Articles, Thinking in Public, Bible Studies, Sermons, Devotions, Biblical Theology, Historical Theology, Contemporary Theology, Doctrinal Studies and etc
Month: March 2014
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deut. 6:5–7)
“They shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lᴏʀᴅ” (Jeremiah 31:34). God will have a people who think rightly about him, and by that alone, through this people, he will bring mercy to the needy. He will make us rich in good works, and generous, and ready to share (1 Timothy 6:18).
Psalm 46:4 talks about a river. The psalmists says, “There is a river,” smoothly flowing, full, and never failing river, yields refreshment and consolation to believers. Do you know what this river is? This is the river of the water of life, of which the church above as well as the church below partakes evermore. It is no boisterous ocean, but a placid stream, it is not stayed in its course by earthquakes or crumbling mountains, it follows its serene course without disturbance. Happy are they who know from their own experience that there is such a river of God.
We are called to stand in close proximity to that river and we are called to let that river flow out of our lives, showing forth the marvelous working of God the same way a tree planted by the rivers shows forth the wonder working power that is a result of being planted by the waters.
Look at the flow of the river in the life of Joseph, a man whose soul was planted by the river. The river of life was flowing out of Joseph’s soul when his brothers threw him in a pit and left him to die (Genesis 37:24). Then they took him out of the pit and sold him on the slave block for profit (Genesis 37:28) and the river of life was flowing. No one had any idea where this river was going to take Joseph. From the slave block, he ended up in Potiphar’s house. But God was with Him, and he took a faithful stand for God!
Follow the river! There, Joseph was accused by Potiphar’s wife of assaulting her, and Joseph ended up in jail (Genesis 39:18-20). So far, this river wasn’t taking Joseph where he wanted to go! But wherever he found himself, God was with him, and he submitted himself to the leadership of the river of God.
Joseph’s promotion came right in the middle of a jail cell! God gave him the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream, and the river finally brought him to his destiny so that God can accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (Genesis 50:20). You can’t plan that!
Sometimes your hard times are the launching pad into your good times. But we can’t talk about the river of God unless we understand that there’s a cost to following the river; there’s a price, and the price is real simple – Holding fast the pattern of sound words.
Follow the river – contending for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Follow that river – and boldly share the good news of the forgiveness of sin and salvation in Christ to all people, using words, if only necessary. Freely you’ve received, freely give. Follow the river – and be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” (Psalm 1:3). Follow that river – until the kingdom of heavens shouts in victory for the glory of GOD.
Shun liberal Christianity
Paul said to Timothy
Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 14 That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. 2 Timothy 1:13-18
Paul gives Timothy a similar charge in 1 Tim 6:20:
O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge.
Timothy has been “committed” a special trust and is to preserve this deposit at all costs. Today, this charge is ours. We are to guard the truth of Scripture against the attacks of those opposed to God and the Church.
Contend for the Faith
It is easy to lose sight of how sacred the Gospel message and the Bible truly are. In this day of multiple translations and the ability to google in modified version, it is relatively easy for the believer to unintentionally devalue the Scriptures. This, combined with the attacks on our beliefs, makes the idea of guarding and preserving God’s Word a concept far from the mind of the average Christian.
The Bible represents the heart and soul of Christianity.
Our task, like Timothy’s, is to guard the Scriptures against attacks from false teachers and to defend the Gospel message. Since all Scripture comes from God, it cannot be destroyed.
In the 19th century,
Not all theologians with liberal inclinations reject the possibility of miracles, but may reject the polemicismthat denial or affirmation entails.
From the beginning, inerrancy played no role in liberal Christian theology. Rather, liberal Christian theologians were adamant about rejecting orthodox Christian teaching on subjects such as the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, and the authority of Scripture in favor of a secular-scientific world view.
In the West, “liberal” theologians came to identify themselves exclusively with Marxist and Socialist politics and a complete rejection of classical, biblically based morality, whether Protestant, Catholic or Orthodox.
