Richard Sibbes: 

"We all agree there should be truth in worship. But shouldn’t worship also be in truth? There’s a big difference between having truth in worship and worshipping in truth. Having truth in worship means you got some Bible in there. But worshiping in truth means the whole thing is by the Book. So the Bible commands us to worship acceptably (Heb 12). When the Bible commands acceptably, the Bible means the Bible. Where else would the Bible appeal the command than itself?

"And there is order in Hebrews 12’s exposition of worship. We are called to offer “acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” Acceptable means worship accordingly. Reverence and awe means formality. Consuming fire means you should smell the charred remains of Nadab and Abihu in the smoke and tremble before your God asking only one question, “Has God commanded this worship?”" - Jared Beaird, The Antecedent To Worship 

"Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace [or gratitude], whereby we may offer worship well-pleasing [acceptable] to God with reverence and awe." - Heb 12:28

Here are some earlier verses in Hebrews that depict this theme of faith in Christ for our acceptance with God:

"so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." - Heb 6:12

"a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God... but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them." - Heb 7:19b, 24-25

"Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance... For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf." - Heb 9:15a, 24

"let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water... but my righteous one shall live by faith,

and if he shrinks back,

my soul has no pleasure in him.”

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. "- Heb 10:22, 38-39

"And without faith [in Christ alone] it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." - Heb 11:6

And of course, "looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith" -Heb 12:2 that is at the beginning of the chapter under consideration.

"Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers." - John 4:22-23

"I prefer a liturgy structured: gospel, law, gospel. To begin and end with the gospel secures me in my only comfort in life and in death...

"Here’s my application, turn the gospel up to eleven every Lord’s Day. And for that, you will need a proper biblical liturgy." 

The article is well worth reading > The Antecedent to Worship

 “Now in speaking of the righteousness of faith scripture leads us to quite another place; that is, it teaches us to turn our attention away from our works to regard only God's mercy and the perfect holiness of Christ. For it shows us this order of justification: that from the beginning God receives the sinner by His pure and free goodness, not considering anything in him by which He is moved to mercy except the sinner's misery, since He sees him completely stripped and empty of good works; and that is why He finds in Himself the reason for doing him good. Then He touches the sinner with a feeling of His goodness so that, distrusting everything he has, he may put the whole sum of his salvation in the mercy which God gives him. That is the feeling of faith, by which a person enters into possession of his salvation: when he recognizes by the teaching of the gospel that he is reconciled to God because, having obtained the remission of his sins, he is justified by means of Christ's righteousness. Although he is regenerated by God's Spirit, he does not rest on the good works which he does, but is reassured that his perpetual righteousness consists in Christ's righteousness alone.”

John Calvin, The Institutes of Religion: The First English Version of the 1541 French Edition

“Lest we stumble from the first step (which would happen if we entered into dispute about something uncertain), we must first explain what these ways of speaking mean: "to be justified before God" and "to be justified by faith or by works." 

“That person is said to be justified before God who is counted righteous before God's judgment and is acceptable to His righteousness. Since iniquity is hateful to God, the sinner cannot find grace before His face; therefore, where sin is, there God's wrath and vengeance make themselves known. So that person is justified who is not counted as a sinner but as righteous, and for this reason he can rest tranquilly at God's judicial throne, before which all sinners stumble and are confounded. As when some person who was wrongly accused, when he has been examined by the judge and absolved and declared innocent, we say that he is justified in righteousness; so we say that a person is justified before God who, being separated from the number of sinners, has God as witness and proof of his righteousness. So we say that a person is justified before God by his works when there is such a purity and holiness in his life that it deserves the name of righteousness before God, or when by the integrity of his works he can satisfy God's judgment. On the contrary, that person is said to be justified by faith who, being excluded from the righteousness of works, by faith grasps Jesus Christ's righteousness and, clad in that, appears before God's face not as a sinner but as righteous.

