Outline: Lesson 33. The multitude of false opinions in the church today, a great sign of God’s wrath upon a people. Part 4. (A defense of our doctrine and the command in Scripture to wage holy warfare against the enemies of true religion)

Worship service 10/15

Greetings and grace to the people of God the true Israel. It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to His name. In the joy of national success of the gospel or in times of grave apostasy, we can ever bless God knowing that He works effectually in the hearts of his people, and enables us to make progress in the faith by the power of His own Spirit. ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭51:16‭-‬17‬ ‭says, “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” The more we grow in spiritual knowledge, the more we see our own emptiness, the more we groan to be free from this body of death, the more we strive for the mortification of all fleshly affections, the more we cry out to God for His own power to enable us to do it, and the more we are sensible of our faults and bow down before Him in repentance, looking unto Jesus for forgiveness and reconciliation with God. David here in the Psalm shows that he knew his sin, he sorrowed after it, hated it, and made warfare against it by resolutions to keep in the ways of obedience. So as we worship today, although the whole world is swallowed up in wickedness, we may ever bless God for His presence with us and His watchful care over our souls, showering us with His grace like a garden oasis in the desert.

Psalm 9.

Psalm 9: 1 After he had given thanks to God for the sundry victories that he had sent him against his enemies, and also proved by manifold experience, how ready God was at hand in all his troubles. 14 He being now likewise in danger of new enemies, desireth God to help him according to his wont, 17 and to destroy the malicious arrogance of his adversaries.

To him that excelleth upon Muth Labben. A Psalm of David.

9 I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.

2 I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.

3 For mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence.

4 For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging right.

5 Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever.

6 O enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and thou hast destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them.

7 But the Lord shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment.

8 And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.

9 The Lord also will be a refuge for the 1oppressed, a refuge in due time, even in affliction.

10 And they that know thy name will trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.

11 Sing praises to the Lord, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people his works.

12 When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.

13 Have mercy upon me, O Lord; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death:

14 That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: and rejoice in thy salvation.

15 The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their foot taken.

16 The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.

17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

18 For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the hope of the poor shall not perish for ever.

19 Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight.

20 Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know that they are but men. Selah.

Here in the Psalm David shows forth his sincerity in two extraordinary ways. First, by praising God with His whole heart, and second by declaring all his works. These spiritual feats are impossible for the wicked. We see in the false church today, those that profess to be Reformed in their doctrine, that they are able to perform many works according to the outward commandments in Scripture. They pray , the sing, they preach, they hear the word, they even give themselves to a life of sacrifice and devotion. But all this is not proof of sincerity. For the doctrine they teach and hold to being contrary to the word of God, they show that they worship Him with a double heart. Here David praises His with his whole heart. But those in the church today would give glory part to God and part to themselves. As the scripture says of them, “all their works they do to be seen of men” and again, “you cannot serve God and mammon”. The commonly preached doctrine in the church today is not justification by faith, but give your whole life to Christ. This is degree of works rather than quality of faith. Here David in the Psalm shows himself to be of a different spirit, rather than boasting over others that he has done more than others and exhorting them on that basis, so they might glorify him, he gives his heart wholly to God and says, I will praise thee O Lord with my whole heart. Mark that down for one point. Second to note is his determination to show forth all his works, rather than only those works which appeal to the flesh. The false prophets in the church when they come across the subject of God’s wrath or a long historical narrative, they pander to the people and say, “no one wants to talk about this, but we have to” grudging and trudging through the scripture as if they were unwilling to speak the truth on behalf of the sinfulness of the people. This is not the behavior of the prophets nor of David the faithful servant of God. Here David says, “I will show forth all thy marvelous works.” From election to reprobation. From the salvation of the righteous to the condemnation of the wicked. All these are the works of God and David gives us by way of example, encouragement to do likewise, for it is written in Scripture and therefore we have authority and command by God to do it. So let us as David did , worship God without hypocrisy, and do this by showing forth all His works. Note in the last verses, David says, “the wicked shall be turned into hell” such a doctrine is not taught in the church today because pastors don’t know who or what the wicked are. Such we shall be describing and defining in our study today.

