{"id":23698,"date":"2024-12-12T13:20:32","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T13:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/?p=23698"},"modified":"2024-12-12T13:20:32","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T13:20:32","slug":"sacred-truths-of-the-gospel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/2024\/12\/sacred-truths-of-the-gospel\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacred Truths Of The Gospel"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Posted by permission. Bethel Strict Baptist Chapel<\/a>.]<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sermon preached at Bethel Chapel, Luton, by Mr. B.A. Ramsbottom, on Lord\u2019s day evening, 11th September, 2022<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cBut we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto He called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ\u201d\u20142 Thessalonians 2. 13, 14<\/i><\/p>\n

I have sometimes thought that if you were asked briefly in a word to say what Strict Baptists believe in their chapels, you could not do better than to refer them to these two verses, because there is every doctrine of the gospel, one after another, set up. It begins in eternity past; it ends in eternity to come. Really, it is like a chain of golden links, or if you will, a chain of precious pearls. Every one of these sacred truths in themselves is precious, important, vital. But what are they when they are all joined together!<\/p>\n

But beloved friends, the most blessed thing this evening would be if any of you were sweetly led by the Holy Spirit into a personal interest, savingly, of any of these vital truths, or all of them, to the glory of God, to your soul\u2019s eternal happiness. So it is really like a little body of divinity. Dr. Gill\u2019s mammoth work \u2013 I do not know how large, how many pages \u2013 A Body of Divinity. This is a body of divinity set forth in the simplest of terms and in so few words.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord.\u201d Did you notice when we read the chapter how suddenly and perhaps unexpectedly these verses come in? There are some terrible things have been going on before. Surely you do not read these things unmoved. They almost shake you; they almost make you tremble \u2013 the man of sin, the deceiving of the nations, and then how it all ended up \u2013 it is enough to make each one of us tremble. O \u201ccan we bear that piercing thought\u201d if these solemn words belong to us: \u201cThat they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness\u201d? What a dark, black background it is to these wonderful verses. O but the wonderful thing is this: that everyone who has a saving, eternal interest in these two verse I have just read to you, by nature deserves an interest in this awful condemnation that goes before. We deserve what goes before; we do not deserve what follows after. What follows after is all according to the riches of His grace from first to last.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But.\u201d What a lovely beginning that is: \u201cBut\u201d! There is something different, something better, something for the Lord\u2019s dear people. How lovingly Paul writes about them. People talk about dry doctrine. There is nothing dry about the doctrines here. There is nothing dry about the Apostle Paul\u2019s salutation \u2013 the love that flowed from his heart and the love that was flowing from their hearts in return. How we have treasured that word over the years:<\/p>\n

\u201cLove is the golden chain that binds\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The happy souls above;<\/p>\n

And he\u2019s an heir of heaven that finds\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

His bosom glow with love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord.\u201d That is the way the apostle greets them, these saints in Thessalonica. He knew they were not just beloved by him, but they were the \u201cbeloved of the Lord.\u201d That is a blessed description of God\u2019s people: the \u201cbeloved of the Lord.\u201d If there is one attractive word in those blessings of the twelve tribes we have early on in the Old Testament, perhaps Benjamin\u2019s blessing is the sweetest: \u201cThe beloved of the Lord.\u201d May some of you know it and feel it. \u201cThe beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between His shoulders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBrethren beloved of the Lord.\u201d I could not help during the interval thinking of old Mr. Gascoigne and his quaint way of preaching. If he had one of these sacred truths to bring forward, he would suddenly stop and pause, and he would turn round and look. He would say, \u201cCome into the witness box,\u201d and he would mention someone by name \u2013 one of the hymnwriters, one of the apostles \u2013 and then he would quote it. I could just see Mr. Gascoigne speaking of this wonderful love, \u201cbeloved of the Lord,\u201d and suddenly turning right round in the pulpit and saying, \u201cJohn Kent, what do you think? What have you got to say about the love of Christ? Come into the witness box, John. \u2018Loved with an everlasting love.\u2019 Thank you, John; thank you, John.\u201d I am sure you young people would have been fascinated with him. But there was nothing light. The old people when I was a boy said, \u201cYou go and hear Gascoigne, and before you go home, you will have been sent either to heaven or to hell.\u201d It would be a wonderful thing to have a few ministers like that today.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord.\u201d And then he starts on, shall we say, this chain of pearls, or this golden chain, and he just brings them forward one by one. If you will, he exhibits them, he causes light to shine upon then, and then he passes on to the next, and they are a chain. They are all bound together. If one of these pearls in the chain were lost, the whole lot would perish, but blessed be God, not only are they beautiful and precious, but they are unchangeable. Now I do not want any vain repetition this evening, but let me just try to go through them one by one, and may the Lord use them to some of your hearts, establish you in them.<\/p>\n

