Your sermon of the week is Gaining the World and Losing Your Children by Paul Washer. It is yet another challenging message directed toward fathers in how they treat their wives and children. When you are done with this sermon I highly encourage you download his message Biblical Manhood Part 1 found on this post.
Month: August 2009
Seeking your forgiveness.
Oftentimes in our zeal to defend truth and contend for the faith, we cross the line. And in spite of having a team of contributors that hold each other accountable, sometimes things slip through the cracks that should have never seen the light of day.
A while back a contributor posted a video that mocked our Savior. The post was quickly pulled and when explained to this brother why it was pulled, he was gracious and completely understood. Unfortunately I have fallen into this same error myself and posted a video from The Church You Know that, in retrospect, I should have never posted.
I think my justification was “it’s not as bad of a mockery of our Lord as that other video we pulled.” But is any mockery acceptable? Is there a level of mockery that is ok to post and a level that isn’t? Certainly not. All mockers–no matter how reserved or how intense–will suffer the wrath of God.
I have refrained from publishing many posts in the past that I felt could be a stumbling block to another, but sadly I failed to be as diligent in my last post. Regardless of the motive, or my intentions, I contributed to the mockery of the Church by posting a video on DefCon that I never should have. For this I am truly sorry.
Although my intention was not to offend or cause a fellow brother or sister to stumble, I believe that I have done just that. It is for this reason that I firstly ask forgiveness from God, and secondly ask forgiveness from you.
I am truly sorry to any and all who I caused to stumble and to God whom I have offended. I take full responsibility for what has happened and I have removed the video. I ask DefCon readers to forgive me.
Sincerely,
– The Pilgrim
Error: “Everybody was Catholic Until the Reformation”
Question: Has the church of Our Lord always been “catholic?”
Answer: Yes
Question: Has the church of Our Lord always been “Catholic?”
Answer: No
Now, don’t accuse me of speaking out of both sides of my mouth. It is a matter of splitting a hair that needs to be split. There is a world of difference between little-‘c’ “catholic” and Big-‘C’ “Catholic.” Allow me to explain.
The word “catholic’ simply means “universal.” Or “worldwide.” The church—the TRUE church—is the joining together of all those who believe in and worship the Lord Jesus Christ and whom He has bought with His blood. Acts 20:28—“Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” It is my intention to show, as faithfully to the truth as possible, that the assertion that “No other churches existed except the Roman Catholic Church until the Reformation” is a false assertion which is based on a faulty knowledge of history.
Let me make one other thing known: it is not my intention to “bash” individual members of the Roman system. I’m sure these people believe with all their heart that Rome is the seat of all power in the church, and that Mary is answering their prayers. Just like Mormons believe the Book of Mormon is from God Himself and that Joseph Smith was His prophet. Just like Muslims believe they are going to “Paradise” if their “good deeds” and alms outweigh their “bad things.” So please do keep that in mind.
The Roman Catholic Church has taken it upon herself to misappropriate the word ‘catholic’ and apply it to herself. So, whenever you read one of the Early Church Fathers (ECFs) use the Greek word καθολικός (katholikos, catholic, universal), Rome says, “See? They were Catholic” (BIG-‘C’). But here’s their problem: the ECFs were using καθολικός in the “universal” sense—NOT the “Romish” sense. Another word they have appropriated is “Tradition.” Any time they see the word “Tradition” used by Augustine or Gregory of Nyssa or Cyprian—they take it to mean the “Traditions” that Rome has adopted. Therefore, they tell their followers, “See? These men taught that people back then should follow the old traditions! ” This, too, is faulty reasoning. Because what Rome has done is take a word that looked back in time and applied it to things they have added to Scripture (more on sola scriptura may come at a later date, but not here). All that being said, let’s begin by looking back at the founding of Christ’s church.
If you ask Rome, they will tell you that the headship of the church was given to Peter, in Matthew 16:18, when Jesus told Simon Peter, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” However, in calling His disciples, Jesus never tells any of them that they will be the “visible head” of His church—unless you subscribe to the Romish misinterpretation of His words in Matthew 16:18. So when it all boils down, the validity of the Roman Catholic Church rests upon two things:
(1) The interpretation of a single verse of Scripture; and
(2) Whether or not one regards the ECFs as being of equal authority as Scripture.
