Concrete Reasoning

                 If something is existing by itself in order to do a task, and then another thing is doing a separate task alongside the first thing , is the first thing alone or together with the second thing??
Think about it for a minute.
I suppose after you finish shaking your head, you will say that of course whatever thing is first alone is obviously no longer alone when anything else joins it. Right? Confused?

                So for example, let's say one guy shows up to lay a slab of concrete out on the ground. At present, he is alone. He begins to guide the shoot of the concrete truck in order to run out the concrete mud into the right spot. Then let's say another man shows, and he begins to rake the mud around with a mud rake into a more level form within set boundary boards. Now, the first man and second man are together on the job. We would not say they are alone right?

Let's say a third man shows up, and then a fourth man, and then a fifth man. The third man is there to start screeding the concrete or leveling it out with a long bar or "screed". The fourth man is there to use a hand float or "mag" to smooth out the edges. The fifth man is there to run a large bull float over the majority of the slab to get a smooth finish.

                

                  It is natural for us to look at this scenario and say, "Hey, those guys are pouring a slab together." In other words we would not look at the group of guys and say they were alone. 

  

                 Here is where it gets interesting and we move to the heart of my point. In logical, reasonable actuality we can safely say that the first man is "pouring out the slab" alone. He is at the shoot behind the truck alone and sliding out the concrete onto the ground. We can say that the second man is raking the mud alone. It is right to say that the third man is screeding the concrete alone. We can easily say that the fourth man is floating the edges alone, and we know it is obvious that the fifth man is bull floating the main slab....alone. You see, the minute that an additional person actually puts their hand to the exact task that any one of these men are performing, then that specific task is being done not alone, but by more than one person. Even though all the men are operating in unison to perform the act of laying the slab, each has his own task and is doing it all by himself.
                     This is pure reason and causes us to think in ways that we do not always think.

              Here is why this exercise is so very important. When we look at God and the way He works in the lives of the elect, we see various elements operating entirely by themselves, and at the same time in perfect unison.
This is actually how life works, but for some reason when we look at God, we say,
                            "No that can't be right."
              In salvation as described by the Bible, God is on display, not man. We know from the accuracy and innerancy of God's Holy Word that the Almighty is more than capable of getting His instructions into our hands. One of the most important truths we can ever come to grips with is that God does not need us. He is actually God. Down through history, so many have tried to pervert the truth of God by adding to who He is, how He does things, and what it is that He does.  In fact, when Constantine merged Christianity with Roman statism and paganism, we ended up with a very grotesque beast that festooned the precious words of God with every kind of man-made trappings available.  False doctrines such as Transubstantiation, Baptismal Regenertion, baptizing of and praying for the dead, Purgatory, Indulgences, Tradition and extra-Biblical revelation, and works-based faith became rampant.
In the 1500's men began to raise up in faith and strength from God to declare these doctrines false and exhort the church and all those who would listen back to authentic, Biblical Christianity.

 This was the time of the Reformation.

If you call yourself a Christian, you can thank the Reformers that you do not kiss the ring of a priest on Sunday and say your "hail Marys".  You do not attend a Catholic Mass, because brave men stood up against the spirit of totalitarian, self-righteous maligning of God's word that the Christ Himself had faced in the religious men of His day.  Like the Ark from the flood, a bright hope of true believers emerged from the flood of apostasy that had threatened to destroy all of Christendom.

  Of the many precious confessions of sound, Biblical faith that emerged from the Great Reformation as lenses peering into the endless depths of Scripture, one amazing creed stands out. It is that of the
Five Solas. Sola is Latin for alone and is used in this creed to describe the secret workings of God. In Scripture, when we see the word "mystery" it is always describing that which is being revealed. We have everything that God wants us to have of Himself and these things are clearly defined in Scripture. It is quite OK to speak of such things, and to determine by God's Holy Word the right and wrong ways of perceiving them. A great mystery revealed is how God operates in the lives of those He elects unto salvation. This mystery is easily defined in the Five Solas. They are as follows:





1 Sola gratia ("by grace alone")
                        Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us. (Ephesians 1:3-8)





