Book Review: Uprooting Anger

"Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity"(Eph. 4:26-27; NASB).

This pair of verses is familiar. Very familiar. To parents (who use the verses in exhorting their children). And husbands and wives (who use them to attempt to resolve their differences). And pastors (who instruct with them when people in their church [sometimes the pastors themselves!] remain stuck in conflict with others). And friends (who may attempt to disciple others who struggle with anger).

Yet for their familiarity, the instruction in these verses too often eludes us. We know there is righteous anger and unrighteous anger, and that most of what we demonstrate is unrighteous anger. (I won't say that all our anger is unrighteous, but I know my own heart and what I have seen in it and what I have observed superficially with others is that righteous anger is rare — very rare.)

So do we just give up? Do we just reckon that we are stuck in sin and that one day God will remove the sin when we arrive in glory, but until then we will just have to succumb to it? May it never be!

In his book, Uprooting Anger: Biblical Help for a Common Problem, Robert Jones provides not only sound Biblical instruction, but also offers hope and helpful exhortation to those who remain stuck in their sinful and ungodly wrath and anger.

Sometimes help comes just in an honest appraisal of what something is. So in the first chapter, Jones identifies the nature of anger with this definition: "our anger is our whole-personed active response of negative moral judgment against perceived evil." What was striking to me in his explanation was that the sin of unrighteous anger is often based on the sin of a critical spirit and judgmentalism and the perception of superiority and self-importance by the one who is angry. If I am unrighteously angry, is it because I am supposing moral and spiritual superiority over another and passing judgment on him (the judgment could be of either a believer or an unbeliever)? This is a significant thrust at getting to the root of the sin.

Jones also covers topics like:

• Is your anger really righteous?
• The role of repentance and confession in ridding our hearts of anger
• How anger is expressed in two different manners: public revelations (outbursts, hostile words, etc…) and private concealment (bearing grudges, private rebukes and judgments, and failing to bless others)
• Is anger against God ever appropriate? (the short answer is, "no")
• What about anger against yourself (either for genuine sin or "missed opportunities)?
• How to help others with their anger.

I have often been struck by the connection that Paul seems to make in his discussion of the mortification of sin in Colossians 3 between anger (and related sins of the tongue) and sexual sin. I've never made the full connection between the two, other than to make the interesting observation that the two dominate the discussion of what kinds of sin demand mortification. But what the exact connection between the two was had eluded me to some degree.

Jones makes the observation that those trapped by anger "must realize that uncontrolled venting invites invasions from their spiritual enemies. The angry man or woman is easy prey for the world, the flesh, and the devil." In other words, the sin of anger not only impacts the lives of those surrounding me, but it also bears the "fruit" of further sin in my own life. Anger is not a solitary sin. It sins in pairs and triplicate!

While this may not be the completely definitive book on anger, it is one that is very helpful in beginning the process of identifying underlying, root sins in our anger, and helping us to remove those sins by the grace and strength of God.

Book Review: Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor

Everyone wants to be somebody.

By that I don't mean that everyone is necessarily seeking his identity or that he is muddled in some measure of a mid-life crisis. But I do mean that everyone wants to achieve some measure of measurable and recognized success. They want to do something so that they will be recognized by others, acclaimed as high achievers, generously successful, and gracious "winners." We recognize that in a country of 300 million people, only one individual attains to the position of President, so we rarely strive for such a lofty goal. But most individuals would like to hear "well done," at least in their own circle of friends or even just from their families.

This includes all individuals — even pastors.

But what most people get is far less than that (if you're not a pastor, adapt the following description to your scenario; it likely will fit in some way) —

Most pastors will not regularly preach to thousands, let alone tens of thousands. They will not write influential books, they will not supervise large staffs, and they will never see more than modest growth. They will plug away at their care for the aged, at their visitation, at their counseling, at their Bible studies and preaching. Some will work with so little support that they will prepare their own bulletins. They cannot possibly discern whether the constraints of their own sphere of service owe more to the specific challenges of the local situations or to their own shortcomings. Once in a while they will cast a wistful eye on 'successful' ministries. Many of them will attend the conferences sponsored by the revered masters and come away with a slightly discordant combination of, on the one hand, gratitude and encouragement and, on the other, jealousy, feelings of inadequacy, and guilt.

Most of us — let us be frank — are ordinary pastors.

