The Battle Cry

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!

One author has this to say about man’s free will to do good or evil. I have placed my comments in parenthesis underneath each ‘proof text’:

“Throughout Scripture the Bible continuously instructs mankind to make righteous decisions by free will. Many persons misinterpret a few verses to arrive at the false idea that mankind does not have a free will to do good or make righteous decisions. Below are some verses which strongly show that mankind has the responsibility to exercise their free will and is commanded by God to do so.”

Deuteronomy 30:11 “For this commandment which I command you today [is] not [too] mysterious for you, nor [is] it far off. 12 “It [is] not in heaven, that you should say, `Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 “Nor [is] it beyond the sea, that you should say, `Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 “But the word [is] very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

(This says only that the word is near and that those being spoken to have a choice)

Deuteronomy 30:15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 “in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17 “But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18 “I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong [your] days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. 19 “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, [that] I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.

(Same point - there is choice)

John 14:15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.

(Same thing - choice)

John 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

Romans 2:10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.

 (We can chose to do good)

1 Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain [it]. 25 And everyone who competes [for] [the] [prize] is temperate in all things. Now they [do] [it] to obtain a perishable crown, but we [for] an imperishable [crown].

(We can choose how to ‘run the race)

1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and [before] Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, 14 that you keep [this] commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing.

(We are able to ‘fight the good fight - we make choices)

2 Timothy 2:21 Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.

(We can ‘cleanse’ ourselves [from dishonorable things])

1 John 5:1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.

(This verse just says whoever loves the Father loves the Son - inference is that when we believe something a choice has been made)

This post is not to take a position one way or the other, but an examination of the texts supporting one person’s assertion that we have “free will”. All these verses really say is that we can make choices, as far as I can see. That we are to make them by the exercise of “free will” is not hinted at, commanded, nor mentioned in these verses (as the author claims).

Am I wrong in what the proof texts actually SAY?

This is from a longer sermon by Ray Stedman, based primarily on Romans, Chapter 9:

The simple truth is that if God did not move upon man’s will to make us believe, not one man in all of time would ever be saved. Jesus said, “No man can come unto me except my Father draw him, and all that my Father had given me shall come unto me,” {cf, John 6:44, 65}. That is the same thought, the same teaching.

“Well,” someone says, “you are teaching that God elects some to be saved and others to be damned.” No, not so. All are lost already, and God is not responsible for that. God never elected man to be damned, that was man’s own choice. The only time that man ever exercised his own free will was when Adam chose to accept the principle that the Devil set before him and to act independently of God. The moment that man made that choice he plunged himself — and the entire race of men following — into the natural results of that decision.

If I had sitting before me here this morning a glass of poison that I knew would kill me, I would have the choice of whether to drink it or not. But once I drank it I no longer would have any exercise of free will — I must reap the results — and this is the condition that God says the human race is in. Having drunk of the dregs of independence from God, at the instigation of Satan, man is plunged into the darkness and the depths of fallen humanity, and it is only God’s saving, electing grace that calls any out at all. It is not God’s hardening that deprives a soul of salvation; that merely leaves him in the state that he is already in. But if God did not move in mercy, we would all be like Sodom and Gomorah — blasted, corrupted, ruined, and burned.

Think about that for awhile when you think over this matter of God’s electing grace.

You see, if we find fault with God for saving some but not all, we are really asserting that men have a right to be saved, that they deserved to have mercy shown them. But the truth is that we deserve nothing but hell — all of us! As long as we demand that God consult us about our salvation, we slam the door to discovering his grace. But if we are willing to let God be God, and be sovereign in the exercise of his will, then we begin to see what it costs God to save men — not only the darkness and the anguish and the loneliness of the cross, but, as Paul points out, even today God is long-suffering in his patient dealing with evil men. God is putting up with all the foulness and hatred and enmity of man.

Listen to a conversation around you sometime, listen to people talk about God, listen to the way they take his name and cast it into the dirt and walk over it — the very one in whose hand is their very breath, listen to the way they speak in arrogant independence of him, and act as though they have the right to do whatever they want to with the very body he created, and died to redeem, listen to that, and then think of how many centuries God has been waiting patiently with that attitude! God could stop evil any time he chose. With but a flick of his finger he could wipe out the whole human race, but he doesn’t do it. And why doesn’t he? Because, as Paul says here, he desires

… to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory, {Rom 9:22b-23 RSV}

Those verses suggest that, in order that some might be saved, there must be some who are lost. I don’t understand this. I don’t think anyone does. But I leave this with the sovereign choice of God who is willing to put up with all that man throws at him, century after century, in patient endurance, in order that he might bring to fulfillment the desires of his heart in the salvation of some.

