Cleaning Out the Tabs and Bookmarks

So I had about 5 tabs open in my browser for a couple days and never got to any of them. So instead of bookmarking them all I'll link them here for later. Then I thought, well, some of my bookmarks are basically the same thing (links I had open that I never go to). So I decided to post those as well. Enjoy if you so choose:

Should Christians Say That Their Aim is to Convert Others to Faith in Christ?

Pastoral implications of Open Theism

On Being Truly Postmodern - R. Scott Clark

Ravi Zecharias presentation and Q/A on postmodernism

Persevere

Discounted John Piper Small Group DVD sets

Sermon: The Hardening of Pharoah and the Hope of the World

An 10-part article discussion between Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell on the atonement

A Young Man's Testimony to Suffering and the Sovereignty of God

Greenville Seminary Lecture on the NPP

Grace Christian Assembly Radio Program. Topic: Free Will

A dissertation by Jonathan Edwards: Concerning the End for Which God Created the World

OK, now I have a relatively clean Bookmark list and can close my browser window. Ahh...

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A Meditation on John 19:1-3

[[[Below is what came out of a writing experience that occurred one night several months ago when randomly, at 3am, I woke up from sleep with an urge to read and write. So I opened the Bible and it hit on John 19. So I read 3 verses and put pen to paper with no pause. Below is an unedited version of what came out before heading back to bed.]]]

“Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and struck him with their hands.” (ESV)

Crown of thorns, flogging, striking in the face - each of these punishments reflecting the sins of man; these punishments being the very wrath of God laid upon His own Son. Could you see yourself there? On your knees, bleeding profusely, the pain of each lash and blow on your face, the pain as each thorn pierced the skin of your head. How much anger would be within you, in your flesh today, if you knew that you could call 10,000 angels, would you? Oh I bet you would. Be He did not.

No, the wrath of God had to be satisfied. The wrath of God had to be carried through to its end. But why? Why the need of victory for a lost people at the sacrifice of a perfect lamb? Isaiah tells us it is because there was no man who could do it. So much sin, so much malice, deceit, envy, filth, injustice, self-righteousness, so much sin. So much sin in man that none could carry the burden of the wrath of God. No, God speaks and says that He would have to do something about it. And so He did.

The final piercing of his side while on the Cross. Oh what that Roman soldier did, and what he did not realize he was about to do. The blood and water flowed. As the sharpened tip of the spear pierced the side of Christ blood and water flowed. At that very moment death and life were from one wound.

Each thorn that pierced his head, each stripe across His back, each slap across His cheek, each speckle of spit that splashed across His face, each speckle of spit that came from the mouth of a Roman soldier; a man of Pilate and a man of Ceaser. A man of the world and thus, a man of evil. So we all are without Christ; so we all would have remained if not for the wrath of God being put upon the only one who could take it, the only one who is found to be righteous; Jesus Christ, the very Son of God.

Without this we all get what we each deserve. An agonizing death, each one of us! Multiplied by the millions and tens of millions because that is what each strike with the hammer represented. His hands and His feet, each of them. Each strike upon those huge rusty nails is what we deserve! Do not be mistaken, not one of us is righteous! We deserved it!

And this reflects the seriousness of our sin. Let us not become complacent with our sin. Dare I say that would make the grace of God our slave. But we are the slaves! Slaves to a God who demands righteousness! Look at the cost of our sin. It was so great that God Himself had to find a way for us to come back to Him and He did so with His own Son.

We know of Abraham and his righteousness when he raised his arm to strike down his own son as his faith was being made complete by his actions. We know that this action of faith was "credited to him as righteousness." Well then how much more of a righteous act was God's? Abraham was but a mere man, fallen under Adam as we all are; and he was found to be righteous. Indeed he was even called God's friend! But God raised His arm and struck down His own innocent Son in completion. Remember Abraham was stopped at the point of his action but God carried through with His! It pleased Him to do this - so that the descendents of Abraham, you and me included, could be reconciled to Him.

