The Legal Demands Of The Law Have Been Canceled

As I am studying the book of Colossians the thing that sticks out to me the most is the absolute freeness of the Gospel. Salvation is completely and totally free! Completely free because God did all the work required of us for us. And totally free because because the legal demands of the Law were nailed to the cross.

Christ pursues sinners

This is good news because our works are filthy and tainted with sin. And yet God loves sinners! As a matter of fact, sinners are the only ones who qualify for salvation. Sinners owe a great debt to God. The demands of His Law require perfect obedience. But God in His great love for His own sent a Worker for them. This Worker kept all of the demands of the Law. Then He went to the cross and bore the sins of all who will ever trust in his grace. He absorbed every bit of the wrath due to us for every time we violated His Law.

Canceled debt

Our debt was cancelled! The legal demands of the Law were nailed to the cross! Now through faith in the work of the Worker our sins are forgiven. We are now free to obey the Law of Christ without fear of punishment for our failures. The legal demands of the Law have been cancelled. Let us serve Christ now in freedom!

 

 

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God Does Not Give Second Chances

"God is the God of second chances." How often do you hear that phrase from well meaning Pastors, teachers and friends. Its a nice little phrase, but it is totally false. God is not the God of Second chances.

No do overs

His Word makes it perfectly clear that we get one shot at His Law, and if we blow it we are damned. And the bad news is that everybody blows it. No one has kept His Law perfectly. We all sinned in Adam. Not only that, but we blow it every day, countless times a day. Not only do we sin willfully, but we commit sins that we don't even know are sins. So even if God were to give us a second, third, fourth or hundredth chance we would blow them all.

Only perfection will do

Not one iota of our effort will bring us into right standing before God. Only perfection will make us right before Him. Only a perfect obedience to His Law can remove the damnation that we incurred. And the only way that we can have perfect obedience is if it's given to us. The most wonderful news in all of history is that Christ won that obedience for us. Christ became the Second Adam. Where the first Adam failed as our representative by breaking one command. Jesus, the Second Adam succeeded as our Representative by keeping all of God's commands. Christ came as a substitute for sinners. He lived a perfect life in the place of sinners. He went to the cross and died so that sinners like us wont have to. He kept the Law for us and then went to the cross and paid the penalty for every time we broke His Law.

Christ's work becomes our work through faith

The debt has been paid. Now, by faith in his work, we get all that He did credited to our account for free! And thats Good News. That’s Gospel! So God doesn't give us a second chance. As Tullian Tchividjian puts it, "God is not the God of second chances. He’s the God of one chance and a Second Adam."

 

 

 

 

 

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Stupid Tweets: Jerry Savelle

Here is another stupid tweet from another Word of Faith heretic.

First Jesus came to set us free from the penalty and power of sin. Certainly sin is bondage: John 8:34 Jesus answered them, " Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.

Those in bondage to sin cannot submit to God:Romans 8:7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God 's law; indeed, it cannot.

Jesus also came to set us free from the penalty of sin: Romans 3:23-25 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God 's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

But unfortunately this is not what Jerry is talking about when he talks about bondage. Jerry’s idea of bondage is a bondage of sickness, or poverty, negative circumstances, negative thinking etc. Word of Faith and Prosperity Gospel proponents would have us believe that God does not want us to be in the bondage of sickness and poverty as you can see by the rest of the tweet.

 

 

Second, what is an "enjoyable' rewarding, and satisfying life" for the Christian? Is it freedom from worldly troubles? Jesus said we can expect troubles: John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

 

Is it freedom from suffering?

 

Paul makes it clear that the Christian will suffer: Romans 8:16-18 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

 

How about freedom from poverty?

 

Although having wealth is not a sin many Christians during the time of the Apostles were slaves and the Apostles themselves were poor. When the Apostle Paul was speaking to the Corinthians about the generosity of the Macedonian Christians he said: 2 Corinthians 8:2 for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. Notice how he used joy and poverty in the same sentence. Their poverty was extreme and yet they had great joy!

The true "enjoying, rewarding, and satisfying life" for the Christian is found first in knowing that we have been forgiven, and second, knowing that we stand perfectly righteous before a Holy God.

Because Christ has absorbed in Himself on the cross all of the wrath that our sins deserve we are freely forgiven by God.

Because Christ kept all of the demands of God’s Law on our behalf (as our substitute) God freely imputed the righteousness of Christ to our account! We stand before God as those who have obeyed the entire Law of God perfectly because Christ obeyed in our place.

The Word of Faith, Prosperity message can never be rewarding or satisfying because because it's main focus is the here and now and rarely if ever speaks of eternity.

Here is a great article from CRI on the Word of Faith movement.

