Praying for the Persecuted

Last week, I was once again reminded how much our brothers and sisters in oppressed countries need prayer. With the execution of an Iranian pastor that seems inevitable(if it hasn't happened already), we need more awareness of what goes on in other countries. My problems are so small. In fact, are they really problems at all? I encourage everyone reading this to visit the Voice of the Martyrs website here at www.persecution.com. Please request a free copy of Richard Wurmbrand's book Tortured for Christ. Also, you can request a free subscription to their monthly magazine. Please promote the awareness of the persecuted church.

It is a humbling thought to know that many persecuted Christians pray for us Christians in the free world. How humbling! How disgraceful to us American Christians that we cant pray for them. The gospel gets out by God's word being preached. When gospel churches are established, the preached word and the sacraments feed the people of God and the love of these people goes forth to their communities and their villages and cities.

Pray for them....the ones persecuted for the sake of Christ and His Gospel!

Just A Few Thoughts

Well, I have had a rough week it seems. Things aren't going so well with my job and it seems like things are kind of caving in. But then I remember a little prayer I prayed not too long ago. I asked God to strip me of everything that was in the way of my being in the Pastoral Ministry. Since the time of my praying that prayer,  things have crashed at work. Now, don't get me wrong, I cant take this and say....."welp, God is doing this and that and this is His sign." It may or may not be. It may be just something that I hate that I'm going to have to endure. It may be a cross I have to bear for a certain time and somehow God will be glorified through it.

Lord, humble me through this.....I want you to be glorified.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen

John 1:12-13. Election and Responsiblity: Both Sides of the Issue

                        I have been reading through the first three chapters of St. John's gospel for the past few days and have really enjoyed digging deep into these chapters. I am using the "John MacArthur method" of reading a few chapters at a time but reading those few for about a month at a time so it will soak in. I have read these chapters in John's gospel plenty of times. But, it really struck me when i read verses 12 and 13."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." John 1:12-13(ESV). If we look at verse 12, we see that those who received him, he gave them a right. That right was to become an adopted child of God. Let this be an encouragement to you dear person. If you have received Christ, wanting freedom from the slavery of sin and recognizing that there is no other way to life than through Christ, he has given you the right to be a son. That is a "done deal" of sorts. You are responsible for repenting of your sin and trusting Christ and have the promise that you will be saved and given new life. This is a glorious truth for the repentant sinner that God turns away nobody truly seeking salvation. Those who have correctly identified themselves as unrighteous, ungodly, unrepentant, unseeking(dont know if that is actually a word). Those who recognize his lordship and complete authority. You see, there is a certain way to come to Christ. It must be done in humility and sincerity. There were many who believed on Christ as we see in John chapter 2 who it says Jesus "did not entrust himself to them." The reason for that is not that he simply didnt want to, but because they came to him only seeking miraculous signs and demanding more. They wanted nothing of his salvific offer.

                       Then there is a flip side to verse 12. After it promises us that those who believe, he gives the right become a son, then we see that it was done not according to our own "free-will," but rather, the will of God himself. There is so much that could be said about this, but it simply says that those who received him, became sons and that it was according to God's will, not man's! This is clearly the teaching of the sovereign, divine call of the elect. So wait a minute.......verse 12 tells us if we receive him, we can have him and be saved, but verse 13, tells us its not according to our will but God's? Yes! The holy scriptures teach both. The bible tells us to repent and believe while also telling us that God has chosen some to salvation before the world was even created! Sounds sort of contradictory doesn't it? Sure, from the outset. But, what a glorious mystery it is. Yes, a mystery. Not the emergent "it's all a mystery and let's just embrace mystery" sort of thing because there are things that are plain and clear. But the mystery that somehow these two truths are reconciled and only God does it! God has chosen but tells us to receive! If you are not a Christian or you are on the fence, repent of your sins and believe the gospel of Christ! If you are a Christian, rest in the fact that God willed your salvation before you ever thought of repenting! Rest in this glorious truth.



Soli Deo Gloria
Seth

Return to Real Gospel Preaching!

