Concerning Moral Free Will and Irresistable Grace/ Effectual Calling: A Definition for Any Inquirers

Here are some definitions/ discussions that I find in keeping with the Scriptures and, thus, the doctrine of Christ concerning the will of human beings. This I provide in light of the blog I posted on Daniel Akin's article concerning Divine Sovereignty and human responsibility, where it was made clear that I love what Akin addresses and clarifies. These links I offer, however, to make plain a better definition or discussion of the ideas of human moral agency and omnipotent grace:

The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter IX.
From Desiring God

And a definition from the Canons of Dort:

Article 12: Regeneration a Supernatural Work
And this is the regeneration, the new creation, the raising from the dead, and the making alive so clearly proclaimed in the Scriptures, which God works in us without our help. But this certainly does not happen only by outward teaching, by moral persuasion, or by such a way of working that, after God has done his work, it remains in man's power whether or not to be reborn or converted. Rather, it is an entirely supernatural work, one that is at the same time most powerful and most pleasing, a marvelous, hidden, and inexpressible work, which is not lesser than or inferior in power to that of creation or of raising the dead, as Scripture (inspired by the author of this work) teaches. As a result, all those in whose hearts God works in this marvelous way are certainly, unfailingly, and effectively reborn and do actually believe. And then the will, now renewed, is not only activated and motivated by God but in being activated by God is also itself active. For this reason, man himself, by that grace which he has received, is also rightly said to believe and to repent.

Daniel Akin on "Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility"

This is an edifying article on Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility from the president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. In it he addresses how should Southern Baptists respond to the issue of Calvinism as the subtitle indicates. Read it here...

A few thoughts...

1. As is well known, Calvin did not codify the five points of Calvinism. Akin is absolutely right in pointing this out. They were codified by his closest associates, students, and colleagues who lived in that historical setting - as a response to the disciples of Arminius at the Synod of Dort.

2. In reading some of Calvin's commentary on key passages where the systematized version of Calvinism is at stake, I would argue that Calvin was in fact a Calvinist. Regardless, Calvin was not the first Calvinist, nor is he the first to identify in fetal form the "doctrines of grace". Calvin was fond doctrinally of Augustine.

3. Calvin had no historical reason for codifying or expounding exhaustively the doctrines of grace and, hence, he did not attend to them extensively in his writing. He dealt more with buffeting the Church against the heresies of the papacy, than writing treatises on definite atonement, for example. This, in part, may explain the lack of written evidence concerning Calvin's Calvinism.

4. But we would also be wise to give attention to the codifying of his thought by those who were closest to him, so long as it is in accord with the doctrine of Christ and, thus, biblically balanced as Akin ably states.

5. Beyond these points, I find Akin's assessment of the "five points" well and good, and his pastoral and practical considerations concerning "biblical balance" necessary, edifying, and encouraging. In particular, I wholeheartedly agree with and admire his admonition towards a Godwardness (Point 1), Christ-centeredness, Biblicist position (Point 7), and, as somewhat of an overflow of these things, a fiery evangelical heart and prowess for sinners in this world.

6. I also "Amen!" his call to address these issues with discernment in teaching our congregations. I long to implement a Christian learning/ training center in the mainstream ministry of any church that God would providentially lead me towards. He gets a "Hallelujah!" for making mention of it in the context of youth ministry in order to prepare them for the secular bombardment that awaits most of them. My agreement in these areas is most especially an agreement with God's Word and the injunction to equip the saints for the work of ministry.

7. Lastly, to quote Akin, "Is there a place for differing positions on the issues of election, the extent of the atonement and calling, as well as how we do missions, evangelism, and give the invitation? I am convinced that the answer is yes. Further, I believe we will be the better for it theologically and practically as we engage each other in respectful and serious conversation." I concure with great expectation of further discussion.

8. And in keeping with my nature, I'll add something else after I've written, "Lastly...": Read Spurgeon's quote! In the words of Lloyd off of "Dumb and Dumber" - "It's a good one!" And may God be glorified in Jesus Christ - the J. C.!

1 John 2:2: Thoughts on Definite Atonement

Here is another offering of a text typically used by those who defend an indefinite atonement. Once more, I am not trying to stir a theological boiler, but rather engage in edifying discussion. After all, in my estimation, what can be more edifying than the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ - and let us type or read that lightly, - that Jesus is our (the sinners) Lord and Savior! His person and work are our exclusive glory and boast (Philippians 3:1-11).

The atonement itself is the crisis of Christ central to the ministry of God's Church. It ought not to be a doctrine of divide, but of great rejoicing. And so I am grateful for the unity found in recent debates between Calvinists and Arminians. Every biblical Christian, by that title, must hold that Christ's cross-work was and is and will always be a perfectly appeasing, penal, substitutionary sacrifice, that is sufficient for all of the sins of the entire history of mankind, in the sight of the Father in heaven. It was rendered in perfect humble obedience to the Father and is the basis from which Christ was super-exalted in His resurrection, ascension, and coronation to the right hand of Power, far above the heavens. And, the eschatalogical judgment will thus be a moral one based upon the sinless righteousness of God offered in Christ that depends on faith in Him - every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Yahweh (Lord) to the glory of God the Father! Oh, the rivers that flow from the service of Jesus Christ, and that to God and for sinners like me and you.

But how is this atonement applied? We looked briefly at 2 Peter 2:1 in order to deal with the term "bought" there and its meaning in relation to the "deniers". Today, I'd like to offer a few thoughts on 1 John 2:2, - "He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world."

1. This verse must be read with the entirety of John's gospel. In his gospel, we find several statements which speak of an indefinite view of the atonement at face value (1:29; 3:16; 12:32, etc.); but we also find several which speak of a definitive view of the atonement (3:16?; 6:36-40 cf. 6:44, 65; 10:3, 11; 17:2, etc.). But there is not much reference to sin or of repentance (see Nathaniel, Nicodemus, the blind man healed, etc.) - John's treatment of Christ's dealing with them is quiet concerning their sin, although, the biblical witness verifies what we hold, namely, that they were in fact sinners, and needed to be reconciled to God. John's gospel is quite silent and generic concerning the atonement landscape and its inherent sacrificial language. But when it is mentioned, it is mentioned broadly, to the world - but often restricted to those who believe out of the world. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life," and thus, God loved the world - the gift of His Son was for the world in many ways - but it is quickly narrowed by the continuation of "whoever believes" - that it is those who believe in this Gift out of the world who will not perish but have eternal life. And not to be one-sided, faith is absolutely something that sinners must do. The work of God is for us to believe in the one whom He has sent (John 6:29). If they don't do it, they will perish. They just won't do it without God enabling them to do it. Faith is God's gift in accordance with His will (Ephesians 1; 2:8).

2. I make that long point to show that when one arrives at 1 John they survey the scene from within the church and not the greater part of the ancient world. He writes, "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin," 2:1. He then means to exhort us to holiness and solemn gratitude by the mention of Christ our Advocate with the Father - a picture of Christ's intercessory conquest on behalf of the Church. And then we come to our verse:

"He is the propitiation for our sins..."

That is, Christ is the propitiation (and expiation) for the sins of the church in John's address, as well as, universally. By His sacrifice, Jesus both reconciled sinners to God and satisfied God's holy anger against our sin. Food for thought: did Jesus do this for every sinner in the history of the world? It puzzles me greatly! How can we say that He has actually done this for every sinner - reconciled them to God and given them the status of a child before His majesty in heaven? We can't! If we continue in this interpretive path, then we either say that Christ actually did this for every sinner but that His atonement wasn't powerful enough to sway the wills of men; or we recant such actuality, and settle for this - that Christ's sacrifice didn't actually do this for the whole world, but only possibly (He made this possible for the whole world); but if we hold to the actuality of His sacrifice, then what do we make of those who die in their unbelief, whom Christ actually died for, reconciled to God and gave a favorable status with the Father by appeasing His wrath against them? What sin will they be condemned for? This leaves us in a great quandry - one that I am unwilling to stay in with better interpretations and God-honoring solutions available.

"...and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world."

This reads very conclusively. There it is - not the church's only but for the whole world! At this point I will not shift gears and turn to that often used argument that John is referring to Jewish believers in the first half of the text and Gentiles in the second half, although it carries some merit (and I also held on to it for a time).

But the attention in this verse is a carry over from what precedes it - Christ our Advocate with the Father when we, the church, sin. He, Christ our Advocate, is also "the propitiation for our sins." Running parallel with this is 1 John 4:10 - "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

Two things of note: first, we have God the Father specifically commissioning His Son to be the propitiation for our sins - God sent Jesus to propitiate the sins of the Church! Ah, but what of John 3:17 - "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him." You might say, see there...! But what of John 3:18, where we have that remarkable narrowing again - "Whoever believes in Him is not condemned," - so that it appears that in 1 John 4:10, the apostle simply shorthands the intention of John 3:17-18.

Secondly, there is no mention of "and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world" in 1 John 4:10 as there is in 1 John 2:2. Why? Because when he mentioned it in 2:2, it was simply an afterthought for clarification, and he did not need to attend to it again. Why is this important? Because 2:2 is focused on the "propitiation for our sins," - those sins that we commit after we have repented and believed in Christ and been baptized, etc. - and its continuation, therefore, is a statement made with regards to the way in which God forgives sin in general. In other words, there are not a half dozen ways in which God makes propitiation for sin, but only one way - by the Lord Jesus Christ - and that at all times towards all sinners in all places forever. Jesus is the propitiation for our sins and not only ours, but this is how he reconciles sinners to God in general, always and everywhere.