“However, because the majority of people imagine a righteousness of faith mixed with works, let us also show (before we pass on) that the righteousness of faith is so different from that of works that if the one is established, the other is overturned. The apostle says that "he has counted all things as excrement to gain Christ and to be found in Him, not having his own righteousness which is of the law but that which is by faith in Jesus Christ, that is the righteousness which is from God by faith" (Phil. 3[8-9]). We see here that he compares the two things as opposites, and shows that it is necessary for the one who wants to obtain Christ's righteousness to abandon his own.”

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion: The First English Version of the 1541 French Edition

The other day I came across this quote from Charles Jefferson who wisely observed,

“When the minister goes into the pulpit he is the shepherd in the act of feeding, and if every minister had borne this in mind many a sermon would have been other than it has been. The curse of the pulpit is the superstition that a sermon is a work of art and not a piece of bread or meat… Sermons, rightly understood, are primarily forms of food. They are articles of diet. They are meals served by the minister for the sustenance of spiritual life.”

In light of the above I thought I'd repost this entry from July 2011:

Following up on my two posts (here and here) concerning feeding the sheep through word and sacrament, I want to present a couple of analogies to hopefully amplify what I think is lacking in much of the preaching in churches today.

As a thumbnail sketch: most pastors preach from the Bible.  There is usually a text upon which the sermon is based.  The passage is often presented in terms of its historical, doctrinal, and character settings.  As one listens, he may hear that God is loving, gives grace, and that there is much to be thankful for as a believer.  The listener is encouraged to trust in God's faithfulness as lessons are drawn from the verses.  The believer is admonished to go forth with renewed obedience trusting in Jesus and the ever-present grace and help of the Holy Spirit.  In the same way God was faithful to [list any number of Biblical characters], he is faithful to you, the present day believer.  As the song says, "trust and obey - there's no other way..."  What is missing?

Analogy #1: Imagine you are plagued with a failing heart, one riddled with disease.  You schedule an appointment with a skilled surgeon.  You go to the hospital.  You're taken into the operating room and the doctor enters.  From his scholarly medical books he begins laying out before you the procedures that have been developed over many years that have been shown to be successful in curing heart disease.  He explains in detail the countless individuals who have benefited from these amazing techniques.  Step by step and precept upon precept the medical procedure is detailed.  He concludes by explaining how one can be healed and live a normal life as a result of this amazing wonder of medicine.  He smiles, shakes your hand, gives you a bill  having finished what he came to do.

Analogy #2:  Imagine that you and many others have been invited to a dinner party hosted by a highly-trained chef.  You arrive at the restaurant in a very hungry state.  Upon entering the reserved dining room you observe an elaborately prepared setting.  The finest linen, expensive china dinnerware, sterling silver utensils, and fine crystal glasses adorn the table.  Everyone sits down.  The chef enters.  Appetites are whetted and hopes run high for a much anticipated and needed satisfying feast.

The chef then opens his cookbook and spends the next forty minutes describing how the meal is prepared.  He shows pictures of each course of the dinner while reciting all the ingredients with their proportions and nutritional values.  Most of all, he stresses how delicious, healthful, and sustaining the food is.  He then thanks everyone for coming, bids them farewell until the next dinner party.  The people leave, duly impressed and yet wondering what the aching, empty feeling in their stomach could mean.  You think to yourself, "if only I can remember these recipes and apply them better to my life..."

Preaching is more than good scholarly biblical exegesis. Sheep need to hear why they are hungry and that they are prone to look for food in all the wrong places. Sheep need to be fed.

  "Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." (John 6: 27).  

