The Message (Part 5) Repentance unto Life

Here is a point in which I believe the message has been perverted. Repentance is this side-note today, that" it is a good thing but isn't necessary in order to be born again"... ?!

Let's me say this much. And this much I know. Hell is not the primary issue that should be leading us to Christ.

What must I do to be saved? Saved from what? What is it you wish to be saved from? Hell? That proves nothing. Nobody wants to go there. The issue between God and man is SIN. Do you wish to be saved from it? (C.H. Spurgeon)

Sin is the issue here. How can you place your trust in Christ to be your fulfillment and joy, consider yourselves slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:18), and yet still be slaves to sin? (Romans 6:17) There must be repentance, and a freeing from your sin. To say there isn't is heretical. Plain and simple.
"Repentance is a change of mind regarding sin and God; an inward turning from sin to God. Repentance is hating what you once loved, and loving what you once hated, exchanging irresistible sin for an irresistible Christ."

The last blog was one of conviction of sin and fear of God, with conviction comes a remorse for the great sin against God. I will assure you of one thing, nobody who truly understands their sin against an all-holy all-righteous God will just shrug it off and then go about calling themself a Christian. When David had understood his great sin against God, he repented and said:

"Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned...Purify me...Wash me...And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God...The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise." (Psalm 51)

I don't believe David sounds too pleased with himself. And neither does a person who just realized that they have sinned against a perfect God. Who by His mercy gave you life and gives you another rising sun.

My question is not only, "how can you believe you can be justified without repentence because the Bible says it over and over?(1)" Which is blasphemous in its own. But how could you not repent of what it is that nailed Christ to the cross? Your sin is the reason that Christ came and died on a cross. Think about it for 5 seconds, He stepped off his throne where he heard nothing but hallelujahs all day long, and became the creature He created to be spat on and hated. That was you and me, we spat on Jesus the same, having nothing to do with Him, not realizing that it was the Son of God that we cursed at. And yet one believes they can stand there prideful and not fall to their knees and repent of the thing that God hates more than anything...sin. Like the apostles I plead... Repent and believe the Gospel!

1. Job 34:33, Isaiah 59:20, Ezekiel 14:6, Ezekiel 18:32, Matthew 3:2, Matthew 4:17, Matthew 12:41, Mark 1:15, Luke 5:32, Luke 13:3, Luke 15:10, Luke 24:47, Acts 2:38 , Acts 3:19, Acts 8:22, Acts 11:18, Acts 13:24, Acts 17:30, Acts 20:21, 2Cor 7:9-10, 2Cor 12:21, 2Tim 2:25, 2Peter 3:9, Revelation 2:5, Revelation 2:16, Revelation 2:21-22, Revelation 3:19, Revelation 16:11

The Message (Part 4) Conviction and the Fear of God

The Law is meant to drive a person to a conviction of sin and a fear of God's wrathful punishment that will surely come upon those who do not repent and believe in Christ. There are those who make fun of the preaching of fire and brimstone, and I'll admit maybe some do take it way over the top, and never preach the message of salvation through Christ. But the fire and brimstone is not some fairy tale that preachers made up to make the story more interesting and scary.

To be convicted according to Webster's Dictionary:
Law.
1. The judgment of a jury or judge that a person is guilty of a crime as charged.
2. The state of being found or proved guilty: evidence that led to the suspect's conviction.

We'll think of it along the lines of the legal terms. Because this is what I'm getting at, it's basically the guilt that is found in a person once confronted with his actual sin and is convicted before God to be eternally punished.

"You are dead in your trespasses and sins, you are a slave to sin, you are blind and deaf, your heart is hard and cold. You do not know of God's holy nature that demands righteousness in your life. You do not believe God truly will pour out His wrath and judgment upon you. The pleasure of sin feels so good it can't be bad! Suddenly, by grace, you were slowly awakened through the conviction of God's Holy Spirit. The Spirit awakens you to the reality that you are a condemned sinner and today you are to be put to Eternal Death." (Stealing From Mount's Email)

If the law of God has any effect on the person's heart, it will reveal to that person that they or not as 'good' as they once thought they were. They judged their 'good' by their own standards, (which is hard to tell what those standards consist of) and not by the standards that God requires. A fear of God should start to build on their conscience. Jonathan Edwards put the wrath of God in this way, in his "Sinners in the hands of an angry God" sermon:

"There is not one single reason that God should not drop you into the flames of hell this very moment."

The realization of eternal death comes upon the person, and their sin and retaliation against God should produce a Godly sorrow, such as the one that David experienced when Nathan confronted him about Bathsheeba, and lead to repentance.

