The Thankfulness of Jesus

 

From John Henry Jowett

“And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened…” —Luke 24:30-31

I want to lead the meditation of my readers to one of the private habits of our Lord–His habit of thanksgiving. Everyone who knows the New Testament knows how the apostolic life abounded in praise. It runs like some singing river through all their changing days. And where did they learn the habit? They had got it from their Lord. The Master’s habit must have made a profound impression upon them. There must have been something very distinct and distinctive about it. We are told that the two disciples, journeying to Emmaus after the awful happenings in Jerusalem, recognized their risen Lord when He began to give thanks. “He was made known to them in the breaking of bread.” They knew Him by His gratitude and by the manner in which He expressed it. He was recognized by His praise. Let us recall two or three examples of this shining habit of our Lord.

“And Jesus took the loaves and gave thanks.” That is to say, He took commonplace, common bread, and associated it with God, and it was no longer a commonplace. He gave thanks, and in the recognition the common was revealed as the Divine. The ordinary meal became a sacrament with the Unseen Presence as real as we apprehend Him at the table of the Lord.

Now, a man who feels the divine relationships of bread will have a very transfigured road. The man whose praise is elicited by loaves will also be thankful for the cornfield, the sunshine, the dew, and the rain, for the reapers who gather the corn, for the touch of God in the labourer, and for the millstones which grind the corn that makes the bread. He who took the loaves and gave thanks would also give thanks for the common lily of the field, the daisy of His native land. Indeed, I think we may truly say that the Master’s habit of praise made every common thing radiant, and every wayside bush became aflame with God. He breathed His music of gratitude through the commonest reeds.

Now unless His disciples can do the same, unless we can touch and feel God in the commonplaces, He is going to be a very infrequent and unfamiliar Guest. For life is made up of very ordinary experiences. Now and again a novelty leaps into the way, but the customary tenor is rarely broken. It is the ordinary stars that shine upon us night after night; it is only occasionally that a comet comes our way. Look at some of the daily commonplaces–health, sleep, bread and butter, work, friendship, a few flowers by the wayside, the laughter of children, the ministry of song, the bright day, the cool night–if I do not perceive God in these things I have a very unhallowed and insignificant road. On the other hand, the man who discovers the Divine in a loaf of bread, and lifts his song of praise, has a wonderful world, for divinity will call to him on every side.

I do not know how we can better begin to cultivate the Master’s habit than by beginning with daily bread. Because if we begin with bread we cannot possibly end there. If we see one commonplace lit up with God, other commonplaces will begin to be illumined, until life will be like some city seen from a height by night, with all the common lamps in the common streets burning and shining with mystic flame. So let us begin with bread. But let us give thanks reverently, not with the sudden tap and the sharp, superficial sentence of a public dinner. Let us do it quietly, apprehendingly, with an effort to realize the presence of the awful, gracious, merciful God. And let us do it without formality, and seeking deliverance from the perilous opiate of words. Let us change our phraseology, let us sometimes bow in silence, and share the significant, worshipful stillness of the Friends.

Let us watch our Master again and listen to His praise. “I thank Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” Our Master thanks the Father that spiritual secrets are not the perquisites of culture, that it is not by cleverness that we gain access into the Kingdom of Grace. He gives thanks that “these things” have not been made dependent upon academic knowledge, that they are not the prizes of the merely clever and acute, but that they are “revealed unto babes.”

Now, mark this: Out of six men only one may be clever, only one may have the advantage of knowledge, but all six may have the elementary simplicities of a child. All cannot be “knowing,” but all can be docile. All cannot be “cute,” but all can be humble. All cannot be “learned,” but all can be trustful. All cannot attain to mental sovereignty, but all may sit on thrones of sovereign love. And it is upon what all may have that our Lord fixes His eye; it is the common denominator for which He offers His praise. He takes bread, the commonplace of life, and gives thanks; He takes the child, the commonalty among men, and gives thanks. He offers praise for the commonplaces and the commonalties. He gives thanks for the things that are common to Erasmus and Billy Bray, to Spurgeon and John Jaspar, to Onesimus and St. Paul. To give thanks for commonplaces makes a transfigured world; to give thanks for commonalties makes a transfigured race. The one unveils the world as our Father’s house; the other unveils the race as our Father’s family.

Now, would it not be good to exercise ourselves in that form of praise? Would it not be wise to allow our minds to rove over the race of men irrespective of class and condition, and search out the commonalties and sing our song of praise? One thing such praise would do for us. It would preserve in our minds a vivid sense of the relative values of things. We should recognize that academic learning is not to be mentioned in comparison with loneliness, that carnal power has not the holy standing of meekness, and that mere eminence is not to be counted in the same world with love. What we may have in common with the poorest and most ignorant is our most precious possession.

Look at the Master once more. “Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me.” The Master gave thanks before the miracle was wrought, while the dead was still lying stiff and stark in the tomb. He offered praise not for the victory attained but for victory about to be won. His song was not for what He had received, but for what He was about to receive. He gave thanks before the dead marched forth, and before the mourners’ tears were dried. The doxology was sung at the beginning and not at the end.

“Father, I thank Thee . . .” “And when He had thus spoken He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth, and he that was dead came forth.” The sound of praise thrilled through the call that awaked the dead.

