Lessons Learned

In January I had to leave my family for five weeks in order to travel to Illinois for work. It was the hardest time I've had in a while, but not all in vain. God taught me a lot in my time in that dank, tiny hotel room.


First, and most important, He taught me the value of quantity time with my wife and children. I was under the false understanding that quality was more important than quantity, when it comes to time with family. Boy, was I wrong! Quality is important, but there is a huge value in just being with loved ones. We don't have to do anything, except live together. Going to the park, McDonald's, Disneyland, or any other big or small event, is just not necessary all the time. Note, I said all the time. It is important to spent time doing things with your family, but scripture tells us, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." Deut. 6:4-7


Scripture no where teaches that whiz-bang entertainment is necessary for godly, well-adjusted children. We should be teaching them the ways of the LORD in all that we do, and I, for one, think that living a godly life with, and in front of our family is the most important calling a spouse, or parent has. I have enough to worry about in just teaching my children the ways of Christ, and loving my wife like Christ loved the church, without adding a giant dancing mouse into the mix! More later, I've got some wrestling to do, (and possibly a tea party).

John Piper on the prosperity gospel.

What do I think of the "prosperity gospel"? Dr. Piper sums it us pretty well.

Hard Truth From Paul Washer

This is the sermon that God used to bring me to repentance. Please take the time, if you haven't heard it, to listen to the entire message. It's hard, but truth isn't usually easy!

God Saves Bad People

Art Azurdia is an amazing preacher, and this is one of my favorites. Check it out!

Sin: Part 1

This paper is another that I presented to the youth in my church, in three parts. Parts two and three will be posted in the days to come. Part one is somewhat shorter than the following installments, but defining terms is important, so be sure to look up the scripture references and don't be afraid to dig. Louis Berkhof's Systematic Theology was the main reference used, and is quoted throughout.

SIN

Part 1. What is sin?

The book of 1 John tells us “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). So a simple definition would be “sin is lawlessness.” This statement is true, however lawlessness does not encompass all that sin is.

Another attribute of sin is that it is specific. By specific, we mean a specific kind of evil. “It is not a calamity that came upon man unawares, poisoned his life, and ruined his happiness, but an evil course which man has deliberately chosen to follow and which carries untold misery with it.” LB See: Gen. 3:1-6; Isa. 48:8; Rom.
1:18-32; 1 John 3:4

Sin is also absolute. There is no neutral ground between good and evil. We may perceive some gray area because of our lack of proper perspective, but in reality, black and white are the only two options. This point is important to understand, so that we don’t see evil as a lessening of something good, but as a positive evil. Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.”(Lk. 11:23) Our Lord knows no middle ground. See Matt. 10:32,33; 12:30; Luke 11:23; Jas. 2:10

Sin is always in relation to God, and His will. “It is separation from God, hatred of God, and this manifests itself in constant transgression of the law of God in thought, word, and deed.” LB See: Rom. 1:32, 2:12-14, 4:15; Jas. 2:9; 1 John 3:4

Sin includes both guilt and pollution. Guilt is the state of being liable to punishment for the violation of a law or moral requirement. See Eph. 2:3. Pollution is the inherent corruption that every sinner is subject to. The state of pollution the fallen race of man is in is present from birth and unavoidable. See Jer. 17:9; Eph. 4:17-19

In Biblical terminology the heart is the center of the man. His intellect, will, affections, and every other faculty of a man proceed from this point. If the heart of man is “deceitful” and “desperately wicked”, then logically, every part of a man’s soul is affected by that sin. Therefore, it may be said that the seat, or originating point, of sin, is the heart of sinful human beings.

The sinful state of man leads to sinful habits, which in turn lead to individual sinful deeds. The state, habits, and deeds are all equally sinful and therefore sin is not confined to outward acts, but can be merely thoughts, or intentions of the heart.

A Reformed Ordo Salutis

This paper was written as an outline to a two-part class I gave to the youth in our church. 

ORDO SALUTIS

Ordo salutis (AKA the order of salvation) is a hotly disputed doctrine between different theological traditions. This lesson will cover the generally accepted Reformed view of the ordo salutis, which is held, generally, by Reformed Baptists, Presbyterians, and other Reformed denominations. This view is strongly scriptural and supports many other areas of Reformed theology. The order is typically stated in this way: Regeneration/Calling, Conversion (Repentance and Faith), Justification, Adoption, Sanctification, and Glorification.

This paper is a short summary of the ordo salutis. It is not meant to be an exhaustive discussion of each individual point, but rather it is a demonstration of the order and distinctions of the main points of the doctrine. There have been libraries of books written on each point covered here. Wayne Grudem’s “Systematic Theology” is the main text I used for reference. All scripture references are from the NASB translation.

1.Regeneration/Calling

Theologians speak of calling in two ways: external or general call and internal or effectual call. The former refers to the preaching of the Gospel and the command to all people to repent and believe in Christ (Acts 17:30,31). The ordo salutis is concerned with effectual call in particular. The effectual call of God is that work of the Holy Spirit in which a lost man is irresistibly drawn to Christ and united to him in faith.(John 6:37-40,44 Eph. 2:5). Sometimes theologians will include regeneration, conversion, justification, and adoption in the discussion of calling, so we will focus on regeneration in particular.

