From A Seasoned Pilgrim To A New Pilgrim

It was while I was taking J.I. Packer's class on Puritan theology in the summer of 2007 that I got the name of my blog. Let us learn from one who has walked the walk and is far ahead of most all of us on this side of glory.

My conclusion: a joyful, passionate (for his age you must say! He turns 83 this year!) guide who has walked the narrow path for as long as he has and is soon to meet his Lord would be a good one to follow.

HT: Between Two Worlds

Yes, The Gospel Does Change People

It changes those who are victims of murder just as much as it changes those who commit murder. Let's pray that in the same way that it changed Raymond Guay (previous post), it would change the man who murdered Fred Winters.


HT: Between Two Worlds

Thank You, Jesus, for the beautiful and indescribable display of Your gospel in and through Cindy Winters. Please continue to sustain her and her daughters that You love so dearly in and through the loss of their husband and father who served You so faithfully. And please grant us the grace to follow her example in taking any and every opportunity You supply, especially in our deepest pain or loss, to testify before the world that You and You alone are our Treasure of infinite worth and the only hope for every person in this perishing world. For Your name's sake I pray, Amen.

Real Life Gospel Test

Pastor Takes In Convict

How does watching this news clip make you feel?

Either the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified for sinners who really are wretched is glorious. Or it's not. Period.

What would the apostle Paul say?

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (emphasis added)

Verse 11 is for ex-con murderers as much as it's for me and you. If not, then why did Jesus have to die? I mean, what else would He possibly have come for other than to receive the scorn that Raymond Guay is now receiving and to wash him with His precious blood so that he would be white as snow?

That's the gospel.

Because of this gospel, and only this gospel, murderers really do change.

Otherwise this is all a big fairy tale and I quit.

Memorize (And Meditate On) More Bible

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
John 3:36

We all know how fruitful Bible memorization can be when we do it. But the doing it is the hard part that keeps us from being disciplined in memorizing more and more Bible. That's why I really appreciated the blog post over at DG this morning that pointed to another post with 18 tricks for memorizing Scripture. And many of them I have used myself as I try to memorize as much Bible as I can.

I wanted to share a tip that is very helpful for me in memorizing verses. That tip is this: Let the verses you are memorizing become a theological framework for you. Let them define your theology. This is helpful because when you memorize in this way, it forces you to be thinking about what you are reciting rather than just parrot memorization where we are trying to visualize words in the right place. And Psalm 1 does say that we are to meditate on the word (think about it!) and not just memorize it. If memorization isn't for the purpose of meditation, then it is in vain.

One of the best examples of how I use this theological framework idea to help me memorize is John 3:36, which is above. There are two if/then statements:

Believe in the Son --> have eternal life
Fail to obey the Son --> shall not see life, wrath of God remains

In trying to memorize this verse, it would be really easy to confuse the two if clauses. Whoever obeys the Son has life? Whoever does not believe in the Son shall not see life? Well, yes, the answer to both of these questions is yes. But that's not what the verse says. So how might I avoid making this blunder? The way I avoid making this blunder is that I look at these verses through a theological framework. I let them define my theology.

In systematic theology, which I've been teaching this school year, you have two terms that are central to our salvation: justification and sanctification. And the order of these two is essential. We are justified first (declared righteous in God's sight) and then only after we are justified are we sanctified (made more and more righteous as we are conformed by the Holy Spirit into the image of Righteous Jesus Christ). To confuse these two is heresy. The way we are justified is by faith (Romans 3:26, 5:1) and the way we are sanctified is by obedience (Romans 6:17-19). The faith comes first, not the obedience.

So look back at John 3:36. And notice that John speaks of faith (believing) and obedience. In other words, John seems to be talking about justification and sanctification even though I don't think this apostle ever uses these words (though another one does). And if you understand the colossal error in theology it is to confuse the order of these two parts of our salvation, you will never again forget which if clause comes first in John 3:36. Believing in the Son comes first because justification comes first in the process of our salvation and justification happens through believing in Christ as your wrath-absorbing sacrifice. And obeying the Son comes second because sanctification comes after justification and sanctification happens through obeying Christ in all that He commands.