Have we learned the habit? Is that the gracious order of our thought and labour? Sometimes we thank God for food we are about to receive. Do we thank God for power we are about to receive? Do we thank God for victory we are about to receive? Do I go forth in the morning to the warfare of the day with thanks for coming victory filling me with exhilaration and powerful hope? Did I rear my altar of praise before I took my sword? Is that how I go to the pulpit, thanking God for victories about to be won? Is that how I go to my class, quietly confident in the coming of my Lord? Is that how I take up the work of social reform? Is the song of victory in the air before I enter the field? Can I begin to sing the song of harvest home as I go forth to sow the seed? Am I sure of God, so sure that I can sing as soon as the struggle begins? That was the Master’s way. It was first the thanks and then the miracle.

And so Jesus assumed that His prayer was answered before He addressed the dead. And the significance of the act is this. To gratefully assume that prayers for power are answered opens the entire being to the full and gracious influence of the answer. Gratitude opens the channels of the whole life to the incoming of the Divine. There is no mood so receptive as praise; it fills the soul with the fulness of God, and the indwelling God works wonders, even to the raising of the dead.

I have given these three examples of the Master’s habit of thanksgiving. It is our great wisdom to follow in His train. All manner of things are promised to the grateful heart. Thanksgiving is to be a minister of vigilant sight; “watch in the same with thanksgiving.” Thanksgiving is to be a stimulant to a jaded and weary soul: “Be not drunken with wine, . . . but be ye thankful.” Thanksgiving is to be a beautifier of the regenerate soul. Ten lepers were purified, only one was beautified; “he returned to give thanks.” And, lastly, thanksgiving glorifies God. It is by the brightness of our praise that we offer the best witness to the goodness and power of our God.

 

 

Brokenness

 This is a great sermon by Voddie Baucham whose theme is, as he puts it, to "teach us why it is appropriate, important, and necessary to be broken."  I might define the word as "a deep contrition to sin, realizing that we have offended God.  We realize that all our efforts are 'sorely insufficient.'  Brokenness motivates us to true repentance and reformation of our lives."  When we are broken, He causes us to see a negative path we have been on.  He reminds us that God does not want us to come to this place and then leave us the same--but so that He can remake us.  He wants us to conform to the very image of Christ. 

Scripture has another theme as well:  Our brokenness will help Him to "prune" us. See John 15:2:

Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

I have discussed elsewhere about the necessity of abiding with Christ, and the fruit that we must develop in order to be saved in the end.  Brokenness makes God's job easier.  He called the Jews "stiff-necked" on occasion, don't forget.  Bad results for them.

But Voddie tells us there is a great tragedy afoot in our culture: People do have more feelings of "vague discomfort," but our goal is:  discomfort is like a flu. It is there simply to slow us down and we just need to deal with it.  We're saying that, suppose, here's a guy who has left his wife, or cheated in business, or has little time for the kids and now they ignore him, or he's lied or stole.  When he goes to his doctor and says he "feels bad," and instead of being told that "brother, you don't feel bad enough," they say, "take this medicine."  These doctors don't know enough about our sin to effectively counsel us.

Unfortunately, it's also in the church. Dr. Baucham says "any depression we feel should be "over" the moment we "rededicate our lives."”  The church avoids the subject of brokenness: They think it's "inappropriate" to feel crushed under the weight of our own sin--they will not chase after the cause of this goal-less drift you're in. They want to talk you into re-orienting your thinking so you can push it aside to ignore it.

Speaking about churches, now he gets into naming names; I should note that I have no problem with this, since Scripture does it, and it is a warning to people by pointing to false teachers.  He tweets Rob Bell's speaking at churches by calling it "the gods are not angry" tour.  As one observer of Bell says, "He walks around the altar for 90 minutes without talking about the wrath of God against sin being poured out on Christ.” He did not denounce the sinful footprint left lately by the rich--Scripture says the rich will "weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you." Nor did he talk about a "terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31).  Instead, catch this: Mr. Bell said, "Anytime someone makes you feel guilty about how you are living, that is part of the "old system." As Voddie accurately puts it, "that teaching is not Christianity."   (A note here:  Most pastors avoid discomfort by not talking about those subjects too, an error on their part; but they don't make scandalous conclusions like Mr. Bell did.)

Pastors like to assure us, by subjects they avoid-- that there is no need for brokenness--even before you come to Christ.  Of course, that cuts repentance off at the knees. Pastors tend to avoid that too.  But what was the First Word Jesus said when He began His ministry?  You guessed it; “repent” (Matthew 3:2). Or, as another version puts it: His first words were "amend your ways."

The second name Dr. Baugham doesn't like is a book:  "The Shack."  Highly praised, especially by Christians.  He picks on one of many quotes; in this one, the speaker is God:  "Genuine relationships are marked by submission...We are indeed submitted to one another (speaking of the relationship of each Person in the Trinity)...submission is not about authority or obedience....it's all about love and respect...in fact, We are submitted to you the same way." (that’s what God says to the main character, Mack). We are not to think of God as an authority?

Voddie obviously disavows God's submission to us (Prosperity Gospel folk would go to town on that line; they envision God as our Servant. All we got to do is ask—if we have faith).  He calls it being pushed by the "emergent turks." (he means “insurgent or dynamic persons, often young, who are eager for radical change.”)  God's sovereignty and holiness, and brokenness, are gone from the new doctrines.

