Category Archives: The Gospel

In Christ Alone – Stuart Townend, Keith Getty

Posted by Dan C. on

In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied –
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine –
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.

– Stuart Townsend, Keith Getty

The song and video are here.  The story behind the song is here.

When I first heard this, I thought it was an historic hymn of our faith with more contemporary styling, until I read the story of how it came about. I’ve also found out that it was sung at a denominational Christian convention and the lyrics were modified in that setting. From the second verse, the words “The wrath of God was satisfied-” were changed to “the price of sin was satisfied”. How sad. That’s not unlike when, years ago, words to the hymn Amazing Grace were changed from “Saved a wretch like me” to simply “Saved someone like me”.

Why do I find that incredibly sad, you ask? When clear biblical teaching is tampered with and modified so that it becomes more ‘palatable’ or non-offensive, when we soften the ‘hard’ truth about the nature of the unregenerate and what Christ actually accomplished on the Cross, at a minimum we have cut out the ‘heart of the matter’.  Far more seriously, we have tampered with the very sovereignty and glory of God!

Why Does God Save Anyone?

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Does God save us because we choose Christ, or did God determine, by His sovereign will and according to His pleasure, those who would eventually choose Christ. Calvinists, Arminians, and Calminians seem to agree that all men are, in the end, not saved. Forgetting for the moment the debates around election and free will, the question this morning is: “Why does God save anyone at all?”  

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. John 6:37

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. John 6:39

“Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. John 7:42

Now there’s a HUGE thought! Jesus came to earth to seek, save, and keep those whom the Father determined to present as a love gift to the Son!

“Salvation is primarily for the honor of the Son, not the honor of the sinner. The purpose here is not to save you so you can have a happy life, that’s a by-product. The purpose here is to save you so that you could praise the Son forever and ever and ever. . .Every redeemed individual is a part of an elect, redeemed humanity that is a gift from the Father to the Son.” – John MacArthur

Now there’s food for thought!

Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing – Christ died for OUR SINS

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According to Paul, along with Peter, John and the rest of the early disciples, Christ died for OUR SINS. God the Father did not send His own Son to die so we could have our best life now, although our best life is to be found in Christ. He didn’t send His Son to the cross because He couldn’t imagine Heaven without us, although one day we will be with Him in Heaven. Jesus Christ died because of OUR SIN. What does that really mean?

We know the story – God created a perfect world for perfect children. Those children willfully disobeyed the only rule they had been given. Satan tempted, but they disobeyed. the result was that sin entered into god’s perfect creation and corrupted it. The sin of Adam has been passed down to every human being since the fall, except Christ, who was totally God and totally man, lived a life of perfect obedience to His Father and died for OUR SIN.

In today’s non-threatening, ‘seeker-friendly evangelicalism, if the subject of sin is approached from the pulpit stage, it is called everything but SIN. When the term SIN is used it normally refers to a great gulf or dark cloud that separates us from God. If it ever means ‘personal’ sins it is restricted to one of the substitute terms we use like ‘mistakes’. If we look closely at scripture however, we find that sin is much more than things we do (or don’t do). When sin entered god’s creation it left humans in such a sad state that:

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” – John 3:18

“For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” – Romans 5:10

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.”   – Ephesians 2:1-3

“As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.” – Romans 3:10-11

What is Scripture telling us about the condition of all who have not believed in Christ? They are:

  • Already condemned
  • Enemies of God
  • Dead in trespasses in sin
  • Objects of God’s wrath
  • UNABLE to seek God

That’s quite a different portrait of the ‘natural man’ than the one painted by the modern/postmodern gospel that sends the various messages mentioned in this post, and either omits or gingerly tip-toes lightly over something of “first importance” – that Christ died for OUR SIN.

The ‘Popular’ Gospel

Posted by Dan C. on

For some time now I’ve been listening for a genuine gospel message, or at least a hint that Jesus died for OUR SIN when I read popular Christian books and magazines, listen to popular pastors and teachers,  and even when I listen to contemporary Christian music. The intent in my ‘listening’ is not to intentionally look for false teaching or brand anyone a heretic or apostate, but only to hear how the ‘good news’ is being presented in our American evangelical culture. Here is some of what I’ve heard in the last few months being presented as as the gospel:

“God loves you so much He can’t imagine heaven without you. . .”

“Jesus would rather die than live without you.”

