Monthly Archives: September 2011

You’ll not find it in your comfort zone

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Joshua 10:25 “Do not be afraid or dismayed; be strong and courageous. For thus the LORD will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.”

When God says “fight” its sinful to be passive. When God says “rest” its sinful to strive.

When God gave the land by way of promise to Israel, other tribes and nations were already occupying it. To take possession of the land would be no “walk in the park.” Israel would need a trained army of fighters, and they would need to be employed. Israel also had to wait on God for the specific military strategies at every stage. It would be presumptive to just go out and fight without the Lord’s sanction, just as it would be to remain passive when the Lord said, “now is the time to engage the enemy.” Just because the land was promised to Israel, the enemies of God did not lay down, die, or just move away saying “well here it all is for you then.” There would be fierce hostility and fierce combat if Israel was to see the promises fulfilled.

As we read the Old Testament record we notice that it was actually EXTREMELY rare for God to say “You dont need to fight this battle. I will handle this all myself.” What was usual was for God to say, “You go fight the enemy and know that I will be with you.”

Many times, we as Christians assume the rare thing is the usual thing – that God will just do everything for us. While it is true that God does it all in regenerating us dead sinners and bring us to spiritual life, the rest of the Christian life is a working out of our salvation with fear and trembling, knowing it is God who is at work within us (Phil 2:12,13). The Christian life is a cooperative venture.

As a child of God, you have many great and precious promises. Yet in this life, to possess them may well mean the scary thought of leaving the known, the comfortable, the predictable and the familiar. God will fulfill His many promises and will make you and shape you in the process. Yet His greatest blessings are found outside of the comfort zone. Smooth seas never made a great sailor.

Here’s a sermon I preached called “Rest and Fight!”

I trust it will be a blessing.

Sola Scriptura – By the Scriptures Alone (1)

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“Let God-inspired Scripture decide between us; and on whichever side be found doctrines in harmony with the word of God, in favor of that side will be cast the vote of truth.” – Basil of Caesarea (c. 330 – 379 A.D.)

“We affirm that a confession of the full authority, infallibility, and inerrancy of Scripture is vital to a sound understanding of the whole of the Christian faith. We further affirm that such confession should lead to increasing conformity to the image of Christ. We deny that such a confession is necessary for salvation. However, we further deny that inerrancy can be rejected without grave consequences, both to the individual and the church.” – Chicago Statement of the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy

“In the empire of the church, the ruler is God’s Word.” – Martin Luther – Works, Vol. 41, p. 134.

“I have learned to ascribe the honor of infallibility only to those books that are accepted as canonical. I am profoundly convinced that none of these writers has erred. All other writers, however they may have distinguished themselves in holiness or in doctrine, I read in this way. I evaluate what they say, not on the basis that they themselves believe that a thing is true, but only insofar as they are able to convince me by the authority of the canonical books or by clear reason.” – Martin Luther

“Since the church is Christ’s Kingdom, and he reigns by his Word alone, will it not be clear to any man that those are lying words by which the Kingdom of Christ is imagined to exist apart from his scepter (that is, his most holy Word)?” – John Calvin, Institutes

“Let the pastors boldly dare all things by the word of God. . . Let them constrain all the power, glory, and excellence of the world to give place to and to obey the divine majesty of this word. Let them enjoin everyone by it, from the highest to the lowest. Let them edify the body of Christ. Let them devastate Satan’s reign. Let them pasture the sheep, kill the wolves, instruct and exhort the rebellious. Let them bind and loose thunder and lightning, if necessary, but let them do all according to the word of God.” – John Calvin, Sermons on the Epistle to the Ephesians, p. xii

“…have you not read what was spoken to you by God…” – Jesus Christ (Matt. 22:31)

There has been an unprecedented crisis in the Church in the last two hundred years as to the question “Can we trust the Scriptures?” There has been a wholesale loss of the sense of authority.

To understand the issues involved in our day, I am convinced that we need to know something about the 16th Century Protestant Reformation. The central issue was Justification by faith alone (Latin: sola fide). Yet often overlooked is another controversy which was equally as serious for the life of the Church.

The material issue of the Reformation was the debate over justification by faith alone. The formal issue (the structure in which the whole debate ensued) was the issue of final authority – who or what speaks for God?
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180 Movie

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Deeply impacting!

Its become something of a vastly overused and worn out cliche to say that something is “life changing”, but if there ever was a movie made which could lay claim to such a term, surely this is it. ‘180’ is our wake up call.

May God bless and strengthen Ray Comfort and all involved in this amazing project. Lets spread the word far and wide about this powerful movie and get it into the hands of as many people as we can.

ENDORSEMENTS:

“I give my unflinching, joyful, trembling Yes to ‘180’. Unflinching, because it’s right. Joyful, because it’s good. Trembling, because this our defeated enemy is still vicious.” Dr. John Piper – Bethlehem Baptist Church

“‘180’ is 33 minutes of video adrenaline, shock, and hope.” Kirk Cameron – Actor and TV Co-host

“Riveting!” Joni Eareckson Tada – Joni & Friends

“Mind-blowing and unforgettable!” Randy Alcorn – Eternal Perspective Ministries

“After viewing 180 last night one couple wanted to invest in a couple of thousand copies, and give them away in the surrounding neighborhoods near our church.” Trisha Ramos (TX)

“As one who was scheduled to be aborted, this astounding video struck me at my core that this is needed more now than ever. It is more than powerful…it is a vehicle of God’s voice to this generation, and must be seen!” Ron DiCianni

Here’s the 180 movie:

For more information or to order “180” on DVD, please go to this link.

