Rivers of Joy Baptist Church-

PASTOR/TEACHER CHARLES E. WHISNANT

 

 

The real question here is, Is everything that is set forth in Scripture to be applied to all people of all time and of all cultures? I don’t know any biblical scholar who would argue that everything set forth in Scripture applies to all people at all times. Since Jesus sent out the seventy and he told them not to wear shoes, does that mean that evangelists today would be disobedient unless they preached in their bare feet? Obviously that is an example of something practiced in the first-century culture that has no real application in our culture today

Johnny Edwards singing

The Time, Length, Position, Definiteness and Primer of Prayer

    6B    OTHER VITAL ASPECTS IN PRAYER (D.L. Moody gives five essentials:

1C    RESTITUTION - A willing heart to obey God and make good a wrong when you are able: Matthew 5:23; Psalms 66:18

2C    FORGIVING SPIRIT OF MERCY: Matthew 6:12-14

3C    UNITY: Matthew 18:19

4C    FAITH:
Matthew 21:22; Mark 11:24; James 1:5-7, Hebrews 11:6

5C    SUBMISSION TO DO GOD'S WILL: Psalms 80:18; John 15:7; 1 John 5:14

    We can even pray, when we detect our slothfulness and coldness toward
God, for God to quicken us and incline us in His Holy way. Psalms 119:25; 32; 36; 133.

111A        THE TIME OF PRAYER:

    1B    THE TIME WITHIN OUR DAILY LIVES

        1C    Psalms 5:3; Mark 1:35; Psalms 55:17

        2C    Psalms 119:164; 42:8, 119:62; I Samuel 15:1 Psalms 119:147    

        3C    Daniel 10:2-3; Acts 1:3, 13; 2:1

    2B    THE TIME IN LIGHT OF OUR MNEEDS OR IN OUR CIRCUMSTANCES

        1C    When we feel a pressing need: Nehemiah 1:4-11, 2:4

        2C    Without ceasing: I Thessalonians 5:17

        3C    For all the saints: Ephesians 6:18

        4C    In everything: Philippians 4:6

1VA    THE LENGTH OF PRAYER

    1B    In Terms of Days

    2B    In Terms of Hours and Minutes

        1C    I Kings 8, Genesis 32:24-32; Luke 6:12

    3B    Short Prayers\

        1C    Matthew 14:30, really short prayer.

    2C    "Our short prayers owe their point and efficiency to the long ones that have preceded them. The short prevailing prayer cannot be prayed by one who has not prevailed with God in a mightier struggle of long continuance…" E. M. Bounds

    3C    These factors are crucial in short or long prayers>

        1D    Genuine Faith

        2D    Genuine brokenness of repentance: Luke 18:13

3D    The Lord's compassionate goodness even when we doubt and fail. Matthew 14:31; The focus when we feel helpless and in need.

        4C    In Terms of an Unceasing Persistence:

            1D    Devoted servant of God's will, pray longer and shorter prayers,

2D    In his spirit and direction of life, one can pray with regularity, "without ceasing" as in I Thessalonians 5:17;

    3D    Other times "Day and Night" Nehemiah 1:5

    4D    Other times or set times: Psalms 55:17

    5D    At the moment of some particular need: Matthew 14:30

VA THE POSITION OF THE BODY IN PRAYER

1B Kneeling:
Acts 9:40

2B Standing: 2 Chronicles 6:12

3B Lying Upon your bed: Psalms 4:4

4B In the car, sitting at a desk, hanging on for dear life someplace in danger.

VIA THE DEFINITNESS OF PRAYER

1B Ask exactly for what you need: Matthew 14:30

2B Ask as much as possible in according with God's will in His Word. John 15:7

3B Definite results greet definite prayers:

1C Preservation of the saved from Satan's attacks: Luke 22:31-32

2C Salvation of the unsaved: I John 5:16

     3C Power for preaching God's word. Ephesians 6:`18-20

     4C Meeting of daily needs: Matthew 6:11, 25-34

V11A    THE PRIMER OF PRAYER

1B     THE WORD: John 15:7 and Psalms 110

2B     Getting to know God and submitting obediently to His Lordship: 1 Peter 3:15

3B      Faith: Matthew 21:22; and Mark 11:24

4B     Thankful remembrance of past blessings from God: Psalms 4:1; 44:1-7

5B Confession of sin and availability as a pure channel: Psalms 12:5-6

6B     Burden for what burdens God – Salvation of the lost; Romans 10:1

7B Fellowship with God and Christians: I Peter 3:7; Psalms 66:18

What Is On My Mind Today.

WHAT IS ON MY MIND THIS MORNING.

I thought I would just write what was on my mind today. Its Wednesday and I got up early this morning, around 4 a.m. After about 6 hours of sleep I am more than ready to get up. As you know I am not a writer in a professional sense. But I do like to attempt to write.

