During the Jewish trial that led to the crucifixion of Christ we read this interesting verse:
"By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover." (John 18:28).
These religious leaders were greatly concerned to maintain their external purity while they were in the process of seeking the execution of the Son of God! They wanted to be able to participate in the sign of the coming Messiah (the Passover), but were blind to the very presence of the Messiah who had already come.
How easy this can happen. We concentrate on the superficial, external elements of faith while neglecting the primary issues of the heart. We can get caught up in the ceremony and the ritual of church and miss the internal transforming power of the Christ.
We are diligent to perform a weekly worship service but we pay little attention to Christ transforming our hearts in daily living.
We talk in spiritual "lingo" (ex. bless you my brother, praying for you my friend, etc . . .) and "look spiritual" to those around us, but we remain indifferent and unloving to those who are actually hurting around us.
We can smile and talk about loving one another from the pulpit, yet rip a brother apart with our pen or our words when we are outside the environs of the Church.
We can talk about the importance of putting God first in our lives but never even consider God's will in our decision making.
May God give us all the ability to put the focus on our own hearts, and avoid the trap of emphasizing the externals to the neglect of the weightier issues of life --- our own hearts.
In His Grace,
wade
WELCOME TO ISTORIA
The Gospel in Genesis The Substance of God's Word
When Jesus taught in the synagogue people made a fascinating observation about him, "He teaches as one having authority, and not as the scribes . . ." (Matt. 7:29). The word authority in Greek is "exousia" which is a compound word that means "out of 'being' or 'substance'." In other words, Jesus' teaching was full of substance or "meat."
We pastors would do well to follow our Lord's example. Lives are changed not be the glitz and fluff of motivational coaches, but by systematic and expositional teaching of God's Word that is filled with substance.
Below are the five messages on "The Gospel in Genesis" series. The Psalmist declared, "Sweet are thy Words unto my taste" (Psalm 119:103) Notice, he says God's Words are sweet unto his "taste" --- not his hearing. The Word of God is food for the soul, and blessed are those believers who are satisfied with nothing less than the substance of God's Word.
The Gospel in Genesis
Message 1 Adam: The Doctrine of Representation
Message 2 Abel: The Doctrine of Propitiation
Message 3 Abram: The Doctrine of Justification
Message 4 The Angel: The Doctrine of Sanctification
Message 5 The Ark: The Doctrine of Glorification
Have a great weekend.
In His Grace,
Wade Burleson
We pastors would do well to follow our Lord's example. Lives are changed not be the glitz and fluff of motivational coaches, but by systematic and expositional teaching of God's Word that is filled with substance.
Below are the five messages on "The Gospel in Genesis" series. The Psalmist declared, "Sweet are thy Words unto my taste" (Psalm 119:103) Notice, he says God's Words are sweet unto his "taste" --- not his hearing. The Word of God is food for the soul, and blessed are those believers who are satisfied with nothing less than the substance of God's Word.
The Gospel in Genesis
Message 1 Adam: The Doctrine of Representation
Message 2 Abel: The Doctrine of Propitiation
Message 3 Abram: The Doctrine of Justification
Message 4 The Angel: The Doctrine of Sanctification
Message 5 The Ark: The Doctrine of Glorification
Have a great weekend.
In His Grace,
Wade Burleson
The Gospel in Genesis The Ark: The Doctrine of Glorification
One of the most fascinating stories in the entire Bible is that of Noah and the ark. It captures the attention and imagination of both young and old.
It is a story worth trusting . . . some find it difficult to accept Noah and the ark, but nothing in the Word of God is beyond our trust. “God writes with a pen that never blots, speaks with a tongue that never slips, acts with a hand that never fails” C.H. Spurgeon.
It is a story worth telling . . . to kids, adults and any interested student of the Bible. It is worth telling for a couple of reasons.
(1). It answers many scientific questions . . . which I address in my exposition of the book of Genesis, and,
(2). It answers many spiritual questions . . . which will be my focus in this post.
The story of Noah and the ark tells us how God took a people for himself, sheltered them from His righteous judgment, and brought them over to the other side into a brand new world.
Baptist theologian Wayne Grudem says glorification is "... the final step in the application of redemption. It will happen when Christ returns and raises from the dead the bodies of all believers for all time who have died, and reunites them with their souls, and changes the bodies of all believers who remain alive, thereby giving all believers at the same time perfect resurrection bodies like his own."
Glorification is the logical conclusion to the drama of God's redemptive plan.
Rather than focus on the details of the process of glorification (which are not abundant in Scripture), I desire to focus on God's faithfulness in effectually bringing His children to glory.
Again, the story of Noah and the ark can be seen as a "type" or a "picture" of God taking people through the judgment to a new world. The analogy will fall short if anyone tries to glean information about heaven by comparing it to the world after Noah's flood. Thought heaven is a common theme in the Bible, any description of heaven by the inspired writers is modest at best.
I think one of the reasons that God withholds information regarding heaven from His children is the same reason we hold dessert from our kids until after all the vegetables have been eaten. I remember one day being shown by my mother my favorite dessert, "oreo cookie ice cream pie," only to be told I could only have a piece once I ate all my vegetables. I took a great many shortcuts, including stuffing a couple of carrots in my pockets and the asparagus in the pot that held the plastic plant, in order quickly get to the dessert.
There is a glorious new world that awaits us on the other side of judgment, a world beyond our comprehension --- and it is guaranteed that we will arrive safely.
To those who say, 'But it is hard for me to see the concept of glory in the story of Noah and the ark," I would respond, "The glory is in the faithfulness of God to bring us to the other side." In every page of the Bible we are directed to the beautiful faithfulness of God.
Augustine said that the Scriptures once seemed rude, and unpolished, in comparison to Cicero’s adorned style, because he (Augustine) did not understand the Bible’s interiora (inward beauty). But when “my mind was illuminated to understand them, no writing appeared so wise or even eloquent.”
Let's see if our eyes can be opened a little to the beautiful type of God's faithfulness as seen in the flood.
I. THE FLOOD pictures God’s judgment upon those who rebel against Him . . .
“But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming Son of man be” (Matt. 24:37). When Peter describes the coming judgment he compared it to the flood in Noah's day (II Peter 3:5). The day of wrath teaches us that . . .
(A). Man is accountable to God for his conduct . . .
“The wickedness of man was great . . . and the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created” (Gen. 6:7). God has the right to command His subjects, and He will righteously judge those who have rebelled against Him.
(B). God will punish (destroy) the man who rebels . . .
This destruction is both of the body and the soul. Jesus Himself describes this: “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).
This punishment for sinners is receiving the unrestrained and unmitigated wrath of God. Jesus Himself urged his listeners to "Flee from the wrath to come." The flood that destroyed the world is Noah's day is the wrath of God poured out against the wicked, and it is a picture of the wrath of God which will be revealed against the wicked on the coming day of judgment.
II. THE ARK pictures God’s plan of salvation for sinners in need of deliverance . . .
There are at least seven types in the ark that point us to Jesus Christ and His work.
(A). God initiated and revealed the design for the ark . . . it was not man’s initiative. God told Noah how to build the ark. So it is with redemption. No man ever would have comprehended that God would come and die for sinners.
(B). The ark is made of gopher wood (v. 14) . . . it is called “cypress wood” in NIV. Cypress wood is called “eternal wood.” Modern excavators are dredging up cypress wood in the bottom of the Mediterranean. The wood is not rotten and is as hard as rock. That which secured life Noah was a tree. So too the Bible says, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, 'Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree'" (Galatians 3:13).
(C). The ark became a refuge from divine judgment (Gen. 7:1) . . . just as everyone in the ark was saved from God’s wrath, those who are in Christ are saved from wrath to come.
(D). The ark provided security because of the “pitch” (v.14) . . . the ark was made watertight by this “covering” of pitch. So too, the atonement of Christ covers us.
“Zetteth” is usually the word for "pitch" (tar) in the Bible, but here in Genesis the word translated pitch is the Hebrew word “kapher” --- translated 'atonement' in other places of the Bible. What seals us in Christ is His atonement or covering of our sins.
(E). The ark had one door (v. 16) . . . Jesus said, “I am the door” (John 10:9).
(F). The ark had one window (v. 16) . . . it was a high window, so one could not look out and see the corruption of the world. Our affections are to be on things above.
(G). The judgment fell on all not inside the ark . . . as it will on those without Christ. "Kiss the Son lest he be angry" (Psalm 2:12).
III. THE MAN who entered the ark pictures everyone who trusts Jesus Christ and is delivered to the other side of judgment.
God told Noah, “Make thee an ark.” God is saying to you, “Make thee an ark.”
He tells us how. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved (delivered)” (Acts 16:31).
As hymnwriter Ray Palmer wrote:
When ends life’s transient dream,
When death’s cold sullen stream over me roll;
Blest Savior, then in love, fear and distrust remove;
O bear me safe above, a ransomed soul!
We began this series by seeing because of Adam's rebellion every human is condemned by God. But then we saw that God sent the last Adam, Jesus Christ, to represent His people by bearing our sins. Just as we are condemned for the disobedience of one man, we are saved by the obedience of another Man.
We saw that the reason the death of Christ is our only hope is because a holy God must be propiated by the shedding of blood. "The wages of sin is death," and for a just God to be satisfied, a death must occur. God sent His Son as a propitiation for all who will believe on Him so that God might remain "just and the justifier of the ungodly."
We saw that when a person trusts in Christ he is treated by God "just-as-if-he-fully-obeyed" and is cared for by God every single day of His life, for He has been set apart for a Divine purpose (sanctified).
We close by rejoicing that heaven is a guarantee because when God places us "in Christ" He shuts the door, and it is Christ that carries us from this world to the next.
I hope you have enjoyed the series. Feel free to use the messages any way you desire.
In His Grace,
wade
It is a story worth trusting . . . some find it difficult to accept Noah and the ark, but nothing in the Word of God is beyond our trust. “God writes with a pen that never blots, speaks with a tongue that never slips, acts with a hand that never fails” C.H. Spurgeon.
It is a story worth telling . . . to kids, adults and any interested student of the Bible. It is worth telling for a couple of reasons.
(1). It answers many scientific questions . . . which I address in my exposition of the book of Genesis, and,
(2). It answers many spiritual questions . . . which will be my focus in this post.
The story of Noah and the ark tells us how God took a people for himself, sheltered them from His righteous judgment, and brought them over to the other side into a brand new world.
Baptist theologian Wayne Grudem says glorification is "... the final step in the application of redemption. It will happen when Christ returns and raises from the dead the bodies of all believers for all time who have died, and reunites them with their souls, and changes the bodies of all believers who remain alive, thereby giving all believers at the same time perfect resurrection bodies like his own."
Glorification is the logical conclusion to the drama of God's redemptive plan.
Rather than focus on the details of the process of glorification (which are not abundant in Scripture), I desire to focus on God's faithfulness in effectually bringing His children to glory.
Again, the story of Noah and the ark can be seen as a "type" or a "picture" of God taking people through the judgment to a new world. The analogy will fall short if anyone tries to glean information about heaven by comparing it to the world after Noah's flood. Thought heaven is a common theme in the Bible, any description of heaven by the inspired writers is modest at best.
I think one of the reasons that God withholds information regarding heaven from His children is the same reason we hold dessert from our kids until after all the vegetables have been eaten. I remember one day being shown by my mother my favorite dessert, "oreo cookie ice cream pie," only to be told I could only have a piece once I ate all my vegetables. I took a great many shortcuts, including stuffing a couple of carrots in my pockets and the asparagus in the pot that held the plastic plant, in order quickly get to the dessert.
There is a glorious new world that awaits us on the other side of judgment, a world beyond our comprehension --- and it is guaranteed that we will arrive safely.
To those who say, 'But it is hard for me to see the concept of glory in the story of Noah and the ark," I would respond, "The glory is in the faithfulness of God to bring us to the other side." In every page of the Bible we are directed to the beautiful faithfulness of God.
Augustine said that the Scriptures once seemed rude, and unpolished, in comparison to Cicero’s adorned style, because he (Augustine) did not understand the Bible’s interiora (inward beauty). But when “my mind was illuminated to understand them, no writing appeared so wise or even eloquent.”
Let's see if our eyes can be opened a little to the beautiful type of God's faithfulness as seen in the flood.
I. THE FLOOD pictures God’s judgment upon those who rebel against Him . . .
“But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming Son of man be” (Matt. 24:37). When Peter describes the coming judgment he compared it to the flood in Noah's day (II Peter 3:5). The day of wrath teaches us that . . .
(A). Man is accountable to God for his conduct . . .
“The wickedness of man was great . . . and the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created” (Gen. 6:7). God has the right to command His subjects, and He will righteously judge those who have rebelled against Him.
(B). God will punish (destroy) the man who rebels . . .
This destruction is both of the body and the soul. Jesus Himself describes this: “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).
This punishment for sinners is receiving the unrestrained and unmitigated wrath of God. Jesus Himself urged his listeners to "Flee from the wrath to come." The flood that destroyed the world is Noah's day is the wrath of God poured out against the wicked, and it is a picture of the wrath of God which will be revealed against the wicked on the coming day of judgment.
II. THE ARK pictures God’s plan of salvation for sinners in need of deliverance . . .
There are at least seven types in the ark that point us to Jesus Christ and His work.
(A). God initiated and revealed the design for the ark . . . it was not man’s initiative. God told Noah how to build the ark. So it is with redemption. No man ever would have comprehended that God would come and die for sinners.
(B). The ark is made of gopher wood (v. 14) . . . it is called “cypress wood” in NIV. Cypress wood is called “eternal wood.” Modern excavators are dredging up cypress wood in the bottom of the Mediterranean. The wood is not rotten and is as hard as rock. That which secured life Noah was a tree. So too the Bible says, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, 'Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree'" (Galatians 3:13).
(C). The ark became a refuge from divine judgment (Gen. 7:1) . . . just as everyone in the ark was saved from God’s wrath, those who are in Christ are saved from wrath to come.
(D). The ark provided security because of the “pitch” (v.14) . . . the ark was made watertight by this “covering” of pitch. So too, the atonement of Christ covers us.
