The Supremacy of Christ

All I can say is wow! Please, please, please watch this. There is no other proper response to the magnificence, glory, and supremacy of Christ other than falling on our faces in humble adoration and worship.

Faith Will Become Sight

From the Epilogue of Jonathan Dodson's, "Gospel-Centered Discipleship." This was too good not to post.

"One day the fight will be over. Faith will become sight. Our image will be perfectly aligned with Christ's image. Our affection for Christ will be so strong that it will be chief among ten thousand. All competitors for his attention will bow before him, and we will recover a childish, yet mature delight that will never cease to thrill our souls. Every act will be a natural act of obedience sparked by joy. The warnings will fade and the promises will be fulfilled. Threats will no longer be necessary and rewards will abound. The Spirit will have full sway in our gladdened hearts as we live forever in Spirit-led worship. We will no longer lean toward performance or license. The gospel will be central forever. Our conversions will be complete, our community characterized by love, and our mission colored in worship. We will no longer know our sin, fight our sin, or struggle to trust our Savior. Until then, may God grant us his sovereign grace to fight the good fight of faith, for our joy, and for his eternal glory."

Purpose of Affliction

"Tuesday August 2nd: Was still laboring to make myself more comfortable with regard to my house and lodging. Labored under spiritual anxiety; it seemed to me that I deserved to be kicked out of the world; yet found some comfort in committing my cause to God. It is good for me to be afflicted that I may die wholly to this world and all that is in it."

-The Life and Diary of David Brainerd

I am so quick to question the source and purpose of any affliction on my life, because I am in love with my own comfort. At the end of the day, it reveals what can be my limited belief in the sovereignty of God, and His love that keeps me. Brainerd reminds me of the great purpose behind affliction. I may think of it as something that holds me back. Rather, if it is causing me to die to myself, I am assured the Lord is using it to carry me forward in grace.

Divine Sovereignty: The Fuel of Death-Defying Missions

Here is David Platt's full message from T4G 2012. I encourage you, find an hour to listen to this. It is well worth it.

Pastors: Leading Their People to Death-Defying Devotion

"A high view of God's sovereignty fuels death-defying devotion to global missions"


"Pastors who believe that God is sovereign over all things will lead Christians to die for the sake of ALL peoples"

Just a couple opening quotes from David Platt's message he delivered at Together 4 the Gospel (T4G). I haven't read any of Platt's books (although I plan to) nor have I listened to much of his stuff, but from what I have heard, I love this guy and his passion for the gospel.

Being a Christian is intrinsically linked with mission. A legitimate belief in the God of the Bible fuels radical self-giving in the form of mission. I'm thankful for Platt, especially for that 2nd quote about pastors having the privilege of leading their people to die for the sake of the gospel going to ALL peoples. Most churches, and most pastors don't have the stomach to preach this. Yet, it is in the Bible. It is what Jesus said was necessary to follow him. Most pastors prefer to build up comfortable buildings for people to gather, giving them a few snippets of good advice for living, and enough assurance to soothe their religious conscious. This is nice, but this is not Christianity. This is not being a disciple of Jesus. This is not holding a high view of God's sovereignty. I'll be posting Platt's message here in a little bit. It is an hour long, but is well worth the time. John Piper is calling it the best sermon on missions he has ever heard. So, if you want to have your world rocked, check it out!

Think Big Ideas About God

I was watching the movie "All the President's Men" (film about Watergate break-in) last night with my family, and this story popped into my memory. It was too good not to share. The following is an illustration by Tim Keller from a sermon titled "Does God Control Everything?" Listen from about 24:00 - 29:00. This story is straight cool. Below is a summary I found of this section from a blog by Andy Naselli. I don't know you Andy, but thanks for typing this up...