The 1599 Geneva footnotes say on verse 1:
God is not praised, except the whole glory be given to him alone.

Calvin also writes,
The whole heart is taken for an upright or sincere heart, which is opposed to a double heart. Thus he distinguishes himself not only from gross hypocrites, who praise God only with their lips outwardly, without having their hearts in any way affected, but also acknowledges that whatever he had hitherto done which was commendable, proceeded entirely from the pure grace of God. Even irreligious men, I admit, when they have obtained some memorable victory, are ashamed to defraud God of the praise which is due to him; but we see that as soon as they have uttered a single expression in acknowledgement of the assistance God has afforded them, they immediately begin to boast loudly, and to sing triumphs in honor of their own valor, as if they were under no obligations whatever to God. In short, it is a piece of pure mockery when they profess that their exploits have been done by the help of God; for, after having made oblation to Him, they sacrifice to their own counsels, skill, courage, and resources…David, therefore, with good reason, affirms that he is unlike the children of this world, whose hypocrisy or fraud is discovered by the wicked and dishonest distribution which they make between God and themselves, arrogating to themselves the greater part of the praise which they pretended to ascribe to God. He praised God with his whole heart, which they did not; for certainly it is not praising God with the whole heart when a mortal man dares to appropriate the smallest portion of the glory which God claims for himself. God cannot bear with seeing his glory appropriated by the creature in even the smallest degree, so intolerable to him is the sacrilegious arrogance of those who by praising themselves, obscure his glory as far as they can.

Opening prayer,
Our gracious and glorious Father, Lord of heaven and preserver of the faithful on earth, we come before thee with our whole hearts, unfeignedly and boldly through the mediation of the Son and not in our own righteousness. O Father if thine be the glory in salvation, if thine be the glory, what is this Babeling talk we hear of, this noise of wicked men, that mankind is able in his natural condition to believe unto eternal salvation? If God is to be praised in creation and redemption, how can men share in that who by their creation are weak mortals and according to the fall are desperately wicked? Oh, what a noxious noise must come up to heaven when they speak of grace as universal and the atonement as unlimited in scope, so that man may take the credit for his use of grace and free will might steal away the merits of salvation from the precious blood of Christ! Not thy people O Lord, for this is a froward and rebellious people, a nation who has forgotten their God and offered sacrifices to Baal. Destroy them therefore O Lord and do not build them up. Give them according to their works even as their doctrine suggests. Reward them after their own confession, for the reward of man’s works is death. As it it written, the wages of sin is death. But for thy people who are faithful to thy word, grant us righteousness, faith, peace, joy and the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord and may we ever bless His glorious name, for He is holy. He is worthy. He is altogether lovely, our Lord, our Savior, our Mediator, our captain, our governor. In his name by by the worthiness of His merits we pray, Amen.

Lesson 33. The multitude of false opinions in the church today, a great sign of God’s wrath upon a people. Part 4. (A defense of our doctrine and the command in Scripture to wage holy warfare against the enemies of true religion)

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. 

Intro.

