Neglecting So Great a Salvation

I've heard many objections to the reality of hell. Here are a few:

1. God cannot be a good God and send people to hell

2. It is only for the angels who sinned not for people

3. It is not a literal place, it is only symbolic, people will just disappear and the eternal aspect of it is they will be eternally nothing, their suffering and gnashing will be an eternal fact of the past, but will forever attest to their once having been, and forever having disappeared.

4. Hell only means "grave". It is from a word that translates to mean "the grave". If you believe Jesus, and truly take to heart what Jesus says about hell, you would know that it does mean that the person has died and their mortal body has gone to the grave...but it goes further, there is an immortal portion that goes deeper and further and lower than simply a hole in the ground.

Jesus said none of those things. The Bible reveals that it is a place, a real place, and that there will be angels who get sent there, but that there will also be people that will get sent there...and Jesus said MANY will go there, that few will go the narrow road that leads to eternal life and many will go the wide path to eternal destruction.....

Questions and Answers

Continuing with my Voddie Baucham binge I came upon this sermon and I am in awe of how much the Lord has blessed me through this sermon...even though the message is the same one (God never changes) Voddie is so gifted in breaking open the Truth of God's word to the understanding afresh.

In this sermon he asks life's 4 basic questions, and then answers these questions with "the world view" and then answers them with what the Bible says. Amazing grace, ever more and more amazing.

The Joy of the Lord is My Strength

In the days of Ezra the walls of the city of Jerusalem were broken and Ezra asked the king, Artexerxes, to rebuild the walls of the city. When the walls were restored, Ezra gathered the people (Nehemiah 7:5) because the Lord put it on his heart to record them by their geneologies. While they were gathered there he read the book of the law to them. I love what it says in Nehemiah 8:8 :

They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. (ESV)

The words of the law were explained clearly so the people understood exactly what was being said...and it caused the people to weep, because they understood the words of the law and recognized their fallen condition. But Ezra told them not to weep because the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemian 8:10)

When we understand the Bible correctly, it causes us to see our sinfulness and it is not pleasant to see that ugly condition. There are many ways to react to this understanding....

"God Doesn't Make Junk" Part 2

From Part One:

"In the post to follow I'll explore the contrasts the Bible gives of people that are headed for hell, and those whom the Lord restores by the power of His might, myself being one of the latter. He didn't have to save me, He could have let me continue to follow the piper happily dancing my way to a hell that I fully and truly deserve. However His grace stopped me from continuing on that path, and He provided me with the wisdom that had me put down my fleshy philosophizing, and all my worldly arrogance, and seek Him with my whole heart though at times I thought I would die from the horrid things I had to face about myself as His Spirit revealed what He had to clean up in me...."

Contrasts are quite revealing, and there are many in the Bible. Today I took a page of printer paper, folded it in half, and listed the traits

More on Flattery, From One of the Best Preachers Ever

  I tend to think that things were much much better in the 1800's. I love reading books that were written prior to 1930 because they seem to have real substance compared to what I see written today. It is hard for me to imagine it being "that bad" in Spurgeon's day. I wonder how he would view what he would see today if he were here today. When I read this (following excerpt) at Lyn's blog  I couldn't help but see this very thing still going on today, and of course it has always been there, we always have the problems of the flesh to deal with in our fallen state, and of course many in the church in each generation believes their generation is much worse than the one previous to the current one (my hubby keeps reminding me of the fact that I'm getting old this being one of the evidences for it). I cannot stand falseness, and it seems I used to have much more patience or rather I should say TOLERANCE for falseness and flattery and weakness being interpreted as being "loving". So what follows is for me a breath of fresh air break from the current atmosphere of caustic false fumes of false love:

False flattery

 From Psalm 78...

Verse 36 Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth. Bad were they at their best. False on their knees, liars in their prayers. Mouth worship must be very detestable to God when dissociated from the heart: other kings love flattery, but the King of kings abhors it. Since the sharpest afflictions only extort from carnal men a feigned submission to God, there is proof positive that the heart is desperately set on mischief, and that sin is ingrained in our very nature. If you beat a tiger with many stripes you cannot turn him into a sheep. The devil cannot be whipped out of human nature, though another devil, namely, hypocrisy may be whipped into it. Piety produced by the damps of sorrow and the heats of terror is of mushroom growth; it is rapid in its springing up—"they enquired early after God"—but it is a mere unsubstantial fungus of unabiding excitement. And they lied unto him with their tongues. Their godly speech was cant, their praise mere wind, their prayer a fraud. Their skin deep repentance was a film too thin to conceal the deadly wound of sin. This teaches us to place small reliance upon professions of repentance made by dying men, or upon such even when the basis is evidently slavish fear, and nothing more. Any thief will whine out repentance if he thinks the judge will thereby be moved to let him go scot free.

