How Are Primitive Baptists Different From Other Baptists?

The distinction of the faith of Primitive Baptists is no subtle distinction; it is over the very meaning of the gospel message.  If we agree that the gospel testifies of Christ, then the difference is what is the purpose of Christ and the degree of His accomplishment. In whom (Christ) also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. Eph 1:11,12  I believe the critical distinction is that we believe it is the purpose of God for Christ to remove our sins from our account, but what is preached in most Baptist churches is that it is His purpose to offer Himself to the sinner for us to accept or reject. I wish to prove that the former agrees with scripture and leave some questions to challenge my critical reader.

The year of jubilee prefigures the gospel. Lev 25:9,10 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. Here the trumpet informs the debtor of his redemption and the slave of his liberty.  Again in Isaiah 61:1 The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD... These must be describing the glorious gospel because Jesus read from that passage in Luke 4:18,19 And the eyes of all them were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. Therefore I believe the gospel is a declaration, not a proposition, of salvation. Does the gospel make us free by giving us a chance to make it apply to us, or by allowing us to free our mind of the burden of guilt?

I submit to you that the basis of the gospel's comfort is in the full and finished atonement of Jesus. Watch carefully how Paul precisely presents the logical order of the gospel in Ephesians 1. You have to read it all to get the affect, but for brevity's sake I will highlight the 11-14 verses to emphasize this order: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will...In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. This is the order that Paul teaches in Eph 1: God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world (v.4) - predestinated us unto the adoption (v.5) - made us accepted (v.6) - informed us (v.8) - we trusted him after we heard the word of truth (v.13) - after we believed we were sealed with the Spirit of promise. Our believing and trusting in the truth doesn't make it true--doesn't make us heirs--it is the earnest we can enjoy until the redemption of our bodies when we will see it for ourselves. Are any of God's elect still in their sins, or has Christ put away all of our sins forever?

Again in Hebrews 10 another place gives us this same order: Christ came to do the Father's will (v.9) - we are sanctified by His will (v.10) - Jesus offered one sacrifice for sins for ever and sat down at the right hand of God (v.12) - we are perfected for ever (v.14) - the Holy Ghost witnesses to our conscience (vv. 15-18) - we draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith (v.22) - we hold fast this profession (v.23) - love and assemble with and exhort one another (vv.24,25).  Why is Arminianism so odious to me? Scripture says there is no more offering for sin (v.18). Teaching that Christ is offering eternal salvation today is denying the effectual sacrifice of the Lamb of God, and is placing the sinner in the place of the Almighty Judge who has already accepted the offering of Jesus Christ. Imagine the final judgment on that last morning. What do you think is more important: whether the sinner accepted Christ when his understanding was dark, or whether the Judge is pleased in the sacrifice of his Son in the place of that poor, once-deluded sinner?

Praise God that our redemption has been obtained and that the scriptures declare our liberty in Christ! It is on the foundation of that established truth that the gospel saves us from fear and hopelessness, from the time we first trust in Christ until the day of the redemption of the purchased possession.