Do you see what I've just done? In just one verse, I've created a theological framework by which I understand that both justification (through ongoing faith) and sanctification (through ongoing obedience) are indispensable if I will escape from the wrath that is to come. And the faith precedes (and empowers) the obedience. And more than just memorize the verse, I've meditated on the verse.

Another couple of verses this works great for is Romans 8:29, 30. Try it over there. But if it's going to work, it's going to require that you know your theology, which requires that you know your Bible. Anyone see a Cacth 22 here? Boy am I glad to be teaching systematic theology. =)

HT: DG Blog

By the way, I do highly recommend watching (yes, watch not listen or read) the Piper sermon that is pointed to by the post I referenced at the beginning, which inspired me to write this post in the first place. In God's providence, I just watched the mentioned sermon yesterday and read this article today even though Piper preached the message in January. You'll be blessed by doing so. Here it is just so you don't have to go anywhere:

My Portion

Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:23-26

Cool Looking Flick Coming This Summer

In A Class By Himself

God's Not A Fan Of Our Self-Esteem

He's a fan of our Christ-esteem. There is a way that our self-esteem and our Christ-esteem are mutually exclusive. But, as Piper explains so well, there is a way that they are not. The only way that they are not mutually exclusive is if our hearts sing in tandem with John the Baptist when he cries out "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30).

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Romans 12:3

In choosing faith as the measure of the new self, Paul is choosing an absolutely unique act of the new mind. What is the essence of faith? Faith is looking away from ourselves to another. Faith is total dependence on another. When faith stands in front of a mirror, the mirror becomes a window with the glory of Christ on the other side. Faith looks to Christ and enjoys him as the sum and judge of all that is true and good and right and beautiful and valuable and satisfying.

So what Paul is saying is that the essence of the new Christian mind is that we see and savor—we behold and we embrace—Jesus Christ and not ourselves as the supreme truth and supreme treasure in the universe.

Do you see the astonishing thing that Paul is doing here? As he watches people puff themselves up, thinking of themselves too highly, he says, Here is how to think soberly about yourself: Make faith the measure of your mind. Make faith the measure of your heart, your life. And so he turns self-exaltation upside down. He says, Do you want to have significance? Then look to Christ as infinitely significant. Do you want to have value? Then look to Christ as infinitely valuable. Do you want to want to have esteem? Then look to Christ as worthy of infinite esteem.

Don’t make mistake here. I am not saying what so much contemporary Christian Popular Psychology says. I am not saying: Do you want to have significance? Then look to Christ as a means to your significance. I am not saying: Do you want to have value? Then look to Christ as the one who gives you value. I am not saying: Do you want to have esteem? Then look to Christ as the means of your esteem. I am not saying that in the renewed mind Christ is a means to the goal of your significance and esteem and value. I am saying: you were made to embrace him as infinitely significant and infinitely valuable and infinitely worthy of esteem. That is what the renewed mind does and loves to do. That is the deepest identity of the new mind.

I’ll say it again: Do you want to have significance? Then embrace Christ as the one who is infinitely significant to you. Do you want to have value? Then embrace Christ as infinitely valuable. Do you want to want to have esteem? Then embrace Christ as worthy of infinite esteem.

Our faith in Christ is the measure of our significance and value and esteem, because faith means looking away from ourselves to Christ and embracing him as the all-satisfying embodiment of all that is significant and valuable and worthy of esteem. The measure of our new self in Christ—the renewed mind—is the degree to which we look away from ourselves to Christ as our truth and treasure.

If Christ is more to you, you are more. If Christ is less to you, you are less. Your measure rises and falls with your measure of him. Your valuing him is the value that you have. Your esteeming him is the esteem that you have. Your treasuring him is the treasure that you are.

Read/watch/listen to the entire sermon.

