Wow, that about sums it up. Brilliant analysis, once again. Helping us to see in a biblical context the world we live in. I think I’ve about divorced this world. It has been a tough divorce . I’ve always been a patriotic man. I loved America. I served her at the peril of my life, on the streets and with an Army expeditionary force. But, at the end of my life, I know it’s just a government of men. Imperfect. Flawed. My hope in America has been broken. But there has always been Christ. Always. He’s a worthy King. America is a worn out , rainbow haired, pierced face, fat gay whore. Without my wifey and fellow remnant, I’d go nuts.Yup, my divorce from America is just about final...
Sadly, every word of this post is true. Utterly, horribly true. Yet it is well to remember that the Church of Jesus survived, and even prospered under the oppressive yoke of Roman rule. It does so today in places like China, North Korea and Iran. There is a reason why believers throughout history have been described as a remnant. The unity toward which believers strive is centered in and premised on The Bible and the truths revealed therein. Any other unity is false and cannot survive because it is based on a lie. Yes, even the unity that once was based on a common belief in the American dream has been shown to be without substance and therefore incapable of surviving. When that dream was itself based on Biblical principles it had staying power, but once deprived of that Biblical basis, as it has been over the past eighty years, it shows itself for what it is--a chimera, a wooden god, a lie. Nowhere has this been illustrated more clearly than in the braying demands for "unity" emanating from The White House. Yes, our rulers want unity alright, the unity that comes from kowtowing to their depraved demands. Nebuchadnezzar demanded the same type of unity when he demanded all bow before his golden statue. Most did, but not all. The three who resisted were singled out for persecution, yet they prevailed because they were unified around the truth of God's revealed Word. And so it is with us today. In the face of demands for "unity", whether from The White House or the pulpit, we must first ask whether it is God's will that we unite with those who demand it, or whether they are seeking unanimity around a false premise. If they demand unity requiring rejection of Biblical tenets, values and principles, such demands are to be resisted. Our unity comes only from a united belief in and acceptance of God's Word and His salvific work through Jesus. Our motto should be, as with the patriots of old, "We have no king but Jesus!"
No man will ever comprehend the death of Jesus Christ until he realizes that the Lord was put to death by God the Father. The fact that the Jews delivered Him over to death is relatively unimportant, even if they did cry that His blood was to be upon them and upon their children. The fact that the Gentiles did the actual hammering of the nails through the hands and feet of Christ is again relatively unimportant. The one thing that really matters is that God the Father put God the Son to death. This is what makes the atonement for sin. The substitute is taking the blow that should rightfully have been ours. It has been thus prophesied, “Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise him; he hath put him to grief” (Isaiah 53:10). On the day of Pentecost Peter immediately proclaimed this fact in the first recorded Christian sermon—“Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23).
Thus the love of God in Christ presented Himself as the Substitute, paying the fine to the justice of God and satisfying the claims of the holiness of God. Thus the full vicarious, substitutionary payment was made. Thus we have a Saviour. It immediately follows that there can be no claim whatsoever left against the sinner whose guilt has been put upon the Saviour. He paid it all, and there cannot be anything left to collect from the transgressor. If God attempted to exact payment from the believer after He Himself had put all his guilt upon the Sin Bearer, there would be unrighteousness with God. When we sing, “Jesus paid it all,” we are stating the fact that God Himself has obligated Himself in such a way that He must look upon the believer as being free from debt, as Christ Himself was free when He had cried, “ It is finished “ (John 19:30). It is for this reason that the Holy Spirit can bring the wonderful promise to us, “There is therefore now no condemnation (no judgment) to them that are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). When we come to the study of the difference between the judgment of the believers and the judgment of the unbelievers, we must remember this point. God will take the believers to heaven without any judgment whatsoever as to their guilt for sin. That is in the past, and the believer will never face it again in time nor in eternity. The believer will be judged for his Christian life, so that his position and rewards in heaven shall be determined; but the question of his being in heaven has been settled on the cross, and the lord God Almighty Himself cannot become guilty of bringing the believer into double jeopardy.
