Paul Washer has posted a few Tweets in the past couple of days that have been short but packed with truth, exhortation, and encouragement. Check them out
www.twitter.com/paulwasher
His grace
Matt
Friday, August 13, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
Matt Chandler - Gangsta
Check out this message by Pastor Matt Chandler of The Village Church
http://fm.thevillagechurch.net/blog/pastors/
Great Word
His Grace
Matt
http://fm.thevillagechurch.net/blog/pastors/
Great Word
His Grace
Matt
Great Quote - DA Carson
Here is a quote that Russ used the other Sunday and I heard another pastor use. Love it!
"People do not drift toward Holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated."
— D.A. Carson
His Grace!
Matt
"People do not drift toward Holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated."
— D.A. Carson
His Grace!
Matt
Good Article from Dr. John MacArthur
[In his book] Jude is calling us to engage in the war on spiritual terrorism, to engage in a war that is far more important than any war on political terrorists, or military terrorists or any other kind. We are to be vigilant, we are to be alert, we are to be discerning, we are to be observant, we are to be loyal in exposing the terrorists and defending the truth and defending the true church.
Now similar warnings, in fact very similar warnings are give in 1 Timothy chapter 4 where the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. And there will be hypocritical liars or false teachers seared in their own conscience, that is they have no conscience about what they do as with a branding iron. Beware of them in these days. Now 2 Peter chapter 2 also says, verse 1, “False prophets also arose among the people in the past, just as there will also be false teachers among you who will…and here’s the operative term…secretly introduce destructive heresies.” They set off their spiritual bombs of destruction in a secret fashion, including denying the master who bought them and bringing swift destruction upon themselves. That’s what I said, they don’t mind blowing themselves up at the same time that they’re creating destruction in the souls of others. Verse 2 says, “Many will follow their sensuality, they are driven by the sensual. They are driven by the fleshly. They are driven by the sinful. And because of them, the way of truth will be maligned. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their judgment from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep.”
Now we can stop there in 2 Peter. But if you were to read further in 2 Peter chapter 2, you would find that it is a very close parallel to our text in Jude. In fact, Jude says virtually the same things that Peter says. Peter says they’re coming, and Jude writing a little later says they’re here…they’re here. So whenever you study the epistle of Jude, you have to study 2 Peter along with it and we’ve been making those comparisons and will do so again tonight.
Now Jude t hen writes this epistle to serve as a warning and to give for us a portrait of these apostate terrorists. These are people who have been exposed to the faith, exposed to the truth, who have defected from the truth, who have denied the truth, who have rejected the truth. But who have kept the name Christian, kept some identification with the person of Jesus and with God and therefore remaining within the framework of Christendom have become subtle, hidden deceivers. And unless the church has acute powers of discernment, unless the church is willing to pay the price of exposure, unless the church can get over its sappy sentimentalism about not wanting to say anything that offends anybody, it’s going to allow itself to be devastated by these imbedded satanic Al Qaeda.
Now Jude gives us an unmistakable portrait of these apostate false teachers in verses 5 through 16 and we’re working our way through this which is really the heart of the letter, verses 5 through 16. And I’ve been telling you the last couple of weeks, actually three weeks we’ve been looking at these verses, in verses 5 to 11 is a series of three threes, a series of three threes describing the apostates who misrepresent the Lord and the church. And I don’t want to go through all of this but, first of all, we saw three cases of past apostates who were judged, verses 5 through 7 remind us how God judged an apostate Israel after saving them out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed them who did not believed. Having been exposed to the power of God and the work of God and the goodness of God and the deliverance of God, they rejected God and therefore were destroyed in the wilderness. The second case of apostate judgment from history past is in verse 6, the angels who didn’t keep their own domain, abandoned their proper abode, have been placed in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of that great day. Holy angels who apostatized and turned from serving God, believing in God to rebel against God in a rebellion led by Lucifer, were thrown out of heaven, took their rebellion down to earth, even went further as described in Genesis 6 in a kind of twisted perverse way, inhabited men who married women and you had demon-dominated families which shows the horror of that particular world, the world which God drowned in the Flood. The third past illustration of apostate judgment is Sodom and Gomorrah. You have then Jews in verse 5, angels in verse 6, and Gentiles in verse 7. Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, the cities of the plain all obliterated in a holocaust of fire and brimstone because they indulged in gross immorality, namely homosexuality, went after strange flesh and they too set themselves on a course to undergo the punishment of eternal fire. Three cases of apostate judgment.
