GOOD FRIDAY

Originally written 04/06/07

FOR WHO DID CHRIST DIE?

John Owen

---

The Father imposed His wrath due unto, and the Son underwent punishment for, either:

1. All the sins of all men.
2. All the sins of some men, or
3. Some of the sins of all men.

In which case it may be said:

1. That if the last be true, all men have some sins to answer for, and so, none are saved.
2. That if the second be true, then Christ, in their stead suffered for all the sins of all the elect in the whole world, and this is the truth.
3. But if the first be the case, why are not all men free from the punishment due unto their sins?

You answer, "Because of unbelief."

I ask, Is this unbelief a sin, or is it not? If it be, then Christ suffered the punishment due unto it, or He did not. If He did, why must that hinder them more than their other sins for which He died? If He did not, He did not die for all their sins!"

I love this apologetic by the Puritan John Owen because it exposes the faulty thinking concerning the atoning death of Christ. Most people today assert (wrongly, I might add) that Christ died for all the sins of all men. IF this were the case, then certainly all people would be destined and secured of heavenly residence when they pass from this earthly life into the next. From Holy Writ itself, we know this is not the case. Consider the documentation of the wealthy man and the beggar Lazarus (not Jesus' friend who He raised from the dead, a different Lazarus) in Luke 16: 19-31:

"Now there was a certain rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in splendor every day. And a certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man's table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores.

Now it came about that the poor man died and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried.

And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue; for I am in agony in this flame.'

But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, in order that those who wish to come over from here to you may not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.'

And he (the wealthy man in Hell) said, 'Then I beg you, Father, that you send him to my father's house - for I have five brothers - that he may warn them, lest they also come to this place of torment.'

But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.'

But he (the wealthy man in Hell) said, 'No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!'

But he (Abraham) said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.'" (NASB)

So you see, we have documentation from Scripture itself that there are people in Hell. The logical and reasonable conclusion is that Jesus did NOT die on the cross to pay the penalty of ALL the sins of ALL men - or else there would be no person in Hell - only Satan and his demons. But from Scripture, we see there are people in Hell. This means either Jesus did not pay the ransome for all men, or the King of kings and Lord of lords is less than capable. Heresy! There is no impotence in God. He is all-powerful, all-capable, all-mighty. He lacks nothing. His will WILL come about. No one whom He died for will slip through His sovereign hand! When Jesus declared 'It is finished' on the cross, He was affirming the definite redemption of His people. God forbid we keep mute while heresy is released on simple, ignorant, unsuspecting ears. We may not be 'born again' until we're 30, but our eternal salvation was secure at the cross! AMEN! GLORY HALLELUJAH!

Today is Good Friday. My favorite day of Holy Week. Yes, Easter is the glory of the Passion, but Easter is nothing without a right understanding of Good Friday.

Just who did Jesus die on the cross for? That's the most important question - I think - and one that must be investigated instead of merely assumed. Christ died the death due to those God gave Him. In short, Jesus Christ was smitten, tortured, humiliated, forsaken by the Father, and died for the Elect as opposed to the universal 'world'. The Elect are those sovereignly chosen from before the dawn of time to be favored by God. (Ephesians 1:4)

"As many as were ordained to eternal life believed." Acts 13:48

"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you, that you should go forth and bring forth fruit...." John 15:16

"For the transgression of my people, He was stricken." Isaiah 53:8

"You are to give him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins." Matthew 1:21

"The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:28

"Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has come and has redeemed His people." Luke 1:68

"I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own." John 10:14

"It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love." John 13:1

"Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You. For You granted Him authority over all people that He might give eternal life to all those You have given Him...I pray for them. I am not praying for the world." John 17:1-2, 9

J.I. Packer has pointed out that the statement "Christ died for you," which has become so common in today's evangelism, simply cannot be found in any of the sermons recorded for us in Scripture. Packer writes:

"The fact is that the New Testament never calls on any man to repent on the ground that Christ died specifically and particularly for him. The basis on which the New Testament invites sinners to put faith in Christ is simply that they need Him, and that He offers Himself to them, and that those who receive Him are promised all the benefits that His death secured for His people. What is universal and all-inclusive in the New Testament is the invitation to faith, and the promise of salvation to all who believe.... The gospel is not 'believe that Christ died for everybody's sins, and therefore for yours,' any more than it is, 'believe that Christ died only for certain people's sins, and so perhaps not for yours.' The gospel is: 'believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for sins, and now offers you Himself as your Saviour.' This is the message which we are to take to the world. We have no business to ask them to put faith in any view of the extent of the atonement; our job is to point them to the living Christ, and summon them to trust in Him."

