Man’s Absolute Necessity of a Savior

 I was thinking recently about the fundamental mission of Christ’s Church. What exactly is that mission? Before retirement I was a traveling salesman. I had a product that I was trained to sell. The customers that I called on had a need for the type of product I was selling.The essence of my training was to proclaim the necessity of the product that I was selling. I had many competitors that were selling a similar product that I was selling. My basic function was to show customers that they needed “my product” ...period! At times I was successful and at other times my competitors were successful.

So how does this relate to Christ’s Church? As we look around at the people we come in contact with on a daily basis, do we find that most sense their need for a savior? Or do we find that most have no need and even no thought of a need for a savior? Are any aware that reconciliation to God requires an understanding of alienation? Or...will all just go to heaven upon the death of our bodies? In my opinion, I think most feel the only necessity for entrance into heaven is death...NSR...no savior required. Have you been to a funeral lately? Have you been to a celebration of life event? There and elsewhere they always seem to say or indicate that your loved ones, no matter their earthly spiritual condition, are looking down from heaven and are smiling at the proceedings. R.C. Sproul asked R.C. Jr..when he was around 6 or 7 years old...”If you were standing before God and he asked why should I let you into my heaven...what would you say to him?” His son said confidently...”because I’m dead”! This seems to be the answer many would give at any age of their lives. Heaven is granted to all who meet that single requirement...death.

It is the Church’s fundamental function to proclaim the absolute necessity of a Savior.  ‘The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness”(Romans 1:18) “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”(Rom 3:23) When this is done will all see their absolute necessity for a Savior. No...Jesus said many times over, “he that hath ears to hear let him hear”. The Church is, and it’s members are to be involved in proclaiming the gospel faithfully to him that hath ears and it is God that must open the ears so that the natural man is able (has the ability) to hear the spiritual proclamation that Christ died for sinners. (“the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God I Cor 2:14,....faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. Rom 10:17, “Salvation is of the Lord.” (Jonah 2:9) So, in where ever and whatever God has called us, let us be involved in the proclamation of the good news of the gospel that Christ died for sinners. Redemption and reconciliation has been finished at the cross and that all who have ears to hear will hear and will understand their absolute necessity for a Savior who reconciles us, who delivers us, and saves us from the “wrath to come”.

Dave Van Inwegen 03-27-2022

The Raising of Lazarus

 John 11: Excerpt from R C Sprouls commentary on the Gospel of John.

The day before I preached on this passage at St. Andrew’s, the space
shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas while heading for a landing
here in Central Florida. All seven astronauts aboard were killed. I watched television coverage of the tragedy for hour after hour that day, but the same picture was shown over and over again.

It was the image of the spacecraft disintegrating and leaving a trail of smoke in the air. I couldn’t help thinking what a catastrophe this was for the families of the people who had been instantly destroyed, but I also thought that if there were believers among those crew members, just as quickly as they died, they were in heaven. If they were believers, they could not die. Yes, they died biologically, but biological death doesn’t disturb the continuity of living, personal existence for God’s people in the slightest.

Hallelujah and Hosanna

Listen to this moving story of R C Sproul's dog Hosanna and how it relates to Abraham and Issac; (move the time slider to the 25 minute mark to pick-up the story of Hosanna)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVrLDSQGcZ0

Spring is Coming.It's in the Air

The Gospel

The Gospel is the good tidings that God revealed to us in Christ Jesus.
     All mankind was represented in Adam and in his fall all of us became the children of wrath sentenced to death and separation from God.
     Jesus Christ, the second Adam, takes man’s nature upon Himself fulfilling every jot and tittle of the law and takes upon Himself the punishment and death due us.  Since He was sinless death could not hold him and He was raised for our justification.
     Now by command of the Father this mediation is preached to all men everywhere that upon repentance and belief in Him not only are all our sins forgiven but also we will spend ETERNITY with Him in heavenly bliss.
                           NOW THAT’S “GOOD NEWS”.

A REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLE

I found this paragraph in my wife’s old 1957 college text book used in her class on “Journalism”:

“In 1900 when my grandfather, Frank Noyes, helped found the modern Associated Press and embarked on 38 years of service as first president of that news agency, he and his associates were pretty sure they knew the answer to the question, how to tell the truth.  Their answer was a thing called “objectivity”.  It was a very good answer, too.....

