Doctor Discovers "Psychological Propensity"

A theologian in Kentucky discovered recently what he believes to be a link between the human heart and the necessity to explain away sinful behavior.

The link was discovered while the theologian was studying the book of Romans, Chapter 1 in-depth.

"I noticed that it said in verse 21, 'For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools.'

This reminded me of the 'science' of psychology, which attempts to explain sin as a problem of the mind, instead of a problem of the human heart."

The link between the desire to explain sin away and the human heart is said by some to be revolutionary. Some claim that the study of psychology will now be abandoned as something "for people to do on the weekends, when they are on their own time."

"As long as they don't bring their 'psychology' into the workplace, I think that everything will be fine. We just don't need someone trying to shove their psychology down our throats."

We will keep you posted on further developments.

3 Reasons to Study the Word

This is the talk which I gave at our Men's Retreat 2 years ago. Enjoy!

“3 Reasons to Study the Word”
2 Timothy 3:14-17
By Geary Lutz
Testimony
In Luke 18, Jesus said, “’Two men went up to the temple to pray, on a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee prayed thus with himself, “God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.” And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me a sinner!”’”
• This parable of Jesus is one that could have been spoken directly of me. This story directly summed up my life!
• I grew up in a loving Christian home. I grew up in church.
• I learned all the right verses, I gave all the right answers, I knew all the right lines.
• But there was one problem: I was not making it personal.
• All those verses about “the wicked,” those were for “the wicked,” not for me.
• I went to church, my parents were Christians. That made me good by default right?
• Remember, I knew the right verses!
• But all those “rights” I mentioned, those became my righteousness—my justification, in my eyes.
• This spawned in me a Pharisaic view that developed over the course of my pre-teen and teenage years.
• By the time I entered high school, I prayed “thus with [myself]” daily.
• “Oh, Lord! I thank You for the wonderful stuff you’ve given me. I’m thankful that I’ve been good enough to earn all this cool stuff from You.”
• See, I knew God was the Provider.
• I just thought that we were in some sort of “partnership.”
• If I do my part of being “good,” God gives me stuff because I deserve it.
• This self-righteousness led me into all sorts of sin; most of it mental, though some of it just done in secret.
• See, somehow I thought that the all-knowing God would just forgive me because I was one of the “righteous” who did good stuff, not one of the “wicked” who did “evil” at least not that evil.
• I mean, I wasn’t even getting caught.
• All that Biblical training and upbringing gone to waste, because I would not apply it to my life.
I. Intro/Context
• Gentlemen, it’s good to be here to talk with you this evening. My name is Geary Lutz and I attend Lake Ridge Church, and have for just about all my life.
• The topic of my talk is “The Value of the Word.” I’ve entitled my message “3 Reasons to Study the Word.”
• The Passage of Scripture I’ll be speaking on is 2 Timothy 3:14-17, although I’ll mostly be focusing on verses 15 and 16.
• 2 Timothy 3:14-17 says, (from the NKJV) “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned [them], and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
• Now, before we talk about how the Bible is valuable to our lives, let’s set the context.
• It’s always nice to paint the backdrop before you do any in-depth study of the Scripture.
• For starters, 2 Timothy is the last of Paul’s inspired letters, meaning it’s the last book of the Bible that he wrote before he was executed.
• Paul wrote this letter from prison.
• Knowing that he was going to die soon (and he did, as seen in 2 Tim. 4:6 “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.”), he wrote his last letter to his son in the faith, Timothy.
• Timothy was the pastor at the church at Ephesus. He was a very young man, considering his position of leadership, probably somewhere in his 30’s at the time Paul wrote this letter to him.
• He was a very faithful man as well, known by those Christians in the city where he came from as a man of good standing before God
• Paul calls him a man with “genuine faith” (2 Tim. 1:5).
• But even with this widely known level of faith which Timothy possessed, he was also beginning to be fearful of all the false teachers which had begun to arise, even among his church.
• So, Paul reminds Timothy that he need not be ashamed of the Gospel which they were teaching to the churches, because it was the true Gospel in Jesus Christ.
• Paul also encourages Timothy to keep up the fight for the faith (2 Tim. 2:3), through diligent study of the Word of God (2 Tim. 2:15).
• Paul then describes the rise of false teachers among the churches, and all the destruction they would cause, or try to cause, among God’s people.
• Finally, Paul praises Timothy for his diligence in remaining faithful to the words and teachings which Paul had taught him, so that Timothy could teach his church.
• This brings us to the passage before us in 2 Timothy 3:14-17.
• Like I said, I like to paint a little picture in my head of what’s going on.
• Otherwise, in my head, Paul is sitting in his office at the local First Church of Philippi in a nice, comfy chair.
• No, he wrote this from prison, where he was in chains.
• This is one of my favorite passages in the entire Bible, because it contains such great truth, yet packed into such a small amount of words.
• The truths in these verses form the foundation of our trust and knowledge of the Bible.
• In particular, from these verses, we learn three reasons why we should study the Bible.
• First, it’s preserving—it saves our souls.
• Second, it’s powerful—it speaks for God.
• Thirdly, we learn that the Bible is profitable—it sanctifies our lives.
• It’s preserving—it saves our souls, it’s powerful—it speaks for God, it’s profitable—it sanctifies our lives.
II. It’s Preserving—it saves our souls
• Let’s look deeper, shall we?
• First, it’s preserving—it saves our souls.
• This is found in verse 15: “from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
• This is the central focal point of the entire Bible.
• Scripture’s pages contain all that is necessary for salvation—nothing is missing or left out.
• This is the Gospel.
• The Old Testament pointed toward it. Jesus said, in John 5:39, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”
• And in verses 45-46, “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.”
• The Old Testament points toward the Gospel.
• But, what is the Gospel?
• Well, I think we need to start “in the beginning.”
• “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1
• Well, that kinda narrows the origins theory, doesn’t it?
• God created the whole world in 6 days, 6 24-hour days.
• Man was created on the sixth day, in the image of God.
• These are found in Genesis 1-2
• In Genesis 3, man chose to disobey God. This is known as sin.
• As a result of Adam’s (the first man) sin, all men are born sinful, according to Romans 5
• According to Romans 3:23, all men have sinned–you have sinned, I have sinned, everyone has sinned.
• Now, you might be thinking to yourself, “Wait a minute, how does he know if I’ve sinned. I don’t think I’ve sinned, or at least not that bad.”
• What is God’s standard for what sin is?
• God’s Moral Law, otherwise known as the Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20.
• Now, many people look at the Ten Commandments and think, “Ok, here’s the standard of what I should aim for.”
• This is incorrect. The Law shows us our utter inability to meet God’s requirements.
• Think about it: have you ever looked closely at them? Have you ever murdered someone? Have you ever committed adultery? Have you ever stolen? Have you ever lied?
• Now, some might be saying, “But wait, that’s the Old Testament. We follow the New Testament.”
• Ok, let’s move to the New Testament. Matthew 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount, preached by… Jesus.
• The Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount was Jesus pointing out the fact that none of them, or none of us for that matter, can keep the Law to its fullest extent.
• Was Jesus “rewriting” the Law? No, he was simply showing people the fact that is stated so nicely in 1 Samuel 16:7, “…man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
• Now, from Jesus perspective on the Law, let’s look again at the Commandments. Maybe you haven’t murdered anyone, but have you been angry with someone without just cause? Jesus said in Matthew 5:22, “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.”
• Maybe you haven’t committed adultery, but have you looked with impure sexual thoughts toward a woman who wasn’t your wife? In Matthew 5:28, “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
• So, we see that this standard has not been lowered just because we have a New Testament. It’s still has the same Author.
• Now, that we have been found guilty under the Law, or at least I’m assuming we all have, what are the consequences of this sin? What do our sins earn us?
• Death! Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death….” Ezekiel 18:4, “The soul who sins shall die.”
• Not just physical death, but spiritual death as well; Revelation 21:8, “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
• I’ve heard it said that Hell is as bad as God is good. Not just the absence of God’s presence, but the absence of His Grace.
• Picture gasping for breath as if you’ve been holding it for hours. Feel that burning feeling as if you’ve plunged your hands in hot oil, but with no cool, soothing relief.
• What then can we do? Nothing! Galatians 2:16, “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law…”
• What then? How can we be saved? How can we be freed from this terrible punishment?
• Christ! Romans 6:23, “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 5:8-11, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”
• Christ’s death was in our place. Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
• How then do we accredit this payment to our future judgment?
• We must do as Peter, in Acts 2, told those who believed the Gospel, who were “cut to the heart” by the message and asked “what shall we do?”
• Acts 2:38, “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.”
• We must repent! Intellectual acknowledgment is not enough to save us. James 2:19 says, “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!”
• But what is repentance? Well, think about it like this. Suppose that you caught me outside your house smashing your car with a bat. You yell, “Stop, or I’ll call the police!” I say, “Oh, I’m sorry that I was smashing your car.” Then I proceed to start smashing again. I acknowledged I was sorry, but did I repent? No!
• A more real life, more personal example. A couple of years ago, I started watching pornography. And I’m not just talking occasionally when I was feeling needy. I’m talking about daily, viewing things on the Internet which were completely impure, giving myself some cheap thrill, and then giving my wife the leftovers when it was time.
• My wife asked me if I was looking at porn, and I admitted that I was. I figured if I admitted it, at least I was being honest about it. I apologized, told her I was a changed man, and that I was devoted to her from here on out.
• A couple weeks later, I was back to looking at porn. The same junk, with even more intensity and lust. I admitted I was sorry, but did I repent? No!
• I said I was sorry because I got caught. I had a horizontal repentance.
• I didn’t have a vertical repentance, repentance toward God for the terrible wretched sin that I was committing. Once I was confronted with this standard of God set before me in the Word, I had to stop. I couldn’t serve two masters, and at that point, my master was not God.
• I had to turn from my sin in the opposite direction, toward God, so that now, if I think of pornography, there is a deep hatred in the pits of my soul against it. My stomach is sickened by the thought of the wretched acts that I was committing against God and against the wife whom He had given me.
• See, God’s Word brought about a change in the affections of my heart. I sought more for God than I did the wretched filth of pornography.
• I say this, not to claim that I’m “super-spiritual” or that I’m above temptation. I’m still tempted daily by the thoughts of the filth that was instilled in my head. But my affections have changed, and I now desire more the pure love I have with my wife more than the plastic shallowness of self-love.
• God’s Word has wrought change in me from the inside-out.
• We must repent, turning from our sin, and embracing the saving sacrifice of Jesus Christ as payment on our behalf for our sins against God.
• This trust in Christ seals our salvation and enables us to receive from God the Holy Spirit.
• The Holy Spirit is the third member of the perfect Godhead Trinity.
• The Holy Spirit is the One who enables us to live in obedience to what we read in the Bible.
• Without the Holy Spirit’s power enabling us, any attempts to “better ourselves” will just be a shallow attempt to ease our guilty conscience, and will ultimately fail in the end.
• The Holy Spirit is the One who helps us to practice what we preach, as they say.
• The Holy Spirit enables us to understand the Scripture in the way that God intended it to be understood.
• Now, being able to understand the Scripture the way God intended us to know it, we can see the other ways in which the Word contains value.
III. It’s Powerful—It Speaks for God
• First we looked at how the Word preserves us, by saving our souls. Next we will look at the power of the Word, as it speaks for God.
• This is found in the first half of verse 16, “All Scripture [is] given by inspiration of God….”
• This may be a small phrase, only 8 words, but it packs one of the greatest truths in all of Scripture in it.
• This phrase “by inspiration of God” is more literally translated “God-breathed,” and some translations do read this way.
• This phrase is monumental, folks.
• This phrase is what I would stake my life upon, on why I believe every word in the Bible to be true.
• If the Word of God was literally “breathed out by God,” then we can all stake our lives upon it.
