September 30, 2020 Show with Josh Miller & Mike Riccardi on “Peace With God: One Hope, One Message (The Glorious Doctrine of Reconciliation)”

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Live from the historic parsonage of the 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown

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Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors,

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Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

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Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 tells us iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.

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Matthew Henry said that in this passage we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

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It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours and we hope to hear from you the listener with your own questions and now here's your host

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Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon

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Cumberland County Pennsylvania Lake City Florida and the rest of humanity living on the planet earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com.

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This is Chris Arnzen your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio wishing you all a happy Wednesday on this 30th day of September 2020 and I have today both a returning guest and a first -time guest simultaneously.

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My returning guest is Pastor Josh Miller of Grace Bible Fellowship Church in Harrisburg Pennsylvania who's actually going to be hosting a

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Bible conference coming up very shortly and our first -time guest it happens to be the speaker at this conference

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Mike Riccardi who is the pastor of local outreach ministries at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley California the church pastored by world -renowned theologian

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Bible teacher and preacher author conference speaker and radio and television preacher

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John MacArthur and it's my honor and privilege to welcome you both back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Pastor Josh Miller and also for the first time ever

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Pastor Mike Riccardi. Yes Chris it's great to be with you thanks for having us and it would be a joy to chat with you over the next couple hours here.

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Great and our theme today is the same as your conference reconciliation the glorious doctrine of reconciliation and Mike Riccardi since you are a first -time guest we have a tradition here on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio whenever we have a first -time guest we have them give a summary of their salvation testimony what kind of religious atmosphere you were raised in if any and what providential circumstances our sovereign

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Lord used in your life to draw you to himself and save you so before we have you enter into our major theme of reconciliation today why don't you tell us a brief version of your salvation testimony.

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Sure yeah thank you again for having me on I grew up in a professing

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Christian home my parents were the first Christians in their families and took us to church and gave us a

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Bible and so I thought from an early age that I was a

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Christian because I believed the fact of the gospel message but my life certainly didn't bear that out and I don't even know if I knew that it was supposed to and when

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I was 15 almost 15 years old I had become a young man who was angry, manipulative, just absorbed by the fear of man and what others thought of me and I got to go to Italy my family is

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Italian -American and I have some family who's got a house in the village that my great -uncle grew up in and they would go there every year and they took me once because I really wanted to go and on that trip

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I was confronted with the overwhelming kindness of God I just by God's mercy

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I was reflecting on all the good things that I had been receiving on that trip and in my life and how my life didn't match the blessings that I was receiving

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I believed myself to be a Christian professed to be a Christian and so I knew that whatever good that I had was a blessing from God and so I realized that if God has given me all these good things

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I have nothing to be angry about I have no reason to be living for myself

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I have no reason to be treating Jesus as such an afterthought and at the time

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I think I would have said that I was vowing to get serious about my faith or rededicating my life to Christ or whatever but then in the year following when

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I actually opened the Bible and began reading I discovered that what happened was

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God's kindness like Romans 2 4 says I was leading me to repentance and that repentance was the saving repentance of the gospel and not merely just some sort of subsequent work of going from a carnal

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Christian to a really devoted Christian so from from then on I just read the scriptures and met

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Jesus and was blown away by this one that I had always said that I had known and and was bad and wonder and my life was never the same praise

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God now how did God and his providence bring you to grace

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Community Church the world -renowned Church of John MacArthur where he pastors tell us about that story sure so going into high school at that time and you know getting more involved in my church you know

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I was just thoroughly thrilled by what I was reading in the scriptures and maybe not maybe but definitely too early people just thought hey this is a young kid excited about the

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Bible let's let him teach something and that doesn't often work out well and it didn't

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I you know I very quickly was given opportunities that I probably shouldn't have had and recognize recognize my limitations right away perhaps not not too soon

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I could have stood to recognize them sooner but it led to you know some of the elders in my church really taking that an interest in me and taking me under their wing and discipling me helping me to know like hey this was really helpful but don't say that again you know next time try it this way and here are books that you can read and I just loved teaching

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I just loved helping people understand the Bible and I thought early on you know should this be what

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I do should I am as God calling me to be a pastor and I didn't think that my is a long story about all this but the short version is early on I decided no

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I'm not sure that I should go to Bible college or something like that or pursue this right out of the gate let me go and do something pursue something that I can make a living out of and then we'll see what happens well by the time

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I was nearing the end of college my desire to teach the scriptures and to shepherd

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Christ's flock had only grown more and more intense strong and to the point where it finally became constraining and I needed to I knew

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I needed to go get trained to do this and in that time I had also become exposed to the ministry of John MacArthur through various means in my church using the commentary a friend of mine going to the

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University and telling me all about what he had been learning you know picking up the greeting to you and those the resources on the on the website there and I just decided after a while this is the only place

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Master Seminary was the only place that I wanted to go because I wanted my life to be an exposition of the scriptures the way that John MacArthur's was and and so I did 11 years ago

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I came out here for seminary and they haven't been able to get rid of me well tell us exactly what you do as the pastoral or should

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I say the pastor of local outreach ministries at Grace Community Church 25 different ways in 27 different ministries that Grace Church employs uses to speak the gospel and serve the

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Los Angeles area so we go door -to -door we do evangelism on the street we are in jails and rehab centers and halfway houses and rescue missions and we support pregnancy centers abortion clinics and invite people onto our campus to play basketball and volleyball and then hear the gospel at halftime and maybe a dozen other things and my job is to identify those folks in our church and our congregation who are gifted in evangelism and even though who aren't but who are willing to serve in outreach ministries to train them and to develop and train leaders who will oversee those ministries in accordance with our doctrine and philosophy of ministry and basically take the gospel to our communities all around Los Angeles great well

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I know that the website for grace to you ministries which is the media ministry of Grace Community Church and John MacArthur is gty .org

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gty .org and the specific website for Grace Community Church of Sun Valley California is grace church .org

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grace church .org and we intend to repeat that information later on during the broadcast now pastor

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Josh Miller please tell our listeners who have not yet heard you on this program tell us about Grace Bible Fellowship Church of Harrisburg Pennsylvania.

