Preaching Law And Gospel

"But, if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too are found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin?  Certainly not!"  (Gal. 2:17, ESV). Though we are referred to as saints, we never cease to be sinners.

"...[Repent] and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15).  This is Jesus preaching the Law and the Gospel.

"[A]nd that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations..." (Luke 24:47).  This is the Great Commission with Law and Gospel.

"For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ:  (John 1:17).  A proper dichotomy of the Word between Law and Gospel.

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling [dividing] the word of truth"  (2 Tim. 2:15).  The Bible is mostly divided between Law and gospel or promises and we need to differentiate them in view of grace.

Luther said, "He who masters the art of distinction between the Law and the Gospel should be called a real theologian." Get them lost first and tell the bad news before the good news.

An anticipatory synopsis:  The purpose of the Law is to point out sin, restrain evil in the world, and to reveal God's will and how to live.  Note well:  "[Through] the law comes the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20). The Gospel is to provide forgiveness and grace and to re-orient our lives ("Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" cf. Gal. 3:3).  By way of definition: The OT contains the Gospel (promises and pertaining to Christ), and the NT contains the Law (what God demands to convict and a code of conduct).  The whole of Scripture is one or the other in general. When the Law is preached people are "cut to the heart" (the accusations of the Law leads to repentance) like in Acts, and when the gospel is preached their hearts are turned from stone to flesh and renewed (it is the power of the Gospel that saves).  Caveat:  It is ill-advised to preach Gospel minus Law, as it leads to spurious faith, easy-believism, shallow faith, pseudo conversion, and worst of all: False assurance.

It is imperative that we distinguish these concepts and know when to apply them.  "[Preach] the Word; be ready in season and out of season" (2 Tim. 4:2).  Preachers need to preach the Law and the Gospel well enough to be rejected as well (the average convert has rejected the Gospel 7.8 times before acceptance).  We are not under the Law, but we are not lawless!  The "Law is good," according to Paul, "if one uses it lawfully" (1 Tim. 1:8).  Too many preachers preach what the congregants want to hear or what is popular and gathers a crowd. This is a sign, though not proof, of a false teacher.  Some preach to scare people into the kingdom and some to make an emotional appeal that leads to an altar call--faith pleases God, not emotions according to Heb. 11:6. Preachers should preach both the Law (what God requires of us and shows us how far we fall short), and the Gospel (the good news about how God solved the sin issue through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ).

But the problem is that some don't preach in the proper sequence, perspective or balance--some people are already convicted and know they are unsaved and need to be comforted with the gospel; others are secure in their sins and may be self-righteous and need the Law preached to make them realize they do indeed fall short and need the gospel.  God says in Isaiah 40, "Comfort ye my people..." and this is because they have suffered double for their sins and are ready for it. Martin Luther called the Law the hammer of the Bible that shatters our self-righteousness, a mirror that shows us what we are, and a whip that drives us to God--he that is forgiven much loves much.

But we all need some Law and some Gospel because we need to keep on our spiritual toes and have spiritual checkups.  The power is in the Gospel to change our lives and the power is in the Law to show us our need.  To some, it may seem that the Gospel is too good to be true, but goodness is not the criteria for truth--it is either true or false.  We cannot be convicted too much (we are at the same time saint and sinner) by the Law; in fact, the worse off a sinner realizes he is, the more ready he welcomes the Gospel.  Paul thought of himself as the "chief of sinners" in 1 Tim. 1:15 and the author John Bunyan penned Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners!  This is resultant of preaching the Word, and the whole counsel of God and the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit.  When the Law was given, Israel promised to keep it, rather than sue for mercy ("...We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey" in Exodus 24:8)--they were clueless!

One reason preachers don't preach this sequence is that they are not aware of it (God doesn't sanction nor place any premium on willful ignorance as an excuse),  and think the only way to save people is to scare them into the kingdom, talking about hell or the rapture. There is always a mix of terrified, convicted sinners and secure sinners in a church and that is why both must always be preached and the preacher must never assume his parishioners are all saved.  The Gospel washes, cleanses, heals and sanctifies, not the Law.  Most people, apart from the Law, think they are not quite so bad after all ("Woe to those who are at ease in Zion," says Amos 6:1).  The Law is our "guardian until Christ came" (Gal. 3:24) and after we are saved and have faith we are no longer "under the Law" and it has no power over us, to claim nor condemn us.

Many preachers get too bogged down with the Law and are not "grace-oriented" and have had no "grace awakening" to distinguish the two and if people think they are justified or even sanctified by the Law, they have "fallen from grace" or have become legalists and aren't being saved by grace, but by their own efforts.  We are saved by grace from beginning to ending and we don't need to become somewhat Jewish to be saved.   We use it unjustly to see it as a means of salvation or sanctification. Paul said in Gal. 3:10 that if we rely on the Law we are under a curse! We must realize what Jesus said ("Apart from Me you can do nothing..," in John 15:5) and not rely on the energy or power of the flesh to be saved ("Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit" says Zech. 4:6), but recognize that it is from "faith to faith" that we are saved (Rom. 1:17).

Now, "the law is holy, righteous, and good" (Rom. 7:12) and it must be used correctly--is meant for the sinner to convict him (2 Tim. 1:9 says:  "for the lawless and disobedient, for  the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane."  We never can say we don't need the Law to show us right living, God's will, morality, and ethics (I am not speaking of the ceremonial Law of Moses, but of the moral Law that God requires of us).

You cannot dichotomize the Bible so simplistically and say that the OT is Law and the NT is gospel because if that were so the Old Testament saints couldn't be saved, and the New Testament saints couldn't be convicted and know right from wrong.   There is Law everywhere (if I say this is a free park and it has no laws or rules, how free is it? It's chaos).  John Clare said that "in a madhouse, there exists no law."   We do need the Law and cannot lose track of it or become disoriented--but we must always learn to distinguish the two.  Rom. 10:4 says, "Christ is the end of the Law," and this means He fulfilled it and we are not under its authority to condemn anymore.  "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," according to Rom. 8:1.

The curse was in Deut. 27:26 (ESV) et alia:  "Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them...."  We come to the realization that "the letter [the Law] kills, but the Spirit [the Gospel] gives life, when we get saved and realize that we have a lighter yoke than the yoke of the Law to fulfill, and that is the yoke of the Spirit and being led by the Spirit.  "...For the letter [the Law] kills, but the Spirit [Gospel] gives life"  (2 Cor. 3:6 showing Law and Gospel again).  The Law has the power to kill according to Romans 7:11 because it can seize the opportunity and overcome us. We need to learn to live in the power of the Spirit and be free form the burden (we obey because we want to, not because we have to) of the Law:  "You shall, therefore, keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD" (Lev. 18:5, ESV).

The whole point in preaching is to make everyone, even the saved, realize their need for the Law and the gospel and not to lose track of these, but keep oriented and make regular spiritual checkups.  We don't want to get too comfortable or complacent and we don't want to despair. If people think they need to hear it that is good but if they think it was just interesting or "worth a few moments of their time," as if being entertained,  then they failed--preaching is meant to change lives.  Preaching is the methodology or M.O. of saving souls and it is "by hearing, and by hearing" that a person receives faith (Rom. 10:17).