First of all, he begins with God\u2019s eternal choice in election: \u201cBecause God hath from the beginning chosen you.\u201d \u201cFrom the beginning\u201d \u2013 before there was anything else; before the world was created; before man had been created; before he had fallen. But God, seeing man\u2019s lost, ruined, awful condition, chose sovereignly of His own will a people for His praise, not because they were any different, not because He saw any good in them, not because He knew that one day they would believe, but they were sovereignly chosen, and they were chosen unto salvation. Really the people of God, His chosen, before the world was made, before time had any being, they were as safe, eternally secure, as sure of heaven, as when they shall be landed at last. Beloved friends these are divine realities, divine certainties. Hold them fast.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation.\u201d And that was in Christ, and that was through His glorious work, His bitter sufferings on the cross, His death, His glorious resurrection, His righteous- ness, His blood. That is where salvation is, and surely that is our great concern: Am I saved or am I lost? O that prayer to be saved! It is all of God\u2019s grace. \u201cGod, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved.)\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChosen … to salvation.\u201d And that plan of salvation could never fail. The Father, as well as choosing His people, chose His dear Son to be their Saviour, and He gave His unworthy people into the Saviour\u2019s hand in love. O to ponder it! Knowing what it would cost Him one day, the Saviour lovingly undertook that one day He would leave heaven for earth, be born of a virgin, be born under the law to fulfil it, then to bear its curse, its penalty, to do all things, everything, that poor, guilty sinners might at last be \u201csaved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGod hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation.\u201d But if there was a full stop there, there would be the obvious problem: yes, it is a wonderful thing to hear these truths; O but who are these chosen ones, and am I among them, and how solemn if I am not among them, and how may I know that I am among them? I think some of us go back many, many years, and how when these things came up \u2013 God\u2019s eternal election \u2013 they were times when we trembled.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut can I bear the piercing thought:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What if my name should be left out?\u201d<\/p>\n

Now the Lord in love and mercy does not leave these things with no explanation or no opening. He comes right down and He tells us two things, and they are two vital things, two important things. How may we know who the Lord\u2019s chosen are, those chosen to salvation? How may you and I as unworthy sinners know that we are among them? \u201cThrough sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth\u201d \u2013 those two things. And they take place in every single one from first to last who were chosen from all eternity and put in the hands of Christ.<\/p>\n

\u201cSanctification of the Spirit.\u201d The Lord finds His chosen ones. He finds them in their sin and in their guilt, in their unbelief, in their enmity, in their carnality, their worldliness, but He never leaves them there. There is a change. It is not just a sinner turning over a new leaf. It is the Holy Spirit\u2019s work in the heart, and that sinner, then he \u201cleaves the hateful ways of sin, turns to the fold, and enters in.\u201d The fear of God is in his heart. The things he once despised, he now loves. The things he had no interest in, he now longs for \u2013 those blessings of salvation \u2013 and O what a sweet hope! How precious when there is a little hope that this salvation is mine! But the sinner\u2019s heart is now changed. He no longer can go on in the ways of ungodliness and sin. His desire now is to be a real follower of the Lord Jesus, to live to His honour and glory. He still feels unworthy. He feels to come so far short. He is still plagued by indwelling sin, but now he is a man of prayer. This is the sanctifying work of the Spirit, separating him from what he once was, separating him from the world which lieth in wickedness, separating him to the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. That is the first mark here of election: \u201csanctification of the Spirit.\u201d It is the Holy Spirit\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

