This quote from Terry Virgo is just too good not to share.  Many people fail to appreciate the two very distinct yet crucial sources of comfort to the Christian.  They miss the power that is available to us. They miss the transformation God intends us to experience:

Unbelievers are under the impression that Christians are forced into morality, obey rules and go to church. If they really understood that we’d found the secret of being content they’d wonder where we got it. And they’d queue up outside our churches to find the secret for themselves. Paul’s great claim has been tested through the centuries, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’

It’s about fellowship and communion with Christ. Now we must distinguish between these two different things: first ‘being united with him and declared righteous as a gift’ and second ‘enjoying communion with him’. In his book, ‘Communion with the Triune God’, John Owen speaks about union and communion with Jesus.

First, he says that we are united with Jesus and have received his righteousness for ever and that this is the basis of our relationship with him. Our relationship is never based on how much we’ve enjoyed his fellowship. Sadly, many believers think that if they have a season of remoteness from God, he’s unhappy with them and they end up in condemnation. Jesus is our righteousness for eternity. God poured out his wrath on his Son and we escape. We never move from our righteousness in Christ. Even if we don’t have an extended time of fellowship with him, we can still say, ‘Thank you, Lord. You’re the same yesterday, today and for ever, my righteousness.’ That’s union with Christ.

Second, Owen says that once we have union with Christ, we go on to have communion with him. We talk to him and listen to his voice. We hear him through the Scriptures and sing praises to him for the sheer joy of knowing that he’s our God. This is how we get strengthened with might in our inner being. We have fellowship with Jesus.

Day after day we experience fear, battle, hurts, sickness, wounds, unkindness and perplexity. We didn’t expect what’s happened to us. . How do we get through? ‘Well, pull yourself together!’ No! Our strength comes from Jesus. Isn’t he the Saviour? Doesn’t he save? Fellowship with him!

Salvation is a huge thing. Jesus saved me back in the ‘50s and has been saving me daily ever since. One day he’ll save us when he presents us to himself in glory. But while we’re on earth things will go wrong. And then we’ll need to draw close to Jesus to be daily, continually, repeatedly saved.

READ MORE at Terry Virgos Blog » Blog Archive » Strengthened in the Lord.

Terry began his Wednesday afternoon session by reading out the following tweets from PJ SMYTH:

• Discovered lump in neck on Mon. Saw 1 GP & 3 specialists in 4 hrs. Said i can’t travel to uk for Newfrontiers conf. Op done y’day.
• Op went well. Bit sore & groggy. Biopsy results from removed lump due Fri. Very peaceful & grateful to perfect Father for good & ‘bad’.
• Huge thx for prayers & support. Secure in fortress of Rms 8v28. Ash strong. Boys bit unsettled but brave. We worship whilst we wait.
• Ashleigh & I so sad to be missing #toam. Sounds like it is pumping! Enjoying the tweets & blog updates. Big love to you all.

You can read other tweets about the conference on this Twitter feed.

Terry then mentioned some books in his usual inimitable way. I was quite overwhelmed and surprised that my own book was one of them. I never imagined a few years ago that I would ever write a book, let alone that it would be mentioned from the stage here at the conference. It is amazing what the prophetic intervention of God can achieve. Maybe someone reading this will be inspired that God could do something surprising with them.

Ephesians 6

The truth that encompasses you and surrounds you sets you up to be part of this great army that is taking a message to the whole world. We are strong, not as Stoics, but as those who know God’s grace is sufficient. Jesus saves us. We have a Savior not a technique. He carries us. He changes us: Jacob from a worm into a threshing sledge. We are meant to be strong in the Lord. We need armor. Put on the armor. Do it. Defense as well as being on attack. Joshua knew the joy of victory, and the sorrow of defeat at Ai. Their defenses were weak. A good team has defense as well as attack. Be strong but also be armed.

It’s God’s armor. He has provided it for his soldiers. It is useless to those who are not saved! The counsel doesn’t work for unbelievers. It’s foolishness for those who don’t know Christ. We are uniquely qualified to put the armor on. We have special armor. You cant tell an non-Christian man to love his wife as Christ loved the church and cared for her. You can tell him to wash and help around the home and have a date night, but Jesus is needed to make sense of so much of God’s armor. You can’t tell a non-Christian lady to submit to her husband. They don’t have the unique thing that we have. We disregard God’s way at our peril. For the Christian, our battle is too real for common sense sayings to help us. As we said earlier, for the kind of battle PJ is facing, you need Romans 8:28 as a fortress. What kind of vision do our churches need? Is it a four year plan? No, it’s hearing from God. Have plans by all means, but ask what the Bible says. It is his Word that will do us good.

We put on the truth as a belt. It is gospel truth, spoken to us through the Son. We are not mystics on a quest. It is the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Absolute truth. We have to help people deconstruct their previous world view. We must walk away from independence and selfishness. Paul is not talking about cold theology. He is looking for behavioral change based on the fact that God became man and dwelt among us, died on a cross, and raised up and glorified. We live in the light of breathtaking truth.

You became obedient from the heart ( Romans 6:17). It was mind, will and heart. We were committed to the word, not the word to us. The Greek word is used for making a mold and pouring something into the mold. We are shaped by the Word. We have a new filter for all our thinking and decisions. The way we evaluate everything has changed. We are to be girded with truth. If you don’t feel like God loves you right now, or if he feels distant, you have to change our thinking and say “that’s irrelevant,” I have been shaped by truth. Don’t waste your time on it. This truth saves you from even going there. Don’t worry about gossip or the way other speak to you. Paul writes about how Jesus emptied himself and the theologians have written many books about it. But Paul wrote that to stop two women arguing with each other. Proverbs says “fools hate knowledge” We must receive the truth with fear of the Lord.

Breastplate of righteousness. Covers your heart and emotions. Satan is an accuser. It is one of his greatest weapons. You are no good. You will never make a good husband. You are a useless mother. Legalistic churches just accept this condemnation. We put on that the Lord is our righteousness. It is nothing to do with your performance, with what you are doing. Paul counted his religious performance as excrement. When he is out with Wendy he sometimes says watch out dear, there is a bit of religion there, don’t tread on it! All of your righteousness is filthy rags. It won’t cover you. You will have evil days when you fail, when you haven’t any confidence in yourself. You must remind yourself, all my guilt was imputed to him, all his righteousness was imputed to me. The purity and innocence and pleasing the father it is ALL accredited to me as though I did it! We are righteous as a gift! It is not the breastplate of performance! When you are frail that’s when Satan kicks you. I have nothing to offer, except the righteousness of Jesus. It’s not the breastplate of spiritual experiences. It wont do it for you! Jesus righteousness is a breastplate that never changes, never wears out, and is spotless.

