November 16, 2020 Show with Dr. Ashley Null on “Performance Identity: The Folly of Striving to Earn God’s Favor”

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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 iron sharpens iron radio dot com.

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This is Chris Arnzen your host of iron sharpens iron radio wishing you all a happy Monday on the 16th day of November 2020 and we apologize for starting the broadcast late today we had some technical difficulties since my guest is calling from Budapest Hungary so we got things straightened out and I'm glad that it wasn't longer a wait time to start the show than it was but before I introduce my guest

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I have an urgent prayer request I just found out this morning that a very dear friend of mine who those who have listened to my show when it goes back all the way to 2005 when

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I was broadcasting out of two local Long Island New York radio stations on Long Island WNYG and WGBB you may remember the name

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Meint Plugman that's M -E -I -N -T P as in Peter L -O -E -G -M -A -N

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Meint Plugman who is the pastor of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church of Bohemia Long Island New York well he was a frequent guest and co -host on the iron sharpens iron radio program a dear friend of mine spanning decades

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I just found out this morning that he fell off a ladder on Sunday Sunday morning while he was cleaning leaves out of his church gutter he fell 10 feet and is in very critical condition and even apparently according to doctors even if he survives this horrible accident he will likely have very serious brain damage so I would appreciate you praying for Meint praying for a miracle in his healing yes we

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Reformed people still believe in miracles at the hand of a sovereign

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God who heals when he deems fit according to his his plan and his purposes and so pray for a miracle and also pray for the family the

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Plugman family and I intend to keep you updated but my guest today is somebody that I've been waiting to have back on the program for quite some time his name is

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Dr. Ashley Null and some of my listeners may remember Dr.

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Null's interviews on the great English reformer Thomas Cranmer Dr.

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Null is considered one of the foremost scholars on the life teaching and legacy of Thomas Cranmer and I always have enjoyed having this brother on the program as my guest and he is going to be addressing today his latest audio book performance identity the folly of striving to earn

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God's favor and it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back after a an absence from our program that has gone on far too long as far as I'm concerned welcome back

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Dr. Ashley Null thank you it's good to be back if I remember correctly it was 2007 was the last time

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I was on wow that that that blows my mind and it may have been even with my dear friend pastor

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Jacob Smith who is the rector of St. George's the historical St. George's Episcopal Church in New York City which is still a biblically faithful congregation adhering to not only and most importantly the scriptures but also the 39 articles of religion which is a faithful confessional statement summarizing those inerrant scriptures and by the way

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Reverend Jacob Smith sends his greetings to you he was disappointed that he couldn't be a part of the program today because he already had a previous engagement

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I also have greetings being sent to you by a mutual friend of ours

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Dr. Joel Beakey who is the president of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids Michigan who really thoroughly enjoyed his time with you in Egypt and he wanted to make sure that I extended my greetings to you also

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I'm not even sure you know this brother but he is quite aware of you my dear friend

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Reverend Roger Salter who is the rector at St. Matthew's Anglican Church in Birmingham Alabama who said when hearing about our interview this is a must for me

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Chris Dr. Ashley Null is the best Anglican voice in America I love it

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I love his Kramner's Doctrine of Repentance so that was from my dear friend

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Roger Salter I was actually born in Birmingham Alabama so that's a nice connection and I'm at a loss for words which is not often to describe the deep gratitude that we at the

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Alexandria School of Theology in Cairo and Alexandria Egypt have for the partnership that we have with Puritan and Reformed they have been most generous and most helpful in sharing their wisdom and their resources with us and helping us grow as a seminary and of course

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Jacob Smith is a dear and old friend and he has such a historic parish for evangelical mission in America and the world and Jacob is an able successor to that tradition.

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Amen and by the way there have been plenty of others who have been letting me know of their delight that you have joined us today from varying

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Anglican Communions both inside the official

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Church of England and out and those within the Episcopal Church of the

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United States who have remained faithful to the scriptures the minority of brave souls that have stood steadfast and unwavering in their commitment to the scriptures in the 39 articles many send their greetings to you as well well this is obviously something that is a key issue that separates biblical

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Christianity from not only the Church of Rome but also every cult and false religion even those that would identify themselves as Christian and yet believe we have to earn

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God's favor and merit his favor in order to enjoy heaven with him or whatever afterlife this group may teach exists and the audio book that you have created performance identity the folly of striving to earn

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God's favor it is quite interesting that you use the term performance because you have been quite heavily involved in athletics in the world of sports

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I think especially in the unprofessional realm for quite a long time have you not um my first olympic games as a chaplain was way back in 1984 in LA wow well praise

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God for that well tell us uh what was what was it that led you to create this audio book uh because obviously there are other things that have been written for centuries by the reformers themselves by those that followed them and leading up to our present day in the 21st century we have many very well -known and fine heroes of the faith who have written against not only the folly of striving to earn

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God's favor but the heresy of believing you can what was it that compelled you to create this audio book well

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Chris every time I go into a Christian bookstore I always wonder why

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I want to contribute to the destruction of the rainforests um and I am not um so confident or arrogant to assume that something that I have done is going to in some way add to the collective wisdom of centuries of the

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Holy Spirit working to capture the culture of the current day's attention to its idolatries and to free the good news of scripture afresh to a new generation uh but I was giving a parish retreat weekend on this topic because personally

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I think it is crucial for the future of the church in our generation and I'd be happy to elaborate on that I was giving a retreat on this topic and the editor the publisher in chief of Anglican House Publishers was in the congregation and he said you know this is an important message we need to get it out and it needs to be in the form that you're doing here of you uh telling people about it um so he uh convinced me it didn't take much arm twisting to be asked to record an audio book but because of that and because of their vision and trust in the material here we are well

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I'm going to give our listeners our email address and you could join us on the air with a question of your own for Dr.

