Posted in Indian River Baptist Church, presuppositional apologetics, reformed baptist, Sin, Truth, tagged Baptist, Bible Study, Indian River Baptist Church, Sin, Truth on September 9, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
We also addressed this graphic which you may have seen floating around the Internet. We only made it halfway through and will finish addressing the issues in the graphic next week. There is also a long delay until about 1:25 at the beginning while a handout was distributed.
Posted in Bible Study, Doctrine, doctrines of grace, Indian River Baptist Church, New Testament, Truth, tagged Baptist, Bible Study, Christ, Doctrine, God, Gospel, Indian River Baptist Church, New Testament, Truth on August 20, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.
In the “If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard” category, this verse would be prominent in its placement. The issue? This verse is cited over and over as definitive proof that a person can “lose their salvation.” Why? ”See? It says right there – you can fall from grace.” Well, it does indeed say a person can fall from grace – but is the conclusion to be drawn from that to be that a person who was, prior to this, born-again, brought from death to life by the Spirit, granted repentance and faith, was seated in the heavenly places with Christ, who cannot be separated from the love of God in Christ – is that person the one being addressed here? Let’s see.
What is the big picture here? Paul is writing a scathing letter to the church at Galatia. He does not begin with his usual pleasantries. he lights in the church from the git-go. He declares anathema (damnation, being accursed) upon anyone who preaches a gospel other than the one he preached to them – the gospel he received from Christ? That gospel? Salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. he goes so far as to say his fellow apostle Peter has joined in the hypocrisy of the Galatians Judaizers because Peter did what? Demanded circumcision be required for salvation? Said that the dietary laws are still in effect? Taught that animal sacrifices were necessary as atonement for sin? No. Paul said this action by Peter endangered the gospel itself: Peter switched seats at the dining table. Yes, that’s what Peter did that Paul said endangered the gospel itself.
Gal 2:12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.
Gal 2:13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.
Paul also calls out Barnabas for joining in this hypocrisy, as he calls it. Why such harsh language? Because Paul wanted to make the very important point that justification is by faith alone – faith plus nothing. Faith in Christ plus nothing.
In chapter three he goes on at great length about how a man is not justified by works, or obedience to the law, but by faith alone.
In chapter four he poses a serious question and questions whether his labor in that church may have been in vain, if they wish to return to the requirements of the law:
Gal 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?
Gal 4:10 You observe days and months and seasons and years!
Gal 4:11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.
In brief, this is the setting for 5:4. How does chapter five begin? With a statement that for freedom Christ had set them free. What had Jesus himself said about being set free? If he is the one who sets people free – free from what? Free from bondage, as he
says in John 8, and the people set free are free indeed. Those whom he sets free do not return to the bondage from which they have been released. Paul tells them because of their freedom – in Christ – to stand firm and don’t go back to that from which they were freed. Does this mean people can lose their salvation? No, it doesn’t. Those who would return to their bondage were never freed in the first place, but only appeared to have been free (cf. Hebrews 6 and a similar situation – people being tempted to return to their Jewish roots). These warning passages are also the means by which God preserves his elect – those who fail, show them selves to be non-elect.
The Judaizers were demanding circumcision as necessary for justification – what does Paul say in verse two? If that’s the case, then Christ is of no value. He is reiterating what he said at the end of chapter two, in verse 21:
Gal 2:21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
Think about it – if we could be justified by keeping the law, be it one point of law or the entirety of the law, then why did Christ come and die in our place, having obeyed the law perfectly himself? he then adds this – if one wishes to say that circumcision is necessary, then not just one point of the law is necessary, but keeping the entire law is necessary.
Now, verse four. ”You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.” What had Paul just said in chapter three, verses 2-6?
Gal 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
Gal 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
Gal 3:4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
Gal 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—
Gal 3:6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?
As Paul also did in the letter to the Romans, he states that Abraham was not justified by works of the law, but by faith (cf. Rom. 4). in 3:10 Paul says everyone who relies on the works of the law are under a curse. In 3:11 he says that no one is justified by works of the law, citing Habakkuk 2:4, as he did in Rom. 1:17, saying ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’ in 3:23 he says this law, which the Judaizers wish to add to faith, held people captive – that law didn’t free people, it enslaved them.
