BIBLICAL THEOLOGY: SCRIPTURE INTERPRETING SCRIPTURE

Can God Change His Mind?

9/6/2022

The Logical Consistency of Systematic Theology

Are you a student of Theology? Do you admire the attributes of God in Christ? Suffice it to say, if indeed God can change his mind, then this ability within the Godhead should be incorporated within the grand scheme of logical consistency in Systematic Theology. Amazingly, most Calvinists deny that God can change his mind at all, even though this very phenomenon appears in Scripture many times.

𝗜𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗖𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗲...

𝗝𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗵 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗵𝗲𝘁 – Jonah 3:4, 10 (after 40 days Nineveh was not destroyed)

𝗜𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗮𝗵 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗵𝗲𝘁 – Isaiah 38:1, 38:5 (Hezekiah did not die)

𝗠𝗼𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗵𝗲𝘁 – Ex. 29:9, 40:15, 1 Sam. 2:35, 1 Kings 2:27 (Eli’s family priesthood was not perpetual, everlasting, and forever)

𝗝𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗮𝗵 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗵𝗲𝘁 – Jer. 15:15-21 (Jeremiah was not carried away into the captivity of Babylon)

𝗠𝗼𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗵𝗲𝘁 - Ex.2:24, 3:8, 17, 12:25, 13:5, 11, Num. 14:30, 34 (the Exodus Generation was not brought into the Promised Land to inherit it)

𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗵𝗲𝘁 – 1 Sam. 7:12-16 (Solomon’s earthly throne was not an unbreakable and enduring establishment from generation to generation forever)

Seeing that all these men are TRUE Prophets, the popular interpretation of Deuteronomy 18:21-22 needs to be reevaluated. However, this should not be done to excuse the hoards of false prophets among "Charismatic Christianity" today! Nevertheless, my fellow Continuationists need to make their voices heard to create some push-back against the proud and haughty Cessationist Calvinists who claim the moral high-ground on the subject and rashly anathematize people while oversimplifying the issue. Furthermore, I would urge the Neo-Calvinists of today to incorporate the reality of divine repentance into their logically consistent belief system.

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Refuting Popular Misconceptions about Jeremiah 31:31-34

9/5/2022

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Knowing the LORD in the Old & New Covenants

At the fullness of time (Gen. 15:13-16), and in response to the sighing, crying, and groaning of a penitent remnant of Israel (Ex. 2:23-25, Deut. 26:7-8), the LORD descended from Heaven to deliver the people from Egypt (Ex. 3:7-10). Even though the vast majority of Israelites were in bed with the gods of Egypt (Ezek. 20:5-8), and only a small remnant was sighing and crying to God in truth, the LORD sovereignly chose Israel (Ps. 105:26-45). Then, at the arrival of Moses to Egypt in private communion with the Elders, there was a glimmer of hope that Israel as a whole would suddenly turn to God in faith and repentance (Ex. 4:29-31). However, whatever faith the Elders demonstrated in the beginning proved to be superficial when tested with adversity (Ex. 5:20-21, John 8:30-34). This is because Israel did not yet know the LORD (Ezek. 16:1-6, Deut. 26:7-8, Acts 7:6-7; John 17:3, 25).

However, that said, many people argue that this perfectly represents the storyline in the Old Testament. They believe that all the hardships that the Exodus Generation went through were because only a small remnant of Israel actually knew the LORD while the vast majority were unregenerate for lack of true conversion. They would argue that this explains why the Old Covenant(s) failed, as described in Jeremiah 31:31-34; and, contrastingly, this is why the New Covenant storyline is completely different.

“Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the Covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my Covenant they brake, although I was an Husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” – Jer. 31:31-34

At first glance, Jeremiah 31:31-34 seems to settle the argument. It appears to plainly declare the fundamental difference between the Old Covenant & the New Covenant, namely that not everyone in Israel knew the LORD by virtue of true conversion, but in the New Covenant everyone shall know the LORD from the least to the greatest. However, the fine details matter. Things are not always as they appear. Howbeit, the fine details are sure to be unrealized if THE STORYLINE of the Old Testament is ignored by the interpreter. As an exemplification of this, consider the Doctrine of the Trinity.

One could argue against the Trinity based upon of Deuteronomy 6:4, even though THE STORYLINE of the Old and New Testaments do teach and support the Doctrine of the Trinity. Face value assumptions are born through ignorance (Prov. 15:28). That's why only a lawyer can be trusted to interpret the fine details of law documents. The fine details matter. Words matter in the natural and much more in the spiritual. Lawyers are hired because their knowledge is needed to assuredly know the bounds and parameters of the law (Hos. 4:6); and only a fool would suppose he can decipher complicated law documents with good success. Meanwhile, Christians endeavor the interpretation of Jeremiah 31:31-34 without an in-depth recollection of the Old Testament abiding in their souls! This is dangerous.

The fact that “all” of Israel didn’t know the LORD from generation to generation isn’t the issue. This is indisputable. Rather, the question is if “all” of Israel was required by law to know the LORD according to the Old Testament. Then, if the answer proves to be yes, we must search the Scriptures to see if this biblical ideal has ever been realized in Biblical Church History and / or if it ever will be realized according to Biblical Prophecy at some point in the future.

Every individual in Israel was required to know the LORD, and that is exactly why the Jews were teaching every man his neighbor, saying, “Know the LORD” (Jer. 31:34). Every individual in the Assemblies or Congregations of the Israelite People, in any place or for any purpose within the Land of Israel, or anywhere in the Kingdom of God, especially within the City of Jerusalem & upon Mount Zion, or anywhere of closer proximity to the Temple of God, were required by law to be entirely populated by righteous and godly persons.

The only controversy is that this requirement was hard to keep. Therefore, the plot of redemptive history gravitates around this requirement of the law. Definitively, it all began with the Exodus Generation. This reference point is clearly in the mind of God in Jeremiah 31:31-34, when the LORD spoke of “the Covenant that [Jehovah] made with their fathers in the day that [the LORD] took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt” (Jer. 31:32). Therefore, we should begin our investigation at the formation of the Mosaic Covenant.

The LORD was determined to bring this nation to birth (Gen. 33:20; Ps. 135:4, 33:12). Therefore, with unwavering commitment as a Father, the LORD pled the cause of redemption (Ex. 4:22, Hos. 11:1). Through a total of 8 Severance Miracles the LORD won the heart of the Jewish People in saving faith and repentance. The love of Jehovah for the Jews became utterly undeniable amidst the onslaught of flies, pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and death. In being separated from the Egyptians through a miraculous shield of divine favor amidst the plagues, the LORD won the trust of the fatigued and downtrodden people. Hereby, they came to know the LORD in truth (Ex. 8:22-23 [#1], 9:4-6 [#2], 11 [#3], 25-26 [#4], 10:13-18 [#5], 21-23 [#6], 11:6-7 [#7], 14:22-23 [#8]).

