"I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD, and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart" (Jer. 24:7, NASB).
"I will give you a new heart and put anew spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezek. 36:26, HCSB).
"For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you didn't receive? If, in fact, you did receive it, why do you boast as if you hadn't received it?" (1 Cor. 4:7, HCSB).
"Jesus replied, 'This is the work of God--that you believe in the One He has sent" (John 6:29, HCSB).
"For it is God who is working in you, enabling you desire and to work out HIs good purpose" (Phil. 2:13, HCSB).
NB: If our salvation depended on us or our works, we'd find a way to blow it!
I have heard that the outsider or infidel thinks we are saved by submitting to the Lordship of Christ as some kind of tit for tat arrangement! There are no, and I repeat no, pre-salvation works we must do to inherit salvation! God does all the work and also gets all the glory! We contribute naught and get no glory or credit--we cannot pat ourselves on the back and give ourselves congrats for a job well done; i.e., being proud of our virtue, wisdom, or even intellect. Salvation is not by works, but by faith received from God. We don't achieve faith, we receive it ("[we have ] received a precious faith," cf. 2 Pet. 1:1; cf. Phil. 1:29). It's grace all the way: We cannot earn it, nor pay it back, nor do we deserve it, nor even can we add to it! If faith were a work that we do, we'd have something to boast of because ours salvation would be a work, and we are not saved by works (cf. Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-6)!
This tit for tat (quid pro quo) is the totally wrong way to view salvation, because God turns our heart of stone into a heart of flesh and removes all our wrinkles and blemishes in His sight to make us acceptable and justified, even though we are still sinners, we are just in His eyes--He declares us just, He doesn't make us just. We must look upon salvation as going from Point A to Point Z, whereas Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith and works in us to do according to His good pleasure (cf. Phil. 2:13; Col. 1:29; Heb. 13:21), completing what He began, our salvation accomplished by the power of God, not in the energy of the flesh. What happened to Saul on the road to Damascus? Jesus changed his rebellious heart and told him he was "kicking against the goads [fighting God's will]."
God is able, because He's the Almighty, to overcome our weak wills and change our hearts (cf. Jer. 24:7), totally transforming us into new creatures in Christ. Our destiny is in God's hands, not ours (cf. Rom. 9:16). When we realize that it was God at work, and we that turned over a new leaf, made an AA pledge, or a New Year's resolution, then we are becoming grace-oriented and giving God His due glory.
NB: There is nothing we can do to make ourselves "acceptable" in God's eyes; we are totally depraved and unable not to sin in His estimation. As theologians say, "We are not sinners because we sin, but sin because we are sinners." We cannot not sin! We are dead in trespasses and sin before salvation and a dead man can do nothing but await the grace of God like Lazarus did, whom Jesus rose from the dead. What He does is quicken faith (cf. Acts 16:14) within us and make us alive in Christ to respond to the gospel message; i.e., we are regenerated unto faith. "He opened the door of faith. [cf. Acts 14:27]" A good rule of thumb for sound Bible doctrine is that the one that gives the glory to God, not man, is the right one! For example, the sinner who claims he came to Christ of his own free will, probably left of his own too, un-regenerated, that is. We must be wooed or drawn (cf. John 6:44, 65) and transformed all by grace. If we merited our salvation because we believed, it wouldn't be grace, but justice!
In summation, let me point out that salvation is wholly a work of God (it's monergistic, not synergistic or cooperative) and Jonah 2:9 summed it up with one utterance: "Salvation is of the LORD!" It's not Jesus plus anything: not plus going to church, plus witnessing, plus giving alms, et cetera! This means it's not of us and God, nor of us, but of the Lord--He did it all! Soli Deo Gloria!
To bridge the gap between so-called theologians and regular "students" of the Word and make polemics palatable. Contact me @ bloggerbro@outlook.com To search title keywords: title:example or label as label:example; or enter a keyword in search engine ATTN: SITE USING COOKIES!
About Me
- Karl Broberg
- I am a born-again Christian, who is Reformed, but also charismatic, spiritually speaking. (I do not speak in tongues, but I believe glossalalia is a bona fide gift not given to all, and not as great as prophecy, for example.) I have several years of college education but only completed a two-year degree. I was raised Lutheran and confirmed, but I didn't "find Christ" until I was in the Army and responded to a Billy Graham crusade in 1973. I was mentored or discipled by the Navigators in the army and upon discharge joined several evangelical, Bible-teaching churches. I was baptized as an infant, but believe in believer baptism, of which I was a partaker after my conversion experience. I believe in the "5 Onlys" of the reformation: sola fide (faith alone); sola Scriptura (Scripture alone); soli Christo (Christ alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and soli Deo gloria (to God alone be the glory). I affirm TULIP as defended in the Reformation.. I affirm most of The Westminster Confession of Faith, especially pertaining to Providence.
