OUTLINE:
Latest Blogs (newest first)
– Pharaoh’s Hardened Heart – 8/19/22
– God’s Sovereign Will – 8/5/22
– Diet Coke – 7/29/22
– Self-Esteem – 7/22/22
– The Simplicity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – 7/15/22
The Simplicity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – 7/15/22
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is very simple to understand. The Gospel is Jesus Christ. He is the good news. He is Lord and Savior. Anyone who chooses to believe in Him will be saved. It’s that simple. Let’s not complicate what God has made so easy to understand.
Modern Palatable False Gospel (example)
Man is the center and cause of his own salvation, where faith is something man is able to manufacture in the absence of God’s divine intervention. Of course, this runs contrary to Biblical revelation – e.g. Eph 2; Ro 9).
Eph 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ro 9:15-16
For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
Eph 2:4-5
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved
Modern Palatable False Gospel (example)
Man is the center and cause of his own salvation, where faith is something man is able to manufacture in the absence of God’s divine intervention. Of course, this runs contrary to Biblical revelation – e.g. Eph 2; Ro 9).
Gal 1:6-7
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
Defend God’s Grace Gospel
Instead of being caught off-guard, we must rather stand guard… stand at attention in our souls, prepared for perversions to be thrown at us that try to sway our steadfast reliance on God’s grace alone in our salvation.
Eph 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Pr 16:18
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Self-Esteem – 7/22/22
Turn away from the mainstream concept of self-esteem – it’s a death-trap. Turn towards Christ and you will have, in effect, turned your back on the bondage of pride…
Pride is nothing more than self-esteem on steroids. Pride kills anything good: love, relationships, health, you name it.
Ps 46:10a
Be still, and know that I am God.
Self Deception
Gal 6:3For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
1Co 8:2If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.
Jn 15:5
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Diet Coke – 7/29/22
Satan and the kingdom of darkness are relentless in pushing counterfeit doctrines. For example, a key ingredient in the recipe for spiritual growth is faith, arguably among the greatest counterfeited of all. However, there is no substitute for faith. To substitute something like human rationalism for faith is to displease God.
Faith Leads to Deliverance
God has never promised to give us all the answers; but, He has promised to give us faith that saves/delivers us (ala Positional, Experiential, and Ultimate Sanctification).
1Co 15:10
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
God’s Sovereign Will – 8/5/22
If you read the Book of Genesis once through, quickly, you’ll see that God’s sovereign will is what keeps His salvific plan on track, nothing else. Without God’s direct intervention at every stage of human history (e.g., if man were left to his own devices), man would self-destruct, and we’d all end up in Hell. That’s a fact.
Pharaoh’s Hardened Heart – 8/19/22
With all of this evidence (ten verses establishing God’s sovereign will to harden Pharaoh’s heart and ten verses revealing Pharaoh’s human will to harden his own heart), what shall we conclude? Simple. Both concepts are true!…If you lack [faith] still…do as the apostles did…pray for more faith.
Pray for More Faith
Don’t let your own flesh trick you into not believing!!
Stop right there and pray for more faith!!
Defend God’s Grace Gospel
Instead of being caught off-guard, we must rather stand guard… stand at attention in our souls, prepared for perversions to be thrown at us that try to sway our steadfast reliance on God’s grace alone in our salvation.