Suffering

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The Doctrines of Grace (Part 8 of 10)

John MacArthur – Grace to You

The Doctrine of Actual Atonement, Part 1

Well, how many of you have always wanted to go to seminary?  You’re about to go tonight.  I’m going to challenge your thinking a little bit as we talk about this issue of the question, “For whom did Christ die?”  We have been looking over the last number of weeks at some very important doctrines, the doctrine of perseverance, or the preservation of the saints; the doctrine of sovereign election in salvation.  We have looked at the doctrine of total or absolute inability, that is the depravity of the sinner which renders it impossible for him to respond to the gospel.  And tonight I want to talk to you about what I’ve chosen to call, trying to give it a more accurate name, the doctrine of actual atonement…the doctrine of actual atonement.

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A Sanctified Spouse

John MacArthur – Grace to You – Bible Q & A

For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy. (1 Corinthians 7:14)

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Being Poor in Spirit

John MacArthur – Grace to You

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3).

The Puritan writer Thomas Watson listed seven ways to determine if you are poor in spirit (The Beatitudes [Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1971], pp. 45-48):

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Amazed by the Amazing

Alan Lester – Grace Unlimited website

Sermon done by Dr. Joshua Mack

One way to fill a stadium these days is to claim that a real miracle is about to take place. Imagine the impact on a crowd if a dead man, exumed from the cemetery, was actually raised to vibrant life before their eyes! Yet, greater miracles are taking place every day, and no stadium is filled as a result. God is exerting the same power He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, in trapped, helpless, ruined, dead rebels, raising them to eternal, overwhelming life!

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Why would someone hate the word Exegesis? part 3

John MacArthur – Grace to You

How to Study Your Bible

Psalms 1:1-2; Deuteronomy 29:29; 1 Corinthians 8:1

Introduction

Truly the Bible is magnificent. Early twentieth-century evangelist Billy Sunday pictured the Bible like a majestic palace. He wrote,

I entered through the portico of Genesis and walked down through the Old Testament’s art gallery, where I saw the portraits of Joseph, Jacob, Daniel, Moses, Isaiah, Solomon and David hanging on the wall; I entered the music room of the Psalms and the Spirit of God struck the keyboard of my nature until it seemed to me that every reed and pipe in God’s great organ of nature responded to the harp of David, and the charm of King Solomon in his moods.

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Metamorphosis, Part 3 (questioning everything)

John MacArthur – Grace to You

I have examined and critiqued postmodernism elsewhere (see The Truth War, 2007). It should be sufficient for our purposes in this context to summarize the postmodern mind-set by describing it as dubiousness about practically everything. As we noted, the starting point for modernity was a rejection of biblical authority (setting aside belief in the supernatural as an untenable or merely irrelevant opinion). Instead, science and human reason were foolishly treated as reliable and authoritative. In the end, the disastrous failure of so many modern ideologies utterly debunked modern rationalism and delivered a deathblow to modern certitude. Postmodernism therefore subjects every idea and every authority to endless skepticism.

Modernity’s most basic assumption was that the way to achieve unshakable certainty is through a rigorous application of the scientific method. (Whatever could be tested and proved in the laboratory—or logically deduced from scientific “facts”—was deemed true; everything else was written off as mere superstition.) Moderns were convinced that a basic foundation of settled scientific knowledge would easily provide a trustworthy authority by which all truth claims could be tested. That process in turn would eventually bring about a uniform consensus regarding all the fundamental realities of life and human existence.

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Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith 2 Corinthians 13

John MacArthur – Grace to You – Bible Q & A

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! (2 Corinthians 13:5)

The Corinthians, prompted by the evil insinuations of the false apostles, had demanded proof of Paul’s apostleship. He reluctantly defended himself, not for his own sake, but for the Lord’s, and so the Corinthians would not be cut off from the truth he preached to them. But in this passage, he turned the tables on his accusers and challenged them to test and examine themselves. The Greek text places the pronouns before the verbs for emphasis and literally reads, “Yourselves test to see if you are in the faith; yourselves examine.” Instead of arrogantly and foolishly challenging the genuineness of Paul’s relationship to the Lord, the Corinthians needed to examine the genuineness of their own salvation. The familiar New Testament terms peirazo (test) and dokimazo (examine) are used here as synonyms. They convey the idea of putting something to the test to determine its genuineness. The test was to see if the Corinthians were in the faith. Pistis (faith) refers here not to the subjective element of belief but to the objective body of Christian truth —the Christian faith.

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Forgiving as You Are Forgiven

John MacArthur – Grace to you

“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. . . . For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions” (Matt. 6:12, 14-15).

It’s possible to confess your sins and still not know the joy of forgiveness. How? Failure to forgive others! Christian educator J. Oswald Sanders observed that Jesus measures us by the yardstick we use on others. He didn’t say, “Forgive us because we forgive others,” but “Forgive us even as we have forgiven others.”

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How do South African Christians relate to a government that is hard to live under?