Dad was one of them…

So begins the new book, Memoirs of on Ordinary Pastor by D. A. Carson (he recently spoke at the Desiring God Conference for Pastors, "The Pastor as Father and Son," illustrating his three messages with passages from this book). The book is a biographical and spiritual tribute to his father Tom, who pastored for many years in a bi-lingual church in Quebec — serving congregations that generally numbered between 20 and 40.

Memoirs is a history of Tom Carson and the time and place in which he served — when Tom was most active in ministry there were approximately 40 evangelical churches in the predominantly Catholic province of Quebec. By the time he retired, that number had grown ten times, and the size of many of those congregations had individually grown many times over as well. But Tom Carson never experienced that kind of growth in his ministry. And many of the journal entries cited by his son, demonstrate the overly critical self-examination and sorrow over the lack of growth and the lack of response to the gospel.

Where the book shines, though, is in D. A. Carson's honest and insightful analysis of what was transpiring in the life of his father and the ministry in Quebec. Why did his father struggle inwardly with discouragement? Or what kind of qualities did he evidence that enabled him to persevere when discouraged? These are the kinds of questions that Carson insightfully addresses and are an encouragement not only to a pastor, but to anyone who struggles from discouragement.

What D. A. constantly reminds the reader of, through recounting the life of his father, is that the value of an individual life is not based on the number or kind of accomplishments, but on the value of the Savior followed and the merit of the blood applied. The eternal value of all men is found only in their relationship with the eternal God-man, Jesus Christ. And the one who is in Him, has all things, though on earth he may have few things.

The concluding paragraphs to the book not only provide a fitting conclusion to the book, but also offer a correcting encouragement to those who may be frustrated by their ordinary status in life (this is a long citation, but it's worth reading):

Tom Carson never rose very far in denominational structures, but hundreds of people in the Outaouais and beyond testify how much he loved them. He never wrote a book, but he loved the Book. He was never wealthy or powerful, but he kept growing as a Christian: yesterday's grace was never enough. He was not a far-sighted visionary, but he looked forward to eternity. He was not a gifted administrator, but there is no text that says, 'By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you are good administrators.' His journals have many, many entries bathed in tears of contrition, but his children and grandchildren remember his laughter. Only rarely did he break through his pattern of reserve and speak deeply and intimately with his children, but he modeled Christian virtues to them. He much preferred to avoid controversy than to stir things up, but his own commitments to historic confessionalism were unyielding, and in ethics he was a man of principle. His own ecclesiastical circles were rather small and narrow, but his reading was correspondingly large and expansive. He was not very good at putting people down, except on his prayer lists.

When he died, there were no crowds outside the hospital, no editorial comments in the papers, no announcements on television, no mention in Parliament, no attention paid by the nation. In his hospital room there was no one by his bedside. There was only the quiet hiss of oxygen, vainly venting because he had stopped breathing and would never need it again.

But on the other side all the trumpets sounded. Dad won entrance into the only throne room that matters, not because he was a good man or a great man — he was, after all, a most ordinary pastor — but because he was a forgiven man. And he heard the voice of him whom he longed to hear saying, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord.'

Book Review: Pierced for Our Transgressions

Earlier this week, Keith asked me, "what's the best book you've read on your sabbatical, so far?"

I offered several different titles that I enjoyed, but none stood out as "the best." Now I have a title for him.

Not only is Pierced for Our Transgressions the best book I've read on sabbatical, but it's the best book I've read in a year. Maybe more. It may be on the top ten of most important books I've ever read. It's that good. And it's that important.

When I was in seminary, and then the first few years after seminary, questioning the truth of the penal substitutionary work of Christ just didn't exist (at least not widely and openly). Today the attacks on the cross are widely embraced. So statements like the following (from the worst book — Proclaiming the Scandal of the Cross — I've read so far) are considered acceptable:

"It will not do, therefore, to characterize the atonement as God's punishment falling on Christ…or as Christ's appeasement or persuasion of God."

"…ethically, this model [penal substitution] has little to offer.…In the end, a penal satisfaction presentation of the atonement can too easily lead to a situation in which we might conclude that Jesus came to save us from God."

"…[the] penal satisfaction theory…has significant problems and does not cohere well with biblical teaching on salvation."