“Zetteth” is usually the word for "pitch" (tar) in the Bible, but here in Genesis the word translated pitch is the Hebrew word “kapher” --- translated 'atonement' in other places of the Bible. What seals us in Christ is His atonement or covering of our sins.
(E). The ark had one door (v. 16) . . . Jesus said, “I am the door” (John 10:9).
(F). The ark had one window (v. 16) . . . it was a high window, so one could not look out and see the corruption of the world. Our affections are to be on things above.
(G). The judgment fell on all not inside the ark . . . as it will on those without Christ. "Kiss the Son lest he be angry" (Psalm 2:12).
III. THE MAN who entered the ark pictures everyone who trusts Jesus Christ and is delivered to the other side of judgment.
God told Noah, “Make thee an ark.” God is saying to you, “Make thee an ark.”
He tells us how. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved (delivered)” (Acts 16:31).
As hymnwriter Ray Palmer wrote:
When ends life’s transient dream,
When death’s cold sullen stream over me roll;
Blest Savior, then in love, fear and distrust remove;
O bear me safe above, a ransomed soul!
We began this series by seeing because of Adam's rebellion every human is condemned by God. But then we saw that God sent the last Adam, Jesus Christ, to represent His people by bearing our sins. Just as we are condemned for the disobedience of one man, we are saved by the obedience of another Man.
We saw that the reason the death of Christ is our only hope is because a holy God must be propiated by the shedding of blood. "The wages of sin is death," and for a just God to be satisfied, a death must occur. God sent His Son as a propitiation for all who will believe on Him so that God might remain "just and the justifier of the ungodly."
We saw that when a person trusts in Christ he is treated by God "just-as-if-he-fully-obeyed" and is cared for by God every single day of His life, for He has been set apart for a Divine purpose (sanctified).
We close by rejoicing that heaven is a guarantee because when God places us "in Christ" He shuts the door, and it is Christ that carries us from this world to the next.
I hope you have enjoyed the series. Feel free to use the messages any way you desire.
In His Grace,
wade
The Gospel in Genesis 'The Angel': The Doctrine of Sanctification
In our study of the Gospel in Genesis we have seen Adam's representation of the human race, Abel's understanding of propitiation, Abram's justification by faith, and now we turn our attention to the sanctification of God's people by examining the actions of "The Angel of the Lord" in Genesis 16:7.
I. Sanctification means "to set apart" or "to separate."
The word sanctification is a synonym for the word "holiness" in the Bible. To sanctify means "to make holy." Both 'holiness' and 'sanctification' mean to 'set apart' or 'to separate.' It also carries with it the idea of being 'a cut above.'
"Holy" is prefixed to God's name more than any other attribute, and it speaks of the transcendent beauty of God's character and nature, separated from anything corrupt or evil. It is for this reason that "Without sanctification no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14).
Many Christians make the mistake of thinking that "justification" is God's gift to us, and "sanctification" is our gift to God. 'God saves me, but then I must work hard to live a holy life to show my gratitude for His salvation of me' is the way some think.
In my opinion, nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus Christ is as much a part of our sanctification as He is our justification. "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption" (I Corinthians 1:30).
The Bible tells us that pots and were sanctified (Numbers 4:19), the ground was sanctified (Exodus 3:5), a crown was sanctified (Exodus 29:6), a day was sanctified (Exodus 20:11), a mountain was sanctified (Psalm 2:6), and other inanimate objects were "made holy" (II Chronicles 35:3; Isaiah 66:20).
None of these objects 'did' anything. They were sanctified by the action of God.
This is also true of people. God sanctifies His people. He sets them apart for His purposes and His glory. He makes them 'a cut above' all others.
My wife used to own a quilt shop. She sold fabric. It was always interesting to watch people shop for fabric in the store. They would choose a bolt of fabric for themselves and set it aside for purchase. Invariably when they would take the cloth to the counter for purchase they would make a comment about how wonderful the material was compared to other bolts of fabric. It was a 'cut above.'
Hebrew linguists tell us 'a cut above' is the root of the word 'holiness' and thus something that is 'holy' is 'separated' out from other things because it is superior in quality or character.
Right here is where many Christians make a grave error. Like the Old Testament Israelites who began to focus on the outward ceremonial and religious rituals in order to make themselves holy, Christians throughout history have had the tendency to make the mistake of believing that it is what one does externally (or doesn't do) that makes him holy before God.
But the Bible says that God sets a person apart from others by making His child "a partaker of the Divine nature" (II Peter 1:4). It is "Christ being formed in you" (Galatians 4:19).
The Puritan Henry Scougal called this 'the life of God in the soul of man." When God imparts His life into a sinner, He has "separated that sinner for Himself," and "he who began a good work in you will carry it on unto completion" (Philippians 1:6).
God SHALL sanctify His people --- that's why we are guaranteed to see the Lord.
II. The 'Angel of the Lord' does the sanctifying of sinners.
A lot of people have a hard time that God would ever choose them for Himself. "What have I to ever offer Him?" "I'm too far gone for God ever to make anything of me!"
Not so.
In Genesis 16:7 the Bible describes for us how a woman was 'sanctified' by God. This woman, named Hagar, had nothing going for her. She had committed the sin of adultery. She lost her job because of hatred for her boss. She had a child out of wedlock. She was kicked out of the place where she was living, and she had to cross a dry, barren desert to get back to Egypt, only to find herself unable to cross the border.
But the Lord had determined to sanctify her for Himself. He chose to set her apart and transform her life. He entered her life to change it and make it 'a cut above.'
Here's how He did it. The Bible says . . .
"And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur."
'The angel of the Lord' is a phrase used in the Old Testament to describe the Lord Jesus Christ. The definite article 'the' makes this a "Christophany" or an Old Testament appearance of the Lord Himself. Notice . . .
The Angel of the Lord found Hagar . . .
We are often fond of speaking of a person 'finding God,' but in terms of Biblical sanctification, God finds His people. When God determines to take someone for Himself, when He imparts His nature into the soul of an individual, He has a great deal invested. He won't let His child wander to far.
When I play golf with someone I will help my opponent look for his lost ball, but I promise you, when I put my initials on my ball before the round, and I lose my ball during the round, I look a ton harder for my ball than I do my opponent's.
God found Hagar because Hagar was "sanctified" by Him.
(A). He found her in a wilderness . . .
The wilderness (v. 7) is a picture of a person wandering from God. It is a place of isolation and desertion. This wilderness experience portrays the soul of Hagar. Sometimes the people of God find themselves in wilderness experiences, but because we are sanctified, God will always find us and bring us out.
(B). He found her against a wall . . .
Christ found her in the wilderness “in the way to Shur” (v.7). Shur means “wall.” On the southern border of Canaan and the northern border of Egypt there was a great wall built by the Egyptians. It protected Egypt from the rest of the world. It kept people out from the greatest civilization of the day. Hagar is attempting to get in. Our flesh will constantly fight for us to climb over the walls of the world and find our contentment in the things of this world. But God will find us. Some may be at various stages of climbing the wall, but He has separated us for Himself. He will find us.
(C). He found her at a well . . .
“By the fountain (well) in the way to Shur” (v.7). Wells in the Bible picture the blessings of God. God’s blessings follow His people all the days of their lives. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life," the Psalmist declares.
Even in those times in our lives that we get ourselves in a pickle; on those days when we blow it miserably; God will find us --- and will turn our failures into blessings.
It is an axiom of Scripture that sin is destructive. It is also an axiom of Scripture that all of God's people will struggle with sin during their lives.
One must never forget the beautiful message of sanctification. Those who have faith in Christ have been set apart by God --- He will find us when we wander from Him.
And what will He do?
III. "The Angel of the Lord" progressively removes His people from experiential sin.
The people God “fetches” for Himself He blesses by removing us out of our sin and conforming us into the image of His Son. I know this word "fetch" is an old fashioned word, but it is used in the Bible. “David fetched him” (II Sam. 9:5), refers to the King’s removal of Mephibosheth from Lodebar, his place of hiding, to Jerusalem where Mephibosheth sat at the King’s table forever.
God fetched and separated (sanctified) Hagar for Himself, as He does all His children. When He separates us for Himself He takes us where we are and brings us to where He wants us to be. Again, His desire is to 'form Christ in us.'
But in practical terms, how does He bring us to reflect more of Christ?
God will use circumstances in our lives so that we ask ourselves two questions that penetrate to the core of the soul -- the same two questions He asked Hagar in Genesis 16:8.
(A). “Whence camest thou?” or in modern English “Where have you come from?
(B). “Whither wilt thou go?” or again, in modern English, “Where are you going?”
God uses accidents, tragedies, sickness, war, terminations, divorces, deaths --- all kinds of wilderness experiences to gently, but firmly, remind us of who we are. God brings us to these critical times in order for us to take an inventory of our lives. These two questions mature us. They help us see that we came from God, and we will soon return to God.
Paul Billheimer once wrote a book entitled "Don't Waste Your Sorrows." The theme of the book was simply to encourage all believers to see God in every circumstance of their lives. That was a book that really helped me early on in my Christian life.
But I would propose that even more important than seeing God in every circumstance of your life is to be assured that in every circumstance of your life God sees you. This is what guarantees your holiness. He will not leave you in your sin.
When the Angel of the Lord met Hagar in the wilderness and rescued her, she named the place "El Roi."
"El Roi" means . . .
"Thou God seest me."
Nobody can live an unholy life when"Thou God seest me." Nobody can settle for second when "Thou God seest me." Nobody who meets God and knows Him as "El Roi" will ever be the same.
So, my friend, if your heart is on fire for God, thank the God who has sanctified you. If your heart happens to be in a barren and dry wilderness, look up, for your sanctifying God is searching for you and He will find you, for He will not leave you in the wilderness forever. Though you may find yourself unfaithful at times, your God is always faithful.
He has sanctified you.
In His Grace,
Wade
I. Sanctification means "to set apart" or "to separate."
The word sanctification is a synonym for the word "holiness" in the Bible. To sanctify means "to make holy." Both 'holiness' and 'sanctification' mean to 'set apart' or 'to separate.' It also carries with it the idea of being 'a cut above.'
"Holy" is prefixed to God's name more than any other attribute, and it speaks of the transcendent beauty of God's character and nature, separated from anything corrupt or evil. It is for this reason that "Without sanctification no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14).
Many Christians make the mistake of thinking that "justification" is God's gift to us, and "sanctification" is our gift to God. 'God saves me, but then I must work hard to live a holy life to show my gratitude for His salvation of me' is the way some think.
In my opinion, nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus Christ is as much a part of our sanctification as He is our justification. "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption" (I Corinthians 1:30).
The Bible tells us that pots and were sanctified (Numbers 4:19), the ground was sanctified (Exodus 3:5), a crown was sanctified (Exodus 29:6), a day was sanctified (Exodus 20:11), a mountain was sanctified (Psalm 2:6), and other inanimate objects were "made holy" (II Chronicles 35:3; Isaiah 66:20).
None of these objects 'did' anything. They were sanctified by the action of God.
This is also true of people. God sanctifies His people. He sets them apart for His purposes and His glory. He makes them 'a cut above' all others.
My wife used to own a quilt shop. She sold fabric. It was always interesting to watch people shop for fabric in the store. They would choose a bolt of fabric for themselves and set it aside for purchase. Invariably when they would take the cloth to the counter for purchase they would make a comment about how wonderful the material was compared to other bolts of fabric. It was a 'cut above.'
Hebrew linguists tell us 'a cut above' is the root of the word 'holiness' and thus something that is 'holy' is 'separated' out from other things because it is superior in quality or character.
Right here is where many Christians make a grave error. Like the Old Testament Israelites who began to focus on the outward ceremonial and religious rituals in order to make themselves holy, Christians throughout history have had the tendency to make the mistake of believing that it is what one does externally (or doesn't do) that makes him holy before God.
But the Bible says that God sets a person apart from others by making His child "a partaker of the Divine nature" (II Peter 1:4). It is "Christ being formed in you" (Galatians 4:19).
The Puritan Henry Scougal called this 'the life of God in the soul of man." When God imparts His life into a sinner, He has "separated that sinner for Himself," and "he who began a good work in you will carry it on unto completion" (Philippians 1:6).
God SHALL sanctify His people --- that's why we are guaranteed to see the Lord.
II. The 'Angel of the Lord' does the sanctifying of sinners.
A lot of people have a hard time that God would ever choose them for Himself. "What have I to ever offer Him?" "I'm too far gone for God ever to make anything of me!"
Not so.
In Genesis 16:7 the Bible describes for us how a woman was 'sanctified' by God. This woman, named Hagar, had nothing going for her. She had committed the sin of adultery. She lost her job because of hatred for her boss. She had a child out of wedlock. She was kicked out of the place where she was living, and she had to cross a dry, barren desert to get back to Egypt, only to find herself unable to cross the border.
But the Lord had determined to sanctify her for Himself. He chose to set her apart and transform her life. He entered her life to change it and make it 'a cut above.'
Here's how He did it. The Bible says . . .
"And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur."
'The angel of the Lord' is a phrase used in the Old Testament to describe the Lord Jesus Christ. The definite article 'the' makes this a "Christophany" or an Old Testament appearance of the Lord Himself. Notice . . .
The Angel of the Lord found Hagar . . .
We are often fond of speaking of a person 'finding God,' but in terms of Biblical sanctification, God finds His people. When God determines to take someone for Himself, when He imparts His nature into the soul of an individual, He has a great deal invested. He won't let His child wander to far.
When I play golf with someone I will help my opponent look for his lost ball, but I promise you, when I put my initials on my ball before the round, and I lose my ball during the round, I look a ton harder for my ball than I do my opponent's.
God found Hagar because Hagar was "sanctified" by Him.
(A). He found her in a wilderness . . .
The wilderness (v. 7) is a picture of a person wandering from God. It is a place of isolation and desertion. This wilderness experience portrays the soul of Hagar. Sometimes the people of God find themselves in wilderness experiences, but because we are sanctified, God will always find us and bring us out.
(B). He found her against a wall . . .
