Friday, September 28, 2007
Response to Rabbi Kushner on the Collapse of the 35W Bridge
By Dr. John Piper
From 11 to 12 this morning, Gary Eichten of Minnesota Public Radio interviewed Rabbi Harold Kushner about the collapse of the 35W bridge. Kushner is best known for his book When Bad Things Happen to Good People. There were several astonishing things about this interview—not unusual for religious talk shows on public radio, but astonishing still.
1. The most astonishing thing is that God’s grace is so great neither the Rabbi nor I was struck dead by God during the interview—he, because of his blasphemous belittlings of God, and I, because of my contaminated anger at what he said.
2. Another astonishing thing is that Gary Eichten, as far as I heard, never challenged the Rabbi to support anything he said with an authority beyond his own opinion. Think of it. Here is a solitary, flawed, finite, fallible human being (like you and me) speaking over public airwaves with no support beyond his own personal viewpoint making unchallenged pronouncements, with no accountability whatsoever, about the greatest Person in the universe—statements that are contrary to what most Christians and Jews and Muslims have believed during the entire history of those religions. And they let him just go on and on preaching his opinions.
3. Less astonishing for our day, but more outrageous is the claim of the Rabbi that God is not “all-powerful.” Specifically, he does not “control the laws of nature.” On the contrary, both the Rabbi’s Bible and the New Testament teach that he is all-powerful and does control the laws of nature.
Job 37:5-7 “Out of the south comes the storm. . . . [God] disperses the cloud of His lightning. It changes direction, turning around by His guidance, that it may do whatever He commands it on the face of the inhabited earth. Whether for a rod . . . or for lovingkindness, He causes it to happen. . . . Stand and consider the wonders of God!”
Psalm 135:5-7 “The LORD is great. . . . Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, in heaven and in earth. . . . He makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind from His treasuries.”
Psalm 148:7 “Praise the LORD from the earth, sea monsters and all deeps; fire and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling His word”
Mark 4:37-39 “There arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat. . . . And Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.
There’s not a plant or flower below,
But makes Thy glories known;
And clouds arise, and tempests blow,
By order from Thy throne.
Isaac Watts
4. Finally, the Rabbi is pastorally short-sighted in saying, “People need consolation, not explanation.” He does not mean, “Hug and cry first, give God-centered explanations later.” That would be wise counsel. He means, “All our attempts at answering ‘Why?’ will be wrong. So don’t try.” The reason for this is that God did not “intend” anything by the collapse of the bridge. You can’t intend something by what you have no power to control. So God did not exercise any wisdom or love in causing or permitting the bridge to collapse. It was strictly random. So one should only give consolation, not explanation. There is not explanation.
There are two reasons why this is pastorally short-sighted and unsatisfying. One is that it is built on a falsehood. God does not need to be “all-powerful” to keep people from being hurt in the collapse of a bridge. He doesn’t even need to be as powerful as a man. He only needs to show up and use a little bit of his power (say, on the level of Spiderman, or Jason Bourne)—he did create the universe, the Rabbi concedes—and (for example) cause some tremor a half-hour early to cause the workers to leave the bridge, and the traffic to be halted. This intervention would be something less spectacular than a world-wide flood, or a burning bush, or plague of frogs, or a divided Red Sea, or manna in the wilderness, or the walls of a city falling down—just a little tremor to get everybody off the bridge before it fell.
So the Rabbi is not pastorally helpful to build his counsel on the fact that God is not “all-powerful.” Bereaved wives know in their heart that this is a copout. A human could have cleared the bridge. If God is just a little bit powerful, he could have figured out a way to save her husband.
The other reason why the Rabbi’s pastoral approach is shortsighted is that sooner or later the anguished human heart does need some answers about the power, wisdom, and love of God. The Rabbi’s Bible (and my Bible)—the only authority he or I have for making any pronouncements about God at all—gives more comfort than the Rabbi is willing to offer. In Genesis 50:20, Joseph explains to his brothers why their murderous treatment of him is not meaningless: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” God did indeed (contrary to the Rabbi’s assertion) have an intention in this evil. “God meant it (the evil) for good.” (See also Genesis 45:7 and Psalm 105:17).
This is the final pastoral comfort, and I do not write this without 30 years of seeing it in people’s lives. From the hundreds that have testified with breathtaking faith, just two weeks ago a woman stood up at the Billy Graham Training Center in Asheville, NC, during a testimony time in front of 450 people and spoke of throwing herself across the grave of her dead son. With tears, she thanked God that someone pointed her to the sovereign control of an all-wise, all-loving God. Her husband stood with her, and together they spoke of the strength and stability and hope and, finally, the joy that comes from knowing that they are not in a random world, but one where God assures them that the worst things will indeed work for the good of those who love God (Romans 8:28). This I have seen in the lives of hundreds of those who have suffered far more than I have.