The misunderstanding of the meaning of penal substitution — that through His death, Christ bore our sin, pain and death, enduring and satisfying the wrath of God in our place — is evidenced throughout the various contributors to Proclaiming the Scandal. And the great value of Pierced for Our Transgressions is that it provides a clear Biblical and theological corrective.

After providing a brief overview of the opposition to penal substitution (and something of its genesis and history), the authors provide a lengthy discussion of many Biblical passages that not only support penal substitution, but explicitly teach it. They consider passages like Exodus 12, Leviticus 16, Isaiah 53, the Gospels, Romans, and Galatians 3. The Biblical weight of evidence is great, and the 70 pages of careful exposition of numerous passages makes that abundantly clear. Then, the authors offer 50 pages in which they demonstrate how penal substitution not only fits within a Biblical framework of theology, but how penal substitution alone provides a Biblical and theological reason for the death of Christ. And they follow that with both the positive implications of penal substitution, and a historical overview of this understanding of Christ's death, demonstrating that this has always been the dominant view concerning Christ's death, and not some relatively new theory, as books like Scandal suggest.

This first half of Piercing is weighty and helpful for creating a Biblical framework for understanding Christ's death. In the last 130 pages or so, the authors then do the difficult work of answering the myriad objections to this view. Its difficulty arises not from the trouble of answering the questions — most of them are adequately precluded and answered in the first 200 pages — but from the task of accumulating and reading all the dissensions to penal substitution. So these authors have graciously provided the church for years to to come a great gift of addressing all the various objections (the consider 26 different, specific denials of substitution) in a systematic, Biblical and clear manner.

This book addresses a complex and important issue to the church. It provides sound Biblical exposition of important passages, articulates involved theological issues, and answers complex objections — and does all these things very clearly and concisely. It may not be a book that I will ever read from cover to cover again, but it is a book that I will often recommend and will often use as a reference as I meditate on the greatness of our Savior's work on the cross.

Book Review: Spirit-Empowered Preaching

In the last year or so, I became aware of the ministry of Art Azurdia, and the treasure of sermons available from his ministry as a pastor for some 20 years. Having heard a number of his sermons, I purchased his book, Spirit Empowered Preaching.

After hearing a broad variety of other preachers and kinds of preaching over the past three Sundays, I picked the book up this morning, and devoured it in two sittings. The reason I picked it up was the reason articulated in the Foreword to the book:

Preaching, in our time, has clearly undergone significant change. Often the preacher, even the evangelical preacher, is not more than a dispenser of new data (biblical or otherwise), or a motivator and spiritual counselor for spiritually starved and confused people. What is most obviously missing is 'the burden'. There is no 'woe' to be felt int he preacher's tone or spirit.

This is the malady addressed by Azurdia's book. It is no "how-to" book of preaching. It is an appeal that "the efficacious empowerment of the Spirit of God is indispensable to the ministry of proclamation." In other words, we don't need preachers with more style or gimicks or tighter outlines or more impassioned pleas or detailed application. We need men more full of the Holy Spirit.

• Men full of the Holy Spirit will accomplish "greater works" than Christ (Jn. 14:12)
• Men will accomplish those greater works by means of the the Spirit of God communicating through the Word of God — "the burden of the preacher is to experience the power of the scriptures in his own life before he stands at the sacred desk. 'The Word must become flesh again; the preacher must become the vehicle of the Holy Spirit, his mind inspired and his heart inflamed by the truth he preaches.'"
• The communication of the Holy Spirit is centered on Jesus Christ — the Spirit is given for the express purpose of revealing and glorifying Christ, which in turn is also the framework for all Spirit-empowered preaching. "…the vitality of the Spirit is His effectual work of glorifying Jesus Christ through fallible men who faithfully proclaim the Christocentric scriptures."
• An apostolic ministry (1 Cor. 2:1-5) is "characterized by a determination to (1) proclaim a foolish message; (2) appropriate a foolish method; and, (3) rest upon a foolish means. That is, the message is the "foolishness" of the cross (the gospel is not for unbelievers only), the method is preaching and proclamation because the method must correspond to the message, and nothing else — not drama, not music, not video — fits the message of the Word like preaching, and the means of accomplishing this evangelical ministry is through dependence on the power of the Holy Spirit of God alone.
• To minister in the Spirit's power, "the preacher must devote himself to a consistent pattern of fervent intercession,…prepare himself by the means of the diligent study of the scriptures,…[and he] must recognize, and even revel in, his own human inabilities.

