Posts Tagged ‘Evangelism
I have added three new videos to my Youtube channel, The Berean Voice, titled “Questions Leighton Flowers Needs to Answer.” I invite you to watch them and comment on them.
11
May
19
Less or More?
If you should ask about prevenient grace, my questions would be what is there that is accomplished in this mysterious work of God about which the Scriptures never once speak, that is not accomplished by what Calvinists would call common grace? If someone should answer that it grants to the sinner the power of free will, we would have to ask how the speaker understands the concept of free will. If we should take the definition the Traditionalists have given, i.e., “the ability to choose between two options,” we would have to ask whether all do not concede that all rational beings have that ability as a part of their constitution as human beings. Do we mean by the term, the ability to choose other than we have chosen? If so, we would state that this ability is not granted either by prevenient or by effectual grace as long as we do not mean that we have the ability to choose that for which we have no desire and to which every fiber of our beings is totally averse. This ability does not need to be granted to any sinner. Additionally, the same would apply to the concept that sinners act voluntarily and not by compulsion. No one should deny this. The problem is that all the prevenient grace in the world will not remedy the sinner’s indisposition to choose what he ought to choose and reject what he ought to reject. The problem is not his inability to choose the right if he so desires but his lack of desire to choose the right. There is no evidence that prevenient grace, whatever it may be, does anything to change a sinner’s inmost desires
The difference is that Calvinists believe God has done more to bring some sinners to himself than he has done to bring all sinners to himself, and synergists don’t think he has the right to do that. He is not free to do for one sinner what he does not do for another. When one boils all the fat out of it, the issue is whether God has the right to be God or not.
Several years ago a group of leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention, spooked by the specter of a rising tide of Calvinism within the ranks of the SBC and under the direction of Dr. Eric Hankin, contrived a document they called “A Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation.” When one reads the preamble to this document, at least two things become obvious. The first is that those who wrote the document and those who later signed it are painfully ignorant of Calvinistic doctrine, and the second is that they wrote it for the purpose of counteracting the dreaded plague of Calvinism in their cherished denomination. This is what they stated in the preamble—“ The precipitating issue for this statement is the rise of a movement called “New Calvinism” among Southern Baptists. This movement is committed to advancing in the churches an exclusively Calvinistic understanding of salvation, characterized by an aggressive insistence on the “Doctrines of Grace” (“TULIP”), and to the goal of making Calvinism the central Southern Baptist position on God’s plan of salvation.”
If that is an accurate assessment of their purpose, one would have expected that the concepts they affirmed would have been teachings that Calvinists deny and the ideas they denied, would have been teachings that Calvinists would affirm. Interestingly, this was not the case in many of their affirmations and denials. Consider, for example, the following statements from their preamble to which any true Calvinist would say a hearty AMEN!
They wrote,
“Traditional Southern Baptist soteriology is grounded in the conviction that every person can and must be saved by a personal and free decision to respond to the Gospel by trusting in Christ Jesus alone as Savior and Lord.” And, “Baptists have been well-served by a straightforward soteriology rooted in the fact that Christ is willing and able to save any and every sinner.”
If their goal was to pee on a tire to mark their territory, I suppose they have accomplished what they wished to accomplish. If their goal was to open an honest and meaningful dialogue between themselves and Calvinists, they could not have failed more miserably.
I have reproduced here what they affirmed and denied in their declaration and what they should have affirmed and denied if they wished to address the real issues that separate them from soteriological monergists, A.K.A. Calvinists. I am not suggesting that everyone who signed the document had sufficient theological understanding to fathom the depths of the issues under consideration. I am not suggesting that everyone who signed the document necessarily embraced all the implications I have suggested that their doctrine entails. What I am boldly stating is that it is the issues under the heading “What They Should Have Affirmed and Denied” which Calvinists are concerned to address and not the “straw man” implications suggested by many of their affirmations and denials. In large part, the issues that divide us are seen in the contrast between what they should have affirmed and what they should have denied. Generally speaking, what they should have affirmed from their point of view is what Calvinists deny, and what they should have denied is what Calvinists have affirmed. These are the real issues we should be discussing if ever we are to find unity concerning these essential doctrines.
Consider the contrast between what they affirmed and denied and what they should have affirmed and denied.