Christ found her in the wilderness “in the way to Shur” (v.7). Shur means “wall.” On the southern border of Canaan and the northern border of Egypt there was a great wall built by the Egyptians. It protected Egypt from the rest of the world. It kept people out from the greatest civilization of the day. Hagar is attempting to get in. Our flesh will constantly fight for us to climb over the walls of the world and find our contentment in the things of this world. But God will find us. Some may be at various stages of climbing the wall, but He has separated us for Himself. He will find us.
(C). He found her at a well . . .
“By the fountain (well) in the way to Shur” (v.7). Wells in the Bible picture the blessings of God. God’s blessings follow His people all the days of their lives. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life," the Psalmist declares.
Even in those times in our lives that we get ourselves in a pickle; on those days when we blow it miserably; God will find us --- and will turn our failures into blessings.
It is an axiom of Scripture that sin is destructive. It is also an axiom of Scripture that all of God's people will struggle with sin during their lives.
One must never forget the beautiful message of sanctification. Those who have faith in Christ have been set apart by God --- He will find us when we wander from Him.
And what will He do?
III. "The Angel of the Lord" progressively removes His people from experiential sin.
The people God “fetches” for Himself He blesses by removing us out of our sin and conforming us into the image of His Son. I know this word "fetch" is an old fashioned word, but it is used in the Bible. “David fetched him” (II Sam. 9:5), refers to the King’s removal of Mephibosheth from Lodebar, his place of hiding, to Jerusalem where Mephibosheth sat at the King’s table forever.
God fetched and separated (sanctified) Hagar for Himself, as He does all His children. When He separates us for Himself He takes us where we are and brings us to where He wants us to be. Again, His desire is to 'form Christ in us.'
But in practical terms, how does He bring us to reflect more of Christ?
God will use circumstances in our lives so that we ask ourselves two questions that penetrate to the core of the soul -- the same two questions He asked Hagar in Genesis 16:8.
(A). “Whence camest thou?” or in modern English “Where have you come from?
(B). “Whither wilt thou go?” or again, in modern English, “Where are you going?”
God uses accidents, tragedies, sickness, war, terminations, divorces, deaths --- all kinds of wilderness experiences to gently, but firmly, remind us of who we are. God brings us to these critical times in order for us to take an inventory of our lives. These two questions mature us. They help us see that we came from God, and we will soon return to God.
Paul Billheimer once wrote a book entitled "Don't Waste Your Sorrows." The theme of the book was simply to encourage all believers to see God in every circumstance of their lives. That was a book that really helped me early on in my Christian life.
But I would propose that even more important than seeing God in every circumstance of your life is to be assured that in every circumstance of your life God sees you. This is what guarantees your holiness. He will not leave you in your sin.
When the Angel of the Lord met Hagar in the wilderness and rescued her, she named the place "El Roi."
"El Roi" means . . .
"Thou God seest me."
Nobody can live an unholy life when"Thou God seest me." Nobody can settle for second when "Thou God seest me." Nobody who meets God and knows Him as "El Roi" will ever be the same.
So, my friend, if your heart is on fire for God, thank the God who has sanctified you. If your heart happens to be in a barren and dry wilderness, look up, for your sanctifying God is searching for you and He will find you, for He will not leave you in the wilderness forever. Though you may find yourself unfaithful at times, your God is always faithful.
He has sanctified you.
In His Grace,
Wade
The Gospel in Genesis Abram: The Doctrine of Justification
How do you know God actually enjoys your company? How do you know that the heavenly Father sings over you with joy? How can you be confident that no matter your personal failures, or no matter your earthly struggles, God absolutely delights in your presence before Him?
We saw yesterday that propitiation opens the gate into the presence of God, but I desire to show you from the life of Abram that justification opens for you the warm embrace of God.
I. A definition of justification
Justification is a big word. Let me give you some descriptive ideas to help understand the concept of justification. The word itself carries as its root the word "just" or "justified." If you type on the computer you have an option that allows you to "justifiy" the margin --- this means to make straight. To be justified means to be straight as opposed to crooked (see Phil. 4:15 for the use of "crooked" in terms of evil).
To be justified also means to be right. If I were to say to you that the Dallas Cowboys will win the Super Bowl because of their deep talent, you might say I was dreaming. But if the Cowboys actually won the Super Bowl next January you would say I was "justified" in what I said last October. To be justified means to be right.
To be justified also carries with it the idea of being as you ought to be. Justification is intimately connected to righteousness and the Puritans used to use "oughtness" as a synonym for the word righteousness. So, combining all the descriptive ideas from above, let's give a working definition for justification.
Justification --- is the declaration of God that you are as you ought to be; that you are considered perfectly righteous before Him.
When speaking of God justifying His people, Baptist theologian Dr. Gill used to say, "God sees no sin in His people because of the righteousnesss of Christ." Dr. Gill did not mean that God's people have no sin experientially, because we all do, and he that says he does not sin deceives himself (I John 1:8). Gill also was not saying that God doesn't see sin with His omnisciencent eyes and takes disciplinary steps to correct or discipline His children because of it. In fact, if any man is without this chastening from God, he is none of His. But according to Gill, this discipline of God's children has not one ounce of God's judicial or righteous wrath in it --- it is always full of love and joy, and always corrective in nature, never punitive, hateful or condemning.
Gill was simply saying that a holy God absolutely delights and enjoys the presence of His people because they have been connected to the righteousness of Christ by faith. The wrath of God has been propitiated, and for those who are "in Christ" a righteousness that is outside of them (Christ's righteousness) is given to them as a gift. This is what enables God to declare them "justified;" believing sinners are "righteous" in the eyes of God, and He relates to them with the same joy and acceptance as He relates to His eternal Son.
Until people can come to the place that they give up ALL HOPE of being right with God by their own personal obedience, they will never fully enjoy the benefits of being justified by God
The Apostle Paul put it like this . . .
"Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more I consider everthing a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not have a righteousness of my own that comes from my obedience to the law, but a righteousness that comes from God and is by the faith of Christ. . . " (Phil. 3:7-9 NIV).
Some Baptists are fond of saying justification is God treating me "just-as-if-I-never-sinned." But it's much more than that. Justification is God always viewing me and treating me "just-as-if-I-fully-obeyed." I know - as does God - that it is impossible for me to fully obey Him, but when I believe in the God who justifies the ungodly, I am connected to a perfect righteousness that is outside of myself.
Let me illustrate.
II. A description of justification
Abram is called by the Apostle Paul "the father of all them that believe" (Romans 4:11). In essence, what happened to Abram when he believed God, is exactly the same thing that happens to us when we believe God.
In Genesis 15 the Bible tells us that Abram was childless and hopeless. He lacked any natural descendents or heirs. One day the Lord took him outside, showed him the stars, and then told him that he would have a child and his descendents would eventually number like the stars he could count in the night sky.
Then the Bible says . . .
“Abram believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).
This one verse is repeated several times throughout the Bible “Therefore, it [faith] was credited to him [Abraham] as righteousness” (Romans 4:22). “Abraham believed God and it [his believing] was credited to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3), and “faith is credited as righteousness” (Romans 5:3). What does this verse, repeated several times in Scripture, mean?
Does it mean your faith in God becomes your righteousness? Absolutely not. Our righteousness, as we have already seen is Christ's righteousness. We have none of our own.
Does it mean the kind of faith you have in God determines the amount of your righteousness? Heaven's no. Then you would have different levels of "spirituality" in the church (by the way, this is exactly what happens in 'works' oriented congregations).
This verse "Abram believed in the Lord and he credited it to him for righteousness" means that my faith in God is my connection to God’s righteousness which is in Christ.
And when I am connected to the righteousness of Christ, or to put it in Biblical terms, when I am "in Christ" or clothed with his righteousness, I am justified by God.
As the Apostle Paul states in discussing the life of Abram, "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Romans 4:5).
Believing is not the blessing. Righteousness is the blessing, but it is the believing that connects you to the righteousness.
Suppose I say to my son Boe, "You must have a clean room, or you won't be able to go play in the game tonight." Suppose he plans poorly and leaves for school without cleaning the room. I discover the messy room and clean it myself. He gets home just before it's time to leave for the game and realizes what he’s done and feels terrible. He apologizes and humbly accepts the consequences. I then say, “Boe, I am going to credit your apology as a clean room.” The apology is not the clean room. Nor did Boe clean his room. I cleaned it. It was all of grace, but Boe received the blessing.
Justification is an act of pure grace. This is why the Bible says we are "justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24). But what connects us to this grace gift of righteousness is faith, thus the Bible teaches "justification by grace through faith" and it is sometimes shortened to "justification by faith." But one must never forget that it is not faith that justifies --- God justifies.
Faith only connects you to that which God has declared and accomplished through Christ.
III. Some delights of justification
Doctrine should make a difference in our lives. For doctrine to never translate to a change of life is to be plagued with what the old Puritans used to call “numbness in the extremities.”
How does an understanding of being right before God at all times because we are in Christ, covered by His righteousness, and connected to Him by faith, change our lives?
(A). It gives to us incredible PEACE . . .
Luther said understanding justification was like entering a paradise of peace with God. He called it the foundational doctrine of the church. Paul said, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God” (Romans 8:1).
(B). It gives to believers SECURITY . . .
"He [God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (II Corinthians 5:21).
My righteousness does not shift like the sands of the seashore. It is not dependent upon my temperament, my faithfulness, or my good works. It is found "in Christ."
Some ridicule justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ by calling it "imputed nonsense" (John Wesley), and come up with "methods" or "methodical" ways (methodism) that people can become more righteous. The great Methodist George Whitefield opposed this understanding of progressive righteousness and preached the gospel of the righteousness of Christ and the doctrine of justification by God's grace all along the colonial seaboard in the 18th Century. His preaching led to what we know as The Great Awakening, and until Southern Baptists begin to preach the gospel in terms described above we will never see another great awakening in our denomination.
(C). It gives to believers FREEDOM . . .
“You will not need the approval of others. You will not need the ego-supports of wealth or power or revenge. You will be free. You will overflow with love. You will lay down your life in the cause of Christ for the joy that is set for you. Look to Christ and trust him for your righteousness” John Piper.
John Bunyan, the writer of Pilgrim's Progress, struggled terribly before he came to a settled faith in Christ. Here's what he wrote:
"One day as I was passing into the field . . . this sentence fell upon my soul. Thy righteousness is in heaven. And methought, withal, I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at God's right hand; there, I say, was my righteousness; so that wherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could not say of me, he wants [lacks] my righteousness, for that was just before [in front of] him. I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, "The same yesterday, today and, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).
"Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed. I was loosed from my afflictions and irons; my temptations also fled away; so that from that time those dreadful scriptures of God left off to trouble me; now went I also home rejoicing for the grace and love of God." (John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, [Hertfordshire: Evangelical Press, 1978, orig. 1666], pp. 90-91)
Conclusion:
Those without faith in Jesus Christ must realize that there is no hope to ever be right with God apart from the person and work of Christ Jesus on behalf of sinners.
If you die without faith in Christ, you will experience the righteous indignation of a holy God for your sins against Him. Turn to Christ today and receive the righteousness only God provides -- and trust Him who justifies the ungodly.
But for those of us who have come to a settled faith in Christ alone, cheer up! Do not let the world, the flesh or the devil seek to convince you that the anger or wrath of God abides on your head.
God warmly embraces the sinner who trusts Him. God enjoys the presence of the ungodly who are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. As my father loves to say, "God has your picture on His refrigerator door." You are as you ought to be in His eyes.
But some will object by saying, "But I still experience sin in my life --- surely God despises me because of my sin." No, my friend in Christ, He embraces you. He will always gently, effeciently and eventually remove you from your sin with Divine tenderness --- because sin is a destructive and deadening influence in your life --- but He warmly embraces you and sings over you with joy.
Others might say, "If I believed what you just taught, I'd live like the devil." You did not understand then what was just taught. No man ever fully grasps the eternal love of God for His people in Christ Jesus and comes away unmoved. It is the love of God for us through Christ which constrains from sin internally.
Of course, this is the danger of modern legalism. Rather than trust the work of God in the justification, regeneration and sanctification of His children, the legalist will place emphasis on extrabiblical and external rules out of fear that one might possibly end up doing something that is offensive to God. But the believer who enjoys his justification by God's grace is quite comfortable in the righteousness of Christ and will resist any attempt to add duties or laws to the sufficient and inerrant Word of God in order to be "holy," or maintain "righteousness" in the eyes of God.
In addition, the believer who enjoys his justification before God by the righteousness of Christ will end up living a life that models Christ by loving His fellow man --- accepting him where he is --- because this is exactly what God does for us through Christ. "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another" (John 13:35).
I am a child of Abraham. I believe in the Word of God, and my faith "is credited to me as righteousness."
I rest in Him.
In His Grace,
Wade Burleson
We saw yesterday that propitiation opens the gate into the presence of God, but I desire to show you from the life of Abram that justification opens for you the warm embrace of God.
I. A definition of justification
Justification is a big word. Let me give you some descriptive ideas to help understand the concept of justification. The word itself carries as its root the word "just" or "justified." If you type on the computer you have an option that allows you to "justifiy" the margin --- this means to make straight. To be justified means to be straight as opposed to crooked (see Phil. 4:15 for the use of "crooked" in terms of evil).
To be justified also means to be right. If I were to say to you that the Dallas Cowboys will win the Super Bowl because of their deep talent, you might say I was dreaming. But if the Cowboys actually won the Super Bowl next January you would say I was "justified" in what I said last October. To be justified means to be right.
To be justified also carries with it the idea of being as you ought to be. Justification is intimately connected to righteousness and the Puritans used to use "oughtness" as a synonym for the word righteousness. So, combining all the descriptive ideas from above, let's give a working definition for justification.
Justification --- is the declaration of God that you are as you ought to be; that you are considered perfectly righteous before Him.
When speaking of God justifying His people, Baptist theologian Dr. Gill used to say, "God sees no sin in His people because of the righteousnesss of Christ." Dr. Gill did not mean that God's people have no sin experientially, because we all do, and he that says he does not sin deceives himself (I John 1:8). Gill also was not saying that God doesn't see sin with His omnisciencent eyes and takes disciplinary steps to correct or discipline His children because of it. In fact, if any man is without this chastening from God, he is none of His. But according to Gill, this discipline of God's children has not one ounce of God's judicial or righteous wrath in it --- it is always full of love and joy, and always corrective in nature, never punitive, hateful or condemning.
