Needed: A Friend

"What kind of friend?" you ask.

"The kind who doesn't lean too far towards God's mercy to the neglect of reminding me of His holiness."

"Why do you need a friend like that?"

"Because FAR too often I take seriously God's mercy and forgiveness but forget His holiness. I forget that I'm plugged into the power source of the universe and that 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me...' is more than a cliche. I content myself with living a weak, frustrated, discouraged life when God has given me more reasons than I can count to be holy, not just in Christ but practically holy through the outworking of the Holy Spirit. I get muddled down and I complain and I grow frustrated with myself and I forget to make war on the sins I see so clearly in my thinking. Because I tend to see myself as a victim far more than I do a perpetrator of my sins. Because I unintentionally blur the lines between making a decision and falling prey to the temptations I encounter. Because when Jesus said 'I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly...' He wasn't just talking in metaphors or cliches and He wasn't speaking to a select group of people who alone can have this so-called 'abundant life'. Because I live weakly when I could be living with strength. Because Romans tells me that 'those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life...' Because infinite joy is at my fingertips (all I have to do is give the slightest effort to grab ahold) but I so often succumb to the bitter sting of inertia and laziness."

"And how would a friend help with that?"

"They'd sometimes get in my face when I'm discouraged! Tell me to stop thinking like this and maybe, God forbid, have some faith that the gospel REALLY is my sufficiency. Give me reminders once in a while that it's NOT glorifying to God to sit around and pout about my weaknesses when God has graciously enabled me to fight against them! To call me out when I make a bad decision without realizing it! To remind me that while God is in control of my life, that is NO cause to sit back and let come what may! Remind me that God and I are partners and that He is greatly glorified when I take the reigns and take action myself!"

Mission Accomplished

"Here's a controversial subject

That tends to divide.

For years it's had Christians

Lining up on both sides.

By God's grace I'll address this

Without pride.

The question concerns those

For whom Christ died.

Was He trying to save

Everybody worldwide?

Was He trying to make

The entire world His bride?

Does man's unbelief

Keep the Savior's hands tied?

Biblically, each of these

Must be denied.

It's true, Jesus gave up

His life for His bride

But His bride is the elect

To whom His death is applied

If on Judgement Day you see

That you can't hide

Because of your sin, God's

Wrath on you abides

And hell is the place you

Eternally reside

That means your wrath from God

Hasn't been satisfied.

But we believe His mission

Was accomplished when He died.

But how the cross relates to those in hell?

Well, they be sayin:

Lord knows He tried!

Lord knows He tried!

Yeah, that's what they be sayin!

Can't be sayin' that He tried

But I'm sayin' did He try and fail?

Or did He succeed?

Is there gonna be one drop of the Savior's blood in vain?

Naw, perish the thought. The Lamb will receive the reward for His sufferings.

Triune God! Father, Son, and Spirit, Three and yet One

Working as a unit to get things done.

Our salvation began in eternity past

God certainly has to bring all His purpose to pass.

A triune, eternal bond, no one could ever sever

When it comes to the church

Pepe how they work together!

The Father foreknew first

The Son came to earth to die

The Holy Spirit gives the new birth

The Father elects them

The Son pays their debt and protects them

The Spirit is the One who resurrects them

The Father chooses them

The Son gets bruised for them

The Spirit renews and produces fruit in them

Everybody's not elect

The Father decides

And it's only the elect

In whom the Spirit resides

The Father and the Spirit

Completely unified

But when it comes to Christ and those in hell,

Well they be sayin':

Lord knows He tried!

Lord knows He tried!

So if we can agree that the election of the Father is NOT universal

And the regeneration of the Holy Spirit is NOT universal

Why would the atonement of the Son be universal?

That would put the Persons of the Trinity completely at odds with One Another.

But the Triune God is completely unified.

My third and final verse

Here's the situation

Just a couple more things for your consideration

If saving everybody was why Christ came in history

With so many in hell, we'd have to say He failed miserably.

So many think He only came to make it possible.

Let's follow this solution

To a conclusion that's logical.

What about those who were already in the grave?

The old testament wicked, condemned as depraved?

Did He die for them? Come on! Behave!

But worst of all you're saying the cross by itself doesn't save.

That WE must do something to give the cross its power

That means at the end of the day, the glory's ours.

That man-centered thinking is not recommended

The cross will save all for whom it was intended.

Because for the elect God's wrath was satisfied

Still, when it comes to those in hell,

Well, they be sayin':

Lord knows He tried!

Lord knows He tried!

Look, at the end of the day, this is about giving God the maximum amount of glory.

We proclaim a cross that actually saves. Not "makes salvation possible," but actually saves.