"And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed." (John 3:19-20)

This verse makes it pretty clear, there will be some who will hear the law and their guiltiness, and they will not care, because they are in darkness they love their sin more than the light.
An old pastor, talking about the Bible, wrote in his:
"Either this book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book."

I think this is very true. Some will understand their guilt and be convicted by the holy Spirit, but others will run and hide their face from God. They will love their sin more than the truth.

A Godly fear is a very good thing, it leads unbelievers to repentance and Christ. And keeps believers from letting sin into their lives. The Bible makes it very clear that God is the one to fear, not anything else...

"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28)

"You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear. He is your praise. He is your God..." (Deuteronomy 10:20-21)

Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope? (Job 4:6)

For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised;he is to be feared above all gods. (Psalm 96:4)

God is to be feared always by believers and unbelievers. Not all will fear Him in this life, but one day they will and by then it will be too late.

-----

It is important to understand this not just for unbelievers but for believers as well. It rejoices the heart, to know that we once were great sinners, and if not for God's great mercy none of us would be here. God did not have to do anything for our sin, He did not have to step off of His throne to die on a cross, for you or me. This offers hope, you confront a person with their sin and now they are in despair for what they have done, their sin is more than they can bear. But the story doesn't end there, there is good news, and if they truly have a Godly sorrow, they will receive this news with great joy.

John Newton as he was getting old(Who was a slaveship master converted to Christianity and wrote "Amazing Grace")expresses this truth well in saying:

"My memory is nearly gone; but I remember two things; That I am a great sinner and Christ is a great savior."


Citation:
*ESV Bible
*My roommate Jonathan Mounts
*Jonathan Edwards "Sinners in the hands of an angry God."
*Websters Dictionary
*Sinclair Ferguson "The Christian Life"

The Message (Part 3) The Law II

What is the law? It is not the Ordinances, such as the sacrifices and festivals and the clean and unclean foods, those have been abolished in the New Testament (see Acts 10:14-15, Ephesians 2:15) Simply put the law would be the 10 commandments, everything to do with the laws given in Leviticus and the rest of the Pentateuch do somehow fit under one of the commandments in the initial 10.

I think it would be helpful to understand what the law is, by going through the 10 commandments briefly. In one way or another we have all broken each of the ten, varying in different degrees of course, but none the less even if someone actually did have the ability to abstain from one of these, breaking just one of the ten is enough to be judged and eternally punished for it. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (Romans 3:23). "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me," (Psalm 51:5). Sin is the seperator of us from God. But back to the 10 Commandments:

1st Commandment
"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me."(Exodus 20:2-3)

"The sum of this commandment is, that we should sanctify God in our hearts, and give him a precedence above all created beings." (Thomas Watson)

"I am the Lord your God." Not only that you shall not have any other gods, but there is no other god. According to Jesus this is the greatest commandment, to love the Lord your God with all that you are: "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." (Mark 12:29-30) This commandment is a warning against idolatry, which ranges anywhere from pagan worship of other gods or just loving money or celebrities, and looking to that for your fulfillment and guidance. All unbelievers are immediately guilty of this. We all were once consumed with the world and cared nothing for God, worshipping idols that were created by mankind.

2nd Commandment
"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God..." (Genesis 20:4)

The first commandment warned against worshipping other gods, or idolatry. The second commandment warns against worshipping God in a false manner.


"[You shall not make for yourself and idol in the form of anything...] All ideas, portraitures, shapes, images of God, whether by effigies or pictures, are here forbidden. ‘Take heed lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make the similitude of any figure.’ Deut 4: 15, 16. God is to be adored in the heart, not painted to the eye." (Watson)

The second commandment forbids the worshipping of God by images, (Deut. 4:15-16) or any other way not appointed in his Word (Col. 2:18). This commandment prohibits image worship basically.

3rd Commandment
"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain." (Exodus 20:7)

We must not take God’s name in vain; that is, cast any reflections and dishonour on his name. We also should take care to reverence and honour his name. One interesting way that I have seen this put is this way,

"Using the Lord's name as street language is bad, but the epitome of
violating God's name is to claim Christ when He isn't yours. To say, "Lord,
Lord" and then disobey Him is like giving Him a Judas kiss." (John MacArthur)

That quote covers "we should not cast any reflections and dishonour on his name." But at the same time there must be a reverence for the name of God. So when people do use the name as "street language", it is just used a common term, and most the time is in a very blaspheming manner.
Thomas Watson lays it out in about 12 categories, I won't go into full detail on each but I'll line them out, "we take the Lord's name in vain,":
1.When we speak slightly and irreverently of his name.
2.When we profess God’s name, but do not live answerably to it, we take it in vain.
3.When we use God’s name in idle discourse.
4.When we worship him with our lips, but not with our hearts.
5.When we pray to him, but do not believe in him.
6.When in any way we profane and abuse his word.
7.When we swear by God’s name.
8.When we prefix God’s name to any wicked action.
9.When we use our tongues any way to the dishonour of God’s name.
10.When we make rash and unlawful vows.
11.When we speak evil of God.
12.When we falsify our promise; as when we say, if God spare our life we will do a certain thing, and never intend it.

