Hear the contrast

Todd Friel, from Way of the Master radio, takes us through two preachers, both of whom claim to be preachers of the gospel, but only one preaches the gospel of the Bible.  The other is a false teacher, a wolf in sheep's clothing (Hint: the false teacher's initials are JO). It might make you chuckle on one level given how sharp the contrast, but on another level it makes you sad and outright disgusted over such false teaching.

James White - Theology Matters: Peace with God

From the paper - God's justice, love save sinners

For a very brief introduction read the first paragraph here.

God's justice, love save sinners

Just-as-if-I’d-never sinned. This is how a number of people learned what justified means and there is truth in the expression, but when we look at what the scriptures say regarding this priceless truth we see it is lacking. Last time, we saw how vital justification is to the church at-large, but unfortunately it is either distorted or people don’t understand it or are ignorant of it. The word justified, like any word in the New Testament, has a range of meanings. Not too different from our own English language. The spring springs into the air and falls into the spring on a beautiful spring day. There are four different meanings for spring in that sentence and according to dictionary.com, I am not using anywhere close to all the meanings for spring. The same is true with the way words are used in the New Testament. We see wisdom is justified in Luke 7:35, though surely this does not have anything to do with sin. Obviously when we talk about God being justified in Romans 3:4, we know it is different than the justification Christians receive. This also helps us with our friend James chapter 2, since so many Christians scratch their heads over its content, not realizing Paul and James are not in conflict a bit! Rather, we are looking at two different uses of the same word. We’ll get back to that in a future column.

As we intimated last time, Paul uses justification in regards to our standing before a judge. You can see this in Romans 8:33, “Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.” No matter the mountain of evidence the prosecution has against the elect, the charges fall flat for it is God who justifies. Any Roman reading this letter during the 1st century would have recognized the legal language Paul used. Paul is conveying to us the perfect standing we have in the court of heaven.

How can God do this? Any judge who is worth his weight in salt should condemn us for all the times we have broken God’s law, and forsook God for our own pleasures. “But God,” is one of the most wonderful phrases in all of scripture. Romans 5:8 “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Anyone who feels worthy of condemnation and has lost hope for eternal life should embrace this in faith and lay the sin that condemns them on the substitute who can save them. The judge counts the sin of the sinner to the Savior, and the righteousness of the Savior to the sinner. 2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” This is where the justice and love of God find perfect harmony to save sinners like us. This is justification we receive by faith alone. Do you believe?

How Free is the Will? pt 3

How Free is the Will pt 3

- There are two common accusations against this teaching.

o Man cannot be responsible if he is not able.

§ Fallen men do have the mental and physical ability, but deliberately reject God and His gospel.

· They love sin more than God.

§ They freely and willingly oppose the God of the scriptures and this is precisely why man is responsible.

- What about “Whosoever will”?

o Does this imply ability?

§ This is not about man’s ability, but about God’s promise to those who do come.

o God commands us to do things everyday that we do not have the ability to accomplish.

- For the unbeliever, the command to love God with all their being is just as much applicable to them as us…

o Not to mention the rest of the commandments and…

- Yet no unbelieving person can love God OR come close to obeying Him without the Spirit of God!

o Even as Christians, we cannot fulfill a single command without God.

- Jesus says you can do nothing apart from Him in John 15:5 - that is, you cannot bear fruit apart from Christ and...

§ We do not rely on our natural ability, but upon Christ for everything we do!

o The general command is a promise for those who do come to God through Christ.

§ Are these people unknown to God? NO!

· God is omniscient and He knows who will come to Him AND He draws those who come to Him (John 6:44)

- What is the purpose of these commands and truisms?

o One is to describe what it means to come to Christ.

§ We must repent and believe in Him.

· This describes the attitude of the heart of a true believer.

o There are two distortions of this teaching.

§ First, there are men who genuinely want to come, but can’t come to Christ because they are not the elect.

§ Second, men are forced against their will to come to Christ even though they do not want to come.

· They are the elect so too bad!

o This is a BAD caricature of the teaching and is only meant to poison the well.

§ Those who do want to come to Christ represent those who are the elect.

§ Those who do NOT want to come to Christ may represent those who are not elect.

o I use the word may because until someone dies there is hope for their salvation.

§ If you do not know whether you are the elect, do not delay, but repent and trust in Christ ALONE for your salvation.

· Not in works of religion, works of good deeds, being a faithful church member BUT in Jesus Christ and nothing else.

