brianhenryblog

God, who is perfectly good and limitless created the universe. God sustains His creation expressing His kindness to all men. All men are to live in worship and obedience to God. All are accountable to Him.

In Adam and Eve mankind rebelled against God. All are born into the world in sin and under condemnation. Sin separates from God. The consequence of sin is physical and spiritual death. An eternal hell awaits those who remain in a state of sin and rebellion.

God in His grace has made a way for man to be reconciled to Him. By dying on the cross as a substitute for sinners, Jesus Christ provided the only way for those who repent to be forgiven for their sins. Heaven is the destination for those who receive Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour.

Jesus is alive and in His gospel offers spiritual life and a new relationship with God. To receive this life the sinner must do two basic things:

Turn from his sin and self-centered life and follow Jesus as Lord.
Trust that Jesus has done everything needed for our acceptance by God.
Acts16:31 declares: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”

Here are the steps every one must take in order to experience salvation.

Admit that you are a sinner – Romans 3:23
Realize that the penalty of sin is eternal death – Romans 6:23a
Acknowledge that there is nothing you can do to save yourself – Romans 3:20
Realize that Christ has paid the penalty for sin – Romans 5:8-9
Repent (turn from) of your sin – Luke 13:3
Believe in (turn to) Jesus Christ alone for salvation – Romans 10:9

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Romans 3:23

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Romans 6:23a

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 3:20

“Therefore no one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.”

Romans 5:8-9

“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him!”

Luke 13:3

“I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Romans 10:9-10

“If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”

Illustration: I often use the ABC’s of the gospel:
1. Admit that you are sinner and repent.

2. Believe in Christ as your Savior and the Lord who forgives all sin.

3. Confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and ask Him to come into your life as the only one who can give you the gift of eternal life. (Rom. 10:9,10)

The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who  supress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18).

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There is none righteous, not even one (Rom. 3:10).

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All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23).

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The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23).

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The second death is the eternal lake of fire (Rev. 20:14).

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But God demonstrated His own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8).

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God justifies (believers) as a gift, by His grace, through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (Rom. 3:24).

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If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. (Rom. 10:9-10, 13).

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There is therefore now, no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

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Those God justifies He glorifies. Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:30, 35-39).

I have never aspired to be known as a theologian, a polemicist, or an academician. My passion is teaching and confronting the world with the Word of God.

Even though I’ve dealt with theological questions and doctrinal controversies in some of my emails, I have never done so from the perspective of a systematic theologian. It is of little concern to me whether some point of doctrine fits with this tradition or that. I want to know what is biblical. All my concerns are biblical, and my desire is to be biblical in all my teaching.

My father was a preacher whose only desire was to “Preach the Word!” That simple statement became the compelling stimulus in his heart. It is all he desired do in his ministry– teach the Word.

Preachers today face a tremendous amount of pressure to do everything but teach the Word. Church growth experts tell them they must address people’s “felt needs.”

They are encouraged to be
storytellers,
fantasy literature analysts,
movie reviewers,
comedians,
psychologists, and
motivational speakers.

They are warned to steer clear of topics that people find unpleasant. Many have given up biblical teaching in favor of devotional homilies designed to make people feel good. But the teacher whose passion is biblical has only one option: “Teach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2)

Preaching  the Word is not always easy. The message we are required to proclaim is often offensive. Christ Himself is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense (Romans 9:33; 1 Peter 2:8). The message of the cross is a stumbling block to some (1 Corinthians 1:23; Galatians 5:11), mere foolishness to others (1 Corinthians 1:23).

But we are never permitted to trim the message or tailor it to people’s preferences. Paul made this clear to Timothy at the end of 2 Timothy 3:
“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” (v. 16, emphasis added). This is the Word to be preached: the whole counsel of God (cf. Acts 20:27).

