Ten Things I Didn’t Understand Before I Was Reformed
Posted on 11. Dec, 2009 by Les in Theology
I’ve been a Christian for 7 years. I’ve learned, I’ve grown, I’ve wondered. I came to believe a lot of things that I took for granted, but never thought too much about. But less than a year ago, God showed me something.
There is a solid Christianity that has been fought for, that people have died for. There have been Church councils, and controversial men, who stood up to revolt against corrupt practices, and unbiblical doctrines. We aren’t left in the dark to figure Christianity out all over again. The truth has been opened to, and passed down to us by, Saints past.
Not only has reformed theology opened my eyes to new things, but it’s cleared up so many thing that I believed, but I never really understood.
10. My Sin
I knew I was a sinner. I knew I needed to be forgiven. But just how much of a sinner, I had no idea. Sometimes I would say, “Wow, I didn’t sin much this week.”.
Now I know that it’s quite possible that I have never, for a second, obeyed the command “Love the Lord, your God, with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength.”. I never took seriously Jesus’ words that looking at a woman with lust is to commit adultery, or that hating a man in your heart is murder. I ignored the fact that Jesus said “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” -Matthew 5:48
I finally understand that I sin every day, every hour… on some level I sin every moment of my life. This is how sinful I am. But God! Oh how merciful He is to such a sinner.
9. God Works All Things for My Good
This seemed like a nice idea, God works stuff out in the end. I don’t need to worry too much, because God can clean up the messes and put it back together.
But once I understood sovereignty, it all changed. God doesn’t just react to what people are doing, or the messes that pop up in life. He is “working all things” for the good of His people. He orchestrates everything, and my life isn’t left to chance for a split second. Nothing surprises Him, not because He knows it all, but because He’s actually in control.
8. Why We Pray for the Lost
This is something everyone does. We pray for our family and friends to be saved. We say things like “soften their hearts” or “reveal yourself to them”. It’s not something I ever thought about as incosistent with my beliefs, but now I see how strange it was.
If God couldn’t override people’s free will, how could He save them? How could He do anything different than the 100% He was already giving everyone, waiting fo them to make their decision. What does it mean to “soften a heart” other than “do more than You are doing to change their mind”?
Now I can pray fervently for God to override a family member’s sinful will, because I know that it’s their only hope. If God can’t touch our wills, we all go to Hell. God, destroy their will, and MAKE them love You, so they can be saved from Hell!
7. There is Now No Condemnation
I was always on the fence on the “can we lose our salvation?” question. I’d seen and heard of epic backsliding and people who walked completely away from faith. So it only seemed logical that there were certain sins that could push us too far away from God.
The Bible says nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love that is in Christ, let alone the very thing he died to forgive. The gospel teaches that everything, past, present, and future is forgiven. So what could undo the work of Jesus and make us accused again?
Now I understand that sins aren’t counted against me, anymore. God convicts me to cease from sinning, but the condemnation and marks against me have been paid for. I’m truly free.
6. Jesus Took My Place
The idea that Jesus was in my place on the cross was another nice thought, and was truly my object of faith. But I believed He took everyone’s place on the cross, even people who would be in Hell. What kind of assurance can I find in a substitution that didn’t help such a large number of people it took the place of? What does it mean to die in someone’s place, if not that they are pardoned?
I understand, now, that Jesus was laying His life down for His sheep… perfectly. Not one of the people who’s place He took on the cross will be in Hell. Anyone who does end up in Hell has not been atoned for. Jesus truly, perfectly, and finally took my sins on Himself, not because I applied His blood to myself, but because the Father placed my sins, specifically, on His Son.
5. The Necessity of Prayer
I used to pray. I would pray especially hard when I messed up, or when something was completely out of my control. When I knew there was nothing I could do about a situation, I’d give it over to God. Other than that I’d pray very generally that God would help me in my life.
Reformed theology has opened my eyes to the truth that I am completely helpless. I’m 100% at God’s mercy. God could, if He wanted, take the faith out of my heart tomorrow. I’d wake up, shake my head, and say, “Wow, that Christianity faze was weird.” and get right back to my sinful life. God promises to never do that, but that’s how much we are at His mercy.
I NEED God to live, I need him in every area because I’m powerless without Him. He’s the power that makes me flea from sin, help people, open His word, and even pray. Yes, we should pray that God would give us the desire to pray. God is truly our strength, so we must pray without ceasing, or we are relying on our powerless flesh.
4. Being Born Again
When I look back, I don’t even know how I would have defined being born again. I knew it was a change, maybe a feeling. I definitely knew that you needed to be born again to be saved, and I even knew the moment it happened to me. What it was, though, I’d be hard pressed to answer.