Paul says those who wish to keep the law in 5:4 are severed from Christ – they are cut off. Does that mean they were in Christ to begin with? No – by all the statements he has already made in the letter, it is clear that one who wishes to attain justification by the works of the law will never be justified at all. John 1:14 says Jesus came filled with grace and truth. If these people wish to believe that law-keeping of any sort is necessary as the basis upon which one is justified, Paul says they have fallen away from this grace. These people who wish to place their faith in their ability to keep the law have created a problem which Paul says is very, very serious and is one that damns themselves.
Galatians 5:4, in closing, states nothing about those who have “lost their salvation.” It says much, however, about those who were never saved in the first place.
Posted in Books, Calvinism, Church History, Doctrine, doctrines of grace, Indian River Baptist Church, Sovereignty, Theology, Truth, tagged Baptist, Bible, Calvinism, Christ, Christianity, Church History, Indian River Baptist Church, Theology, Truth on August 8, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Posted in Bible Study, Calvinism, Church History, Doctrine, doctrines of grace, Free Will, Indian River Baptist Church, reformed baptist, Sin, Sovereignty, Theology, tagged Baptist, Bible Study, Calvinism, Christianity, Church History, Free Will, God, Gospel, Indian River Baptist Church, Sovereignty, Theology, Truth on July 13, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
From The Bondage of the Will – Section 26.
Over and over in his diatribe against Erasmus, Luther makes the point that for man’s will to be truly “free,” as Erasmus (and many today) wish to define it, then by necessity the only way it could be such is to fall into a Pelagian definition of “free will,” which has been denounced as heretical going back to the times of Augustine.
You describe the power of free-will as small, and wholly ineffective apart from the grace of God.
Agreed? Now then, I ask you: If God’s grace is wanting, if it is taken away from that small power, what can it do? It is ineffective, you say, and can do nothing good. So it will not do what God or His grace wills. Why? Because we have now taken God’s grace away from it, and what the grace of God does not do is not good. Hence it follows that free-will without God’s grace is not free at all, but is the permanent prisoner and bondslave of evil, since it cannot turn itself to good. This being so, I give you full permission to enlarge the power of free-will as much as you like; make it angelic, make it divine, if you can! – but when you add this doleful postscript, that it is ineffective apart from God’s grace, straightway you rob it of all its power. What is ineffective power but (in plain language) no power? So to say that free-will exists and has power, albeit ineffective power, is, in the Sophists’ phrase, a contradiction in terms. It is like saying ‘free-will’ is something which is not free - as if you said that fire is cold and earth hot. Fire certainly has power to heat; but if
hell-fire (even) was cold and chilling instead of burning and scorching, I would not call it fire, let alone hot (unless you meant to refer to an imaginary fire, or a painted one). Note, however, that if we meant by the power of free-will the power which makes human beings fit subjects to be caught up by the Spirit and touched by God’s grace, as creatures made for eternal life or eternal death, we should have a proper definition. And I certainly acknowledge the existence of this power, this fitness, or dispositional quality and passive aptitude (as the Sophists call it), which, as everyone knows, is not given to plants or animals. As the proverb says, God did not make heaven for geese!
It is a settled truth, then, even on the basis of your own testimony, that we do everything of necessity, and nothing by free-will; for the power of free-will is nil, and it does no good, nor can do, without grace. It follows, therefore, that free-will is obviously a term applicable only to Divine Majesty; for only He can do, and does (as the Psalmist sings) whatever he wills in heaven and earth [Psalms 135:6]. If free-will is ascribed to men, it is ascribed with no more propriety than divinity itself would be – and no blasphemy could exceed that! So it befits theologians to refrain from using the term when they want to speak of human ability, and to leave it to be applied to God only. They would do well also to take the term out of men’s mouths and speech, and to claim it for their God, as if it were His own holy and awful Name. If they must at all hazards assign some power to men, let them teach that it be denoted by some other term than free-will; especially since we know from our own observation that the mass of men are sadly deceived and misled by this phrase. The meaning which it conveys to their minds is far removed from anything that theologians believe and discuss. The term free-will is too grandiose and comprehensive and fulsome. People think it means what the natural force of the phrase would require, namely, a power of freely turning in any direction, yielding to none and subject to none. If they knew that this was not so, and that the term signifies only a tiny spark of power, and that utterly ineffective in itself, since it is the devil’s prisoner and slave, it would be a wonder if they did not stone us as mockers and deceivers, who say one thing and mean another – indeed, who have not yet decided what we do mean!