Then in verses 8 to 10 you had three characteristics of apostate nature. When you look at an apostate, what do you see? Three things mark them; immorality, insubordination, and irreverence. They are immoral, verse 8, they defile the flesh. The are insubordinate, they reject authority. And they are irreverent, they revile angelic majesties or glories. And there’s an illustration in the case of Michael and his battle with Satan over the body of Moses. So, they are irreverent in the way they speak about angels. They are insubordinate in the fact that they reject divine authority. And they are immoral in that they defile the flesh.
Now we come to verse 11, this is the third three in this little series, three cases of apostates in history who were judged, three characteristics of apostate nature, now we have three connections to apostate examples…three connections to apostate examples. And here, in order to help us recognize apostates, we are given the opportunity to compare them with some apostates of the past and to show that in reality they have followed the path of these past apostates. Verse 11, “Woe to them for they have gone the way of Cain and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam and perished in the rebellion of Korah.”
Three historic apostate judgments: Israel, angels, and Sodom and Gomorrah. Three characteristics of apostate nature: immorality, insubordination and irreverence. And now three connections to apostate examples: Cain, Balaam and Korah. Three who model what these current contemporary apostates do. These current ones have gone the way of Cain, they have rushed into the error of Balaam, they have perished in the rebellion of Korah. They have followed the path that Cain followed. They have followed the path that Balaam followed. And they have followed the path that Korah followed.
You will notice here there is a progression. They have gone the way of Cain. They have rushed into the error of Balaam. And they have perished in the rebellion of Korah. First there is a path they take, then there is an escalation of their speed, and ultimately their disastrous end. They start out in the way, they go into the error and they perish in the rebellion. It starts out with Cain. He is a model of one who disobeyed God. It goes to Balaam, he is a model of one who tries to influence others to disobey God. It ends up with Korah who led a full rebellion. Apostates are the spiritual children of Cain and Balaam and Korah. (Apostates Illustrated: Jude 11-13)
Dr. John MacArthur
Now similar warnings, in fact very similar warnings are give in 1 Timothy chapter 4 where the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. And there will be hypocritical liars or false teachers seared in their own conscience, that is they have no conscience about what they do as with a branding iron. Beware of them in these days. Now 2 Peter chapter 2 also says, verse 1, “False prophets also arose among the people in the past, just as there will also be false teachers among you who will…and here’s the operative term…secretly introduce destructive heresies.” They set off their spiritual bombs of destruction in a secret fashion, including denying the master who bought them and bringing swift destruction upon themselves. That’s what I said, they don’t mind blowing themselves up at the same time that they’re creating destruction in the souls of others. Verse 2 says, “Many will follow their sensuality, they are driven by the sensual. They are driven by the fleshly. They are driven by the sinful. And because of them, the way of truth will be maligned. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their judgment from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep.”
Now we can stop there in 2 Peter. But if you were to read further in 2 Peter chapter 2, you would find that it is a very close parallel to our text in Jude. In fact, Jude says virtually the same things that Peter says. Peter says they’re coming, and Jude writing a little later says they’re here…they’re here. So whenever you study the epistle of Jude, you have to study 2 Peter along with it and we’ve been making those comparisons and will do so again tonight.
Now Jude t hen writes this epistle to serve as a warning and to give for us a portrait of these apostate terrorists. These are people who have been exposed to the faith, exposed to the truth, who have defected from the truth, who have denied the truth, who have rejected the truth. But who have kept the name Christian, kept some identification with the person of Jesus and with God and therefore remaining within the framework of Christendom have become subtle, hidden deceivers. And unless the church has acute powers of discernment, unless the church is willing to pay the price of exposure, unless the church can get over its sappy sentimentalism about not wanting to say anything that offends anybody, it’s going to allow itself to be devastated by these imbedded satanic Al Qaeda.
