Why Practicing Homosexuals and Transgender People Are Going To Hell

Why Practicing Homosexuals and Transgender People Are Going To Hell

Recently, I have been questioned as to what sets homosexuality and transgenderism apart from other sins. Why do I condemn them so strongly? How can I say they will go to hell, when Jesus paid for all sin?

Is homosexuality worse than any other sin? Or transgenderism worse than any other sin?

Let’s start with the last questions first: Homosexuality won’t send you to hell any more than any other sin. And transgenderism…well, we’ll get to that in a moment. Homosexuality is clearly a sin in the Bible. It is also very clearly stated in the Bible that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. And homosexuality is included on that list—though with many other sins.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11:

Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

On the surface, this seems to contradict the idea that faith alone is necessary for heaven. But really Paul is simply saying that these works contradict faith. Someone who truly has faith in Jesus will change. We will not stay in our sin.

That, then, is the answer to homosexuality. Faith in Christ compels us to change our ways, and if someone calls themselves, proudly, a homosexual, then they cannot be a Christian. It is the same with any other sin. If we embrace sin…then maybe we need to look at our faith. For a Christian to say otherwise is basically trying to redefine God—and what is against him. It’s defiance—and one must doubt such a Christian’s faith. The reason why I, and so many other Christians, condemn homosexuality so strongly is because there are lots of people who claim it isn’t a sin.

And it is.

Now…as for transgenderism. A man who thinks he’s a women? And a woman who thinks she’s a man? Do I need to go into that? Simply: What this is, is a man/woman saying, “God, I don’t like how you created me. I’m going to change it.” This is one of the greatest forms of defiance a person can commit. It’s a great sin, and a great shame.

Should they repent and accept Jesus Christ all is forgiven - pray for them to get saved!

Keeping in Step

Introduction

In addition to its literal uses, either as a noun or a verb, the word “step” is found in many idioms. For example, one may “step in” or “into” (participate in or intervene in) an activity or position, or “step out of” (disassociate) one’s self from it. If one “steps up,” he advances or makes progress in some manner (e.g., a higher position). If one “watches his step”, he is careful or cautious concerning a situation. A particular task or solution to a problem begins with a “first step” and proceeds “step by step.” If we are in a hurry to go somewhere or get something done, we “step on it or “step lively.” If we “keep in step,” we conform to an activity, practice, or belief. If we “step aside,” we leave some association or position. There are, of course, many other idiomatic uses of the word “step.”

Thus it is simply the case that the totality of our present life is but a “stepping stone” to a future eternity. That may seem to many like a long way off, but the reality of this truth is a reminder of the words of the great Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu that, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”1 Too many people fail to realize this and go on living their own self-centered lives oblivious to what lies ahead, certain that this life is all there is and determined to make the best of it. As I have remarked elsewhere, “Far too often people placate themselves in outright selfishness—even at times out of pure greed.”2

Ultimately, however, God has a plan that is far more rewarding than man can imagine. In this study we shall take note of what the scriptures have to say concerning the idiom “step,” especially concerning those “steps” identified with the godly person.

Old Testament Teaching Concerning Steps

In approaching Old Testament texts it is important to note that as Elihu told Job, God’s “eyes are on the ways of an individual, he observes all a person does” (Job 34:21). God the Father is the omniscient one who not only knows all things, but he observes everything that a person does.3 No one, therefore, should go on with his life thinking that what he does is not only his own business but that God really neither knows nor cares what that might be. Quite the opposite, God, “constantly and insightfully observes every person’s behavior.”4 As Konkel remarkss,

Nothing these people will do will escape God’s notice. Since God is constantly at work in sustaining the world, he sees every step that everyone takes. There is no hiding place from divine scrutiny, not even in death.5

Not only does the Lord know all that happens on earth, including what a person does, but even as the ancient proverb expresses it “A person plans his course, but the Lord directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). By this is meant that ultimately God is in control of each person’s life and destiny. As Waltke observes,

A man may plan his road to the last detail, but he cannot implement his planning, unless it coincides with Yahweh’s plan for him. He is deluded if he supposes that he has unfettered control and can impose his will on every situation without limitation in order to make his plan a reality.6

Similarly, Jeremiah tells his people, “LORD, we know that people do not control their own destiny. It is not in their power to determine what will happen to them” (Jer. 10:23). Thus however certain a person or even a nation may be of their future or destiny, the reality is that it is God who determines the outcome of his actions.7 As Laetsch remaks, “ No man can lift the veil that hangs over the future, over tomorrow, over the next step. Man may propose, it is God who disposes, who rules the world as He has determined.” 8 Feinberg adds, “ Man can never direct the course of his life so as to achieve blessing without God’s help….No one can decide the course of his life. God is in ultimate control.”9 How hollow and mistaken then is the sentiment found in Henley’s classic poem, Invictus:

It matters not how straight the gate,
How charged with punishment the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.10

Not only is the nature of our “steps” ordered by the Lord, it is He who establishes them for the faithful believer:

A man’s steps are established by the LORD,
and He takes pleasure in his way.

Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed,
because the LORD holds his hand. (Ps. 37:23-24; HCSB)

Yes, even a righteous person may at times experience great difficulties, perhaps even a lapse of proper action. Nevertheless, God will not forsake him. The Lord not only forgives his repentant follower, but ultimately He will never abandon him. God will see him through his difficulty, for “The LORD holds his hand.” As the hymn writer declares,

Many things about tomorrow,
I just don’t seem to understand;
But I know who holds tomorrow,
And I know who holds my hand.11

For his part, the believer should not seek to follow his own desires apart from God’s leading, but should strive to so live that the Lord truly “takes pleasure in his way.”12

Not only are the righteous person’s “steps” ordered and established by the Lord, they are ordered by the Lord. As the old proverb expresses it,

The steps of a person are ordained by the LORD—
so how can anyone understand his own way? (Prov. 20:24)

As McKane declares,

No man can walk with enlightened assurance along the path of life by reason of a well- cultivated nicety of judgment and power of intellectual penetration. He is dependent on every step of the way on Yahweh, and without this light on his path his journey is deprived of safe guidance and enlightened purposiveness.13

Ultimately, God who supervises all things sees to their outcome. Even the wisest of persons cannot truly “understand” his own way. As Garrett explains, “In the final analysis we do not understand all that is going on around us or happening to us, and we are guided through life in ways we do not recognize. Trusting in divine providence therefore is best.”14 If God’s Son could say, “Not what I will, but what you will” (Matt 26:39; cf. v.42), even in the face of certain death, how much less should we? We may not know what the next day will bring, but we should be content in knowing that the Lord supervises all that comes to pass (cf. Job 33:11). As we noted earlier, God’s “eyes are on the ways of an individual, he observes all that comes to pass” (Job 34:21) Let us therefore seek to live in accordance with His will and standards, and look to Him for guidance. Thus the hymn writer testifies,

I trust in God, I know he cares for me,
On mountain bleak or on the stormy sea;
Tho’ billows roll, He keeps my soul,
My heavenly Father watches over me.15

A further example of the use of steps in Job is found in 31:4-7. Here Job speaks of his walk before the Lord.

Does not he see my ways
and count my steps?
If I have walked in falsehood,
and if my foot has hastened to deceit—
let him weigh me with honest scales;
then God will discover my integrity. (Job 34:4-6)

It should be noted in passing that Job’s discourse in chapter 31 comes at the close of three rounds of discussion with his “comforters” as to the reason for his suffering. The first round (chs. 4-14) consists of basic arguing and the friends attempts to reason with Job as to the cause of his difficulties. The second round (chs. 15-21) becomes more apologetic in tone as the friends accuse Job of making foolish statements in his defense against their counsel. The third round (chs. 22-31) contains outright accusations against Job as to his righteousness. Job’s defense (chs. 22-24; 26; 27-30) is climaxed (ch. 31) by his firm declaration as to his innocence as to his friends charges or intimations. Job avows the purity of his walk before the Lord; he affirms his desire to be able to present his case directly to God so that he could “give him an accounting of my steps” (31:37).

Returning to Job 31:4-6, we can note how Job launches his final defense: he denies any false motives in his actions, and affirms that God is surely aware of this. As Hartley observes,

“Job is convinced that God is fully aware of everything he has done and is completely knowledgeable about the reasons for Job’s present sufferings. He knows whether Job is deserving of them. … Since God discerns all matters, he is surely not deceived in regard to his servant’s obedience. Job hopes that this oath will move God to reverse matters and act justly toward his faithful servant.16

In his defense Job goes on to express his willingness to have the Lord reprimand him if he has actually stayed in some fashion from God’s standards, whether where he has gone, or looked at, or his hands have handled (vv.7-8). Job’s words are reminiscent of the old children’s song in which the children are advised to “be careful” as to what their eyes see, their ears listen to, their hands do, where their feet go, and to what comes out of their mouth because, “There’s a Father up above, and He’s looking down in love.”17

In Psalm 85 the psalmist sings of God’s goodness to His people. Having pointed out God’s great favor to and forgiveness of His people (vv.1-3), he asks God to be gracious to them again (vv.4-7). In so doing, he calls attention to the fact that the Lord is the covenant God of Israel: “O God, show us your loyal love! Bestow on us your deliverance!” (v.7). The term “loyal love” (Heb. ħesed) is used of Yahweh’s covenant relation between himself and Israel and frequently emphasizes the need for Israel to emulate God’s faithfulness toward them. Thus through Hosea the Lord reproves Israel because despite the Lord’s faithfulness, too often they remain selfish and unresponsive:

What am I going to do with you, O Ephraim?
What am I going to do with you, O Judah?
For your faithfulness is as fleeting as the morning mist,
it disappears as quickly as dawn’s dew. (Hos. 6:4)

As I have remarked elsewhere, although this Heb. word is:

rendered by such English equivalents as mercy, lovingkindness, and loyal love, Hosea has already used it in connection with God’s great love for Israel in terms of His established covenant with them (4:1). In a sense the translation “lovingkindness” in the older KJV remains quite appropriate, for the concept includes the thought of the Lord’s love for His people as kin.18

Calling on the established covenant relation between the Lord and Israel, the psalmist expresses his confidence that,

Certainly his loyal followers will soon experience his deliverance;
then his splendor will again appear in our land.
Loyal love and faithfulness meet;
deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss. (Ps. 85:9-10)

To be noted is the fact that the Lord’s “loyal love” is in accordance with His great virtues of truth, righteousness, and peace. It is simply true that God’s actions are bundled and especially performed in righteousness: “Righteousness will go before Him to prepare the way for His steps” (v. 13; HCSB). Righteousness is metaphorically depicted here as leading the way for the Lord in all that He does. It is that very righteousness, however, that will bring deliverance and joy for Israel. Perhaps in the fullest sense the psalmist’s trust is rooted in the thought that Lord’s actions are clothed in righteousness not only going before Him but surrounding Him. As Delitzsch suggests,“ Righteousness walks before Him majestically as His herald and righteousness …sets… upon the way of His footsteps, that is to say, follows Him inseparably.”19 Thus God’s virtuous acts provide a solid pathway that His people should tread. Not only is the psalmist certain of the righteous Lord’s deliverance, but he intends that the people should respond in appropriate righteousness (cf. vv. 8-9). Should it be any less true for today’s believers? As we shall note below, most assuredly not!

