Semper Reformanda

Can One Be a Christian if Jesus is Not Their Lord? (Part 10 - Ephesians)

2012-02-21T10:58:00.000-08:00

Ephesians also destroys the unbiblical notion that one can be a Christian whilst living a life characterized by unrepentant sin.

As mentioned in the very first part of this series, Paul addresses his Christian readers as "saints". Though the Catholics are certainly wrong in their depiction of such people as being a sinless subclass of super Christians, some Protestants have overreacted in the other direction, completely emptying the Greek word (which is derived from its Hebrew ancestor) of its original meaning.

The word translated by many English versions as "saint" is hagios. Derived from the Hebrew quadosh, the word is often used of Yahweh Himself, and carries the connotation of being "set apart". When used for God's people, the idea becomes "set apart for special [i.e. "Yahweh's] use." Thus, we see that often in the OT, God's people were to be "different" from the nations, because the God whom they worshiped was likewise set apart from the false gods of the nations. In the OT world, the "god" whom one worshiped determined one's lifestyle. This is why I am so often perplexed when I see so many 'professing' followers of Christ resembling not Him, but the world (which likely betrays the fact that despite their profession, they really worship themselves & the world, not Christ).

When Yahweh calls Israel to be "holy even as [He] is holy" (Lev. 11:44-45), the word translated "holy" both times is quadosh. And so the full force of the word is seen when God calls His quadosh (saints) to be quadosh (holy). Those who are called by God are to resemble Him in the world and to the world, which is ultimately for the world (see Exo. 19:5-6).

This is the background that Paul is drawing from. Saints are simply those who have been set apart by God and for God. The idea of someone calling themselves a Christian, yet living a life that looks no different from the world is an unfortunate & God-belittling anomaly.

Likewise in 1:2, the believers (pistoi) in Ephesus are also called "faithful" (pistoi). Again, the notion that a believer (pistos) can live a life of unfaithfulness (apistos) to Christ is something that entirely foreign and alien to the Word of God.

A couple of verses later, Paul says that such believers were "chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him in love" (1:4). Thus, those who are not growing in holiness ought to question their calling & election (cf. 2 Pet. 1:10).

Moreover, God's people have literally received "the redemption" in Christ (1:7). Not only have they been emancipated from the penalty of sin; in addition to this glorious truth, the cross has also dealt a severing death blow to the power of sin, the flesh, the world, and the devil. "In Christ", believers are no longer slaves to sin, and are thus to live lives in conformity to this truth. Therefore, believers must "no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds" (4:17). Those who have truly "learned Christ" are to daily put off the old man, as well as put on the new man, "created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (4:21-24).

In addition to this, those who have received the monergistic gift of regeneration, evidenced by believing the gospel of our salvation (1:13), are to work out their salvation by walking in the good works which God has prepared for His people. Not only does God predestine that we be saved; He also predestines that those who are saved will indeed live progressively holy lives (cf. 2:5-10). Who are those who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ? Who are "God's workmanship created in Christ"? The answer is simple: those who "walk in good works," that is, those whose lives are characterized by grace-enabled good works (which Paul elaborates upon in chapters 4-6).

The temple that believers are incorporated into (i.e. the church) is called "holy" in 2:21. As God's elect people in the earth, they are thus called to be different from the nations (see 4:17ff.). As God's holy temple, believers are called to be "imitators of God" (5:1), which involves positively walking in love (5:2), as well as negatively putting off things like sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness, filthy talk, crude joking, and ungodly relationships (5:3-7). Rather than being like the world, believers, as light, are to expose the world's darkness, rather than participate in it (5:8-13).

Believers are watch carefully how they "walk" in this world (5:15; cf. 2:10), redeeming the time (5:16). This requires not being filled with wine or living debauched lives, but rather being filled with the Holy Spirit who enables us to live lives of obedient worship (5:17ff.).

Jesus has not only saved His bride (i.e. the church) to be saved from the penalty of sin; He has also saved her for the purpose of presenting her to Himself "in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish" (5:27). He cleanses His people by the "washing of the water of the Word" (5:26).

Thus those whose lives do not evidence such cleansing have "no part" in Jesus (cf. John 13:8, 10); such people should question if they have ever been "set apart", or "sanctified" (Eph. 5:26, verbal form of hagios) by Jesus (recall the similar argument made in the beginning of this post regarding 1:2).

Of course, as I have mentioned in almost every post ad nauseum, I am not advocating or teaching perfectionism here. 1 John 1:5-10 negates that. God's people still battle with sin because they still are bearing the weight of a fallen body, living in a fallen world (kosmos), and battling a ruthless enemy (Eph. 6:10ff.). However, God's people will nonetheless, by the power of the gift of the Holy Spirit (1:13), live differently in this world. That's what it means to be holy. As God's people gaze upon Christ in the gospel, they will inevitably be transformed, or cleansed by it (2 Cor. 3:18).

Those who walk not in love to Jesus are anathema (cf. Eph. 6:24). Those who do not walk in loving obedience to Jesus (cf. John 14:15, 21, 23-24) simply do not belong to Him.

In Christ and for His glory to the ends of the earth, through His "set apart" bride,
Pastor Ryan

A Picture of Hope

2012-02-20T09:53:00.000-08:00

As I get older, I am beginning to notice just how many of my parents' peculiar hobbies are beginning to evidence themselves in my own life. Things like the love of cooking and gardening, things I used to think were for old, boring people, have intruded the desires' chamber in my heart, as I now find myself getting excited over the same things I once used to think were lame.

My mom is a "plant-o-holic". The house I grew up in literally is filled with all sorts of plants: big, small, tree, flower, common, exotic, tender, tough, pretty, ugly...you name it.

In my room, I only have two. They were given to me by a couple that attended our church for a year or so, and then left. In an earlier post, I mentioned that I keep them in my room, as I see in them beautiful & living illustrations of some important biblical truths for the Christian life.

This plant was once a thriving beast. And then it got some kind of infection that began decimating all the leaves, and even the stalks. So, in an emergency effort to save the plant, I gave her a good ol' pruning. Though the plant does not look like much now, the disease has been removed, and the process of recovery has begun. New shoots are appearing out of their former, apparently lifeless stalks.

This is a beautiful picture of the hope of Israel in the 7th century B.C. Israel, because of Yahweh's sovereign grace, was a thriving nation, flourishing under God's unique blessing upon His chosen people. However, in her prosperity she let her guard down and allowed a ruthless & cancerous contagion - sin - to enter, which left unchecked began to decimate the nation at every level. Because Yahweh loved His people too much to let them wallow in their sin, some painful pruning was in order. Emergency surgery was required to save the nation from self-destructing into oblivion. And so, metaphorically speaking, He cut her down, using the foreign nations to purge & discipline her.

Inevitably such pruning would bring about despair to God's people, as they would certainly wonder if He had forsaken His covenantal promises made to Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob. And so Yahweh, Israel's intimate Savior, inspired a prophet named Isaiah to prophesy hope to Israel, even though all she saw around her was hopelessness. In Isaiah 11:1-3, 8-9 we read:

Behold, the Sovereign LORD of Hosts will lop the boughs with terrifying power; the great in height will be hewn down, and the lofty will be brought low. He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe, and Lebanon will fall by the Majestic One.

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD...

In that day the Root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples - of Him shall the nations inquire, and His resting place shall be glorious. In that day, the Lord will extend His hand yet second time to recover that remains of His people.

Any Jew alive at that time knew that this was explicitly referring to God's promise to send His Messiah to the earth to rescue His beaten down & broken people, and then set up the Kingdom of God among the elect remnant.

This pathetic looking plant reminds me that regardless of how hopeless and despairing things might appear to my eye, God is at work. His promises to His people will never fail. About 100 years after Isaiah prophesied, God raised up another prophet named Habakkuk, who reminded the people:

"The vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end - it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it: it will surely come, it will not delay" (2:3).

If God has saved you, look with eyes of faith to the fact that God's promises to His people will not return to Him void (Isaiah 55). Even in the great pains we experience in life, He is sovereignly working all things out to conform to the end He designed, for His glory (Eph. 1:10, 13-14; cf. 1:6; Rom. 8:28). Not only is He God. He is good.

Pastor Ryan

Can One Be a Christian if Jesus is Not Their Lord? (Part 9 - Galatians)

2012-02-18T12:03:00.000-08:00

If the gospel that Paul preached was Jesus Christ as Lord (Rom. 10:9, 13; 2 Cor. 4:5; Col. 2:6), then we must be mindful of the eternally serious warning he gives to the churches in Galatia: "There are some who want to distort the gospel of Christ...As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed" (1:7, 9). Herein, Paul uses extremely strong & poignant language that many ear-tickling, goat-feeding, & numbers-counting pastors should be warned of, as the Greek word (Anathema) which the ESV translates as "cursed" really means to be "condemned to Hell" (NET, CSB f/n) or "eternally condemned" (NIV).

So, if we have grown weary of this long study, let us be reminded of the stakes that are involved when the 'church' preaches another (the Greek word heteros means "different") gospel than the one that Paul and the other apostles preached (as proven in our previous studies in this series).

Let us now look a little more closely at Paul's letter to the Galatians.

Indeed, as Paul intimates, the gospel of grace does indeed save us for freedom (Gal. 5:1). However, he equally asserts that those who are truly saved will not abuse God's grace in order that they may have an excuse for a lifestyle of unrepentant sin (cf. Rom. 6:1). No. God forbid! As Paul writes, "You were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another" (Gal. 5:13). As we have seen earlier, overcoming our innate proclivity to live solely for the advancement & comfort of ourselves requires the divine gift of a heart transplant. While the old, natural heart gratified the desires & lusts of the flesh, the new heart "from above" makes war against it, seeking to kill it (cf. Rom. 7; 8:13).

This is precisely what Paul iterates in Gal. 5:16-17, wherein we read:

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh (NIV, NLT = "sinful nature", NJB = "self-indulgence"). For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

Moreover, those who live in the flesh, regardless of their profession, must heed Paul's warning in the final chapter: "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life" (6:7-8). Those who bear no fruit of the Spirit should not expect eternal life, since there is no evidence that they belong to Christ.

If you have not read any of the previous posts, you might be asking, "What is the evidence, or fruit of true conversion?" May the words of Paul answer your question: "And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (5:24). Those who have not crucified their flesh still live in the flesh. You never crucify what you love. You crucify your enemies, not your friends.

You might further ask, "What does such a person look like, in real life?" Again, let Paul satisfy your query:

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God" (5:19-21)

Those who live "according to the flesh" are not alive, but dead (cf. Rom. 8:13). Regardless of what they think, such professors of Christ's name are not possessors of Christ's kingdom. Unless such people truly are born from above to truly see both Jesus and themselves, they will never truly repent and believe the gospel. Despite hearing many a comforting word from pastors who are content to let them fill their pews and membership roles, they will go on this life deceiving others, having themselves been deceived, only to die one day and stand before the Lord Jesus Christ on Judgement Day. What words will they hear? "I never knew you. Depart from Me, your who practice lawlessness." This is sobering stuff.

This is no mere game, dear reader. For those who belong to churches that make much of numbers, remember this: it is not the number of people who raise a hand or sign a card that matters to God, but those whom are truly saved (again, see above for the portrait Paul paints of what such people look like). Before we confer salvation upon someone, let us remember how conversion is defined biblically, as well as what it looks like practically. How unmerciful the evangelical church at large is to many of its unregenerate members! How often do we, for selfish reasons, let them come to our church, and yet never confront them of their unrepenant, and thus unforgiven, sins? We laugh with them, coddle them, encourage them, but never confront them. And then they go to Hell. Is this love?

Finally, let us remember that although Paul repeatedly fought to defend that salvation is freely by faith alone in the finished work of Christ (2:16, 20-21; 3:2-14, 22-26; 5:5-6; cf. Eph. 2:5, 8-9), he also reminds us that those who have been saved by faith alone also (must!) have God the Holy Spirit dwelling within them, enabling them to bear fruit as Christ's new creation. Or, in Paul's own words:

"Neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation" (5:16)

Regardless of what anyone says, the only thing that counts is that a person is a new creation. As we will see in our next post, those whom God has created us in Christ Jesus has created them "for good works, that they might walk in them" (Eph. 2:10).

As harsh as some of these studies may appear, I hope they are received in love. I love people too much to lie to them. I believe that eternal condemnation is a reality that is repeatedly set forth in the Word of God. As a pastor, I personally feel the temptation to make people feel safe and secure even when they're not. That way, they keep coming to 'my' church, which thus makes me look 'successful'. But like Paul, I believe that pastors who do this are "hucksters" who "peddle" God's Word for profit. May God remind us that those of us who teach have to give a much stricter judgment on that Day!

In Christ, and for His eternal glory,
Pastor Ryan

Picture of a Healthy Church

2012-02-18T09:37:00.000-08:00

In my room, I have a couple of plants that my wife, Christina, keeps threatening to throw out, as they're just, well, plain ugly. However, I've asked her to humor me, as I believe both of them are constant reminders to me of how God in Christ has seen fit to spread His glory to the ends of the earth through the body of Christ, which is the [local] church.

As the picture shows, a healthy plant sends out shoots, or copies of itself. It expends great resources in doing so, as the entire organism will fill up one's garden much more quickly this way (the innate purpose and goal of the plant). Though it is much easier to maintain 'control' of the plant by continually cutting off these costly suckers, which 'drain' the 'main' plant of much of its resources, it is ultimately, in the grand scheme of things, detrimental to the life cycle of the plant.

Anyone who knows anything about strawberries knows that it is the new plants that extend from the home base that bear the largest and most juicy berries after a year of growth. Statistics show that most church growth - that is, conversion growth (and not just the "church shuffle" of disgruntled consumers looking for a better worship band, less offensive message, or better youth 'ministry') - occurs in church plants, as they are vigorous, and have not grown comfortable in their comfy atmosphere (hip & inviting lobbies, professionals running profession ministries, coffee bars, and every other amenity available to make us forget every Christian has been called to be a front-line soldier advancing the line, with Jesus' banner of the cross, in a brutal battle).

In our consumeristic, market-driven culture where companies are 'successful' if they are large & profitable, Jesus' church needs to swim upstream & follow the NT mandate of costly-to-self church planting, rather than the comfortable-to-flesh North American model of the complacent, meet-my-needs-and-forget-the-world-of-perishing-sinners church.