- Barnhouse (1895-1960)
“How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord is laid for your faith in His excellent word, what more can He say than to you He hath said - to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled.”
On unity and Christianity (be patient, it gets there):
From Iain H. Murray's Evangelicalism Divided, pages 151-157:
There [in Scripture] we read one common theme: to become a Christian is to experience the power of Christ in the forgiveness of sin and in the receiving of a new life. It is a change accomplished by God and altogether apart from human effort or deserving, for the very faith which is the instrument in uniting the sinner to Christ is itself a gift: 'By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God' (Eph, 2:8). Further, while obedience and love result from the gift of faith, these graces follow rather than contribute anything to our acceptance with God. It is Christ's finished work alone which secures for ever the believer's status of righteousness and of 'no condemnation'.
Scripture shows various ways in which an individual gives evidence of having been thus brought 'from death unto life'. The foremost has to do with the content of the faith which is exercised, for true faith rests on knowledge. 'To be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth', is one and the same thing in apostolic Christianity (1 Tim. 2:4). To be 'saved', according to the New Testament, necessarily involves believing a message. Thus Luke sets it down as the first mark of the infant church at Jerusalem that 'they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine' (Acts 2:42); and he tells us that it was through the knowledge of the same message about 'the Lord Jesus' the 'the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch' (Acts 11:26). Christianity means knowing and trusting Christ as a living Person; it is a relationship which so captures both the mind and the heart of the believer that henceforth to know Christ, to esteem him and his words, becomes the very object of existence: 'To you who believe he is precious' (1 Peter 2:7) - more precious certainly than all earthly goods or one's own reputation or even life (Like 14:26).
A Christian is someone who no longer lives for himself but understands, with Paul, why Christ is his righteousness, his life, his all.
Is it possible for someone who has not received the Christian message or is opposed to it to be a Christian? No. This is contrary to the New Testament.The first and invariable result of the new birth, according to Christ, is 'sight' (John 3:4). By this rebirth an individual comes to belong to the number of whom it is written: 'They shall all be taught by God' (John 6:45). He possesses an enlightenment which sets apart the teaching of God from all the teaching of men; for this person the promise 'You shall know the truth' is a reality. (John 8:32).
That is not to say that becoming a Christian is primarily a change of opinion: it is far more profound. The Christian has received a new nature. Included in that nature is a capacity for truth, an affinity with truth, and a love for truth. He has been given 'the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive' (John 14:17), with the result that his understanding of salvation no longer depends upon himself or upon the thinking of other men: 'But the anointing which you have received of Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you' (1 John 2:27). 'He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself' (1 John 5:10). What Jesus said to Peter is therefore true of every Christian, 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven' (Matt. 16:17). Or, as Paul wrote to believers at Ephesus, 'You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord' (Eph. 5:8).
On the basis of these facts, the New Testament shows that one sure test of a Christian profession is how that person reacts to the Scriptures. Unregenerate men not only do not receive God's Word but they have no moral ability to do so. By nature they are at enmity both against God and against his truth. 'The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him' (1 Cor. 2:14).
So Christ could say to Jewish unbelievers, 'Because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me... He who is of God hears God's words: therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.' (John 8:45, 47) On the other hand, a believing acceptance of his words is proof of belonging to his kingdom. All who hear the voice of Christ are members of his flock. (John 10:28). So Paul could write to the Christians at Thessalonica: 'For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcome it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God.' (1 Thess. 2:13)
In distinction from contemporary claims that dogmatism means unchristian intolerance, Scripture thus gives us an antithesis which is sharp and definite. Saving faith requires the power of the Holy Spirit, and his presence of absence in an individual is to be known by the response or the absence of response to his words: 'They are of the world. Therefore speak they as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error' (1 John 4:5-6).
