Bridges on Respectable Sins

Jerry Bridges has been writing thought-provoking, challenging, stimulating, exhorting books for believers in Christ for about 25 years.

Several of his books have been at the top of my "recommended reading" books for many years:

• The Pursuit of Holiness
• The Practice of Godliness
• Trusting God (republished in a shorter version as Is God Really in Control?; the first book is better because it is more comprehensive).
• Transforming Grace

And in the past couple of months, he's written another book that is sure to remain on that reading list for years to come: Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate.

The book was written because of his observation that

…the concept of sin among many conservative Christians has been essentially redefined to cover only the obviously gross sins of our society. The result, then, is that for many morally upright believers, the awareness of personal sin has effectively disappeared from their consciences. But it has not disappeared from the sight of God. Rather, all sin, bot the so-called respectable sins of the saints, which we too often tolerate, and the flagrant sins of society, which we are quick to condemn, are a disregard for the law of God and are reprehensible in His sight. Both deserve the curse of God. [p. 22]

So what kinds of sin does he address as being overlooked as insignificant?

• ungodliness
• anxiety and frustration
• discontentment
• unthankfulness (even in difficult circumstances)
• pride (evidenced in moral self-righteousness, pride of correct doctrine, pride of achievement, and an independent spirit)
• selfishness (with our interests, time, and money, producing inconsiderateness)
• lack of self-control (with our eating an drinking, temper, finances, television and hobbies)
• impatience and irritability
• anger (ultimately, towards God)
• weeds of anger (resentment, bitterness, enmity & hostility, grudges)
• judgmentalism (over differing convictions and doctrinal disagreements, producing a critical spirit)
• envy and jealousy (and their related sins of competitiveness and a desire to be controlling)
• sins of the tongue (like gossip, slander, lying, and harsh words, sarcasm, insults, and ridicule)
• worldliness (in relation to money, vicarious immorality, and idolatry)

I approached this book with anticipation, selecting a few things from that list that I thought might be of some help to me. Yet as I read, I found in each chapter insights that convicted me of lazy attitudes and sloppiness towards sin. And in the discussion of each sin, he is careful to offer hope (chapter six — "Directions for Dealing with Sins" — offers a six-fold direction to apply to all subtle sins), and to also deal with the sin at a root level, not just superficial circumstance or action (e.g., anger is ultimately not just anger, but anger and discontentment with God, and must be confessed as anger against Him).

In spite of the number of topics addressed, the book is very readable devotionally (21 chapters, 181 pages) — reading one chapter a day along with one's regular Scripture reading is very doable. In fact, the brevity of the book is related to my only mild criticism of it — it's too short! Often after concluding a chapter I would find myself thinking, "tell me more — I need to hear more of the Biblical truth on this subject!" Yet the book's brevity also makes it accessible to virtually every believer in Christ.

In the plethora of new books being continually published, this is an important one, worthy of being read by any follower of Christ wanting to initiate serious confrontation of sin in his life. If you were to read only one book this next year, should this be the one? I'm not sure — there are many worthy candidates. But if you were to read only five books this next year, should this be on the list? Absolutely.

Book Review: Spurgeon - a New Biography

While in seminary, I remember a classmate (who will remain nameless for the simple reason that I cannot remember who it was) saying that it was his goal to go for his entire ministry without quoting Charles Haddon Spurgeon in a single sermon.

Not knowing much about Spurgeon at the time, I remember being neither particularly impressed nor discouraged. Yet a couple of decades later I am now proud to say that I have not succumbed to that temptation.

There is a reason that Spurgeon is oft-quoted in sermons and Christian writings — he really is the "Prince of Preachers."

And in the years following his death, multiple books and articles have been written about him. I acknowledge that I have not read enough biographical material about him to make a pronouncement like, "the best Spurgeon biography written," but one that is readable, interesting, concise, and informative is Arnold Dallimore's, Spurgeon: A New Biography. It may not be a creative title, but it is a well-written and interesting read.

Providing a balanced overview of his early (growing-up) years, his early ministry, and the extensive London ministry, Dallimore offers ample information without getting bogged down in tedious details. He provides significant anecdotal corroboration that helps the pace of the book and leaves the reader interested in reading more. While the book includes some of Spurgeon's frailties so that he is not "deified" (e.g., the reality of his bouts with depression, and his curious extended absences from his wife as he recovered from those bouts), those explorations are somewhat limited, and could have been profitably pursued more deeply.

Some summary notes about Spurgeon's life:

• He was a man of godly character. "The chief element of Spurgeon's entire career was his walk with God.…Amidst a success so great that it would have driven many a man to unbounded pride, he remained humble and was often utterly broken before the Lord."
  
• He was a man with deep convictions about the sufficiency of Scripture and a love for Calvinistic doctrine. "My daily labour…is to revive the old doctrines of Gill, Owen, Calvin, Augustine, and Christ."
  
• He was a man of remarkable natural and spiritual gifting. To this day, he remains the most prolific author in history (aside from the 62 volumes of his sermons, he also penned more than 40 additional books and it was estimated that in the first 50 years of publishing his material, between 200 and 300 million of his sermons had been distributed!); he not only preached multiple times weekly, but oversaw the weekly publication of his sermons, was the primary pastor of a church of 4000 attenders (doing things like conducting all the interviews for baptism personally), directed the Pastor's College, oversaw an orphanage and a school of 400 students, answered personally with his own pen 500 letters weekly, was personally involved with or instituted some 66 different institutions, and had a part in forming some 40 different mission ventures.
  
• He was a man unafraid of challenges when biblical truth was at stake. "The pain [that the Down-Grade controversy] has cost me none can measure. I can never compromise the truth of God.…It is not a matter of personalities, but of principles. And where two sets of men are diametrically opposite in their opinions upon vital points, no form of words can make them one."
  

That commitment cost him much. But it was that kind of commitment that made Spurgeon "The Prince of Preachers." He was worth hearing then, and he is worth reading today. If you do not know much about him, reading this biography this coming year would be a worthy starting point.

-----------------------------------------------

Two other helpful resources on the web are:

• The Spurgeon Archive (the finest repository of all-things-Spurgeon on the web).
• "Charles Spurgeon: Preaching Through Adversity"

Favored Christmas quotes

Some favored statements about the significance of this Christmas day —

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a Wise Man,
I would do my part,
Yet what can I give Him?
Give Him my heart.
[Christina Rosetti]

"If the story were a fable or even an event that merely had happened 2,000 years ago (or even 100 years ago) and then ended, it would have had no hold upon us. What does it really matter that somebody died long ago in a far-off land? I have my problems. You have your problems. So what? But if the One who came then still comes, if He comes to the individual through His Spirit to bring the results of the salvation accomplished 2000 years ago to where you and I stand and act now, then this story lives and enables us to live also." [James Montgomery Boice, The Christ of Christmas.]

"The Christian story is precisely the story of one grand miracle, the Christian assertion that what is beyond all space and time, what is uncreated, eternal, came into nature, into human nature, descended into His own universe, and rose again, bringing nature up to Him. It is precisely one great miracle. If you take that away there is nothing specifically Christian left." [C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock.]

