The Immutability of God

God is totally unchanging. This is comes out of His aseity (self-existence).  When the Bible addresses God’s immutability, it means, “that perfection of God by which He is devoid of all change, not only in His perfect Being, but also in His perfections (i.e. attributes), as well as His purposes and promises.”

God is not becoming. He is above this. God is not growing.  There is no such thing in the Godhead. God is not decaying.  Far from it. God is constant, perfect, complete, lacking in nothing.

God’s knowledge and plans, His moral principles and volitions remain forever the same.  There is no change possible with God since it is impossible for Him to become better or to become worse. Therefore, in God, the characteristic of improvement and deterioration are both equally impossible.

Now for the Bible passages:

Exodus 3:14:  God replied to Moses, “I am who i am.  Say this to the people of Israel: I am has sent me to you.”

God is the great “I Am,” not “I will be,” or “I was.”

Psalm 102:26-27:  They will perish, but you remain forever; they will wear out like old clothing. You will change them like a garment and discard them.  ²⁷ But you are always the same; you will live forever.  (See also Heb. 1:11-12). 

Man dies and changes, but God lives forever and remains the same.

Isaiah 41:4:  “Who has done such mighty deeds, summoning each new generation from the beginning of time? It is I, the Lord, the First and the Last. I alone am he.” (Also see Isaiah 48:12).

When time began, God was there. When time ends, God will present. He is alone in claiming this.  There is no one immutable like Him.

Malachi 3:6: “I am the Lord, and I do not change.”   

God also does not lie (Titus 1:2). So only He could make this kind of statement and it to be totally factual.

James 1:17:  Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.  

Shadows change shape and direction depending on the object it proceeds from. Not so with God. He is changeless.

“Yeah, but Pastor Rich, how do you explain the incarnation?  If God became a man like the Bible tells us, then that would surely account for a change in God.”

Remember that divine immutability should not be understood as implying immobility, as if there were no movement in God.  Jesus said this, “My Father is always working” (John 5:17).  The Bible teaches that God enters into various relationships with man, living their life with them.  Therefore, there is a change that occurs around God, in relation of men to God, but there is no change in God Himself.

The purpose to create, to send His beloved Son, to live among man was eternal with God.  This purpose did not foreshadow a change in God or necessitate one. When God became a man (the incarnation – through the birth of Jesus), no change was brought in the Being of God. Taking on a human nature was an addition to God that was eternally present and planned, but simply manifested when the right moment occurred.

“Okay, but what about those passages that speak of God repenting or changing His mind?” (Exod. 32:10-14; Jonah 3:10). Those passages that talk about God changing His mind are merely an anthropomorphic way of enabling us to understand the divine. Actually, when you think about it, the change is not in God that occurs, but in man in His relationship to God. This is why we can pray and God will answer our prayers according to His will. God’s relationship to us in moving on our behalf does not constitute a change in His nature.

Those who believe in Open Theism, a teaching that God does change, especially in His knowledge ought to be ashamed to even call themselves Christians.  They know not what they say. 

The Self-Existence of God

God exist all by Himself.  Theologians refer to this as God’s aseity—the doctrine of God’s self-existence. Aseity is the view that God is entirely self-sufficient and not dependent or contingent upon anything else. In other words, He is the eternal, independent, and personal cause of the universe.

God has all the ground needed to exist completely, fully and absolutely in Himself.  God is not dependent on anyone or anything outside of Himself for His existence.  You might say that God is His own cause. But even this expression is not fully accurate, since God is “uncaused” who exists by the necessity of His own Being.  Man existence is dependent on what is outside of himself, namely, God. 

But there is more than the above.  When the Bible teaches that God is independent in Himself, it also implies that He causes everything outside of Himself to be dependent on Him.  The idea of being self-existence finds its expression in the name Jehovah.  You see, it is only as the self-existent and independent One that God can give full assurance that He will remain eternally the same in relation to His people.  This is why the Bible teaches that God never changes (Mal. 3:6; James 1:17; Heb. 13:8). 

Below are some passages from the Bible. I will give them and make comments along the way:

John 5:24 – “ The Father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life-giving power to his Son. ²⁷ And he has given him authority to judge everyone because he is the Son of Man” – This is a declaration from the lips of Jesus showing that the Father is absolutely independent of all things and that all things exists only through Him.

