Preaching the Gospel to Yourself Everyday

Bunyan gives an excellent example of "Preaching the Gospel to oursevles everyday" as he finds liberty and joy in the IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS of our Lord Jesus Christ.

"One day, as I was passing in the field, and that too with some dashes of my conscience, fearing lest yet all was not right, suddenly this sentence fell upon my soul, Thy righteousness is in heaven; and methought withal, I saw, with the eyes of my soul, Jesus Christ at God's right hand; there, I say, as my righteousness; so that wherever I was, or whatever I was adoing, God could not say of me, He wants my righteousness, for that was just before Him. I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse; for my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, the same yesterday, to-day and for ever. Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed, I was loosened from my afflictions and irons . . . now went I also home rejoicing, for the grace and love of God."

If you have never read I would suggest you find a copy of the book, "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners" Bunyans own autobiograhpy from which this quote is taken.  I'm due for another reading myself, and it is one of the few books I think my own dear wife has read multiple times.  

Online vesion: click here 

Kindle Version: click here  free from Amazon

 ht: Reformation21, Rob Ventura

Pilgrim's Progress: Part 2: Ignorance's Ignorant Confession and Christian's Response

First Christian points out that Ignorance has a Fantasy Faith not founded upon the word. Now consider points 2 and 3 where Christian shows easily it also a False Faith.


Christian: How dost thou believe?

Ignorance: I believe that Christ died for sinners; and that I shall be justified before God from the curse, through his gracious acceptance of my obedience to his laws. Or thus, Christ makes my duties, that are religious, acceptable to his Father by virtue of his merits, and so shall I be justified.

Christian: Let me give an answer to this confession of thy faith.

1. Thou believest with a fantastical faith; for this faith is nowhere described in the word.

2. Thou believest with a false faith; because it taketh justification from the personal righteousness of Christ, and applies it to thy own.

3. This faith maketh not Christ a justifier of thy person, but of thy actions; and of thy person for thy action’s sake, which is false.

IN POINT 2:

This confession is False for it described a faith that takes from being justified by the personal righteousness of Christ and instead describes being justified by your own personal righteousness. Though it adds that your works are made acceptable by the virtue of Christ it cannot be escaped that it is the works that are themselves the righteousness upon which acceptance is found.

IN POINT 3 shown FALSE:

Further the faith described by Ignorance is shown to be a FALSE FAITH because in his confession JESUS CHRIST IS NOT THE JUSTIFIER of the PERSON BUT OF HIS WORKS. And then the Person is actually Justified by the WORKS. This sounded so much like New Perspective theology whereby one is justified not by the imputed righteousness of Christ but on the basis of the whole life lived that I wanted to put a picture of N.T. Wright at the top of my post.

Bunyan says it so well as he shows the falsness of this ignorant Faith: "This faith maketh not Christ a justifier of thy person, but of thy actions; and of thy person for thy action’s sake, which is false."

Christ is the justifier of the person. Take this away and you have a false faith. Worse yet in Ignorance's system work's are the grounds of one's acceptance and entrance into heaven. Christ justifies the works says Ignorance and these works then justify the person. When reading Ignorance's Confession, I actually missed this. So thankful then was I when Bunyan made it so plain, and so applicable to a whole host of false system with this confession of Ignorance at their very core. ie. Federal Vision, Roman Catholicism, New Perspective, Ignorant beleivers in a multitude of ignorant churches - GOD HAVE MERCY.

Pilgrim's Progress: Ignorance's Confession and the Meaning of Words

We have been studying the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith as a group of brothers every Tuesday morning and it has been wonderful. Not moving too fast but carefully considering each chapter and each point. IN the Main we are affirming all that we read and we are often taken to depths of understanding that we had previously not known.

With this post I want to present to you Ignorance's own confession of faith in response to Christian's probing and tactical question, "How dost thou believe?" I would remind us of how only a few paragraphs back. Ignorance made his own affirmation of justification by faith when he said:

Ignorance: Do you think that I am such a fool as to think that God can see no further than I; or that I would come to God in the best of my performances?

Christian: Why, how dost thou think in this matter?

