We were blessed to be able to spend time with Paul Washer at the 2011 Sermon Index conference in Lilburn, GA. We asked him to share the Gospel with us and he did.
This is a wonderful presentation of the Gospel. Only one thing prevents me from passing this on to others - the music! Please do a version without that really distracting piano music, so that we can actually concentrate on the message that the preacher is bringing. Introduce it and end it with music if you must - but, please! No music while he is speaking.
The music didn't bother me at all but I do see Paul's point. This is such a thorough yet gentle presentation of the gospel, I suppose it might be better to hear it without distraction. But that won't stop me from passing this one on. Well done, Marcus. Looking forward to more open air preacher profiles. The quality on these videos is amazing--thank you for your work on these.
Marcus is there anyway that I might be able to get this on dvd so I could hand this out in a packet I have put together for witnessing? Also, I would love to give it out during Christmas outreach i.e. with Christmas cards.
• According to this message, which completely meshed JUSTIFICATION by FAITH (Romans 3:22-25 or seeRomans 5:1-2) with spiritual growth in your walk with CHRIST, a Believer can never really know if he/she is truly saved! Paul butchered Scripture by saying you will know because you continue to repent throughout youre entire life. That is not a correct statement at all. You and I can know we are truly saved entirely bc JESUS said"most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life John 6:47. JESUS said in John 3:36, " He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." Jesus didn't follow up and say, ok now as long as you will continue to repent you will know you actually believed in Me and you are for sure going to Heaven and not hell. Repenting is a "change of mind." When a person accepts Christ, they changed their mind from NOT believing the Gospel...JESUS came, died on the cross for all sin, was raised from the dead by the Power of God, ascended to Heaven and promises to return (I Cor 15....which Washer described beautifully), to Believing the Gospel! JESUS is Who the Bible says He is, and JESUS did exactly what the Bible says He did. When a person accepts that as TRUTH, the person is instantly and eternally Saved! The call on every believer's life is most certainly to grow Spiritually from a Believer in JESUS CHRIST to a follower (disciple) of JESUS CHRIST. That person now needs discipled (Matt 28:18-20) on how and why to value their relationship with the Father, above all aspects of their life. A disciple of JESUS ought to constantly deal with sin and bring it to the Father, and continue to desire and accept change as he/she allows the Holy Spirit to mold him/her more into the image of JESUS (Romans 8:29). And this would determine am I a slave to sin or CHRIST.
So here is what Washer's message creates. Many people will live a life of repentance trying to prove to themselves and others that they are truly saved (wrong motivation). So they do it out of fear or duty or guilt or manipulation RATHER THAN A SOLD OUT LOVE FOR GOD. I SERVE HIM BC I WANT TO NOT BC IM SUPPOSE TO PROVE IM TRULY SAVED BY HOW OFTEN I REPENT. We ought to love HIM bc HE first loved us. Bc HE has called us to INTIMACY! Do a study of Phil 3:10. It amazes me that HE allows us to KNOW HIM! the more we draw closer to HIM, the more HE draws closer in to us! James 4:8. Paul Washer's message also creates confusion for the un-discipled believer who has totally believed the Gosepl and fully trusted CHRIST as Saviour. That person will constantly battle sin, and by no discipleship, no accountability, and no guidance on how to pursue intimacy with GOD, then according to Paul Washer's message that person will conclude they must have never really repented and believed the Gospel, so they will keep trying to repent and believe. and then they will tell everyone they have been saved again (which we know a person can only be saved once and eternally sealed... Eph 1 ). this confusion will keep reoccurring until that person receives guidance from Scripture or a disciplemaker and finally grasps that Salvation occurs the moment they believe the GOSPEL as truth they receive the Holy Spirit, and then its every believers CHOICE to allow HIM to lead and guide us, or our flesh. Often that confused person will just give up. But according to Washer there is some hidden timeline that suddenly declares one lost if they have not dealt with their Sin. For a person to determine their own Salvation based off of whether or not they're always continueing to repent is crazy and not Biblical. Salvation is not based upon what I continue to do or not do, but rather what JESUS CHRIST has already done. And now it is my daily choice to allow HIS Spirit to lead and guide and mold me. It is a constant war with sin, as written in Galatians, and therefore I must choose to die to self and live in a God centered universe rather than self centered universe.
