God speaks to His people about their sin - "The people of Jerusalem turned away from Me without ever returning ..." (Jeremiah 8:5). He is not pleased with them. He is calling them to return to Him - "Change the way you live ..." (Jeremiah 7:3).
The life of Israel is “like the desert” (Jeremiah 9:12). This moral and
spiritual desert is described in Jeremiah 9:13-14 - “The Lord answered,
They’ve abandoned My teachings that I placed in front of them. They
didn’t obey Me, and they didn’t follow them, They followed their own
stubborn ways and other gods ...” This was a serious situation. These
words are very relevant to today’s Church and world. God is not being
taken seriously. His Word is being ignored. The situation goes from bad
to worse. God is speaking. Few people are listening. He speaks through
His Word. Few people are reading His Word. We must listen to what God
says and do what He tells us to do.
Some people are impressed by Barth’s distinction between universal election and universal salvation. They defend his position. Some have been influenced by Barth and have become universalists. Berkouwer’s view was that our critique of Barth must begin with looking closely at his teaching concerning universal election. * By speaking of the idea of the depth-aspect of salvation, Berkouwer distances himself from double predestination. * In his critique of Barth, Berkouwer distances himself from universal salvation. * With such a strong emphasis on both grace and faith, Berkouwer guards against any suggestion that, by our faith, we contribute anything to our salvation. It is always God’s free gift, and all the glory belongs to Him. I think that the distinctive feature of Berkouwer’s teaching is that he emphasizes that everything we say about God’s salvation is said from within the experience of having been saved by grace through faith. We have heard the Good News - “Christ Jesus came...
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