Israel

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Shoe-Leather Faith

John MacArthur – Grace to You

1 Thessalonians 4:9-12

It’s always a highlight of worship to turn to the Word of our God because His Word is His response to us, the Spirit applies it to our hearts. His Word is also the revelation of Himself so that we know His way and His will and His purpose and thus can worship Him more perfectly.

As you know, for many, many months we’ve been studying 1 Thessalonians and we have been interrupted a bit in the summer, but we go back to it this morning. Open your Bible to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 9 through 12…1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 9 through 12.

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Bells Hell Sells

Grant Swart

In keeping with our intended purpose, and as mentioned on our About page, we attempt to maintain a positive slant to the content of 4TheLoveOfTheTruth. There are certainly sufficient blogs which effectively highlight the negative deception and falsehood in the what the world sees as the Christian church.

In certain instances I feel it is warranted that attention be given to events which could have a “worse than usual” negative impact on the Christian. The recent book by Rob Bell is one of those instances. Another recent posting on this blog, in which John MacArthur addresses this issue, ties in with this short but thought-provokingly powerful piece by Ray Comfort.

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The Third Intifada

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The Doctrines of Grace (Part 5 of 10)

John MacArthur – Grace to You

The Doctrine of Election, Part 2

We’re going to return now to the, I trust, refreshment of the Word of God.  We’re talking about the doctrine of election, chosen by God, who chose whom? And this is not without controversy, as you well know.  The doctrine of sovereign election, the truth of predestination is much discussed and most discussions can degenerate into something very heated.  In fact, to say that there are people who hate the idea of predestination is not an overstatement.  There are people who hate the thought of divine election, sovereign choice.  In fact, there are some people who say that the doctrine is demonic, that the doctrine itself is satanic.  It is such an affront to their sense of fairness and sense of what they think is right that there are people who call themselves Christians who would see this as truth that comes from the enemy of God and not God Himself.

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The Doctrines of Grace (Part 4 of 10)

John MacArthur – Grace to You

The Doctrine of Election, Part 1

As you know, a couple of weeks ago we completed our study in the wonderful epistle written by Jude which ended with a promise that God is able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before His presence with glory.  And because that introduced to us the wonderful doctrine of eternal security, or better stated, the perseverance of the saints, or the preservation of the saints, we spent a few weeks talking about that doctrine.  And in the discussions that I had with you regarding that, I said that the end is determined by the beginning.  Our salvation is secure to the end because our salvation was predestined in the very beginning to be completed.  And we remember that Romans 8 makes a monumental and very clear statement to that regard.  When in Romans 8 the Apostle Paul writes, “For whom He foreknew, He predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.” That is all whom God predestined will become conformed to the image of His Son in eternal glory.  And thus whom He predestined He called, and whom He called He justified, and whom He justified these He also glorified.

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The Doctrines of Grace (Part 2 of 10)

John MacArthur – Grace to You

The Perseverance of the Saints, Part 2

We are in a bit of a brief study on the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. And we sort of picked up on this doctrine because the study in the marvelous epistle of Jude and this little epistle, as you will remember, we’ve been studying on Sunday nights, ends with this great benediction, “Now to Him who is able to keep you from falling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy.” That is a statement of the security of our salvation. Our Lord is able to keep us and to present us. This was so important for us as we were going through it that I wanted to enrich our study of just that passage and so last week, and again this week and perhaps one other session next week, we will look at this very, very important doctrine.

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Why People Find the Bible Difficult

by A. W. Tozer

Chapter 6 from Man: The Dwelling Place of God (Camp Hill, Penn: Christian Publications, 1966).

That many persons find the Bible hard to understand will not be denied by those acquainted with the facts. Testimony to the difficulties encountered in Bible reading is too full and too widespread to be dismissed lightly.

In human experience there is usually a complex of causes rather than but one cause for everything, and so it is with the difficulty we run into with the Bible. To the question, Why is the Bible hard to understand? no snap answer can be given; the pert answer is sure to be the wrong one. The problem is multiple instead of singular, and for this reason the effort to find a single solution to it will be disappointing.

