"Finally Alive" - Part 3

Spiritually dead men come to the Bible for any one of dozens of reasons. They come to find error according to their own misconceptions; they come to prove any one of a number of silly factoids that they have picked up in their excursions, and sometimes they even come to disprove truth. In and of themselves men do not come to the Bible to find life. Men do not come to the Bible to find out how to be born again because there is no easy formula there to do that. Even when Nicodemus came to Jesus he was not seeking a way to eternal life. As far as he was concerned he already had it made. But then Jesus stopped him “mid-compliment” and told him the one thing above all else in this world that he needed and supremely so was the “new birth”. Nicodemus to say the least was shocked at what for him as a supreme “knower” of Scripture was absolute nonsense. And it is apparent from the conversation that followed, that this teacher of teachers was hearing something that made no sense at all.

Somehow I feel certain that many who will read John Piper’s book will quickly relegate it to just another one of those foolish hyper-Calvinists who really doesn’t have it all together. Sadly they are wrong. For what John teaches here as he did in the wonderful series of messages he brought to his own fellowship of believers, is truth for it is based on the infallible Word of God. And those who will not hear it do so on the basis of the fallacious teaching that men have a free will to accept what God has done for us through the cross of Christ or reject it as having no relevance whatsoever in their own lives. There are literally thousands of evangelical church web pages that hold this statement or something very closely akin to it with respect to salvation, to wit, “God the Holy Spirit regenerates the believing sinner”. In short, they have placed the order of salvation in a reverse position, viz, “belief, regeneration, justification”. The question then becomes: “How does one who is dead in trespasses and sins and totally incapable of doing one infinitesimal good thing, do that which is the greatest good for a human being, that is – believe in Christ for salvation?’ The fact is, he or she cannot do this apart from the grace of God.

John gives to us several excellent points to ponder in this book and I would love to give many of them here, but that is not practical. However, on page sixty one he lays out five things that happen to us when God regenerates an unbeliever. Note them carefully:

1. “When God causes us to be born again, saving faith is awakened, and we are united to Christ.

2. “When the new birth awakens faith, and unites us to Christ, we are justified – that is, counted righteous – through that faith.

3. “When new birth awakens faith and unites us in Christ, all the legal obstacles to our acceptance with God are removed through justification. So God adopts us into his family and conforms us to the image of his Son.

4. “When the new birth awakens faith and we are united to Christ and all condemnation is replaced with justification and the Spirit of adoption moves into our lives, he produces the fruit of love.

5. “Finally, when the new birth awakens faith and unites us to Christ, who is our righteousness, and releases the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, we are on the narrow way that leads to heaven.”

In short, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” – it is not self induced; it is not self made or propagated: it is all of grace, it is all of God. Period. Listen as John explains this mighty and Sovereign act of God.

"Finally Alive" - Part 2

I believe that it is quite accurate to state from the Bible that there are but two kinds of people walking around on this planet right now: those who are spiritually alive, and those who are spiritually dead. That is, those who have received from Almighty God the free gift of spiritual life and are now living not just a “life” here on earth, but who have now that same life that Jesus Christ had when He came forth from the grave on Resurrection Sunday; and those who do not have that life right now. As brother Piper speaks to these life and death issues he makes it very clear as he discusses Jesus’ night time dialogue with the Jewish teacher, Nicodemus that one might have all the religion in the world and yet not have this life. One might be the very best, upstanding, outstanding member of his or her church; and has been and is the most active in every conceivable ministry that a local assembly does perform and yet not be born again. For it is not nor has it every been one’s religiosity that saves a man or a woman, it is the life giving, indeed the life begetting that the Holy Spirit of God effects through the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ that makes any one of us saved people.

