Between Two Worlds: Piper: What Jesus Demands from the World
Justin Taylor is telling the world that John Piper’s new book, What Jesus Demands from the World, is now available online as a free PDF download from Desiring God’s website.
I started browsing the book when it was first available on Crossway’s website, and I immediately flagged it for myself as a must-read, based on this wonderful thought from the very start of the introduction:
The aim of this book is God-glorifying obedience to Jesus. To that end I am seeking to obey Jesus’ last command: “Make disciples of all nations . . . teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20). Jesus’ final command was to teach all his commandments.
The Impossible Final Command
Actually, the final command was more precise than that. He did not say, “Teach them all my commandments.” He said, “Teach them to observe all my commandments.” You can teach a parrot all of Jesus’ commandments. But you cannot teach a parrot to observe them. Parrots will not repent, and worship Jesus, and lay up treasures in heaven, and love their enemies, and go out like sheep in the midst of wolves to herald the kingdom of God.
Amen! Now go download the book. Then go buy the book. Somewhere in there, read the book. And email me and say “James, have you read it yet? No? Shame on you!”
Link: Between Two Worlds: Piper: What Jesus Demands from the World
I Just Can’t Deal With It
On my drive in to work this morning, I was thinking about my sin – my ongoing struggle against sin that I face every moment of every day of my life.
There are some particular sins that I’ve been dealing with lately, to be sure. But not only that, there is also the neverending battle with the fact that I do sin – what might be called my “sinful nature.” What Paul would call the “flesh.” When I think of my sin like I did this morning, I can’t help but think, I just can’t deal with it.
I think this is what drives the “self-help” industry, why it is so successful. One article states that for 1998 (almost ten years ago), self-help book sales hit $581 million. The prevailing mentality is that we can deal with most of it ourselves, we just need a little help. We can handle 90% of our problems, it’s that last 10% we have real difficulty with. Or maybe we can deal with 80%, but 20% give us trouble. Maybe we’re in really bad shape, and we can only deal with 5% of our problems.
Me? I just can’t deal with it at all. I can’t deal with my sin. I just can’t. Not 90%. Not 80%. Not even 5%. Not even .0001%. I can’t.
Most of time, I think I can deal with it. I fool myself all of the time into thinking that I just need help with my sin. I think, “I can deal with it, I just need a little bit (or even a lot) of help.” But the truth is, I just can’t deal with it.
Sounds pretty hopeless, doesn’t it? It’s not. It’s actually the most hopeful thing I’ve ever learned in life. The truth is, I can’t deal with it. I am completely incapable of dealing with my sin. Left to my own devices, I am utterly and totally helpless. I just can’t deal with it.
But Christ can.
And He did.
And He does.
Romans 7:24-2524 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (ESV)
I, like Paul, cannot deal with my sin. I cannot deal with my sin, “waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.” (Romans 7:23) But like Paul, I praise God that Christ delivers me from this body of death. That He dealt with my sin, and He continues to deal with it in me.
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
- “It Is Well With My Soul,” Horatio Spafford, 1873
Random Thoughts – 9/26/2006
I’ve not been very good about posting lately to my blog, and I’ve been even more lax about having a Random Thoughts posting. So, without further ado…
Election Debate (No, Not for November…)
At this year’s Pastor’s Conference for the Southern Baptist Conference, there was a (friendly) debate on election between Albert Mohler and Paige Patterson. The audio is finally available online. Also, Justin Taylor’s newly redesigned site has a post on a survey done on Calvinism in the SBC.
Lordship Salvation
Pulpit Magazine has started a series on Lordship salvation vs. No-Lordship (a/k/a “Free Grace” or easy-believism) salvation. This was the issue that John MacArthur addressed in The Gospel According to Jesus. The series begins with an intro to the concept of Lordship salvation, and has been followed up by a passage from Zane Hodges, who is a big advocate of the no-Lordship side. The short version:
To put it simply, the gospel call to faith presupposes that sinners must repent of their sin and yield to Christ’s authority. This, in a nutshell, is what is commonly referred to as lordship salvation.
Speaking of the Lordship of Christ…
Phil Johnson has posted a very personal and very moving account of his personal testimony, subtitled “How I Got Drawn into the Lordship Debate.”
Grace To You Coming to TV
Speaking of John MacArthur, I just visited the Grace To You website, and they are announcing that Grace To You will be coming to television starting this Sunday, on DirecTV.
John Chrysostom on Gender Roles
On the Together for the Gospel blog, Ligon Duncan (also Chairman of The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood) posts a great passage from John Chrysostom, who lived in the 4th/5th century.
Is Scripture Clear?
SharperIron has a discussion of the perspicuity of scripture, including (clear) scriptural references, and a summary of Luther’s arguments on the subject.
Free Stuff is Always Good
If you use Libronix, Logos, “eBible”, etc. (it’s all the same), then Justin Taylor has some links for you – free John Owen (and Jonathan Edwards) content. (I haven’t downloaded them yet, myself, but I will be!) He also has a collection of links on using the Puritans in your own Bible study. (And if Justin isn’t on your blogroll, let me just say “SHAME!”)
And Last But Definitely Not Least…
One of the best things I’ve read in a while is this discussion from Tim Challies on prayer. Moving, convicting, encouraging, inspiring. Thank you, Tim!
Matthew Henry on Ministering Questions
There is a tendency in the church today to question everything, even the very foundations of our faith – the deity and lordship of Christ, the sovereignty of God, the inerrance of the scriptures.
But these things are indeed nothing new under the sun. Phil Johnson at Pyromaniacs regularly posts selections from Charles Spurgeon about how he, too, fought the same fights against the encroachment of the liberal theologies of his day. Spurgeon understood his place as a minister of the word enough to know that he could not question or reformulate those basics, as shown in today’s dose of Spurgeon:
The old truth that Calvin preached, that Chrysostom preached, that Paul preached, is the truth that I must preach to-day, or else be a liar to my conscience and my God. I can not shape the truth.
Spurgeon wrote those words in 1858, but they still apply to the church today. I was reminded of the timelessness of these ideas this evening, while reading Matthew Henry’s commentary on 1 Timothy, from the early 1700′s:
As among the Jews there were some who brought Judaism into Christianity; so among the Gentiles there were some who brought paganism into Christianity. ‘Take heed of these,’ says he, ‘watch against them, or they will be the corrupting and ruining of religion among you, for they minister questions rather than edifying.’ That which ministers questions is not for edifying; that which gives occasion for doubtful disputes pulls down the church rather than builds it up.
Do not minister questions. Do not shape the truth. Preach the truth of the gospel, in season and out of season.
Albert Mohler on The Problem of Preaching to Felt Needs
Albert Mohler has a particularly insightful commentary on The Problem of Preaching to Felt Needs:
…preachers who believe they can move the attention of individuals from their ‘felt’ needs to their need for the Gospel will find, inevitably, that the distance between the individual and the Gospel has not been reduced by attention to lesser needs. The sinner’s need for Christ is a need unlike all other needs — and the satisfaction of having other needs stroked and affirmed is often a hindrance to the sinner’s understanding of the Gospel.
There is one great need that Christ fulfills – our need for salvation from sin. Who “needs” Christ with the all the self-help available in our culture of pop therapy? Only those who realize that we cannot help ourselves, only Christ can.
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