So we begin the fifth term of communion this evening, and let me read for you that fifth term. It states an approbation of the faithful contendings of the martyrs of Jesus, especially in Scotland, against paganism, potpourri, prelacy, malignancy and sectarianism, immoral civil governments, harassed the intolerations and persecutions which flow from them, and of the judicial testimony emitted by the Reformed Presbytery in North Britain, 1761, and adopted by this church with supplements as containing a noble example to be followed in contending for all divine truth and in testifying against all corruptions embodied in the constitutions of either churches or states. The way we're going to structure our meeting tonight is I've got a series of questions that I'm going to ask. and we will not cover everything I want to say. We'll be talking next week as well about historical testimony, but I'd like to ask a series of questions and answer them so that we have a foundational understanding as to what historical testimony is, and at the same time, what it is not. First question is, we're going to start right at the very beginning. What is history? What is history, as in the phrase historical testimony? What are we talking about as we talk about history? Well, real brief, simple definition. History is the outworking of God's eternal decree in both creation and providence. History is the outworking of God's eternal decree in both creation and providence. Another question, a little more specific type of question, what is redemptive history? What do we mean when we ask the question, what is redemptive history? A couple of things that I would comment in regard to this question. Redemptive history refers to the mighty acts of God subsequent to the fall of man wherein God effectually calls his chosen people unto himself by his word and spirit, effectually secures their salvation by means of their mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, and effectually applies that salvation to them through the work of the Holy Spirit. So this first answer to what is redemptive history, you hear the word effectual mentioned three times, once with regard to God, once with regard to Christ, and the last time with regard to the Holy Spirit. And so this is, again, very quickly, redemptive history refers to the mighty acts of God subsequent to the fall of man, wherein God effectually calls his chosen people unto himself by his word and spirit. then secondly, effectually secures their salvation by means of their mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, and effectually, this is thirdly, and effectually applies that salvation to them through the work of the Holy Spirit. But let me add one other answer to that question. All the wondrous works of God in biblical history as well as outside of biblical history, wherein God, our Savior, rescues, redeems, preserves, reveals, loves, disciplines, judges, leads, and provides all that his people need for their salvation. In other words, as you look at history, all that God does for his people in every way refers to redemptive history. All the wondrous works of God, both within Biblical history and then outside of Biblical history as well. God is a God, as we will see, who works within history. It's very, very important to realize. So our third question is, why is history important? What is so significant about history then? Why should we study history? First of all, let me state that in response, if you remove a man from history, he will not understand who he is, He'll not understand why he is here. He won't understand what God has done for him. And he won't know where he is going. Remove him from a historical context and you remove him from all of those important issues. You see, although our God transcends history. That is, God is not limited or bound by history. He's above history. He's eternal. He lives in an eternal present. He is nevertheless graciously chosen to reveal himself to man in history. God has not created all things and then left it solely to natural cause and effect to play itself out in history. See, God, like the deist teaches, God did not simply create this clock and wind it up and then leave the clock to simply unwind by all these natural cause and effect relationships. God is a personal God He directs every act, step he's involved in history. Though he transcends history, he has condescended to be within history. So our God is a God in history. And you take man out of history, you remove him from a covenant relationship with God, because God establishes his covenant with man within history. Secondly, why is history important? We are to be historical Christians. Psalm 78, verses 1-8, I think as clearly as any other passage in the scriptures, demonstrate this. how we are to use history and how and why history is important in the covenant people of God. Give ear, O my people, to my law. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children, that they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep his commandments, and might not be as their fathers a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that set not their heart aright and whose spirit was not steadfast with God. There in that text we see very clearly, it's very important that we understand history, that we look back to our fathers, that we take that which our fathers taught, which was biblical, that we apply it to our lives, that we apply it to the generation to come, so that there is, throughout history, a faithful remnant and seed. because from one generation to the next, the covenant is passed on to the children. You also notice that what they are, the content of what they are to declare, are God's mighty works within history. Those are the things that we are to declare, not only in biblical history, but as parents, it's our responsibility to give to our children an accurate view of history now. What is God doing in history right now? In your own personal history as parents, what did God do in your history in bringing you to a saving knowledge of Christ? What did God do in bringing you as husband and wife together? See, this is all a part of what we're to pass on. Not simply a past history, but a present history as well. and what God is doing presently in our lives, giving our children eyes to see God is doing mighty things in this world. But if