Being A Protestant Monk...Sometimes (Transcript)

So much has been written over the years about how the Church should be, how it should meet, and what's wrong with the way we do things.

Now, I'm speaking primarily of the Church in the United States, because that's where I live. And some of what I say will apply in other areas of the world, and some of it probably won't. But I hope to bring in some spiritual principles that will apply to every Christian everywhere.

I've had my own complaints with various church practices and states of being. And I admit to sort of swaying back and forth from time to time, on the one hand from being too picky and perfectionist about the Church, and on the other hand saying, “Oh well, there's no perfect church, so just bite your tongue and don't say anything.”

Neither of these extremes are probably biblical, and they're certainly not satisfying. But what's at the bottom of the What's-Wrong-With-The-Church conversation? Why is it always a discussion? Or in some cases, why is it forbidden to discuss, as though one were being disloyal and merely critical?

Legalism An Ongoing Problem

Now, if you have followed my writings at all, you know that I think a big problem with the Church has always been legalism, the idea that our individual performance is not only what's ultimately important, but that our individual performance is how we earn God's love and favor.

And you know that I believe that this legalism stifles the spirituality of the church, because it doesn't honor the radical grace of God by which we are not only saved initially, but kept and favored by the Lord Who loves us, even when our performance falls short. And that when we DO understand this wonderful grace, it actually encourages us to follow the Lord willingly and lovingly. Which furthermore is the desire of our own spirit, because we have been given a new nature, indeed made a new creation who loves Christ and hates sin in our heart of hearts.

Fellowship With Christ Revolution

But as I've written elsewhere, this grace is not for it's own sake, but that we might have a close fellowship with Jesus Christ. That His very life might flow through us, as we commune with Him, rest in Him, and think His thoughts.

And it's this fellowship with Christ where I believe we have the most opportunity to revolutionize the Church. It's this fellowship which is the fountain from which flows the water of a spiritual life. To switch metaphors, It's this fellowship which forms the tree from which the Lord produces the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, etc.

And that's why I believe this fellowship with Christ is where we have the most opportunity to revolutionize the Church.

Protestantism

Now I should make very clear that I am a Protestant. I believe the Bible teaches that salvation comes completely by grace through faith, and that this comes through the regeneration brought about by the Holy Spirit as He, like the wind, blows wherever He wills, and causes those whom He has chosen before the foundation of the world, to be born again.

I believe the Bible teaches that neither baptism, or any other sacrament, is instrumental in our salvation. I believe the Bible teaches that no good deed, no good work, no following of any law or ritual, has anything to do with our salvation.

I believe the Bible teaches that we are declared righteous, justified, by faith alone in Jesus Christ, through His dying on the cross to pay for our sins, and to give us the free gift of His righteousness. He redeemed us, purchased us, saved us, as a free gift, without our deserving it in any way, and without our doing anything except believing in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. And even that faith was a gift from God Himself.

Roman Catholicism

I say all that because I strongly disagree with Roman Catholic doctrine, which is, at it's core, a religion of “grace” PLUS works. And Paul the Apostle makes clear that if you add works to Grace, it is no longer Grace (Romans 11:16).

Although God will indeed cause us to do works, good works, by His Spirit in us, and the law that He has put in our hearts and minds, those good works have NO part in gaining or keeping our salvation.

So what I am going to say about being a “sometimes monk” has nothing to do with Roman Catholicism. I hope I've made that clear.

Regenerate Catholics?

However, having said that, I have observed that throughout the history of the Church, there have always been those who obviously loved Jesus Christ. Many were trapped in the religion of Catholicism, which had dominated Church History for hundreds of years until the Reformation in the 1500's.

Yet God broke through, and they “believed on the Lord Jesus Christ”, and they were saved. It's not for me or you to specifically guarantee that any individual was or was not saved, but yet if you are a believer, you may very well have a sense that someone else is likewise a believer, by their language, by their fruit, by their heart and life.

False Doctrine Sidenote

This brings up a sidenote about false doctrine. We speak of some false doctrines as “damnable”. In other words, it is so false as to deny the Gospel, and by it one can't be saved, or may even be misled so far from the truth that they are “damned” by the falsehood. For example, if you were to “evangelize” by going around telling people that if they try their best to follow the Ten Commandments, then God will reward them with salvation, you would be preaching a false Gospel and not only could no one be saved by your teaching, but it's likely that it would be the instrument of their damnation.

Now this is serious business, and I say it because any religion which teaches that works or sacraments are necessary for salvation, have that potential to bring damnation to those who are taught it.

But there is one more factor that has to be recognized, and I take this concept from Paul's letter to the Galatians. Here's the concept: one can be born again, saved by Grace through believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, being truly repentant of their sins, and be a true child of God...and THEN be taught false doctrines of legalism, which although potentially harmful, do not nullify the salvation by Grace which these folks have received. Paul calls this “falling from Grace”, not a loss of salvation (that is impossible), but a misunderstanding where Grace is supplemented by meritorious works.

