In the area of church discipline, here’s where we are now: If your church is evangelistic, you're probably too careful about not offending people to exercise any church discipline, unless it’s to quietly reprimand the offender to make them uncomfortable, and hopefully they leave the church. But if a guy is known as living with a woman, and they show up together Sunday morning, week after week (definitely a need for church action), many churches won’t do a thing, on the grounds of wanting them to keep hearing the gospel. In some evangelical churches, many times the only real "church discipline" might occur if you question the pastor’s authority, or point out where Scripture seems to differ from what is being taught. That person might get the left foot of fellowship.
Some churches take an opposite approach. If they do exercise serious discipline, like shunning, they go overboard on applying it too much; the cults are big at this. My point is, seldom are the Scripture's rules on church discipline used as a guideline any more—which is too bad, since the rules are laid out there in detail and are easily understandable--and are meant to keep a healthy church, free of unsaved people who sneak in and destroy God's local light of evangelism and fellowship.
So, let’s take a look at what churches should be doing, by looking at Scripture. There are graduating steps. First, let’s say you, a regular churchgoer, have a problem with another person at church; they are definitely in sin, which has hurt you. Let’s say you confronted them, exhorted them, but their only reaction was feeling victimized--or they ignore you. If you are close to the Lord, you know this sin hurts them and the church you both attend, so something has to be done. The next step, in most cases will be in Matthew 18:15-16:
“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’
The church is an interested party if anger and bitterness among its members have negatively affected its evangelistic light. (We'll assume when they became members, they knew about this brand of accountability being expected in church bylaws). The church's role in this situation is to provide objective witnesses trying to get at the truth, and render solid advice to repair relationships. But--in today’s society, if you tell one of the offenders that you’re bringing a couple witnesses to listen and talk to him, it’s unlikely that he will even meet with you. But bringing witnesses are necessary—they are important for validating what was said, critical in later steps below. (By the way, though I'm using male pronouns, all these rules work for women too). Let’s say he does meet with you and the witnesses (which are, hopefully, not just your friends at church). But, in the end, he still won’t agree with you. Then it’s time for step 2, in Matthew 18:17a:
And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church.
This means telling the senior pastor or counseling person. They will need to check out your story by asking you, him, maybe a couple others some questions. Getting the church administration involved could be a big step. Do you have mature people in leadership who will follow the Scripture’s discipline rules? Hopefully. Then there is another problem: Your problem person might react like the church is “ganging up” on him, and just mentally make himself the victim—so it may make him even less likely to repent. On the other hand, if he’s got a long history with the church, his next step could be to round up his church friends, make everything “your side vs my side,” and may even split the church. The success of all this depends on whether most church members choose to follow Scripture--or do they follow charismatic personality instead, even if that person is hurting the church?
So here’s what SHOULD happen next if the church leaders feel you have a genuine case, have checked out all the facts, and have the courage to actually do church discipline—I Timothy 5:20:
Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear.
Wow, a public rebuke. Scripture doesn't list what sins are serious enough to get into this stage of treatment; it’s the elders’ call. They shouldn’t shirk from it, since God may want to “prune” His disobedient church member (John 15:1-6) to make him better, and the pastor has proper authority, by Scripture, to do a public rebuke to a member. Keep in mind, I remind you, that it is all done in love, with the goal of bringing this person to repentance and reconciliation. It has a side benefit, as stated above: “the rest also may fear.” (I have a blog on the benefits of a fear of God; there are many, many Scriptures that speak of it.) Ideally, in the public event, the offender, who has been told, is present. If he is not there, do it anyway. I know this sounds contrarian, but the reprimand should seek to make sure as many church members as possible are there, too. If everyone hears all the details of the case and the reprimand, there will be fewer rumors and lies that fester and grow later.
Most churches today would really be shocked and anxious when they hear about such an upcoming public rebuke, it's so rare it happens anymore, so the pastor has to prepare them Scripturally for it. Some of the regular attendees will leave the church even before the public rebuke, and some after, since the church no longer served their purpose as the comfy place where they can relax and do whatever they want, sin as much as they want, without accountability. Don't worry about losing such members.
This public rebuking was done in the earliest days of the Church—and we’re not talking about Salem, or The Inquisition here. We’re talking about the Acts 2-5 church, the most powerful, Spirit-infused church in history—so the public rebuke wasn’t harmful to church evangelism of the Gospel—I believe it was part of the reason why they were the most effective church in history. So, you may lose some weaker members—this may not be bad. As Gideon proved, you can accomplish more for Him by obeying His difficult Word—in this case, properly exercising church discipline--even though you’re now operating with fewer in number. Accomplishing more for God--that is what you want, right? Not just a puffed-up membership number.
Well, the disobedient one may not show up for “the reprimand,” or even if he shows up, maybe his heart is hardened and he will not change his mind. Now what do you do, as a church? Matthew 18:17b shows us the next step:
But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.
What does that mean, “let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.” Well, don’t just assume this means “shunning.” Yes, you’ll find that in the Old Testament, where the Pharisees ruled. But, why do we care about how the Pharisees thought, whom Jesus condemned? We're under a new covenant, the New Testament, which has our instructions. Instead, let's look at how Jesus treated the heathens and tax collectors. (The tax collectors were Jews who collected taxes for Rome. Some cheated on the books and made themselves rich. Not a beloved crew).There are plenty of verses on this. Consider Mark 2:16-17:
And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
As an aside, Jesus is not saying the Pharisees are righteous; it’s more like self-righteous, and “those who are well” really means “well in your own eyes.” These are the proper definitions of the Greek--and thus we see His sarcasm of the Pharisees. The point is, He had no problem mingling with the sinners and tax collectors—in fact, it was one of the charges against Him at His trial. He did good things with the Gentiles (non-Jews), as well--such as the Roman centurion and the Samaritan woman. The Jews normally refused to even speak to Samaritans. He also went into their homes. More fascinating reading is Luke 19:5-7, the story of Zacchaeus, a Jewish tax collector:
And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. 7 But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.”
Note that in later verses, Zacchaeus believes in Jesus and performs righteous acts of large amounts of alms for the poor and people he offended. So Jesus' testimony was effective. Even though he was a known sinner, and might have even stolen from his Jewish brothers, Jesus just wanted to save souls, and this man had a sincere salvation experience. The best place to evangelize is among people who are humbled and low in life, unloved by the masses.
Well, then, did all this carrying on with the obscure sinful folk mean that Jesus winked at sin, and caroused with sinners? Not at all; Jesus wanted to bring salvation to as many people as He could. Sometimes people are reached through hard rebuke—Jesus did those at other times. Other times, it was by love—such as with Zacchaeus.
So, are we done with church discipline? No, you need to know a little more history: Jesus knew that no “sinner” or Gentile or tax collector could ever be a member of a synagogue. They were denied sacred ritual. This in itself was a serious disciplinary rebuke. In the same way today, I’m saying, after a public rebuke, the unrepentant sinner should not be allowed Communion, or the Lord’s Supper, which is, after all, a channel of grace—thus he is “ex-communicated.” (Ex-communication, for several hundred years, was a fearful situation to be in, and was often used as a weapon to get people to toe the "proper" doctrinal line.) Communion was so important to the early Church that it was celebrated weekly—even daily, for some. They were so strict on this, that in the case of a serious sin, even if a person were repentant, the early church might still keep him in ex-communication for awhile longer to test out the sincerity of his repentance. In those early days, if you denied Christ under persecution, let’s say, then later wanted to repent and rejoin the church, you could still be denied Communion for ten years. I remind you, this delay of reinstatement had to do with really serious sins. The sinner needed to be reminded of the gravity of his sin, and the church wanted to know if he is really serious in his repentance.
Ex-communication doesn't have the effect on people that it once did, but it still should be used. It could still be advised for a lesser sin, after public rebuke has failed to work. As an example, in earlier days, women were supposed to wear head covering, as commanded in I Corinthians 11. It was a sign of her headship being her husband (so this idea might not fly nowadays). So let's say she "forgets" her head covering (actually an act of rebellion). It might mean she couldn’t take communion for that week. If she continues to forget for months, she should be subjected to public rebuke, and taught about Scripture's roles for wives and husbands, and the grave importance of Communion.
It was a judgment call, then as now, for elders to decide on this chastising. An unrepentant sinner might never have Communion again. In the middle ages, that was enough for him to feel that he lost his salvation. Now its importance is casually ignored. We will pay the price for being casual about adult baptism and Communion; they are important instruments of maintaining salvation.
Getting back to the present subject, the unrepentant sinner, still stubborn after a public rebuke, has not only lost Communion, but he is not a “member in good standing,” either-- which means he can go to meetings, but only as a listener. Not as a speaker, or voter. But here’s what separates Scripture from cults: at this level, for unrepentant sinners, based on what Jesus did above for Zacchaeus, and others, it’s OK for regular members to socially get together with them. You're not at the shunning stage yet. But, in your getting together with them, still carry a good testimony; the real goal is the desire to gently nudge them to reconciliation. After all, if the sin involves his unmerciful attitude, or unwillingness to forgive, he could be unsaved just because of that. Consider Matthew 6:15:
…if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
A word of warning here: we cannot say someone has lost his salvation, because Scripture says we often can’t tell the wheat from the tares (Matthew 13:29, 30).
So Scripture teaches a delicate mix (shunning them from the sacred ritual, but not shunning them from church society). This is what God decided through Scripture to handle this situation at this point.
I want to remind you: The pastor who refuses to wade deep into discipline is not a friend of the flock. After all, he has treated Scripture lightly, besides turning his head on evil deeds—that’s a bad example. He will be judged by God on judgment day.
Now, let’s move on to the next level and when it’s activated. Read I Corinthians 5:11:
But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.
Keep in mind that this person would have already gone through public rebuke and ex-communication. Now we're talking about breaking away socially as well, almost complete shunning, and this level is for the most serious of sins: Someone who was, or claimed to be, a brother and has done one of these terrible things, you are not to eat or socialize with them. (But you could, of course, attempt to save them if they were drowning, or you could do a good deed for them, as Christ commanded even for an enemy). This seriousness is in contrast with the woman who refused to have head coverings. While she might never have communion, if she stayed in rebellion, she could still socialize with believers, since her sins would not be as serious as those listed here. Other lists of serious sins are: Ephesians 5:3-5, I Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians 5:19-21, and Revelation 21:8. They do not all list the exact same serious sins, but they’re very close. It shouldn’t be hard to decide when to take this step. Note the phrase above, "anyone named a brother." By his behavior, he has denied His Savior. Unrepentant denial of our Savior could mean eternity in hell (Matthew 10:33).
One other set of verses is a serious enough sin to place it in this level of discipline: it's in II Thessalonians 3:6-15:
But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you; 8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, 9 not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. 10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. 11 For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner… 14 And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. 15 Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
Thus, living off welfare with no intention to work was a serious sin to be added to this level of discipline.
In all these above verses, keep one thing in mind: All those verses speak of an UNREPENTANT sinner, who has/is attending church as a "Christian," doing those things. Every saved person should know repentance. God loves us enough to clean us from sin and obtain forgiveness if we are repentant at the foot of the Cross.
Next let's talk about the “total shunning” level: This is reserved for those who are bringing a doctrine that says Christ has not come in the flesh. In the church’s early days, the target of this one was the Gnostics. In their mysterious religion, they had two gods; the inferior god created an inferior race, Man. But the perfect Jesus couldn’t come to earth as a man, they said, which is inferior, so in His appearances, He wasn’t really flesh and blood. This heresy is spoken about in II John 10-11:
For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist…10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; 11 for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.
It’s the phrase “nor greet him” that makes this level of discipline unique. That’s total shunning. Is there a limit to the shun? I guess it’s OK to save him if he were drowning, but I don’t know—what if he’s heavier, what if he’s thrashing wildly? I’d think about it for awhile, hmmm. No, I’m just kidding. You don’t take shunning THAT far. This person is a true enemy of God's people, but don't forget, Christ said we should still love and pray for our enemies. But they're kryptonite, and working with the devil to destroy the Church.
