Today I had the great privilege of once again guest hosting on Dr. James White’s Dividing Line program. Imagine the scenario. You’ve had an amazing conversation with someone which has led to his conversion to Christ. You have just an hour with him. After that, you may never see him again. What are the most important things you would wish him to know? What follows is my answer to that question.
Article: no-fault divorce, and now gay marriage have made traditional sexual ethics look outmoded at best and hateful at worst. The Western public square is no longer a place where Christians feel they belong with any degree of comfort.
For Christians in the United States, this is particularly disorienting. In Europe, Christianity was pushed to the margins over a couple of centuries—the tide of faith retreated “with tremulous cadence slow.” In America, the process seems to be happening much more rapidly.
It is also being driven by issues that few predicted would have such cultural force. It is surely an irony as unexpected as it is unwelcome that sex—that most private and intimate act—has become the most pressing public policy issue today. (Who could have imagined that policies concerning contraception and laws allowing same-sex marriage would present the most serious challenges to religious freedom?) We are indeed set for exile, though not an exile which pushes us to the geographical margins. It’s an exile to cultural irrelevance.
American Evangelicalism and Roman Catholicism start this exile with heavy baggage. Evangelicalism has largely wedded itself to the vision of America as at heart a Christian nation, a conception that goes back to the earliest New England settlers. An advertisement for The American Patriot’s Bible (2009) proudly boasts that it “connects the teachings of the Bible, the history of the United States and the life of every American” while “beautiful full-color insert pages spotlight the people and events that demonstrate the godly qualities that have made America great.” Yet a nation where the language of “choice” and “freedom” has been hijacked for infanticide, the deconstruction of marriage, and a seemingly limitless license to publish pornography is rather obviously not godly. That’s a hard truth for those who believe America belongs to them by right.
For Roman Catholics, the challenges of our cultural exile are different. Rome has somehow managed to maintain a level of social credibility in America, despite holding to positions regarded as intolerable by the wider secular world when held by Protestants. Her refusals to ordain women or sanction the use of contraception do not seem to have destroyed her public reputation. But if, for example, tax-exempt status is revoked for educational and social-service nonprofits opposed to the increasingly mandatory sexual revolution, the Church will face a stark choice: capitulate to the spirit of the age or step out into the cold wasteland of cultural and social marginality. When opposition to gay marriage comes to be seen as the moral equivalent to white supremacism, it is doubtful that the Roman Catholic Church will be able to maintain both her current position on the issue and her status in society. She too will likely be shunted to the margins. Continue reading
Blog article: tribe, people, and language—will gather to sing praise to God for his greatness, wisdom, power, grace, and mighty work of redemption (Revelation 5:13-14). Overwhelmed by his magnificence, we will fall on our faces in unrestrained happiness and say, “Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” (Revelation 7:9-12).
People of the world are always striving to celebrate—they just lack ultimate reasons to celebrate (and therefore find lesser reasons). As Christians, we have those reasons—our relationship with Jesus and the promise of Heaven. “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Revelation 21:3). Does this excite you? If it doesn’t, you’re not thinking correctly.
As I share in my book Heaven, I find it ironic that many people stereotype life in Heaven as an interminable church service. Apparently, church attendance has become synonymous with boredom. Yet meeting God—when it truly happens—will be far more exhilarating than a great meal, a poker game, hunting, gardening, mountain climbing, or watching the Super Bowl. Even if it were true (it isn’t) that church services must be dull, there will be no church services in Heaven. The church (Christ’s people) will be there. But there will be no temple, and as far as we know, no services (Revelation 21:22).