• Why is this? John 17:17, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”
• If God’s word is truth, and the Scripture is “breathed out by God,” and therefore is the Word of God, then the Bible must be completely and utterly true.
• Listen, guys. If God’s Word is true, we do not ever need to be ashamed of it.
• We do not need to be ashamed about it because it will shame men.
• Proverbs 30:5 “Every word of God is pure….” This speaks of God’s Word as something which has been tested and found without defect.
• Another truth of Scripture is that it is sufficient.
• Much talk is made today of making the Bible “relevant.”
• We don’t need to make the Bible relevant to our lives; we need to make our lives relevant to the Bible.
• One passage in particular which speaks to the sufficient nature of Scripture is Psalm 19:7-8.
• In Psalm 19:7-8, we are given 4 different names for the Word of God: “the law…the testimony…the statutes… [and] the commandment of the Lord.”
• Each of these names gives us a unique aspect of the nature of Scripture.
• First it gives a sufficiency statement, then a purpose of Scripture.
• The first is: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul”. We already touched on the saving nature of Scripture, but here it is again, a plainly stated goal of the Law is to convert people’s souls.
• The second is: “The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple”. The second goal of Scripture found here is that we gain wisdom from it. This book is full of all the true wisdom that you will ever need.
• It doesn’t contain all knowledge in the world; it is obviously not a school textbook, but pertaining to wisdom, it contains all truth.
• The third statement is:”The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart”. This speaks of the just nature of Scripture. The orders given by God through the Bible are right and just, and so therefore, they should make us rejoice in the fact that we serve a just Judge.
• Finally, we see that, “the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes”. The pure nature of Scripture brings light to our eyes spiritually.
• Our sin is spoken of as darkness. The commands of God in Scripture shine the light on the darkness of our sin, and help us to replace it with the light of obedience to God’s Word.
• So, if the Bible saves our souls, gives us all wisdom, enables us to rejoice, and opens our eyes spiritually, is there really anything that is lacking?
• Do we need to add any of our own ideas to this?
• No, most certainly not, brothers.
• These statements give us great insight into the sufficient nature of Scripture as it pertains to our spiritual life.
• Scripture is powerful, it speaks for God.
IV. Scripture is Profitable—It Sanctifies our Lives
• The final aspect of the Value of God’s Word which we will look at is the Profitability of Scripture.
• It’s profitable—it sanctifies our lives.
• This can be found in the second half of verse 16: “and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”.
• Now here we have four ways that the Scripture helps us, somewhat similar to the four areas which we read in Psalm 19.
• See, this is how I’ll get you. Three broad points in my message, you think “Ok, I can handle that.” But each point has 4 sub-points, and those sub-points have 8 sub-sub-points, and so on. So, by the time we’re done, I’ve covered 83 points in this 3 point message.
• We see that the first way that the Bible is profitable is “for doctrine”.
• Doctrine. What is doctrine?
• Paul speaks much of it, Titus 2:7 “in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility”.
• He also speaks much of doctrines to avoid: Colossians 2:22 “the doctrines of men”. I Timothy 4:1 “the doctrines of demons”.
• In 2 Timothy 3:10, Paul expresses joy over Timothy following true doctrine.
• But what is doctrine? What comes to mind when I say “doctrine”?
• Some may think of things like sublepsarianism and men in ecclesiastical garb discussing the writings of Calvin and Arminius.
• This is not the meaning of doctrine. These speak of doctrine, but they are not definitive of doctrine itself.
• So, then, what is doctrine?
• This is doctrine.
• Some of you are saying, “I knew there was a reason I’m so bored right now.”
• Doctrine is teaching, a systematic teaching of the divine truths found in the Bible.
• We look at Scripture and figure out doctrine based on what it says about a particular subject
• An Example: The doctrine of God’s Holiness.
• We would search the Scripture for verses speaking of God’s Holiness.
• We then build doctrines out of the verses which the Bible contains.
• We never bring our presuppositions in to doctrinal study.
• Now, some of you might think, “Doctrine? Why is doctrine important?”
• Doctrine is important because it establishes a standard of truth.
• Postmodernism is running rampantly through our society today, particularly through my generation, the kids in college and fresh out of college.
• Our generation is being taught that there are no absolutes, that truth is relative, and that we cannot tell anyone that their view is wrong, because views are all subjective anyway right?
• This is wrong, and not only wrong, but just plain stupid.
• When you older guys hear some young kid saying stuff like this, you need to smack ‘em up-side the head.
• What kind of thinking is this? Certainly not logical thinking.
• Logically there has to be a standard. Otherwise our entire judicial system is out of order. Laws are written based upon a set standard of right and wrong?
• Sadly, there are many, again, mostly in my generation, who have brought this thinking into the church.
• In fact, there’s an entire movement, known as the Emergent Movement, devoted, or at least from the vantage point I’ve seen, to this kind of thinking.
• They’ve made Jesus “a” way, instead of “the” way. He’s the way for me. He might not be the way for you, but you just know Him by another name, like Allah, or Vishnu.
• Again, this is stupid. Stupid and unbiblical.
• We don’t bring our own “thoughts” in and try to find a Bible verse to fit our thoughts.
• The other day, I was listening to a pastor try to justify homosexuality by saying that Jesus loved people more than rules. This is ridiculous.
• John said that Jesus was the Word become flesh. Jesus spoke every word of the Old Testament. Every Law. So if Jesus loved people more than He loved “the rules”, He would be contradicting Himself.
• Now, don’t get me wrong, Jesus loves people more than they will ever deserve, but this doesn’t mean that He will simply wink at sin because He loves us.
• James MacDonald says that God’s love is not a “pampering love,” but a “perfecting love”. “It’s a love which wants our highest and best usefulness for His purposes.”
• You see, guys, doctrine is important. It sets the standards by which we judge the world’s values.
• We don’t bring the world into the Bible, we bring the Bible into the world.
• Next, the Bible is profitable “for reproof”.
• This is the “cutting” aspect of the Word.
• This is what happens when we are convicted of sin while reading the Bible.
• Reproof is found throughout the Bible.
• It also goes hand in hand, many times, with correction, the third area the Word is profitable.
• Paul uses Reproof and Correction together plenty of times.
• “Do not do this, but do this.”
• First, the rebuke of something that’s wrong, then the correction with the right behavior.
• This can be seen, for example, in Ephesians 5:18, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation;” This is the rebuke, and here’s the correction, “but be filled with the Spirit”.
• See how these work together so nicely?
• Finally, the Bible is profitable “for instruction in righteousness”.
• This aspect of the Scripture speaks of training, as if speaking of a child.
• The Bible not only convicts us of sin, not only corrects wrong behavior, but it also teaches us the correct way to live our lives.
• This phrase “instruction in righteousness” would seem to encompass the process of sanctification.
• What is sanctification? As John MacArthur says, “Sanctification is matching our practice with our position in Christ.”
• It is a general progression in the direction toward Godliness in Christ.
• An example of instruction in righteousness could be found again in Ephesians 5:18b, “be filled with the Spirit”.
• This is somewhat of a mysterious sounding thing, isn’t it? “Be filled with the Spirit”
• But notice what comes out of being filled with the Spirit. Singing, giving thanks, a Godly family, etc.
• Now, if you look at Colossians 3, from verse 16 on, you get a similar list to Ephesians 5. Singing, giving thanks, a Godly family.
• And what is the instruction here? “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly”.
• So, then, what does it mean to be “filled with the Spirit”? It’s nothing mysterious. It’s letting “the word of Christ dwell in [us] richly”.
• What is the word of Christ? The Bible.
• If the Bible dwells in us, meaning it is at work inside us, then we will be “filled with the Spirit”.
• This is an example of instruction in righteousness.
• It’s living out the Word of God, according to the salvation and faith we have in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• We have looked tonight at a vast array of things pertaining to the Word of God. We have seen through many examples the value of the Word when it is at work in our lives.
• But if we only have the why and not a how, it might just lead to discouragement in the end.
• So, for a How to study the Bible, I’ve borrowed from John MacArthur’s piece on “How to Study Your Bible.” (available at Grace to You)
• Actually, these are a few of the things NOT to do when reading and studying the Bible.
• Don't make a point at the cost of proper interpreta¬tion . In other words, don't make the Bible say what you want it to say. That's like the preacher who proclaimed that women shouldn't wear their hair on top of their heads. His text was "Top Knot Come Down," supposedly from Matthew 24:17, which says, "Let him who is on the housetop not come down" (King James Version). Obviously that's not what the passage is about! Don't try to find verses to support a preconceived idea. I know if I try to make a sermon, I end up forcing the Bible to fit my sermon. But if I try to comprehend a passage, a message will flow out of the understanding that follows.
•
• In 2 Corinthians 2:17, Paul says, "For we are not like many, peddling the word of God." The Greek word translated "peddling" is kapeleuo, which referred to selling something deceitfully in the marketplace--something that wasn't what it claimed to be. You must not force the Bible to illustrate your preconceived notions. Be careful not to interpret the Bible at the cost of its true meaning.
•
• Avoid superficial Bible study . Unfortunately, some Bible studies consist of nothing more than person's saying, "I guess this verse means..." or "What does this verse mean to you?" Basically that's a pooling of ignorance--a lot of people sitting around telling what they don't know about the verse. To have a successful Bible study, someone has to study the passage beforehand to find out what it really means. Only then can you discuss it intelligently and apply it. Interpretation requires work. Don't take the easy way out and believe what everyone tells you the Bible says. Check the facts out yourself. Don't assume there are many interpretations of a biblical passage. There may be many applications, but there is only one true interpretation. God's Word is precise. It is not ambiguous. God has given us the ability to discover its meaning.
•
• Don't spiritualize the text . The first sermon I ever preached was really bad. My text was, "The angel rolled the stone away" from Matthew 28. I entitled my sermon, "Rolling Away the Stones in Your Life." I talked about the stone of doubt, the stone of fear, and the stone of anger. Doubt, fear, and anger are all legitimate topics, but they have nothing to do with that verse! I call that "Little Bo Peep Preaching" because you don't need the Bible; you can use anything--even "Little Bo Peep."
•
• Picture a preacher saying this: "Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep. All over the world people are lost. And can't tell where to find them. But they'll come home--ah, they'll come." Then you hear a tear-jerking story about sinners who came home "wagging their tails behind them!" Ridiculous? Yes, but unfortunately not too hard to imagine.
•
• Many people tend to do that with the Old Testament. They turn it into a fairy tale with all kinds of hidden meanings--anything but what the text plainly states. Don't spiritualize the Bible. It deserves more respect.
• Now, as for what you should do; I would recommend reading an entire book through before moving on to another one. Not in one sitting, unless of course you’re reading one of the shorter books in the New Testament.
• I would recommend starting in the New Testament, maybe the Gospel of John, and just read it day by day, until you’ve read it all the way through. This will give you a good knowledge of Jesus’ life, and then you can move on to another book, maybe one of the letters of Paul, or another Gospel to give yourself a different perspective of Jesus’ life on earth.
• This is not to downplay the importance of the Old Testament. It is as much the Word of God as the New Testament. The reason I suggest starting in the New is that it fulfils what much of the Old Testament predicts and looks forward to.
• Now, finally, what is the end result of this salvation, speaking, and sanctification through the Word of God?
• Verse 17, “that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
• Scripture equips us for every good work.
• Is there value in the Word? Most Definitely, brothers.
• I now have a song that I feel emphasizes a good deal the value and nature of the Word of God.
• [Casting Crowns]…
• See, brothers, the Word is “living and powerful”, Hebrews 4:12 says.
• That Pharisee that I was telling you about at the beginning—he’s gone, by God’s grace.
• God has worked an effectual change in my life, from the inside-out.
• The theme of this weekend also sums up how the Spirit of God works in us through the Word of God—from the inside, out.
• It works inside us, and changes us inwardly, allowing change that is visible on the outside.
• As the Word has changed my heart through obedience to His Word, my prayer has changed from the Pharisee’s prayer to the tax collector’s: “God, be merciful to me a sinner!”
• It is God who does the changing, it is God who builds the character of His Son in us.
• We simply respond in obedience to His Word.
• Thank you, gentlemen.