Once again all have been guilty of these.

4th Commandment
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." (Exodus 20:8)

The verse continues...
"Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (vv.9-11)

The 7th day was set aside, by God for man, as a holy day. Now, there is so much more to the sabbath day and why it is important. But for the purposes im trying to display, just understand that all are guilty of not keeping the sabbath day holy, and set aside as a day for God, at one point or another.

5th Commandment
"Honor your father and your mother..." (Exodus 20:12)

Catechism question 53: What is required in the fifth commandment?

Cathechism answer 53: The fifth commandment requires the preserving the honour, and performing the duties belonging to every one in their various positions and relationships as superiors (Eph. 5:21-22; Eph. 6:1, 5; Rom. 13:1), inferiors (Eph. 6:9), or equals (Rom. 12:10).

Have all fallen short on this? I assume many have.

6th Commandment
"You shall not murder." (Exodus 20:13)

This forbids the taking away of our own life (Acts 16:28), or the life of our neighbour unjustly (Gen. 9:6), or whatever tends to it (Prov. 24:11-12).

But even this one is broken by many, because Jesus said:
"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell." (Matthew 5:21-22)

7th Commandment
"You shall not commit adultery." (Exodus 20:14)

The seventh commandment forbids all unchaste thoughts (Matt. 5:28; Col. 4:6), words (Eph. 5:4; 2 Tim. 2:22), and actions (Eph. 5:3).

"1. The thing implied is that the ordinance of marriage should be observed. ‘Let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.’ (1 Cor 7:2). ‘Marriage is honourable and the bed undefiled.’ (Heb 13:4). God instituted marriage in paradise; he brought the woman to the man. (Gen 2:22). He gave them to each other in marriage. Jesus Christ honoured marriage with his presence. (John 2:2). The first miracle he wrought was at a marriage, when he turned the ‘water into wine.’ Marriage is a type and resemblance of the mystical union between Christ and his church. (Eph 5: 32)" (Watson)

8th Commandment
"You shall not steal." (Exodus 20:15)

Catechism Question 60: What is forbidden in the eighth commandment?
Catechism Answer 60: The eighth commandment forbids whatever does or may unjustly hinder our own (1 Tim. 5:8; Prov. 28:19; Prov. 21:6), or our neighbour's wealth, or outward estate (Eph. 4:28).

This one is pretty self explanatory.

9th Commandment
"You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor." (Exodus 20:16)

"The tongue which at first was made to be an organ of God’s praise, is now become an instrument of unrighteousness. This commandment binds the tongue to its good behaviour." (Watson)

The commandment is one that forbids lying and slandering. Without going into much more detail, you can see how there are not many who might be able to escape this commandment.

10th Commandment
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."(Exodus 20:17)

Covetousness goes pretty much right along with idolatry. It is the wishing for another persons possessions. Wishing for another's "fortune", covetousness is really what leads to the rest of these sins listed in the commandments.
If you covet someones money, that generally can lead to stealing.
Their wife; can lead to adultery or lust.
Their life; murder or anger, jealousy.

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Really just outlining this, can make you see how apart from Christ it is impossible to live up to the standards that God has laid out. If you share this with an unbeliever who thinks that they are a "basically good" person deep down, they will see how absolutely ungood and hopeless they are, apart from the saving grace of the Christ. The law is meant to expose man's sin and hopefully lead to a conviction of sin, and then repentance, and conversion. If a person can even live up to one of these laws, or if they have only broken even one of these laws, that is enough for God to be just in codemning them.

The reason Jesus said the greatest commandment of all was:
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Mark 12:29-31)
And John says:
"Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining."(1 John 2:7)

And Paul says:
The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Romans 13:9)

Is because all of the commandments can be summed up as either a love to your God or a love to your neighbor.
And unbelievers simply do not do this. You must confront them with their sin, and not "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life." That will not suffice. That tells them nothing.