J. Ramsey Michaels writes:

"But having introduced an explicit theology of atonement to deal with the specific problem of 'our' sins now, after conversion and baptism, the author adds, almost as an afterthought, that of course this is God's way of dealing with sin always and everywhere: 'and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.' There is not one 'propitiation' for us and another for the rest of the world, but Jesus...is the only sacrifice, and the only way of salvation for all. The point is not the Jesus died for everyone indiscriminately so that everyone is the world is in principle forgiven, but that all those forgiven are forgiven on the basis of Christ's sacrifice and in no other way." (*1)

I think that this best reflects the meaning of the Bible, of the author, of the epistle itself, and of the text under consideration. Above all, I think it most glorifies our Lord Jesus Christ, and serves to encourage us in view of His sacrifice to advance that Gospel at all costs. Your comments are, as always, welcome...

*1. Michaels, J. Ramsey; Atonement in John's Gospel and Epistles; an essay in The Glory of the Atonement; pg. 117.

Are Covert Christian Converts...Converts?

As I scanned a recent U.S. News magazine I came across an article entitled "Covert Christian Converts." It seemed fascinated by the lifestyle of a young man and his family in Iran who had converted to Christianity from Islam. Apparently, in Iran there have been discussions concerning the penalty of apostasy from the Islam religion. The inevitable punishment is death. Because of this, and other harsh persecutions that would daily present themselves to these converts, they live a dualistic lifestyle - a private life and a public life of equally dual devotions.

In private, this family, who apparently received Christ via Christian television programming in Iran, whereby they contacted the hotline and prayed with a counselor standing by, leads a life devoted to Christ, praying and humming hymns to Him, while enjoying Bible study.

In public, however, they are of the strictest devotion to Islam, attending to their rituals with as much tenacity as any other Muslim. The testimony of the article leads us to believe that this other life is lived in fear of death.

I'd like to give a few considerations and then ask for your biblical and thoughtful insights:

1. Living in America, one thing that becomes clear to me is that I have no experience or idea of suffering and persecution, much less the threat of my life for the sake of Christ. The closest I have come is in the reading of the Bible, Foxes Book of Martyrs, and three days with an underground church in Israel. Though America is growing intolerant with evangelical Christianity (which is to be expected), it is still a country that largely celebrates its multi-faceted diversity even in the things of religion, even in the way of biblical Christianity. Therefore, I admit beforehand, that I am not as sympathetic towards this family as perhaps I ought to be, or at least, I am not as associated with the reality of their circumstances. I also understand that they may not have met another Christian in the whole country, much less had any biblical discipleship, encouragement, or accountability. All of this taken into consideration (which is alot):

2. There is no such thing as covert Christianity. Our Lord declared that if we confess Him before men that He would confess us before the Father, but that if we denied Him before men that He would deny us before the Father. To Christ, and to the apostle Paul, to believe in Christ was to lose one's life for the gain of eternal life, it was to deny oneself, and to take up our personal instrument of death every day for His sake and the advanement of the Gospel. In Paul's mind, believing in Christ and suffering for His sake were inseparably linked as dual graces of God and by a life lived in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ (which is the sure sign of true faith and of our ultimate salvation; cf. Philippians 1:27-30). Jesus literally lived the Gospel into operation, and He both suffered and died for it (through which death the Gospel offer was codified and made available to every sinner). Christ was constantly on mission; Christians are constantly on mission - and suffering is the expectation not the surprise. If you are a Christian, you are a Christian outloud! It is not a life of ease that we live for, but rather a life eternal!

3. We are either with Christ or against Christ. We either gather with Him or we scatter. Our Lord was black and white without a hint of gray. There is no dual citizenship for the Christian in terms of devotion. Although we belong to a heavenly citizenship and exist in an earthly realm (see Augustine's 800+ pages in The City of God), the object of our devotion, love, priority, and allegiance is God and our purpose to glorify Him by loving sinners with the truth of His reign in Christ - in the midst of the world of unbelievers who are immersed in the culture, and largely, anti-God, and in opposition to the Gospel of Christ. We ought never to feel at home in the world! In attempting to come up with a comparable situation of an American convert to Christ who continues to live in religious compromise, the closest that I can come up with is an antinomian life, one who professes Christ as Savior but denies Him as Lord, who abuses the freedom of grace to the negation of obedience of God's Word...but to me, I think the Word of God is clear that we ought not be to quick to receive such into the kingdom of God's eternal glory in Christ! It seems to me that at the heart of this situation there is too great a care given to their own temporal life and lifestyle, and not enough care given to the name of Christ and the advancement of the Gospel in Iran by that testimony. The main reason for their conversion by the testimony of the young man was that Christianity offered them a more free religion. But have they mistaken the paradigm of Christian freedom: we are free from all to be servants of all (See Luther's Christian Liberty)!

4. Within the same article, testimony was given of a man who having been converted to Christianity from Islam refused to deny his Lord and was imprisoned for it for ten years. Another Christian pastor in Iran managed to make enough of a stink about this man's situation, that he was released. However, not long after, both, the convert and the pastor were found slain because of their testimony, the pastor being stabbed 26 times. Are we to make no distinction between these men and this family? I would say that there was something imputed to them by God that was principally different than in this recently converted family. The question is what? Was it a true faith? Or was it just a greater knowledge of the grace and the glory of the name of Christ? The answer is an eternal one. In other words:

5. What do we make of such conversions in countries where the threat of one's life for the sake of Christ is a probability rather than a possibility, if with their lives they deny their Master so as not to suffer persecution for His name's sake? I think that this question is an important one, for it concerns the theology of missionaries, as well as the depths with which a missionary needs to go in discipleship to secure a firm understanding that the converts are actually Christians, for what does it do for a missionary to secure a decision for Christ when the convert will not confess Him publicly at the expense of his life? Is not to die gain?

Moreover, it is a worthy meditation for the pastors of local churches in America who have members of that body serving in the Gospel in foreign countries and at home- what do we make of their reports concerning conversions? What do we consider missionary activity, or missionary endeavor? How should we pray for converts in such places? How do we communicate to our stewardship the authenticity of a God-work (cf. Philippians 1:6)?

But it also concerns the essential fortitude and disposition of believing in Christ, for as Christ taught, and as the apostles knew, and as the church father's knew, and as many today are knowing, and as I pray that we will come to know, that to be raised from the dead through faith in Christ by the grace of God means not only to live for Christ, but to share in His sufferings becoming like Him in His death that by any means possible we may attain the resurrection from the dead! Let us therefore become courageous in the face of persecution knowing that this is the cost and gain of faith in Christ and that the Gospel will progress through the grace of suffering for His name. We must remember that the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.

What do you make of such situations? What conclusions do you come to? What biblical thoughtfulness might you add to these things? What themes, or practical insights? What might you subtract or revise? Thoughts welcomed!

Reflections on the Providence of God

In studying the epistle to the Philippians God has amazed me with the incomprehensible grandeur of His providential workings in the salvation of His elect and the begetting of the church. There was a point in time on the "finished" side of the cross and resurrection when men and women who would be involved in the Philippian church were as of yet completely ignorant and unsuspecting of God's gracious intervention. They slept, arose, learned, played, ate, drank, and breathed in the normalities and typical occurrences of life. None of them, however, did any of those things with the conscious awareness of God. None of them were awakened by the urgency of spending time with Jesus.

Saul spent his days in vigorous study and murderous threats against God's Church. In the same day, Lydia, perhaps, frequented the waters nearby seeking to fish out the shellfish for the purple dye found within its throat, and selling her goods to others. Meanwhile, a slave girl with a spirit of divination would sit in front of men and women to tell them their fortunes, bringing in the cash for her owners. At the same time, a jailer played the role of family man, while working the graveyard shift at the prison. And the inmates that he watched endured the same daily grind of survival, incarceration, and hopelessness. And what of the young man from Lystra, Timothy; what youthful endeavors did he day after day after day attend to?

Each of these persons, diverse in ethnicity, age, religion, presuppositions, backgrounds, and monetary class attended to their typical day, deeds, and conversations without the slightest bit of knowledge that God had in eternity past ordained and was now effecting the circumstances whereby within a short time all of them would come face to face with the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ in the preaching of the Gospel. For God's providence is plain from the biblical account, that:

Accordingly, God met Saul on his way to Damascus to persecute the disciples there, but Christ converted him to defend what he formerly threatened, Acts 9:1-19.

God then called Saul, a Hebrew of Hebrews, to be His instrument to carry His name unto the Gentiles - and kings and the children of Israel, Acts 9:15.

Having called Saul as an instrument to the Gentile nations, God refined and glorified Himself in that calling in Antioch of Pisidia. For after he had preached the Gospel to the Jews there, and the next Sabbath had come, a great many Gentiles attended, to which the Jews became jealous and contradicted what Paul was saying; therefore, Paul responds by telling them their condemning fault and blindness, for the Gentiles were included, and thus, Paul sought it all the more eagerly, Acts 13.

God brought Paul to the habitation of Timothy on his second missionary journey, having apparently already converted the boy, and thus Paul was inclined to have Timothy accompany him, Acts 16:1-5.

