He and I have been discussing via email, the chapter ahead of time, because I read ahead and discovered the content of chapter four, titled "Reconciliation is Experienced by Faith." I was so excited! We begin this material on this upcoming Sunday. Many of you who have read here in recent months have noticed that I am preoccupied by the topic. This is a portion of the excitement I recently shared with my pastor over this material:
Have you ever like, known something, like, you knew it, you just didn't know how to verify and explain it well? This is why I always catch you to try and work on this with me, because I think I needed to explicitly hear this. Here it is in this chapter! This guy gets it. This guy gets the same kinds of truths that I've been trying to say, and he's bold about it! This is the message I have "never heard" out there in evangelical Christianity, even in so close a place as other sunday school classes here. I knew... that it had to be faith (alone). I got that part, down, in my letters years ago. What I just couldn't get is how and why and the scriptures to really explain it, when Calvinism was also on board in my thinking. ...
I received his AMEN in conclusion after further discussion I share below. It's what I wrote as my idea of distinguishing sanctification by faith alone:
I just want to use Rom 8 to describe how to be sanctified: "walk according"
This one is superior because it explains that the flesh and the Spirit are dominating natures, and that we have a choice for which we will obey, and whatever one we obey it is completely for, or completely against, God. NO guess-work, no self-introspection. "The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God." rom 8:6-8
I just want it to be clear, crystal clear. At the Seminary I heard it described as "an on and off switch." I really grabbed on to that illustration.
The gospel should not be complicated, but the church has made it complicated and impossible to be sure how God sees us in faith.
Why is it important to be clear about the sufficiency of sanctification's faith? Because with doubt people turn back to measuring their progress by other things; law or comparing to other believers. And if they buy this as their doctrine of sanctification, the gospel of justification often follows quickly behind it for corruption in the same manner: they have turned the gospel into "another gospel."
But our assurance in knowing that we are blameless because we walk by faith with God, is not based in ourselves, but upon the promises in scripture.
Now, dear ones, I want to share with you the study material from chapter 4 so that you may objectively decide for yourselves what you think of George's teaching. This is going to be long, but worthwhile I am convinced. Enjoy, and, begin[1]:
"God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son..." (John 3:16). Out of His love for you and me, God sent His Son into the world to reconcile us to Himself by "not counting men's sins against them" (2 Corinthians 5:19). It is not enough, however, just to know the message. God desires for us to experience His love and forgiveness, and to "be reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:20). The Bible says that we can come to Him and experience His reconciliation by no other way than faith!
Key Verse: Ephesians 2:8,9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.
1. How does this verse say we are saved? By ______ through ______.
2. What does "grace through faith" mean?
3. According to Romans 10:17, from where does your faith come?
4. Would you say that grace refers to the work of Jesus Chrit in providing, through His death and resurrection, everything that we need to become a child of God?
5. We can conclude, then, that our salvation is not of _______, it is the _______ of God.
Faith is not General, but Specific
We often hear it said of someone, after experiencing a particularly trying ordeal, that it was his or her "faith" that pulled them through - only to learn later that he or she was referring to something like "faith in the destiny of man," "faith in an ideal," or "faith in a dream." While some of these generic "faiths" may be of some questionable value in keeping one "focused" for a time, the Bible is much more specific in its definition of "saving faith." The grace of God has provided an object for our faith in the Person of His Son... that whoever believes in Him (not in an ideal nor an ethic nor a dream - but in Him) should not perish but have eternal life. Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17).
And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.(Hebrews 3:18-4:1)
1. In this account, what disqualified those in the desert from entering into His rest?
2. What, specifically, was their disobedience?
3. What do you think they did not believe concerning entering the promised land?
4. What did the writer to the Hebrews mean when he said, "since the promise of entering his rest still stands?" (4:1)
5. What do you think "entering his rest" refers to?
6. How could you be found to have fallen short of that promise?
7. What is the work of God according to John 6:29?
Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
8. In John 6:40, what is God's will concerning those who look to His Son?
"For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."
9. How could we "fall short" of God's promise of eternal life?
Walk in Him Just as You Received Him
So, then, just as you received Jesus Christ as Lord, continue to live in Him (Colossians 2:6)
1. How did you receive Christ Jesus as Lord?
2. How does the apostle Paul say that you should continue to live in Him? "... just as _______________, that is, by _______."
3. How are we to live according to Hebrews 10:38?
But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him."
4. What do you think it means to live by faith?
I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?
1. How did you receive the Spirit?
2. Did Christ come to live in you because you observed the law or because you believed what you heard?
3. Based on the above passage, could we ever experience, through our own human efforts, the reconciliation that God has provided?
4. Could we experience forgiveness through our own human efforts?
5. What is the only way then for us to "be reconciled to God"?
6. What does it take to please God according to Hebrews 11:6?
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
7. If faith is the only way to be reconciled to God, why do you think faith is the only way to please God?
8. What is God's desire for you and me according to 2 Corinthians 5:18-21?
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
9. What is the definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1?
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
10. List some things that you would hope to receive from God concerning sin, punishment and forgiveness?
11. Through the death of Christ on the cross, can you be sure that God is not counting your sins against you, that Christ has taken all the punishment for your sins, and that you have total forgiveness of sins?
We must walk by faith; however, faith must have an object. It is like swallowing. You can swallow wholesome food and live to grow or you can swallow poison and die. The same mechanism is used for both. It is not the swallowing that causes life or death; it is what you swallow that determines life or death.
In the same way, it is not your faith that saves you. It is your faith in Jesus Christ that saves you. It is not your faith alone that sustains you in your Christian walk; it is your faith in the love and grace of God demonstrated in Christ Jesus. The object of the Christian's faith, therefore, is Christ's unconditional love and his finished work on the cross.
[1] George, Bob. "A Closer Look at The Finality of the Cross," People to People Ministries, Carrollton, TX, 2006; pp. 23-27.
No comments:
Post a Comment