Today we consider the biblical truth of total depravity. We will do so from our Lord’s words found in John 15:5, “For without me ye can do nothing.”
We see from the last verse of John 14 that our Lord Jesus and His disciples have now left the upper room where they had gathered to eat the last Passover and they had begun a midnight walk across the city of Jerusalem, up to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus will be betrayed to the Jews. We read in John 14:31 Jesus saying to them, “Arise, let us go hence.”
That is, Jesus was interrupting the discourse or sermon that He had begun in chapter 13, a sermon spoken to His disciples. He interrupts this sermon and leads them out of the upper room towards Gethsemane.
No doubt, as they walked, they passed by many orchards and vineyards along the way. And, as was the Lord’s custom, He uses what He sees in the creation as an object lesson to teach His disciples and us a vital truth that we must know as He is about to leave His disciples.
He says in John 15: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.”
He goes on to say, “Ye are the branches. Abide in Me. As the branch canno bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can you, except you abide in Me.”
The Lord begins to speak to His disciples of the indispensible and urgent need of true faith, of a living, vital connection to Him. He, in the way of the cross, in the way of His resurrection and ascension, is about to return in glory to His heavenly Father. We will on the earth be subject to sin, temptation, death, sorrow, real grief and turmoil. The Lord says, “You must abide in Me and I in you. As the branch abides in the vine and draws its sap and life from the vine and thus is able to bear fruit, so also must you abide in Me.”
He speaks, in this figure, of the gift of true and living faith, of the true, heavenly-wrought, spiritual union between you and Christ—the gift of faith, faith that is not a formal, purely intellectual attachment to Jesus Christ. It is not like two boards nailed together. But faith is a living union to Jesus Christ, worked by God in our hearts so that we say with the apostle Paul, “For to me to live is Christ.” And, “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”
And then the Lord, in the words of our text, emphasizes the need that we have to abide by faith in Him. For He says that “without me ye can do nothing.” As a branch, severed from the vine, dries and is gathered up to be burned, so we, without Jesus Christ, can do nothing. In words that are clear, simple, and pointed, Jesus teaches us the truth of our total depravity.
Without Jesus, we can do nothing.
You could not save yourself, you could not will to accept Him, any sooner than a dead branch can will to pick itself up and insert itself into the vine. “You cannot receive Me unless I work My grace first in you. You cannot be saved, nor can you persevere (keep yourself within the state of salvation) without Me. Without Me ye can do nothing.”
These words, then, underscore the words of the Lord Jesus: “Abide in me, stay close to Me, seek all of your strength in Me.” As sinners, we are depraved, and we are saved by grace. And, as children of God in the midst of this world of temptation and woe, we have one great desperate need every day: Abide in Christ, a living, true faith in Jesus Christ.
For without Jesus, we can do nothing.
These words, first of all, then, are very humbling: "Without Me ye can do nothing."
They are words that point first to our total depravity as a sinner, and our need of a completely gracious salvation. Jesus here speaks of all men as they are without Him. He speaks of every man, woman, and child as they are without Him. “Without Me, you can do nothing.” He is not talking just about drug-addicts or those who are on death-row. He is not talking only about predators or abusers of mankind. But He is talking of all mankind—of professors, scientists, teachers—men as they stand apart from Christ—you, considered of yourself. You, apart from Jesus, can do nothing. He means nothing good. That is His point. Nothing pleasing to God, nothing good in the sight of God. You can do many things, but you cannot do anything pleasing to God.
Note that Jesus (in the first four verses of John 15) has been talking about bringing forth much fruit to God. He has been talking about a life of good works pleasing to God. He has been talking about love for God, sorrow for sin, humility, meekness—those things that please God. He has been talking about the fact that the failure to bring forth such fruit means that a branch is dead, withered up, and is to be gathered up to be burned in the lake of fire. Jesus, therefore, was talking about every man, every woman, every child—whether they are in poverty or whether they are in wealth, whether they live in a third-world country or in a country of great prosperity, it makes no difference. They cannot do anygood in the sight of God. Apart from Jesus Christ we are dead in sin, fallen in Adam, incapable of any saving good.
The fault is not simply in the totality of our makeup, so that there are spots of sin in every part of our makeup, of our will, words, and emotions, but we are totally depraved, shot through completely with sin, sold in sin, leprous in sin.
Ephesians 2:1-3, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins….”
Romans 3:12, “…there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”
Romans 8:7, “…the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
You can do nothing apart from Me.
The Lord is speaking there of ability. Apart from Jesus Christ no one has the ability to do good in the sight of God. We cannot of ourselves will to accept Jesus Christ. It is not we who can do a little. It is not we who decide for Christ and then, depending upon our decision, Christ will respond and come into us. No. Ye can do nothing. As a branch severed from the vine, withered, we are dead in our sins. Salvation is not the acceptance of Jesus by the human will. Salvation is the resurrection of a dead sinner. When we have the testimony within us of the burden of sin, when we feel sorrow for sin, when we covet God’s grace to lead a new, Christian life, all of this is His work in us. It did not proceed from us. It was not me, O Savior true, but it was Thou who didst love me and raise me from the dead.
But Jesus’ words are humbling also in this sense, that they mean that as a renewed, saved-by-grace child of God, without Him, I can do nothing. As renewed by the Holy Spirit, by grace, we are called to live a life of sanctification, that is, to delight in serving God. We are called to live to the service of God in everything that we do. We are to bear our cross, we are to fight a good fight of faith. But we can do nothing apart from Jesus Christ. He must daily by grace infuse His strength into us. Your strength, says Jesus, your fortitude, your personal determination, your guts, your stubbornness, your stick-to-itiveness—all of this is nothing. Ye can do nothing in the Christian life without Me, without Jesus. That is, apart from a conscious, heartfelt faith-dependence upon Christ, we can do nothing.
You cannot white-knuckle and overcome that addiction that has cast you down time after time and of which you have said, “I’ll beat it, I can stop, I’m man enough, I’ll preserve my reputation. It’s not going to go any further.” Jesus says, “Without me, ye can do nothing.”
You cannot escape that temptation, the net and the pit laid for you by Satan, the lust, the desire to live for the approval of friends. Believe in this word. “Without Me,” says Jesus, “ye can do nothing.”
You cannot endure that trial, that loneliness, that sorrow that is swallowing you up, pushing you down of yourself. Getting away, a change of scenery is not going to do it. Without Me, ye can do nothing.
A great evil, but performed against you, an abuse, a horrible abuse that haunts you and pursues you and fills you with fear—without Me, ye can do nothing, says Jesus.
A great sin is in your past. You confess this sin, but yet its memory gives you no rest. You try to keep yourself busy. You try to keep in front of it. Without Me, says Jesus, you can do nothing.
Always our sinful nature, that is, our pride, looks to our self. We try to build our own citadel. We try to use our treasured resources and strength. And God, in His wisdom and justice, so often says, “Go ahead. Exhaust your treasured strength—until grace brings you to know that you can’t.”
It is by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. The way of God’s grace leads us to this point that we give up on our own strength, our own way, our own will. And we cry, “Oh, I to the fountain fly, cleanse me, Jesus, or I die.” For without Jesus I can do nothing.
But as humbling as that is, it is also exalting. It is exalting to Jesus Christ.
Jesus is making the most amazing and astounding claim. Think about it. “Without Me, ye can do nothing.” That means that Jesus is saying, “I am the source of all good, all spiritual strength. I am the source of good and spiritual strength. You have no good, no strength, no merit; I and I alone am the source of all good and strength. As you are devoid, utterly devoid in yourself, and cannot find any strength of yourself, you will have all strength and all merit in Me.” So it always is. If you lift up man in your faith or religion, you debase Jesus Christ. If you give credit to yourself or to man, you discredit Jesus Christ. If you walk in pride, any pride, you will think little of Jesus Christ.
But when our emptiness is shown, when our weakness is made plain, when our depravity is exposed to us, it is then that Christ is exalted for who He is. Christ is the source, the only source, of good in all the world. Christ is the source, the only source, of strength in all the world.
Christ, therefore, is exalted in salvation. Total depravity is the gate or the door to the gospel. You must go in through that door. The teaching of free will, that notion that salvation is owed to a decision of the dead sinner, who must first accept Christ before Christ can save him—this heresy of free will debases Jesus Christ. Free will glories in itself. I accepted Christ. He could not enter in unless I allowed Him into my heart, unless I first invited Him. He stood there knocking, unable to do anything until I gave Him the permission. The glory is free will.
In the name of Jesus Christ, I say, away with that false doctrine.
in I Corinthians 1 we read: “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”
For of God are ye in Christ Jesus, says the Scripture. Of God, not of free will. Of God, God’s work, are you in Christ Jesus. We cry out with the hymn: “Nothing in my hands I bring.”
It is Jesus Christ, by His Spirit, who opens our heart that is closed, shut up, and sealed, as in a coffin of sin. We read in Acts 16:14 of Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened. It is Jesus Christ who regenerates, that is, by Him we are born again. He implants His life in us. “If ye then be risen with Christ,” says the apostle in Colossians 3:1. It is Christ who converts. It is Christ who regenerates. It is Christ who saves. It is Christ who illumines our minds. It is Christ who softens our will and enters into the inmost recesses of our soul. It is Thy grace, O Lord, that saved me, not myself. All hail the power of Jesus’ name. Not free will. Not your name. Not man’s name. Not this man saved me, or this person. But Jesus Christ saved me.
So also it is that Jesus Christ is exalted in our life of sanctification, that is, in our Christian living. It is Christ who infuses His strength into us through faith. It is Christ in me. It is Christ in me in every trial and every way of darkness, in every burden and in every temptation. Christ Jesus is our strength.
But you might say, “I know that and I believe that. I believe that without Christ I can do nothing. But why are there yet times in my life that it seems that I cannot find Him or when He is absent from me, when the peace of His grace eludes me?”
The disciples of Jesus Christ at this point were about to go through that in that very night. At the moment of trial, they will all run away from Jesus. Apparently the strength of Jesus Christ was gone and their hearts were filled only with fear.
Why, then, are we led down ways of darkness?
“Lord,” we say, “I believe this. Why must I be led in such dark and difficult ways?” And the answer is: Because our need of Jesus Christ must be burned, must be branded, into our heart, because His grace and His strength are not cheap, because it pleases the Father to work this truth into our deepest heart. Through every way of trial and through every way of woe, Jesus Christ wills that we confess: without Jesus, I can do nothing.
But, you see, this is assuring, it is humbling, it is exalting of Christ and it is assuring to us. This is not a false assurance. This is not a sales pitch. This is not a soap bubble to pop on the first sharp point of life. Jesus Christ is our good and our strength. His perfect work on the cross is our righteousness. His grace is our strength. He is the solid rock. Everything else is sinking sand. Believe in Him, rely solely upon Him.
The assurance is, first of all, that when we feel the burden of sin, when we feel within us the desire to obey and serve Him, then this is due to His work in me. It did not arise out of me. I did not create that. But it came from Him.
Do you know yourself as the sinner in God’s sight?
Do you know your sorrow and the depth of your sin?
All of this is worked in your heart by Jesus Christ and by His wonderful grace.
And, still more. There is the assurance that Jesus Christ will also strengthen us unto every good work. He will give us His grace. He will dwell within us. It is Christ who will strengthen us.
So, hear the call of the gospel. He speaks. He calls in the gospel: “Abide in me.” That is your need. Always stay closer to Jesus Christ. That is your one, and your great, and your desperate need. Stay close to Him in the word. Stay close to Him in the church. Stay close to Him in prayer. Stay close to Him in your daily walk of life. Abide in Jesus. For without Jesus, you can do nothing. But "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13).
By Carl Haak
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Limited Atonement
Salvation from sin through Jesus Christ is entirely of God’s grace. This is something that Jonah learned when he was in the belly of a whale. We read in Jonah 2:9, Jonah’s confession: “Salvation is of the Lord.”
Salvation in its plan, that is, in its eternal election; in its accomplishment, in the actual payment for sin upon the cross; in its application, the giving of this salvation into the human heart; in its consummation, when at last one is taken before the presence of God — all of it is of God. "Salvation is of the Lord."
This is especially true of the doctrine of the Bible called “Limited (Particular) Atonement.” The truth is that Jesus Christ, in His atonement, saved by grace all those given to Him of the Father. And they shall never perish, because Jesus died for them upon the cross.
Limited or definite atonement of Jesus Christ upon the cross is the heart of the precious gospel of Jesus Christ. Here we sinners will see our Savior in all of His beauty. Through all eternity we will know Jesus as the Lamb who was slain and has redeemed us unto God. Throughout all eternity we will see Him as the One by whose stripes we are healed. We will rejoice in Him as the crucified one. And this is how we know Him today. In every trial, in every heartache, in every moment, in joy or in death, old and young, those who have walked with Him all their life, and those who have learned His secrets only recently in their new conversion — all of us will know Jesus as the One who died for us, who laid down His life for us.
In John 10:15, Jesus says: “As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
In John 10 Jesus was contrasting Himself with the false leaders and teachers of His day, whom He calls intruders, hirelings among God’s people. They did not love the sheep. They fleeced the sheep. They used the sheep for themselves. They were hirelings who would run at the first sign of danger.
In contrast to that, Jesus says, in John 10:14: “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.” He calls Himself the Good Shepherd because He knows His sheep and will keep those sheep. And He calls Himself the Good Shepherd because He lays down His life for them. “I lay down my life for the sheep.” In those words Jesus Christ taught the truth of a limited, particular atonement.
We consider that today.
The question is: For whom did Jesus Christ die?
And the answer of the Bible is: Jesus Christ died for the elect, for all those throughout all ages and races, chosen eternally and loved graciously by God. The atonement was limited. That means that Jesus Christ died on the cross for a definite, particular number of persons. Revelation 7 refers to this as a multitude that no man can number. A great number known and chosen of the Father.
His death was an atonement.
That is a biblical word that refers to a payment or a covering for the sins of men and women.
It was redemption.
That is another word that is used in the Bible: redemption from sin. It was the purchase of men and women out of the guilt and bondage of their sin to the state of pardon and adoption as the sons and daughters of God.
This atonement or redemption was limited. Not in the sense of what He suffered, that what He suffered was limited. No. He suffered the full and the eternal wrath of God against our sins. But it was limited in the sense of for whom He suffered. He was definite or particular. He did not die for all human beings, but only for some, for those given to Him of the Father. His death on the cross was for a definite, particular group of men and women, each one of whom He knew personally, in divine, particular, gracious, saving love.
Now it is this truth, this truth of a limited or particular atonement, this truth of all the doctrines of God’s sovereign grace, that becomes so offensive to many. The response is that it is hated.
“What,” people will say, “did not Jesus die for all? Does not Jesus love all? How can we possibly do mission work?”
This truth will be assaulted and hated, and those who confess it will be accused of denying the gospel, and of denying the love of Jesus for sinners. It will be assaulted with a host of Bible verses: I Timothy 2:4, “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
But what seldom happens is that men and women listen to the biblical exposition of this truth. Listen to Jesus, who taught this truth.
Jesus Himself will answer the question: For whom would He die upon the cross?
In John 10 He says, “I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:15).
When He says, “I lay down My life,” He is talking about the cross. He is not simply talking about a sacrificial desire that He has to serve other people. But He is referring to the cross of Calvary. John 13:1, Jesus knew that His hour was come, and in the Scriptures we go on to read that at that night He said, “The cup that My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?”
Jesus knew that He had to go the way that the Father had willed. True, the Son of man goeth as it was determined of Him (Luke 22:22), but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed. And He says that that death, that predetermined death on the cross that He had come to suffer, had a definite intention or purpose. On the cross He would lay down His life, He would die for a definite number of persons. “I lay down My life for the sheep.”
He does not lay down His life for all humans, but for the “sheep.”
In John 10, He makes that very plain when in verse 26 of the chapter He refers to some (the unbelieving Pharisees) as not being of His sheep. “But ye believe not, because ye are not of My sheep,” He says to them. “I will not lay down My life for you.” Sheep does not include all men. But sheep includes all those whom the Father had given to Him.
Jesus goes on to say that in John 10 as well, verses 27-29: “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, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me….”
My Father gave the sheep to Me. He is “greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” Jesus teaches that He lays down His life for everyone whom the Father, out of mere grace, out of free election, gave to Him.
The ones for whom He dies are the ones He knows in that gracious, unbreakable bond of love.
John 10:14-15
“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father.”
He is referring there to a knowledge of gracious, personal, intimate love. He says, “As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father.”
He brings us there to the point of intimacy beyond our ability to comprehend—the tender, the personal, the intimate love of the triune God. The Father loves the Son, knows the Son; and the Son knows the Father. Jesus says, “In like manner, even so I know My own and My own know Me. I know them intimately. I know them personally. I know them exhaustively. There is nothing in these people that will startle Me.”
There is nothing that can suddenly come up and He would say, “But I didn’t know that about them.”
“I love them graciously and unchangeably. I know who My own are. I know the sheep given to Me of the Father. They will hear My voice and they will come to Me. And I will die on the cross, for the ones chosen from before the foundations of the world, whom I have loved with an everlasting love and whom I will draw to Myself.”
The death on the cross of Jesus Christ extends to all the elect. God’s gracious and eternal election determines who Christ died for on Calvary’s cruel cross.
The question, of course, is: “Who determines the extent of Christ’s death? Who determines who it will be for whom Jesus will die?”
The answer is: Not man! Not yourself!
John 10:26
“But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.”
Jesus did not say, “You are not of My sheep because ye believed not.”
He did not say, “Your unbelief has excluded you from the sheep.”
But Jesus said, “You ye believe not, because ye are not of My sheep.” The cause of their unbelief was that they were not His sheep.
God did not elect them.
God did not give them faith.
So also those who believe do not make themselves sheep by their faith. You are not one of the sheep because you believe. No. You believe because you were made one of His sheep. God determines the sheep in the decree of election. “My Father gave them Me” (John 6:39). And the fruit of that election is faith. For these elect of God, to whom God gives faith as a result of His election, for these Jesus dies.
The atonement of the cross is in harmony with divine election.
We read Jesus’ words in John 6:38-39)
“I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And 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.”
Again, in John 17:2, in His prayer on the night before He went to the cross: “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.”
But there is an even more important question.
It is this: What was Jesus death?
We must see that the question, For whom did Jesus die? is related to this other crucial question: What was His death?
The difference between the truth of saving, sovereign grace and the teaching of free will is not that sovereign grace has Jesus dying for a few, and free will has Jesus dying for many. Or, to put it bluntly, the difference between free and sovereign grace and Arminianism works religion is not that the one (sovereign elective grace) is stingy and the other (Arminianism) generous and more loving.
But the difference between them is this: A Christ who dies for some (the elect) and a Christ who dies for all.
The difference is, what is the nature of Jesus’ death?
The Christ who dies for all those given to Him of the Father saves them so that they shall never perish.
A Christ who dies for all saves no one.
Did Jesus, then, intend or want to save all?
Does God’s love mean that He wants all to be saved?
Then, of course, there is a question to be put to that: All, clearly, are not saved—unless one wishes to throw out the Bible, for the Bible does not teach a universal salvation. It does not teach that all are saved. Jesus Himself spoke repeatedly of hell. He said, “Fear Him who is able to cast the body and soul into hell.”
There is a hell.
Not all are saved.
Well, if Jesus died for all, did Jesus fail?
And the answer that is given by those who believe in the free will, or the Arminian heresy, is that, “No, He didn’t fail. You see, on the cross, what Jesus did was to make it possible for everybody to be saved if we add something to that, namely, our decision for our faith. He cannot (even though He died on the cross—supposedly for sin) He cannot save unless we help. We save, then, ourselves—with Jesus’ help.”
But this does not exalt the cross.
This cheapens the cross.
This limits its power.
Then the cross does not save any.
It is a Christ who does not save unless He is helped.
It is a love that cannot keep anyone from hell unless he helps God.
And then sinners are flattered.
Sinners are assured that it is in their power to repent and to believe.
To make the cross of Jesus Christ actually effectual depends upon them.
God cannot save them, even though His Son suffered on the cross.
They can keep God at bay.
And the gospel is trivialized.
This is not the gospel.
This is not the biblical, wonderful truth of the gospel.
The gospel proclaims that the cross truly saves.
It saves everyone for whom Jesus laid down His life.
The cross does not fail.
By His death, Jesus has made certain that all for whom He died shall go to glory.
There is power in the cross.
Look upon the cross. It is flanked on the one hand by the total depravity of the sinner. The sinner cannot save himself. On the other had it is flanked by unconditional and free grace of election. Jesus Christ died to save a certain number of helpless sinners upon whom God set His free and electing love. Christ’s death insured not only that they would all be saved, but that, because Jesus died for their sins, they would also be called. And the Holy Spirit would work faith in their hearts. The cross saves. And the cross saves because Jesus laid down His life for you, for everyone given to Him of His Father.
What does the Bible teach about the nature of Jesus’ cross?
It says that this cross was, first of all, a precious death. The One who died upon Calvary was God’s Son in the flesh. He was the Holy Son of God without spot or blemish. His blood is the blood of God in the flesh. The value and the power of that blood is mighty.
Still more. It was a willing death: “I lay down My life.” His death was not an accident. His death was not a misunderstanding or tragedy. He was not forced to this cross against His will. It was a deliberate and intentional action. It was a willing sacrifice. He laid it down.
And His death was substitutionary. “I lay down My life for the sheep.”
“For,” that is, “in the place of, instead of, as a substitute for.”
We were guilty before God in the judgment. We deserve to be bound over to the torments of hell. But Christ, by grace, was sent of the Father, and upon the cross He said, “Father, I have been sent to stand in their stead that they might not be condemned. Let the condemnation that they deserve fall upon Me. That they might never be forsaken or cast out, forsake and cast Me out.”
He died for sins.
For whose sins?
Not His own sins, but for the sheep. He was wounded, Isaiah says in chapter 53, “for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.”
What you deserved was given over unto Him.
Romans 5:6
“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”
Therefore, the death of Jesus Christ accomplished something. It availed. It redeemed everyone for whom He died.
Ephesians 1:7
“In whom we have redemption through his blood.”
Revelation 12:10
“Who has redeemed us to God by his own blood.”
Colossians 2:13-14
“..having forgiven you all trespasses;
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross."
Our Lord’s crossword: “It is finished.”
All for whom He died—their debt is paid. He has obtained eternal salvation for the sheep. He obtained their faith. Faith is not the key in your pocket to open salvation. Faith is a gift that Jesus earned on the cross. It is the power of the cross. The power of the cross does not wait for the dead sinner, but it breathes into the dead sinner new life.
To teach that Jesus died for all is to deny His cross.
It is to present the cross as a failure.
It fails to save those whom it intends to save.
Indeed, it cannot save them at all unless they first help.
It did not pay any debt.
It did not obtain righteousness.
It has no worth.
It has no power.
It has no comfort.
But the truth of sovereign, saving grace is this: Jesus is no failure. Jesus, on the cross, conquered. Jesus paid for the sins of all His sheep.
Did Jesus then die for me?
This question must be answered in our souls. We cannot leave this unanswered. If Jesus died for you, then you will never die, you will never be condemned by God, you will never be forsaken. And if Jesus did not die for you, if you live impenitently and without faith, in your sins, if there is no fruit of sorrow for your sin, no desire after Christ, you are going to stand accountable to God for your sin.
How do I know that Jesus died for me?
Everyone for whom He died, in them, by the power of His cross, He sends forth the Holy Spirit. By this Holy Spirit, He gives you to know that you are in Christ. He gives you to know your sin, your unworthiness, your deep pain of heart of having offended God.
Still more, He gives you to see yourself, to see Jesus as your Savior, your hope, your good. You marvel at the love of God, that He would give for you, a sinner, His own Son. He gives you to believe on Him, to trust Him, to desire to obey and follow Him. You feel His grace working in you. Jesus works spiritual life in everyone for whom He died. By the power of the cross, He works in them a sorrow for sin, a repentance, a trust in Him, a hiding in His blood, and a deep personal love for Jesus. Then I know that something happened on Calvary long ago, on the hill outside Jerusalem — something happened that cannot be undone.
Jesus died for me.
He paid for all my sins.
He obtained the right to God’s presence.
Why did He do that?
Because He loved me purely, graciously. God so loved me, that He gave His only Begotten Son for me. Christ loved me and gave Himself for me. I will not perish.
This is the Jesus we preach.
This is the Jesus we love.
This is the Jesus we obey.
And all who put their trust in Him, by God’s grace, shall never be ashamed.
And we say, “This alone my plea shall be: Jesus Christ who died for me.”
By Carl Haak
Salvation in its plan, that is, in its eternal election; in its accomplishment, in the actual payment for sin upon the cross; in its application, the giving of this salvation into the human heart; in its consummation, when at last one is taken before the presence of God — all of it is of God. "Salvation is of the Lord."
This is especially true of the doctrine of the Bible called “Limited (Particular) Atonement.” The truth is that Jesus Christ, in His atonement, saved by grace all those given to Him of the Father. And they shall never perish, because Jesus died for them upon the cross.
Limited or definite atonement of Jesus Christ upon the cross is the heart of the precious gospel of Jesus Christ. Here we sinners will see our Savior in all of His beauty. Through all eternity we will know Jesus as the Lamb who was slain and has redeemed us unto God. Throughout all eternity we will see Him as the One by whose stripes we are healed. We will rejoice in Him as the crucified one. And this is how we know Him today. In every trial, in every heartache, in every moment, in joy or in death, old and young, those who have walked with Him all their life, and those who have learned His secrets only recently in their new conversion — all of us will know Jesus as the One who died for us, who laid down His life for us.
In John 10:15, Jesus says: “As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
In John 10 Jesus was contrasting Himself with the false leaders and teachers of His day, whom He calls intruders, hirelings among God’s people. They did not love the sheep. They fleeced the sheep. They used the sheep for themselves. They were hirelings who would run at the first sign of danger.
In contrast to that, Jesus says, in John 10:14: “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.” He calls Himself the Good Shepherd because He knows His sheep and will keep those sheep. And He calls Himself the Good Shepherd because He lays down His life for them. “I lay down my life for the sheep.” In those words Jesus Christ taught the truth of a limited, particular atonement.
We consider that today.
The question is: For whom did Jesus Christ die?
And the answer of the Bible is: Jesus Christ died for the elect, for all those throughout all ages and races, chosen eternally and loved graciously by God. The atonement was limited. That means that Jesus Christ died on the cross for a definite, particular number of persons. Revelation 7 refers to this as a multitude that no man can number. A great number known and chosen of the Father.
His death was an atonement.
That is a biblical word that refers to a payment or a covering for the sins of men and women.
It was redemption.
That is another word that is used in the Bible: redemption from sin. It was the purchase of men and women out of the guilt and bondage of their sin to the state of pardon and adoption as the sons and daughters of God.
This atonement or redemption was limited. Not in the sense of what He suffered, that what He suffered was limited. No. He suffered the full and the eternal wrath of God against our sins. But it was limited in the sense of for whom He suffered. He was definite or particular. He did not die for all human beings, but only for some, for those given to Him of the Father. His death on the cross was for a definite, particular group of men and women, each one of whom He knew personally, in divine, particular, gracious, saving love.
Now it is this truth, this truth of a limited or particular atonement, this truth of all the doctrines of God’s sovereign grace, that becomes so offensive to many. The response is that it is hated.
“What,” people will say, “did not Jesus die for all? Does not Jesus love all? How can we possibly do mission work?”
This truth will be assaulted and hated, and those who confess it will be accused of denying the gospel, and of denying the love of Jesus for sinners. It will be assaulted with a host of Bible verses: I Timothy 2:4, “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
But what seldom happens is that men and women listen to the biblical exposition of this truth. Listen to Jesus, who taught this truth.
Jesus Himself will answer the question: For whom would He die upon the cross?
In John 10 He says, “I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:15).