Oh the wonders of being "in Christ"! I am learning more and more by experience why the apostle Paul could never grow weary of meditating on this glorious truth. We're one with Him: Sinless! Crucified! Resurrected! Righteous! Beloved! Heirs! Oh that He would be more to us for the sake of our own eternal joy and His everlasting glory! What an irony there is in our quest for self-esteem! The way up is for us to go down.

John Piper Confesses His Heart ...

... and mine.

I love John Piper. I don't say that lightly like "I love apple pie." There is no other preacher I've ever heard that speaks to my heart more than him. Not even close. And I'm coming to realize that it's because God has built us in so many of the same ways. Intense, earnest, sober, dogmatic, black and white, introverted, introspective, hedonistic, emotional, serious thinker. Just to name a few. So almost every time I read something he writes or hear something he says, my heart is so closely in tune with his. We're on almost exactly the same wavelength. So many of his struggles are exactly my struggles. From the 2009 Desiring God Conference for Pastors, this is perhaps the best ten minutes of Piper I've ever heard. But it's not for any of the reasons you would probably think if I were to tell you that without saying anything else.



Watch or listen to the entire session.

Thank You, Father, for this deeply flawed saint who has been my surest guide, under Jesus, on the narrow path to glory.

Coming Soon: Resolved 2009

Desiring God Conference For Pastors 2009

Last week I had the sweet privilege of attending the Desiring God Conference for Pastors in Minneapolis. I loved every minute of it except for the single degree (and at times sub zero) temperatures. And that's in Fahrenheit! I lived in Massachusetts for two years when I was in high school and it snowed alot there but I don't remember it ever being that cold! Bless your soul, John Piper, and all you Minnesota natives.

In any case, I had hoped to blog each of the sessions but I was only able to do a recap of the first one because, well, I decided not to bring my computer to the sessions and I was too tired on the second day to recap all the messages in any detail. This conference was encouraging and challenging at the same time. I highly recommend Mark Dever's (the keynote speaker, pictured below) first and second messages. Though this was a pastors conference and all the other messages were specifically directed at pastors, I think these messages are highly helpful and relevant for every believer who wants to grow in faithful gospel witness.

I think perhaps the best moment of the conference for me was the Q&A to conclude the conference, which included questions directed at all the speakers. The last question, answered by John Piper, was perhaps the best five minutes of John Piper I've ever heard. But I promise you that it's not for any of the reasons you would think. If I find the footage, I'll post it. Until then, you're going to have to wait. Otherwise go watch the whole Q&A for yourself. =)

Thank you for your prayers!

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Session 1: Mark Dever

This conference is about evangelism, which means it’s about sharing the gospel. But before we can talk about sharing the gospel, Dever wants to make sure that we all mean the same thing when we say gospel. So instead of making any assumptions, he began by defining what the gospel is from the Scriptures. We’ve probably all heard it before but if we have been saved by this gospel then we should ever be delighted to be reminded of what God has done for us in Christ. In fact, part of the way that we become more effective in sharing the gospel is by meditating on it again and again, telling ourselves this great story again and again, so that we are increasingly able to draw out how it applies to all the situations of our lives, so that we are increasingly able to relate any conversation we have with non-believers to this glorious gospel of our salvation.

The gospel begins with God as Creator with rights to all of His creation. And we have rebelled against our Creator. When God created us, He had pleasure in us and it was right for Him to have pleasure in us. When we rebelled against Him, God condemned us and it was right for Him to condemn us. God is righteous and holy and everything He does is right.

The gospel is a storyline that’s unfolding in four phases: creation, fall, redemption, consummation. It is global and all-encompassing in its scope. When Adam fell, the whole creation was cursed and subjected to futility. But God is making all things new and when He completes this renewal, there will be a new heaven and earth that has been completely redeemed from the Fall.

But this big picture storyline by itself doesn’t do anyone any good. To tell someone the gospel in that way is to leave them as a small child with his face pressed up against the glass of a candy store. This big picture doesn’t do anyone any good if we don’t tell individuals how it applies to them. We must tell individuals why this gospel is good news for them as individual, and this good news for individuals is that Jesus has come to save individual sinners from the wrath of God that is rightly against them.

