Chirstian Love

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The Christian’s Sufficiency In Christ

John Calvin

Institutes of the Christian Religion

We see that our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ [Acts 4:12]. We should therefore take care not to derive the least portion of it from anywhere else. If we seek salvation, we are taught by the very name of Jesus that it is “of him” [1 Cor 1:30]. If we seek any other gifts of the Spirit, they will be found in his anointing. If we seek strength, it lies in his dominion; if purity, in his conception; if gentleness, it appears in his birth. For by his birth he was made like us in all respects [Heb. 2:17] that he might learn to feel our pain [cf. Heb. 5:2].

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The Modern Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

John MacArthur – Grace to You

October 23, 2011

Selected Scriptures

Well now that I don’t have to preach on anything but what I want to preach on since I finished the New Testament, I find myself all over the place trying to decide what to preach on in sequence…a new kind of experience for me and I’m working on some kind of sequence that makes sense over the future. But I am sort of at the liberty point of my life where whatever is on my heart is where I can go, and this is a wonderful opportunity for me. And there is a subject that has concerned me for a long time and I have wanted to address this subject but it hasn’t been a part of preaching through the gospels in the way that it can be now and that is the subject of the Holy Spirit…the Holy Spirit.

After all the emphasis of so many years, 25 years of preaching through the four gospels, and much emphasis, of course, on the person of Christ as it should be, much emphasis on the character of God, and the nature of God as manifest in Christ and is seen elsewhere in Scripture, it is time now to give honor to the third member of the Trinity, namely the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the most forgotten, the most misrepresented, the most dishonored, the most grieved, the most abused and I might even say the most blasphemed of the members of the Trinity. That’s a sad thing.

When our Lord cleansed the temple in John 2, He said that He was, in a sense, fulfilling the attitude of David from Psalm 69, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up, the reproaches that fall on you are fallen on Me.” And what our Lord was saying was when God is dishonored, I feel the pain. “You have taken My Father’s house, which is to be a house of prayer, and turned it into a den of robbers. You’ve corrupted My Father’s house. You’ve blasphemed My Father’s name. You’ve dishonored My Father.”

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What is the Meaning of Anathema? Can a Church Pronounce an Anathema Upon Me?

By Dr Paul M Elliott

Our series on the subject of how Christians should deal with false teaching in the church generated some followup questions from readers. We take up the first today: “What is the meaning of anathema? Can a church pronounce an anathema upon a person or group?”

Several Related Questions

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How Are Christians to Deal With False Teachers?

By Dr Paul M Elliott

Part 4 of a series. Read part 3.

Today we continue the discussion of questions that are troubling growing numbers of Christians: “My church is no longer true to the Word of God on essential Christian truths. What should I do? Should I leave? Should I stay and try to fight error? Will I be guilty of schism if I do either one?” Today’s focus is on the proper Biblical response to false teachers.1

Scripture Gives Clear Instructions

The Holy Spirit has not only instructed us clearly on the marks of a true church and how to recognize false teachers; the Lord also requires believers to adopt a Biblical attitude toward false teachers and conduct ourselves accordingly.

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Sprinkled afresh

When Christ is with us we are safe, for what wolf can rend a sheep when it is close to the shepherd’s hand? When we are away from Jesus, we are not only in peril, but are already despoiled; to lose fellowship with Jesus is loss enough in itself, even if no further calamity occur. Ships without a pilot, cities without watchmen, babes without a nurse, are we without Jesus. We cannot do without him, the less we attempt it the better. Samson without his locks is the sad type of a believer out of fellowship.
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Confronting Apostasy: Four Possible Outcomes

By Dr Paul M Elliott

Part nine of a series. Read part eight.

In each of the four possible outcomes, do the right thing, and trust God for the results.

In our last article, we saw that key number five to a Biblically loving response to apostasy is to understand the steps that God’s Word tells you to follow when you find apostasy in the church. We saw that the Bible sets forth a clear process, and that the imperative is to deal with false teaching in the church decisively, and without delay.

Four Possible Outcomes

We saw that there are four possible end results when you confront apostasy in the church.

First, there is the case in which the individual is found, on solid Biblical grounds, to be not guilty of false teaching.

Second, there is the case in which the individual is proved to be guilty of false teaching, and he admits his sin, and repents of it.

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Confronting Apostasy: The Biblical Steps

By Dr Paul M Elliott

Part eight of a series. Read part seven.

You need to understand the Biblical steps in confronting apostasy — and how apostates’ allies and enablers may try to block, complicate, or circumvent the process.

We have now come to the fifth and final key to a Biblically loving response to apostasy: You need to understand the steps that God’s Word tells you to follow when you find apostasy in the church. We shall see that the Bible is very clear about this. There is no guesswork involved. God’s Word sets forth a clear process; it tells you exactly and precisely what to do.

Implementing Key 5: Three Vital Principles

Now before we consider the process itself, I believe it is important to emphasize three very important principles once again. We have discussed them before, but I want to stress them because they relate directly to this process.

