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Grace Baptist Church: Troy Dukes

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September 24, 2017, 10:45:16 pm Psalm 51:17 says: The specific rule pertaining to the national anthem is found on pages A62-63 of the league rulebook. It states: “The National Anthem must be played prior to every NFL game, and all players must be on the sideline for the National Anthem. “During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking. The home team should ensure that the American flag is in good condition. It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country. Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violations of the above, including first offenses.”
September 20, 2017, 04:32:32 am Christian40 says: "The most popular Hepatitis B vaccine is nothing short of a witch’s brew including aluminum, formaldehyde, yeast, amino acids, and soy. Aluminum is a known neurotoxin that destroys cellular metabolism and function. Hundreds of studies link to the ravaging effects of aluminum. The other proteins and formaldehyde serve to activate the immune system and open up the blood-brain barrier. This is NOT a good thing."
http://www.naturalnews.com/2017-08-11-new-fda-approved-hepatitis-b-vaccine-found-to-increase-heart-attack-risk-by-700.html
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Author Topic: Grace Baptist Church: Troy Dukes  (Read 16836 times)
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« Reply #30 on: April 13, 2015, 10:47:09 pm »

A SERIOUS RESPONSE to those who use the New Covenant in Christ to attempt to prove there is no male or female, therefore both can be Pastors.

Please understand that the words of the Bible cannot be counteracted by bad interpretation.  The gospel did not change the nature of human beings.  Although it set aside the ceremonies and the sanitary laws and the demands that the law had on our soul for payment, it did not change how God created us.  For instance, animals still need 1 in 7 days to rest.  The Sabbath, as a day, cannot be set aside without changing the nature of animals and man.  We need to rest and worship 1 day in seven.  Jesus death on the cross in no way changed our nature.  I am sure you can agree with this.  The problem with your argument is that you are coming at the thing all wrong.  You are arguing that the death of Christ and the institution of the new Covenant has abolished our nature.  You see, the argument that women are not to lead men, according to the apostle Paul, is that a woman is not, "to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man."  This is a New Testament passage, therefore your entire argument, that "this is the New Covenant and Jesus set the old aside," is already void before I set forth 2 more reasons why it cannot be valid.  However, your argument is also not valid because Paul makes his argument based on (1) creation and the (2) nature of women.  This could not change after the gospel era.  Jesus did not come to change our natures.  His 1st argument is that Adam was formed first, then Eve.  This means that in the created order, Adam had responsibilities that Eve did not.  This is not God respecting persons, but being orderly.  2nd, he states that Eve was deceived, not Adam.  This means that Eve's nature is more likely to be deceived than Adam.  Therefore, she proved in the Garden that she is not fit to lead, but that God fit the man to lead.  Paul made the argument.  Paul made the argument in the New Testament.  Paul wrote Galatians and he said it, not me.  He did not allow a woman to have authority over the man.  If you do not like this, do not use Paul to argue against his own stand.  He was not a bigot.  He was not a respecter of persons.  He was not adding OT laws and ordinances to the NT.  He wrote Galatians, and he forbids women to have authority over a man.  It does not matter what you think, a woman cannot be a pastor according to the Bible.  You can take as many thoughts as you want, but this IS the NT.  Man did not change natures when Jesus died.  God did not change the nature and reverse all the family order since creation.  God did not eliminate the duties of a bride to usher in a new system with two heads.  If you think submission is a yoke of bondage, then you will never enjoy being a Christian, that is all there is to Christianity, submission.  It is not bondage it, it is freedom.  Children are not yoked with obedience to their parents.  Citizens are not yoked with obedience to good laws.  We are not yoked with submission to each other. And women are not yoked with the same obedience Christ willingly offered to His Father, though they were equal.
Pastor Dukes
www.GraceBaptistWPB.com
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« Reply #31 on: April 13, 2015, 11:35:42 pm »

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« Reply #32 on: April 14, 2015, 10:06:44 pm »

Pastor Dukes is NOT a non-dispensationalist heretic(he's pre-trib, and believes the ToJT period focuses largely on Israel).

Nonetheless, this is a very interesting read.

FOR PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT THE DOCTRINE OF SALVATION...