Anyway, these are the levels of church discipline. May God help us to pray that our church leaders will have courage to exercise these things before some really bad people start secretly tearing things down in our church. Let’s stay Scriptural, with lots of love and firmness to go around.
Acknowledgement: Dave Bercot, CD: Church Discipline, Scroll Publishing.
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
A Radical Truth: Jesus Taught That We are Not to Accumulate Wealth (Part 1)
Jesus taught us a strange and radical doctrine: that we are not to accumulate wealth. He made two commands that together form this doctrine. The doctrine is further supported in Acts and in the Pauline epistles. The first command I will cover here in Part I. It is found in Matthew 6:19-20:
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Since the Greek for “treasures” means “concentration of wealth,” Jesus is clearly commanding us not to accumulate wealth assets on earth. This command is radical—and seldom preached. Dr. William MacDonald, late president of Emmaus Bible College, author of 84 published books, had this to say in his Believers Bible Commentary about these two verses:
“…contains some of the most revolutionary teachings of our Lord—and some of the most neglected. In verses 19-21 Jesus contravenes all human advice to provide for a financially secure future (Thus he’s saying “wealth assets” include retirement funds)… This teaching forces us to decide whether Jesus meant what He said. If He did, then we face the question, “What are we going to do with our earthly treasures?” If He didn‘t, then we face the question, “What are we going to do with our Bible?””
Most Christians don’t even think about the real meaning of the Matthew verses; they are either reading their Bibles without asking the Holy Spirit for interpretation; or their pastors, when covering this Scripture, have distorted the teaching to make it more palatable--such as emphasizing our “attitude” about our possessions. They often tell us that our sin here is to “treasure in our heart” our possessions. Unfortunately, that severely changes the verse, detracting from its clear meaning of not accumulating assets to “watching our heart attitude of coveting,” a much more vague concept--and one easily dismissible--so, they conclude, "I'm not sinning if I'm not coveting." We thus can forget the radical demand of the verse if we’re in a complacent mood (which we usually are). But the verse should be taken literally; it is simply a command not to lay up, or “store.” To preach that we need to look first at our heart to determine whether our possessions are our “treasure” is the exact opposite of what the verse says: as Jesus says in verse 21: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Jesus knows (better than we do) that if our treasures are on earth, then the heart’s desire is earthly as well.
For further proof, let’s go to Luke 12:16-20. Here is a man who simply wants to be a saver, an investor—normal godly traits, we assume. If we didn’t read the verses that follow, we would assert that he is a model of wise behavior:
"The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17 He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' 18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." ' 20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
This man DIES, seemingly, for being a wise planner! Hmmm. God evidently does not see the virtue of “saving” as we see it (not a surprise, actually; see Isaiah 55:8). What was the sin of the rich man, that he was called a “fool?” Was it that he forgot to ask God’s advice on what to do with his riches? Was it his intent on laziness? His pride? Well, Jesus answers that question in the next verse. Did Jesus say, “So is he who forgets to seek counsel from God?” Or, “ so is he who is proud?” No; Jesus says in the next verse:
“So is he that lays up treasure for himself.”
Let me emphasize this: His sin that made him a fool and paid with his life--was laying up treasure, accumulating wealth assets--the same sin as Matthew 6. People, this is a financial life-changing doctrine. This kind of saving is a SIN! Meditate on it. Let’s call this concept Jesus’ command to Non-Accumulate. I suspect that pastors generally don’t believe that non-accumulation is a genuine command. They say, “Jesus cannot be teaching us to be so imprudent. What if I lose my job? If I haven’t saved some wealth, what could happen to me and my family? Jesus must be using allegory here; or, He doesn’t mean this for everyone at all times. So, since it is not a real command, I can ignore it.” Well, there are two answers to this train of thought. The first answer is: If it’s a command, it’s a command to obey, no questions asked. Our job is to obey it, not explain it away because it might leave us feeling insecure. God knows better than us. We can’t always know why. We should have faith in a loving God as His children that He will sort out the repercussions to our best spiritual interest. The second answer is: Where is your faith in God’s power? Jesus knows our concern here and answers it only a few verses later—in Matthew 6:26 and 31-32:
Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?…So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
In other words, trust in God, not in yourself (your savings). Look, we all need to see God at work more, to know that He is real. What better way to experience this than seeing God rescue us from a financial tough spot? If He doesn’t rescue in a tight spot, maybe He is telling us: Hey, how did you get in that spot? Overspending? Maybe we need to get less worldly in the use of our money and time. A second possibility may be that He wants to teach us not to buy an item yet—teaching us patience, or maybe we would use it to indulge in some sin, or idolize it, pulling us farther away from Him. In any of these, we should leave ourselves open to God speaking to us—which He can only do if we don’t just fall back on our savings or credit card, our own security, for rescue. Families with kids living with them should get their children involved too. If you and your kids actually plead with God and then see God rescuing you, or if God refines worldly desires from your family, you—and the kids—are more likely, from that personal touch from Him, to be “sold out” for the Lord. Isn’t that where you want your family to be? What would really sell the kids—and do good for humanity—would be to use your extra cash to give to the needy (to be discussed later) rather than add to savings. By giving away your savings, you test Him (Malachi 3:10). He will be happy to show that He is your security, not your reserve savings. You are not insecure. According to Psalm 37:25, you are not vulnerable to poverty if you are in the center of God’s will. You can’t be in that wonderful place by trusting in yourself rather than God.
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Since the Greek for “treasures” means “concentration of wealth,” Jesus is clearly commanding us not to accumulate wealth assets on earth. This command is radical—and seldom preached. Dr. William MacDonald, late president of Emmaus Bible College, author of 84 published books, had this to say in his Believers Bible Commentary about these two verses:
“…contains some of the most revolutionary teachings of our Lord—and some of the most neglected. In verses 19-21 Jesus contravenes all human advice to provide for a financially secure future (Thus he’s saying “wealth assets” include retirement funds)… This teaching forces us to decide whether Jesus meant what He said. If He did, then we face the question, “What are we going to do with our earthly treasures?” If He didn‘t, then we face the question, “What are we going to do with our Bible?””
Most Christians don’t even think about the real meaning of the Matthew verses; they are either reading their Bibles without asking the Holy Spirit for interpretation; or their pastors, when covering this Scripture, have distorted the teaching to make it more palatable--such as emphasizing our “attitude” about our possessions. They often tell us that our sin here is to “treasure in our heart” our possessions. Unfortunately, that severely changes the verse, detracting from its clear meaning of not accumulating assets to “watching our heart attitude of coveting,” a much more vague concept--and one easily dismissible--so, they conclude, "I'm not sinning if I'm not coveting." We thus can forget the radical demand of the verse if we’re in a complacent mood (which we usually are). But the verse should be taken literally; it is simply a command not to lay up, or “store.” To preach that we need to look first at our heart to determine whether our possessions are our “treasure” is the exact opposite of what the verse says: as Jesus says in verse 21: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Jesus knows (better than we do) that if our treasures are on earth, then the heart’s desire is earthly as well.
For further proof, let’s go to Luke 12:16-20. Here is a man who simply wants to be a saver, an investor—normal godly traits, we assume. If we didn’t read the verses that follow, we would assert that he is a model of wise behavior:
"The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17 He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' 18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." ' 20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
This man DIES, seemingly, for being a wise planner! Hmmm. God evidently does not see the virtue of “saving” as we see it (not a surprise, actually; see Isaiah 55:8). What was the sin of the rich man, that he was called a “fool?” Was it that he forgot to ask God’s advice on what to do with his riches? Was it his intent on laziness? His pride? Well, Jesus answers that question in the next verse. Did Jesus say, “So is he who forgets to seek counsel from God?” Or, “ so is he who is proud?” No; Jesus says in the next verse:
“So is he that lays up treasure for himself.”
Let me emphasize this: His sin that made him a fool and paid with his life--was laying up treasure, accumulating wealth assets--the same sin as Matthew 6. People, this is a financial life-changing doctrine. This kind of saving is a SIN! Meditate on it. Let’s call this concept Jesus’ command to Non-Accumulate. I suspect that pastors generally don’t believe that non-accumulation is a genuine command. They say, “Jesus cannot be teaching us to be so imprudent. What if I lose my job? If I haven’t saved some wealth, what could happen to me and my family? Jesus must be using allegory here; or, He doesn’t mean this for everyone at all times. So, since it is not a real command, I can ignore it.” Well, there are two answers to this train of thought. The first answer is: If it’s a command, it’s a command to obey, no questions asked. Our job is to obey it, not explain it away because it might leave us feeling insecure. God knows better than us. We can’t always know why. We should have faith in a loving God as His children that He will sort out the repercussions to our best spiritual interest. The second answer is: Where is your faith in God’s power? Jesus knows our concern here and answers it only a few verses later—in Matthew 6:26 and 31-32:
Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?…So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
In other words, trust in God, not in yourself (your savings). Look, we all need to see God at work more, to know that He is real. What better way to experience this than seeing God rescue us from a financial tough spot? If He doesn’t rescue in a tight spot, maybe He is telling us: Hey, how did you get in that spot? Overspending? Maybe we need to get less worldly in the use of our money and time. A second possibility may be that He wants to teach us not to buy an item yet—teaching us patience, or maybe we would use it to indulge in some sin, or idolize it, pulling us farther away from Him. In any of these, we should leave ourselves open to God speaking to us—which He can only do if we don’t just fall back on our savings or credit card, our own security, for rescue. Families with kids living with them should get their children involved too. If you and your kids actually plead with God and then see God rescuing you, or if God refines worldly desires from your family, you—and the kids—are more likely, from that personal touch from Him, to be “sold out” for the Lord. Isn’t that where you want your family to be? What would really sell the kids—and do good for humanity—would be to use your extra cash to give to the needy (to be discussed later) rather than add to savings. By giving away your savings, you test Him (Malachi 3:10). He will be happy to show that He is your security, not your reserve savings. You are not insecure. According to Psalm 37:25, you are not vulnerable to poverty if you are in the center of God’s will. You can’t be in that wonderful place by trusting in yourself rather than God.
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
The Nation Israel Has Been Rejected by God
Have you ever walked into a Christian bookstore looking for End Times material, and were puzzled about the number of books on Israel? That’s probably because, either the bookstore is owned by dispensationalists —or because the bookstore simply buys what they know sells—and dispensational books sell. But there are problems with this doctrine.
The purpose of this paper is to give you a thumbnail sketch of dispensational doctrine, so that you can see the one tenet by which everything else in this doctrine hangs. If we blow that tenet up, through Scripture, then the whole doctrine collapses.
Per Wikipedia, dispensationalism is defined as “an evangelical, futurist, Biblical interpretation that understands God to have related to human beings in…“dispensations,” or periods in history…expounded in the writings of John Nelson Darby (1800-82) and the Plymouth Brethren movement, and propagated through…Scofield Reference Bibles…they hold to a pretribulation rapture…they believe that the nation of Israel is distinct from the Christian Church, and that God has yet to fulfill His promises to national Israel. These promises include…a millennial kingdom and a Third Temple where Christ, upon His return, will rule the world from Jerusalem for a thousand years…. Dispensationalists also believe that toward the end of the Tribulation, Israel as a nation will turn and embrace Jesus as their messiah right before his second coming during the Great Tribulation…the Church, though, is a "parenthesis" or temporary interlude in the progress of Israel's prophesied history.”
