The Successful Church...

This topic is problematic because everyone has their own idea or definition of success, and it isn't always the opposite of failure--there is wiggle-room or spiritual no-man's-land where it is not definitive either way, but only a value judgment call by subjective members or observers.  Success doesn't necessarily imply numbers or high membership rolls, though this may be an element or sign of success, as it keeps a tally on the numbers in Acts, for instance, going from 120 in the Upper Room to 5,000.

Some megachurches are failures at being what a church body is meant to be--a family, an organism and not an organization, and an open door to the Great Commission.  If it isn't in the process of fulfilling the marching orders of the Great Commission, it is a failure.  Numbers is a byproduct when we aim to do God's will, not when we specialize in gathering "crowds."

We must be able to participate and interact with fellowship and service in the body according to our gifts, and not just observe others doing the work of ministry and mission on our behalf.  We are all called to be ministers of reconciliation and to contribute according to our unique gift or gifts and not be passive, but active in the church.  And that implies we don't worship by proxy or vicariously.

The purpose of the church is given in the Great Commission to evangelize, equip for ministry, and build up the body of Christ to fulfill the mission to the world. The onus and responsibility for the Great Commission aren't just the pastor's but shared by all--each with a different gift, but the same Spirit. The church's job description involves discipleship, worship, and fellowship, and even one-on-one mentors.

Only when the body is functional and not ultimately dependent on any ONE gifted teacher or preacher, that even might have the charisma or be celebrated, do we have a genuine church--we don't want to build cult-like followings or personality cults, based on the teaching of one individual, no matter how gifted. Some megachurches are just crowds and you can get lost in the shuffle going there, being completely incognito or unnoticed. One should always wonder what he or she can contribute to the church's ministry to the believer or mission to the lost.

The church is to be obedient to God's Word and not try to focus on being like the world at large, or be the "church of what's happening now." There are many fads that spread throughout the body and some churches don't think they are in tune with the times if they don't follow the latest thing.

How does a church grow?  By the faithful preaching of the gospel, the power is in the gospel message and it should never get old to preach or to hear.  Paul strove to know nothing but Christ and Christ crucified. The lost should be able to come to the church assembly and be convicted and find out the way of salvation--this is the raison d'etre of the church!

The church's function is twofold:  pastoral and prophetic to the body, while its ministry is to them, its mission is to the world.  They should have a relative message to the world and an edifying message for the believer.  Prophecy entails interpreting the times and making people aware of what's going on in the world, not foretelling, but forthtelling.  This is because the church is the "pillar and ground of truth" (and all truth, according to Augustine, is God's truth), and Christians are to be the salt and light in the world, but not of it (cf. John 15:19).

Being faithful is more important in God's eyes than success in the eyes of the world; small churches can be successful because God can require some just to be faithful in little, according to their opportunities and gifts.  The most important sign of a successful church is a church that is alive and vibrant and it is apparent that the Spirit is moving in the body and speaks through the preachers with edification. Jesus severely rebuked the church of Laodicea for being "lukewarm" or lackluster and lackadaisical in their worship, which was tepid and lacked spirit--We must worship "in spirit" (cf. John 4:24):  "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."

If people confess that they met God or that they sensed the moving of the Spirit during worship, God is alive in that church--there are many a moribund church that needs revival, on the other hand.  If the individual members are healthy and walking with the Lord, the byproduct will be a healthy church. We want to be careful that we don't get so seeker-sensitive that people become converted to the program, instead of converted to Christ.

Don't ever lose track of keeping the main thing the main thing, our fulfillment of the Great Commission.  This is why the social gospel is a misnomer, and we are not to turn stones into bread, to use metaphoric language.  The church is in the business of changing lives through Jesus Christ and doing it one person at a time, and no one is beyond the reach of God's grace. It is a hospital for sinners, not a hotel for saints. and no perfect people need to apply.

Samuel said to Saul that "to obey was better than sacrifice" and this means avoiding the Dance of the Pious or going through the motions.  There are too many Christians "playing church" and even see it solely as a social event and/or opportunity to make friends. We are to obey in Spirit and in truth and according to the Spirit of the law, not the letter of the law, as in legalism. God is still looking for that church willing to do His will--trust and obey.  This can only be done when believers realize their duty doesn't end at church attendance;  which is one of the biggest misconceptions in the body.  Caveat:  the church should never get complacent and feel it's arrived at success--there's always room for improvement; perfection is the standard, direction is the test.