They went up to Jesus again and again saying "Hail, King of the Jews!" So, they got something right for He was the King of the Jews. But not only that, because the Gospel is preached to all peoples, Jews and Gentiles alike. So He is King, but King over all men. Even those who will deny Him, in the end, will bow at their knee and confess that "Yes, He is King."

[So for those in Christ this day, remember your King. When sin and temptation approach remember your King. The flogging, the spitting, the thorns, the strikes to the cheek, yes remember the nails. For it is through all of this, your sin was laid down in judgment. And when He was raised, your victory was made certain in Him because we have life through Christ. This is your salvation.]

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Wanna Follow Jesus? Stop Being a Wuss

This is Francis Chan, preacher at Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, CA and author of a book I highly recommend, Crazy Love, and one I have yet to read (Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit), giving a much-needed illustration of the safe and easy life many Christians practice. I see this as a humorous but true reflection of many who proclaim Christ. This is a good call for me and all believers to stop being a bunch of wusses. Be bold. Be dangerous. Be Jesus.



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What is the Gospel?

This question is a hot issue as of late. Misguided attempts to redefine what the Gospel is has forced a response. I am thankful for this conversation as I believe all "debates" like these bring us closer to our Lord in causing us to search the Scriptures and come to terms with where we stand in our faith.

Recently, a self-proclaimed "author, speaker, activist" presented what he believed the Gospel is. His explanation? The Sermon on the Mount. That's it. No cross. No sacrifice of Jesus. No resurrection. Just a sermon by that good-moral-teacher-Jesus. It's about the way we act; the impossible standard of the Sermon on the Mount. That is the Gospel to this individual.

For one, it is hard to believe that a lengthy sermon which appears in only one of the four Gospels, could be considered the Gospel. (While Luke has a heavily abridged version in chapter 6, it is debatable as to its links with the same Matthew event.) But what if a community only had Mark, or John? Would they read one of those books and be completely devoid of the Gospel since they have no version of this sermon?

Hardly, for this "author, speaker, activist" is one of those in the knee-jerk reaction camp who is misguided in their attempt to redefine the Gospel. I won't go into motives of those who are undertaking this effort in this post, but they are following a current trend in some groups out there to completely redefine the faith in parallel with the attempts of history. These attempts have come and gone and I believe this one will too. O how right Qoheleth was!

Which brings me to an excellent article posted Thursday morning by Jeff Purswell of Sovereign Grace Ministries addressing the question: What Precisely is the Gospel? I encourage you to read it in its entirety but here are a few excerpts that gets to the heart of the matter.

[T]he gospel is good news concerning Jesus and what he did to accomplish salvation for sinners.

In other words, the gospel is objective. It tells us what God has done to save his people. It consists of concrete, historical events, rooted in Old Testament promises, types, and institutions that were fulfilled in Jesus. It promises that all who trust in Christ and his work will receive forgiveness and life. Of course, this isn’t merely a catalogue of events of only historical interest; all of this has massive implications for our lives. But we must not confuse the gospel message itself with the outworking of those implications.

So, for example, although the gospel calls me to respond to what Jesus has done, strictly speaking it doesn’t include my response—repentance is not the gospel. Although the gospel introduces me to a life lived in glad obedience to God, strictly speaking it doesn’t include that life of obedience. Our existence as Christians involves unspeakable privileges, significant responsibilities, and untold promise. But those things themselves are not the gospel.

And here is the most important point for me in this whole discussion:

If the gospel message expands to include “discipleship in the kingdom,” then the objective nature of Christ’s work is minimized. When the gospel is redefined as a call to a social or political movement, Christ’s work is replaced with ours. When the gospel includes my response, then the ground of my assurance lies in me rather than in Christ. Indeed, anytime we shift the definition of the gospel from God’s objective accomplishment to our subjective appropriation, the rock-solid foundation of our faith is misplaced—and the glory of God in the gospel is obscured. (emphasis mine)

So how does our response relate to this?