God then directed their missionary endeavor. He, in infinite wisdom and purpose, forbid them from their own human endeavors and re-routed them to Macedonia, by which the Gospel was destined to enter Europe; and it must be believed that God's intention was thus to save those who were currently unsuspecting and presumably going about their daily order even still, unaware that the Gospel would soon be among them in effectual power, Acts 16:6-10.

And God's providence is especially seen here, once they arrive in Philippi, for many things happen here to advance the Gospel that can only be attributed to the grace and glory of God's providential workings; thus,

1. Paul seeking a synagogue on the Sabbath found none, but rather a congregation of Gentile women who being proselytes had gathered for prayer just outside the city gates. Hereby, God greeted Lydia in the Gospel, "(opening) her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul," Acts 16:14. Lydia believed and her household as well, being baptized and bearing immediate fruit, Acts 16:15.

2. That in the course of their ministry they attracted a demonic tag along, a slave girl who doubled as a fortune teller. For many days she did this, crying out, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation," whereupon Paul, becoming annoyed of the correlation between God's kingdom and that of darkness, commanded the spirit to come out in the name of Jesus, and in a display of glory, the girl was healed, Acts 16:16-24.

3. But God's providence not yet being satisfied in the place made use of the previous occurrence to enrage her owners and eventually the greater crowd, so that Paul and Silas were stripped, beaten with rods, and imprisoned, whereby the Gospel now came face to face with the unsuspecting inmates and a third shift jailer.

a. Here the inmates, having no doubt caught wind of these missionaries and the beating that they had incurred, yet heard them praying and singing hymns to God (Acts 16:25) - they were listening to them! They exhibited by the exceeding grace of God the true joy of authentic believers, who with chains on their feet and wrists and lashes on their back yet rejoice in the midst of suffering because of their love for and joy in Christ Jesus and His Gospel. So it must have been a convincing thing when by a prison shaking, shackle loosening earthquake God opened the prison doors and unfastened everyone's bonds, that He could and would do the same for them spiritually in Christ.

b. And now the jailer thinking himself under the death sentence and aiming to commit himself to an "honorable death", found that he need not, for Paul cried out to him that he had not lost the inmates presence. Thus having certainly witnessed much of their partnership in the Gospel, fell on his knees and asked with much earnestness, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Upon hearing the remedy of Christ, he believed, his household also, was baptized and bore fruit, Acts 16:25-34.

By these evidences, God's providence founded the church at Philippi - for God converted the means of the Gospel (Paul), and by the means, which He sovereignly directed to Philippi, and also by many providential workings and effectual grace, brought a host of people into the covenant of Christ, who until that glorious intervention neither sought Him nor desired Him nor considered Him for themselves.

And how this is the case of our own salvation! That God had set many things in motion that we were unaware of until they presented themselves in order to secure our salvation and, by our conversion, the salvation of others still, right now, unsuspecting!

What heights of grace and glory do these realities of God set before us? I did not awaken one morning and think to myself that today I will "give my life to the Lord." I attended to my typical days, my regular activities, my ordered vanities, the same conversations, all with not even a symblance of a thought or affection Godwards. I was dead in my sins and trespasses. But God, in His marvelous providence set many divers things in motion and at their fullness of time, the Gospel of God and the power of His effectual call found me, not vice versa! For I grew up in what cannot properly be titled a "church", though I did not know it; I attended youth service, but due to sin heard nothing; I slept, ate, and drank; I went to school, watched television, and played basketball with imaginary people guarding me; and I am certain that what God had ordained in eternity past was already being carried out, but of those innumerable things I cannot know, but I do know that He caused a young girls father to transfer from out of state, a girl that I would begin to date in high school, a girl who was a believer in Christ whom I had apparently fooled into thinking that I was as well, so that by her invitation I stepped out of my "church" for the first time and into her Southern Baptist affiliated church, whereupon I heard the Gospel for the first time, God's Spirit beating within my chest and opening up the eyes of my heart to see sin, judgment, its abiding principle, consequence, and the eternality of that consequence; two months later at that same church at a youth service, the Gospel was heralded once more by which God opened my heart to the comfort of Christ as the resolution to the conflict that I had internally been dealing with from the previous encounter - and then at somewhere between the two o'clock and three o'clock hour of the night God, Himself, re-created me in Christ! God did this work! God, in His gracious providence, saved me in and through my Lord Jesus Christ! God wonderfully intervened - and guess what (?) I didn't think that God had violated my right of free will either like so many today, and if He did, then thank God for that in Jesus' name!

Brothers and sisters, praise your God today for His providential work in your life. And know that if these things be so, and they are, that there are many even today whom you will come in contact with who are unsuspecting of God's intervention; that you are not only greeting them with yourself, but with the Gospel of Christ within you; by you God makes his appeal to the unsuspecting sinner. This is how He has decided to make use of His children - and it is glorious calling that we have to "proclaim the excellencies of Him who called (us) out of darkness into His marvelous light," 1 Peter 2:9. Let us beseech God that we might recognize the opportunities in a given day to come under the excellency of His providence and, by His will, be the providential means of Christ to the one who even now least suspects to meet the Lord of glory! In Jesus' name. Amen.

God's Immensity and the Omnipotence of the Consequential Power of God

I had a conversation this morning with a seventy-something year old microbiologist with a slight English accent, named Malcolm. Having been a professor at UC-Davis and at Clemson University, the discussion was intriguing. Uncertain of his stance on creation, God, and the like, I decided to adapt the conversation to end up at those worldviews. I wasn't surprised that he believed in the Big Bang Theory - multiple one's at that - but that the immensity of the cosmos, of even a single human cell proved too much to be comprehended. Malcolm was of the mind that we cannot prove anything of that immensity with any kind of certainty in order to come to dogmatic conclusions about origin and life.

But it appeared that the reality of the vastness of the cosmos and of the amount of information in a single strand of DNA captured his wonder if not his interest. It turns out that God would give me a foothold with Malcolm upon which I could speak to him of the immensity of God.

During the summer session between my freshman and sophomore years at Clemson I took my biology requirement - it was the only other class besides a liberal Old Testament class that I made an "A" in! Malcolm knew my professor, and it was this professor with whom I had several discussions concerning the origin and meaning of life. This was the open door that I was graciously given to become what I needed to be in order to speak with Malcolm about God. And that was my endeavor in this particular meeting - to set God and God's immensity in relation to and demonstrated in the immensity of the creation that Malcolm studied and taught. By God's grace, next will come the reality of God in Christ!

So it was, that by means of creation and natural revelation that I set before Malcolm the Almighty, and the meaningfulness of life found in relation to Him and His creative work. And I found, also, my own affections and mind drawn up into the greatness of the infinite God whose habitation is eternity.

I recently heard by the providence of God the inherited instruction of a Christian cosmologist and apologist. This man uses his study and understanding of the universe to make the case for intelligent design and meaning. He shows slides of the universe, for example, a slide of nothing but stars, and says that if you were to count every star on that slide that it would take you 2800 years to finish; or a slide of a pillar of dust in the universe where we are looking at multiple galaxies; and after these things he places a white slide on the screen and hands someone a fine tipped pencil and asks them, with pencil in hand, to place any sized dot on that screen corresponding to your significance in the immensity of the universe - point being that even the slightest dot would seem to be an overstatement. However, as he begins to speak about carbon based life forms and all of the elements and aspects in the universe that had to be exactly right in order for their to be any kind of sustained carbon based life form, he mentions that the sphere in which we live for various reasons has to be about 15 million light years across to sustain life - and that the one in which we live is approximately 15 million light years across; and he concludes by saying, "now how significant are you in the universe?" And the answer is very significant, but I would add, and I think he would as well, how significant and valuable is God? If the universe is what it is, or if the amount of information in a single cell boggles the cleverest minds, then what of its infinite Creator - "For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived , ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse," Romans 1:19-20.

More amazing is the conclusion of Jonathan Edwards about that which will consume our stay in eternal glory, that glory is in fact eternal because it will take eternity to comprehend in an ever-increasing way the infinite and unending glory of God and all that His glory encompasses. We will forever be growing in the knowledge and worship of Him because the knowledge and glory of Him is everlasting. God is eternally immense. The sheer thought of the volume of Him collapses the most brilliant human mind at once.

