospel. All men are sinners and saved people are sinners as well. As God works in His people and they have the light of Christ and the light of the Gospel in them, they will begin to see more and more of their sin. As Luther put it, a person that repents is a repenter and will always be repenting. That is quite true. God will not leave His chosen people in their sin undisturbed and bound by the misery of sin, but instead He loves them and will break the bondage of their sin by shining His light upon it and showing them the hatefulness and horror of it. When He does that, however, He binds their wounds with the Balm of Gilead and that is Christ. It is Christ and Christ crucified that saved sinners must hear more and more about as they grow in a deeper knowledge of their sin and of their own inability. Corresponding to that is their need to grow deeper and deeper in their knowledge of Christ and His perfect sufficiency for them and their sin.

It is a terribly shallow view of the Gospel that does not long for men to grow deeper and deeper in their views of Christ and His Gospel of free-grace. Our land languishes because churches have gotten into programs and external morality rather then deeper views of Christ and His Gospel. The churches languish because a watered-down gospel which is no Gospel is taught to unbelievers and then believers are taught systems based on works or perhaps intellectual knowledge. The Gospel is not that men must come to know about Christ, but they must come to know Christ Himself. The Gospel is the zenith of the glory of God in Christ and that is what men must come to taste and delight their souls in. We MUST have the Gospel preached in the churches in greater and then even greater depth. If not, some will die in their sins and others will be blown around by winds of error and they will die as babes.

Let us know for a certainty that free justification is the very head, heart, and soul of all Christian religion, and true worship of God; without the true and joyful knowledge thereof, our religion is headless, our profession and worship heartless, and our very zealous conversation is a mere corruption of the Gospel, and rottenness, like a body without a soul that stinketh before God. Briefly in a word, as the perfect righteousness of Christ is only worthy to be acknowledged for the wedding garment; because all the righteousness of our imperfect sanctification is {as the Prophet saith} as filthy, menstrous, stained rags – Isaiah 64:6; so true faith of free justification, being the having on of this wedding-garment, because it alone doth truly abolish all the filthy nakedness of our sins out of God’s sight, and it alone doth make us perfectly holy, and sufficiently righteous in the sight of God freely, without works. Therefore it alone doth make us fit brides, and is only meet to marry us to so glorious a Bridegroom, as is the King of glory – Christ Jesus. John Eaton {Honeycombe of Free Justification by Christ Alone – 1642, Taken from Supralapsarian.com}

The glory of the Gospel of the glory of God in the face of Christ is also the Gospel of the glory of His grace. This justification of sinners who are beyond any help of themselves or any other human being or any angel or creature at all is glorious because of its utter freeness to sinners and because of its free-grace that God gives sinners. There is no true religion apart from a free justification since this is the only way that the Gospel is truly by grace alone. There can be no conditions of this free justification that man can fulfill since that would mean that it could not be by grace alone. The glory of this free justification is that all the conditions of it are fulfilled by Christ and in Christ.

As the author above notes, regardless of our conversation (even if zealous), our profession, and our worship there is no true religion apart from free justification. Without a free justification out life (conversation) is that of a filthy person regardless of holy it is on the outside. Regardless of our profession it comes from a deceived heart if not based on the true Gospel and way of reconciliation with God. Regardless of our way of worship and correctness of worship apart from a free justification there is no true worship at all. Regardless of our supposed morality there is nothing that an unjustified person can do to please God and even the good works are as “filthy, monstrous, stained rags.” The person must be justified before the person’s works are pleasing to God.

When any sinner stands before God, there is nothing but the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ that will cover the sinner in truth. It is Christ alone who can take away the wrath of the Father by His suffering and His blood, all else is nothing but stacking on more sin. It is Christ alone who can impute to sinners His perfect righteousness and clothe them in His perfect white robe. All else is nothing but a “filthy, monstrous, stained rag” of a covering. The Father is not pleased to look upon sinners and see their filthy and stained rags, but instead He is only pleased to behold sinners in Christ. It is Christ alone who can shine forth the glory of God back to Him in a way that pleases Him. It is Christ alone who is perfectly loved of the Father and loves the Father perfectly. It is Christ alone who is perfect in every single way and so all who are in Him are seen as perfect in the eyes of the Father as He beholds them in His Beloved.

