Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Discuss The New Poll Question Here
Below are two comments I received today. These comments are what sparked my weekly poll question. Use this blog entry to discuss the comments made and your feedback on the poll question.
Here are the two comments I received today:
Comment #1 - Steve Kimes said... "This is Steve Kimes. A friend of mine noted the discusson, so I thought I'd give my opinion on my piece. First of all, I want you to know that I had been a missionary among Muslims and have done some study there. Secondly, I hope you folks notice that I wasn't writing the letter for Christians, nor was I using their language. I was writing to Muslims for their understanding. And to most Muslims, anyone in the U.S. army is Christian-- whether we know for a fact that they are Jewish, Wicca or whatever. So I was responding to their assumption-- that the U.S. is a Christian nation which is corrupt. Of course, in my opinion, that isn't far from the truth.Also, I am not a typical passifist. I believe that a nation has a right to defend itself. But a follower of Jesus, as a part of God's kingdom before any other nationality, has the responsiility to obey Jesus-- His King-- before all. So when Jesus says "love your enemy" that command is primary for any real Christian before any call to war. Jesus wants us to do good, not evil to those who harm us. Whatever the nations do, that is fine, but for us to participate is evil and wrong. I was just communicating that to my Muslim friends, so they can know that this is not Jesus attacking them, just some misguided folks.Lastly, I can see that some of you think of my letter as compromisig the gospel. Rather, I am translating the gospel into language that can be understood to those whom I write. It's what a missionary does. It's what we all should do. If we get stuck into sharing the gospel only with the words we are used to, then we should all be speaking aramaic, the language of Jesus. But if you approve of speaking in English, then we should speak the gospel to Muslims in language they can appreciate as well.
Thank you for your interest in my letter. May God continue to bless you."
Comment #2 - Anonymous said...
"Ok I love the person who molested me. And the USA is a bad country. Poor Saddam Hussein should have been loved so he could kill thousands more of his people. David killed Goliath....oops he should have loved him instead. God killed everbody on the earth but Noah and his family. My "christian" brother is doing his third tour in Iraq and his wife and children have sacrificed greatly along with him but instead of honoring him I should tell him he should know better? I'm done I have to go cool down!"
Is Your Eye CLEAR? PART 2 of 2 - by Paul David Washer - Take The E.Y.E Examination
Christ calls us to make radical choices between two treasures (rewards on earth or rewards in heaven), two visions (focus on earthly or on the heavenly), and two masters (worldly riches or God). In the following is a brief exam to help us determine the focus of our lives. Answer the questions sincerely and pray for the grace to make the necessary changes:
How often are your thoughts directed toward God, His glory, and His praise?
1. Does Psalm 42:1 reflect your own desire to seek after God? “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God.” SELDOM? SOMETIMES? LIFE-STYLE?
2. Does Psalm 27:4 reflect your own passion for being in God’s presence? “One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.” SELDOM? SOMETIMES? LIFE-STYLE?
3. Does Psalm 145:5 reflect your own daily thought life? “On the glorious splendor of Your majesty and on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.” SELDOM? SOMETIMES? LIFE-STYLE?
4. Does Psalm 63:6 reflect your own thoughts before sleep? “When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches.” SELDOM? SOMETIMES? LIFE-STYLE?
5. Does II Timothy 2:15 reflect your relationship to the Scriptures? “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” SELDOM? SOMETIMES? LIFE-STYLE?
6. Does I Thessalonians 5:1 reflect your relationship to prayer? “Pray without ceasing...” SELDOM? SOMETIMES? LIFE-STYLE?
7. How much of Matthew 15:8 is reflected in your participation in public worship? “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” SELDOM? SOMETIMES? LIFE-STYLE?
How many competing loyalties are in your heart? These are often difficult to identify. It is often helpful to ask ourselves how others (even our enemies) would view us if they studied our actions and had privy to our thoughts.
1. Wealth: Do you think more about the attainment of wealth than the doing of God’s will? Do you work harder at wealth or godliness? Do you and your spouse work out of absolute necessity, or simply to have more things or a more affluent life-style? SELDOM? SOMETIMES? LIFE-STYLE?
2. Power: Do you desire to be up front and in control? Must things go your way? Do you consider yourself greater, more gifted, or more important than others? SELDOM? SOMETIMES? LIFE-STYLE?
3. Reputation/Respectability: Do you show more concern for your reputation before men than before God? Do you work harder to please men than to please God? SELDOM? SOMETIMES? LIFE-STYLE?
4. Security: Do you hoard wealth in preparation for a life of ease, rather than preparing for retirement so that you can live the rest of your days in service to God? SELDOM? SOMETIMES? LIFE-STYLE?
5. Food: Are you a glutton? Do you live to eat rather than eat to live? Do you eat to the detriment of your health and weight? SELDOM? SOMETIMES? LIFE-STYLE?
6. Clothing: How important is it for you to be in style? Do you go shopping when clothes are needed or do you shop to see what you can find? Are your clothes marked by extravagance and sensuality rather than simplicity, elegance, and frugality? Do you own clothes that you rarely wear? SELDOM? SOMETIMES? LIFE-STYLE?
7. Houses: Is your home marked by extravagance and luxury, rather than by quality, simplicity, and frugality. Does your home require a large debt that has no financial benefits or makes you a slave to a mortgage? Does the financial burden of your house lead to strife in the home or limit your service to God and family? SELDOM? SOMETIMES? LIFE-STYLE?
8. Hobbies: How much time and money do your hobbies demand? Do you invest more thought, time, and money in your hobbies than in personal growth in godliness and the work of God’s kingdom? Do you invest more thought, time, and money in your hobbies than you do in the cultivation of love and godliness in your spouse and children? SELDOM? SOMETIMES? LIFE-STYLE?
9. Children: Do you invest more thought, time, and money in your children’s participation in sports than in their training in godliness? Are you more concerned about giving your children the “things” and “opportunities” you never had than in instructing them in the Scriptures and leading them to godliness? SELDOM? SOMETIMES? LIFE-STYLE?
How great is your concern for the advancement of God’s kingdom among the nations?
1. How often do you pray for God’s name to be hallowed among the nations, for His Kingdom to come, and for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:9-10)? SELDOM? SOMETIMES? LIFE-STYLE?
2. How often do you pray for the Lord to send forth missionaries to the unevangelized people groups of the world (Matthew 9:38)? SELDOM? SOMETIMES? LIFE-STYLE?
3. How often do you make entreaties, prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that there might be peace and an open door for the preaching of the Gospel to all men (I Timothy 2:1-4). SELDOM? SOMETIMES? LIFE-STYLE?
4. How much of your monthly finances are designated to missions? SELDOM? SOMETIMES? LIFE-STYLE?
5. How often do you share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with another person? SELDOM? SOMETIMES? LIFE-STYLE?
"Is Your Eye CLEAR?" by Paul David Washer - PART 1 of 2
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” - Matthew 6:19-24
The previous is one of the most important passages in the Scriptures with regard to Christian priorities and missions. According to this Scripture, the Christian is to be on constant guard in order not to stray from eternal priorities. Two choices are always before us. One choice offers immediate rewards that are temporal and deceptive. The other is a narrow road which may cost us everything, but the rewards are eternal and beyond the ability of even Scripture to describe.
God’s Treasure
If we know that which is most treasured by God, then we will know that which should be most treasured by us -God’s treasure and ours should be the same. This is the very thing that made the life of Jesus so different from the life of every other man. He treasured only what His Father treasured. May God grant us the grace to do the same.
What is it that God most treasures? With only a cursory reading of the Scripture, we quickly discover that God’s priority is His own Glory. He desires that every aspect of His being, attributes, and works be made known to creation and that all praise and honor be ascribed only to Him. Consider the following Scriptures:
“For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations.” - Malachi 1:11
“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’” - Matthew 6:9-10
It is God’s great desire or treasure to see His Name held in highest esteem among the nations, and among all creatures in heaven and on earth. At first sight, this may appear self- centered, but first sights are often very deceptive. For God to seek His glory above all else is the greatest demonstration of His love.
The depth of one’s love is often demonstrated by the costliness of the gift he/she gives. If someone was to give you a twig or a small fragment of gravel, it would not be an overwhelming demonstration of love. You would not rush out to alert the media, nor would you gather your friends about you to tell them of this great love that has been shown to you. It would not be something that you remembered very long, much less, that you held close to your heart all the days of your life. However, if someone gave his life that you might live, this would indeed warrant such a reaction. It would be a story worth the media’s attention, and your friends would most likely want to hear all about it. You would treasure such a selfless act of love all the days of your life. So then, the measure of one’s love is often manifested by the greatness of one’s gift.
Now we must ask ourselves a question: “What is the greatest gift that God could ever give?” It is not prosperity, health, or even heaven. He Himself is the greatest gift. The most loving thing that God can do for His creatures is to work in such a way so as to reveal or demonstrate the fullness of His glory to them -to take center stage and call all creatures to fix their eyes and hearts upon Him. For this very reason, when God does what He does for His own glory, it is the greatest demonstration of His love toward the creature.
The adverse of this is equally true. The most destitute and pitiful of all creatures are those who do not know God, who are unaware of His glory, and cut off from His truth. The Scriptures declare that God has set eternity in the hearts of men (Ecclesiastes 3:11). This infinite aspect of the heart can only be filled by the infinite. Man may pour into his heart all the fame, wealth, power, and pleasure that this world has to offer, but he will still be empty. Eternity cannot be filled up with the temporal, nor can infinity be satisfied by the finite. Man’s heart was made for the full measure of God’s glory. Apart from this, man is destitute, miserable, and empty.
In summary, God’s treasure, His greatest desire and purpose is that His Name be great among the nations, that His Name be hallowed (highly esteemed), that His Kingdom come, and His will be done! However, we must ask ourselves, “Is this our greatest purpose and passion?”
We lay awake at night and worry about so many things. We fret and are anxious about so many things. We desire things passionately, fanatically, even to the point of obsession: houses and lands, jobs and promotions, fame and reputation, needs, and wants, and countless other things. But when was the last time that sleep escaped us because of our concern for the nations that have not heard? When was the last time that our hearts broke in two because there are places on this earth where God’s Name is not hallowed, His kingdom advances ever so slowly, and His will is not foremost in the hearts of men? We fret and sweat about so many things, but do we ever give any thought to that which is most on the mind of God?
Christ’s Warning
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.”
In this verse, Jesus is calling for a radical decision on the part of His disciples to repent of their earthly materialism and turn their hearts toward God and His kingdom. Although the Scriptures speak of wealth as neither good nor bad, it does warn us that the love of wealth is a great evil (I Timothy 6:10) and that the seeking and hoarding of wealth will only lead to loss and shame on the day of judgment ( James 5:2-3).
Regardless of the warnings that run throughout Scripture, it seems that the desire for wealth is God’s greatest competitor for the hearts of men. It is ironic that although most people spend most of their time, “treasuring treasures,” very few ever really “possess treasures.” And those
rare individuals who actually do obtain their treasures here on earth quickly grow tired of them once they are obtained. Is it not a very foolish thing to trade the glorious gifts of God for earthly treasures that we rarely do obtain, and if by chance we do obtain them, we quickly grow tired of them?
Name one thing on this earth that is highly coveted by men and we can quickly assess its true value with one simple question: “Is it eternal?” If it is, it is worthy of being obtained even at the expense of all other things. If not, its worth is equivalent to the dust into which it will turn. To seek for it is a pathetic waste of a human life and fool’s errand.
Christ’s Admonition
“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.”
The Scriptures do not speak against treasure or the pursuit of treasure, but it does speak against foolishly wasting the life God has given us in the vain pursuit of things that have no eternal value and can never fill the infinite desire of a heart made for eternity. In Isaiah 55:2, the Scripture shakes its head in bewilderment at men who seek for the temporal at the expense of the eternal:
“Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?”
Nothing except the person and will of God can fill a man. The only treasure worth having is that which is eternal and comes from God. Such treasure is found only by doing His will, living for His glory, and seeking after His Kingdom. Has God not promised to care for us? Has He not promised to meet our every need? Has He not shown Himself capable and willing to fill His children with blessing and to not withhold from them one good thing? Why, then, do we put earthly pursuits ahead of the pursuit of God and God’s pursuits? Our one obligation is also our only means of truly living an abundant and satisfied life -“Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). Heaven and earth shall pass away, the inferior products of this world will burn up in the fire as hay, wood, and stubble (I Corinthians 3:12-15). However, the man who does the will of God will abide forever and his works will stand throughout eternity (I John 2:17). There will be no regrets in heaven for having lived “too much” for the kingdom of
God, but we can be assured that there will be great regrets for having lived “so little.”
