God's Sufficient Grace

God's Sufficient Grace

by John MacArthur

A certain poor man spent many years saving money to realize his dream of going on a cruise. When he finally saved the required sum, he bought a ticket. Knowing he could not afford the extravagant food on board, he took what he could afford—crackers and peanut butter.

After a few days of observing the other passengers eating luxurious meals, his peanut butter crackers became stale and tasteless. Desperately hungry, he begged a porter to allow him to work for food.

“Why, sir, didn’t you realize meals are included with your ticket? You may eat as much as you like!”

Lots of Christians live like that man. Not realizing the unlimited provisions that are theirs in Christ, they munch on stale scraps. There’s no need to live like that! Everything we could ever want or need is included in the cost of admission—and the Savior has already paid it for us!

There’s a single word that encompasses all the riches we find in Christ: grace. What a magnificent word it is! It is used more than 150 times in the New Testament to speak of divine favor bestowed on undeserving people. It is the means by which we receive every physical and spiritual benefit.

To some measure even unbelievers benefit from God’s grace. Theologians call that “common grace” because it is common to all mankind. Common grace is God’s continual care for all creation, providing for his creatures’ needs. Through common grace God restrains humanity from utter debauchery and maintains order and some sense of beauty, morality, and goodness in society’s consciousness.

Christians, however, receive a greater grace (James 4:6). To us God’s grace is inexhaustible and boundless, including all that we have talked in earlier posts about regarding the all-sufficient provisions of Jesus Christ.

We are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8) and in grace we stand (Romans 5:2). Grace upholds our salvation, gives us victory in temptation, and helps us endure suffering and pain. It helps us understand the Word and wisely apply it to our lives. It draws us into communion and prayer and enables us to serve the Lord effectively. In short, we exist and are firmly fixed in an environment of all-sufficient grace.

Grace upon Grace

One of the most wonderful statements about our Lord is that He was “full of grace” (John 1:14) and “of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace” (John 1:16). “Grace upon grace” speaks of accumulated grace—one grace following upon another. Such grace is ours each day. It is unlimited and sufficient for every need.

Paul called it “the abundance of grace” (Romans 5:17), “the riches of [God’s] grace” (Ephesians 2:7), and “surpassing grace” (2 Corinthians 9:14). Peter called it the “manifold” (in Greek, poikilos, “multifaceted” or “multicolored”) grace of God (1 Peter 4:10). He used the same Greek word in 1 Peter 1:6 with reference to the various trials believers face. That’s a wonderful parallel: God’s multifaceted grace is sufficient for our multifaceted trials.

Super-Abounding Grace

Perhaps nowhere is the magnificence of grace more wonderfully stated than in 2 Corinthians 9:8–11. The superlatives here are staggering: “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.… You will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God” (emphasis added).

In a sense, those two verses sum up everything that could ever be said about our sufficiency in Christ. Set in a context describing God’s material provision, they have meaning that obviously extends to limitless proportions. Surpassing grace indwells every believer (v. 14). Is it any wonder Paul could not restrain his praise to God for such an indescribable gift (v. 15)?

All-Sufficient Grace

Paul experienced God’s grace as few others have because he endured suffering as few others have. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 the Lord gave him one of the most profound truths in all revelation: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” That wonderful promise extends to every believer, but its context is one of severe difficulties, distresses, persecutions, and human weaknesses (v. 10).

In chapter 11 Paul chronicles many of the hardships and life-threatening situations he had endured. Included in his list are great physical trials—imprisonments, beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, dangerous rivers, robbers, Jewish and Gentile persecutions, sleepless nights, inclement weather, and lack of food and drink (vv. 23–27). More painful than all that was the daily concern he had for all the churches (v. 28). God’s people and His church were Paul’s greatest passion (Colossians 1:28–29) and presented the highest potential for pain and disappointment.

The greatest pain he ever knew came from some of the people he loved the most—those to whom he had given his soul and his gospel, but who now had turned against him. Their rejection, betrayal, criticism, false accusations, and even hatred cut deep into his heart. In 2 Corinthians he wrote as a man who was unloved, unappreciated, distrusted, and deeply troubled in his soul.