Having taken that side road about false doctrines, let me say that I believe that not only has God had His people, His remnant, throughout Church History, but has had them WITHIN the false religion we call Catholicism.

And within this remnant have been men and women who have not only loved Christ deeply, but have entered into a fellowship with Christ which is mostly foreign to modern-day believers in Protestant churches.

Godly Monk Types

Some modern-day Protestants have “tapped into” these godly men and women, and learned something from them, and have profited greatly.

I hesitate to give examples of specific people in this context, for two reasons:

1. They would readily be considered “heretics” by many of my Protestant brothers and sisters who may be listening today. And while I appreciate the biblical discernment which would cause that reaction, yet I don't want to stifle the ability to glean from those I consider true believers in Christ, some things that would richly bless the lives of today's Protestant believers.

2. The second reason I hesitate to mention specific ancient believers is that some of my hearers may NOT be very discerning, and I wouldn't want to so wholeheartedly endorse anyone as to recommend everything they may have written, since there is every reason to assume that these ancient believers have a mixed bag of docrine, some good, some bad. This is why I took such pains to explain why I am a Protestant.

But though I hesitate to mention these men and women for those reasons, I will mention one for purposes of illustration, and for a base from which to make my simple case for Protestant monkhood.

Brother Lawrence

The man I will mention is known as Brother Lawrence. If you have read The Practice of the Presence of God, you have read Brother Lawrence. You may be surprised to know that he was a Carmelite Monk in a real monastery in the 1600's, in France.

But the theme of his life and writings is exactly what I believe is missing in the lives of countless Protestant believers today, who think that accurate theology, systematized in whatever system they choose, is Life.

It isn't.

“He who has the Son has life, and he who does not have the Son does not have life.” (1 John 5:12) May I add that he who is in close fellowship and communion with the Son has abundant life, and he who is not in close fellowship and communion with the Son does not have abundant life?

Even the Bible, which you know I treasure, if you know me, is not the ultimate source of Life. Jesus told the Pharisees, “You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me.” (John 5:39)

So back to Brother Lawrence. What I really like about him, and I've read his book I mentioned many times, is that he was spiritual, but he was practical. By that I mean that, as a monk, he could have told us all that you need to be cloistered away in a monastery retreat to really have spiritual fellowship with Christ, but he didn't.

Practical Spirituality (Oxymoron?)

He understood that the cloister is not Life either. And he gave practical advice -- tested in his own life -- practical advice on how to fellowship with Christ even in the noise of daily life.

Brother Lawrence mostly had kitchen duty among the Carmelites. He spoke much of washing pots and pans. And he spoke much of the sweet communion which he had in the midst of the clanging of pans in the kitchen of his monastery.

And it's this type of practical instruction, yet spiritual instruction, that I would love to see brought to the church in abundance. It's this type of practical Monk-hood that I would love to see Protestants practicing daily.

Bad Contemplativity (Say 10 Times Fast)

There is a fair amount of literature written today about meditation, contemplative prayer, sacramentalism, and such. But too much of it is not only unbiblical, but so strongly tainted with Eastern Mysticism as to be more Buddhist or Hindu than Christian. And people are being led astray to think that spirituality is “blanking out the mind” or “meditating on God” in such a way as to be at “oneness” with all the World, or “tapping into the Universal Mind who is God”, and so forth.

This is not only counter-productive, but guaranteed to lead away from Jesus Christ. It may soothe the nerves, calm the beating heart, and give a warm feeling. But this is not Christ.

Practical Advice

And so I leave you with some practical advice, yet spiritual advice, biblical advice, in being a Protestant Monk...sometimes. By “sometimes”, I mean in your day-to-day life, at least for a time each day, as opposed to moving into a monastery and making it a vocation.

Here we go:

1. Practice the Presence of God throughout the day. Recognize and remind yourself that He is with you always, indeed Christ in you, the hope of glory, if you are a believer in Him. I would highly recommend that you read (with biblical discernment) The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence, for much practical advice on how specifically to develop this mind and heart for fellowship with the Lord.

2. Pray the Scriptures. There are books on this, but just DOING it is quite amazing in itself. The practice is simple, and you want to read the Bible anyway, don't you? In addition to your normal reading, studying, etc., just pick a passage, read it slowly line-by-line, and pray to the Lord something related to that passage, taking care to “listen” as He speaks to your through those sections of the Word of God.

This is one of the most powerful ways to fellowship with the Lord.

3. Meditate. Not to “blank out your mind”. That is utterly unbiblical. But to dwell on those things that are “true...honorable...right...pure...lovely...of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise.” (Philippians 4:8).