The purpose of the church is manifold to be done as a family united in Christ:  The mission of the Great Commission to the lost, discipleship of the members to train for the ministry, and the fellowship of the believers, whether members or not, and most of all to offer a vehicle for worship as a community in Christ in corporate worship as a body unified in spirit and purpose (mission statement).  It has been well said that a great Christian has a great commitment to the Great Commission and the Great Commandment.  Soli Deo Gloria!

The Romanist Dogma Of Free Will

Meditate on the following (emphasis added):

"So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy" (Romans 9:16, NKJV). 

 [W]ho were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God [we don't will ourselves saved]"  (John 1:13, NKJV).

"For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but to suffer for His sake"  (Philippians 1:29, NKJV). 

"... And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed"  (Acts 13:48, NKJV). 

 "... [But] the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded [hardened]"  (Romans 11:7, NKJV, emphasis added).

Luther was an Augustinian monk, and Augustine said that we are "free but not freed." We maintain our power to make choices as humans, but we have lost our liberty--we are slaves to sin, and, as he said, we are unable not to sin (non posse non peccare)--a double negative.  It's like being in jail and having the freedom to play cards, but not to walk outside for recreation at will--there is a limit to freedom and it's not absolute.  We are slaves to sin and our sin nature. We are free to choose our own poison and are, what has been termed by theologians, voluntary slaves--we love our sin and have no natural inclination to seek God or to love Him and only a work of grace in our hearts changes it from a "heart of stone to a heart of flesh" (cf. Ezek. 36:26).

We are still free to act according to our desires, but they are the wrong desires.  As Ovid, the Roman poet of antiquity wrote:  "I see the better things and I approve them, but I follow the worst."  The law of God is written on man's heart and he is culpable for breaking it (cf. Romans 2:15).  Romans 3:11 is God's pet peeve:  "[N]o one understands; no one seeks for God."

Most believers have wrongly assumed and appropriated the Catholic view of free will, that we have the capability to gain entree to God's grace or admittance into His presence by the merit of a positive attitude and willingness to cooperate with Him in our salvation, known as a pre-salvation work; however, "Salvation is of the Lord" [not of man alone nor of man and the Lord as in a cooperative or synergistic venture] (cf. Jonah 2:9). That statement of Jonah is the summation of Reformed theology and we must never think that we would've responded to the gospel call without God's wooing. We have lost the inclination to please God and do His will. We were elected unto faith, not because of it (known as the fallacious prescient view repudiated in Romans 8:30), because this would be grounds for merit. "No man can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draw him" (cf. John 6:44).

In today's humanist worldview man is exalted and seen as having the free will to do as he wishes or wants to.  Martin Luther told Erasmus in his tome, The Bondage of the Will, that "free will" was too grandiose a term to ascribe to our power of choice or to make decisions from our depraved, fallen volition.  You must define terms when you speak of free will, because we do have the power to disobey God and to choose our desserts, but we cannot believe in Christ apart from God's grace and work in our heart.

Adam and Eve had free will and blew it: they had the power to sin and the power not to sin, while a fallen man can only sin and is unable not to sin. Adam made the choice for us to disobey God in our place, and we are in Adam and held accountable for his failure and this is known commonly as original sin--this inherited virus which is our birthright as humans--we have remained human, but are no longer good, but maintain solidarity in Adam and we share his predicament he had the fall--i.e., the natural inclination to good has been forfeited.

In defining total depravity, one must take into consideration that the mind is corrupt and faulty, the emotions are perverted and easily swayed by evil and corrupted, and the will also is defiant and disobedient to God and this means our whole nature--intellect, emotions or heart, and will or volition--is depraved and there is nothing meritorious or righteous in us to be worthy of salvation--"... And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6, NKJV) and "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?  Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil" (Jeremiah 13:23, ESV).

God is able (He's omnipotent and you cannot limit God) to make the unwilling, willing according to Scripture:  He works irresistible or efficacious grace in our hearts according to His will ("For it is God who works in you, both to do and to will of his good pleasure," cf. Phil. 2:13). God never makes us do anything we don't want to do (that is coercion or determinism when we don't have input), and there is no outside force working on us like we're puppets on a string or automatons.  We all act according to our nature, and God is our Maker and preordained and predetermined our nature, whether melancholy, choleric, or sanguine, for example.

