 This Thursday we will most likely be celebrating Thanksgiving with family or friends – or both. There are many takes on this holiday. Some come from the perspective of the Pilgrims who came to North America, while others speak of blessings that we have in our lives. For many years I was part of a tradition where after the Thanksgiving meal we would go around the table and say something we were thankful for in our lives. What I endeavor to do today is to look at Thanksgiving from an Evangelical Perspective, i.e. from the perspective of the Gospel. Let’s begin with a look at where we are first. What I mean by this is the fact that according to the Scriptures we live in a fallen, Genesis three world. Our very first relatives, Adam and Eve, chose to disobey God and rebel. That plunged the world into sin and the subsequent mess caused by death’s unwelcome entrance into God’s creation. If that is not enough, there is also the fact of spiritual death that happened as well. The Bible is clear that we all are dead in trespasses and sins. Here is the stark reality of where every single human being stands before God. We are sinful, spiritually dead, and seriously in danger when we die and stand before God on the day of judgment. I realize at this point, if you are still with me, that you may be thinking, “THIS is a Thanksgiving article?” It is, but first we have to grasp why we should be thankful. Knowing the truth, even when it is difficult truth to swallow, is key to truly being thankful. “But God,” is where Paul takes us after learning the difficult truth of our state before God prior to the Gospel. Ephesians 2:4-5 reminds us, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” In a moment of glorious, blindingly brilliant mercy and love, grace steps into our lives. In that wonderful moment God makes someone who is dead in sin, alive in Christ. Let this be a Thanksgiving passage for all of us. Let’s look at what we have to be thankful for, regardless of our current circumstances. God does this, “being rich in mercy.” Let’s consider that for a moment. God is rich in, “not giving us what we truly deserve.” Consider this past year and take a moment to remind yourself how often you’ve sinned. Even more consider, using the 10 commandments, how much you had sinned prior to His grace saved you. I’ve done this and the 10 commandments alone have yielded knowledge of 10’s of thousands of sins, committed in my actions, thoughts, and attitudes. Yet the reality is that God did not ever break into my life and truly give me what my sins deserved. This “rich in mercy” God lavished the wealth of His forbearance and kindness on me year after year before I was saved, and He continues to pour it out on me even after I’ve been saved. Oh, how thankful I am for the mercy of God! God also does this, “because of His great love with which He loved us.” God loves you. He loved you before you ever gave a thought of loving Him. He loved and loves you even when you do not love Him. And let us be reminded that love is a selfless action where one chooses to give to another, regardless of whether they ever get anything back. Love is giving what is truly the best to the one loved. Romans 5:8 reminds us that, “. . . God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” When did Jesus die? He died physically outside Jerusalem around year 33 AD, but we should remember that He was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. God’s love has been an eternal reality, something we can be confident of beyond the reach of time itself. This love was never dependent on us doing something to deserve it. Contrary to that, His love was given in spite of what we have done. Paul wrote to the Ephesians that God’s love is a “great” love. God is the One who has “mega-loved” us. The word for love is the Greek word, “megas” from which we get our term, mega. So, remember this Thanksgiving, you’ve been mega-loved this past year. More than this, there has never been any moment in history, and even outside of history where you were not “mega-loved” by God. We should remind ourselves of this as we gather with loved ones this year at Thanksgiving. Go ahead and add it to your prayer around the table. “Thank you, God, for mega-loving us this year, just like you have mega-loved us from before time began, and, just like You will mega-love us forever and ever! God loved us, “even when we were dead in our transgressions.” Here is another word, “transgressions.” What does it mean? The word means to do something wrong, to willfully disobey someone, and it carries the reality of guilt and consequence. Here is where Thanksgiving “gospel-style” gets REAL! We were sinners who deserved punishment – period. We chose to disobey because we wanted our own way instead of God’s way. This has led to guilt. There was not going to be a plea deal. There was not going to be a technicality. There was not even going to be a pardon from the governor or the president. We were going to be punished, eternally. This is where I am so thankful that this passage began with the phrase, “But God.” This act of mercy. This act of mega-love. This happened when I was a guilty sinner who deserved punishment in the most “slam-dunk” case of all history. It is the same for all of us. To understand where this put us, we also need to understand that this word is the opposite of the word “justify,” which means to declare that someone is righteous or right. We were not right with God, and because of our transgressions, there was no way that we could ever be declared righteous on the basis of our own works or supposed goodness. To say we were doomed is the understatement of all eternity. But . . . even when we were in that state before God, He made us alive together with Christ – by grace we have been saved. I know it is terrible English – but it is wonderful gospel to say – this is where the Gospel gets even “REAL-ER!” With no