Some very important additional considerations for the doctrine that men are saved differently in different dispensations:
1. Adam and Eve did not have salvation by works in the garden.  They were innocent and did not need salvation.  They were not sinners, so there was nothing to be saved from. They lived by God's power, but they had no sin, therefore they enjoyed God without need of a Savior.  The angels have not sinned, and there is no Savior for angels.
2. Adam and Eve were saved, after they sinned by faith in a substitute.  The picture of a sacrifice was given so they could have faith in the seed to come, the Messiah.  Their faith had to be in the fulfillment of the sacrifice, and the promised Messiah.  The blood was shed to picture Christ.
3. Abraham was saved by faith alone in Christ alone.  He understood the picture of a coming Messiah.  He was justified, according to Romans, JUST LIKE WE ARE, "to him who worketh not, but believeth…his faith is counted as righteousness.  There was not even a little work, or his example cannot be for us.  No law, no circumcision, no works - just faith.  That's what the good book says.
4. Under the Mosaic Law they were saved by faith.  One may say, were they not REQUIRED to offer sacrifices?  Indeed they were, but the book of Hebrews plainly declares that sacrifices never took away one sin.  So though it was required, it could not in any way save or add to faith.  These were only pictures of what Jesus does for us by faith.
5. There can be no mixture of faith and works in any dispensation.  Remember Romans 11:6.  Salvation is either by faith or works, but they CANNOT be combined.  Any talk of some faith and some works should be dismissed out of hand without debate, that is like saying something is a little free and not free at the same time.
6. When Jesus was upon the earth, he called men to faith in Himself and condemned anyone who did not believe in Him.  We same verses that He used to tell people to believe on Him for everlasting life are the ones He gave when He was present.  He called it faith while He was standing there.  For someone to say that we cannot call this faith is to say Jesus was wrong.  Of course, that is absurd.
7. In the church age we are saved by grace alone right?  Not by works of righteousness which we have done…  So how can faith be what saves us and Abraham be our example, unless the same faith saved him?  How can we have a “hall of faith” in Hebrews 11 if they were all saved by works and faith together (which is a contradiction anyway Romans 11:6).  Either their lives were by faith or they were by works.  That is the Bible.  No body want to say their lives were lived by works.  Therefore, we need to end the idea that some were saved any other way than faith alone in Christ alone.
8. In the tribulation time, the Bible states in revelation 14 that saints have the faith of Jesus and keep His commandments.  Do not be fooled to think that salvation then comes by the keeping of the commandments.  Here are two Bible reasons.  First, we are told by the apostles that there is no law or commandment given that can take away sin, therefore, the law does not presently exist that can add to faith and save us.  Second, the revelation of God has ceased and we have it in the Bible.  So if it is not given, and the revelation has already ceased, it will not be given.  Men are saved by faith or works without the possibility of mixture.  There is no law given besides the faith of Jesus that can take away sin.  Finally, there will be no more commandment revealed.  So it will always be impossible and has always been impossible for any laws, or rules or commandments to in any way procure our salvation or recommend us to God.  This can only come on the merits of Jesus, looking past or forward, and only by faith in His blood.  Some will object that if you take the mark of the beast after you get save, then you will not be saved in the end.  To this, we reply that if the elect could be deceived, this would be true, but the Bible tells us that the elect will not be deceived by the antichrist.  If they follow him, they prove they loved the lie and not the truth.  They must be given over to believe the lie to follow him.  Though all who worship the beast get the wrath of God, there is not Scriptural evidence that any true saints will worship the beast.  That is speculation and is not proved by Scripture.
9. Toward the end of the tribulation, at the judgment, Jesus separates those who visited Him in prison and gave Him water from those who did not.  Doe this prove that they are saved by works and not faith?  The question is, how could God receive those as good works, unless He created the works Himself?  The fruit of the righteous are by Jesus Christ.  Man cannot produce the first good work without being redeemed first, for all man’s good works are fruits of repentance and fruit of the Holy Spirit, and done by Jesus in us.  Remember, “Without Me ye can do nothing.”  So unless these were saved first, they cannot do anything God will approve.  The idea that they earned their salvation by giving a glass of water when Jesus had to die on a cross to procure it is ridiculous.  Additionally, their good deeds must flow from a good heart, made so first, for “a good tree produces good fruit.”  They must already be saved or God would not approve their works.  Somebody had to MAKE the tree good first, or it could NEVER produce good fruit.  This is the same plan we are under.
10. What about the millennium?  The question is can a man have faith when he can see God?  Let us ask did Jesus trust his Father?  Could Jesus not see the Father?  When He sees the Father, can He trust Him?  In Hebrews 11 we are told faith is the evidence of things not seen.  Someday our faith will be made sight.  At that time we will have no more sin nature and will be free from the presence of sin.  But what of those who still must be saved.  If they can see Jesus as we can, can they still be saved as we were without seeing Him?  Yes, One Thousand times yes!  Read John 20:29, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”  Thomas believed while he was looking at Jesus.  This is no contradiction.  Jesus said he did it and we will believe without seeing Him.  So unless Jesus was greatly mistaken, someone who is looking right at his glorified body CAN believe.

