Is Christianity Being Marginalize in our Public Form?

Christianity will not fall or rise on whether or not Football players like Tim Tebow speak at First Baptist Church in Dallas.But what we are seeing again, is who will be able to speak and who will not be able to speak freely.  Tim Tebow is not a preacher, but claims to be a Christian. And as a Christian he should be able to speak where he wants to speak.  But as we are learning, the Christian cultural is getting marginalize. Some want to prevent anybody to speak at any event where they hold views different than what they have. If you have a view that does not fit into the current culture than you are not allowed to speak at that event.  If the place you are to speak holds views that is not political correct than you are not allowed to speak there either.

A pastor  was not allow to pray due to what he preached 20 years ago at the Presidential event, and a football player was encouraged to not speak at a church that had views not in line with some groups.  We have a problem in America once again. But Christianity will not fall or rise on what some people or don’t do.  God is still going to accomplish His purposes.

What is  interesting the “gay” side wants to display their very best people in public to show they are normal. But they want to prevent  Christians away from the center of attention, or influence or power. They speak with two fork tongue. 

Over the last 2000 years the established agreement  of the Christian Church has been set.

Now the views that the church has had for 2000 years cannot be tolerated.  To marginalize any church for holding views that has been around for 2000 years is to marginalize Christianity, itself.

As it has been written in several blogs, “It means that the tolerance police have finally achieved their ironic end – – the intolerance of Christianity in American culture.”

As I think back over the years we have said, “Well we would not speak in churches that don’t agree with our Christian views.”  We are famous of making statements like that.  If they are not the right kind of Baptist we will not speak in that church.  We criticize any pastor who would speak at a church that does not hold our views.  Example: Why would John Piper allow Rick Warren to speak at his church. Others would say, why would Rick Warren speak at John Pipers church. So we are guilty too.

But what we are seeing,  the moral views of the last 2000 years been challenged.  What Christians and non Christians have viewed together now they are been challenged.  Even Christians are viewing what the Bible clearly states as wrong as okay. 

Keep your views in your church and don’t take your views into a public discourse. And now if the church has views different than the current “groups” have you can’t speak in that church? 

Its amazing how a few groups can change the majority of people thinking. 

They want us to have tolerance of their lifestyle and beliefs but they are intolerance of our views.  Some groups want the influence of Biblical Christianity out of the public form. They want to change what God said 4000 years ago as been outdated. 

Reading Above My Head

I have a blogroll of about 150 websites that I subscribe to daily. I get updates on every post. I use Google Reader, they post every day the current blog.   Much of the information I receive comes from these bloggers.  I would mostly never think about many of the articles they point out. Its amazing just how much I don’t know. 

Whenever I talk about reading I try to throw in a lot of disclaimers. Reading is my “thing.” It’s what comes easily to me (more easily than, say, personal evangelism). So I always want to be careful that I don’t impose my passions on everyone else. So I read a lot of books on my Kindle Fire, I read many blogs from a number of different people. I not only like to read laymen blogs but also reading of academic writing. Here I am reading well over my head.   I realize that many of us pastors have not been called to engage in the higher levels of scholarship. Certainly our congregation that I am pastoring would not have any idea of what I would be talking about if I did.  Yet I still make it a point to jump into the deep end of the pool (and I can not swim) and get in over my head most of the time. But I still like to do it.

Reading scholar stuff for sure keeps my learning and learning keeps me fresh.  Most Christian books are written for the 5th grader. But even than I didn’t fair much on that TV show. I am not a smart as a 5th grader.

But I am certainly challenged with new insights and new idea on old topic and old truth.

And another thing, reading scholarly material keeps me real humble.

So I do suggest that pastors read able their heads.

 

Tim Tebow Will Not Speak at First Baptist Church Dallas.

• Alan blogs at Downshore Drift, where this article was originally published.

After opposition arose against First Baptist, Dallas, TX and pastor Robert Jeffress for what were called “controversial” stands against homosexuals, Muslims, Mormons, and other groups, Tim Tebow, who was scheduled to speak there, has just cancelled his appearance in a series of tweets.