Now he begins another great apologetic.  Look at Psalm 51.  Background to the Psalm:  David took Bathsheba sexually, even though she was married to Uriah.  But David arranged for Uriah to be killed in battle, after failing to get him to go to bed with his wife--so in the event of her pregnancy, Uriah would assume the baby was his.  This was a great sin.  The worst of his God-driven career.  Don't play judge too much; kings have done a lot worse.  And there is the matter of our own sin too, IF we take a hard look at it.

The first note of interest about Psa. 51:  It was one of the most poignant poetry of brokennes that you will find anywhere.  The second note:  It was written One Year after his fall.  I don't have the space to include it all, but let me just give a few verses:

....Blot out my transgressions.  ² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. ³ For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. ⁴ Against You, You only, have I sinned..make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice...Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. ¹³ Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.

First, even after a year, David's sin is still ever before him.  So today, he would be depressed and in need of medication, right?  But no, he solves it by pouring out his sin to God.  But note how we will, after this kind of experience, "teach transgressors Your ways."  By feeling God's grace, and noting how He "upholds me;" we can then feel joy; and that shows everybody that our God forgives!  Note I John 1:9:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That verse isn't meant to be just a one-timer for when we were first saved. Introspection and confession are repair for every sin--if we mean it, of course.

Now, Rev. Baucham is not recommending that we beat ourselves up over a great sin--some of us may secretly hope that if we get mad at ourselves a few times, that might draw God's sorrow for our pathetic-ness, and give us a break. So we create some purgatory for ourselves while alive. But...the truth is, the bad results of our sin may reverberate throughout our whole life!  He calls this "scar tissue:" it can't be washed away.  The Word says that iniquities sometimes have an effect to the third or fourth generation.  Did you know that women whose mothers were abused, are more likely to pick men that are more likely to abuse them?  Psychological scar tissue.  There are likely men in your church who have scar tissue when it comes to adultery and its temptations--they beg God to teach women in church to be modestly dressed. We should never have a flippant attitude toward sin; we need to feel sensitive enough to not to be tempted anywhere near it, because we are aware that sin brings scar tissue. We think "Jesus died for my sins; they're all paid for."  Read Romans 6 where Paul answers that. It shows that me must form a relationship with Christ, and we don't get to declare a holiday every three weeks so we can do as WE like. With that approach, you're heading for a freeze in your Christ-relationship, and joining the people of Laodicea (Revelation 3), who Jesus vomited out of His life.  They obviously were no longer part of Him when that Judgment day comes.

When we ask God to wash us or clean us, that eliminates the sin from God's mind. But it has a harder time getting out of our mind.  David knew about that, when God promised he was forgiven. But his scar tissue? God told him that he still would have family violence in his life, as God promised because of his sin.  Though we get a lot of comfort from God's forgiveness upon our brokenness and repentance over a sin, still we often must pay some consequences.  God doesn't always make "everything go away." Often, we hope God will eliminate punishments when we say we’re sorry. But they are God’s pruning.  So we might secretly get mad at God when He still prunes us, thinking "I have been sorry all this time for what I did, and God still won't give me a break."  But what we see here, with David's example, is God's way. We can really restore our spirit, our joy with Him, in true brokenness. We must think about ways in our life, even with scar tissue, that we can still serve Him.  Heaven is still awaiting us, after all, and God still extends grace to us in many ways every day.  Let us have thoughts of Him--not our lives that "could have been better."

Not only does brokenness help us to hate sin, not only does it help us to be aware of how sin scars us, but it helps us realize that sin also creates memories that remain with us. Two-thirds of people who take depression medication still have their symptoms.  People go to a counselor, complaining that they can't get these horrible thoughts of their sin out of their heads.  Remember that David, a year after his sin, says "my sin is ever before me."  "You don't believe me that we experience this too?"  Rev. Baucham says, "ask a woman who has ever had an abortion." God had good reason to create us so we would not forget things.  If you could forget it all--you could never testify to the goodness of God. You wouldn't be warned against doing them again.  God does this to remind us of the consequences, to corral us, to call us to repentance and brokenness.  Finally, with no memories, we couldn't rejoice in our victories, we couldn't see personal growth that the Spirit has produced in us.  Voddie then gives a touching story of returning back to central Los Angeles to attend and preach at his father's funeral.  He tells us that his father died at 55 from an addiction to cocaine; how Voddie, who knew several friends who were on the way to addiction, traveled the neighborhood and noticed that "the gang's not all there," implying prison or early death.  He went aside and wept, thanking God as he remembered afresh who he was before God saved him.  His memories remind him of God's goodness, His bountiful grace, toward him. Brokenness helps him to be objective: "I'm not who I ought to be, but hallelujah!  I'm not who I was."

Finally, brokenness helps us see that our sin is an affront to a holy God--a God who has paid a price for the purpose of buying us away from rebellion.  David cried, "...against You and You only have I sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be justified in Your words, and blameless in Your judgments." His focus on offending God only, doesn't demean Bathsheba and Uriah, but he was aware that his sin was against God and His creation of her and her husband.  "That's what worries me about Rob Bell, and "The Shack."  Pastors don't want to preach on sin because they claim, he says sarcastically, "People already know they're bad."  (Ed: ask any prisoner about "are you guilty?"  They will usually deny or ignore it, talking endlessly about how the system, or their former friend, was against them.) He insists that "We don't think we're "bad."  We watch the nightly news and think, "those people are bad--not us."  But we have sinned against God, and we are deceived, even delusional, about our expectations about an easy Judgment.  Jesus says that many people will be shocked that on Judgement day they will go to hell.  Their expectations of God, their measure of how He judges, are fantasy and don't line up with Scripture.  (See my blog, The Narrow Gate). We read Revelation 7, the great crowd of saved people, and we can imagine several million will be there.  But did you know that it has been estimated that 100 billion people have been on the earth?  Gee, that makes even 10 million only .0001 of the population--one-hundredth of 1%!  Assume nothing, especially as important as this—please read several times through the Gospels with an open mind, what does it say?