Ovid was right about human nature:  "We strive after the forbidden things and always lust after the things that are denied us."  When the Law came, it aroused desire just like Eve desired of the forbidden fruit--this is the essence of sin. We wouldn't want to step on the wet paint if no sign said, "Do not step on wet paint." The nitty-gritty of the Law and the gospel is that it is the power of God unto salvation and it is a mystery, i.e., not self-evident.

The answer to the inquiry "What must I do to be saved?" is our fixation.  Man is incurably addicted to doing something for his salvation.  Jesus answered this question in John  6:29:  "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."  We can do nothing--that is the point!  It is God's work in us and we receive salvation as a free gift we didn't deserve, cannot earn, and can never repay."   This is welcome news to those wholly convicted of their sins and having spirits prepared by God to receive His grace message.   If we had to do something most people could accept that, but they cannot understand how salvation can be free.  God just wants us to believe in Him ("...he greatly helped those who through grace had believed" in Acts 18:27).  The statement "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved" is nonsensical apart from the conviction of the Law.  Christ came to save sinners, and if you do not regard yourself as a real sinner, then Christ may not seem like a real Savior!  As for me, I am a great sinner, but I have a great Savior.   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Judas Factor

We have a lot to learn from the arch villain, and nemesis of Jesus, Judas Iscariot, who even fooled his fellow disciples.  There are people in the Bible that are the paradigm of evil, as well as an exemplar of virtue, not to mention the paragon of character Himself, Jesus-- otherwise, we wouldn't know what to think about when we contemplate ourselves in light of God.  The fact is:  Some people are bad examples and some good, but all our examples, just like some are vessels of honor and others of dishonor.  The Bible pulls no punches, it tells it like it is and doesn't gloss over the evil when it happens or paint a pretty picture--that is evidence it is a true portrait without spin or bias like historians of the time were wont to be.

The Bible's main message of salvation in Christ is that we are all sinners and in need of salvation, and that no one is too far out there to be saved if they repent  (cf. Is. 1:18).  For example, consider the king Manasseh, who was probably Judah's most wicked, and yet he finally repented and knew that the LORD was God.  Judas' sin was not so bad that it was not redeemable, even though Jesus did divinely prophesy that it would be better had he never been born. Remember:  Jesus knew he was not going to repent and never did believe in the first place (he was a devil from the get-go).

We need to see the Judas in all of us, just like Robert Louis Stevenson saw Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in himself.  We are all totally depraved and every part of us is infected with evil--if evil were blue we would be all blue.  Our hearts are evil--i.e., our emotions, our wills, our intellects.  We can't think straight, we have wrong or bad feelings (that we shouldn't go by), and we have a disloyal, unwilling, and rebellious spirit or will.  We are not all as bad as we can be, but as bad off as we can be--this is God's perspective, not ours (humanists still believe man is basically good and even deify him).

Can any Christian honestly say that he has never betrayed someone or been interested in ulterior motives that may be financially rewarding--everyone wants a friend with benefits nowadays.  If we were one of the 12 would we have loved Judas? He is in the Bible for a reason, and not just to despise or look down on.  This is why there is a Judas plot or conspiracy in all of us--even Peter said, "It is I?" in conviction.  There is a latent Judas in all of us.

Judas was in it to cash in and had no real spiritual ambition or interests. The Word doesn't fully divulge his motives, the disciples, in fact, never saw it coming; but I would judge him as the opportunist in the motley crew or band of 12.  I believe that when he appraised the situation as only a spiritual empire or kingdom, and that they might have to go to their deaths following him, he wanted out, but out in an honorable way (to himself)--to save face, you might say.  We all have to pick sides and cannot forever remain neutral when it comes to Christ's beckon call on our soul's allegiance. 

Judas was surely a likable and trustworthy fellow that gain the approbation of his peers and this shows that personality should be discounted when it comes to spiritual competence and faithfulness and how much God can use a person.  He was the one in charge of finances and this showed a high level of trust from the others not to mention Jesus whom he likely ingratiated and kissed up to.   Remember that Satan was tempting Judas and we are probably have never been so tempted and are not in a position to judge (only Jesus knows all the criteria of judgment).

Judas ultimately chose his own way over God's way. We are all guilty of doing our own thing! "I did it my way" is a familiar philosophy today and everyone wants to be their own lord and run their own life, not giving up its ownership to God. Choosing our way is choosing death.   And the choice is between life and death that God gives us ("...Behold I set before you the way of life and the way of death," says Jer. 21:8).  Jesus had claimed to be "The Life" just as Thomas a Kempis famously said, "Without the way, there is not going, without the truth, there is no knowing, and without the life, there is no living."  One of the biggest lessons in life and one of the facts of life is that we have to realize we don't know everything and do a lousy job of running our lives, with no input or counsel from people wiser than us.  There is a principle:  Education is going from an unconscious to a conscious awareness of our ignorance.

Judas failed in his scheme and realized it too late.  He was filled with remorse (which isn't good enough and this means he was sorry about the consequences of his actions, but probably still justified himself (2 Cor. 7:10 says the sorrow of the world produces death).  We need to be more than sorry or have regrets; we need to come clean and do a 180, a U-turn, or about-face--facing up to our wrongdoing.  In contrast, Peter's sin of denying the Lord was equally bad, but he truly repented and owned up to it and believed Jesus could forgive him.  Judas had absolutely no faith in the Lord and didn't think Jesus could ever forgive him of his dastardly deed.

Why did Jesus even give the invite to the Passover Meal?  Then again why did He even choose him?  Because Jesus loves the worst of us (cf. Eph. 3:19) and gives us all the opportunity we need to repent and it is us who gives up, not Him. The invite shows us that we should extend invitations to those who are searching and are even enemies whom we are commanded to love, in the hope that we will be able to reach out to them somehow--bless those who cannot pay back!  Jesus knew he was a devil from the beginning by divine knowledge from the Father, but He knew the Scriptures had to be fulfilled too. 

This was a wake-up call to the disciples to show that they can be fooled and to make them all the more aware of charlatans, quacks, bogus friends, sham believers, and false prophets under the guise of good (for even Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light).  Doesn't it show Jesus' patience and love when he even honored him to the end by serving him the bread first--even saving him face as he left in case he changed his mind?  (Jesus knew all things were possible with God.)

Jesus is looking for disciples who love Him and are after His own heart like David.  Judas had no love, except for his own ambitions and plans, being a materialistic person who wanted to sell Jesus out to get "something" out of the deal and take sides.  We all have let Jesus down and his example is in Scripture to warn us that our old Adam has the tendency to "sell out" or "cash in" and take advantage of people or even manipulate them as we love things and use people, rather than use things and love people.  When you are this way, it only means that you are short-sighted and don't have a grasp on eternity or see life in light of eternity.  Things won't last, but people and relationships will!  Judas died with no relationship intact.

All in all, when push comes to shove, we must ultimately and willfully love the ones least worthy of it--they may even be more "un-lovable" than our enemies (cf. Jude 22,23)!  In conclusion, let's concur that Judas had no one to blame but himself and that is the way it will be at the Great White Throne Judgment.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Loving The Romanists

People can be sincerely wrong, though sincerity is important, it is not everything.  You can have a sound theology without a sound life, but not a sound life without a sound theology; however, it is more vital to have a heart in tune or in sync with Christ, and in the right place than to be orthodox and impeccably correct in one's doctrines--man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.