Sorry about the long definition. Now here is their timeline of relevant events of the last days: With no prior specific warning, the Rapture comes—when Christ comes, and all alive at the time who have had faith in Jesus will be called up by Christ to meet Him in the clouds, and onward to heaven. That means, of course, that those who are left on earth will all be unsaved, and will immediately endure seven years of tribulation and persecution by the antichrist. Somehow (despite no saved people to start with), a huge evangelism effort (presumably led by 144,000 newly-saved Jews) will lead a huge number of additional Jews and newly-saved Gentiles to Christ, who will face off against the antichrist at Armageddon, when Christ comes to strike down the enemy. That ushers in the Millennium, ruled by mostly Jews; and then after a short rebellion, there is final judgment—when the unsaved of all ages are tried and sent to the lake of fire.
You can see how their idea of a rapture, followed by the tribulation, came to be called “pre-tribulation rapture.” What you may not know is that this idea was unheard of through the first 1800 years of the Church. Great, godly men, including men who were disciples of the apostles, didn’t come up with that idea, and suddenly it appeared in the early 1830s. Until 1830, those who held a futurist view almost universally felt that there is still coming a great tribulation, after which the saved are raptured, followed immediately by a great judgment for saved and unsaved.
So you see, Darby’s “pre-trib rapture” idea switches those two events—the tribulation-then-rapture becomes a rapture-then-tribulation for him. Mr. Darby, despite the fact that his idea was the new one, called other churches “apostates.”
But I’m not here to discuss the timing of the rapture and tribulation. I have written three blogs on the subject, very carefully laying it all out by clear Scripture (hint: It doesn’t agree with Mr. Darby). What I want to question is indicated in my italicized statements in the definition above. I’m speaking of their claims that (1) God has promises to fulfill to the Jews; and (2) the Church is a “parenthesis,” or temporary interlude, in the progress of Israel’s prophesied history. You can see how that second tenet, in particular, is crucial to their whole doctrine—they believe that with the Christians raptured to heaven, the church is out of the way (it was only a parenthesis, anyhow), and God can resume His promises to the Jews. So all subsequent events on earth after the rapture feature the Jews. The 144,000 Jews are massive evangelists, and the Jews rule the Millennium.
My problem with his theory is this: Scripture indicates, instead, that God has rejected Israel as a fleshly nation. Further, in the present church age, the Church—saved Gentiles and Jews--is God’s “Israel” today. All Christians are sons of Abraham. Saved people are all one people—God doesn’t have two programs for two peoples, as dispensationalists allege. The “saints” mentioned several times in Revelation are saved Gentiles and Jews, together. The Millennium will be ruled by the saints—Jews and Gentiles. The Church is not a “parenthesis” to God; we carry the Holy Spirit, we are Jesus’ body—we represent Jesus in exercising compassion and rescue in the tribulation—we have a vital part to play in that time of great suffering and spiritual battle. I will easily prove these facts by Scripture. Scripture is so clear on this, frankly, that the only reason someone could believe dispensationalist doctrine is because either (1) the idea of God rejecting people that He once blessed is an unacceptable thought to them; (2) rejecting the Jews sounds anti-Semitic; or (3) dispensationalist thought is attractive-- it asserts that Christians “get outta town” (via Rapture) before the bad days of the tribulation comes. Getting to watch the tribulation from heaven sure sounds better than being in the thick of it.
Of the three reasons listed for liking dispensationalism, I can challenge two of them right away (the third will be covered in my main points below): (1) Whom God rejects depends simply on his or her reaction to His clearly-worded Scripture about redemption through Christ, and the required righteous life. Unfortunately, most people don’t truly love God—their lives ignore God. So God, in turn, has to reject them—in the end, most people want to run their own lives, and make themselves the god of their lives. So He has to consign most people to hell for their disobedience. Matthew 7:13-14 speaks clearly about life (heaven) and destruction (hell). Note that heaven is attained for a small minority of people:
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
(2) As to marking me as anti-Semite: I’m just following Scripture in my analysis. The Jews had a part in killing Our Lord, as you know. Consider Mark 15:12-14:
Pilate answered and said to them again, “What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?” 13 So they cried out again, “Crucify Him!” 14 Then Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they cried out all the more, “Crucify Him!”
We’re not just talking about the Pharisees crying out here—there weren’t enough of them to make a noise. Pilate felt Jesus was innocent, but was afraid that the noise and hate meant he would have a riot on his hands if he didn’t shed blood that they wanted; so that means the majority of Jews present were screaming—thus, the majority of them rejected Him. So the majority of Jews were guilty. And Pilate (a Gentile) could have had a spine, too, but believed Jesus was disposable. So that makes Gentiles guilty too (heavy discussion of this in the first several chapter of the book of Romans). Everyone’s sins doom us before a holy God who cannot stand sin. Without Christ, our Advocate, we are lost. Salvation is available—but only one way to attain it.
Now let’s get to our main point: God has rejected Israel as a fleshly nation. Scripture below will make that point forcefully. God’s Old Testament prophecy of the Jews’ unfaithfulness was in the mouths of all His prophets, as far back as Moses. Read Deuteronomy 31:16-17a:
And the LORD said to Moses: “Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. 17 Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured.
Note that God said He would forsake them. The Jews could have repented of their unfaithfulness, and God would take them back, with His forgiving heart; but instead they killed the prophets. As the prophets predicted, the Jews were, in time, captured and made slaves, but later a small ragged group returned to the land. If you felt that that little return meant God forgave the Jews—that is not the case. The few who returned were not a free people for long after the return, being taken over by Rome.
God begins the New Testament with the same theme of rejection, starting with John the Baptist in Matthew 3:9:
…and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
(I have blogs on the subject of good fruit being crucial to salvation). John was bluntly telling the Jews that they won’t get to heaven on their genes—being a Jew doesn’t get you there. Thus, the Jews were still failing heaven by relying on the wrong source.
Jesus is even more violent with words than John, in John 8: 22-47:
So the Jews said, “Will He kill Himself, because He says, ‘Where I go you cannot come’?” 23 And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”…33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants 34 Jesus answered them,…37 “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, 39 They said to Him…we have one Father—God.”…42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; …44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.…47 He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”
Note the beginning words, "the Jews said...and note His reply: "you will die in your sins..." Calling the majority of Jews sons of the devil couldn’t be printed in America without getting into trouble today, but it’s Scriptural. Jesus even called the Pharisees “serpents, brood of vipers” in Matthew 23:33—and asked them, “How can you escape the condemnation of hell?” It’s true, of course, that nowadays some Jews are saved—but few. Under 1% of Christians are former Jews!
The actual rejection of the Jews is more plainly laid out elsewhere. Look at Matthew 8:8-12:
The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy…But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed… 10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! 11 And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
“Many will come from east and west” are the Gentiles; the “sons of the kingdom” are the Jews. There it is, plain as day: The Jews would be cast out into outer darkness (hell). When Jesus said things like this, it was God’s miracle that He even lived for three years of ministry, they would so want to kill Him—rather than repent. More confirmation is in Matthew 21:33-43, a parable where everyone figured out the meaning:
There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard… And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 34 Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers…38 But when the vinedressers saw the son (Jesus), they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard (God the Father) comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”41 They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”42 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’s doing… 43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.
As plain as day about the kingdom of God: Taken from the Jews, given to another. Don’t misinterpret the word “nation” in verse 43. It simply means “people.” God isn’t going to make a country like Israel or the U.S., the apple of His eye now. The singular word is, in Greek, “ethnos.” Vine’s Expository Dictionary says: “in the plural (which this is) it means all the nations, as distinct from Israel.” God is giving the kingdom to people, from all countries, who bear the Holy Spirit’s fruit (Gal 5:22-23).
Paul also deals specifically with this rejection of the Jews, in Romans 9:30-32. Remember, the only Gentiles written to here are the ones saved by attaching their faith to the righteousness of Christ:
What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness (of the Law), have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. 32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law.
“Attaining to righteousness” is heaven; and “not attaining” is hell. Again, the Jews hung their belief system on the wrong hook—so the majority of them will be in hell for eternity.
In Galatians 3:28-29, Paul deals with two subjects at once: (1) In the New Testament, all saints are one. God doesn’t have separate programs for two groups of saints: one group who get parenthetically shunted aside, and then dealing with another group to fill an Old Testament plan. (God is not interested in Old Testament covenant, anyhow—just the New covenant). (2) Saved people, the Church, in the New covenant, are God’s Israel, and sons of Abraham. Thus, Israel, as a nation, has been rejected and the majority of Jews are not sons of Abraham.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Plain as day: In the New Testament (the only one to consider, since it replaces the Old covenant), saved people are sons of Abraham—saved people are now the Israel of God, not a fleshly nation which has been rejected.
Part of the Old covenant given to the Jews was the rite of circumcision; but the problem is, they felt that it guaranteed their salvation. We can see in this paper that they were quite wrong in thinking a fleshly sign or their genes is all you need. There were big arguments in the New Testament where the saved Jews felt that if Gentiles wanted to be saved, they would have to get circumcised too. Paul was against any part of the old Law as a prerequisite for salvation. It all begins in Christ. See what he has to say in Galatians 6:15-16:
But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. 16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
Who is the “Israel of God?” You can see it: “New creations,” or saved people. Born again people, all saints, all one. What is “this rule?” It’s “the world has been crucified to me.” That means I have prayed away the love of the world so my body’s members don’t respond to it, as if they’re dead. What is the meaning of “and I to the world?” That means I am ready to give my life to Christ’s mission for me, rather than chasing after the world.
I Peter 2:8-9 has a secret message: They (unsaved Jews) stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.9 But you (saved Gentiles) are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him..
The secret message? The three phrases that Peter uses for saved people were once given by God to the Jews. But you see, they have been rejected, and the phrases are now given to the saved. By the way,the phrase "to which they...were appointed" is not a fatalistic Calvinistic phrase, that God appointed them to hell, and there's nothing they could do. They were appointed to hell after their behavior revealed them as unsaved.
Now we come to the most difficult verses of our study, Romans 11:21-26. Here's a helpful prelude: God wants a cultivated olive tree, the “Israel of God,” made up of Gentiles and some Jews. The Jews are, by background, “natural” branches, and the Gentiles are “wild” branches (no slight intended for Gentiles there). Jewish branches were mostly rejected, and have been cut off the tree. If they repent, they can be “grafted” back onto the tree again. We Gentiles shouldn’t brag about God grafting us onto the cultivated tree over them. Pride goes before a fall, you know, and we could be cut off too (this verse doesn’t help the “eternal security” believers, by the way). These verses are a word of caution being spoken to the saved Gentiles.
For if God did not spare the natural branches (the Jews who are hell-bound), He may not spare you (Gentiles) either.22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell (the Jews), severity; but toward you (Gentiles), goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they (Jews) also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you (Gentiles) were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree (i.e., saved), how much more will these, who are natural branches, (the Jews), be grafted into their own olive tree? 25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved…
As you can see, the Jews’ rejection gave them spiritual blindness—so they were set aside and the Gentiles allowed into the ranks of salvation--IF they don’t get prideful; they must “continue in His goodness.”
What about that phrase, “the fullness of the Gentiles?” As Luke 21:24ff and Revelation 11:2 will explain, that’s talking about End Times, when the last of the Gentiles gets saved and the Rapture can come. (As I proved by Scripture in another blog, that will happen toward the end of the tribulation). But don’t get the idea that it means “the Gentile number for heaven is full, so let’s rapture them and start working on building up the Jewish number during the tribulation.”
And what about that last phrase, “all Israel will be saved?” This has been debated heatedly. Well, that could have two possible meanings: (1) In the End Times, when the antichrist has slaughtered millions of Jews, the remaining remnant sees the light—and loses the “blindness” which has pervaded them for centuries. Many of the remnant get saved. Or it could mean (2) What have we been talking about? “All Israel” could simply mean “all saved people.” Obviously all of them are saved, by definition.