"The holiday itself is nothing, and observing it is not a question of right or wrong.…Everyday — including Christmas — is a celebration for us who know and love Him. How we observe Christmas is the central issue." [John MacArthur, God With Us.]

"The hands that had made the sun and stars were too small to reach the huge heads of the cattle.…And God who had been only a circumference was seen as a center." [G. K. Chesterton.]

"He became what we are that He might make us what He is." [Athanasius.]

"Separate Christmas Day from Good Friday and Christmas is doomed — doomed to decay into a merely sentimental or superstitious or sensuous 'eat-drink-and-be-merry' festivity of December. Bethlehem and Golgotha, the Manger and the Cross, the birth and the death, must always be seen together, if the real Christmas is to survive with all its profound inspirations; for 'the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister; and to give His life a ransom for many.'" [J. Sidlow Baxter]

Sunday Leftovers (12/23/07)

It is well-known and well-recited that the theme of the gospel of John is belief. The word occurs 98 times in the gospel, always as a verb, and more than 50% of the time as a present tense verb, indicating that genuine, saving faith is not a one-time act only, but an ongoing, continual act of belief and faith in Christ as Savior.

What has surprised me in preaching these first 12 chapters of John is the emphasis not only on belief, but on unbelief.

In John 1-12 (there is a significant shift in emphasis beginning in chapter 13, as the ministry of Christ is private with the disciples in the upper room and garden in chs. 13-17, followed by the culmination of Christ's ministry with the crucifixion and resurrection) unbelief in Christ is alluded to in 121 verses! The case can actually be made that the theme of the book is also unbelief — "what does unbelief in Christ look and act like?"

The theme begins in 1:11 ("He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him"), and runs throughout each of the next 12 chapters (1:11; 2:18, 24-25; 3:4, 9, 12, 19-20; 4:1, 43-44, 48; 5:9-10, 15-16, 18, 42-47; 6:26-27, 36, 41-43, 52, 60-61, 64, 66, 70-71; 7:1, 5, 7, 11-12, 15, 19-20, 23, 26, 30, 32, 34, 36, 43-44, 45-48; 8:13, 19-20, 21-25, 33, 37, 40-41, 44-49, 52-53, 55, 59; 9:16, 18-22, 24, 27-34, 40-41; 10:6, 19-20, 24-26. 31-33, 37-39; 11:46, 47-50, 53, 57; 12:4-6, 10-11, 19, 37-40, 42-43, 48).

So when the opposition to Christ is particularly strong and evident just prior to the crucifixion, the reader should not be surprised. He was opposed at the beginning of His ministry, He was opposed all throughout His ministry, He was opposed at the end of His ministry, and He is opposed today.

He said it would be that way — "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you" (15:18).

The problem is not that there are self-proclaimed atheists. The problem is that there are people who are a-Christological. It is not that they are fundamentally opposed to God, but that they are fundamentally opposed to Christ (note that atheism consistently opposes all forms of the Judeo-Christian faith, but rarely attacks the ideas of God rooted in other faiths such as Hinduism or Islam). The dividing point for all men is Jesus Christ — they do not want to acknowledge faith in the one who demands allegiance and conformity to His desires (cf. Mt. 6:24).

And that means that if you believe in the power of the gospel message, we must pray for people to become aware of their lostness and hostility to Christ — and act and teach and proclaim accordingly. For a man cannot believe in Christ ("saved") until he acknowledges His willful unbelief ("lostness").

When the Bible is attacked

I haven't looked at the newsstands recently, but my suspicion is that since it is a holiday season, there is soon coming a questioning of some measure of Biblical faith. Perhaps it will be another new gospel, or perhaps the discovery of a lost ossuary, or perhaps another tomb of Jesus, or another fiction book purporting some new truth about Christ.

Darrell Bock has written "When the Media Became a Nuisance" (subtitle: "How to respond to the next blockbuster book/documentary/movie that questions traditional Christianity") anticipating such an event, and how individuals and the church can respond in God-honoring ways instead of much emotional hand-wringing.

His summary:

We need to understand that public discussion of the Christian faith has changed—permanently. So the next time you hear an earth-shattering announcement about Jesus from the media, don't get angry. Rather, take three deep breaths, sit down with your Starbucks coffee, and watch how the announcement is treated on blogs and other media. Above all, prepare yourself for the opportunities it presents.

The Golden Compass

Philip Pullman has an agenda. He is not merely attempting to tell a good story, but he is attempting to tell as story in a creative way that will be appealing to children, and lead them away from an interest and trust in Christ.

Before going to see this movie, or allowing your children to see the movie or read any of Pullman's books, familiarize yourself with His intentions with His works. A number of helpful resources are availalble:

• Mars Hill Audition
• Al Mohler commentary
• Al Mohler radio program (Part 1 | Part 2)

Free MacArthur .mp3 sermons

Grace to You, the radio and audio ministry of John MacArthur, is making available free .mp3 audio downloads. It appears that new downloads are being posted on a weekly basis.

This is certainly a freebie to take advantage of!

Sunday Leftovers (12/16/07)

Unwittingly, Caiaphas prophesied about the great work of Christ on the cross — the substitutionary atonement, not only for Israel, but for all who would trust in Christ. R. C. Sproul notes well the import of Christ's substitutionary work —

Christ's supreme achievement on the cross is that He placed the wrath of God, which would burn against us were we not covered by the sacrifice of Christ. So if somebody argues against placation or the idea of Christ satisfying the wrath of God, be alert, because the gospel is at stake. This is about the essence of salvation — that as people who are covered by the atonement, we are redeemed from the supreme danger to which any person is exposed. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of a holy God Who's wrathful. But there is no wrath for those whose sins have been paid. That is what salvation is all about. [The Truth of the Cross.]

This is the great truth not only of Easter, but of Christmas and the Advent — which is why so many of the great Christmas hymns culminate in exulting in the cross. Consider, for example,

• "O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel…"
• "Come, Thou long-expected Jesus, born to set Thy people free…born Thy people to deliver…"
• "…with mocking scorn and with crown of scorn, they bore Thee to Calvary…"
• "Born that man no more may die, born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth…"
• "[He] hath made heaven and earth of naught, and with His blood, mankind hath bought…"

The message of Christmas is not simply the Advent, but that the Advent has culminated in the cross and resurrection. "O come, let us adore Him."

Not good, not bad

D. A. Carson writes about the life of Rehoboam (2 Chron. 11-12),

There is a kind of evil that is not very bad and not very good, not too terribly rebellious yet not hungry for righteousness, a stance that drifts toward idolatry and hastily retreats at the threat of judgment. What it lacks is David's heart, the heart of a man who, despite failures, sets himself to pursue God with passion and delight. The final verdict on Rehoboam's reign explains the problem, 'He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord' (12:14).

It is the kind of attitude that isn't necessarily opposed to God, but neither does He delight in God. He finds ritualistic worship acceptable, but is unmoved by transformational worship. Read the Word of God? Okay. Just don't take it too seriously. This is a place of danger not only for the unbeliever, but for the believer too. It is possible not only for the unregenerate to be uncaring about life with God, but the same is also possible for regenerated believers. Wise is the man who heads the warnings that come from the lives of men like Rehoboam.

