« Older Entries
Jan
11

Galatians: Gospel Bombs

By Pastor Scott | Filed in Sound Gospel

 

Map of Galatia

 

Denver Sound Church is in the midst of a study of the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul’s first epistle. Galatians is a polemic on New Covenant Justification and the Gospel Bombs series deals with Galatians chapter 1 through chapter 2, verse 10 answering questions such as:

How does the Bible define “grace” and “peace”? (Part 1)

What does “agree to disagree” indicate about your view of the Gospel? (Part 1)

Why must the believer condemn those who teach a false gospel? (Part 1)

According to what standard will we be judged at the last day? (Part 1)

Does being Reformed guarantee that our gospel is correct? (Part 1)

Upon whose approval did Paul’s Gospel depend? (Part 2)

Upon what does Paul base his defense of the Gospel? (Part 2)

What two things are required in order to get the Gospel right? (Part 3, 4)

How could Paul oppose Peter and James, but still respect the role and necessity of the church in order to get the Gospel right? (Part 4)

What is the definition of a biblical church? (Part 4)

How does Paul’s private meeting with church leaders affect our understanding of the church? (Part 4)

Is the church a democracy or a republic? (Part 4)

What is the church’s job in regard to false teachers? (Part 5)

What are the four legitimate gospel ministries according to the New Testament? (Part 5)

The Galatians series will begin again at Denver Sound Church in February. To listen to the messages on Galatians and more, go to our sermon page. The teaching is also available for downloading as a podcast. Sunday School teaching and worship service messages are all available for viewing on our YouTube channel.

Tags: , , , ,
      
Dec
24

Galatians 2: Backstory and Theme

By Pastor Scott | Filed in Sound History

 

Map of Galatia

 

Denver Sound Church is in the midst of a study of the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul’s first epistle. This sermon is the last of an in-depth look at the historical circumstances which caused the book to be written before we dive into the text itself. The backstory is a history of Paul from conversion to the writing of Galatians and the surrounding soap opera. This particular message deals with questions such as:

Why are the Galatians in danger of losing their justification and how does this apply to present-day believer?

Who are the “men from James” and why were they teaching circumcision?

Where was Paul headed when he wrote the book of Galatians?

What is the threat posed by poor ecclesiology?

What are the consequences of bad biblical theology?

How committed should the local church be to gaining unity in doctrine?

To learn how the Epistle to Galatians answers these questions and how these answers are critical to the Christian life, listen to Galatians 2: Backstory and Theme (also available for downloading as a podcast) or watch on YouTube.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
      
Dec
19

Galatians 1: More Backstory

By Pastor Scott | Filed in Sound History

 

Map of Galatia

 

Denver Sound Church is in the midst of a study of the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul’s first epistle. This sermon is an in-depth look at the historical circumstances which caused the book to be written. This is a history of Paul from conversion to the writing of Galatians and this message deals with questions such as:

How does the bi-partite distinction within the Law of Moses help us to understand the book of Galatians?

Was the Galatians 2 visit to Jerusalem, Paul’s second visit (Acts 11:25-26) or his third visit (Acts 15:1-2) also known as the Jerusalem council?

Why did he feel it necessary to go to Jerusalem at this time?

What significant thing happened during this visit?

Who are the “men from James” and why were they teaching circumcision?

Who were the Galatians exactly and why was their justification in danger of being lost? (Galatians 5:4)

Where was Paul headed when he wrote the book of Galatians?

To learn how the Epistle to Galatians answers these questions and how these answers are critical to the Christian life, listen to Galatians 1: More Backstory (also available for downloading as a podcast) or watch on YouTube.

Tags: , , , ,
      
Dec
12

What are the deeds by which we will be judged?

By Josh | Filed in Sound Conduct

 

 

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.

Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?

—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! – 2 Corinthians 13:5

 What exactly does the Bible mean by “good deeds”?