1. Tim Keller planted Redeemer Church because he entered a Presbyterian denomination that encouraged church planting.
2. Keller entered that denomination because in his last semester at seminary he took two courses with a professor who convinced him to adopt Presbyterian theology.
3. Keller sat under that professor because at the very last minute the professor arrived at the seminary after having bureaucratic visa problems. (The professor was British.)
4. While that professor was having visa problems, the seminary dean prayed one day about how he didn’t know how they were going to get the professor to arrive, and his prayer partner happened to be a seminary student named Mike Ford.
5. Mike Ford happened to have some clout to get them through the bureaucratic snag because he was the son of Gerald Ford, the sitting President of the United States.
6. Gerald Ford was President of the United States because Richard Nixon resigned.
7. Nixon resigned because a bunch of burglars broke into Watergate and were caught.
8. The burglars were caught because one of them happened to leave a door unlatched to an office they had just bugged, and then a night watchman just happened to walk by and notice the unlatched door.
9. So “if that [burglar] had latched the door,” Keller half jokes, “if that door had been closed just two more inches, we wouldn’t be here tonight. Even Watergate happened for you.”

...

I love this story. There are no coincidences in life, though we often attribute many occasions to them. This serves as a reminder to me to think big ideas about God. This sequence of events was so easy for God to orchestrate, yet it still blows my small mind away. Imagine the orchestration it required for each of us to be saved. Every person we encountered, every conversation we had and every feeling involved, which in perfect sequential order the Lord use to bring us to himself; each a miraculous story. Should that be attributed to chance or human effort? It seems only possible that was God chasing after each of us, to write us into His Story.

A great post from Scotty Smith's blog found on the gospel coalition website. 

Remember this, keep it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: “My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.” Isa. 46:8-10

Holy and gracious Father, I offer you no pushback this morning for being addressed as a rebel. I not only rebel against your commandments, I also rebel against your gospel—for it seems too good to be true. That’s why I need a Savior as big as Jesus. My only hope is in knowing that you will complete the good work of salvation you began in me. Your purposeswill stand. You do all that you please, and it pleases you to justify, transform and glorify rebels like me… Hallelujah!

Indeed, I have great hope in knowing you are God and I am not. This truth is both disruptive and comforting. Disruptive, because there are some things I’m desperate for you to do—things that make all the sense in the world to me—things that seem in line with the truth of the gospel. But they’re not going to happen. You haven’t decreed them and no amount of fasting and praying will alter the perfection of your plan… Hallelujah!

Yet your sovereignty is profoundly comforting, because there are other things for which I don’t have the faith to trust you—things I cannot imagine coming to pass. Like an ax head floating on water, pebbles taking down a giant, lepers being instantly healed, dead churches becoming gospelicious communities, again… these things happen according to your pleasure and in your timing.

Father, help me “fix it in mind and take it to heart.” You are God and you do as you please. No one can ultimately resist your will, and we’re foolish when we try. You’re not a manageable deity; you’re not predictable; you’re not programmable. You are mysterious—good, but mysterious. Hallelujah, many times over!

As I head squirm in a season of difficult decisions, I’m so thankful that you are a sovereign Father, having equal care for each of your children. I can trust you. I don’t have to panic. I don’t have to worry. I don’t have to take matters into my own hands. I don’t have to fear outcomes, “what ifs,” or “if only’s.” Second-guessing must surrender to gospel sanity.

Father, help me to want your purposes to stand more than I want life not to be messy. Help me to glory in your pleasure more than I obsess about my future. Help me to accept disruption as a necessary part of transformation. There’s no comfort like the comfort which comes from knowing you, and calling you Abba, Father. So very Amen I pray, in Jesus’ trustworthy name.

Assurance in His Grip

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one

will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me,

is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand.

John 10:27-29

Where does your assurance come from? Is it from the strength of your own grip, or is your confidence completely in the strength of the grip of the one to whom you cling? Religion says your assurance comes from the strength of your own grip. In other words, your confidence is based on your performance. If you are standing upon solid ground, it is because you picked yourself up by your own boot straps. I often fall into this trap of basing my relationship with God on how strongly I am holding onto him, or how I am performing spiritual. 

