Question 80 from The Heidelberg Catechism: “What difference is there between the Lord’s supper and the popish mass? Answer: The Lord’s supper testifies to us, that we have a full pardon of all sin by the only sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which he himself has once accomplished on the cross; and, that we by the Holy Ghost are ingrafted into Christ, who, according to his human nature is now not on earth, but in heaven, at the right hand of God his Father, and will there be worshipped by us. But the mass teaches, that the living and dead have not the pardon of sins through the sufferings of Christ, unless Christ is also daily offered for them by the priests; and further, that Christ is bodily under the form of bread and wine, and therefore is to be worshipped in them; so that the mass, at bottom, is nothing else than a denial of the one sacrifice and sufferings of Jesus Christ, and an accursed idolatry.”

Travel here to read an article about the University Chorale from my alma mater, who sang last year at a Wednesday evening Mass at Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. Unsettling, that.

‘”I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I John saw a holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” In taking these words for my text I placed myself at the point where the whole teaching of Scripture culminates. Here, at the last step, we have a definite and satisfactory completion of the former doctrine of the future. There is to be a perfect humanity; not only perfect individually, but perfect in society. There is to be a city of God. “The Holy City!” – there is the realization of the true tendencies of man. “New Jerusalem!” – there is a fulfilment of the ancient promises of God’ (Thomas Dehany Bernard, The Progress of Doctrine in the New Testament, 217).

A few excerpts demonstrating my generalizations from the previous post:

“Whoever, then, thinks that he understands the Holy Scriptures, or any part of them, but puts such an interpretation upon them as does not tend to build up this two-fold love of God and our neighbor, does not yet understand them as he ought.”

“‘For we walk by faith, not by sight.’ Now faith will totter if the authority of Scripture begin to shake. And then, if faith toter, love itself will grow cold. For if a man has fallen from faith, he must necessarily also fall from love; for he cannot love what he does not believe to exist.”

“Accordingly the Holy Spirit has, with admirable wisdom and care for our welfare, so arranged the Holy Scriptures as by the plainer passages to satisfy our hunger, and by the more obscure to stimulate our appetite.”

“And by this sign of the cross all Christian action is symbolized, viz., to do good works in Christ, to cling with constancy to Him, to hope for heaven, and not to desecrate the sacraments.”

“Now Scripture enjoins nothing except charity, and condemns nothing except lust, and in that way fashions the lives of men. . . . Now Scripture asserts nothing but the catholic faith, in regard to things past, future, and present.”

“For the Church, without spot or wrinkle, gathered out of all nations, and destined to reign for ever with Christ, is itself the land of the blessed, the land of the living . . .”

Recently I have re-visited a handful of Saint Augustine’s works. For my undergraduate studies I was fortunate enough to take a course on Saint Augustine taught by Dr. Chris Bounds (fantastic course, fantastic teacher), but once again I have found the happy pleasure of marching through Augustine’s Confessions and Christian Teaching, and the experience has been, yet again, quite uplifting.

I find his writings utterly compelling. When I read his writings I feel as though they have been written and addressed to me. This feeling is similar to the way I feel on the Lord’s Day; I am sitting in a pew, I am listening to the sermon, and I feel as though the Pastor has peered into my soul and addressed my very own sin.

So, in addition to that, what is it exactly that I find to be so compelling about Saint Augustine? If I had to pin it down, I would emphasize three points: First, his hermeneutic of love; second, his pastoral concern; and third, his ability to write with the utmost emotion and sincerity. Pastor D.M. Lloyd-Jones once commented that the “lightning and thunder” of a pastor is oftentimes lost in a written text, but, with Saint Augustine, “lightning and thunder” is commonplace. His ability to communicate in love with livelihood is absolutely gripping.

Classical Protestantism consists of four branches: Lutheran, Calvinistic, Anglican, and Radical (Anabaptistic). Do you want to know what is confusing? It is confusing when each of these groups talk about themselves as though they alone are the true branch of Protestantism. I protest such a notion.

