Did you try to testify?

When your friends stand before Christ at the judgement, many will here Him say "depart I do not know you".

How many of those friends will turn to you and ask "Why didn't you try?" as they are cast into eternal hell ?

Ezekiel 33:2 “Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their watchman, 3 and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, 4 then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.

Tell someone about Christ today.

Were You There?

Youtube video featuring Shai Linne's song "Were you there?"

Paul Washer on Paul Washer and Revival

Unconditional Election

The doctrine of unconditional election teaches that before God created the world, he chose to save some people from eternal punishment. God chose those that He would grant mercy according to His own will and purpose and was not based on anything that person did.

This would be similar to a king capturing a hundred rebels, the rebels are tried and condemned to die, but the king pardoned some for his own purposes (maybe to keep as slaves per Rom 6:22), and allowed the others to be executed. The king did not do any injustice to those that were executed, they got what they deserved, but he did show mercy to those that he pardoned, they were spared the punishment they deserved (see Total Depravity).

Many people have a hard time accepting this doctrine even though it is all over the Bible. The objections they raise are that it is not fair or would make God unjust. Paul dealt with each of these in Romans 9.

Romans 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

Romans 9:19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—

From Romans 8:28 through Romans 9 Paul is trying to help believers understand this hard teaching. They had the very same difficulty with this teaching that people do today.

Jesus on the other hand simply stated the doctrine plainly and clearly without trying to defend it.

John 6:37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

John 6:64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

John 6:64-65 clearly says that those that do not believe have not been granted the ability to do so by the Father.

John 6:37-39 clearly says that all that the Father determines to save will be saved, Christ will not lose one.

Ephesians 1:4 says "even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, " . The Father chose those whom are saved before the world was created, before we did anything good or bad and so according to His own purpose.

Another argument put forth against this doctrine is that it will kill evangelism, nothing could be further from the truth. William Carey, "the father of modern missions", held strongly to these doctrines. And John Calvin himself trained and commissioned hundreds of missionaries. Having a proper understanding of the doctrine of election will not weaken evangelism it will strengthen it. Most of todays evangelism is man centered but biblical evangelism will be God centered.

Man centered evangelism is concerned with getting someone to make a confession of faith and can lead to manipulation or using sales tactics or other gimmicks. It can also lead to weakening the gospel message by leaving out the parts that may be offensive. Telling someone they are a depraved sinner and deserve to go to hell is not exactly seeker friendly.

Biblical evangelism on the other hand is concerned with glorifying God by our witness and telling the whole truth to the world and allowing the Holy Spirit convict whom it will. Knowing that God's purpose will be accomplished even when we do a poor job of explaining the Gospel. God's will is that we stand and give witness, regardless of whether it is received by others. This knowledge gives us the courage to stand strong because we know everything is in God's hands, we are simply to be faithful servants.

We could talk all day about the advantages and disadvantages of the doctrine of unconditional election, but the real question is, does God really choose whom will be saved? Here are a few verses that support this doctrine, this is not by any means comprehensive:

* John 15:16: "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you."
* Acts 13:48: "And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed."
* Romans 9:15-16: "For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy."
* Romans 9:22-24: "What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessles of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make the riches of his glory for vessles of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory - even us whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?"
* Ephesians 1:4-5: "even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,"
* Ephesians 1:11: "In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,"
* Philippians 1:29: "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake"
* 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5: "For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake."
* 2 Thessalonians 2:13: "But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth."
* 2 Timothy 1:9: "who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,"

Total Depravity

The doctrine of total depravity states that sin effects every part of a persons being to the point that they are not capable nor do they desire to have a relationship with God. The basis for this doctrine is Scripture describing mankind as spiritually dead.

"And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest" (Eph 2:1-3)

"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. Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes" (Rom 3:10-18).

When Adam was in the garden God told him that "of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”( Gen 2:17) So what does Adam do? He eats of the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil of course. And in so doing He begins to die physically and immediately dies spiritually. We see this spiritual death in the change of Adam's relationship with God. Adam now tries to hide from God rather than seeking God's presence. " And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. " (Gen 3:8).

Just as Adam tried to hide from God because of His sin we also run from God, many denying His very existence but others dismissing God as being of little or no importance.

"The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,
there is none who does good.

The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.

They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good, not even one." (Psalm 14:1-3)

If God leaves us to our own desires we will never seek Him. A change must be made to our very nature before we will have any desire to have a relationship with God.

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances" (Ezek 36:26-27).

"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." (Eph 2:8-9).

Notice that it is God that gives us a new heart, God causes us to walk in His statutes, God gives us a desire to follow His decree's. Also notice that even our faith is not our own, but is a gift from God. Our fallen state leaves us completely bankrupt with no desire or ability to come to God. It is only through God's gracious sovereign mercy that anyone is saved.