How Free is the Will? pt 2

How Free is the Will pt 2

- We should speak of free agency instead of free will.

o Free-will, generally speaking, refers to man’s inherit ability to choose either good or evil.

§ This affects the scriptural view of man which states man does NOT have any ability to choose good.

· Romans 9:16 - So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

o Free agency refers to man’s ability to make free choices in accordance with who he is.

§ Our choices are always a reflection of the heart, agreeing with what we think and feel.

· Another way of saying it–man will choose what he pleases.

§ This is the kind of freedom everyone has and is the reason we are accountable for our choices.

- God does not prevent man from coming to Him or believing in Him.

o Man has the physical ability and mental capacity to come and believe in Him BUT….

§ Man loves his sin and hates God.

o In fact, because man does understand God’s truth and realizes the demands of the gospel, he does NOT want to come.

§ Look at the Pharisees and the Jews in the gospel of John who understood Jesus’ teaching.

· They were offended by what Jesus was saying.

o They understood it and rejected it.

§ See also Romans 1:18-21.

o So man’s problem does not relate to his physical or mental ability - man's problem is his moral inability.

§ Man has NO innate desire to repent and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ.

· For a fuller study see our original study on sin and its effects.

o Do we deny that people have a choice? No!

§ Everyone has a choice

· What’s the problem then?

§ People do not want to choose God, but they do want their sin.

How Free is the Will? pt 1

How Free is the Will pt 1

- Much of this was based off of Mitch Cervinka’s excellent article on free will found here.

- Do we have a free will? If so, how free is the will? What do the scriptures say about our will?

o As we looked at here, the scriptures clearly teach we are all sinners by nature.

§ We are not sinners because we sin, but sin because we are sinners.

· Because of our sinfulness we sin willingly and constantly by choice.

§ Until we are converted to Christ, we will always choose sin instead of righteousness.

o What about good works then? How about unbelievers who feed & provide for the poor? Who do many beneficial things for those less fortunate?

§ Romans 14:23 - …whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

§ Hebrews 11:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please him (God)…

§ Isaiah 64:6 – Righteous acts = filthy rags.

§ Romans 3:10,12 – There is none righteous, not even one. There is none good, not even one.

o Again, any so-called good works done by an unbeliever are done for reasons other than for the glory of God.

§ They are not done to magnify God’s Name and exalt Jesus Christ.

· There is none good, not even one.

o Until we realize that our character, our nature, the essence of our being is utterly sinful, then we will never see ourselves as God sees us, nor will we fully appreciate the depth of our sin and our desperate need for Christ.

- What about the will?

o It is not autonomous, being independent of all other things.

§ Our choices are always based on rational and emotional considerations.

o For example, given a choice of a beefy burger or a salad, we might choose one or the other or both for various reasons.

§ We consider our health, our desire for juicy burgers, our financial situation, or even our dislike for either one.

o We do not make random choices, but our choices are based on values or priorities at any given time.

§ An evil or sinful value system pits our desires, goals, etc, over against God’s.

§ A godly value system is based ultimately on the love for God and desire to glorify Him.

· Our will or choices are a reflection of the heart

o An evil heart will reflect self-centered sinful choices.

o A godly heart will display choices that honor God.

The Deeps - The Valley of Vision

Taken from the treasure trove of Puritan prayers, The Valley of Vision.

THE DEEPS

Lord Jesus, give me a deeper repentance, a horror of sin, a dread of its approach. Help me chastely to flee it and jealously to resolve that my heart shall be Thine alone.

Give me a deeper trust, that I may lose myself to find myself in Thee, the ground of my rest, the spring of my being. Give me a deeper knowledge of Thyself as saviour, master, lord, and king. Give me deeper power in private prayer, more sweetness in Thy Word, more steadfast grip on its truth. Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action, and let me not seek moral virtue apart from Thee.

Plough deep in me, great Lord, heavenly husbandman, that my being may be a tilled field, the roots of grace spreading far and wide, until Thou alone art seen in me, Thy beauty golden like summer harvest, Thy fruitfulness as autumn plenty.

I have no master but Thee, no law but Thy will, no delight but Thyself, no wealth but that Thou givest, no good but that Thou blessest, no peace but that Thou bestowest. I am nothing but that Thou makest me. I have nothing but that I receive from Thee. I can be nothing but that grace adorns me. Quarry me deep, dear Lord, and then fill me to overflowing with living water.

From the paper - 'Justification' is a key Christian issue

For a very brief introduction read the first paragraph here.