Classical Protestantism is no mere branch. It is Aaron’s rod, putting forth buds, producing blossoms, and bearing ripe almonds. Classical Protestantism is the Garden on a Mountain, with four nourishing streams flowing to the ends of the earth. Classical Protestantism is alive, beautiful, and fruitful. Praise be to God.

Classical Protestantism is the priesthood of all believers. Classical Protestantism is the reformation of and return to Biblical preaching. Classical Protestantism is 500 million strong…may their tribe increase! Again, Classical Protestantism is alive, beautiful, and fruitful. Praise be to God.

So, all that to say, Classical Protestantism is multi-faceted and uniquely diverse. Classical Protestantism is Pentecostal and Spirit-Filled, blowing to and fro like the wind. Three times I say, it is alive, beautiful, and fruitful. Classical Protestantism, however, is all of these things not in spite of the 33,000+ denominations (David B. Barrett), but because of it. Again, Praise be to God, and may their tribe increase.

“Language is not an accident of human nature; else might it utterly perish like other arts and inventions of man. it is an essential element of man’s being, and one which distinguishes him from the brute” (Milton Terry, Biblical Hermeneutics, p. 71).

“Thought and speech are God’s gifts to creatures made in His image; these are intimately associated with Him and impossible apart from Him. it is highly significant that the first word was the Word: ‘And the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ We may speak because God spoke. In him word and idea are indivisible” (A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy, p. 2).

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Gospel of Saint Matthew, Chapter 28:18-20).

The Lord looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). Good looks and smooth words don’t fool God. “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me” Matthew 15:8. Do not be a hypocrite. If you want to be righteous, then draw near to God with both heart and speech.

God is omniscient (Psalm 139), he knows all and cannot be fooled. The Word made all things (John 1:2), he knows all and cannot be fooled. Wicked men are always trying to fool God, as well as their peers. Christians need to avoid being deceived by the smooth words of wicked men. Be like God, be holy and do not be deceived by false words. Do not be deceived into thinking that righteousness is merely eloquent speech. It require much, much more. Righteousness requires a renewed heart.

The Lord is Holy and is not fooled by wicked, smooth words, nor should the righteous. Therefore, consider the words of men carefully. Words are weighty and ought to be carefully considered. Words are weighty, so the righteous ought to use speech carefully. “The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth” Proverbs 10:20. The wicked do not consider the weight of their words; their hearts are of little worth. They do not understand that words and reality are intimately linked.

Consider the power of words. With words a Pastor declares that a man and woman have just been made “husband and wife”. That is powerful. The Pastor didn’t make them “husband and wife”, God did that. But what the Pastor is doing is declaring the truthfulness, that is, the objective fact of what has just occurred; he has declared that now they truly are “husband and wife,” whereas ten seconds ago they were not. This is what happens during Christian Baptism too. God saves you, not water and not the Pastor sprinkling it on your head. Your body was just baptized, that means something. Your wet, baptized body is an image, it is a picture. Pictures function like words in that they say something about reality. Your wet, baptized body is saying, “I’ve died with Christ, therefore, I will be raised with Christ and I will be saved from my sins…my body will not be abandoned to the grave because God grants eternal life to those who trust in him.”

God is not haphazard with words, nor should we be. Therefore, if you want to be righteous, then you should pray to God and ask him to transform your heart and speech. Heart and speech are not the sum of righteousness, however, it is helpful to think about them as grammar or building blocks for holy living.

FYI: If you are traveling to the Holy Land, do not take your iPad.

Here is a solid Vern Poythress quote from an interview: “Inerrancy is spiritually important because of the long-term consequences of denying it. If we come to think that there are errors in the Bible, we then allow ourselves to sort between what we think is good and what we think is bad. It is always we who end up doing the sorting, and our personal judgments lord it over scripture. It ruins the Lordship of Christ over our lives, because then we secretly retain the power to reject anything that does not suit us.”

In his First Homily on the Gospel of Matthew, Chrysostom warns us that judgment will come down upon us if we neglect the Scriptures. Scripture has purpose and was given for a reason (God’s words are not haphazard), therefore, Chrysostom says, “Let us give strict heed unto the things that are written; and let us learn how the Old Law was given on the one hand, how on the other the New Covenant” (added emphasis).