We must remember that there is no way to tell the gospel without offending the person we are evangelizing. If there is nothing offensive in what we say, we are doing something wrong. There is no pain-free way to share the gospel, though we aren’t to go around needlessly offending (and there are many ways we can do this). We must emphasize that the gospel isn’t mainly about how there is something wrong with the way they see the world but rather the gospel is mainly about how there is something wrong with the way God sees them and they need to be made right with Him, in His eyes! We are sent as heralds to proclaim a message!

Dever shared three reasons why we should evangelize:

1) We are commanded to. This is clear in the New Testament. This is what the Great Commission is about. It doesn’t matter whether we feel like doing it or not. If we don’t feel like doing it, we should work on our affections. But we shouldn’t wait until we feel like doing evangelism to start doing it. We should obey God, and work on our feelings as we do so.

2) We should do it out of love for the lost. Dever dwelt on this point for a while. Do we really understand what it means that people are lost? I think this was the part of his message that I appreciated most. He spoke at length about hell and how horrible it is, how he can’t even find the words to describe the torment that non-believers will be subjected to apart from embracing Christ in the gospel. We don’t make the gospel more attractive to non-believers by diminishing the painful reality of hell. All we are doing is giving them every reason to persist in their unbelief because we are taking away the very thing that the gospel rescues them from, the very thing that is meant to cause them to flee to the gospel! If we really believe in the God who has saved us through the gospel, then we must believe what His Word teaches about hell and that everyone who doesn’t embrace Christ is going to perish there forever! And if we love people, we will labor tirelessly to rescue them from this end.

3) We should do it out of love for God. Above all, we do evangelism for the glory of God. We do it because we love God and we love to tell the truth about who He truly is so that others can see Him and love Him for who He truly is. This is the one way that we are able to glorify God in this life that we will not be able to glorify God in heaven.

Why I'm Flying To Minnesota On Monday

Please pray that the Holy Spirit would transform us.

Total Depravity, The U.S. President, And The Grace Of God

Yesterday I taught my systematic theology class about God's common grace: the grace of God by which He gives countless blessings to all people, blessings that are not a part of salvation. One sphere of God's common grace is the social realm, which includes government and societal norms. The following was my conclusion to that section.

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I can’t end this section without giving praise to God for the testimony to His common grace that our new president is. There was a time before any of us were alive when I probably wouldn’t be allowed to be in the same classroom as you guys let alone be your teacher because of the color of my skin. There was a time when I wouldn’t have dared to be in the same church as you because of the color of my skin. Total depravity expressed itself in the malice and slander (Romans 1:29) that whites expressed towards blacks and vice-versa. Total depravity expressed itself when lynching reared its ugly head as the latest invention of evil (Romans 1:30) meant primarily for black people. In those days, it was unthinkable that whites and blacks could sit down at the same table, use the same bath rooms, drink from the same water fountains let alone love one another as brothers and sisters. It was a time of great despair. Listen to Martin Luther King Jr. at one of these times:

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

I don’t agree with everything Martin Luther King Jr. said in his speech. And I certainly don’t agree with everything that President Obama wants to do. The truth is, I didn’t even vote for him. But I was humbled the day after the inauguration and then especially after I read Dr. King’s speech when I realized that we live in the generation that Dr. King dreamed of. And we definitely don’t deserve to. I know I don’t especially because of how much I take it for granted. I wonder how many years away he thought his dream was when he made that speech in 1963? 20? 30? 40? 50? 100? 200? 500? I am living in the answer to his prayer. You are living in the answer to his prayer. Non-believers and believers in this generation are living in the answer to his prayer. Consider this. A black man, at one time treated as less than human, is the leader of the most powerful nation in the world. And how did it start? It started with people whose consciences wouldn’t let them rest as long as slavery was legal and then the government instituting laws to make slavery illegal and then racial discrimination illegal so that now we live in a day when, though racism definitely has by no means completely disappeared, God has restrained it so that society isn’t anywhere near as manifestly racist as it once was. Our depravity is greater than we realize. The manifest racism that once existed in our society is a testimony to that. But God’s grace is greater than our depravity. Our new president is a testimony to that.

