A sharp rebuke... "Get thee behind me, Satan"

A sharp rebuke:

"Get thee behind me, Satan:

thou art an offence unto me:

for thou savourest not the things that be of God,

but those that be of men."

 

Matthew 16
21 ¶ From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

How often we deserve similar rebuke from the Lord for such impudence, for minding not the things of God, but our own ideas and opinions. Peter entertained a completely different idea about Christ the Son of the living God, and insisted that Jesus fit into his own idea.

We persist in our ideas and opinions and fables, thus opposing and rejecting the Lord's plain teachings. When will we deny ourselves, and die to ourselves, and follow the Lord... yes, get behind Him and follow. Otherwise, we turn ourselves into a satan, i.e. an adversary, an opponent of Christ, instead of a follower.
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Sing F Lau
What was Peter's response to such a scathing rebuke? I don't know. The fact that the Scriptures did not record anything negative is a credit to Peter. Probably Peter took the well-deserved rebuke humbly.

Would it surprise you that a typical response from many - who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ - when Christ show and teach them things contrary to their own notions? Would they fare better than Peter?

Would you fare better than Peter?

Not a few would probably react intensely, throw tantrums, start cursing, and go to great lengths to justify their cherished notions, attempting to overthrow Christ's plain teaching. They want Christ to fit into their notion of religion! They want Christ to follow them!

John Vanderzyden
Given our conversation last week, I wonder if you see the irony in any of what you are posting here. Do you think that your theology is sound and irrefutable? I wonder, Sing, if you think that there is nothing more that you can learn. 😕

Charles Page
Judas was also a devil and was greatly influenced by the devil. Both were elect and regenerate, chosen of God, but in reference to their timely salvation, one was clean, and the other remained unclean.

Sing F Lau
John, I claim nothing. I'm stating what I understand what I read. if you don't like it, you don't have to read. if you disagree with what I have stated, then the honour is yours to give your explanation. Everything else is beside the point. Deal with the subject if you have more to say, otherwise don't waste time here. Go find a place where you can read what you love to read.

John Vanderzyden
I believe many things that I didn't want to believe at first. My disposition and analysis is not a matter of preference or disagreement, but of evidence.

I deal squarely with the subject, but you want to dance.

The crowd is untruth.

Sing F Lau
If you are not interested in studying Scriptures, but hot air and insinuation, there is no place for you here. Thanks.

If I want to dance, as you accused me, but you want to crawl, then why waste time here if you don't want to dance? Weird? Go find someone who will crawl with you!

John Vanderzyden
You didn't answer this question, either: Do you think that your theology is sound and irrefutable?

Sing F Lau
What question, John?

I have answered... you are not reading...

"John, I claim nothing. I'm stating what I understand what I have read. if you don't like it, you don't have to read it. If you disagree with what I have stated, then the honour is yours to give your explanation. Everything else is beside the point. "

But you just keep on raving irrelevantly... which is why I will remove you after this.

Regina Grayson
I'll answer the question. Yes, I believe the Word of God is sound and irrefutable. "He that hath an ear. let him hear...." If the Lord God Almighty writes His irrefutable Word on your heart and turns that heart of stone into a heart of flesh, then He will place that desire and hope within your breast to follow Him. Amen.

Sing F Lau
His question is not, "Is the Word of God sound and irrefutable?"

That would be an easy question!

It is "Do you think that your theology is sound and irrefutable?"

Whether one's theology is sound and irrefutable, it is the critic's honour to show... refute it and show its unsoundness!

Charles Page
Bereans! The Thessalonians expected the preachers to show that their message was sound and irrefutable; however, the Bereans sought the Scriptures for themselves to see if the message was sound and irrefutable.

Preaching to the Thessalonians was burdensome and nigh impossible; however, preaching to the Bereans was a joy and easy. You preach, they decide, and you wait for their decision, simple!

The Thessalonians were closed minded and the Bereans were open minded!

Regina Grayson
Yes, I believe that my theology is sound and irrefutable--Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Period.

Sing F Lau
Very many are as confident as you are. The Lord bless you.

I can't claim that. I can only state what I do presently understand and believe, and I know I'm still learning, and things to unlearn.

Bill Taylor
Dear Bro. Sing, your last statement describes the place where all need to understand they presently stand: "Still learning and things to unlearn." God bless you, and God bless all His people to desire truth more than tradition.

The Word was made flesh - Incarnation

 

The meme on John 1:1 stirs a thought.

John 1
1¶In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God....
14¶And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

These two verses are plain and simple enough for minds not prejudiced by traditions or addicted to sound bites.

The Word is the eternal, one-natured divine Person, the second person of the eternal Triune God.

Verse 1 DOES NOT read,
"In the beginning was the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was God."

But SO MANY make it read that way. They have just repudiated the momentous truth stated in verse 14, and elaborated in so many passages of Scriptures.

There was NO Son UNTIL the Word was made flesh at a specific point in time; read the account in Luke 1:35 "¶And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."  Was any one else begotten in this manner?

When the eternal Word was made flesh, the Son of God was begotten; the divine Word took upon Himself flesh and blood.

The Son is the dual-natured divine-human Person, the only begotten Son of God.

The incarnation - the Word made flesh, the Divine taking upon Himself humanity - forms the watershed in redemptive His-story.

What do you believe - fiction or fact?

Is Jesus the eternal Son of God, or

Is Jesus the only begotten Son of the eternal God?
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The Immanent Trinity: God, Word, and Spirit
The Three Persons of the Godhead are completely equal in every sense.
There is NO subordination of any kind or in any sense.
In the Immanent Trinity, there is NOOOOOOOOO Son.
Read John 1:1,14. ONLY AFTER the eternal Word is made flesh in the outworking/economy of redemption, there is the Son.
TOO MANY are ignorant of or reject this simple bible truth.

