If you don’t know who Rod Tidwell is, then you probably don’t recognize the famous line in Jerry Maguire, “Show me the money”, uttered by Cuba Gooding, Jr. as he tried to get Tom Cruise’s character, Jerry Maguire, fired up about being his football agent. At the end of the movie, Jerry does come through for Rod, resulting in a multi-million dollar contract. Tidwell’s response in the movie during a TV interview was as follows:

I love everybody!
I love my wife! Marcee!
I love my kids.
Tyson and my new baby.
My older brother and
my younger brother Tee Pee.
You’re militant, but I love you.
I love my teammates…

Rod closes his remarks by making a special statement directed at his agent, Jerry Maguire, and expressing a unique fondness for and relationship with Maguire. Now, no one can doubt Tidwell’s excitement at that moment, but it is obvious that he is going a little over the top with his love for “everybody”. Clearly, his love for his wife is different than that for his kids, which is different than the love he has for his brothers, which is different yet again from his love for his teammates, which is certainly different than his special love for his agent.

My point is simply this: For those who insist on declaring that God loves everybody, you must be prepared to make distinctions of what you mean by the word ‘love’, or else you risk making your statement (and God’s love) as meaningless as Tidwell’s was in the movie.

If by ‘love’ you mean that God does bestow blessings even upon those bound for hell (vessels of wrath prepared for destruction – Romans 9:22), then that must be clearly defined because those blessings (sun, rain, money, family, life, etc.) are merely temporal, fleeting things. If that is to be classified as God’s love, it is most definitely nothing but a vapor, as it will be gone, when compared to eternity, in the blink of an eye. Yes, Esau was blessed by God with earthly blessings, but God still “hated” Esau. Should that really be classified as love?

This is a bit of a risk, since I have not done a thorough study on this yet, but I would like to see from Scripture, if it exists, where God declares that He loves everyone. I know it can be found in our songs (Jesus Loves The Little Children), and in our evangelism (Jesus loves you and has a plan for your life), but is it in the Word of God? I look forward to seeing if it is…

Sorry to be such a downer, but the universality and non-exclusivity of today’s Christian mind is staggering. Today’s Christian sees “world” in places like John 3:16 and concludes that God loves everyone, and that that love for everyone is why He sent His Son to die. Friends, universal love is no love at all, just like grace given to all is not grace. As Syndrome says in The Incredibles when he speaks of his plan to make everyone like a super hero, “Everyone can be super! And when everyone’s super…no one will be.” It is amazing how the world so often gets this truth, but Christians do not.

Some things to think about in light of this widespread notion that God loves everyone:

Did God love Esau?

Did God love the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites?

Does “world” mean every human being? That word often references only believers in Scripture.

Here is one example: “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” – John 1:29.

Here is another: “For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” – John 6:33.

And another: “that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” – 2 Cor. 5:19

Did Jesus take away the sin of every human being? Did He give life to every human being? Did He reconcile every human being to Himself? World does not have to mean every person, and rarely (if ever) does it mean every person. John 3:16 uses the word ‘kosmos’ which is translated ‘world’, but Scripture is clear that God has a special people for Himself, and it is only those people for whom Christ came and died and rose again.

What does the fact that God does not love every person do to your understanding of Him? If the thought of that truth rocks your world, then perhaps you might benefit from a little reading in the Old Testament and see how God handled men, women and, yes, even little babies who He did not love.

If you are not yet a fan of Voddie Baucham, you need to become one. If you already are a fan, then you will be glad to know that his sermons and messages are now available on the Sermon Audio web site. Voddie is an elder at Grace Family Baptist Church outside of Houston, TX, and is the author of several books, including What He Must Be If He Wants to Marry My Daughter. You can also check him out on his Truth in Love blog. Voddie confronts the present-day church status quo from a biblical perspective. He will edify and challenge you. Give him a listen. You can access the Sermon Audio site for Voddie by clicking on the image, or by following the link under my “Sheepcasts” heading in the left-hand sidebar.