Finally, without brokenness, we are incapable of authentic worship.  We come to church to talk to friends with excitement, then go through the motions.  We want to get a church that has high ratings if it satisfies us by doing contemporary music, or by preaching only 30 minutes. Look at portions of Isaiah 1 about how God feels about our hypocrisy in coming to church:

“When you come to appear before Me, Who has required this from your hand, To trample My courts? ¹³ Bring no more futile sacrifices...I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. ¹⁵ When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. ¹⁶ “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow. ⁸ “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow

Thomas A Kempis, in "The Imitation of Christ," said, "Great wonder it is that I, who of my own weight, always sink to the depths, and so suddenly lifted up, and so graciously embraced by You."  We must come to the end of ourselves to know that worship is "what will make God happy?" And in church, we say, "Let me do that, as a member of an army of His." When we come to the end of ourselves, we can never consider boring or old-fashioned songs like this:

And can it be that I should gain, An interest in the Savior's blood. Died He for me who caused Him pain, For me, who Him, to death pursued.  Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou, my God, would die for me!

You don't get there without brokenness.

 

 

 

Four False Gospels of Today

 The "Lion of Judah" company has excellent broadcasts, both for its clarity (it "tells it like it is"), and for its Scriptural proof.  I normally would do "Cliff's Notes," but they state the points perfectly enough that I didn't like to deviate from their statements.  Enjoy.

We are warned in the Holy Bible time and time again to not fall for false teaching, the "doctrines of demons."  But because people don't read Scripture enough today, they will be seduced now more than ever.  I Timothy 4:1:

...the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons

Notice also II Peter 2:1: But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction

There are many of these heresies being preached in our day.  Here are four:

1. Jesus is the Son of God, but he is not God 

This is taught by the "New Agers" movement.  They see Jesus as the greatest creature of God.  They regard him as a great teacher—but not God.  But this is not what the Bible clearly tells us.  In John 10:30, Jesus says: 

^"I and My Father are one.”  

For further proof, let's tie three Scripture verses together:  In John 1:1 it says:  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

If you then ask, "What is the Word?"  The answer is in two verses: John 1:14:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

and Hebrews 1:1-3:

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, ² has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; ³ who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person...

The Word is defined as an understandable expression of what God is.  In the Incarnation, mankind was able to see God in Jesus, to see what God was like. The meaning of the phrase "express image" in Greek locks that concept in. It also says that Jesus was involved at creation.  There can be no doubt, Scripture claims Jesus was God.  I might add, we have misinterpreted the Greek word translated "begotten" over the years, which many of you might still have the wrong usage in an older Bible translation.  In King James’ time, scholars were not sure what the Greek word meant. The meaning of the Greek word was recently, by archaeological digs, just figured out.  It has more of a meaning of "unique."  Because the Holy Spirit, also God, was the father. God did not "beget" Jesus as we would, starting a new life.  As we see above, Jesus was with God in the beginning--i.e., Jesus was eternal.  He became human,  

This is not a minor doctrine here.  What you believe about Jesus is literally a heaven-or-hell issue.  You can be wrong about eschatology (the order of events of the future), or baptism.  But you cannot be wrong about Jesus Christ.  (A note:  this is an excellent starting point for evangelists--"what do you think about Jesus Christ?")  The Bible warns us of the danger of believing in "another Jesus Christ," thinking He was just a martyr, or prophet, or teacher.  You're expressing "tolerance," right?  But you're in danger of hell.  The Bible is narrow.  (See my blog, "The Narrow Gate.").  You have to do business with Jesus; you must deal with Him.  He forgave sins, an authority only God has (PS:  not your priest). In Mark 2, Jesus forgives a man's sin.  The Jews immediately picked up on that, calling it blasphemy--of course, they assumed Jesus was not God.  Mark 2:7:

“Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Only His righteousness will get you into heaven. Truth is if you think He is not God; THAT is blasphemy.  Rejecting Christ's saving us on the Cross, which no sinful man can do, forces you to depend on our own righteousness when the day of Judgment comes.  But that will send us to hell; our “righteousness” by works is woefully inadequate. Remember Romans 3:23:

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

(PS:  God doesn't Judge by weighing our good vs. bad; that is a fantasy.  He demands perfection--only Jesus did that).

