Is Repentance Necessary for Salvation?
First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.” Acts 26:20
“I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.” Acts 20:21
There is a divergence of viewpoints on this topic that, recently, has led to quite a bit of contention among evangelicals. This has also been known as the Lordship, no-Lordship debate. After we strip away the bark what is left is the difference between the Reformed and a dispensational view of salvation. After doing some serious personal contemplation over this I have personally come to the conclusion that the difference lies in each camps’ understanding of the doctrine of regeneration.
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Just…
There has been a trend in American Christianity lately to focus on the confession of sin. If this was a focus that was Biblical I would be rejoicing but what we are seeing is a trend that focuses on confession of sin outside of the only basis for that confession - the cross of Christ. Do a cursory search on the internet for online confessionals and you’ll find that most if not all are encourage people to confess their sins, often anonymously, in an effort to help the sinner feel better - all without ever mentioning the only way forgiveness of sins is offered… through the substitionary atonement of Christ on the cross.
One such site boasts in bold print 1 John 1:8-9. Here is that beautiful verse of Holy Scripture…
“If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (ESV)
This verse, used out of context alone on a web site that allows people to confess their sins by posting them on a site, one may easily believe that since they have openly confessed their sins that God will forgive them. There is one problem - God is not obligated to forgive your sins. In fact, God cannot just forgive you of your sins by your confessing them. A satisfaction must be made to God for our sin against our Holy God. The doctrine of penal substitution as the Bible clearly teaches concerning Christ’s sacrifice on the cross continues to be attacked being labeled blasphemously as “cosmic child abuse”.
Pathetic Theology, Pathetic Preaching
OK… I’ve gone quote “happy” here on the blog this week (first Spurgeon, now Washer) but as I continue to hear and run across statements from men of God I can’t help but to post them here. Paul Washer of HeartCry Missionary Society is one passionate man of God and he hits the nail right on the head…
“There are so many people, especially in my own denomination . . . because of the pathetic theology and pathetic preaching . . . on church membership rolls—and they are as lost as they can be. Because we have forgotten that salvation does not cometh by praying and asking Jesus to come into your heart; salvation does not come by going through four spiritual laws and saying a prayer at the end; salvation does not come by all these silly little mechanisms we’ve developed. It comes as a supernatural work of God through which God regenerates, makes the heart alive, He gives the man repentance, He gives the man faith, the man repents, he believes and is saved. And it is a supernatural work of God that manifests as much if not more of the power of God than when God stood on the first day and said, “Let there be light.” - Paul Washer
Our Almighty God on His Throne
“There is no attribute of God more comforting to his children than the doctrine of Divine Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe troubles, they believe that Sovereignty hath ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children of God ought more earnestly to contend than the dominion of their Master over all creation—the kingship of God over all the works of his own hands—the throne of God, and his right to sit upon that throne.
On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by worldlings, no truth of which they have made such a foot-ball, as the great, stupendous, but yet most certain doctrine of the Sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah. Men will allow God to be everywhere except on his throne. They will allow him to be in his workshop to fashion worlds and to make stars. They will allow him to be in his almonry to dispense his alms and bestow his bounties. They will allow him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of heaven, or rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean; but when God ascends his throne, his creatures then gnash their teeth; and when we proclaim an enthroned God, and his right to do as he wills with his own, to dispose of his creatures as he thinks well, without consulting them in the matter, then it is that we are hissed and execrated, and then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on his throne is not the God they love. They love him anywhere better than they do when he sits with his scepter in his hand and his crown upon his head. But it is God upon the throne that we love to preach. It is God upon his throne whom we trust.”
- Charles Spurgeon
What’s so Great about the Doctrines of Grace?
A few days ago I was meeting with brother Tim to spend our weekly “theology talk” time together on Wednesday evenings and I was joyfully showing him a new book I was reading. He commented that I must have some bottomless resource for book collections. :-) I must say that after the Lord regenerated me one of the many things that drastically changed in my life is my love for reading His Word and solid books written by Godly people that glorify God in the face of Christ Jesus. (Before the Lord saved me I hated to read!)
“What’s So Great About the Doctrines of Grace” by Richard Phillips is just one of those magnificent books. At only 97 pages is a quick read but full of Reformed goodness. Phillips is no stranger to good writing. Sitting on my bookshelf in my study is another book by Phillips entitled, “Jesus the Evangelist” and is also an excellent read studying the methods Jesus used in evangelism.
Richard Phillips is senior minister at Second Presbyterian Church in Greenville, SC and hold his theological degree from Westminster. Not only is it wonderful to have someone writing such a great book who resides not one our from me, another excellent Reformed minister here in Columbia, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson (First Pres. in Columbia, SC) eagerly endorsed this book…
Richard Phillips has an unbounded love for the doctrines of grace and writes about them with an enviable simplicity and clarity… Here in persuasive exposition of Biblical teaching that captures the thrill of knowing a sovereign God.”