Sunday Leftovers (12/9/07)

It is the shortest verse in the English Bible (in the Greek text, it has three words, while both 1 Thess. 5:16 and 17 have only two words), yet there is much profoundness in the simple words, "Jesus wept." They reveal His empathetic compassion towards His friends. And they illustrate His grief and righteous anger over sin.

As S. Lewis Johnson noted, this is not the only occasion when Christ wept:

Three times we read that Jesus in the course of life and ministry wept. He wept as Lazarus' loving friend at his graveside. Later He wept as He looked out over His beloved city just before His triumphal entry. We might refer to that instance as the weeping of the promised Prophet, as He reflected upon the coming judgment upon the city and the generation that turned its back upon Him. And, finally, the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, drawing upon some true tradition regarding Him, mentions His weeping in the Garden of Gethsemane. This was the weeping of the ultimate Priest of God, the true Substitute, who offers the atoning sacrifice for the people of God. On this last occasion it was appropriately the weeping of "strong crying and tears" to the One who was able to save Him out of death (cf. Heb. 5:7). Three times He wept, and on each occasion it was a solemn, touching, and deeply significant outpouring of tears.

And, finally, He wept, although Lazarus was safe in the bosom of God and eventually to be raised by God in newness of resurrection life. And He wept, although He knew that Lazarus was soon to be brought to this life again! It is truly a remarkable illustration of the deep sympathy that Jesus felt for His friends and their experiences. It is no wonder, then, that we read in the very next verse, "Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!" (cf. v. 36). Two misinterpretations must be avoided. This was not the love of human pity alone, nor was it frustration over the power of death, for He would deal with that soon. Also included was the love that is eternal, that special love that He has for his redeemed. He loves as the unseen Sovereign of the universe, although for a time dwelling in unglorified bodily form. Charles Wesley wrote of this instance,

"There for me the Savior stands,
Shows His wounds, and spreads His hands;
God is love! I know, I feel;
Jesus weeps, but loves me still." ["Lazarus Loved and Raised"]

Jesus' tears and Lazarus' resurrection both point to the merciful and extensive love of Christ for His people. It is tempting to look for grandiose demonstrations of love. But as Paul notes, it is often the simple expression of joy or grief that demonstrates brotherhood and love for another believer. So it is with the tears of God. They communicate His grace and hint at His willingness to do that which will remove the pain of sorrow.

Grab bag of links

Here is a list of a number of resources on various topics that I've been accumulating over the past couple of weeks:

• A mother's Thanksgiving plea for the permanence of marriage.
• "A Reason to Hate Sin"
• Simple questions to evaluate the spiritual progress of your children.
• Too many choices to make…
• Thankful for books and libraries.
• Simple principles for interpreting your Bible.
• Death, hell, evangelism, and missed opportunities (I suspect every believer has had an experience like this).

Quote of the Day - Carson

From volume one of D. A. Carson's book, The Love of God:

Pity the person whose self-identity and hope rest on transient things. Ten billion years into eternity, it will seem a little daft to puff yourself up over the car you now drive, the amount of money or education you have received, the number of books yoiu owned, the number of time you had your name in the headlines. Whether or not you have won an Academy Award will then prove less important than whether or not you have been true to your spouse. Whether or not you were a basketball star will be less significant than how much of your wealth you generously gave away. The one 'who does the will of God lives forever' [1 John 2:17]. (My emphasis)

Sunday Leftovers (12/2/07)

I had been pastoring for just a couple months when the funeral home called and asked me if I was available to do a funeral for a woman who had died and didn't have a church home. I agreed to do it, met with the family, planned the service with them, and at the appropriate time went to the funeral home and got in the car to drive to the cemetery with the funeral director.

In planning the funeral, I had been struck by how much the family wanted to minimize the service — no church or chapel service, no music, "does it have to be 20 minutes long?" Curious, I asked the director for his perspective — why such a short remembrance for someone this family loved? "What they're doing is not unusual. People are uncomfortable with death and if they can minimize the time at the funeral, it's less time they have to think about the reality of it."

While many people may attempt to minimize the time they are forced to think about death, apart from the return of Christ, death is something that will have to be considered and endured by all men. So how shall we think about it in Biblical ways?

In preparing for this sermon, I came across a number of statements about death, particularly the death of believers, that I found helpful. Among them:

• Noting that the death and difficulty in the life life of the believer does not mean the absence of the love of God for that believer, Jerry Bridges writes,
  

"When we begin to question the love of God, we need to remember who we are. We have absolutely no claim on His love. We don't deserve one bit of God's goodness to us. I once heard a speaker say, 'Anything this side of hell is pure grace.' I know of nothing that will so quickly cut the nerve of the petulant, 'why did this happen to me?' attitude as a realization of who we are before God, considered in ourselves apart from Christ."

Though God is under no requirement to love anyone, He does in fact love His own with an amazing, infinite love: "We usually find within ourselves reasons to think God should not love us. Such searching is…unbiblical. The Bible is quite clear that God does not look within us for a reason to love us. He loves us because we are in Christ Jesus. When He looks at us, He does not look at us as 'stand alone' Christians, resplendent in our own good works, even good works as Christians. Rather, as He looks at us, He sees us unified to His beloved Son, clothed in His righteousness. He loves us, not because we are lovely in ourselves, but because we are in Christ."

[ASIDE: I put this book by Bridges in my top 10 of "must read" books for all believers.]

• While the salvation of a believer is eternally safe (1 Pt. 1:3-9), that does not mean that the believer's earthly life is always safe:
  

"We have no promise that mortal danger shall never plunge us into death merely because we are Christ's own. In the counsel of God it may be his will that we die; we should then die with the mighty assurance that God's will sends us what is best." [R. C. H. Lenski]

• That life on earth is merely a foreshadow of life to come in heaven is evidenced by the words of John Owen as he lay on his deathbed. His secretary was writing to a friend of Owen [in his name], saying, "I am still in the land of the living." Owen interjected, "Stop. Change that and say, I am yet in the land of the dying, but I hope soon to be in the land of the living."

• Reminding us that death also is from the hand of God, R. C. Sproul writes,
  

"When the summons [of death] comes we can respond in many ways. We can be angry, bitter, or terrified. But if we see it as a call from God and not a threat from Satan, we are far more able to cope with its difficulties."

• And commenting on the relationship between death and fear, John Piper says,

"Death is a threat to the degree that it frustrates your main goals. Death is fearful to the degree that it threatens to rob you of what you treasure most. But Paul [in Phil. 1:20] treasured Christ most, and his goal was to magnify Christ. And he saw death not as a frustration of that goal but as an occasion for its fulfillment."

Jesus and Genealogies

This week my Bible reading took me to the book of 1 Chronicles.

