I will be removing the narrations on "the Christian Warrior, as I have come into seeing that Isaac Ambrose embraces Arminian ideas when discoursing on how salvation occurs.
I apologize for the mishap. I read these books for the first time as I narrate them for you. Had I read this one beforehand, I would have decided not to narrate it.
I will post a portion of what i was narrating when I was forced to stop.
:The Christian’s duty in this case. 1. Your defence must meet the enemy’s attack in every point. Would he drive you to despair by persuading you that your sins are too great to be pardoned? Retort on him by saying that to despair of mercy would be a greater sin than all the rest. Tell him that there is no room for despair while the door of mercy is open, and salvation is offered in the gospel. Other sins are against the law, but this would be against the whole gospel of grace. Other sins are against the justice of God, but this would be against his love, mercy, and grace. Satan would be glad to drive you to commit such a sin as would be against all the attributes of God at once. All other sins may be carried away and buried in oblivion, but despair is a rejection of pardoning mercy. Judas sinned more grievously by despairing of mercy than by betraying his Master, and Cain sinned more by thinking his sins to be more than God could pardon, than by killing his brother. Despair is the sin of hell. 2. Does the enemy try to frighten you with the rigid justice of Jehovah? Tell him that justice and mercy have met in the death of Christ, and embraced each other (cf. Psalm 85:8).God can be just, and yet save the sinner. Our God is both righteous and gracious. If the enemy asks, ‘Can God save such a transgressor as you?’ say, ‘Yes, and he will betroth me in righteousness as well as in mercy, for he offers to marry me in Christ, where all his attributes harmonize gloriously.’ Therefore let sinners keep an eye on God’s justice to keep them from presumption, and on his mercy to save them from despair. Christ has paid your whole debt, and when you come to live on Christ by faith, divine justice cannot condemn you. Therefore plead the merits of the death of Christ, and embrace his offered pardons. Come then, poor sinner that borders on despair; see and know that divine justice is your friend when you rely on Christ for pardon and peace. Who shall lay anything to your charge when you take refuge in the death of Christ? There is now no condemnation, for God has pardoned you. 3. Does the enemy frighten you with the holy law, because you have so often transgressed it? The law requires of us absolute perfection, and will never justify us without. But we have sinned, and therefore can never be justified by our own merits and obedience, “By the deeds of the law can no man living be justified” (Romans 3:20). Christ has satisfied and fulfilled the law for man, and wrought out a perfect righteousness for us; and in order to be saved, we must believe in him for righteousness. The way of salvation is to go out of ourselves, and to rely on the active and passive obedience of the Son of God, who is the Lord our righteousness. Though we can never be justified before God by any obedience that we now can render unto the holy and perfect law of Jehovah, yet the law must ever be our rule of conduct, for we never can be happy in any other way, but by running in the way of his commandments, and we can never glorify God but by doing his will".
Ambrose, Isaac. The Christian Warrior . Digital Puritan Press. Kindle Edition.
Thus, as you can see, I could not go on.
I had made an excuse for Ambrose in the first part where he talks about despair and he intimated that Judas would've been saved if not for despair stopping him from asking for forgiveness.
This is in direct contradiction with Joh 17:12.
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
As to the rest... well, you can see the direct contradiction with how dead wrong Ambrose is in this statement.
"Christ has satisfied and fulfilled the law for man, and wrought out a perfect righteousness for us; [and in order to be saved, we must believe in him for righteousness. The way of salvation is to go out of ourselves, and to rely on the active and passive obedience of the Son of God, who is the Lord our righteousness]
No one can believe without first being regenerated. John 3:3 No one can make a decision to believe outside God first choosing him (or her) John 1:12-13.
This alone is the reason why i will no longer narrate this book. It will cause me to teach large portions of Scripture to invalidate the implications to the hearer of what Ambrose is saying.
Older
Top