David often reminds the Lord of his faithfulness. At times he includes such statements while pouring out his heart to God for His help. Thus in Psalm 17 David maintains his innocence and pleads for God’s deliverance from his persecutors (e.g., vv. 6-9). Accordingly, he declares to the Lord that he has “not followed in the footsteps of violent men” (v.4). Unlike his oppressors, he can say, “My steps have held fast to your paths; my feet have not slipped” (v. 5; ESV). This is not mere braggadocio on David’s part but is a testimony of his following God’s standards. Therefore, David is confident of God’s intervention on his behalf against his enemies because of their evil acts against him (vv. 10-12). He then calls again on the Lord for deliverance (vv. 13-14; cf. Ps. 143:7-12). David states his confidence that unlike his oppressors, who enjoy only the good things of “this world,” he say boldly that he looks forward to the time when “because I am innocent I will see your face; when I awake you will reveal yourself to me” (v. 15). As Leupold correctly maintains, by “paths” David “certainly means that in the sense of the paths Thou hast prescribed. God indicated the way His servants are to follow. This servant has followed these instructions.”20

Indeed, a careful walk before the Lord in this life allows a confidence that the believer will see the Lord in eternity. There is abundantly more to await and long for than life in this world. This includes the reality of the hereafter. As the song writer exclaims:

It will be worth it all when we see Jesus,
life’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ;
one glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,
so bravely run the race till we see Christ21

Regardless of life’s trials now the assurance of an eternity with the Lord should inspire believers to a life of faithfulness (cf. Col. 3:1-4; 1 John 2:28-29). Thus the old Korahite psalm declares that despite all the difficulties that God’s people Israel were facing and experiencing, “We have not been unfaithful, nor have we disobeyed your commands” (Ps. 44:18). If this was true for a faithful Israel, then surely today’s believers should remain faithful to God, and “keep in step” with the Lord and His revealed standards. For as we have noted, much greater and more glorious things lie ahead. As the hymn writer exclaims

“O that will be glory for me, glory for me, glory for me;
When by His grace I shall look on His face,
That will be glory, be glory for me.22

An ancient proverb reminds us that there is a large contrast between wise and foolish behavior:

A naïve person believes everything,
but a shrewd person discerns his steps.
A wise person is cautious and turns from evil,
but a fool throws off restraint and is overconfident. (Prov. 14:15-16)

A wise person is astute in his discernment and is cautious as to his actions. Because he understands the consequences of what he does, he is able to keep from evil. As Schwab remarks,

“The simple believe whatever they hear, and faithless heart is sated with its choices. Laughter and joy are even deceptive concealing pain and sorrow. The wise understand this, but the naïve cannot discern past appearances. The prudent are disciplined and careful in their life decisions, keenly seeing past any façade to the truth.23

Thus the consistent practice of wise decision making only increases one’s potential for proper living.

Moreover, following the path of wisdom leads one to a more successful and morally prudent lifestyle. As wisdom instructs his child (lit. “Son”):

Listen, my child, and accept my words,
so that the years of your life will be many
I will guide you in the way of wisdom
and I will lead you in upright paths.
When you walk, your steps will not be hampered,
and when you run, you will not stumble. (Prov. 4:10-12)

As Ross suggests, “Living according to wisdom is like walking or running on a safe road, a course that will be free of obstacles, so that progress will lead to abundant life.”24

The psalmist David declares that following the Lord’s path of wisdom involves full trust in God and will be rewarded with greater strength and success:

You give me your protective shield;
your right hand supports me;
your willingness to help enables me to prevail.
You widen my path;
my feet do not slip. (Ps. 18:35-36)

It is God who gives David not only protection and victory over his enemies but in a deeper sense, guidance (wisely and spiritually) along the way. These verses take on fuller meaning and ramifications when observed in their setting in the psalm.

After the customary opening praise to the Lord (vv.1-3), David speaks of his time of distress in which he cried to the Lord and He listened to David’s cry for help (vv. 4-6). David then tells of his deliverance. Interestingly, David begins that account with a description, which has similarities to God’s deliverance of His people at the time of the Exodus (vv. 7-15; cf. Exod. 15:1-18; Ps. 77:15-20; Hab. 3:3-15) and concludes with a testimony to God’s kind help (vv. 16-19). In the following section, David points to possible reasons for God’s help, such as David’s righteous walk before the Lord (vv. 20-24) and the Lord’s great faithfulness in helping those who live accordingly (vv. 25-29).

The closing portion of the psalm contains a testimony to God who gives victory in the battle against an unrighteous enemy (vv. 30-45) and concludes (vv. 46-49) with a high note of praise to the Lord:

He gives his chosen king magnificent victories;
he is faithful to his chosen ruler,
to David and his descendants forever. (v. 50)

Our text (vv. 35-36) comes at the climax of David’s testimony as to God’s protection and support during David’s battle with his enemies. It was by God’s intervening help that David is able to prevail against them (cf. vv. 37ff.). Because of the Lord’s sustenance in these encounters David’s “feet do not slip” (v.36b). Accordingly, David’s ability to prevail is likened to his being on solid ground whatever the circumstances. “Feet” thus becomes a metaphorical allusion to the stability he experienced by God’s help even in the extreme conditions of warfare.

What was true of David’s God-given stability in times of great stress (e.g., in his struggles against Saul; cf. Psalm 18 heading) is true also for today’s believer in his struggles against Satan and all kinds of evil oppression. Therefore, the believer may take courage and find that same stability regardless of what happens if he will but put his firm trust in the Lord. As the hymn writer testifies,

The pathway is narrow, but He leads me on,
I walk in His shadow, my fears are all gone;
My spirit grows stronger each moment, each day,
For Jesus is leading each step of the way.25

By way of contrast, the psalmist Asaph observes,

God is indeed good to Israel,
to the pure in heart.
but as for me, my feet almost slipped;
my steps nearly went astray.
For I envied the arrogant;
I saw the prosperity of the wicked. (Ps. 73:1-2; HCSB)

As I have noted elsewhere, the psalmist, because of his many trials and troubles,

had plunged himself into a depressed condition. He was like someone who walks on slippery ground. His problem was a spiritual one. Although he thought that he was living a good and proper life before the Lord, his own life was nevertheless in a state of turmoil. As he contemplated those who were proud and rich, he concluded that they were faring well despite their sinfulness. 26

The psalmist’s problem was that in viewing the success of the sinful wealthy, he considered that perhaps his attempts to live a godly life were in vain (cf. vv. 3-14). Eventually he came to the end of himself and took his case to the Lord. He then came to grips with his mistaken notions and so renewed his confidence in and dedication to the Lord: “But as for me, God’s presence is all I need” (v.28; cf. Ps. 119:133).

May we learn from the psalmist’s difficulties as we face difficult circumstances and times. May we not envy the seeming successes of those proud and wayward rich who are godless in their ways, but put our full trust in the Lord. Moreover, as Futato says, we must always remember that a more glorious future lies ahead for us: “At times, we groan in this life (Rom. 8:23), but we groan with our eyes fixed on a future that is guaranteed to be glorious by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” 27

“Steps” in the New Testament.

We note here two examples of the use of the word: “step(s) in the New Testament. In the first, Paul wrote to the Corinthians concerning Titus, his fellow laborer for Christ: “I urged Titus to come, and I sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Didn’t we walk in the same spirit and in the same footsteps?” (2 Cor. 12:18; HCSB).Paul is here drawing attention to the fact that earlier he had sent Titus to them. On that occasion the Corinthians welcomed him and were reverently receptive to what he said and did (cf. 2 Cor. 7:14-16). Paul now points out to them that as did Paul Titus conducted himself righteously. He did not take advantage of them in any way, but was a good steward of the Lord. As Hodge remarks,” Paul and his messengers walked in the same footsteps. That is, they all followed Christ, whose steps mark the way in which his followers are to tread.”28 Today’s leaders may well take heed to the example of Paul and Titus by humbly serving the Lord, not self.

Our second example comes from the Apostle Peter’s first epistle. He charges his readers to be good stewards of Jesus, just as slaves to their masters. If slaves could be mastered and yet be willingly submissive in their service, how much more should the spiritual stewards of Christ! For the Christians’ master left an example to them in every aspect of service:

For to this you were called, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example for you to follow in his steps. He committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth. When he was maligned, he did not answer back; when he suffered, he threatened no retaliation, but committed himself to God who judges justly. (1 Pet. 2:21-23)

Rather than fighting back or retaliating when they are ill-treated, like their master, Jesus, believers should commit themselves in full confidence “to the one who judges justly.” We noted above cases of Old Testament suffering believers who experienced God’s gracious help. Even more so, because they are united to the risen Christ Jesus, Christian believers can call on the “Shepherd and guardian” of their souls (1Pet. 2:25).

As E. Schuyler English remarks,

Do we suffer unjustly? Is it true that we are buffeted in the world? Why, dear friend, the Lord Jesus suffered too, more than you or I need ever suffer…. Yes, He was the great Example – more, He was the Forerunner in trials and testings.… While in the world it is our lot that we shall have tribulation, in Him, the Servant Son, the Good Shepherd, the Guardian of our souls we may have peace.29

Let us, then, be faithful followers of our Lord, willingly following in his footsteps on the path that he has designated for us. As Hewitt declares,

Trying to walk in the steps of the Savior,
Trying to follow our Savior and King;
Shaping our lives by His blessed example,
Happy, how happy, the songs that we bring.