The King's Line

Matthew 1:1-17

So, I've been diving down into the book of Matthew lately, and I'd like to share some of the cool stuff I've been able to draw out of the book. So, from time to time, I hope to post the notes that I've come up with so far.
I'm not quite sure how I'll do these posts (i.e. whether I'll do a whole bunch of short posts, or fewer lengthier posts), but I did want to get myself started, hopefully as a motivator to continue on in my study of Matthew so that I don't become lazy and jettison the whole thing.
Matthew 1 (obviously) begins the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew originally wrote this Gospel to a primarily Jewish audience (as evidenced by the OT quotes scattered abroad).
I'm not going to go into much more detail about the writing of the Gospel (I might do that throughout the Gospel, just to enhance the richness of Matthew's Gospel account), so for now, I'll leave it as it is (besides--who knows how quickly I'll get sidetracked...).

Matthew 1:1 says, "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham."

Immediately, we are struck by the historical nature of this account of Christ's life. Notice the historical, documentary beginning of this Gospel: "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ". The Jews were a very historically natured people. Everything was to be rooted in history, rooted in tradition; and if someone was to be born as royalty, then they needed to have a royal pedigree. Another way to say this phrase "The book of the genealogy" could be "a book of the birth record (or descent)." This beginning section of Matthew gives us the record of Jesus' Jewish heritage. The Communicator's Commentary notes that, "Matthew roots his Gospel in history, beginning with the lineage of the King."

It's almost as if Matthew wants to set up the unbelievable birth record in verses 18-25 by making sure we understand that this is not like other supernatural "incarnation" myths. This narrative is rooted in real history, and it is based on a descent from real, historical people.

(I would stop right here and point out the silliness of those who question the existence of a "historical Jesus," but I don't really have the time... maybe another day...)

Next we notice the name "Jesus Christ."

This is actually a combination of both name and title. "Jesus" is His name, "Christ" is His title. The word Christ means "Anointed One." John MacArthur notes, "Israel's prophets, priests, and kings were anointed, and Jesus was anointed as all three. He was the Anointed One, the Messiah, whom the Jews had long expected to come as their great deliverer and monarch."

The phrases "the son of David" and "the son of Abraham" both have to do with promises which God had made to these men concerning the Messiah (and thus tying both of these promises by implication to Jesus as the fulfillment).

For the promise to David, we would look at 2 Samuel 7 (along with Isaiah 11 and Psalm 132) where God promises that He will establish the throne of one of David's descendant forever.

For the promise to Abraham, we go all the way back to Genesis 12:1-3, where God promises Abraham that "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

That's all I've got for today, (I know I've only done 1 verse of the 17, but that'll be it for today).

Who Pays For Your Spouse's Sin?

It's Free-for-all Friday again, and this time, instead of posting a video clip, I decided I'd post an amazing blog post that I had heard about last week. This is a tremendously convicting but also tremendously Gospel-centered message. I hope it helps those of you who are married, as it has been convicting me.

Sign Gifts--For Today?

This is the third and final of my position papers from my Theological Foundations class. This time, the topic is the Sign Gifts--Are they for today or not? Enjoy!


The Charismatic gifts of the Spirit are a very controversial topic among Christians today. Do the sign gifts still operate today, or did they cease somewhere around the end of the first century? Honestly, this topic is one that I’m not completely convinced on. I would consider myself a cessationist, rather than a continuationist; but this is definitely not the most convincing position that I hold. The Scripture that I would use in order to justify the cessationist argument would be examples from the book of Acts. In Acts 2, the Spirit is poured out on the 120 who were gathered in the room, and it is said that they all “spoke in other tongues.” John MacArthur notes that the word used for “other tongues” is the word for “known languages.” I think this is further evidenced by the fact that there is a list of locations from which the people who heard and understood the languages were from. They all understood the languages that were being spoken in their own dialect—they weren’t being spoken to in an unknown, ecstatic language. Secondly, the tongues are only used 3 times, and each time they are used, it is by a different group of individuals—Jews in Chapter 2, Gentiles in Chapter 10, and the disciples of John the Baptist in Chapter 19. These are 3 different groups of individuals, and they are given the sign gift of speaking in tongues to evidence that they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. These gifts are said to be a gift that only edifies the individual, according to 1 Corinthians 14. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are meant to edify the church body as a whole. This seems to go against the use of the gifts laid out by Paul in 1 Corinthians. Also, the gift of tongues is prescribed by the Apostle Paul to have accompanying it an interpreter. If this gift is still in effect today, than the gift of interpretation of tongues should be in effect as well, and should be used along with it. I know this isn’t the strongest Scriptural argument, and I’m willing to hear from the other side on this, but that’s where I find myself landing on the tongues issue.
With regards to prophecy—I believe prophecy in the sense of God speaking new words to us ended in the first century with the completion of the New Testament. The New Testament tells us in Revelation that if anyone adds to or subtracts from Holy Scripture, they will be inflicted with the torments found in it. If the Lord is still personally speaking to individuals, then it should follow, since every word of God proves true according to Proverbs 30:6, that we should tack in on to the back of the Bible that we have. If we are to receive “words from the Lord,” they should be held on the same level as Scripture. If the argument is made that we should test every “new word” by the “Inspired Word,” my question would be—why is it necessary to have a “new word.” I think it somewhat questions the sufficiency of Scripture, although I do not intend to accuse those who believe in this gift of thinking Scripture is insufficient. I believe that in the Scriptures we have all that we need for life and godliness, and that the gift of “prophecy” is now a role of forth-telling rather than fore-telling. A prophet today would be one who speaks forth the Word of God in order that God’s people would be edified and grow from it.
Miracles are a gift that is somewhat tricky to take a position on. I do believe that miracles happen continually today. Every unexplained cure is a miracle, but where did it come from? I believe that God still performs miracles every day, but I do not believe that God has gifted individuals in the way that He did in the first century to perform miracles. I don’t believe that there are individuals who can work miracles in the way that the apostles did in the book of Acts. I believe the book of Acts itself attests to that fact. There are fewer and fewer miracles listed in the book of Acts as it moves toward the end of the book. Paul mentions others that are sick, and himself being sick in his epistles. Paul could’ve used that gift to heal his friends or himself, but he didn’t—a strong indicator that the gift has begun to cease by the time that Paul is writing these letters.
I know that my views are not the strongest supported views on this topic of gifts, but I think this is the position which makes the most sense to me as I study the Scriptures and seek to know the truth in every area. I look forward to everyone’s comments!

The Dreaded Position

This is the second position paper I had to write for Theological Foundations. The topic: Arminianism vs. Calvinism. I chose Calvinism (because it chose me first...)


