Thursday, 27 May 2010
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Beating the Horse…with Joy
Todd Friel wrote in the Wretched Newsletter to those who are having a hard time reconciling if they are saved.
Here is what he wrote:
Charles Spurgeon once said,
As you probably know, we encourage people to write us at saved@wretchedradio.com if they are not sure of their salvation. While we receive many different types of letters, there are two major themes that stand out:
1. I am addicted to porn.
2. I am not sure I am saved because I don’t do enough.
Basically, those two major themes are:
1. I hate the things that I do.
2. I hate that I don’t do enough.
The operative word there is: do. My dear fellow Wretch, if we fail to understand who does the doing, we will fail to understand the Gospel. The result will be that we live in fear, either for what we have done, or for what we have failed to do. Either result is miserable. Neither is the Gospel.
The Bible tells us to test ourselves to see if we are in the truth. It is imperative that we do this right. As we examine ourselves, we must hold two things in tension.
1. God is growing us in holiness. Remember, it is not perfection, but we should be moving in that direction.
2. We are not holy enough.
You and I must recognize both of these. If we examine our fruit and recognize that we are growing in holiness, but fail to see that we are not as holy as we should be, we will become self-sufficient, prideful and worst of all, we will forget the Gospel.
However, if we ONLY recognize that we are not as holy as we should be without recognizing that God is growing us in holiness (not perfection, but direction), then we will always doubt our salvation.
The reality is, we sin too much and we don’t do enough. But the good news of the Gospel is: Jesus did enough. Never forget, His passive obedience (being beaten and crucified) cancels our sin debt. His active obedience (living a perfect life) credits our account with infinite righteousness.
As a Christian, you sin too much, but Jesus died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6). Therefore there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).
As a Christian you don’t do as much as you should; but Jesus did! His perfection has been credited to your account.
You must proclaim that good news to yourself every day or you will certainly end up in the Pit of Pride or the Slough of Despair. God does not want you in either place.
-Todd
Here is what he wrote:
Charles Spurgeon once said,
"I would not mind if I were condemned to live fifty years more and never allowed to speak but these five words, if I might be allowed to utter them in the ear of every man, woman, and child who lives. 'Christ Died for the Ungodly.' That is the best message that even angels could bring to men."
As you probably know, we encourage people to write us at saved@wretchedradio.com if they are not sure of their salvation. While we receive many different types of letters, there are two major themes that stand out:
1. I am addicted to porn.
2. I am not sure I am saved because I don’t do enough.
Basically, those two major themes are:
1. I hate the things that I do.
2. I hate that I don’t do enough.
The operative word there is: do. My dear fellow Wretch, if we fail to understand who does the doing, we will fail to understand the Gospel. The result will be that we live in fear, either for what we have done, or for what we have failed to do. Either result is miserable. Neither is the Gospel.
The Bible tells us to test ourselves to see if we are in the truth. It is imperative that we do this right. As we examine ourselves, we must hold two things in tension.
1. God is growing us in holiness. Remember, it is not perfection, but we should be moving in that direction.
2. We are not holy enough.
You and I must recognize both of these. If we examine our fruit and recognize that we are growing in holiness, but fail to see that we are not as holy as we should be, we will become self-sufficient, prideful and worst of all, we will forget the Gospel.
However, if we ONLY recognize that we are not as holy as we should be without recognizing that God is growing us in holiness (not perfection, but direction), then we will always doubt our salvation.
The reality is, we sin too much and we don’t do enough. But the good news of the Gospel is: Jesus did enough. Never forget, His passive obedience (being beaten and crucified) cancels our sin debt. His active obedience (living a perfect life) credits our account with infinite righteousness.
As a Christian, you sin too much, but Jesus died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6). Therefore there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).
As a Christian you don’t do as much as you should; but Jesus did! His perfection has been credited to your account.
You must proclaim that good news to yourself every day or you will certainly end up in the Pit of Pride or the Slough of Despair. God does not want you in either place.
-Todd
Say No To Drugs, Kids
Boycotting Facebook
Facebook can get pretty addictive. Here's an interesting fact for you: statistics say that on average each Facebook user logs in at least once a day. It's more addictive than YouTube in some cases. Twitter is even worse! Who needs to know what I'm doing every hour of the day? Who cares!
