This morning I hope to talk about three things in a way that relate one to another and should serve to reinforce an important point. First, by now most Christians have heard of the Prayer of Jabez book from 1 Chronicles 4:10. From one verse, ripped out of context, an entire book was developed and marketed to millions. Without regard to the motive of the author of the book, one thing is clear—the book is a sham. It suggests that the articulation of Jabez’s prayer in faith obligates God to perform for the one praying the same thing that He did for Jabez. Most Baptists understand that God doesn’t operate that way. There aren’t words that can be articulated which obligate God to do anything. Even the words “Have mercy upon me!” may not automatically result in mercy. In the end, God will have mercy upon whom He will have mercy (Romans 9:15).
Second, John Eckhardt, a self-proclaimed Apostle, markets a book that suggests that certain prayers rout demons and break curses. Obviously only he knows what prayers work and do not work. Therefore, you need to buy his book—the Bible is not be sufficient. So like Bruce Wilkinson, the author of the Prayer of Jabez, Eckhardt has the inside scoop and you need to buy his book. Again most Baptists (including other Fundamentalists and conservative Evangelicals) seem to understand that it is ridiculous to suggest that a particular prayer is necessary to gain victory over our Enemy or automatically gain victory over Satan and his cronies. It is seems as though nearly all Baptists understand that it is faith in the power of God that overcomes the devil and the flesh.
However, I find it quite ironical, sad, and disconcerting that these same Baptists sometimes teach by word and/or practice that a certain prayer is necessary for salvation or this prayer guarantees salvation. How can this be? How can Baptists refute the idea that the mere articulation of Jabez’s prayer will not obligate God to bless and how can they rebut the idea that saying the words in Eckhardt’s book will not obligate God to remove a demon from a person, but these same Baptists teach a child that the articulation of a prayer of salvation guarantees eternal life. How can these three things be reconciled? Where is this model prayer of salvation in the Bible? Where is the scriptural proof?
Is it Romans 10.13? Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Is that the same thing as say this prayer?
Is that what the Bible teaches? Is that how we tell somehow to be saved? Do we lead them in prayer? Can we not see that the mere articulation of words does not obligate God to bless financially or exorcise a demon or save a soul from hell?
Is it not repentance toward God and faith in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that saves the soul from hell (Acts 20:21)?
How can we say, “yes, I agree with you” and then violate our very words as we lead a six year old in a prayer—are they supposed to understand the difference?
Read about what does it means to call upon the name of the Lord here:
Can’t we stop practicing that which we know is not a guarantee of anything? In the end we can only tell someone what the Bible says and challenge them to repent and believe the gospel. We can do know more to seal the deal or close the net or invoke decision—only the Spirit of God can do that.
Showing posts with label Salvation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salvation. Show all posts
Beloved People who are NOT Beloved
Romans 9:25 I will call them my people, which are NOT my people.....
Romans 9:25-26 contains an amazing truth that should serve to encourage you even when life seems to be falling apart and nothing appears to be going your way.
Paul describes a group of people who are not blood descendents of Abraham—this would include nearly everyone who is presently reading this posting. (I am not aware of any orthodox Jews reading what I write.) These people are called Gentiles.
According to verse 26 they are not God’s people. They were not born with the special designation of being God’s people. Only Israel has that special designation of being able to claim to be a nation chosen by God and Christians should affirm that claim. Israel has been preserved by God and for God. And in verse 26 these people who are not Israelites get called “children of the living God.”
Don’t miss this point. In verse 25 Paul quotes an Old Testament prophecy by Hosea about a time in the future when God will call people who are NOT His people His people. By the call of God they by faith move from being NOT His people to His people. They are not born children of God—they, by faith, must be born-again when God calls them His people. They, by faith exchange unrighteousness for righteousness. They, by faith, exchange a status of being a created being to becoming a son of the one true living God.
They, by faith, exchange a dependency upon doing right, keeping the law, looking a particular way, etc. to a realization that God grants righteousness through the person and work of Christ and this realization is a belief system given by God when He called them sons of the living God.
Verse 30 sums up how one gets saved in the Bible quite well. Paul writes:
What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
That was me—a Gentile—a boy following NOT after righteousness. I didn’t have a right standing with God. There wasn’t anything about me that met God’s standard. I continually fell short moment after moment, day after day, week after week until God called.
And I, by faith, exchanged my fifthly rags of righteousness to the perfect righteousness of the King of Kings and Lord of Lord when God declared that I would be one of perhaps millions of sons of God who have no blood relationship to Abraham who are redeemed by the work of Jesus on the cross of Calvary.
