Chris Tomlin - Noel (Live) ft. Lauren Daigle

Love Incarnate, love divine
1 Jn. 4:8 "God is love"
Matt. 1:23 "They shall His name Immanuel"
Jn. 1:14 "And the Word became flesh"

Star and angels gave the sign
Matt. 2:2 "For we saw His star"
Matt. 1:20 "An angel of the Lord appeared to Him in a dream"
Luke 2:9 "An angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them"

Bow to babe on bended knee
Matt. 2:11 "And they fell to the ground and worshipped Him"

The Savior of humanity
Matt. 1:21 "For He will save His people from their sins"

Unto us a child is born
Matt. 1:18 "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows"

He shall reign forevermore
Dan. 7:27 "His kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom"

Noel, Noel, Come and see what God has done
Luke 2:30 "For my eyes have seen your salvation"

Noel, Noel, the story of the amazing love
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world"

The light of the world
John 1:4 "and the life was the light of men"
John 8:12 "I am the light of the world"

Given for us, Noel
John 3:16 "He have His only begotten Son"

Son of God and Son of Man
Matt. 16:18 "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God"
Matt. 16:28 "They shall see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom"

There before the world began
John 8:58 "Before Abraham was born, I am"

Born to suffer, born to save
John 12:27 "But for this purpose I came to this hour"

Born to raise us from the grave
John 6:44 "And I will raise Him up on the last day"

Christ the everlasting Lord
Rom. 16:26 "The Eternal God"

He shall reign forevermore
Rev. 11:15 "and He shall reign forever and ever"

And all of God's people said, "Amen, even so, come Lord Jesus"

Joan Bakewell Interviews Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones

Where are these men today?

The Scandal of the Christian Faith

According to the source of the Christian Faith, the Bible, Christianity is a scandalous proposition. According to the apostle Paul, Christianity’s most notorious figure in the first-century church, scandal is at the heart of the Christian message. Writing to the churches at Galatia regarding this odd idea of justification by faith alone, Paul argues that any attempt to add law to the Christian message removes the scandalous element of the gospel and hence makes the gospel no gospel at all. The Greek word skandalon, according to Louw-Nida means that which causes offense and thus arouses opposition. The idea that one who was hanged on a cross would actually be the Savior and Redeemer of the nation was nothing short of scandalous. Additionally, where the Gentile was concerned, that one who could not save Himself from such a humiliating death could actually be trusted to save others was simply foolish. In fact, from a natural standpoint, the whole idea of redemption in Christ by way of the cross is simply inexplicable in natural, rationalistic terms.

Paul expressed this view also to the church at Corinth when he said that the preaching of the cross is considered moronic to the unbeliever (1 Cor. 1:18). Moreover, once again, a few verses later he says to the Jew, the gospel is a scandal and to the Greek, the gospel is moronic (1 Cor. 1:23). In other words, the gospel and the natural mind are, from the start, antagonistic one toward the other.

The Christian message is scandalous because it rejects the notion of autonomous human reason from the start. Men do not weigh the evidence and the arguments coupled with the consequences and then decide that Christian theism is the best decision given all the facts. Christian theism is resistant to the proclivity of the natural mind which insists that all claims, to include God’s claims be placed in the dock and judged by the standards of rebellious and ungodly men. Instead, Christian theism demands that men take God at His word and do as Christ commanded without hesitation: repent.

The Christian message is scandalous because it is intolerant and narrow. Christianity claims to be the only true religion, the only way to God, and that all those rejecting it’s claims are doomed to the worse kind of eternal judgment imaginable.

The Christian message is scandalous because it claims that only it’s ethic and values are the ethic and values by which every human should honor, embrace, and adopt in every aspect of their lives. Moreover, rejection of the Christian ethic is considered a rejection of the Christian message. And rejection of the Christian message is considered an overt rejection of God Himself. Nothing is more scandalous than the judgments about human behavior made by the Christian message.

The Christian message is scandalous because it insists on a very narrow view of Scripture, that Scripture is inerrant, fully inspired and must be acknowledged and recognized as such by all subscribers.