Of course, we can be clear on the gospel message and make other mistakes. We can neglect the entailments of the gospel (a life of self-denial and obedience to Christ). We can focus only on spiritual salvation to the exclusion of any concern for the material or physical well-being of others. We can so focus on a heavenly home that we neglect our responsibilities of loving others in a fallen world, and that our ultimate future lies in a “new heavens and new earth” that have been fully renewed by God’s power.

None of these mistakes, however, minimizes the importance of holding fast to the gospel of our salvation. For it is through the power of the gospel that we are transformed to live new lives by the power of the Spirit. It is through the gospel that we are freed from selfishness to give our lives in service of others.

I wholeheartedly agree with Purswell in his article. (Again, you can read it in its entirety here.)

It is important not to confuse our response to the Gospel with the Gospel. The Gospel is about what Jesus has done, and not what we do. Any attempt to say otherwise diminishes (or intentionally for some, eliminates) what Christ accomplished at Calvary.

"For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him" (1 Thess 5:9-10).

Therefore, may each of you "guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called "knowledge," for by professing it some have swerved from the faith" (1 Tim 6:20-21).

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Be Jesus. Be Hated.

“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets” (Luke 6:22-23, ESV).

It is difficult to add to this but it is something that has been weighing on me lately.

The Kingdom of God is an upside-down Kingdom in comparison to the kingdom of the world. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:27-28, “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are.”

Compare this to our world, where the wise ridicule what they consider as foolish; where the strong dominate the weak; where the famous are inundated with adoration and the unnotable and unloved are overlooked; where we raise up those who have while reducing those who do not. The Kingdom of God is a complete reversal of this sin-ruled kingdom of the earth. Yet, it seems, we are dominated by the latter.

Jesus: “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26).

Is this the way we live? Is this the way we preach? Is this the way we act as the priesthood of believers? Do we operate under/Are we ruled by the auspices of the kingdom that is under futility or that which is eternal? Is man our God or is God our God?

Jesus: "I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! (Luke 12:4-5).

It is interesting to note that Jesus never sought to be liked. He didn’t run any programs to woo the world to Him. He didn’t seek to become accepted or palatable to the world. No, Jesus preached the Kingdom of God. Jesus preached the Gospel. Jesus preached Himself exclusively. The world and religion killed Him for this.

"But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me" (John 5:42-43).

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).

“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing” (2 Corinthians 4:3).

We read this. Do we reject it? Most do, I fear. Most hold the false belief that there is something more we can do to win people. There must be something better that we can say. There must be a better program to reach people. There must be something!

Know this, Christian, there isn’t anything more you can do. It is not up to you. For "they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven" (Mark 4:12) Indeed, “to this day the LORD has not given [them] a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear” (Deuteronomy 29:4), for “God gave them a spirit of stupor” (Romans 11:8).

“but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:23-24).

It is not up to you to save anybody. It is up to you to proclaim the Gospel of the grace of God. And be hated for it. The world must hate you for it. Are you willing to be hated? Moses was. Even though He did not fully comprehend what was to come, “He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward “(Hebrews 11:26).

Why do we live for the kingdom of the world? Why do we live to be liked and accepted? Why do so many Christians gripe at the hatred we receive? Are we so in love with the world that we want it to love us?

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17).

Too many of us love men, not God. Too many of us love our image, not God. To many of us love ourselves, not God. In other words, we don’t love.

“Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4).

Be hated. For this is the sign of the Gospel. So many ministries and new-age-like pastors seek to be loved at the expense of the Gospel. Many speak of injustice, and the environment, and social inequality; and they do this at the expense of the cross. They deny it by omitting it. They deny its primary purpose for the love and acceptance of their message by the world.

Jesus died because of sin. Creation groans because of sin. The world hates this message because the world loves sin. Religion hates this message because religion loves checklists at the expense of grace.

