REFLECTIONS ON DAVID

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible…. 

I Samuel 17:32, 34-37

¹⁷ Jesse said to his son David, “Get at least half a bushel of grain that has been cooked. Also get ten loaves of bread. Take all of it to your brothers. Hurry to their camp. 

³² David said to Saul, “Don’t let anyone lose hope because of that Philistine. I’ll go out and fight him.”

³³ Saul replied, “You aren’t able to go out there and fight that Philistine. You are too young. He’s been a fighting man ever since he was a boy.”

³⁴ But David said to Saul, “I’ve been taking care of my father’s sheep. Sometimes a lion or a bear would come and carry off a sheep from the flock.

³⁵ Then I would go after it and hit it. I would save the sheep it was carrying in its mouth. If it turned around to attack me, I would grab hold of its hair. I would strike it down and kill it.

³⁶ In fact, I’ve killed both a lion and a bear. I’ll do the same thing to this Philistine. He isn’t even circumcised. He has dared the armies of the living God to fight him.

³⁷ “The Lord saved me from the paw of the lion.  He saved me from the paw of the bear. And he’ll save me from the powerful hand of this Philistine too.”  Saul said to David, “Go. And may the Lord be with you.” 

There is no bible narrative so well known as the story of David and Goliath.  It has taken its place in common parlance indicating a conflict against enormous odds.  The hero is David.  He is seen as a young fellow who has this irrational boldness which results from a strong faith that God can give him the victory in any circumstance.  I can see nothing further from the truth. 

David cannot be understood separate from his faith.  It is evident from his Psalms that David became a believer at a young age.  His faith in Jehovah God was the single most important factor in the life of David. 

As a true Israelite he knew God’s law and he was fully committed to it.  Therefore David was where he was, doing what he was doing in full obedience to his father.  He was standing before Saul, the king, as an obedient son of Jesse Ben-Obed. 

The statement of his qualifications David made to Saul acquaints us with the reasons for David’s boldness.  They were three.  First the experiences he had were evidence of his qualification.  He had defended himself and his flock against the mightiest of their dangers, a lion and a bear.  Consider this.  With his armament, whatever it was we are not told, he delivered his flock.  The bear would have been in excess of 400 lbs. surely.  The lion could have weighed as much as 500-600 lbs.  They were not only huge but they were equally as fierce and dangerous. 

He had killed both.  This was his history.  He knew what he could do.  His was not a false bravado but a conflict-tested experience in the most deadly of circumstances.  Presumption does not enter into this.  His was battle-tested assurance. 

Secondly, this enemy was God’s enemy; the champion of the Philistines.  David recognizes this, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God.”  The believer is never on more certain ground than when the enemy he faces is God’s enemy.  All too often this is not so for us.  The enemies we fight are our enemies – not God’s enemies. 

Thirdly David was confident in his armament.  He had a sling with five stones.  This is most often disparaged.  A man I know told me of an experiment he did.  He made himself a sling, practiced with it until he became proficient and then tried its power.  He threw a rock of approximately eight ounces through a sheet metal wall.  He was convinced and convinced me that a slingshot was an extremely powerful weapon. 

When David placed the stone in his sling and began the windup he had one object in mind.  He intended to hit Goliath in the single vulnerable spot presented to him.  This was his forehead which was the single spot left uncovered by his armor. 

This leaves us with a single question.  Was David’s marksmanship good enough to hit his spot?  Let us use our imagination a bit here.  David had for years tended his sheep alone.  How did he spend his lonely days?  I can easily imagine he spent quite enough of his time practicing with his sling until he became as accurate as it was possible.  This is described in the Scriptures, Judges 20:16   Among all of those men there were 700 who were left-handed. Each of them could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.  It should not stretch our imagination to believe that David was at least that good.  Now take this to its conclusion.  David could sling a stone weighing one-half pound at a speed of maybe as much as 200 MPH and hit a selected spot, at a distance of surely as much as 25 yards.  This was David’s confidence.  His experience, his ability with his chosen weapon, and the absolute certainty he was in the right place doing the right thing gave him a most rational boldness.  The result was a dead Philistine.  When the truth is known, David was never at a disadvantage. 

