Session 8: Preaching the Decree - Stefan Lindblad

before I begin I would like to as I did the outset of my first lecture extend my hearty thanks to the churches who sponsor this conference and to those brethren specifically who invited me to come and to lecture to dr. rich Barse Ellis and dr. Jim ran an I don't know if I'm forgetting anyone else there and if I've forgotten you I do apologize but I do thank you very much for this kind invitation and I want to thank all of you who have attended for your suffrage and patience with me I know that this is heady material but I trust that it will serve you well in the days and months and years to come as you seek to further understand what the Scriptures reveal and what the church has taught regarding this blessed truth for my final lecture this evening I want to address the subject of preaching the decree and in particular we will look at the work of theologian by the name of Geronimo Zacchaeus or Jerome's Anki and his work on the subject under the influence of Caryl Bart's historiography of the reformed tradition and his theology of election in particular Jurgen Moltmann has described the reformed doctrine of the divine decree as in a word hellish the pretension underlying this radical claim is that the reformed doctrine of the divine decree including the decree of predestination both unto life and unto damnation no matter how that doctrine is stacked whether with respect to reprobation or preterism the pretension here is that that doctrine is utterly horrific because it lacks or has a kind of christological soteriological even practical deficiency so much of this argumentation however confuses the reformed doctrine of the Divine Will and good pleasure with a kind of content understanding of the utter unknowability of anything beyond the phenomenal that is what we can see and sense the argument is that God in himself as considered in reformed theology is so intractably beyond us that we have no access to anything like a true knowledge of God in his decree and instead we must understand that the economy just is God and his purpose and to think that a God stands behind all of history and behind all of the actions of man especially those who have lived through the horror of two world wars like Jurgen Moltmann such a doctrine is hellish and so any discussion as Moltmann puts it of a divine decree as the foundation of all of God's works in creation providence and redemption is necessarily not only impractical but again in his words hellish as it pertains to the historical reformed doctrine Moltmann is not alone in this kind of sentiment those who advocate the Calvin against the Calvinist view of the nature of early modern reformed theology argue as we've seen that while Calvin's Cristo centrosome could preach not so with the doctrine articulated by those that followed him James Dane not only averred that Calvin's quote/unquote biblical perspective was negated by Bates ax because among other reasons Bates had defined election and reprobation merely in terms of divine sovereignty such that election and reprobation were defined apart from sent Grace and sin but he also suggested that Bates's entire theology was developed on the basis of what was a speculative metaphysical doctrine of predestination estimation and he argued this by appealing to a document known as Bates's tabula predestiny Producciones and the fact of the matter is he actually never cites Bates ax the point however is that Dane infers that the doctrine articulated by Bates ax could not be preached now in addition to the fact that it is questionable to assume that a theologian responsible for teaching pastors as was bata in Geneva Geneva would formulate a doctrine that in its basic contours he could never preach deign suppositions regarding Bates's theology as being a theology of a speculative speculative de creedal kind ignores not only Bates's own formulations but also his stated intent in this very document as Richard Muller and Raymond black etre have observed bethe argued in his explanation of the table of predestination that his intent was to expound the doctrine that the people of God essentially might understand the grace of God Bates's focus in other words is on the grace of God in salvation and not on a speculative decree Bates's purpose in his own words is framed with reference in fact to our limitations in understanding the decree says there are two limitations first that we discuss the topic as the Word of God prescribes second that we explain skilfully and for edification precisely what Scripture teaches concerning these things we will therefore says Bates's speak briefly on both these issues first concerning the doctrine itself secondly concerning its use and application as Bates's explanation unfolds it is clear that he explains the doctrine in its christological and soteriological dementia and advocates preaching the doctrine in a manner that routes the Christians knowledge of election not in a consideration of the Divine Will per se but in a consideration of our vocation or our engrafting into Christ in other words he wants to focus on the question of assurance and the assurance of our election not by a consideration of election in and of itself but by working from the effect of election back to election as caused in other words he focuses again on vocation on effectual calling and how it is that our effectual calling witchin grabs us into Christ and grants us faith in Jesus Christ enables us then to determine if you will whether or not we be elect in Christ baits ax in his argumentation then follows what we might call the order of knowing the cognitive order that as we consider our election in Christ we move from the effect of that election back to the cause we can argue from the effect to the cause argue from