Further, "a good example of the kind of preaching Packer describes is Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon...believed in a definite atonement. But this did not stop him from becoming one of the most effective evangelists of his age. He did not lie to people. He did not say, 'I know you are elect; therefore, Christ died for you.' For Spurgeon, it was enough to say, 'You are a sinner, and Jesus died for sinners. If you would be saved, you must repent of your sin and believe the gospel.'" (The Doctrines of Grace by James M. Boice, pp.133)

There are merely two kinds of people - Elect and Reprobate. Children of God or children of the devil. "Jesus said to them, 'If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceed forth and come from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.'" (John 9:39-47 NKJV)

Powerful!

It is humanly impossible to know for certain who is which, but one day it will be known. That's why we are commanded to preach the whole truth of the Gospel in it's entirety to every tribe and tongue - the Elect are 'in there somewhere'!

"Do not say, 'But I do not know if Jesus died for me or not.' You cannot know the answer to that in the abstract. The only way you will ever know is if you will come to Jesus. If you do come, then you know that you are one for whom He died. Therefore, come to Jesus! And if you have not done so before, come now!" (The Doctrines of Grace by James M. Boice, pp.134)

Now that's a biblical alter call!

Why?

We rode into town the other day, just me and my Daddy.
He said I’d finally reached that age,
and I could ride next to him on a horse that of course was not quite as wide
We heard a crowd of people shouting and so we stopped to find out why
There was that man that my dad said he loved,
but today there was fear in his eyes

So I said Daddy why are they screaming?
Why are the faces of some of them beaming?
Why is he dressed in that bright purple robe?
I bet that crown hurts him more than he shows Daddy please can’t you do something?
He looks as though he’s going to cry
You said he is stronger than all of those guys-Daddy please tell me why,
why does everyone want him to die?

Later that day the sky grew cloudy and daddy said I should go inside
Some how he knew things would get stormy...boy was he right
But I could not keep from wondering if there was something that he had to hide
So after he left I had to find out, I was not afraid of getting lost
So I followed the crowds to a hill where I knew men had been killed
And I heard a voice come from a cross:

And it said :
Father why are they screaming.
Why are the faces of some of them beaming?
Why are they casting their lots for My robes??
This crown of thorn hurts Me more than it shows.
Father please can’t You do something?
I know that you must hear My cry.
I thought I could handle a cross of this size,
Father remind Me why,
why does everyone want Me to die.

When will I understand why....?

My precious Son, I hear them screaming.
I’m watching the face of the Enemy beaming.

But soon I will clothe you in robes of My own.
Jesus this hurts Me more than You know.
But this dark hour - I must do nothing.
I’ve heard Your unbearable cry —
the power in Your blood destroys all the lies,
soon You’ll see past their unmerciful eyes -

Look there below - see the child ... trembling by her father’s side.

Now I can tell You why...she is why You must die.

~ Nicole Nordeman ~

Thank You Jesus!

Bewitched American Evangelical Pastors - God Have Mercy on Us!

"And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, 'Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.'"

~ Nehemiah 4:14 ESV ~

Beloved,

Nehemiah is one of my favorite Old Testament books (actually, I have a lot of 'favorites'!). The major theme of Ezra and Nehemiah (originally one book, not two) is that God works sovereignly through responsible human agents to accomplish His redemptive purpose (RC Sproul). The specific task in Nehemiah was to rebuild the destroyed defensive walls around Jerusalem. Each family had the task of not only laboring to rebuild the wall, but while doing so, to fight to defend the work they had accomplished so far. A tool in one hand to advance and a sword in the other to defend. We would be wise to apply that ethic today! "Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built." (Neh. 4:17b-18 ESV)

My oh my, how the protective walls and hedges in America have crumbled; not because of outside aggression, but because of inside passivity, apathy, and willful ignorance - on the shoulders of the Remnant. "If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and will heal their land." (II Chronicles 7:14 NIV)

I want to be sure to make you aware of a wonderful opportunity to hear David Barton of WallBuilders right here in Wichita! FREE!

A breakfast/conference titled:

Restoring Hope - Understanding Our Role in Civil Society
Saturday, March 29th - 9:00AM
Hyatt

It is a breakfast for Pastors and concerned citizens. You are a concerned citizen!

