Posts Tagged ‘false grace’
What’s Wrong With Grace? Mike Bickle and the distorted grace message
Why a distorted message of grace is the church’s greatest crisis today—and how we must respond
The original article can be found here: http://www.charismamag.com/spirit/spiritual-growth/17080-what-s-wrong-with-grace
You can read my article Five Marks of the False Grace Message here: www.johnburton.net/grace-message
The most powerful, significant and liberating message ever given to the human race is the gospel of grace. The Christian life is established on the foundation of this wonderful truth, which emphasizes what Christ did for us on the cross and what the Holy Spirit does in us in our daily life. Paul’s dramatic declaration that we have become new creations in Christ has vast implications for our lives: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away … all things have become new … that we [our spirit] might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:17-21).
The “he” that is a new creation is our spirit man. We possess the very righteousness of God in our spirit (v. 21). This describes our new legal position in Christ—how God sees and relates to us. In Christ, all things have become new pertaining to our spirit. This includes being fully accepted by God, receiving the authority to use the name of Jesus and possessing the indwelling Holy Spirit—all of which enable us to resist sin, sickness and Satan; to walk in victory; and to release the works of God through prayer. The old things that passed away under this legal shift include no longer being under the penalty of sin nor being dominated by the power of sin.
So what’s the problem if we’ve been given such freedom as new creations? Unfortunately, man’s natural tendency to distort truth gets in the way. And when it comes to a truth as fundamental and crucial as grace, that distortion has far-reaching implications. In short, it can become the central crisis of an entire generation.
The Crisis of Our Time
The apostle Jude confronted the great spiritual crisis of his day when he exhorted believers to contend earnestly for the “faith” or for the message of grace originally delivered to them through the first apostles. In Jude 3-4, he writes: “I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed … ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness.”
Think about this: Within one generation after Jesus’ resurrection, it was already necessary to contend for the true grace message. That’s how key this battle over the true grace message is and always has been since Jesus’ definitive work on the cross.
Jude warned of certain men who crept into the fellowship of the church unnoticed—that is, their error went unnoticed by most of the leaders and the people. These men turned the message of grace into a message of lewdness or one that affirmed various compromises, even sexual immorality. These men with persuasive teaching abilities twisted what the Bible said about grace, thus empowering many to confidently continue in sinful activities without feeling any urgency to repent.
Undoubtedly, these teachers of error appeared outwardly to live godly, but in their private lives they refused to repent of various lusts. Instead, they justified their ungodly habits by distorting the message of grace to accommodate their lifestyles.
The result was devastating, as many in the church concluded that it was acceptable for them also to live with similar compromises because these popular teachers were justifying this sort of lifestyle with various Bible verses. In reality, they took these verses out of context of the broader New Testament message, which called believers to live in wholehearted love for Jesus as evidenced by seeking to live in obedience to Him (John 14:15, 21).
The same is true with hyper-grace teachers today. They choose to emphasize only God’s love and forgiveness while practically ignoring Jesus’ call for His people to walk in wholehearted commitment to the Lord. They preach mostly on forgiveness without repentance and on receiving God’s blessing on their circumstances without any conditions. The truth is, it’s glorious that we are freely forgiven by Jesus and that He blesses our circumstances; but these truths are in context to seeking to live in a real relationship with Him and in agreement with His leadership and Word.
Jude’s exhortation is a significant warning for the body of Christ today. When the grace message is distorted, everything else in one’s spiritual life becomes blurred. In fact, there is no spiritual battle more significant in the church today than contending to keep the grace message faithful to Scripture.
Sadly, some believers aren’t even aware of this spiritual crisis regarding a diluted grace message. They must wake up to the emergency at hand—because today, as we contend for the spirit of truth, we are fighting for the very soul of a generation.
It’s easier in today’s world for teachers to creep in unnoticed, as Jude said, because of television and the Internet. Some contemporary teachers distorting the message of grace come from high-profile ministries whose very popularity gives them a false sense of credibility. We must not receive a ministry because it’s attractive and popular; we should only receive it if it’s faithful to the truth.
Paul prophesied of a time when many who profess loyalty to Jesus would fall to unsound doctrine: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2 Tim. 4:3-4).
These people aren’t willing to embrace the challenges of a lifestyle of obedience to Jesus as emphasized by the sound teaching in the New Testament. Instead, they have “itching ears” to hear messages that affirm their sinful desires. They want to feel comfortable in their relationship with God, even as they continue to boldly walk out their sinful lusts.
By isolating Bible verses about God’s blessing and forgiveness from the larger context of the New Testament’s call to love Jesus with obedience, they affirm the lustful desires of their hearers. One famous TV preacher went so far to say that there is no longer a need for a believer to repent because Jesus’ work on the cross did that for them. He obviously overlooked the fact that Jesus repeatedly called born-again believers to repent for yielding to various compromises (see Rev. 2:5, 16, 21-22; 3:3, 19).
Grace: The Power to Love and Obey Jesus
If countless sincere believers have already succumbed to the rising tide of this distorted grace message, how can we stand strong through the crisis? It starts by remaining grounded in biblical truth. We must approach the biblical grace message through the lens of God calling us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30).
The Lord wants us to love Him in a wholehearted way because that’s how He loves us—with all of His heart, mind and strength. This mutual relationship of wholehearted love between a believer and the Lord is foundational to the kingdom. In fact, this is the very way that the Father loves the Son—with all of His heart. The Son loves the Father and the Spirit loves the Father and Son in this way too. Oh, the glorious mystery of one God in three persons who delight in Their relationship of wholehearted love for each other (see John 3:35; 5:20; 14:31; 15:9; 17:23, 26)! God’s plan from the foundation of the earth was to redeem people so that they could participate in this loving fellowship that the three persons of the Trinity enjoy.
The core reality of the grace message is to empower us to walk with God in a relationship of wholehearted love. Jesus called this “the first commandment” (Mark 12:30). Thus, the Holy Spirit’s first agenda is to establish the first commandment in first place in the church. This must also be our first agenda. Wholehearted love is to be “first” in our response to God because it is how the Father relates to the Son and how the Godhead relates to us. We must see grace through the lens of this quality of love. To think of grace without it being anchored in the first commandment is to be aiming at the wrong target. Thus, we distort the grace message when we do not interpret it through the lens of the first commandment. We must love Jesus on His terms, and He defined loving God in terms of a spirit of obedience to His commandments (see John 14:15, 21, 23).
There’s no such thing as loving Jesus without seeking to obey His Word. Some seek to love God on the terms of a humanistic culture that has no reference to obeying the Word. But loving and seeking to obey Jesus are synonymous. All of His commands are based in His love. Thus, the biblical message of grace teaches us to live righteously and to deny ungodliness as the way of expressing our love to God. Titus 2:11-12 says, “The grace of God … has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly.”
If you hear a teaching on grace that doesn’t call you to deny ungodliness, it’s not a biblical grace message—it’s a distorted one.
Legal Position vs. Living Condition
As we correctly view the grace message through the lens of the first commandment, we can also begin to understand the difference between our legal position before God and our ongoing living condition as a response to what Jesus has done. Not only is there a key difference between these two, it’s often the element that hyper-grace adherents conveniently overlook.
Our legal position is what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross, while our living condition is what Jesus requires of us in our response to Him. In our legal position, we stand before God by possessing His righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21). Our legal standing before God is so glorious that it will never be improved upon—not even with the perfection of a resurrected body—because we received Christ’s very own righteousness. Our legal position relates to receiving His righteousness instantly on the day that we are born again.
Our living condition, on the other hand, relates to growing in righteousness progressively as our mind is renewed, causing our behavior and emotions to be transformed by the Holy Spirit in us.
The gospel is the good news about receiving God’s righteousness and can be seen in three tenses:
- Justification: our legal position—past tense, focused on our spirit
- Sanctification: our living condition—present tense, focused on our soul
- Glorification: our eternal exaltation—future tense, focused on our body
One-third of our salvation is complete (the salvation of our spirit), but the other two parts are not yet complete in our experience (the salvation of our soul and body). All believers have received the fullness of grace in their spirit (legal position), and yet they can still live far below it in their daily experience (living condition).
Much misunderstanding about grace can be traced to misunderstanding the distinctions of these truths. Many confuse what Jesus did for us in our legal position with what He requires of us in our response to Him in our living condition.
Jesus’ finished work on the cross makes His grace fully available to us as a gift. However, our regular interaction with the Spirit causes us to experience the transforming power of this grace in our daily life. James wrote about this when he urged believers to walk in a greater measure of grace because God “gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).
James wrote this to born-again believers, calling them to receive more grace. A believer already has the gift of righteousness and therefore can’t receive “more grace” in his or her legal position. However, each of us can receive “more grace” in our living condition—and this is what James was referring to. We can always experience more of God’s grace to transform and renew our mind and emotions (see Rom. 12:2).
Grace in the Eight Beatitudes
If we hope to experience more of this transforming grace on a daily basis, then we must follow the words of the greatest teacher on grace who ever walked the earth: Jesus. The Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) is His most comprehensive statement about a believer’s role in cooperating with God’s grace. In this teaching, Jesus defined loving God in context to the eight beatitudes (5:3-10), offering us a rich understanding of how to walk out biblical grace in our daily lives.
One aspect of this is Jesus’ exhortation to us to hunger for more of God’s righteousness (v. 6). Here, Jesus affirmed the need to press into God for a greater release of righteousness in our daily lives—our living condition. Keep in mind that He wasn’t calling us to receive more of the gift of righteousness, since we already fully possess this in our legal position. Our hunger for righteousness doesn’t cause us to deserve grace—nothing can do that—but hunger positions us to receive more of the outworking of righteousness in our character.
Some believers don’t hunger to grow in righteousness in their daily life. Rather, they seek to know how far they can go in sin and how little they need to talk with Jesus to keep their salvation intact.
Imagine a couple in their wedding ceremony who have just completed their vows. While walking down the aisle for the first time as “one,” the man whispers to his new bride, “How far can I go with other women before we get divorced? And how much do I have to talk to you each week?” Adding insult to injury, he then says, “By the way, we just signed a marriage license that legalized our marriage—so now I have legal rights to all that you possess.”
Of course, the new bride would be heartbroken to hear that her husband didn’t love her with all of his heart but was instead establishing their marriage on a faulty foundation—and focusing almost entirely on the bare-minimum “requirements” and legal ramifications involved.
Some teach about grace in a way that parallels the lack of wholeheartedness portrayed in this analogy. It’s a version of grace more concerned with what it takes to “meet the requirements” on paper than to engage in the authentic, loving relationship for which it was originally intended. Sadly, this error is bound to occur whenever people separate the grace message from the first commandment.
How to Receive God’s Grace
Grace was never intended to be abused, but as our current church crisis proves, it can be. God gives us the freedom to choose relationship and obedience to His Word—and thus benefit from the true liberty found in grace. Yet this is also why Paul urged the believers in Corinth “not to receive the grace of God in vain” (2 Cor. 6:1).
The gospel of grace is distorted in two main ways: first, by presenting God’s love as something we can earn; second, by refusing to call people to respond in wholeheartedness to God. The fruit of the biblical grace message is confidence in the gift of God’s love combined with a spirit of obedience. If either of these two elements is missing, then it isn’t the true message. Thus, receiving God’s grace in vain is to receive it in such a way that it doesn’t produce confidence in God’s love nor the resolve to respond wholeheartedly to Jesus’ leadership. Either distortion is disastrous for our spiritual life.
Like Jude in the first century, we must earnestly contend for the truth about grace. The very soul of the youth in our nation hangs in the balance.
The good news, however, is this: The Holy Spirit is highlighting this spiritual crisis and is committed to the recovery of the biblical grace message. We can be confident that He will release His power to establish the first commandment in first place in the church before Jesus returns for His fully prepared Bride (see Rev. 19:7). Let’s come alongside Him, rather than opposing Him, when it comes to receiving, understanding and walking in grace.
Mike Bickle is the director of the International House of Prayer Missions Base of Kansas City, Mo., and author of several books. For more information, visit mikebickle.org or ihopkc.org.
Watch as Mike Bickle explains how the American culture has colored the understanding of grace at grace.charismamag.com
New small group, False grace interview & new powerful teaching
Listen to a message that rocked Revival Church last night! Fire: Fervency & Friction
It’s time for a bold, prophetic and provocative spirit to arise in the church again!
Most people avoid conflict, which results in a tepid, unchanging church. We must have a violent spirit as we wrestle against unholy spirits of the age.
