Tag Archives: Gospel

I Lost My Nerve

20 Friday Aug 2010

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I went to dinner last night with a couple of guys who are starting seminary with me this fall.  I don’t know them very well, but I invited them to join me for a drink at Bar Louie.  We had a good time talking about the Gospel and necessity of its clear proclamation.

We also talked about the Church’s response(s) to homosexuality.  And we talked about our dating types.  One of them asked me mine…and I pretty well shut up.  I described the girl I’d liked in college because, in all truthfulness, she does tend to represent an ideal for a potential mate to me.  But I wasn’t forthright about my attractions.  I hesitated and then back-pedaled.

Why did I do that? Was I afraid of being dismissed?  Was it that I don’t want to be “that guy?”

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Only the Law, Ma’am

04 Wednesday Aug 2010

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In part 6 of my ongoing series on C. F. W. Walther’s  Law and Gospel: How to Read and Apply the Bible, I said:

…if the only teaching applied to people is the Law, then they despair, die and perish in their sin.  More on this in a future post…

Here is that future post.

This statement is one side of a coin.  Some people grow up, live and die under all-law preaching and never have this melt-down I’ve described, or better put, never realize that this is what’s ticking under their hood.

The other alternative is for a person to be crushed under the weight of the fact that they don’t love the Lord with all of who they are…and to not let themselves off the hook because they realize that they do not keep the law perfectly.

Obey! No exceptions! This is the demand of the Law.

Teaching people that “it takes more than faith to really please God” is, in reality, extremely cruel.  To those who are convinced of their own righteousness, it pushes them on in their odious good works.  Telling the ones who despair of their sin such a thing drives them further and further away from the Gospel…that Christ has obeyed perfectly in their place all that the law demands.

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It Slices! It dices!

03 Tuesday Aug 2010

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Part 7 of a series discussing C. F. W. Walther’s important treatise Law and Gospel: How to Read and Apply the Bible.

The effects of the Gospel are entirely different in nature when compared to the Law.  The Law, as we’ve discussed, breathes threats and does not give us any means by which to fulfill those demands.

Could the people at your church wear this shirt and not be sued for false advertising?

The Gospel, as some of you will rightly point out, does demand faith.  “Repent and believe the good news!” is indeed the way the Gospel is to be preached, for it is the very message the Lord Himself gave us to dispense.

The second component of this point, however, may have escaped the notice of some, so I’ll flesh it out here:  The Gospel gives the very faith it demands.  When we preach “Believe in Christ!”, God gives them faith through our preaching.  It’s not, of course, the physical sound of the spoken word which saves…it’s the content of the preaching.

The Gospel doesn’t condemn or rebuke those who hear it.  Rather, it takes all the terror, fear and anguish away from them, filling them with peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  Think about the prodigal father:  he lavishes his riches on his wayward son.  In this same way, Christ has welcomed us, his wayward and hateful children, into His home where he eats with us and us with Him.

Furthermore, the Gospel never requires anything good from the person:  not a good heart, not an improvement in behavior, not piety…not even love.

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A Profession of Faith

01 Sunday Aug 2010

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I am made right with God
only by true faith in Jesus Christ.
Even though my conscience accuses me
of having grievously sinned against all God’s commandments
and of never having kept any of them,
and even though I am still inclined toward all evil,
nevertheless,
without my deserving it at all,
out of sheer grace,
God grants and credits to me
the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ,
as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner,
as if I had been as perfectly obedient
as Christ was obedient for me.
All I need to do
is to accept this gift of God with a believing heart.
When I say that by faith alone I am right with God;
it is not because of any value my faith has
that God is pleased with me.
Only Christ’s satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness
make me right with God.
And I can receive this righteousness and make it mine
in no other way than by faith alone.

—from Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A’s 60-61

And how do I accept this gift with a believing heart?

By the regenerating work of the Spirit.  Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

You’re Having an Effect On Me

27 Tuesday Jul 2010

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Part 6 of a series discussing C. F. W. Walther’s important treatise Law and Gospel: How to Read and Apply the Bible.

The Law tells us what to do.  It doesn’t give us the strength to carry out its demands; instead, it urges us on in an unwillingness to keep the Law.  When the Law has forced its way into the heart, the heart rebels against it (against God himself) and becomes furious at the idea that God would demand such impossible things from him/her.  This even leads to them cursing God and wishing Him dead.  “The effect of preaching the Law, then, is to increase people’s lust for sinning,” says Walther.

Second, the Law offers the person no means to free himself from sin and throws him into despair.

Third, if the only teaching applied to people is the Law, then they despair, die and perish in their sin.  More on this in a future post…

Come on, Dave you may say.  Where is THIS taught in Scripture?

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The Dark of Night

26 Monday Jul 2010

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God perceives the imperfections within us, and because of His love for us, urges us to grow up.  His love is not content to leave us in our weakness, and for this reason He takes us into a dark night.  He weans us from all of the pleasures by giving us dry times and inward darkness.  In doing so He is able to take away all these vices and create virtues with us.  Through the dark night, pride becomes humility, greed becomes simplicity, wrath becomes contentment, luxury becomes peace, gluttony becomes moderation, envy becomes joy, and sloth becomes strength.  No soul will ever grow deep in the spiritual life unless God works passively in that soul by means of the Dark Night.

–St. John of the Cross, as quoted in A Beacon in the Darkness

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I Have to Divide the Scriptures?

23 Friday Jul 2010

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Another instrumental lecture I’ve encountered (albeit more academic in nature) was given by Dr. Rod Rosenbladt and was aired on Chris Rosebrough‘s program, Fighting for the Faith. If you wish to listen to this important lecture, you may do so by clicking here…but you may need to give it your undivided attention as he gets fairly technical at times.

Rightly Dividing the Word: Law & Gospel

22 Thursday Jul 2010

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One of the instrumental programs which has helped me to understand the distinction of Law & Gospel is The White Horse Inn, hosted by Reformed theologian Michael Horton.  This episode is a live panel discussion, recorded in Los Angeles. I hope you enjoy it.

Listen here.

Podcast Description: What does it mean to “rightly divide the word of truth”? (2 Timothy 2:15) On this program, the White Horse Inn hosts will be taking a look a one of the most crucial and fundamental distinctions in all of Scripture, namely the contrast between justice and mercy, precept and promise; law and gospel.  (Originally broadcast on May 22nd, 2005)

Are you threatening me?

14 Wednesday Jul 2010

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Part 5 of a series discussing C. F. W. Walther’s important treatise Law and Gospel: How to Read and Apply the Bible.

There is a marked difference between the Law and the Gospel in the aspect of threats: namely, that the Law is nothing but threats and that the Gospel contains no threats of any kind.  The Gospel contains only words of consolation: “Your sins are forgiven,” “Christ came to save sinners of whom I am the foremost,” and so on.  Should you come across a passage with a threat in Scripture, you can be sure it’s Law. Continue reading →