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There is a great irony in this, at least from our weak and feeble human perspective through which we now see only through a mirror dimly (1 Corinthians 12:12). Last Sunday was Sanctity of Life Sunday, the annual commemoration of Roe vs. Wade in which the trumpet is sounded to protect the lives of the unborn. Here is what our president wrote two days ago in light of this year's Roe vs. Wade anniversary:

On the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we are reminded that this decision not only protects women's health and reproductive freedom, but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters. I remain committed to protecting a woman's right to choose.

For our president, abortion is about human rights, a woman's right to choose. If we look back to the institution of slavery, the roots of which are the very reason why the election of an African-American as U.S. president is so revolutionary, it was also about human rights. William Wilberforce and other men were fighting against slavery because they believed in a black person's right to be seen as one who is created in the image of God. But slavery as a human rights issue had two sides of the coin. In opposition to a black person's right to equal treatment as a human being was a white person's right to choose to own and keep slaves and do whatever they wanted with them. And in the same way, abortion as a human rights issue has two sides of the coin. In opposition to a woman's right to choose to end another's life is a baby's right to equal treatment as a human being (equal to humans outside of the womb for whom murder is illegal).

The irony in this all is that Barack Obama would not be president (and that would be the least of his losses) if the side of the coin that prevailed when the slavery coin landed, as it were, was the same side of the abortion coin he so strongly desires to see prevail in today's generation. Could it be any clearer? And in the same way that slavery was a testimony to total depravity (would anyone disagree with this?), abortion is a testimony to total depravity (murder: Mark 7:21, Romans 1:29).

You see, neither abortion nor slavery is ultimately about human rights. They are about Creator rights, Creator rights to create human beings that fully reflect His image in the world. These are rights that man has no business messing with.

And so we grieve and we celebrate because of our new president. We celebrate because of our new president because the Creator's rights that were opposed in the days of slavery are now being exalted because a black man, created in the image of God, can share in the mandate to have dominion over all (Genesis 1:27). And we grieve because of our new president because he today opposes the Creator's rights to wonderfully make little ones in His own image whenever He pleases (Psalm 139:13, Psalm 127:3). And the only reason his word can count in doing so is because the Creator's rights have been exalted for his benefit.

Though this is a great irony to us, one thing is for sure. It isn't an irony to God. This is by His infinitely wise design, a design through which no man can see. May our confidence be rooted in the fact that His grace always prevails, as can be seen today, to the praise of His glorious grace.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Romans 11:33-36

Related to this, the article John Piper wrote earlier this week after the inauguration is a must-read: The President, the Passengers, and the Patience of God.

Of First Importance

Amen, brother Piper. God is the gospel. Lord willing, I'll see you in Chicago.

Near Unto God

The fellowship of being near unto God must become reality, in the full and rigorous prosecution of life. It must permeate and give color to our feeling, our perceptions, our sensations, our thinking, our imagining, our willing, our acting, our speaking. It must not stand as a foreign factor in our life, but it must be the passion that breathes through our whole existence.

-Abraham Kuyper, To Be Near Unto God

The Lamb

We are never done with the cross nor ever shall be. Its wonders will be always new and always fraught with joy. "The Lamb as it had been slain" will be the theme of our praise above. Why should such a name be given to him in such a book as the Revelation, which in one sense carried us far past the cross, were it not that we shall always realize our connection with its one salvation; we shall always be looking to it even in the midst of the glory; and we shall always be learning from it some new lesson regarding the work of him "in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace"? What will they who here speak of themselves as being so advanced as to be done with the cross say to being brought face to face with the slain Lamb, in the age of absolute perfection, the age of the heavenly glory?

You fool! Do you not know that the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ endures forever and that you shall eternally glory in it, if you are saved by it at all?