Did David act with heroic faith?  Absolutely!  We, as David, have a most reasonable faith.  Unbelief in the light of the Scriptures, the Gospel, and the history of Christianity is not smart.  It is lunacy.

Being Blessed

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible…. 

Psalm 1

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
² But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
³ He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

⁴ The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
⁵ Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

⁶ For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish. 

The Psalms, all 150, are about the blessed one described in Psalm 1.  All of his joys, trials, discipline, and opposition come to him as “the blessed”.  No writer or experience in the Psalms can be understood separate from this fact. 

This person is described in four particulars: his objective character; his subjective commitment, his enduring fruitfulness; and the underlying cause for the whole of his life.

 

A.     His objective character is described in VS 1.  This person is separated from the normal conduct of the world around him.

1.      His education has a difference source.  The “counsel of the ungodly” does not determine his activity.  Throughout the Psalms and Proverbs this singular responsibility is consistently stated.  The walk of the believer is decidedly different to that of the world in which he lives.  For a Christian to live as a worldling is a contradiction and should not be taught as possible or accepted by the Church.

2.       There is a “way of sinners”.  The one who is blessed never is comfortable in it.  The writer of Proverbs in 4:14-19, describes this “way” in such plain terms that the believer has no excuse for being unfamiliar with it. 

Avoid it, do not travel on it;
Turn away from it and pass on.
¹⁶ For they do not sleep unless they have done evil;
And their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall.
¹⁷ For they eat the bread of wickedness,
And drink the wine of violence.

¹⁸ But the path of the just is like the shining sun,
That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.
¹⁹ The way of the wicked is like darkness;
They do not know what makes them stumble

3.       The “seat of the scornful” seems to be a degree of separation that easily escapes us.  But this must at least be the complete rejection of the vain conversation of the wicked which is a failure of the Third Commandment.

The separation intended in VS 1 is objective and consistent. 

B.      His subjective commitment includes both his affection and his education.

1.       His affection is centered in the Holy Will of God communicated in the Commandments and the full communication of God which flows from the Law.  Psalm 119:97 “Oh, how I love Your law!  It is my meditation all the day.” has the same truth stated in the stoutest terms of affection.  It is a contradiction of terms to think there is a believer who has no concern for God’s law.  It is to say he spurns His provision, His protection, and His affection.

2.      His interest in God’s law is without interruption, it is “day and night”.

It is the greatest of God’s means of grace that we have the Scriptures so available.  The provision is unparalleled in history.  In government “the ignorance of the law is no excuse”.  The availability of Bibles in our country leaves a Christian without excuse for ignorance of God and his word.

 Therefore the believer has an enduring fruitfulness.  Psalm 1:3 is one of the least understood and poorest applied in all the Bible.  ³ He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. 

C.     This blessed one is given the environment, the certainty, the endurance, and the guarantee of production.  It is to fly in the face of truth to allow for a completely unproductive Kingdom citizen.  In the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, it is evident there are levels of fruitfulness, but the combination of the “good seed” and the fertile ground of God’s word guarantees fruitfulness. 

D.     The underlying reason for this “blessed one”, is stated in VS 6A.  The Lord “knows” or loves and provides for the righteous.  Psalm 65:4 describes this same person.  “Blessed is the man You choose, And cause to approach You, That he may dwell in Your courts.  We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Of Your holy temple.”

“The blessed man” is the one whom God has chosen to dwell before Him.

This is the precedent love of God which is the grounds and security of every believer.

Dying In Egypt

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Jeremiah 44:12  ESV

¹² I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to come to the land of Egypt to live, and they shall all be consumed. In the land of Egypt they shall fall; by the sword and by famine they shall be consumed. From the least to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine, and they shall become an oath, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. 

Egypt has a prominent role in the life and history of Israel.  Their nation began there and they were always warned of the danger of returning.  They were warned about trade and especially they were never to depend on Egypt for protection in times of danger. 

