I’ve noticed that in certain circles, whenever this subject comes up, there is a real hesitancy to accept that God does indeed speak through dreams and visions today.  In all fairness, it’s easy to understand why people would be cautious about this subject.  In today’s world, there’s no shortage of people who claim to receive special revelation from God and who build their entire ministries on promoting themselves as God’s special spokesmen.  Also, in the Pentecostal, Charismatic, and Non-Denominational circles, there have been enough false visions and dreams and prophecies to last at least a hundred years.  Because of this and usually some very unbiblical teaching, believers will often “throw the baby out with the bathwater”.  Instead of searching the scriptures on this subject and finding out what it teaches, they reject anything that has to do with God speaking in a supernatural way through dreams and visions.  Then, there are other groups of believers who don’t outright reject the idea that God speaks in dreams and visions today; but they would say it’s a rare thing, and they are usually so skeptical about it that they might as well just reject it altogether.  So on one end of the spectrum, you have people who abuse dreams and visions and promote all kinds of craziness; and on the other end of the spectrum, you have people who either reject, or practically reject, the truth that God does speak through both dreams and visions today.

With this post, I intend to show what the Bible teaches about God speaking to people through both dreams and visions; and again, which is very often related to prophecy as well.  With the grace that God gives me, I intend to show examples of God speaking through dreams and visions in both the Old and New Testaments, discuss the symbolism that we often see God use in dreams, show their role – function – and frequency in the New Testament, address common objections I’ve heard from believers regarding God speaking this way, and give some examples from my life and my wife’s life of God speaking to us through dreams.  Also, though I am mentioning dreams and visions, I will primarily be discussing dreams as they are common experience to everyone and not as unique as having an open vision.

If you are reading this post and are one who has either rejected this supernatural way that God speaks to His people or you’re one that has a real hesitancy towards it, I encourage you to simply read through what I write and examine it with the scriptures.  At one time or another, almost every believer has changed their view regarding some biblical topic.  What often happens is that a believer will get “light” or “understanding” that something is wrong on and instead of finding out the truth on the subject, they jump to the opposite extreme, usually placing themselves in error again.  As believers, we must guard ourselves against that tendency and instead always have the attitude that says, “What do the scriptures teach on this (or any) subject?”  But like I mentioned above, I do understand people having hesitancy towards this subject because of all the falsehood we see associated with dreams, visions, and prophecies.   If you are one who has rejected the truth of God speaking in these ways, let me give you a comparison that will hopefully open your heart and mind up to searching the scriptures on this topic instead of rejecting it all together.

Without a doubt, Christianity is filled with many false teachers.  A simple internet search of almost any biblical topic will quickly show you how much false teaching there is.  However, because there are false teachers and false teachings, do you reject the fact that there are true teachers and true teaching?  Because of the abuse in teaching, did you jump to the other end of the spectrum and say there is no such thing as a teaching gift?  Probably not.  Yet for some reason, because there is much falsehood associated with dreams, visions, and prophecies; believers often reject and remain skeptical of these means of communication instead of finding out the truth on the subject.  So my encouragement is, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater; be open and examine what the scriptures teach on this subject.

Also, in this post, I don’t intend to examine all the false visions and dreams that are being promoted today.  My goal is to simply address what’s true – from the scriptures, answer some common objections regarding this subject, and give some examples from my own life.  My hope is that people will see that while God speaks primarily, and clearly, through His written word, He also frequently speaks to His people through both dreams and visions (which includes prophecy) and that this is one of the distinct aspects of the New Covenant.  And again, I will be dealing primarily with dreams.

DREAMS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT & SYMBOLISM

Starting in the very first book of the Bible, we have several examples of God speaking to both believers and non-believers through dreams.  He does this to communicate His will, to speak of the future, and sometimes to warn.  As we go through the accounts, notice how many of the dreams are cloaked in symbolism and conveyed in riddles that must be interpreted by someone else, or God must give the interpretation to the one who had the dream.  Sometimes God does speak in a more direct way in dreams, but more often than not, it’s in symbolism and riddles.  I’m going to focus on the symbolism and riddle dreams, because these are the kinds that are usually rejected and misunderstood by believers today.

Joseph:

Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. He said to them, “Hear        this dream that I have dreamed: Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?”   And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.  (Gen 37:5-11)

Notice that both of Joseph’s dreams are filled with symbolism.  God communicated the future actions of Joseph’s brethren and parents and the future status of Joseph by using the symbols of sheaves, the sun, the moon, and stars.  In the first dream, Joseph’s sheaf stands upright and then his brothers’ sheaves bow down to his sheaf.  Even though they disagreed with the meaning, Joseph’s brothers discerned the dream to mean that it was saying that Joseph would reign and rule over them.  That is why their sheaves bowed down to his.  In the second dream, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowed down to Joseph.  Joseph’s father also discerned the meaning of the dream.  The Bible says his father rebuked him and said, “Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?”  Jacob understood that the sun, moon, and stars represented his family bowing down to Joseph.   God could have easily just showed Joseph’s family bowing down to him in the dreams, but He didn’t.  Instead, God chose to show that this would happen, but he chose to use symbolism to convey the meaning.  If this had happened today, some people would have probably told Joseph he just had some bad pizza for dinner when in fact, it was actually God speaking to him.  Who was the wise person in Joseph’s family?  It was his father.  His brothers just outright rejected what Joseph said because they were jealous, but his father “kept these sayings in mind”.  Obviously, we know that Jacob/Israel knew God, and though the dream might have hurt his pride, he knew that God was sovereign and communicated to His people in this way.  We know this because in Genesis chapter 28 Jacob had his own encounter with God speaking to him through a dream.

Cupbearer, Baker, & Joseph

So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why are your faces downcast today?” They said to him, “We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.” So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me, and on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes. Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.” Then Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days. In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand as formerly, when you were his cupbearer.   (Gen 40:7-13)

When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head, and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.” And Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days. In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head–from you!–and hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat the flesh from you.”  (Gen 40:16-19)

Joseph makes an important statement in the first passage.  He says that dream interpretations come from God.  God is the one who gives an individual the understanding of the symbolism used in dreams.  The very fact that interpretation is needed shows that God uses symbolism and speaks in riddles.  Because a dream seems odd or bizarre does not mean that it’s not from God.  In both of the above dreams, God used different symbols to describe “three days” (three branches and three baskets).  God then used different symbolism to show what would happen to each man.  It’s interesting to note that these men, who were not acquainted with the one and only true God, had the knowledge that their dreams meant something.  They knew that something was being communicated to them through these dreams.

Pharaoh & Joseph

After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass. And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. And the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows. And Pharaoh awoke. And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time. And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. And behold, after them sprouted seven ears, thin and blighted by the east wind. And the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump, full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. So in the morning his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh.   (Gen 41:1-8)

Here we have Pharaoh having two dreams that are riddles and full of symbolism.   And here again we have a pagan, an unbeliever, who realizes that his dreams mean something.  If someone today had a dream of cows eating other cows, someone would surely attribute the dream to eating bad pizza!  Yet Pharaoh knew his dreams had some important meaning.  This account is another instance of God communicating truth about the future through a symbolic dream.  When Joseph interprets these dreams, he says:

And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about.  (Gen 41:32)

When God doubles a dream or gives multiple dreams on a given subject, it’s God driving the point home that it will come to pass soon.  I myself have had several instances in which God has given me multiple dreams on a given subject, and it came to pass very quickly.  (I’ll share more on this later.)

Gideon

When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat.” And his comrade answered, “This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp.” As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the LORD has given the host of Midian into your hand.”  (Jdg 7:13-15)

In Judges 7, God tells Gideon to go to the camp of the Midianites and listen to what they are saying.  God tells him that his hands will be strengthened after he hears them talking.  So Gideon and his servant go to the camp and hear one man telling another man about a dream he just had.  It’s another symbolic dream, where this time a loaf of bread rolls into a tent and turns it upside down so it lays flat.  The guy who was listening to the dream discerned that it meant that God had given the Midianites into Gideon’s hands.  The interpretation clearly came from God, but these men understood that their symbolic dream had meaning.  Notice the fact and pattern that in the Bible, both believers and non-believers understand and believe that God speaks and communicates through symbolic dreams.

Daniel & Nebuchadnezzar

Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these: To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this, and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be. But as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your mind.  You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening.  The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.  As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.  Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found.  But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.  This was the dream.  Now we will tell the king its interpretation.  (Dan 2:27-36)

A lot can be said about this dream, but I’ll just make a few comments.  Daniel confirms what Joseph said, that dreams come from God.  The King was in his bed and was thinking about what would come in the future, and God answered him in a dream.  Like the other dreams we’ve looked at, it’s another symbolic dream that needs interpretation.  God gave Daniel the interpretation, and Daniel told it to Nebuchadnezzar.  The dream spoke of future events and was a testimony to Nebuchadnezzar of the truth and reality about the God that Daniel served.

I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace. I saw a dream that made me afraid. As I lay in bed the fancies and the visions of my head alarmed me. So I made a decree that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought before me, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream. Then the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers came in, and I told them the dream, but they could not make known to me its interpretation. At last Daniel came in before me–he who was named Belteshazzar after the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods–and I told him the dream, saying, “O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no mystery is too difficult for you, tell me the visions of my dream that I saw and their interpretation. The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these: I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. The tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth. Its leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the heavens lived in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it. “I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and behold, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven. He proclaimed aloud and said thus: ‘Chop down the tree and lop off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from its branches. But leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, amid the tender grass of the field. Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his mind be changed from a man’s, and let a beast’s mind be given to him; and let seven periods of time pass over him. The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’  (Dan 4:4-17)

Here Nebuchadnezzar has another dream that is highly symbolic.  The dream is about a large tree, fruit, beasts of the field, birds, branches being cut off, a stump left bound with iron and bronze, and then a declaration of the King being wet with dew and his mind being changed.  Daniel interprets this symbolic dream and basically tells the king he’s going to be judged.  He then tells the king to repent and amend his ways.

Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity.” All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.”  (Dan 4:27-32)

I want to point out an important detail here.  The dream took twelve months to come to pass.  I would imagine that after a few months of nothing happening, Nebuchadnezzar, and maybe others who had heard or knew of the dream and its interpretation, might have begun to question whether it was true or not.  Because it didn’t happen right away, they might have thought it was false.  Yet God didn’t put a time limit on the dream; He just gave it.  Sometimes when God speaks through dreams, the fulfillment of them happens right away, and sometimes they can take months or years to come to pass.

So in all these examples, we learn that God speaks through dreams, He often speaks in riddles and symbolism, He’s the one who gives the interpretation, He speaks of future events and personal judgment, He can multiply a dream to impress its certainty and near fulfillment, He gives dreams to both the unbeliever and believer, and sometimes dreams can take a long time to come to pass and sometimes they come to pass quickly.

Before we move to the New Testament, I want to show the last instance that dreams are mentioned in the Old Testament.

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.   (Joel 2:28-30)

Here is a prophecy in Joel in which God says He is going to pour out His Spirit on all flesh (those who believe) and that sons and daughters will prophesy and old men and young men will have dreams and visions.  This is a prophecy concerning aspects of the New Covenant.

New Testament

In the New Testament, we have far fewer instances of people having dreams and visions, but that doesn’t mean that the frequency in which God speaks in this way has diminished.  In fact, contrary to what many people think, it’s the exact opposite.  In the Old Testament, we have book after book that give detailed accounts of individuals’ lives.  Starting at Pentecost, which is when the Spirit was given, we have one book – the book of Acts – that details some of the lives and accounts of individual men.  After that, we have a collection of letters written to individuals and churches.   So we have far fewer detailed accounts of the lives of believers.  But let’s look a couple instances of dreams in the New Testament, one in the gospels and one in Acts.

Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.”   (Mat 27:19)

Here we have another instance of God speaking to a non-believer to give them a warning.  Pilate’s wife had a dream of which we don’t know the details.  But we do know that she understood the dream to show that Jesus was a righteous man and that Pilate should leave Him alone.

After this account, we go to the book of Acts, which is really the last place that we see dreams mentioned as a way in which God speaks to His people.