…….

How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior,
Led in the paths of light.30

Summary and Application

We have noted that the term “steps” occurs frequently in the Scriptures in describing man’s life and daily decisions. It is often used to disclose the fact that that man’s “steps” are ordained, established, and ordered by the Lord (e.g., Ps. 37:23-24; Prov. 16:9; 20:24; Jer. 10:23). Therefore, people should trust in the Lord and look to Him for guidance. The believer may then be certain of the concern of the Lord who is himself always faithful and in turn calls for his followers to be faithful (e.g., Pss. 17:4-15; 44:18; cf. Job 31:4-7). The wise believer will accordingly consider his actions/steps and with full trust in the Lord make wise decisions (e.g., Prov. 4:12; 14:15). And as he does so, he will find that God-given endowment that provides strength and guidance all along life’s way (cf. Ps. 18). Yes, to be sure, even the wisest and most faithful believer may at times be carried away by life’s disappointments and troubles (Ps. 73:1-2), but he should come to put his faith and full confidence in God, rather than self (e.g., Ps. 73:28; 1 Pet. 2:21-25).

In light of all of this, therefore, believers should live in full awareness of the Lord’s presence and strength. Theirs should be a whole-hearted commitment to God intellectually, emotionally, and volitionally to Him (Ps. 37:3-5), putting their full confidence in the Lord for all of life’s decisions and actions. Rather than being overwhelmed by personal desires and choices, they should they should look to the Lord so as to follow in His chosen way for them and live victorious Christian lives. Then they will come to realize the full contentment, satisfaction, and joy, which total dependence on the Lord brings to the dedicated believer.

Yes, in light of the full scriptural teaching we may confidently say that a faithful believer’s “steps” are undergirded and maintained by the Lord. We may thus be sure that life can take on a richness that only becomes further enriched by a continued faithful walking in the “steps of the Savior” before taking that final “step” into His very presence., How wonderfully glorious that will be! As Charles Gabriel expresses it:

When all my labors and trials are o’er,
and I am safe on that beautiful shore,
just to be near the dear Lord I adore,
will through the ages be glory for me. 31

Is Christianity intolerant?

Is Christianity intolerant?

by Matt Slick

Is Christianity intolerant? Yes, it is intolerant. In fact, it is very intolerant to say that Jesus is the way the truth and the life and that no one can get to God except through Him as Jesus Himself said in John 14:6. It is also intolerant to state that there is no other name under Heaven other than Jesus by which a person can be forgiven of his sins as Peter said in Acts 4:12. It is intolerant to say that there is only one true God as Jesus said in John 17:3. It is also intolerant to say that trying to enter into Heaven by any other way than Jesus is to be a thief and a robber as Jesus said in John 10:1. Jesus was intolerant when He said that He is the one who reveals God to people (Luke 10:22). Jesus was even more intolerant of religious hypocrisy when He condemned the religious know-it-alls and called them hypocrites and deceivers (Matt. 23:25-26). Jesus was extremely intolerant of the buying and selling in the temple when He drove the people out of it by force and overturned their money tables (John 2:13-16). Jesus was intolerant of hatred when He said "love your enemies" (Luke 6:27). Jesus was intolerant of ignorance when He taught the people truth (Matt. 5). Jesus was intolerant of prejudice when He gave the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37).

Yes, Christianity is intolerant because its founder, Jesus, was intolerant. Christianity is intolerant of false gods and false gospels. Why is it so intolerant? Because it is shaped after Jesus. It is intolerant because there is a Hell and Jesus, who is God in flesh (John 1:1, 14, Col. 2:9), who died for our sins (1 Pet. 2:24), has made the only way to forgiveness a reality: through Him alone (John 14:6) and without Him comes damnation.

On the other hand, Christianity is very tolerant. It teaches to be very forgiving (Matt. 18:21-22), to be patient and kind (Gal. 5:22-23), and to be honest and wholesome (Phil. 4:6-8). Jesus taught us to love and to heal and to be examples of kindness and truth in the world. Jesus was intolerant of religious hypocrisy and bigotry. He was very intolerant of false teachers. He was intolerant of pride, rebellion, sin, covetousness, adultery, lying, cheating, stealing, fornicating, and murder. He was intolerant of husbands treating their wives poorly. He was intolerant of pain and was saddened by suffering. Yet, at the same time He demonstrated the greatest love and patience with those who were guilty of all these things. Why? Because He is God in flesh, incarnate love, incarnate righteousness, incarnate humility.

The whole issue of whether or not Christianity is intolerant lies in who Jesus is, what He claimed, and what He did. If what Jesus said and did is true, then Christianity isn't intolerant. It is simply true, and it is the world that is intolerant of that truth.

Likewise, it is true that Jesus lived. It is true that Jesus walked on water (Matt. 14:26-27). It is true that Jesus healed the sick (Matt. 8:5-13). It is true that Jesus calmed a storm with a command (Mark 4:39). It is true that Jesus raised the dead (Matt. 9:25, John 11:43-44). It is true that Jesus claimed to be God (John 5:18, 8:24, 8:58--see Exodus 3:14). It is true that Jesus was killed on a cross (Luke 24:20). It is true that Jesus rose from the dead (Luke 24:39, John 20:27). These are not feeble claims made by crazy people who wanted to gain power and fame. These are the claims of Christ Himself and of those who followed Him and suffered for Him and died for Him.

Either it is all true or it is not. Either Jesus performed miracles, or He did not. Either Jesus rose from the dead or He did not. Based solely and completely on who Jesus is and what He did, Christianity is the truth, and by necessity all other religions that disagree with Jesus are wrong.

Truth is--by nature--intolerant of falsehood. If Christianity is not true, then Jesus was not God, then Jesus did not do miracles, then Jesus did not heal the sick, then Jesus did not walk on water, then Jesus did not die and rise from the dead after three days. But, if He did do these things, then Christianity alone is true since in all the religions in the world, only Christianity has the person of Jesus, and Jesus said that He alone was the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).

Christianity is only as intolerant as Jesus is true.

When You See the Risen Lord (Revelation 1:9-20)

When You See the Risen Lord (Revelation 1:9-20)


Special Easter Message

Someday soon, you will see the risen Lord Jesus Christ. Either when He comes again in power and glory or when you die, you will see Him. Do you ever wonder what that experience will be like?

We often hear about people seeing Jesus through dreams or visions. When these experiences occur among Muslims who subsequently leave Islam and come to faith in Jesus as a result, the visions seem to be legitimate (although sometimes kind of strange). But when some Christians claim to have gone to heaven and returned or to have frequent visions of Jesus, their claims are much more suspect. I’ve told you before about John MacArthur’s pastor friend, who told John that he sees Jesus every morning while he shaves. John’s incredulous reply was, “And you keep shaving?”

The Bible doesn’t leave us to wonder what it will be like to see the risen Lord Jesus. The apostle John was exiled on the island of Patmos because of his witness about the risen Savior. One “Lord’s day” (probably Sunday), John was “in the Spirit,” which implies “being transported into the world of prophetic visions by the Spirit of God” (Alan Johnson, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. by Frank Gaebelein [Zondervan], 12:424). In this unusual state, he heard a loud voice like a trumpet telling him to write down what he saw and to send it to seven churches in Asia Minor, which probably represent the church as a whole. John wrote this vision, along with the entire Book of Revelation, to give these persecuted churches both comfort and correction.

Turning to see who was speaking to him, John saw the risen Lord Jesus Christ. John, who had been close enough with Jesus to lay his head on Jesus’ chest at the Last Supper, on this occasion fell at Jesus’ feet like a dead man. He was terrified! The only experience that was perhaps comparable was when John, along with Peter and James, had seen Jesus in His glory on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1-8). In our text John describes Jesus’ appearance in detail. By studying this encounter, we can know what to expect when we see the risen Lord:

Seeing the risen Lord Jesus Christ will first be terrifying and convicting, but then comforting, if we have believed in Him.

John’s reaction was not unique. On other occasions recorded in the Bible when people saw either the preincarnate Lord or even an angel of God, the normal response was to fall on their faces in fear and often to wonder whether they would die (Josh. 5:14; Judges 13:20, 22; Isa. 6:5; Ezek. 1:28; 3:23; Dan. 10:8-9). Even so, …

1. When we see the risen Lord, we will first be terrified and convicted.

To see the Lord in His glory will be frightening because He is so different than we are and it will convict us because in the blazing light of His presence, we will be acutely aware of our own sin.

A. We will be terrified and convicted because of who Jesus is.

John’s vision reveals seven characteristics of the risen Lord:

1) JESUS IS THE RIGHTFUL HIGH PRIEST OF HIS PEOPLE.

Since six of seven uses of this word in the Old Testament refer to the attire of the high priest in Israel (Robert Thomas, Revelation 1-7, An Exegetical Commentary [Moody Press], p. 99, citing Mounce), most scholars interpret Jesus’ robe and golden sash to allude to His role as our high priest. The high priest’s garments were distinctive and set him apart as holy (Exod. 28:4). If the average person saw the high priest in his garb, he would be reminded, first that the priest was holy in a sense that he was not; and, second, that he needed the priest to go into the holy of holies on his behalf and offer atonement for his sins.

In the same way, when we see Jesus as our high priest, we are reminded that we cannot approach the holy God in our own common clothes, tainted by sin. We can only come to Him through the robes of righteousness of our high priest and the atonement that He made for our sins.

2) JESUS IS THE ETERNAL HOLY ONE, THE ANCIENT OF DAYS.

Jesus’ head and hair were like white wool, like snow (Rev. 1:14). This imagery comes from Daniel 7:9:

“I kept looking
Until thrones were set up,
And the Ancient of Days took His seat;
His vesture was like white snow
And the hair of His head like pure wool.
His throne was ablaze with flames,
Its wheels were a burning fire.

Jesus shares the attributes of the eternal God. The white hair speaks of His wisdom and the respect due to Him as the omniscient Sovereign of the universe. White also symbolizes holiness. Jesus is just as eternal as the Father and He shares His perfect holiness. That terrifies and convicts us because we realize that we are mere creatures, subject to death because of our sins.

3) JESUS IS THE ONE FROM WHOM NOTHING IS HIDDEN.