In our desire to understand these great doctrines let us not forget that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."( Jn 3:16), but then we must also recognize that it is God that gives us the ability to believe. All praise, honor and glory belongs to God, Amen

Soli Deo Gloria

True Church conference 2009

Three of the sermons from the True Church conference 2009 are available on sermon audio, Click here for the link.

Calfskin ESV Study Bible drawing

A chance to win a calfskin ESV Study Bible from A Boomer in the pew! Click the link to check it out!

True Repentance

Sorry It has been so long since I have posted anything. I will try to do better.

This past weekend I went to the "True Church Conference" on Repentance. I have been contemplating all the things they talked about the last few days and I must admit that I was convicted and overwhelmed.

Exactly what is True repentence?

True repentance is realizing how Holy God is and recognizing that one sin( Adams) condemned the whole universe and then looking at the multitude upon multitude of sins in my own life and realizing I deserve hell as much as any person that ever lived. After all comparing myself to other men does not really tell me much about myself, but when I compare myself to God's holiness I see how wicked and undeserving of any mercy I really am. Luke 5:8 "But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”"

True repentance is realizing how many false gods I have in my life. If God took away the nice house He has given me, would I be devastated or would I trust in Him? If God took away the job He has blessed me with, would I be distraught or would I trust in Him? If God took away all my earthly blessings and left me alone, hungry and without shelter would I still trust Him? May I be able to say as Job did "Even if He slays me will I trust Him".

True repentance is not knowing these things in my head, but deep within my soul. Knowing that I am so vile and wicked that I must cry out for Gods mercy, a plea that comes from deep within me, not just empty words that sound pretty in public prayer.

Mathew 5:2-6 "And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."


True repentance is something that I am not capable of outside of God's loving mercy. I am so wicked and vile that I am not even capable of repentance on my own nor will I even desire to repent unless God awakens me. True repentance is a gift from God as is every other good and wonderful blessing. 2 Timothy 2:25 "correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth".

Blessed be the name of the Lord!
Soli Deo Gloria!

I think my wife is a Calvinist

Well not yet but I am still working on her.

This is a great little diddy I found on youtube, I hope you enjoy.

How to grow a church

There are hundreds upon hundreds if not thousands of books and programs addressing the topic of "How to grow a Church", yet thousands upon thousands of Churches are fading away. Many of those that are growing are built upon trends, gimmicks or motivational speakers that will eventually die or become so common they will no longer hold anyones interest.

What is the difference between todays churches and those that were led by men like Charles Spurgeon, George Whitefield, John Wesley, John Calvin and Jonathon Edwards?

When you read the writings about these men and the books they have written the difference is unmistakable. They had a love and desire to know God, and a fear
and understanding of His holiness and wrath not just a desire "to grow the Church."

George Whitefield preached to tens of thousands at a time yet would walk into the market square and preach for an hour or more while people threw tomatoes and rocks at him.

Jonathon Edwards preached about hell while people fainted in the aisles in fear.

Charles Spurgeon pastored the largest Church in London by the time he was 20yrs of age and his sermons were printed in the newspaper. Almost every sermon He preached called sinnersto repentence.

John Wesley rode on horseback from town to town and preached 2 to 3 sermons a day and died in poverty.

When John Calvin first came to Geneva He could not walk down the street without someone throwing a rock at him or siccing their dog on him but after he eventually left they called him back.

These are Men that people of God look up to hundreds of years after their death, The real difference between them and the Churches of today are that they had a love and desire for God, not just a love and desire to see their Churches grow.

Do you have a love and desire for God?

When people have a love and desire for God:

They will be at Church early and leave late desiring to fellowship with the Saints of God.

They will pray continually and read the Bible daily, not because they are supposed to, but because they want to.

They will witness regularly, not to build the Church but because they love people enough to warn them about hell and God's jugement if they don't repent.

They may purposefully turn on the radio and listen to sermons of preachers that are condemning them of their sins, because they know their sins are separating them from the God they love so much.

Psalm 42:1 As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?

Romans 11:33 Oh, the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways

1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

Jeremiah 9:23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

You might be a Calvinist ...

A friend of mine sent this to me. They thought someone might be spying on me.
It is kind of scary!!

If your child’s first word was “Westminster”, you just might be a Calvinist.
Or,
if you send your mother tulips on Mother’s Day,
… you might be a Calvinist.

If you still remember the 8 speakers in order from the recent T4G conference,
or
If a free Bible has ever arrived in the mail to you from John MacArthur,
or
If you have ever purchased 100 or more copies of the same John Piper book to hand out to random people you meet,
…you just might be a Calvinist.

If you purchased an MP3 player with the sole purpose of downloading sermons,
or
If you were shocked to just discover that some people download MP3 files that are not sermons,
or
If you have adjusted the default passage setting at www.biblegateway.org from “NIV” to “ESV”
… you might be a Calvinist.

If your preacher says to turn to Obadiah and you do not use the index,
or
If you think a 50-minute sermon is too short,
or
If you’ve ever heard a wave of groans sweep through Sunday School when you refer to Romans 9,
…you just might be a Calvinist.

