Tuesday, November 18, 2008

This is Eternal Life!

“Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” -Jesus (recorded by the Apostle John in John 17:1-3)

Jesus defined “eternal life” as knowing God. This is the eternal life always offered in the Scriptures. If we are attempting to save anyone from or to anything else they are not getting saved.

So many today want to simply be saved from difficulties or simply saved to living forever with family and friends. Or a host of other reasons that are man-centered and have not to do with the Gospel or the Eternal Life Jesus Christ came to give.

Our churches are full of people who could care less about knowing God and yet are convinced they are saved because some pastor “Popeishly” told them they were saved. They want their worship style of music. They want their ears tickled from the pastor with whatever or they’ll take their business else where.

No wonder our churches are fighting. No wonder our churches are turning to other means for growth and success. Our churches are full of goats and wolves who think they are sheep. No wonder we have such trouble trying to get these people to behave like sheep. Because they’re NOT!

A goat is a goat. A wolf is a wolf! And a sheep is a sheep!!!

Oh LORD! Forgive us for teaching another gospel! Forgive us for idolatry! Forgive us for teaching people to worship the gift rather than the giver! We repent!!! Give us yourself! Help us to know you! Holy Spirit give us understanding of the Word. For you have spoken so clearly and revealed to us the Glory of the Son. Sanctify us in Thy Word! Thy Word is Truth!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

The World HATES Christians.

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you…if I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.” Jesus (recorded by the Apostle John the one who our LORD loved, in John 15:19,22).

Jesus taught the reason the world would hate us is because when we fulfill the Great Commission we would command all men to repent from their sin or they will be guilty and judged for their sin.

In other words, the Gospel condemns all men in order to save men.

Now we are told by many influential Christians that we need to change the way we do church and teach the gospel because people are offended and feel condemned. “We sound judgmental.” “We sound too preachy.” etc.

Are you seeing what I am seeing. Leading Christians are telling Christians to stop condemning the unbelieving world, because the world doesn’t feel loved by it and is offended and turned off by us. And if we continue to do this the world will start hating Christians and the church.

Yeah, we already knew that. Jesus told us we would be 2,000 years ago! Now we are surprised by it?

P.S.
Check this out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDHL9NZ1lQQ

Saturday, November 8, 2008

A Humbling Thought from God's Word (John 8).

I was reading today in John 8. I recommend it to you :-) No but seriously, this is one powerful discourse that Jesus has with the Pharisees. It never ceases to amaze me how Jesus can say such harsh things so bluntly and honestly. And yet, I never doubt that He is love! For example, in John 8 Jesus tells the Pharisees:

They are ignorant (v. 14)
They judge wrongly (v.15)
They do not know God (v.19) and thus,
They are liars (v.55)
They will die in sin (v. 21)
They are slaves to sin (v. 34)
They do not believe nor love the Word of God (v.37)
They are not Jews (v.39)
They are murderers in their hearts (v. 40)
They do not love God nor His Messiah (v.42)
They deceive themselves and reject God’s Word (v.43)
They are children of the Devil (v.44)
They’re will (free-will?) is bound to do the Devil’s desire (.44)
They are not God’s children (v. 47)

When we think of Jesus does this list come to mind of things he said to people (mind you this is taken from just one chapter of one of the four Gospels). We often have a unbalanced view of Jesus going around only saying kind things and healing everybody and never judging anyone and telling everyone to not judge but just love, love, love. John speaks of Jesus as the Word in flesh who was full of “grace and truth.”

But here’s the interesting thing that stuck out to me this morning when reading John 7+8. Jesus throughout His ministry commands people to “hear” and “perceive” and understand. And yet here in John 8, Jesus makes it crystal clear that no one can: hear,see,understand, or believe unless the Father gives special grace. In fact, Jesus even tells the Pharisees that their will is bound by their father (the Devil) to do his desires (v.44). In other words Jesus gives commands to mankind that they cannot do! No wonder Jesus told them they were in slavery (v.34).

So, if you are a child of Satan, which everyone is born into this world as, then you are: blinded, deaf, deceived, and therefore unbelieving. Everyone needs to believe to see, hear, and understand. But only God’s children can do this.

So, salvation depends not on the man who runs nor the man who wills, but on God who chooses to show mercy. Salvation belongs to the LORD! In essence Jesus was telling the Pharisees, “you do not believe because you are not my children, and you are not my children because I have not made you my children!” (read John 3)

John 1:13 says, “who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh nor the will of man, but of God.”

So finally my point of humbling is this. I am saved simply because God showed me unique and peculiar mercy and grace, that He has not given to all. There is nothing I did to earn this favor from God! and yet I receive the blessings! And because of the magnitude of this salvation and the weightiness of judgment others will experience (that I deserve), I have an eternal reason to be infinitely humbled! Who would have thought that the gospel would be the source of our salvation from pride?!