You fool! Will you not join in the song below, "To him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood"? Will you not join in the song above, "You were slain, and here redeemed us to God by your blood"? And do you not remember that it is "the Lamb as it had been slain" that "the seven spirits of God are sent forth into all the Earth"? (Rev. 5:6)

It is the Lamb who stands in the midst of the elders (Rev. 5:6) and before whom they fall down. "Worthy is the Lamb" is the theme of celestial song. It is the Lamb that opens the seals (6:1). It is before the Lamb that the great multitude stand clothed in white (7:9). It is the blood of the Lamb that washes the raiment white (7:14). It is by the blood of the Lamb that the victory is won (12:11). The book of life belongs to the Lamb slain (13:8). It was the Lamb that stood on the glorious Mount (14:1). It is the Lamb that the redeemed multitude are seen following (14:4), and that multitude is the first fruits unto God and unto the Lamb (14:4). It is the song of the Lamb that is sung in heaven (15:3). It is the Lamb that wars and overcomes (17:14). It is the marriage of the Lamb that is celebrated, and it is to the marriage supper of the Lamb that we are called (19:7, 9). The church is the Lamb's wife (21:9). On the foundations of the heavenly city are written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (21:14). Of this city the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb (21:27, 22:1, 3) sum up this wondrous list of honours and dignities belonging to the Lord Jesus as the crucified Son of God.

Thus the glory of Heaven revolves around the cross, and every object on which the eye lights in the celestial city will remind us of the cross and carry us back to Golgotha. Never shall we get beyond it, or turn our backs on it, or cease to draw from it the divine virtue which it contains.

The tree--be it palm, cedar, or olive--can never be independent on its roots, however stately its growth and however plentiful its fruit. The building--be it palace or temple--can never be separated from its foundation, however spacious or ornate its structure may be. So, never shall the redeemed be independent of the cross or cease to draw from its fullness.

In what ways our looking to the cross hereafter will benefit us; what the shadow of that tree will do for us in the eternal kingdom, I know not, nor do I venture to say. But it would seem as if the cross and the glory were so inseparably bound together that there cannot be the enjoyment of the one without the remembrance of the other. The completeness of the sacrificial work on Calvary will be matter for eternal contemplation and rejoicing long after every sin has been, by its cleansing efficacy, washed out of our being forever.

Shall we ever exhaust the fullness of the cross? Is it a mere stepping-stone to something beyond itself? Shall we ever cease to glory in it (as the apostle gloried), not only because of past, but because of present and eternal blessing? The forgiveness of sin is one thing, but is that all? The crucifixion of the world is another, but is that all? Is the cross to be a relic, useless though venerable, like the serpent of brass laud up in the tabernacle to be destroyed perhaps at some future time and called Nehushtan? (2 Kings 18:4). Or is it not rather like the tree of life which bears twelve manner of fruits and yields its fruit every month by the banks of the celestial river? Its influence here on Earth is transforming. But even after the transformation has been completed and the whole church perfected, shall there not be a rising higher and higher, a taking on of greater and yet greater comeliness, a passing from glory to glory--all in connection with the cross and through the never-ending vision of its wonders?

Of the new Jerusalem it is said, "The Lamb is the light [or lamp] thereof" (Rev. 21:23). The Lamb is only another name for Christ crucified. Thus it is the cross that is the lamp of the holy city; and with its light the gates of pearl, the jasper wall, the golden streets, the brilliant foundations, and the crystal river are all lighted up. The glow of the cross is everywhere, penetrating every part, reflected from every gem; and by its peculiar radiance transporting the dwellers of the city back to Golgotha as the fountainhead of all this splendor.

It is light from Calvary that fills the Heavens of heavens. Yet it is no dim religious light, for the glory of God is to lighten to it (Rev. 21:23). Its light is "like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal... and there is no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light" (Rev. 21:11; 22:5). Yes, we shall never be done with the cross and the blood; though, where all are clean and perfect in every sense, these will not be used for purging the conscience or justifying the ungodly.