Will we always be engaged in worship? Yes and no. If we have a narrow view of worship, the answer is no. But if we have a broad view of worship, the answer is yes. As Cornelius Venema explains, worship in Heaven will be all-encompassing:
“No legitimate activity of life—whether in marriage, family, business, play, friendship, education, politics, etc.—escapes the claims of Christ’s kingship. . . . Certainly those who live and reign with Christ forever will find the diversity and complexity of their worship of God not less, but richer, in the life to come. Every legitimate activity of new creaturely life will be included within the life of worship of God’s people.” [1]
Will we always be on our faces at Christ’s feet, worshiping Him? No, because Scripture says we’ll be doing many other things—living in dwelling places, eating and drinking, reigning with Christ, and working for Him. Scripture depicts people standing, walking, traveling in and out of the city, and gathering at feasts. When doing these things, we won’t be on our faces before Christ. Nevertheless, all that we do will be an act of worship. We’ll enjoy full and unbroken fellowship with Christ. At times this will crescendo into greater heights of praise as we assemble with the multitudes who are also worshiping Him.
Worship involves more than singing and prayer. I often worship God while reading a book, riding a bike, or taking a walk. I’m worshiping him now as I write. Yet too often I’m distracted and fail to acknowledge God along the way. In Heaven, God will always be first in my thinking.
Even now, we’re told, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). That God expects us to do many other things, such as work, rest, and be with our families, shows that we must be able to be joyful, pray, and give thanks while doing other things.
Have you ever spent a day or several hours when you sensed the presence of God as you hiked, worked, gardened, drove, read, or did the dishes? Those are foretastes of Heaven—not because we are doing nothing but worshiping, but because we are worshiping God as we do everything else.
In Heaven, where everyone worships Jesus, no one says, “Now we’re going to sing two hymns, followed by announcements and prayer.” The singing isn’t ritual but spontaneous praise (Revelation 5:11-14). If someone rescued you and your family from terrible harm, especially at great cost to himself, no one would need to tell you, “Better say thank you.” On your own, you would shower Him with praise. Even more will you sing your Savior’s praises and tell of His life-saving deeds!
[1] Cornelius P. Venema, The Promise of the Future (Trowbridge, UK: Banner of Truth, 2000), 478.
In an article entitled, “Stripping Down the Gospel: We Must Believe More Than the ABCs” Jason A. Van Bemmel writes:
What must I do to be saved? The Philippian jailer asked this question in Acts 16. Paul’s answer was simple and powerful: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household (Acts 16:31, ESV).”
But what does it mean to believe in the Lord Jesus? For the Philippian jailer, coming to Christ meant turning from polytheistic paganism to belief in one true God. Believing in Jesus meant believing the truth of who Jesus is, what He has done, what He is doing now and what He will do in the future.
Right after Paul’s simple response to the jailer in verse 31, we’re told in verse 32, “And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.” Paul didn’t just make a simple statement and immediately lead the jailer in The Sinner’s Prayer. He taught him and his whole household the word of God.
As the early church grew, they developed a creed that would contain all of the vital information. The Apostle’s Creed has, for centuries, been the standard creed of Christianity for all denominations and traditions on all continents. The Heidelberg Catechism, which belongs to the Reformed Protestant tradition, affirms the Apostle’s Creed’s central place as the summary of what Christian must believe to be saved.
Q. 22. What is then necessary for a Christian to believe?
A. All things promised us in the gospel, which the articles of our catholic and undoubted Christian faith briefly teach us.
Q. 23. What are these articles?
A.
1. I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:
2. And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord:
3. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary:
4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell:
5. The third day he rose again from the dead:
6. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty:
7. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead:
8. I believe in the Holy Ghost:
9. I believe a holy catholic church: the communion of saints:
10. The forgiveness of sins:
11. The resurrection of the body:
12. And the life everlasting.
The true content of the Gospel, which must be understood and believed, cannot really be reduced from these twelve articles contained in the Apostle’s Creed. It is necessary (not optional) that we believe these truths, and it is necessary that we understand what each of these twelve articles is asserting in order for our belief to be meaningful.
We live in an increasingly pluralistic and pagan age, and so our culture is becoming more like the culture of the ancient Roman Empire. Fifty years ago, we may have been able to rely on a cultural consensus and collective understanding that was generally monotheistic and Judeo-Christian. Today, that’s simply not the case. Unbelievers’ understanding of the nature of truth, the existence and nature of God, the historicity of the Gospels, etc. is all really shaky and unknown. We need to take more time to understand people and their understandings and to carefully explain what it is we believe and why we believe it.