Living Witnesses That Jesus is Alive And Truth

And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of man, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God that he hath testified of his Son.
I am sometimes overwhelmed with the immensity of God, His supremacy, wisdom, and power.  I sink into insignificance and become hopeless that I can ever know anything meaningful about Him, because His ways and thoughts are so much higher than mine.  The apostle John through the Spirit here in 1 John 5:8-9 gives us three witnesses of God that we have in earth, which are a testimony from God that we can grasp and understand.  How evident it is that no man or anything less than everything the Bible says that God is could have created the universe and given us our life, yet what a mercy that we have a testimony in our mortal, earthen vessels direct from God.
I do not know for sure what the Spirit meant with these words, and even if what I understand is the truth, then it is only a narrow slice.  But I believe that John is referring to three quite literal and objective things here.
The Spirit, which moves in our hearts, also moved men to write the scriptures, which we are blessed to still have in black and white.  The record we have tells of the service of the law and the continual bloody sacrifices.  Those sacrifices taught people the truth with something visible and tangible and living.  The spirit moved in the apostles to bring minute details into memory and many things they would not have even known without the Spirit.  Yet their testimonies agreed.  They witness to us that which they heard, saw with their eyes, and handled with their hands was the Word of life (1 John 1:1).  And the Spirit we feel within our very souls, from which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.  That witness tells us about God in a colorful language we can understand.  Through that Spirit we cry: Abba, Father, and with great desire do search for Him (Song 5). This is God, and He speaks a language we can understand and know that it is He.
Our bodies are made mostly out of water and we drink it every day.  All nature needs water and is quickly invigorated after a rain.  Jesus promises living water to those that believe on Him, speaking of the Holy Ghost.  So is regeneration compared to a washing.  Because I take showers to rid myself of filth and stink, I can understand this testimony.
Every second I depend upon blood to deliver the oxygen and nutrition that sustains my life.  The blood also testifies that Jesus is the Christ.  Yes, the Jews knew well that atonement required the blood of a lamb because they saw it year after year.  So they knew exactly what it meant when John the Baptist said: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world".  They knew it meant that blood would be spilled.  There is nothing quite so urgent as stopping our bleeding, because we know it means our life.  Oh that we had the same attitude about Christ, who is our life (Col 3:4).  John makes it such a vital point that Jesus came not by water only, but by water and blood  (1 John 5:6).  So we should know that He not only appeared to us, but became flesh and blood and verily took human nature.  He was not only God manifest, He was God, the Son of man.  I can't fathom this mystery, but the blood and water pouring from his side on the cross screams it.
The church stands for the Truth and has been given by God everything she needs to testify of the Son of God.  His Spirit attends the preaching of the gospel, (1 Peter 1:12), the singing of songs (Col 3:16), prayer (Rom 8:26) and inspired the writing and preservation of scripture (2 Peter 1:21); baptism illustrates the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ; washing the saints' feet reminds us of the cleansing virtue of charity; and the bread and wine reminds us His body was broken and blood was shed for us.  I have no use for symbols such as the display of crosses, fish, or paintings of Jesus; because they are from the imagination of men and are lifeless.  God has given us ample living testimony that perfectly point the believer to Christ in truth. And John closes his first epistle: And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.  Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

Is God Unrighteous Who Taketh Vengeance?

God does not permit sin.  There is no permissive will of God that differs from His declared will--He is not double minded.  I have heard objections to the justice of God considering the omniscience and omnipotence of God in the face of the existence of sin.  To answer this, some men have invented the idea that some sins God has permitted to declare his justice in punishing it.  But I think this is either a terrible use of the word permission or a disgusting view of God's attitude toward sin.  Our poor finite minds cannot comprehend God's nature, but as we stretch the limits of our understanding, we should never get these things confused.

I believe Paul did a fine (yea inspired) job of answering this issue in Romans 3, but before I go there, some thoughts on the matchless ability of God.  Only God is capable of creating a morally responsible creature, and he created a world of them.  Providence teaches us that God often intervenes in the affairs of men to affect some good work or protect some child.  The lawyer in us then wants to make an omniscient and omnipotent God responsible to prevent every tragedy.  Wouldn't I be guilty if, during a brutal robbery  I could have stopped, I didn't? Indeed it is my responsibility to stop every sin I can.  But if we were to apply that standard to God, he would be guilty for every sin ever committed.  That is to say that God wouldn't be able to create a morally responsible creation.  Think about that.  We would be making God like unto ourselves, for man is capable of designing robots which only ever do the correct thing.  So the question returns: Does God permit sin?