Here’s one person’s outreach. He says, “Giving away 180 is easy, all you need are some DVDs and a servant’s heart.”

Among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander

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Pastor John, but now have shipwrecked it, we must conclude that one can lose true faith in Christ.

How would you respond to this claim? Is there more that can be said about these two men, besides, “Since other Scriptures teach perseverance, then we must assume that the faith of Hymenaeus and Alexander must have been a mere profession”?

I think the last sentence in your question does indeed go a long way towards answering your own question, though I believe much more could and should be said.

The 1 Timothy 1:18-20 passage reads:

This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

To fully exegete the passage would take far more space than a short blog article would allow for, but I would like to draw out a number of points from the biblical text.
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The Gospel According to the Church Fathers

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by Nathan Busenitz (from a blogpost California.

After the apostles died, was the gospel hopelessly lost until the Reformation?

That certainly seems to be a common assumption in some Protestant circles today. Thankfully, it is a false assumption.

I’m not entirely sure where that misconception started. But one thing I do know: it did not come from the Protestant Reformers.

The Reformers themselves (including Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and others) were convinced that their position was not only biblical, but also historical. In other words, they contended that both the apostles and the church fathers would have agreed with them on the heart of the gospel.

For example, the second-generation Lutheran reformer, Martin Chemnitz (1522-1586), wrote a treatise on justification in which he defended the Protestant position by extensively using the church fathers. And John Calvin (1509-1564), in his Institutes, similarly claimed that he could easily debunk his Roman Catholic opponents using nothing but patristic sources. Here’s what he wrote:

If the contest were to be determined by patristic authority, the tide of victory — to put it very modestly —would turn to our side. Now, these fathers have written many wise and excellent things. . . . [Yet] the good things that these fathers have written they [the Roman Catholics] either do not notice, or misrepresent or pervert. . . . But we do not despise them [the church fathers]; in fact, if it were to our present purpose, I could with no trouble at all prove that the greater part of what we are saying today meets their approval.

Source: John Calvin, “Prefatory Address to King Francis I of France,” The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Section 4.

How could the Reformers be so confident that their understanding of the gospel was consistent with the teachings of the ancient church? Or perhaps more to the point: What did the early church fathers have to say about the gospel of grace?

Here is an admittedly brief collection of 30 patristic quotes, centering on the reality that justification is by grace alone through faith alone. Many more could be provided. But I think you’ll be encouraged by this survey look at the gospel according to the church fathers.

(Even if you don’t read every quote, just take a moment to consider the fact that, long before Luther, the leaders of the ancient church were clearly proclaiming the gospel of grace through faith in Christ.)

1. Clement of Rome (30-100): “And we, too, being called by His will in Christ Jesus, are not justified by ourselves, nor by our own wisdom, or understanding, or godliness, or works which we have wrought in holiness of heart; but by that faith through which, from the beginning, Almighty God has justified all men; to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Source: Clement, First Epistle to the Corinthians, 32.4.
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Friday Round Up

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(1) Back in 2005, Dr. Wayne Grudem taught an outstanding message at an ETS Conference on the theme “Are Only Some Words of Scripture Breathed Out By God?” I am pleased to see that it is now in a written format, both in a condensed form I was directed to a very helpful and insightful article by Carolyn McCulley called “Why pray for a husband?” Though obviously written for women, the principles outlined have application for men also.

(3) I appreciated this quote from John Piper:

“I am a lover of the Reformed faith — the legacy of the protestant Reformation expressed broadly in the writings of John Calvin and John Owen and Charles Spurgeon and Jonathan Edwards, and contemporaries like R. C. Sproul and J. I. Packer and John Frame.

I speak of love for this legacy the way I speak of loving a cherished photo of my wife. I say, “I love that picture.” You won’t surprise me if you point out, “But that’s not your wife, that’s a picture.” Yes. Yes. I know it’s only a picture. I don’t love the picture instead of her, I love the picture because of her. She is precious in herself.

The picture is precious not in itself, but because it reveals her. That’s the way theology is precious. God is valuable in himself. The theology is not valuable in itself. It is valuable as a picture. That’s what I mean when I say, “I love reformed theology.” It’s the best composite, Bible-distilled picture of God that I have.” (Bloodlines, 129-130).

(4) I am thinking of cancelling the giveaway I mentioned last week due to an apparent lack of interest.