Citations:

*Thomas Watson (Puritan Theologian)

*Puritan Catechism

*John MacArthur

The Message (Part 2) The Law

So then where do you start? What is it that man desperately needs? To a believer the answer is simple, its the saving grace of Christ. But to the unbeliever, they could care less about Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:18) How can a person understand the work on the cross, that is how can one understand that Christ died for their sins if they don't even realize that they are in sin? I'll give a few examples of this

Ray Comfort has put it one way and I am paraphrasing this into my own words:

"Say you go up to someone and tell them that someone paid for their $25,000 fine. That wouldn't be good news to them, but it would be offensive and they wouldn't be grateful for that act. Offensive because you just implied that he broke the law, and he doesn't think that he has. And how can he be grateful for something if he doesn't believe that he ever owed a fine.
Now say you told him what he did. For example, 'there was a blind children convention and there were streets signs set up to go 15mph, but you just blew through all of them at 50mph. Now you have a $25,000 fine.' That person is now going to start sweating and be afraid, but now you tell them that someone has paid that fine for them. He is going to be forever grateful for that gift from that person."

Or take an example of King David after he sent Bathsheba's husband to the frontline to die so that he could have sexual relations with her. The prophet Nathan came to David and spoke a parable to him about a rich man who killed a poor man's only lamb instead of one of his many own (2 Sam 12). David then said that that man will surely die, Nathan then exposed David as being that man. That he was the one who killed the poor man's lamb.

After David had felt his guilt against God, Nathan then offered David grace saying, ""The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die." (2 Samuel 12:13) Now what if Nathan had switched it around fearing rejection and said "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. However, there is something which is keeping you from enjoying this wonderful plan; it is called 'sin.'" Imagine if he had glossed over the personal nature of David's sin, with a general reference to all men having sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. David may have reacted with, "What sin are you talking about?"

So it shows the importance of the law in creating a Godly sorrow, it takes makes the sin a personal thing instead of a general thing.

There is now a growing fear of God and a guilt that is building up. So now when you tell them about the salvation in Jesus, it will be something that they will be desperately wanting. Man is depraved, there are none who do good (Romans 3, Psalm 14) all have turned aside to the lust of the flesh and unrighteousness. You must approach someone with their sin and the depravity and their lostness, not saying "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life."

Take a hypothetical situation, and say you knew that a lost person was going to die tomorrow, their would be a much bigger urgency to confront that person with their sin, because obviously God does not have a wonderful plan for their life if they are to die tomorrow and spend eternity in hell.

The law has been ignored in the message today as being irrelevant. But Paul says himself, "Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." (Romans 7:7)

The whole purpose of the law was to expose mans sin, "Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God." (Romans 3:19) It was brought into the world for that purpose, to show man that they cannot live up to the standards that it would take to be accepted as just in the eyes of God, and God will be righteous in His justice. Christ is the fulfillment of that law for us, "Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more," (Romans 5:20) Galatians 2:16 Tells us that no one can be saved through the law, but through Christ who is the fulfillment, (Matthew 5:17) who lived a perfect life, (Hebrews 4:15) and we are seen by God as though we had lived His life. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

The law is very very important for both the believers and unbelievers. The law codemns man, and makes them very uncomfortable, and so it is easy to see how so many can leave it out of the message. But it must be presented to the person to create a fear, guilt, sorrow and hopefully eventually lead to their utter dependence on the grace of God.

Citation:
*http://www.livingwaters.com
*ESV Bible

The Message (Part 1) Intro

Modern evangelism has grown to be an increasing concern to me. The most depressing thing is that its normally the drum beat or the feel good message that most churches provide that is the true drawing in of people. Not the message of Christ the great savior.

The message has become so weak, that it is widely accepted by anyone who hears it. The lines like, "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life." And the reading of a single passage such as Romans 10:9 or John 1:12, John 3:16 have become just all time favorites, and have been conformed to fit the message of the one just attempting to get numbers, and not making true disciples. Almost making it seem as though the rest of the Gospel message the old testament and the epistles just a cool little story, that would be good to read but is not necessarily of any use to a Christian.

Most churches have taken Christ out of the message, and God out of the picture of salvation and have left it in the hands of man to do all the work. Instead of using the Bible for what it is meant for, it has been placed on the bookshelf to look good. Some churches have taken passages out of the Bible, and like to make up things that sound good to go along with it, most of the liberal church has literally taken their "liberty" to change whatever they want in the Bible and would like to bring in other things such as macro-evolution into the picture, and try to conform the Bible to supposed "science" instead of conforming science to the Bible.

So then what is the message?
What is the law any good for?
What exactly did Christ come to do?
What does it mean to be a Christian? or a disciple?

I just want to write out a little series I guess you could call it, to try and explain by using the scripture, and some of the ideas of some of the more intelligent "true" Gospel proclaimers than myself.

I think that I should lay out, that I profess the whole Bible to be the infallible inerrant word of the One and true holy God. That is Old and New are the words of God spoken through the prophets and the apostles by the holy Spirit. So all I write I hope to be as much scripture as I can possibly use for that subject, so that it is not me or anyone else that you listen to, but the word of God.