@TimTebow: “While I was looking forward to sharing a message of hope and Christ’s unconditional love with the faithful members of the historic…First Baptist Church of Dallas in April, due to new information that has been brought to my attention, I have decided to cancel my…upcoming appearance. I will continue to use the platform God has blessed me with to bring Faith, Hope and Love to all those……needing a brighter day. Thank you for all of your love and support.” God Bless!Sent Feb 21, 09:09 AM

The opposition to him speaking there has come from groups like Change.org who launched a petition on their website calling for Tebow to not speak at First Baptist:

“This church’s pastor has made several openly anti-gay and anti-Semitic comments. By speaking at this church, Mr. Tebow would be legitimizing the opinion of that pastor and those in the church that are homophobic and anti-Jewish.”

https://www.change.org/petitions/tim-tebow-please-don-t-speak-at-first-baptist-dallas

I don’t know everything about Robert Jeffress or all that he has said. But, First Baptist, Dallas, TX is hardly a fringe church in Evangelicalism. The fact that it is being treated as a “hate group” and that Tebow was both pressured and gave in to the pressure to not speak there is a huge development in the advance of secular forces and their impact on the church. Louie Giglio could not pray at the Inauguration because of a message preached 15 years ago where he called homosexuality sin and now Tebow won’t speak at a church that promotes conservative positions. Even if you disagree with First Baptist on some of these positions, the climate that is emerging here is very troubling, to say the least.

Less than a year ago, President Obama was still AGAINST gay marriage. Think of how much has changed since then.

After recent criticism, New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow has canceled a scheduled appearance at First Baptist Church in Dallas.

Tim Tebow pulls out of speaking at Dallas church

 

from CNN Belief Blog by The Editors

By Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor
Follow @EricCNNBelief

(CNN) – NFL quarterback Tim Tebow has canceled an appearance at a controversial Dallas-area church. The outspoken Christian quarterback was scheduled to speak at First Baptist Church on April 28.

The church is led by Robert Jeffress, who has been widely criticized for views against homosexuality, Islam and Mormonism. Tebow, announcing his decision Thursday on Twitter, said that he was canceling his appearance “due to new information that has been brought to my attention.”

Tebow’s statement appeared over a series of four tweets on the social media site.

“I will continue to use the platform God has blessed me with to bring Faith, Hope and Love to all those needing a brighter day. Thank you for all of your love and support. God Bless!” he wrote to his Twitter followers.

Tebow was scheduled to speak at the 11,000-member Dallas church as part of a monthlong celebration of the megachurch’s completion of a new building campaign, a $130 million dollar project that encompasses five blocks of the downtown.

“Tim called me last night and explained to me that because of some things going on in his personal life and his career he needed to steer clear of controversy right now, but that at some other date he would like to come and speak at our church,” Jeffress told CNN by phone from Dallas.  “Tim has to do what Tim thinks is best for him right now.”

The First Baptist Church of Dallas is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention.  Jeffress, who has been in its pulpit since 2007, is no stranger to controversy.

Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter

After introducing Texas Gov. Rick Perry at the Values Voter Summit in Washington in October 2011, Jeffress told reporters he believed Mormonism was a cult, expressing a personal position and one held by his denomination.  The move was seen as a particular slight to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a lifelong Mormon.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, while acknowledging sharp theological differences with the Southern Baptist Convention, bristles at the term cult and says it is inaccurate.

Jeffress has also drawn fire for his comments about homosexuality, Judiasm and Catholicism.

“This in no way is going to diminish what our church is teaching about salvation being available to all through faith in Jesus Christ,” Jeffress said.

Jeffress pointed out that Tebow is a member of the First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, a fellow SBC church.

“They certainly believe what we do, that salvation is through Christ alone, and about homosexuality.  Tim confirmed that to me last night, that they believe exactly what we do about homosexuality.”

Tebow and Jeffress differ dramatically in how they present their faith.  Tebow in talking about his faith has used much softer language, while Jeffress has no trouble going after less popular and culturally sensitive issues in Christianity.