As you are aware, we live in mind-numbing obstinance concerning our Christian duty within the culture. More often than not, our own dear Pastors and Shepherds have been educated in secular-humanist school systems and have been taken captive by the lie of 'separation of church and state' and in bondage to revisionist history that denies a biblical and forthrightly Christian influence in the founding of this great nation. Even more tragic than that, there are very influential evangelical Pastors who scorn 'earthly' participation in the culture claiming we are only to live to spread the gospel (conversion) - at the exclusion of the actual living out our transformed lives as Christ's stewards of this culture and the people within it.

There is a massive disconnect between orthodoxy and orthopraxy in our day.

God requires both!

Two sides of the same coin!

Read the book of James.

This breakfast is free, seating is limited, and registration deadline is March 22nd. You are welcome to register online through the provided e-mail link.

http://www.kansasfpc.com/

"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

~ Micah 6:8 ESV ~


Please know you and your husband are welcome to attend this free and informative breakfast. Encourage your Pastor and his wife to come and learn along with you. We must pray for our Elders and our Pastors! We must pray for them and encourage them to ask themselves, "What sayeth the Lord?" and to take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ instead of merely parroting back some quippy answer they've heard from an articulate and influential church or seminary leader.

May God be pleased to open the eyes of His servants for the benefit of our nation and the people living in it and the generations to come. Amen and Amen.

Serving His Kingdom Here and Now ~


********************

For a more explicit article about the obstinance of American Pastors today, read: ...And The Pulpits Are Silent. Flies in the face of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book The Cost of Discipleship. Required reading for any intentional follower of Jesus Christ as Commander.

http://www.newswithviews.com/Daubenmire/dave106.htm

Faith Here, Faith There, Faith Everywhere, but w-h-a-t is it...Really?

