The Battle Cry

“It is not irreligious, wasteful, or superficial, but essentially healthy and necessary, for a Christian to know whether or not his will has anything to do in matters pertaining to salvation. Indeed, let me tell you, this is the hinge on which our discussion turns, the crucial issue between us; our aim is, simply, to investigate what ability “free will” has, in what respect it is the subject of divine action and how it stands related to the grace of God. If we know nothing of these things, we shall know nothing whatsoever of Christianity, and shall be in worse than the heathen! He who does not admit this should acknowledge that he is not a Christian; and he who ridicules or derides it should realize that he is the greatest enemy of Christianity. For if I am ignorant in the nature, extent and limits of what I can and must do in relationship to God, I shall be equally ignorant and uncertain of the nature, extent and limits of what God can and will do in me - though God, in fact, works everything in everyone. Now, if I am ignorant of the works and powers of God, I am ignorant of God himself; and if I do not know God, I cannot worship, praise, give thanks or serve Him, for I do not know how much I should attribute to myself and how much to Him. We need, therefore, to have in mind a clear-cut distinction between God’s power and ours, and God’s work and ours, if we would live a godly life.”

“This problem [the knowledge of what we contribute to our salvation] is one half of the whole sum of Christianity, since on it both knowledge of oneself and the knowledge and glory of God quite vitally depend.  . . . The other half of the sum of Christianity is concerned with whether God’s foreknowledge is uncertain, and whether everything we do could be done any other way.”

“Now, since on God’s own testimony, men are ‘flesh’, they can savour of nothing but the flesh; therefore ‘free-will can avail only to sin. And if, while the Spirit of God is calling and teaching among them, they go from bad to worse, what could they do when left to themselves, without the Spirit of God? . . .The same is true of all men, for all are ‘flesh’; as Christ says, ‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh’ (john 3:6) How grave a defect this is, He Himself there teaches, when he says: ‘Except a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (v. 5)…I call a man ungodly if he is without the Spirit of God; for Scripture says that the Spirit is given to justify the ungodly. As Christ distinguished the Spirit from the flesh, saying: “that which is born of the flesh is flesh’, and adds that which is born of the flesh cannot enter the kingdom of God’, it obviously follows that whatever is flesh is ungodly, under God’s wrath, and a stranger to His kingdom. And if it is a stranger to God’s kingdom and Spirit, it follows of necessity that it is under the kingdom and spirit of Satan. For there is no middle kingdom between the kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan, which are ever at war with each other.” - Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will

When is the human heart regernerated? What comes first, God’s decision (choice) or man’s decision? What ‘event’ initiates/initiated God’s plan of salvation?

“Monergism is the . . . doctrine that regeneration (the new birth) both precedes and elicits faith in Christ in those whom the Holy Spirit sovereignly determines to dispense His grace upon (John 1:13; 6:63-65; Acts 16:14b; 1 John 5:1). When preached in the power of the Holy Spirit, the gospel has the power to open blind eyes and unstop deaf ears. Those dead in sin, therefore, play no part in their own new birth and are just as passive as a new born physical baby in the regenerative act. Thus, man does not cooperate in his regeneration but rather, infallibly responds in faith as the Holy Spirit changes our hearts’ disposition. Faith is not something produced by our unregenerated human nature. The fallen sinner has no moral ability or inclination to believe prior to the new birth. Instead, the Holy Spirit must open one’s ears to the preaching of the gospel if one would hear. While there is no temporal sequence, regeneration gives rise to all other aspects of our salvation. They all happen simultaneously like the turning on of the light, which is the cause of faith, justification, sanctification, new affections, and the like.

Synergism (or synergistic regeneration) is the . . . doctrine which believes that faith precedes and gives rise to regeneration. Man cooperates with God in regeneration. Faith is produced by our unregenerated human nature. The fallen sinner has the ability and potential inclination to believe even prior to the new birth. While synergism believes grace plays a role in salvation yet he does not believe salvation is by grace alone - instead it is grace plus our response which makes us to be born again.”

Another way to ask the question might be “Whose faith is it, anyway?”

Any thoughts or opinions? Please provide supporting scripture.    

The above definitions were extracted from an article by John Hendryx that can be read here.

From the following scripture passages, what would you conclude is God’s first priority? 

