The Westminster Confession of Faith 1646 370 years!

1. The Westminster Confession of Faith1646370 years!

2. Lessons from Luther • We don’t care about Evangelism. • We don’t care about the Reformation. • We have to fight what is natural: “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please” Galatians 5:17. • Resistance (not extermination) is good: • The balance of power in Europe:

3. Luther Quotes “Nothing can more easily earn hell for a man than the improper training of his own children; and parents can perform no more damaging bit of work than to neglect their offspring, to let them curse, swear, learn indecent words and songs, and permit them to live as they please. Some parents themselves incite their children to such sins by giving them superfluous finery and temporal advancement so that they may but please the world, rise high and become wealthy.”

4. The 5 Solas • Sola Scriptura: • Sola Fide: • Sola Gratia: • Sola Christus: • Soli Deo Gloria:

5. The word “Sola” • Sola Scriptura: • Sola Fide: • Sola Gratia: • SolaChristus: • Soli Deo Gloria:

6. Why? • Sola Scriptura: + the pope • Sola Gratia: + the sacraments. • Sola Fide: + good works. • SolaChristus: + the catholic church. • Soli Deo Gloria: + the church?

7. Why the Westminster Confession? • The Puritans: • The Westminster Confession: • The Westminster Larger Catechism: • The Westminster Shorter Catechism: • The New England Primer:

8. Who Were the Puritans? • The Puritans were a group of English Reformed Protestants in the 16th and 17th Centuries who sought to “purify” the Church of England from it “Catholic” practices, maintaining that the Church of England was only partially reformed. • Others thought that the Church of England was so corrupt that true Christians should separate from it altogether; they are known as "Separatists.” • The Mayflower Pilgrims (1620)were referred to only as Separatists. • The “Valley of Vision.”

10. Knox Luther 1514 – 1572 1600 1483 – 1546 Zwingli Calvin 1484 – 1531 1509 – 1564

11. Catholic/Puritan Church of England??? 1603 – 1625 ‘Catholic’ 1509 – 1547 King James Bible Catholic/Anglican James I Henry VIII 1625 – 1649 ‘Catholic’ English Civil War 1553 – 1558 Charles I Catholic ‘BloodyMary’ 1653 – 1658 Mary I Protestant Oliver Cromwell 1558 – 1603 1660 – 1685 Protestant Catholic Act of Uniformity/Clarendon Code - 1662 Charles II Elizabeth I 1689 Act of Toleration

12. Catholic/Puritan Church of England??? 1603 – 1625 ‘Catholic’ 1509 – 1547 King James Bible Catholic/Anglican James I Henry VIII 1625 – 1649 Westminster Confession ‘Catholic’ English Civil War 1553 – 1558 Charles I Catholic ‘BloodyMary’ 1653 – 1658 Mary I Protestant Oliver Cromwellv 1558 – 1603 1660 – 1685 Protestant Catholic Act of Uniformity/Clarendon Code - 1662 Charles II Elizabeth I 1689 Act of Toleration

13. Some Famous Puritans Thomas Gouge William Bridge Thomas Manton Richard Sibbes John Flavel Stephen Charnock John Owen William Bates John Howe Richard Baxter

14. Some Famous Puritans Thomas Gouge William Bridge Thomas Manton Richard Sibbes John Flavel Stephen Charnock John Owen William Bates John Howe Richard Baxter John Bunyan

15. Non-Conformists Plymouth 1620 ‘The Great Ejection’ 1662 A New World . . .

16. A New Revival . . . Whitfield Winthrop Harvard Edwards 1587-1649 Mather 1714-1770 1639-1723 1703-1758

17. Grudem Appendices • The Apostles Creed 3rd C. AD • The Nicene Creed 381 AD • The Chalcedon Creed 451 AD • The Athanasian Creed 4–5th C AD -------------------- • 39 Articles 1571 AD • Westminster Confession 1646 AD • The New Hampshire Baptist 1833 AD • Baptist Faith & Message 1925 AD • Chicago Statement of Biblical Inerrancy 1978 AD

