Category Archives: Uncategorized
Properly Exegeting the Story of David
This is Matt Chandler and the story of David at the Code Orange Revival (COR) in 2012. He was not well received by some (read many). This year’s COR heresy fest/olympics featured John Gray (on staff at smiling Joel’s church (is Lakewood a real church?) telling the COR audience exactly the opposite of what Matt Chandler told the 2012 crowd.
Sadly and tragically, john Gray’s version is on full display in faux ‘churches’ from coast to coast to thousands upon thousands of decieved saints and sinners across our land. It’s the message that most ticles ‘itching ears’ and gives people what they want to heat, not what they need.
Beginning with the Bad News: Man’s Chief Problem is Sin Against God
In order to understand Christ as our Savior we must first understand the biblical teachings concerning the lostness of man. Man’s chief problem is offending a good God. The Bible teaches us all of humanity have sinned against God (Romans 3:23) with sin being behavior and thoughts that goes against God’s Law or lawlessness (1 John 3:4). Any attempt by man’s own effort towards “righteous deeds are like a filthy garment” (Isaiah 64:6). Proverbs 13:15 and 13:21 teaches us that sins have terrible consequences even on this side of eternity but we must not forget the biggest problem is that fallen humanity is guilty in their sin against God and one day Jesus will call sinners to give an account of their lives since God the Father has “given all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22 cf. John 5:27).
The consequences of man’s lostness after death in their sins is…
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Sinner, Save Thyself!
Say what?????
We all (Calvinists and Arminians) vehemently DENY that anyone saves himself/herself! And that is as it should be. At the same time, aren’t we asking sinners to save ‘themselves’ when at an altar call, accompanied by emotional music, we say things like:
· Only YOU can open the door to YOUR heart.
· God has done his part, now you need to do YOURS.
· Will YOU accept Jesus as your Savior?
· Won’t YOU give YOUR heart to Jesus right now, tonight, before it’s too late?
· Why don’t YOU to surrender YOUR heart and life to Jesus?
While we would loudly deny that anyone saves themselves, we ask, or tell, sinners in the seats, or with whom we are sharing the gospel) to ‘do’ something that will usher in eternal life. Think about it from the perspective of the one to whom the message of the gospel has been presented, wither in a group or individual setting.
I’m a sinner who knows little of the things of God and I have just been told that Jesus came to save me and give me eternal life. Then I receive one or more of the above statements and/or questions respond positively to it/them. I am welcomed into the Kingdom of God.
With very little logic involved, I conclude that by my action, I just saved myself! After all, I performed the final action in a sequence of actions leading to my salvation, didn’t I?
I have to say that a friend of ours came to that very conclusion in a conversation with my wife one evening in our home. And at the same time, I have to confess that the above statements and questions could lead anyone on the receiving end to come to the same conclusion unless persuaded otherwise.
The question I now ask is “Why do we ask and/or say things that might bring unnecessary confusion to our hearers?” There are several possible answers to that question, and I’ll leave those to your imagination.
Rather, I suggest that none of the above questions and statements is actually Biblical. You might think they express Biblical concepts, but you won’t see any of them in any evangelistic encounter in the New Testament. Instead you hear about repentance and belief; repentance from sin and belief in Christ as the substitute for sinners. And you hear it first from the lips of Jesus when, at the beginning of his ministry he said:
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15V)
If it is God who opens hearts to hear the gospel and also who does all the ‘saving’, we need only be faithful to the message that Christ died for our sins and be able to explain what that means. Trust me, God WILL save his people from their sins!
Contemporary Issues in the Church
This a link to one of the many Q&A sessions between Phil Johnson and John MacArthur and worth watching or listening to.
Opinion | Teaching Calvin in California – The New York Times
Review and Free: No Compromise by Charles H. Spurgeon
Charles H. Spurgeon. No Compromise. Pensacola, FL: Chapel Library, September 5th, 2014. 24 pp. This is a sermon by Charles Spurgeon that he preached based upon Genesis 24:5-8. Spurgeon preached t…
Source: Review and Free: No Compromise by Charles H. Spurgeon
The Battle Cry 