Psalm 94:8-11:  “Think again, you fools! When will you finally catch on?
⁹ Is he deaf—the one who made your ears? Is he blind—the one who formed your eyes?
¹⁰ He punishes the nations—won’t he also punish you? He knows everything—doesn’t he also know what you are doing? ¹¹ The Lord knows people’s thoughts; he knows they are worthless!”  In other words, although we are made in God’s image and share in some of His traits, we must remember that what we possess on a finite level, God possesses on an infinite level.

Isaiah 40:18-20: “To whom can you compare God? What image can you find to resemble him? ¹⁹ Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold, overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains? ²⁰ Or if people are too poor for that, they might at least choose wood that won’t decay and a skilled craftsman to carve an image that won’t fall down!”   If you want an accurate view of what God is like, don’t look at natural revelation (the things that are made), look at special revelation (the Scriptures themselves).

Only a self-existent, personal God for whom non-existence is impossible can adequately explain the design, purpose, causality, and personality evident in the universe.  In other words, apart from God, life will not make sense and it will be void of meaning. 

Our Diet Is For Babies, Pt. 1

Series:  What is wrong with church?

A.W. Tozer puts his finger on one of the main issues that is wrong with the church:

“There is today no lack of Bible teachers to set forth correctly the principles of the doctrine of Christ, but too many of these seem satisfied to teach the fundamentals of the faith year after year, strangely unaware that there is in their ministry no manifest Presence, nor anything unusual in their personal lives. They minister constantly to believers who feel within their breast a longing which their teaching simply does not satisfy.”

Have you ever heard the phrase:  “preaching to the choir?”  It means, “preaching to the converted.”  The idea is that it is pointless to try to make believers out of people who already believe, or to try to convince people who are already convinced! It is indeed a waste of time and energy.  The secular phrase would be, “kicking at an open door.”  There is simply no point in trying to convert Christians – they are already converted!

How does a person become converted? By responding in a positive way to the gospel. He or she opens their heart and says, “YES” to Jesus. Although our punishment is death and hell for our sins, the gospel is the good news that Jesus paid for our sins on the cross and all we need to do is to receive the gift of His amazing grace.  We simply repent of our sins and receive Jesus into our lives as our Lord and Savior.  He then forgives us of our sins and grants us eternal life as a gift.  How good is that?  The gospel is the absolute foundation of our Christian faith. It is a message we give to unbelievers in order to convince them of their need of a Savior.   Everyone who has been a Christian for sometime should know this.

So what would happen if we went to a church full of mature Christians who have been saved for 5, 10, 15 or more years and discovered that the pastor was preaching this same foundational gospel message to them week-in and week-out?  Surely we would say, “Hey this preacher is preaching to the choir.  He is wasting his time and energy, and on top of that, he is wasting our time as well. Why is he spending so much time trying to convince me that I need to be saved when I am saved?”

It is been my own personal experience, right from the time I entered Bible college, that pastors are preaching to the choir. Some pastors believe that if the message of Jesus and Him crucified is not preached on Sunday mornings then it is not a valid message or a biblical sermon.

And so this is what happens on Sundays.  Christians go to a church to hear a message they already know and accept, from a pastor who already knows they know it, and knows they accept it.  And what is even more strange is that if these Christians become disgruntled over hearing information that they already know and accept, then something terribly is wrong with them!

Thus church has turned into an exercise of perfecting the art of preaching to the choir.

End of Part 1

Church Fatigue, Part 4

Since many are feeling bored, restless and fatigue in their churches, is there not a much deeper spiritual problem with such people?

You see, all those negative statistics that has to do with the decline of the institutional church are hiding something important:  Many of those who are walking away are not doing so as back-sliders or because of a crisis of faith – quite the opposite – they are walking away because they are looking for something more meaningful.  More authentic.  They are looking for more of Jesus; not less.  They are not finding him in stale, routine services, they’ve simply gone looking for him outside of the four walls of the institutional church.

Ed Stetzer, director of the Center For Missional Research at the North American Mission Board has discovered that a growing number of people are finding Christian discipleship and community in places other than their local church buildings. His study found that an astonishing 24.5% of such Americans now say their primary form of spiritual nourishment is meeting with a small group of 20 or less people every week. Stetzer says, "About 6 million people meet weekly with a small group and never or rarely go to church services. There is a significant movement happening."

