1. There are many Christians out there who approach God in an "unacceptable" way. Let think of some example in how this is so. Let us realize that we must follow the Divine Word of God. It is the key to coming to God in an acceptable manner. We must not be "familiar" with God. We must not be "flippant" with God. It is contrary to His blessed Word and we must stand on the Scriptures. If a teaching does not correspond to the written Scriptures, it is based in all spiritual fraud. We must understand that God is our Heavenly Father. He is our Holy Father and only He deserves that title. We must realize that God is also a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). I submit it is right to call Jesus a Incarnate Consuming Fire as the Incarnate Second Person of the Trinity. God is not simply "one of the guys." God is not "the man upstairs." God is to be approached with divine, holy and sacred reverence with contrite purity. We are to adore Him in our worship services. We ought to praise Him for His majesty and holiness. Singing in divine worship should not be an unconscious reaction to the sound of music. We ought to hear sermons in a way to obey the teachings from the written Scriptures and worship at the Lord's Supper. We worship Jesus at the Lord's Supper because of His divine sacrifice of Himself as Savior and Lord.
2. We ought not to dwell on "personal experience." We ought to dwell on the "objective reality of Jesus at His Cross." Everything is rooted in His Cross. That is the center and main purpose of holy redemption. The Cross must be the first and foremost of everything "we do and think." Paul wanted to know nothing but the Cross of our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ ( 1 Corinthians 2:2). Galatians 2:20 speaks about being crucified with Christ and that Christ lives in us, and its totally of Him, by Him, from Him, through Him and of Him alone. We ought to have true and contrite faith in the eternal Son of God. He loved us and gave Himself for us. We ought to never equal "experience" with the "Cross." They are too vastly different things. However, we know our experience is true if it is validated by the written Word of God. I gained assurance of salvation when I looked and beheld the written Scriptures that told me so. We may think we are intimate with our Heavenly Father; however, we do not "come to Him on His terms." We could be right with God but sin by not attending church. We ought to always attend church; however, if we fail we ought to repent and believe the gospel. The Christian life is with the body of Christ. It is a "corporate enterprise." We are called to love one another in the collective body of believers. We may worship God with music but it may be unsound. We ought to always repent, but have you repented where you have fallen? We must come to God in an intimate way but it must first be established in His written Word.
3. We ought to never presume upon the grace of God. Divine and holy grace is a awesome truth taught in the Bible. We are guilty sinners. We are freely forgiven through the free gift of everlasting life by Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. We are given forgiveness instead of condemnation and damnation and forsakenness. He will never cast us out nor leave us. We ought to never think that grace is deserving. Grace is never deserving. We do not deserve grace because we are sinners. We sometimes think that sin is not serious. We ought to never think this, because sin is always serious. Jesus Christ is Lord of our lives; that is, we must obey Him. Jesus Christ is also Savior of our lives; that is, we must confess our faults to Him and He is faithful and just to forgive us of all unrighteousness (1 Jn 1:9). We may not worship God rightly even if we are Christians. The Bible says we must examine ourselves in light of the Word of God's teaching. We ought to practice personal accountability or responsibility. This means we must obey Him and repent and believe the good news of Jesus Christ and He will surely forgive us. We must always repent of our wrongful ways. If we fail to repent, we are not walking as He walked. We may not be really saved if we do not repent. We must meet the holy standards of our Heavenly Father through His dear Son. We must follow His commandments of loving God wholly and our neighbor. We live in a world that is wicked. We live in a world that claims religion but fails to worship the God of the Bible. What does God expect? How have individuals gone into the board way instead of the narrow way?
This blog web site is for the in-depth, sound and basic exegetical study of the Bible in Reformed apologetics; that is, I shall expound upon the inerrant and infallible Word of God, the Holy Scriptures. There shall be biblical studies in world religions and non-Christian cults. I also quote and research reformed writers and I am happy to study from them. May the Lord bless everyone who reads this blog with spiritual riches in Christ which is His imputed merit by faith alone.