Two more thoughts: (1) Just because of the possibility that Israel gets evangelized in the End Times and a remnant gets saved does NOT justify the dispensationalists’ wild curriculum. I would hope you would agree that we have proven that the Jewish nation has been rejected, and does not have a separate, premier program in the Last Days. This does a lot to destroy many of the distinctive facets of dispensationalism. And (2) I don’t care which of the two meanings above apply to “saving all Israel.” If hundreds of thousands of Jews get saved at the end, high fives for them—lots more interesting stories to share while we’re all in heaven forever. Remember, I don’t have an ax to grind against the Jews. I'm just figuring out doctrine from Scripture about being saved. God help us to study Scripture and not be rejected on that Day.
Also keep in mind, that according to dispensational thought, Christ has a second advent to do the rapture, and a third advent to rescue the tribulation saints at Armageddon. (First advent was His birth on earth). Three advents! It has never been taught that Christ has three advents. Scripture clearly indicates two.
But there are a couple other things going on with this “pre-trib” doctrine that I don’t like to see. First, what’s with this AWOL mentality among the dispensationalists? Are you saying you want to be raptured and leave your family or friends behind to suffer the tribulation alone? What’s with that? But your life is a sacrifice to God—it’s not yours. If He wants you on earth in the heat of battle against the antichrist and the devil, well, we’ll have to all just tough it out. Get used to the idea. Don’t be afraid. Fear is not of God (II Timothy 1:7).
Secondly, on the subject of rejection: I keep seeing this mentality: “God is grandpa and doesn’t reject anybody (even those who have rejected Him for almost three thousand years). He’s mellow and forgiving; once you accept Him, He’s yours forever no matter what you do.” I’ve got several blogs on this flawed mentality showing up in other subjects as well. Let me repeat: Remember Matthew 7:13-14: Only a minority get saved. The majority are rejected and sent to hell. As I said in another blog, some people need to read more of the Old Testament and God's anger against sin, or people need to read everything Jesus said, which included some mighty tough words about heaven and hell. God is holy and can be tough. Don’t expect to hear all aspects of God from preachers. Pastors everywhere are dropping the ball on this. I don’t know why. Maybe evil doctrine has crept into seminary schools, or maybe they’re afraid if they make people feel down or anxious, they’ll go to another church. READ YOUR BIBLE YOURSELF. Ask the Holy Spirit—not “common taters”—for wisdom.
The purpose of this paper is to give you a thumbnail sketch of dispensational doctrine, so that you can see the one tenet by which everything else in this doctrine hangs. If we blow that tenet up, through Scripture, then the whole doctrine collapses.
Per Wikipedia, dispensationalism is defined as “an evangelical, futurist, Biblical interpretation that understands God to have related to human beings in…“dispensations,” or periods in history…expounded in the writings of John Nelson Darby (1800-82) and the Plymouth Brethren movement, and propagated through…Scofield Reference Bibles…they hold to a pretribulation rapture…they believe that the nation of Israel is distinct from the Christian Church, and that God has yet to fulfill His promises to national Israel. These promises include…a millennial kingdom and a Third Temple where Christ, upon His return, will rule the world from Jerusalem for a thousand years…. Dispensationalists also believe that toward the end of the Tribulation, Israel as a nation will turn and embrace Jesus as their messiah right before his second coming during the Great Tribulation…the Church, though, is a "parenthesis" or temporary interlude in the progress of Israel's prophesied history.”
Sorry about the long definition. Now here is their timeline of relevant events of the last days: With no prior specific warning, the Rapture comes—when Christ comes, and all alive at the time who have had faith in Jesus will be called up by Christ to meet Him in the clouds, and onward to heaven. That means, of course, that those who are left on earth will all be unsaved, and will immediately endure seven years of tribulation and persecution by the antichrist. Somehow (despite no saved people to start with), a huge evangelism effort (presumably led by 144,000 newly-saved Jews) will lead a huge number of additional Jews and newly-saved Gentiles to Christ, who will face off against the antichrist at Armageddon, when Christ comes to strike down the enemy. That ushers in the Millennium, ruled by mostly Jews; and then after a short rebellion, there is final judgment—when the unsaved of all ages are tried and sent to the lake of fire.
You can see how their idea of a rapture, followed by the tribulation, came to be called “pre-tribulation rapture.” What you may not know is that this idea was unheard of through the first 1800 years of the Church. Great, godly men, including men who were disciples of the apostles, didn’t come up with that idea, and suddenly it appeared in the early 1830s. Until 1830, those who held a futurist view almost universally felt that there is still coming a great tribulation, after which the saved are raptured, followed immediately by a great judgment for saved and unsaved.
So you see, Darby’s “pre-trib rapture” idea switches those two events—the tribulation-then-rapture becomes a rapture-then-tribulation for him. Mr. Darby, despite the fact that his idea was the new one, called other churches “apostates.”
But I’m not here to discuss the timing of the rapture and tribulation. I have written three blogs on the subject, very carefully laying it all out by clear Scripture (hint: It doesn’t agree with Mr. Darby). What I want to question is indicated in my italicized statements in the definition above. I’m speaking of their claims that (1) God has promises to fulfill to the Jews; and (2) the Church is a “parenthesis,” or temporary interlude, in the progress of Israel’s prophesied history. You can see how that second tenet, in particular, is crucial to their whole doctrine—they believe that with the Christians raptured to heaven, the church is out of the way (it was only a parenthesis, anyhow), and God can resume His promises to the Jews. So all subsequent events on earth after the rapture feature the Jews. The 144,000 Jews are massive evangelists, and the Jews rule the Millennium.
My problem with his theory is this: Scripture indicates, instead, that God has rejected Israel as a fleshly nation. Further, in the present church age, the Church—saved Gentiles and Jews--is God’s “Israel” today. All Christians are sons of Abraham. Saved people are all one people—God doesn’t have two programs for two peoples, as dispensationalists allege. The “saints” mentioned several times in Revelation are saved Gentiles and Jews, together. The Millennium will be ruled by the saints—Jews and Gentiles. The Church is not a “parenthesis” to God; we carry the Holy Spirit, we are Jesus’ body—we represent Jesus in exercising compassion and rescue in the tribulation—we have a vital part to play in that time of great suffering and spiritual battle. I will easily prove these facts by Scripture. Scripture is so clear on this, frankly, that the only reason someone could believe dispensationalist doctrine is because either (1) the idea of God rejecting people that He once blessed is an unacceptable thought to them; (2) rejecting the Jews sounds anti-Semitic; or (3) dispensationalist thought is attractive-- it asserts that Christians “get outta town” (via Rapture) before the bad days of the tribulation comes. Getting to watch the tribulation from heaven sure sounds better than being in the thick of it.
Of the three reasons listed for liking dispensationalism, I can challenge two of them right away (the third will be covered in my main points below): (1) Whom God rejects depends simply on his or her reaction to His clearly-worded Scripture about redemption through Christ, and the required righteous life. Unfortunately, most people don’t truly love God—their lives ignore God. So God, in turn, has to reject them—in the end, most people want to run their own lives, and make themselves the god of their lives. So He has to consign most people to hell for their disobedience. Matthew 7:13-14 speaks clearly about life (heaven) and destruction (hell). Note that heaven is attained for a small minority of people:
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
(2) As to marking me as anti-Semite: I’m just following Scripture in my analysis. The Jews had a part in killing Our Lord, as you know. Consider Mark 15:12-14:
Pilate answered and said to them again, “What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?” 13 So they cried out again, “Crucify Him!” 14 Then Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they cried out all the more, “Crucify Him!”
We’re not just talking about the Pharisees crying out here—there weren’t enough of them to make a noise. Pilate felt Jesus was innocent, but was afraid that the noise and hate meant he would have a riot on his hands if he didn’t shed blood that they wanted; so that means the majority of Jews present were screaming—thus, the majority of them rejected Him. So the majority of Jews were guilty. And Pilate (a Gentile) could have had a spine, too, but believed Jesus was disposable. So that makes Gentiles guilty too (heavy discussion of this in the first several chapter of the book of Romans). Everyone’s sins doom us before a holy God who cannot stand sin. Without Christ, our Advocate, we are lost. Salvation is available—but only one way to attain it.
Now let’s get to our main point: God has rejected Israel as a fleshly nation. Scripture below will make that point forcefully. God’s Old Testament prophecy of the Jews’ unfaithfulness was in the mouths of all His prophets, as far back as Moses. Read Deuteronomy 31:16-17a:
And the LORD said to Moses: “Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. 17 Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured.
Note that God said He would forsake them. The Jews could have repented of their unfaithfulness, and God would take them back, with His forgiving heart; but instead they killed the prophets. As the prophets predicted, the Jews were, in time, captured and made slaves, but later a small ragged group returned to the land. If you felt that that little return meant God forgave the Jews—that is not the case. The few who returned were not a free people for long after the return, being taken over by Rome.
God begins the New Testament with the same theme of rejection, starting with John the Baptist in Matthew 3:9:
…and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
(I have blogs on the subject of good fruit being crucial to salvation). John was bluntly telling the Jews that they won’t get to heaven on their genes—being a Jew doesn’t get you there. Thus, the Jews were still failing heaven by relying on the wrong source.
Jesus is even more violent with words than John, in John 8: 22-47:
So the Jews said, “Will He kill Himself, because He says, ‘Where I go you cannot come’?” 23 And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”…33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants 34 Jesus answered them,…37 “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, 39 They said to Him…we have one Father—God.”…42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; …44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.…47 He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”
Note the beginning words, "the Jews said...and note His reply: "you will die in your sins..." Calling the majority of Jews sons of the devil couldn’t be printed in America without getting into trouble today, but it’s Scriptural. Jesus even called the Pharisees “serpents, brood of vipers” in Matthew 23:33—and asked them, “How can you escape the condemnation of hell?” It’s true, of course, that nowadays some Jews are saved—but few. Under 1% of Christians are former Jews!
The actual rejection of the Jews is more plainly laid out elsewhere. Look at Matthew 8:8-12:
The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy…But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed… 10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! 11 And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
“Many will come from east and west” are the Gentiles; the “sons of the kingdom” are the Jews. There it is, plain as day: The Jews would be cast out into outer darkness (hell). When Jesus said things like this, it was God’s miracle that He even lived for three years of ministry, they would so want to kill Him—rather than repent. More confirmation is in Matthew 21:33-43, a parable where everyone figured out the meaning:
There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard… And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 34 Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers…38 But when the vinedressers saw the son (Jesus), they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard (God the Father) comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”41 They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”42 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’s doing… 43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.
As plain as day about the kingdom of God: Taken from the Jews, given to another. Don’t misinterpret the word “nation” in verse 43. It simply means “people.” God isn’t going to make a country like Israel or the U.S., the apple of His eye now. The singular word is, in Greek, “ethnos.” Vine’s Expository Dictionary says: “in the plural (which this is) it means all the nations, as distinct from Israel.” God is giving the kingdom to people, from all countries, who bear the Holy Spirit’s fruit (Gal 5:22-23).
Paul also deals specifically with this rejection of the Jews, in Romans 9:30-32. Remember, the only Gentiles written to here are the ones saved by attaching their faith to the righteousness of Christ:
What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness (of the Law), have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. 32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law.
“Attaining to righteousness” is heaven; and “not attaining” is hell. Again, the Jews hung their belief system on the wrong hook—so the majority of them will be in hell for eternity.
In Galatians 3:28-29, Paul deals with two subjects at once: (1) In the New Testament, all saints are one. God doesn’t have separate programs for two groups of saints: one group who get parenthetically shunted aside, and then dealing with another group to fill an Old Testament plan. (God is not interested in Old Testament covenant, anyhow—just the New covenant). (2) Saved people, the Church, in the New covenant, are God’s Israel, and sons of Abraham. Thus, Israel, as a nation, has been rejected and the majority of Jews are not sons of Abraham.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Plain as day: In the New Testament (the only one to consider, since it replaces the Old covenant), saved people are sons of Abraham—saved people are now the Israel of God, not a fleshly nation which has been rejected.
