That was the title of Religion Today’s feature article that appeared in my email this morning. The testimonies included the following.

“Her faith is a source of strength and inspiration for the times when she feels like giving up.”

“. . .placed his faith in God at age 13, after losing his father to cancer. “God used the worst experience in my life—losing my father—to bring forth the best experience in my life—knowing my Heavenly Father.”

One athlete talked about how hard the journey to the Olympics was, and it was said that she shares Bible verses on twitter with her 370,000 followers.

I’m sure that God just might use these testimonies, just like the recent Seattle Seahawks’ player testimonies, to point to Christ for salvation. What I long to hear from a celebrity Christian is something like……”I realized that Christ died for my sin when I was 18 , Knowing that, I repented and believed. God has gifted me as an athlete and now I can share the message that saved me with both other athletes and a whole lot of  fans.”

It’s great to share how God has gifted us, strengthened  us, and that God is a Father who will never leave us, At the same time, Knowing that Christ died for our sins is the gospel message with the power to save.  Why is the ‘main thing’ not part of all these celebrity testimonies?

Food for thought.. . .

“We have a more sure word of testimony, a rock of truth upon which we rest, for our infallible standard lies in, “It is written. . .” The Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but  the Bible is our religion. . . .It is said that it is hard to understand, but it is not so to those who seek the guidance of the Spirit of God. . . . .A babe in grace taught by the Spirit of God may know the mind of the Lord concerning salvation, and find its way to heaven by the guidance of the Word alone. But be it profound or simple; that is not the question; it is the Word of Gods, and is pure, unerring truth. Here is infallibility, and nowhere else. . . .This grand, infallible book. . .is our sole court of appeal. . . .[It is] the sword of the Spirit in the spiritual conflicts which await. . . .The Holy Spirit is the Word, and it is, therefore, living truth. O Christians, be ye sure of this, and because of it make you the Word your chosen weapon of war.”

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Sermon Source: “Infallibility – Where to Find it and How to Use It” , Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol 20 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1874, 698-99, 702.

That’s the title of a series of lectures presented by Dr. Kim Riddlebarger of Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim, CA. I was introduced to one of the lectures via a Christian blogger (I can’t remember which one at the moment) and am listening to the entire series, the theme of which is the Reformed understanding of the Two Kingdoms (The Kingdom of God and the civil kingdom). It’s a great series so far and explains how we as believers are to live as members of God’s Kingdom and the civil kingdom at the same time. Go to http://christreformedinfo.org/mp3s-and-real-audio-of-academy/, which contains Dr. Riddlebarger’s lectures. You will see the series title (In the Land of Nod) and be able to listen to/download the sermons with the links provided.

Enjoy!

When we talk about free will, we are usually concerned with the matter of salvation. Few are interested in whether we have the free will to choose salad or steak for our dinner tonight. Rather, we are troubled over who exactly is in control of our eternal destiny.

Any discussion of man’s free will must begin with an understanding of his nature because man’s will is bound by that nature. A prisoner has the freedom to pace up and down in his cell, but he is constrained by the walls of that cell and can go no further, no matter how much his will might desire it. So it is with man. Because of sin, man is imprisoned within a cell of corruption and wickedness which permeates to the very core of our being. Every part of man is in bondage to sin – our bodies, our minds, and our wills. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us the state of man’s heart: it is “deceitful and desperately wicked.” In our natural, unregenerate state, we are carnally minded, not spiritually minded. “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can it be” (Romans 8:6-7). These verses tell us that before we are saved, we are at enmity (war) with God, we do not submit to God and His law, neither can we. The Bible is clear that, in his natural state, man is incapable of choosing that which is good and holy. In other words, he does not have the “free will” to choose God because his will is not free. It is constrained by his nature, just as the prisoner is constrained by his cell.

How then can anyone be saved? Ephesians 2:1 describes the process. We who are “dead in our trespasses and sins” have been “made alive” through Christ. A dead man cannot make himself alive because he lacks the necessary power to do so. Lazarus lay in his tomb four days unable to do a thing to resurrect himself. Christ came along and commanded him to come to life (John 11). So it is with us. We are spiritually dead, unable to rise. But “while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). He calls us out of our spiritual graves and gives us a completely new nature, one undefiled by sin as the old nature was (2 Corinthians 5:17). God saw the desperate and helpless state of our souls, and in His great love and mercy, He sovereignly chose to send His Son to the cross to redeem us. By His grace we are saved through the gift of faith which He gives us so that we can believe in Jesus. His grace is a free gift, our faith is a free gift, and our salvation is a free gift given to those whom God has chosen “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). Why did He chose to do it this way? Because it was “according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace” (Ephesians 1:5-6). It’s important to understand that the plan of salvation is designed to glorify God, not man. Our response is to praise Him for the “glory of His grace.” If we chose our own salvation, who would get the glory? We would, and God has made it clear that He will not give the glory due to Him to anyone else (Isaiah 48:11).