hope of ever being declared righteous before God – and – knowing that such a fate means we would be damned immediately on the last day – God chose instead to make us alive together with Christ! That meant that the sin price would have to be paid by another. That meant that we would have to be declared righteous with someone else’s righteousness. And . . . that is exactly what God did. Here is a glorious truth for which we need to be thankful every day of our lives. Even in that horrific state God chose to make us alive, to give us His grace, and to declare us righteous. He provided for this by having Jesus take up our sin, pay the full price for it, and die. He then resurrected Him from the dead. Now, we can be declared righteous, not with our own righteousness, but with one God gives us. He gives us a righteousness by grace through faith, and it will stand forever before Him. I know that this is a theological article. I also know that our minds will be filled with many messages over the next several days. Thanksgiving preparations, Macy’s Day Parade, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, college football, pro football, basketball tournaments, kids’ presentations, and a host of other things will vie for our attention. But I want to encourage you to take some time and walk through an “evangelical perspective of Thanksgiving.” Do it personally and do it with your family and friends. There are many smaller things for which we should be thankful. We should consider our blessings. But what greater blessing is there than being a recipient of mercy, mega-love, life, and grace? I’ll finish the article with a simple quote from the apostle Paul, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.” Happy Thanksgiving precious saints of God!
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 Why is it good to understand God theologically? It is a very good thing to understand Who God is. It will protect you from error and from erroneous living. Let me give you an example from my own life this past week.
Earlier this week I was wrestling with a few things in my life. They were not exactly earth-moving issues – but they were at the time a challenge for me – and were dominating a lot of my time. As I wrestled with this I had a thought come into my head. “Why are you so stuck on such a little thing? Do you really think you need to waste God’s time on this? You need to drop this and get busy with far more important things.” At first I wondered if this was God? When I did receive it as if it were from Him – I felt a little ashamed at my wrestlings. Certain God has more important things to work on in life that these reasonably small issues. So in response to this – I took all I had been thinking upon and shoved it down to the “seriously unimportant” shelf in my mind. Later in the week I was reading of Who God is in the book of Isaiah. He is infinite. There is a theological truth. God is the infinite God. There are no limitations to God – EVER. He is infinite in power, strength, wisdom – and just add whatever else comes to mind. My earlier wrestlings came back to mind – but this time with this verse about God’s infinite nature attached. Then some new questions came to mind. Does God have a finite number of things He can deal with each day? Does He have some schedule where unless I have something important – He doesn’t have time for it? Is it taxing to God to have to deal with – oh, let’s say, the conflict in Syria – and other wars – and then to have to deal with my little pittance of a problem too? Can God ever get tired – or worn down – or exhausted with too much to do? It didn’t take long for me to realize that God, being both infinite in power – and eternally timeless, is not annoyed with the wrestlings of my heart. When I come to Him – He is concerned with the big things as well as with the little things (at least what I was calling little). Being infinite, He is never taxed or worn down – even if He had a million different problems voiced by a 7 billion people a day! He is infinite – and whatever number I put before Him (thinking it to be a real stunner) – it is infinitely small in comparison to Who He truly is. He does not have some schedule with a limited number of spots available for His time – like I do. He is limitless! Why was it good to understand God theologically this week? Because in grasping Him as He is – an eternal, infinite God – I came to grips with the fact that there is nothing too small for me to bring to Him. He is great because He can handle the big things! He is also great because He can handle a trillion little things – and never feel like He’s too busy to listen to me when I come to Him. What was the result of grasping God theologically this week in the midst of wrestling with my issues – even though they seemed a little small and trivial to me in the moment? It was to grasp that God is infinitely more than able to handle every big thing, every little thing – actually . . . everything that I have. Oh, and by the way, He is infinitely more than able to handle that for every single person on this planet . . . and not feel rushed, frustrated, overwhelmed, overtaxed, or over-committed. He does it all – every day of every year – every year of every decade – every decade of every century – every century of every millennium – and He never grows tired or weary! THAT, MY DEAR PRECIOUS SAINTS – IS GOD – THEOLOGICALLY AND PRACTICALLY REALIZED! HALLELUJAH!  What is the Word of God? When is it that God speaks to us through His Word? These are important questions for us to answer. There are a couple of views of this that are based on just a slightly different preposition that is used to describe when it is that God speaks to us. But that difference is not slight at all. It is actually the difference between having God speak to us - and us saying when He speaks. Let's take a look at these two very different views.