Oh boy! I could tell you now. It is the supernatural change of a God-hater into a God-lover. It’s the work of God to change a man’s entire nature. We are set free from slavery to sin, and made slaves of righteousness. We are new creations. Without it man can not believe the gospel or repent. Praise God for the free-will smashing new birth!
3. The Holy Spirit
What a mystery the Holy Spirit was. I believed in the trinity. Father – The one who calls the shots. Son – The one who came to earth to die for sin. Holy Spirit – um… it’s like a mist, that like… is everywhere. Kinda like the wind, I guess. And it… helps us.
Praise God for His Holy Spirit! The third Person of the trinity that works in God’s people. He’s IN me! It’s amazing! He’s the One that produces the fruit, the One that makes me understand the Bible, the One that makes me cry “Abba, Father!” The Holy Spirit confirms to my spirit that I’m in Christ. He perfects my broken prayers and praises. Without God’s Spirit inside us, we’d never know God.
2. The Necessity of the Gospel
I would, from time to time, share my faith. I would talk about how Jesus died, but the most important thing I was seeking was a decision. Offensive parts of the gospel, about sin and wrath… those don’t make people want to accept, so I’d minimize them. I would let people know that Jesus wanted to make them happier, and fulfill their lives, certainly not that He demands their submission and will take away their rights.
Now I know that apart from the clear, complete gospel, nobody can be saved. Anybody who signed a decision card or said a prayer based on a promise of ,”The Bible tells us that we can know where we go when we die. Come to Jesus and He’ll forgive you.”, is not going to heaven. They were deceived. People must hear about their sinfulness, the forgiveness on the cross, and the repentance God requires. This is how we are saved, through the gospel.
1. The Meaning of the Universe
God’s creation, I would guess, was an experiment in free-will. How will people respond to God becoming a man and dying? God was trying His hardest to save as many people as possible, but inevitably some would go to Hell, since it was their decision. Jesus died to make salvation possible, and God was going to be eternally frustrated by all the people that He loved who would be in Hell for eternity. In the back of my mind, I always had a theory that God would forgive them all and bring them into Heaven in the end, and we’d all rejoice.
Oh, how glorious God’s plan truly is. God’s number 1 priority is to show off His majesty and be glorified. God is beautiful, and when we see His beauty and respond in worship, we are fulfilling our entire purpose. When we fail to love God, we are spitting in this glorious King’s face, and we will be punished.
The purpose of this creation is for God to demonstrate His power and mercy. The fall of Satan and Adam are all part of this amazing story. God’s righteous hatred toward sinners will display His awesome power for eternity. God became a man and redeemed mankind from His own wrath. All who He has mercy on will worship Him for eternity because of this amazing love displayed on the Cross. Our resurrected glory will be the most amazing pleasure imaginable, fulfilling the purpose of creation. We will worship God, forever, because we’ll know what we were saved from. He displayed love beyond our comprehension! Praise God!
WGJake
Dec 11th, 2009
Similar lessons I’ve learned. But I must admit that I still struggle with praying. I hate the fact that I don’t want to pray as I should. I’m definitly praying for God to give me that desire. If u remember me in your prayers please that I would desire to spend more time with my Father.
Lovin the blog man.
Mike (wretchedsinner)
Dec 11th, 2009
Brother Les, this is absolutely amazing. Great work, Praise God for what He has done in your life. Such clarity, such passion, Solia Deo Gloria!
-Mike
Nathaniel Watts
Dec 11th, 2009
hey man, reading up on your post.
thank you for your regular words of faith and encouragement on twitter
they do more than you know.
i am writing to you about your #7. [there is no condemnation]
here is some scripture the jumped to my mind when reading it:
–(Heb 10:26) If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left …
–(Matthew 12:31) And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
what are your thoughts?
thanks!
Les
Dec 11th, 2009
Nathaniel. Good stuff. These are texts that can seem to point to a losable salvation, and if they’re all we had to clarify the issue, I’d say it is losable. But there are amazing entire chapters in scripture that talk about the security of a believer.
Romans 8 should be the first place we look when wondering if we can lose our salvation, not because it says what I want it to say, but because it’s actually the topic being discussed. Paul is spitting venom at the idea that we can fall from grace, the list of things that can’t separate us is unbelievable. You couldn’t make something up that wasn’t covered. So what do these other verses mean in light of that clear declaration.
Hebrews 10:26. Someone receives the knowledge of the gospel and in some way believes it. We’re cool so far, as the parable of the sower demonstrates, people can understand it without a saving faith, right?
The person goes on sinning, unrepentant and demonstrates that they aren’t saved. 1 John makes it clear that people can claim Christ but not be in Him, and the lack of fruitswill bear them witness.