There are many different interpretations of true gospel preaching. The most familiar form of what I have been associated with in Baptist circles is that of "fiery preaching." They say true gospel preaching is where you get a crowd excited and worked up and preach loud. Now, I am not against loud preaching, but gospel preaching as previously described was and is something that is associated with Finney revivalism and pietism. See, gospel preaching is not a form of speech but what you preach. Is the truth of Christ bearing the sin of rebels being proclaimed faithfully in your congregation? Not "you need to do such and such and then God will approve." No matter what form or how monotone or loud a preacher is, is that central truth being taught? Is it being taught that Christ's unmerited favor is given to those who believe? Is it being taught that Christ's righteousness is given to us as clothing to cover our filthy rags? Is it being taught that God the Father put our sin and hell on his son? This is the gospel. Is our evangelism reflecting this or are we aiming for quick decisions? Pastors and laymen alike, examine your preaching. Are you truly preaching the gospel? If you are not, maybe without even realizing it, please dive into Romans or Galatians and soak yourself with the gospel.

Seth
Soli Deo Gloria!!

Rule Keeping

For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:20, ESV)

So, it is has been a long time since I have posted. It's been nearly a month since my last post but things have been really busy. Last night, I had some conversations with a few people that I work with about Christianity. I found that both that I talked to, had one common objection to Christianity. The one thing was.........rules or legalism. My friend Emily said that her main objection to Christianity would be the rules. Now, if you notice the verse I put at the top of the post it tells us that no one will be justified by the law. Now, God has a law and it should be obeyed but, we cannot keep the law! When churches preach and teach rules, legalism, or moralism without any gospel, it leads people to utter despair. When you hear from the pulpits such things as "you can do better," "be a nicer person," "don't go to that place, it is sinful," "don't do that," "you have to do that," etc. We know that the law, or God's rules are meant to give us knowledge of our sin. The law, was not intended for us to keep and then we would be saved. God does not show any favor to anybody that tries to gain God's acceptance by keeping rules. So, should we not follow the law in our Christian life? No, that's not what I'm saying at all. But God's favor is with His Son. Jesus kept the law in it's entirety. He obeyed every last bit of it. He resisted all temptation to sin. He proved His deity. He lived on our behalf and kept the rules because we couldn't. He lived in our place but then died in our place and His shed blood is what justifies, sanctifies, and will glorify us! My charge to all of you(especially Emily), is don't rely on rule keeping. God looks at that as filthy rags. Look to Jesus! Look to the dying and bleeding Saviour for salvation. You cant keep the law. You're not good. I'm not good. Christ kept the law. Christ took upon your sin! Look outside of yourself and your goodness and look to His goodness and His cross and be washed in the blood!

Seth
Soli Deo Gloria!!!

Learning about Christian Living from..........yardwork?

Okay, so yesterday was my day off. I love having a day off in the middle of the week. It breaks up my work time and it gives me a day to relax and get some things done around the house. Well, my wife was off too so she made me do some yard work. Actually, I kind of wanted to do it since it involved power washing! At our house, we have fence that is probably at least 25-30 years old. It looks gray and dirty and probably hasn't been cleaned for a while. So, I power washed some of it yesterday. As I was doing it,(and maybe it's the preacher inside of me) I began to ponder the cleansing power of the gospel. I know, weird right? As the water blasted away years of dirt and grime, I thought about the power of the blood washing away my sin. My sin, blasted away like that dirt with a powerful blast from the fountain filled with blood! Now, I didn't get it 100% clean. That would be almost impossible. That too, reminded me that I will never be perfect in this life. I will continue to sin. I will not be perfectly clean in this life. Although I stand fully clothed in the righteousness of Christ, my life will still be marred by my sin and rebellion. Needless to say, the part of the fence we got done, looks great!

Now on to weeds. Yep, that's right. Weeds. I noticed we got some funky lookin weeds in our yard that are growing crazy fast. One of them was nearly 4 feet tall(not kidding). I wondered about that too. Why weeds? Why do weeds sprout up with nice looking grass? Why do they sprout up where you have rocks and landscaping? Well, for one thing, we didn't get our yard sprayed this year. But, it made me think about how we know from scripture, that weeds or unbelievers grow up with the grass or believers. The difference is that the weeds are planted by Satan to disrupt the work of the gospel. The same is true with the sheep and the goats. The goats are the unbelievers and the sheep are the believers. They all go to church together, server together, sing in the choir together, and do whatever else is involved in church life. Yet, many are disguised to thwart the gospel. So, that's what I learned from my yard work yesterday! Go work in your yard and see what you learn!

