The Resurrection of Christ

Michael Reeves: He Is Not Here: The Resurrection of Christ

Without the resurrection of Christ, we have reason for faith and motivation for ministry. The resurrection testifies to the victory of Christ on the cross and the power of the gospel over sin and death. In this session, Dr. Michael Reeves describes how the resurrection of Christ provides the basis for our faith and gives hope for new life.

Salvation: A Sovereign Work of God

In this excerpt from a message at the Ligonier 2010 National Conference, John MacArthur considered Romans 9, the sovereignty of God in salvation, and man’s responsibility to have faith. (Original source here.)

Transcript

God has always been selective. The blessing came through Isaac. Then the blessing came through Jacob. “Jacob I loved, Esau I hated.” (Rom. 9:13) You say, “Wow, you mean God is that discriminating?” Verse 14 then says (and this is what the responder would say) “What shall we say then? Is this unjust? There is no injustice with God is there?” M? genoito—the strongest negative in the Greek language—no, no, no, no. This isn’t out of character for God to be selective. God never intended every Jew to be in the kingdom. For He says to Moses, God says, “I’ll have mercy on whom I’ll have mercy. I’ll have compassion on whom I’ll have compassion.” And it doesn’t depend on “the man who wills or the man who runs but on God who has mercy” (Rom. 9:15-16).

And then He goes to Pharaoh, “‘For this very purpose I raised you up to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.’ So then He has mercy on whom He desires and He hardens whom He desires.” Wow. “You will say to me then, ‘Why does he still find fault?’” How can God then find fault with us if He’s the one who makes the decision? For who can resist His will? And the next verse says, shut … up. That’s what it says in the vernacular. “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this,’ will it?” Pots don’t talk back. The potter has the right over the clay. “What if God willing to demonstrate His wrath and make His power known endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?” (v. 22).

Do you understand that God has a right to put His wrath and His judgment and His justice and His fury on display to His own glory as much as He has a right to put His mercy and His grace on display to His own glory? Do you understand that God gets as much glory out of His wrath as He gets out of His grace? Paul understands that. That this is a sovereign work, and that God is not unjust. Psalm 119 says, “Your righteousness is an ever-lasting righteousness.” Psalm 7:9, “You are the righteous one.” God will do what God will do. Paul understands that this work of salvation is a sovereign work done by God. But then come to verse 30. “What shall we say then? Gentiles, who didn’t pursue righteousness, attained righteousness.”

Isn’t that something? He’s talking about the church, the gentile church. They were not even pursuing it, but they received it. Even the righteousness which is by what?—faith. “But Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness,” that is righteousness by law, “did not arrive at that law.” Why? Because they didn’t pursue it by faith. They didn’t pursue it by faith because the one in whom you must place your faith was to them a stumbling stone and a rock of offense.

So he says it’s all the sovereignty of God. He hardens whom He hardens, He has mercy on whom He decides to have mercy. He loves who He loves, He hates who He hates. But Israel didn’t receive the imputed righteousness of God because they sought it by law and not by faith in Christ. They’re fully responsible for pursuing righteousness in a false way, and denying righteousness in the only way that it can ever come to the sinner, through faith in Christ.

Confessions Of A Former Charismatic

visionoriginal source walked to classes, prayed, and roomed together. I cannot begin to count the hours of spiritual conversation we had. Spiritual hunger marked my life.

There was a mix of Christians on campus. CRU was there. Some pretty wild Pentecostals were there. God brought dispensational Calvinists into my life. I got hooked on prophetic charts, Spurgeon, and later on John Piper. I also drank often from the more Reformed well. The authors that drew me had a sense of a great God, the evil of sin, the complete work of Christ, and the call to holiness. I could not get enough of their theology.

Outside of my reading, my Christian life was not remarkable. After the first wave of conversion change, I settled into the routine of battling the flesh. My particular sins were those of a young adult – self-indulgence, laziness, being opinionated, not honoring my parents, and sexual sin. My sins grieved me. I looked for help for this inner war. I wanted to be free from sin. Once again, it was the Reformed tradition that gave me hope and sanity. Continue reading

A Lesser God and an Exalted Man

error-stampA long time ago in a garden far, far away, the “God” of the word of faith made man in His image and gave him two very special gifts. The first of these was something called “dominion.” This newly created being, formed out of the dust of the ground was made the “god of this world”, supreme lord over all he surveyed. This gift of dominion meant that man ruled over all his circumstances. Everything in his environment (including the weather) was now subject to him.

