Phil Johnson

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Sermon of the week: “The Gnostics” by Phil Johnson.

Your sermon of the week is the second installment of Phil Johnson’s series, A Survey of Heresies. These are the five major heresies that have plagued the Church and that are still around today. Two weeks ago Phil Johnson taught on the heresy of the Judiazers (found here), and this week his message is on The Gnostics. Join us in two more weeks when Phil Johnson lectures on the next major heresy, The Arians.

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Jonathan Edwards taught “Salvation by Works”!!!

All the “Easy-Believers®” who want to toss men like John MacArthur and Paul Washer under the bus for teaching that the life of a true Christian will be radically different from a Non-Christian because the believer’s life will be marked by repentance from sin, obedience to Christ, and “fruits worthy of repentance”–these “Easy-Believers®” will also have to consign the great Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards to the same fate.

***SARCASM ALERT!!!***

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Sermon of the week: “The Judiazers” by Phil Johnson.

Your sermon of the week is the first in a five-part series entitled A Survey of Heresies. Every two weeks DefCon will be bringing you the next installment in this series from Phil Johnson on the top five major heresies that have plagued the church since its inception, and continues to rear its ugly head in the form of the cults and false Christian religions of today.

We begin this series with The Judiazers.

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Quotes (815)

Modern Roman Catholicism is the monstrous tree that sprang from the acorn of the Judiazers.

– Phil Johnson

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Phil Johnson on MacArthur and “Lordship Salvation”

In the whole debate over “Lordship Salvation”, John MacArthur has had a big red target painted on him, and those who teach “easy-believism” have strung him up and flung him into the depths of Hell because of one paragraph of one book he wrote 7 years ago (“Hard To Believe”). See, the “easy-believer®” doesn’t want to hear the fact that if a person is saved, they will show evidence of their salvation through good works (even though the Holy Writ is clear in many places, such as James 2:14-24 and Ephesians 2:10) that believers are saved in order to perform good works–not that those good works save them. They are so focused on painting Johnny Mac as a heretic, that–well, why bother letting the facts get in the way?

Now, let me ask you this: who would give you a better and more accurate picture of what I believe–someone who heard me say something seven years ago–or someone who hears me teach every week, who knows me personally, and has heard me explain my beliefs over the last several years?

The same question can be asked of those who continue to bash Dr. MacArthur. Who would give you a better and more accurate picture of what he believes–someone who read one paragraph of one book written seven years ago–or someone who knows him personally, works with him every day, and in fact is the editor of most of Dr. MacArthur’s books?

Phil Johnson is the editor of Dr. MacArthur’s books, and is closer–much closer–to Dr. MacArthur than those who continue to smear Dr. MacArthur’s name with accusations based on a statement that Dr. MacArthur never made to begin with. The statement in question is:

Salvation isn’t the result of an intellectual exercise. It comes from a life lived in obedience and service to Christ as revealed in the Scripture; it’s the fruit of actions, not intentions.

Now, it certainly sounds like Dr. MacArthur is teaching salvation by works. But, here’s the kicker–Dr. MacArthur never wrote those words! Here is the explanation from Phil Johnson, posted over at Paleoevangelical (Phil Johnson’s words are in green, Lou Martuneac’s words are in blue, text pertaining to the revision is in purple)–

Continue reading →

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Is God green?

As a follow-up to yesterday’s sermon of the week by John MacArthur on creation (which touched on environmentalism), here’s a twenty minute radio interview with Phil Johnson on Christians and the distraction of environmentalism simply entitled, Is God Green?

For more on this subject I encourage you to check out these previous DefCon posts:

Priorities Completely Out of Whack

Distractions, Distractions, Distractions

The New Evangelicals


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Turning a blind eye to evil is evil too.

The following is food for thought from a post on Pyromaniacs by Phil Johnson:


Turning a Blind Eye to Evil Is Evil, Too

. . . in which I (kind of) disagree with Tim Challies
by Phil Johnson

“They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his evil” (Jeremiah 23:14).

was writing something to agree with and embellish a comment left by Gilbert under Frank’s post yesterday, but it got long, and I decided to make this a full post. I’ve got to say this, and I don’t want it buried at the end of a 120+ comment-thread.

First, some background: The venerable Tim Challies set our little corner of the blogosphere abuzz earlier this week with a post on the dangers of “watchblogs.” There’s quite a lot to applaud in what Tim said, but I don’t think he said everything about the subject that needed to be said. As a result, I thought his post was (quite uncharacteristically for Challies, of all people) lacking in balance.