Part of the Old covenant given to the Jews was the rite of circumcision; but the problem is, they felt that it guaranteed their salvation. We can see in this paper that they were quite wrong in thinking a fleshly sign or their genes is all you need. There were big arguments in the New Testament where the saved Jews felt that if Gentiles wanted to be saved, they would have to get circumcised too. Paul was against any part of the old Law as a prerequisite for salvation. It all begins in Christ. See what he has to say in Galatians 6:15-16:
But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. 16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
Who is the “Israel of God?” You can see it: “New creations,” or saved people. Born again people, all saints, all one. What is “this rule?” It’s “the world has been crucified to me.” That means I have prayed away the love of the world so my body’s members don’t respond to it, as if they’re dead. What is the meaning of “and I to the world?” That means I am ready to give my life to Christ’s mission for me, rather than chasing after the world.
I Peter 2:8-9 has a secret message: They (unsaved Jews) stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.9 But you (saved Gentiles) are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him..
The secret message? The three phrases that Peter uses for saved people were once given by God to the Jews. But you see, they have been rejected, and the phrases are now given to the saved. By the way,the phrase "to which they...were appointed" is not a fatalistic Calvinistic phrase, that God appointed them to hell, and there's nothing they could do. They were appointed to hell after their behavior revealed them as unsaved.
Now we come to the most difficult verses of our study, Romans 11:21-26. Here's a helpful prelude: God wants a cultivated olive tree, the “Israel of God,” made up of Gentiles and some Jews. The Jews are, by background, “natural” branches, and the Gentiles are “wild” branches (no slight intended for Gentiles there). Jewish branches were mostly rejected, and have been cut off the tree. If they repent, they can be “grafted” back onto the tree again. We Gentiles shouldn’t brag about God grafting us onto the cultivated tree over them. Pride goes before a fall, you know, and we could be cut off too (this verse doesn’t help the “eternal security” believers, by the way). These verses are a word of caution being spoken to the saved Gentiles.
For if God did not spare the natural branches (the Jews who are hell-bound), He may not spare you (Gentiles) either.22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell (the Jews), severity; but toward you (Gentiles), goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they (Jews) also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you (Gentiles) were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree (i.e., saved), how much more will these, who are natural branches, (the Jews), be grafted into their own olive tree? 25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved…
As you can see, the Jews’ rejection gave them spiritual blindness—so they were set aside and the Gentiles allowed into the ranks of salvation--IF they don’t get prideful; they must “continue in His goodness.”
What about that phrase, “the fullness of the Gentiles?” As Luke 21:24ff and Revelation 11:2 will explain, that’s talking about End Times, when the last of the Gentiles gets saved and the Rapture can come. (As I proved by Scripture in another blog, that will happen toward the end of the tribulation). But don’t get the idea that it means “the Gentile number for heaven is full, so let’s rapture them and start working on building up the Jewish number during the tribulation.”
And what about that last phrase, “all Israel will be saved?” This has been debated heatedly. Well, that could have two possible meanings: (1) In the End Times, when the antichrist has slaughtered millions of Jews, the remaining remnant sees the light—and loses the “blindness” which has pervaded them for centuries. Many of the remnant get saved. Or it could mean (2) What have we been talking about? “All Israel” could simply mean “all saved people.” Obviously all of them are saved, by definition.
Two more thoughts: (1) Just because of the possibility that Israel gets evangelized in the End Times and a remnant gets saved does NOT justify the dispensationalists’ wild curriculum. I would hope you would agree that we have proven that the Jewish nation has been rejected, and does not have a separate, premier program in the Last Days. This does a lot to destroy many of the distinctive facets of dispensationalism. And (2) I don’t care which of the two meanings above apply to “saving all Israel.” If hundreds of thousands of Jews get saved at the end, high fives for them—lots more interesting stories to share while we’re all in heaven forever. Remember, I don’t have an ax to grind against the Jews. I'm just figuring out doctrine from Scripture about being saved. God help us to study Scripture and not be rejected on that Day.
Also keep in mind, that according to dispensational thought, Christ has a second advent to do the rapture, and a third advent to rescue the tribulation saints at Armageddon. (First advent was His birth on earth). Three advents! It has never been taught that Christ has three advents. Scripture clearly indicates two.
But there are a couple other things going on with this “pre-trib” doctrine that I don’t like to see. First, what’s with this AWOL mentality among the dispensationalists? Are you saying you want to be raptured and leave your family or friends behind to suffer the tribulation alone? What’s with that? But your life is a sacrifice to God—it’s not yours. If He wants you on earth in the heat of battle against the antichrist and the devil, well, we’ll have to all just tough it out. Get used to the idea. Don’t be afraid. Fear is not of God (II Timothy 1:7).
Secondly, on the subject of rejection: I keep seeing this mentality: “God is grandpa and doesn’t reject anybody (even those who have rejected Him for almost three thousand years). He’s mellow and forgiving; once you accept Him, He’s yours forever no matter what you do.” I’ve got several blogs on this flawed mentality showing up in other subjects as well. Let me repeat: Remember Matthew 7:13-14: Only a minority get saved. The majority are rejected and sent to hell. As I said in another blog, some people need to read more of the Old Testament and God's anger against sin, or people need to read everything Jesus said, which included some mighty tough words about heaven and hell. God is holy and can be tough. Don’t expect to hear all aspects of God from preachers. Pastors everywhere are dropping the ball on this. I don’t know why. Maybe evil doctrine has crept into seminary schools, or maybe they’re afraid if they make people feel down or anxious, they’ll go to another church. READ YOUR BIBLE YOURSELF. Ask the Holy Spirit—not “common taters”—for wisdom.
Monday, September 7, 2015
Letter to Our Government on Marriage
I have read a most powerful letter from a church to our top politicians. Here it is below, slightly adapted.
From OUR STATEMENT ON MARRIAGE, Oceanside United Reformed Church, Carlsbad, CA
To the Government of the USA
August 4, 2015
“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”[1]— who alone is “King of kings and Lord of lords” over all nations; from whom all executive, legislative, and judicial power comes; whose kingdom has already come, and will come to consummate all things in heaven and on earth,[2] and He has left His commanding Word to us. God’s people, on occasion, have been called upon to speak from His Word to their civil rulers. The church, as the primary manifestation of the kingdom of God, is the place from which Almighty God speaks to not only his peculiar people, but to all peoples everywhere—including civil governments. It is not the calling of the institutional church to legislate as civil representatives, interpret legislation as civil judges, or apply legislation as civil executives. That’s your job. But it is our calling to be the prophetic voice of God in the world, following the examples of prophets and apostles of old.[3] We are “the pillar and foundation of the truth”[4] concerning God and his relationship to the world.
In response to the Supreme Court of the United States’ 5–4 decision to declare same-sex “marriage” as a right in all fifty states (Obergefell v. Hodges, 2015), the leadership of the Oceanside United Reformed Church is compelled to speak the truth of the Word of God in love.
A Plea
We call upon you, leaders of our government—Mr. President, Senate Majority Leader McConnell, Speaker of the House Boehner, and Chief Justice John Roberts—to repent of approving same-sex “marriage” and do all in your power to repeal it.
We appeal to you to take up the Word of God, which describes your duties and responsibilities. In your ideal capacity, you are foster fathers and nursing mothers to the church.[5] As such fathers and mothers, we have a deep honor for your persons and positions of office.[6] Into such high offices God himself has instituted you over this nation as his servants for good and as punishers of wrongdoers.[7] Because your task is so weighty, God commands us to offer for you constant “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings.”[8] Our prayers for you are in the same vein as Tertullian (155–240) once wrote of Christian prayer for the Roman Emperor, whom persecuted Christians:
Looking up to Him, we Christians—with hands extended, because they are harmless, with head bare because we are not ashamed, without a prayer leader because we pray from the heart—constantly beseech Him on behalf of all emperors. We ask for them long life, undisturbed power, security at home, brave armies, a faithful Senate, an upright people, a peaceful world, and everything for which a man or Caesar prays.[9]
We pray the words of Jesus for you: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”[10] And our prayer for our entire nation is Jesus’ as well, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”[11]
What God Commands
Why are we calling on you to repent and to repeal same-sex “marriage?” The Lord Jesus Christ teaches us in his Word “from the beginning” of creation God is the author of marriage, having created humanity and having “made them male and female.”[12] Our Lord affirms, therefore, that from beginning to end, the Bible has a clear and consistent teaching about marriage: marriage is a faithful lifelong union of one man and one woman.
We read in the beginning: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”[13] Having created the human race as male and female, God commanded this male and this female to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”[14] Because it was “not good that the man should be alone,” God said, “I will make him a helper fit for him.”[15] And in giving this one woman to this one man, he brought them together into a faithful and lifelong union: “a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”[16]
Jesus re-affirmed this creational structure of marriage, saying, “‘from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”[17]
Paul also spoke of such marriage between man and woman, husband and wife, appealing to the original creation as well as saying it was significant of Jesus Christ’s relationship to his people: “Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”[18]
The Holy Scriptures nowhere recognize with Divine approval any other form of marriage other than that between one man and one woman. In fact, Jesus not only re-affirms the Old Testament’s teaching on marriage but also its teaching on sexual immorality, including homosexuality. In his own words,
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.[19]
Homosexual activity, like all sexual immorality, is a violation of the moral will of God.[20] Even more, though, homosexuality is an overturning of God’s created order by humans who have rejected God and put themselves in his place. Therefore it is a sign of God’s wrath being poured out upon a society:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.[21]
Therefore we plead with you to take heed, to acknowledge Obergefell v. Hodges as grievous sin, and to do everything in your power to repeal it. Because marriage is an institution of God and because you are God’s servants over our nation, you have an interest in marriage and a delegated authority from God to protect its sanctity.
What God Promises
But God not only thunders his Law to us all in his Word, he also sweetly whispers the Gospel or good news of Jesus Christ to us sinners. Homosexuality is not only a sin that must be repented of, but like all sin, one from which, by God’s grace, sinners can be rescued.[22]
As Romans 1 above makes clear, homosexuality is merely the symptom of a much larger problem: our sins have separated us from our Creator.[23] In particular, our sin is idolatry, which is “worship[ing] and serv[ing] the creature rather than the Creator.”[24] And what creature-idol do we as Americans worship? Self. In our self-worship we are lost and in desperate need of Jesus Christ.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is a God
“merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty [i.e., unrepentant], visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”[25]
This “God so loved the world” of sinners, which you and we are, “that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”[26]
Therefore it does matter who you are, from where you have come, what position you have, how much or how little you have, what your political views are, or to whom you are attracted, God invites all to hear his Word, to repent of sin, to be forgiven, and to live alongside other sinners saved by grace who are being transformed more and more to be like Jesus Christ. God “is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance;” God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”[27] This is the greatest act of love we can show you and our fellow human beings: proclaiming that Jesus saves sinners. We say this as fellow-sinners, who like the “Prodigal Son,” were once “dead,” but are now “alive;” who once were “lost,” but have been “found.”[28] We say as those who have found freedom from the sin of self and true and lasting freedom in the gospel of Jesus Christ, whose service is perfect freedom.
A Protest
We also respectfully write in protest. The Oceanside United Reformed Church, in common with the United Reformed Churches in North America, as well as Christian churches in all times and in all places, affirms that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God to humanity. They contain all things necessary for the salvation of sinners; they are our final authority and unchangeable standard for Christian doctrine and living. Concerning marriage, they unambiguously proclaim that marriage is a faithful lifelong union of one man and one woman.
