Every Man in A Sense is Another Abimelech in Genesis Chapter 20: A Feeble 20-Point Disputation on the Biblical, Historical and Theological Sermon on God's Real Freedom and His Superior Will Over the Will of His Creatures

 Dr. MA Petillo

Jerusalem the golden,
With milk and honey blest,
Beneath thy contemplation
Sink heart and voice oppressed.
I know not, O I know not,
What joys await us there;
What radiancy of glory,
What bliss beyond compare.
They stand, those halls of Zion,
All jubilant with song,
And bright with many an angel,
And all the martyr throng.
The Prince is ever in them,
The daylight is serene;
The pastures of the blessed
Are decked in glorious sheen.
There is the throne of David;
And there, from care released,
The song of them that triumph,
The shout of them that feast;
And they who with their Leader
Have conquered in the fight,
For ever and for ever
Are clad in robes of white.
O sweet and blessed country,
The home of God's elect!
O sweet and blessed country,
That eager hearts expect!
Jesus, in mercy bring us
To that dear land of rest;
Who art, with God the Father
And Spirit, ever blest.  (TH, 604).

Genesis 20:6 NASB

Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know....I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her..."

1.  The freedom of God is used by God to restrain the sinful wills of mankind from committing cosmic sin.

2.  God's freedom is greater than man's freedom.

3.  God is able to keep sinners from sinning without doing violence to their fallen wills.

4.  The only reason why sinners stop sinning is because God restrains them from cosmic rebellion.

5.  If holy God lifts His outstretched arm from a cosmic sinner, the sinner will no doubt fall into the evil habit of sin.

6. If God removes His hand from us and we sin, does that make a holy God the author of sin?  By no means at all!  God is supremely sovereign and He has the right over His fallen creatures to do as He pleases with them.  The sin never lies with a holy God, but the sin lies with fallen man.  God is the Supreme Potter and He causes its shape and forms it with His supernatural fingertips according to His good pleasure for allowing sin unto justice or allowing sin unto mercy.  The ultimate purpose of God removing His Hand from sinners is to glorify His dear Son either for mercy to the glory of the Cross or justice to the glory of Jesus in His relentless punishment in the place of eternal hell.

7.  Sometimes God removes His hand from an elect sinner and because He removes His hand, the elect sinner, sins, because He uses it for their ultimate good, because He has holds the secret in how He works even sin for their good of His chosen people alone when evil is not good and good is not evil.

8.  God may remove His Hand from an elect sinner for the good of corrective judgment but not corrective judgment unto damnation but corrective judgment unto the glorification of Jesus Christ alone in mercy through obedience to His command in confession of sin and to correct us to walk right before a holy God because He has plainly testified of holy godliness in His Word.

9.  The freedom of God is greater than the alleged freedom of man.

10.  The freedom of God always wins over fallen man and Satan.

11.  There is no just accusation against a holy God, because He is always sinless and perfect and never fails to do what is right.

12.  Fallen man seeks to "think" and "act" like a holy God in taking upon themselves their subjective notion of man-powered sovereignty in what is right in his own eyes, but when sinners do this it is no doubt idolatry and exaltation of sinners as a demi-god.

13.  Every sinner is another Abimelech.  How?  Sinners would be devils incarnate if they did not have God's restraining Hand upon them, but once He removes His all-powerful Hand there is no telling what sin he will fall into because of remaining corruption.  Does this excuse human responsibility?  God forbid!  A free God whether He removes His hand from you or keeps His hand upon you is not a deterrence to godly living but motivation for godly living, because He is working out even sin for your good and He always does what is right.  Does this mean we should sin because He is working out sin for our good?  God forbid!  If He is working all things out for our good, the Cross should not be a license or cover-up for sin.  Rather God's goodness should be a motivation to live right before a holy God.  Do not turn aside to the pig pen!  There are Christians who intentionally violate God's moral law so that grace may abound.  The infallible Word condemns this!  Those who applaud sin or do evil that good may come are committing cosmic treason and partake of the lawless deeds of those condemned at the Last Day who are sentenced to hell forever!  If you blame God for sin, it is no truth but more sin.  The ultimate goal of the Father is to bring His dear Son glory.  Bring your lawless deeds before His Cross and practice being a new creation.

14.  Christians who try to be like the world will led to bad things.  Never seek to be like the world.  Christians who think that grace may abound through license to sin are lawless.  Wake up!  Why do you pursue the interests of men over the interests of God? 

15.  Christians who reject the freedom of God have missed out on the Scriptural foundation of how everything came to be (it is a matter of honoring Jesus Christ in sound doctrine in demonstrating sound words in a sound faith by a sound Christian living).  Fallen sinners who say "this teaching is none sense!"  Suppose you sin or you don't sin, and you say "it is all me."  Your have rejected a true ultimate purpose for yourself, but have embraced the notion that you are the ultimate.  Fallen man sees himself as the sum and substance and the center of the universe.  However, if you see it God's way: namely, fallen man is not ultimate but a holy Triune God is ultimate because He alone is the self-existent Creator.  I suggest to you that fallen man is not ultimate but there surely is a foredetermined purpose through the hidden outworking Hand of God in the outward display of His divine providence clearly revealed in His infallible Word.

16.  Christians who reject human responsibility reject the command of God for godly living.  The only reason we have the concept of human responsibility is because of a predestinarian God.

17.  The world hates Christ but God hates the wicked.

18.  The elect from every tribe, tongue, people and nation love Christ but the damned of this dark world love self over a holy God.

19.  The freedom of God is that He chooses whomsoever He will.

20.  The freedom of God  is that He damns whomsoever He will.

'Tis not that I did choose thee,
For, Lord, that could not be;
This heart would still refuse thee,
Hadst thou not chosen me.
Thou from the sin that stained me
Hast cleansed and set me free;
Of old thou hast ordained me,
That I should live to thee.
'Twas sovereign mercy called me
And taught my op'ning mind;
The world had else enthralled me,
To heavenly glories blind.
My heart owns none before thee,
For thy rich grace I thirst;
This knowing, if I love thee,
Thou must have loved me first.  (TH, 96).