What this survey is suggesting that is people are leaving their local churches in order to find Jesus! They are meeting informally in small groups and have no desire to go back to the old routine.

Not only is the template not working for us, it's not working for the world either. People look at church now with extreme cynicism and suspicion. Relevant Magazine polled a range of non-Christians between the ages of 16-29 and discovered that between 70-91% of them thought the church could primarily be defined as judgmental, hypocritical, old-fashioned, too political, out of touch with reality and insensitive to others. These were the traits they most associated with Christianity.

What we must do, therefore, is ask some serious question:  “What went wrong?”  “How did a church with the most serious compelling message for the world to hear get so far off course?”

I think we got to spend some time “stripping the church” of her routines, baggages, and so-called sacred traditions and then clothe her with biblical Holy Ghost formation.

The church looks and behaves too much like the world and too much like the dying and dead churches we read about in Revelation 2-3. I don’t think many people even know what they are missing because they do not know what the church is to look and function like.

In our next series, let’s spend some time “un-dressing” the church.

End of Series

Church Fatigue, Part 3

Although there is a growing minority of Christians who are restless and bored with their church (some will not come out and voice it, but you can see it on their faces), the Holy Spirit, nevertheless, is at work.

Here’s why. Boredom with the status quo is causing the restless church to examine itself in ways that it has not since the time of the Reformation. This is really good! Restlessness is concerned not just with the people in the pews, but pastors in the pulpits who are also waking up to their own reexamination and to question old formulas and the traditional templates that have been used for months and years in their churches without any variation or creative implementation.

Some are beginning to ask, “What if we do not have to meet at 11am, with two songs, greeting, awkward handshakes, one song, communion, offering, sermon, closing song, and dismissal? What if this template is not sacred after all? This inner restlessness is causing those of us who are bored to look into the Bible for answers.

I love what Neil Cole said: “Many people are longing for a greater cause. They are no longer content with ‘church as usual.’  They read of the church in the New Testament, and their curiosity is piqued. The New Testament accounts are far removed from their experience every week. They hear contemporary stories of the church expanding rapidly in parts of China and India, and their hearts soar.”

I love this and here’s why. You see, thirst is uncomfortable but it’s the discomfort that causes us to go looking for water.  Likewise, hunger is uncomfortable, but it’s the discomfort that causes us to go looking for food. Being restless in the church is certainly uncomfortable – week after week after week – but it’s the discomfort that the Holy Spirit is creating in us to go looking into the Bible for solutions and answers. We are wondering why the scene and experiences in the New Testament are far removed from what we have today.  We notice almost immediately that there is something far different in the Book of Acts that we have not been noticing in our own churches and it’s starting to bother us.

Why is it that when we read in the Book of Acts, church seems to be so thrilling, real, authentic and powerful, but in our own church experiences we are faced with having to endure such dull, fake, hypocritical and weak formulas from traditions that have cobwebs hanging from them? Therefore, it is the restlessness that we are having to deal with that is causing us to dive deep into the Bible and look for answers.  The discomfort we feel is not pleasant, but the Holy Spirit is surely using it.

End of Part 3

Church Fatigue, Part 2

All around the country, Christians are experiencing church fatigue. They are not bored with Jesus, they are bored with rituals, traditions and routines. It seems like on Sundays, very little thought is put into the service – and it shows!

The problem is though many are restless, they just don’t know what else to do. Last time I shared what Jennifer Taylor said in her blog. Here is a pastor’s reply:

""Jennifer, I know and feel exactly what you're talking about. (Here's the usual disclaimer) I'm not a 30-something. I'm a 50-something. Now here's the UNusual disclaimer. I'm the senior-minister-preacher-worship-minister for our congregation. I'm the guy who is in charge of making it all happen each week. And much of the time, I MYSELF am bored senseless with what we do. I have a masters degree in worship ministry, from a program full of very hip California-types, who are all about "engaging worship" and such. And yet I experienced the same boredom in so many places where I've visited, from coast to coast. Every week is a struggle to make things more interesting, more engaging, more fulfilling - but just about each week, I fall into the same formula, the same songs, the same lineup and order and blah blah blah. Some weeks, it works. Some weeks, it doesn't."