Seth
Soli Deo Gloria!!

Predestination, Baptists, and the Need for Clarity

It has come to my attention that there is a discussion going on within many Southern Baptist Churches about the doctrine of election or predestination. We know that there is a lot change going on in the SBC and most of it is quite positive. Many churches are being forced to face the age-old belief of predestination. It has even crept up in the local church I currently attend and serve in. To say that election is controversial is to say that Barack Obama is our President. It's just obvious. We know Obama is our President and we know the doctrine of election is controversial. But, does it have to be? I dont understand why it seems so many people dont want to have a civil discussion on the subject. It seems those who uphold the doctrine, are so quick to say Arminians are not Christians. Arminians(or those who dont believe election) are so quick to get angry and not discuss the topic altogether. We know that a large part in the success of the Reformation was debate and conversation. People used to debate these things in pubs, restaurants, schools, and homes. My question is, why can we not do this today?

Now, on to Baptists and the need for clarity. We need clarity in our belief on the subject of election and uniformity in our doctrinal statements. I know that this seems to be an impossibility and it certainly is. The SBC is far too large to have uniformity on the subject although the official Baptist Faith and Message seems to support divine election. Here is my proposition, we need a Lutheranistic approach. If there is one thing I have learned from studying the Reformation, it was their emphasis on Creeds, Confessions, and Catechism. Here is what i suggest to Baptists. We need to develop our own book of doctrinal unity similar to the Lutheran Book of Concord and the Reformed Three Forms of Unity. I believe that a volume such as this should include the Ancient Creeds such as the Apostle's, Nicene, and Athanasian. I believe it should include the London Baptist Confession of 1644 and 1689, Philadelphia Confession of 1743, and the Abstract of Principles. It should also include catechisms such as Keach's Catechism(commonly known as the Baptist Catechism), and Spurgeon's Puritan Catechism which developed off the Westminster Confession and Small Catechism. It may also be helpful to include the Westminster Confession, the articles of the Synod of Dordt, and should include something, anything from Luther and our indebtedness to him and his work. I have found an excellent website that contains all of the old Baptist confessions and catechisms you can to that link here.
So, please Baptists, lets be uniform in our doctrine. And for the record, it should include the doctrine of election. After all, it is found all over scripture.

Seth
Soli Deo Gloria!

WWJD VS. WDJD

Do you remember those WWJD bracelets? Remember how "cool" they were? You could get them in any color. I had blue and orange ones for the Denver Broncos and wore them when I was in middle school. Not to mention, it was when the Broncos won their two Super Bowls with John Elway at the helm. They were quite a fashion statement and everyone had them. In fact, you were out of the loop if you didn't have one. I remember people saying things like; "when I look at my bracelet it reminds me of how Jesus would act." Okay......really?

Now, I don't want to be overly critical and mean, but come on, someone got rich off of these things and the popular WWJD or What Would Jesus Do formula has led a lot of people astray. It is actually based off of classical theological Liberalism. The old idea that if we just live like Jesus and be kind, tolerant, and concerned for social justice then everything will be great. If we just help a few more people and smile at everyone and do good, then we have it figured out. But is that what saves us? Are we saved by being like Jesus? Are we saved by doing what we think he might do in some situation? What about feeding the hungry or being concerned about AIDS or civil rights? Is not that the gospel? Keep reading!

The answer to the last question is the biggest NO in the world. Its a million times NO, NO, NO! What then should a better formula look like? WDJD or What Did Jesus Do? Or we can say, what has Jesus accomplished on our behalf. The gospel is not imitating Christ or trying to be like him or being nice and tolerant. It isnt being concerned about AIDS and civil rights. It is the historic fact that Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God and Son of Man died in our place on a Roman Cross. He took the punishment for our sin. We can not be like him or do what we think he would in a given situation. We cannot obey the law! We cannot do good at all! Therefore, he obeyed the law in it's entirety and went to the cross and shed his blood on our behalf. Listen to what J. Gresham Machen says in his great work Christianity and Liberalism,
“According to Christian belief, Jesus is our Savior, not by virtue of what He said, not even by virtue of what He was, but by what He did. He is our savior, not because He has inspired us to live the same kind of life that He lived, but because He took upon Himself the dreadful guilt of our sins and bore it instead of us on the cross. Such is the Christian conception of the Cross of Christ.” Nuff said!


