Understanding the Sabbath, Atonement, and Church's Role

"GODFREY: Well, it's interesting to me as a church historian that almost all Protestants in America through the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, well into the twentieth century regarded Sunday as a Christian Sabbath. And then somewhere around the 1960s probably, an age of rebellion generally, there were many evangelical voices raised to say there really is no connection between Sunday and the fourth commandment of the Old Testament." [00:11:36]

"GODFREY: When it comes to the fourth commandment, the critical question is, 'Is the Sabbath of the fourth commandment simply a Mosaic institution in which one could well argue it has passed away with so much of the Mosaic institutions for Israel, or is it a creation institution, in which case in some sense it continues forever with creation?' And my argument would be, one of the most important things we're taught in Genesis 1 and 2 is that God not only created in six days, but rested on the seventh day and blessed the Sabbath." [00:49:08]

"ARDAVANIS: Well, I hit that on Friday night. Of course, that's in John 1:29 when John the Baptist set his eyes on Christ. And it's really kind of a fascinating verse, 'Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,' and obviously that picture goes back to the Old Testament sacrifices that were being made. The writer of Hebrews said that they would be offered time and time again, and the atonement was in that blood according to Leviticus 17:11." [00:30:30]

"LAWSON: Well, obviously, both are taught in Scripture. I mean John 3:16 is Scripture, and there are two ways to look at it. I personally think that those are the words of Christ that extend through verse 21 that Christ is still addressing Nicodemus as opposed to that being John's own commentary of what has preceded. And there are two ways of looking at it. One is that John 3:16 would be a universal offer of the gospel couched in those terms." [00:46:56]

"GODFREY: I think sometimes this question arises just like this or in other forms on the part of people who think, 'If you believe in predestination, it's going to undermine evangelism.' And I think it's very important to say— what Steve said was exactly right and helpful— but I think it's important to say genuine Calvinism is never restrained in calling everyone to believe. And that's important for us to be very, very clear about." [00:51:12]

"LAWSON: The modern missions movement with William Carey, etc., etc., they were all five-point Calvinists. John Calvin himself sent out waves after waves after waves of students from his own, what we would call today 'seminaries,' the academy across the street. He sent missionaries out as far away as Brazil to plant churches and to preach the gospel. And if you would read Calvin's own sermons, when he comes to the end of many sermons, he is very passionate in pleading with people in his own manners of expression to come to faith in Christ." [00:55:09]

"LAWSON: Well, the primary purpose of the worship service is not to attract the unbeliever. So, the seeker-sensitive movement has flipped the church upside down on its head. The primary purpose of the worship service, amazingly, is to worship. So, that sounds like an oxymoron. No, it's a truism. And so, we are here, first and foremost, soli Deo gloria, for the glory of God and to ascribe honor and glory and blessing to God." [00:58:08]

"LAWSON: We are not here to entertain the goats. We are here to worship the Great Shepherd and to build up the sheep. It is in that context according to 1 Corinthians 14 that unbelievers come into the service and they are so struck that this is so different from the world, that there is male leadership here. There is not a woman preacher, that the music is transcendent and majestic, and 'This isn't like the nightclub I was in last night, that when I come into church I am struck that I am in another world.'" [01:03:06]

"GODFREY: I do think as the church in particular we have to make clear to the world that we are not picking on certain sins and ignoring other sins. So, we have to be sure we preach as much against heterosexual sins as we do against homosexual sins, as much against premarital sex and as against adultery. And what is the great issue that many, many churches never speak to anymore? The issue of divorce." [01:07:05]

"GODFREY: And there are biblical grounds for divorce, I believe, but we have to be clear that the moral law of God applies across the board among us, not only in certain areas. I always say it's easy to preach against sins to which I am not attracted. It's harder to preach against the sins to which I am attracted, and we have to be careful about that in our ministry as a church in particular." [01:09:31]

"LAWSON: And to turn that battleship around is not easy. But what Scott just said, to preach the Bible, of course. And, second, I always had a men's, either Friday morning or Saturday morning, Bible study that would be a smaller setting and asked the elders to come, asked every Sunday school teacher to come, ask any man who wants to come and to teach them sound doctrine in a setting where you can raise your hand, ask me any question you want to ask me, which you can't really do in a sermon." [01:13:10]

"GODFREY: I've had the experience, I bet many of you have, of somebody coming to me and saying, 'I don't believe in predestination.' And I try to smile and say, 'Oh, you don't believe the Bible.' 'Well, what do you mean?' I say, 'Well, in Ephesians 1 Paul talks about predestination. You said you don't believe in predestination.' I love it when they have given us the Word. I could explain what an Arminian would interpret Ephesians 1 as being, but I don't really think that's my calling." [01:11:53]