The gospel of unconditional grace

“To preach the Gospel of the unconditional grace of God in that unconditional way is to set before people the astonishingly good news of what God has freely provided for us in the vicarious humanity of Jesus. To repent and believe in Jesus Christ and commit myself to him on that basis means that I do not need to look over my shoulder all the time to see whether I have really given myself personally to him, whether I really believe and trust him, whether my faith is at all adequate, for in faith it is not upon my faith, my believing or my personal commitment that I rely, but solely upon what Jesus Christ has done for me, in my place and on my behalf, and what he is and always will be as he stands in for me before the face of the Father. That means that I am completely liberated from all ulterior motives in believing or following Jesus Christ, for on the ground of his vicarious human response for me, I am free for spontaneous joyful response and worship and service as I could not otherwise be.”

- TF Torrance

(HT: Of First Importance)

Filed under: Christ our Mediator, Christ our righteousness, Christ our treasure, Discipleship, Doctrine, Evangelical, God's grace, Jesus Christ, Union with Christ, Worship

The Inward & Outward Movement of Grace

“God’s grace is the driving force of all change. . . . God’s grace has both an inward and an outward movement that mirror each other. Internally, the grace of God moves me to see my sin, respond in repentance and faith, and then experience the joy of transformation. Externally, the grace of God moves me to see opportunities for love and service, respond in repentance and faith, and experience joy as I see God work through me.”

- Bob Thune and Will Walker, The Gospel-Centered Life (World Harvest Mission, 2009), 45.

(HT: Of First Importance)

Filed under: God's grace, Sanctification

What can be a greater honour than this?

“How great an honor will it be to a person to have God at the day of judgment owning a person, declaring before all men, angels and devils that that person is before his all-seeing eyes and that he stands innocent and perfect in his sight, clothed with perfect righteousness and entitled to everlasting glory and blessedness. How honorable will this render them in the eyes of all that vast assembly that will be together at the day of judgment. That will be an infinitely greater honor than any man or any angel declaring that they judge him upright and sincere and that eternal life belongs to him. What can be a greater honor than this — to be owned by the great King and Lord of all things?”

Jonathan Edwards, The Glory and Honor of God, edited by Michael D. McMullen, page 61.

(HT: Ray Ortlund)

Filed under: Christ our Mediator, Christ our righteousness, Christ our sin bearer, God's Glory, God's grace, Jonathan Edwards, The Cross, The Gospel, Union with Christ

God of the turn around!

I like this:

Perspectives from Peacemaker Ministries on Vimeo.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

Filed under: Evangelical, God's grace, Power of God, Power of the Gospel

The Law and The Gospel

From John Bunyan …

Run, John, run, the law commands
But gives us neither feet nor hands,
Far better news the gospel brings:
It bids us fly and gives us wings.

(HT: Rick Ianniello)

Filed under: Evangelical, God's grace, John Bunyan, Quotes, The Gospel

John 7:37-38

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” John 7:37-38

“The fulfillment of . . . the promise could be testified by thousands of living Christians in the present day. They would say, if their evidence could be collected, that when they came to Christ by faith they found in him more than they expected. They have tasted peace and hope and comfort since they first believed, which, with all their doubts and fears, they would not exchange for anything in this world. They have found grace according to their need and strength according to their days. In themselves and their own hearts they have often been disappointed, but they have never been disappointed in Christ.”

J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John 1:1 through John 10:9, page 472.

(HT: Ray Ortlund)

Filed under: Biblical exposition, Christ our treasure, Discipleship, Evangelical, God's grace, Holy Spirit, JC Ryle, Jesus Christ

Work Hard Because God is Working Hard

For this purpose I labor, striving according to his power, which mightily works within me. (Col. 1:29)

The presence of God’s power does not preclude Paul’s personal struggle or energetic striving or laboring. Rather, it makes it possible. God’s power is not designed to eliminate our responsibility to work hard but to enable us to fulfill it. Paul is able to work hard because God is working hard. The latter doesn’t destroy or undermine the former.

J.I. Packer perhaps put it best when he said, “The Holy Spirit’s ordinary way of working in us is through the working of our own minds and wills. He moves us to act by causing us to see reasons for moving ourselves to act. Thus our conscious, rational selfhood, so far from being annihilated, is strengthened, and in reverent, resolute obedience we work out our salvation, knowing that God is at work in us…”

Thus we see that God has chosen to operate not independently of but only through and by means of human effort and labor. God’s energy doesn’t fall from heaven haphazardly and amorphously, but comes to us through human ministers and ministry, via human toil and struggle.

So how might we know when God is energetically and powerfully working in us? If, when you are slandered, you respond by entreating (1 Cor. 4:13), you can rest assured that divine energy is working mightily in you. If, when you are reviled, you bless instead of curse (1 Cor 4:12), you can rest assured that divine energy is working mightily in you. If, when you are persecuted, you endure (1 Cor 4:12), you can rest assured that divine energy is working mightily in you. When you are afflicted but not crushed, are perplexed but do not yield to despair, are struck down but not destroyed, you can rest assured that divine energy is working mightily in you (2 Cor 4:8-9). When you are sorrowful and still rejoice, possess nothing yet are rich, you may rest assured that divine energy is working mightily in you (2 Cor 6:10). If, when you are in poverty, you give generously and joyfully (2 Cor 8:1ff), you may rest assured that divine energy is working mightily in you.

You probably won’t feel anything. There’s no guarantee that your body will vibrate or your appearance will change. But if you find yourself responding and thinking as Jesus would, if you find yourself acting and choosing contrary to every fleshly and sinful impulse, you may rest assured that divine energy is mightily at work in you. Only in this way can we, like Paul, continue to serve and love and minister and not lose heart.

– Sam Storms, The Hope of Glory, 137-138.

(HT: Vitamin Z)

Filed under: Biblical exegesis, Discipleship, God's grace, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Sam Storms, Sanctification, The Christian Life, The word of God

The Expertly Contextualized Gospel

This is excellent:

(HT: Jared Wilson)

Filed under: Christ-centred, Cultural relevance, Doctrine, Evangelical, Evangelism, God's grace, God's holiness, Jesus Christ, Preaching, The Gospel, The word of God

RC Spoul on Reformed Theology

“At the heart of Reformed Theology, at the heart of Luther and Calvin’s struggle, and in Knox and Jonathan Edwards, were men who were awakened to the greatness, to the majesty, to the holiness, and the sovereignty of God. By contemplating the holiness and sovereignty of God, they were driven to develop their doctrines of the grace of God. Because until you meet a God who is holy and is sovereign, you don’t know what grace means. I don’t think we are ever going to see a healthy evangelical church until the evangelical church is solidly Reformed, where it takes biblical Christianity seriously with a right concept of a sovereign God.

That’s because unreformed Christianity has failed in our culture. It has been pervasively antinomian (no law, no Lordship), and has been pervasively liberal in it’s trends and tendencies away from Scripture, because there’s been no real basis in the sovereignty of God.

Today’s evangelicals are never amazed by grace, because they don’t understand sovereignty. They don’t understand God. The evangelical church today is sick, more sick than it ever has been. We need a style and a variety of Christianity that is not a religion, but is a life and a worldview, where at the heart and foundational structure of it is a sound and deep biblical concept of the character of God.”
-Dr. R.C. Sproul, A Blueprint for Thinking

(HT: Reformed Voices)

Filed under: Calvinism, Church History, Doctrines of Grace, God's grace, God's holiness, Sovereignty of God, The Church

Seeing More of God & More of Ourselves

“Growing in the gospel means seeing more of God’s holiness and more of my sin. And because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross, we need not fear seeing God as he really is or admitting how broken we really are. Our hope is not in our own goodness, nor in the vain expectation that God will compromise his standards and ‘grade on a curve.’ Rather, we rest in Jesus as our perfect Redeemer — the One who is ‘our righteousness, holiness and redemption’ (1 Cor. 1:30).”

- Bob Thune and Will Walker, The Gospel-Centered Life (World Harvest Mission, 2009), 6.

(HT: Of First Importance)

Filed under: Christ our Mediator, Discipleship, Doctrine, Evangelical, God's grace, Holiness, Jesus Christ, Salvation, Sanctification, The Gospel

Beholding Glory and Becoming Whole: Seeing and Savoring God as the Heart of Mental Health

Last night John Piper addressed the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC) at their world conference in Nashville on the topic “Beholding Glory and Becoming Whole: Seeing and Savoring God as the Heart of Mental Health.”

The manuscript of John’s message is available here.

Here’s a sample:

[...]

God has done everything with a view to one great end—namely, that the glory of his grace should be praised by innumerable redeemed human beings. You, and everybody you counsel, were made by God to praise him. More specifically, you were made to praise his glory. And more specific yet, you were made to praise the glory of his grace.

[...]

This is why we were created. This goes to the heart of what it means for us to be fully human and for God to be fully honored. And the amazing thing is that the two happen together. They happen in the same act. God is profoundly honored and glorified in the very act of our being profoundly and completely satisfied in him. God exists to be glorious. We exist to see glory—and savorthat glory, and to give it expression in praise.

That is the ultimate goal of redemption, and so I take it to be a statement about the ultimate meaning of human wholeness. If praising God’s glory is our final destiny, then seeing and savoring and praising God’s glory must be at the heart of what it means to be fully human. Seeing and savoring God is, therefore, the heart of mental health.

[...]

My point is that praising the glory of God’s grace is the apex of human wholeness, not the pursuit of it. Praising the glory of God’s grace is the all-satisfying goal of human existence, not how you get there. And seeing that glory in the person and work of Jesus is the way this grace—this “grace upon grace,” this grace of wholeness—comes into our broken lives. Beholding glory, we are becoming whole.

(HT: Desiring God blog)

Filed under: Affections, Christ-centred, Discipleship, Doctrine, Evangelical, God's Love, God's grace, Jesus Christ, John Piper, Sanctification, The Christian Life, The Cross, The glory of Christ, The word of God, Worship

Jerry Bridges on Power in Prayer

“[W]e must keep in mind that the Spirit of God is sovereign over when and how he works through the instruments of prayer. He certainly hears our requests and responds to them. But it’s not for us to question the purposes and actions of his sovereign will. Instead we’re to submit to and accept whatever he has for us. And as we respond to his answers to our prayers, we must continue to acknowledge our dependence on him through more prayer. As we cycle through our prayers and his answer in this way, our dependency grows. No wonder those who regularly practice this spiritual discipline often speak of there being power in prayer. The more prayer, the more dependency; the more dependency, the more power. The source of power is not the prayer; it is the Holy Spirit, who uses prayer as a means of grace through which he provides the power.” – Jerry Bridges & Bob Bevington,The Bookends of the Christian Life

(HT: Josh Harris)

Filed under: Devotional, Discipleship, God's grace, Jerry Bridges, Prayer, Spiritual Disciplines, The Christian Life

The Nature of Conversion by Joseph Alleine

Conversion then, in short, lies in the thorough change both of the heart and life, in which:

1. The AUTHOR of conversion is the Spirit of God. Conversion is a work above man’s power. We are ‘born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man—but of God’ (John 1:13). Never think you can convert yourself. If ever you would be savingly converted, you must despair of doing it in your own strength. It is a resurrection from the dead (Eph 2:1), a new creation (Gal 6:15; Eph 2:10), a work of absolute omnipotence (Eph 1:19).

2. The efficient CAUSE of conversion is both free grace, which is internal, and the merit and intercession of the blessed Jesus, which is external.

3. The INSTRUMENT of conversion is the Word and those who minister it.

4. The final END of conversion is man’s salvation, and God’s glory.

5. The SUBJECT of conversion is the elect sinner, in all his parts and powers, members and mind. Whom God predestinates, them only He calls (Rom 8:30). None are drawn to Christ by their calling, nor come to Him by believing—but His sheep, those whom the Father has given Him (John 6:37, 44). Effectual calling runs parallel with eternal election (2 Pet 1:10). Do not stand still disputing about your election—but set to repenting and believing. Cry to God for converting grace. Revealed things belong to you; busy yourself in these, and not in unrevealed mysteries. Whatever the decrees of heaven may be, I am sure that if I repent and believe, I shall be saved; and that if I do not repent, I shall be damned. Is not this plain ground for you; and will you yet run upon the rocks?

More particularly, this change of conversion extends to the whole man. A carnal person may have some shreds of good morality—but he is never good throughout the whole cloth. Conversion is not a repairing of the old building; but it takes all down, and erects a new structure. It is not the sewing on a patch of holiness; but with the true convert, holiness is woven into all his powers, principles and practice. The sincere Christian is quite a new fabric, from the foundation to the top-stone. He is a new man, a new creature; all things are become new (2 Cor 5:17).

Conversion is a deep work, a heart work. It makes a new man in a new world. It extends to the whole man: to the mind, to the members, and to the motions, or practice of the whole life.

Excerpt from An Alarm to the Unconverted by Joseph Alleine

(HT: Reformation Theology)

Filed under: Conversion, Doctrine, Election, God's Glory, God's grace, Holiness, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, New Birth, Reformed, Regeneration, The Gospel

Exhortation without the gospel degenerates into mere pharisaism

“A message that merely advocates morality and compassion remains sub-Christian even if the preacher can prove that the Bible demands such behaviors. By ignoring the sinfulness of man that makes even our best works tainted before God and by neglecting the grace of God that make obedience possible and acceptable, such messages necessarily subvert the Christian message. Christian preachers often do not recognize this impact of their words because they are simply recounting a behavior clearly specified in the text in front of them. But a message that even inadvertently teaches others that their works win God’s acceptance inevitably leads people away from the gospel.

Moral maxims and advocacy of ethical conduct fall short of the requirements of biblical preaching…

A textually accurate discussion of biblical commands does not guarantee Christian orthodoxy. Exhortations for moral behavior apart from the work of the Savior degenerate into mere pharisaism even if preachers advocate the actions with biblical evidence and good intent.”

Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Preaching, p. 274

(HT: John Fonville)

Filed under: Biblical exposition, Christ-centred, Discipleship, Doctrine, Evangelical, God's grace, Gospel-centred, Holiness, Jesus Christ, Moralism, Preaching, Sanctification, The Gospel

Sons and Daughters by Adoption

“Extol and magnify God’s mercy, who has adopted you into his family; who, of slaves, has made you sons; of heirs of hell, heirs of the promise. Adoption is a free gift. He gave them power, or dignity, to become the sons of God. As a thread of silver runs through a whole piece of work, so free grace runs through the whole privilege of adoption. Adoption is greater mercy than Adam had in paradise; he was a son by creation, but here is a further sonship by adoption. To make us thankful, consider, in civil adoption there is some worth and excellence in the person to be adopted; but there was no worth in us, neither beauty, nor parentage, nor virtue; nothing in us to move God to bestow the prerogative of sonship upon us. We have enough in us to move God to correct us, but nothing to move him to adopt us, therefore exalt free grace; begin the work of angels here; bless him with your praises who has blessed you in making you his sons and daughters.”

Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity, p. 240

(HT: John Fonville)

Filed under: Adoption, Doctrine, Evangelical, God's grace, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Thomas Watson