Tag Archives: Gospel - Page 2

Can’t I Just Ask God to Forgive Me?

Posted by on September 10, 2011 3 comments
ask

“I know that if I just ask God for forgiveness, He will forgive me.” This is one of the most common responses I get when sharing the gospel with unbelievers. Shockingly, the response above is most often given by those who claim to be believers. Sadly, this demonstrates a very sad state of the American church. It would be different if I lived in an area of the United States that was more liberal and not as churched, but I live in the heart of the south – in the Bible belt where there is literally a church on every corner. (In some places there are several churches on a single corner!) We’ve become a church culture so gospel-less that the average person who attends church cannot articulate the gospel.

What alarms me is that the average church-goer believes that they are heaven-bound because 1) they attend church and have been baptized or 2) they have asked God to forgive them. I want to focus on the second response since this is one that I hear most often.

One way I like to share the gospel is to turn it around and get people to share it with me. I’ll tell them that I have lived a horrible life and I have three minutes to live and desire to go to heaven. I’ll ask them to tell me how I can be forgiven and go to heaven. What I most often get is a simple, “just ask God to forgive you and He will.” I’ll ask, “is that all I have to do?” They respond, “yep!”

This is where there is an inadequate understanding of God and how he is revealed in Scripture. God is a forgiving God. The Bible tells us He is. But the Bible also clearly tells us that God is also just and He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. He is a just Judge and must deal with sin. If he just forgave us of our sins without dealing with our sins then He would be unjust and frankly would not be good. He would be a bad judge. One of the greatest questions that fallen humanity must ask is, “how can God be just and the justifier of the wicked?” This truly is the ultimate question. I believe it was Horatius Bonar in his excellent work The Everlasting Righteousness who began his treatise on justification by asking that very question.

So, this causes a dilemma. If we really begin to delve into God forgiving sinners we really must ask how can He justly forgive sinners without there being a penalty paid for the sin? How can God be just and justify guilty sinners? In fact, I believe it was Paul Washer in one of his excellent sermons on the gospel who used Proverbs 17:15 to setup “the gospel dilemma”. This verse teaches us that it is an abomination to God if the wicked are justified and the righteous are condemned. So then, based on this verse if an unbeliever were to simply ask God to forgive him and God did, then He would be going against His own word and would be an abomination in His own eyes.

Here is where the gospel shines with all its glorious splendor. God can and does forgive sinners but only if our sin is dealt with and His justice is satisfied. It is impossible for us to do anything to satisfy that debt since we are already sinners and even our most contrite and heartfelt sorrow is in itself tainted with sin. The only solution is for someone who is without sin to stand in our place. What we need is a great transaction. This is exactly what Christ did for us. 2 Corinthians 5:21 is in my opinion one of the most glorious verses in all of Scripture. It tells us that God made Christ who was perfect and sinless to become our sin so that we would have the righteousness of God in Him. Christ is the answer to how God can be just and the justifier of sinners. God imputed all the sins of the elect on Christ on the cross (allowing Christ Himself to remain perfectly sinless) and poured out all the wrath on Christ in our stead. This way, God is just and has dealt with our sin. No created thing will ever be able to point the finger at God and accuse Him of being unjust in saving His elect. The other side of this amazing transaction is that through repentance and faith, Christ’s perfect righteousness is imputed to us. When God looks on believers He sees the perfect, spotless righteousness of His Son.

So, God does forgive sin but only through the vicarious, penal, substitutionary death of His Son. No amount of tears or begging for forgiveness will work outside of faith in Christ. Think about it this way. If God just forgave everyone who asked, then Christ died needlessly. If God could just sweep our sin under the “celestial rug” and not deal with it taking only our plea for forgiveness then Christ’s death was pointless. The cross demonstrates to us not only the love of God but also His justice.

One last point. It’s is inevitable that when sharing the gospel that unbelievers will quote 1 John 1:8-9. They will use this verse to “prove” that all they have to do is ask God for forgiveness and He will forgive. There is a problem though. This verse is not written to unbelievers. It applies only to believers in Christ Jesus. There is a very important little four letter word in this verse that is essential to our understanding of the gospel. That little word is “just”. John tells us that if believers will confess their sins to God as Father that He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. He can only be just in forgiving us our sins because Christ has stood in our place and bore the wrath. So this verse is speaking of the constant need for believers to confess their sins to God as Father so that fellowship with Him is unhindered. An unbeliever cannot claim the promises of this verse since he is not covered under the atoning work of Christ.