In 44:12 Jeremiah warns the Jews to whom he spoke that they would die in Egypt.  But before they could die in Egypt they had to live in Egypt.  For them to live there, by way of application for one who calls himself or herself a Christian, means at least three particular choices have been made.  They are:

1.       God’s word is disregarded knowingly.  Look at 44:16 “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you. .  What makes this sin so blatantly sinful is the condition under which it occurs.  The context for the statement quoted is Jeremiah 42:5  Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the Lord your God sends you to us. The radical hardness and hypocrisy of the unconverted and therefore false professor is overwhelming.  Their desire is to hear God’s word and obey it as long as it is agreeable to their self-interest. 

What every hearer of the true Gospel must understand is that God’s truth always cuts across our fondest concerns.  The Old Testament word for repentance is “turn”.  That is noteworthy in the light of the New Testament message beginning with the necessity of repentance.  The Gospel is always a call for us to turn from our own ways.  The Jews said to Jeremiah, “We will not listen to you.” 

2.      Idolatry is practiced openly, Jeremiah 44:17  But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem.  Idolatry then as now was well understood.  It was more than merely putting something in the place of God.  Truth be known that is a daily plague upon us all.  This idolatry is the open worship, or the practice of making offering to a visible entity.  The Jews in our text practiced worshipping idols openly and zealously. 

This was the practice of the Egyptians.  The Jews could practice their idolatry without fear of contradiction there.  They were a part of the culture of worship and if note was taken of them they would have been encouraged. 

The culture of Egypt has been accepted by Christians and brought into the Christian Church.  This has happened in two particulars.  First entertainment has become the primary purpose of what should be worship.  This is particularly evident in the attitude toward music both in words and the music accompanying them  This, with an open disregard for any solemnity and content, marks acceptable forms of worship that surround us. 

Secondly is the failure to have any concept of the identity of the God which is worshipped.  This is recognized in the failure to distinguish heresies and the ease with their false gods are accepted.  Pelageans, Arians, and Unitarians are accepted as, “warm believers in Christ.”  To approve a false god is to be an idolater.

3.       They sought salvation from the wrong source, Jeremiah 44:30  Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and sought his life.”.  Egypt furnishes no protection for those who “do not obey the voice of the Lord” and who “have made their offerings to the queen of heaven.”  God’s purposes of judgment are not bounded by human activity or personal commitments.

It is with great interest that the protection of Egypt which is described as sincerity, personal character, zeal, and a full knowledge of God is invoked in those who live under the banner of Christianity.  I must ask if the words of Christ in Matthew 5:20 “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” have any real content?   If Christ is not speaking merely to furnish words for his scribes, there must be content in what he says.  Those named must have had an excellent righteousness.  It is described as an “exceeding righteousness”. 

Their zeal is proverbial, Matthew 23:15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. They were, in their church, zealous soul-winners.  They had one overwhelming problem; they did not know the true God and therefore they sought another way of salvation. 

Please look carefully at Jeremiah 44:14D  “For they shall not return, except some fugitives”.  Why did Jesus say to us, Matthew 7:13-14 (KJV) ” Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

¹⁴ Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”?  The way indicated here cannot be common and ordinary and popular.  This “narrow gate” must give everyday Christianity a fright.

Heroes

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible…. 

Hebrews 11:36  ESV

Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 

I confess I have heroes.  My earliest heroes were the “Cowboy” in Hollywood Westerns.  Later they were athletes, more particularly Doak Walker.  And since I was converted, my heroes have first been men of the Scriptures such as David and the Apostle Peter and then great Christians of history since the close of Scriptures. 

One is the poor Monk Gottschalk.  Maybe later we will visit him.  But more particularly I have been fascinated from early on with John Bunyan.  There is nothing about Bunyan as you meet him in Grace Abounding, a biography, to his complete Pilgrim’s Progress that is ordinary.  He is an extraordinary person.  He was and must be remembered first as a preacher.  But this is only the beginning.  He was an author, (the two greatest allegories ever written), a Biblical Commentator of the first order, (The First Ten Chapters of Genesis), a controversialist cf,  his writings on the Ten Commandments, The Sabbath, and Baptism, a poet, and a theologian.  We are never left in doubt, but we are treated to a complete understanding of Bunyan’s faith and doctrine. 

