Most believers take seriously the membership portion of 1689. 26. 12, 13, but not the censures. We are too good to be bad, meaning we cannot be criticized or judged for lack of faithfulness. No one has the right to step on our rights. To be admitted into the fellowship of a local church means submitting also to any disciplinary measures. If you want the privileges, then that also means you get the discipline applied, if necessary. Nobody seems to believe in discipline anymore. That’s for the really sinful person, not for the person who needs a reminder or rebuke. Well, No, not at all..
1689 Confession
Final Judgment
Why does God have a day of judgment? Is such a thing necessary? What purpose does it serve? Why not just consign sinful unbelieving people to hell itself?
The answer is found in chapter 32. 2
The end of God’s appointing this day, is for the manifestation of the glory of his mercy, in the eternal salvation of the elect; and of his justice, in the eternal damnation of the reprobate, who are wicked and disobedient; for then shall the righteous go into everlasting life, and receive that fulness of joy and glory with everlasting rewards, in the presence of the Lord; but the wicked, who know not God, and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be cast aside into everlasting torments, and punished with everlasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.
Two simple things:
1) For the glory of his mercy
2) For the glory of his justice
In the first, the elect are eternally saved – have everlasting life and receive fulness of joy with rewards, and in the second, the non-elect are eternally damned (condemned) – are cast aside into everlasting torments and punished eternally.
Saving Faith’s Working
What does saving faith do?
1. it yields obedience to God’s commands.
2. it trembles at God’s threatenings.
3. it embraces the promises of God.
(1689 Confession, 14. 2)
The Law in Man’s Creation
Chapter 6 states “God created man upright and perfect, and gave him a righteous law, which had been unto life had he kept it, and threatened death upon the breach thereof.” What law was this? It was nothing less than God’s moral law that belongs to the nature and character of God. It is by this law in man at creation that Paul can say in Romans 1 that all men (unbelieving people) know God (Rom. 1:19, 21, 32). As a result they are without excuse (Rom. 1:20) and it’s just downhill from here in every respect. [Read more…] about The Law in Man’s Creation
Humbled or Hardened
The Confession in the section on Divine Providence has two sections (1689. 5. 5, 6) that reveal how God deals with a believer and an unbeliever. (See Here). God acts upon the Christian to produce a humbling, but in the case of an unbeliever he hardens them. It is a fearful thing to deal with God.