CHURCH NEWS

Calls Declined

Correction: the call to Sioux Center was declined by Rev. A. W. Verhoef and not Rev. A. Harinck as previously published.

We are not to imagine that our Hearts and Lives must be changed from Sin to Holiness in any measure, before we may safely venture to trust on Christ for the sure enjoyment of himself, and his Salvation:

EXPLANATION

For more full satisfaction and consolation of those distressed souls that lie under the terrible apprehensions of their own sinfulness, and the wrath of God, and dare not venture to trust steadfastly on Christ for their salvation until they can find in themselves some change from sin to holiness; I shall mention particularly several of these things that such would find in themselves; and I shall show that, if some of them be not partly comprehended in faith itself, they are fruits and consequences of faith; and therefore they cannot be rationally expected before we trust on Christ for our salvation.

First: They think it necessary to repent before they believe on Christ for their salvation, because repentance is absolutely necessary to salvation: Luke 13:3, Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish; and Christ places the duty of repentance before faith; Mark 1:15, Repent, and believe the gospel. But we are to know that Christ requires repentance first as the end to be aimed at, and faith in the next place, as the only means of attaining it; and though the end be first in intention, yet the means are first in practice and execution, though both are absolutely necessary to salvation. For, what is repentance but a hearty turning from sin to God and his service? And what way is there to turn to God but through Christ, who is the way, the truth and the life; without whom none cometh to the Father?; and what way is there of coming to Christ but by faith? Therefore, if we would turn to God in the right way, we must first come to Christ by faith, and faith must go before repentance, as the great instrument afforded us by the grace of God, for the effectual performance of it. Repentance is indeed a duty which sinners owe naturally to God; but the great question is, How shall sinners be able to perform it? This question is resolved only by the gospel of Christ, Repent and believe. The way to repent is to begin with believing. Therefore the great doctrine of John, in his baptism of repentance, was, that they should believe on him that should come after him, that is, on Jesus Christ.

Secondly: Regeneration also is necessary to salvation; and therefore, many would find it wrought in themselves, before they trust on Christ for their salvation. But consider what regeneration is. It is a new begetting or creating us in Christ, in whom we are partakers of a divine nature, far different from that which we received from the first Adam. Now, faith is the uniting grace, whereby Christ dwells in us and we in him, as has been shown; and therefore it is the first grace wrought in our regeneration, and the means of all the rest: when you truly believe you are regenerated, and not till then. Those that receive Christ by believing, and those only, are the sons of God, which are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12, 13(.

Thirdly: They account it necessary to receive Christ as their Lord and Lawgiver, by a sincere resignation of themselves to his government and a resolution to obey his law, before they receive him as their Saviour. This is one principal lesson of the new divinity, and such a receiving Christ as Lord is made to be the great act of saving faith: without which such faith as I have described, whereby we trust on Christ for salvation, is reckoned no better than gross presumption. They teach that Christ will not bestow his salvation on those that do not first yield their subjection to his kingly authority; but he calls them His enemies, because they would not that he should reign over them, and requires that they be brought and slain before him. And I own it as a certain truth, that Christ will save none but those that are brought to resign themselves sincerely to the obedience of his royal authority and laws. But yet we must observe that they are not brought to this holy resignation, or to any sincere purpose and resolution of obedience, before they receive his salvation, but rather by receiving it. Men that were never thoroughly sensible of their natural death in sin do easily bring themselves to resolve universal obedience to God, when they are on their death-beds, or in any imminent danger, or when they would prepare themselves for the Lord’s Supper, that so they may make their peace with God and trust securely on Christ for his salvation. But all resolutions of that kind are vain and hypocritical, sooner broken than made. Those who know the plague of their own hearts do find that their mind is enmity unto the law of God and Christ, and cannot be subject unto it; and that they can as soon remove a mountain as give up themselves sincerely to obedience, before they trust on Christ for his salvation and for the gift of a new heart, whereby they may be enabled both to will and to do anything that is acceptable to God. We should have been sufficiently obliged to all obedient purposes, resolutions, and resignations, if Christ had never come into the world to save us: but he knew that we could perform nothing holily, except he made us first partakers of salvation, and that we shall never obey him as a Lawgiver until we receive him as a Saviour. He is a saving Lord; trust on him first to save you from the guilt and power of sin, and dominion of Satan, and to.give you a new spiritual disposition; then, and not till then, the love of Christ will constrain you to resign yourself heartily to live to him that died for you; and you will be able to say, with an unfeigned resolution, O Lord, truly I am thy servant, I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid: thou hast loosed my bands (Psalm 116:16).

Fourthly: It seems to them evident that some good works are necessary before we can trust on Christ safely for the forgiveness of sins; because our Saviour teaches us that, if we forgive not men their trespasses, neither will our heavenly Father forgive our trespasses; and directs us to pray, Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Restitution was also to be made of things wrongfully gotten from others, before the sacramental atonement was made by the trespass-offering. I answer, this is sufficient to prove that, forgiving others and restitution, according to our ability, or at least a sincere desire and purpose to do so, are very closely joined with the forgiveness of our sins, and are very necessary to fit us for prayer and for sacramental applications of pardoning grace to ourselves. A lively faith cannot be without these fruits; and therefore, we cannot pray or partake of sacraments, in faith, without them; but yet, if we strive to do either of these before we trust on Christ for our pardon and salvation, we shall do them slavishly and hypocritically, not in an holy acceptable manner. Our forgiving others will not be accompanied with any hearty love to them as to ourselves, for the sake of God; and our restitution will be but a forced act, like Pharoah’s letting the children of Israel go: or like Judas’ restoring the thirty pieces of silver, being compelled thereunto by terror of spirit; and when the terror that forced us is removed, we shall be as ready to recall our forgiveness and to wrong others again as Pharoah was to bring the Israelites again into bondage after he had let them go. If you would forgive others heartily, so as to love them again, you must first, by faith in Christ, apprehend the love and mercy of God towards yourselves, and then you will be able, according to the apostle’s instructions, to be kind, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ’s sake, has forgiven you. The readiness of Zaccheus to make restitution followed upon a discovery of Christ’s love to him; and his joyful receiving Christ into his house was fruit whereby he did evidence the truth of that faith that was already wrought in his heart.

continued

Till the heart is circumcised, we have no spiritual life. This spiritual circumcision is regeneration — a new spiritual title whereby we begin to live to God. Thus we are made meet for the service of God, for communion with him, and for the inheritance of the saints in light. But this life which brings meetness for glory is not our title to it. Christ alone is our justifying Righteousness.

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