The popularity of Pilgrim’s Progress up into the late 20^th century was second only to the Bible.  It was read, enjoyed, and embraced by Christians of every persuasion.  But very few ever really knew what Bunyan believed.

I must express special gratitude to him for the insight he gave me on the Sabbath and for freeing me from an exclusivity in Christian communion based on the mode and subjects of baptism.  His Water Baptism No Bar To Communionion released me from a bondage that warrants my unchanging gratitude.

 

Before I quote from his Confession as illustration of his doctrine, it needs to be noted that Bunyan was a street corner preacher and praised by the great and saintly John Owen as the most outstanding preacher of that day. 

John Bunyan, A Confession Of My Faith

Of Election

1.       I believe, that election is free and permanent being founded in grace and the unchangeable will of God.
2.      I believe, that decree, choice, or election was before the foundation of the world and so before the elect themselves had being in themselves.
3.      I believe, that the decree of election is so far off from making works in us foreseen the grounds or cause the choice, that it contains in it…not only the persons but the graces that accompany their salvation.  I believe, no man can know his election, but by his calling.I believe, therefore, that election does not prevent the means which are appointed of God to bring us to Christ….; but rather puts a necessity upon the use and effect thereof, because they are chosen to be brought to heaven that way 

Well said, Pilgrim.

The Chains of Truth

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Jeremiah 9:3  ESV

They bend their tongue like a bow;
falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land;
for they proceed from evil to evil,
and they do not know me, declares the Lord. 

John Bunyan has a great number of valiant men in his Pilgrim’s Progress.  Most of us who are familiar with Christian and his wife Christiana in their travel to the Celestial City have our favorite.  Mr. Fearful, Mr. Ready-To Halt, and Faithful are all favorites of mine.  But of all these, my very favorite is Mr.Valiant-For-The-Truth. 

It was only as I was taking one of my yearly trips through Jeremiah that I found him in the Scriptures.  He is there in Jeremiah 9:3 not because he is named but because he is the antithesis of what Jeremiah’s contemporaries were not; “They are not valiant for the truth.” 

This appears as a rather incidental phrase until the context is considered.  In chapter 5:1 the charge against Israel for failure to desire truth is stated.  In 5:12 they are charged with lying.  Again in 5:31 deceit is charged against the prophets, “the prophets prophecy falsely.”  Here another window opens on these people’s regard for truth.  They love the lie. 

In chapter 6:10 the real cause is stated, “Behold, the word of the Lord is a reproach to them; they have no delight in it”.  This is understood when contrasted with the Psalm 1 description of the blessed of the Lord, “his delight is in the Law of the Lord.”  And because they have turned from God’s word in 7:8, Jeremiah accused them of trusting in “lying words.” 

Again in 7:28 we find “Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.”  This continues in 8:5-6; 8; 10; and then we come to 9:3.  Among the accusations of the most grievous sins - idolatry, murder, drunkenness, gross sexual immorality, and of course rebellion is the sin of lying in constant bold relief. 

In chapter 9:3-6 Jeremiah sets out the consequences of social and spiritual dishonesty.  He finishes with the worst indictment he can state, “through deceit they refuse to know me”.  This is to say their failure in truth has led them to separate from God and to have no part in any covenant blessing.

There are two comments that seem necessary.

1.       Those accused and those who suffer this loss are those who wear the name of being God’s people.  They make bold claims upon God’s provision, His protection, and His presence with them.  There is no truth in this claim.  The failure of all their claims and their imminent defeat make it plain that the true God is not their God in the Covenant sense.  The fact that they do not know this is a certain result of the lie they have believed and the deceit they practiced.  It is a certainty that the degree of deception practiced or accepted is a measure of the self- inflicted darkness in which they that practice this dwell.