Keeping our eyes, focused on the goal, which is to win them over and not be a stumbling block or artificial roadblock, that hinders one's search for the truth will set him free. Our goal should be to build bridges not tear them down. We may even have to pray for an open door. Caveat:  You can be dead right as well as dead wrong!  The only solution is one of mutual respect and love. What follows is my attempt to bridge the gap and put us on the same page.

We all may have Roman Catholic friends (22 percent of America is Roman Catholic) and colleagues that we are in daily or regular contact within our sphere of influence, that God has made us responsible for as a witness.  The key is to meet them where they are and get to know them first. I do not have an ax to grind against the Romanist tradition or feel vengeance to "get even" or "even the score" for the so-called bitter Thirty Years' War between Protestants and Catholics (1618-1648) that practically destroyed Christendom in Western Europe, and ended in a stalemate and an edict of "toleration" and mutual recognition (Treaty of Westphalia). At one point even the Jews and Christians decided to "live and let live," to "agree to disagree," and stop feuding with each other, but to cease fire and seek peace.  We must love others into the kingdom of God!  Jesus said we'd be known by our love!  The Protestant Church wasn't officially recognized by Charles V until the Peace of Augsburg (1555).

Catholicism and Protestantism split subsequent to October 31, 1517, when Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk, nailed his Ninety-five Theses on the Castle Church of Wittenberg, and was promptly summoned to the Diet of Worms to recant by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Pope Leo X, who declared him a heretic and excommunicated him.  He escaped by virtue of being kidnapped to Wartburg Castle and proceeded to translate the Bible into German (completed in 1534 and still a work of art in German prose to this day). And so the split in 1521, like that of the Western and Eastern Churches in 1054 to form the Orthodox Church, is almost 500 years in the making.

It was not the Protestants who condemned the Catholics, but vice versa (they were told to recant or be excommunicated).  Luther didn't intend to start a new denomination or church in his name--he only intended to reform, but this is what happened nevertheless.  The motto and spirit of the movement: I dissent, I disagree, I protest (how we get Protestant). Luther continued the Protestant movement (known as Evangelicals or Lutherans) along with other reformers.  He had held to the Word of God, plain reason, and his conscience as his guide--the former monk and theology professor never recanted but continued his reforms of Romanism until his death in 1546.

We are no longer at the mercy of church dogma.  Today, many believers in the Protestant faith have even already come full circle by submitting to everything their church says and decrees without question.  Remember the Bereans (cf. Acts 17:11), who were nobler than the Thessalonians who went home and searched these things out that Paul preached, and found out whether they were true. We are all believer-priests in the Christian church and have the Holy Spirit's illuminating ministry and the anointing to understand the Scriptures, and don't need a priest or teacher to tell us everything.

There is a fundamental difference between the way the Catholics and Protestants understand salvation which is called the doctrine of soteriology by theologians:  The former primarily see the instrumental means via the sacraments (viz., baptism and communion) of the Church, and the latter as through faith alone as the instrumental means.  The Catholics deemed the Church as necessary for salvation in Vatican Council II of 1962-1965.  Note that Catholics always refer to their denomination as "the Church" and NOTE:  Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father except through Me"(cf. John 14:6).   Roman Catholics declared non-Catholics to be "heretics," and that the "Church is necessary for salvation...  For it is through the Church alone...."  This Church likes to pronounce a curse on those that sincerely disagree or beg to differ, they cannot even agree to disagree by decree or council.

Grace is necessary, and faith is necessary, and even Christ is necessary, but not sufficient in Catholicism. They also acknowledge three varieties of merit that are being added to grace (at least congruous merit, but condign merit is obligatory to reward, and supererogatory merit is above and beyond the call of duty, such as martyrdom and can be shared with others to help them.)  They do not believe faith is adequate but works must be added to the faith to make it complete.  While Protestants generally all agree with the formula that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone (cf. Ephesians 2:8-9)--which was one of the battle cries of the Reformation. However, the Catholics contradicted Jesus:  In 1891, Pope Leo the Twelfth declared, "No one can approach Christ except through the Mother [the Co-Mediator or Mediatrix and Co-Redeemer]."

Reacting: The Catholics were very upset at the Reformed dogma and summoned the Counter-Reformation and the Council of Trent from 1545-1563 to declare "anathema" or cursed anyone who believes in sola fide or faith alone (because they could not find the phrase "faith alone" in Scripture!). This council further alienated the Church by declaring tradition of equal authority as Scripture, and also that the Apocrypha was to be canonized.  In explanation:  James (cf. James 2:34), said we are justified by works and not by faith alone;  but he was saying that the kind of faith that doesn't produce good works or fruit is not saving faith, and is "dead."

Then the Reformers countered with their definition of saving faith with this formula:  We are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.  This may seem like splitting hairs or nitpicking, but it makes you either a Protestant or Catholic by your stand on whether faith alone is adequate to save and consequently whether we have any right to "boast" in God's presence of any merit or work we have done. Faith is regarded as a meritorious work and not a gift, and this is the beginning of merit.   "Faith alone" became the rallying cry of the Reformation.

Now to get to our premise as to how we must love our Catholic friends:  We must not compromise our faith, water down, or domesticate the gospel to make it sound appealing to them, but we must stick to our guns and stand fast in the faith.  "The Lord's servant must not strive..." (2 Tim. 2:24).  We don't go out of our way to condemn them, but if the subject comes up we are to remain faithful to our credo and not try to gain their favor or be "people-pleasers" by sounding less abrasive or offensive to their standards.  Sometimes the truth hurts and convicts, and if we really belong to Christ, we must be willing to take a stand, willing to suffer the consequences of our cross to bear.

For example, in a Bible study, we don't go out of our way to point out the differences of doctrine, but if the subject comes up we are to tell it like it is in a loving way, and not waver or cower in our stand--there comes a time when we must and take our stand for Jesus--we must make it clear that it is not just our opinion, but that we can show from Scripture why we believe what we do; as another of the Reformer's mottoes was, sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), we must appeal alone to divine Scripture as our authority--not the Supreme Pontiff or the Pope, tradition, the Church, or even ourselves.

Most of all, we must realize that the best witness is a loving testimony that shows we aren't just trying to argue them into the kingdom (we can never argue someone into the faith), but we must wait for the open door that we have prayed for and take the cue to witness when called for, and do so humbly and honestly from the heart.  If they realize you really love them that is the best witness, not how brilliant we are. They don't care how much you know, till they realize how much you care.  The best way to love them is to tell them the truth and not live a lie or deny the truth.  By all means, never condemn them, nor tell them bluntly that they are not Christians, but let God do the convicting--John 16:8 says this is the Holy Spirit's domain.  We can never convert someone--only God can accomplish this task!

Note that I am not saying that you cannot be saved if you're a Catholic (I believe Mother Teresa of Calcutta is doubtless one of the closest saints to the Father), but some are saved despite their church dogma and not because of it (faith in the Catholic tradition means agreement or acquiescence with Church dogma or the official teachings of the Church per se). God has his "angels" in every church as a witness and testimony if people are looking for Him. Like Paul said to the Philippians:  "I want to know Christ ... [it is not our theory of soteriology that saves us, but Christ]."  It is the object (Christ) of faith that saves, not faith itself.  Feelings don't necessarily impress God, but faith does (cf. Heb. 11:6).!