Regeneration is the spiritual transformation wrought in a man by the Holy Spirit that causes him to move from spiritual death to spiritual life. Regeneration is spoken of by Christ in John 3, when he speaks of being “born again”. There is no salvation without regeneration, so “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” John 3:3

In his letter to Titus, the apostle Paul said, “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,” Titus 3:5. This refutes the idea, held by many, that the new birth follows repentance and faith. Repentance and faith are works done by us, albeit given to us as gracious gifts by God (See Acts 11:18, Heb. 12:2, Rom. 12:3) and therefore, would fall into the category of “deeds done in righteousness”. Regeneration must by necessity occur before anyone can express repentance or faith because they must understand their spiritual condition and this is not possible according to Paul. “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” 1 Cor. 2:14

2.Conversion(Repentance and Faith)

Both repentance and faith are gifts that God grants to His elect people, and are not exercised by anyone who is not effectually called of God and regenerate. Repentance refers to the turning away from sin and faith refers to turning towards Christ. They are two sides of the same coin and cannot be separated. Christ stands alone as the solution to our sin. One cannot turn to Christ without turning from sin. It is serious error to say that someone can have saving faith with no repentance.

Scripture speaks of worldly (attrition) and Godly (contrition) repentance. A worldly repentance is typically characterized by sorrow over the consequences for the sin committed, but no concern for the offense against God, other than fear of punishment. Judas and Esau are biblical examples of worldly repentance. A Godly repentance is characterized by a sorrow for offending God, primarily. Psalm 51 is an excellent example of King David expressing Godly repentance. Notice that there is no blame shifting involved in David’s pleas to God for forgiveness! True repentance will never involve downplaying, blame shifting, or attempts to excuse our crimes against God. The Christian has no reason to fear punishment, so fear, while possibly present, should not be the driving factor in Godly repentance, but the kindness of God in saving us should cause us to never want to offend Him.

Faith is described in Hebrews 11:1 as “...the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith is, simply put, trusting that Christ is who He said He is, did what He said He would do, and will do what He said He will do. Putting your faith in Christ is essential to salvation, "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12.

The act of faith is the means through which justification comes to the believer. “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? "ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS." Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,” Rom. 4:2-5

3.Justification

Justification (Contra-RCC)

The following paper was written for a weekly meeting I used to have with some local Roman Catholics. Most of the content is taken from a paper written by J.I. Packer and changed to fit a Roman context. Any direct quotes from Dr. Packer are noted, however, the rest is heavily dependent on his work.
Justification

Justify (Heb., sadaq; Gr. dikaioo)

Definition: A forensic term meaning to acquit; declare righteous; the opposite of condemn.

Deuteronomy 25:1

"If there is a dispute between men and they go to court, and the judges decide their case, and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked,

‘Justify’ in this passage is translated from the Hebrew sadaq and is clearly juxtaposed with condemnation (Heb., rasha) 

See also Proverbs 17:15

He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, Both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD.

See the Greek word dikaioo also in 

Matthew: 11:19, 12:37

Luke: 7:29, 7:35, 10:29, 16:15, 18:14

Acts: 13:39 

Romans: 2:13, 3:4, 3:20, 3:24, 3:26, 3:28, 3:30, 4:2, 4:5, 5:1, 5:9, 6:7, 8:30, 8:33 

1Corinthians: 4:4, 6:11 

Galatians: 2:16, 2:17, 3:8, 3:11, 3:24, 5:4

1Timothy: 3:16 

Titus: 3:7 

James: 2:21, 2:24, 2:25

God is described throughout scripture as the “Judge” of the all the earth (Gen. 18:25), and his dealings with mankind are consistently described in forensic (legal) terms.  Some of the passages noted above use the word “dikaioo” in a non-forensic way, such as in Luke 7:29 or Romans 3:4, however, Paul uses the term forensically in the vast majority of instances that he refers to justification.  As Paul is the main contributor to the doctrine of justification (29 of the 39 occurrences of the verb ‘justify’ are in the epistles or the recorded words of Paul), we will focus on his writings in general and as the Epistle to the Romans is his greatest treatise on justification we will focus on this book in particular.  

"Paul believed, as evidenced in his writings, that justification is a judgement passed on man, not a work wrought within man.  Justification means to Paul; God’s act of remitting the sins of guilty men, and accounting them righteous, freely, by his grace, through faith in Christ, on the ground, not of their own works, but of the representative law-keeping and redemptive blood-shedding of the Lord Jesus Christ, on their behalf."  JIP

Here I Am

Well, I didn't see it coming, but here I am. Blogging is not something I ever saw myself doing, but I guess it was only a matter of time before I found a way to annoy people online as well as in person. I don't know if anyone will find my musings interesting, beside my mother, anyway.

I am not on here to gain friends or increase my influence, but rather am hoping to have a dumping ground for all of the things that seem to clog my il-functioning mind. Hopefully, the articles, videos, thoughts, and such that seem to occupy an unhealthy amount of my time with will be interesting to others. If not, then I hope I can at least, perhaps, reach someone with some truth.

A little about me for those of you who don't know me:
I am 31 years old, a husband and father of four children.
My wife, Desirae, is my high school sweetheart, and we have been married for seven wonderful years.
My children are as follows; Emma, 5; Sam, 3; Grace, 2; and Ben, in utero.
I am currently in the construction industry as a pipefitter/welder, and have been for about six years.
I am a member of First Baptist Church of the Lakes in Las Vegas, NV.

The posts that I plan to put on here that are original will be mostly borderline plagiarism. The knowledge that I have gained in the last few years has been gleaned from much more intelligent men than myself, and I cannot always remember where I learned it all, but I will attempt to give credit whenever possible. Some of the articles/papers I will put on here I have written for classes I have taught at my church, and I will attempt to be as thorough in my citations as possible, but it was not initially my intent to publish them, so sometimes it won't be possible. Consider this an apology, pre-crime.
SDG