Unfailing, unconditional Faithfulness of Jesus

Cambridge and Ian Hamilton family and warm, gospel-centered church family. What did we hear tonight? Christian life is subject to gusts and regressions, more horticultural than mechanical (Owen). Writer of Hebrews wants his readers to stop looking within and look alone to the sure and unchangeable promise of Christ's faithfulness for us. 

This was a thrilling and liberating message. Sure there are warnings and imperatives in Hebrews but Ian labored to demonstrate that none of those undo the certainty of the unshakeable promises of Jesus' grace in the gospel. Here is his text:

Hebrews 6:13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself,

14 saying, "Surely I will bless you and multiply you."

15 And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.

16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.

17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath,

18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.

19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,

20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Cambridge with Hamiltons and "all the saints

Ian preached so ably from Jesus' sermon on the mount showing us why it makes every bit of sense for the Christian to be anxious for nothing. If God our heavenly father bankrupted heaven to redeem us by the substitutionary sacrifice of his beloved Son "how will he not with him freely give us all things?" Being anxious for nothing is theological. This was rich, gospel-centered, Christ-centered preaching at its best. So encouraging to our tour group. May God continue to bless his work in Cambridge through this ministry. I enjoyed conversations with a number of folks that I have come to know over many visits with these dear saints. Bruce Clark is finishing his doc then becoming a church planter in Toronto with MNA. Blessings on that nascent work.

Luncheon after morning worship. We did a walking tour of Reformation sites in Cambridge, the spiritual movement that gave congregational singing back to the church. St Edwards church where Hugh Latimer preached the free grace of the gospel after being a virulent opponent of it, the cradle of the Reformation.

Then we sang our way to London, hymns all he way into the center city, scary place for driving, but I was mercifully kept on the left.

My friend Ian Hamilton's new book: The Erosion of Calvinist Orthodoxy

The Erosion of Calvinist Orthodoxy: Drifting from the truth in confessional Scottish churches

(Amazon review) How do strong confessional churches that seem to be doing all the right things drift inexorably from the truth. What is clear from Ian Hamilton’s fascinating study is that it doesn’t happen over night but it is a gradual erosion of theological and doctrinal standards.
 

Nineteenth century Scotland was seen as a Christian nation composed of church-going people. Among its churches, Presbyterianism was strongest and within Presbyterianism there were several large denominations. The future looked bright and optimism marked many of the church leaders and congregations. Yet the sad fact is that most of them were blind to the presence of the warning signs that ultimately caused the decline and not the continued growth of the church in Scotland.
 

To understand how this happened Ian Hamilton looks at the changes that took place within one of these large Presbyterian denominations -- the United Presbyterian Church -- and analyses the roots, developments and consequences of these changes, particularly the departure from the doctrines summarised in the Westminster Confession of Faith. It is a salutary lesson to observe that the movements for church unions and increased evangelism of the nineteenth century were not signs of spiritual health; instead they were inadequate sticking plasters that hid dangerous spiritual disease.
 

This book also sketches the development of Confession thinking in the post reformation Church and in particular how the churches developed and subsequently modified the Westminster Confession of faith and includes discussion on the nature of subscription to the Confession at time of 1733 secession, the atonement controversy 1841-45, the Union controversy 1863-1873 and 1879 United Presbyterian Church Declaratory Act.

About the Author

Ian Hamilton has been the minister of Cambridge Presbyterian Church since 1999. Prior to that he served as minister of Loudoun Parish Church of Scotland, Newmilns, Ayrshire. Pictured he is speaking to some of my students in Cambridge, April, 2010.