Faith. What a confusing and ambiguous word these days. 'Saved by grace through faith....' This is important! With so much emphasis these days on 'faith', it is important to know what it is - and what it is not. I encourage you to look up Article 14 in the 1869 London Baptist Confession for a historical and biblical explanation of saving faith...but in the meantime, I've cut and pasted a portion from the Founders Journal web site. www.founders.org A treasure to bookmark for sure. When reading this excerpt, keep in mind the bedrock parable of the sower in Mark 4:1-20. FAITH A person can hear the gospel, but if he never exercises saving faith he remains lost for eternity. While many people try to justify themselves before God on the basis of their religious activity or their good works, the Bible clearly tells us that the only way to come to God is through faith in Jesus Christ. Too often, faith is misunderstood. 1. There are four kinds of faith First, there is a historical faith, which means that a person believes what the Bible says because they have been culturally conditioned to believe it. In communities where the Christian faith is strong or there is a strong sense of divine authority, a person who does not believe the Bible's message about Christ might become an outcast. This happens due to the strong social and cultural influences which often have roots in Christianity. The only problem is that this kind of faith cannot save. The demons of hell exercise this kind of faith...and they certainly are not saved! You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder (James 2:19). Second, there is temporary faith, which lasts for a while, then fades away because it does not have any roots. Jesus describes this in the parable of the sower in which the Word of God is sown upon a heart with shallow soil. Just like a little seed which germinates in shallow soil, there springs up what appears to be life. But because of the shallow soil the life is only temporary and quickly withers. And the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word, and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away (Matthew 13:20-2 1). Some people have a religious experience or even have great excitement about the Christian life, possibly even making a public profession of Christ. But if the Word of God does not take firm root in his life by its saving power, this kind of person quickly fades away when the demands of the Christian life confront him. This kind of faith cannot save. Third, there is a miraculous faith, which describes those individuals who through some means or another are able to perform miraculous works and because of this they believe themselves to be saved. Judas Iscariot followed Jesus Christ for three years and was even involved in doing miraculous works. Yet he perished in hell! Pharaoh's magicians imitated the miracles of Moses for a time, yet they were by no means believers! Jesus warned against this kind of false faith in Matthew 7:21-23: Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you: Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness. ' Finally, there is a true, justifying faith or saving faith, which is a gift of God given to us that we might believe the Person and Work of Christ on our behalf. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). Let's clarify this wonderful gift of saving faith. (Saving faith precedes new birth. Saving faith is a gift of God for His elect! – Jilly) 2. What faith is not Sometimes it helps to see what something is not in order to see what it really is. Saving faith is not a mere acknowledgment of the historical facts of Jesus Christ. Most people will acknowledge this, yet remain lost. Saving faith is not merely believing in God. Remember that the demons believe in God too! Saving faith is not simply an acknowledgment that Jesus is a Savior or that Jesus can save. Neither is saving faith simply faith in faith.. .nor faith in a decision. ..nor faith in a prayer. ..nor faith in a profession...nor faith in your own plan of salvation. 3. What justifying faith is True faith is based upon the fact of what God has declared in His Word. The object of saving or justifying faith is Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished on behalf of sinners through the cross. It is when the sinner humbly approaches Jesus Christ in absolute trust in Him that the work of the cross is applied in saving power to the sinner's life. Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the Law (Romans 3:27-28). It is not the works of the sinner that saves him. His works are powerless to bring about salvation. But when God gives him grace to believe in Jesus Christ and trust what Christ did on the cross for him, that person is transformed by the power of God. How does justifying faith operate? There are three facets to this kind of true, saving faith. First, there is self-renunciation in which a person comes to the end of himself, recognizes his absolute sinfulness and hopelessness before God, and turns from his sin, then turns to God, Who alone can save him. Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19). This self-renunciation is evident by repentance, which involves a change of mind about life, so that the person turns away from his life of rebellion toward God and casts himself wholly upon the mercy of God to save him (see also Acts 2:38; Luke 13:3; Mark 1:15). The Apostle Paul described this work in his own life in Philippians 3:8-9. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. Second, justifying faith involves a total reliance upon Jesus Christ and His work on the cross to save you. That's what faith or believing means, a total reliance or absolute trust in someone or something. in this case the Someone is Jesus Christ! When the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas what he must do in order to be saved, they replied, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household (Acts 16:30-31; see also John 3:16; 3:36; 5:24; 6:40; 6:47). This belief in Christ goes beyond mere head knowledge of Jesus to a trust in Christ and Christ alone"Forsaking All, I Trust Him." The Apostle Paul never boasted about anything he did in order to be saved, because he realized that it was all of Christ and none of him. But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Galatians 6:14). for salvation. Faith means Third, Justifying faith involves appropriating or receiving Christ Himself as your Redeemer, Justifier, Savior, and Lord. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13). When a person comes to Jesus Christ in absolute trust, he receives Christ into His life, and with Him, all that He has accomplished for sinners. Now that new believer knows Christ in a different fashion. No longer is He just an impersonal God in the heavens. But now he enters into a living, dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ as his Lord. Jesus has redeemed him from the power of sin, so Jesus is now his Redeemer. Jesus has applied His blood and righteousness to his life and declared him to be righteous before God, so Jesus is now his Justifier. Jesus has saved him from the wrath of God, so now Jesus is his Savior. Jesus has laid claim to his life for eternity by His atoning death and mighty resurrection, so now Jesus is his Lord. **************** Plainly put, saving faith is a gift from God. One cannot muster up true, saving faith. It is a gift of grace for the elect alone. It is always important to examine our faith and see if it is true, biblical faith - not the pithy faith espoused from the modern pulpit of easy-believism. The Matthew "7:21 Window" is ever widening in American evangelical assemblies. The mission field is sitting right next to you faithfully each week...in the pew...and teaching your sweet children in Sunday School...and preaching from the pulpit...and walking down the aisle during the alter call...and praying the 'Sinner's Prayer'...and serving on committees.... "I feel a divine jealously for you, for I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough." II Corinthians 11:2-4 esv We must be fiercely devoted to defending the True Truth in Scripture and be aware that the preaching of another Jesus rather than the Jesus presented in the whole cannon of Scripture is a false Jesus and of no use; and a gospel message that is popular but contrary to the whole gospel message in Scripture is of no use. We are saved by GRACE! Sovereign, effectual, irresistible GRACE! We are not saved by faith - faith is the instrument, a given by grace vehicle whereby we respond to the gift. From before God said, "Let there be light" He knew my name and proclaimed me His. Not because He saw down the corridor of time and knew I would choose Him - the carnal man, the natural, spiritually dead man is at enmity to God and will never seek Him. Why this privileged standing? I haven't a clue. No one does. I'm just so very, very thankful. Because of this choosing, at His appointed time He breathed life into my spirit and raised me from the dead. The spirit-man. That part of our being that died in the Garden (Eden). He quickened me unto spiritual life - that is the salvation by grace - and by that grace gave me the gift of saving faith so I could come to Him in repentance and belief. Saving faith is impossible without spiritual birth. Regeration (new birth/being born again) precedes faith. The order of salvation is important to having a right understanding of the character of God. Many people discount the order of salvation - claiming it to be a growth issue, not a salvation issue. Semantics, they whine. How wrong they are. It is critically important to know the God of Genesis through Revelation as He is, not as we've been told, not as we want Him to be. "And I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD," declares the Lord God, "when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and will cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. And you will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God." Ezekiel 36:23-28 nasb/1977 Note: Within contemporary evangelicalism many – if not most in America – believe this passage to refer to biological Jews/Israel. Dispensationalists bifurcate both the people of God and the Word of God. The Reformed however, recognize the continuity of the message of Scripture throughout the Old and the New Testament and believe God has chosen one people and one message to them – which are the elect in Christ and the whole Interestingly enough, there are a few Dispensationalists who believe in sovereign election and sovereign grace. of the Word of God.