Meditate on the Word, meditate on God Himself, meditate on Jesus and what He did on the cross, meditate on various doctrines, meditate on the Lord's Grace. Meditate on His great amazing love for you. Do you know that understanding the greatness of His love for you is the best way to increase your love for Him? Meditate on that for awhile. Do you know that understanding His goodness is the best way to lead to your own daily repentance? Meditate on that one.

4. Not to be so practical that you think I'm not being spiritual, but don't hesitate to write down a simple plan for these things. You can change the plan tomorrow if you want. You can complicate it more, or simplify it more. You can make a 10-point list to check off, or a 1-point reminder statement for yourself. Don't be burdensome or legalistic about it. Don't be discouraged when you fail to complete your plan for the day. This is a rest-of-our-lives joyous journey.

Just don't think that it will happen without a little planning. Time flies by, and we forget the simple things that lead to drawing near to the Lord.

Be a Protestant Monk, right in your home, or car, or workplace. Or feel free to go out in the woods, or down by the river. You don't need a brown robe and hood. Take some time away from the hustle and bustle and noise.

But also Practice the Presence of God throughout the day. It's really hard at first. But like most things, it gets easier with practice. Just ask Brother Lawrence.

Finally, you may find that when you spend this time in fellowship with Jesus, that it makes it more natural to share Him with others. When His Life flows through you, when your are filled with love for Him, then it's no big deal to tell others what He has done for you.

Being A Protestant Monk...Sometimes

This week's audio message:

Being A Protestant Monk...Sometimes

Grace For Life audio archives are here.

When Gracers Go Too Far (Transcript)

When I say, “When Gracers Go Too Far”, I don't mean one can go too far with Grace. Grace is absolute.

I trust that those of you who have listened to or read my teaching of the Word of God know how strongly I believe in Grace. The Bible teaches that Grace is foundational to God's working with man. And if one doesn't have a good grasp on the truth of the New Covenant that we are "no longer under Law but under Grace" (Rom. 6:14), then much of the rest of their theology and practical Christian living will be flawed.

I am a Gracer from start to finish. I believe the Bible teaches that we are not only saved inititally by Grace through Faith, "not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:8,9), but that the keeping of our salvation and our ultimate glorification is entirely by Grace through Faith. That our works had nothing to do with our salvation to begin with, and our works have nothing to do with our staying saved and going to heaven.

I believe that there is nothing we can do to make God love us more, and nothing we can do to make God love us less, as believers, as born-again children of God. He has set His love on us and there is nothing that can separate us from that love.

The Issue

Now, having said that, I have noticed something a little disturbing among some other so-called Gracers. There is something I have seen among those who really do glory in the Grace of God, that goes too far.

I want to be kind here, but there is something that I have seen among those who really do glory in the New Covenant of Grace that I believe has made them gullible.

By gullible, I mean that they have embraced as a brother or sister in Christ, anyone who claims to be a Christian, no matter what that person believes.

Under the banner of Grace, these well-meaning Gracers have undermined the Gospel of Grace.

While denouncing works-based salvation, while denouncing Galatianism, where grace and works are mixed together in a false Gospel, while meaning to be Grace-centered, they have stepped over into a strange acceptance of Legalism, even another Gospel, which is not a Gospel at all. And they've done it without even knowing it.

Performance-Based Legalism

Now, I'm going to give a specific example of this. But first, I want to say a few words about that form of “legalism” which I call Performance-Based Christianity, as opposed to Grace-Based. It's that form of legalism that tries to earn God's favor or love by what we do.

There are several other forms of legalism, for example:

1. There is initial salvation by works;

2. There is the Seventh Day Adventist type of legalism, which speaks of initial salvation by grace, but it must be followed by law-works or you end up losing your salvation;

3. There is that extra-biblical type of cultural "legalism", such as "no lipstick", "no pants for ladies", etc.;

4. There is pure Galatianism, which mixes law-works with grace, which of course makes it not grace.

Which Paul points out makes it no longer grace, whereupon one "falls from grace", as the Galatians did in their foolishness, and gets on the ground of Law, which quenches the Holy Spirit, and inflames sin.

The problem with Law-based living is that the one who lives that way must, a. obey all of it, b. obey it continually, c. obey it perfectly.

"Striving to obey God's commandments" won't cut it, and one who lives that way is cursed by his own paradigm.

"For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them.'" (Gal. 3:10)

But...We are "...servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (2 Cor. 3:6)

And that New Covenant, of course, is in Jesus Christ, our Lawgiver, Lawkeeper, and Sacrifice Lamb, who became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. What a Savior and Friend!

The Disturbing Habit of Some Gracers

Okay, let's get back to the problem I've seen in some Gracers. Those, who have come to see that our salvation from start to finish is completely by Grace, and not works.