Chiefly, in the Passover, they were justified by faith in the blood of atonement (Ex. 12:23-28, Heb. 11:28, 1 Cor. 5:7).
Secondarily, in the Red Sea, they were baptized by faith (Ex. 14:30-31, 15:1-2, Ps. 106:8-12, 1 Cor. 10:1-2, Heb. 11:29).

However, the popular interpretation of Jeremiah 31:31-34 would argue that the inward and spiritual work of redemption was exclusive to only a small remnant of Israel (Rom. 2:28-29), while the vast majority remained unconverted even though they were physically liberated from Egypt. Yet, this ignores the fact that it was illegal for impenitent or presumptuous sinners to participate in and observe the Passover by offering a sacrifice for an atonement (Ex. 12:15, Lev. 16:33, 23:29; Num. 15:30-31, Heb. 10:28). Therefore, this interpretation promotes lawlessness. Furthermore, it’s obvious that God countenanced all the sacrifices of Israel in the Exodus rather than abhorring them (Prov. 21:27, 15:8, 28:9, 15:26) and hereby the LORD shielded the Jews from the destroying angel (Ex. 12:13, 23). Therefore, this interpretation calls into question the moral purity of God as the Judge of all the Earth (Gen. 18:25, Deut. 32:4). Of course, neither God nor the destroying angel would have regarded the blood if the sacrificial atonement in the Passover was outwardly observed in mere form and heartless pretense by wicked Israelites, but because the blood was indeed respected this means that Jehovah legitimately forgave the Israelites through an atonement (Num. 14:19, 15:25, 28; Gen. 4:4-5, Lev. 26:9, Num. 16:15)! Moreover (let the reader understand), this divine act of real forgiveness is impossible without God legitimately applying the virtue of the blood of Jesus through divine foresight (Rom. 3:25, Heb. 9:15, 10:4)! Therefore, this interpretation questions the efficacy of the blood of Jesus.

This erroneous understanding of Judaism allows for the presence of faithless ceremonial formalism and rampant hypocrisy (2 Tim. 3:5), all of which was forbidden by the Law, decried by the Prophets, renounced by Jesus Christ, and refuted by Paul. Popular interpreters look back on the scene of the first Passover and imagine rampant insincerity and overwhelming impurity among the people, while the inspired writers look back on the very same scene and see an allegory of Church Purity (1 Cor. 5:5-13). Popular interpreters suppose the Passover was open to depraved and unregenerate sinners, or unconverted Israelites, even while they close the Lord's Supper and forbid unbelievers from partaking of the holy ordinance for fear of profaning it (forgetting that the Lord's Supper was patterned after the Passover Feast). Also, further redemptive applications of the Passover Feast can be discerned in Paul's description of the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:26, where the participants thereof must show a readiness to depart from this world like Israel suddenly departed from Egypt (Ex. 12:10-11, 13:19); even as Peter emphasized in 2 Peter 3:12, describing the general conversation of Christian believers in daily life following the instructions of Exodus 12:11.

Meanwhile, being ignorant of the fine details, men continue to argue that the whole point of the New Covenant is clearly stated in Jeremiah 31:34, in the declaration, “for they all shall know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD:”. Precise emphasis is put on the word “all” in Jeremiah 31:34. I only wish that equal emphasis is put upon such words every time they are found written in Holy Scripture.

According to Paul, “all” of the Israelites who passed through the Red Sea were “baptized” unto Moses as legitimate believers (1 Cor. 10:1-2), which would make sense because the Egyptians assayed the baptism and drowned because of their unbelief (Heb. 11:29).
Emphatically, and repeatedly, Paul described the spirituality of these unique individuals while sojourning in the Wilderness, saying, “all” ate “the same spiritual meat” and “all” drank “the same spiritual drink”, hereby affirming that they walked in spiritual communion with the pre-incarnate Christ (1 Cor. 10:3-4).

The spiritual communion being described was the commonwealth of Israel wrought through faith in the Gospel, as it was communicated through the Manna that came from Heaven and the Water that came from the Rock (Manna: Ex. 16:1-36, Jn. 6:32-33, 35, 1 Cor. 10:3, Neh. 9:15, 20, Ps. 105:40, Deut. 8:2-3, 14-16 [Matt. 4:4, Lk. 4:4], Rev. 2:17; Water: Ex. 17:1-7, 1 Cor. 10:4, Jn. 4:10, 13-14, Ps. 78:15-16, 105:41, 114:8, Hab. 3:9, Neh. 9:15, Jer. 2:13, Deut. 6:16, 8:15 [1 Cor. 10:11, Ps. 107:32-43, Isa. 41:18, 48:21, Rev. 21:6]). Nevertheless, 21st Century Christianity has argued that they weren’t “all” in saving communion with Christ, even though this is precisely their point of argument in Jeremiah 31:34. Overlooking the hypocrisy in this, they argue that the vast majority of Israelites were lying when they triumphantly sang the Song of Salvation amidst the crystal walls of the Red Sea in Exodus 14:30-31, 15:1-2, & 13, and, when they vowed in commitment to the Mosaic Covenant at the base of Sinai in Exodus 24:3-8.

Yet, according to Isaiah, the only reason the LORD ultimately acted in real time to save the Israelite people is because He saw in them a sincere and truthful faith in Jehovah (Isa. 63:8). That's why David and Asaph, looking back, saw a righteous company of redeemed souls celebrating in gladness as the flock of Jehovah (Ps. 66:6, 68:3-4, Ex. 15:2; Ps. 77:14-20, 78:13, 52-53); or, that's why Hosea foretold the end goal of Church Purity being restored through the Assyrian and Babylonian Captivities with this celebration in mind (Hos. 2:15). Therefore, in praying for the revival of these divine exploits, the Prophets called upon God for the revival of favor, mercy, and grace according to the promises of God in salvation (Ps. 77:7-9, Hab. 3:2, Isa. 63:7-9, 11-15; Rev. 15:1-4). So, what do you see when you look upon the freshly baptized Israelite people going into the Wilderness? At this momentous occasion of glory (Ex. 14:29-15:22; Isa. 63:14), do you see a people plagued with insincerity for want of true conversion with hardly a remnant escaping? Do you believe the majority of Israel is still encumbered with the idolatry of Egypt in the secret of their own tents as they were at the beginning in the Land of Egypt (Ezek. 20:5-8)?