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Ashley Null and the email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com c -h -r -i -s -a -r -n -z -e -n at gmail .com

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and please as always give us your first name at least your city and state of residence and your country of residence if you live outside the

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USA and please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter let's say you are in a very strong disagreement with your own pastor or minister over this issue you may be in one of those religions

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I mentioned earlier that teaches that we must uh strive to earn

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God's favor we must perform adequately for God in order to merit heaven even if it's just in part uh perhaps you're a member of one of those groups and you don't want to identify who you are at this point or whatever the reason that would compel you to remain anonymous if it's personal and private you may feel free to do so but we ask you please if it's just a general question on theology on this issue uh please uh give us your first name at least your city and state and country of residence and the email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com

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chrisarnson at gmail .com now in your experience what are some of the major ways that uh christians perhaps they're even christians who have uh even been raised in biblically sound churches they have churches with creeds and confessions that are not aberrant or heretical or cultic uh they have been taught from the pulpit and from from sunday school and bible studies and just from interaction with other christians the truth that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in christ alone and yet they are still hung up with a false notion of performance identity uh and trying uh striving to earn

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God's favor what what is the most common way that you've witnessed this taking place in christendom well in american culture everything emphasizes your worth and value based on your performance it is both a great strength and a great weakness of our country i always joke that in 19th century england if anyone had get up and go they got up and went they had to go because the social hierarchy was so structured that uh effort uh innovation achievement hard work was not rewarded you inherited your position and that was it america developed as a as a rejection of that that everyone should be free to have the opportunity uh to shape their own destiny but the dark side of that if you can be someone anything you can achieve anything in america if you try hard enough if you don't achieve something then what worth or value do you have and that pervades all of our cultural assumptions it's particularly seen in the world of elite sports but it seeps into the church may i give you an example from sport and then show how it seeps into the church amen yes i don't know do you have any sporting background yourself chris other than uh playing with friends in the street and so on i was never a high school or college uh athlete uh as far as being on an actual team just uh played with with your friends in the street and so on uh and watching sporting events but no official sporting background well if we had a listener and i asked so if you're on your high school football team and you blow it you drop a crucial pass you miss a block you lose how are you supposed to feel well you're supposed to feel like you failed exactly you're supposed to hate yourself until you go out and prove that you're not a loser by winning the next time and if you haven't learned to internalize this self -hatred and failure what has the old -fashioned world of sport given you that's right a coach to make you feel like a loser i'm sure there are many coaches out there that would disagree that that was their role but i know what you're saying i mean it's obvious that that is a a phenomenon that exists old school coaching is really falling out of favor because today's young people don't have the social the emotional resilience to cope with it but now let's think about this so if you're an athlete your response to failure is self -hatred and the coach is to intensify it why would the coach intensify it is he just mean what in his mind is the purpose of me of shaming you into feeling bad when you lose well he thinks that that is going to achieve a change in the individual whom he is shaming and of course there could be ulterior motives of keeping your job as the coach and all kinds of things that hasn't but but what he what he or she thinks is that i'm helping you that if i shame you in and i make losing so emotionally painful you will do everything in your power not to feel this way again i'm going to motivate you to change and get better through shame just like a stereotypical drill sergeant yeah yeah or how about in the church when i said how am i supposed to feel about myself how do i show my intensity of love for following jesus when i said i think that we are to always obviously feel deep remorse if we are truly one of god's people one of his children one of his elect the holy spirit will be grieved and we will feel the urge and the desire to repent and please god and seek seek his uh enablement to change our ways because we very often feel like we have reached the end of our rope and are totally and utterly helpless in that achievement chris there are two kinds of guilt there's good guilt and there's bad guilt there's authentic guilt and there's manipulative guilt there is conviction and condemnation nation the bible tells us world was a one tells us that therefore there is no condemnation for those in christ jesus doesn't say that we don't sin and we won't have conviction but we will experience condemnation what's the difference condemnation is what the devil says look at what you've done you have no worth until you get on the performance uh wheel and prove that you are not like that that that you're better than that conviction is the holy spirit whispering to you look at what you've done look at the worth i have given you let me help you live into your worth let me help you live into my love when you realize that you have offended one can't say wounded but disappointed the god who wants you so much that is painful but it never questions your worth it doesn't say you have to do so many penances to make up for this it says the promise of how one takes care of sin by bringing it to the cross the condemnation says you have proved faithless prove how faithful you are and when can you speak to the coach when you've blown it not until you've proved yourself a winner on the field and when we have the condemnation mentality the manipulative guilt we draw away from god we're like adam and eve we hide because we are ashamed and what's the what's the first thing adam and eve do once they uh realize they have disobeyed they covered themselves up they used their gifts and talents to try to make up for it what's the first shedding of blood in scripture when god clothed adam and eve with skins right the blood of jesus is the only thing that will make up for our shortcomings not our gifts and talents but that is the old inclination that's the lie of the enemy you have disappointed god prove to him that you're different prove to him that you're not that sinner and of course you can't go back to him until you have shown how you are not like that and what's your success rate at changing for god apart from god and this is a perfect time so i don't have to interrupt you mid -sentence we have to go to our first station break right now and once again if anybody wants to ask a question of your own to dr ashley null perhaps some of you uh are really depressed perhaps even to the point of having uh tragically uh suicidal thoughts or even if it's not that severe you you find yourself just aching with misery because you have committed sin you have committed sin that's perhaps scandalous you have committed sin that has had that has caused your your own family and your closest friends and perhaps your employers and your colleagues perhaps your pastor and your church or the leader of the religion that you're in and the members of that religion to turn their backs on you to abandon you well please feel free to send in a question to dr null and obviously with all those scenarios that i mentioned those would be obvious reasons why you might want to remain anonymous but even if it's just a general theological question uh send in your question to chris arnzen at gmail .com