The Lessons of Grace

Paul’s distressing circumstances put him in a position to learn some marvelous lessons about God’s grace, which he passes on to us in 2 Corinthians 12:7–10:

Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave from me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

There is so much to be drawn from this marvelous text. For the purpose of this post I’ll simply make brief mention of the lessons we can draw regarding God’s grace.

Humility. God knows that men are prone toward pride, especially when they are in positions of spiritual privilege. Therefore He often uses opposition and suffering to teach them humility. That God places trials in our lives to restrain our sin and produce godliness is an act of grace.

Dependence. Often other believers are channels of God’s grace, but He alone is its source. We tend to turn to people with our hurts, but God wants us to look to Him first of all in times of trouble.

Three times Paul appealed to God to remove the thorn—three times the Lord said no. He prayed persistently and faithfully, yet he learned that God’s purposes could be better accomplished by the answer no.

Sufficiency. Paul was content with God’s decision because he knew that God would supply sufficient grace for his trial. “He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you’ ” (v. 9). “He has said” is in the perfect tense in the Greek text, implying that every time Paul prayed, God said the same thing and kept on saying it. “My grace is sufficient for you” was his standing answer. After three times, Paul dropped the request. This was not a sign that Paul gave up on God, but that he rested in God’s sufficient grace.

Power. The same suffering that reveals our weaknesses reveals God’s strength, “for power is perfected in weakness” (v. 9). When we are least effective in our human strength and have only God’s power to sustain us, then we are suitable channels through which His power flows. And so we should praise God for adversity because that’s when His power is most evident in our lives. There is no one too weak to be powerful, but there are many too strong.

Contentment. Paul gives us a key principle in verse 10: “Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” Paul embraced his deepest trouble as a friend to lead him to greater spiritual usefulness.

Conclusion

God’s grace is more than sufficient for your every need. Is your relationship with Him deep and trusting enough to draw you to Him during times of difficulty? Are you content to endure weaknesses, insults, distresses, and persecutions for Christ’s sake so that you can be spiritually strong even amid physical and emotional weakness?

The story is told of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, who was riding home one evening after a heavy day’s work, feeling weary and depressed, when the verse came to mind, “My grace is sufficient for you.”

In his mind he immediately compared himself to a little fish in the Thames River, apprehensive lest drinking so many pints of water in the river each day he might drink the Thames dry. Then Father Thames says to him, “Drink away, little fish. My stream is sufficient for you.”

Next he thought of a little mouse in the granaries of Egypt, afraid lest its daily nibbles exhaust the supplies and cause it to starve to death. Then Joseph comes along and says, “Cheer up, little mouse. My granaries are sufficient for you.”

Then he thought of a man climbing some high mountain to reach its lofty summit and dreading lest his breathing there might exhaust all the oxygen in the atmosphere. The Creator booms His voice out of heaven, saying, “Breathe away, oh man, and fill your lungs. My atmosphere is sufficient for you!”

Let us rest in the abundance of God’s wonderful grace and the total sufficiency of all His spiritual resources. That’s the all-sufficient Savior’s legacy to His people.

“May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure” (1 Peter 1:2)!

See previous parts of this series: Contaminated Cures for Soul Care;

 Insufficient Help, Part 1;  Insufficient Help, Part 2;

God's Sufficient Word, Part 1; God's Sufficient Word, Part 2;

God's Sufficient Spirit;

Posted with permission:

http://www.gty.org/blog/B140919/gods-sufficient-grace

 

Contaminated Cures for Soul Care

Contaminated Cures for Soul Care

What is your response when someone bares their soul to you, sharing their emotional or spiritual struggles?

Few things reveal our inadequacy more than listening to someone’s problems and not having a clue what to say. When people use words like “depression,” “anxiety attack,” “addiction,” or “mental illness,” we tend to shrink back. These are words that describe deep problems, likely requiring a combination of medication and professional counseling. Or do they?