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Yeah Grace Bible Fellowship Church has been in the existence just about a hundred years actually here in the

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Harrisburg area we are part of a smaller denomination Bible Fellowship Church is about 65 churches 10 church plants mostly throughout the

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Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania and then into a bit of New Jersey New York Delaware and there are some far -reaching churches we have a church in Florida and New Mexico but the denomination itself came out of actually an

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Anabaptist denomination United Brethren in no it wasn't

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United Brethren it was a Mennonite Brethren in Christ so a Mennonite Brethren in Christ movement that changed almost did it about faith in the 1950s and 60s theologically adopting a reformed understanding of the application of salvation popularly known as Calvinism or but taking on the idea of election understanding that the

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Holy Spirit as the only efficient cause of in the soul of man and that had obviously that is going to have a shift pragmatically in the life of a church in the life of a denomination that's a little bit of a background theologically and I've been here in Harrisburg about eight and a half years pastoring as the pastor of preaching and teaching here at Grace Bible Fellowship Church and what is the website of that fine church yeah gracebfc .com

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gracebfc .com gracebfc .com now tell us about this conference that you have arranged for I believe it's this weekend featuring our fellow guest here

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Mike Riccardi yeah it's our privilege to have Mike with us this weekend this is our fourth year doing this conference it's somewhat informal casual it's a

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Saturday afternoon and then all day Lord's Day on that the following Sunday obviously a lot of people who come have their own churches that they worship at we would encourage them to worship with their local body of believers but it began five years ago this is this is actually our fourth one this is our fourth annual conference it began with the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the

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Reformation 1517 and the nailing of the the 95 pieces on the door of the

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Wittenberg Chapel and we did a celebration that that weekend of that and we it went well and so we thought hey let's do it again and then we did it again and then we did it again so it's kind of turned into a fall gospel conference with a

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Reformation emphasis and it's been great our guest speakers in the past three years just a wonderfully stimulating encouraging edifying to the body of believers here so it's somewhat of a gift that we give to our local church and then we extend the invitation to anybody who wants to come and join us so it's been good and if anybody wants more details on this conference you could go to gracebfc .com

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gracebfc .com which is the the website of Grace Bible Fellowship Church of Harrisburg Pennsylvania well

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Mike Riccardi I'd like since especially since you have to depart from us before the full two hours are completed

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I'd like you to have a dominant part of our remaining first hour of the broadcast this theme that you're going to be discussing on reconciliation please tell us why this is such a vital core doctrine of bible -believing

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Christians it is something that truly separates historic historically biblical

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Protestants from Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox and from all the cults that profess to be

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Christian for that matter in fact one might even say that it distinguishes historically reformed

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Protestants from the Mennonites and those Anabaptists from which

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Grace Bible Fellowship Church sprang after a a reformation of their own and by the way

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I have to make a clarification that some of our listeners may have heard of a group called the reform

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Mennonites that is not a group that is theologically reformed as in Calvinist or or confessionally

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Protestant it's actually a group that's Pelagian on steroids they call themselves reformed because they want to return to the preachings of Menno Simmons and and believe that they are the ones that most accurately have done that and it's a real works righteousness treadmill and so on so you want to stay clear of that but reconciliation a huge doctrine a vital doctrine if you could please tell our listeners about this sure

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I'm actually going to be preaching a series of expositions from second

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Corinthians chapter 5 verses 14 and 21 and in those eight verses we'll do we'll do four sermons and and reconciliation is one of those doctrines that is highlighted in that in that section and it sort of it sort of stands at the ultimate end of God's saving work what we see in that passage the doctrines of substitution you know one died for all we see the doctrine of regeneration if any man's in Christ he's a new creature we see the doctrine of justification that that God does not count sin against us but imputes to us the the righteousness of Christ so that we might become the righteous with God in him and and so substitution regeneration justification are these glorious gospel doctrines that are the substance of our salvation but what they do what all those truths do is they all tend to the more ultimate doctrine of reconciliation which is to say the overcoming of the enmity and the alienation and the hostility that exists between God and man man was created by God to live in perfect fellowship and unity and harmony with him the greatest blessedness of of all things is to have that open open faith unhindered communion with the trying

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God and yet it's not long that we get into the scriptures before mankind through the temptation of satan messes that up and sins and breaks

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God's law and incurred guilt and is therefore banished from the presence of God in the

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Garden of Eden that that presence of God's domain being guarded with these these angels with flaming swords that won't let mankind into uh the garden where the tree of life is and so uh we who were created for perfect fellowship with God come into this world now alienated from the very

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God we were created to know and enjoy and and because the greatest good consists in fellowship with God then the greatest benefit the greatest thing that God can do for us is to overcome the ground of that alienation and welcome us back reconcile us back into a living relationship with him a saving relationship with him and he does that through the substitutionary atonement of the

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Lord Jesus Christ wherein he bears all the guilt of our sin on the cross discharging the penalty of sin there in his own body by regeneration where God makes us a new creation where he applies to us with Christ's purchase and quickens in us the spiritual life that we had lost that made us dead to all things dead in our trespasses and sins and then he justifies us he declares us righteous in in regenerating us he grants us the gift of faith and it's by that instrumentality of faith that we lay hold of of the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf and now we can we are credited with a righteousness it's not our own and so we have the standing judicially to to live in the presence of God without being incinerated by holiness and so on that basis he can he can reconcile us he can welcome us back into a relationship with him and and that that's that's the precious gospel that drove

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Paul to a life of ministry where he says the love of Christ controls us so that we lay our life down in sacrificial ministry to the church amen now this uh core of what you were speaking about the imputation of our sins to Christ and the imputation of Christ's holiness and perfection to us to make us acceptable to God because otherwise we would never would be this has been known by a wonderful term that I truly love called the great exchange this is indeed a precious core of our biblical faith in our gospel is it not yes absolutely the imputation of our sins to Christ and the imputation of Christ's righteousness to us

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I mean that it goes back to the to the second century in the epistle to Diognetus where he exclaims you know oh sweet exchange that the sins of the many should be hidden in the one man that the righteousness of the many should be wrapped upon many the righteousness of the one rather be wrapped upon many sinners

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I think in the 16th century Richard Hooker the Puritan Richard Hooker said you know let it be counted folly or frenzy or whatever we care for no knowledge in the world but this that that man has sinned and God has suffered you know that that man has become corrupt and then

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God has made man the righteousness of God in the God man the Lord Jesus Christ Pastor Josh although I as I said earlier we'd like Pastor Mike Riccardi to have the dominant say in our first hour since he has to leave before the second hour

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I'd still like you to chime in do you have anything to add to to what has already been said and also if you could comment on your theme peace with God one hope one message because in a day and age of rampant ecumenism where we have false love affair relationships if you will between those that profess to believe in the gospel of the reformation and those that actually dogmatically and officially reject that tell us about this one hope and one man yeah yeah well certainly it's all based on understanding the reality of separation which

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I believe has been lost the weight of God's holiness and restoring that to the pulpit restoring that to the mind of believers as you read through much you know of the relational language of even in the psalms like there seemed to be that was the ballast within their soul in a sense that was the weight within their soul that they understood that there was a separation between the creator and the creature that there was an effect of sin um and the mercy of God then becomes prized and valued um and then so so you have that aspect of it with when you preach reconciliation is beginning to beginning with the understanding of separation in a desperate position of mankind and restoring that sense um and then the hope of I you know

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I do I do a lot of counseling in my position as a pastor and part of I say a lot of that counseling is restoring confidence in the heart of a believer to understand that the work of redemption has been accomplished and and what that means so understanding initially our separation but then understanding the work of redemption that has that has taken place and has been secured and that for God to deny us as his children in Christ Jesus would be to deny the work of redemption that has been accomplished by Christ and he will never do that um

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I believe that Christians can cannot move forward in their relationship with the

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Lord in their confidence and even walking by the Spirit until they have that understanding that their salvation has been secured in the work of redemption accomplished by Jesus Christ supplied by the

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Spirit um and so those are those are two just practical implications of of that motivated this um the topic for the conference and some of my anticipation uh for the weekend together.

