Another Way to Look at the Life of Joseph

  

Another great sermon by Voddie Baucham:

Pastor Baucham begins his study of Joseph by quickly recounting Joseph’s history.  Among Jacob’s 12 sons, Joseph was loved most by his father--because he and Benjamin were the only sons of Jacob’s true love, Rachel. He gave Joseph a special robe as well.  Joseph had dreams; in one of them, his brothers and father bowed down to him. Unfortunately, he told this to his 11 brothers.  They hated him, and in their jealousy decided to kill him—but they ultimately sold him into slavery.  His new master was Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh.  Potiphar eventually let Joseph rule his household because he had integrity--and his master's business and crops were blessed (by God) when Joseph was around. But Joseph was seduced by his master’s wife, and he said “how can I do this great wickedness against God?”  When he rejected her, she told Potiphar that he attempted to rape her.  He was thrown into jail.  But he endured, still was honest, and he was eventually allowed to run the jailer’s duties—now all the prisoners were under his authority. Two dreams by prisoners who had offended the Pharoah were brought to him for interpretation. He told them God can give an answer, and indeed, God told him that one would die, the other would be elevated to the Pharaoh’s side again.  Both those came true, but the one who rose to serve Pharoah forgot about telling the Pharaoh about his gift.  Not a word is said about his feeling any bitterness that most of us would feel if we were Joseph.  “Bad luck” seems to stalk him.  But he always had integrity and testimony for God, even though he was still stuck in jail. 

But his opportunity came.  The Pharaoh had two dreams, and the forgetful servant remembered what Joseph did and told Pharoah.  He was pulled out of prison, cleaned up and the Pharoah told him that he must tell him what he dreamed, and the interpretation of them. God gave it to him, and he gave full credit to God, and explained it as seven good years of harvest, followed by seven years of famine.  Pharoah believed him.  Joseph was emboldened to suggest that they should save 20% of the surpluses the first seven years, and suggested how they could do that. The Pharaoh liked his administrative style an ideas, and his boldness, and incredibly put him, a Hebrew, a prisoner, in charge of the entire kingdom’s economy, the world’s greatest kingdom at that point in time.  He was Pharaoh’s right-hand man, second in command only to himself, and gave him his signet ring, beautiful clothes, a gold chain and a wife, who produced two sons for him.    

At this point, Pastor Baucham, says, this is how most people tell the “moral to the story” to their children:  "Because he was faithful to God, even in difficulty, God eventually blessed him."  And here he is, as proof, with power and position.  “But,” says Pastor Baucham, “what if I told you that that was not the point of Joseph’s story?  What if I told you that that is almost the opposite of the point?”  He then relates what God really wants us to understand, with Scriptural proof to back it up.  It ends up being a greater moral to the story, and is one of the many treasures I have gotten from Pastor Baucham.   He calls it the “Inigo Montoya” twist on the story (from “Princess Bride”) that Baucham is so good at.  Paraphrased: “You keep on telling this story; I do not think it means what you think it means.” 

He begins his explanation on the real moral to the story with how Genesis is a series of “this is the generations of…” followed by a name, like Noah or Shem.  Those are called "toledoth" in Hebrew.  There are 11 of those in Genesis; the last one, in Genesis 37:2, is NOT the generations of Joseph, who we think is the main character in this phase of Scripture.  No, it is the generations of Jacob. So, based on this, the story of Joseph is not about Joseph, it’s about Jacob's legacy. 

Another way that might pique your interest is this:  there are 3 themes that recur throughout the Old Testament.  They are land, seed, and covenant.  Even in the Creation account, “the generations (history) of heavens and the earth.” The phrase “He created the heavens and the earth” is the land.  Then He creates the plants from their seeds.  Then when you get Adam, He makes a covenant with him. 

In the Fall of Adam and Eve through sin, we see this trio too:  Man is kicked out of the land (Eden), and God tells of a promised Seed in making another covenant.  It is most obvious with Abram:  God promises (covenants with) him a nation (seed), and he is to move to take up possession of a land.  Finally, as the former slaves move through the desert in Exodus, they (the seed of Abraham) are moving to the promised, or covenanted, land.  So let’s read Joseph’s story with these facts primarily in view.

Also, Pastor Baucham urges us to also see the irony in what we’re reading from Genesis 41:37 on. When you see it, you get the point of what God wants you to really learn from this story.  It goes like this:

In Genesis 41:37 we see how the Pharaoh believed Joseph’s interpretation of his dreams. “Can we find a man like this in whom is the spirit of God?” This is ironic:  Because his brothers hated him for his interpretation of Joseph's dream (that they would bow before him).  His interpretation to his brothers eventually was right, and it was from God.  But they did NOT believe it or accept him because of it.   Now he stands before a pagan king, who DOES believe him.  That’s irony.  Pharoah recognizes when he sees something supernatural, too. But the Jews did not accept that possibility, and here they were the covenanted people of a supernatural God.  All of this does not make the children of Israel look good. 

Secondly, whether Pharoah knew it or not, every time Joseph serves people, they prosper.  Note that in 41:40, Pharaoh said, “You shall be over my house.”  So Pharoah is now going to be the latest one to get some blessing.  The thing is, whose house is Joseph supposed to be prospering? Jacob’s.  So we conclude: “Wrong house.”  There is irony there, but--This also is not a good thing.   Thirdly, Pharaoh said in 41:41, “I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”  Remember our three things:  land, seed, covenant.  What land is Joseph supposed to be in?  Canaan, the land of promise.  And what land is the theological opposite of Canaan?  Egypt.  So now it’s wrong house, wrong land. And in v. 42, “he clothed him in garments of fine linen.” Think of Joseph’s previous special robe. So we conclude:  Wrong robe.  And if it looks like Pharaoh has adopted him—which means, for present purposes, he has the wrong father.  Again, not good. Is there any way, with these hints, that Moses, the writer, is trying to say, “This is a blessing—Joseph’s got everything right, he’s on top of the world?” Absolutely not.  Finally, in verse 45, Pharaoh called Joseph Zaphnath-Paaneah.  It means "God (the Egyptian god) speaks and he lives." (Oh, I forgot to tell you:  If the Pharoah’s soothsayers had the wrong interpretation, or couldn’t guess the dream, they would die. No pressure on Joseph, right?  But he stayed calm, because he was confident in God.)  Anyway, it was the Wrong name, giving credit to the wrong god. He has a covenant name that identifies him with the people of the real God.  Now a pagan king gave him a pagan name. This pagan name points to his affiliation with a pagan god.  Then he gave him in marriage to the daughter of the priest of On (who works for a pagan god).  Wrong wife. Perhaps you’ve read how Ezra, among others, urged the people to put away these foreign wives (Ezra 10:3).  And how Solomon got in trouble by marrying foreign wives.  Not because of their being foreign, or having a different ethnicity.  But because of their worship of false gods—it would be marriage to an unbeliever.  Which God was against.  We agree with those Ezra statements, so how do we tell our kids, on the Joseph story, “Yes, kids, you too can be like Joseph.” Sarcastically, Dr. Baucham says what we should point out to the kids: “If, children, you’re faithful, you can end up in the wrong land, with the wrong father, with the wrong robe and the wrong wife, and wrong name.”  (Sarcasm: God saves us from the penalty of our sin, nothing can top that). Of course, none of this was Joseph’s choice.  He was in the center of God’s will, whether he knew it or not—he was where God wanted him to be.