Roman Catholic theology never endorsed any form of “innerancy”, but always took an allegorical view of the interpretation of Scripture, considering the Old Testament, especially, historically unreliable. The adoption of liberalism within Catholic theology has meant not only the embrace of Marxism, socialism (particularly in Latin American Liberation Theology), moral relativism, and a rejection of the most basic tenets of Christian belief and morality—advocating abortion, homosexuality, and a host of other violations of traditional Christian social mores.
Liberal Christianity was most influential with mainline Protestant churches in the early 20th century, when proponents believed the changes it would bring would be the future of the Christian church. Its greatest and most influential manifestation was the Christian Social Gospel, which involved a de facto “baptism of Christianity into Marxist doctrine.”
The American Baptist Walther Rauschenbusch, in A Theology for the Social Gospel, {1917} identified four institutionalized spiritual evils in American culture (which Rauschenbusch identified as “supra-personal entities”): these were
In accordance with Socialist doctrine, these were to be replaced with, respectively,
Recently, as a result of Liberal Christianity, the mainline Protestant churches has increasingly turn away from American identity, American economics, American culture, and even American family structure, and became a vehicle for advocating abortion, homosexuality, and a host of other violations of traditional Christian social mores.
Liberal Christianity in America has experienced a decline in membership of 70%—from 40% of the American Christian population to 12%—between 1930 and 2010. Thus, these denominations are no longer “mainstream”, or even “mainline” but a tiny minority. Conversely, the evangelical denominations have grown greatly in size, and the Catholic Church has seen more modest gains.
Take a Stand Against Liberal Christianity
Liberal Christianity, also known as liberal theology, is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically and biblically informed religious movements and ideas within Christianity from the late 18th century and onward. Liberal does not refer to Progressive Christianity or to the political philosophy, but to the philosophical and religious thought that developed as a consequence of the Enlightenment.
Liberal Christianity, broadly speaking, is a method of biblical hermeneutics, an undogmatic method of understanding God through the use of scripture by applying the same modern hermeneutics used to understand any ancient writings. Liberal Christianity did not originate as a belief structure, and as such was not dependent upon any Church dogma or creedal statements. Unlike conservative varieties of Christianity, or Orthodox Christianity (whether one speaks here of Catholicism, Protestantism, or the Eastern Churches), liberalism began with no unified set of propositional beliefs. Instead, “liberalism” from the start embraced the methodologies of Enlightenment science as the standard basis for interpreting the Bible, life, faith and theology. Consequently, liberal Christianity almost immediately rejected key tenets of Christianity having to do with supernaturalism and divine intervention in history—which have always provided foundational elements of Christian Faith.
The word liberal in liberal Christianity originally denoted a characteristic willingness to interpret scripture according to modern philosophic perspectives (hence the parallel term modernism) and modern scientific assumptions, while attempting to achieve the Enlightenment ideal of objective point of view, without preconceived notions of the authority of scripture or the correctness of Church dogma.[1] Importance was laid upon “scientific” interpretations of the text, and even ethics. However, once modern science was proved to have no ethical core through events such as WWI and WWII, where the most scientifically advanced civilizations devastated one another and carried out massive war crimes, including the Holocaust, the moral foundation of science and liberalism vanished.[2]
Inerrancy played no role in the beginnings of liberalism, as inerrancy as a doctrine did not emerge until much later, in the writings of Bernard B. Warfield, Charles Hodge and his son Alexander A. Hodge, and others, most notably in the 1880s in response to “liberal” and “modernist” attacks on the authority of Scripture.[3] Eventually, liberalism abandoned objectivity as a goal, as modern philosophy came to be dominated by philosophic perspectivism and moral relativism. While some liberal Christians may hold certain beliefs in common with catholic, orthodox, or even Christian fundamentalism, this phenomenon is rare, and generally speaking, liberal Christianity represents a complete rejection of historical Christianity in all its basic tenets, as is clear from the writings of such persons as John Shelby Spong,[4] who seems not to grasp the deep divide that separates Christian fundamentalism from other forms of traditional Christian belief.
