I encourage anyone with some spare time to watch this video. In it, Paul Washer communicates the error in decisional evangelism (altar calls, etc.).
This is one of the most powerful sermons I’ve heard in regard to biblical evangelism.
Thanks to Dustin Raley and Jonathan Whittle for sharing this with me.
And the Lord said to Moses, “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. (Exodus 31:12, 13 ESV)
Did you catch that last line?
…that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.
Don’t miss that. Apparently the Sabbath was more than just a structured nap time for the nation of Israel. God ordered the Sabbath so His people would remember that He sanctifies them; that He is the One who makes them holy.
But why would God order an entire day of rest just to remind His people of that point? How did He expect them to be holy if they were forbidden from doing the things of the law they did every other day?
God’s logic isn’t too hard to follow.
As an Israelite, when you take a day off from your typical day of work (offering animal sacrifices for you and your family, discerning whether or not that pig touched you and made you unclean, living in perpetual fear of breaking God’s commandment not to covet your neighbor’s new chicken) you take a day off from striving to obey all of God’s requirements for holy living. For an Israelite, that meant doing absolutely nothing for fear of God’s wrathful judgment. But if you were idle for an entire day, how could you become holy? Certainly obedience to God’s command to rest was not worth as many holy points as fulfilling other aspects of the law! How were the Israelites to become righteous?
This applies to us as well. The Sabbath was not just given to Old Testament Jews. It was given to all of God’s people as a reminder of His work in creation and His grace in redemption. But what are we to do with a whole day to rest? It seems sinful to take time from our crazed schedules and church functions and bible studies! How can we become holy if we are caught resting? Why is it such a big deal to God?
I think God’s point (as always) is to communicate His character through His gospel. We ask, How we can become holy when we are idle? God replies, “You cannot.” He would even take it a step further: “Not only can you not become holy when you’re idle on the Sabbath, but you also cannot become holy when you’re actively striving to obey other aspects of the law every other day of the week.”
Only through Christ’s perfect obedience to the law are we made holy. It is by His merit and not our own. It is the Father’s grace to grant righteousness on account of Christ to all who believe upon Him. The Sabbath was given to remind us of our total dependence on His grace; on His work and not our own.
Our intentional acts of obedience may be used by God to display our growth in holiness, but it is only by His Spirit and His grace that we are able to be obedient at all. Giving the Israelites a day off from work reminds us that we’re not the ones really doing the work at all. God is the doer. He is the main actor in our work. It is God who sanctifies. In fact, it is His will to sanctify (1 Thess. 4:3). Just as Moses recorded in the verse above: it is God and God alone who sanctifies, and He wants us to know it!
The question is, Will you take the time in 2012 to rest in God’s grace for your sanctification? Will you trust that Christ has already done enough for you? I pray that you will.
I was recently asked if I believed “certain individuals are pre-elected to be saved” or if I thought “every individual (has) the ability to choose freely.” My response (posted below) is a brief walk through Romans 8 and 9 and is in no way meant to be comprehensive. I hope this will be encouraging to those struggling with the question of God’s sovereignty in salvation.
I believe that God is sovereign over election and salvation. I also believe that individuals have the responsibility to choose to follow Christ. Both sit side by side in Scripture. J.I. Packer refers to God’s sovereignty and man’s free will as an antinomy, or a seeming paradox. While they seem contrary, they are not – it is simply a mystery how they exist together.
The easiest explanation for my belief in God’s sovereignty can be found in reading through Romans 8 and 9. Here are a few points from the text:
1) Humans are not morally capable of choosing God unless God first changes their hearts through the “washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. (Romans 8:7 ESV)
Paul says in Ephesians 2:1 that nonbelievers are “dead” in “trespasses and sins.” The point here is simple – without a change of heart, a change of nature, an imputation of God’s life in the heart – no human is capable of choosing God. God must call us to life, just as Jesus called Lazarus to life. No dead man can speak to save himself.
2) Salvation follows this order: God foreknows an individual, predestines them, calls them, justifies them, and eventually; glorifies them.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” (Romans 8:29-30 ESV)
God’s predestining and calling comes before an individual is justified (is positionally in a right standing with God). Justification is by grace alone in faith alone, “and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…” (Ephesians 2:8 ESV). Before one “accepts Christ,” they are foreknown by God, predestined for glory, and called by his Spirit to salvation.
3) God has mercy on whomever he desires.
As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’ What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’ So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. (Romans 9:13-18 ESV)
That text should speak for itself. The psalmist would agree: “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3 ESV). Nothing changes or thwarts God’s plans – he does whatever he pleases; even when it comes to the salvation of men.
4) Despite God’s role in effectually calling sinners to repentance and salvation, individuals are still held accountable for choosing or rejecting God.
You will say to me then, ‘Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?’ But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? (Romans 9:19-24 ESV)
So, in summary – yes, I believe that God is sovereign in predestining and justifying the elect according to His good purposes. Fortunately, because we know that God is good and works for the good of those that love him (Rm. 8:28), we can be confident that God’s sovereignty in election is the best thing for us.
What do you think? Is God sovereign in the salvation of men? Why or why not?
Blogging without a bible is dangerous.
Is it easier? Definitely. And it’s all over Tumblr.
The Tumblr format of blogging is very beneficial if you want to connect with a lot of people fast. I often read some very good, insightful posts from folks on Tumblr, along with encouraging verses and quotes. But way too often my dashboard is bombarded with “Christian” posts, answers, and thoughts that are absolutely Christless.
I wonder where the conviction to upholding God’s Word is.
On what authority do you pretend to stand?
Do you actually think you have something good to say apart from Scripture?
Blogging with Scripture IS harder. But the Word of God is our life source. It is where all authority is in our lives. We MUST hold it in high esteem – especially when we claim Christian values in our blogging!
Don’t take the easy, opinionated way out.
“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful” (God, Joshua 1:8).
“So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (God, Isaiah 55:11).
“For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (Jesus, John 5:46-47).
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.”
Paul, Romans 12:9-16
Not to pursue our joy every day in the Word of God is to abandon the revealed will of God. It is sin.
John Piper, Desiring God
