The Legalistic Tendencies of the Puritans (Part 2)

Part 2 - by Michele Rayburn
(Part 1 is here)

It seems as though Thomas Watson had an unhealthy preoccupation with sin, causing him to heap unnecessary condemnation upon himself, and leaving little or no room for himself or other Christians to experience the grace of God toward their sinful condition.

It seems as though Watson was collapsing under the weight of his own heavy yoke.

I was quite thrown by the words Watson used to describe God’s behavior toward His children. "A godly man loves the menaces of the Word. He knows there is love in every threat."..."God...mercifully threatens us, so that He may scare us from sin"..."There is mercy in every threat"...???

Was Watson’s definition of “menace”, “threat”, and “scare” different from that of today? Is it to be interpreted differently, or did he really mean what he said?

Then I thought, “Where is the Scripture to support his belief that God menaces, threatens and scares His children from their sin?” The Scripture that Watson used to support how the believer “loves the threatening part of the Word” I found to actually be supportive of how God regards His enemies in Psalm 68:21, and regarding evil in 1 Kings 3:26 and Zechariah 5:1, and not supportive Scripture regarding the believer.

So, it became increasingly unclear to me as to who Watson was talking about...the Christian or the unbeliever. It seemed he was mixing the two. How God uses the Word on the unbeliever and how He uses the Word on His children is quite different.

How God speaks to the unbeliever, or brings the unbeliever to repentance through His Word is different than how he teaches His children to grow in that grace by which they have now been saved.

Watson says, for instance, ”The Word has a double work: to teach us and to judge us. Those who will not be taught by the Word shall be judged by the Word.” Was he talking to the believer here regarding being judged, or the unbeliever? Or both? I’m guessing he meant the unbeliever because it refers to “those who will not be taught by the Word”.

Watson says, "We do not want sin covered, but cured. We can open our breast to the bullet of the Word and say, 'Lord, smite this sin.'" I am not sure what kind of remedy for his daily sin he is looking for here. The sins of the people of Israel were “covered” in the Old Testament by the blood of bulls and lambs.

Under the New Covenant, our sins were not “cured” but the Lord did “smite this sin” on the cross with His own blood. “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all...” (Romans 6:10)

As Keith Green sang, “The work is already done.” Our sins are no longer temporarily “covered”, but now we have been permanently “redeemed” by the blood of The Lamb.

There is no “cure” for sin in our daily life but in Romans 6:11-14,17-18 it says, “...reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord...do not let sin reign in your mortal body...present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead...for sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace...though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”

And 2 Corinthians 3:5-6 says, “...our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

And finally, Galatians 5:16 says, “...Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

Watson says, “The Word is a spiritual mirror through which we may see our own hearts...When the Word came like a mirror, all my opinion of self-righteousness died.”

That is true, but the Scripture goes further. It says in 2 Cor. 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

When I read the Word I do not feel threatened, because I love and trust the Lord. I feel challenged to grow in His grace...but not threatened.

I do not need to be scared away from sin. I am already repulsed by it, because I have been given a new nature. I am a new creation in Christ who is alive to God and dead to sin.

- Michele
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The Legalistic Tendencies of the Puritans (Part 1)

Part 1 - by Terry Rayburn
(Part 2 is here)

Since there are certainly a large number of Christians who read the Puritans, I wanted to make some comments about the Puritans in order to bring attention to a form of Legalism that they are prone to, largely because of their Covenant Theology.

No one likes to pick on such esteemed men as the Puritans, but Grace is too important to neglect the subtle spiritually-detrimental influence that the Law-based message of the Puritans can bring on an unsuspecting reader.

The following link is to a fairly representative message from Thomas Watson, entitled "A Godly Man Is A Lover of the Word":

http://www.puritansermons.com/watson/watson2.htm

I urge you to read it before reading comments by me in this post ("The Legalistic Tendencies of the Puritans, Part 1"), and by my wife Michele in the next post (Part 2).

Part 1, Comments by Terry:

Warning: Sin-centered Christians will not like the following comments. But sin-centered Christians love warnings, so I knew it would be an attention-getter :)

Watson, like other Puritans in general, thought he was being Christ-centered by being sin-centered.

This is a result of his not cutting straight (rightly dividing) the Word of Truth.

He didn't understand that the Old Covenant was made obsolete by the New (Heb. 8).

He didn't understand that sin shall no longer be master of us because we are no longer under Law but under grace (Rom. 6:14).

While he acknowledges grace in a vague way, his *focus* is on himself and his sin. This is unbiblical under the New Covenant.

Our *focus* is to be on Christ, and walking by His Spirit. Keeping our eyes on Him, fellowshiping with Him. Not examining our spiritual navel 24 hours a day to see if we're more sinless than we were yesterday, and wringing our hands and hankies when we're not.