“God hugs us WITH our sin. . .”

“Jesus accepted you a long time ago WITH your sin. . .”

“The core of Christianity is. . .the news of ‘a God who is passionate about his relationship with you.”

“God sent his Son to die for us because he wants a relationship with us.”

“When the gospel is reduced to a legal transaction shifting our guilt to Christ and Christ’s righteousness to us, the gospel focuses too narrowly on a transaction and becomes too impersonal.”

Now compare any of the above statements with the Apostle Paul’s definition of the gospel:

“Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.  For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.” – 1 Corinthians 15:1-5

What’s the difference between the ‘popular’ gospel and the Gospel Paul preached. . .and why does it matter?

Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing – What IS the Gospel?

Posted by Dan C. on

In an earlier post here at The Battle Cry, it was stated that “God doesn’t need people to save anyone – you, me or anyone else. It’s our Great Privilege to take the good news to the world around us.” In fact, it’s this author’s opinion that sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the Greatest Privilege our great God has bestowed upon His children. This is the first in a series of posts that will address the critical issue of presenting the right message.

What IS the Gospel?

In the first chapter of the book of Romans the Apostle Paul states:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” – Romans 1:18

Here Paul tells us that the power of the gospel is what is used by God to save anyone in the lost mass of humanity that would believe it. So what exactly was it that Paul was not ashamed of, that he declared to people everywhere he traveled and even to those who despised him, stoned him, arrested him, and cast him in to prison? Speaking to believers in the church he founded at Corinth, Paul has this to say:

“Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.  For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.” – 1 Corinthians 15:1-5

Note that Paul is reminding those believers of what he had previously preached, what he had previously received (from Christ), and what was of first importance. Paul them presents two points; that Christ died for our sins, and that He was resurrected. He also pointed out that the death and resurrection of Christ were both according to the scriptures and validated by the historical facts of Christ’s burial (validated His death), and His having been seen by many of His followers (validated His resurrection).

This then is THE gospel; that Christ physically died for our sin, and was physically raised from the dead SO THAT those who would believe in Him would be saved!!

It is not difficult at all to remember Paul’s definition of the gospel, but if we are to share these simple truths we must first be able to what it means that “Christ died for our sins.”, for it is in the explanation of that statement that we so often miss the point. That is partly our fault for not having read, studied, and believed what is plainly written in the pages of scripture; but we are also fed a diet of watered-down scripture and postmodern teaching that either incorrectly defines, or omits entirely, what the Apostle Paul emphatically emphasized as being “of first importance”!

Approximately fifty years ago, A.W. Tozer had this to say:

“In many churches Christianity has been watered down until the solution is so weak that if it were poison it would not hurt anyone, and if it were medicine it would not cure anyone!”

If we are to be faithful to our calling to share the gospel, there are three things we need to understand and be able to explain solely from the standpoint of inspired Scripture, and not merely according to the opinions and viewpoints of popular preachers, speakers, authors, and evangelists. We must to be able to:

(1) properly define OUR sin,

(2) explain what it means that Christ died for OUR sin, and

(3) communicate what it means to believe that Christ died for OUR sin.

Those will be topics of posts to follow. . .

Expiation and Propitiation Defined. . .

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The text of an excellent sermon delivered at Grace Valley Christian Center can be found here. Below is an excerpt from that sermon that discusses both expiation and propitiation:

“In the Greek, the word “to propitiate” is hilaskomai, which means to appease, to placate, to avert, to turn aside the wrath of an offended person by means of a sacrifice. Four things are involved in propitiation: First, there is an offended deity; second, an offending sinner; third, the offense committed; and fourth, the sacrifice which removes the offense and causes the offended person to be gracious to the one who offended him. Salvation, in the Christian sense of the term, requires one very definite type of sacrifice, namely, propitiation. It is directed toward God to turn away his wrath, which is revealed against our offense, that he may be gracious to us.

“For the past century and a half, the idea of a God who is wrathful and opposes sin and sinners has not been accepted by unbelieving theologians. They readily will choose the conception of God as love but want to forget about the idea that God is holy. The notion of an angry God, they say, is not Christian, but pagan. They say the God of Christianity, in their highly evolved conception of it, is always a loving, nice God. When they translate the Greek word hilasmos, as found in 1 John 2:2 and 4:10, they reject the word “propitiation,” preferring to use the word “expiation,” which has to do with the cancellation of sin, but has nothing to do with a sacrifice offered to God to turn away his wrath.