It is said that the world, even Christians, love Jesus they just don’t like the Church. Really? It is doubtful, then, that they know who Jesus is. Jesus died for the Church, not the world. What do they say to that? They say, "Oh I love the Bridegroom; but the Bride? Not so much." This is not Kingdom talk.

Why are we so scared to be hated? Why do we cry fowl at the objection of the world? Jesus had steel in His spine. Why are our backs supported with spaghetti? American Christianity is wimpy Christianity.

“If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you” (1 Peter 4:14).

Jesus came and tore down the dividing wall of hostility between all men (Ephesians 2:14). Yet while tearing down one dividing wall He also became THE eternal dividing wall. For He did “not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34).

Become all things to all men. But Christ is where we make our stand.

“For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16)

Are we prepared to be hated? Are we prepared to die? Can we live our lives with the spirit of the apostles who after they were beaten and charged not to preach the Name, “left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ” (Acts 5:41-42)?

Let us then, “count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” (James 1:2).

Stop wanting to be liked. Stop being scared of men. Stop playing to the sympathies of the world. Love the lost. Preach Christ crucified.

Be hated. Be Jesus.

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A Few Questions on Predestination

There were three questions we were not able to address during class last week. They were all very similar and had to do with the topic of predestination so I will answer them all at once. Here they are with an answer that will address them all (I hope).

Q) Jr, from what I’m hearing you say you believe in predestination. If so I question do you believe that God created people to follow other religions and not believe in him?
Q) If God predestined Pharaoh to be in high power in order to demonstrate God’s power, why would God predestine anyone not be able to experience God’s kingdom?
Q) Jr, I’m confused. So are you saying that you do believe in predestination? And if not, what is the difference between what you believe and predestination?

Answer: An important preface to all of this is to first make clear that human opinion of what God should or should not be counts for nothing. This is a huge and significant hurdle for all of us. We like to make our own God. We each have a way we like to think God is. In the western world, we have generally; made Him out to be a toothless teddy bear and we have made His son into a product-laden long-haired hippie with blue eyes and a soft-toned voice who drinks decaf. Fortunately for us, this is not really Jesus. Jesus is every bit the God of the Old Testament as He is in the New. Remember that when you read a story that stuns you in the Old Testament. Say to yourself: Jesus is there. That’s my King.

God made Himself known in Christ and through the biblical writers that He inspired to give us the book we have today; that is God’s Word. To put it plainly, the God of the Old Testament is no different from Jesus in the New Testament. God is God. God is unchangeable and incorruptible. God is righteous, for He defines righteousness. God is perfect, for He defines perfection. God is just, for He defines justice. God is good, for He defines goodness. We don’t. (let me say that again) We don’t.

All that to say that yes, I do believe in predestination. One simple reason is that the Bible is littered with the term. The onus is not on me to prove it because it’s there; the onus is on those who don’t believe it, to tell us why and how they interpret the texts that point to it, election, and the Sovereign will of God. Ignoring it doesn’t make it go away. Ignoring Romans 9, Ephesians 1, Ephesians 2, John 1, John 6, John 10, John 17, and on and on including the entire biblical narrative about God and His actions with creation and people won’t make it go away.

What sin did was bring such a drastic corruption to God’s original creation. Because we are all then, sons of Adam, born into corruption of the flesh, Pharaoh was only acting towards his nature; as all people are in the flesh. Pharaoh had so suppressed the truth of God that he is justifiably guilty; as we all are by nature (Greek, birth). Pharaoh rejected and suppressed God in his heart, according to his nature, and therefore he is without excuse. The hardening of God does not make fault impossible, it makes fault certain. I only say this to point out how every man and woman in the entire world are without excuse. Paul tells us that we all have the knowledge of God in us yet we refuse to give God any glory; thereby rejecting Him and giving the glory to other created things (and not to the Creator) – Romans 1. People, by their natural wills, refuse to experience God’s kingdom; indeed they cannot experience God’s kingdom because they are of the flesh. God, then, lets them be and does not redeem them. (Actually, by His grace He restrains further evil).Romans 8:7-8, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” This is why we must be born-again, “not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). It is the only chance anybody has for salvation and it is “not of the will of man.” (see also Jesus’ discourse with Nicodemus in John 3:1-8 about being born-again)