If this immense and eternal volume be placed upon God, indeed, a volume that we cannot measure, nor ever come to the end of, then what of the power of this Almighty God? What vast effulgence overflows from Him? If God declares that there is a power at His disposal, what in heaven or on earth or under the earth may equally rival Him and His power? But God has said through His apostle, "the Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes." (Romans 1:16)

The Gospel is the power of this eternally voluminous God to save wretched worms like us. The power of the President, or the Pope, or a King, or a tyrant is great and extends quite far, but has its limitations in all spheres of life. But all of these are inferior to the power of God and the throne of Christ in the culmination of the Gospel. No human will may stand before the power of God to save, which He calls the Gospel. What sinner can withstand the power of God in the Gospel? What degree of sinner can resist the Almighty's effectual Gospel call? What political party or religious group can redeem like God's Gospel of gracious salvation by the righteousness of Christ and not of man's works? God's Gospel delivers from Mormonism, Nihilism, Buddhism, Postmodernism, Hinduism, Islam, and any other world religion or spirituality - nothing stands in the way of the power of God's Gospel when in effectual grace He rips you out of darkness and sets you in the light of Christ! As former Muslim turned Christian Thabiti Anyabwile writes, "The Gospel triumphed where no other power had or could. The Gospel of Jesus Christ freed me from the clutches of sin and the darkness of Islam...The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes...I've received and experienced that power myself through faith in Christ." (The Triumph of the Gospel in a Muslim's Life; thegospelcoalition.org/articles.php?a=51)

The consequential effulgence of the glorious immensity of God is manifest in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the revelation of the gift of God's righteousness for sinner's imputed through faith in Him. Therefore, the Gospel carries with it the effectual omnipotence of the God who saves sinners from any bondage and sets them securely in the invincible promise of faith in Christ. That this God would love sinners and deliver sinners from His wrath, and empower that message with the might of His Spirit, is the reality of what may be called the omnipotent Gospel - it is the power of God to save without distinction. What is microbiology when pitted against the Gospel of God, but the servant of it which inevitably witnesses to it. Praise God for the inherent, omnipotent power and call of the Gospel of Christ - that He who created the universe by the power of His Word, also creates Christians out of His enemies by the power of His Gospel, in Jesus' name.

American Idol Fashions An American Idol

I do not regularly watch American Idol, mainly for the reasons associated with its name, where teenagers and young men and women become in a short period of time the posterized idols of millions of Americans. But I happened to catch the end of last Wednesday's edition deemed "American Idol Gives Back".

The entirety of the show was devoted to philanthropic ideals and the social gospel. They raised money for the poor, they devoted funds for relief efforts, they built homes and provided medicines for the diseased and homeless. Included in the efforts were big-screen stars Brad Pitt, Ben Stiller, and singers, Mariah Carey and Alicia Keys, among others.

I applaud their philanthropy, but I wonder if something can be truly philanthropic without having Christ as its end, without seeing the nations drawn to rejoice in God. In a sense, it is a shameful thing upon the Church that those who reject Christ would do more philanthropic things than those who know Christ and therefore know the ultimate end of such endeavors, which is that Christ be glorified. We ought to be engaged in feeding the world, in providing for the homeless, in sharing a glass of pure water with those who travel miles for a mud hole - and we ought to do it in a way that declares our distinctive love for them, but that in no way leaves them satisfied by those things alone without being confronted with Him who satisfies all things and that completely so! In other words, meeting the physical needs of people should be a priority of the Church, but passionately secondary; for in all things and in every way we ought to endeavor to take every illness, every hunger, every thirst, every impoverishment, every ideology, etc., captive and make it obedient to Christ, that they may be truly satisfied in Him alone, and overflowing with the pure Gospel that leads to a God-entranced passion in all things.

But aside from "Idols" giving back edition, I was taken back by the stamp that they put on their efforts when they sang the older contemporary Christian song - "Shout to the Lord". Here are the essential lyrics to the song:

"My Jesus, My Savior Lord there is none like
You All of my days, I want to praise
The wonders of Your mighty love
My Comfort, My Shelter
Tower of refuge and strength
Let every breath, all that I am
Never cease to worship You
(Chorus)
Shout to the Lord, all the earth
Let us sing. Power and majesty, praise to the King.
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name
I sing for joy at the work of Your hands
Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand
Nothing compares to the promise I have in YOU!"

I found myself wondering "why?" or "how?" or "what?" or "really!?" The contestants joined in with a "gospel" choir, Ryan Seacrest "passionately" called out the name of the song, and off they went into vanity, and blasphemy, idolatry, and pluralism - and five seconds afterwards, they had to make sure that Ben Stiller (presumedly Jewish) received twenty seconds in which he was "bleeped" out four or five times!

Did they truly listen to what they were singing? They took out the name of Jesus and replaced it with "My Shepherd, My Savior" to avoid religious repercussions and make sure that anyone in the place could put the name of their god in the place of "Shepherd". On what can only be described as a secular (and often godless) sing-a-long the house rocked with "Let every breath, all that I am, never cease to worship you...nothing compares to the promise I have in YOU!" And they fashioned a god for themselves, for though they sang the words (with the previously mentioned exception) of a Christian song, the biblical God and the exclusivity of the name of Jesus Christ were certainly not intended. This was the "god" of all people and faith structures and religions and spiritualities, the "god" who helps people and gives people material things and is outworking himself through Brad Pitt, and Mariah Carey, etc., the "god" within the self and the collaborative efforts of creatures (human beings).

I wonder, if no money had been raised, no homes built, or a tragic disaster had thwarted the night when "American Idol gave back"; if touching stories had been left untold, if everyone had been stripped of everything they had, from Ben Stiller to the African child - stomach protruding from starvation and diarrhea, would they have stayed on course, would they have still sang the "praises of His name", would they have collaborated to "shout to the Lord...to worship Him...to sing for joy at the work of His hands", would they have still considered the "promise" that we have in Christ alone to be beyond comparison? Do they even know what the promise is?

In the end, American Idol fashioned an American idol - the "everything goes good and everybody walks away ignorantly happy" god; the god who "makes me feel better inside, gives me fuzzy feelings, and allows me to go to bed at night without a true care in the world." This god is the false god of the cosmos that everyone can tolerate so long as he does what he is supposed to do - which of course is in accordance with our will - and throw in a little world peace on the side so long as we can be recognized for it. It was a display of the god of consumerism, for though in appearance the acts were cloaked in sacrifice, yet, the acts were consumed with mammon and good will as its ends, and that is necessary in every missionary endeavor, but it is only missionary when the money is a means to something greater - the propagation of the Gospel of Christ and the joy of the nations in Jehovah through Jesus.

Positively, what happened last Wednesday is an opening for the true Gospel of Christ, where God is the Treasure even in the midst of pain, loss, sickness, and despair, where we are satisfied in God and rejoice in the suffering that comes in the preaching and promoting of the biblical Gospel. Moreover, revealed is the depraved knowledge that every person has of the one True and Living God, and the Truth that they have suppressed in their ungodliness and unrighteousness. The Word of God holds true - God has made Himself plain to them and they are without excuse, because they have traded in His glory for images "resembling mortal man". And one must wonder, what might that song have testified to in their own suppressive hearts? They sang "Shout to the Lord", and harmonized in praise of His "wonders", "mighty love", "comfort", "shelter", "power", "majesty", "kingship", "worth", "creative works", "name", and "incomparable promise"!

"For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For (because) although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man..." Romans 1:19-23.

In consideration of these things, I wish that I might have been there on stage with them, given a great boldness to witness of God in the way that Paul did in Athens in the Areopagus address having observed the suppressed knowledge of God manifest in idolatry, "Men of Athens (America), I perceive that in every way you are very religious (and/or spiritual). For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you," Acts 17:22-23 (through 31 for the awesome entirety). And where Paul starts with them - in the center of their culture - associating with them, binding what they worship in shadows with Him who is God, so he ends, and so we should endeavor to end by proclaiming God's nearness to sinners (27), God's self-definition, God's own terms of salvation (29), God's command for all people to repent (30), the Day of God's righteous judgment and the man whom God has appointed as the standard of judgment, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord (31).

Therefore, let us boldly endeavor to share the true Gospel, to associate with sinners in a way that communicates clearly that Gospel, which casts down their shadow gods, and God willing, exalts the true God through faith in Jesus Christ. And let us go with the Great Commission in the great expectation that when we go with the Gospel, that Christ is there with us, and we pray in the regenerating, saving power of the Holy Spirit.

Let us truly sing and "shout to the Lord", and declare to those so idolizing American Idol's god, that what you worship as unknown, Him we now proclaim to you. God be glorified in Jesus' name. Amen.

The Gospel Truth: God's Righteousness Revealed and Imputed Through Faith in Jesus

I was reminded over the weekend of the theme verse of Paul's epistle to the Romans, the theme that the apostle develops over the course of the letter, both theologically, soteriologically, and practically - "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'" (Romans 1:16-17)

From this text, Luther would have Paradise opened to him, and the doctrine of justification by faith alone crystallized for the Church.

From this text, contemporary redwoods in the Church, like John Piper, would speak much upon the reality that only God can save sinners from God (His righteousness from His wrath - see v. 18).

It is this text, however, whose truth proposition of the sinners inherent unrighteousness only being remedied by the imputation of God's own righteousness - the righteousness revealed in the Gospel - and that by faith and not by works, that stands in utter contradiction to the notion of the world - that all are generally good, that a spark of the Divine exists within the self, it just needs to be sought out and appropriated, or that by works one merits honor with the Divine Being, that salvation is an earned wage.

But God's truth stands, that His wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (and we are all characterized in this way), and therefore, only His righteousness can deliver the unrighteous and ungodly. The imputation of an alien righteousness by faith alone in Christ alone is the greatest news in the universe, but the world considers it folly, unbelievable (which it is but for grace), and intolerable - it is counter-cultural.

Romans 1:16-17 makes these propositions: first, that we should not be ashamed to share the Gospel because the Gospel is the power of God for salvation without distinction invested by faith; secondly, the Gospel is the power of God for salvation without distinction invested by faith because in the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith; thirdly, that what is meant by the second proposition is summed up in Paul's quotation of Habakkuk 2:4, "The righteous shall live by faith"; and lastly, that by the relationship between 1:16 and 1:17, and 1:17 to 1:18, it is understood that it is the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel that transcends shame in evangelism, and is the inherent power of God to sanctify believers, while also being the necessary revelation to be received by sinners through faith in Christ if anyone is to be saved from the wrath of God.