An Interesting Comment on the GTY Blog:
http://www.gty.org/blog/B100422?utm_source=feedburner
Facebook can get pretty addictive. Here's an interesting fact for you: statistics say that on average each Facebook user logs in at least once a day. It's more addictive than YouTube in some cases. Twitter is even worse! Who needs to know what I'm doing every hour of the day? Who cares!
An Interesting Comment on the GTY Blog:
#3 Posted by Alex Passarello | Thursday, April 22, 2010 at 12:30 PM
I am so concerned about all of this. I see my children and their friends and the fascination with social internet platforms. They do a marvelous job of communicating from behind a computer but an absolutely terrible job of face to face personal communication. It is no wonder our churches are depreciating to the point they are. The church body is losing its interpersonal skills. No one talks anymore they chat, they don't speak they text, they don't write they email. So much of what people do today is based on reaction instead of thoughtfulness. I wonder what the divorce rate is going to be with the next generation? You can't raise kids from behind a computer or cell phone. You can't solve conflicts with your spouse through facebook. If we can't communicate and healthy relationships with each other how on earth on we going to foster a relationship with Jesus? We have done everything we can to insure that our children read more than they mess around with the computer. I mean "down" time in our house is on the couch or back porch with a book.
http://www.gty.org/blog/B100422?utm_source=feedburner
Monday, 24 May 2010
Quote of the Month - Abortion
Being human we assume that hopes and dreams are made for us and that we are made for them. In some cultures parents consult astrologers and determine the baby's name according to planetary alignments, and they celebrate with endless ceremonies to ensure a wonderful future. A baby throbbing with life is embodied promise. The birth day gives birth to more than a life—it gives birth to new hopes. - Ravi Zacharias
Saturday, 22 May 2010
Was Jesus Polite to False Teachers?
Matthew 23
John MacArthur's Commentaries
Many Christians today are greatly concerned about the rising influences of communism, humanism, secularism, and social injustice. Yet those evils, great as they are, do not together pose the threat to Christianity that false shepherds and pastors do. Throughout the history of redemption, the greatest threat to God’s truth and God’s work has been false prophets and teachers, because they propose to speak in His name. That is why the Lord’s most scathing denunciations were reserved for the false teachers of Israel, who claimed to speak and act for God but were liars.
Yet for some reason, evangelical Christianity is often hesitant to confront false teachers with the seriousness and severity that Jesus and the apostles did, and that the godly prophets before them had done. Today, more than at any time in modern history and perhaps more than at any time in the history of the church, pagan religions and cults are seriously encroaching on societies that for centuries have been nominally Christian. Even within the church, many ideas, teachings, and philosophies that are little more than thinly veiled paganism have become popular and influential. As in ancient Israel, the further God’s people move away from the foundation of His Word, the more false religion flourishes in the world and even in their own midst. At no time have Christians had greater need to be discerning. They need to recognize and respect true godly shepherds who feed them God’s Word and build them up in the faith, and they also must recognize and denounce those who twist and undermine God’s Word, who corrupt the church and who lead lost people still further away from God’s truth and from salvation.
In Matthew 23:13–33 Jesus relentlessly condemned the false spiritual leaders of Israel, in particular the scribes and Pharisees, who then held the dominant power and influence in Judaism. Jesus warned about them in His first sermon, the Sermon on the Mount (see, e.g., 5:20; 7:15), and His last sermon (Matt. 23) consists almost entirely of warnings about them and to them. In this final public message, the Lord wanted to draw the people away from those false leaders and turn them to the true teaching and the godly examples of His apostles, who would become His uniquely commissioned and endowed representatives on earth during the early years of the church. He also gave the apostles themselves a final example of the confrontational stance they would soon find it necessary to take in their proclamation and defense of the gospel.
The unbelieving scribes and Pharisees whom Jesus addressed in the Temple stood alone in their sin and were condemned alone in their guilt for misappropriating and perverting God’s law and for leading Israel into heresy, just as the false prophets among their forefathers had done (vv. 30–32). But they also stood as models of all false spiritual leaders who would come after them. Therefore what Jesus said about them and to them is of much more than historical significance. It is essential instruction for dealing with the false leaders who abound in our own day.
In the first twelve verses of chapter 23, Jesus had declared that the scribes and Pharisees, typical of all false spiritual leaders, were without authority, without integrity, without sympathy, without spirituality, without humility, and therefore without God’s approval or blessing. Now speaking to them directly, He asserts they are under God’s harshest condemnation. In verses 13–33 Jesus pronounces seven curses, or woes, on those wicked leaders.