the graph back to the ground that is of election itself now William Perkins argued similarly and Joel beachy and Mark Jones in their a Puritan theology have demonstrated this at some length well the same issues the same concern to explicate the uses of the doctrine and the right manner or mode of preaching the doctrine especially in relation to soteriology is evident throughout the reformed theology of the era you could literally pick up just about any theological treatise or any theological system and you would find some discussion of at least the uses of the doctrine of the decree and specifically the doctrines of election and reprobation what I want to do now is to explore the argumentation of geronimo zong kiyose or Jerome's Anki zenki was a leading reformed orthodox theologian of the late 16th century he was a pupil of peter martyr vermigli himself that is zonkey having been trained in italy under the auspices of roman catholic teaching he converted to the Protestant Reformation under the influence of his tutor and professor Verma Glee he went on to serve in a pastor at first and then became or sinus or sinuses successor at Heidelberg and was later a professor at the academy in Neustadt Germany and Zaki himself was once regarded as a distorter so to speak of Calvin's doctrine otto grundle ER argued that sakis doctrine of predestination was developed along scholastic lines and there's a sense in which that is true but Grunder argued that for zonkey this causal metaphysical doctrine of predestination was the center of his whole theology again we find here an example of the Calvin against the Calvinists line of argumentation calvin according to Grunder was warm and biblical in christ centered whereas the Scholastic's like zonkey were cold metaphysical and predestiny Rhian in addition to the fact that this is a complete caricature of the development of reformed theology of the era donkeys own development of the topic of predestination including his approach to the uses and preaching of predestination demonstrates that even among those theologians who adopted a scholastic method in their theology and they did so for pedagogical reasons not under sort of some sort of theological conviction even those Thiel out theologians who did this like zonkey and who articulated the doctrine of predestination in after the doctrine of God or even within the doctrine of God as does Anki there was yet a deep interest in the practical and ecclesial terminus if you will not only of the doctrine of predestination but of every doctrine of the system of theology they were convinced that true theology was wisdom true theology did not consist merely in scanty at knowledge the acquisition of true knowledge but true theology was not only theoretical but practical it was divine wisdom of divine things a divine wisdom that enabled the believer to live blessedly unto God forever in what follows I want to examine then briefly sakis approach to these issues taking note especially of the way in which he argued that the preaching of predestination ought to be handled with sobriety and wisdom unto the edification of the Saints and if we think that as confessional reformed Baptists this consideration of zonkey is somehow irrelevant to us we need only remind ourselves of chapter 3 and paragraph 7 of our confession the doctrine of this high mystery of predestination is to be handled with special prudence and care that men attending the will of God revealed in his world word and yielding obedience there unto may from the certainty of their effectual vocation be assured of their eternal election this is precisely the argument not only of beta and William Perkins but also of zonkey and a whole host of theologians from the era there are three things we want to notice then there affect two texts from zonkey that we will look at but before we look at those two texts in order we want to some description of these texts and deal with a textual issue in the case of one of them in our examination of Zhong Kees doctrine of predestination or particularly the uses and preaching of predestination we're going to look at two documents first of all zonkey wrote a brief confession of faith entitled concerning the religion of the Christian faith in 1583 and this was written for the sake of the German churches among whom he was serving the second document is his massive work entitled concerning the nature of God it is this latter document that we need to momentarily consider in terms of a textual issue in 1811 augustus top ledee published a translation or a sort of translation of a portion of this work under the title the doctrine of absolute predestination and perhaps some of you have this book on your shelves or in the day and age in which we live perhaps you have downloaded it from Google Books in some form or another the book in fact was republished several times in the 20th century and I have a copy in my library that was published in 1977 by Bakker book house the problem with this work is that it is more top Leday than it is zonkey some of what we find in the doctrine of absolute predestination is a translation of zonkey but the vast majority of the book is top lynnae's gloss on the very little of zonkey that is translated top ledee in fact did not translate the entirety of Tsar keys locus on predestination nor did he hesitate then adding his own theological reflections and before we indict top ledee we should observe that he did so in the context of his own polemic with John Wesley on the question of predestination but top liday moreover provided no context for the portions of zonkey that he did translate and he gives us the impression in fact in this work that zonkey was concerned to formulate a doctrine of predestination in abstraction from the rest of his theology instead as