Seth
Soli Deo Gloria!

Machen, J. Gresham (1923). Christianity and Liberalism. WM B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. Grand Rapids, Michigan

The Objectivity of the Gospel

I said that there would be a second post coming today. So here it is. I want to talk about the objectivity of the gospel. We must understand that the facts of the gospel are what save us. What I mean is that we can have many different experiences, emotions, and thoughts and not understand the gospel. There is one truth or one event that supersedes all human experience; the gospel. See, gospel means "good news." If you pick up a newspaper, it will tell you of actual events that took place in a real place in real time. So it is with the good news of Jesus Christ. That in a real place, that is Jerusalem(actually it was outside of the city) Jesus Christ the God-Man was crucified on a Roman cross. He was afflicted and beaten beyond recognition. The prophet Isaiah tells us he didn't even look human (Isa. 52:14). While he hung there on the cross, we know that the Father turned his face away, forsook his son, and put the just punishment that you and I deserve on him. Jesus then laid down his own life and said "it is finished." What was finished? The work of redemption that God had planned before the foundation of the world. We know that darkness covered the earth for about 3 hours and that the veil in the temple ripped into two pieces from top to bottom. There is so much more that could be said about all of this.

But there is more........
Jesus died. He was buried. But, he triumphantly rose again! He conquered death! Without the cross, there is no forgiveness of sin. Without the resurrection, there is no eternal life for sinners. Without all of this, there is a place called hell that would have awaited every child of Adam. But thanks be to God! If we put our faith in this good news, we will be forgiven and clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We will be justified. I am so thankful that God justifies the wicked!(Romans 4:5)

So, don't rely on your goodness or your emotions or how well you are doing in your sanctification. If you are trusting in the gospel, your debt has been taken care of. It is paid in full. Wouldn't you like to rest in this truth?! Christian, stop working to earn God's favor. His favor is with his Son! Hide yourself in Him!

Seth
Soli Deo Gloria!

Top 10 Most Influential Books

This is actually going to be one of two posts I put on the blog today. I want to share the top 10 most influential books I have read to give you all an idea of where I come from in my theology. So here it is!
(These are not in any particular order)
1. Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen
2. The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul
3. The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther
4. Spectacular Sins by John Piper
5. The Life of God in the Soul of Man by Henry Scougal
6. All of Grace by Charles Spurgeon
7. Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin
8. Christless Christianity by Michael Horton
9. Gospel Driven Life by Michael Horton
10. The Gospel Commission by Michael Horton

Michael Horton has been a great influence on my thinking over the last two years and that is why you see three of his books on the top ten list. I urge you all to check these books out and read them! There are so many books I could have put on here and perhaps you may wonder why some of the ones that appear on the list are there. But this is the list and these are actually books I have read and are re-reading right now. Go read!

Seth
Soli Deo Gloria

First Ever Post on the OUTSIDE Gospel Blog!

           Welcome everyone!

This is the OUTside Gospel Blog! My name is Seth and I am a licensed Southern Baptist Minister living in Eastern Iowa! I am a Reforming Baptist. Actually, I am sort of a Lutheranistic, Reformational, Confessional, sort of disgruntled with being a Baptist, Baptist. I have profited greatly from the Baptists but I am definitely a Reformational Evangelical. Over the past few years, I have been led on a journey in discovering the historic Christian faith. No longer does church history begin with Charles Finney and the revivalists. No! Orthodox Christianity is much more rich than that. If you are just getting acquainted with historic Christianity, this is a good place for you. If you have been on that journey for years, please contribute to the conversation and enrich our journey! I wont be able to post everyday but follow the blog and stay informed!
Soli Deo Gloria
Seth