The church in the West has been set in stone for such a long time doing the same old traditional formula, that we have succumb to the place where we do not even know what it means and why we are doing it. If we do not follow the same age-old template, we wouldn’t know what else to do.  And so pastors like this one working within this traditional age-old template, believing the template to be sacred and immovable, cannot visualize any alternative – like try to move things around a little bit; change the running orders, jazz things up more, and introduce some new songs – anything but the same old boring routine.  Since the template cannot be changed, pastors and worship leaders simply embrace it and step into another boring moment in the twilight zone.

In the mean time, the church remains restless and many stop coming looking for other alternatives.

Jennifer Taylor quoted Brett McCracken in blog as saying that 70% of young adults between 18-22 are turning their backs on church. The Western church is declining at a rapid rate. I read where less than 20% of Americans now regularly attend church services. If this kind of trend continues, church attendance in 2050 will be half of what it was in 1990. Only about 6% of Western churches are growing faster than the population growth surrounding it.  This means that the formal church as a whole is losing lots of ground. People are simply bored and are walking away from it.

When the church is hemorrhaging so much of its members, and those that remain loyal are become restless, we can only conclude that something terrible has gone wrong.

But is the church without hope? Is she destined for utter failure and final destruction? These trends would cause one to think so, but I believe there is hope.  In fact, behind the scenes the Holy Spirit is at work!

End of Part 2

Church Fatigue, Part 1

Have you ever felt like you were experiencing church fatigue? Same old stuff, week in and week out. As you start to feel weary of going to church and even begin to think of other things to do on Sundays, you get that feeling inside, “Oh no, I am beginning to backslide!”  But are you really?

Jennifer Tylor captures the inner struggle we face when we begin to experience “church fatigue.”   Read her words carefully. Do you find yourself in her experience?

I have a confession to make. 

I’m tired of going to church.

After 34 years of weekly attendance I’m bored, bored with long sermons and the two uptempo/one slow song liturgy of our megachurch worship. I’m bored with gymnatoriums and rambling communion meditations and the tasteless cardboard bread pellets that follow. I’m bored with announcement times for ladies luncheons and small groups and choir sign-ups. I’m bored with the same cliched phrases in the same spoken prayers offered at the same routine times.

I’m bored.

I know all the reasons to attend church services. But honestly, most Sundays at noon I think about other ways I could have spent the morning. Reading the New York Times with a pot of coffee, or hiking through the woods, or enjoying restorative sleep, or putzing around my kitchen trying a new recipe—these all seem more fun, productive, and restful than spending several hours at church.

It’s not about being entertained. As Brett McCracken wrote in his great Wall Street Journal article last week, 70% of adults 18-22 aren’t leaving church because it’s not “cool” enough.

“As a twentysomething, I can say with confidence that when it comes to church, we don’t want cool as much as we want real,” he writes. “If we are interested in Christianity in any sort of serious way, it is not because it’s easy or trendy or popular. It’s because Jesus himself is appealing and what he says rings true.”

So I’m not looking for a slicker sermon series or a faux-hawked worship leader or designer coffee in the back lobby. And for those of you who are my parents (hi guys!), I’m not pulling an Anne Rice and rejecting the Church universal or leaving the faith. I’m not even having a crisis of faith.

I’m just bored.

Because I also believe you make a commitment to one local church and invest in community with those believers long-term, I’m not going to start shopping for a new church. Besides, all those churches would also have long sermons and rambling prayers and worship leaders in skinny jeans. That’s the problem.

I also believe the writer of Hebrews was wise when he cautioned, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another.” I just don’t find weekly church attendance that encouraging anymore. In addition to its predictability, I have plenty of friends who also attend church each weekend and then get drunk, live with their boyfriends, or swear the air blue. In the south, church attendance is traditional. It is a habit, and one that doesn’t in itself produce life change.

So I’m sincerely unsure of the solution. Church, with two songs/greeting/awkward handshakes/one song/communion/offering/sermon/two songs/dismissal, is how our culture does Christianity. And I’m ready for something else.

Jennifer Is Not Alone

What Jennifer is describing is church fatigue. You and I will be surprised as to how many others feel the same way. We’re simply bored with the status quo.  It is as if each service contains very little thought put it into it. Very little thought and very little prayer.  There is a restlessness because of the predictability, the traditions and the liturgical routines. 