A Mere 30-Point Disputation on the Difference Between Christian and Worldly Ambition

 Dr. MA Petillo

O wherefore do the nations rage,
And kings and rulers strive in vain,
Against the Lord of earth and heav'n
To overthrow Messiah's reign?
Their strength is weakness in the sight
Of him who sits enthroned above;
He speaks, and judgments fall on them
Who tempt his wrath and scorn his love.
By God's decree his Son receives
The nations for his heritage;
The conqu'ring Christ supreme shall reign
As King of kings, from age to age.
Be wise, ye rulers of the earth,
And serve the Lord with godly fear;
With rev'rent joy confess the Son
While yet in mercy he is near.
Delay not, lest his anger rise,
And ye should perish in your way;
Lo, all that put their trust in him
Are blest indeed, and blest for aye.  (TH, 227).

1.  The sense of Christian ambition is a standpoint of humility.

2.  The chief understanding of Christian ambition is to honor Jesus.

3.  Arrogance is opposed to God-honoring Christian ambition.

4.  Self-importance is contrary to Bible-honoring divine truth concerning Christian ambition.

5.  Idolatry is the opposite of Christian ambition.

6.  The best gift is the God's predestinarian gift of Christian ambition, because He uses it to glorify Himself alone.

7.  The spiritual goals of Christian ambition is honoring the Word.

8.  Christian ambition is to honor the God-appointed gospel.

9.  Christian ambition should have approval of a holy God.

10.  Christian ambition does not boast of man's abilities.  Rather it is focused on the exaltation of God's glory alone.

11.  Christian ambition refutes those who contradict through the written Scriptures, but is not divided by strife.

12.  Christian ambition refutes those of sinful preeminence through the infallible Scriptures, but there is a true balance and place of the ruling eldership.

13.  Christian ambition is not a Pharisaical spirit.

14.  Christian ambition is not at war with sound leadership of the local church in the written Word preached.

15.  Christian ambition is not selfish ambition.  Are you calling yourself into Christian ministry?  Or has God really called you to publicly defend His divine and written Word?

16.  Worldly ambition is not Christian ambition, and Christian ambition is not worldly ambition.

17.  Worldly ambition is concerned with satanic pride, but Christian ambition is centered on glorifying and exalting Jesus Christ in all things for His glory.

18.  Worldly jealousy is not Christian ambition.  It is not wrong to see someone God has brought to some sort of ministry, and seek to be like them.  But watch out!  No one is the standard except God and His written Word.

19.  Worldly ambition is cosmic treason, but Christian ambition is honoring the God-centered gospel.

20.   Worldly ambition are the builders of Babel.  Have you sought to reach a holy God on your own?   Have you not read that God must be first and foremost in Christian living?

21.  Worldly ambition was seen in Korah's rebellion.  Are you rebelling against a holy God?  Have you rebelled against the writings of Moses that predicted the divine Messiah in Jesus Christ?

22.  Worldly ambition is seen in Abimelech, Absalom, Adonijah and Haman.  Do you place worldly ambition over a holy God?

23.  Christian ambition is seeking to arrive at the author's intended meaning of the written Word not their preconceived notions.

24.  Christian ambition is not for unbiblical tradition, but everything that conforms to the plain simplicity of the written Word.

25.  Christian ambition is not opposed to the plurality of the ruling eldership, but submits to them in the sense of properly handling the written Scriptures.  They may handle the written Word, but no one is above the written Word.

26.  It is better to have Christian ambition than worldly ambition.

27.  It is better to love Jesus than to love a false god.

28.  It is better to serve Jesus with godly humility than to rise above Him through idolatrous sin.

29.  God makes men to differ but man is the author of sin.

30.  We are called to love our neighbor or enemies, and a holy Triune God, because this is the godly living in the holy command of Jesus Christ in the written Word.

Jesus, I my cross have taken,
All to leave, and follow thee;
Destitute, despised, forsaken,
Thou from hence my all shalt be:
Perish ev'ry fond ambition,
All I've sought, or hoped, or known;
Yet how rich is my condition,
God and heav'n are still my own.
Man may trouble and distress me,
'Twill but drive me to thy breast;
Life with trials hard may press me,
Heav'n will bring me sweeter rest:
O 'tis not in grief to harm me
While thy love is left to me;
O 'twere not in joy to charm me,
Were that joy unmixed with thee.
Take, my soul, thy full salvation,
Rise o'er sin and fear and care;
Joy to find in ev'ry station
Something still to do or bear;
Think what spirit dwells within thee,
What a Father's smile is thine,
What a Saviour died to win thee:
Child of heav'n, shouldst thou repine?
Haste then on from grace to glory,
Armed by faith, and winged by prayer;
Heav'n's eternal day's before thee,
God's own hand shall guide thee there.
Soon shall close thy earthly mission;
Swift shall pass thy pilgrim days;
Hope soon change to glad fruition,
Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.  (TH, 593).

"The way to godly living is surprisingly simple: We are to walk with God in His appointed way (Micah 6:8), diligently using the means of grace and the spiritual disciplines, and waiting upon the Holy Spirit for blessing.  Note that godly living involves both discipline and grace.  This emphasis upon duty and grace is fundamental to Reformed, experiential thinking on godly living." (Joel R. Beeke, Feed My Sheep, ed. Don Kistler, Soli Deo Gloria Ministries, 2002, p. 115).

A Very Concise Sermon on the Real and True Biblical and Scriptural History of the God-Appointed Prophet Daniel in His Holy Obedience of Daring to Stand Alone

Dr. MA Petillo

What, ye ask me, is my prize?
What the secret to be wise?
What the wealth I value most?
What the Name wherein I boast?
Jesus, Jesus,
Jesus Christ, the Crucified.
Who the ground of my belief?
Who from guilt doth give relief?
Who my ransom once hath been?
Who forgiveth all my sin?
Jesus, Jesus,
Jesus Christ, the Crucified.
Who doth comfort me in woe?
Who protect me from my foe?
Who revives my fainting soul?
Who doth heal and make me whole?
Jesus, Jesus,
Jesus Christ, the Crucified.
Who by death hath conquered death?
Who receives my parting breath?
Who can grant me endless rest?
Who enrolls me 'mid the blest?
Jesus, Jesus,
Jesus Christ, the Crucified.  (TH, 435).

