Sovereign God, Sweet Salvation

I believe in the total sovereignty of God and believe firmly that salvation comes entirely from God apart from any goodness, righteousness, or action on the part of man.  Many Christians, especially Southern Baptists, would nod their head in agreement.  But the truth is, some of them would have difficulty fully agreeing with that statement if fully examined. 

Let’s dig deeper into my statement so you can see the full weight and magnitude of it: “I believe in the total sovereignty of God and believe firmly that salvation comes entirely from God apart from any goodness, righteousness, or action on the part of man.”  It is broken down into three parts (1) total sovereignty of God (2) salvation totally from God and (3) inability of man to do anything for salvation. 

To break this down further, let me share with you a few sub-statements.  At first, you will be shouting “amen” as you read them but slowly, I may start to lose some of you.

Statement 1: God's sovereignty is absolute, unlimited, and unconditional.  There is no limitation or end to his sovereignty.  He has complete control over time and over his entire creation – including that which is in heaven, on earth, and in hell. 

No problem so far?

Statement 2: Because of the Fall, man is totally depraved and dead in his sin.

Still no argument?   Now let’s put these two truths together. 

Statement 3: Man is totally depraved and dead in sin and therefore unwilling and unable to seek God or respond to God on his own; therefore, before the foundation of the world, God unconditionally chose some to be saved. Election has nothing to do with man's future response.

Problem?  That last part is a problem for some Christians.

Many evangelical believers will agree that salvation is wholly a work of God, until you begin to talk about election.  Then they want to say “but wait, we must make a choice, we must have faith and choose to believe in Him and make a decision to follow Him.” 

Furthermore, according to Romans, we did make a choice and because of our sinfulness and deadness we were only capable of choosing sin.  The Bible repeatedly says apart from Christ we rejected anything holy, anything of God.

So then, what brought us from the point of rejecting God to accepting Christ as Lord and Savior? The answer has to be God.  God has to enlighten our minds, change our hearts, and instill in us the faith necessary to believe.

“For by grace are you saved through faith.  And this (the grace, the faith, and the salvation) is not by your own doing; it is the gift of God” Ephesians 2:8.  To point it another way: 2 Corinthians 3:5 “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God.”

God’s Word says we cannot claim that anything necessary for salvation came from ourselves.  The faith needed to believe didn’t come from us and therefore, the choice wasn’t truly made by us.  If God changes everything about us – our heart, our mind, and our faith – it would seem his gift of grace would be irresistible.  If we have a right heart, a right understanding, and the necessary faith – there is no reason why anyone would reject salvation.  So why do so many continue to reject Christ?

They are not predestined, elected (chosen) or called.

Romans 9:14-24 says “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.  You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?”

It is not my purpose in this writing to fully defend or explain election.  Election is taught in Scripture.  To deny that is to deny large amounts of Scripture.  I leave it to the reader to pick up the Bible and to wrestle with the issue of election.  I will possibly write more in specific defense of it later. 

My purpose for writing this particular entry is to ask you two questions…how sovereign is your sovereign God and how sweet is your salvation?

How sovereign is your God?  Is He truly Creator and Sustainer of all things?  Is he truly the Beginning and the End?  He is truly the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?  Truly all-powerful?  The Supreme One?  The Great “I Am”?  Then why don’t we read our Bible that way?  More importantly, why don’t we live our lives that way?  He is the One who seals us in our salvation until the day of glory.  He is the God of life and death…of health and sickness…of the rich and the poor.  It is He who gives and takes away. 

How sweet is your salvation?  Amazing grace?  A precious gift?  Or something you stumbled over?  Something you figured out and mustered up enough knowledge and faith to believe in?  Did you find Jesus?  Or did he reach down into the depth of the grave and call out His chosen one to life?

Again I ask, how sovereign is your God and how sweet is your salvation?

My Visit from the Jehovah's Witnesses

I was sitting in my home office working on some church "stuff" when my wife, who was resting downstairs, hollered and said someone knocked on the door.  I was a bit annoyed being bothered on a Saturday by what I presumed to be a salesman of some sort, and not a very observant one as he knocked instead of ringing the doorbell.  I took a peak through the peep hole and saw two somewhat older ladies standing at my front door with a little black book and some larger colorful magazines.  