But, the Gospel tells us quite the contrary. Jesus says his sheep know him, not because of how smart they are, or how strongly they cling to him. Rather, they know him and follow him because 1) they were given to him by his Father and 2) because his Father is greater than all, and no one can snatch his sheep out of his strong grip. Therefore, our trust should not be in our ability to hold on to God, but it should be in the strength of the one who holds onto us. 

This idea of God eternally choosing sheep to be his own, and sovereignly gripping them unto the end should cause great wonder and adoration. This is because, when we think about it, in our sinfulness, we were never able to hold onto God unto salvation. We are weak and broken, we had gone astray. Yet, God is so loving, that he died on the cross, as the lamb of God, innocently slaughtered for his people, for his sheep. The only way we could know God and follow him is if he sovereignly chose us, and maintained his eternal grip on us until the end. This should cause praise, adoration, humble service, self-sacrifice, and thanksgiving. 

Though we are weak, he is strong. Christians have the ultimate hope; not they will themselves will be strong enough to grip onto God and follow him, but that they have been chosen and loved by a God who has snatched them from death, given them life, and says he will never let go. 

The Knowledge of God's Providence

From the Heidelberg Catechism:

Q: How does the knowledge of God's creation and providence help us?


A: We can be patient when things go against us, 
          thankful when things go well,
          and for the future we can have good confidence
          in our faithful God and Father
          that nothing will separate us from his love.
          All creatures are so completely in his hand
          that without his will, they can neither move nor be moved.




If I'm being honest, I often fail to trust in God's providence. At times, my heart is restless rather than patient, and is marked by fear and insecurity  instead of confidence. Yet, for the Christian, we have every  reason to put our full trust in the providence and provisions of our Heavenly Father. The reason is,

"If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all,

how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?"

Romans 8:32

I need to be reminded of and take comfort in God's radical love. If God was willing to give his Son to rescue me, surely he will see me through until the end. Surely, I can trust him in my day to day activities. To trust in God's providence, we have to look no further than the cross. Our faithful Father will provide. He has in the past, he is now, and he will in the future. 

Patience and Steadfastness in Suffering

"As an example of suffering and patience, brothers,

take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 

Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. 

You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, 

and have seen the purpose of the Lord,

how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.....

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray."

James 3: 10-13

The idea of patience and steadfastness in God's compassion and mercy amidst suffering is truly a foreign idea in our western culture today. In fact, most people spend their lives, striving everyday towards the goal of comfort and security. Suffering is something to be avoided at all costs. Amidst suffering, people may exhibit patience and steadfastness, but it is the hope that if they keep holding on, eventually the suffering will be gone, and they will return to their 'good life'. However, we see in these verses from James that our patience and steadfastness in suffering should be in God's glory. We should be patient and steadfast in suffering, not because we are consumed with ourselves, in the hope of a cushy life again, but because we are consumed with our God, and know that through our suffering, his purposes are being revealed, and his mercy and compassion are being displayed to us. The glory of our Creator is primary. This is the difference between worldly patience in suffering and Christian suffering. Suffering is not to be sought, yet it is to be expected, and embraced when encountered. James gives us every reason to embrace suffering with a steadfast hope in God. In verse 13, he exhorts his readers to look to the example of the prophets which came before. 

Throughout the Scriptures, most of the major players in the Bible story encounter some form of suffering. Why does this happen? Isn't suffering just a punishment for our mistakes? In Tullian Tchividjian's 'Surprised By Grace', the author dissects the story of the prophet Jonah, certainly someone from whom we could learn a thing or two about suffering. One thing that is clear from reading the book of Jonah, along with Tullian's book, is that God is sovereign over our situations, especially our sufferings. But this begs the question, why? Why does God allow suffering? Further, the even tells Christians that they in fact will suffer, not might suffer. 

Jonah was swallowed by a whale, and spent three days in the whales belly. What was it like in there? Well, I've  never been inside a fish, so I can't say for sure, but I imagine it was terrifying. Surrounded by darkness, and filled with uncertainty, Jonah indeed was suffering. But this brings us back to the question of 'why?'. 

