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Here’s an article that Rosanna Montoya wrote for us. Read her story and see if you have ever had to sit through on of “these” church services. I enjoyed the part about the Jesus puppy! Let her know what you think in the comments section! 

Make Room For Jesus? 

By Rosanna Montoya

Christmas has come and gone and some of us may have been invited to a Church Christmas Program of some sort. For those of us who have Arminian family and friends, we may have gotten an invitation from them to attend one of their Christmas plays or hear a special guest speaker.  This past Christmas,  I was invited to an Arminian church to hear a special message and see a short play. At the end of the night, they gave an Altar Call. During the Altar Call, they presented a spiel of words that started to degrade the Person and work of God and His Sovereign rule over mankind. They made it seem that it was up to them to let God in their hearts and that God would wait for them to make the choice. They made God look and sound like a whimpering puppy who was longing to come into his owner’s house because it was freezing cold outside. This illustration is meant to give you an idea of how the night went. And let me tell you, it made me sick to my stomach!

I’ll never forget the words spoken by the speaker, “Make room for Jesus. All He needs is a little room. Once you give Him some room, He will take full reign of many areas of your life, like He did with mine.” The speaker referenced Luke. 2:7d, “because there was no room for them in the inn.”, to illustrate their point. They made mention of the rejection Mary and Joseph faced as they were sent away by the innkeeper because there was no room for them at the inn, and how Mary gave birth to Jesus in a manger and how Jesus had no place to sleep in comfort. She applied it to the people’s lives and said how we all need to give God a little room in our lives.

They went on to use Revelation 3:20 out of context. Revelation 3:20 says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” In context, this verse pictures Jesus seeking entrance into His own church (v.14, the church of Laodicea) for the purpose of renewed fellowship. They stressed that God was knocking at the door of their hearts and that it was up to them to open the door and let Him in. At that moment, I pictured a whimpering puppy at the door crying to its owner, “please let me in.” By using this verse, the Arminian makes it out to be, “man’s choice” and not God’s choice. The way the Arminians view salvation is by them thinking that they have a free will to choose God and that it’s on their timetable and not God’s. In Acts 9, Paul, who was then Saul, wanted nothing to do with the people who belonged to the Way. He persecuted the Christians and even had them killed. In the same chapter, God calls Paul unto salvation (mind you, at this time, Paul wanted nothing to do with God or His people)! This was the Lord’s doing. He called Paul while he was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. God had predestined Paul’s conversion before the foundation of the world.

Scripture points out that God is the one who calls and draws mankind unto Himself.

John. 6:44a says, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” We don’t have it in ourselves to come to Him unless it is granted by the Father. For in 2 Timothy 2:25b-26 it says, “if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they many come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”, and Psalm. 14:1-3, “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good. The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.” Acts 7:51 says, “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.” Salvation must be the willing and the doing of God alone (Philippians. 2:13). He is the only one that can open our hearts unto Salvation, just like He did with Lydia’s (Acts. 16:14). John. 15:16a says, “You did not choose me but I choose you.” In William Hendriksen’s NT Commentary on John, he comments on Verse 16a. “Though the disciples are Christ’s friends, this does not mean that they are on an equal footing with him. On earth friends generally choose each other, but the friendship of which Jesus speaks is different. It is one-sided in its origin. It was not brought about by gradual approach from both sides, as is often the case among men, but by Jesus alone! The words, “You did not choose me, but I chose you,” emphasize the free, independent, and spontaneous character of Christ’s love. The grounds of God’s love for us never lies in us, always in himself, for even apart from his love for us God is love. In his very essence he is love. The unconditional and sovereign nature of this divine love is shown also by such passages as the following:

Jehovah did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because Jehovah loves you…he has brought you out with a mighty hand” (Deut. 7:7,8).

“For mine own sake, for mine own sake will I do it” (Is. 48:11).

“O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God, because thy city and thy people are called by they name” (Dan. 9:19).

“I will heal their backsliding; I will love them freely” (Hos. 14:4).

“But God commands his own love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans. 5:8).

“He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, in order that we should be holy” (not: because he foresaw that we were going to be holy” (Eph. 1:4).

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John. 4:10).

“We love because he first loved us” (1 John. 4:19, p.307).

When we get to Heaven, we’re not going to tell God, “It’s because of my choice that I’m here. I had a free will and you waited for me to choose you!” No boasting will be tolerated! 1 Corinthians. 1:29 says, “so that no man may boast before God.” In Simon J. Kistemaker’s NT Commentary on 1 Corinthians, he says, “Paul concludes his lengthy discussion with a negative purpose clause that excludes any human boasting in God’s presence. When God reaches to the lowest level of existence to choose his own people and his own things and then exalts them, no one can ever claim credit for himself. God rules out all boasting in his presence, because not man but God himself deserves the praise and glory. As John Albert Bengel puts it: “We may glory not before him, but in him” (p.63). He goes on to say, “They must see that God has called them out of the world of darkness into the marvelous fellowship of Christ. Whatever they receive comes to them from God the Father, who loves them through his Son Christ Jesus” (p.64).

In the same chapter, verses 30-31 read, “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.” Kistemaker says, “He (Paul) points to God as the author of salvation. God sent his Son to save his people, to cleanse them from sin, and to bring them into his glorious fellowship. Paul can rightly say “because of him,” for God is the cause of man’s being in Christ Jesus” (p.64). “Should there be anyone who wishes to boast, he can do so only by boasting in the Lord and by giving thanks to God the Father for the person and work of Christ” (p.65).

We as Christians must understand the Lord’s Sovereign Rule over mankind and His saving grace in salvation. Who are we to tell him what to do, for he does as He pleases (Psalm. 115:3)! He is the Potter and we are the clay (Romans 9:21). We exist to glorify God and praise Him for all that He is and does in our lives. We owe our very salvation to Him, for He was the one who performed it and He seals our salvation (2 Cor. 1:22).  As we start out 2008,  may we call to question our beliefs and use God’s Word as our Final Authority.

Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to Thy cross I cling;

Naked, come to Thee for dress,

Helpless, look to Thee for grace;

Foul, I to the fountain fly;

Wash me, Savior, or I die.

- Thomas Hastings

This article will be posted in PDF in the BT Exclusives section of biblicalthought.com just as soon as we’re back to normal!