No, Rabbi Kushner. Your soft words offer no hope in the end. The foundation is false. And the consolation does not satisfy the God-given passions for truth and meaning in the human heart. May the Lord open your eyes to the One who died for your sins and rose again, Jesus Christ, so that if you would trust him, you would be saved from the wrath of God that your blasphemy and my contaminated anger deserve.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
John Piper - The Supremacy Of Christ And The Prosperity Gospel - Repost
One of my all-time favorite Piper videos. A must see!
Many pastors may preach Jesus as Savior. But, how many of those pastors preach Jesus as Lord and Savior?
For anyone who wonders about the Supremacy of Christ, please watch this 10 minute video. Believers will be encouraged; unbelievers should tremble...and then repent and put their full trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior....
JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!
The Prosperity Gospel...
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Election - God Chooses His Own
by J.I. Packer
For [God] says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. ROMANS 9:15-16
The verb elect means “to select, or choose out.” The biblical doctrine of election is that before Creation God selected out of the human race, foreseen as fallen, those whom he would redeem, bring to faith, justify, and glorify in and through Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:28-39; Eph. 1:3-14; 2 Thess. 2:13-14; 2 Tim. 1:9-10). This divine choice is an expression of free and sovereign grace, for it is unconstrained and unconditional, not merited by anything in those who are its subjects. God owes sinners no mercy of any kind, only condemnation; so it is a wonder, and matter for endless praise, that he should choose to save any of us; and doubly so when his choice involved the giving of his own Son to suffer as sin-bearer for the elect (Rom. 8:32).
The doctrine of election, like every truth about God, involves mystery and sometimes stirs controversy. But in Scripture it is a pastoral doctrine, brought in to help Christians see how great is the grace that saves them, and to move them to humility, confidence, joy, praise, faithfulness, and holiness in response. It is the family secret of the children of God. We do not know who else he has chosen among those who do not yet believe, nor why it was his good pleasure to choose us in particular. What we do know is, first, that had we not been chosen for life we would not be believers now (for only the elect are brought to faith), and, second, that as elect believers we may rely on God to finish in us the good work that he started (1 Cor. 1:8-9; Phil. 1:6; 1 Thess. 5:23-24; 2 Tim. 1:12; 4:18). Knowledge of one’s election thus brings comfort and joy.
Peter tells us we should be “eager to make [our] calling and election sure” (2 Pet. 1:10)—that is, certain to us. Election is known by its fruits. Paul knew the election of the Thessalonians from their faith, hope, and love, the inward and outward transformation of their lives that the gospel had brought about (1 Thess. 1:3-6). The more that the qualities to which Peter has been exhorting his readers appear in our lives (goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, love: 2 Pet. 1:5-7), the surer of our own election we are entitled to be.
The elect are, from one standpoint, the Father’s gift to the Son (John 6:39; 10:29; 17:2, 24). Jesus testifies that he came into this world specifically to save them (John 6:37-40; 10:14-16, 26-29; 15:16; 17:6-26; Eph. 5:25-27), and any account of his mission must emphasize this.
Reprobation is the name given to God’s eternal decision regarding those sinners whom he has not chosen for life. His decision is in essence a decision not to change them, as the elect are destined to be changed, but to leave them to sin as in their hearts they already want to do, and finally to judge them as they deserve for what they have done. When in particular instances God gives them over to their sins (i.e., removes restraints on their doing the disobedient things they desire), this is itself the beginning of judgment. It is called “hardening” (Rom. 9:18; 11:25; cf. Ps. 81:12; Rom. 1:24, 26, 28), and it inevitably leads to greater guilt.
Reprobation is a biblical reality (Rom. 9:14-24; 1 Pet. 2:8), but not one that bears directly on Christian behavior. The reprobates are faceless so far as Christians are concerned, and it is not for us to try to identify them. Rather, we should live in light of the certainty that anyone may be saved if he or she will but repent and put faith in Christ.
We should view all persons that we meet as possibly being numbered among the elect.
John Piper - Thoughts on Jesus' Demand to Repent
As part of my sabbatical here in Cambridge, England, I am working on a book with the tentative title What Jesus Demands From the World. The demand to repent is as basic as it gets in Jesus’ message. It is equally basic to, and almost synonymous with, the command, “You must be born again” (John 3:7). One of my concerns is to show that repentance in Jesus’ message is not behavior but the inner change that gives rise to new God-centered, Christ-exalting behavior. Here are some thoughts to help make the meaning of repentance more plain.