Now, you will notice that it doesn’t say that God made men fitted for destruction. No, he didn’t. Adam did that, and men have helped him along ever since. But wherever man feels a hunger for God, wherever he finds faith in his heart to believe the record of the Scripture concerning Jesus Christ, wherever man grows weary of his selfishness and of evil, there is where the wind of the Spirit of God is blowing, wooing and fitting the man or woman, little by little, “to be a vessel of mercy prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom he has called.”

This is NOT about John Calvin or Jacobus Arminius. It is about the teaching of scripture concerning the state of the ‘natural’ man and the sovereignty of the God of all mercy. Until I read scripture for myself, I also defended the “free will” of man as adamantly as many do today. After considerable study concerning the nature of man in his fallen state, both inside and outside of Holy inspired scripture, I can only conclude, at this point of my life, that the overwhelming preponderance of scripture supports the plain teachings of Calvin (not the man-invented ‘hyper’ variety) concerning the total sovereignty of God and the total depravity of the natural man. While my ‘natural’ man loathes (vehemently!) certain biblical truths that Calvin taught, my regenerate man embraces them with the same fervor.

My heart grieves for those who have been ‘abused’ by those who claim to be Calvinists and have taken his biblical teaching to extremes Calvin himself never intended.

The entire sermon transcript can be found here.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. - 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Of the authorship of the Bible, John Wesley said, “The Bible must have been written by God or good men or bad men or good angels or bad angels.” And then he said, “But bad men and bad angels wouldn’t write it because it condemns bad men and bad angels. And good men and good angels wouldn’t deceive by lying to its authority and claiming that God wrote it.” “And so”, said Wesley, “the Bible must have been written as it claims to have been written by God who by His Holy Spirit inspired men to record His words using the human instrument to communicate His truth.”

The Bible claims for itself that it is:

Infallible - without error in total - Psalm 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

Inerrant in all it’s parts - Pr 30: 5-6 Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.  Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.

Complete - Deut 4:2 You shall not add to the Word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it. Rev 22:18-19 - I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

Authoritative - Isaiah 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken. Psalm 119:89, Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven.

Sufficient - 2 Tim 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:  17That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

Effective - Isaiah 55:11 So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Divine - 2 Pet 1:21 21For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

NOTE: The above was gleaned from The Character of the Word by John MacArthur

I went looking for easily understandable definitions of various theories of the Atonement of Christ and found the following at GotQuestions.org. I have included here the introductory paragraphs, the definitions of the three most prevalent in today’s church, and the names of the nine theories presented in the online article located here.

Question: “What are the various theories on the atonement?”

Answer: Throughout church history several different views or theories of the atonement, some true and some false, have been put forth at different times by different individuals or denominations. One of the reasons for this is that both the Old and New Testaments reveal many truths about Christ’s atonement, so it is hard, if not impossible, to find any single “theory” that fully encapsulates or explains the richness of this doctrine. Instead, what we discover as we study the Scriptures is a rich and multifaceted picture of the atonement as the Bible puts forth many interrelated truths concerning the redemption that Christ has accomplished. Another contributing factor to the many different theories of the atonement is that much of what we can learn about the atonement needs to be understood from the experience and perspective of God’s people under the Old Covenant sacrificial system. Since having a correct view of the atonement of Christ is a key to understanding much of the Bible, even a survey of the differing theories of atonement can be beneficial.

The atonement of Christ, its purpose and what it accomplished is so rich that volumes have been written about it, and this article will simply provide a brief overview of many of the theories that have been put forth at one time or another. In looking at the different views of the atonement, we must never lose sight of the fact that any view that does not recognize the sinfulness of man and substitutionary aspect of the atonement is deficient at best and heretical at worst.

Moral Influence Theory: This view sees the atonement of Christ as demonstrating God’s love which causes man’s heart to soften and repent. Those that hold this view believe that man is spiritually sick and in need of help and that man is moved to accept God’s forgiveness by seeing God’s love for man. They believe that the purpose and meaning of Christ’s death was to demonstrate God’s love toward man. While it is true that Christ’s atonement is the ultimate example of the love of God, this view is also heretical because it denies the true spiritual condition of man and denies that God actually requires a payment for sin. This view of Christ’s atonement leaves mankind without a true sacrifice or payment for sin.
Governmental Theory: This view sees the atonement of Christ as demonstrating God’s high regard for His law and His attitude towards sin. It is through Christ’s death that God has a reason to forgive the sins of those who repent and accept Christ’s substitutionary death. Those that hold this view believe that man’s spiritual condition is as one who has violated God’s moral law and that the meaning of Christ’s death was to be a substitute for the penalty of sin. Because Christ paid the penalty for sin it is possible for God to legally forgive those who accept Christ as their substitute. This view falls short in that it does not teach that Christ actually paid the penalty of the actual sins of any people, but instead His suffering simply showed mankind that God’s laws were broken and that some penalty was paid.
Penal Substitution Theory: This view sees the atonement of Christ as being a vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice that satisfied the demands of God’s justice upon sin. In doing so Christ paid the penalty of man’s sin bringing forgiveness, imputing righteousness and reconciling man to God. Those that hold this view believe that every aspect of man, his mind, will and emotions have been corrupted by sin and that man is totally depraved and spiritually dead. This view holds that Christ’s death paid the penalty of sin for those whom God elects to save and that through repentance man can accept Christ’s substitution as payment for sin. This view of the atonement aligns most accurately to Scripture in its view of sin, the nature of man, and the results of the death of Christ on the cross.