2.    The accusation in 9:3 should arrest the reader of Scripture.  It is fondly believed in this day as it was in Jeremiah’s day that truth is optional.  But what Jeremiah is saying, truth is precious.  It is worthy of our most valiant effort.  It is by common consent agreed that some truths are more important than others.  But no truth when it is known can without consequences be disregarded.  It is all God’s truth. 

The Hebrew for the word translated “valiant” is “to be strong” or “to prevail”.  That is our call and responsibility to be strong, to prevail in and with the truth. 

The truth I know and hold both Biblically and confessionally is neither voluntary nor optional. 

Let us listen to Jeremiah 20:9. 

If I say, “I will not mention him,
or speak any more in his name,”
there is in my heart as it were a burning fire
shut up in my bones,
and I am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot. 

Where is found voluntary or optional truth within the constraints Jeremiah describes?

Heaven Part II

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John 14:1-3  ESV

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

² In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.  

Jesus statement introduces one of the primary truths about heaven.  It is a place of adequacy.  It is well said that riches is not possessions, but the absence of want.  The Psalmist can say, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

Along with food, shelter is a basic requirement.  Christ assures us our abode with God more than meets this need.  What the English Standard Version calls “rooms”, the King James Version calls “mansions.”  This residence will be spacious, beautiful, and most desirable.

In Rev. 21:3 ESV is the end statement made to God’s people in all His promises and provision for them. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  His promise is inclusive.  In Heaven His abode is among them.  And they experience the full benefit of the promised covenant relationship, “They will be His people”. 

Again in Rev. 21:4 (ESV) the promise of a complete joy is stated.  ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” All those experiences which bring us pain and sorrow are no longer existent.  God has wiped them away.

 

It is significant that we will experience these harrowing trials as long as this present sphere is our abode.  For those who deny these experiences in the lives of believers, these words form a difficult if not impossible hurdle to their teaching.

Rev. 21:22-24.  ²² And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. ²³ And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. ²⁴ By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it,  This is one of the most beautiful statements in all of Scripture.  The believer in our day with the Scriptures so readily available has the privilege of reading Vs. 23 with delight and wonder.  Where else could be so desirable as this place where God the Summum Bonem of all that the soul can desire.  O, Saint of God read it over and over till you have memorized it.

The Lord God outshines the sun and the Lamb is the lamp.  How is this begun?  John 8:12 (KJV) ¹² Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.  This alone makes that final abode of all encompassing light a reality.

Again listen to that old Gospel song:

The Pearly White City

There’s a holy and beautiful city
Whose Builder and Ruler is God;
John saw it descending from Heaven,
When Patmos, in exile, he trod;
Its high, massive wall is of jasper,
The city itself is pure gold;
And when my frail tent here is folded,
Mine eyes shall its glory behold.

Refrain

In that bright city, pearly white city,
I have a mansion, a harp, and a crown;
Now I am watching, waiting, and longing,
For the white city that’s soon coming down.

No sin is allowed in that city
And nothing defiling or mean;
No pain and no sickness can enter,
No crepe on the doorknob is seen;
Earth’s sorrows and cares are forgotten,
No tempter is there to annoy;
No parting words ever are spoken,
There’s nothing to hurt or destroy.

Heaven Part 1

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

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Psalm 73:25  NKJV

Whom have I in heaven but You?
And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. 

Heaven is the hope of all believers.  But there is little to tell about heaven as a place.  Though there is far more about heaven than there is about hell, the Scriptures leave a lot to be learned when I arrive there. 

Both Hebrew and Greek use a single word which is translated heaven.  This used as the sphere above “God created the heavens,” and the heaven of our eternal hope and God’s abode. 

The abode of God is the central and overruling fact that must be considered first in any search for the truth about our future dwelling.  This, being the place of Jesus’ presence in His function of mediatorial ruler of the universe, centers our interest in the fact of heaven being the abode of God. 

All of God’s activity is centered in heaven.  He speaks, blesses, judges, has councils; it is to there that Christ ascended and it is from there He will return. 

It is often and truly said that salvation is not intended as a fire escape.  But every knowledgeable believer rejoices that he or she has escaped God’s wrath.  It is at least somewhat to this end that the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism is written, “What is the chief end of man?”  Answer, “The chief end of man is to glorify and enjoy Him forever”. 

Heaven is the everlasting part of this answer.  The joy we can only taste now, we will drink in full forever in heaven.  There is a Gospel song that captures in a very winsome way our understanding of heaven, How Beautiful Heaven Must Be.  

We read of a place that’s called heaven,
It’s made for the pure and the free;
These truths in God’s Word He hath given,
How beautiful heaven must be.

In heaven no drooping nor pining,
No wishing for elsewhere to be;
God’s light is forever there shining,
How beautiful heaven must be.

Refrain:
How beautiful heaven must be,
Sweet home of the happy and free;
Fair haven of rest for the weary,
How beautiful heaven must be.

A Believer’s Question

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Psalm 73:1-3  NKJV

Truly God is good to Israel,
To such as are pure in heart.
² But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
My steps had nearly slipped.
³ For I was envious of the boastful,
When I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 

Jeremiah 12:1

Righteous are You, O Lord, when I plead with You;
Yet let me talk with You about Your judgments.
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why are those happy who deal so treacherously? 

Believers have in common an ancient problem.  The philosophical term for this is “Theodicy”.  It is the question “How can an all-powerful, all-loving God allow the evil that is in the world?” 

To begin, the question is imperfectly stated.  The God of the Scriptures, the only true God is not only “all-powerful and all-loving”, He is all-wise and perfectly holy.  Nothing happens in His creation which is not the result of the counsel of the all-wise and perfectly holy God.  Of this, I am certain. 

The Psalmist in 73:1-3 states his dilemma, “Truly or surely or of a certainty God is good to Israel”.  But that is not his experience.  His experience was Jeremiah’s.  It is not the righteous but the wicked who has all the good things - wealth, health, a loving, successful family.  And he even dies easily.  “Now how can you beat this?” 

There is something that is more important, the sanctuary consideration.  Man has a latter end. 

There was a beer commercial the early 70s, “Drink up, you only go around once.”  As the saintly and wise Laird Harris stated, “That is not so.  You have another go around”. 

As believers, we have more to consider than our present experience whether it is pleasant or not.  We have a “latter end”.  No matter how little may be known about heaven, it still is a fact. 

When in GQ magazine, Clint Eastwood was asked if he believed in heaven, he replied, “I don’t know.  I’ve never met anyone who has been there”. 

I have.

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Once Saved Always Saved 

John 3:16  NKJV

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 

The one verse of Scripture which is the most popular, most widely quoted, and most widely known is John 3:16.  And I think it necessary to add, the least understood. 

It does not say that all men have free will and can accept Christ if they will, which is believed by most non-Calvinists.

It does not say Christ died for the elect.  Calvin denies God is referring to the elect in this verse.  A.W. Pink claims that “world” refers only to God’s elect.  This position of Pink has found agreement rarely in other reputable Bible commentaries.

The misunderstanding of this verse lies in three errors.

1.  Defining “so” as an adjective rather than an adverb.  In the Greek of the New Testament ,“so” in Vs. 14 and Vs. 16 are precisely the same word and they are, by virtue of the way they are spelled, adverbs.
2. Defining “world” as every single individual person rather than in John’s sense throughout the Gospel as both Jews and Gentiles. John is a true Christian universalist.  Salvation is no longer a Jewish national privilege (it never was), but it is to be inclusive of all manner of men everywhere.
3.  Defining “whosoever” as a statement of free will.  Whether this is by ignorance or intent to deceive, it is equally in error.  The word translated in the King James Version as “whosoever” is the simple pronoun “all”.  This pronoun is immediately followed by its antecedent, or that which defines it, “those who believe.”

