"Answers to My Brethren, the Calvinists" - http://www.thechurchofwellsresponds.c...
"Hypothetical Situations Which Question Biblical Verdicts" - http://www.thechurchofwellsresponds.c...
This is an excerpt from "Answers to My Brethren, the Calvinists" which is published on the website, The Church of Wells Responds. The excerpt is located in Chapter 1, titled, "If We Sin Willfully" - Heb. 10:26. The section title of the excerpt is, "Hypothetical Situations Which Question Biblical Verdicts". The links can be found below:
"Answers to My Brethren, the Calvinists" - http://www.thechurchofwellsresponds.c... "Hypothetical Situations Which Question Biblical Verdicts" - http://www.thechurchofwellsresponds.c...
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"The Doctrine which is according to Godliness (1 Tim. 6:3) at once defines the nature of Divine Doctrine intimating that its design or end is to inculcate a right temper of mind and deportment of life. It is pure and purifying. It is very much more than a series of intellectual truths intended for the instructing of our brains. The Doctrine which is according to Godliness is the enunciation of spiritual facts and holy principles for the warning of the heart and the regulating of our lives. The objects which are revealed in Scripture are not bare abstractions which are to accepted as true or even sublime and lofty concepts to be admired. They are to have a powerful effect upon our daily walk. There is no Doctrine revealed in Scripture for a merely speculative knowledge but all is to exert a powerful influence upon conduct. God’s designs in all that He has revealed to us is to the purifying of our affections and the transforming of our characters. It is absurd to conclude that if my creed is sound then it matters little how I live. Therefore it is possible to deny the faith through contact as well as by words. A neglect of the performing of our duty is as real a repudiation of the truth as is an open renunciation of it. The Doctrine of grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly, righteously, and Godly in this present world (Tit 2:11-12). By far the greater part of the Doctrine taught by Christ consisted not of the explication of mysteries but rather that which corrected mans lusts and reformed their lives. Everything in Scripture has in view the promotion of holiness." - A.W. Pink This video exists to examine the history, origin, and fruit of Calvary Chapel, Chuck Smith, and Greg Laurie. This video also exists to examine The Jesus Movement and Harvest America. I plead with the reader to watch the video and soberly reflect upon the scriptures and evidences presented therein. God willing, the viewer will be shocked to discover the spirit at work behind Lonnie Frisbee, Chuck Smith, and Greg Laurie!
"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." - 1John 4:1 John Wesley actually believed that he could “fall from grace”. He actually believed that he could become a castaway, and therefore he did what Paul said a man ought to do - “TAKE HEED” (1 Cor. 9:27-10:12). In so doing, Wesley learned to identify and articulate the intricacies whereby a regenerated man goes from “Grace to Sin”. John Wesley called it, “The unquestionable progress of Grace to Sin”. He believed it was a progressive thing not a sudden thing, by which a man falls from grace into a damnable condition – and he was right. My Calvinistic brethren, will you give John Wesley an ear for a moment? The Calvinistic community has, under the leadership and admirable efforts of Paul Washer, come to understand the intricacies in which a man goes from “Sin to Grace” at conversion. I applaud this work and give glory to God! But the Calvinistic community has failed to study the means by which a man goes from “Grace to Sin”! My friends, will you hear it? First, hear Wesley describe going from “Sin to Grace” at the experience of the new birth in Christ, and then my reader, please, hear him explain the progress of going from “Grace to Sin”. From Sin to Grace - The Experience of the New Birth (John Wesley) “I. 1. First, we are to consider, what is the proper meaning of that expression, "Whosoever is born of God." And, in general, from all the passages of holy writ wherein this expression, "the being born of God," occurs, we may learn that it implies not barely the being baptized, or any outward change whatever; but a vast inward change, a change wrought in the soul, by the operation of the Holy Ghost; a change in the whole manner of our existence; for, from the moment we are born of God, we live in quite another manner than we did before; we are, as it were, in another world. 2. The ground and reason of the expression is easy to be understood. When we undergo this great change, we may, with much propriety, be said to be born again, because there is so near a resemblance between the circumstances of the natural and of the spiritual birth; so that to consider the circumstances of the natural birth, is the most easy way to understand the spiritual. 3. The child which is not yet born subsists indeed by the air, as does everything which has life; but feels it not, nor any thing else, unless in a very dull and imperfect manner. It hears little, if at all; the organs of hearing being as yet closed up. It sees nothing; having its eyes fast shut, and being surrounded with utter darkness. There are, it may be, some faint beginnings of life, when the time of its birth draws nigh, and some motion consequent thereon, whereby it is distinguished from a mere mass of matter; but it has no senses; all these avenues of the soul are hitherto quite shut up. Of consequence, it has scarce any intercourse with this visible world; nor any knowledge, conception, or idea, of the things that occur therein. 