I close with a verse that I think best sums up this memorable reminder to the church, and especially us as pastors, who are often prone to see ourselves as exalted CEOs rather than humble baton-passers in a gloriously rewarding marathon:

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (2 Tim. 2:1-2)

May Christ give His church this glorious vision of what it means to make disciples of all the people groups of His world through faithful church planting. May He give us many godly men who will be groomed as Timothy was to groom other planters.

To sum up: what then does a healthy church really look like? To put it simply & soberly, a healthy church is one that seriously takes Jesus' command to make disciples, grow disciples, and train up godly men to plant godly, Christ-exalting, fruit-bearing, & church-planting churches.

Cover Your world with Your glory through Your church, Lord Jesus, even as the waters cover the sea!

Can One Be a Christian if Jesus is Not Their Lord? (Part 8 - 2 Corinthians)

2012-02-14T10:28:00.000-08:00

As we have shown through the exegesis of key NT passages in our previous posts, a true Christian is one who not only receives Jesus Christ as the Savior of their sins, but also receives Jesus Christ as the Lord of their lives; that is, their life evidences a submissive heart to His commands, and are as James says, "Doers of the word and not merely hearers" (1:22-25).

Today we look at Paul's second letter to the Corinthians.

Consistent with the initial apostolic message preached in the book of Acts (see part 3 & 4 of this series), Paul also preached the message of Jesus (cf. Mark 8:34ff.), namely, the gospel of repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus (cf. Acts 20:21). He did not merely tell stories to tickle ears or emotionally manipulate hearts. No, he determined to preach only Christ crucified (1 Cor. 2:2). However, the crucified Jesus, upon resurrection, was declared by the Father Himself to be Lord of lords (cf. Phil. 2:9-11), and was not merely to be believed & received, but also was to be humbly followed as Master (cf. Rom. 10:13ff). The Jesus that Paul preached was "Lord" (2 Cor. 4:5; Col. 2:6), not a reconstructed Christ "according to human traditions" (Col. 2:8).

In 2 Cor. 5:17, Paul reminded the believers who were prone to believe the false gospel of the false teachers that those who are truly "in Christ" by faith are "a new creation." Indeed, for those who are truly regenerate, or born from above, "The old has passed away; behold the new has come." Why the stern reminder? Because Paul knew that there were many false professors lurking in the congregations who were prone to "receive the grace of God in vain" (6:2).

Paul, like the rest of the apostles, admonished his hearers not merely to make some flippant or rash decision after the preaching of a sermon (like the modern day abomination called the "altar call"), but to live lives of holiness reflecting the nature of the One whom is thrice holy and actually resides inside every true believer. This is Paul's argument in 2 Cor. 6, where he clearly reminds believers that there ought to be a clear distinction between them and the world. God's people, who are His new Temple wherein He dwells and makes His glory & holiness known (6:16), thus says, "Therefore go go out from their midst, and be separate from them...and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me, says the Lord Almighty" (6:17-18). Paul's logical deduction: "Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God" (7:1). This is precisely what our previous posts have asserted over and over again.

Finally, before we leave 2 Corinthians, we look at the final chapter, where Paul pleads with his readers to not be so trivial with the apparent professions of faith. "Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you fail to meet the test?" (13:5) Following Jesus Christ is no mere trivial 'decision'. Making "disciples" is not some kind of game that churches are to play. How often our biblically ignorant evangelical churches pronounce salvation upon any and everyone who makes any kind of response (e.g. raising a hand, talking to the pastor after a service, praying a prayer, etc.), regardless of whether or not a changed life is evident!

Do we really believe that God's sovereign and effectual grace actually transforms people? That the gospel of Christ is actually the power of God "for salvation to everyone who believes" (Rom. 1:16)? Let us be reminded that when we pronounce people who willfully live in unrepentant sin as "saved", we implicitly proclaim a weak gospel that can only "save" sinners from the penalty sin, but not from their love of sin, or the power of sin, or the presence of sin. Oh how this must grieve our Savior!

Dear reader, when is the last time you have examined yourself? Oh may you truly be found in Christ today!

Finally, I close with a plea to pastors. If someone comes into your office who is concerned they may not be saved, take the admonition of Dr. John MacArthur to heart: they may not be saved! Don't be rash in comforting them if their lives bear no fruit of the divine gift of a new heart. Take them to the book of 1 John (which we will eventually deal with). Don't offer assurance if none is warranted. Take them to the cross! Point them to Jesus! The gospel alone has the power to either save the unconverted sinner, or comfort the broken Christian who has lost his way. Offering rash "assurance" to an unbeliever is one of the most cruel, unloving things we as pastors can do. Take the time to assess the situation. It will be worth it.

Lord Jesus, be glorified, even in this long, drawn out study. We have dealt carefully with Your Word. It is worthy to be handled this way. Give me grace to follow You today as my sovereign Master, King, and Lord.

Pastor Ryan

What a "peculiar" person looks like in Nazi Germany

2012-02-14T09:06:00.000-08:00

A lone dockworker refuses to raise his hand in the Nazi salute, 1936.

Oh God, give me the grace to "stand against the tide". May we be found faithful. As one member of our church once told me, "Dead fish float with the current; living fish swim against the current."

For those who want a biblical example of this exact same situation, read Daniel 3.

1 Peter 2:9 - "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Father, in Jesus' Name, may we shine as Your lights in Your world for Your glory.

**Pictures borrowed from the DesiringGod blog.

The Last Words of a Man Who Lived Well

2012-02-12T18:11:00.000-08:00

These are the final words in John Paton's autobiography. He was a Scottish missionary who went to the New Hebrides Islands (now called Vanuatu, about 1500 miles NE of Australia) in the 1800's. As the adage goes, he who lives well, dies well.

Well, reading these lines, my heart couldn't help but yearn to give my all for the glory of God in Christ. I hope it inspires a red-hot passion for Jesus in anyone who reads them as well.

Oh that I had my life to begin again! I would consecrate it anew to Jesus in seeking the conversion of the remaining Cannibals on the New Hebrides. Doubtless these poor degraded savages are a part of the Redeemer's inheritance, given to Him in the Father's Eternal Covenant, and thousands of them are destined through us to sing His praise in the glory and the joy of the Heavenly World!

And should the record of my poor and broken life lead any one to consecrate himself to Mission work at Home or Abroad that he may win souls for Jesus, or should it even deepen the Missionary spirit in those who already know and serve the Redeemer of us all - for this also, and for all through which He has led me by His loving and gracious guidance, I shall, unto the endless ages of Eternity, bless and adore my beloved Master and Savior and Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever.

Oh Lord, give me this kind of heart, to lose my life for Jesus, that I might truly live in Him & for Him!

Can One Be a Christian if Jesus is Not Their Lord? (Part 7 - 1 Corinthians)

2012-02-06T17:32:00.002-08:00

As promised, we continue our study of what is called in theological circles "Lordship salvation." Having investigated Paul's letter to the Romans, we now proceed to survey the rest of his corpus.

In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul is still addressing some of the sin issues found in the Corinthian congregation that he began in chapter 5. There, Paul rebukes the church for their boasting in a 'brother' who had been having sex with his mother-in-law, something which even the unbelieving "outsiders" were ashamed of. People guilty of such arrogant & unrepentant sin were not to be associated with the church; thus Paul commands the congregation to "purge the evil person from among you" (5:13).

In chapter 6, Paul again expresses his shame over the fact that those who had been professing the name of Christ were acting more like the world than like Jesus. To ratchet up the seriousness of his discourse, Paul drops the bomb on anyone who thinks that they can go on living & looking like the world: "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God" (6:9-10).

What I take from this is what the rest of the Bible (especially the NT) teaches, namely that those who claim to have been made righteous by faith in Jesus Christ will inevitably begin to become more & more righteous in their conduct. Or, as we have seen innumerable times, that the root will show fruit. A heart that has been made righteous will bear righteous fruit. A heart that has not been regenerated will not bear righteous fruit.

Since I can already hear the accusation of legalism or works' righteousness being leveled against me, let me make it clear that Paul says that people who are characterized or identified by a life of sexual immorality, etc. are the ones who will not inherit the Kingdom of God. In other words, it is not merely those who do the odd unrighteous act that are refused salvation; rather it is those who are unrighteous.

I know of true lovers of Christ who hate sin who have fallen prey to some or all of the sins listed in the passage above. However, rather than living in the sin, and perhaps even boasting of it (as the man of ch. 5 did), those who are truly born again will repent of it. Is this not what Paul implicitly says in the next verse? "And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." (emphasis mine)

This is the exact same rationale for holy living that Paul uses in Romans 6, where he writes, "How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." (vv. 2-4, emphasis mine) He continues his line of argument a few verses later: "We know that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin...So you also must consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" (vv. 6-7, 11).

In verse 15 he continues his barrage against any form of easy believism that eliminates the notion that those who are believers will fight for holiness, rather than live in complacent unholiness: "But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness."

Again, Paul is relentless in his attack, as he concludes the chapter the way he started it: "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life" (vv. 22).

For those who have been truly regenerated from their wicked, sin-inclined, evil-deeds-addicted hearts, "sin will have no dominion over them" (Rom. 6:14). Those who show that they are still slaves to sin evidence that they still have a heart like Adam (see Romans 5). Those who claim to know Jesus as Savior, but do not have any desire to live for His glory reveal that they do not truly belong to Him nor have His Spirit residing in them (Rom. 8:9). Those who show no fight against sin or desire to obey God from the heart simply are not Christians (see Romans 7). In the language of 1 Corinthians 5, such people are not to be considered "brothers", and are not to be considered those who truly belong to Christ, since those who are His sheep will indeed hear His awful words of rebuke and quickly respond in contrition and repentance (the way David did in Psalm 51).

In the penultimate chapter of the book, Paul deals with questions & confusions regarding the resurrection. However, before he begins his discourse, he prefaces it with a reminder that those who are not living lives consistent with the gospel should have no confidence that they will be partakers of this glorious hope that is for true believers only. In 1 Cor. 15:1-2 we read, "Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you are standing, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to to the message I preached to you - unless you believed in vain" (my emphasis).

Again, we see a condition clause. Simply stated, those who do not hold fast to the message Paul preached should be given no confidence that they were saved. If there is no present salvation from present sins, then any claim that a person has been delivered from past sins is suspect at best, and blasphemous at worst. As this Scripture shows, salvation is not a mere isolated act in the past. Salvation is continuous: it is past, present, and future. It is not enough to say "I have been saved" (fancy theological terminology = "justification"). No, we must, with Paul, say that we are "being saved" (fancy theological terminology = "sanctification"). Those who have been justified will indeed by glorified (Rom. 8:30). However, it is only those who are being conformed increasingly into the image of Jesus Christ (8:29) who can boast of this promise. Those who have had salvation "worked in" must "work it out" (Phil. 2:12-13).

What is the message that Paul preached to the Corinthians? Jesus Christ crucified (1 Cor. 2:2) and Jesus Christ as Lord (2 Cor. 4:5). Those who receive Jesus must receive Him not only as Savior, but also "as Lord" (Col. 2:6, NET [ESV mistranslates the double accusative as "Jesus Christ the Lord"]). Anyone who has believed in a Jesus who is not Lord has, in the words of Paul, "believed in vain." This is scary stuff.

The reason why we have so many false believers in our modern evangelical context is because so many pulpits preach "another Jesus". Preachers should be aware that they will give an account for their ministries (see 1 Cor. 3 & 2 Cor. 5), for when they preach a message that tickles ears, they produce a whole bunch of people who call themselves sheep, but are nothing more than goats with sheep clothing & sheep vernacular. Instead of preaching Jesus as Lord, many preach Him as friend, cheerleader, genie, 'savior', encourager. In most pulpits, Jesus is not preached as the thrice holy God of Isaiah 6 (see John 12); no, He is preached as someone who loves us just the way we are. Though sentimental, this is absolutely not biblical! Jesus died to save us from our sin, not for our sin. Oh how wicked, blasphemous, and God-hating this false gospel is!

To get back on track (people no longer can read long posts in our soundbite age), I close with Paul's closing words of 1 Corinthians: "If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed!" (16:21, emphasis mine) Let us remember that Jesus Himself said that those who truly love Him are those who keep [present tense] His commandments (John 14:15, 21, 23). People who love - er, use - Jesus as their ticket to heaven but do not love Him as Lord of their life will be damned! As harsh as this sounds, it is what the inspired apostle says here. A half gospel produces a half Christian, which is no Christian at all.

As expected, Paul's theology of Lordship salvation is consistent in 1 Corinthians, just as we saw in every other book of the NT so far. Back to the sources, people, back to the sources!

In Christ Jesus the Lord,
Pastor Ryan Case

Can One Be a Christian if Jesus is Not Their Lord? (Part 6)

2012-02-02T08:59:00.002-08:00

As tedious as this may apparently be, we press on in our study of this crucially vital topic. As James Montgomery Boice said,

[We] are not dealing with some issue that is external to the faith, but with the central issue of all, namely, What does it mean to be a Christian? I consider [this] to be the greatest weakness of contemporary evangelical Christianity in America. Did I say weakness? It is more. It is a tragic error. It is the idea - where did it ever come from? - that one can be a Christian without being a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. This view promises false peace to thousands who have given verbal assent to this reductionist Christianity but are not truly in God's family.

He goes on to say,

Why is today's church so weak? Why are we able to claim many conversions and enroll many church members but have less and less impact on our culture? Why are Christians indistinguishable from the world? Is it not that many are calling people Christians who are actually unregenerate? Is it not that many are settling for a "form of godliness but denying its power" (2 Timothy 3:5)?

Suffice it to say, Boice reminds us that this is an issue worth toiling over. The very glory of God in Christ is at stake, as it is expressly linked by Paul to the church's witness in the world (Eph. 3:10, 21; cf. Matt. 5:13, 14-16). Moreover, the final state of eternal souls is at stake. As I've heard it preached, "How much do you have to hate someone to not tell them the truth?" If Jesus makes demands (e.g. His oft repeated, "If anyone would be My disciple, He must deny himself, take up His cross, and follow Me"), why do we edit - and even omit - them in our 'gospel' presentations?

As we saw in our first and second posts, those who do not do the will of God should not be considered children of God. If Hell is real - and it is - then we owe it to our fellow neighbors to love them enough to tell them the truth, for one must know the truth before they can be saved (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Tim. 2:25; Tit. 1:1; cf. Rom. 10:14-17). No one has ever been saved by believing lies! Only the truth can set us free (John 8:32). And who does Jesus say are those who have been set free? "Those who abide in His Word", that is, those who hear it and "continue to follow His teaching" (8:31, NET). Here Jesus gives us the clearest definition of what it means to be His "disciple" (8:31): a disciple is one who follows Jesus Christ as Lord and thus "remains faithful to His teachings" (NLT).