Taking heed from James, as we look back at the prophets, it is clear that suffering has a purpose. Suffering brings us to a posture of desperation. Desperation leads us to turn our eyes to God. Desperation shatters all of our false hopes. When we are stripped of everything, we are left only to cling to God. Through our suffering, we are able to taste God's compassion and mercy in a fresh new way. We are able to know God's grace, and to trust in his purposes in ways in which we would not have otherwise. Suffering leads to desperation, and desperation leads to us crying out to God. Take a look at these examples. (these are taken from Tchividjian's 'Surprised By Grace')

In desperation, Jonah prayed. "I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me" (Jonah 2:1)

In desperation, David prayed. "This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles" (Psalm 34:6)

In desperation, Hannah prayed. "She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly" (1 Samuel 1:10)

In desperation, Jeremiah prayed. "Water closed over my head; I said, 'I am lost.' I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit; you heard my plea, 'Do not close your ear to my cry for help!'" (Lamentations 3: 54-56)

And with Job. "My relatives have failed me, my close friends have forgotten me. The guests of my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger; I have become a foreigner in their eyes....My breath is strange to my wife and I am a stench to the children of my own mother. Even young children despise me; when I rise they talk against me. All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me......For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God." Job 19: 14-25

And lastly, with Jesus, who like Jonah, faced three days and nights in the darkest of places. "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22: 44). 

In sum, in our times of suffering and affliction, we are to be patient and steadfast. We are to trust God. We can trust God because we have seen throughout history his faithfulness to his children. He may bring times of suffering, but it is not the end of the story. Our present suffering and afflictions reveal God's glory. In our desperation, we are able to see God's goodness, and plentiful redemption that is in Christ. 

Like James says, those who are steadfast and patient in their sufferings are blessed. They are blessed because through their situations, they come out knowing God's grace in a radical new way. Through our sufferings we are made more acutely aware of our sonship

Certain Victory

From Valley of Vision,

"O LORD,

I bless thee that the issue of the battle between thyself and Satan

has never been uncertain,

and will end in victory.

Calvary broke the dragon's head, 

and I contend with a vanquished foe,

who with all his subtlety and strength

has already overcome.

When I feel the serpent at my heel

may I remember him whose heel was bruised,

but who, when bruised, broke the devil's head. 

My soul with inward joy extols the mighty conqueror."

This morning I praise God for decisively defeating Sin at calvary. My mind cannot understand the kind of faithfulness God has demonstrated. Though I cannot comprehend, my heart rejoices that God was faithful to His promise in Genesis 3:15. In this life, I will never fully understand the depth of grace that was displayed in fulfilling Genesis 3:15. I do not realize how truly undeserving I am, and what it meant for the infinitely holy, good, perfect, creator God, to die for hateful sinners who consistently choose to malign His name rather than rejoice in their Creator. Yet, in what my finite mind can comprehend, I rejoice and glory in the grace of God. My mind cannot comprehend the intricacy of God's providential sovereignty. From the beginning of time, God has been bringing His plans to pass. I rejoice that God has sovereignly chosen to reveal His glory by granting salvation to a People. I rejoice that before the foundations of the earth, God predestined me to be a vessel of mercy, to be adopted into His family, and not to be a rightful vessel of His wrath. Lastly, I cannot comprehend a love of this kind. In this life I will never truly understand the profundity of the Son becoming man and suffering on the Cross. I am amazed how a God infinite in wealth, put aside His fame and limited himself to a human body, experiencing life in a broken world. The One who deserves ultimate praise, the One who is the highest, emptied himself of everything, and became the lowest. All of this to fulfill His promise in Genesis 3:15. The only way for God to crush the head of Sin was for himself to be bruised. This is love, that God became man, took upon the himself the shame, burden and punishment for Sin that His people rightfully deserve, and finished it once and for all at the Cross. I pray that I will be 'strengthened with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.' (Ephesians 4:18-19)

If Not For the Lord...