What They Affirmed and Denied
Article One: The Gospel
We affirm that the Gospel is the good news that God has made a way of salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ for any person. This is in keeping with God’s desire for every person to be saved.
We deny that only a select few are capable of responding to the Gospel while the rest are predestined to an eternity in hell.
What They Should Have Affirmed and Denied
Article One: The Gospel
We affirm that the gospel is the good news that God has made a way of salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ for every person on the condition of their free will decision but has not secured the salvation of any person in particular. This is in keeping with God’s desire for every person to be saved, a desire that is subjugated to the sinner’s free will decision.
We deny that anyone is incapable of responding positively to the gospel or that God has decreed to permit anyone to remain in their sins and perish.
What They Affirmed and Denied
Article Two: The Sinfulness of Man
We affirm that, because of the fall of Adam, every person inherits a nature and environment inclined toward sin and that every person who is capable of moral action will sin. Each person’s sin alone brings the wrath of a holy God, broken fellowship with Him, ever-worsening selfishness and destructiveness, death, and condemnation to an eternity in hell.
We deny that Adam’s sin resulted in the incapacitation of any person’s free will or rendered any person guilty before he has personally sinned. While no sinner is remotely capable of achieving salvation through his own effort, we deny that any sinner is saved apart from a free response to the Holy Spirit’s drawing through the Gospel.
What They Should Have Affirmed and Denied
Article Two: The Sinfulness of Man
What they affirm is unequivocally contrary to what Calvinists affirm.
We deny that Adam’s sin resulted in the incapacitation of any [every] person’s autonomous will.
We deny that any person is saved apart from an autonomous free will response to the Father’s ineffectual persuasion.
What They Affirmed and Denied
Article Three: The Atonement of Christ
We affirm that the penal substitution of Christ is the only available and effective sacrifice for the sins of every person.
We deny that this atonement results in salvation without a person’s free response of repentance and faith. We deny that God imposes or withholds this atonement without respect to an act of the person’s free will. We deny that Christ died only for the sins of those who will be saved.
What They Should Have Affirmed and Denied
Article Three: The Atonement of Christ
We affirm that the penal substitution of Christ [that does not actually substitute for any sinner in particular] is nothing but a mere provision that, in itself, did not secure the salvation of any sinner. Though there is provision for the salvation of any sinner who decides to let Jesus’ save him, Jesus’ death was not actually and objectively intended to save any sinner in particular. The sole factor that determines who will be saved and who will be lost is the sinner’s autonomous decision and has nothing to do with God’s design and intention at all.
We deny that this atonement was intended objectively to secure the salvation of any sinner in particular or that God had any specific design in sending his Son apart from making a mere provision. Furthermore, we deny that any sinner will have this provision applied to him apart from the decision of his autonomous will. We deny that Jesus actually accomplished the eternal redemption of any sinner in particular since he objectively accomplished no more in his redemptive work for those who will make their autonomous free will decision to let him save them than he did for those who will finally be lost.
What They Affirmed and Denied
Article Four: The Grace of God
We affirm that grace is God’s generous decision to provide salvation for any person by taking all of the initiative in providing atonement, in freely offering the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit, and in uniting the believer to Christ through the Holy Spirit by faith.
We deny that grace negates the necessity of a free response of faith or that it cannot be resisted. We deny that the response of faith is in any way a meritorious work that earns salvation.
What They Should Have Affirmed and Denied
Article Four: The Grace of God
We affirm that the grace of God is not intended to secure the salvation of any favored sinner so that God actually brings salvation to any person based on his prior intention, but has determined to permit millions of sinners to perish in unbelief rather than to violate their autonomous will. We affirm that though the sinner’s autonomous will decision cannot, in itself, merit a right standing before God, that decision that is determined by his greater humility, pliability, spirituality, intelligence, etc., is the sole factor that distinguishes him from other sinners. He and he alone is the one who makes himself to differ from other sinners.
We deny that God’s gracious efforts to save sinners are effectual in any sense but depend completely on the sinner’s autonomous decision to cooperate with God’s ineffectual efforts. We deny that God distinguishes between sinners on any ground other than the sinner’s autonomous decision.
What They Affirmed and Denied
Article Five: The Regeneration of the Sinner
We affirm that any person who responds to the Gospel with repentance and faith is born again through the power of the Holy Spirit. He is a new creation in Christ and enters, at the moment he believes, into eternal life.
