“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:” Isaiah 46:9-10
“I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes – that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit, as well as the sun in the heavens – that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses. The creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence – the fall of . . . leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche.” – Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Gods Sovereignty is a wonderful, Biblical truth. It is the believers rest, our pillow. It is our anchor in the storm. Our strength in trials.
Our God is 100% in control. He is not the least bit perplexed by world events. He is not worried about a thing. Our God is the King of kings. “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will.” Proverbs 21:1
I delight in the fact that our God is in control. By His grace I can say with the hymn-writer, “Whatever my lot,Thou has taught me to say,It is well, it is well, with my soul.”
If God is not in control, then who is?
But the Word of God tells us that He is in control.
He is in control of your next breath.
He is in control of every politcal change.
“He removeth kings, and setteth up kings” {Daniel 2:21}
The most High rules in the kingdoms of men.
He puts down the mighty men. By Him kings rule.
Do you chafe at His sovereignty?
Do you kick at His Lordship?
If He can turn the kings heart, can He not turn yours?
Can He not make the vilest sinner turn to Him?
Can He not stop the wild career of the persecutor and cause him to cry out, “Who art thou Lord”?
Do we not pray that He will intervene in the hearts and lives of our unsaved loved ones?
Let me offer some thoughts from C.H. Spurgeon on the subject:
“World events are not tangled, confused, or perplexing to God.
He guides the grain of dust in the March wind and the planets in their immeasurable pathways.
God is the dictator of destinies.
He is the same in the crash of battle or in the hush of peace.
He is the same in famine or in the joy of an abundant harvest.
The storm may rage, but all is well, for our Captain is the governor of storms. He who trod the waves of the Galilean lake is at the helm, and at His command winds and waves are quiet
Things are not in the hurly-burly which we imagine, but driven onward by a power which is irresistible, they are under law to God, and speed onward without deviation towards the goal which he designs.
The span of your life is measured to a hair’s width. Restless soul, God ordains all, so let the Lord have His way.” – CHS
Are you resting in His sovereignty?
Do you also delight in it?
Recommended reading: The Sovereignty of God in Providence– John Reisinger
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Romans 6:1-2
Jude 1:4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 John 2:6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
Websters 1828: ANTINO’MIAN, noun One of a sect who maintain, that, under the gospel dispensation, the law is of no use or obligation; or who hold doctrines which supersede the necessity of good works and a virtuous life. This sect originated with John Agricola about the year 1538.
The word Antinomian is not found in the Bible but the characteristic is often described in the New Testament.
The Bible describes these people as ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and as the servants of sin and corruption. Antinomians by their lifestyle deny the Lord Jesus Christ.
Today there are many people who claim to know Jesus Christ as their Saviour but they will not have Him reign over them.
They want to go to Heaven but they do not want to “walk, even as He walked”.
They have turned Gods grace into lasciviousness. { “unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, lasciviousness, wantonness, outrageousness, shamelessness, insolence” }
We are told in the New Testament that we are to walk as Christ walked. Did Jesus Christ keep Gods moral law?
If He did, so should we.
The antinomian mindset has been with us from the beginning.
According to the writers of the New Testament it was found in the earliest churches.
It is a leaven that must be continually be contended against.
A root that must be repeatedly dug up.
“You {Antinomians} have no evidence of genuine piety, you are not holy men and women, you can live in sin, you can walk as sinners walk, you have the image of the devil upon you, and yet you call yourselves the children of God. One of the first evidences that anyone is a child of God is that he hates sin with a perfect hatred, and seeks to live a holy, Christlike life.” – CHS
“In my first pastorate, I had often to battle with Antinomians,—that is, people who held that, because they believed themselves to be elect, they might live as they liked.”
“From my very soul, I detest everything that in the least savors of the Antinomianism which leads people to prate about being secure in Christ while they are living in sin. We cannot be saved by or for our good works, neither can we be saved without good works. Christ never will save any of His people in their sins; He saves His people from their sins. If a man is not desiring to live a holy life in the sight of God, with the help of the Holy Spirit, he is still ” in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.”
