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7 The Personal Precepts of the Gospel Law (1/2)
As I mentioned in the previous study, there are several ways the precepts of the Gospel Law could be catalogued. I have chosen to select the threefold category of Gospel precepts given by James in the first chapter of his epistle, the twenty-seventh verse: James 1:27: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” This text arranges the Gospel precepts under the following categories: 1. The God-ward Precepts of the Gospel Law—“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father…” 2. The Relational Precepts of the Gospel Law—“To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction…” 3. The Personal Precepts of the Gospel Law—“To keep…
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8 The Personal Precepts of the Gospel Law (2/2)
If the believer is to keep himself unspotted from the world (Js 1:27), then he must learn how to govern his own soul. Otherwise, he will be like a city that is broken down, and without walls (Prov 25:28). If the believer lacks the personal discipline to keep his own heart with all diligence (Prov 4:23), then he will experience spiritual declension and suffer a backslidden condition. It is for this reason we have been looking into the two natures that reside in the believer’s soul. Thus far, we have considered (1) the names given to the two natures; (2) the leading characteristics of the two natures; (3) the dividing lines between the two natures. In this study, I wish to open up (4) the…
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9 The God-ward Precepts of the Gospel Law
James 1:27: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” In a single statement, James reduces the precepts of the Gospel Law under three headings: 1. The God-ward Precepts of the Gospel Law—“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father…” 2. The Relational Precepts of the Gospel Law—“To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction…” 3. The Personal Precepts of the Gospel Law—“To keep himself unspotted from the world.” Having looked more closely at the personal precepts of the Gospel Law, we now turn our attention to the God-ward precepts. When the precepts of the Gospel Law were introduced (see the seventh study),…
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10 The Relational Precepts of the Gospel Law
James 1:27: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” In a single statement, James reduces the precepts of the Gospel Law under three headings: 1. The God-ward Precepts of the Gospel Law—“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father…” 2. The Relational Precepts of the Gospel Law—“To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction…” 3. The Personal Precepts of the Gospel Law—“To keep himself unspotted from the world.” Having looked at the God-ward and personal precepts of the Gospel Law, we now turn to the relational precepts. As pointed in the introduction to the Gospel precepts (seventh study), James appears to be…
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Christ’s Sheep, And Their Marks
Notes of a Sermon preached on 11 April 1843 “I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish.”—John 10:28 The Holy Ghost, in the canon of Scripture, has borrowed a variety of metaphors from natural things to show us what Christ is to his people, and what his people are to him. Here he calls them "sheep," and himself the "Shepherd." Jesus has received his sheep from his Father's hand as his portion, as the lot of his inheritance. He knows his sheep intimately and perfectly. When they are wandering on the mountains of the Adam fall, the shepherd has his eye upon them, and he seeks them out, and calls them to the rest of his flock, in his own time.…
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High-Calvinism: Fleshing It Out
First, at no time is a sinner duty-bound under both covenants simultaneously. Second, so long as the sinner remains unregenerate, he/she is held accountable under the terms and promises of the Covenant of Works (not the Covenant of Grace). Third, once the sinner has been born again, he/she is delivered/released from the Covenant of Works, being brought experientially under the terms and promises of the Covenant of Grace. Fourth, the non-elect have absolutely no part in the Covenant of Grace—it is not their duty to believe savingly on Christ, nor is it the duty of the preacher to offer Christ to them. Christ does not represent them, neither has He made provision for them through His Mediatorial work. Fifth, the regenerated sinner has absolutely no…