I couldn't help but smile and knew I was about to get "witnessed" to by the Jehovah's Witnesses.  I was quite certain that colorful magazine was their precious Watchtower.  I kinda chuckled, knowing that while they were confident in their ability to argue their viewpoints with most anyone, they hated running into guys like me...guys that are every bit as grounded in Biblical doctrine and could and would challenge their every erroneous statement.  

The first thing she asked me was if I knew who the "god" of this world was.  I smiled sweetly and said I sure do, how about you.  She then proceeded to tell me that of course she did, and explained to me that the Bible said that Satan was the "god" of this world and she offered to leave me with the Watchtower so I could see why.  I told her that was quite ok; that as an ordained Baptist minister I felt I had all the resources I need to answer that question.  Her expression quickly changed and off she went.  

Interestingly enough, the Watchtower website does not use the phrase "god of this world" as the Witness at my door had, but rather "ruler" of the world.  So who really does control the world?

The Witnesses quote 1 John 5:19 which says "We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one."  The term world here refers to those outside of the first part of that verse, that is, those that are not from God; therefore, the lost.  Satan has power of the lost and the world in general, but to what extent?  1 John 5:18 says God protects those born of God and the evil one does not touch him.  

All throughout Scripture we see God using both the Elect and the lost to carry out His will.  Scripture also tells us that if we resist he devil, he will flee from us.  So while Satan may be allowed to rule the world in a general sense, the ultimate Master of this world with the final authority over what does and doesn't happen is God himself.  

It is important to understand that only God is sovereign and that Satan can do no more than what God allows.  I challenge true Christians (I may discuss later why Jehovah's Witness are not Christians) to be less concerned about Satan's temporary title of ruler of the world and worry more about introducing others to the Everlasting Ruler of All.

An ancient book in a modern world

An ancient book in a modern world:

How the Bible Should Influence our lives today

The Bible was written by approximately 40 different men over a period of 1500 years, ranging from around 1450 B.C. to about 100 A.D. The most recent writings are quite aged at at nearly 2000 years old, and much of the Old Testament by our standards would be considered ancient.

How should we read the Bible today, and what influence should it have on our lives? There many schools of thought regarding the Bible's significance today, and how it should be interpreted. Some say it is merely a good book of fables and life lessons, to be considered on the same level as Aesop's fables. Others say it is good for historical or literary study but nothing more.

Even among those professing to be believers in the Bible, there are disagreements about the interpretation and influence of God's Word. Some believe every word must be taken completely literal with no regard to whether the passage might have been written in a poetic or symbolic fashion. Others look for symbolism in every single passage regardless of how literal the context may seem.

There are those that say the Bible is the true Word of God and that we learn from it the path of salvation and some good life lessons, but that we must adapt it to fit our current culture and therefore many of the teachings of the Bible are outdated and no longer apply to our lives today. Others say we must follow every letter of the Bible, including the dietary and ritualistic laws of Israel from their days worshiping at the tabernacle and temple.

There is no way I could ever write enough to completely clear up this matter, for there is far too much content in Scripture and too many issues to tackle. Someone somewhere would have a question that I failed to cover. It is not my intention to give you a list of what to believe and not to believe. This is not a “Dummy's Guide to what the Bible really means.” What I hope to do is to give you some keys to help you begin to understand and properly apply the Bible to your life.

First of all, to truly understand what the Bible says and means, we have to know the Author. Before I start any new book of the Bible in our Adult Sunday School class, I always ask some keys questions about that particular book: who wrote it, who did he write it to, why did he write it, and what did he write about? In discussing the Bible in general, we need to ask these same questions.

Who wrote it? God did, of course. But wait, I said earlier it was written by approximately 40 different men. I could say God wrote it, those men just “penned” it. But that would not be an accurate description either, for it is quite clear they didn't just transcribe it. Paul writes very long run-on sentences. Often times you may read 5 or 6 verses before you hit a period. Paul often times emphasizes grace, James our works in response to grace. The four Gospel writers key on different details as they recount the life of Christ.