I’ll include my notes below. You can listen to the teaching here: media.johnburton.net/6401006
FALSE GRACE INTERVIEW
Also, I’ll be interviewed THIS THURSDAY at 8am on the topic of the false grace message. Check out the video here: http://youtu.be/A-l_b_IAt5U
You can find more info about the show here: http://www.facebook.com/pastorsprewell
SMALL GROUP AT JOHN AND AMY’S HOUSE
The first Saturday of each month, Amy and I will be opening our house to anybody who wants to discuss how to fulfill their ministry, how to grow deep in the Lord and how to have fun doing it! We’ll have food and a lot of fun!
Just contact us if you’d like to come! [email protected]
The first group will be Saturday, February 2 at 6pm.
FIRE: FERVENCY AND FRICTION
Here’s my notes. The series continues this Sunday at Revival Church at 6pm!
Fire: Fervency & Friction
I. A call to provoke
a. A goal is to be the most fiery, fervent, passionate body of Believers in Detroit—not because we are trying to build the Revival Church brand, but because we want to simply live according to the Biblical norm!
i. We want 1000 people who are burning, on fire… praying non-stop, moving against resistance, taking dominion!
ii. A remnant is rising up, bold prophetic messengers who will fear God, preach the cross, call to repentance & emphasize the reality of Hell.
iii. This will result in a great provocation!
iv. A key problem with communicating reform in the church is that most presume it will enhance the familiar, not eradicate it.
1. What this means is that our comfort and what we like is at risk of demolition!
2. We are the initiators of this great reform!
b. When we have a great understanding of who we are in Christ, we will not only stop fearing conflict, but we will joyfully seek to initiate it.
c. There’s simply no way we will be able to stay silent! Carriers of fire are constantly provoked!
i. With a spirit of great love and deep concern for those in darkness, our confidence in the power in our lives will result in action!
ii. That provocation, that friction, that fervent spirit will result in an atmosphere of fire, of awakening in our generation!
iii. Our goal as a prophetic people is not primarily to make people feel good! It’s to bring the trouble that’s hidden under the surface, to the surface for the sake of freedom.
1. The great counterfeit won't come to you as a counterfeit. He'll come to you as the Holy Spirit. Howard Pittman
iv. A spirit of religion doesn't restrict personal freedom, it emphasizes it…and violently reacts against anything that would threaten it.
1. A spirit of truth will cut, prune, trouble…before it liberates.
2. That’s why it’s so resisted… until someone hits rock bottom! That’s why calamity has to come to a nation before repentance is shouted!
3. It’s time to violently shake the sleepers, and warn the wicked, and trouble the church!
4. Ephesians 5:8-14 (ESV) 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
5. In a spirit of great humility and love, we must expose darkness, and that requires that we are OK with friction.
6. Though many of you are entertained by my Facebook posts, I really do have a mission in mind.
a. As a prophetic messenger, my intent is to provoke people by the Spirit of God to a fresh level of discernment.
b. On Facebook, Twitter, on my blog, in these audio teachings, on XPmedia, etc. my only goal is to fervently create friction that results in fire in people’s lives.
d. Now, clearly, we talk a lot about fire around here, and that’s by design.
i. To create a fire you need the right conditions. I’m going to talk about two of them:
1. Fervency
2. Friction
e. When you rub two sticks together, you have to get the sawdust that is created heated up to 800 degrees before it will start glowing.
i. Below 800 degrees it will give off a little smoke, but little else.
ii. We cannot afford to be a ministry of smoke.
iii. Anything that prevents the sawdust from reaching 800 degrees will interfere with fire making.
iv. Interestingly, the finer the sawdust is, the lower the temperature necessary for it to ignite. Fervency + friction = fire.
v. Problems:
1. If you don't have enough muscle power then you won't be able to raise the temperature high enough. Remedy: teamwork. Have someone else help you.
2. If the structure of the wood is such that it disintegrates before it reaches 800 degrees then it is a wood that should not be used.
3. Volatile substances such as water or resin in the wood. Evaporative cooling will prevent the sawdust from reaching the critical temperature.
4. Someone said: What makes me feel even better is getting a group of people to contribute towards the starting of a fire. I can think of no better way to bond a group of people.
5. Someone else said: Starting a fire is a sacrament.
II. Fervency
a. Don't let the best you have ever done be the standard for the rest of your life.
i. It’s time to urgently go after the dream!
b. Nehemiah 1:1-3 (ESV) 1 .. one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”
i. What should the response be??!
ii. Nehemiah 1:4 (ESV) 4 As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
iii. Nehemiah hit his face and cried out and repented.
iv. If we are looking for personal comfort, we will actually resist the brokenness and grieving that will result in a fervent response!
v. “The desire for comfort can be your enemy. If the source of your comfort is not The Comforter, false comfort will eventually destroy you.”
vi. If moving in the spirit doesn't include a yearning for holiness, it's not the Holy Spirit we are moving in. We must strive for holiness!
vii. Hebrews 12:14 (ESV) 14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
c. We must be always on…always alert. Fervent. Striving. Rending our hearts.
i. The word “strive” in the Greek literally means to fight, to contend, to labor fervently.
ii. We must strive, be fervent! Urgent!
iii. “God has called us to be the sworn enemies of sin. We are to wage war against it and strive to give it no opportunity in our lives.” ~ William Wilberforce, Real Christianity
iv. There is a fervent, striving spirit that we must get used to in our lives.
v. The culture is a sinful, destructive culture, and we have to fight against it!
vi. No more simply seeking out comfort and relaxation! We must go hard!
1. The code word for ‘pursuing Jesus hard' is “legalism!” Don't be intimidated by these false arguments. ~Mike Bickle
2. A false grace message will result in a lack of motivation to respond in wholeheartedness. ~Mike Bickle
3. Even entering rest requires fervent striving!
Hebrews 4:11-13 (ESV) 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
4. Rest only come as we allow the breaking, refining process to hit us.
vii. Luke 13:24 (ESV) 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
d. Cover to cover in scripture we see stories of fervency, of war, of battle, of advance.
i. To know God requires that you know him as a fervent, aggressive God!
ii. If our understanding of God is limited to knowing him as “Daddy,” we are missing the wonder of his fearful shock and awe.
iii. When the people cried out Hosanna for Jesus to save them, to comfort them, he gave them a crisis—the cross.
iv. He was fervent in his perfect expression of love!
v. This is why a foundation of our strategy includes deep groans of intercession!
1. There’s an urgency in the spirit that will awaken as we allow God to groan through us!
e. 1 Timothy 4:6-10 (ESV) 6 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. 10 For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
1. Wesley: Train thyself up in holiness of heart and life, with the utmost labor, vigor, and diligence.
2. Life Application: “Training” emphasizes the point that spiritual development does not happen by chance. An athlete is focused and committed, constantly training, refusing to let up, always striving.
a. I’m fervent for many reasons…one of which is that I know I am not guaranteed Heaven. I can’t even imagine not being with the one I’ve fallen in love with! We need to fervently exhort, to call each other higher!
3. Hebrews 3:12-13 (ESV) 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
III. Friction
a. When you go hard for God, when you fix what others don’t see as broken, when you threaten other’s comfort zones, there will be friction!
i. If a key motivation for you is to be liked and for resistance and friction to be at a minimum, it will require disobedience to God to accomplish that.
ii. So many are content with just learning more and more who they are and what they get as Christians, and they simply attempt to live in this happy, positive realm.
iii. Teaching that attempts to reveal who we are in Christ without resulting in a revelation of what we do for Christ has miserably failed.
1. Titus 2:11-15 (ESV) 11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. 15 Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.
a. Renounce! Zealous for good works! Declare! Exhort! Rebuke!
2. And, what we do for Christ will cause great trouble!
3. We are called to be peace makers, not peace keepers!
4. That requires conflict and friction.
b. Nehemiah 4:1-3 (ESV) 1 Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. 2 And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” 3 Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!”
i. Resistance! Mocking! Anger! Rage!
ii. How did Nehemiah respond? Hey prayed for friction!
iii. Nehemiah 4:4-5 (ESV) 4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. 5 Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.
1. Jameison-Fausset-Brown: The imprecations invoked here may seem harsh, cruel, and vindictive; but it must be remembered that Nehemiah and his friends regarded those Samaritan leaders as enemies to the cause of God and His people, and therefore as deserving to be visited with heavy judgments. The prayer, therefore, is to be considered as emanating from hearts in which neither hatred, revenge, nor any inferior passion, but a pious and patriotic zeal for the glory of God and the success of His cause, held the ascendant sway.
c. The next five words are brilliant: Nehemiah 4:6 (ESV) 6 So we built the wall.
i. Nehemiah 4:16-17 (ESV) 16 From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, 17 who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other.
d. We must be in conflict and building!
e. The greater you advance in God, the more threatened the religious will become!
i. Nehemiah 6:1-3 (ESV) 1 Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it (although up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates), 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm. 3 And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?”
1. I talked with one of Sid Roth’s guests and he said the greatest and most fierce demonic resistance explodes out of people when he deals with the false grace message. The walls we are called to build, to restore the biblical church, will result in a ferocious demonic assault.
ii. It happened with Jesus too!
1. When the world was crying out for relief, Jesus brought conflict!
iii. Friction! What greater friction could there be when Jesus was on the cross? The nails as they were driven through his flesh-friction! The hatred and mocking-friction! His closest friend, his Father, turning his head—friction!
IV. Conclusion
a. The fervency and the friction will result in a fire.
i. Nehemiah 7:1 (ESV) 1 Now when the wall had been built and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed…
ii. Leviticus 6:12-13 (ESV) 12 The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. 13 Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.
b. Nehemiah was fervent and he initiated friction…and the fire returned.
Joseph Prince, false-grace and two key threats to revival
Listen to the final two threats to revival in my teaching series, Ten Threats to Revival. There’s a false-grace message that’s promoted by people like Joseph Prince that is threatening a move of God.
First, MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Our gift to you? A completed series on revival that you can listen to and share with your friends right now! Listen to this teaching here: http://media.johnburton.net/6014999
The final two threats to revival that I address are:
- Seeking an enhanced life
- The lack of an immediate response
I’ll post the notes below so you can follow along, but I also wanted to share a couple portions from my book Covens in the Church.
Someone asked me about the call for an immediate response. What if we don’t feel that God is calling us to respond? Here’s my reply:
That’s a great question!
Here’s my response that includes what I wrote in my book that addresses this directly:
Most of the time, our response can’t be attached to our feelings. Basically, we’ll have to move contrary to feeling quite a bit.
We see in the Gideon story that God did release those who were feeling afraid… but, then, they disqualified themselves from participating in the mission.
The key story is Joshua. Under Moses, people didn’t respond to their authority rightly, so they didn’t enter the Promised Land and most of them died in the desert.
Under Joshua, there was precision and immediate response. Nobody stayed back. The call was troublesome and inconvenient, yet everybody was immediately responsive.
The most important first step is to answer the question of whether you are under the person’s authority or not. If someone regionally makes a call and I am legitimately not under their authority, then I can go to prayer and respond how God leads.
But, if I am under their authority, there’s no prayer necessary. I simply respond.
Here’s two sections from my book that deal directly with this:
As the leader of Revolution House of Prayer I have people who God has appointed as my authority. We call them overseers and they
are leaders of ministries and people with a mature walk with the Lord. Like the centurion, I am a man under authority.
Let’s say, for example, I, along with the leadership of Revolution, decide to hold a conference. We go through the tedious process of
securing guest speakers and figuring out how to administrate the event.
We spend thousands of dollars promoting the conference on TV, radio and in print. I am a key part of the process as well as the actual event.
I’ll be teaching in several of the workshops and facilitating the week of activities. A week before the conference I receive a phone call from
one of my overseers. He tells me he needs me to fly to Alabama to help a church work through a transition from one pastor to another. Their previous pastor just repented of indiscretion and resigned suddenly.
The problem? It’s during the same week as my conference. I would have a dilemma. Honestly, I don’t want to go to Alabama. In addition to the upcoming conference I have a wedding to officiate among other important tasks. My integrity and reputation, along with my own personal comfort would be at stake. What’s the correct approach to take?
- Refuse to mention my disagreement with my overseer with anybody–including my wife. There is power of life and death in the tongue. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. I’d have to allow God to break me and cause me to have a pure heart in this matter.
- Put to death any of my own desires and prepare to surrender to the wishes of my overseer however inconvenient they may be.
