The Gospel is Relevant to Sinners

There is no sweeter and more relevant message than “Christ died for our sins” (1Cor15:1) to sinners that have been made aware of their condemnation under God’s Law.  Unfortunately, too many preachers today think just the opposite is true - that relevancy is all about pursuing the fashions and fads of this world’s ungodly expressions. 

Whether it’s ungodly music, or ungodly clothing, or ungodly dancing, or ungodly chaos, or ungodly rioting, the men and women that constitute the emerging church leadership have openly sponsored these activities as the proposed means of “reaching” the un-churched.

Here is an example of an emerging church that is so determined to validate their humanly conceived methods that they are literally stuck on stupid:  http://hamptonroads.com/2008/05/concerts-resume-after-fight-church-club.

In contrast to this utter nonsense, God has published two masterpieces of relevancy:  The Law, and The Gospel. 

The Law of God reveals to us that we have offended a Holy God by disregarding His divinely instituted Law, and we stand condemned by it, awaiting the justice reserved for sinners.  By His Law we have been exposed as God-haters, idolaters, blasphemers, Sabbath breakers, haters of parental authority, haters of humanity, adulterers, thieves, liars, and coveters.  This message is relevant to every human being.  

But the Gospel reveals to us that we have a hope - that we may obtain the righteousness of God, which is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  We have great joy in knowing that Christ perfectly obeyed and satisfied God’s Law, and through an unspeakable act of mercy, we may be forgiven of our sins through the blood of Christ and be saved through faith in that blood.  O what mercy, o what peace, o what relevance in the heart of the condemned!  Forgiveness!  Alas, my sins are washed away!  O how sweet to trust in Jesus!  O for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemer’s praise!  The glories of my God and King!  The triumphs of His grace!  Surely there is no message that is more relevant to every human being on earth!

God’s eternal truth is already relevant.  The only thing we have to do to “make” it relevant is to preach and teach it.  When are we going to stop thinking that we can improve on God’s work?

Friend, if you are reading this and have never truly trusted Christ and been converted, I ask you right now to stop trying to convert God to your culture, and if you have heard His Voice, follow the call of your Shepherd into His fold. 

Don’t try to conform God into the image you have of Him, but rather, the Bible commands you to ”be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2)

 

A Message for Billy Ray Cyrus: Do not prostitute thy daughter…

… to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness. Leviticus 19:29 (KJV)

Billy Ray Cyrus claims to be a Christian as does his daughter, Miley. *  The following excerpt is taken from http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article3834131.ece.  It is a brief descriptive of Miley Cyrus:

 ”A committed Christian, she credits her faith with helping to keep her grounded and, like Britney Spears once did, has vowed to remain a virgin until she marries.”

Does anyone besides myself see the absurdity of such a comment?  Just what passes for a “virgin” and “christian” these days? 

The Miley Cyrus incident is all too indicative of the type of “christianity” that passes for the faith of Christ today - the kind I wrote about in my previous post “Lawless Christians - Lawless Society”. 

Why is there no public demand for justice for these little girls that are being merchandised and prostituted by their parents for the fame and fortune to be gained through their talents?  It’s missing, because lawless christianity leads to a lawless society. 

What kind of message do we send to the world when those who claim to be christians behave in such an ungodly way?  No doubt, the message must be one of libertine licentiousness, for surely the christian faith must consist of nothing more than “letting” a desparately lonely god save us so he won’t be lonely anymore, and then going along with the world in its ungodliness, having our ungodly behavior justified by our god’s “grace” and by our “love” of the poor (like Oprah’s trumpet-sounding alms-giving).

People need to realize that it was not an infatuous longing for fellowship that put Jesus on the cross - it was sin.  Our sin.  My sin.  Your sin.  God gave a command, and we thumbed our noses at Him.  God righteously hates those that disregard His Law.  It is only by His unexplainable mercy He saves us by graciously imparting His Spirit into our hearts, bringing us to Himself, to embrace His person, to embrace His love, to embrace His law.

A christian that has not been born again and converted by the renewing of the Holy Spirit is not a true Christian.  Reader, if you have professed Christ but you know in your heart that you are not converted, I ask you to seek God’s forgiveness until you know that He has brought you into His fold.