During the last century, the church began to drink from the well of psychology. The water promised to be the elixir that would resolve emotional, mental, and even spiritual problems. Psychology cast troubles in a new light, identified new sources for our problems, and proposed new solutions to solve them.

Even with its multitude of contradictory theories and questionable therapies, psychology has successfully altered how the world thinks about and responds to the problems of life. Tragically, setting aside its infinite spiritual resources, the church of Jesus Christ embraced this revolution of humanistic thinking.

A Movement in the Wrong Direction

For centuries the burden of caring for the souls of men and women was gladly borne by the church. With its trust in Scripture, its empowerment by the Spirit, and the all-sufficient grace of Christ, the church could provide comfort in affliction, light in darkness, rebuke in rebellion, help in weakness, and hope in every trial.

Famous preachers of the past are known rightfully for their faithful expositions, powerful evangelism, and insights into Scripture. But many of these men were also exemplary in their care for sinning and suffering saints through their preaching, writing, and counseling.

A supreme example of intense and practical pastoral care is Richard Baxter’s A Christian Directory—an extensive work on practical Christian living and handling life’s problems. John Bunyan, Thomas Watson, John Owen, and many other puritan pastors likewise left a legacy of faithful preaching and shepherding souls.

In contrast, many of today’s preachers are known almost exclusively for engaging and culturally relevant sermons that merely scratch the felt needs of their congregations. So what happens when someone seeks help for intense personal struggles? It is common for him or her to be referred to a professional counselor outside the church.

Most churches are no longer centers of soul care. Whatever else they are, they are not the place where sinning and suffering souls can go for help and comfort.

The Wrong Kind of Help

Admittedly, many charismatic churches seek to be places of spiritual healing. Healing Rooms International is a clear attempt by charismatic churches to care for troubled souls. Additionally, books and sermons from charismatic leaders address the struggles of life in an attempt to meet the needs of the suffering.

The problem is their solutions are no better—and perhaps worse—than the humanistic doctrines of psychology. Just like psychology, charismatic soul care comes with its own set of unique terms, diagnoses, and solutions.

Leanne Payne is a leading voice in charismatic soul care. Through her writing and teaching ministry, she has trained thousands in her unique view and style of healing prayer.

In her book, The Healing Presence: Curing the Soul Through Union with Christ, Payne has strong words for those who rely on humanistic theories and practices. She rallies support by saying, “This is why our eclecticism (so prevalent in the Church today, as many non-Christian ideas flood in) will not work. Herein is the (dreadful to some) exclusiveness of the Christian truth and reality that we are to proclaim” (p. 96).

And yet, her book is filled with quotes from evangelicals, Catholics, poets, novelists, and others. Scripture references are rare and scarcely used as the foundation of her ideas. Furthermore, she betrays a clear acceptance of at least some theories from psychology.

At one point Payne provides a case study of a man struggling with homosexuality. She writes:

The strong compulsion he suffered I’ve come to call the ‘cannibal compulsion,’ the twisted way we try to take into ourselves that which we think we lack. In reality, it is that within us which (for whatever reason) is unblessed, unaffirmed... The pedophile, for example, attempts to gain a childhood he never had by ‘swallowing up’ young boys[1]

While she coins her own term (“cannibal compulsion”), she essentially parrots the modern psychological dogma that one’s current struggles are the result of deficiencies in his childhood experience. What is clearly lacking in her diagnosis is the concept of sin, and therefore what was lacking in her treatment was repentance. How does Payne propose dealing with such problems? Offer a multi-sensory experience of healing prayer to heal past memories, the “diseased mind,” and most importantly, invoke God’s “healing presence.”

In fact, the very first chapter begins with a step-by-step example of how she sought to heal a man from fear and depression.