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Great and uh we're going to be talking more about this subject peace with God one hope one message which includes the glorious doctrine of reconciliation we're going to be talking more about that after our first station break coming up if anybody oh

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I was just about to announce our email address for questions I forgot that we are not taking questions from listeners today this is a pre -recorded broadcast unlike our normal uh broadcasts which are live but um we're going to be right back after these messages so don't go away

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that's ptl bible rebinding .com welcome back this is chris arnzen your host of iron sharpens iron radio and our guest today if you just tuned us in are mike riccardi who is on staff at grace community church in sun valley california the church pastored by renowned radio teacher television teacher and conference speaker and author john macarthur and also joining us is pastor josh miller of grace bible fellowship church in harrisburg pennsylvania who is hosting a conference featuring mike riccardi this saturday and sunday titled peace with god one hope one message and this is a pre -recorded uh program today unlike our normal live programs so there would be no audience questions uh let's go over again you mentioned earlier the different segments of the conference but these are such important themes i'd like you to be a little bit more detailed about them uh pastor riccardi tell us about again the brilliance of christ's love yeah so in second corinthians 5 you know paul begins by by talking about in that section in 5 14 he begins by talking about how the law of christ controls us uh love of christ compels us to lay our lives down the way that you see paul lay his life down in the book of second corinthians you know where he says we're perplexed we're we're afflicted we're struck down um we're always caring about the body and dying of jesus he outlines his great sufferings in chapter 11 and uh and he says but what constrains me to keep going is the love of christ and that love then at that moment in the text he starts to he sort of treats the love of christ as this this beautiful diamond that has all these different facets and it's the different theological truths of the gospel uh and he sort of begins turning the diamond he wants to focus on one facet here and the next facet there and they make up the the glorious doctrines of soteriology of substitution of sanctification of regeneration of reconciliation of justification and uh that that's what expresses god's love to humanity that that he sent jesus to stand in our place and bear our curse that he does that not merely to leave us um in our sin you know with a different status but you know we just continue in sin but no he even sanctifies us he he bore our sins in his body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness first peter two um and uh he gives us new life he gives us a spiritual life and regeneration uh we were dead in our sins and he breathes this new life into the dry bones of our spiritual deadness and causes us to live and he reconciles us to himself uh where we were once alienated and hostile and he does that on the basis of justifying us of declaring us righteous on the basis of christ's righteousness that we receive uh by faith alone and uh when it comes to the love of christ don't you think that many of our precious brethren who we do love and we count them as brethren who but who are outside of soteriologically reformed thought don't you think that although they would vociferously disagree don't you think they diminish what the love of christ really means when they claim that christ loves the unrepentant pagan who will be in hell in the same way to the same measure to the same degree as he loves his bride yeah yes of course i mean what would that even mean you know if i can be loved and go to hell forever and in the same way that i can be loved and go to heaven forever what what why what's the difference that the love makes right what does it mean for god to love me if in he loves the exact same way somebody who he's going to pour out his wrath upon uh forever eternal hell uh if that's the case then something about me or something about my scenario um or about the love of god nothing about the love of god makes a difference to me you could it's a fine thing to say god loves you okay that makes you feel good but if god can love me and i can be in hell forever then it's not the love of god that i'm really after i'm after something else and the question is what is that something else then that distinguishes between erect and reprobate what is it what is the thing that distinguishes between the saved and the lost uh and how can i get that will god give me that uh because i'd much prefer to be loved that way but in a way that i could live with him forever and enjoy eternal rest rather than uh suffer eternal judgment you know there is a uh a wonderful booklet that says something awesome and beautiful about the love of christ uh it's a booklet uh republished from one of jc riles greater works larger works the great evangelical calvinistic 19th century bishop jc ryle the booklet is sickness republished republished by chapel library and there is it opens up when it's uh referring to the loved ones of lazarus uh calling upon christ for assistance to their dear friend uh and the uh the the booklet by ryle says they call him he whom thou lovest they do not say he who loves christ uh let me let me uh get get this right in front of me here they do not say he who loves thee believes in thee serves thee but whom thou lovest martha and mary were deeply taught of god they had learned that christ's love toward us and not our love towards christ is the true ground of expectation and true foundation of hope that's another thing that is a central issue of the scriptures is it not that our absolutely our love for christ is woefully inadequate no matter what uh level of seasoned sanctification we ever reach on this earth our love for christ will always be woefully inadequate whereas his love for us is perfect yeah absolutely right i mean if if my salvation depended upon my love for him i would have no hope because on on my best day i don't love god with all my heart soul mind and strength the way that he's worthy of you know on my best day i have enough sin in my best deed in my best thought and my best affection uh to damn me and the rest of the human race and and that's why it is such a blessing like ryle said that that what makes the difference between heaven and hell and salvation and damnation is not the work of the sinner it's not even the love of the sinner not even the faith of the sinner it's it's the love of god and the grace of god to grant the sinner faith we don't make faith or love or any other any other act of humanity the ground of our righteousness faith is certainly the instrument of our righteousness we're the instrument of our justification with where the empty hand whereby we lay hold of the work of christ the work of another it's not the ground the only basis of our righteousness is what christ has done on our behalf and love is certainly the result of justification the result of having been credited righteous and given a new heart and regeneration uh but it's the result it's what necessarily follows not uh the the root of our salvation it is the fruit we love because we've been saved we don't love in order to get saved amen and uh my dear friend who you may be familiar with dr james white of alpha omega ministries a brilliant reformed baptist scholar theologian apologist debater uh he once said something that is uh wonderfully connected to our discussion today and speaking of the false gospel of rome which is dogmatized at the council of trent in the 16th century which was a response to the reformation uh there dr white and i'm paraphrasing because i don't have the exact quote in front of me but he said the peace with god that is offered by rome and to that matter i would add any uh religion that professes to be christian that rejects the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone and christ alone uh to the glory of god alone the peace with god offered is not really a true perfect eternal everlasting peace it's merely a ceasefire that uh might be might have the appearance or the feeling of peace for a time but it could erupt in a full -scale full -blown war between god and man at any given moment that kind of a gospel really should not give anyone uh any kind of peace of mind or encouragement or confidence uh that christ loves them and that they are going to uh see him in heaven one day i mean it's really a real a horrible imitation of the gospel isn't it yeah it's no gospel at all i mean a gospel in which you can hear there is therefore now still some condemnation for those who are in christ jesus i mean isn't the gospel of of romans 8 of that great chapter which details the spirit's working and the on the basis of christ's work that unites us to him right i mean especially in roman catholicism where you know you you're virtually guaranteed to go to purgatory even if you eventually wind up in heaven you know what's that mean that means that christ has somehow averted your wrath in some provisional half way so that when you die you yourself have to undergo some of that wrath some of that condemnation uh to purge away the rest of your sinfulness i mean that that just makes his work to be insufficient uh any time any notion that the believer could lose his salvation so that you know christ could satisfy the wrath of god on one's behalf totally extinguishing the the anger that was in the justice that was due to me uh that i was supposed to experience for eternity in hell that could be satisfied and then at some later date because of something that i have managed to do uh that that wrath could be reignited and rekindled over to break over my head once again because i've somehow failed to hang on to my justification i've lost my salvation um you know what does that say that says that christ did not really satisfy in any enduring and lasting and genuine way the wrath of god upon sinners so the only good news is uh an atonement that actually atones that effectually propitiates satisfies the anger of the just judge uh that must break over the head of the criminal but which does not because it's broken over the head of the divine son of god who's born all of that wrath in our place if any of that is rekindled you're basically saying that the father is rejecting what jesus has done in behalf of sinners that he's not pleased with his work and that it was insufficient what to save sinners amen and uh one of the things that uh is possibly repeated often in error uh i may have even said something similar to this unintentionally uh but when we think of the reformation beginning in the church we very often will allude to martin luther's nailing of the 95 theses to the church door at wittenberg as the beginning of the reformation well there were really historic figures prior to luther even a century or more prior to luther that were beginning the work of reformation and one of these great heroes of the faith was john hoss or young who says he is probably more accurately his name is more accurately pronounced the swiss uh uh pre -reformation reformer why is this figure a major part of your conference this weekend well i can speak to that this is uh this is josh i mean i am the one who's going to do the biographical sketch on on john john hoss and just the the light dawning about a hundred years before what we recognize as the protestant reformation that there was john hoss as he began to exposit the scriptures clearly and certainly mike you can chime in here if you have any contribution from the from the life of john hoss but um seeing that the light never died out but um was uh was shining even prior to uh what we know as the protestant reformation i just wanted to highlight that the clarity of the preaching of god's word and john hoss falling more in love with and defense of the person of christ um the person and work of christ i should say yeah i mean he he lived and ministered in a time when uh you know there there wasn't this full -on rat you know radical reshaping of of church life and and you know popular understanding of doctrine you know that you know not maybe not luther because he was the the pioneer in saxony but you know uh by the time of calvin certainly i mean this is sweeping continental europe but was still ministering in the middle of you know roman popish domination where the pope was the head of the church and the the scriptures were not at the end of the sole infallible authority it was the magisterium's interpretation of the scriptures that was was told and dictated and pontificated when we get that word um to the people by the pope and and what what pop did he rejected you know the doctrine that the pope is the head of the church in favor of solus christus that christ alone is the head of the church he rejected the doctrine that the magisterium was an infallible authority uh for the church but that but can't be in sola scriptura that the scripture alone was the the sole infallible authority uh for the the people of god and in a time where it was just unquestioned that uh it was faith plus baptism plus the sacrament of the catholic church that were the instrument of our justification us preached the sola fide that faith alone is the sole instrument uh of justification the sole instrument by which we lay hold of saving righteousness and uh and he paid for it he was condemned as a heretic at the council of constance in 1415 and and that's where that famous line uh comes from where he he in a manner you know in extraordinary providence sort of predict that uh you know you might you might extinguish his light you might cook this goose but uh in a hundred years there will rise a swan uh who you won't be able to snuff out his light you won't be able to snuff out and uh and that 1415 to about 100 years later 1517 was the minister martin luther who was often called the saxon huss and that phrase that he uttered uh who's uh that was a play on words because his name itself means goose doesn't it right right and uh before we uh say goodbye to our our guest mike riccardi and keep in mind folks we are continuing for an additional hour with josh miller but mike could only be with us for the first hour of this broadcast today but uh if you could mike uh give us a bit more information on your message on new in christ that you will be delivering this weekend sure so it comes from 2 corinthians 5 16 and 17 uh verse 17 right if any man be in christ he is a new creature in the old is gone if you hold all things are new become new uh speaking to the fact that uh what makes someone a christian is not you know their their change in behavior it's not their change in language it's not their change in political affiliation it's not their heredity right it's not that well their parents were christians and grandparents were christians so they're christian um what makes someone a christian isn't you know their their weekly worship rituals you know that now they go to church and read their bibles and pray and evangelize what makes someone a christian is the life of god uh invested into the soul of man by god himself in the miracle that is regeneration the new birth being born again as jesus tells nicodemus um something is so fundamentally wrong with mankind by nature that we don't need to just make some minor shifts in our thinking in our language in our behavior in our social calendar we need to be born all over again sturgeon said you know the text doesn't say you must be improved the text says you must be born again and so uh we need something so drastic to happen to us from outside of us that we it's likened to being born all over again and uh and then when that happens when god performs that miracle in our lives uh two things naturally result and one is you have a new view of christ and that's the the moment of conversion where christ who once looked foolish or mythical or boring or uninteresting now looks absolutely uh thrilling and glorious and powerful and and uh satisfying and uh compelling and so uh you know jesus or paul says in second