I love your passion! You raise some really great points and I can tell you feel very deeply about what you believe. It’s very rare today to find people who seem to even have a sense of passion, so I’m grateful for yours.
I have a lot of questions that I would like to ask you, but out of respect for your time and mine I will limit it to just a few. I pray you do not take these questions as an attack against your points, but just an attempt to probe deeper into the mysteries of God, man, sin, salvation, justification and spiritual growth, and how you truly think about them.
1. What do you do with verses like: Matthew 7:21-23? There seems to be people who believe in Jesus and their faith looks to be real, but in reality is false. Terrifying thought in my opinion because I have to apply this to myself. But, just because it’s terrifying does not mean it steals from my assurance. No. Its verses like Matt.7:21-23 that drive me deeper into the Scriptures, deeper into prayer, and deeper into mediation. When a person does that, the Spirit moves and faith goes up, not down.
2. Or, what do you do with John 6? Most of these people “believe” or have “faith in” Jesus. Many of these people by the end of John 6 “turned back and no longer walked with him” (verse 66).
3. Think about this verse in John 8:31. Jesus no doubt still dealing with some of the people from chapter 6, “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed (faith) in him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,” Notice the “if” by Christ. If what? If you truly believe in me, then your life will look this way. Or, another way to say it would be, if you truly LOVE me your life will look this way.
Jesus says in Matthew 24:13 “the one who endures to the end will be saved” and that is of great concern for us. Don’t mistake that concern as limiting our ability to see all the promises for us in Jesus Christ. We testify and believe in John 3:16, one of the most wonderful verses in the Bible, and there are hundreds and hundreds more just as beautiful! We are concerned because people believe they can just believe in Christ and be saved, but they do not have to be “set apart” for Christ. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die” and I believe that’s the sum of the matter.
Speaking for myself, I would rather have someone struggling over their salvation to the end and find out they are in Christ, rather than encourage someone in their false believe “faith”, and then have them find out in the end, they are not in Christ. Faith without works is “dead” period. I live in a community, in a state, and in a country that appears to be living similar to those in Matt.7 and that breaks my heart.
I think Paul Washer did a fine job explaining the Gospel. Better than most could do in 12 mintues. Obviously, I disagree with you that he “meshed justification by faith with spiritual growth”, which by the way is not what his main point was even about.
I tried to write this in a spirit that will promote deeper thought and a healthy discussion. Please forgive me if I did not succeed at doing this. Again, I love your passion. I pray you never lose it. Peace and grace,
@brianB I owe my salvation to God and Him alone. People like you are truly of God. I haven't had the privilege to read or hear such truths like you just blessed me with.
It is a shame that the world, my country Nigeria in particular has "exchanged the truth about God for a lie because they worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen (Romans 1:25)
This presentation of the gospel by Paul Washer is the clearest I have heard. Some have said that Paul is calling for a continuing repentance. Well to my mind that is what we are called to do. We all sin and we must repent of our sins when we do. As far as faith in Christ being the only thing necessary for salvation look at Mark 1:15. Yes Faith is necessary but so is Repentance. --------------------------------------------------------- Mark 1:15 Bible Knowledge Commentary
The required response to which Jesus summoned His hearers was a double command: Repent and believe the good news! Repentance and faith (belief) are bound together in one piece (not temporally successive acts). To “repent” (metanoē cf. Mar_1:4) is to turn away from an existing object of trust (e.g., oneself). To “believe” (pisteuō, here pisteuete en, the only NT appearance of this combination) is to commit oneself wholeheartedly to an object of faith. Thus to believe in the good news meant to believe in Jesus Himself as the Messiah, the Son of God. He is the “content” of the good news (cf. Mar_1:1). Only by this means can one enter into or receive (as a gift) the kingdom of God (cf. Mar_10:15).