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chris arnzen at gmail .com and as always please give us your first name at least your city and state of residence and your country of residence if you if you live outside the usa and don't go away we'll be right back with dr ashley null on performance identity 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 i 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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eastern time at iron sharpens iron radio .com james white of alphanamega ministries here if you've watched my dividing line webcast often 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 perimeter 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 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 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 joseph piper president and professor of systematic and homiletical theology at greenville presbyterian theological seminary in taylor's south carolina and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor chuck white at the first trinity lutheran church in tonawanda new york and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor anthony methenia of christ church in radford virginia and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor jesse miller of damascus road christian church in gardnerville nevada and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor bruce bennett of word of truth church in farmerville long island new york and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor rodney brown of metro bible church in south lake texas and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor jim harrison of redmills baptist church in mayapac falls new york 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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that's nasbible .com to place your order welcome back this is chris arnzen if you've just tuned in our guest today for the entire program is dr ashley null and he is a world -renowned anglican scholar perhaps especially on the life teaching and legacy of the great english performer thomas cranmer he is considered one of the foremost scholars in that area and we are discussing a new audio book that he has available through anglican house publishers and i i'm hoping that many of our listeners will take advantage of this resource performance identity the folly of striving to earn god's favor and if you could pick up where we left off we do have quite a number of listeners uh waiting to ask their questions and have you answer them via email uh we obviously you'll be audibly answering them but their questions are coming in via email we no longer have a call and show like we used to when you were a guest out of the long island new york radio stations but if you could pick up where you left off before we take some of our listener calls um i think the the key thing is to recognize that we have a generation of young people who have not experienced uh the unconditional love of the calm and security that comes from an intact family and when you don't have love that gives you a sense of worth and value you and you live in american culture you instinctively uh set out to earn it to attract people's attention to get noticed to prove that you're worth people investing in and when the church preaches a traditional message of sin that actually tells them what they're afraid is actually true about them and they run out the door we need to recapture uh the sense that before we can talk about people's sin we have to communicate first that they are loved and that love is based on what christ did for them not on what they feel they may have to do for christ to be worthy of that love that was the brilliance of kramer's comfortable words his first comfortable word is come unto me all ye that travail and are heavy laden and i will refresh you christus he mentioned hell there no sin no judgment nope where does he begin felt human need and the words of the matrix a restlessness a sense that things aren't right a weariness with life a burden from this of not understanding what's going on the first place we begin is where people are looking to be rescued his second comfortable word for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that all that believe in it should not perish but have everlasting life does he explicitly mention sin not in that text no does he explicitly mention hell nope what's he talk about well he did he did hint at hell obviously because he said will not perish but he was he's mainly focusing on the gift of his son and the the offer of eternal life for those who believe in that son the next two verses jesus makes clear i do not come into the world to condemn it because it already stands condemned i come into the world to love it that it might be saved so if the first comfortable word is human longing to be rescued the second comfortable word is it's god's nature to long to rescue and i'm sorry the third comfortable word this is a true sane and worthy of all men to be received that christ jesus came into the world to save sinners okay now we've got the traditional language of sin and being saved means being saved from damnation and from hell now that we know god longs to rescue us because that's who he is we can have the courage to face that our restlessness is actually connected to our sin that's cut us off from god cut us off from each other and cut us off from our true selves do you realize that people can only face their faults when they think the person telling them still values them and then if salvation looks like from a human perspective jesus coming to rescue us from our sins which we cannot rescue ourselves from what does salvation look like from god's point of view before the last comfortable word if any man said we have an advocate with the father jesus christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins that jesus comes not as our judge this time but as our advocate as our lawyer our defense lawyer but what's the cost of jesus being able to defend us it's his own death in our place and that sacrificial love gives us a worth and value that will not go away and kramer is committed to the notion that once we understand the love that is seeking us that that love will draw out of us a loving response in obedience and that we need to understand that our capacity to love god can only come from first understanding how much he loves us and as long as we're listening to american culture and trying to earn love we won't have the capacity to love and we will only end up in despair and further sin and if we so often we say we're saved by grace but we act like we're sustained by sweat and young people because they fear they can't do the sweat they quote want to be authentic by staying away and we have to assure that they don't have to earn god's love and that god his love is powerful enough not only to save them but to begin to change their affections to change what they love to begin to make them more like him and then in him they can find the power to be more of the people they want and when they're not they don't have to torment themselves with shame that when conviction comes they can go to the cross and when confirmation comes they can call the devil a liar now uh one of the most powerful uh texts or series of texts and uh and