 John 10:27 (KJV) My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

 

2 Timothy 2:19 (KJV) Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

*Note:  I do not claim to know if Billy Ray Cyrus or Miley Cyrus or anyone else for that matter is in fact a saved person or not - but those that take upon themselves the title of “Christian” must behave themselves in a godly manner or else they must examine themselves, whether they are in the faith. 

What Must I Do To Be Saved?

“What must I do to be saved?”  So many who have been awakened to their need of salvation are asking this question.  Looking at the stats for this blog, I’ve noticed that the most viewed post is the one entitled “How Does God Save People?”, http://sovereigngod.wordpress.com/2007/08/21/how-does-god-save-people/, so I wanted to make this new post to make sure it’s clear for those that may have questions about it.  

In Acts 16, we read of the jailor in Philippi that has come trembling to Paul and Silas, being convinced of God’s impending judgment upon him.  The jailor had witnessed the testimony of the apostles, had heard of Christ, and had experienced the terrible earthquake that had broken the prison doors down and gave freedom to his prisoners.

With this gripping fear of God’s wrath fixed in his heart, he knelt down and cried out to Paul and Silas:  “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

And their answer?

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”.

Dear reader, if you are not sure, and you want to know if you are saved from the wrath to come, I simply ask you this - has God worked repentance in your heart?  Have you been convinced that your sins have separated you from God?  Have you been made willing to turn from all your sins, and confess them to Christ?  Have you faith in your heart to trust Christ alone for the sacrifice and righteousness that God requires as payment for your sins? 

If this is the condition of your heart, then turn at once and forever to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, believing with all your heart on Him as your Lord and Savior.  God saves people that are of a contrite heart.  Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish” (John 10:27-28a).  In another place he said “all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I shall in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).

But if your heart has not been moved to true repentance and faith, then pray that God would make your offense of His Law and His hatred of your sin real to you.  Pray that He will give you a new heart whereby you may be converted.  Believe that He is able, but do not trust in your own abilities.  God will save you from your sins, but He will not save you in your sins.  You must be willing to repent, so pray that you might be made willing. 

“Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power…” (Psalm 110:3a)

If you know that you have received Christ as your Lord and Savior, then rejoice in ”Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” (Philippians 1:6).  Your confidence in Christ and assurance of salvation will grow stronger over time as you continue to walk in the Lord’s revealed will, enduring the trials of your faith, being strengthened by the Holy Spirit Who dwells in you.  

Soli Deo Gloria

Lawless Christians - Lawless Society

The spirit of the age in which we live can be summed up in one word - LAWLESS.  Post-modern (in other words ”post-Christian”) Christians differ from the larger society only by degree in this attitude.  In fact, I’m becoming convinced that the larger society may be more righteous than today’s Christians.  Why?  Because at least the lost world does not parade their lawlessness under the banner of God’s grace.

“Antinomianism” is the theological term used to describe this sinful attitude.  It is a word that simply means “against law”.  Most of today’s christians claim to have a freedom from God’s law that the Bible simply does not grant them.  They seem to think that The Spirit of God gives us freedom from the law, but just the opposite is true.  The freedom that the Spirit imparts to us is freedom to serve God because we no longer hate His law.  Through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, we now love His law.  The Christian life is a life of discipline and obedience, not licentious freedom. 

But “Emergent” christians will not accept correction.  The minute anyone tries to protest against their portrayal of Christ as a lawless hippy, they are castigated as a judgmental Pharisee.  Most of the emerging hippy-type pastors are so self-centered they can hardly make a post on their blog without mentioning how much people “dig” their “threads” or the latest tattoo or exceptionally radical spiked hairdo. 

Some of them use the most vulgar language imaginable and actually try to justify it by saying that the Bible has cuss words in it.  They will tell you that the original Greek language of the New Testament was the common language, as opposed to the classic Greek of the aristocracy.  What these shallow thinkers fail to see with their profane minds is that “common” language does not mean “gutter” language.