both donkeys confession and the work concerning the nature of God demonstrate the doctrine of predestination in zenki's theology was formulated in view of the preceding topics of his theology specifically the Trinity and the divine attributes and his doctrine of predestination was argued or explicate 'add to the end specifically of the edification of the church both in a consideration of the uses of the doctrine and in the right preaching of the doctrine it is important to recognize that for zakir the placement of the doctrine of predestination including these concluding reflections on the uses and preaching of the doctrine was not for him the product of constructing a metaphysical and speculative doctrine of predestination a doctrine that ran roughshod over the biblical material rather for zonkey his work was part of a larger project that he never completed a work that he would have entitled the Summa tail ogi the first volume of his system which is again a massive volume dealt with the doctrine of the Trinity he began his system with the Trinity the second volume which is the nature of God or concerning the nature of God dealt with the divine attributes and within that consideration of the divine attributes zonkey begins with the revelation of the divine names he doesn't begin with some absurd Act principle some speculative principle but he goes to the scripture and says how does scripture name God and what can we conclude from these names of God regarding the attributes of God sakis doctrine of predestination then coming after Trinity and after the divine attributes assumes both of these theological topics it assumes then among other things that predestination even as he spells out at some length nevertheless is the common work of the triune God that grounds the manifestation of God's grace to sinners in the divine work of salvation ad extra in fact if we had any doubt that this ordering of the topics was regarded as inherently practical that is tending to a discussion of the sotiria logical uses and the ecclesial proclamation of the doctrine Zonk 'is the religion of the Christian faith or as it was translated into English the whole body of Christian religion illustrates the same development and the same arrangement of these topics here was a little work intended for the church intended for her benefit for her edification and this little work illustrates then Eve that even while employing something of a Scholastic method or at least following a Scholastic ordering of the topics the theology thus explicate edoardo dang short of the divine wisdom revealed in the scriptures and so the end of his theology and the end even of his consideration of the doctrine of predestination was not merely knowledge but it was also prudence wisdom these were doctrines of living well before the face of God with this textual and consideration in view we want to turn to the first of these two documents zong keys confession of faith written in 1583 to notice how he develops the doctrine of predestination with a view towards its uses and its preaching in this work Zaki deals first of all with Scripture as the foundation of our knowledge of God and then secondly he treats of God as the essential foundation of not only all of our knowledge of God but the essential foundation of all being outside of God and he moves in this context from a discussion of the Trinity and then to speak again of the common divine essence the pattern of the confession then follows the same pattern or is the very same pattern as in his massive Scholastic theological work of the nature of God and it is in this context or after this context that zonkey handles the topic of predestination and he does so in a series of eight theses or aphorisms the first is he deals with God's eternal knowledge or foreknowledge he argues that according to God's infinite wisdom from all eternity God foreknew all things to come both the good which he would do and the evil which he would permit to be done secondly he argues that God in his eternal counsel for ordained all things and he did so unto their best or greatest ends here he gives to us a doctrine of general predestination or of the decree in general he argues that not only are all things naked and open in the sight of God according to Hebrews 4 and verse 13 but in his most wise and eternal counsel god from before the foundation of the world determined all things that is he determined creation he determined Providence and he determined a zonkey puts it the gathering of his church out of the believing seed of Adam as also their Redemption and salvation God ordained also according to His infinite goodness all the evil zonkey says which in his wisdom he purposed to suffer and permit to the best ends in so much that there shall not a hare perish or fall from our head without the will of our Heavenly Father it's interesting to notice that he takes our Lord's words in Matthew chapter 6 as and the hair falling from someone's head as an instance of evil that gives us an indication of how how it is that the theologians of the era were defining evil evil was privation and so the loss of hair is the privation of some good and so even Christians who lose their hair experience some form of evil even according to the will of our Heavenly Father there is an indication here as well already that he is moving to a practical end again given that evil is the privation of good and even the experience of losing one's hair is the privation of some created good the third aphorism or the third thesis is that predestination of some unto life and some or that God predestined some unto life and some unto death here he has moved from a consideration of predestination in general or a general decree to special predestination or a special decree including both election and