In our next post, we will continue where part 5 left off: an examination of Pauline literature.

In marathon races, there are often stations set up along the way that offer a short reprieve where sustenance is offered to enable the weary runners to press on. I hope this well-placed reminder of the importance of our discussion will encourage us to not grow weary in our studies.

In Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
Pastor Ryan Case

Can One Be a Christian if Jesus is Not Their Lord? (Part 5 - Romans)

2012-01-30T15:45:00.001-08:00

Today's post will survey Paul's letter to the Romans to reassert our premise of the indissoluble relationship between the Lordship of Christ and true salvation. As we have iterated over and over in our former posts, we see that Paul likewise asserts that those who unflinchingly deny the Lordship of Jesus, as evidenced in a life characterized by disobedience to Him, are not born-again Christians, regardless of what their profession is.

It has been undeniably clear that the NT data examined so far (the Gospels and Acts) unanimously teaches that persons whose lives are defined by unrepentant sin & defiant unholiness are basically showing their true colors as unregenerate unbelievers. Despite the fact that such people declare they are fig trees, the only fruit manifested is thistles. As the old adage goes, "Looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, smells like a duck. Must be a duck." Jesus warned His followers how to distinguish false believers and false teachers in their midst by simply telling them to examine what kind of fruit they were bearing, or, in His words, "You will know a tree by its fruit" (Matt. 7:17-19; 12:33).

When we read Paul's letters, we are not surprised when we see that he too explicitly echoes this resounding notion that Jesus is either Lord of all, or Lord not at all. Those who do not truly confess with both their lips and their lives that Jesus as Lord have ultimately rejected Jesus, since He is not merely the the Savior of their sins, but also the Lord and Master of their lives.

Before we even look at Paul's letter to the Romans, it should be noted that cumulatively, in his letters, he uses the words "Jesus" and "Lord" in tandem a whopping 103 times, whereas he only links "Jesus" with "Savior" seven times. It would be a damnable heresy from this to deduct that Jesus Christ is any less a Savior than He is Lord; however, when we simply observe the data presented before us, it seems that Paul seems to favor the designation of Jesus Christ as "Lord", something that should not be overlooked in our discussion.

The first explicit reference of the Lordship of Jesus as necessary for genuine conversion is found in Romans 10. In verse 8, Paul tells us the message he consistently preaches as an apostle of Jesus is the "word of faith" (ESV), better translated "the message about faith [in Jesus]." Basically, he is recapitulating and reaffirming that his message to the Jews in Romans 10 is no different than the gospel message he has presented in the first 8 chapters of the letter, namely, that salvation is by faith alone in the gospel of Jesus Christ alone (cf. 1:16-17; 3:21-31; 4:1-25; 5:1-2, etc.).

But in the very next verse (10:9), we see that Paul's gospel is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. People are saved when they confess with their lips that Jesus is indeed Lord, being fully convinced that God has truly raised Him from the dead (I take v.9 as a Hebrew parallelism, where Jesus is declared as Lord precisely because He has been raised from the dead, cf. 1:4).

In v.10, Paul makes this inseparable link even clearer: "For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." In other words, if one's mouth confesses that they are 'saved', despite the fact that their heart has never truly believed that Jesus was raised and declared Lord, such a confession is to be viewed as null and void. As the ESV Study Bible aptly comments, "Saving faith is not mere intellectual agreement but a deep inward trust in Christ at the core of one's being." How often I have had reprobates in the very mire of unrepentant sin rashly quote this verse to me to vindicate their "salvation" experience (for example, how they parroted a prayer at the end of a church service quoting this passage) as being legit! Oh, if they had only read the context and realized what Paul was really saying here!

The "Lord Jesus" is indeed "Lord of all" (10:12, note the repetition for emphasis). Whoever calls upon the name of the "Lord" will be saved (10:13). How I wish huckster preachers would explain - biblically - what the Lordship of Jesus really entails & requires in their 'gospel' presentations! As we saw in our original posts, Jesus Himself said that on Judgement Day, many will say "Lord, Lord" to Him and yet be banished to Hell forever. Why? Because they evidenced that though their lips may have said one thing, their heart said another, for they were those who habitually practiced a life of iniquity (Matt. 7:21-23).

Before we move on to Paul's next letters, it should be noted that not a few scholars view the context of this confession in Romans 10 as taking place in the ordinance of believer's baptism. Herein the believer, at great cost and injury to himself (remember the context of the great persecution Christianity faced in the 1st and 2nd centuries), publicly confessed that Jesus was his Lord, and not Caesar, something which could bring about capitol punishment. Moreover, in making this public declaration, the believer was basically declaring that the reign and Lordship of his heart were being transferred from self to Christ, or, in the language of Jesus, "denying self, taking up cross, and following Him, regardless of the cost."

In addition to this, we would be remiss to overlook the correlation between the book's thesis statement, namely that the gospel reveals God's saving power to save all those who trust in Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins, with the necessity of obedience that flows forth out of that saving faith. This is seen in what scholars call an inclusio. Simply put, an inclusio was a literary devise often used to subtly emphasize an underlying theme to be understood by the reader throughout the whole section. This was done simply by the use of repetition at the beginning and ending of a designated section. In Romans, the "designated section" is the entire book.

At the beginning of Romans, Paul informs his audience that he has been commissioned by the "Lord Jesus" Himself to preach the gospel to bring about "the obedience of faith" (ESV), or, as the NIV nicely translates it, "the obedience that comes from faith" (1:5). To "close" the inclusio at the end of the book, we see the exact same phrase repeated, as Paul reminds us that those who have true, saving faith will evidence obedience to the Lord Jesus as well. In Paul's doxology (16:25-27), he reminds the Romans that the gospel he preached was for the purpose of "bringing about the obedience of faith" (see also 15:18). Thus the evidence that confirmed to Paul that the believers in Rome were truly "saints" was their visible obedience (1:7-8; 16:29), precisely what Jesus taught us in the Gospels and Luke taught us in the book of Acts.

In our next post, we will look at the remaining Pauline literature to make sure that there is an internal consistency within his theology of what salvation is defined by and looks like.

In Christ, and for His supreme glory to the ends of the earth,
Pastor Ryan

Can One Be a Christian if Jesus is Not Their Lord? (Part 4 - Acts)

2012-01-24T11:58:00.001-08:00

Having defined what repentance is biblically in our last post, let us now consider the rest of the book of Acts to see if Peter's gospel presentation on Pentecost was repeated by the new-formed church as she - in the power of the Holy Spirit - began to take the gospel from Jerusalem and spread it to the ends of the earth (1:8).

Perhaps, we may ascertain, Peter's message in chapter 2 was a unique one, fitted specifically for his particular audience that day. However, when we read the very next chapter, we see that nothing could be further from the truth, as we see a frighteningly similar message preached to the one preached on Pentecost: "Repent, therefore, and turn, so that your sins may be blotted out." Herein, and in all the remaining verses in the Book of Acts to be cited, we are going to see a blatantly indivisible connection between repentance and salvation; or here, as Peter makes unashamedly clear: "no repentance/turning (a Hebrew parallelism), no sins forgiven." This then begs the question: when we see people who live in blatant & unrepentant sin, does the Bible offer any assurance of salvation to such people? Should churches & pastors be consoling such sinners, who love sin more than Christ, to "rededicate themselves"? Or, should they - with the apostle Peter - be calling on them to repent, thus saving themselves from this depraved generation (2:40)? As we look at the biblical witness as purveyed in the book of Acts, the answer will become obviously clear.

As noted in the previous post, true repentance is a gift that Christ has purchased for His people - a repentance that brings with it God's forgiveness of sins. Peter verifies this by saying, "God exalted Him [i.e. Jesus] at His right hand as Leader & Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins" (5:31). If true repentance and true forgiveness of sins are inseparable, why do so many Christians teach that one can be saved without a saving repentance? The Scriptures, repeatedly, make it so simple: those who belong to Jesus exhibit lives that are characterized by obedience. The Holy Spirit is simply not given to those who refuse to embrace the Lordship of Christ, evidenced primarily by obedience to His commands & demands (5:32).

We are not surprised when Peter again links these two soteriological concepts in Acts 8:22, when he says, "Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you."

Again, in 11:18, the church rejoices when the Gentiles respond to the gospel message. The evidence: God-given repentance that leads to life.

In 13:24 (cf. 19:4), the early church was not ignorant that the forerunner of the LORD, John the Baptist, was renown for preaching the centrality of repentance as prerequisite to entering the Kingdom of God.

Paul, when preaching to the pagans on Mars Hill, concludes his message as follows: "Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent" (17:30, HCSB).

In Acts 20:21, Paul reminds the elders at the Ephesian church that his message was characterized as follows: "I have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike - the necessity of repenting from sin, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus" (NLT).

What does "bearing fruit in keeping with repentance" (Matt. 3:8) look like in Paul's preaching? "I declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance" (26:20).

Even when preaching to Felix, though the word repentance is not explicitly given, Paul spoke both of "faith in Christ Jesus", as well as "righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment" (24:24-25). Those who are "in Christ" will begin to look like Him. Is this not what Paul says in Romans 8:29, namely that those who are Christ's elect have been predestined for the sole purpose of being made into His glorious image?

Christ's life was characterized by obedience to the Father's will. Thus, those who say they belong to Him and yet live lives characterized by disobedience to the Father's will are, as John simply puts it, liars who should be given no assurance of sins forgiven (1 John 1:6). Though we are saved by the obedience & merits of Christ, those who have been truly saved by faith in Christ will indeed - by faith - "work out their salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. 2:12-13), and "press on to possess the perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed them" (3:12, NLT).

In our next post, we will look at Paul's letters to ponder his thoughts regarding the characteristics of a genuine, bona fide Christian. Having already surveyed the data, I can guarantee that his message is in perfect harmony with the aforementioned Scriptures (i.e. the Gospels and Acts).

May Christ be seen as He truly is: our Sovereign Lord who is high & lifted up!
In Him, and for His glory to the ends of the earth,
Pastor Ryan

Can One Be a Christian if Jesus is Not Their Lord? (Part 3 - Acts)

2012-01-24T11:15:00.001-08:00

Last time, we looked exclusively at Jesus' teaching of what we have been calling "Lordship salvation", which basically says that a person has not truly been regenerated/converted/saved if they have not yielded their life to the Lordship of Jesus. Ultimately, this lack of submission to His sovereign reign & authority evidences the fact that such a person has never received a new heart or the new birth from above, since the OT promised that the lives of those who would become the "new creation in Christ" (2 Cor. 5:17) would be characterized by obedience (e.g. Jer. 31:33; Eze. 36:25-29; Micah 4:1-2, etc.). Those whose sins have been forgiven by the blood of Christ, will out of love for, and reverence to Him, long to obey what their Savior has commanded His new covenant community. On the contrary, those who have received what Bonhoeffer called "cheap grace"; such people have not received not the Lord Jesus, and thus mock the efficacy of His atoning death by living a life of willful sin & unrepentant disobedience. Such people "preach" a Jesus who can only save sinners from the penalty of sin, but not the power or presence of sin.

However, as we have already asserted in our previous posts, Jesus came not only to save sinners from the eternal consequences of their sin against the Holy One of Israel, but also to transform such sinners into His image by the promised Holy Spirit. To state it starkly, the Bible teaches that those whose lives evidence no sanctification have no right to claim that they have been justified; that is, the fruit exposes the root. Those whose lives are characterized by unrepentant sin betray the fact that they have never been born again, for their desires are not those that come from a God-given heart that has God-given desires for God-like things such as holiness, godliness, purity, obedience, self-control and the like (i.e. the fruits of the Spirit that Paul explains in his letters). No. Their desires are still earthly, which flow from an earthly, natural heart.

Let us then look at the apostolic witness to see if the rest of the NT was in agreement with what Jesus Himself taught regarding this issue. In our next two posts, we will deal exclusively with the book of Acts, which chronicles the spread of the gospel through Jesus' newly formed church.

Before Jesus was crucified, He repeatedly reminded His disciples that following His triumphant resurrection & ascension, He would subsequently pour out upon His fledgling followers - in fulfillment of OT Scriptures - the Holy Spirit of promise, who would enable this little flock to carry out & accomplish Jesus' great commission to the ends of the earth.

According to Acts 2, the promised Holy Spirit is poured out upon the disciples on Pentecost, and the church is officially born when Peter, filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit, boldly preaches the gospel of Jesus in Jerusalem. The result: 3000 people, primarily Jews, are converted, baptized, and added to the church (2:41). For our purposes, however, I would like to focus on the content of Peter's message. More specifically, I want to look at what Peter's gospel required of his listeners in order for them to be truly saved.

In a nutshell, Peter convincingly proves the Jesus was indeed the longed-for Messiah of the OT, who as God Himself would set up His reign in the kingdom of God over His elect people. The only problem was that neither the Jews nor Gentiles realized this, since all humans by nature are blind to this truth (cf. 1 Cor. 2:6-10). After definitively declaring Jesus is the Messiah, Peter goes for the throat, reminding his audience that the God-man was violently murdered, though He committed no sin. Yet, God, in His faithfulness, raised His Messiah on the third day, and thus vindicated Jesus to be the Son-of-God-in-power (Rom. 1:4).

Though all these truths must be faithfully explained in our gospel presentation, our gospel presentation is incomplete if we do not call forth for a response from our audience. This is precisely what Peter does. What is the response that God requires? "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (2:38).

So we see that repentance is absolutely necessary to one's sins being truly and fully forgiven. Unfortunately, the doctrine of repentance has fallen on hard times in the majority of 'evangelical churches' in our day. Not only is this fundamental prerequisite neglected and ignored, it is also defined improperly, resulting in many 'Christians' having a very unbiblical notion of what repentance truly is.

Put literally & simply, repentance is essentially the changing of one's mind. Instead of hating God & His rightful rule over us, we lovingly submit to His reign; instead of spurning His Messiah, we gladly receive Him as Lord; instead of loving & cherishing our sin & rebellion, we now see it as a noxious offense to God; instead of seeing the cross as foolishness, we now see it as the wisdom & power of God; the throne of our hearts is now occupied by Jesus and not us; His will is now desired above ours. In a nutshell, repentance is basically a radical change in the direction & course of our lives.

