"The Winds of Doctrine" Part 2
Darkness to Light Part 14
Dear readers, last week I posted a clip by a current pastor in my childhood church denomination. This week I have another clip where he downgrades or even passes over man’s responsibility to repent and believe, as well as seeming to make the Holy Spirit the object of our faith instead of Christ.
Don’t Plead the Promises?
First off, the Bible is full of instances where God’s promises are prayed/plead back to Him. Read what Mathew Henry has to say about pleading the promises made in the Bible1:
Lord, is not this the word which thou hast spoken, that if the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and return unto the Lord, even to my God, that thou wilt abundantly pardon, Isaiah 55:7(KJV) wilt multiply to pardon?
To thee, the Lord my God, belong mercies and forgivenesses, though I have rebelled against thee. Daniel 9:9(KJV)
Is not this the covenant which thou hast made with the House of Israel, that thou wilt take away their sins; Romans 11:27(KJV) that thou wilt forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more; Jeremiah 31:34(KJV) that the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none, and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found? Jeremiah 50:20(KJV)
Hast thou not said that if the wicked will turn from all his sins which he hath committed and keep thy statutes, he shall live, he shall not die, all his transgressions shall not be mentioned unto him? Ezekiel 33:15-16(KJV)
Hast thou not appointed that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in Christ’s name unto all nations? Luke 24:47(KJV)
Didst thou not promise that when the sins of Israel were put upon the head of the scape-goat, they should be sent away into the wilderness, into a land not inhabited? Leviticus 16:22(KJV) And as far as the east is from the west, so far dost thou remove my transgressions from me. Psalm 103:12(KJV)
O remember these words unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope. Psalm 119:49(KJV)
At this very moment, Jesus is at the right hand of God the Father, pleading and making intercession for us. Are we not to pray and plead God’s Word back to Him? Are we not to believe Christ’s fulfilled work and plead His blood for the remission of our sins? To whom else can we go?2
“It Must Be Given”
I know I’ve brought this up in past articles, but it seems so prevalent to many in that church, almost as if it is their favorite response to any command of God whatsoever. This is used by many as an excuse to not come to Christ, to not take Him at His word, and to put off repentance and faith. It is believed by many in that church that Christ must be manifested in a special way before one is allowed to believe in Him. Let us recall last week’s “Marrow of the Gospel” article:
However, such a view of God’s word is not scriptural. We read in John 20:31, “These [things] are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” In Revelations 22:17 we read, “and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” We also read in Numbers 23:19 that “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” Unbelievers are condemned as guilty of crucifying the Son of God afresh (Hebrews 6:6), and judging themselves unworthy of eternal life (Acts 13:46). “Behold ye despisers, wonder and perish” (Acts 13:41). Thus, Scripture makes it very plain that we have no right not to believe all the promises of God.
I know some of you may accuse me of depicting salvation as a work of man. That is simply not true! I 100% believe God is the author of salvation, and He does all the work in His people. He is fully sovereign in it. But, that does not exclude man’s responsibility to repent and believe. I feel Spurgeon describes it best when speaking on these matters:
The system of truth is not one straight line, but two. No man will ever get a right view of the gospel until he knows how to look at the two lines at once. I am taught in one book to believe that what I sow I shall reap: I am taught in another place, that "it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." I see in one place, God presiding over all in providence; and yet I see, and I cannot help seeing, that man acts as he pleases, and that God has left his actions to his own will, in a great measure. Now, if I were to declare that man was so free to act, that there was no presidence of God over his actions, I should be driven very near to Atheism; and if, on the other hand, I declare that God so overrules all things, as that man is not free enough to be responsible, I am driven at once into Antinomianism or Fatalism. That God predestines, and that man is responsible, are two things that few can see. They are believed to be inconsistent and contradictory; but they are not. It is just the fault of our weak judgment. Two truths cannot be contradictory to each other. If, then, I find taught in one place that everything is fore-ordained, that is true; and if I find in another place that man is responsible for all his actions, that is true; and it is my folly that leads me to imagine that two truths can ever contradict each other. These two truths, I do not believe, can ever be welded into one upon any human anvil, but one they shall be in eternity: they are two lines that are so nearly parallel, that the mind that shall pursue them farthest, will never discover that they converge; but they do converge, and they will meet somewhere in eternity, close to the throne of God, whence all truth doth spring.
Holy Spirit > Jesus?
In this clip, he seems to be emphasizing the work of the Holy Spirit over that of Christ. Yes, the Holy Spirit is needed to apply Christ’s work to sinners. But scripture always presents Christ to us as our mediator, not the Holy Spirit. We must see Christ as our salvation, and only after believing in faith should we see the Holy Spirit as the cause of our believing.
The danger of putting the Holy Spirit’s work before Christ’s in our lives is that we can begin to look for signs and wonders, and then and only then will we believe in Christ.3 Only once with Nicodemus in John 3 does it speak of Jesus telling him he needed the work of the Holy Spirit, and that was only to show him that he had not believed in Christ yet. And at the end of the interaction, Jesus pointed Nicodemus to Himself, not the Holy Spirit, as the needed object of his faith.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
John 3:36
The Only Way
Dear unconverted reader, Christ is the only way to God! Repent of your sins today! Believe in Him today! Do not go another day without Christ as your mediator! But, will you say “there is nothing I can do” , “It must be given”, “I do not feel me need for Him enough”…? Dear friend, Christ is a willing Savior, He will not turn you away. Do not perish in your excuses. If you were to die tonight, and were to appear before God. If you are without Christ, He will condemn you to an eternity of Hell… will your excuse be “I didn’t think you actually meant what You said in Your Word”, “I was waiting for my new heart”, “I didn’t think all those promises of Christ were for me”. The Lord will then say to you, “depart from Me you worker of iniquity”… Dear reader, I hope and pray this will not be you! Do not harden your heart once again. Do not rest in your church or denomination, or your good works and clean living. Rest only and fully in the finished work of Christ. He is your only hope!
We cannot honor God more, not please him better, than to hear and believe his beloved Son. --William Mason
The Holy Spirit leads us, not in some miraculous way, or by some mere exertion of power, but by revealing to us more and more of that work, in the first knowledge of which our peace began. -- Horatius Bonar
https://www.matthewhenry.org/read/petition/3-4-plead-with-god-his-promises-of-pardon/
67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
John 6:67-69
22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
1 Corinthians 1:22-24
Do you have the source for the recording and did you give that author credit? Don't see it in your sources and I would like to listen to his whole message.