Systematic Theology--Lesson 3, God the Son (part 1)

"Whom say ye that I am?"--Matthew 16:15

Welcome again to our study of Systematic Theology. There is one doctrine that has been studied and argued and debated and written about more than any other. That is the nature of Christ. It has been the subject of literally thousands and thousands of volumes and more ink has been used discussing this topic than any other in history. If you were to add up all the books that have been written about human history—nations and people and wars and you name it—that number would pale in comparison to the amount of writing that has been dedicated to an attempt at answering one question—“Whom say ye that I am?” The question that our Lord asked in Matthew 16:15. And it is in fact the question that we all must answer. Who do we say Jesus is? There are so many "churches" that go around bragging that “Oh, we don't teach doctrine! We just teach the love of Jesus!” Ok, that's nice. But which Jesus do you teach?

Do they teach the Muslim Jesus? From the Qur'an. Sura 5:75—"The Messiah (Jesus), son of Mary, was no more than a Messenger before whom many Messengers have passed away…" The Hindu Jesus? He was “a god,” one of many ways to “THE God.” And according to a book written recently—“Jesus travelled to India, where he practiced yoga meditation with the great sages some time during his "lost years" from age 13 to 30, a time of his life scarcely mentioned in the Bible” (The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of Christ Within You, Paramahansa Yogananda, Self-Realization Fellowship, 2008). To the Jew—there really is no one Jewish belief about Christ. Some call Him a blasphemer, some think He was simply delusional, there are some Jews who think that He taught good things but then the writers of the Bible put in other things that He did not teach or say. Or maybe they teach the Mormon Jesus? The Jehovah's Witness Jesus?

Then there is the liberal “Christian Scholar” Jesus—which says that Jesus never claimed to be God, or that “Well, there are some things in the Bible that we can't really know if they're true or not.” Then there is the Postmodern Jesus. If you ever hear names like Rob Bell, Brian McLaren, Tony Campolo, Tony Jones, Irwin McManus, Brennan Manning—if you hear these names, run away quickly. “We can’t really know the truth; the truth is what we make it; what does this verse mean to you?” So there are all these false teachings about Christ. But who’s behind them all? Well, who was it that asked that very famous question in the Garden of Eden-- “Hath God indeed said?” Jesus described Satan this way in John 8:44—“When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of [lies].” Satan is going to come up with all these things that sound good to the human ear. Things that appeal to our emotions. Things like, “A loving God wouldn’t send people to an eternal, fiery Hell.” He will even use Scripture. So we’re going to actually take a couple weeks and study Christ. First let’s look at The Pre-existence of Christ.

We will start with His Pre-existence Evidenced in the Scriptures. John 1:1--In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Does it say, “The Word was created?” Or “The Word came into existence?” No. The Word WAS. How does Genesis 1:1 start? In the beginning, God. John 1:1—In the beginning the Word. Not a coincidence. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. We could spend weeks on the last part of that verse alone. Jehovah's Witnesses say that it should read, and the Word was a god. I wish we had time to look at how the Greek was constructed, and why their argument falls flat on its face if they were to study biblical Greek—which none of the translators of the New World Translation ever studied. Not one of the translators of the NWT EVER studied biblical Greek.

John 1:30--John the Baptist, as he cried out and pointed out Messiah, exclaimed, "This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’" Who was born first—Jesus, or John Baptist? John Baptist was born six months BEFORE Christ—yet John Baptist says that He was before me. John 8:58. Any Trinitarian can quote this verse from memory. “Before Abraham was, I AM.” Again, the New World Translation says, “Before Abraham was, I have been.” Guess what’s wrong with that? It doesn’t match the Greek. “Before Abraham was, εγω ειμι.” It is in the present tense. Literally, “I AM.” What does the Hebrew YHVH mean? I AM. What did the Pharisees do after Jesus said this? They took up stones to stone Him. Now, think about it--would they be stoning Christ for claiming to be a couple thousand years old? No. The reason they took up the stones was because they were accusing Him of blasphemy. It would not have been blasphemy to claim to have been a couple thousand years old. But it would have been blasphemy to claim to be God—but not for Christ, because He IS God. Jesus was claiming to have been since before Abraham. But even more than the fact that he lived before Abraham was born, He was saying that He has simply BEEN. And IS. And WILL BE. “I AM.” John 17:5--"And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was." Does God share His glory with anybody? No. Isaiah 42:8—“I am YHVH: that is my name: and I will not give my glory to another…” Jesus is saying here that He shared in the Father’s glory even before the creation of the world.

And one of the clearest passages which speaks of the Deity of Christ, as well as the fact that He existed before He came to earth, is Philippians 2:5-8—Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, did not consider His equality with God something He should hold on to but made Himself empty; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. If He did not exist before He was conceived, than this passage makes no sense.

His Pre-existence Evidenced By His Works. Again, the first verse in the Bible, Genesis 1:1--God created the Heavens and the earth. John 1:3--All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. Colossians 1:16--For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. Now, if Christ were a created being, this verse says that Christ created all things for Himself—yet other passages say that God created all things for Himself. Well, which is it? Th answer is yes.

So we've seen that Jesus existed long before He entered this world. And not only did He exist—He existed as God the Son. So now we will look at The Incarnation of Christ. Incarnation—to become flesh. Galatians 4:4--But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law. Not only do we have to be sure that we believe that Christ was fully God—we also have to be sure to understand that He was fully human. There was a heresy that was taught in the early years of the church, it was called Gnosticism. One of the beliefs taught in Gnosticism is something called “Docetism.” Basically, they believed that all tangible, touchable stuff is evil. Physical matter was evil, spiritual things were pure and good, therefore Christ did not have a physical body. Wrong! John 1:14--And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Christ had to become flesh, for many reasons. Number one, because that is the way the Father wanted it. Because even though Jesus was fully God, He still submitted to the Father. Even though the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are God, the Son and the Holy Spirit still submit to the Father. Don’t ask me to explain it, just know it. Kinda like asking, “Why is water wet?” Because it is. Now, question: Does a person have to believe that Jesus was fully human in order to be saved?