In conclusion:   A word to the wise is sufficient. There is such a thing as "dead orthodoxy" or having a well-thought-out theology and no spiritual life to match! The Pietists arose during the Reformation to neutralize this same situation.  You can be orthodox in your creed and not be saved, and wrong in your doctrine and be saved, because salvation is a relationship (knowing and believing in Christ) not a creed per se.  Creeds change over time as the church is semper reformanda or always reforming according to the Reformers; however, Christ never changes, and is the same yesterday, today, and forever! Let us learn to love Him more dearly, follow Him more nearly, and know Him more clearly!  Soli Deo Gloria!

Knowing Jesus

"I desired ... the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings"  (Hosea 6:6).
"[Jesus] will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus"  (2 Thessalonians 1:7).
"Now that you know God, or rather are known by God"  (Gal. 4:9).
"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.  Test yourselves.  Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? unless indeed you fail to meet the test!"  (2 Cor. 13:5, ESV).

(Note:  If anyone says he knows God and doesn't obey Him, he is a liar, according to Jesus).

More important than understanding who Jesus is theologically, is to know Him personally as salvation, and the utmost value is in finding Him.  The result:  Do you love Jesus?  The ultimate question:  Who is He to you?  In summation, let's realize that to know Him is to love Him!


It is one thing to be content to just be theologically sound concerning Jesus, and quite another to know Him intimately and personally in a living relationship that grows, and doesn't stagnate or static. You can be saved knowing remarkably little doctrine; God is looking at the heart and faith of the individual in Him and not in himself--we are God-confident, not self-confident, relying on our acumen or cognition or intellectual prowess.

Extremely naive and simple-minded people can be saved, and those of great education can miss it entirely--miss the boat!  Christianity is not about a creed, but about knowing a person--how we are getting along--relationships are of utmost value.  Job 22:21 says, "Acquaint now yourself with Him and be at peace."  We must be willing to agree with God and see things His way, and not be stubborn and insisting on our way.

Faith is very simple:  Even a child can have it, but it is not simplistic--it is childlike (you must approach God in this way), but it is not childish (God wants us to grow up and become mature).   Subsequent to learning enough doctrine to become a renowned theologian we may lack people skills and not know our Lord hardly at all.   For example, John Bunyan didn't know very much compared to the likes of John Calvin, but he knew his Lord.  It is so much more important to apply what we know and realize that we will not be judged by what we know, but what we sow.

We are called to be lights in the world and that means we are ambassadors who represent our Lord in an evil world.  The world sees the gospel according to you--what your lifestyle and story testify of.  A man of simple faith who just knows Jesus is God and his Savior may utter simple prayers and have a constant dialogue with their Lord, while the scholar doesn't apply what he knows and just likes to be right or smarter than others.

Jesus said that eternal life is to "know Him" in John 17:3 and Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 9:24 that if we are to "boast" we should do so about knowing the Lord!  J. I. Packer alleges that we can know a great deal "about God" and not much "of God." He concludes that a little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal about Him--touche!  This only happens through a living faith and a vital relationship in a daily walk. A word to the wise:  God is pleased with faith more than feelings or emotions, and tests our faith.  We must learn to cultivate intimacy and get to know our Lord, basically through knowing others who know Him, the Scriptures, and ongoing prayer.

You can even know a lot "about" Christ, and not know Him as a living God, Savior, and Lord.  We are to "grow in the grace and knowledge" of Him according to 2 Peter 3:18, and as we do good works we do also "grow in our knowledge" of Him according to Colossians 1:10.  Doctrine can be "interesting" but some people are so assured of their relationship and know it must be put in its place--application is what it's about and the Bible was not written to increase our knowledge, but to change our lives. Jesus came to save us, not educate or teach us, though He did that too.  In the final analysis, it is not that we know Him, but He knows us (Gal. 4:9) that is significant.

What Jesus is really looking for is someone after His own heart who wholeheartedly follows Him and is yielded to His will (2 Chron. 16:9).   Theologians have their place, but this is not for everyone and we shouldn't expect everyone to have the same "interest" in the so-called deeper truths of the Word.  It is a good idea to keep our faith as simple as possible and not to have such a heavy yoke to bear, expecting everyone to be at our mental capacity--remember, the "common people heard Him gladly."

Immature believers balk at learning doctrine and we must remember that "solid food is for the mature" who have learned to distinguish good and evil (cf. Hebrews 5:14).  We must know where our listeners are and not go over their heads, meeting their needs where appropriate, as Jesus told Peter to feed the lambs.  Sometimes it is tempting to "wow" the congregants with our scholarship, but this is ill-advised and we need to not depend on impressive words, but to rely on the power of the Spirit.

The Order Of Faith

"For everything there is a season, a time for every matter under heaven" (Ecclesiastes. 3:1, ESV).
"For God is not the God of confusion, but of peace" (1 Cor. 14:33, ESV).
"He has made everything beautiful in its time"  (Eccles. 3:11, ESV).
"This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent"  (John 6:29).
"For unto you it has been granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him..." (Phil. 1:29).
Our God is a God of design, order, harmony, beauty, and plan, and not of chaos or disorder, even in salvation.
EMPHASIS MINE.
He providentially makes everything beautiful in its time Ecclesiastes 3:11)--according to His timetable. Meditate on this as we discuss our salvation experience.

We are all a work of grace and had no desire for Christ apart from His grace, who made us willing and exchanged our heart of stone for a heart of flesh (Ezek. 36:26).  Our election is unconditional and not dependent upon anything we do, but God called us according to His purpose and grace and His divine good pleasure (cf. Eph. 1:5).  Our inability to believe apart from grace is due to our total depravity. Rome has turned faith into a meritorious work and believes we are capable of achieving it--it is granted, not achieved. The idea that God elects us because of our faith is called the prescient view and is in error, though some sincere Arminians subscribe to it out of ignorance or bias--this is the beginning of salvation by works and gives us merit to boast of.

Faith is necessary for our salvation, but not our election, and is a sure thing because it is decreed by God.  It is like God owing mercy to someone (that would be justice, not grace)--God is obligated to save no one--He could have saved no one!  In addition, dead people can't have faith or do anything that pleases God! "There is none good, no not one."  Our salvation is "...not of him who wills [sincerity], nor of him who runs [effort of the flesh], but of God [His sovereign choice] who shows mercy"  (Rom. 9:16).

According to the Reformed tradition, regeneration precedes faith in the ordo salutis (the Latin for the order of salvation).  If it was a prerequisite for regeneration, we could muster or conjure it up on our own and this would be the genesis of merit of some sort, and God is no respecter of persons and shows no partiality.  Acts 18:27 says that God "helped those who through grace had believed."  2 Thess. 2:13 says God chose us "through sanctification of the Spirit [first in occurrence] and belief in the truth."  1 John 5:1 says that everyone who believes "has [past tense and occurring beforehand] been born of God."  In the golden chain of redemption of Romans 8:29-30 we see those who were called to be justified and there can be no justification without concurrent faith and repentance (penitent faith or believing repentance, if you will).

