I’m referring, naturally, to life. There is physical life and there is spiritual life. Physical life is obvious—spiritual, not quite so obvious. In fact, if I hadn’t brought it up, if you aren’t a Christian, you probably wouldn’t have even thought about it. Only Christians have good reason to think about such a thing. And even they need to be reminded.

“How is that?” you ask.

“Well, only the Christian has information about the issue from Someone who has not only the right but the authority to speak about it. When Jesus speaks, Christians listen—or they ought to. He’s the One Who, when He spoke about fear, told us not to fear those who could kill the body and do nothing more, but to fear the One Who can throw both body AND SOUL into hell. So, He made it absolutely plain that there is more than a physical existence.

The spirit (or soul ((The two words refer to the same, non-material aspect of man. The word “soul” is used when referring to the spirit in union with the body, while the word “spirit” is used when referring to the soul disunited to the body.))) in addition to the body has a life before God. Indeed, though they are now inseparable, they time will come when at the death of the body they will temporarily be separated. The human being, at that time (prior to the resurrection of the justified and the unjustified), will know only a spiritual existence. It will be a conscious existence, and will be in what God calls Paradise (bliss), or in Gehenna (a place of suffering).

Jesus has the right to speak about such matters because “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” All life is in His hands. He gives life to those whom He enlightens to believe the Gospel. Eternal life (as opposed the eternal death—described as suffering in the lake of fire) is His to grant. Moreover, He came that we “might have life and have it more abundantly.”

Spiritual life, then, is a genuine concern to believers—it is a life lived with God—here, imperfectly; in eternity—perfectly. It ought to be of concern to unbelievers as well: they should heed Christ’s words about Who should be the object of their fear. Thinking of the body cast into Gehenna, together with the soul, ought to be a fearful concept which, as Jesus inferred, ought to make one stop and think twice about where he places his trust. Is it in men or in God? Is it in Christ or in the world?

Only those whose spirits have been cleansed from sin by the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross for those who would believe, have reason to expect to live eternally with Him. For them is laid up treasures in heaven that they shall enjoy forever. Give it a thought, believer—are your laying up abundant treasures in heaven, or a meager amount of the same? Think about it unbeliever—are you willing to turn aside from life that is really life out of fear of man?

Check out our online courses, including, Introduction to Nouthetic Counseling and  The Use of Scripture in Counseling, taught by Jay Adams!

Books related to counseling others:

1. Competent to Counsel by Jay Adams
2. The Christian Counselor’s Manual by Jay Adams
3. How to Help People Change by Jay Adams
4. The Use of Scripture in Counseling by Jay Adams
5. Sanctification and Counseling by Jay Adams
6. Critical Stages in Biblical Counseling by Jay Adams
7. Check out our Bookstore for all the best counseling books!

The Christian Counselor’s New Testament and Proverbs, translated by Jay Adams

Visit our online bookstore for all your biblical counseling resource needs.
For more biblical counseling training, check out our list of INS Online Courses.

Follow INS on Social Media:
– Facebook: noutheticstudies
– Twitter: @noutheticstud
– Instagram: @noutheticstudies

The post Two Kinds of Life appeared first on Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling.

Speak My words to them whether they listen or refuse to listen . . .   (Ezekiel 2:7)

The Word of God must be proclaimed, and refusal to hear it is no excuse from preaching it. You may become discouraged, ready to throw in the towel and about to turn from the pulpit, but those are not excuses from preaching the message. Count on it—less and less people are going to listen to you. Our society has changed. You will be laughed at, ignored, or even outcast from your present post–but the Word must be preached regardless. Indeed, there will be less and less who will listen to the pure words of God (they’ll run to other venues where it is preached in conjunction with untruth or watered down teaching), but small though your church may become, hang in there and preach all the harder, clearer and more powerfully. God will bless—in one way or another.