Ransom to Satan

Recapitulation Theory

Dramatic Theory

Mystical Theory

Example Theory

Commercial Theory

If you have read the previous Battle Cry posts concerning “What IS the Gospel?” here (Part 1) and here (Part 2), it won’t be difficult to correctly identify the Atonement theory this B4B strongly supports. That, however, is irrelevant if what this blogger supports is not the theory most strongly supported in Scripture. I do think it safe to conclude that the Moral Influence and Governmental theories have influenced the modern/postmodern church for decades and are the prevailing theories behind the ’seeker-friendly’ and quite popular gospel spoken of here.  

Next, we will try and and answer a most important question: “Once we have realized that Christ died for OUR SIN in OUR PLACE, what do we do with that knowledge - what does it really mean to believe it?

Pastor Gary Osborne has begun a series of articles evaluating the Lakeland “revival” here. After having read quite a bit concerning Lakeland, as well as having watched the training/sending out of ’street’ witnessing teams, the pre-service worship service, and some of the services (not just the short clips appearing here and there, I think the series will be well worth the read. My personal tack has been to present the characteristics of true revival here at the Battle Cry, while remaining convinced that thoughtful and discerning believers will be able to sort it all out with the help provided by the Holy Spirit while prayerfully searching scripture. Especially noteworthy is that this evaluation is coming from a pro-Pentecostal perspective.

There is also a five part series evaluating Brian McClaren’s “Everything Must Change” conference from the same perspective of a Pastor who attended the conference, accessible from the ‘Previous Posts’ section at the right of the page.

Our sin and rebellion is no match for irrestible Grace.

“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.” - John 3:19

“Man loves his own ruin. The cup is so sweet that though he knows it will poison him, yet he must drink it. And the harlot is so fair, that though he understands that her ways lead down to hell, yet like a bullock he follows to the slaughter till the dart goes through his liver. Man is fascinated and bewitched by sin.” –Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)_Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit_ Vol. 13 [1867]

“I must confess I never would have been saved if I could have helped it. As long as I could, I rebelled and revolted and struggled against God. When he would have me pray, I would not pray. When he would have me listen to the sound of the ministry, I would not. And when I heard, and the tear rolled down my cheek, I wiped it away and defied him to melt my heart. Then he gave me the effectual blow of grace, and there was no resisting that irresistible effort. It conquered my depraved will and made me bow myself before the sceptre of his grace. And so it is in every case. Man revolts against his Saviour, but where God determines to save, save he will. God never was thwarted yet in any one of his purposes. Man does resist with all his might, but all the might of man, tremendous though it be for sin, is not equal to the majestic might of the Most High.” –Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)_New Park Street Pulpit_ Vol. 4 [1858]

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.

For some time now I’ve been listening for a genuine gospel message, or at least a hint that Jesus died for OUR SIN when I read popular Christian books and magazines, listen to popular pastors and teachers,  and even when I listen to contemporary Christian music. The intent in my ‘listening’ is not to intentionally look for false teaching or brand anyone a heretic or apostate, but only to hear how the ‘good news’ is being presented in our American evangelical culture. Here is some of what I’ve heard in the last few months being presented as as the gospel:

“God loves you so much He can’t imagine heaven without you. . .”

“Jesus would rather die than live without you.”

“God hugs us WITH our sin. . .”

“Jesus accepted you a long time ago WITH your sin. . .”

“The core of Christianity is. . .the news of ‘a God who is passionate about his relationship with you.”

“God sent his Son to die for us because he wants a relationship with us.”

“When the gospel is reduced to a legal transaction shifting our guilt to Christ and Christ’s righteousness to us, the gospel focuses too narrowly on a transaction and becomes too impersonal.”

Now compare any of the above statements with the Apostle Paul’s definition of the gospel:

“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

What’s the difference between the ‘popular’ gospel and the Gospel Paul preached. . .and why does it matter?