11. To sum up.  The Bible says that it is impossible to be saved by any other faith than by the faith of Abraham who did NOT work but believed and was accounted righteous.  The Bible plainly says you can NEVER mix faith and works.  You must have either faith or works.  There is no such thing as a combination.  Finally, Jesus plainly taught that men can believe while they are staring into Jesus’ face.  To say the only faith is that which is unseen, is unscriptural and contradicts the plain words of Christ.  Nobody ever got saved any other way than by faith alone in Christ alone, with the faith that produces good fruit.
 
 
Pastor Troy Dukes
www.GraceBaptistWPB.com
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« Reply #33 on: April 16, 2015, 04:10:04 pm »

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« Reply #34 on: April 20, 2015, 12:41:12 pm »

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« Reply #35 on: April 21, 2015, 10:11:37 pm »

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« Reply #36 on: April 24, 2015, 09:01:36 am »

Some reflections on the implications of repentance.  Is it just believing that Jesus is God or yielding to the truth of it in your heart?
 
It is not possible to admit Jesus is God and not to follow Him, unless by that you mean to admit he is God just like the devils.  To admit He is God and refuse to follow Him is flat out rejection, not faith in Him.  The response to follow Him is a result of the recognition that He is God.  The actual following Him is not the recognition.  The actual following Him is the fruit of repentance, or sanctification. Is there no difference between repentance, and fruit meet for repentance?  The former is a change of mind the latter is sanctification.  Otherwise, fruit meet for repentance must mean living as though you believe God is in charge, but refusing His authority over you, just like the devils do.  Fruit meet for repentance then is living like a devil, against what you know to be true.  This is absurd.

To believe that He is God is a universal idea of supremacy.  Look up "God" in the dictionary.  It means Supreme Being.  That means He gets to be in charge.  Otherwise you effectively reject that He is God.  The devils affirm the truth of it, but reject the implications.  When a man gets saved he is led of the Holy Spirit.  For anyone to have their mind changed about who Jesus is, and that change end up rejecting Him as God in the heart, is not repentance, it is not the leading of the Holy Spirit, it is rejection.  Just because the effects of genuine repentance results in a changed life, does not mean that this definition confuses sanctification.  It means that there is a Biblical difference between repentances and fruit meet for repentance, or the change of mind required by God and the resultant change of life that follows.  The heart changes when it decides who God is.  The man replaces the devil with Christ as God in his heart.  This is the only gospel way to recognize the deity of Christ.  The devils believe in God and tremble, but they do not yield to God's authority.  They know He is in charge, but have no desire to follow Him.  We do not wish to say that man gets saved by believing about the gospel, but not upon Christ. If you believe that man must go further than a devil when he believes to be saved, then you must acknowledge the true definition of repentance and it changes the heart, not just the beliefs about God.

If I change my mind about who owns me (God) it will affect my behavior (sanctification), but I did not get sanctified to get saved.  I got saved to get sanctified.  The low view of repentance does not deliver a man from the power of Satan to the power of God, does not translate a man out of the kingdom of darkness and into light, does not purify the heart by faith, or bring a man to the faith that works by love, he sows to the flesh, but will reap everlasting life contrary to the Bible.  Galatians 6:8.
Consider these thoughts and reflect upon their implications.
Love in Christ
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« Reply #37 on: April 25, 2015, 02:52:05 pm »

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« Reply #38 on: April 25, 2015, 02:54:56 pm »

What Has Happened To Christianity?

