Yearly Archives: 2011

A Passion for the Trinity

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Heresy is not a victimless crime. Theology matters!

On the basis of Scripture itself, Christians throughout the centuries have professed belief in the Holy Trinity, affirming the fact that our one God is eternally existent in three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who are co-equal, co-existent and co-eternal. This is because the following three things are very clearly taught in Scripture:

(1) There is only one God, who is eternal and immutable (unchanging). (Deut. 6:4; Isa. 43:10; Mal. 3:6; Mark 12:29; John 17:3; 1 Tim. 2:5; Jam. 2:19)

(2) There are three eternal Persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These Persons are never identified with one another – that is, they are carefully differentiated as distinct Persons. The Father is not the Son, nor the Son the Holy Spirit, and nor is the Holy Spirit the Father. (Matt: 3:13-17; 28:19; Luke 10:22; John 1:1, 2; 3:16, 17; 15:26; 16:7; 17:1-26; 2 Cor. 13:14)

(3) The Father, the Son, and the Spirit, are identified as being full Deity – that is, the Bible teaches the Deity of the Father, the Deity of Christ and the Deity of the Holy Spirit. (Isa. 9:6; John 17:3; John 1:1, 18; 8:58; 20:28; Phil. 2:5-11; Col. 2:9; Titus 2:13; Heb 1:8; 2 Pet. 1:1; Acts 5:3, 4; 2 Cor. 3:17, 18)

Every new generation of Christians must contend for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints (Jude: 4). In this video below, Dr. James White, author of the book “The Forgotten Trinity,” teaches a session on this same theme, at a time when there is widescale apathy concerning defending this essential and vital doctrine.

Did the Holy Spirit indwell OT believers?

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Dr. David Murray, is the Professor of Old Testament and Practical Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He lives in Grand Rapids with his wife, Shona, and four children.

I found the following articles by Dr. Murray to be very helpful concerning the question “did the Holy Spirit indwell believers in Old Testament times?” He wrote four short articles on this theme and I will put them all together here. That makes this a lengthy post, but I think its best to have all the information in the one place. You can find the original articles at his blog site here.

Did the Holy Spirit indwell OT believers? By David Murray

A huge amount of ink and electrons have been devoted to answering that question. Personally, I can’t understand why this is deemed such a complex issue. It all really depends on our answer to this simple question: Were Old Testament believers believers?

If the Old Testament believers were real believers, the Holy Spirit indwelt them. No one can be born again, believe, or repent without the inward work of the Holy Spirit. And no one can stay a believer for one second without the ongoing internal work of the Holy Spirit – neither in the OT nor the NT. Without the Holy Spirit constantly in and at work in our hearts, we will immediately apostatize.

So, here are the options:

1. Old Testament “believers” were not real believers.

2. Old Testament “believers” believed by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit but kept believing without the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit.

3. Old Testament believers, like New Testament believers, believed and kept on believing as a result of the Holy Spirit’s initial and ongoing indwelling work in their hearts.

If #1 is true, then the Bible is not true (Jn. 8:56; Heb 11).

If #2 is true, then Old Testament believers were not as depraved as we are, as they did not need the ongoing indwelling work of the Holy Spirit. (And in some ways, this debate really is a debate about the nature of human depravity in the Old Testament. Could anything less or other than the indwelling of the Holy Spirit keep a believer believing, repenting, hoping, obeying, etc?)

If #3 is true, then the question that’s left is: “In what ways did the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit differ in the Old Testament compared to the New, especially post-Pentecost?” Everyone accepts there was a difference. But what was it?
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There is No God Seeker (Romans 3:11)

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“I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.” – Romans 10:20

Here in this verse, God declares that He revealed Himself to those who were not even seeking or asking for Him. That is something to really think about.

Who was this group that God revealed Himself to?

Well, we might think it is some distant African tribe or all of the many atheists who at one time professed that there was no God at all. However, the startling biblical answer to the question is that its all of those who have come to have faith in Christ.

Romans 3:11 says “no one seeks for God.” Literally the text reads, “there is no God seeker.”

We tend to be blind to this truth, especially when we might have heard numerous testimonies of (now) Christian people who say they were seeking for God all their lives – seeking Him in many different spiritual experiences, even through searching out many different religions.