So to harmonize the existence of sin with our finite understanding of God, some have stated that God has a permissive will that he looked ahead and chose to allow some sins so that he could use them to bring glory to Himself.  When I stood the watch on my ship, I was responsible to my captain to observe his navigation plan.  If ever I deviated from the plan, I was required to contact him immediately to explain why.  Suppose I looked at the charts and discovered a short-cut through a group of islands and called him with my intention to pass that way.  What if after a discussion full of him explaining how bad of an idea that was to me, he ended by giving me permission to carry out my short-cut?  I would not be disobedient when I did.  When the ship grounded into shallow water, he could not hold me guilty for doing what he gave me permission to do.  Sin is a rebellion against the will of God, and a permitted rebellion is an absurdity.

Let's go to Romans 3:5-8.  But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man) God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged a sinner? And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say) let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just. Here in the chapter Paul enters a long indictment against all of mankind showing how we have rebelled against the declared law of God's righteousness and adds in vs 19: Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.  There, friends, by the preaching of Paul we cannot say that God has permitted our sins, because every line of the law and the prophets have declared the righteousness of God in punishing sin.

So then why does God not block every sin before it can offend Him?  I don't know besides He doesn't desire a world of pre-coded robots.  That wouldn't be very impressive, especially in this day of artificial intelligence where man is fully capable of building obedient machines.  No matter how it may temporarily appear to man, justice is not being miscarried: God Shall bring every work into judgement (Eccl 12:14, Gal 6:7).  I am more thankful for the rest of Romans, though, where we learn that our deliverance from sin comes from the obedience of Christ, and that in believing and confessing Jesus, we can live in peace before the RIGHTEOUS judgement of God.  In declaring His glory, God doesn't need us to sin any more than He needs us to co-operate with the atonement by Christ.

Mama Teaches the Love of Jesus

The most powerful force in the world is the love of Christ and its constraining influence.  I heard Elder Mark Green preach on 2 Cor. 5:14,15 Sunday before last and have been blessed to consider those things throughout the week.  For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:  I rejoice to know a Savior who loved me enough to die in my stead. And as a necessary consequence of Christ's death, all of his children died represented in him. And that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them, and rose again.  That they which live do so necessarily as represented in Christ when he rose from the grave.  And we who live by the regeneration of the Spirit are now exhorted to not live unto ourselves.  The exhortation is because although our life is a necessary consequence of the Lord's work, us living unto Christ is a condition based on our obedience. 

The sermon he preached on Sunday is the same sermon Mama has been preaching everyday I've known her.  She cooked for, cared for, watched over, and educated seven kids 24/7.  She didn't balance her kids with her career; she didn't seek ways to get a chance to pursue hobbies or entertainment for herself, but her joy was and is full.  It is because she loved us more than herself.  Love constrained her.  She is a living picture of Christ's love that I can see and feel, and that's how I know it is powerful.  It lifts people above what is normally expected and gives them pleasure in humility and obedience.

The gospel brings life and immortality to light by pointing to the unconditional love of Jesus (2 Tim 1:10) and witnesses to the righteousness of faith which is in us (Rom 10:9).  Therefore I can confess that God raised Jesus from the dead which means I am justified (Rom 4:25) before and irrespective of my choice and will.  Often the objection is raised to my faith: "If that were true, then we could live any way we wanted..." My response is: "Why do you not live how you want? Are you motivated by love of self or of Christ?"

Jesus removed the motivation of fear (Rom 8:15; 1 John 4:18).  The true gospel of Christ sets free the captive and gives rest to the weary.  The only way it can do that is by pointing to Jesus and proclaiming the full and efficacious work of our victorious Redeemer.  It should be no wonder I often drive three hours on a Sunday to hear the gospel.  It's because I don't want to hear a message that ends with "Jesus 'loves' everyone but we need you to donate your money that we can attempt to direct a few more souls to heaven."  If redemption wasn't complete on the cross (John 19:30; Heb 10:14), then I would be like weeping Mary (John 20:15).  I am not comforted by a message that portrays the love of Christ as placing the eternal destiny of His beloved on the uncertain shoulders of men. What an impossible burden.

