Saved By His Precious Blood

Then , second , Owen could set us free , if we would hear him , to preach the biblical gospel . This assertion may sound paradoxical , for it is often imagined that those who will not preach that Christ died to save every man are left with no gospel at all . On the contrary , however , what they are left with is just the gospel of the New Testament . What does it mean to preach 'the gospel of the grace of God' ? Owen only touches on this briefly and incidentally , but his comments are full of light . Preaching the gospel , he tells us , is not a matter of telling the congrgation that God has set his love on each of them and Christ has died to save each of them , for these assertions , biblically understood , would imply that they will all infallibly be saved , and this cannot be known to be true . The knowledge of being the object of God's eternal love and Christ's redeeming death belongs to the individual's assurance , which in the nature of the case cannot precede faith's saving exercise ; it is to be inferred from the fact that one has believed , not proposed as a reason why one should believe . According to Scripture , preaching the gospel is entirely a matter of proclaiming to men , as truth from God which all are bound to believe and act on ...

From "A Quest For Godliness : The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life" , by J.I. Packer . Copyright 1990 , page 139 . Used by permission of Crossway Books , a division of Good News Publishers , Wheaton , IL 60187, www.crossway.com

 

The preacher's task , in other words , is to display Christ , to explain man's need of him , his sufficiency to save , and his offer of himself in the promises as Saviour to all who truly turn to him ; and to show as fully and plainly as he can how these truths apply to the congregation before him . It is not for him to say , nor for his hearers to ask , for whom Christ died in poarticular . ' There is none called on by the gospel once to enquire after the purpose and intention of God concerning the particular object of the death of Christ , everyone being fully assured that his death shall be profitable to them that believe in him and obey him .' After saving faith has been exercised , 'it lies on a believer to assure his soul , according as he finds the fruit of the death of Christ in him and towards him , of the good-will and eternal love of God to him in sending his Son to die for him in particular ' ; but not before . The task to which the gospel calls him is simply to exercise faith , which he is both warranted and obliged to do by God's command and promise .

From "a Quest For Godliness : The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life " , by J.I. Packer copyright 1990 , pages 138,139 . Used by permission of Crossway Books , a division of Good News publishers , Wheaton, IL 60187 . www.crossway.com .