Here's the problem. They have stood strong for Grace and against Legalism, but then in the name of Grace, have embraced those in false legalistic religions as brothers and sisters.

Some have gone as far a a form of Universalism, in which they teach that everyone will be saved, because after all, if Jesus paid for the sins of everyone, and unbelief is a sin, then didn't He pay for the sin of unbelief and therefore must welcome everyone into heaven eventually?

They are careful to say that no one EARNED their way into heaven, but everyone makes it anyway. This is, of course, a direct contradiction of the Word of God, which clearly teaches that some will never believe in Christ, and will indeed be thrown into the lake of fire.

But I'm not speaking of these Gracer Universalists. I'm speaking of those Gracers who have, in the name of Grace, embraced works-based religious leaders. This usually involves the works-based religion of Roman Catholicism, and might involve studying the monk Thomas Merton and his meditations. Or it might involve a dialog on the radio or the Internet with a Roman Catholic fellow who is so nice and loving that it is thought that he must be a true believer, and how can I judge him, when I'm not perfect myself? And so on.

And rather than give a detailed theological study of Roman Catholicism and how it so badly disagrees with the Gospel of Grace in the Scriptures, I will attempt to illustrate this disturbing tendency by asking the question:

Was Pope John Paul II a Great Spiritual Leader?

I choose John Paul, because he made so many public statements that sounded gracious, and was so attractive to Bible believing Christians, that if he couldn't be seen as a good spiritual leader, then who could, in the Roman Catholic Church?

To my Gracer friends, if the answer to the question, Was Pope John Paul II a Great Spiritual Leader? is “No”, then I would urge you to not extend your understanding of Grace to include the false Galatianist religion of [so-called] grace-plus-works of which he was a part. Use the Scriptures and your God-given discernment to discern the awful Legalism that his religion embraces.

So, Was Pope John Paul II A Great Spiritual Leader?

First, let me say, I liked Pope John Paul II. He was kindly, charming, hard-working. A genius who spoke many languages, and he shared some of my own views on moral issues, such as the evil of killing our unborn, so I'm grateful for his influence in those areas.

And I wouldn't judge his final destination, heaven or hell, because it's God Who saves, by grace through faith, and none of us knows what may have happened, even on John Paul's death bed.

But was John Paul a great spiritual leader?

In the interest of slaying the dragon of Legalism, I must say "no", for three reasons:

1. He taught and supported a religion of "grace" plus works.

The Bible says clearly that if works is added to grace for salvation, it's no longer grace ("But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace." --Romans 11:6)

Look at some excerpts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (this is the "new" "modern" "open-minded" one...you should see the Traditional One!):

". . Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of forgiveness of sins because it unites us with Christ, who died for our sins and rose for our justification, so that 'we too might walk in newness of life,'"(Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 977).

Note this first of seven sacraments actually obtains the forgiveness of sins.

"In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere 'to the end' and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God's eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ," (CCC, par. 1821).

Note, "as God's ETERNAL REWARD for the good works".

"Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then MERIT for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification." (CCC, par. 2010).

Note we not only MERIT for ourselves, but for others.

And since the Catholic Church obviously teaches that salvation includes man's works, then it follows that the failure of man's works can destroy that salvation and damn him again, after he's been "justified".

The solution: more works! Listen to the following:

"Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of his Church: above all for those who, since Baptism, have fallen into grave sin, and have thus lost their baptismal grace and wounded ecclesial communion. It is to them that the sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification. The Fathers of the Church present this sacrament as 'the second plank (of salvation) after the shipwreck which is the loss of grace.'" (CCC, par. 1446).

Acts of penance may be such things as prayer, saying the Rosary, reading the scripture, saying a number of "Our Father's" or "Hail Mary's", doing good works, fasting, etc.

Hold on, I gotta breathe in some fresh air of the Word of God, here:

"You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? (Galatians 3:1-3)

2. John Paul also affirmed the Council of Trent,

...even traveling to Trento, Italy for the 450th Anniversary of the Council, and giving his approval. Among many other unbiblical teachings, the Council of Trent curses with damnation all of us who teach salvation "by grace through faith, not of works". Excerpts can be viewed at www.carm.org/catholic/trent.htm.

3. Like many false teachers, John Paul was deceptive in his public speeches,

...opening the gates of heaven to almost anyone from Protestants to Buddhists, Hindus, etc., ignoring the words of Jesus, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

Whether by deliberate deception, or personal confusion, John Paul spoke out of both sides of his mouth when it came to whom are children of God.

At best his sloppiness has caused masses (no pun intended) of people to miss the pure beautiful Gospel of faith alone, by grace alone, in Jesus Christ alone.

At worst, he deliberately said whatever itching ears wanted to hear, in order to win the crowds.

Either way, he couldn't qualify as a great spiritual leader.