- Meet with my overseer and honestly share all of the concerns and issues at stake. Inform him that I’d prefer not to go and if he could find someone else, I’d really appreciate it.
- Submit. After a healthy conversation, my overseer states that he appreciates my concerns but he still needs me to go. So, I go.
I don’t have to pray about my decision. I don’t have to talk with anybody else. I have no option according to God’s established government in my life. I fly to Alabama with a smile on my face. God’s authority has spoken.
The enemy has caused many to believe that we can’t experience freedom while being submitted. This is simply not true.
Freedom from authority is rebellion.
Freedom in the absence of authority is anarchy.
Freedom under authority is liberty.
The process of response to my leader described above not only must take place between a pastor and his overseers, but also between a youth pastor and his pastor. Also, between the ministers in the pews and their leaders. We’ll eventually see the city Church established once again and pastors will be submitting to apostles in their city. It’s a process that is quite foreign to most.
The 100% Church and the Call to Corporate Mission Advance
This issue of pastors becoming salesmen has forced the rapid growth of para-church ministries. Leaders of para-church ministries have a greater ability to call those people who have partnered with them on their mission field into a position of readiness and response.
The success of the mission is at a lesser risk as all hands are on deck and ready to go. Pastors don’t always have it as easy.
For example, a pastor may hear God tell him to gather his flock together and fast from all food for 3 days. In God’s government, there would be no resistance, complaining or negativity. 100% of the participants in the church, who had already made up their mind to be unified and ready to press ahead as warriors for God, would immediately embrace this God given mandate. All would fast. If someone had a concern with the directive, that’s OK. A good servant won’t simply ignore the plan of action, but will rather make the effort to talk to the leader. A good leader will certainly listen to their concerns with compassion.
Much dialogue can occur. However, at the end of the discussion, the two would be ‘agreed’–moving in the same direction. The events of 1988 in Baton Rouge changed that considerably.
Now, the process that poor pastor must go through when the need to call the troops to action is enough to cause him to resign!
- He studies endlessly in the Word so he can ‘cover all of his bases’. He is already preparing his heart for resistance–the resistance that was perpetuated back in 1988.
- Due to this certain impending resistance, he prays long and hard for God to help him cast vision and sell this strategy to the church by giving him ‘the words to say’.
- He shares his impression that God wants this three-day fast with his leadership team, hoping to gain support. He knows he’ll need it.
- He looks at the schedule to make sure he doesn’t offend anybody by scheduling the fast during a time when someone else has already planned his or her own event.
- He prays again asking God for more insight as to the purpose of the fast. He wants to make sure he has enough info so as to effectively sell this idea to the people.
- He stresses out when God doesn’t give further insight.
- He starts to guess how many will actually respond so he can devise a plan to effectively make sure those who don’t respond don’t feel alienated. After all, an affirmed and happy family is very important.
- He then shares how he ‘feels led’ that God ‘would like’ the church to fast. Those who also ‘feel led’ should sign up in the back as they leave.
- The same five or six people who show up for everything sign up and the rest of the sheet is left blank. It’s a monument of a failed mission.
- The next time God says something, the pastor will be even less zealous in sharing the dream.
Here are my notes from last night’s teaching:
- Threat 9. Seeking an Enhanced Life
1. People generally want God to make their current lives better. They want an enhancement, an upgrade.
2. However, the demands of revival include the willingness to embrace a fire that won’t warm your flesh—it will consume your flesh.
3. I wonder if the church would listen to “prophetic words for 2013” if they included extreme surrender & death to self instead of benefits.
1. We should certainly understand that the great and terrible day of the Lord is at near! We are living as in the days of Noah.
2. “I Thess. 5:2,3 …the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them…”
1. “Just as false prophets of old fraudulently forecast a bright future, in spite of the imminence of God's judgment (Jer.6:14, 8:11,14:13-14; Lam.2:14; Ezek. 13:10,16; Mic. 3:5) so they will again in future days just before the final Day of the Lord destruction.”
2. Ezekiel 13:15-16 (ESV) 15 Thus will I spend my wrath upon the wall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewash, and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who smeared it, 16 the prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her, when there was no peace, declares the Lord GOD.
3. Matthew 24:36-39 (ESV) 36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
3. I was chatting with a pastor from Quebec… he said people call him the ‘death pastor’… because he is unrelenting in his call to die to self.
1. What??!
2. Somehow it’s a derogatory thing to call people to lay down their lives?
3. Messages of personal benefit are rampant. Joseph Prince is teaching a very dangerous message.
1. No confession, no repentance, no way to lose salvation.
4. Evan Roberts called for people to gather—but not all people—only those who were willing to make a total surrender.
1. Revival doesn’t enhance lives, it crushes them. If we attempt to advance with a semi-surrendered people, the fire simply will not fall.
2. It’s not that blessing won’t come…but there are a lot of people who are looking for an enhancement to lives that are actually on agenda to be broken, not built up.
3. We don’t want life as we know it to become better! We have to lay that life on the altar and trade it for the cross!
1. It’s the same thing that was happening when the money changers were in the temple.
1. They wanted a better life.
2. It’s the same thing that happened at the triumphal entry.
3. Matthew 21:8-9 (ESV) 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
1. Hosanna literally means: Save us now!
2. They wanted an enhanced life!
3. Jesus decided to answer their cry, but when they realized it wasn’t what they wanted, they turned on him!
4. That spirit is in the church everywhere!
5. Matthew 27:20-23 (ESV) 20 Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. 21 The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” 22 Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” 23 And he said, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”
5. Since I’ve been in Detroit I’ve heard a lot about revival. It seems the whole region is crying out for it. However, this is where the root of the disturbance in my spirit exists.
1. Most every time revival is mentioned, the intent of that desire is to experience some sort of breakthrough, blessing or restitution.
2. It’s time we STOP crying out for God to revive the economy, for resolved issues, for racial tensions to subside, for a fixed city… and START crying out for God and God alone!
3. God is jealous and he won’t allow Detroit to be satisfied by money, security or anything else until we are satisfied in Him and no one or nothing else!
4. Jesus’ own disciples fell into the trap too… they focused on the enhancement instead of the mission!
1. Acts 1:6-11 (ESV) 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
6. DO NOT expect revival until we return to our first love and lay down our lives daily. It WILL NOT COME! In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if the situation in this region got dramatically worse. The choice is ours, however.
7. It’s absolutely shocking to me that so much emphasis is placed on the pursuit of breakthrough yet the call to breakthrough into a pursuit of God falls on deaf ears.
8. Will we only gather and pray if we have a hope of personal blessing?
1. Where are all of the hungry people in Detroit? The stadiums should be filled with zealous, praying people every night of the week! Have the cares of life and entertainment so bewitched us that we have become convinced that being with God is not worth it?
9. I propose starting a movement of encounter which only has one goal—to be fully satisfied in enjoying and responding to the Lover of our souls. Nothing else matters. If we all have to live in a cardboard box on the streets of Detroit to encounter God, so be it! Our goal is not financial! It’s not selfish! It’s to be with God! That is all!
- Threat 10. A Lack of Immediate Response
1. We must develop a ‘drop everything ‘culture. An ‘all hands on deck’ culture.
1. There will be regular calls to prayer, calls to action… monthly, weekly, that will require a ‘drop everything’ culture.
2. My intercessors know this… if I send them an issue, depending on the severity, they drop everything… they get on a conference call… they pray.
3. If we have fallen into the trap of seeking an enhanced life, we won’t respond to the inconvenient call!
1. This is a major danger in the church today!
2. We’ll say, I don’t see how my life will be enhanced by participating, so I will hold back.
3. This is why we teach people in theLab to be alert… to always be on time… we don’t break for holidays… we don’t excuse people for vacations… it’s a drop everything culture of consecration.
4. This model isn’t just for theLab!!!! This is the life of the Believer!!!!!
5. Christmas morning at IHOP is just like any other day of the week! They stay on the wall… they don’t relax the mandate.
6. Let me set you free from a Christian cop out.
1. When called to action, don’t ever say, “I’ll pray about it”… unless you are truly going to invest some hard core prayer and then report back exactly what God said!
2. To say that we’ll pray about it… and then do what we want to do instead of exactly what God said to do whether we pray or not… is taking the Lord’s name in vain!
1. If we tell people that God said that we aren’t to do something when God never said that at all is taking his name in vain!
2. Most things don’t require praying about… and we’re a praying church!
3. In a drop everything culture where the prophetic calls are constant, if everybody just stopped everything to pray about whether they should respond or not nothing would ever be accomplished.
4. Check out a couple passages in Joel:
2. Joel 1:14 Consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders
and all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
3. And in Joel 2:
1. Joel 2:15-17 (ESV) 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; 16 gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. 17 Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep and say, “Spare your people, O LORD, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
1. The people are saying “Where is their God!!!!!!!!”
2. Connecticut! Where was God!!!! Church!!!! Are we so asleep that we don’t see this?
3. We have to gather!!!!! Be together!!! Be instant!!! Pray!!!! Always!!!!!!
4. At 5pm every Sunday, be in the prayer room!!! Cry out to the Lord!!!
2. We live in a day where there's Twitter, email, Facebook, video and more… in every house in the city!!! We have phones that are many times smarter than the computer that took a rocket to the moon!
3. There is no excuse to not hear and respond to the prophetic decrees moment by moment!
4. We must be alert and ready! Alarms are being sounded, yet are any hearing?
5. The call a couple of years ago was for every church to gather at Fire in February. Few responded. The same thing with The Call. Few responded. The prophets are calling the church of Detroit to respond, and immediately!
4. This is one reason why church schedules must be flexible.
5. It’s also a reason why daily meetings are critical.
6. When prophetic instruction is received, the entire region must know about it right away, and the people must respond.
1. The Manitou way of doing things… continual data, continual response.
2. Luke 9:59-62 (ESV) 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
3. We have to learn to do two things:
1. Embrace key prophets in the region
2. Stay tuned in, stay in your email, stay ready for an urgent message that just may require you respond in hours time!
7. In Joshua 3, the instructions were clear, and everybody responded in unison.
1. Consecrate yourselves today…for tomorrow!!!!
8. There’s no way to fulfill this mighty mission if we are only together one day a week (actually 2 hours a week!).
1. There’s way too much work to be done!
2. As an example, Mike Bickle recently called an urgent meeting. Most of the departments at IHOP in Kansas City were immediately closed and the people all gathered together to receive an urgent prophetic message.
3. In Detroit, we must promote extreme alertness and flexibility so we can respond moment by moment to the demands of regional revival.
4. If we are mostly focused on our local, personal ventures, we’ll stay disconnected from the greater, regional mission. The response won’t be what is necessary and revival will most likely never come.
James Dobson & Judgment: Our country is in complete disarray
The church in America is like the frog in the kettle. We don’t understand how far we have fallen.
James Dobson:
Our country really does seem in complete disarray. I'm not talking politically, I'm not talking about the result of the November sixth election; I am saying that something has gone wrong in America and that we have turned our back on God.
I mean millions of people have decided that God doesn't exist, or he's irrelevant to me and we have killed fifty-four million babies and the institution of marriage is right on the verge of a complete redefinition. Believe me, that is going to have consequences too.
And a lot of these things are happening around us, and somebody is going to get mad at me for saying what I am about to say right now, but I am going to give you my honest opinion: I think we have turned our back on the Scripture and on God Almighty and I think he has allowed judgment to fall upon us. I think that's what's going on.
James is right—we have no clue how far we have fallen from righteousness and morality. There are entire unbiblical theologies that are skyrocketing in popularity right now that communicate a minimal impact of sin on us personally and corporately.
I actually heard someone say last night, “In the New Covenant God doesn’t convict of sin. As Christians we cannot sin.” What?!
In a must read article, Steve Hill says:
One spiritual leaders said the other day: “You guys are old-fashioned ‘holiness,' we are modern day ‘grace.' You live in bondage while we can do anything we want.
The false-grace message is truly wiping out masses of people who have been lulled into a state of false-comfort and false-peace. In the end there will be a great falling away, and we are in the beginnings of those troubles.
We must repent with brokenness and tears. We must stop calling good evil and evil good. We can no longer do what is right in our own eyes. The Bible says there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. That death is all around us.
I’d strongly encourage you to watch a Sid Roth episode on counterfeit grace. He and his guest Tony Kemp feel strongly that multiple messages about this dangerous movement must be broadcast. Watch it here: http://www.sidroth.org/site/News2?abbr=tv_&page=NewsArticle&id=12311
I personally don’t believe there is an option to become comfy and casual in regard to our salvation. There are end time false theologies that truly put many Christians at great risk of falling away.