YES!

That’s not my personal belief that I came up with just because I think it sounds good. 1st John, 2nd John and 3rd John—they are very explicit about the humanity of Christ. The Gospel of John is clear in teaching the Deity of Christ. The epistles of John are very clear in establishing His humanity.

1st John 1:1—That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life.
1st John 4:2-3—By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard was coming and is now already in the world.
2nd John 1:7—For many deceivers are entered into the world, who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

John is being very point-blank. There is no other way to say it. Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. If a person does not believe that Jesus had a physical body of flesh and bone—that person is in danger of judgment, and they are, in fact, an antichrist. It’s not my call! I'm just telling you what it says!

The Means of the Incarnation. He was born of a virgin.
Isaiah 7:14--Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
Matthew 1:18--Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.
Luke 1:30-31, 34-35—And the angel said unto her, “Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS”…Then said Mary unto the angel, “How shall this be, seeing I have not known a man?” And the angel answered and said unto her, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy one which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

You know, a person can explain away the meaning of Isaiah 7:14, try and say that Isaiah was simply referring to a young woman. But they cannot get past this statement of Mary, when she declares that she is a true virgin. So, did He have to be born of a virgin? YES. We will probably visit this subject again when we look at the Doctrine of Man in a few weeks. We find the first reference to this in Genesis 3:15--"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel."

Here’s why Jesus had to be born of a virgin. Jesus could not have inherited the stain of sin that He would have had if He were born of a human father. You see, when we're born, we inherit the “sin gene” from our fathers. It started with Adam, and it got passed down to all their children, then Cain and Seth, and the other male children passed it along. Now, the gene is passed down by the fathers, but the disease of sin affects everybody. Consider a condition like baldness. The gene for baldness is passed along by the mother, but it affects all the children in the family.
The same is true for sin. The disease infects all the children, but the gene is only passed along by the sons. Daughters are born with the disease of sin—but they do not inherit the gene for the disease of sin. This gene gets passed along to every child who has a human father. How many children have human fathers? All of them. Guess who the disease of sin gets passed along to? All of us. That is why Jesus had to be born of a virgin.

The fact that He did not descend biologically from a human father is enough to ensure that He did not inherit the stain of sin. This is why the Roman Catholic belief in the Immaculate Conception—the false belief that Mary was conceived in the same manner as Christ—is really a moot point. She did not have to be conceived immaculately in order for Christ to avoid inheriting sin. He was not born with the sin disease we have, therefore He was born without sin, so He could live a sinless life. And that brings us to the last point.

The Sinless Life of Christ. I'm about to say something that would get me kicked out of a lot of churches today. It may even get me branded as a Pharisee or whatever. But here goes. Christ never sinned. He never WANTED to sin. But there are many people—even many Christians—today who think He did. 42% of Americans think He sinned. OK, that’s one thing. The last poll I saw said that nearly 33% of those who claim to be born again believe He sinned. 33%!! One out of every three people who SAY they are born again thinks He sinned. There are “churches” that teach this. I don’t know why they do it. Maybe it’s because if people think that Christ sinned that it’s OK for them to sin. But whatever the reason, this kind of rubbish is being taught in “churches” all across America today. I have to say this carefully, because I don’t want to be misunderstood. If a person that has read the Scriptures and has learned enough about Christ to know who He really is, believes that Jesus sinned they are coming very close to blasphemy. I won’t cross the line and call it so, but they're about as close as they could get. I mean, think about it for a minute. Can God sin? No! So how can anybody think He did?

What a lot of these people do is take a verse like Hebrews 4:15 for example and they turn it on its head. Hebrews 4:15—For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. The writer of Hebrews is saying that Christ can sympathize with our weaknesses because He was tempted like we are. These people say that Christ was tempted by the same things we are—He just didn’t follow through with it. That if a woman threw herself at Him, tried to seduce Him, that He probably thought about it for a second, but then said, “Eh, no, I better not.” THAT IS AS WRONG AS ANYBODY CAN BE!!!!! Mark Driscoll actually had the nerve to say that Jesus was tempted by sexual sin.

“If you’re tempted to these sorts of things — including sexual sin — some of you say, ‘Now Mark, Jesus wasn’t sexually tempted.’ Well, of course he was — 30 something year old single man who had women who adored him. You don’t think he ever wanted the comfort of a woman? You don’t think he ever got tired of going to bed by himself? You don’t think that he didn’t once want to have intimate relations with a woman? He was tempted.” (Mark Driscoll - “How Human was Jesus?” October 15th 2006.)

What Hebrews 4:15 is saying is this—and we need to make this distinction—Jesus was tempted with sin—but He was not tempted by sin. Does that make sense? Temptation has two sides—the one doing the tempting, and the one being tempted. I can tempt you with sin, but you can also not tempted by it. I can walk in with a bottle of Jack Daniels and say, “Come on!” But you can look at me and tell me to take a hike. In other words, the temptations came to Him—but He turned them down. Does that make it clearer? (You can read my response to Driscoll's nonsense here).

James 1:13—Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil.
2nd Corinthians 5:21--For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
1st Peter 1:18-19—Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things…but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
1st Peter 2:22--[Christ] committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth.
1st John 3:5 (NASB)--And you know that He appeared to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.

He was the spotless Lamb of God. And we’ll see next week why he had to be. We could spend years just studying Christ. We spent about three or four weeks about a year ago showing how Christ fulfilled the Old Testament sacrifices—and we didn’t even scratch the surface. In this very brief study, we’re going to examine as much about Christ as we can. Next week we will examine His work, and His death and resurrection.