Now, to take this further is to identify the ultimate purpose of God. Most people in today’s modern world believe God’s ultimate purpose is to do something for man. While this is the purpose of redemption through Jesus, this is not the ultimate purpose of God (even in redemption). That ultimate purpose is to display His power, His grace, His glory, and His Name. God has and will continue to work out His plan according to the counsel of His will alone, to bring glory to His Name. That is why He created. He does all things for His own Name’s sake. (take a look at Ezekiel 20 and Isaiah 48).

Here is a little quote from Paul Washer:

"Before the foundations of the earth He knew you, and it's not because He looked in some crystal ball, or down the corridors of time and saw you in the future. The bible never speaks of a crystal ball, and it never speaks of corridors of time or God looking into a book that talks about the future... it never does. It never talks about God looking into the future.God does not know the future because He's looked ahead and seen it... God knows the future because He's Lord over it, and directs every molecule, every fiber of being, every bit of matter towards the purpose He has ordained. That is a God my friend. Not a god who looks into the future and then reacts, not a god who makes choices based on choices of other men He's seen in the future. No. A god who is The God and Lord and Author of the future."

So yes, I believe in predestination. And to note: even if one merely proclaims God’s foreknowledge, that is, that God knows what we will all do today, tomorrow and on; then they too believe in predestination. The reason is that if God knows what I am going to do tomorrow, then I can’t change it. It is still “fixed.” I’m still destined to do it and God “lets it happen.” Therefore, the only way to deny predestination completely is to say God is massively ignorant; as do Open Theists. I fear those who hold the latter view try and excuse God; when He needs no excuses. It is, perhaps, a sincere attempt to explain evil and suffering; but it is unbiblical and superfluous (read JOB).

About the “other religions” question, I would first say that we are all worshipers of something. It is either The One True Trinitarian God or it is something else; be it entertainment, money, Buddah, Allah, possessions, sex, themselves, etc. I view it all the same. We all worship something every day of our lives (some are more maximized than others). So those in other religions are only practicing a natural human instinct to worship; they are just worshiping a god or gods that is/are foreign to the Scriptures because they deny Christ. As Jesus told the Pharisees in John 5:42-43, “But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me.” If one doesn’t receive Jesus, they do not love God. Jesus in Luke 10:16, pronouncing the Woes to the unrepentant cities says, “the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me." That would be: God. Jesus proclaims exclusivity of Himself and therefore God. Other religions, no matter how moral, peaceful, and right in our eyes they are, they do not worship or love God because they reject His Son. This is not my opinion; this is the declaration of Christ Himself.

I don't expect any awards for saying these things in our pluralistic society, knowing it is exactly what got Jesus killed almost 2,000 years ago. So Jesus' words are very comforting here: "I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows" (Luke 12:4-7).

What makes Jesus unique is that He is the only One that removes the barrier between man and God: sin. No other religion deals with this issue and only seek to improve themselves by works.

Now, this is not a reason for boasting or to be unloving towards all men. We are to love all men, care for them, treat them with kindness and show the love of Jesus in our relationships with them. We must also share the good news of the Gospel to them; because we love them and we know what Jesus claimed about Himself (reject Him, reject God) and we have been given a mission. That in love we “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20a). This is not with a spirit of boasting; for all we may boast in is the cross of Christ (which negates all boasting!). And when we proclaim Christ to others, God will receive His elect that He has predestined to give to His Son.