ENTERTAINED BY THE SIN THAT RESULTED IN THE DEATH OF JESUS
“That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:12)
Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils” (1 Corinthians 10:21)
I believe an “old time religion” style holiness movement must visit the church immediately.
It’s shocking to me, and I know this sounds old fashioned and legalistic, how many Christians allow themselves to be entertained by the very things that required the torture and brutal murder of the One we love!
Allow the Holy Spirit to bring wonderful conviction!
Allow the deadly numbness to dissipate!
We as Christians should be cut to the heart when light hearted jokes about sinful lifestyles are heard. When foul language is heard. When the private and God given gift of sexuality becomes pubic.
How is it that this has become rare to hear? Just a generation ago television wouldn’t even depict married couples laying in the same bed together!
Do we not know that we as Christians cannot lust? We can’t even think those thoughts, much less hear impure discussion or see it played out on the screen.
Steve Hill also says:
Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers must be willing to drop spiritual bombs, fire anti-heresy missiles, and even drive into the danger zones armed with explosive truth to confront this potential avalanche. The generals of this generation must leave the war room and put their years of experience on the front lines.
We are truly deceived if we believe we will participate in any measure of revival if we take holiness lightly, are entertained by sin and are apathetic in the call to take up our cross?
We cannot reform a culture we are so invested in.
GREAT FALLING AWAY
If you haven’t heard the epic and heart wrenching clip from David Wilkerson titled A Call to Anguish, you must take seven minutes of your day and listen. You will be ripped to the core. Watch and listen here: http://youtu.be/lGMG_PVaJoI
In 1995 David Wilkerson wrote:
The apostle Paul speaks of two frightful things that will strike the church just prior to Jesus' return. Indeed, the Lord will not come back until these two awful things happen. And I want to show you that both things are taking place right now – before our very eyes!
First, Paul tells us that in the last days there will be a great falling away. And second, he warns that an evil spirit of antichrist will overtake many believers who are turning aside!
The antichrist spirit is invading the hearts of many apostate Christians even now. They are being absolutely possessed of evil. “But how?” you ask. “Why would certain apostate Christians ever turn to the Antichrist?”
It is because they are like-minded with him! John writes:
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world….
“Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time” (1 John 2:15-18).
John is warning us that those who still love the things of this world have opened themselves to the spirit of antichrist. He's saying, “You know these are the last days – because so many are full of the covetous antichrist spirit!”
Beloved, if you are serving Jesus only 50 percent – or even 90 percent – then you are denying His full salvation. You aren't serving Him with all your heart, mind, soul and body. And you have opened up an inroad for the antichrist spirit to come in!
I agree with David. Many in the church will be shocked one day to find themselves in Hell. Is that offensive? It should be! It must be!
David Wilkerson writes further:
I am totally convinced that the antichrist spirit's most effective means of preparing hearts are cable TV and filthy movies. He knows that the eye is the gateway to the heart. And he marches straight through the corrupted, jaded eye of a Christian and takes over the throne of his heart!
This is why the antichrist spirit has taken control of the secular media – TV networks, movie production, Broadway theater, the press. Who but the antichrist spirit could so bias the media that abortion is now considered a right rather than a sin? Who but this spirit could justify euthanasia, the killing off of the elderly or infirm?
Who but the spirit of antichrist could mock everything that is sacred and holy, through wicked movies and vile TV programs? I believe the antichrist spirit is actually producing the programs on MTV and the Fox Network. From what I read of their shows, it's all absolute filth. Who but the antichrist spirit could be responsible for it?
The spirit of lawlessness is growing bolder and bolder, and our society is on the brink of becoming a raging hell. The antichrist spirit now pervades our schools, our courts, our streets, our businesses, even our homes. And, sadly, this evil is rapidly moving into the church.
I believe the spirit of antichrist is establishing churches all over the United States. This spirit is the motivating force behind “outsider friendly” churches. Who but the antichrist spirit would call for the ungodly to set the spiritual agenda – sending church founders door to door, surveying people: “What would you prefer church to be like? We want to tailor it so that you'll come.”
These megachurches are being built on skits and dramas, because people don't want to hear reproof. They want no conviction – so they hear a gospel that is almost totally devoid of repentance, judgment, the Cross. They are told all about God's grace and mercy, how to cope with problems – but nothing of God's judgment and hell. They're being lulled to sleep in their sinful lifestyle.
“But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils” (1 Corinthians 10:20-21).
NOBODY IS IMMUNE TO FALLING AWAY
We must humbly admit that we are at risk of being the frog in the kettle. We can be desensitized. We can slowly move from being horrified by sin to entertained by sin. We can go from being consecrated to being defiled.
The defense that I hear all too often is, “There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus! Talking about sin invites condemnation!”
Let me say it very plainly: That defense is ridiculous!
- First, if we are in Christ Jesus, we will invite his deep and continual inspection into our hearts so that any sin can be eradicated! We won’t resist that process! We won’t want to harbor any sin whatsoever!
- Second, we are often too casual and quick to presume that we are in Christ Jesus! If teaching on sin and holiness results in resistance in our spirits, we have to wonder if we are actually in Christ Jesus! Are we saved? Have we bought into a false teaching that’s not biblically sound? If we are not in Christ Jesus, any condemnation we may be feeling is accurate! We will die in our sins and will go to Hell.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
I know that’s hard to swallow, but truth is often wonderfully troubling. We have to deal with this now before it’s to late at the end of our lives.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24)
It’s time for a prayer-fueled movement of repentance and holiness in the church. Many will resist this message, but we have to be OK with that. Eternity is a very long time.
New video: Five Marks of the False Grace Movement
A lot of zealous Christians have fallen into a risky doctrine of false grace.
Here is a follow up video based on my recent article of the same name, Five Marks of the False Grace Movement.
Watch the video here: http://youtu.be/bXLfCjUr6yM
A false-grace doctrine is a drug—a poisonous sleeping pill that feels freeing, relaxing and euphoric. Yet the false-grace overdose that’s occurring in churches all over the world is resulting in people’s careless, self-focused slumber that they will, one day, fail to awaken from.
Many in this movement have already been shocked on the day of their death to find themselves escorted not into the presence of God by glorious angels, but rather by the most horrifying of demonic creatures into their new, eternal residence in Hell. It happens every day. I’m grieved and broken.
THE WONDERS CONFERENCE
Don’t forget! Registration is FREE but REQUIRED!
Matt Sorger will be in Detroit in a few weeks and we are expecting a powerful outpouring!
Grace vs. False-Grace: Have you fallen for the false-grace message? FIVE MARKS OF THE FALSE-GRACE MESSAGE
For an extremely comprehensive study on the topic of false-grace, I'd encourage you to read my article, The Salvation Equation HERE. (It will open in a new tab/window.)
I'd also like to encourage you to read an important novel by John Bevere titled Rescued. It will shake you and your theology as he dramatically depicts eternity unfolding for pastors and pillars of the church. False-grace is dealt with in sober fashion. You can find it on Amazon HERE.
Grace vs. False Grace: The church has fallen hard for a teaching that puts lives at eternal risk. Here are five marks of the false-grace doctrine.
I want to make my point very clear right up front. The reason I feel it’s mandatory for us to start focusing on the issue of false-grace is because of the eternal implications. My angle is not mostly Earthly focused, how our lives are impacted in the here and now, though our short experience on Earth will certainly be impacted as we react rightly to this message (…on Earth as it is in Heaven.)
My angle is this: A false-grace doctrine is a drug—a poisonous sleeping pill that feels freeing, relaxing and euphoric. Yet the false-grace overdose that’s occurring in churches all over the world is resulting in people’s careless, self-focused slumber that they will, one day, fail to awaken from.
Many in the false-grace movement have already been shocked on the day of their death to find themselves escorted not into the presence of God by glorious angels, but rather by the most horrifying of demonic creatures into their new, eternal residence in Hell. It happens every day. I’m grieved and broken.
The Apostle Paul accurately predicted, “The time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to MYTHS” (2 Tim. 4:3,4).
The GOOD NEWS is that God loves us. Period. It’s settled. We don’t have to feel it. We don’t have to experience it. He loves us. No amount of work or activity will cause him to love us more. The question isn’t his love of us, it’s our love of him. He already responded to our condition—by his true grace. Now, we have to respond to his condition. He is a holy and fearful God.
I’ll make it very clear: We are righteous because of Jesus, not our works. Our works is an evidence of his righteousness applied in our lives. Our repentance comes when there is a collision between the reality of our righteousness in Christ and our choice to sin. The two can’t mix. If we do repent, righteousness remains. If we don’t repent, it does not. It’s as simple (though not always easy) as living a life that’s alive to Christ and quick to repent as his wonderful Holy Spirit convicts us. It’s when we presume sin and holiness can coexist that eternity is provoked. There is a true-grace message that is more powerful, freeing and desirable than anything the false-grace message promises.
Galatians 5:2-6 (ESV) 2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
Our works APART from the cross are meaningless. Filthy rags. Even deadly. But in response to the cross of Christ, our obedience is beautiful indeed! If we believe, we will respond to his instructions out of the fear and love of the Lord. Yet, if we are not truly in Christ, we do have reason for concern.
John 3:15-17 (KJV) 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
With such a permanent and terrifying potential before us, eternity, we must analyze our own theologies. How can we know we have been influenced by this heretical teaching of false-grace? It’s not hard.
Watch the two-part teaching: Five Marks of False Grace
FIVE MARKS OF THE FALSE-GRACE DOCTRINE
ONE. We believe in a theology of exemption.
A theology of exemption states that since we are saved, we are exempt from the penalties of sin. That there are parts of the Bible that no longer apply to us. Yes, it’s a heresy. False-grace removes bible-based responsibilities to respond to God in holiness.
The number of people who subconsciously or unwittingly embrace a theology of exemption is far greater than those who explicitly pronounce their agreement with this doctrine. Many subscribe to false-grace doctrines without realizing their deception.
Many have been lulled into a false sense of security while actually existing in an unsaved state. They are confident they’d enter Heaven if they died, yet the reality is that they would not. They have come to believe they are exempt from certain parts of the Word of God that requires response.
1 Peter 1:15-17 (ESV) 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,
Be holy. God judges according to one’s deeds. Those who hold to a theology of exemption don’t believe they are subject to what this verse is communicating. The command to be holy is to them a great goal, but not a mandate. A principle not a command.
Our name can actually be removed from the book of life—and that is determined by our obedience, our holiness. Sin can still separate a follower of Christ from him. The Rich Young Ruler saw that this was the case. He wanted to follow Jesus, but could not. He was not exempt from judgment even though he wanted to follow Jesus.
The argument of grace is actually quite revealing. People in the false-grace movement would say, “It’s not possible to be holy, or to avoid sin, so thank God for his grace that covers those sins. In fact we are automatically holy… innocent by association!”
Grace isn’t meant to cover up sin, grace is power! Those who walk in true grace would never say that we, as Christians, are predisposed to sin! True grace enables us to do the impossible! False-grace confesses that we cannot. Because of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus, we now have something they didn’t have in the Old Covenant—we have the power to obey! We can do this!
In fact, not only aren’t we exempt from obedience in the New Covenant, the call to obedience is even more humanly impossible than in the Old!
Matthew 5:21-22 (ESV) 21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
We as Christians are not exempt from judgment or from the repercussions of sin. If we are in Christ, there is no condemnation, but if we are deceived by false theology into thinking we are in Christ, while actually living in disobedience, we are in trouble. We are not in Christ and there is condemnation. No salvation. The wrath of God remains on us. False-grace doctrine is eternally deadly. There are many people following Jesus today in an unsaved condition.
John 3:35-36 (ESV) 35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
John 3:18-19 (KJV) 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Deeds. Fruit. Works. They are evidences of our position in Christ.
Yes, it’s hard to get saved, hard to stay saved, but if we walk in humility and grace and in the Spirit, eternity with Jesus is our inheritance!
TWO. Sin is treated as temporally troubling but eternally benign.
Hebrews 10:26-27 (ESV) 26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
That verse stands on its own. The false-grace teachers emphasize that our sin may cause problems in the here and now, but there is no risk of Hell. This has to be one of the most troubling positions those in the false-grace movement take.
Universalism is creeping into the church very subtly. False grace teaches that Hell is not a concern for Christians and Christian Universalism teaches that there is no Hell. Different twists on the same false doctrine.