In chapter 1 Paul had told Timothy, “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me” (v. 13). He was speaking of the revealed words of Scripture–all of it. He urged Timothy to “Guard . . . the treasure which has been entrusted to you” (v. 14). Then in chapter 2 he told him to study the Word and handle it accurately (2:15). Now he is telling him to proclaim it. So the entire task of the faithful teacher revolves around the Word of God–guarding it, studying it, and proclaiming it.

In 1 Corinthians he states. “When I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (2:2). In other words, his goal as a teacher was not to entertain people with his rhetorical style, or to amuse them with cleverness, humor, novel insights, or sophisticated methodology–he simply preached Christ crucified.

Be Faithful In and Out of Season

Teaching is a never-ending task. Not only are we to teach the Word, we must do it regardless of the climate of opinion around us. We are commanded to be faithful when such teaching is tolerated–but also when it is not.”

Paul says we are to teach the Word even when it is not in fashion. The expression he uses is “be ready.” The Greek term (ephistemi) literally means “to stand beside.” It has the idea of eagerness. It was often used to describe a military guard, always at his post, prepared for duty.

Reprove, Rebuke, and Exhort

Paul also gives Timothy instructions about the tone of his teaching. He uses two words that carry negative connotations and one that is positive: reprove, rebuke, and exhort. All valid teaching must have a balance of positive and negative. The teacher who fails to reprove and rebuke is not fulfilling his commission.

Reproving, rebuking, and exhorting are the same as teaching the Word. “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). Notice the same balance of positive and negative tone. Reproof and correction are negative; teaching and training are positive. The teacher should confront sin and then encourage repentant sinners to behave righteously. He is to do this “with great patience and instruction” (4:2).

Don’t Compromise in Difficult Times

There is an urgency in Paul’s charge to young Timothy: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires” (2 Tim. 4:3).

Note that Paul does not suggest that the way to reach such a society is to soften the message so that its people will be comfortable with it. Just the opposite is true. Such ear-tickling is abominable.

The truth of God does not tickle our ears. It burns them. It reproves, rebukes, convicts–then it exhorts and encourages. Teachers of the Word must be careful to maintain that balance.

No one can teach with power who does not teach the Word. And no faithful teacher will water down or neglect the whole counsel of God. Proclaiming the Word–all of it–is the teachers calling

 

Matthew 18:  18-20

 

“Verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven. And whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall have been loosed in heaven. Again, I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them by my Father who is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” 

 

 

That’s great authority. We’re ambassadors of heaven on earth. Just a glorious, glorious incomprehensible thought. The word agree there is worth noting, sumphoneo, from which we get the word symphony. It means to produce a sound together. When all of you who are looking into this person’s life agreed that his sin is still there or his sin is repented of, whatever it is, covering anything the Father will be agreement with you.

 

I don’t think this verse is talking about a blank check for prayer and it’s been utterly misused. Just ripped out of it’s context and these two people just have…most people think just mean any two people, and if you can just get two people to agree, God has to give you what you agreeing for.

 

I’ve heard that said so many times. That isn’t the point. The two here are the two witnesses in a case of church discipline, a sinning person, and they really want god’s will done and they really want what’s right, but if they agree over this issue and the follow the biblical pattern, they can be confident that in their seeking for God’s will they will receive it and God will do what’s right.

 

Not only does the Father in heaven act with us, but the Son on earth acts with us. This is a dual divine authority. The Son on earth acts with us, verse 20. And here’s another verse that gets terribly misapplied,

 

“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

 

 Now you’ve probably heard that in a dozen prayer meetings you’ve been at. If we can just get two or three people together God will be there. Listen, if you’ve just got one person, God’s there, right? I used to worry about that when I was a kid at Cregagh Street Gospel Hall because I heard some people preach on that sermon. “Where two or three are gathered together there am I in the midst.” And I thought well, what happens when one person prays?

 

You see that isn’t what that’s talking about. What are the two or three in this context? Two or three what? 