Expiation means that God has canceled our sin and now there is nothing to worry about, but it is not the same as propitiation. One scholar wrote, “Those who hold to the ‘fire and brimstone’ school of theology, who revel in ideas such as that Christ was made a sacrifice to appease an angry God, or that the cross was a legal transaction in which an innocent victim was made to pay the penalty for the crimes of others as a propitiation of a stern God, find no support in Paul. These notions came into Christian theology by way of the legalistic minds of the medieval churchmen.” We must ask: If Christ’s death on the cross was not propitiation, if this sacrifice was not offered to God to turn away his wrath that he may be gracious to us and forgive us our sins and restore us into his fellowship, if the liberals are right that God is love all the time and never angry at sinners, then what is the need for Christ’s death even as expiation? It is doing nothing to God. Why doesn’t God, being nice and loving, just forgive our sins almost automatically whenever we commit them?” Christ, Our Propitiation,1 John 2:1,2 | Sunday, January 14, 2001 By P. G. Mathew, M.A., M. Div., Th.M., Copyright © 2001 by P. G. Mathew

Preaching: Nibbling at the Truth – A.W. Tozer

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For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if
I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. 
–Galatians 1:10

This is one of the marks of our modern time–that many are guilty of
merely “nibbling” at the truth of the Christian gospel.

I wonder if you realize that in many ways the preaching of the Word
of God is being pulled down to the level of the ignorant and
spiritually obtuse; that we must tell stories and jokes and entertain
and amuse in order to have a few people in the audience? We do these
things that we may have some reputation and that there may be money
in the treasury to meet the church bills….

In many churches Christianity has been watered down until the
solution is so weak that if it were poison it would not hurt anyone,
and if it were medicine it would not cure anyone!  I Talk Back to
the Devil, 30-31.

“Lord, don’t ever let me be guilty of watering down the truth or
playing to the crowds, concerned about my ‘reputation’ or ‘money in
the treasury.’ Amen.”

I have nothing to add to that tidbit from Tozer – Blessings to all! – B4B

Three Classes of People

Posted by Dan C. on

In his book about the wonderful grace of God, Good News for Bad People, Roy Hession proposes that there are three classes of people:

1. “The bad who do not know they are bad. The great majority of us, whether we are in churches or out of them, do not regard ourselves as bad. Whatever our lifestyle or conduct, we have found some way to justify ourselves. . . . The fact that he may be religious only reinforces his good opinion of himself.”

2. “Bad people who are trying to be good. Sincere as their trying to be good may be, whatever direction their efforts may lie, it is vain for such [people to hope that it is going to improve their relationship with God at all, or that it will greatly change their personal experience.”

3. “The third class is composed of the group in whom the Holy Spirit has done a melting work, the bad humbly confessing to God that they are bad and not pleading any extenuating circumstances. As far as they are concerned, there is only one person at the bar before God and that is themselves. When they take that stand they immediately become candidates for the good news Jesus has for them and for the grace that is greater than all their sin. For them, Jesus is the end of their trying and the beginning of all their finding.”

Much of today’s evangelism, with all of the pop-psychology that is now part and parcel of it’s presentation either ignores the real problem of sin, or speaks of sin as if it’s some non-personal entity that merely separates us from God. Jesus died to remove the gulf or cloud between fallen man and God (expiation) rather than died in our place (propitiation).

I would offer the question – Which is it, expiation, propitiation, or are there elements of both to be found in scripture?

My Sins, My Sins, My Savior – Steve Camp

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My Sins My Sins, My Savior

My sins, my sins, my Saviour! They daily battle me,
Deaf and dumb Thy servant is, save only Christ to Thee;
In Thee is all forgiveness, fully free abundant grace,
I find my hope and refuge, in Thine unchanging face.

My sins, my sins, my Saviour! How great on Thee they fall;
Seen through Thy patient mercy, I ought forsake them all;
Their penalty’s forgiven; yet their power suffers me
Their shame and guilt and anguish, they laid, my Lord, on Thee.

My sins, my sins, my Saviour! What cost to Thee ensued
Thy heel bruised in temptation, no Devil could subdue
Thou wrestled in the garden; and prayed the Cup would pass
Thy sanguine sweat, Thou trembled yet, embraced His will at last.