the scriptures is in luke chapter 7 and uh i'd like to read the whole chapter but i don't have time i'd like to start with verse 44 uh because of time limitations uh turning toward the woman and the woman in this context is the very well -known woman that even non -christians who have enough of a cursory knowledge of the bible may have heard of this woman she is the woman uh who washed jesus's feet with her tears and dried them with her hair and anointed them with very expensive perfume and um the text says turning toward the woman he jesus said to simon do you see this woman i entered your house you gave me no water for my feet but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair you gave me no kiss but she has since the time i came in has not ceased to kiss my feet you did not anoint my head with oil but she anointed my feet with perfume for this reason i say to you her sins which are many have been forgiven for she loved much but he who is forgiven little loves little then jesus said to her your sins have been forgiven uh one of the things i don't want people to get the wrong idea from some of the things that you said and i am very confident you would agree with me wholeheartedly that in modern evangelicalism some of the most thriving ministries numerically not thriving in a good way i don't believe have removed purposely the concepts of sin and the threat of hell from their vocabulary from their sermons from their books uh and this has become a very popular christianity which does nothing but salve the consciences of people and makes them feel very comfortable living an unrepentant life where we see a woman loving jesus much because she has been forgiven much and i do you don't you agree that until we know the depths of our sinfulness and of course having limited minds we will never truly know the depths of our own simpleness but getting an idea of how deep and depraved we are motivates us to even be more grateful and even celebrate more and rejoice more in our salvation because we know what we have been saved from is not is that not true of course it's true i mean chris if you have cancer and i tell you how glad i am to be with you and i don't treat the cancer uh that's not loving is it absolutely not i mean this is one of the things i i try to always explain um free forgiveness doesn't um remove consequences should an elite athlete use bad judgment and make someone pregnant or get pregnant can god forgive that sin in an instant yes of course absolutely does that person need to get forgiveness to restore their relationship with god and have peace in their heart absolutely does that take away the consequences no does the baby go away no there is no perfect solution to that situation is there only in christ is completely uh uh often not on the table but a teenage couple getting married that's a hard road to hoe giving the baby up for adoption that's a hard road to hoe raising the child as a single parent that's a hard road to hoe now god will redeem all of that that's what he's good at he redeems our messes but isn't it better not to have to go through that yes of course the cheap grief the difficulty with that is that people don't understand that sin is destructive not all suffering comes from sin but all sin causes suffering the question is how in this generation that is so skittish how do we get them to hear the message that the root of their problems is their rebellion against god and what the spirit wants to do in their lives it's pastoral malpractice not to communicate that message but the question is how do we get them to sit down long enough to hear it and therefore beginning with god's love as the safety net that it's true you are as we all are incredibly miswired but god has a purpose and a plan he's not going to leave you like that and your worth and value isn't based on whether you're good enough today or good enough in three years did you ever make homemade ice cream never i've eaten it but i've never made it did you cook at all not really i just heat stuff up i'm a widower and my wife was a remarkable cook in fact i don't think i've ever had better food in a fine four -star restaurant than the way she cooked and i just unfortunately never really taught myself how to learn to cook well i'm sorry to hear that you're a widower there must be a lot of uh uh pain and uh and divine comfort mixed up in all of that yes indeed but uh um i grew up in western kansas and making homemade ice cream was was something we would do in summer evenings and to make homemade ice cream you need milk you need ice sometimes you want to make it you know put a little egg in it to make it more french vanilla maybe sometimes you put peaches in it how do you suppose it looks when it's all there in the pail uh well it's kind of a mixed up uh goopy mess yeah but i assure you you don't give it a second thought even though it looks kind of gross you know why why is that because you're going to know you know what it's going to be like when you're done churning churning and churning and one of the miracles of god of justification by faith is god can look at us now and love us even though we are a mess because he knows what his love churning churning churning working in us in this life and in the next life finishing perfectly what we're going to be like when he gets done with us without spot or blemish sin is real that's why jesus had to die but when jesus sin doesn't get the last word his love does and that's the good news praise god for that uh i'm going to go to uh one of our listener questions and even though um this these questions i'm not going to go to all of his questions i'm sorry donald but you've written quite a number of questions that could fill a week's or month's worth of radio programs but somebody who is extremely enthusiastic that you're on today uh his name is donald from jacksonville north carolina i usually don't give the listeners full names uh to our audience but in this case i thought i'd make an exception because he actually operates a reformed anglican website called twist house t -w -i -s -s -e and if any of our episcopalian and anglican listeners uh are truly historic anglicans confessional and truly scriptural christians they may want to investigate that but uh donald his first question and i'll limit him to two today and maybe if we have more time later we'll add some but how would dr kramner meaning thomas obviously address today's church of england today's episcopal church in the usa today's mainline protestantism and today's american evangelicalism um i think he would uh i mean it's always uh dangerous putting words in the mouth of an historic figure but i think it's probably a safe bet to say that he would say uh do not go to the stinking puddles of men's imaginations and traditions but return to the well of all life the god's own word there is where the saving truth is found amen and uh in fact what we're going to do right now we're going to have you continue to elaborate on your answer for donald when we come back from our midway break i don't want to cut you off mid -sentence because we have to go into the break very quickly and folks please be patient with us during this midway break because at the middle of the show a break is uh longer by necessity our station break is longer by necessity because grace life radio 90 .1