While it is certainly true that these people sought many different experiences and were involved in other religions, what the Bible teaches is that none of us by nature wish to know the God of the Bible. We are born DOA (dead on arrival) spiritually speaking, yet we walk a course mapped out for us by the Prince of darkness. We are by nature children of wrath rather than children of God and unless God intervenes, we will never seek to know the one true God. That is the clear teaching of the opening verses of Ephesians chapter 2. All our religious “searchings” are really attempts to run and hide from Him. Like Adam in the garden of Eden after he had sinned, He hid from the presence of the Lord. That is our inner disposition towards God until God moves upon the heart and draws us to Himself. Before that we might want all the trappings of what a relationship with God brings – forgiveness, freedom from a guilty conscience, feelings of happiness and assurance, peace within; but we just dont want to go to God to get these things. We often mistake a desire for these things as a desire for God. Hear again the word of the Lord, “there is no God seeker.” (Romans 3:11).

Though the Bible commands us, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near,” (Isa. 55:6) none of us by nature will actually ever do that. We have the responsibility, just not the interest.
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Miscellaneous Quotes (24)

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“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” – Galatians 6:14

“The Christian not only glories in the cross, he glories in the cross alone. He glories in nothing else… There is an exclusiveness about it, which means that to the Christian this is the chief thing in history, the most important event that has ever taken place. It means that to him there is nothing which comes anywhere near it in significance. It means that he rests everything upon this, that this means all to him, that he is what he is because of this. He glories in it.

I want to ask a question to all Christian believers. Are you glorying in the cross? Or are you just saying, Of course, I always believe, I always have believed, I was brought up to. Can you speak like that about the cross?

The test of the Christian is that he glories in it, he exults in it, he boasts of it. It is everything to him, without it he has nothing. He owes all to this, this cross is the center of his universe in every respect. This is what is meant by boasting.” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Cross: God’s Way of Salvation (Crossway, 1986), 54-55

“The love of Christ, being the love of God, is effectual and fruitful in producing all the good things which he wills to his beloved. He loves life, grace, and holiness into us; he loves us also into covenant, loves us into heaven. . . .

How many millions of sins, in every one of the elect, every one of which were enough to condemn them all, has this love overcome! What mountains of unbelief does it remove! Look upon the conversation of any one saint, consider the frame of his heart, see the many stains and spots, the defilements and infirmities, wherewith his life is contaminated, and tell me whether the love that bears with all this be not to be admired. And is it not the same towards thousands every day? What streams of grace, purging, pardoning, quickening, assisting, do flow from it every day! This is our Beloved.” – John Owen, Communion with God

“Upon a life I did not live, upon a death I did not die; another’s life, another’s death, I stake my whole eternity.” – Horatius Bonar
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The Huge “Issue of Trust” Giveaway

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Announcing the Huge “Issue of Trust” Giveaway

Why do people write blogs? Well unless they are writing for the sheer pleasure of writing itself, people write in hope of being read.

Why would they want to be read?

There could be many motivations. Some write to gain notoriety, others do so to make people laugh, while still others seek to propagate a particular idea or agenda. God communicated His truth to us through the inspired writings of his apostles and prophets. How extremely gracious it was of God to do so. He did not have to.

I write in hope of helping others see the wonders and the beauty of Christ and His gospel of grace, to outline sound theology and to defend the Christian faith, while hoping to have some fun along the way. I write more about my motivations for this blog here.

I have been very gratified by the personal e-mails I have received recently expressing appreciation for this little blog of mine.

Just yesterday someone wrote to say, “I love your blog. I check it out before I leave for work each morning. I am always learning something by what you write John. You often make me laugh too. My only wish is that so many more people would enjoy it as much as I do.” Of course, its really nice when someone writes to give such encouraging feedback.

Later on, something unusual happened – a thought occured to me. Having a thought is a rare event, I know. I remember the last one distinctly. I was laying in bed at the time. That’s usually not a good time to have a thought. Yet this time I was prepared. Remembering that my last previous thought also occured while laying in the same spot. So just in case such a rare thing would ever happen again, I had a pen and notebook handy near my bedside so I could quickly write any new thought down. On this occasion, I did manage to write a few words before drifting off to sleep.

When I woke up some hours later, the words I wrote down were still there in the notebook, which meant, I did not forget the idea I had.

If only I could remember where I put the blinkin’ notebook!!

Oh yes.. I found it.. and here was my thought:
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Understanding Hebrews 2:9

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Pastor John, I am studying the Doctrines of Grace, but am struggling with the concept of the “L” in the TULIP, namely “Limited Atonement” because Hebrews 2:9 says that Jesus tasted death for everyone. Does this not refute the idea or you able to explain this verse?

Thanks for your question. I can understand your struggle as I also found the “L” doctrine the most difficult one to grasp. That is not because the Bible is unclear. I don’t believe that is the case at all. My problem was that I was reading the Bible with a traditional lens, so to speak. Thankfully, what was once fuzzy to me is now extremely clear. Christ is a powerful and perfect Savior!