Ignorance: Why, to be short, I think I must believe in Christ for justification.

Now, though Ignorance uses such good words here, more important than words is the MEANING Assigned to them. The meaning becomes quite clear as Ignorance answers the question, "HOW DOST THOU BELIEVE?"

Christian: How dost thou believe?

Ignorance: I believe that Christ died for sinners; and that I shall be justified before God from the curse, through his gracious acceptance of my obedience to his laws. Or thus, Christ makes my duties, that are religious, acceptable to his Father by virtue of his merits, and so shall I be justified.

"I believe that Christ died for sinners." -- words that are true when invested with the correct meaning. But this morning as my three little girls and I discussed, it was the 13 year old who said in answer to my question, "Does Ignorance speak truth here or error when he says, "I believe that Christ died for sinners," 13 yr old said, "he speaks falsely, for though the words are true what he MEANS by them is not really that Christ died for sinners. He doesn't mean it in the true way."

"and that I shall be justified before God from the curse," The same goes for the second part, though the words are true when meant in the true way, Ignorance understands them to mean something quite different from the truth.

What does Ignorance mean when he says, "I believe that Christ died for sinners and that I shall be justified before God from the curse?"

This question is answered in the remainder of Ignorance's Confession of Faith:

Ignorance says, I am justified... "through his gracious acceptance of my obedience to his laws."

Q. But Ignorance says "gracious" isn't Ignorance affirming that we are saved by GRACE in this statement?
A. Though Ignorance speaks of grace it is not the grace that saves. For Ignorance speaks not of being saved by Grace apart from works but GRACE that accepts my works. Grace that makes MY WORKS the grounds of acceptance.

And finally, further does the meaning of IGNORANCE's words become clear and how though they were RIGHT WORDS they had WRONG MEANING as he confesses:
"Christ makes my duties, that are religious, acceptable to his Father by virtue of his merits, and so shall I be justified."

Q. But Ignorance says it is by VIRTUE of the MERITS of Christ by which I am justified. Is that not a true statement.
A. NO, the statement is false though part of the words are true their meaning is FALSE. For Ignorance makes the merit of Christ the justifier of my WORKS -- Not my PERSON. The grounds of Justification in the eyes of Ignorance is my own works which are made acceptable by the merits of Christ. YET it is my WORKS says HE that are the grounds by which I shall be justified.

Lord willing, in our next post we will consider Christian's answer to this IGNORANT CONFESSION OF FAITH.

Pilgrim's Progress: The Just God Justly Justifies

Can you sing with our good friend Hopeful, O' for a 1000 Gallons of Blood to Spill...please read on for explanation.

Fearful of falling asleep in the Enchanted Ground, Christian and Hopeful discuss Hopeful's conversion. Christian now directs Hopeful to explain specifically how the Gospel effected his Spirit, "This was a revelation of Christ to your soul indeed. But tell me particularly what effect this had upon your spirit."

Hopeful answers firstly:
"It made me see that all the world, notwithstanding all the righteousness thereof, is in a state of condemnation. -- The WHOLE WORLD IS CONDEMNED.

The secondly:

"It made me see that God the Father though he be just, can justly justify the coming sinner."

Great sentence, the JUST GOD can JUSTLY JUSTIFY the COMING-SINNER! How can this be? How can God be JUST and YET JUSTIFY JUSTLY THE UNJUST?

For answer to this we look back in the conversation where first we see a number of scriptures linked together naturally by Hopeful as he lays out the Gospel he was bidden to believe:
"...as I thought, I saw the Lord Jesus looking down from heaven upon me, and saying, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:31. But I replied, Lord, I am a great, a very great sinner: and he answered, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” 2 Cor 12:9. Then I said, But, Lord, what is believing? And then I saw from that saying, “He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst,” John 6:35, that believing and coming was all one; and that he that came, that is, that ran out in his heart and affections after salvation by Christ, he indeed believed in Christ. Then the water stood in mine eyes, and I asked further, But, Lord, may such a great sinner as I am be indeed accepted of thee, and be saved by thee? And I heard him say, “And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:37. Then I said, But how, Lord, must I consider of thee in my coming to thee, that my faith may be placed aright upon thee? Then he said, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” 1 Tim 1:15. He is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believes. Rom 10:4, and chap. 4. He died for our sins, and rose again for our justification. Rom 4:25. He loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Rev 1:5. He is the Mediator between God and us. 1 Tim 2:5. He ever liveth to make intercession for us. Heb 7:25. "

