Bible

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Is It Accurate to Say That God Loves Sinners, But Hates Sin?

 By Dr Paul M Elliot

Church history records a variety of strongly-held positions on this question. Some have said that God loves all mankind equally. Others have said that God only loves His elect. Still others have said that God loves all men, but loves believers in a special way. What is the truth?

In the final analysis, we must be careful to say what Scripture says about the love of God and His attitude toward sin — no more, but also no less. And on the authority of Scripture, we must conclude that it is accurate to say that God loves sinners, but hates sin — but also that those who persist in their sin will personally experience the eternal wrath of God.

While We Were Still Sinners”

Romans 5:8 alone is a sufficient basis for the assertion that God does indeed love sinners: “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” If God did not love sinners, He would not have sent His Son to die for them. But it is important to explain further.

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A Biblical Response to the Catholic-Evangelical Accord

John MacArthur – Grace to You

I want to take this opportunity to let you know about a document that you perhaps have heard of that’s called The Evangelicals and Catholics Together document, the Christian mission in the third millennium. And it’s something that was put together by Charles Colson and Richard John Neuhaus as a way to conciliate Roman Catholics and Evangelicals for basically purposes of evangelical mission in the world and purposes of the betterment of human life in America, by their definition. It’s being spread far and wide, quite remarkably it has shown up in one form or another in the major newspapers here in California and I’m sure all over the United States.

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The True Pattern of Love

~ J.C. Ryle

The love of the Bible will show itself in the general spirit and demeanor of a believer. It will make them kind, unselfish, good-natured, good-tempered, and considerate of others. It will make them gentle, friendly, and courteous in all the daily relations of private life, thoughtful for others comfort, tender for others feelings, and more anxious to give pleasure than to receive. True love never envies others when they prosper, nor rejoices in the calamities of others when they are in trouble. At all times it will believe, hope, and try to put to good use the actions of others. And even at the worst, it will be full of pity, mercy, and compassion. Would we like to know where the true pattern of love like this can be found? We have only to look at the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, as described in the Gospels, and we will see it perfectly exemplified.


Practical Religion, “Charity”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1998], 171, 172.

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How Pietism Deceives Christians: The Errors of Elitist teachings in the Church

By on Jul 28, 2011

By Apprising Ministries special correspondent Bob DeWaay

There are no extraordinary Christians; but being an ordinary Christian is an extraordinary thing. How I wish I would have understood that when I was a new Christian. But I didn’t. Soon after my conversion I began a quest to become the best possible Christian.

In so doing I fell prey to teachings that promised me a Christian life superior to that of ordinary Christians. What I did not know was that I had embraced pietism. I didn’t become an extraordinary Christian and I did walk straight into error.

My journey into the “deeper life” oftentimes involved embracing contradictory teachings. For example, two of my favorite teachers in the early 1970’s were Watchman Nee and Kenneth Hagin. One taught a deeper Christian life through suffering[1]) and the other taught a higher order Christianity that could cause one to be free from bodily ailments and poverty.[2]The hook was that both claimed to have the secret to becoming an extraordinary Christian. I found out that they didn’t.

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Explaining Lectio Divina

I am posting this as, I am aware of many churches who are Afrikaans speaking congregations, and they are promoting this practice. I pray many will find the truth. Elmarie

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Do not reject His righteousness

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

entitled “The Lord Is Risen Indeed,” delivered April 13, 1873.

Men think that they are to be saved by keeping God’s commandments. They are to do their best, and they conceive that their sincere endeavors will be accepted, and they will thus save themselves. This self-righteous idea is diametrically opposed to the whole spirit of the gospel. The gospel is not for you who can save yourselves, but for those who are lost. If you can save yourselves, go and do it, and do not mock the Savior with your hypocritical prayers. Go and stumble among the tombs of ancient Israel, and perish as they did in the wilderness, for into rest Moses and the law can never lead you.

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Worth the Slammer!

Dr. Joshua Mack

24 July 2011

So lost in his glorious world, Paul sits back or a moment as he writes this letter. Something is heavy upon his mind. But what is on his mind is not the fact that he is in prison. What has inflated his heart is the glorious gospel of the blessed God. He wants his readers to come to appreciate it more and more. So as he grasps for words, it comes back to him that his is actually in prison for this gospel. Just as his incarceration is real, so the gospel is real! Not only is it real, it is also consuming, objective, and given to him by God.

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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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Examine Yourself

John MacArthur
Matthew 5-7; 2 Corinthians 13:5

Are you a Christian? Many people who claim to be point to some event in the past to substantiate their claim. But inviting Jesus to come into your life in the past is not proof that you are genuinely saved. In 2 Corinthians 13:5 Paul says to the Corinthian church, “ Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith; prove yourselves (emphasis added).” He wouldn’t have said that if some event in the past were obviously the answer. The Bible never verifies anyone’s salvation by the past but by the present. If there is no evidence of salvation in your life now, you need to face the fact that you may not be a Christian. You need to examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith. How does one do that? Jesus shows us in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).