Sunday I gave a testimony about how God graciously met with me early that morning. He spoke to me through His Word by His Spirit and it was a wonderful thing. But, lest anyone think that His speaking was due to an existential experience I had, I want to make a very important distinction. Each and every day I have my time alone with God, I open the Word of God. As I begin to read I am immediately experiencing the Word of God – every single word that I read IS His Word. The reason I am making a point of this is because of an errant theological view of God’s Word. Let me give an example. When we read the Word you will hear me say, let us listen “to” the Word of God. There are traditions that will phrase that differently. They say, “As we read, let us listen ‘for’ the Word of God.” Our statement represents the understanding that, “All Scripture is inspired by God,” (literally God-breathed). We believe that the words that we read ARE the Word of God. The view that we listen “for” the Word of God as we read implies that it is not until we have some kind of existential experience that God is speaking. (i.e. a feeling, a sense, an experience that God is speaking to us, in some circles the Greek word ‘rhema’ is used to say God is speaking in that moment) The way that this is described in theological circles is that - when we experience it – then what we read ‘becomes’ the Word of God. That is a heretical view of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. Every word from Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21 IS the Word of God. It is God speaking to us. To say that we need some kind of feeling, insight, or experience for it to be God’s Word is a very dangerous false doctrine. One of the dangers is that we ignore parts of Scripture because they don’t make us feel anything – or that we don’t have some kind of experience as we read it. There are even parts we may react negatively toward as we read them. The “listen FOR the Word of God” doctrine allows us to ignore them – and say that they are not the Word of God for us. Again, this is a very dangerous heresy – and one that I believe will be used with greater frequency to ignore God’s moral standards that don’t fit with contemporary moral views. The Bible becomes a smorgasbord where “we” determine what is right and what is not – what is Scripture and what is not. One thing I want to say here that I hope is helpful is that when I read God’s Word there is not always an emotional response. Also there are times when I read it and it is instructive to me – and I don’t have the “sense” I had this past Sunday morning. Those times are just as important as ones I have that involve strong feelings. They are just as authoritative in speaking to any way I am living my life. When they speak of sin – I am just as guilty of breaking them – and just as hindered in my fellowship with God. Feeling or no feeling – sense or no sensation at all – warm fuzzys or just reading the words on the page – I am still hearing God speak. Let me say something about the Bible. There are certain parts I can almost guarantee will have a greater impression on me than others. There are times in my yearly Bible trek that I am about to hit Leviticus that I almost dread it. Certain parts of 1 Chronicles (the first 10 chapters) will rarely bring about some existential feeling in me. But – I am still hearing God speak – because ALL of His Word is Him speaking. Some folks get excited when they are about to read the prophets – while others may not. I used to start Job almost rolling my eyes at what was going to be a daily dose of listening to his friends say, “Your wicked – that’s why all this bad stuff has happened to you,” only to then hear Job say, “Nuh-uh.” Yet – when reading it I was listening to God speak the whole time. NOTE: by the way throughout the 38 years I’ve been a believer and have read the Bible at least once a year – the Holy Spirit has taken me through every book of the Bible slowly at one time or another to have me understand much more closely what God is revealing of Himself through them. Yes – even through Leviticus, Numbers, and the genealogies in Genesis, Matthew, and Luke – and was thoroughly blessed because of it! Saints, I mean no disrespect toward God’s Word in saying these things. I am only trying to help you grasp and understand that even though we may find some books more interesting than others – they all are God’s Word – and God is speaking when we read them. To hold the view that He is only speaking when we feel or sense something is only going to diminish His Word in our thinking – and eventually lead us to hold a very deficient view of the Scriptures. So the next time you open His Word and begin to read, remind yourself of this fact. It is all God-breathed! It is all profitable to you! It is all Him speaking and revealing Himself! Then read – thankful for the gracious times our emotions are stirred – but also thankful that whether they are or are not – we’ve just experienced God speaking to us and revealing Himself graciously to our understanding. May God give to you a view of sin that is consistent with the one He Himself has. This week I want to talk about something our culture has all but abandoned – and that is the exceeding sinfulness of sin.