You look around and most of the people are there, but are not there. They sit, stand, sing, with little to no emotions, almost robotic. There seems to be a lack of righteousness and real change taking place in those who attend Sunday services. This is because the Sunday services are not designed to change anyone. It is designed to hold you there – captive if you will, only to release you while they tally up the numbers and submit them to the denominational headquarters.  

Church services seem to be more concerned with images than with real authenticity. I am certain that the people there are like me – craving for something more dynamic, more real and effective. We want to see, hear and experience JESUS!  He is anything but boring and routine.  But all we get are the same old kinds of trappings that create within us “church fatigue.”

Of course, people will say that we are nothing more than whinny victims of our consumer culture. And of course, who has never heard the old line that, “No church is perfect,” so the idea is that we ought to plough on regardless of the way we feel.

But seriously, Jennifer is speaking on behalf of many, many voices and hearts that’s becoming a growing minority.  There is this growing feeling that we are missing out on something valuable and needful from our church experience. The people in the church are getting restless and no one in leadership seems to notice or care.

End of Part 1

“And lead us not into temptation” – Should this be changed?

Pope Francis wants to change a portion of the “Lord’s Prayer” to mean something else.

The issue is in regards Matthew 6:13: “And do not lead us into temptation” seems to suggest that God is seen as responsible for an individual falling into temptation.  Pope Francis suggests this change: “Don’t let us go into temptation.”   At least with this change (he thinks), it seems to convey that God is not the one who causes people to sin.

While I can see the concern, we should keep in mind what was said of Jesus went He was tempted by the devil.

Matthew 4:1: “And Jesus was led up by the Spirit (God) into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”

Luke 4:1-2:  “And Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan was led about by the Spirit (God) in the wilderness for forty days being tempted by the devil.”

As you can plainly see, both passages show that God directly led Jesus to the devil to be tempted.   Therefore, does this mean that God wanted Jesus to sin?

Check out how Mark words it: Mark 1:12-13:  “And immediately the Spirit (God) impelled Him (Jesus) to go into the wilderness.  And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan. . .”

The word “impelled” that Mark uses in his gospel means “to drive.” Thus is could be translated, “The Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”  Here the sense is more forceful than the word “led.”

Here’s something else to consider.  The word “temptation” comes from the Greek word, “peirasmon,” which can be translated, “testing” (cf. 1 Peter 4:12) “temptation” (cf. Matt. 6:13; 26:41; Mark 14:38) or “trials” (James 1:12).  Context determines which is used.

In other words, “peirasmon” is a neutral word.  It can refer to something positive, such as being “tested” or entering to a “trial.”  It can refer to something negative, such as “temptation.”

The difference between a “test” and “temptation” is noteworthy.  “Temptation” means “a solicitation to do evil.”  Whereas the word “test” means, “to analyze or example” the quality of one’s faith or character, whichever part is being tested.

So the context determines now “peirasmon” is used. In Matthew 6:13, temptation is a good translation.  But when you compare this word on how it’s used in the rest of the Bible, what Jesus is saying is, “protect” us when we are tempted by evil. 

Here let me explain the prayer this way:  “God, when I enter into a ‘trial’ or

‘test,’ please help me not to allow it to turn into a temptation to do evil.”

God does test His people (Gen. 22:1; Deut. 8:2, 16).  He uses “trials” as a means to “test our faith” so as to produce endurance, so that we may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4).

So, I believe the wording, “lead us not into temptation,” simply means, “when we enter into a test, lead and protect us from allowing the test (that’s meant to build our character) to change into a temptation (as a solicitation) to do evil.”

What is needed is not the change the wording of Scriptures, but to better explain them. 

President Trump’s Gift To Christians

Many evangelical Christians are rejoicing over President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to begin planning to move the U.S. Embassy there from Tel Aviv. The decision has sparked uproar among Muslim nations, but not just them, but also in Europe and China. 

The decision to do this was a strategic move on the part of Trump whether he realized it or not.  Now more than ever, the world waits for the man of sin, aka – the Antichrist to appear to set up a peace treaty with Israel among the Muslim nations.

Daniel 9:27:  The ruler (the antichrist.  The Book of Revelation calls him the Beast – Rev. 13) will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven (i.e. for seven years). 

This peace pack is designed to bring stability to the Middle East and to put the nations of the world at ease. But this peace pack with Israel won’t last the full seven years. At the middle of the seven years, the Beast breaks his promise and “puts an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration,  until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him” (Dan. 9:27).

