August 10, 2009

Woe Unto You

I just finished reading John Macarthur's newest book The Jesus You Can't Ignore: What You Must Learn From the Bold Confrontations of Christ.

I would highly recommend this book, but I will caution readers to prepare to be challenged by its message.

One quote from the book from Thomas Carlyle and one passage of scripture from Matthew best describe Macarthur's message:

From the 19th Century Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle:

How different is that honey-mouthed, tear-stained, soup-kitchen Jesus Christ of our poor shovel-hatted modern Christians from that stern-visaged Christ of the gospels, proclaiming aloud in the marketplace (with such a total contempt of the social respectabilities): "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" Descend from your Gigs, ye wretched scoundrels, for the hour is come!.......

Jesus of Nazarteh was of all men the least of a "Penny Lady" or comprehensive universal Soup-Kitchen character; he pitied sorrow and sin and pain, with an infinite, outbursting, helpful pity, wheresoever he met with it; but so likewise did he smite with an infinite, withering indignation whatsoever deserved that; and on the whole went about with a quite other object than consciously seeking either of these. "To do the will of My Father,"-----were it even that of being scourged out of existence, as a failure and a nonentity, and disgrace to the world."

From the book of Matthew, Chapter 7, Verses 21-27:

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

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