The foundation – the true doctrine of the Scriptures | Christian Education Training Course 4/8

The grace of God to fallen man

1. The eternal decrees of the Triune God

God is fullness Himself. He is God Himself alone. He is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, unchangeable, almighty, all wise, holy, just, merciful and an overflowing fountain of all good. He has need of nothing outside of Himself. His attributes include self-sufficiency. He is dependent on nothing outside of Himself. Let us meditate regularly on the glorious Attributes of God! To know God is the purpose of all true Christianity. This is life eternal (Joh. 17:3). To have false views of God is to break the first commandment. We then worship a god of our own making.

Let us think about His attributes for a moment. God is: sovereign, He is omnipotent (all powerful), in creation, and in grace. How often we look to the creature, instead of looking above them all to God. See Is. 40-55. He is omniscient (all knowing). He has all wisdom, knowledge and understanding. He is eternal. Related to these are His: omnipresence, immutability, and perfection. He is self-sufficient and all-sufficient (Gen. 17:1). He is holy. separate from all evil. He is glorious in holiness. He is righteous. He is just, the application of righteousness, Ps. 89:14. He cannot deal unjustly. He is angry with sin. The wrath of God is a much neglected truth. He is love. He is gracious and merciful (Exod. 34:6). He is full of lovingkindness (hesed). He is patient and longsuffering. This relates to His omnipotence.

There is but One God. He is three Persons in One divine Being: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The 3 Persons are not three Gods, but One God. The Three Persons are not to be combined, but also not to be separated. They who know One of the Persons know them all. He who hath seen me hath seen the Father (John 14:9). The Son proceeds from the Father and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. The Eastern Orthodox Church teaches that the Spirit proceeds only from the Father. This was the cause of the split between the Eastern and Western churches. The Council of Nicea laid down the doctrine of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son. Otherwise it would be possible to know the Father without knowing the Son. This is impossible. The Holy Spirit´s work is to reveal the Son (John 16:13-15).

The glory of God is revealed in His eternal decrees. This is His eternal purpose which He hath purposed in Himself (Eph. 1:9). We can speak of God’s good pleasure. God does everything according to the decree of His will. His councils are not to be separated from His Being. They are like Him, eternal, and unchangeable (Ps. 33:10, Is. 46:10). He has purposed from eternity to redeem His elect (Eph. 1:4, Matt. 11:25). Man has no effect on God´s purpose. God has planned everything that happens to all mankind. He has chosen a certain number of the children of Adam to be His elect. They were not chosen for anything in them, but purely the choice of His free sovereign grace. We call this doctrine Predestination. This is God’s good pleasure, Eph. 1:5, 9, Phil. 2:13, Is. 53:10: it pleased the LORD to bruise Him. 

The Scriptures also speak of the reprobation of the ungodly. Those who are not elected are those who, because of their disobedience are rejected (1 Pet. 2:8). Their reprobation is not to be separated from their disobedience. God is the sovereign Creator of all mankind. He is a creature dependent on his Creator.  God has made all things for Himself (Prov. 16:4, Rom. 9:22). He gives repentance to those whom He will, and He hardens whom He will. Like the clay and the potter. What is His purpose? To show His righteousness, not to condemn the wicked to hell. He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. If we perish it will be our own guilt. The solemn truth is: many are called, few are chosen (Matt. 22:14).

The Three Persons in the Godhead decreed the salvation of God´s elect. The Father is the Author of salvation (Eph. 1:4), the Son agreed to purchase salvation (Ps. 40:7, 8). The Holy Spirit applies that purchased salvation to the elect in time. This we call the covenant of grace.

1. Creation and the covenant of works

The Triune God created all things from nothing in 6 days, Gen. 1:1. We believe that the Creation account in Gen. 1 and 2 is not a piece of poetry but of history. So is it written, and so is it referred to in the rest of the Scriptures. He made all things by His Word (Ps. 33:6). The verb to create in Gen. 1:1 is barah: meaning to make something from nothing. This is always how God works. He made it for His glory. He made the angels (Job 38:6, 7). He made man from the dust of the ground and made him in His image and likeness (Gen. 1:26), in knowledge, true righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:24). He created him with soul and body. He was created with a will, although his will is subject to the will of God. He was not subject to sickness or death. He knew intimate communion and fellowship with His creator. Light sparkled in his soul. He enjoyed perfect and unbroken joy and blessedness.

God gave him a rule of life: the rule of love. Also He gave him a trial commandment. In the midst of the Garden of Eden stood two trees. One was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the other the tree of life. The first was the tree of which they were forbidden to eat. The second was a sign and seal of life. Adam had not touched the tree of life (Gen. 3:22). It was promised to those who overcome (Rev. 2:7). It was a shadow of the Lord Jesus.

The LORD God made a covenant with Adam. We call this the covenant of works. Gen. 2:16, 17. Why was one tree forbidden them? To teach man that he is not omniscient, that he is not God. Adam had the power to keep this commandment. If he had stood, he would have received eternal life. The threat of disobedience: death. The covenant of works was very strict. It is instructive to notice the Names given to God in the first chapters of Genesis. The Name of God (Elohim) and the Name LORD (JHWH). The first refers to God as Creator, the second refers to His gracious covenant purposes to mankind. As the God that seeks relationship with sinful man. The relationship Creation-Fall-Redemption is crucial to understand. Each part is related together: Creation-Fall, Fall-Redemption, and Creation-Redemption.

1. The fall in sin
2. The misery of man in his fallen state

The angels had sinned (2 Pet. 2:4). The devil was not content to rebel against God, but he seeks to drag man into misery also. God is not the author of sin (James 1:13, 14) for He is the source of all good (James 1:17), he made man upright. Man was the crown of God´s creation. He was clothed with glory. The word for Adam in Hebrew also means red. It is believed that Adam and Eve had a glorious glowing majesty about them. They had powers of wisdom and intellect we have lost. They were made kings on the earth. But man sinned willfully, he wickedly rebelled against His Creator. The devil sowed unbelief in the trustworthiness of God in the heart of Adam and Eve. The heart of the first sin was threefold: unbelief, self-seeking and the attraction of the creature. Man sought his happiness outside of God, separated from God. This is the essence of sin. Man became a groveling creature, under the curse of God.

The consequences: their conscience was defiled, they felt shame, fear. The whole world is guilty before God (Rom. 3:19). We are children of wrath by nature (Eph. 2:3). When Adam and Eve sinned, they died spiritually. God had warned them. They killed the whole human race! We are subject to a three-fold death: physical, spiritual and eternal.

Sin is the most terrible thing. Sin began in hell. Sin defiles and takes away the peace of the soul. It is rebellion against God. It is a disease (Is. 1:5). It is irrational and degrading. It is the only thing God hates. Sin makes man into a devil (Joh. 6:70). Sin against an infinite God is infinite debt, because God requires perfect obedience. That is why the Scripture says: For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all (James 2:10). Sin brings all evil, and without repentance it brings eternal death. 

1. The nature of sin – original and actual sin

Man has lost the image of God. He has lost his original knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. Rom. 3:10 vv. We call this total depravity. Every part of man is corrupted and defiled by sin. And we have all inherited the sinful nature of Adam (Job 14:4, John 3:6). Thus the problem is not just that we have sinful thoughts and do sinful things, it is that we have a sinful nature. The deeds only reflect the corrupt fountain within. We do not have to teach little children to sin, they do it naturally. Adam is also the representative of the whole human race. We call him the first Adam. Only Christ, the Second Adam, was free of original sin. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and so did not inherit the sinful nature of Adam. See Rom. 5:19.

More than this, all mankind is guilty before God. As the father of all mankind, in Adam´s fall he dragged the whole of the human race with him into condemnation (Rom. 5:12, 18) Death has come upon all man, for that all have sinned. The misery of man is that he does not know his misery. He is blind to his true state and condition before God, he lives carelessly and without a thought for God and his soul.

Original sin is the reason for actual sin. All sin is against God. There are sins of commission and sins of omission (James 4:17). Not only outward deeds are sin, also words are deeds. See Matt. 12:36, every idle word must be accounted for. Our thoughts show the sinful fountain within us: Matt. 15:19. We in our fallen state are so corrupt that we are incapable of doing good, and inclined to all evil. There is much goodness amongst men. But outside of Christ it has no worth before God. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin (Rom. 14:23). Our will is also corrupted. Our will inclines us to sin. The devil rules our will. We are willing slaves to sin and to satan. Our will must be renewed by the new birth.

The worst aspect of the fall in sin is not our misery. It is that God´s law has been transgressed and His justice offended. We have despised our infinitely good, wise and gracious Creator. We have robbed Him of the glory He alone is due! We have preferred to serve satan rather than God. We hate God and His laws (Rom. 5:10). We desire that there was no God, so we could be free to sin without limitation and punishment.

1. The need of a Saviour – the covenant of grace

God´s infinite mercy to mankind is shown in the covenant of grace. We had broken the first covenant. It was pure grace that God entered into a new covenant with sinners. He promised it in Gen. 3:15 to Adam and Eve. The covenant was established with Noah, Abraham, and with the children of Israel. All the OT prophecies spoke of Him who was to come, the Head of the covenant of grace, Jesus Christ. He was foreshadowed not only in prophecy, but also in persons and in occurrences. We speak of Types of Christ. They are persons, objects and occurrences that in some way illustrate and foreshadow the Person, work and kingdom of Jesus Christ. For example we can think of Joseph in Genesis. His life was a picture of Christ’s humiliation and exultation. We also see in his dealings with his brothers instruction in the way God deals with sinners. Another clear type of Christ is David. Christ is spoken of as the Son of David. He is chosen from among his brethren (Ps. 89:4). The history of Ruth and Boaz also has typical elements. The serpent in the wilderness as quoted by Jesus in John 3 is also a type.

We can also see the history of the children of Israel something very important. The promise of the seed of the woman that would bruise the serpent’s head must be fulfilled. But how? Often it seems impossible. They are afflicted in Egypt. The 12 tribes are torn apart. The children of Israel are in danger of being destroyed (Haman, Esther). But through it all, God preserves the promised seed. His promises shall be fulfilled! Christ shall be born of the seed of Abraham.

The covenant of grace has Christ as Head, just like Adam was federal head of the covenant of works. The first covenant was of works. It required perfect obedience (Luk. 10:28). One sin and whole the covenant was broken. In the covenant of grace, there is mercy because of the Mediator of the covenant. The terms of the first covenant was works, the terms of the second is faith. He accepts of evangelical obedience. That is not perfect, but sincere. Jesus Christ is the Mediator of the covenant of grace. He is the sum of the Gospel. It was eternal love that brought Christ to be the Head of the covenant of grace. He, the eternal Son of God became Man.

a. Christ as God and Man

This is a great mystery. God was manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16).  No man or angel could perfectly fulfill the law of God. All men are sinners. Also no mere man can suffer for another man. Also only the infinite God could satisfy divine justice. At the same time, God could not pay the debt of sin Himself. The payment had to be made in the nature that had sinned. Man had sinned, therefore man must suffer (Gen. 2:17, Heb. 2:17), thus in the human nature. God must take our nature and become Man in the Person of Jesus Christ. He is the One who was promised (Is. 9:5). He became Man, and remained God. His two Natures are not combined. At the same time He is one Person, not two persons. This is a mystery. He was and is truly man, and truly God. God took human nature into union with His divine Person forever! He took upon Himself the likeness of sinful flesh. He entered into the depths of our misery. The King of glory was born a babe of a woman. It is a greater humiliation than that man becomes a worm that God becomes man! Rev. 5:6.

1. Christ’s humiliation and exaltation

In contrast to fallen man, who always exalts himself, and seeks himself, the Son of God humbled Himself (Phil. 2:8), even to the death of the cross. He came not to His friends but to His enemies. He came in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin (Rom. 8:3). He was made sin. He was numbered among the transgressors. He came not in the majesty of a king, but He came in poverty. He had nowhere to lay His head. All he had was borrowed. He is born of an ancestry we would be ashamed of. He was willing to die the most shameful death, to endure the wrath of God for sin, to suffer His dear Father hiding His face from Him. How this great love should humble us. Was He made flesh, so in the heart He enters, He makes it from stone into flesh. Did He take our nature? Let us seek to receive His nature.

His resurrection was the first step in His exultation (Phil. 2:9). He has triumphed over death (1 Pet. 1:3). He has defeated satan. He was raised again for our justification (Rom. 4:25). He has made an end of sin. The second step was His ascension. The third His sitting down at the right hand of the Father. Every knee shall bow to Him (Phil. 2:10). He is exalted as a Prince and a Saviour for to given repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins (Acts 5:31). He ascended with His arms outstretched, showing the marks of His sufferings. On the right hand of the Father, He ever shows His pierced hands to the Father. He is the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). To sit at God´s right hand, means to be in the nearest place of dignity and honour. The Father has committed all judgment to the Son (John 5:22). Here Christ was despised and persecuted. Now He is seated on the throne of the universe, worshipped of the angels and the redeemed saints. So we should learn: He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. To be glorified with Christ, we must first suffer with Him. The child of God may be comforted with the knowledge, they shall one day be exalted to that place of glory (1 Pet. 2:9).

The Order of Salvation

This is the application of salvation. We have considered Christ outside us, we now consider Christ in us. No man is born in Christ, no man can make himself a Christian. We are born as children of Adam, dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). We must be born again. We can consider the relationship creation-fall-redemption again. We must be recreated by God. There is an order of salvation. Christ has purchased justification, sanctification and glorification for His Church. He is the centre of God’s revelation, and of His work. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ (Phil. 1:19, Rom. 8:9). He is the Person who works this order of salvation in the heart of the elect.

We should distinguish between the purchasing of salvation and its application, but we do not separate them. Christ is the Mediator of both purchasing and of application of salvation. Predestination teaches us that for whom God has purchased salvation, He also applies it. The Bible speaks of all three Persons of the Godhead being active in salvation. The Father elects, the Son redeems, and the Holy Spirit indwells the child of God. God’s plan is perfect. He has chosen sinners from before the foundation of the world, and in time He applies that salvation to them. It is the work of the Holy Spirit that causes the child of God to be united to Christ and to know communion with Christ. The application of salvation is pure grace. It is wholly the work of God, and not of man. This is the fundamental doctrine of the Reformation. Only God must receive all the glory! And He ensures that He receives all the glory. Christ is the Mediator of purchasing and application.

The necessity of this application of salvation

This is a vital truth for the church in China! Only those who personally receive Christ by a true and living faith will receive the benefits of His work of redemption. Christ didn’t die for all people in the church, only for those who by living faith are united to Him.

1. The glory of God is concerned. So only can we glorify God and enjoy Him forever (W.S.C. Q/A 1)
2. Man is a rational creature. Man must learn what he was, and what he has become. No-one is saved without a consciousness of the change that God has wrought in him or her. He or she experiences salvation! True religion is not just in the mind, it affects the whole being of man, his heart, his affections, his will, his desires. The Scriptures compare the Holy Spirit to wind, we cannot grasp it, but we do feel it.
3. The Scriptures teach it. Christ and his righteousness is compared to such things that can do us no good, unless they are used and applied to us, or we partake of them – 

• Clothing (Rom. 13:14, white garments Rev. 3:5, 6:11, 7:9, 7:14). Even the skins that Adam and Eve were clothed in by God (Gen. 3) point us to the righteousness of Christ.
• A means of healing (Is. 53:5)
• Food, John 6:53, 54: Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
• The vine and the branches (John 15:1-11). Only the branches which were truly in the vine bring forth fruit. Others in the vine bring forth no fruit.
• The whole OT ceremonial law taught this, that without the application of blood, there was no purification from sin (Exod. 24:8, Heb. 9:19, Heb. 12:24).
• Marriage. In many places in the Scripture, we see the imagery of marriage used to illustrate the union between Christ and His Church (Eph. 5:22-32, Song of Solomon etc.). We must be married to Christ. This implies that we refuse all other lovers and cleave only unto Him.
• The man without the wedding garment confirms this (Matt. 22:11). It was not enough to attend the wedding feast, he must put on the wedding garment.
• A Hiding Place Ps. 91, Is. 57
• The Pearl of Great Price. The pearl merchant had to sell all that he had to buy it. He desires the Pearl alone to be his possession.
• Lot and Zoar (Gen. 19:22). It was not enough for Lot to be brought out of Sodom, he had to be in Zoar before he was safe from the judgment of God. 
• The Ark of Noah (Gen. 6). The sinners in the unbelieving world were welcome to come into the ark, but refused and perished in the judgment of God.
• The cities of refuge. The manslayer must flee to the city of refuge, and remain there until the death of the high priest. If he leaves the city, he may be killed by the avenger.

1. The heart of Reformed theology. This truth has been taught by all truly godly teachers throughout the centuries. Calvin says: it will do us no good, that Christ’s blood was shed, unless our consciences are cleansed by it, through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Puritans emphasize this again and again.
2. The devil hates this truth! This truth is so vital that the devil in every age applies all his strength and cunning to seek to corrupt and darken it, by spreading Arminianism. Being a church member is not enough, we must be born again, we must personally experience union with Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. We must be changed from enemies of God into His friends. We must know Christ has been revealed to us! Sin and grace must not remain general, but become personal to you.

Union with Christ

Union with Christ is a most precious and vital truth. Without union with Christ all our conviction and illumination are of no saving value. The work of Christ in the heart of the sinner follows the order of the 3 Offices of Christ: Prophet, Priest and King. He was Jesus: Saviour. The name Joshua in the OT: the Lord saves. For He shall save His people from their sins (Matt. 1:21).  For all who believe He is precious. His Name is as ointment poured forth (Song 1:3). He alone soothes the wounded soul. He alone heals the broken heart. Grace is poured into His lips (Ps. 45). His Name is very sweet to them, who have learned by the Holy Spirit that their name is lost sinner. There is no other Name given under heaven among men. Christ is the Name given to the Mediator of the new covenant. It is a Greek word meaning anointed one. The Hebrew word Messiah is the same word, see John 1:41. This links the OT promises and their NT fulfillment. Christ has all the properties necessary to fulfill His work as Mediator. As in the OT, Christ has 3 Offices to which He is anointed. Prophet, Priest and King. In the OT all those who were set apart for these three offices were dedicated by anointing oil (Heb. 2). Aaron as high priest (Lev. 8:12), David as king (1 Sam. 16:13), Elisha as prophet (1 Kings 19:16).  Christ is declared by the Father to be High Priest (Heb. 5:5). He is declared to be set apart as Prophet at His baptism (Matt. 3:17). He is declared to be King (Matt. 21:5). All three Offices are mentioned in Zach. 6:13.

First, in His Prophetic Office, He illuminates the mind and gives a spiritual knowledge of the truth. He illuminates the understanding to understand the Scriptures. What was once a dead letter becomes a living vital reality. He dispels our darkness and ignorance. The Word comes with power (1 Thess. 1:5, Rom. 2:29). He speaks personally, as though the Word was written particularly to you. We see in 1 Cor. 1:30 Christ is firstly given to His people as their wisdom. This spiritual knowledge and illumination is necessary to exercise faith in Christ, and goes before it. This is because we cannot put our trust and confidence in someone that we do not know. Faith is not a vague notion in our minds, but has an object: the Person of Jesus Christ. Just like a wife’s love is set upon the person of her husband, he is the object of her love. First Christ must be revealed to us by His Word and Spirit (Gal. 1:16). This is a spiritual sight and knowledge of Him as revealed to us in the Word and applied to us by the Holy Spirit. This is the seeing of Christ that John speaks of in Joh. 6:40, which precedes believing in Him. Just like the children of Israel in Num. 21 who were bitten by the fiery serpents were told to look at the brazen serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness. Firstly, they must get a sight and knowledge of the serpent, and then they could behold it as their only hope of healing. 