The Undeniable Truth
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Ever so often in Scripture, we are confronted by certain statements that open our hearts and reveal the truth about our character and desires. The verse above is one of those statements.
Regardless of how often or forcefully we declare that God and His Kingdom are our greatest desire, the true desire of our life can be revealed by smallest and simplest of questions: Where is our heart? What occupies our thoughts above all other things? What do we
long for? Can we say in truth that God and His Kingdom are our passion?
What if a stranger who did not know of our Christian confession watched our lives and read our thoughts? Would he be convinced that God and His Kingdom are our two greatest priorities? Would he hear almost constant conversation about the mercies of God and the advancement of His Kingdom? Would he hear us pray with passion for the unevangelized nations? Would he see us passing a sleepless night because God’s Name is not highly esteemed among all peoples, because His Kingdom has not covered the entire earth, or because His will is not obeyed or even known by the great majority of men?
If most were honest, we would be forced to admit that he would hear us speaking about houses and lands, cars and toys, recreations and hobbies. He would see us obsessed with worldly worries, wants, and pleasures. He would hear very little about God in our daily conversation, would see little activity directed toward the advancement of the Kingdom, and would think it preposterous for us to claimed that our treasure is in heaven!
Clear Eyes
“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
In saying that the “eye is the lamp of the body,” Jesus is not giving us instructions in human physiology, but rather is teaching us about the great influence that our desires have on our lives. Our body goes where our eyes are focused, and our eyes focus on what our heart desires. If our heart desires worldly things, then worldly things will be our focus and the very things we pursue. However, if our heart truly desires the things of God, then our eyes will be fixed on them, and we will pursue them with a passion. The clear eye has a single vision without confusion or duplicity. A.T. Robertson writes, “If our eyes are healthy, we see clearly and with a single focus. If the eyes are diseased (bad, evil), cross-eyed or cockeyed, we see double and confuse our vision. We keep one eye on the hoarded treasures of earth and roll the other proudly up to heaven” (Word Pictures).
As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to singleness of heart and purpose. We are called to seek first the Kingdom of God and entrust all our worldly needs to the Master. He knows what we need before we ask Him and is disposed to do good things for His children.
Two Masters
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Jesus taught a great deal about money. The reason is simple -In this fallen world, money seems to be God’s greatest competitor for the hearts of men. If by grace, a man has freed himself from the love and pursuit of wealth, he has opened himself to the possibility of undivided devotion to God.
Fallen man is a slave to someone. The question is not whether or not a man is a slave, but whose slave is he? Some men are enslaved to other men, some to themselves, and others to things such as money, security, and respectability. Other men are given to vain pursuits, deceitful pleasures, or something as “harmless” as a hobby. The list is almost endless, but Christ calls us to turn away from such slavery and turn wholeheartedly and without reservation to Him.
Although the above Scripture teaches us that it is IMPOSSIBLE to serve God and wealth, the application is far reaching. There can be no competitors in the heart of the believer. We must constantly survey our lives and search out competing loyalties. When we find them, we must be careful to deal with them severely. We must not show them even the slightest compassion. If we spare them, they will become barbs in our eyes and thorns in our side (Numbers 33:55). We can never truly serve God while such things are hanging around our hearts. Even those things most precious to us must not be excused from our censure. Jesus taught that it is better for our right hand and right eye to suffer violent mutilation than for them to become stumbling blocks to the upward call of true discipleship (Matthew 5:29-30). We must put away anything that deters us from Him and His pursuits. Our lives are on the line and eternity is at stake! The Expositor’s Bible Commentary concludes:
“Both God and money are portrayed, not as employers, but as slave owners. A man may work for two employers; but since ‘single ownership and full time service are the very essence of slavery’ (Tasker), he cannot serve two slave owners. Either God is served with a single-eyed devotion, or he is not served at all. Attempts at divided loyalty betray, not partial commitment to discipleship, but deep-seated commitment to idolatry.”
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Paul Washer and Jeff Noblit - Live Stream
I just wanted to post to let everyone know or remind everyone that Anchored in Truth's (Jeff Noblit's ministry) Reality Check Conference is being streamed live online.
(including Noblit and Paul Washer)
You can access it by clicking on the picture below during these times:
HT: Lane’s Blog
Friday, December 28, 2007
J.W. Hendryx - "Give us this day our daily bread"
When we read this plea in the prayer our Lord has given us, it reminds us of our utter dependence on Him for everything we have, including our spiritual gifts and the grace to persevere to the end. When we were unregenerate and without God in the world, our conversion only took place when God opened our eyes to despair of any help from ourselves that we might look to Christ for His mercy. So also as Christians we live by the same principle since only by losing of all confidence in ourselves do we grow in grace; Christians do not become more mature in such a way as to gain more confidence in our spiritual abilities. On the contrary, the mature Christian, becomes even more conscious of his own frailty, and will turn unto the Lord for all his/her daily graces. It is only when we are weak, that we are strong (2Co 12:10). In other words, if we are to be effective at all, there must first be a consciousness of our weakness and innate spiritual bankruptcy.
In the Lord's marketplace, He only does trade with the poor, the sick and the blind. If you attempt to trade with Him with the meat you have earned, your merit or your gifts( that He has given you), He will not trade with you. The straight way is entirely too narrow to bring your goods through the door. You must leave them outside and come with empty hands if you would fit through that low and narrow space. Then you are ready and the Lord will fill you with abundance. The Lord says He did not come to call the righteous but sinners; and likewise affirms that those who are blind will not be guilty of sin, but those who claim to see, their sin remains. A man naturally wishes to establish his self-sufficiency. But if a person does recognize his inadequacy and need of help it is apparent that the Lord has done a work of grace in his heart, for where we end is where His grace begins.
Christian, you are dependent on God for the continuance of your strength and comfort to get through the day. You cannot rely on the blessings and good cheer you had yesterday. No, today we must approach the Lord anew in a posture of dependence, for self-sufficiency will never do for a Christian. You can no more rely on past blessings than you can rely on yesterday's meal for today. It is well beyond your own ability, and skill to maintain the Spirits' joy and comfort ... God's favor is necessary to your success. The farmer can sow his seed and labor hard, but without God's blessing of rain, his labor will be in vain. Only Christ can provide this and our labor is in vain if not in the Lord. If you would like to see spiritual fruit, depend on God each day for spiritual sustenance as Israel depended each day on Manna. We cannot simply get a supply of joy or blessing from what we have stored away somewhere in ourselves. God does what He will with His supply and He wishes that His children would call His blessings down daily. The Text affirms that God gave manna to humble the Israelites (Deut 8). The humbling comes because it is the Lord who dispensed the food, just as he dispenses our daily grace (bread). He keeps the key to our heavenly blessings that we might pray in His will and be instruments of advancing His kingdom here below. 'Lord, give us this day our daily bread.'
- J.W. Hendryx
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit
An exposition of the Beatitudes of Matthew 5 - Thomas Watson (1620-1686)
Having spoken of the general notion of blessedness, I come next to consider the subjects of this blessedness, and these our Saviour has deciphered to be the poor in spirit, the mourners, etc. But before I touch upon these, I shall attempt a little preface or paraphrase upon this sermon of the beatitudes.
1 Observe the divinity in this sermon, which goes beyond all philosophy. The philosophers use to say that one contrary expels another; but here one contrary begets another. Poverty is wont to expel riches, but here poverty begets riches, for how rich are they that have a kingdom! Mourning is wont to expel joy, but here mourning begets joy: ‘they shall be comforted’. Water is wont to quench the flame but the water of tears kindles the flame of joy. Persecution is wont to expel happiness, but here it makes happy: ‘Blessed are they that are persecuted’. These are the sacred paradoxes in our Saviour’s sermon.
2 Observe how Christ’s doctrine and the opinion of carnal men differ. They think, ‘Blessed are the rich.’ The world would count him blessed who could have Midas, wish, that all he touched might be turned into gold. But Christ says, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’. The world thinks, Blessed are they on the pinnacle; but Christ pronounces them blessed who are in the valley. Christ’s reckonings and the world’s do not agree.
3 Observe the nature of true religion. Poverty leads the van, and persecution brings up the rear. Every true saint (says Luther) is heir to the cross! Some there are who would be thought religious, displaying Christ’s colours by a glorious profession, but to be ‘poor in spirit’ and ‘persecuted’, they cannot take down this bitter pill. They would wear Christ’s jewels, but waive his cross. These are strangers to religion.
4 Observe the certain connection between grace and its reward. They who are ‘poor in spirit’ shall have the ‘kingdom of God’. They are as sure to go to heaven, as if they were in heaven already. Our Saviour would encourage men to religion by sweetening commands with promises. He ties duty and reward together. As in the body the veins carry the blood, and the arteries the spirits, so one part of these verses carries duty, and the other part carries reward. As that scholar of Apelles painted Helena richly drawn in costly and glorious apparel, hung all over with orient pearl, and precious stones; so our Lord Christ, having set down several qualifications of a Christian, ‘poor in spirit’, ‘pure in heart’, etc.’ draws these heavenly virtues in their fair colours of blessedness, and sets the magnificent crown of reward upon them, that by this brilliance, he might the more set forth their unparalleled beauty, and entice holy love.
5 Observe hence the concatenation of the graces: poor in spirit, meek, merciful, etc. Where there is one grace there is all. As they say of the cardinal virtues that they are strung together, so we may say of the graces of the spirit, they are linked and chained together. He that has poverty of spirit is a mourner. He that is a mourner is meek. He that is meek is merciful, etc. The Spirit of God plants in the heart an habit of all the graces. The new creature has all the parts and lineaments, as in the body there is a composition of all the elements and a mixture of all the humours. The graces of the Spirit are like a row of pearls which hang together upon the string of religion and serve to adorn Christ’s bride. This I note, to show you a difference between a hypocrite and a true child of God. The hypocrite flatters himself with a pretence of grace, but in the meantime he does not have an habit of all the graces. He does not have poverty of spirit, nor purity of heart, whereas a child of God has all the graces in his heart, at least radically though not gradually. These things being premised, I come in particular to those heavenly dispositions of soul to which Christ has affixed blessedness. And the first is Poverty of Spirit: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’.
Chrysostom and Theophylact are of opinion that this was the first sermon that ever Christ made, therefore it may challenge our best attention. ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’. Our Lord Christ being to raise an high and stately fabric of blessedness, lays the foundation of it low, in poverty of spirit. But all poverty is not blessed. I shall use a fourfold distinction.
1 I distinguish between ‘poor in estate’, and ‘poor in spirit’. There are the Devil’s poor, poor and wicked, whose clothes are not more torn than their conscience. There are some whose poverty is their sin, who through improvidence or excess have brought themselves to want. These may be poor in estate but not poor in spirit.
2 I distinguish between ’spiritually poor’ and ‘poor in spirit’. He who is without grace is spiritually poor, but he is not poor in spirit; he does not know his own beggary. ‘Thou knowest not that thou art poor’ (Revelation 3:17). He is in the worst sense poor who has no sense of his poverty.
3 I distinguish between ‘poor-spirited’ and ‘poor in spirit’. They are said to be poor-spirited who have mean, base spirits, who act below themselves. As they are men; such are those misers, who having great estates, yet can hardly afford themselves bread; who live sneakingly, and are ready to wish their own throats cut, because they are forced to spend something in satisfying nature’s demands. This Solomon calls an evil under the sun. ‘There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, a man to whom God has given riches, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof’ (Ecclesiastes 6:2). Religion makes no man a niggard. Though it teaches prudence, yet not sordidness.
Then there are those who act below themselves as they are Christians, while they sinfully comply and prostitute themselves to the humours of others; a base kind of metal that will take any stamp. They will for a piece of silver part with the jewel of a good conscience. They will be of the state religion. They will dance to the devil’s pipe, if their superior commands them. These are poor-spirited but not poor in spirit.
4 I distinguish between poor in an evangelical sense and poor in a popish sense. The papists give a wrong gloss upon the text. By ‘poor in spirit’, they understand those who, renouncing their estates, vow a voluntary poverty, living retiredly in their monasteries. But Christ never meant these. He does not pronounce them blessed who make themselves poor, leaving their estates and callings, but such as are evangelically poor.