Since, therefore, we have lost the meaning and the real reference of this glorious term, or, rather, have never grasped them (as was claimed by the Pelagians, who themselves mistook the phrase) why do we cling so tenaciously to an empty word, and endanger and delude faithful people in consequence? There is no more wisdom in so doing then there is in the modern foible of kings and potentates, who retain, or lay claim to, empty titles of kingdoms and countries, and flaunt them, while all the time they are really paupers, and anything but the possessors of those kingdoms and countries. We can tolerate their antics, for they fool nobody, but just feed themselves up – unprofitably enough – on their own vainglory. But this false idea of free-will is a real threat to salvation, and a delusion fraught with the most perilous consequences.
If we do not want to drop this term altogether – which would really be the safest and most Christian thing to do – we may still in good faith teach people to use it to credit man with free-will in respect, not of what is above him, but of what is below him. That is to say, man should realize that in regard to his money and possessions he has a right to use them, to do or to leave undone, according to his own free-will – though that very free-will is overruled by the free-will of God alone, according to His own pleasure. However, with regard to God, and in all that bears on salvation or damnation, he has no free-will, but is a captive, prisoner and bondslave, either to the will of God, or to the will of Satan.
Posted in Bible Study, Doctrine, Indian River Baptist Church, reformed baptist, Sin, tagged Audio, Baptist, Bible Study, Christianity, Doctrine, Indian River Baptist Church, Truth on July 1, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Posted in Calvinism, Free Will, Indian River Baptist Church, Old Testament, Sin, Sovereignty, Theology, tagged Calvinism, Christ, Christianity, God, Gospel, Indian River Baptist Church, Old Testament, Sovereignty, Truth on June 24, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Isaiah 10:5–19 (ESV)
Judgment on Arrogant Assyria
5 Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger;
the staff in their hands is my fury!
6 Against a godless nation I send him,
and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take spoil and seize plunder,
and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
7 But he does not so intend,
and his heart does not so think;
but it is in his heart to destroy,
and to cut off nations not a few;
8 for he says:
“Are not my commanders all kings?
9 Is not Calno like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath like Arpad?
Is not Samaria like Damascus?
10 As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols,
whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11 shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols
as I have done to Samaria and her images?”
12 When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. 13 For he says:
“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I remove the boundaries of peoples,
and plunder their treasures;
like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.
14 My hand has found like a nest
the wealth of the peoples;
and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,
so I have gathered all the earth;
and there was none that moved a wing
or opened the mouth or chirped.”
15 Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it,
or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!
16 Therefore the Lord God of hosts
will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors,
and under his glory a burning will be kindled,
like the burning of fire.
17 The light of Israel will become a fire,
and his Holy One a flame,
and it will burn and devour
his thorns and briers in one day.
18 The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land
the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,
and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
19 The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
that a child can write them down.
Posted in Forgiveness, Indian River Baptist Church, Prison Ministry, Sin, Sovereignty, Truth, tagged Baptist, Forgiveness, God, Gospel, Indian River Baptist Church, Prison Ministry, Sin, Sovereignty, Truth on June 21, 2012 | 1 Comment »
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king. (1 Samuel 15:23, KJV)
During one of the Keryx ministry weekends at Chippewa Correctional Facility, leadership had assigned me the Saturday night forgiveness service, a service I had 
done many times prior. While preparing for this service the day before the weekend began, which was a Wednesday, I inserted a brief discourse about rebellion and how we are commanded to forgive – and if we as believers fail to forgive, we are rebelling against God and thus sinning. For the first time, I also planned to use the above Scripture reference – little did I know how God’s providence would once again blow our socks off.
