Tag Archives: Gospel

Against Dispensationalism — Thesis 26

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Yes, there are plenty more thesis’ to go concerning Dispensationalism. I’ve already posted numbers 1-25 but I wanted us to look at number 26 in particular.

Remember, that in this discussion, I am not saying that Dispensationalists are not Christians. What I am saying is that their view of Scripture is misguided and wrong. It is a movement that only started in the 1800s and breaks with orthodox Christianity.

I was reminded this week that Dispensationalism was also a movement started by a woman who had a visions about the rapture and those around her proclaimed her to be a prophetess. (See here for the implications, and a related post concerning hearing the voice of God today).

What is wrong with this? Well, it goes against the basic understanding that the Canon of Scripture is closed. There is no more new revelation of what God has given us (Jude 3). Those who buy into Dispensationalism are buying into a system of doctrine that is based on a woman’s vision in the 1830s. If they do this, then they cannot  criticize those who have visions and so-called special revelations like David Koresh did before his death back in the early 1990s. I know that may be a bit on the extreme side in order to make the point. But the question remains: if we are accepting modern-day visions and prophecies, where do we draw the line between acceptable visions and prophecies and that which beyond reason, as was the case with Koresh, or Mary Baker Eddy, or Joseph Smith, or any number of nut jobs that have come along in the last 2000 years?

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Ask Pastor Timothy

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A friend wrote and asked me to respond to the following quote:

“You can not grow spiritually healthy until your are emotionally healthy.  Emotional maturity is necessary for spiritual growth”

Wow! What a burden that places on us to get emotionally healthy, and what a hindrance for the Holy Spirit. This statement is very similar to the statement that was made to a bunch of single friends back in the 1990s: “You will never be married until you are spiritually mature!” Glad we have that going for us. Now that I’m married, I MUST be spiritually mature!

I had to speak to my friend to find out more about the quote before I gave any comment to it. Apparently the pastors of this church are preaching through a book that makes this claim on Sunday mornings. Notice, I said that they are “preaching through a book?” Please notice, they are not preaching from a book in the Bible, but some popular book out there that is supposed to help us become holistically healthy, so that we may go out into the culture and reach people for Jesus Christ.

This type of stuff always sounds great on the surface. “Let’s get you healed up and complete so that you can be used by God, people will see you for being complete and whole and want to come to know Christ too!” The problem with this mindset is that it is contrary to the gospel itself and makes evangelism/spiritual maturity, growth in Christ, all dependent upon us. It is very much like the statement from St. Francis of Assisi: “Preach the gospel always. Use words when necessary.”

This isn’t the gospel at all, but humanism with a gospel dress. It’s an attempt to make those feel like they are in control of their emotions, the gospel, the kingdom, their own spiritual growth. This fails on several levels.

First, please notice that the Apostle Paul never called us to become more Christ-like so that we could preach the gospel, even using words at times. He said just the opposite: 2 Corinthians 4:5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.

Paul wasn’t preaching himself, but Christ alone. This is the call of the church when it comes to reaching the world. We are not to preach ourselves, or put ourselves on display or even talk about how much we have benefited from being saved. We are to preach Christ. We are to tell of His death and resurrection. We are to point others to the gospel for salvation, not us, or a particular church. It is the gospel that saves, not our conformity to some holistic ministry model.

Secondly, the above quote and assertion assumes that emotional health is something under our control and precedes spiritual maturity. Emotional health may result as we grow in Christ, but it may not. That is not the goal of the gospel and sometimes the LORD leaves a thorn or two in our flesh to keep us dependent upon Him (2 Corinthians 12:7). Some people may always be emotional wrecks, yet, God may use such to help them grow spiritually.

Third, the problem with the quote is that it seems devoid of Christ’s work in our lives through the washing of the water and the word (Ephesians 5:25-26). It is Christ who cleanses us with His word and His Spirit. We don’t mature because we do something or don’t do something, we mature spiritually because He causes the growth and cleanses us and heals us. We are dependent upon Him for spiritual growth.

