When churches practice baptism and the Lord’s Supper, they obey Christ’s teaching and example. In so doing, they portray Christ’s death and resurrection, the testimony of every believer’s own spiritual birth, as well as the church’s collective hope for the final resurrection and reunion with the Lord. These two practices, in short, proclaim the gospel. Thus, even congregations that have long forsaken biblical doctrine regarding regeneration, Christ’s substitutionary death, or the hope of heaven, still proclaim these truths in their liturgies as they reenact these signs. The new birth may be ignored, but baptism portrays it. Christ’s atonement may be denied in the sermon, but the Supper proclaims it. In such cases tradition at the table speaks more truth than the preaching from the pulpit. Practicing baptism and the Lord’s Supper demonstrates obedience to Christ, and they are intended to complement by visible sign and symbol the audible preaching of the gospel.

Conversely, a church fails to obey Christ’s command when it neglects either of these two signs. Such failure removes that church from a submission to the larger teaching of Scripture. And it separates a congregation from the apostolic and universal practice of Christ’s followers. Scripture acts as a counterweight against anyone—whether a congregation or a person—who decides to be a Christian and yet neglects baptism or the Lord’s Supper. This neglect, or denial, separates the person from those who truly follow Christ. While neither baptism nor the Lord’s Supper is salvific, a deliberate neglect of either puts a question mark on any profession of faith. In this sense baptism and the Lord’s Supper act as the marks of a true church. They are the outward signs, or visible boundaries, which distinguish a particular people from the world. Yet matching that outward message is an inward message. The ordinances remind Christians of the fellowship they enjoy with God and one another.

—Mark Dever, The Church: The Gospel Made Visible (B & H, 2012), 28–29.

I think it is fair, then, to assume that Piper would say the same of sado-masochism, pedophilia, bestiality, and the whole range of sexual perversions.

Having gone to that extreme, it is only fair and logical to include idolatrous, disrespectful, murderous, and slanderous thoughts, but not covetous thoughts, of course, because it is clear in that case that the beginning (Commandment 10) is as sinful as its end (Commandment 8). But only in that case. And the case of murder (1 John 3:15). And adultery (Matthew 5:27–28).

Wait, adultery? But Pastor John said . . . Oh, forget it. What do I know?

Me, I’m off to repent of beginning three consecutive sentences with a conjunction, because I actually did that.

But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation
say continually, “Great is the Lord!”

—Psalm 40:16

God Magnified by Those Who Love His Salvation
Phillip Doddridge, (1645–1694)

God of salvation, we adore
Thy saving love, thy saving power;
And to our utmost stretch of thought,
Hail the redemption Thou hast wrought.

We love the stroke that breaks our chain,
The sword by which our sins are slain;
And, while abased in dust we bow,
We sing the grace that lays us low.

Perish each thought of human pride;
Let God alone be magnified.
His glory let the heavens resound,
Shouted from earth’s remotest bound.

Saints, who His full salvation know,
Saints, who but taste it here below,
Join every angel’s voice to raise,
Continued, never-ending praise.

—Worthy Is the Lamb (Soli Deo Gloria, 2004).

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

—Romans 5:6–11

This hymnal disappointingly truncates this hymn to three verses. See the entire hymn here.

107 And Can It Be That I Should Gain*

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Refrain:
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace,
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race;
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me.
Refrain

Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
Refrain

—Favorite Hymns of Praise (Tabernacle Publishing Company, 1967).

* Read R. C. Sproul’s comments on this hymn here.

God’s people in Scripture are created by God’s revelation of himself. His Spirit accompanies his Word and brings life.

The theme of “life through the Word” is clear in both the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, God created life in Genesis 1 by his breath. God spoke and the world and all living beings were created. In Genesis 1:30, the living creatures are described as having the “breath of life” in them. So in Genesis 2:7, God breathed this same breath of life into those creatures made specially in his image—men and women.

After the first man and woman fell away from God by rebelling against him, God sustained them and their descendants by his word—a word of promise given to them in Genesis 3:15. Again in Genesis 12:1–3, his word called Abram from Ur of the Chaldees to become the progenitor of God’s people. In Exodus 3:4, God called on Moses with his word to bring his people out of Egypt. In Exodus 20, God gave his people his 10 “words,” and throughout the Pentateuch, God’s Word is the shaping influence on his people. Throughout the Old Testament, God ministered to his people by his word. He created them and recreated them through the priests’ teaching of the law and the prophets’ inspired guidance.

Ezekiel 37 presents a dramatic picture of recreation in particular. The people of Israel were in exile, depicted as an army so devastated only their bones remained. God commanded the prophet Ezekiel to preach to these bones. As Ezekiel did, the Spirit of God accompanied Ezekiel’s words, and the bones were brought to life:

And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. (vv. 7–10)

The consistent message of Scripture is that God created his people and brings them to life through his word.