The “gospel” that is “preached” throughout our land is really a false gospel because it is always giving sinners something that they can do that will cause God to be moved to save them. What a blight upon the professing Church and what a blight upon our nation is this false gospel of putting conditions upon men as if they could fulfill them. All are born dead in sins and trespasses and there is not one condition that they can fulfill in their own strength. After all, what can dead sinners do to help themselves be made alive? Dead sinners are dead and can do nothing that will make them more worthy to be saved. This is not to say that sinners should not seek the Lord by sitting under preaching, reading the Scriptures, and crying out to God for mercy for they should do those things. But not one of those things makes them the slightest bit more worthy to be saved. Sinners are not saved because they come up with faith, but sinners are regenerated and then they have faith. There is nothing in the sinner (including faith) when God by free-grace regenerates the sinner according to His good pleasure. Sinners are utterly and totally helpless with no ability at all and they should seek the Lord knowing that. God saves those whom He pleases and He does so by His mercy and not according to those who run or those who try to fulfill a condition. The Gospel is totally of free-grace and of free-grace alone.

1 Corinthians 2:1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. 6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; 7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; 8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; 9 but just as it is written, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”

Romans 11:6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.

I Corinthians 1:30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 31 so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”

Hebrews 13:9 Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.

The New Testament is full of the teachings of grace and full of the teachings of how men must have grace to live and to please God. The Father does not look upon men just to see if they are fulfilling their duties, but He looks upon men and is pleased if He beholds Christ in them. If the duties of men and the lives of men carry out the external duties and yet it is not because they have Christ in them working in them the strength of grace, those duties are no better than the so-called righteous deeds of the Pharisees.

A minister that is orthodox in doctrine because of the strength of his intellect and not out of love for Christ is not pleasing to God. It is Christ alone who pleases God and the man who believes and lives by grace alone will please God because He behold Christ and His work in that man. God is not pleased with the sanctification of anyone unless Christ Himself is that person’s sanctification and it is a sanctification wrought by grace alone. Apart from Christ we can do nothing (spiritual, truly good, pleasing to God). All that will please God must come from Christ first and it must be Christ who works this in our souls.

The Gospel of the glory of God in the face of Christ is good news, but it is always good news both for the rest of the life of the believer and for eternity. We never get beyond our need of the Gospel and the Gospel should never be anything but good news to believers. Those who are most sanctified in a practical sense never get beyond their absolute and utter need of the Gospel of Jesus Christ because they never get beyond their need of the blood of Christ and of His perfect righteousness. No one is ever sanctified beyond what the life of Christ has done in them by grace. Sanctification is not just a mere grinding our teeth and fleeing from sin in our own strength and doing good works in our own strength, but sanctification is for us to share in His holiness more and more.

Hebrews 12:10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.

This is a very encouraging verse. We are not here to work up holiness, but we share His holiness. We don’t have a holiness that we can come up with based on our strength and even based on His commands, but our holiness is to share or partake of His holiness. We can think of holiness as coming to us as all true fruit comes from the branch which receives all from the vine. The branch has no ability to bear fruit apart from what comes to it from the vine. The fruit is not to the glory of the branch, but it is to the glory of the vine. Instead of people working and working to be holy, they should seek the Lord for grace to be holy. We must seek the Lord to share in His holiness or partake of His holiness which can only come to those empty of their own righteousness and to the humble who seek Him and His glory rather than self. We are to be holy unto the Lord, but that very holiness is from Him or it will be nothing but that which comes from the strength of self. Christ is our holiness and all holiness we have is from Him and it is by grace.

1 Corinthians 2:1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. 6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; 7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; 8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; 9 but just as it is written, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”

I continue to be virtually confounded and amazed at the lack of preaching on the cross of Christ. While Paul was so clear about this, modern preaching is devoted to a form of exposition that misses the centrality of Christ and His cross. The Law is preached a lot, but it is not preached as the Bible sets it out. The purpose of the Law is to show us our sin and drive us to Christ. The purpose of the Law is not for us to give ourselves to law-keeping in our own strength, but instead we are to set out Christ as the Lawgiver, the Law-keeper, and the One whose very life is lived as the Law on display as the very glory of God.