'Justification' is a key Christian issue

How important is justification? Many in the church would probably acknowledge its importance because it is in the Bible, but we might wonder how important it is. It does not sound nearly as fascinating as the end times or spiritual gifts, or as practical as to-do lists for living the Christian life, so why waste the paper and ink for this article? It might surprise some people that justification was one of the key issues that sparked the Reformation in the 16th century. It is the truth that Martin Luther, the man whom God used to spark the Reformation, believed was so crucial that the church would either stand with its teaching or fall without it. We might ask, is it really so vital that a church would actually fall without it? The answer is a resounding, yes!

To understand this we must realize that apart from Christ, we are dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1) and at enmity with God (Romans 5:9-10). This is not a good position to be in considering we all will have to face him as our judge some day (Hebrews 9:27). What can we do? How do we come to terms with the one who will have more than enough evidence to condemn us? We might try community service so the judge might be lenient on us and let us squeak into heaven. Or we might think God will just overlook all the bad things we did. The problem with this mindset is that God is just (Daniel 9:14, Psalm 9:7-8) and He will judge us all through His Son Jesus Christ with perfect equity (Romans 2:5-6, Acts 17:31).

There is only one solution to this serious problem. It can be seen in Luke 18:9-14 - the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. The Pharisee thought well of himself and showed utter contempt for the publican, but the publican would not even lift up his eyes. He beat his chest and cried out “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” Jesus said the publican was justified and the “good” person was not. What happened to the publican? He was justified before God, meaning he was declared righteous by the judge. Justification in salvation is the judicial act of God whereby He declares sinners not guilty and positively righteous based on Christ’s death on the cross. We receive justification through faith alone. “To the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:5). The one who stops working and trusts in Christ and nothing else to remove their sins, will be counted righteous by God. This is the foundation of the church, the joy of the believer and the great hope of every lost sinner. In a future column we will look at how God can be righteous and justify the wicked (Us!) through Jesus’ death, but for now let us be in awe and wonder at the unspeakable gift of justification.

Do you desire God?

John Bunyan - Of the Law and the Christian

I cleaned up a little bit of the archaic language, so for those of you who wish to read the article with the "saiths, doths, burneths. etc" feel free to click here.

Of the Law and the Christian by John Bunyan (1628-1688)

The law was given twice upon Mount Sinai, but the appearance of the Lord, when he gave it the second time, was wonderfully different from that of his, when at the first he delivered it to Israel.

1. When he gave it the first time, he caused his terror and severity to appear before Moses, to the shaking of his soul and the dismaying of Israel; but when he gave it the second time, he caused all his goodness to pass before Moses, to the comfort of his conscience and the bowing of his heart.

2. When he gave it the first time, it was with thunderings and lightnings, with blackness and darkness, with flame and smoke, and a tearing sound of the trumpet; but when he gave it the second time, it was with a proclamation of his name to be merciful, gracious, long- suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgressions, and sins.

3. When he gave it the first time, Moses was called to go up to receive it through the fire, which made him exceedingly fear and quake: but when he went to receive it the second time, he was laid in a cleft of the rock.

4. From all which I gather, that, though as to the matter of the law, both as to its being given the first time and the second, it binds the unbeliever under the pains of eternal damnation (if he close not with Christ by faith); yet as to the manner of its giving at these two times, I think the first does more principally intend its force as a covenant of works, not at all respecting the Lord Jesus; but this second time not (at least in the manner of its being given) respecting such a covenant, but rather as a rule or directory to those who already are found in the cleft of the rock Christ; for the saint himself, though he be without law to God, as it is considered the first or old covenant, yet even he is not without law to him as considered under grace; not without law to God, but under the law to Christ.

5. Though, therefore, it be sad with the unbeliever, because he only and wholly stands under the law as it is given in fire, in smoke, in blackness, and darkness, and thunder; all which threaten him with eternal ruin if he fulfill not the utmost tittle thereof; yet the believer stands to the law under no such consideration, neither is he so at all to hear or regard it, for he is now removed from thence to the blessed mountain of Zion—to grace and forgiveness of sins; he is now, I say, by faith in the Lord Jesus, shrouded under so perfect and blessed a righteousness, that this thundering law of Mount Sinai cannot find the least fault or diminution therein, but rather approves and allows thereof, either when or wherever it find it. This is called the righteousness of God without the law, and also said to be witnessed by both the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God, which is by faith in Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference.

