Outline: The multitude of false opinions in the church today, a great sign of God’s wrath upon a people. Part 3. The judgment of God poured out upon heretics. 

Worship service 10/8. 

Greetings and blessings to the saints, from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. It is truly a blessing to worship God in spirit and truth, the greatest of the privileges of adoption. As justified and sanctified persons therefore, let us enjoy the bond and union of the truth, blessing God for His work of redemption in Jesus Christ. For as we sin against him daily, and daily He heaps blessings and mercies upon us, so we are the more bound to give Him thanks for His preservation, and loving kindness. So let us worship Him faithfully and zealously, looking unto Christ for all good things. Hosea 1:10 says, “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.”
We are called the children of God, not because we are given lands, great houses or even spouses and children of our own, but because God Himself is our Father and as the sovereign ruler of all things and our gracious benefactor, He has granted us the gift of His only Son, and with Him the blessing of all things. Therefore whether we have or have not, whether we flourish or languish, whether we live or die, all things are sanctified by the blessing of Christ and are subservient to our salvation. In the place it is said , ye are not my people. In the place where we fall before him and confess our corruption and depravity, our utter inability to work what is good in his sight. There we shall be called the sons of the living God. God Himself will be our Father and we shall be His people. Let us therefore worship and reverence and adore Him as is right and fitting for such a people. Worship is the privilege of adoption.

Psalm 8.

1Psalm 8: 1 The Prophet considering the excellent liberality and Fatherly providence of God toward man, whom he made as it were a god over all his works, doth not only give great thanks, but is astonished with the admiration of the same, as one nothing able to compass such great mercies.

To him that excelleth on Gittith. A Psalm of David.

8 O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

6 Thou hast made him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

David here in the Psalm begins and ends with praise. And in the center declares the works of God in the earth that demonstrate His Glory. As Paul says in Romans, His eternal power and Godhead are clearly seen in creation, but man’s natural response being corrupted by sin is not praise, but thanklessness and indulgence. For they turned the glory of God into an image, and worshiped and served the creature in his place. But David here shows us the proper response to beholding the wonderful works of creation. Even the greatest honor that man is given, to rule, to reign, to provide, to subdue, even to be like God in this, David shows the proper response is to bow down to the Lord God in humility and acknowledge His superiority and sovereignty. And to exclaim, “what is man that thou art mindful of him?” Even so let us who are raised to honor in this life or given Great gifts of status, or wealth, or wisdom acknowledge that all these are from God and manifest His glory and not ours. He maketh to differ, and He setteth apart. Therefore let His name be praised and let us all cry out with one voice, “O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the Earth.”

Matthew Henry writes,
When we are observing the glory of God in the kingdom of nature and providence we should be led by that, and through that, to the contemplation of his glory in the kingdom of grace.

John Calvin also writes,
David, it is true, sets before his eyes the wonderful power and glory of God in the creation and government of the material universe; but he only slightly glances at this subject, as it were, in passing, and insists principally on the theme of God’s infinite goodness towards us. There is presented to us in the whole order of nature, the most abundant matter for showing forth the glory of God, but, as we are unquestionably more powerfully affected with what we ourselves experience, David here, with great propriety, expressly celebrates the special favor which God manifests towards mankind; for this, of all the subjects which come under our contemplation, is the brightest mirror in which we can behold his glory.

Opening prayer,
O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the Earth. Who has set thy glory above the heavens, and hidden thy Majesty from the common and profane among men. But thou hast revealed it to us, thou hast showed forth thy glory to thy people by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thou hast sent us thy word and taken us out from darkness and ignorance. That we might praise thee O Lord, that we might praise thee for thy wonderful works to the children of men. Therefore we adore thee and cry out in thankfulness and humility, “what is man that thou art mindful of him?“ Even the greatest of thy servants has nothing of which to boast, for all things are of thee. We all are cast upon thee for sustenance and daily grace and can take no step forward, nor progress in holiness without thy blessing. Therefore O Lord who hast all things in thine hand to give and to bestow, shower us with Thy free grace that we might worship thee according to the doctrine of faith, turning neither to the right hand or to the left. This is our chief desire and our chief end as rational creatures. To glorify our Creator and sustainer, through a life of worship and obedience. Therefore as thy people gathered together with one heart and one voice, we ask not for riches, honor, fame, status, or the life of our enemies, but we ask for wisdom, holiness, faith, hope and light. Give us the precious gift of thy Spirit that we might fulfill our calling, and do that which is well pleasing in thy sight, through Jesus Christ our blessed Mediator who with His own blood hath purchased us, gathered us, and sanctified us making us according to the promise wholly thine. So make us thine . In His holy name and by His grace. Amen.