God calls us unto faith or quickens faith within us as His gift (Rom. 12:3) and it is our duty to act upon that faith.  We are not elected or called because of our faith but elected unto faith.  God does the choosing or electing, not us (cf. John 15:16)!  Our destiny is ultimately in His providential hands--thank God!  He reserves the right to save those whom He chooses.

We are not judged by our faith, but our deeds done in the flesh (Rom. 2:6).   However, Eph. 2:8-9 delineates the order clearly:  "...by grace, through [instrumental means] faith, it [the antecedent is faith in one sense as well as the whole phrase] is the gift of God [God's gift, but our act]."  If faith were our work and not God's work in us we would reason to boast in His presence.  We are not saved by works, even though we are incurably addicted to doing something for our salvation (cf. John 6:28). The phraseology of the Reformation was Soli Deo Gloria, or to God alone be the glory!  Amen.  The whole of Reformed theology can be put in the synopsis that "Salvation is of the LORD" as Jonah said in Jon. 2:9.  It is not, therefore, any other combo, such as of us and the Lord, or of us alone; which would mean we have to work, earn, and merit salvation to some degree, and that it partially depends on us. Believe me, if our salvation depended on us, none of us would make it and we could have no assurance!

Now to the subject of the post at hand:  The first sign of faith as a seed planted is when a person becomes positively oriented to pay attention and listen to the preaching of the Word (1 Sam. 15:22 says, "...to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams"), even if he is neutral--he lets it sink in and then understands it only through the illuminating ministry of the Spirit. No one is the same after hearing the gospel message; they either get upset and are hardened, or they get convicted and are a step from salvation.  "Faith comes by hearing and by hearing of the Word of God" (Romans 10:17). After acceptance and comprehension, he must decide to agree or react and reject.  He can agree, or consent mentally and still not have saving faith though

The belief must go from head belief to heartfelt faith affecting the whole personhood of intellect, emotion, and will.  He must be willing to do His will to know the truth as Jesus said in John 7:17:  "If any man wills to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God...."  In short, God makes believers out of us by His wooing and grace to make the unwilling willing!  We are incompetent to meet the requisites of salvation and election, ergo it must be unconditional and by grace.

After ascent, no matter how much faith he has [it only takes a grain as a mustard seed to germinate--it is not the amount per se] he must still decide to surrender to God's will. This is the beginning of trust and obedience, which goes hand in hand with saving faith (John 3:36), and this is where faith grows in "good soil" and is saving faith when committed and one takes his stand, after finding his standing.  However, note that the faith must be correct faith in the right object (it is the object that saves, not faith itself) and if he is heretical in his knowledge, no amount of faith will save him and no matter how sincere (though sincerity is vital, it is not everything because you can be sincerely wrong). A strong but misguided faith will be of no avail (cf. Rom. 10:2).

To take the leap of faith we must give up, surrender and put trust in all God's will all at once, and not some to-do list or rules and regulations of legalism--we don't trust in a religion or a creed (creeds don't save, Christ only saves), but we rely on a person we deem as not only having died for us personally but living for us now and that wants a personal relationship with us.  In other words, we know Christ died for us, we reckon it true for us personally and real, and then we yield to God's will (Christ's yoke is not the Law of Moses, but an easier one; we submit to His will in obedience and fellowship)--we let God live through us!   We must really surrender our will (step off the throne of our life and put Jesus in charge, giving up the ownership of our lives as we count the cost), submit to His will and live for Him to get a changed life--the evidence and telltale sign of salvation.  This changed life is from a surrendered life, a substituted life, an inhabited life, an exchanged life, an obedient life, and a trusting life (cf. Gal. 2:20).  Knowing just the facts like the burial, death, and resurrection of Christ is only history, but knowing it is in your behalf and real for you is salvation.  

The conclusion of the matter is this:  grace is the sine qua non of faith and doesn't just facilitate it. That means it is necessary and sufficient and we cannot believe apart from the grace of God in our fallen state (called the primacy of grace), because we have no inherent virtue and cannot prepare ourselves for salvation, and must come as we are spiritually bankrupt, begging for mercy:  God be merciful to me, the sinner!   Soli Deo Gloria!

Why Pray?

Is your prayer life anemic?  "When it is hardest to pray, one should pray the hardest," according to Bill Bright.  Are those prayer muscles deteriorating and atrophying? If you start out small in manageable exercise, you will get where you want to be with effectual prayer--"The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much"  (James 5:16).  For some people they know enough about prayer, they just need to pray; for others, they need a little stimulus to get them in the mood or to find a starting point of encouragement.  This post may help you to hone your innate potential as a natural prayer warrior that Satan has just discouraged and you need to get back into the swing of things--I cannot emphasize enough:  Prayer is where the action is!  If you want growing intimacy with the Almighty, read on!

It is said that God is sovereign and will get His way regardless, so why bother?  Don't forget that we are his moral agents representing Him and are the means to His ends. God ordains the means as well as the ends--He has willed or decreed that prayer to be His channel of blessing. The greatest prayer we can pray is of relinquishment ("Thy will be done!").  Jesus prayed this in the garden of Gethsemane--much more should we!  Surrender is the key to an effective prayer life--it has yet to be seen what a fully surrendered life can do!  If you want to be a prayer warrior extraordinaire, and that is where the action is, you must be a fully devoted follower of Jesus (good leaders have first learned to be good followers).

What kind of things should we pray for?  "Let your requests be made known unto God..." (Phil. 4:6). There is nothing too big for God's omnipotence and nothing too small or trivial for His love. Habakkuk complained to God in His book (which is a prayer or dialogue with God)--if we do complain, it should be to God, and we shouldn't become whiners, but be ready to accept His will.   The goal is to pray God's will, but most believers don't know that they just think God is a vending machine and we can go to Him with a wish list of carte blanche (Jesus said in John 14:14, "If you ask anything in My name..."). And the only way to know God's will, and I am not talking about God micromanaging your life, but the divine viewpoint that comes from an understanding of Scripture and a deep relationship with God--knowing God.

Wisdom is the gift of God and freely bestowed on His children who ask and seek for it diligently according to Proverbs. For example: Don't pray for an easy life, but to be made strong!  We shouldn't pray the easy path but the path that Jesus would take (narrow is the way that leads to eternal life--the road less traveled).  Jesus dared to march to the beat of a different drum and upset the applecart, invading the turf and job security of the praying Pharisees.  Practice usually makes perfect, but in their case, they only got showier and didn't even know it!


God is concerned about all our legitimate needs, but has nowhere promised to make provision for our felt needs or wants (Paul says in Phil. 4:19:  "My God shall supply all your needs...").  In my experience, it is good to pray about everything, just to get the prayer muscle in shape and getting used to using that faculty.  For instance, keep telling Jesus how much you love Him and make intercession for every person you see in need if you cannot directly come to their aid.  God wants to give us direction in life but expects faith and common sense and He doesn't want us to ask about every little detail (e.g., "Should I go to bed now, or stay up?" and "Should I skip breakfast or go out to eat?") The  commonsensical and saintly Quaker woman, Hannah Whitall Smith, said she knew of a woman who prayed about every detail so exactly like that she stunted her ability to make decisions.


