Well, looking at my diary earlier, I saw that it was right, well, not quite the beginning of the year. The last time I was here to minister on a Thursday evening was actually the 15th of January. I think I've been back probably once since then on a Thursday for a prayer meeting, so it's good in God's kind providence that we're able to be here this evening. Well, back on that Thursday, In the middle of January, I began to speak on the subject of Strict and Particular Baptist Distinctive Principles. I thought it was a suitable subject for the beginning of the year, and one would have hoped, of course, to have been able to complete a short series of two or three addresses on that theme. So I want to continue with it this evening and maybe finish it next Thursday evening.

The particular scripture that we looked at, I remind you, is that that we find in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, in Acts chapter 2 and verses 41 and 42. what we read concerning those who were remarkably converted on that great and auspicious day of Pentecost, the outpouring of the Spirit, some 3,000 wrought upon by God the Holy Ghost. And the words then that we were considering, as I say, are those in Acts 2, 41 and 42. were told, then they that gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers."

And I said, there, in a sense, we have the birth of the New Testament Church and we have those principles. that we would seek to abide by in our church life. And I mentioned some five particular truths that we see there. The doctrine of the church, first of all, the doctrine of baptism, the practice of restricted communion, the apostolic doctrine of the gospel, and finally What is experimental religion? Well, we consider the first two of those subjects back on the 15th of January. The doctrine of the church and the doctrine of baptism. And I just remind you of the principle of what we term the gathered church.

There is no such thing, of course, as a virtual church gathering together. as a corporate body is vital to the very life of any true church. Corporate simply means forming one body of many individuals. And that's why I read that portion here in 1 Corinthians 10, verses 12 through 27, where we have the figure of a human body. which is made up, of course, of different members, and all the members are vital to the making of that body. And we said last time that the gathered church, the people brought together as a corporate body to worship God, it's something that is actually rooted in the Old Testament.

The principle is there, even with regards to the children of Israel, who as they come out of Egypt are often referred to as the assembly or the congregation and even when they enter into the promised land they're reminded of the necessity that all the males should come together to worship God in the three great feasts of the Jewish year Passover and Pentecost or weeks as we sometimes call it and tabernacles in Deuteronomy 16 and verse 16 the command is given that they must come from every part of that land that God had promised to them and gather together ultimately would be at Jerusalem and Manzion for the worship of God the gathered church and we have that verse in Genesis 49 verse 10 that promise to Judah as Jacob is blessing his twelve sons the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. The gathered church was something that we sought then to emphasize last time and I also remarked that the highest authority in the church is the church meeting when the church gathers together the many as Christ speaks of them there in Matthew 18 and verses 15 and 17, tally to the church that is the many. Well I don't want to make any remarks concerning baptism, but that is clearly there in that portion.

In Acts 2.41, they that received the word were baptized, and the same day they were added unto them. And then later we read that the Lord was adding daily to the church such as should be saved.

So those who are added to the church are those who upon profession of their faith are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. But tonight really I want to begin to consider the third and the fourth points that I mentioned last time that is the practice of strict communion and to say something with regards to the apostolic doctrine of the gospel. Well our practice of course is that of restricted or sometimes you just say strict communion and by the terms we mean that the privilege of partaking of the Lord's Supper is restricted to those baptized as believers and members of the church. And so we observe the order. There in Acts 2, 41 and 42, those who gladly received the word of the gospel and believed in Christ were baptized and added to the church. And then we are told, they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' Doctrine and Fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

All of those are corporate activities in the Church, speaking of the Church. And so it is quite evident that the breaking of bread refers to the matter of the Lord's Supper, an ordinance of the Church. And it's so clear from what we read in that other portion tonight, 1 Corinthians 11 and verses 17 through 34. Paul there, of course, is dealing with the matter of the Lord's Supper and those abuses of the supper that must have been evident in the church at Corinth. We observe in that chapter that the emphasis very much falls upon the idea of the gathered church. You may have observed it as we read through the portion in verse 8.

Paul writes, when ye come together, when ye come together in the church. The reference is not to a building but to the corporate body of believers as they gathered together. In fact, he also uses the expression, come together, again in verses 17 and 20, and then in verse 33, he gives the exhortation, wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. They're gathering together.

It's a gathered church and Paul's concern was that all things should be done decently and in order at that Holy Supper of the Lord. This is why we practice and contend for restricted communion. that things might be done orderly. Not that we want to be exclusive, but we want to obey the Lord's precepts and please Him by being disciplined and orderly in those ordinances that belong to the Church.