4. The reason why he that is not yet born is wholly a stranger to the visible world, is, not because it is afar off; (it is very nigh; it surrounds him on every side;) but, partly, because he has not those senses, they are not yet opened in his soul, whereby alone it is possible to hold commerce with the material world; and partly, because so thick a veil is cast between, through which he can discern nothing. 5. But no sooner is the child born into the world, than he exists in a quite different manner. He now feels the air with which he is surrounded, and which pours into him from every side, as fast as he alternately breathes it back, to sustain the flame of life: And hence springs a continual increase of strength, of motion, and of sensation; all the bodily senses being now awakened, and furnished with their proper objects. His eyes are now opened to perceive the light, which, silently flowing in upon them, discovers not only itself, but an infinite variety of things, with which before he was wholly unacquainted. His ears are unclosed, and sounds rush in with endless diversity. Every sense is employed upon such objects as are peculiarly suitable to it; and by these inlets the soul, having an open intercourse with the visible world, acquires more and more knowledge of sensible things, of all the things which are under the sun. 6. So it is with him that is born of God. Before that great change is wrought, although he subsists by Him, in whom all that have life "live, and move, and have their being," yet he is not sensible of God; he does not feel, he has no inward consciousness of His presence. He does not perceive that divine breath of life, without which he cannot subsist a moment: Nor is he sensible of any of the things of God; they make no impression upon his soul. God is continually calling to him from on high, but he heareth not; his ears are shut, so that the "voice of the charmer" is lost to him, "charm he never so wisely," He seeth not the things of the Spirit of God; the eyes of his understanding being closed, and utter darkness covering his whole soul, surrounding him on every side. It is true he may have some faint dawnings of life, some small beginnings of spiritual motion; but as yet he has no spiritual senses capable of discerning spiritual objects; consequently, he "discerneth not the things of the Spirit of God; he cannot know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 7. Hence he has scarce any knowledge of the invisible world, as he has scarce any intercourse with it. Not that it is afar off: No: He is in the midst of it; it encompasses him round about. The other world, as we usually term it, is not far from every one of us: It is above, and beneath, and on every side. Only the natural man discerneth it not; partly, because he has no spiritual senses, whereby alone we can discern the things of God; partly, because so thick a veil is interposed as he knows not how to penetrate. 8. But when he is born of God, born of the Spirit, how is the manner of his existence changed! His whole soul is now sensible of God, and he can say, by sure experience, "Thou art about my bed, and about my path;" I feel thee in all my ways: "Thou besettest me behind and before, and layest thy hand upon me." The Spirit or breath of God is immediately inspired, breathed into the new-born soul; and the same breath which comes from, returns to, God: As it is continually received by faith, so it is continually rendered back by love, by prayer, and praise, and thanksgiving; love and praise, and prayer being the breath of every soul which is truly born of God. And by this new kind of spiritual respiration, spiritual life is not only sustained, but increased day by day, together with spiritual strength, and motion, and sensation; all the senses of the soul being now awake, and capable of discerning spiritual good and evil. 9. "The eyes of his understanding" are now "open," and he "seeth Him that is invisible." He sees what is "the exceeding greatness of his power" and of his love toward them that believe. He sees that God is merciful to him a sinner, that he is reconciled through the Son of his love. He clearly perceives both the pardoning love of God, and all his "exceeding great and precious promises." "God, who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness, hath shined," and doth shine, "in his heart," to enlighten him with "the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." All the darkness is now passed away, and he abides in the light of God's countenance. 10. His ears are now opened, and the voice of God no longer calls in vain. He hears and obeys the heavenly calling: He knows the voice of his Shepherd. All his spiritual senses being now awakened, he has a clear intercourse with the invisible world; and hence he knows more and more of the things which before it could not "enter into his heart to conceive." He now knows what the peace of God is; what is joy in the Holy Ghost; what the love of God which is shed abroad in the heart of them that believe in him through Christ Jesus. Thus the veil being removed which before interrupted the light and voice, the knowledge and love of God, he who is born of the Spirit, dwelling in love, "dwelleth in God, and God in him." From Grace to Sin - The Process and Progress of Falling From Grace (John Wesley) “8. To explain this by a particular instance: David was born of God, and saw God by faith. He loved God in sincerity. He could truly say, "Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth," neither person nor thing, "that I desire in comparison of thee." But still there remained in his heart that corruption of nature, which is the seed of all evil. "He was walking upon the roof of his house," (2 Sam. 11:2,) probably praising the God whom his soul loved, when he