At that prison, 24 prisoners are permitted to attend the weekend. Every prisoner in the prison is eligible to attend, as long as he is not under sanctions restricting his movement within the prison. Prisoners need not be Christian to attend and thus we have prisoners from many belief (and non-belief) systems appear. This was made manifest when early on in the weekend we discovered that three of the 24 were Wiccans. They were all relatively young men, most likely in their 20′s and one was clearly more of a leader than the others. We also found out (from these men themselves) that the one prisoner was the local High Priest. What exactly is entailed in Wicca can be rather vague, but Wicca.com will give some answers. Suffice it to say for our purposes here this it is a form of witchcraft.
Saturday night rolled around and it was time for the forgiveness service – and these three men were still Wiccans and everyone knew it. As mentioned in earlier posts, this service at this prison is conducted in a rather small classroom. Quarters become rather tight when 60-70 volunteers and prisoners are wedged in there. When you stand in front of the prisoners conducting the service, you literally have to watch yourself to keep from stepping on the toes of the men in the front row.
Once all were assembled and it came my time to speak, I stood in front of them and who is in the middle of the front row – the one guy with whom I have to be most careful to not step on his feet? The Wiccan High Priest. He was a very pleasant, congenial young man who paid close attention as I spoke on forgiveness after Jon’s death. There came the time when I cited 1 Samuel 15:23 and stated that “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.” I can’t tell you if I made an effort to look down at the High Priest as I said it. What I can tell you is what happened afterward.
After the service, those prisoners attending the weekend returned to their housing units for the night. We volunteers and our prisoner helpers adjourned to a classroom for a brief meeting. At the meeting, someone raised their hand and said they had heard that the High Priest was “upset by what was said during the service.” Much concern was then expressed by some that what had been said offended the High Priest and that we should be careful not to offend when speaking. This went on for a few minutes and I remember sitting in the corner, listening, thinking to myself that we have bigger things to worry about than offending a Wiccan by merely quoting Scripture. Then one volunteer raised his hand and I still remember it as clear as day. What did he say? He said he didn’t know why everyone was upset because “I believe ___________ (High priest) needed to hear that. He needed to hear Jeff say that.” Praise God for a man who was willing to stand up for the Word of the Lord.
Concern had already been expressed that perhaps the High Priest was so offended that he may not return in the morning. In our closing prayer, someone did indeed pray that he would return – did he?
Yes, he did.
The next morning as we were waiting to begin the day with another service, a tap came upon my shoulder. I turn around. It’s the High Priest. What does he say? ”Can I talk to you for a minute?” ”Sure,” I responded, and out in the hallway we went.
At this point a book becomes relevant – what is known as the “Book of Shadows.” This is the book a Wiccan uses which contains his/her spells, rituals, etc. The High Priest had mentioned his Book of Shadows to volunteers in more than one conversation over the course of the weekend to this point.
We go to the hallway. I said, “Yes, sir.”
He responds, “I hear that you heard that I was upset about what you said last night in the chapel.”
“Yeah, I heard that.”
“Well, I want you to know something and I wanted to tell you first.”
“OK.”
“What you said last night didn’t bother me. Actually, when I went back to the unit last night I threw my Book of Shadows and all my Wiccan literature in the garbage can.”
We talked briefly and then were called in for the service to begin.
Subsequent to the weekend, this young man attended all the Christian services and even was a prisoner helper on the weekend six months later. Where is he today – physically and spiritually? I don’t know.
Herein lies the power of the Word of God. Augustine was converted by reading Romans 13:13 – a passage that cut directly to his conscience as it related to his licentious lifestyle:
Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.
Philip explained Isaiah 53 to the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 and the eunuch was converted. Great is the power of the Word of God.