To make “all”, (Greek pas) mean “free will” is to import a meaning into this that is not there.  If this meaning is found elsewhere is another matter, it is not here. 

Having stated the above we can understand the following truths from 3:16.

1.       Salvation has as its source God’s self-determined love.  In its source neither man’s activity nor the work of Christ on the cross is the origin of God’s saving activity.  That rises simply from His self-determined love.

2.      The result of that love is the gift of Christ in His whole person for salvation.  This is His life, His death, His resurrection and His present reign.

3.      This is done in the uniquely Divine person of the God-man.  God cannot die.  Man cannot redeem.  The uniquely “only begotten Son” alone can do this.  In His person and work He is always to be realized as “given”.  As the one “given” it was always His purpose and personal intent to give His life for the redemption of His people.

4.      In the purpose of God the single way of entry into all the treasures stored in Christ is through faith in Him.  Let me finish this thought with Galatians 2:21  I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

5.      What is due man separate from Christ is summed up here as perishing.  This is not a complicated word.  It means as it is used in this particular tense “to be lost, to perish, to be ruined”.  It is, in the context of John 3:16, to be outside the Kingdom of God.

6.      There is the adversative to perishing which is emphasized by the strongest use of the Greek form “but” (alla).  The opposite of perishing is to “have everlasting life”.  It is the design of God’s love that the end product is this condition.  It is neither won by man nor lost by man.

Romans 5:6-11 

⁶ For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

⁷ For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.

⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹ Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

¹⁰ For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

¹¹ And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Romans 8:38-39

³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,

³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible….

The Divine Call

Romans 8:30  NKJV

³⁰ Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

People who hear the gospel resist it.  This is nothing less than resisting grace.  It is in Acts 7:51 that Stephen accused the Jewish leaders of resisting the Holy Spirit.  This, explained in the context both by what comes before and what comes after, is being disobedient to the prophetic word and abusing the prophets who spoke it.

 

It is clear from the Scriptures that people resist the word of God in both reading it and hearing it preached.  Some may be converted later.  Some never are converted.  But the fact that they have resisted the inspired Word of God remains.

This is not the issue for the believer in “Irrestible Grace”.  The issue at point is can the Holy Spirit, in His regenerating influence, be resisted? 

John writes in chapter 6:37 that there will, without exception, be those who come to Him.

³⁷ All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

Then in Vs.44 he further states the reason they come, “they are drawn to Him.  As Sproul so aptly states the word “draws” is literally “drag”, cf John 21:6, “draw or drag the net”.  Isaiah, in chapter 26:10, states clearly that God’s kindness is not sufficient to teach the lost righteousness.

¹⁰ Let grace be shown to the wicked,
Yet he will not learn righteousness;
In the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly,
And will not behold the majesty of the Lord.

 He further states in Vs. 12 this requires an internal activity of God to provide the peace man needs.

In Romans 8:28 there is a twofold limitation placed on those who receive God’s favor. 

²⁸ And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

There is the present objective description which is absolute, “those who love God.”  But this is limited to those with an eternal qualification, “to those who are called according to His purpose”.  In 8:29-30 he explains this purpose and places the Divine call as God’s time-related approach to the predestined one.  What God has purposed in eternity is realized in the earthly call of His elect. 

Can this called be effectively resisted?  The answer of those who disagree with the position stated here say “Yes, it can.  If it can’t then man does not have free will”.  But in response it must be asked, “where does the Bible say man has free will?”

It doesn’t.  The Bible says the lost man is a slave, Romans 6:17,   But God be thanked that though

you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you

were delivered.  The result of this is as Paul writes in Romans 3:11 “There is none who seeks after

God”. 

Peter also confronts man’s bondage but in a slightly different way.  In II Peter 2:22 he sets the conduct of false teachers in the light of the principle taught in Proverbs 26:11.  ²² But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”  Any and every person will act according to their nature.  The lost person has a fallen and depraved nature and will always without exception or until changed by regenerating grace act according to that nature. 

God has saved everyone who is saved in spite of himself.  In II Timothy 1:9 Paul looks at God and His power and states, ⁹ who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible…. 