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)
I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. (Luke 5:32)
The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. (Matthew 12:41)
Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. (Luke 13:3, 5)
The first demand of Jesus’ public ministry was, “Repent.” He spoke this command indiscriminately to all who would listen. It was a call for radical inward change toward God and man.
Two things show us that repentance is an internal change of mind and heart rather than mere sorrow for sin or mere improvement of behavior. First, the meaning of the Greek word behind the English “repent” (metanoeo) points in this direction. It has two parts: meta and noeo. The second part (noeo) refers to the mind and its thoughts and perceptions and dispositions and purposes. The first part (meta) is a prefix that regularly means movement or change.1 So the basic meaning of repent is to experience a change of the mind’s perceptions and dispositions and purposes.
The other factor that points to this meaning of repent is the way Luke 3:8 describes the relationship between repentance and new behavior. It says, “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.” Then it gives examples of the fruits: “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise” (Luke 3:11). This means that repenting is what happens inside of us that leads to the fruits of new behavior. Repentance is not the new deeds, but the inward change that bears the fruit of new deeds. Jesus is demanding that we experience this inward change.
Why? His answer is that we are sinners. “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32). What was Jesus’ view of sin? In the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus describes the son’s sin like this: “He squandered his property in reckless living . . . [and] devoured [it] with prostitutes” (Luke 15:13, 30). But when the prodigal repents he says, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” Therefore, throwing your life away on reckless living and prostitutes is not just humanly hurtful; it is an offense against heaven—that is, against God. That’s the essential nature of sin. It’s an assault on God.
We see this again in the way Jesus taught his disciples to pray. He said that they should pray, “Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us” (Luke 11:4). In other words, sins that God forgives are compared to the ones people commit against us, and those are called debts. Therefore, Jesus’ view of sin was that it dishonored God and put us in debt to restore the divine honor we had defamed by our God-belittling behavior or attitudes. That debt is paid by Jesus himself. “The Son of man came . . . to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). But for us to enjoy that gift he says we must repent.
Repenting means experiencing a change of mind that now sees God as true and beautiful and worthy of all our praise and all our obedience. This change of mind also embraces Jesus in the same way. We know this because Jesus said, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God.” Seeing God with a new mind includes seeing Jesus with a new mind.
No one is excluded from Jesus’ demand to repent. He made this clear when a group of people came to him with news of two calamities. Innocent people had been killed by Pilate’s massacre and by the fall of the tower of Siloam (Luke 13:1-4). Jesus took the occasion to warn even the bearers of the news: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:5). In other words, don’t think calamities mean that some people are sinners in need of repentance and others aren’t. All need repentance. Just as all need to be born anew because “that which is born of the flesh is [merely] flesh” (John 3:6), so all must repent because all are sinners.
When Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32), he did not mean that some persons are good enough not to need repentance. He meant some think they are (Luke 18:9), and others have already repented and have been set right with God. For example, the rich young ruler desired “to justify himself” (Luke 10:29) while “the tax collector . . . beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ [and] went down to his house justified [by God!]” (Luke 18:13-14).
Therefore, none is excluded. All need repentance. And the need is urgent. Jesus said, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” What did he mean by perish? He meant that the final judgment of God would fall on those who don’t repent. “The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here” (Matthew 12:41). Jesus, the Son of God, is warning people of the judgment to come, and offering escape if we will repent. If we will not repent, Jesus has one word for us, “Woe, to you” (Matthew 11:21).
This is why his demand for repentance is part of his central message that the kingdom of God is at hand. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). The gospel—the good news—is that the rule of God has arrived in Jesus to save sinners before it arrives at his second coming in judgment. So the demand to repent is based on the gracious offer that is present to forgive, and on the gracious warning that someday those who refuse the offer will perish in God’s judgment.
After he had risen from the dead Jesus made sure that his apostles would continue the call for repentance throughout the world. He said, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46-47). So the demand of Jesus to repent goes to all the nations. It comes to us, whoever we are and wherever we are, and lays claim on us. This is the demand of Jesus to every soul: Repent. Be changed deep within. Replace all God-dishonoring, Christ-belittling perceptions and dispositions and purposes with God-treasuring, Christ-exalting ones.
For Christ and his kingdom,
Pastor John
Friday, September 21, 2007
Pagitt's Remarks After The MacAthur Interview
Last week I posted the video below of MacArthur vs. Pagitt debating whether Yoga is Biblical.