And the second thing: \u201cBelief of the truth.\u201d These we read of in the preceding verse, these who were damned, they were unbelievers. They \u201cbelieved not the truth.\u201d They \u201chad pleasure in unrighteousness.\u201d O but now that belief of the truth! What it is in simple language as it concerns you each here this evening: fleeing for refuge to the Lord Jesus. It is not believing that He was a good Man, He was the Son of God, He lived, He died, He rose again. This belief of the truth is venturing on Christ. It is coming to Him by faith. It is looking to Him. It is hanging upon Him. It is,<\/p>\n

\u201cOther refuge have I none,<\/p>\n

Hangs my helpless soul on Thee.\u201d<\/p>\n

One old minister was asked how he would define being a believer. He said this:<\/p>\n

\u201cA guilty, weak, and helpless worm,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On Thy kind arms I fall,<\/p>\n

Be Thou my strength and righteousness,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My Jesus, and my all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beloved friends, can you come in there?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Can you creep in there?<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.\u201d Well, these in this previous passage were unbelievers, and the things in the preceding verse, really one word can describe it: perishing. But what of the Lord\u2019s glorious answer? What is it? \u201cFor God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.\u201d<\/p>\n

We had an unusual case at Bethel some years ago. An old lady came in Bethesda, determined that whatever else, she would never enter Bethel Chapel or have anything to do with Bethel Chapel. Anyway, she heard the relay at Bethesda, and one Lord\u2019s day I preached from, \u201cGod so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.\u201d I received a phone call from Bethesda \u2013 could I go to visit her? She said, \u201cCould I ask you a privilege?\u201d I said, \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d She said, \u201cCould I be permitted to sit down at the Lord\u2019s table at Bethel?\u201d The love of Christ can change the hardest of hearts, and it can break down every prejudice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto He called you by our gospel.\u201d You have that precious doctrine of effectual calling. When the Lord calls a sinner savingly, it is an irresistible call. That does not mean people do not fight against it. I fought against it. I thought, \u201cNot yet, Lord,\u201d or, \u201ca bit more of the world.\u201d It is an irresistible call. It is that \u201c… period known to God<\/p>\n

When all His sheep, redeemed by blood,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Shall leave the hateful ways of sin,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Turn to the fold, and enter in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Called effectually. Effectual \u2013 it is an unusual word. It means what the Lord does, He does not just suggest it, or offer it, or propose it. It is effectual. He works and the thing is done. He says, \u201cI will work, and who shall let it?\u201d Who shall hinder it?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhereunto He called you by our gospel.\u201d Well, it is wonderful gospel we have. It is a wonderful thing to be called by the gospel, through the gospel, to the gospel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt speaks of pardon, full and free,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Through Christ, the Lamb once slain.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is a gospel for unworthy sinners.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Its glory is this:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vilest sinner out of hell,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Who lives to feel his need,<\/p>\n

Is welcome to the Throne of Grace,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Saviour\u2019s blood to plead.\u201d<\/p>\n

What a blessing that word has been made to many!<\/p>\n

\u201cWhereunto He called you by our gospel.\u201d And what is the end of it? It began in eternity past. Now it is looking forward to eternity to come. \u201cTo the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d Well, what a wealth of divine truth there is here! How many precious sermons could be preached on it! Dr. Owen wrote his greatest work on it: The Glory of Christ \u2013 to be known eternally in heaven. Ah, but we are not to be strangers to it on earth, the glory of God as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ; the glory of His forgiveness, His great salvation; the glory of His Person; the glory of His work; the glory of His righteousness; the glory of His blood; the glory of His all-prevailing intercession. What a wonderful theme it is!<\/p>\n