I hope that as you’ve read through this that you will marvel with me at the wisdom of God in the gospel. Marvel at His grace and mercy but be aware that His grace and mercy are made available only through the cross-work and merit of Christ Jesus. Our prayers as believers should go out to the church in America that it will return to proclaiming the full and true gospel of Jesus Christ and repent from the gospel of moralism and legalism. I see first hand week after week when evangelizing to people who are active church members who know absolutely nothing of the true gospel. They believe they are saved and going to heaven for every reason imaginable except for the one and only way through Christ.

I pray also that if you’re reading this and you have been trusting in your own act of asking for forgiveness for your salvation, turn in repentance and faith to the only One who can save you – Jesus Christ. Cry out to God to open your eyes to the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:6) that you may embrace Christ as your Lord and Savior. Today is the day of salvation!

Soli Deo Gloria

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Grace or Presumption?

Posted by on September 5, 2011 1 comment

“This is not a day of faith but of presumption. I ask you “Are you a Christian?” You start telling me what you’ve done. I didn’t ask what you’ve done. A Christian is a product of God’s grace. A Christian is the result of what God has done; He is always the giver and we are the receiver. There is no merit in receiving; you wouldn’t brag about receiving would you?

Preachers are telling people to accept Jesus as their Saviour and be saved. According to the Scriptures, that is not true. You have to surrender to Jesus as your Lord, and as your Lord He saves you by establishing His blessed rule in your life. We must give God the glory. Salvation is of the Lord. We are to say, “I am a Christian because God saved me. All I did was to benefit; He shed His blood to make atonement for my sins; He did all the giving, all I could do was to receive.” ~Rolf Barnard.

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The Relationship Gospel

Posted by on August 27, 2011 1 comment

This gospel of “submission,” “commitment,” “decision,” and “having a personal relationship with God” fails to realize, first of all, that everyone has a personal relationship with God already: either as a condemned criminal standing before a righteous judge or as a justified co-heir with Christ and adopted child of the Father. – Author Unknown

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True Ministers of Christ

Posted by on June 3, 2011 1 comment

“We are not the ministers of Christ if we preach in such a way that unconverted men do not know they are unconverted. Unless preachers preach so as to make the consciences of their hearers feel in what spiritual condition they are truly in, then they may be ministers of Satan, but they are not ministers of Christ.” – William Fenner (1600-1640)

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Ransom to Satan?

Posted by on April 4, 2011 1 comment

I’ve seen this touching and powerful little story emailed around for quite some time and was reminded of it from a forwarded email this evening. You’ve probably seen it as well in your inbox. Here is how the story goes in the email…

There once was a man named George Thomas, pastor in a small New England town. One Easter Sunday morning he came to the Church carrying a rusty, bent, old bird cage, and set it by the pulpit. Eyebrows were raised and, as if in response, Pastor Thomas began to speak. “I was walking through town yesterday when I saw a young boy coming toward me swinging this bird cage. On the bottom of the cage were three little wild birds, shivering with cold and fright. I stopped the lad and asked, “What do you have there, son?” “Just some old birds,” came the reply. “What are you going to do with them?” I asked. “Take ‘em home and have fun with ‘em,” he answered. “I’m gonna tease ‘em and pull out their feathers to make ‘em fight. I’m gonna have a real good time.” “But you’ll get tired of those birds sooner or later. What will you do then?” “Oh, I got some cats,” said the little boy. “They like birds. I’ll take ‘em to them.” The pastor was silent for a moment. “How much do you want for those birds, son?” “Huh?? !!! Why, you don’t want them birds, mister. They’re just plain old field birds. They don’t sing. They ain’t even pretty!” “How much?” the pastor asked again. The boy sized up the pastor as if he were crazy and said, “$10?” The pastor reached in his pocket and took out a ten dollar bill. He placed it in the boy’s hand. In a flash, the boy was gone. The pastor picked up the cage and gently carried it to the end of the alley where there was a tree and a grassy spot. Setting the cage down, he opened the door, and by softly tapping the bars persuaded the birds out, setting them free. Well, that explained the empty bird cage on the pulpit, and then the pastor began to tell this story: One day Satan and Jesus were having a conversation. Satan had just come from the Garden of Eden, and he was gloating and boasting. “Yes, sir, I just caught a world full of people down there. Set me a trap, used bait I knew they couldn’t resist. Got ‘em all!” “What are you going to do with them?” Jesus asked. Satan replied, “Oh, I’m gonna have fun! I’m gonna teach them how to marry and divorce each other, how to hate and abuse each other, how to drink and smoke and curse. I’m gonna teach them how to invent guns and bombs and kill each other. I’m really gonna have fun!” “And what will you do when you are done with them?” Jesus asked. “Oh, I’ll kill ‘em,” Satan glared proudly. “How much do you want for them?” Jesus asked. “Oh, you don’t want those people. They ain’t no good. Why, you’ll take them and they’ll just hate you. They’ll spit on you, curse you and kill you. You don’t want those people!!”" How much? He asked again. Satan looked at Jesus and sneered, “All your blood, tears and your life.” Jesus said, “DONE!” Then He paid the price. The pastor picked up the cage and walked from the pulpit.

