What do ya think?

God Saves Sinners - Dr. J. I. Packer

“The very act of setting out Calvinistic soteriology [the doctrine of salvation] in the form of five distinct points (a number due, as we saw, merely to the fact that there were five Arminian points for the Synod of Dort to answer) tends to obscure the organic character of Calvinistic thought on this subject. For the five points, though separately stated, are inseparable. They hang together; you cannot reject one without rejecting them all, at least in the sense in which the Synod meant them. For to Calvinism there is really only one point to be made in the field of soteriology: the point that God saves sinners."

“God – the Triune Jehovah, Father, Son and Spirit; three Persons working together in sovereign wisdom, power and love to achieve the salvation of a chosen people, the Father electing, the Son fulfilling the Father’s will by redeeming, the Spirit executing the purpose of Father and Son by renewing. "

“Saves – does everything, first to last, that is involved in bringing man from death in sin to life in glory: plans, achieves and communicates redemption, calls and keeps, justifies, sanctifies, glorifies."

“Sinners – men as God finds them, guilty, vile, helpless, powerless, unable to lift a finger to do God’s will or better their spiritual lot. "

"God saves sinners – and the force of this confession may not be weakened by disrupting the unity of the work of the Trinity, or by dividing the achievement of salvation between God and man and making the decisive part man’s own, or by soft-pedalling the sinner’s inability so as to allow him to share the praise of his salvation with his Saviour. This is the one point of Calvinistic soteriology which the “five points” are concerned to establish and Arminianism in all its forms to deny: namely, that sinners do not save themselves in any sense at all, but that salvation, first and last, whole and entire, past, present and future, is of the Lord, to whom be glory for ever; amen.”

J.I. Packer, “Introductory Essay,” in The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, by John Owen (London: Banner of Truth, 1959) 4-5.

Preach What's True and Precious

October 21, 2008 By: John Piper

A word to preachers. Truth and falsehood is a good pair of categories to use when deciding what to preach. Speak truth not falsehood.

But there is another crucial pair of categories. God tells Jeremiah that he must use this pair if he would be faithful:

Therefore thus says the Lord: “...If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. (Jeremiah 15:19)

In deciding what to preach make these two judgments: Is it true and is it precious? Preach what is both. If it is true, preach it with authority. If it is precious, preach it with passion.

One great reason why some preaching leaves people unmoved is that preachers seem unmoved. Is this precious or isn’t it? That is the question in the hearts of the people. If it is, why don’t you sound like it?

The great battle of preaching is to see what's true and to savor what's precious. Weak seeing and weak savoring are a curse to God’s people.

Brothers, plead for deliverance from this curse. The ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. They are more precious than gold and sweeter than honey (Psalms 19:9-10).

Morning Devo's: John 12:36-43

John understood Isaiah's words of Christ's ministry. Some would believe, while others, although seeing many signs, would not believe. For it was God who blinded their eyes and

hardened their hearts. The fact is (as John goes on to articulate) that the Jews loved the glory of man rather than God. Obviously Christ was not a glorious man

according to societal standards. He was weak, with no place

to lay his head, no legalistic credentials, just a carpenter's son from Nazareth... yet he was the Son of God!

John 12:43 "For they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God." Is. 2:22 "Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath for life, of what account is he?", Jer. 9:23,24 "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him who glories, glory in this that he knows and understands me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteouness in the earth. For in these things I delight."

Man is never a repository of worth unto himself.

He is a conduit epuipped with features and faculties

to praise and glorify God.

Union with Christ:

Has the church forgot about a central doctrine: Union with Christ? Recently the emphasis within the popular reformed circles has been the Gospel and culture. We have listened to wonderful descriptions of the Gospel. We have heard the Gospel articulated as that which transcends and condemns legalism. Thus, in being impacted by the reality of the Gospel we think that the Gospel gives permission to participate in greater liberties found within culture. However, aren't we speaking of a reduced Gospel if it condemns legalism without articulating a Christlike walk. The Gospel must not be used as an excuse for the very sin Christ has saved us from. Union with Christ brings us to recognize our need to discover the Gospel afresh yet at the same time it provides a trajectory of discernment.

I like to understand union with Christ (in a practical way) as this. First, in John 8 Christ describes his complete fidelity to his Father in doing everything that is pleasing to his Father. Christ never - not one day- woke up thinking " hmmm... what do I feel like doing today?". Every morning Christ sought his Father's will. Union with Christ is a union that puts to death your agenda for the sake of embracing God's agenda. Second, in John 8, Christ mentions the fact that he alone sets people free. But the example Christ is setting is a life of bondage to his Father's will. Thus, Christ is literally saying that freedom come from bondage - bondage to the agenda of the one who you were created for. God wants you to find your greatest functionality in him. But be careful, God's loving will was demonstrated to the Son in sending him to the cross. Which will mean that God's loving will for you is to incurr Christ-like difficulty and suffering. To be brought into union with Christ is not a safe place to be but it is exactly were we find God's good thoughts and intentions for us in Christ. For Christ purchased up all the grace necessary to supplying strength, endurance and love amidst suffering.

Mark Driscoll: warns his church

5 Points of Rebuke: Your either selfish or a servant! But fundamentally your selfish!

1.) There is not a servant understanding in our church of sex and marriage which is an underlying Christian virtue for all of life that leads to selfishness which is ultimately the root of abuse as people are takers and not givers.

2.) There is a common misperception that everyone is an exception to the biblical rule according to our extenuating circumstances.

3.) There is no relationship for many between God, marriage, sex, and children as being related together.