There is another issue to address here: confronting people with the Word of God in evangelism as it directly relates to their own sin. Popular opinion within the Christian community today seems to say that we cannot directly address the sin(s) of a pagan because “it’ll turn them off” or “they won’t listen to us if we do that.” The Apostles knew no such strategy. In Acts 2″22-23, Peter directly addresses the sin of the Jews who desired the crucifixion of Christ when he said,
“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
Peter says “you crucified and killed” “this Jesus.” In another example in Acts, Paul directly addresses the sin of Felix in chapter 24.
Felix had enticed Druscilla away from her first husband and Druscilla appeared to have not divorced her first husband so they were living in sexual sin. In Paul’s discourse, what does he say? The Scripture says Paul reasoned about “righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment (v. 25).” The word behind “self-control” has special connotations addressing controlling one’s sexual desires. Thayer says the word (“egkrateia”) has the meaning of “the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, esp. his sensual appetites.” Paul directly addressed sexual sin with a man – and a woman – who were committing sexual sin. Paul was cutting straight to their consciences and we see that at least Felix was affected – Felix became “alarmed” (“trembled,” KJV).
Praise God for the power in His Word.
Posted in Doctrine, Forgiveness, Grief, Indian River Baptist Church, Prison Ministry, reformed baptist, Truth, tagged Baptist, Christ, Forgiveness, God, Gospel, Grief, Indian River Baptist Church, Prison Ministry, Truth on June 13, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
During the Keryx ministry three-day weekends, at two points the issue of forgiveness is addressed. One is during a lengthy talk mid-morning on Saturday and then later that 
day at a service which focuses exclusively on the issue of forgiveness. This account involves related incidents from two of those weekends, one in 2000 and the other from 2003.
In April of 2000, I encountered a prisoner who was rather unique. He is serving a life sentence and he is Jewish. He attended the Keryx weekend at Chippewa Correctional and for some reason took a liking to me. For the subsequent couple years he was at that facility, he sat with my wife and I regularly at Keryx gatherings.
On Friday and Saturday during the weekend, we eat our afternoon meal in the prison cafeteria, although no one calls it a “cafeteria.” It’s either “the kitchen” or “the chow hall.” This meal is the regular meal prepared for the prisoners – we eat what the prisoners eat at this meal.
On our walk across the yard to the kitchen, I was walking with this Jewish prisoner. About 50 yards away, a line of prisoners was walking toward a housing unit. All of a sudden, my friend yells, “______________!!” to one of the prisoners in that line 50 yards away. The prisoner turns, raises his hand to acknowledge the call, but does not respond verbally. My friend turns to me and says, “That man I just yelled at? He’s the angriest man I know (and my friend had been in prison for 15 years at that point). He really needs to attend this weekend.” Keep in mind my friend is Jewish and the Keryx weekend is intentionally evangelistic and explicitly Christian, proclaiming a message of salvation in Christ alone and his friend to whom he has yelled is Jewish as well, as my friend tells me.
A few years pass. I have pretty much forgotten the encounter in the yard. It’s now the Fall of 2003. The prisoners show up for the weekend and among them is…guess who? The “angriest man I know.” To be sure, he was still angry. He spent Thursday night and all day Friday at a distance from the other men at his table. He sat there most of the time leaning back with his arms folded, scowling.
Saturday morning rolls around and I present the talk that includes the topic of forgiveness and I talk about Jon’s death and having forgiven Jon’s best friend. About 15 minutes after I finish, there’s time for a break and I am just standing in the hall, leaning against the wall. All of sudden there’s someone one in front of me – who is it? It’s “the angriest man I know.” Before I can say anything, he says, “I need to talk to you.” I say, “OK,” and tell him I’ll get us somewhere private. He says, “I don’t need that. I want to talk to you here. NOW.” I explain that if we do it there, now, he won’t have the setting of privacy and our communication will not be privileged. He says he doesn’t care and wants to talk NOW. I said, “OK” and moved down the hall a few yards to get out of the main traffic.