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fm in lake city florida requires of us a longer break because they are required by the fcc to localize this program to lake city florida and they do so by airing their own public service announcements and other local things so while they do that we air our globally heard commercials we ask you to use this time wisely by writing down as much of the information as you can from as many of our advertisers as you can so that you can more frequently and successfully patronize our advertisers that will obviously make them happy and if they're happy they're going to more than likely want to remain our advertisers which will mean subsequently god willing we will remain on the air for a longer future because we absolutely positively depend on the finances that come in from our advertisers to exist please always remember that so please write down as much of the information as you can from our advertisers and also write down questions for dr ashley null on performance identity the folly of striving to earn god's favor and send those emails to chris arnzen at gmail .com

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chris arnzen at gmail .com don't go away god willing we are going to be right back after these messages from our sponsors james white of alphanomega 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

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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 corham long island that you heard about them from james white on iron sharpens iron radio 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 in christian apologetics with evidence for the bible's reliability and to introduce reformation literature 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 iron trump and zion radio this is pastor bill sasso 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 grace church at franklin .org

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that's grace church at franklin .org this is pastor bill sasser wishing you all the richest blessings of our sovereign lord god savior and king jesus christ today and always oh chris arnzen host of iron sharpens iron radio announcing a new website with an exciting offer from world magazine by trusted source for news from a christian perspective try world now at no charge for 90 days by going to get world now .com

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forward slash podcast music every day at thousands of community centers high schools middle schools juvenile institutions coffee shops and local hangouts long island youth for christ staff and volunteers meet with young people who need jesus we are rural and urban and we are always about the message of jesus our mission is to have a noticeable spiritual impact on long island new york by engaging young people in the lifelong journey of following christ long island youth for christ has been a stalwart bedrock ministry since 1959 we have a world -class staff and a proven track record of bringing consistent love and encouragement to youths in need all over the country and around the world help honor our history by becoming a part of our future volunteer donate pray or all for details call long island youth for christ at 631 -385 -8333 that's 631 -385 -8333 or visit liyfc .org

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that's liyfc .org music we are excited to announce another new member of the iron sharpens iron radio advertising family bhanu gadi owner of three new york pharmacies lee's drugs of floral park long beach chemists and prescription center of long island in hempstead bhanu gadi earned a doctorate in pharmacy degree and is very knowledgeable on the current coronavirus pandemic please contact dr gadi so he and his expert staff can give you proper guidance amid all the contradictory confusion we are all hearing in the media to find the pharmacy nearest you call 516 -354 -2000 that's 516 -354 -2000 or order online at lee's drugs rx .com

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that's l -e -e -s drugs rx .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 a 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 am 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 and what god has designed and he has erupted into praise in any crisis or problem brothers and 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 linbrook baptist church on 225 earl avenue in linbrook long island is teaching god's timeless truths in the 21st century our church is far more than a sunday worship service it's a place of learning where the scriptures are studied and the preaching of the gospel is clear and relevant it's like a gym where one can exercise their faith through community involvement it's like a hospital for wounded souls where one can find compassionate people and healing we're a diverse family of all ages enthusiastically serving our lord jesus christ in fellowship play and together hi i'm pastor bob waldeman and i invite you to come and join us here at linbrook baptist church and see all that a church can be call linbrook baptist at 516 -599 -9402 that's 516 -599 -9402 or visit linbrookbaptist .org

01:04:14

that's linbrookbaptist .org hi this is john sampson pastor of king's church in peoria arizona taking a moment of your day to talk about chris arnson and the iron sharpens iron podcast i consider chris a true friend and a man of high integrity he's a skilled interviewer who's not afraid to ask the big penetrating questions while always defending the key doctrines of the christian faith i've always been happy to point people to this podcast knowing it's one of the very few safe places on the internet where folk won't be led astray i believe this podcast needs to be heard far and wide this is a day of great spiritual compromise and yet god has raised chris up for just such a time and knowing this it's up to us as members of the of christ to stand with such a ministry in prayer and in finances i'm pleased to do so and would like to ask you to prayerfully consider joining me in supporting iron sharpens iron financially would you consider sending either a one -time gift or even becoming a regular monthly partner with this ministry i know it would be a huge encouragement to chris if you would all the details can be found at iron sharpens iron radio .com

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where you can click support that's iron sharpens iron radio .com charles haddon spurgeon 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 its 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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01:08:31

and make your purchases today also i thought our listeners would be very interested to know about a couple of interviews you should be tuning in every day if you can to the show but this thursday we are going to be blessed with a return guest scott christensen to discuss his massive new book what about evil a defense of god's sovereign glory and for those of you who are the first to send in some good questions good enough to be read on air that pertain to that subject you will be blessed if you're one of the the limited number that send in questions early enough you'll receive a free copy of this massive work published by pnr publishing also on friday we are being joined by a first -time guest that may also be particularly of interest to our anglican listeners bishop robert bierman who is a bishop in the denomination known as the reformed anglican church and i am looking forward to that we have not yet picked out a specific topic but i'm sure that we will be announcing that in the very near future and we hope that you listen also folks if you love this show and you don't want it to disappear please i'm urging you to go to ironsharpensironradio .com

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click support then click click to donate now last but not least if you are not a member of a local bible believing church i have extensive lists of biblically faithful churches all over the planet earth and may be able to help you find a good solid church no matter where on the planet you live i've already helped many people in our audience find good churches even anglican churches that are faithful to the scriptures in adherence of the 39 articles of but many different denominations are represented on this list that are biblically faithful and if you need help finding a church send me an email to chrisarns in a gmail .com

01:13:10

and put i need a church in the subject line and i will do my best to help you locate a church near you that's also the email address to send in a question to dr ashley null on our subject today performance identity the folly of striving to earn god's favor and that email address is chrisarns in a gmail .com