False teaching 2. We are gods

This was also popularized by the New Agers.  But literally, it is as old as dirt.  We read of Satan's temptation of Eve in Genesis 3:4:

Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God

The false teachers reasoned that because we (the saved) are children of God, we share in His divine nature.  That’s true; but that thought led hem down the wrong path; they include the idea that since we have that "power," in the freedom of will that we are gods, that means, we are in charge, we can plan, we can direct, we can control. There is enough truth to that that we easily believe the rest, that we are in ultimate control of everything. Unfortunately, we have warped this to include control in gaining material possessions.  This stresses materialism--it makes us focus on getting money, fame, etc.  This is "worldliness," the lustful ways of the world, which Jesus counsels to stay away from.  See Titus 2:12:

...denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age

The lesson of the Scripture, driven home again and again, is, that our "control" is not true. God is in charge. What he sends us to do, or even to suffer, is always designed to benefit us. The false teachers say Jesus died so we can become divine and have all we want on earth.  Truth is, Jesus died to save you from the flames of hell, which you deserve because of your sin and rebellion to God.  Not very divine.  On that final day, we will see millions of people who rejected who Christ really is, cast into a lake of fire.  If you are careful to worship Christ as Lord and Master, and live humbly, you will definitely appreciate what He did on the Cross--you will see how material wealth is meaningless and burned up--how it doesn't compare with heaven.  This false theology attempts to equate us with God, a double blasphemy because it lifts us up, to pride, and it is disparaging to Him as the only sovereign King.  We do not have divinity, either in birth or acquired in this life; only God has that.  We get to heaven only by His righteousness. 

Toxic teaching #3 is:

3. All Roads Lead to Heaven

They say, in this day of worshipping "tolerance," that it is narrow-minded to say that Jesus is the only way to the Father.  But John 14:6 does assert that:

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

False teachers "explain" that that narrow doctrine was only for the disciples; the requirement was not for generalization to everybody.  Well, how convenient.  Nowhere is such a division of saints (all those truly saved) even hinted at.  If you get into that wishy-washy hermeneutics, you can cherry-pick Scriptures that you like, "that's for me," and Scriptures you don't like: "that doesn't apply to me."  Sort of a Thomas Jefferson approach.

No, the Christian faith is dogmatic.  It is uncompromising.  It is non-negotiable.  "No correct Jesus, no heaven."  Jesus is unique--after all, He alone, among those who were on earth, is God.  Buddha is dead; Muhammad is dead; Krishna is dead (if he was ever alive).  Only Christ claimed to be God and had a resurrection to prove it.  Any church or pastor (or even Oprah) who preaches this doctrine is a wolf in sheep's clothing.  This doctrine has its roots in universalism.  That belief is that ultimately, everybody will get saved.  So we don't have to go through Jesus, they say.  Some may go through purgatory (not in Scripture), some may go through enough reincarnations, but they all get "cleaned up" eventually. Wrong.  We've only got one chance to make a decision and live it out; once we die, your final choice is locked in.  No changes, no mulligans.  We only get cleaned up by the blood of Jesus.  Gory and old-fashioned, but God didn't make salvation easy on the mind to accept.

4. Prosperity Gospels

This theology says, once you're saved, God wants you to ask for what you want, and He'll deliver.  It's based on Matthew 7:7:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

I don't know how many false beliefs and hurtful theologies are based on one lone Scripture, where people don't bother to compare with other relevant Scripture on the same subject. Let's look at Scripture in context. Consider the wording of I Timothy 6:8-9:

And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. ⁹ But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition

It's obvious from these verses that we should avoid worldliness, which is the opposite of the prosperity gospel, which encourages it.  As the saying goes, we "can't take it with us" anyhow. Our desires for things of the world are inversely related to our faith in God as our Provider. John 15:1-6 teaches us that we must have an abiding, ongoing relationship with God to get to heaven.  This is radical theology, seldom taught.  But relationship with Christ wanes when we concentrate on the "rat race' and lusts of the flesh.  The more that we dream of the prosperity gospel, we could be dreaming our way out of heaven and into hell if we immerse ourselves in the world.

Teachers of the prosperity gospel are more concerned about filling their churches than filling heaven. That gospel treats God as a genie in a bottle.  But He is not your servant.  Your relationship with God cannot be based on what God can do for you.  The prosperity gospel makes people focus on treasures for this world, and not the next. But what does Matthew 6:19-21 say?

 “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. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Jesus does not say so at the time, but the whole point of the Sermon on the Mount is outlining what leads to heaven, and what leads to hell.  People think how sweet these platitudes are.  But they have a hard edge.  The best parable with a hidden hard edge is the Sower.  Here's some of the relevant passage in Matthew 13:

4. And as he sowed, some seed fell...7....among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 

Jesus, in explaining the Sower, says it is about the kingdom of heaven--versus the kingdom of hell.  This is not Just An "Allegory," as some people complacently assume. This is more on how to end up in heaven or hell. That makes it  vitally important.  So please pay attention to vv.22ff:

Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. ²³ But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”.

Here is a very important point:  Of the four landing grounds of the seed (representing the Gospel being distributed to 4 hearts), only One bears permanent fruit.  The "thorns," seeking riches, failed.

Speaking of the word “unfruitful,” bearing fruit is necessary to reach heaven. This takes us back to John 15:1-6.  I'd like to focus on vv5-6:

“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

What do you suppose the "fire" is, in this "allegory?"  Hell.  It's because you have not abided in Christ and borne fruit.  Not bearing fruit means you are dead, spiritually.  Reaching to the other "allegory," does the prosperity gospel lead you to thorns, which leads you to unfruitfulness?  You better believe it.  Where is your treasure?  (I have other blogs on this).  We are to love God with all our heart, in the very first of the 10 Commandments.  Too many people think these are 10 suggestions.  They have God wrong; God will pay according to our deeds.  Being initially saved, we must pursue godliness. That means godly works and thoughts. Some deeds, in the hands of an already-saved person, are fruitful for God; some are not.  I feel it is necessary to remind you that our deeds are an outgrowth of our real faith.