1.  Daniel is the name for God is my judge.  Let us keep in mind that God will "judge" the motivates of His people in Christ.  What happens if we are found "guilty?"  Jesus as our true Savior will not see us condemned even if we had wrong motivates (Romans chapter 8), but He will decrease our rewards.  There is a sense where the highest and greatest reward is God Himself.  It does not compare to a mansion on a hill, a harp or streets of gold.   Rather God Himself is the reward for His people alone in Christ alone.  If we miss this, we will have wrong spiritual priorities.  When God "judges" the non-elect reprobate, He will not remember mercy in judgment.  There is no redemptive mercy for the non-elect.  Redemptive mercy is only for the elect.  For God's children in Christ alone, there is nothing that take undo the love of the outstretched arms of Jesus Christ at His Cross for His people.  God will take into account every hidden and open thought, word and deed.  He knows everything and He remembers everything.  The question is, is Jesus Christ you all-sufficient Savior touching His life and death alone in how you are right with a holy God by a heaven-born faith alone unto a practice of the redeeming the time?

2.  Daniel is the descendant of king David.  The divine Messiah is born of the Virgin Mary, but Joseph as the step-father of Jesus Christ belonged to the house and line of David (Lk 2:4).  Jesus Christ never had a real biological father, because He was supernaturally, divinely and miraculously conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary.  That is, the Spirit of God overshadowed the holy Virgin and she conceived the sacred humanity of Jesus Christ.  I suggest to you that the Virgin Mary was in need of a Savior, because she is a cosmic sinners like all of us.  Jesus chose her as a holy instrument and vessel of His divine will.  She gave birth to the Savior physically, but she also knew Him in her heart spiritually.  I agree with St. Augustine that it is better to be a real child of God than the mother of Jesus Christ.  Why?  Spiritual salvation did not come to Mary, because of physical descendent.  If we say it did, we fall into the trap of the accursed Jewish leadership of the time of Jesus Christ.  Mary had spiritual salvation like all of us through the spiritual birth of the Spirit and Word.  No one is saved by natural descendent or civil super-goodness.  Rather we are spiritually saved through the alien unified righteousness of the innocent Lamb of God who willingly died in our place for completely lost sinners.

3.  Daniel interprets handwriting by God.  The written Word of God is the handwriting of God.  That is, it is God-speaking to those who hear.  Those who do not have ears to hear will not hear.  The written Scriptures are solely infallible, inspired and inerrant.  The Word of God is not through oral tradition.  Rather it is the handwriting on the wall in a form of the fullness of the Book.  If you discover the Book, you discover Christ Himself.  The fullness of Scripture is contrary to subtraction or addition.  We are to demonstrate our Christian faith by good works that we are created and ordained to accomplish.  Sinners interpret the handwriting of God in the written Word to their destruction.  Not because of a lack of papal authority.  Rather it is because of spiritual blindness.  The written Scriptures are clear for those spiritually awakened.  It means that the difficult is understood in light of the clear.   The written Word is clear that sinners must have the alien righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to them by faith alone and a pursuit of Christian living that honors Jesus Christ. 


4.  Daniel was cast into the lion's den.  Have your enemies cast you into a den of lions?  Do you stand alone this day?  Are you another Daniel?  Do your enemies surround you and curse your very existence because you stand for what is right in the cause of Christ?  Do you hear the roaring lions that seek to chase you and the unreasoning animals consider your name as the essence of evil?  Do you see them intentionally misinterpret what you say through the guidance of Jesus and yet seek by mere outward appearance that which seems to be good?  Are you in a conflict that cannot be resolved?  Daniel was able to shut the mouths of lions.  Do you expose the deeds of darkness and refute them that contradict?  Have you compromised the written Word?  Do you fellowship with people who are not Christians?  Light and darkness have no fellowship.  Christians stand on the Rock of Ages.  That is, He is no sinking sand like a sinner.  The only way to solely glorify Jesus is to understand sinners who have a "rock" for a heart.  They need a spiritual heart transplant.  The only Person who can save them is Jesus Christ, because there is no other who can stand with Him.  Do you stand alone this day in the cause of Jesus?  Do people see your zeal as madness and your reasoning of Scripture in devotion to the cause of Christ insane?  This is a insanity that had Luther stand alone, but it is not the same insanity as clinical insanity.  It simply means are you ready to stand for Jesus no matter what?  What happens when you are confronted?  They will ask, "have you repented and come to know the Savior?"  Where will you side?  Will you side with those who obey not the gospel?  Are you ashamed of repentance?  Surely do not be unaware of Satan!  He will say "Aha!  Aha!  We have seen it!"  He will turn your repentance upside down, because he loathes it.  If you repent, do not be ashamed.  Repentance does not add to Christ alone in how you are right with a holy God, but it is God-honoring and glorifies Jesus.  That is, God-honoring repentance surely comes from Jesus otherwise men would who simply say with Balaam, "I have sinned" with no genuine repentance to a holy God.  Do you contend for a holy God this day?  Who is on the Lord's side?   Don't show me your non-biblical traditions!  Rather its the plan meaning of the written Scriptures that teaches us to make a stand for Jesus.  Amen.

Standing by a purpose true,
Heeding God's command,
Honor them, the faithful few!
All hail to Daniel's band!
Dare to be a Daniel!
Dare to stand alone!
Dare to have a purpose firm!
Dare to make it known!
Many mighty men are lost,
Daring not to stand,
Who for God had been a host
By joining Daniel's band.
Many giants, great and tall,
Stalking through the land,
Headlong to the earth would fall,
If met by Daniel's band.
Hold the gospel banner high;
On to vict'ry grand;
Satan and his host defy,
And shout for Daniel's band.  (TH, 660).