And Azurdia also notes how important the listener and congregant is int his process:

• "the congregation must consciously refrain from any kind of attitude or activity that might contribute to a withholding of the effects of the Holy Spirit."
• "the congregation must earnestly take up its mandate to make intercession for the effects of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the word of God."

This book is a petition for holy men to preach a holy Word. Azurdia is thoroughly biblical in his approach and explanation, and penetrating in his challenges. He not only provides a lens through which to view and evaluate preaching, but offers a seldom-spoken model of how to do preaching to the glory of God. It made me yearn to both get back into the pulpit, and to fill my mind and ears with good preaching.

Book Review: The Truth War

I finished reading John MacArthur’s book, The Truth War this morning — on the same day that the main headline in my newspaper (referring to the question of Roger Clemens’ supposed steroid usage) was, “Testimony hits no closer to the truth.”

The headline is a revelation of the time in which we live. We tear down the walls of truth, supplanting them with relativism and subjectivism and then are indignant when someone is lying. We publicly decry the harshness of objective standards, yet we inherently understand our reliance on truth and the necessity of standards. There is something called truth; the opposite of truth is deceit, and — as the headline in today’s paper implicitly acknowledged — a culture cannot exist on that deceit.

Neither can the church. There is a truth, and we need that truth.

Yet there are many within the church who, echoing the seductive call of the culture, are repeating historical errors and doctrinal deviations and embracing postmodern thought and deviation. MacArthur’s book is a warning about straying down that path and an exhortation to cultivate afresh the practice of biblical discernment.

MacArthur is explicit in his illustrations of the current state of the church, making the argument in the introduction, “why the truth is worth fighting for.” He then demonstrates how the church-at-large arrived in its current place, tracing its movement from modernity to postmodernity (chapter 1), and also showing how postmoderns are really just advocating the old theological heresies of the Judaizers, Gnosticism, Sabellianism, and Arianism (chapters 4-5), and simple licentiousness (chapter 6). The entire book is framed around an exposition of the book of Jude and the admonition to “contend earnestly for the faith.”

This is an important book — the clarity and frankness of the admonition needs to be heard by leaders in the contemporary church, because as MacArthur notes,

…the church today is quite possibly more susceptible to false teachers, doctrinal saboteurs, and spiritual terrorism than any other generation in history. Biblical ignorance within the church may well be deeper and more widespread than at any other time since the Protestant Reformation. If you doubt that, compare the typical sermon of today with a randomly chosen published sermon from any leading evangelical preacher prior to 1850. Also compare today’s Christian literature with almost anything published by evangelical publishing houses a hundred years or more ago. [p. 165.]

The church of Jesus Christ is the instrument God has designed to be the pillar and defense of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15). We must contend (Jude 3) and live for that truth. This book is a great help in identifying the subtle errors that are leading us away from the truth, and not just a call to return to the truth, but a map to lead us back to the truth.

Book Review: George Whitfield

Arnold Dallimore has written numerous biographies, including ones on Spurgeon, several on the Wesley family, and the definitive two-volume work on George Whitfield, which he latter summarized into a more manageable, one-volume, 200-page book: George Whitfield: God's Annointed Servant in the Great Revival of the Eighteenth Century. (This latter book also may be accessed through Google Books.)

While he only lived for 56 years (1714-1770), Whitfield led a remarkable life. Like Spurgeon, he was involved in a variety of activities (an orphanage, several churches, the founding of the Methodist movement, and extensive travel, including seven cross-Atlantic trips to the United States). He spoke to thousands of people at a time in the open air (prior to amplification systems) — in fact, it is estimated that during the course of his lifetime, his voice was personally heard by more people than anyone in the history of mankind. Benjamin Franklin (yes, that Franklin), estimated that on one occasion while preaching in Philadelphia, Whitfield was heard by more than 30,000 people!

Dallimore points to a number of accomplishments in Whitfield's life, including:

• the breadth of his appeal to various listeners (he was embraced by both the poor, like coal miners and slaves, and the sophisticated nobility of both England and America, including the Prince of Wales and Benjamin Franklin).
• his ability to be readily understood and appreciated by both the educated and uneducated and children.
• the steady course of his life — unwavering and uncompromising in his doctrine, and his ability to avoid pitfalls of pride, asceticism, legalism, and mysticism.