CNN Belief Blog: Quarterback moves to trademark ‘Tebowing’

“I believe that homosexuality is a sin just like adultery is a sin, just like I believe premarital sex is a sin, because it’s a deviation from God’s standard,” Jeffress said.

“God’s plan for sex is that is should be between a man and a woman in a marriage relationship and any deviation from that is wrong.”

While he believes any sex outside a heterosexual marriage is wrong, he adds, “I never single out homosexuality as the only sin or the unpardonable sin. I think homosexuality, just like adultery, can be forgiven if we ask God for forgiveness.”

Jeffress said he thinks there is a genetic disposition toward homosexuality, a stance on sexual orientation taken by many theologically conservative Christians and one scorned as scientifically flawed by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Jeffress said he is sure there are gay members in his church.  “We don’t ask all the gay members to stand up, but I’m sure that there are people who are gay in our church simply because of the letters I have received,” he said.  “We have people who’ve committed adultery and who lie and who steal, but that doesn’t mean they’re not welcome to come to our church.”

CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories

As for comments about Mormons, Jews and Catholics, he is quick to point out that he believes “no one goes to hell in a group.”

“I’m not the one who decides who goes to heaven and hell. God does that. God has already given us the criteria for what it takes to go to heaven when you die. Jesus said in John 14:6, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life, and no man comes to the father except through me.’  When I quote that verse I like to remind people that Jesus who said that was not a Southern Baptist evangelist but a Jewish rabbi. Yet as a Jewish rabbi he said there is one way to heaven, and that is through faith in me.”

The controversy surrounding Tebow’s appearance won’t dampen the church’s plans, Jeffress said. He said Tebow, while escaping the spotlight now over his beliefs, will continue to face controversy.

“I think Tim is going to discover that no matter how hard you try to hide from controversy, if you stand for the simple truths of the Bible, like faith in Christ, necessary for salvation, and sex (being acceptable only) between a man and a woman in marriage, you can’t avoid controversy.  That’s something Tim needs to discover on his own.  We in no way want to impugn him.  He’s a great man of God who sincerely loves the Lord.”

Why is Tebow’s cancellation significant?

 

from Denny Burk by Denny Burk

In a series of tweets, Tim Tebow has announced that he has cancelled his upcoming appearance at the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. In his own words:

While I was looking forward to sharing a message of hope and Christ’s unconditional love with the faithful members of the historic First Baptist Church of Dallas in April, due to new information that has been brought to my attention, I have decided to cancel my upcoming appearance. I will continue to use the platform God has blessed me with to bring Faith, Hope and Love to all those needing a brighter day. Thank you for all of your love and support. God Bless!

Tebow leaves this “new information” undefined. For those who have been following this story, you know that Tebow has been under fire for agreeing to speak at a church that The Huffington Post calls an anti-gay, anti-Semitic church. Gregg Doyel at CBS Sports has warned that Tebow was about to make “the biggest mistake of his life” by speaking at the church.

What are we to make of this? I am a big Tebow fan—for reasons that go beyond football—and I think he’s more than earned the benefit of the doubt. He left his reasons ambiguous, and absent further clarification I don’t think this move should be interpreted as an expression of support for gay rights or some liberalized distortion of Christianity. In fact, I’m confident that he is an orthodox believer in Jesus Christ. I have a hunch that he’s probably just trying not to get entangled in the culture war. At the end of the day, I don’t know why he cancelled. Perhaps he will elaborate on his decision at some point.

In any case, it is impossible to ignore the context in which this decision was made. There will be some—despite Tebow’s ambiguity—who will assume that the “new information” is that which emerged in articles like the ones linked above. These articles criticize not just the church’s pastor, but the church’s views: that Jesus is the only way of salvation, the certainty of eternal judgment for those who die outside of Christ, the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

These teachings are not the innovation of a single pastor but are the established consensus of the Christian Church over its entire 2,000 year history. If this church’s views on these matters cannot be tolerated (and I encourage you to read the overt intolerance expressed in Doyel’s article), then we are in a scary place. In short, to marginalize this church for holding such views is to marginalize Christianity itself. It means that the tolerance police have finally achieved their ironic end—the intolerance of Christianity in American culture.