This is a wonderful presentation of the Gospel. Only one thing prevents me from passing this on to others - the music! Please do a version without that really distracting piano music, so that we can actually concentrate on the message that the preacher is bringing. Introduce it and end it with music if you must - but, please! No music while he is speaking.
ReplyDeleteThe music didn't bother me at all but I do see Paul's point. This is such a thorough yet gentle presentation of the gospel, I suppose it might be better to hear it without distraction. But that won't stop me from passing this one on. Well done, Marcus. Looking forward to more open air preacher profiles. The quality on these videos is amazing--thank you for your work on these.
ReplyDeleteMarcus is there anyway that I might be able to get this on dvd so I could hand this out in a packet I have put together for witnessing? Also, I would love to give it out during Christmas outreach i.e. with Christmas cards.
ReplyDelete• According to this message, which completely meshed JUSTIFICATION by FAITH (Romans 3:22-25 or seeRomans 5:1-2) with spiritual growth in your walk with CHRIST, a Believer can never really know if he/she is truly saved! Paul butchered Scripture by saying you will know because you continue to repent throughout youre entire life. That is not a correct statement at all. You and I can know we are truly saved entirely bc JESUS said"most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life John 6:47. JESUS said in John 3:36, " He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." Jesus didn't follow up and say, ok now as long as you will continue to repent you will know you actually believed in Me and you are for sure going to Heaven and not hell. Repenting is a "change of mind." When a person accepts Christ, they changed their mind from NOT believing the Gospel...JESUS came, died on the cross for all sin, was raised from the dead by the Power of God, ascended to Heaven and promises to return (I Cor 15....which Washer described beautifully), to Believing the Gospel! JESUS is Who the Bible says He is, and JESUS did exactly what the Bible says He did. When a person accepts that as TRUTH, the person is instantly and eternally Saved! The call on every believer's life is most certainly to grow Spiritually from a Believer in JESUS CHRIST to a follower (disciple) of JESUS CHRIST. That person now needs discipled (Matt 28:18-20) on how and why to value their relationship with the Father, above all aspects of their life. A disciple of JESUS ought to constantly deal with sin and bring it to the Father, and continue to desire and accept change as he/she allows the Holy Spirit to mold him/her more into the image of JESUS (Romans 8:29). And this would determine am I a slave to sin or CHRIST.
ReplyDeleteSo here is what Washer's message creates. Many people will live a life of repentance trying to prove to themselves and others that they are truly saved (wrong motivation). So they do it out of fear or duty or guilt or manipulation RATHER THAN A SOLD OUT LOVE FOR GOD. I SERVE HIM BC I WANT TO NOT BC IM SUPPOSE TO PROVE IM TRULY SAVED BY HOW OFTEN I REPENT. We ought to love HIM bc HE first loved us. Bc HE has called us to INTIMACY! Do a study of Phil 3:10. It amazes me that HE allows us to KNOW HIM! the more we draw closer to HIM, the more HE draws closer in to us! James 4:8. Paul Washer's message also creates confusion for the un-discipled believer who has totally believed the Gosepl and fully trusted CHRIST as Saviour. That person will constantly battle sin, and by no discipleship, no accountability, and no guidance on how to pursue intimacy with GOD, then according to Paul Washer's message that person will conclude they must have never really repented and believed the Gospel, so they will keep trying to repent and believe. and then they will tell everyone they have been saved again (which we know a person can only be saved once and eternally sealed... Eph 1 ). this confusion will keep reoccurring until that person receives guidance from Scripture or a disciplemaker and finally grasps that Salvation occurs the moment they believe the GOSPEL as truth they receive the Holy Spirit, and then its every believers CHOICE to allow HIM to lead and guide us, or our flesh. Often that confused person will just give up. But according to Washer there is some hidden timeline that suddenly declares one lost if they have not dealt with their Sin. For a person to determine their own Salvation based off of whether or not they're always continueing to repent is crazy and not Biblical. Salvation is not based upon what I continue to do or not do, but rather what JESUS CHRIST has already done. And now it is my daily choice to allow HIS Spirit to lead and guide and mold me. It is a constant war with sin, as written in Galatians, and therefore I must choose to die to self and live in a God centered universe rather than self centered universe.
