A very angry man

I met a very angry man today last week.

I had simply asked him casually: "Have you heard of the name Jesus Christ before?"

He replied: "Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ!?! Oh, you're trying to preach to me!" and for the next 20-25 minutes he ranted and raved against Christianity, without much of a chance for me to get a word in edgewise. This was in Mandarin, mind you, so I'm sure I missed a large part of it.

He had had a bad experience in Anglican High School when he was a teenager there many years ago. The discipline master then - a notorious fellow who nevertheless professed himself to be a fervent Christian - had accused him of sending a letter threatening to kill him (something which he denies to this day). His parents had been informed that if he (the discipline master) was ever found murdered, their son would be the prime suspect.

At that time he had been introduced to the rudiments of Christianity and prayer, and so he had prayed earnestly every night that the discipline master would not be murdered (apparently he was hated enough for this to be a distinct possibility) - but that he would be killed in a traffic accident instead! Imagine his shock and horror when it actually happened about three months later - the discipline master indeed got knocked down by a car and died!

He reasoned that if God was evil enough to answer such an evil prayer, he did not want to believe in such a God! It did not occur to him to condemn the one who had made such a prayer in the first place, nor the fact that God has every right to destroy a sinner at any time - whether someone prayed for it or not!

He is also very angry with his younger brother, who is a Christian. He had sacrificed much for his younger brother to do well in school and succeed in life, despite which his younger brother had apparently announced one day that he believed it was God who had provided for him and his success. He had felt very hurt and angry that his sacrifices were not acknowledged nor any gratitude shown for them. He believes very strongly that blood is thicker than water, but his younger brother would rather give to the church rather than help with the family finances.

[Incidentally, this is not the first time I am hearing this sort of story. I am sure it is an unfortunate spinoff from prosperity preaching and the need to "sow into the work of the Lord". Matt 15:4-6 is quite clear that charity should begin at home!]

"I am not against any religion!"

The interesting thing is that he kept making disclaimers, insisting over and over again that he wasn't against any religion, that they are all the same, that they teach people to do good. Having said that, he went on an all-out attack on Christianity, talking about the evil of the Crusades and especially the hypocrisy of many professing Christians he knew who do not follow what the Bible teaches (he had studied Bible Knowledge in school!), and the dubious practice of deathbed conversions, among many other things.

I kept trying to interject, to tell him that there were so many things he was saying which I agreed with, but that they had nothing to do with the the message of Christianity, which is one of free grace and not of works - but he was not interested in listening. Truly, "our gospel is veiled only to those who are perishing, for the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." (2 Cor 4:3-4).

Personally speaking

This episode resonates strongly with me because my own older adopted brother, who is unsaved, is also dead-set against Christianity because of an experience in Anglican High School! Apparently when he was there as a teenager, the then-principal (also a fervently professing Christian) was embroiled in some sort of a sexual scandal and had to resign as a result.

Law and Grace

I find that these two examples serve to illustrate the failure of a Christianity that emphasises precepts - do's and don'ts - rather that the message of grace and forgiveness, redemption and sanctification. God's law is good, and we should preach it - but only to prepare the way for grace, because it is our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ, once we realize that we will never meet up to its perfect standard - until our hearts are changed. Then it will be our delight to obey the law of God. Even then, it is only by being clothed in Christ, with a righteousness not our own, that we can hope to stand before the judgement seat of God and not be condemned.

There is no excuse, of course, for Christians to sin - we were saved to be holy and blameless before Him. But we will inevitably fall at times, and if the emphasis of our message is not one of grace, but of law and works, those who look at us will see hypocrisy, and we will be guilty of what the Jews were accused of in Rom 3:23-24 - "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."

John Wesley - the messed up Calvinist

On a day that falls between Aldersgate Day and John Calvin's birthday (a person who, for some strange reason, Methodists hear very little about!), it bemuses me to recall Phil Johnson - in one of his sermons - describing John Wesley as a "messed-up" Calvinist. What he meant is that Wesley sought to give God all the glory - yet inadvertently he stole some of it for himself through his Arminian beliefs.