If you are a child of the King—He knows your name and He cares for you. No matter what your struggle or heartache you can know that nothing will separate you from the love of God and this trial has been ordained and permitted by God for good. Notice I did not say your good—I just said good because that’s what the Bible says:
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
If God has called you His child, the son or daughter of the one true living God, then you may claim this promise even during the most difficult trials of life.
......Now, through Christ Jesus, God calls you "beloved which were NOT beloved" (Romans 9:25).
Nothing can separate the beloved from the love of God--nothing--not even the heartache and trial you are going through. Beloved of God claim that promise today!
Romans 9:25-26 contains an amazing truth that should serve to encourage you even when life seems to be falling apart and nothing appears to be going your way.
Paul describes a group of people who are not blood descendents of Abraham—this would include nearly everyone who is presently reading this posting. (I am not aware of any orthodox Jews reading what I write.) These people are called Gentiles.
According to verse 26 they are not God’s people. They were not born with the special designation of being God’s people. Only Israel has that special designation of being able to claim to be a nation chosen by God and Christians should affirm that claim. Israel has been preserved by God and for God. And in verse 26 these people who are not Israelites get called “children of the living God.”
Don’t miss this point. In verse 25 Paul quotes an Old Testament prophecy by Hosea about a time in the future when God will call people who are NOT His people His people. By the call of God they by faith move from being NOT His people to His people. They are not born children of God—they, by faith, must be born-again when God calls them His people. They, by faith exchange unrighteousness for righteousness. They, by faith, exchange a status of being a created being to becoming a son of the one true living God.
They, by faith, exchange a dependency upon doing right, keeping the law, looking a particular way, etc. to a realization that God grants righteousness through the person and work of Christ and this realization is a belief system given by God when He called them sons of the living God.
Verse 30 sums up how one gets saved in the Bible quite well. Paul writes:
What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
That was me—a Gentile—a boy following NOT after righteousness. I didn’t have a right standing with God. There wasn’t anything about me that met God’s standard. I continually fell short moment after moment, day after day, week after week until God called.
And I, by faith, exchanged my fifthly rags of righteousness to the perfect righteousness of the King of Kings and Lord of Lord when God declared that I would be one of perhaps millions of sons of God who have no blood relationship to Abraham who are redeemed by the work of Jesus on the cross of Calvary.
If you are a child of the King—He knows your name and He cares for you. No matter what your struggle or heartache you can know that nothing will separate you from the love of God and this trial has been ordained and permitted by God for good. Notice I did not say your good—I just said good because that’s what the Bible says:
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
If God has called you His child, the son or daughter of the one true living God, then you may claim this promise even during the most difficult trials of life.
......Now, through Christ Jesus, God calls you "beloved which were NOT beloved" (Romans 9:25).
Nothing can separate the beloved from the love of God--nothing--not even the heartache and trial you are going through. Beloved of God claim that promise today!
A Profound Question
A few days ago, a young person asked me a simply profound question:
“If my Sunday school teacher knew a prayer does not save a person from their sins, why did she lead me to pray a prayer for salvation?”
What a great question? How do you answer that?
Isn’t it interesting how we all say:
It is repentant faith in the person and work of Jesus as the Christ that saves one from the wrath of God and adopts them into the family of God, as a justified believer, and then we go forward with leading the boy or girl in some recitation of:
Dear Jesus,
How confusing?
It really needs to stop.
Ambassadors of God must challenge men and women, boys and girls to BELIEVE. Nothing more—salvation is a work of the Lord that is appropriated by faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ as the eternal prophet, priest and King--the Son of God.
The central teaching of the entire NT is “belief” in the person and work of Jesus Christ saves men and women. 1 John 5.1.
If the heart that has been regenerated wishes to pray, let it pray and pray and pray but not under the leadership of a canned prayer that seems more like a recitation than the confession of a new believer.
“If my Sunday school teacher knew a prayer does not save a person from their sins, why did she lead me to pray a prayer for salvation?”
What a great question? How do you answer that?
Isn’t it interesting how we all say:
It is repentant faith in the person and work of Jesus as the Christ that saves one from the wrath of God and adopts them into the family of God, as a justified believer, and then we go forward with leading the boy or girl in some recitation of:
Dear Jesus,
How confusing?
It really needs to stop.
Ambassadors of God must challenge men and women, boys and girls to BELIEVE. Nothing more—salvation is a work of the Lord that is appropriated by faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ as the eternal prophet, priest and King--the Son of God.