First, I applied holy water to his forehead and began the prayer by invoking the Presence of the Lord. In Christ’s name, I then broke and put to flight the demonic force that had been banding, ever more tightly, this young man’s mind. Next, anointing his forehead with the healing oil (making the sign of the Cross as the symbol of present and future protection of his mind), I prayed for God’s healing light and love to enter in and fill his mind and heart, to dispel all fear and torment, and to grant peace and quiet. Going on to gently press his temples, I sensed this cleansing and healing taking place, and continued thus to pray until I could give thanks to God that it was done.[2]

There is little in that ritual that resembles Christianity, and much akin to witchcraft. The Scripture provides no instructions that would lead one to develop such a practice.

Keep in mind, Leanne Payne is not an isolated practitioner. I was directed to her material by Dr. Michael Brown, a vocal critic of John MacArthur’s book Strange Fire, and a self-proclaimed leader in the charismatic movement.

One could also point to Bethel Redding’s “Prophetic Ministry” as a similarly mystical attempt to exercise the care of souls. Healing Rooms International, where similar practices also occur, has hundreds of locations in the United States, and hundreds more throughout the world. These are not isolated ministries in the dark corners of the church.

Turning to the Source

Thankfully, there is a growing movement to return to the true source of soul care. The Author of Life has not left us to invent coping mechanisms for life’s problems. He has given us abundant and sufficient resources in Scripture to handle struggles with sin and suffering.

That movement is known as the biblical counseling movement, which began in the 1970’s under the guiding light of Jay Adams. To promote biblical soul care and ensure continued fidelity, the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (formerly the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors) actively equips and certifies counselors through numerous training seminars and conferences. In fact, John MacArthur will be a featured speaker at this year’s national conference addressing the issue “God’s Truth in a Culture of Mental Illness.”
True biblical counseling is not about creating a class of professionals or new schools of thought. It does not have its own lingo, theories, and remedies. Rather, it returns the care of souls to its proper sphere—the church of Jesus Christ. It restores the only meaningful purpose to counseling—making more and better disciples of Christ. And it utilizes the only true power to change—the Word of God energized by the Spirit of God.
True biblical counselors are not professionals. They are Spirit-empowered, Scripture-saturated, compassionate members of the body of Christ. Some, by virtue of their gifting and calling, may be pastors or vocational counselors. But the majority of biblical counselors are simply mature believers skilled in wielding the sword of the Spirit as they care for those with serious emotional or spiritual struggles.

It’s been said, “Everyone is a counselor—you’re either a good one or a bad one.” While we may often feel inadequate in responding to the spiritual needs of others, that feeling is not due to our lack of resources; for “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness...” (2 Peter 1:3). I’m persuaded we often feel inadequate because for too long the church has taken its cues from the world and convinced us that, indeed, we are inadequate.

For the next two weeks we will be focusing our blog posts on the insufficiency of psychology and the all-sufficiency of Scripture, the Spirit, and grace. John MacArthur will correct the false advertising of the world’s ideas, drawing our attention back to the rich resources we have in Christ. This is a series you won’t want to miss.

The next part is: Insufficient Help, Part 1

Gabriel Powell
Internet Ministry Coordinator

posted with permission: http://www.gty.org/blog/B140908/contaminated-cures-for-soul-care

You won't believe my experience with obamacare!

So, how do my fellow American's feel about being blackmailed by their own government now? Fun, huh? We weren't going to sign up just because we don't like being blackmailed, but I caved at the last minute, and you won't believe what happened! Let me preface what happened to me, with what various friends from my area have told me about the insurance they were forced to get through obamacare first though, and you'll see other reasons why we didn't want anything to do with it.

Most of the people we know don't have a lot of money. They live in NH as we do and live pay check to pay check or are on fixed incomes due to disability. Since we don't have hardly any money at all coming in anymore as Bruce still has been unable to find a job and NH cut everyone's unemployment, we assumed our experience would be similar to theirs.

1. All but one person was forced to pay ridiculous amounts for their insurance - amounts they not only couldn't afford, but were way more then they could afford.

2. Everyone that had insurance beforehand, of course lost their insurance, even though obama promised that we could keep our insurance if we liked it.