How different is this approach from the quick, drive-by evangelism common in many evangelistic programs and Gospel presentations? One common evangelism tool is based on ABC:
Admit that you are a sinner.
Believe that Jesus died for your sins.
Confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
This simple formula runs the risk of being simplistic and of missing so much that someone must believe in order to be a Christian. For example, Jesus is more and did more than just die for our sins:
1. He is the only begotten Son of God who was born of a virgin.
2. He lived a sinless life.
3. He suffered humiliation and rejection and died on the cross for our sins, being buried and remaining under the power of death for a time.
4. He rose again from the dead on the Third Day.
5. He ascended into heaven and sits at God’s right hand.
6. He is coming again to judge the living and the dead.
We need to be able to share a simple Gospel message with our non-Christian friends, family members and neighbors. But a simple Gospel is not a stripped down, simplistic Gospel that leaves holes in the essential truths we believe and would leave people confused and conflicted.
Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones
In this chapter I want again to consider verses 38-42. We have already studied them twice. First, we looked at them in -general, reminding ourselves of certain principles which govern the interpretation. Then we considered the statements one by one in detail, and saw that our Lord’s concern is that we should be set free from all desire for personal revenge. There is nothing which is so tragic as the way in which many people, when they come to this paragraph, become so immersed in details, and are so ready to argue about the rightness or wrongness of doing this or that, that they completely lose sight of the great principle here expressed, which is the Christian’s attitude towards himself. These illustrations are used by our Lord simply to bring out His teaching concerning that great central principle. `You’, He says in effect, `must have a right view of yourselves. Your troubles arise because you tend to go wrong at that particular point.’ In other words, our Lord’s primary concern here is with what we are, rather than with what we do. What we do is important, because it is indicative of what we are. He illustrates that here, and says: `If you are what you claim to be, this is how you will behave.’ So we must concentrate not so much upon the action as upon the spirit that leads to the action. That is why, let us repeat it again, it is so essential that we should take the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount in the order in which it is given. We have no right to consider these particular injunctions unless we have already grasped, and mastered, and have submitted ourselves to, the teaching of the Beatitudes.
In this paragraph we have our attitude towards ourselves presented in a negative manner; in the paragraph that follows it is presented positively. There our Lord goes on to say: `Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.’ But here we are concerned with the negative, and this teaching is of such central importance in the New Testament that we must consider it once more. Continue reading
Does the spiritual inability of man consist of the loss of his free will, Ph.D, D.D.
This question should be answered in different ways. If by “free will” one means the spontaneity that the soul works from itself without compulsion, this characteristic is inseparably connected with the concept of will. An unfree, enslaved will, then, is a contradictio in adjecto, something that never has existed and never can exist.
If, however, by “free will” one means the abstract possibility that the will of man turns from good to evil or from evil to good, then this liberum arbitrium existed before the fall but no longer after the fall. This is also what theologians meant when they listed the loss of the liberum arbitrium as one of the consequences of sin. Man did possess the capacity to make evil from good, but not the capacity to make good again from evil. The latter, the bringing about of something good as well as the abolishing of something evil, is the exclusive prerogative of the omnipotence of God. And inasmuch as now, after his fall, man must always do evil contrary to the testimony of his conscience, and sin hinders the development and free movement of all his powers, one may speak in this sense, too, of a lack of freedom and bondage in which he exists as sinner.
How can you prove this teaching of the inability of man for doing spiritual good?