2 Sola fide ("by faith alone")
                                Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "All the nations shall be blessed in you." So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer. For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them." Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, "The righteous man shall live by faith." (Galatians 3:6-11)



3 Solus Christus or Solo Christo ("Christ alone" or "through Christ alone")
                               There is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony borne at the proper time...For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything. (1TI 2:5-6; COL 1:13-18)







4 Sola scriptura ("by Scripture alone")
                              All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (Psalm 119:18; Psalm 138:2; II Tim. 3:14-17)





5 Soli Deo gloria ("glory to God alone")
                                Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God; Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. (1CO 10:31; 1PE 4:11; REV 1:6; 2PE 3:1; EPH 3:21; REV 7:12; ROM 11:36)

 

A great deal could be and indeed has been written on these five solas. My only endeavour here is just to show the reasonable logic of them. I used the concrete analogy to elaborate on my point and also to show how this logic applies to every area of our lives. How much more so the eternal Word of God. God established the laws of logic and of reason. We must look to Him and trust Him to be faithful in all He says and does.

 

We cannot and must not say that salvation is by Grace plus our good ideas; Faith plus our righteous works; Christ plus Mary; Scripture plus additional writing and revelation; all for the Glory of God plus for man's glory as well.

None of this foolish reasoning is Biblical neither does it even make sense.

 
            You may have noticed a difference between my initial analogy and the Five Solas themselves. My analogy just dealt with five guys doing tasks. However, look at the last Sola. It says,
                      FOR THE GLORY OF GOD ALONE.
         This is our end cause. So if we were to be complete in the analogy we may say our end cause was to set a shed on the concrete slab, or to play basketball on it, or build a house, whatever we want there is an end cause. The end cause of salvation far surpasses anything our simple, finite minds can fathom in all our laboring over earthly causes. The end cause is the Glory of God! Friends I want to tell you this is lost on our culture. The reality is, God glorifies Himself so that we may receive ultimate pleasure. If He were to glorify anything else He would no longer be God.

   
     There is no truer way to perceive God than perceiving Him as big as you can. Because even then, you are not quite there, not by a long shot, but you are closer than if you are trying to look at Him in a box. You are much closer than if you are trying to compare Him to man.
God works alone in all He does, for one, because our works are as filthy rags to Him, and two, His power is beyond the scope of our imagination. 
It is so vital to purge all the needless, man-centered additions we labor to attribute unto the work of God. In fact, our additions are blasphemy and pervert His Holy Word. Jude speaks of those who "sensualize the Word of God" and this is done when we strive so hard to cram our fleshly ways into the pure and clear text of the Living God. All His precious ways are sufficient unto themselves, and praise Him for it, because if they weren't we would have no hope.

a wretch in His grace,
Dan 
 

Definite Redemption

  "I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,  just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep."

John 10:14-15

      I remember as a youngster just sitting there thinking about my eternal salvation. As a church kid I had been told time and again that I would go to hell if I sinned and that I needed Jesus to come into my heart. All I had to do was ask. Then I heard countless sermons describing something known as backsliding. That is to say, after being saved a person can then "slide" into sin thereby nullifying his salvation. This of course, all hinged on accepting and subsequently keeping the free gift offered by Jesus Christ to every human being on the face of the planet. So there I was, literally "tripping out" for lack of a better phrase, over whether or not I, the person known as Dan Peterman, would be in Heaven with God when I died. I would allow my mind to go back and forth looking at the only two realities of the state of my being after death I knew to be true from Scripture; this destiny I had that God knew, but I did not.  You see, I also understood as a boy that if God is actually God, then He knows all things from beginning to end. The ramifications of all these things meant that although I did not know if I would make it, God did, and it was set in stone. So I just wasted time looking at the vascilating paradox of the unknown absolute of my eternal salvation.
      It has been said that bad theology will ruin your life. Without going into detail, let's just say that I could be a poster child for this statement. While I am thankful for being raised with a general Biblical worldview, the quality of that worldview left much to be desired. The blame for this rests solely at the foot of the church as for the last hundred years she has promulgated wrong-headed theology and compromised the Gospel. Did you know that nowhere in Scripture does it say that we must, "ask Jesus into our heart"? Additionally, and more importantly, nowhere does the Bible describe God ever losing those He has saved.