As I read the book, however, I found myself encouraged and challenged by a man who regularly faced opposition, both theological (from both believers and unbelievers) and physical (several times he faced murderous attacks). Multiple times in my reading I made notes in the margin like "conflict," "more conflict," and "opposed again." Yet in spite of the criticism and personal attacks he faced, he maintained an attitude of grace toward his adversaries and strove to effect reconciliation, as much as he could.

On multiple occasions, those whom he left in charge of his church in England while he traveled to America abdicated their position and turned against him (to varying degrees) while he was away. Likewise, those who were his closest friends in ministry — the Wesleys — were estranged from him for many years over doctrinal issues. It is a testimony that at the end of his life, Charles Wesley wrote a 536-line elegy to his memory. Included in that work were these lines, that bespeak of friendly admiration and honor of a godly man:

Such for a length of years his glorious race
He ran, nor e'er looked back, or slack'd his pace,
Forgetting still the things already done,
And reaching forth to those not yet begun,
Eager he press'd to his high calling's prize,
By violent faith resolved to scale the skies,
And apprehend his Lord in paradise.

That Charles Wesley in particular was restored to fellowship with Whitfield is attributable to the grace of God working through Whitfield's repeated attempts to produce that reconciliation, and his humility in confession and his willingness to defer to others in non-essential matters.

When first picking up this book, I thought, "surely this will give me all I want about Whitfield — what more could be said in several hundred more pages?" Yet having now finished, I find myself yearning for more information about his relationship with Jonathan Edwards (a scant two pages in this book), the nature of his marriage (Doreen Moore offers far more information — and seemingly a more open and honest evaluation — of his marriage in Good Christians, Good Husbands? : Leaving a Legacy in Marriage and Ministry), and more samplings of the actual content of his sermons.

I suppose that's the mark of a good book, however: enough information written well, without producing excessively-bored yawning, and stimulating a yearning for more pages. Perhaps another year will induce me to attempt Dallimore's full treatment of Whitfield's life.

Book Review: The Cross He Bore

I regularly look for and purchase and read books about Jesus Christ — and particularly Christ and the cross.

The cross is of first importance for the believer. We cannot think about it too much. We often think about it too little.

So when I read an encouragement by Tim Challies to purchase The Cross He Bore, I was intrigued. When he wrote about it again, I got online and ordered a copy.

I finished reading it yesterday. I will look to it and read it again.

The size of the book is unimpressive (exactly 100 pages, divided into 13 chapters that each stand alone in their content).

But the writing is superb. In each chapter, Leahy contemplates a single verse, focusing on some aspect of the preparation for or the crucifixion of Christ itself. The texts are all familiar, but his insights are almost always unique, sobering, and helpful for worship and communion preparation.

An example. In the chapter, "The Butt of Mockery," considering Matthew 26:67-68, he writes this:

Many hands were raised against him, both human and demonic, but Christ knew that there was one hand above all others that smote him. And as he bore our sins that hand did not spare him. 'It was the will of the Lord to bruise him; he has put him to grief…' (Isa. 53:10).

In the same chapter, he later he adds,

…in many ways all Christians fail to be as sensitive to the presence of evil as they should be. But the sinless one was totally sensitive to the presence of evil. We must not, therefore, limit his redemptive sufferings to the last few days of his life before the crucifixion and to his actual agony on the cross. William Symington rightly affirms, 'In every case He suffered for us, never for Himself'; and he adds, 'Not one throb of pain did He feel, not one pang of sorrow did He experience , not one sigh of anguish did He heave, not one tear of grief did He shed for Himself. If not one of His sufferings was personal, it follows that they were all substitutionary…'. During the whole period of his [earthly] life the Saviour 'was a-slaying'.

And writing about the cup of judgment given to Him by the Father, Leahy says this:

The cup that the Father placed in the Son's hands was brimful of wrath and judgment. Its every drop brought torment. Yet this cup he would drink to the glory of God! This cup he would drink in honour of God's holiness and righteousness. This cup of death he would drink in order that not one of his people might ever taste a single drop of it. 'Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?' (John 18:11). Yes, indeed! He would drink it to its dregs. He would drain that cup. Not one drop would be left.

Similar insights abound throughout the book. Not only does Leahy instruct the mind, but he stimulated my heart into deeper gratitude and affection for Christ — the very thing a book about the cross should do!