preterism zonkey by the way was in a certain measure in infra lapse Arian but in the context of argument he draws on scripture in order to argue for positive election and a passing over or prior ition and he argues according to Ephesians chapter 1 that both of these are unto the end or the goal of the praise of God's grace on the one hand and the praise of God's justice on the other hand the forth thesis is that election is of God's mere grace here is where again sake is rather explicitly practical he is speaking of the doctrine of election in a way that leads to and includes the soteriological significance of the doctrine he writes for as our vocation unto Christ that is our calling into union with Christ and our justification in Christ is merely of God's grace and not of our works so also we hold that the predestination of the Saints is merely of grace because it was made in Christ zonkey is here following again that cognitive order the order of knowing reasoning from effect to cause if the effect is a matter of sheer grace if our calling is a matter of grace if our justification in Christ is a matter of sheer grace then obviously the eternal ground of that calling and that justification is a matter of sheer grace predestination is all of grace and he cites 1st Corinthians 1 and verse verses 29 and 31 arguing that this point teaches us that no flesh should glory in God's presence but that he that should glory should glory only in the Lord the fifth thesis we are predestined not only unto the end of eternal life but also the means by which God brings us to salvation because we are chosen in Christ that we should be holy and blameless Ephesians 1 and verses 3 and 4 zonkey argues that we are predestined not only to the end which is eternal life in glory but also to the means tending to that end especially faith where bar we are engrafted into Christ and regeneration and true repentance by which we are made in Christ a new creature that we may lead a godly life to the glorifying of him and the edifying of our neighbor notice that this accent upon not only the predestination of the means to the end draws attention again to this soteriological emphasis in zonkey the means are deigned to the end faith regeneration repentance even the living of a godly life that glorifies God and edifies our our neighbour should be noted when a zonkey uses the term regeneration in this context he's not speaking as we do often of regeneration but he's actually speaking of conversion as sanctification sixthly the thesis is argued that those that are elected are saved not in spite of but by being and grafted into Christ by the Holy Spirit and by a true living faith he writes therefore those are shamefully mistaken and deceived to their own destruction whosoever think that they are elected and so consequently shall be saved although they be not engrafted into Christ by faith nor repent of their sins nor study to do the will of God and practice good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them for they disjoin what God has conjoined God is predestined the end and the means in which case no one can claim election without professing without believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ and being engrafted into him one cannot have the end ordained apart from the means ordained vii Li every man ought to believe that he is elected in Christ and what he's getting at here is everyone who is a part of the church and who hears the gospel proclaimed every man ought to believe that he is elected in Christ and that he may be certain of it by the sense of his faith in Christ he writes we are confident that in as much as we are called unto Christ we are called according to God's eternal purpose and election if we are then to be certain of that election we we must run to faith and to the testimony of conscience and examine ourselves whether we be in the faith of Christ whether we feel within ourselves the sincere love of God and of our neighbor zonkey notes that if a man feels not these things let him pray that that God may help his unbelief the point here is that the assurance of election is argued not from election itself but from faith and the testimony of a good conscience both of which are understood as the fruit of the spirits saving work in US and then zonkey in his eighth thesis gives to us the reasons why the doctrine of election is delivered to us in Scripture and here we have a formal explication of the uses of the doctrine of predestination even though there has been this soteriological focus and a practical focus at that zonkey here turns explicitly to the issue of the uses he writes for the doctrine of the eternal three an immutable predestination of god is delivered us delivered unto us in holy scripture not that either we should neglect Christ or despair of our salvation or through security let the reins loose unto concupiscence or to conclude that we should wax insulate and insulate and proud but on the contrary for these reasons here are the uses first that we may know that there is no salvation in any other but in Christ for the foundation of our salvation was laid and settled in Christ before the foundation of the world the doctrine of the election or the doctrine of election in its practical significance teaches us solo Cristo secondly the another use is that in times of temptations we who believe in Christ may be propped up and supported by the certainty of our salvation so that we neither despair nor distrust God for as much as it stands firm and sure earth excuse me for as much as our salvation stands firm and sure in God's eternal decree the third use that we may from this consideration be stirred up to the study of faith in Christ to sanctity of life and the practice of good works for as much as we were elected and chosen of