Over two years ago I began this blog under the title Maxaira, the sword which is based on Jesus’ words in Matthew 10:34 for therein Jesus spoke to the very issue that is here under our consideration. For when men receive the truth of Jesus Christ and the Word which God has given to us, and by His grace they are saved, born again, regenerated then at that moment in time a sword falls between the individual thus saved and all humanity around that remains dead in trespasses and sins. And as Jesus so succinctly pointed out every truly born again child of God knows that sword well as it has come between them and even those who are closest to them. Oh, to be sure every day human relations will remain pretty well as they had been, but in the essential areas of life wherein choices have to be made between one’s obedience to God in Christ and walking the way of the world, the sword cuts deep and even the closest of family relations and the warmest of friendships find themselves on divergent paths. This is what happens when the new birth does take place not merely in word, but in truth and in fact. Listen carefully to this clip and learn what takes place at the single most important point in any new believer’s life.

"Finally Alive" - John Piper

Some time ago at a church that we attended for a number of years I was asked to bring a lesson to an adult Bible class on one of the major doctrines of the Word that the class was studying at that time. Being informed that I could choose one of the doctrines on a list that had not yet been considered, I looked over the possibilities before me and being the lazy kind of guy that I can be from time to time I chose the doctrine of regeneration. My rationale was simple: we all know about this “new birth” doctrine so there shouldn’t be much study and research necessary as for the most part I could speak out of my own experience and knowledge of this “simple” teaching. As I look back at that moment in time now I am shocked at my own arrogance. For while the gospel is simple, an individual study of the wondrous doctrines that make up the Word are anything but. To the average mind perusing these magnificent teachings from a surface only point of view there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot there. Of course this was my mistake. For when one gets into the “meat of the Word” and begins to consider the many facets that our Heavenly Father has there embedded we cannot help but be thrilled by the depth of truth and the riches that He has for us there. For me and subsequently my wife, this study began over five years ago and it continues to this day.

Earlier this year a very dear and well known servant of our Lord, John Piper, published a book entitled simply “Finally Alive” which is from my vantage point one of the clearest, simplest and most powerful works that I have ever come across on the doctrine of regeneration. I have read over the years literally dozens of articles, books and pamphlets on this and yet I now hold in my hand, and I encourage all who read this to obtain a copy for themselves, a truly outstanding work. It is in our day absolutely essential for Christians to understand what the new birth is all about. For the plain fact of the matter is, tens of thousands of professing believers who use the exhortation all the time, viz, “You must be born again”, really have no idea what it means and that is a tragedy of monumental proportions. John addresses this very real problem in the opening pages of his book and the facts cannot be denied unless of course you’re doing the “ostrich” thing.

As I write these words my plan is to bring to you something of a review of this excellent volume as well as I can for I have never really reviewed a book in this way before. I am buoyed up by the fact that since John has already done a series of messages on this before writing the book, I shall be leaning rather heavily on at least three YouTube clips in which he spells out quite clearly the fuller implications of what it means for a man or woman or young person to be “born again”.

Every preacher worth his salt has at one time or another done a series of messages on the elusive prophet Jonah. Pretty well all Sunday School children can tell you about this man and his bout with the “big fish”. Adult Christians know his story well and usually can re-tell it for the enjoyment of all who will listen. Unfortunately the delightful events of this account (though it’s doubtful that Jonah thought they were) usually do not include some of the deeper truths that this brief book tells. One of these truths in particular rarely get mentioned either by lay Christians or preachers of the Word, and that is – “Salvation belongs to the LORD!”

Now, yes of course we would all agree that since Jonah at the time of making this glorious statement he was soaking up the rather rancid interior of a large underwater mammal. And for a man of God as he was there was no other source for his on-going survival than the Lord his God. Where else could salvation come from? But salvation in the physical sense is certainly not the only salvation that men might know. There is that salvation of which the Bible speaks in much detail in the New Testament and that is the salvation of the souls of men from the grasp of Satan and the pit of Hell. For when this life comes to that point in time when the body ceases to perform all of its normal functions and breath is no more, what then is the outcome? There are only two destinations available: life eternal or death everlasting. If one is to know the first then salvation through faith by the life giving power of the Spirit of God in what is known simply as the new birth must be a reality in a man or woman’s life. That’s what “Finally Alive” is all about. Listen carefully as John brings this truth to the fore as he essentially does but reiterate Jonah’s marvelous words, “Salvation belongs to the LORD!” Please note as John specifies – this is an unsettling truth.

