Monthly Archives: November 2010

The Goodness of God

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“You won’t catch me speaking about such things.” The statement came from a minister who had just heard me preach.

“What things?” I asked.

“Judgment, wrath and the like” he said.

“Oh, so why is it that you will not speak of such things when the Bible clearly does?” I then asked.

I expected him to say something like, “well the Bible is a primitive book written in a primitive culture. People are more sophisticated in our day and need to hear a different kind of message – one that is affirming, and encouraging.” That’s what I expected the minister to say. I expected him to ridicule me for believing and preaching the Bible in the 21st century, but this would be a wrong assumption on my part.

From his response to my question I could readily see that this man was in fact a Bible believing Christian… a Bible believing minister, no less. Here’s what he said:

“Well brother, Romans 2:4 says that it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance, so I believe if we want to see people repent, we have to preach on the goodness of God, not these other attributes.”

I was stunned! Completely stunned! The man was totally sincere, but I could hardly believe how the text he mentioned in Romans 2 could be so badly mistreated. Continue reading →

Does God create people knowing they will end up in hell?

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There is no doubt that this is a highly charged emotional question, let us at least try to look at this issue through a biblical lens (what the Bible reveals to us).

Here is what we know. All Bible believing Christians would affirm that God knows the end from the beginning and therefore has exhaustive knowledge of the future. Therefore, He creates people whom He knows will end up in hell. There is no way to avoid this conclusion.

God does indeed know His sheep and He knows those who are not (John 10:25,26) and there are indeed scriptures that talk of predestination to rebrobation – just one being 1 Peter 2:8, “They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.” In contrast, those who believe were predestined by God. Acts 13:48 says, “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” Those who had the appointment, made the appointment, as they responded in faith to the gospel. Continue reading →

Justification and Sanctification

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We can make a distinction between the body and the head of a man and he suffers no loss, but if there is a separation, the man will be dead. The head and the body must stay together for life to continue. Similarly, though we can make a distinction between justification and sanctification, we must never separate the two.

JUSTIFICATION
Justification is a legal court room term defined as the act of God when He declares a person just or righteous in His sight. This takes place the moment a sinner places their trust in the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. For the sinner who has faith in Jesus, God pronounces the sentence “I find you not guilty! I reckon (I count, I declare) you righteous in My sight, and you and I are forever at peace with each other. All of your sins were transferred to your sin bearing Substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, who took the full brunt of My holy wrath for you, and what has been transferred to your account is the righteousness of My Son, who lived not only a sinless life, but a life fully pleasing to Me. This very real righteousness is yours now and forever.” Continue reading →