It is proven:
a) From the fact that Scripture nowhere ascribes to fallen man any capacity to do good of himself.
b) From the express declaration of Scripture that the opposite is the case. Compare John 15:4, 5; 6:44; Romans 8:7; 1 Corinthians 2:14.
c) From the form in which Scripture presents to us the doctrine of original sin. In this connection two features especially must be noted. The natural condition of sinful man is portrayed as a condition of death and as a fleshly condition. The point of comparison in both of these images includes the utter inability for spiritual good. As little as a dead person can stir or lifeless flesh can achieve an expression of life, just so little can the natural man do what is good toward God.
d) From the explanation of Scripture that man is not only negatively dead toward God and fleshly passive but also, moreover, that in this death lurks a principle of development and of hostility against God. Man, therefore, is not shackled in total inability by a single bond, but by two bonds.
e) From the necessity that the favor and fellowship of God are indispensable for man if he will produce spiritual good. As long as the wrath of God rests on him, nothing in his life can prosper. The consciousness of the judgment under which he lies, without having yet reckoned with other things, cuts off every good deed at the root.
f) From the necessity of the immediate working of grace by the Holy Spirit in regeneration. This is the other side of what was said under c). Everywhere the Holy Spirit is presented as the one who awakes life and the source of life. Nowhere in Scripture does the human soul appear as a self-changing subject, but always as an object that becomes changed from the outside by affecting grace. Hence there is spoken of a new birth, a new creation, a resurrection from the dead.
g) From the experience of the children of God. None will assert that he is capable of doing what the law demands of him. The awareness of guilt of an awakened sinner also includes, among other things, the conviction that he is bound by sin and cannot save himself. This sense of helplessness is precisely the characteristic of true repentance. Inasmuch, then, as the latter is nothing other than a coming to be aware of the real condition of man, we can infer from it that this in fact is a condition of inability.
Which objections have been advanced against this doctrine of total inability? Continue reading
Dr. John MacArthur:
Transcript:
Well tonight we’re going to turn to a very, very important subject, the Law and the Gospel…the Law and the Gospel. In the general picture out there of evangelicalism today, there is certainly much said about God’s love, much said about God’s mercy, much said about His grace. There is a great emphasis on the fact that God forgives, that He empowers. Almost nothing is said about the Law of God, about the judgment of God, about the heinousness of violating His Law, and the just consequences of such a violation.
And so, in a sense the gospel which means the good news is stripped of what it is really good because people don’t know what is really bad, which makes the good news such good news. The bad news is that all people are under the Law of God, they’re under obligation to obey that Law. They are all violators of that Law, therefore they come under true guilt and with guilt comes condemnation and with condemnation comes punishment, and that punishment is everlasting. The Gospel cannot be understood as good news, until people understand what it is that the Gospel delivers them from, namely the bad news of eternal punishment which is a just punishment on a truly guilty sinner. People are trying to get other folks into heaven while at the same time avoiding telling them they’re on their way to hell. Trying to get them to accept what is good for them, without understanding the truth about what is so bad for them.
And were you to ask the question to people out there as they looked at evangelicalism and listened to the general message that Christians give, if you posed the question…What does Jesus save you from?…they might say, “loneliness, depression, poverty, lack of purpose, lack of meaning, lack of fulfillment, etc.” cause they do not understand guilt, condemnation that comes because of a violation of His Law.
Scripture, however, is very clear that anyone who is to grasp the greatness of the gospel must first grasp the greatness of judgment of sin. Salvation by grace means little to those who know nothing of damnation under the Law.
So, the divine order is Law, then Gospel. And there is a reluctance on the part of evangelical people today to talk about the Law of God because it makes people feel bad and they think it makes the Gospel less attractive, when, in fact, it is necessary to make them feel bad, really bad because that generates the true attraction to the gospel. We understand that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, Ephesians 2:8 and 9. We understand that salvation is never by works but always by grace through faith. All who are saved from eternal damnation at all times in redemptive history are saved by faith and grace apart from the Law. This is the repeated testimony of Scripture. In the Old Testament, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Or Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Or in Habakkuk, the just shall live by faith. This is not a New Testament truth, this is a universal truth throughout all of redemptive history. Salvation…deliverance from condemnation, eternal punishment comes by God’s grace through faith. Continue reading