The main drive behind “What’s So Great About the Doctrines of Grace” is a breakdown of the five points of Reformed Theology or the Reformed doctrines of grace known as TULIP (Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited (or Particular) Atonement, Irresistible Grace and Perseverance of the Saints). Granted, I have read my fair share of books on Calvinism. Phillips has a wonderful way of writing that captivates the reader through non-technical theological terms but also going deep enough to truly appreciate the facets of these doctrines. (And yes, he rightly defends and accurately describes what he calls the “black sheep of the TULIP family” … the ‘L’.)
This book is an excellent read for anyone who wants to know more about the tenants of Reformed Theology. It’s written for those who know little about the Reformed doctrine of grace as well as the seasoned Calvinist. In addition, it’s also a great book for those in the Arminian viewpoint to see clear, Biblical explanations for each of the points of the Reformed doctrines of grace.
I normally have a few “I wish they would have covered this or that” when reading a book carefully. This is one of the few books I have read that I would say fully covers all the bases and puts all the focus on the glory and sovereignty of God in the face of Christ Jesus through the regenerating and sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. This book, along with Sproul’s “What is Reformed Theology” are a must have and a must read!
Head on over to Monergism Books and order your copy today!
Getting A Handle on the Bible
Most of us have probably run into at least one person who says that they don’t enjoy reading the bible. They will probably tell you that while they would like to, they end up not understanding it or not getting anything out of it. Most of these people usually follow up this comment with a desire for a resource that will teach them about what the bible says without actually having to read it - something that will break down the truths for them.
I would like to say that this is a new thing, but all the way back to the time of the Exodus, people have wanted someone else to talk to God and just tell them what He said. I think a great deal of it has to do with the fact that they are either blinded by unbelief and unable to see God’s truth or that they are convicted by His holiness as presented in the Word and want something that will tone it down a little.
Christian publishers have built an entire industry around this desire to avoid God’s Word and read someone else’s commentary and this is evident from any Christian bookstore. These books, workbooks, tapes, videos, TV programs, etc. are of varying degrees of worth depending on the author, but ultimately, we should all agree that the real thing that we should be studying is the Bible rather than what someone else tells us it says.
Recently, I noticed that my iPod is only about half full and while I enjoy music during my commute, I decided to redeem that time by listening to sermons or scripture during my drive. I have found two sermons by Mark Dever of Capital Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. that I would highly recommend if you are struggling with reading the bible. The first gives an overview of the Old Testament and puts into context what it is about and why we should read it and the second gives a similar treatment to the New Testament.
What Are We Known For?
I am currently reading Do Hard Things by Alex And Brett Harris, two teens from Portland, OR. Through their website The Rebelution, these brothers have begun challenging the teens of our society to do reject the low expectations that society places on them and to do more for the Lord. I am finding the book a pleasure to read in it clear call to teens by teens to be live a life set apart and exceptional for God.
Not only do I find the book one that I will highly recommend to my students, but I am also finding things that I need to consider as well. The following excerpt made gave me pause:
Bre, a high-school senior from Indiana, experienced low expectations firsthand. She, along with other young people, had participated in some community service projects and afterward gave a report to her church. Following the service, she overheard a man saying, “Aren’t you glad these kids aren’t out smoking pot or drinking?”
“That comment just broke my heart,” Bre wrote to us, “because there truly is a level of mediocrity that has infiltrated nut just our culture, but our churches as well.” Being consdered a good teen only requires that we don’t do bad stuff like taking drugs, drinking, and partying. But is it enough to be known for the negative things we don’t do, or should we also be known for the positive things that we do?
I wonder if this message isn’t one that we should all hear, not just teens. How many of us are satisfied with being more righteous than his neighbor or co-worker? How many of us cover ourselves with the self-righteous cloak of the sins that we don’t commit? Are we satisfied with being “shadow-Christians,” who like a shadow are defined by the absence of something and yet have no actual substance? Or do we desire something more - to be known for our love and desire for God and a passion for His Word?
Godliness
“Godliness is always marked by delight in God’s truth. Psalm 119 makes this abundantly plain. The psalmist loves God’s law, rejoices to know God’s mind, and holds fast at whatever cost to himself, the truths that God has taught him. His delight in God among other things is a delight in God’s Word…”
-J.I. Packer
To Cherish Christ - Receiving Jesus
Junk in the Attic
I remember reading in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes one time a story in which Holmes is told by Watson a scientific fact (seems as if it was that the earth was round) and Holmes said that it was very interesting, but that he would now endeavor to forget it because he did not want to waste his memory on such an item that was of little use to him. He compared his memory to an attic that only had room for a certain amount of furniture and he was being very particular, which furniture he made room for in his attic.
I have looked at the contents of my “mental attic” and have to say that it is in an amazingly sad state. There are many, many incredibly useless pieces of mental junk scattered about the place and so I have begun to fix that by treasuring up God’s word in my heart through scripture memory. Hey, if I can have whole scenes of Monty Python and the Holy Grail stuck in my head from my teen years, I can certainly memorize God’s Word which has eternal value.
I am using Justin Taylor’s Scripture memory plan “Treasuring God’s Truth In Your Heart” as a basis for what I am studying, though rather than using the listed verses I began with Psalm 1:1-2 since it is the basis for my desire to do this -
Blessed is he who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, not stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and on His Law he meditates both day and night
I pray that God will use the words that I memorize to draw me closer to Him.
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