I trust that this blog will help you identify these fleshly theologies and stay away from them, under the pain of hell. Read His Word to help you avoid deceptive philosophy.  That's especially important in these latter days.

 

 

The Narrow Gate

 

The earliest of the Apostolic fathers believed that everyone has enough grace to apprehend that Jesus was the Christ and that they needed Him as our Savior. They did not believe that we inherited Adam’s guilt from the time we were born, such as to feel that even babies were damnable—so they did not believe in “Original Sin,” as it was taught by Augustine. The church fathers felt that Adam gave us a tendency to sin; but sin is limited to those who know right and wrong, so it is not necessary that babies had to be baptized to save them from hell if they died as infants—they were sinless.  They believed that whatever guilt we earned, it was because We, in an accountable state (knowing good and evil), Chose to Sin. This view of the church fathers was what Augustine himself taught, at first, but he changed his mind, offering a deterministic view that he became known by—and passed onto Luther and particularly Calvin. (I have several blogs on this.) This false view that God originally determined who was elect and who was damned, Augustine learned from a Gnostic sect known as Manicheism, that he was a member of for 10 years. It was heretical in every way. They believed in two gods, one good, one bad. (I don’t have room for it all here. Other blogs)

With that as prelude, let’s begin our discussion with the Words of Our Lord at the end of the Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 7:13-14:

“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.

 Jesus is saying, in effect, “since you have listened to this whole sermon (Matt. 5-7), you must make a choice about heaven or hell, life or destruction. There are two gate entrances; which will you take?” 

Many of His Jewish listeners believed that as long as they were trying to follow the Law of Moses, they’re already leading the “narrow-gate” life, so they’re good for heaven.  But Jesus, in this Sermon, was trying to correct that assumption. He went so far as to focus on the mind as the real cause of sin.  Here is one example:  Matthew 5:27-28

  “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

A stricter standard than the Law of Moses, don't you agree? Many people, He knew, were proud that they didn’t engage in terrible sinful behavior, but they still thought sinful thoughts. They thought it was OK, if you don’t murder, to hate somebody.  Jesus said no, judgement awaits you there, too. Sinful thoughts are sinful too.

We can’t get away from it; we’re sinners. We don’t deserve eternal life with God. In case YOU have any false assumptions about gaining eternal life, let’s talk about that eternal life or death choice in those two important verses. You should know, first, all of us began on the evil, Broad path. Ephesians 2:3 spells this out, too:

...among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others...

The “by nature” reference means we have a tendency to sin. But we have a free choice at each decision—to sin or not to sin? We tend to be selfish, to want things for our pleasure. We do this even with our rational minds, knowing that doing good should be better than sin in every possible way, but we make the wrong choice anyway. We have corrupted our minds too.  As Romans 3:10-12 says (with hyperbole) about the failure of trying to stick to the Law:

“There is none righteous, no, not one; ¹¹ There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. ¹² They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”

Sin brings a judgement of hell. You may feel this is harsh.  But this is God's standard. He makes the rules, and He is the Judge, in the end, of our eternal destiny, and we have to accept it. It's like, He lives in perfect white, so our black sins and keeping God away are an abomination in His sight. Since we are all sinners, we all live in dark shadows of gray; we don't even know what white is really like.  So a "good guy" to us (he seems a lighter shade of gray) is still near-black to God--but He knows white, and none of our lives are anywhere near the standard of white for eternal life with Him. 

Secondly, God has given us a free choice between two Gates. As we said, with that tendency, we choose sin—and we enter the Wide Gate, and get on the Broad path. But that’s on the way to hell. But, for conversion to the difficult path, through the Narrow gate, you must believe that Jesus is God, that He died to pay for your sins, that you repent of such sinning knowing that there is hell’s judgment. And that He was resurrected. Then you must, out of a humble heart, realizing that Jesus died for us, enter the Narrow path intentionally, asking the Holy Spirit for help.  People just don’t get on the right path by inheritance or by growing up in it, as the Jews often believed.  If you ask someone, “Are you a Christian?” some will answer “Of course—I go to church every week.” Well, I’m hoping they mean, “I’m a Christian AND I go to church,” or “I go to church every week BECAUSE I’m a Christian.” No, sadly, most are saying that that activity makes them a Christian. It doesn’t. Another bad response is, “I’m a Christian; I was raised in a Christian home.” Or, “I was baptized in infancy, so I’ve been a Christian all my life.” Actually, that last one is the worst response of all: It’s a theological impossibility, because Scripture clearly says it takes a reasoning person to intentionally seek God, which you can’t do as an infant.   If you really believe “I have been all my life,” you are probably not a Christian at all. Because you have not done the intentional move—which has to be entered into by Repentance and by Faith in Jesus (see other blogs).  What does Jesus say in His first Gospel presentation?  Mark 1:14-15:

 Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, ¹⁵ and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Unfortunately, too few people intentionally find their way to the narrow gate. We have a self-deception problem; we don't see where we stand with God.  We should beg God to show us the narrow gate. The London Baptist Confession puts it this way:

  This saving repentance…whereby a person, being by the Holy Spirit made sensible of the manifold evils of his sin, doth, by faith in Christ, humble himself for it with godly sorrow, detestation of it, and self-abhorrency, praying for pardon and strength of grace, with a purpose and endeavor,