For many, these are the books that are difficult to read, particularly early in the morning. What is the purpose of these genealogies? is it really worth reading them? Don Carson provides helpful insight:

…biblical genealogies accomplish many things besides the obvious one of recording genealogical descent. If one were reading the Bible through, at this point the lists of names would serve, in part, as a review: the beginnings up to David, with 1 and 2 Chronicles taking the reader to the end of the active Davidic dynasty. The genealogy also sets out in brief compass some of the branches that can easily be lost to view in the tangle of reading the narratives themselves. How are Abraham's descendants tied to Noah? Abraham himself had children by three women: Hagar, Keturah, and Sarah. Where did they end up?

Of course, the genealogy does not aim to be comprehensive. It is heading toward Judah, toward the Davidic dynasty. And this is the point: There is movement and change, there are developments and fresh covenants, but from the beginning the Bible's story line has been a unified account heading toward the Davidic line, and ultimately toward 'great David's greater Son'…

Security and assurance

When thinking about the permanence of salvation, two words are commonly used: security and assurance. While they are related terms, they are not the same thing.

John MacArthur summarizes the difference well:

Many people lack assurance because they do not understand that salvation is an utterly divine, totally sovereign operation. Assurance is built on the historical reality of what Jesus Christ accomplished. It is not a feeling without reason, and you will never have the subjective feeling of assurance until you comprehend the objective truth of the gospel.

In other words, if you are a genuine believer, you are secure, whether you have the feeling of assurance or not. On the other hand, it is also possible for someone to mistakenly assume personal assurance, when he is not actually secured (saved). Genuine assurance is the result of confidence in the finished work of Christ on the cross.

Piper: the importance of justification

Yesterday I received a copy of John Piper's new book, The Future of Justification.

Is it important to write a 225-page book on the doctrine of justification? In his acknowledgments, Piper notes why it really is:

From the moment we believed until the last day of eternity God is 100 percent for us on this basis alone — the sin-bearing punishment of Christ, and the righteousness-providing obedience of Christ.

Which is another way of saying, "Christ is our life."

Sunday Leftovers (11/11/07)

It is enough that no one can snatch a believer from the hand of Jesus Christ.

It is enough that no one can snatch a believer from the hand of God the Father.

It is enough that the Holy Spirit is given as a pledge (guarantee) of our salvation and inheritance.

Any one of those is enough to secure our salvation eternally. Yet all of these statements are true. The entire Godhead is working in unity and harmony to keep believers secure.

The Holy Spirit regenerates believers, lives in the believer, places and seals the believer into Christ's body.

The Father chose believers in the eternal past, and keeps us in eternal life.

Christ's death makes life possible, removed the wrath of God from believers, justified every believer, provided forgiveness, sanctifies the believer, is constantly interceding on behalf of the believer, and will present every believer without fault before Him.

And all that combines to make the believer in Jesus Christ secure — eternally secure.

Why don't we evangelize?

In his recent book, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism, Mark Dever begins by asking the question, "why don't we evangelize?" Part of his answer is that we don't plan to evangelize. And to that he offers 12 steps to take to counteract that mindset:

• Pray (for opportunities)
• Plan (to put ourselves in positions to share the gospel)
• Accept (that this is our job)
• Understand (that not having the spiritual gift of evangelism doesn't mean we don't have the duty to evangelize)
• Be faithful (to share the gospel)
• Risk (by obeying, even when uncertain of the response)
• Prepare (by knowing the gospel…)
• Look (for opportunities)
• Love others (because you will give the gospel to those whom you love)
• Fear (God, who is our merciful redeemer and savior)
• Stop (blaming God and excusing ourselves on the basis of His sovereignty)
• Consider (what God has done for us in Christ)

On the reasons for great sin

Dwight Edwards was the pastor of Grace Bible Church in College Station, TX until he failed morally and resigned several years ago. In the great grace of God, repentance was wrought in his heart, as he recently shared in his testimony (search using his last name to find the audio).

What contributed to his failure? Lack of gratitude:

This, for me, has been very important. Cultivating a grateful spirit to the Lord is not important. It’s critical. It is so critical. If I had to pinpoint one thing where I would go back, is that somewhere in the craziness of my thinking I became angrier and angrier at God for what I thought He owed me, I thought He wasn’t giving me, and increasingly I lost gratitude and thankfulness for the immense blessings that were there and I just wasn’t seeing.…We either go through life grateful to God or angry at God…for me it’s a very short step when I stop being grateful to God for what I had to being angry at God for what I [thought] He wasn’t coming through with.…Romans 1 makes a lot more sense to me…“when they knew God they glorified Him not as God nor were thankful,” and then it’s just a slide right down into sin — that’s what happened to me.

As we approach the holiday of Thanksgiving, we do well to be intentional in cultivating gratitude because, 1) it is the fitting response to the recognition of God's work in our lives, and 2) it is difficult to sin when we are genuinely grateful.


(HT: Unashamed Workman)

What about Halloween?

How should a Christian (or should he) recognize and participate in Halloween?

I have often said that when the girls were little, we viewed it as a quest to get as much chocolate as quickly as we could. I have always understood this as an issue where a Christian may exercise Biblical liberty (and must practice Biblical judgment in exercising that liberty).

The issue is complex. Blogs by Tim Challies, Grace to You (John MacArthur) and Al Mohler offer perspectives that are well-thought and discerning. As you consider this issue, they are worth taking the time to read.

It's Not Halloween. It's Reformation Day.

The great event of October 31, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenburg Church.

We do well to remember what Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Cranmer, Hooper, Ridley, Latimer, and a host of others fought for.

J. C. Ryle's book, Five English Reformers helps us do just that:

Let men say what they will, or pick holes where they may, they will never succeed in disproving these facts. To the Reformation, Englishmen owe an English Bible, and liberty for every man to read it. To the Reformation, they owe the knowledge of the way of peace with God, and of the right of every sinner to go straight to Christ by faith, without bishop, priest, or minister standing in his way. To the Reformation, they owe a Scriptural standard of morality and holiness such as our ancestors never dreamed of. For ever let us be thankful for these inestimable mercies. [HT: CQOD]

Elsewhere, he also says:

Let us thank God that the foundations of the Reformed Church of England were laid by such men as John Bradford. Let us clearly understand what kind of men our martyred Reformers were, what kinds of doctrines they held, and what kind of lives they lived. Let us pray that the work they did for the Church of England may never be despised or underrated. Above all, let us pray that there never may be wanting among us a continual succession of English clergy, who shall keep the martyr's candle burning brightly, and shall hand down true Reformation principles to our children's children. [p. 138.]

That is a worthy goal on this day — that we remember the cost and benefits of the work of god through the Reformers, that we give thanks to God for them, and that we continue to stand in such a way that the gospel of God is honored and upheld. Perhaps a way to begin that is by reading a good biography on the reformation or one of the reformers. Ryle's book is a good place to start, as are a number of books authored by Stephen J. Nichols.

Last year I also noted several resources for information about Luther, and the Reformation in general. Or read some short quotes ("Reformation quotes") about the Reformation.