In His Priestly Office, the Spirit of Christ enables the elect sinner to embrace Him as their Priest, receiving and resting upon Him alone as their righteousness. This has 2 parts, His satisfaction and His intersession. Everything He did and suffered was for the sake of His people. He endured the unspeakable wrath of His Father for sin. He justifies them, gives them a perfect righteousness and reconciles them to the Father, so that the Father now looks in Fatherly care and compassion upon them (Ps. 103: 13). They are adopted as heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Now He ever liveth to make intersession for His elect (Heb. 7:25). He gives boldness at the throne of grace (Heb. 4:16).

Christ’s Kingly Office – As a Priest He deals with the curse of sin and as a King, Christ removes the pollution of sin. He defends His people, He conquers all His and their enemies especially their sin. When their hearts are most humble, their faith is strongest, and they are most weak and their enemies strongest, then is the usual time He delivers them (Is. 33:2, 8, 9). He is building His Church. He sends His arrows to pierce the heart of the King’s enemies, that they might fall under Him (Ps. 45). 

The devil is a master of deception. By the general work of the Holy Spirit we can experience deep conviction of our corruption and also be enlightened in our understanding of the truth. We can have a taste of heavenly things and receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We can experience something of the power of the eternal world. But all this can be only a general work of the Holy Spirit, using the truth. We see this all described in Heb. 6:4-6. The devil then convinces us that we have been regenerated and united to Christ. But in fact, we have never experienced union and communion with Christ by living faith. The root of our pride and enmity against Christ has still not been broken in our hearts. But true spiritual knowledge and illumination by Christ will always bring us to union with Christ, to embrace Him as our Priest, trusting and resting the whole weight of our guilt on Him, loving Him and delighting in Him. If our knowledge and illumination does not lead us to experimental union with Christ, then we can be sure that it’s only a general work of the Holy Spirit, not His saving work. This is because the saving work of the Holy Spirit always leads to union with Christ. So dear friends, please don’t rest in some convictions and illuminations. Seek a true, saving, living union with Christ!

Union with Christ is a precious mystery. We see that God reveals two types of union in the Bible: the first is personal union of His Son with our nature. This is a great miracle, that God in Christ has united Himself to our nature. Christ is God manifest in the flesh. How can this be? That the infinite, eternal, all-sufficient Triune God who fills the universe should willingly unite Himself to our nature, a creature made from the dust. This is a greater humiliation than we should become a worm, because both man and a worm are creatures, and He is the uncreated God. And more than that, in the likeness of sinful flesh. To the eye of men, Jesus Christ was indistinguishable from all other men. His body had no visible glory. He was subject to all the weaknesses of man, he must eat, he became tired etc. Without this personal union with our nature, there could be no mystical union between Christ and His church. Christ has united Himself to our nature forever! He is the God Man in heaven. His glorified body still bears the scars of His sufferings on the cross, whereas the bodies of His glorified people are without marks. 

The second union we read of in the Bible is the mystical union between Christ and His church. This is a spiritual marriage. This is also a miracle. The holy Son of God unites Himself to His sinful people. All are invited in the Gospel to this marriage union: Ps. 2. But the proposal of marriage does not make marriage. There Let us imagine: A man is a suitor for a woman. He expresses his willingness to have her as his wife. When we think of earthly marriage, a man usually seeks a woman to be his wife who can fulfill his needs. She benefits him as well as him benefiting her. She must love him as well as him loving her! But Jesus Christ seeks a marriage with sinful men, who cannot benefit Him in any way. They have no beauty or riches. They are ugly, bankrupt, guilty sinners! And more than that, they are His enemies by nature (Rom. 5:10, Col. 1:21)! He finds us in our blood (Ezek. 16:6).

Christ is ready and willing to receive sinners (Matt. 22, 2 Cor. 5). That is why it is such a terrible thing to refuse Him. What is required on her part? She must first believe that there is such a man and that he is truly willing to have her. This is an act of her mind or understanding. But will she have him as her husband? Does she love Him above all others? This is an act of her will (trust). If a wife asks her husband if he loves her, and he says, I do my best, then things are not right. Love is free and not forced! Also if a man marries a woman only for her wealth, we say that is no true marriage. It is the same as the person who says that they are a Christian, but is only concerned what God can give them, not for who He is.

1. We’ve seen that union with Christ is pictured in the Bible by the metaphor of the bride and bridegroom.

a) In union with Christ there is communion. Just like between bride and bridegroom, this is communion especially with the Person of Christ (Joh. 1:14). Just like a young person who has just begun a relationship, if they are asked to describe their loved-one, they won’t hesitate to say something about him or her, full of affection. You can then say something of what He means to you, and what He has done for you. The child of God, like the bride in the Song of Solomon can speak about who her beloved is. Then we love the Person of Christ for Who He is in His holiness and truth. Like Abraham, your life is one of communion with Christ. You are constantly looking to Him, seeking Him, depending on Him. Wherever Abraham went he built an altar to worship the LORD and called upon His Name. In the sacrifices he beheld the Messiah by faith. 

b) Love is a powerful affection: it longs for its object, and hopes to obtain, and fears and strives against anything that hinders it. Love must possess the object of its love. Love to Christ means you delight in His presence, you delight to commune with Him in prayer and in His Word. And when He hides His face from you, it’s the most unbearable thing of all (Job 23:3, Lam. 3:8). Only love knows what it is to miss the object of its love. Then you cannot find peace until He reveals something of Himself to you again. Then you cannot find comfort in some outward forms, but only in the soul humbling itself before God. Love is an affection that grows and deepens, but also knows depths and heights. Sometimes affections are low, but by faith you may rest in Him. In this union there is astonishment. When Christ first comes into your heart, you have a sense of His glory and beauty (Is. 9:6).

c) Where there is love to Christ there will be godly sorrow for sin. Like the Prodigal Son, we can say: I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight. The child of God knows a sorrow for sin which is mixed with love. Therefore, in those tears of love there is also joy. This godly sorrow brings with it shame for sin, that we have offended such a good and gracious God. Then the lowest place before God is not too low. The soul learns to love the attributes of the justice and the truth of God. We see that we have sinned against all His attributes and that breaks our hearts in sorrow.

d) It’s true that we may rejoice in Christ because we find all comfort and salvation in Him. But union with Christ and true love to Him is not dependent on what He gives us, but on who He is. Many followed Jesus for the bread He gave them, but when He said that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood they were offended and left Him. J. Edwards emphasized that to behold the glory of Christ is to delight in Him in the beauty of His holiness. At the same time, we cannot separate His Person from His benefits. Paul could say, He loved me and gave Himself for me (Gal. 2:20). It is Christ and Him crucified that Paul rejoiced in. He became man that He might save His people from their sins. But love to Christ is primarily focused on His Person, not His benefits. We then love Him for His holiness, His truth, His wisdom, His goodness, His compassion, His love. Let us consider: do we obey God because of love to Christ and desire for His glory, or only for some benefit to ourselves or from custom? Do we love His truth and His glory more than our own name, our reputation, our comforts and our lives? When the test comes, is there a burning affection in our hearts that makes us cleave to Him, stand for His truth, confess His Name, even when we know it will cost us everything? If we do not love Him above all others, then we will surely depart from Him.

2. You are united to the crucified and risen Jesus. You have fellowship with Him in His cross and His resurrection. Union with Christ means that you have died with Christ and risen again with Him (Rom. 6). Firstly, this means that you have died to your first husband, the law (Rom. 7:4). All hope and expectation of obtaining life from our first husband has died. This first and strong marriage contract has been dissolved. This death is crucifixion with Christ. We begin to look at everything through suffering and the cross. This means that all that we used to glory in: our works, our righteousness, our religious deeds, is now despised and rejected as merit before God. But the works of God in us, humility and the fear of God, are now our eternal merits.¹ Now the cross becomes so precious to us, because we see in the suffering and dying Jesus the wisdom, justice and mercy of God all meet. We learn that naked trust in the mercy of God is our only hope. We die to our own wills, our own strength, our own wisdom, and find life outside of ourselves in Christ.

This union with the crucified and risen Jesus means that His people experience what it is to suffer for His sake. God gives him grace to take up His cross and follows Christ. The hypocrite doesn’t understand this. Although he experiences sorrow, he can find comfort without Christ. But God in His infinite wisdom and love lays heavy crosses on His children. They are His precious jewels that He doesn’t give to the unbeliever. In their crosses His people taste His Fatherly love and care, His chastening hand. He sweetens their cross with His love and Fatherly comforts. For the unbeliever their afflictions drive them away from Christ. But for the true child of God they draw them closer to Him. They experience that it is good to be afflicted (Ps. 119:71). He humbles them and empties them of self, and makes them prize Christ’s cross more and more. When they are united to Christ, they die to themselves and to all their own righteousness (Rom. 7:9). Again and again His people experience the death and resurrection of Christ. Paul said, I die daily (1 Cor. 15:31).

3. Union with Christ implies that we are united to the Triune God. Because when we speak of the Son, we always speak in the unity of the Father and the Holy Spirit. Thus, communion with Christ means that we will have communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit also. We know something of the love of the Father in adopting His people to be His children. His love for them is the same as His love for His only begotten Son (Joh. 17:23). This is an eternal, infinite and unchangeable love. He cares for His people, even in the deepest pathways of affliction (Ps. 23:4). The Holy Spirit seals the love of the Father to our hearts (Eph. 1:13). Then we are satisfied with God and His All-sufficiency (Rom. 8:31). Union with the Holy Spirit is a wonderful truth. He works often in a hidden way in the heart, drawing His people, giving them faith and trust, upholding them and assuring them. He deals very individually with each one of His people.²

4. Union with Christ means that we behold the glory of the Person of Christ (2 Cor. 4:6, Ps. 43:1-2). If we do not behold in Christ anything of His glorious wisdom, righteousness, holiness and goodness, then we have no faith in Christ (v. 4). This beholding of Christ by faith is a spiritual sight of Him that transforms us into His image (2 Cor. 3:18). It is a spiritual sight of Him as He is revealed to us in His Word and by His Spirit. As John Owen says, this beholding of the glory of Christ is the greatest privilege that we may partake of in this life. And it is in Christ that we behold the wisdom and love of God. Apart from Christ we cannot know the wisdom and love of God to sinners (1 Cor. 1:20-24, 1 Pet. 1:21). In Christ all His attributes are exercised for the salvation of His people, His wisdom, His righteousness, His holiness, His mercy, His longsuffering, His power. Without Christ’s incarnation and sufferings, God’s justice and His mercy could never meet. But in Christ, they find perfect satisfaction (Ps. 85:10-11). It is beholding the glory of Christ by faith that we receive a renewing and sanctifying knowledge of God (Col. 3:10). It is beholding something of His glory that brings us to love Him and prize Him above everything else in this world (Ps. 73:25). 

How can I know whether I am united to Christ or not? Like the metaphor of husband and wife, the heart of this relationship is love. The requirement of the law is obedience, the requirement of the gospel is love. That’s why Paul says in 1 Cor. 16:22: if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha. What is love? It’s an inclination of the will, which is not forced but free. It is a bending of the will toward the object of your love, as the most suitable object of your love. Love cannot be content unless it possesses the object of its love. Union with Christ means that we become one with Him and He with us. Therefore, we hate anything that hinders that union, and seek whatever promotes it. Love to Christ is a love of dependence. It loves God more than itself and more than his life. This faith in Christ is that we receive Him and apply Him to ourselves, believing that we are reconciled to God through Him. Faith is the spring of this love, for faith works by love.

To help us to answer this question, let us consider: do we obey God because of love to Christ and desire for His glory, or only for some benefit to ourselves or from custom or some other motive. Love is a powerful affection: it longs for its object, and hopes to obtain, and fears and strives against anything that hinders it. Love must possess the object of its love. Love to Christ means you delight in His presence, delight to commune with Him. And when He hides His face from you, it’s the worst thing of all (Job 23:3, Lam. 3:8). Like Abraham, your life is one of communion with Christ. You are constantly looking to Him, seeking Him, depending on Him. Wherever Abraham went he built an altar to worship the LORD. In the sacrifices he beheld the Messiah by faith. Love is set on the Person, not on the benefits that they give to us. Love to Christ means you long for His second coming. In this union there is astonishment. When Christ first comes into your heart, you are filled with a sense of His glory and beauty (Is. 9:6). 

You are united to the crucified and risen Jesus. You have fellowship with Him in His cross and His resurrection. Union with Christ means that you have died with Christ and risen again with Him (Rom. 6). This means that His people experience what it is to suffer for His sake. The hypocrite doesn’t understand this. Although he experiences sorrow, he can find comfort without Christ. But God in His infinite wisdom and love lays heavy crosses on His children. They are His precious jewels that He doesn’t give to the unbeliever. In their crosses His people taste His Fatherly love and care, His chastening hand. He sweetens their cross with His love and Fatherly comforts. For the unbeliever their afflictions drive them away from Christ. But for the true child of God they draw them closer to Him. They experience that it is good to be afflicted (Ps. 119:71). He humbles them and empties them of self, and makes them prize Christ’s cross more and more. When they are united to Christ, they die to themselves and to all their own righteousness (Rom. 7:9). And again and again His people experience the death and resurrection of Christ. Paul said, I die daily (1 Cor. 15:31).

What are the marks of union with Christ? 

1. We see sin as our enemy, although we perhaps dare not claim Christ to be our friend.
2. We value Christ very highly. We cannot rest without getting a sight of Him. Although we perhaps cannot say, He is mine, we are often saying: Oh that He were mine. The fruits of union are, prizing the Word, denying all our own righteousness and leaning on Christ’s righteousness, and a love to all who truly bear Christ’s image.
3. We long to know more of Him.

How may we seek union with Christ

1. Seek faith in Christ. Cry to the Spirit of Christ for a living sight of your sin, and your absolute need of Christ as the only Saviour. Bring your previous sins to mind as though they were present now with you. Bring the future judgment of God to you, as though you were now standing before the throne of God. Cry to Him to smash all your false confidence in your own righteousness and merits, to humble you at His feet. Seek to justify God for His just judgment over your sins. Consider that He owes you nothing. Cry for grace to give Him all the glory, even if there were no salvation for you.
2. Come to the promises of God, and seek faith to believe the promises. Look to Christ as He is revealed in the promises. Cry for a new heart, a new nature, everything that He alone can give. Have great expectations from the power and mercy of God. 
3. Remember that the devil’s great purpose is to keep you from Christ and seeing your absolute need of Him. As soon as we get a sense of our corruption, he will paint Christ with the face of a severe judge to us. He will do all he can to discourage us, make us despair and fill our minds with unbelieving, hard thoughts of Christ. But His face is full of tender compassion to poor, needy sinners. The devil will try to convince you that you are so unworthy there is no hope that Christ will receive you. But if you needed worthiness to come to Him, then it wouldn’t be grace anymore. By its very nature grace is unmerited and undeserved. Jesus came into the world to save sinners, not righteous people. The greater the sinner you feel yourself to be, the more suitable He is as a Saviour. Luther says, Christ came not to forgive small sins, but great sins. Not overcome sins but living, powerful sins. Not some sins, but all sins. His invitations are sincere and He is willing to receive the greatest rebel today. Although you have resisted Him so long, trampled His Word and grace under your feet so many times, He is still willing to receive you. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and ye perish from the way…

Now we have dicussed the essential need of union with Christ, we will consider the manner in which this union takes place by grace. This is the order of salvation.

The three main heads of the Order of Salvation are: The calling, justification, and sanctification (Rom. 8:30). Effectual calling brings about the new birth, repentance and faith. Justification brings about adoption. The complete fulfillment of sanctification is glorification. Just as in nature there is an order, there is an order in the realm of grace. The four seasons follow each other in a specific order. Nevertheless, no summer is exactly the same. Each person who is truly converted is a subject of the order of salvation. We can illustrate this with a golden chain. No link in the chain can be missed otherwise the chain falls apart. We often skip over calling and justification and go straight to sanctification. But then we are deceiving ourselves, we don’t truly know Christ and His redemption.

The three aspects of the misery of man, his blindness, his guilt and his corruption, are perfectly answered by the three aspects of God’s grace: wisdom, righteousness and sanctification (1 Cor. 1:30). They are related to the three Offices of Christ: Prophet, Priest and King. The Heidelberg Catechism also speaks of a threefold order of salvation: knowledge of our misery, of deliverance and of gratitude. The Catechism teaches us that we need to have knowledge of these three things, in order to partake of the only comfort in life and death, to be the possession of Jesus Christ.

We also must not change the order of salvation. We will not desire the righteousness of Christ until we have been convinced that we have only unrighteousness and self-righteousness by nature. That is, we cannot speak of the process of sanctification before justification has taken place. What happens if we miss out justification? If we miss out justification, sanctification becomes legalistic. Like a child trapped in a burning house, who is rescued by a man, doesn’t have to be told to be thankful to that man. She would do anything for him! So also the truly justified sinner, obeys God not because he has to, but because it is the deepest desire and longing of his heart! That is the difference between forced and willing obedience, between a servant and a son.

1. The Calling

1. Introduction

The calling implies we are afar off. Like Adam and Eve in the garden (Gen. 3:9). God calls, before man does. He calls dry bones (Ezek. 37). This is the way that God calls sinners to His Kingdom from darkness to light (Is. 65:1, 55:1). He calls to His blessed communion, to His glorious fullness, to Himself, the source of all good (Prov. 9:5, Matt. 22:4). God´s calling is sincere, He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live (Ezek. 33:11). He is willing to receive the greatest of sinners! Many are not called. In the OT, God chose His people the Jews to be receivers of the true salvation. Few Gentiles were called. Now in the NT, sinners from all nations are called. Still, for 1,000s of years China was in darkness, without the light of the Word of God. This is unspeakably solemn. Many people are still without the Word. God is sovereign in who He sends His Word to (Acts 16). But He calls us to make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28). And He will gather His elect from all nations under heaven (Rev. 22).

The calling is by Word and Spirit. We can speak of the outward calling and inward calling. The outward calling takes place through the preaching and reading of the Word. The outward calling is the means God uses to call inwardly. We do not know who the elect are. We can only bring the Word to the ear. God must bring it into the heart. The inward calling is the work of the Holy Spirit. Only the inward calling brings salvation. No-one is excluded from the outward calling. He invites every sinner to come to Him, without money and without price (Is. 55). Many Scriptures confirm this: 2 Cor. 5:19, Rev. 22:17. His invitation is genuine. God calls all sinners who hear the preaching. Christ is offered to them. They not only may come, they must come to be justified, sanctified and glorified (1 John 1:3). They may not continue in a path of sin! This does not mean that all should assume that Christ have died for them. That is not true faith, it is presumption. In true faith, the soul burdened with guilt and sin goes out of itself, hungers and thirsts after the righteousness and holiness of Christ, and receives Him who is freely offered in the Gospel to sinners, with the promise that he that cometh unto God He will in no wise cast out (John 6:37). The calling is meant to show us our inability and misery, that we would desire deliverance. The calling of the Gospel requires repentance and faith as conditions. 