Faith and hope shall pass away when their purpose is fulfilled, but love will be perfected in us.  When I know Him as I am known, then I'll love Him as I am loved. (1 Cor 13:12,13)

Salvation Through Confession

Prayer is a miracle of grace.  The sinner that I am has no right to approach the throne of God.  God's eyes are too pure to look upon sin.  Therefore we know that before our most basic requests are heard in heaven, we have been cleansed.  If my conscience is condemned but the Lord hears my prayer, then I am not condemned before God.  This cleansing occurs in the new birth when the precious blood of Jesus is applied to my soul (John 3:5-8) and I receive the Spirit of adoption whereby I cry Abba, Father (Rom 8:15).  As David remarked, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered (Rom 4:7).  Through the gospel life and immortality are brought to light (2 Tim 1:10).  The consistent message of the gospel is Jesus Christ; He was delivered for our transgressions and raised for our justification (Rom 4:25).  Therefore to believe the gospel is to believe that I am justified by the sacrifice of Jesus, and in that confession I will not be ashamed (Rom 10:6-11).  In summary, I stand just before God through the imputed righteousness of Christ; I cleanse my conscience from guilt by confessing that Jesus is Lord and believing that God raised Him from the dead.  In these acts stand two salvations that I have received; the first without any obedience or response by me, and the second by my belief is utterly dependent upon the first.

Conviction

I stand convicted.  Joyful desire mixed with regret fill my soul right now.  I listened to Philip Blankenship's sermon from the camp meeting on my way to work yesterday and was blessed with wonderful thoughts of Jesus, my omnipotent deliverer.  But as I was walking from my truck to start work, I started pouting (silently). I thought that having to work would just ruin my thoughts and therefore my communion with the Lord. I caught my inconsistency right away. I know that six days of the week are for work and that in the world. Worship refreshes me and improves me for everyday life, but the purpose of my life isn't just to go to church.  So I reminded myself that to walk with God, it is absolutely important I commit myself fully to my task at hand and do it with all my might. Then this morning, I listened to the sermon by Elder Ivey. My heart was melted, but I couldn't right away tell why.
Eld. Ivey preached against forgetting which were the first principles of the oracles of God, exposing our tendency to admire our understanding more than adore our blessed Redeemer and Husband. I don't think I am prideful of my doctrine or idolatrous of the church, so I couldn't explain the pain that came with that message. Then I considered his reference to Hebrews 5:12; that given the amount of doctrine and preaching I have been blessed with, I should be a teacher. But am I? I think I felt shame that I intentionally let pass opportunities to bless my Savior before men. I feel like I should avoid speaking my mind so not to alienate myself from anyone, assuming nobody cares to understand why I drove 150 miles one way on a weekend to go to church. Perhaps I'm teaching people that my faith is not remarkable, or that I don't have a lively hope. Perhaps the greatest barrier to my communion with God is my fear of confessing him. I know to walk with God I must have the intercession of Jesus, but He promised that He would confess us before the Father only on the condition that we confess Him before men. I need to do a better job at this and need to remember that if I lose the favor of men because of it, that that is according to His word. We just don't know who could hear.  I reckon that sharing hope with one soul is worth more than being socially accepted by a multitude. Matthew 10:32-40. Why is this so hard for me to put into practice? Indeed I do need to return to my first love.

Sanctified Through The Truth

Peace and union can be sustained in only Jesus' doctrine and example.  Jesus showed us how to obtain unity with men and even prayed that we would be one even as God is one. In his prayer, John 17:17-26, Jesus prayed that His disciples and all those that believe on Him through their word would be one. I want the blissful harmony found when brethren agree as the Father, Son, and Spirit agreed. That is what I believe this prayer teaches us about fellowship. We have only one option for true unity and that is in Christ, the truth. Charity promotes unity. Every statement I make with my tongue or my hands that does not comport with Christ must be abandoned. Sanctification is a process not for the impatient. I love the fellowship with brethren who agree to strive for the same standard of truth, but have no desire to associate with those who value being right more than understanding, or are more comfortable with their own habits than following the example of Jesus.