My intention here is not to write on all of these propositions of biblical truth, but rather to focus on the grace of the offering of God's very own righteousness revealed in the Gospel to unrighteous sinners, and how this truth supremely exalts the value of God, while removing every boast from the lips of men who would infringe (by their own abilities) upon the inheritance that belongs to Christ alone, and to whom Christ gives it by gracious adoption and imputation.

The term "righteousness" is linked to the term "justification", hence, the doctrine of "justification by faith", or by faith God imputes His perfect righteousness to sinners completely bankrupt of any righteousness. Paul develops this idea throughout Romans, showing diligently that every single human being in the history of the universe, from beginning to end, are guilty of sin, falling short of God's glory, and are separated from Him, in point of fact, dead and hostile against Him - "none is righteous, no, not one," Romans 3:10, Psalm 14:1-3.

And, if the very righteousness of God is required in order to be delivered from God's wrath, but no one is righteous in the way that God is righteous, what manner of problem is this but the greatest problem in the universe for every individual? But God freely offers the solution - in the Gospel, God's righteousness is revealed through faith - faith in Jesus Christ. Paul writes it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For our sake (God) made (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in (Jesus) we might become the righteousness of God."

The wrath of God that we have earned as sinners Christ perfectly satisfied on the cross for all who would believe in Him for salvation, so that when we believe in Him, God gives to us the righteousness of Christ, the very righteousness of God. We are accounted righteous through faith in Jesus. Hereby, we are saved from God's wrath. It is a substitutionary sacrifice that we speak of in the Gospel, through which the righteousness of God is revealed through faith in that sacrificial Lamb, Jesus Christ.

Biblical Christianity is the only religion that offers such a Way of salvation - which Way is exclusive! None of the sinners works, street smarts, deeds, merit, money, volunteer hours, or church visitations, etc. can save the sinner from God's wrath - human works are frail and powerless at the accountability of God's Law - no, God's Law is good in that it points us to God's Gospel, wherein it is the power of God to sanctify the believer and convert the sinner because within the Gospel is the revelation of the righteousness of God - and it is the exclusive means of salvation from God's wrath.

Christ is the Christian's righteousness before God. It holds true, then, that "salvation belongs to the Lord" - God owns salvation, in its origin and application and end, etc. Let us be humbled by this - we cannot save ourselves; no man can savingly declare himself righteous before the Righteous God. Only God can declare a man righteous in a sufficient and saving way - and in Jesus Christ, God has made possible that very Divine declaration for dead sinners. This holds true for me, for you, for every human being. But the righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel and revealed so it is understood that by faith in Christ, this perfect righteousness is imputed. Christ is the end of the law for everyone who believes in Him (Romans 10:4).

It is not enough, however, to know the doctrine of justification by faith, but to truly put this doctrine of the Gospel into practice so that our words, thoughts, and actions are submerged in it. For when we, like a delivered sponge, soak in the overflow of the Gospel, we are humbled. Do we have anything to offer God? Anything that can save? Any self-claim to glory? No! - and we rejoice! - because God has opened our hearts to know this much, which is hidden from much of the world. We, like all men, are sinners, and were it not for Christ's righteousness, we would not differ from the rest of a lost world in the slightest degree. God's grace sets us apart, makes us distinctive from the world. Regeneration is of God's grace, so too, repentance, faith, sanctification, etc., and also, the imputation of perfect righteousness. And, the sinner seated beside you yesterday, now, or tomorrow - they are right now what you were prior to the onset of effectual grace. Christ is the chasm between the two, me and you, you and him or her.

Does this not transcend any ashamedness for the sake of the Gospel? Is not this revealed righteousness of faith the power of God to save without distinction? God's righteousness, God's righteousness, God's righteousness - it is revealed in the Gospel; it delivers from God's wrath; it comes through faith in Jesus Christ; it constitutes the great divide; and it overflows into daily practical humility and evangelism and Christian growth.

Let us be rid of our wretched individualism, and hold fast to the Head, Who is Christ Jesus the Lord. May we ever teach and propagate the Gospel of God's righteousness in Christ, offered and given to sinners through faith in Jesus Christ. It is more than a doctrine, it is the core of the Gospel, the ground upon which, Luther wrote, the Church will stand or fall - and it is the hope of the lost world and the joy of we who by it have been fitted to glorify and enjoy God forever. It is God's righteousness - give Him the glory!

Whatever Happened To "Thus Says The Lord GOD"?

To the prophet Ezekiel, God said, "I send you to them, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD.' And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them," Ezekiel 2:4-5. God spoke of a famine of the Word through His prophet Amos, "Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "when I will send a famine on the land - not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it," Amos 8:11-12. Now this was perhaps fulfilled most immediately during the 400 years of prophetical silence leading up to the incarnation of Jesus Christ, when God Himself would tabernacle among us and speak the Divine words to the sinner.

A combination of these texts yields to us that God's true preachers preach God's Word, that God has sent them to people by grace to hear His Word, without which grace, the Word of God will not be heard, nor sought, nor found, but rejected by the general audience like a hoard of rebels that don't know what - by grace - they have until it is gone and judgment takes its place. The judgment of God was the cutting off of the prophet from the people, His Word from their hearing, whereby they were given over to and lost to their own finite and perishing suppositions.

Currently - though there appears on the horizon a resurgence in biblical, passionate, reformational preaching - the vast majority of the laity, and, God forbid, many pastorates too, have become biblically inept, having turned a deaf ear to God's word, and a prideful ear to the sound of their own voices. This seems to be the current form of judgment against the modern day version of a rebellious world, and a secularized Church - that preaching has become human, absent of God and the power of His Holy Spirit - many preach their own word; and so many only hear a human word, and have become accustomed to that depravity so that upon hearing the Word of God, it is something altogether foreign to them which they are much inclined to reject due to its "inherent power" which they know nothing of.

A quick examination of many professors of Christianity today offers the evidence of dissipated doctrine, a worrisome retreat from the infallibility of Scripture, and a frightening agreement with the world that nothing can be known absolutely, that experience and culture determines truth, that human movements are the true lens through which to understand Scripture, and if Scripture speaks contrarily, then God is wrong, and the movement right. It is the lost world that influences the doctrine and doctrinal attitude of these Christians (what may only be deemed liberal, thoughtless, and careless theology - and no true theology at all - though it is offered up as "God's Word" with surprising ease of conscience). They preach it under the title of Christ and the world considers the sound of it quite good, appeasing, and tolerable - it's just not truth, it's not God's Gospel, it's not God's Word.

The tempter and the temptable nature of the flesh are quite the tag team in drawing us into error, and overthrowing the truth, being more of a hindrance than a help to Christ. Modern theology is a mere reflection of that moral carelessness of the culture around us on every side. Giving no thought to God's Word, we often with much earnestness receive and take to heart the erroneous words of self-proclaimed men of God. We are hardly 21st century Bereans - though we ought to be! Rather, we appear much like Lot who grew hardened to true righteousness because of his prolonged love affair with the wicked society of Sodom and Gomorrah - his doctrine, his morality reflected the nature of his surroundings.

If a godly man mentions holiness, they are "judging"; the mention of wrath is deemed "intolerant"; sin is "too harsh", and hell "unthinkable, because God is love"; that men and women have specific gender roles in the home, in the Church, etc., the godly man is called "sexist"; if he crys out against homosexuality and abortion, he is dubbed "out of context, out of touch, archaic"; if the man preaches the Gospel and engages in active evangelism, he is "ultra-aggressive, dangerous, an invader of personal space"; if he advocates the Word of God as it is in truth the Word of God and clings with his whole heart to every word believing it to be infallibly true, he is at best "puritanical". And this objection comes from many who claim investment in Christ. What of the type who at the mention of Christ simply says to you, "go to hell!"?

The problem with these type of comments from people in the Church (or not) towards this kind of man is that this kind of man is restating and explaining for those people the truth of God's Word. It is not his word, his invention, his opinion - what is fact cannot be opinion and what is believed is believed because the one believing is convicted and assured that it is factual truth. It is God's Word! If when the man, therefore, believes that a woman should not be the pastor of a Church and he articulates his position based on the gender roles specified by God in Genesis, as well as the pastoral roles expounded by God through Paul in 1 Timothy 3, and the like texts, and is titled "sexist" because of it, then the one who titles him must also be willing to call God a "sexist". It is God's Word - to all of the above responses, the same must be said of God, that He is "judging, intolerable, too harsh, unthinkably cruel, out of context, out of touch, archaic, ultra-aggressive, dangerous, an invader of personal space, and puritanical, etc.", to which most would just tell God, "go to hell!", and we did, all of us, when in Jesus, God spoke His Word and lived His Word before us. We rejected Him, and crucified Him - a blasphemer, smitten by God!

The tempter tempts us into Scriptural lethargy, and this appeases and strokes the flesh quite well. We are at ease with our own spins on Scripture. Let us not forget that the devil knows Scripture quite well - and purposefully misrepresents it but not without cloaking it in a tasty frosting. A move away from biblical orthodoxy is not a step forward, unless by forward it is meant into the doctrine of the devil and of demons (James 3:14-16). The devil is a liar - will you listen to him? He aims at murdering you - and in so far as anyone abides by his principle of interpretation (to bring about selfish ambition, jealousy, bitterness, and ease of temporal life), then you are in fact eternally perishing in heart and mind and soul, swallowing his sweetly fatal poison.