Now Jude gives us an unmistakable portrait of these apostate false teachers in verses 5 through 16 and we’re working our way through this which is really the heart of the letter, verses 5 through 16. And I’ve been telling you the last couple of weeks, actually three weeks we’ve been looking at these verses, in verses 5 to 11 is a series of three threes, a series of three threes describing the apostates who misrepresent the Lord and the church. And I don’t want to go through all of this but, first of all, we saw three cases of past apostates who were judged, verses 5 through 7 remind us how God judged an apostate Israel after saving them out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed them who did not believed. Having been exposed to the power of God and the work of God and the goodness of God and the deliverance of God, they rejected God and therefore were destroyed in the wilderness. The second case of apostate judgment from history past is in verse 6, the angels who didn’t keep their own domain, abandoned their proper abode, have been placed in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of that great day. Holy angels who apostatized and turned from serving God, believing in God to rebel against God in a rebellion led by Lucifer, were thrown out of heaven, took their rebellion down to earth, even went further as described in Genesis 6 in a kind of twisted perverse way, inhabited men who married women and you had demon-dominated families which shows the horror of that particular world, the world which God drowned in the Flood. The third past illustration of apostate judgment is Sodom and Gomorrah. You have then Jews in verse 5, angels in verse 6, and Gentiles in verse 7. Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, the cities of the plain all obliterated in a holocaust of fire and brimstone because they indulged in gross immorality, namely homosexuality, went after strange flesh and they too set themselves on a course to undergo the punishment of eternal fire. Three cases of apostate judgment.
Then in verses 8 to 10 you had three characteristics of apostate nature. When you look at an apostate, what do you see? Three things mark them; immorality, insubordination, and irreverence. They are immoral, verse 8, they defile the flesh. The are insubordinate, they reject authority. And they are irreverent, they revile angelic majesties or glories. And there’s an illustration in the case of Michael and his battle with Satan over the body of Moses. So, they are irreverent in the way they speak about angels. They are insubordinate in the fact that they reject divine authority. And they are immoral in that they defile the flesh.
Now we come to verse 11, this is the third three in this little series, three cases of apostates in history who were judged, three characteristics of apostate nature, now we have three connections to apostate examples…three connections to apostate examples. And here, in order to help us recognize apostates, we are given the opportunity to compare them with some apostates of the past and to show that in reality they have followed the path of these past apostates. Verse 11, “Woe to them for they have gone the way of Cain and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam and perished in the rebellion of Korah.”
Three historic apostate judgments: Israel, angels, and Sodom and Gomorrah. Three characteristics of apostate nature: immorality, insubordination and irreverence. And now three connections to apostate examples: Cain, Balaam and Korah. Three who model what these current contemporary apostates do. These current ones have gone the way of Cain, they have rushed into the error of Balaam, they have perished in the rebellion of Korah. They have followed the path that Cain followed. They have followed the path that Balaam followed. And they have followed the path that Korah followed.
You will notice here there is a progression. They have gone the way of Cain. They have rushed into the error of Balaam. And they have perished in the rebellion of Korah. First there is a path they take, then there is an escalation of their speed, and ultimately their disastrous end. They start out in the way, they go into the error and they perish in the rebellion. It starts out with Cain. He is a model of one who disobeyed God. It goes to Balaam, he is a model of one who tries to influence others to disobey God. It ends up with Korah who led a full rebellion. Apostates are the spiritual children of Cain and Balaam and Korah. (Apostates Illustrated: Jude 11-13)
Dr. John MacArthur
Friday, June 18, 2010
The Glory of Salvation
I thought this was a pretty good....
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/MediaPlayer/4660/Video/#ooid=ppanFhMTpAgKtH2aRjiBgooc42wY9Cmd
His Grace
Matt
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/MediaPlayer/4660/Video/#ooid=ppanFhMTpAgKtH2aRjiBgooc42wY9Cmd
His Grace
Matt
Saturday, June 12, 2010
How then should we live?