Well then, what are we to understand by ‘poor in spirit’? The Greek word for ‘poor’ is not only taken in a strict sense for those who live upon alms, but in a more large sense, for those who are destitute as well of inward as outward comfort. ‘Poor in spirit, then signifies those who are brought to the sense of their sins, and seeing no goodness in themselves, despair in themselves and sue wholly to the mercy of God in Christ. Poverty of spirit is a kind of self-annihilation. Such an expression I find in Calvin. The poor in spirit (says he) are they who see nothing in themselves, but fly to mercy for sanctuary. Such an one was the publican: ‘God be merciful to me a sinner’ (Luke 18:13). Of this temper was St Paul: ‘That I may be found in Christ, not having mine own righteousness’ (Philippians 3:9). These are the poor which are invited as guests to wisdom’s banquet (Proverbs 7:3, 4).
Here several questions may be propounded.
(i) Why does Christ here begin with poverty of spirit? Why is this put in the forefront? I answer, Christ does it to show that poverty of spirit is the very basis and foundation of all the other graces that follow. You may as well expect fruit to grow without a root, as the other graces without this. Till a man be poor in spirit, he cannot mourn. Poverty of spirit is like the fire under the still, which makes the water drop from the eyes. When a man sees his own defects and deformities and looks upon himself as undone, then he mourns after Christ. ‘The springs run in the valleys’ (Psalm 104:10). When the heart becomes a valley and lies low by poverty of spirit, now the springs of holy mourning run there. Till a man be poor in spirit, he cannot ‘hunger and thirst after righteousness’. He must first be sensible of want before he can hunger. Therefore Christ begins with poverty of spirit because this ushers in all the rest.
(ii) The second question is, what is the difference between poverty of spirit and humility? These are so alike that they have been taken one for the other. Chrysostom, by ‘poverty of spirit’, understands humility. Yet I think there is some difference. They differ as the cause and the effect. Tertullian says, none are poor in spirit but the humble. He seems to make humility the cause of poverty of spirit. I rather think poverty of spirit is the cause of humility, for when a man sees his want of Christ, and how he lives on the alms of free grace, this makes him humble. He that is sensible of his own vacuity and indigence, hangs his head in humility with the violet. Humility is the sweet spice that grows from poverty of spirit.
(iii) What is the difference between poverty of spirit and self-denial? I answer, in some things they agree, in some things they differ. In some things they agree; for the poor in spirit is an absolute self-denier. He renounces all opinion of himself. He acknowledges his dependence upon Christ and free grace. But in some things they differ. The self-denier parts with the world for Christ, the poor in spirit parts with himself for Christ, i.e. his own righteousness. The poor in spirit sees himself nothing without Christ; the self-denier will leave himself nothing for Christ. And thus I have shown what poverty of spirit is.
The words thus opened present us with this truth: that Christians must be poor in spirit; or thus, poverty of spirit is the jewel which Christians must wear. As the best creature was made out of nothing, namely, light; so when a man sees himself nothing, out of this nothing God makes a most beautiful creature. It is God’s usual method to make a man poor in spirit, and then fill him with the graces of the Spirit. As we deal with a watch, we take it first to pieces, and then set all the wheels and pins in order, so the Lord first takes a man all to pieces, shows him his undone condition, and then sets him in frame.
The reasons are:
1 Till we are poor in spirit we are not capable of receiving grace. He who is swollen with an opinion of self-excellency and self-sufficiency, is not fit for Christ. He is full already. If the hand be full of pebbles, it cannot receive gold. The glass is first emptied before you pour in wine. God first empties a man of himself, before he pours in the precious wine of his grace. None but the poor in spirit are within Christ’s commission. ‘The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted’ (Isaiah 61:1), that is, such as are broken in the sense of their unworthiness.
2. Till we are poor in spirit, Christ is never precious. Before we see our own wants, we never see Christ’s worth. Poverty of spirit is salt and seasoning, the sauce which makes Christ relish sweet to the soul. Mercy is most welcome to the poor in spirit. He who sees himself clad in filthy rags (Zechariah 3:4,5), what will he give for change of raiment, the righteousness of Christ! What will he give to have the fair mitre of salvation set upon his head! When a man sees himself almost wounded to death, how precious will the balm of Christ’s blood be to him! When he sees himself deep in arrears with God, and is so far from paying the debt that he cannot sum up the debt, how glad would he be of a surety! ‘The pearl of price’ is only precious to the poor in spirit. He that wants bread and is ready to starve, will have it whatever it cost. He will lay his garment to pledge; bread he must have or he is undone. So to him that is poor in spirit, that sees his want of Christ, how precious is a Saviour! Christ is Christ and grace is grace to him! He will do anything for the bread of life. Therefore will God have the soul thus qualified, to raise the price of his market, to enhance the value and estimate of the Lord Jesus.
3 Till we are poor in spirit we cannot go to heaven. ‘Theirs is the kingdom of heaven’. This tunes and prepares us for heaven. By nature a man is big with self-confidence, and the gate of heaven is so strait that he cannot enter. Now poverty of spirit lessens the soul; it pares off its superfluity, and now he is fit to enter in at the ’strait gate’. The great cable cannot go through the eye of the needle, but let it be untwisted and made into small threads, and then it may. Poverty of spirit untwists the great cable. It makes a man little in his own eyes and now an entrance shall be made unto him, ‘richly into the everlasting Kingdom’ (2 Peter 1:11). Through this temple of poverty, we must go into the temple of glory.
It shows wherein a Christian’s riches consist, namely in poverty of spirit. Some think if they can fill their bags with gold, then they are rich. But they who are poor in spirit are the rich men. They are rich in poverty. This poverty entitles them to a kingdom. How poor are they that think themselves rich! How rich are they that see themselves poor! I call it the ‘jewel of poverty’. There are some paradoxes in religion that the world cannot understand; for a man to become a fool that he may be wise (1 Corinthians 3:18); to save his life by losing it (Matthew 16:25); and by being poor to be rich. Reason laughs at it, but ‘Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom’. Then this poverty is to be striven for more than all riches. Under these rags is hid cloth of gold. Out of this carcass comes honey.
If blessed are the poor in spirit, then by the rule of contraries, cursed are the proud in spirit (Proverbs 16:5). There is a generation of men who commit idolatry with themselves; no such idol as self! They admire their own parts, moralities, self-righteousness; and upon this stock graft the hope of their salvation. There are many too good to go to heaven. They have commodities enough of their own growth, and they scorn to live upon the borrow, or to be beholden to Christ. These bladders the Devil has blown up with pride, and they are swelled in their own conceit; but it is like the swelling of a dropsy man whose bigness is his disease. Thus it was with that proud justiciary: ‘The Pharisee stood and prayed, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican; I fast twice in the week, I give tithes ...’ (Luke 18:11). Here was a man setting up the topsail of pride; but the publican, who was poor in spirit, stood afar off and would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast saying, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’ This man carried away the garland. ‘I tell you’ (says Christ) ‘this man went down to his house justified rather than the other’. St Paul, before his conversion, thought himself in a very good condition, ‘touching the law, blameless’ (Philippians 3:6). He thought to have built a tower of his own righteousness, the top whereof should have reached to heaven; but, at last, God showed him there was a crack in the foundation, and then he gets into the ‘rock of ages’. ‘That I may be found in him’ (Philippians 3:9). There is not a more dangerous precipice than self-righteousness. This was Laodicea’s temper: ‘Because thou sayest I am rich and I have need of nothing . . .’ (Revelation 3:17). She thought she wanted nothing when indeed she had nothing. How many does this damn! We see some ships that have escaped the rocks, yet are cast away upon the sands; so some who have escaped the rocks of gross sins, yet are cast away upon the sands of self-righteousness; and how hard is it to convince such men of their danger! They will not believe but that they may be helped out of their dungeon with these rotten rags. They cannot be persuaded their case is so bad as others would make it. Christ tells them they are blind, but they are like Seneca’s maid, who was born blind, but she would not believe it. The house, says she, is dark, but I am not blind. Christ tells them they are naked, and offers his white robe to cover them, but they are of a different persuasion; and because they are blind, they cannot see themselves naked. How many have perished by being their own saviours! O that this might drive the proud sinner out of himself! A man never comes to himself till he comes out of himself. And no man can come out, till first Christ comes in.
If poverty of spirit be so necessary, how shall I know that I am poor in spirit? By the blessed effects of this poverty, which are:
1 He that is poor in spirit is weaned from himself. ‘My soul is even as a weaned child’ (Psalm 131:2). It is hard for a man to be weaned from himself. The vine catches hold of everything that is near, to stay itself upon. There is some bough or other a man would be catching hold of to rest upon. How hard is it to be brought quite off himself! The poor in spirit are divorced from themselves; they see they must go to hell without Christ. ‘My soul is even as a weaned child’.
2 He that is poor in spirit is a Christ-admirer. He has high thoughts of Christ. He sees himself naked and flies to Christ that in his garments he may obtain the blessing. He sees himself wounded, and as the wounded deer runs to the water, so he thirsts for Christ’s blood, the water of life. Lord, says he, give me Christ or I die. Conscience is turned into a fiery serpent and has stung him; now all the world for a brazen serpent! He sees himself in a state of death; and how precious is one leaf of the tree of life, which is both for food and medicine! The poor in spirit sees all his riches lie in Christ, ‘wisdom, righteousness, sanctification . . ’. In every exigency he flies to this magazine and storehouse. He adores the all-fullness in Christ.
They say of the oil in Rheims, though they are continually almost spending it, yet it never wastes. And such is Christ’s blood; it can never be emptied. He that is poor in spirit has recourse still to this fountain. He sets an high value and appreciation upon Christ. He hides himself in Christ’s wounds. He bathes himself in his blood. He wraps himself in his robe. He sees a spiritual dearth and famine at home, but he makes out to Christ. ‘Show me the Lord (says he) and it sufficeth’.
3 He that is poor in spirit is ever complaining of his spiritual estate. He is much like a poor man who is ever telling you of his wants; he has nothing to help himself with; he is ready to starve. So it is with him that is poor in spirit. He is ever complaining of his wants, saying, I want a broken heart, a thankful heart. He makes himself the most indigent creature. Though he dares not deny the work of grace (which were a bearing false witness again the Spirit), yet he mourns he has no more grace. This is the difference between an hypocrite and a child of God. The hypocrite is ever telling what he has. A child of God complains of what he lacks. The one is glad he is so good, the other grieves he is so bad. The poor in spirit goes from ordinance to ordinance for a supply of his wants; he would fain have his stock increased. Try by this if you are poor in spirit. While others complain they want children, or they want estates, do you complain you want grace? This is a good sign. ‘There is that maketh himself poor yet hath great riches’ (Proverbs 13:7). Some beggars have died rich. The poor in spirit, who have lain all their lives at the gate of mercy and have lived upon the alms of free grace, have died rich in faith, heirs to a kingdom.
4 He that is poor in spirit is lowly in heart. Rich men are commonly proud and scornful, but the poor are submissive. The poor in spirit roll themselves in the dust in the sense of their unworthiness. ‘I abhor myself in dust’ (Job 42:6). He who is poor in spirit looks at another’s excellencies and his own infirmities. He denies not only his sins but his duties. The more grace he has, the more humble he is, because he now sees himself a greater debtor to God. If he can do any duty, he acknowledges it is Christ’s strength more than his own (Philippians 4:13). As the ship gets to the haven more by the benefit of the wind than the sail, so when a Christian makes any swift progress, it is more by the wind of God’s Spirit than the sail of his own endeavour. The poor in spirit, when he acts most like a saint, confesses himself ‘the chief of sinners’. He blushes more at the defect of his graces than others do at the excess of their sins. He dares not say he has prayed or wept. He lives, yet not he, but Christ lives in him (Galatians 2:20). He labours, yet not he, but the grace of God (1 Corinthians 15:10).
5 He who is poor in spirit is much in prayer. He sees how short he is of the standard of holiness, therefore begs for more grace; Lord, more faith, more conformity to Christ. A poor man is ever begging. You may know by this one that is poor in spirit. He is ever begging for a spiritual alms. He knocks at heaven-gate; he sends up sighs; he pours out tears; he will not away from the gate till he have his dole. God loves a modest boldness in prayer; such shall not be non-suited.