When He says, “I lay down My life,” He is talking about the cross. He is not simply talking about a sacrificial desire that He has to serve other people. But He is referring to the cross of Calvary. John 13:1, Jesus knew that His hour was come, and in the Scriptures we go on to read that at that night He said, “The cup that My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?”
Jesus knew that He had to go the way that the Father had willed. True, the Son of man goeth as it was determined of Him (Luke 22:22), but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed. And He says that that death, that predetermined death on the cross that He had come to suffer, had a definite intention or purpose. On the cross He would lay down His life, He would die for a definite number of persons. “I lay down My life for the sheep.”
He does not lay down His life for all humans, but for the “sheep.”
In John 10, He makes that very plain when in verse 26 of the chapter He refers to some (the unbelieving Pharisees) as not being of His sheep. “But ye believe not, because ye are not of My sheep,” He says to them. “I will not lay down My life for you.” Sheep does not include all men. But sheep includes all those whom the Father had given to Him.
Jesus goes on to say that in John 10 as well, verses 27-29: “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, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me….”
My Father gave the sheep to Me. He is “greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” Jesus teaches that He lays down His life for everyone whom the Father, out of mere grace, out of free election, gave to Him.
The ones for whom He dies are the ones He knows in that gracious, unbreakable bond of love.
John 10:14-15
“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father.”
He is referring there to a knowledge of gracious, personal, intimate love. He says, “As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father.”
He brings us there to the point of intimacy beyond our ability to comprehend—the tender, the personal, the intimate love of the triune God. The Father loves the Son, knows the Son; and the Son knows the Father. Jesus says, “In like manner, even so I know My own and My own know Me. I know them intimately. I know them personally. I know them exhaustively. There is nothing in these people that will startle Me.”
There is nothing that can suddenly come up and He would say, “But I didn’t know that about them.”
“I love them graciously and unchangeably. I know who My own are. I know the sheep given to Me of the Father. They will hear My voice and they will come to Me. And I will die on the cross, for the ones chosen from before the foundations of the world, whom I have loved with an everlasting love and whom I will draw to Myself.”
The death on the cross of Jesus Christ extends to all the elect. God’s gracious and eternal election determines who Christ died for on Calvary’s cruel cross.
The question, of course, is: “Who determines the extent of Christ’s death? Who determines who it will be for whom Jesus will die?”
The answer is: Not man! Not yourself!
John 10:26
“But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.”
Jesus did not say, “You are not of My sheep because ye believed not.”
He did not say, “Your unbelief has excluded you from the sheep.”
But Jesus said, “You ye believe not, because ye are not of My sheep.” The cause of their unbelief was that they were not His sheep.
God did not elect them.
God did not give them faith.
So also those who believe do not make themselves sheep by their faith. You are not one of the sheep because you believe. No. You believe because you were made one of His sheep. God determines the sheep in the decree of election. “My Father gave them Me” (John 6:39). And the fruit of that election is faith. For these elect of God, to whom God gives faith as a result of His election, for these Jesus dies.
The atonement of the cross is in harmony with divine election.
We read Jesus’ words in John 6:38-39)
“I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And 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.”
Again, in John 17:2, in His prayer on the night before He went to the cross: “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.”
But there is an even more important question.
It is this: What was Jesus death?
We must see that the question, For whom did Jesus die? is related to this other crucial question: What was His death?
The difference between the truth of saving, sovereign grace and the teaching of free will is not that sovereign grace has Jesus dying for a few, and free will has Jesus dying for many. Or, to put it bluntly, the difference between free and sovereign grace and Arminianism works religion is not that the one (sovereign elective grace) is stingy and the other (Arminianism) generous and more loving.
But the difference between them is this: A Christ who dies for some (the elect) and a Christ who dies for all.
The difference is, what is the nature of Jesus’ death?
The Christ who dies for all those given to Him of the Father saves them so that they shall never perish.
A Christ who dies for all saves no one.
Did Jesus, then, intend or want to save all?
Does God’s love mean that He wants all to be saved?
Then, of course, there is a question to be put to that: All, clearly, are not saved—unless one wishes to throw out the Bible, for the Bible does not teach a universal salvation. It does not teach that all are saved. Jesus Himself spoke repeatedly of hell. He said, “Fear Him who is able to cast the body and soul into hell.”
There is a hell.
Not all are saved.
Well, if Jesus died for all, did Jesus fail?
And the answer that is given by those who believe in the free will, or the Arminian heresy, is that, “No, He didn’t fail. You see, on the cross, what Jesus did was to make it possible for everybody to be saved if we add something to that, namely, our decision for our faith. He cannot (even though He died on the cross—supposedly for sin) He cannot save unless we help. We save, then, ourselves—with Jesus’ help.”
But this does not exalt the cross.
This cheapens the cross.
This limits its power.
Then the cross does not save any.
It is a Christ who does not save unless He is helped.
It is a love that cannot keep anyone from hell unless he helps God.
And then sinners are flattered.
Sinners are assured that it is in their power to repent and to believe.
To make the cross of Jesus Christ actually effectual depends upon them.
God cannot save them, even though His Son suffered on the cross.
They can keep God at bay.
And the gospel is trivialized.
This is not the gospel.
This is not the biblical, wonderful truth of the gospel.
The gospel proclaims that the cross truly saves.
It saves everyone for whom Jesus laid down His life.
The cross does not fail.
By His death, Jesus has made certain that all for whom He died shall go to glory.
There is power in the cross.
Look upon the cross. It is flanked on the one hand by the total depravity of the sinner. The sinner cannot save himself. On the other had it is flanked by unconditional and free grace of election. Jesus Christ died to save a certain number of helpless sinners upon whom God set His free and electing love. Christ’s death insured not only that they would all be saved, but that, because Jesus died for their sins, they would also be called. And the Holy Spirit would work faith in their hearts. The cross saves. And the cross saves because Jesus laid down His life for you, for everyone given to Him of His Father.
What does the Bible teach about the nature of Jesus’ cross?
It says that this cross was, first of all, a precious death. The One who died upon Calvary was God’s Son in the flesh. He was the Holy Son of God without spot or blemish. His blood is the blood of God in the flesh. The value and the power of that blood is mighty.
Still more. It was a willing death: “I lay down My life.” His death was not an accident. His death was not a misunderstanding or tragedy. He was not forced to this cross against His will. It was a deliberate and intentional action. It was a willing sacrifice. He laid it down.
And His death was substitutionary. “I lay down My life for the sheep.”
“For,” that is, “in the place of, instead of, as a substitute for.”
We were guilty before God in the judgment. We deserve to be bound over to the torments of hell. But Christ, by grace, was sent of the Father, and upon the cross He said, “Father, I have been sent to stand in their stead that they might not be condemned. Let the condemnation that they deserve fall upon Me. That they might never be forsaken or cast out, forsake and cast Me out.”
He died for sins.
For whose sins?
Not His own sins, but for the sheep. He was wounded, Isaiah says in chapter 53, “for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.”
What you deserved was given over unto Him.
Romans 5:6
“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”
Therefore, the death of Jesus Christ accomplished something. It availed. It redeemed everyone for whom He died.
Ephesians 1:7
“In whom we have redemption through his blood.”
Revelation 12:10
“Who has redeemed us to God by his own blood.”
Colossians 2:13-14
“..having forgiven you all trespasses;
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross."
Our Lord’s crossword: “It is finished.”
All for whom He died—their debt is paid. He has obtained eternal salvation for the sheep. He obtained their faith. Faith is not the key in your pocket to open salvation. Faith is a gift that Jesus earned on the cross. It is the power of the cross. The power of the cross does not wait for the dead sinner, but it breathes into the dead sinner new life.
To teach that Jesus died for all is to deny His cross.
It is to present the cross as a failure.
It fails to save those whom it intends to save.
Indeed, it cannot save them at all unless they first help.
It did not pay any debt.
It did not obtain righteousness.
It has no worth.
It has no power.
It has no comfort.
But the truth of sovereign, saving grace is this: Jesus is no failure. Jesus, on the cross, conquered. Jesus paid for the sins of all His sheep.
Did Jesus then die for me?
This question must be answered in our souls. We cannot leave this unanswered. If Jesus died for you, then you will never die, you will never be condemned by God, you will never be forsaken. And if Jesus did not die for you, if you live impenitently and without faith, in your sins, if there is no fruit of sorrow for your sin, no desire after Christ, you are going to stand accountable to God for your sin.
How do I know that Jesus died for me?
Everyone for whom He died, in them, by the power of His cross, He sends forth the Holy Spirit. By this Holy Spirit, He gives you to know that you are in Christ. He gives you to know your sin, your unworthiness, your deep pain of heart of having offended God.
Still more, He gives you to see yourself, to see Jesus as your Savior, your hope, your good. You marvel at the love of God, that He would give for you, a sinner, His own Son. He gives you to believe on Him, to trust Him, to desire to obey and follow Him. You feel His grace working in you. Jesus works spiritual life in everyone for whom He died. By the power of the cross, He works in them a sorrow for sin, a repentance, a trust in Him, a hiding in His blood, and a deep personal love for Jesus. Then I know that something happened on Calvary long ago, on the hill outside Jerusalem — something happened that cannot be undone.
Jesus died for me.
He paid for all my sins.
He obtained the right to God’s presence.
Why did He do that?
Because He loved me purely, graciously. God so loved me, that He gave His only Begotten Son for me. Christ loved me and gave Himself for me. I will not perish.
This is the Jesus we preach.
This is the Jesus we love.
This is the Jesus we obey.
And all who put their trust in Him, by God’s grace, shall never be ashamed.
And we say, “This alone my plea shall be: Jesus Christ who died for me.”
By Carl Haak
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The Remnant According To The Election Of Grace
Romans 11:5
Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
Before we begin our study on the remnant, I would like to define a few terms in our text:
1) "remnant": means a small group within a group. As we study this doctrine we will see it's meaning in the scriptures. The scriptures teach that at any given time in history: there are very few people elect in comparison to the mass multitudes who are reprobate and will face eternal damnation.
2) "election of grace": is the doctrine that God has a people He chose in Christ before creation (Ephesians 1:4), and Jesus came and died for their sins establishing righteousness for them only (Isaiah 53:11), and the Holy Spirit will come to each one of these elect with the true gospel and they will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ALONE for ALL their salvation (John 6:37). It's God's election, and it's all by His grace.
So our text Romans 11:5, "Even so at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace": is teaching that at any time in history, there are few people saved, and the majority of mankind are unbelievers and under the wrath of God; and that this salvation is all of God's grace in Christ.
The Lord was asked: "Lord, are there few that be saved?" (Luke 13:23). The Biblical answer is yes. It is true that the Bible teaches that the elect in heaven will be a number that no man can number:
Revelation 7:9
"After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb (Christ), clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
Revelation 7:10
And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb."
Praise God it is a great number; but in comparison to all who have lived in history, it is a remnant (a small group within the whole group). This is what we will now look at through scriptural history - because over a billion people on earth profess to be Christians; yet the Biblical teaching is that there is only a remnant of mankind that at any time in history is Christian.
We will begin with Noah's time in history.
As Noah existed on the earth, the Bible teaches that the earth was full of people. Read for yourself in Genesis chapter 5 the generations of Adam. We read also in Genesis 6:1.
Genesis 6:1
And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them.
When God brought Noah unto the earth it was populated with people. Noah was called: "a preacher of righteousness" (II Peter 2:5).
Noah preached the gospel to an earth full of sinners.
How many were elect?
Only 8 people were, inclucing Noah (I Peter 3:20). God saved only 8 in the ark out of mankind; the ark being a type of Christ.
Next we look at the time of Elijah the prophet: the time of the Kings: Elijah speaks:
Romans 11:3
Lord, they (Israel - the professing people of God in Elijah's day) have killed thy prophets, and digging down thy altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
Romans 11:4
But what sayeth the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
In Elijah's day the earth was full of people, yet how many were elect?
7,000 people. (The historical account of this is in I Kings 19;9-18).
Next: in the prophet Isaiah's day. Read Isaiah chapter one. Here God is addressing those who professed the true religion - Israel of the Old Testament. God reveals in the first chapter of Isaiah that their worship of Him was false. Yet God had a remnant:
Isaiah 1:9
Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
Now remember, during this time, God allowed all other nations of the earth to be without even the preaching of the gospel; it was confined to Israel. And in Israel there was only a "very small remnant".
Israel was the center of the worship of God; yet even among them there was only a remnant:
"Esaias (Isaiah) also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved".
(Romans 9:27; with the historical passage being Isaiah 10:20-23).
Go to the seashore, or see the seashore in your mind, and all the grains of sand on the beach; then hear God say only a remnant of them are my people. Now remember that God here is speaking of the religious Jews here - not the whole world. The rest of the world was left out of even the eternal preaching of the gospel.
We now will look at the time when Christ walked the earth. Christ said that among Christendom (those that profess Christ) there will be very few saved:
Matthew 7:13
Enter ye in at the strait gate (salvation conditioned on Christ alone): for wide is the gate, and broad is the way (false religion within professing Christendom and all unbelievers), that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Matthew 7:14
Because stait is the gate (salvation conditioned on Christ ALONE), and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Within professing Christendom, many are lost and few are saved.
Many (compared to the remnant) who profess Christ will be damned.
The Lord Jesus said:
Matthew 7:21
Not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but He that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 7:22
Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Matthew 7:23
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me ye that work iniquity.
Many who profess Christ on the day of judgement will be damned.
Why?
Because they will plead their works as their righteousness before God, even giving God the credit ("in thy name").
God tells us in the passage what the remnant will do: verse 21: "he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven".
What is the Father's will here?
Jesus said:
John 6:29
"..This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him (Christ) whom He hath sent."
The remnant will come to believe in Christ ALONE for ALL of salvation, apart from their works.
The Lord Jesus said:
Matthew 22:14
For many are called, but few are chosen.
Many hear the true gospel, but out of that group, few (remnant) are chosen by God to believe it. Now Christ here is speaking of those who have heard the true gospel: salvation conditioned on Christ ALONE. He is not speaking of the rest of mankind, and the false gospels of so called Christendom.
Now we come to our day. The true gospel being preached in congregations is rare. There are few (remnant) gospel congregations. The majority of Christendom (those who profess Christ) do not even have the gospel. They believe in a gospel of works.
Roman Catholicism is not ashamed to openly teach salvation by Christ + works.
Arminianism is the prominent teaching in Christendom today: that Christ died for everyone, saving no one; and your salvation is actually based on your decision, an altar call, being baptized, "I let Jesus into my heart"; or whatever man dreams up. But this is all works of the sinner and not the gospel.
In our day, just like in every day in history, our text is true:
Romans 11:5
Even at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
All of the remnant will hear the true gospel, and repent (totally change their thinking and turn from their false god), and believe on Christ ALONE for ALL their salvation.
But there is only a remnant.
But God's remnant will rejoice to hear the Savior say:
Luke 12:32
Fear not, little flock (the remnant elect): for it is the Father's good pleasure to give (in the election of grace) you the kingdom (salvation)
Amen!
By Craig Miklosik
Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
Before we begin our study on the remnant, I would like to define a few terms in our text:
1) "remnant": means a small group within a group. As we study this doctrine we will see it's meaning in the scriptures. The scriptures teach that at any given time in history: there are very few people elect in comparison to the mass multitudes who are reprobate and will face eternal damnation.
2) "election of grace": is the doctrine that God has a people He chose in Christ before creation (Ephesians 1:4), and Jesus came and died for their sins establishing righteousness for them only (Isaiah 53:11), and the Holy Spirit will come to each one of these elect with the true gospel and they will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ALONE for ALL their salvation (John 6:37). It's God's election, and it's all by His grace.
So our text Romans 11:5, "Even so at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace": is teaching that at any time in history, there are few people saved, and the majority of mankind are unbelievers and under the wrath of God; and that this salvation is all of God's grace in Christ.
The Lord was asked: "Lord, are there few that be saved?" (Luke 13:23). The Biblical answer is yes. It is true that the Bible teaches that the elect in heaven will be a number that no man can number:
Revelation 7:9
"After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb (Christ), clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
Revelation 7:10
And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb."
Praise God it is a great number; but in comparison to all who have lived in history, it is a remnant (a small group within the whole group). This is what we will now look at through scriptural history - because over a billion people on earth profess to be Christians; yet the Biblical teaching is that there is only a remnant of mankind that at any time in history is Christian.
We will begin with Noah's time in history.
As Noah existed on the earth, the Bible teaches that the earth was full of people. Read for yourself in Genesis chapter 5 the generations of Adam. We read also in Genesis 6:1.
Genesis 6:1
And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them.
When God brought Noah unto the earth it was populated with people. Noah was called: "a preacher of righteousness" (II Peter 2:5).
Noah preached the gospel to an earth full of sinners.
How many were elect?
Only 8 people were, inclucing Noah (I Peter 3:20). God saved only 8 in the ark out of mankind; the ark being a type of Christ.
Next we look at the time of Elijah the prophet: the time of the Kings: Elijah speaks:
Romans 11:3
Lord, they (Israel - the professing people of God in Elijah's day) have killed thy prophets, and digging down thy altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
Romans 11:4
But what sayeth the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
In Elijah's day the earth was full of people, yet how many were elect?
7,000 people. (The historical account of this is in I Kings 19;9-18).
Next: in the prophet Isaiah's day. Read Isaiah chapter one. Here God is addressing those who professed the true religion - Israel of the Old Testament. God reveals in the first chapter of Isaiah that their worship of Him was false. Yet God had a remnant:
Isaiah 1:9
Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
Now remember, during this time, God allowed all other nations of the earth to be without even the preaching of the gospel; it was confined to Israel. And in Israel there was only a "very small remnant".
Israel was the center of the worship of God; yet even among them there was only a remnant:
"Esaias (Isaiah) also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved".
(Romans 9:27; with the historical passage being Isaiah 10:20-23).
Go to the seashore, or see the seashore in your mind, and all the grains of sand on the beach; then hear God say only a remnant of them are my people. Now remember that God here is speaking of the religious Jews here - not the whole world. The rest of the world was left out of even the eternal preaching of the gospel.
We now will look at the time when Christ walked the earth. Christ said that among Christendom (those that profess Christ) there will be very few saved:
Matthew 7:13
Enter ye in at the strait gate (salvation conditioned on Christ alone): for wide is the gate, and broad is the way (false religion within professing Christendom and all unbelievers), that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Matthew 7:14
Because stait is the gate (salvation conditioned on Christ ALONE), and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Within professing Christendom, many are lost and few are saved.
Many (compared to the remnant) who profess Christ will be damned.
The Lord Jesus said:
Matthew 7:21
Not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but He that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 7:22
Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Matthew 7:23
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me ye that work iniquity.
Many who profess Christ on the day of judgement will be damned.
Why?
Because they will plead their works as their righteousness before God, even giving God the credit ("in thy name").
God tells us in the passage what the remnant will do: verse 21: "he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven".
What is the Father's will here?
Jesus said:
John 6:29
"..This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him (Christ) whom He hath sent."
The remnant will come to believe in Christ ALONE for ALL of salvation, apart from their works.
The Lord Jesus said:
Matthew 22:14
For many are called, but few are chosen.
Many hear the true gospel, but out of that group, few (remnant) are chosen by God to believe it. Now Christ here is speaking of those who have heard the true gospel: salvation conditioned on Christ ALONE. He is not speaking of the rest of mankind, and the false gospels of so called Christendom.
Now we come to our day. The true gospel being preached in congregations is rare. There are few (remnant) gospel congregations. The majority of Christendom (those who profess Christ) do not even have the gospel. They believe in a gospel of works.
Roman Catholicism is not ashamed to openly teach salvation by Christ + works.
Arminianism is the prominent teaching in Christendom today: that Christ died for everyone, saving no one; and your salvation is actually based on your decision, an altar call, being baptized, "I let Jesus into my heart"; or whatever man dreams up. But this is all works of the sinner and not the gospel.
In our day, just like in every day in history, our text is true:
Romans 11:5
Even at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
All of the remnant will hear the true gospel, and repent (totally change their thinking and turn from their false god), and believe on Christ ALONE for ALL their salvation.
But there is only a remnant.
But God's remnant will rejoice to hear the Savior say:
Luke 12:32
Fear not, little flock (the remnant elect): for it is the Father's good pleasure to give (in the election of grace) you the kingdom (salvation)
Amen!
By Craig Miklosik
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Two Religions
The religion of men
With only one exception, every religion that has ever existed in this world maintains that the way to salvation is through good works. Their view of what constitutes salvation may differ (some may see it as a right relationship with God; or attaining to ones "higher self;" or a positive relationship with the universe; or access to heaven and bliss); however, the underlying way in which they all aim to obtain salvation is always the same – through their own dead works.
These religions all maintain that the exercise of the will; the performance of good works; the abstention from evil deeds; the improvement of character, thought and conduct; and/or the performance of certain religious rituals, observances, and other duties are all necessary factors in initiating their salvation, and often, in preserving their salvation.
The specific works at issue will vary from religion to religion, as will their opinions on what constitutes necessary moral reform, religious observance and duty, etc. However, if you strip away the specifics of these things, the core foundation is always the will and work of man. Likewise, the books they deem holy will vary; as will the names of their religious "holy men;" and even the names of their god or gods. Nonetheless, the works they have in view; their "holy" books and men; and their false gods will always point them back to self – and what they must think, say, or do to get right with the divine.
As a result, we see:
Talmudists (modern-day followers of the Jewish religion) attempting to keep the Old Testament law and otherwise working and exercising their fallen will in an attempt to get saved;
Arminians, Romanists, and all other so-called "free-will christians" going about "making a decision for Christ;" "accepting Jesus into their heart," "saying the sinners prayer," and otherwise working and exercising their fallen will in an attempt to get saved;
Muslims keeping the Islamic/Sharia law, performing the Hajj, praying towards Mecca, and otherwise working and exercising their fallen will in an attempt to get saved;
Hindus/Buddhist/Taoist etc., performing various rituals, observances, acts of self-denial, acts of obedience to their moral codes, and the exercising of their fallen will to reach their desired religious ends; and
Every other religionist likewise implementing their own rules, belief systems, acts of obedience, and manifestations of will-worship, that they deem necessary to reach their desired religious end.
The Religion of God
As stated above, there is one exception and that exception is Christianity. True, biblical, Christianity is the only religion that states that your best efforts at moral reform and religious observance, if aimed at forming the basis of your salvation, serves only to further distance you from God. God's word declares that exercises of the will and moral and religious activity (collectively known as works of the law) only serve to bring you closer to the pit of hell if you believe that these things can do anything to initiate, preserve, or improve upon salvation. The true Gospel (as opposed to the free-will counterfeits that abound in our day) declares that the Lord Jesus Christ completed all that was necessary for the salvation of His people. He performed all the work required to satisfy the divine law, justice, and wrath of God. He left nothing undone, no aspect of a sinner's salvation depends on something that they must do (as if to make up for something that the Lord Jesus Christ could not, would not, or otherwise did not do to obtain full pardon for His people).
True Christianity is not an "Ivory Soap" religion; it isn't 99.44% God's work, and 0.56% percent our own. Salvation is either all of God, as in one-hundred percent, or it is a damnable lie that cannot save anyone. Thus, any attempt to add ones own works into God's plan of salvation (whether the works be mental, verbal, or physical), is tantamount to attempting to steal the glory due to Christ and Him alone. It is tantamount to declaring Christ's blood common, impotent, and insufficient for the cause. Finally, it is tantamount to declaring the Lord Jesus Christ a liar, and declaring that the work wasn't really finished when Jesus declared "It is Finished."
By Curt Wildy
With only one exception, every religion that has ever existed in this world maintains that the way to salvation is through good works. Their view of what constitutes salvation may differ (some may see it as a right relationship with God; or attaining to ones "higher self;" or a positive relationship with the universe; or access to heaven and bliss); however, the underlying way in which they all aim to obtain salvation is always the same – through their own dead works.
These religions all maintain that the exercise of the will; the performance of good works; the abstention from evil deeds; the improvement of character, thought and conduct; and/or the performance of certain religious rituals, observances, and other duties are all necessary factors in initiating their salvation, and often, in preserving their salvation.
The specific works at issue will vary from religion to religion, as will their opinions on what constitutes necessary moral reform, religious observance and duty, etc. However, if you strip away the specifics of these things, the core foundation is always the will and work of man. Likewise, the books they deem holy will vary; as will the names of their religious "holy men;" and even the names of their god or gods. Nonetheless, the works they have in view; their "holy" books and men; and their false gods will always point them back to self – and what they must think, say, or do to get right with the divine.
As a result, we see:
Talmudists (modern-day followers of the Jewish religion) attempting to keep the Old Testament law and otherwise working and exercising their fallen will in an attempt to get saved;
Arminians, Romanists, and all other so-called "free-will christians" going about "making a decision for Christ;" "accepting Jesus into their heart," "saying the sinners prayer," and otherwise working and exercising their fallen will in an attempt to get saved;
Muslims keeping the Islamic/Sharia law, performing the Hajj, praying towards Mecca, and otherwise working and exercising their fallen will in an attempt to get saved;
Hindus/Buddhist/Taoist etc., performing various rituals, observances, acts of self-denial, acts of obedience to their moral codes, and the exercising of their fallen will to reach their desired religious ends; and
Every other religionist likewise implementing their own rules, belief systems, acts of obedience, and manifestations of will-worship, that they deem necessary to reach their desired religious end.
The Religion of God
As stated above, there is one exception and that exception is Christianity. True, biblical, Christianity is the only religion that states that your best efforts at moral reform and religious observance, if aimed at forming the basis of your salvation, serves only to further distance you from God. God's word declares that exercises of the will and moral and religious activity (collectively known as works of the law) only serve to bring you closer to the pit of hell if you believe that these things can do anything to initiate, preserve, or improve upon salvation. The true Gospel (as opposed to the free-will counterfeits that abound in our day) declares that the Lord Jesus Christ completed all that was necessary for the salvation of His people. He performed all the work required to satisfy the divine law, justice, and wrath of God. He left nothing undone, no aspect of a sinner's salvation depends on something that they must do (as if to make up for something that the Lord Jesus Christ could not, would not, or otherwise did not do to obtain full pardon for His people).
True Christianity is not an "Ivory Soap" religion; it isn't 99.44% God's work, and 0.56% percent our own. Salvation is either all of God, as in one-hundred percent, or it is a damnable lie that cannot save anyone. Thus, any attempt to add ones own works into God's plan of salvation (whether the works be mental, verbal, or physical), is tantamount to attempting to steal the glory due to Christ and Him alone. It is tantamount to declaring Christ's blood common, impotent, and insufficient for the cause. Finally, it is tantamount to declaring the Lord Jesus Christ a liar, and declaring that the work wasn't really finished when Jesus declared "It is Finished."
By Curt Wildy
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Refuting Charges of Neo-Gnosticism - Part 1
I Corinthians 15:1
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
I Corinthians 15:2
By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
I Corinthians 15:3
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
I Corinthians 15:4
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
The Gospel Outline
The passage above is one of the most common passages given to define the Gospel. However, when we look at it carefully, we see that this passage is not a strict definition of the Gospel, but rather, an outline/summary of it.
Why an outline, and not the actual definition?
When we consider the use of the phrase "according to the scriptures," we see that we must look beyond this passage alone to determine its true definition. We must consider all of the relevant biblical passages to come to a proper understanding of, and definition for, the Gospel. It only serves as a Gospel definition for those who already have a knowledge and understanding of the scriptural context that gives fulness and meaning to this passage.
Moreover, when we consider the passage carefully, we see that whatever the true Gospel is, it must address the following questions (and do so in a manner that is harmonious with the Scripture):
Who and what is meant by "Christ"in verse 3?
Why did Christ come to this Earth and why did he have to die?
Who are the "our" in "....our sins" in verse 3?
What is the significance of Christ's burial? - v4;
What does it mean that Christ rose again? - v4;
and what was accomplished by His death, burial, and resurrection?