“But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! . . . Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.” Isa 43 1.7

“You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me. “I, even I, am the LORD, And there is no savior besides Me. “It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, And there was no strange god among you; So you are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “And I am God.” Isa 43:10-12

“The people whom I formed for Myself Will declare My praise.” Isa:43:21

“For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.” Isa 48:11

“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.” .”Rev 4:11

“For by him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether they are kings, lords, rulers, or powers. All things have been created through him and for him.” Col 1:16

“He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. . . to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.” Eph 2:5-6, 12

“For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Phil 2:9-11

“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.” 1 Cor 10:31

Having read these passages, might it be that God’s first priority is His own glory? And if God’s first priority is His own glory, how should that be expressed in the way we “do” church (I hate the phrase, but it’s common today)? Should our sermons be all about ‘us’, and what God wants to do ‘for’ us to better our lives, or should they be be more about how we can bring Him glory? What about our worship music - should be more about our “warm fuzzies” or His majesty and glory”? What about our teaching? What about our programs? The list goes on and on. . .

How are things in your church? How are things in mine? How do I view my own life as a believer? Is my life as a believer more about what He can do for me, or how I bring Him glory as one who has been created, first and foremost, for His glory?

A close friend and fellow believer asked me the other day, concerning the salvation of sinners, “What does is matter who chooses whom, as long as we get there?” Being somewhat taken aback, I did not immediately reply and considered it something I really needed to think about instead of just offering what was on my mind at the moment (something I am really good at). We agree on many spiritual things, my friend and I, but seem to get stuck on the matter of who chooses whom for salvation, in what order, and why it should matter at all.

Looking back at our little conversation, hindsight being what it is, (always 20/20) I must admit that the question is a valid one! If God’s primary purpose for the awakening of spiritually dead, hopeless, lost sinners to new life in Christ is so that we would live with Him in heaven someday (and our best life now), why would God really care about who chose whom and when?  If, however, God has a different ‘first purpose’ in the salvation of men, we might need to reconsider things.

Consider the following, from Paul’s letter to believers in Ephesus:

“He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, TO THE END THAT we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation–having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, WITH A VIEW TO the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.” - Ephesians 1:9-14 (NASB) (Emphasis mine.)

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, SO THAT in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. - Ephesians 2:4-6 (NASB) (Emphasis mine.)

Here we have WHAT God has done on our behalf, and WHY He has done it - God’s first purpose in the salvation of men. I could have emphasized in these short passages, additional scripture to state the case, but I would ask you to consider for a moment the ‘purpose’ clauses, TO THE END THAT, WITH A VIEW TO, and SO THAT and the highlighted phrases that follow.  Consider the thought that the primary reasons God saves even a portion of fallen men is for the praise of his own glory and so men through the ages will see the demonstration of his power and riches of His grace!

Back to or question, “What does it matter who chooses whom, as long as it we get there?” You tell me. Hint - Think God’s sovereignty, honor and glory.

P.S.

Translations/versions consulted for the accuracy of the above ‘purpose’ clauses in the referenced scripture: NKJV NIV, NASB, NASB 1995 Update, NLT, ESV, NET Bible, and The Message. With the exception of The Message, all translations spoke in unison concerning our salvation being first and foremost for God’s own glory.  

That places our benefits, as bountiful as as they may be, both temporal and eternal, secondary, wouldn’t you think?

Does God save us because we choose Christ, or did God determine, by His sovereign will and according to His pleasure, those who would eventually choose Christ. Calvinists, Arminians, and Calminians seem to agree that all men are, in the end, not saved. Forgetting for the moment the debates around election and free will, the question this morning is: “Why does God save anyone at all?”  

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. John 6:37

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. John 6:39

“Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. John 7:42

Now there’s a HUGE thought! Jesus came to earth to seek, save, and keep those whom the Father determined to present as a love gift to the Son!

“Salvation is primarily for the honor of the Son, not the honor of the sinner. The purpose here is not to save you so you can have a happy life, that’s a by-product. The purpose here is to save you so that you could praise the Son forever and ever and ever. . .Every redeemed individual is a part of an elect, redeemed humanity that is a gift from the Father to the Son.” - John MacArthur

Now there’s food for thought!

According to Paul, along with Peter, John and the rest of the early disciples, Christ died for OUR SINS. God the Father did not send His own Son to die so we could have our best life now, although our best life is to be found in Christ. He didn’t send His Son to the cross because He couldn’t imagine Heaven without us, although one day we will be with Him in Heaven. Jesus Christ died because of OUR SIN. What does that really mean?