John reports that Jesus’ “eyes were like a flame of fire.” The same description is repeated in Revelation 2:18, where the context emphasizes that Jesus “searches the minds and hearts” (Rev. 2:23) and He knows all of the deeds that we do (Rev. 2:19). After reminding us that the word of God is able “to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12), the author of Hebrews reminds us (Heb. 4:13), “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” That’s a rather terrifying thought—that you can’t hide anything, including your thoughts and motives, from the risen Lord!

4) JESUS IS THE HOLY JUDGE OF ALL.

Revelation 1:15: “His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace ….” In the Old Testament, bronze is often the symbol for judgment. The fact that His feet were glowing as if they had been in a furnace points to the Lord’s purity. He will judge all by the standard of His absolute purity, again a cause for terror and conviction.

5) JESUS IS THE LORD OF MAJESTY AND POWER.

Revelation 1:15b: “His voice was like the sound of many waters.” (The same description is also in Rev. 14:2 & 19:6.) In Ezekiel 43:2, the prophet relates, “And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the way of the east. And His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory.” If you’ve ever been near pounding breakers during heavy surf or the thunder of a powerful waterfall, you can’t help but be in awe of the majesty and power of the God who spoke creation into existence. When He speaks, we dare not ignore His word or we risk being swept away, as if by powerful waves on the shore.

6) JESUS IS THE LORD WHO JUDGES ALL BY HIS WORD.

Revelation 1:16: “out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword.” The Greek word refers to a large sword that the Romans used in battle. Revelation 2:12 & 16 threaten the church in Pergamum that the Lord may use this sword from His mouth against them if they do not repent. In Revelation 19:15, the sword from His mouth will strike down the nations when He returns so that He will rule them with a rod of iron. God’s word is the standard by which He judges both His church and the entire world. To the extent that we are ignorant of it or fall short of obeying it, we will be terrified and convicted when He comes in judgment.

7) JESUS IS THE SOVEREIGN, GLORIOUS LORD OF HEAVEN AND EARTH.

Revelation 1:16: “In His right hand He held seven stars … and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.” As verse 20 explains, the seven stars are the seven angels of the churches (more on that in a moment). His right hand is the place both of power and of safety. The main idea is that He is the sovereign over the churches. The shining brilliance of His face, compared to the brightness of the sun, conveys His glory. Just as we can’t look directly at the sun without our eyes being permanently damaged, so no one who has sinned can look at the glory of the risen Lord without some sort of protection and not be consumed.

Thus we all will be terrified and convicted when we see the risen, glorious Lord because of who He is. But, also,

B. We will be terrified and convicted because of who we are.

You can be the most righteous person on earth, as Job was, and yet if you get a glimpse of the Holy One, like Job (42:6), you will repent in dust and ashes. Romans 3:10-12 indicts us all:

“There is none righteous, not even one;
There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
All have turned aside, together they have become useless;
There is none who does good,
There is not even one.”

To plead your good deeds as the basis for getting into heaven would be like a mass murderer trying to get acquitted because he had helped out at a local charity. In Romans 3:19-20, Paul goes on to show that even the Jews who sought to keep God’s law would be condemned by that law: “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”

So when you see the risen Lord Jesus Christ (and you will!), it’s going to be terrifying and convicting—unless …

2. When we see the risen Lord, we will be comforted, if we have believed in Him.

After John fell at Jesus’ feet as a dead man, he reports (Rev. 1:17) that Jesus “placed His right hand on me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.’” That’s incredibly good news, not just for John, but for all who have believed in Jesus! From John’s vision, as well as from Jesus’ comforting words, we learn four truths that deliver us from the fear of judgment and give us comfort and hope:

A. The Lord Jesus Christ is God in human flesh.

John reports (Rev. 1:13-14) seeing “one like a son of man.” The prophecy behind this is Daniel 7:13-14:

“I kept looking in the night visions,
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a Son of Man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.
And to Him was given dominion,
Glory and a kingdom,
That all the peoples, nations and men of every language
Might serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed.

Jesus connected that prophecy to Himself at His trial when He replied to the high priest’s question of whether He was the Christ, the Son of God, (Matt. 26:64), “You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

“Son of Man” was one of Jesus’ favorite titles to refer to Himself. It has overtones both of deity and humanity. The entire Gospel of John makes the point that Jesus is God in human flesh. After stating that Jesus, the Word, is the eternal creator (John 1:1), John 1:14 adds, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” In John 5:27, Jesus claims that the Father gave to Him (the Son), “authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.” At the climax of John, Thomas sees the risen Lord, who knew Thomas’ words of unbelief that he had spoken, he thought, in private. Thomas proclaims (John 20:28), “My Lord and My God!” And Jesus affirmed Thomas’ confession.

The deity of Jesus is further emphasized in John’s vision, where Jesus says (Rev. 1:17), “I am the first and the last.” In Revelation 1:8, the Lord God says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Alpha and omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. In Revelation 22:13, Jesus claims, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” It’s a direct claim to His deity and it gives us hope and comfort if we have believed in Him because we can trust that what He has promised, He will do. Jesus’ humanity gives us comfort because we know that He is able to sympathize with our weaknesses (Heb. 4:15).

B. The Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins.

He tells John (Rev. 1:18), “I was dead ….” Each of the four Gospels gives extended attention to the death of Jesus on the cross for our sins. In Revelation 1:5, John states that Jesus is “the firstborn of the dead,” and that He “loves us and released us from our sins by His blood.”

Before Adam and Eve sinned, God warned that if they sinned, the penalty would be death (Gen. 2:17). As the holy Sovereign of the universe, God has the right to declare the penalty for our sins. That penalty includes not only physical death, but also eternal separation from God in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15).

But because He is not only holy and just, but also loving and merciful, God instituted the sacrificial system to provide the death of an acceptable substitute in place of the sinner. The Jewish sacrificial system pointed ahead to Jesus Christ, the perfect and final Lamb of God, who alone can take away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Every sinner who trusts in Jesus’ shed blood can know that God has forgiven all of his sins (Heb. 10:10, 18). As Paul writes (Rom. 4:4-5), “Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.” But Jesus not only died for our sins; also,

C. The Lord Jesus Christ is risen, alive forevermore, the sovereign over death and Hades.

Jesus says (Rev. 1:18), I am “the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” In spite of Jesus’ repeated prophecies that He would die and be resurrected (Matt. 16:21; 17:9), none of the disciples was expecting His resurrection. But seeing the risen Lord on many occasions over the forty days between His resurrection and His ascension transformed these fearful men into bold witnesses, most of whom died martyr’s deaths because they proclaimed His resurrection. The apostle Paul, a persecutor of the church who was converted to one of its boldest witnesses, went so far as to rest the entire Christian faith on the fact of Jesus’ resurrection when he wrote (1 Cor. 15:17), “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.”

Jesus’ claim to hold the keys of death and of Hades means that He controls who dies and when you die. If your trust is in Him, you do not need to fear death. As Paul said (Phil. 1:21), “For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” It’s gain to die because to be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord, forever free from all sorrow and suffering (2 Cor. 5:8; Rev. 21:4). So the resurrection of Jesus is of great comfort for all believers. But…

D. The risen Lord Jesus comforts us, not so that we will be comfortable, but so that we will be His witnesses, even if it results in persecution.

In verse 12, John says that he saw “seven golden lampstands,” and in verse 16 he adds that in the risen Lord’s right hand were seven stars. In verse 20 the Lord explains these symbols: “As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”

It’s difficult to decide whether the seven angels are human messengers (the literal meaning of the Greek word) or pastors; or literal angels (there are strong arguments on both sides). I lean toward the view that they are angels, since this word refers to angels about 60 times in Revelation, but never to human messengers.

The picture of the churches as lampstands with the Lord in the midst shows that we are to be witnesses of the risen Lord. He is the Light of the world (John 8:12), but since He is now in heaven, we are to be that light to the nations (Matt. 5:14) as we proclaim the good news of His saving death and resurrection.

But, bearing witness of that good news is often costly. The letters to the seven churches that follow show that many will suffer, some unto death, because of their witness (Rev. 2:10, 13). Throughout history, including right now, countless numbers have suffered reproach, rejection, the loss of property, and the loss of life, because they have testified to the truth about Jesus Christ. But, our comfort is that He is the Lord of history. He knew the things that would take place after these things (Rev. 1:19). He knows and has ordained the complete number of those who will be killed because of their testimony about Him (Rev. 6:9-11).

Thus seeing the risen Lord Jesus Christ will be terrifying and convicting, but then comforting, for all who have believed in Him. But the Book of Revelation also reveals some horrible news for those who refuse to repent and believe in the risen Lord:

3. Those who do not repent and believe will be terrified but not comforted when the risen Lord comes to judge the living and the dead.

Although the glorious, sovereign, powerful risen Lord is a comfort to believers, He is a terror to the unrepentant. They will call for the rocks and hills to fall on them to protect them from the wrath of the Lamb (Rev. 6:16). Dying physically is not the final death. The final death is called the second death, when all the living and the dead whose names are not written in the book of life are thrown into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:11-15). Jesus repeatedly described it as a place of outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30). You don’t want to go there!

Conclusion

And the good news is, you don’t have to go there! No matter how badly or how many times you have sinned against God, He offers eternal life to you as His free gift. John 3:16 promises, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Why face God’s judgment when today you can receive His gift of complete forgiveness and eternal life?

The apostle Paul proclaimed to the Athenian philosophers (Acts 17:30-31), “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” Jesus’ resurrection is proof that the day of judgment is fixed. But if you repent and put your trust in Jesus, you don’t have to fear that judgment. But remember: You will see the risen Lord Jesus someday soon! Make sure that that meeting will be the source of eternal comfort, not of eternal terror!

Application Questions

Some might argue that believers will not be frightened or convicted at all when we see the Lord. Agree/disagree?
What does it mean to fear the Lord right now? Where is the balance between fearing Him and confidently drawing near?
Some would say that fear of judgment is not a legitimate motive for trusting in Christ. Are they right? Give biblical support.
How can we properly evaluate modern claims of visions of Jesus?
Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2016, All Rights Reserved.

Are there absolutes or is everything relative?