"If we walk by the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16). The love of Christ constrains us to walk this way, and the love of Christ is grown in our hearts and minds as we look on Him, not our fleshly wretchedness.

And the Puritans didn't get it, because they were reactionaries, reacting to a decadent immoral secular English church. And they reacted with a law/sin-focused life and study.

They rightfully gloried in the greatness of God, and this is the one value of reading the Puritans, but it's a big mistake to go to them for tips on Christian living.

They are the Emperor who has no clothes. Greatly admired, almost worshiped like they were Christ himself, they were Law/Sin nerds who never got out of Old Covenant thinking, and into the bright light of Gal. 5:1, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage."

And yet, I mean no disrespect to them as men. They were influenced by their peers and their times.

But we are in another time, friends. A time in which we have an opportunity to bring the light of the New Covenant to a generation of believers who still think that their performance is the point.

A time when we can shake off "Religion" and replace it with Christ Who is our Life (Col. 3:4), and leave "Religion" for the World.

A time in which we can build true "...fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ" (1 Jn. 1:3), because "...the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanses us from all sin." (1 Jn. 1:7)

We all want "true revival". But true revival is happening now in the hearts of those who understand the radical nature of Grace, who understand the freedom which is in Christ, and I don't mean Antinomianism.

The Performance-Based Believer can never have the revival he thirsts for, because his *focus* is himself, and he doesn't even know it.

He thinks he still has a wicked heart, and doesn't realize that he's been given a *new* heart, a heart of flesh to replace the heart of stone. (He has no idea what Paul means in Rom. 7:17, when he says, "...it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.")

His goal in a good sermon is to be "convicted", so that he can head back to his laboratory of Performance and maybe get it right this time.

"Tetelestai!" It is finished! He has done it! Life conquered Death! Our sins, beloved are *all* forgiven. We are free to take our eyes off of ourselves and put them on the Author and Finisher of our Faith.

And the Catch-22 is that then we will sin less.

And it's all of Grace.

That's the New Covenant.

Grace Piled On Grace (Transcript)

Have you ever wondered what John meant in John 1:16 when he said that of the fullness of Christ we have received grace upon grace? Or your translation may say grace for grace.

Sometimes it’s important to realize the extent to which grace enters into the believer’s life.

Many think of grace merely as the means whereby God forgives sin, and fail to realize that grace is God’s way of dealing with one who receives Christ, not only during the earthly existence but also throughout eternity.

Great harm has come from this limited conception of grace and the lack of teaching how much grace is piled on grace.

Christian conduct is often criticized as being at a low level. To that extent is is largely due to the incomplete teaching of grace.

The false belief that an overemphasis on grace would cause believers to sin would quickly be changed if grace was preached and understood in its fullness.

John 1:17 “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.”

Truth is related directly to grace. It is the result of grace because grace is that which God does and this has to be truth. Only as grace enters into every part of the believer’s life, can there be truth in that life.

John 1:16 “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” Or as I titled this message, grace piled on grace.

It is grace upon grace that removes fear and give assurance, stability, and direction to the earthly life.

We know that it was by the grace of God that Jesus died for sins on the cross. Salvation is by grace through faith. “For by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” (Eph. 2:8)

Just as there are three aspects to salvation – from the penalty of sin, from the power of sin, and from the presence of sin – so there are three aspects to grace. Grace gives a standing before God, grace provides for our daily life on earth, and there will be a great demonstration of grace in the ages to come.

1. First, grace for a standing before God.

This is fully accomplished the moment a sinner believes on Jesus Christ as the One who satisfied, on his behalf, the demands of God’s justice.

Here are just some of the things that make up the believer’s standing and are accomplished by His grace. It is said that in Christ “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace”(Eph 1:7).

All who believe are “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;” (Rom 3:24).

Through disobedience and rebellion, in the Garden of Eden, the human race became enemies of God. Reconciliation has been made through the death of Jesus Christ, which He tasted by the grace of God.

“And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death” (Col. 1:21,22).

These and all other things that make up the believer’s standing are directly or indirectly by grace.

2. Second, grace for the daily life.

The Bible has a lot to say about the grace of God as it contributes to the earthly life of a believer.

What the apostle Paul said about himself should be realized by every believer: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” (1 Cor. 15:10)

According to this, all that a believer is and every labor of love by him is a result of the grace of god. Apart from His grace, nothing can be accomplished for God.

You remember Paul prayed three times to be relieved from a “thorn in the flesh”? What did God say? “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” (2 Cor 12:9) Here God’s grace sustained Paul at a time of great affliction. Here we can see the sufficiency of grace for all times and under all circumstances.