looked down, and saw Bathsheba. He felt a temptation; a thought which tended to evil. The Spirit of God did not fail to convince him of this. He doubtless heard and knew the warning voice; but he yielded in some measure to the thought, and the temptation began to prevail over him. Hereby his spirit was sullied; he saw God still; but it was more dimly than before. He loved God still; but not in the same degree; not with the same strength and ardour of affection. Yet God checked him again, though his spirit was grieved; and his voice, though fainter and fainter, still whispered, "Sin lieth at the door; look unto me, and be thou saved." But he would not hear: He looked again, not unto God, but unto the forbidden object, till nature was superior to grace, and kindled lust in his soul. The eye of his mind was now closed again, and God vanished out of his sight. Faith, the divine, supernatural intercourse with God, and the love of God, ceased together: He then rushed on as a horse into the battle, and knowingly committed the outward sin. 9. You see the unquestionable progress from grace to sin: Thus it goes on, from step to step. (1.) The divine seed of loving, conquering faith, remains in him that is born of God. "He keepeth himself," by the grace of God, and "cannot commit sin." (2.) A temptation arises; whether from the world, the flesh, or the devil, it matters not. (3.) The Spirit of God gives him warning that sin is near, and bids him more abundantly watch unto prayer. (4.) He gives way, in some degree, to the temptation, which now begins to grow pleasing to him. (5.) The Holy Spirit is grieved; his faith is weakened; and his love of God grows cold. (6.) The Spirit reproves him more sharply, and saith, "This is the way; walk thou in it." (7.) He turns away from the painful voice of God, and listens to the pleasing voice of the tempter. (8.) Evil desire begins and spreads in his soul, till faith and love vanish away: He is then capable of committing outward sin, the power of the Lord being departed from him. 10. To explain this by another instance: The Apostle Peter was full of faith and of the Holy Ghost; and hereby keeping himself, he had a conscience void of offence toward God and toward man.Walking thus in simplicity and godly sincerity, "before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles," knowing that what God had cleansed was not common or unclean. But "when they were come," a temptation arose in his heart, "to fear those of the circumcision," (the Jewish converts, who were zealous for circumcision and the other rites of the Mosaic law,) and regard the favour and praise of these men, more than the praise of God. He was warned by the Spirit that sin was near: Nevertheless, he yielded to it in some degree, even to sinful fear of man, and his faith and love were proportionably weakened. God reproved him again for giving place to the devil. Yet he would not hearken to the voice of his Shepherd; but gave himself up to that slavish fear, and thereby quenched the Spirit. Then God disappeared, and, faith and love being extinct, he committed the outward sin. Walking not uprightly, not "according to the truth of the gospel," he "separated himself" from his Christian brethren, and by his evil example, if not advice also, "compelled even the Gentiles to live after the manner of the Jews;" to entangle themselves again with that "yoke of bondage," from which "Christ had set them free."” In Conclusion It is obvious that John Wesley did not believe in “works salvation”. It is obvious that he had a deep understanding of salvation by “faith alone through grace alone, apart from works”. It is also obvious that Wesley believed in a present-continuous salvation experience - that the respiration and life of a saved man exists by and is expressed in what is commonly called, “the means of grace”. The closing paragraph of this excerpt thrusts at the reader this concluding burden. You can hear John Wesley cry to the saints of his day, “USE THE MEANS OF GRACE!” Wesley wrote, “Let us learn, Lastly, to follow that direction of the great Apostle, "Be not high-minded, but fear." Let us fear sin, more than death or hell. Let us have a jealous (though not painful) fear, lest we should lean to our own deceitful hearts. "Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall." Even he who now standeth fast in the grace of God, in the faith that overcometh the world, may nevertheless fall into inward sin, and thereby "make shipwreck of his faith." And how easily then will outward sin regain its dominion over him! Thou, therefore, O man of God! watch always; that thou mayest always hear the voice of God! Watch, that thou mayest pray without ceasing, at all times, and in all places, pouring out thy heart before him! So shalt thou always believe, and always love, and never commit sin.” I know that many are confused over what exactly John Wesley believed about sinless perfection. A statement on this in relationship to the sermon that I have cited I think is necessary, lest my reader misunderstand what exactly I believe. John Wesley preached these excerpts which I have pasted above in the sermon called, “The Great Privilege of Those That Are Born of God”, and it is of noteworthy importance concerning the subjects I have endeavored to defend. However, this sermon has several differences from the former work that Wesley wrote called, “A Plain Account of Christian Perfection”. I am not altogether sure if Wesley’s convictions had “matured” away from his former heresies, but this sermon is not the same burden that he wrote about in “A Plain Account of Christian Perfection”. In this sermon Wesley is exactly aligned with the true teaching of scripture, unlike the deplorable address he formerly wrote, on what he called, “Christian