Lesson 32. The multitude of false opinions in the church today, a great sign of God’s wrath upon a people. Part 3. The judgment of God poured out upon heretics. 

And, indeed, considering 1. what a Babel of opinions, what a strange confusion of tongues, there is this day among them who 2. profess they speak the language of Canaan, there is no 3. intelligent person but will conclude that advice of the prophet 4. especially suited to such an age as this, Isa. viii. 20, To the law, and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because 5. there is no light in them. 

5. The doctrine. The cause of heresy and confusion of tongues is the judgment of God. John 12:40-41, Psalm 36:9, Matt. 11:23-30
i. The ultimate cause. An eternal curse by decree. Rom. 9, Mal. 1:2-5
ii. The subsequent justification. The fall of man renders every man worthy of judgment. (man sinned willingly) 
iii. Special judgment upon particular sins. God gives men heresies, and permits the devil to ravage their mind, in order to destroy them. Rom 1:26-32
iv. The attitude of God towards sinners in general, heretics in particular. God withholds His light from men He aims to destroy. Isa. 8:20, Isa. 6:9-13, 2 Thess. 2:11-12
Calvin:
He means that errors will not merely have a place, but the wicked will be blinded, so that they will rush forward to ruin without consideration. For as God enlightens us inwardly by his Spirit, that his doctrine may be efficacious in us, and opens our eyes and hearts, that it may make its way thither, so by a righteous judgment he delivers over to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:28) those whom he has appointed to destruction, that with closed eyes and a senseless mind, they may, as if bewitched, deliver themselves over to Satan and his ministers to be deceived. And assuredly we have a notable specimen of this in the Papacy. No words can express how monstrous a sink of errors there is there, how gross and shameful an absurdity of superstitions there is, and what delusions at variance with common sense. None that have even a moderate taste of sound doctrine, can think of such monstrous things without the greatest horror. How, then, could the whole world be lost in astonishment at them, were it not that men have been struck with blindness by the Lord, and converted, as it were, into stumps? Thus, those that perish have no just ground to expostulate with God, inasmuch as they have obtained what they sought. For we must keep in view what is stated in Deuteronomy 13:3, that the hearts of men are subjected to trial, when false doctrines come abroad, inasmuch as they have no power except among those who do not love God with a sincere heart. Let those, then, who take pleasure in unrighteousness, reap the fruit of it.
(Notice how Calvin declares the doctrine and then applies it to religion in his time. Preachers today are NOT applying the doctrine to religion which shows they are blind and ignorant cowards.)
v. The mark of the wicked. Those without light are under the curse.  Jer. 9:1-9, 2 Cor. 4:6, Eph. 2:1-3, 2 Pet. 1:3-11
vi. The mark of the righteous. Those who are illuminated by the secret operation of the Spirit understand the word and bring forth fruit. 1 Cor. 2:10-16, John 14:26, 1 John 2:27, Matthew 7:15-20, Matt. 6:22-23, Rom. 12:2

Conclusion.
Review. What is heresy? Do we call men Christian who are without light? If they have light will they reject our word and continue in darkness?

Closing prayer,
Our righteous and glorious Lord and Savior, thou who hast brought us out of darkness and into the marvelous light of the Gospel, we thank thee and praise thee for thy Great work of salvation, giving thee the glory thereof. We thank thee for thy eternal election in which from eternity thou hast chosen us in thy son to be redeemed and chosen into thy grace and family. We thank and praise thee for Jesus Christ who came into earth and suffered that which we owed, and worked that which we could not perform, that His righteousness might be ours by faith. Therefore we thank thee for thy gift of the Spirit, uniting us with Christ and granting us the faith to rest in His merits for eternal life , for we know that neither free will, nor works, nor alms, nor prayers can save us from wrath. Therefore as thou hast called us into Thy fellowship by grace, keep us in the faith by thine own power and cause us to cheerfully walk in ways of new obedience, for the faith that thou dost give us is a living faith, and humble faith, a charitable faith. So furnish us with all good gifts, and beautify thy church according to thy will, that in all things we might be pleasing to thee. So let it be in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who is all together lovely, our captain, deliverer and the head and husband of thy Church,in His holy name, Amen.

YouTube Audio: https://youtu.be/vIYiqvqGGEA