We deny that any person is regenerated prior to or apart from hearing and responding to the Gospel.
What They Should Have Affirmed and Denied
Article Five: The Regeneration of the Sinner
We affirm that regeneration is completely unnecessary in regard to bringing sinners to repentance and faith in Christ. The wooing of the Holy Spirit is never effectual in bringing sinners to Christ. There is no real reason for God to change a person’s heart and disposition since those who respond to the gospel are already humble and pliable and willingly respond to the gospel when wooed by the Holy Spirit.
We deny that any person’s regeneration is effected by the work of the Spirit removing his disposition to resist the free overtures of the gospel in response to which he is responsible to repent and believe.
What They Affirmed and Denied
Article Six: The Election to Salvation
We affirm that, in reference to salvation, election speaks of God’s eternal, gracious, and certain plan in Christ to have a people who are His by repentance and faith.
We deny that election means that, from eternity, God predestined certain people for salvation and others for condemnation.
What They Should Have Affirmed and Denied
Article Six: Election to Salvation
We affirm that election to salvation is an invention of Calvinists and Arminians that did not occur at all. We do not believe that God had a gracious plan to save any sinner in particular but only chose a plan according to which he would save any sinner who was sufficiently humble and pliable by nature to make the right decision. We affirm that it is possible that God would never have a people of his own since the outcome depends fully on the sinner’s autonomous will decision and not on any plan that Calvinists and Arminians have imagined that he may have had.
We deny that God has any control whatsoever in regard to the salvation of sinners.
What They Affirmed and Denied
Article Seven: The Sovereignty of God
We affirm God’s eternal knowledge of and sovereignty over every person’s salvation or condemnation.
We deny that God’s sovereignty and knowledge require Him to cause a person’s acceptance or rejection of faith in Christ.
What They Should Have Affirmed and Denied
Article Seven: The Sovereignty of God
We affirm that though we believe God has knowledge of all that will occur, he has sovereignly relinquished all control of the universe to the sinner’s autonomous will decision, and would rather see millions of sinners perish in their sins than to remove their stony hearts and grant them a new disposition that would cause them to willingly comply with the demands of the gospel.
We deny that God’s sovereignty over all things means that he has the right to deal with his creatures as he has seen fit. We deny that he has the right to pass over guilty rebels and leave them to their just destruction and choose to redeem others who are equally guilty and bring them effectually to salvation.
What They Affirmed and Denied
Article Eight: The Free Will of Man
We affirm that God, as an expression of His sovereignty, endows each person with actual free will (the ability to choose between two options), which must be exercised in accepting or rejecting God’s gracious call to salvation by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel.
We deny that the decision of faith is an act of God rather than a response of the person. We deny that there is an “effectual call” for certain people that is different from a “general call” to any person who hears and understands the Gospel.
What They Should Have Affirmed and Denied
Article Eight: The Free Will of Man
We affirm that, as an expression of his Sovereignty, God granted an autonomy to sinners that cancels out his own autonomy. It is the sinner’s autonomous will that determines all that occurs in human existence. We affirm that since sinners have responsibility to make proper choices and the ability to make improper choices, they must also have the ability to make proper choices. [We could add “Since we are completely ignorant of what Calvinists truly believe, we do not realize that no Calvinist would ever deny that sinners have the ability to choose between two options”].
We deny that God has any part in actually enabling sinners to believe. Whatever assistance he may give to any, he gives to all so that it is nothing but sinners’ autonomous decisions that determines their salvation.
What They Affirmed and Denied
Article Nine: The Security of the Believer
We affirm that when a person responds in faith to the Gospel, God promises to complete the process of salvation in the believer into eternity. This process begins with justification, whereby the sinner is immediately acquitted of all sin and granted peace with God; continues in sanctification, whereby the saved are progressively conformed to the image of Christ by the indwelling Holy Spirit; and concludes in glorification, whereby the saint enjoys life with Christ in heaven forever.
We deny that this Holy Spirit-sealed relationship can ever be broken. We deny even the possibility of apostasy.