If you think about it, the will have very little input into a decision compared to other uncontrollable factors like circumstances, DNA, and the environment (the old nature vs. nurture debate).  It is a fallacy to assume we need free will to be saved, we need wills made free!  "If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed"  (cf. John 8:36).  We are not "born free" as some postulate, but born into a state of slavery to our sin nature. Left to ourselves, we would not choose Christ, as Pascal said:  "I would not have searched for Thee, if Thou hadst not found me."

Our freedom is a curse because we choose the evil and the wrong course and God must intervene and change our heart, by taking the initiative and making the first move of grace.  We are free to act as we choose according to our nature, just like a dove naturally eats seeds and a raven goes for the carrion.  Our will is free in that we act voluntarily, and not by compulsion.  We're voluntary slaves!   God remains sovereign in spite of our free will and we cannot thwart His decrees or will and upset His plan--our freedom doesn't restrict God's sovereignty:  "...Who can resist His will?" (Cf. Romans 9:19).

To think that we can act independently of God's will and disturb His plan is blasphemous and exalts man and dethrones God--this is the agenda of Secular Humanism, which believes man is the measure of all things and is the starting point of our understanding of reality, and not God the source of all truth ("In the beginning God...").

St. Augustine of Hippo said, "We are free but not free."  This isn't a clever play on words but saying that we do as we choose but have lost our liberty.  It's like being in jail and having the freedom to do anything according to the rules.  Our natures are corrupt and we act according to our natures that need regeneration by God to a new birth of faith and repentance.  We are free but in our depravity we choose evil!  Apart from God's intervention and grace no one would get saved and believe. 

In summation, God never coerces us to do anything we don't want to do--that's determinism, not destiny.  We have input unlike the blind fate of Muslim kismet.  However, God is able to make the unwilling willing and to change our hearts and minds to do His will for He is stronger and can influence us for the good--it's when He withdraws His grace that we turn evil.  We must confess as did Jeremiah in Jer. 20:7, NKJV, "...You are stronger than I, and have prevailed (cf. Isa. 63:17; Phil. 2:13).  It is said that He compels us to come in (literal translation of the Greek elko or woo).    Soli Deo Gloria!

The Blame Game Extraordinaire

"Put away the pointing of the finger!" or, as Isaiah 58:9, ESV says it:  "... If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness." When I was a child, psychiatry was really into the blame game, there were no bad children, only bad parents. Every one of our problems was conveniently someone else's fault!  When there is estrangement in a relationship it is not our place to condemn the other party as being the recipient of the blame and to pinpoint blame on them.  In our relationship with God, on the other hand, our estrangement is completely our fault, we are the ones who moved and disobeyed God--He stayed the same and didn't move.

We have multiple personal relationships that are complicated and involve more than any one person could get a grip on and manipulate. Both parties are to blame for any domestic dispute, brotherly rivalry, family feud, or even unfriendly business competition or venture. When you blame someone and point the finger, three fingers are pointing back at you. You are saying that you are a victim and totally innocent and had nothing to do with instigating the misunderstanding and breach of relationship or alienation of affection, and you are alone in the position of holiness and innocence whereby you can impartially judge the motives of the other person involved in the misunderstanding (for most disagreements are simply a failure to communicate).

God alone is objective and impartial and able to make a judgment of culpability.  We are responsible for starting something that spiraled out of control and all the consequences, forgiven or not. Unless you are perfect, you share the blame and there is plenty to go around. There is a good reason not to get involved in a domestic because they are so complicated and not so readily resolved, as to blame--both deserve their fair share of culpability. When you are in the habit of blaming people for problems it shows a lack of responsibility and insight into the real nature of the issues, people, and problems.

An example of politicos playing the blame game is saying that things have gotten worse under Obama, a Democrat, and this is a reason to put Republicans in charge; the truth is that every bill proposed by the president has gotten nowhere in a gridlocked Congress, held captive by Republicans, who have stymied him from Day One, and have made it their mission statement to obstruct and discredit him and his legacy.  There is always another side to the story that they don't want you to know and are merely putting a spin on the news.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Does God Need Backup?

