Reformed Blogging

Both 2nd Samuel 24 (the final chapter of the said book) and 1st Chronicles 21 talk about David's sinful numbering of the people of Israel. Numbering the people wasn't really wrong. Exodus 30 has God commanded Moses to take a census. What we read here is that David really had the sin of pride that led the census to be taken. There's also the alleged contradiction of 1st Samuel 24:1 and 1st Chronicles 21:1 say the following: And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.   And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel. So how do we reconcile this? First and foremost, we do have to realize that Job teaches one simple fact - God doesn't let Satan attack the believer without permission. Satan had to go to Heaven and get God's permission before he can do anything. We can see that God has allowed Satan to arouse David for a reason. Perhaps David was already becoming a...

I remembered the time I thought lordship salvation equals works salvation when it isn't. J. Vernon McGee warned about lordship salvation while he actually taught it. CARM.org also got it wrong on lordship salvation in its article " What is lordship salvation? ". Some people think they're against lordship salvation even when they agree to its distinctions. I thought of myself as an opponent of lordship salvation until early 2011. I was stuck in the controversy until I decided to read John F. MacArthur's article " An Introduction to Lordship Salvation " which placed me on the acid test. Something about it just struck me when I thought about the distinctions which I would agree on.  The distinctions as written by MacArthur are as follows: First, Scripture teaches that the gospel calls sinners to faith joined in oneness with repentance (Acts 2:38; 17:30; 20:21; 2 Peter 3:9). Repentance is a turning from sin (Acts 3:19; Luke 24:47) that consists not of a huma...

Note: I love Jack T. Chick's artwork but I no longer subscribe to his site due to all the inconsistencies. It's really an issue that we see the term "turn from sin" or "turn away from sin" to be saved. I think the term has a lot of tendencies to be misunderstood, it can be somewhat misleading, others think it adds works to faith, or what does it mean to turn from sin or to turn away from it if salvation is not by good works? I usually prefer the term repent of your sin than turn from sin. Repentance is metanoneia or a change of mind that results in a change of purpose. Yes, I believe repentance of sins is necessary for salvation - without which people hardened in sin will never savingly believe. How can a person see the need for a Savior if they at first don't repent or be sorry for their sins? People who aren't repentant will never want to get saved.  So, it's common to have John F. MacArthur and Ray Comfort maligned, right? I actually ...

I remembered the question, "Must you be willing to turn from sin to be saved?" My answer is yes. What does it mean to be willing to turn from sin? The Greek word for repent is "metanoneia" which is "a change of mind which begets a change in purpose." To be willing to turn from sin is not to start doing good works but to have that sense of remorse and repentance from sin. Although I do find it redundant to say, "Admit you're a sinner." to be followed by "Be willing to turn from sin." but you can't deny admitting you're a sinner means you're willing to turn from sin. But there's one problem that also stops people from getting saved. Aside from the fact that they think they're "good enough" they also love their sin.  What's even more evil to think about is that many self-righteous people who think they're "good enough" for Heaven are also loving their sinful lifestyle. Some people ...

Let me ask the question to my readers. Do you know what repentance means? If not, I'd like to tell them that repentance is from the Greek word metanoneia which means a change of mind  which results in a change in purpose and behavior. What I'm angry with right now is that people have distorted the meaning of repentance. Many think to repent is to do penance. As a former Roman Catholic, I used to think repentance and penance were the same thing. No, it's not the same thing. Repentance is not about lighting candles, saying prayers in vain repetition and praying to various dead people like Mary the earthly mother of Jesus. I'm afraid but this is a real problem that penance is nothing more than self-punishment. It's just like the wicked King Ahab sitting on the dust with sackcloth but his heart was not truly repentant. It was nothing but show business. This my friends is a distorted repentance. I believe that it's this twisted definition of repentance that ha...

There's the current heresy that says that to teach people to repent of their sins is "works salvation". But do they know what repentance of sins mean? Repentance is taken from the word "metanoneia" which means a change in mind which begets a change in purpose. It's an inward turn from sin not an external turn from sin.  I remembered that song "Victory in Jesus" and one of the biggest messages the song is that, "And I repented of my sins and won the victory." The second stanza has it, "And then I cried, Dear Jesus, come and heal my broken spirit." That's what it means to repent of one's sins. Repentance of sins is a change of mind about one's sins. This repentance comes when the person realizes that God's standard is too perfect. You should obey not eight out of ten or nine out of ten. Romans 3:19 and James 2:10-11 says if you want to work your way to Heaven then never break the Law even once.  One of th...

There are times I doubt my salvation because my repentance was not perfect. I listened to Paul David Washer's message of "Don't Expect a Perfect Repentance" then I understood that one's own repentance is still being perfected. When I acknowledged I'm a sinner in breaking God's Law, how many sins have I repented of that they were offensive before God? As I grow in the Christian life, the number of sins decrease and repentance continues.  Like genuine faith, a genuine repentance grows little by little then it becomes more and more fruitful. If my repentance may not be perfect during the time I got saved but continued repentance is indeed a fruit of genuine conversion. A true faith results to works, hates sin and results to more repentance.