Scripture tells us that everyone, both believers and unbelievers will be judged according to their deeds on the Last Day:

But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. – Romans 2:5-8

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. – 2 Corinthians 5:10

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. – Revelation 20:11-15

I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak. – Hebrews 6:2

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. – Hebrews 9:27-28

So, what exactly are these good deeds by which we are going to be judged? Is the Bible talking about caring for the poor? Or helping an elderly lady across the street? Are good deeds something that we need to keep a record of? Is there a standard for good deeds that we are compelled to meet, such as: “Be sure to do your good deed for the day”? Do we get to pick and choose which good deeds we want to do and which deeds we don’t want to do? Read the remainder of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
      
Dec
10

Galatians 0: Backstory

By Pastor Scott | Filed in Sound History

 

 

Denver Sound Church is in the midst of a study of the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul’s first epistle. This sermon is an in-depth look at the historical circumstances which caused the book to be written, dealing with questions such as:

How many times did Paul go to Jerusalem and what happened during each visit?

In order to understand the message of the book, why is it essential that we know all that Scripture reveals about these visits?

What were Paul’s activities during the fourteen intervening years between his conversion and his second visit to Jerusalem?

What was the central Gospel issue that caused Paul to write the Epistle to the Galatians?

How does the book of Galatians support the sound Gospel?

What happens to the Gospel when it is not grounded in rigorous theology?

To learn how the Epistle to Galatians answers these questions and why these answers are critical to the Christian life, listen to Galatians 0: The Backstory (also available for downloading as a podcast) or watch on YouTube.

Tags: , , , , ,
      
Dec
5

Criteria for a Biblically-defined Church from Acts 11

By Josh | Filed in Sound Church

 

 

The New Testament makes it clear that for one to be considered a Christian, that person must be recognized by a biblical church because there is no salvation outside of the Body (John 15:1-11; Colossians 1:24; 1 John 2:18-20) and because it is the church who holds the keys to the kingdom (Matthew 16:18-20; 18:18-20). In addition, notable theologians, particularly Cyprian and Calvin all recognized that a person cannot consider God to be his Father unless the church, a true church, is also his mother. Thus, the critical role played by the church in salvation impresses upon every believer the imperative to carefully examine the validity of the church where we are currently attending or when choosing a church to join. Clearly, the New Testament sees the believer’s life as one that is completely dependent on the visible church.

However, these are impossible tasks without first determining the biblical standards that define a church. The vast portion of the New Testament is focused on revealing the details of how the church should operate and how the believer is to function within the church. But we need look no further than the account of the planting of the church at Antioch in order to see the initial requirements for a church to be a true church.

Here are the five Scriptural requirements that must be met in order for a group of believers to be considered a church according to the record of the first church plant in Acts 11:19-26: Read the remainder of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , ,
      
Nov
28

The Gospel Explained in Eight Truths

By Pastor Scott | Filed in Sound Gospel

 

The Gospel is the good news of abundant life in Jesus Christ

if we submit to Him as Lord before Savior

in the relationship of covenant through His Church. 

1.  All People

All people need God the Father’s abundant blessings of forgiveness and righteousness, earthly provision and purpose, eternal salvation and life. (Romans 3:10-12, 23; Proverbs 3:33, 10:3, 24, 30, 12:21, 13:21, 15:6, 21:27, 28:9; Ecclesiastes 1:1-11, 2:1, 15-17; Psalm 37:38; Proverbs 24:20; 2 Peter 3:1-7; John 5:29)

2.  Jesus Christ

It is only through a relationship with God’s son, the God-man Jesus Christ who died for sin and rose again, that we can receive God as Father and His abundant blessings of forgiveness and righteousness, earthly provision and purpose, eternal salvation and life. (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 2 Corinthians 1:20; Luke 1:76-77; Colossians 1:13-17; Hebrews 2:17; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 4:25; Titus 3:4-7; Romans 5:6-9; Matthew 6:24-33, 7:7-11; Rom 8:28; 1Thessalonians 5:9; John 4:14, 10:27-28; Romans 6:23; 1Jo 5:11; John 10:10)

3.  Marriage Read the remainder of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
      
Oct
30

If Justification is Immutable…

By Josh | Filed in Sound Justification

 

 

Despite being well-supported in Scripture, the doctrine of the loss of justification is not widely held in the contemporary Evangelical-Reformed community. Instead, most believe and teach that justification is a one-time, legal declaration by God. Contemporary theologians explain that once the decree of “justified” has been declared it cannot be revoked regardless of a person’s future actions.