What the Bible makes clear is that God is free. God is The Free One. He is the Creator and all other things are the created things. He is free to harden whom He wills and give grace to whom He wills. Paul is very clear when He writes, “So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.” (v.16)There is SO much more to this discussion and I know I have not done it justice. But I hope it has spurred some initiation for you to study further. Read your Bibles. Search the Scriptures. Don’t just look at a piece here and a piece there, but read the Whole Counsel of God. Don’t take my word for it and don’t take any other teacher’s word for it. If it’s not in the Bible, reject it. If anything I have said here is not in the Bible, reject it. The point is, search the Word. Listen to God. Don’t let society or tradition shape your view of the God of the Bible when you smell something isn’t right with the view of society or tradition. You have eyes, read. You have ears, listen. Pray and let the Spirit guide you.

Know God. Don’t just know about Him through the beliefs of other people.

See the glory of Christ.

Recommended Books:
The Holiness of God – RC Sproul
Knowing God – J.I. Packer
Chosen by God – RC Sproul
Desiring God – John Piper
Pleasures of God – John Piper

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True Love is Not a Room of Mirrors

God made us to make much of Him. And,

for many people, this is not obviously an act of love. They do not feel loved when they are told that God created them for his glory. They feel used. This is understandable given the way love has been almost completely distorted in our world. For most people, to be loved is to be made much of. Almost everything in our Western culture serves this distortion of love. We are taught in a thousand ways that love means increasing someone's self-esteem. Love is helping someone feel good about themselves. Love is giving someone a mirror and helping him like what he sees.
This is not what the Bible means by the love of God. Love is doing what is best for someone. But making self the object of our highest affections is not best for us. It is, in fact, a lethal distraction. We were made to see and savor God - and savoring him, to be supremely satisfied, and thus spread in all the world the worth of his presence. Not to show people the all-satisfying God is not to love them. To make them feel good about themselves when they were made to feel good about seeing God is like taking someone to the Alps and locking them in a room full of mirrors.
(John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life, Crossway 2007, p.33, emphasis mine) [Free online copy here]

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A Sermon on Ephesians 2

[Here is the brief sermon I preached in chapel in Memphis today titled "Remember"]

If you would, open your Bibles to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians for today’s text.

As you turn the pages, I want you to think about the most common way we capture memories. Probably the most common way is by taking pictures; and perhaps you keep a few photo albums in your house, or maybe you have 10,000 pictures stored on your compute, or perhaps you are like my wife who keeps a family blog on the internet and posts pictures that we can archive and keep on file.
Why do we keep these? Probably because we want to remember. But why do we want to remember? Do we need to remember? And how much in those photos have we completely forgotten about until we see them again?

You may open up your photo albums during a family get together or birthday or anniversary; and you do this to remember the past times you have probably forgotten. Oh look, there’s cousin Sally drowning in the bucket while bobbing for apples while everyone else looks on laughing … Oh look, there we were 25 years ago in a little cabin in Asheville, NC before we had any kids … Oh look, there’s my dad in one of those roller-coaster shots … oh and look… there goes his toupee … I think that was taken just before he passed... For my wife and I lately we have looked back at blog postings from 3 years ago and are absolutely floored at how quickly time has past. There’s our little Gideon, wrinkled back yellowish skin due to his premature birth and minor jondus. But now he’s in the back yard chasing his 19-month-old sister with a little plastic golf club because she wouldn’t give back his toy car.

Memories can be good. Memories can be funny and even sad. Remembering the past is something that is unique to humanity and yet not all the things of our past we remember until we are reminded of them; like in our photo albums.

Which brings me to our text this morning; Ephesians chapter 2. What in the world does remembering anything have to do with Ephesians 2? I would argue it has everything to do with chapter 2.

What I want us to identify this morning from Ephesians 2 is what Paul is having us remember about ourselves; that is, believers. Far too often those of us in Christian community forget who we once were and this has many damaging effects to our faith and to our lives and to our community.

And the worst symptom of this problem of forgetting who we once were in our lives and in our community is that we, inexcusably, take grace for granted.