“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’  (Act 2:17-21)

The Spirit had just been poured out, and here Peter is quoting the prophecy of Joel to explain what is going on.  The crux of this passage is that God is NOW pouring out His Spirit on all flesh.  He is pouring out His Spirit on all who believe.  It will no longer be something that is confined to certain individuals/prophets like we see in the Old Testament.  Each believer will now be able to partake of God’s Spirit and have the Spirit dwelling in them.  The result of this happening will now be that sons and daughters will prophesy, young and old will have visions and dreams, and both males and females will receive God’s Spirit and they will prophesy.  In the first part of this prophecy, God is saying that what was limited in the Old Testament will now be a reality to all believers in the New Testament.  All believers will have God’s Spirit and because of that, believers will have dreams and visions and will prophesy.  It is an indication that the frequency of these manifestations will increase because the pouring out of God’s Spirit has increased.  So in the same way we see God speaking in dreams and visions in the Old Testament, we can expect Him to do the same in the New Testament, but on a greater scale.

Now in the book of Acts, we don’t have any accounts of God speaking to men in dreams, except possibly one, but we do have God speaking to men in visions (Peter’s vision of the blanket in Acts 10, Cornelius’ vision in Acts 10, Paul and the Macedonian man in Acts 16, etc.)  I say that there is possibly one case, because Acts 16 says that a “vision appeared to Paul in the night”.  This is the same language that is used to describe dreams in Job 33:15.  Either way, we have God speaking to men in a supernatural way.  If you read through the accounts of God speaking to men in visions, you’ll notice that they are similar to the dreams He gives.  Sometimes God speaks directly to the person, and sometimes he speaks using symbolism which must be interpreted and understood.   My point is that even if dreams are not mentioned in the book of Acts, we KNOW that they did and do happen; otherwise the prophecy of Joel that Peter quoted would be proven to be false.  Obviously, that’s not the case.  The Spirit was poured out and continues to be poured out (in) believers.  God continues to give visions and dreams to His people and will do so until Christ returns.  (side note – People have differing opinions regarding the last part of Joel’s prophecy.  Some people believed was fulfilled in 70 A.D., when Jerusalem was destroyed.  Since we’re still in the last days, I tend to think it speaks of the judgment that is coming and the Day of the Lord.)

The fact the Peter quotes Joel’s prophecy and mentions visions and dreams should settle the matter for anyone who believes God’s word that God indeed does still speak to His people in this supernatural way.  And if we want to know how God speaks to His people in dreams, all we have to do is look at how He’s already done so through what is recorded in the scriptures.  Sometimes God speaks very straightforward, as if He’s having a personal conversation with someone; and at other times, much of the time, He speaks in dreams that seem to come as riddles and with symbolism that must be interpreted.

OBJECTIONS

Though the scriptures are very clear that God has spoken, and still does speak, to people in visions and dreams, there are many people who say God does not do so anymore.  Many people also say that while God can do these things, He doesn’t really do them today with much frequency.  I’ve heard explanations about why we can’t really trust that God does this today and that we can’t put much stock into what Peter said in Acts chapter 2 as it relates to dreams and visions.  So I want to take a moment and go through some of these objections, before I share some of my personal experiences.  Some of these objections are objections that I’ve heard many times, and some of them are from a teaching that I read on this subject not too long ago.  I feel that addressing these objections will be beneficial to those who still have doubts about dreams and visions.

1.  God doesn’t speak through visions and dreams today.

Most of the time, when I hear people say this, it’s because they are cessationist.  They believe that all the gifts of the Spirit, and pretty much anything that would be considered supernatural, have ceased.  They believe that since we now have the written word of God, God is no longer using any other methods besides His word to speak to people or demonstrate His power.  People believe this way because they usually have an erroneous understanding of 1 Cor 13:8-10.  They believe that the “perfect” in those verses is speaking about the word of God, and since we now have the word of God, all these other things – prophecies, dreams, visions, spiritual gifts, etc. have passed away.

The second reason often given is comes from quoting Hebrews 1:1, 2.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.  (Heb 1:1-2)

Many people believe that this verse teaches that God at one time spoke in many ways and by the prophets, but that now since Jesus has come, He no longer speaks in supernatural ways.  They believe this verse is proof that God now only speaks through His written word.  However, this verse says absolutely nothing about God’s written word.  Plus, that interpretation is proven false by what Peter said in Acts 2 (that believers will have dreams and visions), and it’s proven false by dreams, visions, and prophesying  that were shown to be active in the book of Acts.  People who say that these things have ceased simply do not believe what the Bible teaches.  In trying to “elevate” and “honor” the word of God, they actually dishonor it by not believing what it says.

2.  God doesn’t speak in dreams and visions today with the same frequency that He did in the Old Testament.

I think many times when people say this, it’s really because they don’t want to acknowledge or accept the reality that God does in fact do this quite often.  They don’t want to say God doesn’t speak in this way anymore, but they don’t want to say that He really does either.  However, the Bible strongly supports the fact that dreams and visions will increase.  Acts 2, in Joel’s prophecy, says that God will pour out His Spirit on all flesh.  As a result of God pouring out His Spirit on all flesh, as opposed to just a few people having God’s Spirit, believers will have dreams and visions and will prophesy.  So basically, what was limited in the Old Testament will now be common in the New Testament.

3.  Joel’s prophecy is simply describing what was happing right then and there at Pentecost. 

I assume that people say this because, by doing so, it would confine all the supernatural aspects of Joel’s prophecy to the day that the Spirit was poured out.  It would mean we couldn’t say these things happen today if the prophecy was only an explanation of what was happening on that day.  However, if we’re to believe that Joel’s prophecy ONLY refers to the event that happened on the day of Pentecost, then we are in real trouble.  If that statement were true, then God’s Spirit is not being poured out on all flesh (all believers) today, because that was part of Joel’s prophecy.  It also means that sometime then, the “sun did not give its light, and the moon was turned to blood.”  Obviously, that didn’t happen AND more importantly, we know that God is still pouring out His Spirit today.  It’s pretty clear that the prophecy of Joel speaks of what was happening on the day of Pentecost; it speaks of what is happening today, of what will continue until Christ returns, and of what will happen right before the “great day of the Lord”.  Joel’s prophecy is clearly not restricted solely to the events that happened on the day of Pentecost.

4.  Peter’s usage of Joel’s prophecy is not intended to show every detail of how God will communicate with His people.

That is certainly a true statement.  Peter’s usage of Joel’s prophecy is not intended to show every detail of how God will communicate with His people.  However, it most certainly does touch on some aspects of how God will speak to us.  It clearly says that believers will have visions and dreams, and they will prophesy.  If this passage is not explaining some ways in which God will communicate to and through His people, then I have no idea what it is saying.

5.  Dreams will always point to Christ.

If dreams must always point to Christ, then visions and prophecies must always point to Christ as well.  However, it’s clear from the book of Acts that dreams/visions and prophecies do not always point to Christ.  In Acts 16, Paul received a vision/dream telling him to go to Macedonia.  It was a vision about direction and not a vision pointing to the person and work of Jesus Christ.  Also in the book of Acts, you have a man named Agabus who prophesies twice.  In the first account, he prophesies of a coming famine (Acts 11:28); and in the second account, he prophesies about what will happen to Paul (Acts 21:11).  Neither of these prophecies pointed to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

6.  We can’t trust that dreams and visions are for today because they are not reinforced and mentioned in the Epistles. 

With the exception of 1 Corinthians 12:1, visions and dreams are not mentioned in the Epistles.  However, are we to assume that because something is not mentioned in the Epistles, it is no longer valid today?  That would mean that every parable Jesus spoke is invalid today because none are mentioned in the Epistles.  It would mean that the conditions for discipleship are invalid today because they are not mentioned in the Epistles; and it would mean that a whole lot of other gospel truths are not valid today because they are absent from the Epistles.  It’s clear that the above objection doesn’t hold any water.

7.  We should not be led by dreams, but we should be led by God’s Spirit.  We should not be slaves of dreams, but we should be slaves of God’s word. 

This is another statement that I recently heard from a brother, but it’s also one that I’ve heard before.  The problem with statements like these is that it pits one way of God communicating against another way that God communicates.  If a man receives a dream or vision from God, does it not come from God’s Spirit?  In the book of Acts in chapter 16, Paul has either a vision or dream about a man from Macedonia telling him to come over and help them.

And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Act 16:9-10)

What was the result of Paul having this vision or dream?  It says that Paul and his companions sought to immediately go to Macedonia because they concluded that God had called them to preach there.  These men were being led by a vision/dream, one that was from God.  So ultimately, by being led in this manner, they were being led by God Himself.

The second part of the objection says that we are not to be slaves of dreams but slaves of God’s word.  Again, that is pitting one way that God communicates against another way that God communicates.  It should go without saying that dreams must be understood, interpreted, and discerned that they are from God in order to be followed.   But if a dream is from God, it should be heeded.  We are to be slaves of God’s word, but God’s word says that He will speak to us in visions and dreams and that we will prophesy.  So if we are going to be slaves of God’s word, we should be careful to listen to every way in which He says He’s going to speak to us.  And of course, it should go without saying, that a dream from God will not contradict His written word. 

I could go on with more objections to God speaking through dreams and visions, but I’ll stop there.  I just wanted to touch on a few that I have heard many times and some that I’ve just recently come across.  It’s quite clear though, from both the word of God and the testimony of saints through the ages, that God still speak through both dreams and visions.

SOME OF OUR EXPERIENCES

I wanted to share some of the experiences that both my wife and I have had in regards to God speaking in dreams.  I’m going to share dreams that show different things that God has communicated to us.  Some of the dreams have been easy to understand, and some, many, have been filled with symbolism that required an interpretation.  With many of the dreams, we came to understand the meaning before the event happened, but sometimes we didn’t understand the dream until the event happened.  By paying attention to the symbolism that God has used over the years when He speaks to us in this way, most of the time we are able to discern what the Lord is saying (as God gives us the ability to understand).  When we have dreams from the Lord, we also often share them with other brethren we fellowship with, who also have dreams from the Lord.  God will often use other brothers to help with understanding the meaning of a dream.  Because dreams from the Lord often use symbolism, and because believers are at different places in their walks with the Lord, dreams can be misinterpreted.  I’ve misunderstood the meaning of some dreams before, only to have the real understanding made known to me when the event comes to pass and the Lord reveals to me that the event was what the dream was showing.

I also want to say that just because a believer has a dream or multiple dreams from God does not mean they are some super-spiritual person.  It’s simply one of the ways that God has chosen to communicate with His people.  Some people, like my wife, have had many, many prophetic dreams since her conversion.  I, on the other hand, did not have many prophetic dreams until I understood and believed that God can speak this way to all believers.  Actually, I think the reality is that I probably had many dreams that were from the Lord, but I did not discern that they were from the Lord, because I never put much stock in dreams.  (I had a few in my early Christian years that I knew were from God but not as many as I have now.)  I think this was partly due to my Western mindset that was not really open to or used to spiritual things.  I’ve noticed with my wife, and in my travels, that it seems like people from the East are more open to spiritual things, even when they are unconverted.  (Sort of like how we see unbelievers in the Old Testament knowing that their dreams meant something.)

So let me share some of the different things God has and does communicate to us through dreams.  Keep in mind that God uses symbolism that we can identify with.  With Joseph, He used sheaves and stars; with Pharaoh, He uses cows and corn.  God used symbols that these men would be able to identify with.  God does the same thing when He speaks to us today in this way.

CORRECTION/WARNING

I’ve had quite a few dreams in which God was either correcting me or warning me about my personal life.  There are times when I’ll have a dream that I’m shooting up heroin or doing some other drug.  (I used to do this in my past.)  Now obviously I don’t do this today.  But God has quickened me to understand that when I have a dream like this, He’s showing me that I’m in delusion or compromise in some area.  I’ve noticed the pattern that when God gives me dreams like this, they are always a warning regarding my walk with Him, and He clearly shows me what the area is that He is speaking about.  Both my wife and I have had dreams in which policemen come and arrest us, and there is nothing we can do to escape.  In our lives, these dreams always refer to some trial that we are about to go through and that we must go through, because it’s ordained of God.  Usually there are other details to the dream that let us know specifics about the trial we’ll be going through.