Most of what I do consist of teaching the Word of God. I teach four times a week at Rivers of Joy Baptist Church, in Minford, Ohio. And I put down on paper, generally now I type what I am going to preach or teach;..

When I started preaching I wrote out my message. The three plus years I was a Madison Baptist I had written notes. The sixteen years at First Baptist Church in Altoona, Kansas I hand printed my sermon manuscript. I found out that hand printing was slow and often my thought were faster than I could print. Nevertheless I took the time to print the sermons out by hand.

I have always loved writing down what I was learning. If I was reading a book, I loved taking notes of what I was reading. I love to take notes when I and listen to a message. I love taking notes when I am in a conference. When I went to the Basic Youth Conflict Bill Gothard Seminar's I would take notes and when I get home I would rewrite them. As I remembered what I heard I would write them down. I have many pages of notes from those years of going to the All Day Minister's Seminars.

I took notes when I was in college. I still have those notes. I think I just love to print words. I would take notes and in the future I would use them in a lesson that I would teach.


Then came the invention of the typewriter. That was great. Of course I took typing in High School, and I did type out my lesson notes in Seminary. In those days you didn't get a syllabus from the teacher.But I still like to print by hand.

Of course today, we have the computer, and the typewriter is gone. Now its the keyboard that I am type now on.

So here we are this morning typing away what is in my head, well in my thoughts.

The Law Cannot Justified

ALL PEOPLE HAVE BEEN FOUND GUILTY BY THE LAW OF GOD

Charles e. Whisnant August 08, 2010 ROMANS 3:20

Romans  3:20 because by the works of the Law
no
*
flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

"THEREFORE BY THE DEEDS OF THE LAW THERE SHALL NO FLESH BE JUSTIFIED IN HIS SIGHT; FOR BY THE LAW IS THE KNOWLEDGE OF SIN"

No person can justify himself before God by a perfect performance of the Law's demands, it is the purpose of the Law that shows us how crooked we are.

In this verse Paul does two things:

1A    He explains that no one will be declared righteous (justified) in God's sight by works of the law, i.e. "doing right."

2A    He explains that the business of God's Law is to make known to men their sin, and, thereby, their need of a salvation which the Law cannot supply.

THEREFORE: (BECAUSE)
¹³⁶⁰

• 
  
  
  Indicates why something just stated can be reasonably considered valid. Paul has argued that there is no exception that someone could live up to the perfect standard of God's Law.
  
• 
  
  
  The fact is that doing perfectly what God's moral law requires is impossible.
  
• 
  
  
  Therein is the first principle in all Paul's spiritual thinking, everyone must come to the knowledge that they cannot perfectly live by the standard of God's Law. Therefore, everything must be true which can be deduced from it.
  

By the deeds (works)
²⁰⁴¹
OF THE LAW

• 
  
  
  Means a deed or action in contrast to inactivity. It speaks of toil or effort in which one exerts strength or services to do or perform something. Works are the result of and never the means of salvation.
  

There shall NO FLESH
⁴⁶⁶¹

• 
  
  
  All flesh. i.e. No person is justified. Genesis 6:12.
  

BE JUSTIFIED
¹³⁴⁴ IN HIS SIGHT

• 
  
  
  To be declared righteous before God or to be justified, the process is used as "justification."
  
• 
  
  
  HEREIN LIES THE ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL MESSAGE OF THE WHOLE CHRISTIAN FAITH. We must understand the truth of justification.
  

If you ask me what I believe is the number one thing that I should know about you, I would say, "Have you been justified in the sight of God?" Which means: Have you been born again? And how do you know that you have been justified or made righteous in God's sight?

FOR

• 
  
  
  Expressing the reason for what has been before. Paul explains that even the Law cannot save, it does have a purpose.
  

BY THE or THROUGH
¹²²³

• 
  
  
  Conveys the sense of being instrumental in doing its purpose.
  

THE LAW
³⁵⁵¹

• 
  
  
  The divine standard of God
  

IS THE KNOWLEDGE
¹⁹²²

• 
  
  
  "of a knowledge which powerfully influences the form of one's religious life.
  
• 
  
  
  This knowledge brings to light every person's condition before God.
  
• 
  
  
  A knowledge that will give acquaintance to his condition. A recognition of the law.
  

OF SIN
²⁶⁶

• 
  
  
  Signifies the principle or force which is an integral part of every man's nature and which is evil in character and causes man to commit specific unrighteous acts or sins.
  

APPLICATION

The assertion of the text is this: our whole race of people is incapable of ever being justified, being made right, on the ground of having kept the requirements of the moral law of God.

What Paul has already stated in the last two chapters is mankind has shown he cannot live up to the standards of conduct that has been set by God as right and proper.

While man cannot be saved by the LAW there was a PURPOSE for the LAW.