Some of these filthy thinkers believe that being “relevant” requires that they obsess over sex.  I am no prude, and I know that the Bible is very direct and raw on sexual issues.  But the Church never was silent on sexual behavior, much the chagrin of the unregenerate public.  It is indicative of the amazing arrogance of the postmoderns that believe that nobody knew anything about sex until it was discovered by Masters and Johnson in the 1960’s.  Now, these postmodern pastors are encouraging their people to do such things as “have sex every day for 30 days.”  (for married couples). http://www.leadingsmart.com/leadingsmart/2008/02/30-day-sex-chal.html

Nothing could be more damaging to the marriage relationship than to reduce it to such a mechanical prescription.  Marital love IS NOT THE SAME as casual sex.  One is holy; the other is animal.  Sexual pleasure is only one - and I mean ONLY ONE - of the ingredients that make up a successful relationship between man and wife.   In fact, it is not even an ESSENTIAL ingredient for some couples.  The purpose of marriage is not to grant legal permission to pursue bodily pleasures, but it is to create the greatest social institution known to mankind in general - that is, THE FAMILY.  Outside of the Church, the family is the most important divinely-established institute in the world. 

“Oh, but they say some good things!”  Yes, but deception is never an outright lie.  It is always mixed with truth.  And it is up to the elders of the Church, who have had their ”senses exercised to discerned good and evil (Hebrews 5:14), to give correction to the disciples - to scrub out the errors and give glory to the truth.  The typical emergent pastor is puffed up and satisfied in his popularity.  He will not receive correction.  He is lawless.

 

Does God Love Us Just The Way We Are?

This is one of the frequent sayings of contemporary evangelists.  But is it true?  Does God really love us just the way we are?  If so, then why does the Bible say:

“And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:”  (Act 17:30)

Why repent, if God loves us just the way we are?  And this:

 The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.  (Psalms 11:5)

And what about this:

Romans 2:8-9 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, ⁹ Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

And again, this:

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:

Which God do you serve?  The figment god of the modern gospel that is indifferent towards sin, or the Holy God that loves righteousness and hates rebellion?

If you’re reading this and have not cast your hopes for salvation upon Christ, I invite you to turn in repentance from the sins that have offended the God of Heaven, and turn to the true and Living God, seeking forgiveness and renewal at the merciful feet of Jesus, whose blood was shed for the salvation of his people.
 

Ingrid Wants An Old Fashioned Church - And So Do I

Ingrid at Slice of Loadicea shares my frustration with the contemporary church. She said it in a letter. Here is a portion:

To Whom it May Concern:

I’m looking for a good Christian church. I don’t want to sing songs off a wall, the same five notes, over and over and over and over again while I am lightheaded from standing so long. There’s a record of the hymns of God’s people that spans 2000 years. Why are we so arrogant as to think we don’t need those wonderful songs any longer? Have we gone through more suffering, more affliction, more pain for Jesus than those who wrote these enduring hymns? Does a semi-secular song writer in Nashville with a multi-million dollar music contract have more to say to us about God and the Christian life than the 17th-century hymn writer who lost four children and his wife during the 30 years War?

I don’t want to have my eardrums bashed in by the three kids in the “worship band” who can’t be bothered to bathe, shave, dress or comb their hair on Sunday morning. If it’s really all about the God that Scripture describes as ineffably holy, shouldn’t that be reflected in attitude and dress for those who serve in church music?

I don’t want a vampy “praise and worship” leader who is flaunting her wares at every male within view as she does her worship moves on “stage”. If we are to worship God in spirit and in truth, as Scripture tells us, than what’s all the flesh about? Can we no longer discern the difference?

I don’t want to see people in beach attire with their backsides peeping out of their shorts because they think that God isn’t worth their best efforts at dressing. “God doesn’t care about clothes, only man”, they say. But the real reason is that it’s just plain easier to cruise into church in jeans or whatever is still lying on the floor from the night before. Dressing up for worship of the Lord would cost them something, however little, and they don’t want to pay it.

I also don’t want to see all the variations on lovers’ back rubs where Chuck and Sue take turns massaging each other’s neck and shoulders during the sermon so everyone behind them is completely distracted. Behavior affects other people. Are Christians so self-absorbed that they never think about the people behind them trying to hear the message?

From http://www.sliceoflaodicea.com/?p=448

What Does “Sovereign God” Mean?