In other words, the beast will enter the capital city of Israel, Jerusalem, and inaugurate himself as God (2 Thess. 2:4). 

But here is another important item to zero in on. Bible prophecy shows that before Christ returns, sacrifices will begin again in a holy place – a temple rebuilt in Jerusalem (and that a world-dominating religious authority will stop them). Christ prophesied that “the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, [would be] standing in the holy place” (Matthew 24:15). He was referring to Daniel 11:31, which said: “Then they shall take away the daily sacrifices (in the temple), and place there the abomination of desolation” (a picture of the antichrist who sets himself up as God).

It’s possible and probable that religious Jews will have a much stronger desire and determination now more than ever to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem now that the U.S. has officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. But, surprisingly, offering sacrifices doesn’t necessarily require the presence of a temple. See, for example, what the Jews did under the leadership of Ezra (Ezra 3:1-3). They simply set up an altar and began to offer sacrifices on it.

However, the apostle Paul did refer to “the man of sin,” an actual person who claims to be God in the flesh sitting in the “temple of God” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4). If “temple of God” is to be taken literally here (and I believe it should), then this would imply the temple will be rebuilt.

Now, the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem where Jews will perform their religious sacrifices and the coming of the Beast where he will use the temple in Jerusalem as the place to set himself up as deity – all will occur during the Tribulation Period that shall come upon the whole world (Rev. 3:10), all of which occurs after the Rapture of the Church. Therefore, if the events for the Tribulation are already in place that occurs after the Rapture of the Church, then the Rapture itself is near – very near! 

Even so come, Lord Jesus! (Rev. 22:20). 

Random Thoughts on Forgiveness, Pt 2

Random Thoughts on Forgiveness, Pt 2

The Unpardonable Sin

When talking about forgiveness and the need to forgive, we need to also remember that there is a sin that God does not forgive at all.

For example, let’s not forget that the one sin, God does not forgive is referred to as the “unpardonable sin” (Matt. 12:31, 32; Mark 3:28-30; Luke 12:10). 

The act of the Pharisees which led Jesus to speak of the unpardonable sin was the attributing of a good deed wrought by Him through the Spirit of God (Matthew 12:28) to Beelzebub (Satan). No one could do such a thing unless his moral nature was completely warped. To such a person the fundamental distinctions between good and evil were completely obliterated. They were blind to the core and there was no hope of repentance. No ordinary appeal could reach such a person. For to him good seemed evil and evil seemed good. The possibility of winning him back is practically gone; hence, he is beyond the hope of forgiveness, because in a spiritual sense, God had “abandoned” him (“gave them over,” Rom. 1:24, 26, 28) to the doom of their own sinful nature. Here the person places himself beyond the possibility of attaining to that state of mind which is the essential condition for divine forgiveness.

In essence, what is the unpardonable sin? It is “unbelief.”  This is the one sin that sends people to hell.  Jesus said, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

It is important to note that the prerogative to not forgive a particular sin is God’s choosing, not ours. All sin is against God (Psalm 51:4).  But it is also important to note that God does not forgive all sin, for the unpardonable sin is a prime example.

Moreover, never ever think that you have committed the unpardonable sin (the sin of unbelief) in this life time. You can be forgiven by repenting of your sin and putting your faith and trust in Christ no matter what you have done. Only God knows who has crossed the line of no return.  As long as a person is alive, the hope of being forgiven by God is just a prayer away.  

The Heart of Forgiveness

Random Thoughts About Forgiveness:

“The Heart of Forgiveness”

I have come across lots of false applications about the issue of forgiveness.  Often, instead of calling for forgiveness, other important works of the Holy Spirit are called for such as, love, mercy, grace, self-control, etc. (Galatians 5:22-26).

Nevertheless, people often quote passages such as Luke 23:34, "Father forgive them..."; Colossians 3:13, "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."; Matthew 6:14-15, "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” -- among others as proof that whether a sinner repents or not--Christians are to forgive.  But are we sure that’s what God is commanding?

To be sure, Christians are to have a heart of forgiveness, such as Christ displayed upon the cross (Luke 23:24) and God has toward us sinners (Colossians 3:13). But often Christians are told to GIVE forgiveness for their own health-sake or so that their sins can be forgiven, even if the sinner is unrepentant.   But this is unbiblical and destructive to the individual believer, the sinner who is unrepentant, and to the body of Christ, HIS Church, as well as to the non-believer.