"The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
The plans of His heart from generation to generation"  (Psalm 33:11, NASB).
"...Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can stand against You"  (2 Chronicles 20:6, NASB).
"I know that You can do all things,
And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted"  (Job 42:2, NASB).
"There is no wisdom and no understanding
And no counsel against the LORD" (Proverbs 21:30, NASB).
"[F]or it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure"  (Philippians 2:13, ESV).
"But will say to me then, 'Why does he still find fault?  For who can resist his will?'" (Romans 9:19, ESV).
"...Who will say to him, 'What are you doing?" (Job 9:12, ESV).

Some believers may ponder whether God can be frustrated by their personal failures:  O no, I messed up and will have to suffer for my mistake all my life! Or, you might say, "I blew it, and I'll pay for it the rest of my days."  God cannot be thwarted by man  (cf. Job 42:2) because He is omnipotent or almighty and has all power and authority over His creation, such that there isn't even a single maverick molecule doing its own thing apart from His providence.  That's limiting God!

To even suggest that God needs a backup plan is almost blasphemous because it implies that God is in need and insufficient to meet our needs and that God is not El Shaddai or God All-Sufficient--He needs no one or nothing.    God doesn't need us and He is self-existent and needs no one and is dependent on no antecedent cause--He is the sole primary cause of the cosmos and if He weren't sovereign overall, what kind of God would He be?  "Can anything happen without God's permission? (Cf. Lam. 3:37).  God truly orchestrates history for His glory and consummation in Christ's Second Coming.  He can even turn the heart of the king to do His will (cf. Proverbs 21:1).

Christ will not barter away His right to be Lord of all, and has been given all authority in heaven and on earth to do His will (cf. Matt. 28:18).  When Christ was training just twelve disciples, someone might've asked Him what He would do if these men failed Him:  He would've said that He has no other plan!  God is great and knows all and never learn anything new, so why would He need to have alternate plans?  He knows the future and all that possibly could be, so He is in a position to make the one all-wise plan and has the wisdom to fulfill it and bring it to fruition.

 God's decrees will be brought to pass, with or without our cooperation!  Note these verses:  "The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand... For the LORD of hosts hath purposed and who shall disannul it?  and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?"  (Isaiah 14:24,27, KJV).  "... My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass, I have purposed, it, I will also do it." (Isaiah 46:10-11, KJV).

God knows what He's doing and doesn't need our counsel!  He didn't ask us for advice and doesn't need our feedback.  He took every one of our failures into account when He made His decrees.  "Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it?  now have I brought it to pass..." (Isaiah 37:26, KJV).  There is nothing too difficult for God (cf. Jeremiah 32:17,27), including bringing about His will and there is no Plan B!  Everything is going according to plan and we are privileged to be part of it as vessels of honor.  God cannot fail and we cannot fail when we join God.  Don't even hint or suggest that God doesn't know what He's doing! "With God all things are possible" (cf. Luke 1:37).  This includes the success of His divine decrees! As it is written:  "... [W]hose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent"  (Isaiah 28:29, NIV).  

It's never too late for God's best and all tragedy, adversity, trial, tribulation, and discipline comes to pass as Father-filtered, or with God's permission, and all proximate evil has ultimate good as the result (as Romans 8:28, NKJV, says, "... [All] things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose").  Let me mention John Wycliffe's famous tenet that "All Things come to pass of necessity.  "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will"  (Eph. 1:11, KJV, emphasis mine).  Soli Deo Gloria!

A Dead Heat

"We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ"  (2 Cor. 10:5, ESV).
"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace" (Acts 20:24, NIV).

Are you Christ's competition?  In God's economy: greatness is not how many serve you, but how many you serve; the way up is down; humility comes before honor; emptiness comes before fullness--we must confess with John the Baptist:  "He must increase; I must decrease" (cf. John 3:30).   You commence growth in spirituality once you become cognizant that it's not about you!  Christ defeated Satan at the cross and the battle has been won to the chagrin of Satan, who thought he was winning when Christ went to Calvary.