Righteousness Revealed
Another way to determine whether I Corinthians 15:1-4 is the full Gospel message, or an outline or summary of it, is to apply this simple test:
Imagine saying to someone: "the Gospel is the good news that Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day;" and then imagine proceeding to ask them to explain to you, based on this one sentence, "what is the righteousness of God that is revealed in this Gospel" (Romans 1:16-17).
If they have never been exposed to Christianity or to the pseudo-Christian religions of christendom, they will probably look at you like a deer caught in headlights (not having any idea how to properly answer this question). They may say something to the effect that "God is a righteous God; He doesn't do anything wrong; God is good;" however, they will have no idea (from that one sentence) about the righteousness that The Lord Jesus Christ established for His people. They will not understand that Christ is the end of the law for them (i.e., law-keeping as a supposed means of being accepted before God), and that when His righteousness is imputed to them, all aspects of their salvation were guaranteed and sealed.
The Spirit of Compromise
Christians (as opposed to Arminians, Arians, Sacramentalists, those within the reformed community that embrace them, etc.) are often accused of making the Gospel "too complicated" or too "doctrinally inclusive."
They lodge the false charge that "unless someone has studied calvinism for some time (we say) they can't be saved." This is foolishness.
This has nothing to do with "studying Calvinism."
It has to do with the fact that our accusers want a "simpler" gospel (supposing the True to be too complicated); they want a watered-down gospel, one that has nothing to do with election, predestination, righteousness imputed, or perhaps any of the other vital precepts that make up the Doctrine of Christ. Although these doctrines are associated with Calvin's teachings, they stem not from Calvin, but from God as revealed in the Bible. These doctrines are all very much biblical, and they are intimately tied-into the Gospel and God's plan of salvation.
Now, there are many amongst these false accusers who claim to support the doctrines of free and sovereign grace. In "fairness" to them, many of them do indeed speak often and eloquently on such vital precepts as election, predestination, effectual atonement, sola scriptura, and other key doctrines (including righteousness imputed). However, they absolutely do not believe (in a spiritual, saving sense) the things that they say. They are not submitted to these Gospel truths because they willingly embrace not only those who deny these truths, but those who do so openly and teach others to do the same. By doing so, by openly embracing those who embrace heresy, they set these vital truths at naught before their congregations, and before all people. These compromisers make the precepts to appear as nothing more than interesting truths, enlightening truths, accurate and beneficial truths, but not truths that are essential components of the Gospel Truth. These false accusers simply do not see certain vital truths as being vital; they see them as optional (thinking that one can be saved though they are in clear rebellion against them).
Thus, such accusers (who account for a large, and growing, number of those who identify as Reformed, Calvinistic, Predestinarian) want a gospel that allows them to embrace nearly anyone as "Christian." You see it's so much easier, so much more comfortable, palatable, and "loving," to take on an ecumenical mindset, even if it means compromising the Gospel. It is so much less painful to the flesh to avoid the reviling, persecutions, and tribulations that arise out of making accurate and needful judgments based upon what the Bible declares. Believers, think about how many more friends you would have; how many more church members; how many more council/association affiliations and "guest speaker" requests you would have if you (and your church) would simply abstain from clearly defining the Gospel and distinguishing it from all counterfeits. You could gain the world, and lose your own soul (thus evidencing that you were never true believers). However, God's people find such notions repugnant; choosing Christ (by God's grace) and the tribulations associated with following after Him, rather than selling-out to the wicked of this world.
These false accusers compromise in various degrees. Some will speak out against the ills of Popery (Romanism), but will openly embrace Arminians. Some will speak boldly about the truths embodied in the acronym "TULIP" but will argue that God saved them and allowed them to remain "Jehovah Witnesses" and Pentecostals for months or years on end. These compromisers come in many different (spiritual) shapes and sizes; however, one thing is always true, they will embrace the heretic of their choosing if it suits there ungodly purposes.
The Charge of Neo-Gnosticism
Since these false accusers believe that they are saved, they must distinguish themselves from those who are truly saved. They most often do so by employing inaccurate arguments, outright lies, and corrupt appeals to human logic and emotion. One tactic in their arsenal is to accuse Christians of being Neo-Gnostic in doctrine. If such an accuser can mislead others, and convince them that those who preach the True gospel are really just making "deep doctrinal knowledge" a requirement (and/or a prerequisite, or precondition) for salvation, they can deflect the fault from themselves and make it appear that the error lies elsewhere.
The Gnostics of old misused the scriptures, and "spiritualized" it in ways that not only were not in harmony with the entirety of the Bible, but utterly undermined it. They brought in many pagan (mystery cult) beliefs and practices and rejected many of the core beliefs of Christianity (the virgin birth, the deity and/or humanity of Christ, the Trinity, etc.). As a result, heresy after heresy arose from those who claimed they had this "higher knowledge (gnosis)" of Scripture. They believed that only those initiated and immersed in their ways could truly understand the Bible. Such thinking by no means describes the true believer; and when the Neo-Gnostic charge is lobbied against God's people, it only serves to reveal the depths of wickedness, ignorance, and spiritual blindness of those making the accusation.
You see, true believers do not make doctrinal knowledge a prerequisite for initiating, maintaining, "improving upon," or sealing their salvation. Christ is the Author and Finisher of our Salvation; He that began a good work in us is faithful to complete it until the end. The Holy Spirit is our Seal and Earnest. The elect are maintained due to the divine, free, and sovereign will of the Father, as it was made possible solely by the Finished work of Christ, and made effectual in the elect sinner's life by the Holy Spirit. Our man-mustered, knowledge, faith, understanding, repentance, etc, has no bearing on getting a man saved or keeping him saved.
However, there are things that accompany salvation; a belief in the true Gospel is one of those things. When God regenerates and converts a person, He does teach them. We read that when the Spirit comes, and works that work in a person, He reproves them of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. He leads them into all truth pertaining to the essentials of the Gospel and the knowledge of God. God does not save a person, and then allow them to proclaim a false Gospel for days, weeks, months, or years. He doesn't save them so that they can still the glory from God for a season, and give that glory to man, or man's fallen will. God saves His people for His Name and Glory's sake, and He sends them out to be ambassadors of the Truth (not of lies, half-truths, and other falsehoods).
We read that Paul was "not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith." (Romans 1:16-17)
These compromisers are ashamed of, and in rebllion against, the Gospel. Though they may speak great, swelling words, they are ultimately ignorant (in a spiritual sense) of that righteousness revealed in the Gospel; especially as it relates to the value and necessity of it.
By Curt Wildy
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
I Corinthians 15:2
By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
I Corinthians 15:3
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
I Corinthians 15:4
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
The Gospel Outline
The passage above is one of the most common passages given to define the Gospel. However, when we look at it carefully, we see that this passage is not a strict definition of the Gospel, but rather, an outline/summary of it.
Why an outline, and not the actual definition?
When we consider the use of the phrase "according to the scriptures," we see that we must look beyond this passage alone to determine its true definition. We must consider all of the relevant biblical passages to come to a proper understanding of, and definition for, the Gospel. It only serves as a Gospel definition for those who already have a knowledge and understanding of the scriptural context that gives fulness and meaning to this passage.
Moreover, when we consider the passage carefully, we see that whatever the true Gospel is, it must address the following questions (and do so in a manner that is harmonious with the Scripture):
Who and what is meant by "Christ"in verse 3?
Why did Christ come to this Earth and why did he have to die?
Who are the "our" in "....our sins" in verse 3?
What is the significance of Christ's burial? - v4;
What does it mean that Christ rose again? - v4;
and what was accomplished by His death, burial, and resurrection?
Righteousness Revealed
Another way to determine whether I Corinthians 15:1-4 is the full Gospel message, or an outline or summary of it, is to apply this simple test:
Imagine saying to someone: "the Gospel is the good news that Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day;" and then imagine proceeding to ask them to explain to you, based on this one sentence, "what is the righteousness of God that is revealed in this Gospel" (Romans 1:16-17).
If they have never been exposed to Christianity or to the pseudo-Christian religions of christendom, they will probably look at you like a deer caught in headlights (not having any idea how to properly answer this question). They may say something to the effect that "God is a righteous God; He doesn't do anything wrong; God is good;" however, they will have no idea (from that one sentence) about the righteousness that The Lord Jesus Christ established for His people. They will not understand that Christ is the end of the law for them (i.e., law-keeping as a supposed means of being accepted before God), and that when His righteousness is imputed to them, all aspects of their salvation were guaranteed and sealed.
The Spirit of Compromise
Christians (as opposed to Arminians, Arians, Sacramentalists, those within the reformed community that embrace them, etc.) are often accused of making the Gospel "too complicated" or too "doctrinally inclusive."
They lodge the false charge that "unless someone has studied calvinism for some time (we say) they can't be saved." This is foolishness.
This has nothing to do with "studying Calvinism."
It has to do with the fact that our accusers want a "simpler" gospel (supposing the True to be too complicated); they want a watered-down gospel, one that has nothing to do with election, predestination, righteousness imputed, or perhaps any of the other vital precepts that make up the Doctrine of Christ. Although these doctrines are associated with Calvin's teachings, they stem not from Calvin, but from God as revealed in the Bible. These doctrines are all very much biblical, and they are intimately tied-into the Gospel and God's plan of salvation.
Now, there are many amongst these false accusers who claim to support the doctrines of free and sovereign grace. In "fairness" to them, many of them do indeed speak often and eloquently on such vital precepts as election, predestination, effectual atonement, sola scriptura, and other key doctrines (including righteousness imputed). However, they absolutely do not believe (in a spiritual, saving sense) the things that they say. They are not submitted to these Gospel truths because they willingly embrace not only those who deny these truths, but those who do so openly and teach others to do the same. By doing so, by openly embracing those who embrace heresy, they set these vital truths at naught before their congregations, and before all people. These compromisers make the precepts to appear as nothing more than interesting truths, enlightening truths, accurate and beneficial truths, but not truths that are essential components of the Gospel Truth. These false accusers simply do not see certain vital truths as being vital; they see them as optional (thinking that one can be saved though they are in clear rebellion against them).
Thus, such accusers (who account for a large, and growing, number of those who identify as Reformed, Calvinistic, Predestinarian) want a gospel that allows them to embrace nearly anyone as "Christian." You see it's so much easier, so much more comfortable, palatable, and "loving," to take on an ecumenical mindset, even if it means compromising the Gospel. It is so much less painful to the flesh to avoid the reviling, persecutions, and tribulations that arise out of making accurate and needful judgments based upon what the Bible declares. Believers, think about how many more friends you would have; how many more church members; how many more council/association affiliations and "guest speaker" requests you would have if you (and your church) would simply abstain from clearly defining the Gospel and distinguishing it from all counterfeits. You could gain the world, and lose your own soul (thus evidencing that you were never true believers). However, God's people find such notions repugnant; choosing Christ (by God's grace) and the tribulations associated with following after Him, rather than selling-out to the wicked of this world.
These false accusers compromise in various degrees. Some will speak out against the ills of Popery (Romanism), but will openly embrace Arminians. Some will speak boldly about the truths embodied in the acronym "TULIP" but will argue that God saved them and allowed them to remain "Jehovah Witnesses" and Pentecostals for months or years on end. These compromisers come in many different (spiritual) shapes and sizes; however, one thing is always true, they will embrace the heretic of their choosing if it suits there ungodly purposes.
The Charge of Neo-Gnosticism
Since these false accusers believe that they are saved, they must distinguish themselves from those who are truly saved. They most often do so by employing inaccurate arguments, outright lies, and corrupt appeals to human logic and emotion. One tactic in their arsenal is to accuse Christians of being Neo-Gnostic in doctrine. If such an accuser can mislead others, and convince them that those who preach the True gospel are really just making "deep doctrinal knowledge" a requirement (and/or a prerequisite, or precondition) for salvation, they can deflect the fault from themselves and make it appear that the error lies elsewhere.
The Gnostics of old misused the scriptures, and "spiritualized" it in ways that not only were not in harmony with the entirety of the Bible, but utterly undermined it. They brought in many pagan (mystery cult) beliefs and practices and rejected many of the core beliefs of Christianity (the virgin birth, the deity and/or humanity of Christ, the Trinity, etc.). As a result, heresy after heresy arose from those who claimed they had this "higher knowledge (gnosis)" of Scripture. They believed that only those initiated and immersed in their ways could truly understand the Bible. Such thinking by no means describes the true believer; and when the Neo-Gnostic charge is lobbied against God's people, it only serves to reveal the depths of wickedness, ignorance, and spiritual blindness of those making the accusation.
You see, true believers do not make doctrinal knowledge a prerequisite for initiating, maintaining, "improving upon," or sealing their salvation. Christ is the Author and Finisher of our Salvation; He that began a good work in us is faithful to complete it until the end. The Holy Spirit is our Seal and Earnest. The elect are maintained due to the divine, free, and sovereign will of the Father, as it was made possible solely by the Finished work of Christ, and made effectual in the elect sinner's life by the Holy Spirit. Our man-mustered, knowledge, faith, understanding, repentance, etc, has no bearing on getting a man saved or keeping him saved.
However, there are things that accompany salvation; a belief in the true Gospel is one of those things. When God regenerates and converts a person, He does teach them. We read that when the Spirit comes, and works that work in a person, He reproves them of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. He leads them into all truth pertaining to the essentials of the Gospel and the knowledge of God. God does not save a person, and then allow them to proclaim a false Gospel for days, weeks, months, or years. He doesn't save them so that they can still the glory from God for a season, and give that glory to man, or man's fallen will. God saves His people for His Name and Glory's sake, and He sends them out to be ambassadors of the Truth (not of lies, half-truths, and other falsehoods).
We read that Paul was "not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith." (Romans 1:16-17)
These compromisers are ashamed of, and in rebllion against, the Gospel. Though they may speak great, swelling words, they are ultimately ignorant (in a spiritual sense) of that righteousness revealed in the Gospel; especially as it relates to the value and necessity of it.
By Curt Wildy
Refuting Charges of Neo-Gnosticism - Part 2
What is the True gospel?
The Gospel is a declared message; it is not an offer or an invitation. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation for sin-sick souls; it is the good news and glad tidings of God, His kingdom, and His glorious plan of salvation (the complete salvation of elect sinners conditioned upon the atoning blood and imputed righteousness of Christ alone, without any contribution from the sinner as it pertains to their becoming saved, staying saved, or improving upon their salvation). It is a message that is full of vital truths; and the Holy Spirit gives His people faith to belief and to understand those vital truths when He quickens them.
My goal is to show that when the True Gospel is declared, the questions listed in the first section are answered and the Kingdom, Grace, and Righteousness of God are clearly revealed (Romans 1:16-17; Ephesians 2:8-9; and Matthew 24:14). My goal is to show that when these things are not revealed in supposed "gospel preaching," it isn't because the speaker is refraining from adding extraneous material from their message; instead, it is because they are preaching a diminished gospel, a watered-down gospel, an inaccurate gospel, or better put, a false gospel. There is only one Gospel, either it is preached faithfully, or it is despised and replaced with counterfeits.
At this point, let us consider I Corinthians 15 again (considering it prayerfully, systematically, and Lord willing, harmoniously with the Scripture). Let us also verify again whether the charges of Neo-Gnosticism are at all accurate.
Christ!
I Corinthians 15:3
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ....
Who is Christ?
You cannot properly understand this verse without first understanding who and what Christ is. When we search the Scriptures, comparing all relevant passages, we see that the Lord Jesus Christ is God the Son, co-equal with the Father and Holy Spirit in the Triune Godhead. We see that He is the God-Man mediator who kept the law perfectly on behalf of His people, atoned for them, and who alone makes their salvation possible (having reconciled them to God).
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made....
(John 1:1-3)
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(John 1:14)
But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
(John 5:17-18)
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form (external appearance) of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
(Philippians 2:5-8)
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
(Isaiah 9:6)
Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust [it] into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
(John 20:27-28)
Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. Psalm 45:6 -- But about the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. Hebrews 1:8
We know from numerous other passages that these precepts are true, and that they perfectly accord with the Scriptures. So, any gospel that denies the full humanity, and the full and co-equality of deity of Christ, is a false gospel. Such a "gospel" reveals a false Christ; one that is utterly unable to save. Such a false Christ is preached in many a pulpit today.
Died!
I Corinthians 15:3
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died... according to the scriptures.
Why did He die, how did He die?
You cannot properly understand this verse without first understanding how and why the Lord Jesus Christ had to die. When we search the Scripture we see that Christ was made a curse for His people (cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree - Galatians 3:13), so that they would be free from the curse of the law and free to enjoy eternal communion with God in Heaven. The Bible declares that He "was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5).
Again, by searching the Bible, we know that these precepts are true. So, any gospel that denies the death of Christ, the Atonement, the doctrine of imputation, or any other related vital doctrine is a false gospel. Such a "gospel" reveals a false Christ, one that can save no one. Again, such a false Christ is preached in many a pulpit today.
Romans 5:1
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Romans 5:2
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God....
Romans 5:6
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Romans 5:7
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
Romans 5:8
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:9
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Romans 5:10
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
For our sins!
I Corinthians 15:3
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
For whom did Christ die?
You cannot properly understand this passage without first understanding *who* is in view when the Holy Spirit moved the Apostle Paul to declare "for our sins." Who are the "our," is it only those in the Church of Corinth? Surely not, or else this would have no application to believers in our day.
Is it the entire world?
Many teach this; however, despite its popularity, it is a repugnantly inaccurate doctrine as we shall see below.
Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly [places] in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
(Ephesians 1:3-5)
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
(Ephesians 2:4-9)
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And 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.
(John 6:37-39)
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, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave [them] me, is greater than all; and no [man] is able to pluck [them] out of my Father's hand. I and [my] Father are one.
(John 10:27-30)
I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.....I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
(John 17:6-10)
But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(II Thessalonians 2:13)
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
(I Peter 1:1-2)
There are many more passages that refer to the fact that the "our sins" refers to the sins of God's elect, and only His elect. It does not refer to the sins of every person that has ever lived, or ever will live. God's atonement is effectual for all those for whom He died. Simply put, Christ died to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21) by paying the penalty they deserved. In so doing, He did all that was necessary to establish a righteousness for them that guarantees all aspects of their salvation. Christ came to save His sheep, and all of them will hear His voice and believe the Gospel unto salvation (by the grace, mercy, and effectual working of God).
So we see that any gospel that denies that "our sins" refers to God's elect, all of His elect, and only His elect, is a false gospel. Such a false gospel reveals a false Christ that cannot save. Such a false gospel often takes the form of Arminianism/Semi-Pelagianism/Sacramentalism and declares the abominable lie that Jesus' blood was shed commonly for all and that He died to atone for all (even though He knew the majority of them would end up in Hell); what utter, and blasphemous, foolishness. The Lord Jesus Christ is no fool, no failure, and He is by no means guilty of double jeopardy; He is both a Just God and a Saviour, both Just and Justifier.
By Curt Wildy
The Gospel is a declared message; it is not an offer or an invitation. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation for sin-sick souls; it is the good news and glad tidings of God, His kingdom, and His glorious plan of salvation (the complete salvation of elect sinners conditioned upon the atoning blood and imputed righteousness of Christ alone, without any contribution from the sinner as it pertains to their becoming saved, staying saved, or improving upon their salvation). It is a message that is full of vital truths; and the Holy Spirit gives His people faith to belief and to understand those vital truths when He quickens them.
My goal is to show that when the True Gospel is declared, the questions listed in the first section are answered and the Kingdom, Grace, and Righteousness of God are clearly revealed (Romans 1:16-17; Ephesians 2:8-9; and Matthew 24:14). My goal is to show that when these things are not revealed in supposed "gospel preaching," it isn't because the speaker is refraining from adding extraneous material from their message; instead, it is because they are preaching a diminished gospel, a watered-down gospel, an inaccurate gospel, or better put, a false gospel. There is only one Gospel, either it is preached faithfully, or it is despised and replaced with counterfeits.
At this point, let us consider I Corinthians 15 again (considering it prayerfully, systematically, and Lord willing, harmoniously with the Scripture). Let us also verify again whether the charges of Neo-Gnosticism are at all accurate.
Christ!
I Corinthians 15:3
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ....
Who is Christ?
You cannot properly understand this verse without first understanding who and what Christ is. When we search the Scriptures, comparing all relevant passages, we see that the Lord Jesus Christ is God the Son, co-equal with the Father and Holy Spirit in the Triune Godhead. We see that He is the God-Man mediator who kept the law perfectly on behalf of His people, atoned for them, and who alone makes their salvation possible (having reconciled them to God).
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made....
(John 1:1-3)
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(John 1:14)
But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
(John 5:17-18)
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form (external appearance) of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
(Philippians 2:5-8)
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
(Isaiah 9:6)
Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust [it] into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
(John 20:27-28)
Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. Psalm 45:6 -- But about the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. Hebrews 1:8
We know from numerous other passages that these precepts are true, and that they perfectly accord with the Scriptures. So, any gospel that denies the full humanity, and the full and co-equality of deity of Christ, is a false gospel. Such a "gospel" reveals a false Christ; one that is utterly unable to save. Such a false Christ is preached in many a pulpit today.
Died!
I Corinthians 15:3
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died... according to the scriptures.
Why did He die, how did He die?
You cannot properly understand this verse without first understanding how and why the Lord Jesus Christ had to die. When we search the Scripture we see that Christ was made a curse for His people (cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree - Galatians 3:13), so that they would be free from the curse of the law and free to enjoy eternal communion with God in Heaven. The Bible declares that He "was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5).
Again, by searching the Bible, we know that these precepts are true. So, any gospel that denies the death of Christ, the Atonement, the doctrine of imputation, or any other related vital doctrine is a false gospel. Such a "gospel" reveals a false Christ, one that can save no one. Again, such a false Christ is preached in many a pulpit today.
Romans 5:1
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Romans 5:2
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God....
Romans 5:6
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Romans 5:7
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
Romans 5:8
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:9
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Romans 5:10
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
For our sins!
I Corinthians 15:3
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
For whom did Christ die?
You cannot properly understand this passage without first understanding *who* is in view when the Holy Spirit moved the Apostle Paul to declare "for our sins." Who are the "our," is it only those in the Church of Corinth? Surely not, or else this would have no application to believers in our day.
Is it the entire world?
Many teach this; however, despite its popularity, it is a repugnantly inaccurate doctrine as we shall see below.
Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly [places] in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
(Ephesians 1:3-5)
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
(Ephesians 2:4-9)
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And 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.
(John 6:37-39)
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, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave [them] me, is greater than all; and no [man] is able to pluck [them] out of my Father's hand. I and [my] Father are one.
(John 10:27-30)
I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.....I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
(John 17:6-10)
But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(II Thessalonians 2:13)
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
(I Peter 1:1-2)
There are many more passages that refer to the fact that the "our sins" refers to the sins of God's elect, and only His elect. It does not refer to the sins of every person that has ever lived, or ever will live. God's atonement is effectual for all those for whom He died. Simply put, Christ died to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21) by paying the penalty they deserved. In so doing, He did all that was necessary to establish a righteousness for them that guarantees all aspects of their salvation. Christ came to save His sheep, and all of them will hear His voice and believe the Gospel unto salvation (by the grace, mercy, and effectual working of God).
So we see that any gospel that denies that "our sins" refers to God's elect, all of His elect, and only His elect, is a false gospel. Such a false gospel reveals a false Christ that cannot save. Such a false gospel often takes the form of Arminianism/Semi-Pelagianism/Sacramentalism and declares the abominable lie that Jesus' blood was shed commonly for all and that He died to atone for all (even though He knew the majority of them would end up in Hell); what utter, and blasphemous, foolishness. The Lord Jesus Christ is no fool, no failure, and He is by no means guilty of double jeopardy; He is both a Just God and a Saviour, both Just and Justifier.
By Curt Wildy
Refuting Charges of Neo-Gnosticism - Part 3
Buried!
I Corinthians 15:3
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
I Corinthians 15:4
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
What is the importance of His burial?
In Isaiah 53:8-9 we read of Jesus
Isaiah 53:8
He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Isaiah 53:9
And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
We see that the Lord Jesus Christ was buried, evidencing the fact that He was truly dead. Many a heretic of old, and even in our day, denied the actual Crucifixion, death, and burial of Christ (supposing that He was spared death just in the nick of time).
Though Christ, in His deity, could not die - His fleshly body (His humanity) did. He died in the stead of His people, as a guilty sinner. Not guilty in Himself, for He was perfectly pure, spotless, and free from sin. Nonetheless, He was guilty in the eyes of God, having the sins of His people imputed to Him (so that the righteousness He established for them would be imputed back to them).
As such, He made His grave with the wicked, having died as a guilty man (in that He willingly accepted the guilt and unspeakable punishment due His people, paying for every last one of their sins).
However, consider also the following passages:
Romans 6:1
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Romans 6:2
God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Romans 6:3
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Romans 6:4
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:5
For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Romans 6:6
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Romans 6:7
For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Romans 6:8
Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
Colossians 2:8
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Colossians 2:9
For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Colossians 2:10
And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
Colossians 2:11
In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
Colossians 2:12
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
The burial of the Lord Jesus Christ is directly tied into the precept that we were buried with Him; the very image of the ordinance of water baptism typifies His death, burial, and resurrection and ours in Him. We will address the resurrection aspect shortly. But in the meantime, let us boldly declare that if any gospel denies the death and burial of Christ (and the precepts associated with it), it is a false gospel. If any gospel denies the relationship between his death and burial, and the elect being buried with Him (indicating that our sins, embodied in the old man, were legally done away with forever in this life; and completely done away with in the life to come), it is a false gospel. Such a false gospel manifests in our day as true antinomianism (as opposed the groundless charge often laid against God's people), and is a root of such false doctrines as purgatory, and the notion that a true believer can lose their salvation.
Resurrection!
I Corinthians 15:3
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
I Corinthians 15:4
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
What is the significance of Christ's resurrection?
You cannot properly understand the importance of the resurrection without understanding that the Lord Jesus Christ evidenced that He completed all that was necessary to guarantee the salvation of His people by being first raised Himself. His resurrection, and His subsequent return to Heaven as our Prophet, Priest, and King, proves and guarantees (beyond all shadow of doubt) that all of His elect people will likewise be raised and will reign with Him for all eternity.
Romans 4:23
Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
Romans 4:24
But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
Romans 4:25
Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Romans 8:11
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
I Corinthians 6:14
And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
I Corinthians 15:15
Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
I Corinthians 15:16
For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
I Corinthians 15:17
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
I Corinthians 15:18
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
I Corinthians 15:19
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
I Corinthians 15:20
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
I Corinthians 15:21
For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
I Corinthians 15:22
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
II Corinthians 4:14
Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
Ephesians 2:4
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Ephesians 2:5
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Ephesians 2:6
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
I Thessalonians 4:14
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
I Thessalonians 4:15
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
I Thessalonians 4:16
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
I Thessalonians 4:17
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
I Thessalonians 4:18
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Thus, if any gospel denies the literal resurrection of Christ, or if any gospel denies that that resurrection of Christ evidences the fact that His people were raised in Him and are guaranteed all aspects of salvation (from regeneration to final glorification in Heaven) due to His finished work alone, it is a false gospel.
By Curt Wildy
I Corinthians 15:3
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
I Corinthians 15:4
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
What is the importance of His burial?
In Isaiah 53:8-9 we read of Jesus
Isaiah 53:8
He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Isaiah 53:9
And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
We see that the Lord Jesus Christ was buried, evidencing the fact that He was truly dead. Many a heretic of old, and even in our day, denied the actual Crucifixion, death, and burial of Christ (supposing that He was spared death just in the nick of time).
Though Christ, in His deity, could not die - His fleshly body (His humanity) did. He died in the stead of His people, as a guilty sinner. Not guilty in Himself, for He was perfectly pure, spotless, and free from sin. Nonetheless, He was guilty in the eyes of God, having the sins of His people imputed to Him (so that the righteousness He established for them would be imputed back to them).
