Archive for March, 2010
Guitar Lessons
Isaiah began guitar lessons earlier this month. We bought him a used Yamaha acoustic at a second-hand guitar store. I’ve been impressed with his ability to recall the chords that he has learned so far. We usually practice together in the evening before our devotion as a family. I played rhythm guitar in college (albeit not very well) but I haven’t picked it up in over ten years. We really enjoy this part of our evening as Isaiah and I work on chord progression and Pearl plays with her instruments (rhythm sticks, tambourine, toy piano, etc.) that Sandy sets out for her on the floor. Hopefully soon we will be able to play some hymns that we currently sing a cappella at the end of our devotion.
Although preaching and teaching the Bible will be our primary focus in Italy, music will play a vital role in ministry. Our desire in Italy is to play music that will tune the hearer’s heart for worship and set their mind to dwell on the love and power of God, the true condition of the unsaved, God’s mercy and kindness towards them, and the person and work of Jesus Christ. We will sing to the Lord in our home, as the Lord allows us to organize a church, in nursing homes, and any other opportunity we have to incorporate music in conveying the message of the cross.
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” – Colossians 3:16
Soteriology
There are several words used in the Bible to describe different aspects of salvation. These words include…
- Justification: the declaration that a man is righteous when he is not
- Redemption: the payment made to buy the sinner back from the wrath of God
- Propitiation: the price paid to completely satisfy the demands of an angry God against sin
- Remission: the payment for sin is applied to your account and you are forgiven the debt that you owed
- Reconciliation: to be brought from enmity to friendship with God
- Imputation: the act of God whereby He charges the sinner’s sins to Jesus Christ and whereby He charges the righteousness of Jesus Christ to the sinner
- Regeneration: the act of salvation in which the Holy Spirit enters the sinner and gives him new life by a new birth (the dead human spirit is resurrected by the Holy Spirit)
- Adoption: the act whereby God takes a sinner and puts him into the family of God upon salvation
- Sanctification: the act whereby God sets a saved sinner apart, so that, from then on, he is dealt with as a son instead of as a stranger
A study of the doctrine of salvation (soteriology) should forever settle in the sincere Christian’s heart any question regarding the eternal security of the believer in Christ. It also exposes the utter futility of man’s attempt to earn his way to heaven by “impressing” a holy and righteous God with good works. Soteriology is one of several studies that I plan on teaching in Italy to each church the Lord allows us to establish. It contains foundational truths that should be learned by every Christian.
Recently I presented our burden for Italy at Bluegrass Pike Baptist Church in Danville, Kentucky. Pastor Travis Alltop is currently in a series of messages on soteriology. When I was there he taught an excellent lesson on propitiation and reconciliation. In the course of the message he made the comment that the word “atonement” is only found one time in the New Testament of the King James Bible (Rom. 5:11) whereas it is found in the Old Testament 81 times. This is a great truth that has direct application to Roman Catholicism…
An atonement is a payment made to bring two disputing parties together. The payment is made by the offending party to the aggrieved party. In the Old Testament, an atonement was made repeatedly. Why? Because “it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (Heb. 10:4). Therefore, the blood of animals was shed repeatedly in the Old Testament to make an atonement that temporarily covered up the offenses. In the New Testament, the atonement is received. Since we, as the offending party, could not make the necessary payment, the aggrieved party actually became one of us so that the payment could be made completely and permanently thus reconciling the two parties. Again, in the Old Testament an atonement is made. In the New Testament, the atonement is received, and only received once. The author of Hebrews makes this plain as he writes, “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Heb. 10:10-12,14). This truth is emphasized in the King James Bible by the word atonement only appearing once in the New Testament.
The Roman Catholic Church insists that Christ’s sacrifice was not sufficient in itself to take away the penalty for our sin but that the application of the mass is required as an ongoing sacrifice. According to Vatican Council II, “The Mass is at the same time and inseparably: a sacrifice in which the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated.” My heart breaks that many sincere Catholics in Italy, and around the world, stand before a priest weekly offering a “sacrifice” that can never take away sins when all they must do is kneel before the High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus (Heb. 3:1), and receive forgiveness of sin and eternal life through the atonement He has already made.
♫ Guilty, vile, and helpless we, Spotless Lamb of God was He; Full atonement! can it be? Hallelujah, what a Saviour! ♫
“And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” – Romans 5:11