(5) On assurance and the ongoing battle with indwelling sin:

“If you feel that you are empty, if you feel you are nothing, if you feel you are poor and wretched and blind, if you hate your inclination to sin and have any suspicion of a feeling of self-loathing and hatred, you can take it from me that you have eternal life, for no one ever experiences such things until the life of God comes into his or her soul.” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

(6) Please continue to pray for a very good friend of mine, Pastor Graeme Adams, in Dundee, Scotland, who was recently rushed to hospital because of chest pains. The doctors have so far eliminated the idea of him having had a heart attack, but so far they have not determined the cause, though it could well be stress related. He is back home now but is very weak and tired. Please pray for Pastor Graeme and his wife Rhonda, their two sons, and for the precious Church he pastors.

(7) Once again, Ligonier has some excellent deals today in this week’s $5 Friday sale. especially for audio and video downloads. The children’s book and the “Believing God” book are also excellent. The online sale started at 8 a.m. EST and goes on for 24 hours or until items are sold out. Check out the $5 sale items here.

The Kingdom of God v. The Kingdom of Heaven

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Pastor John, what is the difference between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven?

The short and simple answer is “nothing at all.”

To answer this question properly, I need to provide some background. Matthew, being a Jew and writing to a primarily Jewish audience (with the purpose of showing how Jesus is the long awaited Messiah) was very reticent to use the name of God. That is because of its hallowed name in Hebrew society and religion.

This dates back all the way to the time of Moses and to the sacred name of God revealed in the Pentateuch. Most scholars believe that this name probably sounded like “Yahweh” but this is merely the best educated guess.

Why is this only a guess?

Well, being very mindful of the blasphemy of taking the sacred name of God and using it in vain (one of the Ten Commandments) when writing the name, they removed the vowels. They did this in hope that this might cause people to not speak the sacred name at all (rather than speak it in a vain way). God was so holy and His name was to be revered as no other name and so to treat it lightly would provoke God’s anger and wrath towards them as a people. Therefore in the original Hebrew of the Old Testament, all we are left with, when transliterated into English is “YHWH.”

Many centuries on, we have to only guess what those vowels might be because there is nothing to show us exactly what they were, and as I say, “Yahweh” is the best estimate of a guess by scholars.

Some say that the way this would have sounded would be “Jehovah,” but more careful scholarship dismisses that claim, and the vast majority would say the original sound of the name would be as close as possible to “Yahweh.” Most Jewish scholars are naturally reluctant to even look into this debate, because of what the issue means historically in Jewish society and how easy it would be to blaspheme God’s holy (set apart) name.

For us as Gentles, growing up in a culture where the name of God is not hallowed in the same way, this appears to be an over reaction on the part of the Jewish people to treat God’s name in this way. However, to the Jews, this made perfect sense and someone writing to Jews would need to take this into account if he wished to be read at all. This Jewish reluctance to use the name of God is seen even in today’s society in Israel where, for example, the Jerusalem Post (a secular newspaper) will spell the divine name as G-D, (putting in a dash rather than the “O” vowel), so as not to offend their orthodox Jewish readers (who can be very vocal).

I find it very interesting to note that in what we call “the Lord’s Prayer” Jesus instructed His disciples to make the very first petition a request that God’s name would be given its due reverence. When we say “Hallowed be Thy Name” we are actually asking God that His Name would be revered and set apart as holy. It is as if we are saying “May Your Name be hallowed.” Yet how wonderful it is that before we come to this request, we can, as His children, speak to Him as “Father.” Jesus, in teaching His people to pray, establishes both the transcendent majesty of God as well as the deep personal intimacy we have as His children. How wonderful this is.

I say all this to point out that while other gospel writers use the phrase “the Kingdom of God” when they are writing primarily to non Jews, Matthew prefers to use “the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew will use the word “God” of course, but it was rare for him to do so, and where there was the chance to use a different term, he did so.

This becomes immediately apparent when we compare Matthew and the other synoptic Gospel writers (Mark and Luke) when they are recalling either the exact same words of Jesus. Quoting the KJV, here are some examples:

Matthew 4:17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
Mark 1:14-15 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, {15} And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Luke 6:20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.

Matthew 8:11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
Luke 13:28-29 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. {29} And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.
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The Gospel According to Paul

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The kind folks at Grace To You have made the recent “Truth Matters 2011 Conference” available for free listening and download at their site. I watched the conference through their online live streaming of the event earlier this month, and now the teaching is being made available to a wider audience who can listen in at their own convenience.

The series of messages by Dr. John Macarthur were particularly outstanding. They enriched my soul.

This teaching will form the basis of an up-coming book by Dr. Macarthur, the final installment in his trilogy on the Gospel. The first was “The Gospel According to Jesus”; the second, “The Gospel According to the Apostles”; and this third one will be “The Gospel According to Paul.”

Here are the session titles by Dr. Macarthur:

(1) The Glorious Gospel

(2) The Gospel Satisfies the Sinner’s Need

(3) The Gospel Satisfies God’s Demands

(4) The Reconciling Gospel

(5) An Introduction to the Sovereign Gospel

(6) An Explanation of the Sovereign Gospel

(7) The Humbling Gospel

Then a final session:
(8) Practical Concerns in the Local Church: An Interview with John MacArthur

Here’s the link to either hear, download or purchase the Conference messages. Having heard each session one time through, I now aim to go through them again, this time taking extensive notes.