30-Disputations on the 6, 000 Year Old Biblical and Historical Character of Fallen Lucifer

 Dr. MA Petillo

Though troubles assail us, and dangers affright,
Though friends should all fail us, and foes all unite,
Yet one thing secures us, whatever betide,
The promise assures us, "The Lord will provide."
The birds, without garner or storehouse, are fed;
From them let us learn to trust God for our bread:
His saints what is fitting shall ne'er be denied
So long as 'tis written, "The Lord will provide."
When Satan assails us to stop up our path,
And courage all fails us, we triumph by faith.
He cannot take from us, though oft he has tried,
This heart-cheering promise, "The Lord will provide."
No strength of our own, and no goodness we claim;
Yet, since we have known of the Saviour's great name,
In this our strong tower for safety we hide:
The Lord is our power, "The Lord will provide."  (TH, 79).

1.  The devil is not a self-existent being.  That is, only the Triune God is self-existent: from everlasting to everlasting.  Rather Satan is a mere creature who was created good, because a holy Triune God alone could created him to glorify Himself alone in His ultimate purpose of doom and cosmic justice in God's design of his punishment in eternal hell through His outworking meticulous providence in the supreme end of cosmic justice because of God's holy choice alone in His supernatural design for his eternal destruction.  God acted RIGHTEOUSLY according to His good pleasure in causing the fall of Lucifer by removing His outstretched arm upon His changeable will to bring about God's pursuit of justice for His glory alone in sentencing Satan and his fallen angels to doom.  Why did God do this?  God turned Lucifer and his angels over to sin because of His matchless glory alone in deciding whatsoever He pleases.  He decides according to His glory, because He always does what is right in every way.

2.  Before the fall of Lucifer he had a mutable will subject to change in his state of perfection as a real creaturely angel of God.

3.  The devil choose to rise above God in spite and cosmic pride that caused his fall.  Why?  In the final analysis, God removed His hand from certain creaturely angels and they fell into rebellion.  That is, God foredetermined everything but the devil is responsible for his cosmic rebellion.  God has right to do what He pleases with His creation because He is righteously supreme and sovereign, but any sin lies with His fallen creatures who are subject to change and commit spiritual sin.

4.   The Triune God alone is not subject to change, because He is supremely immutable.  God's infallible Word never changes, but creaturely human sinners change.  That is, we believe in always reforming, but the written Word never changes.  Some would say David says to hate your enemies, but Jesus says to love your enemies.  Has something changed?  Its possible in some sense to have a sinner's hatred of fallen man that is outside of God's love through Jesus and His teachings of loving enemies.  I do not suggest to love Satan or your fallen angels, but we are called to love our enemies who have wronged us without cause.  The Bible is consistent truth and there is harmonious divine truth throughout the Old and New Testaments.

5.  Satan is spiritually and historically the being of outer darkness.

6.  Satan has been turned over to cosmic rebellion by God, because God owns the right over His creation to do as He pleases.  How is anyone to question a holy God who never fails to do what is right?

7.  Satan seeks to do as he pleases, but he is on a supernatural leash by a holy God and he is restrained to do whatsoever he is limited to do.  He does not possess all-powerfulness.  This does not mean he is not more powerful than fallen humans.   In fact, he possess creaturely power but not self-existent power.  His cosmic limitations lay with chains of restraint of a holy God.

8.  Are you blinded to suppose that God is not in control of Satan?  Do you not suppose there would be far more meaningless evil if he was not restrained by a holy God?  God restrains Satan, but it does not mean He partakes of His spiritual criminality.  God is working together all things even Satan for the good of God's people.  This does not mean faithful Christians should turn to Satan.   Rather it means what Dr. Luther would say that Satan is the "Lord's devil."  Does this mean Satan is FOR a holy God?  By no means!  It means Satan furthers his plan of self-deception in waring against a holy God because he thinks he is greater than the Triune God.  Satan's sin is not the fault of a holy God, but the fault of himself.  If fallen man tries to sin by being in place of God through doing evil that good may come, it is evidence of being a evil way of a demi-god.  Are Christians committing this sin by submitting to Puritan and Reformed discrimination in joying to God about suffering for His sake alone?  Surely no!  The sin lays with those who persecute Christians not the Christians themselves.  Remember it is possible to go to be burned and yet not have love, but on the matter of Satan he has a kind of love that is not of God.  That is, it is a rebellious love of spiritual treason and cosmic idolatry.  It simply means he loves his sin and he will fight for it.  He is consumed with the damned love of his intentional self-glory and treasonous self-deception through his own fault alone in pursuit of God and human beings to worship him as a self-existent God when he is merely a creature made by a holy Triune God alone.

9.  Satan comes to undo God's salvational work.  For example, he came to destroy St. Peter but Jesus Christ prayed to the Father in his behalf.  You might say I know the devil well.  Shall we call this an absurdity to say such a thing?  Satan comes to undo what can never be undone.  It is impossible for anything in this fallen world to undo the unbreakable peace of God through Jesus Christ in justification by faith alone (Rom 5:1).  Is Jesus' prayer limited to St. Peter?  Isn't the case with St. Peter an example of all of God's converted elect children?  It is surely the case!  Jesus prays for all of us who are in Christ alone as He did with St. Peter.  That is, He prays in our behalf to the Father.  Some Papists would argue the supremacy of Peter against providential examples.  Shall I dare to ask where does that place them when Satan comes to destroy them?  Christ really does pray for us when Satan comes that our faith may not fail.  True Christians have faith in the final analysis, but it can be seriously weakened because of the spiritual deadness of our fallen natures.  The Bible says we can be faithless while He is faithful.  It does not mean a faithless reprobate pleases God.  There is a vast difference between a faithless true child of God due to a violation of the moral law and the faithlessness of a reprobate.  Does the prayer of Jesus presuppose a conditional salvation?  No, no!  The prayer of Jesus is an encouragement to eternal security because predestinarianism is a supernatural encourgament for spiritual belief. 