Well, if you’re not convinced of this new look at Joseph’s endgame—would you believe it if Joseph says it?  Beginning in Genesis 37:50, it says “To Joseph were born two sons…he called the name of his firstborn Manasseh, and says “for God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.“ And the name of the second he called Ephraim, and says:  “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”  The names of these sons make my same point.  Note that he gave his sons Hebrew names, not Egyptian—he gave his seed, covenantal names.  He was thinking of Canaan, his real home, when he said Egypt was “the land of my affliction.”  Anything short of God’s will was an affliction. 

Now you have the three:  Land, covenant, seed.   Let’s look carefully at their names, again.  Dr. Baucham comes up with a loose but accurate translation of Manasseh--it means, “I let that go.”  He imagines a conversation on the street.  Let’s say an Egyptian friend greets Joseph and says, “boy, you’re living the dream now.” At some point he tells him the son’s name is Hebrew, and says, “Pharaoh gets to change my name, but he doesn’t get to name my son.  He’s a child of the covenant.” The friend says, “why would you name him after the Hebrew people who abandoned you?”  His answer: “Because I let that stuff go.”  That is a powerful message from this gifted speaker. Would that we would turn away from the world and stick to God, even if we are mistreated--for His purpose--sometimes we don't know why. We are still faithful to Him, and have no bitterness. So, even though they sold him into slavery, Joseph had no bitterness against them either.  He still chose to be identified with the covenant people of God rather than Egypt, which, despite showering him with wealth and position, he knows were still the enemies of God.  All pagan gods are demons, and they are God’s enemies.  He stayed faithful to God, despite how he could present a good case to God for complaint.  He chose to always look through the promises of the covenant, not through the lens of his past pain.  He let that stuff go.

Some of us need a Manasseh, too.  We are holding onto things, and are not looking at ourselves as redeemed people of the covenant, but as damaged people from our past.  You need to let that stuff go. “But I have trust issues,  or I have been poor.”  Manasseh.  Let it go.  That’s not who you are. The blood of Jesus can put you in heaven, where the spiritual riches are so far more.

Just in case they didn’t get the message, his second son means, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.” You might ask, if you were the Egyptian in conversing with him, “didn’t our nation bless you?  And wouldn’t the land of affliction be the place where they hated you, and were willing to murder you?”  No, because Joseph knew that he was still part of God’s covenant people, and the place for him to be is the land of the covenant.  “I don’t care how much I obtained wealth here; there is no wealth like being in the presence of Yahweh, our Lord God.  Anything out of God’s presence is affliction.”  Dr Baucham then spoke personally: he is spending the majority of his time in Zambia, and he is asked repeatedly why he chose Zambia over the U.S.(he was born in Los Angeles).  He answer:  I am looking for a city with foundations, whose builder and maker is God.  And until I get there, wherever I live is the land of my affliction. (He is speaking of heaven vs. earth, a globe run by pagans who are an affliction). This is not my home.  This is not as good as it gets.  Our best day here pales in comparison to any day in glory.   He concludes that Joseph is doing what we should be doing:  this present evil world is the land of our affliction, but I’m doing everything in my power to be a blessing to this land, because it’s where God has me right now. We man our post, and advance His kingdom wherever the Lord asks us to be.  Never get too comfortable; remember it is the land of our affliction. Paul talks about this tension, too, when he quotes: for me to live is Christ; to die is gain.

So, Joseph doesn’t choose the path the way most people would, nor does he fight the path God put him on--His faith is deep and unmovable, even though he can’t see the external blessings of God’s covenant. 

Did you know that, despite his superior character, Joseph is not the promised seed from whom the Redeemer would come?  Of Jacob’s sons, God picks Judah as the promised seed.  Joseph had an important role, though—he preserved the promised seed, from famine.  All Joseph knows is, obedience and the resulting peace are his friends.  Peace, for him, is in the midst of God’s will. God’s will is sometimes unknown; He makes a promise, and definitely has exciting ways to complete it!

So what’s the end of the Joseph story? From Genesis 42ff, Joseph’s brothers show up to get food.  Joseph recognizes them, but they don’t recognize him.  Joseph will test his brothers.  First, remember that Joseph was the son of Jacob’s favorite wife.  The other son born to her was Benjamin; but he didn’t see Benjamin, and assumes Benjamin didn’t travel with them.  Joseph doesn’t know for sure if he is alive or dead; who knows, he wonders, maybe they did the same treatment to Benjamin that they did to him.  As a plan to see Benjamin, he insists that they come back with Benjamin, and he tests their character by holding hostage one of them—would they abandon that hostage?  When they return with Benjamin, as a final test, he tricks them into thinking that they have stolen his goods, and then insists that he keep Benjamin as penalty.   He tells the rest of them that they may now leave; Benjamin will remain as slave.  But Judah distinguishes himself by saying, take me instead of him (Gen. 44:18ff). 

 Now Joseph reveals himself, and when they recover, they thought Joseph would seek revenge.  But Joseph had great mercy, and finally reveals himself.  He said, “God sent me here before you to preserve life….to preserve a remnant (or posterity) for you…it was not you who sent me here, but God…he made me lord of all Pharaoh’s house….to save you.” 

Think much about Joseph’s condition, and how God blessed him spiritually, giving him peace and contentment no matter his surroundings. Can you apply this to your own life, by building up His character traits, so you won't forget when things get tough? Think of Joseph. And please keep the long-term goal (heaaven) in view.  Are you a real member of the kingdom of God, and how our real goal and real treasure is in heaven, and in the center of God’s will?