Wow, that about sums it up. Brilliant analysis, once again. Helping us to see in a biblical context the world we live in. I think I’ve about divorced this world. It has been a tough divorce . I’ve always been a patriotic man. I loved America. I served her at the peril of my life, on the streets and with an Army expeditionary force. But, at the end of my life, I know it’s just a government of men. Imperfect. Flawed. My hope in America has been broken. But there has always been Christ. Always. He’s a worthy King. America is a worn out , rainbow haired, pierced face, fat gay whore. Without my wifey and fellow remnant, I’d go nuts.Yup, my divorce from America is just about final...
Sadly, every word of this post is true. Utterly, horribly true. Yet it is well to remember that the Church of Jesus survived, and even prospered under the oppressive yoke of Roman rule. It does so today in places like China, North Korea and Iran. There is a reason why believers throughout history have been described as a remnant. The unity toward which believers strive is centered in and premised on The Bible and the truths revealed therein. Any other unity is false and cannot survive because it is based on a lie. Yes, even the unity that once was based on a common belief in the American dream has been shown to be without substance and therefore incapable of surviving. When that dream was itself based on Biblical principles it had staying power, but once deprived of that Biblical basis, as it has been over the past eighty years, it shows itself for what it is--a chimera, a wooden god, a lie. Nowhere has this been illustrated more clearly than in the braying demands for "unity" emanating from The White House. Yes, our rulers want unity alright, the unity that comes from kowtowing to their depraved demands. Nebuchadnezzar demanded the same type of unity when he demanded all bow before his golden statue. Most did, but not all. The three who resisted were singled out for persecution, yet they prevailed because they were unified around the truth of God's revealed Word. And so it is with us today. In the face of demands for "unity", whether from The White House or the pulpit, we must first ask whether it is God's will that we unite with those who demand it, or whether they are seeking unanimity around a false premise. If they demand unity requiring rejection of Biblical tenets, values and principles, such demands are to be resisted. Our unity comes only from a united belief in and acceptance of God's Word and His salvific work through Jesus. Our motto should be, as with the patriots of old, "We have no king but Jesus!"
Who Put Christ to Death?
No man will ever comprehend the death of Jesus Christ until he realizes that the Lord was put to death by God the Father. The fact that the Jews delivered Him over to death is relatively unimportant, even if they did cry that His blood was to be upon them and upon their children. The fact that the Gentiles did the actual hammering of the nails through the hands and feet of Christ is again relatively unimportant. The one thing that really matters is that God the Father put God the Son to death. This is what makes the atonement for sin. The substitute is taking the blow that should rightfully have been ours. It has been thus prophesied, “Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise him; he hath put him to grief” (Isaiah 53:10). On the day of Pentecost Peter immediately proclaimed this fact in the first recorded Christian sermon—“Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23).
Thus the love of God in Christ presented Himself as the Substitute, paying the fine to the justice of God and satisfying the claims of the holiness of God. Thus the full vicarious, substitutionary payment was made. Thus we have a Saviour. It immediately follows that there can be no claim whatsoever left against the sinner whose guilt has been put upon the Saviour. He paid it all, and there cannot be anything left to collect from the transgressor. If God attempted to exact payment from the believer after He Himself had put all his guilt upon the Sin Bearer, there would be unrighteousness with God. When we sing, “Jesus paid it all,” we are stating the fact that God Himself has obligated Himself in such a way that He must look upon the believer as being free from debt, as Christ Himself was free when He had cried, “ It is finished “ (John 19:30). It is for this reason that the Holy Spirit can bring the wonderful promise to us, “There is therefore now no condemnation (no judgment) to them that are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). When we come to the study of the difference between the judgment of the believers and the judgment of the unbelievers, we must remember this point. God will take the believers to heaven without any judgment whatsoever as to their guilt for sin. That is in the past, and the believer will never face it again in time nor in eternity. The believer will be judged for his Christian life, so that his position and rewards in heaven shall be determined; but the question of his being in heaven has been settled on the cross, and the lord God Almighty Himself cannot become guilty of bringing the believer into double jeopardy.