While the story does convey some truth, the explanation of Christ’s death is based on a wrong view of Christ’s atonement that is commonly held by the Eastern Orthodox church called the “Ransom to Satan Theory”. This un-biblical view teaches that Christ’s death somehow paid off Satan. This is nowhere in Scripture and gives Satan way more credit than he is due. Scripture is clear that Christ’s death satisfied the wrath of God (1 Thes. 1:10), not Satan. Christ’s death was a propitiation to God. (Heb. 2:17; 1 John 2:2) When the gospel is understood rightly, we see the glorious love of God and His justice – all at the same time.

Sadly, I have heard the gospel explained in churches this way! Even more sadly, while these types of emails and stories are well written and captivating, they paint a very inaccurate and dangerous view of Christ’s cross-work. We must get the gospel right.

May this be an exhortation to us all to tuck away God’s word into our hearts that we may not sin against Him. (Psa. 119:11)

Soli Deo Gloria

 

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Bible Minute: Water from the Rock

Posted by on March 16, 2011 4 comments

The Bible Minute is a short audio program featuring a Bible topic each week.

This week’s topic focuses on an amazing passage in the book of Exodus that marvelously teaches the gospel of Christ. We’ll see the glorious teaching early in Scripture that God will stand in the place of guilty sinners!  The Scripture reference is Exodus 17:1-7.

Listen to this week’s episode.

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Christ’s Perfect Righteousness

Posted by on March 10, 2011 1 comment

Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. John 19:30

“Has Christ perfected and completely finished all His work for us? How sweet a relief is this to them that believe in Him against the defects and imperfections of all our services. There is nothing finished that we do: all our duties are imperfect. Oh there is much sin and vanity in the best of our duties; but here is the grand relief, and that which answers to all our doubts and fears upon that account: Jesus Christ has finished all His work, though we can finish none of ours; and so, though we be defective, poor, imperfect creatures in ourselves, yet we are complete in Him. (Col. 2:9-10) Though we cannot perfectly obey, or fulfill one command of the law, yet is “the righteousness of the law fulfilled in us that believe.” (Rom. 8:4) Christ’s complete obedience makes us complete, and without fault before God. It is true, we ought to be humbled for our defects, and troubled for every failing in obedience; but we should not be discouraged, though multitudes of weaknesses be upon us, and many infirmities compass us about in every duty: though we have no righteousness of our own, yet, of God, Christ “is made unto us righteousness;” and that righteousness is infinitely better than ours: instead of our own, we have His. Oh, blessed be God for Christ’s perfect righteousness!” – John Flavel (from the Fountain of Life, pg. 429)

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Sin in the Sight of a Just God

Posted by on March 8, 2011 No comments

I firmly believe that one of the least discussed Biblical truths in the church today is sin. We are inundated with feel good sermons that tend to focus on your best life now and how to be successful while overlooking what true progress in the Christ life exemplifies: an ever increasing war with sin.

As a street evangelist, one of the most common things I hear is that God is all forgiving and while He may not be too happy about sin He seems to have the magical ability to overlook it. Now let me make an important point – God is forgiving, but God is not unjust. There is a big difference.

The problem today is that the majority of professing believers I run into have created a god in their own image. Instead of allowing Scripture to be their rule and guide to properly understanding and worshiping God, they have allowed the culture and their own minds and hearts to construct a god of their own liking. For example, it is all too common to hear those I witness to tell me that they believe that God is all loving and all forgiving and He will forgive their sins if they simply ask Him. Before I respond to that statement let me first take us back to how the Bible describes God’s view of sin. Sadly, many today even in the church have a very loose view of sin and an even looser view of how God views sin. Our culture and media are bombarding us with so much sinful activity painted as the common life that our minds can become callous to the heinousness of sin. This is where we need to heed the call of the Scriptures to constantly be renewing our minds in the mighty truths of God’s Word.