Books dealing with Preaching:

1.  Preaching with Purpose by Jay Adams
2.  A Consumer’s Guide to Preaching by Jay Adams
3. Whole Counsel by Donn R. Arms, et. al.

The Christian Counselor’s New Testament and Proverbs, translated by Jay Adams

Visit our online bookstore for all your biblical counseling resource needs.
For biblical counseling training, check out our list of INS Online Courses.

Follow INS on Social Media:
– Facebook: noutheticstudies
– Twitter: @noutheticstud
– Instagram: @noutheticstudies

The post It Makes No Difference appeared first on Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling.

Paul did not labor that he might receive grace, but he received grace in order that he might labor.
Augustine, De gestis Pelagii xiv, 36

No distinction could be more important to our salvation.

Augustine knew what many over the years have not known—salvation is not of works; it produces good works.

He speaks of grace. Grace is something unmerited. It is an enabling power. Romans 8: 8 says that those who are “in the flesh [unsaved persons] CANNOT please God” (emphasis mine).” Yet people are always trying to do so by their own ability. The fact is that they are not able to do so: “Not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

That’s why they need the grace of God, regenerating and giving them the ability to believe the Gospel. Prior to that grace which brings spiritual life, one is dead spiritually; he cannot believe.

Roman Catholics have always believed that there is an element of ability left in man to which God may appeal. The Bible teaches otherwise. To be dead, isn’t to still have a little life left!

So, we are grateful to God, who provides for every aspect of salvation—from beginning to end. That provision is called grace.

Grace is an interesting concept—difficult for proud man to fathom. Men want to contribute something-if not everything—to their regeneration and justification.

There were some Puritans who believed by works, you could “prepare” yourself for regeneration, and they set people on long periods of becoming sensible to their sins, so that the Gospel could be given to them when ready. Not so. In Scripture, people are saved on the spot at having heard to GOOD News for the first time. Consider the Ethiopian Eunuch; Lydia (who had to have her heart opened to believe), or the Philippian jailer.

Alleine’s Alarm to the Unconverted is a handbook of Preparationism and ought to be avoided at all costs. It talks about all sorts of works, but in the chapter called “Directions to the Unconverted,” he never once says, “Repent and believe the Gospel.”

People are saved by grace through faith—which leads to works as a result of conversion.

Check out our online course, Theology and Counseling taught by Jay Adams!

Books related to dealing with problems:

1. A Theology of Christian Counseling by Jay Adams
2. Sanctification and Counseling by Jay Adams
3. Christ and Your Problems by Jay Adams

The Christian Counselor’s New Testament and Proverbs, translated by Jay Adams

Visit our online bookstore for all your biblical counseling resource needs.
For biblical counseling training, check out our list of INS Online Courses.

Follow INS on Social Media:
– Facebook: noutheticstudies
– Twitter: @noutheticstud
– Instagram: @noutheticstudies

The post Grace Alone appeared first on Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling.

It isn’t as popular, however, to talk about religion today—unless derogatorily. Frankly, I hope the era of excessive talk about politics will soon recede and men and women will once again talk about religion. There once was a time, older people told me, when, after a Dwight L. Moody campaign in Baltimore, streetcars filled with people singing hymns could be found rolling along throughout the city. It was because Moody suggested that something be done to reach sailors at the harbor of Baltimore, that Port Mission was formed—a mission at which I worked one time, evangelizing young children, and out of which we held street meetings for the populace. There was a day, then, when religion—not just any religion but the religion of Jesus Christ—was a chief matter of discussion. May such times reappear!

What can you do to help that transformation of this secular country to take place? You can begin to speak more about Christianity wherever you are. Things have changed so that in many communities people don’t even know their neighbors. They are isolated from them at times when they can simply talk. People used to sit out on their porches on a summer evening, visiting and chatting with each other. Now, they spend time in front of an HD wall TV in air-conditioned comfort. Progress? Electronically? Yes. Socially? No. What came naturally, yesterday, must be done deliberately today. It is necessary to “make time” to do what just “happened” in past eras.