Sunday Leftovers (10/28/07)

In today's passage, Jesus refers to two familiar figures of speech to explain who He is —

• I am the door of the sheep (vv, 7, 9)
• I am the good shepherd (vv. 11, 14)

Jesus and the rest of Scripture frequently use such images to help us understand the character of God and His relationship with His people. John MacArthur has accumulated a long list of these images:

He is called the Amen (Rev. 3:14; cf. 2 Cor. 1:20), the Alpha and Omega (Rev. 22:13), the Advocate (1 John 2:1), the Apostle (Heb. 3:1), the Author and Perfecter of faith (Heb. 12:2), the Author of salvation (Heb. 2:10), the Beginning (source, origin) of the creation of God (Rev. 3:14), the Branch (Jer. 23:5), the Bread of Life (John 6:35), the Cornerstone (Eph. 2:20), the Consolation of Israel (Luke 2:25), the Counselor (Isa. 9:6), the Deliverer (Rom. 11:26), the Door of the sheep (John 10:7), Eternal Father (Isa. 9:6), the Faithful Witness (Rev. 1:5), the First and the Last (Rev. 1:17), the Firstborn (Preeminent One) of the dead (Rev. 1:5) and over all creation (Col. 1:15), the Forerunner (Heb. 6:20), the Great High Priest (Heb. 4:14), God blessed forever (Rom. 9:5), the Guardian of souls (1 Peter 2:25), the Head of the church (Col. 1:18), the Holy One of god (John 6:69), I AM (John 8:58), Immanuel (Isa. 7:14), the King of Israel (John 1:49; cf. Zech. 9:9), King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Tim. 6:15), the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45), the Lamb of God (John 1:29), the Light of the World (John 8:12), the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5), Lord (John 13:13), the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2:8), the Mediator (1 Tim. 2:5), the Messenger of the covenant (Mal. 3:1), the Messiah (John 1:41; 4:25-26), the Mighty God (Isa. 9:6), the Morning Star (Rev. 22:16), the Only Begotten (Unique One) from the Father (John 1:14), our Passover (1 Cor. 5:7), the Prince of life (Acts 3:15), the Prince of peace (Isa. 9:6), the Resurrection and the life (John 11:25), the Righteous One (Acts 7:25), the Rock (1 Cor. 10:4), the Root and Descendant of David (Rev. 22:16), the Root of Jesse (Isa. 11:10), the Ruler in Israel (Micah 5:2; Matt. 2:6), the Ruler of the kings of the earth (Rev. 1:5), Savior (Luke 2:11; Titus 1:4), the Servant (Isa. 42:1), Shiloh (Gen. 49:10), the Son of the Blessed One (Mark 14:61), the Son of David (Matt. 12:23; 21:9), the Son of God (Luke 1:35), the Son of Man (John 5:27), the son of the Most High (Luke 1:32), the Sun of Righteousness (Mal. 4:2), the Sunrise from on high (Luke 1:78), the True God (1 John 5:20), the True Vine (John 15:1), the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6), the Word (John 1:1, 14), the Word of God (Rev. 19:13), and the Word of Life (1 John 1:1).

Justification and Imputation

At the Gospel Coalition earlier this year, Phil Ryken gave an excellent defense of the importance of imputed righteousness. Both the text of his message and the audio are available.

"I am not accepted on my own merit, but I am fully accepted in Christ and that is the basis of my acceptance before God — [I am] as fully accepted as God's own beloved Son. Only perfect righteousness can bring assurance in the aftermath of sin and in the face of death."

And only Christ provides that righteousness. In a church culture that is finding the death of Christ and imputed righteousness increasingly distasteful, this is an important message to help us defend the truth of Christ's substitutionary work.

Piper on Biblical Masculinity

In a recent message, "Some Sweet Blessings of Masculine Christianity," John Piper defined Biblical masculinity this way:

By “masculine Christianity,” I mean (though words are inadequate): The theology and the church and the mission are marked by over-arching male leadership and an ethos of tender-hearted strength and contrite courage and risk-taking decisiveness and readiness to sacrifice to protect and provide for the community—the feel of a great, majestic God making the men lovingly strong and the women intelligently secure.

From that statement, he made the following observations and conclusions (which I've abbreviated):

1. Men are freed to have feminine traits without being effeminate and women are freed to have masculine traits without being tomboys.

2. Men are more properly attracted to the Christian life when it does not appear that he must become effeminate to be a Christian.

3. Women are more properly drawn to a Christian life that highlights the proper place of humble, strong, spiritual men in leadership.

4. We are freed to celebrate strong, courageous women of God who love the biblical vision complementarity, without and sense of compromise.

5. Men are awakened to their responsibilities at home to lead the family and protect the family and provide for the family.

6. Youth leaders and parents will catch a clearer definition of how to answer the question of a boy: “Daddy, what does it mean to grow up and be a man and not a woman?” And a clearer definition of how to answer the question of a girl: “Mommy, what does it mean to grow up and be a woman and not a man?”

7. The meaning of masculinity and femininity in singleness will be clearer and a lifetime of singleness without sexual intercourse will be more understandable and livable.

8. The corporate worship teams are not dominated by women and the songs chosen are not dominated by a one-sided feel of intimacy or majesty.

9. The God of the Bible will be more fully portrayed and known than where the tone is more feminine.

10. Preaching is more readily prized.…The fear of strong preaching is part of the effeminizing of the church, and the full range of the way God is and appears on the Bible is not known where preaching is simply casual and conversational.

11. A wartime mindset and a wartime lifestyle will feel more natural. And that is what the world needs from us—a readiness to lay our lives down for a great and global cause making all the sacrifices necessary to push the word of Christ into the most inhospitable places.

The entire sermon is worth hearing for men who want to be Biblical in their manhood.

Born to Reproduce

Dawson Trotman, the founder of The Navigators, was a uniquely gifted and effective evangelist and discipler.

His heart for the latter is demonstrated in his sermon, "Born to Reproduce." It's the first time I've heard a recording of one of his sermons, and I found it personally challenging. It's worth a listen.

Reading Tips

You know how to read. I know that. But sometimes a little guidance on how to get control over that growing stack of books on your night stand (or wherever your favorite place to stack things is) would be helpful.

Here are six tips from Al Mohler:

1. Maintain regular reading projects.
2. Work through major sections of Scripture.
3. Read all the titles written by some authors.
4. Get some big sets and read them through.
5. Allow yourself some fun reading.
6. Write in your books.
   

To that, I would also add, don't be afraid to leave a book unfinished. If it's not worth the time to read, then don't read it. No one will give you a test on whether or not you finished. It's fair to walk out of bad movies, and it's appropriate to leave inadequate books uncompleted.

Read all of Mohler's comments.