“Calvinism vs. Arminianism”
By Geary Lutz
Within Christian circles, there is probably no more hotly debated topic than that of the nature of salvation. Is salvation God-wrought completely apart from human will, or is it a result of a human choice which God saw in advance? The position has been debated for hundreds of years, with many Godly men falling on one side or the other. This is not an orthodox issue, but it is important nonetheless. What does the Scripture say? It is important that this be the basis for any doctrinal statement that we land on, because it is the only sure-footing that we can truly have with regard to how God saves men from their sins. The position I take in this debate is the position of Calvinism. I have come to this position after hearing Scripture quoted and exposited from both sides of the debate, and being convinced that the Calvinist position is the more Scripturally consistent position. I will state each point of the TULIP position, and the Scriptural support that I have found for each point.
Total Depravity is the position that says every area of our life is affected by the stain of sin, to the extent that we can do nothing in order to make the choice to please God outside of His enabling Grace. Jesus states man’s slavery to sin like this in John 8:34, “Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.’” We are all slaves to sin, because we all commit sin on a regular basis. Also, Ephesians 2 says that we are “dead in our trespasses” and “by nature children of wrath”. Ephesians 2:9 says that we are saved by grace through faith—and that faith is a gift of God, not from ourselves. Faith is the gift of God which comes through hearing the word about Christ (Romans 10:17). John 1:12-13 says, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” Those who believed in God were born not by their own will, but by the will of God. This leads to the second petal on the TULIP.
Unconditional Election is the second point of Calvinist thought. Unconditional election means that God chose those who would be saved before He even made the world, not based on anything they have done, but solely because of His own will. Ephesians 1:4-5 says, “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will”. This clearly points to an election that is not based on man’s choice, but on God’s will. In fact, verse 11 says it even more clearly, “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will”. This says that salvation does come from someone’s “will”—but it’s not our will, it’s God’s will that brings about salvation.
Limited Atonement is the third point of Calvinism. Limited Atonement, or Particular Redemption as it is sometimes known, says that Christ’s death was an actual payment for the sins of the elect—not just a potential payment of the whole world’s sins. This is one of the most contested points of Calvinism, but I think that it does have ample Scriptural support. In John 10:11, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Hebrews 7:22-25 speaks of Jesus’ role as the Christian’s high priest: “This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” These verses say that the reason Christ is able to save to the uttermost is that He is always making intercession, unlike the priests of the old covenant, for those who He has saved. These are just a couple of verses which speak of the particular nature of Christ’s atoning work, but I think they speak very clearly on it.
Irresistible Grace is the fourth point of Calvinism. Also known as Effectual Calling, it says that those who God calls to be saved will be saved, because God has called them. It does not say that those who are saved are saved apart from their will; on the contrary, it says that those who God calls, He enables to respond through His “quickening” of their hearts to respond to His Grace. John 6:44 says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” John 3:8 says, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Salvation is a work of God’s will, and God’s will always comes to pass.
Perseverance of the Saints is the final point of Calvinism. This is the point that says that those who are saved will continue in their faith in Christ until the day that they die. It does not deny man’s responsibility to be faithful to Christ, but it does say that God will be faithful to keep His promise of salvation to those who have put their faith in Christ. John 10:27-30 says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.” This says that the reason we are to be saved is not because of our ability to remain faithful, but due to God’s faithfulness. John 6:37-40 says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." Jesus’ obedience to the Father’s will included keeping those who are drawn to Him by the Father. The ultimate security of our salvation lies in the fact that Jesus will not let us go, not in the fact that we can remain faithful to Him. This is just a brief overview with brief support of the Calvinist position, but I think it will serve as an introduction for some into Calvinist belief.

The Destiny of the Unevangelized

This is a position paper which I had to write for my Theological Foundations class. Now it has served two purposes... ha


Heaven is arguably one of the greatest aspects of the Christian life. The promise of Heaven to the believer in Jesus Christ is what drives Christians to set our minds “on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:2 NIV) This truth is what gives the Christian hope to endure all things, because it is when we will see our Savior in the fullest sense that we will ever see Him. But what about those who don’t believe in Christ? What about those who have not come to put their trust in Jesus Christ as the only payment for their sins? What about those who have not even heard about the Savior, or that they even need to be saved? What happens to them? Do they get a free pass because of their “ignorance”? What about the alternative destination? What is Hell like? Who goes there? These are very pertinent questions, and they are questions that I believe the Bible answers quite clearly. What I hope to accomplish through this position paper is to clearly state what I believe the Scriptures teach on the destiny of the unevangelized and the nature of Hell. I hope to deal with each individually, though they intertwine on a number of points.
There are billions of people throughout this world, and each one of them is said to be under sin’s curse. Romans 5 declares that we all inherit a sinful nature which results in death from our father Adam. Romans 6:23 says, “the wages of sin is death”. (NIV) Ezekiel 18:4 says, “The soul who sins is the one who will die.” (NIV) Each person who sins by breaking God’s commandments or leaving good that should be done undone will be held accountable for that sin before God. The destiny of those who sin is a place called Hell. Hell was originally created for Satan and his angels, according to Matthew 25:41. This verse also tells us that Hell is a place apart from Christ, where there is fire that burns forever. This place is said to be by some a figurative place, and that it will not be an eternal, conscious torment. This view, however, fails to take into account verses like Matthew 10:28 which says, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (NIV) If God is to be feared more than those who can kill the body, then He must be one who can punish more than just temporarily. Men can do things worse than just burn the body, but once the body is dead, that is all that they can do. God is to be feared because He can destroy both the body and the soul. Luke 16:23 tells us, in Jesus’ parable about the rich man and Lazarus who both died, that the rich man was, “In hell, where he was in torment”. (NIV) This speaks of a conscious torment. So, Hell is a place that is apart from Christ, where those who have followed Satan’s deception rather than Christ’s truth are consciously tormented for all of eternity.
But what about the unreached people? What about those who haven’t heard the Good News of salvation through faith in Christ Jesus? What happens to them? The answer I find to be the most consistent with Scripture is that they are sent to Hell with those who have heard and rejected the Gospel. There are two Scripture passages that I find that seem to indicate this, both from the book of Romans. Romans 1:18-23 says, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” (NIV) The existence of God can be clearly seen by the things that He has made. Yet, despite this revelation, known as natural revelation, men choose to reject this truth of God’s existence, and instead worship idolatrous false gods. They “suppress the truth by their wickedness,” so that they will not have to submit to and honor God and glorify Him. They do not glorify God with the knowledge that they have received of Him through nature, and so they have rejected the knowledge of God and suppressed it by their sin. They will feel the just payment of their sin in Hell, because they have rejected the knowledge of God that has been shown to them. The second passage which leads me to believe that the unevangelized will be in Hell is found in Romans 10:9-17, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, ‘Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’ But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our message?’ Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” (NIV) The beginning of this passage lays out the formula for salvation—confessing Jesus as Lord and believing that God has raised Him from the dead. In other words, repentance from sin and faith in Christ. This is the formula for salvation given. Paul then lays out the universality of salvation to those who call out to God by saying that anyone, no matter whether they are Jew or Gentile, who calls on Jesus’ name will be saved. However, Paul then asks a series of questions about how they will be saved if they haven’t believed, haven’t heard, or haven’t even heard preaching. This leads to the inevitable answer that they cannot be saved apart from faith, which according to verse 17, “comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” This states very plainly that the faith in Jesus has to come from hearing about Jesus; otherwise they cannot call on the name of the Lord and be saved.
Upon my study of Scripture, these are the beliefs that I have come to understand about Hell and the unevangelized. I do, however, understand that there will be those who see the Scripture line up a different way, and I am more than willing to listen to the points that they will make concerning these topics. I am simply grateful that God has saved my soul from Hell, and that I have heard the message about Christ!

Train up a Child...

Hey, tonight's post is probably going to be pretty short because I've been reading/schooling all day today. I just wanted to note something that the Lord had revealed to me yesterday. I again had the privilege of eating lunch and speaking with a group of believers from our Church yesterday (and a different group at that!). One of the people at the table was my Mom, another was my third grade teacher, Mrs. Richardson (I can't call her by her first name, she was my teacher ha). Mrs. Richardson and her husband, who had also been my main youth leader in high school, were in the conversation with us, and I enjoyed it very much. I always enjoy listening to Glen (he wasn't my third-grade teacher... ha) speak, because there is always a Bible truth that is tied to whatever he is saying (or so it seems).
Near the end of the conversation, for some reason the conversation turned to the youth group kids, and Glen said he was excited to see that "guys like Geary" have stuck around--to which my only response was, "uhhh...".
When I left, and as I reached home, I was still thinking about that part of the conversation, and I realized how great of an impact he, his wife, and my parents had actually had on my conversion--in a more subtle way.
You see, I grew up in Church--and not just Church--an AWANA Church. (If you don't know what that is, it's a club where kids meet on Wednesdays and try to memorize Bible verses, and play games and have snacks.) My parents took us every week, and my Mom made sure we knew the verses we were supposed to know for the week--every week. So I learned a lot of Bible verses. I also learned a lot of Bible verses in my third-grade class at my Christian school. Mrs. Richardson even had songs for some of the verses. So I learned a lot of the Bible as a kid. The only problem was, it didn't find prepared soil in my heart to grow.
In my high school years, I continued in the Church youth group. I didn't become the rebel who shunned what I was learning at youth group--I became the rebel who shunned the application of what I was learning at youth group. I became more and more "hollow"--I knew all the answers, but I didn't really have any deep root in the understanding of the Gospel. Yet Glen was there every Sunday, teaching us how Scripture applied to high school life (and the rest of life...), how to defend the Christian faith, how to know God in a deeper way. Yet all of this hit the hard soil of my heart and lay dormant, because I was unwilling to listen to God's call to repentance.
Cut to 20 years old, God opens my eyes by using our Pastor's constant exhortation to read the Scriptures daily. As I began to read, I began to see that this Christian life was not the life I was living. I knew all of these things to be true, but I also realized I wasn't living them. I was living as a self-righteous Pharisee, and I was just as much "a white-washed tomb" as they were. This is where I believe God truly called me to His Son, and I saw nothing better than the fact that despite my wicked and sinful heart, Jesus had paid the price for my sin. I didn't fully understand repentance, but I knew I didn't want to continue living in contradiction to the Scriptures. I believe that is when God truly applied my sin to Christ and His righteousness was credited to me. Since then, I have lived in a constant battle to keep that truth fresh in my mind, but I know that God will not allow me to stumble beyond all hope--because He will not lose one of His sheep.
The point? When I first became a Christian, I think I secretly resented all of my "Church authorities" for not saving me when I was younger. What I realized at a deeper level yesterday was that it was not that they were unfaithful in "training up a child in the way he should go", but that my heart had been so hard that I had not been prepared to receive the Word that was shared with me. I now realize that I was the hard-hearted one, they were the faithful sowers. I am now even more deeply thankful for these people constantly sowing the seed of the Word into my heart as a child, because when God saw fit, He used it used it to convict me of the truth of His Word and the truth of His Gospel. So, if you are teaching little children the Bible, please don't give up--even if it seems they aren't listening now. The Scriptures might not hit their hearts right now, but God may still use it later to crush their heart of stone.

The Importance of Good Exegesis

This is a copy of my first Seminary paper(!!) It's a paper for my Greek Language Tools course about the importance of using exegesis when interpreting Scripture. Exegesis means drawing out of the text the meaning, as opposed to adding in a meaning you feel belongs there. With that short definition, here is my explanation on why it is important (and how bad I have been at it at times...). Enjoy!


