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Let us first summarize this Sum of Saving Knowledge:
The woeful condition that all people are in naturally, due to breaking of the Covenant of Works: “As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;” (Romans 3:10 ESV). “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8 ESV). “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15 ESV).
The Remedy provided for the Elect in Jesus Christ by the Covenant of Grace: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV).
The means appointed to make the Elect partakers of this Covenant.
The Word of God. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16 ESV).
The Sacraments. “And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 2:38 ESV). “And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood’” (Luke 22:19–20 ESV).
Church Government. “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you” (Hebrews 13:17 ESV).
Prayer. “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil” (1 Peter 3:12 ESV). “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6–7 ESV).
The blessings that are effectually conveyed to the Elect by these means. “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:15–17 ESV). “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17 ESV).
Are you ready to become a disciple of Jesus Christ? First you should count the cost.72 It is common knowledge that those who “get saved” or “get religion,” as the world often expresses it, will need to make some changes to how they live. Love, obedience, and service to God must come first in your life. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5 ESV). The Lord Jesus must come first in all things in your life. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26 ESV). The hate here is figurative language to express how the Lord Jesus must have absolute priority in your life. For example, many Muslims who become Christians are rejected by their families. They must choose between Jesus Christ and their loved ones. The correct choice is to choose Jesus Christ and take the consequences of possible rejection and separation from family and friends. But they are still charitable and love their families, for we are commanded to love even our enemies. Jesus Christ is Lord and takes absolute priority. What is more, we cannot predict the future, so we cannot perfectly count the cost. Therefore, we must be permanently committed to Christ no matter what. “Whoever does not bear his own cross73 and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him” (Luke 14:27–29 ESV).
Have you counted the cost, and are you ready to give yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ and thus gain eternal life instead of eternal Hell? If so, please read and carefully consider the prayer reproduced from this Sum below. Does it express the desire of your heart? This and similar “sinner’s prayers” do not themselves save anyone. But when prayed truly and from the heart, however imperfectly, they are outward evidence of having been inwardly born again from above by the power of the Holy Spirit. Say heartily to the Lord:
Because you say, “seek my face,” my soul answers to you, “your face, Lord will I seek.” I have read the offer of an everlasting Covenant of all saving mercies to be had in Christ, and I do heartily embrace your offer. Lord, let it be a signed and sealed covenant. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Behold I give myself to you to serve you in all things forever, and I hope your right hand will save me and the Lord will perfect that which concerns me. Your mercy, O Lord endures for ever; forsake not the works of your own hands.
After thus closing with Christ, you should tell your close friends and family, especially those whom you know to be believers, what you have just done. You may be surprised to find one or more of them have been praying for your conversion and are eager to help you in your new walk with Christ.
For newcomers to the Bible, it can be a daunting book at first. This “Quick Start” may help. There are four things that are essential, or greatly helpful to getting the most out of your Bible:
The one essential thing is to have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you; the help of the Holy Spirit allows you to comprehend all the Spirit-ual truth in the Bible. “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Romans 8:14 NASB). Notice the one-to-one correspondence between the set of believers and the set of those led by Christ’s Holy Spirit. “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Galatians 4:6 ESV). If you have not closed with Christ as you were encouraged to do by the Sum and just above, you really do need to go back and read it closely and seriously, and receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Otherwise, you still lack the Holy Spirit and are still a slave of Satan; you are still fodder for Hell. If you have closed with Christ, but doubt whether you have the Holy Spirit, you may claim this promise: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13 ESV). So sincerely ask; there is no other condition to the promise.
Find a good Bible believing church and become part of it and its life. This may take much prayer and hard work as America is thoroughly infested with fake and spiritually weak congregations and denominations. But the effort is worth it; just as one can learn much from an old and experienced craftsman who knows all the tricks and dodges of the job, so older, mature believers can be an inestimable help to growing in Christ. Look at church websites and learn what you can about prospective churches. Avoid Roman Catholic, Mormon (Latter Day Saints), Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Science, Unitarian, and similar “churches” like the plague, for they are not Christian outfits at all. Also look out for an emphasis on material prosperity, especially in response to giving money to that “church”; such are dens of thieves and money changers. Good things to look for include:
A firm commitment to the absolute authority of the Holy Bible as the very Word of God.
The exercise of church discipline in which the church calls to account those found in any sin and helps them into genuine repentance. But the stubbornly unrepentant must be excommunicated.
The sermons preach Christ and make Scripture passages plain and understandable.
The Westminster standards are subordinate to the Scriptures, but if adopted (with perhaps some minor exceptions upon Scriptural grounds), it indicates a solid understanding of Scripture in that church.