The question naturally arises, how do we know who has been saved “from the foundation of the world”? We don’t. That is why we take the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth, telling all to repent and receive God’s gift of grace. Second Corinthians 5:20 tells us we are to be pleading with others to be reconciled to God before it is too late. We cannot know whom God will choose to release from their prison cells of sin. We leave that choice to Him and present the gospel to all. The ones who come to Jesus He “will in no way cast out” (John 6:37).

Recommended Resources: Evangelism & the Sovereignty of God by J.I. Packer

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I found this at GotQuestions.com. It’s a faithful excerpt from J.I. Packerr’s book,, for sure. I have the book and I highly recommend it.

This was first posted about five years ago, and I thought it time to repost it, with a couple of small tweaks:

Some of us old geezers remember the popular television series "Dragnet", especially the lead-in phrase that ‘the upcoming story was true, but the names had been changed to protect the innocent’. There’s a twist to that theme that is extremely popular in evangelical (I use the term loosely) circles these days. It’s not about changing the names of people, however, but changing the names of essential elements of the Biblical Gospel message for which we are accountable, and that we are charged to faithfully proclaim.

If you haven’t yet figured out what ‘names’ I’m talking about yet, they are repent (in all it’s forms), and sin (and all direct references to it). When Jesus announced that the Kingdom was near, He told his listeners to ‘repent and believe’ (Mark 1:15). When the Apostle Paul found it necessary to remind believers in Corinth of the contents of the Gospel message, he told them that the Gospel IS that Christ died for our sins, and was raised, according to scripture (1 Cor 15:1-4). He also reminded believers in Galatia that different messages than that were ‘another gospel’ (Gal 1:8-9).

We don’t use those terms very much these days. We tell folks Jesus died for their pain, broken heart, in order to have an abundant life, and a number of other reasons, but we don’t lay the cards on the table and tell them that Christ died for their sins. We have all sorts of ways to ‘soften’ the message and ‘short-sheet’ the Holy Spirit.

We don’t tell them they need to repent and believe the Gospel, we tell them they can come to Jesus for spiritual Band-Aids to smooth out the raw ‘stuff’ of life. If we did use the ‘R’ word as we ought, we would have to explain why repentance was necessary and that would necessitate using the dreaded ‘S’ word.

People can’t/don’t ‘repent’ from a broken heart, painful experiences, or lives that aren’t as abundant as they would like them to be. Those are all things that can be understood as outside of oneself, and there is no need repent of that which you are not personally accountable. If we are somehow responsible for anything it’s a poor decision, bad judgment call, or personal misstep, but never in any way the result of ‘sin’. We don’t like to use that word.

So I have to ask myself – Why don’t we tell it like it is, – define the issue using scriptural terms and definitions? Here’s my short list of why we don’t use the ‘S’ word.

1. It makes people feel uncomfortable in our ‘seeker friendly’ service.
2. People know they are sinners already, so there’s no need.
3. If I use the ‘S’ word he/she won’t like me any more.
4. If he/she/they like me/our church service they will naturally like Jesus.
5. People who feel guilty when they hear the ‘S’ word won’t drop a check in the offering plate or donate to our ministry.
6. Talking about ‘sin’ would hinder the warm ‘relationship building’ phase of personal evangelism technique/method, without which we might  never have a chance to share Christ.
7. Broken hearts, and all the other painful ‘stuff’ of life, resulted from the Adam’s sin (the Fall) so we can just talk about those things and see even more ‘decisions’ for Christ than making folks feel bad.
8. We can always talk about sin after they have made a decision/prayed the prayer/said the right words and are already saved.
9. We can just talk about sin being separated from God because of what Satan did in the Garden. We humans are just victims here.
10. We’re ashamed of the Gospel.

As for me, I think the first 9 are the ways we soften/disguise the real reason, #10. I know that sounds harsh, but either we are  ashamed of the gospel, or we just don’t believe we need to talk about sin and repentance, in which case we don’t know what the Bible really says about the state of fallen men and the sovereignty of God in their salvation.

The Greatest Joy – Resource Center – Truth For Life.