Galatians 1
10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.
11 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.

The Grace of Faith

"The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls(a) , is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts;(b) and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word(c): by which also, and by the administration of the sacraments, and prayer, it is increased and strengthened (d)." (Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 14 "Of Saving Faith", pg.63)
a) Heb 10:39 b) 2 Cor 4:13, Eph1:17, Eph 2:8 c) Rom 10:14 d) 1 Peter 2:2

Q: Why is Faith a Grace?
A: Because it is the gift of God.

Apparently some would disagree with this. I have discussed this before, but faith is not a work. You cannot build up faith within yourself, it is not an emotional stir you feel during the keyboard playing while the prayer is being said, or the invitation. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Maybe the place to start would be to examine, in a broad sense, what grace is.
Grace is a gift, it is given by God not for any works that man has performed, but is freely given to those whom God has chosen by His good pleasure. For if man deserved it, it wouldn't be grace.

So if faith is a grace, then faith is a gift given by God, not by any works that man has done, but by God's own good pleasure. Therefore it is not of man's own doing, but of God's so that no one can boast. "But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace." Romans 11:6

"For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned." Romans 12:3
(Romans 1:4-6, 3:24)

Saving faith, is not a work of the will of man, but of the Spirit.
Faith comes before justification, but after regeneration.

Regeneration= Rebirth, or to be "Born Again". This outlined in Christ's discussion with the pharissee, Nicodemus in John 3. Jesus says to him:


5Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'
8The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Man cannot act in faith because of his depravity apart from God. There must be a supernatural working of the Spirit within the person, before the fall there didn't need to be, but after the fall man has no ability within himself to bring himself to saving faith, apart from God the Spirit.


Ezekiel 36

26And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

God will put the Spirit within you, He will do the work, not you. This is regeneration. The making of the heart to be alive, it was once a heart of stone. Lifeless, unbeating, and unable to act in faith to God. But God gave you a heart of flesh, a heart that beats and reacts to the things of God in saving faith. So then faith comes after regeneration.

But faith comes before justification:

Justification= Taken from the Westminster Confession again:

"Those whom God effectually calleth, He also freely justifieth: not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous, not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone; nor by imputing faith intself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness, but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness of faith; which faith they have not of themselves, it is the Gift of God. Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification; yet it is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accmompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love." (Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 11 "Of Justification", pg.56-57)

(Romans 3:24, Romans 3:22-27, Romans 4:5-8)

So justification is basically, God looking at you through grace, the whole purpose of Christ's life and death, was to fulfill the law because none of us could have done that, living a sinless life, then dying on the cross for our sins. He was made a curse, and codemned in our place, so that God would look at us as though we had lived the life of Christ.

So then faith comes before justification, God has opened your eyes to your sin and has now shown you the only way to justification and to see the kingdom of heaven, through Christ.

Romans 4
5And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,

There is a faith that can be worked up by yourself, its called dead faith. (James 2:14-17) Faith apart from works is meaningless. When it is the faith given from God, it will be a faith that will be followed by works, and living in obedience to God.

1John 2

4Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
5but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him:
6whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
7Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.
8At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
9Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.


There will be a perseverence of those with true saving faith, in works and obedience to God. They do not simply get saved and then go off to another religion or stop going to church or obeying the commandments of God. If Christ is in you, and the love of Christ is in you, you will find nothing better than Him, and you will look for nothing else to fulfill your needs. (1 John 2:19)


Citation:
*Westminster Confession of Faith (Reformed Church Confession)
*ESV (E-Sword)

The Holy Wrath of God

For most God is simply characterized as just simply loving. In the world today it has become evermore apparent that God is no longer considered a wrathful God or an angry God. He has been turned into a laid back, tame, all-loving God with no anger against unrighteousness.

Many songs sung in the contemporary church today have lost that aspect of God's wrath and judgment against unrighteousness. I have been very blessed in a church that I have found here in Stillwater. One of the beliefs of the reformed presbyterian church is that of exclusive psalm singing with no instruments, which I have really come to appreciate. At first it seemed like a big change to me, since I was used to the instruments and singing more contemporary pop christian songs.

But one thing that the psalters emphasize (just as the psalms themself do) is the wrath and holy righteous judgment of God upon sinners and unrighteousness. Many songs I believe these days have completely neglected that aspect of God. (Psalms 2, 76, 78, 90)



Psalm 45
7 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness...

Romans 1
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Isaiah 9
19 Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts the land is scorched, and the people are like fuel for the fire; no one spares another.

