Stick to your Guns!

This is not a hate post. This is an exhortation to all my Christian brothers and sisters. Recently I have been studying Dispensationalism. I study it because I need to know what it is. I study it because I believe its methodology to be right. There are 4 key tenets to Dispensationalism. They are as follows:

1. A literal, historical, grammatical hermeneutic.

2. Discontinuity - the church is not the continuance of Old Testament Israel.

3. God is not done with Israel. They are still His chosen nation. This would include a Premillennial position as well as both are driven by #1. 

4. An Old Testament to New Testament interpretive grid. Meaning, we(Dispensationalists) interpret the Bible as it was revealed, from OT to NT. Therefore we interpret the NT thru the lenses of the OT not vis-a-versa. 

I will take questions on this in the comments if necessary. I simply wanted to get my presupposition out there in the open.

I have noticed lately that many people have either shed labels, or are shedding labels in their doctrinal alignment in search of "greener pastures." Granted, sometimes it's for very valid reasons. Sometimes it is necessary. Sometimes people restudy Scripture and find something that they had never seen before to actually be truth when compared with the rest of the Bible. This is good!

Here is the downside though. More often than not, it is reactionary. Almost every person I've ever talked to that has changed their stance on most doctrinal issues is because of such a trivial thing....people.

It almost never fails. I ask what changed someone, and it always goes back to "some dude at 'X' church said this," or "my old friend 'Y' failed in this area." How easy is it to write people off when they make one mistake?! By that logic the apostle Peter himself would be anathema. What are we commanded to do? Run from trouble? Run from arguments? or Fight?! Are to we pull up stakes at the first sign of inconsistency and head for something new, or be the accountable church goers we are supposed to be? People have forgotten how to exhort and reprimand for holiness! People will willingly sit idly by as "Z" elder or "P" pastor drives their church into spiritual shipwreck and then simply gripe behind closed doors to their friends and neighbors. Be unpopular! Step up and say what needs to be said! Take someone to task for once! 

Tell me what's more wrong? False teaching, or the coward who sits idly by and says nothing to rescue his wayward comrade?

 I was talking with my good friend Jacob last night. I expressed my concern on this very issue which prompted this blog post.

There is never going to be a side that gets everything right. There never will be. And there will always be people we don't like or agree with at church. But the thing is, we still have to put up with them. This isn't facebook. You can't just close a chat window, or "go-offline" when people start to annoy you. The body is supposed to be able to heal itself right? From the inside, right? Why not the body of Christ? I don't have time to sit and argue with people on which denomination is full of more hypocrisy.

I spend a lot of time defining what my doctrinal stance is. I will proclaim it here. I am a Fundamentalist holding to Dispensationalism and an Amyraldian.

Fundamentalists in recent years have come under horrible attack(granted, sometimes warranted). Just because there is inconsistency, doesn't mean I will abandon what I believe, when executed properly, to be truth. When something you love is dying, you don't just abandon it. You seek to give it life! You want it to live! As John Piper once said, "You're talking to dead people. They need to live! Speak the words that cause them to live!"

As I said, this is not an angry post. This is an exhortation.

Sometimes, we need to pull out our spiritual dictionaries and redefine what once used to be honorable labels. I challenge you my friends, not to abandon. Redefine, and don't let what you love and hold dear die.

Fiat justitia et pereat mundus,

Ross

The Delusion of the "good" God.

God is good. At least that's what most people want to believe. In fact, most people believe that God is so good, that He could not possibly have a condemnation planned for sinners. Not just any condemnation mind you. But an eternal condemnation. One surely must wonder, "How can a just God, a fair God, a loving God, and a merciful God save just a few people while millions and millions of other people spend an eternity in hell. 

This is where any matter of understanding the Bible and any theological issue must begin: with the character of God.

So much of what we even understand about God has become so skewed in American Christianity that it's at the point where terms must be re-stated. When I say re-stated, I do not mean coming up with a new meaning for these terms, but rather reminding the reader of what these things really mean. 

We live in an age of subjectivity in America, and it permeates almost every fiber of our ethical pretenses. Possibly the most abstract and subjective concept to grasp is the word "good." What is good? One of the first things that pops into my head when I hear the word good is standing on a grassy field with 21 other people and playing a game of soccer, whereas to some people that same idea would be about as palatable as slashing your wrists and doing pushups in alcohol.

Does "good" then become an ethical question as far as say, for example, wars. Whatever country we live in, we automatically believe that we are the good guys right? Of course. With that in mind, if every side believes that they are the good guys, who really is right? Each side then becomes malum prohibitum meaning that they are wrong just because a governing body says it is. A sliding scale like this is far too arbitrary for the God of the Bible. 