The central teaching of the entire NT is “belief” in the person and work of Jesus Christ saves men and women. 1 John 5.1.
If the heart that has been regenerated wishes to pray, let it pray and pray and pray but not under the leadership of a canned prayer that seems more like a recitation than the confession of a new believer.
What do Baptists believe about the Afterlife?
What happens to a person when he dies? Some believe that nothing happens; people die, their bodies decompose, and the end is the end. But this is not what Baptists believe to be true. Baptists believe what Orthodox Christians have believed to be true for two thousand years.
Christians believe there is more to life than just living and dying. Christians believe the universe, the earth, humans, and all that is contained within it were created by God—an infinitely powerful being Who exists outside of time with no beginning and no end. It is this God Who gives life purpose and grants to His children eternal life.
Moreover, Christians believe God has revealed Himself to mankind in the Bible. The Bible is a special Book because its authors were guided by God’s Spirit to pen only truth (2 Tim. 3:16). This same Sovereign God has preserved His Word so that Christians are not ignorant concerning what happens to people after they die.
According to the Bible, followers of Christ will spend eternity in an amazingly glorious place of indescribable splendor, beauty and joy in the presence of the Light of the Universe—the Son of God—Jesus Christ (Rev. 21). Christians die; their bodies are buried but their spirits (or souls) are immediately ushered into the presence of the Lord in heaven (2 Cor. 5:8).
Some groups and religions teach a “soul-sleep;” which is a not Biblical. Instead, the Bible makes reference to God’s people as alive after death. For example, Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus to Peter, James, and John on a high mountain in Israel after they died (Mt. 17).
When Jesus Christ returns to this earth, Christians’ bodies will be raised from the dead, be made perfect, and be reunited with their spirits to live forever with Jesus (1 Thess. 4:16).
“What will we do in heaven for all eternity?”
In heaven, God will wipe away every tear, and there will be no sorrow, sadness, or mourning (Rev. 21:4). Christians will work, play, eat, learn, and worship in their resurrected, glorified bodies without the interference of evil (Eph. 2:6-7). The same God Who created universe is going to destroy this world with fire and create a new heaven and a new earth for His people (2 Pet. 3:3). This restored creation will be freed from the tragic effects of sin and the curse. Christians will still be known by their earthly identities, but anything contrary to obeying and enjoying perfect fellowship with God will have been destroyed (Rev. 21:27). In the purest sense, we will enjoy the company of our Lord and brothers and sisters in Christ forever (1 Thess. 4:18).
But those who have rejected the Son of God will be judged by God (Jn. 5:24), found to be wanting (Rev. 20:12-15), and be sentenced to spend an eternity with Satan and his demons in hell (Mt. 25:41). Now if the idea of people spending eternity in hell sounds overwhelmingly frightening to you, it should (2 Cor. 5:11)! It is intended to be an overwhelming and frightening thing designed by God as punishment for rejecting the offer of love, forgiveness, mercy, and eternal life that He extends to the world through His Son (Jn. 3:16).
Unbelievers [in Christ], murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns “with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Rev. 21:8).
The Bible doesn’t make any reference anything other than heaven and hell—purgatory or a place in-between is not a Biblical concept.
Christians, like unbelievers in Christ, will die, but Christians don’t experience the second death (Rev. 21:8).
The apostle John wrote that if anyone says that he doesn’t sin [or transgress God’s laws] he is lying and the truth is not in him, but anyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God (1 Jn. 1:8, 5:1). The Bible teaches that “born of God” describes a divine second birth whereby God adopts a person into His family as a son or daughter of God (Jn. 1:12,13). Only those who repent [turn] from their sin of lying, cheating, stealing, rebelling, idolatry, immorality, and/or anything that has previously kept them from believing in the person and work of Jesus as the Christ are born of God (Luk. 13:3, Acts 17:30).
Christians believe that Jesus Christ is God’s only Son who has always existed as the second person of the Trinity (Mt. 14:33, Jn. 1:14).
They believe over two thousand years ago Christ left the glories of heaven as the Messiah [the Christ] to the Jews (Phil. 2:6-8). He was supernaturally born of a Virgin as the God-Man (Mt. 1:23), lived a perfect life (Heb. 4:15), and then, according to God’s plan, was whipped, punished, and put to death on a bloody cross as an innocent man for the sins of the whole world (1 Jn. 2:2, Heb. 9:22).
