Yearly Archives: 2011

Election and Predestination: Adrian Rogers v. James White

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Dr. Adrian Rogers is now in glory. He has left a wonderful legacy in the cause of Christ. Without question, speaker and author in the Body of Christ. I have a great deal of respect for him. That does not mean I always agreed with him.

On the subject of Divine election and predestination, I and many others would have loved to see Pastor Rogers engage in a publicly moderated debate which allowed for cross examination. I believe it would have been incredibly helpful for people to see the two sides represented in a respectful and formal setting, where rhetoric can be examined and arguments evaluated in the light of Scripture. Alas, Pastor Rogers was never interested in such an exhange. However, all is not lost and the next best thing is for someone to take Dr. Rogers’ own words on the subject and then provide a point by point response or rebuttal. Some years ago (while Adrian Rogers was still with us) Dr. James White did exactly that. I remember finding the “interchange” extremely useful.

I am glad to see this exchange now available on youtube video. If you can carve out an hour and a half to view this (below), I believe you will find this to be a fruitful use of your time. I recommend this highly. It is so important we examine our traditions in the light of Scripture.

Wednesday Round Up

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(1) My special thanks to all those who have sent me private messages to say that you are praying for my mother (Grace). I appreciate it more than I can say in words. My mother’s condition has stabilized since she returned home from the hospital but we still need to look for a long term solution for her. In this regard, my mother and I are due to see a specialist this afternoon to discuss the various medical options we have. We look to the Lord for His wisdom. Thanks for your prayers once again.

(2) India Outreach: Someone suggested I repost this (below) to keep people aware of both the vision and the current need. I do so here as it is a very exciting project.

Romans 10: 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Its taken three weeks for my good friend, Indian Pastor Pappy Daniel to find the best possible deal, but as promised, here’s an update on the Gospel tract printing costs.

You may remember we provided 10,000 copies of the Gospel tract I wrote “The Thief on the Cross” in the Malayalam language which were handed out to people in the state of Kerala at Easter time. The response and feedback to this very clear gospel presentation has been so encouraging that we made a tentative inquiry to find out how much it would cost for 100,000 tracts to be printed.

Whereas the cost for 10,000 tracts was approximately $400 USA Dollars, the cost for 100,000 tracts will be $2,600.00. This is the full cost, which includes paper, printing, shipping and distribution handling costs. As you can see, there is a substantial savings (per tract) when there is a larger quantity being printed.

Perhaps this Gospel outreach is something you or your church might like to get behind and support. If so, just write to me and I will give you further details. I will keep this article updated to show the amount that has come in for this specific venture (below).

Goal: $2,600.00

Amount received (as of 6/8/11): $200.00

He’s my son

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According to the Roman Catholic Church, ed Mary was the only person other than Jesus who was born without original sin (immaculately conceived), she remained a virgin throughout her life, she was bodily assumed into heaven, she is to receive prayer and devotion from God’s people, she is a mediatrix between God and man, and she dispenses grace to those in need. There is no biblical basis for any of these doctrines whatsoever. Yet in an over-reaction to the idolatrous and even blasphemous excesses, many Christians have ignored Mary altogether. Mary tells us herself that she was a sinner (and Scripture records it). She is not referred to even once outside of the Gospels. The Apostle Paul never mentions her in all his Epistles (think about that). Yet there’s no doubt that Mary was a truly remarkable woman, chosen by God to have a hugely significant role in the life of her Son. I am a Protestant by conviction and not mere preference, and yet… I thank God for Mary.

This song by Mark Shultz is very moving:

Response to Richard Dawkins

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For those interacting with people who have been influenced by the writings and lectures of atheist Richard Dawkins, here is what I find to be an excellent response from Paul Copan. It is well worth bookmarking these articles and going through them one by one.

Part 1: Copan’s recent interaction with Richard Dawkins Personal Responsibility, and Naturalism’s Counterintuitive Claims (read more)

Part 5: Morality and Naturalisms Counterintuitive Claims (read more)

Understanding Islam (Conference)

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From June, 2011, at Grace Reformed Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, Dr. James White teaches five sessions on the topic of Islam. An outstanding and comprehensive overview.

Session (1) The Basics of Islam found here.

Session (2) Answering Islamic Objections found here.

Session (3) Background on the Qu’ran found here.

Session (4) Islamic Apologetics found here.

Session (5) The Suffering and Glory of God’s Servant found here.

Miscellaneous Quotes (17)

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“The holiness of God is his glory and crown. It is the blessedness of his nature. It renders him glorious in himself, and glorious to his creatures. “Holy” is more fixed as an epithet to his name than any other. This is his greatest title of honor. He is pure and unmixed light, nature, and operations. He cannot be deformed by any evil. The notion of God cannot be entertained without separating from him whatever is impure and staining. Though he is majestic, eternal, almighty, wise, immutable, merciful, and whatsoever other prefections may dignify so sovereign a being, yet if we conceive him destitute of this excellent perfection, and imagine him possessed with the least contagion of evil, we make him but an infinite monster, and sully all those perfections we ascribed to him before.

It is a contradiction for him to be God and to have any darkness mixed with his light. To deny his purity, makes him no God. He that says God is not holy, speaks much worse than if he said there is no God at all. Where do we read of the angels crying out Eternal or Faithful Lord God of hosts? But we do hear them singing Holy, Holy, Holy. God swears by his holiness (Psa. 89:35). His holiness is a pledge for the assurance of his promises. Power is his hand, omniscience his eye, mercy his heart, eternity his duration, but holiness his beauty. It renders him lovely and gives beauty to all his attributes. Every action of his is free from all hints of evil. Holiness is the crown of all his attributes, the life of all his decrees, and the brightness of all his actions. Nothing is decreed by him and nothing is acted by him that is not consistent with the beauty of his holiness.” – Stephen Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God. Quoted from Voices from the Past.