1. What is heresy? A. Any opinion brought into the church which differs from the doctrine set down in Scripture and passed down by faithful ministers of His word. It is idolatry against God, a breach of the first commandment and a setting oneself against the authority and Majesty of heaven. Gal. 1:8-9, 1 Tim. 4:1-2, 2 Pet. 2:1
This passage in Galatians shows us the substance and root of all heresy. 
i. The substance.
“If any man preach unto you otherwise than that ye have received” all heresy is the preaching of a different opinion than received doctrine. In this case, Reformed doctrine, or justification by faith.
ii. The root. The cause of heresy is the lust of the heart, men preaching that which allows for human goodness, merit, God’s favor towards them in their state of wickedness, and all doctrine of boasting over others on the basis of righteous works. Even and most often especially works that God commands in His word.
(WLC Q. 105 sins against the first commandment.)
2. What are the fundamentals of the faith?
Any doctrine touching the nature or manner of our salvation, whether of the attributes of God (i.e. His holiness, justice or truth), the consequence of the attributes, (election, reprobation, the covenant of works and grace, God’s hatred of sin, and sinners on that account, the demand for satisfaction to His justice, and the pains of eternal hellfire) the Person of Christ (his Godhood or manhood, His qualifications as Prophet, Priest or King) the work of Christ (His innocence and perfection, the efficacy of His atonement, the necessity of the imputation of His righteousness for acceptance with God) the method of Grace, which is the work of the Holy Spirit (The doctrine of regeneration, of personal and progressive sanctification, sound doctrine being essential to a profession of faith, the means of grace being the word preached, the abiding validity of the moral law, of the perseverance of the saints) or the original condition of man which necessities salvation (as Original sin, total depravity, the curse of God on man, the defilement of good works, and the impossibility of reconciliation by human merit, free will, or any performance of the creature) or of anything that touches the nature of redemption, as the last judgment, or the proper interpretation of Scripture, deducing rightly, analogy of faith.

[Francis Turretin Institutes, (1.14)]
IV. As in a house that is the foundation which has such a position that the house can neither be erected nor stand without it. So in religion that is the foundation upon which the whole of religion depends and it standing, religion stands; removed religion falls.

X. They who quietly rest in the terms of an implied contradiction where there
is opposition in apposition and contradiction in the addition are to be regarded as overthrowing the foundation no less than those who directly attack it.

XIII. But when we speak here of fundamental articles, we do not mean those which are explicitly necessary to be known by the perfect man (the man of God) so as to fill up the measure of his duty and name; but exactly those which every believer and Christian must believe in order to salvation.

XIX. The following things must belong to fundamental articles: (1) that they be catholic, for the things necessary for the salvation of everyone are required for a universal faith (according to the Athanasian Creed “whoever wishes to be saved must above all things hold the catholic faith; for unless it is held entire and inviolate he will perish forever”); (2) that the belief of the catholic truths necessarily draws salvation after it; and the ignorance of them, the entire doubt of danger, the impious and heretical denial is damnable; (3) that believers cherish a true consent to them, nor do some think differently from others because if anyone thinks or speaks otherwise he is subjected to the curse (Gal. 1:8) (4) That all theological doctrines be reduced to them as to a rule which the apostle calls the analogy of faith; (5) that they be primary and principal truths upon which all others are built as upon a foundation–and being removed faith itself is overthrown; not secondary and less principal, by the removal of which faith is only shaken.

XXII. The third mark of fundamental articles can be drawn from the Apostles’ Creed in which the ancients gathered together from the apostolic writings the substance of fundamental doctrines. Hence the name “Symbol” was given to it because it is as the mark or sign as it were of Christianity. We must however carefully note: (a) that it cannot be an exact mark of fundamental articles because it treats only of theoretical articles relating to faith not of practical articles relating to worship; (b) that the things to be believed are not found here in so many words and explicitly, but implicitly by consequence and analogy: for example, although nothing is said about the grace of God and the satisfaction of Christ, nothing about providence, conservation and the like, yet they may easily be deduced from what is said; (c) that the Symbol is not to be considered only with regard to the words, but as to the sense (because, as Hilary says, “The Scriptures do not consist in the reading but in the understanding,”; and fundamentals are not found in the words but in the sense, as Jerome says). Therefore although heretics may say that they receive the Symbol, yet they do not because they reject its true and genuine sense. So Sabellius, Arius, Macedonius and other anti-Trinitarians formerly professed (to no purpose) in the words of the Symbol their faith in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, while they endeavored to overthrow this very doctrine not by secret attacks, but by open warfare. The Socinians of our day and their disciples are doing this. In vain do the papists profess their belief in it, who corrupt the meaning of the various articles concerning the sufferings and death of Christ, his descent to hell, the catholic church, the remission of sins and the like.