6. Wherefore, whenever thou who believes in Jesus, does hear the law in its thundering and lightning fits, as if it would burn up heaven and earth, then say thou, I am freed from this law, these thunderings have nothing to do with my soul; nay, even this law, while it thus thunders and roars, it does both allow and approve of my righteousness. I know that Hagar would sometimes be domineering and high, even in Sarah's house, and against her; but this she is not to be suffered to do, nay, though Sarah herself be barren; wherefore, serve it also as Sarah served her, and expel her out from thy house. My meaning is, when this law with its thundering threatenings does attempt to lay hold on thy conscience, shut it out with a promise of grace; cry, The inn is taken up already; the Lord Jesus is here entertained, and here is no room for the law. Indeed, if it will be content with being my informer, and so lovingly leave off to judge me, I will be content, it shall be in my sight, I will also delight therein; but otherwise, I being now made upright without it, and that too with that righteousness which this law speaks well of and approvs, I may not, will not, cannot dare not make it my Saviour and judge, nor suffer it to set up its government in my conscience; for by so doing, I fall from grace, and Christ Jesus does profit me nothing.

7. Thus, therefore, the soul that is married to him that is raised up from the dead, both may and ought to deal with this law of God; yea, it does greatly dishonour its Lord and refuse its gospel privileges, if it at any time otherwise does, whatever it sees or feels. "The law hath power over the wife so long as her husband lives, but if her husband be dead she is freed from that law; so that she is no adulteress though she be married to another man." Indeed, so long as thou art alive to sin, and to thy righteousness which is of the law, so long thou has them for thy husband, and they must reign over thee; but when once they are become dead unto thee—as they then most certainly will when thou close with the Lord Jesus Christ—then, I say, thy former husbands have no more to meddle with thee; thou art freed from their law. Set the case: A woman be cast into prison for a debt of hundreds of pounds; if after this she marry, yea, though while she is in the jailor's hand, in the same day that she is joined to her husband, her debt is all become his; yea, and the law also that arrested and imprisoned this woman, as freely tells her, go: she is freed, says Paul, from that; and so says the law of this land.

The sum, then, of what has been said is this—The Christian has now nothing to do with the law, as it thunders and burns on Sinai, or as it binds the conscience to wrath and the displeasure of God for sin; for from its thus appearing, it is freed by faith in Christ. Yet it is to have regard thereto, and is to count it holy, just, and good; which, that it may do, it is always, whenever it sees or regards it, to remember that he who gives it to us "is merciful, gracious, long- suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.”

From the paper - Big words tell big truths about Jesus

For a very brief introduction read the first paragraph here.

Big words tell big truths about Jesus

Propitiation, justification and imputation. To some these words sound like they either came from some old, crusty theologian or from someone who had a bad sneezing fit. In reality, these three words were not made up by some scholars so they could sound smart, but were written so everybody would know them. These words came by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Yes, they are found in the Bible and they tell us about the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Without them we have no gospel and with no gospel we have no Christianity. So what do they mean? In future columns, I will look at each word in depth, but today I would like to give you a little taste of them and show you how sweet they are to the souls of believers.

Let us take them one by one. The word propitiation tells us about the type of death Jesus died on our behalf. We just think that Jesus died for our sins, (which He most certainly did!) but the apostle Paul tells us in Romans 3:25 that God also put forward Jesus as a propitiation, meaning Jesus bore not only our sins but also the punishment our sins deserved. God being holy and just could not overlook our sins (Proverbs 17:15) since it would go against His very being (Psalm 7:11). For our sins not only separated us from God, they also put us at enmity with our holy God (Romans 5:9-10, John 3:36). Through Jesus’ propitiatory sacrifice Christians are now reconciled and have eternal peace with God!

Justification is found in one form or another throughout the scriptures. The apostle Paul uses it specifically to refer to our standing before God. Anyone who trusts alone in Christ’s work on the cross are justified or declared righteous. Think about that for a moment. Somebody is guilty of terrible crimes and fully deserves to be punished for what he or she has done, and then the judge declares the criminal to be not guilty, perfectly righteous! We would scream if we saw this happen in the US court system, and yet this is what happens to someone who puts there faith in Christ. They are not guilty. That is the remarkable work of justification. Then finally, what happens to us after Christ takes away our sin? Are we just neutral and when we commit another sin we are back to the redemption drawing board again? Nope! The righteousness of Christ is imputed or credited to us and therefore seen perfectly righteous in God’s sight. This is imputation.

Jesus accomplished all this at mount Calvary so that those who receive this gift of God by faith alone can have peace with God. Anyone who is in Christ can joyfully claim there is now and never will be condemnation, but everlasting life. Wow! What fantastic news. This has enormous implications for our lives so stay tuned as we dig a little deeper into God’s gift of love.