The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion:

The doctrine regarding the self-abhorence and humility of the believer before God has been part of a Reformed, biblical confession of faith in Christ going back centuries and even longer to the earliest periods of time (Job 42:6). Yet some today would consider the humble repentance of a believing sinner confessing his self-aborrence because of his sinfulness before an holy God to be a destructive self-image-heterodoxy which deceptively entices the Christian down a crooked path to a negative self-esteem (modernism alert!). Those of past ages would be more than a bit perplexed and disturbed by such a self-enhancing denial of Scriptual teaching. The concern raised here is not some theoretical exercise of looking for potential error, but hopefully a corrective to a culturally-influenced mindset in the modern church, a swerving-from-truth that clothes itself in the garment of a supposed "enlightened" biblical understanding of man. (see Part 1 and Part 2)

It's rhetorical, man...

How many works are necessary for final salvation? There are some out there who might be prone to see this question as indicating a legal spirit in the questioner. Well, inasmuch as the question relates to the recent discussions of "final salvation" or "final justification" they would be wrong. Rather, the question is asked not to pin down a quantifiable number of good works needed, but posed rhetorically to make the very important point that when it comes to the question, the answer is NONE. In the same way, one could ask, how sincere or of what quality must our evangelical works be in order to secure final salvation? If the answer is this or that level then, as the marine in the movie Aliens said, 'Game over, man! Game over!'


And as Charles Hodge wrote, 'Salvation is in no sense, and in no degree, of works.' 

Let me repeat what has already been asserted countless time by many others, including myself. Good works are indeed necessary in a believer's life. We are called to obedience in Christ. Good works are believing in Christ (John 6:29). Good works are fighting (mortifying) sin through the blood of Christ and repentance. Good works are loving and serving others. In short, good works are our obedience and duty to God. But to what purpose are these works necessary in the one who trusts in Christ for salvation? They are necessary in that our obedience shows forth a true and lively faith. Good works or the fruit of faith is how one judges the presence of a saving faith (James 2:18). Yet those necessary works which follow after faith are not necessary works as a means or ground for the securing or ensuring of one's salvation. The weight of that burden was willingly taken for us by the One who was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Phil 2:8; Matt 11:28-30). When it comes to works, faith, and acceptance by God it doesn't get any clearer than this:

XII. Of Good Works. (39 Articles of Religion)
Albeit that Good Works, which are the fruits of Faith, and follow after Justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God's judgment; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively Faith; insomuch that by them a lively Faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned by the fruit.

All those whose names are written in the Book of Life (btw, written before the foundation of the world) will necessarily possess goods works (Eph 2:10) as evidence of their trust in Christ alone for eternal life - yet even more - evidence of Christ having chosen them not they having chosen him (John 15:16). So, the admonition to all is: Trust in Christ alone for your salvation. Know that you are called to obedience by him and in him. Know that you are by nature a sinner who sins. Daily walk the path of faith alone in Christ joined by a ready repentance for your sins. And seek to live obediently in a manner worthy of your Lord and Savior.

Now to Hodge:

Ephesians 2:8-9...

The manifestation of the grace of God is the great end of redemption. This is plain, for salvation is entirely of grace. Ye are saved by grace; ye are saved by faith and not by works; and even faith is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. We have then here a manifold assertion, affirmative and negative, of the gratuitous nature of salvation. It is not only said in general, ye are saved by grace,' but further that salvation is by faith, i.e. by simply receiving or apprehending the offered blessing. From the very nature of faith, as an act of assent and trust, it excludes the idea of merit. If by faith, it is of grace; if of works, it is of debt; as the apostle argues in Rom. 4: 4-5. Faith, therefore, is the mere causa apprehendens, the simple act of accepting, and not the ground on which salvation is bestowed. 

Not of works. The apostle says works, without qualification or limitation. It is not, therefore, ceremonial, as distinguished from good works; or legal, as distinguished from evangelical or gracious works; but works of all kinds as distinguished from faith, which are excluded. Salvation is in no sense, and in no degree, of works; for to him that worketh the reward is a matter of debt. But salvation is of grace and therefore not of works lest any man should boast. That the guilty should stand before God with self-complacency, and refer his salvation in any measure to his own merit, is so abhorrent to all right feeling that Paul assumes it (Rom. 4:2) as an intuitive truth, that no man can boast before God. And to all who have any proper sense of the holiness of God and of the evil of sin, it is an intuition; and therefore a gratuitous salvation, a salvation which excludes with works all ground of boasting, is the only salvation suited to the relation of guilty men to God.

