𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘶𝘭 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘴 𝘦𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳 · 1689 2LCF · Husband · Father · Pastor @CovGraceTN · Business development executive
Spring Hill, TN
Joined February 2009
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How I Went from IFB to Confessional Baptist
I grew up in an Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB) church where we prided ourselves on having no creed but the Bible.
But over time, I began to see cracks in that mindset.
Here’s how I became confessionally Reformed 🧵👇
David Beale retweeted
Two doctrinal gears for pastoral counseling:
FAST = Justification: Immediately remind suffers and sinners of their secure position in Christ by faith alone.
SLOW = Sanctification: Slowly—over months, years, and decades—let the Spirit and the word work to change them.
We pastors too often get this backwards. We want to go FAST with sanctification so we jump quickly to fix people with advice and prescriptions: “Do this!”
But we are often too SLOW with reminders of their justification: “You’re alive and safe and secure in Jesus, who gave himself for you.”
These are twin graces in every saint united to Christ. And when we pastors get them straight in our ministry, we can offer IMMEDIATE encouragement, while also having a long and patient vision for personal change.
David Beale retweeted
No, the Bible does not call Christians to constant self-examination over whether they’re still Christians.
“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith” (2 Cor 13:5) was an exhortation to a church entertaining a false gospel (see 11:3-4) – it’s a call to reject false teaching and hold fast to the gospel.
David Beale retweeted
God’s design for your life is not to deprive but to delight you- so trust and obey.
“This day He who is, is born; and He who is becomes what He was not.” —John Chrysostom
Happiest Christmas, dear brothers and sisters, from my sweet, loud, crazy, wonderful, loving family to yours.
David Beale retweeted
The law directs the path of sanctification, but only the gospel gives the power to travel that path.
“The moral law (written on the heart & the Ten Commandments; cf. 19.1–2) doth for ever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof; and that not only in regard of the matter contained in it, but also in respect of the authority of God the Creator, who gave it; neither doth Christ in the Gospel any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation.”
— 1689 London Baptist Confession, Of the Law of God, 19.5
David Beale retweeted
When we say that the law does not motivate obedience but the gospel does, what we mean is that the gospel supplies us with proper motives that produce true obedience: gratitude for redemption, love for Christ, joy in Him, reverential and filial fear, etc. We do not mean that the gospel dulls the commanding authority of the law. The law’s commanding authority DIRECTS and even goads (Eccl 12:11) the believer who now has the right motives by faith in the gospel.
“As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.”
Proverbs 26:21
I’ve seen a lot of talk about law/gospel distinction.
A faithful distinction is not:
Law bad, gospel good.
It is:
• The law exposes sin and condemns the sinner… the gospel justifies him
• The law reveals the good path to walk in… the gospel supplies Christ’s strength to walk it
Both are God’s servants. The Spirit uses both.
In the name of law/gospel distinction, some seem to advocate a law/gospel division.
May it not be so, brothers.
Affirmations and denials mean nothing without a clear recanting of confusing or false teaching.
Avoid teachers who affirm orthodox terms while quietly redefining them. They use “verbal coverings as hiding places for their errors.”
“To the extent that doctrinal ambiguity is tolerated or embraced, Christ’s sheep are imperiled and His glory is obscured.”
If you care about clarity and the purity of Christ’s church… read this.
This article offers “some profound insight into the nature and behavior of hypocrites and heretics who profess to believe Scripture, but in theology and works violently oppose it.”
fearlesspuritan.com/2025/09/…
David Beale retweeted
I wrote "Even the Demons" to address claims like this by @Muddamalle: "Is it possible that there is room for more than one god in Christianity? You may be surprised at my answer – yes."
(Stranger Theology Substack, paywalled)
These statements greatly confuse Christ's sheep.
David Beale retweeted
Just a reminder that there’s no such thing as a non-confessional, “no creed but the Bible” church.
Only churches with public confessions that can be scrutinized, and those with private confessions that can’t be (usually whatever the church’s pastor is into at the time).
“Whenever I am in the cellar of affliction, I look for the Lord’s choicest wines.” —Samuel Rutherford
Brother and sister, don’t fear the cellar… it’s often the very place where Christ keeps the vintage of His deepest peace:
- Richer communion with Him
- Renewed resting in His righteousness as your own
- A heart humbled and shaped by His grace
- A sure hope in His covenant faithfulness
It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreling.
Proverbs 20:3
“Man's maker was made man that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother's breast; that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey; that Truth might be accused of false witnesses, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood; that Strength might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; that Life might die.”
–Augustine