"If is had not been the LORD who was on our side, 

let Israel now say,

If it had not been the LORD who was on our side

when people rose up against us,

then they would have swept us away,

the torrent would have gone over us;

then over us would have gone the raging waters.

Blessed be the LORD,

who has not given us as prey to their teeth!

We have escaped like a bird 

from the snare of fowlers;

the snare is broken and we have escaped!

Our help is in the name of the LORD,

who made heaven and earth"

Psalm 124

If it were not for the grace of God, we would be goners. 

God's Sovereign Intention

"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ³²not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. ³³ But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

Jeremiah 31:31-34

"Jeremiah depicts the new covenant as unilaterally or monergistically imposed. In this he shows that in the new covenant the emphasis falls upon God's sovereign intention to effect the goal of his redemptive plan. There is no talk here of Israel's covenant obligation, no mutuality. It is all a sovereign work."

'I will make...I will put...I will write....I will be their God....I will forgive...I will remember their sin no more"

Mike Williams, 'Far as the Curse is Found'

Need to Repeatedly Die

Per a wonderful blog by a close friend titled It's a Beautiful Gospel

...

The following idea was highlighted in a DVD series by Rev. Paul Zahl:

It is a pervasive idea in Christianity that once someone is saved, they are then able to master life (with the Spirit’s help). Put more bluntly, Christians often think they have control.

This is why Christians need to continually die to self. God is in control.

...

Thanks Rev. Zahl for the reminder, and Dan for posting this.

We Can Never Obligate God

The following quote comes from Jerry Bridges book 'Transforming Grace'. I highly recommend this book.

"He doesn't owe me anything, and what He has given me was given by His grace alone."

Without doubt, we live in a culture of entitlement. People feel entitled to certain things. Older adults feel entitled to live a certain lifestyle with a certain level of enjoyment and comfort. Younger adults feel entitled to jobs, to fun, to a life free of responsibility. Teenagers and kids feel entitled to materialistic things. On a deeper level, we all struggle with a sense of entitlement from God.

This attitude of 'deservingness' is extremely detrimental and contrary to the Gospel. In our minds, more times than not, we believe that if we obey God, or do good, we are entitled to God's blessing. In essense, God is beholden to us. He is in our control.

However, in the Bible we get a very different picture of the whole human and God relation. Rather, God says, "Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me." (Job 41:11) and "Who has ever given a gift to God that He should repay him?" (Romans 11:35). The Bible is clear that 1) everything in creation belongs to God 2) Therefore, anything we have in this life is a gift from God and 3) Therefore, we cannot give God anything that God has not already given us.

Reflecting on this, it is obsurd to think how humans even think about questioning God. We are nothing but creatures, who are completely 100% dependent on the grace of God. It is crazy to think that God owes us anything. We are but dirty worms in comparison to the incomprehensible, majestic, flawless God of glory. To think we deserve or are entitled to anything from him is seriously crazy.

But, this is not said to bring us into a state of depression because we realize how small and powerless we really are. Rather, it should bring us to a state of increasing gratitude and joy. Gratitude in that God gives us common grace everyday, in the air we breath, in our health, in every good thing we enjoy in a day. But also, in the particular grace which he has applied to His people. The saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross is that much more glorious when we rightly perceive how unworthy and ill deserving we really are. This, should then produce great joy, that the God of creation, the all powerful, sovereign over every square inch of this universe holds His people, calls them his children, and will see them through unto the end.

God's Divine Sovereignty

John Calvin writes,

"...unless we are also persuaded that he is the fountain of all goodness, and that we must seek everything in him, and in none but him. My meaning is: we must be persuaded not only that as he once formed the world, so he sustains it by his boundless power, governs it by his wisdom, preserves it by his goodness, in particular, rules the human race with justice and judgement, bears with them in mercy, shields them by his protections; but also that not a particle of light, or wisdom, or justice, or power, or rectitude, or genuine truth, will anywhere be found, which does not flow from him, and of which he is not the cause; in this way we must learn to expect and ask all things from him, and thankfully ascribe to him whatever we receive"

Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book I, Chapter 2