Gill was simply saying that a holy God absolutely delights and enjoys the presence of His people because they have been connected to the righteousness of Christ by faith. The wrath of God has been propitiated, and for those who are "in Christ" a righteousness that is outside of them (Christ's righteousness) is given to them as a gift. This is what enables God to declare them "justified;" believing sinners are "righteous" in the eyes of God, and He relates to them with the same joy and acceptance as He relates to His eternal Son.
Until people can come to the place that they give up ALL HOPE of being right with God by their own personal obedience, they will never fully enjoy the benefits of being justified by God
The Apostle Paul put it like this . . .
"Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more I consider everthing a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not have a righteousness of my own that comes from my obedience to the law, but a righteousness that comes from God and is by the faith of Christ. . . " (Phil. 3:7-9 NIV).
Some Baptists are fond of saying justification is God treating me "just-as-if-I-never-sinned." But it's much more than that. Justification is God always viewing me and treating me "just-as-if-I-fully-obeyed." I know - as does God - that it is impossible for me to fully obey Him, but when I believe in the God who justifies the ungodly, I am connected to a perfect righteousness that is outside of myself.
Let me illustrate.
II. A description of justification
Abram is called by the Apostle Paul "the father of all them that believe" (Romans 4:11). In essence, what happened to Abram when he believed God, is exactly the same thing that happens to us when we believe God.
In Genesis 15 the Bible tells us that Abram was childless and hopeless. He lacked any natural descendents or heirs. One day the Lord took him outside, showed him the stars, and then told him that he would have a child and his descendents would eventually number like the stars he could count in the night sky.
Then the Bible says . . .
“Abram believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).
This one verse is repeated several times throughout the Bible “Therefore, it [faith] was credited to him [Abraham] as righteousness” (Romans 4:22). “Abraham believed God and it [his believing] was credited to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3), and “faith is credited as righteousness” (Romans 5:3). What does this verse, repeated several times in Scripture, mean?
Does it mean your faith in God becomes your righteousness? Absolutely not. Our righteousness, as we have already seen is Christ's righteousness. We have none of our own.
Does it mean the kind of faith you have in God determines the amount of your righteousness? Heaven's no. Then you would have different levels of "spirituality" in the church (by the way, this is exactly what happens in 'works' oriented congregations).
This verse "Abram believed in the Lord and he credited it to him for righteousness" means that my faith in God is my connection to God’s righteousness which is in Christ.
And when I am connected to the righteousness of Christ, or to put it in Biblical terms, when I am "in Christ" or clothed with his righteousness, I am justified by God.
As the Apostle Paul states in discussing the life of Abram, "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Romans 4:5).
Believing is not the blessing. Righteousness is the blessing, but it is the believing that connects you to the righteousness.
Suppose I say to my son Boe, "You must have a clean room, or you won't be able to go play in the game tonight." Suppose he plans poorly and leaves for school without cleaning the room. I discover the messy room and clean it myself. He gets home just before it's time to leave for the game and realizes what he’s done and feels terrible. He apologizes and humbly accepts the consequences. I then say, “Boe, I am going to credit your apology as a clean room.” The apology is not the clean room. Nor did Boe clean his room. I cleaned it. It was all of grace, but Boe received the blessing.
Justification is an act of pure grace. This is why the Bible says we are "justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24). But what connects us to this grace gift of righteousness is faith, thus the Bible teaches "justification by grace through faith" and it is sometimes shortened to "justification by faith." But one must never forget that it is not faith that justifies --- God justifies.
Faith only connects you to that which God has declared and accomplished through Christ.
III. Some delights of justification
Doctrine should make a difference in our lives. For doctrine to never translate to a change of life is to be plagued with what the old Puritans used to call “numbness in the extremities.”
How does an understanding of being right before God at all times because we are in Christ, covered by His righteousness, and connected to Him by faith, change our lives?
(A). It gives to us incredible PEACE . . .
Luther said understanding justification was like entering a paradise of peace with God. He called it the foundational doctrine of the church. Paul said, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God” (Romans 8:1).
(B). It gives to believers SECURITY . . .
"He [God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (II Corinthians 5:21).
My righteousness does not shift like the sands of the seashore. It is not dependent upon my temperament, my faithfulness, or my good works. It is found "in Christ."
Some ridicule justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ by calling it "imputed nonsense" (John Wesley), and come up with "methods" or "methodical" ways (methodism) that people can become more righteous. The great Methodist George Whitefield opposed this understanding of progressive righteousness and preached the gospel of the righteousness of Christ and the doctrine of justification by God's grace all along the colonial seaboard in the 18th Century. His preaching led to what we know as The Great Awakening, and until Southern Baptists begin to preach the gospel in terms described above we will never see another great awakening in our denomination.
(C). It gives to believers FREEDOM . . .
“You will not need the approval of others. You will not need the ego-supports of wealth or power or revenge. You will be free. You will overflow with love. You will lay down your life in the cause of Christ for the joy that is set for you. Look to Christ and trust him for your righteousness” John Piper.
John Bunyan, the writer of Pilgrim's Progress, struggled terribly before he came to a settled faith in Christ. Here's what he wrote:
"One day as I was passing into the field . . . this sentence fell upon my soul. Thy righteousness is in heaven. And methought, withal, I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at God's right hand; there, I say, was my righteousness; so that wherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could not say of me, he wants [lacks] my righteousness, for that was just before [in front of] him. I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, "The same yesterday, today and, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).
"Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed. I was loosed from my afflictions and irons; my temptations also fled away; so that from that time those dreadful scriptures of God left off to trouble me; now went I also home rejoicing for the grace and love of God." (John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, [Hertfordshire: Evangelical Press, 1978, orig. 1666], pp. 90-91)
Conclusion:
Those without faith in Jesus Christ must realize that there is no hope to ever be right with God apart from the person and work of Christ Jesus on behalf of sinners.
If you die without faith in Christ, you will experience the righteous indignation of a holy God for your sins against Him. Turn to Christ today and receive the righteousness only God provides -- and trust Him who justifies the ungodly.
But for those of us who have come to a settled faith in Christ alone, cheer up! Do not let the world, the flesh or the devil seek to convince you that the anger or wrath of God abides on your head.
God warmly embraces the sinner who trusts Him. God enjoys the presence of the ungodly who are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. As my father loves to say, "God has your picture on His refrigerator door." You are as you ought to be in His eyes.
But some will object by saying, "But I still experience sin in my life --- surely God despises me because of my sin." No, my friend in Christ, He embraces you. He will always gently, effeciently and eventually remove you from your sin with Divine tenderness --- because sin is a destructive and deadening influence in your life --- but He warmly embraces you and sings over you with joy.
Others might say, "If I believed what you just taught, I'd live like the devil." You did not understand then what was just taught. No man ever fully grasps the eternal love of God for His people in Christ Jesus and comes away unmoved. It is the love of God for us through Christ which constrains from sin internally.
Of course, this is the danger of modern legalism. Rather than trust the work of God in the justification, regeneration and sanctification of His children, the legalist will place emphasis on extrabiblical and external rules out of fear that one might possibly end up doing something that is offensive to God. But the believer who enjoys his justification by God's grace is quite comfortable in the righteousness of Christ and will resist any attempt to add duties or laws to the sufficient and inerrant Word of God in order to be "holy," or maintain "righteousness" in the eyes of God.
In addition, the believer who enjoys his justification before God by the righteousness of Christ will end up living a life that models Christ by loving His fellow man --- accepting him where he is --- because this is exactly what God does for us through Christ. "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another" (John 13:35).
I am a child of Abraham. I believe in the Word of God, and my faith "is credited to me as righteousness."
I rest in Him.
In His Grace,
Wade Burleson
The Gospel in Genesis Abel: The Doctrine of Propitiation
It is uncommon in our day to think of God in terms of keeping people out of His presence. In fact, to listen to the average person with little concept of Scripture, someone would think that God is like Mr. Rogers, benevolently inviting all the kids to his neighborhood.
But when reading the Old Testament one is struck with the fact that God banishes sinners from coming near His Presence. He builds fences to keep people out, and He strikes sinners dead who come near Him.
This was true from the very beginning.
I. God banished all sinners from His revealed presence at the fall of Adam, and He guarded the entrance to His dwelling place judicially . . .
After Adam sinned against God, both he and Eve were "banished" from the Garden of Eden (God's revealed dwelling place) and as a result, they were “barred” from eating of the tree of life. Separated from the God who sustains life, Adam and Eve died spiritually, and then physically. "So God drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life" (Genesis 3:24).
The Psalmist teaches us that God is "angry with the wicked." His holy nature abhors sin. God's attributes of righteousness, holiness, justice, and wrath are rarely discussed from modern pulpits, but no person can rightly understand the law and the prophets unless he recognizes the righteous character of God as revealed by Scripture.
The east entrance to the Garden of Eden was protected by two angels and a flaming sword. This is a beautiful picture of the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle, and later the Temple, where two cherubim with wings spread out looked down upon the mercy seat. The flaming sword that protected the entrance to "the tree of life" is commonly referred to as "The Sword of the Lord."
The sword seems to be between the Cherubim, guarding the way that leads to life, and it is a revelation of God Himself. God often reveals Himself as a "burning fire" or in Hebrew, the "Shekinah" or "glory of His presence." The Bible says, “The Lord dwells between the cherubim” (II Sam. 6:2). “Thou that dwellest between the cherubim shine forth” (Ps. 80:1).
Adam and Eve, and their children, dared not come before God for worship, direction or wisdom unless they offered something that would "propitiate" Him --- to cause Him to sheath His sword of justice.
II. To gain access to God's Presence, including eternal life, the sword of the Lord must be sheathed --- God Himself must be propitated.
Because sin is an offense against a holy God, something must be done to turn the anger of God into the favor of God. To be "propitious" means to be "favorable." Propitiation is "an act that makes one favorable."
Once again, it is important to understand that something must happen to cause the justice of God (His sword) to be satisfied (sheathed). Until you comprehend the holy character of God and the awfulness of man's sin, the concept of propitiation will be puzzling to you. What is it that will cause God to be propitiated and not banish and curse sinners, but rather, bless and welcome them into His presence?
The story of Cain and Abel answers that question.
Both Cain and Abel were religious. They were instructed by their parents of the need for God to be propitiated. They both worshipped the one true God, and they both were committed to their worship. Cain and Able had several things in common:
(A). They both came to worship God at an ordained time . . . “and in the process of time” (Genesis 4:3) is a phrase used to speak of an appointed time (such as in the harvesting of crops).
(B). They both came to worship God with with an offering in hand . . . “an offering unto the Lord” (Genesis 4:3). Cain brought the polished firstfruits of the field --- the work of his own hands. Abel brought a lamb from the flock, and slew the lamb before God as an offering.
(C). They both came with an objective in mind . . . “respect” in God’s eyes (v.5). In other words, they both desired for God to be propitiated (made favorable toward them).
But Cain and Abel had one big difference between them. Cain was rejected and cursed by God, but Abel was blessed and accepted by God. In other words, God was propitiated by the offering of Abel, but God was not propiated by the offering of Cain. Why? Many say it was because “Cain's heart was not right,” but that is not what the Bible says at all.
The writer of Hebrews says Abel offered “a more excellent sacrifice” (Hebrews 11:4). God was made favorable because of Abel's more excellent sacrifice of the lamb.
God was propitiated because a life was taken. Since God told Adam that the wages of sin was death, then for God to remain holy and righteous a death would have to occur for God's sword of justice to be sheathed.
And of course, the lamb of Abel is a type of "the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world," for the blood of bulls, and goats, and lambs can't actually take away sin --- it must be God Himself who dies.
Let me show you how from the very beginning, from the first sin of man, God prepared the world for the coming of His Son through the types of the sacrifices.
John Gill, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Charles Spurgeon and Augustus Toplady all taught that Cain and Abel brought their offerings to "the east of Eden," to the gate to the entrance to "the way" that led to life.
Though many believe the Garden of Eden was located in modern Iraq, that was not the belief of early Jewish commentators. The ancient Jewish commentary called The Targum of Jonathan said “Adam went and dwelt in Mount Moriah to till the ground of which he was created.” Dr. Gill says other Jewish writers wrote saying, “The gate of Paradise was at Mt. Moriah, and there Adam dwelt after he was cast out.” Mt. Moriah is the place of sacrifice (Abraham/Isaac; the Temple/sacrifices), the very place that the Temple would later be built.
In other words, there is some warrant to believe that the very place Abel offered the lamb ultimately became the spot where the lambs were offered by the Israelites in the Jewish Temple. And when the High Priest brought the blood into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, he sprinkled it "between the cherubim" just as Abel would have brought the blood "between the cherubim" in his day.
When the blood of the Lamb was shed, atonement was granted. Atonement means “covering.” The sin of Abel was covered, the lamb had died as a substitute for the sinner, and the sword of God's wrath was sheathed.
Again, the blood of animals could never remove sin. All the sacrifices of the Old Testament were only types and figures of the Lamb of God to come. Jesus Christ is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."
No sinner ever approaches God and lives without the shed blood of Jesus Christ. The sword of the Lord that guards the tree of life is sheathed because of Christ’s death. Why? God is propitiated --- His justice is satisfied.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me” (John 14:4).
III. Regardless of what man may think, there is no knowledge of God, no relationship with God, and no abiding with God without faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
"Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins" (Hebrews 9:22)
"Kiss the Son, lest he (God) be angry" (Psalm 2:12).
I personally believe Adam and Eve taught their boys how to approach God at the east entrance to Eden. They had seen God take a lamb, slay it, and cover them with the skin of the dead animal that died in their place. They had been promised a coming "life-giver," and Eve anticipated the Messiah who would take away their sins to come quickly.
Abel received by faith the word of the Lord from his parents on how God is propitiated, but Cain rejected the word and came to God on his own terms --- and found God not propitious or favorable to him.
Cain was a reprobate; a person without grace.
Abel pictures for us a person in God's favor. He, and his parents, are early examples of how sinners can find a holy God propitious toward them. People are saved the same way today as they were in the days of Adam and Abel. One of the best descriptions of what it means to be a "Christian" is found in Geneses. Christians are . . .