Shoes for your feet. Apparently Alexander the Great introduced footwear for his soldiers. Stability and mobility. Secure, resolute, assured, rooted and grounded. Not easily shaken. Wise man hears the word and does it. Dig down deep. Stand your ground. As Luther said “here I stand, I can do no other.” When he was at Bible college, someone removed all the furniture from a fellow students room and put that as a poster on the mirror. We must be faithful as well as relevant. We must not abandon ground that was vital to where we are. Our uniqueness makes us relevant.

But we are not stuck in yesterdays battles. We must move swiftly. Alexander the Great could move armies swiftly. When Joshua was told he had been given a city, he then marched all night. We don’t fight the battles of 300 years ago. There are big battles to fight today.

Shield of faith. It is not faith in faith. It is to defend you from fierce hostility. Flaming arrears are destructive. Roman soldiers had shields 4ft by 2ft. They would soak them in water before conflict so they were able to extinguish the fires. Unexpected fiery arrears are terrifying. They hurt, wound, shock, bewilder. You can get scared and think, “i cant keep this up.” Satan sees when you are vulnerable and you can sometimes be shocked by how much something hurts you. You have to fight the fight of faith. Faith in what God says is true is the antidote. Don’t be anxious is as much a command as “don’t steal” Instead we pray our requests with thanksgiving. Fight! Don’t let the arrows take you out. Lloyd-Jones said faith is an activity that we have to exercise. It is not automatic. Romans 4 says Abraham grew strong in faith, fully persuaded that what God had promised he was also able to perform. Enemy will hit you hard when you are down already. It really is a battle. He won’t wait till you are feeling better. You have to take it. Take responsibility for that.

Sword of the Spirit Word of God. The only offensive weapon. You bring it against the enemy himself. Truth that keeps us secure, but there is also the truth that we battle with. He flees from us. Jesus defeated the devil quoting verses from Deuteronomy Satan had to back off. Think biblically. Get into truth. Let it master you and become a weapon in your hand. Divine power is in the words of the Bible.

Helmet of salvation Guard your mind with this. Many faceted reality to our salvation. We have been saved. Our sins were washed away. Our chains fell off. Our heart was free. I am also being saved. Constantly being rescued from myself and my foolishness. Objects of salvation. Ultimately salvation is also future. It is an eschatological event. We are saved from hell. We will not be banished from the presence of God. Everything that goes before is small fry compared to that. Saved into eternal delight and joy. It is a future event for us all. Our salvation is getting nearer. The actual experience of this salvation from God’s cataclysmic judgment on the universe is coming. The night has almost gone, day is at hand. For a helmet take the hope of salvation says in Thessalonians. In hope we are saved. We don’t hope for what we already have. Peter tells us to hope fully for the grace that is coming. Salvation in its fullest sense is our helmet. We will be like him. We will be caught up in eternal glory. Our life on earth will seem like one night spent in a bad hotel. What is mortal will be swallowed up by life. All the enigmas will be put right. All the unanswered, challenging, heartbreaking things will be answered. Christians who suffer now, will be full of joy and life then. There is a salvation coming! Be good soldiers. We will be changed completely. Our bodies will be appropriate for the new Spirit we already have. We must set our hope fully on that. We battle with all kinds of situations. Set your hope fully on the grace that is coming.

Are you putting on the armor? It is a BATTLE. Be strong! We must go on. But we must take seriously the protection God has provided for us. We do not want the cardboard copies, we want the real thing. There is no armor for your back. Don’t run. Don’t turn back. God has fully equipped us with everything we need! God will not leave you. He will not abandon you. Lets fight the fight of faith.

Terry began by saying he has always loved the book of Ephesians. He admitted at one point his Bible probably fell open at Ephesians 4! The book has a remarkable focus on the church and clarity about the gospel. The whole book seems to be preparing us for this chapter and for warfare. The new age has begun. New man has been created. Mystery has been revealed. There is, however, a backdrop of fierce opposition. He is giving strength to Gods warriors. These great truths come to life in the context of battle.

The world sometimes comes with an iron fist, sometimes gently. In both cases trying to shape us. We are fighting the world, the flesh and the devil.

1. Begins with “be strong”. This is a transition word. Eg Moses says this to Joshua. Moses has been through many battles. David said to Solomon “be strong and very courageous”. The new generation is told you must be strong. Paul says it to Timothy. Fight. Study. Be ready. Newfrontiers people can say much ground has been gained, but much lies ahead. Being strong is not just a theory, or even a prayer, it is something we have to learn how to do. The Christian is against something. The armor shows us where the battle is fought.

Be strong is a call to good morale. It’s not defensive mode. It’s not watch out. It’s about confidence. Paul writes not to injured people, but soldiers. Paul writes not to sinners but saints. God has made you a new creation. Now we have been brought near. We are light not darkness. Our identity is no longer sinners but saints. We are not a bad tree trying to tie some fruit onto the branches. When you are born again, you have a new nature that produces fruit. Stand and be aware of who you are. Don’t be surprised at warfare. We have found the secret of happiness and a life that requires you wear armor every day. Don’t be surprised. It’s like climbing into a boxing ring and saying “oh he hit me!”. Its present continuous here. Stop being regularly surprised. We will be misrepresented, written against. We are invading cultures saying there is another king. Don’t be surprised at the backlash. We are in a battle. Communist China was executing Christians. They shouted before they died “long live King Jesus, down with communism.”

Don’t be shocked, nor be frightened. Fear paralyzes. Sometimes people say ‘I’m not sure I have what it takes”. People have exit strategies worked out, eg prenuptial agreements. Montgomery said in North Africa, we will not retreat.

2. It’s not be strong in yourself. Rather it is IN THE LORD. Stoics said be strong in yourself, like the British stiff upper lip. Actually it is telling us to be strengthened in the Lord. It’s a passive imperative. It’s like the verse in Ephesians 5 that says be filled with the Spirit. How do we obey this? How can we receive something that we cannot do?

The answer comes from the phrase Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10) Relax. Cease striving. Stop. Enough! This is not just a religious phrase. The creator of the universe is saying STOP, I am in charge. I am making things work out. I am committed to you unchangeably. You can’t skip over those things, they must seep into you. We must discover how to draw down the energy of God into our little life. He is enough. He’s on my side, or rather I am on his side! He is empowering me daily. You have to stop sometimes! God has chosen the weak things. It is things that we know which will set us free. We often quote Romans 8:28. The first two words of the verse are the key ones: “we know!”

Joseph is betrayed by brothers, lied against by Potipher’s wife. What was happening? God was systematically moving him from place to place go get him to his destiny. The pain is getting you to where God wants you to be.

Mature into being sons of God. He is running things. Its no good being a reformed theologian is if you don’t take this on board. Some reformed theologians are nervous frightened people. They should be full of confidence and joy!