You see, a heart of forgiveness patiently/eagerly WAITS to give forgiveness, as displayed in Matthew 18:21-35 knowing that their sin against God is far greater than another human's sin against them.   Did you get that?  The truly godly Christian is one who is patiently WAITING to give forgiveness when it is truly time to do so, not before. There is a time to show by God's grace, the heart of forgiveness and to express Christ's love, mercy, compassion, patience, grace, etc. thereby welcoming the sinner/offender who repents.

God does NOT forgive where there is no repentance but God does show common grace (gives food, shelter, rain and sunshine, physical life and health, etc.), as HE invites sinners to HIM through Godly repentance. 

“God is patient (common grace) not willing that anyone should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). 

Toward the unrepentant sinner, God is not forgiving, He is patiently waiting for the sinner to come to Him in repentance so He can shower upon him His forgiveness. This is the heart of forgiveness.  It is a heart that waits patiently for the right time to shower the offender with forgiveness, NOT BEFORE!  

Has God Predestined Sin?

Yes!

No way to avoid this fact.  The Bible presents God as completely sovereign and in control of the tiniest details. After all, would you not expect that from God who is infinite? But whether you do or not, the Bible teaches this infinite God to be absolutely and powerfully in control of ALL things – even sins that we deal with on a daily basis and read about in the news.

Let’s put our focus first on a passage in Proverbs 16:33: “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”

Back during the Old Testament era and even in the beginning of the Book of Acts (cf. 1:26), before the Bible was completed, one way used to determining the will of God was to cast lots. To a casual observer, this may appear as a random act of chance, like the roll of dice.  But nothing is ever by chance with God.  Every decision is from the Lord!

Therefore, God is in control of the tiniest details of life. Remember what Jesus said about the hairs of your head? He said that the hairs on your head are all numbered by God (Luke 12:7).  Let me break this down even further. The hairs on your entire body are also all numbered by God.  There is no detail that God is not fully in control and completely aware of.

Now what about the issue of sin? Does God predetermine sin?

Acts 4:27-28:  For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, ²⁸ to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. 

Don’t just casually read this verse while you miss the details.  Read it again and notice the details.

What is the most horrible sin ever committed in the history of mankind?  The crucifixion of the righteous Son of God.  Not only was Jesus unjustly killed, but placed on Him were the sins of the world. The passage above teaches that God predestined for it all to take place in the exact manner that it occurred. The people who were involved, the instruments of torture used, the timing the crucifixion occurred, the verbal assaults railed at Jesus, the length of time He was nailed to the cross, the amount of blood spilled from His body, and exact timing of His death, the pain and suffering He endured – all of it and so much more was all predetermined by the mind and heart of God.

Now catch this: If God had predestined the greatest sin in the history of mankind, would He not also as sovereign Lord predestined the lesser sins of mankind?   Remember, what we read in Proverbs? There is no detail outside of the will of God. 

When Satan crucified the Son of God, he did not know that he just committed a slow and sure road to suicide.  Satan is as good as done! And even the devil’s actions were all predetermined by God.

Now does this tend to make you go crazy? Then consider this:  Always center the predetermined purposes and control of God back to the cross. Why? Because, even though the cross was the one act of the greatest sin man committed which was all preordained by God, the cross was the one act of the greatest love of God for sinful man.  

At the cross, we have the revealing of the greatest sin, and we also have the revealing of the greatest love. So, even in God’s infinite and masterful plan and purpose of the greatest sin, comes dripping forth from it God’s infinite and masterful plan and purpose of His greatest love.

When you contemplate on these things, and you should, don’t be afraid, such things are in the Bible, always center such times of contemplation back to the time of the cross in order to keep you sane and centered.

Here, let me lay on you one more passage that relates to this. 

Acts 3:17-18:  “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. ¹⁸ But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. ¹⁹ Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.

Notice three things Peter points out:

First, whether you are aware of it or not, doing what God has predetermined to occur will occur exactly as God intends it to. The people and their leaders acted in ignorance when they crucified Jesus. But God’s intended plan marched on.