Originally posted Saturday, April 29, 2006 – Xanga blog

Having not a clue as to what theology was or why it would matter, I was completely shocked 10 years ago to sit in a pew in Gilbert, Arizona and hear preaching from Scripture that was contrary to what I had grown up 'knowing' about God. Namely, that 'we are all God's children', and that 'Jesus died for EVERYONE', and that all we had to do to escape the fire of hell was to A.) Admit we are sinners - and who in their right mind would deny that ?, B.) Believe Jesus Christ is God's Son, that He was born of a virgin, that He lived a sinless life, that He was crucified, dead, burried, and that He rose from the grave - alive - and that this particular set of circumstances 'paid the penalty due me because of my sins' and made me clean as snow in the sight of God - hence 'reconciled to God' and acceptable to Him...able to go to Heaven. C.) Confess Jesus as my 'personal Savior' and particularly to say this in public before other people - preferably right before being baptized.

One fulfilled these requirements by praying a 'sinners prayer' with the right words like, "I know I've sinned, I know You died for my forgiveness, I know You rose from the dead, I want to go to heaven and have You come into my heart and save me."

I grew up thinking this sacred prayer with the right word-ingredients and a sincere attitude - was my insurance policy that guaranteed a spot in Heaven. Nothing else was required. Right belief - check. Right prayer - check. Sincerity - check. Covered. Period. I could go on to live as I pleased because I was 'banking on grace' and not on 'works'. To attach self-denial, obedience, good works, or anything else to the knowledge of salvation by 'grace' through 'faith' was to negate the whole shebang...so I wouldn't want to do that. I sincerely believed 'salvation' was free (which it is) and that fact automatically meant it was cheap. I believed there were two types of legitimate Christians: 1.) people who accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, and 2.) people who bent their knee to Jesus Christ as their LORD...that carnal-Christians were just as legitimate as Christians who pursue personal holiness and mortification of sin.

A big fancy, theological word for this 'cheap grace' or 'cheap salvation' is - brace yourself - Antinomianism. Look it up, it goes w-a-y back to Pelagius (418 AD, Synod of Carthage).

Thing is, someone can sincerely believe anything and it doesn't make it truth. Frankly, that particular Sunday, the harsh reality hit me when our Pastor quoted from the book of James in the New Testament that even the demons believe Jesus is Who He says He is - and they tremble. There just has to be more to this than sincere belief of the 'right' facts. Further, as demonstrated in Scripture, the demons not only believe Jesus but they obey Jesus. Even Satan obeys God - remember Job? So there has to be more to this than obedience (works). So since I've established that only an imbecile would deny they were a sinner, and that there must be more 'to it' than belief in the right data, and there must be more 'to it' than obeying the commands of Christ - that leaves me with the all-important question: "How DOES one get right with God?"

Great question - and truly the ONLY question that matters both now and forever.

If you don't have the answer to the "How do I get right with God?" question, it would be a wisest use of your time and space on this planet today to get in the Bible - the Word of God preserved over time - and find out. Start with the Gospel of John. In the Gospel of Matthew (19:26) you will get Jesus' answer to this vital: "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ allow your eyes to see, your ears to hear, and your heart to know the Truth of His Word - for the Gospel - the 'Good News' of Who Jesus Christ is and why He matters to you - is the power to save.

(originally posted on a Xanga 3/26/06)