Prayer is not about a wish list to get our will done on earth but to get God's will done on earth as it is in heaven.  The better informed you are of God's will, the better your prayers--be in step with God and in tune with His dimension!  It is not about praying hard, but smart, and to keep on praying without giving up.  "It is better to have a heart without words than to have words without a heart," says John Bunyan. eloquent with no passion.   The more you see God answering your prayers, the more encouraged you will be to be a consistent and, more importantly, faithful prayer warrior.  It's fun to pray and to see God's answers, but remember, if you are a skeptic, God makes it so that answers can be explained away.

Someone has said, "All I can do is pray!" (I can't help but think of those commercials where they say, "This is all we do, and we do it well!")   I'd like to meet that person!  This is the greatest of all ministries in my estimation because that is where the power is to get God's will done.  Sometimes, God is just testing us to see if we are willing to do His will:  God will grant our request, but we must submit to His will first and be surrendered in spirit. We learn to trust Him and grow in our faith by accepting God's answers and His will.

They say that the way to become a success is to find a need and fulfill it:  The M.O. to effective prayer life is to see need and pray for it!   Talk to God like you know Him!  Exercise your prayer muscles, because prayer doesn't come naturally, but is a divine trait.  To illustrate: Muslims don't really pray, they must prostrate and face Mecca five times daily and repeat rote verses or confessions (called the salat), not even believing they can know God, or that He is a personal God that loves us.

Knowing God is not just a matter of Bible knowledge, because prayer is a two-way dialogue--God mostly speaks to us in the Word and we must keep up the conversation with prayer.  Brother Lawrence, a Carmelite monk in a Paris monastery, wrote a book, The Practice of the Presence of God, in which he demonstrated how to keep the conversation going and the line open to God, no matter what--to pray with ceasing means just that!  There are many things you can pray for if you have a Christian worldview and divine viewpoint and know basic Bible doctrine.  We can see God's will in relationships, circumstances, crises, personal problems, major decisions, et al.

The point in prayer is not to impress us or others, but to impress God!  If you aim to impress others it goes contrary to the Spirit, is counter spiritual, and cannot be Spirit-led. Be yourself in prayer, and not an imitation of a leader. We don't want to pray like the Pharisees, who were very wordy and thought that this was impressive.  We should pray as we are, and not as we aren't--be ourselves and know that God's power is made perfect in weakness.   Let's not assume we know God's will for someone else and try to tell them what we think God's will is, but bring it to the throne room in prayer and boldly approach the Father and leave it to Him to run His universe--we are all wired differently and cannot project God's will onto others--they have their own unique relationship with God.

Only when you are familiar with God in prayer can you say you "know the Lord" and not just because you know what the Bible teaches "about" Him.  We must put our learning into action (turn our creeds into deeds) and learn to wrestle with God at times.  I like Abraham Lincoln who said, "I have often gone to my knees, simply because I had nowhere else to go." C. S. Lewis said, "Satan laughs at our toiling, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when he sees the weakest saint on his knees."  Crises are meant to keep us on our knees--they say that if you can't stand life, kneel!

The main constituents of prayer are praise, thanksgiving, confession, petition or supplication, and intercession.  To neglect prayer is a sin according to 1 Sam. 12:23 because we are all believer-priests called to the ministry of prayer for one another.  We have the privilege to go to the Father without a priest and to represent someone or some cause to God. We are a kingdom of priests in other words and God has called us into fellowship with Him through prayer as the avenue.  God always answers prayer either yes, no, or wait.  Sometimes He has something better in mind:  We would mess up our lives if we had our way all the time--why not trust the Creator?  The Greeks would say that when the gods are angry at us they answer our prayers.  Some of the philosophers said to only pray for good things and let God decide what is good! We simply don't know how to pray as we ought and need the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Yes, prayer is a privilege too and we have the God-given, divine right to go directly to the Father in the name and authority of the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit.  We are "family" and God wants to hear from us, it is not a bother or bummer to Him!   Whenever we close our prayers, we should pray "Thy will be done" and be praying in Jesus' name is actually asserting that it is not a formula to tack onto our prayers--God wants us to know if we have His interests in mind or ours.  Never feel you are out of your league in praying, because God hears all the prayers of the saints and is no respecter of persons and plays no favorites--it is the prayer in faith that can move mountains. In sum, prayer is the acid test or the litmus test of our relationship with God--is it all in our head or do we actually love God?   Soli Deo Gloria!

How I Know I Am A Christian...

"The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith"  (1 Timothy 1:5, cf. 2 Tim. 1:5, ESV).
"Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall"  (2 Peter 1:10, ESV).

God does not require perfect faith, but sincere faith.  It is the object of the faith that saves, not the amount of it.  We don't have faith in faith per se, but faith in Christ.  You can be sincerely wrong too. You can be 100 percent sure and still go to hell because the faith was misguided.  God wants no feigned, pretended, pseudo-faith but an honest faith in Christ. Muslims can be 100 percent sure (by dying in a jihad) and still go to hell because they are misguided. Like Romans 10:2 says the Jews had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.  In other words, you can have a lot of faith in the wrong thing and be lost.  Our faith gets strengthened by trial and tribulation as our faith is tested by God since it is more valuable than silver or gold.  Bear in mind that we are saved through the instrumental means of faith (but in Romanism the instrumental means are the sacraments, i.e., baptism, etc.), but our reward is based on our works (Rom. 2:6), not our faith!  Faith and faithfulness can be distinguished, but not separated (they are the same Hebrew word in Habakkuk 2:4).

Now, I have had no heavenly vision, divine visitation, dream, heard voices, have had any divine revelation, or existential experience whatsoever to my knowledge, yet I know I am saved.  This begs the question:  How can I be so presumptuous, as it were, and be so positive without any doubts whatsoever, being convinced 100 percent?  After all it is our duty to be sure and find assurance because of the command in 2 Peter 1:10; however, it is not just to satisfy idle curiosity!  Without assurance, you will be stunted and paralyzed in your walk and remain an infant in Christ.

The reason most believers doubt (and assurance is not an automatic fruit nor of the essence of salvation, according to The Westminster Confession of Faith, ca 1646, but only for the benefit of its well-being), and this is because they confuse works and faith or fact and feeling. They may also just be ignorant of the Word or even fail to take God at His Word in light of the gospel message!  Once they get a biblical view of the subject of assurance they may be reassured.  It is not the evangelist's job to give or grant assurance or to certify salvation--that is the domain of the Holy Spirit.

It is because I know the Scriptures and they are a part of my soul and spirit and I know they are dependable and reliable for faith, as the psalmist declared in Psalm 119 so many times.  God wants us to be sure and to know, but He wants us to have faith and not be dependent on experience which is so subjective. We can have reassurance in many ways to increase our faith though.  No one has the same experience and there is no common ground for faith and fellowship.  "For without faith it is impossible to please God."  Thomas was gently rebuked by Jesus because he doubted and he had to see Jesus believe (believing is seeing, not seeing is believing!) because Jesus said that "blessed are those who have not seen [or heard] and yet believed [they have more faith]."