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Corinthians four that the god shines a light in the heart that opens the blind eyes so that we see the light of the knowledge of the glory of christ who is the image of god and and that's what happens and then the second result of that is not just a new view of christ regarding christ no longer according to the flesh but according to spirit now we don't regard anyone according to the flesh paul says and uh and that is a great uh thought it's a great principle that has immense application for us in in our current moment in society because in a society where the unbelieving the strains of unbelieving thought are telling us that we must if we're to love people we must view them according to the flesh we must see one another as black white hispanic you know asian as male female as rich or as oppressor oppressed as have and have not right um christ says the word of god says no when when god changes you when he makes you born again when he invests you with the spiritual life that you were you did not have by your nature because you were dead and thin and he changes your view of christ so that you don't regard him according to the flesh he also changes your view of everyone else and everything else so that you're not of regarding those people and those things according to the flesh but you you look at them with spiritual life now you don't look at one another as male female slave free right jew gentile you look at them as brother and sister or one in need of the gospel brother in christ or enemy of christ and and one who stands yet in need of the gospel of the of the god who reconciles his enemies to himself and so i mean regeneration is going from from darkness to light from death to life uh from from sin to salvation well we've got to say goodbye to mike riccardi now and if anybody wants to get in touch with mike riccardi his email address is outreach at gracechurch .org

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outreach at gracechurch .org you can also find out more about him and his ministry at grace community church of sun valley california at gracechurch .org

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forward slash local gracechurch .org forward slash local thank you so much mike riccardi for being on the program and we look forward to you returning to this program in the future uh not only soon but frequently thanks so much chris i look forward to it too and it's a pleasure to be with you thank you and also folks remember we're going to be on for another hour with josh miller of of the grace bible fellowship church of harrisburg pennsylvania so don't go away we're going to our longer than normal break because of the fact that grace life radio in lake city florida requires of us a longer than normal break in the middle of our show so that they can obey fcc regulations to localize this program to lake city florida with their own public service announcements so please be patient with us use this time wisely by writing down information provided by our advertisers so that you can more frequently and successfully patronize them which means that they will remain our advertisers more than likely because they're happy that they're getting results but also subsequently will remain on the air for a longer future god willing because we need our advertisers to exist we need the financial support of our advertisers in order to remain on the air so please patronize our advertisers as much as possible and we uh look we look forward to having josh miller continue this discussion with us after these messages so don't go away iron sharpens iron radio depends upon the financial support of fine christian organizations to remain on the air like the historical bible society the historical bible society maintains a collection of christian books manuscripts and bibles of historical significance spanning nearly a thousand years the mission of hbs is the preservation and public display of ancient scripture dissemination of scripture to provide tools equipping believers and christian apologetics with evidence for the bible's reliability and to introduce reformation and christian art to a broader audience since 2004 hbs has toured schools and churches throughout the northeast united states reaching thousands of believers and non -believers alike who are hungry for knowledge of the bible hbs's founder daniel p buttafuoco attorney at law is committed to sharing this collection along with an inspirational historical message that will captivate you and your church come journey through their website historicalbiblesociety .org