10.  This warning should be to all: never negotiate with the devil.  What happens if you fall into sin when dealing with the real presence of the devil?  Its as simple as repent and believe the all-exclusive Cross of Jesus Christ.  He accuses the people of God night and day.  He does not regard the divine satisfaction of the Cross but the reality of it forces him to flee, fail and faultier.  The world does not love the offense of the Cross.  Satan hates the forgiveness of the Cross.  The offense of the Cross never means such a one as Satan is pardoned, but only God's elect people alone in Christ alone.  Rather the world adds to the Cross, because by nature humans hate heavenly love.  How much more the devil?  The offense of the Cross comes to those who see and are yet blinded and who are blinded and yet see.   That is, they see the truth of God's forgiveness through Himself alone, but they are blinded because God has blinded and hided the gospel from them due to original sin and actual transgressions.

11.  Satan loves atheists and agnostics that explain away his real 6, 000 to 10, 000 year old existence, but fallen man is so blindly deceived that he would accept earthly treasures by appearance from the devil but rationalize in their thought life, cosmic treason through self-deceived villainy against a holy God.

12.  Satan loves when humans get things from him, but claim it was all of there doing.  He loves to also see Christians fall into sin, trample the Son of God underfoot and grieve the Spirit of holiness by intentionally sinning through knowing he forgives.  It is true that if such a real child of God fall into sin in this way, he will still forgive.  Again remember the words of St. Peter: do not use your unbreakable state of grace as a cover-up for treason.  Those who limit God's mercy find themselves outside of God's mercy.  Remember beloved: there will always be forgiveness for God's people alone in Christ alone. 

13.  Satan uses God's divine predestinarian purpose as a TOTALLY illegitimate cosmic excuse for sinning with license and free admittance into heaven, but he intentionally fails to perfectly obey a holy God with maleficent malice, intentional deceit and a pursuit of endless destruction.  By outward appearance it seems like Satan is free without God's restraining Hand, but the devil is restricted in his cosmic abilities and freedom.  The sin of Satan lays with himself for evil in his cosmic license, but the plan of God is either for the ultimate purpose of mercy or wrath in the final outcome of election and damnation of the sons and daughters of Adam.

14.  Satan influences fallen humanity to turn away from a holy God.  That is, he causes the non-elect reprobates to commit cosmic sin, but he causes pre-converted and converted elect to commit treason.  It does not matter in one sense if the devil is involved in that every person must take full responsibility before a holy God for what they have done, but there is a sense where in his ultimate maleficence he wants to be blamed so no one will make "peace" with God in repentance (because he hates repentance), but at the same time he excuses his sin as a false deity.  He thinks of himself "I can do as I please."  He takes the statements of Scripture that speak of God's eternal self-existence as the Supreme Potter of Rocks and supreme sovereignty but uses it for his own evil ends with the intent to dishonor, destroy and replace a holy God.

15.  Satan instigates evil among his fallen angels and the sons and daughters of Adam.  He also sought to have the impeccable Christ fall into sin, but it was not that Jesus could really fall into sin yet it was a meaningful test in God's foredetermined plan.  However, it was because he is so full of idolatrous pride in knowing the perpetuity of Jesus as the Christ that he sought to undo the undeniable.

16.  Satan seeks the worship of fallen man, because he loves to further self-deception and supernatural idolatry.

17.  Satan is the cosmic, supernatural and spiritual deceiver.   Does Satan in a sense "win" when the pre-converted elect fall into sin?  It is no doubt a furtherance of satanic evil, but God is even working out the sin of His pre-converted elect children for their ultimate good without claiming evil is good or good is evil.  No devil can have victory in light of the predestinarian and foredetermined God of the written and infallible Scriptures.

18.  Satan is the father of lies.  That is, he is a being overflowing with the furtherance of lies.  It does not mean he cannot speak truth, but there is no Incarnate Truth in him.  That is, there is no spiritual or heavenly or salvational or victorious life in him.   No one should get the idea that if he can speak truth that somehow sinners should listen to him or even question him.  I suggest to you that if you get some kind of truth from Satan it is meant for your ultimate destruction.  It does us no good to argue with the devil.  If he attacks continue in repentance and faith before a holy Triune God alone, but also if necessary I see no reason why to avoid quoting a Scripture to resist him so he may flee.  Remember the devil is chained, but do not invite him into your Christian living.  Check out this gospel song on how sinners have fallen into his trap:  Keith Green - No One Believes In Me Anymore

19.  Satan is the Christians' ultimate, cosmic and supernatural adversary.  He hates the Spirit's work of conforming sinners to the image of Jesus Christ in progressive sanctification.  His answer is to hoop over the fence instead of pursuing a way of life in the narrow way of Jesus Christ our all-sufficient Redeemer and Creator.

20.  Satan hates the exclusivity of Jesus Christ in Acts 4:12.

21.  Satan hates that the instrument of justification is faith alone in Eph 2:8-9 but that such a heaven-born faith is the evidence of God's freedom in Jn 1:13 and Rom 9:11, 16.

22.  Satan hates the unified imputed divine righteousness of Jesus Christ alone in Phil 3:9 and Romans chapter 3 and 4.

23.  Satan hates the free work of the Spirit in sovereign monergistic spiritual rebirth in Tit 3:5 and John chapter 3.

24.  Satan disguises himself as a angel of light.  That is, in his rebellion he turned perfection on its head and committed cosmic sin.  It means in essence he distorts God's way for wickedness.  Satan comes at people without cause like he did with the real and ancient person of Job.  Satan is a master at the furtherance of sin.  He wants by outward appearance to be pardoned.  It is a lie from hell because he really wants access beyond the gates of heaven to destroy it.  It is surely true that Satan hates divine punishment in the place of hell, but through a wickedness of his fallen nature he seeks and longs for a cosmic self-destruction in which he has wicked pleasure in the satisfaction of destruction.  It is a folly and futile satisfaction.  Rather the only satisfaction will be is God's divine RIGHTEOUS judgment against him and his fallen EVIL rebels!  I must submit that the moment he is inflamed with the real flames of the place of hell this thought of the pursuit of self-destruction will be quenched (though never REALLY changed) by the real punishment of hell in the presence of a holy God and His elect angels.  Hell is not a place where God changes sinners, because the only place He changes sinners is at the Cross.  Hell is a place of unrestrained evil where only the idolatrous damned inherit eternal fire.  There are some that dare to say that some will spend time in hell and be released.  Those that think this way fail to understand the nature of sinners and God's never-ending punishment.  The outcome of hell is not so God finds another way to free sinners! If the residents of hell came back to earth, they would still live a life of cosmic damnation and rebellion.  It goes beyond correction, because it is a death that never dies.  Jesus' resurrection is a death turned backwards, but to have the goodness of Jesus a sinner must have the Spirit's spiritual application in spiritual rebirth devoid of waters of baptism.