Joseph is considered a type of Christ, in being rejected by his brothers, but saving his elect anyways, from dying from famine.  I hope you like this new way to see Joseph.

Errors in Family Structure

 

This sermon by Dr. Baugham will examine the Scripture that will show you God’s vision for the home front. Today’s culture, including many churches,  are full of errors about manhood, womanhood and marriage. Let us find God’s treasures in Ephesians 5. Here you will find answers for the attacks Satan brings on the family. In missions, when the Gospel breaks through, not only are people dealing with leaving other religions, but with realigning their family structure—they often leave a broken, sinful, pagan culture (even in developed nations), for a kingdom that is built on God’s rules. Converting to a Scriptural home is a big change. Hard, but necessary. But God will bless it. He is faithful. Let’s begin at Ephesians 5:22:

Wives, submit to your own husbands….

Let me stop there! Even for those few words, we’re already at war with our culture. My points are

1.    Let’s talk about feminism, the way the culture is moving. Feminism is at war with the Gospel and with marriage, as we will see in Scripture. Also, a fact within the modern ‘neo-Marxist’ culture, is that everything is seen through the lens of power relations. (Marxism’s whole theme is that power guarantees the oppressor takes what the oppressed produces). To the neo-Marxist (which ideology the media slips into our thinking, and many of us believe it without knowing it), marriage is part of the oppressor/oppressed paradigm. So the conclusion, in much of society (especially in the college ‘educated’), is that women who use the “old rules” are oppressed in marriage.

2.    In the “new” area of openly same sex marriages, they are pushing for our acceptance. But Scripture disagrees, saying ‘Wives, submit to your husbands. If you believe Scripture is God’s loving rules, a wife can’t have a wife, nor a husband, a husband. Those are fighting words today.

3.    We also conclude there is something unique about manhood and womanhood. God made them male and female. Yet that too is another battleground. To finish our Scripture beyond v. 22 above:

…as to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. ²⁴ Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, ²⁶ that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, ²⁷ that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish…

Now we’re entering into yet another area of conflict: How dare we suggest that people need to be made “holy?” Are we suggesting sinfulness, or imperfection in any person (other than the ‘fundies,’ of course, like the white, male, heterosexual, cis-gendered (i.e., those who believe the sexes identified with are biological only), able-bodied, native-born, CHRISTian—his sarcasm is tricky here). Are we suggesting a need for salvation, sanctification, correction, a movement away from unrighteousness toward righteousness? To continue with v. 28:

So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. ³⁰ For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. ³¹ “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother…

There are those binary terms again….

…and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 

That last phrase is why this battleground matters. Proper marriage points us to Christ and the Church (not speaking Catholic; we’re saying, all true followers of the Lord). And to the Gospel. So we cannot abandon this ground.

So let us Scripturally counter these challenges. We’ll start with “wives, submit to your husbands, as to the Lord.” There is order within the context of marriage. The marriage structure of husband and wife should match our submission to Our Lord (we followers are His Bride, and should submit to Him by following Him. But many couples have backed away from it, even members of conservative churches (it doesn’t help that this subject is kryptonite to many pastors, so they won’t speak on it to instruct us; that lack makes it easy to get steeped in the world’s culture without being aware).

Let’s bring up male headship; the culture calls it patriarchy, and they hate it; it’s evil, they say. So their women, when they decide to marry, will not take their husband’s name. ‘I’m an independent woman; I don’t take the name of that man…I’ll keep my father’s name instead.’

But another battleground is in our own camp too; the evangelical feminists have now decided that the patriarchy is dominance (with its negative connotations of the term). But they have just discovered there is a ‘misreading’ of the meaning of Scripture. (So they are apologizing for the “misreading” of the last 2000 years.) They point the finger and chime in, Only those radical ‘fundamentalists’ want to dominate women. They say that male patriarchy is a product of the Fall, but that once we are saved, we are free from the need for his headship. We can have God’s love, which means we can rationally work out differences. That curse has been reversed. So they are, in effect, saying Genesis 3:16’s curse on women, since there is a phrase on women submitting to men there, has been lifted. Here’s what God said to Eve when she ate of the forbidden fruit:

“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
In pain you shall bring forth children;
Your desire shall be for your husband,
And he shall rule over you.”

Here’s a test: Can you see how their conclusion that this curse was lifted for saved women was wrong? The answer is: Read the first half: If they have been freed from the curse of pain in childbearing, why do we still hear the screaming in the nurseries? No, ladies, you’re still stuck with the curse. You don’t get freedom from half a curse, the submissive half, and still stuck with the other half, the pain in childbearing. Despite how badly you want it.

Check this doctrinal statement from the Christians for Biblical Equality in 1989:

“Patriarchy, or male dominance (their definition, deliberately with negative connotations) “is not a Biblical ideal, but a result of sin (agreeing with the evangelical feminists). It is an abuse of power, taking from females what God has given them.” (It assumes the men are doing the taking—it’s that neo-Marxist view again). ”It takes their dignity, their freedom, their leadership, and even their lives.”

That statement agrees with the United Nations: “The family has been a stronghold of patriarchy; it embodies men’s social power and domination over women.” The problem is, the U.N. is a notoriously liberal organization of pagan ideologies; it is devoid of Christianity or Bible knowledge. Somebody is playing the parrot here, but it’s the wrong tune.

But patriarchy is simply “male headship.” It’s about order, remember? And Scripture shows it was NOT a result of the Fall. In fact, God installed it before the Fall. 1) The man was made before the woman; that implies male headship. 2) the woman was made “for the man”—male headship. 3) “I will make him a helper suitable for him”—male headship. 4) “the woman was brought to the man”—male headship. 5) “the woman was named by the man”—male headship. I should also point out that there are important negatives with that headship. In Romans 5, “sin entered the world through one man.” Even though Eve ate first, and tempted Adam, he gets the blame, as the person who is head of the family should.

Dr. Baugham says, “Please use the word ‘patriarchy’ proudly, people—embrace it—if for no other reason other than it messes with the liberals so much.”

Some evangelical feminists have a more sophisticated argument. They read v. 21, which says:

 submitting to one another in the fear of God.