Friday, July 12, 2019
Wednesday, July 10, 2019
Do We Need The Law?
Most believers know they are not under the law, but under grace (cf. Rom. 6:14); however, they are not lawless and do not have contempt for the law, but know it has its place. The law was never given to be a way of salvation, but only to show our need, to measure us. The law was given to show us we cannot keep it! The Hebrews vowed they would keep all the law when it was given, but they should have asked for mercy, knowing such a law was impossible to keep. The Christian life is not hard, it's impossible too! We must live by faith and express it through love, for love is the fulfillment of the law.
The law of love is harder to satisfy than any code though! Thank God Jesus lived it and the law's righteousness is credited or imputed to our account in the Divine Ledger up above. We all fall short, and perfection is only the standard, the direction is the test as we grow in expressing faith through love (cf. Gal. 5:6, NIV). In essence, the law is for the lawless and the lawbreaker (cf. 1 Tim. 1:9)! We don't only have the law to guide us in right and wrong, we also have a conscience, the Holy Spirit, and the totality of Scripture as our plumb line to convict us of wrongdoing.
There are several purposes of the law for the believer (its purpose was formulated in the first Lutheran confession of faith known as the Formula of Concord in 1577): a mirror to show us what we are like inside with all our guilt, insecurities, sin, and uncleanness--wrinkles and all; a sword to divide soul from spirit; a whip that drives us to the cross for mercy, and a hammer to smash our self-righteousness! The moral code is a guide to enlighten us to the Way, for morality never changes. It's a perfect standard of righteousness that only Jesus fulfilled.
The law was also ordained to restrain evil in society and provide for orderliness. To the Christian, it never loses its ability to convict of sin and to be a light unto our path. But we must realize that the whole law is summed up in loving God and our neighbor as its fulfillment. The whole idea is to make us realize we cannot save ourselves no matter how righteous we think we are and no matter how good we are to our standards--we always fall short of the divine standard in Christ.
There are four types of laws that I want to mention, and disobeying each one has its consequences, BUT WE ARE NOT ANTINOMIANS OR AGAINST THE LAW! NB: Nowhere in the NT are we exhorted to obey the Law, or to become somewhat Jewish--we must use it righteously--it's only a shadow (cf. Heb. 10:1)!
The first is the law of nature (SOME FIFTY UNIVERSAL CONSTANTS), e.g., the weak and strong nuclear force, the force of gravity, the speed of light, the speed of sound, the freezing of water, the charge on the electron, and even the nuclear weight of the proton and neutron, et al., and there are some fifty of them to consider and are uniform and consistent throughout the universe. The laws of motion also come to mind: an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion; each force exerted is met by an equal and opposite force; force equals mass times acceleration.
The second law to consider is the moral law: there is a moral compass in man's heart and conscience given by God, and guilt is meant to signal that we break it, there are consequences for wrongdoing to our soul's health, we don't toy with sin and get away with it! What was right in Moses' time is still right and what was wrong is still wrong--morality is absolute, universal, and also timeless. If you ignore your conscience it may go away but this may lead to becoming perverted, degenerate, destitute, criminal, psychopathic, or worse! It doesn't pay to ignore the signals of what God has ordained to restrain evil in man.
The third type of law is governmental (THE POWERS THAT BE), which is instituted by God and meant to keep evil at bay and provide for the public welfare--we no longer can survive with tribalism or patriarchal society. Government, according to Augustine, is not a necessary evil, but necessary because of evil. We are to fear government and submit to it unless it contradicts God and it has been given the power of the sword to enforce its laws--under God!
The last and probably most important law to bear in mind is the spiritual one (THE FIVE ONLY'S): the way of salvation is only by grace through faith in Christ and saving faith must go hand in hand with repentance--one can imagine this as either penitent faith or believing repentance, but they must bear fruit to be genuine and not bogus. Faith is manifest by trust in Jesus as Savior and embracing Him as Lord.
The savvy preacher knows how to discern and demonstrate law and gospel: the law is what God requires from us and God's expectations or standards; the gospel is the good news about what Christ has done for us in the cross and resurrection--solving the sin problem or the breaking of the law. NB: Christ is the end of the Law for believers unto righteousness (cf. Rom. 10:4); Christ abolished the law (cf. Eph. 2:15).