God made Jesus sin for us, [in spite of the fact that] He knew no sin, so that believers could be made righteous in Christ Jesus. (2 Cor. 5:21)
Christ defeated death and the works of the devil when He rose from the grave and demonstrated to the world that God has the power to give the same life to all who believe (Heb. 2:14,15)—first to His Son—and then to all who declare themselves to be followers of Jesus (Mt. 10:32, 1 Cor. 15). Followers of Christ have Jesus as their advocate with the Father so that their sins are forgiven as a member of God’s family (1 Jn. 2).
The Son of God eliminated the sting of death for all who will turn to the One True God and place their faith and trust in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross (1 Cor. 15, 1 Jn. 2). Don’t pay for your own sins. God’s Son bought you with a price (1 Pet. 1:18,19); therefore, begin glorifying God today in both your body and spirit (1 Cor. 6:19,20).
Recognize that you (like every human being) are a liar, a sinner, and you have been an unbeliever—change that today (Acts 3:19).
Turn to God, and declare yourself a sinner, guilty of violating His commandments, who now believes in the Truth and wants to be a child of God and a follower of His Son—Jesus Christ
(Jn. 9:35-38).
—Pastor Sean E. Harris
1 John 5.1 It will Preach!
Have you ever read a verse before but when you read it one particular time it just jumps off the page? I had that happen this morning.
Here is the verse in my own words: “Everyone that believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (1 John 5.1a).
That verse will preach; I mean it will preach.
I am only in 1 John 2 so I am weeks away from preaching this text, but here is how I see it:
• Question 1: What does it mean to be born of God? Is this the same as born-again? Is this saved?
• Question 2: What does it mean to believe? The devils believe and they are not born of God so what is the distinguishing aspects of this type of belief?
• Question 3: And this one is the biggest of them all. What does it mean to believe that Jesus is the Christ?
Now that is the big one. What all is involved in believing that Jesus is the Christ.
Let me cut and paste one paragraph for you to read from the Easton Bible Dictionary:
Christ — anointed, the Greek translation of the Hebrew word rendered “Messiah” (q.v.), the official title of our Lord, occurring five hundred and fourteen times in the New Testament. It denotes that he was anointed or consecrated to his great redemptive work as Prophet, Priest, and King of his people. He is Jesus the Christ (Acts 17:3; 18:5; Matt. 22:42), the Anointed One.
So having read that paragraph, do you see how you could use this verse as a great opening and closing verse in a gospel presentation.
Off the top of my head let me share with you what we see here in regards to believing that Jesus is the Christ.
• Son of God sent from God the Father.
• Virgin born God-Man.
• Sinless Life.
• Vicarious Substitutionary Atonement on the cross.
• Literal death, burial and resurrection.
• Savior (implying that I have a need for a Savior because of my sin).
• Lord (acknowledging that I will strive to live as the Master wishes; implying an act of surrender and repentance).
• Prophet (recognizing that He speaks and is an authoritative spokesman for God in my life).
• King (King of Kings).
What do you think? Could you use this verse to preach the gospel?
Here is the verse in my own words: “Everyone that believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (1 John 5.1a).
That verse will preach; I mean it will preach.
I am only in 1 John 2 so I am weeks away from preaching this text, but here is how I see it:
• Question 1: What does it mean to be born of God? Is this the same as born-again? Is this saved?
• Question 2: What does it mean to believe? The devils believe and they are not born of God so what is the distinguishing aspects of this type of belief?
• Question 3: And this one is the biggest of them all. What does it mean to believe that Jesus is the Christ?
Now that is the big one. What all is involved in believing that Jesus is the Christ.
Let me cut and paste one paragraph for you to read from the Easton Bible Dictionary:
Christ — anointed, the Greek translation of the Hebrew word rendered “Messiah” (q.v.), the official title of our Lord, occurring five hundred and fourteen times in the New Testament. It denotes that he was anointed or consecrated to his great redemptive work as Prophet, Priest, and King of his people. He is Jesus the Christ (Acts 17:3; 18:5; Matt. 22:42), the Anointed One.
So having read that paragraph, do you see how you could use this verse as a great opening and closing verse in a gospel presentation.
Off the top of my head let me share with you what we see here in regards to believing that Jesus is the Christ.
• Son of God sent from God the Father.
• Virgin born God-Man.
• Sinless Life.
• Vicarious Substitutionary Atonement on the cross.
• Literal death, burial and resurrection.
• Savior (implying that I have a need for a Savior because of my sin).
• Lord (acknowledging that I will strive to live as the Master wishes; implying an act of surrender and repentance).
• Prophet (recognizing that He speaks and is an authoritative spokesman for God in my life).
• King (King of Kings).
What do you think? Could you use this verse to preach the gospel?
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