Book Review: Through the Looking Glass

I stumbled onto Kris Lundgaard’s first book, The Enemy Within, at a second-hand book store. I was unfamiliar with the book, but knew the reputation of the publisher, and seeing the commendation from J. I. Packer on the back, I ventured the few dollars for the book on the hope they would be worthwhile. They were. I have referred to the book numerous times, and been encouraged and challenged by it.

Subsequently, Lundgaard wrote another book, entitled Through the Looking Glass. The premise was similar to the first book — he took the ideas and theology of the Puritan writer John Owen (this time he borrows from The Glory of Christ) and wrote a book on the same themes with contemporary language and illustrations.

The premise of this book is similar to my purpose in recently preaching John 1-12 — to exalt the person of Christ and to make Him more known: “This book is about Christ. It’s for reflecting on Christ through the looking glass of the Scriptures, relishing everything about him we can know, all his loveliness and wonder.”

Mission accomplished.

His premise is that there is nothing greater than desiring Christ, and that most of us love and yearn for Him too weakly. To counteract that tendency and to stimulate our best God-ward hunger, Lundgaard paints great pictures of Christ. Though sometimes handling Old Testament passages with too much freedom and a careless and inconsistent hermeneutic (my only significant complaint with the book), yet he does ask penetrating questions and offers hopeful help.

Perhaps his concluding chapter offers the best example:

…when we answer the question, “How do I recover from spiritual decay?” we find ourselves right back where we started this book. You see, there can’t be any real revival apart from the glory of Christ.

Every ounce of grace we receive comes from Jesus Christ.…without him we can’t lift a finger.…

Are you stirred by a conviction that your spiritual life is languishing? Do you yearn for a renewal of spiritual strength that will flourish in faith, love, and holiness? Then drive a stake into this solid ground: you won’t have a bit of it apart from Jesus. You can claim every promise in the Book and screw up your courage to carry out the toughest spiritual disciplines — but you won’t find a breath of relief unless Christ breathes on you. And if we can only be renewed though Christ, isn’t he glorious?

Every ounce of grace we receive comes by faith. By faith we come to Christ, are planted in Christ, and live in Christ to bear fruit for him. By our faith he lives in us and acts in us, so that we live by faith in the Son of God. You won’t find a jot or tittle in the Scriptures to suggest that you’ll receive anything from Christ other than by faith. Faith points away from us and our strength to Christ and his glory.

This faith is in the person of Christ, his grace, all his work to bring us to God, and his glory in everything.…

Spiritual recovery begins and continues when we gaze on the glory of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). [pp. 199-200; his emphasis.]

Book Review: Is That You Lord?

Fleeces, open and closed doors, impressions, "peace" (or a lack of it) — all these are common means for believers attempting to discover the sovereign will of God for their lives.

To that idea, pastor Gary Gilley counters in his book Is That You Lord? that there is a better, more God-exalting, Scripture-trusting, and freedom-giving way.

Following the lead of Gary Friesen (Decision Making and the Will of God [be sure to purchase the first edition of this book]), Gilley explains that there are three kinds of God's will — His sovereign (inter-Trinitarian, unknowable to man, Dt. 29:29) will, His moral (revealed in His commands and instruction in Scripture) will, and His individual will. As Gilley demonstrates, most people are attempting to find the latter, but their quest is actually an attempt to discover His sovereign will — "The real question people are asking when it comes to the individual will is, 'How can I know God's sovereign will for my life?' They want to know if God has given them a means whereby they can storm the gates of heaven and unlock the secret counsels of God."

That quest, Gilley argues, has lead to a mystical quest for God in which believers are tempted to place as much or more trust in extra-Biblical revelation from God than in the revealed Word of God.