 

Two or three witnesses and the discipline. You see that’s why it’s so important to teach the flow of the Scripture. Two or three witnesses, when you gather in my name, what does that mean? To do my works Jesus says. What’s Your work? I’m moving among the church. And when you gather together in my name to reflect my character and my will there am I in the midst of that, be it in a house, a gospel hall, or a baptist church.

 

Isn’t that a great confidence? Not only is heaven acting…is the Father acting in heaven with us, but the Son is there on earth with us. Never are you more fulfilling the will of God and the work of the Son than when you’re acting in the purging and the purifying of His own church. We all have to be a part of that beloved, ministers of holiness

As a young Christian I struggled to find God’s will – then I came across the following explanation:

I have finished reading Tim Keller’s book on social justice. Here are some of my initial reactions to the book. To begin with you should know that Keller says “the primary purpose of salvation is – cultural renewal – to make this world a better place.” Whether you agree or disagree with that statement – it’s certainly not a doctrine found in scripture. On page 127, Generous Justice, Keller states that, “Many Christians resist the idea that social systems need to be dealt with directly, they prefer the idea that ‘society is changed one heart at a time.’ and so they concentrate on evangelism and individual social work. This is naive.” Really, what did Jesus say about this? Jesus gave us our Mission Statement: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Matthew 28 19-20 Something else I found especially disturbing about Keller’s book, “Generous Justice” is that in footnote #15 in Chapter 1, he says that while he normally uses the NIV (New International Version) translation of the Bible that, “Sometimes I provide my own translations.” This was stunning to me when I read it. I’ve never seen a Christian writer provide “their own” translation of the Bible! Normally a writer will use whatever translation he uses and then expound upon it if he has some broader insight that he has gained from reading it in the original languages. But Keller in the instances where he quotes Scripture, simply provides his own translation at various points. When a single author decides to provide his own translation, what checks and balances keep his biases out of the process? Who is he accountable to? And how can we the readers ever challenge the author when his personal translations make it seem as if the Bible is in complete agreement with his views? Keller provides us a couple examples of his personal translations. One is taken from Psalms 33:5 which in the NIV says: “The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.” And Keller retranslates it to say this: “The Lord loves SOCIAL JUSTICE; the earth is full of his unfailing love.” A Marxist reading this would think the Bible was in perfect alignment with socialist thought. Keller did two disturbing things here. First he took out the word “righteousness” altogether (which conveniently removes the idea of sin, something Keller tends to avoid) and he replaces the word “justice” with the term “social justice” which when looked at from its historical usage is most definitely NOT what the Lord loves! There’s a reason the Bible translators have not used the phrase “social justice” there! Because they are presumably aware of its socialist connotations derived from the historical context and usage of the phrase. However, by providing his own personal translation, Keller makes it appear as if the Lord is in complete agreement with a socialist view of justice. There are some things in this book that all Christians would agree on – including the importance of mercy in the Christian’s life. However there is a very big difference between individual mercy and church mercy. The latter has very strict guidelines. For example, on financial support for widows, the church is only to support widows who: 1. Do not have any relatives, children or grandchildren that are able to support them; 2. Are not be less than sixty years old; 3. If she was the wife of one husband; 4. If she sets her hopes on God (i.e. a faithful believer) who devotes her time and energy in much prayers and supplications day and night; 5. Not be self indulgent; 6. Have a good reputation for good works 7. If she has brought up her children well in the Lord 8. Shown hospitality to strangers 9. Washed the feet of the saints. (i.e. served believers in humility and service) 10. Not be a gossiper and busybody Only when these criteria are met, is the church allowed to provide financial support for her. 1 Tim 5:16b for example, clearly writes that “Let the church not be burdened, so that it may care for those who are truly widows.” This is very different from the social gospel or social activism that is advocated in his book, where the church’s money is used to give to the needy in the community– whether they serve the Lord, or in some cases, even if they are unbelievers who need financial support. Can individual believers support those in need? Yes! Should the church use its money to support these? No; unless these biblical criteria are met. This distinction is very important if we want our giving to be pleasing to God!