Its not about us keeping going and refusing to show weakness. Stoics don’t acknowledge it. Paul cried out to God get the thorn off me! But He said to me, Strength is perfected in weakness. Paul celebrates his weakness. It’s not pulling ourselves together.

The secret of being content, is I can do all things through him. He learned how to cope with difficulties. People would queue up if they really believed we had found the secret of being content.

Our communion with Christ is dependent on our union with Christ and not the other way round says John Owen. Only Jesus can meet our hearts longing. Fellowship with him. He saved you. He will also save you tomorrow.

Spurgeon said communion with Christ is not the basis of our peace, it is the channel for it. His righteousness is the basis of our salvation, but we can enjoy an experience of his love and intimacy.

3. How do we get hold of this? Walk by faith into this. Gospel miracles illustrate salvation’s ability to provide. People were told stand up, stretch forth your hand. Could seem like a cruel thing to say. But in the saying of it there is power. In the same way God says be strong and strength comes to us! The command comes “be set free” and you are free. “go show yourself to the priest” as they went on they were made whole. They walked into healing. God comes to weak people and says walk into the light. We respond with active faith. Joshua was told to walk into the Jordan, and put his foot in it. Then the sea opened. Step into what only he can do. Do what we couldn’t do before. What Jesus commands, he enables us to do!

It’s not for extroverts. Stand! Enter into it. Jesus said to the disciples you feed them! People are in real problems. If the gospel doesn’t work we are in real problems! Is it just for nice people? No! The gospel changes lives! Stand and walk. Step into the strength he provides.

The final post in my series interacting with John Piper is again on marriage. Seeking the happiness of yourself in the happiness of your wife is key to a joyful relationship. We look forward to hearing from John tomorrow, and in due time I will share notes and video of the sessions here. May all our marriages be informed by this quote:

A husband and wife should pursue their own joy in the joy of each other. There is scarcely a more hedonistic passage in the Bible than Ephesians 5:25–30. This text makes clear that the reason there is so much misery in marriages is not that husbands and wives are seeking their own pleasure but that they are not seeking it in the pleasure of their spouses. But this text commands us to do just that because Christ does.

First, notice the example of Christ in verses 25–27:

Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, [why did he?] that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, [why did he cleanse her?] so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
Christ died for the church in order that He might present “to himself” a beautiful bride. He endured the cross for the joy of marriage that was set before Him. But what is the ultimate joy of the church? Is it not to be presented as a bride to the sovereign Christ? So Christ sought His own joy in the joy of the church. Therefore, the example Christ sets for husbands is to seek our joy in the joy of our wives.

Verses 28 and 29 make this application explicit. “In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it.” Paul acknowledges one of the foundation stones of Christian hedonism: “No man ever hates his own flesh.” Even those who commit suicide do it to escape misery. By nature we love ourselves, that is, we do what, in the moment, we think will make us happy or reduce our misery.

Paul does not build a dam against the river of this hedonism; he builds a channel for it. He says, “Husbands and wives, recognize that in marriage you have to become one flesh; therefore, if you live for your private pleasure at the expense of your spouse, you are living against yourself and destroying your own highest joy. But if you devote yourself with all your heart to the holy joy of your spouse, you will also be living for your joy and making a marriage after the image of Christ and his church.”

John Piper, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals : A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry (Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2002), 253-55.

I should say up front that this is an illusion. I may seem to be back from my blogging break over Christmas and the New Year, but the truth is, I am not. I need all my spare time at the moment to work on my book. So I’m planning to share some extracts from a series of posts I wrote previously on preaching. I have set up my blog to do this entirely automatically every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the next few weeks. I hope you enjoy this series. Please, also, remember to pray for me as I am writing.

This extract comes from a post in which I was exploring whether expository preaching has to always be a part of a very long series working slowly verse by verse through a book of the Bible. Part of the post was to share the following potential dangers found in these types of slower series, which sometimes have gone on for a decade for a single book.

1. Preaching through a book can introduce the very imbalance that it is designed to remove.

   Spending a decade in certain biblical books will inevitably mean that the congregation is not going to get the balanced diet we all agree they need. Yes, preaching through books forces preachers to focus on the issues that the book addresses. But there is surely a danger that the preacher will choose a book that is not sufficiently broad enough to give a good diet to the congregation. It might also be a book that reflects his own pet subject; for example, the charismatic might choose 1 Corinthians, the Calvinist Ephesians or Romans, and the eschatology fanatic would head straight for Revelation. So, a very slow preach through a book is not necessarily going to provide a good diet for every church.

2. Preaching slowly through a book requires a highly skilled preacher in order to remain interesting.

   Death by exposition is a real risk when the average preacher tries to emulate a Lloyd-Jones, Boice, or other gifted expositor. Sermons that are nothing more than recycled commentaries are surely boring. It is, of course, possible to preach this way and impart life, if God has gifted you in that way. But as one preacher admitted to me recently, spending even just a few months in one book can—even for the preacher—begin to feel a bit repetitive. Not everyone has the skill-set to be Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

3. Insistence on a long series may hinder our aim of making visitors feel welcome.

   In this era of floating church populations and weekend breaks, we may not have the same people listening each week. In addition, surely we want our visitors to feel welcome. Imagine discovering on visiting a church for the first time that you have some 50 or 60 (or more!) sermons to catch up on to understand where the church is in their series. This is avoidable by making each sermon in the series stand alone and be more or less self-explanatory. But if we do this, then how is that different from a sermon which exposits a verse or paragraph seeking to put it in its context, but outside of a series?

4. Long series bind the preacher and could quench the Spirit.

   Whether we do have long series of sermons or not, I do feel the Doctor is definitely right when he says we must build into them the flexibility to respond to the needs of the congregation and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Read more . . .

John Piper is a great preacher—not just to listen to, but also to watch. I find God stirring my heart through him every time I play one of his videos. It also reminds me of what I’m aiming for when I preach, which is “logic on fire.” I pray that God will draw many into his purposes in the way he has drawn John Piper.

Today I want to highlight one of the sermons in his series on the new birth – Why Do We Need To Be Born Again? (Part 2). Here is an excerpt of this excellent sermon, which serves as a wonderful reminder of how desperately we need GOD to act in saving us. This is one of the sermons that form the basis for his forthcoming book, Finally Alive, which is now available for only $5 on preorder!

No man can make anyone else become a Christian. May God move and bring many into his kingdom.

1. Without the new birth, we won’t have saving faith, but only unbelief. (John 1:11-13; 1 John 5:1; Ephesians 2:8-9; Philippians 1:29; 1 Timothy 1:14; 2 Timothy 1:3).