4.) There is a strong pressure for us as church leaders to legitimize people's sinful lifestyles and when we refuse there is strong personal vengeance as they want us to both bless their sin and their sense of righteousness so as to appease their guilty conscience.

5.)People want to know what is acceptable and is not acceptable so as to get as close to sin as possible without a deep concern for the heart motives that drive their ethical decision making.

Getting Caught Up: Chapters 3-5

Chapter 3: The bottom line is that we are sinners from the inside out…literally. It begins with the sinful proclivities of our heart to suppress truth and it ends by manifesting itself in perverted thought and action.(Rom. 1:18-19) When it comes to porn, the fundamental purpose is lust. This happens by objectifying the person being viewed and thereby perverting the dignity in which God has created them and perverting your own God-given-dignity to participate in a holistic relationship that God intends for marriage. Therefore, Scripture gives several commands against such lust. 1. God’s men should not commit adultery (Ex.20:14) 2. God’s men should not covet their neighbor’s wife even if her clothes leave little to the imagination (Ex. 20:17). 3. God’s men should not participate with prostitutes who use their bodies as a commodity to be rented for a good time or a good photo (Prov. 23:26-27;1 Cor. 6:15-16) Fourth, God’s men should not be polygamous. Fifth, God’s men should not be fornicators (1 Cor. 6:9-13).
“The problem is ‘in you’. If is from the sinfulness of your heart that lust and sin proceed like sewage from a culvert. This is the painful, unvarnished truth.”…”Jesus is normal and the rest of us are abnormal sinners with indwelling sin. Our individual lives and the corresponding collective lives we call culture are simply the outward reflection of the inner condition of our hearts.”

Chapter 4: Marriage is that one relationship in which the standard of beauty is to be found. Men are to have eyes only for their wives and their wives are to be their standard of beauty. Yet Prov. 27:20 speaks of the sinful eyes of men that are never satisfied. Porn is the outcome of such sin. It inevitably creates a reduced view of beauty and relationship, and hence, it creates a dissatisfaction in which no single woman can satisfy. However, Prov. 5:18-19 encourages the husband to find complete satisfaction in one – his wife.
Furthermore, Prov 11:22, 31:30, Heb. 13:4 reminds us of the gross beauty of loose women, the grand beauty of a woman who fears God and a reminder of our accountability before God for how we give ourselves to others. Driscoll concludes chapter four noting the need of men to view other Christian women as sisters in Christ. Men who have problems with porn often cannot even correctly engage in a conversation with an attractive Christian women because they have programmed themselves to see women only through sexual lenses. “If God’s men did view women as sister, they would see the naked girls they lust after as beautiful sisters in need of dignity and grieve as if their little sister suddenly became a stripper.”

Chapter 5: I will leave this chapter for your own reading; it gets graphic. A couple things to consider, 1.) We must emphasize our accountability before God, as redeemed sinners still influenced by sin. 2.) Sex in marriage can, and often does, become an idol, and 3.) Your heart is ridiculously deceptive.

Fight Club: Lesson 5 - Able to Teach

Consider the following excerpt from D.A.Carson.

As someone who has taught seminary students or more than 15 years. I worry about the rising number of seminarians who, when asked where and how they think they might best serve, respond with something like this, “Well, I think I would like to teach somewhere. Every time I have taught, people have told me I have done a pretty good job. I get tremendous sense of fulfillment out of teaching the Bible. I think I could be satisfied teaching Scripture.”

How pathetic. I know pagans who find satisfaction and fulfillment by teaching nuclear physics. In any Christina view of life, self-fulfillment must never be permitted to become the controlling issue. The issue is service, the service of real people. The question is, “How can I be most useful?”, not “How can I feel most useful?”[1]

Here Carson makes so clear that it is not what I do that makes my work sacred but rather why I do it.[2] It is therefore necessary for the overseer to be able to teach yet with concern for his God and propagation of the His Good News into lives of those who are spiritually dead or hurting.

Discuss: What type of satisfaction do I find in standing before people and heralding the truth of God’s Word?

The ability to teach would involve a level of education and knowledge but also a life that conforms to the teaching and exemplifies the teaching. The ability to teach involves an awareness of the world, Satan and his devices, and the tendencies of the sinful heart. A teacher must be a physician of the soul who can remedy the heart with the truth of God’s Word.

Simply, teaching is the ability to communicate and apply the truth of Scripture with clarity, coherence, and fruitfulness. Those who have this ability to handle the Scripture with fidelity, and others are edified when they do so. This ability is not limited to public teaching…they (overseers) may have stronger gifts one-on-one or in small groups.[3]

Answer the following questions:

1. In what venues have you had the opportunities to teach?

2. How have you taken critique from you opportunities to teach?

3. What is your hearts reaction when you see others getting the opportunities to teach when you are not receiving the opportunities you would like?

4. What does it mean to be dedicated to exposition?

5. What does it mean to have pastoral sensibility in teaching?

6. If you were asked to teach on a variety of subjects, would you confident that your life already conforms to your teaching?

7. Are you teachable?

8. What are some academic areas you are theologically and doctrinally weak in?

Read: Dave Harvey, Am I Called? Discerning the Summons to Ministry. p.33-46

[1] D. A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1992) 82-83.

[2] Paraphrased from A.W. Tozer, God’s Little Instruction Book for Dad, (Colorado Springs, CO: Honor Books, 1994)19.

[3] Under Able to Teach, Anyabwile, Thabiti. "Pure Church." Blog Spot. December 14, 2007.