What does this all mean in essence? What can we take away from this going forward? Laws couldn't exist without a lawgiver, right? All these laws are indicators of a Supreme Lawgiver far superior to anything we can fathom! Law implies a Lawgiver--this is reasonable to believe! We all must beware lest we violate any of God's laws that apply to us, for God disciplines and chastens His children and they don't get away with sin or lawlessness. Also, each law has its natural consequence which cannot be avoided any more than we can avoid gravity--we violate at our peril! Soli Deo Gloria!
The law of love is harder to satisfy than any code though! Thank God Jesus lived it and the law's righteousness is credited or imputed to our account in the Divine Ledger up above. We all fall short, and perfection is only the standard, the direction is the test as we grow in expressing faith through love (cf. Gal. 5:6, NIV). In essence, the law is for the lawless and the lawbreaker (cf. 1 Tim. 1:9)! We don't only have the law to guide us in right and wrong, we also have a conscience, the Holy Spirit, and the totality of Scripture as our plumb line to convict us of wrongdoing.
There are several purposes of the law for the believer (its purpose was formulated in the first Lutheran confession of faith known as the Formula of Concord in 1577): a mirror to show us what we are like inside with all our guilt, insecurities, sin, and uncleanness--wrinkles and all; a sword to divide soul from spirit; a whip that drives us to the cross for mercy, and a hammer to smash our self-righteousness! The moral code is a guide to enlighten us to the Way, for morality never changes. It's a perfect standard of righteousness that only Jesus fulfilled.
The law was also ordained to restrain evil in society and provide for orderliness. To the Christian, it never loses its ability to convict of sin and to be a light unto our path. But we must realize that the whole law is summed up in loving God and our neighbor as its fulfillment. The whole idea is to make us realize we cannot save ourselves no matter how righteous we think we are and no matter how good we are to our standards--we always fall short of the divine standard in Christ.
There are four types of laws that I want to mention, and disobeying each one has its consequences, BUT WE ARE NOT ANTINOMIANS OR AGAINST THE LAW! NB: Nowhere in the NT are we exhorted to obey the Law, or to become somewhat Jewish--we must use it righteously--it's only a shadow (cf. Heb. 10:1)!
The first is the law of nature (SOME FIFTY UNIVERSAL CONSTANTS), e.g., the weak and strong nuclear force, the force of gravity, the speed of light, the speed of sound, the freezing of water, the charge on the electron, and even the nuclear weight of the proton and neutron, et al., and there are some fifty of them to consider and are uniform and consistent throughout the universe. The laws of motion also come to mind: an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion; each force exerted is met by an equal and opposite force; force equals mass times acceleration.
The second law to consider is the moral law: there is a moral compass in man's heart and conscience given by God, and guilt is meant to signal that we break it, there are consequences for wrongdoing to our soul's health, we don't toy with sin and get away with it! What was right in Moses' time is still right and what was wrong is still wrong--morality is absolute, universal, and also timeless. If you ignore your conscience it may go away but this may lead to becoming perverted, degenerate, destitute, criminal, psychopathic, or worse! It doesn't pay to ignore the signals of what God has ordained to restrain evil in man.
The third type of law is governmental (THE POWERS THAT BE), which is instituted by God and meant to keep evil at bay and provide for the public welfare--we no longer can survive with tribalism or patriarchal society. Government, according to Augustine, is not a necessary evil, but necessary because of evil. We are to fear government and submit to it unless it contradicts God and it has been given the power of the sword to enforce its laws--under God!
The last and probably most important law to bear in mind is the spiritual one (THE FIVE ONLY'S): the way of salvation is only by grace through faith in Christ and saving faith must go hand in hand with repentance--one can imagine this as either penitent faith or believing repentance, but they must bear fruit to be genuine and not bogus. Faith is manifest by trust in Jesus as Savior and embracing Him as Lord.
The savvy preacher knows how to discern and demonstrate law and gospel: the law is what God requires from us and God's expectations or standards; the gospel is the good news about what Christ has done for us in the cross and resurrection--solving the sin problem or the breaking of the law. NB: Christ is the end of the Law for believers unto righteousness (cf. Rom. 10:4); Christ abolished the law (cf. Eph. 2:15).
What does this all mean in essence? What can we take away from this going forward? Laws couldn't exist without a lawgiver, right? All these laws are indicators of a Supreme Lawgiver far superior to anything we can fathom! Law implies a Lawgiver--this is reasonable to believe! We all must beware lest we violate any of God's laws that apply to us, for God disciplines and chastens His children and they don't get away with sin or lawlessness. Also, each law has its natural consequence which cannot be avoided any more than we can avoid gravity--we violate at our peril! Soli Deo Gloria!