Name-it-and-claim-it…health-and-wealth…blab-it-and-grab-it…speak-it-and-seek-it…word-of-faith…it comes in many different names, but it is all the same heresy. It is all the same false gospel. It is all an abomination before God. Here is John Piper explaining why it is, in fact, another gospel preaching another Jesus:

Many Christians think of Jesus as a fair-haired, soft-spoken, open-to-all teacher who did anything He could to reach those around Him. How curious it is, then, to learn that He purposefully hid saving truths to certain people. Jesus would teach certain things in coded language specifically so that only certain people would hear and understand. Don’t take just my word for it. Let’s hear Jesus Himself explain what He was doing:

a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables…And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that they may indeed see but not perceive,and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven. – Mark 4:1-2, 10-12

What? This has got to be a mistake! You mean to tell me that Jesus was purposefully hiding truth to certain people because if He did not hide it they would have understood and repented and believed? Surely this is just an isolated account of this type of action by Jesus? Not so! It is recorded in all four gospels, and even referenced by Paul in Romans! Here are Paul’s incredible remarks of this strange thing Jesus was doing to hide the truth:

In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; just as it is written, “GOD GAVE THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR, EYES TO SEE NOT AND EARS TO HEAR NOT, DOWN TO THIS VERY DAY.” – Romans 11:5-8

That really is incredible…that God would intentionally hide the truth to certain people. Why would He do this if He was going to have Jesus die for everyone, as so many within the Christian community believe today? And why would Jesus not reveal Himself to everyone if he was going to die for them? Consider these truths from the mouth of the Savior:

For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. – John 5:21

And again…

All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. – Matthew 11:27

That is incredible! You mean to tell me that the ones who know the Father, the One true God, are only those to whom the Son has willed Him to be revealed? Does this bother you? Is this the Jesus you know and love? Does this go against everything you have learned about who God is and what the Son did on this earth, and for whom He did it? Don’t shoot the messenger. It’s all there for you to go read for yourself. This is the Jesus most Christians don’t know.

One of the things I have come to be so completely tired of is hearing people use the following reason for ceasing a discussion on a topic in which someone disagrees with them: “We are not going to change each other’s mind on this, so let’s just agree to disagree…”, or, “Greater minds than ours have differed on this topic, so we are just spinning our wheels to even discuss this…”

Wrong! We are not spinning our wheels, and we must not agree to disagree. Truth does exist, and we must be diligent to pursue it. Consider these words from the Prince of Preachers a few years back:

Speak you now of doctrine? Are there not two kinds of doctrines professed among Christians, the one Arminian, and the other Calvinistic? We cannot be both right; it is impossible.

The Arminian says, “God loves all men alike.”

“Not so,” says the Calvinist. “He has proved to many of us by his free and distinguishing grace that he has given us more than others, not for the merit of our deservings, but according to the riches of his mercy, and the counsel of his own will.”

The Arminian supposes, that Christ hath bought all men with his blood, and yet that multitudes of these redeemed ones perish. The Calvinist holds, that none can perish for whom Jesus diedthat his blood was never shed in vain and that of all those whom he hath redeemed, none shall ever perish.

The Arminian teaches that though a man should be regenerated and become a child of God to-day, he may to-morrow be cast out of the covenant, and be as much a child of the devil as if no spiritual change had been wrought in him. “Not so,” says the Calvinist, “Salvation is of God alone, and where once he begins he never leaves off, until he has finished the good work.”…

I have fervent charity towards every brother in Christ who differs from me. I love him for Christ’s sake, and hold fellowship with him for the truth’s sake: but I can have no charity for his errors, nor do I wish him to have any for mine. I tell him straight to his face, “If your sentiments contradict mine, either I am right and you are wrong, or you are right and I am wrong; and it is time we should meet together and search the Word of God, to see what is right.” – Spurgeon, 2/13/1859

Do not be content to use as an excuse the weak position that you are not going to change anyone’s mind, or that the truth is too obscure to be known. The truth is knowable – on every point of theology, on every area of doctrine. Jesus prayed for us in this way, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17) The only way to truly be sanctified is by the truth. And the only way to know the truth is to pursue it in God’s Word. Agree to disagree? Where’s that in Scripture?