We can speak of the warrant of the Gospel. Christ is offered in the promises of the Gospel to lost sinners. In the inward calling, the Holy Spirit brings the sinner to receive Christ offered to them in the promises as made to him personally. Luther said, the most precious word in the Bible is mine: Christ is my Saviour. The devil’s faith is, Christ died for the elect. But saving faith says, Christ died for me! By embracing the promises, the sinner says, His calling is to me personally.

At the same time, only the elect are inwardly called. Many are called, but few are chosen (Matt. 20:16, 22:14). Repentance and faith are a gift of His free grace, which He gives to those whom He intends to save. Many who are called are willfully disobedient and harden their hearts (Ps. 95:7-8, Heb. 3:8). This is their own guilt, not because they were not elected. If we go to a lost eternity, it is because we wanted to! Because they are not willing to be saved, and because of their wickedness and blindness they are not able to respond to God’s call. They do not meet the conditions of repentance and faith, and are therefore not saved (see Matt. 22:1-14, the parable of the marriage supper). Their judgment will be far worse than those who have not heard the Gospel. Think of how we would feel if we had prepared a rich wedding feast, and the guests we invited refused to come! They have been invited and called to come to Christ. They have despised the mercy offered to them, and the wrath of the Lamb shall be their portion (Rev. 6:16). We can compare it to rain falling on hard ground or on ploughed ground. The water does not penetrate the hard ground but runs off. The ground broken up by the plough (the work of the Spirit), and is able to receive the rainfall. The rain is the same, the reception is different. The seed of the Word is good (Matt. 13, the parable of the sower).

The inward calling is a powerful and saving calling, which takes place when the Word is accompanied by the Holy Spirit. See Acts 16:14, the Lord opened the heart of Lydia, that she took heed to the words of Paul. The others heard the words of Paul, but in her heart, the Holy Spirit caused that Word to penetrate her heart. It was the power of God unto her salvation. Without this we have no strength to respond to this calling. When a sinner is inwardly called, the Word of God comes with power (1 Thess. 1:5, 2 Tim. 3:5). The Holy Spirit convinces the soul of the reality of God and of the truth of His Word. Word and Spirit work together. The Word has authority. The eyes of the understanding are enlightened (Eph. 1:18). The offer of the Gospel to all who hear does not imply they have an ability to respond to the offer. God sincerely calls sinners to salvation, but only He can make renew them so that they respond to the call. Both God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility stand side by side. 

What is the purpose of the call? To call to repentance! This is the message of the prophets in the OT, until John the Baptist, and of Christ and the apostles in the NT. God calls sinners to return to Him. Think of Ezek. 33:11. God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Also the first words of the Lord Jesus’ preaching after commencing His public ministry were not, believe, but repent – see Matt. 4:17. Without repentance we cannot enter the kingdom of God. Luke 5:31-32: they that are whole need not a Physician, but they that are sick, I am come not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. There is none righteous: Rom. 3:10.

2. Conviction of sin

It´s important to consider this aspect of conviction of sin in more detail because this aspect is often neglected by us.  We so often imagine that the way of salvation is a rising line. I come to church and study in the xue xi ban. I learn about the Bible and gradually I come to know God more and more. I grow up to God. But this is totally opposite from what the Bible teaches us. The Bible shows us again and again: First everything that we have built up must be broken down, before God begins to build. The old house must be demolished before the new one can be built. First the field must be ploughed up before the seed can be planted. First John the Baptist comes preaching the law and afterwards the Lord Jesus comes to proclaim the gospel. The law kills us, before the Gospel makes us alive. 

Just as in the Creation, the first thing that God made was light, so in re-Creation the first thing that God works in the soul in the calling is illumination of the understanding. We can also speak of conviction. We by nature are in darkness (Eph. 4:18) but God is light. We are blinded by sin. We do not know ourselves and the wickedness of our hearts. In the most normal manner of the  Spirit’s working, the sinner becomes deeply conscious of the holiness of God and the sinfulness of his or her heart (John 16:8). Like sunlight shining into a dark room shows the specks of dust in the air, the corruption which was always there, but not seen, is suddenly an awful reality. He or she sees that they have sinned against God (Luke 15:21). This conviction of sin is a preparation to salvation, but is not saving. 

The prophets speak often of calling sinners from darkness to the light: Is. 42:7, 49:6. Paul also speaks of God’s call to him, in Acts 26:18, and 13:47, that he would be a means of light to the Gentiles, to open their blind eyes. Also Isaiah says in Is. 60:1: awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. He is described as the Son of Righteousness. Only Jesus Christ is spoken of in Scripture as opening the eyes of the blind.

From the Bible we see that there are two realms: a natural realm and a spiritual realm (1 Cor. 15:46). God is the author of all things, both in the natural and the spiritual realm. All His works are done by the agency of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the source of all divine works. So also in Creation, it is God by the Holy Spirit that brought the created world into existence. At the same time, we see God’s special saving work by the Holy Spirit, bringing a sinner to saving faith in Christ. So also in the church, we see the same two workings of the Holy Spirit, a natural and a spiritual. So it is important to understand that both workings of the Holy Spirit are to be seen in the church, a natural work which is not saving, and a spiritual saving work, which leads to union with Christ. The Holy Spirit makes use of the law, as the revelation of the mind and will of God to mankind. There is thus a general use of the law, which is to teach them their requirements of obedience. But there is also a special use of the law, which is to convict sinners of sin, and to bring them by this schoolmaster to Christ. We often neglect this work of conviction. We jump from judgment to faith or a decision. But we need the work of the law and the righteousness of God to convict and humble us.

There are two works of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of men: one is general and the other is saving. The first work of the Holy Spirit is common to all men, and particularly to those in the visible church. The general work of the Holy Spirit is concerned with the gifts of the Spirit in Creation and Providence. He gives gifts to all men, firstly their lives, their natural gifts and abilities etc. By the inward sense of God in all men, He restrains people from evil through their conscience. By their upbringing they can be constrained from many outward sins and can learn many religious habits. Such a person can pray a beautiful prayer and even preach a good sermon. They can be faithful church members who can share about the Bible. They can feel joy in prayer and in hearing the Word preached. They can be morally very upright, and wouldn’t dream of lying, cheating or swearing. But their hearts are still the same, they have never been recreated and made a new creature in Christ Jesus. They have received the gifts of the Spirit, but never received the Person of the Holy Spirit. The saving work is always concerned with the Person of the Holy Spirit Himself, being given to the soul in the work of the new creation. 

In the same way, there are also two types of conviction by the Holy Spirit. One is general, which often leads either to a false faith, or to despair. The saving conviction of the Holy Spirit is preparatory to saving faith. Firstly we will consider the preparation for saving faith. So just as there can be true saving faith and general faith, so there is true saving conviction of sin and general conviction of sin.³

What is this general conviction? 

Because the Holy Spirit commonly works in the midst of His church, it is quite usual for those who live under the preaching to be convicted for a time of their sin, of the fact that they don’t truly know Jesus and of the wrath of God. This conviction makes them troubled and anxious and makes them seek God and try and improve their lives for a time. But because their natural blindness (2 Cor. 4:4), they use this conviction as a foundation of trust, that a work of grace has already begun in them. They imagine that God’s grace will gradually come and they will be brought to assurance of faith. 

Three results may be found:

1. They lose their fear, and find a false comfort in the promises of God.

2. They are confirmed in their false peace. It is very difficult to convince such people that they are in a state of false peace.

3. They become great Christians in their own eyes.

What is lacking? They cannot speak of a true union and communion with Christ, and fellowship with Him by faith, and of the knowledge of Him, with a sincere denial of themselves. They have perhaps much knowledge of the truth, they have an outwardly moral and religious life, they have even a great change in their lives, habits and thinking, and yet still it be all an outward change, without a powerful, living, experimental union with Christ. They hear that poor empty sinners may come to Christ. And because they are still bound in the covenant of works, when they hear this, they begin to work to make themselves into a poor guilty sinner, they cry and so find comfort. But this is not God’s work, but just from themselves. They have some knowledge, but they have not experienced being broken. They go from being weak to being strong, and find instant comfort. Others think that to become a Christian is to study and learn, using the means of grace, they will come to know Him more and more. But in this way, they take the means of grace to be grace itself! The pathway to salvation is not yet salvation. The pipe supplying the water is not the water. Knowledge on its own can never bring us to Christ. Only the powerful work of the Holy Spirit using the means of grace are effectual.

Why is conviction of sin so essential?

Conviction of sin on its own can never bring us to a saving knowledge of Christ. It is merely a legal work of the Holy Spirit, to drive us out of ourselves to Christ, to trust in the promises of the Gospel, and to cast ourselves wholly upon Him. Christ is offered to all men in the Gospel, and all are welcome to come unto Him. But no-one will truly come with a true renunciation of everything of himself, unless he first has such a spiritual feeling of his hell-worthy state outside of Christ that makes him sink down as completely lost and ruined in himself. Unless our sins and the judgment of God press down upon us so heavily that we cannot bear it anymore, we will never come to Christ with a whole heart, willing to be saved by His grace alone, and forsake our bosom sins.

In this way, God reveals to us His attributes: His justice and holiness, His wrath over our sins. We see in Joh. 16:8 that there is an order in the work of the Holy Spirit: conviction of sin, because they believe no on me, conviction of righteousness and conviction of judgment. Ralph Erskine says that the soul is first convinced of his sin against the law, but then sees that his sin actually that he does not believe in the love and goodwill of Christ in the Gospel. Then in conviction of righteousness, the glory of Christ’s righteousness is revealed to the soul, as being sufficient to cover all his sins. He is enabled to embrace His righteousness for justification and reconciliation. Finally, conviction of judgment is to receive Christ to subdue sin and satan in the soul. He is my Prophet, Priest and King.⁴

So this work of conviction is the preparation to saving faith. We cannot expect God will turn away His judgments until we turn away from our sins. And can we turn from our sins before we know them? Just like in the natural realm, we must plough the field before we plant the seed, and we must pull down the old building before we build the new one. The ploughing is not the harvest, but without ploughing and preparation there will be no harvest. The wet wood will not burn until it has been dried. In the vision of dry bones in Ezek. 37, the bones are firstly brought together, and then life is breathed into them. But both works are works that God does, not man. So this work of preparation is an essential element that we need to constantly keep in mind. It is hardly known in the church in China. Many people think that they have had a conversion experience, and are true children of God. But they never experienced this work of conviction and humiliation. They were saved before they were ever lost! They perhaps had some feelings of their sin, but quickly found peace and comfort. They were never lost helpless sinners. They had a sorrow of the world but no godly sorrow (2 Cor. 7:10). Such worldly sorrow only sorrows over the consequences of sin, not over sin itself, as an offence against God. Godly sorrow has been given an eye to see the riches of God’s love to him, and then he reflects on himself and is ashamed.⁵ John Bunyan illustrates this in his famous book, the Pilgrim’s Progress. Christian is found in the City of Destruction, with a great burden on his back. He groans under the weight and sense of his sin, he reads the Bible, but finds no relief. He cries, I’m lost, I’m lost. His wife and children don’t understand him, and try to comfort him in vain. Nothing else matters to him now, but to be delivered from his burden, to find peace with God. 

Although God’s method of grace is unique for everyone, in His normal way in the lives of adult sinners He prepares them for grace by a pathway of conviction and humiliation. Infants who are regenerated are a special case. However, there are examples of children as young as 4 years who have had a clear experience of conviction of sin and of faith in Christ.

So the necessary condition of coming is that no-one will receive Christ until he is emptied of himself, till he is cast down from his pride, Christ will not be prized, grace will not be esteemed.⁶ We preach Christ generally to all, that whosoever will, may receive Him, but men will not receive Him, till they be humbled, said John Preston. So this conviction by the law is distinct from any merit by the law. The law merits nothing. But it is the mirror for us, to show us our failure to obey the law. By the law is the knowledge of sin (Rom. 3:20). The Scriptures teach us this truth continually: the bruised reed (Is. 42), Lydia is a worshipper of God before her conversion, the pierced hearts at Pentecost, the broken Saul on the road to Damascus. This doctrine of preparation emphasizes the sovereignty of God in salvation. This work of conviction is the sovereign work of God in the lives of His elect. It’s His divine purpose being worked out, that His elect are brought in this pathway to saving faith in Jesus Christ, and the others, although they may have some temporary convictions, are left to harden their hearts through the deceitfulness of sin (Heb. 3;13).⁷ So the same preaching has a two-fold outworking, on one side by grace it breaks and humbles the elect; on the other, through their own guilt the rest remain hardened in rejection of the Gospel (2 Cor. 2:15-16). None will come to Christ but those who are drawn by the Father (Joh. 6:44). Luther says that before God does His proper work of salvation, He does His alien and anger work. Think of Joseph, before he comforts his brothers, he terrifies them that they would be humbled. The mystery of God’s ways are that He gives life by killing, He brings to heaven by first plunging us into hell, He gives mercy in wrath. This is because the cross is at the centre of all true theology. In fact, Luther says the cross is our theology. In the humiliation and shame of the cross is the glory of the church. 

At the same time, this work of preparation is not in conflict with the responsibility of man and the freeness of the offer of the Gospel. The promises of God are sincere: all are commanded and welcome to come to Christ immediately and by sincere faith to receive His complete reconciliation and salvation. Saving faith embraces the promises, saying, they are made to me! Such a soul takes the promises into his own heart and applies them to himself personally. He beholds Christ and His glory in the promises and can say with Paul, Gal. 2:20, He loved me and gave Himself for me. But to refuse to come, to deny His sweet invitations is the most terrible sin of all. It is unbelief, to call God a liar, as though He was not willing to receive sinners. Just like in the parable of the wedding in Matt. 22, those invited to the wedding refused to come. They were personally invited, but willfully despised and rejected the invitation, because they felt other things were more important. Christ says to us, come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest. But most people refuse to come, they will have Christ on their death bed as a deliverer from hell, but they refuse Him as their King to reign over Him in their lives. But those who have broken hearts, that know the bitterness of sin, to such is this Word of salvation particularly sent. This is the condition of coming.⁸

Throughout the Bible we see that the preaching of God’s law and His judgments goes before the preaching of His mercy and grace to sinners. John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way of the Lord (Is. 40). Humiliation always goes before exaltation. To be sick is one thing, but for the doctor to apply the right remedy and to heal you is another. Those in hell never have fellowship with Christ, but they are powerfully convinced of their sin and condemnation. 

Thus the fundamental difference between saving conviction and general conviction is that the first leads to saving union with Christ, and the second only leads to a false faith. Thus the order of conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment (Joh. 16:8) is very important. Luther says, the Holy Spirit, by the law convicts of sin, to condemn us, to bring us to hell, to kill us, but with one purpose, that we would be justified, raised up, made alive and brought to heaven. The law does not just kill, it kills us to make us alive. So conviction of sin is essential to prepare us for conviction of righteousness – that we experience that we need the imputed righteousness of Christ. So the right use of the law is not to bring us to despair, but to long and cry for Christ to come and open the prison house of the law, and to bring us into the liberty of the Gospel, that Christ would be our Priest and King, as well as our Prophet.

What is saving conviction? 

It is a powerful work of the Holy Spirit that reaches to the deepest root of the heart, which is totally broken and has no strength left to resist Christ and His grace. The Sword of the Word totally slays the old man, and brings us to the feet of Jesus. Saving conviction cuts us off from our own root in the covenant of works in Adam, and plants us into the covenant of grace in Christ (Joh. 15, the vine and the branches).

What is the difference with general conviction? It is not deep like saving conviction. It is like the stony ground hearers in the parable of the sower. The seed sprung up, but because there was no depth of earth, it soon withered away in the sun. There was no fruit. This conviction only lightly touches the conscience and affections. It´s true that the ungodly sometimes experience deep conviction of sin and of the wrath of God, but still their deep-seated enmity to Christ remains. This enmity is seen in the fact that we doubt the promises of God. Our enmity is seen in our unbelief. We´ve prayed for so long, we say, and God hasn´t answered me. I am willing to be saved, but I doubt whether God is willing to save me. If He really means what He says, why doesn´t He answer my prayers? But actually we are saying that we are sincere and trustworthy, but God and His promises are not trustworthy.

Thus unbelief is truly the greatest sin before God. Why is this? Because Christ is offered in the promises of the Gospel as a complete Saviour from sin, such that whoever receives Him and puts all their trust in Him will be saved. But all our other sins can never be forgiven so long as we persist in this sin of unbelief, because we make God out to be a liar. That is why in Joh. 16:8 the convicting of the world of sin is, that they believe not on me. The Holy Spirit is promised to particularly convince the elect of this sin, which is not only against the law, but also against the Gospel. That is because we refuse to allow God to save us by pure grace. Thus so long as we are not thoroughly convinced of this sin of unbelief, all the rest of our convictions will not be sufficient to bring us to sincere faith in Christ. We will continue to seek our life in our own good deeds, and by them try to please God. Our eyes will remain closed to His promises. Thus unbelief holds us in the grip of all our other sins, because by it we as yet do not see the true nature of our sin, as sin against the truth of God´s promises. Although we are convicted of our sin against the law, yet we still do not believe in Christ, because we are still held in the powerful grip of the covenant of works, and unbelief is our nature. Paul describes this in Gal. 3:23 as being kept under the law, shut up unto faith. The imagery is of a prison cell, in which we are held until faith brings us to liberty.

In conclusion, it is important to realize that experiencing a certain method of preparation, followed by a sense of comfort, is no guarantee of true conversion. The devil, as an angel of light, is able to counterfeit preparatory operations of the Spirit. On the other hand, failing to experience a certain method of preparation does not prove that someone is unconverted. To prove from Scripture that certain things will be true of persons before they will receive Christ is different from saying that each one of these things must be plain and clear in each conversion experience.⁹ The essence of true conversion is not conformity to a scheme, but rather the inward reality of a broken-hearted trust in Christ. 

4. The new birth

The Scriptures speak of the grace of God to a sinner in many different ways. One of the ways that is often most neglected is that of the new birth, or regeneration. Both the OT and NT speak of this miracle of the new birth. See Ps. 51:12, Jer. 31:33, Ezek. 18:31, 36:26, 37:1-10, Joh. 1:13, Eph. 2:5, 1 Cor. 5:17, 1 Pet. 1:3, 23 and of course John 3. This is the passive work of God in salvation. Just as we have had no say in our first birth, so we can have no say in our rebirth. It is a miracle of God’s free grace! Just as God is the Author of Creation, so also of re-Creation. Without the new birth it is impossible for us to see the kingdom of God (John 3:3).

In the new birth, life is given to the soul dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). In the Fall in the Garden of Eden, we died spiritually. No-one can give life to a corpse. Only God can give new life to the soul. Just like you had no say in your first birth, you are totally passive in the new birth. It is a birth from above (John 3:7). The Holy Spirit comes savingly into the heart and unites the soul with Jesus Christ. From His resurrection power, we are raised from death to life. We begin to experience the truth! 

