LONDON BAPTIST CONFESSION 1.1
Truth for Life • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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-As we learn the truth that gives us life and directs our lives, we use creeds and confessions to summarize what the Bible has revealed to us. Some still may scoff at such an idea. B. H. Carroll, who was a pastor, theologian, and first president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, gives a good response to the scoffers. He said:
Ready for Reformation?: Bringing Authentic Reform to Southern Baptist Churches (The Creedal Status of Confessions)
A Christian’s creed should enlarge, and not diminish, up to the last utterance of revelation in order that each article might be transmitted into experience. A church with a little creed is a church with a little life. The more doctrines a church can agree on, the greater its power, and the wider its usefulness. The fewer its articles of faith, the fewer its bonds of union and compactness. The modern cry: “Less creed and more liberty,” is a degeneration from the vertebrate to the jellyfish, and means less unity and less morality, and it means more heresy—Definitive truth does not create heresy—it only exposes and corrects. Shut off the creed and the Christian world would fill up with heresy unsuspected and uncorrected, but none the less deadly.
-We have looked at the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed as succinct summaries of the minimum that Christians believe. I want to begin to look at confessions of faith that are longer summaries of important doctrines that help ensure that Christians stay on the road of truth and orthodoxy. To consider a quick history of these confessions, you could say they were first borne out of the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation established some important truths. First, salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone. But then, second, it turned us to the importance of Scripture alone for the basis of our authority of faith and practice.
-From there, we next look at the Puritan movement of the 1500’s and 1600’s. After the Protestant Reformation, England had established a Church of England. However, the Church of England still held onto many of the doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Those who wanted to purify the church from those doctrines and practices were called Puritans. There is a whole lot of church and government politics that we don’t have time to get into, but the Puritans and their churches wanted to have right faith and practice, and in response to some heresies that appeared during that time, they created confessions of faith to refute error and hold onto truth. These confessions were results of Assemblies that were gathered to ensure the purity of the faith.
-One such confession is the Westminster Confession of Faith that was drawn up in 1646. While it was generally meant for the Church of England, it found much of its use and support by the Presbyterians. Also in the 1640’s the Baptists drew up a confession known as the First London Baptist Confession. Later in that century another Baptist Confession was written, and at an assembly in 1689 it was accepted as a proper confession of faith for Baptists. It is referred to as the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, or more commonly referred to as the 1689 Baptist Confession. A form of this confession was adopted in America in 1742 and is known as the Philadelphia Confession of Faith. It was the confession that Charles Spurgeon used in his church. And it actually was the confession used when the Southern Baptist Convention was first organized, and it was the basis for the abstract of principles used by the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Now, Baptists didn’t fully use the Westminster Confession because the Westminster Confession of Faith supported Paedobaptism (baptizing babies—hence its general acceptance by Presbyterians), but the Baptist confessions obviously hold to believer’s baptism. But other than the baptism issue, the confessions hold much in common.
-We, being Baptist, obviously would hold more in common with the 1689, and I will use it as the springboard of our discussions; but I will also bring in the Westminster Confession to supplement these summaries because there is much that is useful within it. Now, in full transparency, we probably would not agree 100% with what these confessions contain; but we probably agree with 95% of them. Both of these confessions were brought forth by Reformed theologians and pastors—meaning, that they lean more toward the Reformed theology side of things. But what you’ll find is that you agree much more with the Reformed side of things than you would the Arminian. Baptists have always leaned more Reformed. But, we might not agree with everything—so, don’t go around saying that I’m trying to make us a bunch of Calvinists or anything. Yet, I believe these confessions will be very helpful in giving us an understanding of what we believe and why we believe it.
-Again, confessions are not a substitute for Scripture, but help us define and sort what it is that Scripture says. As one author states it:
Far from denying or competing with the authority of Scripture, a historic biblical confession such as the 1689 actually promotes and confirms the Scriptures as our final authority. If there is any doubt in our minds, the confession removes it in the very first line: “The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.” But the confession affirms more than the authority of Scripture. It affirms that these authoritative Scriptures actually teach specific doctrines. The authoritative Scriptures will do us no good if we cannot say what they actually teach. The confession expresses the conviction that the Scriptures deliver to us a coherent, life-altering body of teaching—the faith (Jude 3).
-So, we will start to look at these confessions, and we’ll just start right at the beginning (and I am using a version with more modern language than the original):
Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century (I. The Holy Scriptures)
The Holy Scriptures are the only sufficient, certain, and infallible standard of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. The light of nature and the works of creation and providence so clearly demonstrate the goodness, wisdom, and power of God that people are left without excuse; however, these demonstrations are not sufficient to give the knowledge of God and His will that is necessary for salvation. Therefore, the Lord was pleased at different times and in various ways to reveal Himself and to declare His will to His church. To preserve and propagate the truth better and to establish and comfort the church with greater certainty against the corruption of the flesh and the malice of Satan and the world, the Lord put this revelation completely in writing. Therefore, the Holy Scriptures are absolutely necessary, because God’s former ways of revealing His will to His people have now ceased.
-Tonight, just real quick, I want to highlight two words within this section of the confession. The confession says that Scriptures are a standard (older versions: rule) and they it is revealed (revelation). God revealed His standard to mankind through Holy Scriptures. God has made His will known and given His guidelines for humanity through the Bible where He gives us commandments and shows us what to do for salvation and for life. Therefore, Paul was able to tell Timothy:
15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
-Scripture alone is inspired revelation from God by which we become wise for salvation, we are taught what to do, we are reproved when we do wrong, we are corrected to do right, and we are trained and equipped to fulfill the work God has for us. Only Scripture is able to do that. As the confession states it, only Holy Scripture is sufficient—that means only Scripture is adequate for the purpose for which God had intended. Only Scripture is sufficient for the teaching and reproving and correcting and training. Only Scripture is sufficient to point us to our Savior Jesus Christ, and to give us the commands of God to live by. Only Scripture is sufficient to be our guide as the Holy Spirit illuminates its meaning for us. That’s why we have to be very careful with the whole GOD TOLD ME TO DO WHATEVER. How do you know it just isn’t the imagination of your own heart? How do you know it isn’t the lie of the devil? The only way we know is to take it to the all-sufficient Scripture.
-The confession also says that only Scripture is certain. This means that only Scripture is unquestionable and can be relied upon. Only Scripture is a solid foundation upon which to base your life and to lead you to Christ who is the solid rock. It is Christ who saves, but how do you come to know Christ? If Christ is the foundation and cornerstone, how do you know Him? Only Scripture is certain enough to provide what we need to have solid ground underneath our spiritual feet.
-And it says that Scripture is infallible. We normally team that word with the word inerrant, and what it tells us is that Scripture is without error and can never be mixed with error. How do you know your feelings and what you think God told you is truth? By matching it with Scripture. How do you know what a teacher or preacher says is truth? By matching it with Scripture. Whatever Scripture speaks on is truth and it will never lead us astray.
-This means that Scripture is trustworthy. If it weren’t trustworthy, how could we then have it as our standard or rule for life and faith? If Scripture was not trustworthy, then it could not be divine revelation because the God of truth cannot be mixed with error. If Scripture was not trustworthy, how would we know if the gospel we believed and the Savior that we trusted can actually save us? I wouldn’t put my trust in anything that was untrustworthy. You wouldn’t put faith in something that was of questionable origin or questionable accuracy.
-And so we pray that the Holy Spirit gives us understanding of what God has revealed about Himself and His ways. And we pray that those who do not believe the Word of God will believe because it will lead them to the Word of God who is Jesus Christ. This is necessary because the Scripture alone is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible standard of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.