Charles Hodge. Commentary on Ephesians 

What comes first?

"But withal, it is to be remembered, that the true way to deal with a hard heart, to bring it to this temper [i.e. repentance], is to believe the gospel. As ravenous fowls first fly upward, and then come down on their prey; so must we 'first soar aloft in believing, and then we shall come down, in deep humiliation, sincere and free confession, and true repentance, Zech. xii. 10. " They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and shall mourn. "Therefore the Scripture proposeth the object of faith, in the promise of grace, as a motive to repentance, that by a believing application thereof, the hard heart may be moved and turned, Joel ii. 13. "Turn unto the Lord your God, for he is gracious." One may otherwise toil long with it: but all in vain. "Without faith it is impossible to please God," Ileb. xi. 6. and therefore, impossible to reach true humiliation, right confession, and sincere repentance, which are very pleasing to him, Jer. xxxi. 18, 19, 20. The unbelieving sinner may be brought to roar under law horror; but one will never be a kindly mourner, but under gospel influences. When guilt stares one in the face, unbelief locks up the heart, as a keen frost doth the waters; but faith in the Redeemer's blood, melts it, to flow in tears of godly sorrow. Hard thoughts of God, which unbelief suggests to a soul stung with guilt, alienate that soul more and more from him; they render it like the worm, which, when one offers to tread upon it, presently contracts itself, and puts itself in the best posture of defense that it can: but the believing of the proclaimed pardon, touches the heart of the rebel so, that he casts down himself at the feet of his Sovereign, willingly yielding himself to return to his duty."

Thomas Boston, A View of the Covenant of Grace.

"We yesterday compared this passage of Habakkuk with the interpretation of Paul, who draws this inference, that we are justified by faith without the works of the law, because the Prophet teaches us that we are to live by faith, for the way of life and of righteousness is the same, inasmuch as life is not to be otherwise sought by us than through the paternal favor of God. This then is our life--to be united to God; but this union with God cannot be hoped for by us while he imputes sins to us; for as he is just and cannot deny himself, iniquity must be ever hated by him. Then as long as he regards us as sinners, he must necessarily hold us as hateful to him. Where the hatred of God is, there is death and ruin. It then follows, that we can have no hope of life until we be reconciled to God, and there is no other way by which God can restore us to favor, but by regarding and counting us as just. It hence follows, that Paul reasons correctly, when he leads us from life to righteousness; for they are two things which are connected and inseparable." [emphasis added]

Calvin, John. Complete Commentaries - Habakkuk.

"To sum up the whole, this passage, first, teaches us to behold Christ with the eyes of faith; and, secondly, it informs us, that every one who is regenerated by the Spirit, and gives himself up entirely to God for true justification, is thus admitted to the closest union with Christ, and becomes one with him."

Calvin, John. Complete Commentaries - Matthew 12:48

Indeed, so long as sin remaineth in the believer, he must, in order to grow in grace, have distress and comfort, either alternately, or both together; to the end that, when he is sorrowful, he may not be cast down too low, and that, when he is rejoicing, he may not be lifted up too high. 