Verse 37. For their heart was not right with him. There was no depth in their repentance, it was not heart work. They were fickle as a weathercock, every wind turned them, their mind was not settled upon God. Neither were they stedfast in his covenant. Their promises were no sooner made than broken, as if only made in mockery. Good resolutions called at their hearts as men do at inns; they tarried awhile, and then took their leave. They were hot today for holiness, but cold towards it tomorrow. Variable as the hues of the dolphin, they changed from reverence to rebellion, from thankfulness to murmuring. One day they gave their gold to build a tabernacle for Jehovah, and the next they plucked off their earrings to make a golden calf. Surely the heart is a chameleon. Proteus had not so many changes. As in the ague we both burn and freeze, so do inconstant natures in their religion.
Verse 38. But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not. Though they were full of flattery, he was full of mercy, and for this cause he had pity on them. Not because of their pitiful and hypocritical pretensions to penitence, but because of his own real compassion for them he overlooked their provocations. Yea, many a time turned he his anger away. When he had grown angry with them he withdrew his displeasure. Even unto seventy times seven did he forgive their offences. He was slow, very slow, to anger. The sword was uplifted and flashed in midair, but it was sheathed again, and the nation yet lived. Though not mentioned in the text, we know from the history that a mediator interposed, the man Moses stood in the gap; even so at this hour the Lord Jesus pleads for sinners, and averts the divine wrath. Many a barren tree is left standing because the dresser of the vineyard cries, "let it alone this year also." And did not stir up all his wrath. Had he done so they must have perished in a moment. When his wrath is kindled but a little men are burned up as chaff; but were he to let loose his indignation, the solid earth itself would melt, and hell would engulf every rebel. Who knoweth the power of thine anger, O Lord? We see the fulness of God's compassion, but we never see all his wrath.
Verse 39. For he remembered that they were but flesh. They were forgetful of God, but he was mindful of them. He knew that they were made of earthy, frail, corruptible material, and therefore he dealt leniently with them. Though in this he saw no excuse for their sin, yet he constrained it into a reason for mercy; the Lord is ever ready to discover some plea or other upon which he may have compassion. A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. Man is but a breath, gone never to return. Spirit and wind are in this alike, so far as our humanity is concerned; they pass and cannot be recalled. What a nothing is our life. How gracious on the Lord's part to make man's insignificance an argument for staying his wrath.
Verse 40. How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness. Times enough did they rebel: they were as constant in provocation as he was in his patience. In our own case, who can count his errors? In what book could all our perverse rebellions be recorded? The wilderness was a place of manifest dependence, where the tribes were helpless without divine supplies, yet they wounded the hand which fed them while it was in the act of feeding them. Is there no likeness between us and them? Does it bring no tears into our eyes, while as in a glass, we see our own selves? And grieve him in the desert. Their provocations had an effect; God was not insensible to them, he is said to have been grieved. His holiness could not find pleasure in their sin, his justice in their unjust treatment, or his truth in their falsehood. What must it be to grieve the Lord of love! Yet we also have vexed the Holy Spirit, and he would long ago have withdrawn himself from us, were it not that he is God and not man. We are in the desert where we need our God, let us not make it a wilderness of sin by grieving him.

C.H. Spurgeon, from the Treasury of David

I edited to highlight all the good parts...I might as well have highlighted every word. Oh how I pray the Lord will pour out His spirit so people will stop all their bogus philosophizing and actually learn from the Lord Himself...and I'm not talking about people crediting their own vanity to the Holy Spirit, but actually begin speaking the truth of what the Bible actually says, and supporting what the Lord says to us with expounding on the truth, not all the silly "new" information we now have to suffer through. 

What do we hope for?

1Pe 1:1  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
1Pe 1:2  Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
1Pe 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4  To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5  Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1Pe 1:6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
1Pe 1:8  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

Does it ever get old? The fact that God saved us by His blood, that we of ourselves are nothing but through Him? His blood? The fact that daily we are to lay our lives down, crucify our flesh? Does that stop after repenting one time? Should it bother me when someone says "Repent? Oh, I already did that!" As if it is a magic incantation that only needed one application. Done. "I already did..." really??? YOU DID? What about Jesus? Isn't what HE DID what really matters? The Bible says that repentance is an ongoing process by which HE refines us as HE reveals to us HIS perfection, and that we still have fleshy desires.

Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

It is true, we are still subject to vanity. Not a day goes by that I put too much value on what I do, have done, or am going to do. It is good to do (or not do) but to do all in the Lord and for the Lord, in the Lord's strength and grace, so that it isn't I but the Lord who does it. So our hope is always Jesus, and only Him. What else could we hope for that has any meaning? Are we so complacent in our Christianity that we have to find more or other reasons or meanings to our hope? To try to jumpstart ourselves and revitalize ourselves somehow? That is what the Lord Himself does. If we try to add to what He did, it adds nothing, vanity, selfishness. We groan in our spirit. We travail in pain together...all of creation, but not just creation, we who have the firstfruits of the Spirit. The redemption of our body is something separate from the receiving of the Spirit. It is something that is still ahead. Our body, that is our flesh, is still corruptible. It has not yet put on incorruption.  And thankfully, whether we feel it or not, whether we are rejoicing or sorrowing, Jesus is in control of our future, our hope, and that is our only hope, our blessed hope. There is no other to grab for ourselves, right now, or in our past, or any other time. He provides for all our needs, even when stripped to our last breath on earth. He is everything we need, nothing more is needed. In spite of the fact that we still fail Him every day, and that our deeds are still for vanity, for ourselves, or to boost our or someone else's vanity. He is still good and perfect and loving. He is transforming our vile and selfish flesh into that which is incorruptible. That is our hope.

The Deceitfulness of our Flesh

My better half and I were able to visit Pastor Kent Clark's church again today. His message was on 2 Corinthians 5:17

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

He then explained and reminded his listeners that we still have the old dying flesh hanging on, and that no matter what we do, or how much we convince ourselves of otherwise, we still do wrong, we still continue to fall short of God's glory. The difference is that now (if we are saved), when we do wrong (which is several times a day, if we are honest) we feel terrible about it because now when we are in Christ, we hate the sin that we do (cross reference with what Paul says in the book of Romans). But, the pastor said, we need to rejoice when we feel terrible, because it is a sign that we are truly saved.

"Let not your heart be troubled..." (John ch. 14) doesn't mean we have to manufacture a "trouble free" existence. That would be impossible here on this fallen planet. It means that even in the midst of all our trouble, we know that we are saved, and that God loves us ANYWAY, and that this is a source, actually THE ONLY source of our comfort.

We must not fall for flattering words that rely on self or other people to feel better (however our flesh will lie to us and tell us that IS what we need). We need only to rely on the fact that Jesus overcame much more trouble than we will ever face, and now He will see us through our troubles. Then we can face anything and not be fearful.

That is a comforting thought indeed. And it is the ONLY comforting thought that will see us through all the storms of life, our anchor in our times of storm. Any other words of comfort, although they sound nice, are like empty calories. They taste great at the moment, but really provide no real nourishment.

Let us share the bitter cup of Jesus suffering. He promised that all who follow Him will likewise suffer and will suffer rejection and we must not be surprised when it happens. When it happens, we have the peace that surpasses our fleshy understanding. It comes from Him as He helps us just as He helped Daniels 3 friends in the fiery furnace, and also helped the apostles when they were tossed about in a tiny boat on a raging sea. He is with us always, through good times and bad, happy and sad. When we are at our lowest is when He does His most miraculous work in our lives. When we are feeling our worst is when He looks even better than ever. This world is passing away, but Jesus and His word will NEVER pass away.

How opposite is that to what "Christian" churches teach today? They say we should have the kind of peace and joy that our flesh wants us to have. Is that what the Bible says? Should we hide from trouble so we can display a peace that seems convincing? So that others will compliment us on our "fruits of the Spirit:?  Or do we face boldly those things we fear and know that the Lord is with us, that He is calming our fears even while we boldly proclaim the truth of HIS word to a lost and dying world?

We are not able, but HE is able
:)

The Mystery of the Gospel

John MacArthur explains the tension between the sovereignty of God, and the sharing of the Gospel...why witness?