The Scriptures distinguish between the new birth and faith, but they do not separate them. Faith is a result of the new birth. The work of the Holy Spirit in the new birth is a mystery which we cannot fathom, Jesus compares it to the wind in Joh. 3:8. But the fruits of the new birth will be experienced – that is faith and repentance. He or she who is born again will begin to exercise faith. So without regeneration there is no true faith. Then all our works are dead works. It is without faith, and therefore an abomination to God. In John 3:3 and 14, the new birth is mentioned by Jesus first, and then faith, with the illustration of Moses and the serpent in the wilderness. In the new birth, the will is renewed, so that we begin to choose the good and reject the evil. This is impossible for the natural man, however religious he is. If your heart is set on something, how impossible it is to change your feelings. If you do change your feelings, it´s only under pressure from outside, not willingly. This is the difference between a slave and a son. The slave obeys his master because it´s his duty, otherwise he is afraid he will be punished. The son obeys from love to his parents. Our will by nature is bound, it must be set at liberty by the renewing power of the Holy Spirit in regeneration. So in the new birth, the love of Christ is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). New spiritual faculties are formed in the soul through union with Christ. It is a powerful work of the Holy Spirit, as powerful as the first creation. We are then spiritually and intimately united to Christ. He is in us (Joh. 17:23). He is the head and they are the body. They are one in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Joh. 17:21).

5. Repentance or conversion

It is often very difficult to say exactly where new life begins. True conversion can be compared to leaves on an oak tree. When you look closely at the leaves, they are all slightly different. But they are all oak leaves! So true repentance is worked by the same Holy Spirit, and bears His mark, like a seal in wax. In one it is deeper, the other more gentle. But the same elements are seen in all! J. Edwards saw differences between people in the revival, but they were all convicted of sin and awakened. They came to repentance. Repentance is a fruit of faith. 

To understand what the Bible means by repentance, we must study the words in the Hebrew and Greek used for it. The word in Hebrew is שׁוב, (shuv) meaning in the Qal to return. It occurs many times in the OT. This word is translated in the Greek as ἐπιστρέφω (epistrefo) meaning to return, to turn back, or turn around. For example we find the word in Luke 1:17, the prophecy of John the Baptist: And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdomof the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Other times it is translated as to be converted: Acts 3:19: Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. This is the more positive word of the two in the Greek. It has the meaning of a positive return to God, with the forsaking of the former existence and path of sin. The other word in the Greek is μετανοέω (metanoeo). This word is made up of two words: meta and nous. The meaning of the two words is change and thinking. Thus it means repentance is a change of mind. This does not just mean the rational part of man, but also his heart. The centre of one’s life! It means a change of heart, coupled with sorrow and grief over the former way of thinking. This word also appears in Acts 3:19: repent ye. It is important to keep this meaning of repentance in mind. Thus repentance is a profound change of mind, heart and life! Let us look at repentance more closely. We can speak of three element of true repentance: coming to ourselves, godly sorrow for sin, and returning to God.

1. Coming to ourselves

We must first recognize our true state by nature, in sin and misery. This is absolutely essential! As we are born, we seek our happiness in the wrong place, in the things of this world. We are blind (2 Cor. 4:4). We do not see our true state by nature. We do not see things as God sees them, as they really are. We are in a state of complete self-deception. We believe a lie. God’s Spirit must awaken us from the sleep of sin and death. The Scriptures show this order again and again. First conviction of sin and ruin comes before the knowledge of Christ. First John the Baptist came, then Christ, first Elijah then Elisha, first Moses then Joshua. The prophets proclaim God’s judgments before His promises.

When the Spirit begins to work in the heart, sin, guilt and unworthiness press it down. We find that we cannot save ourselves, and that God is just and righteous (Ps. 145:17). We have no rights anymore to plead. We have sinned them all away! I am no more worthy to be called thy son (Luke 15:21). We are humbled in the dust. We are made sincere before God. God uses His holy law to show us how far short we come of God´s holy requirements. The Lord Jesus has summarized the law in Matt. 22:37 thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength, and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Like in a mirror we see ourselves as we truly are, in the mirror of God´s law we see ourselves how God sees us, as haters of God and of our neighbour (see Heidelberg Catechism, Q/A 5).

Think of the Prodigal Son. He is said to come to himself (Luke 15:17). This implies a serious consideration of our condemned and miserable state, under God’s wrath and curse. The Prodigal Son said (Luke 15:17b): how many servants of my father have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger. We must become a lost sinner before God! We must despair of ever being able to save ourselves. Until then, we will be like the Prodigal Son, who at first could keep himself going with the supplies of pig food. Until our own recourses of wisdom, strength and righteousness are all used up, we will not desire deliverance. We will not hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Until then we will remain proud and self-confident, and plan some way to save ourselves. See also Ps. 116, Ps. 34:18, 51:17, 147:3, Is. 61:1 and 66:2.

1. Godly sorrow for sin

Not only the consequences of sin, (shame, poverty, death) but sin itself bring us sorrow and grief (2 Cor. 7:10). The Scripture shows us that there can be a knowledge of sin that does not lead to repentance: think of Judas, Saul, Esau. There can be tears, but they are but worldly sorrow. They do not drive the sinner out to God. Think of Pharaoh, he acknowledged that he had sinned, but when the threat of punishment was passed, so was his sorrow. There is in worldly sorrow no true love to God. Only fear of punishment, only sorrow for the consequences of sin. There is no hatred of sin. Such a person can do without God! Think of Esau. He shed tears, but his later life was one of departure from God. In true repentance, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). This is at the heart of true repentance! Let’s look at a few Scriptures: Ps. 32:5. The Prodigal Son said: I will arise and go to my father (Luke 15:18). A child cries much more for the fact that his or her father is displeased with them than because of the pain of the punishment! They long for a restoration of the good relationship. This godly sorrow includes that we are humbled. We can say, God is just in punishing my sins.

1. Returning to God

The Prodigal Son arose and returned to his father (v.20a). There are two sides to this. It is only the Holy Spirit that can enable us to return to God. At the same time, God renews the will and so draws the sinner that he cannot do anything but long with all his or her being to return to God (Song of Sol. 1:4). See also Phil. 2:13. The will is so renewed that the sinner cleaves to God alone. This is a coming to God in order to find life, joy and satisfaction of soul. The soul cannot be satisfied with anything less than God Himself! A longing for holiness is born in the soul, and a hatred for anything that comes in between Him and it. Love is voluntary.

6. Saving faith

The calling is not only to repentance, it is also to faith in Christ (Acts 20:21). Why? Because the sinner cannot come to God except through the Mediator Jesus Christ (John 14:16). The Father calls to the Son, the Son brings to the Father. The law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ (Gal. 3:24). The work of the law is only necessary that we might feel our need of Christ. Only when we by faith receive Christ and are united to Him, shall we know peace with God. The Holy Spirit begins to show to the sinner the necessity, the suitability and the sufficiency of Jesus Christ and His perfect righteousness to cover all our unrighteousness and self-righteousness.

Why do we speak of saving faith? Not because faith in itself is saving. But to distinguish it from all other types of faith (see later). Many Christians in China speak of belief, I believe. When you probe deeper you sadly often discover that this faith in many cases consists of little more than a bare assent of the truth of God´s Word. Because they believe, they expect that God will save them. This is not saving faith, we describe this as historical faith. We are not saved for believing, faith doesn’t merit anything. True saving faith is a hearty trust in Christ alone and in the grace of only because of Christ. God in Him, which the Holy Spirit works in the heart of the convicted sinner by the Gospel, that according to the Word of God, (1 Tim. 1:15), they see all sufficiency in Christ as the only Saviour. They receive Him and His righteousness, and give themselves to Him unreservedly. We see in Joh. 9:36 that the man born blind believes in Jesus. This is the problem of the Chinese language, faith does not require an object. So saving faith has an object, the Person and work of Jesus Christ, and the promises of God. Think of the brazen serpent in the wilderness, the people must look with all their hope to the serpent to be healed, otherwise they would die.

The Heidelberg Catechism speaks of three elements of true saving faith in Q/A 21:

Knowledge, consent and trust. The will is thus fully involved. Faith is not reasoning, like we say: I am a sinner and Christ died for sinners so I am saved. It’s not a vague hope that all will be well in the end. Faith is placed in contrast with seeing (John 20:29, Heb. 11:1). It is also contrasted with works (Gal. 2:16, Gal. 3:6, John 6:29). We always want to bring something to the Lord to earn His favour. True faith is a ceasing from our own works, a despairing of our merits, and a committing ourselves unreservedly to the merits of Jesus Christ alone. Believing is receiving, not working. It is stopping with all our own efforts and simply falling into Christ’s arms.

True saving faith is thus a conviction of the heart, mind and will that all that God has said concerning Christ as a Saviour is true and trustworthy. Faith is faith in Christ. By the work of the Holy Spirit, we are united to Him as Person, and faith is the channel whereby we receive Him and all His benefits. It can be compared to an empty hand, which is stretched out to receive a gift. The hand doesn´t have to do anything, but only to receive the gift placed in it – Jesus Christ. It is not a deed, but a disposition of the whole person. It will bring forth deeds of faith. To believe in someone, you must know them!

Let us look closer at the three elements of saving faith that the Heidelberg Catechism speaks of.  Knowledge – of God’s Word. This is not just a certain amount of Bible knowledge, but a living, felt knowledge worked by the Holy Spirit, so that we heartily receive the Word as true and trustworthy. Thus it is knowledge coupled with consent. Without knowledge of the Scriptures, especially what they teach us about Jesus Christ, we cannot know whom we are to believe in. God has revealed Himself in the Word! But also, knowledge without consent is vain. Without consent we do not truly accept the Word of God to be trustworthy.

But as we saw, true faith is not only knowledge and consent, it is also trust. This is the heart of the three. Without trust, we are no different from the devil. He believes and he trembles (Jam. 2:19). He knows that the Word of God is true, but there is no trust in the truth of the Word. He hates it! True faith is a personal embracing of the Person of Jesus Christ as He is revealed in the Scriptures. It’s being totally lost in yourself, but embracing the promises of God as your only hope. Its believing that the promises are made not to others only, but to me in particular! That we with our whole will, rest our guilty souls upon Him alone, despairing of any worthiness in ourselves anymore, condemning ourselves. Trust is especially something of the heart! There is love shed abroad in the heart (Rom. 5:5). This love and trust is worked by the Holy Spirit, and bears His seal. True faith is impossible from man, but possible with God! 

Let us consider some ways in which the Scriptures illustrate the grace of faith. Marriage is one of the most beautiful ones. The Puritan John Preston speaks of this in his books The Churches Marriage, and in the Breastplate of Faith and Love. There are many places in the Scriptures where the grace of faith is compared to the marriage between man and wife. See Hos. 2:18, Ezek. 20:37, Is. 54:5, and especially Eph. 5:32 and the Song of Solomon. There are many parallels between earthly marriage and faith.

Let us imagine: A man is a suitor for a woman. He expresses his willingness to have her as his wife. When we think of earthly marriage, a man usually seeks a woman to be his wife who can fulfill his needs. She benefits him as well as him benefiting her. She must love him as well as him loving her! But Jesus Christ seeks a match with sinful men, who cannot benefit Him in any way. They have no beauty or riches. They are ugly, bankrupt, guilty sinners! And more than that, they are His enemies by nature (Rom. 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life, and Col. 1:21)! This is an unspeakable miracle! Everything comes from His side. He finds us in our blood (Ezek. 16:6), He seeks the lost. This is the true Gospel!

Christ is ready and willing to receive sinners (Matt. 22, 2 Cor. 5). That is why it is such a terrible thing to refuse Him. What is required on her part? She must first believe that there is such a man and that he is truly willing to have her (H.C. Q/A 21, knowledge and consent). This is an act of her mind or understanding. But will she have him as her husband? Does she love Him above all others? This is an act of her will (trust). If a wife asks her husband if he loves her, and he says, I do my best, then things are not right. Love is spontaneous! Also if a man marries a woman only for her wealth, we say that is no true marriage. It is the same as the person who says that they are a Christian, but is only concerned what God can give them, not who He is.

What is involved in this taking of Jesus Christ?

1. We must see our need of Him as our Husband. This is the work of the Holy Spirit to show us our bondage to sin and satan. Bankrupt. Unworthy of His deliverance. Two things are necessary: that we see that we have no righteousness of our own. We have no strength of our own.
2. The Holy Spirit must reveal Jesus Christ to us, and His beauty. Drawing us, like a magnet to Him (John 6:44). We love Him because He first loved us. Hos. 2:14.
3. This consent in the heart must be expressed outwardly. This is confessing Him (Song 5:9-10).
4. As in earthly marriage, there follows the union. Will you take this man as your lawful Husband and renounce all other lovers?
5. The consequence of this union is sharing of goods. What was His becomes ours and what was ours becomes His. His righteousness becomes ours, and our sin is taken upon Him.

The true union with Christ involves receiving Him in all His three Offices. He is a Prophet, Priest and King. We cannot receive Him as Prophet and Priest and not receive Him as King. He teaches His people by the Holy Spirit concerning themselves and concerning Himself (a Prophet). He cleanses and reconciles them to the Father (a Priest), and He graciously reigns over them (a King). These three Offices cannot be separated. If we try to separate them, we are making a Christ of our own imagination! True saving faith desires Christ not only to deliver from the guilt and consequences of sin, death and hell, but also from the reigning power of sin. See below over sanctification.

This union, however, is more than earthly marriage, as the Spirit of Christ comes to dwell in the heart of the child of God. If you have the same Spirit as Christ, then you will desire the same things that He does, and hate the same things that He hates. The Holy Ghost is described to be like fire (Luke 3:16). Fire discovers itself, it cannot be hidden. So the work of the Spirit reveals itself. Fire is living, consuming, purifying, renewing. He will direct your way in His ways. Christ washes those He has married from their filthiness (Gal. 5:25). See more in our discussion of sanctification.

There are more parallels with marriage. In true spiritual union, we are clothed with the wedding garment of Christ’s righteousness (Matt. 22). He takes away the filthy garments of our unrighteousness and self-righteousness, and covers us with the beautiful spotless robe of His righteousness. Nothing but the righteousness of Jesus Christ can satisfy the justice of God. Only the righteousness of Jesus Christ is acceptable to God. This is the great difference between true Christianity and mere morality. This is the danger of much American teaching which is flooding China. We can try to be moral and upright, and live a good life, but it is like watering the branches, without touching the root. Faith in Christ is the root, that is it makes all the rest acceptable to God. Without true faith in Christ, all our good works are no more than sin in God’s sight (Rom. 14:23). So long as we look to our works for acceptance with God, we are not looking to Christ. Therefore true preaching is the preaching of Jesus Christ and His righteousness alone as the foundation of our faith.

In Rom. 7:4, Paul compares the union with Christ to being dead to the Law, and being married to Christ. Therefore there can be no marriage to Jesus Christ until our union with the Law has been dissolved. This takes place when by grace we die to the law. Until then we live under a troubled conscience, the law requiring obedience from us, and we being unable to obey it. Thus saving faith is a ceasing from all our own efforts. It is having nothing, and not being able to do anything, as an ungodly sinner to believe God´s promises.

There is also a familiarity or boldness found between the bride and her Bridegroom. She lives not afar off from Him, but has communion with Him. The secrets of the heart are revealed (Ps. 25:14). You do not see Him as a hard taskmaster. She is not afraid of Him with a slavish fear (1 John 4:18, perfect love casteth out fear). The union is ruled by love, Gal. 5:6! The Song of Solomon is the most exquisite description of this intimate communion between Christ and His Church. For example: the delighting of the Bride and the Bridegroom in each other; the afflictions of the Bride when the Bridegroom withdraws Himself; the commendation of the Bridegroom to the daughters of Jerusalem. Can it be that you love your husband or wife without feeling it?

Many do not truly receive Him, because they think that they have already been united with Jesus Christ, that their debt is paid. But the test is found in the fruit. The Scriptures make plain that they that are in Christ have crucified the flesh (Gal. 5:24).

True faith in its essence is a knowledge of God and of ourselves, according to Calvin. More specifically, we can see from the Scriptures that in the most common way, God works His grace as follows:

first a knowledge of God,

from that a knowledge of ourselves,

then a knowledge of Jesus Christ.

See for example the thief on the cross in Luke 23:39-43. The Holy Spirit works first a knowledge of God before whom we should fear and tremble v. 40: But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? From that the thief shows he has a true knowledge of himself as under God´s just condemnation v. 41: And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. Finally, he confesses His knowledge of Christ as King and Lord. He does not ask to be delivered from his punishment. He only asks that Christ remember him. He knows, if He remembers me, all will be well. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. His hope in Christ is not disappointed! Thus, a sinner does not have a knowledge of Christ until He is made known to the soul, see Gal. 1:16.

7. Assurance

In true faith there is no uncertainty. The certainty of faith is grounded on the truth of God’s Word. In the acting of true faith there is assurance, because we believe that Christ is willing to receive us and our hope and confidence is resting on Him. We are enabled to trust our whole beings on Christ. So faith is called assured confidence in the Heidelberg Catechism Q/A 21. Many Scriptures confirm this inseparable relationship between faith and assurance: see Heb. 6:11, 10:22, 11:1, 1 Joh. 3:21, 5:14, 1 Thess. 1:5, Col. 2:2. The translation in the Chinese Bible is not so clear. The word for faith is the same for assurance here. 

However, this is not the same as the felt assurance of faith. This is when God comforts our hearts with a confirmation from His Word that we are His child, and we may see from our lives the fruits of faith. Then we can say, My Beloved is mine and I am His (Song 2:16). But often there can be much ash covering the smoking flax. Faith can at the beginning be very weak. There is a variety of states in the life of grace. At first we may not see clearly, see the example of the man in Mark 8:24. First he saw men as trees walking. From God’s perspective there is no change in the state of the child of God. Once grace is planted in the heart, He will maintain it until the end. He never forsakes the works of His hands! But just like the sun always shines, but we do not always see it, the sense of the grace of God in the heart can vary greatly. Faith is not perfect. Clouds of unbelief, or of indwelling sin can obscure it. Think of the man in Mark 9:24: Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief. The devil is the accuser of the brethren. Just like he questioned the Sonship of Jesus (Matt. 4:3), he tries to get God’s children to doubt their adoption. The Sun of Righteousness has risen with healing in His wings. But either we do not perceive Him, or He can be hidden from our sight for a time. Even when faith is weakest, there is still at the bottom of the heart a solid foundation of assured confidence in Christ, even if the believer receives no comfort from it. But we should seek for full assurance (1 Cor. 2:12).

Another illustration is the fruit tree. A tree doesn’t bear fruit all the time. There is also a time when the leaves come, then the blossom, and finally the fruit. But just like in natural life, where there is spiritual life, there will be growth (2 Cor. 10:15)! If we always stay the same, it shows that we are still spiritually dead. Such people never show concern about whether they are really converted. This is not assurance, it is presumption.

God’s Spirit gives assurance, it is like a seal. The LORD confirms His own work in the soul. He shows us by the light of the Spirit what He has done in us, see Eph. 1:13 and Rom. 8:16. This is often by applying a certain text from the Scriptures to the soul, or by illumination of the Scriptures in general. Assurance is also never without astonishment! It remains to the end of the believers life a wonder, and becomes a still greater wonder! 