Perfection”. This sermon is blessed, edifying, and accurate, but the former book is grievously erroneous and heretical, though not in a damnable sense. To be more specific, this sermon is an off-shooting contradiction to John Wesley’s former conviction on “sinless perfection” because here, in this sermon, Wesley is careful to define “doth not commit sin” as a “voluntary” and “outward transgression” of the written word of God, which means that, mind you, he is not maintaining that this scripture, “doth not commit sin”, ascribes to the possibility and actual experience of being free from all inward sin, but in “A Plain Account of Christian Perfection” Wesley is careful to state the contrary, that, according to him, “Christian perfection” is freedom from all inward and outward sin. This sermon, therefore, is a closer representation of what the saints at The Church of Wells ascribe to regarding the actual experience of saving grace and falling from it, relating to the process and progress of falling from it as a regenerated man. This sermon is of great value and edification because John’s explanation of the “new birth” experience is a well-written and worthy account, and later in the sermon, in the address in which he focuses on falling from grace, the clarity with which he describes the progress in which “the fall” happens does attest to the sudden instance in which, by following the progress, one falls from the security of, and actual experience in, present-continuous saving grace. John explains, in other words, the experience of going from sin to grace at conversion, and, on the contrary, the process and progress by which a saved man can go from grace to sin. “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief” (Prov. 24:16). This means that – it happens – a righteous man does fall into and is temporarily detained by a damnable-force of sin, but “if God permit” (Heb. 6:3) or “peradventure” (2 Tim. 2:25), by God’s sheep-pursuing and sheep-recovering grace (Ps. 119:176) the fallen man “riseth up again”, he is SAVED! And yet remember this, if the man falls without recovery therefrom, legally speaking, this is “the mischief” which was “of old ordained”, to “the wicked” (Jude 1:4, 1 Pet. 2:8), and thus shall he everlastingly remain (Ezek. 3:20, 18:22, 24, Jer. 23:39, Rev. 3:5). When a saint is fallen so that, then, salvation is irreversibly lost, or doctrinally speaking the man is “a castaway”, the choice belonged to and was made by a sovereign God. This means that at what instant this irreversible threshold is crossed, it is a point which is non-formulaic and incalculable to us, a point which was decided upon and chosen by God based upon circumstances we cannot understand, and anything we do understand it is by way of past examples of the inspired instruction written in the Bible (such as when, God said, “those men which have…tempted Me now these ten times”-Num. 14:22). Oh my brethren, let us understand the depths of our depravity, yes, but also the inner-workings of grace in relationship to our experiential salvation from our depravity! Vital reality with the Living God causes the saints to shout – “I am eternally secure!” – there is no doubt about this fact and no argument to refute it! But without vital reality with God all security is lost! Then let us learn this one thing, my brethren: our salvation is not in a transaction but a Person to whom we are reconciled by a transaction, therefore let us look away from the isolated transaction as a thing in and of itself, for it cannot exist in and of itself, but let us look to the Person of Christ, and as Paul Washer said, let us be terrified to take our eyes off of Him! “When what I love to hear is, ‘I’m looking unto Him! I’m looking unto Him, and would be terrified to take my eyes off of Him! I’m looking unto Jesus!” – Paul Washer "God's problem today is not communism, nor yet Romanism, nor liberalism, nor modernism. God's problem is - dead fundamentalism!" "Elijah made it as difficult as he could for the Lord. He wanted fire, but yet he soaked the sacrifice with water! God loves such holy boldness in our prayers. "Ask of Me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." (Psalm 2:8)
Oh, my ministering brethren! Much of our praying is but giving God advice. Our praying is discolored with ambition, either for ourselves or for our denomination. Perish the thought! Our goal must be God alone. It is His honor that is defiled, His blessed Son who is ignored, His laws broken, His name profaned, His book forgotten, His house made a circus of social efforts. Does God ever need more patience with His people than when they are "praying"? We tell Him what to do and then how to do it. We pass judgments and make appreciations in our prayers. In short, we do everything except pray! No Bible school can teach us this art. What Bible school has "prayer" on its curriculum? The most important thing a man can study is the prayer part of the book. But where is this taught? Let us strip off the last bandage and declare that many of our presidents and teachers do not pray, shed no tears, know no travail. Can they teach what they do not know? The man who can get believers to praying would, under God, usher in the greatest revival that the world has ever known. There is no fault in God. He is able. God "is able to do according to the power that worketh in us." God's problem today is not communism, nor yet Romanism, nor liberalism, nor modernism. God's problem is - dead fundamentalism! "So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth." - Rev. 3:16... Sin today is both glamorized and popularized, thrown into the ear by radio, thrown into the eye by television, and splashed on popular magazine covers. Churchgoers, sermon-sick and teaching-tired, leave the meeting as they entered