Last night we had our church’s annual Reformation Celebration. As usual, it was a lot of fun. People dressed up in 16th century garb and strolled, this year, through the streets of Geneva in honor of John Calvin’s 500th birthday. We had great food and a variety of games for the kids to play (all revolving around the theme of Calvin). One of the things my wife found that we used was the first four minutes of a video of R.C. Sproul. It is primarily intended as a promotional piece for the Reformation Study bible, but it really worked well as a brief informational video on the Reformation in general.

Take a look…

According to Jesus, there are two groups of people. One group has the devil as their father, the other group has God as their father. The children of the devil are called tares/weeds by Christ. The children of God are called wheat in one instance, and are called sheep in another. A person falls into one of these two categories as a result of God’s decree before the foundation of the world. The sheep were given to the Son by the Father before creation, and will come to saving faith in the Son. Jesus is clear that He was going to lay down His life only for the sheep, not for the children of the devil. Don’t agree with what I have just said? Let’s hear it from Christ Himself:

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. – John 6:37

Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field. He answered, The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. – Matthew 13:36-43

Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires…Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. – John 8:42-44a, 47

I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep…I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep…So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. – John 10:11,14-15, 24-28

Is that offensive to you? Do you rail against the idea that God the Father doesn’t give everyone to Christ, knowing that only those He has given will come to Him? Bow your will to Scripture, for the Word of God is clear that Jesus has a particular people, and died only for them. Don’t shoot the messenger. It’s there. Go read it for yourself. This is the Jesus most Christians don’t know.

Have you ever sat under preaching that was theologically sound, yet had you struggling with every ounce of willpower within you to stay awake? On the flip side, have you ever sat under a great orator and storyteller, yet the message was so shallow that you found yourself starving for deeper truth? Unfortunately, many if not most preachers probably fall all the way to one side or the other. They are either cold and biblical, or are engaging and shallow. I have experienced both sides of that seesaw, and am convinced that neither need be the case. And I am grateful that the preaching at our church is driven by truth and is passionate. The passion and emotion I see each week from those who fill the pulpit testify that those preaching truly believe what they are proclaiming. Simply put, the truthful exposition of God’s word should be done with passion. In his book titled Feelings and Faith – Cultivating Godly Emotions in the Christian Life, Brian Borgman addresses the issue of emotions and preaching. He points out the following concerning those who proclaimed the word of God in Scripture:

Whether it was the prophets or the apostles, John the Baptist or the Son of God, their preaching was marked by truth on fire. It did not matter whether the sermons were filled with notes of joy or somber notes of judgment, these men were not talking heads. They did not monotonously give out facts in a Joe Friday manner. They communicated with passion and earnestness and expected the Word to transform the whole person. – p.182

Does that describe your preacher? Does that describe your preaching? We are not talking emotion for emotion’s sake. We are talking about the proclaiming of God’s truth that one cannot help but be passionate about. Whether it is teaching in Sunday School, a Bible study, or from the pulpit, the truth of God should never be cold, dry or impassionate. Consider these words from Presbyterian pastor and educator Thomas Murphy:

To preach in a cold, unfeeling manner, to preach without earnestness, is sinful. It shows in the preacher a heart that is hard…Deep is the guilt of handling the Word of God in an unfeeling manner!…Can we believe that our people must be converted or condemned, and yet can we speak in a drowsy tone? In the name of God brethren, labor to awaken your hearts before you come to the pulpit…We should not be afraid of enthusiasm here. Enthusiasm is surely excusable when life and death and the souls of men and the glory of the Son of God are at stake. – p.183

Amen!