This underlines an important distinction in understanding what Calvinism is all about. It's not so much about predestination (which is the mental pigeonhole most people assign it to) as it is about the glory of God. Calvin's greatest goal was to demonstrate the glory of God in everything - in vocation, in salvation, in election, in all of life. In this sense, John Wesley was a Calvinist as well as he, too, sought the glory of God in all that he did - it was just that he didn't think election and reprobation and limited atonement demonstrates the glory of God (it does). He had too low a view of God's glory and sovereignty.

In the end, Wesley's Aldersgate experience proves the truth of God's electing sovereignty: God met him and took hold of him, not the other way around!

In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate-street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

Did John Wesley CHOOSE to believe and trust in Christ? Methinks not. He simply found that he did!

The Barrier of Language

I've just finished reading "A Different Gospel" by D R McConnell. One of the interesting things he mentions is the barrier of language - how the Word of Faith teachers quote extensively from scriptural "proof-texts" and use Christian jargon while meaning something completely different.

Paris Reidhead correctly said that definitions are very important, because "we think with definitions". If two people talk about something without defining the terms they use, they may be comparing apples and oranges without realizing it. Or, as the Chinese would say, it would be like a chicken and a duck talking to each other.

For instance, the more charismatic folk in a congregation would accuse a conservative pastor of "quenching the Spirit", if the pastor is not open to "allowing the Spirit to move." First and foremost, the Holy Spirit will move where He wants to, whether we allow Him to do so or not (John 3:8, 1 Cor 12:11). He does not need our permission!

More importantly, no true Christian would desire to hinder the operation of the Holy Spirit. But what do we MEAN when we say we want to see the Holy Spirit moving and working? One believer would think in terms of hearts being changed - convicted of sin and being led to repentance, being opened up to the reception of the Word. Another would envision miraculous healings, signs and wonders and people being "slain in the Spirit".

Another example would be when we talk about the Word of God speaking to us. Those who adhere to sola scriptura would be very clear what that means to them - the written word of God and what it reveals. On the other hand, those brought up in "rhema" teachings would have something completely different in mind when they say something like that, listening deeply inside themselves for some impression of the Spirit on their hearts (forgetting what Jer 17:9 teaches!)

Of course, everyone wants to see the Holy Spirit moving, and everyone wants to have the Word of God speak to them. But what do we MEAN when we say that?

So... yes. Definitions are important. Very important.

What must I DO to be saved?

I came across this interesting quote by someone named Francis Turretin (a new dead author to discover!) in this paper by my brother Daniel.

For the Gospel which is preached to those who are called, does not declare that, in the eternal decree of God, it has been ordained that in Christ redemption has been procured for each and every man, It rather announced to sinners a divine command, with a promise annexed, and teaches what is the duty of those who wish to be made partakers of salvation.

There's that word, in the last sentence. Duty. "What must I DO to be saved?"

If salvation is all of grace, and only through faith, then why should there be a duty appended to it?

The simple answer is that this is what God has ordained - faith and repentance as the required response to the offer of salvation made to all men, and rightly so, as this is what is most glorifying to Him.

But here's the catch - we are not capable of faith and repentance on our own. We are dead in our trespasses and sins, and the carnal mind is enmity against God.

The answer to this quandary is stated very simply by Augustine in AD 397 in his Confessions: "Give what Thou commandest; Command what Thou wilt."

In other words, God Himself will supply the means by which He has ordained salvation is to be received. And He will give these to those He has chosen to save from before the foundations of the world (Eph 1:4-5). "The Lord knows those who are his." (2 Tim 2:19)

And if God requires faith and repentance so that we may be saved, He will give faith and repentance - to His elect.

Phil 1:29 tells us: "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake."

Acts 5:30-31 says: "The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins."

2 Tim 2:25, in speaking of false teachers: "God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth."

And this is why Francis Turretin also says:

Christ is not revealed in the Gospel as having died for me in particular, but only as having died in general for those who believe and repent. Hence I reason from that faith and repentance which I find actually to exist in my heart, that Christ has, indeed, died for me in particular. I know that He died for all who fly to Him, I find that I have fled to Him, hence I can and should infer that He died for me.