What They Should Have Affirmed and Denied
Article Nine: The Security of the Believer
We affirm that God’s purpose and promise to keep and save any believer completely, waits for and depends on the sinner’s autonomous decision to believe. Prior to this decision, God has no purpose for any sinner in particular. Once the sinner responds to the gospel in repentance and faith, God responds to his decision and determines to save him completely.
We deny that there are false professors whose profession and outward conformity to Christian standards may be no different from that of true believers who are in real danger of certain apostasy since they were never truly converted.
What They Affirmed and Denied
Article Ten: The Great Commission
We affirm that the Lord Jesus Christ commissioned His church to preach the good news of salvation to all people to the ends of the earth. We affirm that the proclamation of the Gospel is God’s means of bringing any person to salvation.
We deny that salvation is possible outside of a faith response to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
What They Should Have Understood Apart from a Profound Ignorance of Calvinism on Their Part
Article Ten: The Great Commission
Unless one believes in the salvation of infants and the mentally challenged, Calvinists would agree with the last article.
The following are the issues that Calvinists and SBC Traditionalists need to discuss:
The issue in Article 1 that divides Calvinists and non-Calvinists is not the free and universal offer of the gospel but whether God has determined to make the gospel effectual in bringing a chosen people to himself, or has done all he intends to do and has left the issue in the sinner’s hands to determine the outcome by the exercise of his autonomous will.
The issue in the denial of Article 2 is not whether sinners are able to freely choose between two or more options but whether sinners are able apart from divine enabling to choose to love and trust the God against whom they are hostile.
The issue in Article 3 is not whether the redemptive work of Christ is of sufficient value to save every sinner who will repent and believe but whether it was God’s intention merely to provide the possibility of salvation for sinners who would do their part and receive the gospel, or infallibly accomplish redemption for a multitude that no one can number to whom he would effectually apply that redeeming work by bringing them to faith and repentance.
The issue in Article 4 is not whether God has made a gracious and abundant provision for every sinner who will repent but whether his saving work is a mere provision or a saving accomplishment. Additionally, the issue is whether some sinners are more prone to salvation because of their humility, pliability etc.
The issue in Article 5 is not whether sinners are regenerated prior to or apart from hearing the gospel, but whether sinners in a state of pervasive corruption will ever respond rightly to the gospel unless God removes their disposition to resist its demands.
The issue in Article 6 is whether God or the sinner is the final arbiter in the sinner’s salvation. Did God choose a people or a plan and leave the success of that plan to the sinner’s autonomous choice.
The issue in Article 7 is whether God is sovereign over any sinner’s salvation at all, not whether his sovereignty requires him to cause any sinner’s rejection of faith in Christ. Ultimately, the issue is whether God has the right to rule his creation as he desires.
The issue in Article 8 is not whether sinners are able to choose between options but whether they have the ability to choose that for which they have absolutely no desire and to which their entire beings are absolutely averse.
The issue in Article 9 is not whether true believers are secure for eternity but apostasy is a possibility for those who have professed faith in Christ. The evidence of true conversion is a persevering faith.
The issue in Article 10 is that the document implies that Calvinists do not believe in a free and universal proclamation of the gospel and that they believe a person can be saved apart from a belief in the gospel.
Atonement: A Response To Leighton Flowers’ Misrepresentation. By Randy Seiver
13
Jan
19
God’s Message to You #2
The Problem of Pardon
If you have read in the Sacred Scriptures, about the pardon God freely promises to sinners who repent and believe, you might be wondering how the God who reveals himself in those Scriptures can make such a promise. If you have read those Scriptures carefully, you know that God has revealed himself as a holy and righteous judge who will never declare the guilty to be righteous. For example, In Exodus 34:7 He describes himself as the one who will by no means clear the guilty”. And yet, the apostle Paul calls him the God “who justifies the ungodly” (Romans 4:5), and David described the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works (see Romans 4:6-7) when he wrote, “Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity” (Psalms 32:2).
The Bible does not teach that God infuses grace to sinners to enable them to become sufficiently righteous in themselves for God to declare them righteous. What these Scriptures are teaching is that God declares them righteous when they can claim no righteousness of their own. He justifies [declares righteous] the ungodly. Paul wrote that sinners are “justified freely [this word means without cause, i.e., there is no cause in the sinner] by his grace” (Romans 3:24). This presents a great problem. How can God be righteous and at the same time declare guilty sinners who believe his promise to be righteous in his sight?