When we realize what repentance truly is from a biblical perspective, we see that this is inherently not natural to the natural man. Repentance, like true & saving faith, is a sovereign gift that God gives to His elect (cf. Acts 5:31; 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25; Eph. 2:8-9). As Paul writes elsewhere, there is indeed a worldly 'repentance', that is, a natural sorrow for sin, that does not save. What sinners need is a "grief given by God that produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret" (2 Cor. 7:10). True repentance, which Paul elaborates upon in the following verses, is one that is indignant towards sin and despises anything that brings shame or reproach upon the glorious name of Jesus and His cause. This kind of repentance is evidenced in concrete fruit, which indeed includes obedience (7:15).

This idea fits very well with God's promise to give His new covenant community (Eze. 37) a new heart (Eze. 36:26). When we understand that the Hebrew word for heart refers primarily to the volition & will of the mind, we see that that the gift of saving repentance/faith is the fulfillment of this promise.

Only the regenerated heart willingly bows to the Lordship of Christ, receiving Him as Lord of all. On the contrary, the unregenerate heart is willing only to receive Jesus as Savior, since the natural person looks out for his interests above and beyond any others, Christ's included. Such people receive Jesus only to have their sins forgiven, since they don't want to be uncomfortable in Hell. Such people are content to have the penalty of theirs sins removed, but not the presence of their sins, since they are still in love with them, due to their natural, sin-inclined hearts. Those who are granted a new heart, however, begin to see sin the way God does: they themselves realize that they are guilty of participating in the murder of God's dearly-loved Son; they abhor it & run from it, hating even the thought of it. And when such a heart does commit sin, it is broken & destroyed, the way David was in Psalm 51. These are impossibilities for the "natural man".

This is why we make repentance the prerequisite to salvation. Only the elect will repent. And so to prevent our churches from becoming predominately goat-centered, we preach repentance, knowing that the sheep will indeed hear - and respond to - the voice of the Good Shepherd (John 10:3, 16, 27).

Since this blog has unexpectedly gone on longer than I originally anticipated, I will end it here. Next time we will look at the rest of the book of Acts to see if this is indeed a consistent & central theme that was faithfully preached by the first church.

In the Lord Jesus, and for His glorious reign to the ends of the earth,
Pastor Ryan

Can One Be a Christian if Jesus is Not Their Lord? (Part 2 - the Gospels)

2012-01-19T13:40:00.001-08:00

Today we're going to look at a few passages that confirm that a person who habitually rejects obedience to the commands of Scripture has not received the new birth which comes from above.

We believe - with Jesus - that those who belong to Him have been given a new heart; that is, they have new affections, desires, and even a new will - one which seeks to please God through a life of intentional & deliberate obedience. Of course, we would never, ever say that these works are the basis of one's salvation (cf. Ephesians 2:8-9). Rather, such "good works" are the fruit of a new root (Eph. 2:10). As Jesus Himself tells us over & over again, the tree will be known by its fruits (cf. Matt. 7:17-18; 12:33). Hearts that love Jesus keep His commandments (John 14:15, 21, 23). Hearts that do not love Jesus, regardless of what their lips may profess, do not keep His words (John 14:24). It's as simple as that. Those who refuse to obey Jesus as Lord and Lawgiver betray that they have never been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and given a new heart that desires to obey Jesus as Lord. Such people disobey because their disposition (i.e. "heart" or "mind") is one of enmity towards God & His law (Rom. 8:7). Those who do belong to Jesus, that is, those who have the Holy Spirit, make it their aim to walk in obedience (8:4-5). Those whose minds are not set on Christ, are not children of God (8:9). Those who are children of God do not make it their practice to live according to the flesh (8:12); rather, they are led by the Spirit (8:14). Paul couldn't make it any clearer.

Some other passages, from the very lips of Jesus Himself, that destroy the notion that one can be a forgiven child of God despite the fact that their lives are characterized by perpetual disobedience are:

Matt. 7:21-23 = "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.'"

Matthew 7:24-27 "Everyone then who hears these words of Mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

Matthew 21:28-31 "What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' And he answered, 'I will not,' but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, 'I go, sir,' but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.

Luke 6:46 "Why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you?"

Luke 9:23 "And He said to all, "'If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.'"

Luke 14:34-35 (see the context of vv. 25-33) "Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

John 14:15 "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."

John 14:21 "Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me."

John 14:23-24 Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. And the word that you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me."

John 15:2, 4-5. "Every branch of Mine that does not bear fruit He takes away...the branch cannot bear fruit unless it abides in the vine. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

John 15:10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love."

John 15:16 "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you, so that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide."

John 17:6 "I have manifested Your name to the people whom You gave Me out of the world. Yours they were, and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word."

I'm not sure how much more clearly the Lord Jesus could have made this. If it were a few passages taken out of context, a formidable argument could be leveled against my proposition. But over and over, Jesus makes it very clear that those who do not desire to walk in obedience to Him or His commands do not, nay, have never truly loved Him. The mark of one who has been sovereignly made a true disciple of Jesus by saving faith is this: they do His commands (cf. Matt. 28:20).

In our next blog, we will look at the NT letters to see if the inspired apostles were in agreement with their Lord's teaching.

Finally, we will deal with the accusation that such teaching inevitably promotes "salvation by works and not grace through faith." Like all the other strawmen, Scripture will easily and definitively demolish such insipid strongholds.

In Christ, for the sake of His renown to the ends of the earth,
Pastor Ryan

Can One Be a Christian if Jesus is Not Their Lord? (Part 1 - the Gospels)

2012-01-17T09:54:00.001-08:00

Before we even begin this 'series', you might be asking, "Is this even important? Why should I even be reading this? Is Pastor Ryan just being nit-picky? Is he trying pick a fight?

The reason I write this is because I believe that the answer to this question is one of eternal significance. How often I have heard of and even seen such people, whose "Christian" life was characterized by ungodliness & wickedness, offered assurance of salvation & eternal life, because they simply parroted a prayer their eager parents imposed upon them, raised a hand after an emotional sermon, or walked an altar because everyone else was doing it at the time. If we truly love people, even more than we love our boasting of how many people are getting 'saved' in 'our' churches by 'our' programs, we will tell them the whole truth and preach to them a whole Jesus, rather than duping them with a slipshod "gospel" that damns them to eternal Hell. This blog flows out of a genuine love for lost & perishing sinners who have believed "these lies" (2 Thes. 2:11); who, because their lives are characterized by "lawlessness" will hear those dreaded words trumpet forth from the Lord Jesus on Judgement Day: "I never knew you!" (Matt. 7:21-23).

Not only do I believe that such people are unconverted, I also believe that such "professors" are the greatest detriment to the advance of the gospel of Jesus Christ. How often, when trying to preach the gospel to people, I have been given the excuse that their friends who are "Christians" live just as wickedly as they do, and that all Christians are thus "hypocrites." Let it be known then that this post is also written for the great cause of the Great Commission. How tragic it is when false Christians, who in their disobedience to the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Thes. 1:8; 1 Pet. 4:17) bring shame & reproach upon it, enabling the nations to blaspheme God's name all the more (cf. Rom. 2:24).

This past Sunday, I preached a message from Ephesians 1:15, showing what Paul considered to be the two essential components/evidences/fruits of a regenerated heart. Today I will deal with the first: the Lordship of Jesus.

In recent decades, many 'evangelical' proponents have arisen, who advocate the notion that one can be a true believer in Jesus despite the fact that their lives are habitually characterized by unrepentant sin and indifference to the commands of Scripture. Such "Christians", they say, had received Jesus as their Savior, and thus their sins were forgiven. Hopefully, they admit, at some later junction or crisis in life such forgiven sinners will also make Jesus the Lord of their life, though this is not required for final salvation.

Following the example of our noble Berean brothers, we need to ask, "Do the Scriptures warrant such a division between trusting in Jesus as Savior versus trusting in Jesus as Lord? Or, we might ask in Paul's words, "Is Christ divided?"

When we do search the Scriptures, in context, we see that the unanimous answer is that, as the Puritans were oft to say, "What God hath united, let no man put asunder". One who does not "accept" Jesus as Lord is still dead in their sins, regardless of their profession. As John MacArthur once asked such people, "What is your profession worth to God?" His response: "Absolutely nothing!"

First of all, we need to see that when Paul uses the word most Bible versions translate "saint" in his letter's introductions, we need to understand that when he addresses his letters to such saints, the Greek word really means "[God's] holy people" (cf. NLT, NAB, NJB), since the noun is derived from the verb which means "to sanctify, to consecrate, to set apart for [God's] holy/cultic use." When Paul uses this word in his greetings, then, he is primarily referring to the believer's objective status before God: that is, that God has set them apart, or chosen them, for holy/cultic use (as in the OT). However, as almost every commentator notes, Paul is also reminding his readers that those who are set apart by God, are set apart for God. That is, He has set them apart to be holy in their conduct as well. Or as Paul tells Timothy, God has not only called us with a holy call, He has called us to a holy call (2 Tim. 1:9). Thus, those who claim to belong to God, despite living a life that is perpetually characterized by ungodliness and a love for sin, are most likely "saints" in name only. Such people are unable to "work out their salvation with fear & trembling" because God has never worked salvation into them (Cf. Phil. 2:12-13). As John writes, "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God." (1 John 3:9, ESV)

Likewise, when Paul uses the word "believer", the Greek word primarily emphasizes that one has "believed in" Jesus Christ for salvation. However, this Greek word also carries the connotation of "being a faithful follower" of Jesus. Thus, those who have faith in Jesus are the same as those "who are faithful in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 1:1, ESV). To say that one believes in Jesus even though their heart is bent on unfaithfulness to Jesus is an unbiblical anomaly. As the inspired apostle James repeatedly reminds us in his epistle, such spurious "faith" does not, nay cannot, truly save. Such is the "faith" Jesus warned us about in His parable of the soils (see Matthew 13; Mark 4), where He foretold that some indeed would "believe" in Him, even with the appearance of great joy. However, because the gospel never "took root" in their heart (i.e. no genuine conversion), these same empty professors would fall away (literally apostatize) just as quickly when things became uncomfortable & costly to them. How tragic it is when we as Christians pronounce as "saved" those whom Jesus would pronounce condemned. How foolish it is to call a thistle an apple tree! It might make the thistle feel better about himself; but the point of Jesus' parable is fruit-bearing. Those who bear no fruit evidence their root (i.e. an unregenerate heart). Let us who love our neighbors take note of what happens to 'trees' that bear no God-glorifying fruit: "If anyone does not abide in Me [i.e. Jesus] he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned" (John 15:6, ESV).

How much do we have to hate our neighbors to not tell them the truth?

In our next blog, we will look at some Biblical passages that show that the apostolic gospel message required the preaching of Jesus as both Lord and Savior; that is, we will survey the content of what was preached, and compare it with much of what happens in many pulpits Sunday after Sunday.

In Christ, who is Lord of lords,
Pastor Ryan

New Year's Prayer

2012-01-11T09:43:00.000-08:00

From the Valley of Vision:

O LORD,

Length of days does not profit me
     except the days are passed in Thy presence,
     in Thy service, to Thy glory.
Give me a grace that precedes, follows, guides,
     sustains, sanctifies, aids every hour,
that I may not be one moment apart from Thee,
but may rely on Thy Spirit
     to supply every thought,
     speak in every word,
     direct every step,
     prosper in every work,
     build up every mote of faith,
     and give me a desire
        to show forth Thy praise;
        testify Thy love,
        advance Thy kingdom.
I launch my bark on the unknown waters of this year,
   with Thee, O Father, as my harbor,
   Thee, O Son, at my helm
           Thee, O Holy Spirit, filling my sails.
Guide me to heaven with my loins girt,
    my lamp burning,
    my ear open to Thy calls,
    my heart full of love,
    my soul free.
Give me Thy grace to sanctify me,
    Thy comforts to cheer,
    Thy wisdom to teach,
    Thy right hand to guide,
    Thy council to instruct,
    Thy law to judge,
    Thy presence to stabilize.
May Thy fear be my awe,
     Thy triumphs my joy.

The Danger of Not Dealing Ruthlessly with Our Sin

2012-01-10T09:31:00.000-08:00

"But these nations shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the LORD your God has given you" (Joshua 23:13).

When one reads the book of Joshua, immediately one questions the LORD's fairness in commanding Israel to obliterate the nations dwelling in the land He had promised to give them. As we read through the narrative, we often formulate pictures in our mind of a serene, innocent people living their daily lives, a people who would, given the chance, accept not only the Israelites, but also their God as well.

However, Joshua here bursts our bubble, reminding us that those who were living in the land before Israel's conquest of it, are not naturally good (see esp. Deut. 9:4-5). No. They are pagan idolaters who unashamedly display all sorts of abominable practices: practices like child sacrifice, wanton sexual immorality, drunkenness, and the like.

In his excellent book, "The God I don't Understand", OT scholar C.J.H. Wright gives us a couple of helpful frameworks in interpreting the LORD's command for Israel to "completely devote to destruction" (my translation of kherem) the inhabitants of Canaan:

Israel was God's vessel of justice to execute judgment upon the sins of the Canaanites.
The Conquest is to be read in light of God's promise to fully save His people.

Because the LORD loved His people so much, He commanded that all stumbling blocks be completely removed from their presence. Even a trace could bring about much harm. As Joshua reminded Israel, if the surrounding nations were allowed to remain in the land, the people would eventually & gradually be influenced to the point of apostasy. If Israel allowed the Canaanites to remain in the land, the LORD, in His righteous judgment, would "no longer drive the nations out before them" (Josh. 23:13), ultimately giving the people their new desires (cf. Rom. 1:24, 26, 28).

Why the ruthless conquest? Because the LORD knows how prone our hearts are to love what is evil and hate what is good. He loved His people so much that He commanded that all potential stumbling blocks be devoted to destruction. They were to deal ruthlessly with the things that could potentially bring about their downfall.

When we read the next book in the Bible, we see what happens to the nation who co-inhabits the land with pagans: they inevitably fall into perpetual idolatry, with God's subsequent promised judgment. God judges all idolatry, whether it is the wicked Canaanite's, or the wicked Israelite's. So we must interpret God's ruthless treatment of sin in light of God's ruthless love of people.

Earlier in the book of Joshua, we are shown why he so passionately pleads with the people to be careful of their conduct in the land. Despite God's command to completely devote the land to destruction, we see compromise. Though veiled as good-will, it is nothing less than apathetic compromise to God's command.

"The men of Judah were unable to conquer the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. The Jebusites live with the people of Judah in Jerusalem to this very day" (Josh. 15:63, NET).

"However, they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day" (16:10).

"Now when the people of Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out" (17:13).

"But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem, so the Jebusites haves lived with the people of Benjamin to this day" (Judges 1:21).

"Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants...for the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in the land. When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not drive them out completely" (1:27-28).

"And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived among them" (1:29).

"Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants...so the Canaanites lived among them" (1:30).

"Asher did not drive out the inhabitants...so the Asherites lived among the Canannites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out" (1:32).

"Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants...so they lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land" (1:33).

Rather than breaking down the pagan altars of those who dwelt in the land (2:2), Israel befriended the nations and adopted their pagan practices into their 'religion' (eerily reminiscent of what North American 'evangelicalism' has done & continues to do [i.e. sleep with world]). Anyone who has read the book of Judges knows too well that Israel lived for the most part a pitiful existence as God's chosen people: an existence characterized by bondage, defeat, depression, and disillusionment. Unfortunately, this is the same pathetic existence that many Christians exhibit, as they believe that they can some how enjoy God's blessing, despite the fact that their life is characterized by compromise & apathy.

Basically, the little leaven that remained eventually leavened the lump. My paraphrase: even a little bit of sin is dangerous. We must ruthlessly expunge ALL traces of it, lest we fall into the same snare as the Israelites.

So why do we as Christians think we can play with sin and not get burned? Paul's warning to the proud Corinthians is extremely pertinent to us:

"Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore, let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee idolatry" (1 Cor. 10:11-13).

As I preached this past Sunday on Proverbs 4:23, one of the best ways to guard our hearts with all vigilance is to be ruthless with sin. To quote John Owens, "be killing sin, or sin will be killing you."

Christian, are you toying around with the Canaanites in your heart? Are you like Israel, in that you think you can handle the pagan influences you are immersed in and keep them in check? With Paul, I would urge you to take heed lest you fall with the Israelites of old. How long will you go on justifying your worldliness by calling all those who call you out of Babylon legalists? When will you finally heed the reoccurring tolling of the bell that permeates & resonates throughout the Scriptures? I pray it will not take God's judgment to wake you up.

May we, by sovereign grace, follow Caleb's example. Not surprisingly, he is listed first in "taking" his inheritance by force (i.e. true faith). He believed the promise, and so was ruthless in pursuing it. In the new covenant, God has promised that if by the Spirit we [i.e. believers] put to death (KJV = "mortify") the deeds of the flesh, we will [truly] live" (Rom. 8:13).

Oh that the Spirit would open our eyes to see the great love of God in commanding us to deal ruthlessly with our sin! He does not delight in our downfall. He loves us and wants us to live the abundant life Christ died to give us.

Will we take the promise of God & ruthlessly apply it by faith? May God give us the grace to, for the purity of His church, and thus the glory of His name.

In Christ, in Whom all things are possible,
Pastor Ryan

Six ways to keep our hearts (John Flavel)

2012-01-10T07:56:00.000-08:00

The Puritan writer John Flavel in his book "Keeping the Heart (online book)" writes:

To keep the heart, necessarily supposes a previous work of regeneration, which has set the heart right, by giving it a new spiritual inclination, for as long as the heart it not set right by grace as to in habitual frame, no means can keep it right with God. Self is the spring of the unrenewed heart, which biases and moves it in all its designs and actions; and as long as it is so, it is impossible that any external means should keep it with God.

Man, originally, was of one constant, uniform frame of spirit, and held one straight and even course. Not one thought or faculty was disordered: his mind had a perfect knowledge of the requirements of God, his will a perfect compliance therewith; all his appetites and powers stood in a most obedient subordination.

Man, by the apostasy, has become a most disordered and rebellious creature, opposing his Maker, as the First Cause—by self-dependence; as the Chief Good—by self-love; as the Highest Lord—by self-will; and as the Last End—by self-seeking. Thus he is quite disordered, and all his actions are irregular.

But by regeneration the disordered soul is set right; this great change being, as the Scripture expresses it, the renovation of the soul after the image of God—in which self-dependence is removed by faith; self-love is removed by the love of God; self-will is removed by subjection and obedience to the will of God; and self-seeking is removed by self-denial. The darkened understanding is illuminated, the refractory will sweetly subdued, the rebellious appetite gradually conquered. Thus the soul which sin had universally depraved, is by grace restored.

This being pre-supposed, it will not be difficult to apprehend what it is to keep the heart, which is nothing but the constant care and diligence of such a renewed man to preserve his soul in that holy frame to which grace has raised it. For though grace has, in a great measure, rectified the soul, and given it a habitual heavenly temper; yet sin often actually discomposes it again; so that even a gracious heart is like a musical instrument, which though it is exactly tuned, a small matter brings it out of tune again. Yes, put it aside but a little while—and it will need setting again before another lesson can be played upon it. If gracious hearts are in a desirable frame in one duty, yet how dull, dead, and disordered when they come to another duty! Therefore every duty needs a particular preparation of the heart. "If you prepare your heart and stretch out your hands toward him," etc. To keep the heart then, is carefully to preserve it from sin, which disorders it; and maintain that spiritual frame which fits it for a life of communion with God. This includes in it six particulars:

1. Frequent observation of the frame of the heart. Carnal and formal persons take no heed to this; they cannot be brought to confer with their own hearts: there are some people who have lived forty or fifty years in the world, and have had scarcely one hour's discourse with their own hearts. It is a hard thing to bring a man and himself together on such business; but saints know those soliloquies to be very beneficial. The heathen could say, "the soul is made wise by sitting still in quietness." Though bankrupts care not to look into their accounts, yet upright hearts will know whether they go backward or forward. "I commune with my own heart," says David. The heart can never be kept—until its case be examined and understood.

2. It includes deep humiliation for heart evils and disorders. Thus Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart. Thus the people were ordered to spread forth their hands to God in prayer, realizing the plague of their own hearts. Upon this account many an upright heart has been laid low before God—'O what an heart have I!' Saints have in their confession pointed at the heart—the pained place, 'Lord, here is the wound!' It is with the heart well kept, as it is with the eye; if a small dust gets into the eye it will never cease blinking and watering until it has wept it out. Just so, the upright heart cannot be at rest until it has wept out its troubles and poured out its complaints before the Lord.

3. It includes earnest supplication and instant prayer for purifying and rectifying grace, when sin has defiled and disordered the heart. "Cleanse me from secret faults" "Unite my heart to fear your name." Saints have always many such petitions before the throne of God's grace; this is the thing which is most pleaded by them with God. When they are praying for outward mercies, perhaps their spirits may be more remiss; but when it comes to the heart's case, they extend their spirits to the utmost, fill their mouths with arguments, weep and make supplication: 'O for a better heart! O for a heart to love God more; to hate sin more; to walk more evenly with God. Lord! Do not deny me such a heart; whatever you deny me! Give me a heart to fear you, to love and delight in you!' It is observed of an eminent saint, that when he was confessing sin, he would never give over confessing until he had felt some brokenness of heart for that sin; and when praying for any spiritual mercy, would never give over that suit until he had obtained some relish of that mercy.

4. It includes the imposing of strong engagement upon ourselves to walk more carefully with God, and avoid the occasions whereby the heart may be induced to sin. Well advised and deliberate vows are, in some cases, very useful to guard the heart against some special sin. "I have made a covenant with my eyes," says Job. By this means holy men have overawed their souls, and preserved themselves from defilement.

5. It includes a constant and holy jealousy over our onto hearts. Quick-sighted self-jealousy is an excellent preservative from sin. He who will keep his heart, must have the eyes of the soul awake and open upon all the disorderly and tumultuous stirrings of his affections. If the affections break loose, and the passions are stirred, the soul must discover it, and suppress them before they get to a height. 'O my soul, do you do well in this? My tumultuous thoughts and passions, where is your commission?' Happy is the man that thus fears always. By this fear of the Lord, it is that men depart from evil, shake off sloth, and preserve themselves from iniquity. He who will keep his heart must eat and drink with fear, rejoice with fear, and pass the whole time of his sojourning here in holy fear. All this is little enough to keep the heart from sin.

6. It includes the realizing of God's presence with us, and setting the Lord always before us. This the people have found a powerful means of keeping their hearts upright, and awing them from sin. When the eye of our faith is fixed upon the eye of God's omniscience, we dare not let out our thoughts and affections to vanity. Holy Job dare not allow his heart to yield to an impure, vain thought, and what was it that moved him to so great circumspection? He tells us, "Does not He see my ways, and count all my steps?"

For those who are interested in reading Flavel's entire book, "Keeping the Heart", it can be read online for free at:

http://www.hailandfire.com/Flavel_KeepingtheHeart1813.html

A Couple on Unexpected "Sanctifiers"

2011-12-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks have been somewhat trying as the Lord has seen fit to allow our eldest daughter, Elisha, to continue on with the chronic cough that has been plaguing her (us) for the last 2 1/2 years. I honestly can't remember the last night we've been able to sleep without being up multiple times attending to her attacks.

Alongside her attacks, I have felt many other attacks of late, but from a more insidious source. Last week, during a time of prayer, a great & evil heaviness almost overwhelmed me, and would have, had not the the Lord enabled me to fight back with Psalm 3. Again, during prayer time yesterday, thoughts of atheism begin to creep in, as the tempter began administer his miserable & flaming darts. And yet again, in God's grace, the accuser of the brethren did not prevail.

Here are some strategic warfare lessons that I feel the LORD taught me in this most recent ordeal:

1. I desperately need others to be holding me up in prayer. As is often the case when I am being bombarded by the evil one, a brother "out of the blue" emailed me to encourage me that he was praying for me, especially as he sensed the evil one attacking me. A faithful wife who prays often for me is a great asset as well: how encouraging were Christina's texts yesterday, reminding me that I was in her prayers. God is so gracious to me! Don't be afraid to ask others to pray for you. Nothing could be more proud, and thus a great portal of entry for the evil one, than thinking you can do this on your own! Also, if the Lord lays someone on your heart to pray for, for cryin' out loud email them or text them or call them to let them know. What a blessing it is to know that God loves us enough to put us on the hearts of other people!

2. Obedience to the LORD's commands & great commission is a great way to get one's mind off of the doubts. They are a great "re-focuser". Often we struggle the most when we think about ourselves the most.

a. Last night a couple brothers (all newcomers to the church, praise God) graciously helped in the distribution (another 400) of an evangelistic book called "WHY on earth am I here?" We spent time in prayer together, doing warfare & praying for God to open up the eyes of Lethbridge to see Christ. I have always noted that often when I go out intentionally to "testify" of God's love for sinners in Christ, I am usually the most blessed recipient. Being able to pray for every house was perhaps a greater blessing to me than to those who were to receive the "coffee-table" book. This morning, already I am asking the Lord to have mercy on Lethbridge. Thus, the by-product of serving the Lord in evangelism is greater & more fervent prayer for the lost. This in & of itself draws me closer to my Strong Tower, wherein I find safety (Proverbs 18:10). John Piper's dad was correct when he said that evangelism is the greatest agent of sanctification in the Christian's life! It makes the Scriptures come alive (how often I forget the words of Jesus, wherein He repeatedly reminds us that the world hates Him, and thus those belong to Him as well [e.g. John 15]), and prayers once insipid & soul-less become fervent & desperate intercessions for the lost.

b. This week, the Lord spoke to me during a lunch time conversation with Elisha, who of late has shown a love for talking about Jesus and spiritual things. She mentioned that there are lots of people in the world who don't have enough food, and that we should pray for them. A battle then ensued, as the Holy Spirit began convicting me, through the Scriptures, to not simply pray for those who were starving, but to put my money where my mouth was. The Lord was relentless, and I sensed that as I "put it off until later", the enemy's attacks intensified accordingly. Finally, being busy, I put a reminder on my cell, which kept beeping & beeping until obedience was rendered. By God's grace, a huge burden feels as though it has been removed. What a privilege to "lend to the LORD" (Proverbs 19:17). God has created & re-created us who are Christians to be His agents of mercy & justice & compassion to the world. To not obey Him always opens us up to His Fatherly discipline, which (for me) often involves letting the tempter loose.

3. I love to read, think & ponder, often to an extreme. When Satan attacks me, it is very rarely through things like lust or greed or bitterness. Rather he uses things like "empty philosophy" (Col. 2:8) & "plausible arguments" (2:4) to make me to rationalize the existence of God, and of His glorious plan of salvation in Christ. Again, crying out with David in the Psalms (yesterday Psalms 4 & 5 were sweet) helped. But I was especially encouraged late last night, as I read through John Paton's [auto]biography, wherein he wrote the following:

"When I have read or heard the shallow objections of irreligious scribblers and talkers, hinting that there was no reality in conversions, and that Mission effort was but waste, oh, how my heart has yearned to plant them just one week on Tanna, with the "natural" man all around in the person of Cannibal and Heathen, and only the one "spiritual" man in the person of the converted Abraham, nursing them, feeding them, saving them "for the love of Jesus" - that I might just learn how many hours it took to convince them that Christ in man was a reality after all! All the skepticism of Europe would hide its head in foolish shame; and all its doubts would dissolve under one glance of the new light in Jesus, and Jesus alone, pours from the converted Cannibal's eye."

My paraphrase: the power of a changed life is more evidence to me of the grace of God than all the philosophical arguments contained in all of my philosophical books on my book shelf. How often I forget who I was before God saved me! As good 'ol John Newton wrote, "I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am." This is the evidence of the Holy Spirit: a changed life that yearns for holiness (i.e. "repentance unto life"). I see it in myself, and in brothers & sisters God has placed in my life - people, who like me, were once the vilest of sinners. The only explanation is the grace of God in Christ. For me, this is a more powerful "defense" of God than watching the greatest philosophical & intelligent debate on YouTube between the atheist & Christian.

Simple things are often the most effective. This humbles me, and thus gives all the glory to our faithful God, who not only has begun His good work, but has promised to complete it until the day Jesus returns (Philippians 1:6).

Praising my Savior all the day long,
Pastor Ryan

Salt & Light in This World

2011-12-20T10:23:00.000-08:00

Of late, the Lord has been rekindling my love for the study of Church History. Not surprisingly, then, I was up late last night reading an old seminary textbook from my Church History I class. In God's good providence, I happened upon an old letter written in the 2nd century, entitled "From an anonymous Letter to Diognetus". As I read through it, I was thoroughly encouraged, and yet simultaneously convicted, not to mention somewhat rebuked, when confronted with how the first Christians conducted themselves in the world they lived in. Below is the the letter in its entirety:

"For Christians are not differentiated from other people by county, language, or customs; you see, they do not live in cities of their own, or speak some strange dialect, or have some peculiar lifestyle.