"I only read the articles!"

Over the years I have seen what we might best term from a Christian perspective quite a few “secular” movies. Many of them I have enjoyed quite a bit; many of them have been bad from a number of different viewpoints. In just about all of them one cannot help but see something of that which we refer to as the evidence of man’s fall. Because of the Fall, that is his fall from a position of perfection in the eyes of God to one of sin or lawlessness which we find described so well in the book of Genesis man has what we have come to recognize as a fallen nature, i.e., from birth he has but one propensity and that is to do everything which is contrary to the will and purpose of God his Creator. Now that is not to say that man no longer has any interest in ‘God’ or religion, for above all living creatures on the face of this planet man is most religious; he has a multitude of gods that daily he bows down to and all with but one goal in mind: to make life in this world as comfortable for himself as he can make it. Period.

The interesting thing is that so very often men in their purported religiosity find themselves involved with or under the influence of some very religious institutions or bodies of religious adherents. Sometimes this happens because they are born into families where religion of one kind or another has been the mainstay of the family heritage. Hence small children grow up “believing” that their particular religious upbringing has been, is and probably always will be the only one worthy of any attention whatsoever. All others are total and complete fallacies and should not be considered as having any basis in truth at all.

Over the past fifty years or so religion has been featured almost to the point of stardom in quite a large number of motion pictures put out not only by Hollywood but a number of foreign countries as well. England too with its very religious heritage has seen fit in these days to incorporate alleged Christian themes or sub-themes into films with the purpose, no doubt, of bringing at least on the surface a sense of the moral which religion is supposed to typify. For many movie watchers the result of this has been quite varied depending on how religion or the church or more specifically, Christianity is depicted. One of the areas that religion is most often called upon is in the matter of someone’s death in the film. Following the death of a major or supposedly well beloved character a scene is inserted which deals with the individuals being interred, buried or whatever. There is a “clergyman” present to make some summary statements about the person being buried and then, almost perfunctorily, this man of the cloth asks God to accept this person into His kingdom based not on the man or woman’s good works, or nice character or loving nature but on the basis of Christ and the “hope of the sure and certain resurrection of the dead” as if after all just about everyone is going to “make it” anyway. Of course Hitler, Stalin and all the mass murderers won’t be there for obvious reasons. But this dear soul while certainly far from perfect in anyone’s eyes could surely not fit this category so for those listening in on this funereal soliloquy this dear departed one is pretty well a shoe in, as they say. And if he/she can make it then the rest of us have it made.

A few months ago I happened to stumble upon a rather interesting little video that initially I found, if nothing else, quite amusing for a number of reasons some of which you may chuckle at as well. It appears to be more or less professionally produced by a Christian group that even in this rather whimsical style carries across a message that in the final analysis has a fair bit of clout to it. The circumstances that portray this message do not have any Scriptural support but then I don’t believe they were meant to. What they do portray however is a message that is exactly contrary to all that the world believes in terms of a person’s entry into either Heaven or Hell. Surveys of course have been taken over the years more times than one can adequately count with the idea in mind, I suppose, to gain an understanding of what “Joe Average” believes or pretends to believe in terms of what is required of any ordinary human being to gain access into the “life hereafter”. Most folk have the idea as do the individuals (save one) in the video that one’s works or good behavior or activities in counteracting their bad deeds with supposed good ones will in the final analysis make them “good enough” to get in. None of them make it. And while one or two of them don’t appear all that surprised others are shocked and cannot possibly understand why it is that all that “good stuff” did not stand them in better stead with the powers that be.

The last man in line does finally come to that place where his “file” is open for inspection. Initially his file is looked down upon as not bearing much weight in the final determination and as he is asked to step up for his assessment the inquirer, I suppose St. Peter, is tapped on the shoulder and given a new file in the old one’s place. Well, I won’t put any more spoiler in at this juncture. Consider carefully how this brief video culminates. Perhaps you could then ask yourself what so many others have been asked, “On what basis should you be allowed in to Heaven … or not??”