09Apr
Speech #2 of Justification: The Heart of the Gospel
Prof. David J. Engelsma
Introduction
What a grand gospel truth is justification by faith alone. What a blessed gift of God to us is justification by faith alone. And what a blessed work of the Spirit of Jesus Christ in our consciousness is justification by faith alone.
Justification is the strictly legal act of God as judge in which He forgives the sins of the one who believes in Jesus Christ and reckons him righteous on the basis alone of the obedience of Jesus Christ in the stead of this sinner. This is how David describes justification in Psalm 32:1-2, where he proclaims the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness without works. “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” And this is how the apostle Paul describes justification, with appeal to this passage in the Psalms, in Romans 4:5. “To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted [or imputed, or reckoned] for righteousness.”
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09Apr
Speech #1 of Justification: The Heart of the Gospel
Rev. Ronald Van Overloop
Introduction
It is my privilege to speak to you this evening on a most important subject. It is objectively important because it was the material principle of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, and it remains such in Reformed churches. It is subjectively important for every child of God because it is knowing how I am right before God.
Martin Luther maintained that this truth was the difference between a standing and a falling church. If a church upholds the truth of justification by faith alone, then in Luther’s judgment it was a standing church. If they did not, then it was falling. The importance of the truth of justification by faith alone is also evidenced in the fact that thee two creeds which arose out of the Reformation, the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism, maintain and defend this truth, and they do so in precise, powerful, and comforting terms: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Days 23,24,51 and Belgic Confession, Articles 22 – 24.
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08Apr
Probablemente alguien te ha dicho que Dios te ama y que Cristo murió por ti. Entonces quizás hayas pensado que las cosas no pueden ser tan malas. Verdad, la Biblia habla del castigo de aquellos que no creen en Cristo, pero si Dios ama a todo el mundo y Cristo murió por todo el mundo, entonces no hay por qué preocuparse, ¿es así?
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08Apr
LA FE Y LA PRÁCTICA DE LAS IGLESIAS PROTESTANTES REFORMADAS EN AMÉRICA
Publicado por la Comisión de Misiones de las Iglesias Protestantes Reformadas en América
La Palabra de Dios llama a los creyentes a estar “siempre preparados para dar una respuesta adecuada con mansedumbre y reverencia a cualquiera que os pida razón de la esperanza que abrigáis” (1 Pedro 3:15). En las Iglesias Protestantes Reformadas en América, tomamos muy en serio este llamado de la palabra de Dios. En este folleto queremos dar razón de la esperanza que tenemos. Lo haremos al explicar el origen de nuestras iglesias y su posición doctrinal básica.
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