Yes, sin does result in trauma here on the Earth. But, it doesn’t end there. If we embrace a lifestyle of sin, we are not saved. We won’t go to Heaven. The day of judgment will be a day of horror.
The false-grace/semi-universalist position is one that would adhere to “once saved always saved.” My belief is actually quite the opposite—once saved rarely saved. The road is not wide. It’s narrow and it’s rare to find people on it… and people who decide to stay on it.
Revelation 3:5-6 (ESV) 5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
If we don’t conquer, don’t work out our salvation with fear and trembling, our name is blotted out of the book of life.
Galatians 5:16-21 (ESV) 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
If we walk in the Spirit, our flesh is subdued. However, if we aren’t walking in the Spirit, we are under the law because Christ’s sacrifice has been made of no effect. Therefore, even though we may have said the sinner’s prayer, paid tithes and lived a good life, that salvation is nullified for us. The above scripture reveals what clear evidence to look for when analyzing our position in Christ.
I’ve heard of pastors who boast that they no longer preach on the cross, sin or Hell because we are in the age of grace. My God! The cross must be central to our churches!
There can be pastors who preach powerfully, pray in tongues and lead large, growing churches who won’t inherit the kingdom of God. If they are driven by jealousy of other pastors or embrace division, the Bible is clear. If they don’t repent, Hell is in their future. Do you have any idea how much of the fear of the Lord is on this pastor? I tremble continually. False-grace provides temporal security in exchange for eternal torment. The enemy is more than happy to make this exchange.
THREE. Repentance and confession of sin is not necessary after we have been saved.
False-grace teachers proclaim that our sins are forgiven past, present and future. This is simply not true. If we repent, we are forgiven. If we retain our sins they are retained. The provision for forgiveness has been made, and the true grace has been given to us to respond.
The Lord’s Prayer itself makes it clear that we must both ask for forgiveness and forgive!
Matthew 6:12 (ESV) 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
1 John 1:9 (ESV) 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:6 (ESV) 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
The false-grace theology commonly teaches that we, as humans in a fallen world, are expected to sin and that it’s the focus on sin, not sin itself, that puts us into bondage. The reality is that people are becoming affirmed in a sinful state with no fear of the Lord or fear of damnation to be found. Of course, false-grace teachers don’t encourage a lifestyle of sin, but they also don’t sound the alarm communicating any sort of eternal threat. To them, there is no eternal risk whatsoever.
A friend of mine shared this:
Amy Smith: Misrepresented grace has caused us to respond to the command to be holy with an elbow bump and a wink, wink. “Ok God, we know what you mean. You're not really asking us to be holy, you're just telling us to make sure we're under your grace. We know that You're overlooking those little sins we're not dealing with. In fact, your grace allows us to also overlook some things, such as all the scripture verses that call for standards that are higher than we can achieve.”
Another friend shared this:
Ed Hull: When we die, it will not be what we believed about our identity in Christ that will save us. It will be whether the concept of our identity produced good fruit, the fruit of righteousness.
Simply put, repentance and confession is absolutely critical to our position in Christ after salvation. Most are unclear on their identity… they presume themselves to be ‘in Christ’ though they very well may not. If we are ‘in Christ’, there is no condemnation, but if we analyze our position wrongly, presuming to be ‘in Christ’ when in fact we are not, we are still condemned.
Repentance is actually a very wonderful, joyful, fulfilling lifestyle!
The closer I get to God, the deeper into my heart I allow him to peer, the more wonderful repentance comes flowing out. I love to repent! Even if it’s grieving, my heart comes alive as I realign with the Lover of my soul! The more I turn, the deeper into God I go! Ignoring sin, unbelief and other barriers to intimacy just can’t be our strategy! Presuming they aren’t there when they are just doesn’t work. Repent continually and enjoy an indescribably journey into intimacy with Jesus!
FOUR. A biblical works message is renounced as legalism.
It’s striking to me how often I hear that a focus on holiness and obedience equates to legalism. How far from orthodox Christianity has the church fallen?
The only point at which it’s legalism is if we were to reject the cross and resurrection of Christ by attempting to work our way into Heaven. But, if we agree that Jesus is the only one who could have paid for our sins yet we also refuse to work, our salvation is a myth.
Legalism is our attempt to get to Heaven by bypassing the cross of Jesus. Holiness and works are our response to the cross of Jesus.
Luke 6:46 (ESV) 46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?
Luke 8:21 (ESV) 21 But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”
Luke 11:28 (ESV) 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
John 8:51 (ESV) 51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
John 14:15 (ESV) 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
John 15:10 (ESV) 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
John 15:14 (ESV) 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
Philippians 2:12-13 (ESV) 12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Matthew 25:23-30 (ESV) 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Throughout the New Testament it’s proven over and over again that obedience, works and production (fruit) is mandatory if we are to be—and stay—saved.
FIVE. Salvation is depicted as easy and/or permanent.
Jesus didn’t die on the cross to make it easy for us to get saved. He died so it would be possible for us to get saved.
There is a temptation to withdraw from the pressures of persecution, the call to holiness, surrender and the cross, and a false-grace message is the perfect solution to that problem. It offers an escape from an urgent and fervent focus on obedience by dis-joining it from our position in Christ. The false-grace doctrine teaches that our eternity and our relationship with Jesus is already settled and we can simply relax and enjoy God. Our obedience is in no way joined to our relationship with Jesus our our eternal destiny.
Additionally, there is a misunderstanding of the process of salvation. Those impacted by the false-grace movement tend to believe that they play no part in salvation other than believing that Jesus was the Son of God. Anything other than that would scream of works and false-grace teaching has convinced them to have an averse reaction to anything that feels like human effort.
The scripture that most often comes to mind is Ephesians 2:8-9:
Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV) 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
First, this scripture is quite often misunderstood. It is NOT saying that works don’t play a part in salvation. It IS saying that works ALONE can’t save us. Basically, we can’t say, “Thanks Jesus for dying on the cross for me, and rising from the dead. Great job! But, you know, I’m not really interested in your version of salvation. So, I reject the cross and the resurrection… it’s just too narrow for me. Instead, I will give $1 million to a local church and will buy my way into Heaven. I’ll pay the price myself.”
We can’t pay the price. We can’t substitute Jesus’ payment for our own.
But, that doesn’t mean we don’t work in RESPONSE to and in ACCORDANCE with the price that only Jesus could pay. We love Ephesians 2:8-9, but usually leave off verse 10:
Ephesians 2:10 (ESV) 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
We were created for good works. Paul reveals that we receive the Spirit via hearing by faith and not of works, yet that does not communicate to us that works are not to be expected. First faith, then works and not the other way around.
James 2:14 (ESV) 14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
It’s a rhetorical question. The answer, of course, is no. Faith without works cannot save us. This means, if we have faith in Jesus, worship him, pray to him, honor him… but don’t obey, we cannot presume to be saved. False-grace theology would not agree with this.
James 2:18-20 (ESV) 18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
The false-grace movement is shouting, “Show me your faith apart from works!” The question must be, “Are we like demons who have faith (believe) or do we also work in response to the mandates of God?”
It’s easy and common to be falsely saved, but to truly be saved requires an extreme price—both on the part of Jesus and on our part. We can’t do his part and he can’t do ours—and this does have eternal implications. The false-grace message that minimizes obedience and works absolutely does result in people being cast into eternal fire.
Audio and notes: Universalism in our churches-Are we over-preaching the benefits of the Believer?
The cross must be the message of the hour—when a focus on personal benefits is all the rage in the church.
You can listen to the teaching here: media.johnburton.net/2569257
In this teaching I discuss how easy it is to deviate from clear scriptural truth simply because we don’t personally see God in that light, or because we have adopted a theology of exemption—Christians are exempt from the repercussions of sin and disobedience.
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires," (2 Tim. 4:3).
Jesus didn’t die on the cross to make it easy for us to get saved. He died so it would be possible for us to get saved.
We must work out that salvation with fear and trembling. Only if we endure to the end will we be saved.
Universalism is creeping into some of our most popular churches and movements, and we should be extremely alarmed.
The False-Grace movement has an older brother named Christian Universalism—and both are equally deadly.
From www.carm.org:
Christian Universalists claim to hold many of the tenets of historic Christianity: Trinity, deity of Christ, deity of the Holy Spirit, salvation by grace, etc. However, it also claims that God's qualities of love, sovereignty, justice, etc., require that all people be saved and that eternal punishment is a false doctrine. Universalists teach that God is so full of love, that He simply cannot send anyone to eternal hell fire. It is against His infinite love. In the truth of God's word, we find that the Lord has provided one way by which we may be saved. That single way is through Jesus' sacrifice. For all who trust in Him, salvation will come. But to those who turn away, God's wrath abides upon them: "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him," (John 3:36). God is love (1 John 4:8), but God also punishes the sinner and hates all who do iniquity. God is not one sided. He is not simply an infinitely loving God. He is also infinitely just. He must deal with sin. He must punish the sinner.
Note the difference: False grace teaches that Hell is not a concern for Christians and Christian Universalism teaches that there is no Hell. Different twists on the same false doctrine.
We must move away from declaring that salvation is free—without cost. To follow Jesus it will require every single part of our lives, it demands dying daily, taking up our own cross.
I’ve often heard a dangerous doctrine being taught and embraced: “Your sins are forgiven past, present and future.”
This is not true. Not even close.
Confession and repentance is still required for the Believer. A focus on benefits results in a de-emphasis on the mandates, the requirements, the response.
Amy Smith: Misrepresented grace has caused us to respond to the command to be holy with an elbow bump and a wink, wink. "Ok God, we know what you mean. You're not really asking us to be holy, you're just telling us to make sure we're under your grace. We know that You're overlooking those little sins we're not dealing with. In fact, your grace allows us to also overlook some things, such as all the scripture verses that call for standards that are higher than we can achieve."
You can listen to the teaching here: media.johnburton.net/2569257
And here are the notes for you to follow along with:
TENETS: BENEFITS VS. COST
a. The reality of the Gospel
i. So far we’ve touched on doctrines of mixture that I call ‘nephilim doctrines’, false-salvations, the Word of God vs. the Spirit of God, absolutes of scripture and more.
1. If we are to understand the power of the Bible, we must subscribe to it wholly!
b. The Inerrancy of the Scriptures
1. The inerrancy of the Scripture means that in its original autographs the Bible contains no mistakes. In the original languages in which it was written, it is absolutely infallible—without error whatsoever.
2. This Book was written by man—fallen, weak, sinful man, with all the potential of misunderstanding, misinterpretation, lack of memory, and even the possibility of malicious falsehood. Yet, it is claimed that the Book man wrote contains no evidence whatever of all these natural weaknesses.
3. The doctrine of inerrancy comes from the Scriptures themselves. It claims to be inspired by God. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Tim. 3:16). "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (2 Pet. 1:21).
4. The writers of the Old Testament are most explicit in claiming they were speaking the Word of God. They claim 3,808 times to be transmitting His very words.
5. Moses said in the beginning of scripture: Deuteronomy 4:2 (ESV) 2 You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.
6. In the middle of the Bible, Proverbs 30:5-6 (ESV) 5 Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. 6 Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.
7. At the end of the Bible, Revelation 22:18 (ESV) 18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book,
8. Jesus also found no error in Scripture… he specifically confirmed the whole of the OT. He did not find error or inconsistency with it. He continually based his arguments and exhortations on it.
a. John 10:34-35 (ESV) 34 …and Scripture cannot be broken—
b. Luke 24:44 (ESV) 44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
9. Lewis Chafer says the Bible is infinite because it discloses truth concerning the infinite God, infinite holiness, infinite sin, and infinite redemption.
10. Myer Pearlman concludes his section on bibliology with the words: "Intellectual defenses of the Bible have their place; but after all, the best argument is the practical one. The Bible has worked. It has influenced civilizations, transformed lives, brought light, inspiration and comfort to millions. And its work continues."
a. 1 Thessalonians 2:13 (ESV) 13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.
b. It’s God breathed. It’s the same language and meaning that we see when God breathed into Adam.
c. Amazing!