7 Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: 8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: 9 Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
Because no sermon from the word, no bible study, no time of prayer in the word with your children, no memorizing of scripture, none of it is wasted. If Christ has not been raised, asserted Paul, “our preaching is useless” [1 Cor. 15:14]. The reflection of that revelation is the radiance and glory of preaching.
CHARLES SPURGEON
Spurgeon, born June 19, 1834 was converted January 6, 1850 during a meeting at the Primitive Methodist chapel at Colchester. His testimony of that day was of a burden released. As he would write in his Autobiography: “The frown of God no longer resteth upon me; but my Father smiles, I can see His eyes–they are glancing love; I hear His voice–it is full of sweetness. I am forgiven, I am forgiven, I am forgiven!”
Spurgeon was soon to join a Baptist Church, driven to the conviction of believer’s baptism by his own study of the Bible. In preaching, in whatever the text–Old Testament or New Testament, Spurgeon would find his way to the gospel of the Savior on the cross. And that gospel was put forth with the full force of substitutionary atonement and with warnings of eternal punishment but for the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
In his entire ministry, Spurgeon attempted to maintain clear evangelical conviction, while keeping the focus on the gospel. He resisted any compromise on substitutionary atonement, the authority and inspiration of Scripture, eternal punishment for unbelievers, original sin, and the absoluteness of Christianity. The lack of emphasis on substitutionary atonement which marked many of his contemporaries troubled Spurgeon, for he saw no genuine gospel in any preaching which was embarrassed by Scriptural witness to what God in Christ did on behalf of the redeemed.
Spurgeon stated: “I have always considered, with Luther and Calvin, that the sum and substance of the gospel lies in that word Substitution–Christ standing in the stead of man. If I understand the gospel, it is this: I deserve to be lost forever; the only reason why I should not be damned is this, that Christ was punished in my stead, and there is no need to execute a sentence twice for sin.”
Upon Spurgeon’s death, Texan B.H. Carroll was moved said; “With whom among men can you compare him? He combined the preaching power of Jonathan Edwards and Whitefield with the organizing power of Wesley, and the energy, fire, and courage of Luther. In many respects he was most like Luther. In many, most like Paul.”
In recalling this man of GOD who joined the communion of the saints on January 31, 1892 at the age of 57, we should be reminded of the centrality of biblical confidence and theological conviction to the preaching task.
….. Only as the Spirit of God shall bless men by you, shall they receive a blessing through you. Whatever your ability or experience, it is the Spirit of God, who must bless your labour. Therefore, never go to this service with a boast upon your lip of what you can do, or with the slightest trace of self-confidence; else will you go in a spirit which will prevent the Holy Ghost from working with or through you.
O brethren, think nothing of us who preach to you! If ever you do, our power will be gone. If you begin to suppose that such and such a minister having been blessed of God to so many thousands will necessarily be the means of the conversion of your friend, you are imputing to a son of man what belongs only to the Son of God; and you will assuredly do that pastor or that minister a serious mischief by tolerating in your heart so idolatrous a thought. We are nothing; you are nothing. ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts,’ is a message that should make us lie in the dust and utterly despair of doing anything in and of ourselves, seeing that all the power is of God alone. It will do us good to be very empty, to be very weak, to be very distrustful of self, and so to go about our Master’s work.”
See “Come From the Four Winds, O Breath!” by Charles H. Spurgeon,
Lessons Gleaned in the life of Charles Spurgeon –
{Largely drawn from ‘God’s Lion in London’ by A. Mohler}
The glory that is ahead cannot be described. God saves the best for the saints for the last days. No wonder Carl F. H. Henry noted that the early church didn’t say “Look what the world is coming to!” They said, “Look what has come into the world!”
In the gospels, we find that every time that Jesus speaks about the Kingdom of GOD, and the crowd starts to respond well to it, He turns around and says, “No, you don’t understand what I’m saying to you.” And then presses it further until there’s a sense of rage.
The crowd would have loved to have heard Jesus rail against the culture of the Roman Empire. The crowd would have loved to have heard Jesus take on the Roman Empire. But instead, what Jesus does is to turn and to show His hearers how they had themselves been conformed to the pattern of the age around them. He started first with the household of God in order to say, “I speak to you about the fact that God has been working with people outside of your own midst as a judgment against you.”