XXIV. But they all agree in these fundamental articles; the doctrines concerning the sacred Scriptures as inspired, being the only and perfect rule of faith; concerning the unity of God and the Trinity; concerning Christ, the Redeemer, and his most perfect satisfaction; concerning sin and its penalty-death; concerning the law and its inability to save; concerning justification by faith; concerning the necessity of grace and of good works, sanctification and the worship of God, the church, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment and eternal life and such as are connected with these. All these are so strictly joined together that they mutually depend upon each other. One cannot be withdrawn without overthrowing all the rest.

I. To this class the Arminians evidently belong who reduce fundamentals to those heads which are placed beyond dispute among almost all Christians and are contained in these three: faith in the divine promises, obedience to the divine precepts and a due reverence for the Scriptures. 

3. What kind of warfare are we to wage against heretics?

Titus 3:10-11, 2 John 9-11, Deut. 7:5-11, 16, 25-26, Zech. 13:3
1. Warning (to those in the church) Titus.
2. Censure (to those who do not heed) 2 John
3. Condemnation (to those who persist) Gal. 1, Matt. 15:13-14

Our opposition against them and the duty of the civil magistrate to suppress heresy.

John Owen,
An agreement without truth is no peace, but a covenant with death, a league with hell, a conspiracy against the kingdom of Christ, a stout rebellion against the God of heaven…were there but this one argument for to seek the peace of the church, because thereon depends the peace of the commonwealth, it were sufficient to quicken our utmost industry for the attaining of it. Now, what peace in the church without truth? All conformity to anything else is but the agreement of Herod and Pilate to destroy Christ and his kingdom. Neither is it this or that particular truth, but the whole counsel of God revealed unto us, without adding or detracting, whose embracement is required to make our peace firm and stable. No halting betwixt Jehovah and Baal, Christ and Antichrist; as good be all Philistine, and worshippers of Dagon, as to speak part the language of Ashdod and part the language of the Jews: hence, hence hath been the rise of all our miseries, of all our dissensions, whilst factious men labored everyday to commend themselves to them who sat aloft in the temple of God, by introducing new popish-arminian errors, whose patronage they had wickedly undertaken. Who would have thought that our church would ever have given entertainment to these Belgic semi-Pelagians, who have cast dirt upon the faces and raked up the ashes of all those great and pious souls whom God magnified, in using as his instruments to reform his church; to the least of which the whole troop of Arminians shall never make themselves equal, though they swell till they break? What benefit did ever come to this church by attempting to prove that the chief part in the several degrees of our salvation is to be ascribed unto ourselves, rather than God? — which is the head and sum of all the controversies between them and us. And must not the introducing and fomenting of a doctrine so opposite to that truth our church hath quietly enjoyed ever since the first Reformation necessarily bring along with it schisms and dissensions, so long as any remain who love the truth, or esteem the gospel above preferment? Neither let any deceive your wisdoms, by affirming that they are differences of an inferior nature that are at this day agitated between the Arminians and the orthodox divines of the reformed church. Be pleased but to cast an eye on the following instances, and you will find them hewing at the very root of Christianity. Consider seriously their denying of that fundamental article of original sin. Is this but a small escape in theology? — why, what need of the gospel, what need of Christ himself, if our nature be not guilty, depraved, corrupted? Neither are many of the rest of less importance. Surely these are not things as Austin speaks, — “about which we may differ without loss of peace or charity.” One church cannot wrap in her communion Austin and Pelagius, Calvin and Arminius. I have here only given you a taste, whereby you may judge of the rest of their fruit, — their doctrine of the final apostasy of the elect, of true believers, of a wavering hesitancy concerning our present grace and future glory, with divers others, I have wholly omitted: those I have produced are enough to make their abettors incapable of our church-communion. The sacred bond of peace compasseth only the unity of that Spirit; which leadeth into all truth. We must not offer the right hand of fellowship, but rather proclaim “a holy war,” to such enemies of God’s providence, Christ’s merit, and the powerful operation of the Holy Spirit. Neither let any object, that all the Arminians do not openly profess all these errors I have recounted. Let ours, then, show wherein they differ from their masters. We see their own confessions; we know their arts,— “the depths and crafts of Satan;” we know the several ways they have to introduce and insinuate their heterodoxies into the minds of men. With some they appear only to dislike our doctrine of reprobation; with others, to claim an allowable liberty of the will: but yet, for the most part, — like the serpent, wherever she gets in her head, she will wriggle in her whole body, sting and all, — give but the least admission, and the whole poison must be swallowed. What was the intention of the maintainers of these strange assertions amongst us I know not, — whether the efficacy of error prevailed really with them or no, or whether it were the better to comply with Popery, and thereby to draw us back again unto Egypt; — but this I have heard, that it was affirmed on knowledge, in a former parliament, that the introduction of Arminianism amongst us was the issue of a Spanish consultation. It is a strange story that learned Zanchius tells us, how, upon the death of the Cardinal of Lorraine there was found in his study a note of the names of divers German doctors and ministers, being Lutherans, to whom was paid an annual pension, by the assignment of the cardinal, that they might take pains to oppose the Calvinists; and so, by cherishing dissension, reduce the people again to Popery. If there be any such amongst us, who, upon such poor inconsiderable motives, would be won to betray the gospel of Christ, God grant them repentance before it be too late! However, upon what grounds, with what intentions, for what ends soever, these tares have been sowed amongst us by envious men, the hope of all the piously learned in the kingdom is, that, by your effectual care and diligence, some means may be found to root them out. Now, God Almighty increase and fill your whole honorable society with wisdom, zeal, knowledge, and all other Christian graces, necessary for your great calling and employments; which is the daily prayer, of your most humble and devoted servant, JOHN OWEN.

