Things New and Old

Ancient truths revealed in the Scriptures are often forgotten, disbelieved or distorted, and therefore lost in the passage of time. Such ancient truths when rediscovered and relearned are 'new' additions to the treasury of ancient truths.

Christ showed many new things to the disciples, things prophesied by the prophets of old but hijacked and perverted by the elders and their traditions, but which Christ reclaimed and returned to His people.

Many things taught by the Apostles of Christ have been perverted or substituted over the centuries. Such fundamental doctrines like salvation by grace and justification have been hijacked and perverted and repudiated by sincere Christians. These doctrines need to be reclaimed and restored to God's people.

There are things both new and old here. "Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things" 2Ti 2:7.

Monday, May 20, 2019

Glaring Deficiencies, Outright Falsehood, and Plain Contradictions

Such a scrumptious looking dessert! 




I came across this brief doctrinal statement on salvation. It has all the biblical words and sounds impressive. Take a good look.

"The Doorway -
Salvation
The blood of Jesus Christ, shed on the cross, provides the only way of salvation through the forgiveness of sin. Salvation occurs when people place their faith in the death and resurrection of Christ as sufficient payment for their sin. Salvation is a gift from God, and it can never be earned through our own efforts, religious works or good deeds."

Some brief observations:

It expresses some sound bites of Bible words but it is riddled with glaring deficiency, outright falsehoods and plain contradictions. The only plausible defence against these charges may be this, "This is such a brief statement of a few words, you can't possibly expect the gospel truth adequately expressed." It may be accepted if we can agree with the matters pointed out in the following.

It has some sound bites of words from the Bible: "The blood of Jesus Christ...shed on the cross... the only way of salvation... the forgiveness of sin... death and resurrection... payment for sins... salvation is a gift from God… etc."

These are all good sounding words.

A.  Glaring Deficiencies
1. "The blood of Jesus Christ..."
a. At best, this is just half the truth; when a half-truth is presented as the whole truth, it becomes a subtle and dangerous lie.
- The righteousness of Jesus Christ, i.e. the righteousness secured by Jesus Christ through His life of perfect obedience to all the laws of God in the stead of His people are absolutely essential and central to the salvation of His people

b. It is BOTH the active obedience of Christ in His life in securing the righteousness for His people and His passive obedience in laying down His sinless life as a sacrifice for the atonement of the sins for His people that secured salvation for His people.
- It is both His life and His death, both His righteousness and His blood.
- It is BOTH His living the perfect sinless life we are required to live and His dying the accursed death that we deserved to die; He is our substitute in BOTH. 
- Without righteousness of Christ, no justification; no justification, a man remains in his native state of condemnation and death, no salvation.
- The blood of Christ bore away the curse and wages of sins, it secured the forgiveness of sin.

2. "... provides the only way..."
a. "provides" means "makes available for use." OED.
- "The blood of Jesus Christ, shed on the cross, provides the only way of salvation through the forgiveness of sin." Therefore Christ makes salvation available to sinners; it is up to sinners to avail themselves to it; to act to possess it.
- So Christ's work of redemption makes available the way of salvation, and sinners themselves must make use of the opportunity provided to get themselves saved.
- It is saying, Christ has prepared the way to the gates of heaven and have even opened the gates of heaven; now sinners need to make use of the way provided to get themselves into heaven.

b. The gospel says,
- God purposed salvation for His people,
- Jesus Christ accomplished that salvation for the same people through His life (securing righteousness for the justification unto life for His people) and death (making payment for the wages of sins of His people to secure the forgiveness of their sins.)
- the Spirit of God freely and sovereignly applies that same salvation to each individual of the same people when they are still SPIRITUALLY DEAD in their trespasses and sins, completely unable  to utilize whatsoever grand things are provided for them.
- Making available salvation for sinners will save NO ONE; making available the life-giving concoction to the dead will NOT get any dead alive. The Maker of the life-giving concoction must proactively and freely apply it to the dead to bring the dead to life.

B. Outright Falsehood
1. "... Salvation occurs WHEN people put their faith in..."
- Salvation had been made available; it is waiting for the man to act to get that salvation. Salvation OCCURS when a man acts and does something, i.e. places his "faith in the death and resurrection of Christ as sufficient payment for his sin."
- This is saying that a man who is not yet saved by God’s free grace, is capable of doing something to make his salvation occurs. Words have meaning, do they not?
- Therefore, salvation is CONDITIONED upon an act of man. Man must act in order to obtain the salvation that has been made available to him.
- This notion repudiates the plain teaching of Scriptures.
- "Except a man be born again, he cannot.." i.e. except salvation is first applied by the Holy Spirit to a spiritually dead man, he can't perform any spiritual acts, e.g. places his "faith in the death and resurrection of Christ as sufficient payment for his sin." Impossible.
- "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." It is a basic axiom, "spiritual life must precede spiritual activities." The bestowal of salvation gives spiritual life; salvation must precede any spiritual activities; this is as elementary as a,b,c.

b. Salvation by God's free grace ENABLES a man to do something to obtain 
- It enables him to place his faith in the death and resurrection of Christ as perfect and complete payment for his sin. This is through the gospel ministry.
- The eternal salvation that God had purposed, Christ secured, and the Spirit applies to each man ENABLES him to respond to do God’s will for him

The two beliefs are worlds apart, as far as the east is from the west; they are unbridgeable.
- So many know to mouth “salvation by grace alone” when they actually believe salvation by grace PLUS man’s action, i.e. his action of placing his faith “in the death and the resurrection of Christ…”
-  One very simple explanation for this confusion and inconsistency is their ignorance of the plain biblical distinct between eternal salvation by God’s grace alone and temporal salvation through the obedient responses of God’s children (those to whom God has already freely bestowed eternal salvation) to His will.
- Without learning and acknowledging this biblical distinction, they will continue in their cesspool of confusion and inconsistencies.

C. Plain Contradictions
1. “Salvation is a gift from God, and it can never be earned through our own efforts, religious works or good deeds."
- Though salvation is a gift from God, yet this salvation CANNOT occur until man does something, until his effort of placing his faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In addition, for him to place his faith in the death of Jesus Christ requires the great effort of a preacher to preach to him the message of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Read Romans 10:14ff.
- Even Christ himself said believing in Him is a WORK required by God. Faith or believing is a religious work to be performed in obedience to God’s will.
- John 6:28-29 “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”

2. The popular concept of “salvation is a gift of God” is like this: the gift of life is freely and sincerely before a dead man waiting for the dead man to act to accept and make use of the free gift so that he may become alive, so that his salvation may occur! Such an idea of a gift is a cruel mockery and wicked insult to the dead!
- Imagine Jesus Christ leaving the gift of life outside the tomb of Lazarus and waited for Lazarus to do something for his resurrection to occur to him!!!
- This concept of this gift is so worldly; it is so similar to the gift* offered by the world… *terms and conditions apply.
- What declares the Scriptures? Read Eph 2:1-9.  Salvation is a gift of God; that gift is divinely applied to a sinner when he is spiritually dead in trespasses and sins; he is quickened and made spiritually alive. Salvation is freely bestowed to him personally by God, without him doing anything BECAUSE he was incapable of doing anything before the salvation was bestowed to him.

There you are- even a few-sentenced doctrinal statement is riddled with glaring deficiency, outright falsehood, and plain contradictions. This is reflective of the state of confusion and ignorance among churches.

CONCLUSION
Apostle Paul, toward the end of his life, has prophesied of this sad state of affairs in churches.
2Timothy 4
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

2Timothy 3:7
Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.


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