Spiritual Garments

Gen 3:6  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Gen 3:7  And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Gen 3:8  And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
Gen 3:9  And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
Gen 3:10  And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 



There is so much packed in the book of Genesis...even in these few short verses, there's alot going on. One question that had me puzzled in my young Christian days was "If God knows everything, why didn't He know where Adam and Eve were hiding?" and surely the answer must be that HE DID KNOW where they were, but He wanted them to tell Him. He wanted them to "get real" with Him, to tell Him honestly where things went wrong, not because He didn't know, but because He wanted to draw it out of them, so THEY would know. That is an incredible insight, one that would help teachers to be better teachers, and evangelists to be better evangelists.



Pro 20:5  Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out.


Another thing that is a main feature of this passage is nakedness and covering. Adam and Eve lost something that covered their nakedness after they ate the forbidden fruit. Was it something physical that could be seen tangibly? Was it a spiritual covering that was part of their spiritual senses? I tend to think it was the latter...they tried to make up for it by sewing leaves together, "and made themselves aprons". I tend to think these were grass skirts similar to the type the Polynesian people still make and wear, but that is a small and inconsequential detail, perhaps. God didn't accept their self constructed covering, and provided them with coverings that He chose for them. They were animal skins, so, it obviously  had to involve the death of some other creature(s). I think on the animal rights people who get their panties in a bunch about people wearing fur coats, and mink coats are unnecessary, perhaps, but it is still a reminder of the original animal coverings and the death of God's creatures, and yes, when we really think about this, it is offensive.

When I was a new baby Christian, I came across this scripture passage, and it bothered me:

Mat 22:11  And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
Mat 22:12  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Mat 22:13  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen.


I thought: "What is this wedding garment, and how do I get one?"

I forgot about it, until a few weeks later, I was listening to a pastor on a radio program. It was a few days before Thanksgiving, and his sermon was on the topic of giving thanks. This pastor said:

"When we come to Jesus and ask His forgiveness, He takes off our dirty garments like our mommies used to after a day of playing and getting dirty. Remember when you were little, and your mom would take off your dirty shirt? You would raise your hands, and she would pull off your dirty shirt. Then after you got your bath and were all nice and clean, you would raise your hands and she'd put on your nice and clean pajamas. So it is when we raise our hands in thanksgiving, and Jesus gives us our nice and clean garments washed in His blood."

 Psa 100:4  Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.


We enter into His gates because of Him, not because of any garments we can fashion for our own smug selves. We enter through Him, He is the door...if we try to sneak in some other way that involves our own righteousness, we are without the garment of His design, His sacrifice, His gift.

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Obedience and Submission

(..and then there is also groveling)

The two words seem to be the same, and often get confused for each other. Our human bosses and husbands want obedience and submission, mixing the two to mean the same thing.

Who gets that "top dog" position? and Is it really deserved?

Submission may seem to ourselves like groveling, true? Especially if we do it with a spirit of "I hate all that you stand for, but if I don't lick your boots I know I might lose my":

1. "job"
2. "standing in the community"
3. "life"

etc, etc, etc.....

If we submit to authority does that mean we have to obey in every way? I look to Daniel's three friends for the answer to try to gain a bit of clarity in that area. They were to obey the edict that was put into place and used by their enemies to trap them.(Daniel 3:12). Did they submit to the edict? Did they obey the order to pray to Nebuchadnezzar's image? No. They did not curse the king, nor did they obey him by bowing down to him in this unlawful law, and counted on God to see them through whether they lived or died as a result.

When I look for relevance in contemporary terms in my own work situation, I see that I can submit to authority by acknowledging the fact that a person has been placed in a position that is superior to my own and behave accordingly. If he or she abuses the authority in order to try to get me to grovel, I must submit it to God who will intervene in the way He sees fit. It may mean that I may lose my job and go through fiery trials as a result of that, and those trials may last several months or even years. It may be  like it was for Daniel's three friends "out of the frying pan and into the fire", and like them I may have to endure intense heat or perhaps even death and the end of my mortal existence. They were ready to die, if necessary, knowing God was with them. There is a difference between not bowing down (groveling) and actively railing against (cursing or demonstrating and openly protesting against) authority. That is the area that I sometimes (often?) cross the line, and there is a huge difference between these two, although sometimes it does seem like a fine line, really there is a big difference. Not bowing takes an inner strength and self control and a meekness that is conformed to the way Jesus stood before His accusers. He did not rail against them or curse them. He stood His ground with the truth being His only defense, the truth did not need to be screamed out in self justification. It (truth) just is. He did not grovel, He did not bow, but He did not demand, and He did not run from conflict, He faced it head on as they led Him to His death. Here was the God of the universe made flesh, and He let Himself be led to His execution.....He, the Creator of all, was led....He was led....He should have been leading, but He was led....and He followed, not grovelling, but He did follow their leading, knowing it would lead to His demise, knowing God's purpose was in it. (I had to keep repeating that because it completely defies all logic, and my brain continues to struggle with that one)

Dying to self has been something that I have been praying to understand better over the last several months, and as things have been heating up in certain areas of my life, I know it is in answer to my prayer to understand the phenomenon of the worm that dieth not (Mark chapter 9).