One of the unintended side effects of Tim’s post has been a widespread and sometimes lively discussion about whether PyroManiacs qualifies as a “watchblog” or not. In the midst of one of these conversations, Gilbert (a long-time reader and commenter here, and a skilled meteorologist to boot) came very close to identifying what I see as the key difference between healthy discernment and the obsessive/compulsive peevishness some of our fellow critics seem to think is the mark of real orthodoxy. Gilbert said:

Gilbert: “Without putting words into [Phil Johnson’s] mouth, he’d rather spend his time building up believers and himself in the Word rather than calling people out for damnable heresies that are causing people to drift away from the true faith and send[ing] them to hell.”

Quite right. But let me add this: It needs to be said that “calling people out for damnable heresies that are causing people to drift away from the true faith” is a shepherd’s duty, not an option—and it can be quite edifying if done well.

Continue reading →

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Sermon of the week: “The Unpardonable Sin, The Blasphemy Against the Spirit, and A Plea to the Halfhearted” by Phil Johnson.

Your sermon of the week is a three-part series on the controversial issue of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. If you have ever wondered what it is or if you’ve committed it, then this series is for you.

Part 1: The Unpardonable Sin

Part 2: The Blasphemy Against the Spirit

Part 3: A Plea to the Halfhearted

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DefCon introduces our latest resource for fellow pilgrims.

Over the past couple years DefCon has compiled a large cache of sermons available for free to download, and every Thursday we feature a new message for our Sermon of the week. So our repository of over 160 sermons continues to grow. Because of this DefCon now features a Sermons Page at the top of this blog for an easy way to get to the many sermons DefCon features.

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Sermon of the week: “No Lie is of the Truth” by Phil Johnson.

Phil Johnson carefully handles the issue of lying in the sermon No Lie is of the Truth. He even tackles the much debated lie of Rahab. This is a good sermon to digest on the whole issue of lying and deception.

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Quotes (624)

Phil JohnsonThe overwhelming majority of today’s evangelical sophisticates would clearly prefer it if no one ever criticized evangelical Golden Calves. Rampant error doesn’t unsettle them in the least. They are quite happy to live with it and even actively make peace with it.

But let someone dare to voice an objection to a troubling doctrine in the latest best-seller making the rounds on campus—even a denial of the Trinity or some other soul-destroying soteriological or Christological novelty—and the very people who profess to hate criticism (and who work so hard to seem agreeable in their dealings with with the unorthodox) will heap the nastiest kinds of vituperation on the soul of the one who has dared to criticize unorthodoxy and thereby threaten the “unity” evangelicals think their timid silence has won them.

– Phil Johnson

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The Case Against the R-Rated Church

John MacArthur and Phil Johnson interview in regards to the damning trend found within evangelicalism today. Instead of supporting and endorsing people like Mark Driscoll, we are glad that there are a few who still stand for the truth of God’s Word. There are still a few who do not believe they have to climb into the filth-laden sewer of the world in order to reach the lost for Christ.

Shame on those who claim to be ministers who seek to justify their filthy mouths which comes from a filthy heart and mind. Shame on those who support those ministers who do such things.

Here is a link to the interview between John and Phil.

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Sermon of the week: “The Charismatic Movement” by Phil Johnson.

Your sermon of the week is entitled The Charismatic Movement.

A former Charismatic himself, Phil Johnson examines this movement from its recent beginnings (January 1, 1901) to it’s position today in mainstream Christianity. He tactfully, and Scripturally exposes the errors of Charismatic theology (and the damaging effects it has on those who adhere to it) in this message.

If you have any questions about this abhorrent movement, I cannot recommend this message enough.

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Quotes (597)

Phil JohnsonEven while the New Testament was still being written, the church was contending with serious heresies and dangerous false teachers who seemed to spring up everywhere. This was so much a universal problem that Paul made it one of the qualifications of every elder that he be strong in doctrine and able to refute those who contradict (Titus 1:9). So the church has always been beset by heretics and false teachings, and church history is full of the evidence of this. Obviously, then, we who love the truth cannot automatically shy away from every fight over doctrine. Especially in an era like ours when virtually every doctrine is deemed up for grabs, Christians need to be willing and prepared to contend earnestly for the faith. . . . Clearly, there are two extremes to be avoided. One is the danger of being so narrow and intolerant that you create unnecessary divisions in the body of Christ. The other is the problem of being too broad-minded and sinfully tolerant—so ecumenically minded that you settle for a shallow, false unity with people whom we are commanded to avoid or whose errors we are morally obligated to refute.

– Phil Johnson

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Sermon of the week: “What Was Paul Doing on Mars Hill?” by Phil Johnson.

If you’re one of those people who think the Apostle Paul’s proclamation of being all things to all people meant “anything goes,” then you desperately need to listen to this message.