• 
  
  
  Romans 5:20; 7:7;
  Galatians 3:19; 3:24 and I Timothy 1:9
  

THERE WAS A PURPOSE FOR THE LAW.

• 
  
  
  One could never know that they have failed to keep God's standard of right living unless they knew what the Law was.
  
• 
  
  
  Secondly the idea of the Law was to bring out the shortcoming and inability of man with respect to meeting God's requirements. Galatians 2:15-21
  

THERE IS A REASON WHY THERE IS A NEED TO BE JUSTIFIED BEFORE GOD.

• 
  
  
  All people are guilty before God and need to be justified by God.
  
• 
  
  
  THE LAW SHOWS US WE ARE GUILTY BEFORE GOD, AND WE NEED TO BE JUSTIFIED BY GOD IF WE ARE GOING TO BE SAVED FROM THE WRATH OF GOD.
  

Biblical Prayer

BIBLICAL PRAYER: includes the dimension of the fact of being troublesome importunity and of submission.

It is both wrestling with God in the darkness and resting in the stillness.

There is a time to argue and complain to God, but there is also a time to sumit.

Biblical faith sees submission to the will of God coming after the attempt to discover His will through heartfelt supplication.

Prayer is both a pleading with God that he will hear and act upon our requests and a trusting surrender to God to the confidence that he will act in His own time and way,.

But the confidence comes only through the struggle.

CHRISTIAN PRAYER IS BOTH CORPORATE AND INDIVIDUAL.

• We find God in solitariness, yes, but we never remain in this state. Instead, we seek to unite our sacrifices of praise and our petitions and intercessions with those of the company of fellow believers.
  

The man or woman of prayer may find God both in solitude and in fellowship.

We are called to present personal and individual needs to God, but at the same time we are urged to interceded for the whole company of the saints in John 17:20-21 and Ephesians 6:18, and also for the world at large in 1 Timothy 2:1-2.

BIBBLICAL SPIRITUALITY: entails not withdrawal from the turmoil's of the world but identification with the world in its shame and affection.

PERSONAL PETITION WOULD BECOME EGEOCENTRIC IF IT WERE NOT HELD IN BALANCE WITH INTERCESSION, ADORATION, AND THANKSGIVING.

In psychology, egocentrism is defined as

• the incomplete differentiation of the self and the world, including other people and
  
• the tendency to perceive, understand and interpret the world in terms of the self.
  

Is Lordship Biblical

Lordship Salvation: Is it Biblical? And does grace alone mean that we don't need to obey God's Law?

The basic and most important essentials or elements to be learned when studying the subject of salvation are? The Doctrine of Biblical Grace. Enjoying the presence of Christ.

ROMANS 3:20-31 Charles e. Whisnant, August 01, 2010

The issue as seen by those who believe in lordship salvation (e.g., MacArthur) is that someone who is truly saved will produce fruit that will attest to the genuineness of his faith, because he will have acknowledged Jesus not only as his Savior, but as his Lord as well.

Those who reject lordship salvation (e.g., Ryrie and many others), believe that someone may have genuine faith in Christ, but the fact that he continues in his sin demonstrates that he has not made Jesus his Lord, only his Savior. According to Ryrie, just because someone sins or acts in disobedience (even habitually) doesn't mean he doesn't have saving faith.

But the issue is not whether we sin or not; the issue is our attitude toward our sin. And this is where MacArthur is careful to point out that it is willful rejection of Christ's Lordship that proves one's confession of faith not valid.

"The gospel Jesus proclaimed was a call to discipleship, a call to follow Him in submissive obedience, not just a plea to make a decision or pray a prayer. Jesus' message liberated people from the bondage of their sin while it confronted and condemned hypocrisy. It was an offer of eternal life and forgiveness for repentant sinners, but at the same time it was a rebuke to outwardly religious people whose lives were devoid of true righteousness. It put sinners on notice that they must turn from sin and embrace God's righteousness. It was in every sense good news, yet it was anything but easy-believism" (p. 21, GATJ).

For MacArthur does allow for Christians to be in various stages of growth in their walk. The point is that, if someone's conversion is genuine, he will exhibit growth, however meager and however faltering, during his lifetime.

• "Eternal life is indeed a free gift (Rom. 6:23). Salvation cannot be earned with good deeds or purchased with money. It has already been bought by Christ, who paid the ransom with His blood. But that does not mean there is not cost in terms of salvation's impact on the sinner's life. This paradox may be difficult but it is nevertheless true: salvation is both free and costly. Eternal life brings immediate death to self. 'Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin' (Rom 6:6).
  
  "Thus in a sense we pay the ultimate price for salvation when our sinful self is nailed to a cross. It is a total abandonment of self-will, like the grain of wheat that falls to the ground and dies so that it can bear much fruit (cf. John 12:24). It is an exchange of all that we are for all that Christ is. And it denotes implicit obedience, full surrender to the lordship of Christ. Nothing less can qualify as saving faith.