3. Most are unable to see their doctors they had before...many which have gone to the same doctor all their lives, but can't any longer. Nor can they use our local hospital any longer, but instead will have to drive long distances if they need to go to one.

4. Quite a few of these folks are on meds that can't be suddenly stopped and if not taken could be life threatening. Of course these meds are also very expensive. Due to obama's insurance though, they've had a great deal of trouble refilling their meds or in some cases getting a new prescription for them since they had to change doctors and the new doctor knew nothing about them. Some went several weeks without their meds due to this. NOT good!!!

5. All but one (again lol) now has to pay a HUGE deductible before they'll get any help at all from their wonderful new obamacare insurance. I'm talking HUGE, like $4000 or $5000 dollars and more! Until that's paid they get 0 help with doctor visits, prescriptions, or anything else. So what good is it?

6. The same folks I spoke about in #5 who have those huge deductibles, for some of them, the ONLY thing the insurance would cover even once that deductible was paid, was hospitalization. No help at all with anything else.

Since I know you guys all have good heads on your shoulders, even though our president doesn't seem to be smart enough to figure this out, I'm sure you can see by the above that these things create very big problems for a great many of the seniors, the elderly, those on disability, or with serious medical problems. (aren't those the ones it was supposed to help though?)

So I'm sure you can see why we weren't all that crazy about signing up for it. But good old obama didn't give anyone much of a choice did he? As a matter of fact it reminds me a great deal of the Mark of the Beast. The antichrist will force folks to take that mark or they won't be able to buy or sell anything. Today, we're forced to have this insurance or we'll have to pay a penalty. So, if you're too poor to pay for insurance, then you'll have to pay the penalty, right? Yeah...makes a lot of sense to me too.... But I can see it's preparing the way for the Mark. People in America are getting more and more used to being told what they must do.

So, I go to the marketplace and of course the site was down. I go back later and am then told that they're too busy but I can leave my email address and they'll let me know when they can help me. So I do. I never got a reply. So I called them the next day, April 1st and explain what happened. First lady tells me "tough, you'll have to pay the penalty". I admit, I got rude... I said, "Oh, so Obama lied when he said if we had problems getting through that we could have an extension and still get it?"She didn't have a comeback for that but simply kept repeating verbatim, an obviously typed out statement that I'd have to pay the penalty. I told her I wanted to speak to a supervisor. She got a little snotty then, but finally did connect me to one.

I told the supervisor the same story and she immediately said, "no problem, I'll sign you up!" Supervisors are great So I spend the next hour with her giving her all the facts and figures and swearing I wasn't lying etc. She puts it all through her little computer and comes back and tells me she has "good news and bad news". The bad news was that I couldn't get any insurance at all unless I paid full price for it. Now, you're all probably thinking that she's going to say it's because we make too much money so they're tables say we can afford to pay, right? Wrong!!!! She said we'd have to pay full price because we didn't make enough money!!!! She quoted the bottom figure for getting help paying for health insurance and then told me that with our income, we'd literally have to make twice as much as we did, plus a couple of dollars, in order to get help.

Well, I couldn't help it. By then I was laughing and couldn't stop! (she started laughing too) When I could get the words out, I finally asked her what the "good news" was. She said that because of the situation, we wouldn't have to pay the penalty. So the bottom line is that we're too poor to get insurance of any kind, but that obama will at least let us off the hook so we won't have to pay the penalty. Isn't that nice of him????

Of course, because of obamacare, we can't see any of the specialist doctors we go to, like Bruce's cardiologist, or our rheumatologist, because the hospitals they work out of no longer will help people who have little or no income. But, at least since we don’t have obama’s insurance yet, we can still see our primary care doctor, who we've both known forever, (yeah, we're that old ) and go to our local hospital. So that's better then nothing, but it's only because they're not effected by obamacare since our hospital isn't part of the obamacare plan in NH.  Next year will be a different story however.  We’ll have to again decide if we’re going to allow ourselves to be blackmailed by our government into getting their health insurance.

So, how did the rest of you fare with obamacare? I sure wish I still lived in America...the way it used to be.....