2. Without the new birth, we won’t have justification, but only condemnation. (Romans 8:1; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 2:17; Philippians 3:9).
3. Without the new birth, we won’t be the children of God, but the children of the devil. (1 John 3:9-10).
4. Without the new birth, we won’t bear the fruit of love by the Holy Spirit, but only bear the fruit of death. (Romans 6:20-21; 7:4-6; 15:16; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:10; Galatians 5:6; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 John 3:14).
5. Without the new birth, we won’t have eternal joy in fellowship with God, but only eternal misery with the devil and his angels. (Matthew 25:41; John 3:3; Romans 6:23; Revelation 2:11; 20:15).

— John Piper, Why Do We Need to Be Born Again? (Part 2)

Last Sunday, I preached a sermon at Jubilee Church in our series on the book of Nehemiah. A video of it is now available to download. You can also download the mp3, listen to it right here, or read my notes below:

“Let me tell you about a most wonderful experience I had early Monday morning, March 19, 2007, a little after six o’clock. God actually spoke to me. There is no doubt that it was God. I heard the words in my head just as clearly as when a memory of a conversation passes across your consciousness. The words were in English, but they had about them an absolutely self-authenticating ring of truth. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God still speaks today.

I couldn’t sleep for some reason. I was at Shalom House in northern Minnesota on a staff couples’ retreat. It was about five-thirty in the morning. I lay there wondering if I should get up or wait till I got sleepy again. In his mercy, God moved me out of bed. It was mostly dark, but I managed to find my clothing, got dressed, grabbed my briefcase, and slipped out of the room without waking up Noël. In the main room below, it was totally quiet. No one else seemed to be up. So I sat down on a couch in the corner to pray.

As I prayed and mused, suddenly it happened. God said, ‘Come and see what I have done.’ There was not the slightest doubt in my mind that these were the very words of God. In this very moment. At this very place in the twenty-first century, 2007, God was speaking to me with absolute authority and self-evidencing reality. I paused to let this sink in. There was a sweetness about it. Time seemed to matter little. God was near. He had me in his sights. He had something to say to me. When God draws near, hurry ceases. Time slows down . . .”

— John Piper

GOD DOES SPEAK TODAY! THROUGH HIS WORD!

Read Nehemiah 8:1-12

INTRODUCTION
Nehemiah has come, the wall has been built, and the opposition has been dealt with. It’s now time to begin to build the people. God not only rebuilds walls, but restores lives. Fixing the people—that was the real plan. God is less interested in walls and more interested in people. Building the people of God.

How do we go about building the people of God? Nehemiah knew that when it came to fixing lives, he wasn’t the man to do it. Even though he was the leader, he had a sense of teamwork, so he called for Ezra to bring the book, to open the book. Nehemiah realized that it wasn’t only the trowels that were needed; now the people needed to hear from the book of the Law. He made room for the preacher. He knew everyone had a role. He gathered a big group—50,000 people. And they came and listened to the Word of God for six hours! Why would they do that?

1. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WORD OF GOD 2 Timothy 3:15-17
   “. . . from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”

   What does that mean? First, this Book is holy. It also means it’s possible for it to save us. And it means it can equip us for everything God has for us. In order to be saved, there are some things we need to understand.

   Romans 10:9-17
   “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. . .So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

   It’s not a man who will save us. Only Jesus can save us, and the way he saves us is through our understanding of what’s in this Book.

   Psalm 119:130
   “The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.”

   Romans 15:4
   “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

   Matthew 4:4 and Deuteronomy 8:3
   “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

   It sustains spiritual life and shapes our everyday life. Without it we will starve, have no hope, no endurance, no instruction, no wisdom, not be equipped for what God wants us to do, have no faith, and ultimately be foolish and unsaved!

2. HOW DO WE TAKE HOLD OF THE WORD OF GOD? People died in order that we can have this Book in our hands. People were killed just for owning this Book. The Reformation restored the Bible to the common people from the priests, who had maintained an exclusive right to it. And now, in our times, a generation is again emerging that is IGNORANT of this Book!How then do we take the Word of God in?
   • TAKE IT IN CHUNKS
     It’s good to have a system. Use a Bible-reading plan. Maybe have it read to you. Use the CD player in your car. I use Every Day in the Word. It provides OT reading, NT reading, Psalms, Proverbs—a varied diet. Not all meat for a month and no vegetables! Don’t worry if you don’t understand everything! Or use an iPOD (you can subscribe to it as a podcast). Take fifteen minutes a day and you will be able to read or listen to the entire Bible in one year. Don’t feel condemned if you miss a day.
   • PRAY AND MEDITATE ON IT
     Take a phrase and chew on it and pray it back to God. Mull it over. Let it emotionally impact you. Believe it. Ask God for the promises, believe the truths. Change in response to it.Psalm 119:15
     “I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.”

     It’s not just academic; it’s experiential, faith arises. Nehemiah does this in chapter 1 by praying back to God a verse from Deuteronomy—“God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments.” The advantages of meditation gets us up close and personal with the Bible. We can remind God of his promises. Mould ourselves to the Word.

   • STUDY IT
     Get a study Bible, such as the new ESV Study Bible. Use notes, commentaries, books, word study, Grudem’s Biblical Doctrine, Bible software, etc. God wants us to be those who labor at his Word. We work hard at our jobs, why not work hard so you can do the job of life? Don’t be tossed to and fro. Ezra knew that it was his job as priest.2 Timothy 2:15
     “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

     Sometimes we don’t understand the Bible very well, and sometimes we have no shame in that fact. “Oh, I’m a “spirit person, I’m not a Word person.” But what did the Bereans do?

     Acts 17:11
     “They received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”

   • SEEK HELP FROM OTHERS
     We need to study this Book, understand it, meditate on it, such that we won’t be blown away. Do we always understand it all? Sometimes we need others to teach us—our church, small groups, someone to lead us individually. In addition, listening to sermons, some perhaps repeatedly, may help our understanding.The Bible is not like normal food in the sense that we can’t get too much of it! We won’t become obese eating too much spiritual food.

     BUT, there is one danger, and that is the danger that we only read it, maybe even study it, maybe even become an academic expert on it, but somehow the vibrancy and the life of God’s Word doesn’t touch us, doesn’t impact us. If we are left untouched by God’s Word, there will be two main consequences in the life of the believer—we will be hearers of the Word, but not doers of the Word. The Word is about action, in our lives and in sharing the gospel. It’s about living in response to it. The second is that we wil become proud of our knowledge and be academic and dry, devoid of the Spirit.

     1 Corinthians 8:1-2
     “Knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.”

   • SEEK HELP FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT
     The goal is to KNOW GOD—not just to “know about” the Bible.Hebrews 4:13
     “For the word of God is living and active.”