We want to preach the same Christianity that has always delivered men from the Devil. There are those who would have us believe that there is no such thing as repentance from sin. They hold that repentance is merely a change of mind about how to get to heaven. They cry foul if anyone speaks of surrendering the heart to God as though this is working your way to heaven. They boast of standing only on faith, while the doctrine of repentance, they say is a work, and a doctrine from hell! Are they right? Absolutely not. Here is why.

We will have to breeze over two impressive arguments, but I will state them anyway.

1) This is the way salvation has ALWAYS been preached. They would have us believe that everybody got it wrong until they discovered the hidden truth. Really? All of Christianity got it wrong until the mid 1900's? Even the Mormons pre-date this false teaching of no repentance

2) Did all the Greek scholars, who read and wrote fluently in multiple languages, enough to give us a version like the King James Bible, not notice that repentance was just a change of mind, and not a change of direction. They did not know the literal meaning of repent was a change of mind? They accidentally or deceptively "added" that it was a change of heart? Could it be that this really is the contextual meaning and all these men were actually right?

3) On to more serious arguments. Jesus said in John 8:44, " Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." All lost men serve the devil. That is a Bible fact. So what happens when a person gets saved? They are faced with a choice. Since Jesus is God, He should be the new Master. If you want to receive Christ, you must choose Him over the Devil. This, they would have us believe, is a sin, a trick of the Devil, and will send you to hell. Wow! The Devil tricks you OUT of his service and INTO Christ arms to love Him. Did not Jesus say a kingdom divided cannot stand? Would the Devil fight himself? Now we are not asking anyone to depend upon their work to save them ,we are saying to receive Chris you must reject the Devil, that you cannot receive both Christ and the Devil. Jesus said that "no man can serve two masters. So if you do not serve Christ, you do serve the Devil. This means that when a man finds out that Jesus is God, and that Jesus died to save him from hell and the Devil, a man receives Christ and rejects the Devil. This we are told is earning your salvation. We are told that one mus retain submission to the Devil, or he cannot be saved. If we say a person must reject the Devil, we are of the Devil. That is backwards and dangerous.

4) We are told a sinner only wants to go to heaven. They cannot understand the deeper parts of theology and sanctifiction until after they are saved and start growing. Then they surrender to Jesus. Before that, they cannot because they do not know enough. Beside the fact that this is no where in the Bible, let us boldly assert that this is poppycock. This only makes sens to those blinded to any sort of reason. First, a man must believe Jesus is God to be saved. What is God, but the Supreme Being? This, by virtue of His nature means He has a supreme claim on our obedience. As God, He owns and rules everything. If you do not know this you cannot be saved. Yet, if you can know Jesus is God, how can you NOT know that you are to submit to Him? To refuse surrender to Jesus now is to effectively telling God to back off while you rule yourself. This is the faith and recepion of Jesus they give us. "Come and save me, but back down from calling yourself God, I am still God around here." Who cannot see that this cannot be the faith required of God?

5)We are told that sinners do not know they must surrender to the authority of God because they do not know enough. Agian let us inquire, what must a person know to know they are a sinner? They must know that God makes law. They must know that God has a right to make Law and they have a duty to obey. They must know that they have broken God's Law, and that they deserve to be punished in hell for eternity. All this they must know to know they are a sinner, yet we are to believe, in all this they still do not know that they must turn from sin! They do not know that they should serve God and not the Devil? They do not know that they should submit to the God they know they offended? These teachers would have us believe that a sinner has no idea that they should not go right on sinning the very offences that made them guilty and caused them to incur the wrath of God! Even a child knows better when they touch a stove, they should not continue. This knowledge and heart change toward God is called a work, and a lie from hell! When does a man figure out that God is supposed to be loved? If the cross and a dying Savior cannot communicate that and change a heart, if the threats of the Law do not arouse his suspicions that he is in great error in his ways, then what does God have left? The end of the commandment is Jesus Christ. That is where you end up, in Christ's arms.