Remember, God sees not as man sees (1 Sam. 16:7, Jn. 7:24). All that matters is what the LORD saw when He looked upon Israel going out into the Wilderness; and, speaking of this, lo and behold:

A Bride in the love of her Espousal pursuing her Husband (Jer. 2:2, 31:32).
A People that are “holiness unto the LORD” with “no strange god” among them (Jer. 2:3, Deut. 32:7-14; The Vanquishing of Idolatry: Ex. 12:12, 30, Num. 33:3-4, Ex. 18:11, Isa. 2:18-21, 19:1, 21:9, Rev. 1:7).
A Church of made up of “all” Holy Ones (Saints) sitting before Sinai; which means that “every one” was receiving the word of God (Acts 7:38, Ex. 19:17, Ex. 19:4-5, Deut. 33:3).
A Vineyard planted and flourishing because of a “wholly right seed” (Ps. 80:8-11, Jer. 2:21).

The LORD celebrated Israel and showered upon her the goodness and mercy of divine rejoicing (Isa. 63:7-9, Deut. 28:63, 33:3; Ps. 68:1-20); something He would never do over a company of mostly liars (Prov. 11:20, 12:22). The LORD would only think, feel, and speak thus to a company of redeemed saints that are truly holiness unto the LORD (Jer. 2:2). Remember, holiness means separation – a separation from sin and sinners in a salvific consecration to God; even as God commanded Joshua, saying, “Up, sanctify the people” (Josh. 7:13), when the holiness of Israel was compromised by the presence of one sinner in the ranks (Josh. 7:25-26, Deut. 23:12-14).

Evidently, this is why Abraham separated from Terah, Isaac separated from Ishmael, Jacob separated from Esau, and Israel separated from Egypt. Holiness! The divine calling of the Gospel always separates men from sin and consecrates them to God. For, the LORD is perfectly pure and completely unable to countenance immorality and wickedness (Hab. 1:13, Isa. 66:1-2, Deut. 23:12-14). Therefore, the spiritual and moral status of every individual in Israel was of utmost importance to everyone (Josh. 22:16-20). If in fact Israel was a general assembly of sinners who are falsely converted with only a small remnant of true believers among them, the plot surrounding these outbreaks of wrath wouldn’t resound in confirmation that every Israelite man’s personal holiness mattered to God!

Moses and Aaron wouldn’t have cried out in intercession, saying, “…shall one man sin, and wilt Thou be wroth with all the congregation?” (Num. 16:22), amidst the endangerment and death of around 14,950 souls.

Phinehas wouldn’t have been so commended by God (Num. 25:11-13) and credited for stopping the ongoing outbreak of wrath for his act of judgment against one man; when, amidst the slaughtering of 24,000 souls, Phinehas fastened his eyes upon “one of the children of Israel” in the act of sin, and, “he went after the man of Israel into the tent” and slew him (Num. 25:6, 7-9).
Joshua, acting to recover the holiness of Israel after the occasioned death of 36 men, wouldn’t have said to Achan, “Why hast thou troubled us?” (Josh. 7:25).

This kind of behavior would be outrageous and uncalled-for, if indeed Israel was a general assembly of sinners who are falsely converted with only a small remnant of true believers walking in holiness before God. For, what could possibly be so aggravating to God about the presence of one sinner, if there are an abundance of sinners in the Church of the Wilderness at enmity with God (Acts 7:38, Rom. 8:7-8)? A diligent reader of the Old Testament would know that these courageous men were acting in obedience to the plainly stated laws of holiness authored to regulate the people of God (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1). These laws targeted one unholy person from among the people of Israel with the intent of mortifying the sin or executing the sinner to keep the spiritual environment of the people clean and pure.

Put Away: Deut. 13:5, 17:7, 12, 19:19, 21:21, 22:22, 24; Judges 20:13, Lev. 20:14
Cut Off: Ex. 31:14, Lev. 7:20, 21, 25, 27, 17:4, 9, 10, 18:29, 19:8, 20:3, 5, 6, 17, 18, 23:29, Num. 9:13, 15:30, 19:20
New Testament: 1 Cor. 5:2, 13, Eph. 5:3, 1 Thess. 2:10, 1 John 2:19

How hardly could such regulations be comprehended by true believers if Israel in the Exodus Generation was crawling with at least 600,000 falsely converted sinners! Truly. The popular understanding of Old Testament Judaism utterly confounds the storyline of redemptive history. It’s no wonder that nominal Christians today don’t have even a basic understanding of the narrative of redemption in Biblical Church History. Also, it’s no surprise that modern-day Preachers point the people to Extra-Biblical Church History instead. For, everywhere you go in the Bible, and everywhere you read, the plot of redemption continues with the same resounding testimony:

The congregation of Israel must be holy because they are “the congregation[s] of God” (Neh. 13:1-3). Therefore, they were bound by one supreme “ordinance” (Deut. 33:4-5, Num. 15:15) which necessitated that every individual in the congregation was holy (Num. 16:3, Lev. 19:2), “righteous” (Ps. 1:5), saintly (Ps. 89:5, 149:1), and belonging to God (Ps. 68:10, 74:2); hence, this congregated people was separated from all the accursed things and people who bring contempt upon the congregation (Josh. 7:13, Ezra 10:11-14). When God said that such and such a person “shall not enter into the congregation” (Deut. 23:1-8), He meant it. All those whom God spoke of and named for expulsion in various ways throughout Scripture can form a list, which includes: “the adversary”, “the heathen” (Lam. 1:10), “the ungodly”, “sinners” (Ps. 1:5, Num. 15:30-31), “evil doers” (Ps. 26:5), “the dead” (Prov. 21:16), “vain persons”, “dissemblers”, and “the wicked” (Ps. 26:4-8, 12).

Even so, according to Doctrinal Rule, the people who populated The Land of Israel & Judah were exclusively: “the upright”, “the perfect” (Prov. 2:21), those who put their “trust” in the LORD (Isa. 57:13), “the faithful”, “he that walketh in a perfect way” (Ps. 101:4-8), and those who were “clean” (Isa. 52:11). The people who were eradicated from the Land of Israel & Judah via the Death Penalty were: false prophets (Ezek. 13:9), rebellious Israelites (Hos. 9:3), “the wicked” (Nah. 1:5, Ps. 101:8), “the transgressors” (Prov. 2:22), “the rebels” (Ezek. 20:38-40), unconverted and forbidden “strangers” (Hos. 7:8-9, Isa. 1:7), “a froward heart”, “whoso privily slandereth his neighbor”, “him that hath an high look and a proud heart”, “he that worketh deceit”, “he that telleth lies”, “wicked doers” (Ps. 101:4-8), “the uncircumcised”, and “the unclean” (Isa. 52:1).