we're not helping our children to understand and to see what God is doing, we're depriving them of this history. Still under this second response, have you ever stopped to consider just how much of God's Word is given in historical narrative rather than in didactic or teaching propositions? How much of it is given in historical narrative as opposed to direct instruction by way of commandment, prohibition, exhortation, and warning? I think we could say much, if not most, of Scripture is written in historical narrative. Why? Why has God chosen to write most of Scripture within a historical context, rather than simply giving direct propositions from cover to cover? Let me give you, this is kind of an answer to a question within a question, but why has God given us that much historical narrative? Let me give you three responses to that. Because he has determined to glorify himself in the revelation of himself to man. He's determined, in other words, to reveal himself in history as a holy God, as a all-powerful God, as a wise God, as a just and yet gracious God, He's chosen to reveal Himself to man. He freely chose to do so. God is not obligated to do so, but He freely chose to reveal Himself to man. The next reason why we have so much of scripture written in historical narrative is because the Lord has determined to save sinners through the incarnation, obedience, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, all that we see, beginning with the fall of man, where redemptive history actually begins, where the covenant of grace actually is inaugurated, all that we see from that point is preparing us through promises and signs and pictures and types for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then after, certainly after he has come, it gives us the life and testimony that he lived, and then how the practical outworking in the lives of people after he came. and the acts of the apostles, etc. And then thirdly, the third reason why we have so much scripture written in historical narrative is because I believe God would impress upon us that he is not only a God to be believed, but he is a God to be obeyed. He is a God we are not to forget. He is a God we're not to ignore nor neglect in our daily history. We are to acknowledge Him in everything that we do in history. We're not simply to have this faith that is cut off from history. As James says, faith without works is dead. And so we're not only to believe, we are to obey. How do you obey? You obey within the context of your life and history. And so as we look back through redemptive history, as we look at the scriptures, as we look at our own life, we can see all of these events, and we can divide them into acts of obedience and faithfulness, or acts of disobedience, and we can learn and profit from what we see throughout history. You see, we're not only to know sound doctrine, as is taught in 2 Timothy 4.3, but we're also to know the power of godliness. as is taught in 2 Timothy 3 verses 1-5, the power of godliness, that is, the practical outworking of obedience in our life and in history. In other words, truth is not only to be believed with one's heart, it is to be confessed with one's mouth and life. going back to the question we were working on originally, why is history important? The third response is that, and we've alluded to this, but we are to learn, grow, and become sanctified from a study of history. We are to learn from the obedience, the victories, persecution of our forefathers in order that we might walk in those same godly paths. Let me read for you from Hebrews chapter 6. Certainly we look throughout Hebrews chapter 11 and we see all of these who lived faithful lives and were to imitate their faith. So we're to learn from from history. We're not to simply note it and then at that particular point have nothing further to do with it, but we are to learn from the faith of our forefathers. In Hebrews chapter 6, verses 9-12, we find these words, But beloved, we are persuaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints and do minister. And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end, that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. And so we're to learn from the obedience of our forefathers, but we're also to learn from their disobedience and from their failures and from the judgments that fell upon them for their disobedience. And we see, for example, in First Corinthians chapter 10, where the apostle Paul mentions all of the trials that befell the children of Israel in the wilderness and how they turned to idolatry, how they committed fornication, how they murmured and complained against God's providence, all of these things. And then we find in verse 11, Now all these things happened unto them for examples, and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." We're to learn from history. We're to grow. We're to be sanctified by reflecting on what God has done in history with our forefathers. It's been noted that those who do not learn from the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat those same mistakes. How true it is. And then finally, let me just make this response basically a quote concerning why history is important. This is a quote taken from a book entitled The Wonders of the Most High by Abraham Vandevelde. This was written about 1675 and it documents the mighty works of God in Holland and how God preserved over a period of 80 years the United Provinces of the Netherlands from the Spanish Roman Catholics. I read from page four. He says, history is the cord that connects us with our ancestors, the beacon that points to the rock where at one time we ran aground and suffered shipwreck, the lighthouse that illuminates the safe harbor to which we have directed all our hope. She is the teacher who declares the word of God. and applies the first principles of his ways. That is how it was understood by Asaph. That's a reference to the psalm we read, Psalm 78. That is how the fathers perceived it. Our modern age, after kindling its so-called new light, was aware that in order to reform the nations, it had to cut the cords of history Prior to making a beginning with the reformation of history, this is quite an insight, in order to bring about change, novelties, innovations, you've got to cut people off from history. You can't let them know the way the