…revelation from God, no matter what format or venue, is still revelation from God. It is not possible for God to give revelation that is not authoritative and demanding of obedience. All revelation from God carries the authority of Scripture.…Today many are claiming to hear from God, but what they are hearing, they say, does not have the status and significance of Scripture. This is logically impossible. Either God has spoken or he has not. If he has spoken, that message is as authoritative as Scripture. [pp. 60-61]

Rather than trusting impressions, Gilley argues briefly but convincingly, that the Bible's own counsel about making decisions is:

• always begin with Scripture — "When you begin with Scripture, in the realm of decision making, you will be able to make your decisions on the basis of solid biblical precepts, commands and principles. The Bible will not tell you what house you are to buy, but it will frame that decision with financial, ministerial and family guidelines."
• pray for wisdom — "we are not told [Js. 1:5-8] that the Lord will specifically make the decision for us through some form of prompting, only that he will provide wisdom for making a wise decision."
• [seek] wise counsel — "The counsel of wise, godly and scripturally knowledgeable people is an important source for making wise decisions, but we must keep in mind that such counsel is not infallible. It is a piece but it does not solve the puzzle."
• circumstances and opportunity — "[These] offer us options — options that should be carefully examined. But again these options are not obligatory mandates from God."
• desire — "God often works through our desires. What is it that we want to do? is a good question to ponder. [E.g., 1 Tim. 3:1]"
• freedom — "Surrounded by these principles, and others found within the New Testament, we are given freedom to make choices that we believe will glorify God (1 Cor. 10:31).…the good news is that God, within biblical parameters, has given us freedom and ability to make wise choices that honour him." [pp. 56-59.]
  

It is that last statement that makes many believers uncomfortable, yet Gilley does a good job surveying the Biblical landscape and demonstrating the normative pattern for God's interaction in people's lives to accomplish His sovereign purpose. God does not speak in "still, small voices" — when He speaks, it is articulate, clear, loud, unmistakable and carries a divine imperative that must always and unhesitatingly be obeyed.

The goal, as expressed in the New Testament, is not to find the will of God but to do the will of God. Since God wants you to do his will, be assured that he has not hidden it and then sent us on some kind of cosmic treasure hunt to find it. He is not daring us to discover the clues which will lead to his plan for our lives. Rather, his will is clearly imprinted on the pages of Scripture. It was to this end that Paul told Timothy to 'be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth' (2 Tim. 2:15). Many are simply unwilling to do the 'diligent' work necessary to accurately handle the word of truth and are looking for shortcuts. The Lord does not call for shortcuts; instead 'diligence' is prescribed. [p. 80.]

Are you still puzzled about the will of God for your life — which job? which house? which person to choose as a marriage partner? which church or ministry? where to vacation? who to disciple? This book will begin to give you an ability to make decisive, confident, God-exalting choices. If you want more detailed answers, read Friesen's book. If you want the concise answer, pick up this book.

Book Review: Battling Unbelief

“I do believe; help my unbelief.”

This cry from the father of the mute, demon-possessed boy is in some way the genuine condition of the hearts of all who believe in and follow Christ. There are areas in our lives in which we know the truth of God and believe that truth is sufficient and efficient to accomplish transformation, but that confidence in God wavers.

The root of that wavering is that we really don't believe the promises of God. What we need, John Piper suggests, is faith in future grace. That is, we need faith to believe that as God has given past grace to provide spiritual life and sustenance, so He will give future grace that will equip us to adequately battle the sins of unbelief in its various forms — sins like anxiety, pride, misplaced shame, impatience, covetousness, bitterness, despondency, and lust.

This new book, Battling Unbelief, is a shortened version of his book Future Grace. The latter book provides more Biblical foundations for his reasoning, and then applies truth to a number of areas of sin. This book is a compilation of those chapters on the various sins.

What is future grace, and why do we need it?

Being satisfied with all that God promises to be for us in Jesus Christ is the essence of faith in future grace.…Sin has power because of the promises it makes to us.…No one sins out of duty. We sin because we believe the deceitful promises that sin makes.…Battling unbelief and fighting for faith in future grace means that we fight fire with fire. We throw against the promises of sin the promises of God. We take hold of some great promise God made about our future and say to a particular sin, "Match that!" In this way we do what Paul says in Romans 8:13, "By the Spirit…put to death the deeds of the body." [pp. 15-16]

Like Respectable Sins, which I was reading at the same time as this book (which was actually a good thing to do, as the messages are very similar, though Piper has more Biblical content and Bridges is more readable), Battling Unbelief is a book that I will come to again and again to help me in my battle with the flesh.

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.

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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"

Book Review: The Truth of the Cross

In the past few years, I have found myself increasingly gravitating to books on the cross of Christ.

One reason is that since I lead our church through communion each month, I need to read things that keep the truth of the cross fresh and exciting to me. But the most significant reason is that we are people of the cross. We have no message apart from the cross. Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving? There is no meaning for any of those holidays apart from the cross. Sunday? No meaning without the cross. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday? All senseless without the cross.