Let me say, I have a particular love for Roman Catholics. I was once a member of the Roman Catholic Church myself, and my wife Michele was raised Roman Catholic. Many of our family members are of that faith.

If you are a Roman Catholic, or anyone who thinks that heaven can be earned by Sacraments or good works of any kind, I have terrific news for you. Jesus died on the cross for sins. He took the penalty for the sins of His people. He was buried and rose again from the grave, to give eternal life to all who will believe on Him and trust that His work on the cross was enough...who will believe that He meant it when He said on the cross, "It is finished." Whoever will may come to Him. God calls all men everywhere to repent, to change their minds. No works can earn it. It's a free gift of God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.

So, in conclusion, I hope my Gracer friends don't see this as some kind of hate piece against Roman Catholics, or any other religion. It's simply a plea to stay consistent in your proclamation of the wonderful Grace of God, and correspondingly to stand firm against Legalism in its all of its forms.

Preach the truth that we have been set free from the Law. We are no longer under Law but under Grace.

We love the laws of God, and we love the fact that He is working in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure. We are His workmanship, and He is working in us His good works which He prepared for us before we were even born.

But we are free from having to perform to get the Lord's love and favor.

When Gracers Go Too Far

This week's audio message:

When Gracers Go Too Far

Grace For Life audio archives are here.

The Undermining of God’s Gift Of Righteousness

This week's audio message:

The Undermining of God's Gift of Righteousness

Grace For Life audio archives are here.

The Undermining of God’s Gift Of Righteousness

N.T. Wright

How A New Kind of Legalist Is Attempting To Bring The Church To "Works" Salvation

The Roman Catholic Church held an almost monopolistic grip on the hearts of millions of people for hundreds of years.

Through the Dark Ages and Middle Ages, the awful legalistic system of "salvation by works" nearly choked out the light of the Gospel of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Only small pockets of true believers in Christ escaped the dark heavy blanket of Roman Catholicism.

Then around 500 years ago came what we call the Reformation.

Men like Luther and Zwingli and Calvin and Knox, imperfect men, but intense students of the Scriptures, rose up and shined the light of the Gospel into the darkness of European Catholicism.

These brave men brought an end to the monopoly of the Popes. They boldly proclaimed that salvation was...

By grace alone, not by merit;

By faith alone, not by works;

By faith in Christ alone, not in sacraments;

under the final authority of the Word of God alone, not the unscriptural teachings of the Bishop of Rome.

The Central Point of the Reformation

The central point of the Reformation is what we call Justification by Faith. Don’t let the fancy phrase throw you. This is merely the sublime and simple truth that when we believe in Jesus Christ we are “justified” or “declared righteous” by God.

This means that we are fully in right standing with God, our sins forgiven and no longer held against us.

This is accomplished because God judged our sins in Christ on the Cross, and gave us the “gift of righteousness” (Romans 5:17) by imputing the righteousness of Christ to us, when we believe in Christ.

As 2 Corinthians 5:21 puts it, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Romans Chapter 5:1,2 gives us the result of this wonderful act of the Lord:

“Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.”

The Permanence of Justification

When we are justified, declared righteous by God, it is forever. It is permanent. And it occurs at the moment when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, when we believe the Gospel.

The “gift of righteousness” can never be taken away, because it is part of a "package deal", to put it crudely. This righteousness is given to us by grace through faith, and that is “not of yourselves” and “not of works” (Ephesians 2:8,9).

Even the very faith by which we believe in Jesus Christ is a gift given by God through the New Birth, regeneration.

This “imputed righteousness” contrasts starkly with the unbiblical Roman Catholic teaching that one is actually “made righteous” (“infused righteousness”) through the Sacraments like Baptism, and the Eucharistic Mass, and through meritorious good works.

And this false teaching goes on to say that this so-called righteousness sort of “leaks out” through sinning, or neglecting the Sacraments, and therefore can be lost, which damns the soul of the one who fails to maintain his “righteousness” by his works and attendance to the sacraments.

Let me put it another way. True biblical justification is when we are declared righteous by God when we believe in Jesus, and that puts us in right standing with God forever, all of our sins paid for and forgiven, past sins, and future sins.

The false teaching of Roman Catholicism says that through the Sacraments, like Baptism, and the sacrifice of the Mass, we are actually "made righteous" in our whole being, but not permanently. We must keep doing good works and going to the Mother Church for the Sacraments, or we will end up in Hell.

And the key word here is "works". This is legalism at it’s worst, and any thinking person who believes in this system will always live in fear, if they’re not doing their good works too well, or missing the sacraments.

Or they will be self-righteous and smug because they follow certain rules and rituals, at least better than the next guy.

In Come the Neo-Legalists

The Reformation did not, of course, abolish Roman Catholicism. This organization of works salvation has continued these many years, and still thrives today.