Second, we know that God intended and planned for the death and crucifixion of Christ, because the prophets foretold it. Once the prophets predicted it, the event itself had to occur, since God put it in the minds and hearts of the prophet to foretell it. God’s reputation demanded it.

Third, yes, even when the people and leaders do the predetermined will of God out of ignorance, they are still held responsible – “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.”

No one can plead ignorance before God. The Lord in heaven plans and does whatever pleases Him and no one can advise Him on what to do or counsel Him on how to do it.  When we act either in ignorance or with full knowledge, in the end, we are all held accountable.

We serve an awesome God!

Diving Deep in the Sea of God’s Sovereignty, Part 6

Principle:   No plans of man succeeds but those which the Lord, in His unfathomable wisdom, permits.

“I bring the counsel of the nations to nothing; I frustrate the plans of the peoples.” (Psalm 33:10)

“No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against me.” (Proverbs 21:30)

A Taste of God from Two Perspectives

But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid. . .You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good – Gen. 50:19-20

Devin Patrick Kelley walked into a small Texas church on Sunday morning (Nov. 5) and murdered twenty-six people.

How could God allow this to happen?

God has His reasons for allowing bad things to happen. Joseph’s response to his brothers who had thrown him into a pit and had him eventually taken to Egypt where he also spent time in prison and living in harsh conditions was, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good.”

I would like for us to look at this tragedy from two perspectives.

First, from a human perspective.

The lost of a loved one through death is a human tragedy because of the apparent separation that will be the outcome. When Jesus came to the funeral of His good friend, Lazarus (John 11), the Bible says that “Jesus wept” (v. 35). Shortly after, Jesus did raised Lazarus back to life (vv. 43-44), but the apparent separation and loss of life is always felt as a human tragedy.

Second, from God’s perspective.

For God, the loss of physical life is the entrance to eternal life and therefore, it is precious in His sight. The bible says that it is “precious in the sight of God when His godly ones die” (Psalm 116:15). This is another way of saying that God is concerned over such matters, but knows also that through death, they will be with Him in eternity forever.

Over in the last book of the Bible, we read, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord” (Rev. 14:13). Those who die as Christians because they know Jesus as their Lord and Savior are blessed!

Paul felt so strongly about this blessedness that he said, “To die is gain” (Philip. 1:21). What is there to gain, Paul? Answer: The presence of God – “To be absent from the body (dead) is to be at home with the Lord (His presence) – 2 Cor. 5:8.

No wonder Jesus made this powerful statement: “Do not fear those who can kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear God who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell” (Matt. 10:28).

Twenty-six people are in heaven since Sunday because God allowed a mad-man to kill their bodies. What he meant for evil, God orchestrated for the victims something greater and better.

But never ever forget this: Devin Patrick Kelley is in hell in extreme torment where he will remain forever.

Listen, never ever think of hell as a mere place of fire and therefore that’s why it is a bad place to be. Hell is hell because of God’s presence, not absence. “Fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.”

Is hell a place of fire? Yes, but also a place of God’s presence, especially His wrath. Concerning the presence of God the Bible teaches that “our God is a consuming fire!” (Heb. 12:29). Therefore, “it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31).

While heaven is place where God presence is revealed through His love, hell is a place where God’s presence is revealed through His wrath.

We often hear that hell is eternal separation from God. Nothing could be further from the truth. In hell, no one is separated from God’s presence. Instead, they are separated from God’s redemptive love and forgiveness and now are destined to experience His eternal wrath and anger forever.

Psalm 139:7-8: Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in hell, YOU ARE THERE!

How about this one – Rev. 14:9-10: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the PRESENCE OF THE LAMB.”

Don’t ever think that hell is eternal separation from God. It would be better for people such as Devin Patrick Kelley if that were only true! But hell is the outpouring of the wrath of God – His personal presence -- upon the sinner forever!

What did you say, Jesus? “Fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.”

For the victims of the church shooting – peace and rest in the presence of God; for the perpetrator – torment and unrest in the presence of God. Therefore, you have in this case – a taste of God from two perspectives.

Devin Patrick Kelley walked into a church and shot twenty-six people intending to do them harm. But God always has the final word over anything that man does or thinks. What he intended for harm, God intended for something better – for the victims. And what about for Devin Patrick Kelley? A side of God’s presence that will consume him with pain and agony for all eternity. Sinners do not get the last word – God does.

Who do you want to align your soul with in these last and troubling days?