I listen to Fighting for the Faith sometimes and find it a good way to get a sense of what kinds of heresy those in my church may be hearing. I was absolutely shocked at a sermon reviewed there this week, from a church that evidently is large and growing. Here is the link to the episode. The sermon review starts about half way through the program and begins with a recounting of Evil Kenevil, other daredevils and their accomplishments.
If the link does not work, you can go to fightingforthefaith.com and scroll down until you find - Sermon Review: Daredevil by Troy Gramling.
You may want to make sure there is nothing heavy at hand, as you might throw at your computer in frustration as you listen to the sermon!
For those who teach the truth - press on please!
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Is it OK for God to require from us what we can't do?
I was reading in Deut. 29 this morning and was struck by the contrast between what God had required of Israel and what they were able to do in response.
Deut. 29:2 Now Moses called all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land— 3 the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day. (NKJV)
Israel has been through a lot, they have seen God do many miracles, and they have been disciplined for their failure to believe and obey God's word, yet God says they are unable to understand, that they are essentially deaf and blind to the truth!
So how can God still require they meet His perfect standard? Well, let's consider it another way. How could a perfect God require or approve of a less than a perfect standard? Less than God's will is always sin, so for God to require less than perfection from us, would be to approve of sin, and He will not do that!
OK, so God must only advocate for His own perfect holy standard and require us to follow it as well, but if we can't, is it right for Him to punish us for it? Well, let's put it another way, is it right for God to not punish sin? Would God be perfect, holy and just, if He overlooked sin? No, of course not!
OK, so consider our situation: God must require we meet His perfect holy standard and punish us if we don't, and we will never, from our own resources, be able to do what He requires and escape His punishment. So, it is clear, we need for Him to do everything necessary to save us from our situation, and in Jesus He has, for those who's eyes He opens and come to believe upon Him.
Rom. 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (NKJV)
It is right for God to require we adhere to His perfect standard and punish us for not doing so! But all glory to Him for making a way in which the perfect standard could be upheld, justice could be kept, and sinners like us could be saved!
We may not be able to figure all this out, or answer every question, but God has told us what we need to know in His word, and we need to trust His wisdom in not telling us other things. He expresses this fact in the last verse of Deut. 29
Deut. 29:29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (NKJV)
"Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."
Deut. 29:2 Now Moses called all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land— 3 the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day. (NKJV)
Israel has been through a lot, they have seen God do many miracles, and they have been disciplined for their failure to believe and obey God's word, yet God says they are unable to understand, that they are essentially deaf and blind to the truth!
So how can God still require they meet His perfect standard? Well, let's consider it another way. How could a perfect God require or approve of a less than a perfect standard? Less than God's will is always sin, so for God to require less than perfection from us, would be to approve of sin, and He will not do that!
OK, so God must only advocate for His own perfect holy standard and require us to follow it as well, but if we can't, is it right for Him to punish us for it? Well, let's put it another way, is it right for God to not punish sin? Would God be perfect, holy and just, if He overlooked sin? No, of course not!
OK, so consider our situation: God must require we meet His perfect holy standard and punish us if we don't, and we will never, from our own resources, be able to do what He requires and escape His punishment. So, it is clear, we need for Him to do everything necessary to save us from our situation, and in Jesus He has, for those who's eyes He opens and come to believe upon Him.
Rom. 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (NKJV)
It is right for God to require we adhere to His perfect standard and punish us for not doing so! But all glory to Him for making a way in which the perfect standard could be upheld, justice could be kept, and sinners like us could be saved!
We may not be able to figure all this out, or answer every question, but God has told us what we need to know in His word, and we need to trust His wisdom in not telling us other things. He expresses this fact in the last verse of Deut. 29
Deut. 29:29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (NKJV)
"Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
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