When we were living in Texas, we had a man living with us who had just come off the streets.  He repented and believed, he was delivered from crack, we baptized him, and we let him stay at our house.  A couple weeks later, he had a dream.  In the dream, he was driving a car, but he was driving really fast.  He was driving so fast that he lost control and ended up crashing.  He was a new believer and was not acquainted with having dreams from the Lord.  But like the men in the Old Testament that I mentioned in this post, he knew that his dream meant something.  The Lord gave me the understanding that the dream represented his life, that he was moving too fast, and that if he didn’t slow down something bad would happen to him related to his walk.  This man was staying at our house but he was wanting to get a job really fast and move back home with his wife that he was separated from.  I told him that he should take it slow, that he should spend some time at our place, having no obligations, and spend some time reading the Bible and getting some roots in the Lord.  But he insisted that he should work and start getting back on his feet.  I told him the dream was showing that he was moving too fast and that if he continued, he would have some major problem.  We’ll, he didn’t listen, and he got a job.  As soon as he got his first paycheck, he left.  I didn’t see him again for a long while.  Then one day, I was visiting Dallas and driving through the interchange, and I saw him under a bridge, homeless again.

REVEALING THE THOUGHTS AND MEDITATIONS OF THE HEART (RELATED TO CORRECTION)

I have an Iphone that I use for my phone.  When the new Iphone was coming out I was researching it to find out about it.  Of course I didn’t need a new phone, but I was interested in the new features.  I wasn’t eligible for an upgrade yet but I was thinking of doing it anyway.  Basically, I was looking at something I didn’t need and wasn’t eligible to get without having  to pay more money for.  So God gave me a dream regarding this.  In the dream I was in an Apple store.  The store was packed full of people and they were all crowding up around the sales counter.  They were all there because the new phone was being released.  I was at the very front of the crowd and was the first one in line to get the “new thing”.  I looked around and had this realization that I shouldn’t be there and that it was out of place for me to be there.  I woke up from the dream and realized it was God warning me not to be enticed like the world with the latest material things.  Some people might think that God wouldn’t speak to issues like this but He does.  He knows our individual weaknesses and tendencies towards the flesh.  God is concerned with the little things we allow in our hearts that can turn into bigger things and negatively affect our devotion to, and walk with Him (Song 2:15).

DOUBLE DREAMS

Twice, I’ve had two dreams within a short period of time that spoke to something I was going to go through.  In both instances, I had two dreams that showed that I was going to the hospital.  In both instances, after the dreams, I literally ended up in the hospital.  One of these times was last month, in December.  I had two dreams that showed that I was in the hospital having surgery.  In one of the dreams, I was outside of my body watching the doctors operate on me.  (It wasn’t some out of body experience; it was just in the dream.)  About a week after my second dream, my appendix burst.  I went to the hospital, and they performed emergency surgery on me.  In these instances, I received multiple dreams, and a short time later, I was in the hospital.

DREAMS OF ATTACKS

God has given me dreams that show that I’m being attacked.  In a couple dreams, I’ve been attacked by men with knives.  I had three dreams like this in a short period of time.  Shortly after that, I faced tough spiritual attacks.  The dreams were a warning from God.

EVANGELISM

When I was in Mexico, I dreamed that I saw a young, homeless man who was dirty.  He came up to me and said he was really tired and was looking for rest.  In the dream, I took him to a place where he could lay down in a bed and rest.  End of dream.  The next day, our family went to California to buy groceries.  While I was in the parking lot of the grocery store, a young homeless man came up to me and asked for money.  I knew he was using drugs, so I asked him what he was using.  He denied using drugs and just said he was homeless.  I shared my testimony with him about being delivered from heroin and shared the gospel with him.  I gave him twenty dollars and then went inside the store to buy groceries.  When I came out, this young man found me and said he had been looking for me.  He gave me back the money and said he had lied to me and that he was a heroin addict (it’s a big thing for a heroin addict to give you back twenty dollars).  He said he was tired of his life and wanted to know more about Jesus.  I was then able to spend more time with him telling him how he could find “rest” in Christ.  The dream came to pass.

About a month later, I had a dream that I got a call from a woman I know in NM.  In the dream, she said that she was really tired and wanted to rest.  I was talking to her on the phone and telling her how she could get some rest.  End of Dream.  The next day, I received an email, the only email I’ve ever received from this woman, and she asked me about a scripture that talks about how one enters into the kingdom of God.  This woman had never asked us a spiritual question before.   I wrote her back explaining the gospel, which is how we find our true rest, our “rest” in Christ.

This last time I was in Mexico, I had a dream that it was raining outside.  In the dream I was driving to go preach at a jail but somehow got on a different road and ended up at another jail.  In the jail, I was taken to a large room with a lot of chairs.  A bunch of the inmates came in, and I was able to preach to them.  End of dream.  The next day, it was raining outside.  I went to a new jail we had started going to.  The officers told me about another jail I should try.  So I got the directions and headed over there.  This other jail was huge.  I met the director and he said I could preach there and then he showed me a large room full of chairs that we could use.  He said they would bring the inmates to this room and we could preach to them.  We ended up preaching at this jail every week.

PROVISION

God gave Lisa a dream that we were to visit some brethren in the US and speak to them about things He showed us in the dream.  In the dream, someone gave us money so we could go.  End of dream.  We had about $100 to our name, which wasn’t enough to make this journey to another state in our SUV and pulling our trailer.  But we knew it was God’s will and planned when we were going to leave.  The night before we left, someone gave us enough money to go.

On our first trip to live in Mexico, God gave Lisa a dream that we would be living in an apartment.  The dream showed that a guy lived in the apartment and that he had a girlfriend but that he was going to move out so we could live there.  End of Dream.  So we got to Mexico and we stayed in a hotel while we looked for a place to stay.  I guess at that time I didn’t think much of Lisa’s dream, because I was looking for a house for us to live in.  Also, I didn’t see many apartments that were available.  So we drove around all day looking for a house with no real success.  In the evening, I went to a gas station to use their free wifi.  All the tables were full, but this one guy said I could share his table with him.  We started talking, and I told him that I was looking for an apartment for our family.  He said he had an apartment but that he was not moving out for a few weeks.  He asked me if I wanted to see it, and I told him yes.  He showed me his two bedroom apartment, and then I went back to the hotel.  The next day, the guy called me and said that he would go ahead and move out so I could rent the apartment.  He was building a house and said he would go live in it.   I helped him move his stuff to his house.  It was totally unfinished.  It had dirt floors with plywood over it.  I also met his girlfriend.  Basically, the Lord moved him out.  It was just like the dream.

Before we went to Mexico the first time, God gave Lisa a dream that someone was going to buy us land.  We thought that maybe someone was going to buy us land in Mexico.  We’ll, it never happened.  We lived in Mexico, then went to India, then came back and traveled the US.  We were about to go back to India when we got a call from someone offering to buy us land anywhere in the US.  The dream came to pass; it just took a few years.

DIRECTION

When I was going to preach in London, I was originally going to go by myself.  Lisa suggested that I should ask someone to go with me.  So without telling Lisa, I went into our closet to get alone and was praying to God about two individuals that I had never met, asking God if one of them should come with me.  The next morning, Lisa woke up and said she had a dream and saw me praying in the closet and saw that I was praying about two men, and she named them.  She said that one of the guys was supposed to go with me.  She said in the dream she saw that the guy already had something planned but that he was going to put his plans on hold and come with me.  So I emailed this brother I had never met, telling him about the trip and asking him to come.  He wrote back a couple days later and said that he had prayed about it and would be coming.  He said he had had plans but that he was going to put them on hold and come.

Whenever we’re about to move (when the Lord is about to move us), the Lord will give Lisa a dream showing that this is the case.

When we lived in TX, after I got back from preaching in London, we felt the Lord wanted us to sell all of our possessions.  We sold everything and put our house on the market.  We had zero interest in our house.  Then one night, Lisa had a dream and it showed some guy wearing a striped polo shirt coming over to our house.  He came in the house and walked around for about five minutes and then said he would take the house.  End of dream.  So Lisa told me her dream and I went and posted our house for sale on craigslist.  About ten minutes later, I got a call from a man who had read the post and seen the few pictures I had posted, and he said he wanted to buy our house.  The guy came over later that day, wearing a striped polo shirt.  He walked around for about 5-10 minutes and said he would take the house.

When we were in Mexico the first time, Lisa had a dream that we’d be there for six months.  We first thought that we might move to some other part of Mexico when the six months were complete.  Toward the end of the six months, she had a dream that we were going to a country that started with the letter “I” and that it would be an adventure.  I was thinking it might be Iran, because I’ve always wanted to preach more in Muslim countries.  Shortly after the dream, I got contacted by a brother in India whom I’ve never met.  He asked me to come there and preach the gospel with him.  Not long after, our family was in India.

When we were in India, God gave Lisa a dream that we would be going back to the US.  She also had a symbolic dream that showed the economy would eventually crash.  The dreamed showed it would dip once but then recover and that the second time, it would crash and not recover (the first part of this dream has come to pass).  So we were praying about going back to the US, and an Indian sister came to us the next day and said she had a dream in which she saw us get on a plane and go back to the US.  The Lord then provided the funds for us to return.

FELLOWSHIP DREAMS

This is where I see God directing a lot of the dreams He gives us at the moment.  In our small fellowship, God gives us dreams that relate to each other.  What I mean is that God will reveal things in our lives that are hindering our spiritual life and therefore affect the body.  God also gives us dreams related to the work He has us doing and regarding things that are ahead.  As a body, we discuss these things and seek the Lord on them.  God will work through one or all of us, and He will help us to understand what He’s saying.  It’s really a blessing to see the Lord work in the body in this way.

Those are just a few of the things that God has spoken to us about through dreams.  God has given us many, many dreams that are highly symbolic that reveal things in our lives or things to come.  I would like to share more, but I don’t think it would be beneficial, because many people might not understand the symbolism.  I simply wanted to share a small sample out of our own lives to show how we’ve seen God speak in this way and to testify that what the scriptures speak on this subject is true.

GOD IS SPEAKING, BUT PEOPLE AREN’T LISTENING

For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber on their beds, then he opens the ears of men and terrifies them with warnings, that he may turn man aside from his deed and conceal pride from a man; he keeps back his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword. (Job 33:14-18)

This passage in Job shows one of the ways that God deals with people.  God often speaks through dreams (visions of the night) to warn us.  He speaks to warn us when we are in error, when we are in sin.  But what does the scripture say?  It says that men don’t perceive it.  Not that all people don’t perceive it.  But a great majority of people do not perceive when God is speaking to them through dreams.  Unfortunately, what was true in Job’s day is still true today.  God is still speaking through dreams, and I would say even more so in the New Covenant.  But because of a fear and hesitancy towards spiritual things, along with bad teaching, people today do not believe that God speaks this way anymore or that if He does, it’s certainly not with any frequency.

If you are a believer in Christ and you see in the word of God that God still speaks this way, I would encourage you to pay attention to your dreams.  Write them down and pray about them.  You might just find out that God has been speaking to you and you didn’t know it.

REPENT & REPENTANCE

I’m certainly no Greek scholar, but a simple study of the Greek words for “repent” and “repentance” show that the definition of the words mean: change your mind, reconsider, or think differently.  Specifically, repentance means to change, or have your mind changed, about who God is and what He has said about Himself, about Jesus Christ, and about ourselves.  Repentance is something that happens in the mind and heart as we are convinced by God’s Spirit regarding the truths of the gospel.  It is not a commitment to reform our lives, a commitment to stop sinning, nor is it a commitment to completely surrender to God.  Often times, when repentance is mentioned in a gospel presentation, people confuse the fruits of repentance with repentance itself.  For instance, like I stated above, people tell men to repent and then define repentance as “turning from all known sin” or to “forsake all sin.”  However, when people do this as they present the gospel, they are putting the cart before the horse.  They are calling men to do something they are not able to do.  They are requiring faith plus works to be saved.  The question is, how can a man forsake all his sin when the scripture says that:

He who sins is a slave of sin.  (John 8:34)

And that we are not free from the bondage of sin until we are made a new creation in Jesus Christ:

Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.  (Rom 6:6-7)

Is a man required to forsake all his sins to receive salvation in Jesus Christ?  Must a man stop sinning in order to be saved?  The answer is no.  Nowhere in the Bible are men required to stop sinning in order to be saved.  (It’s clear from Romans 6:6-7 that we don’t even have power over sin until we’re born again.)  However, if you erroneously define repentance as a complete forsaking of sin, then you are telling men that they must do something in addition to having faith in Jesus Christ for their salvation.  This is a common gospel that many are preaching today; and I myself have preached it in error before.   Yet it is not the gospel of Jesus Christ but instead is a gospel that leaves men in hopelessness and in bondage.  How are you going to tell a man to stop sinning who is in bondage to his sin nature?  Again, many today when they preach the gospel are confusing repentance with the fruits of repentance.  (I’m going to speak more to this toward the end of this post.)