So what does the Bible say about itself? 1 Timothy 3:14 - 17 says “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

The fact that Scripture is breathed out by God means the Bible is God's infallible, inerrant word. At times, God gave the writers the exact words to write. When searching the ESV online Bible, I found the phrase “God spoke” 35 times. The phrase “God said” occurred 548 times. “Jesus spoke” occurs 9 times and “Jesus said” occurs 281 times. This doesn't include other variations such as “He commanded them” and the other instances in which the words of God is directly quoted.

While the Bible is full of direct words from God, particularly in the Old Testament and the Gospels, much of the Bible is not a direct quote. Paul was not a prophet nor a follower of the earthly ministry of Jesus; therefore, he does not heavily quote direct words from God. The book of Ester, while clearly speaking of God's sovereignty in all things, never even directly speaks of God.

The largest part of the Bible is not direct quotes from God but rather God using the writer's own vocabulary, background, experiences, and mind to produce His word. Make no mistake, this wonderful act of God using men to write His word in ways unique to each writer does not take away from the divinity of the writing. God ensured the final product was inerrant and infallible and perfectly spoke His holy Word.

There are some very serious ramifications that we have to understand once we come to realize the Bible was written by God. It is not just enough to know there is a God and that he wrote the Bible, we have to know something about Him. I obviously cannot go into everything there is to know about God, nor do I (or anyone on this side of Heaven) know everything about Him (His ways are greater than our ways). But there are some foundational truths that we must understand about God before we can hope to understand His Word.

Here is a rundown of some of those foundational truths:

• God is the Creator (Genesis 1)
• God is the sustainer (Hebrews 1:3 and Colossians 1:7)
• He is sovereign (1 Timothy 6:15)
• He is holy and exalted (Hebrews 7:26)

Before we can truly understand how to properly apply the Bible to our lives today, we first have to understand the most foundational truths: All have sinned. I have personally sinned and offended the holiness of God. The wages of sin is death. I deserve to die. Jesus Christ died to pay the price for the sin of those who will accepted Him as Lord and Savior. If you have not accepted these truths and Jesus Christ is not Lord of your life, your best application of Scripture will fall short.

You see, the key to each doctrinal discussion and debate hinges on understanding that the issues that we are trying to hammer out at their deepest core are not a matter of doctrine but of relationship. When we begin to understand that doctrine doesn't exist merely to give us something to argue over but that our doctrine should be the system of beliefs and practices that we follow because of our relationship with God, we can begin to interpret Scripture through the proper perspective.

When we come to this understanding, then we can begin to understand that we cannot interpret Scripture based on our culture. We cannot view God's Word through modern cultural ideas and perspectives, we must view God's Word through God's eyes.

This is sometimes a bit more difficult when there isn't a clear commandment to practice or abstain from something specific, or when it comes to practices of worship, dietary laws, etc. These issues become more clear when we view these passages in their context and understand their roots. For example, a study of the temple worship will reveal that each piece of the ceremonial laws were a foreshadowing of the Messiah to come, and no longer are we bound by these ceremonial laws but by the principles of proper, reverent worship of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is imperative; however, to understand that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever more. Therefore what God called sin three or four thousand years ago is still sin today. Homosexuality is still just as much of a sin today as it ever has been. We must call it what it is, a perversion of God's plan for marriage and sexuality. The same holds true for all of the standards God has laid out for holy living. Some may call the Bible an antiquated Book full of good stories, but the Bible is in fact God's holy, infallible authoritative, and powerful Word. In the end, the Word (the Bible) reveals the True Word of God (our Lord Jesus Christ).

God's Amazing Grace: A New Nature

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, 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 coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.   Ephesians 2:1-10 

In my prior blog entry (God's Amazing Grace: Election), I discussed the doctrine of election and grace.  Because I am Southern Baptist and because I believe in divine election and what is often referred to as the eternal security of the saints (once saved, always saved), I have often been accused of believing "you can't lose your salvation no matter what you do so you believe you can just run around sinning and doing what you want."

In theory, I would agree with that.  In THEORY.  Because IF I had truly been saved and regenerated by God's grace and I was capable of a life of violence and murder then I would still find myself in Heaven with God at the end of my life.  Now before you burn me at the stake, let me finish.  