Worship and Transformation

Tim Keller on the role of worship in transformation:

A Christian, if you looked into the Mirror of Erised [Desire] you would see yourself perfectly enjoying God and if you could have one perfect act of worship in which you perfectly valued Him, in which you perfectly enjoyed Him, if you completely enjoyed Him as He is, you'd be perfect. Nothing would get you down. Nothing would destroy you. You could face anything. But of course, all of our acts of worship are imperfect, and therefore bit by bit by bit, as we worship and as we get better and better at worship, we change where our heart looks. We reassign the ultimate value to the One that will satisfy us if we get Him and forgive us if we fail Him. If you're living for achievement and you fail that god, it'll never forgive you; you'll hate yourself forever. If the thing you are really looking for is love and romance or family, and somehow you fail that god, it will never forgive you; you'll hate yourself forever. This is the only God who's a shepherd. This is the only God — we're the people of His pasture, we're the flock of His hand. He's the one God who forgives you; He's the only God who died for you. So why do we need to worship God? Because we're going to worship something and anything else but the real God will distort our life.…Worship is the ultimate need of your heart. It's the ultimate need of your life.

Listen to the complete message here.

The difference between Catholicism and Protestantism

Greg Bahnsen articulates clearly and well the fundamental differences between Catholicism and Protestantism. We are not one with Catholics; they do believe a different gospel; and we must not (for the sake of their eternal destiny) suppose that we believe the same work of Christ.

Listen to "The Road to Rome: Was the Reformation Right?"

Sunday Leftovers (10/21/07)

Some leftover quotations after thinking about God's purposeful (read: sovereign) intention to use all circumstances to make worshippers out of unbelievers:

"Our trials reveal the measure of our affection for this earth — both its good things and bad things. Our troubles expose our latent idolatry." [John Piper, Life as a Vapor.]


"In order to trust God, we must always view our adverse circumstances through the eyes of faith, not sense. And just as the faith of salvation comes through hearing the message of the gospel (Rom. 10:17), so the faith to trust God in adversity comes through the Word of God alone. It is only in the Scriptures that we find an adequate view of God's relationship to and involvement in our painful circumstances. It is only from the Scriptures, applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, that we receive the grace to trust God in adversity.

"In the arena of adversity, the Scriptures teach us three essential truths about God — truths we must believe if we are to trust Him in adversity. They are:

• God is completely sovereign.
• God is infinite in wisdom.
• God is perfect in love.

"Someone has expressed these three truths as they relate to us in this way: 'God in His love always wills what is best for us. In His wisdom He always knows what is best, and in His sovereignty He has the power to bring it about.'" [Jerry Bridges, Trusting God.]


"We are all idealists. We picture to ourselves a life on earth completely free from every hindrance, a kind of spiritual Utopia where we can always control events, where we can move about as favorites of heaven, adjusting circumstances to suit ourselves. This we feel would be quite compatible with the life of faith and in keeping with the privileged place we hold as children of God.

"In thinking thus we simply misplace ourselves; we mistake earth for heaven and expect conditions here below which can never be realized till we reach the better world above. While we live we may expect troubles, and plenty of them. We are never promised a life without problems as long as we remain among fallen men...." [A. W. Tozer, 12/18.]


"I would not have you think that any strange thing has happened to you in this affliction: 'Tis according to the course of things in this world, that after the world's smiles, some great affliction soon comes. God has not give you early and seasonable warning not at all to depend on worldly prosperity. Therefore, I would advise…if it pleases God to restore you, to lot [count] upon no happiness here. Labour while you live, to serve God and do what good you can, and endeavour to improve every dispensation to God's glory and your own spiritual good, and be content to do and bear all that God calls you to do in this wilderness, and never expect to find this world anything better than a wilderness." [Jonathan Edwards, writing to his daughter Esther after she had been seriously ill.]


"Behind a frowning providence he [God] hides a smiling face. We may see it in our lifetime, or we may not. But the whole Bible is written, and all the swans [great men of God who have gone before us] are singing, to convince us it is there, and we can and should 'exult in our tribulations' (Rom. 5:3)." [John Piper, The Hidden Smile of God.]

Enduring with Christ When Others Sin Against You

At the recent Desiring God Conference, "Stand: A Call for the Endurance of the Saints," Jerry Bridges addressed the topic of how to endure, even when others sin against you:

“Life is frequently difficult, and it’s sometimes painful. And if you live long enough, you will experience both difficulties and pain. And if you want to endure to the end, if you want to stand firm in the face of life’s difficulties and pain then you must have a firm belief in the sovereignty and love of God, and we could add, the wisdom of God. Not only believe that God is in control of every event in His universe and specifically every event in your own life, but God in exercising that control does so from His infinite love for you. [In Lam. 3:37] the prophet says, ‘who has spoken and it came to pass unless the Lord has commanded it?’ This verse affirms God’s sovereignty over the actions of other people. So much of life’s pain is caused by the sinful actions of other people. And if you do not believe that God is sovereign and in control of those, then you’re tempted to become bitter, and when you become bitter, then you begin to peel off, and you will not stand firm. You will not endure — if you let other people’s sinful actions cause you to be bitter. And one of the ways that we can keep from becoming bitter…is to realize that God is in sovereign control, even over the sinful actions of other people.”

The rest of this message, along with the others from that conference are well worth hearing and heeding.

Sunday Leftovers (9/30/07)

The truth that not all who claim to believe Christ are genuinely believers in Christ is not a popular message. The common assumption is that all who profess Christ possess Christ.

Yet it wasn't that way in the day of Christ, and it isn't that way now.

The people of Galilee were interested in Christ — but only to a point (John 6:60, 66). And the people of Jerusalem likewise were curious, but not enough to make a commitment (John 8:30-31, 44).

In response to curious, half-hearted, unconvinced belief, Jesus offers a number of marks of genuine belief —

• true believers remain (live and abide in) His truth (Bonhoeffer's statement is helpful — "Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes.")
• true believers know the truth (and are in fellowship with the Truth)
• true believers are liberated from sin
• true believers progressively grow in Christ

Yet even before making these statements in vv. 31-37, Jesus distinguishes Himself and His fellowship with the Father from those who are following Him —

"He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him" (8:29).

Because of the eternal unity between the Father and the Son as members of the Godhead, the Son lives for the pleasure of the Father. Living for the pleasure of the Father is what honors and glorifies the Father. So it is for all who are sons of God — we live for His pleasure (not our own) —

"Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him" (2 Cor. 5:9)

A mark of a believer in Christ is one who has as his ambition, whether in heaven or absent from heaven (still living on earth), to please God in all things. This is what gives glory to God, and this is a fundamental mark of believing in Christ — we live for His pleasures more than our own.

By saying we treasure Christ above all things, we say that we have no idols or desires above the desire for Him. Conversely, if we say we have any pleasure higher than the pleasure of living for Him, we acknowledge that we are idolaters. We desire a repaired marriage or a drink of beer or an .mp3 player or a $10,000/year raise or approval from others more than we want God.

That is unbelief.

And that is why Christ died — to release us from that sin and to give us a new affection.

Sunday Leftovers (9/23/07)

See the deplorable condition of all ungodly people! In the other world, they shall have a life that always dies and a death that always lives. [Thomas Watson, The Godly Man's Picture.]

Most people — whether they trust in Christ or not — think too little of hell.

Believers think too little of hell, not because they are afraid of it for themselves, but because 1) it has ceased to be a danger to them so they fail to see its danger for others; or 2) because self-righteous pride provokes them to see sinners with contempt and they fail to consider it a tragedy for anyone to enter the horror of hell.