Now, we may aid in that growth. Just as a child will grow whether we feed him M&M’s and candy bars, or chicken soup and veggies, the child will grow. The question is: will the child be more healthy using a healthy diet, or using candy? Since we know healthy eating helps our children grow in a healthy manner, so too does eating spiritually healthy food aid us in our spiritual lives.

What is spiritual food? The preaching and teaching of God’s word. This is the spiritual food that Jesus commanded Peter to give to His sheep (John 21). If we want to be healthy spiritually speaking and grow spiritually speaking, we must seek out those things that help us grow in that manner: His word, the preached word of God, the sacraments of baptism and communion, prayer and corporate worship.

Isn’t it ironic that the above church that brought all this about is trying to grow their people spiritually but isn’t using the very means that God has given them to do so? Sad. The pastors of this church should truly repent of such foolishness. They are turning to man’s wisdom in order to grow God’s people, yet God has told us to preach Christ crucified in order to do so. Shame on them.

For more on spiritual growth, I commend the chapter on Growth in J.C. Ryle’s book: Holiness. Go here to read it.

Also, if you have a question for me, email me at askpastortimothy   at Gmail dot com. That is in code, so I hope you can figure it out. I wrote it that way so some bot doesn’t discover it and spam me.

We Are Not Saved By Asking Jesus Into Our Hearts

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This one came up because my son took a test last week at his school in which one of the questions was: “How are we saved?” The possible answers were “by being good,” something that my wife could not remember (she was proctoring the test), and “by asking Jesus into our hearts.”

This last choice was supposed to be the “right” answer. But notice, I put the word “right” in quotations. It is not the right answer. We are not saved by asking Jesus into our hearts. That would make our salvation a work and not by faith alone in Christ alone. This goes against the very doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone. We are saved by believing in Christ for salvation, and not “asking Him into our hearts.” We are not saved by walking an aisle, saying a prayer or being baptized. All those things are works of what we would do in order to justify ourselves before God. Those things would give us the opportunity to say to God, “But look here, I walked the aisle, I was baptized, I said the prayer! You MUST let me into your heaven.”

Sadly, to such that would respond that way, He responds by saying “Depart, for I never knew you!” (Matthew 7:21).

True salvation comes to those who God causes to be born again and then they believe in Christ for salvation, yet even the faith that these who are born again demonstrate is a gift from Him. We can claim nothing in the process. All the glory goes to Him and Him alone. So to say we are saved by “doing” something so that we may boast, is contrary to the gospel itself.

What is the right answer? It is very simple, to believe in Him for salvation alone. I know that we want to add to the gospel, but we must not. For the moment we do, is the moment we take the gospel and destroy it with our own works. We must resist the temptation to add to it and make it “easier” for children to understand. By taking such a step, we are actually condemning our children instead of helping them. This is why what we teach them is so very important. This is also why I believe the church is losing so many of our children. We teach them works theology and then they never truly get saved and leave the church.

The gospel demands that we not teach such, especially when it comes to our children. How then do we get them saved? We don’t. We must trust in God’s Spirit to move in them and continue to teach them the truth of the gospel, Jesus came to save sinners, believe in Him for your salvation. Teach and preach the truth and let the Spirit of God do the saving.

Good Friday is Truly Good

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This is Good Friday, and while the most heinous crime in history took place on this day, the most gracious act in history also occurred.

First, the crime: a group of Jews and Romans, both Jews and Gentiles, put the most innocent man in history to death for crimes he did not commit, in the most heinous way. The reason I stress that both Jews and Gentiles put Christ to death is because there are some today who hold animosity toward the Jews for putting Him to death. The problem with this is that those who hold such views would have done the same thing had they been there on that day. Our hearts are evil enough that had Perfect Righteousness stood before us and we had the option to put it to death, we would have joined in the chorus of: “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” If you believe otherwise about yourself, you are merely fooling yourself about the level of sinfulness in your heart.