And by the way, I don't believe God wants us to grovel before Him either, but we are to submit AND obey Him, because what He desires from us is His perfect will for us. And if we can submit to human authority (without groveling) whom we do not necessarily hold to high regard, we can get a glimpse of true submission to God and that it likewise is done without groveling.

O Sacred Head Now Wounded

The Fall and the Ransom Price

 Link to this image

In continuing my reading of the dialogue on "Free Will vs Sovereignty of God" on the aforementioned message forum I came across another posting by Mr White that I copy for you here:



Elktooth your point is well taken, if the LORD God commanded the man saying, “… from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die,” how was it possible to eat and not have free will? The answer I believe is found in the last part of the LORD’s command, “…for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” The LORD states that there is a specific day when Adam would eat from it and start to die… all for the good, so we could experience the Love of Jesus!
Unworthly to your question if God is responsible for sin … Ex 21:33-34 tells us: “And if a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it over, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall become his.”
The owner of the pit is liable even if he did not physically force the ox into the pit. The fact remains that he ALLOWED it to happen by digging the pit and not covering it. He is liable on the grounds that he could have prevented it but did not. He created the OPPORTUNITY for the ox to fall into the pit. And so, God’s law rules that the man who opened the pit is legally liable and must pay restitution to the animal's owner. In applying the spirit of this law to Adam's situation in the garden, God is both the owner of the pit and the owner of the ox (Adam). First, God dug a pit, because he created an opportunity for Adam to sin. God did not cover this pit in that He created Adam with the potential to sin and created a tree of knowledge, putting it within Adam's reach. God created an opportunity for Adam (the ox) to fall into the pit (sin and death). That made God legally liable by His own law and created a "tension" that demanded a resolution. The lawful solution is that restitution must be made. The final result is that "the dead animal shall become his." So God bought the dead ox (Adam and all who died in Adam), and the ox became His. Is not this why Jesus came? He fulfilled the law to the letter, purchasing all who died in Adam.
“When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet [railing] for your roof, that you may not bring bloodguilt on your house if anyone falls from it.” Dt 22:8
If you neglected to build a railing and someone fell off and were killed, you would be liable for involuntary manslaughter. When God allowed Adam to fall, and when God allowed the tempter to tempt Adam, He left the railing off the roof. He did not take the safety precaution required by His own law that would have prevented Adam and Eve from falling. And so, when God walked in the garden "in the cool of the day" (Gen. 3:8), He found that Adam and Eve had fallen off the roof. God became liable. This liability would have to last until the death of the High Priest. Jesus had to come as the true High Priest of the temple in heaven and die, in order to release God from the liability incurred and strike the chord that would again bring harmony to the sphere of the universe.
God deliberately made Himself liable, not only for Adam's death, but for the death of Adam's sons and daughters (Ex 21:31) as well. Was a "ransom" (Ex 21:30) demanded of God as a result of the liability? Whether demanded or not, Jesus voluntarily gave Himself as a ransom for ALL (1 Tim 2:6). The demand is defined in Ex 21 as "life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth," etc. And so we see Christ coming down to earth in the form of a man to pay "life for life" all the demands of His own law. None of this makes God a sinner, for He has not failed in fulfilling ANY of His plans and purposes for creation. He planned all this from the beginning. He made Himself liable for the sins of the whole world and then paid its full penalty.

I stand amazed...

And the last post in that thread (at this point in time anyway) is hilarious! ShannO (Arminian...? I think? although she/he goes all over the place and makes no sense whatsoever...) is shown to be completely wrong in her (I'm thinking she is a she, because it's usually us women that get this contorted) replies and ends with:

Kinda busy right now. Don't have time to respond properly.

Good one.

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Ha! she finally came out of hiding with the same ole tactic of "ARE YOU A CALVINIST???" being her main line of argument....sigh...oh well....