it - visionless and passionless! Oh God, give this perishing generation ten thousand John the Baptists! Just as Moses could not mistake the sight of the burning bush, so a nation could not mistake the sight of a burning man! God meets fire with fire. John the Baptist was a new man with a new message. As a man accused of murder hears the dread cry of the judge, "Guilty!" and pales at it, so the crowd heard John's cry, "Repent!" until it rang down the corridors of their minds, stirred memory, bowed the conscience and brought them terror-stricken to repentance and baptism! After Pentecost, the onslaught of Peter, fresh from his fiery baptism of the Spirit, shook the crowd until as one man they cried out: "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Imagine someone telling these sin-stricken men, "Just sign a card! Attend church regularly! Pay your tithes!" No! A thousand times no!" "... If in our cultivated unbelief and our theological twilight and our spiritual powerlessness, we have grieved and are continuing to grieve Thy Holy Spirit, then in mercy spew us out of Thy mouth! If Thou cannot do something with us and through us, then please God, do something without us!" - by Leonard Ravenhill ("Why Revival Tarries") God’s HATRED – when beheld and agreed with – SAVES Mankind! My reader, the Biblical Doctrine of God's hatred is inextricably connected to God's love. These two attributes of God are in concert one with another so that, shockingly, one attribute cannot be rightly understood without the other. Any attempt made to understand these attributes isolated from each other, results in heresy. In other words, there is such a thing as Salvific Hatred: A hatred that saves mankind! For example, consider the following passages of scripture. A Salvific Hatred: “If any man come to Me, and HATE not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” – Luke 14:26, "He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." - John 12:25 Upon understanding the Biblical Doctrine of God's hatred we are enabled to understand the principles of God's love. My reader, let me explain. We all know that God loves mankind, right? But, if we do not know what is unlovable about mankind, we will misinterpret the principles of God's love. For most, it is not hard for them to believe God loves them because THEY LOVE THEMSELVES! But, when we are enabled to see what is unlovable and hateful about ourselves, we will see what is principally different about God's love for mankind in comparison to man's twisted love for himself. The Principles of God’s Love: God loves us in spite of who and what we are, not because of who and what we are; therefore the LORD does, without apology, hate us for who and what we are until, shockingly, He has killed us and hidden us in the Person named Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, in whom is justification, righteousness, and life. In truth, God's love is appreciated and received by those who behold and agree with God's hate! Thus, let us take a careful and studious look at the bounds of God's hatred, according to the scriptures. The Bounds of God’s Hatred: The essence and totality of human faculties that mankind does exist within as an ordinary (once-born) human being are entirely hated by God. This means that God hates the bodies and faculties of normal human beings, and even every body part! My reader, consider the fact that mankind is "fearfully and wonderfully made" by God in His very own "image" (Ps. 139:14, Gen. 1:26); this does not make the LORD less angry with us. This does not make us less guilty. On the contrary, because we are of more "value" to God than many sparrows (Matt. 10:31), and because we have been given the capacity of a relationship with Him... we stand all the more guilty before God because we have used our God-given bodies for the pleasures of sin! The value and worth of humanity have been reduced to bankruptcy and worthlessness, my reader! The image of God has been misrepresented and despised, days without number! For good reason, therefore, the apostle Peter spoke of sinful man... but do we agree? Are we in agreement with his assessment? "But these, as Natural Brute Beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption" (2 Pet. 2:12)! Peter's indictment of sinful man is the inevitable fate of every once-born human being on earth, according to the scriptures, and this is why, Jesus said, "Except a man be BORN AGAIN, he cannot see the Kingdom of God" (John 3:3). There is no hope in the first birth of mankind. Because of the deplorable, unacceptable, and hateful condition of every human being from birth-to-death, he or she must be born again! A second birth means just what it says - a New Life! - a radical change accomplished within mankind so that, without exaggeration, it is another birth! "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a New Creature: Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become New" (2 Cor. 5:17)! All this being said, my reader, might I ask a relevant question... Why does someone need to HATE his own life so as to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ? Does this seem harsh to you? Does this kind of word-usage seem uncalled for in your estimation? My reader, for the same reason that one must lose his life to save it, one must hate his own life. We must learn to hate and lose what God deems as despicable and unprofitable. This is why Jesus Christ unashamedly demanded, “Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny HIMSELF, and take up his CROSS, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel's, the same shall save it” (Mark 8:34-35). The truth is, if we are enabled to see God's hatred of our lives, the normal human life, we will be enabled to hate our own lives, to hate what He