What He Did and When

Acts 20:28  NASB

²⁸ Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 

The hope and confidence of every Christian is what Jesus has done for him or her.  Our faith is in Him.  Our knowledge of God is by Him.  We look for His return.  And it is an eternity with Him we eagerly anticipate. 

We believe that our righteousness is His life and His death freely given to us by the Holy God.  We are not our own, we are bought with a price.  He, by His death, has purchased for the church her righteousness; gained the right to pour out His Spirit upon the church; become the single head and sovereign over the church; and claimed once more for man what Adam lost - absolute kingship over the world. 

All of this Jesus has done by His life and death.  But the question seems to remain.  Did He in His death save none, save all, or save some?  Of course saved as I use it here is the crux of the issue.  The Reformed student is very secondarily referring to number when he considers the Atonement.  At issue for him is how effective is Jesus’ death.  Did it in and of itself save anyone?  If something must be added to it - be it faith or any other contribution - then His death is not efficient.  The actual efficiency lies in whatever triggers its effect.

Paul in his address to the Ephesian elders said that the “blood of God” purchased the church.  This is a bald and bold statement.  There is no other blood that can be considered but that which Christ shed in His death.  He therefore is God. 

First it is important to consider who has done the act referred to in Paul’s statement.  Very boldly he claims God has a part in this death to such an extent that it can be called His blood.  This was man because there was blood by which we must understand His bloody death. 

Having said this it is clear that what is done in this transaction is done by God.  Whatever the effect is or isn’t can be understood only in the light of Divine activity.  The question is “has God really done something or not?”.   If He has, then our attention should be drawn to Ecclestiastes 3:14 NKJ.

¹⁴ I know that whatever God does,
It shall be forever.
Nothing can be added to it,
And nothing taken from it.
God does it, that men should fear before Him.

The activity is described as a purchase.  A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, pg 353, “First aorist middle of an old verb, to reserve, to preserve (for or by oneself in the middle)”.  The one whose blood is the price has by Himself bought, purchased, or reserved an entity called “the church”. 

It does not matter how broad or how narrow the word “church” is made to be.  Whether it is all those who have a saving interest in Christ’s death on earth and in heaven, or whether it is those described as the holy flock in Ephesus – those described belong to Him by virtue of His purchase.  His deed – and that alone - has efficiently secured His ownership. 

Whatever “the church” described here does, it does not accomplish or change the fact of what the death accomplishes.  The death has an effect.  This is a completed fact.  The aorist of “purchase” assures us of that. 

There are Biblical references which give one pause in understanding this truth.  John 3:16 is not one of them.  That reference has nothing to do with this discussion one way or another.  There is one passage that is the best example of those which would indicate any kind of universalism.  This is I John 2:1-2.

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

² And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

It would be easy to answer this with the common universalism of John.  His use of world can be usually understood as inclusive of both Jews and Gentiles.  But his wording, “the whole world” seems to me to mean something other than his normal universalism.

It seems to me 2:2 is a reference back to 1:7.

⁷ But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

 His concern is not the number who are cleansed whether it be every individual, both Jews and Gentiles, or elect.  His concern is the fact of forgiveness that comes from the death of Christ. 

In chapter 2:1 he sets forth the first principle of holiness.  Do not sin.  But if you do - and you will, I have already dealt with this - be aware there is a means of gaining God’s forgiveness.  There is a covering for sin Jesus Christ the Righteous.  And let me tell you, John continues, wherever there is sin “in the whole world”, that covering will extend.  Distance, time, ethnicity, degree of guilt, or past unbelief, this one, “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son,” will cleanse the one who believes from all sin. 

As Paul could tell us the chief of sinners had been saved.  John tells us there is no place in this world where this will not work. 

There is no better commentary than this stanza from Charles Wesley’s hymn,

Arise, My Soul Arise.

Five bleeding wounds He bears
Received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers
They strongly speak for me;
Forgive him, O forgive they cry
Nor let that ransomed sinner die!