Solus Christus Reformed Baptist Church

Although the work of regeneration by the Holy Spirit was wrought under the Old Testament, even from the foundation of the world, and the doctrine of it was recorded in the Scriptures, yet the revelation of it was but obscure in comparison of that light and evidence which it is brought forth into by the gospel. This is evident from the discourse which our blessed Saviour had with Nicodemus on this subject; for when he acquainted him clearly with the doctrine of it, he was surprised, and fell into that inquiry, which argued some amazement, "How can these things be?" But yet the reply of our Saviour manifests that he might have attained a better acquaintance with it out of the Scripture than he had done:

There are outward ways and duties by which our spiritual affections are expressed. Their rule also is the Scripture. The way marked out in it is the only channel in which the stream of spiritual affections takes its course to God. The graces required in it are acted by the affections; the duties it prescribes are those which they stir up and enliven; the religious worship it appoints is that in which they have their exercise. Where this rule has been neglected, men's religious affections have grown irregular, indeed, wild and ungovernable.

We beg You rather to send the serpents among us than to let sin come among us. Oh! that we might have our eye always on the brazen serpent that heals all the bites of evil, but may we not look to sin nor love it. Let not the devices of Balaam and of Balak prevail against us, to lead Your people away from their purity. Let us not be defiled with false doctrine or with unholy living, but may we walk as the separated people of God and keep ourselves unspotted from the world.

This depravation of our affections by the fall, is the only corruption of our nature that is evident to reason, or to the light of nature itself. The wise among the heathen both saw it, and complained of it. They found a weakness in the mind, but saw nothing of its darkness and depravation as to things spiritual. But they were sensible enough of this disorder and tumult of the affections in things moral, which renders the minds of men "like the troubled sea, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." Isa 57.20 This greatly aggravates the neglect of those who aren't sensible of it in themselves, because it is discernible in the light of nature.

Our first prayer is for others who as yet are in bondage. We thank You, Lord, that You have given them the spirit of bondage and made them to fear. We are glad that they should be brought to feel the evil of sin, to feel the perfection of Your law, to know something of the fiery nature of Your justice, and so to be shut up unto salvation by grace through faith. But, Lord, let them not tarry long under the pedagogue, but may the schoolmaster with his rod bring them to Christ.

Ordinarily there are certain previous and preparatory works, or workings in and upon the souls of men, that are antecedent and dispositive unto it. But yet regeneration doth not consist in them, nor can it be educed out of them. A material disposition is that which disposeth and some way maketh a subject fit for the reception of that which shall be communicated, added, or infused into it as its form. So wood by dryness and a due composure is made fit and ready to admit of firing, or continual fire.

That the corrupt principle of sin, the native habitual inclination that is in us unto evil, worketh early in our natures, and for the most part preventeth all the actings of grace in us. Though some may be sanctified in or from the womb, yet in order of nature this native corruption hath first place in them; for a clean thing cannot be brought out of an unclean, but "that which is born of the flesh is flesh:"

The saints prefer what of God may be obtained in this life before all things in the world. There is a great difference in the present spiritual attainments of the saints. Some attain to much greater acquaintance and communion with God, and conformity to him, than others. But the highest attainments are very small in comparison with what is future. The saints are capable of making progress in spiritual attainments, and they earnestly desire such further attainments. Not contented with those degrees to which they have already attained, they hunger and thirst after righteousness, and, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that they may grow thereby. It is their desire, to know more of God, to have more of his image, and to be enabled more to imitate God and Christ in their walk and conversation. Psa. 27:4, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.

Does it lie within the province of man's will to accept or reject the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour? Granted that the Gospel is preached to the sinner, that the Holy Spirit convicts him of his lost condition, does it, in the final analysis, lie within the power of his own will to resist or to yield himself up to God? The answer to this question defines our conception of human depravity. That man is a fallen creature all professing Christians will allow, but what many of them mean by "fallen" is often difficult to determine.

Ministry Update, books being narrated, some ministry news and prayer request

There are two ways whereby this may be done: — 1. By neglecting and refusing to observe and do what he hath appointed; 2. By adding appointments of our own thereunto, inconsistent with and destructive of that which he hath ordained: — I. In the first way we have some among ourselves who are fallen off from the worship of the gospel.

If little more than a century ago the streets of Paris ran with the blood of rioters, what assurance have we that before the present century closes every city throughout the world will not witness a similar sight? What is there to hinder earth-wide lawlessness and universal anarchy? Thus we have sought to show the need, the imperative need, for God to occupy the throne, take the government upon His shoulder, and control the activities and destinies of His creatures. But has the man of faith any difficulty in perceiving the government of God over this world?

Causes of Apostasy Chapter 4 Evangelical truths being by these or the like means entertained in the minds of men, which are also variously affected with them, they will move and act towards their proper end and design. And hereof there are three parts: — 1. To take off the soul of man from rest and satisfaction in itself, as unto present peace in the condition wherein it is, and hope of future blessedness by its own endeavors; for neither of these are we capable of in our depraved, apostate state.