“The saved man is not a perfect man; but his heart’s desire is to become perfect, he is always panting after perfection, and the day will come when he will be perfected, after the image of his once crucified and now glorified Saviour, in knowledge and true holiness.”
“There is Antinomian liberty — God deliver us from that! A man saith, “I am not under the law of God, therefore I will live as I like.” A most blessed truth followed by a most atrocious inference. The Christian is not under the law, but under grace — that is a very precious fact: it is much better to serve God because we love him, than because we are afraid of his wrath. To be under the law is to give God the service of a slave who fears the lash; but to be under grace is to serve God out of pure love to him. Oh to be a child, and to give the obedience of a child, and not the homage of a serf! But the Antinomian saith, “I am not under the law, therefore will I live and fulfil my own lust and pleasures.” Paul says of those who argue thus, their damnation is just. We have had the pain of knowing some who have said, “I am God’s elect; Christ shed his blood for me; I shall never perish ;” and then they have gone to the ale-house, they have sung the drunkard’s tong, and have even used the drunkard’s oath. What is this, dear friends, but a strong delusion to believe a lie?”
{Antinomians} “profess that his love to them gives them a liberty to rebel against his will, God deliver you from any such freedom as this ; be not legalists, but love the law of God, and in it make your delight. Abhor all idea of being saved by good works, but oh! be as full of good works as if you were to be saved by them. Walk in holiness as if your own walking would make you enter into heaven, and then rest on Christ, knowing that nothing of your own can ever open the gate of the Celestial City. Eschew and abhor anything like Antinomianism.”
“Brethren, it is a precious doctrine that the saints are safe, but it is a damnable inference from it, that therefore they may live as they list. It is a glorious truth that God will keep his people, but it is an abominable falsehood that sin will do them no harm. Remember that God gives us liberty, not licence, and while he gives us protection he will not allow us presumption.”
“For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” Jude 1:4
What a strange day we live in as Christians.
If preach against sin, you are a legalist.
If you say “we should be holy” you are some kind of crank.
We have a generation or two of people who have slid into a church but have never been placed into Christ.
Many have repeated a prayer or came to an altar but have never come to Christ.
They are still the servants of sin.
They are still lovers of the world.
They look, act and talk just like the pagan world around them.
I often say the average preacher spends most of his time herding dogs and washing hogs. {2 Peter 2:19-22}
The grace of God that brings salvation has not taught them that they should deny ungodliness and worldly lust, that they should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. {Titus 2:11-12}
Notice how the Apostle Paul describes them in the book of Titus.
Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. Titus 1:15-16
There are folks today, even in churches, who name the name of Christ who in works deny Him.
Their walk talks louder than their talk.
People will say, “what is sin?”
…As if the Bible doesn’t tell us what sin is.
We are living in a day of moral relativism.
Our public schools, colleges and universities and the media have been force feeding it to us for years.
Now we have “your truth” and “my truth”.
When in fact there is only one truth…and it is in the Bible.
Unless some men of God stand up and preach the Word to a bunch of Laodicean church people we are doomed.
Are you still a servant to sin? Or Has Jesus Christ changed your life?
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Titus 2:11-13
Saving grace is teaching grace.
The grace of God teaches us how to live in this present world.
The New Testament is full of admonitions to be holy, to live holy.
The Word of God tells us…
To not walk like the world.
To not love what the world loves.
To put off our former conversation or lifestyle.
To mortify this flesh.
To not be conformed to this world.
To put off the old man.
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
{Colossians 3:5-10}
A child of God used to “walk” or live that way.
If holiness were something that happened “automatically” when we trusted Christ there would be no need in the Bible for all this teaching and instructing on the way and necessity of holiness. – Brother Shawn
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Titus 2:11-12
Sometimes there is confusion over the doctrine of sanctification. Some folks have went into the ditches on this doctrine.
There are usually ditches on both sides of Biblical truth.