But until recently one could more or less count on Protestant, non-Catholic, Bible teachers to uphold Justification by Faith Alone. One could more or less count on Protestant Bible teachers to oppose the so-called Justification of Rome, where grace and works are mixed, making it “no longer grace” (Romans 11:6).

But back in the 1960’s and 1970’s there was a professor at Westminster Seminary named Norman Shepherd. In 1975 some of his former students were being questioned by committees for ordination, to be ordained to the Christian ministry, and when the question “How is a sinner justified?” was asked, these students of Shepherd answered, “By faith and works.” The questioners were shocked, and began digging in to why these students answered that way, and they traced their answers back to their professor, Norman Shepherd.

Shepherd was allowed to teach for six more years, which was a disgrace in itself. He should have been immediately thrown out. After all, this is the Gospel we’re tampering with here.

Shepherd was finally released in 1981, the dung having hit the fan hard enough. Even then, though, several professors who then agreed with Shepherd were allowed to remain, teaching hundreds of students who spread the cancer of this heresy yet today.

The big foot of undermining Justification by Faith had been stuck in the door, and the result has mushroomed into several full-blown ministries and movements, some directly from Westminster, and some relatively independent.

Allow me to name some names and then I will attempt to capsulize the kernel of the heresy.

Pioneering writers include E.P. Sanders, N.T. Wright, Steve Schlissel, Steve Wilkins, Douglas Wilson, and Peter Leithart.

They have been joined by a multitude of Pastors, bloggers and other writers, and teachers in Seminaries. Many in the Emerging/Emergent Church movement have gravitated toward these men, particularly toward N.T. Wright. And they have infiltrated otherwise orthodox places, including major denominations and seminaries, as well as theological magazines and websites.

Now some of you may say, “Oh you shouldn’t name names. That’s ungracious of you, Terry.”

Friends, this is too important. Those of you who know me know that I much prefer just teaching the wonderful grace of God, both for initial salvation, and for our ongoing lives. It’s all of grace, and that’s my passion. But when teachers and pastors and writers trample on that grace with a convoluted system of works salvation, we need to know about it.

They operate under names and ministries you may have heard:

Shepherdism, named after Norman Shepherd;

Auburn Avenue Theology, named after a church in Louisiana called Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church;

Federal Vision;

The New Perspective on Paul, or NPP.

This last term is often associated with N.T. Wright, who has become practically a rock star among his followers. An engaging man, a Bishop in the Anglican Church of England, he is a scholar and writes books faster than most people can read them. But he writes for the masses, the common man, so to speak, and so has become more popular than some of the more stuffy academics. And this has made him all the more dangerous in spreading this New Legalism.

What They Have In Common

I won’t pretend the issues and sub-doctrines are not varied and even complicated, but they have one important thing in common -- a rejection of the biblical Justification by Faith.

Like most false teachers, their terminology is often the same as orthodox terminology. But the expression of their error can mostly be bunched under an important term: Covenant Nomism (sometimes called Covenantal Nomism). “Nomism” refers to “Law”.

Although their implementation of the doctrine varies (for example, some teach that one enters the “covenant” through water baptism, others through so-called “faith alone”), the basics are as follows:

1. One enters into a “covenant” of the “people of God”, through “faith” and/or baptism. This is a real covenant which makes one a real Christian, they say, as one follows Jesus as Lord.

2. Once in the “covenant” of the family of God, it is now one’s responsibility to stay in the covenant, and follow Jesus as Lord all the days of one’s life...or else! (more on the “or else” in just a moment). This is blatant Legalism.

3. IF one remains in the “covenant”, by assembling together and obeying the Law sufficiently, THEN, at the end of one’s life, or the end of the age, one will be “Justified”, or “declared righteous” on the basis of their life and works! Did you get that? They’re not justified by faith at the time they believe. They are justified at the end of their life, or the end of time, based on their works.

4. Here’s the “or else”: If one departs from sufficient obedience to the Law, or (in some cases) stops fellowshiping in the local assembly, they are deemed “out of the covenant”, and will never be “justified”, even though they truly believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and were in His “covenant” and were true Christians. Their works, or lack of them, have ultimately damned them.

What Can Be Done?

Admittedly, this is an extremely brief introduction to Neo-Legalism, or Covenant Nomism.

The men teaching these things are not ignorant, and they’re not stupid. They are biblically classic false teachers.

What would I recommend?

1. I don’t recommend studying these men, except by the most discerning and biblically knowledgeable. Too many have been swayed by their false doctrines.

2. I do recommend studying the biblical doctrine of Justification by Faith, just as the FBI reputedly studies real money, in order to quickly identify the counterfeit.

There are many good books on the subject. A thorough classic is by James Buchanan, The Doctrine of Justification. Another good one, perhaps easier to read, is James White’s The God Who Justifies.