forefathers did this. You want to try and keep that out of their minds. He goes on to say, they were well aware that the deep impression of God's name and image in history could not be removed from the nations unless God was deposed from history. The fourth question, fourth main question we want to consider then this evening. What is a testimony? What is a testimony? Well, some of us probably have come from certain churches where people would stand up and give testimonies. And there is certainly a measure of truth that that is reflective of what we're talking about here. But I'd like to begin with a more precise type of definition and give, I think, what might be a little more helpful than what we might recall concerning some of the testimonies we heard in some churches growing up. Not always the most helpful types of things came from people's mouths at that time. But let me simply give to you first a definition as to what a testimony is. A testimony is that record which a witness gives in a court in defense of the truth and in opposition to error. It's a record which a witness gives in a court in defense of the truth and in opposition to error. And so if we consider testimony, first of all, in a legal sense, in a court, and the witness is the one who gives testimony. And he is sworn to give the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And he is sworn to, if there is any false story out there, he is sworn to expose that as being false. Now, secondly, as Christians, therefore, We must always view ourselves as in a court throughout our lives, wherever we are. We must always view ourselves as in a court situation where we are constantly being called upon to give testimony, to bear witness concerning the defense of the truth and in opposition to error. Whether we're at home, talking to our children, our wives, our husbands, whether we're talking on the telephone to another family member or friend, whether we are walking along the street, or whether we're driving in the car, or in the marketplace, or the workplace, at church, or in even a human court. Wherever we are, we are bound to testify, to speak the truth, and to expose error. Now, whose witnesses are we? We are God's witnesses. We are witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ and His truth. And we are witnesses, therefore, against all error, against all sin, against all evil, against all backsliding. And so, thirdly, Testimony is an essential characteristic in the life of a Christian. Testifying and bearing witness to the truth and exposing error is not an optional characteristic in the life of a Christian. God said in the Old Testament, when he called his people Israel, he said, you are my witnesses. Certainly the same is said in the New Testament, where the Lord Jesus Christ says in Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount, he says, Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost his savor, Wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men. You see, salt is of no value unless it is salty and unless that salt is applied to meat or food to preserve it. that was one of its main uses in that particular culture, was to preserve food. But as long as the salt stays over here, and the food's over here, the meat's over here, it's not going to preserve and do its job. Unless we as Christians testify and bear witness to the truth, our silent witness is not going to accomplish what Christ has called us to do." And then it goes on to say, "...Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven." There you see an emphasis upon seeing your good works. A life that is a testimony and bears witness to the truth. Not simply words, but a life that conforms to that. But we also see in Matthew 10.32, and this is all illustrating the fact that this is not an optional quality or characteristic of a Christian, but an essential one, Matthew 10.32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven." But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. You remember in the Old Testament, And this will be the last one, just going back to the Old Testament very briefly. So the law that God gave to his people is called the testimony. It's God's testimony to his people. And the people are to live out that testimony in their life. But God bears witness to himself, what he requires. He's bearing witness in his law. It's called the testimony. It's God's testimony. And then the law of God was placed within the Ark of the Covenant. And the Ark of the Covenant, therefore, was called the Ark of the Testimony because it contained God's testimony and his bearing witness to the truth. And many, many passages, but with regard to that point, Exodus 25 verses 16 and 22. And so one more point I'd make concerning what is a testimony. is this, that what you personally believe about Christ and his truth in your own heart will probably not draw the fury of the enemy against you, as long as you simply hold those truths as your own personal convictions. As long as you simply believe something, and others might even know that you do through some particular way, but as long as you're not actively testifying to the truth and testifying against people's errors, you're probably not going to run into a whole lot of persecution. You're not going to experience the fury of the enemy, the opposition of the enemy. But once you begin to give testimony to the truth and you testify against error, you can count on persecution to arise. People do not mind if you believe something very strongly as long as you do not tell them that what they believe is wrong. You can believe something as strongly as you want to believe it. And that's usually fine with people. People have that kind of mindset today. You know, different strokes for different folks. Okay, so he believes that. Fine. Let him believe it. But don't tell me that what I'm doing is wrong, and don't tell me what I'm believing is wrong, then those are fighting words. However, consider in this regard what comes of bearing witness to the truth. What faithful testimony and testifying will bring, and I'll just refer to a couple passages in Revelation. We certainly see in the life of Christ this to be always the case, that he was not one to be silent. He was not a silent witness. He was one who bore witness to the truth and exposed error and sin. And so will his