Socialist Pizza

With all the panty-waisted liberals crying and whining about wiretapping Muslim terrorists and denying them their "rights" (ummm...rights??....huh???) in Gitmo, they fail to mention (as per the liberal playbook) how their plans for universal health care will have the government tapped into our personal lives. And as the people of NYC have found out, a liberal government isn't afraid to tax things they think are bad for you. Thank you, Nanny-state!

Anyway, Dan Phillips (Biblical Christianity) found this video (He always finds the good stuff! Lucky!) which gives you a glimpse into a future which may be here sometimes within, oh, I don't know, the next four years, maybe. As Mr. Phillips so plainly points out,

"Watch ordering socialist pizza, chuckle, shake your head grimly...and share my surprise at who produced it.

Stop the Terrorist Memorial blogburst (3/13/2009)

Senator Specter’s payoff for betraying his party: betrayal of his state



We now know one of the payoffs that Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter received for being one of three Republican Senators who allowed President Obama’s trillion-dollar Spendulus bill to become law. WPXI in Pittsburgh reports that Specter has a 5.5 million dollar earmark for the crescent-shaped Flight 93 memorial in the omnibus spending bill just passed by the Senate.

Much as the people of Pennsylvania want to see a fitting memorial built, they yanked support for the crescent design in August 2007 after Tom Burnett Sr., father of Flight 93 hero Tom Jr., started warning the country that the memorial design is STILL packed to the gills with Islamic symbolism. Since that time the Memorial Project has hardly raised a dime, and a September 2007 interview with State Senator Jane Orie, who sponsors the Hearts of Steel memorial fund, makes clear that concerns about Islamic symbolism predominate. Here is her exchange with Pittsburgh talk-radio host Fred Honsberger:

Orie: "No matter who it is, and no matter where I went today for 9/11 events, everybody brought up this crescent. Whether it is intentional or not, it is disturbing to people."

Honsberger: "So everyone is bringing it up to you."

Orie: "Absolutely."

Orie is talking here about the so-called “redesign.” The people of Pennsylvania know that the giant crescent, which the redesign was supposed to remove, is still there. The Park Service calls it “Circle of Embrace” now, but the circle is still broken, and the unbroken part of the circle——what is symbolically left standing in the wake of 9/11——remains exactly as it was in the original Crescent of Embrace (pictured above). Architect Paul Murdoch's design is still a giant Islamic-shaped crescent, still pointing to Mecca.

Pennsylvanians have voted with their pocketbooks to reject this memorial to the terrorists, but Arlen Specter is determined to cram it down their throats anyway, the same way he helped Obama cram a trillion dollars of socialist pork down America’s throat.


Specter knows better than any other politician not just that the giant Islamic-shaped crescent is still there, but that it points to Mecca

Our group was actually very hopeful back in 2007 that Senator Specter might put and end to the memorial debacle. After Mr. Burnett’s public appeal, Specter’s office wanted a briefing on the Islamic symbolism that we have found in the crescent design. One of our most knowledgeable people then spent 45 minutes with Stan Caldwell, Executive Director of Senator Specter’s Pittsburgh office, explaining in detail the Islamic and terrorist memorializing symbolism.

Caldwell had no trouble understanding our graphical proof that the giant crescent points almost exactly at Mecca:



A person standing between the tips of the Crescent of Embrace and facing into the center of the crescent (red arrow) will be facing within two degrees of the Muslim prayer direction (qibla), which is calculated as the great circle direction to Mecca. (Green qibla graphic produced by the Mecca-direction calculator at Islam.com. Another calculator is available at QiblaLocator.com.)

Caldwell also had no trouble understanding that the giant crescent is still there. All the redesign did was place an extra arc of trees out behind the mouth of the crescent, an arc of trees that according to the Park Service’s own website explicitly represents a broken off part of the circle:



Animation starts with the bare naked Crescent of Embrace. The re-colored Circle of Embrace site plan is superimposed on top, then everything but the changes are removed. The only change is extra arc of trees (flashing) that explicitly represents a broken off part of the circle. Every particle of the original Crescent of Embrace design remains completely intact.

Our man also explained the significance of the Mecca orientation: that it turns the giant Islamic-shaped crescent into a mihrab (the Mecca-direction indicator around which every mosque is built). The planned memorial is actually the world’s largest mosque, and Arlen Specter’s office is fully aware of it.

Do Specter and Caldwell have some explanation? The press will never ask, but we can:

DC Phone: 202-224-4254

DC Fax: 202-228-1229

Another Washington Post cover-up

Dan Eggen reports how Families of Flight 93 (an adjunct to the Memorial Project, representing only those families who are backing the crescent design) have been in Washington seeking federal money. He includes no mention of WHY the private fundraising effort has failed. But State Senator Orie’s discussion of her fundraising difficulties is not hard to find. Any reporter doing a story on the memorial’s fundraising problems would presumably start here:



The whole first page of search results is our blogburst post about Orie. (“Fundraising difficulties” yields the same result.)

Either Dan Eggen is completely incompetent, or the Post is taking sides, refusing to report the facts that don’t support the terrorist memorializing side.

Perhaps ombudsman Andrew Alexander should weigh in on this. The Post has NEVER reported on Mr. Burnett’s long battle to stop the Park Service from planting a giant Islamic-shaped crescent atop his son’s grave. Mr. Burnett left a long comment on Dan Eggen’s article which Eggen simply ignored, along with private offers to talk.

So which is it Mr. Alexander? Is the Post incompetently ignorant of a controversy that has raged for years, or is it intentionally suppressing the facts about the giant Mecca-oriented crescent?