Moving to the New Testament, God’s word again plays the central role as the bringer of life. So the eternal Word of God, the Son of God, became incarnate for the salvation of God’s people (John 1:14). Jesus came to preach God’s word, to uniquely embody it, as well as to accomplish God’s will through his perfect life, atoning death, and triumphant resurrection. He founded his church and taught his followers to go into all nations, preaching the message of reconciliation to God through faith in him (Matt 28:18–20). Therefore, Paul wrote that “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17).

—Mark Dever, The Church: The Gospel Made Visible (B & H, 2012), 22–23.

The church is apostolic and is to be apostolic because it is founded on and is faithful to the Word of God given through the apostles. Early in Jesus’ public ministry, Jesus “called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles” (Luke 6: 13). Toward the end of his ministry, Jesus then prayed “for those who will believe in me through their [the apostles’] message” (John 17: 20). From the apostles until the present day, the gospel which they preached has been handed down. There has been a succession of apostolic teaching based on the Word of God. Paul tells the Ephesian Christians that they had been “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone” (Eph 2: 20). The succession which followed the setting of this foundation may not always have involved a person-to-person transmission, but there has been a succession of faithful teaching of the truth. Writing to the Galatians, Paul stressed that their allegiance to the gospel message he had already given them superseded any allegiance to him personally (see Gal 1: 6–9).

What does that mean for today since the apostles are long gone? Some Protestants have been hesitant to affirm this attribute because the Roman Catholic Church has interpreted it as being tied to the authority of the bishop of Rome. Yet the apostles’ teaching rather than their persons are the focus of this attribute. Edmund Clowney put it succinctly: “To compromise the authority of Scripture is to destroy the apostolic foundation of the church.” The physical continuity of a line of pastor-elders back to Christ’s apostles is insignificant compared to the continuity between the teaching in churches today and the teaching of the apostles. Only with the apostles’ teaching is the church “the pillar and foundation of the truth,” as Paul described it to Timothy (1 Tim 3: 15).

—Mark Dever, The Church: The Gospel Made Visible (B & H, 2012), 18–19.

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

—2 Timothy 3:16—4:2

It is popular today to separate doctrines into categories of “essential” and “nonessential,” the first indicating doctrines necessary for salvation, and the second being everything else: doctrines that may be taken or left, as the individual sees fit. Further, it is thought that only those things explicitly stated in Scripture are worthy of serious consideration. This is especially true in the area of ecclesiology. The problem with that opinion is that Scripture teaches much more than what it states explicitly, and it should be the desire of every disciple of Christ to search out, understand, and obey the whole counsel of God. Mark Dever writes:

The Scriptures teaches us about all of life and doctrine, including how we should assemble for corporate worship and how we are to organize our corporate life together. The Bible certainly doesn’t teach us everything. But neither does it teach us nothing. It should be our desire to search out everything that God has revealed about himself and then to joyfully accept it, adopt it, explore it, submit ourselves to it, and enjoy God’s blessings in it.

—Mark Dever, The Church: The Gospel Made Visible (B & H, 2012), xv.

If you prefer, in your pursuit of liberty, to remain ignorant of specific instruction in “nonessentials,” be aware that ignorance of Scriptural teaching on any subject is not without effect:

We need to know what a church is intended to be before we can evaluate what our churches are doing and what we should do going forward. Imagine trying to be a good husband or wife if you didn’t know what marriage was. One kind of freedom comes with ignorance, and another (very different) kind comes with instruction. The freedom of ignorance is unconstrained but also unfruitful. Feel free to try to use that piano as a vacuum cleaner! The freedom that comes with instruction—using something in accordance with the purpose for which it was designed— is far more satisfying, like using a piano to make music.

—Ibid., xx.

I have another (but not contradictory) opinion on the current state of both movements:

The fundamentalist says, “If you’re having fun, you’re doing something wrong,” while the evangelical says, “If you’re not having fun, you’re doing something wrong.”

Those representations are, of course, somewhat facetious, but only somewhat, and neither has anything to do with historic fundamentalism or evangelicalism.

In dealing with professors troubled with doubts, we are too apt to proceed on the assumed principle, that notwithstanding their sad misgivings and fears, they are at bottom sincere Christians, and have the root of the matter in them; while in regard to many, this may be an entire mistake, and we are in danger of cherishing them in a fatal delusion . . . The true reason why many professors have no comfortable evidence of their religion is because they have none. They have never experienced the new birth; and being still dead in trespasses and sins, it is no wonder that they cannot find in themselves what does not exist. I abhor a censorious spirit, which, upon slight grounds, judges this and that professor to be traceless; but all my experience and observation led me to believe that, in our day as well as in former times, the ‘foolish virgins’ constitute a full moiety of the visible church.