11. Next we’ll look at some very basic Bible realities that are at risk of being overlooked or dismissed today.
12. In the teaching we’ll also look at the divisions of scripture—the difference between the OT and the NT.
ii. Benefits
1. Chuck Missler: The only sure barrier to truth is to assume you already have it.
a. We must be open to the truth of God’s Word.
b. 1 Timothy 2:4 (ESV) 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
c. Salvation and truth go hand in hand.
i. The way you believe has eternal implications!
ii. Galatians 1:8-9 (ESV) 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
iii. Accursed: excommunicated; bind under a great curse
2. Today the church is focused on the benefits of the Believer—to an unhealthy degree.
a. Salvation is not about our comfort, it’s about our obedience.
b. Jesus didn’t die on the cross to make it easy for us to be saved, he died on the cross to make it possible for us to be saved.
c. Pastors, quit majoring on benefits in your preaching… let the Word offend, trouble, convict and break people… right into costly freedom.
3. There is a healthy way to focus on blessing as we see in Psalm 103:
a. Psalm 103:1-5 (ESV) 1 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
i. Even here we are to bless the Lord, not focus on him blessing us!
ii. The Abrahamic covenant… be blessed to be a blessing!
4. But check this out:
a. Psalm 116:12-14 (ESV) 12 What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? 13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD, 14 I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.
b. Marquee in Dallas
c. Health and wealth
i. There are truths in those movements… but when is the last time you’ve heard these preachers preach the cross??!
d. We focus on getting instead of giving! Man, so many will only give money if they believe that more money will be multiplied back!
5. The reason this is a problem is this: A wrong focus on an incomplete gospel threatens our position in Christ… and it threatens other people too!
a. Many people bypass the cross and live a benefit driven life and are living in an unsaved state… and the ‘salvation’ they may be sharing with others is also illegitimate!
b. 2012 stats: Every second two people die. 151,600 people die every day.
i. So, maybe once or twice an hour someone squeaks through to heaven. Salvation is rare.
ii. Many of them are wrongly convinced of their position in Christ because of a wrong understanding of the gospel.
iii. A theology of exemption where we presume we are immune from repercussions of disobedience is causing many to die in sin.
c. Check out true blessing:
i. 1 Peter 4:12-18 (ESV) 12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”
ii. If we are righteous, we are this close to not being saved! Yet false doctrine today tells us that if we are saved we are far from losing that salvation!
iii. Once saved rarely saved!
1. Revelation 3:5-6 (ESV) 5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
2. Psalm 69:28 (ESV) 28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
3. Hebrews 10:26-27 (ESV) 26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
iv. One of the greatest biblical violations, with the greatest eternal impact, is when we eliminate works, suffering and cost by saying we aren’t in the old covenant anymore!
v. The NC didn’t remove works or suffering from the experience of the Christian… it added it!
6. Dag Heward-Mills: Christianity is about losing, sacrificing, suffering and dying.
a. For those who focus on the benefits, what is being communicated is that life isn’t complete for the Christian until everything is perfect.
b. But, for the true Believer, Jesus is enough no matter the circumstances!
c. These are four spiritual appointments that all Christians must expect in one form or another. No one who truly follows Jesus Christ will escape these four appointments.
i. "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." (Matthew 16:25)
ii. "Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." (Acts 14:22)
iii. "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” (Hebrews 13:15)
iv. "And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." (Luke 9:23)
d. Let’s see the gospel in action:
e. Acts 7:54-60 (ESV) 54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
f. Saul! This was Paul! Stephen’s correct understanding of Christianity did this:
i. Jesus was enough! Jesus stood!
ii. The sharp gospel message was heard by all.
iii. Forgiveness was modeled.
iv. Evangelism at its very best was in action as Paul was being set up to be one of the most important Christians in history!
v. False-grace, which we’ll keep talking about throughout the weeks of this teaching, deemphasizes all of this.
1. We must die! We must be holy! We must be righteous!
vi. Amy Smith: Misrepresented grace has caused us to respond to the command to be holy with an elbow bump and a wink, wink. "Ok God, we know what you mean. You're not really asking us to be holy, you're just telling us to make sure we're under your grace. We know that You're overlooking those little sins we're not dealing with. In fact, your grace allows us to also overlook some things, such as all the scripture verses that call for standards that are higher than we can achieve."
vii. Live in the NT requires that we live WELL above what we can achieve!
1. I’ve heard many, many arguments against scripture by zealous Christians… who say that we can’t presume to live holy, to be free from sin!!! What???!!!!
2. People say they sin every day!! What?!
3. Ed Hull: When we die, it will not be what we believed about our identity in Christ that will save us. It will be whether the concept of our identity produced good fruit, the fruit of righteousness.
a. It’s not about our benefits, our happy demeanor, the way we think about ourselves, our emotional condition… it’s about production and obedience!
4. Now, let’s again discuss the importance of the Word of God as we talk about the divisions of scripture.
False-salvations based on unbiblical experiences: New audio teaching & notes on The Bible
Listen to a POWERFUL and important message on the departure from orthodox Christianity in the Church.
Last night’s message was sobering yet radically freeing—and I implore you to listen to it and let the Holy Spirit shoot the spotlight on the deepest places of your heart.
There are a lot of false, feel good movements out there that feel a lot like the Holy Spirit–but are not. We have a crisis of discernment. True discernment is found in the Word of God, not in a feeling.
I also discuss what I call the theology of exemption. Christians can believe that they are exempt from the ramifications of sin simply because we have chosen to follow Jesus. That’s a doctrine of demons and is resulting in a lot of Christians entering Hell not Heaven when they leave the Earth.
You can listen to it right now, right here: media.johnburton.net/2565526
You can also follow along with the notes that I’ll include below.
ALSO, I hit on many of these same topics in my recent XPmedia video. IN JUST SIX DAYS, This video has more views than any of my other XPmedia videos, and I’d encourage you watch it and prayerfully consider how God might be sharpening your discernment. You can watch the video here: http://www.xpmedia.com/Z1QglFvIu13K
TENETS PART TWO: THE WORD OF GOD
I. The Word
a. Much of the material for our study on the tenets of the faith comes from the book Foundations of Pentecostal Theology.
b. Bible
i. It was written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek.
ii. Our English word Bible comes from the Greek word biblos, meaning "a book."
1. "The Book [biblos] of the generation of Jesus Christ" (Mt. 1:1)
2. It’s also called scripture, which means “holy writings.”
a. Scripture, holy writings, oracles of God, Word of God
b. 2 Peter 1:20 (ESV) 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.
c. Mark 7:13 (ESV) 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
d. The Word can be voided in your life if you don’t understand its power, its holy nature.
e. Traditions based on experiences can nullify the Word!
f. 1 Thessalonians 2:13 (ESV) 13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.
c. God speaks!
i. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth" (Ps. 33:6)
1. I teach a lot on hearing God’s voice, on revelation.
a. However, the most reliable and most powerful revelation you will receive is the Bible—by far!
i. Jeremiah 23:29 (ESV) 29 Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
ii. All Spirit-filled believers have known, to some degree, the miracle of divine inspiration by the Holy Spirit, but never to the extent experienced by the writers of Scripture.
b. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (Jn. 1:1, 14).
2. There is a radical rise in false-teachings, nephilim doctrines that are a mixture of God and Satan.
a. This is my most important focus right now. The church must visit the eternal realities of salvation and doctrine again!
b. Pastors have abdicated their responsibility of keeping eternity in front of the church. We must touch the hard topics continually.
c. This is why I’m talking about the Word tonight! The church has fallen terribly away from right doctrine! Friday night at theLab was possibly one of the most important shifts we’ve had as God used a simple, fiery young lady to call us into the burden of God’s heart.
d. Julia: God has been speaking to me about why He is doing what He is doing in you and at your church in light of the history, calling and prophetic destiny of Revival Church! It makes so much sense and I am so excited about it! Keep going. You are so walking in step with Gods agenda right now. Also, take heart in that your apostolic anointing is manifesting very strongly right now. You are calling the church back to the foundational truths. Its so good!
e. We must be people of the Word and refuse to give in to the temptation to settle for a softer, cozier gospel.
f. Good Christian Bitches cancelled… comment: I found GCB to be quite entertaining. There is so much that is serious going on in the world, why not bring a little humor into our lives. We as Christians need to stop taking things so seriously – breathe and enjoy life.
i. Sounds good… but what does the Bible say?
ii. Luke 12:19-20 (ESV) 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you…
g. Another example, Christians often fall into a theology of exemption—we presume we are exempt from the ramifications of sin because we are saved.
i. 1 Corinthians 9:26-27 (ESV) 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
ii. We can have intimacy with Jesus without works, and death is the result. We can also have works without intimacy and the result is death.
1. Intimacy doesn’t not automatically mean we’ll do good works, and doing good works doesn’t automatically mean we’ll be close to God.
iii. Matthew 7:21-23 (ESV) 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
iv. Part of his will is intimacy!
h. Craig Groeschel: I think so much of what we think is the "fun, happy, meaningful" life is simply a substitute for the real thing. I think most would want to believe that we're not that accountable to our commitment to Christ. But Scirpture says we're going to be accountable for every word we speak. His grace is probably going to be greater than we realize and yet what we're held accountable to and even the rewards may be greater than we realize as well. Meaning ultimately, the way we live today and what we believe today will have a greater impact on our eternity than we can imagine.
a. Psalms 139:23-24
Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
b. We often hear people say that the are just going to flow in the Spirit… they make decisions based on what they sense.
i. We see this in many streams and movements—including the prophetic movement that I so love.
ii. "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ." Colossians 2:6-9
iii. This is a conference agenda from a well known minister in the prophetic realm… some good, some concerning because of the self-centered focuses:
1. We need to die daily! Surrender! "For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God" (I Cor. 1:18).
2. Operate in Trances, Raptures & Ecstatic Prayer (Barbara Yoder noted a serious concern about going into trances on command)
a. Colossians 2:18-19 (ESV) 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
b. We must know the Word!
3. Experience Physical Phenomena of Mysticism (what and why?) What is the mystery we should pursue knowledge of? Colossians 1:26-27 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: to whom God would make known what is glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
4. Get Activated in Creative Miracles, Signs & Wonders
a. These follow those who believe in Jesus… who have embraced the cross and resurrection of Christ.
b. 1 Corinthians 1:22-24 (ESV) 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
c. Mark 16:16-18 (ESV) 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
5. Understand & Access New Creation Realities (What?)
6. Gain A Historical Grid of Miracle Workers & Mystics
7. Be Activated in the Seer Realm, Prophecy, Spirit Travel (Spirit travel on command? Red flag…that happened in Manitou.)
8. Receive Open Heavens & Revelatory Understanding
a. Barbara Yoder is also concerned about this… we are already under an open heavens.
9. Access and Manifest the Glory Realm
i. The major issue is this: Very often our pursuits in the name of God contradicts what the Bible says! If that’s the case, they are putting God’s name on error… it becomes a nephilim doctrine.
ii. They are flowing in a wrong spirit!
iii. John Mulinde: Repent! The greatest sin, people have created their own experiences that they call the Holy Spirit.
a. We must be both Word and Spirit driven:
iv. Isaiah 59:21—"My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth."
v. John 14:26—"The Holy Ghost… shall… bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
vi. Acts 4:31 (ESV) 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
vii. Acts 13:4-5—"Being sent forth by the Holy Ghost…. they preached the word of God."
c. 2 Timothy 3:12-17 (ESV) 12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
d. Hebrews 4:12 (ESV) 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
e. This is powerful! We can have all sorts of intentions, thoughts, ideas… but if they don’t align with the Word, we must let the Word slice it off.