01:13:31

and put your give us your first name at least your city and state and your country of residence if you live outside the usa and uh just going back to uh donald vich's uh question from jacksonville north carolina one of the things that strikes me is that we are living in a day and age even if this current climate that we live in globally is very slow if ever to mention the subjects of sin and hell and judgment and damnation there is still quite a bit of ecumenism with the church of rome to the point where you have denominations and individuals who are parts of denominations that have uh biblically have been historically i should say been very biblically faithful uh who are putting on such a low rung of importance the very issue we are talking about today they are saying it's not that big of a deal if a church believes that you must and that you can earn god's favor that you can merit his favor and isn't this a one of the issues that has polluted our modern church including episcopalian and anglican that there is an overemphasis on an ecumenism with churches that actually deny the gospel well even in our own ranks of evangelicalism there is a pervasive movement to make faith the work that unlocks human destiny right um uh chris if we were in a dark alley at 3 a .m

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in the morning and you didn't know me and i told you to fall back uh would you no i would not probably not even if i did know you well i do know you so i probably still wouldn't do it if you told me to hahaha would it be a lack of willpower lack of willpower that prevents me from falling back you mean yeah uh i think it would just be a reasonable distrust or caution about why you're asking me to do that it's a lack of knowledge right not a lack of willpower right the reason why faith is a gift is faith is trusting someone right yes and someone has to reveal that they are trustworthy for you to be able to have faith in them that's one of the insights of the reformation faith is not a work faith is a gift that comes from god's self -revelation to us of who he is through his word but the prosperity gospel makes faith a work and in fact the ultimate worth work by which you unleash spiritual power not to crucify your flesh but to indulge it um and that whole assumption of uh that's a classic example of earning god's love and you know what the worst part about prosperity gospel is besides not actually uh making you prosperous or being the gospel right it's a pastoral disaster yeah because if you're struggling whose fault is it it's your fault and if you need to get out of the mess can god help you uh it all relies upon you to have a strong enough faith according to them yeah and again it's the exact opposite of the reformation the whole point of the reformation is to recover paul's insight into the ministry of jesus that it's not about what we do to please god but what god is pleased to do in through and for us i mean do you have a bible handy uh not not at this time no i don't let me read you um two bible verses may i yes go ahead philippians 2 12 therefore my dear friends as you have always obeyed not only in my presence but now much more in my absence continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling doesn't that sound to you like a biblical call to sweat equity huh we don't make any progress in the christian life unless we make good choices right yes and sometimes it's really hard to make those good choices we have to fight to make those good choices because without them we are not puppets we're not going to grow so the emphasis on choice there is some anchor for that in scripture isn't there yes but let's read the next verse what does the next verse say for it is god who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose our willpower and our ability to execute good choices is because god is at work bringing us to that point kramer and the reformers understood the power of unconditional love the power of unconditional love is to awaken in the beloved the same longing for union that the one giving the love in the first place has that when god touches you he will stir up in you a desire to grow close to him so that you know for kramer a lively faith is inconceivable but it will not bear good fruit because the nature of god's work in our lives is to draw us close to him and if we come close to him we'll become like him i love mark chapter 1 verses 16 to 18 may i read those to you yes of course um as jesus walked beside the sea of galilee he saw simon and his brother andrew casting a net into the lake for they were fishermen come follow me jesus said and i will send you out to fish for people and at once they left their nets and followed him now i thought for years when jesus said come follow me he meant like he said later on in chapter eight about follow me take up your cross deny yourself right all the teachings of jesus that means to follow him right yes well actually it can't why can't it mean that jesus hasn't taught them anything yet right right the only thing come follow me in that context can mean is come and hang out with me stay in my presence right if i go somewhere you go somewhere cling to me is what he's saying and what happens if they cling to jesus they will become fishers of men right that's right what's jesus doing at that moment fishing fishing for men right amen so if you hang out with jesus jesus will rub off on you and you will become like him the more we encounter the true love of god for us even though we are unworthy of it the more we long to return that love and loving gratitude by obedience service as jesus has emptied himself out to us we long to empty ourselves out to him and to do that we need to crucify the old man because it will rise up and it will distract us but jesus has promised that he will complete the good work he has begun in us and as we cling that's philippians 1 6 and the philippians 2 13 that he's at work in us when we struggle we call out and say lord i am sorely tempted but you have promised to change me lord your word says uh colossians 2 11 through 13 that my heart has been circumcised with non -human hands that you are making me different and you are drawing out of me a love for you and others uh probably speaking to a crab nurse uh chaplain wrote uh a beautiful passage where he basically said all the fires of hell as real as they are could not induce me to serve with my full heart but recognizing the unconditional love of god given me at christ that motivates me to give myself back in return beautiful to the reformers the idea of grace and unconditional love that somehow be soft on sin is incomprehensible because it is the key by god's power at work in us to begin to overcome the work of sin in us do you want hate because you can't give you the secret to stop sending go ahead how much would you pay me for how much do you think your listeners if i try if i auction it off how much money can i make for for your radio station well obviously they would have to be regenerate to even care about such a uh an offer but a lot of money if they're really uh truly followers of christ and and recognize the sin that they have sure they'd be offering a lot of money the medieval catholic church council culture today uses condemnation shame and fear to try to get people to change as in tetzel sorry as in johann tetzel yeah and um the law of sin and death that work in our members will always be stronger than our willpower motivated by fear uh uh shame and condemnation but the spirit opening our eyes to how much we are loved and stirring up in us a new love for god and neighbor that makes the difference if you want to stop the simple solution is loving god more right yeah not fear not shame not condemnation and the only thing that births love is not fear or condemnation or shame the only thing that births love is being loved and therefore the gospel is about proclaiming this transforming power of god's love that gives us the courage to face our shortcomings and to find in him the answer to the human condition that in the cross we get forgiveness and new life and although we we are by no means perfect in this life uh we do make progress and we are perfected in the age to come but you know chris a lot of folks think that holiness is walking in greater victory over sin and you know what i don't think that's true you know why why because god is so loving and gracious he doesn't point out all the 25 000 of our sins as we do begin to make progress in the christian life and grow and change and habits get broken off and new life appears as we get out of the foothills then god begins to show us a little bit more that we haven't seen before and he sometimes he even gets to show us the alps because you know chris you have to grow closer to god to recognize how much unlike god you are so every increasing sanctification entails not only progress against sins at work in our lives but a deepening realization of how miswired we are and how gracious god has been to work with us and use us and continue to change us throughout our lifetimes a work that is only completed when christ comes back amen and before we go to our final break which will be coming up in a few minutes i'll allow donald's one of his many questions another one of his many questions and this will be the final one for today's interview because we could as i said fill a month's worth of programming with his questions but donald asks can you list the top five theological seminaries for young men and why for each now i think that's an enormous task to list five biblically sound theological seminaries in this day and age i don't know if i could list five i might be able to list five but i don't think i can list too many more than that may i dump that question because there are different seminaries for different emphases and um uh i'm sure you have a variety of listeners for whom in their tradition what's important is x but for someone else's denomination it would be y and i'm not sure that would be a fruitful line of inquiry okay well i could pass on uh donald's questions to you and if you have the time to communicate with him more privately over a question like that perhaps you can do that we have in fact i'll go ahead i'm sorry if he wants to uh uh um yeah um yeah if he's talking about anglican seminaries i'm assuming he is since he is an anglican yeah that um if you're looking for a place where um uh biblical authority authority um is uh rigorously systematically and pastorally sensitively expounded you certainly couldn't do better than more college sydney and i might as well throw out there uh since you've already mentioned how highly you value these folks uh puritan informed theological seminary in grand rapids michigan uh even though it's not specifically and uniquely anglican uh i'm sure that they have at least welcome anglican students and what joel and i discovered both to our interest because was that we're both children of the english reformation what i mean by that is thomas cramner was insistent that the bible not only told you god's truth it was also his divine instrument to turn your heart to embrace it and to live it out and that a transformation of the affections was a part of god's regenerative work in your life and was the fruit not the grounds but the fruit of salvation um in other words we do uh do things for god we do exhibit good works we do get new desires but they're the fruit of being justified they're not the basis on which god accepts us because we are accepted he then works and changes us and the puritan reformed is their experimental puritans in the sense that they do believe that the purpose of the word is to renew us from the inside out that it's not merely it's head to heart and that of course is what cramner was about and that's what we're about at the alexander school of theology in egypt so it was easy to partner because we both believed in biblical authority uh we believed in uh orthodox doctrine and we believed in the power of the word to change us from the inside out and the emphasis is on god changing us from the inside out yes in fact dr beakey uh president of puritan reform theological seminary wrote his doctoral dissertation on assurance because uh he was originally from a denomination that had become very hyper calvinist and had robbed people of any sense of assurance and i think he attributed if i'm not mistaken the english reformers specifically on his being aided to grow in his knowledge and uh his uh treasuring the the precious doctrine of assurance well for cramner uh the reason why you need to have justification by faith is that alone gives you assurance of salvation and assurance of salvation alone can renew your affections if you're afraid that you might go to heaven might not go to heaven then love will not cast out fear and you will not have love in your heart only fear so for him assurance of salvation was absolutely critical to god's inner work of sanctification amen and um the uh the next station break is oh by the way i'm uh i'm just uh seeing the the title of the book that was actually based on dr beakey's doctoral dissertation it's a more popular version of his doctoral dissertation assurance of faith calvin english puritanism and the dutch second reformation that's the full title um but we are going to our final break right now so if you have a question for dr beakey we have several of our listeners waiting in line to ask you questions but if you want to join that line and wait along with them send an email quickly because we are going to be out of time before you know it chris arnson at gmail .com