When the cross of Christ is not preached in its depths and glories, then the character and beauty of God is not preached in its depths and glories. The heights and peaks of the glory and beauty of God are seen in Christ in such a way as they are not seen in any other location. The heights and peaks of the glory and beauty of God are seen especially in the cross of Christ. Paul told us that we were to boast about nothing but the cross of Christ. No one is to boast about his preaching or about his ministry or about his salary or anything else. It is an incredible pride in the human soul that would have a man be more proud of his preaching than the cross of Christ. What arrogance it is for a man to preach so that people would be aware of his preaching rather than preach so that people would glory in God as beheld in Christ and the cross.

It is the cross of Christ that is part of the one and only Gospel. Apart from preaching the cross, men will not come to know God and cannot truly believe the Gospel of grace alone. Sinners have no hope for the wrath of God being removed from them because of their sin apart from the cross, so why will men not preach the cross of Christ? The Lord Jesus Christ has suffered the wrath of God and there is no other sacrifice that will fully satisfy the wrath of God. So why will men not preach the cross? It is so hard to understand why ministers of the modern day will not preach the cross since it is so central to the Gospel and of practical living.

It may be that men do not preach the cross because they don’t preach the true nature of sin and a real hell. It may be that men do not preach the cross of Christ because they don’t really believe that God is perfectly just and that His wrath abides on all those outside of Christ. While one Puritan period preacher set out 72 sermons on Isaiah 53 and the cross, men today seem to hardly be able to mention the cross much less preach a real sermon on it. It seems to be without question that one cannot preach the Gospel, a real propitiation for sin, and a completed justification by Christ apart from preaching the cross of Christ. It is the cross that offends and it is the cross that a crucified Savior must be lifted up so that men will be drawn to Him.

Perhaps the real issue is in the previous paragraph. The cross offends men and so preachers who want to be winsome will not preach such an offensive thing as the cross, a wrathful God, and the heinous nature of sin that would require the cross. The very root problem, then, is that men are more afraid of offending men than they are of being unfaithful to God. Paul stated clearly in Galatians 1:10 that “If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.” Men cannot truly be servants of Christ is they are driven by trying to please men. When ministers want to please men so badly that they do not preach the cross, then those men are not servants of Christ. When ministers want to please men and will not preach the true nature of sin and of a wrathful God who is only satisfied at the cross, these men are not servants of God. It is hard for men to be crucified to the point where they preach to please God. Only then will men preach a sovereign God who saves by free-grace.

1 Corinthians 2:1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. 6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; 7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; 8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; 9 but just as it is written, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”

The practice of the biblical preaching of Christ appears to have been mainly lost in our day. It has been replaced by moralism, silliness, humanism, duties, and strict biblical exposition. The centrality of Christ has been lost, but even if Christ is preached as a main theme it seems as if God-centeredness and Christ-centeredness are not the focus. When Christ is preached about (in some manner), it is as if man is the center of it all. Humanism can be present in the midst of speaking of Christ and of strict Bible exposition.

It seems that in conservative circles and Reformed circles that strict Bible exposition has taken over. I would argue that strict Bible exposition is as unbiblical as other forms of unbiblical preaching. In the passage of Scripture above, Paul did not say that he practiced strict biblical exposition, but instead he determined to know nothing among you except Christ and Him crucified and that his preaching was not in words of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. It appears that the form of expositional preaching that has taken over in our land is not God-centered and does not focus on Christ or the power of the Spirit. Instead of that, it is nothing more than dealing with the words of a text and that can be a man-centered as anything else.

One can deal with a text that has many commands in it and simply talk about the commands in the text and never get to the reason for the commands and man’s inability to keep them apart from Christ. We are given duties and we are given words on the text but it does not seem that men are preaching the inability of man to do the duties and so they never get to man’s need of Christ both as a sacrifice and as the power in the soul by His Spirit to even begin to keep the duties. As Benjamin Warfield said, “God does not command us to show us what we can do, but in order to show us what we ought to do.” The duties show us what we ought to do, but the preacher must show men that they cannot keep those commands and duties apart from free-grace. It is Christ in the soul by grace alone that can give the soul energy and strength to do anything spiritual at all.