God that we should believe and be holy and we built out blame before him in love and walk in good works we were chosen to believe we were chosen to be holy we were chosen to walk in good works good works that zonkey argues according to Ephesians 2 and verse 10 were four ordained or created prepared for us the fourth and the final use is that we should not wax insolent or but again citing first Corinthians 1 verses 29 and 31 rather he that glory should glory in the Lord and he reasons that this is the case because if we believe in Christ and live a holy and godly life we are to attribute it only unto the mere grace and mercy of God to us in Christ who from all eternity ordained that we should be such and that of his free grace to us in Christ God predestined the end and the means he predestined the end of eternal life and he predestined the means faith in Christ holiness of life and good works and if these are gifts of God to us by His grace we should glory in the Lord rather than be indolent lazy or slothful in the Christian life as he unfolds these topics then even the topics of the Trinity excuse me beginning with Scripture and then the Trinity and then the divine attributes and moving to predestination as he follows this material order if you will within that zonkey takes up this order of knowing to the end that he might elucidate not only the doctrine itself but also explained the ways in which the doctrine serves our faith our assurance and our pursuit of the holiness of life and now we turn to his more comprehensive work the work concerning the nature of God and I don't want to cover all of the ground that he does but I want to give you a sketch of what he's doing in this more substantial work which it ought to be borne in mind was written for the sake especially of ministerial students of those studying to be pastors and that explains why in the confession of faith there's no section on preaching but there is within his concerning the nature of God a section on preaching in this work zonkey covers much the same ground but within the context of a larger theological system again however under the conviction that theology is wisdom concerning divine things zonkey argues that the full profit of the doctrine of predestination cannot be sufficiently noted but at the end where the Telos of the doctrine is particularly twofold first of all a certain and firm persuasion of our eternal salvation in Christ and secondly that putting off all confidence in our own Worth and merits we should describe all of our salvation in its entirety only to the grace of God in Christ it's interesting to notice their house on key piles up the terms all entirety and only we should ascribe all of our salvation in its entirety only to the grace of God in Christ and zonkey as he did in the confession appeals to Scripture and you guessed it 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 31 he that glories should not glory in himself but in the Lord now again out of this basic conviction of the twofold use of the doctrine zonkey develops a number of other uses in fact he addresses the use of the doctrine for example in relation to despair in relation to the temptations of life and in relation to unmodified sins these things so often be setting the Christian in what he calls the tempest of this life under such conditions he reasons the believer ought to be drawn to the captain of our salvation Jesus Christ notice that he doesn't say look to your election but he says look to Jesus Christ we are firmly to believe he says that we cannot perish in the sea of present life but shall arrive at the haven of eternal life the doctrine of the Divine Will is not for zonkey a hellish doctrine but is one that teaches us that we shall arrive at our appointed destination because in his words this is the Father's will to whom all things obey and the same is eternal and immutable namely that so many are delivered unto this pilot Christ may with him at length be brought to eternal life the pilot if you will the captain will not suffer his church to perish in the sea of this world that is marked by the waging of war by the devil and even by our own remaining flesh he says the rock of despair cannot be avoided by any other way than by a firm and Shore confidence and hope of obtaining eternal life by Christ but to receive unto the receiving and retaining of this faith which the Apostle in Hebrews chapter 6 calls an anchor we have that doctrine of our eternal free and immutable election to eternal life in Christ delivered unto us he says for if we be elected in Christ to eternal life and this election is firm and immutable it cannot be but that we must needs be arrived at the Haven of that heavenly City he further argues that our weakness the weakness of faith and our remaining sin do not hinder the captain of our salvation for as much as our election is not based on foreseen works or faith so the weakness of that faith or even the indwelling sin that precludes good works often does not nullify God's gracious immutable eternal decree of election just as good works does not serve as the foundation of election so good so the lack of good works or the intermittency of good works in Christian life does not prevent or frustrate God's decree of election God's will in Christ and he argues is not frustrated by us in any way no instead God has decreed to forgive us our sins in Christ even as he has decreed that he would forgive them as we confess them unto Him and plead for forgiveness and further he grants us his spirit that we might be marked by faith and repentance to be sure as zonkey argues this is no reason for licentiousness in the Christian life no we were in fact foreordained unto good works to pursue them but when we find ourselves frustrated by our own inconsistency we ought