(1). Believers in the Word of God . . . “And Adam called his wife Eve (‘life-giver’)” (v.20). God told Adam that He would provide “a seed” of the woman that would crush the head of Satan. Adam believed God (as did Eve, see Gen. 4:1). Adam instructed Abel how God had informed them to approach Him, and Abel heard the word and believed.
(2). Receivers of the righteousness of God . . . “For with the heart man believes unto righteousness” (Rom. 10:10). This is salvation. When Adam and Eve believed the Word spoken by God “the Lord God . . . clothed them” (v. 21). We shall focus specifically on this gift of righteousness in the next post (Abram).
(3). Partakers of the nature of God . . . "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature" (II Peter 1:4). "I am in pain until Christ be formed in you" (Gal. 4:19).
The last two are part of our future studies, but we close the lesson today by remembering that we shall never find God favorable to us until we recognize that He is propitiated not by our terms, actions or deeds, but by the His own actions on our behalf.
God gave the Lamb for us. God killed the Lamb for us. The Lamb is His Son.
Application:
(1). There is no access to the presence of God in worship, prayer, or ultimately eternal life in heaven, without coming to Him by faith in the offering He has provided for sinners --- His eternal Son, Jesus Christ.
"God set forth (Christ Jesus) as a propitiation through faith in His blood, for a demonstration of His righteousness" (Romans 3:25).
As the old hymnwriter wrote: Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling.
(2). A person can talk about God all he wants and the devil remains at peace, but the moment a person speaks of a propitiated God in terms of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the demons of hell scream into action.
The Apostle Paul stated that he desired to know nothing "But Christ and him crucified." This is the gospel. Paul further stated that he was not ashamed of the gospel because "It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16). The message of every gospel preacher should be Christ and Him crucified.
(3). The love of God and the wrath of God coexist. They both describe His nature, and without His love there would have never been satisfactory propiation.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" (John 3:16).
Christ did not make an angry God become loving -- a loving God gave to the sinners He sovereignly chose to redeem the gift of His Son in order to propitiate His righteous wrath.
(4). Those for whom Christ died shall be saved.
"You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save his people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21).
The death of Christ is effective in that it satiates the wrath of God for sinners. A just God is satisfied, and because of Christ, a just God can pardon sinners.
For whom did Christ die? His people --- or as the Bible says, "those who will come to Him." Believers. Those who embrace the Son.
You either embrace Jesus Christ and what He did at Calvary to satisfy the righteous justice and wrath of God upon sinners, or you reject Jesus Christ and experience the righteous wrath and anger of God for yourself.
This is the gospel.
The good news is that God will never reject a sinner who comes to Him through faith in His Son Christ Jesus.
"Come unto me," Christ declares.
I have, and in Him I rest.
In His Grace,
Wade Burleson
But when reading the Old Testament one is struck with the fact that God banishes sinners from coming near His Presence. He builds fences to keep people out, and He strikes sinners dead who come near Him.
This was true from the very beginning.
I. God banished all sinners from His revealed presence at the fall of Adam, and He guarded the entrance to His dwelling place judicially . . .
After Adam sinned against God, both he and Eve were "banished" from the Garden of Eden (God's revealed dwelling place) and as a result, they were “barred” from eating of the tree of life. Separated from the God who sustains life, Adam and Eve died spiritually, and then physically. "So God drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life" (Genesis 3:24).
The Psalmist teaches us that God is "angry with the wicked." His holy nature abhors sin. God's attributes of righteousness, holiness, justice, and wrath are rarely discussed from modern pulpits, but no person can rightly understand the law and the prophets unless he recognizes the righteous character of God as revealed by Scripture.
The east entrance to the Garden of Eden was protected by two angels and a flaming sword. This is a beautiful picture of the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle, and later the Temple, where two cherubim with wings spread out looked down upon the mercy seat. The flaming sword that protected the entrance to "the tree of life" is commonly referred to as "The Sword of the Lord."
The sword seems to be between the Cherubim, guarding the way that leads to life, and it is a revelation of God Himself. God often reveals Himself as a "burning fire" or in Hebrew, the "Shekinah" or "glory of His presence." The Bible says, “The Lord dwells between the cherubim” (II Sam. 6:2). “Thou that dwellest between the cherubim shine forth” (Ps. 80:1).
Adam and Eve, and their children, dared not come before God for worship, direction or wisdom unless they offered something that would "propitiate" Him --- to cause Him to sheath His sword of justice.
II. To gain access to God's Presence, including eternal life, the sword of the Lord must be sheathed --- God Himself must be propitated.
Because sin is an offense against a holy God, something must be done to turn the anger of God into the favor of God. To be "propitious" means to be "favorable." Propitiation is "an act that makes one favorable."
Once again, it is important to understand that something must happen to cause the justice of God (His sword) to be satisfied (sheathed). Until you comprehend the holy character of God and the awfulness of man's sin, the concept of propitiation will be puzzling to you. What is it that will cause God to be propitiated and not banish and curse sinners, but rather, bless and welcome them into His presence?
The story of Cain and Abel answers that question.
Both Cain and Abel were religious. They were instructed by their parents of the need for God to be propitiated. They both worshipped the one true God, and they both were committed to their worship. Cain and Able had several things in common:
(A). They both came to worship God at an ordained time . . . “and in the process of time” (Genesis 4:3) is a phrase used to speak of an appointed time (such as in the harvesting of crops).
(B). They both came to worship God with with an offering in hand . . . “an offering unto the Lord” (Genesis 4:3). Cain brought the polished firstfruits of the field --- the work of his own hands. Abel brought a lamb from the flock, and slew the lamb before God as an offering.
(C). They both came with an objective in mind . . . “respect” in God’s eyes (v.5). In other words, they both desired for God to be propitiated (made favorable toward them).
But Cain and Abel had one big difference between them. Cain was rejected and cursed by God, but Abel was blessed and accepted by God. In other words, God was propitiated by the offering of Abel, but God was not propiated by the offering of Cain. Why? Many say it was because “Cain's heart was not right,” but that is not what the Bible says at all.
The writer of Hebrews says Abel offered “a more excellent sacrifice” (Hebrews 11:4). God was made favorable because of Abel's more excellent sacrifice of the lamb.
God was propitiated because a life was taken. Since God told Adam that the wages of sin was death, then for God to remain holy and righteous a death would have to occur for God's sword of justice to be sheathed.
And of course, the lamb of Abel is a type of "the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world," for the blood of bulls, and goats, and lambs can't actually take away sin --- it must be God Himself who dies.
Let me show you how from the very beginning, from the first sin of man, God prepared the world for the coming of His Son through the types of the sacrifices.
John Gill, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Charles Spurgeon and Augustus Toplady all taught that Cain and Abel brought their offerings to "the east of Eden," to the gate to the entrance to "the way" that led to life.
Though many believe the Garden of Eden was located in modern Iraq, that was not the belief of early Jewish commentators. The ancient Jewish commentary called The Targum of Jonathan said “Adam went and dwelt in Mount Moriah to till the ground of which he was created.” Dr. Gill says other Jewish writers wrote saying, “The gate of Paradise was at Mt. Moriah, and there Adam dwelt after he was cast out.” Mt. Moriah is the place of sacrifice (Abraham/Isaac; the Temple/sacrifices), the very place that the Temple would later be built.
In other words, there is some warrant to believe that the very place Abel offered the lamb ultimately became the spot where the lambs were offered by the Israelites in the Jewish Temple. And when the High Priest brought the blood into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, he sprinkled it "between the cherubim" just as Abel would have brought the blood "between the cherubim" in his day.
When the blood of the Lamb was shed, atonement was granted. Atonement means “covering.” The sin of Abel was covered, the lamb had died as a substitute for the sinner, and the sword of God's wrath was sheathed.
Again, the blood of animals could never remove sin. All the sacrifices of the Old Testament were only types and figures of the Lamb of God to come. Jesus Christ is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."
No sinner ever approaches God and lives without the shed blood of Jesus Christ. The sword of the Lord that guards the tree of life is sheathed because of Christ’s death. Why? God is propitiated --- His justice is satisfied.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me” (John 14:4).
III. Regardless of what man may think, there is no knowledge of God, no relationship with God, and no abiding with God without faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
"Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins" (Hebrews 9:22)
"Kiss the Son, lest he (God) be angry" (Psalm 2:12).
I personally believe Adam and Eve taught their boys how to approach God at the east entrance to Eden. They had seen God take a lamb, slay it, and cover them with the skin of the dead animal that died in their place. They had been promised a coming "life-giver," and Eve anticipated the Messiah who would take away their sins to come quickly.
Abel received by faith the word of the Lord from his parents on how God is propitiated, but Cain rejected the word and came to God on his own terms --- and found God not propitious or favorable to him.
Cain was a reprobate; a person without grace.
Abel pictures for us a person in God's favor. He, and his parents, are early examples of how sinners can find a holy God propitious toward them. People are saved the same way today as they were in the days of Adam and Abel. One of the best descriptions of what it means to be a "Christian" is found in Geneses. Christians are . . .
(1). Believers in the Word of God . . . “And Adam called his wife Eve (‘life-giver’)” (v.20). God told Adam that He would provide “a seed” of the woman that would crush the head of Satan. Adam believed God (as did Eve, see Gen. 4:1). Adam instructed Abel how God had informed them to approach Him, and Abel heard the word and believed.
(2). Receivers of the righteousness of God . . . “For with the heart man believes unto righteousness” (Rom. 10:10). This is salvation. When Adam and Eve believed the Word spoken by God “the Lord God . . . clothed them” (v. 21). We shall focus specifically on this gift of righteousness in the next post (Abram).
(3). Partakers of the nature of God . . . "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature" (II Peter 1:4). "I am in pain until Christ be formed in you" (Gal. 4:19).
The last two are part of our future studies, but we close the lesson today by remembering that we shall never find God favorable to us until we recognize that He is propitiated not by our terms, actions or deeds, but by the His own actions on our behalf.
God gave the Lamb for us. God killed the Lamb for us. The Lamb is His Son.
Application:
(1). There is no access to the presence of God in worship, prayer, or ultimately eternal life in heaven, without coming to Him by faith in the offering He has provided for sinners --- His eternal Son, Jesus Christ.
"God set forth (Christ Jesus) as a propitiation through faith in His blood, for a demonstration of His righteousness" (Romans 3:25).
As the old hymnwriter wrote: Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling.
(2). A person can talk about God all he wants and the devil remains at peace, but the moment a person speaks of a propitiated God in terms of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the demons of hell scream into action.
The Apostle Paul stated that he desired to know nothing "But Christ and him crucified." This is the gospel. Paul further stated that he was not ashamed of the gospel because "It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16). The message of every gospel preacher should be Christ and Him crucified.
(3). The love of God and the wrath of God coexist. They both describe His nature, and without His love there would have never been satisfactory propiation.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" (John 3:16).
Christ did not make an angry God become loving -- a loving God gave to the sinners He sovereignly chose to redeem the gift of His Son in order to propitiate His righteous wrath.
(4). Those for whom Christ died shall be saved.
"You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save his people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21).
The death of Christ is effective in that it satiates the wrath of God for sinners. A just God is satisfied, and because of Christ, a just God can pardon sinners.
For whom did Christ die? His people --- or as the Bible says, "those who will come to Him." Believers. Those who embrace the Son.
You either embrace Jesus Christ and what He did at Calvary to satisfy the righteous justice and wrath of God upon sinners, or you reject Jesus Christ and experience the righteous wrath and anger of God for yourself.
This is the gospel.
The good news is that God will never reject a sinner who comes to Him through faith in His Son Christ Jesus.
"Come unto me," Christ declares.
I have, and in Him I rest.
In His Grace,
Wade Burleson
The Gospel in Genesis Adam: The Doctrine of Representation
In the mid-1940's Arthur W. Pink told my grandfather that one of the most neglected doctrines in evangelical Christianity was the doctrine of Federal Representation. Later in his book "The Sovereignty of God," Pink made the same observation in the form of a footnote.
I don't think things have changed much in the last sixty years. It is rare to hear a message on representation in our modern day, which is unfortunate, because it forms the heart of the good news as revealed in Scripture.
The Doctrine of Representation simply means that Adam stood before God in the place of, and on behalf of, every human being. Because of Adam's one act of disobedience against God, every human being is condemned by God.
I. Adam’s represention of mankind in the garden is clearly Biblical . . .
The main emphasis of Romans 5 is to prove that God judges us all for Adam’s sin. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Romans 5:12).
Grammatically, the Greek verb “sinned” in verse 12 is in the aorist tense. This tense normally refers to an act that took place in the past at a single point in time. Grammatically, then, “all sinned” most naturally refers to a single past historical event (Adam’s sin). In other words, Adam’s sin was my sin because I was "in Adam," both physically (his loins) and spiritually (as my representative before God).
“Adam’s sin is as truly ours as it was his, but not sin in the same sense. It was his sin personally; it is our sin because we were in him,” Robert Haldane.
This is why every person dies --- Because of Adam's sin. This is easily seen in the death of infants. Infants who have never had any actual personal sin will sometimes die in infancy. They die, as does anyone else who dies, as a result of God's judgment for the sin of the first man.
II. Adam’s representation of mankind in the garden is hardly radical.
Remember, representation means “to act or stand in the place of.” Our political structure in this great country is built on representation. We elect people to “act or stand in the place of us in Washington” (we call it “The House of Representatives”). When our representatives make a decision, we live with the consequences.
Adam gives death to those he represents. “When Adam sinned, we were all constituted, classified, and condemned as sinners” A.W. Pink.
There are some who object to Adam's representation by saying:
(1). I don’t like the very concept of representation!
Response: You do too! You use representation all the time. You use people with skill and knowledge to represent you in medicine, in the courtroom, in
politics, and in sports. You like representation when it works! People don't like Adam representing them before God because he failed, which leads them to say. .
(2). I don’t like God’s choice of Adam as my representative!
Response: Do you think you could have done better? God is not like King George. When the colonists cried, “No taxation without representation” the king gave them a representative --- his brother.
God gave us the absolute best representative possible, with every circumstance in his favor. “This only have I found, God made man (Adam) upright” (Ec. 7:29). To think we could have done better the first Adam is a sign of our pride.