God’s Solution to the Problem
This is the problem that the redemptive work of Christ has solved. Notice that Romans 3:24 states that this free justification is “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” What the apostle was teaching in Romans 3 is that God has satisfied his own demands in the sacrifice of his Son. He wrote, “. . .whom God has exhibited publicly as a propitiation in his blood [sacrificial death] through faith, to declare his righteousness. . .that he might be just and at the same time, the justifier of those who believe [put their trust] in Jesus” (Romans 3:25-26).
The gospel tells us of a great exchange. In 2 Corinthians 5:21 Paul wrote, “For he [God] has made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” He did not mean that Jesus actually became a sinner or that we actually become righteous as the basis of our justification. What he meant is that God has treated Jesus as if he were a sinner so that he might treat us as if we were righteous. He not only took the believer’s punishment for sin; he took the believer’s guilt. God judicially abandoned Jesus on the cross, so that believers might be judicially accepted in his presence. Concerning this great exchange, Isaiah wrote concerning his redemptive work for all who will trust God’s promise of pardon,
He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:5-6).
God is calling you now to trust his promise of pardon. This same Jesus who was crucified, has risen from the grave as evidence that the Father has been satisfied with his redemptive sacrifice. He now sits enthroned as the full embodiment of all his redemptive accomplishments. He has full power and authority to rescue and restore all who come to the Father through him. You need no other merit or righteousness but his merit and righteousness. The Scripture says, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts. 4:12) He is ready and willing to save you not only from the guilt and penalty of your sins but from the oppressive power of your sins. All he requires of you is that you trust him to save you. This is his promise to sinners—“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11:28-29).
El Mensaje de Dios Para Usted # 2
El problema del perdón
Si has leído en las Sagradas Escrituras, sobre el perdón que Dios promete libremente a los pecadores que se arrepienten y creen, te estarás preguntando cómo el Dios que se revela a sí mismo en esas Escrituras puede hacer tal promesa. Si has leído esas Escrituras con cuidado, sabes que Dios se ha revelado a sí mismo como un juez santo y justo que nunca declarará al culpable como justo. Por ejemplo, En Éxodo 34: 7 se describe un así mismo como el que “de ningún modo tendrá por inocente al malvado”. Y, sin embargo, el apóstol Pablo lo llama el Dios “que justifica al impío” (Romanos 4: 5), y David describió la bendición del hombre a quien Dios imputa la justicia aparte de las obras (ver Romanos 4: 6-7) cuando él escribió: “Bienaventurado el hombre a quien el SEÑOR no imputa la iniquidad” (Salmos 32: 2).
La Biblia no enseña que Dios infunde gracia a los pecadores para permitirles llegar a ser lo suficientemente justos en sí mismos para que Dios los declare justos. Lo que estas Escrituras enseñan es que Dios los declara justos cuando no pueden reclamar ninguna justicia propia. Él justifica [declara justo] al impío. Pablo escribió que los pecadores son “justificados gratuitamente [esta palabra significa “sin causa,” es decir, no hay causa en el pecador] por su gracia” (Romanos 3:24). Esto presenta un gran problema. ¿Cómo puede Dios ser justo y al mismo tiempo declarar que el pecador que cree en su promesa es justo ante sus ojos?
La solución de Dios al problema
Este es el problema que la obra redentora de Cristo ha resuelto. Note que Romanos 3:24 declara que esta libre justificación es “por la redención que es en Cristo Jesús”. Lo que el apóstol estaba enseñando en Romanos 3 es que Dios ha satisfecho sus propias demandas en el sacrificio de su Hijo. El escribió, “. . . a quien Dios ha exhibido públicamente como una propiciación en su sangre [muerte sacrificial] a través de la fe, para declarar su justicia. . .que Él pueda ser justo y al mismo tiempo, Él que justifica a los que creen [confían] en Jesús “(Romanos 3: 25-26).