The Associated Press realized at the start that it couldn’t possibly cater to the opinion whims of all the different publishers receiving its service. It set out to correct the situation by instituting the principle and practice of "objective" news coverage. Gradually, as time went by, this “revolutionary principle” became accepted as the Number 1 item in the creed of the responsible press all over the country. It wholly changed the face of the newspaper world, and it set the pattern for a full half-century of journalistic growth and progress." (Newbold Noyes, Jr.) (Interpretative Reporting, 3rd Edition Macmillian Co, 1957)

Today...this would still be called a “Revolutionary Principle”.  Certainly this is not one of the current principles practiced by many in the main stream media today.

The Iceberg Illusion

Salvation is of the Lord

SALVATION IS OF THE LORD   Dave Van Inwegen

It was a Thursday, 1951.  I remember it vividly.  Thursdays...the Cisco Kid came on TV. He was my hero.  I was 12 years old. Now, in walks Dad and says  “get up we’re going to a church function”.  What?  Church again?  As a Pastor’s son I was saturated  with church.  Sundays.. I attended four services. There was Sunday School then worship service,  then youth group in the evening and then another worship service. On Wednesdays..prayer meeting, then an occasional ice cream social (which I didn’t mind)...and now Thursdays also?  I was churched out.  Dad said.. “get in the car”.  On the way he said that I just might like what we’re going to do this evening.  As it turned out he was right.  We went to the Kansas City Bible Institute for a function entitled “Sky Pilots of America”.    Sky Pilots was a Christian organization established in 1945 with the purpose of building young boys into men that would be leaders in church, home and community.  The hook was airplanes.  We would build model airplanes together each Thursday evening and get a dose of the gospel message or a brief discipleship study.  Then we would share our weekly experiences all with the confident expectation that we’d get to ride in a real airplane someday soon.

Now, I had heard my father preach every Sunday for as long as I could remember.  He had numerous evangelistic services and guests speakers.  I had heard the gospel preached, but I hadn’t heard the gospel preached.  I certainly had ears, rather big ones at that, but I didn’t have ears to hear..the gospel.  I remember sitting on the front row with Mom in one such evangelistic service.  Then, I was around six years old.  The speaker held a big shiny quarter in his hand.  He said I have a gift here for someone.  All you have to do is  come and get it.  He pointed to me.  “Young man, come and accept this gift”.  Do you realize how much a quarter was worth in 1946?  For a six year old..it was huge.  There was one major problem though.  I have, all my life been an introvert.  At six years of age it is called..”bashful”.  I tried to hide.  He kept asking me to come and get this quarter.  I tried to hide.  Finally he gave up on me and pointed to a kid sitting in the row behind me.  “Come and accept this gift”, he said to the boy.  I’m guessing that it took no more than 10 seconds for that kid to jump up out of his pew, run to the front, grab the quarter, run back to his pew and sit back down.  Was I ever mad!  That kid got my quarter.  The speaker went on to say something about the gift of God being eternal life or something...but I couldn’t hear anything now.  I was steamed.

Now it’s 1951.  I’m listening to yet another gospel message at the Sky Pilots meeting.  But something is different about this message.  Sounds like the same words I’ve heard before but something is definitely different.  I am actually hearing the gospel message.  I am hearing it deep down in my soul.  Something is happening.  I realize I am a sinner!  I am estranged from God.  Christ died for sinners so that I no longer need be estranged from God ..but reconciled.  Repent and believe!... is the call.  Now this speaker didn’t call for a show of hands, didn’t call for anyone to walk the aisle, didn’t call for anyone to fill out any card and put in the offering plate, didn’t ask for any money, and didn’t sing six verses of “Just as I am”.  He just finished in prayer.  When I got home late that evening,  I was on my knees beside my bed asking for forgiveness and by faith placing my trust in Christ to forgive and save me from the wrath to come. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” (Romans 5:8,9)

So, what happened?  Well, God commended His love toward me.  How did he do that?  They won’t tell you how on the Science Channel, but God tells us how in John chapter 3.  “Have you ever watched the wind blow?  It blows this way, then that way, it comes from over there, then from over here.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.  He breathes on that person over there, He breathes on this person over here and so on.” (vs 8)    On Thursday November 8th, 1951 the Spirit of God breathed on me and regenerated my spiritually dead heart.   He brought me to LIFE, a resurrection from spiritually dead to spiritually alive. Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;  And..just as a new born must take his first breath, a spiritually reborn person must take a “breath of faith”.  It is as natural as the first breath of air.  My ears were opened by the Word of God  and applied by the Spirit of God to my regenerated heart.  The Word of God by the Spirit of God opens the ears and faith is the result. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Rom 10:17)

I’ve got good news. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;   he was buried, and  he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: (I Cor 15: 3,4)  Jesus said: “the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe the gospel.” (Mark 1:15) ...The gospel ... is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; (Rom 1:16)  Salvation is of the Lord!  The Corinthian jailer asked Paul and Silas, “what must I do to be saved?”  The answer now.. as it was then... is simply, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved”. (Acts 16: 30,31)

Pleasing to God

A Study in Trust, Isaiah 22: 15-25

A short excerpt from “The Prophecy of Isaiah, J. Alec Motyer” that in my opinion has contemporary ramifications.