To take a great verse from my roommate, who has it written on his closet mirror door thingy:

Exodus 34
6 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forg iving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation."

Despite common belief the God of the old testament is the same God in the new. He was not a wrathful God in the old and is now only a loving God in the new. It seems in that view, that in the old testament God only had one characteristic and in the new He only has one as well.

Reading from John MacArthur's Commentary on Romans he says:

"Some years ago, an article in The Times of London reported that fourteen church study groups in Woodford looked at the Old Testament psalms and concluded that eighty-four of them were "not fit for Christians to sing". They reasoned that the wrath and vengeance reflected in those psalms was not compatible with the Christian gospel of love and grace." (MacArthur)

To me this is shocking, but really it isn't a very uncommon belief. I have had students in my classes arguing against capital punishment and war and other topics such as the sending of sinners to hell, with the statement of, "I thought that God was a God of love." Good point...
He is indeed a God of perfect love, He also is a God of perfect anger and wrath. A God of perfect salvation and a God of perfect judgment.

The new testament did not all of a sudden change God's person and cause Him to suddenly change His mind of how He viewed sin. In fact the new testament is filled with mentions to God's wrath. And I am not sure that anyone spoke more of hell and judgment than Christ Himself.

Keeping it strictly New Testament here:

John the Baptist to a group of Pharisees and Sadducees, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" (Matthew 3:7-8) And a few verses later he says of Jesus "I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." (vv.11-12).

The sermon on the mount is full of references for the judgment to come for sinners.

"But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire." (Matthew 5:22). (See also Matthew 5:29-30 and Matthew 8:12).

To the twelve disciples:
"And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town." (Matthew 10:14-15 also vv.28)

"I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." (Matthew 12:36-37 and see also 13:40, 49; 16:26; 18:34-35; 22:12; 23:33)

Here is where the problem lies though, many will not characterize God as wrathful or burning with anger against the sinful, because they compare it with the jealous, hateful, and sinful anger of humans. Of course to base God on the standards of man would be absurd, considering our rage and anger is a sinful one and God's is a holy one.
God's anger is not an out of control, emotional, uncontrolled anger it is a "settled, determined indignation."

"Unrighteousness encompasses the idea of ungodliness but focuses on its result. Sin first attacks God's majesty and then His law. Men do not act righteously because they are not rightly related to God, who is the only measure and source of righteousness. Ungodliness unavoidably leads to unrighteousness. Because men's relation to God is wrong, their realtion to their fellow men is wrong. Men treat other men the way they do because they treat God the way they do. Man's enmity with his fellow man originates with his being at enmity with God.
Sin is the only thing God hates, He does not hate poor people or rich people, dumb people or smart people, untalented people or highly skilled people. He only hates the sin that those people, and all others, naturally practice, and inevitably brings His wrath." (MacArthur)

God is perfectly holy and loving because of His perfect hate of sin. And the sinful man is God's enemy before they are found in Christ (Romans 5:10) and are children of wrath. (Ephesians 2:3). So God will indeed bring His anger upon them. And He will be blameless on the day of judgment. (Psalm 51:4).

If you take out God's judgment and wrath then evangelism is meaningless to you. There is no desire to share the Gospel with a dying world. Many believe in universalism where everyone is going to be saved, and others believe that unbelievers will go into an extended state of unconciousness. But the reality is that they will be sent to the lake of fire for eternity. The wrath of God is real, but the salvation found in Christ is the hope for the lost. God is indeed all-loving and He is righteous and full of grace, but to the unbelieving sinner on the day of judgment his wrath and anger will show. And He will blameless and righteous when He judges us.

Citation:
*The MacArthur New Testament Commentary; Romans 1-8
*ESV Bible

TULIP (Part 7) Finale

I figured now that I was done with all the parts of the TULIP, I would just end it in a final conclusive post.

I do know the rep that the Calvinism issue gets, most people immediately shut out anything you have to say if you bring up the word. So I like to call it... Christianity, or simply the Gospel. Calvinism merely expresses to a person who understands it, where your theology lies, a nickname is all it is really.

The TULIP series, is not to express or to convey how God can somehow be boxed into 5 little points. I do believe though that these 5 points do broadly outline what the Bible teaches of man's heart, God's election, God's sacrifice and grace as well as His strength and glory shown through His preserving the saints.

But God is by no means widdled down to 5 points or to a nickname given to those who believe truths presented in the Bible.