Finally, we ask, have you never read that Jesus has already describe what you call faith as a dishonor to God, and a false profession? Mark 7:6-7, "He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments." If you profess to know God with your mouth, but deny Him in your heart by following the Devil, you are a hypocrite, not a Christian. The doctrine of God does not leave you in the Devils arms. It destroys the works of the Devil. Jesus plainly declares that all who call on God, but do not draw near to God in heart, are following man's doctrine and not God's. Enough of this crying foul that a call to holiness is a call to hell. Where does holiness come from, me or Jesus? Since it comes from Jesus,we are not looking to self. Enough of this calling a rejection of the Devil and reception of Jesus in the heart a lie of Satan. Would Satan trick me into the love of Jesus and hatred of sin? Enough of this saying that surrendering to Christ is not faith. Are we made perfect by the works of the flesh or by the hearing of the law? Does a man work hard to become holy, or does he rather recognize the saving power in Christ to deliver him from sin and the Devil? One look to the real Jesus offered in Scripture and a man is set free from the bondage of the Devil. This does not mean he will never sin again. It means he chooses Christ. Has Christianity come to the place where we offer a two God system? A Devil to rule you and a Jesus to take you to heaven. Let us be about the business of delivering people "from the power of Satan to the power of God." That's the gospel, the soul saving message that brings Christ to His new throne in the soul, and saves a man from hell and the Devil.

Pastor Troy Dukes
www.GaceBaptistWPB.com
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« Reply #39 on: May 01, 2015, 02:57:16 pm »

The Absurdity of Two Gospels - One of Paul and one of Peter...

When Jesus told the disciples to preach the gospel and baptize, then Paul must have come along and preached another gospel, while claiming there was no other gospel. He would have preached first in the synagogues to the Jews.  He would have to preach a different gospel not recorded, while the Gentiles listened. Some of them heard and believed. At which time he must have next preached to them the Gentile gospel. When Paul went to the synagogues first he would first need to preach Peter's gospel, then unpreach it to the Gentiles.  When Jesus told the disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, they would have understood Him to mean the "Jewish" version to only the Jewish creatures. When Paul came to the men of Jerusalem with a completely NEW gospel they had never heard before, they must have accepted him and his new gospel that Jesus did not teach during His three years of ministry.  When Paul baptized Gentiles at Corinth, then he really must not have done it.  When he preached repentance, and fruit meet for repentance, that would be completely different than Peter, who also preached repentance,  because Peter must have preached salvation by works, not faith. Peter, therefore, preached the salvation that Paul spent his life arguing NEVER existed and doomed the Jews for they did not seek salvation by faith. These are the absurdities of believing two gospels in the face of the apostle Paul who said anyone who brings another gospel (though he states there is NO OTHER) let him be damned of God.  Yet, in all this, we are to believe that Peter and Paul preached two ways to get to God, one by faith and another by works and faith.  Paul said there was no such mixture possible (Rom 11:6), yet we are to believe that the apostles were busy preaching another gospel than brought upon them the condemnation of God.  All this we must believe if we are to accept that there ever was a gospel for the Jews and a different plan of salvation to for the Gentiles.  I will leave you to consider two small words that dispel this entire false teaching: "For I am not ashamed of THE gospel of Christ: for IT is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the _Jew first, and also to the Greek."
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« Reply #40 on: May 02, 2015, 11:29:51 am »

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« Reply #41 on: May 04, 2015, 11:28:09 pm »

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« Reply #42 on: May 05, 2015, 09:11:45 am »

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« Reply #43 on: May 05, 2015, 09:56:32 am »

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« Reply #44 on: May 07, 2015, 12:09:55 pm »

Does History Matter?
It may be irrelevant what ridiculous ideas some people have come up with. This does not mean that history does not matter when it comes to Christianity. Few study history, much less Church History. Yet, we can find a very valuable lesson from it. All true Christians have the Holy Spirit that is true today and in Church History. This means we can expect to find a distinct teaching about salvation throughout. We can expect that though good men disagreed on many things, the one thing men of God should have agreed about is the gospel. If this is true, then we can study their writings, see the agreement and spot a phony new doctrine right away. If we are ignorant of history, we will likely be taken by some clever form of new doctrine. This will mean we have left the fold of the Christian gospel for a destructive counterfeit, and repudiated all the godly preachers as wrong. We will effectively be saying, "no generation of Christian ever understood the gospel until now." Not only is this very arrogant, but it is very dangerous.