Are there absolutes or is everything relative?


by Matt Slick

Yes, there are such things as absolutes. There are also things that are relative, but if everything were relative, then it would be absolutely true that everything is relative and that would be self-refuting. So saying that everything is relative can’t be true. Likewise, if everything were absolutely true, then we couldn’t have such things as personal preferences or things that change. Relative truths can be things dependent upon each person.

That which is absolute is always true. That which is relative is not necessarily always true. For example, it is always true that the number seven is greater than the number five. It's always true that something cannot bring itself into existence.

On the other hand, one person may believe that blue is a better color than green where another person may disagree. In this case, what is true for one person is not true for another. Therefore, there can be truths that are relative that change. The person who believes that blue is a better color than green may change his or her mind later on.

Unfortunately, more and more people are not able to distinguish between absolute truths and relative truths, and they put their feelings and preferences above absolutes to make them more palatable. A typical example is when someone would say that “It is true for you that Jesus is the only way to God, but to a Muslim, Mohammed would be the only way." Such statements ignore the logical possibilities of having two "only-ways" to God.

So, there are absolutes, and there are things that are relative.

What is relativism?

What is relativism?

by Matt Slick

Relativism is the philosophical position that all points of view are equally valid and that all truth is relative to the individual. This means that all moral positions, all religious systems, all art forms, all political movements, etc., are truths that are relative to the individual. Under the umbrella of relativism, whole groups of perspectives are categorized. In obvious terms, some are:

cognitive relativism (truth)--Cognitive relativism affirms that all truth is relative. This would mean that no system of truth is more valid than another one and that there is no objective standard of truth. It would, naturally, deny that there is a God of absolute truth.
moral/ethical relativism--All morals are relative to the social group within which they are constructed.
situational relativism--Ethics (right and wrong) are dependent upon the situation.
Unfortunately, the philosophy of relativism is pervasive in our culture today. With the rejection of God and Christianity in particular, absolute truth is being abandoned. Our pluralistic society wants to avoid the idea that there really is a right and wrong. This is evidenced in our deteriorating judicial system that has more and more trouble punishing criminals in our entertainment media which continues to push the envelope of immorality and indecency and in our schools which teach evolution and "social tolerance," etc. In addition, the plague of moral relativism is encouraging everyone to accept homosexuality, pornography, fornication, and a host of other "sins" that were once considered wrong but are now being accepted and even promoted in society. It is becoming so pervasive that if you speak out against moral relativism and its "anything goes" philosophy, you're labeled as an intolerant bigot. Of course, this is incredibly hypocritical of those who profess that all points of view are true yet reject those who profess absolutes in morality. It seems that what is really meant by the moral relativists is that all points of view are true except for the views that teach moral absolutes, an absolute God, or absolute right and wrong.

Some typical expressions that reveal an underlying presupposition of relativism are comments such as: "That is your truth, not mine," "It is true for you, but not for me," and "There are no absolute truths." Of course, these statements are illogical, which I demonstrate in the paper, "Refuting relativism." Relativism is invading our society, our economy, our schools, and our homes. Society cannot flourish nor survive in an environment where everyone does what is right in his own eyes and where the situation determines moral truth and that lying and cheating are okay as long as you don't get caught. Without a common foundation of truth and absolutes, our culture will become weak and fragmented.

I must admit, however, that there is validity to some aspects of relativism. For example, what one society considers right (driving on the left side of the road), another considers wrong. These are customs to which a "right and wrong" are attached, but they are purely relativistic and not universal because they are culturally based. Child rearing principles vary in different societies as do burial practices and wedding ceremonies. These "right and wrong ways" are not cosmically set in stone, nor are they derived from some absolute rule of conduct by some unknown god. They are relative, and rightly so. But, their relativism is properly asserted as such. It doesn't matter what side of the road we drive on as long as we all do it the same way.

Likewise, there are experiences that are valid only for individuals. I might be irritated by a certain sound where another person will not. In this sense, what is true for me is not necessarily true for someone else. It is not an absolute truth that the identical sound causes irritation to all people. This is one way of showing that certain aspects of relativism are true. But, is it valid to say that because there is a type of personal relativism, that we can then apply that principle to all areas of experience and knowledge and say that they, too, are also relative? No, it is not a valid assumption. First of all, to do so would be an absolute assessment, which contradicts relativism.

Furthermore, if all things are relative, then there cannot be anything that is absolutely true between individuals. In other words, if all people deny absolute truth and establish relative truth only from their experiences, then everything is relative to the individual. How then can there be a common ground from which to judge right and wrong or truth? It would seem that there cannot.

Of course, the issue that is important here is whether or not there are absolute truths. Also, can there be different kinds of absolute truths if indeed there are absolute truths? We might ask if it is always wrong to lie. Or, does 1 + 1 always equal 2? Is it always true that something cannot be both in existence and not in existence at the same time? Is it always true that something cannot bring itself into existence if it first does not exist? If any of these questions can be answered in the affirmative, then relativism is refuted--at least to some degree.

Morality and Punishment
More questions arise. If all moral views are equally valid, then do we have the right to punish anyone? Can we ever say that something is wrong? In order to say that something is wrong, we must first have a standard by which we weigh right and wrong in order to make a judgment. If that standard of right and wrong is based on relativism, then it is not a standard at all. In relativism, standards of right and wrong are derived from social norms. Since society changes, the norms would change and so would right and wrong. If right and wrong change, then how can anyone be rightly judged for something he did wrong if that wrong might become right in the future?

Finally, is it fair to apply logical analysis to relativistic principles? Many relativists say no, but I do not see why not. If a relativist were to convince me that logic isn’t necessary in examining relativism, he’d have to convince me using logic, which would be self-defeating. If a relativist uses relativism--the subjective view of his own opinions--to validate his position, he is using circular reasoning, namely, he is using relativism to establish relativism. So, either way he has lost the argument. But, with relativism who really cares since it is all relative?

To conclude, if relativism is true and all points of view are true, then is my view that relativism is false also true?

Sex, Greed, and Christians (Colossians 3:5-7)

Sex, Greed, and Christians (Colossians 3:5-7)


I recently got an email from a woman who had read one of my sermons online. She asked for my counsel regarding a friend who is a part of “a very anointed church where the rich word of God is preached and the rich presence of God descends and the Lord is adding numbers and the church is growing in glory and fame.” But she went on to say that the pastor there “has a weakness,” where he engages in immoral relationships with the inner circle of women disciples.

He invited her friend to be in that circle and then made advances toward her, which she resisted. She excused herself from this team and broke off all contact with this pastor. But her friend was wondering whether it was scriptural to cut off all contact with him, since, in her words, “He is a very, very anointed man whom God is using mightily.” She added that her friend is planning to continue in the same church, as there are not many churches in that part of the world (which, I learned, is India).

I replied that in spite of outward appearances, this man is not in any way anointed by the Holy Spirit. Rather, he is like the false teachers described in 2 Peter 2 and in Jude. I told her that her friend should leave that church immediately and take as many of her friends with her as she can.

But sadly, that same story could be told in just about every country where the church is found, including the United States. We regularly see scandals in the news involving well-known pastors and church leaders. In his recent book, Strange Fire [Thomas Nelson, 2013], John MacArthur documents numerous moral scandals involving various Pentecostal and Charismatic leaders. One such was Lonnie Frisbee, who was instrumental in the early development of both Calvary Chapel and the Vineyard. It finally became public that he had been a practicing homosexual, a fact that had been well-known to his friends and fellow charismatic ministers. He died of AIDS in 1993 (ibid., pp. 60-61, 287, note 8).

Back in 1988, Leadership Journal [Winter, 1988, pp. 12-13, 24] reported that almost one fourth of pastors admitted to doing something “sexually inappropriate” with someone other than their spouse since entering the ministry. Twelve percent specified that the inappropriate behavior was adultery. Twenty percent of pastors said that they looked at sexually oriented media at least monthly (before the Internet existed!). Among readers of Christianity Today (an evangelical magazine), 23 percent of those who are not pastors admitted to having committed adultery.

Since then, moral values in our culture have not improved. Recently, The Barna Group found that 56 percent of people under age 25 think that not recycling is wrong, but only 32 percent think that viewing porn is wrong! The same survey found that nearly half of young people actively seek out porn monthly or more often. In the church, 21 percent of youth pastors and 14 percent of pastors admit they currently struggle with using porn. In light of the 1988 survey that found 20 percent of pastors look at porn at least every month, I suspect that the more recent lower numbers are way underreported.

In addition to sexual sins, the sin of greed is a huge problem in the church. The so-called “prosperity gospel” is thriving not only in America, but all over the world. MacArthur (ibid., pp. 58-59) cites a source that over 90 percent of Pentecostals and Charismatics in Nigeria, South Africa, India, and the Philippines believe that “God will grant material prosperity to all believers who have enough faith.” MacArthur rightly states (p. 59),

The prosperity gospel is more morally reprehensible than a Las Vegas casino because it masquerades as religion and comes in the name of Christ. But like the casinos, it attracts its victims with glitzy showmanship and the allure of instant riches. After devouring their last cent, like a spiritual slot machine, it sends them home worse off than when they came.

In view of the immoral, greedy world that we live in, to which many professing Christians have succumbed, Paul’s words in our text dealing with sex, greed, and Christians become quite relevant:

As Christians we must radically separate ourselves from all sexual immorality and greed.

Paul begins this chapter with the sublime theme that we must seek and set our minds on the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, where our life is now hidden with Christ in God. But now he abruptly moves into the seamy subjects of sex and greed! He joins the two subjects with “therefore,” showing that there is a close connection between these two seemingly disjointed themes. He’s saying that the fact of our new identity with the risen Lord Jesus Christ is the basis for a godly life of separation from all sexual immorality and greed. In other words, we need to be in actual practice what God says we are in spiritual truth. If we are in fact raised up with Christ in heaven, we need live like it on earth.

We will look at Paul’s command; the subject of his command; the consequences if his command is disobeyed; and, the hope behind his command.