We know the story - God created a perfect world for perfect children. Those children willfully disobeyed the only rule they had been given. Satan tempted, but they disobeyed. the result was that sin entered into god’s perfect creation and corrupted it. The sin of Adam has been passed down to every human being since the fall, except Christ, who was totally God and totally man, lived a life of perfect obedience to His Father and died for OUR SIN.

In today’s non-threatening, ’seeker-friendly evangelicalism, if the subject of sin is approached from the pulpit stage, it is called everything but SIN. When the term SIN is used it normally refers to a great gulf or dark cloud that separates us from God. If it ever means ‘personal’ sins it is restricted to one of the substitute terms we use like ‘mistakes’. If we look closely at scripture however, we find that sin is much more than things we do (or don’t do). When sin entered god’s creation it left humans in such a sad state that:

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” - John 3:18

“For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” - Romans 5:10

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.”   - Ephesians 2:1-3

“As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.” - Romans 3:10-11

What is Scripture telling us about the condition of all who have not believed in Christ? They are:

• Already condemned
• Enemies of God
• Dead in trespasses in sin
• Objects of God’s wrath
• UNABLE to seek God

That’s quite a different portrait of the ‘natural man’ than the one painted by the modern/postmodern gospel that sends the various messages mentioned in this post, and either omits or gingerly tip-toes lightly over something of “first importance” - that Christ died for OUR SIN.

In an earlier post here at The Battle Cry, it was stated that “God doesn’t need people to save anyone - you, me or anyone else. It’s our Great Privilege to take the good news to the world around us.” In fact, it’s this author’s opinion that sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the Greatest Privilege our great God has bestowed upon His children. This is the first in a series ofposts that will address the critical issue of presenting the right message.

What IS the Gospel?

In the first chapter of the book of Romans the Apostle Paul states:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” - Romans 1:18

Here Paul tells us that the power of the gospel is what is used by God to save anyone in the lost mass of humanity that would believe it. So what exactly was it that Paul was not ashamed of, that he declared to people everywhere he traveled and even to those who despised him, stoned him, arrested him, and cast him in to prison? Speaking to believers in the church he founded at Corinth, Paul has this to say:

“Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.  For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.” - 1 Corinthians 15:1-5

Note that Paul is reminding those believers of what he had previously preached, what he had previously received (from Christ), and what was of first importance. Paul them presents two points; that Christ died for our sins, and that He was resurrected. He also pointed out that the death and resurrection of Christ were both according to the scriptures and validated by the historical facts of Christ’s burial (validated His death), and His having been seen by many of His followers (validated His resurrection).

This then is THE gospel; that Christ physically died for our sin, and was physically raised from the dead SO THAT those who would believe in Him would be saved!!

It is not difficult at all to remember Paul’s definition of the gospel, but if we are to share these simple truths we must first be able to what it means that “Christ died for our sins.”, for it is in the explanation of that statement that we so often miss the point. That is partly our fault for not having read, studied, and believed what is plainly written in the pages of scripture; but we are also fed a diet of watered down scripture and postmodern teaching that either incorrectly defines, or omits entirely, what the Apostle Paul emphatically emphasized as being “of first importance”!

Approximately fifty years ago, A.W. Tozer had this to say:

“In many churches Christianity has been watered down until the solution is so weak that if it were poison it would not hurt anyone, and if it were medicine it would not cure anyone!”

If we are to be faithful to our calling to share the gospel, there are three things we need to understand and be able to explain solely from the standpoint of inspired Scripture, and not merely according to the opinions and viewpoints of popular preachers, speakers, authors, and evangelists. We must to be able to:

(1) properly define OUR sin,

(2) explain what it means that Christ died for OUR sin, and

(3) communicate what it means to believe that Christ died for OUR sin.

Those will be topics of posts to follow. . .

The text of an excellent sermon delivered at Grace Valley Christian Center can be found here. Below is an excerpt from that sermon that discusses both expiation and propitiation:

“In the Greek, the word “to propitiate” is hilaskomai, which means to appease, to placate, to avert, to turn aside the wrath of an offended person by means of a sacrifice. Four things are involved in propitiation: First, there is an offended deity; second, an offending sinner; third, the offense committed; and fourth, the sacrifice which removes the offense and causes the offended person to be gracious to the one who offended him. Salvation, in the Christian sense of the term, requires one very definite type of sacrifice, namely, propitiation. It is directed toward God to turn away his wrath, which is revealed against our offense, that he may be gracious to us.