So, let’s go all the way back to the beginning. In the book of Genesis we learn that God created all things and said that it was good. God created man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and then gave to him his wife, Eve. All of this takes place in the first two chapters of the first book of our Bible. However, in the very next chapter we read of what is called The Fall. It is in this chapter that Satan tempts Eve to disobey the one rule God had put in place. Now here is where we really need to stand back and see the full picture of the sinfulness of sin. Adam and Eve commit one sin. That’s right – one sin. Because of one sin, God places a curse on mankind. Because of that one sin all die. The simple fact that everyone to this day continues to die is proof positive that the covenant God made with Adam is still in force. Not only did mankind receive the curse of death and God’s wrath but we also read in Genesis that creation also became cursed as well. Paul elaborates on this truth in Romans that all creation groans as it eagerly waits for Christ to return since it too has been affected by the one sin of Adam and Eve. Now this should really help us to see the utter sinfulness of sin. If one single sin against God Almighty brought about the curse from God that affects all of creation why is it that the majority of folks today believe that as long as their good works outweigh their bad that God will simply overlook their sin? It’s because we have an incorrect and often blasphemous view of sin.

The Biblical truth is that every single sin demands an eternal punishment. We sin against a Holy, eternal and just God and thus our sin demands an eternal and just punishment. This now gets us back to that statement that many hold fast to concerning God and His forgiveness. You’ll recall that many today believe that they can just ask God for forgiveness and He will just overlook their sin and excuse it. My friend, if you really believe that then you are flat out saying that God is unjust. Let me put it this way. If God were to just overlook your sin and forgive it without His justice being met He would not be holy and He would not be just. He would actually be unjust – which is the absolute opposite of His character. This is why we must be ever careful to worship God rightly. We must worship Him as He has revealed Himself through His Word and through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Scripture proclaims to us that it is an abomination in the eyes of God to justify the wicked. (Prov. 17:15) This sets up the great dilemma – how can God be just and justify sinners? It’s only through the glorious cross of Jesus Christ that we see this question answered. In fact, to ask how God can be just and justify sinners should be the greatest question we can ask.

When we gaze at the cross of Christ we see the very wisdom, justice, love, mercy and grace of God. The cross of Christ demonstrates to us that God hates sin. The cross demonstrates to us God’s love. The cross of Christ demonstrates God’s wrath. It truly is the lens to view nearly all of the glorious attributes of God at one time. The Lord Jesus Christ came to become sin on our behalf so that we may have the righteousness of God in Him. God is just in forgiving a wicked sinner such as I because God took my sin and imputed it to His perfect, sinless Son and doled out all the eternal wrath and condemnation that I deserve on His Son. Through repentance and faith I am justified and sanctified (and am being sanctified) all because of the finished work of Christ on the cross. It’s also in Christ that death no longer has its sting. This, my friends is the wonder of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So we learn from the gospel that the only way God can forgive us is through Christ. There are not multiple ways to God and all roads do not lead to heaven. To come to God not trusting in Christ and expecting Him to forgive you because you ask Him is futile. Think about it, if I could simply ask God for forgiveness and He would forgive me then why would Christ need to die at all? What would have been the point of His crucifixion? What would have been the point of the very animal sacrifices all through the Old Testament that pointed to Christ and His sacrifice since the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin.

We must get the gospel right! If you have been trusting in your own goodness or even if you have believed that God is going to overlook your sin and simply excuse it since you’ve asked Him for forgiveness I urge you to look deeply at the cross of Christ and repent of your idolatry and turn to Christ. Put your faith and trust in Him and Him alone and understand that only through Christ can forgiveness be found. Allow the cross of Christ to demonstrate to you not only the love of God but also His perfect justice and His absolute hatred for sin.

If you are a believer, never look away from the cross. Believers truly can only live a gospel and cross-centered life. It’s by looking at the cross that we are reminded not only of God’s love to us but also His hatred for sin. Allow the cross of Christ to remind you constantly of the wickedness of sin and then remember that it is only by knowing the grand truth that you have died with Christ, you have been raised with Him and you are seated with Him in the heavenly places that you have died to sin. The gospel not only saves us from the penalty of sin which is God’s wrath in hell but also from it’s grip and power. Paul reminds us how shall we who have died to sin continue to live in it. We must remember that we’ve died to sin because we have died with Christ. We are now alive as a new creation in Christ and through walking by the Spirit we are able to put to death the deeds of the flesh.

