Got Jesus? No, Does Jesus Got you?
Good Evening. A Puritan’s Mind brings you the old time radio program The Wild Boar News Podcast from Sunny South Florida. Welcome, I’m Dr. Matthew McMahon.
Got Milk? The popular ads of celebrities drinking milk with a milk moustaches have been sweeping the nation for the last ten years. It makes milk attractive, or so they think. From such ads various spin offs have escalated.
One such spin-off can be found in the Evangelical equivalent of the National Enquirer Tabloid “The Good News of South Florida.” In the August Edition, page 17, the editors have conveniently tossed in a short ad of sorts.
It asks, “Got Peace?” No, they don’t have picture of a long haired Jesus with a milk moustache. Its worse. They have what they consider, a Gospel message.
It says, “This is what the Bible tells us. Your heart tends to run from God and rebel against Him.” I’m not sure what Bible they’re reading, but my Bible says my heart, before conversion, is wicked, debased and hates God. It does not tend to run from it, rather, it always runs from God. They say that “the Bible calls this “tending” to run, sin.” Well, this is not the biblical picture. In question 14 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, it asks, “What is sin?” The Confession answers, “Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.”
The Good News Tabloid then continues, “Yet, God loves you and wants to save you from sin.” Well, apart from the fact that we can’t find Scripture supporting such an idea, this kind of talk makes God impotent to save, if he wanted to. Does God want things He can’t have? Or is God all powerful? The Westminster Confession says in Chapter 3, “God from all eternity did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass.” Scripture says in Daniel 4:35, “All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, "What have You done?"”
The Good News Tabloid then continues, ”Faith is a decision of your heart demonstrated by the actions of your life.” No. The Westminster Confession states, “The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts, and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word; by which also, and by the administration of the sacraments and prayer, it is increased and strengthened.” Justifying faith is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and word of God.
The Good News Tabloid then ends this little ditty with telling the person to pray and thank God for new life.
Got Peace? The Good News Tabloid seems to think that people should ask, much like the milk commercial, “Got Jesus?”
The Bible, in contrast to The Good News Tabloid, asks if you know “Does Jesus Got you?”
Scripture says that we can know God, no doubt, but only after, as Galatians says 4:9, you “rather are known by God.”
No, people don’t “Got Peace” or “Got Jesus”. The real question is whether or not Jesus has you.
This is Dr. Matthew McMahon signing off.