But, red flags and “flashing Check Engine lights” include: women pastors or elders, acceptance of homosexual practices or lifestyles, acceptance of marijuana use, failure to keep Sunday as the Christian Sabbath, or embracing or teaching Marxist, socialist, DEI, Nazi, racist, feminist, or other unbiblical ideologies. (These are not all necessarily the most vile sins, but are evidence of compromising God’s truth with current fads and falsehoods.)
For various reasons, extended reading, especially of books seems to be falling out of favor these days. Some people may read few or no books. However, this editor has observed that God tends to renew the intellects and minds of new believers as part of the salvation “package.” Books have a number of advantages that other media do not:
Books can cover topics more thoroughly than other reading material such as articles in magazines, newspapers, or the web.
There is a vast number of Christian books—many are bad, many are useless, but there are plenty of good ones—that explain topics such as marriage, family, Creation, the person of Christ, honest business practices, and so on. Others are commentaries that take the reader through different books of the Bible helping the reader to understand the Bible. Systematic theologies cover a range of topics in one book, explaining the Bible as a whole. There are also commentaries on the entire Bible such as Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible.
Books allow the reader to absorb information at his or her own pace, stop reading and pick up later, interrupt the reading to explore questions raised by the material or go back and re-read earlier passages, and so on.
In light of the above points, in addition to the Bible itself, new believers should read books designed to introduce them to the Bible and Christian life. Here are some suggestions in what may be a helpful reading order:
Re-read this Sum.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism.74
The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction by Sinclair B. Ferguson
The Bond of Love: God’s Covenantal Relationship with His Church by David McKay
Biblical Teaching on the Doctrines of Heaven and Hell by Edward Donnelly
Essential Truths of the Christian Faith by R. C. Sproul
The Westminster Confession of Faith
The Westminster Larger Catechism
The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination by Loraine Boettner (The title is misleading; it is actually a systematic theology that is clear and very accessible to the layman.)
A study Bible is a Bible that has extensive footnotes, cross references, maps, embedded brief explanations, historical notes, and so on that allow the reader to better understand the text. Examples include the Reformation Study Bible, The Geneva Study Bible, and The MacArthur Study Bible. They are less complete and detailed than most other commentaries, but they have the advantage of helping the reader “on the spot” as he reads, without needing recourse to another book. However, they have the disadvantage that the reader is tempted to put the human notes on a level with Scripture by letting the notes unduly interpret or even twist the Word of God.
Daily Bible reading is essential to the Christian life. Eventually, one will want to have read the entire Bible multiple times. But starting out, it is undesirable to read from cover to cover; one will lack the context with which to understand many passages for want of knowledge that is elsewhere in the Bible. Ligonier Ministries has some resources that can help those who are new to the Holy Bible at https://learn.ligonier.org/articles/get-basic-overview-bible. A good start in Bible reading that covers the most important matters in a short time would be: Genesis chapters 1–4, then the Gospel of John, and then the Epistle to the Ephesians. After that, Ligonier also has a number of links to Bible reading plans at https://www.ligonier.org/posts/bible-reading-plans; of which
https://reasonabletheology.org/wp-content/uploads/Redemptive-Historical-Bible-Reading-Plan.pdf will help the reader study the Bible in rough chronological order while simultaneously helping him to connect the various Bible books to one another, especially in the area of redemptive history, something greatly helpful in understanding Covenant Theology. When systematic Bible reading is combined with reading the suggested books in 3.b., above, a growing, solid, grounding in theology is possible.
Navigation:
Past: Appendix 1: Getting Started in the Christian Life and the Holy Bible
Present: Appendix 2: Authors and Historical Background
Future: Appendix 3: Cherished Sins
Far Future: More appendices, indexes, and endnotes
72 The one glaring defect in this Sum is that it does not directly challenge the reader to count the cost of following Christ.
73 There is a common idea that cross refers to suffering or hardship. This is not true as exemplified by Christ’s cross. Christ did not come to earth to suffer, but to save sinners. That was His calling, or mission in life. Christ did a lot more in His earthly life than get crucified. And, given the opposition He faced, most of His work caused Him suffering. And of course, paying the penalty for the sins of the elect on the cross involved hideous suffering. So our own crosses are the work or mission(s) to which Christ our Lord has called us in this life. And, like Him, we must do that work while enduring faithfully whatever suffering or hardship comes with it.
74 Translations of the Westminster standards into contemporary American English may be found at https://beforgiven.info/HostedLiterature.htm. Also, there is an Easy version of the Shorter Catechism at https://beforgiven.info/HostedLiterature.htm#wsceasy.
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