Are Christ and God in Christ, together with his grace, mercy, and truth, as hath been said above, the primary grounds of a saints comfort and hope? I hence infer that, his manifold infirmities and deficiencies, in his exercise of grace and performance of duty, should at no time discourage him. Believer, thy remaining darkness, deadness, carnality, weakness, and indisposition of spirit for holy exercises, should indeed occasion in thy soul, much godly sorrow and self-loathing; but, they should never discourage thee in thy holy endeavours, nor cause thee to despond. They should not make thee distrust thy faithful Redeemer, or doubt of any promised blessing; because thy title to grace and glory, is not founded on thy own performances, but on the consummate righteousness of the Lord Jesus; and thy exercise of hope, should be suitable to the grounds of thy hope. Be not disquieted, then, though thou feelest the corruption of thy nature, strong and active; while thou findest, at the same time, thy renewed nature, striving in opposition to it, and mourning under a painful sense of it. Unbelieving discouragement, arising from a sense either of sins or of wants, of desertions or of temptations, will weaken thy hands, and indispose thy heart for spiritual obedience. It was when Peter began to fear, that he began to sink in the water.

Doth the Lord Jesus, usually afford inward and sensible comfort to his children, about the time of their first conversion? They may see in this, an illustrious display of his manifold wisdom, as well as of his redeeming love to them. One thing that he designs by this, is, that they may perceive as early as possible, the inexpressible advantages, that they have gained by the gracious change, which his Holy Spirit hath produced in them; and thereby be encouraged, as well as inclined, so to run the race that is set before them, as to attain the prize of inexpressible and endless joy, in his immediate presence. For, having marrow and fatness in their Father's house, instead of husks in a far country; spiritual and substantial delights, instead of pleasures that are carnal and empty; they cannot, even at the beginning of their Christian course, but acknowledge themselves already unspeakable gainers.

John Colquhoun. A Treatise on Spiritual Comfort

Some Christians claim that part of the believer's assurance of salvation is to be found in 

"Faith, when it is strong, can look through a thick cloud of desertion, and discern the affection of a Father, under the appearance of an enemy.

It is also according to the exercise of their faith, that believers are comforted. If the Christian seldom exercises faith, his consolation is proportionately small: if he exercises it frequently, and rather because it is his duty, than merely because he is impelled to it by a painful sense of need, his holy consolation is, in proportion, great. The more frequently, and simply, he acteth faith on Christ the Consolation of Israel, as the object thereof, and on the good tidings of great joy to all people, as the ground of it; the more, will he have the comfort of being conscious, that he has the grace of faith. Besides, the more cordially and frequently he exerciseth faith, the more of spiritual pleasure, will he enjoy: for, to trust cordially that, Jesus loveth and saveth me, and that, he will save me with an everlasting salvation, is in itself, a delightful, a cheering persuasion. Moreover, faith is the instrument by which, the believer received consolation at first, and by which, he continues to receive it still. It is by trusting daily in the Lord Jesus, for all his salvation, of which, holy consolation is a part; that the Christian derives daily, renewed supplies of spiritual consolation, from his fullness.

"The more frequent, and simple, and lively, his actings of confidence in his gracious Redeemer, are; the more of holy comfort, will he in every time of need receive. To feel comfortable, when he is conscious that, he has clear evidences of his vital union with Christ, is a duty; but, to take his comfort fresh from the fountain, by the direct application and particular trust of faith, is still a greater duty; a duty, by which he glorifies his faithful Redeemer more, and receives an increase of pure and solid consolation. Hence, are these cheering passages of Scripture: "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see goodness of the Lord, in the land of the living." "I have trusted in thy mercy, my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation." "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me." "Now the God of hope, fill you with all joy and peace in believing." "We who have believed do enter into rest.""

John Colquhoun, A Treatise on Spiritual Comfort

Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. - Numb. xxi. 6 — 9.

"Soul, whoever thou art, that at any time art bitten with the guilt of sin, or by the prevalent working of any corruption; if thou wilt but look up to Jesus Christ with an eye of faith, thou mayest as certainly expect a cure to be wrought on thy soul as the Israelites, who, in looking up to the brazen serpent in the wilderness, might expect a cure to be done on their bodies. Therefore is salvation tendered upon this act of the soul, in looking up to Christ by an eye of faith, " Look unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth," Isa. xlv. 22. 