God used the worst atrocity in history to bring about the devil's defeat (cf. Acts 4:28)--he stands defeated and we fight from victory, not for a victory--the battle is the Lord's. We all have individual races to run that comprise God's will for our lives and to gain its prize; however, we must compete according to the rules.  The battle is won! Satan is a defeated foe.  Jesus is the victor and we are in a mop-up effort to proclaim it to the world, notwithstanding Satan's resistance.

When we have completed the will and purpose of God, our time on earth is up and we go to meet our Maker (cf. Acts 13:36, ESV):  "For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption." Hebrews 12:1 (ESV) says, "And] let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."  We all have different races and are to find God's will and plan for us.  We are all to compete as an athlete who runs for a perishable crown or wreath, but ours is an imperishable one and it isn't a sprint, but a marathon. Jesus won and we are just members of the winning team.  Our enemy is the world, the flesh, and the devil--not each other! We are our own worst enemy.

We all finish in a dead heat--there is no elite Christian who is above the others, though God is not unjust to withhold due reward for those who win their personal race and find God's will for their lives to do it.  The rule of this world is "winner takes all."  It's not "each man for himself" in a life ruled by the law of the jungle, but each of us looking out for each other's interest.  "One for all and all for one!"  We pray:  "For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory..."  We are mere stewards of the riches of God and will be rewarded according to our faithfulness in these blessings.  We are all members one of another of the same body, some being an eye, and some an ear, for example.

In God's economy, all believers are winners and are members of His royal family that will rule with Him in the Millennial Kingdom, and even judge the world and angels.  You have a different race to run than I do, for instance; mine may be only a week long, while God expects you to endure a year to finish His will.  Note that the race is not a sprint, or how fast we go, but how we endure and how faithful we are--God isn't looking for our achievements or success, but our obedience!  As Mother Teresa of Calcutta (recipient of 1979 Nobel Peace Prize and now canonized) said, "God doesn't call us to success, but to faithfulness."

Christians are in an angelic conflict with the forces and authorities of darkness and the demonic realm, that we can only defeat by wearing the armor of God.  There is plenty of rewards to go around and share with the members of the kingdom of God, and it all belongs to God; we are just stewards of the blessings of God and are here to demonstrate our faithfulness and worthiness of eternal reward. Nothing in this life is permanent--we have spiritual green cards and are only passing through, as our real citizenship is in heaven (per Philippians 3:20).  We are stewards and God has leveled the playing field:  "The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof'  (cf. Psalm 24:1).

There is no caste system in the body of Christ, for we are all royalty and equally members one of another--having different gifts, but the same Spirit.  We are all on the same team as a family in Christ!  When one part is honored, the whole body is honored. We must be careful that we are not competing with God; He is on our side and when we join Him we cannot lose the battle--which we fight in the name of the Lord with the full armor of God described in Ephesians 6:12ff.   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Grip Of Sin

Before salvation we are subject to a sin nature that we have no power to defeat; in fact, all we can do is sin and we are unable not to sin. Roman poet Ovid said, "I know the good and approve it, but I follow the worst."  Paul summed up the plight of man in Romans 7:24 (ESV) as:  "Wretched man that I am.  Who will deliver me from the body of this death?" "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?  Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil" (Jeremiah 13:23, ESV).  "All our righteousness is as filthy rags"  (cf. Isaiah 64:6) and counts as nothing compared to the purity of God's standards, which are manifest in Christ's person.

All we need to know of righteousness is exemplified and personified in Him, the exact replica and image of God (cf. Col. 1:15). Our good works, done in the flesh, count for nothing at Judgment Day and are praiseworthy by our fellow man, who gives us his kudos and; however, they count for nothing in God's eyes, namely because they were done with the wrong motives and God takes this into consideration (cf. Proverbs 21:2)--most men do good deeds simply for the applause and acceptance of man and to ingratiate himself in God's eyes; however, there is nothing we can do to gain God's favor or to "brownnose" God.

We are all in the same boat and lumped together (cf. Rom. 3:23), regardless of our own assessment or appraisal, or of what others think considering their evaluation and estimation of our worthiness. What is esteemed in men's eyes is despised in God's eyes; for man admires high self-esteem and self-respect, not God-esteem and God-respect, and even individualism and independence--"lift yourself up by your own bootstraps," which is a do-it-yourself proposition common to all religion, on good works to gain the approbation of God. We couldn't be worse off in God's estimation of man--note that our total depravity of heart, will, and mind is God's estimation of man, not man's estimation of man. The grip of our sin nature or depravity must be solved threefold:  its ignorance by virtue of Christ the Prophet, its guilt by virtue of Christ the Priest, and its dominion by virtue of Christ the King.