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Without Shame Walls may be about to live up to that name

But, at least not for a little while.




From I'm Speaking Truth:

Without Walls International Church escaped the specter of foreclosure after its lender agreed to drop demands for control of its books, tapes and other intellectual property, Pastor Randy White said today.

White, the church’s founder, told his congregation during this morning’s service that the California-based Evangelical Christian Credit Union had agreed to a modified loan agreement Wednesday that took the church out of foreclosure.
The church defaulted on a $1 million loan due in August, prompting the credit union to begin foreclosure proceedings in November.

The foreclosure proceedings included another $24.5 million in loans for the Tampa ministry, headquartered at 2511 N. Grady Ave., and its Lakeland branch.
“That’s a miracle in today’s economy,” White said.

Without Shame Walls defaulted? Aren't they good stewards of "God's money"? How can they tell people what to do with their money if they can't properaly handle what is suppoed to be "God's money?" How can these God-robbers demand that others "not rob God?"

Well, actually they're not stewards of ANYTHING that belongs to the God of Heaven. Not to say they don't enjoy the goods provided by the god of this world...

IST goes on to say:

No, pimp Randy, what’s “miraculous” is that you and your deviant ilk still purport that God is throwing riches from the sky to those who faithfully pay their tithes, love offerings, and first fruit extortion payments. All the while your followers are penny-less - and you and your fellow pimps can barely manage your own finances with your “house of cards” ponzi schemes.

And if you think that pimp Randy has learned his lesson, then think again:

The church has outgrown its Tampa location, which is still for sale, and would like to build a facility that’s free of debt, White said.

Without Walls has tried for about a year to sell its Tampa property, housed in a former Canada Dry headquarters, and its campus in Lakeland, the former 10,000-seat Carpenters Home Church.

Yup - this hireling (gloating over his “loan modification” and having just escaped a foreclosure because of non-payment of the church’s mortgage) is already planning his next ponzi scheme: another building campaign. I’ve said it a thousand times - these vipers DO NOT believe the crap that they spew, they RELY SOLELY ON THE SHEEP IN ORDER FOR THEIR MONEY GRABS TO WORK. If they believed 1/10 of their prosperity lies, then they would simply “activate their faith” and “speak abundance” over themselves.

Instead, they speak intimidation over YOU and demand YOUR money so they THEY can drive THEIR new cars and live in THEIR new homes.

See, that's the thing. All these pulpit pimps that go around spewing their abominable filth about how "Gawd has blessed me..." The only reason they have that money is because they have found a way to pry the last cent out of the pockets of gullible souls who believe this trash. And believe me when I say, there are some words I am sore tempted to use right now to describe these frauds, but prais God the Holy Spirit is restraining my tongue.

But do not be deceived. When it comes to the likes of the Whites, Creflo Dollar, Jesse duplantis, et al--lest they repent, they shall suffer a judgment from God sorer than what many sinners will receive.

Jeremiah 23:1-4--"Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!" says YHVH..."You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings," says YHVH...I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking," says YHVH.

Systematic Theology--Lesson 2, God the Father

Our pastor has developed a "Systematic Theology" series for us teachers. It does not come close to the volume of work by men like Grudem or Carson, but that is not the intent. He developed it to systematize our core beliefs, what we believe and why, using biblical support. The second topic is God the Father.

----------------------------------------------
Welcome to lesson number two. We are talking today about God the Father. And when it comes to what we believe, this may be the most important set of beliefs we can have. Because if our beliefs about God are wrong, then anything else we believe will not mater. If we believe God the Father was born to a set of parents in some other world, and that He only obtained Godhood through obeying some set of principles and ordinances--then we can have a perfectly sound view of salvation, faith, etc--and we will be no closer to Heaven than the blasphemer who rejects any idea of god outright. the Bible says about God the Father. Tozer, from Knowledge of the Holy:

“I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God...Among the sins to which the human heart is prone, hardly any other is more hateful to God than idolatry, for idolatry is at bottom a libel on His character. The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is—in itself a monstrous sin—and substitutes for the true God one made after its own likeness. Always this God will conform to the image of the one who created it and will be base or pure, cruel or kind, according to the moral state of the mind from which it emerges. A god begotten in the shadows of a fallen heart will quite naturally be no true God. “Thou thoughtest,” said the Lord to the wicked man in the psalm, “that I was altogether such an one as thyself”...Let us beware lest we in our pride accept the erroneous notion that idolatry consists only in kneeling before visible objects of adoration, and that civilized peoples are therefore free from it. The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.”

Basically, what he is saying is that any false teaching, false belief, heresy, cult—they all stem from false beliefs about God. The Mormon beliefs about God the Father—that He has a physical body, He progressed to Godhood—they build many of their beliefs upon that ground. James Montgomery Boice wrote in his book Foundations of the Christian Faith (p. 110):

"What we know about the Trinity we know only because of God’s revelation of it in the Bible…so prone are we to make mistakes in dealing with this subject that we must be specially careful lest we go beyond or misrepresent what we find in Scripture."

And speaking of Scripture, the first point I want to make is While we cannot know God exhaustively, we can know Him intimately. In other words, does an infant know every single thing about mom and dad? No. But they do know mom and dad's voice. face, etc etc. They may not know where mom and dad were raised, where they went to school, where they work, etc. But they do know that mom and dad love them and care for them. When we talked about how we got the Bible, what was one of the reasons why God spoke the Scriptures to us? So that we may know Him. He wants us to know Him. Hosea 6:6--"I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." Proverbs 9:10--"The fear of YHVH is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding..."