A Tribute to the VBS Syndrome
Sadly, ’nuff said because it is all too true in far too many churcheskids’ clubs.
The church you’re better off not knowing.
The following video is from The Church You Know.
Words fail me.
***** UPDATE *****
I have removed the video from this post and explained why here.
Nada Scriptura?
The world’s false religions and cults have many similarities, and one common thread among them all is their disbelief / distrust / disdain for the Bible.
And among these groups, five stand out as surprising when you consider that they believe themselves to be Christian, and as everybody knows, “Christians” believe the Bible . . . don’t they?
Whether it’s the Jehovah’s Witnesses who discourage individual understanding of the Scriptures . . .
Thus the Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible. For this reason the Bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah’s visible organization in mind.
The Watchtower / October 1, 1967 / Page 587
. . . even going so far as to employ scare tactics that you’ll become apostate for reading the Bible on your own or in a small group:
They say that it is sufficient to read the bible exclusively, either alone or in small groups at home. But, strangely, through such ‘Bible reading,’ they have reverted right back to the apostate doctrines that commentaries by Christendom’s clergy were teaching 100 years ago…
The Watchtower / August 15, 1981/Pages 28-29
Or whether it’s the Mormons spreading their seeds of doubt . . .
It was apparent that many important points touching the salvation of men, had been taken from the Bible, or lost before it was compiled.
Joseph Smith /Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith /Page 10
. . . and blatantly attacking the Word of God:
This congregation heard brother O. Pratt scan the validity of the Bible, and I thought by the time he got through, that you would scarcely think a Bible worth picking up and carrying home, should you find one in the streets.
Brigham Young / Journal of Discourses / Volume 3 Page 116
Or whether it’s the liberal churches who “take the Bible seriously but not literally.”
Or whether it’s the Emergents whose greatest “virtue” is ambiguity, and whose mantra is “did God really say that?” all the while dismissing the importance of the very Bible they claim to believe:
This is part of the problem with continually insisting that one of the absolutes of the Christian faith must be a belief that “Scripture alone” is our guide. It sounds nice, but it is not true. In reaction to abuses by the church, a group of believers during a time called the Reformation claimed that we only need the authority of the Bible. But the problem is that we got the Bible from the church voting on what the Bible even is… When people say that all we need is the Bible, it is simply not true.
Rob Bell / Velvet Elvis / Pages 67-68
I grew up thinking that we’ve figured out the Bible, that we knew what it means. Now I have no idea what most of it means. And yet I feel like life is big again—like life used to be black and white, and now it’s in color.
Kristen Bell (Rob Bell’s wife) / Christianity Today / November 2004
Or whether it’s the Roman Catholic Church who in times past would burn you at the stake for merely possessing the Scriptures in your native tongue, but who now settle for pompously looking down their noses at you for daring to hold God’s inspired, infallible Word above that of their fallible, uninspired popes, priests, and man-made traditions.
So, whether you’re discouraged from reading your Bible, or the Bible is impugned so that you conclude it can’t be trusted, the desired result is always the same: Once you put down the word of God, or place some other “authority” above it, heresy will always follow.
As Gary Gilley aptly said in his book This Little Church Went to Market:
Today, virtually every heresy found in the Christian ranks can be traced back to some form of rejection of the Bible as God’s final authority. It may be pragmatism (which adds success to the Bible); mysticism (which adds experience); tradition (which adds the past): legalism (which adds man’s rules); or philosophy such as psychology (which adds man’s wisdom). The end result is all the same: the Word of God takes a back seat to the inventions and imaginations of men.
Essentially, all these false religions and cults have one goal in mind: To get you to stop trusting the words of the living God and instead, put your trust in their organization. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord and we will trust His word over the lies, rumors, heresies, doubts, and traditions of these false organizations. But what about you? When the question of the authority of Scripture comes up are you going to believe the empty words of false prophets, teachers, popes, and organizations, or the words of God Himself?
