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Post Tenebras Lux — “After darkness, light”

This Latin phrase found on the Reformation Wall in Geneva, Switzerland, encompasses the purpose of both the original 1560 Geneva Bible and the new Reformation Study Bible: to bring the light of Scripture to a darkened world. Today there is a constant assault on the integrity of Scripture, which has served to undermine people's confidence in the trustworthiness of the Bible. The Reformation Study Bible is a valuable tool in the defense of sound doctrine and clear understanding of the truth.

“The Reformation Study Bible contains a modern restatement of Reformation truth in its comments and theological notes. Its purpose is to present the light of the Reformation anew.” - R.C. Sproul

More than 20,000 study notes, 96 theological articles, contributions from 50 evangelical scholars, 19 in-text maps and 12 charts combine to make this one essential study Bible.

The contributing scholars of The Reformation Study Bible have the highest academic credentials. Each is committed to the inerrancy of the Word of God and willingly submits to the authority of the Book they are trying to explain. The in-depth study notes included in The Reformation Study Bible were compiled from more than 50 distinguished biblical scholars, including Drs. J.I. Packer, James Boice, and Wayne Grudem. In addition, readers will appreciate book introductions, an extensive cross-reference system, plus illuminated words and terms within the Bible that are crucial to an in-depth understanding.

This unique study Bible was first published in 1995 as The New Geneva Study Bible in the New King James Version and was renamed The Reformation Study Bible in 1998. In March 2005 The Reformation Study Bible transitioned to the English Standard Version and has since sold more than 100,000 copies. However, the distinctive attribute of this bible is not the Scripture translation itself, but in it's extensive notes, charts and cross-references, including more than one hundred sidebars on the core doctrines of the Christian faith.

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Purchase the Reformation Study Bible - Ligonier Ministries

Sabbath Sermon - The Beast of Revelation Identified! (Apologetics Group)

Speculation abounds in Christianity today over the issue of End Times. In recent months we have seen many national disasters and all this has increased speculation over the question of "Is this the end times?" This Christian Sabbath I have decided to post a video from the Apologetics Group and presented by Dr. Kenneth Gentry which examines the prophecies concerning the end. Please take the time to watch this video, and be prepared to have your views challenged.

You can purchase the full DVD here

Australia’s First Preacher.

Rev. Richard Johnson, a thirty-two year old Englishman, and graduate of Cambridge University, arrived in New South Wales with the first fleet in January 1788. As the first, and for some time the only Christian preacher in Australia, Johnson had sole responsibility for the spiritual needs of the infant white population.

His flock numbered over one thousand souls and was made up of the governor, Captain Arthur Philip with his staff, and a large number of convicts (568 males, 191 females with 13 children).

Within a month of Johnson’s arrival the first service of public worship in Australia was organised for Sunday, February 3, 1788 at 10am with Governor Philip ordering that ‘No man to be absent on any account whatever.’ That first service was held by ‘a great tree’ close to the harbour with Johnson preaching from Ps.116:12,13 “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.’

While no record of what Johnson said on that historic occasion exists, Lieutenant Ralph Clark, who was present at the service, reported. “We had a very good sermon . . . the behaviour of the convicts was regular and attentive.” Moreover in the first piece of Christian literature written in Australia, Johnson tells us of how he preached to his congregation : “I do not address you as Churchmen or Dissenters, Roman Catholic or Protestants, as Jews or Gentiles . . . But I speak to you as mortals and yet immortals . . . The gospel proposes a free and gracious pardon to the guilty, cleansing to the polluted, healing to the sick, happiness to the miserable and even life for the dead.”

Rev. Richard Johnson, an Englishman, an Anglican, and Australia’s first preacher not only believed the biblical gospel but preached it in all of its glorious fullness.

In December 1788, Rev. Johnson along with his wife Mary, celebrated their first Christmas on Australian soil.

It can hardly have been the happiest of festive seasons for them both. Life in the colony was hard and the Johnsons fully shared in those hardships. Life in the colony was hard and the Johnsons fully shared in those hardships. In October 1788, they had moved into their ‘first’ home, a hut made from cabbage tree palms and rushes (it would be three years before they lived in a brick house) at Sydney Cove and it was there in that same month that they buried their first child.

Nonetheless the Johnson’s persevered in their adopted homeland and on that first Christmas we find Australia's first preacher going about the Master’s business.

His journal entry for Sunday, December 28, 1788 informs us that he “Rose about 4 o’clock. At five took boat; went to Rose Hill; arrived about eight o’clock; between nine and ten began public service. Preached from 2^nd chap. Eph.17. After sermon I distributed some books among the convicts. Returned about three o’clock, and arrived at Sydney about eight. Bless God, O my soul, for this day’s mercies and protection.”

Johnson’s text at that service was Ephesians 2:17. It reads “And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh”. It is a text whose chief subject is the Lord Jesus Christ. In particular, it refers to Christ in his role as our mediator. As mediator, Christ is the one who makes peace between God and man. He is the mediator who reconciles man to his holy God.

As Hebrews 2:17 declares concerning the Saviour “Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people”.

Christ in his role as our great high priest has made reconciliation for our sins. On our behalf and to our eternal benefit he has obtained peace with God for us.

But Johnson’s text not only alludes to Christ as the ultimate priest who obtains peace with God for us but also declares him to be the prophet who comes and preaches peace to us. How can this be as Christ was bodily absent from the earth in the time of the apostles and remains absent to this day? How does Christ preach peace to sinful man who is at enmity with God? He does so through his church. He is with his church always and particularly with its faithful preachers.