6 The poor in spirit is content to take Christ upon his own terms. The proud sinner will article and indent with Christ. He will have Christ and his pleasure, Christ and his covetousness. But he that is poor in spirit sees himself lost without Christ, and he is willing to have him upon his own terms, a Prince as well as a Saviour: ‘Jesus my Lord’ (Philippians 3:8). A castle that has long been besieged and is ready to be taken will deliver up on any terms to save their lives. He whose heart has been a garrison for the devil, and has held out long in opposition against Christ, when once God has brought him to poverty of spirit, and he sees himself damned without Christ, let God propound what articles he will, he will readily subscribe to them. ‘Lord, what wilt thou have me to do’ (Acts 9:6). He that is poor in spirit will do anything that he may have Christ. He will behead his beloved sin. He will, with Peter, cast himself upon the water to come to Christ.
7 He that is poor in spirit is an exalter of free grace. None so magnify mercy as the poor in spirit. The poor are very thankful. When Paul had tasted mercy, how thankfully does he adore free grace! ‘The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant’ (1 Timothy 1:14). It was super-exuberant. He sets the crown of his salvation upon the head of free grace. As a man that is condemned and has a pardon sent him, how greatly he proclaims the goodness and clemency of his prince! So St Paul displays free grace in its orient colours. He interlines all his epistles with free grace. As a vessel that has been perfumed makes the wine taste of it, so St Paul, who was a vessel perfumed with mercy, makes all his epistles to taste of this perfume of free grace. They who are poor in spirit, bless God for the least crumb that falls from the table of free grace. Labour for poverty of spirit. Christ begins with this, and we must begin here if ever we be saved. Poverty of spirit is the foundation stone on which God lays the superstructure of glory.
There are four things may persuade Christians to be poor in spirit.
1 This poverty is your riches. You may have the world’s riches, and yet be poor. You cannot have this poverty without being made rich. Poverty of spirit entitles you to all Christ’s riches.
2 This poverty is your nobility. God looks upon you as persons of honour. He that is vile in his own eyes is precious in God’s eyes. The way to rise is to fall. God esteems the valley highest.
3 Poverty of spirit sweetly quiets the soul. When a man is brought off from himself to rest on Christ, what a blessed calm is in the heart! I am poor but ‘my God shall supply all my need’ (Philippians 4:19). I am unworthy but Christ is worthy. I am indigent, Christ is infinite. ‘Lead me to the rock that is higher than I’ (Psalm 61:2). A man is safe upon a rock. When the soul goes out of itself and centres upon the rock, Christ, now it is firmly settled upon its basis. This is the way to comfort. You will be wounded in spirit till you come to be poor in spirit.
4 Poverty of spirit paves a causeway for blessedness. ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit.’ Are you poor in spirit? You are blessed persons. Happy for you that ever you were born! If you ask, Wherein does this blessedness appear? read the next words, ‘Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven’.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Pastor Mark Kielar - The Origin of Christmas
From LANE'S BLOG:
You really have to watch all three to understand why I posted these. If you watch one or two, there's a good chance that you won't understand why.
I understand that these three videos may cause some commotion, but I believe it is edifying to believers to know how many of the traditions we have and practice originally came about. It puts things in perspective regarding Christmas and Biblical Christianity especially by Pastor Kielar's comments at the end of Part 3.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Regeneration Precedes Faith
One of the most dramatic moments in my life for the shaping of my theology took place in a seminary classroom. One of my professors went to the blackboard and wrote these words in bold letters: "Regeneration Precedes Faith."
These words were a shock to my system. I had entered seminary believing that the key work of man to effect rebirth was faith. I thought that we first had to believe in Christ in order to be born again. I use the words in order here for a reason. I was thinking in terms of steps that must be taken in a certain sequence. I had put faith at the beginning. The order looked something like this:
"Faith - rebirth -justification."
I hadn’t thought that matter through very carefully. Nor had I listened carefully to Jesus’ words to Nicodemus. I assumed that even though I was a sinner, a person born of the flesh and living in the flesh, I still had a little island of righteousness, a tiny deposit of spiritual power left within my soul to enable me to respond to the Gospel on my own. Perhaps I had been confused by the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. Rome, and many other branches of Christendom, had taught that regeneration is gracious; it cannot happen apart from the help of God.
No man has the power to raise himself from spiritual death. Divine assistance is necessary. This grace, according to Rome, comes in the form of what is called prevenient grace. "Prevenient" means that which comes from something else. Rome adds to this prevenient grace the requirement that we must "cooperate with it and assent to it" before it can take hold in our hearts.
This concept of cooperation is at best a half-truth. Yes, the faith we exercise is our faith. God does not do the believing for us. When I respond to Christ, it is my response, my faith, my trust that is being exercised. The issue, however, goes deeper. The question still remains: "Do I cooperate with God's grace before I am born again, or does the cooperation occur after?" Another way of asking this question is to ask if regeneration is monergistic or synergistic. Is it operative or cooperative? Is it effectual or dependent? Some of these words are theological terms that require further explanation.
A monergistic work is a work produced singly, by one person. The prefix mono means one. The word erg refers to a unit of work. Words like energy are built upon this root. A synergistic work is one that involves cooperation between two or more persons or things. The prefix syn -
means "together with." I labor this distinction for a reason. The debate between Rome and Luther hung on this single point. At issue was this: Is regeneration a monergistic work of God or a synergistic work that requires cooperation between man and God? When my professor wrote "Regeneration precedes faith" on the blackboard, he was clearly siding with the monergistic answer. After a person is regenerated, that person cooperates by exercising faith and trust. But the first step is the work of God and of God alone.
The reason we do not cooperate with regenerating grace before it acts upon us and in us is because we can- not. We cannot because we are spiritually dead. We can no more assist the Holy Spirit in the quickening of our souls to spiritual life than Lazarus could help Jesus raise him for the dead.
When I began to wrestle with the Professor's argument, I was surprised to learn that his strange-sounding teaching was not novel. Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield - even the great medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas taught this doctrine. Thomas Aquinas is the Doctor Angelicus of the Roman Catholic Church. For centuries his theological teaching was accepted as official dogma by most Catholics. So he was the last person I expected to hold such a view of regeneration. Yet Aquinas insisted that regenerating grace is operative grace, not cooperative grace. Aquinas spoke of prevenient grace, but he spoke of a grace that comes before faith, which is regeneration.
These giants of Christian history derived their view from Holy Scripture. The key phrase in Paul's Letter to the Ephesians is this: "...even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have you been saved)" (Eph. 2:5). Here Paul locates the time when regeneration occurs. It takes place 'when we were dead.' With one thunderbolt of apostolic revelation all attempts to give the initiative in regeneration to man are smashed. Again, dead men do not cooperate with grace. Unless regeneration takes place first, there is no possibility of faith.
This says nothing different from what Jesus said to Nicodemus. Unless a man is born again first, he cannot possibly see or enter the kingdom of God. If we believe that faith precedes regeneration, then we set our thinking and therefore ourselves in direct opposition not only to giants of Christian history but also to the teaching of Paul and of our Lord Himself.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Friday, December 21, 2007
Bob DeWaay - Why the Cross Offends
The cross was an executioner’s device. It meant either a literal cross on which someone would be executed, or it meant living as one condemned to die (cross- bearing). Later Paul used the term “cross” to mean the message of the cross. It might surprise people today to learn that the term “cross” when used in the Bible never meant a Christian symbol. And yet many modern churchgoers see the cross as an endearing Christian symbol and have trouble understanding what it meant to the people who heard Jesus teach about it.
Consider therefore the implications of this teaching of Jesus: “And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me’” (Luke 9:23). This call to discipleship came in a section of Luke’s gospel where the key issue was Jesus’ identity. Herod had asked about it (Luke 9:7-9) and Jesus had asked what the people said about it (Luke 9:18). When He asked the disciples what they thought, Peter answered correctly “The Christ of God” (Luke 9:20). So far so good—but then came the utter shock: “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day” (Luke 9:22). The Messiah would be rejected by the Jewish leadership and killed. Not only that, but his followers would have to live in this world as those condemned to die. That is what it meant to take up a cross.
Crucifixion was a horrible, cruel means of execution which the Romans used not on their own citizens, but on people they wished to intimidate, humiliate and make an example of. People who raised sedition against Rome were usually targeted. The Jewish people whom Jesus addressed had personal and corporate memories of crucifixion that made the concept horrifying and loathsome. Let me explain.
The Jewish historian Josephus described a number of incidents of crucifixion before the time of Christ. The first involves the infamous Antiochus Epiphanies in 167 BC, the same tyrant who desecrated the temple. Here is what Josephus wrote about that incident:
And indeed many Jews there were who complied with the king’s commands, either voluntarily, or out of fear of the penalty that was denounced; but the best men, and those of the noblest souls, did not regard him, but did pay a greater respect to the customs of their country than concern as to the punishment which he threatened to the disobedient; on which account they every day underwent great miseries and bitter torments; for they were whipped with rods and their bodies were torn to pieces, and were crucified while they were still alive and breathed: they also strangled those women and their sons whom they had circumcised, as the king had appointed, hanging their sons about their necks as they were upon the crosses.
The Jews were very concerned about the proper burial of their dead. By hanging bodies on crosses (even if that was not where they had died) Rome desecrated the Jewish dead and showed them to be cursed (Deuteronomy 21:23).
After the Jews were liberated from Antiochus in 164 under the Maccabees (or more correctly the Hasmoneans) there was an extended period of Jewish rule. All was not well, however, because one of the Hasmonean descendants, Alexander Janneus, (103-76 BC) became one of the cruelest tyrants to oppress the Jews. Some of his Jewish opponents resisted him, and he took cruel revenge against them. Josephus describes what happened:
[T]he Jews fought against Alexander, and being beaten were slain in great numbers in the several battles which they had, and when he had shut up the most powerful of them in the city Bethome, he besieged them therein; and when he had taken the city, and gotten the men into his power, he brought them to Jerusalem, and did one of the most barbarous actions in the world to them; for as he was feasting with his concubines, in the sight of all the city, he ordered about eight hundred of them to be crucified; and while they were living, he ordered the throats of their children and wives to be cut before their eyes.
This event remained in the Jewish collective memory for its barbarism and wicked cruelty to women and children. Crucifixion was a symbol of the torture of Jewish people by tyrants. But the story is not over.
In 4 BC, after the death of Herod the Great, a revolt against Roman rule erupted throughout Judea. Quintilius Varus, the Roman legate of Syria, brutally pacified the country, particularly in Galilee. Here is Josephus’ description of what happened:
But Varus sent a part of his army into the country, against those that had been the authors of this commotion, and as they caught great numbers of them, those that appeared to have been the least concerned in these tumults he put into custody, but such as were the most guilty he crucified; these were in number about two thousand.
John MacArthur comments on this incident and applies it to Jesus’ call to discipleship:
He [Varus] put their crosses up and down all the roads of Galilee, so people saw them everywhere they traveled. Every crucified Jew had carried his own crossbeam as he marched to death by crucifixion. These Galileans had seen all of that, and Jesus was talking to them in a historical context, saying they needed to be willing to face such a consequence rather than deny Him.
Crucifixion was offensive to the Jews in every way. It stood for cruel tyranny by oppressors. It demeaned the Jews. It made them cursed according to their own law. It involved barbaric torture, and it took place where people were forced to witness it. That’s the public mindset when Jesus taught about the cross.
So when Jesus said that He would die in such a cursed way and yet claimed to be the “Son of Man” (that Daniel claimed would have glory, dominion and a kingdom Daniel 7:13, 14), it was truly hard to believe (hence the title of MacArthur’s book). And when Jesus said this: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14), He was saying that the promised Messiah would become a curse. Yes, hard to believe.
The people in Galilee who heard Jesus teach His own future crucifixion and declare their need to disavow self and to live daily as one sentenced to the cursed death indicated by cross-bearing must have been shocked. And worse, less than forty years earlier some of them saw brothers, uncles, fathers, or grandfathers hanged on crosses right there in Galilee – some 2,000 of them.
Jesus’ teaching about the cross was horrifying to them. How could anyone believe it? Who would ever want to be a disciple under such terms? We need to get the image of golden jewelry out of our minds and think about what the cross really was and how offensive it still is, especially to Jews. People in the seeker movement know this, and so they do not preach the cross. The cross will always offend the unregenerate mind.