El evangelio nos habla de un gran intercambio. En 2 Corintios 5:21, Pablo escribió: “Al que no conoció pecado, [Dios] lo hizo pecado por nosotros, para que fuéramos hecho justicia de Dios en Él” No quiso decir que Jesús realmente se convirtió en un pecador o que en verdad nos volvemos justos como la base de nuestra justificación. Lo que quiso decir es que Dios ha tratado a Jesús como si fuera un pecador para que nos trate como si fuéramos justos. Él no solo tomó el castigo del creyente por el pecado; tomó la culpa del creyente. Dios judicialmente abandonó a Jesús en la cruz, para que los creyentes puedan ser aceptados judicialmente en su presencia. Con respecto a este gran intercambio, Isaías escribió acerca de su obra redentora para todos los que confiarán en la promesa de perdón de Dios,
Él fue herido por nuestras transgresiones; él fue molido por nuestras iniquidades; el castigo por nuestra paz cayó sobre él, y por sus llagas hemos sido sanados. Todos nosotros nos descarriamos como ovejas; nos apartamos, cada uno, en su propio camino; pero el SEÑOR hizo que cayera sobre Él la iniquidad de todos nosotros (Isaías 53: 5-6).
Dios te está llamando ahora a confiar en su promesa de perdón. Este mismo Jesús que fue crucificado, se ha levantado de la tumba como evidencia de que el Padre ha estado satisfecho con su sacrificio redentor. Ahora se sienta entronizado como la encarnación completa de todos sus logros redentores. Él tiene todo el poder y la autoridad para rescatar y restaurar a todos los que vienen al Padre a través de él. No necesitas ningún otro mérito o justicia sino su mérito y justicia. La Escritura dice: “En ningún otro hay salvación, porque no hay otro nombre bajo el cielo dado a los hombres en el cual podamos ser salvos” (Hechos 4:12) Él está listo y dispuesto a salvarte no solo de la culpa y de la pena de tus pecados, pero del poder opresivo de tus pecados. Todo lo que él requiere de ti es que confíes en él para salvarte. Esta es su promesa a los pecadores: “Vengan a mí, todos los que están cansados cargados, y Yo los haré descansar. Tomen mi yugo sobre ustedes y aprendan de mí, que soy manso y humilde de corazón, y hallarán descanso para sus almas “(Mateo 11: 28-29).
13
Jan
19
God’s Message to You #1
The God who created the universe and who governs that universe according to his perfect plan has chosen to reveal himself to you. He has done this in two ways. He has revealed himself in the things he has made, and he has revealed himself in the Bible. In this tract and in those that will follow, I would like to share with you what God wants you to know.
God’s Purpose
The first thing you need to understand is that your life is not without purpose. God made you and everything in the creation around you for himself. His purpose in making you was to make himself known. One way or another, his purpose will be realized in you. You will either live to magnify God’s grace and mercy or you will live to demonstrate his righteousness in condemning you for your treasonous rebellion against him. God has designed you in such a way that you can never live life the way he intended unless you consciously aim at reflecting his glory to those around you. He did not intend for you to be the center of your own universe. If you are beautiful, he intended your beauty to reflect his beauty. If you are intelligent, he intended your intelligence to reflect his intelligence. You are kind, in intended your kindness to reflect his kindness. If you are using anything God has given you to promote your own self-interests, you are failing to do that for which God made you.
The Problem
Our greatest problem in life is that we are broken. The Bible describes us as pieces of broken pottery. What was once a magnificent creation as it came from the hand of the sovereign potter, now lies in ruins. When God created our first parents in the Garden of Eden, he made them in his own image. In Psalms Eight, the psalmist tells us that God crowned them with “glory and honor and set them over the works of his hands.” As long as they continued in their integrity, they were perfect reflectors of his glory. God had given them everything the heart could wish. Adam and Eve could have lived forever and been perfectly content with God had provided.
The problem is that God left Adam to the power of free will and Adam chose to rebel against him. In doing so, he plunged his entire race [That includes all of us], into a state of guilt and sinful corruption. He acted as all of us would have acted had we been left to ourselves as Adam was. Additionally, we have all freely chosen to follow in his footsteps and rebel against God.
In Roman 1:18, Paul describes the problem between God and sinners as follows: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” When we read about God’s wrath we must not think about an anger that is boiling over. God does not act in fits of uncontrolled anger. The “wrath” of God the apostle wrote about is a settled indignation against sin and sinners that is the only reaction God can have to that which is contrary to his holy nature. This wrath may be revealed in different ways and in different degrees but the reaction itself never changes.