What impression is made upon the minds of those men of the world who, occasionally, attend a Gospel service? What are the conceptions formed by those who hear even those preachers who are counted as "orthodox"? Is it not that a disappointed God is the One whom Christians believe in? From what is heard from the average evangelist today, is not any serious hearer obliged to conclude that he professes to represent a God who is filled with benevolent intentions, yet unable to carry them out; that He is earnestly desirous of blessing men, but that they will not let Him?

No man can know the greatness of sin till he has felt it, for there is no measuring-rod for sin, except its condemnation in our own conscience, when the law of God speaks to us with a terror that may be felt. Some men imagine that the Gospel was devised, in some way or other, to soften down the harshness of God towards sin. Ah! how mistaken the idea! There is no more harsh condemnation of sin anywhere than in the Gospel.

The Duty of Ministers As unto ministers, the faithful discharge of their duty, in preaching, prayer, and example, is required hereunto. Should I stay to show the necessity hereof at this season; as also what is required thereunto—what care, what diligence, what watchfulness, what compassion, what zeal, what exercise of all gospel grace, with the over-neglect of these things among many—it would take up a volume, rather than become a place in this present inquiry.

AN HUMBLE TESTIMONY UNTO THE GOODNESS AND SEVERITY OF GOD IN HIS DEALING WITH SINFUL CHURCHES AND NATIONS; VIII Conclusion. What if all these means do fail?—what if all expectations from them be in vain? What is incumbent on them in particular who are really sensible of these things,—namely, of the abounding of provoking sins, and the near approach of deserved judgments?" That which I design herein is, to give some directions as unto what frame of heart ought to be found in us, and the practice of what duties we ought to be found in at such a season as this is. It is no common, no easy thing, to wait for the LORD in the way of his judgments (Isa. 26:8–9).

Distinguishing Between Covenant Repentance and Providential Repentance Although it be the duty of every man to endeavor that his repentance and reformation do consist in a sincere, internal, cordial conversion unto God—which the divine calls do intend—without which it will not be of advantage unto his own soul as unto his eternal condition; yet, as unto the turning away of temporal calamities, at least as to the suspension of them, such a public repentance and reformation as evidence themselves in their fruits to proceed from a real sense of sin and judgment, may be useful and prevalent.

Our blessed Redeemer persevered in prayer even when the cruel iron rent His tender nerves, and blow after blow of the hammer jarred His whole frame with anguish; and this perseverance may be accounted for by the fact that He was so in the habit of prayer that He could not cease from it; He had acquired a mighty velocity of intercession which forbade Him to pause. Those long nights upon the cold mountain side, those many days which had been spent in solitude, those perpetual ejaculations which He was accustomed to send up to Heaven, all these had formed in Him a habit so powerful that the severest torments could not stay its force. Yet it was more than habit.

SOME THOUGHTS CONCERNING THE PRESENT REVIVAL OF RELIGION IN NEW ENGLAND, 1740 AND THE WAY IN WHICH IT OUGHT TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED AND PROMOTED. HUMBLY OFFERED TO THE PUBLIC, IN A TREATISE ON THAT SUBJECT.

It is Inbred in Human Nature The notion of this rule is inbred in mankind by nature, as was mentioned before. There is no man, unless he be atheistically profligate, but, when he apprehends that evil and ruin, especially as unto his life, is ready to overtake him and seize upon him, he reflects on his sins, and comes to some resolutions of forsaking them for the future—so he may be at present delivered from his deplorable condition. All this arises from these indelible notions ingrafted on the minds of men: All evil of punishment is from God. It is for sin. There is no way to avoid it but by repentance and reformation.

Ay, and some base men who, if they see young converts, will take a pride in putting stumbling-blocks in their way. They no sooner discover that there is some little working of conscience, than they laugh, they sneer, they point the finger. How often have I seen this in the husband who seeks to prevent the wife's attendance at the house of God; in the young man who jeers at his companion because he felt something of the power of religion! Is not this too frequent in our great establishments in London; where one young man kneels to pray and many are found to laugh at him and hurl some foul term at his head; not content to perish themselves.

The efficacy of all other calls of God unto repentance depends much on the application of them unto the souls and consciences of men in the preaching of the word. But whilst by some this work is despised, at least counted unnecessary; by some it is neglected utterly; and others, by reason of their private capacities, whereby they are disenabled to speak unto magistrates, cities, or the community of the people, think not themselves concerned therein—it is almost wholly laid aside. For what, will some say, doth this speaking unto a few in a retirement signify, as unto a general reformation of the people of the land? But whereas we have all sinned in our measures—churches, and all sorts of more strict professors of religion—it is every one's duty to be pressing these warnings of God within his own bounds and precincts.