So then how can anyone be saved? The disciples asked Jesus that very question and here is His answer: “Looking upon them, Jesus said, ‘With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God’” (Mark 10:27). The context was about the rich man who had so much in this world that he would not give it up for the sake of the kingdom. But all things are possible with God; and He can save sinners who are by nature and choice His enemies.
Paul explained it this way: “But we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1Corinthians 1:23, 24). This may indeed be hard to believe, but the preaching of the cross is God’s ordained means whereby He saves “the called.” We must resist the temptation to water down the Biblical message because of its native offense. God chooses the things that the world considers weak, foolish and base (1Corinthians 1:26, 27) to shame those who are wise in their own eyes.
This article was based on a sermon by Bob DeWaay that was preached on December 2, 2007 on Luke 9:18 – 27. It can be heard HERE:
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Paul Washer - Modern Evangelicalism - What Is Success?
"Everybody is wanting to do something when we ought to be wanting to be something." - Paul Washer
The Jesus Syllogism
- A Biblical Reflection on John 6 by John Hendryx
According to Scripture, all persons have a knowledge of God (Rom 1:21), but not all persons know Him in the same way. Some people know Him as a friend, but others know Him only as an enemy. These are, by nature, hostile in mind toward Christ, suppressing the truth in unrighteousness (Rom 1:18), because they love darkness and hate the light (John 3:19, 20). The question I want to put before you to contemplate today is why is it that some persons see the beauty and excellence of Christ, knowing Him as a friend, while others find Jesus and his promises of grace so repulsive, remaining His enemy? What is it that makes people to differ in their response to the promises of the gospel?
The purpose of this short essay is to show from Scripture a discussion Jesus had in his time on earth where he unequivocally asserts that it is grace alone that makes persons to differ in our response to the gospel; whether we believe it, or reject it. And to drive this point home we will show how Jesus insists that UNLESS God grants His invincible grace no one would ever believe the gospel...yet ALL persons to whom he grants this same grace will believe unto eternal life.
I have written about this passage before but to those who have not considered Jesus discourse to the Jews in John 6, I would encourage you to take the time to reflect on it today. We find out that, when speaking to the Jews, Jesus uses a syllogism that leaves no room for human boasting. Defined simply, a syllogism is a logical formula consisting of two premises and a conclusion which follows of necessity from them. It is a combination of two judgments infallibly necessitating a third judgment as a consequence of their mutual relation. A simple example of a syllogism is: If all humans are sinners, and all Greeks are humans, then all Greeks are sinners.
You ask, what does this have to do with Jesus?
In John chapter 6, in the context of Jesus’ calling the Jews to believe the gospel about Himself and their resulting unbelief in Him, He presents them with the following two simple yet profound statements, which, when applied together necessitates the conclusion that saving grace is always both invincible and indelible. He claims that those to whom, in due season, the Spirit regenerates will infallibly believe the gospel. Grace and faith, therefore, are not the same thing, and when it comes down to why some have faith and not others, Jesus emphatically comes down on the side of grace. What I call “the Jesus syllogism”, where He authoritatively communicates this truth, should end all arguments about this issue. it can be found in the midst of his discourse with the Jews in John 6:37 & John 6:65 where He says:
“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” ( 6:37)
”…no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." (6:65)
To give context to these texts, just prior to verse 37 he says, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.” Here we observe that Jesus uses the phrase “believe in me” and “come to me” interchangeably. In fact this is the case with these phrases throughout Scripture. With this in mind, In the context of unbelief in John 6:64 Jesus issues a UNIVERSAL NEGATIVE“... no one can come to me UNLESS God grants it. Since the phrase "come to Me" is spoken of all over Scripture as a synonym of believing on him, in John 6:65 Jesus is telling us that “no one can believe on Him UNLESS God grants it. Only the Spirit gives life (6:63). But in John 6:37 (the same dialogue) Jesus likewise issues a UNIVERSAL POSITIVE with the same concept. He says “ All that the Father gives to me WILL COME TO ME ”
So if we look at what Jesus explicitly teaches concening who will believe (by putting these two concepts together) He says, no one will believe in Me unless God grants it, and ALL to whom God grants it will believe. Jesus, using a syllogism, is making sure that no one thinks that anything apart from grace is what saves them. That even the very desire for faith that we have is a gift of God. This is profoundly important because it creates the inescapable conclusion that the quickening grace of God is invincible. This is why just prior to saying “no one can come to me UNLESS God grants it”, Jesus says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail.” This means that it is the Spirit who quickens, raises our dead spirits to life, makes us born from above (john 3:3, 6). The flesh, not referring to our physical bodies, but to our bondage to the corruption of our sinful natures, means that the sinful nature can do nothing of any redemptive good, including believe the gospel. How do I know this is what it means? Because the entire context on both sides of this verse is Jesus speaking of the Jews unbelief. Faith, He is saying, is not a product of our unregenerate human natures. It is, rather, the Spirit alone who can give life to our dead souls that we may believe. Jesus is telling the same thing to Nicodemus in John 3, using the same type of language. In verse 6 Jesus tells him, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” And unless one is born this way he can neither see nor enter the kingdom of God. Jesus never gives Nicodemus an imperative (command) to be born again, but instead, tells him what must happen to him for eternal life to be a reality. Belief springs from a change of nature, for the old man considers the gospel foolish and thus cannot comprehend it (1 Cor 2:14).
I have heard preachers say to people, “all you need to do is believe” as if this were the easiest thing in the world, but the natural man is unwilling to submit to the gospels' humbling terms. It is the massive affront to our pride to believe that we have no hope save in Jesus alone. We see this at work in this passage when, at the end of John chapter six many of those who previously were with Jesus left because his teaching was too hard and only the twelve were left. Peter confesses belief however, and Jesus responds, “…have I not chosen you?” But what is so hard about this that everyone else leaves Jesus? Hard because the gospel of grace alone strips man of all hope that he could have to contribute something, be it ever so small, to his own salvation. Never underestimate the reality of our sinful nature deceiving you this way. The gospel forces us to see our own spiritual impotence and bankruptcy in contributing anything or even lifting a finger toward our own salvation. But those who do believe the gospel we can know with certainty that the Holy Spirit has quickened them and is doing a work of grace in them. As John says in his first epistle, trusting Christ is the immediate result ot the new birth, not the cause of it:
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God” (1 John 5:1)
It is also important to understand that Jesus “will never cast out [those the Father has given Him].” (John 6:37). This is important because those who reject the perseverance of the saints, believing that Christ does not preserve us to the end, are in effect saying that we must somehow maintain our justification before God. This is to believe that Jesus’ atonement for us is not sufficient for salvation. This is a borderline heretical view akin to what Roman Catholics believe because it makes maintenance of justification/salvation the work of man and not Christ.
To conclude, Jesus tells us that all those whom God gives to the Son will believe in the Son and no one will believe in the Son whom God does not grant to do so. I bring this passage up to you because it is one of the most forceful passages in all of Scripture relating to the invincibility of saving grace. The grace of the Holy Spirit in regeneration is not only sufficient but efficient, unfailingly bringing about God’s desired result. We may resist the gospel when hearing the outward call and even resist stirrings of the Holy Spirit, but no one resists the inward quickening and call of God (Rom 8:30; 1 Cor 1:22-24). In the Old Testament sometimes God would discipline Israel by telling them their crops would fail even though they labored to sow seed. This is proof that all that we do in this world such as planting crops requires the prior blessing of God if it is to be fruitful. Similarly Paul uses an agricultural metaphor when speaking of casting the seed of the gospel. He says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” This simply means that people need to hear the gospel in order to be saved, but we can preach till we a blue in the face and nothing will take root unless the Holy Spirit sovereignly applies that word to the heart that one might hear.
To use some biblical imagery, we cast the seed of the gospel indiscriminately because the Holy Spirit alone can “germinate” the word, so to speak, unto life in Christ. The fallow ground of our hearts must first be plowed up by God, for the soil of our heart is not good by nature, but only by grace. The seed will not find good soil until God makes it so. For Ezekiel the prophet says:
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:25-27)
Notice that in order for obedience to take place the Lord must first cleanse our hearts, put a new spirit in us and remove our hardened uncircumcised heart. No one believes and obeys while their heart is still stone. Our blind eyes must be opened; our deaf ears unstopped and corrupt nature must be supernaturally changed by the Holy Spirit, for man to begin to have any good thoughts about Christ.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Mark Kielar - The Dangers Of C.G.Finney And His "Theology"
Part 1 - Does any of this sound at all "vaguely" familiar?
Part 2 - Here, Mark Kielar addresses the dangers of altar-calls specifically.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Charles Grandison Finney - Salvation is the Work of MAN!"
Did you read that right? Think about that quote for a second. It is in absolute contradiction to what the Bible says, "For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth." (Psalms 74:12), "Salvation is of the LORD." (Jonah 2:9), and "It is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (Php 2:13)
I'm not sure how more unbiblical one can be about salvation. Here, Mark Kielar explains some of Finney's methods and how they have affected modern "evangelism". One of Finney's sermons is even entitled, "Sinners Bound to Change Their Own Hearts".
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Paul Washer - The Next Shocking Youth Sermon
This really needs no set up. I will say, though, that one difference between this sermon and the famous first one is that this church asked him back."When men come before me in a pulpit and they tell me they want to share with me from their heart, the only thing I want to do is walk out the door. I'm SO TIRED of hearing from men's hearts and hearing from their minds and hearing from their opinions! What I want is for someone to stand back and preach to me about Jesus Christ! (I want) someone to tell me 'thus saith the Lord' and not apologize and preach with the authority of God about the subject they've taken." - Paul Washer
You can listen to it below by clicking the play button:
Greatest Crime Of The Pulpit Today - Withholding Christ From Sinners
Careful Calvinistic Cultivation Doesn't Save, Christ Does
This is David King preaching at a the 2006 AOMin Conference in Orlando for James White's book "Pulpit Crimes".
CrossTv - "Sound Doctrine Just Divides... It's Love That Matters!"
"I'm always amazed by the people who, despite God's clear and emphatic commands through the Apostle Paul, say things like, "Ah, we need to forget about the differences in our doctrines, and we just need to love one another." as though those two are consistent goals. Surely they haven't come to realize that the only way we can love right is to live right, and the only way we can live right is to believe right." - Mark Kielar
Aren't you glad our forefathers weren't cowards?
Evangelism: Man's Way or God's Way?
Excerpts from The Wild Boar:
Evangelistic practices in our day have departed from biblical standards. They have ceased to be God-centered and biblically grounded, and have instead become very man-centered. That is, evangelistic techniques today tend to be designed to appeal to the likes and tastes of unregenerate men and women, rather than exalt Christ and call men and women to cast themselves upon the mercy of God.
Man-centered evangelism has several characteristics that can easily be spotted if one looks for them. First of all, it appeals to "felt needs." One popular strategy today is to find out what unbelievers want and then to taylor the programs of the church and the gospel message to address that "felt need." I cannot tell you how many times I have heard or read about churches going out into their communities and polling their neighbors about what they want in a church. A few weeks later, fliers are distributed advertizing a service that reflects the answers given by those polled. But since when does the church look to unbelievers to learn what the church is supposed to do? And since when does the church look to the unregenerate to find out what needs the church and the Bible are supposed to address? Don't we already know what they need? Don't they need the justifying grace provided by the Lord Jesus Christ, without which they will perish in Hell forever?
What kind of "needs" do unbelievers feel they have, anyway? The Bible tells us that "the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9). And Paul makes it abundantly clear that "the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1Cor. 2:14). Whatever felt needs an unbeliever has will not provide an inroad to the gospel because his felt needs are idolatrous! The biblical preaching of the Law and the Gospel cannot appeal to an unbelievers felt needs, because the Law and the Gospel will, by the very nature of the case, undermine and challenge his felt needs.
Man-centered evangelism inevitably produces undesireable results. One such result has already been alluded to: the marketing of the "gospel." The gospel message is treated like any other consumer product, advertized and marketed to appeal to religious "consumers." It is no longer a message calling fallen men and women to faith and repentance in Christ as the only hope of salvation (unless "salvation" is redefined as the meeting of a "felt need").
Secondly, man-centered evangelism produces spurious conversions, which explains the high drop-out rates in evangelical churches and the luke-warmness of those who stay. People who aren't really saved cannot be expected to be fervently committed to Christ...Man-centered evangelism doesn't ask people to count the cost of discipleship.