As such, He made His grave with the wicked, having died as a guilty man (in that He willingly accepted the guilt and unspeakable punishment due His people, paying for every last one of their sins).
However, consider also the following passages:
Romans 6:1
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Romans 6:2
God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Romans 6:3
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Romans 6:4
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:5
For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Romans 6:6
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Romans 6:7
For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Romans 6:8
Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
Colossians 2:8
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Colossians 2:9
For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Colossians 2:10
And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
Colossians 2:11
In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
Colossians 2:12
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
The burial of the Lord Jesus Christ is directly tied into the precept that we were buried with Him; the very image of the ordinance of water baptism typifies His death, burial, and resurrection and ours in Him. We will address the resurrection aspect shortly. But in the meantime, let us boldly declare that if any gospel denies the death and burial of Christ (and the precepts associated with it), it is a false gospel. If any gospel denies the relationship between his death and burial, and the elect being buried with Him (indicating that our sins, embodied in the old man, were legally done away with forever in this life; and completely done away with in the life to come), it is a false gospel. Such a false gospel manifests in our day as true antinomianism (as opposed the groundless charge often laid against God's people), and is a root of such false doctrines as purgatory, and the notion that a true believer can lose their salvation.
Resurrection!
I Corinthians 15:3
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
I Corinthians 15:4
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
What is the significance of Christ's resurrection?
You cannot properly understand the importance of the resurrection without understanding that the Lord Jesus Christ evidenced that He completed all that was necessary to guarantee the salvation of His people by being first raised Himself. His resurrection, and His subsequent return to Heaven as our Prophet, Priest, and King, proves and guarantees (beyond all shadow of doubt) that all of His elect people will likewise be raised and will reign with Him for all eternity.
Romans 4:23
Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
Romans 4:24
But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
Romans 4:25
Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Romans 8:11
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
I Corinthians 6:14
And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
I Corinthians 15:15
Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
I Corinthians 15:16
For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
I Corinthians 15:17
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
I Corinthians 15:18
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
I Corinthians 15:19
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
I Corinthians 15:20
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
I Corinthians 15:21
For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
I Corinthians 15:22
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
II Corinthians 4:14
Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
Ephesians 2:4
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Ephesians 2:5
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Ephesians 2:6
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
I Thessalonians 4:14
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
I Thessalonians 4:15
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
I Thessalonians 4:16
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
I Thessalonians 4:17
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
I Thessalonians 4:18
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Thus, if any gospel denies the literal resurrection of Christ, or if any gospel denies that that resurrection of Christ evidences the fact that His people were raised in Him and are guaranteed all aspects of salvation (from regeneration to final glorification in Heaven) due to His finished work alone, it is a false gospel.
By Curt Wildy
Refuting Charges of Neo-Gnosticism - Part 4
I Corinthians 15 revisited
Based upon what has been written in the previous parts, we can see that the Gospel is not simply the "Death, Burial, and resurrection of Christ;" as if these words existed in some vacuum.
Rather, the Gospel is the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Christ "according to the scriptures." Thus through the scriptures, the Gospel reveals:
Who (and what) Christ is;
He is God the Son (co-equal to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit in the Triune Godhead)
He is the promised Saviour and Messiah who came to actually seek AND save that which was lost (God's elect);
He is the God-Man mediator that makes communion between God and His elect possible.
Why He became incarnate and why He had to die;
To keep the law of God perfectly as a man;
Though being spotless and without sin, to suffer the wrath of God (equivalent to eternal damnation for all of the sins of His people), so that He would atone for them, and establish for them a righteousness that guarantees their salvation.
All those for whom He died;
Every single one of God's elect (none one more and not one less).
The significance of His burial;
Setting for that He truly died for His people, and that His people are buried with Him being dead to the law, having the old man crucified, and being free from the dominion of sin.
The significance of His resurrection; and
Irrefutable proof that His work was finished; that atonement had been made for His people; that His people would be raised again with Him; and that He was our King victorious (conquering Satan, Death, and Hell and reigning over Heaven and Earth).
What was accomplished by His finished work?
Our blessed Prophet, Priest, and King, the Lord Jesus Christ, saved His people to the utmost by His atoning blood and imputed righteousness. His faithfulness to the Father in atoning for the elect glorified God in the highest. He reigns supreme, and His bride (the elect church) will be with Him forevermore. No one, and no thing, has ever, nor can ever frustrate His divine will, purpose, kingdom, honour, and glory.
Romans 1:16-17 and the Gospel revisited
We also see that the righteousness of God (established and imputed to all of God's elect) will be revealed when the true Gospel is declared. When a faithful preacher, teacher, or witness in general proclaims the Gospel, you can guarantee that the truths of free and sovereign grace and righteousness imputed will be affirmed.
When false prophets and false brethren bring their counterfeits, these doctrines will either be rejected, maligned, ignored, or water-down to make them of no real effect (in the hearts and minds of carnal men and women).
Too complicated?
Too extraneous?
The assertion that believers proclaim a Gospel that is too in-depth and confusing for the young believer is nonsense. To claim that the true Gospel is "Gnostic teaching" is bewildering at best. This argument could be plausible perhaps, if a man-mustered faith and a carnally-obtained understanding were prerequisites for salvation. However, for the true saint, drawn of the Father and regenerated and taught by the Holy Spirit, there is nothing complicated or extraneous about this Gospel. It is all very clear, especially when worked out in the heart, mind, and experience of the saved sinner.
The reality is that the essence of the Gospel can be laid out in a very short period of time (not that we are rushing, or that the time is at all relevant, but since our accusers pretend that our Gospel is too difficult, excessive, complicated, and time-consuming to be the true, it is worth pointing out). True believers know that there is no need to artificially "shorten" the Gospel, water it down, or make it more palatable (by leaving key elements out). Those who feel the need to do such things do not know the truth, they are those who have "made lies [their] refuge, and under falsehood have hid [them]selves" (Isaiah 28:15).
A sample message
But let's test it, let's see how complicated the Gospel really is.
Consider the following:
All of us are sinners by nature, guilty of the wrath of God. We all fell in Adam and we all commit an innumerable number of sins, the very first of which was enough to send us to Hell for all eternity. Nonetheless, despite our wretched state by nature, God sovereignly purposed to save a people for Himself. Through the Gospel, God declares to us the good news of His promise to save His people from their sins based upon the atoning blood and imputed righteousness of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
From before the foundation of the world, out of the mass of fallen humanity, God the Father elected a people for Himself; in multitude, they are a number that no man can count (though they are a remnant compared to the whole of mankind). In the divine covenant, the Father purposed to give His people to His son, that they would be His bride (His church or body of believers). Jesus likewise covenanted with the Father to save the elect, knowing that this would mean (a) humbling Himself, (b) becoming Incarnate, (c) keeping the law perfectly on their behalf; (d) dying in their stead (suffering both physically and spiritually under the wrath of God though He, himself, was pure and innocent); and (e) being raised again (evidencing that God's law and wrath were fully satisfied, Christ reigns victorious, and that His people are guaranteed all aspects of salvation - from regeneration to glorification in Heaven). Thus when Christ, in willing obedience to the Father, became incarnate, kept the law, died on the cross (declaring "it is finished"); and was raised again, we can rest assured that He completed all that was necessary and that all who truly believe in the Gospel are saved, and will persevere until the end.
However the Bible makes clear that a person believes only because they have been given the gift of faith and repentance to believe. They believe due to the fact that, as part of the salvation covenant, the Holy Spirit purposed to save all of the elect of the father, all for whom Christ atoned. At God's appointed time, the Gospel is brought to the elect sinner, and He is regenerated by the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit converts that individual, and reproves him of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He convicts them of their sins, and points them to that blessed remedy (the Lord Jesus Christ). From the declared gospel, He reveals to them both doctrinally and experientially (experimentally) that their only hope for salvation is in the finished work (atoning blood and imputed righteousness) of Christ and that nothing they say, do, think, abstain from doing, etc. plays any part in getting them saved or keeping them saved. The Holy Spirit causes them to throw all of their hopes on Christ, and on Him alone (causing them to reject will-worship and any notion that salvation is conditioned in any way upon them).
God saves a person so that they will go out and testify of the great things the Lord has done for them. That saved sinner is commissioned to go forth and witness to others both in word and in deed. Since no one can determine whether a person is elect by outward appearance, the believer is to witness to all mankind as God gives opportunity. Our focus isn't on determining who is elect or not, but on prayerfully and faithfully declaring the word of God (knowing that if the hearer is of God, the Holy Spirit will quicken and convert them). As each elect sinner becomes saved, we see the advancement of the promise of the Kingdom (i.e. the good news and glad tidings of Christ and his coming Kingdom). God reigns in Heaven and in Earth and His people reign with him as they seek to do His will (knowing that it is god who worketh in them both to will and to do of His good pleasure). Come judgment day, the Kingdom will be visibly manifest in all of it's glory and splendor as God's people are raised to be with Him in Heaven and the reprobate (those whom God never planned to save) are judged and cast into hell for all eternity.
What I have written above is what I often say when I witness to others. Words change here and there, as with order; and surely questions are asked and objections raised. Nonetheless, the truth is summarised in what I believe to be a clear, succinct, and accurate way. From there, I can then go on to address whatever questions or concerns the hearer may have. But nothing above is "too complicated" for them; or too lengthy and time-consuming. Nothing in the above is extraneous, unnecessary, or unimportant as it pertains to the salvation of souls.
So, does the charge still stand?
Is the charge of Neo-Gnosticism accurate when it comes to those who proclaim the true Gospel?
In light of the above (and the previous parts) are Christians really guilty of making human knowledge and understanding a requirement, precondition, or prerequisite for initiating salvation?
I think the clear answer is "no." We are simply guilty of affirming and proclaiming the God-ordained Gospel in a way that does not allow for corruption or compromise.
So let the false accusers tell you what they think about the matter of true Gospel preaching; let them tell you how they feel you are going beyond what the Bible declares the Gospel to be. Let them tell you how unloving you are, unkind, and how you hold to too strict a definition. Let them lament how you refuse to fellowship spiritually with those who deny the true Gospel (or compromise it by speaking spiritual peace to those who deny it).
As they do so, notice how these accusers rarely (a) use biblical means in an attempt to refute the arguments and proof-texts set forth herein; and how they (b) are rarely able to set-forth the scriptural proof-texts necessary to systematically support their own arguments.
You will find that, far more often than not, their biblical exegesis and hermeneutic is based primarily upon biblical misquotation and misinterpretation, carnal feelings/emotions, and their ties to their own groundless opinions and "insights" on the matter (or those opinions and "insights" of other men whom they respect).
All of this leads to one last question...
From whence did these errors derive?
When the "Reformed," "Calvinistic," and "Predestinarian" compromisers water-down the Gospel to embrace heresy, where did they get their arguments to justify such things?
When the Arminians (Semi-Pelagians), Romanists (Sacramentalists), Arians (false-Jehovah Witnesses), and other heretics bring forth their polluted gospels (which are no gospels at all), from where do their arguments originate?
The answer should be simple given that such error did not stem from God; His prophets and apostles; or from any of His faithful witnesses.
So where did this working of error stem?
From Satan, himself, and from the bellies and lusts of corrupt men and women who want to give themselves (and others) the glory in the working-out of their supposed salvation. Trace it back; those who proclaim such heresies can no doubt trace them back (if records survive and they are diligent) to those who "went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." (1 John 2:19).
By Curt Wildy
Based upon what has been written in the previous parts, we can see that the Gospel is not simply the "Death, Burial, and resurrection of Christ;" as if these words existed in some vacuum.
Rather, the Gospel is the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Christ "according to the scriptures." Thus through the scriptures, the Gospel reveals:
Who (and what) Christ is;
He is God the Son (co-equal to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit in the Triune Godhead)
He is the promised Saviour and Messiah who came to actually seek AND save that which was lost (God's elect);
He is the God-Man mediator that makes communion between God and His elect possible.
Why He became incarnate and why He had to die;
To keep the law of God perfectly as a man;
Though being spotless and without sin, to suffer the wrath of God (equivalent to eternal damnation for all of the sins of His people), so that He would atone for them, and establish for them a righteousness that guarantees their salvation.
All those for whom He died;
Every single one of God's elect (none one more and not one less).
The significance of His burial;
Setting for that He truly died for His people, and that His people are buried with Him being dead to the law, having the old man crucified, and being free from the dominion of sin.
The significance of His resurrection; and
Irrefutable proof that His work was finished; that atonement had been made for His people; that His people would be raised again with Him; and that He was our King victorious (conquering Satan, Death, and Hell and reigning over Heaven and Earth).
What was accomplished by His finished work?
Our blessed Prophet, Priest, and King, the Lord Jesus Christ, saved His people to the utmost by His atoning blood and imputed righteousness. His faithfulness to the Father in atoning for the elect glorified God in the highest. He reigns supreme, and His bride (the elect church) will be with Him forevermore. No one, and no thing, has ever, nor can ever frustrate His divine will, purpose, kingdom, honour, and glory.
Romans 1:16-17 and the Gospel revisited
We also see that the righteousness of God (established and imputed to all of God's elect) will be revealed when the true Gospel is declared. When a faithful preacher, teacher, or witness in general proclaims the Gospel, you can guarantee that the truths of free and sovereign grace and righteousness imputed will be affirmed.
When false prophets and false brethren bring their counterfeits, these doctrines will either be rejected, maligned, ignored, or water-down to make them of no real effect (in the hearts and minds of carnal men and women).
Too complicated?
Too extraneous?
The assertion that believers proclaim a Gospel that is too in-depth and confusing for the young believer is nonsense. To claim that the true Gospel is "Gnostic teaching" is bewildering at best. This argument could be plausible perhaps, if a man-mustered faith and a carnally-obtained understanding were prerequisites for salvation. However, for the true saint, drawn of the Father and regenerated and taught by the Holy Spirit, there is nothing complicated or extraneous about this Gospel. It is all very clear, especially when worked out in the heart, mind, and experience of the saved sinner.
The reality is that the essence of the Gospel can be laid out in a very short period of time (not that we are rushing, or that the time is at all relevant, but since our accusers pretend that our Gospel is too difficult, excessive, complicated, and time-consuming to be the true, it is worth pointing out). True believers know that there is no need to artificially "shorten" the Gospel, water it down, or make it more palatable (by leaving key elements out). Those who feel the need to do such things do not know the truth, they are those who have "made lies [their] refuge, and under falsehood have hid [them]selves" (Isaiah 28:15).
A sample message
But let's test it, let's see how complicated the Gospel really is.
Consider the following:
All of us are sinners by nature, guilty of the wrath of God. We all fell in Adam and we all commit an innumerable number of sins, the very first of which was enough to send us to Hell for all eternity. Nonetheless, despite our wretched state by nature, God sovereignly purposed to save a people for Himself. Through the Gospel, God declares to us the good news of His promise to save His people from their sins based upon the atoning blood and imputed righteousness of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
From before the foundation of the world, out of the mass of fallen humanity, God the Father elected a people for Himself; in multitude, they are a number that no man can count (though they are a remnant compared to the whole of mankind). In the divine covenant, the Father purposed to give His people to His son, that they would be His bride (His church or body of believers). Jesus likewise covenanted with the Father to save the elect, knowing that this would mean (a) humbling Himself, (b) becoming Incarnate, (c) keeping the law perfectly on their behalf; (d) dying in their stead (suffering both physically and spiritually under the wrath of God though He, himself, was pure and innocent); and (e) being raised again (evidencing that God's law and wrath were fully satisfied, Christ reigns victorious, and that His people are guaranteed all aspects of salvation - from regeneration to glorification in Heaven). Thus when Christ, in willing obedience to the Father, became incarnate, kept the law, died on the cross (declaring "it is finished"); and was raised again, we can rest assured that He completed all that was necessary and that all who truly believe in the Gospel are saved, and will persevere until the end.
However the Bible makes clear that a person believes only because they have been given the gift of faith and repentance to believe. They believe due to the fact that, as part of the salvation covenant, the Holy Spirit purposed to save all of the elect of the father, all for whom Christ atoned. At God's appointed time, the Gospel is brought to the elect sinner, and He is regenerated by the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit converts that individual, and reproves him of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He convicts them of their sins, and points them to that blessed remedy (the Lord Jesus Christ). From the declared gospel, He reveals to them both doctrinally and experientially (experimentally) that their only hope for salvation is in the finished work (atoning blood and imputed righteousness) of Christ and that nothing they say, do, think, abstain from doing, etc. plays any part in getting them saved or keeping them saved. The Holy Spirit causes them to throw all of their hopes on Christ, and on Him alone (causing them to reject will-worship and any notion that salvation is conditioned in any way upon them).
God saves a person so that they will go out and testify of the great things the Lord has done for them. That saved sinner is commissioned to go forth and witness to others both in word and in deed. Since no one can determine whether a person is elect by outward appearance, the believer is to witness to all mankind as God gives opportunity. Our focus isn't on determining who is elect or not, but on prayerfully and faithfully declaring the word of God (knowing that if the hearer is of God, the Holy Spirit will quicken and convert them). As each elect sinner becomes saved, we see the advancement of the promise of the Kingdom (i.e. the good news and glad tidings of Christ and his coming Kingdom). God reigns in Heaven and in Earth and His people reign with him as they seek to do His will (knowing that it is god who worketh in them both to will and to do of His good pleasure). Come judgment day, the Kingdom will be visibly manifest in all of it's glory and splendor as God's people are raised to be with Him in Heaven and the reprobate (those whom God never planned to save) are judged and cast into hell for all eternity.
What I have written above is what I often say when I witness to others. Words change here and there, as with order; and surely questions are asked and objections raised. Nonetheless, the truth is summarised in what I believe to be a clear, succinct, and accurate way. From there, I can then go on to address whatever questions or concerns the hearer may have. But nothing above is "too complicated" for them; or too lengthy and time-consuming. Nothing in the above is extraneous, unnecessary, or unimportant as it pertains to the salvation of souls.
So, does the charge still stand?
Is the charge of Neo-Gnosticism accurate when it comes to those who proclaim the true Gospel?
In light of the above (and the previous parts) are Christians really guilty of making human knowledge and understanding a requirement, precondition, or prerequisite for initiating salvation?
I think the clear answer is "no." We are simply guilty of affirming and proclaiming the God-ordained Gospel in a way that does not allow for corruption or compromise.
So let the false accusers tell you what they think about the matter of true Gospel preaching; let them tell you how they feel you are going beyond what the Bible declares the Gospel to be. Let them tell you how unloving you are, unkind, and how you hold to too strict a definition. Let them lament how you refuse to fellowship spiritually with those who deny the true Gospel (or compromise it by speaking spiritual peace to those who deny it).
As they do so, notice how these accusers rarely (a) use biblical means in an attempt to refute the arguments and proof-texts set forth herein; and how they (b) are rarely able to set-forth the scriptural proof-texts necessary to systematically support their own arguments.
You will find that, far more often than not, their biblical exegesis and hermeneutic is based primarily upon biblical misquotation and misinterpretation, carnal feelings/emotions, and their ties to their own groundless opinions and "insights" on the matter (or those opinions and "insights" of other men whom they respect).
All of this leads to one last question...
From whence did these errors derive?
When the "Reformed," "Calvinistic," and "Predestinarian" compromisers water-down the Gospel to embrace heresy, where did they get their arguments to justify such things?
When the Arminians (Semi-Pelagians), Romanists (Sacramentalists), Arians (false-Jehovah Witnesses), and other heretics bring forth their polluted gospels (which are no gospels at all), from where do their arguments originate?
The answer should be simple given that such error did not stem from God; His prophets and apostles; or from any of His faithful witnesses.
So where did this working of error stem?
From Satan, himself, and from the bellies and lusts of corrupt men and women who want to give themselves (and others) the glory in the working-out of their supposed salvation. Trace it back; those who proclaim such heresies can no doubt trace them back (if records survive and they are diligent) to those who "went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." (1 John 2:19).
By Curt Wildy
Sunday, October 18, 2009
What Name Have You Called On?
The Scriptures make it quite clear that every sinner elected by God the Father in the everlasting covenant of grace, is justified freely by Christ's substitutionary work of redemption at Calvary, and will call on the name of the Lord.
"And because YE ARE sons, (an event that has already occurred in spiritual adoption) God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father."
(Galatians 4:6)
"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
(Romans 10:13)
The Scriptures declare boldly that "Because ye are sons", you will in time evidence your sonship by calling on God as YOUR FATHER.
Here is an important question:
‘If almost everyone we know (including ourselves) has at some point called on the name "Jesus," and asked Him to save them, can we assume they are indeed God's children?'
Before answering, HEAR GOD'S WORD:
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
(Matthew 7:21)
"Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble."
(James 2:19)
Now that simple verse, "For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved," doesn't seem so simple.
Dear friend, this is a life or death matter, and we must be certain of the name we have called on as the God of our salvation.
You might be asking yourself: What NAME must I call on?
First of all, you need to realize that your calling on God (faith) isn't the ground, cause, or hope of your salvation.
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."
(Titus 3:5-7)
Secondly, you need to understand that God's name is uniquely revealed to each of His children, AND THEY ALL KNOW HIS NAME.
"And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, (know in an intimate relationship as Adam KNEW Eve, and she conceived) THE ONLY TRUE GOD, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
(John 17:3)
God revealed His NAME to Moses and that name was directly related to His glory.
"And He (God) said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy." (Exodus 33:19)
His NAME is what reveals how He can be just and justify ungodly sinners.
"And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS (JEHOVAH WHO SAVES): for he shall (not might) save his people from their sins."
(Matthew 1:21)
If YOU ARE A SON, then you either are calling on (in true worship) or will yet be brought to call on JESUS as "the Lord your righteousness," the ONLY HOPE OF SALVATION.
If the ‘jesus' you call on only made your salvation possible, you are still in a state of lostness. I pray you have called and are calling on "THE NAME OF THE LORD," worshipping Him in spirit and truth, wholly forgiven and justified by His blood and righteousness alone, Philippians 3:3.
By Richard Warmack
"And because YE ARE sons, (an event that has already occurred in spiritual adoption) God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father."
(Galatians 4:6)
"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
(Romans 10:13)
The Scriptures declare boldly that "Because ye are sons", you will in time evidence your sonship by calling on God as YOUR FATHER.
Here is an important question:
‘If almost everyone we know (including ourselves) has at some point called on the name "Jesus," and asked Him to save them, can we assume they are indeed God's children?'
Before answering, HEAR GOD'S WORD:
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
(Matthew 7:21)
"Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble."
(James 2:19)
Now that simple verse, "For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved," doesn't seem so simple.
Dear friend, this is a life or death matter, and we must be certain of the name we have called on as the God of our salvation.
You might be asking yourself: What NAME must I call on?
First of all, you need to realize that your calling on God (faith) isn't the ground, cause, or hope of your salvation.
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."
(Titus 3:5-7)
Secondly, you need to understand that God's name is uniquely revealed to each of His children, AND THEY ALL KNOW HIS NAME.
"And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, (know in an intimate relationship as Adam KNEW Eve, and she conceived) THE ONLY TRUE GOD, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
(John 17:3)
God revealed His NAME to Moses and that name was directly related to His glory.
"And He (God) said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy." (Exodus 33:19)
His NAME is what reveals how He can be just and justify ungodly sinners.
"And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS (JEHOVAH WHO SAVES): for he shall (not might) save his people from their sins."
(Matthew 1:21)
If YOU ARE A SON, then you either are calling on (in true worship) or will yet be brought to call on JESUS as "the Lord your righteousness," the ONLY HOPE OF SALVATION.
If the ‘jesus' you call on only made your salvation possible, you are still in a state of lostness. I pray you have called and are calling on "THE NAME OF THE LORD," worshipping Him in spirit and truth, wholly forgiven and justified by His blood and righteousness alone, Philippians 3:3.
By Richard Warmack
Saturday, October 17, 2009
A Caveat Againts Unsound Doctrines
Ask almost any man, "Whether he hopes to be saved eternally?"
He will answer in the affirmative.
But enquire again, "On what foundation he rests his hope?"
Here too many are sadly divided.
The Pelagian hopes to get to heaven by a moral life and a good use of his natural powers.
The Arminian by a jumble of grace and free-will, human works, and the merits of Christ.
The Deist by an interested observance of the social virtues.
Thus merit-mongers, of every denomination, agree in making any thing the basis of their hope, rather than that foundation which God's own hand hath laid in Zion.
But what saith Scripture?
It avers, again and again, that Jesus alone is our hope: to the exclusion of all others, and to the utter annihilation of human deservings.
Beware, therefore, of resting your dependence partly on Christ, and partly on some other basis. As surely as you bottom your reliance partly on the rock, and partly on the sand; so certainly, unless God give you an immediate repentance to your acknowledgment of the truth, will your supposed house of defence fall and bury you in its ruins, no less than if you had raised it on the sand alone.
Christ is the hope of glory.
By Augustus Montague Toplady - Apri1 29, 1770
He will answer in the affirmative.
But enquire again, "On what foundation he rests his hope?"
Here too many are sadly divided.
The Pelagian hopes to get to heaven by a moral life and a good use of his natural powers.
The Arminian by a jumble of grace and free-will, human works, and the merits of Christ.
The Deist by an interested observance of the social virtues.
Thus merit-mongers, of every denomination, agree in making any thing the basis of their hope, rather than that foundation which God's own hand hath laid in Zion.
But what saith Scripture?
It avers, again and again, that Jesus alone is our hope: to the exclusion of all others, and to the utter annihilation of human deservings.
Beware, therefore, of resting your dependence partly on Christ, and partly on some other basis. As surely as you bottom your reliance partly on the rock, and partly on the sand; so certainly, unless God give you an immediate repentance to your acknowledgment of the truth, will your supposed house of defence fall and bury you in its ruins, no less than if you had raised it on the sand alone.
Christ is the hope of glory.
By Augustus Montague Toplady - Apri1 29, 1770
Friday, October 16, 2009
Vain Glory
"Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves."
(Philippians 2:3)
In Philippians 2, Paul addresses his comments directly to the justified, regenerated sinners at Philippi who find consolation and comfort in Christ, and fellowship of the indwelling Spirit (vs. 1) as He points sinners to Christ and His obedience unto death (and that alone) for such assurance (vss. 8-11).
But consider that most who read these verses are among the "many" who remain on the broad road leading to destruction (Matthew 7:13), though they may sincerely presume to have an interest in Christ. These to whom God has not granted the gift of faith and repentance (the fruit and effect of Christ's obedience unto death) may profess and imagine that they have an interest in Christ, yet in imagining that their salvation is conditioned in some way, to some degree upon something done by, in, or through them (the sinner), they unwittingly manifest the height of religious pride and self-righteousness and anything but "lowliness of mind."
As if reading someone else's mail, they may apply this exhortation meant for believers to themselves as they strive to obey God's command to be humble and lowly of mind.
But in clinging to the religion of works (salvation conditioned on the sinner) they demonstrate the reality that they in fact esteem themselves far better than others - for they imagine that some distinction produced by or in them (but not produced by others) makes them accepted and blessed by God.
To remain so deceived is to cling to a false gospel which strikes directly at the glory of God by attempting to rival that which Christ alone accomplished in establishing a perfect righteousness for the elect whose sins He bore. One may strive for humility and lowliness of mind in many areas, but apart from God-given faith and repentance that looks to Christ and His finished work alone for all of salvation, God is not glorified in that sinner's heart.
Rather, when any comfort or assurance is derived from the natural, self-righteous notion that salvation is ultimately conditioned on what I do (my belief, my profession, a righteousness nature put within me, etc.), it is mere presumption and vain glory indeed! "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,..." (Galatians 6:14).
By Randy Wages
(Philippians 2:3)
In Philippians 2, Paul addresses his comments directly to the justified, regenerated sinners at Philippi who find consolation and comfort in Christ, and fellowship of the indwelling Spirit (vs. 1) as He points sinners to Christ and His obedience unto death (and that alone) for such assurance (vss. 8-11).
