Paramount Church

". . . there lies always upon God’s Minister, Wo be unto me, if I preach not the Gospel, if I apply not the comfortable promises of the Gospel, to all that grone under the burden of their sins." ~John Donne (1572-1631), Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral London @TWRjack

And the dominant clause in this statement is “of the Christian life.” The unbeliever doesn’t know or have God as “a reconciled Father.” We preach/counsel elements of the law in mercy that they might come to know the Father in Christ by the Spirit according to the gospel.

True spiritual power and wisdom resides in Jesus Christ and is applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit as we depend on Him.

I have it on good authority that we have an advocate with the Father

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You should listen to this episode.

"Faith is an empty hand grasping the free treasure of Christ.” ~Rod Rosenbladt

ICYMI: Baptism of the Holy Spirit | The Heidelblog @Heidelcast @HeidelbergRefo1 @RScottClark buff.ly/wHz4o1C

Salvation is a unit. It includes both justification and sanctification. Sanctification does not stand outside salvation as a cooperative addition we contribute to complete what Christ began. Repentance and obedience are fruits flowing from salvation itself. They are the inevitable effects of union with Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. And because salvation is grounded in union with Christ rather than in spiritual performance, maturity, or attainment, the Christian life is not divided into separate classes of believers. There are not two kinds of Christians. There are only Christians at different stages of growth and maturity. Every true believer is: truly united to Christ, truly under grace, truly indwelt by the Holy Spirit, truly justified, and truly sanctified in Him, even though believers differ greatly in spiritual maturity and progress.

“Come to Christ; only he can be your abundance.” HT:@MichaelHorton_

Repentance is not faith. Obedience is not faith. Yet neither can ever be absent where true faith exists. Repentance and obedience are not component parts of saving faith. They are the fruits and effects of saving faith flowing from the new nature created by the Holy Spirit. In the Reformation tradition, repentance does not unite us to Christ, nor does repentance justify us. Christ alone saves through faith alone. And, strictly speaking, it is not even faith in Christ that saves, but Christ that saves through faith.

I just picked up my copy. The textual work looks outstanding, especially the double column Latin/English, and the production values set a new standard in the field. Harrison is doing more than anyone else to establish critical paradigms in Ussher studies - so very well done!

One must refuse to solve antinomianism by making discipleship function as part of the gospel itself.

“To confuse law and gospel is the most disastrous theological error one can make.” ~Rick Ritchie

The dominant posture of the Christian life is not terror before a judge, but grateful obedience before a reconciled Father.

“Because Christ is the author and finisher of our faith, we can be confident that our Christian lives will be fruitful.” ~Robert Strimple

“Sanctification, being set free from sin’s dominion, is God’s gift to you, along with justification; it is the inevitable partner of justification.” ~Robert Strimple

One of the most helpful chapter titles in the book Christ the Lord: The Reformation and Lordship Salvation comes from Rod Rosenbladt: "Christ Died for the Sins of Christians, Too." That title beautifully captures the comfort of the gospel for weary believers. Too often, Christians can begin to live as though Christ died only for their sins before conversion, while their present assurance now depends mainly upon the strength of their obedience, repentance, sanctification, or spiritual performance. But the good news of the gospel is far greater. Jesus Christ did not merely die for the sins you committed before you became a Christian. He died for all your sins. The Christian life is not sustained by moving beyond Christ’s finished work, but by continually returning to Him through the gospel proclaimed in Word and sacrament. Our assurance rests not in ourselves, but in the crucified, risen, and ascended Christ who still intercedes for His people as our Advocate with the Father (1 John 2:1–2).

In Christ the Lord, @MichaelHorton_ writes, "If disobedience and rebellion continue unabated there is reason to doubt the reality of a person’s faith,” according to MacArthur . . . And yet the apostle Paul writes, “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.… For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice” (Rom. 7:5, 19). Would we have to doubt the reality of Paul’s faith because “disobedience and rebellion continue unabated”?" ~Christ the Lord: The Reformation and Lordship Salvation, 49–50.

“He remembers his covenant forever, the promise he ordained for a thousand generations—the covenant he made with Abraham…” Psalms 105:8-9 CSB