What is GOD doing? God is forming first and foremost colonies of the kingdom that are accountable to the word that says “Thus saith the Lord.” And if we are going to be a voice to speak to the outside world, we must first be transformed as that colony of the kingdom from the inside.
Christians are united, not by the blood of our ancestors but by the blood of Christ Jesus, not by the spirit of the age but by the Spirit of God.
When God scans the earth for potential leaders, He is not on a search for angels in the flesh. He is certainly not looking for perfect people, since there are none. He is searching for men and women like you and me, mere people made up of flesh. But He is also looking for people who share the same qualities He found in David. God is looking for men and women “after His own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14).
What does it mean to be a person after God’s own heart? It means your life is in harmony with the Lord. What is important to Him is important to you. What burdens Him burdens you. When He says, “Go to the right,” you go to the right. When He says, “Stop that in your life,” you stop it. When He says, “This is wrong and I want you to change,” you come to terms with it because you have a heart for God. That’s bottom-line, biblical Christianity.
When you are a man or woman after God’s heart, you are deeply sensitive to spiritual things. 2 Chronicles 16:9 explains it this way: “For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His” (emphasis added).
What is God looking for? He is looking for men and women whose hearts are His — completely. That means there are no locked closets. Nothing’s been swept under the rugs. That means that when you do wrong, you admit it and come to terms with it. You long to please Him in your actions. You care deeply about the motivations behind your actions. God is not looking for magnificent specimens of humanity. He’s looking for deeply spiritual, genuinely humble, honest-to-the-core servants who have integrity.
Listen to some of the synonyms for this Hebrew word thamam, translated “integrity”: “complete, whole, innocent, having the simplicity of life, wholesome, sound, unimpaired.” It’s what you are when nobody’s looking. We live in a world that says, in many ways, “If you just make a good impression, that’s all that matters.” But you will never be a man or woman of God if that’s your philosophy. Never. You can’t fake it with the Almighty. He is not impressed with externals. He always focuses on the inward qualities, like the character of the heart…those things that take time and discipline to cultivate.
Taken from Charles R. Swindoll, “Becoming a Man or a Woman after God’s Own Heart,” Insights (April 1997): 2. Copyright © 1997 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.
The world needs God’s life-changing Word NOW ~ and the “changed-life” Christian has the blessed privilege to give to it the Bread of Life. Jesus said to His followers: “You give them something to eat”(Mark 6:30-44). In the fields now ripen;
There is a job to be done!
There is a field to be sown and watered!
There is a harvest to be reaped!
God is looking for men ~ men (and women) who have yielded their hearts and wills to the cause of Christ, and to the extension of His Kingdom ~ men who are willing to “Lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us” (Hebrews 12:1-3 ) in order to live our lives for His glory.
“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him . . .” (2 Chronicles 16:9).
The Scripture says of Barnabas and Paul that they were “men who risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 15:26). God is looking for men ~ men (and women) who will depend on Him to equip and supply their every need. You do not have to rely on natural ability, but rather to depend on God’s ability ~ and to have “stick-ability”! God’s enabling is sufficient (see 2 Corinthians 3:1-6).
Forget all past failures, hurts, disappointments, ridicules, etc., and serve Jesus Christ with faith and boldness. God bless you as you seek to fulfil His plan for your life . . . and so become one of the men that God is looking for!
This hymn was written by William Cowper in the 1772. Cowper experienced a period of temporary insanity. During this time, he felt that he had offended God so deeply with his sins that he could not continue living and tried repeatedly to commit suicide but failed each time. In one case, he tried to hang himself, but the garter broke and he fell to the floor- this happened twice. Eventually, Cowper came to his senses and after recovering, wrote the hymn “There Is a Fountain.”
Verse 2
The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.
Washed all my sins away, washed all my sins away;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.
Luke 23:39-43 Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” (40) But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? (41) And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” (42) Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” (43) And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
Why do sinners have to plunge beneath the flood?
