Sun., Aug. 8 Bible Class notes – John 1:13, cont’d.

John 1:13  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

“but of God”

Things that will not save you:

     (in addition to blood, the will of man and the will of the flesh)

     Your desire to be saved (although desire should be there).

     Baptism (Mar_16:16)

     "The Sacraments" (Last rites, confession, penance)

      Saying or praying a prayer.

      Walking the aisle

      Making a decision for Christ.

      Keeping the Ten Commandments

      Doing good works

What is it that will save you: Jesus! Jesus saves!

[The following is from a forum that I participate in]:

To believe one possesses some volitional will to assent to the truth of the Scriptures despite their clear teachings is to assume one can believe without any initiative by God, that is, one is performing a work to save oneself. But the Scriptures are clear, in that the unsaved…

- is deceitful and desperately sick (Jeremiah 17:9).
- is full of evil (Mark 7:21-23).
- loves darkness rather than light (John 3:19).
- is unrighteous, does not understand, does not seek for God    (Romans 3:10-12).
- is at enmity with God (Romans 8:7-8)
- is helpless and ungodly (Romans 5:6).
- does not seek God (Romans 3:11)
- is dead in his trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1).
- is by nature a child of wrath (Ephesians 2:3).
- cannot understand spiritual things (1Corinthians 2:14).
- is a slave of sin (Romans 6:16-20).

We are not “born again” as a result of something we have done, but solely on the basis of God's sovereign will and power.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Father elects to salvation, the Son dies to procure salvation, the Spirit applies salvation

John 6:44         

Romans 9:15; Romans 9:16; Romans 9:18-26

Sun., Aug. 1 Bible Class notes – John 1:13, cont’d.

Hand out Free Will drawing handouts & discuss same.

 

birth, creation, resurrection, bride = pictures of salvation

Two stories used to illustrate coming to Christ that are not true:

“I met Jesus at the crossroads: Satan, too, was standing there….”

Jesus is a life preserver: you just need to reach out and grab him.

 

but of God

    but of [the will of] God

    salvation is monergistic

      Joshua 24:19 - You cannot

      Isaiah 43:11 – Beside me there is no savior

      Hebrews 12:2 – Author and Finisher

      Ephesians 2:8 - Grace

This is not to say that the one coming to Christ does nothing, is totally passive:

     Lazarus (John 11:1)    Dry Bones of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 37:3-10)

Next Sunday: things that do not save you and how God brings you to himself.

Jesus must be Lord of all or …

One of the clichés bandied about in Christian circles is “Jesus must be Lord of all or he can’t be Lord at all.” As with many other trite sayings that are in wide circulation, this one has passed into the warp and woof of modern evangelical and fundamentalist Christianity without nary a critical thought or a moment’s contemplation. The statement is not true. It is false. It is a lie. All lies have as their source Satan himself. This cliché is meant to encourage people to live all-out for Jesus Christ, but in some cases it has the opposite effect of comforting people who are presuming they are Christians and on their way to heaven but who are, in fact, spurious believers destined for the Lake of Fire.

Now, I’ve been so brazen as to declare this a false statement. I’ve contradicted what more learned men than I have said. The late Adrian Rogers, an iconic figure among many Southern Baptists, has written on his blog, “There is no middle ground for the Christian: Jesus must be Lord of all, or He can't be Lord at all.” Interestingly enough, he in that same blog, takes my position. I’ll show you that a little bit later. The pastor of a church in Houston similarly states, “Jesus must either be Lord of all or of nothing. The choice is yours.” This idea is prevalent in modern churchianity, as a search in Google will show. That it is echoed by so many does not, however, give it legitimacy. Follow me to the Court of the First and Last Resort.

Let us be “more noble than those in Thessalonica” and search the scriptures to see whether those things are so.

The first thing I would like to point out is that we do not “make Jesus Lord” of our lives or anything else any more than a British subject makes Elizabeth II the Queen. Jesus is Lord. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. That is one of his titles. It means something. It is not a mere sentiment. This is how Paul and Silas referred to the Savior when they addressed the Philippian jailor and said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your house (Acts 16:31). It is God that made (past tense, completed action) Jesus Christ to be the Lord: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ,” (Acts 2:36).

Secondly, we do not “accept” Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. (By the way, the idea of “accepting” Jesus was totally foreign to the apostles). The admonition that Paul gave the Philippian jailor says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” We cannot pick those elements of Jesus that we like while disregarding the rest. We must believe on “the Lord.” What does that mean? It means when we come to Christ we come with the recognition that not only is he the only Savior, the only way to God, but that he is also the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe and of ourselves in particular. His being Lord gives him the right to order us around, to send us where we do not want to go, to do the things that we do not want to do. It means we submit to him much as General Robert E. Lee submitted to General Ulysses S. Grant — unconditionally!

That brings me to the original thesis of this posting: The saying, “Jesus must be Lord of all or he is not Lord at all” is false. This bromide is, as I said above, supposed to encourage spurious saints to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Whether it is effective or not, I do not know. But God did not call us to be pragmatic. He called us to be truthful.

In Acts 10:36 we find these words: “The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:).” Notice the words in parentheses: “He is Lord of all.” That is a present tense statement. He is Lord of all. Note again, that he is Lord of all. There is nothing not subject to his dominion, his lordship. He is Lord of all!

Adrian Rogers agrees with me (not that it makes what I have written truth) and says in the same blog from which I quoted above,

In the dictionary, the definition of the word lord is one with absolute power, absolute authority. We often speak of commitment, but the real question is surrender. When you're committed, you're in control; when you surrender, you relinquish control. If a robber puts a gun to your head, you don't commit your wallet; you surrender it!