(3). I don’t like that I'm punished with physical and spiritual (death) for the sin of Adam! The severe punishment does not seem to fit Adam's one act of disobedience. It's way too severe of a punishment.
Response: What makes a sin serious is the nature of the person against whom the sin is committed. For instance, you can lie to your neighbor and receive an angry letter, but if you lie to the President you can go to prison for treason. You can kill a deer and be praised as a good hunter, but if you kill a man you will be put death. The consequences of Adam's one act of disobedience against God should reveal to us the transcendent and supreme nature of God as compared to man.
The Bible teaches that in addition to the consequences of Adam's sin (death) being passed to every descendent of Adam, so also is the corruption of Adam's nature passed down. William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies , a story about Britain’s “best and brightest” boys being stranded from youth on an island during WWI, gives us a good understanding of Adam's corruption in his descendents. No one taught the boys how to sin against each other even to the point of murder; they were sinners and their sins naturally flowed from their hearts where no grace was restraining them.
We are sinners, condemned by God to death (both physical and spiritual), because of the disobedience of the first man --- Adam.
Now for the Good News . . .
III. Adam’s representation of mankind in the garden is certainly typical.
By typical I mean it is certainly a "type," for Adam (the first man) is a type of Christ (the last man). Why does the Bible call Adam and Christ the first and the last man respectively (I Cor. 15)?
In the courtroom of heaven there stands only two official representatives before God. The first Adam (Hebrew for ‘man’ ) --- “made by God from the virgin earth” and the last Adam (Jesus Christ) ---“who entered the world by the virgin birth.”
This is the gospel. God relates to man on the basis of only two representatives --- the first Adam and the last Adam.
Compare the two Adams:
(1). The uniqueness of their births --- both bodies formed by God without a human father.
(2). Their temptations from Satan in the garden and in the wilderness --- the first Adam had it all going for him. He had a lush world, a helpmate, a heart inclined toward righteousness, and a world to enjoy. The last Adam was tempted in a barren wilderness, all alone, with the weight of the sinful world on his shoulders.
(3). The sin of one first Adam brought death to all he represented, but the obedience of the last Adam brought life to those He represented (believers, the church, the elect, the redeemed, etc . . .).
(4). The first Adam died because he deserved it, but the last Adam died without sin --- as the representive for His people, "Who who knew no sin became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (II Cor. 5:21).
Just as I am condemned for the disobedience of the first Adam, I am given eternal life because of the personal obedience of the last Adam.
The power of the gospel is seen in the doctrine of representation. Without an understanding of representation, we lose the good news. Pelagius and Augustine were theologians who lived in the 5th century AD. Pelagius said that we are “sinners because we sin," whereas Augustine said, “we sin because we are sinners (by the sin of Adam)." Pelagius taught that people sin by imitating Adam’s example and people are made righteous by imitating Christ’s example. Augustine proclaimed the gospel --- we are condemened by one man's disobedience and delivered by another Man's obedience.
Charles Hodge wrote about the importance of understanding representation when he said in his Commentary on Romans, "To teach that we are condemned for our inherent depravity, to the exclusion of Adam’s sin, necessitates that we are justified for our inherent goodness, to the exclusion of Christ, which destroys all hope of heaven.”
We are called "believers" because we believe God has delivered us through the representative work of His Son on behalf of sinners.
Application:
(1). To deny the historicity of the Genesis account of Adam and Eve is ultimately a denial of the gospel itself, for the gospel is only understood in terms of representation.
(2). To preach the gospel is not so much preaching what it is we are to do, but rather, what it is we are to believe. The good news is something proclaimed, not something created.
(3). On your death bed, representation will be your only hope. No man has ever reviewed his life and found complete satisfaction. Every man has failed with multiple shortcomings. Christ's representation of us before God is the good news. To understand you are condemned for the sin of one man will only help you comprehend that you are saved by the obedience of another man.
The question may be asked, "But whom did Christ represent?" That question can be answered one of two ways. From the divine perspective He represented the people whom God the Father had given Him (John 17), but from the human perspective He represents only those who will trust in Him. Only the divine answer will bring comfort to parents whose children die in infancy, trusting that God gave to Christ those infants who die in infancy, and that Christ represented them in His life and in His death, for they never had personal faith in Christ. Nevertheless, they are still judged for the first Adam's sin (this is why they die). It is my personal belief that all infants who die in infancy are part of the elect of God and receive the blessings of Christ's obedience (this was also the view of Gill, Spurgeon, Whitefield, and other 18th and 19th Century Baptist theologians).
Calvin wrote in his commentary on Romans: “Paul makes grace common to all men, not because it in fact extends to all, but because it is offered to all. Although Christ suffered for the sins of the world, and is offered by the goodness of God without distinction to all men, yet not all receive him.”
I encourage you to place your trust in Christ alone, to only trust Christ, and to realize that your deliverance is solely by God's grace through faith in Christ Jesus.
Sola fide, sola Christos, sola gratia.
When Satan tempts me to despair,and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look, and see him there, who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free; for God the just is satisfied, to look on him and pardon me.
In His Grace,
Wade Burleson
I don't think things have changed much in the last sixty years. It is rare to hear a message on representation in our modern day, which is unfortunate, because it forms the heart of the good news as revealed in Scripture.
The Doctrine of Representation simply means that Adam stood before God in the place of, and on behalf of, every human being. Because of Adam's one act of disobedience against God, every human being is condemned by God.
I. Adam’s represention of mankind in the garden is clearly Biblical . . .
The main emphasis of Romans 5 is to prove that God judges us all for Adam’s sin. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Romans 5:12).
Grammatically, the Greek verb “sinned” in verse 12 is in the aorist tense. This tense normally refers to an act that took place in the past at a single point in time. Grammatically, then, “all sinned” most naturally refers to a single past historical event (Adam’s sin). In other words, Adam’s sin was my sin because I was "in Adam," both physically (his loins) and spiritually (as my representative before God).
“Adam’s sin is as truly ours as it was his, but not sin in the same sense. It was his sin personally; it is our sin because we were in him,” Robert Haldane.
This is why every person dies --- Because of Adam's sin. This is easily seen in the death of infants. Infants who have never had any actual personal sin will sometimes die in infancy. They die, as does anyone else who dies, as a result of God's judgment for the sin of the first man.
II. Adam’s representation of mankind in the garden is hardly radical.
Remember, representation means “to act or stand in the place of.” Our political structure in this great country is built on representation. We elect people to “act or stand in the place of us in Washington” (we call it “The House of Representatives”). When our representatives make a decision, we live with the consequences.
Adam gives death to those he represents. “When Adam sinned, we were all constituted, classified, and condemned as sinners” A.W. Pink.
There are some who object to Adam's representation by saying:
(1). I don’t like the very concept of representation!
Response: You do too! You use representation all the time. You use people with skill and knowledge to represent you in medicine, in the courtroom, in
politics, and in sports. You like representation when it works! People don't like Adam representing them before God because he failed, which leads them to say. .
(2). I don’t like God’s choice of Adam as my representative!
Response: Do you think you could have done better? God is not like King George. When the colonists cried, “No taxation without representation” the king gave them a representative --- his brother.
God gave us the absolute best representative possible, with every circumstance in his favor. “This only have I found, God made man (Adam) upright” (Ec. 7:29). To think we could have done better the first Adam is a sign of our pride.
(3). I don’t like that I'm punished with physical and spiritual (death) for the sin of Adam! The severe punishment does not seem to fit Adam's one act of disobedience. It's way too severe of a punishment.
Response: What makes a sin serious is the nature of the person against whom the sin is committed. For instance, you can lie to your neighbor and receive an angry letter, but if you lie to the President you can go to prison for treason. You can kill a deer and be praised as a good hunter, but if you kill a man you will be put death. The consequences of Adam's one act of disobedience against God should reveal to us the transcendent and supreme nature of God as compared to man.
The Bible teaches that in addition to the consequences of Adam's sin (death) being passed to every descendent of Adam, so also is the corruption of Adam's nature passed down. William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies , a story about Britain’s “best and brightest” boys being stranded from youth on an island during WWI, gives us a good understanding of Adam's corruption in his descendents. No one taught the boys how to sin against each other even to the point of murder; they were sinners and their sins naturally flowed from their hearts where no grace was restraining them.
We are sinners, condemned by God to death (both physical and spiritual), because of the disobedience of the first man --- Adam.
Now for the Good News . . .
III. Adam’s representation of mankind in the garden is certainly typical.
By typical I mean it is certainly a "type," for Adam (the first man) is a type of Christ (the last man). Why does the Bible call Adam and Christ the first and the last man respectively (I Cor. 15)?
In the courtroom of heaven there stands only two official representatives before God. The first Adam (Hebrew for ‘man’ ) --- “made by God from the virgin earth” and the last Adam (Jesus Christ) ---“who entered the world by the virgin birth.”
This is the gospel. God relates to man on the basis of only two representatives --- the first Adam and the last Adam.
Compare the two Adams:
(1). The uniqueness of their births --- both bodies formed by God without a human father.
(2). Their temptations from Satan in the garden and in the wilderness --- the first Adam had it all going for him. He had a lush world, a helpmate, a heart inclined toward righteousness, and a world to enjoy. The last Adam was tempted in a barren wilderness, all alone, with the weight of the sinful world on his shoulders.
(3). The sin of one first Adam brought death to all he represented, but the obedience of the last Adam brought life to those He represented (believers, the church, the elect, the redeemed, etc . . .).
(4). The first Adam died because he deserved it, but the last Adam died without sin --- as the representive for His people, "Who who knew no sin became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (II Cor. 5:21).
Just as I am condemned for the disobedience of the first Adam, I am given eternal life because of the personal obedience of the last Adam.
The power of the gospel is seen in the doctrine of representation. Without an understanding of representation, we lose the good news. Pelagius and Augustine were theologians who lived in the 5th century AD. Pelagius said that we are “sinners because we sin," whereas Augustine said, “we sin because we are sinners (by the sin of Adam)." Pelagius taught that people sin by imitating Adam’s example and people are made righteous by imitating Christ’s example. Augustine proclaimed the gospel --- we are condemened by one man's disobedience and delivered by another Man's obedience.
Charles Hodge wrote about the importance of understanding representation when he said in his Commentary on Romans, "To teach that we are condemned for our inherent depravity, to the exclusion of Adam’s sin, necessitates that we are justified for our inherent goodness, to the exclusion of Christ, which destroys all hope of heaven.”
We are called "believers" because we believe God has delivered us through the representative work of His Son on behalf of sinners.
Application:
(1). To deny the historicity of the Genesis account of Adam and Eve is ultimately a denial of the gospel itself, for the gospel is only understood in terms of representation.
(2). To preach the gospel is not so much preaching what it is we are to do, but rather, what it is we are to believe. The good news is something proclaimed, not something created.
(3). On your death bed, representation will be your only hope. No man has ever reviewed his life and found complete satisfaction. Every man has failed with multiple shortcomings. Christ's representation of us before God is the good news. To understand you are condemned for the sin of one man will only help you comprehend that you are saved by the obedience of another man.
The question may be asked, "But whom did Christ represent?" That question can be answered one of two ways. From the divine perspective He represented the people whom God the Father had given Him (John 17), but from the human perspective He represents only those who will trust in Him. Only the divine answer will bring comfort to parents whose children die in infancy, trusting that God gave to Christ those infants who die in infancy, and that Christ represented them in His life and in His death, for they never had personal faith in Christ. Nevertheless, they are still judged for the first Adam's sin (this is why they die). It is my personal belief that all infants who die in infancy are part of the elect of God and receive the blessings of Christ's obedience (this was also the view of Gill, Spurgeon, Whitefield, and other 18th and 19th Century Baptist theologians).
Calvin wrote in his commentary on Romans: “Paul makes grace common to all men, not because it in fact extends to all, but because it is offered to all. Although Christ suffered for the sins of the world, and is offered by the goodness of God without distinction to all men, yet not all receive him.”
I encourage you to place your trust in Christ alone, to only trust Christ, and to realize that your deliverance is solely by God's grace through faith in Christ Jesus.
Sola fide, sola Christos, sola gratia.
When Satan tempts me to despair,and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look, and see him there, who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free; for God the just is satisfied, to look on him and pardon me.
In His Grace,
Wade Burleson
Can We All Agree To Disagree and Remain Friends?
I appreciate Southern Seminary and have great respect for Dr. Al Mohler and his staff. I highly recommend the Seminary to anyone who asks me.
Dr. Russell D. Moore became Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice President for Academic Administration of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in January 2004. I do not know Dr. Moore personally, but have corresponded with him by email on a couple of occasions.
Recently Dr. Moore spoke to students at Southern on the subject of "The Confessions of a Fundamissional Dean: Are Southern Baptists Evangelicals, Fundamentalists, or What?"
There are many very good things that Dr. Moore says in his lecture.
However, Dr. Moore seemed to lapsed into a particularly weak, unscholarly argument about thirty minutes into his lecture that needs challenged. Maintaining my respect for Southern Seminary and Dr. Moore, and voicing my unqualified and unconditional love for both, I would like to offer the following rebuttal of Dr. Moore's comments (bold print) during a five minute section of the hour long lecture (minutes 32-36).
After Dr. Moore commends bloggers who write helpful things he said, "You have some bloggers in the SBC who are just immature jerks. But the things they are blogging about are just the same kinds of things they would be saying as immature jerks in a seminary cafeteria just now the have a venue to say these sort of things. And then you have the blogofascists --- a group of people who are using blogs in order to spread gossip and division and in order to use these blogs as means to destroy. Those are very different things."
I am not sure to whom Dr. Moore is referring. I realize I am fairly new to the blogging world, but most of the blogs I have read concerning the SBC, even those with whom I disagree, do seem to have the best interest of the SBC at heart. I wish that Dr. Moore, as my wife suggested when she heard this comment, "Would not broadbrush bloggers and be very specific when he makes an accusation like this."