We must also realize that the Jews and Gentiles where our representatives at the trial of God. They were our representatives for us, showing us how we would have responded had we been able to put God on trial. Even when we found God innocent of any crime, real or imagined, we would have taking the same path that Pontius Pilate did.

Second, His innocence: So Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no fault in this Man.” The one in charge of the trial found Jesus innocent. He declared Christ  as He truly was, an innocent man. He had committed no crime, no sin, no peccadillo. This is vital to all Christians, both today and forever. Jesus needed to be declared innocent of the charges, so that we know He is our acceptable sacrifice on the cross since He is our Passover.

For those who know, the Passover was celebrated at the time of Christ’s death. The blood of the lamb would be shed as a reminder that during the Exodus, the angel of death passed over the homes that had the sign of the Passover, namely, the blood of a lamb on the doorposts of their homes. Their salvation from the angel of death came because of the shed blood of the lamb. However, the blood of bulls and goats is not sufficient to take away their sin, they needed a man to die in their place, one without sin, so that He could be the perfect sacrifice for them, and us.

This is why Pilate’s declaration of Christ innocence is so important. He declared to those on that day, and all the world, that Christ was innocent and there was no fault in Him. But, being the man afraid of the Jews and his authorities in Rome, he turned his back on Christ and let the crime of putting an innocent man to death go forward.

Since Christ was innocent of the charges leveled against Him, and any other sin, this made His death the most heinous crime in all of mankind’s history.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

The beauty of this is that God was able to take the most heinous crime in history and use it for the good of His people. By allowing Christ to die, He opened the door for our sins to be pardoned. No matter who we are, we have sinned against the most Holy and True God. This means that we owe a debt to Him and the debt of our sin must be paid for. Since we have sinned against an eternal being, then the debt that must be paid must be eternal in nature as well.

In steps the God-Man. Most would readily admit that Jesus was a man, with flesh and blood just like us. But He also had to be fully God as well. This is why the incarnation is so vital to the gospel. The Second Person of the Trinity became flesh and dwelt among us. Not only was the man crucified that day, but also His divine nature. This is how His death completely satisfied the wrath of God. He not only paid for our sins, with His sinless death, but He also satisfied that eternal nature of our debt by being an eternal being as well. Now, I’m not saying that the eternal nature of Christ died. The Scripture doesn’t say one way or another. What I am saying is that He satisfied God’s wrath against us in every possible way.

Therefore when we trust in Christ for our salvation, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us, and our sin is imputed to His work on the cross. Complete forgiveness is achieved by His work for us. This means that the alienation we all had with God is removed when we believe in Him. No longer are we aliens and strangers with God, but we are brought into fellowship with Him through the sacrificial death of His Son. This is why this day is called good Friday. While man’s action lead to death, His actions lead to eternal life and reconciliation with the Father. Only God can bring about true goodness out of something so wicked. While Jesus died, and we should lament this reality, we can rejoice because God meant it for good.

Tarzan, Jane and the Cause of All Calamity

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A friend posted the following on his status on Facebook:

Me, behave? Seriously? As a child I saw Tarzan & Jane almost naked, Cinderella arrived home after midnight, Pinocchio told lies, Aladdin was a thief, Batman drove over 200 MPH, Snow White lived in a house with 7 men, Popeye smoked a pipe and had tattoos, Pac Man ran around to digital music while eating pills that enhanced his performance, and Shaggy and Scooby were mystery solving hippies that always had the munchies.The fault is not mine! :)

I couldn’t help but agree. The things we watch growing up as kids really shocks me when I think about it. I know that on one level, our parents were thinking that it wasn’t really all that bad, but when you look deeper into some of these shows… well, you get the idea.