- Barnhouse (1895-1960)
“How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord is laid for your faith in His excellent word, what more can He say than to you He hath said - to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled.”
“ Hallelujah we shall see heaven after awhile!”
To God be the Glory!! Amen
Very well said. No King but Jesus!!
Great series!
Well done. Thank you for clarification and all who commented.
Who wrote this masterpiece? Please. Post on everything! Wow! Brilliant!!
On unity and Christianity (be patient, it gets there):
From Iain H. Murray's Evangelicalism Divided, pages 151-157:
There [in Scripture] we read one common theme: to become a Christian is to experience the power of Christ in the forgiveness of sin and in the receiving of a new life. It is a change accomplished by God and altogether apart from human effort or deserving, for the very faith which is the instrument in uniting the sinner to Christ is itself a gift: 'By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God' (Eph, 2:8). Further, while obedience and love result from the gift of faith, these graces follow rather than contribute anything to our acceptance with God. It is Christ's finished work alone which secures for ever the believer's status of righteousness and of 'no condemnation'.
Scripture shows various ways in which an individual gives evidence of having been thus brought 'from death unto life'. The foremost has to do with the content of the faith which is exercised, for true faith rests on knowledge. 'To be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth', is one and the same thing in apostolic Christianity (1 Tim. 2:4). To be 'saved', according to the New Testament, necessarily involves believing a message. Thus Luke sets it down as the first mark of the infant church at Jerusalem that 'they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine' (Acts 2:42); and he tells us that it was through the knowledge of the same message about 'the Lord Jesus' the 'the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch' (Acts 11:26). Christianity means knowing and trusting Christ as a living Person; it is a relationship which so captures both the mind and the heart of the believer that henceforth to know Christ, to esteem him and his words, becomes the very object of existence: 'To you who believe he is precious' (1 Peter 2:7) - more precious certainly than all earthly goods or one's own reputation or even life (Like 14:26).
A Christian is someone who no longer lives for himself but understands, with Paul, why Christ is his righteousness, his life, his all.
Is it possible for someone who has not received the Christian message or is opposed to it to be a Christian? No. This is contrary to the New Testament.The first and invariable result of the new birth, according to Christ, is 'sight' (John 3:4). By this rebirth an individual comes to belong to the number of whom it is written: 'They shall all be taught by God' (John 6:45). He possesses an enlightenment which sets apart the teaching of God from all the teaching of men; for this person the promise 'You shall know the truth' is a reality. (John 8:32).
That is not to say that becoming a Christian is primarily a change of opinion: it is far more profound. The Christian has received a new nature. Included in that nature is a capacity for truth, an affinity with truth, and a love for truth. He has been given 'the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive' (John 14:17), with the result that his understanding of salvation no longer depends upon himself or upon the thinking of other men: 'But the anointing which you have received of Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you' (1 John 2:27). 'He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself' (1 John 5:10). What Jesus said to Peter is therefore true of every Christian, 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven' (Matt. 16:17). Or, as Paul wrote to believers at Ephesus, 'You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord' (Eph. 5:8).
On the basis of these facts, the New Testament shows that one sure test of a Christian profession is how that person reacts to the Scriptures. Unregenerate men not only do not receive God's Word but they have no moral ability to do so. By nature they are at enmity both against God and against his truth. 'The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him' (1 Cor. 2:14).
So Christ could say to Jewish unbelievers, 'Because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me... He who is of God hears God's words: therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.' (John 8:45, 47) On the other hand, a believing acceptance of his words is proof of belonging to his kingdom. All who hear the voice of Christ are members of his flock. (John 10:28). So Paul could write to the Christians at Thessalonica: 'For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcome it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God.' (1 Thess. 2:13)
In distinction from contemporary claims that dogmatism means unchristian intolerance, Scripture thus gives us an antithesis which is sharp and definite. Saving faith requires the power of the Holy Spirit, and his presence of absence in an individual is to be known by the response or the absence of response to his words: 'They are of the world. Therefore speak they as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error' (1 John 4:5-6).