Therefore, we deny and protest that human beings, whether individuals, entire populations, or civil magistrates, have the ability or the authorization to re-define marriage in any way at odds with the revealed will of God. Marriage is pre-political. Marriage is not a social construct. Marriage is a creation ordinance—it is a part of the fabric of the world God has made, and because of this, it is part of that natural law on the heart of all humanity that evidences itself in the overwhelming transcultural consensus on the nature of marriage throughout human history. Regardless of new social and political sensibilities, there is simply no such thing as same-sex “marriage.” To say so is hubris—an arrogance that considers oneself wiser than God in reinventing an institution the one true God created and revealed to humanity and arrogance toward all of previous human history. No matter how much authority you may have, you do not have the right to declare an ordinance of God. As Christians we abhor the casual disregard for the revealed will of the Creator of all things whom gave marriage between one man and one woman. Our highest Court may have had its say for now, but there is a still higher court and a greater Judge before whom we all must stand one day. And in that court the Judge and his Law does not rely on any ideological fads or emerging cultural consensus for its legitimacy.
Therefore, when any government of any nation, including the one we love, oversteps its rightful authority, “we must obey God rather than men.”[29] We have counted the cost of following Jesus Christ. Those who have lobbied for this day to come have largely won the national debate by successfully equating in the public mind opposition to same sex-marriage with the terrible poison of racism, so that to stand for God’s truth is to be labeled a “bigot” and “extremist.” We know that we may be accused of “hate speech.” We do not hate anyone. Our Lord commands “love your neighbor as yourself.”
Like our Lord, who “suffered outside the gate,” we are willing to “go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured” because of our commitment to his truth.[30] We will say in the spirit of Polycarp (80–155) who under threat of burning at the stake said, “You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour, and after a little is extinguished, but are ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment and of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly.”[31]
Whatever the threat, whatever the reviling, whatever the label, we will turn the other cheek, we will count it a blessing to be “persecuted for righteousness’ sake. [32] Our consciences are captive to the Word of God. And on this revelation of God we stand. We can do no other. To our Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—be the glory, forever! Amen.
I recommend sending such a letter, modified by sender, to your representative or to those in power in Congress. But you may dismiss me as naïve, and the letter as a waste of time. To warn the unsaved like this may only have the result of putting you on their extremist list, you may say. But I am reminded of the words of Ezekiel 33:2-6, 11 below. The church is the watchman in today’s secular world. Our job is to warn. If they ignore us, they’re judged in their sin. If they repent, praise the Lord. If we do not warn, when they die in this sin, a punishment is also on us for not warning them. Let us avoid such lack of testimony. If we’re on their Bad Boy list, so what? All Christians will be on it eventually. The distinction is being for the Lord early in the game, not late. I like to show up early.
2 “Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: ‘When I (the Lord) bring the sword upon a land… 3 when he (the watchman) sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, 4 then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’
11 Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
Notes to the above letter you should include:
[1] Matthew 28:19
[2] Revelation 19:16; Romans 13:1–7; Matthew 3:2; Matthew 6:10; Matthew 26:29; 1 Corinthians 15:20–28
[3] E.g., 2 Samuel 12; Isa. 13–27; Mark 6; Acts 4–7
[4] 1 Timothy 3:15
[5] Isaiah 49:23; cf. the Belgic Confession (1561), article 36; Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), ch. 23.3; Westminster Larger Catechism (1647), Q&A 191
[6] Exodus 20:12
[7] Romans 13:1–4
[8] 1 Timothy 2:1
[9] Apology, ch. 30
[10] Luke 23:34
[11] Matthew 6:10
[12] Matthew 19:4–7
[13] Genesis 1:27
[14] Genesis 1:28
[15] Genesis 2:18
[16] Genesis 2:24
[17] Mark 10:6–9
[18] Ephesians 5:24–25
[19] Matt. 5:17–19
[20] Genesis 19; Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1:26–32; 1 Corinthians 6:9–10; 1 Timothy 1:10
[21] Romans 1:18–32
[22] 1 Corinthians 6:9–10
[23] Isaiah 59:2
[24] Romans 1:25
[25] Exodus 34:6–7
[26] John 3:16
[27] 2 Peter 3:9; 1 Timothy 2:4
[28] Luke 15:32
[29] Acts 5:29
[30] Hebrews 13:12–13
Acknowledgements: Daniel Hyde, pastor and theologian
Todd Friel, Evangelist and journalist
From OUR STATEMENT ON MARRIAGE, Oceanside United Reformed Church, Carlsbad, CA
To the Government of the USA
August 4, 2015
“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”[1]— who alone is “King of kings and Lord of lords” over all nations; from whom all executive, legislative, and judicial power comes; whose kingdom has already come, and will come to consummate all things in heaven and on earth,[2] and He has left His commanding Word to us. God’s people, on occasion, have been called upon to speak from His Word to their civil rulers. The church, as the primary manifestation of the kingdom of God, is the place from which Almighty God speaks to not only his peculiar people, but to all peoples everywhere—including civil governments. It is not the calling of the institutional church to legislate as civil representatives, interpret legislation as civil judges, or apply legislation as civil executives. That’s your job. But it is our calling to be the prophetic voice of God in the world, following the examples of prophets and apostles of old.[3] We are “the pillar and foundation of the truth”[4] concerning God and his relationship to the world.
In response to the Supreme Court of the United States’ 5–4 decision to declare same-sex “marriage” as a right in all fifty states (Obergefell v. Hodges, 2015), the leadership of the Oceanside United Reformed Church is compelled to speak the truth of the Word of God in love.
A Plea
We call upon you, leaders of our government—Mr. President, Senate Majority Leader McConnell, Speaker of the House Boehner, and Chief Justice John Roberts—to repent of approving same-sex “marriage” and do all in your power to repeal it.
We appeal to you to take up the Word of God, which describes your duties and responsibilities. In your ideal capacity, you are foster fathers and nursing mothers to the church.[5] As such fathers and mothers, we have a deep honor for your persons and positions of office.[6] Into such high offices God himself has instituted you over this nation as his servants for good and as punishers of wrongdoers.[7] Because your task is so weighty, God commands us to offer for you constant “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings.”[8] Our prayers for you are in the same vein as Tertullian (155–240) once wrote of Christian prayer for the Roman Emperor, whom persecuted Christians:
Looking up to Him, we Christians—with hands extended, because they are harmless, with head bare because we are not ashamed, without a prayer leader because we pray from the heart—constantly beseech Him on behalf of all emperors. We ask for them long life, undisturbed power, security at home, brave armies, a faithful Senate, an upright people, a peaceful world, and everything for which a man or Caesar prays.[9]
We pray the words of Jesus for you: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”[10] And our prayer for our entire nation is Jesus’ as well, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”[11]
What God Commands
Why are we calling on you to repent and to repeal same-sex “marriage?” The Lord Jesus Christ teaches us in his Word “from the beginning” of creation God is the author of marriage, having created humanity and having “made them male and female.”[12] Our Lord affirms, therefore, that from beginning to end, the Bible has a clear and consistent teaching about marriage: marriage is a faithful lifelong union of one man and one woman.
We read in the beginning: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”[13] Having created the human race as male and female, God commanded this male and this female to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”[14] Because it was “not good that the man should be alone,” God said, “I will make him a helper fit for him.”[15] And in giving this one woman to this one man, he brought them together into a faithful and lifelong union: “a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”[16]
Jesus re-affirmed this creational structure of marriage, saying, “‘from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”[17]
Paul also spoke of such marriage between man and woman, husband and wife, appealing to the original creation as well as saying it was significant of Jesus Christ’s relationship to his people: “Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”[18]
The Holy Scriptures nowhere recognize with Divine approval any other form of marriage other than that between one man and one woman. In fact, Jesus not only re-affirms the Old Testament’s teaching on marriage but also its teaching on sexual immorality, including homosexuality. In his own words,
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.[19]
Homosexual activity, like all sexual immorality, is a violation of the moral will of God.[20] Even more, though, homosexuality is an overturning of God’s created order by humans who have rejected God and put themselves in his place. Therefore it is a sign of God’s wrath being poured out upon a society:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.[21]
Therefore we plead with you to take heed, to acknowledge Obergefell v. Hodges as grievous sin, and to do everything in your power to repeal it. Because marriage is an institution of God and because you are God’s servants over our nation, you have an interest in marriage and a delegated authority from God to protect its sanctity.
What God Promises
But God not only thunders his Law to us all in his Word, he also sweetly whispers the Gospel or good news of Jesus Christ to us sinners. Homosexuality is not only a sin that must be repented of, but like all sin, one from which, by God’s grace, sinners can be rescued.[22]
As Romans 1 above makes clear, homosexuality is merely the symptom of a much larger problem: our sins have separated us from our Creator.[23] In particular, our sin is idolatry, which is “worship[ing] and serv[ing] the creature rather than the Creator.”[24] And what creature-idol do we as Americans worship? Self. In our self-worship we are lost and in desperate need of Jesus Christ.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is a God
“merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty [i.e., unrepentant], visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”[25]
This “God so loved the world” of sinners, which you and we are, “that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”[26]
Therefore it does matter who you are, from where you have come, what position you have, how much or how little you have, what your political views are, or to whom you are attracted, God invites all to hear his Word, to repent of sin, to be forgiven, and to live alongside other sinners saved by grace who are being transformed more and more to be like Jesus Christ. God “is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance;” God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”[27] This is the greatest act of love we can show you and our fellow human beings: proclaiming that Jesus saves sinners. We say this as fellow-sinners, who like the “Prodigal Son,” were once “dead,” but are now “alive;” who once were “lost,” but have been “found.”[28] We say as those who have found freedom from the sin of self and true and lasting freedom in the gospel of Jesus Christ, whose service is perfect freedom.
A Protest
We also respectfully write in protest. The Oceanside United Reformed Church, in common with the United Reformed Churches in North America, as well as Christian churches in all times and in all places, affirms that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God to humanity. They contain all things necessary for the salvation of sinners; they are our final authority and unchangeable standard for Christian doctrine and living. Concerning marriage, they unambiguously proclaim that marriage is a faithful lifelong union of one man and one woman.
Therefore, we deny and protest that human beings, whether individuals, entire populations, or civil magistrates, have the ability or the authorization to re-define marriage in any way at odds with the revealed will of God. Marriage is pre-political. Marriage is not a social construct. Marriage is a creation ordinance—it is a part of the fabric of the world God has made, and because of this, it is part of that natural law on the heart of all humanity that evidences itself in the overwhelming transcultural consensus on the nature of marriage throughout human history. Regardless of new social and political sensibilities, there is simply no such thing as same-sex “marriage.” To say so is hubris—an arrogance that considers oneself wiser than God in reinventing an institution the one true God created and revealed to humanity and arrogance toward all of previous human history. No matter how much authority you may have, you do not have the right to declare an ordinance of God. As Christians we abhor the casual disregard for the revealed will of the Creator of all things whom gave marriage between one man and one woman. Our highest Court may have had its say for now, but there is a still higher court and a greater Judge before whom we all must stand one day. And in that court the Judge and his Law does not rely on any ideological fads or emerging cultural consensus for its legitimacy.
Therefore, when any government of any nation, including the one we love, oversteps its rightful authority, “we must obey God rather than men.”[29] We have counted the cost of following Jesus Christ. Those who have lobbied for this day to come have largely won the national debate by successfully equating in the public mind opposition to same sex-marriage with the terrible poison of racism, so that to stand for God’s truth is to be labeled a “bigot” and “extremist.” We know that we may be accused of “hate speech.” We do not hate anyone. Our Lord commands “love your neighbor as yourself.”
Like our Lord, who “suffered outside the gate,” we are willing to “go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured” because of our commitment to his truth.[30] We will say in the spirit of Polycarp (80–155) who under threat of burning at the stake said, “You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour, and after a little is extinguished, but are ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment and of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly.”[31]
Whatever the threat, whatever the reviling, whatever the label, we will turn the other cheek, we will count it a blessing to be “persecuted for righteousness’ sake. [32] Our consciences are captive to the Word of God. And on this revelation of God we stand. We can do no other. To our Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—be the glory, forever! Amen.