—Archibald Alexander, quoted in The Old Evangelicalism (Banner of Truth, 2005), 195–196. [original source]

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying,

“Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying,

“Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

—Revelation 7:9–12

Hymns of Thanksgiving
Hymn VII.
Augustus Toplady (1740–1778)

Praise the Lord, my joyful heart.
With the elders bear thy part:
Stand with them around the throne,
Singing praises to the Son.

Strive with them in rapture lost.
Who shall laud the Saviour most:
Join with angels to proclaim
All the mercies of the Lamb.

Praise his great humility,
Long as life remains in thee;
By thy pray’rs and praises given,
Make on earth a little heav’n.

Jesus, I the theme renew,
Endless praises are thy due:
Anthems equal to thy grace,
Saints and angels cannot raise.

I my worthless mite cast in,
Here the song of heav’n begin:
I th’ eternal chorus join.
Ecchoing the love divine.

Ever may I worship thee,
Praise my sole employment be;
Sing the virtues of thy blood!
Every moment thank my God.

—The Complete Works of Augustus Toplady (Sprinkle Publications, 1987).

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

—Matthew 16:24–27

106 I’d Rather Have Jesus

I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I’d rather be His than have riches untold;
I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands,
I’d rather be led by His nail pierced hand.

Refrain:
Than to be a king of a vast domain
Or be held in sin’s dread sway,
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.

I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause;
I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause;
I’d rather have Jesus than world-wide fame,
I’d rather be true to His holy name.
Refrain

He’s fairer than lilies of rarest bloom;
He’s sweeter than honey from out of the comb;
He’s all that my hungering spirit needs,
I’d rather have Jesus and let Him lead.
Refrain

—Favorite Hymns of Praise (Tabernacle Publishing Company, 1967).

When young Christians are greatly comforted with the Lord’s love and presence, their doubts and fears are for a season at an end. But this is not assurance; so soon as the Lord hides His face, they are troubled and ready to question the very foundation of hope.

Assurance grows by repeated conflict, by repeated experimental proof of the Lord’s power and goodness to save; when we have been brought very low and helped; sorely wounded and healed; cast down and raised again; have given up all hope, and been suddenly snatched from danger and placed in safety; and when these things have been repeated to us and in us a thousand times over, we begin to learn to trust simply to the Word and power of God, beyond and against appearances; and this trust, when habitual and strong, bears the name of assurance; for even assurance has degrees.

—John Newton, quoted in The Old Evangelicalism (Banner of Truth, 2005), 194–195. [original source]

No assurance that we may possees is to supercede or supplant a life of direct faith in the Son of God. The Christian can never afford to live either on his first committal to Christ, or on his present feelings, or on his obedience of life. He must be looking unceasingly by faith to the Son of God. Faith must maintain its living contact. It must never degenerate into a mere believing, a believing in our salvation, a believing in prayer, or any other of the spurious objects of faith. Faith in faith is not the same as faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. When this happens the peace and joy that are the fruits of assurance may be lost: we are resting in a moribund experience of yesterday.

—R. A. Finlayson, quoted in The Old Evangelicalism (Banner of Truth, 2005), 192. [original source]

Those who conclude that because works and obedience have no place in the believers justification, therefore they need have no place in assurance, are . . . in serious error. Christ teaches emphatically that the assuring work of the Spirit and the comfort of his presence is related to obedience: ‘He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him’ (John 14:21). J. C. Ryle is commenting on this same truth when he writes: ‘I bless God that our salvation in no wise depends on our own works . . . But I would never have any believer forget that our sense of salvation depends much on our manner of living. Inconsistency will dim our eyes and bring clouds between us and the sun.’

—Iain Murray, The Old Evangelicalism (Banner of Truth, 2005), 181.

Error arises when teaching on the Spirit and assurance does not take into account all his work in the individual. His first action on individuals is not to comfort or to make them happy but the reverse. He does not give assurance to those who never knew their need or their danger. The starting point is: ‘When he has come he will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment’ (John 16:8). It is the ‘broken hearted,’ the ‘captives,’ the ‘blind,’ and the ‘bruised’ who are the subjects of his work. ‘Assurance’ preceded by no conviction of sin is a dangerous thing. . . .

Further, as the Spirit’s action in convincing of sin must be taken into account, so must his work in sanctification. His goal is to produce moral likeness to Christ in the sons of God and any severance of assurance from the moral and the ethical is a major departure from the New Testament.

—Iain Murray, The Old Evangelicalism (Banner of Truth, 2005), 173.