25.  Satan loves to cause doubt.  He knows God's written Word is true, because He turned it on its head and quoted Scripture against Jesus Christ in the real history of His temptation.  He never got Jesus Christ to doubt because He is Incarnate Jehovah (God the Son) who cannot ever engage in sin, but his pride tells him to go after the eternal King when he already knows his cosmic treachery and supernatural madness and blind insanity (without some way to excuse him).

26.  There is a sense where Satan loves a type of psychology that wallows in excusing his crimes.  He furthers this with self-piety, self-gloom and self-doom.  He loves a furtherance of lingering in outer destruction and the pursuit of reckless and abominable pleasures that know not God nor obey His gospel.

27.  Satan afflicts believers in Christ through the pseudo-science of parapsychology in the furtherance of the out right lies of the occult.

28.  Let us not be unaware of his cosmic schemes!  He comes within the church, but he is also furthering the interests of men outside of the church.  Dear Christian, do not further the interests of men because it is the interests of Satan.  Rather further the interests of God alone like believing the all-sufficiency of the Cross of Jesus Christ.  The agnostic asks, how can there be different world religions if there is a real God?  If there is a force for good who is a self-existent Triune God, isn't there also a force for evil (who we know is a mere but powerful and evil creature)?  It is true that God foredetermined everything through second causes (but sometimes He works above them for His good purpose because he is all-powerful), but the perpetuity of His outstretched arm in allowing Satan and fallen man to cause false religions refines the truth of God for God's people in working all things for their ultimate good.   Its not that we should encourage errors, but God is at work and He does whatsoever He pleases.  The hymn that comes to mind is "Have Thy Own Way, Lord."  I suggest to you that this is the ultimate design of Jesus as He comes with a drawn cosmic sword to divide the divine truth of God from the errors of the villains of fallen man.

29.   Satan is bound and assigned to the place of eternal hell.  Nothing can change this because God is unchangeable.  The holy Lord is the injured and innocent party in light of His superlative, perfect and sinless holiness, but fallen man and the evil one cause sin that violates His Triune Majesty.  God is working out His purpose without regard for the mere opinions of men, because He seeks what is right: namely, the exaltation of His transcendent glory.  In a sense, God does not feel pain like we do, but it is expressed in an anthropomorphic sense (in using human expressions).  There is no doubt of the many infallible proofs that teach us about the history of the real crucified self-existent Savior Jesus Christ!

30.  Watch out!  There may come a time when you need help.  Where would you go except to the Lord?  Do not be like king Saul who went to a medium, because he was desperate.  But in the case of Frodo and Sam Wise in Lord of the Rings, did they sin in some sense by having Gullum as their "guide" to destroy the ring in the lake of fire at Mordor?  It was not Gullum's intent to destroy the ring, but keep it for himself.  It really shows the cross-purposes between God's little children and Satan's minions.  We are called to do the best we can (though it adds nothing to Christ alone in how we are right with God) to cast our sins of death in the lake of fire in honoring Jesus Christ alone to the glory of God the Father, but sometimes the path is so dark that it could not be previously imagined.  One day God will cast death and hell into the lake of hell.  It means Jesus has the victory!

See, the Conqu'ror mounts in triumph;
See the King in royal state,
Riding on the clouds, his chariot,
To his heav'nly palace gate:
Hark! the choirs of angel voices
Joyful Alleluias sing
And the portals high are lifted
To receive their heav'nly King.
Who is this that comes in glory,
With the trump of jubilee?
Lord of battles, God of armies,
He has gained the victory;
He who on the cross did suffer,
He who from the grave arose,
He has vanquished sin and Satan,
He by death has spoiled his foes.
Thou hast raised our human nature
In the clouds to God's right hand;
There we sit in heav'nly places,
There with thee in glory stand:
Jesus reigns, adored by angels,
Man with God is on the throne;
Mighty Lord, in thine ascension
We by faith behold our own.  (TH, 211).

A Mere 20-Point Disputation-Focused Sermon on the Foremost Sinner and the Apostle Paul

 Dr. MA Petillo

Naught have I gotten but what I received;
Grace hath bestowed it and I have believed;
Boasting excluded, pride I abase;
I'm only a sinner saved by grace!
Only a sinner saved by grace!
Only a sinner saved by grace!
This is my story, to God be the glory,
I'm only a sinner saved by grace!
Once I was foolish, and sinned ruled my heart,
Causing my footsteps from God to depart;
Jesus hath found me, happy my case;
I now am a sinner saved by grace!
Tears unavailing, no merit had I;
Mercy had saved me, or else I must die;
Sin had alarmed me, fearing God's face;
But now I'm a sinner saved by grace!
Suffer a sinner whose heart overflows,
Loving his Saviour to tell what he knows;
Once more to tell it would I embrace—
I now am a sinner saved by grace!  (TH, 698).

1.  Everyone is conceived and born in original sin.

2.  Not everyone is called from their mother's womb by God.

3.  All of God's elect are called from their mother's womb.

4.  God alone decides to spiritually save whomsoever He wills.

5.  God does not save on something foreseen in the future.

6.   No mere sinner is conceived or born spiritually perfect.

7.  Every sinner is conceived and born as a cosmic villain.

8.  Human beings are sinners because of the fall of Adam.

9.  Original sin means commission and omission of actual transgressions. 

10.  Those who have responded in faith and repentance evidence God's supernatural choice in spiritual rebirth through confession of every degree of sin in contrite repentance (not through the sacramental priesthood) but through the all-exclusive Cross of Jesus Christ alone.  If you add to the Cross, you stand condemned like St. Peter in Galatians chapter 2.