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the collection includes a complete 11th century bible an actual page of the gutenberg bible from 1455 the first book ever printed the geneva bible the 1611 king james bible and much much more visit historicalbiblesociety .org

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today thank you daniel p buttafuoco attorney at law for your faithful support of ironshop and zion radio i'm dr tony costa professor of apologetics and islam at toronto baptist seminary i'm thrilled to introduce to you a church where i've been invited to speak and have grown to love hope reform baptist church in corham long island new york pastored by rich janson and christopher mcdowell it's such a joy to witness and experience fellowship with people of god like the dear saints at hope reform baptist church in quorum who have an intensely passionate desire to continue digging deeper and deeper into the unfathomable riches of christ in his holy word and to enthusiastically proclaim christ jesus the king and his doctrines of sovereign grace in suffolk county long island and beyond i hope you also have the privilege of discovering this precious congregation and receive the blessing of being showered by their love as i have for more information on hope reform baptist church go to hope reform li .net

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that's hope reformed li .net or call 631 -696 -5711 that's 631 -696 -5711 tell the folks at hope reform baptist church of quorum long island new york that you heard about them from tony costa on iron sharpens iron so here's what gary demar president of american vision had to say about iron sharpens iron radio recently good to be back chris i always enjoy our time you uh have to tell you one of the better interviewers out there and i've been doing this for 30 more than 30 years wow that's some compliment how much do i owe you for that you don't have to owe me anything we're in good we're in good shape i'm glad you said it on the air so i don't have to brag about myself tell your friends and loved ones about iron sharpens iron radio airing live monday through friday 4 to 6 p .m

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that's l -e -e -s drugsrx .com don't forget to ask about their discount generic drug program greetings in the matchless name of our lord jesus christ my name is bhanu gadi i'm a pharmacist in new york which is the epicenter of the latest crisis the world is going through in psalm 139 verse 14 the psalmist offers praise to the lord like this i praise you because i'm fearfully and wonderfully made and wondrous are your works that my soul knows very well he saw god's goodness and mercy kindness and the beauty in what god has designed and he has erupted into praise in any crisis or problem brothers and sisters our only fallback position is to trust god's design and once we do there is nothing for us to do but to erupt in praise to him when the whole world is searching for a solution god in his infinite mercy has given us what we need to address this illness which can be very serious such is the beauty of his design knowing that design how can we not erupt in praise to our great god like the psalmist did may god bless you and give all of us wisdom to see greater things in his design thank you james white of alphanomega ministries here if you've watched my dividing line webcast often enough you know i have a great love for getting bibles and other documents vital to my ministry rebound to preserve and ensure their longevity and besides that they feel so good i'm so delighted i discovered post tenebrous lux bible rebinding no radio ad will be long enough to sing their praises sufficiently but i'll give it a shot jeffrey rice of post tenebrous lux is a remarkably gifted craftsman and artisan all his work is done by hand from the cutting to the pleating of corners to the stitching jeffrey uses the finest and buttery soft imported leathers in a wide variety of gorgeous colors like the turquoise goat skin tanned in italy used for my nestle all in 28th edition with a navy blue goat skin inside liner and the electric blue goat skin from a french tannery used to rebind a reformation study bible i used as a gift the silver gilding he added on the page edges has a stunning mirror finish resembling highly polished chrome jeffrey will customize your rebinding to your specifications and even emboss your logo into the leather making whatever he rebinds a one -of -a -kind work of art for more details on post tenebrous lux bible rebinding go to ptl bible rebinding .com

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that's ptl bible rebinding .com when iron sharpens iron radio first launched in 2005 the publishers of the new american standard bible were among my very first sponsors it gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the iron sharpens iron radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the nasb i'm dr tony costa professor of apologetics and islam at the toronto baptist seminary and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor jeff downs of knox reform presbyterian church in mechanicsville virginia and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor mark rimaldi of grace reform baptist church of long island in merit new york and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor scott masolo of the master's church of bucks county pennsylvania and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor kevin venue of the bible church for washington new york and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor andrew smith of christ reformed community church in saint augustine florida and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor clint lighter of highway m chapel sedalia missouri and the nasb is my bible of choice here's a great way for your church to help keep iron sharpens iron radio on the air pastors are your pew bibles tattered and falling apart consider restocking your pews with the nasb and tell the publishers you heard about them from chris arnzen on iron sharpens iron radio go to nasbible .com

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01:06:23

this is pastor bill saso grace church at franklin here in the beautiful state of tennessee our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support iron sharpens iron radio financially grace church at franklin is an independent autonomous body of believers which strives to clearly declare the whole counsel of god as revealed in scripture through the person and work of our lord jesus christ and of course the end of which we strive is the glory of god if you live near franklin tennessee and franklin is just south of nashville maybe 10 minutes or you are visiting this area or you have friends and loved ones nearby we hope you will join us some lord's day in worshiping our god and savior please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about grace church at franklin our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org

01:07:27

that's gracechurchatfranklin .org this is pastor bill saso wishing you all the richest blessings of our sovereign lord god savior and king jesus christ today and always welcome back this is chris arnzen if you just tuned us in our guest uh today for the remaining hour will be josh miller he was on with pastor mike riccardi of grace community church in sun valley california which is the church pastored by john macarthur the renowned radio bible teacher and tv bible teacher and author and conference speaker he was on uh pastor miller was on with mike riccardi the first hour and we will be continuing with pastor miller alone during the second hour because pastor riccardi had to depart from the program after being on with us for the first hour but before we return to uh pastor josh miller and our theme today which is not only on the doctrine of reconciliation but also on the major theme of a conference hosted by pastor miller at at the grace bible fellowship church of harrisburg pennsylvania peace with god one hope one message before we return with that discussion i do want to give you some details on this conference it's being held this saturday and sunday in harrisburg pennsylvania uh saturday october 3rd this first session begins at 1 p .m

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and that is on the brilliance of christ's love the second session begins at 3 20 p .m

01:09:16

on new in christ and the third session begins at 4 30 p .m

01:09:23

which is a q a session with the audience the conference continues on sunday the 4th of october sunday school at 9 15 a .m

01:09:35

gives you a biographical sketch on john hus or yan hus the goose is cooked and the sunday worship service at 10 30 a .m

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is on the theme the message and ministry of reconciliation and the sunday evening service at 6 p .m

01:09:54

is on reconciliation accomplished if you want more details on this conference you can go to the website of grace bible fellowship church of harrisburg pennsylvania at gracebfc .com

01:10:10

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and put i need a church in the subject line i have lists of biblically faithful churches all over the world and i have helped uh folks all over the planet earth in our audience find churches sometimes within just a couple of minutes drive from where they live and they didn't even know that these churches existed so send me an email to chris arnson at gmail .com