It’s amazing what one finds when one stops parroting others and reads the Bible for one’s self. A friend tells the story of how, when he and his wife began to discover the real truths of God’s character and who He really is, his wife proclaimed, “That was not in my Bible before!” I remember having that same epiphany myself some years back. But, I must sadly confess that the more people I talk to, the more I realize that the professing church is in a very sad state of affairs. It is one rooted in biblical illiteracy, and it results in people professing the name of Christ who do not really know the Jesus of Scripture. The god they worship is, sadly, a figment of their imagination. He exists only as an apparition in their minds. He has been conjured up out of thin air. In the words of Andy from Shawshank Redemption, “He’s a phantom, an apparition, second cousin to Harvey the rabbit…”.

What I want to do in this post and maybe a couple of others is to display the real Jesus, the Jesus of Scripture. Quite honestly, I want to quash the jesus that is prevalent in so many minds and rules in so many churches. This will not be a comprehensive or exhaustive look at Christ, for the whole world would not be able to contain the books that would be required to do such an examination. My plan is simply to reveal some things that I am convinced people who profess faith in Jesus don’t even know or realize is true about Him. Who knows, even you may come away from this exclaiming, “That Jesus was not in my Bible before!”

After Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by the devil, He begins His earthly ministry by returning to Galilee and the surrounding country, teaching in the synagogues and being “glorified by all”. When He comes to Nazareth, though, something different happens. As in all the surrounding areas, He goes to the synagogue and begins reading from the Scriptures and speaking to the people. One would think that He probably preached a message of hope and encouragement, or perhaps one of forgiveness and acceptance. No. Not here. In Nazareth, Jesus opens His mouth and preaches on the doctrine of election in two sentences. And what He says infuriates the people so much that they try to throw Him off a cliff! Here is what He said that made the people so mad:

But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. – Luke 4:25-29

Why did the people get so angry at this? All He was doing was recounting a couple of Old Testament stories about Elijah and Elisha and how they each had healed someone. What’s the big deal? The big deal was that the person healed in each instance was not Jewish. They were outsiders. They were the scum of the earth in the eyes of Israel. here is what John Gill says about what Jesus was preaching that day regarding starving widows and lepers:

to none of the poor widows in the land of Israel was the prophet sent, to supply them with food, and relieve them in their famishing circumstances, as might most reasonably have been expected…Our Lord meant to observe, by this instance…that God bestows his favours on persons in a sovereign way, and sometimes upon the most unlikely; as in a time of famine, he overlooked the poor widows in Israel, his peculiar people, and sent his prophet to a Gentile woman in one of the cities of Sidon

In other words, God chose one person over and above some others. He demonstrated His favor over one person at the expense of some others. Consider also Gill’s comments on Jesus reference to the lepers in Elisha’s day:

and none of them was cleansed; from their leprosy, by any direction of the prophet, but Naaman, who was not an Israelite, but a Syrian: he was cleansed and cured of his leprosy, being ordered by Elisha to dip himself seven times in Jordan, which he did, and was healed

Why did Jesus do this? Why did He not preach a message of love and acceptance and tolerance for all people? Why was He not positive in His message? What kind of evangelist was this, anyway? Surely He knew that what He was about to say was going to incite the people. Yet truth is truth, and God is God. Jesus asserted the sovereignty of God in His sermon that day. He showed that God is the one who does the choosing  – He alone determines on whom his favor will rest – and the people hated Him for it. Consider these final thoughts from Gill:

these two instances of Elijah and Elisha, the one supplying the wants of a Sidonian woman, and the other healing a Syrian leper, when no notice were taken by them of poor widows and lepers in Israel:for by these instances they perceived, that they were compared to the Israelites in the times of wicked Ahab and Jezebel; and that no miracles were to be wrought among them, or benefits conferred on them, though they were his townsmen; yea, that the Gentiles were preferred unto them: and indeed the calling of the Gentiles was here plainly intimated, which was always ungrateful and provoking to the Jews; and it was suggested, that the favours of God, and grace of the Messiah, are dispensed in a sovereign and discriminating way, than which nothing is more offensive to carnal minds.

Is that offensive to you? Do you rail against the idea that God chooses one over the other? Bow your will to Scripture, for the Word of God is saturated with that truth from Genesis to Revelation. Don’t shoot the messenger. It’s there. Go read it for yourself. This is the Jesus most Christians don’t know.