11.  The apostle Paul considered himself the chief of sinners.

12.  St. Paul considered all his sins great because God has great holiness and nothing is equal to Him in this respect.

13.  The only way to be righteous before God is His eternal Son.

14.  The Christian that is truly and spiritually awakened by God's real choice because sees himself as the greatest sinner that ever lived (this is not a spiritual exaggeration to appease some religious zeal of the nature of man but a clear testimony of man's nature in light of the perpetuity of God's infallible Word).  

15.  St. Paul as a great sinner was used by a holy God to preach the written Word to lost Gentiles about the saving knowledge of the gospel.

16.  St. Paul did not add a single thing to the unified merit of Christ alone in how we are right with a holy God, because He honored the solidarity of spiritual salvation in light of God's inerrant Word.

17.  Does a holy God forgive murder?  Surely you know the story!  The apostle Paul murdered a fellow saint when he was outside of Christ.  God used him to further the gospel to the Gentiles, because Jesus does not use the sin of St. Paul against him.  Does this mean God furthers injustice?  No, no!  Have you lost sight of the Cross?  The Cross is the essence of justice on Jesus in behalf of St. Paul and the furtherance of righteousness through Christ alone that the Spirit applies in effectual calling.  This is why there is the all-supremacy of the Cross of Jesus Christ.  No sinner is excused.  Its either divine satisfaction at the Cross or in eternal hell.  That is, justice must be satisfied because God is just and holy.   The Father chose to satisfy divine justice on His eternal Son alone for His chosen alone, because only God in human flesh could take and absorb the supernatural agony of hell (and this was experienced by Jesus at the Cross).  That is, only God in human flesh could appease the divine wrath of God the Father.  In the final outcome, God does not let the elect free without the necessity of a true, actual and efficacious atonement but only through the punishment of a willing and able substitute (the essence, establishment and furtherance of justice) through King Jesus.  That is, He is Jesus Christ, Son of God, where He is, I shall be also!

18.  St. Paul was totally depraved before His spiritual awakening by God' Spirit and He was totally depraved after His spiritual awakening.  What does this mean?  The Bible simply teaches what men have mishandled!  That is, God provides us with a unified covering of the divine righteousness of Jesus Christ through faith alone.  In a real sense, the soul when changed by a holy God is permanently sinless while there are real shadows of sin touching the remaining corruption of fallen elect sinner.  It does not mean God has pronounced a legal fiction.  Rather it means for St. Paul, he is like all of God's people in Christ who possess the real and actual unified righteousness of Christ alone in heavenly garments fitted for the presence of King Jesus alone for the glory of the Father's design.   With these divine garments there is no accusation that can stand.  Dr. Luther wrote,

"Whenever the true message of the cross is abolished, the anger of hypocrites and heretics eases…and all things are in peace. This is a sure token that the devil is guarding the entry of that house, and that the pure doctrine of God's Word has been taken away. The church, then, is in the BEST state when Satan assaileth it on every side…both with subtle sleights, and outright violence. And (likewise) it is in the WORST state, when it is most at peace!"  

19.  No human ceremonies save anybody but incur God's wrath.

20.  It is better to endure the chastening of a holy God like St. Paul when the demon came to chastise him (in that the demon's intent as the second cause is to destroy St. Paul but God's intent as the ultimate cause is to have the Apostle Paul be conformed to the matchless image of Jesus Christ in real foredetermined cross-purpose between Satan and a holy God).  We should not seek an invention of fallen cosmic rebels to forgive sin (that has no spiritual support in light of the infallible Word) like the eleventh century practice of the Roman abomination of indulgences.
  

Fountain of never-ceasing grace,
Thy saints' exhaustless theme,
Great object of immortal praise,
Essentially supreme;
We bless thee for the glorious fruits
Thine incarnation gives;
The righteousness which grace imputes,
And faith alone receives.
In thee we have a righteousness
By God himself approved;
Our rock, our sure foundation this,
Which never can be moved.
Our ransom by thy death was paid,
For all thy people giv'n,
The law thou perfectly obeyed,
That they might enter heav'n.
As all, when Adam sinned alone,
In his transgression died,
So by the righteousness of one
Are sinners justified;
We to thy merit, gracious Lord,
With humblest joy submit,
Again to Paradise restored,
In thee alone complete.  (TH, 440).

20-Scriptural Points on the Real Ancient Historical Figure of Cain

Dr. MA Petillo

Thy life was given for me,
Thy blood, O Lord, was shed,
That I might ransomed be,
And quickened from the dead;
Thy life was given for me;
What have I given for thee?
Long years were spent for me
In weariness and woe,
That through eternity
Thy glory I might know:
Long years were spent for me;
Have I spent one for thee?
Thou, Lord, hast borne for me
More than my tongue can tell
Of bitt'rest agony,
To rescue me from hell;
Thou suff'redst all for me;
What have I borne for thee?
And thou hast brought to me
Down from thy home above
Salvation full and free,
Thy pardon and thy love;
Great gifts thou broughtest me;
What have I brought to thee?
O let my life be given
My years for thee be spent;
World-fetters all be riven
And joy with suff'ring blent:
Thou gav'st thyself for me,
I give myself to thee.  (TH, 536).

1.  Ancient Cain was a historical figure who was Adam's son (Gen. 4:1).

2.  Ancient Cain had his offering to God rejected (Gen. 4:2-7; Heb 11:4).

3.  The historical figure Cain was of the wicked one (1 Jn 3:12).

4.  Adam's son Cain physically murders Abel (Gen 4:8).

5.  Cain became a vagabond (Gen. 4:9-15).

6.  Ancient Cain really builds a historical city (Gen 4:16, 17).

7.  Cain was of a type of evil that was contrary to a holy God (Jud 11).

8.  The infallible Word says that God works together everything for the good of God's people who are called according to His purpose and for our good because we have a love born of heaven not of the world (Rom 8:28; Jn 1:13).  Was this the case with Cain?  Cain did not have a love born of heaven for he was not called according to God's purpose by God's choice, but everything in the life of Cain worked together for his ultimate justice in eternal hell.  Cain was a son of perdition for he did not have Christ in the final analysis.