1. The command: Radical separation from sin.

Usually I like the New American Standard Bible. But here the translators varied from their normal literal approach and took an interpretive approach, relegating the literal translation to the margin. Paul is not saying, “Consider your body dead to sin” (as he does in Rom. 6:11), but rather, “Put to death your members on earth.” The parallel text is not Romans 6:11, but rather Romans 8:13, “If you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

But what does Paul mean when he says, “Put to death the members which are on earth”? He is using the term, “members which are on earth” as a figure of speech (metonymy, “the use of one thing for another with which it is associated”) to refer to sins which stem from our old nature, but are associated with our bodies. In American English we have a saying, “Don’t give me any of your lip!” We’re using “lip” as a metonymy to represent the words which come forth from our lips. So when Paul says, “Put to death your members on earth,” he means, “Kill all sexual sins and all your greed, which come from your flesh.” Note three things:

A. This is radical terminology!

Paul easily could have said, “Control your sexual impulses.” But instead, he uses shocking, radical language: “Kill your bodily parts when it comes to sexual immorality and greed!” John Owen put it (The Works of John Owen: Temptation and Sin [Banner of Truth], 6:9), “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” Curtis Vaughan (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. by Frank Gaebelein [Zondervan], 11:211) says:

The verb ... is very strong. It suggests that we are not simply to suppress or control evil acts and attitudes. We are to wipe them out, completely exterminate the old way of life. “Slay utterly” may express its force. The form of the verb ... makes clear that the action is to be undertaken decisively, with a sense of urgency. Both the meaning of the verb and the force of the tense suggest a vigorous, painful act of personal determination.

I’ve heard Bible teachers say that we already died with Christ, so we don’t need to put ourselves to death. We just need to consider ourselves dead to sin (Rom. 6:11). While that’s one side of the truth, it’s not the entire picture. Paul here is using this radical terminology to say, “Lay hold of your sinful nature, wrestle it down, and nail it to the cross! Nothing short of a violent death will do.” And as often as that old nature squirms off the cross and resurrects itself, nail it back again!

The Lord Jesus used similar radical terminology in the context of talking about the sin of mental lust, which He equated with adultery (Matt. 5:29-30):

If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.

Did Jesus and Paul mean for us to take this literally? No, because cutting off parts of your body doesn’t solve the problem. You could cut out both eyes, but as long as you have a functioning brain, you would still have a problem with lust. Rather, they meant:

B. Get radical in dealing with your sin.

Jesus taught that all sin begins on the thought level (Mark 7:20-23). No guy ever cheated on his wife without first thinking about it. If he had judged it when the temptation popped into his mind, it wouldn’t have gone any further. By tearing out my eye and cutting off my hand, Jesus meant that I must take radical action to kill my sin on the thought level.

Let’s be honest: It’s easy to play games here. You can look godly outwardly, but be entertaining lustful thoughts that no one else knows about. But that’s like tolerating cracks beneath the surface in a dam. Nobody sees those cracks, but sooner or later, the dam will burst and cause a lot of damage. Remember, nobody ever falls into the sin of sexual immorality without thinking about it for some time beforehand.

So putting to death my earthly members with regard to immorality means forsaking and confessing any lustful thoughts the moment they occur. I must immediately separate myself from those thoughts and acknowledge them to God as sin. It means guarding what I look at in magazines. I sometimes tear pages out of magazines because I want to read the rest of the magazine, but I don’t want to keep being tempted by pictures of seductive women. I would not subscribe to Sports Illustrated because of their yearly swimsuit issue, or if I really wanted to subscribe, I’d have my wife intercept that issue and shred it before I could look at it.

For the same reason, I don’t watch movies rated R for explicit sex or nudity. I don’t have time, but if I did I wouldn’t watch many of the shows now on evening TV. I see the ads for those shows while I watch the evening news as I work out, and seeing the short ads tells me, “Don’t watch those shows!” The sad fact is, I can remember sensual scenes from movies years later, but I can’t remember Bible verses that I worked on last week! So I need to get radical in dealing with my sin. Also,

C. This is radical action that I myself must take.

Paul doesn’t say, “Let go and let God deliver you.” He doesn’t even say, “Pray for deliverance from this sin.” He says, “Put it to death!” It’s a command, directed to each Christian. As I stated earlier, the command is based on the truth about our identity in Christ (Col. 3:1-4). Because of who we are in Christ, we are to take this action. And, we are to do it by the Holy Spirit’s power, relying on Him. But then we must take whatever action is necessary, however radical it may be, to kill our sin. As Paul commands (1 Cor. 6:18), “Flee immorality!” It’s a war that you don’t win by standing and fighting; you win by running in the opposite direction! Even though it cost him his job and landed him in prison, Joseph had the right strategy when he left his coat in the hands of Potiphar’s seductive wife and ran away (Gen. 39:12).

God puts the responsibility for active obedience in sexual purity on me. It’s not an impossible command to obey, or God wouldn’t tell me to do it. It’s not opposed to God’s grace, because His grace instructs us “to deny ungodliness and worldly desires” (Titus 2:11-12). So the command is that I must take whatever radical action is needed to kill my sinful sexual impulses and greed.

2. The subject of the command: All sexual immorality and greed.

Paul lists four sexual sins plus greed, which underlies all sexual sins, but is much broader, since it includes the desire for material possessions also (I plan to focus on it next week). “Immorality” translates the Greek word “porneia,” a broad term for any sexual activity outside of heterosexual marriage. This includes sex between unmarried partners, adultery, homosexuality, child molestation, and bestiality. Since all those sins begin in the mind, we must avoid any sort of media that tempts us toward those sins.

“Impurity” is similar to “porneia,” but it also includes impurity of thought as well as deed. It reminds us that sexual sin defiles us. If you’ll excuse a gross illustration, you can’t raise a family without, at times, needing to put your hand into a dirty toilet. We used cloth diapers that needed to be rinsed out. Or, sometimes, one of the kids would drop something into a toilet that already needed to be flushed. When you stick your hand into a dirty toilet, it is defiled. You wouldn’t think of then going about the day without washing it thoroughly with soap and hot water. In the same way, sexual sin defiles us and demands God’s immediate cleansing.

The third and fourth words, “passion,” and “evil desire,” are similar. They both focus on the strong inner emotional lure of sexual sin. Paul elsewhere described such feelings as “burning” (1 Cor. 7:9). These words show that these feelings are not easy to deal with—they are powerful and you’re not usually in a calm, rational state of mind when they burn within! But, if you don’t control them, they will enslave and consume you.

The final word in Paul’s list is “greed,” which he equates with idolatry. Other references mention greed in the same context as sexual sin (Rom. 1:24-32, esp. vs. 29; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; Eph. 5:3), because greed is the desire for more so that I can fulfill myself without regard for God or for others. It’s idolatry because I am putting myself in the place of God. All sexual immorality has greed as its motive, because it’s based on personal gratification, not on permanent love and commitment to the other person’s good.

The only reason that the so-called “prosperity” preachers have become so popular worldwide is that neither they nor those who follow them have killed their greed. If we had the biblical view that greed is as serious a sin as sexual immorality, would we even tolerate as Christian some clown who waves his diamond rings at us and boasts of his expensive cars and homes and claims that prosperity is our divine right? Have you ever heard of an American Christian being disciplined by the church because of greed? Kent Hughes (Colossians and Philemon [Crossway], p. 97) cites a proverb that is sadly, often true: “If a man is drunk with wine, we kick him out of the church; if he is drunk with money, we make him a deacon!” Yet Paul says that greed is equal to idolatry. We must put our greed to death!

Paul goes on to show the seriousness of these sins by showing where they lead:

3. The consequence if the command is disregarded: God’s wrath.

Colossians 3:6: “For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience” (some manuscripts lack the last phrase, “upon the sons of disobedience,” which a copyist may have added from the parallel Eph. 5:6). It means that those characterized by these sins will face God’s wrath.

We don’t like to focus on God’s wrath in our day. We’d rather focus on His love. But the Bible is full of references to God’s wrath and His judgment on sin. Jesus spoke frequently about hell and judgment, including the verses we looked at earlier about plucking out your eye and cutting off your hand as better alternatives than hell. He called it a place of outer darkness, of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 25:30), a place of torment and agony (Luke 16:23-24), where “their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). You cannot say that you follow Jesus and yet reject His teaching about hell.

The Bible often connects God’s judgment with sexual sin and greed. God judged Sodom because of sexual immorality and greed (Gen. 19; Ezek. 16:49). Paul wrote (1 Cor. 6:9-10), “Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” Hebrews 13:4 warns, “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” Revelation 18 shows Babylon reveling in sexual immorality and greed just before God’s judgment falls.

Those verses should scare you! If they don’t, you may have a warped view of God’s grace. Fear of God’s judgment is a legitimate motivator. It ought to make us think twice before we go with the flow of our sensual, materialistic culture. God’s wrath means that He stands in fierce, settled opposition to such sin. The fact that He hasn’t judged it yet and that evildoers seem to be having a great time doesn’t mean that His judgment is not coming. God gives us such strong warnings because He loves us and doesn’t want us to come to such an awful end. But the warning is clear: those whose lives are characterized by sexual immorality and greed are not God’s people. They stand in danger of His awful wrath! “Do not be deceived” (1 Cor. 6:9)!

But, thankfully, because our text does so, I can end on a note of hope:

4. The hope behind the command: God can deliver those enslaved to lust and greed.

Colossians 3:7: “and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.” “Walked” and “living in them” show that these were not occasional sins, but rather the former way of life for many of these new believers. But the good news is, “walked” and “living” are past tense. As Paul wrote after warning the Corinthians about many sexual sins (including homosexuality) and greed (1 Cor. 6:11), “Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”

No matter how enslaved to sexual immorality, greed, or any other sin you may be, there is hope if you will come to the cross of Jesus Christ. God’s wrath and love met at the cross. Jesus bore the wrath of God’s judgment on the cross so that God could freely pour out His love on those who put their trust in Christ’s shed blood. As Paul testified (1 Tim. 1:15), “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.” No sinner is beyond the reach of God’s grace through the cross! Believe in Jesus and you can be assured of God’s complete forgiveness!

Conclusion

Alexander Maclaren, a 19th century British preacher, illustrated our text by describing a man who was working at a machine and got his fingers caught between the rollers. The machine begins to suck in his hand and in another minute his arm and then his whole body will be flattened to a shapeless, bloody mass. The man grabs an axe lying nearby and with his other arm, hacks off his own hand at the wrist. It’s not easy or pleasant, but it’s the only alternative to a horrible death. (Cited by Vaughan, p. 211.)