1 John 5:13 says that the reason he is writing is so that we can know that we are saved--he doesn't mention any type of O.B.E. or out-of-body experience, near-death experience, hearing of heavenly voices, visits of angels,  visions, or dreams, but quotes the Bible.  We are to rely on God's plain and simple Word, the way a child would.  We need childlike, but not childish faith!  Take Him at His Word!   This is known as having "spiritual birth certificates." There are other reasons I know I am saved, besides relying on verses like John 6:37 ("He who comes to Me I will in no wise cast out") and John 1:12 ("As many as received Him gave He the right to be the children of God, even them that believe on His name"). I know that Christ died in my stead and rose again on my behalf!  God has more to lose than I do if I don't get saved, because His Word says so:  "God says it in His Word, I believe it in my heart, that settles it in my mind."  I know what God says and believe Him  (as 2 Tim. 1:12 says, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able...").  As Michael Faraday said, "I'm not resting on conjecture, but certainties."

There are other factors that reassure me:  The way God is changing my life and making me more in the image of Christ; the way God speaks to me through the Bible and many other ways; and especially in fellowship and witness the way the "Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God" (cf. Rom. 8:16).  An obvious sign is that I live an abundant, complete, and fulfilled life in Christ that has meaning and purpose and is very rewarding and inspiring, producing fruit. In short, my life has not only been changed, but exchanged, surrendered, renewed, and transformed, and I have not just turned over a new leaf, but my mind, will, and emotions have experienced a complete and total about-face, a complete turnaround, an overhaul of my soul and spirit,  a 180-degree turn! It's not that God made me "good," but He gave me life and made me "alive!"  However, no matter my experience, I like the refrain:

"My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name."  (Edward Mote)

I know that I have "the Spirit!"  I have tested the spirit like it says in 2 Cor. 13:5 (ESV): " ... Test yourselves.  Or you not realize this about yourselves, that  Jesus Christ is in you? ...."  We are to examine ourselves and I have done this to "test the spirit."  In other words, we are to examine our own fruit and be fruit inspectors (no fruit--no faith!).  Search your own heart--do you love Jesus?

Only God can inspire me as He does and open my eyes to the Word as He does, and guide my life providentially as He does (like in meeting my daily needs)--there is no mistake God is at work in me--anyone that has known my life story could testify to this--my life is a miracle!  I have witnessed so much in my life and been the recipient of so much grace that, if I were to ask God for a sign or more evidence, He would simply say, "My grace is sufficient for thee!" I was indeed saved long before I became fully convinced because you don't have to know you're saved to be saved!  We are all "works in progress" as it is commonly said.  Like Paul says in Philippians 2:13 (ESV) to conclude: "For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."  Soli Deo Gloria!

The Metaphorical Proof of Eternal Security

This will not be by prooftexting:  It is too simplistic to prooftext your way in order to demonstrate the doctrine of eternal security of the believer, because the Arminian can cite verses per contra that he believes contradicts them when they take them out of context and don't understand what salvation is--we must take this debate to a new level and dimension: Salvation is the restoration of our relationship with God into His family as His children by adoption, whereby we are born again spiritually after being dead and alive in the Spirit to have fellowship with Him, and the Holy Spirit is given us as a down payment of our salvation and the intention of God to be the Ultimate Promise Keeper who never reneges on a promise, and to keep His Word that He will make good on what He began and finish making us in the image of Christ. (Eternal security, it is argued is not a biblical term, but the words "eternal salvation" and "eternal redemption" are in. Heb. 5:9; 9:12.)

But note this:  eternal life begins in the here and now, and it is not something that is future or pie in the sky--it begins forthwith!  We have (present tense!) eternal life (per John 6:37)!  Eternal means that it is eternal and not provisionally based, or on a probationary status.  It begins at salvation and continues on throughout eternity.  Our salvation began in eternity past, is realized in time, and is consummated in eternity future.

If you understand what salvation is you will never misconstrue this doctrine.  Romans 8:29-30 is called the golden chain of redemption and shows that God loses none whom He calls to justify (save) and to ultimately glorify.  "And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified." Those whom He calls (the inward call), not whom we call (the general call), get justified or saved!  All who are saved get glorified--none get "unjustified"  there is no such a term in the Bible--none get lost in the shuffle!

Seeing the biblical metaphorical language, no one is "un-born, un-adopted, un-justified, un-found, un-sealed, un-anointed, un-quickened from the dead, eyes un-opened," or what have you. We are either sheep or goats!  No one in the Bible loses their salvation!  (Judas was a devil from the beginning and never did believe.)   [God was] "...thus securing an eternal redemption" (cf. Heb. 9:12) for us, and this is something to see as a "done deal." Fait accompli.  There's nothing we can add to or subtract from God's work:  "It is finished."  It is His masterpiece!  The debt He paid that He didn't owe for us who couldn't pay the debt we owed is PAID IN FULL!

Now, if you realized that salvation is a gift, you will realize that you cannot earn it (it is grace all the way).  And if it is a gift you didn't earn it, don't deserve it, and cannot pay it back, and you don't ever have to give a gift back, do you?    In a works religion, you never know how much is enough or how little is too little--you can never be sure. Exactly what sin will ensure the loss of salvation if it is possible?  No one can say for sure!  The beautiful thing about our salvation is that "Salvation is of the Lord" (it is not of us and God, or of us alone)  according to Jonah 2:9.  That means it is not a joint or cooperative venture (synergistic) with God or one of our own works, but a gift completely is done by God (monergistic) by grace (that's the only way it could be by grace)--He just wants you to accept it freely as a right (cf. John 1:12).

Finally, if there is no eternal security, there can be no assurance of salvation, because the person puts himself under the power of his own efforts rather than God's power to redeem and keep us as our Keeper (cf. Jude 1:1).  If you deny this doctrine, you must also deny the assurance of salvation and see it as mere presumption as Roman Catholics do.  These doctrines go hand-in-hand and can be distinguished but not separated--they must go together like faith and works (faith without works is dead) and these two must be connected.  In plain language they are the flip side of each other--you cannot have one without the other logically.      Soli Deo Gloria!

How To Catch The Spirit

"All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come:" (Job 14:14).
"So you by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God"  (Hosea 12:6).
"Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!" (Psalm 27:14).

This is how to be filled with the Holy Spirit 101--a primer and very elementary for those who haven't been around the block theologically. You don't catch the Spirit like you catch a cold or by just hanging around well-meaning and Spirit-filled believers (though this may be a contributing factor). Sometimes it may seem like someone has "more" of the Spirit because of his personality or charisma--be leery of this kind of stereotyping and be on guard!  The first order of the day:  (fellowship) Go where the Spirit is!  (For most people this is church.)   May we all join the apostle John:  "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day."

There is a common misconception pertaining to the filling.  Whenever you are led by the Spirit to do something, you are simultaneously filled to the necessary measure (He gives the Spirit without measure)--they go hand-in-hand, i.e., they can be distinguished, but not separated. Being led by the Spirit is another way of saying that you are controlled by the Spirit and not yourself--Jesus is on the throne of your life and you are lifting Him up in service.  The filling is not for your own benefit, but for the building up or edifying of the body of Christ at large. Everyone's personal experience varies and no one can define what it is for another.  "For as many as are led by the Spirit of Christ, these are sons of God."

It is a simple matter to enter into His divine presence via the ministry of the Holy Spirit in order to gain entree or access into that heavenly dimension where the throne of God resides.  It sounds like a surreal experience, but it is for real.  We "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise!" (Cf. Psalm 100:4, ESV).  The power of praise is the route of holiness to have an audience with the Heavenly Father, in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Attitude is often the inhibiting factor in our experiential holiness and lifestyle.  We choose to have an attitude of gratitude and to thank God for what He has done and will do and to praise Him for who He is.

