The 1689 (2)
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Welcome
Welcome
Welcome to the wednesday night prayer service. As promised before, we are continuing on a study of the 1689 2nd London Baptist Confession.
Today’s prayer area of the world is still India - specifically the Eastern territories near Bengal. Chandigarh alone has nearly 800,000 people in it. Pondlcherry also has a population of almost a million people. Between Daman, Dadra, Nagar Havali and Diu, there is another quarter million. So we’re looking at an area of two and a quarter million people we are praying for tonight.
(take congregational prayers)
1689
Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century I. The Holy Scriptures
The Holy Scriptures are the only sufficient, certain, and infallible standard of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. The light of nature and the works of creation and providence so clearly demonstrate the goodness, wisdom, and power of God that people are left without excuse; however, these demonstrations are not sufficient to give the knowledge of God and His will that is necessary for salvation. Therefore, the Lord was pleased at different times and in various ways to reveal Himself and to declare His will to His church. To preserve and propagate the truth better and to establish and comfort the church with greater certainty against the corruption of the flesh and the malice of Satan and the world, the Lord put this revelation completely in writing. Therefore, the Holy Scriptures are absolutely necessary, because God’s former ways of revealing His will to His people have now ceased.
We pick up where we left off last week. The 1689 actually was written earlier in 1644 as the Westminster Confession and revamped to fit Baptist theology in 1677; however, the name came to be known when in 1689 a National Assembly of Particular Baptist churches in England adopted it for use in their churches. Believe it or not, it also was adapted as the Charleston confession, which was used by Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Like the Westminster confession, the 1689 begins with Scripture. Here’s a bottom line - Christians by definition are Sola Scriptura - Scripture alone. Not Scripture as defined by any one philosophy such as open theism, Molinism or even philosophical works such as Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica.
We are Scripture alone.
Last week I emphasized that Scripture is sufficient. We need look nowhere else - not visions, not mysterious voices, not angels, not visions or dreams.
We look to Scripture.
Q. 4. What is the word of God?
A. The holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the word of God, and the only certain rule of faith and obedience.
Q. 5. May all men make use of the holy scriptures?
A. All men are not only permitted, but commanded and exhorted, to read, hear, and understand the holy scriptures.
In future sermons, we’ll go through all of the Keach’s Catechism one question at a time. this is just a glance.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
There are two important phrases in verse 20, and one important one in verse 19. These words will no doubt be read on the day of the Great White Throne, to all.
That which is known about God...
… is evident within them, for God made it evident to them.
This means every time an atheist tells you with a smile there’s no proof for God they are not being truthful. If you know anything about psychology, you’ll recognize the smile as what is known as “duping delight”. They are lying to you, and think they’re getting away with it.
The next important phrase is this: His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen.
This is what we call general revelation. Creation itself testifies to God’s existence. There’s an argument called the clockmaker - if we see a clock, we know it had a maker. A collection of springs, interlocking gears, pistons, a faceplate with regularly spaced markings, hands that delineate time and a glass cover to protect, they are too intricate a device to have occured by random.
Creation is equally as intricate. When we knew little about the universe, we still had no excuse. Now, with everything we know about the universe, there is no doubt. There is a God. He exists, and created the universe.
As creator, He has sovereign rights over all His creation, including we, His created. If He created the universe, He had reasons for it. The same may be said for us. If He created us, there are sovereign reasons for it.
We now come to the grand moment - God communicating with us, His created.
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
God has in times past revealed Himself to man in visions, Angelic visitation, dreams, through manifesting His voice audibly, and in several cases, Theophanies - where God temporarily took form in apparent Human flesh - and sometimes sovereignly decreeing His elect’s lives to create a prophetic shadow of future events - such as the betrayal of Isaac by a kiss, the offering of Isaac on Mount Moriah, events in King David’s life, etc.
These events came before the sealing of the canon. It is hinted in Deuteronomy that the canon would someday close. The Jewish people have imagined that during the intertestamental period, the disappearance of the prophets signalled the closing of the canon. The return of prophets temporarily should have prevented that error, but it did not.
God has chosen to make His will known through His holy Scripture and through the life and words of Jesus Christ.
This is what the Bible says. The New Testament changes from the Old Testament pattern of Law, Prophets, Writings to the New Testament pattern of Gospels, History, epistles and apocalypse. As the Apocalypse, better known as the Revelation takes us through prophetically to the end of time and beyond, it has the furthest application. Thus, when it pronounces a curse upon any who take away or add to the Bible, it reigns supreme.
God has said all He is going to say. He has told us about the sinfulness of man, the Glory of God, our ultimate destiny, and for the elect, how we must behave.
There has been no audible voice of God in two thousand years. When we reach the end times - which we are not yet it - then we will have a temporary return of Angels speaking God’s message, but this is to pave the way for the King, to make straight His paths.
There is no “more” to yearn for. There are no visions, no dreams, no prophets any longer. There has been people who call themselves prophets, but there has not been a single person since AD 95 who had a 100% prophetic accuracy. So we can say with confidence that prophecy has passed during this dispensation.
With no prophets, no judges, no apostles, and no more additions possible to the Biblical canon, we then have no more revelation from God.
What He has said therefore, is sufficient and complete. As Dr. James White says, Scripture is not exhaustive - it does not tell us what the Apostle Paul’s eye color was - but it is sufficient, speaking on matters of faith and practice. Lest you think I am minimizing on which areas the Bible speaks, I assure you in matters of faith and practice covers almost all of your current life. It does not settle the Chevy versus Ford debate, but that’s almost all it does not touch.
Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century I. The Holy Scriptures
To preserve and propagate the truth better and to establish and comfort the church with greater certainty against the corruption of the flesh and the malice of Satan and the world, the Lord put this revelation completely in writing. Therefore, the Holy Scriptures are absolutely necessary, because God’s former ways of revealing His will to His people have now ceased.
To sum up, God once spoke in various ways to mankind. In these last days, God speaks to us now through His son Jesus Christ and through the committing of all heavenly wisdom to writing in the Bible. There are no further revelation to come forth, no more prophecies. The Bible is sufficient, inspired, inerrant, preserved.
Next week, I’m going to discuss the preservation of the Bible in some detail, so be prepared for that message to run longer - perhaps a half hour. We’ll trim the service down a bit to make it not such a burden on a Wednesday night.
The Lord bless you, and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine on you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance on you,
And give you peace.’
See you on Sunday.