Reflections on Lord’s Day 49 of 2019: “Faith Comes by Hearing”
On 12/8/2019, the sermon preached by Pastor Joe Rosales was based on Romans 10:11-21.
The pastor explained that is easy to confuse the two natures of Christ, as many ancient heresies attest. It is still a major issue today, because Christology is one of the most difficult doctrines of the Bible. The Creed of Chalcedon provides theological boundaries to keep us from straying, though it doesn’t provide a thorough systematic treatment or crucial definitions, by affirming
one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ; as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.
Gordon Clark has brilliant contributions to the unresolved Christological problems that the Church still faces in his work on The Incarnation. It’s also important to consider the Reformed Confessions, because “Christ, in the work of mediation, acteth according to both natures, by each nature doing that which is proper to itself; yet by reason of the unity of the person, that which is proper to one nature is sometimes in Scripture, attributed to the person denominated by the other nature.” (John 3:13; Acts 20:28, https://www.arbca.com/1689-chapter8)
Many churches today preach the love of God but completely leave out or deny the wrath of God. There’s no sense of God’s holiness, as there was with the prophet Isaiah, who cursed himself, saying, “Woe is me! For I am pulverized!” (Isa 6:5) when he saw the Lord sitting on His throne (v. 1). The Reformed tradition, however, has always stressed the importance of this doctrine, even to little children:
Q. What does every sin deserve?
A. The anger and judgment of God (Deut. 27:26; Rm. 1:18; 2:2; Gal. 3:10; Eph. 5:6).
The pastor admonished us to not lose sight of what Christmas is truly about—a Savior being born to redeem fallen mankind from the just wrath of God. This is the gospel, the good news, for all who believe. Christians should not replace Christ with Santa Clause or materialism. It is about being justified—declared righteous by faith alone in Christ alone—and about deliverance from sin and judgment. We’re saved from the condemnation and the power of sin.
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:8-10 NKJV)
The pastor encouraged us to meditate on two things: That there is nothing good in us, our flesh, and on the greatness of God’s mercy in Christ Jesus: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (I Peter 1:3-5 NKJV).
“I will never forget Your precepts, For by them You have given me life. I am Yours, save me; For I have sought Your precepts” (Psalms 119:93-94 NKJV).
He closed by highlighting the importance of the doctrine of glorification. What will children who die in the Lord look like in the Resurrection? Using the Reformed principle of deducing doctrine by good and necessary consequence from Scripture, we can see that, in the Resurrection, we will have adult glorified bodies. Adam and Eve were created as adults. Childhood is a transition into adulthood: “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things” (I Corinthians 13:11 NKJV). The same is true for those who die in old age. Surely Moses and Elijah did not look like crippled old men when they appeared during Christ’s Transfiguration (Matt. 17:3). Christ will bless us with perfect, mature, glorified bodies when He returns. “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:20-21 NKJV).