The Importance of Good Exegesis
There are several reasons that good exegesis of Scripture is important. Scripture is the sole place from which we draw every spiritual truth which then impacts our daily actions. Therefore, if we are going to be drawing truth from this book, it is important that we do it rightly—as it will impact our daily (and eternal) lives. I have found two of the majorly important reasons that good exegesis is necessary are that misunderstanding the Bible can be damaging, and that the Bible commands it.
Misunderstanding the Bible is the worst thing that can happen to anyone—whether Christian or not—because if we misunderstand the Word, we are automatically disobedient to the Word due to our ignorance. If we misunderstand the main parts of the Bible—indeed, if we misunderstand the Gospel—it will have eternal consequences. Jesus said that the Pharisees “searched the Scriptures” (John 5), but they missed the true meaning of the Old Testament, which was to point toward a coming Messiah—the Messiah in their midst. They ended up in Hell for their zealous rejection of the true understanding of Scripture.
On a smaller scale, I have seen poor exegesis (both on my part and that of others) that has been at the very least un-beneficial and at the worst heretical. From my personal life, and example I can vividly remember (to my shame) is a time where I was feeling dry spiritually (in prayer and Bible reading) and I read through the Gospel accounts (I’m not sure which one) where a man was brought to Jesus who had a demon who had made him deaf and mute. Jesus cast out the demon and the man could speak and hear again. My application of that passage was to apply the “demon-possessed” part to my own life. The reason I was feeling dry is because I had been under the power of a demon who had made me deaf and mute spiritually. Let alone I had no idea how to cast a demon out, I ignored the fact that what was probably killing me spiritually (if I was alive at that point spiritually) was that I had been viewing pornography on a regular basis since my teenage years. What I should have drawn from that text is that Jesus is strong enough to save even someone who is oppressed by a demon—so he can save a repentant pornographer too!
The second reason that we use good exegesis is because the Bible commands it. When we understand this rightly, it should be one of our greatest joys to gladly dig deeper into His Word to draw out the deep things—not to dump our ideas into the Bible. God commands us to “rightly divid[e] the Word of Truth.” The reason for that is because His Word doesn’t have shades of truth. If you don’t rightly divide it, or cut it straight, you will come out with error instead of truth. God commands us, therefore, to read and divide His Word rightly. The reason we should divide His Word rightly is because He doesn’t want us to be in error. Most of all, He does not want us to be in error on the Gospel—the central message drawn from His Word. He does not want us to be in error of understanding about the Gospel. God commands that we understand His Word rightly, and because He has redeemed us through the death of His Son, it should be our greatest joy to say, “Yes, Lord.” In response to His grace toward us, we should respond by desiring to rightly understand what He has said to us in His Book.

Abortion "Debated"

In memory of Roe V. Wade, I've decided to post a "debate" that I'm currently entrenched in via Youtube. I have changed the name of the person, so that it does not seem that I am being unfair to the person, and I had to edit some of the language in the posts (this girl needs a little soap in her mouth... ha). Enjoy... or be thoroughly annoyed.


By the way, the conversation started regarding the woman claiming to have had a medically necessary, life-saving abortion...

@Pro-Choicer what type of medical emergency provoked this abortion, maam?

@gearylutz What type of medical degree do you have?

@Pro-Choicer well, I was just wondering because you said it was "life saving" and "medically necessary". I was just wondering what type of emergency you had experienced.

@gearylutz I was just wondering whether you expected to offer insight as a medical professional, or to judge whether or not you thought my condition was "worthy" of an abortion as a layperson antichoicer.

@Pro-Choicer Well, maam, I think my ability to offer you a "professional medical opinion" is about as great as your ability to offer a "professional" opinion on theology, which you seem content to do anyway. I'm not a medical professional, and I do not intend to simply blindside you with "you're a murderer" and then never talk to you beyond that. But I think that this topic can be spoken of by more than just doctors. Otherwise you should get a degree in theology please or change your SN.

@gearylutz Sure but my opinions on theology never lead to taking away the rights of people to have their body's to themselves, whereas the theological/medical opinions of anti-choicers aim to do exactly that. So you see how the two things are not at all alike (I hope).

Here's the real point: Why does my particular medical condition matter? Any woman should have the right to decide what happens to her body - period.

@Pro-Choicer Well, maam, how do you explain that for the particular amount of time that you had that addition to your body, you had a distinct DNA code inside your uterus? How do you explain, if it was a boy, the extra appendage that was suddenly added to your body from the inside? I think this is a little bit more complex than the "my body" issue that you are making it out to be. Angie, I understand this is an emotional issue, not a rational one. Please think about what I am saying here

@gearylutz The egg was inside my body. The egg was feeding off my body, changing my body chemistry, and messing up my day royally. My body was precisely the one I was concerned with. And yes, my life DOES trump that of a ball of cells. To quote George Carlin, "You think a fetus is better than a woman? Try getting a fetus to wash thestains out of your underwear." I'm a person with feelings, thoughts & family. The egg wasn't.

@Pro-Choicer Well, maam, I think that your body-if it was only dealing with an egg-would have ejected the egg itself at some point in the month. The fact that it didn't eject means it was a fertilized egg, with a different DNA code. There is nothing inside of that baby that is added after conception-just things that are developed. If it is ok to kill something that is simply less developed, there is not much difference then between inside and outside the womb then, right?

@gearylutz Fertilized schmertilized. The differences between inside and outside the womb are tremendous. Your ignorance of embryology & pregnancy don't make your antichoice views correct.

But hey, judging women as "killers" is probably quicker and easier.

@Pro-Choicer Hey, sorry I haven't responded in a week, I just didn't want you to think you had out-witted the theist (although you do seem to be a very intelligent and witty woman, aside from being so foolish as to believe that nothing made everything ;)). I was just wondering where you got your information that it doesn't matter whether the egg is fertilized and implanted or not? I'm not sure where you got that information, but the "single cell" is a totipotent cell, not just "goo"

@Pro-Choicer Also, I do believe you had said something about not wanting to "force" your beliefs on everyone. The thing is, though, that you call yourself an "anti-theist," which would mean that you are opposed to theism, not just that you don't believe in God. You make it a habit to bash Christianity, and it seems to me that you are recording it for others to watch and attempting to persuade them of your views. This is not much different than anyone else imposing values on others, is it?

@gearylutz It's hard to answer your question, when it's so loaded. I never said the things you want me to explain or defend having said, which makes this awkward at best.

It does not matter to ME whether the egg was fertilized or not. Sperm does not make something sacred. Sperm doesn't make it special. Sperm doesn't make it suddenly have a right to take over my body. That's what I meant by "fertilized schmertilized."

@Pro-Choicer the sperm is not special in and of itself, but when it is joined with an egg and forms a totipotent cell which then takes residence in your womb, it is a living cell, and it is a human life. Your "rights" are only protected as long as they don't affect another life. If you have information to the contrary (i.e. that it is not a living cell), please link it for me to read. Is that a specific enough request? By the way, what Church were you a part of when you were a "Christian"?

@gearylutz I belonged to several denominations over my 2 and a half decades as a Christian, including but not limited to Episcopalian, Methodist, Presbyterian, charismatic, evangelical and Vineyard.

If my "rights" (which can obviously be thrown away by you very easily, I see by the glib quote marks) can't infringe on another's life then OBVIOUSLY a fetus has no rights to affect & hijack MY life and MY body. Fabulously done sir, thank you.

It has NO rights to MY life whether it's living or not

@Pro-Choicer I apologize for making it seem like your rights don't matter, I use quotes a lot, and it was just meant to say that whatever rights you have been given (i.e. we don't determine for ourselves individually what our rights are), they only extend as far as the next life is concerned--much the same as my neglecting to feed my children and allowing them to starve because I have a "right" to life would be cruel and wrong. My right to life does not mean that I can harm my children.

@gearylutz Okay well assuming a fetus had rights (which I don't agree with), by your statements it still has no rights once those rights infringe on MY life and body, right? Ergo, abortion is totally up to the pregnant-woman, and always should be. She's the one having her rights & body infringed upon BY the fetus, not the other way around. Women have more rights than fetuses, AS WE SHOULD. We're PEOPLE. The egg I aborted was unaware, unconscious & terminal. I'm alive because of abortion.

@Pro-Choicer That leads me again to ask what made the abortion medically necessary? If it's a personal reason, feel free to not answer, but if you are using "my body, my rights" as your argument, then that is seriously lacking in power. Why do women have more rights than fetuses?

@gearylutz Women are people. Women have thoughts, feelings, families, loved ones, ideas, passions, interests. Persons have personalities. Fetuses are not people. People are born. Fetuses have no thoughts, feelings, loved ones, ideas, passions, interests, or personalities. Fetuses cannot choose to be born or aborted, because they're incapable of making choices. Women CAN make choices & should be allowed to do so.

Women have more rights because we have BRAINS. (That egg had no brain, heart, etc)

@Pro-Choicer Ok, you still have not answered my first question, Angie. What was the "necessary medical condition" that required you to get this abortion? When did you have this abortion? Please, do not skip the first question just to answer the second question.

The Case Against Abortion

Tomorrow is (I believe) the anniversary of Roe V. Wade, which legalized abortion in America. As a Christian, I feel it is important to protect life, and I think this case, and the abortions that have followed, are antithetical to life. The title of this post is a link to a website which I was directed to today. I've heard all of this material before, but this is an article which speaks on when "life" begins.

Enjoy...


By the way, I'm already anticipating and have a response to the main atheist/abortion objections, so feel free to comment and I'll respond to them...

Strangers and Pilgrims: A Review

Ok, so I meant to do this post last week sometime, but I didn't have the chance to sit down and write it.
I recently (on Christmas Day) purchased Jovan MacKenzy's new album "Strangers and Pilgrims". Jovan is a reformed (aka Calvinistic) rapper who makes it his goal to be "Christ-centered" in all of his lyrics. I think that with this album, he does an excellent job of meeting that goal. This album, according to Jovan, is meant to be based off of the book Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.
I think the album does a fantastic job of keeping Christ at the center of the music--while approaching song topics that deal with real life issues. Songs such as "Gone Tomorrow" and "Boss" deal with real-life gritty situations. "Boss" deals with a big-time drug lord who has everyone under his finger, yet he hears from the true Boss about what being a Boss is really all about.
"Gone Tomorrow" deals with the brevity of life from the vantage point of people who have lost a loved one, including a young man who lost his friend, and a couple who lost their baby while still in the womb. It also deals with Jovan's own father's demise, and his hope for his father's salvation before he died.
"Jack Boy" is a bangin' hit about those who consider themselves "thugs" that are really no more than grasshoppers when they are faced with the true and living God.
There are certain themes presented throughout the album, one of which is the Sovereignty of God. This is no more clearly evidenced than in "Pioneer", which features a lengthy clip of James White (who, if I believed in re-incarnation... which I don't... would be John Calvin himself) presenting a passage from Hebrews and explaining the full and complete sovereignty of God in the entire salvation process.
Another theme throughout the album is the exaltation of Jesus Christ. "God Man" very clearly emphasizes this point, and it is a very clear portrayal of Jesus' Divine and human natures in lyrical poetry.
Finally, the major theme of the album would have to be the title of the album, "Strangers and Pilgrims". Several songs deal with the fact that this earth is not our home, and that we are awaiting our true home in Heaven when we "put off this tent."
Overall, Jovan MacKenzy's album is one of the most Gospel-saturated albums that I have heard in a long time. This young man knows how to "rightly divide the Word of truth". I really am encouraged every time I come across a new artist who has a passion for expressing the Gospel message in musical form. It is evident from this album that this is Jovan's passion--and I pray that God will continue to drive this passion down deeper into his heart as he continues to make Gospel-centered music.