So what is the universally understood gospel that was taught across denominational lines since the founding of the church? It is the gospel that makes men holy and fit for heaven. Preachers through the ages have preached a free salvation, a single way to get to God, by the blood of Jesus. Through faith in His name all your sins are forgiven, and God's wrath is set aside, having been poured out on Jesus. They preached repentance. They preached it loud and strong. They preached that a man must abhor sin and turn from the love of it to the love of Jesus or they will remain lost. They preached that no work or repentance can earn you any favor with God or wash a single sin away. Yet, they also taught that no man can get saved who is not turning from sin to righteousness, nor has any man been saved whose life does not produce good works, some 30 fold, some 60 fold, some 100 fold. This is the unanimous voice of historical Christianity which has not been so ignorant as to all be exactly wrong on the most essential element of the Christian faith. They disagreed on many things, but not about this.

So what can we learn from history. First, know it or you may be easily deceived. Second, do not think it is a small thing to be so full of pride as to think your generation first understood the gospel. Third, be sure the gospel you know is the one that has always been preached, otherwise, be sure you are no Christian.

Who were some of these men you may wonder? The list is far too long, for nearly every preacher has taught this. Charles Spurgeon, John Wesley, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Martin Luther, John Calvin the list could go on indefinitely.

The final thought is this. Have you turned from sin to holiness? Have you thrown yourself on the mercy of God? Have you left an old selfish life to be made a new creature in Christ? Are you born again in the old-fashioned way, or are you just claiming Jesus in the new way that requires no submission to God. Man's problem is that he is a sinner. He loves sin more than God. The gospel fixes his wicked heart, and by repentance sets his affection on things above, by faith washes his sin away in Jesus' blood, and by the presence of the Holy Spirit empowers him to serve with gladness.

I hope you all know true salvation.
God bless you,
Pastor Dukes
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« Reply #45 on: May 08, 2015, 12:07:24 pm »

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« Reply #46 on: May 08, 2015, 08:27:52 pm »

Do People Only Go To Hell For Unbelief or for Their Sins?

Some people say that the one sin people go to hell for is unbelief because Jesus paid for all sin on the cross.  Is that true?

Unbelievers are not condemned simply for a failure to believe. This theory states that since Christ died for all sin and all sins are paid for, man cannot be condemned for his individual sins. He is only condemned for his failure to believe in or trust and rely on that payment for sins. God condemns man only for unbelief.

This theory is also based on the premise that any sin paid for by Christ guarantees that the individual will not be condemned for it. He may, by exercise of the free will, refuse to believe on Christ and be condemned for unbelief, but Christ has already paid for his other sins so he cannot be condemned for any of his committed sins. To support this theory John 3:18 is cited.  “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Emphasizing the word “because,” it is urged that we are only condemned because we do not believe.

There are three problems with this theory.
1. It confuses the condition of condemnation for the ground of condemnation. Notice the distinction in John 3:19, the next verse, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”   If the sinner came to the light his deeds would be exposed, therefore, he refuses to believe, trust in, or acquiesce to the light so he can continue practicing evil. Here we have the ground, or ultimate reason, for condemnation, that is, the practice of evil, and we have the needed condition met for condemnation. The condition necessary to be condemned is failure to believe, but the ground of condemnation is the sin practiced.  In other words, “because you have not believed (condition of condemnation) you will be condemned for practicing evil (ground of condemnation).”

2. This theory also confounds the reasoning for why we need Christ. Why does a man need to believe in Christ? It is because man has sinned. He has broken the law and will be sentenced to eternal death. If Christ's payment for sin means that God literally has nothing against him but failure to exercise faith in Christ, then we have come to a logical absurdity. I am innocent of everything, except believing that I am guilty.  I must trust Christ as my payment for the sins that are not being held against me. In addition, I may be condemned for not trusting Christ to forgive and remit the sin that he has already removed from my account. In other words, one should read the Bible and be convicted that he has never been saved from the sins that God does not hold against him. With nothing against him that he has done, he still must believe in Christ, but for what? I must at the same time hold that I am to believe on Christ or be damned, and that I cannot be damned for my own sins.

3. This theory also presents us with another contradiction. If Christ died to pay for all sin, and if I cannot be condemned for my actual sins, only for failure to believe, why is failure to believe exempted from His payment? How can failure to believe not be considered a sin? If Christ died to pay for all sin, why is my unbelief not paid for? If unbelief is considered a sin then one cannot reasonably hold this position and believe that Christ died for all sin.