Then they take the mutual submitting idea and apply it to v. 22, suggesting that men and women are to submit to one another. But there are answers to this, making it false. First: The verb “submit” used in v. 22 is different; it is a military term. As anybody from the military knows, submission only goes one way. It is not mutual. (This does not address men needing to “love your wives” in v.28.) He gave a good example of a “rookie” lieutenant and a master sergeant, who has been there ten years. Who is the most valuable person there? The sergeant. But when the lieutenant gets the orders and passes them down, the sergeant does not get to express to him how his vast experience would suggest a different decision. If you let democracy take over in the military, even one man, the whole system breaks down. A smart lieutenant would listen to the sergeant when he’s not sure, but he doesn’t have to. This is about order, not value. The point is, the results are better, in the long run, if everyone played their roles the best they know how. (Unless corruption has taken over the promotions.) When Adam saw Eve, he said “This is bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh, she was taken out of man.” These are statements of her valued standing to him. Cultures impacted by Biblical Christianity have the freest, safest, and most cherished women on earth.

 In any event, nobody like a family whose headship is a two-headed person. Such a person should either be killed, or we should put them behind glass, and charge people to see it.

The second reason this plays games with Scripture’s meaning is, v. 21 is the END of a paragraph that began with verse 15. Any games-playing we can do to the verb “submit” ends in v. 21.  The new paragraph has a different goal, and a different verb. There is a masterful structure in verses 15ff, involving a triplet of triplicates. Here’s the firsts triplet: Ephesians 5:15-18.

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, ¹⁶ redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

¹⁷ Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸ And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit

Verse 15 is the first contrast: Walk not as fools but as wise. Verse 17 is the second contrast: Do not be unwise, but wise (understand the will of the Lord). Verse 18 is the third contrast: Do not be drunk with wine; be drunk, or filled, with the Spirit.

Now, there is a triplet of commands related to the third contrast, the filling of the Spirit. These commands begin in v. 21:

 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, ²⁰ giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ submitting to one another in the fear of God.

These commands are in three verses, a triplicate of evidence of the Spirit-filled life. 1) Optimistic speaking and singing, 2) Giving thanks, and 3) Submitting to the leaders among brothers in the church

Finally, on the third command (the submission), we get three contexts for submission. Verse 22 is “wives, submit to your own husbands.” Chapter 6:1 says “children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” And 6:5 says “slaves, obey your earthly masters…”

Thus, 5:21 is not the umbrella for 5:22. It’s the umbrella for 5:22 all the way to 6:9. That introduces another set of errors. When you read, “children, obey your parents…” what do some people do? They dislike children because of the inconvenience. They dislike them so much they murder them in the womb. (He has more to say on children, and more on abortion, but I have at least two blogs on the latter subject, plus we don’t have the  space).

In reality, people hate male headship because they hate God’s headship. They are in rebellion against Christ; they like to blaspheme this glorious image of Christ and His Bride, the church of true followers. Wives are told to submit to their husbands “as to the Lord.” NOT because the husbands deserve it, or have earned it, or are worthy of it. This is about submission to the Lord, who has saved us from hell. None of any of us earn it, or are worthy of God’s love. Wives submit, as Christians submit to Christ, the head of His body.

What we are seeing now is the monstrous result of a culture that no longer protects women as the weaker vessel, physically—which all statistical facts prove. As proven in guys who want to go ’trans’ in sports.  Guys go from “middle of the pack” in male competition to national champion, by pretending they are female. To add to insult, they are proclaimed by some as “woman of the year.” Reminds me of Isaiah 5:20, calling the evil good, and the good evil. One ”woman” in an MMA fight, fractured the skull of a woman. This is what we do in the name of “equality for women,” we brutalize them—and their dreams—rather than protect them. Our culture says that our protective impulse invariably leads to evil and is detrimental to women. We are listening to the culture run by Satan, and we are now ashamed of our stance, despite His Word’s stance. Ephesians 5:25 says:

Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her, ²⁶ that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, ²⁷ that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

Christ’s model on giving His all for us, is how husbands love their wives. Is this hatred toward women? Is this “domination,” which implies abuse? If it is, that means Christ is an abuser of His Bride, the church. But Christ’s feelings toward His bride—and His death for her, and the Gospel-- must all be wicked, evil patriarchy. Is the Gospel a story of love to the maximum, or is it evil? The world’s opinion is a blasphemy of Christ’s love for His church. That’s why we can’t give this ground. Yes, despite how the supporters twist it around, it is blasphemy. If you call yourself a Christian, and want to know what God is commanding for family structure, , don’t align yourself with the culture. Read a couple old books where the protégé is from 150 years ago to see how gentlemen treated the women—and how much it has changed. Not for the better. God doesn’t change. God’s rules apply for our good no matter the culture. It’s just that in these times, your opinion will make you stick out, and you will be persecuted. Oh, well. Jesus guaranteed that would happen. Don’t play the fence, or change your opinion depending on the person you happen to be talking to. Even better, know the Bible verses that you are sticking up for, and have faith in God enough to actually quote them. Then you will forever be “the Bible man (or woman).” That can be good, you know. Don’t be oversensitive. Keep smiling. You are the winner in the long run. They are on the losing side. Pray about what you can do to help get people saved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting Your House In Order Part 2

 I hope you read Part 1 of Dr. Baugham’s great sermon. His point #1 is, worship God without rivals. His point #2 is “build your home on a foundation of Biblical love.” That’s where we are. To continue this sermon, I wish I were as passionate as him.

Biblical love is, then, defined as “an act of the will, accompanied by emotion, that leads to action on behalf of its object.”  This might explain why marriages by parents’ choice (when the couple often didn’t even meet each other before the wedding) can be surprisingly successful, if they are activating their will. Today’s concept of internet dating based on “matching interests having the most success” is more selfishly oriented. But a marriage can’t go long that is based on selfish interests—truth is, if you’re going to be married and live together, it demands sacrifice. If you believe in the worldly concept of love, God is unreasonable when He calls us to fidelity. No, God wants us to choose to love this person; and choose to make the marriage work “in sickness and in health.”  Voddie tells his wife, “Girl, if you leave me, I’m going with you.” He was 20 years old when they married. “Our first baby was born 10 months after our marriage because we were what you call “efficient.”” When they had their first argument, they had no idea how people could have serious disagreements and somehow work through them and continue to love each other nevertheless. “We had our Cortez moment. We burned the ships. Nobody’s going home. The D-word is not an option. Homicide we leave on the table.”