Begin of inserted part.

Faith and assurance

Assurance is a very important matter. Perhaps we don’t realize it, but assurance lies at the heart of the doctrine of the Gospel. At the Reformation, one of the great conflicts with Rome was the question, can a believer be assured of his salvation in Christ or not? The Roman Catholic Ch. argued not, the Reformers argued strongly, yes. They saw that to attack the doctrine of assurance was to strike at the heart of the Gospel itself. They argued that faith and assurance are inseparably linked together. 

When we are unconverted, the devil holds us in his grasp in peace. But when God’s grace is planted into our hearts, the great conflict begins. The devil has lost his prey. He cannot do anything to destroy you, because you are eternally safe in Christ’s hands. But if he cannot rob you of salvation, he will do all he can to rob you of the comfort of salvation, that is assurance. So it is very important for us to consider what true assurance is and how it may be attainted. Someone said, the hardest 2 things for a minister are to trouble a hypocrite, and to comfort a true doubting believer. It is clear from the Scriptures that it is God’s will that His children are assured of their redemption in Christ.

1. What is saving faith?

Perhaps some of you are wondering at the moment, if our previous understanding of faith was not correct, what then is true saving faith? Why do we speak of saving faith? Not because faith in itself is saving, but to distinguish it from all other types of faith (historical, miraculous and temporary). Many Christians in China speak of believing. When you probe deeper you sadly often discover that this faith in many cases consists of little more than a bare acceptance of the truth of God´s Word. Because they believe, they expect that God will save them. This is not saving faith, because then we are making faith into a merit: I believe, therefore you must save me. We are not saved for believing (mistake in the Union Bible, Eph. 2:8), but only because of the merits of Christ. Faith doesn’t merit anything, its the means by with God gives His grace to sinners. Christ must be all in all. Saving faith only lays hold upon Christ.

1. The object of this faith is Christ Himself, revealed in the promises of the Gospel.¹⁰ True saving faith is a hearty trust in Christ alone and in the grace of God in Him, which the Holy Spirit works in the heart of the convicted sinner by the Gospel, that according to the Word of God (e.g. 1 Tim. 1:15), they see an all sufficiency in Christ as their only Saviour. They receive Him and His righteousness, and give themselves up to Him unreservedly to be His. We see in Joh. 9:36 that the man born blind believes in Jesus. Faith has an object of its trust. Saving faith is a well-grounded faith. It’s not just that I have a hope that my sins are forgiven, and that I have believed in Christ. But it’s a grounded hope, believing and resting upon the Rock Christ Jesus. It’s first and foremost a receiving of the Person of Christ, and from Him flow His benefits. So often we focus on the forgiveness of our sins and adoption, the benefits of Christ. But faith’s object is the Person of Christ. His benefits then follow. Just like first you must have fire, before you have heat.

We see in the Bible that God deals with men according to covenants. The first covenant of works offered salvation to men by obedience: do this and live. We have broken this covenant, so God has provided a new covenant, the covenant of grace. This covenant is one-sided, God makes it with sinners. Its expressed by promises. We see there are two types of promises in the Scriptures: absolute promises to the elect, and conditional promises to all. See the absolute promise of Jer. 31:33,34. God promises to fulfill them. There are also conditional promises, see Rom. 4:5. The ungodly sinner who hears the Gospel is offered the righteousness of Christ. By faith in Christ, His righteousness is given to the sinner. Nothing is required from them but to receive His righteousness by the grace of faith.

The Heidelberg Catechism speaks of three elements of true saving faith in Q/A 21:

Knowledge, consent and trust. The will is thus fully involved. Faith is not a consideration, or just a hope. Faith is placed in contrast with sense (John 20:29, Heb. 11:1). It is also contrasted with works (Gal. 2:16, Gal. 3:6, John 6:29). We always want to bring something to the LORD to earn His favour. But saving faith is a ceasing from our own works, a despairing of our merits and righteousness, and a committing ourselves unreservedly to the merits of Jesus Christ alone. True saving faith is thus a conviction of the heart, mind and will that all that God has said concerning Christ as Saviour is true and trustworthy. By the work of the Holy Spirit, we are united to Him as Person, and faith is the canal whereby we receive Him and all His benefits. It can be compared to an empty hand, which is stretched out to receive a gift. The hand doesn´t have to do anything, but to receive the gift placed in it – Jesus Christ. It is not a deed, but a disposition of the whole person. It will bring forth deeds of faith, holiness and Christ-likeness. To believe in someone, you must know them!

Let us look a little closer at the three elements of saving faith that the Heidelberg Catechism speaks of. Knowledge – of God’s Word. This is not just a certain amount of Bible knowledge, but a living knowledge worked by the Holy Spirit, so that we heartily receive the Word as true and trustworthy. Thus, it is knowledge coupled with consent. Without knowledge of the Scriptures, especially what they teach us about Jesus Christ, we cannot know whom we are to believe in. God has revealed Himself in the Word! But also, knowledge without consent is vain. Without consent we do not truly accept the Word of God to be trustworthy, we doubt it. But as we saw, true faith is not only knowledge and consent, it is also trust. This is the heart of the three. Without trust, we are no different from the devil. He believes and trembles (Jam. 2:19). He knows that the Word of God is true, but there is no trust in the truth of the Word. He hates it! This trust involves our will, which is renewed by the power of the Spirit to receive Christ with all our hearts. True faith is a personal receiving of Jesus Christ and His complete work of salvation, an embracing of the Person of Jesus Christ as He is offered in the promises. Then we with our whole will, rest our guilty souls upon Him alone, despairing of any worthiness in ourselves anymore, condemning ourselves. Trust is especially something of the heart! There is love shed abroad in the heart (Rom. 5:5). This love and trust are worked by the Holy Spirit, and bear His seal.

2. The subject of this faith is the whole heart of man: the mind and the will. For the understanding to believe in the promises of God, God must act. He must give us light in our understanding.¹¹ Because until then we are blinded by satan and our unbelieving hearts (2 Cor. 4:4). Before that we have some knowledge in our minds, but no true spiritual understanding. This understanding is assenting to the truth. But this is not enough. There must be an act of our will to consent to the marriage contract with the Bridegroom. We must receive the gift of righteousness (Rom. 5:17). So until both these works are done by God in us, we are not saved. The reason is that until God renews our will by the power of the Spirit, it is bound in sin and enmity against Christ. However tenderly He invites us, we will never come.

3. How faith justifies a sinner. Faith justifies as an instrument, that receives the righteousness that Christ has purchased through His sufferings. Therefore, faith is a receiving and resting on Christ. To rest on something completely, you must cease to rest on what you rested on before. Faith has two qualities, not only to receive Christ, but also to empty us of ourselves.¹² The man who leaves a burning ship for a rescue boat must first let go his hold of the burning ship, before he can drop into the rescue boat. Thus faith first drives a sinner out of himself. That was the problem with the Laodiceans, they were still rich in themselves. Until we see that we lack all these things: wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, we will never come to Christ. This is why we spoke about conviction of sin, because until we are convinced that we are empty of all goodness and strength, we will not prize Christ. Conviction of sin humbles a sinner, showing them their true condition. But only living faith drives us out of ourselves. The only worthiness that is required of us is that we prize Christ, to long for Him, to hunger and thirst after His righteousness.¹³ Conviction of sin is enough when it brings us to be emptied of ourselves. Secondly, faith works by love (Gal. 5:6). Faith makes us wrestle with the promises of Christ. Wrestling implies resistance, so it seems for a time that God refuses to answer, like the woman of Canaan. But He cannot refuse you in the end, none will perish that trust in Him. But He tries us, to see if we really mean it that we need Him. So faith firstly sees our absolute need of Christ because of our hell-worthy condition. Secondly it beholds the promise of Christ in the Gospel as being sure and certain. Faith believes that the promise is to me in particular. Thirdly it receives and embraces Christ by living faith as my Prophet, Priest and King. Fourthly it embraces all that Christ gives: perfect righteousness and holiness, adoption and eternal life.

4. The acts of faith. But perhaps you object, the promises are far away from me, I have no faith to receive Christ.This is the mystery of faith, that the Holy Spirit works in the heart. He powerfully draws the soul to Christ, inclines a man’s will to embrace Him, and never to be satisfied until he has found Him.¹⁴ Like the prodigal son, we see how utterly miserable and condemned we are without Him. The Spirit of faith shows us the perfect suitability of Christ as a complete Saviour, so that we choose Him above all others. Faith believes that Christ will surely receive me, although I am so unworthy in myself. Faith opens our eyes to see the beauty and infinite value of Christ and His death on the cross. Especially faith eyes the blood of Christ as precious blood, because we know that without blood there is no remission of sins (Rom. 3:25). Like the treasure hid in the field, we are willing to sell all to buy Christ. So saving faith is living, powerful, acting. Faith pacifies the heart. It assures us that Christ and His righteousness are ours. Faith unites us so closely to Christ that we are one with Him. Faith also purifies the heart (Acts 15:9). It makes us see sin as the greatest evil, and Christ as the greatest good. Historical faith is cold, lifeless, powerless. Why do so many Christians continue in the same cold, lifeless state year after year? Their lives show no renewing power, no advancement. The problem is lack of living union and faith in Christ.

To understand assurance, we needed to understand what is true faith. Because without true faith there will be no assurance. The Pharisee in the temple was assured, but it was just his own imagination, not based on the Word of God. Faith is not just a mental assent to the truth of God’s Word like many people imagine. But saving faith is a divine work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of a poor sinner. We see in Joh. 3 that it is inseparable from the new birth. In the new birth, the Holy Spirit unites the sinner to Jesus Christ in a spiritual union. He powerfully enlightens our darkened understanding, renews the will, softens the hard heart and gives life to the dead soul. He reveals Christ to the soul in all His glorious attributes, especially His holiness. The soul is enabled to behold Christ by faith, and to receive of His fulness (Joh. 1:16). The promises which before in their experience were so far off, are powerfully applied to them so that they know that the promises are made to them personally. They embrace them with all their hearts. They can say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength (Is. 45:24). Luther emphasized the mine of saving faith, faith takes what was general and makes it personal to us. In its essence faith is the special application of the promises of God to myself. In the Gospel, the Lord Jesus says to lost mankind, I offer myself to you personally as a complete Saviour. This offer is not made to the elect, but to sinners as lost sinners, see 1 Tim. 1:15. So the promises of the Gospel are not just a possibility of salvation in general, but an offer of salvation in particular. When the Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts, we believe and embrace the promise that Christ died not for others only, but for me also. Unbelief makes God a liar, because it doesn’t believe that Christ offers salvation to me in particular. So faith is an assured confidence that Christ and all His benefits are mine, see H.C. Q/A 21. It’s summed up in Paul’s words in Gal. 2:20, he loved me and gave himself for me. Faith thus takes the promises of grace and mercy to my soul in particular, which before was commonly offered to sinners. The heart of the Gospel says Luther is the personal pronouns me, mine, my. David says, He is my strength, my rock, my fortress etc. (Ps. 18). This trust and resting on the promises of God is preceded by knowledge and assent to the Word of the Gospel. This is essential because no-one can trust and rest on a truth that they do not first know and assent to. 

The Lord proclaims many times in His Word His willingness to receive sinners: Ps. 36:7, 130:5-6, Ezek. 33:11. He swears by Himself (Heb. 6:13-18). But more than that He has shown the sincerity of His mercy to sinners by giving Himself in the incarnation of His Son. And Christ has sealed the covenant with His own blood (Heb. 9:16). The grace of faith is to embrace this offer of Christ and apply it to ourselves. This faith grounds its assurance of acceptance on the infinite power of the promising God who has spoken in His Word and by His Son (Heb. 11:2). We need to consider further what this Word of promise is. His Word is not like the words of man. His Word is His deed (Ps. 33:9). His Word shall never pass away. So faith believes that to fulfill His promise God only has to speak a Word, and it comes to pass. In fact, He has already spoken, all that remains is for us to embrace His Word with true and living faith. This is the grace of the Holy Spirit, to enable a sinner to embrace the promise. God’s faithfulness is so great, that He would have to cease to exist to break His Word. And not only has He spoken that Word, He has also given it to us in written form in the Bible (2 Pet. 1:19). He has also sealed the covenant promises in baptism and the Lord’s Supper. And all three Persons in the Godhead swear to the truth of the promise (1 Joh. 5:7, 11).

But the great question of a convicted soul is this: I believe that God is sincere, faithful, willing and all-powerful to fulfill His promises to those for whom He has promised. But I doubt and fear that the promise is not for me. The answer to this is that the call or command to believe the Gospel comes to all who hear it, otherwise unbelief could not be their sin. God has joined together the promise of the Gospel and the command to believe. Christ is the object of faith, but He is revealed to us in the promises of the Gospel (Rom. 10:8). The foundation of the command to believe is found in the promises of the Gospel.  All the hindrances have been taken away by Christ Himself. He has opened the new and living way through His broken body and shed blood. He is the High Priest, who has entered into the holiest of all. He is the end of the law for righteousness. So the author to the Hebrews calls us to draw nigh with a true heart in full assurance of faith (Heb. 10:22). True faith is the most humbling thing of all. Saving faith empties us of all pride and glorying in self, in what we think we possess or have experienced, but like Paul in Phil. 3:8 counts all things but dung, that we it must win Christ. So the more faith and assurance, the more humility and self-abasement. Faith is the opposite of sense, because faith believes the faithfulness of God’s promise, when everything seems to be against it. Like Abraham believed God could give them a son, although naturally speaking it was totally impossible. Sense, reason and providence can all be against it, but faith still clings to the Word of God. So to doubt that Christ is willing to receive us is actually terrible pride. It’s to make God a liar, because we doubt the faithfulness and truthfulness of His promise.

Historical faith says, Jesus died for sinners in general. That is no more than the devil believes. Saving faith says, Jesus died for me in particular! So to say we believe in Christ, without believing that he offers Himself to me, is to presume to believe. It is impossible to truly believe in Christ unless we believe that He in the Gospel makes an offer of salvation to me personally. The devil and those lost in hell believe that Christ is offered to the elect. But the lost in hell never believed that he was offered to them. To presume to believe is possible from two perspectives: because of some supposed goodness in ourselves we believe Christ´s love to us, or because of our perceived badness, we do not believe His love to us. But saving faith looks away from anything in self, utterly despairs of any goodness or merit in ourselves, but simply clings to the naked Word of God. Faith is thus not a work, but a stopping with all our works, a casting away of all our own righteousness as dung. But how does a sinner truly believe in Christ? That is a mystery that only grace can teach us. How is it that two people hear the same message, enjoy the same privileges, and one is born again and believes the Gospel and the other does not? It is solely God’s sovereign grace to enlighten the one, and to leave the other in his blindness and unbelief. So no true child of God can ever glory in themselves that they were brought from death to life, but only in Christ Jesus.

b) What is assurance of faith?

What is the assurance of salvation then? We need to understand what the term assurance means. We need to define it. This is often the cause of much confusion and disagreement in the church, that people hold different concepts of theological terms, without clearly defining what they mean by those terms. Assurance according to the Reformers is that confidence and persuasion of the love of God to me through Jesus Christ, Gal. 2:20. So we can speak of two types of assurance, assurance of faith and assurance of sense. The assurance of faith is direct, the assurance of sense is a reflex act of the soul. The assurance of faith rests on the object outside of itself, Christ revealed, promised and offered in the Word. The object of the assurance of sense is Christ formed in us by the Holy Spirit. The first is the cause of the second. In the assurance of faith, Abraham believed that he should have a son in his old age, because God had promised it, and He cannot lie. But when he took baby Isaac in his arms, he had the assurance of sense. Noah had the assurance of faith that God would preserve him and his family in the ark. He had the sense of assurance when the ark rested on mount Ararat.

The general word of grace and love is to lost guilty sinners – that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). The command to every sinner that hears the Gospel is, believe on the Son of God by grace (1 Joh. 3:25, Acts 15:11). He calls us to receive and rest our whole soul on Jesus Christ, as he is offered to us in particular. You are an ungodly sinner under the curse of death and condemnation. But the Gospel declares that Christ is offered to the greatest of sinners. That is the warrant of faith. That is the basis on which God declares that you are welcome to come to Christ. So we are justified as ungodly sinners. We are not justified as sinners feeling the love of God to us, but as totally ungodly sinners, finding nothing in ourselves but death and condemnation. But by grace we embrace the promises of the Gospel like a Rock in the raging storm of God´s wrath.

So the only ground and warrant of faith is Jesus Christ as He is revealed to us in the promises of the Gospel. Faith embraces Him and all His benefits, and applies them to himself: forgiveness of sins, reconciliation, the righteousness and sanctification of Christ. But it is only by the Holy Spirit that we can believe. He works faith in the heart of the sinner. So in the act of faith in Christ there is already the essence of assurance. In saving faith, you put all your trust in Christ as a sufficient Saviour. You receive His wisdom, righteousness and holiness. We see that in Heb. 11:1, faith is the evidence of things not seen. Faith cometh by hearing what the Spirit says in the Word (Rom. 10:17), and not by feeling what the Spirit works in your heart. Therefore, if you build your faith on any feelings within you, then you are in danger of being deceived, but not if you build your faith on the Word. By faith you may believe that Christ is willing and able to fulfill His promises to you in particular. You are certain that He is your only hope! Such a person can say: from the depths of my heart, I am willing to be saved by Jesus Christ according to His own conditions, I heartily receive Him in all His Offices, as Prophet, Priest and King. Although I still find so much sin in my heart and life, I long to be freed from all sin, and to walk in the pathway of holiness. I have no other hope but Jesus for the pardon of my sins, and my acceptance with God the Father. I despair of myself and look away from myself. In myself I am nothing but unbelief, unrighteousness and self-righteousness. But I believe that Christ has a perfect righteousness and holiness that is perfectly suitable and sufficient for me, and I apply Christ to myself. Such a person may humbly conclude that they are in a state of grace. That does not mean that they say, I was already saved but I just didn’t know it. Rather it means, that at the moment you by grace embrace the promises of the Gospel, you may have an assured confidence that you are a child of God.

So faith is an objective grace. Saving faith is not that we say, I believe the Bible to be true etc. That is assent, but it lacks trust. But faith has an object, the Person of Jesus Christ. To believe in Christ is to be conscious that I put all my confidence and hope in Him as a complete Saviour. We can see from the Bible that this assurance agrees with the nature of faith. Sometimes where the Bible speaks of faith or believing, we read the word assurance. See Acts 17:31: whereof he hath given assurance, that he hath raised him from the dead. In the original the word for assurance is faith. Also Deut. 28:66, thou shalt have none assurance of thy life. So the meaning is that to believe is to be assured or persuaded of the thing you believe in. This faith of adherence already contains the essence of assurance. This does not mean that there cannot be much doubting and conflict mixed with this faith. See Mar. 9:24. He believes, but is burdened by his unbelief. In fact, the more faith there is, the greater the conflict with unbelief will be, see Heb. 6:11. So a true child of God may feel his heart longing for God, and yet fear that his love is hypocritical. Just like the smoke from the pile of ash shows that there is fire in the ash. Although faith itself may become very weak, faith remains fixed on the same object and has the same substance: I believe that I am saved by Jesus Christ alone.