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Is It Wrong to Name Names?

Dr Paul M Elliott

Some readers criticize us for citing, by name, individuals and institutions that promote heretical doctrines. They tell us that naming names is “unloving”. We respond that Scripture does not support this accusation. Consider the example of the Apostle Paul.

What is the Truly Loving Thing to Do?

Paul considered it vital to demonstrate his deep agape love for Christ and His church by warning believers to beware of those who would seek to “overthrow the faith of some” (2 Timothy 2:18). Paul’s consistent policy was to name names, recognizing that speaking in generalities is not always enough.

So great was Paul’s concern for the Galatian church’s departure into legalism – “another gospel, which is not another” (1:7) – that he cited the example of a fellow apostle’s temporary departure from soundness:

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A Solemn Warning for All Churches

 

A Sermon
(No. 68)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, February 24, 1856, by the
REV. C. H. Spurgeon
At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.

“Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white; for they are worthy.”—Revelation 3:4.

MY LEARNED and eminently pious predecessor, Dr. Gill, is of opinion that the different churches spoken of in the Book of Revelation are types of different states through which the church of God shall pass until it comes into the Philadelphia state, the state of love, in which Jesus Christ shall reign in its midst, and afterwards, as he thinks, shall pass into the state of Laodicea, in which condition it shall be when suddenly the Son of Man shall come to judge the world in righteousness and the people in equity. I do not go with him in all his suppositions with regard to these seven churches as following each other in seven periods of time; but I do think he was correct when he declared that the church in Sardis was a most fitting emblem of the church in his days, as also in these. The good old doctor says, “When we shall find any period in which the church was more like the state of Sardis as described here, than it is now?” And he points out the different particulars in which the church of his day (and I am sure it is yet more true of the church at the present day) was exactly like the church in Sardis. I shall use the church in Sardis as a figure of what I conceive to be the sad condition of Christendom at the present moment. My first point will be general defilement—there were but “a few names” in Sardis who had not “defiled their garments;” secondly, special preservation—there were a few who had not defiled their garments; and thirdly, a peculiar reward—”And they shall walk with me in white; for they are worthy.”

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Saved or Deceived

John McArthur (1 of 2)

Is it possible to understand the gospel message, have strong religious convictions, serve in a Bible-believing church, and be convinced you have a saving relationship with God, and yet still not get into heaven when you die? The Bible couldn’t be any clearer on the answer. Yes, many people will one day stand before God and be shocked as they hear Him say, “I never knew you; depart from Me.”

see more …….(2nd short video)

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Handed Over to Satan?

John MacArthur – Grace to You – Bible Q & A

(1 Corinthians 5)

I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. (1 Corinthians 5:5)

Paul makes clear the action that should have been taken to discipline the man who refused to repent of and forsake his blatant immorality. He should have been excommunicated, removed from your midst.

When the Corinthians were assembled to take disciplinary action Paul would be with them in spirit. The apostle had taught them as a pastor, was now writing them for the second time (1 Cor. 5:9), and intended to continue to give them his counsel and encouragement in doing the Lord’s will—even when he could not be with them in person.

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What is the Church of Christ?

Grant Swart

Ever since I can remember, I have overheard people of varied Christian persuasions, discussing the merits and shortcomings of the myriad of , and some dubiously so, Christian denominations. For years before I had any real knowledge of, or interest in the subject, I listened with fascination to the enthusiastic and opinionated discussions of certain overly contentious religious people. More often than not they insisted on serving the Lord from within the confines of a specific church or denomination which, according to their perceptions, was the “right” or “correct” church.

I think back to the time when I was effectually called by the Lord to serve His Word and to His glorious purpose. The first year or two of my walk with the Lord was marked by a growing frustration in that I simply could not come to fully identify or encounter the Truth in all aspects of the Word. What I encountered in the local churches was fragmented truth at best, and total lies at worst. Continue reading →

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Christians can rejoice even in the deepest distress

 

Daily Devotional – C H Spurgeon

“Our heart shall rejoice in Him.”
– Psa_33:21

 

Blessed is the fact that Christians can rejoice even in the deepest distress; although trouble may surround them, they still sing; and, like many birds, they sing best in their cages. The waves may roll over them, but their souls soon rise to the surface and see the light of God’s countenance; they have a buoyancy about them which keeps their head always above the water, and helps them to sing amid the tempest, “God is with me still.” To whom shall the glory be given? Oh! to Jesus-it is all by Jesus.

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The Ruler of Hell

 

John MacArthur – Grace to You – Bible Q & A

(Matthew 10)

And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)

People, and even Satan himself, are unable to kill the soul. Physical death is the full extent of the harm they can bring us; they cannot touch the soul, the eternal person. Even the bodies they destroy will one day be resurrected and become imperishable (1 Cor. 15:42).

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Conflict

 

 

John MacArthur – Grace to You – Bible Q & A

Conflict

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. (Galatians 2:11–12)

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