Speak the Truth in Love
Chad said:
You did not watch the whole video. Clearly. No where at all does he talk about receiving salvation by works. The whole sermon was about truly walking with Christ by repenting. Faith proceeded with repentance. That is what its about. You've ran off a totally different track. Don't let me catch you passing false links to anyone. You've already proved nothing.:shock:
Hi brother Chad,
Thanks for your interesting response.
To clarify:
Not only have I watched this passionate plea and reprimand in its entirety more than a few times, but I also have studied it closely in pdf format in order to refute the unscriptural portions for others in our ministry and church.
We need to at least be discerning enough to consider the objections raised concerning portions of this sermon.
Just because some of us disagree with brother Paul Washer's "Calvinistic" interpretation of Scripture does not mean we don't share his burden for lost souls or for "carnal" (fleshly minded) immature Christians to grow up.
The solution to sloppy inconsistent Christian living is not accomplished by poor Biblical exposition or by adding to the Gospel of God's free Grace the costly and difficult principles of discipleship.
One of the solutions is to make the Good News of Christ grace more clear. For example, Paul does a good job pointing out that nowhere in Scripture are we told we have forgiveness of sins and eternal life "by asking Jesus in to our heart."
We use that religious
cliché and others that confuse the unsaved person. We mean and should explain that salvation is the absolute free gift of God by grace and received the moment we entrust (believe) that the Lord Jesus has in fact paid for all our sins on His Cross.
Which is it exactly that our brother Paul Washer passionately does in this particular sermon? He merges or equates significant discipleship passages with the free grace message of the Gospel.
For example:
Paul Washer said:
You were saved because you repented of your sins and you believed, and not only did you do that in the past, you continued to do it even until now, because when Jesus . . . a proper translation of that verse He gave is this:
The Kingdom of God is come. The time is
fulfilled. Now, spend the rest of your lives repenting of your sins and believing in Me.
Brother Washer's point is saying that if a person ever stops believing then he/she never was saved in the first place. Washer implies that the present tense of the verb
believe (as in John 3:16) explains that to be saved one's faith must be
continuous.
Thus if a person ever stops believing Washer is saying that whatever they had, it wasn't "the right stuff."
This argument is grammatically and theologically specious, that is, it sounds superficially pleasing or plausible but it is subtly and deceptively wrong.
This would make Alzheimer's disease or dementia the most dreaded illness a believer could ever suffer.
The fact that a present tense is used in John 3:16 does not mean that
one must continuously believe in order to be saved.
We are saved
by the integrity of the Person and
Work of Christ alone, He alone should be the object of saving faith. We are
not saved or
kept saved by the
quantity or even the
quality of "our faith".
In Acts 16:31 Paul used
an aorist tense to tell the Philippian jailer,
"
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved."
Likewise, Jesus told the woman at the well that if she had
but one drink of the living water He offered she
would never thirst again. Notice our Lord
did not say that she
had to keep drinking and drinking. One drink would forever quench her thirst.
The present tense in Greek
often does not refer to continuous action. In John 6, for example, the Lord Jesus used a present tense verb to say that He had come down from heaven
(vv 33, 50).
Obviously, Christ clearly
did not mean that He was
continuously coming down from heaven!
The present tense can refer to one-time actions (e.g., "Aeneas, Jesus the Christ
heals you" [Acts 9:34]), to actions which repeat at regular intervals (e.g., the sun
rises), and to continuous action (e.g., God the Father
loves God the Son).
The Gospel Truth of Grace is:
Jesus Christ saves people the very moment they believe. It is not "continual faith" and/or "continual turning from sin" that appropriates the free gift of eternal salvation; it is an instant moment of faith in Christ alone that appropriates eternal salvation from our Lord.
Again, I deeply respect and appreciate the burden Paul Washer has for his audience. I don't doubt his sincerity. But unfortunately, his theology is tainted by the Calvinistic order of salvation that is limited only to the elect, who must be regenerated before they are compelled to "believe continuously" and thus persevere to the end.
[ Go to Paul Washers website and read his statement of faith posted there if you have any doubts as to his perspective.]
Chad, I have at least seven (3) more specific quotes from this sermon that contradict the clear message of God's free grace for you or anyone else that may be interested in contrasting them with the Scriptures.
Thanks again, Chad, for providing this online ministry to promote the study of God's Word. :thumbs_up