Alan Lester – Grace Unlimited
From the sermon series Vanishing Beggar’s Gold 30 – Modern Truth to Ancient Rome

Mar 24, 2011

Romans 13:1-7; Acts 5:29

“Big Brother” has arrived. Security cameras everywhere – even on the freeways. Townhouse developments that look more like concentration camps have sprung up everywhere. Office complexes and even some clinics and hospitals now require your thumb-print for entry. Police stop and search vehicles arbitrarily, without warrants, and often expect a bribe in order to let you go. The banks decide how, when and where you will use your credit card, with new “security” measures in some establishments that prevent you from buying at the same place within a certain time frame. The media inundates us with bad news – encouraging a constant state of fear and desperation amongst the general populace and furthering racial tension. Governmental control of major media is more pronounced. Politicians are so arrogantly assured of their power that they do not always even try to hide their corrupt activities. — Oh, and we have a Presidential candidate with no education, a penchant for women (LOTS of women), reckons a shower will cure AIDS, keeps asking for a machine gun and thinks he’s Jesus.
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The Biblical Portrait of Women: Setting the Record Straight

John MacArthur – Grace to You

Leviticus 19:3, Exodus 20:12, Genesis 1:27; 5:1-2, Ephesians 5:23, 1 Peter 3:7, Proverbs 12:4

The Bible is, and has always been, a revolutionary book. It stands like a coastal rock cliff to resist the surging, crashing waves of cultural change. And there may be no clearer demonstration of the Bible’s immutable word than what it teaches about genuine femininity.

The Bible rightly exalts women against cultures that distort, degrade, and debase them. Many in our society tout the sexual and reproductive liberation of women against the supposed oppressive, outmoded strictures of the Bible. I have to ask, “In what way are women truly free? In what way does our culture honor them?” Sure they can vote; sure they have opportunities to compete in the marketplace. But are they really free? Is their dignity and honor intact?

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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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If God is good, why is there so much suffering in the world?

Robert Passantino

If God Is Good, Why Is There So Much Suffering in the World?

Each of us has watched a loved one die, been the victim of a crime, lived among the poverty-stricken, or in some way been confronted with the reality of suffering. Human history sometimes seems like one long chronicle of suffering and despair. In the midst of suffering we cry out,

Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of the soul, to those who long for death that does not come, who search for it more than for hidden treasure. . . . For sighing comes to me instead of food; my groans pour out like water. What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil. [Job 3:20-21, 24-26]

Why is there suffering? Why are the innocent victimized? Is there purpose in pain? Is there any escape? For the Christian, who believes that God is all-good and all-powerful, answers to these questions are especially important. Continue reading →

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Tsunami, Japan, March 2011: Why the suffering?

Grant Swart

The past week’s catastrophic events in Japan, brought about by the massive earthquake and resultant tsunami, has no doubt once again caused many unbelievers to pose the question as to why, if God exists and is an all loving God, He would allow suffering on such an enormous scale. It is a popular question which is often posed to apologists and to those who contend Biblically for true Christian faith.

This question has received some wonderful answers through the years, as the subject of numerous good books, articles and discussions. I certainly do not wish to emulate these great intellectual works by offering a new way of answering the question, but merely to address the subject in the light of recent events of global interest.

On a foremost TV channel, an American commentator asked of an unbelieving world, while reporting on the tsunami in Japan: “Now, where is Godzilla in all of this?” Continue reading →

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Is Roman Catholicism Biblical?

John MacArthur – Grace to You

In today’s spirit of ecumenism, many evangelicals have called for the Protestant Church to lay aside its differences with Rome and pursue unity with the Catholic Church. Is that possible? Is Roman Catholicism simply another facet of the body of Christ that should be brought into union with its Protestant counterpart? Is Roman Catholicism simply another Christian denomination?

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Sorrow in Christian Homes

by J. R. Miller

“Men die, but sorrow never dies;
The corroding years divide in vain,
And the wide world is knit with ties
Of common brotherhood in pain.”

Susan Coolidge

Sooner or later, sorrow comes to every home. No conditions of wealth or culture or social standing, or even of religion, can exclude it. When two young people come from the marriage-altar, and set up their new home, it seems to them that its joy never can be disturbed, that grief can never reach their hearts in that charmed spot. For a few years, perhaps, their fond dream remains unbroken. The flowers bloom into still softer beauty

and richer fragrance; the music continues light and joyous, with no minor chords; the circle is unbroken; child-lives grow up in the tender atmosphere, blessing the home with their love and lovableness; the household life flows on softly and smoothly, like a river, gathering in breadth and depth as it flows. In other homes, all about, there are sorrows,—bereavements,—but amid these desolations of the dreams of other households, this one remains untouched, like an oasis in the desert; but not forever does the exemption continue. There comes a day when the strange messenger of sorrow stands at the door, nor waits for bidding and welcome, but enters, and lays his withering hand on some sweet flower.

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