Now, there does seem to be a doctrine to be found there, although I’d need more scriptural support to claim it as clearly Biblical. He goes on to say that the person who does that, claims Christ as savior and pretends to be a Christian, but doesn’t change, can’t be saved after that. Harsh yes, but doesn’t discredit clearer scriptures.
As far as Matthew 12:31… I would go into detail but let’s just do this:
“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.” -Jude 1:24
God is able to keep us from stumbling. Since He also promises that no one can pluck us out of His hands, we’re pretty much closed in on all sides.
So how does this apply to Matt 12:31? If there is an unpardonable sin, which there is, God can keep His people from committing it, and He will keep us from doing it, and He will keep His promise to us of eternal life.
Kim
Dec 12th, 2009
Les,
Great Blog–what a spot on break down.I love the prayer “destroy their will, Make them love you, so they can be saved from hell.” – so true in my case too. Another wretched, snatched from the fire! Praise God he is an invader!
Great to meet another reformed Christian creative too.
Eddie Eddings
Dec 17th, 2009
Stumbled onto your blog today. Very nice! I have not seen anything quite like it. Love the logo also. I will be stopping by this site often. There…just bookmarked it. Keep up the God work!
Les
Dec 17th, 2009
are you really mr. Calvinistic Cartoons? that’s so cool.
Joshua Parker
Dec 31st, 2009
I think many of us can fall into those “things I did not know”, unless one has been taught the Scriptures rightly from their youth. Great points.
Arlene
Jan 3rd, 2010
Such a great post. I can relate exactly to the points you mentioned. Before I was reformed I lacked understanding and just took a lot of things for granted, especially His grace, though often times without meaning to. But now I appreciate more His sovereignty and grace with a passion for His glory.
A sad fact, though, is a lot of people are allergic to Calvinism because some Calvinists leave a bitter after taste when they witness.There’s a stereotype that reformed believers are arrogant and exclusive.
I pray that we will be able to witness to them with love, that they may also see the beauty of the Truth!
Tanner
Jan 21st, 2010
Good post, just now got around to reading it. You should put it on regenerated.us : )
Cory D. Jones
Jun 24th, 2010
Great post! As you did, so many things began to make so much MORE sense when I let scripture interpret scripture, not whoever took the pulpit that week. Weird.
I have one suggestion though… Number 9… I have to disagree… God works everything for HIS glory, not necessarily my (or your) good. Several Christians have been persecuted for the gospel’s sake. While not “good” for them (besides falling into the “blessed are those who are persecuted because of me” category) God will always use it (as it is predestined) to further His glory, whether we see the benefits or not.
I personnally like #10… I think many Christians are guilty of the “If I just sin less…” mentality. I’m not sure what part of “in bondage to sin” or “dead in sin” they don’t understand. I echo your sentiment, “Oh, how sinful I am.”
Praise God that he continues to use imperfect people in His perfect plan.
Les
Jun 24th, 2010
thanks for the feedback.
As for #9… it’s a Biblical quote.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” -Romans 8:28
I would argue that the whole point of this text, as Paul is talking about suffering and tribulation, is that even those things ARE for our good.
Of course the plan of God is ultimately for His glory (see #1 in my list), but we can rest in the beautiful providence of God as He works all things for the good of His people… for His glory. Not health and wealth. Something much better: painful, lesson-learning sanctification.
Cory D. Jones
Jul 7th, 2010
Agreed. And to think, all I have left to do is fall down and thank Him for using me.
Karsten
Sep 10th, 2010
This is the post that God used to open my eyes to His sovereignty according to Himself (His Word) and not my flawed reasoning. soli Deo gloria!
Bill
Sep 10th, 2010
Awesome post. I can relate brother……
Ten Things I Didn’t Understand Before I Was Reformed | Truth Proclaimed
Sep 12th, 2010
[...] at Killer Robot Ninja, Les has created a list of ten things he didn’t understand before coming to Biblical doctrine. I’ve gotta say, the list is pretty dead on for [...]
Dustin
Dec 15th, 2010
Enjoyed this, thanks for sharing!
Eric hurst
Dec 17th, 2010
I love this story. This lets me know that I’m not alone. There are other knights out there going through the same things i am and i hope that none of them give of the good fight, as i will never.
Dan
Jun 20th, 2012
Bro Les, the Spirit of God who dwells in you has enabled you put things with uncommon clarity. Praise to Him alone! I believe, the third Person of the Trinity, The Spirit of God, The Holy Spirit is a Person too! So, dont you think, in #3, “And it… helps us” should rightly be “And He…helps us”? May God clarify.
Brilliant work, bro!