Of course, it is only the Holy Spirit working that faith in your heart that causes you to believe the promises of the Word. When someone truly comes to Christ and takes hold on His love and grace by faith as it is revealed in the Word, then it must be that the Spirit has worked in the heart, revealing the love of Christ to you, and powerfully drawing you to embrace Christ and to apply the promises to yourself. Only after that does the Holy Spirit give the comfort of His love to your heart: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise (Eph. 1:13). So normally in the act of faith we shall experience joy and peace in believing (Rom. 15:13). But this feeling is not the ground of our faith, but only the Word of God. 

Objection: But, must not Christ be revealed into the heart? And is there not a seeing of the Son, in order to believing in him? And therefore there must be some experience in the heart to lay the foundation of this particular application of faith?

Ralph Erskine says in answer to this: There is a sight of spiritual knowledge and illumination that is necessary to faith, and goes indeed before it; but there is a sight of spiritual experience and sensation, that is not necessary to faith, but follows after it. The former is that revelation of Christ into the heart that Paul speaks of, “He revealed his son in me;” and that seeing of the Son that is necessary, in order to believing in him. Faith comes by hearing, not by feeling; and therefore believing in Christ comes by seeing him in the heart. Christ is not formed in the heart by the Spirit, till once he be revealed in the heart by the word. And so it is not the Spirit’s sealing work, giving an internal feeling of Christ; but the Spirit’s teaching work, giving the internal revelation of Christ, that is necessary to faith.

Assurance is not the strength of faith but the content of faith. It is not an extra added to faith, but the essential essence of saving faith. Historical faith says, Jesus died for sinners. But saving faith is an assured faith, that Jesus died for me in particular. It is expressed in Heb. 10:22, the full assurance of faith. Saving faith is not just that I believe there is a possibility of salvation, but that I believe in the certainty of salvation. So faith is a confidence in God, and an assurance that God is gracious to me. At the moment we embrace the promises of Christ by faith, we may be assured of our salvation in Christ. We see this pictured in the life of Abraham. By grace, he did not doubt the promise of Isaac through unbelief, although everything seemed to be against it, but was strong in faith giving glory to God (Rom. 4:20). He looked at nothing but the faithfulness of God to fulfill what He had promised. He was fully persuaded that, what he had promised he was able also to perform (v. 21). It was as though he already held Isaac in his arms, by faith. Abraham’s assurance of faith rested on the infinite power of a promising God. By faith he was assured that God’s Fatherly care was over him, although he had no land of promise and no seed. But God gave him a precious promise Gen. 13:14-15. In that promise Abraham beheld the Messiah. And because Abraham was assured of God’s grace to him by faith, therefore he received the strength to obey Him, although there was nothing in his circumstances to confirm the promise by sense. His hope was outside of Himself in God, not in himself.

If someone promises us something, how do we decide whether we trust them to do what they say? We look at their strength and their resources to fulfill it. We are assured that the bank can look after our money. But how much more confidence should we have in God to do what He has promised, because He is Almighty, all-powerful, all-sufficient (Is. 26:4). His Word of promise is His deed. Because God is totally faithful, therefore faith rests on Him. If God was not totally faithful, there would be no object for our assured confidence. No other Person is worthy of our complete trust. God must cease to be God if He breaks His Word. Like the children in the wilderness were left a promise of entering in to the promised land (Heb. 4:1). But it was their unbelief that meant many perished in the wilderness. You can compare it to a cheque for 1000 yuan, stamped. All is paid, all that remains is to receive it. But if because of pride or riches I refuse it, it will not benefit me. It’s like a pardon from a king to a group of rebels. If they refuse to receive the pardon, they remain condemned.

But you say, aren’t many people confidently assured that they are saved, and have believed in Christ, when it’s not true? Yes, there are many in the church who imagine that they are saved and that God is their Father, but it’s just in their imagination. They are strangers to the revelation of Christ to their hearts. They don’t firmly believe the Gospel. They have some passing feelings of His grace, but no more. They don´t really embrace the promises of the Gospel. There is a great difference between faith and presumption. Many say, my Father, but it’s only presumption, not faith. So what is the difference? Ebenezer Erskine distinguishes 5 things: ¹⁵

1. The assurance of faith receives and applies Christ to the soul personally in the offer of Him in the Word, but presumption does not rest on Christ in the Word. Their faith does not come from hearing and believing the Word. But you will say, don’t many people say they believe the promises, and it’s not true? 

2. Faith embraces the promise as it is in Jesus, as the fulfiller of all the promises. Faith rests on the righteousness of Christ as the head of the covenant of grace. But presumption does not embrace the promise as it is in Christ. Abraham rejoiced to see Christ’s day and saw it and was glad (Joh. 8:56). He saw the Messiah in the promise of God by faith, and that was the object of his hope, Heb. 11:13, 19, Gen. 22:8, 1 Pet. 1:19. He didn’t only look for the promise of the land, but to the promised Seed. Presumption takes the promise, but does not rest on the Person of Christ in the promise. It’s like someone who buys a house, but he puts the deed of ownership away and only looks at it when asked. But true faith is daily feeding on Christ, looking to Him, as Christ speaks of in Joh. 6:55, my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed. By the Holy Spirit, the child of God lives from Christ by faith. This is the meaning of Paul in Gal. 2:20.

3. Assurance of faith receives Jesus Christ as He is revealed in His 3 Offices of Prophet, Priest and King. This is the order that God has revealed in His Word. Firstly, He comes to us by His Word and Spirit as a Prophet, to enlighten us in the knowledge of our sin and misery, and of the way of salvation through His blood. Then He reveals Himself to us as our Priest, and by faith in Him as Priest the soul goes to Christ and rests itself upon Him and His everlasting righteousness. Then he submits to Him as King, and from gratitude for His mercy seeks to live only unto Him. But presumption reverses this order. It begins with Christ as King, thinking he can obey Him as Lawgiver, and on this ground expects Him to save him by His righteousness as Priest. This is the way of our nature, according to the covenant of works.

4. The assurance of faith maintains its humble confidence in God, even when we feel the depths of our sinfulness and corruption. This is because the foundation of our hope is not within ourselves, but outside of ourselves in the unchanging righteousness of Christ. See David in Ps. 65 and 130. The deeper the child of God feels his sinfulness, the smaller he becomes in his own eyes, and more and more precious Christ becomes to him. But when the power of corruption rises up, presumption’s hope is gone, because its foundation is still in itself. Like the house built on the sand, when the floods come, the house is swept away, because it has no foundation on the unmovable Rock Christ Jesus. There are two possibilities, as we saw with van der Groe: either despair or false peace.

5. The assurance of faith is always accompanied by much love to the Person of Christ, and submission to Him. Faith worketh by love (Gal. 5:6). My beloved is mine and I am His. This marriage bond is bond of love and communion. But presumption is like a woman who marries a man only for his riches. He wants to have the gifts of Christ, heaven and deliverance from hell, but has no love to the Person of Christ, to the holiness of Christ. The marriage to the law and the enmity against Christ has never been dissolved.

Assurance is not that I am so certain of my salvation that I have no doubts any more. There is no believer who has ever lived in this world who was completely delivered from all doubts and fears. In the heart of one who is truly assured there can be much doubt and conflict with unbelief. But that root of persuasion is never completely lost in the child of God, so that he sinks away in despair.

It is true that no-one truly believes without Christ being revealed in your soul by the experience of His love being shed abroad in your hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5, Gal. 4:19, Col. 1:27). But the warrant of faith is not Christ speaking in your heart, but Christ speaking in the Word. If you build your faith and hope on the love and grace of Christ revealed to you in particular, you may believe that He is revealed in you. When you seek for a ground of faith and assurance, don´t pore over yourself, and what you feel, or what the Spirit works in you. Rather hear what the Spirit says to you (Rev. 2:29). If you hear and by grace you believe that this Word is spoken to you personally, you may be sure that He is revealed in you.

This assurance is not founded on the evidence of grace that you are certainly assured that you are in a state of grace. In other words, our assurance is not based upon the sense of our love to God, but rather the assurance of God’s love to the believer is the fountain of their love to Him. The foundation that I believe I’m a child of God is not that I feel I love Him, but the foundation is that I believe that He loves me. We love Him because He first loved us (1 Joh. 4:19). By His Spirit He assures me that the promises are made to me! So my assurance is not based on the fruit of faith that I see in my life, but on the certainty of God’s Word. The fruit in our lives and the experience of faith is always changing, sometimes clear and often not clear. It’s wrong if we make our pursuit of sanctification the foundation of our assurance, because then our assurance is no longer based upon the certainty of God’s Word, but upon the fruit of that faith in our lives. Of course, if there is union with Christ, there will be fruit of that union seen in our life. But this fruit cannot be the basis on which we believe that we are children of God. First comes faith, then the fruits of faith. See Ps. 130:4.

So long as we are under the law, we only have a spirit of bondage to fear (Rom. 8:15). But when we receive the Holy Spirit through the Word, He gives us that confidence into our hearts of the Fatherly love of God to us. Until then we cannot truly pray. So no-one is a child of God who does not have this assured confidence that they are His child. 

1. The assurance of sense

This faith is necessary for the assurance of sense. This is the fruit of faith. It is the reflex act of faith. This is the assurance we obtain by examining ourselves, and seeing the fruits of faith in our hearts and lives, such as hatred and repentance for sin, love to Christ, desires after holiness. This assurance of sense cannot exist without fiducial assurance. This assurance of sense follows on the act of faith. The Holy Spirit seals His own work in the soul, by giving a comfortable sense of the love of Christ to us (Eph. 1:13). The Spirit is called the Spirit of adoption (Rom. 8:15, 23). By the Word, He witnesses with our spirits that we are the children of God (Rom. 8:16). This is not a mystical message, but it comes from the power of God applying the Gospel promises to the heart of His people. Then we are able to call upon God as Father (Gal. 4:6). See Rom. 5:5. So the fruit of faith in the experience of love to Christ and works of godliness is not the basis of assurance, but it does strengthen assurance. We cannot expect to know the comfortable assurance of sense unless we walk close with God. From Joh. 14:21 we see that the promise of the manifesting of Christ´s love to the soul is made to those who keep God´s commandments. Our works testify to the truth of our faith, but does not rest on them. The certainty of faith rests on the grace of Christ alone. So personal assurance and confidence is of the essence of faith. We can illustrate this with the sun. When we enjoy the light, we are certain that the sun shines, even though its hidden behind the clouds. If the sun shines on us, we have a clearer view of everything, but yet when its rays do not come to us directly, we still are sure that its brightness is for our benefit. 

Calvin taught, we can only perform good works when, by faith in the Gospel we believe that we are loved by God and we are His children. So many people who believe that salvation is possible are filled with anxious fears, because they cannot believe that the grace of God can be theirs. But the Scripture makes plain that true faith believes the goodness of God to us in particular. The word translated assurance or full assurance in the following places is πληροφορία, see Col. 2:2, 1 Thess. 1:5, Heb. 6:11, 10:22. See also Eph. 3:12. By union with Christ we believe that all His benefits are made ours.

1. Faith and doubt in the life of the believer

It’s very possible for God to give some rays of grace to someone and some knowledge of the Gospel, but later to allow those rays to go out. Just like a tree can be planted too shallow in the ground, and can live for several years, produce leaves and even some fruit, but in the end wither away. But when true faith is planted in the heart of the elect, although it may be so weak, it never finally dies. But unbelief is so deeply rooted in us, that we cannot believe without a great struggle. Many people are full of anxiety, because they think too small of God’s grace. They believe God is full of mercy to many people, but doubt whether He will be merciful to them. But this is not the assurance of faith the Bible speaks of. True faith has a humble boldness, see Eph. 3:12. So our faith is not true faith unless it enables us to appear with boldness in the presence of God. So true faith is that firm persuasion that God is reconciled to me through Christ, and I trust in His promises to me, Rom. 8:38, Heb. 3:14. 

At the same time, Calvin was very realistic that a true child of God can be so shaken by temptation and by unbelief that they are often filled with terror. Think of Isaiah in ch. 6:5. When he beholds the glory of the LORD he is terrified and fears he will perish. Luther says that the child of God often fears God’s judgments. Thus for a true believer fear is not just a filial fear, but also terror. Perhaps you say, but how can that be, when you just said faith is certain? Calvin answers, that when we say faith and assurance are certain and secure, we don’t mean that faith is free from doubts, fears and struggles with unbelief. There is fear and terror in their hearts, but it doesn’t reign over them, see Rom. 8:15. They have been delivered from the spirit of bondage. We can see many examples of this fear in the life of David. His soul is cast down (Ps. 42:6), and Ps. 31:22, he goes even further, I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes. Asaph questions the nature of God (Ps. 77:7-9). He fears he will perish, because God seems to have forsaken him. But then in v. 10-11, he remembers the works of the LORD. Job goes even further, and curses the day of his birth (Job 3). But later he confesses the LORD is righteous and repents in dust and ashes (Job 42:5-6). Similarly in Ps. 116, the psalmist is in such affliction he says, v. 3, the sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me. But in v. 7-8 his faith and confidence in God return. See also Ps. 27:14. And how often do we read in the Scriptures the words, fear not! If God’s people were not often full of fears, these words would not be found so often in the Bible. But they never entirely despair. The root of faith and assurance can never be torn from their heart. Although the fire burns so low that only a puff of smoke remains, it never goes out completely. And God makes sure in His time that it is revived. When a sinner is born again and exercises faith for the first time, but also throughout life, a believer may be so weak that he cannot confidently affirm his own salvation. Although he has a humble confidence in Christ, and peace in his soul, yet he is so conscious of his own sinfulness and the greatness of God’s majesty, justice and holiness, that he fears to express it.¹⁶ So sometimes another child of God can discern saving faith in a true believer, who cannot recognize it himself. But all this is not in conflict with assurance being of the essence of faith, as the Reformers taught.

The source of this conflict is the flesh and spirit in the believer. The spirit in him brings him to rest on the promises of God, and to delight in the goodness and grace of God. But the flesh alarms him by a conviction of his iniquity. We said that faith is always fixed on the same object and has the same content: I believe that I am saved by Jesus Christ alone. But this faith is not perfect. Doubt and faith are always mixed together in the believer’s heart. But in the end, true faith will always triumph. Even the weakest faith looks upon God as reconciled to us through Jesus Christ. But grace in this life is only a beginning, see 1 Cor. 13:9, 12. 

To stand against these attacks, faith clings to the Word of God. We can think of the illustration of the armor of God in Eph. 6. The child of God must take the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit to defend himself from the attacks of the enemy. Unbelief does not reign in the heart, but attacks him from outside. The devil uses it to harass and trouble God’s children. So just like the soldier is attacked and takes a blow, but then recovers himself, so the believer constantly must look to the Lord for strength and grace to stand in the battle of faith. But faith and confidence in God never completely fail. Assurance is linked to the exercise of faith. J. Edwards says that we have assurance when we act faith in the promises of God. So assurance is not to be found by self-examination, but by believingly laying hold upon the promises of God. We do not have assurance and then come to the promises, but we first come to the promises and from them we receive the assurance of faith. We cannot expect to have assurance of faith if we continue in sinful pathways and are not watchful over our hearts. We are exhorted to watch and pray, lest we enter into temptation (Mark. 14:38). Where sin is tolerated in the life of a child of God, then there is no exercising of faith in the Word. Therefore, we believe that assurance is of the essence of faith.

1. View of John Owen 

We have seen that the definition of faith as an assured confidence, and the reality of the experience of God’s children can differ. But Calvin holds strongly that because the child of God is united to Christ, their assurance of salvation can never be found in themselves apart from Christ. It’s the Holy Spirit speaking through the Word that applies the promises of Christ to the soul. Then the promises are not just for others, but by faith you know that the promises are made to you in particular! They become personal to you. The fruit of this union with Christ will be seen in the life of the believer: sorrow for sin, turning from sin, love for Christ and holiness, love to His people, His Word and His Day etc.

We see a change in the view of faith and assurance as time passed from the 16^th to the 17^th centuries. Owen’s view of assurance in 1645 is basically the same as Calvin’s. But by 1677, we see a significant change. Firstly, Owen concludes that because believers can doubt their salvation, assurance cannot be of the essence of faith. Secondly, he also denies that the Bible gives every sinner the warrant to believe that Christ’s salvation is for them. Therefore he argues that a sinner must first exercise faith, and then the spiritual fruit will follow. This fruit gives me the evidence of my salvation, and leads to assurance that I belong to Christ. So Owen argues that the Reformers were wrong to say that assurance is of the essence of faith. But he says that there can be saving faith without that assured confidence. 

But as we said last time, the Reformers did not teach that sinners should believe they are justified before they believe. But they taught that at the moment we by grace believe the promises of the Gospel, we should believe that we are justified. Owen, however says that I may only believe that I will be justified, if I believe. For Owen, faith is a belief that Christ has made salvation possible, whereas the Reformers taught that Christ has made salvation certain. Owen thus argues, faith is not an assurance of my justification and salvation by Christ. But it is that I believe that the Gospel is able to save the sinner that believes it. Then the sense or comfort of that forgiveness of sins follows with the fruit of faith, love to Christ, holiness and joy in the Spirit. But the problem is the heart is so deceitful, and our affections constantly change. If we base our assurance on our feelings, then one day we may be assured of our salvation, but the next day not, because we feel weak in love to Christ. The result is that if our assurance is based on our feelings and our sanctification, we will pursue sanctification to get and keep assurance. But the Reformers taught that the ground of our assurance is not based on our self-examination within us, but on the promises of the Gospel, outside us. According to the Reformers, this is no way to obtain assurance.

Again we see that definitions play a big role in the disagreement here. According to the Reformers, assurance doesn’t refer to the degree of confidence that something is true. But it refers to the content of that belief. It seems that Owen has confused these two. The Marrow of Modern Divinity, by Edward Fisher, regains the Reformed position. 

1. View of Jonathan Edwards

Like Owen, Jonathan Edwards also says that the Scriptures do not give us a universal warrant for an assured faith. He says for someone who has no experience and in a bad state to believe that they are in a good state is absurd. But as we already mentioned, that is not the position of the Reformers. They did not teach that a sinner should believe he is saved before he believes. Rather, that at the moment they by grace believe, they may have an assured confidence that they are justified. See Luk. 18, the publican went down to his house justified.

Edwards explains the witness of the Spirit in Rom. 8:16 as being the Spirit giving us that love to God, that we have evidence that we are His children. He says that the soul sees and feels plainly the union between Christ and his soul so strongly that he cannot doubt it. So he is assured that he is his child (Religious Affections, 164). Edwards teaches that the ground of gracious affections is the sense of the excellence of divine things in themselves, and not in any benefit that they give to me. So he argues that we love Christ because of His loveliness, not because of self-love. He says that true affections begin with God, false affections begin with man.

The difference between these Puritans and the Reformers is thus that these Puritans distinguish faith and assurance. They say that assurance is a fruit of faith, whereas the Reformers taught that assurance is of the essence of faith. 