Can you remember that prayer of our Lord Jesus just before He suffered? \u201cFather, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory.\u201d In measure that prayer is blessedly fulfilled whilst here on earth, whilst in this body, in the hearts and lives of all the people of God. They have a little glimpse of His glory. \u201cGod, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face\u201d \u2013 the Person \u2013 \u201cof Jesus Christ.\u201d Surely this is one of the most sacred things a child of God can know on earth, and yet how little we really know!<\/p>\n

But the apostle uses this striking word: obtaining. It is not just to go after something, to want it, to desire it. It is to take hold of it. It is to hold it fast. \u201cThe obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d That is the end, the eternal end, of all these wonderful blessings set out in these two verses. So it looks to heaven at last, and it looks to heaven, not only as a place where there is no more sin or sorrow or suffering, but it looks to heaven as a place of glory, and the glory of heaven is in the Person of the Lord Jesus. \u201cThe city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.\u201d Of course, that is that blessed truth which keeps coming through again and again in those lines based on Samuel Rutherford\u2019s dying sayings, put into beautiful poetry by Mrs. Cousin, and ending like this:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bride eyes not her garment,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But her dear Bridegroom\u2019s face;<\/p>\n

I will not gaze on glory\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But on my King of grace.<\/p>\n

Not on the crown He giveth,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But on His nail-pierced hand;<\/p>\n

The Lamb is all the glory\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of Immanuel\u2019s land.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, what a subject! I have only touched on it, but may one or two of your hearts be touched by these glorious truths of the gospel which will stand, and which will stand for ever. \u201cWe are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto He called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

Head of the Church triumphant,<\/p>\n

We joyfully adore Thee;<\/p>\n

Till thou appear, Thy members here<\/p>\n

Shall thirst for greater glory.<\/p>\n

We lift our hearts and voices,<\/p>\n

With blest anticipation;<\/p>\n

And cry aloud, and give to God<\/p>\n

The praise of our salvation.<\/p>\n

While in affliction\u2019s furnace,<\/p>\n

And passing through the fire,<\/p>\n

Thy love we praise, which tries our ways,<\/p>\n

And ever brings us higher.<\/p>\n

We lift our hands, exulting<\/p>\n

In Thy almighty favour;<\/p>\n

The love divine which made us Thine<\/p>\n

Shall keep us Thine for ever.<\/p>\n

Thou dost conduct Thy people<\/p>\n

Through torrents of temptation;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nor will we fear, while Thou art near,<\/p>\n

The fire of tribulation.<\/p>\n

By faith we see the glory<\/p>\n

To which Thou shalt restore us,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The world despise for that high prize\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Which Thou hast set before us.<\/p>\n

And if Thou count us worthy,<\/p>\n

We each, as dying Stephen,<\/p>\n

Shall see Thee stand at God\u2019s right hand,<\/p>\n

To take us up to heaven.<\/p>\n

C. Wesley<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have sometimes thought that if you were asked briefly in a word to say what Strict Baptists believe in their chapels, you could not do better than to refer them to these two verses, because there is every doctrine of the gospel, one after another, set up. It begins in eternity past; it ends in eternity to come. Really, it is like a chain of golden links, or if you will, a chain of precious pearls. Every one of these sacred truths in themselves is precious, important, vital. But what are they when they are all joined together!<\/p>\n

But beloved friends, the most blessed thing this evening would be if any of you were sweetly led by the Holy Spirit into a personal interest, savingly, of any of these vital truths, or all of them, to the glory of God, to your soul\u2019s eternal happiness. So it is really like a little body of divinity. Dr. Gill\u2019s mammoth work \u2013 I do not know how large, how many pages \u2013 A Body of Divinity. This is a body of divinity set forth in the simplest of terms and in so few words.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":481,"featured_media":22562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1729],"tags":[1239],"class_list":["post-23698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-benjamin-ramsbottom","tag-sovereign-grace"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/481"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23698"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23702,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23698\/revisions\/23702"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}