hates. Have you met the terms of discipleship? Have you met the terms of salvation laid-forth by the preaching of the Cross? "For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." - 1 Cor. 1:18 If you have NOT met the terms it is because you are not seeing yourself: who and what you are! If you saw yourself as God sees you, then it is certain... you would agree with God’s word and meet the terms of salvation via the Cross. God Almighty speaks very specifically and feelingly about His vantage point of judgment, the vantage point of judgment exercised from the loft of God’s glory in sinless perfection. From the loft of God’s sinless, innocent, and untainted HOLINESS, the Lord says the following of mankind whom He died to save! God HATES People Who… Prov. 16:5 (are proud in heart), Prov. 11:20 (are froward in heart), Ps. 11:5 (are wicked men and lovers of violence), Prov. 6:19 (are false witnesses), Prov. 6:19 (sow discord or cause divisions among the righteous), Ps. 5:4-5 (work iniquity). What are Normal & Once-born Humans? They Are… Ps. 51:5 (born in sin, with original sin), Rom. 3:10-11 (in a spiritual condition wherein it is impossible for them to seek after God), Eph. 2:1 (all spiritually dead men, dead to God and alive to sin). God HATES the Heart of Mankind Which is… Prov. 6:18 (a heart that devises wicked imaginations). The Danger of God’s Hatred: When the heart of normal humanity is, as God once described, one in which “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only even continually” (Gen. 6:5), this is a dangerous place to be! If humanity is left to themselves, having this caricature, God will be sorry that they were even created! He will not forbear to annihilate every human being on earth who has such a heart-condition. This heart-condition is nothing more than, the natural human mind. This is what the scripture calls, the carnal mind: “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is NOT subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:6-8). In such a state, as the aforementioned scripture declares, mankind cannot please God or be in subjection to God’s Law – not one second, not one minute, and not one hour of his entire lifetime! Doing everything or doing nothing, man exists as a spiritual enemy of God. Mankind does not merely displease God; they infuriate Him; and, fearfully, in the rousing flames of God’s wrath there exists a potential that such men will be given over to a reprobate mind (Rom. 1:28), a permanently blinded mind, an unrecoverable lost-ness in the deceptions of the human heart (2 Cor. 4:4, Jer. 17:9)! God HATES the Tongue, Lips, Throat, and Mouth of Mankind Which are… Prov. 6:17 (a lying tongue), Prov. 12:22 (lying lips). In Romans 3:13, God describes the human throat, tongue, and lips metaphorically and pictorially, descriptive to how the LORD feels these human body parts are to Him, spiritually speaking. It was written, “Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips” (Rom. 3:13). The human throat is here described as the vent through which the rotting souls of mankind (which are dead to God) release their disturbing and polluting fumes before the nostrils of God’s holy observance. The human lips are here described as an opening through which poison is released, like a snake’s lips. If this imagery is not communicative enough, the apostle James did further emphasize the destructive influence of the tongue. He called the tongue, “a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of HELL” (James 3:6). Such mouths, inflamed with iniquity, do pour out evil things (Prov. 15:28) and drink down iniquity (Job 15:15-16); they, as a bitter fountain, are “full of cursing and bitterness” (Rom. 3:14). This is fearful. God HATES the Feet of Mankind Which are… Prov. 6:18 (swift in running to mischief). With eyes fastened on forbidden desires (2 Pet. 2:14) and feet which run swiftly into mischief (Prov. 6:18), “having eyes full of adultery which cannot cease from sin” (2 Pet. 2:14) and ears stubbornly turned away from the edicts of the Law (Prov. 28:9) …even the prayers of mankind are an unendurable abomination to God! They are hateful to God. Men who are in the above situation – because of who they are and what they are! – live in dire need of one remedy: the Cross of Jesus Christ. God can save such men, yes, but only through the loss and utter death of self (Gal. 2:20) and nothing less! God CAN have mercy, IF the sin and the sinner dies (Gal. 5:24). There is hope, if freedom from self via an execution device - the Cross - is Good News! If the death that Christ died to sin is, in turn, the death that you desire to die to sin, my reader, and if the life that Christ lives to God is, irreversibly, the life that you desire to live to God (Rom. 6:1-12), then the Gospel terms are met and the Gospel powers are free for all! Nevertheless, let all men take heed! God is already set to hew down all men and cast them in the Lake of Fire like an orchard of corrupt trees is set-a-flame for fertilization and replanting. It is written, “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hew down, and cast into the fire” (Matt. 7:19). If you agree with this judgment of God, in truth, and desire a means of escape from the hateful and miserable sinner we all are, then believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved! He can be your personal Wrath-Absorber, Sin-Absolver, Grave-Redeemer, Hell-Deliverer, Life-Giver, and Heaven-Anchor! Call upon the name of the Lord Jesus, and you can be saved! It’s free. “For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the LORD shall be saved.” – Romans 10:13 He lives, you die... and that's it. Perhaps now you can understand the unfathomable riches of God's love revealed through Jesus Christ, my reader. If God died for those who are hateful and deserving of wrath, this is unconditional, unmerited, and undeserving LOVE! "But God commendeth His LOVE toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor. 5:21). Upon salvation, the wretched, hateful, and miserable SELF is legally annihilated and the inward man is regenerated into a New Man, in Christ Jesus. This New Creature, God not only loves... He delights in him (Mal. 2:17). This is wondrous grace indeed! "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." - 2 Cor. 5:17 A Normal Man - Saved by Grace! - A Relevant Sermon
