Christian Fools - preached by Arthur W. Pink

[Baruch]

I found this an audacious sermon, in a good way. This sermon details Pink's explanation of the causes of salvation, which has been a hotly debated topic since the early church, and perhaps much more so since the Reformation. I'm starting this new thread from the point in the ongoing Trinity discussion, which branches at these two posts:

Post by Glen that ventures into the broad range of Theology

Short reply by me

Christian Fools - preached by Arthur W. Pink
https://alenahan1949.blogspot.com/20...ian-fools.html

[Lou Newton]

Thanks Barry.

Yes we have to trust in Jesus, we have to confess our sin, we have to follow His Holy Spirit, BUT we do all this by His grace and grace alone.

On on hand there are things we have to do, but on the other hand we can not take one bit of credit for any of them, for we are saved by grace and grace alone.

[glen smith]

Arthur W. Pink sermon on Luke 24:25

Either the Messiah of Israel is going to be a glorious and a triumphant Messiah, or else He is going to be a rejected and a humiliated one: they cannot both be true. That is why Christ said to them—not because of their failure to understand, but because of their lack of faith—“O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.”

Pink did what many reformed theologians do when applying their theology. At times he sounds more Arminian than Calvinist. It is easy to accept his points because of this in that he takes the scriptures used by Arminianism seriously rather than applying conditions to them not in the scripture text so as to make the interpretation fit Calvinistic doctrine. However, while doing this he continues to affirm he holds to the reformed doctrines, although they seem to me to be altered doctrines.

I found his statements about reason profound and pertinent even while being guilty of what he criticizes. In his defense, we are all guilty of these criticisms. The problem is that most Christian fail to recognize this or to apply it to their opinions. Below are some of the statements by A. Pink on why the teachings of the Bible are rejected by Christians. I rave about this regularly. A. Pink states the case so clearly and simply, and that is why the Church continues to read him and never bothers with mine. All should praise the LORD that there are smart people proclaiming the gospel.

They were like some people today: when it comes to their theology; they walk by reason and by logic rather than by faith.

there are many who only believe what they can understand, they do not believe it. If they have devised to themselves a systematized theology (or more probably they have adopted someone else’s system of theology), and they hear a sermon (no matter how much Scripture there may be in it) which they cannot fit into their little system of theology, they won’t have it. They place a higher value on consistency than they do on fidelity.

they could not see the consistency of the two things and therefore they were only prepared to believe the one.

Those who reject one side of the teachings in the Bible are those
whose theology is narrower than the teaching of this Book.

most of the theological errors of the past have grown out of, not so much a denial of God’s truth, as a disproportionate emphasis of it.

They are reasoning: they are walking by logic: they have drawn up their own scheme and system of theology and that which they cannot fit exactly into that scheme, somewhere, well, away with it!

If instead of you trusting in the sacrificial blood of Christ, you are trusting in something that you believe the Spirit has done in you, you are building your house upon the sand, which in time of testing will fall to the ground.

Back when I was a teenager my pastor preached a series of sermons on Bible Paradoxes. The idea was intriguing. It was within the paradox where the lesson of the story was made clear. Afterwards he published the sermons in a booklet.

Applying the idea of the paradoxes in biblical stories to theology might help overcome the deficit understanding which A. Pink addresses in this sermon.