Christianity in America does not rise or fall on whether or not Tim Tebow speaks at First Baptist Church of Dallas. Nevertheless, this moment will appear to many as another marker of Christianity’s cultural marginalization. In the broad tolerance of views in our public discourse, who’s in and who’s out? What voices are allowed in the cacophony that is American democracy? Which voices should be excluded? Christian voices have long been a part of the din, but moments like these make it seem like those days are coming to an end.

 

 

Run to God – Flee from Sin

 

from Trust AND Obey by Dave Miller

It is easier to sin first, and then reach out for God’s mercy and forgiveness than it is to first reach out for God’s power and strength, and then resist the sin. A Christian who is growing in holiness will tend less often to the former and more often to the latter.

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

Getting People To Believe and Apply Right Christian Living

Getting People to Believe and Apply and Think Right about Christian Living:

Through the Teaching of the Word of God

Why do we see people who can quote what they say they believe and then turn around and act totally differently?  If you would live half the way you say you believe you would be living right. Train your mind to believe what you know to be true.  The truth that is arrived by a knowledge of the Word of God provides you with the ability to, not only think right but to believe right; thus you are able to apply what you believe to any situation that you are in.  Train your mind to react to what you have learned from the principles of the Word of God. 

Know this, as a Christian, a believer, you have within you the Holy Spirit; you have the Word of God; and you have the ability to hear the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. You are without excuse to learn how to live and think according to the principles set forth in God’s Word.    Stop and think right. 

BUT my personal belief is the only way all this is going to happen is if the Holy Spirit does a work in you that you can’t do yourself.

The Holy Spirit will incorporate into your mind the very faith to believe the truth. To live objectively rather than subjectively is the means to live faithfully to what you believe.

Objectively: without being influenced by personal feelings, without bias, accurately: on the basis of fact, experience, or some measurable quality. 

Subjectively:  based on somebody’s opinions or feelings rather than facts or evidence.  Of course that’s only my subjective impression. Synonyms:  Personally, individually, one-sidedly, instinctively, intuitively.

What we believe in our heads needs to be lived out in our lives.

But know this: if you have lived in disobedience to what you know is right, then you are going to suffer the results that will lead to a disrupted life.  You can’t expect to have a stress-free life when you have created the life you are in.  If for example: due to poor judgment you had your arm cut off, you can expect difficulty. But what you can do is begin to realize this and make the very best effort to deal with the difficulty. 

I think what happens is when we make poor choices that end up being very bad, we often expect good things to happen.  Even when we think something good has happened as a result of our poor choices there is still going to be difficulty as a result of those choices. Thus we need to realize that and adjust our thinking to that.

If you live to the best of your ability, then you can expect the best.  God will fulfill His promises to supply us with all we need to live according to his principles. 

If we think according to the Word, we can train our mind to help us act out what we know is true. But what I believe is only as the Holy Spirit gives us the grace, power, understanding and strength can we even begin to live and behave as unto the Lord. 

We need to realize God is Lord, Jesus Christ is our example, and the Holy Spirit is our power within us.

Luke 3:3 – 4 Fake Repentance

THE CALL FOR REPENTANCE FOR SALVATION

Luke 3:2-6 February 17 2013

Charles e Whisnant, Pastor/Lumberjack/ Teacher/Historian

Now today we come to the man who is going to announce the Messiah to the world.  And Luke as an historian is going to give us some great facts.  You know God is a God of purpose.  History is on purpose.  God has a plan and He is working out that plan in precision. God is the writer of history.  History is unfolding  step by step.  And as we have stated the purpose of history and its human population is the salvation of sinners. As we have said, God brought into existence this creation, this universal, this population of people for the express purpose that He might redeem sinners.  And recorded history of the Bible is primarily His Story, it is the story of redemption.