The Christian message is particularly scandalous to modern culture because it rejects such popular movements as homosexuality, gay marriage, co-habitation, abortion, and a variety of other cultural values, not the least of which is that the human mind is capable of serving as the final reference point for how and what we know as well as how we ought to live. Christianity resists modern expressions designed primarily to subvert it into a system solely for the enjoyment and pleasure of self-righteous moralistic deists.

Yet, for some reason, modern, and especially, modern American Christians with their version of pop-Christianity think they are actually accomplishing something if they can get modern Americans to attend their churches, Sunday schools, prayer meetings, and receive the sacraments. It is a psychological gospel geared toward those who want more control over their lives. What do we think it is when people claim to want to be better in their career, more successful, better parents, better spouses, and so on and so forth. The “better” is actually a man-centered standard that is informed by Hollywood values to mainstream cultural values. The “better” usually has no relationship to the divine standard laid down in sacred Scripture.

Christian theism is a scandal and the only people who subscribe, it turns out, are those who have lost their minds and as a result have found redemption in Christ.

Who In Hell Do You Know?

Recently I have been reflecting on the reality of evil in the world and how that evil fits into the overall scheme of God’s plan. Couple that reflection with some additional reflection on the challenges parents face when they observe their children neglecting and ignoring the truths of the gospel they have been taught from birth. Add to these reflections, the additional reflection of trust, of grace, of being still and knowing that God is LORD over all and then trying to work through the temptations of fear and anxiety that every Christian parent must face when they see self-destructive behavior in their children. Indeed, that is a lot of reflection.

This led me to the question recently: whom in hell do I know? How many people have I known in my life either intimately, moderately, and even from a distance that have been called out of this life and have done so without Christ? I have lost grandparents. Two of them knew the Lord and the other two I cannot say. I lost my dad and he knew the Lord. I have lost uncles. Some of them knew Christ while others did not. How many people do I know that today, this very minute are living in eternal torment? The descriptions of hell and of the lake of fire are vivid, filling the mind with images of darkness, fire, and unending torment beyond anything this world knows. And there are a number of people that I have known in my life who are very likely right there right now. While I am typing these words, they are in incredible and indescribable anguish. While you are reading these words, their screams ring throughout the hallways of hell without anyone there to help. They are without any hope of ever finding relief for their suffering. Whom in hell do you know?

The doctrine of hell has come under tremendous pressure lately. This pressure even exists in so-called evangelical churches and teachers who really are nothing more than apostates that are nothing more but a shell of genuine Christianity. The arguments are constructed mostly by people employing a modern, pagan philosophical approach to God rather than an exegetical, theological method. In addition, the overwhelming majority of these individuals simply do not like the God of Christianity, even though they like some of His morals. Their goal seems to be to attempt to keep God in place while replacing all those characteristics about Him they find unappealing.

I cannot help but wonder, not if, but how the belief that there is no literal hell impacts the manner in which the gospel is positioned and proclaimed to the unbelievers in our lives. We already have the problem of numbness due to the frequency of the mention of the doctrine of hell. People just don’t give it any thought these days. And this is just as true of us reformed conservative types in some cases. We don’t think about hell that much. And if we do, we surely don’t look at it through the same lens as we see the world in which we live. Hell is some place far away, an abstract concept in the mind of preachers and theologians that none of us have to worry about, at least not today, not this hour, not this very minute, or is it.

The competition for souls is more intense than anything we could ever imagine not from the world of sports as an analogy, but from the world of wars. The competition for land, for power, to prestige, for dominance over the long course of the history of man has been fierce and relentless. I cannot help but wonder if the human race has ever experienced a time since the fall of man where men were not, in some way, in some place, at war with one another. The competitions have waged for thousands of years.

There is nothing that can compare to the war that we must wage for the truth of the gospel and for the souls of men. Hell is as real as the computer you are reading this blog on. And just as you are reading this right now, countless souls are suffering the flames of torment this very moment. What is worse is countless more souls will be lost to the flames of hell with each passing year. The war for souls and for truth is unending and relentless.