 

 

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Stupid Tweets: Gloria Copeland

I saw this tweet by Gloria Copeland and had to share it. First,I can assure you God is NOT speaking to Gloria Copeland. The reason is because she is a Word of Faith teacher. And since Word of Faith doctrine is false doctrine you can be sure that God is nowhere to be found in it. Second, the Holy Spirit doesn't work through someone who teaches false doctrine. Here is a quote by Gloria Copeland saying that Christians should control the weather:

“You know, you’re the – you’re supposed to control the weather. I mean, Ken’s the primary weatherman at our house, but when he’s not there I do it. And you can see what’s happening out there. It shows just like they have on – at the weather – like on the news. I mean, he’s got the computer that’s got the current weather on it and all that for flying. So sometimes I’ll hear something, I’ll hear the thunder start, and maybe he’ll still be asleep, and I’ll say, “Ken, you need to do something about this.” [Laughter]

And knowing that – but you are the one that has authority over the weather. One day Ken and Pat Boone, when we were at Hawaii at their house, and we were – they were setting outside, and there was a weather spout out over the ocean.

And that’s like a tornado, except it hits the water. And so they were sitting there and they just watched it, rebuked it, and it never did anything. One day, I was in the airplane, in the back, and my little brother was in the back with me, and Ken was up front flying. And we were not in the weather, because we don’t fly bad weather, but we could see the weather over here. And I looked out the window and that tornado came down just like this, down toward the ground. And Ken said, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus. You get back up there!”

So this is how I learned how to talk to tornados. I saw this. And that tornado went [makes repeated whooping noise], even while I was watching. And my little brother was not a devout Christian at that time, and that was really good for him to see.

So you’re the weatherman. You get out there-or the weatherwoman, whichever it is, and you talk to that thing, and you tell it, “You’re not coming here. I command you to dissipate! And you get back up there in Jesus’ name!” Glory to God. That-I won’t charge you extra.”

This is just a sample of how goofy these Word of Faith people are! Here is the supporting video. Watch at about the 4:55 mark. Just click on the word "sample" and that will take you to the site where you can watch the video. 

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Jesus Paid It All So I Owe Nothing

"If it's too good to be true, it probably is" is not true when it comes to the Gospel. The Gospel is absolutely free. There are no strings attached. There are no ifs, ands, or buts with the grace of God. The Gospel is good news to the hearer. It is a declaration that all has been taken care of. Your sin has been atoned for. There is nothing left to be done.

 

An old hymn

An old hymn we sometimes sing at church goes like this: Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Jesus did pay it all. He took the wrath of God for every sin I have ever or will ever commit. When He was on the cross God treated His Son as if He committed all of my sins. Christ absorbed "in His body on the tree" all of the wrath of God that I will ever deserve.

Tetelestia

When Christ cried out on the cross "it is finished" OUR DEBT WAS PAID IN FULL! If all is paid what then is left for us to pay? Nothing! But what about the second part, "all to Him I owe?" The song is speaking about our service to God after He has so gloriously saved us. For sure it is not speaking about a sort of works righteousness. However, because Christ accomplished the work that I do owe God, I owe nothing. To even try to pay God back for His indescribable gift is an offense to his grace. He will receive all of the glory for our salvation. Even our works predestined for us to do are done by His grace. I owe God nothing. The debt has been paid in full.

Payment vs. gift

Paul makes this clear when he contrasts receiving payment for work we do and receiving a gift.

Romans 4:4-5 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,

When I receive my paycheck at the end of the week I don't thank and praise my boss for his generosity. I take what I've earned. I worked for it. It's mine. However, if someone pays off a major debt that I owe I am filled with gratitude because of their generosity towards me. We have had our sin debt, a debt that is infinite, paid off in full by the death of an infinitely valuable Person, the second Person of the Trinity. So to try and pay God back, even in the smallest way is a great offense! Jesus paid it all so I owe nothing.

 

 

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The Dangers of Navel Gazing

 

There is a difference between a person who isn't concerened with indwelling sin than a person who just doesnt care. A person who claims to be a Christian, yet has no desire for spiritual things should question their salvation. But what about a person who truly does care about the state of their soul? What about a person who has the tendency to be constantly looking inward to see if they are really saved.

Evidences of Grace

This is a phrase you hear often in reformed circles. Is there evidence of regeneration in your life? Does your life show fruit that you have the Holy Spirit living within you? In other words are you getting better? Is sin becoming more repugnant? Are you becoming more holy? Do you love more? And what about the "spiritual disiplines?" Are you praying, reading your Bible, serving in your local church, involved in some sort of ministry?

Not that these are bad questions. These are things that are good and helpful. But let's be honest Any unregenerate person can do good works. Works do not save. And relying on works for our assurance can be deceiving. Yes they are important in the Christian life but if they are the standard by which we measure our salvation than they can be dangerous.

Jesus said in Matthew 7, "Many will say to Me on that Day, Lord didn't we do mighty works in Your Name, like casting out demons and mighty miracles? These are impressive works for sure. But what does Jesus say? "Depart from Me you workers of iniquity." Why? Because they were trusting in their works to save them.

"This is the work of God"

In John 6 the crowd that Jesus fed with the loaves and the fish went looking for Him. Not because they wanted salvation but because they wanted more food. They saw Jesus as someone that could deliver them from Roman tirany and provide for them their every need. As a matter of fact, at the begining of the chapter they were going to make Him king by force. During their conversation with Jesus they asked Him this question: "what must we do to be doing the works of God?" Here was His answer: "This is the work of God, that you believe on the One He has sent.