God is not against good works per se, for they benefit us and we all owe a lot to so-called good men who have contributed to our well-being, but they are not good enough to gain entree into God's heaven or for salvation itself.  But God is indeed against good deeds done in the power of the flesh, by man's own effort and strength, as opposed to those done in the power of the Spirit, of which are worthy of reward at the bema (Greek for judgment seat) or tribunal of Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 5:10; Romans 14:10-12).  Jesus said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing..." (cf. John 15:5).  God must give us the power (cf. Phil. 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ...") to do works in His name (cf. Isaiah 26:12 says:  "...[You] have done for us all our works"--only that which is done by the power of the Spirit and in His name is worthy of reward, and this goes for believers as well, as 1 Cor. 3:15 indicates that some of their works are only "wood, hay, and stubble" and will burn up in the fire of judgment and the believer will suffer loss of reward, though he is saved as if by fire.

Cain was warned by God in Genesis 4:7 that sin "crouches at the door" and waits to destroy him and we must all realize this:  We are still subject to our sin nature as believers and must constantly renew ourselves in the filling of the Spirit--it's not a one-time event, but a continuing experience of  being filled [cf. Eph. 5:18].  Even Christians can and do backslide, but God can heal them of this tendency, inclination, and weakness--He will heal the backslider (Hosea 14:4 says, "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely"). "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh"  (Gal. 5:16, ESV).   Hosea says that "sin has been your downfall."  Yes, we still have sin in us as believers and this is the old man or old sin nature, the result of Adam's sin which we inherit as original sin.

We are no longer inclined to do good but must walk in the Spirit to overcome the evil one.   Many Christians do live defeated lives and have never learned to walk with the Lord in fellowship, even as Enoch and Noah did.  We must all realize our area of weakness--the sin which so easily besets us, according to Hebrews 12:1--and admit our shortcomings and failures to God--to come clean in repentance.  We have no one to blame but ourselves, for we are our own worst enemy and shouldn't be blaming the devil-like they say, "The devil made me do it!"  We have no one to blame but ourselves for our failures, because God is on our side and, as believers, we have power over sin and to overcome the sin nature.

Unfortunately, some believers are recurrent backsliders and God says to them:  "... Your sins have been your downfall!"  (Cf. Hos. 14:1, NIV).  We are not punished for our sins, nor for our parents' sins--we are punished by our sins, and God doesn't deliver us from their natural consequences because we still sow what we reap and take responsibility for our own behavior--just because a thief is forgiven, doesn't mean God is going to keep him from jail time.

The only way to be set free is to know Christ:  "If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed!"  (Cf. John 8:36).  Unbelievers have no power over sin and act according to their nature, though everyone isn't equally as bad, they are all as equally bad off--we cannot save ourselves nor do any pre-salvation work!  We are all totally depraved in all of our being and nature, though we are not utterly depraved or as bad as we can be.  It has been said by theologians that we are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners!

Man is only acting naturally when he sins just like Satan is acting according to his nature when he lies, for he is a liar and the father of liars, and there is no truth in him.  The sequence of salvation is that at conversion we are set free from the penalty of sin, in time from the power of sin, and in eternity from the presence of sin.  In other words, we have been saved from sin, we are being saved from sin, and we will be saved from sin (our position, condition, and expectation).

The whole point of the Christian life is a changed life or a conversion experience--although some regard this as an acceptable way to have a nervous or mental breakdown now, it is an experience to be reckoned with and that is as dramatic as a cowboy changing hitching posts because of his change of attitude and no longer visits the brothel or saloon, and instead attends chapel.  We learn to hate sin as God hates it and to love righteousness as God does, and as we get to know God and love God, we want to be like Him.  We are all works in progress, but there is a dramatic change that occurs as a testimony of the conversion experience.

Therefore,we must learn to be patient with other believers because God isn't finished with them yet!  God is working on us like a silversmith purifies his silver:  When he sees himself he is done!  God wants to see Himself in us and won't stop working on us till He does: "Christ in you, the hope of glory"  (cf. Col. 1:27).  God is like a sculptor who makes a figurine out of a slab of marble and does it by taking away everything that doesn't resemble the figurine. Some people are just more challenging and have a further way to go, by virtue of less virtue or faith, but God is determined to make all of us in Christ's image.