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Why would someone hate the word Exegesis? part 2

John MacArthur – Grace to You

Preaching the Book God Wrote, Part 3

5. How did the preacher’s message begin?

The message began as a true word from God and was given as truth because God’s purpose was to transmit truth. It was ordered by God as truth and was delivered by God’s Spirit in cooperation with holy men who received it with exactly the pure quality that God intended (2 Pet. 1:20-21). It was received as Scriptura inerrantis by the prophets and apostles, i.e., without wandering from Scripture’s original formulation in the mind of God.

Inerrancy then expresses the quality with which the writers of our canon received the text we call Scripture.

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The Tragedy of Rejecting Salvation

John MacArthur – Grace to You

Hebrews 5:10–6:20

Spelling errors can be changed with an eraser or liquid paper. When you get lost trying to follow a map. you can ask for help. But there is one mistake that doesn’t give a second chance; rejecting salvation through Christ. Once a person comes face-to-face with God. his eternal destiny is established.

What can you say to someone who knows and understands how to become a Christian but doesn’t? And what does God have to say about those who fully know the gospel message but don’t take the final step of receiving Christ as their Lord and Savior?

These messages will spur your heart to have greater concern for unbelievers!

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The Passing of the Saints

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled “Precious Deaths,” delivered February 18, 1872.

Let us be persuaded of this, that no believer dies an untimely death. In every consistent Christian’s case that promise is true, “With long life also will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation;” for long life is not to be reckoned by years as men count them. He lives longest who lives best. Many a man has crowded half a century into a single year. God gives his people life, not as the clock ticks, but as he helps them to serve him; and he can make them to live much in a short space of time. There are no untimely figs gathered into God’s basket; the great Master of the vineyard plucks the grapes when they are ripe and ready to be taken, and not before. Saintly deaths are precious in his sight.

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After I lead people to Christ, should I offer them immediate assurance?

John MacArthur – Grace to You – Q & A

John 3:16; Romans 8:16; Romans 15:4

It isn’t your task as an evangelist to give immediate assurance to people you lead to Christ. The Holy Spirit will do that work: “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16).

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Sovereignty and Freedom

John MacArthur – Grace to You

Well, we are alerted throughout this series that every time you come to a service at Grace Church, you’re going to hear about an attribute of God. We want you to know our all glorious God. We want you to know all that you can know about Him, all that is revealed on the pages of Scripture.

And the emphasis that we have for this morning is on the sovereignty of God. Simply stated, Psalm 103 verse 19 says, “His sovereignty rules over all.” And we saw that demonstrated, didn’t we, in the passages that we read earlier from Isaiah and from Daniel. God is the absolute ruler of this world and the entire universe. God is the one who decrees all things, who purposes all things and who accomplishes all things that He decrees and purposes. He is simply in charge of absolutely everything.

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The Bible

D.L. Moody :

People say this Bible was good enough for ancient days, but we have men of culture, of science, of literature now, and its value has decreased to the people of our day. Now, give me a better book, and I will throw it away. Has the world ever offered us a better book? These men want us to give up the Bible. What are you going to give us in its place? O, how cruel infidelity is to tell us to give up all the hope we have, to throw away the only book which tells the story of the resurrection. They try to tell us that it is all a fiction, so that

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God: Is He? Who Is He?

John MacArthur – Grace to You

“The world is full of either philosophic or pragmatic atheists–they either don’t believe in God, or if they do, they live as if His existence had no effect on them. In sharing Christ with them, it’s helpful to know which kind of atheist they are. Determine how you might alter your presentation of God’s truth to match the type of person you’re sharing with. For some ideas, compare Stephen’s address to the Jewish religious leaders (Acts 7) and Paul’s address to Gentile philosophers (Acts 17:18-34).”

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Understanding Islam


John MacArthur – Grace to You

With all that is going on today, can you help me gain a basic understanding of Islam? How does it differ from biblical Christianity?

Islam is actually a word that means “surrender” or “submission.” Islam claims to be fully surrendered to the will of Allah. And the will of Allah,Muslims believe, was revealed through his prophet Mohammed. The revelation is written down in the Muslim holy book, the Koran.

There are six basic articles of faith in Islam and five duties. A simple Islamic doctrinal statement would look something like this:

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