01:13:26

and put i need a church in the subject line that's also the email address uh where again you can send in a request for advertising that's chris arnson at gmail .com

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chris arnson at gmail .com and put advertising in the subject line we truly do need your advertising uh dollars and your donations uh because we are seriously in jeopardy of going off the air we are in such a precarious and financially disastrous situation right now please help us as much as you can and as frequently as you can we are now uh being joined again by my dear friend and our guest for the remaining hour or a little less than an hour now uh josh miller the pastor of grace bible fellowship church in harrisburg pennsylvania and we are discussing the theme of the bible conference being hosted by pastor miller peace with god one hope one message that's this saturday and sunday the the main speaker will be mike riccardi who is our guest as well during the first hour of this program um this uh theme uh reconciliation accomplished that will be the sunday evening session of the conference uh this is another key thing that separates those of us who are theologically reformed at least soteriologically from our brothers and sisters in christ who are outside of the reformed faith and also those who we might consider our friends and loved ones but who are not our brethren who have adopted the heresy of rome's false gospel and those who are in professing professedly christian groups that are really cults or false religions uh one of the key things that separates us is that we do believe reconciliation has truly been accomplished by christ on calvary's cross if you could continue on that thread oh brother that is our it is our absolute confidence um that the price that was required because of our sin was paid um i'm reminded as you're talking there the the great truth that comes from the simple pronoun in first peter chapter two when it speaks of christ propitiation or his substitution um his completed work it says in first peter 2 22 he committed no neither was deceit found in his mouth when he was reviled he did not revile in return when he suffered he he did not threaten but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly and then here's here it is regarding the reconciliation accomplished he himself bore our sin in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness by his womb you have been healed um so when we speak of you know there's different theological terms that are placed on that substitutionary atonement for christ plenary substitutionary atonement that christ stood in our place bore the wrath of god that we deserve and so in so doing through faith by the grace of god we have access to the righteousness of of god in christ jesus um so that is he he secured for us an inheritance of righteousness of which we had no claim to uh i think um yeah there's a there's a simple uh analogy or illustration i think i heard r .c

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one time regarding the categories of our guilt that we often overlook there is the horizontal guilt that we feel from man to man um but we often forget or disregard the vertical position that our sin or you know our vertical guilt if you will um before god i think with r .c

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sproul used the simple story of of you're walking into a convenience store and you're standing behind a young boy who's there with a pack of gum in his hands and he realizes he doesn't have enough money to buy the pack of gum and he darts out of the front door with a pack of gum and wouldn't you know what there's a there's a police officer standing right outside the door he grabs the boy by his collar brings him back to the counter and you're watching all this unfold and of course the kindness of your heart you step forward and say i'll take care of it i'll take care of this i'll pay for this this boy's pack of gum whatever and and the police officer wisely astutely says that may take care of the debt he owes to the clerk but as soon as he ran out of the front door there's now a label that he bears that he cannot shake and that is thief and there's no amount of money there's nothing that you can do to remove those titles and that's the glorious news of reconciliation of peace with god isn't this what paul says to the corinthians all those labels that um sexually immoral idolaters adulterers men who practice homosexuality thieves greedy drunkards revilers swindlers like these are our titles that that settle upon us rightly so um that we cannot absolve that guilt cannot be removed those labels cannot be removed those identifications cannot be removed before god no amount of prison sentencing no amount of fines no amount of community service no amount of righteousness but you were washed you know as paul says there in first corinthians that for some of you but you were washed you were sanctified you were justified in the name of the lord jesus christ um and so we this is what i mean we have one message that every true church of god the message that we proclaim to the world must eventually funnel down into that simple truth that there is enmity there is separation there is hostility between you and god that can be removed in christ jesus um and so and if we can't preach a definitive atonement if we can't preach a finished work of christ we don't have a hope to pass on um we're not here primarily to mend horizontal relationships and horizontal good when i say we i mean the church uh we in a sense are preparing people to face god one day clothed in the righteousness of jesus christ amen that's our glorious yeah yeah i know i i you got you uh you poked me a little bit there uh kind of released released the air of the balloon but yeah i uh i love you know what people say i've heard you know i'm sure you've heard this you know all roads lead to god and uh i stopped kind of uh rebuking that or trying to counter that and i i take the avenue out of agreeing with it and i say you're right all roads do lead to god the problem is what are you going to do when you get there and we are we are going to stand before god you know one day and you're going to be able to stand confidently cloaked in a righteousness that has been given to um by grace through faith yes i i can even remember when i was in uh a alcohol recovery ministry as a resident due to my sin of returning to drunkenness a decade ago uh when don holder the primary preacher who's also the executive director of hebron colony ministries in boone north carolina i can never stop singing the praises of that ministry because i have been addiction free at least addiction to alcohol uh and uh substances of course uh for over a decade and i thank god for that and i i thank god and hebron colony because god used hebron colony as his tool to bring me to that a place of full repentance and into a re -established relationship with the church and so on but don holder also quoted that often repeated saying all roads lead to god and he said yeah they do but only one leads to god uh in salvation all the others that lead to god lead to him in judgment and uh by the way i just want to quickly plug that ministry hebron colony .org

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hebron colony .org if anybody knows or if you yourself have an addiction problem whether it be alcohol drugs or other issue uh i highly recommend it they also have a women's ministry in santee south carolina you can also find out more information at hebron colony .org

