depravity of man

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An Introduction to the Sovereign Gospel

John MacArthur provides a succinct introduction to the doctrine of God’s sovereignty when it comes to salvation. This Grace to You message comes from Ephesians 1:3-6.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

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No Interview Like It!

This blog and video was posted at The Gospel Coalition by Thabiti Anyabwile. It is an amazing interview that would definitely not even be permitted in England and probably not even in America in many places.

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Thabiti Anyabwile is Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman in the Grand Cayman Islands and a Council member with The Gospel Coalition.

Will We Ever See Another Interview Like It?

Perhaps you’ve already seen the 1970 interview of Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones by Dame Joan Bakewell on the nature of man. If not, you owe it to yourself to check out this 19-minute conversation recently released by the Martyn Lloyd-Jones Trust.

The interview is striking for a number of reasons.

First, it’s conducted in the U.K., where most observers would guess such a fair and engaging interview would be all but impossible today.

Second, the interviewer’s familiarity with basic doctrinal Christianity and the contentions of the broader culture set her apart from the talking heads today.

Third, it seems there may be very few evangelicals today of the stature of Lloyd-Jones who could command any interest from secular television.

Fourth, most sadly, are there any evangelical pastors who would be so thoroughly convinced and unashamed of the Bible’s teaching about man, sin and salvation in Jesus Christ alone?

So, I guess you should view the interview because we’re not likely to see its like in our lifetimes.

HT: The Gospel Coalition

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The Most Terrifying Truth of Scripture!

The gospel cannot be made any clearer than this. This is the message that is simple and free to all who will come and plead for mercy at the feet of a holy, righteous God.

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The Noble Criminal

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John 18:40—“Give use Barabbas!”

There are many in this country today who have watched as the drama surrounding the hunt for Christopher Dorner has unfolded. And while many have been hoping for and anticipating his capture, there has been also, curiously, a small crowd of voices which has been applauding his actions and hoping for his exoneration. The purpose of this post is not to debate the merits of the case or to argue for his guilt or innocence. Any comments in that vein will be deleted as quickly as possible. You can argue that somewhere else.

The point I want to make is this: this approving crowd should not surprise us. Jesus Himself said “Men love darkness rather than light” (John 3:19). It has been that way ever since sin entered the world. We have an early example from Mt Sinai. While Moses was up on the mount, the people were wantonly carousing at the foot of the mountain in a drunken orgy worshipping the golden calf–while God was speaking to Moses the very Law these people were corrupting!

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But we don’t have to go back that far in time to see why it shouldn’t surprise us that people are actually supporting this murderer (OK, alleged murderer). Think back to 1994. A white
Ford Bronco carrying OJ Simpson was leading LAPD on a low-speed chase through Los Angeles. People were lined up on bridges over the freeway to watch. Were these people hoping that a fugitive from the law would be caught and brought to justice? No. They were encouraging this fugitive to continue running from the law. (Again, not debating OJ’s guilt or innocence. Just sayin’).

And there is another trend. Not necessarily new, but it does seem to be more prevalent over the last several years. That is the concept of what I call “The Noble Criminal”. You see him (or her) in many movies these days. The team of bank robbers who are only robbing the bank to right some dastardly wrong or because one of the character’s loved ones is dying (usually due to the greed of the bank president or some other such embodiment of evil). Examples of these are movies like “Ocean’s 11” or “Tower Heist”.

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Then we have movies where the drug dealer or the prostitute or…well, you name it. Whatever the criminal enterprise, there are probably many, many movies glamorizing and glorifying whatever criminal you can think of. The most recent and most egregious (to me anyway) example of this was “The Sopranos”. OK, let’s get this straight. The mobster–the head of a Mafia family, a man who did not hesitate to kill anyone who crossed him–he was the good guy. The police and FBI who were trying to catch him–they were the bad guys. And people wonder why there are folks supporting Christopher Dorner. It is because we have a culture where The Noble Criminal is looked upon as a hero while those who are charged with apprehending him are evil.

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But these are really no different than the crowd that stood at the Praetorium that day as Pontius Pilate stood before the teeming crowd, asking them which man they would have released. Would they have Christ–the innocent Lamb of God, the Man who had committed no sin, the Man who was the perfect embodiment of righteousness and godly perfection? Or would they have Barabbas–a murderous villain, a man who had most likely committed crimes so vile and horrible the writers of Sacred Writ dared not even name them?

“Give us Barabbas!!”

To see that man’s will is inclined toward evil, simply read the headlines. Many would rather have Barabbas than Christ.

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Scam Into Blessing – Part 11

Too many want to start halfway through a book hoping to understand the plot and then think that they understand who the author is and what he is trying to express to the reader. Many readers come to the Scripture with a similar mindset. They start at the points that are of interest them and ignore the basics of Who the Author is and what He expresses to the reader through each page. When a person has little or no knowledge of the Scriptures, it is often best to start right at the very beginning. People need to understand Who God is by what is given in Scripture.

One huge issue to overcome though when starting at the beginning is some who consider themselves to be smart want to ignore or erase the first eleven chapters of Genesis. The reason is because if we can erase the truth and validity of the accounts found in Genesis 1-11, we can then make God into our own image. We no longer have to worry about those troubling doctrines such as: original sin, the fall of man, the total depravity of man, hereditary aspects of the sin nature, the judgment of God, and even the need for a promised Messiah.

I was convinced that the pastors, elders and deacons sitting in that hot concrete building had never heard a complete gospel message. They may have known that a person named Jesus Christ died on a cross, but they did not know why. Several attendees expressed their own thoughts on sin and how they believed that they would be judged by God and allowed into heaven because of their good works.

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