The whole issue revolves around what exactly was in the mind of God from all eternity in the cross of Christ. In sending His Son to die on the cross, what was God’s intention? Was He merely trying to save as many people as He could, hoping that somone would take Him up on the offer, or was He actually securing salvation for those He chose to redeem?

The answer, I believe, is that God intended to save all His elect people and achieved this through the death of Christ. Rather than being sad for all eternity that so many refused Him, God accomplished everything He set out to do. It is a mistaken idea to think that those who will make up the numbers in hell were every bit redeemed as the occupants of heaven, but their sin of unbelief prevented them from enjoying eternity with God. Such would make Christ a dejected Savior for all eternity, for if His blood truly purchased their redemption, and He removed God’s wrath from them (propitiation) it is indeed scandalous that wrath be poured out on these same people again in hell. That would be double jeopardy, a double payment for sin.

When we look at what Scripture says that Jesus actually achieved by His death, Revelation 5:9 tells us that the heavenly host sing to the Lamb, “by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

This gives us great insight. Notice that the text does not say that He ransomed everyone IN every tribe and language and people and nation but specific people in each tribe, tongue, people group and nation. This speaks of an actual atonement; one without distinction rather than one without exception.

Christ died not merely to make a potential or hypotethical atonement that would only be made effective by man’s response, but He actually removed God’s wrath forever (full propitiation) and provided an actual or definite atonement for the people of God. In doing this He fulfilled the prophecy that He would “save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

When someone describes themselves as a four point Calvinist it is almost always “Limited Atonement” where they have an issue. Reformed people often refer to these folk as “Christmas Calvinists.” Why?

No “L.” (Noel, Noel!! – ha ha)

Well, much more could be said but to answer your question, we can isolate the phrase “taste death for everyone,” taking it out of its setting (which many do without even realising it, which is of course, the very essence of tradition), OR we can allow the greater context to explain the meaning.

Actually, as I have explained elsewhere, whenever we find words such as “all” “every” or “everyone” in Scripture, the correct meaning is understood by the context. Sometimes it means each and everyone on earth, all in human history, past, present and future, but actually that is an extremely rare use of these terms.

This is true in all language use. In English, for example, when a teacher in a classroom asks “are we all here?” he/she is not asking if everyone on planet earth is in the room, but the students signed up for the class. Similarly, if a mother with seven kids gets in the car and before setting off for the grocery store looks behind her drivers’ seat at her children and asks “is everyone in?” we immediately understand she is enquiring about the location of all her children (asking to make sure none of them are missing) rather than everyone in this world.

So regarding Hebrews 2:9, the very next verses (v. 10, 11) explain who the “everyone” is. Here’s the text:

Hebrews 2:9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing MANY SONS TO GLORY, should make the founder of THEIR SALVATION perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and THOSE WHO ARE SANCTIFIED all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call THEM BROTHERS.

The “everyone” are ‘everyone’ of the many sons Christ brings to glory (notice He does not merely try to bring them to glory, He actually does so), whom He sanctifies by tasting death for them and whom He calls brothers. He is the founder of their salvation. His death for everyone of these many sons, brought them all the way to glory, He sanctified them (set them apart as holy) by this death and rather than merely calling them potential brothers, He actually secured their membership in the family of God. Because of His death on their behalf, He is not ashamed to call these many sanctified sons, brothers.

This once again illustrates the value of context in determining the correct meaning of a verse or passage. Whenever we come across words such as “all,” “every” or “everyone,” we should make it a rule to carefully examine the immediate context where these phrases are found. When we take time to do so, the meaning will become clear.

Friday Round Up

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(1) Please 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.
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EE-TAOW! (The Mouk Story)

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“And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” – Revelation 5:9

This (below) is without question, the most powerful and dramatic Christian video I have ever seen. The story of how an unreach people group (the Mouks) were reached by the Gospel is a wonder to behold. The intricate and detailed care and planning that went into their evangelization is a tremendous eye opener, as is the way that the Gospel was taught to them, line by line, precept upon precept. Then to watch as the Bible story unfolds and the Cross and resurrection of Christ is proclaimed, and to witness an entire tribe coming to Christ – well, it never fails to move me deeply to see it.

Though this video was made some years ago, I sincerely believe that any Christian who has a heart to reach others with the Gospel will be very much inspired by watching this, and if someone does not already have such a heart, God may well use this as a means to stir that desire to reach others.

EE-TAOW (The Mouk Story) from oliver wong on Vimeo.

Here in this second video (below), we witness the next chapter in the amazing story – how the Mouks then reached out to other tribes around them with the Gospel:

EE-TAOW (The Next Chapter) from oliver wong on Vimeo.