“Sovereign God” represents our view of who God is.  God is the Sovereign of the Universe.  He is not weak and effeminate.  He does not seek permission from man to execute his will.  He has no obligations to man whatsoever.  No one can say to Him “what doest thou?”  He does as He pleases.  He doesn’t just know the future, but He has in fact decreed the future.  Nothing can happen that He has not determined, from the dropping of one hair from my head, to the Grand Finally of the world.  God can save whom He wishes to save, and damn those He wishes to damn.  Man can not be saved unless God saves him, and if he is saved, he is saved on God’s terms and in God’s time.  Man can not command God’s Spirit to indwell him, and neither can man resist, though he may try, the determined power of God’s Spirit coming in to the heart.  God leaves nothing to chance.  God saves those He loves without any possibility of failure, and those He does not favor, He leaves in sin to their own desires.  Whatever God does is good - because He is God.  God is answerable only to God and none other - neither man, nor angels, nor gods, nor creation, nor philosophy, nor futility can make Him accountable to them.  God is justified in condemning sinners, and infinitely merciful in saving some of them.  But He is not obligated to save one of them.  If God let the entire human race go to Hell, He would be justified.  It is because of man’s wicked pride that he demands his own notion of “fairness” from the Creator of creatures.  Some people have said, “I will not serve a God like that.”  But that is the God you are serving, whether you want to or not.  Man’s effort to make God into a controllable, subservient, subordinate, frustrated, weepy-eyed, genie in a bottle is futile.  God has determined the end from the beginning, and everything in between the end and the beginning is merely the means by which He has predetermined to execute His sovereign will.

The knowledge of God’s Sovereignty should frighten us.  I know that it is not popular today to fear God, but that’s exactly what the Bible tells us to do - FEAR GOD.  We imagine Him to be our homeboy, a dude, our pal, a good-ole-boy that likes us just the way we are.  But nothing could be farther from the truth.  God is Holy.  God is the Almighty.  Jesus is the Lord God Omnipotent.  He demands of us a life of repentance and faith.  Let us fear, lest any of us should seem to come short of it.  We must not live in a high-minded conceit, trusting in some shallow profession of faith; but we must earnestly seek assurance that God has favored us with new birth, shedding the love of God abroad in our hearts, causing us to love Him and His law, His people, His ways, and His word.  Those of us that have been blessed with the assurance of God’s working in us may bask in the sweetness of His love, and we may glorify Him, being the objects of His unmerited favor, having nothing in ourselves by which we may boast.  But for those have no working of God in their souls, tribulation, wrath, and vengeance to every creature that loves not God.  Cry against Him, curse Him, defy Him, all unbelievers - and you will build your indictment and seal your judgement on that terrible day!

Soli Deo Gloria!  To God Be The Glory!

    

The Decree of God

Here is my summary of Chapter 3, “The Decree of God”, from the 1689 London Baptist Confession.  You can see the text of the confession on the Confession of Faith page on this web site.

God does not learn things - on the contrary, He decrees things.  One of the basic attributes of God is His omniscience (all-knowing).  If God knows everything, past present and future, then it follows that He can not learn anything.  God knows what He knows, not because He learned what would happen, but because He decreed what would happen. 

Nothing happens that was not decreed by God.  Nothing.  The events of time are not left to blind chance, and neither is the Kingdom of God built by blind chance.  It’s all by design and has a purpose.

Does that make God a sinner?  After all, if everything is decreed, that means that evil and sin is also decreed.   While it is true that God decreed evil and sin to come to pass, we must be careful to know that while God created man with the potential for sin, He did not cause him to sin.  God created Satan, but He did not make him sin.  It can even be said that God created evil, but He did not create sin.  Sin came into the world by the disobedience of Adam, who sinned by his own free choice.  

Yet this was all planned and decreed to happen for a purpose.  The purpose of evil and sin is to make redemption necessary for man to worship God, which worship is to the Glory of God.  Only a redeemed sinner can worship God with a greater heart of praise than the angels.   

Acts 15:18  Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.

Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever.  Amen.