I will continue with the quotes below, but reading these words above causes me to stop in my tracks, lift my voice and simply worship this amazing holy God who has made me to stand in His presence through the cross of Christ. Sing with me, how great is our God!!!

“Here is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at My word.” – Isaiah 66:2

“True preaching is an acceptable adoration of God by the manifestation of His gracious attributes.” – C. H. Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, 53

“The gospel is not just the A-B-C’s but the A to Z of Christianity. The gospel is not just the minimum required doctrine necessary to enter the kingdom, but the way we all make progress in the kingdom.” – Tim Keller

“Jesus was guilty of nothing. Yet on the cross, the Father treated Him as if He had committed personally every sin ever committed by every individual who would ever believe. Though He was blameless, He faced the full fury of God’s wrath, enduring the penalty of sin on behalf of those He came to save. In this way, the sinless Son of God became the perfect substitute for the sinful sons of men. As a result of Christ’s sacrifice, the elect become the righteousness of God in Him. In the same way that the Father treated the Son as a sinner, even though the Son was sinless, the Father now treats believers as righteous, even though they were unrighteous. Jesus exchanged His life for sinners in order to fulfill the elective plan of God. And He did it so that, in the end, He might give back to the Father the love gift that the Father gave to Him.” – Dr. John MacArthur

“To return evil for evil is demonic. To return good for good is human. But to return good for evil is divine!” – unknown

“So what should we do in sharing the love of God, whose full enjoyment constitutes the happy life? It is God from whom all those who love him derive both their existence and their love; it is God who frees us from any fear that he can fail to satisfy anyone to whom he becomes known; it is God who wants himself to be loved, not in order to gain any reward for himself but to give to those who love him an eternal reward–namely himself, the object of their love.” – Augustine, On Christian Teaching (1.64) Continue reading →

Understanding Romans 8:1

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Pastor John, I am confused. Romans 8:1 tells me that the one in Christ Jesus is no longer under condemnation and yet when I read the King James Version, that is not the case. My heart sinks to think that I have to live a life pleasing to God “in the Spirit” before I can be certain of my standing with God. I can never look at my life for even a day and say I am fully walking “after the Spirit.” I have anxious thoughts and sin is sadly a daily reality in my life. I can really identify with Paul’s struggle against sin in Romans chapter 7. Yet it would seem that Paul’s whole message of justification by faith alone would be destroyed if the King James Version rendering of the Romans 8:1 verse is correct. What is going on? Can you provide any insight here?

Your question is a very important one. Yes, I do believe I can help.

You are right. If the King James Version rendering of Romans 8:1 is correct, then our standing with God is based upon our performance rather than by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The King James Version is an excellent translation normally, but in this particular verse, it gets it wrong and the consequences can indeed be tragic.

One would have thought that his error would have been corrected when the New King James Bible was introduced some years back. However, this is not the case. A marginal note does explain the issue but the text itself remains unchanged from the King James’ rendering.

Without getting too technical, the King James Version and New King James Version are excellent translations of an inferior Greek text. Scholarship has advanced dramatically in the last 400 years (since the KJV was produced) and the newer translations such as the English Standard Version, the New American Standard Bible and the New International Version (and others) eliminate the problem by using a much more reliable Greek text as a source. Continue reading →

Jesus wept!

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Far too often, we as Christians are influenced by the culture around us and not by the word of God. It is exactly this tendency that is in view when Romans 12:2 exhorts us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…”

Do grown men cry? Should they?

Well there was only one perfect expression of manhood who walked this planet. It was not John Wayne, Tom Cruise or some other Hollywood superstar. The most perfect man was Jesus Christ, fully man as well as fully God.

“Jesus wept” (John 11:35) is the shortest verse in the entire Bible – short on words but long in what it reveals. It is all the more remarkable because Jesus knew He was about to raise Lazarus from death. Why cry when within minutes, grief would be banished and He would get glory from such an outstanding miracle? Yet such was His love, such was His compassion both for Lazarus himself and for his family’s grief, that Jesus wept real sincere tears. There was nothing fake about them.

Acts 8:2 tells us that when Stephen was martyred the Church made “loud lamentation” over him. They were not scolded by God for their tears and told to be more spiritual or to act more “grown up”. The Scripture’s complete silence of scorn and ridicule for the Church’s tears speaks volumes to us.

Even when Jesus knew deliverance was right around the corner and was just about to bring it, He cried… He wept. The fact that you cry does not mean you do not trust God or His promises. It means you are truly human and you feel real pain. God has designed our tears to be release valves for the strain, stress and pain we all feel in this world. Your tears are precious to God. So much so, that He even makes the promise to you that He will one day wipe all tears from your eyes. Continue reading →

Sovereign, even over sin

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God has ordained every event in time and space. Some people react to this clear biblical statement and say, “No, then God is not God. Certainly it is no surprise to Him that sin exists, and He will be glorified in His justice when He punishes it, either in Christ as the sin bearer for all who trust in Him, or in the sinner in hell for eternity. Without doubt the crucifixion of the Son of God was man’s greatest sin, yet the Bible is clear that Jesus was the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8). God ordained the cross before He ever made the world. If this event was ordained in this way, so was the sin that put Him there. God is Sovereign and “works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11), “for from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36)