An excellent sermon by Charles Spurgeon can be read at:
http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/3392.htm

Scriptural support for Justification by Faith can be found at:
http://www.carm.org/doctrine/justification_verses.htm

3. If you accept true biblical Justification by Faith, have the courage to say so. And don’t be afraid to mention names. Too many Protestant believers and teachers have been returning to Roman Catholicism. While for some there may be an inherent attraction to the ancient religious trappings of Romanism, in many cases it’s simply an abandonment of the great truth that God justifies us, declares us righteous, forever, when we believe in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Having given an inch to the Legalism of salvation by works, they go the whole yard back into the darkness of Roman Catholicism.

Remember, the biblical truth is, we are declared righteous by faith, as a free gift, when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be all the glory.

Celebrating Halloween With Abraham, Martin & John

In America Halloween is celebrated on October 31st. At this time it’s only two days away. I don’t particularly like Halloween, especially its occult aspects, but that’s a message for another time.

I want to tell you a brief story of God’s grace.

Reformation Day

You see, October 31st is also Reformation Day, when we celebrate the light that dawned when the so-called Reformers began to break out of the darkness of Roman Catholicism, and once again began to preach salvation by grace through faith.

It was 490 years ago that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the big wooden door of the Wittenburg Church, denouncing the sale of indulgences by the Roman Catholic Church, in which the souls of dead people were supposedly purchased out of the mythical Purgatory, or their time in Purgatory was shortened. It was an evil practice, which preyed on the fears and superstition of the people, and made them poorer as the so-called Church grew richer.

Abraham

But I want to begin our story much farther back in time, to a man called Abraham.

Abraham was called by God out of Ur of the Chaldees, a pagan land with a pagan superstitious culture. God called Abraham away from his people and his culture, to begin a whole new people and culture, which eventually culminated in the nation Israel, and eventually the promised Messiah of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And the reason I want to begin with Abraham is because of a covenant that God made with Abraham. And this covenant became the forerunner to what we now call the New Covenant.

God promised Abraham that he would become a mighty nation, that he would have millions of descendants, through which the world would be blessed. Now the whole story is too long to tell here, but there was one little problem. Abraham’s wife Sarah was barren, childless. And the years had passed, and Abraham had assumed that his heir would be someone from his household staff. This was customary when there was no offspring.

Let’s read the promise of God from Genesis Chapter 15, verse 4 and following:

“Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘This man will not be your heir; but one who shall come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.’ And He took him outside and said, ‘Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’”

Now Abraham could either believe that or not. Did he believe it?

Well, let’s fast-forward to the book of Romans and see what Paul wrote to the Romans about it, and at the same time we’ll learn a very important Bible truth about salvation.

In Romans 4:3,5 we read, “For what does the Scripture say? And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” “...but to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.”

Through the story of Abraham we learn something that has always been true:

Salvation is a free gift from God, through believing God. Or as the Bible says, by grace (that’s the free gift), through faith (that’s believing God).

And this salvation was paid for by Jesus Christ on the cross when he paid for our sins. The Bible says He became sin for us, so that we could become the righteousness of God. In other words, He paid the price, so that we could be declared or reckoned righteous by God, Who gave us the gift of His own righteousness, when we believed in Jesus Christ.

There is no other way, and there never has been. Even the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin, the Bible says in Hebrews 10:4. All the blood of the sacrifices of Israel did were to temporarily cover the sins of the people until the time that the Messiah could shed His blood to pay for and take away sins.

But salvation was always by grace (a free gift) through believing God.
Now let’s fast-forward a few hundred years beyond Paul and the other Apostles, who taught this beautiful Gospel, good news, that whoever believes in Jesus Christ would be saved by grace through faith.

The Roman Catholic Church

The organized Church became infected more and more with the world’s view of religion. What is the world’s view of religion? It’s simply this: we must DO something, some obedience, some ritual, some work to EARN the favor or love or salvation of God. Salvation couldn’t be a gift, so it must be earned in some way.

And every religion of the world, except true Christianity, has that in common. Some aspects of doing good works or rituals to attain heaven, or Nirvana, or eternal life, or whatever.

And although the Church has always had that evil Legalism influence knocking at its door, after around 400 A.D. it became more and more of an organized Legalism, built into the very documents and teachings of the Church. And on into the rightly-called Dark Ages, and into the Middle Ages, it became the norm. The headquarters of the organized Church became Rome, with its Bishop known as the Pope, and the Roman Catholic Church held its grip on most of the then-known world.

And without going into great detail, the basic doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church was that of works plus "grace", or what they called "grace". It really wasn’t grace at all, because as the Scripture says,

“But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.” (Romans 11:6)

In other words, if you add works to grace, as a requirement for salvation, then it’s not really grace at all. Because grace means “free gift”, and if you have to add works to get a free gift it’s not a free gift.