An Exceptional Sermon

Here is a link to a great sermon by Jeff Noblit of First Baptist Church of Muscle Shoals, Alabama.  It covers the issue of how a person is saved, and how they may have assurance that they are saved.

 http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=51107114615

http://playmp3.sa-media.com/media/51107114615/51107114615.mp3

Is the Bible Inspired by God?

I received the following reply from Hokku to my previous post, who disagrees with my claim that the Bible is inspired and infallible. 

“Not even the writers of the Bible believed that, as we can see from the preface to Luke’s gospel, where he mentions that many have already written on the subject, and he too will write on it, and he offers nothing at all about divine inspiration to back up his writing. And of course there are numerous variant readings - so which one is “inspired”? And then there have been various canons not only over the centuries but even today, so which of those is “inspired.” I do not believe there is the slightest evidence or support for what you claim here. Instead, the Bible is a very human and fallible collection of documents, which have been revised and edited over time, and even what is included in that collection has historically not been stable.”

I would like to thank Hokku for challenging me to think about what I have said and I now offer the following arguments to defend my view.  I believe that if Hokku is determined to view scriptures in the way that he/she has expressed, then I would waste my time with a reply.  But knowing that the Lord is able to open Hokku’s eye’s to the truth, and for the benefit of readers that may be observing, I will offer a short reproof of Hokku’s argument.

First of all, as to whether the scriptures themselves ever refer to themselves as “inspired” or “infallible”, I can quickly prove that they do that very thing by providing several proof texts. 

II Timothy 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: “for all scripture is given by inspiration of God”

Romans 15:4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

2 Peter 1:19-20 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.  21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Luke 16:7  And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.

John 10:35  If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;

Psalm 12:6  The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

Psalm 19:7  The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

Psalm 119:89  For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.

Dty 4:2  Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

2 Sam 22:30  As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.

Psalm 18:30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.

Proverbs 30:5  Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

Isaiah 40:8  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

Hosea 4:1  Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.

John 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Hopefully, these verses clearly establish what the Bible says about itself.

As for variant readings, God inspired the original texts which the “Holy men of old” wrote down, and no doctrinal truth has been damaged by the use of alternative readings, or insertions/deletions which were done for the sake of clarification by scribes and translators.  Manuscripts with questionable renderings were rejected during the translation process.  An intensive quality control process was used to ensure accurate copying of texts.  There is nothing incidental, accidental, or haphazard about the way the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts were compiled and translated.  Even skeptics have had to admit their surprise at the agreement of existing texts with the text of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are considered by many to be the most pristine of biblical texts available.  But regardless of that, if you carry the presupposition of doubt instead of faith into your reading of the text, you will always focus on minute questions as to the authenticity of a given text rather than focus on the overwhelming evidence of the unity of scripture.

Many people bring their doubts into the reading of scripture because they are threatened by its authority - its unapologetic demands on the human will and soul.  The natural born humanist despises the dominion of God, and can not abide a Bible that they can not split into parts they deem acceptable and unacceptable.

As for disputes over the canon of scripture, we believe that in the providence of God, men have been guided in the process of establishing the Bible in accordance with His will.  The men involved in the process were not always in perfect agreement, but this does not preclude the overruling providence of God in the matter, just as we recognize His providence in all the affairs of man, both historical and future.  We recognize God’s sovereignty in the course of history as one of His basic attributes as described in the Bible itself.

Now some people will observe that it is a circular argument to say that the Bible is inspired by God because the Bible says it is inspired by God.  Truly, it is a circular argument - just as circular as the argument that says “I don’t think the Bible is inspired because I don’t think it is inspired”.  So we bring our presuppositions to the argument with us, don’t we?  My presupposition is that there is a God, and He has communicated His will to man in writing, and He is able and willing to preserve His written communication through His own providence for the benefit and guidance of His elect children, and for the warning of the reprobate as to their coming judgment.  If one brings the presupposition of doubt to the argument, then one will search until some apparent evidence is found to prove that doubt - much like the author of a blog I recently visited in which the blogger annotated a verse-by-verse commentary on a certain Bible passage.  That blogger found cause for unbelief in every verse, stating that the things written therein were simply “unbelievable”. 

You may state your “faith” in “unbelief” if you like, but you cannot make a rational argument of it.