     The Word has a power of its own, breathed into it by the Spirit who inspired it! We must read it, meditate on it, pray, study it, marinate it with the Spirit That’s the key. If we do that, the Word of God will make sense to us. THERE IS NO CONFLICT BETWEEN THE WORD AND THE SPIRIT!

     1 Corinthians 2:14
     The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

     We need the help of the Spirit to make it clear to us. It’s tragic that some Christians emphasize the Word, but don’t want to know about the Spirit, and other Christians emphasize the Spirit, but don’t want to know about the Word. It’s time to bring the Word and the Spirit back together. There’s never been a battle between them!

   • MEMORIZE IT and VALUE IT APPROPRIATELYPsalm 119:11
     I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

3. WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF THE WORD OF GOD?
   • THAT WE MIGHT NOT SIN
     That we will repent. That we will turn our backs on sin and obey God.

     John 14:15
     “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

     The Word adjusts conduct, character, and the course of our lives. Because we are on our way to heaven, we live in a way that is worthy of that calling.

   • TO DEFEAT THE DEVIL
     It’s like a sword in our hands. Ephesians 6 says, “The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” When Nehemiah built the wall, the workers had a sword and trowel in their hands.
   • TO BE THE ANSWER FOR ALL OF OUR PROBLEMS
     The Bible says to ask God for wisdom and he will give it to you—in marriage, relationships, sex, parenting, work, success, money, suffering, etc. We live in a lost world and the world doesn’t know where to go for guidance. But this Book has all the answers.

BUT sadly many Christians read all this and feel “I can’t do it.” MANY CHRISTIANS REMAIN IN THE PLACE OF CONDEMNATION. Many of us came to the same place that the people did when they heard Ezra reading the Law. They come to the place of sorrow and guilt. There was weeping. The Word shows us our sin. Pricks our deadened conscience back to life. Convicts us.

2 Corinthians 7:10
“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation.”

The Word exists to bring us to the one who is called “The Word.”

John 5:39
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.”

Jesus is the hero of every passage in the Bible, even if you can’t see it at first. Every Scripture takes us to Jesus. Because of him, the Word can wash us clean. With the Word marinated by the Spirit we are converted. It’s the gospel that is the power of God to save us. Faith comes. We are born again.

It is so right when we listen to the words of this Book that sometimes we want to weep, we feel helpless, guilty, like we’ve messed up. May I suggest it’s because we have messed up? But God doesn’t want to leave us there. So many people go through life starting each day with “Oh God, I’m sorry for all the things I’ve done. Thank you for forgiving me, but I feel guilty.” And they go through all the sins they’ve committed. Not to say there is no place for confession, there is. But it’s interesting that the Lord’s prayer begins with “OUR FATHER . . .”

The Lord’s prayer doesn’t start with sin—it begins with the fatherhood of GOD. We need to relate to God as a father who has loved us, who has forgiven us, who sent his Son to take our place, to bear our punishment in order that we can be forgiven. He sees us as holy, as if we’ve obeyed every command in this Book. He sees us as if we never did anything wrong. When we understand that, a great joy should well up inside of us!

JOY TO KNOW WE ARE FORGIVEN!

JOY IN JESUS, NOT WORLDLY THINGS—He is the goal of the gospel.

JOY IN JESUS MAKES SIN LESS APPEALING.

SANDWICH MEAT versus SIZZLING STEAK!

JOY OF THE LORD.

Nehemiah 8:10
Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

CONCLUSION
The Word of God brings us through conviction to repentance, and through repentace to joy. Joy is not that everything is perfect, but rather it is a joy the world cannot take away since we know that in the end we will be with Jesus.

I keep coming back to the subject of regeneration. I’m convinced that there is nothing more important for us to keep considering than this—not least because it enables us to be sure that we are saved ourselves, but also because of the effects a right understanding of this will have on us. I was therefore thrilled to find the following quote from the Doctor in a similar vein. We do not talk enough about this.

What, then, is the new creation? What is the new man? What is this new thing that God creates and puts into us? Scripture tells us that believers have been created again after the image of God, and that they receive back the righteousness, holiness and truth which were lost through sin and the Fall. Can anything be more important than that we should realise what it is to be born again and to have the life of God in our souls? If only every true Christian in the world today realised that this new creation, this new man, this new being, was within him, the whole Church would be revolutionised! All our failures, all our sins, are ultimately to be traced to the fact that we do not realise as we should what God has done to us, and the character and the nature of the new man, the new life, that He has put within us. It is only as we understand this fully that we are in any way capable of putting on the new man. Do you know that the life of God is in your soul? That is the question.

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Christian Unity, Studies in Ephesians, Chapter 4, Verses 1-16, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1972), 177.

Perhaps we should speak more about laziness as Christians. I’m not 100 per cent sure that we can say that the following quote entirely rings true of Christians today as a group. Perhaps I’m wrong, but I’m concerned that we as the Church have begun to imbibe the inherent laziness of the world. Brothers and sisters, this ought not be the case! We do not live for the beach!

“Christianity has always stood for the dignity of work, for the dignity of labour, as can be proved historically. Heathendom and godlessness are always characterised by slackness and indolence and laziness. As this country becomes more and more godless and irreligious it becomes more and more lazy in every stratum of society. It always happens. But on the other hand, every revival of true religion exalts the dignity of work, because it brings a man to see that God has given him his body and all his faculties and he is meant to use them. Man was not made just to sit back and to enjoy himself and to get every boon for nothing. That is enervating, that is insulting, it does not develop a man’s faculties and powers. But the moment you see yourself as a Christian, as a man made in the image of God, you want to use your faculties.”

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Christian Unity (Studies in Ephesians, Chapter 4, Verses 1-16) (Grand Rapids MI: Baker Book House, 1972), 248.

One little known fact about Doctor Martyn Lloyd-Jones is his opposition to the concept of theological degrees for Christians. The following quote is probably the best one I have found which explains his reasoning for this position. It is also notable for the disappointment he clearly feels with those who are not interested in understanding more about God, but also his similar despair over those who stop at mere knowledge about God without pressing in to truly know him and worship him.

What foolish creatures we are! Many of us are not interested in doctrine at all; we are lazy Christians who do not read, do not think, and do not try to delve into the mysteries. We have had a certain experience and we desire no more. Others of us, deploring such an attitude, say that, because the Bible is full of doctrine, we must study it and grapple with it and possess it. So we become absorbed in our interest in doctrine and stop at that. The result is that, as regards this question of the love of Christ, we are no further on than the others because we have made doctrine an end and a terminus. In this way the devil trips and traps us and robs us of our heritage. If your knowledge of the Scriptures and of the doctrines of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has not brought you to this knowledge of the love of Christ, you should be profoundly dissatisfied and disturbed. All biblical doctrine is about this blessed Person; and there is no greater snare in the Christian life than to forget the Person Himself and to live simply on truths concerning Him.