Man-centered evangelism is based on certain false assumptions. One such assumption is that unbelievers will want Jesus if the gospel message is packaged in the right way. But this is not the case. Romans 3:11 tells us that there are "none who seek after God," and we have already been reminded that unbelievers think that the things of God are foolish (1Cor. 2:14). Jesus will never be sweet to those with unregenerate hearts that desire to live in sinful autonomy from God.
Another false assumption, related to the first, is that the unregenerate have the spiritual ability to respond to the gospel. A pernicious error that exists in the church is what is called decisional regeneration. This is the belief that a person who hears the gospel can "decide" to accept Christ, and when he makes such a decision he is "born again." Not only does such a view imply salvation by works, but it is clearly contrary to certain Scriptural texts which teach that regeneration precedes faith, and that this regeneration is the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit (cf. John 1:13; 3:3, 7-8; Eph. 2:1-3). Given that fallen human beings "cannot receive the things of the Spirit," a faith-response to Christ cannot come any other way. (For more on man's spiritual inability, see the article on Total Depravity).
Both of the above assumptions are part and parcel of Arminianism. Though much more needs to be said in describing Arminianism, the basic idea behind this view is simply this: God makes salvation possible through Christ, but it is up to us to accept it or reject it. The problems with this view are numerous and serious. But, since our topic in this issue is evangelism I will limit my discussion to two. First, as we have already seen, Arminianism falsely assumes the spiritual ability of the unregenerate to respond to the gospel on their own. Secondly, Arminianism cannot help but lead to the man-centered style of evangelism we have discussed above. Since man has the ability to come to Christ, he can be persuaded by the evangelist to do so. So, if the unbeliever resists, there must be something wrong with our presentation of the gospel. Perhaps we haven't made it as clear to him as we could. Or perhaps we haven't "packaged" the gospel just right so that he can see its "relevance." Once such conclusions are reached, the manipulation of emotion and the appeal to felt needs is not far behind.
Biblical evangelism-evangelism God's way-is never tempted to water down the message, or make it relevant to felt needs, or manipulate emotions. Biblical evangelism assumes man's spiritual inability, and sees the task of the evangelist as simply setting forth the Law (which condemns and shows the need of a savior, calling into question the relevance of all of the unbeliever's felt needs) and the Gospel (which for the regenerate is "the power of God unto salvation" [Rom. 1:16], and their only real need).
Paul Washer On Decisional Regeneration...
CrossTv On Decisional Regeneration...
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Paul Washer - Propitiation
propitiation (n):
pro·pi·ti·a·tion
\prō-ˌpi-shē-ˈā-shən\
This means the turning away of wrath by an offering.
Greek word: ἱλαστήριον hilastērion
Definition:
1) relating to an appeasing or expiating, having placating or expiating force, expiatory; a means of appeasing or expiating, a propitiation
1a) used of the cover of the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies, which was sprinkled with the blood of the expiatory victim on the annual day of atonement (this rite signifying that the life of the people, the loss of which they had merited by their sins, was offered to God in the blood as the life of the victim, and that God by this ceremony was appeased and their sins expiated); hence the lid of expiation, the propitiatory
1b) an expiatory sacrifice
1c) a expiatory victim
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;... Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God has set forth to be a PROPITIATION through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
(Rom 3:21; 24-25)
And he is the PROPITIATION for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
(1Jn 2:2)
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the PROPITIATION for our sins.
(1Jn 4:10)
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whosoever eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." - Jesus Christ (John 6:53-55)
So leave those who contradict Christ so they can be busy serving their own agenda, and sit down at Jesus' feet to learn of Him. Let the Lord Jesus, after they chide Him about you not helping them, tell them, "You are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful. This one who is sitting at my feet and learning of me has chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from them." (Luke 10:39-42) Understand His full propitiation to those who have justification by faith in Him. Bless someone by sharing this message as it has been shared to you. Eat and eat and eat of his flesh and drink and drink and drink of his blood for "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you."
Friday, December 14, 2007
Wisdom Of A 13 Year Old...
Although I'm hesistant to do so, I am going to post this video. I like the video because it is touching but I am hesitant because it equates a boy’s love for a calf with God’s love for His Son.
Let's keep in mind this is a child's perspective...
"Logan is a 13 year-old boy who lives on a ranch in a very small town in Nebraska. Logan listens to Christian Radio station 89.3FM KSBJ which broadcasts from Houston, TX. Logan called the radio station distraught because he had to take down a calf. His words have wisdom beyond his years."
Spirit Empowered Preaching
From Monergism Books:
“When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony of God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power."
In order to get this book into the hands of as many preachers as possible we are reducing Arturo Azurdia's Spirit Empowered Preaching to the lowest price ever - a 40%discount. The supplies at this price are limited so get them while you can. We cannot recommend this book too highly - In our estimation this book lives up to its' hype.
Some of the questions this book answers
• What is the overarching storyline of the Bible?
• What is the Holy Spirit’s new covenant ministry in relationship to Jesus Christ?
• How are we to understand the nature of the Holy Spirit’s relationship to the Scriptures?
• What kind of preaching is the Holy Spirit most inclined to empower?
• Is the ministry of the Holy Spirit confined to preparation for preaching or is it something that occurs during the actual preaching event?
• What is the responsibility of the preacher in Spirit empowered preaching? What is the responsibility of the congregation?
Some quotes from the book
"A major step toward experiencing the power of God necessitates a thorough-going recognition of our lack of it" (p143).
It must be understood that the preacher does not share, he declares. It is for this very reason that small group Bible studies can never replace the preaching of the gospel. Preaching is not a little talk. It is not a fireside chat. To substitute sharing and discussion for preaching is to risk the integrity of the gospel itself (p88).
The preacher brings to a fallen humanity the very testimony of God centered on the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, a work which by nature shatters all human self-sufficiency. To then attempt a proclamation of that message in a manner that relies upon methods reflecting the wizardry of men is to eviscerate the gospel of its own content. The cross . . . not only determines the substance of the preacher's message, it dictates the manner in which preachers communicate it; in a way that rivets the attention of people on the beauties of Jesus Christ rather than on the comparatively paltry gifts of the preacher (p91).
The greatest impediment to the advancement of the gospel in our time is the attempt of the church of Jesus Christ to do the work of God apart from the truth and power of the Spirit of God.” (pg. 29)
There can be no confusion regarding these words [John 14:26, 15:26, 16:13-15]. Jesus will be the sum and substance of the Spirit's revelatory ministry. The predominant work of the Holy Spirit is the reveal and glorify Jesus Christ, a fact we must never lose site of if we are ever to anticipate the Holy Spirit's power. (p50)
“In a single statement, the vitality of the Spirit is His effectual work of glorifying Jesus Christ through fallible men who faithfully proclaim the Christocentric scriptures. This is ministry distinctive to the new covenant people of God: Christ is our message, preaching Christ from all of the scriptures is our method, and the attending power of the purchased Spirit of God in our means.” (pg63)
A major step toward experiencing the power of God necessitates a thorough-going recognition of our lack of it. . . . The preacher must recognize, and even revel in, his own human inabilities (p143).
Recommendations
Arturo Azurdia believes that much of modern preaching is powerless. Sadly, he is right. He is also convinced that the reason for this tragic truth is an absence of the unction of that only the Holy Spirit can bring, and in a searching and warm-hearted analysis he shows how the situation should and can be remedied. Were this book to be read, absorbed and acted upon by all involved in the preaching - and hearing - of the Word of God there would be a revolution in the Christian church. I wholeheartedly commend this splendid publication - John Blanchard
Directed at preachers, this is a most competent, humbling and forceful book. Arturo Azurdia has been the minister of a growing church in San Francisco for over ten years and here he brings to the reader the fruit of both his study and experience. Basing his argument on a sound Reformed view of God and of fallen human nature, the burden of his message is of the absolute necessity of the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the purpose of preaching. The book begins by showing us the Spirit as the divine communicator whose great work is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ - not the preacher. Preaching, in its various forms, has always been God's method of bringing salvation. The message of the cross is foolishness to blind, spiritually dead sinners, and only the Spirit can open their eyes and bring life in Christ. Along the way, the author makes some telling points against gimmicky evangelistic methods. The issue is 'the radical inconsistency between the message of a bloody cross and the slick, sophisticated, Spielberg-like methods of communicating it.' In the Acts, it was the Spirit who empowered the apostles to speak with boldness, clarity and effectiveness. With this in mind, Mr. Azurdia directs us to three simple but profound principles. First, the preacher must devote himself to a consistent pattern of fervent intercession. Prayer is half a preacher's ministry (Acts 6.4). Second, the preacher must prepare himself by diligent study of the Scriptures. Scripture will equip the man of God for every good work (2 Timothy 3.16-17). Thirdly, and perhaps this is the most telling point, the preacher must recognise and even revel in his own human inabilities. It is in weakness, not confidence or arrogance, that God's true power is seen (1 Corinthians 2.3-5). If there is a weakness, in the book, it is where the author seems to set the Spirit over against apologetics - but the Spirit, the great witness, can be an apologist too. But this is a terrific book full of Scripture and Scriptural argument. It overflows with penetrating and encouraging quotations from preachers ancient and modern. This is not simply a book to be read, but a book for preachers to pray over on their knees. - Dr John Benton
Available for a limited time at a 40% discount from Monergism Books
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Election - "If God Does Not Control Every Event, He Does Not Control Any Event."
Most people who are opposed to the doctrine of God's sovereign election believe it to be an anomaly from Calvin's Institutes and not from Scripture. Mark Kielar and CrossTV shares Scripture that supports the wonderful doctrine of God's election according to his grace. - (Romans 11:5)
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Jeff Noblit - "While We Were Yet Helpless..."
...CHRIST DIED FOR THE UNGODLY.
"Don't tell me this silly Arminian nonsense that man somehow has a spark of goodness in him, and he's going to pull himself and find God. You tell me how an ungodly sinner who's helpless can pull himself anywhere." - Jeff Noblit
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation works patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope makes not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. - Romans 5:1-6
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Justification And Adoption: Sermon Excerpt From C.J. Mahaney
From The Shepherd's Scrapbook:
I want to point you to an excellent sermon on Galatians 4:1-7 by C.J. Mahaney, titled God as Father: Understanding the Doctrine of Adoption. Here is one particularly helpful excerpt on the connection and distinctions between justification and adoption:
…Notice God’s purpose was both to redeem and to adopt — “to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (v. 5).
I’m sure you will agree that redeeming us from slavery to sin and the penalty of sin would have been sufficiently astounding. But God’s purpose did not conclude with redemption, it culminated with adoption. He made slaves into sons through the death of His Son. And here in this phrase, and this passage, we encounter the deepest insights into the greatness of God’s love!
Now, historically in Covenant Life Church and Sovereign Grace Ministries, we have taught more on the doctrine of justification than we have on adoption. I don’t think we should ever teach less on the doctrine of justification. I do think we should teach more on the doctrine of adoption. Actually, the doctrine of justification must always remain primary because all saving benefits depend on justification by faith alone, through grace alone, in Christ alone. One can’t understand adoption apart from justification. Adoption depends on justification. Grasping justification positions us to fully appreciate adoption.
There are those who speak about the Fatherhood of God without reference to the Cross or the doctrine of justification. We cannot, we should not, and we must not, speak of the Fatherhood of God apart from the Cross and apart from the doctrine of justification.
So with those qualifying remarks let us distinguish between justification and adoption without separating justification and adoption. Let’s distinguish between them because they are not the same thing.
Understanding the differences is of critical importance to experiencing adoption. Dr. J.I. Packer helps us understand the difference and has written the following helpful remarks:
“That justification – by which we mean God’s forgiveness of the past, together with his acceptance for the future – is the primary and fundamental blessing of the gospel is not in question. Justification is the primary blessing, because it meets our primary spiritual need. We all stand by nature under God’s judgment; his law condemns us; guilt gnaws at us, making us restless, miserable, and in our lucid moments afraid; we have no peace in ourselves because we have no peace with our Maker. So we need the forgiveness of our sins, and assurance of a restored relationship with God, more than we need anything else in the world; and this the gospel offers us before it offers us anything else. … But contrast this, now, with adoption. Adoption is a family idea, conceived in terms of love, and viewing God as father. In adoption, God takes us into his family and fellowship – he establishes us as his children and heirs. Closeness, affection and generosity are at the heart of the relationship. To be right with God the Judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is a greater” [Knowing God, pp. 206, 207].
