Friday, July 25, 2014

Thursday, July 24, 2014

The Confession of Man and the Compassion of God

"Non-Christian, we invite you to notice the difference here [between Christianity and all other world religions]. There is no prescription for what must be done to make cleansing and forgiveness possible. Pray this many times. Read this many holy passages. Recite this mantra this many times. Spin this many prayer wheels. Fast, take this trip, go to this building, perform this ritual . . . none of that. It’s honest, humble, 'I can’t do it . . . I need you to make me clean, O God.' And when we come before him like this—non-Christian and Christian alike—when we come before him, either for the first time in our lives or on a daily basis in our lives, and we say, 'I need you to cleanse me and forgive me,' then we find that God is gracious. First John 1:9 says, 'If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all righteousness.' Oh, what good news . . . the greatest news in all the world. You can be made right with God! And it’s not by doing a list of good works to try to cover up the evil and uncleanness in your heart. It’s by trusting in divine grace . . . by casting yourself before him in confession of your need for him." - David Platt in a sermon on Psalm 51: The Confession of Man and the Compassion of God


See this sermon here...

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

"Trust me, I've got the anointing!"

Listened to the Strange Fire Panel Q&A Session 1 this morning (John MacArthur, Todd Friel, Justin Peters, and Steve Lawson). Had to go dig up the following in the transcript as this was something that's been in my craw lately. When attempting to point out errors in teaching propagated by someone, the attitude was that the person in question "has the anointing" as if it means it's OK for some to teach contrary to scripture because they have a special line to God that allows them to correct His Word (at the same time with the implication that I do not have an "anointing" as if to render my discernment incorrect.) Anyway, here is the relevant response that made me want to jump up and shout "Amen Brother!":
'Well Scripture teaches that if you are a Christian, you’re anointed. If you've been regenerated by God’s Holy Spirit, you are anointed. It is not a feeling, it’s not a buzz, it’s not an experience, it’s a reality. First John 2:20, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One and you all know…” this is not for a select few, it’s not that some Christians have a super special anointing that the rest of the common Christians don’t have. That is…that is a division of Christians into classes, the haves and the have-nots, you know to say, “Oh well, So-and-so is anointed, he has a great anointing." 
If you’re in Christ, you are anointed. There’s no division of classes within Christianity. We are one in Christ, the ground is level at the foot of the cross. So this is a false understanding of a biblical reality. It’s used to manipulate people and it’s used to make light their emotions and their behavior and it’s also used to elevate the whatever false teacher you’re looking at, elevate him to a status that is above everyone else. He has a different source of authority. He has a unique access to God and he gets divine revelation knowledge from the Holy Spirit, from Christ, this pipeline from heaven to various false teachers, and that is…that is their way of insulating themselves against biblical criticism. “Well if you can’t find this in the Bible, don’t worry about it because I have the anointing. God has spoken to me directly. And so if you can’t find it in Scripture, don’t sweat it, I've got the anointing, I've got this inside avenue to God.”'
The session video, transcript, etc... Strange Fire Panel Q&A 1

Friday, July 18, 2014

Born Again Christians? - David Platt

Sad but true... "there are a whole lot of people in our country who think that they are Christians, but they are not. There are scores of people—here and around the world who culturally distinguish themselves as Christians and biblically are not followers of Christ."