After the video was aired, listen to what Pagitt says before he leaves the building. You can listen to it at this link over at Team Pyro... http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2007/09/biblical-propositions-yoga-positions.html
Also, here is a great piece by Way Of The Master Radio...go to the 32 minute mark... http://www.wayofthemasterradio.com/podcast/2007/09/19/september-19-2007-hour-1/
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Why Churches Hire Pastors With Serious Problems
Some churches have made news recently for knowingly hiring pastors with serious ethical and moral problems. In one case a church hired a pastor previously convicted of sexual involvement with minors. In other cases high visibility pastors have been exposed for embezzlement, taking illegal drugs, engaging in homosexual behavior, or for having committed other serious sins.
That a pastor or any other Christian could have a serious fall is not completely surprising. Nevertheless, I think there may be a reason why so many are falling and why some churches still seek to hire people with known, serious moral and ethical problems. It has to do with redefining the role of the pastor—why the pastor is hired and what the pastor is expected to do.
The Bible offers no distinction between pastors and elders. In Acts 20:28 Paul assigns to elders the role of “shepherd” of the flock (same word as “pastor” in the Greek). Therefore the qualifications of elders apply to pastors. Two such qualifications that are of particular interest in this discussion are that they must be “above reproach” and “have a good reputation with those outside the church” (1Timothy 3:2, 7). It is not hard to see that a person will not qualify who recently was released from jail for having illegal sexual involvement with minors. Nor do those who have been convicted of any number of serious crimes. So why do churches remain so eager to hire or keep pastors who do not qualify to be elders?
Surely part of the problem is the church’s desire for success as defined in worldly terms. Rather than looking for honorable elders who “labor in the word and doctrine” (1Timothy 5:17), many churches seek a “charismatic” leader—charismatic in the worldly sense of the word. The Seeker Movement in particular has created a huge demand for polished speakers who can “wow” a crowd with looks, charisma, charm, wit, and worldly wisdom. In other words, the modern pastor is expected to have a skill set that has nothing to do with the Biblical criteria for elders and pastors. The reality is that those who posses the skills needed to hold the attention of many thousands of “seekers” with no interest in the pure Word of God are in short supply. So it is a question of supply and demand.
A man formerly an elder in a local church in our area told me an interesting story. Their church was located in a wealthy suburb, but the church attendance had been shrinking. So they called in one of the more prominent mega-church pastors in our area for consultation. His advice was that they had to do things “world class” if they wanted people to come, because people in their wealthy city will not tolerate anything but the best. They had to get the best children’s ministry, the best music, the best facilities, and most importantly they needed a “Five Star Pastor.”
The term “five-star” pastor, by the way, is akin to a Hollywood movie star. Let me show you how. For every great movie star there are thousands of wannabes who simply do not have what it takes. Likewise, because there is so much lust for success in modern churches, they compete for the few persons who qualify according to the redefined standards. So churches are looking for the religious version of the movie star and frankly, there are not enough Joel Osteens and Robert Schullers to go around.
This star quality requirement helps explain some churches’ willingness to put up with moral and ethical failure, and the analogy to movie stars helps explain it. Movie stars are notorious for failed marriages, drugs, excesses, and other problems. But because they have qualities and talents others do not, they keep getting roles in movies and people keep going to the movies. Similarly, since the movie star-type pastor is in such short supply, some churches feel that they have to overlook certain problems to get their “five-star” pastor or they will never succeed.
Paul discusses a situation like this in the church he had founded in Corinth. After he left Corinth, “super-apostles” came and convinced the Corinthians that Paul lacked the type of wisdom that had been popularized by the Greek sophists—specifically, rhetorical skills. So Paul’s critics suggested that because of his apparent lack Paul ought not to be listened to. In fact, Paul quotes some of his critics: “For they say, ‘His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible’” (2 Corinthians 10:10). They even questioned his message of the cross which seemed to them (the Greeks) “foolish” (see 1 Corinthians chapter 1).
Paul defended himself and his message throughout the Corinthian correspondence with comments like this: “Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God” (2 Corinthians 4:1, 2). Did they want the pure truth of the gospel from a man with integrity . . . or did they prefer falsehood and human wisdom from men with great looks, charm, and rhetorical skill?
Today, many are choosing the latter. I am not saying it is sinful to be handsome and eloquent if one happens to have such qualities. But such attributes are not necessary qualifications for pastors and elders. If churches make worldly attributes necessary pastoral qualifications, they can expect to end up with worldly pastors. If pastors crave worldly success, they are likely to compromise to get it.
Paul’s personal presence was considered unimpressive and his speech contemptible, yet he claims this:
And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power (2 Corinthians 2:1-4).
Paul was not a five-star candidate and would not have been hired. Yet the answer is to follow Paul’s example.