"This teaching of theirs has not been contrived by the invention and speculation of inquisitive men; nor are they propagating mere human teaching as some people do. They live in both Greek and foreign cities, wherever chance has put them. They follow local customs in clothing, food and the other aspects of life. But at the same time, they demonstrate to us the wonderful certainly unusual form of their own citizenship.

"They live in their own native lands, but as aliens; as citizens, they share all things with others; but like aliens, suffer all things. Every foreign country is to them as their native country, and every native land as a foreign country.

"They marry and have children just like every one else; but they do no kill unwanted babies. They offer a shared table, but not a shared bed. They are at present 'in the flesh' but they do not live 'according to the flesh.' They are passing their days on earth, but are citizens of heaven. They obey the appointed laws, and go beyond the laws in their own lives.

"They love everyone, but are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death and gain life. They are poor and yet make many rich. They are short of everything and yet have plenty of all things. They are dishonored and yet gain glory through dishonor.

"Their names are blackened and yet they are cleared. They are mocked and bless others in return. They are treated outrageously and behave respectfully to others. When they do good, they are punished as evildoers; when punished, they rejoice as if being given new life. They are attacked by Jews as aliens, and are persecuted by Greeks; yet those who hate them cannot give any reason for their hostility.

"To put it simply - the soul is to the body as Christians are to the world. The soul is spread through all parts of the body and Christians through all the cities of the world. The soul is in the body but is not of the body; Christians are in the world but not of the world."

As I read this, I couldn't help but sense that there is a blatant disconnect between the church's nascent years, and what we see today (at least in North America). At the same time, I couldn't help but feel a growing (and hopefully a long-term, irrepressible) desire to imitate & emulate our faithful forefathers, who obviously were more in synch & harmony with our dear Lord's likening of His messianic community to being a city on a hill, or a preserving salt in this corrupted world (see Matthew 5:13-16, in light of 5:2-12).

May the Holy Spirit, who enabled these 1st & 2nd century Christians to be noticeably different in the world they were living in, likewise work in us that which is pleasing in His sight. May we too have such a beautiful testimony, so that we too might "in the same way let our light shine, so that others may see our good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16, note immediately previous context of persecution).

God knows this is the desire of my heart. I long to see Him glorified in this world, and subsequently, many people brought into the Kingdom of God as we both preach & live the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

In Him & for His renown,
Pastor Ryan

The Holy Spirit's Role in Conversion (Part 2)

2011-12-19T13:24:00.000-08:00

As promised in my last post, we will be investigating the Biblical data regarding how true conversion comes about.

The first thing we need to understand is the state of the unbelieving heart. If we start with a faulty premise, our methodologies will consequently be faulty at best, and heretical at worst. However, if we properly understand what the Bible teaches about the state of the unregenerate person's heart, we will hopefully evangelize them accordingly.

According to the Bible, the natural state of man's heart is not good. Despite the hopeful & good intentions of some well-meaning Christians, the Bible asserts that the natural heart is not even neutral. On the contrary, the Bible depicts the natural person's heart as a rank, sin-loving, God-hating idol factory. This is because all people, apart from a saving union "in Christ" are what theologians call "radically depraved."

When our first father, Adam, fell in the garden, the Bible teaches that a cataclysmic event happened, wherein not only he became a sinner, but that in some mysterious way his sin was passed down, or "imputed" to, all his descendants (and thus all mankind).

The apostle makes this clear in Romans 5:12 where we read: "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned." A couple verses later he reiterates this idea, telling us that Adam's "one trespass led to condemnation for all men" (5:18).

And so, despite what most people think, people sin because at the very root of things, they are by nature sinners. When I was a young punk, there was a movie that many people my age watched, called "Natural Born Killers." Well, the Bible says that all people, without exception, are "natural born sinners." It is not the other way around - i.e. that people are born neutral and become sinners when they sin. Anyone with children will not have to wait long to see Adam's nature in their little bundles of joy. The reason we don't have to teach our children how to be selfish or how to lie is because the Bible says that sin is bound up in their very nature.

Because all are by nature "in Adam", or as Paul says in Romans 3:9 "under sin", we have no trouble seeing how he can go on to write in the same chapter & thought:

"None is righteous, no, not one;
No one understands;
No one seeks after God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
No one does good,
Not even one" (3:10-12).

As unpalatable as this is to the heightened view we often have of our innate goodness, the Bible says that those who are in Adam are not by nature righteous, nor do they have the slightest inclination to seek after being reconciled to a right relationship with their Creator. Such thinking couldn't be further from the truth!

In Romans 6, Paul goes on to say that not only do those who are "in Adam" love to sin, they actually are slaves to it (vv.6, 16-18). They are what Paul implies, alive to sin but dead to God and His righteousness (vv.11, 20). For those not "in Christ", sin indeed has dominion over them: that is, sin is their cruel taskmaster. The reason why all "die" (5:17), regardless of whether they are under the law or not, is because "the wages of sin is death" (6:23). This is - by nature - the seemingly incurable state that the natural, unregenerate person is in.

If it couldn't get any worse, Paul ratchets his argument up even more. Not only are unregenerate unbelievers lovers of sin, they are simultaneously haters of God. In Romans 8, Paul continues his barrage against those who would minimize conversion to the raising of a hand or nodding a head. The only raising that will save, as we will see next week, is the sovereign, Holy Spirit-initiated work of regeneration, where a new heart with new affections is granted to the elect sinner upon reception of the gospel (Romans 10:17). But I'm getting ahead of myself. In Romans 8, Paul tells us:

"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh...For to set the mind on the flesh is death...For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (vv.5-8).

It is important to note that when Paul says "in the flesh", he is not talking about having a human body of flesh. This terminology is opposite & in contradistinction to being "in the Spirit", which Paul repeatedly contrasts in order to show our supreme need of God the Holy Spirit to make us right with God by applying the redemptive work of God the Son to those who are "in Him" (cf. 8:1-4). To be in the flesh is to be "under sin." Those in the flesh are to be equated with the natural man, that is, those who are not "in Christ", or in our vernacular, unbelievers/non-Christians.

What Paul says of the unregenerate person is terrifyingly spectacular. Man by nature is not only a slave to sin; he loves the very sin he is enslaved to. Even more frightening, He hates & abhors God. In Paul's words, he is "hostile" towards God. This explains Paul's assertion in chapter 3 why no unregenerate person naturally seeks after God. Why the hostility you might ask? Because elsewhere the Bible says that God is light, and mankind by nature is darkness. Because man naturally loves his darkness, he hates God's pure, holy, and sin-exposing light (John 3:19-20). As John elucidates in his gospel narrative, man loves his sin so much that, if possible, he would kill God if He got in the way.

This is precisely what happened when God came down to earth as the God-man, Jesus Christ. Because He testified that even the most religious man's "good works" were evil (John 7:7), both Jew & Gentile alike plotted His horrific murder on the cross.

THIS is the portrait the Scriptures paint for us of those whom we are seeking to evangelize. A moralistic, gospel-less sermon sprinkled with funny jokes & anecdotes betrays this very theology, making salvation nothing more than a mere decision after an altar call is given. I have sat through many-a-sermon, where the gospel was not preached, or even alluded to, which was followed by a call to let Jesus into one's heart, which unfortunately was responded to by many, whom we then rejoiced in by the church following their tally of 'converts'.

The problem with this approach is that the natural heart of man hates God. For a man or woman "in sin" to give up their slavery will take nothing more than a sovereign miracle (i.e. regeneration) granted by God the Holy Spirit. Those who are dead in sin, under the sway of the world's alluring power, and slaves to Satan (Eph. 2:1-3) are thus unable to savingly respond to the call of the preacher. They may raise their hand, but it doesn't change the fact that they have not repented of the sin they still love, or believed in the Biblical Jesus who demands He be Lord of all.

The solution: a new heart, with new desires and affections is needed. A heart that actually loves Jesus for who He is & what He truly offers; a heart that loves righteousness and hates sin & wickedness; a heart that longs to be holy; a heart that seeks to glorify God instead of self. Ultimately men & women need a heart that will embrace the true gospel of Jesus Christ gladly, even at great cost to self. Only people who have been given a new heart with new affections for the beauty of Jesus will truly & gladly deny self, take up their cross and follow Him (Mark 8:34). Why? Because they have been given new eyes to see that Jesus is the true & supreme treasure worth giving up everything in this world for (Matthew 13:44). What is needed is not a flashy worship team, a cool pastor, or a state-of-the-art building. The only thing that is needed is this: a heart that no longer regards Jesus according to the flesh (2 Cor. 5:16), that is, a heart that no longer sees the cross as foolishness, but rather as the wisdom & power of God (1 Cor. 1:24).

The massive question then that needs to be answered is this: HOW does one receive a new heart, in order that they might truly & savingly respond to the gospel invitation that we are commanded to offer to all people?

As Paul says in 1 Cor. 1:30, "by His doing you [i.e. the "called" believers in Corinth] are in Christ Jesus" (NASB). This is what I will try to unpack in the next post. How are we by God's doing "in Christ"? I will argue, not only from the context of 1 Cor. 1-2, but also from many other of Paul's letters, as well as other Scriptural witness from the OT & NT, that it is by the sovereign initiative of God the Holy Spirit in regenerating sinners as the gospel is heralded, graciously giving them spiritual eyes, ears & hearts to savingly receive the true Jesus as their Lord & Savior.

May God use these Scriptural truths to influence how we go about into this world to fulfill His Great Commission to make disciples of all the nations. May He be pleased to use us to save many, many sinners to Himself. May we be those who pray without ceasing that God the Holy Spirit would accomplish His new covenant ministry until the gospel reaches the ends of the earth! May we be given hearts aflame for the evangelization of the world, ultimately to the glory of our great God & Savior Jesus Christ, who died for the world we are seeking to reach (John 3:16).

For the glory of Jesus, our great Redeemer, to the ends of the earth,
Pastor Ryan

The Holy Spirit's Role in Conversion

2011-12-12T11:54:00.000-08:00

As I reflected upon yesterday's sermon on Ephesians 1:8-10, I was again reminded how utterly vital prayer is if we are to see true revival & true conversion in our land.

Unfortunately, because they have turned from serious study of the Word of God and the doctrines contained therein, many "churches" have made God's unique & sovereign work of salvation of unregenerate sinners "do-able" - if the right ambiance, mood, methodologies, & message are presented to the listener.

In essence, to borrow an illustration from Alistair Begg, the 'evangelical' church has replicated the salesman approach to how we do ministry, and thus consequently how people are "converted." Basically, there are 3 aspects that every salesman needs to be aware of: first, there is a product that needs to be sold. For many churches, the product that needs to be sold, or accepted, is the gospel of Jesus Christ; second, there are customers to whom the product must be sold; thirdly and finally, salespeople are required to make the deal, as the sole purpose of a company's existence is to sell their product.

Consequently, and unsurprisingly, we have in the last couple of generations seen the drastic reduction of true Biblical preaching from the pulpit. It's quite simple, actually, to understand why: unconverted people prefer non-convicting entertainment over & above convicting, faithful, monologue preaching. And since most pastors have believed the lie that his mission is to sell his product, he has removed any & every obstacle that impedes this. Unconverted people rarely make second appearances to a church that preaches the 'full counsel of God' on a regular basis, and so to ensure that they come back, they jettison any stumbling block that inhibits a return visit. For, they say, if such visitors don't come back, they won't be able to hear the gospel the next time they come, and thus be saved.

Unfortunately, and I agree 100% with Paul Washer on this, what such "churches" and "pastors" don't understand is this: that what we "win them with, we win them to." Put another way, if we win them with a non-gospel, we need to keep them "in" with a non-gospel. This is a deadly trap that I have seen many churches fall into, and to be honest, I have (often) been tempted to succumb to. But this kind of thinking is fatally flawed for this reason: if we are scared they will leave upon hearing about sin or Hell, then we can never ultimately preach such distasteful truths, whether on their first visit, or their tenth visit, since they will leave on their tenth visit just as assuredly as they will on their first. The result, preaching focuses more on things that are "receivable", on things that make them feel good, despite their desperate & damnable state before a holy God, who will only save them if they repent of their sins & trust in Christ alone for their sins (Acts 20:21), even if it is at great cost to themselves (Luke 14:25-35).

And thus, since the leadership of many churches has believed the lie that they are more like salesmen than a heralds, they consequently hold innumerable meetings to discuss & strategize how to entertain the goats, rather than devoting herself to prayer & the study the Word of God to feed the sheep (Acts 6:4). Worship songs are chosen not according to lyrical fidelity to the gospel & the Word of God, but instead according to how catchy & memorable they are to visitors. We add cafe bars loaded with espressos and lattes, spend wanton amounts of money on sound systems, and make our visitors feel that they are visiting a movie theater instead of a church, where Christ is supposed to be faithfully proclaimed. Have not we committed the same error as the religious people in Mark 11, where the House of God was transformed into a marketplace where products were sold? It is one thing when goats & sheep & bulls & pigeons are sold to Gentiles at exorbitant prices; but it is an entirely different thing when the precious & glorious gospel of Jesus Christ is treated with such indifferent contempt, as though it were a product to be "modified" and made palatable for the consumption of unbelievers!

I, with many pastors & churches, feel the pressure to equate success with the amount of people attending (or being entertained); I too am tempted to equate success with the size of the building that lodges those who come to our show. But is such thinking not unlike that of Jesus' deluded disciples in Mark 13, who boastfully exalted in the sheer magnitude & magnificence of their beloved temple, all the time not realizing that the true Temple was in their very midst (Mark 13:1-2).

All of these misconceptions & misunderstandings are rooted in a biblical doctrine that has in these last 100 years been forgotten & forsaken, largely in part to the distaste & disdain the church has developed for what has become a naughty, thing-not-to-be-spoken-in-church-or-'fellowship' concept: the theology of monergistic regeneration.

When Luther said, "Doctrine is life", he was absolutely & undeniably correct. Though those who espouse the necessity of having a right theology & expounding difficult-to-swallow doctrines are often labelled "unspiritual", or "legalists", or (my favorite) "Pharisees", they are actually in perfect congruity & accord with what the Bible actually says. (I always find it humorous how those who have a distaste for in-depth study of the Bible are absolutely consistent with their ignorant misinterpretation of the Bible they eschew, & subsequently label those who love, and thus study, the Word [e.g. Psalm 119] in such negative connotations. Apparently, at least in their (unfounded) opinion, those who study to show themselves approved of the Word of Truth are the unbiblical ones, where those who neglect the Life-giving Word, and yet offer their opinions on important issues are the spiritual ones [read the contrast in 2 Timothy 2:14-26]).