01:35:57

chris arnson at gmail .com is our email address so don't go away god willing we're going to be right back with more of dr ashley null right after these messages from our sponsors 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 author gary demar president of american vision and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor dan lebenek of west hills baptist church in huntington station new york and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm justin peters of justin peters ministries and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm reverend buzz taylor author of god's lawson and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm dr william webster pastor of grace bible church in battleground washington founder of the ministry christian resources the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor ryan galan of central iceland community church in central iceland new york and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor brandon smith of trinity reform baptist church in jackson georgia 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

01:37:55

that's nasbible .com to place your order 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 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 deny your income loss claims in the event of a worldwide pandemic do not give up no matter what state you live in call buttafuoco and associates now at 1 -800 -669 -4878 buttafuoco 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 buttafuoco and associates here to help business owners rebuild their lives in the wake of the pandemic call 1 -800 -669 -4878 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 quorum long island new york pastored by rich jensen 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 reformed 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 james white of alphanamega 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 perimeter 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 charles headens 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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that's solid -ground -books .com and see what priceless literary gems from the past to present you can unearth from solid ground solid ground christian books is honored to be a weekly sponsor of iron sharpens iron radio we are excited to announce another new member of the iron sharpens iron radio advertising family bhanu gadi owner of three new york pharmacies lee's drugs of floral park long beach chemists and prescription center of long island in hempstead bhanu gadi earned a doctorate in pharmacy degree and is very knowledgeable on the current coronavirus pandemic please contact dr gadi so he and his expert staff can give you proper guidance amid all the contradictory confusion we are all hearing in the media to find the pharmacy nearest you call 516 -354 -2000 that's 516 -354 -2000 or order online at lee's drugs rx .com