The second gift God gave him was seed for sowing. This came in two forms. The first type of seed given to him would be sown into the ground, producing crops of every imaginable kind. Man could determine the type and quantity of the crop he would have. He could have as much or as little as he wished.

The second type of seed took the form of faith filled words. Faith filled words dominate reality. Like His Creator before him, man could speak and everything he said would come to pass. He could have whatever he said. In fact, he not only could have, he would have all that came out of his mouth. Everything on planet earth was subject to man. Nothing was beyond his control. And he exerted that control through the use of his words.

Death and life being in the power of the tongue, no lack or sickness or poverty could continue to exist once man had spoken in faith. If there ever was lack, man could speak ‘abundance’ and everything would conform. All creation awaited man’s faith filled words to see what would be said – the seed of his words would come to fruition.

God was hoping that man would decide to speak words of life rather than death. Oh how he hoped for that! In this way, all would be well; all would be good.

But something happened that meant disaster for God and His plan. Man listened to the serpent and liked what he heard. He decided to get in league with the crafty snake and instead of choosing words that would bring life, health, prosperity and blessing, he chose the way of death. The curse of death now reigned. Sickness and poverty would gain the upper hand.

If we could imagine a father giving a new car to a son as a gift, so God, having given man the keys to His car (planet earth), He could only watch in horror as man drove the car at full speed into the ditch.

The first man had failed to use his dominion wisely. In obeying the serpent, Adam (and his race) had handed over the planet’s keys to the devil. The devil (not God) was now in charge – the ruling “god of this world.” There was now nothing God could do. His hands were tied. All He could do was hope.

Hopefully, yes, just hopefully, another man would arise who would make good decisions and restore dominion back to mankind. That was God’s hope anyway, in something called the plan of redemption.

HERESY
Here is what we know about heresy. It is almost always some truth taken to an extreme.

No one among us (or very few) would believe something that had absolutely no basis in reality. But if the one dispensing heresy can put some truth in there, like a good and wholesome sandwich, he can include healthy meat with just enough poison, and it becomes a lethal meal for anyone who partakes of it.

Ladies and gentlemen, the account you have read above here is heresy of a most pernicious and damnable kind. It is not true. It is error of the worst kind. And dear reader, this is the error taught in the word of faith movement.

Behind the words of the word of faith preacher lays a hissing serpent spewing out damnable lies about God, about man and the nature of reality. These lies are damnable for the simple reason that if they are believed, they damn the human soul forever. Yet the serpent dispenses his lies with just enough truth included so as to deceive his prey.

Eschatology – Recommended Resources

HighKingBooks:

Dean Davis – The High King of Heaven

Dr. Sam Storms – Kingdom Come

Audio:

Here are five audio teachings by Dean Davis along with a question and answer session.

Dr. Sam Waldron:

1. The Bible’s Own System – The Basic Scheme

2. The Bible’s Own System – The Enhanced Scheme

Five sessions on Reformed Amillennialism with Dr. Kim Riddlebarger at this link.

Video:

Dr. Michael Reeves on the Return of our Lord Jesus Christ and the New Heavens & New Earth at this link.

A Response to ‘Mere Christianity’ and Roman Catholicism

In one of the best Dividing Line broadcasts I can remember, Dr. James White responds to William Lane Craig and the “Mere Christianity” movement’s view of Roman Catholicism. Very highly recommended!

Dr. White writes, “Spent nearly 90 minutes listening to the entire presentation by William Lane Craig on Roman Catholicism. No one can accuse us of misrepresenting him, to be sure! A vital discussion of why the “Mere Christianity” movement is unbiblical, dangerous, and untenable in the long run. Then a brief review of my trip to California this weekend, my attempted interaction with Pastor Steve Tassi, and then a quick review of Jacob Prasch’s most recent video hit piece.”