Conclusions

1. So how should we understand this change in position from Calvin to the Puritans? We believe it came from a pastoral concern. The Puritans saw that many people in their congregations were misusing the doctrines of grace, and assuming they had saving faith when their lives showed clearly that they were not born again. This problem is the same today. Many people say that they are children of God but their lives lack true godliness. We see from the Scriptures that the fruits of faith are emphasized: the parable of the sower, the 5 wise and 5 foolish virgins, the prodigal son, the Vine and the branches. A close walk with God, fellowship with Him in the Word and in prayer, childlike obedience, a longing to glorify Him and for the coming of His kingdom, heavenly-mindedness, these are all the marks of true godliness we find in the Scriptures again and again. Therefore, the Puritans wanted to emphasize that saving faith and the fruits of faith can never be separated. Follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord (Heb. 12:14). Assurance and a careless, worldly life cannot go together. Their emphasis on the marks of grace is very important. But we don’t need to make a contrast between these two positions. Rather we need to understand them better.

The great strength of Calvin is that he emphasizes that saving faith is inseparable from Christ and His promises. The Word of God is founded on the nature of God, who cannot lie. This is our only sure foundation, not the works of man. So true faith rests on the sure foundation of the Word of God, just like the house built upon the rock stood firm in the storm, whereas the house built on the sand fell down (Matt. 7). The Rock Christ Jesus is the only foundation for our faith. And the more we believe in the promises of Christ in the Gospel, the greater our faith and obedience will be. Just like Paul says in Rom. 13:14, put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. Godliness flows from union with Christ. So the stronger we believe that we are loved of God and that Christ is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, the more we will love Him and the more grace we will receive to obey Him.

Calvin also speaks of an objective and a subjective element to true faith. See Institutes, Book 3.2.7: Now we shall possess a right definition of faith if we call it a firm and certain knowledge of God’s mercy toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed to our hearts by the Holy Spirit. 

So the true believer believes the promises to sinners are true and trustworthy, and he also has an assured confidence that these promises are made to him in particular. So although saving faith can be so weak, it rests on the Almighty power, faithfulness and certainty of God in the promises of His Word. Just like the woman with the issue of blood, faith overcomes all obstacles and presses through to touch the hem of Christ’s garment. Faith says, if I but touch His garment, I shall be whole (Matt. 9:21). 

So the question of assurance is only to be answered in Jesus Christ and His unchanging Word. At the same time, there is much that looks like saving faith that is not. False faith and saving faith can be almost indistinguishable. People can seem to have the marks of saving faith, but it’s a only temporary show. The five wise and five foolish virgins were completely indistinguishable until the moment that the bridegroom calls them to the marriage. They all went to the marriage feast together, they all looked for the coming of the bridegroom. They all spoke together of Him and were on the same way to the marriage feast. Only when the bridegroom calls the virgins, does it appear that the foolish virgins had no oil in their lamps.  Then they go to buy, but when they return it’s too late. They were not ready, and the door is shut. They had some appearance of saving grace, but they were never truly united to Christ by living faith, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

So just like the Puritans after him, Calvin calls us to examine ourselves, to see whether oue faith is saving faith or not. But he emphasizes that this self-examination must never be apart from Christ, the Word and the Holy Spirit. We must examine our conscience in the light of these things: do I have a true knowledge of God and of myself? Do I believe in the judgment of God over my sins? Am I truly repentant and sorry for my sins in particular? Has the Holy Spirit convicted me of sin, righteousness and judgment? Do I heartily cleave to Jesus Christ and His promises in particular? 

From the Scriptures we can also see clearly that the fruit of faith is not to be separated from the act of faith. For example, the frequent use of marriage in the Scriptures as an illustration of the spiritual union between Christ and His church, also in the parable of the 5 wise and 5 foolish virgins. Marriage is clearly a two-sided relationship. You cannot marry someone you do not know. So the Holy Spirit must reveal Christ to you, before you can believe on Him. And believing on Him involves the whole of your being, your mind, heart, affections and your will. It’s the greatest unkindness of a wife if, once she is married to a husband and received comfort from Him, to become more careless towards him than before they married. The best evidence of the union between husband and wife is that they take care to maintain the marriage bond by faithfulness to each other. Thus in spiritual things, where there is true union between Christ and a sinner, they will be careful to maintain their communion with Him. There can be times when their love to Him becomes very low. Like the Laodiceans, they have left their first love. But if they are truly His children, He will make sure that they are brought in repentance and sorrow of sin back to Him in the end.

End of inserted part.

Finally, we will look at the three types of faith that are not saving.

8. Historical faith

Historical faith is the term used to indicate the sort of faith of those who believe that the whole Word of God is true. But historical faith goes no further than that. The heart is not affected. There is no love, 1 Cor. 13! A wife who says she loves her husband but feels no love to him, is that possible? It is like the first two elements of the H.C. Q/A 21: knowledge and consent. But there is no trust! Agrippa had this sort of faith: Acts 26:27. Also the devils have this type of faith (James 2:19). Historical faith is necessary (thou doest well, says James). Indeed it is of great value. There is no saving faith without it. But it is not enough! The heart is not purified, the world is not overcome, there is no fruit in the heart and life. Think of the branches in the vine that produce no fruit (John 15:2). It is a dead faith. It is to believe in hell, without lying awake about it, or to believe in heaven without longing for it. There is something inconsistent about historical faith.

Let us beware of the very real danger of a church full of seemingly converted members with merely a historical faith. How does this happen? This is a point of vital importance. If the preaching is focused almost exclusively on comforting the flock, or if it is moralistic and not Christ-centered, not separating and challenging, then the church will fill up with members with no more than a historical faith. The solemn reality is that people often remain in a profession of Christianity which is no more than historical faith until the end of their lives. Thus the fact that someone does not leave the church like the person with temporary faith (see below) is no evidence on its own for saving faith. At the same time, we see from the parables of our Lord that there will always be those in the church who profess faith in Christ but are strangers to it. Even under the most faithful preaching! Real fruitfulness requires the good seed of the Word! It requires the preaching of Law and Gospel. That is what the Holy Spirit is pleased to use to work true saving faith.

9. Temporary faith

We confess the perseverance of the saints (the P of TULIP). Once God come into the sinner’s heart by the Holy Spirit, He never departs. Although indwelling sin and corruption can cause a believer many times to fear it! But what a wonder: Rom. 11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. He never repents of His choice. But we see in the church those who seem to have been converted, but later fall away. How should we consider this?

We can speak here of temporary faith, of someone who confesses the truth for a time, but later completely forsakes his or her profession, and returns to the world. The Arminian claims that there can be true faith, and that still such a person can depart from the faith. The Reformers vehemently deny this as a serious error. They correctly taught that temporary faith is not true faith. It is a faith without repentance. There may be much emotion, an outward change of life, a seeming conversion and a rejoicing in salvation. But there is no real union with Christ. There is no conviction of our lost and ruined state by nature as sinners against God. Godly sorrow for sin (2 Cor. 7:10) is unknown by such a person. The proud natural heart has never been broken, and humbled. The old will is still the same. It is all on the surface, superficial. There is no true love to Christ, and to His Person, His ways, His commandments.

Think of the 2^nd ground in the parable of the sower (Luke 8:13). These with joy receive the Word, but there is no root. When affliction or persecution comes for the Word’s sake, they are offended. There is no true union with Christ. Only union to Him by the work of the Holy Spirit brings endurance. Think of the five Foolish virgins (Matt. 25:3). They were not ready for the coming of the Bridegroom. Such people are blinded by sin, and only awake when it is too late (Jer. 23:12).

10. Miraculous faith

Although saving faith and miraculous faith are related, they are to be distinguished. Miraculous faith is a trust that a miracle will take place by the power of God, that is, something which is not normally possible. Saving faith is the greatest miracle! In saving faith there is something of miraculous faith. But miraculous faith is not always joined with saving faith. Think of Judas: he received the power to cast out devils. Also many on the Day of Judgment will say, did we not do many wonderful works in thy name? (Matt. 7:22). But He will say to them: depart from me, I never knew you. Also the 10 lepers (Luke 17:12) all had miraculous faith, they believed that they would be healed. But only in one of them was found true saving faith, shown by love: he returned to give glory to God! See Joh. 2:23-24, Acts 8:13.

11. Saving faith is God’s work

Faith is a gift of God (Eph. 2:8). This needs to be emphasized in our day There is a pseudo-Reformed notion that proclaims that salvation is all of grace, but in practice the decision of man is all important. This is Arminianism in a Reformed skin. Do we know by personal experience that salvation is all of sovereign grace? Do we know that we have been born again of the Holy Spirit and been given true faith?

True faith is a fruit of the merits of Christ. Faith does not earn anything. Otherwise we are back to the covenant of works. Just like many people in China speak of believing, as though God must forgive them because they believe. They see it as a transaction. If salvation is not all of God, then He will not receive all the glory! In John 6:28 Jesus declares that faith is a work of God, which He works in us. Salvation is outside us! To believe is to do the work of God. See Phil. 2:13, and 1:29. God´s grace is irresistible, He does not force us to believe, He draws us with cords of love (John 6:44, Song 1:4). By the Holy Spirit the understanding is enlightened. The will is so renewed and affections are so inclined by the Spirit that the sinner desires and indeed does come to Jesus Christ. They are like a hart panting for the water brooks, their soul pants after God. 

At the same time man is fully responsible. God´s gracious calling is rejected at our peril. We are commanded to repent. Our spiritual death, our unwillingness and our inability to repent do not remove our duty. Unbelief is the greatest of all sins. It will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the Day of Judgment that for the cities of Capernaum, Chorazin and Bethsaida. Jesus did here most of His mighty works, but they did not repent (Matt. 11:20-24). This does not mean we should make a decision, but that we should see our need of God’s Almighty power.

Justification

1. This is the heart of the Gospel of God. Historically it was rediscovery of the doctrine of the justification of the ungodly that proved to be the catalyst for the Reformation. Luther´s terrible struggles to find peace with God in the monastery, and the revelation of Romans 1:17 to his soul was the beginning of this great work of God. 

Justification is the soul of Christianity. It is the source of all comfort. It is pure grace. Out of it flows sanctification. We must first be justified before we can be sanctified. This is poorly understood by the church in China in general. Justification is a very neglected doctrine, I fear. There is an emphasis on holiness, which is good. But unless it flows from a soul that has been justified, it is of no value before God. The question of the Reformation was not firstly: how I can live for God. It was: how may I be justified before a holy and Just God. How may my sins be forgiven through the blood of Christ? China needs to hear the preaching of the justification of the ungodly!

Above all others, Paul has been used by God to lay down the doctrine of justification by faith in the Scriptures. See Rom. 5:1, Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Also Gal. 2:16: Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Justification follows inseparably on from faith. When a sinner believes he is justified, and not before. He who believes not is not justified in the sight of God. Justification is a state or condition. They who by grace receive Christ, are united to Him by a living faith, they only receive the perfect righteousness of Christ. Only then are we acceptable to God. Then He sees us as spotless and without blemish!

This brings us into the sphere of the courtroom. We are brought in as a criminal. The Judge stands before us. There is also one that accuses us. Who is that? It’s our own conscience! See H.C. Q/A 60. My conscience accuses me that I have sinned against all God’s commandments, and kept none of them. The devil can also be our accuser, but if we had no conscience of sin, he could not get anywhere. When we are born again of God’s Spirit convicted of our sin, we are taught by Him that God is our Judge. God is righteousness, He must punish sin. Such a person declares it – I am a hell-deserving sinner! I’m condemned! And I have nothing to pay with! He teaches us that we deserve to be condemned to a lost eternity because of our sins.

What happens now? A man comes forward. It is the Son of the Judge. He says: I will suffer the punishment instead of him. Let him go free. He is condemned in my place as guilty. And I receive the pardon from the hand of the Father. I declare you innocent of the crime. I may go free! What a miracle. All the Judge requires of me is that I from now on obey the laws He has given. Have we experienced this personally? Although my conscience still accuses me, that God has spoken peace to my soul by the blood and righteousness of Christ?

When are we justified? Not from eternity, but in time. Election is from eternity, justification takes place in time. All are born as sinners in God’s sight. Think of Eph. 2:3, we were by nature children of wrath, even as others. There is none righteous, no not one (Rom. 3:10). Paul says: Rom.8:30, that justification follows calling. The publican went down to his house justified (Luke 18:14). Thus not before!

Inserted: So dear friends, we need to be very honest with ourselves. Justification is not just a beautiful doctrine that we accept. That will do us no good for eternity. But it is the essence of salvation that we must experience! Only those who are justified will be saved, no others. Our fall is so deep that we have lost the image of God, and bear the image of satan. That image of God must be restored. We must be made new creatures, by the revelation of Christ to our souls, by the knowledge of Jesus Christ as your righteousness. Do you think that this image of God is restored by feeling our sins, experiencing our need, and then being comforted by some text, and feeling some peace? If we read J. Edwards, we see that receiving comfort from a text of Scripture is no mark of saving grace. Just because you have some powerful experience and affections when studying the truth, which you didn’t arouse yourself, is no certain sign of grace. He says, it’s no infallible sign of grace, that feelings of comfort follow need and misery. The devil can imitate this normal order of God’s working. But we need rather to look at the nature of the work. ¹⁷

What is justifying faith then you may ask? It is that by grace we know that our debt of guilt has been washed away in the precious blood of Christ, that God’s just wrath against the mountain of my sins has been satisfied. The heart of justification is justice! You know you are a guilty sinner, deserving only hell, powerless in yourself to do anything to redeem yourself, lying in your blood. You are broken because you know, you are only full of wicked unbelief in yourself. But what a wonder! The crucified Christ comes and draws you by His Spirit to Himself. He brings you to His cross, and there you behold Him whom you have pierced (Zach. 12:10). When you are condemned in yourself, standing before the cross, He opens your eyes to behold Him, the bleeding Lamb of God, and He says to you, I suffered here for you, my blood I shed for you, your sins, though so many, are all forgiven. And by the powerful work of the Holy Spirit, you are enabled to embrace Christ and His perfect righteousness by faith as your own. The promises are now all for you personally! You die with Christ, and are raised again with Him. Faith clings to Christ alone (Matt. 15:28). The cross of Christ and the blood of Christ become your only hope and your most precious hope. Because you see in them His sufferings for you, and His obedience to death, for you! Now comes a wonderful divine peace in your soul, not like you have ever known before. The guilt of your sins is all removed, now you have peace with God. Not just a peace, but peace with God the Father (Rom. 5:1)! He casts all your sins into the depth of the sea, never to be remembered again (Mic. 7:19). All that Christ has done, His wisdom, righteousness and holiness is now yours. And all your guilt and shame is now His. It is as though you never sinned, but had always perfectly obeyed God. You are spotless before the throne of God’s justice (Eph. 5:27)! The image of God is restored in you. All things become new (2 Cor. 5:17)! End insertion. 

At the same time, God’s election of a sinner from eternity implies that Christ has satisfied divine justice for them in His sufferings on the cross. We read in John 17 that Christ suffered for all those who were given Him by the Father. He had His people personally in mind when He suffered. Not a mass of people, but individuals! Think of the breastplate of the high priest in the OT. There were 12 stones attached to it, representing the 12 tribes of Israel. So Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest, entered the veil bearing the names of all the elect on His heart. This is a precious truth! We must have these two truths clear in our minds. They are related, but must be distinguished. God declares His deed of justification not about someone, but to someone! Again, we have nothing to glory in but sovereign grace alone! This righteousness of Jesus Christ was accomplished in His resurrection from the dead (Rom. 4:25).

This doctrine of justification is very important. It shows us that God is Judge of all the earth. It seems that many Christians in China see God only as a kind Father in heaven who helps them in their need. God does not justify as a merciful Father who just looks the other way. But as a Judge who is in Himself Truth and Righteousness. It is He alone who has the authority to condemn or to acquit. Our judgment is so often wrong.

The miracle of justification is that a sinner is justified not as a righteous person, but as an ungodly sinner. We are not justified as a regenerate person, nor a religious person, nor a convicted person. There is nothing that makes us worthy or prepared to be justified, such as conviction of sin. Conviction of sin is the pathway God uses to bring a sinner to Christ, but it’s no merit to make him worthy of coming to Christ. This is a crucial point that needs to be understood. Consider the following Scriptures: Rom. 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 1 Tim 1:9, Rom. 4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. This does not mean that God justifies the ungodly, that they might continue in sin. But that at the moment that God by His grace justifies a person, God finds nothing in them to merit it. He finds them without any righteousness of their own. That is, He finds them as ungodly sinners. See Matt. 9:13, Mar. 2:17, Luk. 5:32. And they have learned that they are ungodly! They have nothing to bring to God to find acceptance with Him. You will remember the time when you were strangers to Him, slaves of sin and satan (Tit. 3:3). Think of Ezek. 16. God finds Israel as an infant still covered in its blood birth. He washed it and anoints it with oil. It is a picture of the sinner being washed from sin and being justified through the blood of Christ. Is it possible that God does such a mighty work in you, and you do not know and experience anything of what He has done for you? Justification is an act of God´s free grace to those who do not deserve it, to those who deserve to be cast into hell. This is a glorious truth – there is hope for the most corrupt and vile sinner! Not to continue in sin, Paul says God forbid (Rom. 6:1), but to be saved from sin (Matt. 1:21)! 

Those who are justified are unrighteous in themselves. Nothing of themselves has any merit before God. They are heartily in agreement with Isaiah in Is. 64:6: all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in thy sight. Only Christ´s merits can give peace to the wounded conscience. Christ’s righteousness has completely satisfied all the demands of divine justice for them: both His passive obedience and in His active obedience. This is received by faith by the sinner. God clothes them in the spotless robe of Christ’s righteousness. Then it is as though they had never sinned! (Song 4:7). God sees them as though they had brought forth this righteousness themselves (see Rom. 5:19). Therefore justification is not given to the sinner, he or she is declared righteousness. Thus it is not a change in the position of man with respect to God. It is that God declares that He has changed His view of us. He looks upon us as covered with the perfect righteousness of Christ. So the great question for each one of us is: how does God look upon you at this moment? When He looks upon you does He see the perfect righteousness of Christ covering you, or does He see your filthy rags of self-righteousness?

We are not justified because we have believed. Then we make justification something we have earned. Then it’s a work! It is a gift of God’s grace! See Rom. 4:5. The Scripture says clearly that the sinner is justified by faith, not because of faith. Consider Rom. 4:6, 11. Thus justification is not just forgiving sin. We are commanded to forgive those who sin against us. But we cannot justify them. Only God can justify. God declares a lost and ruined sinner justified in heaven. At the same time, it occurs in the conscience of the sinner on earth. By the Holy Spirit, the declaration in heaven is revealed in the heart of the sinner.

Justification is not sanctification. Justification is perfect and complete at the moment the sinner is united to Christ. This is a rich source of comfort when we feel our remaining sinfulness. Sanctification is not perfect in this life, only at death. Justification occurs outside man, sanctification is worked in man. Justification is concerned with the guilt of fallen man. Sanctification is concerned with the pollution of fallen man. A beautiful illustration of this is the persons of Moses and Aaron. Moses as lawgiver was concerned with the removal of the guilt and punishment of sin. Aaron as Levite was appointed to remove the pollution of sin. Justification is the same for all of God’s children, sanctification differs. One believer is more sanctified than the other. The child of God at his first conversion understands but little of what his justification really means. But the end has been reached! In sanctification, even the most sanctified believer must complain: Rom. 7:21 when I would do good, evil is present with me. See also Phil. 3:12.