If we think of the word “exposition” as based on the word “expose” to some degree, then in order to practice a God-centered exposition we should expose the glory of God shining in and through the text and we should expose Christ in the text. We should expose the power of the Holy Spirit that is needed to do anything that is commanded. Apart from exposing those things, we have nothing more than moralism and humanism. Apart from exposing those things, we are basically using persuasive words of wisdom in an effort to expose things in the text. I would argue, then, that apart from a God-centered and Christ-centered message showing the power of the Spirit that biblical exposition (so to speak) is really unbiblical and is not true exposition. Having a method of showing the meaning of words in a text and some things from other passages from a text is not biblical exposition. Unless Christ is exposed as the glory of the God, the main point of preaching has been missed.

Galatians 1:6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! 10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

In reflecting upon modern preaching and the Scriptures above, it seems that there are more ways than one that preachers can desert Him and also the Gospel of Christ alone and grace alone. In the modern day there are several who espouse a form of preaching that is tightly bound to the text, which is not bad in and of itself. But what ends up happening is that the text is preached instead of Christ. One can have a Christless sermon that is within the bounds of orthodox theology and is bound to the text. A Christless sermon, however, is a sermon that lacks the Gospel of grace alone just as much as a person who does not believe grace alone.

In modern preaching it seems as if preachers are so concerned with holiness that they will stress holiness and repentance and neglect grace. It comes across as if people are saved by their holiness rather than grace alone and by not bringing grace into the picture they are cutting off the very root of holiness. There is no holiness that is not from Christ and by grace. It is a profound error to preach and teach on holiness apart from teaching how it comes from and through Christ. It is a profound error to teach a holiness that does not come to the soul by free-grace. A form of holiness that does not come from Christ and by grace is simply a way to preach works.

Repentance is utterly necessary, but repentance will either come from the flesh working in accordance with the law or it will be produced by grace working a true change of heart. If repentance is preached as if it is in the strength of man to do it, or even not informing men that God is not sovereign, then this is equal to preaching a salvation by works. It is very true that there is a balance at this point. Men should repent of all outward sin and do so immediately, but true repentance which is in accordance with true salvation can only come when it is granted by God. Men should be urged to flee from all outward sin while they plead with God to grant them a new heart, but if we never get to the point that it is by grace that we are granted repentance, that is more in line with a gospel that is according to the flesh and works.

What must be drilled home (as I see it) is that the Gospel is the power of God for salvation. The Gospel is the wisdom of God for the salvation of sinners. The Gospel never tells men that it is in their power for salvation and the Gospel never tells men that they are wise enough to help God out in saving them. The Gospel of grace alone is the sufficiency of God for salvation, but we never hear that man is sufficient to help God in the slightest. The Gospel is all of God, but none of man. The Gospel is by free-grace, but never by a work of man. The Gospel is to the glory of God alone, but never by the work of man or he would have something to boast about. The Gospel produces holiness, but man’s pursuit of holiness in his own strength produces works of the flesh.

True Gospel preaching that is in accordance with free-grace must always stress the nature of the Gospel as it relates to God, but also the inability of man and how that drives man to an utter dependence upon God. Man should use all the strength he has to seek the Lord and His grace, but that does not mean that there is anything in man that will merit the slightest bit of grace. Even in asking God to show him grace man is showing his selfish heart that is full of self as man does not love God at that point. Man must be utterly destitute before God to understand the nature of true grace, but even that utter destitution is beyond the power and strength of sinful flesh. Grace must show man who he is and grace must enable man to receive grace. The nature of true faith is to look to Christ for faith and all things as opposed to looking to self for faith and then look to Christ. A major aspect of sin is to fall short of the glory of God, but ministers must not fall short of preaching the Gospel of grace alone. They must be careful and never encroach upon free-grace as they preach holiness and repentance or anything else.

Ephesians 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Galatians 1:6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! 10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

The doctrine of free-grace has seemingly been lost in the modern day. While virtually all who take the name of Christian in any way will adhere to some form of grace, the doctrine behind the teaching of the older writers on free-grace has been virtually lost. When listening to modern preaching the focus is almost always on the ability of man rather than the ability of Christ. Modern preaching wants to speak of man’s responsibility and by that imply (at the very least) that there is ability. The doctrine of free-grace and the ability of man (taught explicitly or implied) are direct contradictions to each other and both cannot be held at the same time with any degree of consistency. One cannot teach both.