01:23:52

about that as well uh some of our listeners might be wondering why i was contrasting the reformed view of the reconciliation having been accomplished with those outside of the reformed faith outside of what has been nicknamed calvinism they might be puzzled by me saying that there's a different understanding there because most professing christians would heartily amen reconciliation has been accomplished they would heartily amen the atonement has been accomplished they would heartily amen uh redemption has been accomplished uh they would heartily amen that christ died as a substitute but they really can't logically and consistently hold that view if they deny the doctrine of definite atonement or it's also called particular redemption and it's also nicknamed limited atonement the limited not being the limitation of the power of the atonement but the limited number of people for whom it was intended because as charles spurgeon said it is the arminian who really limits the atonement because he limits its power because most of those for whom christ died in the arminian understanding will be in hell whereas those who believe in a particular redemption or the doctrine of limited atonement they believe we believe that everyone for whom christ died will be in heaven am i right there yes yeah and so again i we you and i may prefer the the title particular redemption um you know that christ said that there he lays down his life for his sheep um even in the birth announcement you will name him you will call his name jesus for he will save his people from their sins um that even within the the economy of the godhead with the the application of salvation christ wouldn't have died and shed his blood for a people that the spirit would not apply that redemption to um they would not be working according to one will within the godhead with that they work in coordination where the um the father chose that the son purchased the spirit applied um it is it is working in coordination together with one will to save a people to the glory of god um so yeah so an agreement with your with your leading question there regarding uh the application of redemption uh into those for whom christ died yes and for those of our listeners who love charles haddon spurgeon who count him among their heroes or who are simultaneously not within the camp known as reformed theology or calvinism some of them are even vehement anti -calvinists uh charles haddon spurgeon was a thoroughgoing five -point calvinist and he believed it was a monstrous thought if in fact if you get a a booklet it's actually a booklet taken from his autobiography called a defense of calvinism available through chapel library but if you get that booklet a defense of calvinism you will see how spurgeon believes it was a monstrous thought a and descriptive of a god more monstrous than the pagan deities to believe that god would punish in hell people who allegedly he already died for to pay their the price of their sin and he demonstrates how that really does not make any sense at all uh i tend not to use language as strong as spurgeon does or did but would you agree with the concept there pastor josh oh absolutely in the sense that i even mentioned regarding um the the economy of the trinity and the the working out of the father's will to save how could the spirit work in opposition to the the work of the sun um and that that's what becomes a monstrous thought and i and it it speaks to i think something that is is lost even in our thinking within the church and and you know we use the phrase but i think the weight of it is glory of god and that um that we exist for the glory of god missions exist for the glory of god you know i i talk with a lot of missionaries and a lot of missionaries speak of their love for people groups love for ethnicities being drawn to specific land and people and that is noble and good i don't want to diminish that at all but primarily there needs to be a love and a passion for the glory of god because when those people groups do not reciprocate that love you do not lose your mission's fervor if it is ultimately motivated by the glory of god and this comes into play even in in our redemption that it all leads to the glory of god it was certainly um those theological positions that we've been speaking of particular redemption election substitutionary atonement they do present legitimate and hard questions for us to answer particularly pertaining to a man's responsibility in all of that and how he can still stand before god um condemned for his rejection um for his reprobation um though it was god um who you know in a sense there was um there was god who did not choose him from before the foundation of the earth those are those are difficult those are difficult and hard questions that i'm eventually pushed back to the word of god itself and standing upon uh what the word of god said so i i can preach without hesitation man's responsibility to repent the call to repent that it is a command to repent for every living man woman and child to repent and believe in the gospel um but yet knowing that they will not be drawn to the message of salvation in jesus christ apart from the regenerating work of the holy spirit so we pray to that end but we preach to that end um peter peter says that that they are one and the same in the sense of the they're not one and the same but the activation if you will of that regenerating work is continuing upon hearing the gospel it is the spirit working through the gospel um you have been born again not of perishable seed but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of god and this is the word um the good news that was preached to you um so we know it is the spirit who causes us to be born again but peter can equate that with the preaching of the word as well um there's the word of god so i don't know if i preempted all of those questions that would come back regarding particularly at all of that because i i feel i feel the weight of those um the fury and fire and condemnation of hell is not something that is lost on me uh when when i preach that um and uh well one of the things one of the things that we should make clear is whenever we are preaching on the the great importance the vital importance the salvific importance of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in christ alone the glory of god alone uh the the vital nature of the doctrine of justification by faith alone the vital doctrine of the imputation of christ's righteousness to us who are his people and our uh the imputation of our sins to him uh there are those in the church of rome and also among the armenians and non -reformed protestants and also among the cults who would say that because we believe in justification by faith alone uh that we are in fact they will even say john calvin was the architect for accepting licentiousness and libertinism in the body of christ uh i've i even heard a calvary chapel pastor a very famous one uh on the radio uh say there are many people out there who believe you could sin unrepentantly your whole life and live like the devil your whole life until the day you die and never repent and you will be in heaven man that's not in the bible john calvin made that up which is a horrific slander because calvin never said that and neither did anyone who uh had the nickname calvinist or reformed uh christian uh the doctrine of repentance is essential to not only biblical christianity but even reformational or calvinistic christianity now how is it that we can believe in the the necessity of repentance and the necessity of bearing good works as a litmus test on whether our faith is authentic or dead how can we reconcile justification by faith alone with that truth of the necessity of repentance well when you're i think that you are connecting repentance there with a life that demonstrates uh you know regeneration um and i think that we can we can say that repent or faith necessitates repentance or faith necessitates true faith necessitates transformation because the holy spirit is present um because the holy spirit i mean this comes back to paul and galatians three you know uh who has bewitched you uh having begun by the spirit you think you are now being perfected by the flesh um we because we recognize that faith is a gift of the spirit that faith is evidence of the regenerating work of the spirit and we believe that the spirit has been given as a seal uh to endure until uh the return of christ jesus so he takes his home and even on into the grace as he gives the spirit to us forever um that there can be an expectant change um as a result of the spirit's presence um and so that's why that's why we believe that i hope that answers your question but no i mean a good tree a good tree bears good a good tree bears good fruit as christ i'm sorry but i interrupted you no no no that's that's that's great that's great to think and simple and that's uh perfect that's why we unlike the charge the slander against us by roman catholic apologists and anti -calvinist apologists and laymen i hate that term layman but you know what i mean uh that slander that we are in contradiction to the epistle of james is out and right uh a falsehood because all's james is saying is that if a faith does not bear good works did not produce good works does not bear good fruit it is a dead faith and therefore a false faith it is not james never was saying that our works contribute to becoming born again or remaining born again am i right right yeah no absolutely right this is not in contradiction to what paul has taught um in romans um that the just shall live by faith um and there is a sense even which which james is speaking of an evidence that is horizontal um you know when he says i can show you my faith by my work um that there is a vindication of one saving faith on a horizontal level uh through evidence of that um it is not what merits us righteousness before the father that that is by by faith alone when we speak of the human element the human component of salvation um the again the work of regeneration is made evident through our response in faith i mean listen to even some um like the way that john talks in in in his epistle in first john says beloved let us love one another for love is from god and catch this whoever loves has been born of god and knows god so there's that regeneration language again of being born of god well what's the evidence of that that there is real love um that you are able to love he uses that phrase also in earlier in his epistle if you know that he is righteous you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him again there is this regeneration that precedes evidence or precedes righteousness in that case i think he says with even more definitively later on um yeah it says everyone in in chapter five and verse one everyone who believes that jesus is the christ has been born of god so there you have regeneration the work of the spirit being born of god preceding belief preceding faith everyone who believes that jesus is the christ has been born of god and whoever loves the father loves whoever has been born of him so again so we have a right to expect from those who claim to have been born again regenerated that there's going to be love of god there's going to be a demonstration of righteousness there is going to be a belief in jesus christ um so and yeah that you know that has practical implications for church discipline i mean it's if you didn't believe in that you couldn't you couldn't carry out biblical church discipline if you didn't believe there should be an expectation of no longer being enslaved to sin in the sense of refusing to repent well we have to go to our final break right now i'll be much more brief than the last two uh so don't go away we're going to be right back with more of peace with god one hope one message and the glorious doctrine of reconciliation uh with our guest pastor josh miller of grace bible fellowship church in harrisburg pennsylvania don't go away we'll be right back after these brief messages when iron sharpens iron radio first launched in 2005 the publishers of the new american standard bible were among my very first sponsors it gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the iron sharpens iron radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the nasb i'm pastor brandon scalf of cruciform bible church in indianapolis indiana and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor chris hatton of grace chapel in sanford florida and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm jack wilkie minister of the forney church of christ in forney texas and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor mike wachowski of westminster chapel in ballground georgia and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor steve cooley of bethlehem bible church in west boylston massachusetts and the nasb is my bible of 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forward slash podcast james white of alpha and omega ministries and the dividing line webcast here although god has brought me all over the globe for many years to teach preach and debate at numerous venues some of my very fondest memories are from those precious times of fellowship with pastor rich jensen and the brethren at hope reform baptist church now located at their new beautiful facilities in corham long island new york i've had the privilege of opening god's word from their pulpit on many occasions have led youth retreats for them and have always been thrilled to see their members filling many seats at my new york debates i do not hesitate to highly recommend hope reform baptist church of corham long island to anyone who wants to be accurately taught discipled and edified by the holy scriptures and to be surrounded by truly loving and caring brothers and sisters in christ i also want to congratulate hope reform baptist church of corham for the recent appointment of pastor rich jensen's co -elder pastor christopher mcdowell for more information on hope reform baptist church go to hope reformed li .net