"Among those who approach me I WILL show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I WILL be honored" -- Leviticus 10:3
The context of this verse is the story of Nadab and Abihu. They were two of Aaron's sons that presented unauthorized fire before the Lord when bringing the sacrifice. God consumed them with fire and then made the statement above. I understand the context of this verse, but I could not help read it and think about my own life and the implications to my life in serving a Holy God.
What is the call/command on my life to live holy / sanctified / set apart? As a believer, does reading my Bible, going to church, serving the poor, etc., really set me apart as a child of God? While these things are needed, my answer is "no", for the most part these things do not set us apart as true followers of our Master Jesus Christ. If we truly stop and think about the way we live, through the lens of the Bible, we are kidding ourselves if we think that these things make us look different than the depraved world around us. We may not curse, smoke, or drink, do drugs, or party, but the pattern of this world has so infiltrated the way we think, on a foundational level, that it governs the way we live in this culture. So many times how we live looks like this: We have a paradigm of how we believe we should be allowed to live or do certain things. Most times this paradigm has been shaped by much of cultural evangelicalism instead of the Word of God. For the most part, this paradigm is a very comfortable place to be. If fits with what we view as "christian living". There is not much about it which is contrary to someone in an unregenerate state, we have just sprinkled it with Jesus, but not enough that people revile us, rather we seek friendship with the world. We seek to make sure we are not too eccentric in following Christ that it pushes people away. No, we need to live a life that is attractive to the world so they will come and "want what we have", whatever that means.
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (paradigm), then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, His good pleasing and perfect will." -- Romans 12:2
"After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree...." -- Romans 11:24
If you are a believer, you were grafted in to Christ CONTRARY, to your fallen nature. Contrary to the very paradigm that shaped much of who we were. The gospel does not mean, that after we are saved, we then take the Bible and look up verses to see what can and cannot stay as part of our life (Legalism). No rather it means that you have a completely different nature and we basically start over with our lifestyle and paradigm. We now have a new Master. A benevolent Master. One who commands obedience of His slaves, but one who also draws us near Himself and calls us His children and friend. We are to take the Bible and our Masters commands and seek to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ more deeply. The more we understand the gospel the more the Word of God begins to shape our obedience to His commands. The Bible's commands for living are abbrasive, controversial, and all together counter cultural. We ourselves do not seek to simply be these things, b/c we are to show the love of Christ to all, but they are characteristic of a disciple of Christ. Need an example? Examine the life of Paul, Peter, and the rest of the NT saints/disciples. Jesus meant you die! Not enjoy your best life now ;-)
"Pursue peace with all men, AND the sanctification without which NO ONE will see the Lord" -- Hebrews 12:14
There is a practical way of living, obedience to the Word of God, without which we will not see the Lord. Understanding that this has nothing to do with our righteousness or salvation, rather it is the evidence of the work of the triune God in our lives.
I know I have been all over the place here, this conversation is much more than a blog post. I leave you with this: If what you believe about the Gospel and how it shapes our living does not translate into any other part of the world except America than we are not living the true gospel of Christ. There is a reason so many people flock to many of the popular churches in our city and country. It is fun, applicable to their unregenerate paradigm, and comfortable. Friends, if we believe, live, and passionately pursue the true and biblical gospel of Jesus Christ, we will NOT fit in so easily with those around us. I leave you with a few words from the Word:
"...No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize" -- 1 Corinthians 9:27
"Not that I have already obtained this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and STRAINING toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" -- Philippians 3:12-14
"...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." -- Hebrews 12:1
"To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd" -- Psalm 18:25-26
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is gate and broad the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But SMALL is the gate and NARROW the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." -- Matthew 7:13-14
"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith: test yourselves. Do you not realze that Christ Jesus is in you - unless, of course, you fail that test?" -- 2 Corinthians 13:5
May the Lord continue to humble and mold me as He reveals the ever glorious beauty of His gospel!