No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules. The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops. Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. 2 Ti. 2:4-7

Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen. Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. 1 Ti. 6:12-19

Antichrist and The New America

“καὶ νῦν ἀντίχριστοι πολλοὶ γεγόνασιν.” Even now, many antichrists have arisen. When many Christians or even most Christians hear the word antichrist, they think of an end-times arch-enemy of God that will arise and deceive millions into battling quite literally against the armies of God and of heaven. And there is a literal “Antichrist” who will emerge to do that very thing according to biblical prophecy. But the words of John are far more troublesome and far more relevant to the on-going, daily, Christian living and battle for truth that we all must face day in and day out in the new America.

“In an atmosphere of rising interest in a merging of Christianity with the higher forms of paganism to the detriment of the former, there was, therefore, a pressing need for the presentation of adequate Christian antidotes to combat the danger.”[1] John was writing so that his audience would know that they have eternal life. (1 Jn. 5:13) What is interesting is that so much of John’s letter deals with what is apparently an early form of Gnosticism. It still seems best to conclude that John is combating proto-Gnosticism, an embryonic Docetism or Cerinthianism that has already divided Christians.^[2] Hence, it seems reasonable to conclude that John’s joy and the key to knowing that one’s faith is genuine in John’s letter is a lifestyle that is characterized by the absence of immoral behavior and heretical belief. Pagan thought has been a constant threat to Christian thought since Christ ushered in His system some 2,000 years ago.

John identifies the competing pagan beliefs with the same substance that will define the man of sin that is to come, the future Antichrist. The Antichrist is the embodiment of all that opposes Christ. He is a dangerous and deceitful individual. He represents the pinnacle of rebellion and unbelief in the human situation. It is significant then, that John identifies the pagan heresy with which he is dealing with the Antichrist.

Apparently there was a group of individuals that were part of the visible Christian community that had set out on their own. They did this to show that they were not truly part of the Christian community of John’s address. (1 Jn. 2:18) What is interesting is the use of the passive verb “shown.” This is the Greek word phaneroō and it means to disclose to show. However, the passive voice of the verb indicates that it was not necessarily the purpose of the schismatic group in leaving to show that they were not of the group. This points up to providence. The separation that occurred over the false beliefs and moral code of that group occurred by an act of divine providence. Now, it could have been the reaction of the local body or it could have simply been a splitting off of the group. It is not easy to analyze the exact details.

John’s letter appears to have the aim of reassuring the Christian community that the split was the right thing for the body and that they are the genuine group standing firm in the faith of Christ. In so doing, John seems to imply that the alternative version of the Christian group is led by antichrists. In other words, those who are rejecting the basic beliefs of the Christian group and those who reject the basic moral code of true biblical Christianity are to be identified as antichrists. This is a very sober and serious charge.

John then says something quite fascinating: But you have an anointing from the Holy One and you all know. Textual variant aside, John’s statement is quite interesting. First, the implications are that the genuine Christian knows the truth and because he/she knows the truth, he/she can spot what is not true, namely, error, and especially heresy. Second, this seems to rule out what has grown to be a mostly rationalistic faith in modern western culture in terms of Christian adherents. In other words, Christians do not know the truth on simply naturalistic, rational grounds. The method is more than understanding how to reason properly, even though it certainly includes a right use of reason. Reason does not seem to be enough in this case. John is pointing to something that is transcendent and supernatural. John is pointing to an ontological difference in the Christian. There is something about the being of a Christian that is quite different from that of an unbeliever. The notion of being anointed or having an anointing from the Holy One indicates that John sees the believer as marked off by God for God’s purpose.

John goes on to say that this anointing abides within us and because of this fact we have no need for anyone to teach us. This anointing teaches us all things, that is to say, all things necessary for truth. Two things that this fact impacts: apologetics and Church discipline. You see, modern Christian thought in the west has long abandoned the Biblical faith of the first-century Church. That faith is the basis of true knowledge. Conversely, in modern Christian thought, faith is the end of a rational process by which evidence and arguments are weighed, subjected to human scrutiny, placed under the light of pagan reasoning and at the end, if the criteria is satisfied, wham-o, one decides to become a Christian. But this is far from the thinking revealed by the authors of Scripture.