Sunday, July 7, 2019
For His Name's Sake
God's reputation and character are at stake in protecting us and providing our needs, as well as the testimony we give and the salvation we receive. For instance, if one of His promises fail, like the assurance of our salvation, God would be a liar and not the great Promise Keeper He is. For example, if we lost our salvation, God would lose His honor in keeping us. In fact, we are not only justified while we are sinners, but God gives us the gift of righteousness in time and we are stewards of it. We don't honor God with our righteousness, which is as filthy rags, but praise God by using His righteousness and walking in it to His glory. Remember, we are engaged in His will doing His work, He is not doing our thing or doing what we want for our pleasure. Bear in mind, our righteousness is God's gift to us, not our gift to Him.
Everything we do, say and think ought to be for His Name's sake and to His glory. We pray in Jesus' Name, not as a formula, but to ensure that our prayers are according to His will, not ours and bring Him glory and honor, not us. This is the essence of trust: seeing everything through God's eyes for His will and glory, not our self-interest. We let go of the sovereignty of our lives before we can own Him as Lord! We must remain on track with His will daily and constantly renew the commitment because we easily go astray or go rogue unto our own paths or ruts. Actually, habits can become ruts to get into because they may interfere with God's will and can become hindrances in our walk. But Scripture says we have all gone astray like sheep, each to his own way (cf. Isa. 53:6). And we all tend to do what is right in our own eyes! (Cf. Judges 17:6; 21:25). It is vital to know that the key to staying on course is to realize it's not about us! The key to failure and depression is to live for self and not love anyone above yourself.
We must grow up and realize that God has our best interest in mind just like a shepherd cares for and tends his sheep--we are really too stupid to map out our own lives and to see the dangers ahead and how to find pasture or supplies for life. No man is an island or a rock who needs no one! We cannot survive without our shepherd for all our basic necessities in life--Jesus is that Shepherd! We must constantly ask ourselves: are we in the rut we make for ourselves by bad habits and lack of foresight, or are we in God's tracks that are sure to lead to fulfilling God's purpose for our lives? We all can be on track with God if we renew ourselves daily and get into the Word, prayer, and stay connected through the ministries of the local church as it disciples us and trains us through all the spiritual gifts manifested corporately.
Job said that all of his days he shall wait for his "renewal" (cf. Job 14:14, ESV) and we must wait patiently on the Lord because we are assured He wants what's best for us (cf. Isa. 40:31). If we had our own way, we would surely mess up our lives--we aren't merely as wise as we think we are as finite beings. The safest place to be is in His will for our life and this ought to be Job One! The only happy and fulfilling life is doing God's work and interpreting everything accordingly or seeing God at work in what we do. We only learn the hard way of the school of hard knocks by resisting God's will and will soon find out that God knew best in the first place! Soli Deo Gloria!
Everything we do, say and think ought to be for His Name's sake and to His glory. We pray in Jesus' Name, not as a formula, but to ensure that our prayers are according to His will, not ours and bring Him glory and honor, not us. This is the essence of trust: seeing everything through God's eyes for His will and glory, not our self-interest. We let go of the sovereignty of our lives before we can own Him as Lord! We must remain on track with His will daily and constantly renew the commitment because we easily go astray or go rogue unto our own paths or ruts. Actually, habits can become ruts to get into because they may interfere with God's will and can become hindrances in our walk. But Scripture says we have all gone astray like sheep, each to his own way (cf. Isa. 53:6). And we all tend to do what is right in our own eyes! (Cf. Judges 17:6; 21:25). It is vital to know that the key to staying on course is to realize it's not about us! The key to failure and depression is to live for self and not love anyone above yourself.
We must grow up and realize that God has our best interest in mind just like a shepherd cares for and tends his sheep--we are really too stupid to map out our own lives and to see the dangers ahead and how to find pasture or supplies for life. No man is an island or a rock who needs no one! We cannot survive without our shepherd for all our basic necessities in life--Jesus is that Shepherd! We must constantly ask ourselves: are we in the rut we make for ourselves by bad habits and lack of foresight, or are we in God's tracks that are sure to lead to fulfilling God's purpose for our lives? We all can be on track with God if we renew ourselves daily and get into the Word, prayer, and stay connected through the ministries of the local church as it disciples us and trains us through all the spiritual gifts manifested corporately.
Job said that all of his days he shall wait for his "renewal" (cf. Job 14:14, ESV) and we must wait patiently on the Lord because we are assured He wants what's best for us (cf. Isa. 40:31). If we had our own way, we would surely mess up our lives--we aren't merely as wise as we think we are as finite beings. The safest place to be is in His will for our life and this ought to be Job One! The only happy and fulfilling life is doing God's work and interpreting everything accordingly or seeing God at work in what we do. We only learn the hard way of the school of hard knocks by resisting God's will and will soon find out that God knew best in the first place! Soli Deo Gloria!
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