The prophet in his day is fully accepted of God and totally rejected by men. Years back, Dr. Gregory Mantle was right when he said, "No man can be fully accepted until he is totally rejected." The prophet of the Lord is aware of both these experiences. They are his "brand name." The group, challenged by the prophet because they are smug and comfortably insulated from a perishing world in their warm but untested theology, is not likely to vote him "Man of the year" when he refers to them as habituates of the synagogue of Satan! The prophet comes to set up that which is upset. His work is to call into line those who are out of line! He is unpopular because he opposes the popular in morality and spirituality. In a day of faceless politicians and voiceless preachers, there is not a more urgent national need than that we cry to God for a prophet! The function of the prophet, as Austin-Sparks once said, "has almost always been that of recovery." The prophet is God's detective seeking for a lost treasure. The degree of his effectiveness is determined by his measure of unpopularity. Compromise is not known to him. He has no price tags. He is totally "otherworldly." He is unquestionably controversial and unpardonably hostile. He marches to another drummer! He breathes the rarefied air of inspiration. He is a "seer" who comes to lead the blind. He lives in the heights of God and comes into the valley with a "thus saith the Lord." He shares some of the foreknowledge of God and so is aware of impending judgment. He lives in "splendid isolation." He is forthright and outright, but he claims no birthright. His message is "repent, be reconciled to God or else...!" His prophecies are parried. His truth brings torment, but his voice is never void. He is the villain of today and the hero of tomorrow. He is excommunicated while alive and exalted when dead! He is dishonored with epithets when breathing and honored with epitaphs when dead. He is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, but few "make the grade" in his class. He is friendless while living and famous when dead. He is against the establishment in ministry; then he is established as a saint by posterity. He eats daily the bread of affliction while he ministers, but he feeds the Bread of Life to those who listen. He walks before men for days but has walked before God for years. He is a scourge to the nation before he is scourged by the nation. He announces, pronounces, and denounces! He has a heart like a volcano and his words are as fire. He talks to men about God. He carries the lamp of truth amongst heretics while he is lampooned by men. He faces God before he faces men, but he is self-effacing. He hides with God in the secret place, but he has nothing to hide in the marketplace. He is naturally sensitive but supernaturally spiritual. He has passion, purpose and pugnacity. He is ordained of God but disdained by men. Our national need at this hour is not that the dollar recover its strength, or that we save face over the Watergate affair, or that we find the answer to the ecology problem. We need a God-sent prophet! I am bombarded with talk or letters about the coming shortages in our national life: bread, fuel, energy. I read between the lines from people not practiced in scaring folk. They feel that the "seven years of plenty" are over for us. The "seven years of famine" are ahead. But the greatest famine of all in this nation at this given moment is a FAMINE OF THE HEARING OF THE WORDS OF GOD (Amos 8:11). Millions have been spent on evangelism in the last twenty-five years. Hundreds of gospel messages streak through the air over the nation every day. Crusades have been held; healing meetings have made a vital contribution. "Come-outers" have "come out" and settled, too, without a nation-shaking revival. Organizers we have. Skilled preachers abound. Multi-million dollar Christian organizations straddle the nation. BUT where, oh where, is the prophet? Where are the incandescent men fresh from the holy place? Where is the Moses to plead in fasting before the holiness of the Lord for our moldy morality, our political perfidy,and sour and sick spirituality? GOD'S MEN ARE IN HIDING UNTIL THE DAY OF THEIR SHOWING FORTH. They will come. The prophet is violated during his ministry, but he is vindicated by history. There is a terrible vacuum in evangelical Christianity today. The missing person in our ranks is the prophet. The man with a terrible earnestness. The man totally otherworldly. The man rejected by other men, even other good men, because they consider him too austere, too severely committed, too negative and unsociable. Let him be as plain as John the Baptist. Let him for a season be a voice crying in the wilderness of modern theology and stagnant "churchianity." Let him be as selfless as Paul the apostle. Let him, too, say and live, "This ONE thing I do." Let him reject ecclesiastical favors. Let him be self-abasing, non self-seeking, non self-projecting, non self- righteous, non self-glorying, non self-promoting. Let him say nothing that will draw men to himself but only that which will move men to God. Let him come daily from the throne room of a holy God, the place where he has received