True knowledge comes through faith in Christ. And this faith comes through the work of the Holy Spirit, the one with Whom all Christians have been anointed. True saving knowledge does not come at the end of some rationalistic process contrary to what so many modern western thinkers assert. God makes Christians. Only God makes Christians. You do not make yourself a Christian. You cannot make yourself “born again.” The power of the gospel is the tool God uses to radically change the human person. This is the anointing that John is talking about. For this reason, Jesus could say things like the elect cannot be deceived, and all that the Father gives to me will come to me. Otherwise, these statements make no sense.

Finally, John’s statement has real implications for a Church that has lost its way. Just because a person says he/she is a Christian, this does not make them one. There have always been pseudo-Christians in the visible Christian community from the beginning. They are what John called antichrists. They do not have the anointing and therefore, they do not know the truth. They entered the community through a rational process of examining their own person needs, looking at arguments, examining evidence, sensing a need to be religious and wham-o, they sign the card. They have no more interest in Jesus than the devil himself does. What they are interested in is their own sense of belonging of being righteous, of being moral, and maybe of community. But their beliefs and conduct betray their profession of faith.

For some time now we have had seeker-sensitive, emergent, and now the restless-reformed coming along and rejecting the many of the basic teachings of Biblical Christianity while at the same time claiming to embrace it. But just as John said they went out from us so that it would be shown that they were not really of us, we can say the same thing about these folks. For example, there are numerous professing Christians that deny the virgin birth, the resurrection, the deity of Christ, that the Bible is the word of God, etc. As an example of the confusion, take Ellen Painter Dollar’s statement, “There is nothing false about believing that the God of all things can be encountered in sacred story, and in mundane human experience, and in the strange visions of the mystics.” Read more: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/ellenpainterdollar/2014/05/we-know-god-through-scripture-and-so-much-more/#ixzz32OPJbc7R

God can be found everywhere and in nearly everyone these days (except for political conservatives of course). Modern Christians, mostly of the younger generation, in their early to mid-twenties have figured out that the rest of us are and were for nearly 2,000 years, mistaken about Jesus. Abortion is seen as a blessing. Gay sex is viewed as love. Sports celebrities that pray are mocked while grown men who want to act like women are praised. And these things are moving into the Church because the Church has continued to buy into the modern, naturalistic, rational, decision-making model of regeneration. That model demands that the Church remain connected to the culture, that she remain relevant.

You see, Biblical apologetics demands that we begin with God, that Scripture be our sole authority. Christian doctrine can only be known by those who have been anointed by God. True knowledge is only discovered by those with God’s special grace, His special anointing. But this teaching requires a radically different message than the one the Church has been preaching. Because the Church has adopted a naturalistic approach to conversion, she has also bought into the necessity to be relevant. This approach requires that we make good arguments, that God be a means to an end, that people feel like they are gaining something, and that they feel like it was their choice, remaining in control of course. We have to make sure our music is attractive, that our message is relevant, that Christianity is viewed with respect, academically and otherwise. And this is all based off the notion that being a Christian is making a rational decision and nothing more.

John’s message to his audience was profoundly different from the modern message of modern Christians. God did not accept people just as they were but instead, He radically transformed their entire person before bringing them into communion with Himself and His Church. There was no such thing as believing whatever one wished and conducting oneself however one pleased all the while receiving the blessing of the Church. The days of socially acceptable Christianity are fading into the past. The modern Church, in an attempt to remain relevant has become so much like the world, there is no noticeable different between the two. Look around and tell me what is different about the visible Church and the culture in which she is found? The thinking, beliefs, and practices of the Church mirror those of the world. The same John that warned us about the many antichrists that have gone out into the world also commanded us not to love the world or anything in the world. We cannot love the world and love God both at the same time. Modern Christianity has all but destroyed this basic Christian distinction. Christians need to circle their wagons, lean on each other like never before, and take a bold and loving stand for the truth of the Christian gospel as if lives depend on it because, as John MacArthur says, they do.

---

[1] Donald Guthrie, New Testament Introduction (InterVarsity Press; Downers Grove, Ill. 1990), 866.

^[2] D. A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo, An Introduction to the New Testament, Second Edition. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005), 681.