 

“Accompanied by emotion.” Which means, ladies, it’s not Led by emotion. Your emotions change hourly. Which means, men, it’s not void of emotion. “Guys try to tell me, “I’m not an emotional man.” I tell them, “Sell that somewhere else.”” If you’re on the golf course, and shank one, you don’t say, “I seem to hit that one poorly.” When you’re watching a ball game, and your team is getting beat like a tied-up goat, you don’t just sit there and say, “Well, they have far more points than we do right now.” We’re incredibly emotional about the things that matter. Love is passionate. Love acts on behalf of that which is loved. This is biblical love. You want to see a picture of it, it’s in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus is sweating out drops of blood, and says, “if there is any other way, let this bitter cup pass from me…nevertheless, not my will, but Yours be done.” It was an act of the will, a choice, accompanied by intense emotion. And it led to action—the Cross—on behalf of its beloved—us.

 

If we build our homes on a foundation of biblical love, everything is more secure. Even if you don’t feel as close to God—or your spouse. That’s OK; love is an act of the will. You move your mind to choose God’s way—joy is His way.

 

3. Be committed to a biblical worldview. Consider Moses’ words, “These words which I’m commanding to you today shall be on your heart.” Or, redefining “heart,” these things shall be seared on your will. To get that from our children, we need to teach them the biblical worldview. We “take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” ourselves too. That gets us obedience to Him—without just memorizing rote rules. It’s a shame that we want advice from Dr. Spock or Dr. Phil, but we don’t train our kids regularly from His Word—we don’t ever want to hear from Dr. Jesus. Do you really believe that “all Scripture is God-breathed, and profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness?” That the Scriptures are an answer to every aspect of your life? That’s what it looks like with His commandments seared on your heart. Therefore, we must

 

4. Teach the Word of God to our children. Through surveys, we found that less than 1% have family worship once a year. We’re not catechizing our children. We leave it to the church, in their one-hour noisy sessions; the biggest churches actually suggest that they would do the teaching, not us, since they are “trained professionals.” These churches are so far from the Word that they hire people to do jobs that are called by God to be your This phenomenon has been going on for at least 35 years.

Ephesians 6:4:

fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord.

It is your responsibility to teach theology and church history. Psalm 78 is replete with this. You get one shot at it, since when they are young, their mind is still malleable. What could possibly be more important? When you breathe your last, and you are dead and gone, what will you leave? You’re going to die and somebody’s going to get all your stuff. But what legacy are you leaving for your children? Just “stuff?” I’m tired of hearing these celebrity-guys who retire early, and they’re 50 or 60, and they say, “I’m leaving now to devote more time to my children and family.” And I’m watching this on TV, and I say, ‘bro, it’s too late.’ Where were you when your children were apt to listen to you, when they were young, and thought you were ‘super-dad.?’ So when they’re grown, living a life that you didn’t train them to live God’s way, you can have the life that you can live for yourself. We’ve got it backward. When you worked, did you decide, “I ‘have to’ move our family  because there’s more money and a better opportunity.” Or did you decide, “I’m moving because there’s a slower pace of life, and a more manageable position that will allow me to make an investment in my family and children that I need.” There are people in this room, who can testify that when they look back at the lives of their children, who are not walking with God, completely astray, and they will say, “Oh, if I had it to do over again.” They even say to their grown child, “Don’t buy the lie that I bought. Disciple your children from the Word—so you will leave something of eternal value to the next generation.”

 

5. Mark your home as God’s territory. Here’s some verses that people don’t get: Deuteronomy 6:8-9:

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

As a child, my mother’s Buddhism marked all my senses—the incense, the statue, the beads, the ringer, the chants. Some of you, as a Christian, have certain routines since you were children, such as the same meal every Sunday, and all the family is invited. Now that you are grown, when you smell that meal, it reminds you of Sunday afternoon at home. Some of you have a daily tradition of family worship, followed by a meal. Some have sayings on the walls, or Christian music in the evenings, in a quiet time, without TV. These mark your home forever as a place of praises sent up to His Throne. Finally,

 

6. Keep your prosperity in check. In the Old Testament, when God gave the Israelites the land, the homes, the wells already dug, the new wealth, He said, “watch yourselves”—because that’s when you’re prone to forget the God who gave you all this.

 Prosperity is difficult because we become unfaithful.  That’s why Jesus said, “It’s easier for a rich man to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” That’s why Jesus said to the rich man looking for eternal life… go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”  The rich young ruler walked away; to him, Jesus, whom he only respected, wasn’t worth losing all his wealth. So, it’s hell for him. And for us, if we get entangled by the world. Nothing will challenge your commitment to God more than prosperity. Adversity has a tendency to drive us to our knees. Prosperity will drive us away from God. We begin to look toward the gift instead of the Giver.

 

Dr. Baugham’s testimony is throughout this. The way we’re seeing this is, unbiblically, we yearn for everyone to obtain work for prosperity. We’re no longer raising women in our culture. We’re raising men with women plumbing. “Our daughter is homeschooled, and is not going to college. You ask her why, and she’ll say she wants to be a homeschool mom, raising her kids to follow God.” We should be raising our girls to be moms and wives. We won’t send her out, hoping she finds a good man, and if not, have a prosperous life, hopefully, as an independent, unprotected, vulnerable woman. I will not send her off to some university to act “in loco parentis.” I’m her parent. I’m her covering until she is married. “Why does this sound so radical?” Because we are a lot more American than we are Christian. We do the same thing everybody else does. There’s a whole lot of women out there who bought the lie that says, “you can have it all, materially.” Truth is, Scripture clearly says, you were never meant to. No one is. You have a role to play, as Scripture has laid out. Why would any woman give it up, who is able to grow life within them, who is able to have a symbiotic relationship, your heartbeat and your child. They know your smell as a newborn. The first thing they need to do is nurse at your breasts. When nursing, they are looking into your eyes. Why? Because God designed you to nurture them.

 

You know what our culture says? “That’s not good enough. You need to share Adam’s curse (difficulty in work, providing for the family), because Eve’s curse is not enough for you.”  Our world also says, “as soon as you can, you get that baby off you, and hire someone else to do what God created you to do.” God says “I’ve created you to have a role as suitable helper for your husband. What does our world say? Well, let him go to find someone else’s wife to be his right arm (speaking of office jobs), then you go to be the right arm of some other man. When our women have the greatest gift, the greatest calling, the greatest opportunity in the world—the hand that rocks the cradle stands to rule the world. That’s your power and influence, young ladies, if you let it be. There is nothing more beautiful, nothing more precious, and powerful than authentic, strong, submissive womanhood.  And there is nothing that is in shorter supply—except for authentic, passionate, protecting, providing manhood. Our houses are NOT in order. We are raising men who are weak and have not been given permission to stand up and lead their homes. And women who are unprotected and completely dissatisfied because somebody told them that they could ‘have it all.’ She rejects the God-blessed motherhood, takes on Adam’s curse and pays someone else take the “menial” job of nurturing their children. God help us.