Man is no free spirit (however, he's a free moral agent) that can do as he wills and come to God in his own power and free will, God must woo him and draw him to the cross and do a work of regeneration in his heart of repentance and faith--no one would come to Christ of their own power; it is totally of grace and Soli Deo Gloria, or to God alone be the glory.  It is by grace alone, through faith alone, in the person and work of Christ alone, with the Scripture as the authority alone, and God alone getting the glory.  It is summed up in the monergistic (not cooperative) and not a synergistic (co-operative) phrase of Jonah:  "Salvation is of the Lord."  It is not a cooperative venture, whereby we get a little of the credit, but God works it in us and sovereignly saves us totally by grace and not merit of any kind. There are only three possibilities:  Of man alone; of God and man; or of God alone.

The first is religion, the second is legalism, and the third alone is total grace.  As Paul says in Romans 5:21 that "grace reigns through righteousness."  God's grace is irresistible and efficacious or does what He intends--make believers out of us and change our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh (cf. Ezek. 36:26). God's grace always works the desired result (cf Romans 5:21), unlike man's work, and is never in vain--you can resist the Holy Spirit and harden your heart, but not God's gracious work in your heart, no more than you can resist the woman of your dreams.

It is an ill-conceived to think we are "born free" and have "spiritual" free will--we must be set free! We aren't saved by an act of the will:  "So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy" (Romans 9:16, ESV).  "[F]or it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure"  (Phil. 2:13, ESV).  We don't need free wills to be saved, but wills made free (even our wills our stubborn, rebellious, and depraved and incapable of pleasing God without God quickening of faith in them--we were dead in trespasses and sins (cf. Eph. 2:1) and God made us alive, and a dead person can do nothing to please God!

We had no inclination to come to Christ and no desire for Him until God worked this grace in us and granted us the privilege of coming to Christ: "No man can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him," and "No man can come to me unless it has been granted of the Father" (cf. John 6:44).  These are hard sayings and many believers stumble over them and cannot accept that God is ultimately in charge of our destiny--they like to think they are in control of things; however, God is sovereign over all and what kind of God would He be if He weren't?  Note Romans 9:19 (ESV) that says, "... 'Why does he still find fault?  For who can resist his will?'" "Christ is the Captain of our soul and the Master of our fate."

Man's so-called free will doesn't limit God's sovereignty, and God is the one who made the final choice as to whom He would save--called His elect in Scripture.  It is an important point of doctrine that Romans 8:30 (ESV), which says :  "[A]nd those whom he predestined he also called...," militates against the prescient view that God elects us because we believe, but God elects us unto faith, I repeat, not because of our faith! He can make a believer out of anyone if it's His will (Tyre and Sidon would've repented had they seen Christ's miracles!).  But people are still responsible for rejecting God and are personally accountable at Judgment Day because God didn't impel nor compel them to reject Him--they rejected whatever light they had.

We all have feet of clay or weaknesses not readily apparent and we cannot be good until we realize how bad we are or how bad off we are, and we will never realize this unless we attempt to be good and find out the power sin has over us as a master.  We never ceased to be human who can make choices, but we ceased to be good with any inclination toward God--no inherent goodness (we are not basically good!).  In Reformed theology, man, left to himself, will not choose God, and we didn't choose Him, He chose us (cf. John 15:16).  As Blaise Pascal said:  "I would not have searched for Thee if Thou hadst not found me."

We can be glad though: God doesn't grade on a curve and we all fall short of His holiness, and He sees through the veneer to our solidarity in Adam.  It's not that we are good enough to be saved, but bad enough to need salvation!   Of course, if the run-of-the-mill sinner compares himself to Adolf Hitler, he would think himself a saint, but the standard we are held to is Christ, and He doesn't grade on a curve! Indeed, we must recognize that we are bad, but not too bad to be saved!  Caveat: Freedom in Christ is not permission to live in the flesh, but the power to live in the Spirit!   And remember we have nothing to boast:  "For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? ..." (1 Cor. 4:7, NIV).  Soli Deo Gloria!