01:46:37

that's hope reformed li .net or call 631 -696 -5711 that's 631 -696 -5711 tell the folks at hope reform baptist church of corham long island that you heard about them from james white on iron sharpens iron radio was your business shut down during the covet 19 pandemic depriving you of earning any money causing you to default on your rent as you try to survive without income maybe you've had to close your doors for good the good news you thought was that you purchased business interruption insurance as a part of your business liability policy with a major insurance company who told you they are a good neighbor or that you would be in good hands you filed a claim only to be told that it was denied due to the pandemic exclusion clause the pandemic exclusion since 2006 most insurance companies added this clause to enable them to your income loss claims in the event of a worldwide pandemic do not give up no matter what state you live in call buttafuco and associates now at 1 -800 -669 -4878 buttafuco and associates is a part of a large multi -district litigation and they are working with lead council to bring what they believe will be a successful lawsuit for these claims it is the best way for you to proceed there's absolutely no risk to you you do not have to pay them out of pocket and there is no fee unless you recover on your claim you need to call 1 -800 -669 -4878 right now trust the law firm where the attorneys at one of the largest business firms on long island new york are sending their own clients for representation during this lawsuit buttafuco and associates here to help business owners rebuild their lives in the wake of the pandemic call 1 -800 -669 -4878 oh this is pastor bill sasa grace church at franklin here in the beautiful state of tennessee our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support iron sharpens iron radio financially grace church at franklin is an independent autonomous body of believers which strives to clearly declare the whole counsel of god as revealed in scripture through the person and work of our lord jesus christ and of course the end of which we strive is the glory of god if you live near franklin tennessee and franklin is just south of nashville maybe 10 minutes or you are visiting this area or you have friends and loved ones nearby we hope you will join us some lord's day in worshiping our god and savior please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about grace church at franklin our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org

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that's gracechurchatfranklin .org this is pastor bill sasa wishing you all the richest blessings of our sovereign lord god savior and king jesus christ today and always charles headings burgeon once said give yourself unto reading the man who never reads will never be read he who never quotes will never be quoted he will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves he has no brains of his own you need to read solid ground christian books is a publisher and book distributor who takes these words of the prince of preachers to heart the mission of solid ground christian books is to bring back treasures of the past to minister to christians in the present and future and to publish new titles that address burning issues in the church and the world since it's beginning in 2001 solid ground has been committed to publish god -centered christ exalting books for all ages we invite you to go treasure hunting at solid -ground -books .com

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solid -ground -books .com we are now back with our guest today josh miller and we have been discussing peace with god one hope one message which is also the theme of their bible conference this saturday and sunday october uh third and fourth in harrisburg pennsylvania and i'd like you pastor josh to have about five minutes of an uninterrupted time right now to summarize what you most want etched in the hearts and minds of our listeners about these great themes we have been discussing today well that's a that's a good that's a good question because um what i most want etched into their thoughts and minds um uh certainly is uh confidence and peace that is to be found uh in christ jesus um i uh i've been rebuked and even uh by a fellow preacher uh even in my own delivery of the gospel and when is when you is when you deliver it when you speak of the peace of god when you speak of reconciliation do it with a smile on your face these are not merely uh dividing lines these these are not uh merely you know theological arguments but this is the greatest news that we have to give to a world that is in so desperate need of knowing what true peace and true love is that they can have the forgiveness of their sins um and and have and have peace with with their creator um and i never cease to be amazed how the simplicity of the gospel message that could be explained to a five -year -old is what the spirit uses to remove the scales off people's eyes and to help them see and that there is nobody beyond the hope of redemption nobody beyond the hope of of reconciliation there's nobody that the grace of god cannot reach um and what a great message that we have have to deliver and so if i guess if i would believe anything it would just be a sense of excitement a sense of joy of being the ministers of reconciliation what paul calls himself even there in second corinthians 5 that we have the privilege of having those beautiful feet that romans 10 speaks about of bringing the good news of salvation to the world and who knows who knows who it is that you will come in contact with but those who have ears to hear it will be the greatest news that they will ever hear and receive that there is peace with god to be had what a glorious privilege we have to deliver that and we never tire of it grow weary of it thank you for the opportunity to speak of those wonderful truths brother amen and if you could give a final invitation to your conference this weekend to our listeners yes in one hope one message you can access any of the information for that conference at our church website gracebfc .com

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grace bible fellowship church so gracebfc .com peace with god this is the great hope of the christians that our our peace with god is not something that we achieve we've been talking about that over the course of our time together here but but something that has been achieved for us been accomplished by the completed work of christ who became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of god and if you want to just delight in this truth i believe that this is a conference you could bring a new believer you could bring an unbeliever to hear of the glories of salvation so the conference is saturday afternoon begins at one o 'clock again somewhat informal casual come as you are one o 'clock saturday afternoon it begins we'll have two teaching sessions and then a question and answer time on saturday and then sunday morning at 9 15 we'll have a sunday school class followed by our morning worship at 10 30 and then we'll close out the theme of the weekend sunday evening at six o 'clock on uh reconciliation accomplished so all things begin saturday october 3rd at one o 'clock and that's at grace bible fellowship church the address for that church is 1250 colonial road harrisburg pennsylvania 1250 colonial road harrisburg pennsylvania it'd be great to see you there great and once again the website for grace bible fellowship church in harrisburg pennsylvania is gracebfc .com

01:57:46

that's grace bfc which stands for biblefellowshipchurch .com

01:57:52

i want to thank you so much pastor josh for being my guest again on this program and please uh when you speak next with pastor riccardi uh please uh mention to him that i loved having him on the program and i look forward to him returning to this program as my guest frequently and god willing i will be there i can't guarantee it as we can never none of us can guarantee where we'll be tomorrow or even tonight because uh god only knows for certain where we will be but i am hoping and planning on being at the conference myself at least on saturday so i hope to see you both there uh i want to remind everybody listening please prayerfully consider giving to ironsharpensironradio if you have given in the past consider giving even more than you have already given because we are in really urgent need of your donations we are in urgent need of your advertising dollars because of this great financial loss that we have incurred due to the coronavirus pandemic hysteria as i mentioned earlier our two largest sponsors and benefactors have at least temporarily possibly permanently ceased from sponsoring us because of the fact that their businesses were so negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic hysteria please help us make up for that loss go to ironsharpensironradio .com

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