We Know Not the Stench of Our Own Breath

Have you ever walked into a room and immediately your nostrils filled with the odor of something strange and unpleasant? Have you ever remarked to a person already in that room of the smell, only to have them say that they could smell nothing? Our sense of smell becomes acclimated to our environment in such a way that we are not able to discern the odors around us. Only until we have left the room or house for a period of time and walked back in are we able to smell what is really there. On one of our annual camping trips a few years ago we struggled with constant winds, which made it difficult to enjoy the campfires that the kids love so much. During one of our trips into Helen, we walked into one of the shops and the clerk behind the desk immediately cried out, “You guys must be camping!” Even though we could not tell it ourselves, we smelled like smoke because of our close proximity to the campfire.

In the same way,  we often do not realize what is coming out of our own mouths because we are so used to it. In the Crossway book, The Power of Words and the Wonder of God, Sinclair Ferguson writes…

The tongue carries into the world the breath that issues from the heart.

Alas, we do not realize how powerful for evil the tongue is because we are so accustomed to its polluting influence. En route to give [an] address, I rode the hotel elevator with several others. On one floor the elevator stopped, the doors opened, and a woman entered the confined space. The doors closed, and I suspect everyone in the elevator almost instantaneously had the same thought, “She has been smoking!” In this confined “smoke-free” environment her breath could not be disguised.

So, says Jesus, the tongue projects the thoughts and intentions of the heart. It is from within, “out of the heart”, that the mouth speaks. But like the smoker, so accustomed to the odor, the atmosphere in which they live, the person with polluted speech has little or no sense of it – no sense that they exhale bad breath every time they speak. – P.49

Beauty Will Rise – Steven Curtis Chapman

This is the new album from Chapman, his first since the tragic death of his daughter, Maria. I am on the official Steven Curtis Chapman web site and have been listening to the title track  and Heaven is the Face (these two can be heard in their entirety) as I write this. It is clear that this work is no frills, honest, direct, transparent, heart-wrenching, and extremely edifying. The testimony of this family following their horrific loss screams the grace of God in their lives. They surely model that God is truly the God of all comfort. No doubt I will be getting this whole album, and very soon.

This is a description off the web site:

BEAUTY WILL RISE is a collection of 12 new and profound songs from Steven Curtis Chapman. Created in the past 18 months in the walk through the darkness of the loss of his daughter Maria, and while continues to meet him there on the journey. Part lament, part praise, part grief, part hope, part wrestling, part pondering; these tracks resonate as Steven’s personal Psalms. It is a desperately hopeful, raw, personal and honest recording that is likely the most important of his already incredible 20 plus year ministry.

Beauty Will Rise is available HERE. The following video is a brief introduction to the album by Chapman…

The Balance Between Prophet and Shepherd

“A ministry that is all prophetic all the time will wear down a congregation. It will eventually defeat a congregation. A ministry that is all sympathetic all the time will coddle the congregation straight into the deadly pastures of unwarranted self-assurance and the false pastures of self-security. A pastor who would be a theologian knows when and how to be both convicting prophet and comforting good shepherd.” – Stephen J. Nichols

This was from a lecture  by Nichols at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary titled, Proclaiming the Image: Theology and Preaching. I will probably be posting other quotes from this lecture, along with the entire audio each time as well. Good stuff…

Has R.C. Sproul Ever Been on the Internet

Click on the image below to find out…

The Rod Tidwell I-Love-Everybody God

If you don’t know who Rod Tidwell is, then you probably don’t recognize the famous line in Jerry Maguire, “Show me the money”, uttered by Cuba Gooding, Jr. as he tried to get Tom Cruise’s character, Jerry Maguire, fired up about being his football agent. At the end of the movie, Jerry does come through for Rod, resulting in a multi-million dollar contract. Tidwell’s response in the movie during a TV interview was as follows:

I love everybody!
I love my wife! Marcee!
I love my kids.
Tyson and my new baby.
My older brother and
my younger brother Tee Pee.
You’re militant, but I love you.
I love my teammates…

Rod closes his remarks by making a special statement directed at his agent, Jerry Maguire, and expressing a unique fondness for and relationship with Maguire. Now, no one can doubt Tidwell’s excitement at that moment, but it is obvious that he is going a little over the top with his love for “everybody”. Clearly, his love for his wife is different than that for his kids, which is different than the love he has for his brothers, which is different yet again from his love for his teammates, which is certainly different than his special love for his agent.