Most people feel they simply cannot believe that the Exodus Generation as a whole was truly converted. They feel that these people so often exemplified what shouldn’t be done rather than what should be done. However, it should be noted that this sentiment is not unbiblical. This is exactly how the Apostles of the New Testament employed their testimony. They warned all believers to beware of acting in the same way as the Exodus Generation (1 Cor. 9:27-10:13; Heb. 2:1-4, 3:1-4:11, 10:26-29, 12:18-29; Jude 1:5). However, in speaking of the Exodus Generation, they were warning believers about what they shouldn’t do rather than what they couldn’t do. They were warning believers about the real consequences of backsliding.

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Questions for the Neo-Calvinists of the 21st Century

7/18/2019

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Salvation is by grace through faith apart from works, as stated in Ephesians 2:8-10. No true believer would disagree. No genuine recipient of saving grace would dare promote "works" as a means for justification before God. However, that being said, we must be careful to uphold all of the teachings of Scripture pertaining to the subject. For, nowadays, many staunch defenders of "grace" disregard the "workmanship" of God in salvation (Eph. 2:10).

Such offenders would never readily admit it. Passion is a blinding force when it is not mixed with humility, even if one is passionate about the most noble of creeds. These men believe so "strongly" in salvation by grace through faith apart from works, they have begun to despise the mighty working of God in salvation. Being thus minded, a man once asked: "Do your blood-bought and Spirit-empowered works bring you approval before God?" This question was posed with animosity against many Scriptures that emphasize the work of God in salvation. Therefore, in humble defense, I have some questions for the questioner.

Hypocritical men are known to shield themselves from conviction by unlearned questions. This is a biblical fact (1 Tim. 1:4, 6:4, 2 Tim. 2:23, Titus 3:9). It's only natural. Ungodly men feel threatened by the truth; therefore they seek to suppress it through questions and various forms of carnal reasoning (Lk. 10:29). However, hereby, the very means of discerning if someone is truly saved is fading from relevance among the remnant circles of Christianity (Matt. 7:12-27, 2 Cor. 13:5).

The nominal Calvinist of today has a superstitious and over-simplistic understanding of justification, the same superstition which is pervading much of the remnant. It is a seeming intelligent way of reasoning, and yet... it nullifies scriptural commands. According to a superstitious reasoning about salvation - “in Christ alone apart from works” - biblical commands, warnings, promises, behaviors, prayers, and heart-conditions are nullified. These over-simplistic statements need to be challenged by scripture and held in conformity thereto, no matter how “illogical” it feels to our deceitful hearts (Jer. 17:9).

Therefore, I plead, when a seemingly pious man adamantly states, “My blood-bought and Spirit-empowered works cannot ever gain me approval before God.”, do not cave to tactics of intimidation. Do not remain silent. Question the man on the practicals of his statement of faith. Or, when you are questioned, "Do your blood-bought and Spirit-empowered works bring you approval before God?", here's some questions for the questioner:

Do you mean to say that you can go to heaven without, as Jesus said, "keeping My works unto the end" (Rev. 2:26)? Do you believe the Church of Thyatira would have gone to heaven if they didn’t keep the “works” of Christ unto the end” (Rev. 2:26)? What about the “works” of the other Churches (Rev. 2:2, 9, 13, 19, 26, 3:1, 2, 8, 15)?

"And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:" - Rev. 2:26

"I know thy works..." - Rev. 2:2, 9, 13, 19, 26, 3:1, 2, 8, 15

Do you believe the Church of Sardis would have gone to heaven if Christ did not find their “works perfect before God” (Rev. 3:2)? Would Sardis go to heaven if they failed to, “be watchful” (Rev. 3:2), “remember” (Rev. 3:3), and “walk” (Rev. 3:4)? For Sardis, are these “works” gaining or losing approval before God, upon which hinged their eternal standing? What about the “somewhat” that Christ had “against” the Church of Ephesus (Rev. 2:4), or, the “few things against” Pergamos (Rev. 2:14), and the “few things against” Thyatira (Rev. 2:20)? Do you deny that Christ does “give unto every one of [us] according to [our] works” (Rev. 2:23)?

"Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God." - Rev. 3:2

"Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love." - Rev. 2:4

"But I have a few things against thee..." - Rev. 2:14

"Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee..." - Rev. 2:20

Do you mean to say that I can go to heaven even if I don’t, like Paul, “work out [my] own salvation with fear and trembling” (Php. 2:12)? If I didn’t do this “work” (by the grace of God in Christ) would I still be approved before God? Are you saying that “faith which worketh by love” avails to nothing (Gal. 5:6)? Do you mean to say that I should never “labour” that I “may be accepted of [Christ]” on Judgment Day (2 Cor. 5:9)? Are you saying that I need not "run" so as to win the prize, because Christ already ran (1 Cor. 9:24-27)? Are you saying that if I do not "run", I will still win the incorruptible crown of eternal life (1 Cor. 9:25)? Are you saying that I should not set my heart on running that I might obtain the crown, because running takes into consideration whether or not I will be approved before God on Judgment Day – a thing which, you say, I need not do?

"Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." - Php. 2:12

"Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." - 2 Cor. 5:9-10

"Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." - 1 Cor. 9:24-27

Are you saying that I need not ever fear losing my everlasting life (my approval before God) if, when I am tried, I am near fainting instead of enduring unto the end (Rev. 2:10, Heb. 3:6, 14; Heb. 4:1; Rom. 11:21-22; Jn. 15:1-7)? Are you saying that a man should never have “patient continuance in well doing” so as to “seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life” (Rom. 2:7)? Are you saying that I need not “fight” to “lay hold on eternal life” (1 Tim. 6:12)? Are you saying that Christ will finally Judge my approval before the LORD without reference to or mindfulness of blood-bought and Spirit-empowered works, as indicators of saving faith?

"...be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." - Rev. 2:10

"For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;" - Heb. 3:14

"To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:" - Rom. 2:7

"Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses." - 1 Tim. 6:12

Are you saying that "the sheep" would have gone to heaven (been approved before God), even if they never, as Christ said, “gave”, “took”, “clothed”, and “visited” (Matt. 25:35-40)? Are you saying their approval has no reference to what they have “done” (Matt. 25:40), and that a Christian is in sin if they are mindful for what they must do, in this way, so as to be approved on Judgment Day? Are you saying that a man does not need to continue to believe in the Gospel, that he might be approved before God on Judgment Day? Are you saying that the Rich Man of Mark 10 could go to heaven, even if he did not sell all that he had and give it to the poor (Mark 10:21)? Are you saying that the rich Christians of 1 Timothy 6:17-19 will go to heaven even if they do not “do good”? Are you saying that these rich Christians will go to heaven even if they are not “rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate”? Are you saying that it is a sin to “do” anything that we might “lay hold on eternal life” (1 Tim. 6:19)? Then why are these Christians commanded to do all these things, “that they may lay hold on eternal life” (1 Tim. 6:19)?