This is the grand and wonderful truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sadly, the American church today has watered down or forgotten these great truths. May we cry out to God Almighty for forgiveness and return to a gospel-centered and cross-centered life and proclaim the full and wonderful good news of Jesus Christ. May we also see sin the way that God sees it as He has taught us in His living Word. In the words of the great Puritan theologian John Owen, “be killing sin or sin will be killing you.”

Soli Deo Gloria.

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The Hideous Howl

Posted by on February 24, 2011 1 comment

If our Lord Jesus Christ had not cried “My God, My God why have You forsaken Me?” on that cross, we would be crying out this hideous howl in the bowels of hell for all eternity: “Oh righteous God, You have forever forsaken me!”

I’ve been slowly reading through probably one of the finest Puritan books ever written entitled The Fountain of Life by John Flavel. Each chapter is a facet of the diamond of the Person and work of Jesus Christ written like only a Puritan can. The statement above is a paraphrase of part of chapter 33 of this excellent treatise on Jesus Christ. I firmly believe that part of what will make heaven so glorious is that we will forever be learning and marveling at Christ. Heaven will be heaven because Christ is there. It truly teaches us that only the Bride of Christ will truly be happy in heaven. Everyone in the world wants to go to heaven – they just don’t want God to be there. But for true believers – the Bride of Christ – one of the many glorious wonders of heaven will be growing in the knowledge of God for all eternity and never reaching the end of Him.

As we marvel at this great truth may we always return to the cross and remember that the cry of our Lord meant that all of God’s goodness was turned away while all of God’s wrath was fully focused on His Son as He made Him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf so that we may have the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21) Believers, because of Christ, will never utter those words. Because of Him who reigns victoriously at the right hand of the Father who drank the cup of wrath we now only have the cup of blessing freely offered to us for all eternity.

Oh how we need to put amazing back into grace!

Soli Deo Gloria

 

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Jesus Died for Me

Posted by on February 18, 2011 1 comment

Absolutely stunning…

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Backsliding

Posted by on January 24, 2011 No comments
ValleyofVision

O LORD,
When the world’s unbelievers reject Thee, and are so forsaken by Thee that Thou callest them no more, it is to Thine own Thou dost turn, for in such seasons of general apostasy they in some measure backslide with the world.

O how free is Thy grace that reminds them of the danger that confronts them and urges them to persevere in adherence to Thyself!

I bless Thee that those who turn aside ay return to Thee immediately, and be welcomed without anything to commend them, notwithstanding all their former backslidings. I confess that this is suited to my case, for of late I have found great want, and lack of apprehension of divine grace; I have been greatly distressed of soul because I did not suitably come to the fountain that purges away all sin; I have labored too much for spiritual life, peace of conscience, progressive holiness, in my own strength.

I beg Thee, show me the arm of all might; give me to believe that Thou can do for me more than I ask or think, and that, though I backslide, Thy love will never let me go, but will draw me back to Thee with everlasting cords; that Thou dost provide grace in the wilderness, and can bring me out, leaning on the arm of my Beloved; that Thou can cause me to walk with Him by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein I shall not stumble.

Keep me solemn, humble, devout, faithful, resting on free grace for assistance, acceptance, and peace of conscience.

From Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers

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The Nevers of the Gospel

Posted by on December 30, 2010 No comments
ValleyofVision

O LORD,
May I never fail to come to the knowledge of the truth, never rest in a system of doctrine, however Scriptural, that does not bring or further salvation, or teach me to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, or help me to live soberly, righteously, godly; never relying my own convictions and resolutions, but be strong in Thee and in Thy might; never cease to find Thy grace sufficient in all my duties, trials, and conflicts; never forget to repair to Thee in all my spiritual distresses and outward troubles, in all the dissatisfactions experienced in creature comforts; never fail to retreat to Him who is full of grace and truth, the Friend that loveth at all times, who is touched with feelings of my infirmities, and can do exceedingly abundantly for me; never confine my religion to extraordinary occasions, but acknowledge Thee in all my ways; never limit my devotions to particular seasons but be in Thy fear all the day long; never be godly only on the Lord’s Day or in Thy house, but on every day abroad and at home; never make piety a dress but a habit, not only a habit but a nature, not only a nature but a life.

Do good to me by all Thy dispensations, by all means of grace, by worship, prayers, praises, and at last let me enter that world where is no temple, but only Thy glory and the Lamb’s.

From Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers

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