The 3 key marks of a true church historically and scriptural are: 1. The word of God (incl the Gospel) is preached, clarified and grasped. 2. The Sacraments are purely administered as Christ had instituted - the Lord's Supper and baptism. 3. Church discipline is exercised as to maintain the holiness of the body. The first mark of a true church: The Word of God (incl the Gospel) is preached, clarified and grasped: 1. In a true church, the Word of God (Scripture, which includes the Gospel) is preached. 2. A true church clarifies the Scriptures. 3. A true church's preacher has grasped the importance of Scripture. Scripture (incl the Gospel) is breathed out by God. A true church preaches Scripture unapologetically, faithfully and contextually.
Great preaching! Unfortunately, there was a problem with the sound - the volume kept going up and down, and sometimes the sound was broken. Fortunately, the closed captions on RU-vid were fairly accurate and helpful when listening.
"Any sin that gets in the way of living for God needs to be hated and grieved so that you can serve the Living God. Let us learn to hate our sin more and more as we learn to strive to be more and more like Jesus, remembering all the more that we are not perfect ... that's why Jesus needed to come to pay our debt, extinguish the wrath so that we can be reconciled to the holy God who is perfect."
Timestamps and some of the main points: 00:02:58 Three reasons why people reject limited atonement: i) An unbiblical approach to their framework surrounding soteriology (the study of how we're saved), which has rendered them to hate this doctrine. ii) People want to change their idea of who God is to suit their preferences and who they would like God to be. iii) A misunderstanding of what limited atonement really means. 00:04:12 Limited atonement definition: Limited atonement (also called particular atonement or definite atonement) teaches that Christ effectually died for the elect of God, thereby not effectually for every single individual who has ever lived in making an atonement for sins. Christ effectually and successfully purchased redemption for his elect while, universally proclaiming an offer of salvation for everyone who hears the gospel, thus making his sacrifice sufficient for all, but only efficient [meaning effective] for some. 00:05:10 John 10:14-18 In the Covenant of Redemption, Christ lays down his life for the sheep [not the "goats"] & is a good shepherd. Christ was obedient to the Father's command to lay down his life for "the sheep" that he foreknew before he died for them. 00:08:56 Limited atonement fits together in a harmonious understanding of the Bible [systematic theology]. 00:09:27 Ephesians 1:3-6 The Father choose the elect before the foundation of the world, predestining us for option as sons thru Christ. Mt 13:11 Christ said the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given for believers to know, but it has not been given to others. 00:13:55 Other possibilities if limited atonement is not true: 00:14:30. i) Four point Calvinism without limited atonement (three point Calvinism). 00:15:16 Without limited atonement, you've got the Father and the Spirit working together, but Jesus off doing his own thing. The Father chooses an elect, Jesus dies for everyone, but the Spirit only awakens the elect - you don't have a unified Trinity. 00:16:28. Refuted by John 17:6-9 Christ makes known his name to only those whom the Father gave him out of the world. Christ only prays for the elect that were given to him from the Father, not for everyone in the world. 00:17:34. ii) Jesus died for everybody Refuted by Heb 7:23-28. Christ is the better & ultimate high priest who intercedes and died only for his elect, just like the OT priests who only made sacrifices for the chosen people of Israel. The OT priests didn't make sacrifices & intercede for the Gentile nations surrounding Isr. See Lev 4, 16. Before the foundation of the world, God chose the elect who would be adopted as sons thru Christ (Eph 1:3-6). 00:20:51. iii) Universalism (the heresy that everyone is saved by Christ's sacrifice) 00:22:50 Making our dependence for salvation totally on the work of God & not of our own effort, stops us from being able to boast [see 1 Cor 1:28-29]. 00:23:15 The Arminian view is that Christ's death only accomplish an open door for everyone, thus making the condition by which anyone comes through the door our own ability - our own human free will. This contradicts mankind's total depravity (see 1 Cor 2:14). 00:25:00 John Owen's trilemma re who Christ died for: 00:25:15. i) Jesus died for every sin of every single individual who has ever lived (the heresy of Universalism). 00:25:23. ii) Jesus dying for some of the sins of everyone. If Christ died for all of the sins for all people, then no one will go to hell, and everyone will be saved. 00:25:45. iii) Jesus died for all the sin of some people. 00:28:01 The logical result of believing that Christ died for every person's sin, is everyone has all their sins paid for, including the sin of lack of faith, so everyone must be saved (the heresy of Universalism). 00:28:34 If the blood of Christ can't cleanse from the sin of unbelief, then it mustn't be infinitely valuable. 00:29:02 Only the limited atonement view consistently avoids Universalism, because God sovereignly limits salvation to his elect, not limiting the power of the blood of Christ. 00:30:00 Limited atonement often gets renamed to Definite Redemption - the ones in whom it actually applies to, actually get saved, whereas in Arminianism, all who Christ died for, only might get saved. 00:30:20 If God had put forward Jesus as a propitiation by his blood for every individual who had ever lived, then every person who ever lives would be justified by grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (cf Rom 3:23-25). 00:32:50 This is how we preach the gospel - we communicated to the sinner Christ can save you, and he is willing (because we don't know who it's sufficient for). We don't know who the elect are. Limited atonement removes hyper-Calvinism. 00:34:04 If Jesus died for every single person's sins, then would be the purpose of sharing the gospel with them? 00:34:49 If it is true that Jesus died for everyone, and yet people still find themselves in hell, that makes Jesus a bad shepherd. 00:35:58 If Christ had sacrificed his life for someone who's going to die anyway, what was the point of His sacrifice? If Christ died for those who wouldn't be saved, what was the point of his sacrifice for them? 00:38:43 The doctrine of limited atonement humbles us because we were helplessness to save ourselves. Our salvation was all to do with God's choice, not our wisdom etc. 00:40:26 The atoning sacrifice was not merely an offer or a chance of salvation, but rather a once and for all victorious purchasing of the elect people of God (Heb 10:10-14).
Thanks James for expounding Ephesians 3:14-21. It's encouraging to see passionate, thoughtful preaching to help us grow in our knowledge of God, so we can serve God better in our lives.
Just right Bible 2 the sequel, main character Yahweh II, or even Yahweh XI to spice it up, send him to space to colonize other planets. I could sell just as well as the first Fairytale.
