“Grasping the external propulsion of God’s grace is crucial to our understanding of mission. It means that mission is not a duty (something we ’should do’) but a natural overflow of the gospel’s work inside us. If you aren’t motivated to love, serve, and speak the gospel to people, the answer isn’t to ‘just do it.’ The answer is to examine your heart, repent of sin, and discern where your unbelief is short-circuiting the natural outward movement of the gospel. As the gospel renews your heart, it will also renew your desire to move out in faith into the relationships and opportunities God places in your path.

To put it simply, the grace of God is always going somewhere—moving forward, extending his kingdom, propelling his people toward love and service to others. As we learn to live in light of the gospel, mission should be the natural overflow. God’s grace brings renewal internally (in us) so that it might bring renewal externally (through us).”

- Bob Thune and Will Walker, The Gospel-Centered Life (World Harvest Mission, 2009), 46.

(HT: Of First Importance)

William Farley from Outrageous Mercy

The cross demonstrates the permanent, immutable nature of God’s law. To save us, Jesus did not go around the law. He did not remove it. Rather, he fulfilled it. Taht is because the law is the eternal standard by which we will all be judged, and God is passionate about it. Every jot and tittle of the law must be fulfilled, promised Jesus (Matt. 5:17-20). The cross says, “There will be no lawbreakers in heaven.” The cross says, “God is fervent about his law.”

Verses such as “Now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law” (Rom. 7:6) have convinced many that law does not apply to Christians, that in some mysterious way it is no longer relevant or important. In one sense they are right. The law no longer enslaves Christians. We could not keep the law, so Jesus kept it for us. God has released all who put their trust in God’s Son from the burden of being perfect law keepers. But the cross reminds us that we will never be released from the law as the standard for judgment.

Jesus did two things on our behalf to fulfill the law. First, he lived a perfect life. He obeyed every jot and tittle of the law so that he could impute that obedience to to unworthy lawbreakers who put their faith in him. Second, on the cross he bore the punishment that lawbreakers deserve. Jesus glorified his Father’s passion for his law by both fulfilling it and atoning for its abuse.

(HT: Todd Pruitt)

Peter denied Jesus, to preserve himself physically (Mark 14:66-72). Later he denied the gospel, to preserve himself socially (Galatians 2:11-21). But by the time he wrote his first letter, his heart had been set free: “I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it” (1 Peter 5:12).

What is “the true grace of God”? Not survival, physical or social, but the privilege of sharing in Christ’s sufferings that we may also rejoice when his glory is revealed (1 Peter 4:13).  Whatever life thrusts upon us, the true grace of God is to stand firm in that hard place and embrace identification with Jesus.

(HT: Ray Ortlund)

Maximise this video, turn up the sound, and brace yourself for some old fashioned gospel preaching from Al Martin.

This is not coming to a seeker-sensitive church near you!

(HT: Reformation Theology)

The buzz is picking up for Lausanne 2010. Wondering what it’s all about? In short, the Lausanne Movement is “a worldwide that mobilizes evangelical leaders to collaborate for world evangelization.” And in October 2010 the third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization is taking place in Cape Town, South Africa.

Here’s a brief history of the movement produced by the Lausanne Movement:

(HT: The Gospel Coalition)

“Were I asked to focus the New Testament message in three words, my proposal would be adoption through propitiation, and I do not expect ever to meet a richer or more pregnant summary of the gospel than that.”

—J.I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: 1993), 214

(HT: Of First Importance)

This is very helpful from Juan Sanchez, at the Gospel Coalition Blog:

For some the doctrine of election (God’s free and sovereign decision to choose a people for salvation from the foundation of the world-Ephesians 1:3-6) is an abominable thought that produces great fear and concern. However, I propose that a clear understanding of this doctrine should instead produce hope and assurance. Allow me to share some of the reasons why the doctrine of election is so precious to me.

The doctrine of election is precious to me because it is biblical. In a display of the Father’s love for the Son, He gives a specific people to the Son (John 6:37). This truth is evident in the testimony of the book of Revelation when it declares that the only ones entering the eternal heaven are those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life (Revelation 21:27). John further testifies in Revelation 13:8, that these names were written in this book before the foundation of the world. In other words, one fruit of the Father’s love for Jesus, is our salvation. The Father made a free and sovereign decision to save a people as a gift for the Son and for His own glory from the foundation of the world (see also John 8:47; John 10:26-29; Romans 9:10-16).

The doctrine of election is precious to me because it secures my salvation. Jesus declared that all that the Father gave Him would come to Him and that He would never cast out any who came to Him (John 6:37). Jesus delights in receiving and keeping those whom the Father gives Him because He came to do the Father’s will (John 6:38-40), and the Father’s will is that Jesus not lose any of the ones that the Father has given Him but that He raise them all up on the last day (John 6:39).