The apostle cites two reasons God is wrathful toward sinners and these reasons are related to his universal law. The first reason is related to the sinner’s ungodliness or impiety. This is your greatest problem. It is the problem from which all other problems flow. He is talking about your failure to fulfil the purpose for which God created you. Jesus said the greatest commandment in the law is the mandate to love God. Since that is true, the greatest sin we can commit must be our refusal to love God with our entire being. The other reason God is wrathful toward you is that you are unrighteous. This relates specifically to God’s second great commandment, “You shall love you neighbor as yourself.” It follows that if we do not love God as we should, we will not love those who are made in God’s image.
The result of our failure to love God is that we have suppressed his truth wherever he has revealed himself. Paul’s argument in this indictment is that you are without a legal defense because you have acted contrary to everything you know to be true about God. Only God’s redeeming work can remedy this condition, and it is his intention in saving sinners to do exactly that. The message of God’s salvation is about more than forgiving you so you can go to heaven when you die. Though it certainly includes that, it concerns far more than that. It is about God preparing you to live in a way that reflects his glory to those around you.
You have refused to love and glorify God. You have failed to gratefully acknowledge his kindness to you in allowing you to live on his earth and breath his air. You have worshipped other gods instead of worshipping him. You have exchanged his truth for a lie, and, ultimately, you have decided that he is not worth knowing. Instead of responding to his acts of kindness toward you by leaving your way and returning to his way, you have persisted in your stubborn rebellion against him and have treasured up even more wrath for yourself in the day of his judgment.
God’s intention in saving sinners is to turn God-haters into God-lovers. Ultimately, he intends to restore all his redeemed people to a place of glory and honor in which we will seek his glory above all else. His saving work brings us to the place that we focus on him as our highest good and our most precious treasure.
God is calling you right now to turn from every idol to which you have looked for happiness apart from him. He is calling you to leave every refuge in which you have made yourself comfortable apart from him. He is calling you to leave your sinful way and return to his way. His promise to you is that if you will return to him, he will fully pardon you. Isaiah wrote,
Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon (Isa. 55:6-7).
El Mensaje de Dios a Usted #1
El Dios que creó el universo y que gobierna ese universo según su plan perfecto ha elegido revelarse a ti. Lo ha hecho de dos maneras. Se ha revelado en las cosas que ha hecho, y se ha revelado en la Biblia. En este tratado y en los que seguirán, me gustaría compartir con usted lo que Dios quiere que sepa.
El Propósito de Dios
Lo primero que necesita entender es que su vida no es sin propósito. Dios lo hizo a usted ya todo en la creación alrededor de usted para sí mismo. Su propósito al hacerle era hacerse conocer. De una manera u otra, Su propósito se realizará en ud. Usted vivirá para magnificar la gracia y la misericordia de Dios o vivirá para demostrar Su justicia al condenarle por su rebelión traidora contra Él. Dios te ha diseñado de tal manera que nunca puedes vivir la vida de la manera en que Él pretendía, a menos que usted vive conscientemente apuntas a reflejar Su gloria a aquellos que te rodean. Él no tenía la intención de que fueras el centro de tu propio universo. Si eres hermoso, él pretendía que tu belleza reflejara Su belleza. Si eres inteligente, él pretende que su inteligencia refleje Su inteligencia. Si eres amable, Él intentó que su amabilidad reflejara Su bondad. Si estás usando algo que Dios te ha dado para promover sus propios intereses, estás fallando en hacer aquello por lo que Dios le hizo.
El problema
Nuestro mayor problema en la vida es que estamos rotos. La Biblia nos describe como piezas de cerámica rota. Lo que una vez fue una creación magnífica como vino de la mano del alfarero soberano ahora está en ruinas. Cuando Dios creó a nuestros primeros padres en el Jardín del Edén, los hizo a su propia imagen. En salmos ocho, el salmista nos dice que Dios los coronó con “gloria y honor y los puso sobre las obras de sus manos”. Mientras ellos continuaran en su integridad, eran perfectos reflectores de Su gloria. Dios les había dado todo lo que el corazón pudiera desear. Adán y Eva podrían haber vivido para siempre y estado perfectamente contentos con lo que Dios había proporcionado.