I believe there are three types of sanctification mentioned in the Word of God.
Positional sanctification, Progressive sanctification, and Final sanctification.
Jesus Christ came into to the world to save us from our sins.
He came to save us from the penalty of sin, the power of sin and one day the presence of sin.
Hebrews 10:10 says “…we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Those who are saved are “positionally” holy before God because they have been justified. That is positional sanctification.
Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Those who are saved are to conformed to the image of Christ. That is progressive sanctification.
We are a work in progress.
The Christian is not to be conformed to this world but transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Romans 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Those who are saved are to be glorified.
One day He is going to “change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body…”
That is final sanctification.
In this word “sanctification” there are three great truths.
And as far as our God is concerned they are all as good as completed, and have been before the foundation of the world.
Our justification is unchangeable. {once justified, always justified}
And His work in us is continuous
And our glorification is inevitable. “whom he justified, them He also glorified.”
But while we live the Christian life, our walk, in this body, in this world…our sanctification is practical and progressive.
“Justification is perfect the moment it is received, but sanctification is a matter of growth… To make us holy is a life-work, and for it we should seek the divine operation every hour” – Charles Haddon Spurgeon
The Bible is very clear concerning the homosexual {sodomite} lifestyle.
Both the Old Testament and the New Testament have passages condemning the sin of homosexuality.
Until recently nearly all Christians were in agreement that the sin of the Sodomites was an extremely grievous and damning sin.
It must also be affirmed that according to the Word of God, it is impossible to be LGBTQ and be a Christian.
That would be akin to saying that someone is a Christian fornicator or a Christian thief or a Christian drunkard etc.
Creeping into “Christendom” at a rapid pace is the opinion that the sodomite lifestyle is to be accepted and even celebrated. This is totally contrary to the teaching of the Bible.
Society and our government may condone sin but making something legal does not make it Biblically or morally right.
One of the most precious freedoms we enjoy as Americans is the freedom of speech. The freedom to express our beliefs regardless of how repugnant or even offensive some may find them.
Someone has well said; “The First Amendment was designed to protect offensive and unpopular speech.”
Christians are not called to “fit in”.
Today’s Christian should realize that being unpopular or even being hated is not only a possibility, it is what we should expect.
Jesus said; If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. John 15:18-19
The LGBTQ movement “brooks no quarter” for anyone or any organization that will not go along and “celebrate” what the Bible calls a vile and unnatural lifestyle.
Please consider the following from Gods Word…
Homosexuality is a sin worthy of Gods Vengeance.
“Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” Jude vs.7
Homosexuality is against nature
“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient…” Romans 1:26-28
Those Living a LGBTQ lifestyle are not going to Heaven.
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” I Corinthians 6:9-10
There is hope for the LGBTQ.
“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” I Corinthians 6:11
Christians are to love and pray for sinners.
We are to have “compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” Jude 1:23
John 8:30-32 “As he spake these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Disciple.
This is a word that is not used today all that often in modern Christianity. We normally do not go around saying that someone is a disciple of Jesus Christ.
But the word is found at least 255 times in the New Testament.
A disciple is “a learner or pupil”
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary gives the following definition, “A follower; an adherent to the doctrines of another. Hence the constant attendants of Christ were called his disciples; and hence all Christians are called his disciples, as they profess to learn and receive his doctrines and precepts.”
Unfortunately today people equate being a disciple with being something more than a “regular” Christian.
The theology of the last 150 years or so has confused the plain teaching of the Word of God.
It has implied and sometimes taught outright that a person can be a Christian and yet not be a disciple.
This teaching is unscriptural.
This deceitful teaching has taught numerous generations of church people that a person can be saved and their lives not be transformed.
This teaching was designed as a smokescreen for the shoddy results of our evangelism of the past 160 years.
In modern evangelism people come forward, raise their hand or repeat a prayer but their lives are not changed.
Many Christians believe that raising your hand, repeating certain words or kneeling at the front of a church is something almost magical, like repeating a spell or a saying some kind of “magic words”
It is more or less implied if you say these certain words… then you are a Christian. If you go through these certain rituals then you are saved forever.