TWO MAIN CAMPS

As I began to notice just how many tracts that are sold are incorrect, I began to study repentance so I could understand it biblically.  This inevitably led to the study of people that hold to two different views on this subject.  One is called Lordship Salvation.  Probably the biggest spokesman for this camp today is John MacArthur.  There are many others as well who hold to this view who usually fall into the Calvinist camp.  On the other end of the spectrum, you have those who are in what is called the Free Grace camp.  This group has had spokesmen such as Charles Ryrie and Zane Hodges, and ministries like Grace Evangelical Society.  Like many systems of theology, I’ve found that both of these positions go to extremes that make them unbiblical.  With this post, I want to start, and mainly focus on Lordship salvation.

LORDSHIP SALVATION

Like I said above, one of the most vocal voices espousing Lordship Salvation today is John MacArthur.  In fact, he’s written a book promoting Lordship Salvation titled “The Gospel According to Jesus,” which I believe has been revised three times.  This book, as far as I can tell, is the book that has most propelled Lordship Salvation to its status as an accepted doctrine in our day.  It’s a doctrine that I disagree with and one that I believe perverts the true gospel of Jesus Christ.  So what is Lordship Salvation?  It carries the idea that for one to be saved, one must forsake all sin, be willing to carry one’s cross and die for Jesus, live a life of self-denial, and implicitly obey and fully surrender to the Lordship of Christ.  But instead of me trying to explain it alone, let me quote John MacArthur and others on this subject and then comment on their quotes.

Let me say again unequivocally that Jesus’ summons to deny self and follow him was an invitation to salvation, not….a second step of faith following salvation… Those who are not willing to lose their lives for Christ are not worthy of Him.  He wants disciples willing to forsake everything.  This calls for full-scale self-denial – even willingness to die for His sake if necessary.  (The cost of following Discipleship – The Gospel According to Jesus.)

Thus in a sense we pay the ultimate price for salvation when our sinful self is nailed to the cross…It is an exchange of all that we are for all that Christ is.  And it denotes implicit obedience, full surrender to the Lordship of Christ.  Nothing less can qualify as saving faith.  (1^st version, The Gospel According to Jesus, pg. 140)

Saving faith is a commitment to leave sin and follow Jesus at all cost.  Jesus takes no one unwilling to come on those terms.  (1^st Version, The Gospel According to Jesus, pg. 87)

Anyone who wants to come after Jesus into the Kingdom of God—anyone who wants to be a Christian—has to face three commands: 1) deny himself, 2) take up his cross daily, and 3) follow him.” (Hard to Believe, p. 6.)

So in John MacArthur’s first quote, he says that one must be willing to forsake everything and even be willing to die for Jesus to receive salvation.  Notice he is not saying that this is the attitude of believers after they have been saved; he is saying one must have this attitude in order to be saved in the first place.  In his second quote, John MacArthur says for a person to be saved, they must resolve to have implicit obedience and fully surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  Again, he is not saying that this should and would be the attitude of those who have been saved, but it is the attitude one must have in order to be saved in the first place.  In MacArthur’s third quote, he says that saving faith is a “commitment to leave sin and follow Jesus at all cost.”  If someone doesn’t commit to leave all their sin, then they cannot be saved by Jesus Christ.  And lastly, in his book “Hard to Believe” MacArthur says that if anyone wants to be a Christian they HAVE to face three commands; deny himself, take up his cross, and follow him.  So these three things have to be addressed BEFORE one can be saved and become a child of God.  They are prerequisites to salvation; without which, if a man does not commit to, he cannot be saved and will die in his sins.  Now you’re probably thinking, “What’s wrong with what John MacArthur has said?  After all, a lot of these things are mentioned in the New Testament, both in the gospels and in the Epistles.”  The problem with what John MacArthur is saying is that he is making the fruit that FOLLOWS belief a requirement BEFORE one can be saved.  So according to Lordship Salvation, one must be willing to forsake everything, be willing to die for Jesus, resolve to have implicit obedience, fully surrender to the Lordship of Christ, commit to leave all sin, follow Jesus at all cost, AND have faith in what Jesus has done for us on the cross.  Lordship Salvation, in essence, requires a sinner to do what he is unable to do.  He must do and commit to do all these things in order to receive the salvation Jesus offers, even before he has the Spirit of God dwelling in him.  The salvation Jesus offers is no longer a free gift to be received; it is a gift to be meritoriously achieved (earned by merit).

Steve Lawson, another proponent of Lordship salvation, says it this way:

If you want to receive this gift it will cost you the total commitment of all that you are to the Lord  Jesus Christ.  There are many here who think they are saved, but are not; they have never really done business with God….I want to single you out in the midst of the crowd.  Have you taken up a cross in order to follow after Christ?  Have you recognized your own sinfulness, acknowledged that God’s judgment is true, have you acknowledged Christ’s right to rule your life?  Have you submitted to the Lordship of Christ?  Have you really come to the end of yourself?  Because Jesus does not begin until you end.”  (The Cost of Discipleship, It Will Cost You Everything, Resolved Conference, Feb. 2007)

So according to Steve Lawson, the free gift of God will cost you.  It will cost you total commitment.  Speaking to non-believers, in order to be saved, he says, “Have you taken up your cross, have you submitted to the Lordship of Christ, have you come to the end of yourself?”  He says Jesus won’t do anything until you’ve come to the end of yourself.  But is that the gospel that you see preached in the scriptures?  Did Paul walk around telling men that he has a free gift for them that they will have to purchase with their actions, or by coming to the end of themselves and picking up their cross?  (Again, I’m not talking about the lifestyle one should have after becoming a believer, as a result of true faith; I’m talking about what is required for one to be saved.)  No, this is not the gospel of the Bible.  The gospel in the Bible is a message about the person and work of Jesus Christ to atone for our sins.  It is a message that, if anyone believes, they will be saved by God on account of their faith.  Lordship Salvation teaches that you must have faith AND, faith AND, faith AND…  You must forsake, commit, fully surrender, etc., AND believe the gospel to be saved.  It places unbiblical emphasis on what you must do and focuses less on what Christ has done, when in fact the gospel is about what Christ has done, which is something we receive by faith and are saved.

I want to quote a few men who oppose Lordship Salvation to help show the error of this theology.  Most of these quotes come from a book I recently read called “In Defense of the Gospel,” by Lou Martuneac.  While I don’t agree with everything he says in his book, nor everything from every author he quotes below; I think, for the most part, he accurately shows the errors in both the Lordship Salvation and Free Grace positions.  Here are some quotes that help expose the error of Lordship Salvation:

RON SHEA

“In this view, eternal salvation is not dependent on the performance of a work, but only the promise of future works.  In the minds of those determined to adhere to salvation by works, this distinction supposedly allows the works of the law to be somehow added to the equation of salvation without annulling the doctrine of grace.  Paul’s Epistle to the Romans would disagree.  ‘For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is of none effect.’  The …expression ‘saving repentance’ is nothing more than a specific form or expression of Bilateral Contract Salvation… ‘a promise for a promise.’  The lost sinner ‘promises’ future obedience in exchange for God’s ‘promise’ of eternal life.  This errant understanding of the term ‘repentance’ is the most common and pervasive form of ‘Lordship Salvation’ taught within Christendom throughout the world.”  (Ron Shea, Repentance and Salvation in Scripture, Confusion Over Repentance, p.3)

J. VERNON MAGEE

(Jesus) is not putting down a condition of salvation but stating the position of those who are saved.  Lordship advocates, however, consider Luke 9:23-24 an evangelistic passage meant for the unsaved.  Lordship advocates believe “take up his cross daily” is a condition that must be committed to for the reception of salvation.  If this is a salvation invitation, the sinner is being asked to be willing to die for Jesus in order to be saved. “If this characterizes saving faith and is made a condition for salvation, as Lordship proponents insist, one must decide to place faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord through surrender everyday without fail.  Such an expectation is not found elsewhere in the Bible and makes both salvation and assurance impossible.   (In Defense of the Gospel, page 87)

LOU MARTUNEAC

Conditioning salvation upon man’s “unconditional surrender,” his commitment to or promises of obedience, is not the gospel.  This is the point upon which some who reject Lordship Salvation consider it the first cousin of Roman Catholicism’s sacramental works salvation.  When repentance is defined as “turning from sin” its basic nature is changed from what occurs in the heart and mind to an action.  A commitment to certain behavior expected of a Christian turns the gospel of grace on its head.  Salvation then is no longer “the gift of God” but instead a works based message that frustrates grace  (Eph. 2:8-9, Gal 2:21) (page 145, In Defense of the Gospel)

To them (Lordship advocates), the kind of faith that “does not save” is any faith that does not meet their Lordship definition of saving faith.  (page 152, In Defense of the Gospel)

Lordship Salvation, according to John MacArthur’s definition of saving faith, is a barter system  (page 155, In Defense of the Gospel)

Those who teach Lordship Salvation frontload faith with commitments to do the good works  (Eph. 2:10)…  (Page 167, In Defense of the Gospel)

Does the Lord call on the lost for a wholehearted commitment to obedient Christian living before He grants the gift of eternal life?  (page 257, In Defense of the Gospel)

As Lou accurately says, Lordship salvation frontloads faith with a commitment to do good works.  It becomes a barter system in which the non-believer commits to forsake all their sins, commits to carry their cross and die daily, and commits to fully surrender and to have complete obedience in order to be saved.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is no longer the free gift that God offers but is a costly gift that the unconverted sinner is unable to purchase.  What sinner can commit to do things that are possible only by having the Spirit of God dwell in them?  When people preach a Lordship Salvation gospel, they are not preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ; they are preaching a different gospel that frustrates the grace of God.

FREE GRACE

On the other side of the spectrum, you have men like Charles Ryrie, Zane Hodges, and ministries like Grace Evangelical Society that promote what is called “Free Grace.”  This position arose out of a need to address the false gospel being promoted by Lordship Salvation advocates.  They understand that salvation is a free gift of God and does not require the unconverted to commit to promise or do certain works in order to be saved.  The lost are saved by believing the message of Jesus Christ and putting their faith in him for salvation (John 1:12).  Yet some in the free grace camp have also gone into an extreme that makes their gospel false as well.  They rightly say that a believer can be saved with faith, but they erroneously say that once a person is a believer they can be so their entire life even if they show absolutely zero fruit.  So in essence, they say a person can believe the facts about Jesus Christ and then live however they want to.  The so called believer can continue living a habitual life of fornication, lying, stealing, etc. (name your sin) until they die and still be saved.  It’s a false and powerless gospel that doesn’t have to actually produce good fruit and godliness in the lives of those who “believe.”

Lordship Salvation frontloads the gospel with works while Free Grace strips the gospel of its power.  They are both wrong, and neither represents the gospel of God and Jesus Christ.

WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?