El problema es que Dios dejó a Adán al poder del libre albedrío y escogió rebelarse contra El. Al hacerlo, hundió a toda su raza en un estado de culpa y corrupción pecaminosa. Actuó como todos nosotros habríamos actuado si nos hubieran dejado a nosotros mismos como lo fue Adán. Además, todos hemos elegido libremente seguir sus pasos y rebelarnos contra Dios.
En Romanos 1:18, Pablo describe el problema entre Dios y los pecadores de la siguiente manera: “Porque la ira de Dios se revela desde el cielo contra toda impiedad e injusticia de los hombres, quienes por su iniquidad suprimen la verdad.” Cuando leemos acerca de la ira de Dios no debemos pensar en un enojo que está explotando. Dios no actúa en ataques de ira incontrolada. La “ira” de Dios sobre la que el apóstol escribió es una indignación establecida contra el pecado y los pecadores que es la única reacción que Dios puede tener a lo que es contrario a su santa naturaleza. Esta ira puede ser revelada de diferentes maneras y en diferentes grados, pero la reacción en sí nunca cambia.
El apóstol cita dos razones por las que Dios está llena de indignación contra los pecadores y estas razones están relacionadas con su ley universal. La primera razón está relacionada con la impiedad o la falta de conformidad del pecador a la imagen de Dios. Este es su mayor problema. Es el problema del cual fluyen todos los demás problemas. Él está hablando de su fracaso en cumplir el propósito por el cual Dios creó a ud. Jesús dijo que el mandamiento más grande de la ley es el mandato de amar a Dios. Dado que esto es cierto, el mayor pecado que podemos cometer debe ser nuestra negativa a amar a Dios con todo nuestro ser. La otra razón por la que Dios se enoja contra usted es que usted es injusto. Esto se relaciona específicamente con el segundo gran mandamiento de Dios: “Amarás al prójimo como a ti mismo”. De aquí se deduce que si no amamos a Dios como debemos, no amaremos a aquellos que son hechos a imagen de Dios.
El resultado de nuestro fracaso en amar a Dios es que hemos suprimido su verdad dondequiera que se haya revelado a sí mismo. El argumento de Pablo en esta acusación es que usted está sin una defensa legal porque ha actuado en contra de todo lo que sabe que es verdad acerca de Dios. Sólo la obra redentora de Dios puede remediar esta condición, y Su intención en salvar a los pecadores es para que hagan exactamente eso. El mensaje de la salvación de Dios es más que perdonarte para que puedas ir al cielo cuando mueras. Aunque ciertamente incluye eso, se refiere mucho más que eso. Se trata de que Dios prepare a usted para vivir de una manera que refleje Su gloria a aquellos que rodean a usted.
Te has negado a amar y glorificar a Dios. Usted ha fallado en reconocer con gratitud su bondad hacia usted al permitirle vivir en su tierra y respirar su aire. Has adorado a otros dioses en lugar de adorarle. Usted ha cambiado su verdad por una mentira, y, en última instancia, ha decidido que no vale la pena saberlo. En lugar de responder a sus actos de bondad hacia usted, abandonando su camino y regresando a su camino, ha persistido en su obstinada rebelión contra él y ha atesorado aún más ira para sí mismo en el día de su juicio.
La intención de Dios al salvar a los pecadores es convertir a los que odian a Dios en amantes de Dios. En última instancia, él tiene la intención de restaurar a todos sus redimidos a un lugar de gloria y honor en el que vamos a buscar su gloria por encima de todo. Su obra salvadora nos lleva al lugar en que nos concentramos en Él como nuestro sumo bien y nuestro tesoro más precioso.
La promesa de Dios
Dios está llamando a usted ahora para que se desvíes de cada ídolo al que has buscado la felicidad aparte de -Él. Él está llamando a usted que dejes todo refugio en el que te hayas apartado de Él. Él está llamando a usted que abandonar su camino pecaminoso ya volver a Su camino. Su promesa a usted es que si regresará a Él, Él le perdonará completamente. Isaías escribió:
Buscad al SEÑOR mientras sea hallado; llamadle mientras está cerca; dejó el malvado su camino, y el hombre inicuo sus pensamientos; que vuelva a Jehová, para que tenga misericordia de él y de nuestro Dios, porque él perdonará abundantemente (Isaías 55: 6-7).
Truth Unchanging 