Matthew 1:21 "His name shall be called Jesus because He will save His people from their sins." Not "might save them." Not "try to save." No, He will actually save them. It's a definite atonement. And yo, this ain't controversy for the sake of controversy or theological nitpicking. Salvation is of the Lord. To Him belongs all the glory. Soli Deo Gloria. But let's get into the text. See what the Scripture has to say about this. Lord, thank you for the cross."

--Shai Linne

The Knittedness of the Heart of God

"For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." --Romans 5:6-8

For the first time I recognizing that there's an implication in verse 7 that most people just read right through without realizing it. It's true that someone will die, on a very rare occasion, for a righteous man. You don't hear about it very much. Now when a person lays their life down for another there are 3 possible reasons, indeed three distinct types of love.

1) The one who sacrifices (We'll call him 'A') loves what the one he dies for ('B') represents.

2) A sees that dying for B is the right thing to do.

3) A loves B.

Number one is a bodyguard. B has pledged his love to the system that A loves. In this case, A loves the values; not the person. You also see in this situation that there is a distinct disconnectedness in the sacrifice. It's not a person dying for a person. It's a person dying for principles. This is a very sterile idea. There is passion but not the deep, connected passion that exists in the third possible reason.

In number two, A has values of his own. He sees that B is in danger and knows that sacrificing his life for B is the morally/philosophically responsible path of action. This is even more sterile than number one. There is no passion for B. There is no passion for B and A's shared principles. There is only passion for some disconnected principles that simply exist.

In number three, A has a deep, profound love for B. Not because of anything B has said or done. Not because of what B represents. Not because of any external factors. B is dear to A's heart. Like a family member or a best friend. Not a bodyguard or a member of security personnel.

Now which one is Romans 5:7 talking about? Did Christ die for us because He loves what we have pledged ourselves to? Did He die simply because it was "the right thing to do"? Or did He die for the sheer fact that He loves us? Let's examine each option and then see what Scripture says.

Number one is absolute heresy in this situation. For what we have pledged ourselves to is destruction, sin, and death. Everything that we, in our flesh, hold dear is detestable in the sight of God. It is certainly not number one.

Number two is worthy of some consideration. This might be the conclusion one draws if they see people as victims of sin rather than perpetrators. As a matter of fact, verse 6, at surface value, seems to paint this picture. We were without strength. Victims at sin's merciless attacks. We could no longer hold it off and so Christ died for us because He could not simply stand by and see us destroyed by our enemy. So is this the case? Well I'm not going to go into it (I could write a long series of notes.) but to say people are merely victims of sin is a vast oversimplification. Numerous Scriptures emphasize man's PERSONAL guilt in sin. In one sense, we are victims, but in another sense, we are perpetrators. We must recognize the blood-guilt that David confesses in Psalm 51. We have despised the glory of God. We have been at war with Him. We are personally responsible and one day we will be called to give an account for our earthly lives. Ezekiel 18:20, Luke 10:27, and James 1:23-25 clearly show that man has responsibilities in his relationship to God. It follows, then, that Christ was not at ALL bound to die for us. As a matter of fact, with man's personal responsibility in view, God, if He is truly good, is bound to do the OPPOSITE of what He chose to do. The morally right thing to do is to punish those who violate the law and despised the glory of God. Imagine that you come home one day and every person living at your house has been murdered in cold blood. What's more, the attacker is in the very process of killing the one you love most. The police come. He is arrested. Months later, you are in the courtroom witnessing his trial. The judge smiles down at him and simply says "Don't worry. I am a kind, gracious, loving judge. I pardon you. You can go home." Would you not say that this judge is FAR, FAR, FAR, FAR, UNBELIEVABLY MORE WICKED than that murderer ever was. God's righteousness BINDS Him to punish the sinner. So it is NOT number 2 because man is personally responsible in this situation.

Now we come to the last possibility. Christ died because He loved US. This is it. Verse 8 says so. "But God demonstrates His own love TOWARD US in that while we were still sinners..." It does not say "God demonstrates His own love toward what we represent..." or "God demonstrates His own love toward morality..." His love is toward US.

Now look at the price paid; Jesus Christ, the very Son of God. Look again at the three types of love again. 1) Love of shared principles, 2) Love of morality, 3) Love of a person. What love is shared between the Father and the Son? We're talking about Trinity-level love here! There is rock-solid, cement-like love between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are so knitted together in love that Moses wrote "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!" in Deuteronomy 6:4. Which one but number 3 could possibly be enough to qualify as "oneness"? Look at the juxtaposition. The Trinity has the same love for His children as it does for the Son Himself. Ponder that! Drink that in! Consider the DEEP knittedness of the Heart of God to you, His child!

Meditations for ADD

It's interesting that so many of the core concepts of the gospel are simple, monosyllabic words. I think it would be interesting to see the effect that a day of meditating on each single word would have:

1. God
2. Fall
3. Sin
4. Wrath
5. Save
6. Christ
7. Cross
8. Grace
9. Faith
10. Hope
11. Love