But consider that most who read these verses are among the "many" who remain on the broad road leading to destruction (Matthew 7:13), though they may sincerely presume to have an interest in Christ. These to whom God has not granted the gift of faith and repentance (the fruit and effect of Christ's obedience unto death) may profess and imagine that they have an interest in Christ, yet in imagining that their salvation is conditioned in some way, to some degree upon something done by, in, or through them (the sinner), they unwittingly manifest the height of religious pride and self-righteousness and anything but "lowliness of mind."
As if reading someone else's mail, they may apply this exhortation meant for believers to themselves as they strive to obey God's command to be humble and lowly of mind.
But in clinging to the religion of works (salvation conditioned on the sinner) they demonstrate the reality that they in fact esteem themselves far better than others - for they imagine that some distinction produced by or in them (but not produced by others) makes them accepted and blessed by God.
To remain so deceived is to cling to a false gospel which strikes directly at the glory of God by attempting to rival that which Christ alone accomplished in establishing a perfect righteousness for the elect whose sins He bore. One may strive for humility and lowliness of mind in many areas, but apart from God-given faith and repentance that looks to Christ and His finished work alone for all of salvation, God is not glorified in that sinner's heart.
Rather, when any comfort or assurance is derived from the natural, self-righteous notion that salvation is ultimately conditioned on what I do (my belief, my profession, a righteousness nature put within me, etc.), it is mere presumption and vain glory indeed! "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,..." (Galatians 6:14).
By Randy Wages
Your God - Dead Or Alive?
In Deuteronomy 4:28, God through Moses described the idols Israel would worship once they were scattered among the nations saying, “And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.”
In scripture, God often distinguishes Himself as “the living God” in contrast to such idols constructed in the imagination of our own evil hearts (Jeremiah 18:12; Jeremiah 23:16-17).
When we consider that none knowingly worship a god that they perceived to be false or dead, then we better understand the necessity to heed God’s command for all to repent (Acts 17:30).
For as sinners born in spiritual darkness, we all initially worship an idol of our own imagination, imagining that our god indeed does see, hear, eat, and smell – that He is the one true and living God and not just a mere “likeness.” (Deuteronomy 4:16-18, 23, and 25).
In casting down such imaginations (2 Corinthians 10:5), it is instructive to discern from scripture whether your God truly sees, hears, eats, and smells by considering whether or not what your God sees, hears, eats, and smells is consistent with the revelation of God’s Word.
(1) What does your God see? Did He see of the travail of His soul and find total and complete satisfaction there in His finished work for His seed – for all those given unto Christ by the Father and for whom He lived and died? (Isaiah 53:10-11)
(2) What does your God hear? Does He hear the sinner’s plea for unadulterated mercy (propitiation / favor unmerited by the sinner but by way satisfaction to His holy justice) and that to the exclusion of all else – a plea from one who desires to be found in Christ based solely upon the just satisfaction Christ made at the cross as the elect sinner’s Substitute and accounted to that sinner by God’s free imputation? (Luke 18:9-15)
(3) What does your God eat? Did the God-man fully consume the wrath of God that was poured out on Him at the cross so that all whose sins He bore must be declared righteous in Him? (Hebrews 2:9; Matthew 26:39; Matthew 26:42; Romans 5:9)
(4) What does your God smell? Does your God smell the “…sweetsmelling savour…” of the sacrifice Christ made at the cross that demands life for all those whose sins He bore? (Ephesians 5:2)
Do these passages which distinguish what the true and living God sees, hears, eats, and smells, align with your own persuasion as to how God feely justifies sinners?
Does your God justify sinners based upon the Person and finished work of Christ alone?
If not, then as Paul described the elect at Thessalonica, I pray God will be pleased to grant you faith and repentance so that you too might be identified with all the saints of God who have “…turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;” (1 Thessalonians 1:9).
By Randy Wages
In scripture, God often distinguishes Himself as “the living God” in contrast to such idols constructed in the imagination of our own evil hearts (Jeremiah 18:12; Jeremiah 23:16-17).
When we consider that none knowingly worship a god that they perceived to be false or dead, then we better understand the necessity to heed God’s command for all to repent (Acts 17:30).
For as sinners born in spiritual darkness, we all initially worship an idol of our own imagination, imagining that our god indeed does see, hear, eat, and smell – that He is the one true and living God and not just a mere “likeness.” (Deuteronomy 4:16-18, 23, and 25).
In casting down such imaginations (2 Corinthians 10:5), it is instructive to discern from scripture whether your God truly sees, hears, eats, and smells by considering whether or not what your God sees, hears, eats, and smells is consistent with the revelation of God’s Word.
(1) What does your God see? Did He see of the travail of His soul and find total and complete satisfaction there in His finished work for His seed – for all those given unto Christ by the Father and for whom He lived and died? (Isaiah 53:10-11)
(2) What does your God hear? Does He hear the sinner’s plea for unadulterated mercy (propitiation / favor unmerited by the sinner but by way satisfaction to His holy justice) and that to the exclusion of all else – a plea from one who desires to be found in Christ based solely upon the just satisfaction Christ made at the cross as the elect sinner’s Substitute and accounted to that sinner by God’s free imputation? (Luke 18:9-15)
(3) What does your God eat? Did the God-man fully consume the wrath of God that was poured out on Him at the cross so that all whose sins He bore must be declared righteous in Him? (Hebrews 2:9; Matthew 26:39; Matthew 26:42; Romans 5:9)
(4) What does your God smell? Does your God smell the “…sweetsmelling savour…” of the sacrifice Christ made at the cross that demands life for all those whose sins He bore? (Ephesians 5:2)
Do these passages which distinguish what the true and living God sees, hears, eats, and smells, align with your own persuasion as to how God feely justifies sinners?
Does your God justify sinners based upon the Person and finished work of Christ alone?
If not, then as Paul described the elect at Thessalonica, I pray God will be pleased to grant you faith and repentance so that you too might be identified with all the saints of God who have “…turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;” (1 Thessalonians 1:9).
By Randy Wages
Monday, October 05, 2009
The One And Only Mediator
2 Chronicles 26:16
But when he King Uzziah was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense.
2 Chronicles 26:17
And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men:
2 Chronicles 26:18
And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God.
Under the Old Covenant Law, God gave specific instructions that only the sons of Aaron, as His appointed priests, were to enter into the sanctuary as a mediator for the people to burn incense. As 2 Chronicles 26 continues, we read of the consequence of Uzziah's actions, how God immediately brought leprosy upon the king, resulting in his being outcast as a leper for the remainder of his days. The seriousness of King Uzziah's sinful, prideful action can be found in the fact that the priestly office he dared to fulfill was a foreshadowing of that which only the eternal high priest (the promised Messiah, the God-man) was appointed to fulfill.
Accordingly, anyone who would inject themselves into fulfilling the role that Christ alone was appointed to fulfill, the role that Christ alone was able to fulfill, and that Christ alone did fulfill in His finished work as the "one mediator between God and men" (I Timothy 2:5), is in effect thinking and acting in concert with King Uzziah "when his heart was lifted up to his destruction." As sinners born in darkness, we are unaware of our complicity with Uzziah unless and until God exposes this to us by the light of His Gospel.
Sadly, many persist in imagining that the pivotal issue in their salvation hinges upon that which they do so as to appropriate God's blessing, not solely upon the work of Christ, the one and only Mediator.
Even many who profess to be of the Christian faith make no pretense in boldly asserting that Christ's work of mediation (which would more accurately be depicted as a mere attempt at mediation) is ultimately ineffective for most for whom He lived and died.
In fact, it is only deemed to be effective for those who rise to the occasion and do something to appropriate that blessing unto themselves (whether it be by the exercise of their faith or something else done by or through them). And in so thinking, men and women manifest King Uzziah's same sinful pride as they presume that the essential work whereby they are reconciled unto God is accomplished by their act of faith, a work performed outside that of God's appointed eternal priest and mediator.
Only the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ as the one mediator appointed by God could and did do the priestly work of mediation, the work of reconciling lost sinners unto a holy God by offering up the sacrifice of His own humanity in satisfaction to God's law and justice. That is the incense which is a sweet (satisfying) fragrance in the nostrils of God (Ephesians 5:1).
By Randy Wages
But when he King Uzziah was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense.
2 Chronicles 26:17
And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men:
2 Chronicles 26:18
And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God.
Under the Old Covenant Law, God gave specific instructions that only the sons of Aaron, as His appointed priests, were to enter into the sanctuary as a mediator for the people to burn incense. As 2 Chronicles 26 continues, we read of the consequence of Uzziah's actions, how God immediately brought leprosy upon the king, resulting in his being outcast as a leper for the remainder of his days. The seriousness of King Uzziah's sinful, prideful action can be found in the fact that the priestly office he dared to fulfill was a foreshadowing of that which only the eternal high priest (the promised Messiah, the God-man) was appointed to fulfill.
Accordingly, anyone who would inject themselves into fulfilling the role that Christ alone was appointed to fulfill, the role that Christ alone was able to fulfill, and that Christ alone did fulfill in His finished work as the "one mediator between God and men" (I Timothy 2:5), is in effect thinking and acting in concert with King Uzziah "when his heart was lifted up to his destruction." As sinners born in darkness, we are unaware of our complicity with Uzziah unless and until God exposes this to us by the light of His Gospel.
Sadly, many persist in imagining that the pivotal issue in their salvation hinges upon that which they do so as to appropriate God's blessing, not solely upon the work of Christ, the one and only Mediator.
Even many who profess to be of the Christian faith make no pretense in boldly asserting that Christ's work of mediation (which would more accurately be depicted as a mere attempt at mediation) is ultimately ineffective for most for whom He lived and died.
In fact, it is only deemed to be effective for those who rise to the occasion and do something to appropriate that blessing unto themselves (whether it be by the exercise of their faith or something else done by or through them). And in so thinking, men and women manifest King Uzziah's same sinful pride as they presume that the essential work whereby they are reconciled unto God is accomplished by their act of faith, a work performed outside that of God's appointed eternal priest and mediator.
Only the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ as the one mediator appointed by God could and did do the priestly work of mediation, the work of reconciling lost sinners unto a holy God by offering up the sacrifice of His own humanity in satisfaction to God's law and justice. That is the incense which is a sweet (satisfying) fragrance in the nostrils of God (Ephesians 5:1).
By Randy Wages
Monday, August 10, 2009
THORN - BLOSSOM
How mysterious that the thorn, which is the emblem of the fall of man, should be laden with beauty, teeming with fragrance, abounding with endless profusion of scents and hues, embellishing as it were the whole clime of even uncultivated nature in the month of May! Rich and blooming, the hedge-rows, thorn-bushes, and lanes seem strewed as it were then in that month with flowered walls, clumps, and pictured lines of beauty with what we call "May", thorn-blossom, in pink, lilied, and variegated sweetness and almost enchanting charms! And yet, it is all thorn-blossom still! And the thorn is the emblem, mark, and badge of the curse of God on the whole visible creation wherein we live. "Cursed is the ground", says God; "thorns shall it bring forth". And yet that the badge of God's curse should thus be decorated in the youth of spring and summer with the unnumbered sweet-distilling and balmy beauties I have described, is a mystery. From which I shall draw the following conclusions and inferences.
Thorn-blossom, in the first place, reminds me of the whole body of Arminianism, blooming on the stock of universal redemption, creature-merit, free-will, and the cursed mass of opposition to God's decrees. God says, "His elect are a garden enclosed, a vineyard, a spring shut up; and a fountain sealed". (Songs 4:12). "No", says Arminianism, "all men are equally beloved in God's sight". Thus Arminianism blooms and blossoms nearly on every corner of the world. And why? Because it is pretty, fragrant, and charming to the greatest mass of mankind. For many are in the broad road that leadeth unto destruction, whereunto also they were appointed; (Matt. 7:13; I Peter 2:8); and few are in the narrow way that leadeth unto life. (Matt. 7:14) I say, the thorn-blossom of Arminianism endeavors to bloom out its scents, and says that all men are equally gilded with acceptableness before God. Says Arminianism, Cain might have offered an acceptable offering before God as well as Abel did. It was Cain's own fault, says Arminianism. Thus as Cain tilled the ground which brings forth thorns emblematic of God's curse, so Arminianism thus tills free-will and chance-work, and insists upon it that there is no difference between a thorn and an apple tree. "As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons". (Songs 2:3)
That apple tree is the emblemed figure and name of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the remainder of the verse quoted most clearly imports: "I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste". And as the fowls of the air pick "hips and haws and bramble-berries", the fruits of the rough, prickly, and disesteemed brier and thorn and such like; so Arminians are under the express and predestinated tuition of the prince of the power of the air; and as all the non-elected part of mankind weather and build their nests from necessity of the thorn-tree of God's rejection and non-election; so, on the contrary, do the whole elect race from among men set down under the Lord Jesus Christ's shadow and the great delight of electing love, particular and special redemption through the quickening love of God's most Holy Spirit.
Further, as the thorn-bush in May bends as it were with the load of blossom, and attracts the gaze of many a spectator; and as many a tongue might say of it, "See there!" in reference to its beauties; so the Arminian's holiness is the thorn-like, painted, daring, and bold front of creature-holiness, self-righteousness, and Satanical perfection of the flesh. They deny every truth of elect religion. They blaspheme, first, predestination; second, imputed righteousness; third, the final perseverance of the saints. They extol the power of the creature: "Up and be doing!" They say any one may have grace if he will. They say God wishes all to go to heaven, but the goats will not! Wesley and his associates thus deny the doctrine of reprobation; whereas Scripture says expressly, "God hardeneth whom he will". Moreover, Wesley denied the doctrine of unconditional election; thereby making the elect their own electors! Moreover, saying growth in grace is in our power, and his blasphemy against particular redemption and in favour of fleshly sanctification, perfection in the flesh, and what not; all these and various other aggravated marks stamp Wesley in my soul as the greatest enemy of God and of man that has appeared in these latter days. His denial of the cardinal doctrine of Christ's imputed righteousness, if he died in that state, stamps him as a damned man in my soul's thorough judgment; and it is to be feared that he died in all his errors. And, as Huntington says, "If a man dies in his errors he must be damned, if God be true". (Vide his sermon, entitled "The Funeral of Arminianism"). To which judgment I say, Amen.
Christ was made of a woman, and made under the law in behalf and in place of the elect; and he paid their penal debts which were owing, by his blood. And as the law also said, "Do this and live", as well as that "The soul that sinneth shall die": so Christ not only rubbed out with His blood the sentence of death recorded against the elect by the law; but he, also, as a man, kept the law as regards its mandate, "Do this and live". Thus, Christ brought in a divine, perfect, and law-fulfilled righteousness. Thus, His blood wiped out the black catalogue of the transgressions of the elect, the elect thereby being pronounced innocent, through blood, death, and destruction being fully wrung from the illustrious scape-goat as their Surety, Bondsman, and lawcurst Redeemer. The law thus exacted its full penalties. But over and above penalties, death, and the pains of eternal damnation which Christ endured for his spouse the church, he fulfilled, magnified, and made the law honour-able by perfect obedience to its eternal mandate which proclaims the path to win endless life: "Do this and live!" Christ did so do it: guile was not found in his mouth. This obedience, then, of His, is the imputed righteousness of the elect. This is their wedding garment of dazzling, bright, and transcendent beauty. This is what fits them to be the guests of God. This is what makes them god-like in his Infinite presence. This is what law and justice delight and smile to see. Did the law say, "Do this and live"? So the divinity of Immanuel clothed itself in the virgin's womb and linked to Him a human body, with a created human soul, in all respects like unto his brethren the elect seed; sin only excepted: and He not only washed them in his blood, but He brought in for them an everlasting righteousness also. This imputed righteousness then, I aver, asseverate, and am as certain in my soul as that breath is in my body, that every man who has it not, is an eternally damned soul. "And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment. And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to his servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matt. 22:11).
This imputed righteousness then is the bloom, blossom, and fruitbearing richness, grandeur, and ineffable brilliancy of the Tree of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ, unto all the elect seed. This the blossom of life, perfection, immortality, and neverceasing joy to my ransomed soul. This is the dress which I shall sit in as in wrought gold at the wedding supper of the Lamb. "For thy Maker is thy husband". (Isa. 54:5) This is the fine needle-work, (Ps. 45:14) as it were, which the virgin throng of the ransomed race attend Immanuel the King of Glory in. This imputed righteousness, I say, which the Arminians fight against like tigers; this righteousness is the robe, the diadem of beauty, the ornaments, jewels, rich embroidery, gilded vest, sunny tabernacle, gorgeous grandeur, and laded blossom of paradise that my obedience-crowned, blood-bought soul shall bask in, with the trophies of free grace, without money and without price, for ever and for ever, in that celestial country, which so far must and will eclipse the glories of this terrestial scene, as much as the thorn-blossom of creature-holiness is eclipsed, bedimmed, and out-shown by the infinite, divine, and ineffable righteousness of Immanuel imputed to the elect alone. O heavenly excellencies, hid treasures, and never-ceasing bloom of the Tree of Life, as above described! How different to the painted, patched-up, and rude garb of creature-righteousness! A crab, a thorn, a brier, a nettle, or a thistle, is the God-curat adornment of a true Arminian in the sight of God! "Bind him hand and foot, and take him away."
If it is asked why I take on myself to judge the Arminian crew, it is, I answer, because I know by divine and heaven-sent experience the hollow, shadowy, cob-web, and cockatrice-wreathed fabric of their everlasting cursed religion, Popery and Arminianism are one and the same. I wanted to be a Wesleyan, but the wrath of God tore off the spiders' webs, which their religion was stanching my sin-wounded soul with.
But universal redemption and the denial of Christ's imputed righteousness are villanies one as great as the other. For I know that if Christ's righteousness is for all men than there is no hell! for the wedding garment, like a ship at full sail with a prosperous wind and unerring pilot on a safe sea, will waft every one whom it is for into the joyous harbour of eternal victory over sin, self, death, and hell. But, according to the damnable doctrine of universal redemption, the nullity and non-necessity of Christ's righteousness are hideously set forth; for one might suppose many wedding garments were laid by, as it were, useless in heaven, if Christ wrought out the brilliant vests for those in hell! O, shocking! Christ's blood and imputed righteousness are equally commensurate; and were shed and wrought out alone for the sheep and not for the goats! No goatish back ever was made or created to wear the mantle of Christ's imputed righteousness. No, never! "Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them." (Jer. 6:30)
This is the reason then for the profusion of the thorn-blossom. Many being in the broad way and few in the narrow, we thus see the need, the call, and necessity for thorn-blossom. For we all, alas, by nature, are the children of wrath. But the Holy Ghost regenerates and testifies of Jesus in His blood and righteousness in due time to the elect. Thus the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy to them. After they know Christ's imputed righteousness and blood through the Spirit's revelation thereof to their souls inwardly, in the inward kingdom of God in their souls; lo! they begin each then as kings to say like David, "Come near, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what God hath done for my soul." This exasperates the devil to the highest pitch. Then the devil sends forth such men as Wesley, to poison the whole atmosphere of the world with false doctrine. Thus the Wesleyans call the unconditional election of the chosen race the horrible decree! Thus they designate election (the grand charter of all the sheep) as the devil's lie. O horrible! I say again, that Wesleyan Methodism is flat high treason against my electing, redeeming, and regenerating God! Of Arminians may be said:
Vain man, forbear! no thorny bloom
Of creature goodness reaches heaven!
Thorn-blossom fails! The Arminian's doom
Is hell, swollen with all such leaven.
They who are dressed in that bright vest,
Imputed Righteousness most pure!
When hell, when death on all else rest,
As Christ's theirs then this dress seals sure!
O brilliant Vest! surpassing far
The richest notions words can paint!
Hid under thee, no saint shall faint,
Though stung with sin's still rankling scar!
For unconditional election, imputed righteousness, particular redemption, God's sovereign election or rejection of men (all which things Wesley denied) go hand in hand, or stand or fall together. The thorn-blossom of creature-merit and human holiness is therefore called in. As the bloom of the Tree of Life is for the elect alone; as the elect are, as it were, a garden walled around, wherin alone the savoury fruit and illustriously glorious buds and blossoms grow that will break forth into the full, unspeakable, and eternal fruition of God; lo! what must the non-elect do but spread forth the gala too, not only of profane pleasure, but also of self-righteousness, free-will, and false religion! All which things then, and the swarms of counterfeits from Satan, imitative of the sublime glories which God has laid up for the elect alone; non-elect religion, and non-elect people, and their efforts, and the painted deceit of Satan toward them, all, all the magic string whereby Satan leads captive the goats at his will; all the spiritual inebriety, varnished cheats, and magic enchantments, and sorceries, and witchcrafts which the prince of the power of the air has, by the permission of God, poured out abroad over this whole fallen world wherein we live, are typified to my eye by "thornblossom". "Thorns shall it bring forth, which are near unto cursing". And if thorns are near unto cursing, so is the blossom thereof too, fair though it be! "Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood". (Jer. 48:10)
Having endeavoured to shoot an arrow, not at the upright in heart, but at the skinny phantom called "Arminianism"; I will, the Lord alone being my helper, endeavour at some future time to knock a bough or two off the bramble-bush called "Bastard Calvinism". So be it. For the longer I live and the more that I feel concerning the ever-blessed Almighty, the more am I brought feelingly, sensibly, and in submissive hearkening to rest my everlasting salvation on unconditional eternal election and particular redemption, on the one hand; and on the Spirit's work in me, on the other hand, manifestive of my own election and redemption, who am the unworthiest of men. All which things Arminianism and Calvinism equally fight and war against.
Abington; I.K. (John Kay)
The Gospel Standard
January 1838
Thorn-blossom, in the first place, reminds me of the whole body of Arminianism, blooming on the stock of universal redemption, creature-merit, free-will, and the cursed mass of opposition to God's decrees. God says, "His elect are a garden enclosed, a vineyard, a spring shut up; and a fountain sealed". (Songs 4:12). "No", says Arminianism, "all men are equally beloved in God's sight". Thus Arminianism blooms and blossoms nearly on every corner of the world. And why? Because it is pretty, fragrant, and charming to the greatest mass of mankind. For many are in the broad road that leadeth unto destruction, whereunto also they were appointed; (Matt. 7:13; I Peter 2:8); and few are in the narrow way that leadeth unto life. (Matt. 7:14) I say, the thorn-blossom of Arminianism endeavors to bloom out its scents, and says that all men are equally gilded with acceptableness before God. Says Arminianism, Cain might have offered an acceptable offering before God as well as Abel did. It was Cain's own fault, says Arminianism. Thus as Cain tilled the ground which brings forth thorns emblematic of God's curse, so Arminianism thus tills free-will and chance-work, and insists upon it that there is no difference between a thorn and an apple tree. "As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons". (Songs 2:3)
That apple tree is the emblemed figure and name of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the remainder of the verse quoted most clearly imports: "I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste". And as the fowls of the air pick "hips and haws and bramble-berries", the fruits of the rough, prickly, and disesteemed brier and thorn and such like; so Arminians are under the express and predestinated tuition of the prince of the power of the air; and as all the non-elected part of mankind weather and build their nests from necessity of the thorn-tree of God's rejection and non-election; so, on the contrary, do the whole elect race from among men set down under the Lord Jesus Christ's shadow and the great delight of electing love, particular and special redemption through the quickening love of God's most Holy Spirit.
Further, as the thorn-bush in May bends as it were with the load of blossom, and attracts the gaze of many a spectator; and as many a tongue might say of it, "See there!" in reference to its beauties; so the Arminian's holiness is the thorn-like, painted, daring, and bold front of creature-holiness, self-righteousness, and Satanical perfection of the flesh. They deny every truth of elect religion. They blaspheme, first, predestination; second, imputed righteousness; third, the final perseverance of the saints. They extol the power of the creature: "Up and be doing!" They say any one may have grace if he will. They say God wishes all to go to heaven, but the goats will not! Wesley and his associates thus deny the doctrine of reprobation; whereas Scripture says expressly, "God hardeneth whom he will". Moreover, Wesley denied the doctrine of unconditional election; thereby making the elect their own electors! Moreover, saying growth in grace is in our power, and his blasphemy against particular redemption and in favour of fleshly sanctification, perfection in the flesh, and what not; all these and various other aggravated marks stamp Wesley in my soul as the greatest enemy of God and of man that has appeared in these latter days. His denial of the cardinal doctrine of Christ's imputed righteousness, if he died in that state, stamps him as a damned man in my soul's thorough judgment; and it is to be feared that he died in all his errors. And, as Huntington says, "If a man dies in his errors he must be damned, if God be true". (Vide his sermon, entitled "The Funeral of Arminianism"). To which judgment I say, Amen.
Christ was made of a woman, and made under the law in behalf and in place of the elect; and he paid their penal debts which were owing, by his blood. And as the law also said, "Do this and live", as well as that "The soul that sinneth shall die": so Christ not only rubbed out with His blood the sentence of death recorded against the elect by the law; but he, also, as a man, kept the law as regards its mandate, "Do this and live". Thus, Christ brought in a divine, perfect, and law-fulfilled righteousness. Thus, His blood wiped out the black catalogue of the transgressions of the elect, the elect thereby being pronounced innocent, through blood, death, and destruction being fully wrung from the illustrious scape-goat as their Surety, Bondsman, and lawcurst Redeemer. The law thus exacted its full penalties. But over and above penalties, death, and the pains of eternal damnation which Christ endured for his spouse the church, he fulfilled, magnified, and made the law honour-able by perfect obedience to its eternal mandate which proclaims the path to win endless life: "Do this and live!" Christ did so do it: guile was not found in his mouth. This obedience, then, of His, is the imputed righteousness of the elect. This is their wedding garment of dazzling, bright, and transcendent beauty. This is what fits them to be the guests of God. This is what makes them god-like in his Infinite presence. This is what law and justice delight and smile to see. Did the law say, "Do this and live"? So the divinity of Immanuel clothed itself in the virgin's womb and linked to Him a human body, with a created human soul, in all respects like unto his brethren the elect seed; sin only excepted: and He not only washed them in his blood, but He brought in for them an everlasting righteousness also. This imputed righteousness then, I aver, asseverate, and am as certain in my soul as that breath is in my body, that every man who has it not, is an eternally damned soul. "And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment. And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to his servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matt. 22:11).
This imputed righteousness then is the bloom, blossom, and fruitbearing richness, grandeur, and ineffable brilliancy of the Tree of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ, unto all the elect seed. This the blossom of life, perfection, immortality, and neverceasing joy to my ransomed soul. This is the dress which I shall sit in as in wrought gold at the wedding supper of the Lamb. "For thy Maker is thy husband". (Isa. 54:5) This is the fine needle-work, (Ps. 45:14) as it were, which the virgin throng of the ransomed race attend Immanuel the King of Glory in. This imputed righteousness, I say, which the Arminians fight against like tigers; this righteousness is the robe, the diadem of beauty, the ornaments, jewels, rich embroidery, gilded vest, sunny tabernacle, gorgeous grandeur, and laded blossom of paradise that my obedience-crowned, blood-bought soul shall bask in, with the trophies of free grace, without money and without price, for ever and for ever, in that celestial country, which so far must and will eclipse the glories of this terrestial scene, as much as the thorn-blossom of creature-holiness is eclipsed, bedimmed, and out-shown by the infinite, divine, and ineffable righteousness of Immanuel imputed to the elect alone. O heavenly excellencies, hid treasures, and never-ceasing bloom of the Tree of Life, as above described! How different to the painted, patched-up, and rude garb of creature-righteousness! A crab, a thorn, a brier, a nettle, or a thistle, is the God-curat adornment of a true Arminian in the sight of God! "Bind him hand and foot, and take him away."
If it is asked why I take on myself to judge the Arminian crew, it is, I answer, because I know by divine and heaven-sent experience the hollow, shadowy, cob-web, and cockatrice-wreathed fabric of their everlasting cursed religion, Popery and Arminianism are one and the same. I wanted to be a Wesleyan, but the wrath of God tore off the spiders' webs, which their religion was stanching my sin-wounded soul with.