The problem with this confession is, it was inked in 1689; few people today feel “self-abhorrent” or feel the necessary repentance, because few people have a consistent awareness about how bad their sin is to God. He doesn’t think like we do.  They think God forgives their “peccadilloes.” They think they've gained salvation because they "accepted Christ" once, so they are always saved.  But there's more to it. See Romans 11:22: 

Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off

There is a contrast between “those who fell” people and “toward you” people. We conclude that this verse is speaking to an initially saved person. But notice a requirement: “If you continue in His goodness.” Otherwise, you will also be cut off. What does it require to continue in His goodness? It means living a godly life, and relying on the help of the Holy Spirit to do that. Note again the 1689 phrase: “by supplies of the Spirit, to walk before God unto all well-pleasing in all things.” Another blog explains that is necessary to abide in Christ (see John 15:5-6).  If you want heaven and not hell, you need to seriously examine the word "abide."  You are to learn to love Him; you want to hang with Him, tell Him your troubles and temptations. Praise Him daily. Live with gratitude. To read His Word to find out more about what He likes, or doesn’t like. Few people do this. It's why the gate is narrow, and few stay on the narrow path.

In some cases, some of the many false evangelists today believe that we don’t even have to ask God for forgiveness on a regular basis—or we can do that just when we “accept” Him, or on our death-bed.  This kind of self-deception will send many to hell.  There is plenty of self-deception going around. Was I John written to saved people? Yes. So when God says in I John 1:9:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

Does He imply, as some false preachers suggest, that we only have to do that once, when we first get initially saved? Nowhere does the verse suggest that. We still need a keen awareness of our sin, to confess it and ask God for help eliminating it, in our intentional efforts to lead a godly life.

What is the “formula” for salvation?  There are many who proclaim the “Gospel,” but they make it sound easy. They say, “It’s easy as ABC:  A, Acknowledge; B, Believe; C, Confess.  Just word your prayer of confession after me.”  They may make it sound easy, but Jesus Did Not. Jesus said that entrance into the Kingdom was not easy—we are to surrender our lives to His hands. Since He was persecuted, we should expect to be persecuted. Never pass up a chance to speak for Our Lord, even if we lose reputation.

Here’s what they preach today: “Believe.  Believe God loves you and has made you for a purpose.  Believe God has chosen you to have a relationship with Jesus, Who died on the Cross for you.  Believe that no matter what you’ve done, God wants to forgive you. Second, Receive.  Receive Jesus into your life as Lord and Savior.  Receive His forgiveness for your sin.  So I invite you to bow your head and quietly whisper the prayer that will change your eternity.  What’s that prayer?  “Jesus, I believe in You and I receive You.”  If you sincerely meant that prayer, Congratulations!  Welcome to the Family of God.” (This is the actual Gospel presentation in The Purpose-Driven Life. Are they talking about confessing sin to God? Notice also that you see no repentance, no wrath of God.  Just believe—God loves you. And you’re on your way--so they say.

To God (and He is the Judge, not you), you are a wretched, sinful creature, who, as clearly pointed out in Scripture, deserves to die and go to hell. See Romans 1:32 and 9:22. Unless you repent of your sin. Unless you are aware of the fact that you deserve to be crushed under the weight of the majesty and holiness of God, you don’t “get it;” it’s not deep in your heart.

“Believe in Jesus,” they say…well, which Jesus?  Today’s preachers usually don’t define Him—well, you ask, what about the Jesus of the New Age Movement?  Or, what if I know Jesus as “lowly Jesus, meek and mild, who wouldn’t hurt a fly?” Then can I be saved?  Unlikely, since both those ideas have the wrong view of Jesus.  That also means you haven’t truly read All your Scripture. He will disappoint the image you made up of Him.

“It’s really easy,” the experts say. Maybe getting through the Gate, getting initially saved, might be. But there is that Path…you then must endure to the end. As Matt. 24:13 says: 

But he who endures to the end shall be saved

So salvation at the end means a journey, a Path, seeking what Christ wants every day, opening up our sin problems to Him; that’s not easy. The difficulty comes because our sinful lusts, still there after we make our emotional confession of belief, lead us to bend toward our own will.  We must appeal to the Holy Spirit for help (Gal. 5:24-25).  People don’t like to humble themselves and ask for help. They want to keep God far away when they sin. Also, too many people still believe that “My sins aren’t bad.”  Especially if they’re rich; they’re convinced God has made them rich because He loves them.  What does “being saved” mean to you?  That you want to keep following your own path, and you just want God to bless it? You want Jesus to be an appendage on your self-centered life, not an eradication of it?  Are you willing to make His will the center of your life?  He deserves to be Master of your life, or Lord, since His death saved you from hell. Those things are hard. But...the Holy Spirit is a solid help, if you appeal to Him.  It's possible to stay on the narrow path, and reach heaven.  Revelation says that millions of people will be there, as joyful as you. It was all worth it.

Your “old sinful man” (Rom. 6:6) within you doesn’t want to let Christ put the old nature to death. A thought might enter your head, “Hey, don’t go to the narrow gate. On this broad road, there are lots of people who talk Jesus; they go to church, they don’t have that narrow theology...that’s negative; you don’t want to be narrow.” As Voddie Baucham said, “God’s not a politician; He’s not running for God,” so He can afford to be narrow. He sets the rules; our wishes about what we want of His personality have no impact.

