REVISITING CHRIST’S MESSAGE TO TODAY’S EVANGELICALS

Part IV: Christ’s Offer To Wean Us From Evangelicalism’s Factions To Himself

B. Christ’s Cross-Before-The-Crown Solution Applied

1. Christ’s Offer To Use Calvinist Opposition To Wean Us From Its Faction

b. Christ’s Offer To Use Calvinist Slander For “Garments” of HOLY PERSEVERANCE

(Revelation 3:18b[b])

I. Introduction

A. After Christ critiqued the five points of Calvinism and the Arminian errors that parallel those points in Revelation 3:17b, He gave the solutions to three of the Calvinist errant points in Revelation 3:18b.

B. The second errant point that Christ teaches how to address is Calvinism’s fifth point, its errant view of the perseverance of the saints, and Christ teaches it in Revelation 3:18b[b]:

II. Christ’s Offer To Use Calvinist Slander For “Garments” of HOLY PERSEVERANCE, Rev. 3:18b[b].

A. Jesus counseled the pastor second to buy from Him “ . . . white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear . . .” in Revelation 3:18b[b] KJV.

B. The wide Scripture context with these Rev. 3:18b phrases reveal that Christ’s offer of “white raiment” directs a pastor to look to Him to persevere in holy ministries apart from Calvinists and ecumenical unions:

1. Aside from Rev. 3:18, only at Rev. 16:15 in Scripture does a similar context occur on believers not letting others see their “nakedness” (gumnos, Moulton & Geden, Concordance to the Greek Testament, p. 179).

2. The context of Rev. 16:15 reveals a need for believers to avoid abandoning godly works (white garments are godly works, Rev. 19:8 NIV) by not yielding to strong demonic deception to join the earth’s kings and the Antichrist at Armageddon to try opposing Christ’s Second Coming, Rev. 16:14-16.

3. Thus, the white raiment in Rev. 3:18 is persevering in good works instead of yielding to demonically influenced deception to associate with godless ministries and ecumenical unions!

4. [Note: Christ offers “white” raiment in contrast to the worldly “praised and prized” “glossy black wool” of Laodicea that was created by breeding, Wm. Ramsay, Letters To The Sev. Chs., p. 416f; Rev. 3:18b[b].]

5. [Also, to “buy” something from God as in Rev. 3:18b involves receiving it from Him by grace, Isa. 55:1.]

6. Combining this insight with our last and next lessons reveals that Christ calls a pastor to rely on Him to arrange that he clash with Calvinists into taking a stand that leads Calvinists to slander him so that he withdraws in ministry association from them to stay free of worldly praised and prized Neo-Platonist-influenced Calvinist error (black wool), spiritual “nakedness” (2 Tim. 3:3, 5b), and ecumenical unions.

a. The three items a pastor is to “buy” from Christ in Rev. 3:18 – gold tried in the fire, white garments and eye salve – are each connected by the repeated conjunction kai (“and”), U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 845.

b. Since our next lesson will show that the third item, eye salve, is gained by persecution as is the first item of gold, and that all three items are connected by the conjunction “kai” (“and”), each item is thus gained by grace through interrelated trials of persecution from errant Calvinist Evangelicals (our last lesson).

c. We learned in our last lesson that Christ calls a pastor to ask Him to arrange for him to take the Scriptural stand that unsaved man has free will, what leads Calvinists errantly to slander him as a “Pelagian” since the pastor’s stand threatens the Calvinists’ long-time, Neo-Platonist-influenced establishment.

d. Thus, Christ advises a pastor to gain “white garments” by offering to arrange that he clash with Calvinists in standing for the free will of the unsaved so that Calvinists will slander this pastor, errantly calling him a “Pelagian.” As the pastor keeps his stand, he will withdraw from the Calvinist establishment in ministry to obey 2 Timothy 3:3, 5b that calls him to withdraw from slanderers!

e. This all leads the pastor to keep his ministry separate (white garments) from the Calvinist establishment (black wool, i. e., spiritual “nakedness”) so that he PERSEVERES in holiness in ministry. He thus also avoids eventual unholy ecumenical unions. [Brannon S. Howse (Marxianity, 2018, p. 77, 169, 174, 251, 287-288 and 301) reports on alliances of Calvinists or Neo-Calvinists like John MacArthur, John Piper, James White, Albert Mohler et al. with cultural Marxists, neo-Marxists or Muslims!]

Lesson: Christ calls a pastor to ask Him to arrange for him to be cornered into taking an upright stand that leads to his being slandered by Calvinists so that he must withdraw from their establishment! The result is that he PERSEVERES in holiness in his ministry as he thus also avoids eventual errant ecumenical unions!

Application: May every believer ask God for “white garments” to PERSEVERE in a holy ministry before the Lord!