What does he want to talk about? ”How could you forgive the guy who did that to your son?” I told him it was only by the grace of God and that I was commanded to do so by the God who grants grace. Why does he want to know? He wants to know because of the source of his anger. That source? A man who had sexually assaulted his young son and who was now incarcerated for that crime. I asked him, “You’re Jewish, right?” Hes aid he was. I asked him if he had talked to his rabbi about this. he said he had and in fact had talked to two rabbis about it. I asked him what they said. He said one rabbi told him he was to forgive and the other had said he didn’t have to forgive. I asked, “Which one is right?” ”I don’t know.” ”Let me ask you this: do you really want to forgive the guy who did that to your son?” ”I don’t know.” ”Can you sleep at night?” ”No.” Well, I can. That’s what happens when you forgive.” ”I can’t.” ”Yes, you can, but you won’t. You’ve decided it’s more important for you to hate that guy than to do what you know is right and forgive him and let God deal with him.” ”I just can’t.”
We eventually sat down and talked for about an hour. What pained him much as well was the fact that this hatred for this other man (expressed by the fact he told me had fellow Jewish prisoners within the system giving that man “messages” [prison 'messages' being some form of violence] reminding him that the father of his victim was still out there, waiting his turn to exact vengeance) had caused him to lose his faith. He loved his Jewishness and he had lost fellowship and intimacy in worship because of the hatred he held for this other man. What I told him was that I could only express the Christian view on the matter and that if he desired to remain a Jew he’d have to find a Jewish solution to his problem.
By the time our discussion ended, he was smiling. He did something interesting later in the day.
On another break there’s a tap on my shoulder. It’s the Jewish prisoner. He says, “I want you to come with me.” I respond, “Where?” Volunteers can’t just go anywhere – we are limited on where we can and with whom we can go. He points down to the end of the hallway where a prisoner is standing and says, I need to talk to _________ and I want you to come with me.” ”OK.” We go down to the end of the hall and I have no idea what’s coming.
He walks up to the other prisoner and tells him that he knows he’s given him a “hard time” (which can mean anything, including violence) but that he knows he’s been wrong in doing so and he asks the prisoner if he will forgive him. The prisoner (a Christian) is just dumbfounded from the look on his face, but he says, “Well, sure. Apology accepted and I forgive you.”
The Jewish prisoner and I walk back down the hall. He says, “That felt good.” I said, “You ready to forgive ____________ yet?” He smiles. ”No, not yet.”
Sunday arrives. It’s mid-morning. He wants to talk again. The topic? He says he’s regaining his Jewish faith. I said what was happening was the Spirit of God was enlightening him and what was happening to him was the Christian message working in him. He says he doesn’t want to leave Judaism. I told him becoming a Christian isn’t leaving Judaism, it’s embracing the fulfillment of everything Judaism has been waiting for in the person of Christ. He says he doesn’t want any of that – he just wants to be a good Jew. ”Are you ready to forgive ______________?” Another smile. ”No, not yet.”
Our last service begins and at its end there is a time where the prisoners form a line and we have one last chance to say goodbye before we leave. This is the last time we will see many of these prisoners. I get to the point in the line where my Jewish friend is and we greet each other and he embraces me and as I start moving on to the next man I stop and ask him, “You ready to forgive that guy?” This big grin curls up the corners of his mouth. ”No. Not yet.”
Shortly thereafter that prisoner was transferred to a higher security prison, most likely because he had encountered some trouble with th staff or another prisoner, which may well have been another manifestation of his anger at the man who assaulted his son.
If only that prisoner knew true forgiveness. If only he knew the One who not only forgives us upon faith in His Son, but also empowers those who have bowed the knee to Him so that we can – and must – forgive others. Where is this man now? I have no idea, but think of him often. I pray he has since seen the Light.
Posted in Bible Study, Doctrine, Hell, Indian River Baptist Church, reformed baptist, Sin, Sovereignty, Theology, Truth, tagged Baptist, Bible Study, Christ, Christianity, Doctrine, God, Gospel, Hell, Indian River Baptist Church, Sin, Sovereignty, Theology, Truth on June 11, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Posted in Indian River Baptist Church, New Testament, Truth, tagged Baptist, Christ, Gospel, Indian River Baptist Church, Music, New Testament, Truth on June 11, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Philippians 1:27–2:1 (ESV)
27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. 29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
El Rancho Reformado Weather