"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." - Matt. 25:40

"Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me." - Mark 10:21

"Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." - 1 Tim. 6:17-19

Would Paul have gone to heaven if he did not bring his body under subjection (1 Cor. 9:27)? Was it a sin for him to say that he would have been a castaway (one who is disapproved at final Judgment), if he failed to bring his body under subjection? Are you saying that I should never “hear” the sayings of Jesus Christ and do them, being minded that “whosoever heareth these sayings” and “doeth them”, will pass the trial of final Judgment (being “founded upon the rock”)? Are you saying it is a sin to fear a great fall on Final Judgment if I am one who “heareth” the “sayings” of Jesus and “doeth them not” (Matt. 7:26)? Are you saying that I need not ever “take heed” (1 Cor. 10:12, Luke 21:34) to myself, after I am regenerated, “lest at any time [my] heart be overcharged with surfeiting [over-eating], and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that Day come upon [me] unawares”, to the end that I am “accounted” unworthy “to stand before the Son of Man” (Lk. 21:34-36)? Are you saying that I should never fear perishing if I fail to do the Spirit-empowered work called, “Watch therefore and pray always” (Lk. 21:36)? Would you say that, in all these ways, God judges a man’s faith and approval before God, “without works” (James 2:20)? Would you say that Abraham or Rahab were finally justified (or declared righteous at final Judgment) in some other way than “by works” (James 2:22, 24, 25)?

"Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it." - Matt. 7:24-27

"Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." - 1 Cor. 10:12

"And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." - Lk. 21:34-36

"But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?" - James 2:20

"Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." - James 2:24

My reader, I ask you all these questions to beg the answer: That our understanding of the eternal sufficiency of Christ’s Person and Work must coincide and not contradict all these passages of scripture. Any doctrine of “justification” or “meritorious salvation” which does NOT include the former descriptions - of feeling, thinking, praying, living, and doing – is a tradition and superstition of man which makes void the commandments of God. These things which I have formerly mentioned are products of saving faith, and more so, a product of Christ in us, therefore it can be said in truth – these things are not separate from the Person and Work of Christ, but they are evidences of the Person and Work of Christ, literally speaking, as He is living and working through the people in whom He dwells.

Indeed, it is by Christ's life and righteousness alone we can be justified or find approval before God, but God doesn't examine our experience of "Christ's life and righteousness" in a singular sense - only in a PAST TENSE relationship that we have by testimony. Salvation is past, present, and future. Therefore, in reckoning with the saints, the LORD looks at our relationship with Christ's life and righteousness TODAY - if we are abiding in Christ by an ongoing faith and repentance as we look to our Messiah who is alive in glory, being much more saved by His life (Rom. 5:8-10; Heb. 12:1-2, 15; Jn. 15:1-7). The Scriptures explicitly teach the ongoing work of salvation in true believers. Namely, that salvation is experienced in the past through conversion (regeneration) and at present in the same terms - through being crucified, resurrected, baptized, and quickened through the putting on of Christ. Accordingly, if our experience of salvation at present is found faulty by God, the LORD will reckon with us in terms of perfection, blamelessness, holiness, sanctification, spotlessness, and blemishes.

I am not debating if there is anything else other than Christ who justifies sinful men, but I am contending against an over-simplistic understanding of that justification - in how it is discerned by God and experienced by us in the past (as we relate to what Christ accomplished on the Cross), presently and progressively (as we relate to God today based upon what Christ did on the Cross), and finally (because Christ will be vindicated at final Judgment through what He did at Calvary, and also in our individual lives presently and progressively, for we are His workmanship), according to the Scriptures.

"Tremble for fear God should remove His candlestick from you. Labourers are sick. Those who did once labour are almost worn out... There are few who like to go out into the fields. Broken heads and dead cats are no longer the ornaments of a Methodist. These honourable badges are now no more. Langour has gotten from the ministers to the people; and, if you don't take care, we shall all be dead together. The Lord Jesus rouse you! Ye Methodists of many years' standing, shew the young ones, who have not the cross to bear as we once had what ancient Methodism was.

Don't be angry with a poor minister for weeping over them who will not weep for themselves. If you laugh at me I know Jesus smiles. I am free from the blood of you all. If you are damned for want of conversion, remember you are not damned for want of warning. YOU ARE GOSPEL-PROOF; and, if there is one place in hell deeper than another, God will order a gospel-despising Methodist to be put there. God convert you from lying a-bed in the morning! God convert you from conformity to the world! God convert you from lukewarmness! Do not get into a cursed antinomian way of thinking, and say, "I thank God, I have the root of the matter in me! I thank God, I was converted twenty or thirty years ago; and, though I can go to the public-house, and play at cards, yet, I am converted; for once in Christ, always in Christ." Whether you were converted formerly or not, you are perverted now. Would you have Jesus catch you napping, with your lamps untrimmed? Suffer the word of exhortation. I preach feelingly. I could be glad to preach till I preached myself dead, if God would convert you. I seldom sleep after three in the morning; and I pray every morning, "Lord, convert me, and make me a new creature today!" - George Whitefield

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I'm Neither a Calvinist Nor an Arminian

7/17/2019

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I'm neither a Calvinist nor an Arminian. I am a Christian who Believes exactly what the Bible says.

I believe that God is changeless, eternal, and irresistible, and I believe that God can change His mind (repent) and be resisted, it just depends on how you look at it in any given situation. I believe these two realities do logically coexist in Scripture, though not in our capacity of thought or reasoning. I oppose the divisive nature of Theological Circles that break apart what God has united as one in the body of Christ.

To my Calvinist or Arminian Friends, I plead for a thorough study of the following Biblical Facts.

Calvinists Assert: God cannot CHANGE His MIND or WORD, & by the Nature of Godhood He is CHANGELESS (Malachi 3:6, James 1:17, Ecclesiastes 3:14, Numbers 23:19, 1 Samuel 15:29, Hebrews 6:17-18, Titus 1:2, Romans 11:29); God’s WILL or DESIRE cannot be RESISTED (Revelation 17:16-17, Deuteronomy 2:30, Isaiah 14:24-27, Isaiah 46:10-11, Job 23:13, Acts 4:28, Ephesians 1:11, Jude 1:4, Romans 9:1-23).