Nothing is more important than to preach the cross and not to adulterate the Word of God, while at the same time keeping oneself disciplined so that no needless offense comes to that Word. Churches should look for pastors like that, and pastors need to pray to God for grace to live like that. May God provide such grace to those of us committed to this work.
- Bob DeWaay
REGENERATION THE CHRISTIAN IS BORN AGAIN
- J.I. Packer
In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” JOHN 3:3
Regeneration is a New Testament concept that grew, it seems, out of a parabolic picture-phrase that Jesus used to show Nicodemus the inwardness and depth of the change that even religious Jews must undergo if they were ever to see and enter the kingdom of God, and so have eternal life (John 3:3-15). Jesus pictured the change as being “born again.”
The concept is of God renovating the heart, the core of a person’s being, by implanting a new principle of desire, purpose, and action, a dispositional dynamic that finds expression in positive response to the gospel and its Christ. Jesus’ phrase “born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5) harks back to Ezekiel 36:25-27, where God is pictured as symbolically cleansing persons from sin’s pollution (by water) and bestowing a “new heart” by putting his Spirit within them. Because this is so explicit, Jesus chides Nicodemus, “Israel’s teacher,” for not understanding how new birth happens (John 3:9-10). Jesus’ point throughout is that there is no exercise of faith in himself as the supernatural Savior, no repentance, and no true discipleship apart from this new birth.
Elsewhere John teaches that belief in the Incarnation and Atonement, with faith and love, holiness and righteousness, is the fruit and proof that one is born of God (1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4). It thus appears that as there is no conversion without new birth, so there is no new birth without conversion.
Though infant regeneration can be a reality when God so purposes (Luke 1:15, 41-44), the ordinary context of new birth is one of effectual calling—that is, confrontation with the gospel and illumination as to its truth and significance as a message from God to oneself. Regeneration is always the decisive element in effectual calling.
Regeneration is monergistic: that is, entirely the work of God the Holy Spirit. It raises the elect among the spiritually dead to new life in Christ (Eph. 2:1-10). Regeneration is a transition from spiritual death to spiritual life, and conscious, intentional, active faith in Christ is its immediate fruit, not its immediate cause. Regeneration is the work of what Augustine called “prevenient” grace, the grace that precedes our outgoings of heart toward God.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Paul Washer - Present Your Bodies
Present Your Bodies - Part 1 *NEW*
Present Your Bodies - Part 2 *NEW*
Present Your Bodies - Part 3 *NEW*
I Am Under Obligation
The Knowledge Of God
The Vine And The Branches
I Wish That You Were Cold Or Hot
The Heart Of The Gospel
Guide Posts and Warning Signs
There Is Too Much Riding On Eternity
Regeneration and Self Denial ***A Must Listen To***
The Greatest Text In The Bible
The Meaning Of The Cross
Who's Slave Are You?
Your Ultimate Purpose
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
With All Due Respect Pastor Noble...
Pastor Perry Noble of New Spring Church in Anderson, South Carolina is one of the Pastors that I track online. He strikes me as a sincere and passionate man who speaks his mind bluntly and forcefully. He is not afraid to say things that offend people. In fact, he is up front about the fact that what he says and does will offend religious people.
He has a new blog entry that he’s written that I want to take the time to respond to because it gives us an opportunity to explore the issues surrounding law vs "law & gospel" preaching. The name of the piece is called “‘Nice’ Christian Boys and Girls Make Me Sick”. In his post he says that if his daughter were of dating age that the LAST person he would like here bringing home is a ‘nice Christian boy’. The reason, according to Noble is because:
"Nice" Christian boys are one of the reasons Christianity is not advancing the way Jesus has called us to. Why? Because a “nice” Christian boy will go to church, Bible study, raise his hands in worship and then go back to wherever he lives, sit at his computer look at porn and masturbate.”
In other words, Noble believes that Christianity is not advancing against the gates of hell as it should because ‘nice Christian boys’ are going to church and hearing information that they are not putting into practice. Instead they are snared by sin and disobedience and are therefore not truly effective disciples of Jesus. (John 14:15)
Pastor Noble then goes on to describe the need for Christians “who love Jesus” and defines them as those who will be obedient to Jesus no matter what people think.
So the problem with Christianity, according to Noble, is that Christians are sinning and the solution that he is calling for is less sin and more obedience.
Pastor Noble then admonishes us to look at the sins that we need to stop doing and become someone who is radically in love with Jesus. Noble then gives two examples of personal sins that HE overcame.
Nothing personal, but we’ve all heard this pep-talk before.