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that's l -e -e -s drugs rx .com don't forget to ask about their discount generic drug program welcome back this is chris arnzen and i just want to let donald veach in jacksonville north carolina know that you have won by virtue of your question a free downloadable audio book the book that we are discussing today performance identity the folly of striving to earn god's favor by our guest dr ashley null and if you want to find out more about anglican house publishers who has provided these free downloads that we're offering to a limited number of listeners today you can go to anglicanhousepublishers .org

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anglicanhousepublishers .org but you don't need to go to them for the free download they've already given us the codes that you will need those who win these downloadable books uh in order to get the free download so uh we already have your email address so we'll be emailing that code to you god willing momentarily we have an anonymous listener from the republic of ireland who says i was formerly a member of a church that in many ways was biblically sound other than the fact that it was not theologically reformed but it acted very much in many ways like a cult in the legalism and also the harsh way they dealt with individuals such as myself who was the victim of spousal abuse i am a woman and they dealt with me as if all of the physical and emotional and mental and spiritual abuse i received were due to things that were my own fault what do you have to say to encourage people like me to be perhaps more aware quicker into the situation that we are in a in a cult or at least a church that is acting like one and we should leave perhaps far sooner than i did when the damage was already done well anonymous um the first thing is the way you have framed the question uh you are in essence encouraging me to condemn you for quote not realizing the situation sooner and i'm sure there must be a longing uh in you to have uh realized sooner and gotten out quicker but i think you need to be kind to yourself and to recognize that when people tell you they're speaking for god and they're giving you conditional affirmation that as long as you're doing what they tell you and following the rules that you're right with god and have their approval um uh and you've probably been attracted to the situation because you haven't had approval approval before and they offered a concrete path to get that approval that it takes time uh for the spirit to work in you and to assure you that your worth and value is uh based on what jesus has done and not on these specific human beings uh manipulative approval for you um but the good news is rather than concentrating on what you may have missed so you did that you stayed as long as you did the good news is that god is faithful that with jesus the loss and the pain doesn't get the last word amen and works all things together for good and um the the greater your suffering the deeper the comfort that he will give and second corinthians chapter one three to five he promises that the comfort you have received from him will equip you to comfort others rather than blaming yourself for not getting out quickly thank god that that in the fullness of time the kairos moment came and he strengthened your courage to be able to make a clean break and that he will use all of that suffering all of that pain to make a positive difference not only in your life but the life of people he calls you to minister to amen and anonymous uh since we have your email address you have also won a free downloadable edition of performance identity the folly of striving to earn god's favor by dr ashley null and this once again is compliments of our friends at anglicanhousepublishers .org

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anglicanhousepublishers .org we have another person who i will identify by his full name since he is a pastor who's not asking a personal question and he's also a pastor of a church that i would heartily recommend to our listeners angelo valley is our listener with a question for you he is an orthodox presbyterian pastor and he is pastor of christ reform church of alexandria pennsylvania and he has a question for you he apparently knows and loves your ministry and has benefited from it greatly and he asks i would love to hear dr null answer how can confessional presbyterians best benefit from archbishop thomas cranmer's theology perhaps his eucharistic theology may be a useful place to consider well it all depends on what confessional presbyterians think about calvin's eucharistic theology yeah and i i think that that there is probably a mixture of zwinglianism and calvin's view but i think that there is at least a growing number uh and possibly even a majority that would agree with calvin's view but if you could continue well i would really here is the question what the sanctification consists of if i know what's right does that empower me to do what's right is pursuing ever pure conceptions of doctrine the essence of sanctification or is it the experimental puritan understanding that the head enables the transformation of the heart that the truth of the gospel when it sinks down into the heart what the heart loves the world chooses and the mind justifies and therefore what can we from the reformed tradition uh cultivate of the sovereign work of god in uh saving sanctifying and renewing our affections so that we don't uh keep we don't strive to be like god out of fear or out of um conflict but because it's our god has so rewired us it's our genuine genuine love and desire to do so um and communion again for kramner he puts the four comfortable words right before lift up your hearts because it's all for him about divine allurement that the love of god allures you uh into a new way of living and you lift up that um um christ's body does not come down to us uh for the eucharist for communion but actually by faith we are lifted up to christ's body in heaven and um that uh we are united by the spirit uh both by will including love and in some kind of corporate mystery it's a foretaste of that which is to come so that there is a supernatural dimension to the sacrament but it's not changing bread and wine it's changing us and that in that sense communion is the ongoing work of appropriating for us the fullness of the promises we have received in our justification and that therefore we will grow in faith and love with god through his supernatural work in us in the eucharist because what is the hallmark of the eucharist it's recognizing that jesus died for us and that that love is what inspires us to have loving gratitude as the fuel of our christian life and i think that loving gratitude is that you know how much christian despair could be fought off if we gave thanks for what we had rather than bemoaning what we didn't and we are actually out of time brother and uh that uh answer will have to suffice but it was excellent whatever you had time to say and i want to thank all of our listeners and by the way pastor angelo valley you too are receiving a free downloadable copy of the audiobook performance identity the folly of striving to earn god's favor by dr ashley null compliments of anglicanhousepublishers .org