Arminians Assert: God can CHANGE His MIND or WORD, & God’s WILL or DESIRE can be RESISTED (Exodus 32:10, 14; Num. 14:11-12, 30, 34; Num. 16:21-22, Num. 16:45,Ezek. 20:8-9, Ezek. 20:13-14, Ezek. 20:21-22, Deut. 32:26-27, Deut. 9:4-8, Jer. 15:6, Jer. 6:11, Micah 7:18-19, Exodus 33:5, Hosea 11:8, Jeremiah 36:3,36:7, Ezekiel 12:3, Zephaniah 3:5-7, Isaiah 5:1-5, Ezekiel 18:32, 18:23, Lamentations 3:33, 36, Luke 20:13, Luke 19:41-44, Luke 13:34-35, Luke 13:6-9,Matthew 21:37, Luke 20:13, Isaiah 63:8, Psalm 81:10-16, Zephaniah 3:7).

Various Divine Repentances | Lesser Matters: Moses called alone & then with Aaron (Ex. 4:1-14); Divine claim of the firstborn & then the Levites (Ex. 13:2, 15-16, Num. 3:12).

Critical Divine Repentances | Weightier Matters (Life/Death): Moses’ life (Ex. 4:24); Jonah’s life (Jonah 1:3, 12; Ps. 88:7, 16-17; Jonah 2:2-3, 9); Nineveh’s livelihood (Jonah 3:4, 9-10, 4:2); Hezekiah’s life (Isa. 38:1-6); Ahab’s posterity (1 Kings 21:19-21, 27-29); a Priestly Covenant (Ex. 29:9, 40:15, 1 Sam. 2:29-36, 1 Kings 2:27); a Kingly Covenant (1 Sam. 9:16, 10:1-10, 11:6, 15, Heb. 11:33-34, 1 Sam. 12:14-15, 20-25, 13:1, 13-14, 14:47-48, 15:1, 11, 23, 28-29, 35, 16:1, 13-14); Nations & Kingdoms (Jer. 18:7-11).

The Abrahamic Covenant | The Salvation of the Exodus Generation: Spoken to Abraham (Gen. 15:13-16, 18-21); Remembered (Ex. 2:24, 3:8); the Word (Ex. 3:17); the Promise (Ex. 12:25); the Oath (Ex. 13:5, 13:11); Sonship (Hos. 11:1); the Church (Acts 7:38, Ex. 19:17, Amos 4:12, Ex. 6:7-8 [2 Cor. 6:16], Ex. 19:4-5 [1 Pet. 2:9], Ps. 114:1-7, Ps. 68:15-20 [Eph. 4:8]); Belief (Ex. 4:29-31, 12:23-28); Note: those things called “the Gospel” are those which are explicitly named in identification with Christ in the New Testament. Faith in Passover (the Gospel of Sacrifice): Ex. 12:23-28, Heb. 11:28, 1 Cor. 5:7; Faith in the Red Sea Crossing (the Gospel of the Spirit’s Baptism): Ex. 14:30-31, 15:1-2, 13, Ps. 106:8-12, 1 Cor. 10:1-2, Heb. 11:29; the Manna (the Gospel of the Imperishable Life of Christ): Jn. 6:32-33, 35, 1 Cor. 10:3, Neh. 9:20; Water from the Rock (the Gospel of Living Water): Ps. 78:15-16, 105:41, 107:35, Ex. 17:6, Deut. 8:15 Neh. 9:15 (Isa. 48:21, 41:18; Rev. 21:6), 1 Cor. 10:4, John 4:10, 13-14, 7:38, Jer. 2:13; Saved (Ps. 106:8, 10, Ex. 15:1-2, 13, Isa. 63:7-14, Jude 1:5); Bride/Holiness (Jer. 2:2-3); Wholly Right Seed (Jer. 1:2, 21-22, 2:21, 11:16-17); People/Portion/Inheritance/No-Strange-god (Deut. 32:7-14); Indwelt & Among-dwelt by the Spirit (Lev. 26:12, Deut. 23:14, Isa. 63:15, Hag. 2:5, 2 Cor. 6:16, 1 Cor. 10:3-4, 9, 1 Pet. 1:11); Forgiven (Num. 14:19, Ps. 78:38).

The Fall of the Exodus Generation: Broken Promise/Oath (Num. 14:34, Num. 14:30, Heb. 4:1; Principle: Ezek. 16:59, 17:18-19).

Progressive Provocations Leading to a Reprobation: When God thought, decided, or moved to annihilate and then repented...until reprobation (Exodus 32:10-14, Ex. 33:11-34:9, Deut. 9:6-29 [Ex. 17:8-16]; Psalm 106:23 [Num. 11:1-3, 33-35, 12:13]; Numbers 14:11-21; Num. 16:21-22; Num. 16:45-50).

Explicit Applications of the Exodus Generation to NT Christians: What happened to them can happen to us (1 Cor. 10:1-13, Jude 1:5, Heb. 2:1-4, 3:1-4:11, 10:26-31, 12:18-29). Remember, only those with whom God was not well-pleased perished in the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:5-6): the lustful (1 Cor. 10:6), the idolaters (1 Cor. 10:7), the fornicators (1 Cor. 10:8), the tempters (1 Cor. 10:9), the murmurers (1 Cor. 10:10), and such like men. The Judgments that “the Glory of God” executed by divine plague to the vanquishing of idolaters (Ex. 32:25-29), complainers (Num. 11:1-3), lustful men (Num. 11:33-35), rebels (Num. 14:26-35), proud men (Num. 16-17), and such like, were the same judgments that were in operation from thenceforth in every generation of Israel that was keeping God’s instituted rules of holiness. In the Wilderness, only those who didn’t continue to savingly believe in God suffered death at the judgment of God (1 Cor. 10:5, Jude 1:5, Hebrews 4:1 [see the wider context in Hebrews 3:7-4:11])! Even so, approaching the prospect of inheriting the Promised Land so as to become the Church in the Civilization, only those who were not perfect (seeking and serving God with wholeness of heart) were to be slain (they were forbidden inheritance in the Promised Land: Num. 32:12, 14:24, Deut. 1:36, Heb. 4:1, Prov. 2:21, Deut. 4:1-10, Num. 15:22-31). Hereby, the doctrine of inheriting and inhabiting the Promised Land unfolds!

The Argument of the Book of Hebrews: Greater Salvation & therefore Greater Condemnation, rather than the Impossibility of Condemnation (Heb. 2:1-4, Heb. 3:1-4:11, Heb. 5:11-6:12, Heb. 10:19-39, Heb. 12:15-29).