That was the problem with the Galatians, and Paul minced no words when he told them that by mixing grace and works, they not only were corrupting grace, but they were believing in another gospel, which is not really a gospel at all, and those who taught such a thing were accursed.

This is still, by the way, the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church today. You will hear their leaders talk about salvation by grace, or salvation by faith, or talk about justification, or the merits of Christ, or the mercy of God, even the Bible and the authority of the Bible.

But despite the twisted terminology, the final result is a teaching that it’s not grace by itself or faith by itself by which we are saved, but grace plus works, faith plus works.

Martin

Well, we come in our story to a Roman Catholic monk named Martin.

By his own admission, there was never a monk who strived any harder than Martin to gain God’s favor. There was never a monk who worked any harder, drove himself any farther, punished himself any more than Martin Luther.

But no matter how he worked and strived and prayed and worked and strived and prayed, he had no peace. And the reason was that he understood how righteous and holy God was, and that man’s works can never gain favor from such a perfect and righteous and holy God.

He was somewhat awakened to the corruption of the Church when he saw the practice of indulgences being stepped up drastically to pay for the building of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The building program was financed by indulgences being sold to the people. And the chief salesman was a man named Tetzel.

Luther was appalled at the crass misuse of power and superstition, and nailed his complaint to the Church door as his 95 Theses.

But that was not Luther’s most important enlightenment. As a student of the Scriptures, he studied the books of Galatians and Romans intently. And he began to see something in the Scriptures, and finally the light dawned on him, as God opened his heart, just as he had opened the heart of Abraham, and millions of others since.

What Luther saw, what was revealed to Him by God through the Scriptures, was that salvation was not earned in any way, but was a free gift of God, through faith in Jesus Christ.

And it set Luther on fire.

In this modern day of gospel books and Bibles on every desk and shelf in America, we may take it for granted. But Luther was living in a day when the light of the gospel had almost been put out for hundreds of years. Darkness had settled in so deeply that when Luther began teaching salvation by grace alone through faith alone, HE was the one who was considered a heretic.

But by God’s grace, the Reformation had begun with gusto. Luther had meant to Reform the Roman Catholic Church, but they would have none of it. And thus the so-called Protestant Church became a whole new thing.

Through Martin Luther, and other Reformers, the Bible was widely spread in the language of the people. Formerly it had only been widely available in Latin, and many leaders had meant it to stay that way, so that doctrine could only be dispensed through them, twisted as they made it. But as people were able to read the clear teaching of Scripture, the good news spread.

John

One of the most influential of the Reformers was John Calvin, who headquartered in Geneva. Another intense student of the Bible, by the time he was only 27 years old, he wrote The Institutes of the Christian Religion, and became one of the key streams for the spread of the grace message throughout Europe in this exciting time.

There were many others who caught fire with this light of the gospel that God blasted onto the earth in a new setting. Names like Zwingli, and Melanchton, and Knox. It was Knox who prayed, “Lord give me Scotland or I die.” And Scotland was revolutionized by the gospel.

Not to be thoroughly run out of town, the Roman Catholic Church lashed back with Inquisitions and persecutions designed to maintain its power and the false gospel of faith plus works. Many were tortured, burned at the stake, or otherwise martyred for the simple gospel of salvation by grace through faith. But the blood of these martyrs became the seed of the church, which grew rapidly.

And out of this storm survived some basic truths that we celebrate alongside Halloween, some 500 years later. Despite Halloween winning the popularity contest in our culture, I invite you to join me in celebrating what has become known as the Five Solas.

Five Solas

The first is Sola Gratia, by grace alone. Our salvation has to be a free gift of grace, because our own righteousnesses are as filthy rags, useless in securing our salvation in any way.

Another is Sola Fide, by faith alone. Faith will always be followed by works, but the works are never the requirement or instrument of our salvation.

Another is Solus Christus, by Christ alone. Only by the work of Christ, in shedding his blood and dying on the cross, may we be saved by grace through faith in Him. There is no other way to the Father except by Him, Jesus Himself said.

Another is Sola Scriptura, by Scripture alone. The Scriptures, the Bible, is the only authority we have from God for ultimate truth. Because it came by revelation from God, it is true, and He reveals to His children the truth of the Scriptures, and there is no other authority for doctrinal truth, including the Church itself.

And one more, Soli Deo Gloria, for the glory of God alone. That is the heart song of the redeemed, that He might be glorified in our lives. And He is.

One glimpse of the glory of the Lord makes the glory of the greatest Medieval Cathedral, or the glory of the splendor of the Vatican and its gold and fancy dress, fade by comparison.

Celebrate with me, and Abraham, and Martin and John, the Reformation, and the bright light of the gospel of grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.