My sins, my sins, my Saviour! Thou perfect Sacrifice
Drained wrath’s chalice to the dregs; Thy Father satisfied.
O Holy Lamb of Glory, High Priest, Lord God and King
We worship Thee with reverence, Thy matchless Name we sing.

My songs, my songs, my Saviour! No grandeur theme shall know
They’ll trumpet of Thy glory, to wretched man below;
Thy righteousness, Thy favor, stream from Thy throne above
Sustain the hearts my Saviour that Thou hast lavished with Thy love.

These are the lyrics to a song written a few years ago by Steve Camp, for an album titled Desiring God. They were posted by Steve online as part of one of his blog posts here. If you have never heard Steve Camp’s music, I encourage you to give him a listen.

Neutralizing Evangelicalism

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Here are a couple of excerpts I found here.

“Bible-believing Christians would do well to beware of the New Evangelicalism for four valid reasons.

  • First, it is a movement born of compromise.
  • Second, it is a movement nurtured in pride of intellect.
  • Third, it is a movement growing on appeasement of evil; and
  • Finally it is a movement doomed by the judgment of God’s Holy Word.

Strong language, this? Let us face the facts.”  William E. Ashbrook – 1958 (John E. Ashbrook’s father), The New Neutralism.

“I believe that the mainspring of new evangelicalism is found in three determinations of its founder which may be clearly traced in the state of things today.

  • First, new evangelicalism determined to reject Biblical separation.
  • Secondly, new evangelicalism determined to find acceptance by the world.
  • Thirdly, new evangelicalism determined to add the social gospel to the Scriptural gospel….”  John E. Ashbrook – 1992, New Neutralism II

I  found the entire text of New Neutralism II online here. It’s an interesting read. In this post, I am not taking a particular stance, but am merely sharing the main points, which I find worthy of serious consideration.  The author’s conclusion reads in part:

“My grandfather, on whose farm I spent my summers, used to drill corn with a one row corn planter. One spring he had a young mare called Nellie pulling his planter. Nellie panicked and ran away with the planter. When she had finished her fling, she ended up where she began, and Grandfather finished the job. After the corn came up, we could stand on the hill overlooking the field and trace Nellie’s adventure. A great circle of corn was imposed on the orderly rows. When my father began his Evangelicalism: The New Neutralism in 1958, new evangelicalism was ten years old. As I write these lines in 1992, it is forty-four years old. After ten years it may be hard to see where a movement is going. After forty-four years it is easy to see where it has been.

Early in this book I stated that the mainspring of new evangelicalism is to be found in three determinations of its founder. First, new evangelicalism determined to reject Biblical separation. This determination removed the fences God had ordained to protect the church. From the hilltop of history it is easy to see that new evangelicalism, like Nellie, has traced a great circle back to the fellowship of apostasy The heroes of the 1930’s led their followers to separate from apostasy New evangelicalism has led back into the apostasy their forefathers left. Worse still, the reformation has been vitiated, and the Pope is ready to welcome the wanderers home. The doctrinal fence which kept the charismatic movement in another pasture has been rolled up. New evangelicalism is moving toward one flock, no matter what men believe.

…

Satan is building the one-world church of the end time.  . . . The effect of new evangelicalism has been to deliver much of this portion back to the devil’s program. Neutralism is an attack on Biblical obedience. When Biblical obedience is destroyed, it eventually destroys Biblical faith.

Secondly, new evangelicalism determined to find acceptance by the world. At first this was a craving for acceptance in scholarship and intellectual esteem. Soon that desire for acceptance moved on to culture, music and life style. The desire for acceptance has led to absorption into the world.

One of the key thoughts of new evangelicalism is toleration. That thought has led to the toleration of almost anything in the name of Christianity. Scripture does not say that God is tolerant, but it does say that God is holy. God said, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.” A craving for the world’s acceptance, even in scholarship, will displace love for the Lord. “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (I John 2:15).

The third determination of new evangelicalism was to add the social gospel to the scriptural gospel. … Contemporary new evangelicalism has forgotten that distinction and set the saving gospel and the social gospel side by side as equally important. Since man is a fallen creature, the social gospel will win the day. Man is always more concerned with the needs of his body than with the needs of his soul.”

I find that last statement rather compelling. It might explain, in part, today’s evangelicalism’s intense me-centeredness, including the almost exclusive use of temporal “blessings’ in much of our evangelism.