I fear that much of popular Christian community today is filled with those who feel like grace is owed to them; This, unfortunately could be from the legalism that many of us perhaps grew up in which is really nothing more than moralistic deism. It means that if you are “good” people who do “good” things that God is only just in giving you his good grace. They think this and perhaps have been taught this when in fact nothing could be further from the truth for as Isaiah reminds us “all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags” in the eyes of God. For we deserve grace not and the truth is because of our inherent sin the only two things a man will receive from God is either justice or grace. And only one of those is truly deserved.

So the Lord sends us this reminder through the pen of Paul who, while in a Roman prison undergoing persecution for the Gospel, writes to these Ephesian Christians. And the letter contains a photograph of sorts in chapter 2. It is a reminder of who they were and who they still could be if not for the hand of grace preventing it.

Read v1-3 then v.11-12

There it is, Paul’s reminder. Paul sends them a photograph of who they once were. Read v.1-3 again.

There it is, remember that? It is so important that Paul repeats it in V.11-12 (stress remembers).

Remember that, o Christian and let us be humbled. You and me, clothed in our rags of sin and absent of His grace are seen in the eyes of the Holy God in our nakedness of absolute repugnance.
Therefore, we should not be shocked at His justice; no, in that we are shocked at the wrong thing. What we should be shocked at is His grace.
So When we see the prostitute or the drunkard or the fornicator or the habitual liar or whatever type of sinful lifestyle we see; let us in the Christian community not boast from the pedestal of shameful bluster ... For we need to remember who we once were and who we could still be if not for the hand of God preventing us by His grace alone. For a historical word on this, John Calvin writes:

Let us never condemn the sin, then, that we see everywhere, without considering at the same time that if God had not checked us, we would have fallen as deeply as we see others have fallen; … For when we look upon the most wicked folk in the world, and even upon such as we are driven to abhor as monsters, we must conclude thus within ourselves, ‘Alas, as much would have befallen us, if God had not remedied it’. And so you see, [Calvin writes] how we ought to bring this teaching into use” (John Calvin’s Sermons on Ephesians, Banner of Truth, p.138)

So what Calvin helps us understand here is that when we see the partakers of evil let us remember the photograph of Ephesians 2 and let the Word of God humble us, for we were no different from them and would be no different if we remained in our natural state without the Spirit’s power of replacing our heart of stone with a heart of flesh according to the Sovereign will of God. Why condemn the person when what you have to thank for your condition rests solely in the grace of God alone? We need the Gospel of Jesus Christ just as badly as they do. Are you doubting my point? Perhaps a few more reminders wouldn’t hurt…

Remember this? You and me and all men in all the world were born under Adam; and what does this mean? Before the flood in Genesis 6 the LORD tells us that “the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Even after the floodwaters subsided at the end of Genesis 8 the LORD reminds us that still “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” Jesus tells us in Mark 7:21-22 “For from within out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness” the LORD is talking about us here; not just everybody else; but us.
Remember the Sermon on the Mount during the Ask/Seek/Knock discourse in Matthew 7 Jesus says, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children…” Did you hear Jesus there? Speaking to his disciples and the crowds gathered around: “If you then, who are evil…” There is no question how Jesus sees natural man … And Paul tells us in our text this morning that “we are all, by nature, objects of wrath.” Let us, then, not be shocked at justice; but amazed at grace. Let us praise God for His grace in His Eternal Son Jesus Christ that those in Him do not get what they rightly deserve. We don’t get what we deserve. Remember that. What we deserve is justice and that justice was paid at Golgotha. So, where is our pedestal for boasting now?

Drawing to a close now; but some of you may be thinking … dude Jr … what on earth; this sounds like a hellfire sermon of the 1960s; we’re postmodern culture now, we don’t need to hear this bad reminder of who we were apart from grace and secondly what earth is your point? To the first point I would answer that this isn’t a bad reminder, this is glorious reminder; for it leads to the glory of Christ. v.4-10, v.13
So what’s the point? You see only if we fully understand who we are by nature; dead under the curse of sin can we even begin to fully appreciate the grace given us according to the will of God. It was God who saved you; not you. You were dead/lifeless/a common-day Lazarus in the tomb; but God by His voice made you alive. It is God from start to finish; from the gift of faith to the full sanctification to come; in accordance to the counsel of His will alone.