Who is justified? Not those who trust in themselves that they are righteous, and despise others (Luke 18:9). The Pharisee justified himself, and that was condemned by God. He exalted himself. But he that humbleth himself like the publican shall be exalted v. 14, those who have a godly sorrow for sin, who are guilty and completely lost in their own eyes. Yet, they who as guilty and ungodly trust in Jesus alone, are justified. This is the paradox of justification. The unconverted man cannot understand this! He thinks that he has to improve his life, and then God will accept him. He has not seen that we not only do sin, we are sin! We are born in sin and shapen in iniquity (Ps. 51:6).

Justification is never repeated, see Rom. 8:33. That does not mean that we do not need to often come to the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness in the blood of the Lamb (Zach. 13:1). God may have to chastise us for our sins. Like a good father or mother doesn’t allow their child to go on in a way of disobedience. Without chastening we are bastards and not sons (Heb. 12). Think of David. His sins were forgiven, but the sword never departed from his house. But He will never break His covenant with us, if we are once in Christ. See Ps. 89:30-34. We are still accepted in the Beloved (Eph. 1:6).

What about the unforgivable sin? This is the sin against the Holy Spirit. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit indicates that such people have experienced an illumination of the truth. They have tasted something of the power of the life of God. But it has not broken and renewed them. Such a person is convinced of the truth, but he persecutes and blasphemes the truth. Thus not like Paul who acted in ignorance. Ignorance, weakness and fear are all excluded. Such a person calls the work of God the work of satan. Heb. 6:4-8 is an important text.

But what about the epistle of James? It seems in conflict with Paul in Romans. He wrote to a different group of people than Paul did. Paul wrote to those who trusted in their Pharisaical self-righteousness that they were acceptable to God. James wrote to Jews who confessed Jesus as Messiah, but whose lives were just as worldly as those around them. Paul taught his audience that their works were of no value to justify them before God. James taught that a faith which does not result in the fruits of holiness, is no true faith. The works are the signs of new life. James does not contradict Paul. He also teaches that man cannot trust in his works for acceptance with God: James 2:10 and 3:2. For example James mentions Abraham. Abraham in offering up Isaac showed in his life that he was justified (Gen. 22:12). He had been declared justified by God many years earlier (Gen. 15:6). James emphasizes that living faith cannot remain alone. It will always be accompanied by good works which are the fruit of faith. James and Paul complement one another.

Adoption

By nature all are strangers to God. God in His free grace is pleased to adopt His children, as brothers and sisters of their elder Brother Jesus Christ. See John 1:12, Eph. 1:5. What amazing love!

What is this adoption?

1. He ennobles us with His Name. (1 Joh. 3:1)
2. He consecrates with His Spirit (2 Pet. 1:4). 
3. He sets us at liberty from the bondage of sin. The slave is made a son. The wolf is made a lamb. He adopts His enemies to be His children, even children of the devil’s family.
4. He adopts us to a state of dignity. God’s children are His jewels (Mal. 3:17).
5. They are inheritors of His kingdom (Luke 12:32, 1 Pet. 1:4). 
6. Those who are adopted seek to obey their father.
7. They have great privileges. No evil can happen to them. All things must work for their good. Their Father in heaven cares for them. Affliction makes them better. They are heirs of the promises (Heb. 6:17). They have nothing to fear but sin!

Sanctification

1. We saw that God justifies the ungodly. Justification comes before sanctification; see the order in 1 Cor. 1:30. Sanctification is just as justification purchased by Christ’s sufferings. We can glory in nothing but the LORD! Sanctification is not to be put in the place of justification. They are also not to be mixed. They must be distinguished, but not separated. Justification is always followed by sanctification. See Zach. 3:3-7. Joshua’s filthy clothes are first removed and then clean clothes are given to him. He then walks in the ways of the LORD. The church is first married to Christ, then she seeks to conduct herself in a right way with her Beloved.

In justification we are brought into another state. In sanctification we are given another identity. By the new birth, we are united to Christ, the source of all spiritual life. This is crucial to understand sanctification. Our identity is now Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is the reason why the writers of the Heidelberg Catechism chose to speak of gratitude, not sanctification. The redeemed soul never forgets who he was and is: a sinner saved by grace. The true believer is not someone who believes so he doesn’t have to go to hell. He or she has been given a new life in Christ instead of the old life of sin and death. Your life is Christ! Like the child delivered from the burning house, you can never be thankful enough to Him who gave Himself to rescue you. He is everything to you! You have gone from death unto life (John 5:24). Not you will go, but you have already been brought from death to life! 

Think again of 1 Cor. 1:30.

The term holiness in the Scriptures indicates a setting apart of something from a common to a holy use. There are two aspects to this: a negative one and a positive one. Negative: separation from all that is sinful; and positive: united to all that is pure and godly (see Eph. 4:22-25, the imagery of removing one garment and putting on another).

The consequence of this is that sanctification can be considered from two perspectives. In justification, we are united to Christ. We are thus united to Christ in all His Person and work. We are made partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). We have fellowship with Him in His death and in His resurrection. Like Him we are raised to newness of life. We are made new creatures in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:17). Thus a principle of holiness is placed in the soul. At the same time, sanctification is a process. The renewal is begun, but it is incomplete in this life. It must go on to perfection at death. See Heb. 12:14. The pathway to God is the pathway of sanctification.

When we are trying to understand sanctification, we must keep before us a very important doctrine: the two natures of the believer. He has an old and a new nature. Before the new birth, there is no old and new nature. We are willing captives of satan and sin. We are children of our first parents Adam and Eve. But at the new birth there is a new nature through union with Christ. The old nature is not renewed. It must die more and more, through conformity with Christ’s death. That the new nature might arise in conformity to Christ’s resurrection. Thus there begins a conflict between the old and the new nature. In Holland years ago they said to a new child of God: welcome to the battle!

When we think about the process of sanctification, 2 Cor. 3:18 is an important text: But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in the child of God. What is this growth? It’s not growing stronger and holier in ourselves, it is becoming more and more dependent on the grace of God in Christ. Without me ye can do nothing (Joh. 15:5). The Holy Spirit teaches us more and more of ourselves, of our sinfulness and corruption. This humbles us, that we might be more and more astonished at the love and grace of God to such a one as us! Thus it is a growth in the depths. We can illustrate this point from the life of Paul. Look at the following three Scriptures: 1 Cor. 15:9, Eph. 3:8 and 1 Tim. 1:15. Paul confesses he is the least of the apostles, then in the letter to the Ephesians as the least of all saints, and at the end of his life in prison in Rome, he feels he is the greatest of sinners. The believer has no strength in himself to be holy, only as he is united to Christ and receives of His holiness.

Romans 7:14-25 – is Paul here an unbeliever, a weak believer or a healthy believer? We believe from Scripture he was a mature believer. He delights in the law of God after the inward man. This is not the language of an unbeliever. In his complaint, Paul still takes Rom. 6:11 seriously. A believer does not want to sin, but he or she does sin. The old man is still strong. Sin is not something that has past, it is a present reality. We are inclined to every sin. The seed of every sin is in the heart of man. If you don’t believe this, perhaps you need to examine your heart more closely. Mortification and repentance belong to the heart of the Christian life. This is also the triumph of Jesus Christ. He who thinks he has left repentance behind should ask whether he has begun. That is why we should not judge others harshly. He who doesn´t know his own heart is ready to enlarge the sinful failures of others. But they who have been taught by the Spirit that they are still inclined to hate God and their neighbour are harsh on themselves and gentle towards others. Think of how Christ dealt with the woman caught in adultery.

The old man strives until the end. There is no perfection in this life. But the believer does not sin like the unbeliever. Paul says it is not I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me (Rom. 7). God often uses affliction to bring growth in grace. Why? That we might learn what sin is. That we might long for heaven and holiness. That He might humble us. Sometimes God uses severe chastisements to cure His people of allowed sin in their lives.

The Puritans emphasized that as we are united to Christ, sanctification spreads into the whole man. Think of the True Vine and the branches. We are not sanctified if we are sanctified only in part. That is if we keep a part of our hearts and lives for ourselves, we show we are a hypocrite. Col. 3:10 speaks of a new man, not a new eye or hand. Therefore the Puritans emphasize that if we allow one sin to reign in our hearts, we cannot be saved. This is also the meaning of 1 John 5:18, when he declares that the child of God does not sin. He or she does not sin habitually, without striving against sin. How can we know if we have sin still reigning in us or not? We can compare the believer to a bird and the unbeliever to a pig. The true believer can and does fall into sin, like a bird can fall into a muddy puddle. But the mud is not the bird´s element. As quickly as possible it flies out, and cleans itself. The believer is grieved and sorry for remaining sin, and with repentance turns from it again to Christ. But the pig´s element is to wallow in the mud, just like an unconverted person feels at home in sin. It is his or her nature to sin. There is no striving against sin, except as it brings outward discomfort. We don´t want to lose our reputation, so we don´t commit gross sin. But the child of God is grieved about heart sins, pride, coldness in prayer, lack of love to God and to their neighbour etc. The heart of the difference is love! The true believer is grieved when he sins against so kind a gracious a God. But the hypocrite has no love to Christ, and no hatred for sin. To confirm this, compare 1 John 3:9 and 1 John 1:8. John declares that the believer sins not, but at the same time he is not without sin. In 1 John 3:9 not to commit sin means to not live in a course of sin.

Holiness is a beautiful thing! (Ps. 110:3). It is heaven begun in the soul. Holiness brings happiness. To have a clear conscience is the most precious thing. Especially when we come to die. Holiness makes us resemble God. God loves nothing else but holiness. Sanctification is the only thing that makes us differ from the world. Without it we bring shame on the Name of Christ. Holiness is the obedience of faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Matt. 15:9). Holiness is according to the law of God. Holiness is to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:21).

The true believer shall persevere to the end. 1 Pet. 1:4, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. The believer can fall into grievous sin. Think of David, Noah, Peter. But where the Holy Spirit has come into the heart He never finally departs. Darkness may endure for a time, but the Sun of Righteousness will arise again in the heart. Repentance and confession of sin, and a seeking and finding of forgiveness in the blood of Christ will take place.

What are the counterfeits of sanctification?

1. Moral virtue. Such a person hates grace as much as vice. Legalism. Such a person hates to hear of the need of being converted, of the work of the Holy Spirit. Civility is nature refined, but there is nothing of Christ there. Such persons try to merit heaven by their own deeds. They look down on others who don’t follow their rules. Often when the sinner is first convicted of sin, he or she tries to obey the Lord. There is love in this, but they have not yet seen that all their obedience is tainted with sin. The conviction must go deeper, to bring them to despair of all their own righteousness. See Pilgrim’s Progress, the slough of despond.
2. Superstitious devotion. It is only outward, like Roman Catholics. Superstitious holiness is not true holiness. Don’t let us be too hard on the R.C. If our worship is only a form, we are just as bad.
3. Hypocrisy. When men make a pretense to holiness which they do not have. Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof (2 Tim. 3:5). The foolish virgins. What good is our profession without the oil of the Spirit? Such people deceive others whilst they live and deceive themselves when they die. It is like a waxwork of a man. It looks from a distance just like them, but there is no life. Cold. Like the Pharisees, white painted sepulchers. Such a person can speak like an angel, but their works are devilish and carnal.
4. Restraining grace. A lion may be in chains but it is still a lion. Men forbear vice, but do not hate it. Social control may keep us from sin, but if that is taken away, we would run into vice. The greatest burden for such as person is that God does not leave them to sin alone.
5. Common grace. A superficial work of conviction, which does not lead to conversion. It is a slight work of the Spirit. The conscience has been touched, but the heart has not been broken and humbled. They shake their convictions off like a bird shakes off water. He tries to forget what has spoken to him. What a fearful condition this is!

The place of the law in the life of the believer. The law is not something only for the OT times. All the 10 commandments have been ratified in the NT. The law was given by God as an expression of His grace to His people. It was intended to point them to their need of His saving grace, because they could not keep the law. There is a demand in the law for obedience, but no power given to obey. So the law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ for the first time. It is also important in the life of the believer. The law is our rule of life. Like a manufacturer provides an instruction book with their product, with respect we can speak of the law as our instruction book. God made us, therefore He knows what is best for us. The law points out to us our sin and misery and so is a means God uses to humble us and show us more and more our need of the sanctifying power of the blood of Christ. Thus sanctification is not something we possess, but it is that we by the power of the Holy Spirit more and more draw om the grace of God in Christ and by His Spirit are made more and more like Him. The godliest people are not strong people in themselves, but weaker and weaker in themselves and more and more need Christ and His righteousness and holiness.  The Lord Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God (Matt. 5:3).

There is no heaven without sanctification. Heb. 12:14. Without holiness we would not be happy in heaven. Despite all our weakness, we do duties spiritually, and with a principle of love. We then delight in the ways of God: keeping the Sabbath is a delight: we don´t have to be forced to keep it holy (shopping, unnecessary travelling, doing sports or unnecessary work etc.). We love those who are godly, even if they rebuke us. We love and meditate on His Word (Ps. 1). We love to attend the house of God (Ps. 42). We have an open heart, an open home (Heb. 13:2) and an open wallet. We seek to forgive our enemies and pray for them.

Marks of sanctification. The heart is enlightened to understand what true piety is. The natural man thinks that holiness is doing some outward deeds. 

The truly sanctified soul knows: sanctification is a delighting in the law of God in the inward parts (Jer. 31:33, Ps. 51:6). What the heart is full of, the lips speak of! What are our hearts full of? (Rom. 12:2, Prov. 23:26). The heart is set on fire (Rom. 12:11).

The sanctified soul is united with the will of God. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:10). 

The sanctified soul is a thankful soul. He is thankful for God’s mercy to him, and seeks to please the LORD. 

The sanctified soul is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. They are influenced to desire that which is good. 

The sanctified soul hates sin, as that which separated them from God. He cannot bear it that others continue in a way of sin, and seek to bring them back (Eph. 5:11, Lev. 19:17). 

A sanctified soul does duties spiritually, from love and gratitude. The tender conscience is hurt by the least sin (1 Sam. 24:5, 2 Cor. 7:1). 

A sanctified soul has a well ordered life (1 Pet. 1:15). The temple had gold without as well as within. It begins within but does not stay there (Ps. 45:13). Our neighbour notices something in our lives!

The sanctified soul is willing to suffer rather than sin. Think of Moses – he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt (Heb. 11:26).

How can we become holy?

1. Only by living faith
2. Be conversant with the Word
3. Seek the work of the Spirit
4. Associate with godly persons
5. Pray for sanctification
6. Meditate much on Christ’s sufferings. How can we sin when we consider what it cost Christ?

In conclusion, let us seek to leave a footprint behind us. May our lives by grace leave a savior of godliness behind us for the following generations.

Glorification

For me to live is Christ and to die is gain, declared Paul (Phil. 1:21). For Paul, Christ was everything to him, both in life and in death. In life Christ was: the principle of his life, the purpose of his life, and the joy of his life. In all the trials and afflictions of this life, the child of God knows a joy and peace that the world knows nothing of. Here they often have a bitter portion and the wicked often prosper (Ps. 73). But for the believer the best is kept for last. The ungodly have all in this life, and nothing in the next.

The word to judge in the Scriptures means to separate. God will separate the godly from the ungodly. He will judge justly. No-one will be able to say that he or she has been dealt with unjustly.

For Paul and all true believers, to die is gain:

1. They will be delivered from all sin and affliction. They will be delivered from the hatred of the wicked. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes (Rev. 7:17).
2. They will behold the glory of God. They will see Him whom they have loved, although unseen, Jesus Christ in His glorified body. For the child of God, Christ is heaven. Without Christ heaven would be hell, said Samuel Rutherford.
3. They will be overwhelmed by the love of God. They will love Him perfectly and be loved of Him.
4. Their bodies sowed in corruption will be raised a glorious body (Phil. 3:21).
5. They shall receive a celestial palace (2 Cor. 5:1).
6. They will enjoy the sweet company and love of the glorified saints and angels.
7. They will be made perfectly holy.
8. They shall hunger no more (Rev. 7:16). There is an eternal rest for the people of God.
9. They will reign as kings (Rev. 4:4).
10. There is an eternal weight of glory (2 Cor. 4:17).
11. And all for ever and ever.

For the ungodly the difference at death is complete:

1. They lose the world, where they had laid up their treasure.
2. They lose their souls (Matt. 16:26).
3. They lose heaven.
4. They lose all hope. Though they lived wickedly, they hoped God would be merciful. Their vain hope of heaven proves to be a spider’s web.
5. They lose all the goodness of God. Here their lives were constantly surrounded by His goodness. In hell they will lose all His goodness, and know only His wrath.
6. Their conscience will not be lost, but will go with them to torment them. All the wasted opportunities to repent. All the privileges despised.
7. They will be ever sinning and becoming more and more wretched and filled with enmity against God (Rev. 16:11).
8. Their bodies shall be raised in corruption. They will add to the torment of their souls.
9. Their torment will never end. The word hell in the Bible is derived from Gehenna. This was the valley outside Jerusalem where the rubbish of the city was thrown, and where children were offered as burnt offerings to the idol Moloch. This terrible place is used as a vivid picture of the horrors of hell.

See what little cause true believers have to fear death, when it brings such glorious eternal benefits! What an encouragement to live godly by Christ Jesus (2 Pet. 3:11). But see also what cause the ungodly have to fear and tremble. How often the child of God is cast down unnecessarily. So often we are earthy-minded. If we contemplated the eternal world more than we do, what a different perspective it would put on our lives here! It gives courage and endurance to the weak child of God. The afflictions of this life are but for a moment. May it be a means to cause the wicked to flee from the wrath to come!

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1. G.O. Forde, On being a Theologian of the Cross, 36 ↩︎
2. Van Vlastuin, Naar het hart van Jerusalem, 152 ↩︎
3. Th. van der Groe, Een schadelijk misbruik van een algemene overtuiging (2012, Schatkamer, Rumpt), 7 ↩︎
4. R. Erskine, Sermon 4, Gal. 2:20 ↩︎
5. J. Preston, Paul’s Conversion in Remains, 193-7 ↩︎
6. Preston, Paul’s Conversion, 182-3 ↩︎
7. J.R. Beeke, P.M. Smalley, Prepared by Grace, for Grace (2013, Reformation Heritage Books, Michigan), 52 ↩︎
8. J. Preston, The Breastplate of Faith and Love (Edinburgh, Banner of Truth, 1979), 27 ↩︎
9. Beeke, Smalley, Prepared by Grace, for Grace, 216 ↩︎
10. J. Preston, The Breastplate of Faith and Love (Edinburgh, Banner of Truth, 1979), 44 ↩︎
11. Preston, Breastplate, 49 ↩︎
12. Preston, Breastplate, 59 ↩︎
13. Preston, Breastplate, 63 ↩︎
14. Preston, Breastplate, 87 ↩︎
15. E. Erskine, The Beauties of Ebenezer Erskine (Fearn, Ross-shire, Christian Focus Publications, 2001), 33 ↩︎
16. Fisher’s Marrow of Modern Divinity, p. 364 ↩︎
17. J. Edwards, The Religious Affections in the Works of J. Edwards, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, Banner of Truth, 1974), 254 ↩︎