IM Podcasts

Universalist say; A compassionate and giving God must of necessity act in “grace” toward His creation. Their understanding of grace is that of sentimental indulgence whereby God accepts man’s behavior, whatever character is exhibited.

Despite their references to “sovereign grace universalism,” their premises seem to be another form of the “cheap grace.” This form of universalism misunderstands God’s love as sentimental giving, and misunderstands God’s GRACE as foolish indulgence.

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Whenever we attempt to discuss what is “universal,” we are inevitably delving into the broadest of categories, for “universal” refers to everything or everyone in the universe, without exception, encompassed in a singular category of thought. The very concept of “universalism” is extensively inclusive, meaning that it extends to all, without exception, and therefore includes all, without exception, in the class or category being considered. It necessarily comprehends an “all-ness in oneness” which allows for no exception.

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The Father makes it clear that He is the beginning and the end. If we were able to find all the spoken and inspired words describing God in the Word of God, we still would not come close to describing the Father of heaven. It will take eternity for us to discover all the attributes of God. This is the primary reason why we should be so excited about going to the Father and spending eternity with Him. I have my order in for multiple interviews!

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Listen to the life story of Dr. Phinney. His confessions of weaknesses and how the Lord build his ministry upon those weaknesses.

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The message of the cross is the message of the completed, finished work of God in Christ - the empty cross, whereupon all crucifixion activity has ceased, for Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and come to live within the indwelt Christian. The message of the cross is the message of liberating freedom to be all that God intends us to be by His grace in the out-living of His character within the frail human temperamental soul of man.

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Every reference to the "cross" and "crucifixion" in the entirety of the New Testament is applicable to one of the five categories: (1) the material object of the cross (2) the historical event of Christ's crucifixion on the cross (3) the theological significance of Christ's crucifixion on the cross (4) the Body of Christ's spiritual identification with Christ's crucifixion (5) the figurative usage of "taking up a cross."

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Misunderstandings and misinterpretations reveal a much broader mystical explanation of the cross and the crucifixion of Jesus, which needs to be addressed. There is a long history of “Christians” using the symbol of the cross in superstitious, mystical and fashionable ways.
The earliest indwelt Christians seem to have rejected the use of the cross as a symbol. This is because the cross was a despised execution instrument.

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Jesus spoke of "taking up," "bearing," or "carrying" a cross. We have noted that the first century Jews of Palestine were well acquainted with death by crucifixion on crosses, so there is no reference in Jesus' prior comments about a "cross" unless we are reading into those comments reference to Jesus' own experience of crucifixion, which was yet to transpire. There is no doubt that the death of Jesus Christ on a cross was "foreknown before the foundation of the world" (1 Peter 1:20; cf. Rev. 13:8). But it occurred historically in the first century, and that historical crucifixion was subsequent to the three occasions when Jesus spoke generally of "taking up a cross."

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The stumbling block, the scandal, the offense of the cross is that Jesus finished doing everything, which needed to be done before God. There is nothing we can do! This is "offensive" to the natural/unsaved man who wants to take some credit, who wants to think there is some merit in what he has done, who wants to be accredited for his part of the finished work of the Cross! There is no basis for any human pride in performance when we simply receive by faith what Christ did & does. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross and the subsequent availability of the divine life to all mankind, comprises the "finished work" - the sole basis of right relationship and fellowship with God.

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The death of Jesus Christ on a cross is an important truth of the Christian gospel. In fact, it is crucial to the gospel, the crux of the message, if we might employ additional English words derived from the Latin word crux, from which we also derive the English word "cross."

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