A Study in Trust (Isaiah 22:15-25) pg 186

Shebna found his identity as a person in the “this worldly” benefits of  his office, and he set about securing his “place in history” (legacy) by his own efforts.  He enjoyed a position as the king’s right hand man in charge of the palace (15).  He went in for ostentatious display (splendid chariots; 18) and he intended to perpetuate his memory in a grandiose tomb (16).  He was, therefore, individually what the nation was collectively: wedded to present satisfactions and self confident in the face of the future.  Thus, Isaiah holds up a mirror to his contemporaries.

Eliakim, in contrast, ran the risk of becoming the one whom others trust (see below on verses 23b-25) and in this exposes another alternative to the way of true faith.  The reliable office-holder attracts to himself the respect and confidence of people, but should this become a reliance on a human person replacing reliance on the Lord, the end is calamity (25)—both for the person who is thus foolishly trusted and for those who find their security in him or her.  Thus human beings are neither self-sufficient (Shebna) nor sufficient to others (Eliakim).  In each case there is a fatal usurpation of the place due only to the Lord.  Isaiah reiterates the message of 2:22, “Stop trusting in man”.

The Way of Faith

No Rest

And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: ....So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them....and on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.”

A voice speaking from heaven to Theistic Evolutionists.....
“Well done, creatures. Thanks to the sacrifice of the less fit and to the victories of the more fit, you have completed the work of creation; you have brought man into being.” (Wm M Schweitzer)
(....but don’t you take a "sabbath rest", because in the evolutionary scheme of things...the work is never done!   Sorry...no rest.  Dave Van)

A Conundrum

Natural selection, the blind, unconscious, automatic process which Darwin discovered, and which we now know is the explanation for the existence and apparently purposeful form of all life, has no purpose in mind. It has no mind and no mind's eye. It does not plan for the future. It has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all. If it can be said to play the role of the watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker.
Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker

So how, then, can Carl Sagan, a Darwinist, say the following?:
“(Man’s) appeal for the unknown has been meticulously crafted by natural selection.” (Wanderers, short film narrated by Carl Sagan)

Crafted, definition:
to make or manufacture (an object, objects, product, etc.) with skill and careful attention to detail. (now for even greater emphasis add...”meticulously”)

I suppose, if Sagan and Dawkins knew what they were talking about, one need no longer wonder whether or not Darwinism or Natural Selection is a religion, requiring “blind faith” in a “blind watchmaker” god that can meticulously craft.

“Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth...”  (St Paul, Acts 17:23ff)  Read more about the Christian God in the verses that follow..here

Sound Theology

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The End is Near....Again

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(Cartoon Inspiration)
In much of popular literature about Bible prophecy, eschatological matters, are read through the lens of current events, with Bible-prophecy experts correlating biblical texts to current geopolitical crises.  This not only gives the Bible great relevance, we are told, but also ensures a never-ending stream of prophecy books designed to show how the Bible explains that a particular current event was foretold by the Hebrew prophets.  (A Case for Amillennialism, Kim Riddlebarger)

Without Excuse....

Without Excuse...
David Van Inwegen

What has really puzzled me for some time is that there are actually some who refer to themselves as "atheists". And I wonder, is there really any such thing as an "atheist"? I've heard there are no atheists in foxholes and there are no atheists in the hereafter. Here is the Dictionary.com defintition: "An atheist is one who denies the existence of a deity or of divine beings". Now, bear in mind, as Christians we believe, that an atheist is created in the image of God..just as is the believer. In other words we all..atheist or believer..bear the marks of the One who has created us, e.g., with faculties of rationality, affections, a sense of morality, spirituality, etc. Paul says, "that which is known about God is evident within them.." (Rom 1:19) Dictionary.com also has a definition for us concerning God: "the one Supreme Being, the creator and ruler of the universe".

As a Christian, of course, I come with a Christian point of view..simply because I DO believe in the Christian God. And..I probably cannot be totally objective about this subject, at least in the mind of an atheist, because I presuppose God..and I presuppose the Christian God...so therefore I will use what I consider to be His Holy..and Truthful Word. Again, the question: Is there any such thing as an "atheist"? And if so, upon what is his understanding based?