ReplyDelete@rance –
ReplyDeleteI love your passion! You raise some really great points and I can tell you feel very deeply about what you believe. It’s very rare today to find people who seem to even have a sense of passion, so I’m grateful for yours.
I have a lot of questions that I would like to ask you, but out of respect for your time and mine I will limit it to just a few. I pray you do not take these questions as an attack against your points, but just an attempt to probe deeper into the mysteries of God, man, sin, salvation, justification and spiritual growth, and how you truly think about them.
1. What do you do with verses like: Matthew 7:21-23? There seems to be people who believe in Jesus and their faith looks to be real, but in reality is false. Terrifying thought in my opinion because I have to apply this to myself. But, just because it’s terrifying does not mean it steals from my assurance. No. Its verses like Matt.7:21-23 that drive me deeper into the Scriptures, deeper into prayer, and deeper into mediation. When a person does that, the Spirit moves and faith goes up, not down.
2. Or, what do you do with John 6? Most of these people “believe” or have “faith in” Jesus. Many of these people by the end of John 6 “turned back and no longer walked with him” (verse 66).
3. Think about this verse in John 8:31. Jesus no doubt still dealing with some of the people from chapter 6, “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed (faith) in him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,” Notice the “if” by Christ. If what? If you truly believe in me, then your life will look this way. Or, another way to say it would be, if you truly LOVE me your life will look this way.
Jesus says in Matthew 24:13 “the one who endures to the end will be saved” and that is of great concern for us. Don’t mistake that concern as limiting our ability to see all the promises for us in Jesus Christ. We testify and believe in John 3:16, one of the most wonderful verses in the Bible, and there are hundreds and hundreds more just as beautiful! We are concerned because people believe they can just believe in Christ and be saved, but they do not have to be “set apart” for Christ. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die” and I believe that’s the sum of the matter.
Speaking for myself, I would rather have someone struggling over their salvation to the end and find out they are in Christ, rather than encourage someone in their false believe “faith”, and then have them find out in the end, they are not in Christ. Faith without works is “dead” period. I live in a community, in a state, and in a country that appears to be living similar to those in Matt.7 and that breaks my heart.
I think Paul Washer did a fine job explaining the Gospel. Better than most could do in 12 mintues. Obviously, I disagree with you that he “meshed justification by faith with spiritual growth”, which by the way is not what his main point was even about.
I tried to write this in a spirit that will promote deeper thought and a healthy discussion. Please forgive me if I did not succeed at doing this. Again, I love your passion. I pray you never lose it. Peace and grace,
@brianB
ReplyDeleteI owe my salvation to God and Him alone. People like you are truly of God. I haven't had the privilege to read or hear such truths like you just blessed me with.
It is a shame that the world, my country Nigeria in particular has "exchanged the truth about God for a lie because they worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen (Romans 1:25)
God bless you...
This presentation of the gospel by Paul Washer is the clearest I have heard. Some have said that Paul is calling for a continuing repentance. Well to my mind that is what we are called to do. We all sin and we must repent of our sins when we do. As far as faith in Christ being the only thing necessary for salvation look at Mark 1:15. Yes Faith is necessary but so is Repentance.
ReplyDelete---------------------------------------------------------
Mark 1:15 Bible Knowledge Commentary
The required response to which Jesus summoned His hearers was a double command: Repent and believe the good news! Repentance and faith (belief) are bound together in one piece (not temporally successive acts). To “repent” (metanoē cf. Mar_1:4) is to turn away from an existing object of trust (e.g., oneself). To “believe” (pisteuō, here pisteuete en, the only NT appearance of this combination) is to commit oneself wholeheartedly to an object of faith. Thus to believe in the good news meant to believe in Jesus Himself as the Messiah, the Son of God. He is the “content” of the good news (cf. Mar_1:1). Only by this means can one enter into or receive (as a gift) the kingdom of God (cf. Mar_10:15).