The Spirit affects different people in different ways and we are to welcome the diversity and even celebrate it.  Some people are highly contemplative and find pleasure and meaning in adoration of spiritual ideas and doctrines, some people are highly intellectually inclined and find pleasure in using their minds and figuring things out or studying, while others may be caregivers and are given to lending a hand and meeting a need, that others may not even see. Note that above all we are not to compare ourselves with ourselves, but be faithful to our own calling and gifting (cf. 2 Cor. 10:12). Bear in mind that some people are stoical and some are rather demonstrative and free-spirited in expressing themselves--but there will be feeling--and there's no one-size-fits-all approach to spirituality--don't judge!

Don't get into the trap of gift-projection (thinking everyone should be like you), or gift-envy (thinking you need to be like someone else or have their gift). There is no personality profile to look for (except you may be accused of being inebriated or euphoric--"...the prophet is a fool, the man of the spirit is mad," says Hosea 9:7, ESV), you must be ready to accept whatever God throws your way and whom He puts in your path.

Every believer has a different experience with the Holy Spirit and may have private M.O.s to get excited in the Lord.  For me, intense Bible reading always puts me in the mood because God really speaks to me and this instigates prayer response and dialog.  For some, I hear they listen to praise or worship music or Christian radio and get lifted in the Spirit via this medium.  The best channel of blessing, in my opinion, is a variation or combo of methodologies and not to be too dependent on anyone.  But, if it works for you I won't knock it!  The goal is to get filled and to be equipped for service.

Elisha prayed for twice the Spirit of Elijah and he got it, but that is not normative.  The way it works is that we are all filled with the Spirit upon salvation and this is subject to the grieving that we do by sinning, and when we get out of fellowship we need to rebound back by confessing any known sin or sins, i.e., keep short accounts with God and walk in the Spirit or what Brother Lawrence wrote about in a famous book called The Practice of the Presence of God.   It isn't how much of the Spirit you have--it's how much of you the Spirit has!  Like John the Baptist said:  "He must increase, I must decrease."  The way up is down!

Before filling comes emptying and this is done by examining ourselves and judging ourselves so that we not be judged--leave no sin unjudged or unconfessed is good counsel, and agree with God or say the same thing as the Bible says (the literal meaning of confessing or call a spade a spade!). Newsflash:  We all are filled upon salvation, but remember your first love and the love and relationship you first had with Christ--many brothers have left their first love.  God's power can change your personality as well as your character and God won't give up until He sees Himself in you (a work in progress). So don't hold out on God, He has bought you with a price and owns you.

No believer is a Rock or Island like Christ, and we all need each other's fellowship and encouragement.  Barnabas was called a "son of encouragement!"  We can lift each other up when we are strong and someone is weak and needs us.  Look for opportunities to minister to one another and edify and encourage each other!  No amount of hanging around the right crowd will save you or give you the filling of the Spirit (you must already be saved and in fellowship with God), you must individually make reconciliation with God and settle all accounts, leaving no rock "un-turned."

God promises to give the Spirit to all who ask sincerely because He is a good Father who delights in giving to His children anything that is good.  Do we ask for a filling?  Basically, fillings are for doing God's will and some specific calling or anointing. God commands us to continually and constantly (cf, Eph. 5:18) to be filled with the Spirit--through the manifestation of it will vary according to the need of God's ministry.

There are signs to look for:  joy, love, peace, and patience come to mind--look for the fruit of the Spirit comes alive in your life and in your brothers as the witness of salvation--no fruit, no salvation! We are commanded in 2 Cor. 13:5 to examine ourselves [not each other]. Mind your own business! Consecrate and offer yourself to the Lord to do His bidding and will, whatever the cross to bear! Surely, you must have a passion that is the desire of your heart--"Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you," says James 4:8.  To be filled we must be willing to do God's will and submit to it in relinquishment and surrender.  The most ideal prayer is what Jesus prayed at Gethsemane: Thy will be done.

Focus on this:  Wherever two or three are gathered together in Christ's name, He is present spiritually, so it helps to be around other Christians and not live like a hermit or recluse--we need each other and are all part of His body. Fellowship with God the Father and Jesus Christ as well as our brethren are all part of the bonus and fringe benefit of being saved.  Just as the Godhead is expressed in a tripersonality, or in three persons, so the filling of the Spirit has expressed in the complete body of Christ--no one person is the embodiment or personification of the Spirit-filled believer.  This is why the church is an organism, not an organization--all the members work intricately together to the same end of glorifying Christ.  In sum: In God's economy, emptying comes before filling and confession before forgiveness and restoration.    Soli Deo Gloria!

The True Place of Fear

"The fear of the Lord" is the beginning of wisdom.  Christians have learned a healthy respect and awe for God (Hebrews 10:31 says, "For is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God").  If we fear God we need not fear man.  "The LORD is my strength and my salvation, of whom shall I be afraid?" (Psalm 27:1).  Jesus did mention that we need not fear man, but Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.  Jesus mentioned hell twice as much as he did heaven and believed it to be literally a place of eternal torment ("where worm does not die and fire is not quenched" and "there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth")--sounds frightening, doesn't it?

There is a place for caution and respect for danger, and not to tempt God or others.  Perfect love does cast out fear and we do not have a spirit of fear like the unbeliever, but we can overcome it by the power of the Spirit and we truly have nothing to fear, but fear itself as FDR famously said.  Don't let the enemy dominate your thinking into being fearful, instead of courageous.  We don't flirt with danger or tempt fate as they say, or purposely go into harm's way apart from God's will.

Satan uses scare tactics to get his agenda and plays on our fears to manipulate us, (he holds the sinner captive by the fear of death [Heb. 2:15] and this is a sin), but there is only one legitimate fear:  The fear of God!  It is much like parental fear in that we don't want to disobey because we know there may be severe consequences ("For whom the Lord loves, he chastens", per Heb 12:6).  The Christian isn't just worried about God punishing him and hurting him--though this is a reality--but he doesn't want to hurt God!  Our sin hurts God more than it does us! This fear is the true beginning of wisdom.

I know that they say you shouldn't become a Christian for "fire insurance" as they say, but I was greatly convicted of the reality of hell when I was 19 and it sobered me up to repent of my sins--there does come a time when we will meet our Maker at judgment and that should be a scary thought for some.  Jonathan Edwards preached a fiery sermon in 1743 entitled "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," and it woke up the Colonies from their dogmatic slumber and began the Great Awakening that shook America.  People were in fear of hell because Edwards made it so real to them.  There is a DVD out about a man who was granted "thirty minutes in hell" to tell the world of its horrors and that no one should want to go there--avoid it at all extremes, at any cost.  The cost of being a Christian is high, but the cost of not being one is even higher.

There is quite a bit of preaching out there these days that there is no literal hell, but only annihilation awaits the dead without Christ.  This makes the urgency of the gospel message seem less important and the motivation is lessened.  The true motivation for evangelizing is "[knowing] the terror of the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:11).  We need to "sober" up the masses and make them realize that the majority is usually wrong and that "narrow is the way" that leads to life.   Soli Deo Gloria!