I wonder…if it is not asking too much…
Could someone tell me where that is in the Word of God?
But the Bible does teach this, if a person is saved, they are saved by the grace of God through faith.
If you are saved today it is because you had “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“Our Lord teaches the great principle, that steady continuance is the only real and safe proof of discipleship. No perseverance, no grace! No continuance in the word, no real faith and conversion! This is one of the meeting-points between Calvinist and Arminian. He that has true grace will not fall away. He that falls away has no true grace, and must not flatter himself he is a disciple.” – J.C. Ryle
Look again at what our Lord said in verse 31.
Jesus said; “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed…”
“Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins…”
But we live in a day when many Christians have no idea what it means to be free from the chains of sin. People behave like the world even though they claim to be saved by Gods grace. If it wasn’t for their Christian tattoo {sic} you would never know that they were “saved”.
They talk, and live, just like the unsaved world around them. They love exactly what the world loves and if you mention holiness to them, you are undoubtedly a Pharisee. Many modern-day preachers tell people {in so many words} if you came forward or you raised your hand or repeated a prayer, you are saved. No matter how you live. No matter how sinful you are. No matter that you have no desire for holiness whatever. You have repeated the “magic” words, so you are okay. I warn every preacher, every Christian and every parent, you are not doing anyone any favors by giving people assurance while they are living in sin. By the way, it is not our job to give people assurance. If God hasn’t changed the “bent” or the direction of your life you have no reason to believe you are a Christian. It is true that Christians will sin but the true child of God is not content to stay in sin. If God delivers you out of the hog-pen, you’ll have no desire to live there again.
I am afraid that we have produced a lot of “hog-pen Christians” in our day. The late A.W. Tozer said, “then they build a little tabernacle and call it the First Tabernacle of the Converted Swineherds.”.
Tozer went on to say; “Somebody suggested that the cross of Christ should not inconvenience people. Well, it is the most inconvenient thing in the world, this cross of Christ! It took a man by the name of Jesus in the height of his healthy human life and took Him out on a hillside and killed Him there – now, that’s an inconvenient thing for Him! And any cross is inconvenient; it’s a most inconvenient thing, this accepting Christ, if we know what we mean by it. BUT THE ACCEPTING CHRIST OF POPULAR THEOLOGY HAS NO INCONVENIENCE ATTACHED TO IT.”
I spoke with a man not long ago who had spent most of his adult life in prison. He was a drug dealer and user. I had known him when he was a little boy. His parents and sister went to the same church as I did as a teenager. He told me he was saved when he was a child. While we were conversing on the phone he was cursing and drinking alcohol. He had served time in prison for committing several violent crimes and was still addicted to drugs. There was nothing in his life that indicated he was a Christian. Yet he said he had been “saved” as a child. He went on tell me that several Baptist preachers in my area had assured him that he was saved. I told him that by the authority of Gods Word and every evidence in his life, he assuredly had no reason whatever to think he was saved. We spoke for over an hour. I gave him scripture and implored him to turn from his sin and turn to Christ. As far as I know he did not. But before he hung up he thanked me. He said to me. “You are the only preacher that I have talked to who was honest enough to tell me the truth.”
If Christ didn’t change your life, you are not saved!
“If our religion does not make us moral, it is a millstone about our necks to destroy us! …The best morality in the world will not prove a man to be a Christian! But if a man has not morality, it proves that he is not a child of God.” – C.H. Spurgeon
The question IS NOT…
Did you raise your hand? or
Did you come to the altar? or
Did you repeat this prayer? Or
Did you get baptized?
THE question is…DID JESUS CHRIST CHANGE YOUR LIFE?
If not, you have absolutely no reason to think you are a Christian.
NONE.
Are you still in the hog pen?
Only Jesus Christ can loose the chains of sin.
I unapologetically stake everything I believe, teach and preach on these facts.
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Romans 6:1-2
The Christian Excavator 