But we must not make the mistake of thinking that these shows are the cause of our problems in our fallen culture. I think that we tend to put our finger on something substantial that will helps us identify why culture is so rotten. Back a number of years ago, I knew a man who put the blame on the Beatles and their song, Hold Your Hand. Even more say it goes back to the moment the Supreme Court pulled the Ten Commandments out of our schools, and banned prayer in school. While those moments are big symptoms, they are still just symptoms of a greater problem.

These shows we watched growing up, and today, are merely the symptom of the problem, after all, while I really loved watching Tarzan movies and his ability to avert war with a single word, “Ungawaa!” I have to admit that the show was always better when Jane appeared. Even as a boy, I couldn’t help but admire Jane’s finely crafted physique.

The problem was the shows, but the sin that has spread to us by another naked couple. Yup, Adam and Eve. They are the culprits to societies ills. If we want to point a finger, and I don’t recommend that we do, that is where we point. The reason we should not point to Adam and Eve, or Tarzan and Jane, is because given the chance, we would fall into sin just as they did. This is the frailty of the human heart. We all sin because we are all sinners.

Even if we were in the Garden of Eden, given the opportunity to stand sinless as Adam did, we would still fall. Therefore we cannot claim any righteousness based upon our own imaginations. We are the problem, not society or alcohol, or no-fault divorce, etc. We might lament our lack or response to a falling culture, but only if it is a proper response.

No, passing more laws will not change a thing, nor will changing the education system, or electing the right men and women to office. The key always comes back to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is only when we share the gospel with Tarzan and Jane, and the Spirit moves in them, showing them their sinfulness and need for Christ, that we can make any headway on couple’s dress code. When men and women trust and Christ, are born again, and made new creations, this is when we begin to see a need to live according to God’s standards and not our own. It is when redeemed men and women live as redeemed men and women that we begin to see culture changed for the better because those in the culture are no longer living for themselves, but living for the LORD and His standards of righteousness.

Yes, the temptation is to point the finger to some event in history as the problem. But that only works if we go back to the very first sin in history. Other wise, we might as well swing from the trees with the ape men.

G.O.S.P.E.L. — Preaching That Teaches

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This is one of the best presentations of the Gospel I have seen in a long time. It is done with rap overtones to it, but don’t let that keep you from watching it. His description of God was the best I’ve heard in a while. All this to say, this is great preaching. I know it has all the flash and the music, but this man is preaching God’s word in 4 minutes.

In for minutes, he summarizes all of man’s problems and shows the reality at all mankind face: we seek righteousness through our own religions, even Christianity. He even hits modern-evangelicalism between the eyes in that so many think that they obtain righteousness through our prayer meetings, Bible reading and the lot. If that is our righteousness, no matter how bible centered it may seem (it is not by the way), it means we are not saved and do not have the righteousness required to enter into heaven. What is necessary by us is perfect righteousness, which is an impossibility for man to achieve. Watch the video.

Hattip: Pyromaniacs. By the way, follow the link and watch the first video there. I’m really interested to see how Frank Turk responds to the loon in that video.

The Self-Righteous Prodigal

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I have preached the parable of the Prodigal Son four times now in my 10 years of preaching. I love the parable and truths we find in Luke 15. Jesus is showing us His grace when it comes to our salvation in all three parables. What made the sermon drastically different this past Sunday was that I finally saw that even the prodigal son, when he returns to the Father, is still suffering under self-righteousness.

All three parables are spoken of against self-righteousness. Remember the Pharisees were grumbling that Jesus had a tendency to eat with tax collectors and sinners. They had made this charge before and He answered them by saying that He was coming for those who were sick and in need of a physician, not to heal those who are well. We know from Romans 3, that the Pharisees are sick as well, but they fail to see their own need of the Physician since they are basing their wellness on their own righteousness and not another.