First, we look at the concept of General Revelation. We know Him by reading His word. But in the early days of the human race—some 6-10 thousand years ago—even way back then, men knew that there was at least a God—they may not have had the written word, they may not have known THE God—but the Canaanites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, all the “-ites” knew that there was some supreme being that ruled over everything. Psalm 19:1--The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament shows His handiwork. Romans 1:20—since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. If someone says “There is no God” then they have truly deluded themselves because even the natural man knows there is something or someone greater than themselves.

Then there is Special Revelation. That would be God revealing Himself in the Scriptures. But He did not reveal Himself to simply anyone. He chose a certain people group. Of course I am speaking of the Jews, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In fact Paul says in Romans 9:3-5—I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. Almost every book in the Bible (64 out of 66) was written by a Jew. The only exceptions are Luke and Acts, with Luke being the only Gentile to write Scripture. God gave the Law to the Jews. It was through Jewish ancestry and descendants that the Messiah was to be born. And yes, Jesus was Jewish.

Which brings us to the next point—The Revelation of Christ. Christ was the revelation of God in the flesh. He was also the fulfillment of Scripture. Hebrews 1:3 says that Christ is the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person. John 1:18--No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. John 14:7-9--"If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?". All those passages speak of God revealing Himself through Christ. And in fact we learn more about who God is through Christ. We also see through the Scriptures the many attributes of God.

Then we have The Perfections of God. Again, we only know of the perfections He has revealed through the Scriptures and through Christ. He is SPIRIT. He does not have a physical body of flesh and bone. Many times we read about how God “stretched out His hand” and sent plagues on Egypt. Or how we trust “under the shadow of His wings” in Psalm 36:7. God the Father does not have wings, He does not have hands. John 4:24—“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.” Colossians 1:15--[Christ] is the image of the invisible God.

He is ETERNAL. He is not bound by time. When God is speaking out of the burning bush, and Moses asks, “Whom shall I say sent me?” God says what? “I AM THAT I AM. Tell them” who sent him? “Tell them I AM has sent you” (Exodus 3:13-14). The name God uses to speak of Himself is YHVH. I AM. Not “I was” or “I will be.” I AM. He is what? He simply IS. He is when? He simply IS. Every single event in history, 1000’s of years past, 1000’s of years future—to God, they are all in the present. Psalm 90:2--Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. Isaiah 40:28--Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, he Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable...

He is IMMUTABLE. The word immutable means "unchangeable." Malachi 3:6--"I AM YHVH, I do not change." James 1:17--Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of Lights, in whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning.

He is HOLY—we need to talk about the holiness of God for a moment. Many people today think of a Buddhist monk or a Hindu priest or a Muslim cleric as a “holy man.” They sure look religious, don’t they? See, there’s a difference between being “religious” and being “holy.” The word “holy” means “separate.” It means the one who is holy is so different from anything and everything else that there is nothing and no one we could compare him to. There is only one who is truly “holy” and that is God. Many times God is referred to in the Bible as the “Holy One of Israel.” The Buddhist monk, the Hindu priest, the Muslim cleric—these are sinful men who will be among those who will find their place in the Lake of Fire—there is nothing holy about that. 1st Samuel 2:2—There is no one holy like YHVH.

God is not only separate from man, He is separate from His creation. Isaiah 6:1-3--In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings...And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is YHVH of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!" Revelation 4:8--The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!" Psalm 99:5—Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at His footstool—He is holy. I have been guilty, on more than one occasion, to try and describe God. I can't. Nobody can describe God—because He is not like anything. One of my favorite sermons from Paul Washer, and he talks about the love of God. He said something like this: many men try and say “the love of God is like…” But the love of God is not like anything because God is not like anything. That’s what it means to be holy. We’re going to talk about this “love of God” in a moment.

He is SOVEREIGN, He is OMNISCIENT, He is OMNIPOTENT, God is LOVE—and we don’t have enough weeks in the year to dispel all the silly notions that people come up with because they turn that verse on its ear and make a shipwreck out of it. It does not mean that He just kinda ignores our sins and dismisses our rebellions against Him. Some people think that because God is love, He can't hate. Wrong. God does hate. Let me say that again. God hates. Follow me here. How many times do we hear that “God hates sin but…” No, He does not love the sinner! Now, hear me out. He does not hate the one that He is going to save. There are many who are of the elect and not yet saved. His hatred is not directed at those people. The elect are the ones He has chosen to save, and loves those, and will save those. His hatred is directed, rather, against those who continue to turn their backs on Him rather than turn their back on sin. Those who die in their sins are the object of His hatred. Psalm 5:4-5—For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity. Did you notice that? Does He hate all iniquity? Yes. But more than that the Psalmist says of God, You hate all workers of iniquity. Psalm 7:11-13—God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If he [the wicked] does not turn back, He [God] will sharpen His sword; He bends His bow and makes it ready. He also prepares for Himself instruments of death; He makes His arrows into fiery shafts. And probably the clearest Scripture which shows the hatred of God is Romans 9:13—As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

This brings us to another attribute of God—He is WRATHFUL. This is one attribute that is misunderstood almost as much as “God is love.” These people that go around with “God is love!” and “God loves you just the way you are, and He has a wonderful plan for your life! Send me your money!” They walk around with these syrupy sentimentalities dripping off their lips having no clue what they're talking about. They don’t like to talk about the wrath of God because, quite frankly, they are ashamed of it. A.W. Pink wrote in his book The Sovereignty of God:

“It is sad to find so many professing Christians who appear to regard the wrath of God as something for which they need to make an apology; or at least they wish there were no such thing.”