So, what shall we do? Well, it will take creative new ways to bring about what once were “givens.” It will mean thought, effort, and dedication if we are ever to bring about conditions where people, in mass, begin to congregate around discussions of the faith. Perhaps you can be a catalyst in your community. For starters, you can talk more to more people in more places about Jesus Christ. Perhaps you can become a “community organizer”—not for some political cause—but for the Lord!

Check out our online course, Counseling Problems taught by Donn Arms!

Books related to dealing with problems:

1. Competent to Counsel by Jay Adams
2. The Christian Counselor’s Manual by Jay Adams
3. Christ and Your Problems by Jay Adams

The Christian Counselor’s New Testament and Proverbs, translated by Jay Adams

Visit our online bookstore for all your biblical counseling resource needs.
For biblical counseling training, check out our list of INS Online Courses.

Follow INS on Social Media:
– Facebook: noutheticstudies
– Twitter: @noutheticstud
– Instagram: @noutheticstudies

The post "I Never Talk About Religion or Politics" appeared first on Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling.

On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of  Judea and Samaria . . . So, those who were scattered went on their way preaching the message of good news (Acts  8:1,4, HCSB).

In the original, verse 4 reads “those who were scattered abroad went everywhere announcing the message of good news. (or “evangelizing;” the Greek is euaggeliezomenoi). And, as the context shows, Paul was a part of those who did the scattering. One way God evangelizes is through persecution.

Today, there is persecution of the church throughout the world.  Andrew Brunson is an example.  We prayed for his release (as we should) but also prayed that God would enable him to win some Turks to Christ. Remember how God used Paul and his companions to reach the Philippian jailer and his family for Christ and how the Praetorian Guard heard the message because of Paul’s trial in Rome (Acts 16: 31-34; Philippians 1:12. 13).

Notice, in the text of Acts 8:41-4 how it was “all except the apostles” who went everywhere evangelizing.  Up until then the church had been bottled up in Judea. But God scattered the laymen who were part of the church to evangelize in all of those places where they went. The task was not left to the apostles alone, although they were the ones to whom the Great Commission was given (Matthew 28: 16-20).

Should persecution come to America, scattering believers, they know that God is providentially providing opportunities to evangelize. And they should seize them. But they (you) should not wait for such an “opportunity”—you and the members of your congregation should not have to be driven to do evangelism—it should be the desire of everyone to evangelize as the result of the present freedom that they enjoy. Your task is for everyone to evangelize everywhere!

Check out our online course, The Use of Scripture in Counseling, taught by Jay Adams!

1. What to do on Thursday
2. The Christian’s Guide to Guidance 
3. A Call for Discernment

The Christian Counselor’s New Testament and Proverbs, translated by Jay Adams

Visit our online bookstore for all your biblical counseling resource needs.
For biblical counseling training, check out our list of INS Online Courses.

Follow INS on Social Media:
– Facebook: noutheticstudies
– Twitter: @noutheticstud
– Instagram: @noutheticstudies

The post Everyone Evangelizing Everywhere appeared first on Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling.

“What’s that?”

The fact that some of us are tired of hearing weak, feeble presentations of the gospel that sometimes come even from those we respect in other ways.

“Such as?”

Such as ‘Take Jesus into your heart.’ Show me anything comparable to that in Scripture!

“OK. What else?”

‘Let me share Jesus with you.’ Or the bare, ‘Trust Jesus as your Savior’ and the lot. Many of them present Jesus as an add-on Who merely makes life more pleasant.

“Well . . . “

No ‘Wells’ about it—that’s not preaching the gospel.

“OK, then, how do you preach it?”

The way that Paul did. Listen to his words in I Corinthians 15: 1-3:

This is the good news that I preached to you by which you were saved. . . How that Christ died for our sins in agreement with the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day in agreement with the Scriptures.

