Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Sunday, September 6, 2009

R.C. Sproul--Reaping the Benefits of the Law

We love Dr. Sproul's ministry, but continue to hold that the Reformed world has been forever impoverished without the old Book of Common Prayer. Having said that, it is far safer to lay in close to the teaching of Dr. Sproul since it won't be heard in Anglican contexts. The sentiments on the Law are, however, quite those of this scribe. Oh, how I have loved Thy law; it has been my meditation day and night. We continue to be thankful for this important ministry in the Catholic Confessional Church.

Reaping the Benefits of the Law
September 6, 2009 @ 7:40 AM
Posted By: Tim Challies
by R.C. Sproul

Let's continue the experiment we began in the previous meditation. Study the excerpts from the apostle Paul that accompany this reading. Does this sound like a man who believed the law of God has no place in the Christian life? Read Paul's writings carefully and you will find a man whose heart longed for the law of God as much as David's.
The law drives us to the gospel. The gospel saves us from the curse of the law, but in turn directs us back to the law to search its spirit. The law of God is still a lamp to our feet. Without it we stumble and trip and grope in darkness.

For the Christian, the greatest benefit of the law of God is its revelatory character. The law reveals to us the Lawgiver. It teaches us what is pleasing in His sight. We need to seek the law of God--to pant after it--and to delight in it. Anything less is an offense against the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Coram Deo: Pray this prayer: "Thank You for Your law, which is a lamp to my feet. Give me a heart that longs for and delights in Your law."

Romans 7:8: "But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead."

Romans 7:12: "Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good."

Romans 7:22: "For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man."

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