He who is God has the incontestable right and the irresistible ability to make, govern, use and dispose of all things according to his own will.
Jehovah does whate’er He please! — Don Fortner (Tune: Stand Up and Bless the Lord — SM)
Our sov’reign God maintains His universal throne; In heaven, earth and hell He reigns, And makes His wonders known.
His counsels and decrees, Mountains of brass, they stand; Jehovah does whate’er He please, And none can stay His hand.
All worlds, our God controls, By His own sov’reign will; Has mercy on all chosen souls; — And hardens whom He will.
Jacob by grace He saved, And gives no reason why; But Esau’s heart, He left depraved; — Who can His right deny?
What, if the Potter takes, Part of a lump of clay, And for Himself a vessel makes, And casts the rest away?
Who shall resist His will? Or say, “What doest Thou?” Jehovah is the sov’reign still, And all to Him shall bow.
Let humbled souls adore The Lord in all His ways. — His sov’reignty I can’t explore, But I will trust His grace.
Doctrinal Error or Damning Heresy
“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.” (2 Peter 2:1)
A friend once asked me, “Do you make a distinction between doctrinal error and damning heresy; and if you do what is it?” That is a good question and deserves a public answer. While I do not find such a distinction made in the scriptures between the use of the words “error” and “heresy,” the word “error” as we commonly use it is a much milder word than the word “heresy.”
In the New Testament distinctions were made between error and heresy. For example, Peter was in grave error in the dissimulation he made at Antioch. By his actions, he gave the appearance that believers should still be held under the yoke of the law; and, for this error, Paul publicly rebuked him (Galatians 2:11-21). However, his error was not damning heresy. Had he taught that men gain salvation or improve their relationship with God by obedience to the law, that would have been damning heresy (Galatians 5:2, 4).
This is where we must draw the line of distinction: — Doctrinal error is the misinterpretation or application of any biblical teaching. Damning heresy is any doctrine or practice that is contrary to salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Obviously, any teaching that allows the worship of false gods, denies the deity of Christ, his virgin birth, or vicarious atonement is damning heresy. But there are other forms of heresy far more subtle and dangerous.
To teach sprinkling for baptism is grave error, but not necessarily damning. However, to make baptism a condition of grace to any degree is damning heresy. To substitute grape juice for wine in the Lord’s Supper is serious error, though not damning to the soul. But to make the Lord’s Supper a sacrament by which grace is conferred upon a sinner is damning heresy. The list could be greatly enlarged. But there is one test by which damning heresy can always be identified. — Any doctrine that teaches, or any religious practice that leads people to believe that salvation is in anyway conditioned upon, dependent upon, or determined by the worth, work, or will of the sinner is damning heresy and always deadly to those who embrace it.
Arminian, free-will, works religion is as damning to the souls of men as Judaism, Islam, Catholicism or Satan worship. It is our responsibility to expose heresy by instructing men in the truth of the gospel and to reject those who will not obey the truth as self-condemned heretics (Titus 3:9-11).
“The Way Which They Call Heresy…”
Acts 24:14-16
Paul was accused of heresy by all the religious world around him. The fundamentalists and the liberals, the Jews and the Gentiles, all with one voice said he was a pestilent thing, a mover of sedition, a cause of strife, division and anarchy and a heretic.
When he stood before Felix to answer their charge, the apostle Paul boldly and plainly declared, “After the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers.” I declare the same thing to you.
“They” — They are the entire religious world which is set in opposition to the gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ. It matters not what denominational name they take. Their religion is essentially the same. They all teach that to some degree salvation depends upon and is determined by man: his will, his works, his decision, his choice, his baptism, etc.
“THE WAY” — There are just two ways of religion: the broad way and the narrow way, the way of Cain and the way of Abel, the way of Babel and the way of Noah, the way of works and the way of grace, the way of man and the way. — “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man.” It seems right to all men by nature that what a man is and does, by which he vainly imagines that he distinguishes himself from other men, must count for something with God. All the religions of this world, all the religions of “the great whore,” Babylon, adhere to this way. Arminian, freewill, works religion is the wine of Babylon’s fornications, by which the nations of the world are intoxicated and deceived. “But the end thereof are the ways of death.” It does not matter which of Babylon’s roads you take, all her ways are the ways of death.
There is only one way to God, only one way to heaven, only one way to life, only one way of salvation. The Son of God, our all-glorious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ says, “I am THE WAY. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Christ is the way. He alone can put us in the way; and he alone can keep us in the way. If you would be saved, you must be saved in this way. You must trust the Lord Jesus Christ alone as all your Wisdom before God, all your Righteousness (imputed and imparted), all your Sanctification and all your Redemption (by blood at Calvary, by grace in regeneration and in resurrection glory). If you look to yourself, in any way, to any degree, for any of these things, you are not in THE WAY (Galatians 5:2, 4).
“SO WORSHIP I THE GOD OF MY FATHERS.” — I do not worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, my physical fathers (Philippians 3:4-8). Flesh and blood have nothing to do with the knowledge and worship of God. I worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, my spiritual fathers. Like them, I bow to, believe, worship, adore and praise the one true and living God. — “We are the circumcision, (the true Israel of God, his true covenant people), which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”
Grace Bulletin
November 15, 2009
Grace Baptist Church of Danville 2734 Old Stanford Road-Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438 Telephone (859) 236-8235 - E-Mail don@donfortner.com
Donald S. Fortner, Pastor
Schedule of Regular Services
Sunday 10:00 A.M. Bible Classes 10:30 A.M. Morning Worship Service 6:30 P.M. Evening Worship Service
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