When many people think of the wrath of God, they think He is this big, mean old tyrant who wakes up grumpy every morning, and even before He’s had His Starbucks™ someone ticks Him off so He just send a lightning bolt up their nose. But those are people who do not know God. Because His wrath is perfect. He does not just direct His wrath at a person for no good reason. It is directed against everything that exalts itself against Him. His wrath is the reason why Hell exists. Matthew 25:41—“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’” Jude 1:6—the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day. 2nd Peter 2:4—God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment. God created Hell as the final destination of Lucifer and all the angels who sided with Lucifer and rebelled against God. All those who reject Christ will join them there. Let me make this very clear: God did not create Hell just so He could “get His jollies torturing people forever.” I have had people tell me that. Hell was created for those who spent their lives fighting against God.

It is the eternal expression of His hatred toward sin. Many times God has revealed His wrath against sinful man as a warning to avoid His eternal wrath. 2nd Peter chapter 2 speaks of how God has expressed His wrath against sin. He destroyed the world with a flood. He rained fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities. He sent ten plagues on Egypt, finally sending the angel of death to slay the firstborn sons of Egypt. He even sent His wrath against His people Israel. In Numbers 21 we read about God sending fiery serpents among the people.

In fact, the wrath of God is still just as real now as it was then. Colossians 3:6—Because of these things—fornication, uncleanness, evil passions, covetousness—because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. Romans 1:18—For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. And what happens to someone who dies without accepting Christ as their Savior and Lord? They will suffer the wrath of God for eternity. Matthew 10:28—“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

But the Scriptures also reveal many attributes of God that most people do not know about. He is our Father. Oddly enough, there are people who would much rather paint God as a mean old tyrant than as a loving Father. Some words from Christ Himself:
Matthew 6:26—“Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
Matthew 7:11—“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
Luke 12:6-7—“Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

God also forgives those who come to Him through Christ. A person may be a hundred years old, but if they beg for forgiveness on their deathbed, they see themselves as being the sinner they are, and they call on the name of Christ, then God will forgive that person. 2nd Peter 3:9—The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Now, make no mistake: this verse does not mean that every single person ever born will be saved. What it means is that God is patient with a person He knows will be saved, and will not allow them to die before that person comes to repentance. After all, was He not patient with that thief that hung by Jesus' right hand, even until that man's nearly last breath?

Romans 5:6-11—For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

We were enemies of God. We did not know how to make peace with God. We did not want to make peace with God. So instead of letting us all die and wind up in Hell, He sent His Son—not for a planet full of good people, not for a world full of righteous people, but for a world filled with sinful, prideful, spiteful, hateful creatures like you and me. And if we get that backwards, if we think that God saved us because we had done something to make ourselves worthy of being saved, if we think we can earn His grace--then friends we will have a very skewed view of what it means to be saved, and we will in fact be more likely to show someone the way to Hell rather than the way to Heaven.

A gospel tract you won't find at Lakewood Church

HAT TIP: Contemporary Calvinist

Systematic Theology--Lesson 1, The Importance of Doctrine

Our pastor has developed a "Systematic Theology" series for us teachers. It does not come close to the volume of work by men like Grudem or Carson, but that is not the intent. He developed it to kinda systematize our core beliefs, what we believe and why, using biblical support. The first topic is doctrine--a four-letter word in some churches. Because, after all, they "Just preach the love of Jesus!!" Of course, that statement begs the question--"WHICH JESUS?"

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We are going to use it to begin a new series—taking a break from Philippians, as we have the last few weeks—and dive into a study called “Systematic Theology.” Basically, it means studying theology in a systematic manner. No kidding! Taking the subjects that are probably the most important, and studying what the Bible says about these subjects. We’re not going to read every single verse that talks about each subject, because that would mean reading the entire Bible. Which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, mind you. But what we will be doing is reading the verses that are the clearest and most emphatic touching on the various subjects.

Because we need to know what the Bible says about certain subjects. The apostle Peter axhorts us to make an apologia--a defense--for our faith. 1st Peter 3:15—But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear. Jude 1:3—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. Which is why he name of the other site I blog at is called Defending.Contending. We defend the truth, and we attack the doctrines of demons. Because these verses encourage us to not only read the Scriptures for personal comfort and peace and. So many people just look at this as a book of stories, and “It’s something that gives me peace.” We are encouraged to not only read it, but to study it, so that when someone asks us why we believe “that Jesus stuff” or when we get a knock at the door and we see two very nice, well-dressed young men in white shirts and neckties come knocking at our door and deliver a neatly-packed, well-rehearsed presentation of why THEY have the "restored" truth—we can respond by not only showing them how they have been deceived, but we can also show them the truth.

Many people think they can't understand the Bible. “I could never figure all that stuff out. I'll leave that to the scholars and the theologians.” Nothing could be father from the truth. God gave us this book, and He also helps us understand it. John 16:13—“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth.” 2nd Timothy 3:15—from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. That word “able” literally means “to be capable; strong and powerful.” In other words, the Holy Scriptures have the power and are strong enough and capable of teaching you salvation through Christ. And if we do get stuck on a passage, who is the first person we should ask for help? God Himself! James 1:5—If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. Every saint of God has the capability to understand the Scriptures. So, over the course of the next about 8-10 weeks, we will study these subjects systematically.

We’re going to start by talking about the importance of doctrine. Doctrine is one area that many churches in America have drifted away from teaching. And in fact, there are many churches that say—and it’s almost like they're bragging about this—“We don’t teach doctrine! We just teach the love of Jesus!” Fingernails, chalkboard, do the math. Or they—oh, this gem—“Doctrine divides! Christ unites!” OK, you don’t teach doctrine, you just teach Jesus. What is the question that begs to be asked?

“Which Jesus?”