Since we are saved by our faith/belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ, it would be good to define the gospel of Jesus Christ.  You can find many different answers to explain exactly what the gospel is, but Paul defines it best, in its most basic and simplest form, in 1 Cor. 15:

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:   (1Co 15:1-4)

Simply put, the gospel is the message that was prophesied in the scriptures and came to pass, about the death of Christ for our sins, about his burial, and his resurrection from the dead.  It is a message about what God has done to redeem and save all who will repent and believe in Jesus Christ.  It is not a message about how we must change our lives or commit to any works to be saved.  It is a message about what God has done for us in the death and resurrection of Christ from the dead for our salvation.  Beginning in Genesis chapter 3, God began prophesying of a savior that would come and save us from our sins.  In God’s perfect timing, just as he had prophesied, Christ Jesus came into the world to lay his life down for us.  The sinless Son of God became our substitute and satisfied the wrath of God for our sins.  He became a curse for us when he bore our sins in his body on the cross.  As the saying goes, “We owed a debt we could not pay, and He paid a debt He did not owe.”  After Christ had made satisfactory payment for our sins, he died and was buried.  Three days later, God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, giving proof to all that the sacrifice Jesus had made was acceptable to God.  Jesus was declared to be the son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4).  His mission was victorious and he defeated death and hell.  Our salvation, and the power to live a new life free from the bondage of sin, was made available to us through the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf.  God has done everything needed to provide salvation for anyone who will believe (trust) in Jesus Christ for their salvation.  There is nothing man can do to be saved apart from repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ.  There is nothing man can add to the work of Jesus Christ to make him acceptable to God.  No commitment, no promising, no forsaking of anything adds to the work of Christ and makes anyone acceptable to God.  Only by putting one’s faith in Jesus Christ and in what he has done can a man be saved from the bondage of sin, from eternal damnation, and receive the gift of eternal life.

Being saved really is as simple as Jesus said it would be.  In John chapter three, Jesus speaks to a man named Nicodemus.  He tells Nicodemus that a man must be born again in order to see/enter into the kingdom of God.  He then proceeds to tell Nicodemus how a man may be born again.  Jesus says:

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:14-16)

If you read Numbers chapter 21, you’ll read the account of when the Israelites sinned against God by complaining to Moses about their living conditions in the desert.

And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.  (Num. 21:5-9)

Because of their sinful complaints that demonstrated their unbelief in God, God sent poisonous snakes into their camp.  These poisonous snakes were biting the Israelites, and many of them were dying.  The people realized their sin against God and asked Moses to pray to God so that he would take the snakes away.  It was then that God told Moses to make a brass snake and put it on a pole.  If anyone one was bitten by a poisonous snake, they could look at the snake on the pole and they would live.  They would be healed from the deadly poison that was in their body.  In essence, they would be saved.  There was no work to be performed; no commitment needed to be made.  They simply acknowledged that they had sinned and believed in the provision that God had provided.  These Israelites had repented (changed their mind about their sin and about God) and put their faith in God’s provision.  Their salvation was received by faith and required no bartering on the part of the Israelites.  Their salvation was a free gift from God received by faith.

This event in Israel’s history was a picture of the salvation that God would bring through Jesus Christ.  Man has sinned against God and is under a curse.  God has provided salvation by making Jesus a curse for us.  Like the cursed snake, Jesus became a curse for us when he bore our sins in his body and was crucified “on the tree.”  The Israelites were saved simply by acknowledging their sin and God’s righteousness (repenting) and by putting their faith in what God had said by looking to the cursed snake on the pole.  The same is true today.  When a sinner repents (changes their mind and agrees with God) and puts their faith in God’s provision, the death of Jesus Christ for their sins, that man is saved.  Salvation is a free gift from God.  It is not received by a commitment to do future good works.  It is not purchased by the sinner.  It is the free gift of God.  This is what Jesus was telling Nicodemus.  He was pointing out to Nicodemus the manner in which he would die, that he would become a curse, and that those who have faith and believe in Christ, like the Israelites who looked to God’s provision, would be saved.

God himself, in the New Testament, frequently calls the salvation he gives a “gift” and a “free gift.”

Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.  (John 4:10) 

But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.  (Rom. 5:15-17) 

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  (Rom. 6:23) 

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (Eph. 2:8)

It is quite clear that salvation is a free gift from God that is not purchased by any promise to do something for God.  There is nothing we can do or promise that makes us acceptable to God.  We are saved by receiving/believing what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.

WHAT ABOUT REPENTANCE?

Repentance is most definitely part of the gospel.  In fact, when Paul was speaking to the elders in Ephesus, he said:

And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house, Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.  (Acts 20:20-21)

Paul said that he had preached to both Jews and Greeks “repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.”  When Paul preached repentance, he did not preach “stop sinning” or to “forsake all your sin” or tell them they “must meet all the conditions of discipleship.”  Paul preached the gospel that he declared in 1 Corinthians 15.  He preached the message about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead for our salvation, as the scriptures had foretold.  Paul sought to preach the truth about God and the person of Jesus Christ so that those he preached to might “think differently” and “have their mind changed” by the Spirit of God towards the truth.  When you see Paul preaching in the Jewish synagogues, he is reasoning with the Jews from the scriptures so they will change their minds about the truth of the Messiah.  Paul, by his reasoning and by the Spirit of God, is trying to change the minds of his listeners, which would bring them to true repentance towards God.

Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,  (Acts 17:1-2) 

And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.  (Acts 18:4) 

And he came to Ephesus, and left them there: but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.  (Acts 18:19) 

And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.  (Acts 24:25)

Paul reasoned with the Jews and Gentile converts to Judaism in the synagogue about the truth of Jesus Christ and the need for the forgiveness of their sins.  Again, Paul, by the word of God and the Spirit of God, was seeking to change their minds concerning the truth of Jesus Christ.  He was seeking to bring them to repentance.  Once someone is convinced of the truth, they can acknowledge their sin and God’s righteousness and place their faith in Jesus Christ.  True repentance and faith are always linked together.  But repentance, as it relates to the gospel and being saved, is not “forsaking ones sins” or “forsaking all sin” or even “fully submitting to the Lordship of Christ” (as MacArthur says).  It is to think differently and correctly regarding the truth about God, Jesus Christ, man, and our sin.

THE LORDSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST

So what does the scripture mean when it uses phrases like the “Lord” Jesus Christ?  Of course, Jesus certainly deserves the title of Lord, because that’s exactly what he is.  Here are two verses that specifically use the title of Lord when referring to Jesus in regards to believing unto salvation.

And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.  (Act 16:31) 

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  (Rom 10:9-10)

So the question is, does the calling of Jesus Lord in these verses mean that one must understand all the implication of what it means to completely follow Jesus as Lord?  Must one fully come to the understanding, as John MacArthur says, that Lordship denotes implicit obedience and a full surrender to Jesus Christ?  That nothing less than this qualifies as saving faith?  Must a non-believer make an upfront commitment to completely obey every aspect of Christian living?  OR, when Lord is used, is it a title of Christ that denotes his supreme authority?  Biblically, the word Lord denotes authority.  It is a title used of Christ, but it is a title that is also used of men (Gen 18:12, 1 Peter 3:6).  In its relation to Christ it denotes his supreme authority.  God has made Christ ruler over all.  He is both the Christ (anointed one) and Lord (the supreme ruler) as this verse says:

Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. (Act 2:36) 

When the scriptures use the term Lord in relation to Christ, it is speaking of his position as the supreme authority in God’s kingdom, and specifically as God’s Son.  Albert Barnes says,

Here it means clearly that God had exalted him to be the king so long expected; and that he had given him dominion in the heavens, or, as we should say, made him ruler of all things. 

By calling Jesus Lord in these verses, it is not saying that one must understand every implication of what it means to call Jesus Lord.  Language like that is not used in the scriptures.  A person must believe in the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, who died for our sins, was buried, and raised from the dead (John 20:31).  It is their faith in Christ and his work that saves them.  While the unconverted will call Jesus “Lord”, and “call on the name of the Lord”, most do not understand the full implication of what it means (it’s not even a common word in our vocabulary today).  Depending on the work of God in a person at their conversion, and their knowledge of biblical truth, people will have different depths of understanding about what it means to follow Jesus as Lord.  Some have more of an understanding and some people have less of an understanding.   But people are not saved based on the depth of their understanding about what it means to follow Jesus as Lord.  They are saved by believing the gospel.  Believers learn what it means to follow Jesus as Lord as they read the scriptures and grow in the knowledge and grace of God.

Here’s what John Piper has correctly said on submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, which directly conflicts with what MacArthur and Lawson have said:

Something may be real even when we don’t understand it fully or even use the right language to describe it. For example, is a person not ‘born again’ just because he has never heard the term ‘born again’ and does not relate to Jesus in those terms but only in terms of faith and forgiveness and atonement? No. A person is just as born again if he believes in Jesus, even if he has never heard of the word ‘regeneration’ or the term ‘born again.’ Many have been born again and saved through gospel tracts which say nothing about the term ‘rebirth.’ … [N]one of us yet understands the full implications of the lordship of Christ on our lives. I am struggling every day to know what the Lord is requiring of me in specific choices among good options. I am learning every day the extent of his lordly control of the world and his mysterious ways of fulfilling his promises as Lord of my life and my church. Submitting to the lordship of Christ is a lifelong activity. It must be renewed every day in many acts of trust and obedience. Submission to Christ’s lordship is not merely a once-for-all experience.”  Our submission to Christ is imperfect and progressive.

Due in part to some unhelpful rhetoric by proponents of lordship salvation, some have objected that it places sanctification before salvation. If people are to give up/turn from all of their sins before they are saved, then, in essence, they are to become sanctified before they are saved. This is something that no Christian has achieved in this life—not even Paul could claim such an achievement at the end of his life (Phil. 3:12)

Piper rightly says that believers grow in their understanding of what it means to submit to the Lordship of Christ as they grow in their relationship with Christ.

Christ having the title of Lord does imply that we are to obey him.  The obedience an unbeliever must have is to obey God in regards to repenting and believing the gospel of Jesus Christ.  They must turn to Christ who is the Lord.  Yet they do not have to fully understand every implication of Christ’s Lordship in their lives in order to be saved.  Let me give you an example.  When I was saved, I simply believed that Jesus died for my sins and I asked him to save me.  I did not know what it meant to fully surrender my entire life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  I just knew that Jesus was God’s Son and that I needed to be forgiven.  I broke down under the realization of God’s love and I put my faith in Christ.  He saved me and put his Spirit inside me.  When I received the new birth, I had a greater understanding that Christ Jesus was Lord (God in the flesh, God’ Son, Divine).  There were some things that God helped me to immediately see that were sins.  By his grace I was delivered from them and was able to put them away.  However, even as a new believer, for a period of time, I lived in fornication with my girlfriend.  I wasn’t aware that this was wrong and no one told me.  However, as I grew in grace and read the scripture, my girlfriend (now my wife) and I both realized that what we were doing was wrong.  We then decided to move back home with our parents.  We had believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to save us, and now, as we were growing in our knowledge of him, he was showing us what it meant to follow him as Lord.  I did not begin to understand all the implications of “Lordship” until I was born again and until I started to read the word of God.  Fully submitting to the Lordship of Christ (as it relates to changing our lifestyle) is the result of being born again.  It is progressive and ever growing as we follow the Lord.  Again, when one is born again, they will understand that Jesus is God’s Son, that he is the Lord (supreme ruler/authority), one to be submitted to; but they will not fully understand the implications of Lordship until they belong to the Lord and have the Spirit of God in them.  When a man has been born again, they WILL want to follow Jesus as Lord and bring every area of their life in submission to him, even if they stumble at times.  It will be the result of salvation and not a pre-requisite for salvation.

So I ask the questions again, how can a non-believer forsake all their sin when they are in bondage to sin?  How can a non-believer completely submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all areas before they are saved, and as a requirement to be saved?  Is it the unbeliever’s promise to do these things that saves them?  Or is it genuine faith in what God has done through the Lord Jesus Christ to save us?

WHAT IF AN UNBELIEVER KNOWS, BUT WONT?

What if an unbeliever knows that certain things they do are sin and they are simply unwilling to give them up, but they want Jesus to save them?  Can they be saved?  No, they cannot.  They have not repented.  They have not change their mind and come to think rightly and agree with God.  In the bible the rich young ruler wanted eternal life but was not able to receive it.  Christ pointed out his sin but the young ruler was unwilling to turn this area of his life over to the Lord.  Christ gave this man the right knowledge about the idolatry in his heart, but the man was unwilling to repent and agree with God and turn this known, sinful area, over to the Lord.  He might have agreed with Jesus that his greed was sin, but he did not have true repentance that proves itself with fruit following.  However, even if the rich young ruler had turned from his greed and received eternal life by putting his faith in Jesus; there would be continual instances in which he would have to learn to submit to the Lordship of Christ as he grew in grace.  Just like we all do.