For the most part these counterfeit groups would agree that God created the heavens and the earth and that He is the architect of everything from the vastness of the galaxies yet to be discovered by man, to the tiniest microorganisms that are more complex than any supercomputers that we could ever build. And with few exceptions I’m confident that these groups also believe that God sustains His creation and that He’s omnipotent, omniscient, and all powerful.
Yet ironically they do not believe He had or has the power to sustain and preserve His word from generation to generation. How convenient for them that the God of all creation has this one weakness (that their popes, prophets, and programs can help God out with).
God was very clear about the tenacity of His Word: It is forever settled in Heaven (Psalm 119:89), it endures forever (Isaiah 40:8, 1 Peter 1:25), the smallest letter or stroke of the law shall not pass (Matthew 5:18), and Heaven and earth will pass away before His word does (Matthew 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 16:17, Luke 21:33).
Yet the false prophets will have you believe that the sovereign God who created and sustains the universe simply could not ensure the preservation of His own Word, but their “new revelation” on the other hand, is accurate and can be trusted in spite of the fact that their doctrines keep being added to, subtracted from, and changing from prophet to prophet, from leader to leader, and from pope to pope.
The Scriptures are for our instruction and to provide hope (Romans 15:4), for teaching (Deuteronomy 11:9, 2 Chronicles 17:9), for equipping Christians for good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and it gives us assurance of salvation (1 John 5:13).
Furthermore, God’s Word is more precious than silver and gold (Psalm 119:72), it’s a lamp, a light, and the way of life (Proverbs 6:23), it’s a lamp unto our feet (Psalm 119:105), it teaches us to fear the Lord (Deuteronomy 17:19), it purifies (Psalm 119:9), it gives understanding to the simple (Psalm 119:130), it teaches us so that we can walk in His paths (Isaiah 2:3), it sanctifies (John 17:17, Ephesians 5:26), it testifies to Jesus Christ (John 5:39), it leads us to Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:24), and it judges our thoughts and attitudes (Hebrews 4:12).
When you consider what God’s Word does, you can see why false religions and cults wish to separate you from it! If they can drive a wedge between you and the word of God, then they will have successfully separated you from the only source by which to measure truth. Then you are easy prey for their new revelations, their other gospels (Galatians 1:6-9), and their false christs.
So, I have three questions:
1. The Bereans were commended for searching the Scriptures to assure that what the Apostle Paul was teaching was accurate (Acts 17:11). Why are these false religions and cults advising you not to take up the Scriptures to see if what they’re teaching is true?
2.The Apostle Paul told us that our struggle is against spiritual powers and forces of wickedness (Ephesians 6:11-12) and in this fight he tells us to put on the armor of God (Ephesians 6:13), in which one of these is the sword of the Spirit–the very word of God. Why would false religions and cults want to disarm you from one of the best offensive and defensive weapons God has provided the Believer and instructed him to wield?
3. Jesus Christ, the Apostles, and the Disciples read the Scriptures and quoted from them regularly. In fact, when Satan tried to thwart Jesus’ mission on earth by twisting Scripture, Jesus quoted from the Scripture each time in rebuttal, effectively disarming the father of lies with the words of truth (Matthew 4:1-11). If the Scriptures were good enough and valuable enough for Jesus Christ and the Apostles, why do the false religions and cults say that they’re not good enough for you?
For all the reasons above it is apparent why false religions and cults reject the Bible and the idea of Sola Scriptura. When those groups claiming to be “Christian” are compared to the Light of the Scriptures they always come up short and their errors, falsehoods, heresies, and soul-damning doctrines of demons are exposed. If they can get you to doubt the Bible, they will quickly fill that void with their own “authority.”
Remember, we were never told that man shall live on the Church, the prophets, or popes, but we are told that man shall live on “every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Deuteronomy 8:3).
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” – John 8:31-32
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For more on the Bible see : Bible Reference Notes – The Holy Scriptures
Quotes (577)
I believe there is far more harm done by unholy and inconsistent Christians than we are at all aware of. Such men are among Satan’s best allies. They pull down by their lives what ministers build up with their lips. . . . I fear that Christ’s name is too often blasphemed because of the lives of Christians.