not to doubt there or despair then of our election nor he says should we be troubled by defections from the church this is no reason to doubt the firm immutable and certain nature of election but is itself the outworking of the purpose of God another Rock and he uses this see imagery quite a bit and I think because he wants to emphasize Christ as the captain of our salvation but he says that another rock to be avoided in the practical use of the doctrine is as he puts it confidence in ourselves in our own works we cannot by our own works come into eternal life he says in fact that no man infected with this plague of thinking that he can marry eternal life by his works can enter into the kingdom of heaven we must he says trust in the Lord alone and glory in the Lord alone and in order to escape this danger we need to put off any notion of our own dignity any notion of confidence in our own works we must believe that our salvation is only of grace and so being confounded in ourselves rejoice in the Lord alone and he says the doctrine of predestination 10 - this use because it teaches us that we are chosen unto salvation not on the basis of our works instead in fact if any good be found in us it is entirely owing to the free predestination of God we believe and we practice good works because we are for ordained through grace - faith and good works the whole of salvation from beginning to end depends upon the sheer mercy of God therefore we glory only in the Lord and He notices it as well that reprobation serves this end or this use we ask the question or we ought to ask ourselves the question what causes us to be distinct from the likes of Esau Pharaoh and saw it is nothing in ourselves but it is solely the grace of God now out of Ephesians chapter 1 he draws in another another use he argues that we may be sure of our salvation and that God chose us to be holy and blameless a point that he develops at much greater length and I'm giving it here but also that he had developed in the confession of 1583 he argues another use humility we ought to think humbly of ourselves even as we refer all that we are as Christians to the grace of God if we be taught he says that our whole salvation is free for the that the whole depends on free election it follows that the whole glory of our salvation is to be given to God alone and therefore we cannot but be humble and cannot but praise God another use that he argues emanating from or flowing out of a consideration of the doctrine of predestination is the love of God the God this God whom we are called to love is the god of our election and the god of our salvation he argues as well the use of the love of our neighbor and he argues on two grounds here first of all those neighbors who are in the church with us are likewise the objects of God's predestinated grace but the second way in which he argues this point is from the first point namely the love of God that the love of God and the love of neighbor are inseparable and so if we love the God who has elected us in Christ and who saves us from beginning to end in Christ should we not love our neighbor as he calls us to do finally he speaks of patience in adversity we are elect unto eternal life and therefore any of the afflictions of this life are to be contempt he says for they are not worthy of the glory to come which shall be revealed to us we are in fact elect unto salvation and elect unto our present afflictions that in all things we may be conformed to the image of God's son you see our election is being worked out in conformity to Christ even in our affliction and so he says on the ground of election we can actually rejoice under affliction we are predestined he says no less to persecution than we are to salvation even as we are conformed to Christ in his sufferings and he writes and this is a singular comfort that we are most assured out of this doctrine of predestination that no adversity befalls us but which has been from eternity decreed and appointed unto us of the father and that for our salvation seeing to them that love God all things work for their good therefore it cannot be said how great prophet and fruit out of this doctrine arises then he repeats and summarizes himself but the chief of those two named in the beginning or but the chief are those two named in the beginning namely a serious and perpetual humbling of ourselves and a throwing down of Proud mind and secondly a strengthening in faith and assurance of obtaining eternal salvation now as it pertains to preaching much of what he has said about the uses of the doctrine flow into his conception of the preaching of the doctrine in fact he'll argue essentially that we ought to preach what scripture reveals and preach it to the ends for which script scripture reveals it namely all of the uses that he's identified in the previous section but with respect to preaching he defends the following thesis the doctrine of predestination is neither to be entirely suppressed nor only to be explained in the schools among the learning but it is also to be preached to the people in sermons so the manner or mode is to be sober prudent and unto edification what he what does he mean by preaching or the manner of the preaching is to be sober he argues that it is to be confined to what is revealed in Scripture and here he argues from Deuteronomy 29 and verse 29 we preach not the secret things of God but we preach that which he has revealed we neglect in fact what God has revealed in ingratitude and we seek what is secret with vain curiosity this preaching is also to be done in wisdom or prudence and here he has in mind specifically the manner or the form of teaching he argues that the speech used in preaching is to be applied to the capacity of the hearers and that everything that is done in preaching