We are transported back in John’s day, and in Israel and caught up in this religion they had.  First you were trained to believe that if you do ceremonies and you do the sacrifices and you do what you’re thought to do is right and you make great effort to keep the law of God, and you are in the Temple each Sabbath, and you don’t take trips to another city and you don’t carry your burden, you keep the law and all the Jewish traditions as much as you can, and you believe that will get you into the kingdom of God.

Some people are experts at repentance — they know just how to do it.  They can cry a river of tears at the flip of a switch, so everyone will know just how sorry they are.

If a repentance expert is famous (a politician or preacher?), he might get on television (where emotion rules and facts are disposable) for his tearful apology.  He’ll be praised for “vulnerability” or “transparency” — and he knows where “vulnerability” lovers hang out.  He’s not only good at repentance, he’s good at choosing his repentance audience.

But there’s always the uncomfortable questions:  did anything really change?  Why do I get the feeling you are trying to gain sympathy?  Why are you working so hard to make us “understand”?  Why did you choose that venue?  Why don’t you choose accountability with someone who would actually be tough enough to hold you accountable?

Feeling Sorry is not Repentance

II Corinthians 7:8-10

Wrong Thinking

If someone does wrong, they were thinking wrongly.  They were almost certainly thinking one or more wrong thoughts like these:

• What I’m doing isn’t wrong.
• What I’m doing is wrong, but I can’t help it.
• What I’m doing is wrong, but it isn’t THAT bad.
• What I’m doing is wrong, but I can get away with it.
• What I’m doing is wrong, but my circumstances are special.
• What I’m doing is wrong, but God will let me off because of other good stuff I’ve done.
• What I’m doing is wrong, but God doesn’t care because He loves me.
• What I’m doing is wrong, but I want to do it anyway, so I’m going to.

Changed Thinking

The New Testament Greek word translated “repentance” is metanoia, from meta (after) and nous (mind) or noeo (to think).  If we look at the root words, then, the idea is to think again afterwards.  Biblically, this would mean that, after the fact of our sin, we “think again,” thinking about our sin the way God thinks about it.  It means we put aside all those wrong thoughts I mentioned above, and any other wrong thoughts, and adopt God’s way of thinking about our sin.

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.

Advice for Fake Repenters

Matthew 3:1-2 Matthew 3:7-8 as well as Luke 3

‘’ Isaiah 55:6-7, Ezekiel 18:30; , “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his conduct, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn away from all your transgressions so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you. Cast away from you all your transgressions which you’ve committed. Make yourselves a new heart, a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel?”

WELL WHAT IS REPENTANCE?

Well, it’s not an intellectual change of mind about what you believe, it’s not some level of superficial remorse about the consequences of sin or the effects of sin.

It is a radical turning in one’s mind that causes a person to see the reality of his own sinfulness…its effect, its ugliness, its dishonor of God, its shame before men and its eternal consequence. It’s when you really turn around and see your wicked condition and then you say, “God, there is no hope for me to correct this, I have to ask you to forgive me, I cannot make it right, I can’t do enough things to cancel out the bad things. I can’t do anything righteous. It’s all sin.”  MacArthur

It’s a radical recognition that you are sinful at the core and you see the ugliness and the effect and the dishonor and the shame and the judgment that’s connected to that sin and you come to God and you say, “I’m hopeless.”

Pastor/Teacher Church Office and Study and Library

Martin Luther Died

In Germany 467 years ago, in a small, backwater town called Eisleben, the shaking hand of a dying man scribbled this simple line: We are beggars. This is true.

Martin Luther died on February 18, 1546. These last words of weakness echoed the life-changing truth he’d unearthed in the Scriptures: we don’t bring anything to the table of our justification. Jesus truly died for the ungodly.

Luther came to understand that if we are to be accepted by God, we need a perfect righteousness we can’t produce — we need an alien righteousness given to us by Another.

But this discovery didn’t just happen. It came after hours of the painstaking study of Scripture. Luther gave himself to the Book, which he later explained as the primary actor in the Protestant Reformation. And a great movement of God in our day won’t happen apart from that same ingredient. Pastors and Christian leaders must be devoted to God’s word.