Getting Your House In Order

 

As my followers know, I like Dr. Voddie Baugham’s sermons. I found the subject that is closest to his heart, the home and the education of children.  It was a pleasure  to summarize.

 

He begins by saying, “We are losing our young people in droves”—ie, they are turned off to God, the Bible, or church. The Bible has the answer for that, in Deuteronomy 6. We start with the first three verses:

 

“Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, ² that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. ³ Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’

 

Note four things: 1) God wants His people to teach their children of God’s commandments; 2) He wants the parents to obey those written laws themselves, showing that they are not hypocrites;  3) He expects they will fear God, that their days “may be prolonged,” implying that if they don’t learn the fear of God, they will likely fall into gross sin and their days will be cut short.

 

A word about “fear:” this is not “awe,” a watered-down meaning.  It means to be afraid of disobeying God. I have a blog elsewhere on that subject.

 

Finally, 4) The only way God’s people can “multiply greatly” is: through their obedience, God will open the wombs, and they can have many children (Dr. Baugham has nine). Children were desired, and a great blessing. This is the opposite of our culture, which considers children a drag on enjoying life’s entertainment and travel, and other materialistic dreams.  But God has called us away from materialism, from our worldly culture, to sacrifice, thinking of others before ourselves—a side effect of having many children.  That quality of sacrifice would slow down the pace of divorce, too.

 

Now he gets into a little history: As Moses speaks, in Deuteronomy, the Israelites are just outside the land God promised. They would have to go to war, since many tribes are there.  They had an opportunity 40 years before to take the land, but they were afraid of the giants, and passed on the opportunity.  But God, offended by this disobedient faithless generation, “mercifully” let every adult die in the wilderness while they wandered aimlessly for 40 years.  When the children of that earlier day grew up, and were offered another chance, they remembered the reason for their parents’ deaths, and this time they feared God and voted to believe God could help them win the land.

 

In case you don’t think God was merciful in killing their disobedient parents over 40 years, Dr. Baugham says, “ask Ananias and Sapphira. Oh, I’m sorry, you can’t—God killed them.” He said one of the favorite titles he ever preached on, based on Acts 5, was “The God Who Will Kill You.” (He’s half kidding, but making a point).

 

Most people assume the God “on the left side” of the Bible was mean; but the God on the “right side” of the Bible was nice, and sweet… But truth is, God could be Judge today, same as the Old Testament—and there were Ananias and Sapphira, “right smack dab in the middle of the New Testament,” to prove it.

 

Anyway, Moses wanted to prepare the people to live as the People of God, a distinct people in all the earth (every tribe had their god, or gods, who they hope would do favors for them and keep them prosperous and alive). So Moses gives a series of sermons, since recorded in the Book of Deuteronomy, in which he orally repeats God’s Law to this “new” generation (likely Moses hadn’t written the Laws yet). Note that the name ‘Deutero’ means ‘repeat,’ and nomy comes from ‘Law.’

 

Now Moses’ sermon goes into detail, Deuteronomy 6:4-15:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! ⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

⁶ “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. ¹⁰ “So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, ¹¹ houses full of all good things, which you did not fill…, ¹² then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. ¹³ You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name. ¹⁴ You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you ¹⁵ (for the Lord your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.

Note the phrase “these words…shall be in your heart.” We believe that the moral law in the Old Testament, as well as the New, still has God’s solutions for society because He loves us in any age. Note also that they were to teach God’s Word “diligently” to their children. That would include speaking to them an aspect of the Law whenever they got the chance.  In normal day-after-day routines, they would teach the Laws, piece by piece, to their children.

The verses above also have a story often-repeated: When we are prosperous, we tend to forget God. Because we are wrapped up in this world, wanting to see our Estate grow. or maybe we think we don’t need God anymore—in an emergency, I can always dip into savings. Or maybe our well-to-do friends would mock us for believing in fundamentalism, and we “need” our networking friends for influence on important people, for job opportunities, all of which helps us get wealthier.

Jesus was hard on the rich, saying that few would be in heaven (few pastors would preach that fact). The parable of the Sower is instructive here: only one of the four grounds the seed landed on turned out with consistent growth (ie, saved). One of the three failures were people who got wrapped up in the world, as Jesus put it in Mark 4:18-19:

 the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, ¹⁹ and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful. 

Jesus says in John 15:5-6 that people need to abide—ie, form a day-to-day-to-day relationship with Christ to become fruitful. Here in Mark He is saying, that people who are unfruitful—have no consistent growth, are unsaved.

In the verses in Deuteronomy 6 above, we have a solution to avoid the temptation of taking God out of your life, for other, worldly goals: “fear the Lord….you shall not go after other gods.” Going after wealth, or the worldly pleasures, are idolatry (no longer putting a relationship with God first is idolatry). And we should know what happens to idolaters. It says God’s anger will “destroy you from the face of the earth.” The 40-year old-and-up people to whom Moses was speaking saw that happening to their parents--their bones in the desert told a lot. Their parents let their fear destroy their faith.

 

Beginning in Deuteronomy 6:4, Dr. Baugham will give several principles to Get Our House In Order:

 

1.    Worship God without rivals. Speaking of the Jews, they were about to go into a land where everyone worships multiple gods—they have a god “for everything,” but you have a God Who IS everything. They even set their children on fire on a statue, to appease that god. If you make the mistake of worshiping rival gods, you will, like them, even burn your children on the altar to appease these gods who would supposedly bring you material wealth. Dr. Baugham asks, in shocked wonderment,  “how do you do that?” The same way you do this, he says: You’re young. If you have that baby, you won’t be able to finish school now…you can’t get as good a job, you won’t be as prosperous. But if you sacrifice that baby on the altar of Baal (abortion), you will open up your opportunity for greater prosperity. Different idol, same result. In our culture, we worship a god of prosperity. Are you, too, willing to slaughter your unborn children to achieve that? Based on the number of abortions we have, we also worship another god-- convenience.

