Two Questions

Let's begin with a question. Isaiah 64:6 KJV: Are "All our righteousnesses" "as filthy rags"?

Isaiah says, Yes. Then question two: Is it impossible, in this age, for us fallen humans, to do righteous acts?

Let's study.

Today we begin a short new series: "All our Righteousnesses." Can humans have any righteousness? What is righteousness? Is everything we do tainted? Is any of what we do meritorious? What is and is not sin? Are we born sinners?

The starting place is always, What does the Bible teach? We find the word "sinner" or "sinners" more than 60 times in the Bible. Perhaps we have assumed we are born sinners. But let us turn to these texts and see what they say.

Scotsman Eric Liddell traveled to Paris to participate in the Olympic Games in 1924. Liddell was both a runner and a devout Protestant Christian. The 100 meters was his intended event but that contest had been scheduled to take place on a Sunday--a day Liddell was convinced was the Sabbath. Liddell was determined to remain true to conviction. Rather than "break the Sabbath" by competing on Sunday, instead he ran in the 440 meters, won, and set an Olympic record. And yet, his deepest ambition was to be a missionary. He went to China in 1925, in 1932 was ordained a minister, and accomplished fruitful work for Jesus until he died in 1945 in a Japanese internment camp.

Liddell said, "When I run, I feel His [God's] pleasure." He also said, "It has been a wonderful experience to compete in the Olympic Games and to bring home a gold medal. But since I have been a young lad, I have had my eyes on a different prize. You see, each one of us is in a greater race than any I have run in Paris, and this race ends when God gives out the medals."

Both interest and opposition characterize recent discussion of Last Generation Theology (LGT). But the concept of LGT is inherently biblical.

There will be a last generation of Christians; there will be Christians living when the door of mercy closes forever, when Jesus finishes His ministration for repentant sinners in the sanctuary in heaven, and when He returns at last to take us home. This very concept is built into the idea of the Second Coming. Jesus returns literally for those Christians who are living in that last fragment of time. If there is a final atonement, cleansing the camp of all sin, there is a final removal of all sin from the people.

argumentation-patterns-anti-lgt.pdf

When we review the theological raids made against Last Generation Theology in recent years, we observe a repeating pattern:

1. MISREPRESENTATION. What Last Generation Theology is, is misrepresented
2. TAKE DOWN. The misrepresentation is next knocked down
3. REPLACEMENT. A mistaken gospel is offered in replacement

This is a general pattern. Let’s consider concrete cases and provide correction.

[Segment #1: Dennis Priebe discusses the Mission of the Church.]

Segment #2: Larry Kirkpatrick presents a Synopsis of Last Generation Theology

A rodent on a rat wheel spins and spins in his cage. He doesn't go anywhere. But he rides over and over again.

God has assigned humans a higher mission than rats and His plan is not for us to spin a wheel. There is a purpose at the finish of the age. "In the beginning, God," and at the close, "Even so, come Lord Jesus." We are at the "Even so, come Lord Jesus" part.