Down and Out

I know that normally, I reserve video link posts for the weekends, but tonight I have been struck with some sort of debilitating sore-body, stomach-hurting sickness. Hopefully I'll be able to give you a full post in the weekend to make up for it. This video is of John MacArthur (the Evangelical Pope...) describing a verse that God has been repeatedly been bringing to my mind over the past couple weeks in order to remember the "Gospel in a nutshell." Enjoy.

Gospel Sorrow

Tomorrow will mark the 3rd anniversary of the funeral service for our daughter, Madelyn Grace Lutz. Madelyn died while still in my wife's womb, due to both a knot in her umbilical cord and the cord being wrapped around her neck. She was 26 weeks along, so my wife had to deliver her in the hospital the day after we found out that she had died, January 11th. This was the saddest moment that we have ever experienced, and it left us feeling completely helpless and hopeless.
At the time, I was not very strong in my understanding of Scripture, or of the nature of God's Sovereignty. I understood that God was in control of all things, but I didn't understand much more than that. I understood that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, but that understanding was not very deep either.
Since that time, I have learned many things about God, myself, and my relationship with God through this suffering.
One of the main things I have been learning lately has been gratitude. There is nothing that will reveal a heart of ingratitude more than when God takes something away from you. This is what I have noticed lately that God has been revealing in my heart. There is a lot of ingratitude that remains in my heart, and one of the deepest areas of ingratitude within my heart has to do with God allowing my daughter to die.
What God has been showing me lately is that God didn't steal something from me when He let my daughter die--He simply chose to take back what was rightfully His. Psalm 127 says that "children are a gift from the Lord." Much like any other resource that God gives to me, my children are a gift to be "stewarded" properly. This is not to suggest that God took my daughter because I was not being a "faithful steward"--only the mind of God understands fully the purposes of God. But I do know that when God decides to call back one of His gifts, it makes the gratitude level for the other gifts that God has given rise a great deal.
I have also found that God has grown my gratitude for the time I have with the children that He has continued to entrust to me. I'm not sure how long I will have with each of them (I pray it will be a long time!), but I know that it causes me to think a lot more deeply about the frailty of the time I have with my children. Knowing the frailty of human life, it makes understanding the time I have with my other children much more precious.
Probably the most important thing that God has taught me, however, doesn't have as much to do with me as something that has been done for me. God sent His Son to die for me. God gave His Son to die for me--in my place--for my sin. I have never done anything to deserve any of my children, but let alone that God would give His Son to die for me. That God would give His Son to pardon my sin--even my sins of ingratitude over taking my daughter--is beyond words. I cannot describe the gratitude that is brought forth in pondering the depths of the mercy God has shown toward me in my sin. "For our sake, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)
God has done nothing but good for me, and has extended nothing but mercy toward me. I do not deserve any of the gifts He has given me, least of all that He would send His Son to pay the price for my sin.
Praise God for His salvation--it is the only thing that makes the death of a child possible to bear.
The Gospel is the only thing that makes the death of a child bearable, because it speaks to the deepest needs of life--forgiveness and restoration.
Forgiveness of sins now, and restoration of everything in eternity--including, I believe, those who have died in the womb.
As David said of his dead child, "He cannot come to me, but I will go to him.
The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation!

Breaking News!!

A group out of Indiana has announced today that it has had enough of Santa Claus.

Effective immediately, the group, known as Aclausists, has said it will begin posting public billboards aimed against the beloved Saint Nicholas.

When asked for the reason behind the billboard, the group responded in the following manner, "What do you mean, 'why are we posting these?' Everyone knows Santa Claus isn't real, so why are we still celebrating as if this 'Saint' is real?"

The group has agreed to post 150 different "anti-Santa" billboards across major cities in America with slogans like the following, "Come on, you won't get a lump of coal in your stocking..."

When asked if men such as Richard Dawkins would be joining the campaign, they responded that Mr. Dawkins was busy trying to destroy Christianity.

The group has also announced that if this campaign goes over well enough, they will be funding an anti-Unicorn campaign as well this coming fall.

We will keep you posted...

Super Sunday

It's Sunday again, which means that I spent my morning worshiping with about 2-300 of the most beloved people in the universe. I enjoy every minute that I am able to spend with my fellow believers, if not just to be speaking about Jesus together (I'm not a very out-going type of person...).
Today, our Pastor was speaking on the Holy Spirit, and here is where I followed a rabbit trail, and where this blog post is happening. He brought up Philippians 3, where Paul says that he has "not yet attained" what he's striving for. That doesn't have anything to do with the Holy Spirit (nor did my Pastor intend it to, it was a sub-point).
So, thanks to Tullian Tchividjian, I desired to see if there wasn't a Gospel motivation to Paul's striving to reach the prize. Well, I didn't have to search far, because in verses 12-14 speak of the striving, and the section before it, speaks on the Gospel. Verse 9 says, "and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith".
So, we see that Paul's motivation for his striving toward the goal of "the upward call of Christ Jesus" is motivated not by his righteousness, but by Christ's righteousness.
But, if you noticed the "and" at the beginning, that points out something interesting too.
The "and" is a continuing from the last verse, where Paul says that he will count all of his religious accomplishments as "rubbish" for the sake of "gaining Christ".
I found it amazing that this Gospel verse seems to tie together both his past strivings and his present strivings. Paul once strove for his own righteousness, but the Gospel knocked him off of his high horse (literally, Acts 9), and now he is striving not to attain his own righteousness, but because he has already obtained the righteousness of Christ through faith.

So, let us strive "because of" and not "so that" we would obtain righteousness.

Have a great Lord's Day everyone...

Double-Feature Saturday

Ok, so I fell asleep last night before I had a chance to finish my blog post (which I actually did start yesterday afternoon...). So I finished it (somewhat) and now I will post another video link. I think this works best for weekend posts, because I have a lot of stuff to do on the weekends and I don't have as much time to write about bloggy matters. So, here is another video clip that I have really enjoyed in the past.

Criminal Minds (and Hearts...) Pt. 2

This is a continuation from the post that I made yesterday about the show Criminal Minds and its focus on the mental factors behind criminal activity.

I think that this show--with its focus on the mental/psychological aspect and negating to deal with Spiritual/sin issues--also fails to understand the goodness and grace of God.
As I said yesterday, our hearts are deceitfully and desperately wicked, and from our hearts flow out sinful behavior. Sinful behavior is not "conditioned" into us based on circumstances entirely. Otherwise, how can you explain the fact that not everyone who deals with terrible life situations doesn't become a criminal.
Case in point: Job. Job lost everything in his life, all in the same day. The only thing he had left was his wife, who told him to "curse God and die." Job would have been the perfect candidate to have a "psychotic break" and rampage against someone, or break down and become schizophrenic. But not only did this not happen, the Bible says that Job didn't even charge God with wrong at the loss of all of his things.
When we settle for less-than-Biblical foundations and less-than-Biblical explanations, we will get the prescribed Biblical result of failure.

Criminal Minds (and Hearts...)

Recently I've been drawn into watching a show on CBS called Criminal Minds. The show follows the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit as they track down criminals by analyzing the details of the crimes (i.e. the victims, the MO, the evidence) and building a "profile" of the criminal. They often analyze the criminals and explain their criminal behavior based on their mind--they are psychologists.
This makes me think a lot on the importance of basing our assumptions for "why" on Biblical grounds as Christians. The psychologists on the show can often base their reasoning for why a criminal acted a certain way on what they call a "stressor", or something that made the criminal "snap" and act violently. They will often use these as explanations for why a criminal acted like he did (not as an excuse, just as a method of reasoning).
I think Biblically, we have a much stronger answer for why a person would act out in a wicked way (like attempting to shoot and kill a Congresswoman). Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"
Mark 7:21-23 says, "For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."
These verses seem to be answering the question of "why" by looking into the heart, not into the head. They peer into the core of the person, not just look at the way he's thinking.
This is the real answer to the "Criminal Minds" question--it's because they have "Criminal Hearts".