Men like Australia’s first preacher, Richards Johnson, who set forth Jesus Christ as humanity’s only hop and emphasised in their preaching the necessity of saving faith in Christ. Through such pulpiteers of the past and preacher of the present Christ comes and preaches peace to all.

Today, as you have read this article, let me ask you,

Do you know Richard Johnson’s Saviour?

Are you at peace with your God?

Are you trusting in Christ and his finished cross work for your salvation?

We encourage you to do so and to hearken to the words of the prophet Isaiah, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.”

When you do so you will discover for yourself that Christ is not only the priest who obtains salvation, and the prophet who proclaims salvation, but the king who governs the recipients of salvation. With the Hymn writer you will be able to say,

King of my life, I crown thee now,

Thine shalt the glory be;

Lest I forget thy thorn-crowned brow,

Lead me to Calvary.

May God give you the grace this day to take Jesus for your Saviour and crown him King of your life.

Source

Martyn Lloyd-Jones *RARE* video interview

Question: How Was There Salvation During the Old Testament Period?

Letter from D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones To Mr R. C. Sellers, 24 May 1962.

With regard to your question, the answer is this. It is made clear in Romans 3:25, 26 that God’s forgiving and passing over the sins of people in the Old Testament was in the light of our Lord’s death. Then there is a parallel statement of this in Hebrews 9:5–15, and especially verse 15. You have the same point, of course, in verses 39 and 40 of Hebrews 11. Then there is the crucial statement in John 8:56: ‘Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.’ When you take that in connection with Romans 4:17–24 and Galatians 3:6–29, it is clear that there is only one way of salvation, and that it is always in and through Christ and His work. Acceptance of and submission to the sacrificial teaching under the old dispensation was an acceptance of God's way of salvation. They realised that these were but types of something that was to come. The fact that their understanding and apprehension were incomplete makes no difference.

God announced from the very beginning that there was but this one way of salvation. That is why everything in the Old Testament points forward to this. I do hope that this will be of some help to you. Please do not hesitate to write to me whenever you like, or if I can help in a conversation at any point I shall be more than delighted.

Who Crucified Jesus? - Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Justification - Martyn Lloyd-Jones

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:28-30 ESV)

THE next term for our consideration is "Justified." This, as we have seen, is always associated with belief and faith. The term Thas become familiar--"Justification by faith only." That they are in a state of justification, or justified, is true of all who believe, who exercise faith. Christian people are often troubled and confused about "foreknowledge" and about the "calling"' but no Christian should ever be in trouble concerning justification, for it is the foundation of our whole position and standing with God. The first four chapters of this Epistle to the Romans are devoted to this subject of "justification by faith only." The apostle introduced it in the 17th verse of the let chapter; but because of the failure of the Jews to see it, and a corresponding failure on the part of the Gentiles, he had to argue it out in detail and demonstrate it with a multiplicity of proofs in those four chapters.
Justification in its essence is a legal or forensic term, a term that belongs to the realm of the Law Court. It means "to declare just," and "to declare righteous." It is the opposite ofcondemnation. The Christian has moved from a state of "condemnation" to one of "justification." For this reason the Apostle starts this 8th chapter by saying, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." He is taking up again the argument he had left off at the end of chapter 5, where he had been working out some of the consequences of justification. His constant emphasis concerning this is that it is something which is done by God, "Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified." In other words we do not justify ourselves before God. God justifies us, and He does it--and this is the argument of the first four chapters--entirely apart from us and our works. It is not the result of any merit that is in us. One verse that states this clearly and beyond any doubt is the 5th verse in the 4th chapter: "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." God justifies the "ungodly"; not the "righteous," but the "ungodly."

He argues the same point in chapter 5, verses 6-8: "When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." It is the action of God, and exclusively the action of God. This is the central argument of this Epistle. It is the declaration made by God concerning those who believe in Christ. We are justified in Christ, but through faith and belief. The belief is the instrument.

Let us emphasize again certain other aspects of this doctrine. Justification does not merely mean forgiveness. It includes forgiveness, but it is much bigger than forgiveness. It means in addition that God declares us to be entirely guiltless; He regards us as if we had never sinned at all. He pronounces us to be just and to be righteous. In doing so He is answering any declaration that the Law may make with respect to us. It is the judge upon the bench not merely saying that the prisoner at the Bar is forgiven, but that he pronounces him to be a just and righteous person.

In justifying us God tells us that He has taken our sins and our guilt, and has "imputed" them to, "put them to the account of," the Lord Jesus Christ and punished them in Him. He announces also that, having done that, He now puts to our account, or "imputes" to us, the perfect righteousness of His own dear Son. The Lord Jesus Christ obeyed the Law perfectly; He never broke it in any respect. He gave a full and a perfect satisfaction to all its demands. That full obedience constitutes His righteousness. What God does is to put to our account, to put upon us, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. In declaring us to be justified, God proclaims that He now looks on us, not as we are, but as clothed with the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. A hymn by the Moravian Count Zinzendorf, and translated by John Wesley, expresses it thus:

Jesus, Thy robe of righteousness
My beauty is, my glorious dress;
'Midst flaming worlds, in this arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.
The Count proceeds in the hymn to defy anyone and anything to bring a charge against us, because we are clothed and robed with this "righteousness" of the Lord Jesus Christ. Such, then, is the meaning of justification, and it is entirely the action of God. It is, I repeat, the forensic, legal declaration of God that we are not only forgiven but guiltless, and that as we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ we shall continue in that condition. In other words, we are given a new standing and a new status in the presence of God.