The Economic Trinity: Father, Son, and Spirit
The Son and Spirit are subordinated to the Father; 
the Spirit is subordinated to the Father and Son.
This subordination is in the context of the outworking
of the redemption of the elect;
this subordination was mutually agreed
by the three Persons of the Godhead
in the covenant of redemption
before the foundation of the world.

- immanent: inherent, intrinsic, integral, essential
- economic: from Greek word oikonomia ( a compound word of oikos (house) and nomos (laws) which means household management, stewardship, or administration, i.e. of the covenant of redemption.

May our gracious Lord bless each with understanding.
Amen.

 

What is the gospel, the good news?

 

#gloriousgospel

1Timothy 1:11 "According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust."

What's the gospel?

Concise answer:
The gospel is the good news of what God has ALREADY DONE to save His people through His Son Jesus Christ, and applied to them by His Holy Spirit.

Not so concise answer:
The gospel is the good news that Christ, the Redeemer promised by God, has perfectly and completely fulfilled the exact demands of the good, just, holy and righteous laws of God on behalf of His people, and has borne and suffered the penalty and curse of the law for His people, died in their place, and rose for their eternal redemption.

The gospel is what God HAS DONE to save His people; the gospel enlightens God’s children and calls them to believe the truth of their salvation… Eph 1:13.

The gospel declares the eternal redemption, purposed by God before the foundation of the world, and accomplished and secured by Jesus Christ by His life and death, and is freely and sovereignly bestowed or applied to each elect at God’s appointed time.

That’s the good news – the free and sovereign activities of the Triune God, working in perfect unity and harmony, to effectually save us and make us fit for eternal glory.

The gospel is NOT about the genuine offer and the acceptance of salvation. That’s very bad news!

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Greg Hood
Amen

Joe Chin
That's why Paul went about preaching about Jesus Christ and His resurrection: that Christ must suffer and be raised again, just as David foresaw, and that the Holy One did not see corruption.

Isabelo Lopez Meraña
There was a gospel of THE BLESSED EARTH THRU CHRIST THE SAVIOUR KING

And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. Galatians 3:8

Sing F Lau
It is very important to understand what the Apostle Paul is saying in the passage above through his appeal to Abraham.

Many sincere people don't have a clue.

In Galatians, Apostle Paul was dealing with the plague of Judaizers who wanted to impose ceremonial laws upon the Gentile believers (the "heathen" and "all nations" in 3:8). Apostle Paul marshalled Abraham to demonstrate that the Judaizers were DEAD WRONG. Abraham experienced justification by faith, NOT through observing any ceremonial laws; there were NONE in Abraham's time.

Grace alone - what do you mean?

#GraceAlone

"Salvation by grace alone" - I hear your emphasis on the adverb "alone". But what do you mean?

"Salvation by grace alone" means this to us at Sungai Dua Church; does it mean the same to you? Probably not. We have been called nasty names for our beliefs.

Salvation by grace alone:

- God purposed the eternal salvation of the elect in eternity.

- Christ secured the eternal salvation for the same elect on the cross.

- God, through the eternal Word and the Spirit, effectually calls each elect, personally, to eternal salvation when they were still in their native state of sin and death; in the effectual call, justification (vital), regeneration, and adoption occur, therefore bringing an elect out of his native state of sin and death into that state of grace and salvation. Adoption is accompanied by the gift of the Holy Spirit to dwell in the adopted.

- The gospel ministry is divinely ordained to call out those whom God has already effectually called to grace and salvation to believe the truth of their eternal salvation freely bestowed by the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

- All the elect shall be effectually called unto eternal salvation, each at the time appointed by God; many of these shall be reached by the gospel call and be gathered into the communities of the redeemed people of God, the churches of Jesus Christ. Others are not capable of being outwardly called by the gospel ministry.

- Those called out by the gospel ministry are commanded to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, teaching them that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, they should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world (Titus 2:12); to observe all things whatsoever the Lord has commanded (Mt 28:20).

- All the effectually called unto eternal salvation shall be glorified at the return of Christ.

- There shall be no literal 1000-year reign on earth after the second coming. That's a fable. Christ's return shall be the end of time and the dawn of the eternal state of blessedness.

Visit and like the SDC page. Thanks. https://www.facebook.com/sdcpenang
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Bill Taylor
Amen and Amen!

Dan Samons
In my experience, those who insist on referring to "Salvation by Grace ALONE" often intend "Salvation by Grace REFORMED." Understanding this helps explain why they define ALONE in unusual ways. 

Doctrinal clarity and inward spirituality

Doctrinal clarity and inward spirituality
are distinct.

 

Revelation 2 - KJV
1 ¶Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 ¶He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

The church in Ephesus was doctrinally sound... but she has left her first love for the Lord, i.e. devoid of inward spirituality. 

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Reggie Lee
What if this is the classic case of worshipping credences and creeds?

Sing F Lau
Though inward spirituality is built upon the foundation of doctrinal clarity, doctrinal clarity does not always translate into inward spirituality. There may be an outward sense of superiority... elitism.

Bill Taylor
Sing, that malady is rampant in some (familiar) quarters, brother!

Sing F Lau
Bill, I was among people with such elitism - "We the Reformed Baptists have the truth..." - for nearly 20 years until an adequate understanding of free grace, the Lord delivered me. Those new-school Baptists are ignorant of the old-school Baptists.

Bill Taylor
Sing, Praise God!