But at the Lord's table we should also be manifesting deepest expression of another mark of the New Testament Church, and it's that of fellowship. We can observe the syntax there in Acts 2, 42, because breaking of bread stands beside fellowship. They continued steadfastly, it says, in fellowship and in the breaking of bread. And we're aware that oftentimes the Lord's Supper is referred to as a service of holy communion. Or we might say holy fellowship. Communion and fellowship are synonymous, aren't they? What is it that we do then when we come together we have fellowship? We have communion. In fact, here, believers enter into the privilege and blessings of spiritual union and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

As the Lord says, in the familiar words of John 6, 53, following, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him."

Now that has nothing at all to do with the blasphemy of the Roman Catholic Mass and the doctrine of transubstantiation. The Protestant Reformed Church of England, back in the 16th century in the 39 Articles of Religion, speaks of Roman Catholic Masses as blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits.

When we speak of communion with Christ, then, in terms of those words we just read from from John 6, we mean a spiritual communion. That is what Christ is speaking of there. Spiritual communion with himself in the soul of the believer should be experienced at the Lord's Supper. We're feeding our souls, as it were, upon the truth of him giving himself as our substitute, dying in our room instead. we come that we might as it were there know what it is to behold the Lord Jesus Christ set before us as it were in in a picture that's what some would say it's the gospel in pictures as the bread is broken as the wine is poured into the cup and as we come to to partake of those elements. There's real communion with the Lord Jesus Christ.

But there's also something else there. There's an expression of communion one with the other. And surely that word fellowship reminds us of our union with each other as well as our union with the Lord Jesus Christ. They continue steadfastly in the breaking of bread and in fellowship, or in fellowship and in the breaking of bread.

We have those words, don't we, in 1 Corinthians 10, 16 and 17. How striking they are, the cup of blessing which we bless says Paul, is it not the communion or the fellowship of the blood of Christ, the bread which we break, is it not the communion, the fellowship of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread.

And it's because we have a high doctrine of the local church and what it means to be a member in that church that we would contend for restricted communion not wanting to be exclusive and divisive we would warmly welcome others to the Lord's table who are members of churches of the same faith and order those who are in agreement with our doctrine and our practice it's interesting I dug out earlier today the articles of faith and the rules at Haigen St. Baptist Church.

This is 1911, just a few years before they built the present chapel. But it's interesting when you look at the rules. The third rule is quite clear, no person shall be admitted to communion unless a member of a church of the same faith and order and such person shall not commune with this church more than three months consecutively without giving a just reason for for not joining the church. To sit at the Lord's table of course is is a privilege but where there is a privilege there is also a responsibility and surely that's what they were wanting to remind people of in that particular rule.

So much for restricted communion. Let's turn then to consider what it means to continue steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine. I don't intend to exhaust this tonight. I want to come back to it maybe next week when we come to a conclusion of matters. But I do want to say something with regards to this particular mark. They are continuing steadfastly in the Apostle's doctrine.

And here we come to perhaps the most distinctive mark of Gospel standard strict Baptist, and that is the clear distinction made between the law and the Gospel. In Hebrews 8, the Apostle speaks plainly of the differences between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. I did wonder whether we might have read Hebrews 8, but I commend that passage to you. It's the most important chapter, not only in that epistle to the Hebrews, but in the whole of the New Testament. In Hebrews 8, Paul speaks clearly of the differences between the Old Covenant and the New, And in relation to that latter covenant he declares that Christ has obtained a more excellent ministry as he is the mediator of a better covenant established upon better promises.

He then goes on to say in verse 7, if the first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. He quotes from Jeremiah 31, 31 to 34 regarding the inward spiritual nature of the new covenant of grace written in the hearts of elect sinners. And then he concludes that 8th chapter with the words, "...in that he saith a new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away."

As I said, Hebrews 8 is an important chapter in distinguishing between the covenant that God gave at Mount Sinai and that which proceeds from Mount Zion. And then later As I'm sure you're aware in Hebrews 12 verse 18 following Paul further takes up the differences between those two covenants one from Mount Sinai and one from Mount Zion.

Now if Christ is the mediator and minister of the new covenant it follows that this will also be the subject matter of the ministry of his apostles and all who seek to continue steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. In fact, if we turn to 2 Corinthians 3, we find that there Paul makes clear the distinction between the ministrations of law and gospel, and speaks of himself and his associates saying, Our sufficiency is of God, who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit.

