About Coram Deo
Greetings! By way of introduction I am a born-again Christian who seeks to live in the presence of, under the authority of, and to the honor and glory of the Triune Yahweh Elohim Shaddai–the One True and Living LORD God Almighty Who is the self contained, self sufficient, and unique infinite Creator of all things.
I believe the historic, orthodox, Biblical Christian faith as found in the 66 books of the Holy Bible is the only true and right religion that has been revealed to mankind and all other faiths and extra-Biblical sources of revelation are absolutely false and without any eternal merit or redemptive power.
Through this medium I hope to share my worldview with any who are interested, and in this manner I hope to expand my witness to the lost, and extend whatever ability I’ve been given to edify the believer to the praise of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, the risen Savior.
Sola Scriptura! (Scripture alone), Sola Fide! (faith alone), Sola Gratia! (grace alone), Soli Christo! (Christ alone) - Soli Deo Gloria! (to God alone be glory)
Pilgrim
thejunglemissionary
Bill
Manfred
abidingthroughgrace
Chris Hohnholz
Thank you for posting this awesome video. It is so sorely needed.
Only complaint, from less than a minute into the second video: He contrasts building on sand to “building on the rock of obedience to His Word”. This is WRONG! I suspect MacArthur knows this and misspoke. But it’s a vitally important distinction – Christ and His obedience is the Rock upon which we build; not by our deeds, but by His grace.
Manfred,
No, not quite. Consider what Jesus said in this passage. “He who hears my words and does them, I will liken him to one who built upon the rock.” It was about hearing what Christ commanded and then going and doing it–Basically, obey His word and you will build upon the Rock. Besides, I don’t think you’ll ever hear Johnny Mac preach that we are saved by anything within ourselves or by anything we do. He has always preached that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
fourpointer,
My gripe with Mac on that recording is that he said “obedience to His Word” is “the rock” upon which we build. We are certainly called to obedience, which we can do by the grace of God. But our obedience is not the Rock – that’s the beef.
Manfred said:Only complaint, from less than a minute into the second video: He contrasts building on sand to “building on the rock of obedience to His Word”. This is WRONG! I suspect MacArthur knows this and misspoke. But it’s a vitally important distinction – Christ and His obedience is the Rock upon which we build; not by our deeds, but by His grace.
I humbly submit that you’ve misunderstood MacArthur’s application in this instance, and that FP hit the nail squarely on the head. Obviously I’m no apologist for MacArthur, and we would all heartily agree that even the best of men are men at best, but in my opinion upon closer scrutiny in this case there’s no controversy, either real or perceived.
First I’d like to thank you for your comment because spurred me to diligently research Matthew 7:21-27 in the light of the overarching context of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount (SotM), and yielded in me a deeper appreciation for and a richer understanding of God’s Holy Word. Taken in context MacArthur’s analysis (exegesis) in this instance is spot-on accurate.
The Lord Jesus Christ had been in the process of utterly decimating the self-righteous lifestyles of his listeners during the SotM and the capstone was His damning indictment of those who are hearers of the word only (foolish man) and not doers of the word (wise man). By verse 21 we’ve already learned from the Lord that not all who claim Him are genuine believers, many are false professors, and the Lord continues contrasting the sharp differences between genuine and false professions of faith in verses 24-27 (see also James 1:22-24; 1 John 2:3-6; Titus 1:15-16).
According to the Lord the genuine professors are the doers who are being obedient to the Word, which is Christ. As we know Christ and His Word are Biblically indistinguishable and inseparable, in fact they are one and the same (John 1:1). Obedience to Christ and His Word (same-same) aren’t optional for the true believer – it is mandatory – but neither is this obedience an efficacious salvific work, rather it is the supernatural and unavoidable outworking of the new birth, the God-wrought consequences of a miracle of divine grace overflowing from a redeemed heart. In view of this spiritual reality it’s readily seen that MacArthur is teaching here with absolute surgical precision.
You said: Christ and His obedience is the Rock upon which we build; not by our deeds, but by His grace.
Amen! And MacArthur’s teaching here in no way does violence to this truth. The Greek word used for the rock upon whom the wise man built is petra, this is the same word the Lord Jesus used when affirming the divine nature of the revelation given to Peter when he confessed Christ as Messiah on behalf of the twelve. In this exchange the Lord affirmed that His church would be built “upon this rock” (petra not petros – sorry RCC apologists!). The rock was (and is) the divine revelation of Jesus Christ, the Word of Christ, the Word made flesh who dwelt among us! All of these mind-boggling spiritual realities are inseparable from one another like facets on a glimmering, perfect, breathtaking diamond, although even this analogy breaks down and pales in comparison to the unspeakable fullness of glory revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So in conclusion thank you again for your comment and your diligent eye of discernment, but methinks both you and MacArthur are correct; you’re just saying the same thing in different ways. In other words it’s my well considered opinion that you’ve simply made a “distinction without a difference” in this particular instance, my brother.
Grace and peace to you,
CD