Value of the Word

Value of the Word
2 Timothy 3:14-17
•Good evening, ladies and… ladies
•I would like to thank the Church for giving me the opportunity to be here tonight.
•I feel like this is some sort of great privilege—a land where only few men have ever ventured.
•This is actually the first time I’ve ever had the opportunity to speak with my wife as a part of the intended audience.
•So, the topic for tonight is… “How to deal with a completely disorganized and procrastinating husband.”
•Subtitle: “Waiting patiently for him to realize you are right.”
•Actually, my topic for tonight is the Value of the Word—or for the Baptists in the room, the Worth of the Word.
•What’s actually interesting is that this is the same topic I was given the opportunity to share with the men at the Inside-Out retreat last year.
•So, I was able to give my notes a look-over, and see where God has grown my understanding of the importance of His Word in the Christian life.
•I’m actually going to be using the same text as I did for the men’s talk.
•The text is 2 Timothy 3:14-17, and it is one of my favorite portions of Scripture in the entire Bible—particularly when it comes to speaking for the Bible itself.
•2 Timothy was Paul’s last letter written with urgency to his most beloved son in the faith Timothy.
•Timothy, according to Chapter 1, verse 8, had begun to grow ashamed of the Gospel and its chief messenger, Paul.
•Apparently, he was growing fearful of the persecution that comes along with being a Christian preacher, particularly displayed in Paul’s impending execution.
•So, Paul writes one last letter to Timothy to strengthen and encourage him to remain strong in the things that he had learned from Paul since the beginning of his ministry.
•In Chapter 1, Paul reminds Timothy of the message which he has been given to preach to the Churches.
•Paul, in Chapter 2, likens Timothy to a soldier who is loyal to his chief, an athlete who competes according to the rules of the game, and a farmer who remains hard at work until harvest time.
•He then encourages Timothy to be strong in the Word of God, and alerts him of things which he avoid (and also the things he should be pursuing) if his ministry will be pleasing to God.
•In Chapter 3, Paul gives Timothy a stern warning of what types of people he would be dealing with, and also what would happen to some within the church.
•In contrast to this list of sinfully deceived people, Paul gives Timothy the reminder that he was not like those men.
•Timothy had followed Paul’s teaching from the very beginning. Timothy had seen Paul’s example of ministry.
•Finally, in the passage before us, Paul reveals the power behind his ministry.
•So, in Chapter one, Paul spoke with Timothy about the message, in Chapter 2 about the mission, and Chapter 3 about the power behind the ministry.
•(Sorry, I couldn’t come up with another “m” word there. Maybe the “missile” behind the ministry?)
•So, at this point, you’re wondering then, “OK, so it’s good for ministry, but I’m not in Pastoral ministry.”
•If that is what you are thinking, I hope that by the end of the evening, I will have been able to show you the personal application of the Word of God for your life.
•So, with that context setter, let’s look at 2 Timothy 3:14-17, which reads,
•“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (ESV)
•Ok now I know that I read verses 14-17, but I’m actually going to start from the ending and work backwards to the beginning.
•The reason I’m going to do that is because I have come to see this passage as picturing an enormous tree full of life.
•The way I have divided it will hopefully show you what I mean.
•In the second half of verse 16 and verse 17, we could call that the fruit of the tree.
•Verse 16a contains the trunk of the tree.
•And finally, verses 14-15 show us the root of the tree.
•So, I’m starting with the fruit so that once we get a taste of the good fruit which the Word of God provides, we will then go deeper and look at the thick trunk which holds the fruit, and the life-giving roots which support the sustaining power of the fruit.
•Ok, so with that analogy in place, let’s get a taste of the fruit of the Word.
•Verse 16b-17 form the fruit portion of the tree from this passage.
•Verse 16b-17, again says that Scripture is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”
•Here are listed four fruits of the Word of God, which will lead to full competence and being equipped for every good work.
•We will take a look at each of these fruits and then look at some others which are found in other portions of Scripture as well.
•The first of these fruits is “teaching.”
•Your translation may say, “Doctrine”—which is a big, scary word which means the same thing as “teaching”.
•Here the term teaching is referring to the truthful teaching which the Bible provides.
•In opposition to the teachers which Paul referred to earlier in Chapter 3, who “oppose the truth,” Paul wanted Timothy to know that he had been given “true truth,” as Francis Schaeffer called it.
•Timothy had been given a book which would teach him the truth, and we have this same book today.
•Today we are surrounded by people who ask “What is truth?” or make the statement, “There is no absolute truth!”
•What Paul is telling us here is, “Yes! There is absolute truth, and it is found in the Scriptures!”
•Proverbs 30:5 says, “Every word of God proves true.”
•But not only does it teach us about truth, it teaches us specific truths.
•We learn what is true about God through the teaching of the Word of God.
•We learn from verses such as Isaiah 6:3, which says, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts,” that God is a holy God.
•This means that He is, as Habakkuk put it, “of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong.”
•We also learn that God is love, from I John 4:8 which says, “God is love.”
•These would be things that the Bible would teach us about God.
•The Bible also teaches us about man, in verses like Ephesians 2:1-4, which says, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
•Romans 3:23 says that, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
•So, we see that the Bible teaches us the truth about God and man.
•Now, sometimes when we are reading our Bible, we will come across a truth which will clash with our presuppositions.
•Say, for instance that I believed, like I John 4:8 says, that “God is love.”
•That is true.
•But let’s say that I believed that to the exclusion of anything else.
•So, one day, I’m reading through the Psalms, and I come to Psalm 5:5, which says, “The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.”
•Well, if God is love, then certainly He can’t hate, right?
•Well, we’ve come to a decision here, either the Bible is right, or I am right.
•Let me give you a hint on what the answer is when you come to difficult decisions like this one—the Bible is never wrong. (I hope that helps.)
•You need to taste the second fruit listed here—reproof.
•Reproof is a fruit which tastes very bitter at first.
•Reproof occurs when your belief or behavior is wrong.
•So, I think that God is only love, and yet God hates all evildoers.
•Well, God must have only hated them back then.
•No, because Hebrews 13:8 tells us that Jesus, who was God, “is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
•So, how do these two verses harmonize? We will see this when we get to the root.
•Reproof also deals with behavior though.
•When someone wrongs me, I’m often mad at that person for a while, and my thoughts are—well, not generally that friendly toward that person.
•That’s ok every once in a while, right? I mean it’s not like I’m killing them or anything.
•But then I read in Matthew 5:21-23, “INSERT VERSES HERE”
•So, then, that means that not only is murder wrong in the eyes of God, but hatred and name-calling are wrong too.
•I’m quite sure I have used names far worse than “fool” to insult others before.
•So, then, is the Bible wrong, or am I wrong?
•I don’t think that my angry thoughts are that bad, but Jesus said they are bad enough to earn God’s judgment as sin.
•Who is wrong here? (Remember the hint from earlier.)
•I’m in need of reproof.
•Like I said, this is a very bitter fruit—at first.
•But once you have eaten it, it tastes very sweet.
•As we realize the areas where we are wrong according to God’s Word, and begin to seek to correct those wrong areas, we will see that God’s way of action leads to a truly “better” life.
•When you stop getting angry at everyone who offends you, you will find that those people are less “annoying” to you. It then becomes easier to pray for those people.
•This leads us to the third fruit listed in the passage: correction.
•This is another “bitter-sweet” fruit.
•The Bible not only tells us in what areas we are believing and behaving wrongly, but also tells us what we should believe and how we should behave.
•This often goes hand in hand in the New Testament.
•Colossians 3 gives a list of things that we are to “put off” as Christians, and then a second list of things which we are to “put on.”
•Correction here, according to John MacArthur, could speak of, “righting a fallen object, or helping back to their feet those who had stumbled.”
•So, Scripture does not just tell us we’re wrong, it also helps us to understand what way we should be going.
•Another rebuke and correction parallel would be the contrast in Ephesians 5:18, where Paul says, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.”
•Again, this is a bitter-sweet fruit.
•I don’t like to hear that instead of being angry at my enemy, I should love my enemy and act kindly toward them.
•But when I act in obedience to God’s Word, I learn patience toward others and experience the clear conscience which comes with obedience to God.
•You know, it’s almost as if God knew the best way that things were meant to work when He created this universe.
•So, as we continue to learn the areas which we have been believing and behaving wrongly, and find ourselves corrected by the Scriptures, we will find ourselves eating of the fourth fruit—training in righteousness.
•This training—speaking in the same terms as raising a child—is meant to be speaking of our growth in righteousness.
•We are trained in right living by applying the teaching, rebuke, and correction the Scripture offers us.
•We are made more practically righteous by our obedience to the Scriptures.
•This is how we grow as Christians.
•We read the Scripture, we are challenged by the Scripture, and we apply the Scripture.
•It’s easy to say—it’s impossible to do, unless rightly approached.
•Ok, so we have seen the four areas listed in this passage as fruits of the Word of God.
•But there are several other ways in which the Scriptures benefit our daily lives.
•For one, Ephesians 6:17, calls the Word of God a sword, while speaking of the armor necessary for the Christian life.
•This book is the main defense against the attacks of Satan—and it is all we need.
•For the ultimate example of the power of the Word of God, we can look at Matthew 4, where Jesus uses Scripture to refute the temptations of Satan.
•Jesus didn’t use human intellect, “No, Satan, this temptation doesn’t make sense.”
•Satan could have easily refuted this argument. “Sure it does. You’re hungry, and all I’m asking you to do is make some bread.”
•Jesus also didn’t appeal to human emotion, “No, Satan, I really don’t feel like disobeying God right now.”
•If that were Jesus’ response, Satan could have changed the way He was feeling easily by saying something like, “Hey, come on, don’t be so down on yourself. God must not love you if He’s letting you starve out here in the desert. He must have deserted you. Don’t you think you deserve the care of the one you have obeyed all of your life?”
•But Jesus didn’t respond with either of these.
•He responded to all three of the listed temptations—and doubtless there were more as He was out there for 40 days being tempted—by quoting Scripture.
•He quoted Scripture verses which dealt specifically with the temptation offered by Satan.
•He didn’t just fire off, “In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth.”
•No, He quoted verses which were specifically aimed at the temptation He was facing at the moment.
•We can learn a great deal from that when we face the temptations of Satan to do evil.
•All that Ephesians says we have as a weapon is the Word of God.
•But it also says that all we need to be prepared to do is to stand.
•Peter says that if we will resist the devil, he will flee from us.
•All we need to do is have Scripture ready to take aim at the temptation, and as we stand strong behind the wielded sword, Satan will be forced to flee as he is battered by the truth of Scripture.
•Another benefit of the Word of God is that it teaches wisdom.
•Proverbs 1 begins, “The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth—Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction”
•Here is a whole book dedicated to the pursuit of wisdom, and at the beginning, it says that the purpose is that wisdom will be attained.
•Psalm 19:7 says, “the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple”.
•Even in this passage, it speaks of being “wise for salvation.”
•The Bible’s use of the word “wisdom” means not just knowledge, but knowledge applied.
•The Bible teaches us wise principles, and as we put them into practice, we gain wisdom about how we should live our lives.
•And these are just a thimbleful of the ways that the Word of God benefits our lives.
•These are just a taste of the fruits which this tree produces.
•But for now, I hope this has given you a taste of the good fruit of God’s Word.
•Now, let’s take a look at the tree stump.
•On a tree, the trunk is the big middle section which supports the tree’s weight.
•The trunk of the tree is what protects the life-giving nutrients flowing from the roots to the fruit and leaves.
•This portion, I believe, would best be summed up in Verse 16a, which says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God”.