– J. C. Ryle
1816 – 1900
Gerber’s new “Christian Baby Food.”
Quotes (576)
Women who break the unwritten two-child-per-family rule are often greeted with questions like, “Haven’t you guys figured out what causes that?” Fathers who choose to emphasize their sons’ spiritual growth at the expense of their participation in the all-consuming pursuit of sports sometimes find themselves being alienated by other dads. Children who don’t attend the local public high school are often looked down upon because they don’t know the latest catch phrases or wear the latest designs. The pursuit of family driven faith can be costly.
– Voddie Baucham
Steven J. Lawson: “True Liberation Theology” (Galatians 5:1-5:6)
Galatians 5:1-6 (NASB)—1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. 2 Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3 And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. 4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.
Is the “social gospel” the most important thing for the church? Is feeding the hungry and housing the homeless what Jesus came to do? Is Rick Warren’s unbiblical yoking of himself with Muslim groups true Christianity? The biblical answer to that question is resoundingly, emphatically, and absolutely, “NO!!!!”
Satan would like us to think that slavery in this country was done away with after the Civil War. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We are all slaves–we either serve Christ, or we serve Satan. Today, we will hear what the apostle Paul says about who is the one that is truly free.
Here is the fifteenth installment of this series going verse-by-verse through what Dr. Lawson calls “Paul’s Most Explosive Letter.” You can listen by left-clicking this link.
Jesus Commands us to be Judgmental
In John 7:24, Jesus said, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” Of course, if there is righteous judgment, there is sinful judgment, which should certainly be avoided. However, it is beneficial to be judgmental in a good way.
In my experience, the verse that virtually every American non-Christian knows and loves to quote is Matthew 7:1. Jesus said, “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” I’ve even had some people tell me that it was one of the Ten Commandments. In this passage, Jesus was condemning hypocritical judging. We shouldn’t call the police on our neighbors for playing the music too loud one evening when it is our regular practice to have loud parties and keep the neighborhood awake. It’s human nature to be upset and point out the one time our neighbor does something wrong, and excuse, or be completely oblivious to, our own poor behavior. That is called hypocrisy.
However, Jesus goes on, and in verse 5, He tells us that we should remove the plank from our eye, so that we will be able to help others with their speck. We are supposed to judge ourselves strictly, so that we can lovingly judge others and help them with their speck.
The Judging Trap
Many people who think it’s a sin to judge others will loudly point out when someone is judging. Of course, at that point they have identified someone else 
who is committing a sin, which makes them judgmental. The irony is that they’re committing the very same sin of which they’re accusing others.
This is exactly the type of sinful judging that Jesus was talking about in Matthew 7:1. It’s a sin to get on your self-righteous high horse, and say it’s wrong for someone else to get on his or her self-righteous high horse. When you’ve removed the “It’s wrong to judge” plank from your eye, maybe you can determine whether someone is judging righteously or sinfully.
It’s not judging to tell people what the Bible says
It’s not loving to hem and haw about people’s standing before God. The loving thing to do is tell them what the Bible says. The Bible makes it clear that if you believe certain things, you can’t go to heaven.
Many Christians might say something like, “I don’t know what’s in someone’s heart. Who am I to judge?” I would agree that we generally don’t know what’s in someone’s heart—until he or she tells us. After that person has told us, it’s a good, loving thing to take the opportunity to warn someone if he or she believes something that will bring that individual harm.
The last virtue of a decaying society is tolerance 
Tolerance is a good thing. However, tolerance does not mean that we shouldn’t take a stand against evil. It seems that tolerance has come to mean that the majority must make whatever accommodations a loud minority demands. It often seems the more perverse the demand, the more effective the “tolerance” and “not-judging” card is in silencing the critics. We can let Western society wither and die for the sake of tolerance, or we can take a stand.
Every one of us makes judgments every day. We judge whether something is good for lunch or bad. We judge what shirt is best to wear. We make judgments from the smallest of decisions to decisions that affect our eternity. It’s a sin to judge hypocritically, but it’s prudent to judge properly, as Jesus has commanded us.