"But much of the concern comes from people who are looking at blogs, they don't understand what blogs are necessarily -- (being from) another generation -- but they are seeing fruit from these blogs that's horrifying --- it's horrifying. And so when you have for instance Bobby Welch, standing up and saying in a statement that is easily ridiculed by most people, "that if people would stop blogging and start soul winning you would see more people coming to faith in Christ" -- there's something there. Because when you go through and look at many of the people who are setting themselves up as the tutors of the SBC through their blogs, mostly using cynycism and ridicule in order to do this, and then you look at these churches and see "who are these people reaching" --- no one --- very few people. Maybe Bobby Welch is on to something there."
Again, to whom is Dr. Moore referring? Has he actually looked at the ACP (Annual Church Profile) reports of the churches of pastors who blog? I know he can't be referring to the church I pastor or the churches that are pastored by those I know who blog because these are some of the most evangelistic, community oriented churches in our convention. I wish Dr. Moore would be more precise with his information, or simply choose not to make inflammatory comments like this one.
You also see an abandonment of Baptist distinctives that I think comes from Southern Baptists becoming so enamored with American evangelical life. We're at the situation right now where if you make a statement that would be agreed with by almost every Baptist in the history of the church you will be called a Landmarker.
A strong statement Dr. Moore, but we'll give you the benefit of the doubt to allow you to prove your case.
If you say, "Baptism is only by immersion and anything else is not baptism at all" there are going to be people in the Southern Baptist Convention who will say, "Well you are a Landmarker."
This is an astounding statement.
Dr. Moore, I challenge you to show me one comment --- not several, not a few --- simply ONE comment from a Southern Baptist blog that calls someone who baptizes by immersion "Landmark."
I believe you have misrepresented the position of blogs that have questioned the advance of Landmarkism in the SBC.
I'm sure it is unintentional on your part, but I would urge you not to make statements within the context of a seminary lecture without verifiable support and evidence.
If you say, "It's not just the baptism --- it's not just an act of personal testimony --- it is the church that is actually speaking. The church --- what the church believes is important in the act of baptism, you are going to have people say, "You're a Landmarker."
Not so, Dr. Moore. Dr. John Gill, the Hebrew linquist and scholar deluxe of Baptists in the 18th Century,spoke very clearly about baptism identifying a person with Christ, not the church, and how its proper place was "outside" the church. Yes, baptism is to be a 'prerequisite' for church membership, but the "doctrine" of the church was not the emphasis in the New Testament at baptism; it was the doctrine in the heart of the believer. Gill's view was the orthodox, biblical and Baptistic view for well over a century.
If you say, "Baptism by immersion is a prerequisite to coming to the Lord's table" people will say, "You're a Landmarker." When in reality all Baptists would have agreed with that statement.
Two words Dr. Moore --- John Bunyan.
The word "all," as you use it above, would not encompass Bunyan and a multitude of Baptist pastors and churches throughout Christian history who have opened the Lord's table to Christians --- Presbyterians, Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists, and other believers ---- who are orthodox and evangelical, and members of the universal church of Jesus Christ, but not members of the LOCAL, visible Baptist church.
The rationale for this? Why would we forbid the bread and the wine to those who will be seated with us at the marriage supper of the Lamb?
Granted, other Baptist churches have CLOSED the communion table to local church members only, but this practice does not encompass ALL Baptist churches throughout history as you state.
(UPDATE: SBC missionary David Roger's gives an excellent comment below on Spurgeon's views of open communion and provides this link for support).
Not only all Baptists, all Catholics would have agreed with that statement. All Eastern Orthodox would agree with that statement. You would be very hardpressed to find any group of people throughout all of the history of the church who would say, "You can come to the Lord's Supper without being baptized." The question is, "Do we believe that baptism is the immersion of a believer upon profession of faith?" If we do, then when we say you must be baptized in order to come into the fellowship of the church, in order to come to the Lord's table, we're not being sectarian there, we're being small "c" catholic. We are agreeing with everything that has been believed in everyplace by Christians. We're simply saying, "This is what baptism is."
Nobody disagrees Dr. Moore. Baptism preceedes the Lord's Supper. The question is simply this: will we have communion and fellowship with people who belong to the universal church of Jesus Christ, who believe their baptism to be infant baptism, or baptism by pouring and sprinkling, and as a result, are NOT members of our local Southern Baptist churches (and rightly so), but are still members of the ekklesia (called out ones), or the universal church of Jesus Christ?
In other words, would you share communion with a Presbyterian believer? I would.
Again, it is the perogative of any local, autonomous Southern Baptist Church to close the Lord's table to members only, but to demand that ALL Southern Baptist churches practice closed communion goes beyond the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.
The BFM 2000 uses only the word "church" to describe the participants of the Lord's Supper, and one's interpretation might be that this means the local, visible Baptist church, but others might see this word "church" as the universal body of Christ. The interpretation of "the church" is not always agreed upon by all Southern Baptists. Can you recognize that some Southern Baptists see the word "church" in Scripture, and the BFM 2000 to predominately mean the universal church of Jesus Christ (the redeemed, the elect, the ekklesia, etc . . .)?
"But we're losing that ability to talk about ecclesiology. There's a lot of talk about ecclesiology right now in the SBC, but there is very little talk about what is distinctively Baptist about the doctrine of the church. Very little talk about the meaning of baptism itself. Very little talk about the meaning of the Lord's Supper itself. I have great optism that in the future these kinds of things are going to be talked about and discussed and settled in Southern Baptist life."
No sir, we are not losing the ability to talk about ecclesiology.
Some are losing the ability to speak of ecclesiology in terms of logic and tradition.
Baptists are now ready to trust in the inspired, inerrant and sufficient Word of God, and when we discuss ecclesiology we will not depend upon the traditions of man, but will seek wisdom from the Word of God.
But let us never forget one thing:
Believer's baptism by immersion is part of our confession --- no Southern Baptist rejects it and remains Southern Baptist.
But the AUTHORITY of the baptizer is NOT an essential of the faith or a doctrine within the BFM 2000, and we should be able to disagree on this point and remain in fellowship. The definition of "the church," when it comes to the Lord's table can either be the local, visible fellowship of believers (closed communion) or the universal, redeemed ekklesia (open communion). The BFM 2000 does not define "the church" as local or universal, and we should be able to interpet it differently AND REMAIN IN FELLOWSHIP.
So, the discussion is beginning in earnest.
The question is this: Will disagreement be allowed?
These issues are settled in my church, and we have no problem cooperating in missions, evangelism and denominational work with those churches who see it differently.
How about you?
In His Grace,
Wade
Dr. Russell D. Moore became Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice President for Academic Administration of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in January 2004. I do not know Dr. Moore personally, but have corresponded with him by email on a couple of occasions.
Recently Dr. Moore spoke to students at Southern on the subject of "The Confessions of a Fundamissional Dean: Are Southern Baptists Evangelicals, Fundamentalists, or What?"
There are many very good things that Dr. Moore says in his lecture.
However, Dr. Moore seemed to lapsed into a particularly weak, unscholarly argument about thirty minutes into his lecture that needs challenged. Maintaining my respect for Southern Seminary and Dr. Moore, and voicing my unqualified and unconditional love for both, I would like to offer the following rebuttal of Dr. Moore's comments (bold print) during a five minute section of the hour long lecture (minutes 32-36).
After Dr. Moore commends bloggers who write helpful things he said, "You have some bloggers in the SBC who are just immature jerks. But the things they are blogging about are just the same kinds of things they would be saying as immature jerks in a seminary cafeteria just now the have a venue to say these sort of things. And then you have the blogofascists --- a group of people who are using blogs in order to spread gossip and division and in order to use these blogs as means to destroy. Those are very different things."
I am not sure to whom Dr. Moore is referring. I realize I am fairly new to the blogging world, but most of the blogs I have read concerning the SBC, even those with whom I disagree, do seem to have the best interest of the SBC at heart. I wish that Dr. Moore, as my wife suggested when she heard this comment, "Would not broadbrush bloggers and be very specific when he makes an accusation like this."
"But much of the concern comes from people who are looking at blogs, they don't understand what blogs are necessarily -- (being from) another generation -- but they are seeing fruit from these blogs that's horrifying --- it's horrifying. And so when you have for instance Bobby Welch, standing up and saying in a statement that is easily ridiculed by most people, "that if people would stop blogging and start soul winning you would see more people coming to faith in Christ" -- there's something there. Because when you go through and look at many of the people who are setting themselves up as the tutors of the SBC through their blogs, mostly using cynycism and ridicule in order to do this, and then you look at these churches and see "who are these people reaching" --- no one --- very few people. Maybe Bobby Welch is on to something there."
Again, to whom is Dr. Moore referring? Has he actually looked at the ACP (Annual Church Profile) reports of the churches of pastors who blog? I know he can't be referring to the church I pastor or the churches that are pastored by those I know who blog because these are some of the most evangelistic, community oriented churches in our convention. I wish Dr. Moore would be more precise with his information, or simply choose not to make inflammatory comments like this one.
You also see an abandonment of Baptist distinctives that I think comes from Southern Baptists becoming so enamored with American evangelical life. We're at the situation right now where if you make a statement that would be agreed with by almost every Baptist in the history of the church you will be called a Landmarker.
A strong statement Dr. Moore, but we'll give you the benefit of the doubt to allow you to prove your case.
If you say, "Baptism is only by immersion and anything else is not baptism at all" there are going to be people in the Southern Baptist Convention who will say, "Well you are a Landmarker."
This is an astounding statement.
Dr. Moore, I challenge you to show me one comment --- not several, not a few --- simply ONE comment from a Southern Baptist blog that calls someone who baptizes by immersion "Landmark."
I believe you have misrepresented the position of blogs that have questioned the advance of Landmarkism in the SBC.
I'm sure it is unintentional on your part, but I would urge you not to make statements within the context of a seminary lecture without verifiable support and evidence.
If you say, "It's not just the baptism --- it's not just an act of personal testimony --- it is the church that is actually speaking. The church --- what the church believes is important in the act of baptism, you are going to have people say, "You're a Landmarker."
Not so, Dr. Moore. Dr. John Gill, the Hebrew linquist and scholar deluxe of Baptists in the 18th Century,spoke very clearly about baptism identifying a person with Christ, not the church, and how its proper place was "outside" the church. Yes, baptism is to be a 'prerequisite' for church membership, but the "doctrine" of the church was not the emphasis in the New Testament at baptism; it was the doctrine in the heart of the believer. Gill's view was the orthodox, biblical and Baptistic view for well over a century.
If you say, "Baptism by immersion is a prerequisite to coming to the Lord's table" people will say, "You're a Landmarker." When in reality all Baptists would have agreed with that statement.
Two words Dr. Moore --- John Bunyan.
The word "all," as you use it above, would not encompass Bunyan and a multitude of Baptist pastors and churches throughout Christian history who have opened the Lord's table to Christians --- Presbyterians, Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists, and other believers ---- who are orthodox and evangelical, and members of the universal church of Jesus Christ, but not members of the LOCAL, visible Baptist church.
The rationale for this? Why would we forbid the bread and the wine to those who will be seated with us at the marriage supper of the Lamb?
Granted, other Baptist churches have CLOSED the communion table to local church members only, but this practice does not encompass ALL Baptist churches throughout history as you state.
(UPDATE: SBC missionary David Roger's gives an excellent comment below on Spurgeon's views of open communion and provides this link for support).
Not only all Baptists, all Catholics would have agreed with that statement. All Eastern Orthodox would agree with that statement. You would be very hardpressed to find any group of people throughout all of the history of the church who would say, "You can come to the Lord's Supper without being baptized." The question is, "Do we believe that baptism is the immersion of a believer upon profession of faith?" If we do, then when we say you must be baptized in order to come into the fellowship of the church, in order to come to the Lord's table, we're not being sectarian there, we're being small "c" catholic. We are agreeing with everything that has been believed in everyplace by Christians. We're simply saying, "This is what baptism is."
Nobody disagrees Dr. Moore. Baptism preceedes the Lord's Supper. The question is simply this: will we have communion and fellowship with people who belong to the universal church of Jesus Christ, who believe their baptism to be infant baptism, or baptism by pouring and sprinkling, and as a result, are NOT members of our local Southern Baptist churches (and rightly so), but are still members of the ekklesia (called out ones), or the universal church of Jesus Christ?
In other words, would you share communion with a Presbyterian believer? I would.
Again, it is the perogative of any local, autonomous Southern Baptist Church to close the Lord's table to members only, but to demand that ALL Southern Baptist churches practice closed communion goes beyond the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.
The BFM 2000 uses only the word "church" to describe the participants of the Lord's Supper, and one's interpretation might be that this means the local, visible Baptist church, but others might see this word "church" as the universal body of Christ. The interpretation of "the church" is not always agreed upon by all Southern Baptists. Can you recognize that some Southern Baptists see the word "church" in Scripture, and the BFM 2000 to predominately mean the universal church of Jesus Christ (the redeemed, the elect, the ekklesia, etc . . .)?
"But we're losing that ability to talk about ecclesiology. There's a lot of talk about ecclesiology right now in the SBC, but there is very little talk about what is distinctively Baptist about the doctrine of the church. Very little talk about the meaning of baptism itself. Very little talk about the meaning of the Lord's Supper itself. I have great optism that in the future these kinds of things are going to be talked about and discussed and settled in Southern Baptist life."
No sir, we are not losing the ability to talk about ecclesiology.
Some are losing the ability to speak of ecclesiology in terms of logic and tradition.
Baptists are now ready to trust in the inspired, inerrant and sufficient Word of God, and when we discuss ecclesiology we will not depend upon the traditions of man, but will seek wisdom from the Word of God.
But let us never forget one thing:
Believer's baptism by immersion is part of our confession --- no Southern Baptist rejects it and remains Southern Baptist.
But the AUTHORITY of the baptizer is NOT an essential of the faith or a doctrine within the BFM 2000, and we should be able to disagree on this point and remain in fellowship. The definition of "the church," when it comes to the Lord's table can either be the local, visible fellowship of believers (closed communion) or the universal, redeemed ekklesia (open communion). The BFM 2000 does not define "the church" as local or universal, and we should be able to interpet it differently AND REMAIN IN FELLOWSHIP.
So, the discussion is beginning in earnest.
The question is this: Will disagreement be allowed?