•This is a hugely, ginormous amount of power packed into a tiny, miniscule phrase.
•“All Scripture” speaks, in Paul’s mind, of the Old Testament, which Timothy would have been accustomed to hearing read since his childhood.
•Paul calls them the “sacred writings” in verse 15.
•However, Scripture is not just limited to the Old Testament—obviously as Christians we believe this.
•These are not just “cleverly devised myths” as Peter says.
•The God of the Universe has spoken!
•As I once heard John Piper say, (although with a passion that I haven’t been able to match yet!), “God Almighty has spoken. It can’t be boring!”
•God has revealed Himself through this Book!
•And because He Himself is perfect—therefore, we believe that His Word is perfect too.
•This is known as both inerrancy and infallibility.
•Infallible means it can’t make an error on the whole, and inerrant means it doesn’t make an error in the parts that make up the whole.
•These things that are written in this book are true!
•I know that when Glen shared, he did some apologetic defenses of the Bible, and I’m thankful for that—I love apologetics.
•I mean, I would believe it if none of it really made sense to me—I mean, if every issue had that tension like the “how does prayer work if God is sovereign?” question.
•But there is just something reassuring about knowing that God has not left us to take a “blind leap of faith.”
•The Christian faith is the most reasonable belief system, and the Bible is the most believable book there is!
•Let me give you my favorite Biblical apologetic for the truth of the New Testament.
•As I said earlier, Peter says that they didn’t just make this story up.
•Let me read you a passage from 2 Peter 1, and then I’ll give you my favorite “proof” for the New Testament.
•“I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.“
•“For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
•Now, did you notice the part where Peter said that he is about to be “putting off” his body soon?
•Please realize that he did not mean there that he was about to die of old age.
•No, He is about to die by, according to Church tradition, being hung upside down on a cross.
•As the story goes, they wanted to crucify him, and he told them to turn it upside down because he was not worthy to die in the same manner as his Lord.
•Does that sound like a story teller to you?
•I mean, I have told my share of false stories—“No, Mom, I have no idea how those holes got in the ceiling. Oh, this broom in my hand? Well, you see, what happened was that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles broke in and started doing karate moves all over my room, and then the bow staff kept getting stuck in the ceiling, and then they jumped out the second story window right before you came in here.”
•Now, I’m going to stick with that story, because that’s what I came up with.
•But if my mom’s response was to bring out a cross and some nails, my response is not going to be, “Um, yes, but upside down please.”
•Yet, that’s what people want us to believe that Peter did.
•Come on, that doesn’t make sense at all!
•Peter was not dying to protect some “power struggle” message meant to dominate and oppress people.
•I don’t think he’d go that far just to get power—he wouldn’t be there to enjoy it!
•And not only was Peter martyred, but the rest of the disciples died martyrs’ deaths as well.
•I believe John was the only one not to be killed, and that was only because after they had tried to boil him alive, he still hadn’t died.
•So they shipped him off to an island and let him die of old age.
•These were the messengers of the New Testament, willing to die for the sake of the message, and not one of them recanting and confessing that it was a lie—because they all knew it was true!
•So, then, why doesn’t the world believe that this is God’s Word then?
•That question brings us to the root of this beautiful tree.
•The roots are the life-giving portion of the tree.
•I know I said earlier that the trunk holds the tree up, but it is actually the roots that dig down deep and secure the tree in place.
•And let me tell you, these roots are deep.
•The root of this tree can be found in verses 14-15.
•Verses 14-15, which read, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”
•This is the root of the whole passage in my opinion.
•Some may say that verse 16 is the root, but I would say that this section would be root-ier than even verse 16.
•See, this passage shows us the root of all Christian belief and growth—the Gospel.
•The Scriptures teach us the Gospel.
•Some of you, like myself when I have read this passage in the past—even when I taught this passage to the men—would say, “Yes, I see, the Gospel is the root because it starts our Christian growth.”
•And in a sense, yes, that’s right.
•The Gospel is the beginning of Christian growth.
•And the Scriptures are where we find the Gospel.
•The Scriptures are where we find truths such as Romans 3:23, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
•A little ways down the Romans road, we find in Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned”.
•We also find shortly after that Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death”.
•Even in the Old Testament, Paul’s primary meaning behind “sacred writings,” we find verses such as Ezekiel 18:4, “The soul who sins shall die.”
•It’s also in the Old Testament where we find the Ten Commandments, which Paul says are meant to be a revealer of sin.
•We see that we have broken God’s Holy Law, and that because He is Holy, we can’t enter into Heaven while still tainted with sin.
•We need someone to pay our sin debt for us—enter Jesus.
•“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
•Jesus said in Mark 1:15, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”
•Good news, that’s what Gospel means.
•Good news that we don’t have to pay our sins’ fine.
•Christ has paid the price for our sin, and we can enjoy eternal life with Him when we die.
•That is the Gospel.
•This is the message of the Christian faith.
•But so often I think that is where it gets left—at the beginning of the Christian faith.
•The Gospel is something we believe in to get our sins forgiven, and then we don’t really have to worry about it until we cash it in when it’s time to go to Heaven.
•But I don’t think that is how the Apostles saw the Gospel, and I don’t think it is how we should see the Gospel either.
•Look at Romans 1 with me, if you have your Bibles.
•When I heard this preached, it was life-altering.
•Paul, writing to the Romans says the following in verses 13-17 of Chapter 1, “I want you to know, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.”
•“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”
•Two things I want to bring out of this passage.
•First, who is Paul speaking to in this passage?
•Romans 1:7 says that it is addressed “To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints”.
•Now, to me, that sounds like he is talking to Christians, am I right?
•But look at what he says in verse 15, “So I am eager to the Gospel to you also who are in Rome.”
•Why is he wanting to preach the Gospel to those who are already loved by God?
•Verse 16, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.”
•Second thing I want to point out is right here.
•What does Paul say that the Gospel is the power of God for?
•“Salvation”?
•They already are Christians, aren’t they?
•Why is he wanting to preach the Gospel, which is the power of God for salvation, to those who are already saved?
•It seems a bit redundant, doesn’t it?
•It is, unless we understand that by “salvation” here, Paul isn’t talking about “conversion”.
•Paul doesn’t mean that the Gospel is the power of God for conversion—he means that the Gospel is the power of God for salvation—the whole process of salvation.
•I’m sure you have heard this many times, and I’ve heard Pastor Randy say this occasionally something to this extent.
•There are 3 phases to the salvation process—at Conversion, God dealt with the penalty for our sin; Currently He is working in us to eliminate the power of sin; and in the future He will eliminate the presence of sin.
•Now, what is constant throughout that whole process up until the end?
•Sin.
•Sin remains until in the end God destroys it.
•Now, when you put your trust in Christ, does that make sin disappear?
•Do you stop being a sinner?
•If you said “yes,” you are lying and you are showing that you’re still a sinner.
•Tell me, who is the Gospel good news for?
•So, what has changed about your need for the Gospel?
•Nothing! Until you have sin eliminated in your life by death or Christ’s return, you still need the Gospel!
•There is nobody who needs the Gospel more in your life than the person who stares at you in the mirror in the morning!
•There is no one who needs to hear verses such as these as people who still have remaining sin in their life.
•2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
•I Peter 2:24-25, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”
•Colossians 1:11-14, “May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
•I would urge you, ladies, to memorize these verses because they speak so clearly what the entire Bible was written to proclaim to us—that our sin has been put on Christ, and His righteousness has been put on us.
•It is only by remembering this that we will continue to run back to Christ every time we fall on our faces due to some foolish decision that we make.
•Otherwise, we will try to make up for it with our own righteous deeds—which God sees as filthy rags, according to Isaiah 64:6.
•So, how does this give life to the fruit on the tree?
•It is the sustaining power for the fruit of the tree.
•The Gospel is the only thing powerful enough to sustain continuing movement in the right direction.
•I’ve been listening to a preacher named Tullian Tchividjian lately (say that 5 times fast), and he has been the one who has really solidified this concept for me that the Gospel is for Christians too.
•He said, quoting someone whom I can’t remember right now, that “the Gospel is not simply the ABC’s of the Christian life. It is the A-Z of the Christian life.”
•If you have ever worked with a VBS program, then you know you’re still a sinner.
•You also know that many programs will use the ABC method of evangelism with children in order to make it simple for them to understand.
•A-admit that you’re a sinner.
•B-believe that Jesus is God’s Son sent to die for you
•C-confess that Jesus is your Lord and Savior
•What this quote is saying is that we shouldn’t just stop there. We should keep going.
•D-develop a deeper understanding of what Jesus did for you.
•E-enjoy the fellowship that comes with being a part of Christ’s body.
•F-find more words that can illustrate the Christian life (apparently that’s where I ran out of ideas)
•I think you see the point.
•The Gospel is not just about getting people converted, it is about seeing them saved from sin—whether it is the penalty of sin or the power of sin—until they are ultimately delivered from the presence of sin.
•It is only the Gospel which makes obedience to God’s Word possible for any long period of time.
•I mean, I could guilt you into reading the Bible for probably a week or so.
•“You really should read your Bible more.”
•“Suzie reads her Bible for 3 hours a day, while her children are napping and she’s making the dinner and doing the dishes—all at once.”
•That might make you think, “I should be more like Suzie.”
•Of course it could make you think, “Suzie’s lying,” but that’s not the point.
•I could guilt you into reading the Bible because you should read the Bible more.
•Or I could approach it like this—God has revealed Himself to you in this book. God, who is Holy and Sovereign, whom you have offended by breaking His Holy law, is revealed in this book. God, who, instead of giving you the just punishment you deserved for your sins, took off His judge’s coat and put on human flesh so that He might be cursed, beaten, mocked, and crucified in your place is revealed in this book. God, who offers you mercy and forgiveness through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on your behalf, is revealed in this book.
•Which of these options sounds like a better motivation to read your Bible?
•Which of these brought back to your memory every day will continue to sustain your diligent study of the Word?
•The Gospel!
•It is the Gospel which sustains our obedience, and it is the Gospel which will cause us to come before God immediately when we have failed Him—not hiding and covering ourselves with fig leaves—but coming out into the open and exposing our sin to God.
•To which He responds, “You are forgiven, because I made my Son to receive the punishment for that sin on the cross.”
•I would also contend that it is the Gospel which brings us to trust in the trunk of the tree—that God has given us His perfectly infallible, inerrant Word to sustain us every day of our lives.
•Is this not a comforting message to those who still struggle with sin?
•Is there anything better than this message to those who have felt the brokenness of this world because of sin?
•This message is enough to sustain any hurt felt by the presence of sin in this world.
•It is enough to sustain one through even the most difficult times, because it is a message of hope---that God will remake this world one day and destroy the presence of sin!
•No more death, no more rebellion against God, no more apathy toward the things of God.
•No more finding out from the doctor that your daughter has had her umbilical cord knotted and wrapped around her neck and has died while still in the womb. (which is what happened to my wife and I)
•The Gospel has the power to sustain us through these types of tragedies because the Gospel offers us the story of a God who has given us more than just eternal life—He has given His life to offer us eternal life.
•That is a powerful message.
•Thank you ladies.