When I grew up in Christian schools the term we used was ‘sold out for Jesus’. We were told that we’d change the world if we would just ‘sell out for Jesus’. This meant burning our secular albums and only listening to Christian music. It meant committing yourself to never ‘petting or sleeping with your girlfriend’. As a young man, it meant promising to be a man of integrity. Every time, this ‘pep-talk’ would come around some pastor or person would give their testimony and tell a tale of how they looked sin in the eye and conquered it by following some program, method or advice. They would say that we would change the world for Jesus is we’d just be like them.
These pep-talks always sound so good and so practical and so achievable. But they never work and there is a Biblical reason why this method always fails. I’ll explain why below. But, in order to do that I’m going to have to get personal with Perry Noble to make my point. Hopefully he’ll understand because I don’t claim to be a ‘nice’ Christian.
With All Due Respect Pastor Noble...,
I don’t believe you for a second when you say that YOU’VE overcome your sin problems. Here is the reason why. God’s law demands perfect obedience in word, deed and thought. If you are a red blooded heterosexual male descended from Adam and Eve then I know for a fact that you, like me, entertain adulterous thoughts (Matt 5:27-28). I know for a fact that you do not always tell the truth, and that your publicly expressed desire to punch people in the throat makes you guilty of the sin of murder. (Matt 5:21-22) If you loved Jesus as much as you claim then you would not continue sinning like you do and don’t think for a second that God doesn’t care. His law demands PERFECT obedience and if you think you’re pulling it off then you are only deceiving yourself. (1 John 1:8-10)
Pastor Noble, neither you nor I have any right holding ourselves up as an example of ‘model’ moral Christians. To do so would be to engage in the worst type of pride. This is the pride that results in self-righteousness. We are both trapped in our sins and you know it. We are so mired in sin that there is no hope that we could ever set ourselves free from it or manage it into non-existence through better planning and life skills.
ONLY, shouting God’s Law at me and others will not make any of us love Jesus more. In reality, it will only make us hate Him. It will make us hate Him because this type of preaching turns Jesus into a new Moses. He becomes just another cloud that thunders threats and punishments at us. But rather than coming from Mt. Sinai these threats now thunder at us from Mt. Calvary.
I’m not certain I understand why you think that God’s law alone is the remedy for Christianity’s problems. Scripture is clear that the Law cannot save us. Furthermore, the purpose of God’s Law is to convict me of my sin and drive me to my knees in despair of my own righteousness. (Rom 3:19-20) The law points us to Jesus but the law is powerless to make us love Jesus more. (Gal 3:10-13, Gal 3:23-26)
So then what is the message that will make us Love Jesus?
Answer: It is the message of the Gospel.
We see this truth beautifully played out in the parable of the debtors from Luke 7:36-48:
Luke 7:36 Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is — that she is a sinner.”
Luke 7:40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
41 “Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven — for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”
48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Pastor Noble, you will not motivate people to love Jesus through God’s law. But that does NOT mean you should stop preaching it. Please keep telling people about sin and its consequences. Keep telling them that their evil deeds will earn them hell. Through the preaching of God’s law make the people in your congregation feel their sin so heavily that they think of themselves as worse sinners than that woman who washed Jesus feet with her hair. Keep calling them to repent of their sins.
BUT THEN, tell them about the ONE true Christian. The ONE man who loved God perfectly FOR us. Tell them about HIS sinless life offered for our sins on the cross. Preach the good news in all of its comforting glory. Proclaim Christ’s full and complete forgiveness of their sins offered to them as a gift by faith. Give your people the absolution that they so desperately need to hear. Like Jesus, tell them that their sins are forgiven. This is the MOST important thing that you can tell them and you have to preach it Sunday after Sunday.
1 Corinthians 2:2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
1 Corinthians 15:1-3 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures...
And like the Apostle Paul, please don't hold yourself up to your congregation as one who has overcome his sins, but as the chief of sinners. (1 Tim 1:15)
Preach this message of "Law AND Gospel" week after week and those who’ve been forgiven MUCH will Love Jesus MUCH.
Posted by Chris Rosebrough from http://www.extremetheology.com/
Monday, September 10, 2007
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Paul Washer - The Loss Of The Gospel In American Churches
Once a man makes the conversion of sinners his prime design and all-consuming end, he is exceedingly apt to adopt a wrong course. Instead of striving to preach the Truth in all its purity, he will tone it down so as to make it more palatable to the unregenerate. Impelled by a single force, moving in one fixed direction, his object is to make conversion easy, and therefore favorite passages (like John 3:16) are dwelt upon incessantly, while others are ignored or pared away. - A.W. Pink
CLEMENT OF ROME, Second Epistle
Translated by Archbishop Wake
CHAPTER 1
That we ought to value our salvation; and to show that we do, by a sincere obedience.