For the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. The apostolic doctrine then of the Gospel. And I want to mention two particular areas of that apostolic doctrine of the gospel. First, preaching. Historically, in preaching, strict Baptists have made clear the distinction between law and gospel. Hence, Gospel Standard Article 26 begins, we deny duty, faith, and duty, repentance, these terms signifying that it is every man's duty spiritually and savingly to repent and believe. The word duty suggests the works of the law. In contrast, the Gospel sets forth the gift of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works? Otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace? Otherwise work is no more work." Romans 11, 6.

We have to be aware of legalizing the Gospel. In making this distinction between law and Gospel, we can go back to Martin Luther, who at the time of the Protestant Reformation In his deep soul experience was caused to see and feel the differences between law and gospel.

And Luther then speaks of just two principal uses of the law given on Mount Sinai. What he called the civil or the political use and then the spiritual or theological use. In Romans 13, in the first nine verses, Paul speaks of civil governments as that which God has instituted and clearly shows that where there is good government in a country, the laws will be rooted in the Ten Commandments, particularly the second table of the law. And so good laws in a state are a restraint to sin and a preservation of order. That's what Luther calls the first use of the law.

With regards to preaching, we're more interested in what Luther goes on to call the second use, its spiritual use. Theologically, the purpose of the law is to bring conviction into the sinner's soul. the language of Romans 3, 19 and 20, What thing 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. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. And Luther understood this when, as a Romish monk, He was awakened in the depths of his soul to a profound sense of his bondage to sin. And, of course, he brings this out in his great commentary on the epistles of the Galatians.

There, as he expounds Galatians 3.23, before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which would afterwards be revealed. Luther says, Thus the law is a prison. It showeth unto us spiritually our sin, terrifieth and humbleth us, that when we are so terrified and humbled we may learn to know our own misery and condemnation." And this is the true and proper use of the Law. What is the Gospel? It centers in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, of course. But as I said, I really want to go on to say somewhat more with regards to this aspect of the apostolic preaching of the gospel next time.

But besides the preaching, with regards to the distinction that is made between law and gospel among strict Baptists, there's also the matter of the believers' rule of conduct. With regards to the believer's rule of conduct, strict Baptists emphasize the precepts of the gospel and not the law of Moses. Although with regards to the civil use of the law, which I mentioned earlier, believers, together with all other members of society, are of course under the law of their country, as a law that should be rooted in God's law. with regards to that civic use of the law. Believers, like anyone else, are under that law. But in Gospel Standard Article 16, it states quite clearly, we believe that the believer's rule of conduct is the gospel, not the law, commonly called the moral law, issued on Mount Sinai. And later it speaks of the gospel containing the sum and substance and glory of all the laws which God ever promulgated from his throne.

Clearly the believer is not lawless. He's not an antinomian. He's under the higher law of what we term gospel precepts. Well, what does that mean? In a sense, it doesn't exclude the Mosaic law. For that is the law of God. And that was obviously promulgated from his throne.

Here, a key verse is Romans 7 and verse 6, where Paul plainly states, But we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of the letter. And I'm going to repeat that, Romans 7, 6, We are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Now the law spoken of here is not the ceremonial law. Gentiles were never under that law. And the New Testament of the Church at Rome was principally a Gentile church. And remember what Paul says to that church in the end of the second chapter.

He is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose price is not of men, but of God. This is one of the marks, of course, of the covenant of grace. It's an inward work of God in the soul. It's God's law written on the hearts of men.

The law spoken of there in Romans chapter 7 and verse 6 is the same as that which Paul had previously spoken of in Romans 3, 19 and 20. The law which brings the knowledge of sin and the sense of guilt. and silences all as they stand condemned before God." We have to remember this is the first use of the law to convince of sin.

But Christ has come as the surety of His people. He has stood in their law place, obeyed all the precepts of the Lord for them, that he might have a robe of righteousness with which to cover them. He has also suffered of their substitutes and died bearing the penalty of all their transgressions of the law. Therefore, in Christ, believers have died to the law.

They're not under it as their legal codes. The believer stands in a filial, not a legal, relationship to God. That's important. Our relationship with God is not a matter of law, but of grace. The believer stands in the filial, that of a son, not a legal relationship to God. However, believers desire to show their deep gratitude to God for all that they have in Christ. They're motivated by grace, They love God's precepts as much as His promises so they serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

All their motivation is rooted in the gospel and so we speak of their rule of conduct as the precepts of the gospel and as Paul says there In Galatians 6.16, as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Well, I'll leave it there. God willing, we'll come back to conclude this short series. I think it's good to remind ourselves in this simple way of some of our distinctive doctrines and principles. But the Lord bless what's been said. We trust to His glory.