But universal redemption and the denial of Christ's imputed righteousness are villanies one as great as the other. For I know that if Christ's righteousness is for all men than there is no hell! for the wedding garment, like a ship at full sail with a prosperous wind and unerring pilot on a safe sea, will waft every one whom it is for into the joyous harbour of eternal victory over sin, self, death, and hell. But, according to the damnable doctrine of universal redemption, the nullity and non-necessity of Christ's righteousness are hideously set forth; for one might suppose many wedding garments were laid by, as it were, useless in heaven, if Christ wrought out the brilliant vests for those in hell! O, shocking! Christ's blood and imputed righteousness are equally commensurate; and were shed and wrought out alone for the sheep and not for the goats! No goatish back ever was made or created to wear the mantle of Christ's imputed righteousness. No, never! "Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them." (Jer. 6:30)
This is the reason then for the profusion of the thorn-blossom. Many being in the broad way and few in the narrow, we thus see the need, the call, and necessity for thorn-blossom. For we all, alas, by nature, are the children of wrath. But the Holy Ghost regenerates and testifies of Jesus in His blood and righteousness in due time to the elect. Thus the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy to them. After they know Christ's imputed righteousness and blood through the Spirit's revelation thereof to their souls inwardly, in the inward kingdom of God in their souls; lo! they begin each then as kings to say like David, "Come near, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what God hath done for my soul." This exasperates the devil to the highest pitch. Then the devil sends forth such men as Wesley, to poison the whole atmosphere of the world with false doctrine. Thus the Wesleyans call the unconditional election of the chosen race the horrible decree! Thus they designate election (the grand charter of all the sheep) as the devil's lie. O horrible! I say again, that Wesleyan Methodism is flat high treason against my electing, redeeming, and regenerating God! Of Arminians may be said:
Vain man, forbear! no thorny bloom
Of creature goodness reaches heaven!
Thorn-blossom fails! The Arminian's doom
Is hell, swollen with all such leaven.
They who are dressed in that bright vest,
Imputed Righteousness most pure!
When hell, when death on all else rest,
As Christ's theirs then this dress seals sure!
O brilliant Vest! surpassing far
The richest notions words can paint!
Hid under thee, no saint shall faint,
Though stung with sin's still rankling scar!
For unconditional election, imputed righteousness, particular redemption, God's sovereign election or rejection of men (all which things Wesley denied) go hand in hand, or stand or fall together. The thorn-blossom of creature-merit and human holiness is therefore called in. As the bloom of the Tree of Life is for the elect alone; as the elect are, as it were, a garden walled around, wherin alone the savoury fruit and illustriously glorious buds and blossoms grow that will break forth into the full, unspeakable, and eternal fruition of God; lo! what must the non-elect do but spread forth the gala too, not only of profane pleasure, but also of self-righteousness, free-will, and false religion! All which things then, and the swarms of counterfeits from Satan, imitative of the sublime glories which God has laid up for the elect alone; non-elect religion, and non-elect people, and their efforts, and the painted deceit of Satan toward them, all, all the magic string whereby Satan leads captive the goats at his will; all the spiritual inebriety, varnished cheats, and magic enchantments, and sorceries, and witchcrafts which the prince of the power of the air has, by the permission of God, poured out abroad over this whole fallen world wherein we live, are typified to my eye by "thornblossom". "Thorns shall it bring forth, which are near unto cursing". And if thorns are near unto cursing, so is the blossom thereof too, fair though it be! "Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood". (Jer. 48:10)
Having endeavoured to shoot an arrow, not at the upright in heart, but at the skinny phantom called "Arminianism"; I will, the Lord alone being my helper, endeavour at some future time to knock a bough or two off the bramble-bush called "Bastard Calvinism". So be it. For the longer I live and the more that I feel concerning the ever-blessed Almighty, the more am I brought feelingly, sensibly, and in submissive hearkening to rest my everlasting salvation on unconditional eternal election and particular redemption, on the one hand; and on the Spirit's work in me, on the other hand, manifestive of my own election and redemption, who am the unworthiest of men. All which things Arminianism and Calvinism equally fight and war against.
Abington; I.K. (John Kay)
The Gospel Standard
January 1838
Sunday, August 09, 2009
"DRAW ME, WE WILL RUN AFTER THEE"
"Draw me, we will run after thee"
(Song of Solomon 1:4)
"Come to Jesus. Come just as you are! Jesus is waiting! You must, indeed, you can come this very night," purred the "evangelist."
Jesus therefore answered and said: "No man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of My Father " (John 6:65).
"Jesus said that "he that cometh to me," replied the evangelist, "I will in no wise cast out."
Jesus answers: "All that the FATHER GIVETH ME, SHALL COME to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37).
"Don’t listen to anyone who says you can’t come to Jesus. He wants you to come right now!" said the evangelist.
"Jesus therefore answered and said, . . . NO MAN CAN COME TO ME, except the Father which hath sent Me DRAW HIM: and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:44).
What a shocking discourse the above is to the ears of an unconverted, or inexperienced man!
Someone once said that John Calvin thought the doctrine of reprobation was a "horrible decree." Of course, Calvin believed it to be true because it is clearly taught in the Bible. "No man can come" to Christ unless the Father draws him; or "except it were given to him" of the Father. Regardless of what preachers say, Christ’s own answer is the truth. The preachers say that the sinner can come anytime he pleases; and the Lord says, "Oh, no! He cannot come unless My Father determined that he does." It is not left up to man; but is left up to the Father. The Father will "have mercy on him whom He will have mercy, and have compassion on whom He will have compassion. And whom He will, He hardeneth" (Romans 9:11-19.)
Natural man’s sensitivities toward their fellow man draws forth a violent reaction to the truth Jesus taught in the above passages. "Do you mean to say that God will prevent one from believing and being saved?"
Such a conclusion is invariably necessary, for it is certain that God does not save all. He does not call all to repentance. He did not choose all to salvation. It is not given to all to come to Christ. Indeed, it is not given to all that hear to believe. The reason is clearly given by our Lord: "He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, BECAUSE ye are NOT OF God" (John 8:47).
"But", says one, "such cannot be the correct meaning of the text. Surely if they understood Christ, they could come."
"Why do ye NOT understand My speech? Even because ye cannot hear My word," said our Lord. (John 8:43).
"It is just too difficult to draw such a conclusion in light of the love of God. Didn’t He come to give everyone a chance to be saved?"
"For judgment I am come into this world, that THEY WHICH SEE NOT MIGHT SEE; AND THAT THEY WHICH SEE MIGHT BE MADE BLIND," said the Lord Jesus. (John 9:39).
The above presents a side of the truth of free grace that is absolutely shocking the first time it engages one’s attention. There is no doubt that most individuals find it very negative; and for this reason they will not entertain it in their minds very long. It does not fit the "evangelical Christian" theory of universal offers of salvation.
While at first glance the above scriptures appear negative, yet they are rather positive. It is the positive aspects of them that are of greatest interest in this article. It seems appropriate, however, to highlight the negative first as a background for the positive. We will prove the doctrine and then move on to the beauty and sweetness it affords a child of free grace.
The Bible proves conclusively that the evangelical theory of universal offers of salvation is false. The theory is only a figment of the imagination of ministers bent on gaining church members at any price.
In the best-known text the "free offer" men advance, the context disputes their interpretation roundly. In the John 12:32, Jesus said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me."
The evangelical ministers will say: "See, God does draw everyone to Jesus!"
However, in verses 40 & 41, John writes: "He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts; that they should NOT see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Esaias, when he saw His glory, and spake of Him."
It is not reasonable to believe that God would do this to them if, in fact, He willed their salvation. He would have done the exact opposite instead! Again, in the famous "Lord’s Prayer," we hear the Lord praying to His Father saying: "As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as THOU HAST GIVEN HIM . . . .I pray for THEM: I pray NOT FOR THE WORLD, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine." (John 17: 2, 9). It surely would appear that if it were His will that all be drawn to Him and saved by Him, that His intercessory prayer would have included all of them.
But obviously, it did not!
To make the negative aspect of this doctrine brief, we will cite only one more passage (out of many) to prove this point. The apostle foretelling of the coming of that "wicked one," writes: "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; BECAUSE they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for THIS CAUSE God shall send them STRONG DELUSION, that they should believe a lie: (That God loves every body and wants to save every body) that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (II Thessalonians 2:10-12).
Now that is what some might consider being a negative aspect of the truth. Notice, however, the next verse. It sets forth the most positive and sweet part of the subject: "But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning CHOSEN YOU TO SALVATION through sanctification of the Spirit and BELIEF OF THE TRUTH: whereunto He called you by our Gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (verse 13,14).
That, dear friend is very positive!
God chose those His Father gave Him to salvation. As He said:
"Ye have not CHOSEN Me, but I have chosen you."
(John 15:16)
The Positive: Except the Father Draw Him
"No man can come unto Me, except the Father which hath sent Me DRAW HIM: and I will raise him up at the last day."
"Therefore said I unto you, that NO MAN CAN COME UNTO Me, except it were GIVEN UNTO HIM OF My father."
The texts above shows clearly that while no one can come to Christ except God draws him, those that the Father draws will be in the resurrection of the just. In other words, it is imperative that God draw one to Christ if that one is ever to be saved experimentally and everlastingly. This places salvation squarely in the hands of God. It denies any initiation of salvation to be by the efforts of the creature.
It is a very positive declaration. To Jeremiah the prophet, God said:
"Thus saith the Lord, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to CAUSE him to rest. The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with LOVINGKINDNESS HAVE I DRAWN THEE."
(Jeremiah 31:2-3)
What a mercy is this!
"I have drawn thee." Jesus had said, "No man can come unto Me except," and this exception is this gracious drawing by the lovingkindness of God.
"Yea," said He, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love."
We cannot escape the conclusion that one who is drawn to Christ has been loved of God "from the beginning," and therefore has been loved of God from the foundation of the world, or ever the world was. The apostle said even the same, when he wrote:
"according as He chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: Having predestinated US unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved"
(Ephesians 1:4-6.)
"With lovingkindness have I drawn thee." That is as to say, "not with violence," but "in love and gentleness." It surely is with "lovingkindness" when God draws one to Himself.
"And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, LIVE"
(Ezekiel 16:6)
In such a helpless and polluted condition!
Why should God have mercy on such ungodly sinners as this?
Yet, Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. That call is an appointed call. "Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the TIME OF LOVE; and I spread My skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou BECAMEST MINE" (verse 8.)
The drawing of one to Christ can be by many different ways. The covenant promise of the everlasting Father to His beloved Son was that "Thy people shall be willing in the day of THY POWER, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: Thou hast the dew of Thy youth" (Psalm 110:3.)
It is a powerful drawing to Christ Jesus when He in His power makes them willing. If He shows them their sinfulness; their inability to attain an adequate righteousness of their own; that all their religious devotions and legal efforts cannot justify them; then they will flee to Him for His righteousness and consequent justification.
They will, in His own time and way, cause them to finally exclaim, "The Lord our Righteousness" and salvation!
God will teach all His people that they are the chiefest of sinners. He will make them to see what they are by nature in the carnality of Adam’s flesh!
And, He will cause them to come to Him for rest. In fact, Paul declared this to be "a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners;" of whom he was chief; and that in him, "first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting" (I Timothy 1:15-16.)
The doctrines of God our Savior will draw a believer to Christ often. In our day, the doctrinal downgrade has been highly successful. Modern-day "Christians" have thrown the doctrine of Christ away.
They never knew how important doctrine is!
Without them, they cannot know Christ. His doctrine describes Him. It tells who and what manner of person He is. This Biblical description of Him draws the believer to Him. To wit: "Jesus is a hateful, mean, ugly subhuman creature with horns and a forked tail and cannot save anyone unless they let him."
Is this the Christ we worship?
Of course not!
His doctrine declares Him to be Love.
He is merciful.
He is sovereign.
He does His own will as He pleases.
He has already saved all His people by the sacrifice of Himself.
He effectually call sinners to Himself, and He teaches them all things that they need as they need them.
Without the doctrine of Christ, one cannot know Him. But it is with His doctrine that His people are drawn to Him. His people need a god that is indeed a GOD!
And this He certainly is!
They do not need a helper in salvation; they need a SAVIOR!
And this He certainly is also!
All the great and glorious attributes of God are taught only by the doctrine of Christ. These are all instruments in the hand of God to draw a trembling sinner to the loving arms of a loving and adorable Savior.
By Stanley C. Phillips
(Song of Solomon 1:4)
"Come to Jesus. Come just as you are! Jesus is waiting! You must, indeed, you can come this very night," purred the "evangelist."
Jesus therefore answered and said: "No man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of My Father " (John 6:65).
"Jesus said that "he that cometh to me," replied the evangelist, "I will in no wise cast out."
Jesus answers: "All that the FATHER GIVETH ME, SHALL COME to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37).
"Don’t listen to anyone who says you can’t come to Jesus. He wants you to come right now!" said the evangelist.
"Jesus therefore answered and said, . . . NO MAN CAN COME TO ME, except the Father which hath sent Me DRAW HIM: and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:44).
What a shocking discourse the above is to the ears of an unconverted, or inexperienced man!
Someone once said that John Calvin thought the doctrine of reprobation was a "horrible decree." Of course, Calvin believed it to be true because it is clearly taught in the Bible. "No man can come" to Christ unless the Father draws him; or "except it were given to him" of the Father. Regardless of what preachers say, Christ’s own answer is the truth. The preachers say that the sinner can come anytime he pleases; and the Lord says, "Oh, no! He cannot come unless My Father determined that he does." It is not left up to man; but is left up to the Father. The Father will "have mercy on him whom He will have mercy, and have compassion on whom He will have compassion. And whom He will, He hardeneth" (Romans 9:11-19.)
Natural man’s sensitivities toward their fellow man draws forth a violent reaction to the truth Jesus taught in the above passages. "Do you mean to say that God will prevent one from believing and being saved?"
Such a conclusion is invariably necessary, for it is certain that God does not save all. He does not call all to repentance. He did not choose all to salvation. It is not given to all to come to Christ. Indeed, it is not given to all that hear to believe. The reason is clearly given by our Lord: "He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, BECAUSE ye are NOT OF God" (John 8:47).
"But", says one, "such cannot be the correct meaning of the text. Surely if they understood Christ, they could come."
"Why do ye NOT understand My speech? Even because ye cannot hear My word," said our Lord. (John 8:43).
"It is just too difficult to draw such a conclusion in light of the love of God. Didn’t He come to give everyone a chance to be saved?"
"For judgment I am come into this world, that THEY WHICH SEE NOT MIGHT SEE; AND THAT THEY WHICH SEE MIGHT BE MADE BLIND," said the Lord Jesus. (John 9:39).
The above presents a side of the truth of free grace that is absolutely shocking the first time it engages one’s attention. There is no doubt that most individuals find it very negative; and for this reason they will not entertain it in their minds very long. It does not fit the "evangelical Christian" theory of universal offers of salvation.
While at first glance the above scriptures appear negative, yet they are rather positive. It is the positive aspects of them that are of greatest interest in this article. It seems appropriate, however, to highlight the negative first as a background for the positive. We will prove the doctrine and then move on to the beauty and sweetness it affords a child of free grace.
The Bible proves conclusively that the evangelical theory of universal offers of salvation is false. The theory is only a figment of the imagination of ministers bent on gaining church members at any price.
In the best-known text the "free offer" men advance, the context disputes their interpretation roundly. In the John 12:32, Jesus said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me."
The evangelical ministers will say: "See, God does draw everyone to Jesus!"
However, in verses 40 & 41, John writes: "He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts; that they should NOT see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Esaias, when he saw His glory, and spake of Him."
It is not reasonable to believe that God would do this to them if, in fact, He willed their salvation. He would have done the exact opposite instead! Again, in the famous "Lord’s Prayer," we hear the Lord praying to His Father saying: "As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as THOU HAST GIVEN HIM . . . .I pray for THEM: I pray NOT FOR THE WORLD, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine." (John 17: 2, 9). It surely would appear that if it were His will that all be drawn to Him and saved by Him, that His intercessory prayer would have included all of them.
But obviously, it did not!
To make the negative aspect of this doctrine brief, we will cite only one more passage (out of many) to prove this point. The apostle foretelling of the coming of that "wicked one," writes: "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; BECAUSE they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for THIS CAUSE God shall send them STRONG DELUSION, that they should believe a lie: (That God loves every body and wants to save every body) that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (II Thessalonians 2:10-12).
Now that is what some might consider being a negative aspect of the truth. Notice, however, the next verse. It sets forth the most positive and sweet part of the subject: "But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning CHOSEN YOU TO SALVATION through sanctification of the Spirit and BELIEF OF THE TRUTH: whereunto He called you by our Gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (verse 13,14).
That, dear friend is very positive!
God chose those His Father gave Him to salvation. As He said:
"Ye have not CHOSEN Me, but I have chosen you."
(John 15:16)
The Positive: Except the Father Draw Him
"No man can come unto Me, except the Father which hath sent Me DRAW HIM: and I will raise him up at the last day."
"Therefore said I unto you, that NO MAN CAN COME UNTO Me, except it were GIVEN UNTO HIM OF My father."
The texts above shows clearly that while no one can come to Christ except God draws him, those that the Father draws will be in the resurrection of the just. In other words, it is imperative that God draw one to Christ if that one is ever to be saved experimentally and everlastingly. This places salvation squarely in the hands of God. It denies any initiation of salvation to be by the efforts of the creature.
It is a very positive declaration. To Jeremiah the prophet, God said:
"Thus saith the Lord, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to CAUSE him to rest. The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with LOVINGKINDNESS HAVE I DRAWN THEE."
(Jeremiah 31:2-3)
What a mercy is this!
"I have drawn thee." Jesus had said, "No man can come unto Me except," and this exception is this gracious drawing by the lovingkindness of God.
"Yea," said He, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love."
We cannot escape the conclusion that one who is drawn to Christ has been loved of God "from the beginning," and therefore has been loved of God from the foundation of the world, or ever the world was. The apostle said even the same, when he wrote:
"according as He chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: Having predestinated US unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved"
(Ephesians 1:4-6.)
"With lovingkindness have I drawn thee." That is as to say, "not with violence," but "in love and gentleness." It surely is with "lovingkindness" when God draws one to Himself.
"And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, LIVE"
(Ezekiel 16:6)
In such a helpless and polluted condition!
Why should God have mercy on such ungodly sinners as this?
Yet, Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. That call is an appointed call. "Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the TIME OF LOVE; and I spread My skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou BECAMEST MINE" (verse 8.)
The drawing of one to Christ can be by many different ways. The covenant promise of the everlasting Father to His beloved Son was that "Thy people shall be willing in the day of THY POWER, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: Thou hast the dew of Thy youth" (Psalm 110:3.)
It is a powerful drawing to Christ Jesus when He in His power makes them willing. If He shows them their sinfulness; their inability to attain an adequate righteousness of their own; that all their religious devotions and legal efforts cannot justify them; then they will flee to Him for His righteousness and consequent justification.
They will, in His own time and way, cause them to finally exclaim, "The Lord our Righteousness" and salvation!
God will teach all His people that they are the chiefest of sinners. He will make them to see what they are by nature in the carnality of Adam’s flesh!
And, He will cause them to come to Him for rest. In fact, Paul declared this to be "a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners;" of whom he was chief; and that in him, "first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting" (I Timothy 1:15-16.)
The doctrines of God our Savior will draw a believer to Christ often. In our day, the doctrinal downgrade has been highly successful. Modern-day "Christians" have thrown the doctrine of Christ away.
They never knew how important doctrine is!
Without them, they cannot know Christ. His doctrine describes Him. It tells who and what manner of person He is. This Biblical description of Him draws the believer to Him. To wit: "Jesus is a hateful, mean, ugly subhuman creature with horns and a forked tail and cannot save anyone unless they let him."
Is this the Christ we worship?
Of course not!
His doctrine declares Him to be Love.
He is merciful.
He is sovereign.
He does His own will as He pleases.
He has already saved all His people by the sacrifice of Himself.
He effectually call sinners to Himself, and He teaches them all things that they need as they need them.
Without the doctrine of Christ, one cannot know Him. But it is with His doctrine that His people are drawn to Him. His people need a god that is indeed a GOD!
And this He certainly is!
They do not need a helper in salvation; they need a SAVIOR!
And this He certainly is also!
All the great and glorious attributes of God are taught only by the doctrine of Christ. These are all instruments in the hand of God to draw a trembling sinner to the loving arms of a loving and adorable Savior.
By Stanley C. Phillips
THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN
"These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also."
(Acts 17:6)
These words were spoken of Paul and Silas after having preached three sabbath days in the synagogue at Thessalonica. Paul's preaching was exceeding troublesome. Acts 16:20. The doctrine of Christ when proclaimed by his chosen ministers is always offensive to the world and its different sects of carnal worshipers. It turns Arminianism upside down. As long as a man's preaching leaves the world right side up, we know that he has not preached the gospel of Christ. A gospel without a stumbling-block is a gospel without Christ. Those whose preaching does not turn the world upside down, have never been turned upside down themselves; and those who have not been turned upside down, have never been called by grace; for a call by grace always turns a man upside down. It had this effect on Paul.
The religion of Jesus Christ is contrary to nature. Christ was put to death on a cross. Arminianism teaches that God is the Father of all mankind, and as such deals with all men as his children. They even came face to face with the Lord Jesus with this pernicious doctrine, saying, "We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God." John 8:41. But the Saviour silenced their presumptuous blasphemy with the cutting rebuke, "If God were your father, ye would love me." "Ye are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." John 8:44.
This same generation of Satan are in the world today, under a cloak of carnal religion, denying that they are born of fornication, and claiming one father, even God. And nothing is more tormenting to them than to point to their true parentage, as did the Saviour. These same teachers of the world hold forth a Saviour who has left the shining courts of his Father's glory, and came to this low ground of sin and sorrow, suffered and died the ignominious death of the cross, to do men's wills; for they say he will save them if they will. But the word of eternal truth turns this upside down, and hurls it back into the bottomless pit of human lies, and declares that he came down from heaven, not even to do his own will, but the will of him that sent him. John 6:38. Our Saviour was no Arminian; for he came not to do his own will. Neither are his brethren Arminians. For in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren.
These same soothsayers teach that Christ, as an offering for sin, is made to man, and man is moved and coaxed by the Spirit and bride to accept him. They call themselves the bride, and exhort their hearers not to resist the Spirit, for fear it may take its everlasting flight. But the inspired record turns this upside down, and discovers Satan under it, the father of lies, and lets us know that Jesus through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, and by that one offering hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Offerings for sin are made to God, and to God alone. Christ as an offering for sin is not made to us. They also teach that Christ is held forth in what they call "the general tender of the gospel," and that we must believe in him in order to be saved, and that we believe according to our own free will. But the inspired Scripture, that fatal touchstone of the world's religion, meets this doctrine of infidelity, and turns it upside down; declaring that we "believe according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead." Eph.1:19,20.
When men came to Christ wanting to work the works of God, he told them, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." John 6:28,29. They say, We believe according to our own free will. Christ says, We believe according to the workings of the mighty power of God. They say, It is man's work to believe. Christ says, It is the work of God. Which is right? These same "towerbuilders" teach that all men can come to Christ; but the Saviour said, "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." John 7:44. Here they give the Saviour the lie, and yet pretend to love and obey him. They further teach that it is God's will to have all men come to Christ and be saved, and that it is God's purpose and pleasure to save them if they will but come; "If they will only fall in with the overtures of mercy, and be saved upon the easy and equitable terms of the gospel, before it is finally and everlastingly too late." But the Saviour turns this upside down, and reveals their refuge of lies, and tells us that all that the Father giveth him shall come to him. Never can one that God has given to Christ stay away. God will make them come. Christ says, "Ye will not come unto me;" and, "No man can come." Men will not come, cannot come. And "will not" and "cannot" is a double not, which nothing but the finger of God can untie. With men these things are impossible; but with God all things are possible.
These same "waymakers" teach a broad and easy way which all men can find, because they claim to clearly point it out; and that all men can and may walk therein. They would like to prove that our Saviour lied when he said, "Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it." I do not dispute their claim to the "broad way," but only deny that it leads to life. For, "broad is the way that leads to death, and many there be that go in thereat." These same "encompassers" of sea and land must have a universal religion. Their prayer is that the world may be converted to Christ. They are of the world, and pray for the world. But the Saviour was not of the world, and declared that he prayed not for the world. John 17:9. Their prayers are not modeled after Christ's, but after "vain repetitions of the heathen," which Christ commands his disciples not to use. How long have their joint petitions gone up for "every house to become a house of prayer, and every heart a fit temple for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit?" Has this prayer ever been answered? If it should be, could the Scriptures be fulfilled? The fact that this is not answered is evidence that it was never promised, and the asking is proved to be amiss.
Again, these learned Rabbis of modern theology teach that "men are not the sheep of Christ because they believe not." But Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, whose own the sheep are, turns this upside down, and exposes their learned ignorance of the true God and his grace, and says, "Ye believe not because ye are not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." John 10:26. Men believe because they are the sheep of Christ; not to make them sheep. In the same way which they call "proclaiming life and salvation," they teach that as many as believe, are ordained to eternal life. But the eternal record destroys this refuge of lies, and reveals the glorious truth of God's predestinating grace, and says, "As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." Acts 13:48. If you wish to arrive at the truth, always reverse Arminianism. Again, these will-worshiping idolaters claim that by their teaching, accompanied by the persuasive influence of the Spirit, men are brought to a knowledge of the truth, and then can be saved by laying hold of offered mercy. But the Scriptures turn this upside down, and tell us that God will have men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. I Tim.2:4. The Scriptures teach, first, saved, and then a knowledge of the truth. Men teach, first, a knowledge of the truth, and then a probable salvation. They have Sunday Schools, Tract Societies, money systems, and a hundred other inventions unauthorized by the word of God, to forward this work of teaching what they call the religion of Jesus Christ. But the Scriptures turn this upside down, and show it to be the commandments and traditions of men. "They shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest." Heb.8:11. "It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me." John 6:45. This is the teaching that brings men to Christ. It brings all who are taught. Christ says, "Every one that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me." There is no failure here. When a poor sinner is taught of the Lord; when Christ, the true light, is revealed in him, he denies himself, and learns to touch not, taste not, handle not, the commandments and traditions of men, because with him they all perish with the using.
Again, these "Doctors of Divinity" teach that all men are called by the gospel and the Spirit, and can be saved if they will only yield to the influence of the Spirit, and obey what they call the gospel, and keep the commandments. But our Saviour has stopped their mouths again; for he declares that the world cannot receive the Spirit, which he sends to comfort his children. John 14:17. The apostle says, "Who hath saved us, and called us." II Tim.1:9. Hence we are saved before we are called. If not, why does the word say so? "Sanctified by God the Father, preserved {or saved} in Jesus Christ, and called." Jude 1. But the salvation that men preach is after the call. Then it is plain that their call and salvation are not the call and salvation of our God. Their call is not only before their salvation, but it is immensely broader; for they say that all men are called, and but few saved. But the call of our God is not so. The promise is to all that are called. "For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off; even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Acts 2:39. This promise is to "as many," not to all. Again, "Ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called." I Cor.1:26. Somebody is left out of this call. But why do we reason? For hath not the apostle said, "Whom he did foreknow, them he also did predestinate;" "and whom he did predestinate, them he also called?" Rom.7:29,30. Here we see that the call of our God is limited by his predestination, coupled with his eternal foreknowledge.
