8.23.26
"God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!'" Romans 8:15
A Reflection Before The Service
A Reflection Before The Service
When a man is driven to acts of obedience by the dread of God ’s wrath revealed in the law, and not drawn to them, by the belief in His love revealed in the gospel; when he fears God because of His power and justice, and not because of His goodness; when he regards God more as an avenging Judge, then as a compassionate Friend and Father; and when he contemplates God rather as terrible in majesty than as infinite in grace and mercy, he shows that he is under the dominion, or at least under the prevalence of a legal spirit... He shows that he is under the influence of this hateful temper ...when his hope of divine mercy is raised by the liveliness of his frame in duties, and not by discoveries of the freeness and riches of redeeming grace, not as the gift of God through Jesus Christ, but as a recompense from God for his own obedience and suffering, he plainly shows, that he is under the power of a legal spirit.
– John Colquhoun, Treatise on the Law and Gospel(1859)
There is only one genuine cure for legalism. It is the same medicine the gospel prescribes for antinomianism: understanding and tasting union with Jesus Christ himself. This leads to a new love for and obedience to the law of God, which he now mediates to us in the gospel... Christ has ascended into the heavenly mount, but in contrast Moses, He has sent down the spirit who rewrites the law, not now merely on tablets of stone, but in our hearts. There is a recalibration to Eden, albeit in the heart of a person formerly enslaved to sin, bearing its marks, and living in a world still under the dominion of sin. Now the empowerment is within, through the indwelling of Christ, the obedient One, the Law Keeper, by the Spirit. This is what now provides both motivation and empowerment in the Christian.
– Sinclair B. Ferguson, The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism and Gospel Assurance – Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters(2016)
The Call To Worship
The Call To Worship
St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans 8.12-17
So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-- for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out,
"Abba! Father!"
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
(Prayer)
A Reflection Before The Service
When a man is driven to acts of obedience by the dread of God ’s wrath revealed in the law, and not drawn to them, by the belief in His love revealed in the gospel; when he fears God because of His power and justice, and not because of His goodness; when he regards God more as an avenging Judge, then as a compassionate Friend and Father; and when he contemplates God rather as terrible in majesty than as infinite in grace and mercy, he shows that he is under the dominion, or at least under the prevalence of a legal spirit... He shows that he is under the influence of this hateful temper ...when his hope of divine mercy is raised by the liveliness of his frame in duties, and not by discoveries of the freeness and riches of redeeming grace, not as the gift of God through Jesus Christ, but as a recompense from God for his own obedience and suffering, he plainly shows, that he is under the power of a legal spirit.
– John Colquhoun, Treatise on the Law and Gospel(1859)
There is only one genuine cure for legalism. It is the same medicine the gospel prescribes for antinomianism: understanding and tasting union with Jesus Christ himself. This leads to a new love for and obedience to the law of God, which he now mediates to us in the gospel... Christ has ascended into the heavenly mount, but in contrast Moses, He has sent down the spirit who rewrites the law, not now merely on tablets of stone, but in our hearts. There is a recalibration to Eden, albeit in the heart of a person formerly enslaved to sin, bearing its marks, and living in a world still under the dominion of sin. Now the empowerment is within, through the indwelling of Christ, the obedient One, the Law Keeper, by the Spirit. This is what now provides both motivation and empowerment in the Christian.
– Sinclair B. Ferguson, The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism and Gospel Assurance – Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters(2016)
The Call To Worship
St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans 8.12-17
So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-- for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out,
"Abba! Father!"
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
(Prayer)
23/08/26