It is in this context that Jesus gives all three parables in order to make two points. The first point is more obvious and is simply what I stated before, Jesus comes to find that which is lost. It is easy to see the helplessness of the sheep that is lost. The sheep probably is not aware of his own danger until the Shepherd comes, puts the sheep on His shoulders, and carries him back to safety. This is how we are when it comes to being saved. The Shepherd finds us. He rescues us. He doesn’t sit down with us and tell us what we must do in order to get cleaned up, and make ourselves un-lost. He gives us no conditions whatsoever. He just picks us up and rescues us. We are the passive recipients of the salvation He gives to us.

What is not clear is that this is the exact same way salvation comes to the prodigal son. We tend to think that he is making his own decisions about returning to the Father and that he realizes life is better with the Father. But it must be pointed out that when he returns, he is doing so under the pretext of his own conditions. The prodigal son is still seeking the good life and a life away from the trappings of the Father. What he wants it to come back to the Father with terms that will allow him to work, and then go home at the end of the day so he can live life the way he pleases.

Out of His grace and mercy, the Father will have none of it. He grabs the boys, hugs and kisses him, and puts the best robe on him. He brings him back into the household with all the rights and privileges that are found in a home of royalty. The Father will not let him be a servant or a second-class citizen. The prodigal is ushered back into the community on the Father’s conditions, not his own.

The same is true for our salvation. When we are saved, we are not saved on our conditions at all. God doesn’t allow us to remain in our own self-righteousness but rescues out of our demands and gives us so much more. Had the prodigal gotten what he wanted, he would have just been a servant. But the Father poured out His blessing on his son. The same is true for us. When we are redeemed, more than likely, we don’t get what we want. But we do get so much more.

In the process we do die to our self-righteousness. When God’s grace comes pouring out, no longer do we have a right to say what we have done in order to be saved. He saved us completely from the first to the last. All we did was receive the blessing from Him. To boast of anything, before or after our salvation is to boast in our own self-righteousness. If you can learn anything from Luke 15 and following, it is that Christ will have none of it. There is no room for the self-righteous at the cross or in His Kingdom.

The prodigal learned this lesson and we must learn it as well.

Therefore, who are you? Self-righteous son number one or two? Or are you the sheep? Stinky as the sheep is, I’m grateful He didn’t let that get in the way when He rescued me and put me up on His shoulders. Here I sit, I can do no other.

Good Preachers Don’t Flatter

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Judy T sent this to me earlier in the week, and I have to agree. It’s not the job of a preacher to flatter those in the congregation or stroke their egos. He is to preach for One, and One only, that is His Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Not that we do not preach for those in the congregation, but we do not let them influence us in regards to preaching the text. I know some of my hardest sermons to preach, have been those that the world would have rejected outright, because when we preach the gospel faithfully, it truly is offensive.

Why is that?

Because the gospel says there is absolutely nothing we can do to earn any favor with God. If we are Christians, it is because He has chosen us, not because we have chosen Him. We are saved and redeemed because of His actions, not because of anything in us. This flies in the face of our fallen nature. We want to somehow add to our salvation. But to do so is to risk becoming self-righteous.

This message has fallen on hard times in our day. If you don’t believe me, just spend some time in a Christian bookstore. You will find book after book that look more like secular self-help books than books on the true gospel of Christ. Or the other motif, books about the “overcoming” Christian, as if the central message of the gospel was to help us “overcome.” We do not overcome our sin and suffering. That is not the message of the gospel. The message of the gospel is that our sin and suffering were so bad that One who was perfect had to die on the cross in order to save us from it. If there is any overcoming in the gospel, it is that He did so by dying for us. He didn’t die so that we could then become “empowered” or “self actuated” to be better people. He died because we are not better people. Good preachers preach this truth. No, it’s not flattering. But it is much better than that. When a pastor preaches the truth of the gospel, sometimes God uses it to redeem sinners to Himself. Sometimes He uses it to feed His sheep. And He always uses it for His glory.