I love that last sentence – “To be right with God the Judge is a great thing.” I just want to say it is indeed “a great thing” to be right with God the Judge through the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is “a great thing” to be forgiven of sin. It is “a great thing” to be freed from fear of future wrath. It is “a great thing” to know this day that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. It is “a great thing” to know that on the final day there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. To be right with God the Judge – that is “a great thing”!
But to be loved and cared for by God the Father is greater. Now they are inseparable. There is no greater apart from the great. The great precedes the greater. But it’s possible to understand the great and not comprehend and live in the good of the greater.
And if you are right with God the Judge — through the person and work of Jesus Christ — let me just say that is a “great thing”! But as incomprehensible as it is, there is something greater. The greater is to be loved and cared for by God the Father. That’s the greater. This is part of Paul’s burden in this passage, that we not only experience the great (“redeemed”) but the greater (“adoption”).
Do the words closeness, affection, and generosity describe your perception and experience of God? Do they? If not, perhaps you are more aware of your sin than you are the adopting grace of God.
In order to experience more of the love of God, the affection of God, the closeness of God, the generosity of God, I want to recommend that for a season you study the doctrine of adoption until you are assured and secure in the love of God. If you are unfamiliar with the gift of adoption, I want to encourage you to restrict your spiritual diet (if necessary and for a season) to this topic so that you might experience the greatness of God’s love. If you are a Christian and you are not convinced of God’s love for you then I would recommend you confine yourself to this topic. Confine yourself to your study to this passage and other passages that reference adoption. Confine yourself for a season of time to the study of the doctrine of adoption. Immerse yourself in extended study.
– C.J. Mahaney, sermon, “God as Father: Understanding the Doctrine of Adoption” (Dec. 2, 2007) 34:08-41:35.
I encourage you to listen to the full sermon audio HERE.
Blog Poll Follow-Up - Is The Creation Account In Genesis A Literal Six Days Or Longer Periods Of Time?
Now this is a common question because we are involved in struggling along the way here with the world trying to tell us that we came from monkeys and so forth. And always they tell us that the world has to be so many millions and billions of years old. And the geological age, I don’t know if you have ever seen a geological age chart, but this is the way it kind of goes:
About twenty billion years ago was the origin of the elements, the stars and the galaxies (now that is conjecture because no one was around obviously to observe that).
About five billion years ago the earth and the solar system.
About three billion years ago the evolution of replicating chemicals, or life.
About one billion years ago the evolution of multicellular life.
About six hundred million years ago the evolution of complex marine invertebrates.
About three hundred and fifty million years ago the evolution of marine vertebrates and land plants.
About two hundred and fifty million years ago the evolution of amphibians and insects.
About two hundred million years ago the evolution of reptiles and flowering plants.
One hundred million years ago the evolution mammals and birds.
Fifty million years ago the branching of evolutionary ancestors of apes and men.
Three million years ago the evolution of modern man.
Now that is a very, very late dating, but that’s kind of the way it is. Sometime twenty billion years ago something happened and "poof" the whole thing started. Now that is totally, absolutely out of whack with the Scripture. It really couldn’t be much clearer than it is.
If you look with me at Genesis, chapter one, you will find that the earth was created in seven days. Are they twenty-four hour days? Let’s find out.
The first day is indicated in verse three, “And God said , Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” Now whatever that first day was it had an evening and a morning. It seems to me that the only thing with one evening and one morning is a twenty-four hour day. And God makes that clear all the way down the line.
In verse eight, “And the evening and the morning were the second day.” In verse thirteen, “And the evening and the morning were the third day.” And verse nineteen, “And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.” Verse twenty-three, “And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.” God is talking here about evening and morning, and evening and morning makes twenty-four hour day.
There is no reason to feel that we have to try to harmonize this evolutionary monstrosity with the Scripture. The Bible claims the earth was created in six days, the seventh day God rested. Now that’s all we really need to know. But I would just draw your attention to Exodus 20:11, which is God’s own commentary on the creation, and this is what He says. Verse nine - “Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work.” Does that mean six literal days or does that mean six years, or six decades, or six million, billion, trillion, geological ages? Oh, no. It means six days. You work for six days, you get a day off. “But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God,” don’t do any work, nor your son or your daughter, your manservant or your maidservant, your cattle your stranger and so forth. Why? “For in six days the Lord made the heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day…” You see the parallel there demands a six day creation to equate it with a six day working and one day off Sabbath. It’s clear.
The Hebrew word yowm for days, always in the plural form means a literal day. Never an indefinite period. Always a literal day. But the reason that evolutionists need twenty billion years is that they can’t figure out how come things got the way they are. Because they don’t want to believe in God. And they can’t say God created man, they don’t want to give God that right, so they have to get man to evolve and that takes a long time. Incidentally, the ordinals, the ordinals you know are first, second third, the ordinals, the first day, the second day, the third day, the fourth day, are used in connection with a given day. The word day is used at least fourteen hundred and eighty times in the Old Testament and always with an ordinal the meaning is a twenty-four hour day. Never anything else.
So, we believe the world was created in twenty-four hour days, six of them. And you know I would rather believe the Bible than try to figure out some ridiculous other thing to explain it. It’s simple to me. And I believe that man is probably somewhere around ten thousand years old, isn’t that something? So is the earth. Because man was only made six days later.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Entering True Sabbath Rest
Understanding the Christian’s Relationship to the Sabbath
By Ryan Habbena
A few years ago an area pastor took out advertisements in one of our local Christian periodicals. These ads issued both a proclamation and a challenge: “Christians are required to observe the Sabbath on Saturdays, and I invite anyone to debate me on this subject.” The challenge was eventually accepted and I proceeded to attend the public debate. At the time of this debate I was engaged in expository work on both Galatians and Hebrews. As I listened to these two men debate the issues, I compared their views to what I was learning through my studies. What struck me was this: the theological issues that the first century church struggled against are just as pressing 2,000 years later.
Perhaps you have read the commands to observe the Sabbath in the Old Testament and asked yourself: “How does this command apply to me?” The history of biblical interpretation has produced several answers to this question. Many teach that Christians are called to keep the Sabbath, in the sense that the Old Covenant commands (i.e. no work on the seventh day of the week [Saturday]). These teachers are quick to point out that Sabbath keeping is one of the “Ten Commandments.” They argue: “Since we believe that the commands against murder, stealing, and adultery are still binding, why should we think the command of Sabbath keeping has been abolished?”1)
In this article I will demonstrate that the New Testament teaches that true “Sabbath rest” is not found through obeying an Old Covenant ordinance, but rather through trusting in the person and finished work of Jesus Christ. Since the teaching of the New Testament is primary, let us now explore the teaching of Christ and His commissioned apostles regarding the place of the Sabbath in the Christian life.
Entering True Sabbath Rest
The first text we will interact with is in the book of Hebrews. The entire thrust of the book of Hebrews is to exhort Christians to remain in the perfect, completed work of Jesus Christ and not return to the elements of the Mosaic Covenant. In fact, the Messiah and his work are described as being greater than all that was held dear under the Old Covenant: Moses, the priesthood, angels, sacrifices, and the Sabbath. In chapter four of this epistle we are granted keen insight into the New Covenant view of “Sabbath.”
The precept of “the Sabbath” is related by the Spirit-led author to the promise of entering God’s eternal, enduring rest. He declares that those who refuse to listen to God’s word of salvation will never enter (see 3:11, 19) and those who listen and believe the message brought by His Son have already entered. He writes:
Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest. (Hebrews 4:1-3a)
Consider that the means of entering God’s “Sabbath rest” is belief. The faithful are at rest, not through the works of the Law, but rather through faith in Jesus. The author of Hebrews continues to note “the Sabbath” rest that we find in the New Covenant: “So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:9-10). The Sabbath day observance, like the Old Covenant sacrifices and the priesthood, pointed towards the day when God’s people would find rest for their weary souls through the power of the cross. Jesus fulfilled the Law and we who believe have entered true Sabbath rest.
In light of these precepts, we must always remember Paul’s exhortation to the Colossian church, who were being troubled by those who advocated a return to the elements of the Old Covenant:
Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day – things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. (Colossians 2:16-17)
These are powerfully instructive words. The elements of the Old Covenant were shadows of the Savior. Since the substance, Jesus, has come and fulfilled the Law, we dare not return to the shadows.
In a related text, Paul, in writing to the Galatians, was so distressed by those who were returning to elements of the Old Covenant rather than remaining in the simplicity of faith in Christ, he severely admonished them, stating:
But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain. (Galatians 4:9-11)2
We are warned not to return to the shadows of the Old Covenant, or fear those who would judge us for not observing them. Instead, our fear should be directed elsewhere. The author of Hebrews continues: “Let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it” (Hebrews 4:1).
When we consider the intent of the book of Hebrews and its implications, we encounter a subtle irony. We, as readers, are warned to not return to the elements of the Old Covenant because of the great salvation that has arrived, superseding the Mosaic Law (see Hebrews 1:1-3, 3:1-6, 8:6). If one adheres to observing the Sabbath as a necessary means of being at peace with God, they are falling short of entering His rest.3 They have become “Sabbath-breakers” because they have not entered true rest through belief in the terms of the New Covenant established by Christ and His apostles. On the other hand, those who believe in Christ and His work alone as the way to peace with God have entered the eternal rest brought about by His blood. By His grace, these are the true “Sabbath-keepers.” That, is irony.
Saturday, Sunday, Any Day?
Given the centuries of Jewish tradition preceding the coming of Christ, it is not surprising that this teaching of the New Testament caused great controversy in the Jewish culture of the time. As the controversy crept its way into the church, questions arose: When should we worship? How should we view those who set aside a specific day for worship? How should we view those who see all days alike? These questions have continued to be asked throughout the age of the church, and have received a wide range of answers.
In Romans 14, the Apostle Paul answered these inquiries in this way:
Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. (Romans 14:4-5)4
If Paul wanted to command mandatory Sabbath keeping for New Covenant Christians, this was the perfect place to do so. One of the issues he addressed in this text was “regarding one day above another” referring to days of worship. Yet rather than command a specific, binding day of worship, the Apostle, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, established something different: Freedom in worship under the New Covenant.
Some time ago in a debate about mandatory Sabbath keeping, I challenged my opponent with this passage and its implications. He replied: “Peter tells us that Paul often writes things that are hard to understand. This passage is one of them.”5 While his comment was cleverly elusive, his response spoke volumes: He had no good answer to this text.
Sunday “Sabbath?”
Beyond teaching that there is no mandatory Saturday Sabbath observance under the New Covenant, this text also implies there is no mandatory Sunday “Sabbath.” Some have answered the Sabbath question by asserting that the Sabbath has been moved from Saturday to Sunday in light of Jesus’ resurrection. An example of this is the so-called “Puritan Sabbath.” M. James Sawyer explains some of its dynamics:
The Puritans established a Christian Sabbath (Sunday) during which Christians must “not only observe an holy rest, all the day, from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations, but also are taken up, the whole time, in the public and private exercises of [God’s] worship and the duties of necessity and mercy.” The Puritans saw this Sabbath as binding and honored it with the utmost seriousness. In fact, they believed so strongly in Sabbath adherence that they thought natural disasters resulted from a lack of obedience.6
To address this teaching, it is significant to note that there is no text in the New Testament where the authors equate the first day of the week (Sunday or “the Lord’s day”) with the Sabbath. When this is considered along with Paul’s teaching regarding days of worship in Romans 14, it is well established that there is no binding command to New Covenant believers to worship on a specific day. Instead, Christians are given freedom in the Gospel to gather and worship according to their conscience. Yet, do not misunderstand, it is essential that we worship and gather, “not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25) Yet, under the New Covenant, we are free as to when we engage in worship, and are called to not impose our personal conscience upon others. If a community desires to gather, rest, and worship on Saturday, they are free to do so. The same applies to Sunday. The perilous practice we need to avoid is mandating that all Christians must observe a specific day.
Resting in Jesus’ Perfect Work
Many hearts become troubled by those who advocate the need for a Christian to observe the Old Covenant Sabbath. Misguided teachings such as the following do such:
The overwhelming evidence of the Bible and history proves that the Seventh day Sabbath—Saturday today—is the true day of rest and worship of God. God puts His presence into that day. He fellowships with His people on that day, as well as, the annual holy days which, He has commanded to be observed in worship of Him. Now that you have this knowledge and God holds you responsible for it, what will you do? Jesus Christ commands, “Repent and believe the Gospel.” Will you repent sins [sic] and turn to God, or will you continue in your sins? Your eternal life, or eternal death is at stake.7
On the contrary, we must never allow such distorted views of salvation to eclipse our view of Jesus’ perfect, finished work.