      Praise God for His amazing grace and His divine sovereignty! Just as Christ is constantly intercessing to bring about any good at all through church organizations despite many and varied shortcomings, so it is that the Holy Spirit reveals the true nature of God to those whom He chooses.

      The fact is, what Christ accomplished on the cross was definite and final for all those He has decided to save! This is the greatest news we could ever hear for at the end of the day, when we are alone and honest with ourselves, we know that there is no way we could ever do anything whatsoever to gain or keep the righteousness required to exist with God for all eternity. In fact, most of the time we fail miserably as Christians to follow Christ's commands. In other words, nothing you or I can ever do will trump what Christ has done on the cross. What He has done will prove out in the lives of His elect and it can never nor will it ever be undone.

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me,  is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
John 10:28-29


        Are you a Universalist? That is, do you believe that God will ultimately save everyone and no one will go to hell? If so, you are believing in something un-Biblical. Likewise, when we say that Christ died for everyone meaning that He took their sins upon Himself then we make Him out to be a liar and a failure, because we know people go to hell. Take a moment to think about it before contnuing on with what you have been told. If Christ has died for a sinner, then that sinner is saved. Period. If the sinner for whom Christ dies were to go to hell, then his sins would be paid for twice and Christ would have failed. This view that Christ died for all, but that His death has no saving effect without an added faith and repentance not forseen in His death is what we would term a Hypothetical Universalism. This too, is completely un-Biblical.
 
       We may say that Christ reconciled the whole world to Himself, but He REDEEMED a certain people. That is, by His atonement on the cross is the enemy bruised and by the longsuffering of God because of Christ's sacrifice does the world still turn on its axis and men still roll out of bed in the morning. At the same time, by His imputation of righteousness into the accounts of the elect and the propitiation of our sins onto Him, based on nothing in us but based on everything in Christ, are men saved to the uttermost! This is our assurance! This is our blessed song!
 

        Telling people they can lose their salvation has been a man-made way of scaring folks into holy living. This camp of believers will say in opposition that if we tell someone that they will be saved to the uttermost then they will live like hell! To this I say that man will always test God as far as he can if left to his own schemes. Seeing God as someone who cannot even hold on to what He has picked up, will cause man to live more dangerously than if he sees God as actually God! If he sees God as forever shaping and sanctifying that which God has justified, causing him to look forward to when he will be glorified, well my friends, then he will forever be seeking his ultimate joy and reward in the giver of all these things!
     The doctrine of Limited Atonement or Definite Atonment and the doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints are closely linked. What we are talking about is the fact that Christ on the cross said,
                             "It is Finished."
      Christ has saved a people on Calvary. That day were many preserved unto election, regeneration, justification, sanctification, and eventual glorification.
      Likewise, eternal life is just that.... eternal. It is a gift from God that one can never lose, because it is not theirs to lose. It is God's, He is the giver, and He has promised that it is eternal and will never fade.
 If someone finds themselves without Christ when they die, then you can be assured they were never regenerated at any point in their life.

      The reality is Christ died for a particular people. This does not mean that we do not proclaim the Gospel to the entire world. The New Testament teaches that God chose for Himself  a great number of the fallen race and sent Christ into the world to save them. Christ is said to have died for a certain people, with the clear impliction that His death secured their salvation. Without questioning the infinite worth of Christ's sacrifice or the genuineness of God's sincere invitation to all who hear the Gospel, we see clearly from Scripture that Christ in dying intended to take away the sins of God's elect, and to ensure that they would all be brought to faith through regeneration and preserved through faith for glory.

           Before He died Christ prayed for those the Father had given Him and not for the world.
"I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.  All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them."
John 17:9-10


           Sound doctrines like Limited Atonement were what I was missing as a child, and you can be certain my own children will have these prescious truths of the nature of God written on the tables of their hearts.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:37-39