It is for this reason that some of us have always had a feeling that it is dangerous to have examinations on scriptural knowledge. Some of the Reformers held that view, Martin Luther especially. Some of the Puritans also held it. There should never be such a thing as a ‘Degree in Scriptural Knowledge’. This is so, not only because it is wrong in and of itself, but also because it tends to encourage this tendency to stop at truths and to miss the Person. We should never study the Bible or anything concerning biblical truth without realizing that we are in His presence, and that it is truth about Him. And it should always be done in an atmosphere of worship. Biblical truth is not one subject among others; it is not something that belongs to a syllabus. It is living truth about a living Person. That is why a theological college should be different from every other kind of college; and that is why a religious service is essentially different from every kind of meeting the world can organize. It is always a matter of worship; we are in the presence of a Person.

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Unsearchable Riches of Christ—Studies in Ephesians, Chapter 3 (Grand Rapids MI: Baker Book House, 1972), 208. Also available electronically from Logos Bible Software.

It has become something of a habit for me to watch a Piper sermon as part of the preparation of my heart to preach. I don’t mean the preparation of my sermon material; rather I mean the preparation of my heart. Getting my heart into the right place to preach is a bigger challenge for me than writing a good set of notes. Piper stirs my heart in ways no one else I listen to does—in order that I should be grateful to God and sensitive to other people. He cares for his listeners and is passionate about his God.

The talk I want to highlight today certainly is a clear example of all those things, and it is also the single most important topic we can ever speak about. There is nothing more important than helping us to understand the new birth correctly. We need to know for certain that we are saved. In this talk Piper explains seven reasons why we need to be born again, which I will share here:

1. Apart from the new birth, we are dead in trespasses and sins. (Ephesians 2:1-2)

2. Apart from the new birth, we are by nature children of wrath. (Ephesians 2:3; Psalm 51:5)
3. Apart from the new birth, we love darkness and hate the light. (John 3:19-20)
4. Apart from the new birth, our hearts are hard like stone. (Ezekiel 36:26; Ephesians 4:18; Romans 1:18)
5. Apart from the new birth, we are unable to submit to God or please God. (Romans 8:7-8; John 3:5)
6. Apart from the new birth, we are unable to accept the gospel. (Ephesians 4:18; 1 Corinthians 2:14)
7. Apart from the new birth, we are unable to come to Christ or embrace him as Lord. (John 6:44, 65; 1 Corinthians 12:3)

— John Piper

As Christians we must constantly remind ourselves both of the complexities and the glorious depths of the mysterious gospel of Christ, and of its ability to be summarized in a gloriously simple statement. We must keep checking ourselves! Do we actually believe what the Bible says? This is, to me, a fantastic summary of the message all Christians are meant to proclaim:

[Jesus] deliberately went to the cross and suffered the shame and the spitting and the indignity of it all; and this He did to bear my sins; to receive my punishment; to suffer the penalty that my guilt had deserved; and infinitely more important, to deliver me from the bondage of sin and of Satan; to separate me unto Himself; and to make of me a man zealous of good works, delighting in holiness. He died; He was raised from the dead; He returned to heaven, and He sent down the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost in order that I might have the assurance of my faith, and the joy, and the power. He has given me a new life and a new nature; He has joined me unto Himself; I am a member of His mystical body; I am a child of God, I am an heir of heaven.

That is what knowing Christ means, learning Him, hearing Him, being taught in Him! I believe the teaching that nought that defileth shall be allowed to enter into heaven; that heaven is eternally pure and holy, the antithesis of this world and sin, the opposite to hell. That is how I have learned Christ, that is how I have heard Him, that is how I have been taught in Him—that I am in Him the living Head, and a part of Him; and that beyond this life and death and the veil, I am going to be with Him forever and forever. If you believe these things, says Paul, you will ‘have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness’.

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Christian Unity, Studies in Ephesians, chapter 4, verses 1 through 16 (Grand Rapids MI: Baker Book House, 1972), 115. Also available electronically from Logos Bible Software.

A week ago we shared an unsettling quote from Dr. Piper about the vital need for us to fight lust or face an eternity without God. Since that fight is so critical to our well-being, I thought I would share another quote in which he goes on to explain how this fight can be won.

Suppose I am tempted to lust. Some sexual image comes into my mind and beckons me to pursue it. The way this temptation gets its power is by persuading me to believe that I will be happier if I follow it. The power of all temptation is the prospect that it will make me happier. No one sins out of a sense of duty, when what they really want is to do what’s right.

“Another reason I am eager to focus on the new birth is to help you know what reallySo what should I do? Some people would say, “Remember God’s command to be holy (1 Peter 1:16), and exercise your will to obey because he is God!” But something crucial is missing from this advice, namely, faith in future grace . . .

How then do you fight lust by faith in future grace? When the temptation to lust comes, Romans 8:13 says, in effect, “If you kill it by the Spirit, you will live.” By the Spirit! What does that mean? Out of all the armor God gives us to fight Satan, only one piece is used for killing—the sword. It is called the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17) . . . The Word of God cuts through the fog of Satan’s lies and shows me where true and lasting happiness is to be found. And so the Word helps me stop trusting in the potential of sin to make me happy. Instead the Word entices me to trust in God’s promises.

When faith has the upper hand in my heart I am satisfied with Christ and his promises. This is what Jesus meant when he said, “He who believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). When my thirst for joy and meaning and passion are satisfied by the presence and promises of Christ, the power of sin is broken. We do not yield to the offer of sandwich meat when we can smell the steak sizzling on the grill.

John Piper, Future Grace (Sisters OR: Multnomah Publishers, 1995), 334. Also available electronically from Logos Bible Software.

The Doctor was given his nickname, I believe, not so much because of his medical degree, but rather because of the way in which he used his diagnostic skill to get to the root of the human predicament. This quote is a good example of that:

To fail to control ourselves means a loss of energy. These things can actually be measured. When I say ‘self-control’ I include controlling one’s temper, controlling one’s spirit. Have you ever seen a man trembling in a rage? What energy that man is wasting! He is emitting energy at a tremendous rate because he cannot control his temper, and his own spirit. And, of course, he is but as putty in the hands of the devil. When a man cannot control himself how can he possibly deal with the enemy? Discipline is an absolute essential in an army; it is one of the most important things of all. If an army is not disciplined it is already defeated, it becomes a rabble.

The Bible has much of this kind of teaching. It is a major theme in the Book of Proverbs. The wise man in dealing with this matter says: ‘He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty’ (Proverbs 16:32). What he is saying is that a man who is slow to anger, a man who can control his temper, is a much stronger man in the end than a mighty man who loses his temper. The second man is much mightier by nature, but if he dissipates and wastes his energy by failing to control his own temper he will lose the battle. This first man has nothing like the vital force and capacity, nor the strength of the second, but he controls himself; and a man who can control himself will often beat a man who is very much better at the task, and who has much greater strength, simply because he is reliable and steady.

