A Marvelous Change

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         By Don Fortner

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

            After declaring that “the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God,” the inspired apostle writes, “And such were some of you.” If I understand the phrasing of Paul’s words correctly, he is saying, “And such were you.” He is not suggesting that some of the Corinthians were guilty of these sins and others were not. He is saying, “All are guilty. Some were adulterers, some extortioners, some drunkards, etc.; but all have been guilty.” What was true of the Corinthians is also true of us.

This is what we were and where we were when God saved us by his grace (Isa. 51:1; Eph. 2:1-3). We must never forget from whence we came. We must never forget where we were and what we were before the Lord saved us. Not only is 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 a description of what we were – This is what we all are by nature still (Matt. 15:19). There is no evil recorded here, or recorded in the annals of human history, the seed of which is not in each of our hearts by nature. Why does the Holy Spirit remind us so often of this painful fact? There are four reasons for this reminder:

1.      To humble us and keep us from pride and self-righteousness (1 Cor. 4:7).

2.      To honor, exalt, and magnify the grace of God in Christ (1 Cor. 26-30).

3.      To encourage sinners to come with all their sin to Christ, trusting him alone for salvation (Isa. 1:18).

4.      To inspire in our hearts the intense zeal and ardent love for Christ that our great Savior deserves (Lk. 7:47). Continue reading

Doctrinal Error and Damning Heresy

wolf in Sheep's clothing

Jesus said that “wolves” would “come in sheep’s clothing”. The Apostle Paul said, “Grievous wolves will enter in, not sparing the flock”. Paul wrote to Timothy and said as time goes on “evil men will get worse and worse, and deception will increase.” Paul again said, “there will be doctrines of demons that will lead people astray”. To put it mildly, there is a world of chaos and confusion in the church today.

We cannot, therefore, believe for a moment that everyone who claims to be “in Christ” and to “speak on behalf of Christ” is speaking the truth. Distinguishing truth and error has become vital to the 21st century Christian. (John MacArthur)  Continue reading

Charismatic Chaos – John MacArthur

Charismatic Chaos Part 1

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Charismatic Chaos – Does God Still Give Revelation?

John MacArthur – Grace to You

(Part 2 of 13 of the Charismatic Chaos (Sermon Series)

I want to just preface the message tonight, really a study of an issue rather than a text, which is a little unfamiliar to us, as normally we’re in certain text of Scripture.

But I want to preface it with just a couple of comments. First of all, I want to say that I’m very much aware of the fact that not everyone who is associated with the Charismatic movement is engaged in the kind of extreme error that we will be, from time to time, referring to. There are people who are more moderate. There are people within the Charismatic movement who, themselves, are very, very concerned about the heresies and the aberrations that exist within that movement. And so the movement runs quite a wide gamut and there are people at all different points.

However, there are some salient features and elements in the movement that we’re endeavoring to deal with and illustrate to you. Again, I ask you to keep in mind that not everyone in the movement would affirm all these things. There are various and sundry different kinds of viewpoints.

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