The doctrine of election is precious to me because it encourages me to pursue holiness. Paul reminded the Thessalonians “God chose you as the first fruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13, ESV). The Bible assures us that even though now we are only gradually being conformed to the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18), we will at glorification be completely conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29).

The doctrine of election is precious to me because it is the basis for assurance of my salvation. Because God gives a people to the Son, and because the Son receives that people and keeps them, I am assured that I will never be cast out (John 6:37), nor perish, nor be snatched out of Jesus’ hand (John 10:28). Can you imagine such assurance?  The God who predestines for salvation (election) will insure that all whom He calls to salvation will ultimately be glorified (Romans 8:30).

The doctrine of election is precious to me because it encourages me to share the gospel and gives me hope for fruit in evangelism and missions. Not only does the Father give a people to the Son (John 6:37), and not only does the Son receive these people and keep them (John 6:37-39), but the Father also assures that those whom He gives to the Son will come to the Son. It is the Father’s will that everyone believing in the Son have eternal life (John 6:40), and these who believe can only come at the Father’s drawing (John 6:44, 65). Therefore, if the Father gives a people to the Son, and He assures these people come to the Son, then we can be assured that evangelism and missions will bear fruit (Acts 13:48), and we can find encouragement in our Lord’s words to Paul, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” (Acts 18:9-10, ESV).

Finally, the doctrine of election is precious to me because it moves me to make much of God through Christ (true worship) and little of myself (humility). May we understand election and may it strip us of personal pride and move us to worship the Sovereign Lord in all His glory and grace.

Juan Sanchez is the Senior Pastor of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin, TX and a Council member with The Gospel Coalition.

“Some have but a partial faith, relishing Christ only for freedom from the wrath of God, and not also for freedom from the power of sin: this is evidence of a rotten heart; for true believers prize Christ, not only as a Surety, for paying their debt, but also as a Root, for feeding them with the sap of spiritual life, as a root feeds the branches; and they relish Christ, not only as one that appeases God’s wrath, but one that purifies the soul from sin.”

Ralph Erskine, “The Strength of Sin; And How The Law Is The Strength Thereof, Opened Up and Unfolded,” inThe Works of Ralph Erskine, vol. 5, p. 511).

(HT: John Fonville)

From Tullian Tchividjian:

In Bob Kauflin’s book Worship Matters, he has a section on how to handle criticism. He’s writing specifically with church leaders in mind (pastors, preachers, music directors, etc.) but his insight proves to be super beneficial for all Christians.

He shows that criticism provides Christians with an opportunity to glory in the cross of Christ. He makes the point that the main reason Christians resent criticism is because we fail to believe what God has said about us at the cross.

He explains what he means by quoting Alfred Poirier: “In light of God’s judgment and justification of the sinner in the cross of Christ, we can begin to discover how to deal with any and all criticism. I can face any criticism man may lay against me.  In other words, no one can criticize me more than the cross already has.”

Reflecting on these words, Bob writes:

What a thought. The cross is a loud statement of our sin, unworthiness, and need. And in light of the cross, we can receive criticism graciously because God, who knows our wickedness better than anyone else, has fully forgiven and justified us.  We will never be brought into condemnation (Romans 8:1)!  So we can confidently pray with David, “Let a righteous man strike me – it is a kindness; let him rebuke me – it is oil for me head; let my head not refuse it” (Psalm 141:5).

Once again I was reminded that because I am in Christ, all that I need I already have–even the capacity to endure criticism with great gospel joy and thanksgiving.

From John Hendryx:

Since faith is infinitely beyond all the power of our unregenerated human nature, it is only God who can give the spiritual ears to hear and eyes to see the beauty of Christ in the gospel. God alone disarms the hostility of the sinner turning his heart of stone to a heart of flesh. It is God, the Holy Spirit, alone who gives illumination and understanding of His word that we might believe; It is God who raises us from the death of sin, who circumcises the heart; unplugs our ears; It is God alone who can give us a new sense, a spiritual capacity to behold the beauty and unsurpassed excellency of Jesus Christ. The apostle John recorded Jesus saying to Nicodemus that we naturally love darkness, hate the light and WILL NOT come into the light (John 3:19, 20). And since our hardened resistance to God is thus seated in our affections, only God, by His grace, can lovingly change, overcome and pacify our rebellious disposition. The natural man, apart from the quickening work of the Holy Spirit, will not come to Christ on his own since he is at enmity with God and cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor 2:14). Shining a light into a blind man’s eyes will not enable him to see, because eyesight first requires a set of healthy eyes. Likewise, reading or hearing the word of God alone cannot elicit saving faith in the reader (1 Thess 1:4, 5) unless God plows up the fallow ground of our hearts and the Spirit “germinates” the seed of the word, opening our eyes to see Christ’s true beauty and excellency and uniting us to Him through a Spirit-wrought faith. So the problem of conversion is not with the Word or God’s Law but with man’s prideful heart. The humility required to submit to the gospel is, therefore, not prompted by man’s will but by God’s mercy (Rom 9:16) since no one can believe the gospel unless God grants it (John 6:63, 65). As an example of how the Spirit uses the means of the spoken word to disarm closed hearts, the Book of Acts records the work of the Holy Spirit during the preaching of the apostles and, in one instance, states that “the Lord opened her [Lydia's] heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul,” (Acts 16:14). The Spirit must likewise give all His people spiritual life and understanding if their hearts are to be opened and thus respond to Christ in faith.

“There is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God. We must always be accepted for Christ’s sake, or we cannot ever be accepted at all. . . . This is not true of us only when we believe. It is just as true after we have believed. It will continue to be true as long as we live. Our need of Christ doesn’t cease with our believing; nor does the nature of our relation to Him or to God through Him ever alter, no matter what our attainments in Christian graces or our achievements in behavior may be. It is always on His ‘blood and righteousness’ alone that we can rest.”

- B. B. Warfield, quoted by Elyse Fitzpatrick and Dennis Johnson in Counsel from the Cross(Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2009), 19.

(HT: Of First Importance)

From Todd Pruitt:

The Bible is not locked away in esoteric mystery as theological liberals or postmoderns would have us believe. God gave us His Word (yes, I believe it is HIS Word) not to confuse or confound us but to reveal Himself to us. Belief in the clarity or perspicuity of Scripture is often miscast by the pomo/emergent/liberal crowd as arrogant. They assure us that their approach of not really knowing what the Bible means is a “humble apologetic.” But I wonder. Is it truly humble to say of God’s carefully crafted and fully inspired Word, “Who can truly know what it means?”

It leaves me wondering if the opposition to the Bible’sperspicuity has more to do with discomfort over what Scripture has made clear than it is about Scripture being truly indecipherable.

One of the great achievements of the Protestant Reformation was that the common man should have access to the Scriptures because much of what the Bible says is readily understood by the common man. Surely this does not mean that formal training is of no use. Indeed, formal training in the biblical languages, hermeneutics, and theology are extremely helpful in deepening one’s understanding of Scripture. I am deeply grateful for the fact that I was able to be formally trained in seminary. But the common layperson is not dependent upon those who are formally trained to understand those things in the Bible that pertain to salvation and godliness.

The latest issue of Themelios carries a helpful article by Wayne Grudem on Scripture’s clarity. Among the points that Dr. Grudem makes are the following qualifications:

1. Scripture affirms that it is able to be understood but not all at once.

2. Scripture affirms that it is able to be understood but not without effort.

3. Scripture affirms that it is able to be understood but not without ordinary means.

4. Scripture affirms that it is able to be understood but not without the reader’s willingness to obey it.

5. Scripture affirms that it is able to be understood but not without the help of the Holy Spirit.

6. Scripture affirms that it is able to be understood but not without human understanding.

7. Scripture affirms that it is able to be understood but never completely.

Read the entire article HERE.

“It’s no wonder that self-help books top the charts in Christian publishing and that counseling offices are overwhelmed. Our pride and our neglect of the gospel force us to run from seminar to seminar, book to book, counselor to counselor, always seeking but never finding some secret to holy living.

Most of us have never really understood that Christianity is not a self-help religion meant to enable moral people to become more moral. We don’t need a self-help book; we need a Savior. We don’t need to get our collective act together; we need death and resurrection and the life-transforming truths of the gospel. And we don’t need them just once, at the beginning of our Christian life; we need them every moment of every day.”

- Elyse Fitzpatrick and Dennis Johnson, Counsel from the Cross (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2009), 30.

(HT: Of First Importance)

(HT: Timmy Brister)

From Justin Chiders:

How do we cultivate humility and mortify pride?

• We need to spend time thinking about God’s greatness and holiness in comparison to our natural, moral, and moral insignificance.
• We need to think about how much God loves the humble and hates the proud.
• We need to meditate on the way that Christ humbled Himself when He came to earth.
• We need to think seriously on the examples of humility left by the most useful believers who have walked this earth.
• We must consider the example of humility demonstrated by the holy angels.
• We need to carefully reflect on the humility of believers who are now in heaven.
• We need to think about the great imperfections and weakness of our faith, our character, our behavior, our motives, our duties, and our service to God.
• We need to think about the fact that we deserve to experience God’s judgment and wrath because of our sin.
• We need to spend time thinking about the day of judgment.
• We ought to reflect on the pride of Satan and the demons.
• We need to remember that everything that we have or have accomplished comes from God’s hand.
• We must spend time thinking about the sad consequences of pride in other people’s lives.
• We ought to spend time with humble people and avoid as much as possible the company of arrogant people.
• We must spend time in prayer every day, confessing our pride to God and earnestly pleading for greater humility.

Adapted from Wayne Mack’s Humility: The Forgotten Virtue.