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Christian Soldier: An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10 to 20 (Edinburgh; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1977), 101. Also available electronically from Logos Bible Software.

NOTE
This photo of “the Doctor” is quite rare, according to Philip Eveson, principal of the London Theological Seminary, where this portrait hangs inside the Lloyd-Jones library. Although pastor of the Westminster Chapel in London for many years, the Doctor was originally born and raised in Wales, and he also pastored his first church in South Wales.

For more information on Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, see this summary post or the MLJ Recording Trust.

The ESV Study Bible (ESVSB) launch date of October 15th is approaching fast. The Study Bible team has been busy sharing samples and features online to entice us. Their goal is to help people know what’s inside the Study Bible and how it might best serve them.

From an e-mail sent out by the Study Bible team, here is a summary of what is available at this time:

Free Book Introductions and Sample Chapters Online
In addition to the previous posts from Jonah, the Psalms, and Revelation, the introductions have now been uploaded,including sample chapters, for the following books:

• Ezekiel
• Isaiah
• Ephesians
• Colossians

Free Articles Online
A number of the fifty articles that will be in the ESVSB have now been uploaded:

• Overview of the Bible: A Survey of the History of Salvation, by Vern Poythress
• Reading the Bible
  • Reading the Bible Theologically, by J. I. Packer
  • Reading the Bible as Literature, by Leland Ryken
  • Reading the Bible in Prayer and Communion with God, by John Piper
  • Reading the Bible for Personal Application, by David Powlison
  • Reading the Bible for Preaching and Public Worship, by R. Kent Hughes
• The Bible and World Religions
  • Contemporary Judaism, by Marvin Wilson
  • Islam, by Timothy Tennent

City Plan of Rome
The Introduction to the Book of Romans contains a city plan of ancient Rome, which has been posted online, along with an excerpt of some of the information on Rome found in that introduction. Other city plans that you’ll find in the ESVSB include the cities of Ur, Nineveh (see page 9 of the Jonah PDF), Babylon, Jericho, Corinth, Ephesus, and Philippi.

Interviews With Contributors

• Andy Naselli interviewed David Reimer about the book of Ezekiel (blog interview)

• Michael Spencer interviewed David Powlison about the application of Scripture (blog interview)
• Colin Adams interviewed Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. about the book of Isaiah (blog interview)
• Andy Naselli interviewed Clinton Arnold about the book of Colossians (blog interview)
• Andy Naselli interviewed S. M. Baugh about the book of Ephesians (blog interview)
• Beginning with Moses interviewed Vern Poythress about biblical theology and seeing Christ in the Old Testament (blog interview)
• Owen Strachan interviewed Harold Netland about pluralism and world religions (audio, mp3, approximately 45 minutes)

New Videos
A video page has been launched for the ESVSB.

Some of you have probably already seen the five-minute YouTube preview, but that was just part of a thirteen-minute video that goes into more depth. Each of the nine chapters from the video is available individually. Some of you might be especially interested in this one-minute overview of the Online Study Bible, which hasn’t been discussed much yet.

All the videos are available to download as high-quality mp4s.

The following video is an interview with Wayne Grudem, J. I. Packer, and Lane Dennis of Crossway, and is hosted by Justin Taylor:

Facebook
If you want to interact with others about the ESVSB, you can now join a Facebook group.

If you live in North America you can pre-order from the ESV Study Bible website or from Amazon.com using the following links, which seem to be offering significant discounts:

If you live in Europe, then visit Amazon.co.uk using the following links:

Even my regular readers may not remember that some time ago I decided I wanted to work my way through John Piper’s sermons on the new birth. I know it has been awhile since I mentioned this, but I don’t want to rush this process, and let’s just say I’vebeen busy with other things. So far I have shared my quotes and thoughts from the first and second sermons.

Watching this third video, it was very refreshing to see Piper emphasize that the new birth really does change us. It was a very helpful reminder of the need for God to, as he puts it, give us new life by connecting us to Jesus.

My guilt must be washed away. Cleansing with water is a picture of that. Jeremiah 33:8 puts it like this: “I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me.” So the person that we are—that continues to exist—must be forgiven, and the guilt washed away.

But forgiveness and cleansing is not enough. I need to be new. I need to be transformed. I need life. I need a new way of seeing and thinking and valuing. That’s why Ezekiel speaks of a new heart and a new spirit in verse 26 and 27: “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

Here’s the way I understand those verses: To be sure, the heart of stone means the dead heart that was unfeeling and unresponsive to spiritual reality—the heart you had before the new birth could feel. It could respond with passion and desire to lots of things. But it was a stone toward the spiritual truth and beauty of Jesus Christ and the glory of God and the path of holiness. That is what has to change if we are to see the kingdom of God. So in the new birth, God takes out the heart of stone and puts in a heart of flesh. The word flesh doesn’t mean “merely human” like it does in John 3:6. It means soft and living and responsive and feeling, instead of being a lifeless stone. In the new birth, our dead, stony boredom with Christ is replaced by a heart that feels (spiritually senses) the worth of Jesus.

Then when Ezekiel says in verses 26 and 27, “a new spirit I will put within you. . . . And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes,” I think he means that in the new birth, God puts a living, supernatural, spiritual life in our heart, and that new life—that new spirit—is the working of the Holy Spirit himself giving shape and character to our new heart.

The picture I have in my mind is that this new warm, touchable, responsive, living heart is like a soft lump of clay, and the Holy Spirit presses himself up into it and gives spiritual, moral shape to it according to his own shape. By being himself within us, our heart and mind take on his character—his spirit (cf. Ephesians 4:23).

So now let’s step back and sum up these last two weeks. What happens in the new birth? In the new birth, the Holy Spirit supernaturally gives us new spiritual life by connecting us with Jesus Christ through faith. Or, to say it another way, the Spirit unites us to Christ where there is cleansing for our sins, and he replaces our hard, unresponsive heart with a soft heart that treasures Jesus above all things and is being transformed by the presence of the Spirit into the kind of heart that loves to do the will of God (Ezekiel 36:27).

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

On the 24th of August, I preached a sermon at Jubilee during our summer series on some famous psalms. I took Psalm 121, which served as a starting point for me to share some of the most important planks of my personal doctrinal framework—a framework that has sustained me through hard times.

As blogging around here at least begins to return to normal—if there is such a thing at adrianwarnock.com—I thought I’d share both the audio to download and a condensed version of the message below. You can also listen right here:

Christians should be characterized by hope, and as a result, should live in such a way that brings up questions in other’s minds. “In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect . . .” (1 Peter 3:15).