This sermon answers all those worldly doctrines built on shifting sand that try to use the excuse that Paul employed examples of Greek culture in his preaching to reach the lost therefore we can employ whatever we deem as relevant (i.e. sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll or whatever other lust of the eyes and lust of the flesh you happen to be engaging in and enjoying).

For all those who live by these erroneous beliefs, I strongly encourage you to take a break from leaving scathing comments on DefCon and listen to Phil Johnson’s apropos sermon: What Was Paul Doing on Mars Hill?

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Sermon of the week: “Cheap Imitations of Love” by Phil Johnson.

Your sermon of the week is Cheap Imitations of Love by Phil Johnson.

Some say lust is “love.” Some say pre-marital fornication is “love.” Still others say not warning people of God’s coming judgment but letting people live however they want–live and let live–is “love.” In this world where everything is subjective and “love” is whatever you want it to be, we must ask, what does the Bible say “love” is?

Phil Johnson takes on this topic and surprisingly delves into the whole perversity of the pulpit problem–that so many pastors today seem to think is acceptable–almost a full year before he delivered this scathing sermon taking on Mark Driscoll and the likes.


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Recognizing those who are taking a stand against the current downgrade.

There are few left who continue to be a voice in the wilderness. It seems that warning the flock and taking a stand against the relentless tide of apostasy, heresy, lukewarmness, easy-believeism, and countless other cancers that are plaguing the Body is often met with resistance by the mass lemmings of lukewarm professing Christians and false converts alike.

So when someone takes a stand against this deluge I would like to honor their effort and support their courageous stance–letting them know that, as the great delusion continues its march through Christendom, they are not alone; there are still a few out there who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

I wish to take a moment to recognize a couple examples of those who still have integrity and strive to live holy lives while the rest of the church is living like God gave us no Law or commands.

Lifeway Christian BookstoreOne example is Southern Baptist Pastor Channing Kilgore who is urging Lifeway Christian Bookstores to remove the heretical books from their shelves. Of course I seriously doubt his request will be heeded. After all, most Christian bookstores are in it for the money, otherwise they wouldn’t be selling such doctrines of demons as The Shack!

You can read more about Pastor Kilgore’s brave stance in this article from One News Now, and read more about “Christian” bookstores here and here.

HT: Rock Springs

ProfanityAnother example is Dick Bott of the Bott Radio Network. According to the Baptist Press, on May 18, 2009, an interview with Mark Driscoll was . . .

. . . halted in mid-broadcast after Bott Network founder Dick Bott learned Driscoll was the guest. Bott then cancelled another scheduled interview and ordered all Bott stations not to carry any programs featuring Driscoll.

Dick Bott has taken a stand against the potty-mouthed pastor while the rest of the world seems to be falling at Driscoll’s feet, stumbling over one another just to touch the hem of his garment, including Pilgrim Radio who–until until recently–I  used to endorse on this very blog.

The Baptist Press article continues:

Bott said he made the decision because of what he saw as Driscoll’s penchant for using vulgarity in his sermons, especially his questionable interpretation of the Song of Solomon in a Nov. 18, 2007, sermon preached in Edinburgh, Scotland, and subsequently in a multi-part series entitled “The Peasant Princess.” “I’ve seen a lot [about Driscoll] that’s on the Internet and that only makes the whole thing worse,” Bott said. “I’ve seen what he said at that church in Scotland and as far as I know he’s never addressed it in any repentant way or apologetically tried to explain why on earth he got so far off the reservation as to think that that’s the way to address people.”

That is all I will quote from the article as they give examples of Driscoll’s sermons which are unfit to print here (much less should be preached from a pulpit).

I would be remiss if I did not mention John MacArthur and Phil Johnson who have also challenged the current lowbrow trend of ‘pornificating’ the pulpit. In MacArthur’s missives found here and here, and Johnson’s sermon found here, they both not only address the problem of smut-peddling pastors, but they both address Driscoll specifically. Thank you to John MacArthur, Phil Johnson and Dick Bott for taking a stand against the onslaught of perversity that has cloaked itself under the guise of “Christianity.”


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Sermon of the week: “The Glory of Sovereign Love” by Phil Johnson.

Phil Johnson exposits 1 John 4:19 in your sermon of the week, The Glory of Sovereign Love.

“We love, because He first loved us.”

Johnson provides five points from this passage, all of which attest to the doctrines of grace:

1. The perverseness of our fallen state.

2. The priority of God’s electing choice.

3. The Particularity of God’s saving work.

4. The power of God’s loving deliverance.

5. The perfection of God’s redemption plan.