My point is simply this: For those who insist on declaring that God loves everybody, you must be prepared to make distinctions of what you mean by the word ‘love’, or else you risk making your statement (and God’s love) as meaningless as Tidwell’s was in the movie.

If by ‘love’ you mean that God does bestow blessings even upon those bound for hell (vessels of wrath prepared for destruction – Romans 9:22), then that must be clearly defined because those blessings (sun, rain, money, family, life, etc.) are merely temporal, fleeting things. If that is to be classified as God’s love, it is most definitely nothing but a vapor, as it will be gone, when compared to eternity, in the blink of an eye. Yes, Esau was blessed by God with earthly blessings, but God still “hated” Esau. Should that really be classified as love?

This is a bit of a risk, since I have not done a thorough study on this yet, but I would like to see from Scripture, if it exists, where God declares that He loves everyone. I know it can be found in our songs (Jesus Loves The Little Children), and in our evangelism (Jesus loves you and has a plan for your life), but is it in the Word of God? I look forward to seeing if it is…

Quick Reminder: God Does Not Love Everyone

Sorry to be such a downer, but the universality and non-exclusivity of today’s Christian mind is staggering. Today’s Christian sees “world” in places like John 3:16 and concludes that God loves everyone, and that that love for everyone is why He sent His Son to die. Friends, universal love is no love at all, just like grace given to all is not grace. As Syndrome says in The Incredibles when he speaks of his plan to make everyone like a super hero, “Everyone can be super! And when everyone’s super…no one will be.” It is amazing how the world so often gets this truth, but Christians do not.

Some things to think about in light of this widespread notion that God loves everyone:

Did God love Esau?

Did God love the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites?

Does “world” mean every human being? That word often references only believers in Scripture.

Here is one example: “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” – John 1:29.

Here is another: “For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” – John 6:33.

And another: “that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” – 2 Cor. 5:19

Did Jesus take away the sin of every human being? Did He give life to every human being? Did He reconcile every human being to Himself? World does not have to mean every person, and rarely (if ever) does it mean every person. John 3:16 uses the word ‘kosmos’ which is translated ‘world’, but Scripture is clear that God has a special people for Himself, and it is only those people for whom Christ came and died and rose again.

What does the fact that God does not love every person do to your understanding of Him? If the thought of that truth rocks your world, then perhaps you might benefit from a little reading in the Old Testament and see how God handled men, women and, yes, even little babies who He did not love.

Voddie Baucham Now on Sermon Audio

If you are not yet a fan of Voddie Baucham, you need to become one. If you already are a fan, then you will be glad to know that his sermons and messages are now available on the Sermon Audio web site. Voddie is an elder at Grace Family Baptist Church outside of Houston, TX, and is the author of several books, including What He Must Be If He Wants to Marry My Daughter. You can also check him out on his Truth in Love blog. Voddie confronts the present-day church status quo from a biblical perspective. He will edify and challenge you. Give him a listen. You can access the Sermon Audio site for Voddie by clicking on the image, or by following the link under my “Sheepcasts” heading in the left-hand sidebar.