“For if while we were enemies … we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son…” Paul writes in Romans 5:10.

So I leave you with the photograph of Ephesians 2: Remember the person you once were apart from Christ, without God in the world, having no hope of life; and then praise God for the grace that saved you in Christ our Lord. We shouldn’t dare take it for granted: “By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is a gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast.” This is the Gospel. And may we all remember and every day of our lives echo the words of the tax collector of Luke 18 who Jesus tells us went home justified by praying this prayer, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner”


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15 minutes on the New Calvinists

John Piper joined Collin Hansen and Carolyn James at the Religious Newswriters Association on the topic of the New Calvinists. They each spoke for about 15 minutes before about 30-minutes of Q/A with reporters. You can view all of it here.

Below is Piper's 15-minutes. After an introduction he speaks briefly about three main components of the New Calvinist movement:
1) The authority of the Bible
2) The centrality of the Gospel
3) The Sovereignty of God



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More questions from class...

I received a couple very insightful text questions from Sunday's class. Here they are with my best effort for brief responses at this time. The answers could always be longer and more involved but I wanted to keep them readable in a reasonable amount of space.

Q: If undeniably elected, what further need for reconciliation with God is needed since essentially he has chosen you and wants you as his own?

A: Once truly becoming a child of God, that is by grace through faith in Jesus (genuine belief must still take place), there is no more reconciliation to be done with God. The payment was completed on Calvary and you will be kept. When saved we are seated at the right hand of God. If ever one says we must "do something else" beyond Jesus, we might as well become children of the Pope in Rome. But again, perseverance (the Spirit's good works in you+sustained confession unto death) is proof of election. Therefore, one cannot claim to be a part of the elect yet continue to live an unregenerate life in sin without repentance. If one does claim to be a child of God yet practices evil apart from repentance or they do it for their own personal gain; Scripture tells us they are self-deceived and are not truly an heir with Christ. If you recall the false prophet-texts I referred to in class you will see this (1 John 2:19-20, Matt 7:15-23).

Now, sanctification will continue and God will continue work in His People in a billion ways to make them more holy (Phil 1:6); and believers will still sin and perhaps backslide a bit for we remain in our flesh-though we have died to it in Christ; but neither of these things dismiss that God will complete the good work that He started in those He has chosen.

Reconciliation is not a process (Rom 5:10, Col 1:21-23); but sanctification is (Heb 10:14). Though perhaps some use these terms interchangeably which is where some confusion could come from.

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified" (Rom 8:28-30) see also v.31-39.


Q: Was Jesus born under sin?

A: 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 reads: "Thus it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living being' the last Adam [that is, Jesus] became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven."

Jesus did not have an earthly birth-father, like the rest of mankind. Take Luke 1:34 for example. After the angel tells Mary she is to conceive a child Mary asks the angel, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?" The original Greek language actually translates as "since I do not know a man" (that is, have had sexual intercourse with a man as to come impregnated by him). And in the next verse the angel answers, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy— the Son of God." This identifies Jesus as an offspring (for lack of a better term since Jesus was, and is, and always will be) of Heaven. He was not begotten from the seed of man; but from God.

So while all men of flesh are born under Adam, this is not the case for Jesus; who has always been and was not born under Adam but by the Spirit. He is the "second Adam" as the text says; He is the New Order. See Paul's argument for this in Rom 5:12-21. This is in direct correlation to when we are born-again. When this happens we are born of the Spirit and not of the flesh. Though we exist in the flesh (as Christ most certainly did) we are new creations in the Spirit (which Christ inaugurated). The best way to "define" who Jesus was and is and always will be is to read Col 1:15-20. These verses are mind blowing:

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross."


Feel free to comment, add to these answers, or question further. See comment link below.

Grace be with you -
Jr