Unbelievers think too little of hell for a variety of reasons, but most excuses for inattentiveness to hell are rooted in an overestimation of their "righteousness" and underestimati0n of the true righteousness and wrath of God. Even if they believe in hell, they either do not see it as a danger in general (it won't be so bad), or they do not see it as a danger for themselves.

Concerning hell, the rich man (Luke 16:19-31) thought too little until it was too late.

And then he discovered that —

1. For all eternity in hell he will comprehend something of what he is missing in heaven — he will be tormented by wanting what he can never have. [Conversely, based on the silence of Lazarus, there does not appear to be comprehension by those in heaven of what they have been spared.]
2. For all eternity there is a longing for even tiny expressions of mercy, with no hope they will ever be satisfied.
3. For all eternity there is an acknowledgment that while the suffering being endured is great, it is just (there are no justified complaints in hell).
4. Hell is eternal. It is a final destiny — there is no escaping it ever.
5. There is no repentance in hell. Even in the experience of God's wrath, there is only self-justification, no contrition. There can be no repentance, because there will be nothing good in hell — only the full extent of evil in all its horrid forms.
6. There is unrelenting, horrible pain — and it is not only appropriate for the sin committed, but it is just — even in its eternal judgment.
7. Those who reject Christ have no excuse — if they reject the Word of God as inconsequential, they will believe nothing else. (Which brings to mind the great tragedy of those who in the name of "Christianity" reject the authority and power of Scripture.)
8. What is currently being experienced will only get worse (2 Pt. 2:9).
   

For years I have said — at funerals and in private conversations — of those who have died and gone to heaven: "if they had an opportunity to leave heaven and come back to earth, they would never choose on their own to leave the presence of God. Never. Not for anything."

This week it struck me that for those in hell the opposite is true: if given the opportunity, they would never choose to stay in hell one moment longer. They would return to earth — even to endure the most horrid kinds of earthly suffering — rather than stay in hell one moment longer.

Three more statements to stimulate us to consider the real horror of hell:

Satan is full of rage against mankind and will show no mercy. As he puts forth all his subtlety in tempting man, so he puts out all his cruelty in tormenting man. This is not all; there are two more things to set out the torments of hell. These agonies and hell-convulsions shall be forever.…They would die but they cannot. The wicked shall be always dying but never dead.…After millions of years, their torments are as far from ending as the first hour they begun. Another aggrevation of hell torment is that the damned in hell have none to pity them. It is some comfort, some ease to have our friends to pity us in our sickness and want, but they have no friends. [Thomas Watson, "The Righteous Man's Weal and the Wicked Man's Woe."]

"A multitude of tears cannot extinguish [hell]; length of time cannot annihilate it…there can be no coming out." [Thomas Watson, "The Crown of Righteousness."]

"Remember this, grievous is the torment of the damned for the bitterness of the punishments, but most grievous for the eternity of the punishments. For to be tormented without end, this is that which goes beyond the bounds of all desperation. Ah, how do the thoughts of this make the damned to roar and cry out for unquietness of heart, and tear their hair, and gnash their teeth, and rage for madness, that they must dwell in 'everlasting burnings' for ever!" [Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices.]

And one statement to use those considerations to stimulate us to grieve over the lost and give them a reason for the hope that is within us:

When the heart no longer feels the truth of hell, the gospel passes from good news to simply news. The intensity of joy is blunted and the heart-spring of love is dried up. But if I remember these horrible things and do believe them in my heart; if I let every remaining sin and every moment of indifference to spiritual things remind me of the smell of hell lingering in the remnants of my corruption; if I let my knees become weak as on the day when I tottered on the cliff of my doom; if I recall that, apart from absolutely free grace, I would be the most hardened sinner and now in the torments of hell; if all this I remember and believe in my heart, then, oh, what a contrition, what a lowliness, what a meekness will be effected in my heart. [John Piper, "Brothers, We Must Feel the Truth of Hell."]

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Two more resources I neglected to include:

• "Universalism and the Reality of Eternal Punishment" (audio; listen especially to the three sermons by Sinclair Ferguson).
• "Hell: Never, Forever, or Just for a While?" (journal)

Sunday Leftovers (9/16/07)

The heart of pride is not only the exaltation of self, but even more tragically, it is the diminishing of God. As Thomas Watson has noted, "pride is the greatest sacrilege; it robs God of his glory."

Every prideful act is a defiant gesture of the inadequacy of God, and the self-exaltation of self. This was at the heart of the Pharisees' obstinate rejection of Christ (exemplified by their questions in John 8). But these particular sins of the Pharisees were not the only ones infected by pride. All sin is the manifestation of a desire that seeks satisfaction in something other than God. All sin is an expression of the heart that says, "I have a better understanding of what is good, satisfying, and God-glorifying than God Himself."

And so it is that not only do the Pharisees succumb to pride in their every sin. So do I.

In every sin I commit, I am admitting that my affections for God are weak and that my yearning for the preeminence of me is supreme.

This is evil.

It's not a character flaw. It's not a deficiency. It's not something I will outgrow. It is evil.

According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil is Pride. Unchastity, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea-bites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind." [C. S. Lewis]

Pride approaches with its destructive forces every time we question Scripture instead of submit to it with statements like, "I don't think it means that…;" "I know it says ______, but surely that doesn't mean _______;" "I know it says ______, but it only says it one time…;" or "but that is not a sin that is troublesome for me…"

Pride says "I am preeminent in importance and God is subservient to my best interests." One of the better explanations of it ways given by A. W. Tozer a generation ago:

Sin has many manifestations but its essence is one. A moral being, created to worship before the throne of God, sits on the throne of his own selfhood and from that elevated position declares, 'I AM.' That is sin in its concentrated essence." [A Knowledge of the Holy.]

And this is a daily reality for every man everywhere, whether he willingly acknowledges it or not.

Why I blog in spurts

I am aware of bloggers who blog with more consistency than me.

Just this morning, I read another blogger who asserted, "I blog every day…"

I don't.

A couple months ago, I went on vacation. While not "secluded," it was far enough away from "civilization" that my cell phone had no signal (Oh happy day!). And there was no DSL, cable, or wireless network nearby (public or private, as far as I knew). I could used my laptop modem and used a dial-up connection. After three or four days of no e-mail, I began to be liberated. Could I make it 11 days without email and internet? I could. And I did.

It was good.

It was good not be enslaved to the tyranny of the urgent. It was good to give undivided attention to my family. It was good for my soul. Every time I "unplug" I feel that way. It happened again a couple weeks ago — a long weekend, numerous "honey-do" tasks, and no email, internet, or blogging. Just my family, my bible, and some good books. It's a good thing.

Josh Harris summarized it well a few weeks ago when he reflected on a short-lived foray into the world of Facebook. He wrote this:

…I don't need another reason for staring at a computer screen. I'm constantly needing to evaluate is how much time I spend emailing, browsing and blogging. Now obviously a lot of that activity is good, useful work. But sometimes it can be a time-waster. I think God's been helping me improve at knowing when to unplug from cyberville and connect with the real, rich world of reality--playing with my kids, talking to my wife, taking a walk. Throwing Facebook in the mix of my online options is just a little too much for me right now.