I recommend sending such a letter, modified by sender, to your representative or to those in power in Congress. But you may dismiss me as naïve, and the letter as a waste of time. To warn the unsaved like this may only have the result of putting you on their extremist list, you may say. But I am reminded of the words of Ezekiel 33:2-6, 11 below. The church is the watchman in today’s secular world. Our job is to warn. If they ignore us, they’re judged in their sin. If they repent, praise the Lord. If we do not warn, when they die in this sin, a punishment is also on us for not warning them. Let us avoid such lack of testimony. If we’re on their Bad Boy list, so what? All Christians will be on it eventually. The distinction is being for the Lord early in the game, not late. I like to show up early.
2 “Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: ‘When I (the Lord) bring the sword upon a land… 3 when he (the watchman) sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, 4 then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’
11 Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
Notes to the above letter you should include:
[1] Matthew 28:19
[2] Revelation 19:16; Romans 13:1–7; Matthew 3:2; Matthew 6:10; Matthew 26:29; 1 Corinthians 15:20–28
[3] E.g., 2 Samuel 12; Isa. 13–27; Mark 6; Acts 4–7
[4] 1 Timothy 3:15
[5] Isaiah 49:23; cf. the Belgic Confession (1561), article 36; Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), ch. 23.3; Westminster Larger Catechism (1647), Q&A 191
[6] Exodus 20:12
[7] Romans 13:1–4
[8] 1 Timothy 2:1
[9] Apology, ch. 30
[10] Luke 23:34
[11] Matthew 6:10
[12] Matthew 19:4–7
[13] Genesis 1:27
[14] Genesis 1:28
[15] Genesis 2:18
[16] Genesis 2:24
[17] Mark 10:6–9
[18] Ephesians 5:24–25
[19] Matt. 5:17–19
[20] Genesis 19; Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1:26–32; 1 Corinthians 6:9–10; 1 Timothy 1:10
[21] Romans 1:18–32
[22] 1 Corinthians 6:9–10
[23] Isaiah 59:2
[24] Romans 1:25
[25] Exodus 34:6–7
[26] John 3:16
[27] 2 Peter 3:9; 1 Timothy 2:4
[28] Luke 15:32
[29] Acts 5:29
[30] Hebrews 13:12–13
Acknowledgements: Daniel Hyde, pastor and theologian
Todd Friel, Evangelist and journalist
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
The flawed doctrine of "once saved, always saved" Part 3 of 3
This is our wrap-up on this flawed doctrine that has pervaded the world. We’ll continue trying to take apart “once saved always saved” proof texts. Read and pray.
15. Romans 4:6-8: just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; 8 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.”
OSAS adherents maintain that the non-imputation (or non-charging) of sin is automatic and continuous, so we don’t have to worry about sins any more. But Paul, only two chapters later, spends a lot of time debunking that. In Romans 6:6-13, he insists that the purpose of salvation is that “the body of sin might be done away with.” He asserts that we have “been freed from sin.” And that doesn’t mean freed from hell, it means freed from activity. Through the Spirit that He gives you, you can “present yourselves to God…and your members as instruments of righteousness to God” and not to “present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin.” Avoiding sin is thus the essence of worship! We should be continually presenting ourselves to God for holiness, and that job is on us. And, unlike what OSAS espouses, God’s purpose was to free us from sinning, not giving us a tool for freedom to sin and not worry about it.
16. Romans 8:35, 38-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
OSAS adherents say nothing can separate us from the love of God, so His love is unconditional. Well, these are great verses, how nothing outside of us can keep us from God. But the verses say nothing about how WE can forcibly remove ourselves from God. I didn’t notice “sins” on the list that can’t separate us. Read Isaiah 59:2:
But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.
Will sins eternally separate us from God? Yes. In fact, Scripture has several lists of certain sins that are hell-bound, if we don’t repent. Revelation 21:8, for instance:
But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
The issue we’re discussing is whether being born again once means we can forget about sin separating us from God. Their “proof” text above does not prove one way or another, since it fails to mention sin, which CAN separate us from God. So it isn’t a proof text for them.
17. Colossians 1:21-22 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight…
OSAS adherents report that God is doing all the reconciling through Jesus to present us holy, blameless, and above reproach. Well, they forget the next verse completing the thought, verse 23:
…IF indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard.
There’s that important “if” that says we must continue in the faith, not allowing ourselves to be moved away from the hope of the gospel. This can be connected to another verse that should be considered to get the context, II Peter 3:14:
Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.
Certainly if no effort is required on our part to be without spot and blameless, as OSASers claim earlier, why are we urged to “be diligent” to become without spot and blameless? It just seems that over and over, Jesus has done His part to give it, and we are to do our part to keep it. Consider Luke 13:24:
Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
The Greek word for “strive,” agonizomai, is the word from which we get “agonize.” Have you agonized to maintain your faith? Now compare that to Matthew 7:14:
Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
This is not just God doing the work! It sometimes takes agonizing effort on our part! Now let’s conclude this item with one more verse : Colossians 1:24—which is even more controversial:
I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church
Now let me say, first, that this is not saying that Jesus’ sufferings lacked in providing us atonement to His Father for our past sins. But a little study on the Greek for “fill up” (antanapleroo) was interesting. The word suggests doing what we need to do “in our turn,” or doing it “corresponding to” another. Face it, to many unbelievers, we are Jesus to them—our actions giving testimony. We may be persecuted. How we handle persecution is a testimony too. Doing our part of sacrifice is necessary to “fill” the Gospel to them, since many of them do not read or hear His Word. So this is not about atoning for sin. Here’s the meaning: Jesus was afflicted by His enemies. Now we, His body, will do our part in the same role—suffering at the hands of His enemies. If, then, suffering is a necessary part of the gospel, and if Jesus did His part, then we must do our part so that nothing is lacking in the presentation of the gospel today, as there was nothing lacking when He was on the earth. Let us not allow the mistaken belief in “eternal security” to lead us into laziness or shrinking away from taking a stand and suffering as a result.
Let’s turn now to another segment of discussion. There are other favorite phrases OSAS adherents say, that are not based on a particular Scripture but are worth commenting on. One is: “eternal life is eternal. If you could lose it, it isn’t eternal life.” To that I argue, “eternal life will always remain eternal, but the person who possesses it can change.” After all, eternal life existed before you ever “got on board.” And it will continue to exist if you happen to “get off the track.” So eternal life can’t change, but your possession of it can change.
OSAS adherents also like to say, “Scripture promises “eternal salvation;” so I’m eternally secure.” But the only place that the phrase “eternal salvation” is used is Hebrews 5:9, where it says:
And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.
There it is again, we must obey His commandments for eternal salvation.
Another favorite OSAS argument is “once a son, always a son; a child cannot be unborn.” Thus they argue that once you’re a child of God (a phrase used in Gal 3:26), you will always be a child of God. But this is “reasoning from the natural to the spiritual” again, which is dangerous, as we proved before. My response is, did you know that an unsaved person (which is how we all start out) is a son of the devil? That’s proven in Matthew 13:38 and John 8:44. If then, “once a son, always a son,” then we’re stuck being a child of the devil forever! That’s how their logic follows, is it not? But, praise God, we can change parentage—and, sadly, we can change it back.
OSAS believers also have a specific belief about the “seal of the Holy Spirit;” that it can’t be broken. But look at II Timothy 2:19 (ESV):
But God's firm foundation stands (this speaks of the church), bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”
If the seal can’t be broken, why is there a warning to “depart from iniquity” attached to it? Because if we ignore the warning, and resume a wicked life, we have broken the seal, and are no longer saved, that’s why. Why attach a warning when there is no danger?
Most OSASers, whether they know it or not, are Calvinists, and believe that our “perseverance” to the end is solely up to God, so it’s a guaranteed deal that once we’ve expressed faith, we’ll make it. But think with me a minute: If perseverance is solely up to God, no one would ever fall away--because Scripture says God doesn’t want any to perish. As II Peter 3:9 says:
The Lord is not…. willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
But as we’ve already read (see my previous blog), many do fall away (I Tim. 4:1). Plus, many wander from the faith, I Timothy 6:10:
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
And check Matthew 24:10:
At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other.
And read carefully I Corinthians 8:10-11, where a weaker brother (thus, a saved person) has his faith destroyed by someone doing something that is offensive to his conscience:
For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? 11 And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?
The word “perish” there is the same Greek word that we quoted in II Peter 3:9; it has eternal ramifications. As all these verses are saying, many people, for various reasons, do not persevere to the end, to their ultimate grief. Apart from what Mr. Calvin says.
Many OSASers are Calvinists in another way: They are “elected” by God, which to them means that even before they were born, God selected them to be saved. His irresistible grace, through His Spirit, wooed only His elected people into the fold. And since there was nothing they did by works to get in, there’s nothing they can do, even by “bad works,” to get out. Now the huge question is: Is Mr. Calvin’s definition of the Scriptural term “election” correct? The reason I’m questioning this is, it forces us to consider something really bad: what about the people that God doesn’t elect? According to this system, supposedly His Spirit only woos the elect, there is nothing the “non-elect” can do to get in (since every person is totally depraved, we can only recognize salvation by the wooing of His Spirit). You have to conclude that, according to Calvinism, some people (the “non-elected”) are therefore guaranteed for hell! Sorry, but I’d rather believes II Peter 3:9. I conclude that since a capricious God results from this definition of election, it must be wrong—but a lot of people are taking too much confidence in his definition of the word “elected.” They should consider the words in II Peter 1:5-10:
But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble
Note that the context of the word “election” and “sure” is not a God-guarantee; it requires diligence, as Scripture says, to make your calling sure. And note that perseverance is a character trait that we need to develop. Yep, takes work.
If we love God, and want to see Him in heaven, we have to have holiness. Obviously the right attitude for holiness is hating evil. But in order to really hate evil enough to do something about it, it is necessary to have the fear of God. Note the negative side of that idea: apostates do not have fear of God. Not having such fear, they feel free to practice sin and deny God. But God, many times in Scripture, tells us that we actually need to fear Him (see my blog on it, it’s Scriptural). It also implies that a love of God is not inhibited by a fear of God. If we love God, we won’t sin thoughtlessly. Instead, we will, in advance, coldly study the devastating effects of what would happen with a particular sin on our lives; what it does to our relationships, including our relationship to God. If we have coveted our time together with Him, and experienced the good feelings the Spirit gives us, and the reward of doing His will, we will want to keep that no matter what. We also want to think about how killing the sin-desire defeats Satan, our real enemy--who arrogantly assumes he can beat us every time. Then we proactively avoid anything in our lives that might stimulate that sin. If your sin is sexual, you would be willing to cut off some premium cable channels, a lot of movies, certain old friends, block the computer, possibly quit a job, not attend certain places to eat, go to the beach hardly at all. Extreme, right? But you haven’t come close to lopping off a limb (per Matthew 5:29-30). How much do you hate sin? We need to learn, over time, to hate sin. Look at the devastating effects of adultery in Proverbs 7:21-23:
With her enticing speech she caused him to yield; with her flattering lips she seduced him. 22 Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, 23 Till an arrow struck his liver. As a bird hastens to the snare, He did not know it would cost his life.
If we read (and memorize) that verse enough til’ we really believe it, till it really sinks in, (“cost his life” could be eternal life), we will train our mind to hate the sin even more. If we see how it ruins the lives of those around us, we learn to hate the sin more yet. We vow over and over after such examples never to participate in it; we daily dedicate our bodies to the Lord. We discipline our thought life, too; why make our mind a toilet for God to look at? By hating evil we show God we are loyal and want to be pure like Him; we want to hate sin like Him; we just want to be like Him. Remember what Hebrews 12:14 says:
Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.