Matt
The context of this verse is the story of Nadab and Abihu. They were two of Aaron's sons that presented unauthorized fire before the Lord when bringing the sacrifice. God consumed them with fire and then made the statement above. I understand the context of this verse, but I could not help read it and think about my own life and the implications to my life in serving a Holy God.
What is the call/command on my life to live holy / sanctified / set apart? As a believer, does reading my Bible, going to church, serving the poor, etc., really set me apart as a child of God? While these things are needed, my answer is "no", for the most part these things do not set us apart as true followers of our Master Jesus Christ. If we truly stop and think about the way we live, through the lens of the Bible, we are kidding ourselves if we think that these things make us look different than the depraved world around us. We may not curse, smoke, or drink, do drugs, or party, but the pattern of this world has so infiltrated the way we think, on a foundational level, that it governs the way we live in this culture. So many times how we live looks like this: We have a paradigm of how we believe we should be allowed to live or do certain things. Most times this paradigm has been shaped by much of cultural evangelicalism instead of the Word of God. For the most part, this paradigm is a very comfortable place to be. If fits with what we view as "christian living". There is not much about it which is contrary to someone in an unregenerate state, we have just sprinkled it with Jesus, but not enough that people revile us, rather we seek friendship with the world. We seek to make sure we are not too eccentric in following Christ that it pushes people away. No, we need to live a life that is attractive to the world so they will come and "want what we have", whatever that means.
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (paradigm), then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, His good pleasing and perfect will." -- Romans 12:2
"After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree...." -- Romans 11:24
If you are a believer, you were grafted in to Christ CONTRARY, to your fallen nature. Contrary to the very paradigm that shaped much of who we were. The gospel does not mean, that after we are saved, we then take the Bible and look up verses to see what can and cannot stay as part of our life (Legalism). No rather it means that you have a completely different nature and we basically start over with our lifestyle and paradigm. We now have a new Master. A benevolent Master. One who commands obedience of His slaves, but one who also draws us near Himself and calls us His children and friend. We are to take the Bible and our Masters commands and seek to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ more deeply. The more we understand the gospel the more the Word of God begins to shape our obedience to His commands. The Bible's commands for living are abbrasive, controversial, and all together counter cultural. We ourselves do not seek to simply be these things, b/c we are to show the love of Christ to all, but they are characteristic of a disciple of Christ. Need an example? Examine the life of Paul, Peter, and the rest of the NT saints/disciples. Jesus meant you die! Not enjoy your best life now ;-)
"Pursue peace with all men, AND the sanctification without which NO ONE will see the Lord" -- Hebrews 12:14
There is a practical way of living, obedience to the Word of God, without which we will not see the Lord. Understanding that this has nothing to do with our righteousness or salvation, rather it is the evidence of the work of the triune God in our lives.
I know I have been all over the place here, this conversation is much more than a blog post. I leave you with this: If what you believe about the Gospel and how it shapes our living does not translate into any other part of the world except America than we are not living the true gospel of Christ. There is a reason so many people flock to many of the popular churches in our city and country. It is fun, applicable to their unregenerate paradigm, and comfortable. Friends, if we believe, live, and passionately pursue the true and biblical gospel of Jesus Christ, we will NOT fit in so easily with those around us. I leave you with a few words from the Word:
"...No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize" -- 1 Corinthians 9:27
"Not that I have already obtained this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and STRAINING toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" -- Philippians 3:12-14
"...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." -- Hebrews 12:1
"To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd" -- Psalm 18:25-26
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is gate and broad the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But SMALL is the gate and NARROW the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." -- Matthew 7:13-14
"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith: test yourselves. Do you not realze that Christ Jesus is in you - unless, of course, you fail that test?" -- 2 Corinthians 13:5
May the Lord continue to humble and mold me as He reveals the ever glorious beauty of His gospel!
Matt
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Saved by Grace
I thought this video was good!
Check it out
http://www.crosstalkblog.com/2010/06/four-false-converts-and-their-testimonies/
His Grace
Matt
Check it out
http://www.crosstalkblog.com/2010/06/four-false-converts-and-their-testimonies/
His Grace
Matt
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