What would a universe based upon chance, without a creator and ruler, look like? Do you suppose it would be orderly or chaotic? I’ve visited my granddaughter’s playroom recently. It is normally in a chaotic state, ...toys, games and yo-yo’s (TG&Y) in a random state. I wasn’t disappointed. If I were to see it in an orderly state I would have to conclude that someone intervened in the normal course of events...mother or daughter. It is not normally in an orderly condition. Would a universe, without a creator and ruler, be in a orderly or a chaotic state? Surely the atheist would have to agree with the Christian believer that it would be in a chaotic state, random and unorganized. But..what do we actually observe about the universe? Chaos or order? Dependable laws and rules or ever changing and undependable physical laws? Magnificent and wonderfully made creations..or chaotic abstractions. Even our logic and reasoning are the results of an ordered, ruled, purposeful universe that has been brought into existence by One that must have the qualities of logic, reason, order and purpose. This is not "rocket science"! The atheist must muster logic and reasoning to make his anti-God statement. Ultimately, he must be omniscient (an attribute of God) to KNOW..there is no God.

So therefore, St Paul is able to say in the book of Romans Chapter 1, verse 20 without any hesitation, "they are without excuse". It is interesting, to me, that the word "excuse" can be literally translated "without an apologetic". An "apologetic" is the basis for a statement. To propose an "apologetic" one must use.."reason, logic, purpose and order" which are not the attributes of a chaotic, unpurposeful or random, godless state. One might even say.."how dare you use the things of God (purpose, logic, reason) to disprove the God of reason, purpose and logic"?  God might just say to them: “Get your own apologetic!".. However, here is what He does say to them (to quote from my presupposed book of authority): "For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead..so they are without excuse."

And... amazingly God graciously pleads with him(us), "Come now, and let us reason together...though your sins be as scarlet..they shall be white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool". (Isa 1:18) And I would simply add this.."repent, and believe the Gospel". (Mark 1:15) Christ died for sinners!
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” (I Tim 1:15)
(originally posted Mar 25, 2009)

Slingshots

And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook. He put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, a lunch bag. His sling(shot) was in his hand. He drew near to the Philistine.  (1Sa 17:40)
Most of my reader(s) are very familar with the story above taken from I Samuel.  This particular slingshot story took place approximately 3050 years ago. Yes, slingshots are that old.  The ones in use during ancient biblical times are mostly referred to as shepherds slings.  These consisted of a pouch of some sort which held the projectile along with the sling made of  braided material such as flax, hemp or wool. The slings were used to create the centrifugal force for the release of the projectile.  Even the army infantry had their specialists in the art of slinging. “Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss. Judges 20:16”

One tends to think that in the biblical account between David and Goliath that the smooth stones David selected from the brook were smooth flat stones.  Now if you have ever picked up a smooth flat stone it cannot be hurled with any accuracy.  This particular type of stone would have sailed worse than any hook or slice you could hit with a golf ball.  The stones David used were smooth but probably round and about a third the size of a golf ball. These would have been best for the most accurate throw.  And, of course, if you are Reformed in your theology you know there was another hand involved in the slinging of that one particular stone.  David would acknowledge his total dependence upon his creator in Psalm 62:6 “He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defense; I shall not be moved.”

Now, recently I have taken up the art of slinging.  Slinging, yes, but not the biblical or ancient type.  I have been creating and shooting various styles of 21st century slingshots which utilize either surgical tubing or theraband gold elastics.  As a side note, I am no where near slinging at “hair breadth” accuracy, although as with anything, practice does make for improved performance.

I’ve posted below some of the my favorite creations: (click images to enlarge)

Will Roger's Climate Change

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God's Climate Change:   "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." (Genesis 8:22)

Here's an interesting article from Dr. Roy Spencer, climatologist, author and former NASA scientist.
Change its happened before

Do Unto Others...or Compromise

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Church Violence

I suspect that your fellowship or church probably would not like to talk openly with the congregation about this particular topic.  I envision this type of question being asked at a congregational meeting:  to the elders;  “do we have in place a “home security plan” or a security plan of some sort in the event that a “crazie” comes into our midst with violence on his/her mind”?  I would not expect an in depth answer from the leadership but would be satisfied with a simple “yes” or “no”.  And...in the event of a negative answer, an inquiry into the leadership’s desires to pursue a plan would be in order.

I sent the linked article to a dear friend whose advice I cherish.  He and I attend different churches that both preach repentance and turning to God.  His summation was that all “violence should be repented of ”.  This particular thought in my warped mind created this topics cartoon “du jour”.  I told him that I would split the profits for this cartoon with him since it was his inspiration that brought it about. ($0.00 / $0.00 = $0.00)

Click on this link to read this very interesting article on “The Heidelblog”

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