So reviewing quickly:

Man is completely and utterly depraved. He has no will or desire to turn towards God, though He does have a will it is not a free one, it is enslaved to its sinfulness. (John 8:34 Romans 6:17-18) So man's heart acts according to his nature, (Jeremiah 13:23) and he can not do any good. This does not mean that man is as evil as he could be and that they are all murderers or theives, but nothing he does, even if it seems good in his eyes is sin in God's. (Romans 14:23)

So God must then draws man effectually, meaning that His purpose will be complete. (Romans 8:28 Ephesians 1:5, 9, 11 . 2 Timothy 1:9) And because it goes out with a purpose, to call those who are elect (Romans 8:30), it is thus irresistable.

He calls those that are chosen, that he predestined before the foundation of the world, the elect. (Ephesians 1:4 Acts 13:48) Though God set out those that were to be saved before the foundation of the world, it does not save them. Sin could not go unpunished, because it is an eternal insult against and all holy all righteous God. And so the creator became the creature, and lied down His life for His sheep. (John 10) He became the codemned, a curse, so that the sheep would not be codemned. (Galatians 3:13)

And by this act those that believe in Christ as lord and savior, find salvation in the atoning blood of Jesus. And those that are the true sheep will persevere in the faith until the very end .(Hebrews 6:10-11)

The Final Conclusion


I would encourage anyone to look deeper into these things. They are very clearly revealed in the scripture. Many of these points are crucial to understanding and giving God the glory and worship that He deserves. To take some of these things and twist them around, would be to give yourself the glory for your salvation. But do read into these points.

I would like to thank all of those who did post on this stuff. I have been greatly encouraged by reading and meditating on these truths. And I just want to thank those who encouraged me as well by commenting on some of the things. Great to have those around me that help to sharpen me.

So I leave you with the words of Paul to the Philippians:

Philippians 1
8For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,
10so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ

TULIP (Part 6) Perseverance of the Saints

5 Points of Calvinism

TULIP

"P" = "Perseverance fo the Saints". The fifth and final point of the TULIP.

Basically this is just as it sounds, the saints will persevere until the end. Or theopedia puts it good:

Perseverance of the saints is the doctrine that God successfully preserves in faith all of the elect so that they are never lost. It maintains that none who are truly saved can be condemned for their sins or finally fall away from the faith. (theopedia.com)

So of course the opposite would be the belief that one could lose his salvation. I don't believe that anyone reading this (if anyone) would disagree with this point. It is the common belief amongst most baptist, and reformed churches. But why?

Biblical Support

Now if you have no problem accepting the first four points then this one is a no brainer really. It wouldn't make sense for God to include the elect in His plan and then codemn them.
Of course many people have just simply been told that there is no losing of salvation by a pastor or by other people. But where is it evident in the Bible?

Philippians 1
6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.


Well there it is I'm done...of course for some this is not enough. From Christ Himself:

John 6
37"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.
38"For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
39"This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.
40"For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."

Or KJV:
37All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
39And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
40And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

To accomplish the final salvation of all of God's elect is precisely the mission on which the Lord Jesus came.

Hebrews 10

14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

John 10

28and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.
29"My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand."

"'But," someone might object, "isn't the enemy morepowerful than the sheep?" Yes, he is. But he is not morepowerful than the Shepherd, and they are safe in His hand."They shall never perish." "But might they not sin?" Yes, theyvery obviously will. But they will not sin so as to bringthemselves into condemnation. The Shepherd will bring themback. "They will never perish." Not ever." (Biblebb.com)

Christ has justified the elect, who has the right to say otherwise. How can one say that Christ's atonement wasn't enough to cover their sins forever?! He has satisfied the demands for the elect, he became the codemned so that the elect would never have to face that codemnation.

And of course all those whom have been deemed justified, "WILL" be glorified.

Romans 8

30and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

God has promised this and Titus 1:2 says that God will keep all his promises because He cannot lie.

But do note, that this safety of being kept in the faith is not from the power of the person, but it is the power of God

1 Peter 1

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
5who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Conclusion

Do understand that one will always continue to sin. The question is, is God's grace sufficient enough to keep us in the faith. (Romans 5:20). If you say that one can lose his salvation then you question the power of God.

Another thing concerning this...

Many people, epecially in the baptist community, believe once a person confesses to be Christian you never question the salvation of that person. And so when a person continually sins and never turns away from it in any way, you cannot say that this person has lost his salvation, so then you continue to say that this person is saved. (1 John 1:6) But then people wonder to themselves, "I don't understand how a Christian can act like that." or "He must have forgotten that he was saved." Believe me, people do not forget about Christ once they have been truly born-again. So maybe that person is not Christian at all. But this concerns one's own sould more than worrying about others.

2 Corinthians 13

5Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?