the doctrine is unto the edification of Christ sheep and by edification he means preaching the uses that he has just laid down namely the way in which the doctrine humbles us before God and grants to us assurance or confidence that our salvation is firm he says that we are to preach in order to beatdown man's pride and to confirm the godly in faith and here at this point he draws extensively on augustine and bates a-- actually did the same thing and so does turret in' and others to say that in doing so in preaching wisely we must imitate the Apostles and teach in the manner that they do and so there's nothing better for us than to see the way in which Christ and His apostles handle the doctrine and preach the doctrine in their own day and age it's the same for us now he goes on to prove these two points about preaching soberly and wisely in several ways and he argues that the gospel are arguing for the preaching of predestination he proves this in several ways the gospel he says is to be preached not in part but in whole and again he appeals to the example of Jesus and the Apostles predestination he says forms the ground of the gospel and an essential element of the gospel and so it is to be preached by this doctrine he writes we are taught that God hath so loved us from eternity that according to the good pleasure of his will he has chosen us in Christ to eternal life and not only to eternal life but to faith holiness and good works that we may be faithful in Christ and holy and walk in good works it is moreover he says not to be feared that this doctrine is most profitable to the elect and so should be preached in the churches even if the reprobate abused the doctrine unto licentiousness the elects are not to be defrauded of the preaching of a doctrine which will grant them assurance because there are some who abuse the doctrine the elect are not to be defrauded that is of the fruit that God will impart to them out of this doctrine of predestination if moreover the whole of Scripture is profitable to the elect according second timothy 3 and verse 16 even if the doctrine is pernicious to the reprobate why should we not say that this doctrine is necessary for the salvation of the elect in our preaching therefore whatever the scripture teaches is not to be suppressed what scripture does not teach is not to be allowed but what scripture does teach must be proclaimed in wisdom again he cites Deuteronomy 29 and verse 29 now as Aki continues he answers several objections to the preaching of the doctrine again arguing these out of a treatise of Augustan who himself was responding to a number of theologians namely Hilary and Hilary of Poitier's and prosper of aquitaine I believe but these objections zonkey answers any answers answers them by appealing to Augustine the first objection is that profane men will mock this doctrine or they will abuse the doctrine unto license or desperation he answers that the profaning of the doctrine of the mocking of the doctrine by profane men is no reason to leave the preaching of the truth he says do not men de ride the doctrine of the Trinity and other mysteries of the Christian faith nothing can be delivered which profane and sacrilegious men will not scoff at the whole system of the truth will be scoffed at why should we not preach one part of it because it will be mocked he says are those things to be kept in silence which God has taught us because the gospel was the savour of death unto the reprobate did Paul stop preaching it no moreover this doctrine does not if preached rightly lead men to slothfulness in the Christian life he says that to object on these grounds that the doctrine would lead to licentiousness is not to object to the preaching of predestination in his own day but it is actually to object to the preaching of Christ and His apostles and he argues that it is intolerable boldness to accuse Christ in his apostles of preaching a doctrine that hinders the salvation of the elect this doctrine in fact no way hinders the precepts and the directives of Scripture in fact predestination is to be preached so that we may know from whence all of our labor in good works and prayer is from and therefore even that we should beg of God for all grace in prayer the point he is making is that the preaching of God's revealed will even the preaching of the precepts and the promises of God's Word even the preaching we might say of the free offer of the gospel though he does not use that terminology and it would be anachronistic to impute it the preaching of God's revealed will is not undone by the preaching of the doctrine of free election Christ and His apostles he says taught that all of our salvation depended upon God's free election but that debt that did not cause them to shrink back from as he says inculcating God's presets and rebuking men and it's interesting that in all of the the text that he appeals to in order to prove the point he appeals to Matthew chapter 11 come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest that Proclamation does not or should not prevent us from preaching the doctrine of predestination he argues the point from a number of texts and comes to the conclusion therefore though our whole salvation and whatsoever belongs to the same depends on God's grace and eternal election yet we must not cease from preaching manners and threatenings and the study to do well and why he's already said it because the elect are drawn to Christ by these means the end is not only predestined so are the means and the church in preaching the whole Council of God preaches the foundation election preaches the end life but also proclaims the means faith and repentance now there's another objection that he deals with here and that is that the doctrine is too high to be understood who can