f. Before God uses a man greatly, he wounds him deeply. A.W. Tozer
ii. From Julia, John Mulinde form Uganda, truly a world ministry… established on every continent except antartica… at IHOP: Then suddenly a bright light hit my eyes. My eyes were closed. I was on my knees with my head on the ground, but a bright light hit me. I lifted up my eyes and said, “What is this?” I opened my eyes and I couldn’t look in the light. Even when I closed them, it pierced into my eyes. I bowed my head again, and I was trembling and thinking, “What on earth is going on?” Then I heard a voice, deep and calm. He called my name three times. I couldn’t answer. There was no strength in me to answer, but inwardly I was saying, “I’m here.” He called me—“John”—three times. Then He said to me, “I knew you before the creation of the world, and I chose you and set you apart to serve Me as a witness in these last days. I want to say to you, if I had come today to take My Bride, you wouldn’t be part of that. I wouldn’t take you.” I can’t describe the shock that came upon me. I think I was in shock. I didn’t even respond. It hit me. He repeated it. He said, “I wouldn’t take you. For it is written, ‘He will appear to those who wait upon Him’ (Isa. 49:23, paraphrased). You’re not living your life as a person waiting upon Me. You’re allowing all kinds of filth to come into your life. You’re living like one who cares not.” As I said, I couldn’t speak with my lips. At that moment I was thinking, “This can’t be happening to me. I gave up my job to serve the Lord; I gave up my house that my father had given me because I wanted to go to the mission field. I gave up this, I gave up that; this can’t be God saying to me that He wouldn’t take me.” None of my theology and teachings could accept that. He spoke to me these words written in the book of 1 Corinthians 6. He quoted them; I found them later. I couldn’t even remember that they were in the Scriptures, but later on I found them in the Scriptures. It says: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:10). “THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS, AND DESPERATELY WICKED” He went on to say to me, “Your life is so full of filth. You walk with an outward appearance, and you cover many things in your heart. You forget that I am the Lord who examines the heart. You are not ready to meet Me.” He began to say to me, “If your life is full of this and this and this and this, then are you ready for My appearance?” As He measured the various things, I could say, “OK, Lord, have mercy.” But then He mentioned one thing that my heart rejected. In my own understanding, I had never turned into that. He said, “If your life is full of fornication . . . ” And everything in me said, “Oh, no. That cannot be.” I said it in my heart, and the voice stopped. For a moment there was silence. Then He said to me, “There is no crooked word that comes out of My mouth. Do you call Me a liar? But because you don’t even know your own heart, I will show it to you. Remember this day when you were in this place at this hour?” Brothers and sisters, I didn’t even remember. I practically saw myself back in that very moment—not as a memory, but as a reality. I was back in that moment. I saw myself sitting in the taxi waiting for the taxi car to be filled. Then I was looking out at some lady with all kinds of filthy imaginations. The moment it came back, I thought, “Oh, God, I have sinned against You.” He said, “No, you haven’t sinned. You live in sin. You live in that. You live from morning to evening in such imaginations. Even in your bed at night you indulge in the same. I know every moment of your private life. I know your thoughts. You don’t even fear, even sitting in church. Someone steps up on the platform to serve Me and you strip them naked in your imagination. You imagine all kinds of things. I am the Lord who examines the heart. Have you not read that he who even looks upon a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her (Mt. 5:28)?” Pictures began to pass before me of how my imagination works. This isn’t something of which I could say, “Lord, I fell in sin. Lord, I was weak.” It was my way of life. It was my constant way of life. I was comfortable in it. I was comfortable that no one else could see it, but God was saying, “I see it. I am the Lord who examines the heart.” I was so ashamed, but then He said, “That’s not the worst of all. You still live in this.” He began to mention things that appear humanly small: the envy, the manipulation and undercutting of one another so that you remain appearing the best, so that you appear to do the best, to preach the best, to work more miracles, to be more anointed; all the manipulation and self-promotions, all the grudges we hold in our hearts when we see someone else being promoted or recognized before us. The way the Lord brought it up, it was so filthy. I cried and cried, and at some point I was so intent on my grief. Then He raised His voice and said, “Keep quiet and listen.” “I NEVER KNEW YOU; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS!” I kept quiet, and He went on and on and on, unveiling more and more things. Even the things which appear so small, at that moment appeared so rotten. I felt like I was standing before the judgment seat with everything being thrown out. I wanted to say, “Stop, stop, I accept it all,” but He wasn’t stopping. At some point I was just saying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He said, “Keep quiet.” I wasn’t speaking loudly; I was speaking in my heart. He said, “Keep quiet and listen.” As He continued I thought, “I must have been deceived. All along I thought I was serving God and yet I’m so filthy inside. I must have been deceived. The Devil must have taken my life captive a long time ago.” At that moment I thought of the miracles we were witnessing. I thought of the healings. I thought of all those wonderful things, and suddenly my heart sunk. I thought, “The Devil has so deceived me that he could even use me to produce counterfeit miracles; to produce things I thought God was working—and yet it was the Devil all along . . . ” The voice kept quiet for a moment, and then He said to me, “Why are you imagining such thoughts? I don’t do miracles because you’re worthy. I do miracles because I love My people before whom you stand to preach. Have you never read of how they will come to Me on that day and say, ‘Lord, Lord, in Your name we worked miracles, cast out demons, and prophesied’? Then I will say to them, ‘Get out of My sight, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you’” (Mt. 7:21–23, paraphrased). He said, “Don’t depend on the miracles to assess your worthiness. Your worthiness isn’t in the signs and wonders you witness in ministry. I do miracles because I love the people, and My name shall never be left without witness on earth.” He said, “Have you not ever read that without holiness, no one will see God (Heb. 12:14)? It’s not the miracles; it’s the holiness that comes from God.” He spoke to me the scripture in the book of Hebrews.
d. Divisions of scripture
i. OT
1. The Hebrew Old Testament was commonly divided into three sections:
a. The Law (Torah), five books:
b. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
2. The Prophets (Nebhiim), eight books:
a. Former Prophets—Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings
b. Latter Prophets—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the Twelve
3. The Writings (Kethubim), eleven books:
a. Poetical Books—Psalms, Proverbs, Job
b. Five Rolls (Megillot)—Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Esther, Ecclesiastes
c. Historical Books—Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah (in the Hebrew canon, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah were combined), Chronicles
ii. NT
1. Biographical (four books): Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
2. Historical (1 book): Acts
3. Pedagogical (twenty-one books): Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude
4. Prophetic (one book): Revelation.
iii. Verses
1. The first Bible to be published entirely divided into verse was the Geneva Bible of 1560.
iv. Writers
1. The Bible is one Book, but it is also many books written by at least forty different authors, over a period of not less than fifteen hundred years, many of whom never saw each other.
2. Backgrounds of the writers
a. Two of the writers were kings—David and Solomon.
b. Two were priests—Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
c. Luke was a physician.
d. Two were fishermen—Peter and John.
e. Two were shepherds—Moses and Amos.
f. Paul was a Pharisee and a theologian.
g. Daniel was a statesman.
h. Matthew was a tax collector.
i. Joshua was a soldier.
j. Ezra was a scribe.
k. Nehemiah was a butler.
e. The Inerrancy of the Scriptures
1. The inerrancy of the Scripture means that in its original autographs the Bible contains no mistakes. In the original languages in which it was written, it is absolutely infallible—without error whatsoever.
2. This Book was written by man—fallen, weak, sinful man, with all the potential of misunderstanding, misinterpretation, lack of memory, and even the possibility of malicious falsehood. Yet, it is claimed that the Book man wrote contains no evidence whatever of all these natural weaknesses.
3. The doctrine of inerrancy comes from the Scriptures themselves. It claims to be inspired by God. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Tim. 3:16). "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (2 Pet. 1:21).
4. The writers of the Old Testament are most explicit in claiming they were speaking the Word of God. They claim 3,808 times to be transmitting His very words.
5. Moses said in the beginning of scripture: Deuteronomy 4:2 (ESV) 2 You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.
6. In the middle of the Bible, Proverbs 30:5-6 (ESV) 5 Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. 6 Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.
7. At the end of the Bible, Revelation 22:18 (ESV) 18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book,
8. Jesus also found no error in Scripture… he specifically confirmed the whole of the OT. He did not find error or inconsistency with it. He continually based his arguments and exhortations on it.
a. John 10:34-35 (ESV) 34 …and Scripture cannot be broken—
b. Luke 24:44 (ESV) 44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
9. Lewis Chafer says the Bible is infinite because it discloses truth concerning the infinite God, infinite holiness, infinite sin, and infinite redemption.
10. Myer Pearlman concludes his section on bibliology with the words: "Intellectual defenses of the Bible have their place; but after all, the best argument is the practical one. The Bible has worked. It has influenced civilizations, transformed lives, brought light, inspiration and comfort to millions. And its work continues."
a. 1 Thessalonians 2:13 (ESV) 13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.
b. It’s God breathed. It’s the same language and meaning that we see when God breathed into Adam.
c. Amazing!
f. The law
1. I’ve often heard Christians say that the OT does not apply to us anymore. What? It’s an evidence of biblical ignorance.
2. First we need to understand that the law and works are not the same thing!
a. We are still called to good works… while the law refers to a specific set of commands found in the OT.
b. Adherence to the law is not a part of salvation. Works, however, is. Faith alone can’t save us.
i. James 2:14 (ESV) 14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
ii. Check this out… there is a certain type of works that does no good:
iii. Romans 3:28 (ESV) 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
iv. …of the law. In the OT it was the Mosaic law that was their only hope. In the NT, faith in Jesus that’s evidenced through New Covenant obedience and works is what saves us.
v. Joseph Tkach: The New Testament does give us rules and behavioral expectations, but these should be seen as the result of a faith relationship, not as the basis for it.
vi. Romans 3:29-30 (ESV) 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
vii. We don’t have to be circumcised, but we do still have to obey, to respond to God’s NT commands.
c. The New Testament contains hundreds of commands. Although some of Paul's comments about the law seem negative, Paul himself gave us hundreds of commands.
i. How does Paul unite the concepts of liberty and obligation?
ii. Galatians 5:13 (ESV) 13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
iii. Galatians 5:16-21 (ESV) 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
d. Look at Matt 22:
e. Matthew 22:36-40 (ESV) 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
f. The power of that scripture is that God’s attributes are affirmed. Loving God and others covers a lot of ground!
g. In the OT obedience was required and in the NT obedience is required.
i. The difference? Jesus often told people to obey God, but Moses is not the standard by which obedience is now measured.
h. Jesus told his disciples to preach the gospel throughout the world. This gospel focuses on the message of repentance and forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ.
i. We don’t take the cross lightly, but we realize how profoundly it obligates us to obey the One who gave himself for us.
j. Matthew 28:20 tells us that Christians should be taught to obey their Lord and Savior in addition to believing in him.
k. Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV) 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
l. They had to obey then, and we have to obey now. Why?
3. God has never changed and never will!
a. Matthew 5:17-20 (ESV) 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
b. Matthew 5:43-48 (ESV) 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
4. The call is actually greater in the NT than in the OT! Only by grace can we fulfill this mandate.
a. Matthew 5:21-22 (ESV) 21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
b. Matthew 5:27-28 (ESV) 27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
i. Some Christians commit adultery multiple times every day! In the OT you could get away with this… but not in the NT!
c. Matthew 5:31-32 (ESV) 31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
d. Matthew 5:38-39 (ESV) 38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
e. Matthew 5:43-48 (ESV) 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
5. When considering what was fulfilled and is no longer applicable, ask whether it’s part of the Mosaic ceremonial law or not. There are moral laws in the OT that absolutely do still apply.
a. The Mosaic law came 430 years after the Abrahamic covenant. This is the law that was fulfilled.
6. Some people try to interpret biblical laws with this rule: "Old Testament laws are valid unless the New Testament specifically says they are not." But this rule is not true, as we can see with the example of tassels, and it is proven false by Hebrews 8:13.
a. Hebrews 8:13 (ESV) 13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
b. "If righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" (Gal. 2:21)
7. Michael Morrison The laws we keep today may be in the old covenant, but if so, we keep them not because they are in the old covenant, but because they are also in the new.
8. Michael Morrison The old covenant is obsolete. This does not mean the covenant is mostly valid, except for those laws specifically rescinded. No, it means the covenant itself is obsolete. It is like a law code that the government has declared invalid. It is not a valid source for rules about Christian behavior. Of course, some individual laws, such as the prohibition of adultery, are valid, but their validity is based on something more permanent than the old covenant — the more basic law that existed before the old covenant was given and still exists after the old covenant became obsolete.
9. In fact, in the NT we see that all scripture… which includes fulfilled laws… is profitable for instruction in righteousness:
a. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV) 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
10. The law of Moses included laws of ritual purification, prophecies about the Messiah, rules about treating livestock, and civil laws about penalties for religious crimes.
11. The Abrahamic covenant was characterized by God’s promise while the Mosaic was characterized by God’s law.
a. The law was temporarily necessary to deal with sin… it revealed how common sin is…
b. Romans 7:7 (ESV) 7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
c. …the promise was not annulled… it was made available. The law of Moses, with its worship rituals, civil laws and other customs, was temporary. In the NT, the ceremonial law was dealt with by Jesus.
d. The clearest way to understand what still applies is by studying to see what is re-emphasized in the NT. What OT law was reaffirmed in the NT?
e. Nine of the Ten Commandments were reaffirmed in the NT (all except to keep the Sabbath).
i. For example, in the OT, stoning was the penalty for those caught in adultery (based on the Mosaic covenant)…
1. Leviticus 20:10 (ESV) 10 “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
ii. …but in the NT Jesus affirmed that the sin of adultery was not acceptable, but he would be the one to take their punishment… if they repented.
iii. In the OT, wrath of God was on that person. In the NT, Jesus took the wrath on himself… UNLESS the individual is unrepentant!