Citation:

*www.biblebb.com

*www.biblemaster.com

TULIP (Part 5) Irresistable Grace

5 Points of Calvinism

TULIP

Okay so man is totally depraved, he has no ability within himself to turn to God. In fact he has no desire to do so. (The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one. Psalm 14:2-3) or ("There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understand, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, there is not even one." Romans 3:10-12)

So then understanding that you must ask, just as the apostles did, "Who then can be saved?"
And as Jesus Says. "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:25-26).

And so this leads us to the next point of the TULIP, the "I" or "Irresistable Grace."
Irresistible Grace teaches that when the Spirit of God is sent to change a person's heart, that person cannot resist the change. This is when the Spirit of God applies the work of Christ to the soul.

As a Christian our salvation was accomplished on the cross, but then how do we receive it? Or when do we receive it? And that is when God "Calls" us. To be called is the same as being "elect".

1 Corinthians 1
9God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

23but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,
24but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christthe power of God and the wisdom of God.

The fact is God chose you before the foundation of the world. (Ephesians 1:4)
Christ purchased your redemption on the cross. (Ephesians 1:14)
But since you were totally depraved. (Psalm 14:3)
God must call you "irresistably" and "effectually". (1 Corinthians 1:9)

But this is not to say that there are not those who reject the Bible, that is plain to see in the world today. And that God's elect will not possibly for a time resist the gospel. But eventually those that God calls will come. The call is effectual, or this is to say that when God calls one into fellowship with His son it will not be resisted, its purpose will be fufilled.

Romans 8
28And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

2 Timothy 1
9who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,

This call is simply God showing His mercy and glory, keep in mind that if it had not been for God's call, you would have never come to His Son.

Romans 9
23And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,

We should be thanking God for His call, not arguing against this call as many do, saying it is a terrible thing, that God is violently forcing those that do not wish to come to Him.

1 Thessalonians 2
12so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.
13For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.

1 Peter 2
9But you are a chosen race, A royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own posession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

Chapter 5:
10After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

2 Peter 1
3seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

God's "call" is not His general "invitation" to "whoever will." It is His specificand compelling activity whereby His elect are brought into saving relationship to Christ.

Romans 8
30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Revelations 17
14"These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful."

John 6
37All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.
39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.

Not "some might" come , but "all will" come. And not by their own power. Same chapter and book...
44"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day."

It must be clear that it is not by man's worthiness or by his work's does he become justified. It is effectual work of God in him.

When Paul was teaching in Phillipi at a ladies prayer meeting. There was one lady Lydia who responded to his teaching.

Acts 16
14One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message.

Obviously it is not the preaching of man that saves or opens the eyes of a man/woman to the word. It must be God. Why is it that some people hear a message and react to it differently than the person sitting next to him listening to the same message. Perhaps one is opened to the message and the other is not. It can't be the message obviously or else both most likely would have reacted the same way, but it was the Spirit moving within one and not the other.

Philippians 2
12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,
13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

This certainly does not reject faith and deem it unnecessary but even the faith itself is God working within us. (Romans 5:1-2)
Faith is not something worked up from within us by ourselves but it is given by God.

Conclusion

This point of the TULIP is not something to be taken lightly. The new-birth these days has become the work of man. Too often people think that it is a simple act of walking down the aisle to have the preacher pray for them and then sign a card or fill out a box that says "I accepted Jesus today." It has become all the faith of the person who worked it up into himself, but it is not just the faith that saves us, it is clearly by God's mighty grace that we are saved.

Ephesians 2
8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
9not by works, so that no one can boast.

You were saved "By Grace" through "Faith". Faith was merely the tool that God chose to use in order to bestow His grace upon us. And this was a gift of God, both faith and grace, that no man can boast.

Romans 9
16So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man whoruns, but on God who has mercy.

Honestly though, to build up faith into ourself, is our own work and then salvation becomes our own doing, and not the doing of God. (John 3:5-6) It robs God of His mercy and grace. All the glory that is meant to be directed to Him, then becomes the glory of the person that performed the act by himself apart from God.

God's grace is truly one of the most beautiful things about Him. Meditate on His grace, it will blow you away. Its hard to express in words all that God has done for believers, I would be writing for a real long time.

You cannot look on this effectual calling as if it is something evil. For I assure you, had it not been for God's awesome grace, you would never have found Him. Praise God that your salvation is in His hands and not your own. Your heart can rest easy in knowing that, no matter what occurs to you in this life, your soul is in the hands of God.


"The LORD is for me; I will not fear; What can man do to me?" (Psalm 118:6)

"Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you He will not fail you or forsake you." (Deuteronomy 31:6)

"and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)

"These things I have Spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

I would recommend checking out Jonathan's site on salvation by Grace through Faith, it somewhat related to this issue. Check his out in my Links.

citation:
*www.biblemaster.com
*www.biblebb.com
*www.desiringgod.com