These issues are settled in my church, and we have no problem cooperating in missions, evangelism and denominational work with those churches who see it differently.
How about you?
In His Grace,
Wade
A 2020 Vision for the SBC
Fourteen years is a good Biblical number. Biblical numerology is an often neglected study, but those who have written on the subject, including theologian Dr. Henry Bullinger, tell us that the number fourteen "being a multiple of seven, partakes of its significance; and, being double that number, implies a double measure of spiritual perfection."
In 2020, just fourteen years from now, the Southern Baptist Convention will be celebrating her 175th Anniversary.
I am not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but I would like to offer a 2020 Vision for the SBC with the desire that it be actual 20/20 vision. These points are only offered for discussion, and do not represent the official position of an agency or board.
In 2020 . . .
(1). The Southern Baptist Convention is now called the World Baptist Convention. The name change is solely for the purpose of reflecting the true identity of the convention. No longer are we mainly a group of churches in the American south, but rather we have planted churches around the world that wish to be identified with our convention.
(2). The first World Baptist Faith and Message, approved overwhelmingly by each WBC state convention and other WBC national conventions, focuses on the essentials of the faith. These essentials include all the fundamentals of the faith, but third tier doctrines which have divided Baptists in different cultures are left out of the WBFM in order to promote unity within our diversity.
(3). There are no split individual state conventions connected with the WBC. Reconciliation and restoration among split state conventions has occurred through a genuine revival in the hearts of pastors, denominational leaders, and people of the WBC in states that were once split. Our love for Jesus Christ and His people is evident to the world because newspapers are reporting on what we are doing together to change the world rather than reporting on our fighting and bickering with each other.
(4). The International Mission Board of the WBC has 10,000 missionaries appointed in countries that are in great need of an evangelical witness. Other countries that have been evangelized have churches that now identify with, and support, the work of the IMB of the WBC in unreached people groups.
(5). The World Baptist Convention has grown from 44,000 churches in 2006 in the Southern United States to 115,000 churches around the world. The autonomy of the local church continues to be respected, and the World Baptist Convention takes her orders from messengers who meet once a year, and has resisted the temptation that usually plagues large mainline denominations to operate from the top down. The local church remains the highest authority in the WBC.
(6). Trustee appointments are made by the Nominating Committee from a list of people offered to the WBC by the individual state and national convention officers. The vast size of the WBC necessitates more involvment of state and national leadership in the appointment process and broadens the appointment process.
(7). Theological training expands with the creation and support of an additional six seminaries --- all overseas. These seminaries are run by national trustees, but willingly identify with the WBC and affirm the WBFM.
(8). Leadership within the WBC, including trustees, convention officers, and other leadership comes from churches that give a minumum of 7% of undesignated receipts to the Cooperative Program. Churches could identify themselves as a WBC church by simply giving to the Cooperative Program, but members or pastors of those churches could not serve in leadership positions of the WBC without giving the minimum 7% to the CP.
(9). The World Baptist Convention is known by the world more for her emphasis on the gospel of Jesus Christ than for any political, social, or cultural stand. Since the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, the WBC has determined to focus on obtaining God's power rather than an attempt at political or social power.
(10). The World Baptist Convention is held each June at multiple sites around the world, with each site connected to the main site in the United States via the world wide web. The convention is known for the worship, preaching testimonies, and business conducted by the messengers and not for her politics.
I am reminded that the angel told Mary, "With God nothing is impossible." For the above to happen the SBC will have to be led by people who are not satisfied with the status quo, do not desire any personal power or fame, and truly wish to see the gospel of Jesus Christ impact the world through our beloved convention.
My wife says I am naive. :)
I may be, but surely there is nothing wrong with dreaming. :)
In His Grace,
Wade
In 2020, just fourteen years from now, the Southern Baptist Convention will be celebrating her 175th Anniversary.
I am not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but I would like to offer a 2020 Vision for the SBC with the desire that it be actual 20/20 vision. These points are only offered for discussion, and do not represent the official position of an agency or board.
In 2020 . . .
(1). The Southern Baptist Convention is now called the World Baptist Convention. The name change is solely for the purpose of reflecting the true identity of the convention. No longer are we mainly a group of churches in the American south, but rather we have planted churches around the world that wish to be identified with our convention.
(2). The first World Baptist Faith and Message, approved overwhelmingly by each WBC state convention and other WBC national conventions, focuses on the essentials of the faith. These essentials include all the fundamentals of the faith, but third tier doctrines which have divided Baptists in different cultures are left out of the WBFM in order to promote unity within our diversity.
(3). There are no split individual state conventions connected with the WBC. Reconciliation and restoration among split state conventions has occurred through a genuine revival in the hearts of pastors, denominational leaders, and people of the WBC in states that were once split. Our love for Jesus Christ and His people is evident to the world because newspapers are reporting on what we are doing together to change the world rather than reporting on our fighting and bickering with each other.
(4). The International Mission Board of the WBC has 10,000 missionaries appointed in countries that are in great need of an evangelical witness. Other countries that have been evangelized have churches that now identify with, and support, the work of the IMB of the WBC in unreached people groups.
(5). The World Baptist Convention has grown from 44,000 churches in 2006 in the Southern United States to 115,000 churches around the world. The autonomy of the local church continues to be respected, and the World Baptist Convention takes her orders from messengers who meet once a year, and has resisted the temptation that usually plagues large mainline denominations to operate from the top down. The local church remains the highest authority in the WBC.
(6). Trustee appointments are made by the Nominating Committee from a list of people offered to the WBC by the individual state and national convention officers. The vast size of the WBC necessitates more involvment of state and national leadership in the appointment process and broadens the appointment process.
(7). Theological training expands with the creation and support of an additional six seminaries --- all overseas. These seminaries are run by national trustees, but willingly identify with the WBC and affirm the WBFM.
(8). Leadership within the WBC, including trustees, convention officers, and other leadership comes from churches that give a minumum of 7% of undesignated receipts to the Cooperative Program. Churches could identify themselves as a WBC church by simply giving to the Cooperative Program, but members or pastors of those churches could not serve in leadership positions of the WBC without giving the minimum 7% to the CP.
(9). The World Baptist Convention is known by the world more for her emphasis on the gospel of Jesus Christ than for any political, social, or cultural stand. Since the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, the WBC has determined to focus on obtaining God's power rather than an attempt at political or social power.
(10). The World Baptist Convention is held each June at multiple sites around the world, with each site connected to the main site in the United States via the world wide web. The convention is known for the worship, preaching testimonies, and business conducted by the messengers and not for her politics.
I am reminded that the angel told Mary, "With God nothing is impossible." For the above to happen the SBC will have to be led by people who are not satisfied with the status quo, do not desire any personal power or fame, and truly wish to see the gospel of Jesus Christ impact the world through our beloved convention.
My wife says I am naive. :)
I may be, but surely there is nothing wrong with dreaming. :)
In His Grace,
Wade
10 Rules of Etiquette for Blog Debates
Have you ever experienced the nervousness of speaking before a large or unfamiliar crowd and feel your heart beat quickly, your mouth dry up, and your mind race as you try to get a grip on your emotions?
Those who are familiar with public speaking find that this kind of apprehension is normal --- at first. Though it never fully goes away, as the speaker becomes more comfortable in the setting, the emotion of nervousness will abate.
I think that is probably also the case with some of the emotion in the dialogue and debate on blogs. I realize that there have been some very angry and harsh responses to posts and comments among some Southern Baptists, but I believe that over time, as everyone gets comfortable with the idea of debate and dialogue via the internet, the emotional level will lower to a more typical and normal range.
In fact, I think that is already taking place. Those who have been involved in the debate for several weeks or months are finding their emotions moderating as they respond. Disagreement will never disappear, but when our convention gets used to free and open debate on issues we will find the discussion to be more courteous and respectful with far less acrimony and hostility.
A Lesson from History
Throughout Baptist history the practice of open debate to address and resolve complex issues, including false accusations of heresy, has been part of the fabric of our existence. In fact, the Baptists in 17th Century England called for open debate, which they called "Public Disputations," in order to address the accusations made by other evangelicals that Baptists were heretics. Dr. McBeth writes:
"Perhaps no group in England made more use of public disputations than did Baptists. Between 1641 and 1700 at least 109 such public debates involving Baptists were held in England, with 79 of these between 1641 and 1660. These debates pitted one or more Baptist champions against opponents from Anglican, Quaker, Independent, or, sometimes, Roman Catholic groups. Baptists welcomed these occasions, for they gave opportunity for declaring the gospel to large crowds, helped defend Baptists against unjust slanders, and often led to numerous conversions and the planting of new churches. Many leading Baptists of that time were converted at public disputations, such as John Tombes, Henry Jessey, and Christopher Blackwood. All of these became popular disputation leaders themselves, along with other Baptists such as William Kiffin, Jeremiah Ives, and John Bunyan"
H Leon Mcbeth. The Baptist Heritage -- Four Centuries of Baptist Witness (Broadman Press 1987), 64-65.
Rules of Etiquette for Blog Debates
Someone should probably come up with 10 Rules of Etiquette for Blog Debates. All of us can be sharpened by the comments of others as iron sharpens iron, and even more exciting, people may truly be transformed by the power of the gospel as we discuss the beauty and nuances of the good news in a public setting.
I'm wondering if Southern Baptists might actually make a contribution to blogging debates by coming up with a list of etiquette rules that the blogging community would willingly follow. The internet has a way of policing itself, and if a good set of rules could be generally agreed upon, and an individual violated them, then the blog community would ignore that person's posts or comments.
I would like to give it a try.
List Your Most Important Rules of Etiquette Here
I would like your suggestions regarding the most important rules of etiquette for debate on the blogs. Let's see if we can't come up with a Baptist community effort to establish some rules. I'll poll some people (and feel free to offer your comments about other people's rules as well) and we'll see if we can't come up with some good rules of etiquette for both posts and comments.
I look forward to your hearing your wisdom.
In His Grace,
Wade
Those who are familiar with public speaking find that this kind of apprehension is normal --- at first. Though it never fully goes away, as the speaker becomes more comfortable in the setting, the emotion of nervousness will abate.
I think that is probably also the case with some of the emotion in the dialogue and debate on blogs. I realize that there have been some very angry and harsh responses to posts and comments among some Southern Baptists, but I believe that over time, as everyone gets comfortable with the idea of debate and dialogue via the internet, the emotional level will lower to a more typical and normal range.
In fact, I think that is already taking place. Those who have been involved in the debate for several weeks or months are finding their emotions moderating as they respond. Disagreement will never disappear, but when our convention gets used to free and open debate on issues we will find the discussion to be more courteous and respectful with far less acrimony and hostility.
A Lesson from History
Throughout Baptist history the practice of open debate to address and resolve complex issues, including false accusations of heresy, has been part of the fabric of our existence. In fact, the Baptists in 17th Century England called for open debate, which they called "Public Disputations," in order to address the accusations made by other evangelicals that Baptists were heretics. Dr. McBeth writes:
"Perhaps no group in England made more use of public disputations than did Baptists. Between 1641 and 1700 at least 109 such public debates involving Baptists were held in England, with 79 of these between 1641 and 1660. These debates pitted one or more Baptist champions against opponents from Anglican, Quaker, Independent, or, sometimes, Roman Catholic groups. Baptists welcomed these occasions, for they gave opportunity for declaring the gospel to large crowds, helped defend Baptists against unjust slanders, and often led to numerous conversions and the planting of new churches. Many leading Baptists of that time were converted at public disputations, such as John Tombes, Henry Jessey, and Christopher Blackwood. All of these became popular disputation leaders themselves, along with other Baptists such as William Kiffin, Jeremiah Ives, and John Bunyan"
H Leon Mcbeth. The Baptist Heritage -- Four Centuries of Baptist Witness (Broadman Press 1987), 64-65.
Rules of Etiquette for Blog Debates
Someone should probably come up with 10 Rules of Etiquette for Blog Debates. All of us can be sharpened by the comments of others as iron sharpens iron, and even more exciting, people may truly be transformed by the power of the gospel as we discuss the beauty and nuances of the good news in a public setting.
I'm wondering if Southern Baptists might actually make a contribution to blogging debates by coming up with a list of etiquette rules that the blogging community would willingly follow. The internet has a way of policing itself, and if a good set of rules could be generally agreed upon, and an individual violated them, then the blog community would ignore that person's posts or comments.
I would like to give it a try.
List Your Most Important Rules of Etiquette Here
I would like your suggestions regarding the most important rules of etiquette for debate on the blogs. Let's see if we can't come up with a Baptist community effort to establish some rules. I'll poll some people (and feel free to offer your comments about other people's rules as well) and we'll see if we can't come up with some good rules of etiquette for both posts and comments.
I look forward to your hearing your wisdom.
In His Grace,
Wade
Laus Deo: Our Highest Ambition
Every year we take our sixth graders from Emmanuel Christian School to Washington D.C. for the annual sixth grade trip. We go the great cities of the east coast including New York City, Philadelphia, and the nation's capital.Last year I noticed that the skyline of the capital is low and squatty, unlike the skylines of her sister metropolitan cities. I disovered through inquiry that there is a law in Washington DC that no building can be of greater height than the Washington Monument (Update: The law regulates that no building shall be higher than 90 feet -- still lower than the Monument but the restriction is not tied to it).
Interesting.
The highest piece of man-made material in our nation's capital is the aluminum cap of the Washington Monument. On this cap are enscribed two words: Laus Deo.
These words are 555 feet, 5.125 inches high, perched atop the monument, facing skyward, overlooking the 69 square miles which comprise the District of Columbia, capital of the United States of America. The words are written facing the open sky and are unnoticed by the thousands of visitors to the monument each day.
Laus Deo! Two seemingly insignificant, un-noticed words. Out of sight and, one might think, out of mind, but very meaningfully placed at the highest point over what is the most powerful city in the most successful nation in the world.
These words were intentionally placed there by the fathers of the city in the 1800's.
So, what do those two words, in Latin, composed of just four syllables and only seven letters, mean?
Very simply, they say... "Praise be to God!"
May our highest objective in all the things we seek to accomplish within the SBC, our churches, and our individual lives be that which ultimately redounds to the praise of God alone.
In His Grace,
Wade Burleson
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