Sola Scriptura (65)
“Son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows on the trumpet and warns the people, then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. ‘He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have delivered his life.
‘But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand.’
“Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me. “When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. “But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.
– Ezekiel 33:2-9
Sermon of the week: “The Curse Motif of the Atonement” by R.C. Sproul.
Your sermon of the week is The Curse Motif of the Atonement by R.C. Sproul. I’ve had this message on my MP3 player for a while now and only got around to listening to it the other day. Wow. I wish I had listened to it earlier.
I’ve never been what you’d call a “fan” of R.C. Sproul, but this message is spot on and powerful. If you only listen to one R.C. Sproul sermon in your whole life, this should be it.
Quotes (575)
“I think there is nothing so startling in all the graces of God as His quietness. When men have raged untruths in His name, when they have used the assumed authority of the Son of God to put to death His real children, when they have with calloused art twisted the Scriptures into fables and lies, when they have explained the order of His creation in unfounded theories while boasting the support of rational science, when they have virtually talked Him right out of His universe, when they, using powers He grants them, calm universal autonomy and independence, He, this great Silent God, says nothing. His tolerance and love for His creature is such that, having spoken in Christ, in conscience, in code of law, He waits for men to leave off their bawling and turn for a moment to listen to His still, small voice of Spirit.
Now, after so long a time of restrained voice, bearing in Almighty meekness the blasphemies of His self-destroying creatures, now – how shall break upon the ears, consciousnesses, hearts, and minds of reprobate man the Voice of one so long silent? It shall thunder with the force of offended righteousness, strike with lightning bolts upon the seared consciences; roar as the long-crouched lion upon dallying prey; leap upon, batter, destroy and utterly consume the vain reasonings of proud human kind, ring as the battle shout of a strong, triumphant, victory-tasting warrior; strike terror and gravity to souls more forcefully than tortured screams in the dead of night. O God, what shall be the first tones of that voice again on earth? And what their effect? Wonder and fear, denizens of dust, for the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a battle cry, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet blast of God Himself, made more terrible, if that could be, by the longsuffering of His silence.”
—Jim Elliott, 1950
“Thankful to have been raised a Roman Catholic” by Brother Michael.
Brother Michael responded to a comment on this post that I thought was worthy of reprinting here.
In reading Joanna’s comments and perusing the fodder titled, “Sola Scriptura – A Blueprint for Anarchy”, I must digress and say how thankful I am that I was raised in the religion of Rome. Raised by a multi-generational Catholic family from a babe on upwards to nearly 25 years of age. Here, I consider myself most blessed to have sat under the feet of nuns and priests being educated by them from grammar school through high school, to have served as a faithful alter boy, to have been baptized, catechized, confirmed and even married as a RC. I am thankful that I was deemed a faithful follower of Mother Rome and was looked upon highly by large and small in her community.
I am thankful that I had my Marian statue and faithfully prayed many a night my decades on the rosaries. My homemade cross (from my 1st “holy” communion) I hung with pride in my bedroom where every Palm Sunday I would take the new palm branches and drape them over it for another year.
So too am I thankful that I use to look down with disdain on those “born again” Jesus wackos (the way I sadly felt at the time) since I “knew” that ONLY Catholics were going to heaven. And of course for no other reason but that we were faithful, card-carrying Catholics. This party line I parroted like a well trained student of my Jesuit and Franciscan pedagogues.
Why am I so thankful? I am thankful because I KNOW the truth about mother Rome. I know the truth whereby the outrageous claims made by RC apologists, the lies, distortions and incredible falsehoods are laid bare before my eyes. 33,000 or 330,000 denominations doesn’t really matter as it is pure straw-man blather. The so-called unity of Mother Rome is a smoke screen; it is like an old Hollywood western movie set where once you walk into the apparent salon or hotel, you realize all you have is a thin facade with nothing behind it but empty space. This is Rome’s unity, a paper thin facade.
