Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets."He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." -Matthew 16:13-17
Who do you say that Jesus is? The 'fruit' of you life will give evidence to your answer and your answer to that question will determine where you spend eternity.
Humbly
Matt
Monday, November 15, 2010
Saturday, October 23, 2010
The Foolishness of The Cross
I have been thinking alot about the christian culture that I grew up in and how it relates to what the Spirit of God has opened my eyes to recently. I feel as though a veil has been lifted from my eyes, supernaturally, and I can SEE more clearly what the Bible teaches in regards to Christ, the Gospel, salvation, sanctification, etc. For too long I feel as though we have been living in an age of "easy-believism" Christianity. We have grown up in an age of Bible story moralism for children, "cool" Jesus for teens, and therapeutic self-help God for adulthood. What I mean is that we have hi-jacked the message of the gospel to be simply a band-aid for our self-esteem and a manipulation of the will to accept a Jesus who desperately wants to be our friend and take us to heaven and thus created a means of salvation that is "so easy to accept and believe". I am not saying there is no truth in any of this, but as I have read and studied over the last couple years, I have been humbled to see that what I believed appears to be a far cry from the life taking, self-effacing, surrender to the King of Kings, that Jesus demands in His gospel message - see Matt. 10:26-42.
The message of the cross of Jesus is not give me five minutes to manipulate your 'will', give an alter call, say this pray and if you mean it gospel. The message of the cross if foolishness to the unbeliever. But wait a minute you say "Now to us who are saved it (the cross) is the power of God". But you did not always believe. At one point I WAS dead in my sin! I was an enemy against God, justly deserving His righteous wrath. But now I believe! Because I heard about a cool Jesus who can help me with my problems - and I said yeah let's be friends?? Nope! But because I heard the crazy and foolish message of the cross and by the power of the Holy Spirit, who quickened my spirit and removed the veil over my eyes (2 Cor. 4:3-4), and the faith given to me by God (see Ephesians 2:8-10) I believed it!
"For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For it is written, "I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE." Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." -- 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
If you believe in this message, doesn't this verse just crumble you in humility at the Grace of God!!?? To think about all of the people around me that think this is foolishness - that don't believe - and yet for some reason I believe it!! Sure makes me not want to base my salvation on some decision that I think I was sincere about when I prayed a prayer with the preacher at like 8 years old! No way! I see this foolish message and embrace it as the anchor for my soul (see Hebrews 6:17-20) through the power of the Spirit of God working to will and work in my life according to His good pleasure. My trust is in the gift of faith that the Lord gave me to believe! (Ephesians 2:8-10).
I was reading in John this morning and came across a few more examples of this foolish message:
"No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life" -- John 3:13-15
What does this have to do with the foolish message of the cross in 1 Corinthians 1? Well you first need to know the story of Moses in the desert with disobedient Israel when he lifted up the snake.......
"The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. So the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us." And Moses interceded for the people. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live." And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived." -- Numbers 21:6-9
Understand how crazy this must have been for the Israelites. The serpents were biting and killing the Israelites and God instructs Moses put on a pole a Brazen serpent - the very thing that was killing them!! If they looked at this they would live? That sounds pretty outlandish to me! But what does this have to do with the message of Jesus on the Cross? (Hint: it is a 'sign' of things to come - pointing to Jesus) Look at 2 Corinthians 5:
"Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. " -- 2 Corinthians 5:20-21
The very thing that damns our souls is our sin - not just the things we do- but our nature. As one of my friends says it "we are sin factories" We have never done anything except sin! We are slave to this sinful nature (see Romans....all of it :-) ) But through the cross, Jesus bore our sin (the very thing that should damn us) - never becoming sinful himself! - but he took our sin upon himself and bore the just wrath of the Father for all that would believe. But it does not end there......without the Resurrection our hope is not complete. Without the resurrection Jesus was a martyr. (see Philippians 3:7-11) He ROSE from the dead. We must always keep both of these doctrines! Without the full weight of the cross, there is no resurrection. Without the resurrection there is no power or hope!!!!
Alot of thoughts - not sure if they all tied together
Repent, believe the gospel and be saved!
His grace
Matt
The message of the cross of Jesus is not give me five minutes to manipulate your 'will', give an alter call, say this pray and if you mean it gospel. The message of the cross if foolishness to the unbeliever. But wait a minute you say "Now to us who are saved it (the cross) is the power of God". But you did not always believe. At one point I WAS dead in my sin! I was an enemy against God, justly deserving His righteous wrath. But now I believe! Because I heard about a cool Jesus who can help me with my problems - and I said yeah let's be friends?? Nope! But because I heard the crazy and foolish message of the cross and by the power of the Holy Spirit, who quickened my spirit and removed the veil over my eyes (2 Cor. 4:3-4), and the faith given to me by God (see Ephesians 2:8-10) I believed it!
"For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For it is written, "I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE." Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." -- 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
If you believe in this message, doesn't this verse just crumble you in humility at the Grace of God!!?? To think about all of the people around me that think this is foolishness - that don't believe - and yet for some reason I believe it!! Sure makes me not want to base my salvation on some decision that I think I was sincere about when I prayed a prayer with the preacher at like 8 years old! No way! I see this foolish message and embrace it as the anchor for my soul (see Hebrews 6:17-20) through the power of the Spirit of God working to will and work in my life according to His good pleasure. My trust is in the gift of faith that the Lord gave me to believe! (Ephesians 2:8-10).
I was reading in John this morning and came across a few more examples of this foolish message:
"No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life" -- John 3:13-15
What does this have to do with the foolish message of the cross in 1 Corinthians 1? Well you first need to know the story of Moses in the desert with disobedient Israel when he lifted up the snake.......
"The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. So the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us." And Moses interceded for the people. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live." And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived." -- Numbers 21:6-9
Understand how crazy this must have been for the Israelites. The serpents were biting and killing the Israelites and God instructs Moses put on a pole a Brazen serpent - the very thing that was killing them!! If they looked at this they would live? That sounds pretty outlandish to me! But what does this have to do with the message of Jesus on the Cross? (Hint: it is a 'sign' of things to come - pointing to Jesus) Look at 2 Corinthians 5:
"Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. " -- 2 Corinthians 5:20-21
The very thing that damns our souls is our sin - not just the things we do- but our nature. As one of my friends says it "we are sin factories" We have never done anything except sin! We are slave to this sinful nature (see Romans....all of it :-) ) But through the cross, Jesus bore our sin (the very thing that should damn us) - never becoming sinful himself! - but he took our sin upon himself and bore the just wrath of the Father for all that would believe. But it does not end there......without the Resurrection our hope is not complete. Without the resurrection Jesus was a martyr. (see Philippians 3:7-11) He ROSE from the dead. We must always keep both of these doctrines! Without the full weight of the cross, there is no resurrection. Without the resurrection there is no power or hope!!!!
Alot of thoughts - not sure if they all tied together
Repent, believe the gospel and be saved!
His grace
Matt
Friday, August 13, 2010
Some good Tweets
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
www.twitter.com/paulwasher
His grace
Matt
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
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