Whenever I have debated the “Sabbath” issue with those who believe we are required to observe it to be pleasing to God, I am grieved by their focus: Jesus and his perfect work are minimized and in its stead is a misplaced zeal for the Law of Moses. We well remember that:
What the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-4)
Since our King has come and fulfilled the Law, we need to continue to rely on Him for salvation, sanctification, and security. When we meet people who condemn us as not pleasing to God because we do not obey the Old Covenant Sabbath observance, we should announce to them the Gospel of grace and keep our eyes fixed on the all sufficient Savior. We will then know what it means to heed Jesus’ invitation:
Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:28-29)
Sunday, December 09, 2007
THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT
Let us ever remember that Christ on the cross is of no value to us, apart from the Holy Spirit in us.
In vain that blood is flowing, unless the finger of the Spirit applies the blood to our conscience; in vain is that garment of righteousness wrought out, unless the Holy Spirit wraps it around us and arrays us in its costly folds.
The river of the water of life cannot quench our thirst, till the Spirit presents the goblet and lifts it to our lips.
All the things which are in the paradise of God could never be blissful to us, so long as we are dead souls -- and dead we are, until that heavenly wind comes and breathes upon us, that we may live.
We do not hesitate to say that we owe as much to God the Holy Spirit as we do to God the Son. Indeed, it were a high sin and misdemeanor to attempt to put one person of the divine Trinity before another.
You, O Father, are the source of all grace, all love and all mercy towards us.
You, O Son, are the channel of Your Father's mercy, and without You Your Father's love could never flow to us.
And You, O Spirit, are He who enables us to receive that divine virtue which flows from the fountainhead, the Father, through Christ the channel, and which, by Your means, enters into our heart and there abides, bringing forth its glorious fruit. Magnify, then, the Spirit.
There never yet was a heavenly thought, a hallowed deed, or a consecrated act, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, which was not worked in us by the Holy Spirit.
Friday, December 07, 2007
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
J. Gresham Machen - That Old Obstacle
From Lane Chaplin's Blog:
With the apparent wave of ignorance that now is upon a lot of what is professing to be the church, I believe this clip from J. Gresham Machen's book What is Faith? is quite appropriate. Todd Friel of Way of the Master Radio did a piece yesterday which talked of there being some sort of "peace treatise" being discussed between some evangelicals and Islam. (You can listen to the clip in the video below.) I ask how can there be peace with people that say Jesus is not the Son of God and was not crucified unless we ourselves become apostate and cater to unbelief? As Jesus Christ said, you're either with him or against him. If you're not gathering with him, you're scattering abroad. (Matthew 12:30) There is no neutrality. Seek to understand what Machen is saying, and realize that he wrote this about 90 years ago. It holds true that the Truth is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Heb. 13:8) That's why we can read pastors who wrote something 1,000 days ago or 1,000 years ago and it still be relevant at any time if the pastor is speaking truth. The truth never changes. Our Lord came in the flesh almost 2,007 years ago. Do we discount his words too because they're "past the time limit"? Unbelievers try to convince us we "don't have a leg to stand on" by trying to convince us that we're actually using their leg to stand. What they refuse to take into account is that true believers do not need their "leg" and are in no way requesting the use of it.
The whole trouble is that faith is being considered merely as a beneficent quality of the soul without respect to the reality or unreality of its object; and the moment faith comes to be considered in that way, in that moment it is destroyed.
Yet at first sight the modern attitude seems to be full of promise; it avoids, for example, the immense difficulty involved in differences of creed. Let a man, it is urged, hold to be true whatever helps him, and let him not interfere with whatever helps his neighbor. What difference does it make, we are asked, what does the work just so the work is done; what difference does it make whether the disease is cured by Christian Science or by simple faith in Christ Jesus? Some people seem to find even bare materialism a helpful doctrine conducive to a calm and healthy life, preventing morbid fears and nervous strains. If so, why should we unsettle their "faith" by talking about guilt and retribution? There is unfortunately one great obstacle in the way of such a broad eclecticism. It is a very real obstacle, though at times it seems to be not a bit practical. It is the old obstacle truth. That was a great scheme of Lessing's Nathan der Weise, to let Judaism, Mohammedanism, and Christianity live peacefully side by side, each contributing its quota to the common good of humanity; and the plan has attained enormous popularity since Lessing's day by the admission, to the proposed league of religions, of all the faiths of mankind. But the great trouble is, a creed can be efficient only so long as it is held to be true; if I make my creed effective in my life I can do so only because I regard it as true. But in so doing I am obliged by an inexorable necessity to regard the creed of my neighbor, if it is contradictory to mine, as false. That weakens his faith in his creed, provided he is at all affected by my opinions; he is no longer so sure of the truth of it; and so soon as he is no longer sure of the truth of it, it loses its efficiency. Or if, in deference to my neighbor and the usefulness of his creed, I keep my creed in the background, that tends to weaken my faith in my creed; I come to have the feeling that what must be kept in the dark will not bear the light of day; my creed ceases to be effective in my life. The fact is that all creeds are laying claim to the same thing, namely truth. Consequently, despite all that is said, the creeds, if they are to be held with any fervor, if they are really to have any power, must be opposed to one another; they simply cannot allow one another to work on in peace. If therefore, we want the work to proceed, we must face and settle this conflict of the means; we cannot call on men's beliefs to help us unless we determine what it is that is to be believed.A faith that can consent to avoid proselytizing among other faiths is not really faith at all.
An objection, however, may remain. What we have said may perhaps sound very logical, and yet it seems to be contradicted by the actual experience of the race. Physicians, for example, are very practical persons; and yet they tell us that faith in very absurd things sometimes brings beneficent and far-reaching results. If, therefore, faith in such diverse and contradictory things brings results, if it relieves the distresses of suffering humanity, how can we have the heart to insist on logical consistency in the things that are believed? On the contrary, it is urged, let us be satisfied with any kind of faith just so it does the work; it makes no difference what is believed just so the health giving attitude of faith is there; the less dogmatic faith is, the purer it is, because it is the less weakened by the dangerous alloy of knowledge.
It is perfectly clear that such an employment of faith is bringing results. But the curious thing is that if faith be employed in this particular way it is always employment of the faith of other people that brings the results, and never employment of one's own faith. For the man who can speak in this way is himself always not a believer but a skeptic. The basal fact about faith is that all faith has an object; all faith is not only possessed by someone, but it consists in confidence in someone. An outsider may not think that it is really the object that does the work; from his scientific vantage ground, he may see clearly that it is just the faith itself, considered merely as a psychological phenomenon, that is the important thing, and that any other object would have answered as well. But the one who does the believing is always convinced just exactly that it is not the faith but the object which is helping him; the moment he becomes convinced that the object was not really important and that it was really just his own faith that was helping him, at that moment his faith disappears. It was that previous false belief, then the belief that it was the object and not the faith that was doing the work it was that false belief that helped him.
Now things that are false will apparently do some rather useful things. If we may be permitted to use again, and to apply a little further, an illustration that we have already used in a different connection, it may be remarked that a counterfeit note will buy many useful commodities until it is found out. It will, for example, buy a dinner; and a dinner will keep a man alive no matter how it is obtained. But just when I am buying the dinner for some poor man who needs it very badly indeed, an expert tells me that that useful result is being accomplished by a counterfeit note. "The miserable theorized," I may be tempted to exclaim, "the miserable traditionalist, the miserable demolisher of everything that pragmatism holds most dear! While he is discussing the question of the origin of that note though every up-to-date man knows that the origin of a thing is unimportant, and that what is really important is the goal to which it tends while he is going into learned details about the primitive history of that note, a poor man is suffering for lack of food." So it is, if the current view be correct, with faith; faith, we are told, is so very useful that we must not ask the question whether the things that it leads us to accept are true or
false.
Plausible are the ways in which men are seeking to justify this circulation of counterfeit currency in the spiritual sphere; it is perfectly right, we are told, so long as it is not found out. That principle has even been ingeniously applied to the ordinary currency of the realm; if a counterfeit note were absolutely perfect, it has been said, so that by no possibility could it ever be detected, what harm should we be doing to a man if we passed it out to him with his change? Probably it will not be necessary to point out at least to the readers of the present book the fallacy in this moral tour de force; and that fallacy would really apply to the spiritual currency as well as to five-dollar notes. By circulating bad money we should be diminishing the value of good money, and so should be robbing the generality of our fellow-men. But after all, that question is purely academic; as a matter of fact counterfeit notes are never sure not to be found out. And neither is bad currency in the spiritual sphere. It is a dangerous thing to encourage faith in what is not true, for the sake of the immediate benefits which such faith brings; because the greater be the building that is erected on such a foundation, the greater will be the inevitable crash when the crash finally comes.
Such counterfeits should be removed, not in the interests of destruction, but in order to leave room for the pure gold the existence of which is implied by the presence of the counterfeits. There is counterfeit money in the world, but that does not mean that all money is counterfeit. Indeed it means the exact opposite. There could be no counterfeit money unless there were genuine money for it to imitate. And the principle applies to the spiritual realm. There is in the world much faith in what is false; but there could hardly be faith in what is false unless there were also somewhere faith in what is true. Now we Christians think that we have found faith in what is true when we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as He is offered to us in the gospel. We are well aware of what has been said against that gospel; we are well aware of the unpopularity that besets a man the moment he holds any one thing to be true and rejects as false whatever is contradictory to it; we are fully conscious of the risk that we are taking when we abandon a merely eclectic attitude and put all our confidence in one thing and one thing only. But we are ready to take the risk. This world is a dark place without Christ; we have found no other salvation either in ourselves or in others; and for our part, therefore, despite doubts and fears, we are prepared to take Christ at His word and launch forth into the deep at His command. It is a great venture, this venture of faith; there are difficulties in the way of it; we have not solved all mysteries or resolved all doubts. But though our minds are still darkened, though we have attained no rigidly mathematical proof, we have attained at least certitude enough to cause us to risk our lives. Will Christ desert us when we have thus committed ourselves to Him? There are men about us who tell us that He will; there are voices within us that whisper to us doubts; but we must act in accordance with the best light that is given us, and doing so we have decided for our part to distrust our doubts and base our lives, despite all, upon Christ.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Monday, December 03, 2007
Arminianism: The Root of "Christian" Liberalism?
Arminianism is the root of the vast liberalism we see in the professing church today. In this short clip from Amazing Grace: The History and Theology of Calvinsim, Eric Holmberg and others drive this point through.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
John Piper - Test Yourself - Pastors Are Afraid
John Piper talks to a group of pastors about the importance of testing the soul to find out what is actually valued and loved. Is it Christ or other things?
Divine Predestination
by Don Fortner
“Them he also did predestinate." - Romans 8:29
Do not be afraid of predestination. And do not be ashamed of it. We are predestinarians, because we believe the Bible; and predestination is a Bible doctrine, full of comfort and joy for God's saints.
Predestination is God's infallible purpose of grace regarding his elect whom he foreknew. It simply means that our eternal destiny was settled by God, and infallibly secured by him before the world began.
In sovereign predestination, God eternally and immutably determined WHO he would save, HOW he would save them, WHEN he would save them, and WHERE he would save them.
Then he sovereignly arranged everything necessary, both to accomplish their salvation and to bring them to glory at last, perfectly conformed to the image of his dear Son.
Predestination marked the house into which grace would come, paved the road by which grace would travel to that house, set the time when grace would enter, and guaranteed that grace actually would come and enter in at the appointed time!
Nothing was left to chance, blind fate, luck, or man's imaginary free will!
Predestination is no more and no less than God Almighty having arranged from eternity everything necessary to bring his elect children into heaven in the perfection of everlasting life.
What Is Systematic Theology And Why?
Systematic Theology is just what it says. It is a systematic way of organizing knowledge of God. This short video clip explains the why and what of the study.
Part 1
Part 2
Mark Kielar - "How Do I Know If I Am One Of God's Elect?"
Once someone learns of the doctrine of election, this is usually the next question to be asked. Mark Kielar puts this question in perspective and shows that if you're an unbeliever, this isn't really what you should be concerned with yet.