1. Brethren, we ought so to think of Jesus Christ as of God as of the judge of the living and the dead; nor should we think any less of our salvation.
2. For if we think little things of him, we shall hope only to receive some small things from him.
3. And if we do so, we shall sin; not considering from where we have been called, and by whom, and to what place; and how much Jesus Christ condescended to suffer for our sakes.
4. What recompense then shall we render unto him? Or what fruit that may be worthy of what he has given to us?
5. For indeed, how great are those advantages which we owe to him in relation to our holiness? He has illuminated us; as a father, he has called us his children; he has saved us who were lost and undone.
6. What praise shall we give to him? Or what reward that may be answerable to those things which we have received?
7. We were defective in our understandings, worshipping stones and wood, gold, and silver, and brass, the works of men's hands; and our whole life was nothing else but death.
8. But being surrounded by darkness, and having such a mist before our eyes, we have looked up, and through his will have laid aside the cloud with which we were surrounded.
9. For he had compassion upon us, and being moved in his affection towards us, he saved us, having beheld in us much error and destruction, and seen that we had no hope of salvation, but only through him.
10. For he called us who were not, and was pleased from nothing to give us being.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
The Pride Of Babel And The Praise Of Christ - Spectacular Sins And Their Global Purpose In The Glory Of Christ
John Piper-Ten Effects of Believing in the Five Points of Calvinism
“These ten points are my personal testimony to the effects of believing in the five points of Calvinism...but I will write them here in the hope that they might stir others to search, Berean-like, to see if the Bible teaches what I call “Calvinism.” - John Piper
1. These truths make me stand in awe of God and lead me into the depth of true God-centered worship.
2. These truths help protect me from trifling with divine things.
3. These truths make me marvel at my own salvation.
4. These truths make me alert to man-centered substitutes that pose as good news.
5. These truths make me groan over the indescribable disease of our secular, God-belittling culture.
6. These truths make me confident that the work which God planned and began, he will finish – both globally and personally.
7. These truths make me see everything in the light of God’s sovereign purposes – that from him and through him and to him are all things, to him be glory forever and ever.
8. These truths make me hopeful that God has the will, the right, and the power to answer prayer that people be changed.
9. These truths reminds me that evangelism is absolutely essential for people to come to Christ and be saved, and that there is great hope for success in leading people to faith, but that conversion is not finally dependent on me or limited by the hardness of the unbeliever.
10. These truths make me sure that God will triumph in the end.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
10 Great Ways To Be Absolutely Sure That You Will Die Spiritually And You Probably Won't Even Notice
John MacArthur On The Emergent Church And A Response
John MacArthur on the Emergent Church...
Part 1
Part 2
Here is a response to John MacArthur...
Monday, September 03, 2007
Filling Your Church With Prodigal Pigs?
2 Peter 2:22, "It has happened to them according to the true proverb, "A dog returns to its own vomit," and "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire."
Peter speaks of these false teachers, using the term "dog". To the Jewish mind there was nothing lower than a dog. Peter draws from Proverbs 26:11 to show that they will return to their true, natural, unchanged condition. "And the sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire." It is Simon Peter who gives us the parable of the prodigal pig. You may never have heard the parable of the prodigal pig, but here it is. It is, of course, based on the parable of the Prodigal Son, which is one of the greatest parables the Lord Jesus ever gave (Luke 15:11-32).
The interesting thing now is that Peter say's. "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire." Now we can add something to the parable of the Prodigal Son. One of these little pigs in the pigpen said to the Prodigal Son, "You say you want to leave this lovely pigpen with all of this nice mud and filth, and you want to go up to your father's house? That sounds good; in fact, you've sold me. I think maybe I'd like to go up there with you and try it myself."
So the Prodigal Son told him, "If you go up there, things are sure going to be different! You are going to have to clean up." When they got to the father's house, the father put his arms around the boy and said, "Bring forth the robe." Actually, he could smell those clothes his son had been wearing in the pigpen, and what he really meant was, "Give him a good bath and then put a new robe on him. He can't smell like that or live like that in my house."
The little pig went with the Prodigal Son, and he had to get all cleaned up too. They washed this little pig up nicely and tied a pink ribbon around his neck. They brushed his teeth, and the little pig went squealing through the house. But it was only a couple of days until the little pig came to the Prodigal Son with a downcast look and said, "Prodigal Son, I don't like it hear."
And the son said, "Why, I am having the best time I've ever had in my life since I came home, and you say you don't like it here! What's wrong?"