Thus we see that their doctrine of infidelity is turned upside down by God's own words, and the foundation thereof discovered to be human ingenuity and craftiness, speculation being the chief corner-stone. These same atheistic teachers preach that God begins the work in all men, but carries it on in but few, and that thousands who are awakened and moved by the Spirit, die in their sins, and sink into the torment of an ever burning hell. This is mighty poor grace, and a very unsuccessful and sadly disappointed Spirit; but we feel sure that it is neither the grace nor the Spirit of our God; for we are assured in his word that his grace "reigns through righteousness unto everlasting life." Rom.5:21. It reigns through righteousness; does not fail through weakness. And when our God begins a good work in a creature, he "performs it until the day of Jesus Christ." Phil.1:6. And what our God doeth shall stand forever; nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it. Eccl.3:14. Thus, through the inspired Scriptures every phase of the doctrines of men is turned upside down, and their falsehoods brought to light.
These same master builders of the high places of Molech preach a faith that is the fruit of the creature, and man must exercise it. But Paul preached a faith that God is the author and finisher of; a faith that exercises the creature; that works by love and purifies the heart; a faith that is the gift of God; a faith that moved Noah to prepare an ark; a faith that threw down the walls of Jericho; a faith which translated Enoch; a faith which subdued kingdoms, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, works righteousness, and overcomes the world. This is not a faith that is the fruit of the creature, and exercised by man; but it is that faith by which we understand the world was framed; the faith of the Son of God.
These same evil men and seducers wax worse and worse, {II Tim.3:13,} and preach a birth of a spirit which can be produced or prevented by man; a birth without a begetting, without a travail, and brings forth something that can be annihilated, or cease to exist, by the disobedience of the creature, and regain the condition occupied before birth. They call this "being born of God." Now, this is not only contradicted by the word of truth, but there is not a syllable of common sense or reason in it. There are laws of birth, and without these a birth is impossible. First, the existence of life or seed in the parent; second, a begetting; and third, travail, or bringing to light and manifestation the being whose life had its existence in the parent. And this being can never pass back into that state again. The Scriptures inform us that we are born of God. How can this be, except our life was in God, and of the same nature as God? Before this birth of the Spirit, there must be a begetting; and James informs us that God of his own will begat us. James 1:18. And if begotten of the Spirit, we are bound to be born. For God says, "Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth?" Isa.66:9.
These same gainsayers of Korah preach that in infancy we are all the children of God; but when we cross the line of accountability, if we do good God will still love us; and if we disobey, he will hate us, and we will cease to be his children, and become the children of the wicked one. This line of accountability, of which they preach so much, I can never understand, as there is no such thing intimated in the Scriptures of divine truth. But the word of God turns this upside down, and discloses ignorance, superstition and human imagination, as its foundation. These words of eternal truth forever settle the question with all lovers of the truth. "The children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth; it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger; as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Rom.9:11-13. If this Scripture read in this way, The children being both born, and having crossed the line of accountability, one did good and another evil, that salvation by works might stand, it was said unto her, Jacob I love, but Esau I hate; then the Scriptures would not have to be revised to meet the demands of the present age; neither would the Arminian clergy have to dodge the word, as they do. But our God does not have to wait for the birth of the creature, to fix his choice; but his sovereign, electing love fixes on the object before its birth, before it does good or evil, even before it is in a capacity for doing good or evil. The eternal choice of our God was made not only before the birth of the objects embraced therein, but was made in Christ before the foundation of the world, and sealed by his immutable decree of predestination; and the foundation thereof standeth sure, having this seal, "The Lord knoweth them that are his."
Dear kindred in Christ, it is in much weakness that I have tried to notice a few of the most prominent points in which the doctrine of our Saviour turns the world upside down. If all the points of difference were noticed and compared, I suppose the world itself would not contain the books that should be written. I am young and ignorant, but I hope that the grace which bringeth salvation hath appeared unto me, and through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus my Saviour, I hope to stand accepted in the Beloved, with all the redeemed family.
By H.M. CURRY
From Signs of the Times - Jan 15, 1884
(Acts 17:6)
These words were spoken of Paul and Silas after having preached three sabbath days in the synagogue at Thessalonica. Paul's preaching was exceeding troublesome. Acts 16:20. The doctrine of Christ when proclaimed by his chosen ministers is always offensive to the world and its different sects of carnal worshipers. It turns Arminianism upside down. As long as a man's preaching leaves the world right side up, we know that he has not preached the gospel of Christ. A gospel without a stumbling-block is a gospel without Christ. Those whose preaching does not turn the world upside down, have never been turned upside down themselves; and those who have not been turned upside down, have never been called by grace; for a call by grace always turns a man upside down. It had this effect on Paul.
The religion of Jesus Christ is contrary to nature. Christ was put to death on a cross. Arminianism teaches that God is the Father of all mankind, and as such deals with all men as his children. They even came face to face with the Lord Jesus with this pernicious doctrine, saying, "We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God." John 8:41. But the Saviour silenced their presumptuous blasphemy with the cutting rebuke, "If God were your father, ye would love me." "Ye are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." John 8:44.
This same generation of Satan are in the world today, under a cloak of carnal religion, denying that they are born of fornication, and claiming one father, even God. And nothing is more tormenting to them than to point to their true parentage, as did the Saviour. These same teachers of the world hold forth a Saviour who has left the shining courts of his Father's glory, and came to this low ground of sin and sorrow, suffered and died the ignominious death of the cross, to do men's wills; for they say he will save them if they will. But the word of eternal truth turns this upside down, and hurls it back into the bottomless pit of human lies, and declares that he came down from heaven, not even to do his own will, but the will of him that sent him. John 6:38. Our Saviour was no Arminian; for he came not to do his own will. Neither are his brethren Arminians. For in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren.
These same soothsayers teach that Christ, as an offering for sin, is made to man, and man is moved and coaxed by the Spirit and bride to accept him. They call themselves the bride, and exhort their hearers not to resist the Spirit, for fear it may take its everlasting flight. But the inspired record turns this upside down, and discovers Satan under it, the father of lies, and lets us know that Jesus through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, and by that one offering hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Offerings for sin are made to God, and to God alone. Christ as an offering for sin is not made to us. They also teach that Christ is held forth in what they call "the general tender of the gospel," and that we must believe in him in order to be saved, and that we believe according to our own free will. But the inspired Scripture, that fatal touchstone of the world's religion, meets this doctrine of infidelity, and turns it upside down; declaring that we "believe according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead." Eph.1:19,20.
When men came to Christ wanting to work the works of God, he told them, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." John 6:28,29. They say, We believe according to our own free will. Christ says, We believe according to the workings of the mighty power of God. They say, It is man's work to believe. Christ says, It is the work of God. Which is right? These same "towerbuilders" teach that all men can come to Christ; but the Saviour said, "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." John 7:44. Here they give the Saviour the lie, and yet pretend to love and obey him. They further teach that it is God's will to have all men come to Christ and be saved, and that it is God's purpose and pleasure to save them if they will but come; "If they will only fall in with the overtures of mercy, and be saved upon the easy and equitable terms of the gospel, before it is finally and everlastingly too late." But the Saviour turns this upside down, and reveals their refuge of lies, and tells us that all that the Father giveth him shall come to him. Never can one that God has given to Christ stay away. God will make them come. Christ says, "Ye will not come unto me;" and, "No man can come." Men will not come, cannot come. And "will not" and "cannot" is a double not, which nothing but the finger of God can untie. With men these things are impossible; but with God all things are possible.
These same "waymakers" teach a broad and easy way which all men can find, because they claim to clearly point it out; and that all men can and may walk therein. They would like to prove that our Saviour lied when he said, "Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it." I do not dispute their claim to the "broad way," but only deny that it leads to life. For, "broad is the way that leads to death, and many there be that go in thereat." These same "encompassers" of sea and land must have a universal religion. Their prayer is that the world may be converted to Christ. They are of the world, and pray for the world. But the Saviour was not of the world, and declared that he prayed not for the world. John 17:9. Their prayers are not modeled after Christ's, but after "vain repetitions of the heathen," which Christ commands his disciples not to use. How long have their joint petitions gone up for "every house to become a house of prayer, and every heart a fit temple for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit?" Has this prayer ever been answered? If it should be, could the Scriptures be fulfilled? The fact that this is not answered is evidence that it was never promised, and the asking is proved to be amiss.
Again, these learned Rabbis of modern theology teach that "men are not the sheep of Christ because they believe not." But Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, whose own the sheep are, turns this upside down, and exposes their learned ignorance of the true God and his grace, and says, "Ye believe not because ye are not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." John 10:26. Men believe because they are the sheep of Christ; not to make them sheep. In the same way which they call "proclaiming life and salvation," they teach that as many as believe, are ordained to eternal life. But the eternal record destroys this refuge of lies, and reveals the glorious truth of God's predestinating grace, and says, "As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." Acts 13:48. If you wish to arrive at the truth, always reverse Arminianism. Again, these will-worshiping idolaters claim that by their teaching, accompanied by the persuasive influence of the Spirit, men are brought to a knowledge of the truth, and then can be saved by laying hold of offered mercy. But the Scriptures turn this upside down, and tell us that God will have men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. I Tim.2:4. The Scriptures teach, first, saved, and then a knowledge of the truth. Men teach, first, a knowledge of the truth, and then a probable salvation. They have Sunday Schools, Tract Societies, money systems, and a hundred other inventions unauthorized by the word of God, to forward this work of teaching what they call the religion of Jesus Christ. But the Scriptures turn this upside down, and show it to be the commandments and traditions of men. "They shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest." Heb.8:11. "It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me." John 6:45. This is the teaching that brings men to Christ. It brings all who are taught. Christ says, "Every one that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me." There is no failure here. When a poor sinner is taught of the Lord; when Christ, the true light, is revealed in him, he denies himself, and learns to touch not, taste not, handle not, the commandments and traditions of men, because with him they all perish with the using.
Again, these "Doctors of Divinity" teach that all men are called by the gospel and the Spirit, and can be saved if they will only yield to the influence of the Spirit, and obey what they call the gospel, and keep the commandments. But our Saviour has stopped their mouths again; for he declares that the world cannot receive the Spirit, which he sends to comfort his children. John 14:17. The apostle says, "Who hath saved us, and called us." II Tim.1:9. Hence we are saved before we are called. If not, why does the word say so? "Sanctified by God the Father, preserved {or saved} in Jesus Christ, and called." Jude 1. But the salvation that men preach is after the call. Then it is plain that their call and salvation are not the call and salvation of our God. Their call is not only before their salvation, but it is immensely broader; for they say that all men are called, and but few saved. But the call of our God is not so. The promise is to all that are called. "For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off; even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Acts 2:39. This promise is to "as many," not to all. Again, "Ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called." I Cor.1:26. Somebody is left out of this call. But why do we reason? For hath not the apostle said, "Whom he did foreknow, them he also did predestinate;" "and whom he did predestinate, them he also called?" Rom.7:29,30. Here we see that the call of our God is limited by his predestination, coupled with his eternal foreknowledge.
Thus we see that their doctrine of infidelity is turned upside down by God's own words, and the foundation thereof discovered to be human ingenuity and craftiness, speculation being the chief corner-stone. These same atheistic teachers preach that God begins the work in all men, but carries it on in but few, and that thousands who are awakened and moved by the Spirit, die in their sins, and sink into the torment of an ever burning hell. This is mighty poor grace, and a very unsuccessful and sadly disappointed Spirit; but we feel sure that it is neither the grace nor the Spirit of our God; for we are assured in his word that his grace "reigns through righteousness unto everlasting life." Rom.5:21. It reigns through righteousness; does not fail through weakness. And when our God begins a good work in a creature, he "performs it until the day of Jesus Christ." Phil.1:6. And what our God doeth shall stand forever; nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it. Eccl.3:14. Thus, through the inspired Scriptures every phase of the doctrines of men is turned upside down, and their falsehoods brought to light.
These same master builders of the high places of Molech preach a faith that is the fruit of the creature, and man must exercise it. But Paul preached a faith that God is the author and finisher of; a faith that exercises the creature; that works by love and purifies the heart; a faith that is the gift of God; a faith that moved Noah to prepare an ark; a faith that threw down the walls of Jericho; a faith which translated Enoch; a faith which subdued kingdoms, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, works righteousness, and overcomes the world. This is not a faith that is the fruit of the creature, and exercised by man; but it is that faith by which we understand the world was framed; the faith of the Son of God.
These same evil men and seducers wax worse and worse, {II Tim.3:13,} and preach a birth of a spirit which can be produced or prevented by man; a birth without a begetting, without a travail, and brings forth something that can be annihilated, or cease to exist, by the disobedience of the creature, and regain the condition occupied before birth. They call this "being born of God." Now, this is not only contradicted by the word of truth, but there is not a syllable of common sense or reason in it. There are laws of birth, and without these a birth is impossible. First, the existence of life or seed in the parent; second, a begetting; and third, travail, or bringing to light and manifestation the being whose life had its existence in the parent. And this being can never pass back into that state again. The Scriptures inform us that we are born of God. How can this be, except our life was in God, and of the same nature as God? Before this birth of the Spirit, there must be a begetting; and James informs us that God of his own will begat us. James 1:18. And if begotten of the Spirit, we are bound to be born. For God says, "Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth?" Isa.66:9.
These same gainsayers of Korah preach that in infancy we are all the children of God; but when we cross the line of accountability, if we do good God will still love us; and if we disobey, he will hate us, and we will cease to be his children, and become the children of the wicked one. This line of accountability, of which they preach so much, I can never understand, as there is no such thing intimated in the Scriptures of divine truth. But the word of God turns this upside down, and discloses ignorance, superstition and human imagination, as its foundation. These words of eternal truth forever settle the question with all lovers of the truth. "The children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth; it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger; as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Rom.9:11-13. If this Scripture read in this way, The children being both born, and having crossed the line of accountability, one did good and another evil, that salvation by works might stand, it was said unto her, Jacob I love, but Esau I hate; then the Scriptures would not have to be revised to meet the demands of the present age; neither would the Arminian clergy have to dodge the word, as they do. But our God does not have to wait for the birth of the creature, to fix his choice; but his sovereign, electing love fixes on the object before its birth, before it does good or evil, even before it is in a capacity for doing good or evil. The eternal choice of our God was made not only before the birth of the objects embraced therein, but was made in Christ before the foundation of the world, and sealed by his immutable decree of predestination; and the foundation thereof standeth sure, having this seal, "The Lord knoweth them that are his."
Dear kindred in Christ, it is in much weakness that I have tried to notice a few of the most prominent points in which the doctrine of our Saviour turns the world upside down. If all the points of difference were noticed and compared, I suppose the world itself would not contain the books that should be written. I am young and ignorant, but I hope that the grace which bringeth salvation hath appeared unto me, and through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus my Saviour, I hope to stand accepted in the Beloved, with all the redeemed family.
By H.M. CURRY
From Signs of the Times - Jan 15, 1884
Friday, July 31, 2009
“TASTED DEATH FOR EVERY MAN”
To believe that Jesus Christ died, or tasted death, for the entire race of Adam is very natural to the Universalists, or Arminians.
In fact such a theory is in all men’s nature; for I often find myself trying to ride the “do better horse,” but he invariably throws me. If I possess a new nature, the Lord created it in me in 1883; and since, if I have one vestige of Arminianism respecting the Saviour’s death and atonement in the renewed mind, I have not discovered it.
To taste death, or to die, for any other than His elect, inspiration has failed to record it. Most assuredly if there had been one Scripture that said that He died for all the race of Adam, it would have been repeated so often from certain pulpits and press that all who read the Scripture would know of it. Now that it is only a vain supposition, such Scriptures as “tasted death for every man,” is boosted.
Luke says, “The law and the prophets were unto John; since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.”
Who is there that thinks that this means the entire race of men?
The natural man who cannot discern spiritual things, and cannot rightly divide the word of truth may think “every man” means all mankind.
Now, that Saul of Tarsus was an educated man, and converted from law-error to Gospel
truth, he could speak comfortingly and understandingly to the Hebrews, who had been made to believe in Jesus as the only Saviour of sinners. Thus he addressed them:
“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” (Hebrews 2:9)
The proportional faith couched in the context is a chain of divine truth, including every line of salvation purchased by Christ’s death and atonement. “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son” - for His tasting the death of His Son for His chosen ones, not by His obedience, resurrection, life, or intercession, but by His death. This tasting of death was not in order to give any rain and sunshine, bread and meat, or any temporal blessings. But for thus suffering, tasting death, the Father rewarded Him for thus redeeming the
purchased possession. (Philippians 2:8-9)
Hence, all for whom He tasted death are reconciled to God by His Son’s death and atonement; and thereby all, “every man,” that Jesus by the grace of God should taste death, shall be saved from all their sins; “for it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one; for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare My name unto My brethren; in the midst of the church I will sing praises unto Thee.”
(Hebrews 2:10-12)
And again, “Behold, I, and the children which God hath given Me.”
With the faith of Paul and of those to whom He spake, evidently must have believed the “every man,” the “many sons,” “they who are sanctified,” “My brethren,” and “the children which God hath given Me,” embraced those who were chosen in the Son before the world out of the fallen race of Adam, just that many, no more or less. If “every man” should mean all of Adam’s posterity, so would each of those in the context.
If all would read the word of truth for instruction, they would see that only those who are called with a holy calling of Jews and Gentiles will be saved; and only those who are ordained to eternal life will ever believe in Jesus Christ. (Acts 13:48)
Even from the mouths of babes and sucklings God has ordained praise and strength. (Matt. 21:16)
It is often said by unbelievers that the Lord cannot save unless the subject will let Him.
Such have never been under the hand of God or had the sentence of death in themselves, else they would believe He doeth His will in heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand. It is by grace they are saved. Who is there that cannot see how Paul triumphantly gathers those expressions in the context, as sentinels, to prove that every one that Jesus Christ tasted death for shall be saved. As all His people are taught of the Lord, it seems strange that any should believe that some that He saved are not saved, and will never be raised to eternal glory, unless it is one who has been led to deny the gods of this world.
By M.L. Gilbert, 1938
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
THE TEST OF HOUSEHOLD FAITH
The spirit of liberty, gospel freedom, sweet peace in the conscience, pardon and redemption is all in Christ, my friends. And if we are blessed with these spiritual blessings in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are safe and secure to all eternity. The soul that has a saving interest in Christ, the great Redeemer, is as sure of heaven as if he were there already.
It is not as some free-willers wickedly tell their hearers – "There are thousands in hell for whom Christ shed His blood."
O no, this can never be the case; for the Father has declared of the Son, "He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied."
He could never be satisfied if the purchase of His blood, the ransom of His life, were to be lifting up their eyes in hell. "The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."
It is in Christ, my friends. The Lord keep you and me looking by precious faith to the Person of the great Redeemer, to His blood shedding and justifying righteousness, for peace and salvation. It is the test of the household of faith.
By John Kershaw
It is not as some free-willers wickedly tell their hearers – "There are thousands in hell for whom Christ shed His blood."
O no, this can never be the case; for the Father has declared of the Son, "He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied."
He could never be satisfied if the purchase of His blood, the ransom of His life, were to be lifting up their eyes in hell. "The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."
It is in Christ, my friends. The Lord keep you and me looking by precious faith to the Person of the great Redeemer, to His blood shedding and justifying righteousness, for peace and salvation. It is the test of the household of faith.
By John Kershaw
Sunday, May 17, 2009
The End Of Two-Thousand Arminians
“The whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.”
Matthew 8:32
Once the devils entered the swine it would be impossible to distinguish them from the swine. The reason being, and the truth of the matter is, the swine and the devils are now one. The will and desire of the swine, the Lord now giving them leave to act upon the same, (they supposed their will now to be free), was to flee from the presence of Christ and feast upon the mountain of their own self-righteousness.
However, being blind and violent in their own pursuits, having no sense of direction, they ended up perishing in the waters of condemnation which is the just desert for all who are not found in Christ Jesus and who trust in their own righteousness. The truth is, their will was not free at all but rather bound by their own foolish nature and desires.
Oh how natural man loves and adores his “free-will!”
Oh how natural man hates and is violent against the Lord Jesus Christ and His sovereign grace!
Free-willers put their fingers in their ears and scream “we will not have this man rule over us!”
They call those whom the Lord has clothed and given life, heretics.
These representatives of self-righteous, free-will religionists (the devil possessed swine) would rather die therein than be in the presence of Christ and be clothed with His righteousness, (freewillism and self-righteousness are one and the same).
This is how we all are from birth until death, unless the Lord in sovereign grace and mercy comes where we are to clothe us with His righteousness and dwell in us giving us Spiritual life and sanity.
Arminianism is insanity and certain death to all who embrace it. All those who cling to their will and righteousness will not come to Christ that they might have life - “And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life” (John 5:40).
The whole herd of free - will preachers and all their disciples will come to the same end as portrayed by the swine. “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10)
By T. Robbins
Matthew 8:32
Once the devils entered the swine it would be impossible to distinguish them from the swine. The reason being, and the truth of the matter is, the swine and the devils are now one. The will and desire of the swine, the Lord now giving them leave to act upon the same, (they supposed their will now to be free), was to flee from the presence of Christ and feast upon the mountain of their own self-righteousness.
However, being blind and violent in their own pursuits, having no sense of direction, they ended up perishing in the waters of condemnation which is the just desert for all who are not found in Christ Jesus and who trust in their own righteousness. The truth is, their will was not free at all but rather bound by their own foolish nature and desires.
Oh how natural man loves and adores his “free-will!”
Oh how natural man hates and is violent against the Lord Jesus Christ and His sovereign grace!
Free-willers put their fingers in their ears and scream “we will not have this man rule over us!”
They call those whom the Lord has clothed and given life, heretics.
These representatives of self-righteous, free-will religionists (the devil possessed swine) would rather die therein than be in the presence of Christ and be clothed with His righteousness, (freewillism and self-righteousness are one and the same).
This is how we all are from birth until death, unless the Lord in sovereign grace and mercy comes where we are to clothe us with His righteousness and dwell in us giving us Spiritual life and sanity.
Arminianism is insanity and certain death to all who embrace it. All those who cling to their will and righteousness will not come to Christ that they might have life - “And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life” (John 5:40).
The whole herd of free - will preachers and all their disciples will come to the same end as portrayed by the swine. “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10)
By T. Robbins
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Atonement And Redemption
Dear Sir: - There are some who say that the atonement is general and that redemption is particular, and others who say that both the atonement and the redemption are general. If you will give your views, through the SIGNS, on this subject, you will very much oblige, and I hope instruct me. What I want to know is, can the two be separated? If the one is general is not the other? I hope you will give your views at some length, and oblige,
A LOVER OF THE TRUTH.
Ulster County, N. Y., April 28, 1858.
___________________________________________________
The simple word atonement, or at-one-ment, signifies reconciliation, agreement, or restoration to favor, and when applied in a gospel sense, has reference to the meditorial sacrifice of the Son of God, by which his people are reconciled unto God. That mediatorial work or sacrifice involved his suffering for them the penalty of the law which they had transgressed, bearing the curse which was due to their transgressions, putting away their sins by sacrifice of himself; being delivered up for their offences, and raised again from the dead for their justification.
Redemption signifies the buying back of that which has become legally involved and is held by another in captivity. For instance, a flock of sheep which has gone astray from the premises of their owner, and committed trespass on another, may be legally held by him who has sustained the injury, until the owner of the sheep shall come forward, prove property, pay the legal charges, and take them away. This is called redemption, or buying back the flock or property which belonged to him who redeems, before the trespass was committed. In this the payment of the damages is the atonement or reconciliation, for it satisfies the party who held the legal claim upon the flock, and the price paid for the satisfaction, or reconciliation, redeems or buys them back. So that the atonement and the redemption of the sheep are one and the same thing; they cannot be separated. None but the owner of the sheep has the right to redeem them. If he fails to redeem them, and they are sold to some other person for the damages they have done, they are not redeemed at all, because they are not bought back, or restored to the former owner, but pass into the possession of a new owner. The redemption of the people of God is thus described, Isaiah 53:6, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him [Christ] the iniquity of us all."
That is, the whole demand of the law and justice of God, was demanded of that Shepherd whose own the sheep were, and who says, "I am the good Shepherd; the good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." - John 10:11-12.
If Christ had not been the owner of the flock before they strayed, or went into captivity, justice could not have demanded satisfaction at his hands, the Lord would not have laid their iniquity upon him, nor commanded, saying, "Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts; smite the Shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will turn my hand upon the little ones." - Zechariah 13:7.
Nor could Christ have claimed the right to redeem them on any other ground. He was the Shepherd whose own the sheep were, and he plead and sustained his prior claim to, and right of property in them, saying, "Thine they were, and thou gavest them me."
"I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them." And this glory he says he had with the Father before the world was. (John 17:5, 7, 10.)
Therefore he could in coming into the world to redeem them, confidently refer to the records of eternity: "Lo! I come, in the volume of thy book [the book in which all his members are written, Psalm 139:16,] it is written of me; to do thy will, O God." - Hebrews 10:7.
"And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he had given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." - John 6:39.
These Scriptures define very clearly the extent of redemption by Jesus Christ, and the principle of relationship and proprietorship on which that redemption is based. In this redemption he asked not or prayed not, for the world, but for them which his Father had given him out of the world. And this was the full extent of the will of the Father, according to which God worketh all things, that Jesus should redeem and save his people from their sins, and raise up again at the last day all that the Father gave him before the world was, and therefore it was that the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. That is all of us who like sheep have gone astray. And he has accordingly "surely borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows."
"He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement our peace [or atonement] was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." - Isaiah 53:4-5.
And because "It pleased the Lord to bruise" and to "put him to grief." "He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge [shall he] justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities." - Isaiah 53:10-11.
And we know precisely what will satisfy him; for he has graciously told us. "I pray not for the world, but I pray for them which thou has given me" out of the world. "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory." - John 17:9, 24.
This is his will, and the Father has pledged his veracity that he shall be satisfied. Nor is this any less the will of the Father than it is the will of the Son, for, "This is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."
Thus we are instructed in regard to the nature and extent of the atonement and redemption which is in Christ Jesus. That it extends to all that the Father gave him, and to no others. That it embraces all that seed which Jesus should see when his soul was made an offering for sin, and which seed shall serve him, and be accounted to him for a generation, according to Psalm 22:30. But it extends to no other seed or people but that chosen generation, royal priesthood, holy nation, and peculiar people which shall show forth his praises. (1 Peter 2:9.)
The atonement or reconciliation is just as extensive as the redemption, and the eternal salvation from sin, death and hell, is just as extensive in its application and its saving benefits as the atonement and redemption, and it can extend no further. All the murmuring, fault-finding and blasphemies of the children of men cannot extend it any further, nor remove one of Zion's stakes, nor break one of her cords.
After all the opposition manifested by the world to the definite extent of the atonement, there is not an individual on earth that really desires to be embraced in it but those who are made willing in the day of our Redeemer's power. All others prefer to rely on their own fancied free will, free agency and use of means, and to rely upon a chance system, which would give a chance to everybody, but in reality save nobody. God's redeemed people themselves were all of them opposed to his method of salvation until they were brought to an experimental knowledge of their guilty, lost and helpless condition, then they found it to be exactly suited to their case. And then being taught of God, they could not be satisfied with any uncertain, indefinite or chance system. Knowing their own total helplessness, they bless and adore God for that covenant which is well ordered and sure, for it is all their hope, and all their salvation.
Such a system of redemption as the Arminians contend for, if they could have it, would do them no good, for it would save nobody, and they are therefore just as well off in their present delusion on the subject, as they would be with a chance redemption, offered grace, and conditional salvation, while they are totally depraved, and dead in trespasses and sins. They are at war with God's plan of salvation, and it is impossible for them to be saved in any other. There we must leave them to perish forever in their delusion, unless they, by a divine power, over which they nor we have any control, shall be brought to know their need of a whole Savior, a sure redemption, and to rejoice in a perfect atonement and reconciliation to God, and to his way of saving poor, lost and helpless sinners.
By Elder Gilbert Beebe
Middletown, N. Y.