The idea that justification can be lost is a minority view among Reformed Evangelicals, but that does not necessarily make it wrong. All theologians understand that the majority of Christendom is not always right. In fact, it might be more accurate to say that when it comes to theology, the majority is more often in the wrong. Examples of this from history abound: only eight people made it onto Noah’s ark, the majority of the Old Testament Jews were apostate, Roman Catholics certainly outnumbered Protestants at the beginning of the Reformation, etc.

The point is that every doctrine, even if widely accepted and even doctrines which are at the core of the Reformed faith must be put to biblical test. Our goal throughout this series is to demonstrate that Scripture does not teach justification as a one-time, merely forensic declaration, but that it is a righteous and forgiven state before God which can be lost due to unrepentant sin. Justification is gained by grace through faith alone, but must be maintained through faithfulness. This doctrine is solidly supported through biblical theology and its support from systematic theology is just as sound.

Recently, we published an article highlighting twenty three Scripture passages which teach, imply or warn that a person can lose his justification. That article was followed up with a post about why it is consistent with both Scripture and Calvinistic soteriology to say that one can lose his justification, but that salvation cannot be lost. The doctrine of the loss of justification provides a framework that adds great depth and consistency to the theological unity of Scripture. On the other hand, the more commonly held position that justification is an immutable (unable to be changed) result of a one-time expression of faith causes theological problems throughout the Bible, in fact, the belief in an immutable state of justification undermines many orthodox doctrines. Here are a few:

 

If justification is immutable, then the doctrine of sola fide is destroyed. Read the remainder of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
      
Oct
18

How can it be theologically consistent to say that justification can be lost, but salvation cannot?

By Josh | Filed in Sound Justification

 

 

Scripture teaches that justification can be lost, but that salvation cannot.

At first glance, most people, especially those who come from an Evangelical-Reformed perspective will likely consider this statement to be a contradiction for three reasons: a definition of salvation that does not take context into account, the belief that justification is permanent and therefore equivalent to salvation and the belief that we can operate as if we know God’s secret work. When these three erroneous ideas are considered biblically, we will easily see that our thesis does not contradict Calvinistic soteriology and more importantly, it is consistent with the whole of Scripture.

Therefore, here are three biblically-supported answers to the question: how it is biblically consistent to hold that justification can be lost, but salvation cannot?

Because the Bible uses the term salvation in more than one way depending on the context Read the remainder of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
      
Oct
16

“In Christ” = In the visible Church

By Sound Church | Filed in Sound Church

 

From The Baptized Body by Peter J. Leithart:

1 Corinthians 12:12 is particularly striking the way Paul identifies the Head-and- members body of Christ as “Christ.” “‘Christ” is not just the title of the Anointed Head. The anointing flows like the dew of Hermon down from our priestly Head, down the beard, down to the skirts of the garments [i.e. to the individual]. Whoever is touched by that anointing in the Spirit (vv. 12-13) becomes a member of the body of the Head. Whoever is touched by that anointing is part of “Christ.”  Together, Anointed Head and anointed body make a single Anointed One, one Christ. Augustine’s idea of’ totus Christus – a “whole Christ” made of Head and body is not a fanciful fabrication of a Plotinian mind. It is purely Pauline. And this “whole Christ” is the visible, historical church. – p. 62

Tags: , , , , , , ,
      
« Older Entries