Al Martin - Are you ready?

There are a little more theatrics at the beginning of this small clip for my taste, but his preaching is still powerful and the message very timely. IMHO, he is one of the best preachers in the last 100 yrs.

John MacArthur - The Purpose Driven Life

Penal Substitutionary Atonement

Penal Substitutionary Atonement

- In our entries on justification, here and here, we saw how God could justify wicked sinners in light of Proverbs 17:15.

o Now we will examine how God can condemn Jesus who was perfectly righteous.

§ Proverbs 17:15 – He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD.

- First, Jesus’ death was substitutionary in nature.

o Jesus’ death was foreshadowed and prophesied about in the Old Testament.

§ Genesis 22:1-14 - Abraham & Isaac – Instead of Isaac being killed, God provided a ram in his place.

· See vs 7-14.

§ Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will Provide.”

· What did the Lord provide? A ram as a substitute for Isaac.

o The Passover in Exodus 12:1-13; 23-28 – The Israelites were to sacrifice a lamb without blemish and put some of the blood on the doorposts and lintel.

§ The Lord would see the blood on the doorposts and not strike the firstborn.

· See vs 21-23.

o The Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16:2-28 – Aaron was commanded to lay both his hands on the scapegoat and confess all the transgressions and sins of Israel.

§ The scapegoat bore the sins and was sent off into the wilderness.

· Read 21-22

o Isaiah prophesied about the messiah in Isaiah 53.

§ In vs 6 he said - “The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him.”

§ In vs 11 - “My servant will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities.”

- Jesus is the substitutionary lamb who bore our iniquities.

o John 1:29 & 36 – He is “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

§ Revelation refers to Jesus as the Lamb at least 30 times.

o Read all of Hebrews 9:6-10:25.

§ Vs 28 - Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many.

§ Vs 26 – “Put away sins by the sacrifice of Himself”

o 1 Peter 2:24 - He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

§ See also 1 Peter 3:18, 2 Corinthians 5:21

o When we say Christ bore our sins, what exactly do we mean? Did Christ, internally and in His nature, become sin?

§ NO! Our sin was imputed to Christ, which is the second imputation,

o Psalm 32:1-2 -”1) How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is not covered! 2) How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity…”

§ God did not count David’s sin against him

§ Theologians have called this the Great Exchange.

· Our sins are imputed to Christ and Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us.

- We don’t just call it a substitutionary atonement, but a penal substitutionary atonement.

o Because when Jesus bore our sins, He took the…

§ Guilt of our sins.

§ Condemnation our sins deserved.

- Biblical background for this:

o Galatians 3:13 – “Christ became a curse for us.”

§ God’s curses were meant to destroy Israel for breaking His Law. (See Deuteronomy 28:45)

· Christ was cursed and took God’s wrath upon himself, which was the result of our disobedience to God’s law.

o Matthew 26:39,42 – In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was anguishing over a cup He had to drink.

§ The cup Christ was talking about was an allusion to the cup of God’s wrath.

· The Old Testament makes this clear.

o Psalm 75:1-8

o Jeremiah 25:15-18

o Isaiah 51:17-21

§ Jesus bore our sins, therefore drank the cup reserved for wicked sinners.

- Also in Isaiah 53, the suffering servant not only bore the iniquity of many but we read the following in Isaiah 53:10

o Vs 10 The LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief.

§ The LORD crushed Him and this is what caused great anguish in His soul at Gethsemane.

o Romans 3:24-26 – Is one of the clearest expressions of Christ taking the guilt of our sins and punishment they deserved.

§ The Old Testament sacrifices never took away sins, or the punishment our sins deserved.

· Christ’s propitiatory sacrifice did!

o Wayne Grudem’s definition of propitiation – A sacrifice that bears God’s wrath to the end and in so doing change’s God’s wrath toward us to favor.

§ The Greek words lend themselves to these definitions because they have the sense of appeasement of satisfaction.

· In the context of God’s judgment, it is God’s wrath that needs to be appeased as we have seen.

§ These passages also refer to Jesus’ death as a propitiation: Hebrews 2:17, 1 John 2:2, 1 John 4:10.

- Jesus is our propitiation, having died as a penal substitute in our place, there will no longer be condemnation for those who trust in His completed work on the cross.

o For us who are in Christ, we can rejoice in Christ’s finished work on the cross and rest in His peace.

o For those who have not trusted in Christ’s work alone, the wrath of God still abides on you.

§ Repent and trust in Christ to remove it.