Rambling....

Anyways, I originally intended to expound upon the crucial, yet now-forsaken doctrines of (1) the radical depravity of man, and (2) the sovereign regenerating work of God the Holy Spirit. In the next post, I will - by God's grace - attempt to show that when these glorious doctrines are neglected & forsaken, the inevitable consequence is what we are seeing in most 'churches' in North America.

To sum up this initial post: if man is in and of himself able to make a decision for Christ, then such men can be coerced & manipulated by strategies employed by salesman to make his decision to be 'saved.' However, if all people are, as the Bible says, "dead in his trespasses & sins" (Ephesians 2:1-3), and naturally "unable" (1 Corinthians 2:14) to come to Jesus Christ unless He is sovereignly drawn (John 6:44), then our approach to doing evangelism is to be entirely different (i.e. derived from the council of Scripture & not the council of men).

However, before the church returns to God's methodologies to see the lost truly converted to Christ, she must first realize the helpless estate of unregenerate people. If by God's sovereign grace we are given eyes to understand this, we will see our prayer meetings filled with people who are pleading for the Holy Spirit to descend in power & accomplish what only He as God can do: apply the saving benefits of the gospel purchased by God the Son to those who are by nature "enemies of God" (Romans 8:7). Unfortunately, most churches have disposed of their weekly prayer meetings. Not surprisingly, this is because they have an exalted view of the natural man, and a diminished view of the sovereignty of God. Just as sad is that many prayer meetings have degenerated to the point where very little prayer actually takes place; moreover, any prayers that are lifted up are rarely for God to send revival to our godless nation that is under His wrath for rejecting His Son in all His fullness. Revival will only come as God's people plead for the Spirit to come in His fulness to accomplish HIS new covenant ministry: namely to point unbelievers savingly to Christ.

As we will see in my next post, true conversion will come when the Holy Spirit, in His sovereign prerogative, gives spiritual eyes to the spiritually blind, gives spiritual ears to the spiritually deaf, and gives a new heart to those who have hearts of stone.

If "salvation is of the LORD" alone (Jonah 2:2), then may we seek to accomplish the Great Commission of Christ as faithful heralds, not slick salesmen. We don't sell the product, we preach it, as Paul said when he was defending his apostolic ministry against the successful hucksters in Corinth:

"But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers (TNIV: "hucksters") of God's Word (i.e. the message of the gospel), but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ" (2:14-17).

May God the Holy Spirit open & enlighten the eyes of our hearts to understand what Paul teaches in the next two chapters (i.e. 2 Cor. 3-4), that those who are blinded by the god of this world (Satan) can only see & gaze upon the glorious gospel of God in Christ when God the Holy Spirit grants us new life to do so (see the comparison of 4:4-6 to Genesis 1, where God sovereignly speaks life into existence).

Oh Jesus, may Your church understand her need of Your Spirit to do anything worthwhile in this world for Your glory. May You fill us with the spirit of prayer, and may we weep for those who are perishing, realizing that unless You in Your great power & might visit them & grant them eternal life, they will forever reject You, despite their enjoyment of entertainment & false-assurance that so many churches offer them.

For Jesus & His glory, to the ends of the earth, Lethbridge included,
Pastor Ryan

RUN! RUN for your lives

2011-12-07T13:31:00.000-08:00

If you watch this, please pray for me. I am a preacher, and I long more than anything to see Jesus Christ glorified as His gospel is preached & lived out consistently by His bride, the church. I long to see people converted, and so pray that I would never, ever, EVER compromise preaching the whole council of God. I dare you to watch this powerful clip & not be challenged & awaken to want to live wholeheartedly for the glory of God in Christ. Pray for me! I beg you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnNOoisCy7k&list=LLS1mwfr4vpX704_K3eJLSRw&index=1&feature=plpp_video

No sin, no problem, no repentance, no salvation

2011-12-05T11:43:00.000-08:00

As I sat in my office this morning, reflecting upon what transpired this weekend, a few things ruminating in my fried brain resurfaced as I already start to plan for this Sunday, as well as our Christmas Eve service.

This Friday, Christina (my wife) & I took our neighbors out for dinner (the bait), and then went to Lethbridge's annual Christmas drama/musical at the largest church in the city. To say the least, the production was excellent. Their choir alone has more members than the church I pastor! Great musicians, great soloists, great lighting, great directing. I watched as our guests were delightfully tapping their feet to the beat of the songs, obviously enjoying themselves.

Now I confess, as a believer, I absolutely loved the play. There was a ton of Scripture referenced, along with much, much praise & glory given to God for His wise plan in sending His Son to the earth to 'make things right.' I was constantly dropping amens (even vocally) as Christ was adored for His rescue mission of humanity.

However, by the end of the play, I couldn't help but feel uneasy that one major aspect of the gospel was completely neglected. Now I am in no way insinuating that this was intentional, as if the director said, "let's leave the sin part out this time." However, I believe that the majority of modern, contemporary preaching has so omitted the truths of sin & repentance that such sin-less, law-less, & repentance-less "preaching" has become the norm. I can only hope that there were more dissatisfied Christians who likewise noted (and were troubled by) this gaping hole in this 'gospel' presentation. Unfortunately, I am quite positive many Christians left satisfied that their unbelieving acquaintances left having heard "the old, old story." Perhaps this is because they themselves have become accustomed to a form of preaching that seeks more to tickle ears than convict hearts.

Now I know that the Bible says that I must preach the gospel to our unbelieving friends & neighbors; I can't simply hand my duty off to others, nor relegate the great commission of Jesus to professionals, something which most North American Christians are content to do.

However, I must confess my disappointment in knowing that somewhere around 5000 people will have attended this Christmas program without having heard the true gospel message.

A few Scriptures that come to mind are:

"And when He [the Holy Spirit] comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment" (John 16:8). As offensive as these three words are, they are essential to a faithful, accurate presentation of the gospel. For the Spirit to work effectually, He needs the full gospel to accomplish His ministry fully.

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23). I know no one loves to hear the "H" word, but faithful preachers throughout redemptive history have always warned their hearers of "the wrath to come" (Matthew 3:7; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 2:16). Though it doesn't tickle ears, the reality of Hell doesn't change if we don't preach it.

Those who are unbelievers are "dead in [their] trespasses and sins", under the sway "of this world", who "follow the prince of the power of the air", since they are "by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind" (Ephesians 2:1-3).

That all those who are not "in Christ" by faith do so because they actively "suppress the truth [of God] in their unrighteousness", and consequently "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against them" (Romans 1:18).

That "the whole world is accountable to God" for their lawless living (Romans 3:19). Thus, the law is preached since, "through the law comes a knowledge of sin" (3:20).

Why so dire? Because for sinners to actually be saved we need to hear the message of repentance. But sinners will never repent if they believe that they are "OK" with God, even though they are "condemned already" (John 3:18) for rejecting His only Son. This is the pattern of preaching we see in the Book of Acts, and it is unfortunate to see how the church has deviated from this Spirit-inspired model of what faithful preaching & ministry is to look like. It's simple: Peter preached to his hearers that they were guilty, helpless & vile. Their response, under Holy-Spirit-inspired conviction of sin, righteousness & judgment: "What shall we do?" Peter's solution is the 2nd half of the gospel: "Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the Name of the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38).

I know that one will try to defend the production by saying that it's only an hour long, and the purpose is to show people why Christ's coming is good news. But my retort is this: why is Christ's coming good news if I'm already "OK" with God - I'm trying my best, am a decent guy, and am definitely not as bad as the guy down the street. We must always remember that Romans 1:16 is in the context of verses 17 & 18-32.

My final "gleaning" from last Friday night was what Paul enunciated in Romans 10, namely the necessity of "preaching" for sinners to be converted. The play was 45 minutes, and I confess I don't believe the gospel was fully presented (even if it was, the words were hard to make out as the music simply overpowered whatever 'message' there was). However, when the pastor came up to speak, it seemed like the audience's awareness became more acute, as if they sensed something special was going to take place. Unfortunately, something special did not take place. With 1000 captive listeners, "good news" was alluded to, but in my opinion, the Good News was not preached (see verses above).

My prayer: God give me humility to not be critical in a proud way; at the same time, give me the same humility to not worry if I offend my brothers & sisters in Christ for calling them out on what I believe was a lost opportunity. My prayer is that this church would endeavor to make the necessary changes for next year's production. However, let us remember that Jesus Christ is coming like a thief in the night; we may not see next year's production.

Jesus, give me the grace to preach the whole council of God & to not shy away from the message that got You crucified. You have not called me to be popular, or to entertain the masses, but to join You in Your journey to the cross, begging sinners to likewise "deny self, take up cross, and follow You to glory."

For Christ, and His glory to the end of the earth (Lethbridge included),
Pastor Ryan

John Owen on the Mortification of Sin

2011-12-01T11:32:00.000-08:00

In his foreword to John Owen's classic, and now republished work, "Mortification of Sin", John Piper writes,

"As I look across the Christian landscape, I think it is safe to say concerning sin, "They have healed the wound of my people lightly" (Jer. 6:14; 8:11, ESV). I take this to refer to leaders who should be helping the church know and feel the seriousness of indwelling sin (Rom. 7:20), and how to fight it and kill it (Rom. 8:13). Instead the depth and complexity and ugliness and danger of sin in professing Christians is either minimized - since we are already justified - or psychologized as a symptom of woundedness rather than corruption."

As Kelly Kapic writes in the introduction, "Christians are called to war against sin." Why? Owens tells us: "Your enemy is not only upon you...but is in you also."

Owens calls this warfare "mortification", which he defines as "a habitual, successful weakening of sin that involves constant warfare and contention against the flesh." Following his definition, he gives his proposition to the reader:

The choicest of believers,

who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin,

ought yet to make it their business all their days

to mortify the indwelling power of sin.

What I love about Owens' application in the book is that is thoroughly gospel centered. Putting the deeds of the flesh - that is, indwelling sin - to death is an impossibility to accomplish in the flesh. As Paul writes, we are to mortify, or kill, the deeds of the flesh "by the Spirit" (Rom. 8:13).

As we recall that the primary "ministration" of the Holy Spirit in the New Covenant is to apply to the elect the benefits of the gospel which Christ has purchased for them, we come to realize that Owen is certainly correct in his diagnosis that "the flesh profits nothing" in this venture of mortifying indwelling sin. Indeed, "Mortification from a self-strength, carried on by ways of self-invention, unto the end of a self-righteousness, is the soul and substance of all false religion in the world."

The true way to mortify sin: communion with God. Kapic writes, "The believer is not working to secure these realities [i.e. the benefits of the gospel], but seeking to live in light of them. It is through this ever-growing communion with the Father, Son and Spirit that the believer is most able to resist sin and temptation."

True and lasting resistance to sin comes not through willpower and self-improvement but through the Spirit who empowers believers with a knowledge and love of God. Not only does the Spirit of God bring life to those who are dead in sin (regeneration/new birth), but He also continues the work of God in the renewing of that person into the image of Christ, as we gaze upon Him through the gospel (2 Cor. 3:18-4:6). Indeed, as Owens writes, "Mortification is the gift of Christ to believers, and this is given by the Spirit of the Son."

And though our sanctification is wholly a divine work of God, we are not passive bystanders in this process. Surely referencing Phil. 2:12-13, Owens writes, "God's working in us is not suspended because we work, nor our working suspended because God works [as if God were to do His 'part' and we our 'part']. God works in us and we also work. But the relation is that because God works we work."

Jonathan Edwards, when articulating what true conversion "looked like", summed it up this way: a true believers have religious affections for Christ, which manifest themselves in holiness of life.

In God's grace, He has been burdening me to "pursue the holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14).

In light of Ephesians 1:4, may we remember that God has "elected us in Christ" to be "holy and blameless before Him." May we revel that we were also "in love predestined unto adoption as a sons through Jesus Christ, for Him" (1:5). God has saved us to be holy and blameless, and He has saved us to be His adopted son. They are not in opposition, but the very grammar of the Greek shows us that the two concepts are parallel and complimentary. Election and holiness are not enemies but friends; predestination and blameless living are not in opposition to each other. Thus those who call themselves "sons of God" by the Spirit must also pursue holiness. God's adopted children are to love what their Father loves, and hate what their Fathers hates, since they have been recreated in His image through Christ.

For the glory of God my prayer is that I would through the Spirit applying the gospel of Christ to my heart put to death all those deplorable deeds that bring shame and disgrace to the One who loved me and gave Himself for me (the premise of Ephesians 4-6).

Oh that we might in engage in what Owens calls "gospel mortification"! Fill me O Spirit, and conform me into the image of Christ, the very thing for which I was predestined for! (Rom. 8:29).

In Christ, and for His supreme glory to the ends of the earth,

Pastor Ryan

Conflict is the Price of Growth

2011-09-09T10:59:00.000-07:00

In my prep for this Sunday's morning service, I came across an interesting blurb by Mark Driscoll in his book entitled "Vintage Church." It's definitely something I need to ponder, especially as it seems that Grace Community has seen some decent growth this past year. He writes:

"When a church grows, it changes, and that change causes conflict. Importantly, conflict is not always a bad thing in a church. Conflict, if handled in love and humility according to the principles of Scripture, can and should be the impetus for a more mature church that is more unified than ever. By way of analogy, every married couple knows that there is inevitably conflict in any loving relationship. The question is, "Not will we ever have conflict?", but rather, "How will we deal with our conflict?" Having been with my high school sweetheart for many years, I can attest to the fact that learning to work through our conflict has allowed us not to fear conflict but to use it as an occasion to build our loving unity by God's grace, and the same is true for my eleven years of service in our church.

"The price of your church growing so that more people are worshiping Jesus is conflict. I am convinced that many churches refuse to grow, even building theological justifications for not growing, because they are afraid of conflict, which means that rather than worshiping Christ, they are worshiping comfort. Simply, the desire to grow in numbers and maturity requires change, and change causes conflict. Therefore, growing churches are the ones that are prone to experience the greatest seasons of division, as the following process illustrates:

     1. Growth causes change.
     2. Change causes complexity.
     3. Complexity causes chaos.
     4. Chaos causes concern.
     5. Concern causes conflict.

"This conflict comes in eight different forms. With each form, a person or a faction of people want something that they perceive they lost due to a change. They fight to preserve what they lost and in so doing oppose change. Their efforts focus on gaining or regaining one of eight forms of church currency that they value."