Our society is one that has downplayed the idea of sin over the years. We’ve moved from a Biblical Worldview that equates the problems in the world to the sinfulness of man, to one that is moving away from calling anything sinful. The modern age is one in which every other “ology” is turned to rather than Theology. We desperately want to blame everyone except ourselves for the maladies of our day. The sinfulness of the human heart, inherited from Adam and inherently tied to original sin in the garden, is either considered too simple or too stupid to the modern populace of the modern thinkers of our time. We prefer to solve our issues with politics, psychotherapy, and pills. Recently I have been reading The Sinfulness of Sin, by Ralph Venning, and it has been reminding me of a far more Biblical view of sin. If someone had asked me if my view of sin needed strengthening, I probably would have said no. But after reading the first few chapters of Venning’s book, I have been corrected on that matter. As God, through the pen of this able wordsmith, has addressed sin and its sinfulness, I’ve been amazed at how much my view of sin has deteriorated over the years. Let me quote from the book to help me on this point. "The works of sin are deformed and monstrously ugly, for it works disorder, confusion, and everything that is abominable. Sin may be arraigned for all the mischiefs and villainies that have been done in the world; it is the master of misrule, the author of sedition, the builder of Babel, the troubler of Israel and all mankind. So contrary is sin to the works of God, that it sought and still seeks to undo all that God does, that there might be no seed nor name, nor root left Him in all the earth . . . Sin is evil and does evil, indeed, it does nothing else.” (The Sinfulness of Sin, by Ralph Venning, pgs. 32-33) As I’ve read Venning’s book I have realized that too often such much needed descriptions of sin are usually laughed at today – and the speaker of writer is written off as some crazed “evangelist” type – or hell-fire and brimstone preacher who needs more grace and kindness in his presentation. But that is not the case with what I’ve read so far. The desire of this author is not to elicit “amens” from a Sunday morning crowd or from a evening Revival meeting. He speaks of the holiness and glory of God with glowing affirmations and does not spend his time denouncing “pet sins” of his generation. Venning is genuinely concerned that men do not grasp how pernicious and horrific sin is. That is why he writes with such passion about sin and sinfulness. One of the marvelous benefits of reading this volume is the way it is aiding me in seeing sin and utterly sinful and terrible. I am not being urged to rail against sinners whose sins grieve my sensibilities. Instead I am being led to God Himself, in whose presence sin is seen as the ultimate blight of MY OWN soul. His holiness only makes my sin that much more awful and hated – even as His grace forgives and His Spirit enables me to turn from it. One might wonder why this is important to us? Why make all this fuss over a right comprehension of sin. The problem comes from a diminished view of God that rises up in our hearts when we make our peace with something with which God will never make peace. Sin, when seen properly is an odious and disgusting thing. We want nothing to do with it and retract in horror from it in our own lives and choices. This is true at least with those who grasp how terrible sin is in God’s eyes. The practice in our current time is to make little of sin – and much of conditions we have. Our conditions are named and others are blamed for them. In the end – sin – is now repackaged as something others should feel sorry for us over. We are not held responsible for our actions, attitudes, or messes. We have a syndrome – not a sin-choice. We have a condition – not a corruption. We are battling a social disease – not a sinful decision. In renaming sin and redefining it – we absolve ourselves of responsibility and can blame everyone and everything else for what we are doing. Sin is a choice – a choice to ignore God’s Law and rebel against it. That rebellion is also against God Himself. Sin hurts us most assuredly, but much more than that, it grieves the heart of God. It incites His wrath and requires punishment. It is against the true order of things God purposed and it