The delusion is manifold, but mainly, that to stray from God's Word and to create your own will be a greater joy than to love and obey and abide by God's Word. The serpent slithers within the guise of secular and pop culture, and the culture weaves your theology upon his scales. As our patriarchal parents did, so we, their progeny do. Culture rather than the Bible determines our thinking about God, the devil rather than the Creator.

What do we make of ourselves by the notion that we ought not speak of sin, or that we should not speak up against the immorality of human nature? Shall we give evidence that the devil's fangs are attached to our hearts? Then by all means let one speak half-truths which are no truths, let one be advised by the blindness of unregenerate culture and unregenerate persons that to speak so passionately about God in Christ for righteousness is an intolerable type of speech, and therefore, ought not to be proclaimed. This will grant you an easy life - maybe - but what of that life to come which is called "everlasting"?

What eternal joy is there in usurping the authority of God's Word? What do you gain by deeming God "a sexist pig"? It is of note that in the galactic battle between the devil and the Lord Jesus Christ during the period of His temptation, that the temptation came in the form of the misinterpretation of Scripture - and that Jesus defeated satan with the right and authoritative knowledge of Scripture!

What must be observed in these things? That the lie consists within the thought that God's Word is out of touch with reality; that false happiness consists in the authority of one's own word and rationale. That we must be careful not to become the Church of the Culture, rather than the Church of Christ. That it is not in our deviation from God's Word that will bring greatest joy, but instead, our greatest joy and fulfillment lies within the obedience to and love of every one of God's revealed words. God has spoken and He speaks still - through His Word! And what God has revealed, He has revealed because it gives the knowledge of Himself to sinners who are starved for the Real, for the God of the universe, and this revelation is so understood in the life and words of the Son, Jesus Christ, and that whatever is revealed, because it is meant to lead us to God, is revealed to be loved and adhered to with the most sensational delicacy, and it is within such "stick-tuitiveness", such true faith in every word, that our greatest joy and happiness and fulfillment will be realized both now and increasingly forevermore, and not the contrary. If God has given specific gender roles, have we given thought to the reality that it is in our obedience to those roles that our greatest joy will be had in Him, and that it is in being contrary to those roles that we will be ruined, moving away from His Word - and yet, women continue to be the spiritual activist's and men the spiritual "passivist's", etc., and we say, "Ah, this is good; this is the way things are!" And satan applauds.

The Scriptures are the written form of God's authoritative Word. As we depart from them, ever so slightly, we depart greatly from Christ, for any measure of departure from the Word, is a total departure from Christ, Who is the Word of God. And this Word gives rules and regulations and requirements, and Christ fulfilled them for us who because of sin and the weakness of the flesh could never (this is the Gospel of grace), and the prescription, the intentionality of this Word is to bring us to God that we may in part know Him and enjoy Him now as the Treasure of our soul and the universe and of eternity - and as this is the intentionality of the Word of God, so it is the intentionality of Jesus Christ, Who is the Word. Any adherence to anything less is in no way profitable for the soul in view of eternity.

More than peanut butter to the roof of the mouth ought we to cling to every word of Scripture, and then, at no time should we forfeit our stance in God's Word, but bring every thought, doctrine, word, deed, opinion, persuasion, everything that is anything, into captivity to the doctrine of Christ, the Word of God. Let us hold up the banner of God Almighty atop the massive peaks of Holy Scripture, and not settle to sit upon the dung hills of liberal theology, unregenerate reasoning, secular culture, or church tradition (which often stands in stark contrast to Christian doctrine).

Be warned! Satan would have you convinced that your greatest joy lay in Scriptural lethargy, misinterpretation, and uninspired human babble, masquerading as "something new and fresh" - and completely opposed to everything true and godly. By this design, the enemy of your soul would take you down to hell.

In truth, our greatest joy is God, known through faith in Jesus Christ (the Word of God), and therefore, to love and obey and be taught by His authoritative rule and justifying Gospel is to embark on and taste now the happiness which is only and truly known through our unwavering and uncompromising feasting upon and propagating of His Word, the Christ. By this, we meet God.

By God's grace, I will hold steadfastly to every word of Scripture, believing it in truth. I will not depart, for I long to know Christ, and if you so long to know Christ, know not your own inventions, but instead hold fast the Word of God. At least in the day of the prophet Amos, the people sought out the Word of God. Let us long for the day when men will roam from sea to sea, and from north to east, running to and fro, from South Carolina to South America to South Korea to South Africa and beyond to find the word of the Lord, and by the mercy and kindness of God, may they find it both heralded, "Thus says the Lord GOD," and heard and loved not as the word of man, but as it is in truth, the Word of God.

Is Evangelism the Means of Contagious Joy?

I believe it is! I would not make it exclusive, but perhaps, preeminently important, as Paul addressed it, "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received..." (1 Cor. 15: 3). Many of those people who now live outside of Christ would so deny Him because of the depravity of joy in those who profess to know Him. While many professing Christians sneer at the thought of sharing the Gospel with the lost, it is this means, this sharing of faith in Christ for righteousness and the observance of God working in and through those means in that moment of testimony to bring about regeneration and conversion in a human soul that, then, comes back to us and radiates with in our souls and overflows out from our hearts and tongues a zealous joy in God and in His sovereign kindness.

I am aware of many Christians who vouch that they experience a joyless relationship with Christ, which is a great tragedy and worthy of wonder. Could it be that the Christian who keeps to his or herself, that remains quite smug, irritable, agitated, unhappy, joyless, and complaining, is so depraved of Christian joy because he or she does not share the Christian joy, i.e., the Gospel of Christ for righteousness, eternal life, and reconciliation with God?

By the measure of our withholding the good news, shall we miss out on God's will, God's purpose and plan, God's means of salvation, God's heart and desire, God's exaltation as Sovereign Joy, the assurance that God hears our prayers and works by them by which we are made glad and assured that we were in agreement with God's passion, and the happiness and rejoicing that comes with the salvation of one lost soul - indeed, we join with the host of heaven to praise God and rejoice at the salvation of one - unless we keep silent and hide God's salvific balm.

How shall we expect an unbeliever to be favorable to our Gospel propagation but by the grace and mercy of God on us and them, when with our lives we give evidence of believing the worst news and not the greatest news? Will we complain incessantly and then speak of Christ? Will we grumble and sigh and then share the good news? Shall we never laugh, never smile, never love and expect the lost to be regenerated at our mention of the law of God which in the moment shines more brightly upon us who know the truth but do not practice it with joy?

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it," Psalm 118:22-23. This is more than the well-known children's song! It is the Christian's daily joy - to rejoice and be glad in the LORD's day of salvation in Christ!

If this is the case, not only are Christians not sharing the Gospel with words, but we are being a hindrance to the Gospel that we would share by our joylessness. But the joy that testifies is found in the sharing of the Gospel with words.

Perhaps it is because one so seldom shares the Gospel that one has so little evangelical happiness to bear and witness of in the ebb and flow of one's typical day and conversation. For I find that to pray expectantly that God would come down in your place of work, school, etc. with regenerative power, and then to have the prayer answered when the opportunity to share the Gospel comes, and to have your fear converted to boldness, and to see the miracle of God's grace working a favorable impression, providing the hope of conversion, and yet more, God sovereignly brings another at that moment to invest in the Gospel discussion, and to find that the two are in the same family and that they actually become earnest for more conversation, and agree to meet again, so that when they leave, my soul desires nothing more but to praise God to Whom salvation belongs and to rejoice with great gladness at the hope of conversion and the awesome mercy and benignity and power of God; and I find myself, then, as it were regenerated again, converted to joy and it transforms my countenance towards all things and everybody to one of contagious and evangelical happiness. And so now my happiness also testifies of God, rather than my banal bitterness.

Dear Christian, do you desire joy, then do not withhold it, that is, the Gospel of joy! The new language of the Christian is Christ-ian, it is the Gospel, and the endeavor is to take all things captive to Christ. If you swallow the Gospel and speak of it not, it will become bitter to you and not sweet. Have you truly tasted and seen that God is good? That the Gospel is great? That the enjoyment of God is the chief end of man? Speak up! For the sake of the name of Christ and the obedience of faith, speak up! And you will find, as I did today, and hope to always find, that to share the Gospel with the lost will go beyond the witness of words to that of a joyful and satisfied life in God. When you share the Gospel, the Spirit of God will lavish you with a joy that transforms your attitude, your day, your life because you will be doing that which is both the source and appropriation of true joy in Him.

Dear Christian, do you yearn for joy and happiness, then share the Gospel with others and observe your God work in it; aim preeminently at the salvation of souls, and when one is saved, the joy of spiritual child-bearing will overwhelm you, and that joy will serve to witness as well to the glory of God. Could the absence of evangelism in your daily practice be the root of your joylessness - Scripture, logic, and experience affirm me in exclaiming, "Yes!" When we share our joy with others, we are made joyful in their joy and in God's amazing grace. Therefore, speak up, watch God work, and observe the contagious joy of the person set ablaze with daily evangelical prowess and passion.