So when I go to the bookstore or find a new book catalog, one place I always go is the Christology section. Will there be something new that will stimulate my mind and move my heart into greater Christlikeness and love for Christ?

And that is why I was intrigued to see a new book by R. C. Sproul on the cross.

The Truth of the Cross has just been released and it is another helpful book by Sproul. It is shorter (167 pp.), in a smaller format, and more conversational in its tone than some of his other writings — making it more accessible to a wider audience.

The book has ten chapters, all centered around the great themes of the cross. Among the chapter titles are:

• The Necessity of an Atonement
• The Just God
• Debtors, Enemies, and Criminals
• The Saving Substitute
• A Secure Faith

I am drawn to this book for a number of reasons:

• the simple and clear explanations of the intricacies of the cross. The cross is simple enough a child can understand it; yet that simplicity should not be confused with a lack of depth and richness. This book elucidates that richness.
• the use of exposition to explain these truth throughout the book (he not only provides theological arguments, but also Biblical arguments and explanations).
• concise definitions of theological terms, multiple extended illustrations in virtually each chapter, making the truths come alive for the reader. So an extended explanation of expiation and propitiation helps the reader understand that while related in that they both look to the ransom paid on the cross, expiation refers to the act of ransom, and propitiation refers to the one who receives the ransom and His attitude towards the ransomed person.
  
• the "quotability" of the book. In each chapter, I marked several sections to copy and place in my illustration files, meaning my "communion" file is now expanded by at least a couple dozen more concise statements about the cross.
  
• the repeated affirmations of the importance of the cross. For instance, "if you take away the substitutionary atonement, you empty the cross of its meaning and drain all the significance out of the passion of our Lord Himself. If you do that, you take away Christianity itself" [p. 81].
• the relationship of each chapter to the others, demonstrating how the various truths are linked to one another.

Of particular help in this last regard was the chapter, "Debtors, Enemies, and Criminals." Of all the reasons that people don't respond to the cross and the gospel, perhaps the most significant is that they do not understand their need for salvation. I've often said to a friend, "that person has to get lost before he can get saved," meaning that the person in question still refuses to understand the depth of his sinfulness and his utter inability to offer anything commendable to God to produce God's satisfaction. He is dependent on God for salvation, but he doesn't know it. This chapter expounds that doctrine wonderfully and fully. At the beginning of the chapter Sproul writes this:

"Sin is cosmic treason." With those words, I [am] trying to communicate the seriousness of human sin. We rarely take the time to think through the ramifications of our sin. We fail to realize that in even the slightest sins we commit, such as little white lies or other peccadilloes, we are violating the law of the Creator of the universe. In the smallest sin we defy God’s right to rule and to reign over His creation. Instead, we seek to usurp for ourselves the authority and the power that belong properly to God. Even the slightest sin does violence to His holiness, to His glory, and to His righteousness. Every sin, no matter how seemingly insignificant, is truly an act of treason against the cosmic King. [p. 32]

There remain two detractions to this book. The first of these is actually more of a desire than a detraction. Upon completing the book, I was left wanting more. Like a good roller coaster or ice cream cone, I wanted one more turn and one more bite — "give me more," was my desire.

The second significant detraction relates to the chapter, "A Secure Faith," his explanation of limited atonement. The weakness of that chapter is the lack of Biblical exegesis and exposition to support his thesis, which is (ironically) a strength of the rest of the book. He relies too heavily in the final chapter on his theological system and places too great of an emphasis on limited atonement. Even Wayne Grudem notes,

Although Reformed people have sometimes made belief in particular redemption a test of doctrinal orthodoxy, it would be healthy to realize that Scripture itself never singles this out as a doctrine of major importance, nor does it once make it the subject of any explicit theological discussion. Our knowledge of the issue comes only from incidental references to it in passages whose concern is with other doctrinal or practical matters. In fact, this is really a question that probes into the inner counsels of the Trinity and does so in an area in which there is very little direct scriptural testimony — a fact that should cause us to be cautious. [p. 603]

Additionally, I was left wondering, "is this really one of the most significant aspects of the cross? Was there not some other aspect of the cross that deserved more significant explanation than this topic?"

That being said, this is a book that I will read and use repeatedly. It is probably not my favorite book on the cross, but it is one I am glad to own.