To understand that truth is the beginning of kingdom authority. He is called Lord no less than 747 times in the New Testament. You can't make Him Lord; He has already claimed the title. Your questions are, first, will you recognize His Lordship, and second, will you submit to it? He is Lord of all you have and all you do. Do you live by that Lordship?"

The quality of our new converts suffers because of our misuse of terminology. How much different do you suppose a new believer would be if he was told that he needed to demonstrate repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ? Our superficial evangelism does not allow for this, of course. Sinners are in rebellion against the Almighty. They are avowed enemies. When one comes to Christ one must abandon his self-centered and egocentric thinking and living and surrender to the rule of a new master, the Lord Jesus Christ. He (or she) must be told that when they come to Christ their life is no longer their own (1 Corinthians 6:15-20). Then, their conversion will give proof to their confession that “Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” (Philippians 2:11).

There's Only One Road to Heaven?

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

Has this verse been excised from your Bible? I hope not, although I fear it has been removed from many. How clearer a statement than this could not be expressed.

Over the years I have heard many say that as long as one is sincere it really doesn't matter what one believes. That is, if the Hindu, Jew, or Mohammedan sincerely believes he is worshiping God, than that is all that matters. I would like to believe that, but it is simply not so. If you do not trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior you are not, nor can be, saved until you embrace him with all your heart, soul, and mind as the Redeemer.

Sad to say, those that once were luminaries have apostatized by giving credence to the possibility that Jesus Christ is not the only way of salvation. In 1978 Billy Graham, in an interview published in McCall's magazine, said "I used to believe that pagans in far off countries were lost going to hell if they did not have the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached to them. I No longer believe that. I believe that there are other ways of recognizing God through nature for instance and plenty of other ways of saying 'yes' to God". In 1997 he said essentially the same thing in an interview with Dr. Schuller of Crystal Cathedral fame:

"I think there's the body of Christ which comes from all the Christian groups around the world, or outside the Christian groups. I think that everybody that loves Christ or knows Christ, whether they're conscious of it or not, they're members of the body of Christ. And I don't think that we're going to see a great sweeping revival that will turn the whole world to Christ at any time.

"What God is doing today is calling people out of the world for His name. Whether they come from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world, or the Christian world, or the non-believing world, they are members of the body of Christ because they've been called by God. They may not even know the name of Jesus, but they know in their hearts they need something that they don't have and they turn to the only light they have and I think they're saved and they're going to be with us in heaven."

So Billy Graham and others that agree with him have a higher authority than St. Peter? They know more than God who put the words of Acts 4:12 into his mouth and had them flow from Luke's pen? How much clearer than, "Neither is there salvation in any other" can it be stated?

No one, no Christian, can take any pleasure in the death of the wicked or of relatively good sincere unbelievers. The recognition and acknowledgment that they all will have their part in the lake of fire is not a comforting thought. In fact, that knowledge presses upon any with the knowledge of God an urgency to declare the riches of God's grace in Jesus Christ to those that have not yet believed.

Jesus Christ himself said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me." (John 14:6) Notice, he did not say, "I am a way," but "I am the way." That one statement excludes all other paths, all other ways. All roads may lead to Rome, but only one leads to Heaven. Peter affirms this in the verse under discussion, the last clause of which states: "whereby we must be saved." The Greek indicates that if one is to be saved he must of necessity be saved by faith in Jesus Christ.

The question then remains: In what or whom are you trusting for your salvation? Many have told me they made a decision and that's all they need to know. They have "put a stake in the ground." My friend, making a decision for Christ will not save you. Jesus saves, and he alone. Baptism does not save you, church membership does not save you, being born into a Christian family or a Christian nation does not save you.

Peter said, "there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." The name is the person. Salvation is in a person and that person is Jesus Christ. However much we may want to believe that people can be saved some other way, the Bible tells us the only way is Jesus Christ. This we must boldly and unashamedly proclaim, for it is man's only hope.

(This post was originally published on my hermeneutics blog on August 22, 2007)

Where Are You Going?

“Where am I going?” may be the most important question that you will ever consider. “Where are you going?” The answer that counts is not the one that you provide but the one that Almighty God provides.

God has much to say respecting our final destinies. Although we may think we will live forever, we know that is not the case. We may try to convince ourselves that this world and its existence is all there is. However, down deep in our hearts we know that to be false. Some claim that when this life is over we come back in the form of an animal or perhaps as another human being. That, too, is merely wishful thinking. Others teach that when we die we go to sleep in the grave, awaiting a future day of judgment. That is not the case, either.

The only revelation that God has given man about what happens to him at death is found in the Bible. The Bible tells us we either go directly into God's presence or we go directly to a place of torment, called Hell. Those are the options: there are no others.

The Apostle Paul said that he desired to depart “and to be with Christ.” Where is Christ? He is in heaven. And that is where all those who have placed their trust in Christ for salvation go immediately upon dying.

Those who do not believe in Jesus Christ are immediately in hell. I realize this is not a pleasant thought. I do no like it, myself. But it is the truth. Jesus tells about a rich man, sometimes called Dives, who died. The sixteenth chapter of the Gospel according to Luke records his words: “The rich man also died, and was buried; and in Hell he lift up his eyes.” In those few words we find three truths: hell is a reality, there is consciousness, and there are no stopping-off places before going there. Other expressions of consciousness which Jesus used are: “being in torments, seeing, crying and saying.” These are activities of a living, conscious entity.

“It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. (Hebrews 9:27).” This lifetime is all you have. There is no coming back. There are no second chances. When you die your destiny is no longer in question. “Now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). You may not have another tomorrow.

“He that believes on the Son has everlasting life and he that does not obey the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God continues to dwell on him” (John 3:36, paraphrased). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31).

Heaven or hell–where are YOU going?