9.  God seems to reach out to Cain (Gen 4:6-7), but it is for the ultimate purpose of his eternal destruction.  God here showed an outward display of mercy but His hidden purpose was to destroy both body and soul in hell for Cain as a resident of the place of eternal destruction.

10.  The sinner's final rejection of the gospel is evidence of their cosmic damnation.

11.  After Cain murdered his brother, God immediately questions him with historical facts (Gen 4:10).  God gives us an example of how to deal with a spiritual, cosmic and civil criminal.

12.  Every human being is conceived, apart from the miraculous conception of Jesus Christ in the Virgin Mary, a cosmic criminal, villain, fugitive, stranger and foreigner to God's superlative holiness.

13.  Cain receives a divine curse from God.  That is, God the Son curses Cain in divine, cosmic and supernatural judgment because there is no credible, reliable and trustworthy offering than Jesus Christ in His all-atoning death for God's people in Christ alone.  Everyone without Jesus Christ does not have Him alone take the supernatural curse in their place, but everyone outside of Christ must bear the burden of a cosmic curse that cannot be undone through human merit, effort or anything touching this fallen world.

14.  The murder of Adel shows that man is dust and he will return to the ground from whence he came.  Dust to dust and ashes to ashes!

15.  God pronounces Cain guilty in His cosmic, supernatural and divine court.  Cain has no divine substitute in his behalf, but Adel had the hope of God's promise through Gen 3:15 regarding Jesus Christ as His unified divine covering in perfect righteousness.  Adel in his position with God (that God caused through His dear Son could get no more right with a holy God than he was) not because of human works but the real imputed righteousness of Christ alone.

16.  God granted Cain a punishment greater than he could bear.  That is, God's wrath is against sin in a multiple fashion because He hates unholiness and cosmic murder.

17.  Cain is worried about his own life, but he does not speak of getting right with God.  That is, his priorities are far from the words of God-speaking.  Fallen man is concerned with earthly things while God is concerned with heavenly things.  The Bible does not teach to be so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good.  Further it does not teach to be so earthly minded that you are no heavenly good.  Rather the Bible teaches a spiritual, Christian and Reformed balance through a workmen not ashamed but rightly handling the Word of Truth.  It does not mean God does not grant things in earthly matters, but His highest aim is the glorification of His eternal Son in spiritual salvation.  The priority for the human race as real cosmic fugitives should be the necessity and exclusivity of Jesus Christ.  Its not that Adel was not aware of the promise of divine Messiah, because God clearly made the historical and prophetic promise in Gen 3:15 about the real and only Christ: Jesus, Son of Mary, Son of God.  That is, the OT saints looked forward to Jesus Christ as fulfillment of Messiah while the NT saints looked back in the finished person and work of Jesus Christ in how someone is right with a holy God and Christian living.

18.  Cain is punished with words of divine judgment, but his life is spared.  God sees words of divine judgment that suffice for cosmic and civil punishment.  He does not take Cain's life, because He shows Him uncanny mercy.  God is gracious and he does not permit Cain's life to be taken in Gen. 4:15.

19.  Cain received a mark from God.  It does not mean Cain turned into a different race or something.  It seems it was a spiritual mark that indicated he was not to be touched by fallen man.  We are not told who Cain fears, but he fears someone or something in the ancient world.  It probably just a fear of punishment because of real and known guilt.  Ancient man was violent but so is modern man.  The nature of man has not changed.  The Lord gave Cain mercy out of His CIVIL graciousness, but this was not a redemptive mercy.  There is a radical difference between civil graciousness touching general benevolence and redemptive mercy touching spiritual salvation.  God did not use injustice to let Cain free, but He used justice in words of God-speaking to grant His ancient freedom.  Fallen man may grant civil fugitives freedom through injustices after a clear case of apparent injustices.  The God-breathed example is clear: it is possible to grant punishment through God-breathed words to punish but not allow freedom through more injustice in whatever way it may emerge.

20.  Cain receives divine protection from a holy God after he committed great murder.  That is, God would avenge Cain sevenfold.  God protects a civil and cosmic criminal.  Is this aiding and abetting a fugitive?  God is God and man is not God; He has the right to do what He pleases with His creation.  God shows CIVIL mercy that does not violate the law but further injustice in some way would violate the civil and moral law of God.  The concept of God's showing mercy and civil authorities taking that civil example is a good lessen to learn.  But watch out that you do not become demi-gods.  A demi-god would be allowing injustice through more injustice.  God grants justice but remembers CIVIL mercy.  This kind of mercy is not a SAVING MERCY, because ONLY God's elect receive a redemptive mercy!  And Cain was able to dwell in the presence of God in a sin of impenitence.  Fallen man dwells in God's presence without heeding God's command of getting right with a holy God.  It does not mean it is not possible for God to use even murder for the good of His holy people chosen in Christ.  The elect sinner called according to His purpose will have that sin turned on its head.  That is, in God's secret outstretched arm He turns the evil on its head for the good of God's people without committing sin or tarnishing goodness with evil or Himself becoming an Author of evil.  The devil and his people hate a predestinarian God, because He is able somehow according to His holy secrets to take the wickedness of fallen man and use it for the edification of God's people in our learning and their meticulous betterment for His glory alone either for ultimate mercy or wrath.
  

How lovely shines the Morning Star!
The nations see and hail afar
The light in Judah shining.
Thou David's Son of Jacob's race,
My Bridegroom and my King of Grace,
For thee my heart is pining.
Lowly, holy,
Great and glorious,
Thou victorious
Prince of graces,
Filling all the heav'nly places.
Now richly to my waiting heart,
O thou, my God, deign to impart
The grace of love undying.
In thy blest body let me be,
E'en as the branch is in the tree,
Thy life my life supplying.
Sighing, crying,
For the savor
Of thy favor
Resting never
Till I rest in thee for ever.
Thou, mighty Father, in thy Son
Didst love me ere thou hadst begun
This ancient world's foundation.
Thy Son hath made a friend of me,
And when in spirit him I see,
I joy in tribulation.
What bliss
Is this!
He that liveth
To me giveth
Life forever;
Nothing me from him can sever.  (TH, 434).