Psalm 135:6

There's something to this...

"Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, in heaven, and on earth, in the seas, and all deeps.

My pastor gave me a book by Steve Lawson called "Foundations of Grace: Volume 1" subtitled "A Long Line of Godly Men."

I first heard of this book at the 2007 Shepherds Conference, and was interested in it from the very beginning. I've always loved church history, and was interested in any series that highlights the men of old and new that God has used to defend His Truth. The Lord works in wonderful and mysterious ways, and clearly He has put this book in my hand to pleasantly surprise me and warmly encourage me to pursue the doctrines of grace. I didn't know Steve Lawson wrote this specifically to show how the doctrines of grace have been the pillars of men God has used greatly since Moses.

I am ashamed to admit the doctrines of grace is something I struggle with from time to time. They seem to make sense in my mind, but what I wonder is does Holy Scripture truly teach this? Over the years I have been inundated with wildly charismatic and Armenian teaching. This has led to a swing into the other camp, and sometimes, because of my own sinfulness, I become prideful. At times I am better at spouting off what others believe than examining the doctrines myself. This book is an answer to prayer because Lawson is an expert at the exposition of Scripture.

The one saving Grace for me in this area has been careful exposition. I have yet to find someone in the Armenian camp that has come to an Armenian conclusion based on the careful exposition of Scripture. As Lawson says in the first chapter, "When the Bible is rightly exegeted, carefully expounded, and properly explained, it clearly teaches these truths, which have been identified as (the doctrines of grace)"

These doctrines are self-mortifying doctrines. They are God-glorifying doctrines in the strictest sense, and I believe that is why I am falling in love with them. No other doctrines have come closer to taking me out of this world and into the throne room of heaven itself than these, and yet I have met some who would say these doctrines present a God who cannot be worshipped, and to be perfectly honest, I agree with them. These doctrines present a God that cannot be worshipped by natural man. I believe that the Holy Spirit, as He works in us to sanctify us will patiently bring us to the realization of these truths. To be blunt, the sooner you set your fallen notions of fairness aside and embrace these truths, the easier it will become to fall out of love with world, and in love with God. Until you embrace these truths, I believe you will constantly battle against the Spirit of God at a level that was never intended for true saints. It will stunt you and weaken you, and quench the Spirit of God inside you.

There will always be a tension, and sometimes even men the Lord uses to do wonderful things fall on the wrong side. Men like John Wesley, and the present day example, Hank Hanegraaff. I haven't read a great deal of Wesley, but I believe it's safe to assume that for the most part, like Hanegraaff, he wasn't an expositor of Scripture. Wesley was an evangelist, and Hanegraaff is an apologist. I know both deny the doctrines of grace in one respect or another. Either way, God will use His people in His way. Every good Calvinist knows that, and unless the Lord leads me to further study of these men and other Armenians the Lord uses, (How I would love to see a collection like that of Lawson's highlighting the Armenian giants of the faith. I would read it cautiously, with Bible in hand, but certainly enthusiastically.) I look at men like Wesley and Hanegraaff as high-points in a man-centered system as I would look upon prideful and self-centered hyper-calvinists as low-points in a Bible-saturated and God-centered system. Regardless of the system, we are still messy creatures desperate for God's grace, which drives me even further to theses wonderful doctrines of grace.

I praise God, not for systems, but for His Word, and for the brilliant men He has raised to make His name famous, and spread His glory to the ends of the earth.