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The Calvinist's Fallacious Reasoning - John Wesley

12/15/2016

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Calvinists, who deny that salvation can ever be lost, reason on the subject in a marvelous way

They tell us, that...

no virgin's lamp can go out; [Matt. 25:1-13]
no promising harvest be choked with thorns; [Mk. 4:18-19]
no branch in Christ can ever be cut off from unfruitfulness; [Jn. 15:1-6]
no pardon can ever be forfeited, [Num. 14:34, Isa. 63:8-10]
and no name blotted out of God's book! [Rev. 3:5]

They insist that...

no salt can ever lose its savor; [Matt. 5:13]
nobody can ever "receive the grace of God in vain"; [2 Cor. 6:1, Gal. 2:21, 5:4]
"bury his talents"; [Matt. 25:24-30]
"neglect such great salvation"; [Heb. 2:3]
trifle away "a day of grace"; [2 Cor. 6:2, Heb. 3:7-15]
"look back" after putting his hand to the gospel plow. [Lk. 9:62]
Nobody can "grieve the Spirit" till He is "quenched," and strives no more, nor "deny the Lord that bought them"; nor "bring upon themselves swift destruction." [1 Thess. 5:19, Gen. 6:3, 2 Pet. 2:1]
Nobody, or body of believers, can ever get so lukewarm that Jesus will spew them out of His mouth. [Rev. 3:16]

They use reams of paper to argue that...

if one ever got lost he was never found. John 17:12;
that if one falls, he never stood. Rom. 11:16-22 and Heb. 6:4-6;
if one was ever "cast forth," he was never in, and "if one ever withered," he was never green. John 15:1-6;
and that "if any man draws back," it proves that he never had anything to draw back from. Heb. 10:38,39;
that if one ever "falls away into spiritual darkness," he was never enlightened. Heb. 6:4-6;
that if you "again get entangled in the pollutions of the world," it shows that you never escaped. 2 Pet. 2:20;
that if you "put salvation away" you never had it to put away, and if you make shipwreck of faith, there was no ship of faith there!! [1 Tim. 1:19]

In short they say: If you get it, you can't lose it; and if you lose it you never had it.
May God save us from accepting a doctrine, that must be defended by such fallacious reasoning!

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The Gospel = The Quintessential Expression of Sovereignty

10/17/2013

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When Spurgeon defended Calvinism, he defended the gospel. When he took up an argument to defend the TULIP, he was impassioned to focus upon the gospel. The following quote represents how, to him, the two were intertwined and inseparable.

"The old truth that Calvin preached, that Augustine preached, that Paul preached, is the truth that I must preach to-day, or else be false to my conscience and my God. I cannot shape the truth; I know of no such thing as paring off the rough edges of a doctrine. John Knox's gospel is my gospel. That which thundered through Scotland must thunder through England again."—C. H. Spurgeon

On many points, as Spurgeon does so eloquently argue, I feel as though I can scarce keep myself from shouting AMEN! I too, with Spurgeon, believe that the gospel is affectionately connected to God's absolute sovereignty. I am persuaded that there - on Calvary's Hill - God's sovereignty was never so clear! Please, my reader, let me explain.

Let us consider, firstly, what God did in the life of Joseph. Then let us briefly look at the Person and Work of Jesus Christ, only let it be at the same noteworthy angles in which we just viewed the life of Joseph.

1) The Life of Joseph
2) The Life of Jesus Christ

Genesis 50:20
"But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive."

It was the sin of Joseph’s brethren that they betrayed and sold Joseph to Egypt, even so, but God takes OWNERSHIP of it because it was God’s plan. What sin was in the heart of Joseph’s brethren? How did this come to pass? His brethren began to hate Joseph in their heart, and from this horrid and bitter hatred they conspired to sell him to Egypt. They indeed made a plan in their own wicked heart, nevertheless, read how it was the plan of Joseph’s brothers, while simultaneously, it was the Lord’s plan. Beginning with Genesis 37:4...

Genesis 37:4
"And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him."

Thus they (Joseph's brethren) did plan and conspire...

Genesis 37:18-20
"And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. 19 And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. 20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams."

If God is absolutely sovereign as the Calvinists do affirm, one must believe that God was in control of their hearts (Joseph's brethren) even while they were bent crooked in this wretched conspiracy. Shockingly, Joseph freely and unashamedly confessed to this! Read how all of this was God’s plan as well, yet He is innocent of any unrighteousness, altogether lovely, and pure!

Genesis 45:5-8
"Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. 6 For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and He hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt."

Joseph was able to confess this, but can you? Please do not harden your heart against the scriptures simply because they cannot be logically digested. Likewise to Joseph’s confession, the Holy Spirit inspired the psalmist of Psalm 105 to give credit to God in the same way. Again God was in complete, sovereign control!

Psalm 105:16-22
"Moreover He called for a famine upon the land: He brake the whole staff of bread. 17 HE SENT a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant: 18 Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron: 19 Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him. 20 The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free. 21 He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance: 22 To bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom."

By the hands of Joseph’s brethren God sent Joseph; even in their sinful thoughts God was Lord, and He was working a mighty plan of salvation! As God did with the hands of Joseph’s brethren, He did the same thing with Judas, the Jews, and the Romans when they betrayed Jesus Christ, that it might rightly be said that God sacrificed His own Son. The Lord takes OWNERSHIP of this sinful plan of the Jews in a multitude of places throughout scripture. If the Lord did not send Joseph by the hands of his brethren, then He did not crucify His own Son, both would have been the happening of the free will of man. If it was the happening of the free will of man and God merely orchestrated and allowed the circumstances and scenarios to transpire, then it would have been the foreknowledge of God alone that was active in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and that was God’s full part in the matter. It was not singly the foreknowledge of God only but it was the determinate counsel of God as well!

Acts 2:23
"Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain"

God appointed the men to their disobedient, wicked conspiracy so that God was able to take sure ownership of Christ’s death. In 1 Peter 2:8 it is written that the disobedient were appointed instead of freely choosing, and mind you, we could have known this already by the previous scripture that revealed God’s relationship to the heart of all men (Prov. 16:1, 9, 21:1, 30).

1 Peter 2:8
"And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed."

In Isaiah 53 God takes pleasure in His plan to kill His own Son as an offering for sin, and, He is innocent, again, of all unrighteousness! In Isaiah 53:10, God claims complete ownership and authorship of the plan and its execution; while in Acts 3:13-15 God holds the Jews responsible for this sin, telling them it was their desire of evil, and they will be punished for it if they fail to repent and believe. It is a paradox. Please read carefully – first, Isaiah 53:10, and then Acts 3:13-15:

Isaiah 53:10
"Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He [God] hath put Him to grief: when Thou [God] shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand."