children. So will those who are his church and his people. They'll do the same thing. But in Revelation chapter 6, beginning with verse 9, it says, And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain, for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them. And it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also. and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled." Notice this. Here you have martyrs for the faith. And notice what they were killed for. Why were they slain? Why were they persecuted? It says here, they were slain for the word of God, But not only because they believed the Word of God to be true, not only because they maintained their faith in God's Word, but notice, "...and for the testimony which they held." See, they weren't simply saying, I believe the Word of God. They were saying, this is the truth and what you're doing is wrong. And they were slain for that. But these are faithful martyrs. These are faithful martyrs of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here we find an example to follow. That we are to affirm, believe, teach the Word of God, but we're also to testify as well. We're to bear witness. And then one more passage is Revelation 12.11. Revelation 12.11. Here we have a very graphic, symbolic picture, portrayal of this war between the devil and between Christ and his church. And we find that after Christ ascends into heaven, and secures the salvation of his people, that the enemy, the dragon, became infuriated and began persecuting the church. I'll begin with verse 10 and read through verse 12. I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, for the devil is come down unto you. having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." But look at verse 11. How did they overcome the devil? They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. They were declared righteous. They were justified through the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, they overcame because of the work of Christ on their behalf. Furthermore, they overcame him by the word of their testimony. They testified in defense of the truth and exposed error. They overcame him. And thirdly, because they didn't consider their life in this world to be so important that they were willing to hang on to it and cling to it at the expense of the truth. They were willing to die for the truth. And so, again, realize when we are faithful and are testifying, not everybody is going to like it. The last question we want to answer this evening is, what is then historical testimony? Putting it all together now. What is historical testimony? First of all, historical testimony is both the inspired and the uninspired record of faithful witnesses throughout history as they contended for the faith once delivered to the saints, and expose the error, evil, and backsliding of their day. Historical testimony is both the inspired and the uninspired record of faithful witnesses throughout history as they contended for the faith once delivered to the saints and exposed the error, evil, and backsliding of their day. Secondly, under what is historical testimony, Let it be noted that by means of historical testimony, both the corporate sanctification of the Church and the corporate apostasy of the Church throughout history may be charted. Through historical testimony, you can chart the corporate sanctification of the Church and the corporate decline in apostasy. of the church. For example, just to illustrate this, as we read the historical accounts of the Old Testament church, we note times of defection and apostasy, which not only the prophets at that time testified against, but we as well in our day must agree, because it's agreeable to the Scriptures, because their testimony is true. We must agree with that testimony where there was defection. And you can find under, for example, Jeroboam in 1 Kings 12, when he separated from Judah, took the ten tribes of Israel and separated from Judah, and how he established for political reasons his own worship of Jehovah. It was a worship of Jehovah. He wasn't instituting a religion that did not acknowledge Jehovah to be the one true living God, but he was instituting a new religion, not instituted by God. New priesthood, new symbols, all kinds, new altars, this type of thing. But we note there that was a defection. We also can see the gross defection in 2 Kings 21 with regard to Manasseh in Judah and how far Manasseh fell from the truth, from the faith of his father Hezekiah. Gross defection. But we also see, as we look through Old Testament history, times of corporate sanctification and reformation. Now, when we see that, we must approbate. That means we must commend and approve and emulate, follow those examples. Because those examples, again, are consistent with the revealed will of God. And if we don't approbate, if we don't approve of them, if we don't seek to emulate and follow them, then we charge ourselves with apostasy because we're not willing to follow the godly example of our forefathers in history. And we think of the reformations, for example, under Hezekiah and under Josiah, and you see many other of those. types of reformations, but those we must approbate. And just as we would look back to inspired history that we find in the scripture, likewise the same is true in uninspired history. We must approbate that which is agreeable to the Word of God in history, and we must disapprobate or disapprove of, shun, avoid, not follow examples of historical testimony that are not agreeable to the Word of God. And so throughout history, subsequent to the time of the Apostles, uninspired history, we'll call it. We can see the same thing happening. We can see times of corporate sanctification of the Church, like the First Reformation, the Second Reformation around the time of the Westminster Assembly, but we also see times of corporate apostasy, like in the fourth century, the time of Arianism, when it appeared that Arianism would take over the whole world and the Orthodox view of the Trinity would be shut out. Or the time during the rule and predominance of the Roman Catholic Church, the gross apostasy, superstition, idolatry that was introduced, or the gross apostasy that was prevalent in the time of just prior to the Second Reformation in the Church of England where all of these English Popish ceremonies