For if he died for all sin, then by this theory he paid for my unbelief, and I cannot suffer for it either. If His death renders it impossible for me to go to hell for my own sins, yet I can go to hell for not believing, then either Christ did not pay for all sin, or unbelief is not a sin.    But if it is objected that His payment for unbelief is for all sin, but I am not credited with it until I believe, then we must respond that the whole scheme of redemption must work consistently. Why am I credited with His payment for my sins before I believe, but I am not credited for the sin of unbelief until I believe?  Again, how can the guilt of some sins be gone without faith and another species of sin remain on my account until I believe?  Certainly all my sins remain on my head until I believe. At that time I am forgiven of both my failure to believe and all my other sins. According to this theory, Christ paid for all sin, yet I can still be damned for the sin of unbelief; therefore, those who hold this theory effectively hold that Christ paid for all sin except the sin of unbelief.

Undoubtedly, it is true that Christ's death pays for all sin, yet until I believe on him, His death avails me nothing. All my sins remain on my account until I receive His payment for my sin. Until that time I am exempted from all of the privileges of His payment for my sin.
Either I am credited with Christ's death payment for all my sins only when I believe and I, therefore, will not suffer for any of my own sins, or Christ's universal atoning payment allows all men to go to heaven because it covers all their sin, even their sin of unbelief. Either men are going to go to hell for every sin they commit and the for their wicked, unbelieving hearts from whence it all proceeded, or we should be Universalists and affirm that Jesus’ death paid for all sin and every man will go to heaven.  It is impossible for Christ to have paid for all sin, for God not to hold me accountable for all my own sin, and yet hold me accountable for the sin of unbelief. This contradiction leads to confusion. If God can overlook my other sins without my exercising trust in him, why can he not look over the one sin of unbelief?  You see that Christ’s payment for sin does not render the individual forgiven of any sin until, by faith he receives Christ.  Until that time, he is still in his sins. “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”  (John 8:24)
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« Reply #47 on: May 11, 2015, 11:39:27 am »

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« Reply #48 on: May 11, 2015, 09:11:50 pm »

What is Salvation by Grace?
You may be familiar with the expression that salvation is “by Grace Alone through Faith Alone in Christ Alone.”  This is a great statement.  In fact it becomes familiar to the point that we lose its meaning in its familiarity.  Let us contemplate for a moment what salvation means.

First, salvation is by Grace Alone.  God is the one who saves.  We cannot save ourselves.  It is by grace that we are saved because God must raise dead men from their sins.  They cannot escape the consequences of them or the practice of them without his Grace.  God gives grace to the humble, but He resists the proud.  Whoever would try to save himself would be proud if he could accomplish it.  Grace means we are helpless to produce what God has already finished at the cross, a full salvation through His blood.

Second, salvation is by Faith Alone.  No works can secure what God wants to give for free.  It is not that you have any good works, for the Bible says there is none good, not even one.  It says that all our righteousness is as filthy rags to God.  We have no good works.  Nothing we do can move God to set aside His wrath.  We are sinners.  The Bible says that we are alienated from God by our wicked works.  Since our works are wicked, we cannot use them to erase our sin.  Only the blood of Jesus can do that.  God did not need our help to erase sin.  The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death, not good works.  Good works is not the price sin demands, death is.  So only blood can make atonement for the soul.  Since you are still alive, you cannot use these works to pay for you sins.  You must die.  By then it will be too late.  All your sins will follow you to the judgment and you will be cast out of life and die in hell forever tormented.  If you think you are good enough to go to heaven, then you have no idea what it means to be a sinner.  A sinner is a rebel against God who has chosen to place himself on God’s throne and rule his own universe.  This is high treason and no few works can excuse the consequences of that.  Salvation is by faith in Christ’s work not in our own works.  It is by faith only, not mixed with any dependence on anything else for meriting favor with God.