It’s a gruesome picture, but it illustrates the truth that we can’t play around with a little bit of sexual sin or greed. If you’re already involved in these sins or even if you’re just secretly entertaining them in your mind, God is telling you what you must do: Cut it off, put it to death, radically separate yourself from it—before it sucks you in to destruction! Do it in light of your new identity in Christ. Do it in the power of the Holy Spirit. But, do it!

Application Questions

Should Christians fear God’s wrath? Do we take it seriously enough?
Since we can’t isolate ourselves, how much should we allow ourselves and our children to be exposed to the sexual immorality which permeates our culture?
How could you practically help a professing Christian enslaved to sexual immorality?
What are some ways we overlook or even encourage greed? How can we fight it?
Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2016, All Rights Reserved.

What is truth?

What is truth?


by Matt Slick

"What is truth?" is a very simple question. Of course, answering it isn't so simple. We can offer definitions like "Truth is that which conforms to reality, fact, or actuality." But this basic definition is not complete because its definition is open to interpretation and a wide variety of applications. What is reality? What is fact? What is actuality? How does perception affect truth? We could offer answers for each of these questions, but then we could again ask similar questions of those answers. I am reminded of the paradox of throwing a ball against a wall. It must get halfway there, then halfway of the remaining distance, and then half of that distance, and so on. But, an infinite number of halves in this scenario never constitutes a whole. Therefore, it would seem that the ball would never reach the wall if we applied the conceptual truths of halves.

The ball-against-the-wall scenario simply illustrates that defining and redefining things as we try to approach a goal actually prevents us from getting to that goal. This is what philosophy does sometimes as it seeks to examine truth. It sometimes clouds issues so much that nothing can be known for sure.

But, even though it is true that an infinite number of halves (1/2 of "a" + 1/2 of the remainder + 1/2 of the remainder of that, etc.,) does not equal a whole, we can "prove" that it does by simply throwing a ball at a wall and watching it bounce off. Actually, the "1/2" equation above does not equal a whole--mathematically. The problem is not in the truth but in its application as is often the case with philosophical verbal gymnastics.

"See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ," (Col. 2:8).

In order for truth to be defined properly, it would have to be a factually and logically correct statement. In other words, it would have to be true. But, perhaps we could look further at truth by determining what it is not. Truth is not error. Truth is not self-contradictory. Truth is not deception. Of course, it could be true that someone is being deceptive, but the deception itself isn't truth.

In relativism, all points of view are equally valid, and all truth is relative to the individual. If this were true, then it would seem that this is the only truth relativism would have to offer. But, the problem is that in reality, relativism isn't true for the following basic reason. If what is true for me is that relativism is false, then is it true that relativism is false? 1) If you say no, then what is true for me is not true, and relativism is false. 2) If you say yes, then relativism is false. Relativism seems to defy the very nature of truth, namely, that truth is not self-contradictory.

Again, what is truth?
If there is such a thing as truth, then we should be able to find it. If truth cannot be known, then it probably doesn't exist. But, it does exist. For example, we know it is true that you are reading this.

Is there such a thing as something that is always true all the time? Yes, there is. For example, "Something cannot bring itself into existence." This is an absolutely true statement. In order for something to bring itself into existence, it would have to exist in order to be able to perform an action. But if it already existed, then it isn't possible to bring itself into existence since it already exists. Likewise, if it does not exist, then it has no ability to perform any creative action since it didn't exist in the first place. Therefore, "Something cannot bring itself into existence" is an absolute truth.

The preceding example is a truth found in logic, but there are truths that are not logical by nature. It is true that I love my wife. This isn't logically provable via theorems and formulas and logic paradigms, but it is, nevertheless, true. Therefore, we can say that truth conforms and affirms reality and/or logic.

Is this what relativism does? Does relativism conform to reality and logic? To be honest, it does to some degree. Relatively speaking, there is no absolute right or wrong regarding which side of your head you should part your hair if you part it at all. To this we must concede relative "truths" that are different for different people. But, these are relativistic by nature. Examples of relativistic truths are: 1) people drive on the right side of the street in America and the left in England, 2) I prefer to watch science fiction over musicals, 3) snow is better than rain, etc. These things are relative to culture, individuals, preferences, etc., and rightfully so.

If we ever hope to determine if there is such a thing as truth apart from cultural and personal preferences, we must acknowledge that we are then aiming to discover something greater than ourselves--something that transcends culture and individual inclinations. To do this is to look beyond ourselves and outside of ourselves. In essence, it means we are looking for God. God would be truth--the absolute and true essence of being and reality who is the author of all truth. If you are interested in truth beyond yourself, then you must look to God.

"I am the truth"
For the Christian, the ultimate expression of truth is found in the Bible, in Jesus who said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life . . . " (John 14:6). Of course, most philosophers and skeptics will dismiss His claim, but for the Christian, He is the mainstay of hope, security, and guidance. Jesus walked on water, claimed to be divine, rose from the dead, and said that He was the truth and the originator of truth. If Jesus is wrong, then we should ignore Him. But, if He is right, then it is true that we should listen to Him.

The eyewitnesses wrote what they saw. They were with Him. They watched Him perform many miracles, heal the sick, calm a storm with a command, and even rise from the dead. Either you believe or dismiss these claims. If you dismiss them, that is your prerogative. But, if you accept them, then you are faced with decisions to make about Jesus. What will you believe about Him? What will you decide about Him? Is He true? Is what He said true?

Truth conforms to reality. Jesus performed many miracles and rose from the dead.

Wise Witnessing (Colossians 4:2-6)

Wise Witnessing (Colossians 4:2-6)


If you saw the sermon title and came to church anyway, I commend you for your bravery! The word “witnessing” strikes fear and guilt into most of us. Fear, because we’ve all experienced the churning stomach that sweeps over us the instant a witnessing opportunity comes up. We panic: “What should I say? What will I say if he asks me a question I can’t answer?” The computer goes dead and there’s no battery backup! And, guilt because we’ve all repeatedly failed in our witness for Christ.

I still remember from about 45 years ago one of my earliest failures at witnessing. I was a sophomore in college, taking a group discussion class. Our grade depended on the evaluations of our classmates, so we tried to pick topics that would generate the most interest: Should drugs be legalized? Is it wrong to have sex outside of marriage? Is homosexuality wrong? Etc. In every discussion, I was on the Christian side of things and a guy named Ralph was on the pagan side. He seemed to have no moral standards.

One day after class, Ralph cornered me and said, “Hey, man, do you really believe all that stuff that you say in class or are you just putting us on?” My brain froze. Here was an opportunity to tell Ralph about Christ, but I just stammered, “No, I’m not putting you on. I really believe what I say in class.” But I never mentioned Jesus Christ. That failure to tell Ralph about Jesus motivated me to get some training in how to share my faith. Over the years I’ve prayed for Ralph, that someone else would give him the clear witness that I failed to give him.

I’ve seen two extremes in witnessing. Many say, “I don’t have the gift of evangelism and I’m not good at talking with people, so I’ll just live the Christian life before them.” If that’s your approach, you’re going to have to live the Christian life better than either Jesus or Paul did, because they both not only lived the life; they also spoke to sinners about salvation. While a godly life should be the foundation for bearing witness, it’s not adequate if you never tell people about Jesus. They’ll just assume that you’re a moral person.

On the other hand, a few Christians come across as “muggers for Jesus.” These folks are the type who sell vacuum cleaners door-to-door or work in telemarketing and love it. They have no problem accosting total strangers and giving them the pitch, even if the poor guy shows no interest in talking. The guy who has been mugged makes sure that he never again gets near another religious fanatic. And those who are “silent” witnesses for Jesus gain a further excuse for why they won’t talk to others about Christ: They don’t want to be like those rude, insensitive “muggers for Jesus”!

But the Lord doesn’t want us to be “silent witnesses” or “muggers for Jesus.” He wants us to be wise witnesses who live godly lives and who take advantage of every opportunity to talk graciously to lost people about the Savior.

To be wise witnesses, walk with wisdom and talk with grace to those who are outside of Christ.

Paul develops this theme in Colossians 4:2-6. In verse 5, “conduct yourselves” is literally, “walk.” So in verse 5 he says, “Walk with wisdom toward outsiders.” In verse 6 he says, “Talk with grace.” Walking without the talk won’t communicate the necessary content of the gospel. Talking without the walk will cause the world to scoff at Christians as a bunch of hypocrites. We need both the walk and the talk.

1. To be wise witnesses, walk with wisdom.

“Walk” is a metaphor for steady a way of life that is headed in a particular direction. “Wisdom” in the Old Testament comes from a word for “skill.” It is used to describe the craftsmen who built the tabernacle (Exod. 36:1, 2). The Book of Proverbs often contrasts the wise man with the fool. The fool disregards God’s commandments about how to live, but the wise man skillfully orders his life according to God’s Word so that the results are like a finely crafted piece of furniture. To walk in wisdom produces a beautiful life.

When Paul says that we are to walk with wisdom toward outsiders, he means that we are to live in line with God’s Word so that those who are not Christians will see the beauty of our lives and relationships that reflect Jesus Christ. They ought to be able to see the fruit of the Spirit in us, which should draw them to the Savior.

When we were recently in Asia visiting our daughter and her family, we hired a van and driver one day to take us to one of the main attractions about two hours outside of town. As we were leaving late in the day to return to the city, a young couple asked if they could ride back with us. It turned out that they were from Russia. In the course of the conversation, they told Jonathan and Joy how they had noticed their family earlier in the day, especially how Jon took an active role with the children. They said this is rare with Russian families and they noticed the difference.

People are watching us. Witness is always an overflow of our walk. To be wise witnesses, we must learn to walk with wisdom toward outsiders. But a wise walk always begins in private and then spills over into public. So there is a connection between verses 2-4 and verses 5-6: Private prayer lies behind public witness.

A. WALKING WITH WISDOM BEGINS PRIVATELY THROUGH PRAYER.

“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving” (4:2). Paul goes on (4:3) to ask for prayer for his own witness, but these verses also apply to our witness: A private walk with God in prayer is the foundation for verbal witness.

So, prayer is the first step in wise witnessing. Before you talk to a person about God, talk to God about that person. One of the most helpful books that I’ve read on evangelism is Concentric Circles of Concern [Broadman Press, 1981], by the late Oscar Thompson. He taught his students to make a list of the people in what he called “concentric circles of concern.” You are in the center of the circle—you’ve got to be right with God before you can be His witness. Moving outward, in the next circle is your immediate family, then your relatives, close friends, neighbors and business associates, acquaintances, and finally, “person X,” someone you don’t know.