However, that does not keep men from saying that while God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility cannot be understood in this life, we must take them both and teach both of them firmly as true. There is a sense where man is responsible to God in the sense that man has many obligations to God, but man has no ability before God to do one good thing apart from God working this in the soul of man. Man receives all from Christ the vine and all fruit that man will bear comes from Christ. Apart from Christ we can do nothing (spiritual or out of love). Man is to walk by grace or live by grace which is to say that all man is supposed to do is to live by free-grace.

What is so common in the modern day is to hear that man must do something in order to obtain something from God. Man must believe, we are told, so that God will save him or give him what he asks for as long as he can come up with the necessary faith. Man must understand, we are told, that he must live a holy life so that God will bless him. We are told that man must keep his part of the covenant with God in order for God to bless him. We are told that we must repent in order for God to bless us. While the list is far longer than that, the point is surely clear. We are told to do something in order to get something back from God. What we must understand, however, is that this is nothing more than a system of works or a system to get things from God based on human effort and works. Romans 11:6 is quite clear that if it is of works it is no longer of grace. The two cannot be mixed in terms of what moves God to save and sanctify sinners.

Jesus Christ Himself is our justification and our sanctification. Jesus the Christ is not given on the basis of works, but that of grace. If our works come from the strength of self, then they are not from Christ and His grace and as such they are nothing but the works of the flesh. Yet we constantly have to endure a system of works taught from the pulpits in the land. If grace is truly grace which is sovereign grace or free-grace, then it cannot be earned or merited in any way. There is nothing we can do to move God to show us any favor or good, so there is nothing we can do to move God to show us grace. If we could move God to give us grace, then it would no longer be free-grace which is the only kind of grace there is. Sinners either look to themselves to do something to receive grace or they look to Christ alone to give grace at His mere pleasure. The latter is biblical and all other views regarding grace cannot be biblical. Is this to say that so many today understand that they are teaching works? No, this is not to say that men do know that. However, it is to say that they are doing so. Oh to hear the glories of free-grace!!

Ephesians 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Grace is the aspect of the character of God in which His self-love and holiness are seen. He saves sinners based on Himself which means He saves according to His love for Himself (triune) which is His holiness which is His commitment to do all He does and all He is sovereign (everything) over as a means to manifest His beauty and glory. For God to manifest His glory is for God to shine forth His glory which is what He does as an expression of His commitment to manifest His glory which is His holiness and love for Himself. That is why God operates by grace toward human beings because that is the only way that His glory can be expressed which is His holiness and love for Himself. Grace is beautiful because it is His holiness shining forth in His love for Himself in doing all for His own glory.

This concept of grace teaches that God does not depend on human beings to glorify and honor Him, but instead the only way He is glorified is by expressing His own internal glory outwardly. He does this by shining forth His glory in and through human beings by working in them to partake of it and then manifesting it through them. No human being can do anything to honor God apart from God using the human being as an instrument to shine His glory through. He only does this by grace as there is no way to bring God under any form of obligation to another. The covenant with Abraham shows this as God makes the promise to Abraham based on His own character. The promises of the Gospel are also based on His own character as well. God will only deal with human beings based on grace. He alone can manifest His own glory and He alone can honor Himself in reality and truth. This is why humility is so important because it is the emptiness of the creature of self and that means the creature can then have room (so to speak) for the inflow of the glory of God into it by grace alone.

Any scheme of salvation which brings God under obligation in some way to show love and grace is obviously false and will always be a form of works. The teaching of grace, however, is to show that the Gospel is of God and is all of grace from the planning to the application. The Gospel is the display of God’s glory in sending the Son of His love to die for sinners by grace in order that He could cleanse sinners by the grace of His blood and dwell in those sinners by grace. The Gospel is from grace to grace and it is in Christ and His Gospel that we behold His glory in that grace. Apart from this grace there is no Gospel and this is why sinners are saved by grace alone to the glory of God alone, which is really to be saved by Christ alone and for His sake alone.