The other reason I feel right about making my time with Facebook just a visit is a little harder to explain. How do I put this? I found that it encouraged me to think about me even more than I already do--which is admittedly already quite a bit. Does that make any sense? Without any help from the internet I'm inclined to give way too much time to evaluating myself, thinking about myself and wondering what other people think of me. If that egocentrism is a little flame, than Facebook for me is a gasoline IV feeding the fire. I need to grow in self-forgetfulness. I need to worry more about what God is thinking of me. I need to be preoccupied with what he's written in his word, not what somebody just wrote on my "wall."

So I will do my best to post regular thoughts about the Word of God, ministry, and life application of Scripture. But if I'm not here for a few days or more, it's probably better for my soul...

Sunday Leftovers (9/9/07)

The story of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery (John 7:53 - 8:11) is fundamentally not about the woman, not about her sin, and not about the scribes or Pharisees. It's not even really about judgmentalism. It is about Jesus Christ. And specifically, it is about how Christ is the bridge between the Law (He is the fulfillment of it), and grace (and His abundant offer of it, 1:16).

Misconceptions of grace abound — even after reading texts like this (or maybe, because texts like this are not read carefully). What can be said about grace from this passage? At least nine principles can be stated. [I said these all on Sunday, but was too rushed…]

1. The offer of grace does not preclude justice.

• Jesus was not saying Moses was wrong. There is justice and wrath, but the Pharisees had rigorously applied one part of the Law and missed the intent of it.
• There is wrath and justice, and it would be experienced.
• Grace does not preclude justice and that also means Jesus was not absolving the woman of guilt.

2. The offer of grace does not minimize sin — it doesn’t say we don’t need to address all sin.

• Many NT passages make it clear that dealing with sin is our privileged duty as believers (e.g., Mt. 18:15ff; 2 Tim. 2:24-25; Acts 5:1-11; Rom. 12:9; 15:4; Gal. 6:1; Tt. 3:10-11).
• Grace looks directly at sin, calls it what it is, and says to the sinner, “do you want to pay for that yourself, or do you want Christ to pay for it?” That’s grace. Grace doesn’t overlook sin; grace makes the cross of Christ the provision for the horridness of sin.

3. It is not ungracious to confront sin; it is ungracious to confront sin without self-examination (cf. Mt. 7:1ff; Gal. 6:1) and without desiring repentance (Js. 5:19-20). Self-examination will keep us from approaching a sinner with pride and haughty self-exaltation, and the quest for repentance will keep us attentive to the purpose of confrontation — restoration, not wrath.

4. Sin begets sin and sin hardens hearts. That is evidenced in part with the woman (she engaged in multiple adulteries); it is clear with the religious leaders — they were uncompassionate toward the woman, they hated Christ, and they were hardened against seeing their own sin. The problem with sin is not the individual sin itself, but what happens to our hearts when we continue in sin unrepentant, with eyes unwilling to examine the heart. We become hypocrites (like the Pharisees — whose very name became a synonym for hypocrisy). Cf. 1 Tim. 4:1-2.

5. The offer of grace and forgiveness is broad.

• Jesus brought the woman to a point of conviction and offered forgiveness and freedom. He did the same with the scribes and Pharisees. They too could have repented. But they walked away.
• It may be that you have been convicted recently of your sinfulness. Jesus Christ patiently awaits your response as well. Whatever your sin: adultery, spiritual hypocrisy, or even hatred of God and Christ — He will forgive it if you confess it and ask.

6. A genuine acceptance of grace comes with "requirements.”

• This is the point of Romans 6:1. When offering or accepting grace, don’t misconstrue it to mean, “I can keep doing what I want.”
• Christ died to liberate you from that sin, not to enable you to continue to do it without guilt.
• Note that Jesus does not say “sin no more and I will not condemn” — forgiveness is offered, and then obedience is commanded on the basis of that forgiveness.

7. Beware of three temptations (all learned at the expense of the Pharisees) —

• the temptation to delight in the sins of others.
• the temptation to minimize your own sins — unwillingness to engage in self-examination will produce this.
• the temptation to manipulate God and Scripture for your own purposes — the only reason the Jewish leaders read the Law was to affirm what they wanted to do. Never approach the Word of the living God in that way (cf. 1 Thess. 2:13).

8. Just because grace is offered does not mean it will be accepted.

• We know the Pharisees rejected Christ’s offer of forgiveness.
• Like Jonah, we don’t know about the woman — her response is unrecorded. He extended the offer of mercy and grace; she may have taken it, she may not have.
• The word spoken to Nicodemus is relevant here: "you must be born again" (3:3, 7). There is no life, no hope, no joy, nothing except death and condemnation apart from being given life by God.

9. The grace of Jesus' statement, "I do not condemn you" (v. 11) is rooted in his acceptance of condemnation for us.

• The reason Jesus can say “no condemnation” is not because He overlooked sin. He can’t overlook sin. When God sees sin, His holy, righteous character must condemn it.
• So how can Jesus say “I don’t condemn?” Because He would take the condemnation for her. When Jesus uttered those words, He was anticipating the day approximately six months later when He would absorb the wrath of God for all those who would believe in Him.
  
• And not only did He absorb the horrific wrath of God, but now He stands as intercessor for those who believe in Him (Rom. 8:3-4; 33-34).
  
• This is what grace is about — not that sin is overlooked, but that sin is acknowledged, repented, and Christ is embraced. This is our message — that the impediment to our fellowship with God is removed by God because God's wrath was absorbed by the second person of the Godhead!
  

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This morning I came across a series of articles that relate to the general subject of the authenticity and historicity of the Gospels. Given the consideration we made of this passage and that it was likely not written by John or part of his gospel, these may also be worth reading.

Why do you want to go to Heaven?

This is the question asked by John Piper: "if you could have everything about Heaven — forgiveness, fellowship, absence of sin and pain and death, etc. — but God is not there, would you still want it?"

The question is addressing the heart of the gospel. Do we want the gospel for our own self-exalting ends and purposes, or for the delight of the glory of God for which we were created?

A generation ago, Martyn Lloyd-Jones asked the same question in a different manner:

"What are you looking for and hoping for in Heaven? Let me ask you a question that perhaps should come before that. Do you ever look forward to being in Heaven?…The person who looks forward to death simply wants to get out of life because of his troubles. That is not Christian; that is pagan. The Christian has a positive desire for Heaven, and therefore I ask: Do you look forward to being in Heaven? But, more than this, what do we look forward to when we get to Heaven? What is it we are desiring? Is it the rest of Heaven? Is it to be free from troubles and tribulations? Is it the peace of Heaven? Is it the joy of Heaven? All those things are to be found there, thank God; but that is not the thing to look forward to in Heaven. It is the face of God. 'Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God'…to stand in the very presence of God — 'To gaze and gaze on thee.' Do we long for that? Is that Heaven to us? Is that the thing we want above everything else?" [quoted by Donald Whitney.]