Speaking of seeing the Lord, you know how He describes Himself? We all like to think it would be how He is a God of love. Well, as He shows Moses Himself in Exodus 34:6-7, He describes Himself thusly:
And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation
That last phrase makes Him look like the God of Grudges, doesn’t it? (He repeats the threat in Exodus 20:5). Is that what He wants us to remember Him by? Well, yes, and by explanation, I just use one word—“holy.” That’s what God is, along with loving us. His big issue in His loving heart is, how does He keep people from sinning (and ruining their lives)? Here’s an answer He came up with: He knows that everybody wants to protect their children from life’s hard knocks; what better fear motivator to right living than to threaten people that if you sin, God will carry out the punishment you bring on your children, and your children’s children. That’s what the verse is saying.
Now people, if you don’t like seeing God this way, then you haven’t been hearing what this paper is trying to say. Yes, God is love. I don’t have to give you any verses on that; you hear them many Sundays. But you probably don’t hear that God hates some people, do you? So it says in Psalm 11:5:
The LORD tests the righteous, But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.
None of this “hates the sin and loves the sinner” here. Unless you repent. What I’m trying to say is, if we don’t get a balanced view of God, we’ll develop a fatal case of complacency. Read this last set of verses below (where complacency about sin is taken as lukewarmness.) from Revelation 3:14-19:
These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
May God sink this deep in our hearts. We need to be zealous and hate sin, repenting from it—not just once, but regularly through our lives. For our eternity’s sake!
Acknowledgment: Dan Corner, Conditional Security of the Believer
15. Romans 4:6-8: just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; 8 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.”
OSAS adherents maintain that the non-imputation (or non-charging) of sin is automatic and continuous, so we don’t have to worry about sins any more. But Paul, only two chapters later, spends a lot of time debunking that. In Romans 6:6-13, he insists that the purpose of salvation is that “the body of sin might be done away with.” He asserts that we have “been freed from sin.” And that doesn’t mean freed from hell, it means freed from activity. Through the Spirit that He gives you, you can “present yourselves to God…and your members as instruments of righteousness to God” and not to “present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin.” Avoiding sin is thus the essence of worship! We should be continually presenting ourselves to God for holiness, and that job is on us. And, unlike what OSAS espouses, God’s purpose was to free us from sinning, not giving us a tool for freedom to sin and not worry about it.
16. Romans 8:35, 38-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
OSAS adherents say nothing can separate us from the love of God, so His love is unconditional. Well, these are great verses, how nothing outside of us can keep us from God. But the verses say nothing about how WE can forcibly remove ourselves from God. I didn’t notice “sins” on the list that can’t separate us. Read Isaiah 59:2:
But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.
Will sins eternally separate us from God? Yes. In fact, Scripture has several lists of certain sins that are hell-bound, if we don’t repent. Revelation 21:8, for instance:
But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
The issue we’re discussing is whether being born again once means we can forget about sin separating us from God. Their “proof” text above does not prove one way or another, since it fails to mention sin, which CAN separate us from God. So it isn’t a proof text for them.
17. Colossians 1:21-22 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight…
OSAS adherents report that God is doing all the reconciling through Jesus to present us holy, blameless, and above reproach. Well, they forget the next verse completing the thought, verse 23:
…IF indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard.
There’s that important “if” that says we must continue in the faith, not allowing ourselves to be moved away from the hope of the gospel. This can be connected to another verse that should be considered to get the context, II Peter 3:14:
Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.
Certainly if no effort is required on our part to be without spot and blameless, as OSASers claim earlier, why are we urged to “be diligent” to become without spot and blameless? It just seems that over and over, Jesus has done His part to give it, and we are to do our part to keep it. Consider Luke 13:24:
Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
The Greek word for “strive,” agonizomai, is the word from which we get “agonize.” Have you agonized to maintain your faith? Now compare that to Matthew 7:14:
Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
This is not just God doing the work! It sometimes takes agonizing effort on our part! Now let’s conclude this item with one more verse : Colossians 1:24—which is even more controversial:
I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church
Now let me say, first, that this is not saying that Jesus’ sufferings lacked in providing us atonement to His Father for our past sins. But a little study on the Greek for “fill up” (antanapleroo) was interesting. The word suggests doing what we need to do “in our turn,” or doing it “corresponding to” another. Face it, to many unbelievers, we are Jesus to them—our actions giving testimony. We may be persecuted. How we handle persecution is a testimony too. Doing our part of sacrifice is necessary to “fill” the Gospel to them, since many of them do not read or hear His Word. So this is not about atoning for sin. Here’s the meaning: Jesus was afflicted by His enemies. Now we, His body, will do our part in the same role—suffering at the hands of His enemies. If, then, suffering is a necessary part of the gospel, and if Jesus did His part, then we must do our part so that nothing is lacking in the presentation of the gospel today, as there was nothing lacking when He was on the earth. Let us not allow the mistaken belief in “eternal security” to lead us into laziness or shrinking away from taking a stand and suffering as a result.
Let’s turn now to another segment of discussion. There are other favorite phrases OSAS adherents say, that are not based on a particular Scripture but are worth commenting on. One is: “eternal life is eternal. If you could lose it, it isn’t eternal life.” To that I argue, “eternal life will always remain eternal, but the person who possesses it can change.” After all, eternal life existed before you ever “got on board.” And it will continue to exist if you happen to “get off the track.” So eternal life can’t change, but your possession of it can change.
OSAS adherents also like to say, “Scripture promises “eternal salvation;” so I’m eternally secure.” But the only place that the phrase “eternal salvation” is used is Hebrews 5:9, where it says:
And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.
There it is again, we must obey His commandments for eternal salvation.
Another favorite OSAS argument is “once a son, always a son; a child cannot be unborn.” Thus they argue that once you’re a child of God (a phrase used in Gal 3:26), you will always be a child of God. But this is “reasoning from the natural to the spiritual” again, which is dangerous, as we proved before. My response is, did you know that an unsaved person (which is how we all start out) is a son of the devil? That’s proven in Matthew 13:38 and John 8:44. If then, “once a son, always a son,” then we’re stuck being a child of the devil forever! That’s how their logic follows, is it not? But, praise God, we can change parentage—and, sadly, we can change it back.
OSAS believers also have a specific belief about the “seal of the Holy Spirit;” that it can’t be broken. But look at II Timothy 2:19 (ESV):
But God's firm foundation stands (this speaks of the church), bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”
If the seal can’t be broken, why is there a warning to “depart from iniquity” attached to it? Because if we ignore the warning, and resume a wicked life, we have broken the seal, and are no longer saved, that’s why. Why attach a warning when there is no danger?
Most OSASers, whether they know it or not, are Calvinists, and believe that our “perseverance” to the end is solely up to God, so it’s a guaranteed deal that once we’ve expressed faith, we’ll make it. But think with me a minute: If perseverance is solely up to God, no one would ever fall away--because Scripture says God doesn’t want any to perish. As II Peter 3:9 says:
The Lord is not…. willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
But as we’ve already read (see my previous blog), many do fall away (I Tim. 4:1). Plus, many wander from the faith, I Timothy 6:10:
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
And check Matthew 24:10:
At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other.
And read carefully I Corinthians 8:10-11, where a weaker brother (thus, a saved person) has his faith destroyed by someone doing something that is offensive to his conscience:
For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? 11 And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?
The word “perish” there is the same Greek word that we quoted in II Peter 3:9; it has eternal ramifications. As all these verses are saying, many people, for various reasons, do not persevere to the end, to their ultimate grief. Apart from what Mr. Calvin says.
Many OSASers are Calvinists in another way: They are “elected” by God, which to them means that even before they were born, God selected them to be saved. His irresistible grace, through His Spirit, wooed only His elected people into the fold. And since there was nothing they did by works to get in, there’s nothing they can do, even by “bad works,” to get out. Now the huge question is: Is Mr. Calvin’s definition of the Scriptural term “election” correct? The reason I’m questioning this is, it forces us to consider something really bad: what about the people that God doesn’t elect? According to this system, supposedly His Spirit only woos the elect, there is nothing the “non-elect” can do to get in (since every person is totally depraved, we can only recognize salvation by the wooing of His Spirit). You have to conclude that, according to Calvinism, some people (the “non-elected”) are therefore guaranteed for hell! Sorry, but I’d rather believes II Peter 3:9. I conclude that since a capricious God results from this definition of election, it must be wrong—but a lot of people are taking too much confidence in his definition of the word “elected.” They should consider the words in II Peter 1:5-10:
But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble
Note that the context of the word “election” and “sure” is not a God-guarantee; it requires diligence, as Scripture says, to make your calling sure. And note that perseverance is a character trait that we need to develop. Yep, takes work.
If we love God, and want to see Him in heaven, we have to have holiness. Obviously the right attitude for holiness is hating evil. But in order to really hate evil enough to do something about it, it is necessary to have the fear of God. Note the negative side of that idea: apostates do not have fear of God. Not having such fear, they feel free to practice sin and deny God. But God, many times in Scripture, tells us that we actually need to fear Him (see my blog on it, it’s Scriptural). It also implies that a love of God is not inhibited by a fear of God. If we love God, we won’t sin thoughtlessly. Instead, we will, in advance, coldly study the devastating effects of what would happen with a particular sin on our lives; what it does to our relationships, including our relationship to God. If we have coveted our time together with Him, and experienced the good feelings the Spirit gives us, and the reward of doing His will, we will want to keep that no matter what. We also want to think about how killing the sin-desire defeats Satan, our real enemy--who arrogantly assumes he can beat us every time. Then we proactively avoid anything in our lives that might stimulate that sin. If your sin is sexual, you would be willing to cut off some premium cable channels, a lot of movies, certain old friends, block the computer, possibly quit a job, not attend certain places to eat, go to the beach hardly at all. Extreme, right? But you haven’t come close to lopping off a limb (per Matthew 5:29-30). How much do you hate sin? We need to learn, over time, to hate sin. Look at the devastating effects of adultery in Proverbs 7:21-23:
With her enticing speech she caused him to yield; with her flattering lips she seduced him. 22 Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, 23 Till an arrow struck his liver. As a bird hastens to the snare, He did not know it would cost his life.
If we read (and memorize) that verse enough til’ we really believe it, till it really sinks in, (“cost his life” could be eternal life), we will train our mind to hate the sin even more. If we see how it ruins the lives of those around us, we learn to hate the sin more yet. We vow over and over after such examples never to participate in it; we daily dedicate our bodies to the Lord. We discipline our thought life, too; why make our mind a toilet for God to look at? By hating evil we show God we are loyal and want to be pure like Him; we want to hate sin like Him; we just want to be like Him. Remember what Hebrews 12:14 says:
Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.
Speaking of seeing the Lord, you know how He describes Himself? We all like to think it would be how He is a God of love. Well, as He shows Moses Himself in Exodus 34:6-7, He describes Himself thusly:
And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation
That last phrase makes Him look like the God of Grudges, doesn’t it? (He repeats the threat in Exodus 20:5). Is that what He wants us to remember Him by? Well, yes, and by explanation, I just use one word—“holy.” That’s what God is, along with loving us. His big issue in His loving heart is, how does He keep people from sinning (and ruining their lives)? Here’s an answer He came up with: He knows that everybody wants to protect their children from life’s hard knocks; what better fear motivator to right living than to threaten people that if you sin, God will carry out the punishment you bring on your children, and your children’s children. That’s what the verse is saying.
Now people, if you don’t like seeing God this way, then you haven’t been hearing what this paper is trying to say. Yes, God is love. I don’t have to give you any verses on that; you hear them many Sundays. But you probably don’t hear that God hates some people, do you? So it says in Psalm 11:5:
The LORD tests the righteous, But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.
None of this “hates the sin and loves the sinner” here. Unless you repent. What I’m trying to say is, if we don’t get a balanced view of God, we’ll develop a fatal case of complacency. Read this last set of verses below (where complacency about sin is taken as lukewarmness.) from Revelation 3:14-19:
These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
May God sink this deep in our hearts. We need to be zealous and hate sin, repenting from it—not just once, but regularly through our lives. For our eternity’s sake!
Acknowledgment: Dan Corner, Conditional Security of the Believer
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