Now if an unbeliever recognizes their bondage to certain sins, but they feel powerless to give them up, they can come to Christ and be saved; that is, they are not desiring to hold on to them, they are asking Christ to free them from their sin.  They have faith in Christ but know they are in bondage.  If an unconverted man is in bondage to lust or drugs, he doesn’t have to forsake them to be saved.  He can confess his bondage and inability that he recognizes he has, and put his faith in Christ asking God to do in him what he cannot do.  If he believes the gospel and repents (in heart and mind) Christ will receive him and give him the power to do what he cannot in himself.  Christ helps those who can’t help themselves.  (Matt. 11:28-30, John 8:34-36)

MAKING SANCTIFICATION A PREREQUISITE FOR SALVATION

The bottom line with the Lordship Salvation gospel is that it makes the evidence of salvation, the sanctification of a believer, a requirement for salvation.  It puts the cart before the horse.  By defining repentance as a change in lifestyle, it requires this change of lifestyle, or the promise of changing one’s lifestyle, as a pre-requisite for salvation.  Salvation no longer becomes a gift but is something that must be purchased by changings one’s ways or by promising to do so in the future.  Salvation becomes a barter system in which man promises to God to do something, instead of simply believing and receiving what God has done for us in Christ.

When you falsely preach to a man that he must forsake all his sins and believe in Jesus Christ, you are requiring a man to do what he can’t do.  You are putting the cart before the horse.  This is exactly what Lordship Salvation does.  It requires the FRUIT OF REPENTACE before the repentance.

THE RIGHT ORDER

Look at what John the Baptist says about repentance:

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.   (Mat. 3:7-8)

John is telling these Pharisees and Sadducees that if they have repented they should bear/produce fruit that shows they have repented.  The repentance (change of mind and heart) comes first, and the fruit (the change of lifestyle) comes second.

The apostle Paul says the same thing:

but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.  (Acts 26:20)

Paul told the Gentiles to repent (change their mind) and turn (have faith) to God AND THEN show forth their repentance with their works, with their changed lifestyle.  Unlike the Lordship Salvation advocates, Paul keeps everything in the right order.  He does not require the unconverted to do or commit to do something they can’t.  He does not require the unconverted to do or commit to do something in exchange for salvation.  Paul preaches salvation as a free gift to those who will believe.

Paul again sums up our salvation and the order of things in the epistle to Titus:

who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.  (Titus 2:14)

Jesus first saves us from our sins, and then we do works that show our faith.  Sanctification follows salvation; it does not come before.

A FEW EXAMPLES FROM ACTS

As I mentioned above, Paul and the apostles kept things in the right order.  They preached Jesus Christ and him crucified.  They preached about a man that was resurrected from the dead, proving that he was approved by God to be the judge of the living and the dead.  They preached that if any man would repent and put their faith in Jesus, God would forgive his sins and give him eternal life.  Paul and the other apostles did not tell men that they must forsake all theirs sins, meet all the conditions of a disciple to be saved, or commit to full surrender and implicit obedience AS a conditon or prequiste to receiving salvation.

Ethiopian Eunuch:

Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.  (Acts 8:35-38)

In this passage, the Eunuch is reading from Isaiah 53.  Philip stays in this passage and preaches Christ to the Eunuch.  When the Eunuch asks if he can be baptized, Peter doesn’t say, “Do you commit to carry your cross daily, do you commit to forsake all your sins, do you commit to meet all the conditions of discipleship from this day forward?”  No, Philip does not ask him to do what is expected of those who are saved.  Peter tells the man, “If you believe in Jesus Christ with all your heart, you can be baptized.”  So he is telling the Eunuch that if he has faith in Jesus Christ, he can then do what believers do: be baptized.  Peter is telling him that his belief saves him and that he can be baptized, showing his genuine faith and repentance.

Cornelius:

To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.  (Acts 10:43-44)

Peter preaches the truth about Jesus Christ to Cornelius and his household.  He concludes by telling them that whoever believes in Jesus will have their sins forgiven.  It is evident that they believed, as the Holy Spirit was given to them.  Again, saved by faith.

The Jailer:

And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.  (Acts 16:26-31)

Here is the clearest explanation to the question, “What must I (or any man) do to be saved?”  This jailer must have come under some conviction regarding the truth of Christ and the gospel.  He must have known why Paul was in prison and that these men were preaching that people needed to be saved through Jesus.  So after this miraculous event, the jailer asks what he must do to be saved.  Notice Paul doesn’t saying anything that the Lordship Salvation advocates say.  He simply tells him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will be saved.  He tells him to look to Christ, just like Jesus says to do in John 3 when talking about the snake on the pole.  He didn’t have to forsake all known sin to be saved or commit to do future works; he simply had to put his faith in Jesus Christ.  His faith in Jesus Christ, like all believers’ faith in Jesus Christ, then gave him the power to forsake his sins and to truly live for Jesus.

WHY LORDSHIP SALVATION(ISTS) GET IT BACKWARDS

So the question is why do those who preach a Lordship Salvation gospel get it backwards?  Why do they require of the unconverted what they cannot do?  Why do they lay on the unconverted conditions of discipleship that are directed towards believers?  There are probably many answers to these questions, but I think, from my own experience and from observing the preaching of others, that they do it in an effort to prevent false conversions.  We live in a day in which everyone says they are a Christian, regardless of the lifestyle they are living.  Many churches, like many of those in the Free Grace camp, teach a false gospel that says one can believe in Jesus and not show any fruit, a powerless, worthless gospel.  It seems in an effort to counter this doctrine that produces many false converts, people have swung to the other side of the spectrum and now require the unconverted to do, and commit to do, things that they cannot do apart from the indwelling power of God’s Spirit.  They add to the gospel of Jesus Christ in an effort to keep people from becoming a false convert.  In doing so, they pervert the true gospel of God’s grace and the free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ.  They do this largely because of their false understanding of repentance.  They confuse repentance with the fruit of repentance.  By doing so, they take away the free gift of God and make the narrow gate even narrower than Jesus made it.  In their zeal to keep from producing false converts, they, most likely unintentionally, make the gospel more about what the sinner must do in changing their actions and committing to change their actions, instead of simply receiving and believing what Jesus Christ has done for them.

AGAIN, WHAT THE ORDER SHOULD BE

Simple.  We should preach the gospel like the apostle Paul, like the apostle Peter, etc.  They presented the truth about Jesus Christ, reasoned with men from the scriptures, and called men to repent and put their faith in Jesus Christ to receive the free gift of God.  They didn’t call the lost to forsake everything to be saved, nor did they tell them to stop sinning, to forsake all their sins, or to meet the conditions of discipleship to be saved.  They simply told people the truth about Jesus Christ and implored men to repent and believe in Jesus.  They knew that genuine fruit would follow those who believe, that the work of sanctification would be evident in the lives of those who had real faith.  This passage shows the correct order:

Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.  (Acts 19:18-19)

The people became believers in Jesus Christ.  They simply received the message about what God had done for them in Jesus Christ.  They had a faith in Jesus.  Their genuine faith led them to confess their witchcraft and to burn their pagan books.  They did not have to do these things to be saved; they did these things because they were saved.  Lordship Salvation reverses the order and requires men to do these works in order to be saved, instead of them being the fruit of genuine conversion.

WHAT GOSPEL ARE YOU PREACHING?

Are you telling men that they must forsake all their sins, fully submit to the Lordship of Christ (even though they don’t understand all the implications of what that means), or meet all the conditions of discipleship before they can be saved?  Are you making salvation difficult and costly, demanding a price that the unconverted cannot pay?  Are you requiring the lost to do what only the saved can do, by the Spirit and power of God?  Are you making the narrow gate narrower than Jesus made it?  Are you laying burdens on men that neither you nor any other believer could do when you were unconverted?  In your zeal to prevent false conversions, are you preaching a gospel that adds to faith in Christ?  OR are you preaching the free gift of God that is received by faith through and in Jesus Christ?  Are you preaching the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, which is received by faith alone?  It makes a difference.  As I said before, “The gospel is a message to be received, not meritoriously achieved.”   The true preaching of the gospel should strip a man down and show him that there is nothing he can do to save himself.  No good works or commitment to do good works will save him.  God has already done everything needed for the salvation of anyone who will BELIEVE.  Salvation is a free gift to be received.  Don’t be so worried about making false converts that you end up preaching a gospel that is no gospel at all.  Preach the gospel as God’s free gift to be received by faith, and God will do the rest.

I’ll end by leaving you with an account of the conversion of Charles Spurgeon, a man who “looked” to Christ and was saved.

It is without doubt the best known conversion in the history of the Church. It was on a wintry Sunday, January 6 1850, his school being temporarily closed because of an outbreak of fever, that the 15 year-old Spurgeon found himself in Colchester and on his way to the local Congregational Chapel. But the snow and sleet intensified so that he turned down a side lane called Artillery Street and came to the Primitive Methodist Church. He was thus able incidentally to continue in his determination to visit every congregation in Colchester to find someone who would tell him where he might find relief from the condemnation of the law. His mother had also talked with him positively about this congregation. It is any port in a storm, and so the teenager entered this building for the first time to attend the morning service. There were no more than a dozen or fifteen people present: even the minister had failed to arrive because of the weather. It was the wrong church, the wrong congregation, the wrong weather and the wrong preacher. Into the pulpit climbed a thin-looking man, a shoemaker or tailor, Spurgeon was never to know anything about him. He announced his text as Isaiah 45:22, ‘Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God and there is none else.’

Spurgeon says, “He had not much to say, thank God, for that compelled him to keep on repeating his text, and there was nothing needed – by me, at any rate – except his text. I remember how he said, ‘My dear friends, this is a very simple text indeed. It says, ‘Look.’ Now lookin’ don’t take a deal of pain. It ain’t liftin’ your foot or your finger; it is just ‘Look!.’ Well, a man needn’t go to college to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look… A child can look. One who is almost an idiot can look. However weak, or however poor a man may be, he can look. And if he looks the promise is that he shall live.’ He went on in his broad Essex accent, ‘Many on ye are lookin’ to yourselves. But it’s no use lookin’ there. You’ll never find any comfort in yourselves. Some say look to God, the Father. No, look to Him by-and-by. It is Christ that speaks. I am in the garden in an agony, pouring out my soul unto death; I am on the tree, dying for sinners; look unto Me! I rise again. Look unto me! I ascend into heaven! Look unto me. I am sitting at the Father’s right hand. O poor sinner look unto me! Look unto me! Some of ye say, “We must wait for the Spirit’s workin”‘. You have no business with that just now. Look to Christ. The text says, “Look unto Me”.’

The preacher managed to spin that out for ten minutes and then, running out of anything fresh to say, looked at his congregation and picked on Spurgeon, “Young man, you look very miserable,” he said. “Well,” said Spurgeon, “I did look miserable, but I had not been accustomed to have remarks made from the pulpit about my personal appearance before. However, it was a good blow, struck right home.” The preacher went on, “and you always will be miserable – miserable in life and miserable in death – if you don’t obey my text; but if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved.” And then he shouted at the top of his voice as I think only a Primitive Methodist can, “Young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look! Look! Look! You have nothing to do but to look and live!” And I did look.”

“I saw at once the way of salvation. I know not what else he said – I did not take much notice of it – I was so possessed with that one thought. Like as when the brazen serpent was lifted up, the people only looked and were healed, so it was with me. I had been waiting to do fifty things, but when I heard that word, ‘Look!’ what a charming word it seemed to me.

“Oh I could have looked until I could almost have looked my eyes away. There and then the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun; and I could have risen that instant, and sung with the most enthusiastic of them, of the precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which alone looks to him. O that somebody had told me this before, ‘Trust Christ, and you shall be saved.’”

Recounting his conversion another time he says:

“Now let me tell the story. It was on a day, never to be forgotten, when I first understood that salvation was in and through Another, that my salvation could not be of myself, but must be through One better and stronger than I. And I heard, and oh, what music it was! – that the Son of God had taken upon himself our human nature, and had, by his life and death, wrought out a perfect salvation, finished from top to bottom, which he was ready to give to every soul that was willing to have it and that salvation was all of grace from top to bottom, which he was ready to give to every soul that was willing to have it, and that salvation was all of grace from first to last, the free gift of God through his blessed Son, Jesus Christ.