June 1, 1858.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Monday, December 22, 2008
WHO THE US-WARD ARE
We will inquire who the "us-ward" are to whom the Lord is said to be long-suffering. They are undoubtedly the persons to whom Peter writes his epistles, including himself. Let us turn, then, to the first epistle, and see to whom he wrote: "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia;" and he then gives them the honored appellation of "Elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father."
In the second chapter of this epistle, he calls them "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that they should show forth the praises of him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvelous light."
It is worthy of remark, that the pronouns us and we, so often used by the apostles, in their epistles, are no other than the Lord's chosen people, to whom the precious truths contained in those epistles belong. As a confirmation of this fact, let me refer you to the following texts, in which these two terms, us and we, are often used: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will."
(Ephesians 1:3-5)
"But let us who are of the day be sober, for God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ."
(1 Thessalonians 5:8-9)
"Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."
(2 Timothy 1:9)
You see, my friends, from these passages, and many more that might be produced, that the "us-ward" in our text are the objects of God's everlasting, electing love; and that their election is not founded upon any foreseen worth or worthiness in the creature, as the procuring cause of it, will be seen from the characters unto whom the Lord has been long-suffering.
By John Kershaw
In the second chapter of this epistle, he calls them "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that they should show forth the praises of him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvelous light."
It is worthy of remark, that the pronouns us and we, so often used by the apostles, in their epistles, are no other than the Lord's chosen people, to whom the precious truths contained in those epistles belong. As a confirmation of this fact, let me refer you to the following texts, in which these two terms, us and we, are often used: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will."
(Ephesians 1:3-5)
"But let us who are of the day be sober, for God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ."
(1 Thessalonians 5:8-9)
"Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."
(2 Timothy 1:9)
You see, my friends, from these passages, and many more that might be produced, that the "us-ward" in our text are the objects of God's everlasting, electing love; and that their election is not founded upon any foreseen worth or worthiness in the creature, as the procuring cause of it, will be seen from the characters unto whom the Lord has been long-suffering.
By John Kershaw
THE HOPE OF ARMINIANISM
The hope of Arminianism seems to me to differ much from the hope of the gospel, because it allows that Christ died for all men. But Christ declares that the gates which lead to destruction receive the greatest number, (Matthew 7:13). Therefore, if the former be true, some are in hell for whom Christ died; in which case there must have been a deficiency in the price the Surety paid, or else it reflects on his wisdom, and supposes him outwitted by the serpent, who, through his subtlety, has got legions in his possession, which were the Savior's own by purchase. It does not reflect on his wisdom only, but on his power also, who could not hold them that were committed unto him; because the gates of hell have prevailed, and many are plucked out of his hand, (John, 10:28).
It seems likewise to reflect cruelly on the justice of God, who drew his sword, and sheathed it in the great Shepherd, (Zechariah 8:7); and spared him not in the least, nor abated one mite of the debt, (Romans 8:32). And it is plain that Justice promised, by the blood of his covenant, to send "forth the prisoners out of the pit in which there was no water," (Zechariah. 9:11); and further, to be "faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness," (1 John 1:9).
But alas! this is all overthrown if Arminianism be true.
If Arminian hope be fixed on a surety that hath not paid, or cannot pay the debt; or, if it be fixed on a mutable Savior, having no laws to encourage it but such as demand a debt twice; first of the surety, and then of the debtor; first sending them out of the prison of sin on the surety's account, or, in their own words, making them sons of God by grace to-day, and after all this letting them fall away, and locking them up in hell to all eternity, until they can pay the utmost mite of what was paid long ago; what establishment is there for hope?
I answer, a hope founded on such doctrines is just as stable as a feather in a whirlwind.
By William Huntington
It seems likewise to reflect cruelly on the justice of God, who drew his sword, and sheathed it in the great Shepherd, (Zechariah 8:7); and spared him not in the least, nor abated one mite of the debt, (Romans 8:32). And it is plain that Justice promised, by the blood of his covenant, to send "forth the prisoners out of the pit in which there was no water," (Zechariah. 9:11); and further, to be "faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness," (1 John 1:9).
But alas! this is all overthrown if Arminianism be true.
If Arminian hope be fixed on a surety that hath not paid, or cannot pay the debt; or, if it be fixed on a mutable Savior, having no laws to encourage it but such as demand a debt twice; first of the surety, and then of the debtor; first sending them out of the prison of sin on the surety's account, or, in their own words, making them sons of God by grace to-day, and after all this letting them fall away, and locking them up in hell to all eternity, until they can pay the utmost mite of what was paid long ago; what establishment is there for hope?
I answer, a hope founded on such doctrines is just as stable as a feather in a whirlwind.
By William Huntington
Saturday, November 29, 2008
"NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH"
By William Gadsby
Preached in Manchester, England
February 9th, 1840
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"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward; not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
(2 Peter 3:9)
To add to, or diminish from, the Word of God is a crime, though much employed in the frivolities of the world; and the office of a minister is a very responsible one. He is God's steward, and he must one day give up his stewardship; and if he seeks to please men, he is not a true servant of God; nay, it is insulting God. Some say God is not willing that any creature should perish, but every one should come to repentance; but in our text we are told it is this "us-ward" for whom he is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. "Then," say you, "if it is only to this us-ward, why preach the gospel?"
Because God has ordained the preaching of the gospel for the gathering in of his people.
If it were to all men, would he not send his Word into all men?
When God designs to save his people, he sends his gospel into them; as he did into the Philippian jailor. He sent ministers unto him in the prison. Zaccheus, who must climb a tree; and God brought him down and abode with him.
And where were some of you when God met with you?
You had no inclination to hear his Word, but he brought you forth out of nature's darkness into his marvellous light.
And what is the sense of the text?
God's long-suffering with, and promise to, his people, the us-ward, not willing that any of his people should perish, but that all should come to repentance. In the last days scoffers shall come, and shall say, "Where is the promise of Christ's coming, without sin in the world? One generation passeth away, and another, and there is no appearance of his coming; how is it?"
It is his long-suffering to us-ward; therefore, beloved, account his long-suffering salvation.
When he shall fold up the skies as in a scroll, and wind up the business, all his people shall be brought in; and I would ask if God is not willing that any man should perish, is he not able to give him repentance?
For repentance is the gift of God; and is he incapacitated to do what he wished
Or will his designs be frustrated by such frail creatures as you and I?
He says, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens together, and ye would not." (Matthew 23:37)
Here we find that Christ refers to the Scribes, and Pharisees, and heads of the people, the Sanhedrim. He worked many miracles before them, but they did not believe on him; he would have gathered thy children, "but ye would not;" not "they would not." And again: "When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall die," "but if the wicked turneth from his wickedness, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall live." (Ezekiel 18:26-27) This is according to the Jewish nation; not the preaching of the gospel, but the law.
For what saith the law?
Do and live; leave undone and die. Therefore there is no salvation by the law, "that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God." (Romans 3:19)
That it might be by grace, not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Salvation is entirely of free, unmerited, discriminating grace. But this it could not be if it depended on any thing the creature does.
What is intended by the promise, "The Lord is not slack?" etc.
And why this apparent delay and long-suffering?
God declared in the beginning concerning the temple, that it should be destroyed, and that one stone should not be left upon another. But the Jews laughed it to scorn; they could not believe it; but it came to pass at last. His long-suffering bore with their manners until its accomplishment, and the execution thereof was awful in the extreme. Never was known such an appalling devastation. There was a great famine; and so great was their distress that men butchered each other for food to support their dying frames, and women tore their own children from their bosoms for the same purpose. Never was known in the history of time such a day of misery. And what made the scene more appalling, the destruction happened on a festival day, wherein all that were met together in the temple perished; but all the children of God escaped, out of the way; not one of them perished.
What an awful sight to them; that the departed spirits should in a moment's warning quit this world and enter hell, and then in agonizing torments behold the just God whom they had despised and mocked. May God enable you to confide in his promise, and trust him for his grace, that when the time comes for its accomplishment you may be found ready. We have the promise of Christ's second coming. The apostle Paul had a blessed view of this, as recorded in Hebrews 9:27-28: "And as it is appointed unto men once to die; but after this the judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and to them that look for him shall he appear the second time, without sin; and Hebrews 7:26: "he will be holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." At his first coming, his visage was marred, and there was neither form nor comeliness in him, that we should desire him; but he bore the sins of many; (Isaiah 53:2,12) he hath appeared once to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:26) God hath laid upon him the iniquity of his us-ward.
If God had not done it, we never should; for our sins are so numerous we should have forgotten many; and there are many that we should not have thought were sins; they are so amiable and pleasant to our nature that we should not look upon them as sins; and from our first breath in infancy, to our last, though it be to old age, there is not a moment of our existence that we live without sin, except when we are bathing in the blood of the Lamb.
"Thy garden is the place,
Where pride cannot intrude;
For should it dare to enter there
'Twould soon be drown'd in blood."
Yes, Gethsemane is the place where our sins were put away; our sins of omission and sins of commission were all gathered together and put upon Christ. He bore them, and hath nailed them to his cross.
He finished the work which his Father gave him to do; (John 17:4) "he ascended to his God and our God;" "to his Father and our Father, (John 20:17) and ever liveth to make intercession for us." (Hebrews 7:25)
He is not slack concerning his promise, but will come at the appointed time. Before him shall be gathered all nations, and every man shall be judged according to the deeds done in the body.
His apparent delays do not prove that he is slack concerning his promise, but rather his long-suffering; for if it were not for his long-suffering, would you not all be damned?
For unless ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish; (Luke 13:3) and, therefore, is it not of his long-suffering that he brings us to repent, and cleanseth us from dead works, by washing us in the washing of regeneration, that we may have pardon through his blood?
Did not God promise Abraham that he should possess the land of Canaan, and that in his seed should all the nations be blessed? (Genesis 12:3)
And was not the promise apparently delayed?
But it was his long-suffering.
And though Abraham and Sarah his wife became old, yet did not God perform his promise at the appointed time?
And though Abraham took a bond-woman to his bosom, yet it did not in any wise further the execution of God's promise, but rather was the very means of causing discord in the family. And so with us; for anything that we may do will not hasten the promise of God. "And Abraham, by faith, sojourned in the land of promise, not knowing whither he went."
"But the Lord was not slack concerning his promise; but is long-suffering to us-ward."
Did he not promise that Joseph should be above his brethren?
And though he experienced many changes on his way for this purpose to bring him, yet all things work together for its accomplishment. The Lord was not slack concerning his promise; but his long suffering bore with their matters.
He bore with the manners of the children of Israel forty years; but at length brought them to the land of promise. All things shall work together for good to them that love God and are the called according to his eternal purpose. honours crown his brow!
"He is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness," but will perform his promises in his own time and in his own way.
May the Lord bless you and me with patience to wait his time; for his mercy's sake.
Amen.
Preached in Manchester, England
February 9th, 1840
________________________________________________
"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward; not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
(2 Peter 3:9)
To add to, or diminish from, the Word of God is a crime, though much employed in the frivolities of the world; and the office of a minister is a very responsible one. He is God's steward, and he must one day give up his stewardship; and if he seeks to please men, he is not a true servant of God; nay, it is insulting God. Some say God is not willing that any creature should perish, but every one should come to repentance; but in our text we are told it is this "us-ward" for whom he is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. "Then," say you, "if it is only to this us-ward, why preach the gospel?"
Because God has ordained the preaching of the gospel for the gathering in of his people.
If it were to all men, would he not send his Word into all men?
When God designs to save his people, he sends his gospel into them; as he did into the Philippian jailor. He sent ministers unto him in the prison. Zaccheus, who must climb a tree; and God brought him down and abode with him.
And where were some of you when God met with you?
You had no inclination to hear his Word, but he brought you forth out of nature's darkness into his marvellous light.
And what is the sense of the text?
God's long-suffering with, and promise to, his people, the us-ward, not willing that any of his people should perish, but that all should come to repentance. In the last days scoffers shall come, and shall say, "Where is the promise of Christ's coming, without sin in the world? One generation passeth away, and another, and there is no appearance of his coming; how is it?"
It is his long-suffering to us-ward; therefore, beloved, account his long-suffering salvation.
When he shall fold up the skies as in a scroll, and wind up the business, all his people shall be brought in; and I would ask if God is not willing that any man should perish, is he not able to give him repentance?
For repentance is the gift of God; and is he incapacitated to do what he wished
Or will his designs be frustrated by such frail creatures as you and I?
He says, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens together, and ye would not." (Matthew 23:37)
Here we find that Christ refers to the Scribes, and Pharisees, and heads of the people, the Sanhedrim. He worked many miracles before them, but they did not believe on him; he would have gathered thy children, "but ye would not;" not "they would not." And again: "When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall die," "but if the wicked turneth from his wickedness, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall live." (Ezekiel 18:26-27) This is according to the Jewish nation; not the preaching of the gospel, but the law.
For what saith the law?
Do and live; leave undone and die. Therefore there is no salvation by the law, "that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God." (Romans 3:19)
That it might be by grace, not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Salvation is entirely of free, unmerited, discriminating grace. But this it could not be if it depended on any thing the creature does.
What is intended by the promise, "The Lord is not slack?" etc.
And why this apparent delay and long-suffering?
God declared in the beginning concerning the temple, that it should be destroyed, and that one stone should not be left upon another. But the Jews laughed it to scorn; they could not believe it; but it came to pass at last. His long-suffering bore with their manners until its accomplishment, and the execution thereof was awful in the extreme. Never was known such an appalling devastation. There was a great famine; and so great was their distress that men butchered each other for food to support their dying frames, and women tore their own children from their bosoms for the same purpose. Never was known in the history of time such a day of misery. And what made the scene more appalling, the destruction happened on a festival day, wherein all that were met together in the temple perished; but all the children of God escaped, out of the way; not one of them perished.
What an awful sight to them; that the departed spirits should in a moment's warning quit this world and enter hell, and then in agonizing torments behold the just God whom they had despised and mocked. May God enable you to confide in his promise, and trust him for his grace, that when the time comes for its accomplishment you may be found ready. We have the promise of Christ's second coming. The apostle Paul had a blessed view of this, as recorded in Hebrews 9:27-28: "And as it is appointed unto men once to die; but after this the judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and to them that look for him shall he appear the second time, without sin; and Hebrews 7:26: "he will be holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." At his first coming, his visage was marred, and there was neither form nor comeliness in him, that we should desire him; but he bore the sins of many; (Isaiah 53:2,12) he hath appeared once to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:26) God hath laid upon him the iniquity of his us-ward.
If God had not done it, we never should; for our sins are so numerous we should have forgotten many; and there are many that we should not have thought were sins; they are so amiable and pleasant to our nature that we should not look upon them as sins; and from our first breath in infancy, to our last, though it be to old age, there is not a moment of our existence that we live without sin, except when we are bathing in the blood of the Lamb.
"Thy garden is the place,
Where pride cannot intrude;
For should it dare to enter there
'Twould soon be drown'd in blood."
Yes, Gethsemane is the place where our sins were put away; our sins of omission and sins of commission were all gathered together and put upon Christ. He bore them, and hath nailed them to his cross.
He finished the work which his Father gave him to do; (John 17:4) "he ascended to his God and our God;" "to his Father and our Father, (John 20:17) and ever liveth to make intercession for us." (Hebrews 7:25)
He is not slack concerning his promise, but will come at the appointed time. Before him shall be gathered all nations, and every man shall be judged according to the deeds done in the body.
His apparent delays do not prove that he is slack concerning his promise, but rather his long-suffering; for if it were not for his long-suffering, would you not all be damned?
For unless ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish; (Luke 13:3) and, therefore, is it not of his long-suffering that he brings us to repent, and cleanseth us from dead works, by washing us in the washing of regeneration, that we may have pardon through his blood?
Did not God promise Abraham that he should possess the land of Canaan, and that in his seed should all the nations be blessed? (Genesis 12:3)
And was not the promise apparently delayed?
But it was his long-suffering.
And though Abraham and Sarah his wife became old, yet did not God perform his promise at the appointed time?
And though Abraham took a bond-woman to his bosom, yet it did not in any wise further the execution of God's promise, but rather was the very means of causing discord in the family. And so with us; for anything that we may do will not hasten the promise of God. "And Abraham, by faith, sojourned in the land of promise, not knowing whither he went."
"But the Lord was not slack concerning his promise; but is long-suffering to us-ward."
Did he not promise that Joseph should be above his brethren?
And though he experienced many changes on his way for this purpose to bring him, yet all things work together for its accomplishment. The Lord was not slack concerning his promise; but his long suffering bore with their matters.
He bore with the manners of the children of Israel forty years; but at length brought them to the land of promise. All things shall work together for good to them that love God and are the called according to his eternal purpose. honours crown his brow!
"He is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness," but will perform his promises in his own time and in his own way.
May the Lord bless you and me with patience to wait his time; for his mercy's sake.
Amen.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
FREE-GRACE FROM A FREE-WILL PULPIT
By John Kershaw
On one occasion I was invited to preach at Keighley during the holidays in Whit-week. A friend was to meet me with a horse, on the road between Keighley and Halifax. One of my friends lending me a horse for two days, the man had the pleasure of riding back on the horse he brought for me. Before I left my bedroom in the morning, according to my usual practice, I kneeled down to thank the Lord for his manifold mercies, and beseeching him that his presence and blessing might be with me through the day. I told him that he knew that I was going to a place I had never been to before, and besought him to give me a text to speak from, that he would make a blessing to the people whom he in his providence might bring together; when the Lord laid upon my mind Romans 8:30: "Whom he did predestinate," etc. From the power and savor that attended the words, I felt this was to be my text, and thanked the Lord for it, beseeching him to be with me in preaching, and bless it to the souls of the people. As the man and I were riding together, he said, "You will have to preach this afternoon at three o' clock in a large Wesleyan chapel, and you will have many people to hear you,--Baptists, Independents, and Wesleyans. They are coming for miles round." On hearing this I at once thought of my predestinarian text and the Wesleyan chapel. Flesh and blood, carnal reason, and the devil began to work powerfully on my mind. As we rode along I labored to get another text, that I could preach the truth from, without coming so decidedly against the system of free-will. But no text could I get. O how wretched and miserable did I feel, until the Lord brought to my mind what had passed between him and me in the morning, when I told him that he knew where I had to preach, and who I should have to hear, and that he gave me the text in answer to prayer. I was ashamed of myself that I should endeavor to give way. Many portions of the word of God flowed into my mind, such as: "If I seek to please men, I should not be the servant of Christ," (Galatians 1:10) with more of the same import. Before we entered the town, my mind was delivered from these fleshly feelings and the fear of man, and a valor sprang up in my soul "the truth of God upon the face of the earth." (Jeremiah 9:3)
When the time came, there was a great gathering of people. Before reading my text, I addressed them as follows: "It is the practice of some men, when called to preach where they have never been before, to inquire what the sentiments of the people are, and labor to accommodate their sermon to the palates and views of the people. This is not obeying the command of the Lord in separating between the precious and the vile, the chaff and the wheat, faithfully dispensing the word of the Lord, fearing no frowns and courting no smiles. When I look around me at this congregation, it strikes my mind that were I disposed to act the above part, I should fail in attempting to please all, for I have no doubt I have persons before me of various opinions; so that while I was seeking to please some, I should offend others. My desire is to seek to please the Lord, and preach the preaching he has bidden me. I therefore call your attention to Romans 8:30: 'Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified.' This precious portion of God's word the old Puritan divines called the golden chain. Speaking of the first link, predestination, the second link effectual calling, the third justification, and the fourth glorification. When I came to the last link, vindicating the doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints unto eternal glory, proving it from many portions of the word of the Lord which are the joy and rejoicing of my soul, the last two verses of Toplady's hymn, which begins:
"A debtor to mercy alone,"
came with power to my mind, and I repeated them with great pleasure:
"The work which his goodness began,
The arm of his strength will complete;
His promise is Yea and Amen,
And never was forfeited yet.
Things future, nor things that are now,
Not all things below nor above,
Can make him his purpose forego,
Or sever my soul from his love."
"My name from the palms of his hands
Eternity will not erase;
Impress'd on his heart it remains,
In marks of indelible grace.
Yes, I to the end shall endure,
As sure as the earnest is given;
More happy, but not more secure,
The glorified spirits in heaven."
While so doing, I observed a gentleman in black, who sat in the gallery, hastily take his hat and go away. The impression of my mind was that he could not endure sound doctrine, and would hear no more of it; but to my surprise he came up the aisle to the foot of the pulpit stairs, and there he stood till I had finished my sermon; and then I gave out that blessed hymn of Dr. Watt's:
"Firm as the earth thy gospel stands."
When they began to sing, the gentleman came into the pulpit and sat down, putting his hand on my knee, and saying, "Sir, I hope you will have no objection against me rising to vindicate our own doctrine." I replied, "Sir, you are full of wrath and irritation. Be cool, and think what you are about." He said, "How can I forbear being irritated, hearing a man in our own chapel laboring to pull down what we are constantly establishing. I must, and will, when they have done singing, rise and defend our principles, in opposition to the doctrine you have been advancing." As he was thus speaking, I was listening to the precious hymn they were singing, which was a confirmation of the doctrine I had been preaching. As soon as I heard them begin the following words:
"In the dear bosom of his love
They must for ever rest,"
I took my standing in the pulpit to be ready to conclude with prayer. After which I addressed the people as follows: "A gentleman, who is now in the pulpit with me, from what he has been saying to me whilst you have been singing, is determined to rise and oppose the doctrines of free and sovereign grace which you have been hearing, and vindicate the doctrine of man's free will; but as I have already more of that in my fleshly carnal nature than I like, I shall not stop to hear him, and I would advise all you who are sick of self, and love a free-grace salvation, to go home with what you have got, and let the free-will man and his friends have it to themselves." As soon as I left the pulpit, he rose in a rage to pour contempt upon what I had said, and vindicate his own principles. I have seen many congregations disperse, but never saw such confusion as I did on this occasion.
As I had several miles to ride over a large common, I got some refreshment and left. As I rode past the chapel, there were crowds engaged in disputation, and the events of that day are not yet forgotten, as will appear from the following: More than twenty years after, I met with three men from Keighley, who had come to hear me at Bradford. One of them asked me if I had forgotten preaching at Keighley, when the Wesleyan minister stood up to oppose me. I told him I had not. He said, "I well remember both your sermon and the remarks you made;" and to my surprise he repeated, almost verbatim, what I have recorded, saying it was so impressed upon his mind, and so appropriate to the circumstances, that he had often related it to his friends.
On one occasion I was invited to preach at Keighley during the holidays in Whit-week. A friend was to meet me with a horse, on the road between Keighley and Halifax. One of my friends lending me a horse for two days, the man had the pleasure of riding back on the horse he brought for me. Before I left my bedroom in the morning, according to my usual practice, I kneeled down to thank the Lord for his manifold mercies, and beseeching him that his presence and blessing might be with me through the day. I told him that he knew that I was going to a place I had never been to before, and besought him to give me a text to speak from, that he would make a blessing to the people whom he in his providence might bring together; when the Lord laid upon my mind Romans 8:30: "Whom he did predestinate," etc. From the power and savor that attended the words, I felt this was to be my text, and thanked the Lord for it, beseeching him to be with me in preaching, and bless it to the souls of the people. As the man and I were riding together, he said, "You will have to preach this afternoon at three o' clock in a large Wesleyan chapel, and you will have many people to hear you,--Baptists, Independents, and Wesleyans. They are coming for miles round." On hearing this I at once thought of my predestinarian text and the Wesleyan chapel. Flesh and blood, carnal reason, and the devil began to work powerfully on my mind. As we rode along I labored to get another text, that I could preach the truth from, without coming so decidedly against the system of free-will. But no text could I get. O how wretched and miserable did I feel, until the Lord brought to my mind what had passed between him and me in the morning, when I told him that he knew where I had to preach, and who I should have to hear, and that he gave me the text in answer to prayer. I was ashamed of myself that I should endeavor to give way. Many portions of the word of God flowed into my mind, such as: "If I seek to please men, I should not be the servant of Christ," (Galatians 1:10) with more of the same import. Before we entered the town, my mind was delivered from these fleshly feelings and the fear of man, and a valor sprang up in my soul "the truth of God upon the face of the earth." (Jeremiah 9:3)
When the time came, there was a great gathering of people. Before reading my text, I addressed them as follows: "It is the practice of some men, when called to preach where they have never been before, to inquire what the sentiments of the people are, and labor to accommodate their sermon to the palates and views of the people. This is not obeying the command of the Lord in separating between the precious and the vile, the chaff and the wheat, faithfully dispensing the word of the Lord, fearing no frowns and courting no smiles. When I look around me at this congregation, it strikes my mind that were I disposed to act the above part, I should fail in attempting to please all, for I have no doubt I have persons before me of various opinions; so that while I was seeking to please some, I should offend others. My desire is to seek to please the Lord, and preach the preaching he has bidden me. I therefore call your attention to Romans 8:30: 'Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified.' This precious portion of God's word the old Puritan divines called the golden chain. Speaking of the first link, predestination, the second link effectual calling, the third justification, and the fourth glorification. When I came to the last link, vindicating the doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints unto eternal glory, proving it from many portions of the word of the Lord which are the joy and rejoicing of my soul, the last two verses of Toplady's hymn, which begins:
"A debtor to mercy alone,"
came with power to my mind, and I repeated them with great pleasure:
"The work which his goodness began,
The arm of his strength will complete;
His promise is Yea and Amen,
And never was forfeited yet.
Things future, nor things that are now,
Not all things below nor above,
Can make him his purpose forego,
Or sever my soul from his love."
"My name from the palms of his hands
Eternity will not erase;
Impress'd on his heart it remains,
In marks of indelible grace.
Yes, I to the end shall endure,
As sure as the earnest is given;
More happy, but not more secure,
The glorified spirits in heaven."
While so doing, I observed a gentleman in black, who sat in the gallery, hastily take his hat and go away. The impression of my mind was that he could not endure sound doctrine, and would hear no more of it; but to my surprise he came up the aisle to the foot of the pulpit stairs, and there he stood till I had finished my sermon; and then I gave out that blessed hymn of Dr. Watt's:
"Firm as the earth thy gospel stands."
When they began to sing, the gentleman came into the pulpit and sat down, putting his hand on my knee, and saying, "Sir, I hope you will have no objection against me rising to vindicate our own doctrine." I replied, "Sir, you are full of wrath and irritation. Be cool, and think what you are about." He said, "How can I forbear being irritated, hearing a man in our own chapel laboring to pull down what we are constantly establishing. I must, and will, when they have done singing, rise and defend our principles, in opposition to the doctrine you have been advancing." As he was thus speaking, I was listening to the precious hymn they were singing, which was a confirmation of the doctrine I had been preaching. As soon as I heard them begin the following words:
"In the dear bosom of his love
They must for ever rest,"
I took my standing in the pulpit to be ready to conclude with prayer. After which I addressed the people as follows: "A gentleman, who is now in the pulpit with me, from what he has been saying to me whilst you have been singing, is determined to rise and oppose the doctrines of free and sovereign grace which you have been hearing, and vindicate the doctrine of man's free will; but as I have already more of that in my fleshly carnal nature than I like, I shall not stop to hear him, and I would advise all you who are sick of self, and love a free-grace salvation, to go home with what you have got, and let the free-will man and his friends have it to themselves." As soon as I left the pulpit, he rose in a rage to pour contempt upon what I had said, and vindicate his own principles. I have seen many congregations disperse, but never saw such confusion as I did on this occasion.
As I had several miles to ride over a large common, I got some refreshment and left. As I rode past the chapel, there were crowds engaged in disputation, and the events of that day are not yet forgotten, as will appear from the following: More than twenty years after, I met with three men from Keighley, who had come to hear me at Bradford. One of them asked me if I had forgotten preaching at Keighley, when the Wesleyan minister stood up to oppose me. I told him I had not. He said, "I well remember both your sermon and the remarks you made;" and to my surprise he repeated, almost verbatim, what I have recorded, saying it was so impressed upon his mind, and so appropriate to the circumstances, that he had often related it to his friends.
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