The Distinguishing Mark of a Christian

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The Ministry of The Holy Spirit

John MacArthur – Strength for today (Devotionals)

“By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.” – 1 John 4:13
Experiencing the ministry of the Holy Spirit is evidence of genuine saving faith.

In John 14:26, Jesus described the Holy Spirit as “the Helper.” One of the most important ways He helps us is by assuring us that we belong to God. Several works of the Holy Spirit, if present in our lives, give evidence of the genuineness of our salvation. In 1 Corinthians 12:3 Paul writes, “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” Apart from the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, you would not know who Christ was, nor would you confess Him as Savior and Lord. If you have experienced that work of the Holy Spirit, that is evidence you are a true child of God.

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Always Ready (1 Peter 3 )

John MacArthur – Grace to You – Bible Q & A

Always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence. (1 Peter 3:15)

Christians must be ready to make a defense of the faith. The Greek term for defense (apologia) is the word from which the English terms apology and apologetics derive. It often means a formal defense in a judicial courtroom (cf. Acts 25:16; 2 Tim. 4:16), but Paul also used the word informally to denote his ability to answer those who questioned him (Phil. 1:16). Always indicates believers’ need for constant preparedness and readiness to respond, whether in a formal courtroom or informally, to everyone who asks them to give an account for why they live and believe the way they do. Account is simply logos, “word,” or “message,” and it calls saints to be able at the time someone asks (present tense) to give the right words in response to questions about the gospel.

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I do not Allow a Woman to Teach… (1Timothy 2:12-15)

This is a good listen and the explanation is very clear. I have listened to this again and decided to post it for all my Christian lady friends and also for their spouses. May you be blessed and see the Biblical truth.

Elmarie

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What is conviction of sin?

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled

“An Old-Fashioned Conversation,” delivered March 16, 1873.

The Lord shuts us up to hopelessness and helplessness in order that he may come, as a God of grace, and display his abounding mercy. All our hope lies in him, and all other hopes are delusions. The great work in conversion is not to make people better, so that they may come to God on a good footing, it is to strip them completely and lay them low, so that God may come to them when they are on a bad footing, or rather on no footing at all, but down in the dust at his feet. The Son of man is come to seek and to cave that which is lost, but it wants* God himself to convince men that they are lost; and the Spirit’s work of soul-humbling is just this – to get man to feel so diseased that he will accept the physician; to get him to feel so poor that he will accept the charity of heaven; to get him to know that he is so stripped, that he will no longer be proud of his fig leaves, but will be willing to take the robe of righteousness which Christ has wrought out.

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Discerning Discernment

Discerning Discernment

The Meaning and Significance of Hebrews 5:12-14 in the Christian’s Call of Discernment

By Ryan Habbena

“What is your spirtual gift ?” I have heard this question asked and answered many times. In my experience, the most common response to this inquiry is: “I have the gift of discernment.” When asked what this means, the person often answers, “I can automatically tell when something is evil.”

The Scriptures speak to the subject of discernment in various ways. While the Bible indeed affirms “discernment” as a spiritual gift (1 Corinthians 12:10),1 the truth is that all Christians are called to be “discerners” (see 1 John 4:1, 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22). The question then naturally follows: “How do we acquire the ability to discern?” There are those who would answer in unison with the above example, simply stating: “I just know it my heart! I just know.” Note, for instance, Neal Anderson’s take on this subject: “Spiritual discernment is our first line of defense against deception. The Holy Spirit has taken up residence in every believer, and He is not silent when we encounter the counterfeit. Discernment is that little ‘buzzer’ that goes off inside when something is wrong.”2 While the Holy Spirit has indeed taken up residence in every believer, rather than relying upon an automatic, subjective “buzzer” that is supposed to “go off inside,” we are informed in Hebrews that believers are equipped with discernment via different means. Hebrews 5:12-14 speaks directly to this subject. In what follows I will engage in some “basic exposition” on this central text regarding discernment. Following this I will apply its teaching to how we all are called to be trained discerners in order to avoid the deception that surrounds us.

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Criticizing other religions: Divisive hatred or Christian duty?

Grant Swart

I recently had the privilege of responding to a blogger’s comment, one which advocated that there be no criticism of religions opposed to, or religions other than, Christianity. Furthermore, the opinion of the concerned blogger was that evangelical Christians should gain a full understanding of other religions, by listening to everything followers of those religions have to say, rather than warning them of their error in love and out of concern.

Satan’s deceptively brilliant idea of punting religious tolerance among the nations, in opposition to the biblical instruction to speak only the truth in love and in accordance with the Gospel, has gained mammoth religious popularity and has invaded the psyche of converts to the globally accepted interfaith protagonists.

While this is in agreement with the worldly message emanating from the post-modern emergent church, and is certainly what followers of false religions necessarily endorse, it is nonetheless contrary to the Scriptural instruction Continue reading →