If you find yourself talking to the Lord Jesus more than to your family,
and
If you find yourself wanting to read your Bible instead of watching television,
and
If quotes from Pink, Spurgeon, Luther, Piper, and MacArthur pop into your head at random times during the day
…you might be a Calvinist.

If you are confused when someone uses the term “my Bible” as if they only have one,
and
If your Bibles must be replaced in less than a year due to pages separating from the spine,
and
If you smile, nod and hold your tongue with your teeth after a lively church service when someone says, “God showed up today”
…you might be a Calvinist.

If you’ve ever shouted “YES!” when the pastor says to turn to 1st Thessalonians,
and
If you see 6:37 on a digital clock and think of the Lord Jesus’ words in John,
and
If you’ve muted a Thanksgiving football game because it’s interfering with your family discussion of Ephesians 1
…you might be a Calvinist.

If you have bookmarked three or more preachers’ scripture index webpages,
and
If you’ve ever been banned from a Sunday School class for quoting scripture,
and
If you have ever purposefully sung a different word in a hymn to conform to scripture,
… you might be a Calvinist.

If your kids own more Bibles than televisions,
and
If your children never ask you “Where are we going?” on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night,
and
If you’ve ever read parts of “The Bondage of the Will” to children under ten and prayed that it would change their lives
…you just might be a Calvinist.

If your child received detention at his Christian school after shouting, “But I am a Hedonist Pyromaniac!”
or
If your children argue and you require them to listen to a Piper Sermon as punishment,
or
If you visit pyromaniacs, tominthebox, spurgeon.org, desiringgod.org, and gty.org, more than once a day, yes…
You just might…. I say you just might….

Yes… you just might be a Calvinist

Do Babies go to Heaven? What about the mentally disabled?

This is a difficult question to answer, but one you hear quite often, so I thought I would spend some time trying to figure it out. I hope what I have learned will bring some comfort to someone.

First let's look at how God passes judgement:

Revelation 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

In the above passage those written in the book of life were sparred, and those not written in the book of life were cast into the lake of fire.

Those not written in the book of life are judged and condemned by their on works.

So now we have to determine how someone gets in the book of life and what are the works they are judged by.

I can show you scripture upon scripture telling you that you must be reborn or that you must come by faith and repentance, but we are dealing with people that cannot do that. Babies or the mentally disabled will not have the ability or opportunity to come by faith and repentance. So could babies possibly get in the Lambs book of life?

Well I went to my favorite Bible study website and did a search on 'book of life” and found these two verses....

Revelation 17:8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.

Revelation 13:8 and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.

So those that are written in the Lambs book of life were written there before they were born, before they did anything good or bad. Strictly by God's sovereign decree. For more on Election click here.

Ephesians 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love


So now lets look at the second part of our question...
What are the works they(those who are condemned to hell) are judged by?

Luke 10:16 The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.

Rejecting Christ is the ultimate sin, the one that cannot be forgiven. But it is also one that babies or the mentally disabled cannot commit. Nor can they themselves commit any other sin to be judged by.

Romans 2:14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

Notice in Romans 2:14-15 above says that Gentiles that do not have the law will be judged by their consciences. There consciences will either accuse them or excuse them. If they acted against what they knew to be right they are accused by their conscience, If their conscience finds no fault in them they are excused. Wouldn't this also apply to those that never had an opportunity to act against their conscience?

My contention at this point is that babies and the mentally disabled die without sinning because they are written in the Lambs book of life.

But to hold this position we must deal with two other problems that others may bring up...
1. Psalms 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,and in sin did my mother conceive me.

We are born with a fallen sinful disposition, in other words we are sinners by nature. But babies have not yet acted on that nature and acquired sins in need of repentance.

Now all we have to worry about on this question is the inherited guilt we receive from Adam. If we have inherited Adams guilt how can a baby be innocent even if they have not sinned? I believe the answer to this is in Christ's atoning work on the cross. Christ paid the price for inherited guilt as well as personal guilt for those who are written in the Lambs book of life. When I came to Christ I repented for my sins and I continue to do so, but I never felt the need to repent of Adams sin only my own.

2. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him.

Certainly it is through Christ that anyone is saved. But the answer to number 1 also works for number 2. Christ's work on the cross also covers the inherited guilt from Adam, at least for the elect. And since babies and the mentally disabled are not capable of sinning and cannot be judged for their sin then it is reasonable to conclude that they are elect and they are written in the Lambs book of life.

2 Samuel 12:21 Then his servants said to him, What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food. 22 He said, While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live? 23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.

David certainly believed His child was in heaven and if you have lost a baby or someone with a mental disability that made them incapable of understanding you can see them again if you make your salvation sure. (If you are not sure of your salvation click here)

Other links on this subject:

From RBC.org

From the refinersfire.org

From Gotquestion.com

From DesiringGod.org

From GTY.org (John Macarthur)