“Then I had this vision – not a vision to my eyes, but to my heart. I saw what a Saviour Christ was, divine as well as human. I saw what sufferings were his, what a righteousness his was. Now I can never tell you how it was, but I no sooner saw whom I was to believe than I also did believe in one moment. I did take him as my Saviour. To my own humiliation, I must confess that I did it because I could not help it; I was shut up to it. That law-work, of which I told you, had hammered me into such a condition that, if there had been fifty other saviours, I could not have thought of them, I was driven to this One” (MTP, 1895, p.101-104).

AMEN

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***By mentioning men like John MacArthur and Steve Lawson, I am in no way implying that they are not believers.  I simply believe that by their adding works to faith in Jesus Christ, they are not preaching the gospel as we see it preached in the scriptures.  I’m sure the Lord uses these men in many ways, even though they are in error in this regard.  I know the Lord has used me and worked in me even when I have believed or preached things that turned out to be false.  The Lord is gracious and patient and loving with his people.

I want to ask you: Are you happy with just knowing the Bible or is there a desperate hunger in your hearts to know the Lord? The apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:8-10 that his greatest longing was to know the Lord better. He considered everything else as rubbish compared to knowing the Lord. Paul gave up all his pearls for this pearl of great price. The secret of Paul’s ministry is to be found not in the years that he spent studying the Bible at Gamaliel’s seminary, but in his personal knowledge of the Lord.

“Eternal life is to know God and Jesus Christ personally” (John 17:3). We have perhaps defined eternal life as living eternally in heaven. But that was not how Jesus defined it. Eternal life has nothing to do with going to heaven or escaping hell. It has to do with knowing the Lord. To know God intimately and personally has been the passion of my life and the burden of my heart. I know that my ministry can have Divine authority only as I know God personally. And so, in all of our churches, I have sought to lead people to a knowledge of God Himself.

There is more Bible knowledge today than ever before in history. For nearly 1500 years after the day of Pentecost, there were no printed Bibles available anywhere. Only in the last two centuries have Bibles been so freely available. Today, we have so many versions and concordances and study-helps.  But do you think all this increased Bible knowledge has produced holier Christians? No. If Bible knowledge could produce holiness, we should be having the godliest people in history living today. But we don’t. Satan himself would have been holy if Bible knowledge could produce holiness – for no one knows the Bible as well as he does. We have so many seminaries today teaching the Bible to thousands of students.  But, are the godliest people in the world today found in those seminaries? No. Many seminary graduates today are worse than the heathen.

Some years ago, I met a seminary graduate from one of India’s top evangelical seminaries, who had stood first in his graduating class. He told me that after three years in that seminary, his spiritual condition was worse than when he first joined it. What then did that seminary teach him? It had taught him facts about the Bible and about Christianity. Satan himself could have graduated as first in the class, from such a seminary.

What was the use of that young man learning Hermeneutics, and what the “higher critics” had said, and what the root-meanings of Greek words were, if he hadn’t overcome anger, bitterness, lustful thoughts and the love of money? With his newly-acquired certificate, he would soon become a pastor of a church. But, what would he teach the people in his church, whose biggest problems would be moral and not theological? He wouldn’t be able to help them at all, in any of those areas. This is how God’s work around the world is being destroyed.

Only if you know God yourself, will you be able to lead your flock to know Him. If you have victory over sin in your own life, you’ll be able to lead your flock also to victory over sin. Then they too will be equipped to go out and serve the Lord – with authority and power. Do you think the devil is impressed by anyone’s Bible knowledge or degree-certificates? Not at all. Satan fears only holy, humble men and women who know God.

May God help us to lead our younger brothers and sisters to know God.

Show Me Your Ways

http://christourlife.ca/sites/default/files/media/Show%20Me%20Your%20Ways%20%28Live%29.mp3

Show Yourself Pure

http://christourlife.ca/sites/default/files/media/Show%20Yourself%20Pure.mp3

Unless The Lord Builds The House

http://christourlife.ca/sites/default/files/media/Unless%20The%20Lord%20Builds%20The%20House.mp3

There are two fundamental truths that we must bear in mind as we seek to understand God’s Word for us today.

1. On the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), God abolished the old covenant and began to deal with man thereafter under the terms of the new covenant (Heb.8).
2. There are historical and teaching sections in the New Testament. We must find the basis for new covenant doctrines only in the teaching sections. The historical sections merely tell us what the apostles and early Christians did. Many false teachings have developed from doctrines based only on the Acts of the Apostles - two examples being: (i) all believers must speak in tongues (based on Acts 2:4); and (ii) all believers must share a common purse (based on Acts 2:44).

Jesus told His disciples just before He went to the cross, “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear (understand) them now. But when the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth” (Jn.16:12,13). Jesus wanted to teach His disciples many more truths than He did while He was on earth. But they would not have been able to understand them until the Holy Spirit came to dwell within them and renewed their minds and gave them revelation. Some of these truths are what we find written in the New Testament epistles. So the epistles also contain commands from the Lord Jesus – but given through His apostles.

If we reject any command in any of the New Testament epistles, saying it was only for the time and place when it was written and not for us today, then in order to be consistent, we must give equal freedom to other people to reject other commands in the epistles and in the teachings of Jesus as also being only for that time and not for us today. For example, we must, in that case, give freedom to people to teach that forbidding homosexual behavior and same-sex marriages and divorces and premarital sexual intercourse, etc., were only for the first century and not for us today. Otherwise we will be inconsistent.

It is inconsistent, therefore, to say that every command in the New Testament is relevant for us today, and then to reject just this one command to women to cover their heads when they pray or prophesy (1 Cor.11:1-16).

(Note: We must distinguish between commands given by God and mere greetings given by the apostles. For example, the apostles give greetings and good wishes such as these in their letters: “Greet one another with a holy kiss” (Rom16:16) and “I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John 2). These were obviously mere greetings and good wishes – and not commands or promises given by God – for there is no Divine principle taught in those verses, as is the case with head-covering, water-baptism and breaking of bread(Rom.6; 1Cor.11)).

Meaning of head-covering

There are at least three reasons given in the New Testament why a woman should cover her head when she prays or prophesies in the meetings of the church:

First: The Bible says, “A man should NOT cover his he…” – and the reason given is: … because he is the image and glory of God”. In contrast, we are told, “but the woman is the glory of man” (1 Cor.11:7). The glory of man must be covered in the church – and since woman is the glory of man, she testifies to this fact by covering her head. This is the plain and simple meaning of this verse.

Second: The Bible says, “A woman’s long hair is her glory” (1 Cor.11:15). The glory of the woman also must be covered in the church, just like the glory of man. And so she must cover her head which has the glory of her long hair. Almost all women are conscious that their long hair is a major part of what makes them look attractive – and that is why even among those women who do put a covering on their heads, most of them cover only a part of their hair!! If a woman does not want to cover her head, then the only alternative that the New Testament offers is to remove that glory, by shaving her head completely: “If a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head” (1 Cor.11:6).

Third: TheBible says: “Man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake. Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels” (1 Cor.11:10). The head-covering symbolizes the fact that a woman accepts her God-appointed role as having been created “for man’s sake” as his helper and therefore her willingness to be submissive to male authority – whether as a wife to her husband, or as a daughter to her father, or as a sister in the church to the church-elders. It is significant that the disappearance of the head-covering from women in Western churches (on a large scale) coincided with the time that the movement for “Women’s Liberation” (a phrase used in a book in 1949) began to spread in Western countries – about 60 years ago. The “angels” mentioned in this verse could refer either to the fallen angels or to the angels in heaven. So it could either be a reminder to women to bear in mind that the fallen angels fell because they were not submissive to authority. Or it could mean “A woman should wear a covering on her head as a sign that she is under man’s authority – a fact for all the angels (in heaven) to notice and rejoice in” (as The Living Bible paraphrases that verse).

1 Corinthians 11:16 says that every church that is a church of God, will insist on this head covering for women when they pray or prophesy. The Holy Spirit recognized that 20 centuries later this would become a controversial issue; and so He made Paul to state (in this same verse) that if anyone was going to be argumentative about this matter, he would not argue with such a person. He would just allow that person to continue on in his/her disobedience and inconsistency.

Some Questions

Some may say that the head-covering is only a symbol and therefore not so important. But baptism and the breaking of bread are also only symbols. The first half of 1 Corinthians 11 (v.1-16) explains the meaning of the symbolic head-covering for women. The second half of the same chapter (11:.20-34) explains the meaning of the symbolic breaking of bread. In the same way, Romans 6 explains the meaning of the symbol of water-baptism. Would we say that the Lord’s table and baptism also are unimportant, because they are only symbols? If we insist on baptism and breaking of bread as essential for believers, then we are inconsistent if we say that head-covering for women is not essential.

Some may say that head-covering for women is mentioned only once in the New Testament. Breaking of bread also is mentioned only once in the epistles. Likewise, the truth that God loves us as much as He loved Jesus is also mentioned only once in the whole Bible (Jn.17:23). But once is enough – to know this glorious truth. If Almighty God has given a command, then even if it is given only once in Scripture, that is sufficient. The importance of a command is determined by the importance of the Person Who gave it.

In ancient Babylon, Daniel stood for a law (Dan.1:8) that had been commanded only once in the Scriptures (about food in Lev.11; and wine in Prov.23:31). In the same way, in the midst of Babylonian Christianity today, we also stand for the commands of God – whether small or big, whether mentioned once or many times.

Some say that since we are commanded to pray at all times (Lk.18:1; 1 Thess.5:17), therefore a woman should cover her head all 24 hours of the day. Scripture must always be read in its context, if we are to understand it aright. The entire section (1 Cor.11:1-34) is dealing with the meetings of the church (Verses 16 and 18 make that clear). So it is obvious that the Holy Spirit was referring to church meetings when He gave this command. If we add to that, and insist that women should cover their heads at all times, then we will be adding to the Scriptures.

And further: If those who preach a 24-hour head covering are consistent, they must also teach that men (who should also be praying at all times) should never cover their heads at any time – and therefore should never wear a cap or a hat, at any time – whether it be hot, raining, or snowing. Such teachers must also then teach that women should keep their heads covered even when sleeping or showering/bathing (=24 hours). But they do not preach that – proving that they are inconsistent in their teaching. We can safely ignore such inconsistent teachers.

I have also observed that many sisters who practice a 24-hour head covering do not cover their entire heads. They cover only the back portion of their heads or just the small part of their hair that is tied up in a bun at the back of their heads – so that the glory of their hair is still visible. A small piece of cloth at the back of the head however is only an excuse for a head-covering – and not a head-covering at all, because the head and the glory of the hair are still not covered. Such “namesake head-coverings” are worn by legalists only to ease their conscience and to appear “holy” before others. But their teachers do not object to this, because they themselves are inconsistent in their teaching.

Some say that the hair itself is called the head-covering for women in 1 Cor.11:15. If one has understood the Divine principle taught in the first 14 verses of this chapter, then this verse will not cancel out the need for a woman with long hair to still cover her head with a covering. Paul could not possibly have taken 15 verses merely to teach that a woman should have long hair! That could have been stated in just one sentence! What does not come out in the English translation of the Bible is the fact that in the original Greek language (in which Paul wrote his letters), the Holy Spirit prompted him to use a different Greek word for “covering” in verse 15 than the one He used in verse 6. The Greek word used in verse 6 is katakalupto; whereas the word used in verse 15 is peribolaion (which is translated as “mantle” in Heb. 1:12). This makes it crystal clear that the mantle of hair referred to in verse 15 is not the head-covering referred to in verse 6 or in the rest of the chapter. Another proof of this is: If hair is the “head-covering” being referred to in this section, then every man who prays or prophesies would have to have his head completely shaved, if he is to obey this Scripture that tells him not to have his head covered!! The clear teaching of the Holy Spirit in this chapter is that the “mantle of hair” that nature has given a woman as her glory must be covered with a covering, when she is praying or prophesying.
Finally, we must bear in mind that:

•   - If we ignore any command of God in Scripture (however small) we will suffer some eternal loss (Rev.22:19).
•   - Those who cancel (or teach against) the smallest command of Scripture will be called “the least in the kingdom of heaven” (as Jesus said in Matt.5:19).
•   - The truths of Scripture are hidden from the clever and the intelligent and revealed only to the humble (“babes” - Matt.11:25 with Matt.18:4). The teaching of 1 Cor.11:1-16 will be simple and clear to the humble, childlike person. But one who depends on his human cleverness and intelligence will argue against the plain meaning of these verses.
•   - God tests our honesty in the way in which we deal with such verses of Scripture. He does not see whether we understand everything in His Word, but He does see if we are honest in dealing with His Word. The Lord says, “To this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word” (Isa.66:2).