opposes His reign over all things at all times. But the worst thing of all is that sin falls short of the glory that God Himself is – and the glory which should characterize our lives as we are called to live for Him. May God in His mercy open our eyes to the sinfulness of sin – helping us to abhor it even as He does. May we see the malignancy of it as well as the destructive path that is portends to those who choose it. May we remember the price required to pay for it on our behalf, and thus learn to hate it and see it as the dangerous and horrific thing it is. And may we have grace to apprehend such things so that we learn to fully o embrace holiness with all that is in us – now and forevermore.  What is happening in the realm of Christian music lately? There is a growing number of those who have been in the Christian music circles who are coming out as being gay. There is also a growing trend among others to come out in support of gay marriage. But possibly the most disturbing of these trends is that more and more of these individuals are not only commenting on these decisions, but are making some very bold “theological” statements about God – and how God views this sexual choice. So what is happening here? Why has it become more and more acceptable to the Christian music industry for these people not just to come out about their sexual choices – but also to begin airing their thoughts and views as acceptable?
It is almost becoming a common event for someone in the Christian music industry to affirm homosexuality openly. Vicky Beeching, the author of the song “Glory to God,” is the most recent to admit to this choice in her life. One slight difference with Beeching is that she has studied theology at Oxford. Beeching, who left the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) scene to become a television commentator, made the following comment about how she views God and the homosexual lifestyle. “I feel certain God loves me just the way I am, and I have a huge sense of calling to communicate that to young people.” This is the most disturbing aspect of this move within the industry. There is a growing acceptance of homosexuality and homosexual marriage – not in the world – but within what should be an industry that embraces evangelical biblical doctrine. As an example of this kind of thinking you only have to turn to comments made by the former editor of Contemporary Christian Music magazine, Matthew Paul Turner, who said the following about his support of gay marriage when asked why he voted against Tennessee’s marriage amendment. He made it clear that he did not believe that homosexual behavior was sinful. He said he might be wrong but in his own words said, “I'd much rather be wrong and pursue grace and open acceptance than right and be arrogant and cruel.” First of all please understand that I do not hate homosexuals. My heart goes out to them and desires for them to be saved and drawn out of this sinful lifestyle. Also understand when I say this, I say it knowing that God called me out of heterosexual immorality when I was saved. It is not that I consider myself or my views superior to theirs. I needed to be rescued from my sin, just as I am stating they need to be rescued from theirs. So I do not come from an angle that says, “Your wrong and I’m right.” I come from saying, “My behavior was wrong and God rescued me – your choice is wrong too and God wants to rescue you too! The reason I, or anyone for that matter, can say this is because the Scriptures teach that homosexuality and heterosexual immorality is sin. And here is where I have my core concern for the Christian Music industry. My core concern is that too often, the Christian music industry is far more interested about “music” than it is about “Christianity.” It is far too much about our experience than it is about the Word of God. This has been the case for several decades now. The unfortunate reality that we are seeing today is simply the fruit of an activity done more and more out from under the Lordship of Christ and the authority of Scripture. Early in the rise of Christian music this was not the case. The early years of Christian music was dominated by people who wanted to sing about God, about His Word (often singing His Word), and about how God had saved them. It was all about music that spoke often of God – openly of God – and radically about loving and