The Jehovah's Witness Jesus? Who is nothing more than a glorified angel? The Mormon Jesus? Who had to "earn" the right to be a god through obedience to ordinances and principles? Or maybe they're preaching the Muslim Jesus? Who was no more than a wise prophet. How about the Baha’i Jesus? He was just another way to the ultimate truth that was taught by Allah and Muhammed and Buddha and (fill in your own pagan god here). The Buddhist Jesus? Who is one of billions of gods? I mean, which Jesus are you teaching? And if you are teaching one Jesus over another, aren't you in fact teaching…um, what do they call that...starts with a “D.” Now, let me say this: The implication that “Christ unites.” It's a lie straight from the pit of Hell. Because one day a false Christ will unite the entire world.

Revelation 13:8, 16-17—All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world…Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

The whole world will, one day, be united by the one we know as the Antichrist. But as for the real Christ, He tells us in Matthew 10:34-35—“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.’” Jesus Christ is the most divisive man in the history of all the world. He separates people into one of two categories—saved and lost.

Period.

No “door #3” no second chances. And in order to know the true Christ we have to have the proper doctrine. I'll give you an example from the early days of the church. In the 3rd Century AD, there was a priest in Alexandria, Egypt. His name was Arius. He taught that Jesus was a created being—he was “like God, but not God.” Basically, “God created Jesus out of the same stuff God is made of.”

There was, however, another bishop in Alexandria, named Athanasius. He sought to stem this tide of heresy being taught by Arius. He taught a doctrine that said, “Jesus IS GOD. In every way—substance, essence, power. Jesus IS God.” The debate raged on for many years, and finally, in 325 AD, Emperor Constantine called a council at the city of Nicea, which was located in what we now call Turkey. Out of this council at Nicea came a creed. Care to guess as to what this creed was called? That's right, it was in fact the Nicene Creed. And contrary to what the Jehovah's Witness or the Mormon or the atheist will tell you, the Council of Nicea was NOT called to “invent” Christianity. It was called to defend the truth of Christ. It was called to correct…what? Yes, that's right! DOCTRINE!

Jesus had a thing or two to say about doctrine. Matthew 16:6—Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” What did the disciples think He was talking about? “We forgot to take bread.” You know, there had to be some times when Jesus just kinda shook His head at some of the things these disciples said and did. Verses 11-12, “How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the--say it with me now!--doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The apostle Paul had a little bit to say about doctrine. In fact, Galatians and Colossians were both written to correct doctrine. The Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 was called by the apostles to correct doctrine. If doctrine was not important, then a lot of ink was wasted writing about something that wasn’t important.

1st Timothy 4:6--If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed.

Titus 1:9--For a bishop must be blameless...holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.

Titus 2:1--But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine.

So let’s look at what doctrine does.

Doctrine Gives Substance to Faith. Yes, it is important to believe. But what do we believe? And is it enough to just believe? Is it enough to just believe in some kind of Jesus? Have you ever heard someone quote a Bible verse, and they take it so far out of context that it would be laughable if it wasn’t so sad. How many times have you heard someone say, “The truth shall set you free.” again--fingernails. Chalkboard. Do the math. They conveniently leave out the verse before that. We find it in John 8:31-32—Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” It’s an “if-then-and” statement. IF you abide in the word of Christ, THEN you will be His disciple AND you shall know the truth AND that truth shall set you free. What’s the FIRST thing you have to do? Abide. If you don’t abide in His word, then you can forget about knowing the truth and you can forget about the truth setting you free.

This verse also speaks against those Emerging types (Bell, McLaren, Paggitt, McManus, Manning, etc) who are going around today saying “We can't really know the truth! The truth is whatever we believe! The truth is open to interpretation…” These people are going around, calling themselves “Christian”--and yet they deny the truth of Christ. And they have this smugness about them. “I'm too smart to think that I know the truth!” If anyone says that we cannot know the truth, they are calling Jesus a liar. Because Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, you WILL know the truth.” What is that truth? Rather, WHO is that truth? John 14:6—“I AM the Way, the TRUTH, and the Life.” We need to know the truth. Proverbs 14:12—There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is destruction. The book of Judges ends with Judges 21:25—In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did what was right in his own eyes. We need to believe, but we need to believe rightly.

The Jews believed in YHVH. They believed they were serving God by having Jesus crucified. They believed. But did they believe rightly? No. John 3:18—“He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” People who say, “Well, I just haven’t made my mind up yet.” Yeah they have. You are either 100% WITH Him, or 100% AGAINST Him.

Doctrine Gives Structure to Interpretation. Boy, this is a biggie. There are so many false religions and false teachings that come from people misinterpreting a single verse of Scripture, taking it out of context, and reading their own meaning into it. We need to remember that any belief we have has to be grounded in truth, and it has to square up with the rest of Scripture. If I take one verse, and I think it means one thing, I need to search and find other passages that talk about the same subject, and if my interpretation goes against what this whole list of verses says, then it’s probably my interpretation that is wrong.

Some examples. 1st Corinthians 15:29—…what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead? Mormons use this verse—this ONE verse—to build their doctrine of baptism for the dead—that we can somehow do something to benefit a person who is already dead and somehow lessen that person’s punishment in the afterlife. There is nothing WE can do for someone who is already dead. We cannot apply anything WE do to someone else period, let alone someone who is dead. Ecclesiastes 12:7—Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. Jehovah's Witnesses use this verse to say that there is no Hell. That when we die, our spirit goes back to God. There is just so much wrong with that thinking. Matthew 10:28, Jesus says, “…do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Catholics try to use Matthew 16:18 to defend their belief that Peter was the first Pope. “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Real quick, the word Jesus uses here that is translated “rock” is not the kind of rock you can build anything on. And indeed, the church is NOT built on Peter, but on the Chief Cornerstone, which is Christ. (I posted on this here and here.) Ephesians 2:20-21—having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. If we are going to build a doctrine, we need to build it on Scripture, and we need to do more than just take one verse and make it say something it doesn’t say.