The scene in the Temple that day had become volatile in the extreme, in some ways more volatile than when Jesus had cast out the merchants and money-changers the day before. At that time Jesus’ anger was vented against what the religious leaders were doing outwardly, and that attack had outraged them (21:16, 23). Now, however, He attacked what they were inwardly, and that infuriated them even more.
In our day of tolerance and eclecticism, the kind of confrontation Jesus had with the scribes and Pharisees seems foreign and uncharitable. A person who speaks too harshly against a false religion or unbiblical teaching or movement is considered unkind, ungracious, and judgmental. Jesus’ indictments in Matthew 23, as well as in other parts of the gospels, are so inconsistent with the idea of Christian love held by some liberal theologians and Bible scholars, for example, that they conclude He could not have spoken them. What Jesus really said, they maintain, was modified and intensified either by the gospel writers or the sources from whom they received their information.
But the nature of Jesus’ condemnation of those corrupt religious leaders is perfectly consistent with the rest of Scripture, both the Old Testament and the New Not only that, but Jesus’ words in this passage fly from His lips, as someone has said, like claps of thunder and spears of lightning. Out of His mouth on this occasion came the most fearful and dreadful statements that Jesus uttered on earth. They do not give the least impression of being the afterthought of an overzealous writer or copyist.
Matthew 23 is one of the most serious passages in Scripture. Jesus here makes the word hypocrite a synonym for scribe and for Pharisee. He calls them sons of hell, blind guides, fools, robbers, self-indulgent, whitewashed tombs, full of hypocrisy and lawlessness, serpents, vipers, and persecutors and murderers of God’s people. He uttered every syllable with absolute self-control but with devastating intensity.
Yet Jesus was never cold or indifferent, even toward His enemies, and on this occasion His judgment is mingled with sorrow and deep pathos. It is not the Son’s will any more than the Father’s that a single person perish, because it is the gracious divine desire that everyone would come to repentance and salvation (2 Pet. 3:9). At the end of His denunciation, Jesus extended by implication another last invitation for belief, suggesting that He would still gladly gather any unbelievers under His wings as a mother hen gathers her chicks, if only they would be willing (Matt. 23:37).
John MacArthur's Commentaries
Many Christians today are greatly concerned about the rising influences of communism, humanism, secularism, and social injustice. Yet those evils, great as they are, do not together pose the threat to Christianity that false shepherds and pastors do. Throughout the history of redemption, the greatest threat to God’s truth and God’s work has been false prophets and teachers, because they propose to speak in His name. That is why the Lord’s most scathing denunciations were reserved for the false teachers of Israel, who claimed to speak and act for God but were liars.
Yet for some reason, evangelical Christianity is often hesitant to confront false teachers with the seriousness and severity that Jesus and the apostles did, and that the godly prophets before them had done. Today, more than at any time in modern history and perhaps more than at any time in the history of the church, pagan religions and cults are seriously encroaching on societies that for centuries have been nominally Christian. Even within the church, many ideas, teachings, and philosophies that are little more than thinly veiled paganism have become popular and influential. As in ancient Israel, the further God’s people move away from the foundation of His Word, the more false religion flourishes in the world and even in their own midst. At no time have Christians had greater need to be discerning. They need to recognize and respect true godly shepherds who feed them God’s Word and build them up in the faith, and they also must recognize and denounce those who twist and undermine God’s Word, who corrupt the church and who lead lost people still further away from God’s truth and from salvation.
In Matthew 23:13–33 Jesus relentlessly condemned the false spiritual leaders of Israel, in particular the scribes and Pharisees, who then held the dominant power and influence in Judaism. Jesus warned about them in His first sermon, the Sermon on the Mount (see, e.g., 5:20; 7:15), and His last sermon (Matt. 23) consists almost entirely of warnings about them and to them. In this final public message, the Lord wanted to draw the people away from those false leaders and turn them to the true teaching and the godly examples of His apostles, who would become His uniquely commissioned and endowed representatives on earth during the early years of the church. He also gave the apostles themselves a final example of the confrontational stance they would soon find it necessary to take in their proclamation and defense of the gospel.
The unbelieving scribes and Pharisees whom Jesus addressed in the Temple stood alone in their sin and were condemned alone in their guilt for misappropriating and perverting God’s law and for leading Israel into heresy, just as the false prophets among their forefathers had done (vv. 30–32). But they also stood as models of all false spiritual leaders who would come after them. Therefore what Jesus said about them and to them is of much more than historical significance. It is essential instruction for dealing with the false leaders who abound in our own day.