It is the symbol both of a dying and of a risen Christ that we find in the Revelation. The "Lamb as it had been slain" indicates both. But the prominence is given to the former. It is the slain Lamb that has the power and authority to open the seals; implying that it was in his sin bearing or sacrificial character that he exercised his right, and that it was his finished work on which this right rested and by which it was acquired. It is as the Lamb that he is possessed with all wisdom and strength--"the seven horns and the seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God" (Rev. 5:6); the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of omniscience and omnipotence.

The Lamb is one of his special and eternal titles; the name by which he is best known in Heaven. As such, we obey and honor and worship him; never being allowed to lose sight of the cross amid all the glories of the kingdom. As such we follow him, and shall follow him eternally. As it is written, "There are they that follow the Lamb wherever he goes" (Rev. 14:4).

--Horatius Bonar, The Everlasting Righteousness (p.33-36)

HT: Pure Church

I've never read this book. But I know it's worth the buy, for that quote alone.

Who's Bad?

Remember the Michael Jackson song?

The Best Definition Of A Pastor...

...that I've ever heard outside of the Bible:

A pastor is a convalescing cripple that the Doctor has assigned to teach others how to use the crutches of grace.

Read the whole description of a hospital known as Bethlehem Baptist Church. Is there any doubt that this is one hospital where smiles and glad hearts abound? This desperate, recovering cripple couldn't help but smile as he read. =)

How Often Are You Intoxicated?

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Ephesians 5:18-21

Think about what Paul is saying here. He commands the believers at Ephesus to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And as we read it, he is no less commanding us. We are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. To not be filled with the Spirit is disobedience. And then he tells us what the effects are of being filled with Spirit: we’ll be addressing each other with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all our hearts, giving thanks always and for everything and submitting to one another. But what amazes me so much about what Paul writes here is that he compares being filled with the Spirit to being drunk with alcohol. He says, “Don’t get drunk with wine! Don’t fill yourself with wine! Fill yourself with the Holy Spirit!” In other words, “Get drunk with the Holy Spirit!” Think about this. Before I got saved, I had a few experiences of being drunk with alcohol. It causes you to act in ways that cause you to stand out from people who are sober. People usually know when you are drunk if they see you. You can’t usually be drunk and keep it a secret. Now apply that understanding of what it means to be drunk to how Paul wants us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The parallel is stunningly clear. He’s telling us to be so filled with the Holy Spirit that it causes us to act in ways that cause us to stand out from people who aren’t filled with the Holy Spirit. We are to be so filled with the Holy Spirit that it will be clear to all who see us that we are under the influence of something (though they may not know it’s a Someone). Our being filled with the Holy Spirit shouldn’t be something that only we as individuals are aware of. Others should be able to see it in the same way that they would be able to tell if we were drunk. It should spill forth in unrestrained encouraging and singing to the Lord and thanksgiving and humble service in the same way that drunkenness spills forth in uncontrolled, rude behavior. The sad thing is that many of us would probably view such public Spirit-filled behavior to be in some sense shameful (I know I often do) when it’s the drunken behavior that we should be ashamed of. We should be putting restraints on our drinking, not on singing to the Lord in front of others and submitting to them, even when it makes us foolish in the eyes of the world. In fact, hopefully I would be especially inclined to submit in that case so that it would be plain to those watching that I am not in control because they can't think of any good explanation for why I would behave in that way if I really was in control.

So, how often are you intoxicated?

How often am I intoxicated? Not nearly enough.

A Prayer Of Mine For 2009

So you, by the help of your God, return,
Hold fast to love and justice,
And wait continually for your God.
Hosea 12:6

Father in heaven, thank You for these words spoken to Your covenant people Israel through Your prophet Hosea. Though they were first spoken hundreds of years ago, they have rung loud and clear in my heart on this last day of 2008. And as I stand on the horizon of the new year that we will welcome in just a few short hours, I would like to lift them up as the banner by which I pray You would carry me into and through this new year.