The Gospel of grace alone does not teach us that sinners can be unchanged and live in sin, but the grace that saves sinners will empty a person of his or her own independence and concept of worth and merit in order to trust in grace alone. Modern religion tells people that all they have to do is believe and then live a somewhat moral life. That is utterly opposed to grace in salvation and grace to live. It is utterly opposed to the Scriptures which teach us that proud hearts which God opposes must be humbled for Him not to oppose them and then to give the humble grace. God is the One who takes proud hearts and breaks them and humbles them and He does this as part of His making them willing in the day of His power.

While modern theology appears to be based on a form of knowledge that is intellectual alone, the Bible speaks of knowing God in a different way. Eternal life is to know God which is to have God communicate Himself and His character to His people rather than them just learning about facts here and there. We know God when we are born of Him and know Him, which is to say He is our Father of truth and love and as such He works that truth and love in His people by grace alone. Christianity is a life in the soul and this life is by grace alone. This life is Christ in the soul and He only dwells in humbled souls. While this grace is indeed free-grace, this free-grace works in the soul to humble it as only humble souls receive free-grace. A general grace is accepted by religious men and proud men, but free-grace is only received by those humbled by that same grace.

A Solemn Warning To The Secure World,
From The GOD of Terrible Majesty or
The Presumptuous Sinner Detected,
His Pleas Considered, and his Doom Displayed

Being an essay, in which the strong proneness of mankind to entertain a false confidence is proved; The causes and foundations of this delusion opened and considered in a great variety of particulars; The folly, sinfulness and dangerous consequences of such a presumptuous hope exposed, and directions proposed how to obtain that scriptural and rational hope, which maketh not ashamed.

In a Discourse from Deuteronomy 29:19, 20, 21. By Gilbert Tennent, M. A.

But more particularly, the truth is, Such be the miseries of presumptuous and impenitent sinners, in this, and especially in the next world, that what I have offered comes far short of an equal, much less of an excessive description of them. It is a just and received maxim that heaven and hell don’t admit a hyperbole. Indeed a cherub’s tongue or quill could scarce expand or display them sufficiently. Conceive of GOD perfectly, and then you may perfectly conceive of and describe his anger. But this is impossible for a finite understanding, as Zophar informs us, Job 11:7, 8, 9, Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is high as heaven, what canst thou do? Deeper than hell, what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea! Friend, thou shalt know by experience, either by a sound conviction here, or by a dreadful condemnation hereafter, that I have not equaled, much less exceeded, the sorrows and pains of the damned state, in the description I have given of them. (Gilbert Tennent, A Solemn Warning to the Secure World, From the God of Terrible Majesty, International Outreach, 2014)

In thinking of the days we live in, the words of Gilbert Tennent (from the title and Introduction to his original 1735 book) are at least as applicable to our day as to his. The world, despite the problems of terrorism and morals that are spiraling to the pit from which they came, seems to be quite secure in its liberalism and general view of the world as opposed to the true God. It is with a sick heart that I see family members and people I know to some degree so easily and carelessly live in direct opposition to the words of the living God. Regardless of what is said to them my words appear as nonsense to them, even when they are spoken with true and apparent concern.

While Tennent did not write his wonderful book to bring comfort, it does bring comfort in a backwards sort of way. My efforts toward others are not necessarily because of my great weakness and inability to communicate as such, but instead they are prone to great delusions and are deadened to spiritual truth of any kind. True enough they are spiritually dead, but the rational mind can understand something of the truth of these things when it is not deluded. It would appear that God has poured a deep sleep upon our nation.

The awful teachings of hell are written in the hearts of men to some degree, yet so many have hardened their hearts and been hardened by God to the point where they laugh at these doctrines. People can be hardened by these from being around very worldly people or by being around professing churches. It would seem that we live in perilous times and that to a far greater degree than I have recognized. Even the professing friends of truth seem to be deluded to a great degree themselves.

The great doctrines of the depravity of men along with their utter inability and that of free-grace alone are perhaps given lip service by professing Reformed, but I never seem to be around when they are taught (if indeed they are). We live in a nation full of buildings that profess to be Christian in some way and yet are in direct opposition to the great truths of the Bible. It is true that only God can harden people to such a degree and only God that can soften the hearts of those He has hardened to any degree, but this does not make it easy. Oh how the world has infiltrated the professing Church and has replaced the heart of its theology by changing some words here and there and thereby changing what people think of the Bible and holiness. It is simply sickening to read, watch, and listen as the Word of God is butchered time after time and the Gospel of the glory of Christ is changed to the Gospel of the power of the free-will of man. Free-grace is no longer taught but conditions are given to men at all points. The necessity of man to have his heart humbled and broken by grace is simply a relic of history, so proud men made a free-will choice for Christ and are deluded that they are saved. It is truly heart-wrenching, but God is doing it. May He be praised.