You list each person’s needs and begin praying for them, that God would engineer the circumstances in their lives to draw them to Christ. Also, pray that He would use you as His channel of love and give you the opportunities and boldness to talk to the person about Christ. Meanwhile, look for needs that you can help meet in each of those circles. In the context of praying and lovingly meeting needs, God will give you opportunities for witness.

Thompson’s thesis was that the most effective evangelism takes place in the context of loving relationships where lost people can see the changes that Jesus Christ is making in your life. For example, teenagers, if you come to Christ and go home and tell your unbelieving parents about your new faith, it is almost certain that they will not be open to the gospel. What will open them to the message? Go home and start cheerfully obeying them. Cheerfully clean your room without being asked. Cheerfully help out with family chores. Cheerfully be home when they tell you to be home. After they recover from severe shock, they’ll want to hear about why you’re different. That’s when you tell them!

We often think of witnessing as going out on the street to person X, whom we do not know and probably will never see again. There’s nothing wrong with telling person X about Jesus. But you don’t have to be living a consistent Christian life to witness to person X. And because person X doesn’t know you, he may not be impressed with the changes that Christ has made in your life.

But to witness effectively to your family, to relatives, or to those who know you well, you’ve got to repair your damaged relationships by asking forgiveness. You’ve got to demonstrate a cheerful attitude of joy of Christ. You’ve got to show the peace of Christ on the job when the boss puts stress on everyone.

That’s why thankfulness in prayer is important (4:2). A life of thankfulness stems from submitting your life to God’s sovereign hand. Paul says (Phil. 2:14-15) that if you don’t grumble and complain, you’ll stand out as lights in this grumbling, complaining world. And so if you begin your day with thankful prayer, and you exude that thankful attitude throughout the day, those around you will notice. It opens the door for verbal witness.

B. WALKING WITH WISDOM OCCURS OUTWARDLY BY MAKING THE MOST OF THE OPPORTUNITY.

Paul asked for prayer (4:3) that God would open the door for the word, but also that he would speak forth the mystery of Christ. In Ephesians 6:19, he asks for prayer “to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.” God has to open the door, but we need the boldness to speak about Christ when the door opens. If we bash in the door without God’s opening it, the message probably will not be well received. But if God opens the door and we don’t go through, the opportunity will be lost.

“Making the most of the opportunity” (4:5) is literally, “redeeming [or, buying up] the opportunity.” “Buying up” pictures a businessman or investor who knows an opportunity to make money when he sees one. He quickly moves in before the opportunity is gone. Or, picture a careful shopper who knows that all of the sale items will be gone within the first hour. So she gets to the store early to take advantage of the good deals. A wise witness is on the alert to buy up opportunities to share Christ with lost people.

I often miss such opportunities because my mind is on other things or I’m in a hurry. Recently, I went to Wal-Mart for something. I was locking my bike when a homeless woman approached me. I braced for her to beg for money, but instead she wanted to sell me $10 worth of food stamps for $5. I was in a hurry to get back to the office and I didn’t want to hassle with food stamps, so I told her I didn’t want to do it. Then after I went into the store I realized that I could have said, “I know what you’re after. You want cash so you can buy drugs or alcohol. That stuff is ruining your life. But Jesus Christ can deliver you from bondage to those things.” I could have given her a tract or a Gospel of John. But I missed the opportunity.

Paul asked for prayer so that when God opened the door, he would speak forth the gospel. He was confined in prison, but he still was looking to buy up the opportunities. That should be our mindset as well.

Let’s assume that you’re walking with wisdom, showing the reality of Christ in your daily life and asking God for opportunities. Suddenly, you get an opportunity to talk with a lost person about Christ. What do you do?

2, To be wise witnesses, talk with grace to those who are outside of Christ.

There are two things here: First, there is the content of the gospel itself; then, there is how we talk about that content.

A. TALK ABOUT THE CONTENT OF THE GOSPEL.

Have you ever felt that you muddled the gospel message? You’re in good company! Paul (4:4) asks for prayer so that he would make the gospel clear! That is Paul, the theologian who wrote 13 New Testament epistles, asking for prayer that he would be clear in presenting the gospel! He refers to it as “the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned.” He does not mean that the gospel is mysterious or difficult to understand. Rather, the word “mystery” refers to a truth that was previously unknown, but now has been revealed. It especially referred to the truth that salvation, which had previously been revealed only to the Jews, was now available to the Gentiles. Every person, whether Jew or Gentile, now can enjoy right standing and equal access to God through faith in Christ (Col. 1:26-27; Eph. 2:11-3:7).

The main content of the gospel concerns our need as sinners. Our sins have alienated us from the holy God. Because He is holy and just, God cannot just brush away our sins. The penalty must be paid. God has declared that the penalty for our sins is death, which means, eternal separation from God. No amount of good works can pay that penalty. But what we cannot do, God did. In love, He sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully human. He lived in perfect obedience to the Father. His death on the cross was substitutionary. He paid the debt that sinners deserve. God raised Jesus from the dead and now offers a full pardon and eternal life to every sinner who will turn from his sins and trust in the risen Christ alone to save him.

To communicate that content clearly, learn some key verses to go with each point:

Romans 3:23: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Romans 4:4-5: “Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.”

John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

You almost always have to combat the idea that God will grade on the curve and we are good enough to go to heaven because we aren’t “really bad sinners.” Here is where the offense of the cross comes in: If we are good enough to go to heaven, then Jesus did not need to die on the cross. His death on the cross for my sins confronts my pride in thinking that I’m good enough to deserve salvation. Since the message of the cross is foolishness to the natural man, as you share pray silently that God would graciously open the person’s eyes to the truth.

Also, as I mentioned last week, make it clear that saving faith is not just mentally agreeing with the facts of the gospel. Turning to God in faith for salvation necessarily requires turning from sin. Genuine saving faith is inseparable from heartfelt repentance.

To find out if you’ve communicated the content of the gospel clearly, ask, “How according to your understanding can you have eternal life and forgiveness of all your sins?” Or, you can ask, “If you were to die today and stand before God and He asked, ‘Why should I let you into heaven?’ what would you say?” Their answer will tell you what they are trusting in for eternal life. So talk about the content of the gospel. But the way you talk about that content is also important:

B. TALK ABOUT THE CONTENT OF THE GOSPEL IN A WINSOME MANNER.

Paul tells us (4:6), “Be gracious; be interesting; be sensitive.”

(1) BE GRACIOUS.

“Let your speech always be with grace….” In light of Paul’s repeated emphasis on grace, this probably means that our presentation of the gospel should be permeated with God’s grace, the message that He gives salvation as a free gift to sinners who deserve His judgment. But, also, it includes speaking graciously to others. As a sinner who has received grace, you won’t speak in a condescending or condemning manner to another sinner. You will be kind and humble, letting the other person know that we’re all sinners who would be on the way to hell, were it not for God’s grace.

(2) BE INTERESTING.

Let your speech always be … “seasoned with salt.” He doesn’t mean to use “salty” language, as sailors use, of course! Salt had two main uses in Paul’s day. It was used as a preservative from spoiling, which implies that our speech should be pure and free from corruption. It should show those whose lives are spoiled due to sin how they can be restored through the gospel. But, also, salt was used as a spice, to make food more tasty. Our presentation of the gospel should stimulate people’s taste to want more.

In this regard, have some helpful illustrations to explain the gospel. To illustrate that truth is narrow and there is only one way to God, use the analogy of taking the right medicine. To illustrate that it is impossible to save ourselves by good works, picture swimming to Hawaii with no boat or flotation devices. No one can do that. To illustrate God’s justice and His love, tell about a judge who must sentence his son for a crime, but who steps off the bench and offers to pay his son’s fine. To show what it means to trust in Christ, talk about getting on an airplane or use the story of the tightrope walker carrying a man across Niagara Falls on his shoulders. Explain that faith is only as good as its object. Jesus and His death on the cross must be the object of our faith. Ask pointed questions: Have you sinned against God? If you died right now, where would you spend eternity? Would you like to trust in Christ as your Savior and Lord right now?

(3) BE SENSITIVE.

Paul says that you must “know how you should respond to each person.” This is where you must be careful in using a memorized presentation of the gospel. One person may need to understand sin and judgment, whereas the next person may need to understand God’s abundant grace for sinners who repent. Study Jesus’ witnessing encounters in the gospels. He confronted the proud Pharisees, but was gentle (although He still dealt with sin) with those who knew they were guilty. Pray for wisdom as you speak, so that you will know how to respond to this person’s unique needs.

Conclusion

Always keep in mind that every person’s primary need is to meet Jesus Christ personally. Each person must see that he is a sinner under God’s righteous judgment. He cannot save himself. But God in mercy sent the Savior, who bore the penalty for all that will trust in Him. If the person raises issues that take the conversation off of Christ, try to bring it back to Christ. If he says, “I believe in evolution,” or, “How can a good God allow all the suffering in the world?” you can reply, “That’s a good question. I believe that there are reasonable answers to it. If I can give you a reasonable answer, would you then commit your life to Christ?”

Usually, the person will waffle: “Well, I have a lot of questions.” “What are they?” “There are a lot of them.” I’ll then explain that the real issue is, “Who is Jesus Christ?” If He is who He claimed to be, then we all will stand before Him in judgment. Our questions will not get us acquitted on judgment day! God won’t say, “You got Me there! You get a free pass!” Often I encourage the person to read the Gospel of John and ask God to reveal to him who Jesus is and to help him believe. John (20:31) says that he wrote his gospel “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

Don’t forget that the person you’re speaking with is an “outsider.” He is outside of Christ, outside of God’s forgiveness, and headed for eternal judgment. He needs to repent of his sin and trust in Jesus Christ before it’s too late. Like seeing someone in a burning building who needs to be rescued, seeing his desperate situation will help you overcome your fears. Buy up the opportunities to tell sinners the best news in the world!

Application Questions

What do you find most difficult about witnessing? Why?
Where is the biblical balance between sensitivity and boldness?
To what extent should we go against our personality in witnessing? Should a shy person be bold?
How can we be more alert to opportunities for the gospel?
Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2010, All Rights Reserved.