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