Who died on the cross for us?

Anyone who affirms election but not freedom — or freedom but not election — has got only half the truth.

I’m deeply saddened to see a spirit abroad in the Church like the one in the Corinthian congregation: “I follow Paul … I follow Apollos … I follow Peter.” The body of Christ is being divided into factions. Wouldn’t Paul ask us: “Was it Calvin who died on the cross for us? Were we baptized as Wesley’s disciples?”

Two notes about becoming a disbeliever

A brief interaction with two “former Christians” reminds me how many people who grew up in church really have no clue what a faith relationship with Jesus is all about. I’ve posted these notes on my Facebook page. Thought I’d add them here as well.

You can’t walk away from Jesus

You can quit “believing in God.” You can quit “being a Christian.” That’s not so hard. It’s just religion. But “believing in God” and “being a Christian” aren’t the same thing as being reborn in a faith relationship with Jesus. You can’t walk away from Jesus if you were never walking with him in the first place. And if you are walking with him, no skeptic’s disbelief can shake your faith, built as it is on love for and gratitude toward the one who died to set you free.

Nothing more than a concept or legend

When God is nothing more to you than a concept, when Jesus is merely a legend, becoming a disbeliever is no more difficult than giving up your childhood belief in the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus. But when you have personally encountered the reality of the Living God, when the Risen Lord has transformed your heart and mind, when you have experienced the comfort and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, you can no more quit “believing” in their existence than you can question the reality of your family and closest friends.

If a brother strays …

“My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19-20 NASB)

The one who is in danger of death (thanatos) is one of the brethren (adelphos), one who is among us who strays (planaô) from the truth.

How many times have you heard the latter part of this passage quoted as an exhortation to evangelism? Don’t the two verses together actually refer to church discipline and the danger brothers (and sisters) in Christ face if they stray from the truth?

If James is referring to a member of the congregation who was never really saved, why speak to the “brethren” about someone who is one of them? How do you stray from the truth except you first embrace it? What do you make of the assertion that the danger the brother (or sister) faces is death?

Assurance of salvation

David Jeremiah, founder of Turning Point for God and senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, Calif., has an excellent column on the assurance of salvation here.

He does a great job of laying out the scriptural basis for the promise, protection, and proof of eternal life. His words should go straight to the heart of any genuine believer: “God has given us His Word to assure us of our relationship with Him so that we may walk as Christians with confidence, knowing that our salvation is in Him. … Your heavenly home was bought for a price, and that payment results in a title deed that can never be lost through foreclosure. You can go joyfully into your day’s activities and rest peacefully tonight knowing that your salvation is secure and your home in heaven is being prepared for you!”

He also acknowledges the fact of disobedience and affirms that obedience characterizes the genuine believer: “Christians are not perfect, and all of us do sin along the way. But genuine Christians hear His voice and follow Him. As a Christian, when you know God has told you to do something, you do it. If we love Him, we’ll keep His commandments. A person who is genuinely saved is going to obediently hear what the Lord says.”

It’s such a shame that the Christians who should be least worried about security are often the ones who fret about it the most. Their tenderheartedness is the greatest evidence that they have nothing to fear. The Gospel truth is that security is for believers and believers are eternally secure.

Don’t be misled

The Lord warned me one day this week during my devotional time.

God blesses the people who patiently endure testing. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. And remember, no one who wants to do wrong should ever say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else either. Temptation comes from the lure of our own evil desires. These evil desires lead to evil actions, and evil actions lead to death. So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters.  (James 1:12-16 NLT)

The “once saved, always saved” churches in which I was raised would agree that Christians need to be warned about the danger of succumbing to temptation, but they would have insisted that the worst a Christian would face for backsliding was a loss of reward in heaven. (I knew deacons who apparently ran a cost-benefit analysis and decided the loss of reward was worth it!)

That flies in the face of what Scripture plainly says.

In v.1, James says he is writing to Jewish Christians. In v.16, he refers to his audience as “dear brothers and sisters.” There is no doubt that he is warning believers to not be misled, not the “never saved” or “almost saved.”

And what is the danger he is warning these believers about? Not just that “evil desires lead to evil actions” but that “evil actions lead to death.”

Is he merely saying that the Christian who stops resisting evil actions will die a physical death, that God will remove him from this life so he doesn’t do any further damage to his witness? That certainly may happen. Ananias and Sapphira lied about what they were giving to the church and paid for it with their lives. (Acts 5)

But what James is saying here is far more certain than “perhaps” a Christian will die an early death if he lets his evil desires lure him into evil actions. There’s no “maybe” here. James is saying that evil desires always lead to evil actions and that evil actions always lead to death. The Greek word here is thanatos, not apollumi, but the implication clearly is that death, not life, is the result of sin. When Paul said, “The wages of sin is death,” he wasn’t talking merely about physical death.

Don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. The danger a Christian faces if he allows evil desires to continually lead him into evil actions is far worse than merely a loss of reward.

And while we’re at it, dear pastors and teachers, don’t be misleading your people either. After they patiently endure testing, that’s when they receive the crown of life they were promised. They should not regard themselves as having already laid hold of salvation but should press on toward the goal.  (Philippians 3:13-14)

David Miller on salvation present

Timmy Brister has posted the text of comments delivered by David Miller on the subject of sanctification during the True Church Conference being held this week in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The topic of the conference is the need for church discipline, and Miller’s assignment is to talk about the nature of salvation.

Taking Romans 7:14-25 as his text, Miller offers some excellent thoughts on the “personal, practical, and progressive” nature of present-tense salvation. We ought to have more preaching on the topic, and Miller ought to be invited to speak in churches everywhere about it.

I have a particular interest in Miller’s thoughts on the subject because he was one of the Arkansas Baptist leaders who called Dale Moody on the carpet for the professor’s views on apostasy. It was truly a blessing to see him offer such insight on the subject of sanctification. Many so-called “moderate” Southern Baptists long ago wrote off David Miller for his role in the iron-fisted politics of the convention’s conservative resurgence, but he does a better job of explaining “I am being saved” than I ever heard from Dr. Moody.

Miller confidently proclaims both the security of the believer and the necessity of pursuing holiness as part and parcel of salvation: “I was saved” and “I am being saved.” Past-tense salvation and present-tense salvation are both true, in spite of the logical tension we feel between them. And future-tense salvation is biblical truth as well (here is what Miller had to say about that). Too many of us only preach past-tense salvation. In the process, we rob our people of authentic discipleship and truly abundant life, and we place them in grave spiritual danger of neglecting the great gift of salvation they have been given.

Read what Miller has to say here. I’d love to hear what you think about it.