The little pig replied, "I don't like this idea of having white sheets on the bed. If we could just get a place where there is plenty of good, sloppy mud, I could sleep better there."
"We just don't do that here in the father's house, said the Prodigal Son, " You just can't live in a pigpen here."
"Another thing I don't like is sitting at a table, using a knife and fork, and having a white tablecloth, and eating out of a plate. Why couldn't we have a trough down on the floor and put everything in there? We could all jump in and have the biggest time of our lives."
"We don't do that here in my father's house!" said the son.
And the little pig said, "Well, I think I'll rise and go to my father."
His old man wasn't in that house, and so he started back to his home. He had been all cleaned up, but he went back to the pigpen and found his old man right down in the middle of the biggest mud hole you've ever seen-mud all around him, dirty, filthy, and smelly, That little old pig began to squeal and made a leap for it. He jumped in right beside his father, saying, "Old Man, I sure am glad to get back home!" You know why? Because he was a pig!
Now, just think about this story of the prodigal pig. Do we really want to be so concerned about "cultural sensitivity" and man's "felt needs"? Would the prodigal pig want to leave your church? Has your church created mud holes to draw in the pigs? Has it put down some troughs on the floor so that they can feel at home?
God's Word says, "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire."
Think about it.
The New "Gospel" vs. The Gospel
"There is no doubt that evangelicalism today is in a state of perplexity and unsettlement. In such matters as the practice of evangelism, the teaching of holiness, the building up of local church life, the pastor's dealing with souls and the exercise of discipline, there is evidence of widespread dissatisfaction with things as they are and or equally widespread uncertainty as to the road ahead. This is a complex phenomenon, to which many factors have contributed; but, if we go to the root of the matter, we shall find that these perplexities are all ultimately due to our having lost our grip on the biblical gospel. Without realizing it, we have during the past century bartered that gospel for a substitute product which, though it looks similar enough in points of detail, is as a whole a decidedly different thing. Hence our troubles; for the substitute product does not answer the ends for which the authentic gospel has in past days proved itself so mighty. Why? We would suggest that the reason lies in its own character and content. It fails to make men God-centered in their thoughts and God-fearing in their hearts because this is not primarily what it is trying to do. One way of stating the difference between it and the old gospel is to say that it is too exclusively concerned to be 'helpful' to man - to bring peace, comfort, happiness, satisfaction - and too little concerned to glorify God. The old gospel was 'helpful', too - more so, indeed, than is the new - but (so to speak) incidentally, for its first concern was always to give glory to God. It was always and essentially a proclamation of divine sovereignty in mercy and judgment, a summons to bow down and worship the mighty Lord on whom man depends for all good, both in nature and in grace. Its center of reference was unambiguously God. But in the new gospel the center of reference is man. This is just to say that the old gospel was religious in a way that the new gospel is not. Whereas the chief aim of the old was to teach people to worship God, the concern of the new seems limited to making them feel better. The subject of the old gospel was God and his ways with men; the subject of the new is man and the help God gives him. There is a world of difference. The whole perspective and emphasis of gospel preaching has changed.
From this change of interest has sprung a change of content, for the new gospel has in effect reformulated the biblical message in the supposed interests of 'helpfulness'. Accordingly, the themes of man's natural inability to believe, of God's free election being the ultimate cause of salvation, and of Christ dying specifically for his sheep are not preached. These doctrines, it would be said, are not 'helpful'; they would drive sinners to despair, by suggesting to them that it is not in their own power to be saved through Christ. (The possibility that such despair might be salutary is not considered: it is taken for granted that it cannot be, because it is so shattering to our self-esteem.) However this may be (and we shall say more about it later), the result of these omissions is that part of the biblical gospel is now preached as if it were the whole of that gospel; and a half-truth masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth. Thus, we appeal to men as if they all had the ability to receive Christ at any time; we speak of his redeeming work as if he had made it possible for us to save ourselves by believing; we speak of God's love as if it were no more than a general willingness to receive any who will turn and trust; and we depict the Father and the Son, not as sovereignly active in drawing sinners to themselves, but as waiting in quiet impotence 'at the door of our hearts' for us to let them in.
It is undeniable that this is how we preach; perhaps this is what we really believe. But it needs to be said with emphasis that this set of twisted half-truths is something other than the biblical gospel. The Bible is against us when we preach in this way; and the fact that such preaching has become almost standard practice among us only shows how urgent it is that we should review this matter. To recover the old, authentic, biblical gospel, and to bring our preaching and practice back into line with it, is perhaps our most pressing present need."
- J. I. Packer