Father, You are my God. You are my help. There are no greater realities to me in the world than this. It seems like just yesterday that 2008 began. And if either of these realities ceased to be true for even one second, I wouldn’t be on the eve of welcoming a new year. So, I thank You for Your constancy. I ask with the psalmist, “What shall I render to You for all Your benefits to me?” And I answer with him, “I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD!” In response to all the help that You have been to me in 2008, O my God, I ask that You would be even more help to me in 2009. For surely as the measure of my days on this earth increase, Father, I don’t feel that I need Your help less and less. On the contrary, I feel the need for it more and more. I feel the need for You more and more. So be my help, I ask, to the praise of the glory of Your grace.

Of the many things You have taught me in 2008, I think I have grasped perhaps for the first time the bottomless depths of my sin. Redeemed I am because of the grace offered through the sacrifice of Your Son! And I praise You for Jesus, my wisdom and my righteousness and sanctification and redemption, with all that I am! But oh to be free from this body of death! Perhaps the reason Your apostle soared so high in the epistles that You inspired him to write is because he had sunk so low into depths that were dark and inescapable apart from Your grace. Our sin runs deep. Much deeper than we know. It’s so deceptive that it can convince us that we are doing Your will and even cause us to twist Your word to make it mean what You never meant for it to mean. Until the light of Your help shines on our path to show us the impending destruction we are headed for. Apart from You, Father, there is no repentance. Apart from You, Father, there is no returning. So please grant me more repentance, deeper repentance in 2009, Father. Grant me a greater suspicion of my heart. Against all the impulses of our society to dismiss and diminish the outrage and pervasiveness of sin, grant me to remember that there is nothing good that lives in me, that is in my flesh. Help me to be more concerned with the log in my own eye than the speck in my brother’s. Let me point the finger at myself rather than point the finger at others. And let the sinful behavior that I do see outside of myself cause me to recognize the sin that remains in my own heart so that I would grieve both their sins and my own. Humble me, O God, under Your mighty right hand.

Please do so by strengthening my grip of the old rugged cross that Your Son bore. Oh how weak my grip is! And so, by Your help, I sing: Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to Thy cross I cling. May this be what it means for me to hold fast to love and justice in 2009. Father, I know not the meeting place of love and justice apart from the cross of Your Son. So when I hear those two words in the same sentence, may I see Him hanging on that tree for my sins. Thank You that You so loved the world that You sent Your only begotten Son to be put forward as a propitiation for our sins in order that You might be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Your gospel is summed up in love and justice. Forbid that I would lose either in a day when one is so much more widely embraced than the other. Spare me from trivializing Your gospel in compromising either, for the sake of my soul. Few things scare me more than singing about this love and justice demonstrated at the cross without any movement in my affections. So grant me the grace, I pray, to fight the familiarity with Your glorious gospel that daily aims to settle into my heart, destroying my joy and killing my soul. Rather unleash in my heart new wonders of Calvary that would daily thrill my soul and confirm that I am now living life eternal.

And finally, I pray that You would increase my faith in Your infinite reservoirs of future grace by making me one who continually waits for You. Thank You for opening my eyes to see how these two go together: faith and waiting. Where there is no waiting, there is no faith. And where there is no faith, there is no waiting. From cover to cover in the Bible You have given us, I cannot escape the innumerable exhortations You have given Your people to wait on You. So often in my life, I have applied these exhortations to specific requests that I desire for You to fulfill. But I am coming to learn that this is not what You intend when You charge us again and again to be a people who wait. Rather You call me to wait because this is what it means to live a life of faith, which is what my relationship has been with You from conversion and will be until Jesus comes or calls me home. In this life, I will always be waiting as long as my faith is in Jesus. No matter how many desires are fulfilled. How easily and often I forget this! Please remind me of this daily throughout 2009, for You know how weary I grow of waiting. Enable, empower, and energize me to keep on waiting by holding fast to the love and justice that You demonstrated 2000 years ago. Please grant me this grace to continually wait for You, that in and through every desire to be finished waiting for something would be the longing to be done waiting for the return of Your Son. You are the One we wait for, Lord Jesus. So more than any other desire that could be fulfilled in 2009, I pray with my whole heart that You would come. Even so, come Lord Jesus! In Your holy name I pray, Amen.