The problem with that theory is the Bible makes it very clear that if we have truly come to salvation in Christ Jesus, a complete change in nature and spirit take place.  Our new spirit is encased with the old flesh, so we still struggle with the flesh and still sin (which does not negate salvation) but our nature and lifestyle cannot be the same as it was before He changed our nature.

Do you understand the implications and the importance of the doctrine of God's divine election?  Something amazing had to take place in our life for us to become a child of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Most High and Holy One.  Our nature has to totally change not just to follow Him but it has to change before we are even willing to accept the gift of grace and call out for forgiveness and seek a relationship with Him.  

Often it is taught that our salvation experience changes our nature and spirit and brings us to the relationship.  What is broken cannot repair itself.  What is dead cannot resurrect itself.  What is lost in darkness cannot find the light.  Only God has power over sin and death.  God chooses to have a relationship with His children and He changes our nature and our spirit to bring us to our salvation experience.

Paul explains in Ephesian 2 that we are saved by grace through faith and that neither the grace nor the faith come from us but that salvation is completely a work of God in our life.  When we understand that we don't earn salvation or "find God" it begins to change our perspective.  We begin to better understand the reason for our devotion to and worship of Jesus Christ.  

God's Amazing Grace: Election

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies"  Romans 8:28-33 (ESV).

We recently had a discussion in our Sunday School class about the doctrine of election and just what elections means.  Let me start off by saying this, we do not need to choke those we are sharing the Gospel message with nor new or less mature believers by trying to force feed them this doctrine.  Nor do we need to go to war with our brother's and sister's over this.

On the flip side, understanding God's sovereignty in salvation (which I like to refer to as Part One of His Amazing Grace) can be a source of strength, encouragement, and motivation, and can bring about a major change in perspective.  It is also vital that we speak truthfully about Scripture and what Scripture reveals about God and His plan. Today I just want to lay down the foundation for this monumental truth and provide an overview of this doctrine and a general defense for the doctrine of election.  We can take more time later to get deeper into the doctrine and its defense.

Romans 8 gives us the basic "flow" of salvation.  All too often today we teach this progression as someone tells you that you are a sinner and you need Christ...people keep hammering that idea into your heart...you finally realize you really are a sinner...you resist awhile longer...you finally give in to Christ...you ask for forgiveness and ask Him to "come into your heart"...He saves you.  That about sum it up?

What does Romans 8 say?  It says God foreknew...God predestined...God called...God justified...God glorified.  Who is central in the common "flow" we teach today?  The sinner and the witness.  Who is central in the Romans 8 flow?  God.

As we take a look at the actions God took in salvation, we realize that He did it all.  He foreknew us.  Scripture doesn't say that he foreknew that one day we would somehow "discover" Him or that someday we would decide to follow Him or someone would talk us into "asking Him into our heart."  He foreknew us.  When we speak of knowing God from other Scriptures we do not mean that we know Him in some sort of academic manner but that we have an intimate personal relationship with Him.  Foreknew carries the same meaning.  He established a personal intimate relationship with you personally before you were ever created.

Those who He foreknew and had an intimate relationship with, he predestined.  Predestine literally means to mark out, appoint or determine before.  What did God predestine His children for?  To be in the likeness of Christ.  And then after predestined comes called.  But notice who He called...those who He had predestined.  And once He placed the call in our life, He justified us and once justified we were glorified.  In other words, our salvation experience was not us "being saved" but it was our realization of what God had already done in our life.  It was the realization that before the foundations of the world were ever lain, God had knew us, marked us out, called us out, justified us, made us new and gave us a new heart and mind to accept His call.  

Bottom line...God's amazing grace is just that - amazing beyond comprehension and grace completely unmerited and undeserved.  The Bible says every man chooses to reject God and follow after his sinful desire, that not a single man seeks after God nor is he even able to seek God much less find him on his own.  Man is totally depraved, helpless, and hopeless...except for the fact that God in all of his power and glory and grace and mercy calls out His children and changes the heart and mind so no longer is it depraved and unable to believe and accept his gift of grace.  See the change in perspective?