"Lord, Make Me Pure But Not Yet"

This quote from Augustine's Confessions tends to be quite relevant to the state of the Christian Church today. We pray, "Lord, make me pure...but not yet." This is the honest cry of the redeemed soul pit against the wiles of the flesh. There exists a very real sense in which the Christian desires holiness, for the principle of new life is in the soul bringing the faculties into a glad submission to the Word and will of God. When one undergoes the spiritual operation of the new birth, they are given and called to live a new life - which is why many reject the notion.

But there exists in a very real sense the flesh and its correspondent desires too. We are conflicted at every point. We are like the apostle Paul when he wrote to the Romans, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate," 7:15. Who that belongs to Christ cannot associate with this battle?

It is a great desire that I have to promote the pursuit of the prize of Christ and eternal life in Him, to converse and teach and love in such a way that the Church's heavenly citizenship will become what it is, namely, more real and more immediate than our citizenship in this world. With the grasping of this truth, this world would be turned upside down for the glory of Christ. We would pray, "Lord, make me pure...and hedge me in by Your Spirit and Your Word," and then we might boldly guard ourselves against impurity...or sloth or worldliness or discontent or anxiety or any manner of sin. The true appropriation of the Spirit is that moment when we practice what we pray, do what we hear; we go beyond a mere profession and enter into obedience.

The problem is that we too often love the world, and neglect Christ; we take great pride in our earthly citizenship, and set aside as a light and far off thing that heavenly citizenship, and so it is easier, and a thing more appealing, to go with our flesh rather than with God's Spirit. But the Bible teaches us that our heavenly citizenship is the place of our heart, and that we ought to be growing up into it.

Read Paul's comparison of the two (Philippians 3:17-20), one who has his mind set on earthly things, the other that greatest citizenship and example:

"Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ..."

When a youth refuses to share the Gospel for fear of confrontation, although it is a common fear, the earthly mentality is yet revealed and doubled when the parent becomes a friend rather than the spiritual leader and instead of encouraging the child and teaching the child about joy and obedience, agrees with the child and places a smothering pillow over what could have become the flames of evangelical passion. The deception is evidenced everywhere: in the marketplace, in the home, at the dinner table, in the stadium, on a date, on the couch, and it infiltrates the sanctuary of God. We are lawyers and teachers who happen to be Christians instead of Christian lawyers and teachers. We advocate the sports and hobbies and clubs of our spouses and children, and this is good, but horrible when they are advocated to the negation of the worship of God on Wednesday nights or at any time. When was the last time you or I forsook the dinner table for prayer or meditation or evangelism? In the athletic arena we cheer and shout for and uplift our gladiators, but do we uplift the Son of Man with such passion? Will you argue for your favorite team and not for Christ? Student, will you perceive the passing fancy of lust a greater satisfaction than holiness, respect, and love for God and the necessary love of what is good and hatred of what is sin? And what of television? Our minds and souls are starved for the eternally Sovereign King and Almighty God but we sear the conscience with the most damnable shows that the world has to offer. And then we wake up on Sunday, late enough to powder our faces and comb our hair but not to plead with God for mercy and grace, and after the service wonder, "What is missing?" "Lord, make me pure...but not yet."

This will not do brothers and sisters - it will not do for me, nor you! The Gospel is at stake within the witness of our lives. I would rather you not profess Christ, than to profess His name and not practice it. We must take hold of what is already ours, given to us by grace - a preeminent citizenship in heaven. We are a "chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light," (1 Peter 2:9). This is our truest identity and calling...and you may be a doctor as well! We ought to take everything in our path and convert it to Christ, to the Bible, to theology, to Gospel, to God's glory. If we stumble in one place, we may lose our witness forever(Matthew 5:13).

Have you ever considered why, having been plucked from the fire as it were, God kept us on earth for a season? To bear witness of God's Word through our joy in that Word; Jesus gave us the Word, and the Word (by the Spirit) sanctifies us and separates us in a sense from the world so that Christ could say of us, "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world," (John 17:16). And we are sent of Christ to share the Word of Christ. So long as we follow the enemy, enamored with the world, how is it that we can be what Christ says we are in Him?

Understand that when I say, "must", I do not intend to bring you under law again, for you are under grace as a believer, nor is it my aim to bring to you a legalistic system. No, rather, the must that I speak of is the must of grace, not of the law, and true grace is not without law; that is, we have a new desire, a new principle of grace in us, a new leader in the soul that compels us to love holiness and set aside the desires of the flesh. Grace is the motivation of true godliness. Remember, the Gospel is not a new set of commands for you to obey, but rather the news that none of your obedience merits a claim for you upon God or His glory, and that Christ has done what the law could not do. Therefore, the "must" that I write of, I write of with the intent of grace.

1. We must be wielded by the Holy Spirit; that is, we must follow His leadership, His Word, and in so doing, mortify and crucify the flesh with its desires. In our glad submission to Him, we are distinct from the world who is not possessed of Him. And to be possessed of Him is to be passionate for the souls of the world.
2. Quite simply, we must be drenched with Jesus Christ. Fellowship with Christ now is time spent in heaven on earth.
3. We must appropriate our heavenly citizenship. We have no reservations about appropriating our earthly citizenship in order to get what we desire. Our desires must change, or at least be raised to Christ and the glory of God. And if these things be our greatest desires, then we will appropriate that citizenship and its privileges for the attainment of those greater purposes.
4. Lastly, we must have a great earnestness about us in the pursuit of God's glory in all things. By our earnestness for heavenly things, we might win others to a like passion and the reality of our heavenly citizenship.

May God grant us the grace of awakening to the realities of His kingdom, that our praise would be that we have, indeed, prayed, "Lord, make us pure. Thank You for we have been pure!" In Christ's name. Amen.

The Acid of the Word?

"I see where you are coming from now...But I must go because I cannot endure what you are saying to me...what you are saying to me feels like acid being poured over my flesh." This was the response that I recently received from a philosopher when I addressed her on her playing field with six verses of Jesus Christ. This is a somewhat graphic response to the internal medicine of God's Word, albeit typical from a sinner initially reached with Gospel conversation. What does one do when confronted by a secular philosopher (or any educated sinner), well-educated and well-traveled? What if this philosopher engages you in a conversation about truth and knowledge? Will you be able to address the person on their level, where they are, and raise them up to where Christ is? And how are you to do this? Know God's Word! Speak God's Word! Live God's Word! Share God's Word:

"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.' Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater (philosopher) of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through (human) wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe," 1 Corinthians 1:18-21. Again, I say, know God's Word!

Recently, I was confronted by an elderly woman about knowledge, seeking to impart her wisdom to me. Her theory was one of proper growth in knowledge. That human knowledge is the highest sort of knowledge; that if one is to truly make the most of their short time on earth, and to advance in this world, one must take advantage of every sort of human knowledge already available to them apart from the knowledge that they have attained for themselves by their own study. If someone else has already attained the knowledge, then it is not necessary for me to do the leg work on it; all that I must do is listen and learn and grow. And while there is some validity to listening and learning from others, yet her philosophy was centered on humanism; she did not believe in a knowledge that transcends the natural level, or the human intuition. All that we need to know or can know is attainable for us via study or other beings, and the world around us.

So I responded. If knowledge is to be had, then ought we not to pursue that greatest sort of knowledge, that highest knowledge, which is of God the Father in heaven through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this knowledge does in fact transcend the natural man's ability to discern. If she had here admitted as much to be true, she would have necessarily had to forsake the foundation of her worldview and lifestyle and philosophical presuppositions. If God is the Sovereign of the universe, the Creator, the Almighty and Free Potter, the Alpha and Omega, and yet, the Author and Perfecter of faith, a Savior, a Lord that would willingly sacrifice Himself on a Roman cross for sinners, rebel enemies of this Almighty King; if God is Who is says He is, then to know Him is the highest and greatest sort of knowledge. Both reason and Scripture attest to this. For from the Fall, no one has known Him lest He reveal Himself to us through His eternal Son, Jesus Christ.

I quoted John 17:3 to this person. Here Jesus defines eternal life: "This is eternal life, that they know You the One True God, and Him Whom You have sent, Jesus Christ." This "know"ledge of the One True God through faith in Jesus Christ is a transcendent sort of knowledge; it goes beyond the earthly realm and penetrates into the heights of eternal glory; no man has ascended into heaven except He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven (John 3:13), and so God had to reveal these sort of truths because of the inability and exclusivity of man from heaven and, hence, the knowledge of spiritual things relating to the joyful reign of God in the soul and in glory and above all earthly powers.

Stunned to silence, I progressed with her to John 3:3, 5-8, and spoke to her the words of Christ to Nicodemus, who was likewise well-educated and experienced in his field, and yet, Christ breaks in upon his natural worldview and undoes any thought that Nicodemus had it all figured out. "Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God...unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." And just as Nicodemus was undone by these words, so the soul that God appointed to me for Gospel conversation was undone.