So we have much to learn from Luther, says John Piper.

Luther was the subject of Piper’s biographical message at the 1995 Conference for Pastors. We’ve since reformatted that message into a five-chapter ebook, which presents a sketch of Luther’s life and distills relevant lessons for not only pastors and leaders, but all Christians.

No One Would WANT to go to HELL if they knew about Hell

I read this post from John Piper about a question he was asked about HELL.

Some people you hear say, they are going to Hell, if there is a Hell.  No one would stand on the shore of Hell and just go in.  If you knew Hell you would make sure you were Born Again, really.

C.S. Lewis is one of the top 5 dead people who have shaped the way I see and respond to the world. But he is not a reliable guide on a number of important theological matters. Hell is one of them. His stress is relentlessly that people are not “sent” to hell but become their own hell. His emphasis is that we should think of “a bad man’s perdition not as a sentence imposed on him but as the mere fact of being what he is.” (For all the relevant quotes, see Martindale and Root, The Quotable Lewis, 288-295.)

This inclines him to say, “All that are in hell choose it.” And this leads some who follow Lewis in this emphasis to say things like, “All God does in the end with people is give them what they most want.”

I come from the words of Jesus to this way of talking and find myself in a different world of discourse and sentiment. I think it is misleading to say that hell is giving people what they most want. I’m not saying you can’t find a meaning for that statement that’s true, perhaps in Romans 1:24-28. I’m saying that it’s not a meaning that most people would give to it in light of what hell really is. I’m saying that the way Lewis deals with hell and the way Jesus deals with it are very different. And we would do well to follow Jesus.

The misery of hell will be so great that no one will want to be there. They will be weeping and gnashing their teeth (Matthew 8:12). Between their sobs, they will not speak the words, “I want this.” They will not be able to say amid the flames of the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14), “I want this.” “The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night” (Revelation 14:11). No one wants this.

When there are only two choices, and you choose against one, it does not mean that you want the other, if you are ignorant of the outcome of both. Unbelieving people know neither God nor hell. This ignorance is not innocent. Apart from regenerating grace, all people “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom 1:18).

The person who rejects God does not know the real horrors of hell. This may be because he does not believe hell exists, or it may be because he convinces himself that it would be tolerably preferable to heaven.

But whatever he believes or does not believe, when he chooses against God, he is wrong about God and about hell. He is not, at that point, preferring the real hell over the real God. He is blind to both. He does not perceive the true glories of God, and he does not perceive the true horrors of hell.

So when a person chooses against God and, therefore, de facto chooses hell—or when he jokes about preferring hell with his friends over heaven with boring religious people—he does not know what he is doing. What he rejects is not the real heaven (nobody will be boring in heaven), and what he “wants” is not the real hell, but the tolerable hell of his imagination.

When he dies, he will be shocked beyond words. The miseries are so great he would do anything in his power to escape. That it is not in his power to repent does not mean he wants to be there. Esau wept bitterly that he could not repent (Hebrew 12:17). The hell he was entering into he found to be totally miserable, and he wanted out. The meaning of hell is the scream: “I hate this, and I want out.”

What sinners want is not hell but sin. That hell is the inevitable consequence of unforgiven sin does not make the consequence desirable. It is not what people want—certainly not what they “most want.” Wanting sin is no more equal to wanting hell than wanting chocolate is equal to wanting obesity. Or wanting cigarettes is equal to wanting cancer.

Beneath this misleading emphasis on hell being what people “most want” is the notion that God does not “send” people to hell. But this is simply unbiblical. God certainly does send people to hell. He does pass sentence, and he executes it. Indeed, worse than that. God does not just “send,” he “throws.”

“If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown (Greek eblethe) into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15; cf. Mark 9:47; Matthew 13:42; 25:30).

The reason the Bible speaks of people being “thrown” into hell is that no one will willingly go there, once they see what it really is. No one standing on the shore of the lake of fire jumps in. They do not choose it, and they will not want it. They have chosen sin. They have wanted sin. They do not want the punishment. When they come to the shore of this fiery lake, they must be thrown in.

