CTF 2026 - Session 6: How God's Decree Brings Life

From the Confessing the Faith Conference 2026, this session explores 2LCF Chapter 3 - Of God's Decree, paragraph 6: how God's eternal decree encompasses not only the election of sinners to glory but also the ordained means by which that glory is brought to them. The lecture works through the Puritan doctrine of the means of grace — divine institution, covenantal promise, and the present lordship of Christ — distinguishing those means from other useful church activities and rejecting both sacerdotalism and hyper-Calvinist immediacy. Main points: - the decree and divine means: John Owen on the immutability of God's counsel - the church as the ordinary place of salvation - defining the means of grace and the two criteria: dominical institution and a divine promise of efficacy - the present and active lordship of Christ - the means identified: Word, Baptism, Lord's Supper, and Prayer - caution against treating other church activities as means of grace - caution against the Roman doctrine of automatic efficacy Scripture references: - 2 Chronicles 15:2 - Nehemiah 8:8 - Matthew 28:18-20 - Acts 2:22-36 - Ephesians 1:15-23; 2:19-22 - Hebrews 6:13-20 - 1 Peter 1:2 Free Grace Baptist Church — https://www.freegrace.ca Full transcript & sermon notes: https://sermons.freegrace.ca/sermons/conference-ctf-2026-session-6-how-gods-decree-brings-life Description generated by Tyrannus.ai: https://www.tyrannus.ai