Thomas Watson,
2. We must not so seek peace with others as to wrong truth. ‘Buy the truth—and sell it not’ (Proverbs 23:23). Peace must not be bought with the sale of truth. Truth is the ground of faith, and the rule of life. Truth is the most orient gem of the churches’ crown. Truth is a deposit, or charge that God has entrusted us with. We trust God with our souls. He trusts us with his truths. We must not let any of God’s truths fall to the ground. Luther says, ‘It is better that the heavens fall—than one crumb of truth perish.’ The least filings of this gold are precious. We must not so seek the flower of peace—as to lose the diamond of truth.| We ought not to unite with error. ‘What communion has light with darkness?’ (2 Corinthians 6:14). There are many who would have peace, by the destroying of truth; peace with Arminian, Socinian, and other heretics. This is a peace of the devil’s making. Cursed be that peace which makes war with the Prince of peace. Though we must be peaceable—yet we are bid to ‘contend for the faith’ (Jude 3). We must not be so in love with the golden crown of peace, as to pluck off the jewels of truth. Rather let peace go—than truth. The martyrs would rather lose their lives—than let go the truth.”

Conclusion.
If we are true members of Christ’s kingdom, our warfare is with the devil and his children. God has delivered us out of darkness to be a holy people set apart from the common filth of the world. The darkness of iniquity and heresy.
For we wrestle not with flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness in high places. The habitation of pride and the doctrine of free will.

Closing prayer,
Our gracious and merciful Father, thou who art from eternity, wonderful in counsel, majestic in glory, awesome in might, thou hast delivered us from our enemies with thine own strength and saved us from going astray with the wicked by thine own right hand. Truly salvation in vain is hoped for apart from thee for thou art our rock and our shield. Thou defendest us from those that would swallow us up. The world is swallowed up O Lord, the world is swallowed up in idolatry, heresy, apostasy and departure from the living God. As it is written, the whole world lieth in wickedness. But deliver thy people by the promise of the word . Build us. Establish us. Strengthen us. Settle us. And give us faith to conquer our enemies so that all lusts of the flesh will be subdued under our feet. So give us faith to do Battle against our enemies, and wage spiritual warfare against the hordes of the devil, and go thou with us and before us, that we might prevail against that strong enemy of old, for in our own strength we are helpless against him. So guide us , lead us, shepherd us, our faithful captain, our deliverer, our captain, our Lord, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray, amen. 

YouTube Audio: https://youtu.be/ofroqx7T6uc