Here is what Pastor Ryle writes and is found at JC Ryle Quotes:

Preachers: Don’t Flatter, Speak Truth

28 Feb

Well would it be for the Church of Christ, if it possessed more plain-speaking ministers, like John the Baptist, in these latter days. A morbid dislike to strong language - an excessive fear of giving offence, a constant flinching from directness and plain speaking - are, unhappily, too much the characteristics of the modern Christian pulpit. Uncharitable language is no doubt always to be deprecated. But there is no charity in flattering unconverted people, by abstaining from any mention of their vices, or in applying smooth epithets to damnable sins. There are two texts which are too much forgotten by Christian preachers. In one it is written, “Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you.” (Luke 6:26) In the other it is written, “Obviously, I’m not trying to be a people pleaser! No, I am trying to please God. If I were still trying to please people, I would not be Christ’s servant.” (Gal. 1:10)

~ J.C. Ryle


Do You Have “Itching Ears?”

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No, I’m not asking you if you have some sort of parasite in your ears, but do you have ears that “itch” to be affirmed in your sin? This was the warning that the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy about what would take place in the Last Days (we are in the Last Days). Men would set up for themselves preachers that would affirm them in their sin instead of preaching the truth of the gospel showing the need for repentance from sin.

Here are the Apostle’s words:

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

Paul is telling us that men will turn away from the soundness and truth of the gospel. I like what John Sartelle writes in Tabletalk Magazine about this:

“We live in an age when being politically correct is more important than being truthful. The college student engaged in casual sex wants to hear that promiscuity is a practice an understanding God condones. The materialist wants to hear a preacher tell him that his money is primarily for his pleasure. The homosexual wants a deity that will baptize and sanctify his sin. The student in her first year of college who has discovered she is eight weeks pregnant wants a Jesus who will recommend a doctor to deal with that inconvenience. We have the nature to create gods that will protect our pet sins. The alcoholic’s classic characteristic is to deny his addiction. That is symbolic of the characteristic we all have in our resistance to genuine confession of personal sin.”

“The sinner is faced with two options. He can submit to the authority of God’s Word, confess his sin, repent, and throw himself upon God’s grace. Or, he can change the message to commend his lifestyle so that the ‘sin’ actually becomes a virtue. If one chooses the latter, he must then find a church that will alter the message from God to fit the culture. Paul was warning Timothy that he would encounter people wanting him to be a preacher who would accommodate their passions. The phrase ‘itching ears’ graphically describes them. Their ears ‘itch’ to hear something pleasant — words that will soothe them in their cocoons of transgression rather than convict of wrong and warn of danger.”

This topic came up recently when I was discussing Joel Osteen. He is a classic example of those who give people what they want to hear. He even said he doesn’t want to deal with sin or the cross in its fullness on 60 Minutes. He said he leaves that to others. My question then: how are the 45,000 that listen to Osteen going to hear it if they spend all their time at his church? Who is going to tell them the truth of the gospel?

As a preacher, Osteen has a responsibility to preach the full counsel of God’s Word as well as sound doctrine. This is at the heart of 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus. This is why these books are called the “pastoral epistles.” They were written to young pastors who needed the advice from Paul on the importance of sound doctrine in ministry. If Osteen refuses to preach the gospel, then he needs to quit calling himself a Christian and just say he is a motivational speaker, for that truly what he is.

As for you, dear reader, do you sit week after week under men who only skirt around the truth of the gospel? Do they just use the Bible as a platform to jump off into their hobby horse topics? Do they truly confront real sin, not only pointing out the evilness of the world for we know that, but the evilness of their own hearts as well?

I hope not. We all need the gospel, every day for the rest of our lives. We are sinners even though we may be justified. We need the constant proclamation of God’s truth in our lives for us to remain or even come close to being healthy believers. We cannot get that where pulpits have been suplanted by men who only want to tickle our ears with a form of godliness but denying its power.