What must we do to be saved? We simply need to believe and repent, and even the ability to be able to do these things has to be given to us by God, which is why salvation is all of grace. And when we are saved, our duty as Christians is simply to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and our neighbour as ourselves, which is none other than the whole law of God.

And this we will do willingly, because His people will be willing in the day of His power (Psa 110:3), and we will have been given new hearts of flesh to replace our hearts of stone (Ezek 36:26), His spirit will be within us (Ezek 36:27), and His law will be written on our hearts (Heb 8:10). He will be in us, and we in Him.

And this is all of God.

Why pray?

Team pyro's latest post on prayer reminded me that I wanted to post a(nother) talk I had given to my church youth on 14 Jun 2009 (which explains my online silence - I was furiously preparing for it). No, I'm not in great demand. Just a stand-in for someone else who could not make it at the last minute.

It's about 20 pages long, so I've put it into a pdf file you can download. Feel free to take a look. It was delivered verbatim a la Jonathan Edwards.

In it I discuss not just the reason we should pray, but also the sovereignty of God and God's passion for his glory.

What does it mean to confess Christ with our mouth?

Somebody asked this very pertinent question. I thought that Albert Barnes, in his commentary, did a very good job of explaining it. So here it is:

Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Rom 10:9-10)

That if thou shalt confess - The word here rendered “confess” ὁμολογέω homologeō is often rendered “profess”; Mat 7:23, “Then will I profess to them, I never knew you;” Tit 1:16; Tit 3:14; Rom 1:22; 1 Tim 2:10; 1 Tim 6:12-13, 1 Tim 6:21; Heb 3:1, etc. It properly means to “speak what agrees with something which others speak or maintain.” Thus, confession or profession expresses our “agreement or concord with what God holds to be true, and what he declares to be true.” It denotes a public declaration or assent to that, here expressed by the words “with thy mouth.” A profession of religion then denotes a public declaration of our agreement with what God has declared, and extends to all his declarations about our lost estate, our sin, and need of a Saviour; to his doctrines about his own nature, holiness, and law; about the Saviour and the Holy Spirit; about the necessity of a change of heart and holiness of life; and about the grave and the judgment; about heaven and hell. As the doctrine respecting a Redeemer is the main and leading doctrine, it is put here by way of eminence, as in fact involving all others; and publicly to express our assent to this, is to declare our agreement with God on all kindred truths.

With thy mouth - To profess a thing with the mouth is to speak of it; to declare it; to do it openly and publicly.

The Lord Jesus - Shalt openly acknowledge attachment to Jesus Christ. The meaning of it may be expressed by regarding the phrase “the Lord” as the predicate; or the thing to be confessed is, that he is Lord; compare Acts 2:36 and Phil 2:11, “And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” Here it means to acknowledge him as Lord, that is, as having a right to rule over the soul.

Shalt believe in thy heart - Shalt sincerely and truly believe this, so that the external profession shall correspond with the real, internal feelings. Where this is not the case, it would be hypocrisy; where this is the case, there would be the highest sincerity, and this religion requires.

That God hath raised him - This fact, or article of Christian belief, is mentioned here because of its great importance, and its bearing on the Christian system. If this be true, then all is true. Then it is true that he came forth from God; that he died for sin; and that God approved and accepted his work. Then it is true that he ascended to heaven, and is exalted to dominion over the universe, and that he will return to judge the quick and the dead. For all this was professed and taught; and all this was regarded as depending on the truth of his having been raised from the dead; see Phil 2:8-11; Eph 1:21; Acts 2:24, Acts 2:32-33; Acts 17:31; 2 Cor 4:14; 1 Cor 15:13-20. To profess this doctrine was, therefore, virtually to profess all the truths of the Christian religion. No man could believe this who did not also believe all the truths dependent on it. Hence, the apostles regarded this doctrine as so important, and made it so prominent in their preaching.

Thou shalt be saved - From sin and hell. This is the doctrine of the gospel throughout; and all this shows that salvation by the gospel was easy.