In an instance, her calm, cool, philosophical conjectures were turned to sarcasm, and inward rage, an inferno of pride. This educated, well-traveled philosopher was overwhelmed at the hearing of six verses of Holy Writ, Jesus Christ, the Word of God. Her intellect succumbed to her emotion, for her the lostness of her soul had been engaged by the Savior of the universe. Her philosophy bowed the knee to her religious ancestry, which I am sure was a last resort. What is more, she claimed Judaism! She was Jewish! Here I am by the appointment of God in a conversation with a philosopher who, herself, initiated our time together, and we are speaking about knowledge, and I have just quoted to her the words of Jesus, a Jew, to the Pharisee, Nicodemus, a Jew, about his need for a spiritual new birth without which he and all of his discernment are but "flesh", all of his natural knowledge falls short of that knowledge which saves and thereby transcends human understanding because the saving knowledge stands on the right side of faith, whereby the disciple of Christ is equipped with the lens of faith, the mind of Christ, the ministry of the Holy Spirit that we may initmately know God and worship Him.

To these things, she replied, "I see where you are coming from now...But I must go because I cannot endure what you are saying to me...what you are saying to me feels like acid being poured over my flesh." Six verses of Jesus Christ she could not endure and now I remember why - "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart"; and it is a terrible imagery that she gave, though she considered not the spiritual truth of it - "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned"! Acid on the flesh! What she meant in a physical fashion holds true in the spiritual realm; for though she meant it as illustration, yet her description was quite true of what she was inwardly experiencing - the Word of Christ was reverberating in her soul, like a hammer smashing through her hardness of heart, breaking down philosophical presuppositions, acting as a restraining agent, and I pray the womb of regeneration. She was confronted with the laver of the Word of God, and she called it acid. But, as acid will certainly eat away at the flesh, so the Word of God, in a sense, does the same, as it eats away, restrains, and cleanses that spiritual carnality that the Bible deems "the flesh".

I hope to see her quite often over the next several months. I find myself both greatly burdened for her because of her blindness, and I am thereby exceedingly earnest to continue to pursue her for the sake of the name of Christ; and though I stand burdened and hungry to share with her, I also stand in amazement at the power of God's Word, it's piercing, penetrating, lively, active, dividing, restraining, and saving power and the promise of God that it will not return to Him void when He has sent it out. Moreover, my great hope is that those six verses of Christ might continue to rain down upon the soils of her heart, softening her to the seed of the Gospel in due time, and that as Nicodemus was with Christ in the end, so in the end Christ will be in her and she in Him to the glory of our God. It is sufficient to conclude with this for now, that God's Word is awesome and powerful both to convict and to save; that the therefore, let we who love God through Christ attend to this Word with a great urgency in proportion to the urgent condition of the lost in this world, for the Word of the cross is the power of God to those who are being saved. Amen.

The Sovereignty of God: What About Evangelism?

If God is Sovereign over His salvation, then what of human responsibility? What of human accountability? What of evangelism and prayer and holiness and the rest of the means of conversion? In essence, what about me? Where do I fit in to this redemptive plan?

In these questions and the like stands a prominent problem. I do not here intend to type with an expansive keyboard about the aforementioned thoughts, but only to address this problem quite briefly that I see in the questions such as these that I have encountered from the lips of genuine, Jesus-loving Christians. Allow me, first, to address the problem, then the Scriptural support in contrast with the problem.

The problem is cultural individualism. At some point we grow out of a Christ-centeredness and become immersed in a self-centered culture, and as it pervades and permeates and flavors the thinking and affections of the body of Christ, so we digress back into an Ephesian state of affairs. We have continued in Christian activity but abandoned the right context for them, namely, our preeminent love for Christ. Many have come to view evangelism and prayer as things that we do because God is rendered disabled if we do not so engage, rather than the activities of a heart set ablaze by and for Christ.

The thought is that we are something, we are special, we are really awesome and on the cutting edge, and indeed, many churches today in this contemporary scene would boast in as much. But in so far as we adhere to this, we move away from the glory and beauty and honor due Christ. The apostle Paul knew of his inadequacy, his insufficiency for Christian ministry, and he made his boast Christ and Him crucified. And it is not that we should focus so much on our own inadequacy or insufficiency for these things as much as this is a cry for us to return to a vivid love of the adequacy and sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ for these things. For it is in a radical love and passionate dependency upon Christ's sufficiency to save rather than our own that will advance the Gospel most truly and powerfully.

Must we evangelize? Must we pray? Must we live holy lives? Must we venture into distant islands? Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! But if God were not the Lord of the harvest, all of our laboring would amount to something, just not sound, biblical born again Christians. If the Lord does not build the house, the laborers labor in vain (Ps 127:1). Must we labor? Absolutely! But our labor is met with worth and fruit because it is built by and upon God. I would emphatically state that God does need you and me to evangelize and pray, etc.; but, more than this, God wants us to do these things, and be assured of this, that unless we do these things the Gospel will not be advanced. But this is not to assume a human-centered advancement as if God is handicapped without you. God has made a donkey speak with greater wisdom than a man, angels attest of His glory, and if you do not delight in these means of conversion, then God will give mouths of praise to rocks, and they will cry out to sinners. God does not need you; but He enlists you for Himself, not to evangelize from a dutiful, human-centered soul, but from a soul that delights in Christ, delights in God, delights in what has been accomplished for you, and delights to share with others this Gospel of God's grace in Christ Jesus.

It is necessity, rightly considered, that we must adhere to, and this necessity belongs to active decree, not human exaltation. That is, if one begins to think themselves a necessity in the scheme of Gospel propagation because their complacency would thwart the plan and purpose of God, or that the omnipotent God would somehow become paralyzed by our sloth from saving sinners, then our understanding of our role is unbiblical. However, if when we say that God needs us to bear testimony of Christ unto the lost, and by that need, we mean that God in His infinite wisdom has actively ordained that His redeemed would proclaim the excellencies of our Redeemer, and that He has ordained that our sharing of the Gospel and our going to the nations and our praying for the lost is the sole and chosen means of propagating His grace and that His ordained end of saving sinners will not be accomplished without the means of conversion that He has decreed, then, indeed, God needs us to be the means of conversion. But, again, our necessity in the kingdom of God is an ordained necessity. In infinite wisdom, God chose to save sinners like you and me, and then to send us to those still in their sins. He could have ordained another way, but He did not! God's need is not due to a shortcoming of His ability as if He could not save apart from men; rather, the need is one that God chose as the means to the end of salvation.

One would do well to consider our Gospel endeavor as a thing necessary because it is what God has ordained as the means to His ends, but with that felt-necessity we ought to be humbled, not puffed up with pride; the need that we have expressed is better stated to be the desire of God and the overflow of the soul satisfied in Jesus Christ to the point where we are a continual aroma of Jesus to all men. The need is synonomous with an active desire on God's part, a "want" if you will may be more accurate, and so we ought to "want" to go to the nations armed with the Gospel.

I urge you to reconsider your motives in these things. As God has appointed ends, God has appointed means to those ends, and it is certain that if you do not participate in these things that God will enlist another who will delightfully do them, and you might consider again the state of your soul, as the father of modern missions, William Carey (a Calvinist), would write in his Enquiry, "conscientious activity therein (evangelism, etc) would form one of the strongest proofs that we are the subjects of grace." In other words, Gospel activity is one of the greatest evidences of your personal conversion. Spurgeon would add, "if you have no great desire to see the lost saved, then you yourself are not saved." Carey had two missionary motives that I believe we must keep in mind: "love for and obedience to the God who had redeemed him, and the state of the world without Christ. It is because of this twofold consideration that the people of God are obliged 'to use every lawful method to spread the knowledge of his name'" (Carey and the Missionary Vision, Webber, pg. 21).

In Romans 10:13-17, we are blessed with a wonderful text of God's missionary strategy:
"For 'everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!' But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, 'Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?' So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."

Hearing the Gospel is the means of faith. And God has sent preachers to proclaim and live this Gospel before all men unto the end of conversion. These are called the 'means of grace' without which no one would be "believe" and "call on the name of the Lord". We must go with the Gospel. This is our loving obedience for God and His grace, and our in depth awareness of the state of the sinner, made practical. We must go with the Gospel of grace. But be assured of this, though we go, if God does not there meet our endeavor by appointment and grace, our audience will reject the message because their own natural desire is to do just that. There were many that the disciples met on the road, stopping from door to door, and yet were greeted with rejection and scorn. Our encouragement in these things is that not all will reject; some will believe, and when they do give glory to God for their faith.

We are vessels of mercy, Beloved, garbage cans with the greatest Treasure within for the purpose of delighting in God, losing our lives by comparison to that delight, and moving actively with the Gospel. But we are vessels, garbage cans in the Greek (2 Cor. 4:7). We are not the mercy within; we are not the Treasure that saves; this is the Lord Jesus Christ, to "show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us."

There is a greater motivation inherent in God's sovereign rule and grace than in self-centered, human-empowering, demigod forming, individual exalting evangelistic methods. What becomes of Christ if one goes in this direction? Why need Him if we can do it? What of His power if He necessarily needs us? He is lost in the noise of human logic, philosophy, and pride. I would contend that God is sovereign in salvation, that He overcomes in power the rebellious faculties of the human soul, and that the whole of salvation belongs to God; and that we as the redeemed bride of Christ have been plucked out of the harvest by the Lord of the harvest to be commissioned by Him to be placed back in it for His glory and the means of grace unto the conversion of others still in the soils of the world. And this is a delight for us! God saves! God saves! God saves! And He does it through the Lord Jesus Christ alone! Because of this let us go more boldly with the Gospel of grace!

"Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord," 1 Corinthians 1:31. Soli Deo Gloria!