serving Him. Now much of our Christian music could be about God – or – it could be about your girlfriend. Too often we find little focus on God and far too much focus on us – or honestly, on how God makes much of us. You might be wondering how all this fits into the current trends in the Christian Music Industry today? Here is where the problem lies – in the lack of a strong theological background in those making and producing it. Go back a few hundred years and look at those writing much of what we sang in the hymns. You will find among them people with very strong theological backgrounds. You will also find among them people who wrote songs to be sung in times of corporate worship than in a performance or concert. They also made much less money for what they did – therefore for many of them – theirs was a labor of love. Today, there is big money in the Christian Music industry. Their percentage in the music market is rising substantially. Thus entities like Word Music and others have far more “music industry people” than they do “church-loving, theology-driven song writers.” The difference you see is pretty amazing when it comes to God-centered, God-focused lyrics. It truly matters when people are passionate about their relationship with Jesus Christ. It truly matters when people are taught the Scriptures and taught so that they grasp sound doctrine. Where is the Christian music industry? I would submit to you that even though they can effect “some” change through their music, the real issue has much more to do with where the church is today. When the church is no longer living in radical obedience to God and His Word, this will eventually be reflected in its music. When the church is no longer standing fast in sound theology, it will be reflected in its theology in music, or the lack thereof). When the church is no longer standing for clear biblical morality, it will be reflected in those who minister (or in too many cases perform) through music. What we have here is not a problem primarily with the Christian music industry but with how the church’s heart is reflected in it. The Christian Music industry is simply reflecting where the church is in our day. The reason we are seeing the CMI (Christian Music Industry) struggle with moral issues is because the church itself is struggling as well. The church is struggling with these issues because it no longer lives with the Lordship of Jesus Christ as its rudder. This leads to a church that does not submit itself to Scripture as the absolute authority in faith and practice (which includes moral stances upon the Scriptures, rather than on the prevailing culture). There is a problem – but that problem in not in the CMI at its core. The problem is where the church is in our day – in desperate need of a revival of biblical Christianity. If you have read of the ongoing downgrade of biblical Christianity in the CMI – then step back and take a breath before calling down fire upon them for what is happening. There is a root to all this, and I honestly believe that it is the lack of biblical Christianity in the church. This root system will point us to a loss of our first love for Christ. It will point us to an abandonment of the Scriptures as authoritative and instructive to every aspect of our lives and culture. It will point us to the general malaise of apathy and hard-heartedness toward God’s Word, and indeed, toward God Himself. Saints, I realize that I sound like a broken record on this, but what we need is true revival where we address our own hearts first. If there were true revival where our hearts turned back to God – these issues would eventually be addressed because of the change happening in our lives as a result. May God do this work in us – so that what affects the church most is not music icons in search of fame and fortune – but men and women who love God with all their hearts, live according to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in their lives, and submit to the moral, theological, and practical rule of Scripture in all that they do. Last week I began a series of articles dealing with the core values that we hold here at Calvary Chapel. This week I want to address how we believe that we can know God. This is truly one of the very central of these core values, because it addresses not just that we believe we can know God, but addresses how we believe we can know Him.