The grace of God delivers believers from the power of sin. “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” (Rom. 6:14)

It is only grace, God’s infinite provision in love, that can break the power of cancelled sin, and set the believer free. How ridiculous this make the claim (which has its source in human reasoning) that an emphasis on grace will cause Christians to sin more! There is not too much grace teaching, but rather not enough.

Again, it is through grace that a believer becomes spiritually strong. Paul wrote to Timothy: “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” By that he would be able to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ and even strive in his Christian life. Without grace, it is impossible to win the spiritual conflicts of life.

Another passage is closely related to this: “Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened [or established] by grace,” (Heb 13:9)

The alternative to a heart “strengthened [or established] by grace” is a restless and fearful heart. That is the experience of vast numbers of believers who do not understand the abounding grace of God. Obviously a believer’s striving in his own power, and failing, and sometimes even fearing being lost, doesn’t “strengthen the heart”.

That causes uncertainty, distress, and fainting. But when it is seen that God’s work of grace cannot fail, because it is of Him, and that behind His purpose is all His infinite power and grace, your heart does find rest and become “strengthened” or “established”.

Even what we call our service for God is by grace, isn’t it? 2 Cor 9:8 says, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;”

Really it’s the very life of Christ living through us. That’s the pinnacle of grace for following our Lord.

Paul spoke of his own preaching as being by the grace of God. He said: “To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ,” (Eph 3:8)

Heb. 4:16 exhorts us: “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Yes, there is a provision of God’s infinite love to fully supply in time of need. This is by grace and grace alone.

Are you familiar with that great benediction in 2 Thess 2:16,17? Maybe your Pastor has even said it to you as you leave a church service. Listen to it in light of our talk about grace:

“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.”

Surely all this and much more is grace piled on grace for the believer’s earthly life. There is nothing in life for which there is not grace. Because grace is so necessary for every detail of the believer’s life, there can be no danger in teaching too much grace. The danger lies in not understanding grace and in not teaching it enough.

3. Thirdly, grace in the ages to come.

What we’ve said so far doesn’t exhaust grace piled on grace.

Listen to the apostle Peter from 1 Pet 1:13, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober {in spirit,} fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Even more grace is to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is clear that the raising of those that sleep in Christ, the changing of believers who are alive, and the catching up together of all to be with the Lord throughout eternity has to be a provision of infinite grace.

No one merits this final glorious deliverance from the consequences and presence of sin.

But even more, to be totally conformed to the image of the Son of God, to be made like Him, having bodies made like His glorious body, being fully one with the Father and Son in body, soul and spirit, can only be brought about by the wonderful grace of God. Nothing else can explain so great a raising up of such creatures as us, who once were in rebellion and at enmity with God.

But as glorious as all this is, it still isn’t the end the infinite love and grace of God.

God’s ultimate purpose in saving man is “that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Eph 2:7)

Forgiveness of sins is according to the “riches of his grace” (Eph 1:7), but the grace to be shown in the ages to come is the “surpassing [or exceeding] riches of his grace” (Eph 2:7).

Only after the last bit of sin and the death that comes from sin, have been done away with forever, will the grace of God be fully realized. That will be the ultimate grace piled on grace.

One passage of Scripture sums it up:

“...Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” (Eph 5:25-27)

This really expresses the meaning of grace upon grace.

Grace piled on grace.

It’s not just God’s means of forgiving sin, but all that He does with and for the believer in raising him from his lost and condemned condition; in purifying and perfecting him; and finally, in placing him a glorious being, far above all other created beings, in perfect union with Himself.

Grace piled on grace.

Grace Piled On Grace

This week's message on Grace Walk Radio:

Grace Piled On Grace

Grace For Life radio archives are here.

Pray For North Korea

Please pray for North Korea.

They are not only becoming a dangerous nuclear threat, but as Open Doors has declared, North Korea is "the most dangerous place on Earth to be a Christian".

This video is 3:52 minutes long:

NK:PUSH from Acts1v8 on Vimeo.

If you're interested in more details, this video is 12 minutes long:

North Korea from Acts1v8 on Vimeo.

You may be tempted to hate these persecutors. Please don't, in the name of Jesus, the One who loved YOU while you were still His enemy.

But please...pray as the Lord leads you.

HT:Thoughts On The Way

Is It All Good? (Transcript)

As I speak these words today, there is war in the Middle East. Never surprising, except this time it includes America, who is at war with Islamic extremist terrorists. Wars and rumors of wars. Things aren’t that much different than for many years.

False religions grip many millions of people, even whole nations. False teachers abound in the visible Christian church world. Violence and other crimes rise and fall in the statistics, but they never go away.

Now if you listen much to me, you know that I’m big on the love and grace of God.