Oh I HOPE YOU are still reading along BECAUSE I truly want you to CATCH NOW THE EXPLANATION HOPEFUL MAKES and the CONCLUSION HE DRAWS:
"From all which I gathered, that I must look for righteousness in his person, and for satisfaction for my sins by his blood: that what he did in obedience to his Father’s law, and in submitting to the penalty thereof, was not for himself, but for him that will accept it for his salvation, and be thankful."
1) LOOK FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS IN HIS PERSON.

2) SATISFACTION by his BLOOD.

3) He did what he did in obedience to his Father's law.

4) Submitting to the penalty thereof, was not for himself but for the one who believe on HIM....and be thankful.

BUT WAIT... there is more. Not only in the short space of our story do we have the GOSPEL succinctly stated, Penal Substitutionary Atonement wonderful described, biblical support detailed, but there is more......

NOW is the sanctifying power of the GOSPEL on display as Hopeful further describes the effects upon his soul. "It made me greatly ashamed of the vileness of my former life, and confounded me with the sense of mine own ignorance; for there never came a thought into my heart before now that showed me so the beauty of Jesus Christ. It made me love a holy life, and long to do something for the honor and glory of the name of the Lord Jesus. Yea, I thought that had I now a thousand gallons of blood in my body, I could spill it all for the sake of the Lord Jesus."

Bunyan I love you, I love you for the beautiful description, instruction, and counsel which again and again and again and again once more you pour into my ears and which by grace is sinking all the way down into my heart.
The effect of the gospel upon my soul is:
1) Make me greatly ashamed of the vileness of my former life.
2) Confounds me with a sense of mine own ignorance.
3) So great does the gospel show me the BEAUTY of Jesus Christ.
4) It makes me to LOVE a HOLY Life,
5) And puts in me to LONG to do for the HONOR and GLORY of the LORD JESUS.
6) Longing... IF only I had 1000 gallons of blood, I COULD spill it all for the sake of the Lord Jesus.

The gospel has sanctifying power. Look not to the law for enablement and promise, it's not there. The gospel is the power of God unto Salvation. Rom 1:16.

Pilgrim's Progress: Talking to Stay Awake

Our two traveler's in order to prevent their falling asleep while traveling through the enchanted ground, purpose to commune together in Spiritual Conversation. Talking with your brother can keep you awake, awake spiritually.

I was struck by this in their conversation:

"Christian: And did you ask him what man this was, and how you must be justified by him?

Hopeful: Yes, and he told me it was the Lord Jesus, that dwelleth on the right hand of the Most High. Heb. 10:12-21. And thus, said he, you must be justified by him, even by trusting to what he hath done by himself in the days of his flesh, and suffered when he did hang on the tree. Rom. 4:5; Col. 1:14; 1 Pet. 1:19. "

Note the next question. It reminds me so much of our study in Romans - primarily Romans Chapter four where we learn that though there is NONE Righteous, yet we can find a righteousness imputed by Faith, the Righteousness of Jesus Christ.

In our Romans study this discovery led to the next question: "But how can the righteousness of another be counted as mine?"

Here is almost the same question from the lips of Hopeful:

"I asked him further, how that man’s righteousness could be of that efficacy, to justify another before God."

And just as Romans Four led us into Romans Five where we learn of the representative work of Jesus Christ, the Federal Headship. Rom 5:19.

We hear the recounting of Hopeful:
"And he told me he was the mighty God, and did what he did, and died the death also, not for himself, but for me; to whom his doings, and the worthiness of them, should be imputed, if I believed on him."

How wonderfully and yet simply into the CHRISTIAN-and-HOPEFUL conversation is the truth of the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ made manifest.