The Christian life must be lived purposefully—that is, every day you desire more to be sanctified to His pleasure and glory. Sanctification, or fruits, are essential to keep salvation.  But modern preachers separate justification and sanctification in such a way that they actually believe that you can be saved, yet not have your life affected at all.  On the contrary, the requirement is, there’s not only a gate, there’s a path after that, a lifestyle. Of growing faith-relationship with God. But the truth is, I’ve met a whole lot of people who were led in prayer, and “meant it,” but their life says They Lied. Somebody put the pressure on them; they were uncomfortable, in many cases, and just wanted to agree to get outside and breathe again. The preacher might’ve said “You can die and go to hell, or you can pray this prayer.”  “Will you pray that and mean it?”  You’re uncertain, intimidated, maybe a little scared. You say “Sure! Absolutely.” That’ll do it, right?

Well, you can “mean it” and not know who Jesus is. You will do well to read Scripture and secure His expectations, not the preacher's—after all, God is the Judge in the end. Have you been brought to a place of conviction and brokenness over your sin? The Bible says, “Test yourselves, to see if you be in the faith.”  Remember, there’s not just an entrance, there’s a path. With intention, get off the broad path, and onto the narrow path. 

There are, in Greek, two different meanings that could apply to our word “narrow.”  One meaning that we haven’t covered is “compressed, pressed in.” It has the meaning of “harassed.”  So we can think of it as “persecuted.”  Jesus is also saying, “You can enter a way that is narrow, a life with persecution.”  The opposite gospel of our day says “you need Jesus so your life won’t be hard.”  Well, here’s the truth:  Paul says in II Tim. 3:12: …all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”  What can you do?  Following Christ points you out to people that you're weird. How are you blessed?  By suffering verbal attack, or even physical violence, God will reward you in heaven. You should be striving for that treasure of reward, not treasure on earth.  If we consistently withstand persecution, we feel assurance of salvation. Yours is the kingdom of heaven.  This is important enough that Jesus began and ended His famous sermon on the mount with this theme.  For proof, see the beginning of the Sermon, Matt. 5:44 (And you can add 10:22, too), on the last days: “…You will be hated by all...the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Not the one who just parrots the “sinner’s prayer” and eventually gets tired of Jesus not making his life what he wants.

The Apostle John says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us.”  Those who left the faith had the wrong expectations.  If they were of us, they would have remained.  Remaining is a proof of salvation.  Staying on the Path.  Yes, believers can fall into sin—but only for a season.  But if you belong to Him, you will turn your behavior about—the Holy Spirit won’t leave you alone, you can’t stand it.  Think of Revelation 3:19: As many as I love, I rebuke and chaste: Therefore be zealous and repent.  This is spoken to believers, remember.  Look at Matthew 24:9-13 for Jesus’ vision of the last days, which we may be getting close to:

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. ¹⁰ And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. ¹¹ Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. ¹² And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³ But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 

Can you hack this kind of trouble? You may not feel it, but the Holy Spirit will embolden you.  The last days may be coming soon.  Read verse 13 again.  It’s how you keep salvation.

Most of the people on the Broad way believe that they are on the right road.  They believe the lie that says, “All roads lead to God; you just need to find the one that works for you.”  It says there are many roads, when in fact, there are only two:  There’s Christ and His kingdom—and there’s everybody else.  Most are on the Broad way because most people believe that Man is essentially good.  Where did they hear that?  Not from Scripture. 

Most people record every good deed in their head, and forget the bad.  That’s the way we are.  They will lie and cheat, which is active rebellion against God (“no fear of God before their eyes”), but they still think they are “good enough for God.” It’s hard to break from a whole life of ignoring God and from loving sin.  That’s why it’s hard to find the narrow gate. But there are still evangelists who make it harder.  They lie and tell us, all we have to do is just say a few programmed words, but they end up just sealed in their unbelief! To think about confession would expose them as hypocritical. Remember:  You can just say words, only words, and die and be separated from God. And don’t think of trying to match good deeds with bad deeds.  God’s not on a scale system.

Part of that Broad path crowd is a group of people who go to church on a regular basis, and know how to use very familiar Biblical language.  Crafty folk. The skin of truth surrounding the meat of a lie. Many of the innocents are unaware that they’re on the Broad road—because somebody guaranteed them salvation.  If they see a glimpse of that hard, narrow path, they say, “Hey, they’re on a different path than us.”  The crafty one will say, “No, that’s just a different KIND of Christian path. They’re just extra committed.”  Or, they’ll say, “they’re over-committed." Could we be wrong, with hundreds of people coming in to our church? God is blessing our work!”

Finally, the Christian life must be completed faithfully.  A warning, though: if you endure, you still don’t get to share credit with Jesus for your salvation.  You never “earn,” or “joint-earn” heaven. Read Phil. 1:6:  I’m sure about this: the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus.  He is the One who works in you to will and to do of His good pleasure. (Phil. 2:13). He is our Lord, so we respond in obedience—if we are truly saved. All our greatest and correct thoughts on doctrine come from God and His Word.  Study it!

May God help us to “test ourselves,” to see if we are truly in the faith.  Do we have the necessary fruits?  John 15:5-6 has a warning: 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 they are burned..

Have a faithful relationship with Christ, and His Word, and you’ll abide. The result—heaven!