At Calvary Chapel we believe that we can know God only because God has made Himself known to us, revealing Himself to us through His Word as well as through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This core value has to do with the biblical doctrine of revelation. When I say this I am not referring to the book of Revelation, but more importantly of the whole idea and concept of revelation itself. Let me explain. If God did not choose to reveal himself to us – to make Himself known – there would be no way that we could know Him. There is such an infinite gulf between God and man that the only way it can be bridged is by God crossing it and mercifully making Himself known to us. This is true even without sin in the picture. God, being an eternal, infinite being is beyond what our minds can understand or grasp. It is only because God has graciously condescended to communicate with us that we can grasp Who He is. God put it this way to Isaiah, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9, NASB) God is gracious enough to make Himself known to us. He has made Himself known through His creation. Romans 1:19-20 says this to us, “. . . because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:19-20, NASB) In nature we should see the invisible attributes of God’s eternal power and divine nature. Creation declares the glory of God to us – letting us know that the One Who made all this is infinitely greater than that which He has made. The vastness of the universe, and indeed the fact that in spite of all that we’ve come to know we still have vastly more to know, should shout to us of God’s majesty, glory, might, power, and infinitude. But our problem is that man has rejected this witness. Man does not even acknowledge God in nature choosing one of two horrific errors. Either, as Romans 1 says, man makes a god for himself out of birds, four-footed animals, and crawling creatures or, as man rejects God entirely. Rather than believe in God, man chooses to believe himself an utterly astounding accident without a cause – that exists for no purpose. Sin has led men to reject God – not even giving Him thanks or honoring Him. So, not only do we have a God too vast to be known without His gracious revelation of Himself, but our sin and rebellion have blinded us – darkened our understanding – hardened our hearts – and closed our eyes to His glory. We reject both God and His revelation of Himself, embracing instead ourselves as the only authorities in our lives. Truly we hold that we can be a better god than God – the result of which is the devastation of His image in us – darkness, destruction, and death. God, Who had every right to absolutely reject us for such infinitely rebellious foolishness, instead chose to reveal Himself further to those who rebel against Him. He did this through His Word – and eventually through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He moved upon men through His Holy Spirit to give us an accurate, authoritative revelation of Who He is. He did this first in the Old Testament as He chose a man, Abraham, and a nation, Israel. He promised a Savior, though, as His ultimate revelation of Himself and His great love for us. That Savior is Jesus Christ, Who was revealed in history, which is also recorded for us through God’s Word, the Scriptures. God provided salvation through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He then gave us the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament, so that we could also know the way He perfectly revealed His love and purpose through His Son. Now, the fundamental way that we know God is through how He has revealed Himself in His Word. As we read and study His Word we come to know Who He is – His heart – His ways – His thoughts – His purposes, plans, and will. We are warned in the Scripture itself about those who do not speak according to and in agreement with His Word. We are told that such men and women do not even have the light of day. Paul even writes a curse upon those who do not preach the Gospel as it is revealed in the Bible. This leads us to some very important truths and principles by which we live at Calvary Chapel. We place greatest importance on what God’s Word says when it comes to all matters of doctrine and practice in our lives and in the church. That is why Bible teaching and Bible study are vitally important to us. We go by what the text of the Scripture says – not about how we feel about it. We go by a careful study of the whole of the Bible, not just pulling verses out of their context to create some teaching of our own making. We do not hold to revelation outside the Bible. There are some who want to make their own words that they speak equal with and at times more authoritative than Scripture. This is what theologicans call “extra-biblical” revelation. It says that some current day revelation from a prophet, preacher, or teacher is of equal authority (usually greater) than what has been given to us in the Old and New Testaments. We do not believe that a current revelation by a teacher or even someone who proposes to be a prophet has any authority in itself – and certainly does not constitute new Biblical revelation. God closed the canon or books of the Bible after the book of Revelation was given by the Holy Spirit to John. Therefore anything someone says that they have from or about God MUST conform to what we already have in Scripture. If it does not – we reject the teaching and the teacher of such things. What is our practice as a result of this second core value? The result is that we seek to know God on the basis of what He has revealed of Himself in the Scriptures. We study them diligently to grasp what they say. We seek to understand the context in which they were given, as well as comparing passage with passage, to guard against misinterpreting them or making them say what we want instead of what God intended. We do not want to add to the Scriptures or take away from them. As Paul says through the Holy Spirit in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NASB) We do not look to current day prophets – or anyone who has a special word that they assert is equal to the Biblical revelation. We do not look to church councils or any special group or individual to speak new Scripture – or to speak anything that is more authoritative than what we already have in the Old and New Testaments. We do not give special place to creeds or statements made outside the Bible. The primary importance – and the only authoritative word for us is the Word of God. The Word of God is how we believe God has revealed Himself to us. That is why we place primary importance on teaching it from cover to cover, book by book, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. We believe it is only as we know God’s revelation of Himself in the Bible that we can know God.  For the next couple of weeks I want to take a few moments to reiterate some very important principles by which we want to live and minister at Calvary Chapel. One might even call these things core principles and values that we hold.