 

 

Our work-Look outside of ourselves

"Navel gazing" is the constant looking inward to see if we are truly saved. But looking inward will not bring us real assurance of salvation. It's subjective rather than objective. We must look outside of ourselves to something objective in order to have the assurance we so long for. We must look at the objective work of Christ.

 

He did the work for us that God requires from us

God requires us to keep His Law perfectly. Those who fail to do so will be punished for eternity in hell. And yet all of us have broken God's Law. So how can God be just, and still forgive sinners? By sending His Son to be our substitute. Jesus was the New Adam. The first Adam broke one command, "You shall not eat. For on the day that you eat of it, you will surely die. The New Adam (Jesus) kept the entire Law perfectly. He did this as our substitute. And then He went to the cross and was punished by God for every time we broke God's Law.

 

 

No more navel gazing

True assurance of salvation comes not by constantly looking inward but by looking outside of us, to the work that Christ did on our behalf. There is a time for self examination for sure, but constant self examination will not bring lasting assurance. Only by looking at the finished work of Christ will we find true peace and the assurance we so long for. Remember the words of our Savior, "It is Finished."

 

 

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Free Righteousness

The Free Gift of Righteousness

Did you know that God requires perfect obedience to His Law? That almost perfect won't do? We must obey the Law of God perfectly if we are to be saved.

The problem is that no person can obey the Law of God with perfection. We are constantly disobeying His Law every day, and I would even dare to say every moment of every day. Jesus said that we are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. How are you doing with that right this very moment? I know I am failing. And yet it is commanded of us.

Christ calls it the first of the two great commandments. The second, Jesus said is like it, we are to love our neighbor as ourselvef. How did you do with that one today? Not great? Yea, me either. So what can we do? Nothing. We cant do anything. We need a substitute. Someone has to obey the Law of God perfectly for us or we are doomed to judgement.

Thank God there was someone who did that. Jesus became our substitute and obeyed God's Law on our behalf, then died on the cross and took the full wrath of God upon Himself for every time we broke the Law. So perfect obedience to God's Law was provided for us, and punishment for our Law breaking was provided for us. God still demands perfect obedience to His Law but Christ obeyed for us. Now by faith we are given, as a gift, Christ's perfect life long record of obedience. That righteousness is put into our account for free! It is pure GIFT! We do not nor could we ever earn it. His perfect life is counted as our perfect life by faith.

And Yet He Said Nothing

If Jesus was "gay affirming" then why didn't He mention homosexuality?

The above picture was taken from the Kindle app on my ipad. It's an excerpt from Matthew Vines book "God and the Gay Christian." The highlighted text is the portion that I want to discuss in this post.

So let's break the statement down.

"They long for a charitable yet biblically sound message on this topic."

 I can understand a desire for Christians to be charitable when speaking about the topic of gay marriage. Too often Christians have been mean spirited and insensitive to those caught  in the sin of homosexuality.

 But what this statement presupposes is that the Bible isn't clear on the subject. And yet it couldn't be more clear. The Bible is not ambiguous on the subject of homosexuality. It calls it a sin.    

Leviticus 18:22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 

Leviticus 20:13 If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

Romans 1:27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Timothy 1:9-10 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,

Jude 1:7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

And even though "Gay Christians" will make the argument that we really have not understood these six passages, they are really only grasping at straws. 

"that's not at odds with the Jesus of the Gospels."

So Jesus was not at odds with homosexuality? Wasn't Jesus a Jew? No Jew during that time period would have ever accepted the idea that monogamous loving same sex relationships were okay. Proponents of "gay christianity" would say that because Jesus never mentioned homosexuality that He wasn't against it and so we can't use Him to defend our position.

But doesn't the fact that Jesus never mentioned homosexuality strengthen and not weaken our position? Think about it for a moment. Wasn't there homosexuals at the time of Christ. Wasn't there people who desired what Matthew Vines desires today, to be accepted and affirmed in their desires to marry a person of the opposite sex. The human heart hasn't changed. "There is nothing new under the Sun."

And yet Jesus never once mentioned homosexuality. He never once affirmed homosexual unions. He never once mentioned the pain and suffering that homosexuals endure at the hand of those who viewed their lifestyle as sin. Don't you think if Jesus was gay affirming that He would have talked about the injustice and cruelty of not accepting these men and women who just wanted to be loved but we're born with same sex attractions? Doesn't this make Jesus "unloving."

Isn't Jesus the Creator? Isn't He God? Yes He is God. As the Bible says:

Colossians 1:15-16
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things were created through him and for him.

Psalms 33:15
he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.

So if Jesus, who is Creator and Lord of all, made homosexuals the way they are, then wouldn't He have affirmed their same sex desires? Wouldn't He have condemned those who were against monogamous same sex unions? And yet, He said nothing.