Driscoll goes on to list that these eight currencies, which I am simply going to list, are:

     1. Power
     2. Remuneration/compensation
     3. Preference
     4. Information - newcomers have access to the same things veterans have 'earned' during the years
     5. Visibility - when gifted newcomers become visibly prominent, this often threatens the veterans
     6. Personal energy - more people requires more leadership and service
     7. Pace - veterans constantly pull the emergency brake because they fear loss of control
     8. Control

Driscoll concludes by saying:

"For a church to grow it must accept the pain that accompanies change. Because we want more people to worship Jesus as God, we must be willing to accept the inevitable conflict that change brings. Such change can be perceived by some as a loss of power, remuneration, preference, information, visibility, role, sustainable pacing, or control. Or, it can be viewed as an opportunity to share those things with others for the sake of Jesus' gospel and his church."

Since this is already a lengthy blog post, I will save my theological musings for later posts. Feel free to leave your comments, as I value them. I am in agreement with Driscoll here, and so if he is out to lunch, then so am I.

Jesus promised to build His church, not make it comfortable (something that actually kills it, well at least according to most of the NT letters). May we pray that His kingdom come, not that our comfort remain.

In Christ, and for the sake of His supreme glory to the ends of the earth,
Pastor Ryan

Letting the Word Do its Work

2011-09-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

On long-weekends, it is the normal practice to sleep-in on the day we're supposed to be working. Since pastors essentially never get days off, I'm not really surprised that I was up at 4:30 this morning (Monday), taking advantage of some 'me time', which is essentially extra time to read while the girls are sleeping comfortably in their nice, warm, cozy, beds.

In my musings, I ran across a book on Pneumatology (i.e. the study of the God the Holy Spirit) written by my former Church History professor, Dr. Michael Haykin, who wrote something that really caught my attention, as there was a deep resonation within my heart of something that the Spirit Himself has been teaching me of late - the priority, preeminence, and power of the Word of God, not only for Christian ministry, but also for everyday Christian life (which of course, is ministry). Haykin writes:

"In the early days of the Reformation in Germany, Martin Luther (1483-1586) reflected on the Reformation truths that he and his colleagues were preaching and publishing were making such a deep impact on various parts of German-speaking Europe. To the God-centered Luther, the answer was patent:

'I simply taught, preached and write God's Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept or drank Wittenburg beer with my friends...the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing, the Word did everything.'

In emphasizing that "the Word did everything", Luther is not simply giving his personal opinion, but making plain a vital theme in the history of the Christian faith."

Along the same vein, Christian historian/biographer Iain Murray aptly notes, "The advance of the church is ever preceded by a recovery of preaching [the Word]."

Or finally, as David Platt says in his book Radical Together, "the Word of God accomplishes the work of God." Platt rightly continues that it is God's Word, and God's Word alone that "forms and fulfills, motivates and mobilizes, equips and empowers, leads and directs the people of God in church for the plan of God in the world."

Perhaps this was why the apostle Paul asked that the believers in Thessalonica would continue to pray that the Word of God would advance rapidly and consequently be glorified, even as it did among Paul's audience there (my paraphrase of 2 Thes. 3:1).

So often in the church I see us as Christians fall into the carnal trap of praying that God would bless "our ministries". But how rarely do we hear prayers such as "O Lord, that You would bless the ministry of Your Word in that ministry"? If it is the gospel of Jesus Christ that alone evokes regeneration via the ministry of the Holy Spirit, why then are we so man-centered in our prayers, as if God will somehow use our "Word-less" efforts to accomplish His sovereign purposes in His universe?

Oh that we would remember Jesus' parable of the soils, the very one of which our Lord said is the quintessential one to understand (Mark 4:13)! If the Spirit does not cultivate and prepare the hearts (referred to as "soil" by Jesus) of our listeners (this of course assuming that we are being obedient to Christ's command for us to preach the gospel, Mark 16:15), we have - as the psalmist so aptly puts it - labored in vain (cf. Psa. 127:1). Though not all have faith (2 Thes. 3:2), God is faithful (3:3). He will not, nay, He cannot let His Word return to Him void or null; it will most definitely accomplish the very purposes for which He sent it (cf. Isa. 55:11).

If this is true, then let us pray accordingly, preach accordingly, and live accordingly. And when we see the powerful might of God's right hand extended as He furthers His kingdom on earth as it is on heaven, let us with Luther appropriately respond, "We did nothing; the Word did everything."

For Christ and the Supremacy of His Name to the ends of the Earth,
Pastor Ryan

P.S. for the sermon I preached last Sunday night on 2 Thes. 3:1-5, see http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?sermonid=8291112232710])

A Sermon for Talitha Grace

2011-04-06T09:49:00.000-07:00

I lift up my eyes to the hills; from where does my help come?

My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven & earth.

He will not let your foot be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD is your keeper; He is your shade at your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night;

The LORD will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life.

The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in

from this time forth and forevermore. (Psalm 121)

The inspired Word of God tells us that Psalm 121 is what the writer calls “a song of ascents”, which basically meant that this was one of the many psalms that the chosen people of God would sing during their pilgrimage towards Jerusalem for one of the three required festivals God required of them.

Not unlike our pilgrimage in this life, theirs too was fraught with apparent uncertainties, unseen dangers, acute anxieties and even the threat of death, as bandits and robbers and beasts lurked in the dark shadows of the night.

With all these daunting circumstances encompassing them on their pilgrimage, such songs of ascent were a God-inspired and God-given gift to His special people. Such songs reminded God’s people that they were not to focus their eyes upon the all-too-present dangers and evils that are part and parcel of this fallen age. No, God had called them to lift their eyes to the horizon, towards Mount Zion, the place chosen by God where He had promised to dwell in the midst of His chosen people, a place where the never-slumbering nor sleeping God of the universe would forever “keep” His people from every evil.

Gazing upon the immensity of God’s dwelling place was a merciful means given to God’s people to silence their fears and vanquish their doubts as they pilgrimaged through the valley of the shadow of death. As the only true and living God, the One who alone created the heavens and the earth, He was sovereign over every threatening circumstance that endangered the well being of His people. Even more, as covenant God, Yahweh, He was intimately and imminently present to comfort and overshadow His people as a cloud protected the helpless infants from the scorching heat of the sun. They knew that the unchanging, undying sovereign and covenant keeping God had promised to never leave or forsake His people, that nothing, nothing, could ever separate them from His eternal and electing love.

This was their comfort in this life as they pilgrimaged not merely to the earthly Jerusalem, but ultimately to the heavenly Jerusalem, the eternal abode of the eternal triune God, a place of promised rest and safety and peace and security, a place where God Himself dwelled in the midst of His people as their Immanuel, and thus a place of eternal and unceasing joy and gladness and glory.

Some had to travel many miles and endure many trials to reach Mount Zion, the dwelling place of God. In immeasurable mercy, some were born there. Yet regardless of their lot in life, all those whom God had entered into covenant with would certainly arrive there. Talitha’s pilgrimage was sovereignly shortened; she was one of those so privileged as to be born within the gates of the City of God.

In accordance with God’s revelation of Himself to us through His inspired Word, and even more, through His revelation of Himself to us in Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, we as God’s people have great and unwavering confidence that Talitha Grace was included in the gracious electing purposes of God to save a great host of people to Himself, so that in the coming ages they might demonstrate the immensity of His grace in kindness towards them in Christ Jesus.

For those who have tasted and seen that the LORD is good, we long to be amid the redeemed throng, alongside Talitha, where we all in glorious harmony will sing with unbridled joy the eternal Song of the Lamb, Who by His blood ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation – unborn children included.

Talitha is safe in the arms of Jesus. He has become her Refuge and Strong Tower. He is the first One whom she was so gloriously privileged to gaze upon. He is the One to whom we are reminded yet again to lift up our eyes by faith and gaze upon: the Son of God who lived, died, and was raised again, so that those who trust in His finished work of redemption might find solace and safety in Him, not only in this life, but ultimately as the Psalmist wrote, “from this time forth and forevermore.”

Dear listener, our prayer has been that through this glory-tinged tragedy, many would put their trust in, that is, would lift up their eyes in hope-filled and confident faith towards Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. Those who die outside His grace die without hope. Those who refuse lift up their eyes and trust in Him as Savior will likewise be refused when they lift up their eyes to gaze upon Him as Judge.

The LORD has mercifully kept Talitha Grace “from all evil.” For those of us who have sinned against our holy and wrathful God, the only way we can be kept from all evil is to be found in Jesus Christ, the One who on the cross bore the wrath of God for us as sinners. Oh, look to the One whom Talitha is now intently gazing upon! May He alone be the One from where your help comes.

In beautiful Name of Jesus Christ, and for His eternal glory, Amen.

Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found; was blind but now I see.

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fear relieved;

How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come;

‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.

And when this flesh and heart shall fail, and mortal life shall cease,

I shall possess within the veil, a life of joy and peace.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun,

We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise, than when we’ve first begun.

God saves bad people (Deut. 9)

2011-03-29T10:32:00.000-07:00

The title of this article is borrowed from one of best - if not the best - sermons I have ever heard before from a preacher very few Christians are aware of, namely Arturo Azurdia. The title of the sermon from Joshua 2 (can be listened to here, http://www.spiritempoweredpreaching.com/sermons.htm [check out the youtube clip, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoMIDK1SXTU) is the same, but my passage from which I draw the same conclusion is different. I have no problem highjacking Azurdia's clever sermon title, for the biblical narrative paints a consistent and coherent picture from Genesis to Revelation, namely the great story of redemption wherewith a loving and sovereign God saves a people, who are - to be painstakingly honest - in the words of the apostle Paul, "the worst of sinners" (1 Tim. 1:17). The text from which I see this theme once again reemerge is Deuteronomy 9.

The context of the early chapters of Deuteronomy shows Moses preparing the chosen people of God as they are on the verge of entering the promised land of Canaan. This section consists mostly of repeated reminders of Yahweh's sovereign faithfulness in not only rescuing the Hebrew nation out of slavery in Egypt, but also in conquering every possible obstacle and hindrance to their entrance into the land "flowing with milk and honey."

The question we need to answer then is, why does God repeatedly remind the people of this cardinal truth, namely, that God chooses to save bad people? The answer, simply stated, is that the only people God can save are bad people. A quick perusal of the Scriptures shows just how replete they are with this dire assessment of the natural state of fallen humanity. For instance, Paul, quoting the OT says, "None is righteous, no, not one" (Rom. 3:10). Prophets such a Jeremiah describe the natural human heart as "desperately wicked above all things and desperately/incurably sick" (17:9). Even King David, described by the Scriptures as "a man after God's own heart" can lament that he was sinful from birth (Psa. 51:5). Isaiah, perhaps the most glorious prophet of the Old Testament, could even speak of himself - he who was also a legitimate Old Testament priest - "Woe is me / I am ruined / For I am a man of unclean lips" (6:5). A man whose duty was to declare with his own lips the very oracles of God declares that even his lips are unworthy to speak of or for the thrice holy LORD of Hosts (6:3).

Even the writer of Deuteronomy, Moses, elsewhere portrays the mass of humanity inhabiting the earth prior to the great Flood this way: "The LORD saw that the wickedness of mankind was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5, italics mine).

So we should not be surprised, then, when we read God's words to the Israelites at the threshhold of entering into the land of Canaan:

"Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them [i.e. the pagan inhabitants of the land] out before you, 'It is because of my 'righteousness' that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,' whereas it is becasue of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you. Not because of your 'righteousness' or the 'uprightness' of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out before you, and that He may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." (9:4-5)

To prevent even the slightest chance that the reader might presume that Israel was chosen because they were not as bad the inhabitants of the land, Moses continues:

"Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your 'righteousness', for you are a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD." (9:6-8, emphasis mine)

Rather than taking passages such as these as offensive, I on the other hand find great comfort in the truth that the only people that God chooses to save are wicked sinners. Why? Because I actually agree with God's assessment of mankind that it is not by nature good. No, mankind by nature is bad. Mankind is, like Israel, stubborn and rebellious. Mankind is by nature depraved. Mankind by nature hates God. If mankind could, it would not only mock and beat and ridicule God, it would kill Him.

Actually, this is precisely what mankind did to God. Though mankind has derided and blasphemed God throughout the ages, when it received the opportunity to kill God, it did so by hanging Him upon a Roman cross. Mankind killed the God that came to save mankind.

The Scriptures unashamedly and unrelentlessly declares to us that these are the kind of people that God in Christ came to save. Sinners like you and sinners like me. Sinners like Moses and Rahab and David and Isaiah and Peter and Paul.

Why this "consuming fire" (9:3) does not devour us rebels is just beyond explanation. But then again, sovereign and electing grace defies a perfect explanation. This is why we will marvel throughout the ages at "the immeasurable riches of God's grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:7).

And so Moses' repeated exhortation is the same as Paul's: "Remember!" In Deuteronomy, Moses uses this word 14 times, almost exclusively in the context of the immensity of God's grace in kindness towards His people, which is neatly juxtaposed against the backdrop of their sinful rebellion against Him. Likewise, in Ephesians 2:11, Paul exhorts his Gentile listeners to remember that they were formerly "dead in the trespasses and sins in which they walked" alongside the fact that God, in His rich, electing grace, "made us alive together with Christ Jesus" (2:1-6).

God doesn't save good people; He saves bad people. I was by nature bad, and thus a perfect candidate for the grace of God that saved me. The Good News of the gospel just doesn't make sense until we understand the bad news of the gospel. The bad news is that mankind is inherently bad. The Good News is that Christ Jesus came to save bad people.

Those who see themselves as not bad have fallen from grace, for they only need Jesus as a band-aid, or accessory (Gal. 5:4). The cancerous lie spreading through Galatia in Paul's time is the same gangrene that permeates our culture and, sadly to say, most of our churches, who have fallen hook, line and sinker for the deception that we as people generally (and individuals specifically) really not as bad as God says we are. This lie is filling Hell up with scores of deceived people who think they are going to Heaven. Why? Because Hell is not only for bad people, it is also for 'good' people.

Why? Because Heaven is not for 'good' people, but for forgiven people. Heaven is for people who have acknowledged their wicked ways through genuine repentance, beat their breast with contrition for personally sinning against their Creator, and cried out for mercy from a merciful God who demonstrates His mercy with sinners on the cross of Christ.

Jesus, the Great Physician, did not come for those who are 'well'. He came for those are sick (Mark 2:17). Only the sick will find the healing they so desperately need. Those who are blinded by their illusionary 'goodness' will never truly see their need of a Savior (John 9:39; cf. Luke 18:9-14).

May the Holy Spirit continue to open our eyes to see our continual need of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In Him and for His supreme glory,
Pastor Ryan Case