When someone says that no one is in hell who doesn’t want to be there, they give the false impression that hell is within the limits of what humans can tolerate. It inevitably gives the impression that hell is less horrible than Jesus says it is.

We should ask: How did Jesus expect his audience to think and feel about the way he spoke of hell? The words he chose were not chosen to soften the horror by being accommodating to cultural sensibilities. He spoke of a “fiery furnace” (Matthew 13:42), and “weeping and gnashing teeth” (Luke 13:28), and “outer darkness” (Matthew 25:30), and “their worm [that] does not die” (Mark 9:48), and “eternal punishment” (Matthew 25:46), and “unquenchable fire” (Mark 9:43), and being “cut in pieces” (Matthew 24:51).

These words are chosen to portray hell as an eternal, conscious experience that no one would or could ever “want” if they knew what they were choosing. Therefore, if someone is going to emphasize that people freely “choose” hell, or that no one is there who doesn’t “want” to be there, surely he should make every effort to clarify that, when they get there, they will not want this.

Surely the pattern of Jesus—who used blazing words to blast the hell-bent blindness out of everyone— should be followed. Surely, we will grope for words that show no one, no one, no one will want to be in hell when they experience what it really is. Surely everyone who desires to save people from hell will not mainly stress that it is “wantable” or “chooseable,” but that it is horrible beyond description — weeping, gnashing teeth, darkness, worm-eaten, fiery, furnace-like, dismembering, eternal, punishment, “an abhorrence to all flesh” (Isaiah 66:24).

I thank God, as a hell-deserving sinner, for Jesus Christ my Savior, who became a curse for me and suffered hellish pain that he might deliver me from the wrath to come. While there is time, he will do that for anyone who turns from sin and treasures him and his work above all.

Trembling before such realities, and trusting Jesus,

What About Asking Jesus Into Your Heart

Sunday February 03 2013:  Rivers of Joy will not have any services today, so take time to be with family and friends today.

Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart

from Challies Dot Com by Tim

If there were a Guinness Book of World Records record for “amount of times having asked Jesus into your heart,” J.D. Greear is pretty sure he would hold it. Like so many church kids he asked Jesus into his heart when he was very young, and then again when he was slightly older, and then again every time he wondered if he really loved Jesus, and then again whenever he felt the guilt of sin. For years he wrestled with assurance and fought for an answer to this question: How can anyone know, beyond all doubt, that they are saved?

It is a question most Christians ask at one time or another; it is a question every pastor faces on a regular basis. Greear’s new book Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart tackles this question head-on and does so very effectively. Greear sets out to accomplish two things: to help the Christian find assurance that he has been saved, and to help the unbeliever resting on a false assurance see his danger and to turn to Christ. “My prayer is that by the time we’re done, you’ll know exactly where you stand with God. I hope to show you how to base your assurance on a promise God gave once for all in Christ and not on the fleeting memory of a prayer you once prayed.” What Greear teaches is consistent with what the best theologians have been drawing from Scripture for so long, that “what saves the sinner is a posture of repentance and faith toward Christ, that and that alone. Any ‘sinner’s prayer’ is only good insofar as it expresses that posture.”

Salvation does indeed happen in a moment, and once you are saved you are always saved. The mark, however, of someone who is saved is that they maintain their confession of faith until the end of their lives. Salvation is not a prayer you pray in a one-time ceremony and then move on from; salvation is a posture of repentance and faith that you begin in a moment and maintain for the rest of your life.

Greear begins with his own story of praying the sinner’s prayer a thousand times and being baptized four times, using it to illustrate the importance of finding assurance. He then proceeds to show that God wants us to have assurance, saying that God “changes, encourages, and motivates us not by the uncertainty of fear, but by the security of love. That is one of the things that makes the gospel absolutely distinct from all other religious messages in the world.” With that in place he reminds the reader of the gospel and explains both belief and repentance. One chapter answers this question: If “once saved always saved,” why does the Bible seem to warn us so often about losing our salvation? Along the way he offers three bases for assurance: a present posture of faith and repentance; perseverance in the faith; and evidences of eternal life in our heart—a love for God and a love for others, particularly other believers.