When he told them that this was the good news he preached, here is what his message was:

1. Good news. News has to do with something already accomplished. So, the preacher of the Gospel is a reporter. He is not asking people to do something to be saved, but to believe in two events that have already occurred. What needed to be done had already been accomplished before Paul began to preach.
2. But, notice, Paul sets forth the fact that Jesus died for our sins. That means there is bad news over against which the good news is brought. The bad news is that apart from salvation from it, people are headed toward eternal punishment for their sins.
3. The first of the two events, which are the very essence of the gospel, is that the preacher reports that Christ died for the sins of His people. That’s good news because it means He took the punishment due them for their iniquities, so that their sins could be forgiven and they could go to heaven.
4. The second of those two essential events is that, though dead and buried, Jesus rose from the dead. In this way, we have a living Savior to Whose sacrifice of Himself God gave approval by raising Him from the dead. A “Savior” on the cross alone has not defeated death, and is no Savior.
5. In addition, Paul declares that both of these factual events were predicted in the Old Testament, so that we have the added assurance that the gospel is really the good news that it purports to be, since it fulfilled prophecy to the full.

If you are presenting the Gospel, you call on acknowledged, repentant, sinners to receive the finished work of Christ by faith. Faith doesn’t save, but it is the means by which one is able appropriate the message of salvation reported in the Gospel.

“Oh! . . . . Uh. . . . Thanks.”

Check out our online courses, including, Introduction to Nouthetic Counseling and  The Use of Scripture in Counseling, taught by Jay Adams!

Books related to counseling others:

1. Competent to Counsel by Jay Adams
2. The Christian Counselor’s Manual by Jay Adams
3. How to Help People Change by Jay Adams
4. Check out our Bookstore for all the best counseling books!

The Christian Counselor’s New Testament and Proverbs, translated by Jay Adams

Visit our online bookstore for all your biblical counseling resource needs.
For more biblical counseling training, check out our list of INS Online Courses.

Follow INS on Social Media:
– Facebook: noutheticstudies
– Twitter: @noutheticstud
– Instagram: @noutheticstudies

The post The Gospel appeared first on Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling.

Why is an atheist a fool?

In answer, let me simply suggest one reason: no one knows enough to be an atheist.

If, for instance, God is a spirit, how would you be able to ascertain His whereabouts or non-whereabouts? You can’t see or feel a spirit. As of late, even with all of our electronic marvels, I haven’t yet seen a spirit-detector for sale. How can he know that there is no God?

Secondly, supposing he was able to go everywhere in search of God, how would he know that God wasn’t just one jump ahead of (or behind) him? To make the affirmation with any reasonable basis for it, he would have had to be everywhere at the same time to discover that God wasn’t there. But, of course, that would mean he is omnipresent and omniscient (and probably omnipotent) to be able to be there. But then, if he were all of these, he’d be God—and hardly be an atheist.

Now, I don’t want to let the agnostics off too easily. There are two kinds of agnostics. One doesn’t know, and one who doesn’t care. I don’t have much respect for the second. He doesn’t care enough to find out so he can tell his children whether there is or not. Shame on him. The other kind doesn’t know, but it troubles him immeasurably. He should keep on seeking: “Seek and ye shall find.” There’s hope for him.

Check out our online courses, including, Introduction to Nouthetic Counseling and  The Use of Scripture in Counseling, taught by Jay Adams!

Books related to counseling others:

1. Competent to Counsel by Jay Adams
2. The Christian Counselor’s Manual by Jay Adams
3. How to Help People Change by Jay Adams
4. Check out our Bookstore for all the best counseling books!

The Christian Counselor’s New Testament and Proverbs, translated by Jay Adams

Visit our online bookstore for all your biblical counseling resource needs.
For more biblical counseling training, check out our list of INS Online Courses.

Follow INS on Social Media:
– Facebook: noutheticstudies
– Twitter: @noutheticstud
– Instagram: @noutheticstudies

The post No Sensible Person Is an Atheist appeared first on Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling.