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06/30/2009
The study of the "end times", the return of Christ, judgment, heaven and hell, etc. are an important part of basic Christian doctrine. For example, the study of the saving work of Christ is important because the Bible teaches that there will be a day of accountability and judgment, and the fate of individuals will be determined by where they stand with Jesus Christ.
The doctrine of Christ's first coming, the doctrine of His atonement and the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone are all predicated upon the fact that there is a coming judgment and the wrath of God to be faced. What are some of the important books on this determinative subject of the end times and the return of Jesus Christ?
GENERAL WORKS:
Darrell Bock, THREE VIEWS ON TH EMILLENIUM AND BEYOND;
Zondervan--allows the three main views to speak for themselves.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, THE KINGDOM OF GOD; Crossway
Richard Belcher, A JOURNEY IN ESCHATOLOGY; Richbarry Press
Millard Erickson, A BASIC GUIDE TO ESCHATOLOGY; Baker
J. Daniel Hays, J. Scott Duvall and C. Marvin Pate, DICTIONARY OF
BIBLICAL PROPHECY AND END TIMES; Zondervan--seeks to be
balanced but with a decided pre-millennial slant.
Keith Mathison, FROM AGE TO AGE (The Unfolding of Biblical
Eschatology); P & R--seeks to give an overview of biblical
eschatology, with a post-millennial slant.
Robert Clouse, ed., THE MEANING OF THE MILLENNIUM (Four Views);
InterVarsity
Charles E. Hill, REGNUM CAELORUAM (Patterns of Millennial Thought in
Early Christianity); Eerdmans
HISTORIC PRE-MILLENNIALISM
Craig Blomberg and Sung Wook Chung, eds., A CASE FOR HISTORIC
PREMILLENNIALISM (An Alternative to 'Left Behind' Eschatology);
Baker
George Ladd, THE BLESSED HOPE; Eerdmans
George Ladd, COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF REVELATION; Eerdmans
Robert Mounce, NEW INTERNATIONAL COMMENTARY ON REVELATION;
Eerdmans
A-MILLENNIALISM
Cornelius Venema, THE PROMISE OF THE FUTURE; Banner of Truth
Cornelius Venema, STUDY GUIDE FOR 'THE PROMISE OF THE FUTURE';
Banner of Truth
Cornelius Venema, CHRIST AND THE FUTURE; Banner of Truth
(simplified version of his larger work above)
Anthony Hoekema, THE BIBLE AND THE FUTURE; Eerdmans
Kim Riddlebarger, A CASE OF AMILLENNIALISM; Baker
POST-MILLENNIALISM
Iain Murray, THE PURITAN HOPE; Banner of Truth--the Puritans
believed that there would be a final great outpouring of the Holy
Spirit before the return of Christ, and it would usher multitudes into
the kingdom.
Keith Mathison, POSTMILLENNIALISM (An Eschatology of Hope);
P & R-
Keith Mathison, FROM AGE TO AGE (The Unfolding of Biblical
Eschatology); P & R--a survey of eschatology in the whole Bible
Loraine Boettner, THE MILLENNIUM; P & R
PARTIAL PRETERIST AMILLENNIALISM
R. C. Sproul, THE END TIMES ACCORDING TO JESUS; Baker--Matthew
24 and the Olivet Discourse handled in a typical Spoul fashion--
learned, accessible, contemporary
Doug Enick, WHEN WILL THESE THINGS BE?; Virtual Bookworm--
best exposition for laymen of Matthew 24
R. T. France, NEW INTERNATIONAL COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW;
Eerdmans--see his treatment of Matthew 24--exegesis
R. T. France, NEW INTERNATIONAL GREEK COMMENTARY ON MARK;
Eerdmans--see his treatment of Mark 13--exegesis
Whatever view of eschatology you adopt, you must test it by the Apostle John's dictum in 1st John 3:3-- "he who has this hope purifies himself". If your view of the return of Christ and judgment does not cause you to purify yourself, then your view is wrongly held if not wrong it and of itself.
May the Lord make us Bible believing Christians so much better at being Bible obeying Christian, holy men and women, boys and girls, grandfathers and grandmothers. "Even so, Lord Jesus, come!"
Your Book Servant,
Pastor Steve Martin
P.S. NEXT WEEK WE WILL LOOK AT SOME OF THE BEST VOLUMES TO GET CLOSE TO THE MAN, JOHN CALVIN, WHOM GOD USED TO CHANGE THE COURSE OF HISTORY.
Posted: 11:42:00 AM :: permalink :: discuss ::
06/23/2009
CHAPTER 6--THE BIBLE AND THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY
Professor Gribben reminds us in this chapter why Christians should care and care deeply about the return of Jesus Christ to bring about the consummation of history! Shouldn't every true Christian long for the fulfillment of the 'blessed hope", the return of Jesus Christ for His own? Why don't more professing Christians seem to care? Dr. Gribben suggests several reasons:
1.) Those raised in post-millennial settings know that a thousand years of gospel blessings must precede the return of Christ so they know that they will not live to see it.
2.) Those raised in hyper-preterism believe that Christ has already returned!
3.) The cataclysmic events of the end create fear in many hearts and many people are afraid of what the end might bring so they shut their eyes and close their minds to studying what the Bible teaches about this.
4.) Many do study biblical prophecy because of the divisions that have been caused by overheated views of the return of Christ and the pain it has caused as brother has separated from brother over eschatology.
*5.) May I speculate another reason why Christians do not look forward to the return of Christ--because so many Christians in the West have become so prosperous that the return of Christ would get in the way of their suburban lifestyle, comfortable living, and entertainment?
Gribben challenges all of us to examine our lives and our theology and whether we actually live with the blessed hope as our hope! He attempts to show that Peter wrote his letters in partial answer to those who opposed interest in prophecy and who decried Christ's return. Men and women who don't believe the Bible don't believe the Bible's teaching about the 2nd coming of Christ. They may have vague ideas of the meek and mild Savior of children's Sunday School but they shun every thought of the return of the reigning King and Judge of all.
Professor Gribben closes the chapter by reminding us all that we have a stake in the return of Christ because our lives will be examined and we will be judged. What matters is not whether we got our prophetic speculation right but whether we got the gospel right and are trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, on the day when the secrets of men's hearts will be laid bare! Ultimately, the gospel is more determinative for our future than our understanding of prophesy. And that is why he is concerned that the gospel is so garbled if not wrong in so much of the LEFT BEHIND fiction. What would it profit a man if he got the whole prophetic scenario right but forfeited his own soul?
CHAPTER 7--ESCHATOLOGY AND EVANGELICAL RENEWAL
Professor Gribben began his book with the disclaimer that he is not so much against dispensationalism, but against the weak or wrong portrayal of the gospel in dispensational rapture fiction. He grew up in dispensational churches in Ireland, amidst the churches that first gave us the dispensational scheme of prophecy. But he writes because he is concerned that dispensational rapture fiction may be standing in the way of the renewal of Christianity and a return to the full orbed gospel of God's sovereign grace. We are to live our lives in the hope of Christ's return. He appovingly quotes J. C. Ryle on this point and we close our study with this:
"Yet a little while, and the last sermon will be preached, the last congregation shall break up...Live as if you thought Christ might come at any time. Do everything as if you did it for the last time. Say everything as if you said it for the last time. Read every chapter in the Bible as if you did not know whether you would be allowed to read it again. Pray every prayer as if you felt it might be your last opportunity. Hear every sermon as if you were hearing it once and for ever. This is the way to be found ready."
Even so, come Lord Jesus. Maranatha!
APPENDIX: ALTERNATIVES TO "DISPENSATIONALISM"
This appendix shows that the classical dispensationalism of Scofield, Chafer, and Walvoord is not the only alternative to understanding
prophecy. He has helpful paragraphs introducing "progressive dispensationalism", "new covenant theology", "Reformed Baptist Covenant theology", and "Reformed Paedobaptist Covenant Theology".
SPECIAL NOTE: Next week we will look at some of the top books on eschatology. Then in two weeks we will look at the top books on John Calvin on this, his 500th birthday!
Your Book Servant,
Pastor Steve Martin
Posted: 10:49:00 AM :: permalink :: discuss ::
06/16/2009
CHAPTER 4--LEFT BEHIND AND THE GOSPEL
To review, Professor Crawford Gribben is not attacking dispensationalism he is critiquing the deficient treatment of the gospel and other weaknesses in the LEFT BEHIND series of novels. So this chapter has some positive aspects of the novels, "Where Left Behind Is Right". He notes on page 67 that "Theologically, the novels are at their best when...they simply echo Scripture".
But where do the LEFT BEHIND novels get it wrong? Professor Gribben points out the novels treatment of babies, the "age of accountability", an impotent, non-sovereign God who waits for sinners to accept Him, the "sinner's prayer" substituted for "repent and believe"
(thus you have repeatedly the scenario that sinners are to put their trust in the sinner's prayer they just prayed versus turning from sin and putting their trust in Christ), the "2nd chance" after the rapture for those who are left and did not become Christians before the rapture, and baptismal regeneration. These criticisms are serious and any true Christian needs to realize that these are fatal flaws for any book or method of communication which claims to be biblical and "Christian".
CHAPTER 5--LEFT BEHIND, THE CHURCH AND THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
The departure of the LEFT BEHIND series from biblical teaching continues in this chapter. New categories of believers, "tribulation saints" are created with no biblical support. They are not called Christians because the Christians have been raptured. They are not Jews either.
The church has not part of the life of the believers after the rapture. The gathering of believers in cell groups in home takes precedence. But also new believers are not baptized nor do believers participate in the Lord's Supper after the rapture. These were "church truths" but now that the church has been raptured, these can be dispensed with. What kind of life do "tribulation saints" live in the post-rapture world? They arm themselves and retreat into isolation.
Finally, personal experience and the subjective become normative for living the Christian life and gaining guidance from God. Scripture takes a back seat to "what the Spirit tells me in my heart" kind of guidance. God's Law is not in the picture but "paying attention to the small niggling doubts that often turned into guilt if left unchecked". It comes to a climax of bad theology when the spiritual leaders of the books speak infallibly for God. What they think and feel is meant to be normative for their followers. Like the worst of the faith healers and tele-evangelists who claim to speak for God (like the Roman Catholic Pope when he sits upon his throne in St. Peter's basilica), truth comes from a man. Scripture is not the final norm; the Word of God takes back seat to the word of man. Authority is found in charismatic personalities and power brokers, not in the Holy Scriptures. Human authority replaces God's authority, pure and simple.
If evangelical Christians knew their Bibles better and were taught better by their pastors, they would not stand for such a mish-mash of half-truths and out-and-out Scripture twisting. They would view the LEFT BEHIND series like they view Dan Brown's DA VINCI CODE series, figments of an overheated imagination that has nothing to do with the truth.
Reader, need I say that you don't need to give a copy to a friend. Friends don't let friends have copies of the LEFT BEHIND series.
Your Book Servant,
Pastor Steve Martin
Posted: 10:12:39 AM :: permalink :: discuss ::
06/09/2009
Chapter 2--THE ORIGINS OF THE SECRET RAPTURE
All Christian doctrines should have their origins in the Scriptures. But being creatures of the Fall and bound to time and place, we too often allow our cultural situation, our time and place in history, our social and economic status and the like to have too great an influence on how we think and write and live our theology.
Dr. Gribben begins with the modern evangelical interest in the milennium. Noting how the radical political tremors during and after the American Revolution and the French Revolution shook Britain, he takes us back how the middle and upper classes tried to make sense of what they perceived to be the shaking of the foundations. A small evangelical group named the Plymouth Brethren and John Nelson Darby, an Irish Anglican minister began to study the Scriptures with new intent and new eyes. Gribben takes the reader on a fascinating trip through various men and movements studying the Scriptures to try and make sense of their times. The prevailing view of prophecy at that time was post-millennialism and Gribben shows convincingly, to this reviewer, how Darby and other Bible students came to their pre-millennial positions. Much is compressed and we wish he had more space to show the interconnections between authors. What he does show well is that Darby's Calvinism has been left behind my most of his dispensational grandchildren and Gribben believes it bodes poorly for the movement.
He ends the chapter by taking us on a journey through the recent debates within dispensationalism as to what must be retained from the inherited tradition of dispensationalism (Scofield Study Bible, New Scofield Study Bible, "classic dispensationalism", Ryrie Study Bible, progressive dispensationalism, etc.)
Students wanting to go deeper into a study of modern Christian thinking on the millennium should read the author's THE PURITAN MILLENNIUM: LITERATURE AND THEOLOGY, 1550-1682; Paternoster/Wipf n Stock. and WRITING THE RAPTURE: Prophecy Fiction in Evangelical America; Oxford University Press.
Chapter 3--THE ORIGINS OF RAPTURE FICTION
If you asked me or any other evangelical up until the 1990's what was the most notable example of prophecy fiction, we would all say in unison: THE LATE, GREAT PLANET EARTH. At the height of the Cold War when so many people in English speaking countries were afraid of a nuclear holocaust, Lindsay's dispensational eschatology and accessible writing style (thanks should go to the little appreciated C. C. Carlson, the writer) gave concerned readers what was purported to be the Bible's explanation on how the world would end. With a newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other, one could see where history was going.
But Professor Gribben shows us how Lindsay along with more recent popularizers like LaHaye and Jenkins in their LEFT BEHIND series, owe so much to Sydney Watson, a turn of the 20th century dispensational fiction writer (SCARLET AND PURPLE, THE MARK OF THE BEAST and THE TWINKLING OF AN EYE). That thread was picked up and continued by Frederick Tatford, a British scientist and dispensational Christian. He used Watson's book as part of the introduction to his own book, THE CLOCK STRIKES. This would be followed by Lindsay's THE LATE, GREAT PLANET EARTH and Salem Kirban's 666 and others works. Many Americans saw movies in church or young group like THIEF IN THE NIGHT and its successors which taught a dispensational view of the end of time and sought to bring people to Christ in the meantime.
What is demonstrably changing in LEFT BEHIND fiction is the solid Protestant theology of the Reformers, Puritans and men of the Great Awakening. In the LEFT BEHIND series, the numbers of people that are raptured are stunning--a third of the planet. And Catholicism is no bar to salvation. The Pope is raptured along with faithful Protestant evangelicals. While the theology of the series is declining, the consistent theme that is retained is that the standard themes of political fear are exploited and only the rapture can cure our social ills.
It is disturbing to read about developments since the original LEFT BEHIND series ended. More and more tinkering with the gospel leaves one more and more uneasy and we must ask the question: "What is the faith being sold by this series?" The very success of the franchise makes for an even greater dilution of the biblical and historic gospel and the greater sickness of American religion.
Pastors and elders and responsible Christians should think long and hard before giving a copy of any of the LEFT BEHIND series (or its imitators) to someone.
Next week:
Chapter 4--LEFT BEHIND AND THE GOSPEL
Chapter 5--LEFT BEHIND, THE CHURCH, AND THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
See you next wee, Lord willing.
Your Book Servant,
Pastor Steve Martin
Posted: 10:35:00 AM :: permalink :: discuss ::
06/02/2009
Some of you are wondering why I chose this title to examine together! This book is important. This book is about the gospel; it is not a critique of dispensational views of prophecy! The gospel is always important and always to be guarded. Crawford Gribben grew up in the Plymouth Brethren movement in Ireland and while he has left that fellowship and left its views of prophecy, he is not criticizing dispensationalism as such. He appreciates much of his evangelical upbringing in this movement. Then why does he write this book? What he is concerned to do and does it well, it to show that dispensational authors who have chosen fiction as their means to spread the gospel and their views of the end times are in fact losing the gospel. What results is a sober look at how dispensational fiction writers have tinkered and tinkered with the gospel and changed it from its biblical and historic existence.
Dr. Gribben is also highly qualified to write on this subject besides growing up with dispensational teaching. He has spent many years of study on the subject and read all the books and the critics of the books and the critics of the critics! It is a major focus of his academic career. For the serious student, these books are indispensable for studying dispensational fiction and its impact. In 2006, he (along with Kenneth Newport) edited EXPECTING THE END (Millenialism in Social and Historical Context) published by Baylor University Press. He also contributed two chapters to that in depth study. In 2008 he published THE PURITAN MILLENIUM (Literature and Theology, 1550-1682) from Paternoster/Wipf n Stock which is a revision of his 2004 Four Courts Press book on the Puritans thought of the end times. In 2008, he also participated in a symposium, THE ADVENT OF EVANGELICALISM (Exploring Historical Continuities), edited by Michael Haykin and Kenneth Steward, published by Broadman & Holman. His most thorough study of the subject at hand is WRITING THE RAPTURE (Prophecy Ficton in Evangelical America), published by Oxford University Press in 2009. Professor Gribben is gracious with those with whom he disagrees and yet firm that we must never surrender the gospel. His concern in RAPTURE FICTION is that dispensational fiction writers are doing just that, they are losing the gospel. So before you give a copy of LEFT BEHIND to your neighbor or cousin, you would do well to read RAPTURE FICTION and be reminded what the truth is and how we must not water it down.
PREFACE--Professor Gribben explains his own background and how became interested in dispensational fiction, whether of books or movies.
He also explains that he is not out to do a hatchet job on dispensationalism, per se, but on the loss of the gospel in rapture fiction.
CHAPTER 1--THE RAPTURE FICTION PHENOMENON
Dr. Gribben shows the reader how rapture fiction became the publishing and religious and cultural phenomenon that it it. There has always been a fascination with the end of the world. Add to that the Y#K scare and 9-11, and Americans were on the edge of their seats looking for what was next. This heady brew of international events and dispensational views of prophecy have created quite a stir both in America and wherever English is read. He shows us how dispensationalism has interacted with American culture, how American culture has re-acted to dispensationalism and how the secret rapture has created evangelical hysteria and Reformed criticisms, and both cultural suspicion and attraction.
Next week we will review chapters 2-3, the Origins of the Rapture and the Origins of Rapture Fiction. Get you copy and read along with us.
Your Book Servant,
Pastor Steve Martin
Posted: 11:07:00 AM :: permalink :: discuss ::
05/26/2009
Today we finish up Iain Murray's moving and challenging HEROES. Remember what we observed in the first blog on the book--Iain reminded us why we needed spiritual heroes and how to view them and how NOT to view them.
Chapter 6--CHARLES AND MARY COLCOCK JONES: ANOTHER VIEW OF
THE OLD SOUTH
In his lifetime, Charles Colcock Jones was known as the "Apostle to the Negroes". Southern Presbyterian pastor and slave owner, Jones had a great burden to minister to the vast slave population in the South, even though he did not have the means to end slavery. Doing what he could, Jones began to awaken among Christians in the South a greater compassion and spiritual burden for the plight of the millions of enslaved people all around them.
Travelers down Interstate 95 in coastal Georgia today should look for brown historical signs, one of which notes MIDWAY MUSEUM AND LIBERTY COUNTY. Upon arriving, one finds oneself in a tiny crossroads where no town or village ever existed. MIdway Museum is built in the style of a 19th century home in nearby Savannah and is led by Mrs. Joanne Clark, herself a Christian. She has come to learn so much about both the Revolutionary War history and also the spiritual history of this amazing church in the middle of nowhere! Midway Church, an indirect subject of the Banner of Truth book, MAKING MANY GLAD (The Life of Daniel Baker, the Apostle to Texas), was a wonder in its day. Begun before the Revolution, burned down by the British for the fervent oratory and opposition to British rule by the pastor, rebuilt in 1791 and still standing, it is a beautiful example of period architecture. But much more importantly, it is the place where God was pleased to dwell and reveal His glory to hundreds of black and whites believers and unbelievers. Not only did Daniel Baker come from this church, but some 83 men were called to the gospel ministry from this church, which has never been anywhere except in the country. Four other men became foreign missionaries. The three signers of the Declaration of Independence from Georgia attended this church. The gallery of the church is just about as big as downstairs. The gallery was built for the slaves and they packed out the gallery each Lord's Day. Charles Colcock Jones was its minister for much of the middle decades of the 19th century.
Pastor Jones and his family were made briefly famous in the early 1960's by Robert Myers who chronicled his life, especially during the years of the Civil War, in THE CHILDREN OF PRIDE (Yale University Press), which won the Pulitzer Prize. Later in A GEORGIAN AT PRINCETON, Myers takes us back to earlier days of Jones at Princeton University and Seminary. More recently, Sprinkle Publications has republished the work of Robert Q. Mallard, Jones' son-in-law's chronicle, PLANTATION LIFE BEFORE EMANCIPATION. Together they begin to give us a rich tapestry of the life and times of this amazing man and his faithful wife. Some critics such as Erskine Clarke (in his books, WRESTLIN' JACOB and DWELLING PLACE) have been quick to denigrate Jones because he did not work to end slavery immediately. In his lifetime, Jones confessed that he did not know how. But that would not stop him from evangelizing the slaves of Georgia or the South and seek to see them forever in heaven.
One cannot cover all the material of this chapter in a review nor can one even begin to examine the arguments about the problems of being a slaveholder and Christian. But Iain Murray does a fine job trying to sort it all out from a biblical perspective. (See also Murray's earlier account, REVIVALS AND REVIVALISM (The Making and Marring of American Evangelicalism); Banner of Truth which tells us more about the larger theological issues at stake in this period.)
ChapTer 7--SPURGEON AS AN EVANGELIST
Charles Spurgeon needs no introduction to evangelical or Reformed
Christians. Arguably the greatest preacher in English in the 19th century British Empire, he was also arguably the greatest evangelistic pastor in church history. His sermons are read and loved even more today than in his lifetime. Iain Murray has already done much to help us with Charles Spurgeon. In 1960, when Spurgeon was all but forgotten and what was remembered about him was that he was a powerful evangelist with a sense of humor, Iain wrote THE FORGOTTEN SPURGEON to explain to forgetful evangelicals why Charles Spurgeon was great. Some 25 years later, Iain wrote SPURGEON VS. HYPER-CALVINISM to show modern Calvinists why Spurgeon so vehemently and persistently opposed hyper-Calvinism and how he did it.
This chapter in HEROES should be read by all pastors and Christians engaged in evangelism. Sub-headings include: Three Clarifications (of Spurgeon as an evangelist); Spurgeon's preparation as an evangelist; The First Controversies; The Content of Evangelistic Preaching, The Character of the Evangelistic Preacher and Three Warnings.
You will not be ignorant as to why Charles Spurgeon was so effective as a preacher of the gospel nor why he saw so many conversions after studying this material.
Iain Murray has put us all in his debt again with a series of superb studies of eminent Christians we should know and know well.
Your Book Servant,
Pastor Steve Martin
P. S. Next week we will begin an examination of Dr. Crawford Gribben's book, RAPTURE FICTION AND THE EVANGELICAL CRISIS published by Evangelical Press. Get your copy and come along for the ride!
Posted: 10:41:00 AM :: permalink :: discuss ::
05/18/2009
Chapter 3--John Newton: 'A Wonder To Myself'
I can still remember listening to the voice of Dr. Donald Barnhouse on a recording of his famous series on messages on Romans being played on the local Christian radio station in Indianapolis in 1973. He kept me glued to the radio as he told the amazing story of the life of the slave ship captain turned Christian, turned pastor and hymn writer--John Newton. What an story! I could not sing AMAZING GRACE after that without remembering Newton's life and conversion and later usefulness. Only our great God could fashion such a man out of the raw materials of his early life!
Iain Murray retells the life of Newton and how he became the man he was and then the man of God that he became. (By the way, an easy to read and excellent treatment of the ups and downs of Newton's life is Brian Edwards, THROUGH MANY DANGERS, published by Evangelical Press.)
Mr. Murray goes on to show how Newton grew in grace and understanding and discernment. He was not mature at once. A summer squash takes about 9 weeks; an oak tree takes 50-60 years. So God's maturation of His people is not overnight but gradually and frequently in fits and starts as we baulk at learning our lessons the first time through.
One thing that impacted Newton's life was books. Which books? What kind of books? Who did he read? You must read the chapter to find out. And I thoroughly agree with Murray that books are essential to a Christian's growth in grace. Through in prison and facing almost certain death, Paul asked Timothy to bring the books and the parchments. It is an insult for a young man to tell a woman, "I don't know much about history or geography or geometry, but I love you!" It is no honor to be loved by a moron. Similarly, our Lord is not truly loved by someone who brags about their ignorance of the faith and yet tries to pass it off as piety in saying: "I don't know nothing; I just love Jesus!" Love for Christ is the acid test of our faith but it must be a knowing love, an informed love with the Christ of the Bible, not my imagination.
Newton grew to have a substantial ministry of counseling other ministers and laymen. How does one go about pastoral counseling? Read how Newton got started and the fine letters of counsel he wrote. (Newton's letters are available as a Banner of Truth paperback and as part of Newton's collected works in six volumes from the Banner of Truth.)
Chapter 4--Thomas Charles of Bala
Thomas Charles is not as well known to Americans as he should be.
The Banner of Truth edition of his SPIRITUAL COUNSELS would make him a household word among ministers (or laymen) if they would read it.
Charles' life is especially encouraging to those whose life seems to take time unfolding getting into the ministry. And a man may not hit his stride for several years. But as he matures and grows in grace and knowledge of the Lord, the Lord may enlarge the man's sphere of influence. He who is faithful in little things will be faithful in much...!
The early sections on "The Preparation for Usefulness" and "Entering on His Life Work" are encouraging to men entering the ministry. (It also helps the discerning layman to know how to pray for those aspiring to the gospel ministry.)
"Revival at Bala and Beyond" is a thrilling section as we read of the pouring out of the Spirit of God in the relatively unreached north of Wales. Some of you have heard of or read the story--TO BALA FOR A BIBLE. How barefoot Mary Jones walked 30 miles to Bala during the revival to get her own copy of the Bible so she could read God's Word.
Iain Murray reminds us of "A Life and a Faith Too Little Remembered".
His holy life, his powerful preaching, his practical service to his commonwealth through the printing of the Welsh Bible, and a host of other things point to Charles' greatness and our need of knowing the man better. This chapter whetted our appetite.
Chapter 5--Two Men and an Island
I confess that I had practically never heard of these two men and the revival that swept across the Portuguese controlled island of Madeira in the 19th century. I had a copy of THE WOLF FROM SCOTLAND on the life of Robert Reid Kalley (Evangelical Press). But I had not read it. The story of how God teamed up Kalley and William Hewitson and worked the revival is encouraging to moderns who wonder how men can work together and even build upon another man's work. What courage and zeal these men had. They dwarf and shame my energies for Christ. The persecution of the new converts on Madeira was fierce and they sacrificed greatly. They reminded me of the Thessalonian believers who mixed their faith, and poverty with love and joy in a heady brew that stunned their adversaries and brought the admiration of the Apostle Paul.
This chapter made me pray that God would do a similar work and bring that revival to my heart and my church. Would you pray that for yourself and your church?
NEXT WEEK WE WILL CONCLUDE WITH BRIEF OVERVIEWS OF CHAPTERS 6-7. SEE YOU THEN !
Your Book Servant,
Pastor Steve Martin
Posted: 10:36:00 PM :: permalink :: discuss ::
05/12/2009
Last week we began our study of heroes but I think we can underestimate the importance of another Iain Murray book coming into print. We ignore Murray's books at our spiritual and churchly peril. The evangelical and Reformed faith would look very different today if Iain Murray had not opened our eyes and thrilled our hearts in his previous books.
The churches of Jesus Christ owe a great debt to Iain Murray for his long and prolific ministry of writing books. He makes men and history come alive and have contemporary application for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones hired him as an assistant at Westminster Chapel to teach lessons from church history on Wednesday evenings. How discerning! In a sense, he has never left that ministry and we are the beneficiaries.
By way of review, let's go back a bit and see how Iain Murray has helped the church. In 1960, he published THE FORGOTTEN SPURGEON. Why? Because Spurgeon was forgotten. Apart from a few fundamentalists who loved his humor and his fruits but loathed his theology (and removed the Calvinism from his printed sermons!), Spurgeon was off the radar. Not only did THE FORGOTTEN SPURGEON put him back in his rightful place, it was a bomb on the Baptist playground, showing the powerful preaching comes from powerful theology.
Next came THE PURITAN HOPE, a study of the theology of revivals and prophecy held by many of the Puritans. Reviewed favorably by New Testament scholars such as F. F. Bruce and pastors like James Montgomery Boice, THE PURITAN HOPE showed another way to view the culmination of God's plan for the earth. It is still a bracing read today and a favorite of many pastors and missionaries.
When A. W. Pink died in 1952, he was dubbed, "The Last of the Puritans". But Iain Murray brought him out of obscurity in THE LIFE OF ARTHUR W. PINK and showed how valuable a ministry he had to those especially who read his STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES magazine. Murray seeks to bring Pink out of the shadows of misunderstanding and his own reclusive personality (especially in the last decades of his life), the cold shoulder he received from Arminian and Dispensational Baptists worldwide and his finishing grace.
Next came the monumental biography of Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (MLJ). The first volume was published several years before the second and together they make important reading but for different reasons. Volume One, DAVID MARTYN LOYD-JONES: THE FIRST FORTY YEARS shows what a local church can be when it is renewed, even in the worst of times and the hardest of places. Dr. Lloyd-Jones and his new bride left their promising medical careers and went to a small town in industrial Wales, ABeravon (next to Port Talbot), a town of coal miners, steel works and dock workers with a 40% unemployment rate! As MLJ would himself say: "There is no sociological reason why this ministry should succeed except the fact that God honors His gospel". During the first six months, little outwardly happened. But then the first converts came and then a mini-revival brought many to Christ and into the church. Read about how MLJ was a leader without a party--going in directions that no other local preacher was going as they sought to assimilate into the culture. Read about how the preaching of MLJ was unlike the preaching of other pastors at that time. Read about the revival--and weep with joy and the prayer that God would do it again! Read about the fellowship of the saints at the church and his leadership of the men of the church. Volume 2, THE FIGHT OF FAITH, covers the remaining 40 years of MLJ's life and shows what was going on in Great Britain and the wider world of religion.
Next came his magisterial JONATHAN EDWARDS: A NEW BIOGRAPHY. For my money its the best biography of Edwards because I believe his theology is closest to Edwards of any of his biographers. In many ways, the theology expressed by Edwards on revival in RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS is the basis of the hopes of revival that fueled the modern interest in biblical revivals and the Banner of Truth.
Then came a brief biography of Professor John Murray of Westminster Seminary, Philadelphia. It is a sweet and yet bracing work, reminding us that the Puritans live on and bear fruit among us if we can see it. (If any reader uses any of Professor Murray's many volumes, he or she should read this short but most helpful biography of a modern Puritan and man of God.)
Next came AUSTRALIAN CHRISTIAN LIFE which gave the continents of Australia and its churches their history back to them! One senses how grateful the churches of Australia must be to read the thrilling exploits of what God did in the past in this amazing land once the dumping ground for England's worst criminals (being "sent off to Botany Bay" was the phrase the Brits used). Even if one knows little or nothing about Australia, the lives of its spiritual pioneers is most encouraging and worth a read.
REVIVALS AND REVIVALISM, subtitled THE MAKING AND MARRING OF AMERICAN EVANGELICALISM, tells the sad story of the aftermath of the 1st Great Awakening (led by Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and others). A new theology engineered by Charles Finney led to new practices in the churches and a new understanding of revivlvals. No longer was a revival a powerful work of the sovereign God but a man-made artifice which humans could schedule and program to gain the desired effect. How did the American church come so far from the Reformers, Puritans and preacher of the Great Awakening? This book tells the sad but still inspiring story. One cannot understand American religion without understanding this book.
Next came SPURGEON VS. HYPER-CALVINISM, a revisit of the great preacher and the problems that swirled around his ministry and still swirl where ever biblical Calvinism is believed and preached. Spurgeon had to fight the reigning theology of his day, Arminianism, on the one hand and retrograde, "hyper Calvinism" on the other. The chapter entitled Spurgeon's Four-fold Appeal to Scripture is especially helpful in dealing with the doctrine and the practice of hyper-Calvinism.
Then came PENTECOST--TODAY?, a most helpful study on the difference of the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost, recorded in Acts 2 and the modern charismatic/pentecostal movement. Should be read by all pastors and office holders today and those with friends and family in the charismatic/pentecostal movement.
EVANGELICALISM DIVIDED is the sad story of how the strategies for growing the churches of such esteemed leaders as Billy Graham in American and John Stott in England changed the evangelical movement--for the worse. What is a Christian? and What is conversion? have become more and more misunderstood because of the policies and practices of these two leaders. R. C. Sproul said that if he had the authority, he would make it mandatory reading for every minister and office holder in America. I agree that it is that important a volume.
WESLEY AND THE MEN WHO FOLLOWED is the story of John Wesley, the father of Wesleyan Arminianism, despite his Puritan grandfather. Read Iain Murray's account of the good and the bad of the man John Wesley and how we can learn from him today anyway. The accounts of the early Methodist preachers is most inspiring and convicting.
THE OLD EVANGELICALISM shows what evangelicals used to believe and is a ringing call to return to the old paths of the evangelical and Reformed faith. Chapter by chapter, the beliefs and practices of previous generations of evangelicals is contrasted with the beliefs and practices of today.
Next came A SCOTTISH CHRISTIAN HERITAGE, a review of Scots worthies of the past who being dead, still speak through their works and biographies. Having grown over several decades, Iain can look back on earlier judgments with greater clarity and charity. For example, he once espoused John Kennedy of Dingwall's fiery denunciation of D. L. Moody's evangelistic campaigns. In the chapter on Horatius Bonar, Murray is able to speak more appreciatively of Moody and disagree with Kennedy's assessment and follow Bonar's more positive assessment.
LLOYD-JONES, MESSENGER OF GRACE is a retrospect on the life and ministry of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. His impact and his practice is held up for scrutiny and shown to be for the great good of the churches, especially his putting sovereign grace back upon the table for evangelicals. The book comes with a CD in the back of MLJ preaching at the height of his ministry on death and how we must each face it and the only answer in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a fine example of evangelistic preaching with passion.
THE UNDERCOVER REVOLUTION, his latest before HEROES, is Iain Murray's venture into cultural and literary analysis. Murray seeks to show how anti-Christian philosophers and writers turned to fiction to smuggle their anti-Christian message into the hearts and minds of England's reading population in the 19th century. He seeks to show how George Bernard Shaw, Lytton Strachey, George Eliot and others sought to teach the growing literate population of England their anti-God way of looking at life through their novels. The disastrous effect of reading novels that were not necessarily filthy but harmful and ungodly hurt professing Christians who dined on them. So today, professing Christians who know more about 24 or LOST or AMERICAN IDOL or OPRAH than they do their Bibles should not be surprised that their Christian professions atrophy and brings their testimonies into question. The medium has changed but the message has not. Life lived without God and in the thralldom of sin leads to personal and national disaster!
Now that I have reviewed 17 other books by Iain Murray, I have run out of space for this week. But I did this for a reason. Iain Murray is an important writer who cannot be missed by those who would know the times and how the people of God should live (1st Chronicles 12:32). HEROES will take another look at Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield,
John Newton, Thomas Charles, two forgotten missionaries who saw revival on the Island of Madeira, Charles and Mary Colcock Jones of pre-Civil War Georgia and Charles Spurgeon.
Last week we reviewed the first two chapters and looked again at Edwards and Whitefield. But I am afraid that too many of you will read my analysis and not read the book. So I am giving you an extra week to purchase the book and join us for the chapter by chapter analysis. It maKes your heart sing and makes you want to reach higher as a Christian by reading these biographical sketches. Buy your copy and come join us!
Your Book Servant,
Pastor Steve Martin
Posted: 11:26:00 AM :: permalink :: discuss ::
05/05/2009
Iain Murray needs no commendation from me. It would be like a mouse commending a lion! But Iain's books need to be brought to the attention of the Christian reading public because they are (1) so important; (2) so readable; (3) so edifying; (4) they might just change your life! This last idea of a changed life is overdone by some Christian communicators, but it would be a correct analysis of Murray's books.
His latest book is a sampler of other things he has written with some new material, all put together to resurrect the idea that Christians can have "heroes" and reading the lives of our heroes can make us reach higher, stretch farther, pray deeper, and live larger. Beginning in the late 19th century, writing about heroes began to fall out of fashion. Biographies sought to bring out the weaknesses and short-comings and depravity of their subjects. Murray cites Lytton Strachey as an example. In the 20th and 21st century, the anti-hero has had center stage. One could scan one's mind for some time to pick out a recent "hero" who was worth emulating. While Murray would not want to write about "plaster saints", he would have us look more closely at the lives of Christians who can challenge our small ambitions. Let's see if he succeeds.
CHAPTER 1--JONATHAN EDWARDS: THE MAN AND THE LEGACY
Iain Murray takes us on a quick trip through Edwards early life, his time in the pastorate at Northampton, Massachusetts, the revival which became the Great Awakening, his preaching and what church life was like after the Great Awakening. He concludes his chapter with an analysis of Edwards the man. He covers Edwards as a family man, quiet but engaged with his family, who loved him dearly. The main point Murray brings out is important for modern Christians as it was for Edwards. While Edwards had times of God's overwhelming joy as part of his experience, joy in and of itself was not the goal of his life nor the best indicator of spiritual maturity or growth in grace. What was Edwards goal then if not joy? After all, some modern Christians write about joy all the time as the highest good a Christian can aspire to. Murray shows that for Edwards, love of God and love for his fellow man that sprung from Christ-likeness
were the true marks of Christian maturity!
What was the legacy that Edwards has left us?
1.) An invaluable witness to the nature of true Christian experience.
Pastors are called to be physicians of the soul. Some pastors have
scarcely known their job description as a pastor, let alone sought to
fulfill it. Edwards knew the Scriptures and the human heart. Like
John Owen before him and Archibald Alexander after him Edwards
was a great physician of souls. His THOUGHTS ON RELIGIOUS
EXPERIENCE alone puts him on the Christian map forever.
2.) A framework with which to understand history and the future.
Murray believes that Edwards views on prophecy are not the need of
the hour but his views on the advance of Christ's Kingdom as the
gospel is preached in the power of the Holy Spirit. Edwards views were
shared by his younger contemporary, David Brainerd, and then by
William Carey and still others. One can read Murray's PURITAN HOPE
to see how the Puritans, of which Edwards was an American Puritan,
believed in a final in-gathering of souls before the return of Christ.
The triumphant advance of Christ's Kingdom by the preaching of the
gospel was Edward's hope.
3.) The truth that Calvinistic orthodoxy cannot advance the gospel and
the salvation of man unless it has the power of the Holy Spirit.
This lesson needs to be re-learned every generation. Sometimes men
think that all they have to do to see a mighty advance of Christ's
Kingdom is to master Reformed theology. Sad to say, too often,
scholarship is held up as the great goal of the Reformed world. But the
word of God is lifeless unless animated by the Spirit of God. To
paraphrase Robert Murray McCheyne, it is not great gifts, including
Reformed scholarship, that God blesses so much as likeness to Christ.
The need of Edwards time and our time is not Reformed intellectual
giants (which Edwards certainly was) but Reformed men of God, holy
men who have the anointing of the Holy Spirit resting upon them.
4.) The call to cease to look to man and to live to honor God alone.
Murray cites none other than George Whitefield to note that once
love of man and man's praise became an issue in the awakening,
things began to decline.
CHAPTER 2--GEORGE WHITEFIELD AND CHRISTIAN UNITY
I can still remember reading volume one of Arnold Dallimore's two volume life of George Whitefield while in seminary as part of my devotional reading to keep me sane (the other was John Owen on TEMPTATION AND INDWELLING SIN). How I was thrilled and humbled and made to yearn after something of the converting power I saw in Whitefield's life. Coming out of broad evangelicalism and a parachurch student ministry, "power" was a hot topic. Every preacher and ministry desires "power". A second reading a few year later brought me up short. It was the holiness, humility and love of Whitefield that struck me this time. Arguably the greatest preacher since the Apostles and the greatest preacher of his time, he learned humility and he had a big heart, an ecumenical heart, in the best sense. When volume two came out years later, I had decided to go back and reread volume one to set the table, so to speak. Whereas my earlier reading of Dallimore's life of Whitefield made me want to be anointed with the Spirit for powerful ministry, this later reading made me want to be holy and loving and humble like I saw in Whitefield--a Christ-like man!
Iain Murray addresses these issues and clusters them around the theme of true, Christian catholicity. [Catholic with a capital C refers to the Roman Catholic/papal religion. When the word catholic begins with a small "c" it means universal.) Whitefield was a catholic Christian, loving and working with all who loved Christ and who were Christ's. While some truths were needful to contend for, Whitefield showed that one could be an orthodox Protestant, holding in his case to the 39 Articles of the Church of England and be a vibrant Christian and powerful preacher of the gospel. Issues of church polity and the sacraments did not have to match perfectly as long as the gospel was clearly articulated. Those who wanted to limit Christianity to Reformed orthodoxy had no mate in Whitefield. When John Wesley went in print with his Wesleyan Arminian views on salvation (especially election and predesination), Whitefield sought to dissuade him from adopting and promoting his position. Failing that, Whitefield would not work again with Wesley, but remained friends, asking specifically that Wesley preach his funeral--which Wesley did!
Murray identifies Whitefield's true catholicity by showing what IT DOES NOT MEAN:
1.) True catholicity does not mean treating Christian doctrines as a
matter of indifference, or as something altogether secondary.
2.) True catholicity does not mean that we must treat everyone who
professes to be a Christian as a real Christian.
3.) True catholicity does not mean that church/denominational
attachments can be held very loosely.
Murray then went on to show WHAT IT DOES MEAN:
1.) True catholicity lies in a spirit focused on Christ and the gospel.
2.) True catholicity means that loyalty to the gospel will always take
precedence over loyalty to my denomination.
How did George Whitefield learn catholicity? Murray cites:
1.) It was the result of his new birth.
2.) The evidence of his reading strengthened his catholicity.
3.) An unhappy division in Scotland increased his commitment to
catholicity.
4.) The providence of God in his widespread travels played an important
part in his learn of catholicity.
Taking us farther, Murray then asks: "How is the failure of catholicity among Christians to be explained?" Whitefield tells us:
1.) Catholicity fails because fallen human nature is universally prone to
prejudice, ignorance and the adoption of wrong principles.
2.) Catholicity fails because 'church' in the sense of denominational
organization is identified with the body of Christ.
3.) Catholicity fails because it encounters constant opposition from the
powers of darkness.
Murray concludes this most valuable chapter by asking and answering the question: 'How catholicity is to be increased?'
1.) Let us see other believers first as Christians.
2.) Let us desist as far as possible from controversies on secondary
issues.
3.) Let us be sure to recognize our own failures in this grace.
4.) Let us seek to keep the unity of heaven before us.
5.) Let us seek closer fellowship with our Savior, Jesus Christ.
These chapters have great lessons for us if we will learn them. Reread these two chapters and ask the Holy Spirit show you what you need to work on.
Your Book Servant,
Pastor Steve Martin
Posted: 10:58:00 AM :: permalink :: discuss ::
04/28/2009
Chapter Nine--Gospel Enemy # 3--SELF RELIANCE
Surely Jerry Bridges must be wrong. How can self-reliance be a bad thing? Hasn't our culture been awash for some thirty years with "positive self-esteem" teaching in class rooms, magazine articles, Oprah, and self-help books? Don't so many so-called inspirational movies and television shows shout the message that you can be whatever you want to be if you just pay the price and keep on trying your hardest? Didn't Benjamin Franklin say it right?--"God helps those who help themselves!" You can tell by my tone that I think this is all wrong headed. But why?
God's Word's reveals that fallen human beings are too self-reliant and too self-sufficient. Even the new birth and conversion don't eradicate remaining sins like self-will, self-sufficiency and self-reliance. These sins make us independent of God and His supernatural resources for change and growing in Christ-likeness.
Simply put, what's wrong with self-reliance? Jerry Bridges gives us the simple and clear answer--It doesn't work! The Christian life is a spiritual life lived in a spiritual world, and neither human will power nor physical power is not up to the task. Read his telling illustration on pages 128-130 about the man named Brian. Does any of that sound like you? Why? What underlying attitude was harming Brian (and you)? Do you really see this to be wrong and ultimately a failure spiritually?
What is the solution? Do you understand why Jerry says that the Apostle Paul is often misquoted in Philippians 4:13? Are you willing to face up to your self-reliant, self-satisfied, self-sufficiency and repent, turning to Christ, trusting in His Spirit to make you able to live a spiritual life in a spiritual world?
Chapter 10--LEANING ON THE SECOND BOOKEND
For us to really shift our trust from ourselves to Almighty Christ, we must have a change of spiritual sight (Psalm 36:1-3; 1st Corinthians 2:14-15; Romans 12:1-2). And we need to gain a new perspective on seeing ourselves and life, we must get new focal points.
Focal Point # 1--Our Desperate Weakness--here Jerry uses the illustration that compares the believer to an earthworm. How uplifting!
But aside from a little embarrassing, it is also amazingly true. We are helpless creatures. We are no match for sin, the mightiest power on the planet outside of God. We are no match for the "world", that suffocating,
toxic brew of wrong thinking that dominates life on this fallen planet. We are no match for the devil, the fallen angelic being who heads up the unholy trinity of evils which have the planet in their grip. A. W. Tozer once remarked that there is a greater distance between us and God than between us and a slug in the garden, because humans and slugs are both creatures, dependent beings looking to Almighty God for their very existence. God is uncreated and without needs. We like to think of ourselves as mighty ones, rulers of our fate, captains of our own little ships. But we are like garden slugs, slow, dependent, seemingly at the whim of the devil, the flesh of remaining sins, and the world system which is anti-god. Rightly understood, we are need creatures.
Focal Point # 2--The Reliable Power of the Holy Spirit--Jerry takes us to 2nd Corinthians 3:18 to show us that God the Holy Spirit is the One who conforms us to Christ, changing us from the inside out, from one degree of glory to the next. This developing change is called "progressive sanctification". It doesn't mean that everything now goes our way. It means that Gold the Spirit is now transforming us from one detail of life to the next. The fight of our life, the Christian life, is not waged in our own strength but in the very power of God.
Focal Point # 3--Rejection of Self-Reliance--This could be retitled "Putting Self-Reliance to Death". Jerry has two very potent self-diagnostic questions for us to evaluate ourselves over just the past 24 hours: (1) How many times was I consciously aware of relying on the power of the Holy Spirit, instead of myself? (2) How many times did I acknowledge
God's sovereign hand and power sustaining my every endeavor--voluntary or involuntary, conscious or unconscious? Jerry has a story from his neighborhood that illustrates how serious we must be if we are to put sin to death, especially self-reliance. Have you ever fought the itchy weed of poison ivy? How radical did you get in combating it? Self-reliance is the noxious weed of the soul and like poison ivy, you must kill it at the root. Do you agree that the root of self-reliance is seen in the sinful statement of Adam and Eve--"I will be as God". Do you see how it was also Lucifer's foundational sin?
Do you understand and agree with Jerry when he says that we must make a deliberate, repeated counter-declaration: "God is God, and I am not."?
CONCLUSION: THE BOOKENDS PERSONAL WORLDVIEW
Jerry's definition and explanation of a "worldview" on page 149 is very good and very helpful. Read and reread it until you are comfortable with the idea and its components. Jerry wants us to see that our individual worldviews as Christians must include the two bookends of the Christian life. They will keep us on track and will be ever helpful. He shows what a life will be like that consistently practices this two-bookend worldview.
I suggest you read the book over again and plan to discuss its contents with your spouse or friend and that the two of you pray over what you are learning together. The best things in life are shared.
NEXT WEEK WE BEGIN A NEW STUDY: "HEROES" by Iain Murray, Banner of Truth. Come along and see the lives of several men and women and how being dead, yet they speak today
Your Book Servant,
Steve Martin
Posted: 10:40:00 AM :: permalink :: discuss ::
04/16/2009
Chapter 6--The Power of the Holy Spirit
Jerry Bridges makes the important point in the introductory paragraph of this chapter that the gospel provides the motivation for living the Christian life. But by itself, it is insufficient. We also need the power of the Holy Spirit to carry out what we are motivated to do. We need both bookends if we are to have a balanced life.
The power of the Holy Spirit is something given to us and worked within us by God Himself. It is a gift of God's over-riding grace. Jerry uses Paul's command to Timothy to be strengthened by grace as our teaching tool. How is Timothy to be strengthened by grace? By faith, Timothy is to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit instead of his own ability, determined resolutions, mustered up self-effort, or steely willpower. Timothy is to acknowledge that without Christ he can do nothing (John 15:5). Just as Timothy is to look outside himself for Christ's righteousness for his standing before God, so he must also look outside himself to the power of the Holy Spirit for his strength to live the Christian life. And what is true for Timothy is true for Paul and every other Christian down through the ages. He or she is to look outside himself/herself, trusting in the resources of God to live this new life.
Trawl through this chapter slowly, making sure you understand key concepts like monergistic and synergistic, two key terms which describe the work of the Holy Spirit. They may seem intimidating but no more than when you first learn the terms for baseball (like the "Infield Fly Rule") or the kitchen (convection oven or microwave oven). They are historic terms used by students of the Bible and theology to help us understand in a word (rather than a paragraph) an idea. Monergistic refers to what the Holy Spirit does by Himself, with or without our cooperation (such as the new birth in John 3). Synergistic refers to a work that is both God the Holy Spirit's part and our part (Philippians 2:12-13 comes to mind for this) to perform.
What does God expect of me and what will God do on His own, sovereignly? Mastering this chapter will go a long way to answer those
questions and keep the answer clear.
Chapter 7--Dependent Responsibility
Having established the parameters in the past chapter, this chapter seeks to apply what we have learned. Bridges says that the New Testament is consistent on the point of who does what (or to put it another way, what is God's part and what is the believer's part). Believers are both responsible and dependent.
Sometimes believers are tempted to divide things that belong together. It is like asking which wing of an airplane is most important. Answer: both. God's sovereign working and my responsible trusting and obeying are the two wings of the Christian life. The Bible teaches both. People with tidy minds and rebellious hearts want to square the round or make everything fit the way they think it should fit. I can almost hear them now, saying: "I don't understand how God can be sovereign and we can be responsible?" But the Bible teaches both so we must embrace both AND KEEP THEM TOGETHER FOR OUR ENTIRE LIVES.
Knowing God's sovereignty, I am to be dependently trusting Him my entire life. Knowing I am responsible, I am to be faithfully obedient my entire life. God gives His 100% and I am to give my 100%. Obviously, His counts for far more, but mine is not nothing! God will not sanctify me over my dead body of laziness or disobedience.
Again, I urge you to work through this chapter slowly and prayerfully, making sure you understand and connect the dots all along the way. It is too important not to get it! So take the time and the prayer to get it!
Chapter 8--The Help of the Divine Encourager
This chapter is one which every believer wants to experience but without the foundational truths given in the previous two chapters, it becomes merely a fleeting experience. If we combine the foundation of the previous two chapters with this one, we can lay a foundation for a more consistent experience of the encouragement and hope of the gospel. The Holy Spirit brings us back to Christ and seeing Him in fresh ways. His saving love and patient grace give us courage to go on and persevere. New love wells up within us and we see Christ again and again in new situations of our lives and new experiences of the Holy Spirit.
We are meant to enjoy the Christian life. But without a firm and consistent reliance upon the great exchange of Christ's righteousness for my sin, I will stumble along in legalism and self-righteousness. Without trusting in the Holy Spirit and believing the promises of His enabling, I will be stifled and miserable. The two wings of the Christian life enable me to enjoy the Christian life, an independently dependent citizen of heaven, wearing the righteousness of Jesus Christ as my glory forever! Sometimes this enjoyment of God brings us to what the Puritans called "exquisite moments". Thomas Watson once described the Christian life as a walk down a country lane with your father, holding his hand and talking and commenting on the beauties of God's creation. But sometimes the Father stops and picks up His son and tells him he loves him and covers him with kisses. These are the exquisite moments of the Christian life and how we praise God for them!
Believer, I urge you not to take this chapter lightly but read it over and over again until you get it straight. It is not a long chapter. It has precious contents. If you are tired of mediocrity in your Christian life, then master the contents of this book. Refuse to let God rest until He works into your life what you master of this material.
Your Book Servant,
Pastor Steve Martin
P. S. On the 28th, we will finish the book and then begin HEROES (Banner of Truth) by Iain Murray next. It is a sweet and encouraging book about men and women who should be our heroes (as Iain Murray explains what a biblical definition of hero should be.). Get your copy and join us for the study of Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Charles Spurgeon, two missionaries on the island of Madeira, Charles (The Apostle to the Negroes in pre-Civil War Georgia) and Mary Colcock Jones at Midway Church, Liberty County, Georgia and other whom you will want to know.
Posted: 09:51:00 PM :: permalink :: discuss ::
04/13/2009
CHAPTER 3--GOSPEL ENEMY # 1--SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS
Bridges and Bevington are right in saying that few things in life are as gross as self-righteousness. They barely scratched the surface in their description of how repugnant it is to our fellow man; can we imagine how repugnant it is to Almighty God who is holy, holy, holy? Self-righteousness says to God that we do not need Christ or His cross to merit God's favor and grace. Our performance has done enoughl--already!
It is well known that human beings are naturally legalistic and self-righteous since the Fall. Whether talking to a tribal native in Nigeria or a climbing businessman in Atlanta, human beings think and view God and religion as a matter of their works--if good works outweigh bad works, you go to heaven; if bad works outweigh good works, you go to hell, if there is a hell. Such is the mind of the man in the street. Religious men are no better. They dress their legal orientation in religious garb--if I have done enough for God, then...! Along with a Nigerian fellow Christian, I engaged a rural Nigerian tribesman about his relationship to God. He said that he was trying as hard as he could in being religious and going to church. According to Bridges and Bevington, such thinking is not only misleading; but dangerous. It misjudges God's holy character and justice and badly misconstrues their own righteousness.
Bridges and Bevington say that we there are two kinds of legalistic, self-righteous people. The first kind is disciplined, earnest, consistent, with a pretty good track record. Such a person believes they merit God's blessing and favor. The second is haphazard, up and down, under the pile and defeated because they know they have not performed up to expectations and do not merit God's favor. The authors believe most of us oscillate between these two. Perhaps you don't. I can see that I do all too often.
Read again their questions on page 49. Did you answer "Yes" to more than half? I think that maybe only three "Yes" answers are enough to convict you or me. Why not pray and ask God the Holy Spirit to show you if you are regularly, persistently, patiently relying on Christ alone as your acceptance and promise of blessing with God the Father. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you for Christ's sake!
CHAPTER 4--GOSPEL ENEMY # 2--PERSISTENT GUILT
I never do enough to merit the grace of God. I have high standards and I am not even living up to them, let alone God's holy standards. So our thinking can go.
How did you score when answering the questions on page 56? Are you plagued by persistent guilt? Does it cloud your every move? Does it determine your every decision? Does it manipulate your relationship with God?
Read especially what Bridges and Bevington say about really dealing with persistent guilt. Is that how you face your guilt? Do you face your guilt? Do you hate the guilt and are weary of being bowed down under guilt's glare, but have no real way of dealing with it? Then read and reread pages 57-58.
Do you think the authors' differentiation between guilt as a curse versus a healthy remembrance of our sin as a blessing? Read and pray about this. Can you see the difference? Does John Newton's story on page 59 help you? Imagine having the souls of 20,000 slaves on your slaves ships on your conscience? Not to mention all the other horrid things Newton did before he came to Christ? How could conscience ever become quiet and at peace with such a great burden?
How is Puritan Baptist Thomas Wilcox' HONEY FROM THE ROCK a gospel salve for wretched conscience? How often should we apply salve to a wound? Answer: as long as we need to!
Guilt-ridden Christian, read this chapter again and again until you know it and its contents by heart--especially until you know its healing balm by heart.
CHAPTER 5--LEANING ON THE FIRST BOOKEND
This is a very practical chapter to really get you and me to actually put this truth into practice. The authors begin with getting our focal point right.
Focal Point 1--Seeing Ourselves as Desperately Lost Sinners--do you see yourself this way? What percentage of the time? Write it down.
Focal Point 2--Seeing the Righteousness of Christ as All-Sufficient for us daily--do you see yourself this way? How much of the time. Write down your answer. Study the exercise on page 71 and do the work.
Focal Point 3--Seeing and Rejecting our Functional (Everyday Alternative) Saviors. To what do you look for your acceptance? Your record? Your performance? The approval of others? Other idols which substitute for Christ?
Do you resonate with the example of the mega-church pastor who bared his soul on pages 75-76? Are you like that? Are you taking the medicine he is taking for the freedom and joy he is receiving as he is progressively healed from his self-righteousness? If not, I suggest you read and reread this chapter and pray earnestly until you do!
Your Book Servant,
Pastor Steve Martin
P. S. Next week we go on to Part Two--The Second Bookend--the Power of the Holy Spirit and chapters 6-7-8. See you then, Lord willing.
Posted: 08:59:00 PM :: permalink :: discuss ::
04/06/2009
Jerry Bridges has become known through his many books which are faithful to Scripture and reflect the best of warm hearted Reformed theology, particularly in the area of sanctification. THE PURSUIT OF HOLINESS, THE PRACTICE OF GODLINESS, TRUSTING GOD, IS GOD REALLY IN CONTROL?, THE JOY OF FEARING GOD, TRANSFORMING GRACE, THE DISCIPLINE OF GRACE, THE GOSPEL FOR REAL LIFE, THE GREAT EXCHANGE and others have built up, strengthened and thrilled believers for over thirty years. Early in my Christian life, I came to see the errors of the so-called "Keswick Teaching on Sanctification" or "The Victorious Life Teaching", "The Deeper Life", "The Exchanged Life", etc.
I cobbled together my own biblical doctrine of sanctification. And then I came across a copy of Jerry's first book, THE PURSUIT OF HOLINESS. God so encouraged me in that what I had seen in Scripture in a rudimentary way, Jerry Bridges was fleshing out in greater measure. And his footnotes opened up the world of Reformed authors to me--Charles Hodge, Jonathan Edwards, John Owen, William Bates, etc. I can vouch for his gift at taking classic Reformed theology and putting the cookies down where we can all enjoy them. Some Reformed pastors are good at feeding only giraffes. Jerry is very good at feeding sheep.
Jerry's latest, written in conjunction with a biblical soul mate, Bob Bevington, is eminently practical and where we live. If I could make it mandatory, I would require all pastors and laymen to work through Jerry's books to teach them practical biblical and Reformed spirituality for daily living which is the ultimate preparation for dying well.
His latest book, THE BOOKENDS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE, is another rifle shot of pin point accuracy in helping us make sure our spiritual thinking and mental priorities are clear. He says that we need two bookends to hold up the various aspects of our Christian lives otherwise they are always falling over. The two bookends?--"the righteousness of Christ" and "the power of the Holy Spirit". We need to be perfectly clear about these to really live out the Christian life. He believes these two areas are critical for healthy Christian living by all of us. I think he's right
on target. Let's see why!
PART ONE--THE FIRST BOOKEND: THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST
Chapter 1--The Righteousness of Christ
Let me tell a story from Donald Barnhouse's preaching and his great exposition of Romans to make this point. Suppose you wanted to start your day by meeting with the Lord at 6:00am for a devotional time alone with him. When the alarm went off you groaned and rolled over and hit the snooze button. You did the same thing four more times until it was after 7:30am. You jump up with a start, shower and shave hurriedly, nicking your face in the process. With a bit of toilet paper stanching the flow of blood, you grab a cup of coffee as you mumble something to the kids, wave goodbye to your wife, kick the dog and jump in the car. On the way to work, you have a flat tire! You come out of the car like a wounded bear, grumbling and complaIning. You arrive for work late, your boss makes a snide remark about your tardiness, a meeting you led goes poorly, you get stuck in traffic on the way home and give the "stupid jerks" around you a piece of your mind you could not afford to spare. Finally you grimly come through the front door, not wanting to see your wife or children or the dog. Your wife sees you head silently for the bedroom to change your clothes and after giving you a few minutes she comes in and gently asks if everything is alright. "It was a really bad day", you grouse. "Would you like to pray about it, honey?" she asks. Looking down at your shoes you have yet to untie, you murmur, "I don't think God wants to hear from me today."
Now let's look at another scenario. You set your alarm for 6:00am but you wake up at 5:40 and think the Lord got you up early to spend extra time with him. You have a time of sweet intimacy with the Savior by the Spirit and the Word. Your prayer time seems to connect and you seem free in speaking with the Lord. You grab your coffee after kissing your wife and telling your children how much you love them. You pat the dog on the way out of the house. You have flat tire on the way to work and trustingly quote Romans 8:28 and meditate upon it as you change the tire. You arrive late for work and your boss chews you out, but you keep your temper and are meek and humble about it. At lunch you have an opportunity to speak to a colleague about Christ and you seem to be especially clear and cogent in your thinking and presentation of the gospel. After lunch a meeting you lead goes poorly but as you pray about it afterwards, you can think of several ways to grow as a leader because of what you learned about this poorly handled meeting. On the way home you get stuck in traffic and pray for the many people around you stuck in traffic who are without Christ. Upon arriving home, you kiss your wife, hug the children, pat the dog and head for the bedroom. When your wife comes in to ask when you would like dinner and how your day was, and hears it went so well, she asks: "Dear, would you like to pray about it?" Your response is hearty and certain, "Yes I want to pray about this banner day. I believe God wants to hear my prayers today!"
And the moral of this two-part story is that you would have been wrong on both days! You did not feel like praying the first day because you felt guilty and unworthy and there was nothing to commend you to God for Him to hear your prayers. You are a guilty legalist--thinking your law-keeping (or lack of it really) was pitiful and unworthy of God. The second day where most things went very well, you wanted to pray because you believed that you merited God's approval and He would delight in your prayers. You were a Pharisee, foolishly thinking your works were above most men so they must be highly esteemed by God.
On our very worst days and our very best days, our merit, our approval, our guarantee of entrance into the approval and throne room of heaven is nothing more or less than the righteousness of Christ counted to us. Our performance is not the basis of our standing before God but the perfect performance of Christ is our standing before the Father.
So Chapter One unpacks 2nd Corinthians 5:21--"God made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Read this chapter with delight.
Chapter Two--The Motivation of the Gospel
Christians live out their lives as debtors to mercy and love. In 2nd Corinthians 5:14, Paul tells the Corinthians church what motivated him to go on with his life and his ministry of preaching the gospel throughout the Roman world as an Apostle--"the love of Christ constrains me". To make his point, Jerry uses three illustrations from the Bible to show how a clear grasp of 2nd Corinthians 5:21 and the gospel makes a person a great lover of Christ and a warm hearted Christian.
Example 1--The Sinful Woman Who Anointed Jesus' Feet (Luke 7:36-50). She understood the forgiveness of her sins and her acceptance by Christ and it moved her to profound, public, lavish ministry on behalf of the Savior. The Pharisee who hosted the dinner where Jesus dined and where the woman wept had no love for Christ and no appropriate treatment of Christ--he did not see himself to be a sinner, he was trying to establish his own righteousness and condemned the woman in his heart.
Example 2--A highly respected Jew, Isaiah the prophet (Isaiah 6:1-5). Isaiah was a good man who was profoundly humbled into an awed realization of who Christ was (John 12:41 says that Isaiah saw Christ's glory) and a pained realization of who he was not. He saw himself as a great sinner. But Christ cleansed him and out of joy and gratitude, Isaiah offers himself for service--"Here am I, LORD, send me!"
Example 3--The Self-Righteousness Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus. His attempts to establish his own righteousness before God made him self-righteousness, harsh, judgmental, cruel and proud. But when he came face to face with the ascended Christ, he was humbled to the dust at the realization of his sins, his wrong headed attempts at self-merit and self-aggrandizement, he despised his former way of life and gloried instead in the righteousness of Christ counted to his account. He lived by faith alone in Christ alone whose righteousness alone cuts ice with God!
Jerry Bridges reminds us that after our first coming to Christ, we can grow cool and slack and blase about the Christian life if we do not keep in mind the gospel of the great exchange of our sins counted to Christ and His righteousness counted to us. In no other way can we find peace with God and the assurance of God the Holy Spirit that we are accepted in the Beloved!
I advice you to trawl through these two chapters slowly to make sure you are getting them and then pray over them the second time through, glorying in Christ alone and making no provision for the flesh.
Your Book Servant,
Pastor Steve Martin
P.S. Next week--Chapter 3--Gospel Enemy # 1--Self-Righteousness
Chapter 4--Gospel Enemy # 2--Persistent Guilt
Chapter 5--Leaning on the First Bookend.
See you next week, Lord willing.
Posted: 09:12:00 PM :: permalink :: discuss ::
03/24/2009
Chapter 9--The Sign of the Rent Veil
This is a beautiful chapter because it captures and displays so well the meaning of Christ's death and the tearing in two of the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place. Only one man and that the High Priest, could go into the Holy of Holies and that only once a year. First the High Priest had to make atonement for his sins lest he be struck dead for his impertinence to think that he, a sinner, could approach the thrice holy God without a sacrifice of atonement. The giant veil or tapestry hung in the temple to separate man from God and keep man at a distance--for his own safety. Contact with the God who is holy, holy, holy would bring instant death. Hence the High Priest wore a rope, tied around his ankle, as he ministered on his once a year duty inside the Holy of Holies. Should he sin in some way and be struck dead by God, his body could be dragged out by the rope and his body not decay where no other man could go to rescue it.
But when Jesus Christ gives His life as an atonement for sin, the veil is ripped into two, from top to bottom. Why? This rending in two shows that God Himself (NOTE: the ripping was from top to bottom, not vice versa--the initiative was with God!) had opened the way to Himself through the work of His Son. No longer did priest or laymen need to come with a sacrifice to approach God--God Himself proved the Lamb of sacrifice. His Son.
Read this chapter slowly, prayerfully and meditatively. Is Christ the sacrifice in whom you trust, such that you come boldly to the Father in His name? Is Christ your confidence? Is Christ your access?
Chapter 10--The Sign of the Opened Graves
One event in the series of events which make up the period of Christ's death and resurrection is the opening of the graves at the moment of
Christ' death, the resurrection of the departed saints, and their entry into Jerusalem. For many years, this little bit of knowledge was a wonder to me! What did these people do when they went into Jerusalem? What happened to them? Did they die again? Were they translated to heaven?
Professor Leahy offers biblical insight and sanctified common sense in interpreting what has been revealed. Christ's death was the death of death. Death no longer held absolute sway over the human race. The power of Gold that raised Him from the dead created a great earthquake and the graves were opened and their inhabitants came to life and went into the city of Jerusalem.
It is sad to observe that only 120 believers were counted in the Upper Room as disciples of Christ, waiting for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which would come at Pentecost. Dr. Leahy shows the tragedy of not believing God's Word, of not seeing spiritual realities when they are before you. Christ had preached among the people of Jerusalem and no one cared. Christ had lived and died and been raised and no one cared.
Departed Jews who believed in the work of the forthcoming Messiah came out of their graves, back from the dead, to testify that Christ indeed was the first fruits of all those who would be raised because His atoning work.
Dr. Leahy challenges us as to whether we truly believe God's Word and act upon it. Most who heard God's Word preached by Christ and His apostles and who were testified to by saints raised from the dead, did not believe what they heard or saw! Landmarks from Bible times are for the most part, gone! Leahy shows how we can only appreciate the spiritual reality that was accomplished at Gethsemane, at Calvary, in the Upper Room, etc. But they must be combined with faith or they will not profit.
People can and will turn relics into objects of idolatry and superstition. The work of Christ, when believed on and trusted in, reaps benefits for eternity.
Epilogue--Is It Nothing to You?
A fitting closure to a precious study of the crosswork of Christ is this epilogue. Dr. Leahy does not want us to go away from this study unchanged, unheedful, unmoved, and unsaved. The poem by Princeton professor J. A. Alexander is especially appropriate. I close with Dr. Leahy's closing challenge:
"You who pass by, caught up in the rush and pressures of modern society, living a life on earth which, at its longest, is but very brief, being swept steadily and inexorably to eternity and to the judgment of the Last Day--you who ass by--STOP ! LOOK ! SEE ! and LIVE !
APPENDIX A: DISPENSATIONALISM AND THE GOSPEL
Shows why God has not "Plan B", the church, and "Plan A", Israel. Christ's work rendered the temple and the sacrificial system obsolete. He shows briefly that dispensationalism and Roman Catholicism have it wrong when they want to resurrect Old Testament Judaism or the sacrificial system and repeated sacrifices.
APPENDIX B--'RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTS A NATION'
A reminder that personal righteousness cannot be totally divorced from the righteousness of the body politic, the corporate dimension of the state the involves the righteousness or unrighteousness of multitudes of people who make up a nation.
NEXT WEEK, WE WILL BEGIN A NEW, BRIEF STUDY OF JERRY BRIDGES
AND BOB BEVINGTON'S NEW BOOK, "THE BOOKENDS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE", Crossway Books. Come along, grab your copy, and join us.
Posted: 10:44:00 AM :: permalink :: discuss ::
03/17/2009
A good Bible teacher or preacher brings to your attention things you might have missed in a casual reading of the Bible. Professor Leahy is such a teacher, bringing out insights and applications we have missed in our own reading or study of Scripture.
Chapter 5--A Soldier Speaks His Mind
He begins with a look at the centurion in charge of the men who crucified Jesus. A centurion was a Roman officer in charge of a hundred men. He had served in the Roman legions some time to reach this rank. He had fought men in war and supervised captured people in peace. He had probably seen many crucifixions. Something about this crucifixion and this man were to arrest his attention and stimulate his thinking.
Observe his noteworthy observations. Luke notes that he called Jesus "a righteous man" (Luke 23:47) and the ESV notes in a footnote that Matthew observed the man to be 'a son of a god' (Matthew 2q7:54). While the fickle crowds had clamored for Jesus death and then slunk away after the earthquake and the midday eclipse of the sun. the centurion stayed at his post and watched Jesus. He ministered to the two men on either side of them. He ministered to his mother and disciple. He did not seem to be a victim but seemed to give up His own life. He cried aloud to God as His Father to receive His spirit entrusted to Him. The centurion saw something beyond the normal human dying on Calvary.
The centurion was the recipient of some grace to recognize things about Jesus that even the so-called religious leaders missed. He really had an amazing testimony. Professor Leahy observes that the other soldiers on duty that day agreed with their leader that Jesus was 'son of a god'. Leahy notes that such high praise was reserved for Caesar, not convicted criminals and insurrectionists. The centurion and his men were announcing the claims of Christ as genuine. Other people, most of the Jews for example, were in great spiritual darkness at this time. Not the centurion. He saw things about Jesus totally missed by others.
Professor Leahy tells us that this scene was a moment of preparation for Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which came that day. Here is a pagan soldier pointing to the truth of who Christ is while Christ is bearing the sins of His people and the Jews miss it. The centurion had no Bible that we know of, no exposure to the religion of the Old Testament, no training in Judaism. But he was given grace to see what he saw!
Professor Leahy asks us what we see at Calvary. Do we see more than the crowds saw? More than the religious leaders saw? As much as the centurion saw? If we are to go to heaven and have our sins forgiven and receive eternal life, we must truly see what transpired on the cross that day.
Chapter 6--Winners and Losers at Calvary
This unique chapters focuses on the clothes Christ had and lost until He was totally naked in order that His people might not be naked but clothed with His righteousness.
What were the clothes Christ lost? Christ was stripped to be flogged and then his clothes put back on Him, except for His outer garment. His outer garment, a seamless robe, was gambled for by the soldiers. Prophecy was fulfilled that day that men would cast lots for Messiah's clothes.
But Jesus was stripped naked to be put on the cross. Public shame and ridicule attended the total shame of a naked, crucified criminal. But in this act, Jesus was becoming totally identified with His people that they would not be naked on Judgment Day, clothed on in the rags of their own pollution. Christ would clothe believers with the riches of His own righteousness. Forever they would wear His righteousness which guarantees their salvation. This is the wedding garment provided at a Jewish wedding which Jesus used in His parable to show the utter shock and condemnation which came upon the guests to Christ's wedding supper who came clothed in their own righteousness and rejected.
Three aspects of the clothes sinners lose when they come to Christ are self-righteousness, self-sufficiency and self-will. Professor Leahy shows us how these operate and how they must be mortified whenever they make an appearance. He closes this chapter asking us what we will be wearing as we stand before our King?!
Chapter 7--Looking on the One We Pierced
Professor Leahy connects the dots of the piercing of Christ with the Old Testament prophet Zechariah. The solders broke the legs of the other two condemned men that day, but Christ was spared that agony because He was already dead! Part of the agony of crucifixion was the awful pain in the arms being only temporarily relieved by the crucified one painfully standing up on the nails through his feet. One agonizing pain replaced another. The solders had no idea that they fulfilled the prophecy that none of his bones would be broken. They did pierce His side to discover that His blood had already separated into the heavy red platelets and the clear, water-like liquid. His heart had failed; He was dead. The Apostle John, alone among the disciples at the cross, remembered the prophecy "they will look on Him whom they have pierced" (John 19:36-37). This "seeing" on the part of an on-looker was a repentant "seeing". Such seers mourn their sins which pierced Him, which necessitated His death.
Professor Leahy shows us that some looked on Jesus with a glimmer of understanding while others looked upon Him with only mental darkness, in no way comprehending who He was and is or what He came to do.
Which are you? Do your see and understand about His sufferings and realize they were for your sins, not His own, that He died? Do you mourn the depravity that required Him to be pierced?
Chapter 8--'Crucified, Dead and Buried'
Here Professor Leahy shows us how the disciples missed what was happening at His burial while Christ's enemies remembered all too well what His claims were. Joseph of Arimethea and Nicodemus alone came forward to claim the body and prepare it for burial. Their work was reverent but without discernment. It was a typical preparation for a long entombment with the burial spices meant to mask the smell of the decaying body-not the resurrection to come! His burial was a confession of love, but not a confession of faith. Christ was buried by two men who loved and respected Him but who did not understand His claims and truly believe in His claims to be raised from the dead. Crucified, dead and buried is the final act of Christ procuring the salvation of His people. He had to endure death to save us from death.
Professor Leahy is not just a student of the superficial. He does not pick up scraps lying on the surface. He looks at each strand of data, each particle of detail, each word of the Scriptures account of Christ's death and resurrection. We must read this book prayerfully and slowly and meditatively to gain the proper appreciation for what the gospels teach about our Savior.
NEXT WEEK WE WILL FINISH THE BOOKS FINAL TWO CHAPTERS AND APPENDICES. (Its not too late to join us. What sweet heart preparation this book is for Easter meditation.)
Posted: 10:36:44 AM :: permalink :: discuss ::