18. Historic Confessions • Augsburg Confession 1530 AD • Larger & Smaller Catechism 1529 AD • “The first for the use of preachers and teachers, the last as a guide in the instruction of youth” • Heidelberg Catechism 1562 AD • 39 Articles of the Church of England 1562 AD • The Second Helvetic Confession 1564 AD • The Canons of the Synod of Dort 1619 AD • The Westminster Confession 1646 AD

19. The Westminster ConfessionSpecific Characteristics • Chapter 31, Section iv: “All synods or councils since the apostles' times, whether general or particular, may err, and many have erred; therefore they are not to be made the rule of faith or practice, but to be used as a help in both”

20. The Holy Scripture • God/the Holy Trinity • God' s Eternal Decree • Creation • Providence • Fall of Man, of Sin, and Punishment • God' s Covenant with Man • Christ the Mediator • Free Will • Effectual Calling • Justification • Adoption • Sanctification • Saving Faith • Repentance unto Life • Good Works • Perseverance of the Saints • Assurance of Grace/Salvation • Law of God • Christian Liberty, and Liberty of Conscience • Religious Worship, and the Sabbath-Day • Lawful Oaths and Vows • Civil Magistrate • Marriage and Divorce • The Church • Communion of Saints • The Sacraments • Baptism • The Lord' s Supper • Church Censures • Synods and Councils • State of Men after Death/ Resurrection of the Dead • the Last Judgment

21. The Westminster ConfessionObservations • Election Chapter 9 • Strict Sabbatarian Chapter 21 • The Pope as antichrist Chapter 25 • The mass as offensive Chapter 29 ------------------- • No apocrypha • No explicit elder rule • No eschatology

22. The Westminster ConfessionRegarding the Pope • Chapter 25, section vi: “There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ; nor can the Pope of Rome, in any sense, be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalts himself, in the Church, against Christ and all that is called God.”

23. The Christian Home:

24. The Christian home is . . . A battleground! Worldview Biblical Understanding Conduct

25. The Christian Home:

26. The Westminster ConfessionApplication to life: the household • “The Puritan’s favorite image for the family was a church” (Ryken, 84). • “A Christian family . . . is a church” (84). • “The Puritans knew that the church can never be a substitute for the religious life of a family.” • “The health of the church depends on what happens in the family.” • “Houses are the nurseries of the church.” • “Worship was a regular part of the household routine.”

27. The Westminster ConfessionApplication to life: the education • “Education is God’s ordinary way for the conveyance of his grace, and ought no more to be set in opposition to the Spirit than the preaching of the Word” (Ryken, 159).

28. The Westminster ConfessionApplication to life: the education • “Mistake me not, my brethren: I am not speaking against learning in itself; it is a precious gift of God, and may be happily improved in the service of the gospel; but I will venture to say, in the spirit of the apostle Paul's writings in general, and of this passage in particular, Accursed be all that learning which sets itself in opposition to the cross of Christ! Accursed be all that learning which disguises or is ashamed of the cross of Christ! Accursed be all that learning which fills the room that is due to the cross of Christ! and once more, Accursed be all that learning which is not made subservient to the honour and glory of the cross of Christ!” John Knox Witherspoon (1723- 1794).

29. The Westminster Shorter CatechismThe New England Primer

30. A Shelter in the Storm • The Lord’s our Rock, in Him we hide,A Shelter in the time of storm;Secure whatever ill betide,A Shelter in the time of storm. • Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land,A weary land, a weary land;Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land,A Shelter in the time of storm. • A shade by day, defense by night,A Shelter in the time of storm;No fears alarm, no foes afright,A Shelter in the time of storm.

31. my Jesus, I Love You My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;For Thee all the follies of sin I resign.My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now. I love thee because thou hast first loved meand purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree;I love thee for wearing the thorns on thy brow;if ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now. I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

32. Soli Deo Gloria!!!