Finally, Doctrine Enables Errors to be Spotted. I have studied Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, a little bit of Islam. Simply so that I may know what they believe, and I don’t go around saying they believe something they don’t believe. But here’s the thing: in order to show a Jehovah's Witness the truth, I don’t need to know everything about Jehovah's Witnesses. In order to show the truth to a Mormon I don’t need to know everything about Mormonism. I don’t need to know the five pillars of Islam. In other words, I don’t need to know every single thing about every false religion in order to show the truth to someone who is deceived. All I need to do is know the truth. And if I know the truth, I can spot the error a mile away.

So many times people get sucked into Mormonism—they leave their Christian church and start following the cult of Joseph Smith. And it’s because they have not studied the word of God properly. They get sucked into the Watchtower. Or the whole Word of Faith nonsense. Because they did not study. Or because they have not been properly taught by the one who claims to be their "pastor"--but is nothing more than a life-coach or motivational speaker. So when these errors came around, the people did not know it was error, how to answer them, and they were drawn away into error. Sometimes these people find their way out. Many don’t.

But if we go back to that passage in 2nd Timothy 3:16-17—All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. We have to have the proper doctrine and it has to come from the God-breathed Scriptures. The prophet Amos had a vision in Amos 7:8-9—And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said: “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore.” He set a plumb line in Israel when He sent His Son. Anything that claims to be truth must be measured using that plumb line. Jesus was the perfection of God on earth. He never sinned, deceit was never found even in His mouth. So when a doctrine comes along that is opposed to the truth of Christ—get rid of it! Don’t even consider it.

Doctrine is important. We need to have proper doctrine to know God (John 17:3). When it comes to interpreting doctrine, interpreting the Scriptures, who or what is our final authority? Ain’t no man on earth has the final authority on interpreting Scripture.

50 Answers to 50 Mormon Answers to 50 Anti-Mormon Questions (Answer 23)

Wow, it's been a while. This series left off back in August with Question 22. I've now got a little bit of time (spring break next week), so we can resume our journey of untangling the sophomoric attempts by FAIR (Foundation for Apologetics and Information Research) to answer, in their own unique and convoluted way, some rather straightforward questions from Tower To Truth. We pick up with #23

Tower To Truth Question:

23. Why does D. & C. 42:18 say there is no forgiveness for a murderer when 3 Nephi 30:2 says there is forgiveness for him?'

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FAIR Answer:

Doctrine and Covenants 42 is "the law of the Church" and pertains to those who are baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who by baptism are adopted into the house of Israel. 3_Ne. 30:2 pertains to those who are still "Gentiles" and who are not yet "numbered with [God's] people who are of the house of Israel." For a member of the Church to commit murder there is no forgiveness, whereas a person who has not yet made baptismal covenants may, under certain conditions, be forgiven. Some Lamanites repented and were forgiven of their murders (see Alma 24:10-12).

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My Response:

Alma 24:10-11 (all emphases mine)--
10 And I also thank my God, yea, my great God, that he hath granted unto us that we might repent of these things, and also that he hath forgiven us of those our many sins and murders which we have committed, and taken away the guilt from our hearts, through the merits of his Son.
11 And now behold, my brethren, since it has been all that we could do, (as we were the most lost of all mankind) to repent of all our sins and the many murders which we have committed, and to get God to take them away from our hearts, for it was all we could do to repent sufficiently before God that he would take away our stain—
12 Now, my best beloved brethren, since God hath taken away our stains, and our swords have become bright, then let us stain our swords no more with the blood of our brethren.

Did you notice a couple things there? This passage claims that our sins are forgiven by the MERITS of Christ--not by His blood. But....

• Colossians 1:19-22--For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death...


• 1st Peter 1:18-19--you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold...but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot...


• Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14--In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins


• Revelation 1:5--To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.

All of these verses talk about how we are redeemed, purchased, forgiven, washed by Christ's BLOOD--not His "merit." (This idea almost sounds like Roman Catholic doctrine, where, if we come up a little bit short in our efforts to be perfect, we can ask for a withdrawal from the "treasury of merit" that was built up by Saint (insert name of favorite saint here).)

A couple things here. First, LDS theology says that Jesus became a "God" based on His merit--that through obedience to eternal laws He attained godhood. That of course is a lie. Jesus is God because HE IS GOD--and for no other reason. He did not have to "earn" His title as God.

Second, we don't "get God to take away our sins"--as if we do enough to have God look at us and say, "Way to go!! You're such a good person, I'm going to save you!!" He looks down at a world of horrible, wretched, filthy sinners and grants repentance to some, draws them to Himself, and saves them from His wrath--not because we are somehow "good enough" (a most laughable concept if I ever heard one yet is, nonetheless, being taught in even many "Evangelical" churches), but simply because of His grace.

Now, to the main point I want to make. This particular exchange is almost perfect for showing the most glaring difference between Mormonism and Christianity. According to Mormonism, the blood of Jesus can cleanse you from sins--with a few exceptions. See, you can kill someone before you become a Mormon and get forgiveness no problem. But if you commit murder after you join the LDS system, there is no forgiveness.

Truth of the matter is, it does not matter when you commit murder. Even if you kill someone after you come to know Christ, if you ask forgiveness and you truly belong to Him--He will forgive. King David had Uriah killed after following God. Peter would have killed Malchus if he had his way. And yet these and many like them were still saved by the blood of Christ.

Because, you see, God's forgiveness is not bound by time. In fact, in the book of Revelation refers to Christ as the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8)--even though He was slain thousands of years after the foundation of the world. So if a person is truly saved, it does not matter if they commit a particular sin before or after they get saved--God can forgive that sin.

And contrary to another lie told by the LDS church, there is no sin that cannot be covered by the blood of Christ--even murder.