Thanks for commenting on A Sermon on Matthew 7:21-23, John Robbins, Brandon. I enjoyed that audio sermon, too. It's also in print someplace at the Trinity Foundation. I'd have to find it.
Moreover, I had read Matthew 7:21-23 as a rebuke for the false teachers who claimed miracles in the Pentecostal churches. But when I heard John Robbins connect it to the claim to personal holiness as a basis for being accepted on the day of judgment it clicked.
One of my professors in Bible college was a fellow named Michael Dusing. Dr. Dusing said that the sermon on the mount raised the requirements of the moral law even higher than the law of Moses. I was already struggling under the weight of the law. How could I possibly keep even the 10 commandments and now Jesus was adding MORE laws to keep? Love my enemies? Impossible. Matthew 5:17-20 is not meant to tell us we're doing a great job and just try a little harder and you'll get there. (Romans 3:20; Romans 7:7; Galatians 3:10). Matthew 5:48 seals it. Be PERFECT as your Father in heaven is perfect. I had always read that as meaning I must be absolutely perfect to get to heaven. How do I do that? I can't! And even worse, all these false teachers and preachers pretend--like the Pharisees--that they themselves have kept the moral law of Christ perfectly. As if they were perfect?
When I was in seminary one of the professors tried to say that "perfect" means "mature" in Matthew 5:48 and that Romans 10:4 meant that Christ is not the "end" of the law for righteousness but that he was the "fulfillment" of the law for righteousness. That is, that Christ is our example and we have to keep fulfilling the law just as Jesus did. In other words, these Arminian Pentecostals and Wesleyan Arminians "think" they are doing what God requires of them and that they are not falling short of the mark. After all, God would not REALLY require them to do what they are UNABLE to do, WOULD He? The answer is YES HE WOULD! Why? The purpose of the law is to knock you flat on your ass. (Excuse my vivid language). The law is meant to crush us and destroy every vestige of self-righteousness and leave us in despair, with no hope whatsoever. (Romans 9:30-33; 1 Peter 2:8; Matthew 12:42-46). Then and only then can we realize that salvation is totally and complete a gift of God's mercy and grace through Jesus Christ and His active and passive obedience. When Christ died on the cross He accomplished our salvation for us. All that God requires of us as His elect is to believe and assent to the promises of the Gospel and even this ability to believe and assent to the Gospel is an absolute gift of God. The reason the Westminster Confession adds a chapter on the assurance of salvation is that many believers still struggle under the weight of the law. They don't get it that Christ not only fulfilled the law for us in our place but He is also the END of the law for righteousness.
False teachers do not want folks to have assurance. If people know they are assured of salvation, then they are not willing to follow the orders of the manipulators, the con artists, and the lovers of money who love to fleece the sheep. If salvation is really free, why would people be in bondage to slave driver ministers like John MacArthur or Paul Washer who place even heavier burdens on people but they themselves do not even lift a finger.
"But woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in. (Matthew 23:13 NET)
"Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you neglect what is more important in the law– justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You should have done these things without neglecting the others. (Matthew 23:23 NET)
By the way, I'm posting this one to the blog as I think it needs to be heard.
May the peace of God be with you!
Charlie
When I was in seminary one of the professors tried to say that "perfect" means "mature" in Matthew 5:48 and that Romans 10:4 meant that Christ is not the "end" of the law for righteousness but that he was the "fulfillment" of the law for righteousness. That is, that Christ is our example and we have to keep fulfilling the law just as Jesus did. In other words, these Arminian Pentecostals and Wesleyan Arminians "think" they are doing what God requires of them and that they are not falling short of the mark. After all, God would not REALLY require them to do what they are UNABLE to do, WOULD He? The answer is YES HE WOULD! Why? The purpose of the law is to knock you flat on your ass. (Excuse my vivid language). The law is meant to crush us and destroy every vestige of self-righteousness and leave us in despair, with no hope whatsoever. (Romans 9:30-33; 1 Peter 2:8; Matthew 12:42-46). Then and only then can we realize that salvation is totally and complete a gift of God's mercy and grace through Jesus Christ and His active and passive obedience. When Christ died on the cross He accomplished our salvation for us. All that God requires of us as His elect is to believe and assent to the promises of the Gospel and even this ability to believe and assent to the Gospel is an absolute gift of God. The reason the Westminster Confession adds a chapter on the assurance of salvation is that many believers still struggle under the weight of the law. They don't get it that Christ not only fulfilled the law for us in our place but He is also the END of the law for righteousness.
False teachers do not want folks to have assurance. If people know they are assured of salvation, then they are not willing to follow the orders of the manipulators, the con artists, and the lovers of money who love to fleece the sheep. If salvation is really free, why would people be in bondage to slave driver ministers like John MacArthur or Paul Washer who place even heavier burdens on people but they themselves do not even lift a finger.
"But woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in. (Matthew 23:13 NET)
"Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you neglect what is more important in the law– justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You should have done these things without neglecting the others. (Matthew 23:23 NET)
By the way, I'm posting this one to the blog as I think it needs to be heard.
May the peace of God be with you!
Charlie
On 9/20/2012 11:18 PM, Brandon Burdette wrote:
So great, I'm going for it a second time now. Yes! A true Christian cries out, "Lord have mercy!" Whenever Mac and Washer do say stuff related, it's nothing more than a pretense, because it doesn't line up with how and what they teach elsewhere.Ha ha... the Johnny Mac/Pauly Washer distinction... Wait... there isn't one!
On Thu, Sep 20, 2012 at 7:22 PM, Charlie J. Ray <cranmer1959@gmail.com> wrote:
Yes, I have. That's a very good one. Notice that legalism is really a form of antinomianism. Why? Because the Pharisees and other hypocrites lower God's standards and make God's law grade on a curve so they can "look" more holy than they are. They want everyone to know what wonderful works they did. A true Christian can only cry out, "Lord, have mercy on me a sinner!" You won't hear Johnny Mac admitting that:) Or Pauly Washer.
Sorry for the bad humor.
Peace:)
Charlie
On 9/20/2012 10:18 PM, Brandon Burdette wrote:
Charlie, have you heard this one? A Sermon on Matthew 7:21-23, John Robbins
Source: trinitylectures.org
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Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen. Visit 1662 Book of Common Prayer: Daily Prayer and Reasonable Christian Blog
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Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen. Visit 1662 Book of Common Prayer: Daily Prayer and Reasonable Christian Blog
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen. Visit 1662 Book of Common Prayer: Daily Prayer and Reasonable Christian Blog
Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2 saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 3 "Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. 4 "For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. (Matthew 23:1-4 NKJ)
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