Here, I challenge anyone to take a poll of their local RC parish, a poll not in paper alone but by looking at life choices and you will find discord and disharmony that will begin to show the heart of the RC religion. People divided about sex before marriage (and most partaking), divided about birth control, divided about woman being priests, divided about divorce/remarriage/annulments, divided about priests marrying, divided about girls being alter boys eh I mean alter people, divided about homosexuality, divided about the liturgy, divided about Vatican II, divided about purgatory, divided about people of other “faiths” going to heaven, divided about evolution, divided about Mary, divided about the current pope, divided about abortionists (e.g. Nancy Pelosi and others) receiving the holy wafer, divided about tithing, divided about praise and worship, divided about fund raising, divided about …. fill in the blanks.
Oh – but we have unity because all these people for one hour (hopefully less as a priest is always commended if he can get you out in less than an hour) who gather in a building and like trained puppets on cue sit down, stand up, cross themselves, kneel, recite words back and forth, shake hands, walk an aisle, sing a song, and walk back out the door being elated the ordeal is over for another week.
I am also thankful that I know the heart of those cute Catholic boys and girls who look so prim and proper in their uniforms where it is hard to think they could do anything wrong. Oh what a lie! Thankful because I was there where the sin that me and my faithful heaven bound (eh – well probably purgatory bound first) Catholic friends partook in was no different than that of our agnostic/atheist cohorts; possibly even worse in many respects. Mocking the nuns, swilling beer like it was water, drugs (even on our HS bus), stealing, cheating, sex, mouths like sailors and more bore ample witness to the fact that we were dead in trespasses and sins regardless of the lies the priests fed us with.
Oh- wait, but we were Catholics and on our way to heaven because we said our five “our father’s” and ten “hail mary’s” so as merit our forgiveness after our 5 minute penance. Lies damnable lies!!!
I could go on and on how I witness the same today being surrounded by DEAD Catholic families and friends who HATE the gospel and Lord of Glory and LOVE their sin. And what incenses me the most is that in Rome Jesus Christ is NEVER enough for it is the organization, the 501c-3 den of iniquity that is always preached as the way of salvation. This is the heart of every RC apologist for if they preach Jesus alone the gig will be up and the power over men’s souls will be vanquished. And so it will be…
“And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication”
Quotes (571)
To sin because mercy abounds is the devil’s logic. . . . He that sins because of God’s mercy shall have judgment without mercy. Mercy abused turns to fury. . . . Mercy is not for them that sin and fear not, but for them that fear and sin not.
– Thomas Watson
1620 – 1686
Sproul and Mohler on the seeker-sensitive movement.
Quotes (573)
According to researchers, between 70 and 88 percent of Christian teens are leaving the church by their second year in college. That’s right, modern American Christianity has a failure rate somewhere around eight (almost nine) out of ten when it comes to raising children who continue in the faith. Imagine the alarm if nearly 90 percent of our children couldn’t read when they left high school. There wouldn’t be room enough at school board meetings to hold all of the irate parents.
– Voddie Baucham
Steven J. Lawson: “Who Is Your Mother?” (Galatians 4:21-4:31)
Galatians 4:21-4:31 (NASB)—21 Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, (AB)one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. 23 But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. 24 This is allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. 25 Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother. 27 For it is written, Rejoice barren woman who does not bear; break forth and shout, you who are not in labor; for more numerous are the children of the desolate than of the one who has a husband. 28 And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. 30 But what does the Scripture say? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the freewoman. 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman.
Question: What is the one thing that separates true followers of Christ from those trapped in false religions?
Answer: The fact that the one who has put his faith in Christ as their Savior and Lord have been set free from the Law of sin and death (Romans 8:2) because the law could not make us free because of the weakness of our flesh (Romans 8:3), and they place NO FAITH in their own works, which can never make one righteous. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law (Galatians 3:21).
Yet the one who is trapped in a false religion will still go through their life counting up all their “good deeds” and all their “bad deeds,” thinking that all the while God is smiling upon their enterprise–yet He is pleading from Heaven, “This is My Beloved Son–Hear HIM!!”
Here is the fourteenth installment of this series going verse-by-verse through what Dr. Lawson calls “Paul’s Most Explosive Letter.” You can listen by left-clicking this link.
Christ Alone Wyoming 