Yet even then some will wrestle with assurance and to those Christians he offers wise and simple counsel.

Am I really saved? How could I be, and still have feelings like this?

What do you do in that moment? Pray ‘the sinner’s prayer’ again? …

The answer is relatively simple in that moment: keep believing the gospel. Keep your hand on the head of the Lord Jesus Christ. No matter how you feel at any given moment, how encouraged or discouraged you feel about your spiritual progress, how hot or cold your love for Jesus, what you should be doing is always the same—resting in the gospel. Rest in His finished work. That’s all you can do. It’s all you need to do. It’s all God has commanded you to do.

I have just been in the South, so I can give a loud “Amen!” to that!

Two appendices round out the book and carry it to around 120 pages. The first asks who should be re-baptized and under what circumstances while the second looks at the indispensable link between assurance and the doctrine of justification by faith alone.

I want to offer just one critique of the book, and it is an unusual one, I suppose. While Paige Patterson’s foreword aptly summarizes the book’s content and potential impact, it feels as if it was written for the pastor who may hand it out rather than the concerned Christian who may be seeking assurance. This means that when I hand it to someone, the first thing they will read, assuming that they are in the habit of reading forewords, is rather technical. For example, “His angst over failures subsequent to his experience with Christ seemed to me to be more related to the family situation from which he came and the extent of the use of foreign substances in his life than it did to any substantive reason to doubt his salvation.” I believe it would have been more effective to use the foreword to pastorally convince the person who lacks assurance that he ought to keep reading, rather than to convince the pastor that he can confidently distribute it. But this is only a small and near-petty critique.

We have an enemy who is identified as the Deceiver. He loves to deceive Christians into thinking that they cannot possibly have been delivered from condemnation, and he loves to deceive unbelievers into complacency, making them believe that they have been forgiven even without true faith and repentance. Some of his most effective work is in removing assurance from those who ought to have it, and in giving assurance to those who should not have it. This book will comfort the Christian and challenge the deceived unbeliever. Full of useful illustrations, powerful insights and, best of all, gospel hope, it is exactly the book I will recommend to anyone who struggles with assurance. In fact, I am going to buy a few and keep them close at-hand; I know I will be reading it with someone soon enough.

Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart is available at Amazon and Westminster Books.

The way of salvation was not cheap

A common stumbling block

A preacher of the gospel had gone down into a coal mine during the noon hour to tell the miners of that grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ. After telling them the simple story of God’s love to lost sinners–man’s state and God’s remedy, a full and free salvation offered, the time came for the men to resume work, and the preacher came back to the shaft to ascend to the world again. Meeting the foreman, he asked him what he thought of God’s way of salvation. The man replied, “Oh, it is too cheap: I cannot believe in such a religion as that!” Without an immediate answer to his remark, the preacher asked: “How do you get out of this place?” “Simply by getting into the cage,” was the reply. “And does it take long to get to the top? “Oh, no; only a few seconds!” “Well, that certainly is very easy and simple. But do you not need to help raise yourself?” said the preacher. “Of course not!” replied the miner. “As I have said, you have nothing to do but get into the cage.” “But what about the people who sunk the shaft, and perfected all this arrangement? Was there much labour or expense about it?” “Indeed, yes; that was a laborious and expensive work. The shaft is eighteen hundred feet deep, and it was sunk at great cost to the proprietor; but it is our only way out, and without it we should never be able to get to the surface.” “Just so. And when God’s Word tells you that whosoever believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life, you at once say, ‘Too cheap!’–‘Too cheap!’ forgetting that God’s work to bring you and others out of the pit of destruction and death was accomplished at a vast cost, the price being the death of His own Son.” Men talk about the “help of Christ” in their salvation–that if they do their part, Christ will do His, forgetting, or not seeing, that the Lord Jesus Christ by Himself purged our sins, and that our part is but to accept what has been done. Spuregon