Third, salvation is in Christ Alone.  There is no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved. There is one Savior.  He said, “I am the way.”  There is none else.  Unless all your faith is in the blood of Christ, you cannot be saved.  No one else can save.  No one else died for your sins.  No one else lived a sinless life, died in your place, rose from the dead, and said if you believe upon Him you will have everlasting life.  Only Jesus saves.  Only Christ could take your place and take the curse of sin for you.  Only Jesus, God in the flesh, took the wrath of God against sin for you.  Only Jesus can be your substitute for sin.  Only Jesus can wash away your sin in his blood.  Christ alone can save.  All who come another way are thieves and robbers.  Unless you come humbly for God’s grace, renouncing your own works as wicked for serving the devil, and apply to Jesus, in faith, for His free salvation, you will be lost forever.  Every soul who thus calls upon the Lord Jesus Christ to wash away his sins, come into his heart, and deliver him from sin to a new life, is promised free salvation.  Simple faith in the grace of God to give you free salvation in Christ, for it can be found nowhere else.  Are you saved by Grace Alone through Faith Alone in Christ Alone?
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« Reply #49 on: May 13, 2015, 09:26:47 pm »

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« Reply #50 on: May 13, 2015, 09:38:46 pm »

The Obvious Difference Between God's Children and the Devil's

“If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.”
“Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, we be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.   Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.”
(John 8:39, 42-44)
 
            This is a very critical passage in understanding Christ’s preaching to lost men.  He names two characteristics of the saved and one of the lost.  These characteristics are natural opposites.  We can thus see that there is a distinct character to the saved and a distinct character to the lost according to Christ.
            Our Lord first tells these lost men that if they were Abraham’s children they would not be doing what they are doing.  They would do the works of Abraham.  He then says that Abraham did not seek to kill him, but what did Abraham seek to do?  Abraham was the friend of God.  Abraham was obedient to God.  Abraham was not perfectly consistent through every action of his life; however, his character was such that he could be called the friend of God.  This is no mere reference to the bare faith of Abraham, but the faith of Abraham and its subsequent obedience.  The proof of this is in the next characteristic of the saved.
            Our Lord next tells the lost men that if they were Abraham’s children, then like Abraham they would love Him.  Now what does He mean that they would love Him?  The Spirit has told us through John exactly what it means to love God in I John 5:3, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.”  So, Jesus says that if they were Abraham’s children, meaning, if they were truly God’s children, that is, truly saved, then they would love Him.  To love Him is to humble ourselves regarding obedience and to bring ourselves happily into submission.  This is no grievous burden for the cheerfully obedient.  Christ here tells us in no uncertain terms that if they were true children of God, they would love Him with their cheerfully obedient hearts.
            To further demonstrate that this is the exact meaning, he points out the third characteristic of the lost.  He does not here tell them what they will not do, but what they will do.  They will do the lusts of their father the devil.  To do the lusts of their father is here to live in sin and not be lovingly obedient to Christ.  He has, a few verses before, told them what it means to be “free indeed.”  It is the opposite of sinning, for “He who sins is a slave of sin,” and that only the Son can make them free.  He now tells them that they are going to live by their lusts.  Here their lusts are going to drive them to kill Christ, now the lusts of the lost drive them to live by their own law of sin.
            So, according to this passage, Christ states that truly saved people live by a different rule than those who are lost.  The saved live by the works of Abraham and they love Jesus.  Loving Jesus in the Bible is described as happy service to him in obedience.  So Christ states that real Christians are characterized by their submission to His will and obedience to him.  On the other hand, the lost are characterized by living by their lusts in their sins.  Jesus says saved people have repented from their sins.  The great repentance in this passage is from living by lusts to living by love.  Love is the great Christian character.  Lust is the great lost character.  Repentance is the great change from sin to love required of all men.  Either a man must repent from living by lust to living by love for Christ to become a true son of God or this passage is misleading at best.  Jesus says that if God is your Father you will love Him, yet you cannot love God without turning from sin.
            As a proof of this last statement please see these four references:
 
1 John 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
 
1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
 
John 14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.
 
John 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
 
There can be no doubt that only those who KEEP his commandments love Him, and those that are the children of God do obey for, “If God were your Father, ye would love me.”  Except a man repent of living by lust to live by love, except a man turn from sin to righteousness, except a man turn from his evil ways, except a man have this change of heart, Christ says he is no child of God.

Pastor Troy Dukes
Grace Baptist Church
www.GraceBaptistWPB.com
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« Reply #51 on: May 16, 2015, 02:48:48 pm »

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« Reply #52 on: May 21, 2015, 01:08:55 pm »

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