Christian practice is a distinguishing and sure evidence of grace to persons' own consciences. We cannot reasonably suppose, when the Scripture in this case speaks of good works, good fruit, and keeping Christ's commandments, that it has respect merely to what is external, or the motion and action of the body, without including respect to any aim or intention of the agent, or any act of his understanding or will. For consider men's actions so, and they are no more good works or acts of obedience, than the regular motions of a clock; nor are they considered as any human actions at all.

Prayers taken from the devotionals of C H Spurgeon and Modernized

"Of what sort those judgments are, which, in a time of great provocation, are to be looked on as impendent, and ready to seize on us?" And they are of three sorts:-- First. Such as are absolute, decretory, and universal. There is mention in the Scripture of judgments threatened, which God hath, as it were, repented him of, and changed the actings of his providence, that they should not be inflicted. See Amos vii. 3, 6. And there are judgments threatened, which have been diverted by the repentance of men; as it was in the case of Nineveh. But in this case, neither will God repent, nor shall man repent; but those judgments shall be universal and unavoidable. And of this sort we have three instances recorded in Scripture; -- two are past, and one is yet for to come:--

Scripture plainly teaches, that practice is the best evidence of the sincerity of professing Christians; so reason teaches the same thing. Reason shows, that men's deeds are better and more faithful interpreters of their minds, than their words. The common sense of all mankind, through all ages and nations, teaches them to judge of men's hearts chiefly by their practice, in other matters: as, whether a man be a loyal subject, a true lover, a dutiful child, or a faithful servant.

It is with hypocrites, as it was with Ephraim of old, at a time when God greatly complains of their hypocrisy; Hos. vii. 8. "Ephraim is a cake not turned," half roasted and half raw: there is commonly no manner of uniformity in their affections. There is in many of them a great partiality, with regard to the several kinds of religious affections; great affections in some things, and no proportion in others. A holy hope and holy fear go together in the saints, Psal. xxxiii. 18. and cxlvii. 11. But in some of these there is the most confident hope, while they are void of reverence, self-jealousy, and caution, and while they to a great degree cast off fear.

An humble testimony unto the goodness and severity of God in his dealing with sinful churches and nations; or, the only way to deliver a sinful nation from utter ruin by impendent judgments: in a discourse on the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. - Letter to the Reader:

When a land, a nation, a city, a church, is filled with sin, so as that God gives them warnings or indications of his displeasure by previous judgments, or other extraordinary signs, if they are not as warnings complied withal by repentance and reformation, they are tokens of approaching judgments, that shall not be avoided. This is the sacred truth which our Lord Jesus Christ doth here recommend to our observation.

What is all the controversy about the term "Lordship Salvation? It it another gospel? The Blogs and Podcasts such as Theocast, and "Sovereign Redeemer Books" examined and critiqued on today's Narrated Puritan Podcast and update.

As these seven sayings were so faithfully recorded, we do not wonder that they have frequently been the subject of devout meditation. Fathers and confessors, preachers and divines have delighted to dwell upon every syllable of these matchless cries. These solemn sentences have shone like the seven golden candlesticks or the seven stars of the Apocalypse, and have lighted multitudes of men to Him who spoke them. Thoughtful men have drawn a wealth of meaning from them, and in so doing have arranged them into different groups, and placed them under several heads.

Truly gracious affections are attended with a conviction of the reality and certainty of divine things. This seems to be implied in the text that was laid as the foundation of this discourse, Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory. All gracious persons have a solid, full, thorough, and effectual conviction of the truth of the great things of the gospel. They no longer halt between two opinions; the great doctrines of the gospel cease to be any longer doubtful things,

An unequaled explanation of what it means to being "led By The Spirit. "Gracious affections arise from the mind being enlightened rightly and spirituality to apprehend divine things. Holy affections are not heat without light; but evermore arise from some information of the understanding, some spiritual instruction that the mind receives, some light or actual knowledge. The child of God is graciously affected, because he sees and understands something more of divine things than he did before, more of God or Christ, and of the glorious things exhibited in the gospel."

Nothing can be certainly concluded concerning the nature of religious affections, that the relations persons give of them, are very affecting. The true saints have not such a spirit of discerning, that they can certainly determine who are godly, and who are not. For though they know experimentally what true religion is, in the internal exercises of it, yet these are what they can neither feel nor see, in the heart of another.

If your own experience of the nature and tendency of your hope will not convince you of the falseness of it, what will? Are you resolved to retain your hope, let it prove ever so unsound and hurtful? Will you hold it fast till you go to hell with it? Many men cling to a false hope, and embrace it so closely, that they never let it go till the flames of hell cause their arms to unclench and let go their hold. Consider how you will answer it at the day of judgment when God shall call you to an account for your folly in resting in such an hope. Will it be a sufficient answer for you to say, that you had the charity of others, and that they thought your conversion was right? Certainly it is foolish for men to imagine, that God had no more wisdom, or could contrive no other way of bestowing comfort and hope of eternal life than one which should encourage men to forsake him.