In the first twelve verses of chapter 23, Jesus had declared that the scribes and Pharisees, typical of all false spiritual leaders, were without authority, without integrity, without sympathy, without spirituality, without humility, and therefore without God’s approval or blessing. Now speaking to them directly, He asserts they are under God’s harshest condemnation. In verses 13–33 Jesus pronounces seven curses, or woes, on those wicked leaders.
The scene in the Temple that day had become volatile in the extreme, in some ways more volatile than when Jesus had cast out the merchants and money-changers the day before. At that time Jesus’ anger was vented against what the religious leaders were doing outwardly, and that attack had outraged them (21:16, 23). Now, however, He attacked what they were inwardly, and that infuriated them even more.
In our day of tolerance and eclecticism, the kind of confrontation Jesus had with the scribes and Pharisees seems foreign and uncharitable. A person who speaks too harshly against a false religion or unbiblical teaching or movement is considered unkind, ungracious, and judgmental. Jesus’ indictments in Matthew 23, as well as in other parts of the gospels, are so inconsistent with the idea of Christian love held by some liberal theologians and Bible scholars, for example, that they conclude He could not have spoken them. What Jesus really said, they maintain, was modified and intensified either by the gospel writers or the sources from whom they received their information.
But the nature of Jesus’ condemnation of those corrupt religious leaders is perfectly consistent with the rest of Scripture, both the Old Testament and the New Not only that, but Jesus’ words in this passage fly from His lips, as someone has said, like claps of thunder and spears of lightning. Out of His mouth on this occasion came the most fearful and dreadful statements that Jesus uttered on earth. They do not give the least impression of being the afterthought of an overzealous writer or copyist.
Matthew 23 is one of the most serious passages in Scripture. Jesus here makes the word hypocrite a synonym for scribe and for Pharisee. He calls them sons of hell, blind guides, fools, robbers, self-indulgent, whitewashed tombs, full of hypocrisy and lawlessness, serpents, vipers, and persecutors and murderers of God’s people. He uttered every syllable with absolute self-control but with devastating intensity.
Yet Jesus was never cold or indifferent, even toward His enemies, and on this occasion His judgment is mingled with sorrow and deep pathos. It is not the Son’s will any more than the Father’s that a single person perish, because it is the gracious divine desire that everyone would come to repentance and salvation (2 Pet. 3:9). At the end of His denunciation, Jesus extended by implication another last invitation for belief, suggesting that He would still gladly gather any unbelievers under His wings as a mother hen gathers her chicks, if only they would be willing (Matt. 23:37).
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Awkward Questions About Jesus
This shows exactly the Evangelicals' problem. We need to address the Law before Grace. "Why did He kill him?"
Monday, 17 May 2010
The Purpose Driven Church
Here's the letter.:
If You Have Been Hurt
"How many people have been deeply wounded because of “The Purpose Driven Church”? If I were a betting man, I would guess millions have been driven from their beloved church because of the writings of Rick Warren.
That is the second reason I absolutely hate the decision made by a man I love to invite Rick Warren to speak at the Desiring God Conference in the fall of this year.
As Purpose has seduced over 300,000 pastors (that is not a guess) to leave the Jesus Model and follow the Rick Model, faithful sheep have been forced out of their church by their shepherd to make room for the goats. Devastating.
If you are one of those people, I am very, very sorry that one of the men who probably served as an anchor during your storm has seen fit to use his national conference to figure out how Rick Warren ticks. Frankly, we know how Rick Warren ticks. He may have file cabinet orthodoxy, but his public works are nothing short of lethal.
Perhaps you have suffered the effects of purpose poison and now your almost-healed scars have been ripped open. Many of us feel bad for you. Please heal fast knowing that you were not wrong, you were wronged.
You were not the bad guy when you left your church whimpering and scalded. You were right. Rick Warren’s pragmatic methodology is not Biblical. His use of Scripture is worse than a self-proclaimed “bishop” on prosperity TV. Rick Warren’s Gospel is no Gospel at all.
That is the number one reason why I continue to be saddened by this decision; the Gospel will suffer and more people will be hurt.
Honestly, I thought Rick Warren’s Purpose kingdom was one to two years away from joining Jabez on the ash heap of church trends. Unfortunately, Purpose has been given new life by a highly esteemed pastor.
Tragic.
-Todd"
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