 

One of the maladies that modern science can detect in the womb, through checking chromosomes, is Down’s syndrome. So what do we do? We abort 90% of Down’s babies. That baby is an inconvenience. Well, stretching that to the future: “what happens when we can determine eye color, and you prefer blue to brown? The chance is high, if the baby is “wrong,” that letting him or her live means you won’t get what you “want.” That’s because the “rule” in society is, you only get two children—a boy for me, a girl for you, and praise the Lord, we’re finally through. The only “exception” to our cultural rule is if your first two are the same sex: we’ll let you try one more time to get the other sex. Anyone in this room knows, if a family walked into a church, with 6, 7, 8 kids—that’s church people, now—they will look at them like you have a third eye, in the middle of your head. Why? Because we worship a god of This age. We worship a rival god. We don’t believe anymore. We’re in the midst of This culture…and we fit far too well. Our God has different rules. We must pay attention, and fear Him. God is not running for God. He was the only one around when the elections were held, and there’s never going to be a recount.

 

2.    Build your home on a foundation of biblical love. Not the Greco-Roman myth of romantic love. The myth goes that “love is an overwhelming, uncontrollable sensual force.” What’s the symbol of love in our culture? Cupid. A random hit with his arrow, and you fall in love with someone—no matter that you already have a spouse. That’s why people who have been married 25-30 years are getting divorces. That also might explain why we worry unnecessarily—when might God fall out of love for me? It might explain why prospective mothers of child #2 are uncertain of their feelings for that child being as strong as they were for their  first child. And why prospective parents of an adopted child might be unsure they can love them as much as their ”real” children.  But that myth is false. In fact, an adopted child has “a bonus:” We are reminded that we, too, are adopted children of Christ. And we know He loves us.

 

True love, not Cupid, is biblical; it is different. When Jesus speaks about loving God with all your “heart, soul, and mind” in Matthew 22:37, remember that your “heart” is a muscle, that’s all. It “knows” nothing. There is no “heart knowledge vs. head knowledge.”  The only “knower” among the three is your mind. So when we use “heart,” we are speaking in figurative terms; it is referring to an aspect of your mind. When we love God with all our mind, it's speaking of loving God with all our will. The soul, in Hebrew, means deep down in our intestines; we love God with all our “guts.” “I look at my wife, and I say, ‘girl, I love you with all my intestines.’ Well… it did not have the desired effect.”

Next week: Part 2

 

No Follow Through, No Goal

  

One debate that still matters among Christians:  Are we saved by faith alone, or are works necessary to be saved?  There is no one better than Dr R.C. Sproul to discuss this.  Here are his thoughts to a small group of seminary students. I’m giving you pretty much word for word on the subject.  He begins with the battle between Catholics and Martin Luther.  Then, he quotes James 2:21-24:

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? ²² Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? ²³ And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. ²⁴ You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

Here we have the explicit statement in sacred Scripture that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. You would think that that single verse would be the crushing blow to Luther's gospel of faith alone.

Here is God’s Word in Romans 4:1-5, so you can compare with James above, and get a clearer idea of this apparent problem: 

 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? ² For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. ³ For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” (Note: Genesis 15:6) ⁴ Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. ⁵ But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness

So how do we reconcile what Paul teaches in Romans with what James teaches here?

Back to Dr. Sproul:

Some people think that reconciling these two verses, one vaunting works, the other relying on faith, is an impossible task, that they are simply irreconcilable.  Some feel that James wrote later, after he read Paul, in an attempt to refute him.  Or Paul was trying to refute James.  It is beneath the dignity of God’s perfect Word to even discuss this "refuting."  Classic orthodoxy would say that neither one of them was trying to refute the other, and that the two positions are not contradictory, though on the surface they seem to be.  The difficulty is further compounded by the fact that both James and Paul use the same Greek word here for justification.  The matter becomes even more severe when we see that both of them have the same person that they use as Exhibit A to prove their point: Abraham. 

Paul says that Abraham was counted righteous before he had done any works.  So Paul has Abraham justified in Chapter 15 of Genesis. He had faith to believe God's pronouncement. But based on James, he would not have Abraham justified until Genesis 22, where he offers his son Isaac on the altar. A work.

This is one of the things that made Luther question the canonicity of James, calling it “an epistle of straw.”  But he later repented of that judgment.  (Many scholars since have charged that Luther did not believe in the inerrancy of Scripture.)  But he is quoted as saying “The Scripture never errs.” He was originally “simply” questioning if James should be included in the inerrant Bible.

By way of solution, as it turns out, there is more than one meaning for the term ‘justification.’ Recall Jesus saying that “wisdom is justified by her children.”  (Luke 7:35).  Obviously, in context, He did not mean that “wisdom” is a person, that it was reconciled to a holy God with an imputed righteousness.  He is saying, if it is true wisdom, it is shown by its fruit.  Thus, the meaning of “justified” in this case is to demonstrate or to manifest the truth of something. The term has a second meaning:  it can be used to prove the truth of a claim. 

It would help if you find out “what problem is the apostle trying to solve, and why?” What were the issues of Paul and James?  For James, we get an idea in James 2:14-17:

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can (some versions add “that”) faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? ¹⁷ Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

James is dealing with the people who make a profession of faith, but do not manifest any fruit of it.  In our day and age, we have hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people in America who have made professions, but have never demonstrated the reality of the faith they claim to possess. That is James’ concern. (Ed. I ask, are they in the end saved, based solely on their original confession? James answers that: No.)

But that’s not the question Paul is asking: “How can an unjust person stand in the presence of a just and holy God?”  His concern for justification is before God, and that is where he says that we are justified by faith apart from the works of the law.  James is asking a different question, “what about the person who professes faith, but has no evidence of it later?”  If someone has faith but does not have works, can that faith save him? He concludes that faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.  He is making a distinction between dead faith and faith that is alive. 

When Luther was challenged about the need for works, a question asked of him was, “Does that mean we can just believe and live however we want to?” Paul answers that question, “May God forbid!” (Romans 6:15).  Luther, on another occasion, said, “Justification is by faith alone, but not by faith that is alone.”  The faith that justifies, he said, is a living faith.  And you know it is alive when it manifests itself in the fruit of obedience.  That’s the work aspect of it--he actually acknowledged the role of fruit, or works.  If we say, “I have faith,” how does another person know?  Can anybody read my heart?  No. The only way you can evaluate the truth of my claim is to see if I manifest it in my life.  “By their fruits ye shall know them.”  (Matthew 7:20).  And even then we can fool people with rotten fruit that is phony fruit.