They love or hate God, just as He appears friendly or unfriendly to them. When He smiles upon them in His providence, and grants them the desires of their hearts, they are well pleased with Him. They rejoice that God is, that He governs the world, and that He fills the earth with His goodness. They have no consciousness of the least enmity against Him, but are disposed to speak well of Him, and give thanks at the remembrance of His mercies. This was the disposition of the Israelites at the side of the Red Sea . They could joyfully join in celebrating the praises of God, for their great and signal deliverance. They sang His praise with gladness of heart. And all other sinners would have done the same under the same circumstances. Their selfish hearts are always pleased with the favors God bestows upon them, and they love Him so long as they think He loves them. And they are no less pleased with spiritual, than temporal favors. When they imagine God is disposed to forgive their sins and admit them to heaven, they will sensibly rejoice in the hope of eternal life. In a word, they will always love God while they believe He loves them, and intends to do them good. But on the other hand, whenever He appears opposed to them, their hearts are opposed to Him. Their selfish hearts dispose them to hate God Himself, when He appears to stand in the way of their happiness. This was exemplified in the Israelites, who sang His praises, but soon forgot His works. As soon as they perceived that He was a holy, sin-hating and sin-revenging God, disposed to destroy them for their unholy, selfish affections, they turned against Him, murmured, complained, and expressed their bitter opposition to Him, by saying, He has brought us into the wilderness to destroy us. The selfish hearts of sinners always will dispose them to love or hate God, just as they view Him friendly or unfriendly to them. Nathaniel Emmons, 1745-1840

This statement by Emmons, if understood in its biblical background, destroys most of the modern versions of Christianity. The vast amount of preaching today, whether from Arminian or professing Reformed circles, is focused on getting a person to make a choice from the selfish hearts of men. All that a person will do or can do is to make a choice based on self-love and self-centeredness. We can plead with men and women until our faces are blue, but they will not love God based on who He is until God grants them a new heart which loves Him. The problem (or a main one and the problem in this context) with modern professing Christianity is that it moves and operates by appealing to the heart of man’s self-love. The “gospel” is said to be that God loves everybody and wished for all to be saved and as such it depends on whether man will believe that or not. Yet Scripture is so clear that even sinners love those who love them, so as long as a man believes that God loves him that man will love God. This means that if we tell the unregenerate man that loves himself as his chief and primary love that God loves him, that man will love the god that loves him and so think that he loves God.

As long as things go relatively well for a man who believes something of a god that loves him and is somewhat in control, that man will love the god of his own imagination and may even become quite religious. When one thinks about it, a person can be very fervent in religion to a god he loves because it is himself that he loves so fervently. In other words, a person can be fervent in religion out of a fervent self-love and all of his theology, Bible study, prayers, and so on be done with no love for the true God and be done out of nothing but a strong love for self.

We can see this over and over in Scripture and in those around us. Many people are apparently converted and have great joy and become fervent, but they begin to slip away as time goes on. Some people return to the world for the pleasures of it while others have hard things happen to them and they don’t have a root of Christ in them to weather the storm. This is much like the parable of the soils where the seed was planted but for various reasons many people drift away.

In our day the pulpits are filled with false prophets who breathe out religious words and get many to make a choice for and say a prayer to a false god. These people are told that God loves them and just wants them to make a choice or say a prayer, so they do and as such they are deceived into thinking that they are truly converted. Other false prophets get people to agree to a creed and to live externally moral lives while they trust in the sacraments, yet these people are really trusting in themselves and a god they think loves them as well. Until a person begins to understand something of the nature of his or he own sinfulness, that person will never know what it means to repent and never know what true conversion is. This great deception of the “god of love” in our day is such that it deceives many sinners into loving a god that they think loves them. There are many false prophets in our day with few who seem to understand that a person must be turned from a heart that loves self to a heart that truly loves the true God.