know the mind of the Lord the doctrine of the of predestination as it is delivered in the scriptures he argues his plane and the final causes why God chose some and rejected others are most certain and plain in the scriptures and here he appeals specifically to that which precedes Paul's statement in Romans 11 verse 34 namely Jacob have I loved Esau have I hated and he called so Gustin who said shall we therefore deny what is plain because we cannot comprehend what is hidden another objection did the furture CH fathers before Augustine preach this doctrine and he says essentially following Augustine by and large yes because they preached grace finally the last objection is it not a cause of desperation and despair to preach the doctrine of predestination and he says that this is not the fault of the doctrine and it is no reason why it should not be preached rather it is delivered to this special use as we showed before that being assured of our salvation in Christ that it is firm and free in God's hand we might decline from the rock of diffidence and desperation but every man must lay this foundation without which he can never truly resist the devil nor prophet in the way of salvation namely that he be assured that he is called unto Christ and endued with faith in him so he has been from all eternity elected to eternal life in the same krei Christ and so to faith with the fruits thereof and so being assuredly persuaded go forward and glorifying God with a courageous and constant mind how shall we be assured of our election and how shall we preach the doctrine of election by preaching Christ and assuring those who are under the sound of the gospel that if they have been called to Christ if they have been granted faith in Jesus Christ then they are indeed those who have been loved from all eternity by God in Christ the doctrine thus as he argues confirms our hope in Christ rather than throwing us in despair it certainly humbles us but it humbles us and at the same time casts us upon God His grace indeed his son the Lord Jesus Christ now zonkey having gone through these objections having before that gone through certain principles of preaching namely in wisdom and with sobriety and having drawn on the uses of the doctrine he concludes with this admonishment to preachers when you speak of predestination do not go beyond the word of God and never dispute of the same in other words don't argue with scripture just preach it and in preaching show the proper use of the doctrine lest any of your hears abuse it unto life sensuousness or desperation but rather to put the doctrine to use unto good works holiness and the comfort of afflicted conscience conscience is which if this be diligently observed there is no doubt but the holy spirit will enjoy that end in the elect for which he has revealed this whole doctrine in the scriptures namely the salvation of sinners and the glory of God and if I could add anything or summarize anything from zonkey those of you who are called to preach the gospel preached the doctrine of predestination men will hate it but Christ sheep will love it and preach that doctrine with sobriety following the Word of God preaching all of the Word of God and not short shrift in any of the Word of God and preach it with prudence preach it in such a way that rather than flying over the surface of the doctrine and not addressing the real needs of God's people on the one hand or on the other hand reducing the doctrine to some kind of moralistic impulse to halt to a moral life before God do neither of those things but preach it unto the edification of the Saints preach it that is to the humbling of God's people preach it unto the assurance of God's people and preach it unto the glory of Christ we began these lectures by saying that we were after some kind of dogmatic retrieval of the confessional reformed doctrine of the divine decree and I would argue that that kind of retrieval is incomplete if we are not preaching the doctrine of the decree as a key topic the whole Council of God and so preach it don't preach it with all of the ad intra ad extra language that we've stretched ourselves with here but preach it with those concepts in view and preach it in such a way that you enrich your people's understanding not only of the Word of God but that you enable your people to contemplate with joy the god of our salvation preach it in such a way preach it as Christ preached it preached it as Paul preached at P chat preached it as Peter preached it in such a way that your people may walk away and say what a great God what a gracious God preached it in such a way that at the end of your sermon you can open the Trinity hymnal and sing how vast the benefits divine which we in Christ possess it is my prayer that God will bless each of your labors to preach this doctrine and that you will have recourse again and again to the scriptures and to the blessed truths of the Scriptures as they are summarized in our confession of faith and as they are further explicate ydynt works of such reformed lights as a man like zonkey and above all else may God be praised let's pray our Father in Heaven we give you thanks for this time to consider your word to consider your truth to consider your ways we confess that we are so little and apart from your word utterly we thank you then that you have made known these truths and we pray that we would by the grace of your spirit preached them for your glory may we say may we truly believe and may we preach this truth that of him and through him and unto him are all things to him that is to you O God be the glory forever amen

Channel: J. Bond Media

Views: 244

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: f6xGjX0vdYA

Length: 65min 2sec (3902 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 31 2016