But, how long does God have to wait before He knows that my profession of faith is genuine?  He does not have to wait 7 chapters to see evidence.  He knows my heart is genuine or not.  And so I think it is critical in answering this problem of reconciling theses verses; we see that even though both James and Paul appealed to Abraham to make their case, they appealed to Abraham at different times in his life.  Paul makes his point that we are justified by faith apart from the works of the law by pointing to Chapter 15, when Abraham believed God, and God counted it to him for righteousness.  James makes his case that Abraham is justified by works by pointing to Chapter 22.  Is he talking about Abraham being justified in the sight of God?  Or is he saying that Abraham is being justified in the sight of men?  He says, “if a man says he has faith, but not works, can that faith save him?”  His answer is ‘No.’ The only faith that saves is not a dead faith, but a living faith.  If it is a living faith, it will certainly be made manifest by works.  So Abraham is authenticating his claim of faith in Chapter 22.  Just as we claim to have faith, we have to show forth that faith by our works. 

Thus Dr. Sproul does a great job of explaining the seeming irreconcilability of these two sections of verses.  But something else bugs me, and Dr. Sproul alluded to it. Those of you old enough, do you remember how, in the Billy Graham crusades, people got saved?  By listening to the sermon, then as the choir does “Just As I Am,” they walked down the aisle.  What we don’t see on TV is, these folks got a brief connection, got a little handbook, and went home.  There was little follow-up to even figure out what church they ended up at, if any.  Hard data was done by others, however.  In a separate study, it shows that most of the people going forward were active churchgoers, and already Christian. They were mostly rededicating their lives.  In another case, Baptist churches did an intense survey after a California crusade.  This showed paltry numbers of people likely actually saved, since they did not even attend church.

It is claimed that Graham’s methods follow those by Charles Finney, a 19^th century evangelist, who changed evangelism from “conversion” to “easy decisionism,” and, some say, wrecked it.  Ray Comfort, a lifelong evangelist, does follow up on people saved, does speak on the Ten Commandments to convince people of the depth of their sin, and talks about Judgment Day and repentance (many pastors nowadays miss those). He is convinced that, today, over 80% of those supposedly saved fail to follow up with any evidence of changed lives. They simply missed the "follow on" fruits that embody true faith.

All this leads to an unfortunate conclusion:  Among the non-Christian respondents who go forward are thousands of people who think that they are saved. But they did not change their lives, nor did true faith's follow-up works even get a mention by the evangelist. The evangelist fails to emphasize the cost of discipleship nowadays.  Thus, they ended up unconverted. This has an unfortunate opposite effect: it makes these multitudes of people extremely hard to evangelize again; they’ve convinced themselves that they’re already saved, and will shrug off any effort to unconvince them. Thus, they end up hardened against real conversion Their “insurance policy” is in. A one-off confession, a walk down front, did it. Per the evangelist's words.

Poll numbers echo the story of their certainty: While 72% of Americans believe in heaven as a place where people “who live a good life” go (which is not the point of our need for redemption), and while the majority of Americans understand hell, only 4% believe they will go there.  Thus, a great number of Americans hold this, shall we call it, smug conclusion that heaven is their endgame, without much sweat.  But Jesus said “few” would go to heaven (Matthew 7:13-14).  Maybe 6-10% of everybody is the definition of few.  You may question that, but I have proof below.  I suspect most Americans—yes, most—will be like Jesus’ warning in Matthew 7:20-23:

By their fruits you will know them ²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

What is my proof that Americans do not respect God’s rules, and are thus defined as lawless? The word does not mean "bad" sins, just ignoring God, and not willing to have a relationship with Our Lord.  Just to cite a few:  First, a majority of Americans believe that abortion needs to be a necessary option.  (After all, we haven’t been offended enough to eliminate it, after 51 years).  From the Guttmacher Institute, 2014:  17% of abortion patients identified themselves as mainline Protestant, 13% as evangelical Protestant, and 24% as Catholic.  That totals 54% of "Christians" who think it's fine to kill the baby in the womb.  Church pastors don't help--they typically avoid the subject of murdering the innocents.  Secondly, only 47% of Americans belong to or are members of a church (that study was done before Covid). Thirdly, Americans’ ignorance of the Bible is astonishing: In a Pew Research study of 2019, a multiple-choice question was posed: “Who preached the Sermon on the Mount?”  Choices were:  John, Paul, Peter, and Jesus.  49% got the wrong answer! Fourthly, we allow ignorant pastors to preach to us: according to a Cultural Research Center 2020 study, 49% of pastors “do not have a Biblical worldview.” 

My point in all this is, Americans blindly define for themselves on the path to heaven, when the way is clearly pointed out in Scripture; and missing it is not excusable.  But they don’t want to read Scripture, because they would have to confront their sin and a holy God. They are comfortable with their lives in the world, and their sin. So they all make up their own mind about what gets them to heaven; i.e., visit church with some regularity; pray to God, like if my family is in trouble.  They also make God whatever their minds want to see in Him—usually, a forgiving, grandpa sort.  Some believe that their church works will get them to heaven, or they believe that their wealth proves that God loves them eternally, as long as they don’t do anything really bad.  Or they believe that their one-off confession, or their infant baptism, will do the job.  They have no idea of the nuances of Dr. Sproul about works—instead, they perceived from their pastors, perhaps, that assurance of heaven was an easy task. Since Scripture disagrees with what your denomination has always taught you, that's still no excuse.  People just assume God will make my life easier if I believe in Jesus. These people don’t know about the holiness or fear of God, and how they deserved hell.  The demons believe in Jesus, and where will they go? (James 2:19).

The Bible puts forth the plan of salvation quite differently than all this speculation: As Dr. Sproul suggested, we are saved by living faith, or faith that abides in Jesus Christ.  Ponder Jesus’ words in John 15:5-6:

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and a l they are burned.

To put it bluntly, as the verses say, we are burning in hell unless we abide in Jesus.  What is “abiding in Jesus?” If it’s the key to avoiding hell, it’s rather important.  It’s not works, as we typically imagine them; it’s fruit and forming a relationship with Jesus--praying, reading His Word to learn to obey His commands, being honest, confessing sin, asking Him for clues on today's mission for Him.  Fruit will result from good works.  The Bible has a definition of fruit in Galatians 5.  And obedience.  These are all required stuff.  It’s a long-term relationship, too.  That’s vitally important; none of these “one-off” salvation ideas. Easy believism.

I have other blogs on the subject. You should be seeking Scripture on the whole subject, with an open heart.  As the Word says in II Corinthians 13:5:

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves…unless indeed you are disqualified.

May God bless you as you seek more of Him.