1. John 3:36 (ESV) 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
2. Living without Christ in the NT is very similar to living pre-Christ in the OT.
f. The OT is an excellent resource to learn how God feels about certain activities, sins, behaviors.
i. God never changes. He still hates sin. He hates murder. He hates adultery. He hates sexual sin.
ii. However, his wrath was placed on Jesus instead of us, which should compel us to make Jesus our Lord and Master with expedience!
g. In Acts 15 Peter addresses the laws that concern diet and circumcision… but moral laws remain.
h. In the OT if you see regulations and ordinances that are a part of the law, you can be sure they no longer apply—unless they are either reaffirmed in the NT or are covered by the Great Commandment—to love God and others.
i. Some examples of obsolete laws:
i. Animal sacrifice (Go PETA!)
1. Hebrews 10:4 (ESV) 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
ii. Food and drink offerings and ceremonial washings
1. Hebrews 9:6-10 (ESV) 6 These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, 7 but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. 8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing 9 (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 10 but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.
iii. Wearing distinctive clothing
1. Numbers 15:37-38 (ESV) 37 The LORD said to Moses, 38 “Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner.
2. Numbers 15:39 (ESV) 39 And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes…
3. The principle is upheld in the NT, but not the requirement. We are still to obey, but we don’t dress with tassels to remind us to.
iv. Annual festivals (Feast of Tabernacles, Yom Kippur, Passover, etc.)
1. The old covenant required annual worship festivals. It specified the date and the place, the manner and the people to whom the commands applied. God did not command gentiles to keep this festival. It was one of the ordinances that separated Jews from gentiles, and the early church did not require gentile believers to travel to Jerusalem, to make offerings, to gather palm branches or to live in booths. Those things were part of the old covenant, which God made with ancient Israel. They are not part of the new covenant.
v. Dietary laws and uncleanness
1. You became unclean for a variety of things including touching a corpse, lepers, etc.
2. Numbers 19:11-13 (ESV) 11 “Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. 12 He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. 13 Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him.
3. Matthew 8:2-3 (ESV) 2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 3 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
4. Bill Johnson: In the OT if a leper touches you, you become unclean. In the NT if you touch a leper he becomes clean.
vi. Some types of foods were unclean
1. Romans 14:20 (ESV) 20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.
2. The Great Commandment is at work here.
XPmedia video & notes: “Nephilim Doctrine” : John discusses Hell and the false grace message
Sound the alarm! There are Nephilim Doctrines of false-grace and false-love on the rise in the church.
Once saved always saved? No way. My personal salvation theology is this:
Once saved, RARELY saved.
It’s exceedingly rare for people, including people in the church, to avoid Hell. There’s a “theology of exemption” that’s false yet believed by so many in the church. People believe that since they are “saved” they are not at risk of judgment, or Hell, when they sin. My God.
Watch this video titled Nephilim Doctrine on our XPmedia channel here: http://www.xpmedia.com/Z1QglFvIu13K
I also want to include my raw, personal notes that I preached from when I shared the topic of the video more fully this past Friday at Revival Fires here in Detroit:
a. Wrong beliefs result in horrific and eternal tragedy. I am convinced it’s exceedingly rare for people to avoid hell. I’m convinced it’s rare for church people to avoid hell. We are in a generation that is infatuated with an emotionally passive false-Jesus and refuses to understand that the righteous judge is fearful indeed.
i. Isaiah 8:13 (ESV) 13 But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
ii. We want to enjoy God as we ask him for his glory when he’s requiring the reverse:
iii. Revelation 14:6-7 (ESV) 6 Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. 7 And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
iv. Wow! The eternal gospel!!!!! Fear God and give him glory!
v. Acts 10:35 (ESV) 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
vi. 5 out of 7 churches in Revelation were found lacking!
b. Sinners in the hands of an angry God: God hath had it on his heart to show to angels and men, both how excellent his love is, and also how terrible his wrath is. So that thus it is, that natural men are held in the hand of God over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell, and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate[1] that anger, neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold ‘em up one moment; the devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up; the fire pent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out; and they have no interest in any mediator, there are no means within reach that can be any security to them. In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of, all that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanted unobliged forbearance[2] of an incensed[3] God.
c. I am rocked by God. The people I have under my care must be rightly informed of truth.
i. Baptized by Blazing Fire by Pastor Yong-Doo Kim: Even later that night, as I continued to pray in tongues, I was taken down to hell. I was in a place where there was some devil jabbing a long, sharp spear into rectangular shaped boxes. With foul language, it shouted, "You think you are a pastor? What kind of life did you live? I am ecstatic that you are here with me." The evil spirit continued to jab the boxes as it cursed. Loud, painful screams came from the boxes, as blood flowed out. I noticed the tops of the boxes were covered with canvass, with a large cross portrayed on it. The boxes were lined up in an orderly fashion, and they stretched endlessly. I could not see where they ended. I realized that they were coffins. Evil spirits were jabbing their long, sharp spears into the holes unmercifully. I asked the Lord, "Jesus, why are the caskets of former pastors here?" Jesus replied, "These pastors did not preach My gospel. They preached another gospel, and those who followed became depraved. This is their end result, a place in hell." Jesus said, "Depraved pastors will be judged greater."
ii. Play Mary Baxter video: http://youtu.be/Y5_UC-LRopw
d. Nephilim Doctrine Dream
i. Many have an imaginary salvation.
ii. 10 month old child in my house.
iii. Looked like a 50 year old man, wise, disturbing
iv. I got in my vehicle (ministry) looking for help. I was frantic.
v. I called Amy, but it kept connecting to Imago Dei (Image of God).
vi. Nephilim doctrines are when people in the image of God are intimate with demonic information that seems wise and feels good. The offspring is a mixed, demonic doctrine that takes on the image of the enemy.
II. Holiness
a. Finney’s ten principles of revival are: repentance, prayer, holiness, power, faith, joy in the Holy Spirit, righteousness, discipleship, peace and love.
b. Tonight we will hit on holiness.
i. 1 Peter 1:13-17 (ESV) 13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,
ii. Set your mind on true grace and obey. Be holy. God judges according to our deeds, our works, so have the right revelation of grace so you can be empowered to obey!
iii. We can’t be holy without grace. Grace doesn’t remove the responsibility to be holy, it emphasizes it!
c. Sin sends people to hell post cross just as it did pre cross. God’s true grace that resulted at the cross and the resurrection enables us to live a holy life—if we so choose.
i. 1 Thessalonians 4:7 (ESV) 7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.
ii. 2 Corinthians 7:1 (ESV) 1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
iii. We must cleanse ourselves! The fear of the Lord keeps us from sin.
1. Philippians 2:12 (ESV) 12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
iv. The Greek word is actually more severe than what we might consider the English word to be. The Greek is phobos. It means fright, to be afraid exceedingly, terror
1. Fear of the Lord is not awe or respect.
2. It’s terror.
v. Romans 2:6-8 (ESV) 6 He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.
1. Works! If we don’t obey, wrath and fury are reserved for us. But if the fear of the Lord drives us to holiness, and our works are tested and true, we will receive eternal life!
d. Works
i. It’s time for the church to return to the cross. The offensive, problem causing cross.
1. Universalism
2. Homosexual “Christian”
ii. The fear of the Lord must strike us!
iii. It is by the fear of the Lord that we depart from evil. It is not by the love of God.~John Bevere
1. http://youtu.be/eoYN3IZCMt0
2. It’s the fear of the Lord and the cross that will result in a holy life.
iv. Pastors, preach and live in such a way that friends flee and the religious attempt to silence you. We need to preach our churches empty!!!
v. There is a false-grace message that is rampant that is literally sending thousands upon multiplied thousands of people to Hell.
1. Francis Howgill, a martyred minister of Christ, states the dangers of the false gospel of grace: Many have been talkers of grace in this professing age, who have neither known of what they spoke, nor have informed the minds of men where grace was to be waited for, nor how grace might be known, nor how, nor what the operation of grace was; but have cried up, in their own imaginations: "We are justified by His free grace from all sin, past, present, and to come;" and, in this conceit, thousands have been led into the pit of darkness; imagining that they were justified by the free grace of Christ,while they were out of the fear of God
vi. We can express faith in Jesus and love Jesus with passion, but if we don’t add in works, death is the result. Hell.
vii. We need a biblical works message again!
1. We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 1 John 2:3
2. If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. John 14:23
3. You are my friends if you do what I command. John 15:14
4. Whoever has been born of God does not sin. 1 John 3:9
5. "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin." John 8:34
6. I do not condemn you either. Go on your way and from now on sin no more. John 8:11 (not ‘sin less)
7. Grace enables us to do this! False graces tells us it’s not necessary for us to do this!
8. If you ever find a church that minimizes the cross, doesn’t preach on it, you must know it’s a false church.
9. Brothers, be followers of me, and observe those who walk after the pattern we have set, so as you have us for an example. For many walk, of whom I have often told you, and now tell you weeping, who are the enemies of the cross of Christ; their end is destruction… Phil 3:17-19
viii. James 2:14 (ESV) 14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
1. The answer is no!
2. What that means is that people who have faith, love Jesus, go to church, pay their tithes… many, many of them are now in Hell.
3. In my encounter with Hell 21 years ago, God sharply and soberly told me, “Many in the church will be shocked to find themselves in Hell one day.”
e. True grace is this: We should all be going to Hell, but Jesus died, conquered Hell and invited us to join him! We play a part in this! False grace tells us we have no role other than to love Jesus, and that message results in being eternally separated from God.
i. 1 John 5:3-5 (ESV) 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world— our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
ii. If we truly believe, we obey! We work! We overcome the world! That’s true grace!
iii. Hebrews 12:14-15 (NIV) 14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
iv. False grace tells us we can be unholy and still see God. True grace can be missed if we are unholy!
f. False grace affirms a high tolerance for sin. True grace empowers us not to sin.
g. False grace minimizes our responsibility. True graces demands our responsibility.
h. False grace is unconcerned with darkness. True grace empowers to deal with darkness.
i. Ephesians 5:11 (NIV) 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
i. False grace affirms slavery to sin. True grace affirms we are free from sin.
i. John 8:34 (ESV) 34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.
ii. Romans 6:16 (ESV) 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
j. False grace focuses on John 3:16 alone. True grace is seen in context.
i. John 3:16-21 (ESV) 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
ii. False grace keeps sin hidden since we don’t feel its important to deal with. True grace shines the light on every part of our lives.
iii. False grace refuses to acknowledge God’s wrath. True grace is what saves us from his wrath.
k. A false grace message has resulted in a filtered Bible. We presume we are exempt from certain truths because we decided to follow Jesus.
i. John 15:1-2 (ESV) 1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
ii. Every branch IN ME! If we are IN JESUS but don’t bear fruit, we are no longer in him! Wow!
iii. Life Application Commentary: The fruitful branches are true believers who, by their living union with Christ, produce much fruit. But this union can be broken. The Father cuts off every branch that doesn’t produce fruit.
iv. How many times to we see people wrestle with unforgiveness in the church? Do we not understand how serious this is? We are not exempt from this!!!
1. Matthew 6:15 (ESV) 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
v. Life Application Commentary: Living in relationship with God requires constant repentance of the sins that plague us. Because believers must come to God constantly for confession and forgiveness, refusing to forgive others reveals a lack of appreciation for the mercy received from God. All people are on common ground as sinners in need of God’s forgiveness. If we don’t forgive others, we are in fact denying and rejecting God’s forgiveness of us.
III. Repent!
a. It’s time to repent deeply!
Tenants: A Teaching on the Power of Beliefs : At Revival Church Sunday
TOMORROW, Sunday, May 6th 2012 I will start a new teaching series, TENANTS: A TEACHING ON THE POWER OF BELIEFS
The teaching will include:
- Nephilim Doctrine: a doctrine of mixture. Part image of God, part image of demons.
- Sin: It kills regardless of whether you’ve decided to follow Jesus or not
- Salvation: Once saved always saved?
- The End Times: What is the position of Revival Church?
- The Cross: If there is no cross preached in the church, sound a very loud alarm and wave an urgent flag.
- Heaven and Hell: They are both preparing for your arrival.
- Plus: Divine Healing, The Holy Spirit, True and False Grace, prayer, revival and more!
Come EARLY for prayer at 5pm and the service begins at 6pm!