False Christian teachings, trends….
The music video of this post is a great portrayal of the spiritual struggle that the apostle Paul describes in Romans 7. The artist, Ren, portrays the internal spiritual warfare; he even portrays the voice of the Tempter about half way through the video. A couple of reviews of the song are linked.
In the Mp3 lesson of this post, R C Sproul teaches about the making of the Mosaic covenant, the 10 Commandments and the ceremonial law. He made the topics understandable and interesting. His closing definitions about symbols and types were very interesting, particularly explanations about how the tabernacle symbolized Christ….
The preacher begins by addressing the context of the epistle to the Hebrews, written to Jewish Christians who were becoming discouraged in their faith. He emphasizes the importance of prayer in the Christian life and highlights the difficulties that can arise when attempting to pray. …In conclusion, Dr. Lloyd-Jones exhorts his listeners to rely solely on Jesus Christ and His finished work for access to God in prayer, rather than on human efforts, rituals, or earthly intermediaries. [In the last third of the message, he compared the RCC to the old way that the Hebrews were also struggling with. His comparison helped me see another problem with such rituals and sensual stimuli: although MLJ likely preached this sermon in the 1950-60’s, protestants are still going back to Rome in our day; MLJ’s words might help such people see their error more clearly.]
In this post, R C Sproul provided an explanation of God’s plan of redemption via covenants. He explained how the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants are related and many significant facts about the formation of the nation of Israel. If you are trying to understand the plot of the Bible and God’s plan of redemption, then you must understand the covenants. Part 2 of the Mosaic covenant will explain the role of the decalogue…. [My purposes in presenting this material, are to help readers discover that the Old and New Testaments are intimately connected via covenants; and that the way of salvation since Genesis 3, has been by God’s grace through Christ; and that there has only ever been ONE people of God, as is stated in Ephesians. Many believe there are two people of God: Israel and the church, because of erroneous dispensationalist dogma that have thoroughly permeated this culture for the past 190 years.]
In this sermon on 1 Corinthians 1:20 titled “Christmas and the Modern Man,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preaches that the true meaning of Christmas is something that seems offensive, and even foolish, to the natural person. Today’s culture has missed the reason why God sent His Son to Earth in the first place; that is, to reconcile humanity back to Himself. This is the part of the gospel message that is offensive; the Christmas story makes one realize that they are helpless enough that they need a baby to come save them. Christmas is truly a miraculous story. A virgin gives birth to a boy who will save humanity from their sins. This message sounds like foolishness, yet this is the message that all must come to grips with and in hope believe that Jesus was the promised King who will redeem humanity.
“You can’t be a Christian without being aware of the fact that God is dealing with you, is concerned about you, is doing something to you. God’s got his hands upon you.” ―Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. …”To be a Christian means that we have had an experience of the grace of God; that is essential Christianity.” Diving into Mary’s Magnificat, we see the recounting of her response to God’s work; in a sense this was the first Christian experience. More than an amazement that she would have a child was the realization of what God was doing on a larger scale. Christianity is, “the life of God in the souls of men.” It is about what God does to us, not what we have done. The mark of a Christian is the experience of God’s grace, but this does not look exactly the same for everyone.
Because of Adam’s sin, the whole world became subject to sin and the rule of Satan. The devil, also called the prince of the world, blinds people from seeing and believing in the truth of the gospel. In this sermon on Ephesians 6:10–13 titled “The Strong Man Disarmed,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones describes the way Christ has broken the grip that the evil one has on the world. For Jesus has bound the strong man and by the proclamation of the gospel, the works of Satan and all who follow him are destroyed.
In times of battle and great war, military leaders will do all that is necessary in order to obtain information about their enemy’s strategy. Likewise, in the spiritual warfare of the Christian, they have to know how the enemy will attack. Thankfully, they have been told in God’s word who the enemy is and how he operates. Therefore, there is great encouragement in considering the works of the devil. In this sermon on spiritual warfare from Ephesians 6:10–13 titled “The Wiles of the Devil,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones uses this Scripture to aid the Christian in their understanding of the fiery darts that come from his hand and his evil army. While Satan is not omnipresent and is always subservient to God, he nevertheless has much power. His attacks on the world and Christian people specifically are strategic….
The sermon of this post is an introduction to Ephesians 6:10 and the passage about the armor of God. This is foundational stuff for the Christian because it is about the daily warfare that automatically becomes a major part of the born-again Christian’s experience.
This post contains two 5-minute videos about death; and a 2-minute scripture reading of Proverbs 5: VIDEO 1: Pastor Daniel read the final words of 8 atheists and 5 Christians. We all need reminding of just how close death is and we need to think about the state of our souls, as our opportunities to seek God’s grace run out at the time of death. VIDEO 2: a video about the un-biblical Roman Catholic concept of purgatory. When I listened to video 1, I realized that many do not think that their eternal destiny is locked in when they die, like the Bible says. I was glad to find a video and article by Got Questions that biblically addresses this falsehood. (The article on Purgatory has several links to matters that are extremely relevant to the matter of death and eternal life) finally, video 3, a reading of Proverbs 5. Below that, I pasted in the scripture and a succinct commentary with some verses.