He loves us unconditionally, he has forgiven us of our sins, past present and future. He has made us new creations, dead to sin and alive to God. He has given us all spiritual blessings in Christ. He gives us the fruit of His Spirit, love, joy, peace, and so on. He even blesses the unbelievers in many ways, causing the rain to fall on the just and the unjust.

Life in Christ is so blessed in so many ways, we might be tempted to think that bad things shouldn’t happen. We might be tempted to pray, “Lord, why all these bad things? Why war? Why bloodshed? Why all this evil? Lord please take it all away. Don’t let any bad things happen any more, please.”

But we know that is not to be, don’t we?

I want to read a series of verses, not for the specific content of the verses, but just to ask you to do one thing. As I read these verses, I’d like to ask you to listen to the word MUST. As you listen for the word MUST in these verses, I hope some light is shed on our topic today, and I hope some light is shed on our amazing Lord, and His ways. Listen to the word MUST in these verses:


Matthew 16:21 From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.

Matthew 24:6 You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.

Matthew 26:54 How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?

Mark 8:31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Mark 13:7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end.

Luke 9:22 The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.

Luke 17:25 But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

Luke 21:9 When you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately.

Luke 24:44 Now He said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."

Revelation 4:1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things."

O.K., you may be asking, “What’s your point, Terry?”

Several points:

1. God’s ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are greater than our thoughts. We wouldn’t do things the way He does, necessarily.

Isaiah 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

2. God has a plan, and His plan is good, BUT His plan includes bad. In a fallen world, there will be the evil results of fallen man, but God uses that evil for good. As Joseph said to his brothers in Gen. 50:20, “you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good”.
Few things will cause us to worship God in heaven for eternity more than the full realization of how He turned bad to good.

These things must be.

3. God is sovereign in all things.
Psalms 115:3 But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.

4. God works all things for good to His children.
Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

What’s the application? As the question goes, “How shall we then live?”

1. If God puts on your heart to pray against some evil, by all means pray. I’m not advocating that we just not care. And sometimes, as James reminds us, we have not because we ask not.

2. We can have peace that passes understanding.
Peace is a fruit of the Spirit. And when we’ve prayed, we need to leave the results to God, and not be anxious.

Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

3. We can praise God for His great plan, and His awesome ability to take bad, and use it for good. We can honor the Lord for His sovereignty, instead of grumbling and complaining in it. Whether it’s the geo-politics of war, or some false teaching or apostasy, or even today’s weather report, let’s rejoice that God is in control. When we pray for our thorn in the flesh to be taken away, if it isn’t, His grace is still sufficient. His grace IS sufficient.

These things must be. But only for now. It’s not all good, but it all works for good to those of us who love the Lord.

Is It All Good?

This week's message on Grace Walk Radio:

Is It All Good?

Grace For Life radio archives are here.

Cling To Jesus

From Steve McVey:

When you have a serious decision to make and aren’t sure which option to choose, cling to Jesus. When you read your Bible every day, but don’t seem to get anything out of it at all, cling to Jesus. When your bills are coming in faster than your paychecks do, cling to Jesus. (read the rest here)

Jesus Isn't Too Busy For Your Quiet Time

I saw this sign in a local shop:


I can only please one person per day.

Today is not your day.

Tomorrow is not looking good either.


There's just enough truth about fallen humanity in that to make it humorous.

But isn't it great that the Lord has no such limited ability to express His lovingkindness?

We never need to think we are diminishing God's gracious work elsewhere in the Universe just because we take up His time in our intimate fellowship with Him.

The Heart Of The Christian Life Is Love

By Michele Rayburn

Romantic love is so much different from 1 Corinthians 13 Biblical love, isn’t it?

About 2 years after I was saved, I recall sitting down to read my Bible and study and pray. I remember opening up to 1 Corinthians 13 and debating about whether I should just skip over those verses about love for now, because “after all, everyone knows what love is, right?” I wanted to learn about the “weightier things of God”. And then it came to me that love was the one thing that I actually knew so little about. And that if I didn’t begin learning what Biblical love was, I really wouldn’t be able to understand the “weightier things of God” with the proper perspective.

I must say that since I began making my focus understanding Biblical love and how it is supposed to be practiced by believers, the Word of God really did become more meaningful and more powerful in my life. I quickly came to see that learning to put into practice Biblical love, and knowing the God Who is Love, *were* the “weightier things of God”. And that was what I needed to know first and foremost.

Without love, we are nothing...a clanging cymbal. When the Preacher preaches, or the teacher teaches, or the Christian witnesses to the unbeliever, if it is not done in love, though the message itself may be powerful, the messenger is “nothing”, according to 1 Corinthians 13.

Romantic love is a wonderful thing, but without Biblical love it may eventually leave the heart empty. Think about God's love for you. Whatever state you are in, may you find contentment resting in His love.