For with the heart - Not with the understanding merely, but with such a faith as shall be sincere, and shall influence the life. There can be no other genuine faith than what influences the whole mind.

Believeth unto righteousness - Believes so that justification is obtained. (Stuart.) In God’s plan of justifying people, this is the way by which we may be declared just or righteous in his sight. The moment a sinner believes, therefore, he is justified; his sins are pardoned; and he is introduced into the favor of God. No man can be justified without this; for this is God’s plan, and he will not depart from it.

With the mouth confession is made ... - That is, confession or profession is so made as to obtain salvation. He who in all appropriate ways professes his attachment to Christ shall be saved. This profession is to be made in all the proper ways of religious duty; by an avowal of our sentiments; by declaring on all proper occasions our belief of the truth; and by an unwavering adherence to them in all persecutions, oppositions, and trials. He who declares his belief makes a profession. He who associates with Christian people does it. He who acts with them in the prayer meeting, in the sanctuary, and in deeds of benevolence, does it. He who is baptized, and commemorates the death of the Lord Jesus, does it. And he who leads an humble, prayerful, spiritual life, does it. He shows his regard to the precepts and example of Christ Jesus; his regard for them more than for the pride, and pomp, and allurements of the world. All these are included in a profession of religion. In whatever way we can manifest attachment to it, it must be done. The reason why this is made so important is, that there can be no true attachment to Christ which will not manifest itself in the life. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. It is impossible that there should be true belief in the heart of man, unless it should show itself in the life and conversation. This is the only test of its existence and its power; and hence it is made so important in the business of religion. And we may here learn,

(1) That a profession of religion is, by Paul, made as really indispensable to salvation as believing. According to him it is connected with salvation as really as faith is with justification; and this accords with all the declarations of the Lord Jesus; Mat 10:32; Mat 25:34-46; Luk 12:8.

(2) there can be no religion where there is not a willingness to confess the Lord Jesus. There is no true repentance where we are not willing to confess our faults. There is no true attachment to a father or mother or friend, unless we are willing on all proper occasions to avow it. And so there can be no true religion where there is too much pride, or vanity, or love of the world, or fear of shame to confess it.

(3) those who never profess any religion have none: and they are not safe. To deny God the Saviour before people is not safe. They who do not profess religion, profess the opposite. The real feelings of the heart will be expressed in the life. And they who profess by their lives that they have no regard for God and Christ, for heaven and glory, must expect to be met in the last day, as those who deny the Lord that bought them, and who bring upon themselves quick destruction; 2 Pet 1:2.

Call it Grace

The title of this blog is from a CD I just happened to pick up one day at a discount from a Christian bookshop. It's titled "Call it Grace" by Steve Archer. Really great collection of songs. Here's the lyrics of the title song:

Call it Grace

You threw back the canvas, said: "Welcome to my world"
And placed a wild heart within my soul
Created for a purpose I'd come to understand
As I would learn to give up my control

Time has turned the pages
Through the joy and every trial
You've brought me to a place
Of true reflection for awhile

Tonight my heart beats tenderly
On this warm and rainy night
Memories of days gone by
Have climbed aboard this flight

I'm looking back across the years
And lines that seemed to find their rightful face
If just one word could write the story of my life
I'd call it grace

I've tasted my fair share of this life's forbidden fruit
And came to tell the bitter from the sweet
But I still tend to stumble over things I should have learned
In the time it took to get back on my feet

I have made You laugh
And felt the warmth of Your embrace
At times You've caught the tears
As they were rolling off my face

Tonight my heart beats tenderly
On this warm and rainy night
Memories of days gone by
Have climbed aboard this flight

I'm looking back across the years
And lines that seemed to find their rightful face
If just one word could write the story of my life
I'd call it grace

I can trace Your footsteps
When we've walked in desert sand
And I can feel the nail scars
When You hold on to my hand

Tonight my heart beats tenderly
On this warm and rainy night
Memories of days gone by
Have climbed aboard this flight

I'm looking back across the years
And lines that seemed to find their rightful face
If just one word could write the story of my life
I'd call it grace