If a sister is still in doubt about what this passage of Scripture teaches, let her consider this: Isn’t it better for her to do more rather than less – and especially so, when there is no inconvenience or cost involved. What will she lose by covering her head when she prays and prophesies? Nothing. But think of what she will gain by covering her head, if she discovers at the judgment-seat of Christ that this was indeed God’s command? She will have the joy of having pleased her Lord on earth, in spite what other Christians taught and practised. So, every woman, if she is wise, will cover her head with a covering, when she prays and prophesies.

And in conclusion, as to the practice in our churches: We do not force any sister to cover her head (against her wish/conviction) in our meetings – because if she does this under compulsion, it will be a dead work; and God wants only cheerful givers of obedience (2 Cor.9:7). We will not judge such a sister either. We will graciously assume that she does not have light on this subject. But at the same time, if she does not cover her head, we will not permit her to publicly pray or prophesy in our churches – because we understand this to be the command of God – as explained in this article. We also believe that this is how it is practiced “in all the churches of God” (1Cor.11:16). We do not judge other churches that do things differently from us, in this or in any other area. But we fear God and desire to obey Him fully, even if some sisters (or their husbands) are offended by our stand on this matter and as a result, leave our churches.

“If anyone is truly determined to do God’s will, he/she will definitely know whether this teaching is from God” (Jn.7:17).

Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.

Amen.

What I’ve noticed in this discussion is that it seems as if people get into polar extremes on the issues.  Some people outright reject institutional churches and some people reject house churches.  The real issue on the matter is, what does the scriptures say?  What pattern do we see, what practices can we observe?  What are the commands of the Lord?  And then, once those questions are answered it opens one up to other questions.  Like, what is the Lord’s purpose in instructing things a certain way?  Why does God command certain practices?   Were these practices commanded for the first century church only, or was and is it God’s wisdom for His church for all ages?  Ultimately these questions matter.

By reading through both of these men’s responses on the matter, I think one can see just how important the church, and it’s practices, are to the Lord.  What I appreciated about the Atkerson article was his admission that in his original writing he did not use the best of terms to describe what he was trying to say.  Words have meanings, and it’s imperative in a discussion like this to “mean what we say and say what we mean”.  Hopefully what Atkerson corrected in this response was his original intent when he wrote Ekklesia.  What I specifically liked about Atkerson’s response was that he seemed to capture the “Spirit”, if you will, of New Testament fellowship.  This isn’t to say that if a fellowship is lacking certain practices, that they are not of the Lord.  It’s just good to know what individual fellowships should be pursuing as they seek the Lord together as a body.

Here are some quotes from the article:

NTRF:  Our main point was that New Testament church meetings were participatory.  Such participatory meetings were in stark contrast to modern one hour worship services that are dominated by thirty minutes of music (all chosen in advance without opportunity for congregational input) followed by thirty minutes of preaching by one person.

NTRF:  It is obvious by its actions that the church of history has had little regard for the traditions of church practice set forth by the apostles.  The modern church has not merely added to early church practice, the exact opposite has been done at almost every point.  Instead of house churches we have church houses.  Rather than participatory meetings we have worship services.  The Lord’s Supper as an actual meal has been substituted for a token ritual.  Church government by elder-led consensus has been replaced with government by command (elder rule).  The traditions of the apostles have been made obsolete in favor of the traditions of history.

(by the way, I’m not in favor of “House Church Only”.  In fact, I’ve never met a believer who believes that, and I don’t believe Atkerson is espousing it either.  While house churches seem to have been the accepted, and working, pattern for several hundred years, it is clear that “what” happens is more important that “where” it happens.  Obviously there is more to discuss on this issue but I just wanted to make that point)

NTRF:  Having elders in every church is clearly a New Testament pattern.  We have an entire chapter in the book on the importance of the ministry of elders.  In that chapter, we wrote that elders “provide direction, teachings, help the church to achieve consensus and to grow into maturity” (p. 115).   We further stated that “leaders are to guard and protect against false teachers, train other leaders in apostolic tradition, lead by example, guard the truth, beat off wolves, help the church achieve consensus, etc.  In sum, church leaders are men of mature character who oversee, teach, protect, equip and encourage the church.  Every now and then they will need to call on the church to ‘submit’ (Heb 13:17) to their leadership” (p. 115).   We further stated that “it is clear that it is proper for elders, in exercising leadership, to authoritatively reprove, speak, teach, and guide.  Elders are to ‘rule well’ and ‘oversee’ the churches, taking the initiative in prompting and guarding” (p. 116).  One final example: “Elders deserve honor due to the position God has placed them in . . . to not listen to the wisdom on an elder was tantamount to calling yourself a fool and a rebel” (p. 116).  Our writings absolutely do not denigrate leadership.

And last of all, there was a quote by the missionary Jim Elliot.  I think Jim Elliot’s quote highlights what the “spirit” and goal of what the outcome of this discussion should be:

NTRF:  We close with a word from missionary martyr Jim Elliott:  

“The pivot point hangs on whether or not God has revealed a universal pattern for the church in the New Testament.   If He has not, then anything will do so long as it works.  But I am convinced that nothing so dear to the heart of Christ as His Bride should be left without explicit instructions as to her corporate conduct.  I am further convinced that the 20th century has in no way simulated this pattern in its method of ‘churching’ a community . . . it is incumbent upon me, if God has a pattern for the church, to find and establish that pattern, at all costs.” 

For those interested in reading the response, you can do so at:

http://www.ntrf.org/articles/article_detail.php?PRKey=84

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Why I hate the doctrines of grace

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13

My friends who know me to have a love and passion for the teachings of scripture often called “the doctrines of grace” may scratch their heads at such a title, but I assure you this article has nothing to do with sovereignty, election, or the truly unmerited grace of God.  Instead it has to do with the manner in which these truths have been presented to the Church since the reformation.  The doctrines of grace, as commonly taught, are actually only one half of the doctrines of grace taught in scripture, yet they are presented as a whole.  The other half have been lost in the pages of scripture since the time of the reformers, up through the puritans, and down to modern reformed and Calvinistic teachers.  In fact, I have found that the groups who most vocally teach the doctrines of grace during their weekly meeting are often the ones who exercise it the least.  Take a minute and read these scriptures before we go any further.  I have bolded some text to help detect the pattern laid out here concerning Gods grace.

The grace of God, as clearly show in the scriptures, is inseparable from the gifts given to the many membered body of Christ.  God’s grace is not relegated to five points of doctrine and it has to do with far more then the manner in which God elects men.  The true grace of God has as much to do with the gifts given to various members of the body as with the salvation given to the various members of the body.  This is so that the Church might truly function like a body, rather than a roman catholic modeled religious institution.

To put it another way, where one man stands and preaches every Sunday there is a lack of grace to some degree.  I know what I am writing applies to many well meaning Godly men, some even used mightily of the Lord despite their falling short in this area, but this does not make it any less true.  A local Church may make up for this lack by way of being strong in other areas, but there is a lack none the less.

Looking at the clear, living, and powerful word of God, we see that Christ has not only led captivity captive, but He also gave gifts to men.  These gifts do not only included teaching, but also prophesy, speaking in tongues, exhortation, giving, healing, evangelizing, and so forth.  This differs greatly from the reformed crowd that teaches that Christ has led captivity captive, but has only given a teaching gift – and that to the senior pastor.  What’s worse is when senior pastors come right out and say they believe the other gifts to the church have ceased.  So instead of the grace of God being manifest through the many membered body, the focus becomes on expository preaching, performed by a senior pastor that holds an unbiblical position.  How such a senior pastor can stand and teach that all other gifts have ceased besides his make believe super teaching one is beyond me.

The need of the Church is not expository preaching

The Church arguably needs expository teaching, with gifted elders who labor in the word, but not expository preaching.  Preaching in the New Testament is primarily for the open air and in church planting, not for the weekly meeting until the end of time. Yet one of the major focuses of those who promote the doctrines of grace is on the expository preaching of these doctrines to the church.  This is accomplished by standing at a pulpit and dominating the church meeting week after week with such. The thinking must go something like this “I will mature the body of Christ by preaching great truths, even at the expense of retarding the body of Christ by refusing the means of truth by which God has ordained to mature it”.  Read that last sentence again.

Rather than a clergy-laity religious system, the bible really does show the Church teaching and admonishing one another as the called out saints of a risen Christ.  This does not negate true eldership or the need for gifted teachers in the Church, rather this is the setting in which all gifts are used for edification.  Yet many true brethren think it better to stand at a pulpit and preach a mini package of Calvinistic truth week after week then to raise their churches to live out the truth of truly being the body of Christ.  I don’t want to sound too harsh coming against true teaching pastors that are off in this area, and purposely am not naming names.  I will even make a point to say that in certain times and places God has seen to richly bless and use these men.  I am thankful for them as brethren, respect them as elders, and yet in love and boldness must cry out against their empty traditions with the full authority of God’s word.

Imagine that I invited you to church and you came in to find one man standing a at a podium speaking in tongues for an hour every Sunday – you would know something was out of line (unless you were raised to know nothing but this tradition).  In the same way, having one man stand at a podium and “teaching” (really it is preaching, teaching is relational) week after week and calling it a church meeting is almost as out of line as the example I gave.  One man dominating the meeting with preaching week after week is in line with scripture only when planting a church as I stated earlier, until elders are raised and the body starts to function like a body.  Yet in most of the reformed crowd the body is never taught to function as a body, it is always being planted, but never growing into maturity.

The biblical method to mature the body in this generation has less to do with teaching the doctrines of grace then it does with simply not retarding the saints through an unbiblical puritanical or clergy-laity religious system. The call for the hour is not to teach the “doctrines of grace”, it is to teach the whole council of the word of God!  This includes laboring to build up the body of Christ through the manifold grace of God.  It is time to shun the thought that we can build up Gods church into maturity while spurning the clear means by which God ordained for it to be built up.  What an utter contradiction to reject and suppress the manifold grace of God and yet claim to be a teacher of God’s grace.  What can be said in its defense?

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. ~ Colossians 3:16

“For the equipping of the saints for the work of service,” (Eph. 4:12, NASB)

A revolutionary insight! The gifts in Ephesians 4 are given to perfect the saints for the work of the ministry. As soon as the saints can carry on, the gift can move on.

This means that success in Christian work is working one’s self out of a job in the shortest possible time, then looking for new worlds to conquer.

This is what Paul did. He went to Thessalonica, for instance, preached to the Jews for three Sabbaths, and left behind a functioning assembly. No doubt that was an exception as far as speed in the establishing of a work was concerned. The longest Paul ever stayed in one place at a time was two years. That was at Ephesus.

God never intended that His saints should be perpetually dependent on any of the gifts mentioned. The gifts are expendable. If the saints remain professional sermon-tasters, never becoming involved in the work of service, they never develop spiritually the way they should and the world will never be evangelized the way God intended.

William Dillon said that a successful foreign missionary never has a foreign successor. That should be equally true of workers in the homeland—when the worker’s task is completed, the saints themselves should take over, not start looking for another pulpiteer.

Too often we preachers look at our position as a lifetime appointment. We reason that others couldn’t do the work as well. We excuse our permanence by the fact that the attendance would drop if we left. We complain that others can’t do things right and that they’re not dependable. But the fact is that they have to learn. And in order to learn they have to be given opportunities. There must be training, delegation of responsibilities, and evaluation of progress.

When the saints reach the point where they feel they can carry on without a particular preacher or teacher, that’s no reason for him to sulk or nurse wounded feelings. It’s cause for celebration. The worker is released to go where he’s more needed.

It’s a bad scene when the work of God is permanently build around a man, no matter how gifted he is.  His great aim should be to multiply his effectiveness by building up the saints to the point where they are no longer dependent on him.  In a world like ours, he never needs to be without work in other places.

OFFER YOUR BODIES A LIVING SACRIFICE by Paul Washer

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