This first of these core values we have is that we believe that there is only one way for sin to be forgiven - and that is through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Scriptures state this fact numerous times. Jesus *said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. John 14:6 (NASB) "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12 (NASB) "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." John 3:36 (NASB) For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. 1 Timothy 2:5-6 (NASB) Therefore we hold as one of our core values that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only means by which anyone can have their sins forgiven and be made righteous in the sight of God. We also hold that this salvation is through Jesus Christ alone, through faith alone, by grace alone. It is not Jesus Christ and baptism (which is the error of baptismal regeneration). It is not Jesus Christ and the church (and by that I mean ANY church - even ours). Permit me to unpack the rest of that previous statement. We believe that salvation is by faith alone. There are no works that we can do to merit or earn our salvation. Salvation is by faith alone - faith in what Jesus did through His perfect, sinless life - His substitutionary death (meaning He was our substitute on the cross - we deserved what happened there - yet He paid it for us) - and His glorious resurrection, by which God declared that He accepted what Jesus did to pay for sin and make sinners righteous in His sight. Faith is not just mental assent to these facts, but rather is a total commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It is a surrender on our part, where we lay down our own works as dead works - and our righteousness as filthy rags. We no longer trust in anything from ourselves - no religious standing or good works can make us righteous in God’s sight. The only thing God will accept for that work is what Jesus Christ did for us. Finally, let me explain what we mean when we use the phrase, “by grace alone.” This phrase has to do with whether we ourselves can do anything for our salvation. The answer to that is a resounding NO! We cannot do anything for our salvation. It was God alone who chose to save us - we had nothing to do with our salvation. Romans 5 describes God’s grace this way, For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. “ Romans 5:6-8 (NASB) The Word of God makes it clear that our state before God was that we were, “helpless.” There was nothing we could ever do - no amount of obedience to the Law - no amount of religious works - no amount of religious payments we could make that would ever bring us one millimeter closer to God. We had not just “messed up a little” with our sin. We had, “. . . fallen short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 (NASB) Therefore as Ephesians chapter 2 puts it, after painting the bleakest picture possible in verses 1-3 about our condition before God, “but God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions - made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). We believe that we are saved solely because of the grace and infinite mercy of God. Therefore no one may boast of having done anything whatsoever to deserve their salvation. We are infinite debtors to God for His indescribable gift - His marvelous, matchless, incredible grace. This core value also comes with a core responsibility. We believe because there is salvation in no one else by Jesus Christ, we are responsible to take the gospel of His salvation to the ends of the earth. Our amazing salvation comes with a very real responsibility. If there is only one way of salvation - then all other religious views that do not come to God through Jesus Christ alone, by faith alone, through grace alone - are false. In the end all their religious fervor will amount to nothing - and they will face the wrath and judgment of God. This places on us a very serious task of proclaiming the gospel to every nation, tribe, people, and tongue (which by the way is Scripture). If our core value of belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ for salvation, does not lead to a core practice of taking the gospel across the street, across the city, across the state, nation, and world - then we are being very disobedient to the gospel, as well as very selfish toward the rest of the world who desperately need to hear of it. Saints - we at Calvary Chapel of Jonesboro are very, very serious about the gospel of Jesus Christ and its implications. We know that this Core Value is at the heart of all that we do - and indeed is at the heart of who we are as a church. I urge you to consider what has been said here. Think about it and meditate on what is means - for you - for our fellowship - and for the world around us. If we will not just adopt such a Core Value as a statement of faith - but rather as the “reactor core” of our faith - I believe that God will revive us and begin to move among us in powerful ways. I believe those ways will include a reviving of our own hearts as we embrace the truths of the gospel - and a reviving of our passion for the world around us as we grasp the ramifications of the gospel. |
Biblical ArticlesMost of these articles are taken from the Calvary Courier, a weekly newsletter that is sent to the folks who attend Calvary Chapel Jonesboro. Due to the response to these articles, we've decided to print some of them which proved to be very helpful to God's people at the fellowship. 
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