3 John 11 "Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God."

So now, based on the Bible we have one stipulation that defines what good is. We must first of all, imitate and emulate this "good." Those who do good are of God, and the one who doesn't is the opposite.

So we must better define this "good." How do we imitate this "good?"

James 1:17 "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow."

So now we have stipulation #2. All good things given, and every perfect gift is from God. As Malachi 3:6 and 1 John 1:5 state to back up this verse, God does not change. He IS light, and in Him is no darkness at all. 

So we are to imitate that which is good. All good things come from God. God does not change, and He is light.

Nahum 1:7  "The LORD is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble, And He knows those who take refuge in Him."

God is good. We must imitate that which is good. Good, can only come from that which is Good. Therefore, from the Bible, we can determine that God is in fact good.

But we still have these nagging questions: How can a loving God condemn people to a life lived in hell for all eternity? To this I repeat the great quote from Pastor Paul Washer which says, "How can a righteous God let sinners stand before Him?" 

If you were standing in a court of law, and a judge decided to let all serial rapists and murderers go free with irrefutable evidence to prove their guilt, and absolutely no ramifications for their past crimes, would that judge still be considered a good judge? Of course not. That judge would be dragged through the streets and kicked out of any court. Why then does the standard of excellence change when it comes to God as judge?

God created everything as stated in Genesis 1-2. He formed the earth the first three days, and filled it in the second three. In Genesis 1-2 we have complementary, not contradictory, accounts of the creation. Since God created it, it is therefore His. In Genesis 18:25 Abraham states, "Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?”

It is not the unrighteous who gain special treatment, but the righteous. What is the fate of each group then? First the unrighteous: What condemns them, and what is their punishment?

Romans 6:23a "For the wages of sin is death..."

Romans 10:9 "If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Revelation 20:10 "And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Revelation 20:15 "And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."

A grisly fate indeed. Mankind's sin and unbelief in the risen Christ is what will condemn him in the end. Man is malum in se or inherently evil. 

I'm sure the next question is, why must this punishment be eternal then? Shouldn't there be a completion of payment for all the bad things that people do eventually?

As stated in the above verses, the punishment must be forever and ever. God does not change. For there to be post-judgement forgiveness would be an altering of his character. To borrow an analogy from Pastor Jon Stephens of Ease Side Bible Church in Chicago, think of the lake of fire as a debt prison. When people who could not repay their debts they were forced to enter into prison until their debts were repaid. Obviously, when they were in prison, they couldn't exactly hold a job. Therefore, repaying of the debt was impossible. When an unbeliever is sent to hell they have no means of making their righteousness high enough to enter into the glory of God's presence, for they have not been declared as such by Christ.

What makes the others then righteous and what is their end?

Philippians 2:9-11 "So then God highly exalted Him(Jesus), and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess to the glory of God the Father."

Romans 10:9 "If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart the God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

Christians live their lives in subjection to Christ. He is the Lord of Christians. That doesn't change in the salvific process either. Christians must always remember and submit to Christ's Lordship.

In the gospels alone, a call for repentance for all is mentioned at least 9 times, and at least 40 times throughout the whole Bible. 

If your salvation is true, then a life lived for Christ will evidence itself in your every action.

This is what makes mankind righteous before God. When we respond to His calling in faith. Now what is the end of the righteous?

Revelation 22:3-5 "There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever."

Quite a difference eh?

This is by no means "good works" salvation. This is saving faith! Romans 5:1-2 "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God." Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me."

This faith is best pictured, in the life of the tax collector in Luke 18:13 "“But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’

It is when man realizes that he CANNOT save himself, just like this wealthy(most likely according to historical records of tax collectors) man could not save himself. When the cry of help to God, is coupled with a penitent heart and a desire for repentance, then and only then, is the sinner declared righteous before God by Christ who died for man's sin. 

A good God must be just. For Him to accept the presence of unrighteous peoples would be a violation of His holiness. I do not flaunt my position as a proverbial merit badge to my own wisdom. May it never be! I on the other hand, boast in Christ for His choosing of me to be His child. He saved me! I will never forget that! I pray that He will save you too! Jesus died for the sins of mankind to provide a way for salvation to those that repent and place themselves beneath the Lordship of Christ.

When all is said and done, Matthew 19:17 rings most true: And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good;

God is good, God is just, and God is holy. And you can live on that.

Fiat justitia et pereat mudus,

Ross