Acts 3:13-15
"The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus; Whom ye delivered up, and denied Him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. 14 But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; 15 And killed the Prince of life, Whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses."

Indeed, “whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did He in heaven, and in earth” and “it pleased the LORD to bruise” and crucify His Son (Ps. 135:6, Isaiah 53:10)! God took ownership of the most momentous event in all time! God has provided “gates of righteousness,” and Christ is “this Gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter” (Ps. 118:19-20) – praise God! “Every house is builded by some man; but He that built all things is God,” and “strait is the Gate, and narrow is the Way which leadeth unto life” (Heb. 3:4, Matt. 7:14)! Let everyone praise the LORD as the psalmist says, “I will praise Thee, for Thou has heard me, and art become my salvation” (Psalm 118:21)! Christ has become our salvation by “the LORD’s doing,” when, namely, “the stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the LORD’S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:22-23)! “This is the day which the LORD hath made!” And will you rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24)? The disciples were offended that Christ was smitten by men, but will you be offended that God smote Christ? God said, “I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad” (Matt. 26:31). The Son of Man has gone to the crucifix “as it was determined” of Him, nevertheless God holds men in a simultaneous responsibility, and “woe unto that man by whom He is betrayed” (Lk. 22:22)!

I say again, God took ownership of the most momentous event in all time! This event was the greatest sin of man against God, for they crucified the Lord of glory, but since it was a sovereign work of God it was the greatest display of God’s love to give and kill His Son, likewise the Son willingly laid down Himself under the Father’s death sentence, and more so, this was the greatest display of God’s wrath to require the value of His Own Life as the only capable means to pacify the magnitude of His just anger against sin and sinners. The sovereignty of God behind the crucifixion of Christ is carefully detailed in the book of Romans with much more explanation than Psalm 105, which gave only a snapshot of God’s sovereignty in Joseph’s betrayal, slavery, and rise to power. In Romans, God declares His mysterious purpose behind why He killed His own Son, and how that He did it by blinding His own people. Through the “fall,” “diminishing,” and “casting away” of God’s chosen people Israel (Romans 11:15), the Gentiles are grafted into the Tree of Salvation! God determined that it would be through the “fall” of Israel that the Gentiles would be saved (Rom. 11:11). How can their fall be the casting away of God? Did God cast them away in response to their sin only, or was God the author of this unsearchable plan!? Their fall into sin was that they rejected and crucified Christ, and God was the author and executor of these events through ordination, specifically in that He made them “slumber” in blindness and deafness (Romans 11:8). It was because they were blinded and made deaf that they did reject Christ, thus God’s Sovereign control is the cause and determining factor of sin and righteousness. So when a man is blind or deaf it was God’s election that determined it. In conclusion, my dear reader, there is one single point I am seeking to make clear...

What is absolutely necessary for so magnificent a victory,
Is that God was not carelessly outwitted to lose His Son at the hands of free-will sinners undone!
The free will of man held no priestly knife in this sovereign, eternal, salvific plan!
The Father was the transcending Great High Priest, and He is the author of every chapter of the plan;
In His hand He held the knife to condemn all sin in One Man.
Every finger may have been the finger of man,
But they gripped the knife of salvation to slay the world’s sin in One Sacrificial Propitiation.
The knife in hand, the final blow, was God’s judgment against sin – let all the world know!
His work, His way, He sacrificed His Son for all in one day!

Related Sermons:
"Salvation Is A Miracle" - by Ryan Ringnald

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A Kingdom Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand

10/14/2013

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Whitefield AGAINST Wesley = Saint AGAINST Saint

"But He, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth." - Luke 11:17

"And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand." - Mark 3:24-25

Calvinists are divided against Arminians as George Whitefield was against John Wesley, and yet, what is so perplexing to the Body of Christ is that they were both regenerated, sin-hating, sincere, and soundly saved by grace through faith, and evidently, both were honored by the Spirit of God to grant them power to preach. If they were both sin-hating, sincere, full of the Spirit, and admirable in their ministries, how is it that they came to be so divided? How is it that they would both be honored by God, and yet divided?

Brethren, beloved of God, this is one of the foremost proofs that there is TRUTH on both sides of the division, meaning that, there are articles of doctrine in Calvinism which are biblical and true, and there are articles of doctrine in Arminianism which are biblical and true. If this were not the case, then I do not believe God would have been with them, both Wesley and Whitefield, by blessing their ministries until God's purposes were fulfilled.

A Calvinist does believe that God is, in His person, and does, in His ways or deeds, just as the scriptures declare.

➡️

Malachi 3:6, James 1:17, Ecclesiastes 3:14, Numbers 23:19, 1 Samuel 15:29, Hebrews 6:17-18, Titus 1:2, Romans 11:29, Revelation 17:16-17, Deuteronomy 2:30, Isaiah 14:24-27, Isaiah 46:10-11, Job 23:13, Acts 4:28, Ephesians 1:11, Jude 1:4, Romans 9:1-23

An Arminian views this and sees what the Calvinist argues, how that God, in His ways, is absolutely sovereign in every way: eternal, unchanging, all powerful, and irresistible...but they wonder, being offended, thinking, "how can this be true?" They argue, if this is the spectrum by which God relates to man, then how does one explain these passages of scripture which are columned to the right? The Arminian asserts that the passages to the right attest to the existence of God in a contradictory expression to what the Calvinist affirms (the everlasting, unchangeable attributes of God). The Calvinist asserts that God cannot change... but God does change (His mind and His word)!

➡️

Exodus 32:10, Num. 14:11-12, Num. 16:21-22, Num. 16:45, Ezek. 20:8-9, Ezek. 20:13-14, Ezek. 20:21-22, Deut. 32:26-27, Deut. 9:4-8, Jer. 15:6, Jer. 6:11, Micah 7:18-19, Exodus 33:5, Hosea 11:8, Jeremiah 36:3, 36:7, Ezekiel 12:3, Zephaniah 3:5-7, Isaiah 5:1-5, Ezekiel 18:32, 18:23, Lamentations 3:33, 36, Luke 20:13, Luke 19:41-44, Luke 13:34-35, Luke 13:6-9, Matthew 21:37, Luke 20:13, Isaiah 63:8, Psalm 81:10-16, Zephaniah 3:7

For a further examination of such a consequential division, see The Condescension of God. Therein, by God's grace, this matter is addressed at length for the reader to prayerfully and solemnly consider. May God's grace be your guide.

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A Kingdom Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand

Whitefield AGAINST Wesley = Saint AGAINST Saint

Calvinism vs. Arminianism

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