were being imposed upon ministers and upon churches. See, we look at that and we say, that's contrary to the Word of God. We do not want to emulate and follow that. But what came afterwards, the Second Reformation, the Westminster Assembly, we believe that to be consistent and agreeable to the Word of God. Therefore, we want to emulate that and follow that. Thirdly, under what is historical testimony? To say that we are obligated or that we are bound to follow the example of our forefathers is simply to look at the scripture and all of the commandments that we find therein, where we are commanded by God to imitate our forefathers, to follow in their faith. And there are many, many passages. Let me simply This is such an important point. I think that I'll just take the time to. We're going to be moving quickly, but these passages, I think, teach clearly that we are and basically become scriptural support warrant for historical testimony, following and being imitators of our forefathers. Proverbs chapter Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set. Now that's not just talking about geographical boundaries, but we should understand that as well to refer to the ancient landmarks of truth which have been established the corporate attainments in sanctification which our forefathers have set as boundaries for us in our confessions and creeds and in the testimony that they left. Don't move the ancient landmarks which thy fathers have set. Jeremiah 6.16 Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not walk therein. Ask for the old paths, the paths of our forefathers, the faithful, tried, proven, biblical path of our forefathers. 1 Corinthians 4, verse 16. Paul says, Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. Now, Paul didn't say, be ye followers of me because Paul was perfect. Only Christ could say that. Follow me absolutely in everything that I say and do. The meaning here, as we'll see, as we read, for example, Paul makes a similar kind of statement in 1 Corinthians 11, 1. This is what Paul is saying, and this is what all of these passages are implying. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11 1, Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ. Follow me as I follow Christ. Now, where I don't follow Christ, don't follow me. But be ye followers of me even as I am of Christ. Philippians 3.17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have for us an example. Be followers of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example. So follow our example. Mark them out. That's very clear language. You're not to ignore history. Mark them out. Chart it out. Where are the faithful following their footsteps? That's a command. All of these, in fact, are commands. These are not suggestions. These are commands, imperatives from God. 1 Thessalonians 1 6 Paul says to the Thessalonian Christians, And ye became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy the Holy Ghost. 1 Thessalonians 2 14 For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus, for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews." Hebrews chapter 6. We read this earlier, but let me just note it again. Hebrews chapter 6, verses 11 and 12. And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end. That you be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Follow those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Follow the godly remnant. Follow those who have persevered in the truth and testified to the truth and exposed error. And of course, we can't go through the whole chapter, but Hebrews 11, and this is the cloud of witnesses that we are to follow, the great cloud of witnesses. And then Hebrews 13, verse 7, says this, Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow. considering the end of their conversation, that is, the end of their life, the end of their conduct. And so we find where to follow and walk in the footsteps of the flock, where to follow closely those who have followed the truth and walked in the truth. But at the same time, We are to not follow the example of those who have defected from the truth, those who have rather walked in the way of sin and error. And let me again read for you just a couple passages here. Proverbs chapter 19, verse 27. Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge. Don't listen, don't follow in the path of those whose instruction causes you to err from the truth. Matthew 7.15, Jesus says beware of false prophets. He doesn't tell us to beware of them in order to walk after their path, but to avoid them. Those who have been false teachers, those who have, regardless of their profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and many are certainly Christians, and yet we very adamantly recognize and say that we can't walk in the footsteps of every person who professes to be a Christian. Many have erred concerning the truth. Certainly everyone in some way errs concerning the truth, but some have corporately erred concerning the truth. Churches, their confessions, their creeds, this type of thing. And so we can't walk in their path. Again, and we read this earlier, so I won't read it again, but in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, you have there the example of the Israelites in the wilderness. That's given, and we're told there that we're not to walk according to their path. We're told in verse 7, as a matter of fact, neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them. And let me just, one more passage and we'll move on. Jude, verses 7 and 11. You notice, this is very helpful. If you just, as you're reading through the scriptures, whenever any reference from the Old Testament pops up, why is it being chosen? Is it an example to follow or is it an example not to follow? That's historical testimony. Jude 7 says, even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. For an example for us not to follow. And verse 11, listen to these men from the Old Testament. Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the heir of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah." Historical testimony. Don't walk in their paths. Now, I'm nearly finished, but I need to just make a couple more comments. This will be the fourth comment under what is historical testimony. Do not mistake historical testimony as discussed here, as I've just discussed it. Don't mistake that for the uninspired tradition of the Pharisees or the uninspired tradition of the Romish Church or any other church. We're not saying that historical testimony is authoritative and it ought to be followed simply because it is the testimony of our men. Simply because it is the testimony of Presbyterians. No, that's not why we say so. That would be to fall into the same position as the Pharisees or as the Romish Church. You are to approbate and approve of all faithful contendings of witnesses of Jesus in their defense of the truth and exposing of error. You're to approbate that because it is agreeable to the Word of God, not because they were our men. You see, the Pharisees of old, Jesus condemned, because they made the Word of God of none effect. Because they exalted their tradition alongside of the Word of God, so that their tradition actually altered and made void the Word of God, the commandments of God. And you remember the example he used. God says, honor your father and mother. Well, they made void and emptied that particular commandment because their tradition said that they could take certain money and rather than meeting the needs of their parents who had very real needs, they could use it by giving it to the church. They could say, it's Corvin, it's dedicated to the church. and not meet the needs of their own family. And so that's not what we're teaching with regard to historical testimony. And then finally, how do we distinguish that which the good historical testimony of our forefathers, how do we distinguish that which is the good historical testimony of our forefathers, From that which is the tradition of men, how do we distinguish one from the other? Well, ask this question. Is the historical testimony agreeable to the only infallible rule of faith and practice, the Word of God? We must never ever be guilty of exalting any human standard to be equivalent to or equal to God's Word. We must never have the same bearing, the same standard, the same place in our life as God's Word. And yet, we must also say that all of these things are authoritative in our lives as subordinate standards because they are agreeable to the Word of God. And there is certainly much that we could say, and we have said previously about our standards and why it's necessary to have creeds and confessions and why it's important, as we've already said in this lesson, to follow historical testimony. Let me give you one hypothetical illustration of how we determine that which is good historical testimony from that which is the tradition of men, and how it would practically work out. Say, for example, in the days of the apostles, a group of professing Christians would have sought admission into the church of Jerusalem, but they would have maintained that Stephen was not a martyr for the truth of Jesus Christ, He was not a contending witness for the truth of Jesus Christ. They maintain that he was not, that he was in error, that he was promoting that which is wrong. Now, if that was what they were saying with regard to the historical testimony, with regard to the witness bearing of Stephen, would they have been admitted into membership in the church of Jerusalem? Well, you say, well, that's pure speculation. We can't possibly know how they would have responded to that. Well, it's not recorded in the word of God. It is hypothetical. But at the same time, I dare say that they could not have received them into membership without subverting the very word of God, which Stephen testified concerning. Stephen was testifying concerning the truth of God, the truth concerning Jesus Christ. To not accept the testimony of Stephen would be to say, I don't accept the word of God. I don't believe Jesus Christ is who he said he was. Because that's all that Stephen was saying. And so we need to recognize, again, the relationship between the one who bears witness and testimony and the Word of God to which they testify. And it's the Word of God itself that gives authority to our testimony. It's not our word. It's not anything we are in ourselves. It is the Word of God alone. It is the Spirit of God, using the Word of God, that gives authority to our testimony. And so it is not wrong to appeal to faithful witnesses as long as what they declared or practiced is viewed as subordinate to scripture. In other words, that it's a subordinate standard, not our primary standard, which is the word of God, as long as it's viewed as a subordinate standard to scripture and thus authoritative only because it is agreeable to scripture. And so we might say, in this sense, all of our uninspired creeds, confessions, we might say, broadly speaking, Terms 2, which begins with our confessional standards, through Term 6, which talks about living a godly life, all those terms, Terms 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, in that sense, are all historical testimony, in a broad, general sense. I've said this, so there's no misunderstanding. It is not every act of our forefathers that we approbate, defend, or contend for. We contend for their faithful witness, for their faithful contendings, when it is agreeable to the word of God. That's all that I have for this evening. Next week we're going to look at other issues related to historical testimony. So I hope you'll be able to join us as we continue this study on historical testimony and why this is a term of communion in our church. This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. You are welcome to make copies and give them to those in need. SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available, free and for sale, in audio, video, and printed formats. It is likely that the sermon or book that you just listened to is also available on cassette or video, or as a printed book or booklet. Our many free resources, as well as our complete mail-order catalog, Thank you. by phone at 780-450-3730 by fax at 780-468-1096 or by mail at 4710-37A Edmonton, that's E-D-M-O-N-T-O-N Alberta, abbreviated capital A, capital B, Canada, T6L3T5. You may also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Kelvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart. From his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions, since He condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The Prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.