The answer in found in Hebrews 9:19-22 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, (20) saying, “THIS IS THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT WHICH GOD HAS COMMANDED YOU.” (21) Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. (22) And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. The book of Hebrews was written specifically for the purpose of showing Old Testament believer- the Hebrews!- how Christ is the consummation of shadows seen in the Old Testament.
Verse 3
Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.
Be saved, to sin no more, be saved, to sin no more;
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.
Romans 5:8-10 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (9) Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. (10) For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
“Rock of Ages” was written by Augustus Toplady in 1776. Toplady was given the inspiration after taking refuge in a cliff during a thunderstorm. Over the years, “Rock of Ages’ has proven itself as a long-lasting hymn.
Here’s the first verse:
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure;
Save from wrath and make me pure.
The “cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee” is very reminiscent of Moses in:
Exodus 33:18-23 And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” (19) Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” (20) But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” (21) And the LORD said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. (22) So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. (23) Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”
Moses wanted to see the face of God, but God could not allow him to. A few years later, many got to see the face of God in Jesus. Paul tells Timothy: 1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
Speaking of Jesus, the author of Hebrews says: Hebrews 8:6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. So, Christ is our mediator. Christ is our rock and the only way we can see God is to hide ourselves in Him.
The last 4 lines of the 1st verse need to be read together:
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure;
Save from wrath and make me pure.
“The water and the blood” refer to this moment, when Jesus is on the cross. John 19:32-34 Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. (33) But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. (34) But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
When the solider pierced Jesus’ side and water and blood flowed out, it was proof that he was indeed dead. He wasn’t just unconscious as some liberal scholars like to believe. He was dead. The payment of sin had been made.
The line “be of sin the double cure; save from wrath and make me pure” is a very, very significant line. It refers to what is often called the “double imputation.” In this, our sins are laid upon the pure unblemished Christ and he takes them upon Himself to take the punishment of God’s wrath. We can see this truth in several passages, including: 1 Peter 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness- by whose stripes you were healed. Hebrews 9:28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
1 Peter makes it pretty clear that Christ Himself literally bore our sins in his own body. When you read in Mark 14 and Luke 22 about Christ asking God to remove, if possible, the cup He’s about to bear, it’s not death that He fears. It’s the burden of carrying the sins of the world in his pure and holy body and separation from God the Father that had to result. What a horrible thing to experience. But, as our sins were imputed to Christ, so also is His righteousness imputed to us. When our sins were laid on him, Christ was not a sinner. He only bore our sins. Likewise, when His righteousness is laid on us, we’re not righteous. We only receive the credit for His righteousness. Listen to what Paul says:
Philippians 3:8-9 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ (9) and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
Paul says that he desires to be found in Christ and that he, Paul, has no righteousness of his own, but only that which comes by God through faith. In Romans 3:21-22 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, (22) even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;
Note that the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, is to all and on all who believe. Christ’s righteousness is laid upon believers, just as their sins were laid upon Christ. This is the double imputation and this is what the hymn “Rock of Ages” is referring to with the line “be of sin the double cure; save from wrath and make me pure.” We are saved by Christ from God’s wrath, and we are made pure by His righteousness. Our own works are worthless when it comes to salvation.
Listen to the next two verses of “Rock of Ages” and see if you think the author agrees.
Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.
“Not the labor of my hands…could my tears forever flow…all for sin could not atone.” This shows the futility of man’s works toward his salvation. Isaiah said it best in 64:2 “…all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags…” There is absolutely no way that man can atone for his sins based on his successive good works. We must look to Christ “Thou must save, and Thou alone.”
In Fanny Crosby’s “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior” we saw the necessity of a contrite and broken heart. We see it here, too, in the 3rd verse of “Rock of Ages.”
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.
Here’s what we contribute to our salvation: “nothing…naked…helpless…foul.” Here’s what to do, though: “to the cross I cling…come to Thee for dress…look to Thee for grace…to the fountain fly.” And the simple truth of the matter is summed up in the last line: “Wash me, Savior, or I die.” There’s the simple message of the gospel summed up in one line of one verse of a hymn. “Wash me, Savior, or I die.”