"Therefore, O soul, have a care, thou dost not leave looking up to Christ; there is nothing else will or can damn thy soul, but thy not looking up to Christ, as a Saviour and Redeemer, and resting upon him alone for life and salvation, as one that is "able to save to the uttermost," as the apostle speaks in Heb. vii. 25."

Thomas Worden, The Types Unveiled. Chapter XV: THE BRAZEN SERPENT, ANOTHER TYPE GIVEN TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS 

Lord's Day 23:

Simply to say, there is law and there is gospel in both the Old and New Covenants. In the Old, "Do this and live" (law) stood as God's righteous demand upon Israel and all men for perfect holiness, pointing to eternal life through perfect obedience. And it was a judgment unto condemnation against sinners, all who disobeyed in Adam. The righteousness of the law gave no power to the elect to fulfill its demands. Rather, serving God's redemptive plan it drove and guided the elect to seek through faith the refuge of salvation found in God's mercy and forgiveness in Christ as offered in the promises, ceremonies, and sacrifices (gospel).

In the New Testament, Christ born under the law fulfills the promise given in the Old and meets for his people the "Do this and live" demand of the law through his obedient holy life and his sacrificial death on the cross for sin. For those who believe, the law is still law but its requirements are now fulfilled and established by Jesus Christ for their salvation which they receive through faith by the hearing of this gospel. "Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law." (Rom. 3:31)

As to the so-called third use of the law for believers, it is still law. The threats of the law as given in the covenant of works no longer put the believer in jeapordy, but rather humble and inform him of what would be due his sins if not for Christ's debt payment on his behalf. In Christ this serves only to urge him toward a more thankful obedience in faith (WLC 97). Jesus Christ has fulfilled God's law for his people and yet as with all men created in God's image, they are still obliged to obey, but no longer out of fear of failure and condemnation as sinners in Adam, but willingly (though not without struggles against their ever present sin) in the assurance of God's love for them as his chosen children for whom Christ died.

So then in the New and Old covenants there is both law and gospel. But the righteousness that saves doesn't, and cannot, come to sinners through the law. As Paul writes , "the law is not of faith" (Gal. 3.12). The righteousness that saves only comes through faith in Christ (Phil. 3.9). The law cannot give that righteousness. It only comes through faith in Christ the law-keeper and sin-bearer, who has established and fulfilled it unto salvation for all who believe in him (Rom. 8.4; 10.4).

Some thoughts on old business from this very long thread at Green Baggins: Roman Catholic apologist Bryan Cross responding to this phrase, "But faith come by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God," comments:

Faith does not promise us length of days, riches and honors, (the Lord not having been pleased that any of these should be appointed us); but is contented with the assurance, that however poor we may be in regard to present comforts, God will never fail us. The chief security lies in the expectation of future life, which is placed beyond doubt by the word of God. Whatever be the miseries and calamities which await the children of God in this world, they cannot make his favor cease to be complete happiness.

First I ask, whether there be any sin, however light, that is not inconsistent with the observance of the law? For what vicious thought will creep into the mind of man if it be wholly occupied with the love of God? The law is not satisfied unless God is loved with the whole heart. That men do not therefore cease to be righteous I admit. But why so, but just because they are blessed to whom sin is not imputed? If they insist on being righteous by works, on which their consciences can repose in the sight of God, they, in the first place, subvert faith, and do an insufferable wrong to the grace of God; and, in the second place, they bring no support to their impious doctrine as to possible observance of the law...

John Calvin. Acts of the Council of Trent with the Antidote 

Heidelberg Catechism 

Q. 65. Since then we are made partakers of Christ and all his benefits by faith only, whence does this faith proceed? 

A. From the Holy Ghost, who works faith in our hearts by the preaching of the gospel, and confirms it by the use of the sacraments.

"We do not find God; he finds us. Faith comes not by feeling, thinking, seeing, or striving, but by hearing."- Michael Horton, The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology For Pilgrims On The Way.