Why the Prosperity Gospel is an Abomination

Name-it-and-claim-it…health-and-wealth…blab-it-and-grab-it…speak-it-and-seek-it…word-of-faith…it comes in many different names, but it is all the same heresy. It is all the same false gospel. It is all an abomination before God. Here is John Piper explaining why it is, in fact, another gospel preaching another Jesus:

The Jesus Most Christians Don’t Know (Part III)

Many Christians think of Jesus as a fair-haired, soft-spoken, open-to-all teacher who did anything He could to reach those around Him. How curious it is, then, to learn that He purposefully hid saving truths to certain people. Jesus would teach certain things in coded language specifically so that only certain people would hear and understand. Don’t take just my word for it. Let’s hear Jesus Himself explain what He was doing:

a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables…And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that they may indeed see but not perceive,and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven. – Mark 4:1-2, 10-12

What? This has got to be a mistake! You mean to tell me that Jesus was purposefully hiding truth to certain people because if He did not hide it they would have understood and repented and believed? Surely this is just an isolated account of this type of action by Jesus? Not so! It is recorded in all four gospels, and even referenced by Paul in Romans! Here are Paul’s incredible remarks of this strange thing Jesus was doing to hide the truth:

In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; just as it is written, “GOD GAVE THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR, EYES TO SEE NOT AND EARS TO HEAR NOT, DOWN TO THIS VERY DAY.” – Romans 11:5-8

That really is incredible…that God would intentionally hide the truth to certain people. Why would He do this if He was going to have Jesus die for everyone, as so many within the Christian community believe today? And why would Jesus not reveal Himself to everyone if he was going to die for them? Consider these truths from the mouth of the Savior:

For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. – John 5:21

And again…

All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. – Matthew 11:27

That is incredible! You mean to tell me that the ones who know the Father, the One true God, are only those to whom the Son has willed Him to be revealed? Does this bother you? Is this the Jesus you know and love? Does this go against everything you have learned about who God is and what the Son did on this earth, and for whom He did it? Don’t shoot the messenger. It’s all there for you to go read for yourself. This is the Jesus most Christians don’t know.

Be Not Content to Agree to Disagree

One of the things I have come to be so completely tired of is hearing people use the following reason for ceasing a discussion on a topic in which someone disagrees with them: “We are not going to change each other’s mind on this, so let’s just agree to disagree…”, or, “Greater minds than ours have differed on this topic, so we are just spinning our wheels to even discuss this…”

Wrong! We are not spinning our wheels, and we must not agree to disagree. Truth does exist, and we must be diligent to pursue it. Consider these words from the Prince of Preachers a few years back:

Speak you now of doctrine? Are there not two kinds of doctrines professed among Christians, the one Arminian, and the other Calvinistic? We cannot be both right; it is impossible.

The Arminian says, “God loves all men alike.”

“Not so,” says the Calvinist. “He has proved to many of us by his free and distinguishing grace that he has given us more than others, not for the merit of our deservings, but according to the riches of his mercy, and the counsel of his own will.”

The Arminian supposes, that Christ hath bought all men with his blood, and yet that multitudes of these redeemed ones perish. The Calvinist holds, that none can perish for whom Jesus diedthat his blood was never shed in vain and that of all those whom he hath redeemed, none shall ever perish.

The Arminian teaches that though a man should be regenerated and become a child of God to-day, he may to-morrow be cast out of the covenant, and be as much a child of the devil as if no spiritual change had been wrought in him. “Not so,” says the Calvinist, “Salvation is of God alone, and where once he begins he never leaves off, until he has finished the good work.”…

I have fervent charity towards every brother in Christ who differs from me. I love him for Christ’s sake, and hold fellowship with him for the truth’s sake: but I can have no charity for his errors, nor do I wish him to have any for mine. I tell him straight to his face, “If your sentiments contradict mine, either I am right and you are wrong, or you are right and I am wrong; and it is time we should meet together and search the Word of God, to see what is right.” – Spurgeon, 2/13/1859

Do not be content to use as an excuse the weak position that you are not going to change anyone’s mind, or that the truth is too obscure to be known. The truth is knowable – on every point of theology, on every area of doctrine. Jesus prayed for us in this way, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17) The only way to truly be sanctified is by the truth. And the only way to know the truth is to pursue it in God’s Word. Agree to disagree? Where’s that in Scripture?