And now, the last verse of “Rock of Ages.”
While I draw this fleeting breath,
When mine eyes shall close in death,
When I soar to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.
Hebrews tells us: Hebrews 9:27-28 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, (28) so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
Everyone dies. We all know that. The Bible says that men die once and then the judgment. At this judgment, each of us will give an account to God (Romans 14:9) and the dead will be judged (2 Corinthians 5:10, 2 Timothy 4:1, Jude 1:15, Revelation 20:11-15). Those who are not found in the lamb’s book of life will be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15). This is what the last verse of “Rock of Ages” is talking about. “When I soar to worlds unknown, see Thee on Thy judgment throne…” When that happens, the author says “Rock of Age, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee.” In other words, “let me be found in Christ.”
What a rich and powerful hymn “Rock of Ages” is! It touches on the inapproachability of God apart from a Mediator, it brings up double imputation, it shows the futility of our own works in securing salvation, and ends with God’s righteous judgment on the last day. In all of this, Christ is our rock and in His cleft, we must be found.
Are you in Christ? Are you safe in the Rock? Has Christ taken your sins or are you still holding fast to them yourself? Have you claimed His righteousness for your own, or do you still think your own good deeds will tilt the balance in your favor? Don’t be a fool. The author of “Rock of Ages” knew the gospel message and the Bible covers it front to back. “Wash me, Savior, or I die.” That’s the gospel message.
Original Script presented by
Bryan Kimsey, First Baptist Church in Des Moines, NM.
Matthew 1:17 states, “So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.”
These three groupings are all considered fourteen generations. When looking at the average generation for each group, we find that the generation length differs.
Silent Generations – born around, or parented by, those of The Great Depression of 1929 & children of the WWII gen.; marriage is for life; labor union generation; Korean and Viet Nam War generation; in grade school, the gravest teacher complaints were about passing notes and chewing gum in class; readers; the Big-Band/Swing music generation; strong sense of trans-generational common values and near-absolute truths; dsiciplined, self-sacrificing, & cautious.
Baby Boomers – the “me” generation; “rock and roll” music gen.; ushered in the free love and societal “non-violent” protests which triggered violence; self righteous & self-centered; buy it now and use credit; too busy for much neighborly involvement yet strong desires to reset or change the common values for the good of all; the first TV generation; quite conversational & skilled vocal & writer advocates; poor on marital skills…the first divorce generation; begin “gay toleration”…AIDS begins and is first lethal infectious disease in the history of any culture on earth which was not subjected to any quarantine what-so-ever because of a beginning obsession of individual rights prevailing over the common good…especially if it is applicable to any type of minority group; optimistic, driven, team-oriented.
Generation X – raised by the career and money conscious Boomers amidst the societal disappointment over governmental authority and the Viet Nam war and the scoff-law attitudes coming out of the protest times; school problems about drugs; late to marry (after cohabitation) and quick to divorce…many single parents; are iconographic…clothes lables are large & shows of caring (turning out for a worthy-cause rally) are fully sufficient expressions (while government, charities, agencies will see to the work of it); want what they want and want it now but struggling to buy; conversationally shallow because relating consists of shared time watching video movies; short on loyalty & wary of commitment; all values are relative…must tolerate all peoples; self-absorbed and suspicious of all organization; computer generation; survivors as individuals; cautious; skeptical, unimpressed with authority, self-reliant.
Generation Y – Facebook, MySpace, SMS and other instant communication technologies may explain Generation Y’s reputation for being peer oriented and for seeking instant gratification. Generation Y, like other generations, is shaped by the events, leaders, developments and trends of its time. Members of this generation are facing higher costs for higher education than previous generations.
We are in this world to serve, not be pampered. To love, not be applauded. To bless, not be notarized. So we should care about our reputation — to serve and love and bless — but that doesn’t mean trying so hard to be liked by everybody. Having a respectable reputation is one thing, trying to get everyone to throw their arm around us is another.
Erick Chepkwony, TH.D 