the order of the day. Let him, under God, unstop the ears of the millions who are deaf through the clatter of shekels milked from this hour of material mesmerism. Let him cry with a voice this century has not heard because he has seen a vision no man in this century has seen. God send us this Moses to lead us from the wilderness of crass materialism, where the rattlesnakes of lust bite us and where enlightened men, totally blind spiritually, lead us to an ever-nearing Armageddon. God have mercy! Send us PROPHETS! What are your personal hobbies? What are your daily or weekly recreational activities? Do "they" line up with the confines of scripture? Do you desire to be a biblical Christian? Then let us examine our "activities" in the light of Holy Scripture! Here are three quotes from men of God which are thought-provoking on this matter: "Entertainment is the devil's substitute for joy. The more joy you have in the Lord the less entertainment you need.when you can say, 'Thou, O Christ, art all I want.' But listen, be careful: it may strip you of everything else you have; you may lose some of your best friends who think you're fanatical; they don't mind you being kind or good, but you become holy and zealous." - Leonard Ravenhill "Prayer is taxing. Prayer is exacting. Prayer means enduring. Prayer means denying self, a daily dying by choice. But someone says, 'There's nothing wrong in going fishing for a couple of hours.' Maybe not if you are prayed up. Yet there is something wrong when we go fishing or do some other thing without the Spirit's leading. It is wrong when instead of praying we do things just to please others. There cannot be two operators of the Christian's life. We are either Spirit led in everything or self led." - Leonard Ravenhill "Note, When we are, upon any account, disabled from following our worldly business, and taken off from it, we should spend our time rather in the exercises of piety and devotion (in acquainting ourselves with the works of God and praising him in them) than in foolish idle sports and recreations. When our hands are sealed up our hearts should be thus opened, and the less we have at any time to do in the world the more we should thereby be driven to our Bibles and our knees." -Matthew Henry For deeper insight and careful examination into this topic, please see the insightful commentary of Richard Baxter on the subject: "Directions for Amusements and Recreations" by Richard Baxter
What is needed desperately today is prophetic insight. Scholars can interpret the past; it takes prophets to interpret the present. Learning will enable a man to pass judgment on our yesterdays, but it requires a gift of clear seeing to pass sentence on our own day. One hundred years from now historians will know what was taking place religiously in this year of our Lord; but that will be too late for us. We should know right now.
If Christianity is to receive a rejuvenation it must be by other means than any now being used. If the church in the second half of this century is to recover from the injuries she suffered in the first half, there must appear a new type of preacher. The proper, ruler-of-the-synagogue type will never do. Neither will the priestly type of man who carries out his duties, takes his pay and asks no questions, nor the smooth-talking pastoral type who knows how to make the Christian religion acceptable to everyone. All these have been tried and found wanting. Another kind of religious leader must arise among us. He must be of the old prophet type, a man who has seen visions of God and has heard a voice from the Throne. When he comes (and I pray God there will be not one but many) he will stand in flat contradiction to everything our smirking, smooth civilization holds dear. He will contradict, denounce and protest in the name of God and will earn the hatred and opposition of a large segment of Christendom. Such a man is likely to be lean, rugged, blunt-spoken and a little bit angry with the world. He will love Christ and the souls of men to the point of willingness to die for the glory of the one and the salvation of the other. But he will fear nothing that breathes with mortal breath. We need to have the gifts of the Spirit restored again to the church, and it is my belief that the one gift we need most now is the gift of prophecy. -A.W. Tozer, from 'Of God and Men'.
"Slander and calumny must always precede and accompany persecution, because malice itself cannot excite people against a good man, as such; to do this, he must first be represented as a bad man. What can be said of those who are busied in this manner, but that they are a “generation of vipers,” the brood of the old “Serpent,” that grand accuser and calumniator of the brethren, having under their tongues a bag of “poison.” conveying instant death to the reputation on which they fasten. Thus David was hunted as a rebel, Christ was crucified as a blasphemer, and the primitive Christians were tortured as guilty of incest and murder." - George Horne "Religion and its serious professors have been always and every where evil spoken of. Though there is nothing in religion but what is very good, and deserves our highest regards, both as it is perfective of our natures and as it is subservient to our truest and highest interests; yet this sect, as its enemies are pleased to call it, is every where spoken against, Acts 28:22." -Matthew Henry "It ill becomes the servant to seek to be rich, and great, and honoured in that world where his Lord was poor, and mean, and despised." ~George Muller "It is a poor sermon that gives no offense; that neither makes the hearer displeased with himself nor with the preacher" ~George Whitefield |
AuthorSean Morris Archives
July 2020
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