“For the past century and a half, the idea of a God who is wrathful and opposes sin and sinners has not been accepted by unbelieving theologians. They readily will choose the conception of God as love but want to forget about the idea that God is holy. The notion of an angry God, they say, is not Christian, but pagan. They say the God of Christianity, in their highly evolved conception of it, is always a loving, nice God. When they translate the Greek word hilasmos, as found in 1 John 2:2 and 4:10, they reject the word “propitiation,” preferring to use the word “expiation,” which has to do with the cancellation of sin, but has nothing to do with a sacrifice offered to God to turn away his wrath.

Expiation means that God has canceled our sin and now there is nothing to worry about, but it is not the same as propitiation. One scholar wrote, “Those who hold to the ‘fire and brimstone’ school of theology, who revel in ideas such as that Christ was made a sacrifice to appease an angry God, or that the cross was a legal transaction in which an innocent victim was made to pay the penalty for the crimes of others as a propitiation of a stern God, find no support in Paul. These notions came into Christian theology by way of the legalistic minds of the medieval churchmen.” We must ask: If Christ’s death on the cross was not propitiation, if this sacrifice was not offered to God to turn away his wrath that he may be gracious to us and forgive us our sins and restore us into his fellowship, if the liberals are right that God is love all the time and never angry at sinners, then what is the need for Christ’s death even as expiation? It is doing nothing to God. Why doesn’t God, being nice and loving, just forgive our sins almost automatically whenever we commit them?” Christ, Our Propitiation,1 John 2:1,2 | Sunday, January 14, 2001 By P. G. Mathew, M.A., M. Div., Th.M., Copyright © 2001 by P. G. Mathew

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel–” Galatians 1:6

Martin Luther’s commentary on the above verse states:

“When the devil sees that he cannot hurt the cause of the Gospel by destructive methods, he does it under the guise of correcting and advancing the cause of the Gospel. He would like best of all to persecute us with fire and sword, but this method has availed him little because through the blood of martyrs the church has been watered. Unable to prevail by force, he engages wicked and ungodly teachers who at first make common cause with us, then claim that they are particularly called to teach the hidden mysteries of the Scriptures to superimpose upon the first principles of Christian doctrine that we teach. This sort of thing brings the Gospel into trouble. May we all cling to the Word of Christ against the wiles of the devil, “for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

Within the Galatian church, the false prophets to whom Paul referred were those who would add to the sufficiency of the gospel of grace through faith. Luther, like Paul, was concerned with the adding of works to the principles of faith. Paul’s clear teaching is that adding ‘works’ to grace is ‘another gospel’.

When we look around at the landscape of American Christianity we can find, even today, examples of adding works to the principles of faith in the matter of the salvation of the soul, as well as in the matter of the assurance of our salvation. In contrast, a far greater danger today might be what has been taken away from the teaching of the gospel rather than what is added. Gone, for the most part, is clear preaching and teaching concerning the problem of sin (before and after salvation), along with the adjacent topics of wrath, judgment to come, and the spiritual warfare faced by every believer as he/she works out their salvation with ‘fear and trembling’.

Without mentioning specific examples of today’s popular ministry methods, here’s the question/food for thought: Are omissions from the gospel as preached and taught in Scripture, for whatever reason, examples of ‘another gospel’?

And Can It Be that I Should Gain

 Words: Charles Wesley, 1739 (Acts 16:26)
Music: Thomas Campbell, 1835

And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior’s blood!
Died he for me? who caused his pain!
For me? who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

‘Tis mystery all: th’ Immortal dies!
Who can explore his strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
to sound the depths of love divine.
‘Tis mercy all! Let earth adore;
let angel minds inquire no more.
‘Tis mercy all! Let earth adore;
let angel minds inquire no more.

He left his Father’s throne above
(so free, so infinite his grace!),
emptied himself of all but love,
and bled for Adam’s helpless race.
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!

Long my imprisoned sprit lay,
fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
thine eye diffused a quickening ray;
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
my chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed thee.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in him, is mine;
alive in him, my living Head,
and clothed in righteousness divine,
bold I approach th’ eternal throne,
and claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach th’ eternal throne,
and claim the crown, through Christ my own.

I was reminded of this hymn this morning listening to a presentation given by Albert Mohler at the Together for the Gospel conference. Dr. Mohler described it as systematic theology. At the center is the doctrine of Christ’s substitutionary atonement on our behalf. What is sad is that in our time there are many who claim Christ who hate that doctrine.

The presentations made at the conference can be found here: http://www.t4g.org/.