The question is, how do we obtain such a hope and how do we live in the good of it?

Hope requires a biblical outlook — You will not find real hope anywhere else, other than in the Bible, where we find help to live, help to rescue us, help to have hope.

Hope requires a lifted head — we must first be lowered, and God graciously sends trouble our way to teach us we cannot help ourselves.

Despair of self. Self-help is no help at all. Our solution is not found on earth. It’s found in heaven. Many people expect that their problem is based around what they’re experiencing. And they say something like this, “If only I could find a husband or a wife, then I’d be okay.” Or, “If only I had a different husband or wife, then I’d be okay.” Or, “If only God changed him, then I’d be okay.” Or, “Perhaps I need a new job, then I’d be okay.” “I need to be healed, then I’d be okay.” All of those things are secondary—our help comes from heaven. Our help comes from God. For you to have hope, you have to lift your head. You have to look up. And there’s something about the body language involved in doing that—looking up and praying with your head raised to God, saying, “Help me!”

Many people think Christianity is “Do this! Do that!” Rules. “If I just try harder, I can please God.” None of that counts for anything. There is nothing you can do to make God happy with you in your own strength—nothing! You really are helpless. You really are hopeless. You’re weak, I’m weak. We’re all the same. Don’t we say it sometimes? “I just couldn’t help myself.” Have you ever said that? “I’m so sorry for what I just did to you to hurt you, to upset you. I just couldn’t help myself,” you say. There’s never a truer word said than that. 

“The preacher’s work is to throw sinners down in utter helplessness that they may be compelled to look up to Him who alone can help them” (Spurgeon).

Hope requires a God who is in control — a God who really is in control and a God who can therefore help us. It’s very important that we understand that. Help comes from God, not from other people. Others can help you a bit, but the way in which they’ll help you is simply this: by pointing you to God and by strengthening you in God.

For example, in 1 Samuel 23:16 — “Jonathan strengthened David’s hand in God.”

Any leader will let you down because he is not God. He can’t be there all the time. You’ll try and ring him one day and his phone will be switched off or engaged. You’ll find that God’s phone is never switched off.

But it must be the right sort of God who we can believe in. Some people just say, “Well, I believe in God. Isn’t that enough?” No, we need to understand some things about God. It’s no good, for example, if God is as clueless as the rest of us, is it really? And some people believe in a God like that. But it’s not true. God is the God of all comfort. “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others who are suffering afflictions with the comfort with which we ourselves have been comforted by God.” ( 1 Corinthians 1)

This is God’s description of himself in Isaiah 46: “I am God.” And YOU are not, by the way. He is, but you’re not. And neither am I. “I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning.” In other words, he knows the end of time from the very beginning of time. He knows everything that will ever happen. “And from ancient times, things not yet done, saying this, “My counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purposes. I have spoken and I will bring it to pass. I have purposed and I will do it.”

That’s the God we worship. There are some people who say that God is surprised by things. They say, well, you know, there are some things that are unknowable and that until something happens, even God doesn’t know what will happen. I’m sorry. That’s not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible knows the end from the beginning. He’s not surprised by anything. And it’s so important because when you’re counseling somebody, you have to bring them to that God, not to some kind of weak God who is surprised. I once heard of a situation—this is a true story apparently, and I think I read it in a book somewhere. (If anyone remembers the reference for this, I would appreciate knowing that.) A lovely young lady married a guy who was also a Christian (they were both Christians). Everything looked fine. And then after a while this guy basically did the dirty on her and went off with somebody else and the relationship broke up and they got divorced. And this woman’s pastor (shame on him) said this: “Well, when God guided you to that marriage, he had no more idea than you did what would happen. He was as surprised and as shocked and as hurt and as disappointed as you by what happened.” Now that might seem cute, but it doesn’t give me any hope. Does it give you hope? If God was like that, I think I’d rather not be a Christian. No, God is not like that. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows what will happen. He will accomplish all his purposes. There is no plan B with God.

God is NOT surprised by anything!

Hope requires a God who is loving — he’s the God who cares for you. If God was all-sovereign and all-powerful and all-knowing, but actually was a bit of an evil, capricious God who hated you, then well, the world would not be a very good place, would it?

But the Bible is very clear. It says that God is love (1 John 4:16).

Romans 5:8 says, “But God shows his love for us in this; that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” So if Jesus died for us, if he would come from heaven to earth, live as a man, the great invincible God becoming a little baby and then living as a man, and then dying a cruel death in our place that we might know God, do you not think that this demonstrates that he loves us?

Paul makes this argument in Romans 8:32 when he says, “He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” If we’re coming to God and say, “Oh, well, God, you know. I’m not sure if you really love me or not,” we’re making God into a liar and we’re just despising the cross. Jesus loved us enough to die for us. That should be enough to give us hope. Hope that this sovereign God is for you, and that this God is in control and knows the future; that he will make sure things map out for your good.

Romans 8 continues: “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good” (verse 28). So if you love God, God will work out everything for your good.

He keeps you. He will not let your foot be moved. It says “He keeps you” six times in this psalm. He’s your keeper. He’s your watchman. He watches over you. He doesn’t sleep.

Hope requires a God-centered gospel — some people say, “Well, you know, God is lucky to have me.” There is a sense in which God is knocking at the door. But people can say it sometimes as though Jesus is the needy one; as if he’s a bit lonely and he needs another worshipper or feels insecure or needs a relationship or needs his ego boosted a bit.  No, God isn’t like that. God is the eternal one who out of his self-sufficiency and his joy of being eternally one with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, eternally a community, lavishes love on us through grace. Through unmerited favor. Through his all-sufficiency.

There are five aspects of the gospel that I think give us a stable foundation. It says in this psalm that God keeps our foot from being moved. It also says in another psalm that God put our foot on a rock. People sometimes call these five points the five points of Calvinism. I would rather just say they’re the five points of a stable view of the gospel, which enables us to have hope. Sometimes people use these points under the acronym TULIP. So if you like acronyms, you can use TULIP to help you remember them.

But sometimes our Christianity is like another flower. I don’t know if, in other countries, people do this, but English children very often find a nice daisy in the lawn, pick it, and usually thinking about a boyfriend or girlfriend, they remove one petal at a time. “He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not. Oh no! He loves me not!”

Some of us approach God like that — if I’m doing well, God loves me. If I’ve just sinned, he doesn’t love me anymore. If I make a commitment to him and follow him, then he’ll love me. But if I backslide, then he won’t love me anymore and I won’t be a Christian anymore. I don’t believe that gives us a stable foundation for hope. So what are these five points? I’ll go through them quite quickly.

T — Total Depravity of Man
Now most people actually have very little problem believing this. I think there are very few Christians who don’t believe this. There are a few who say, “Oh no, people are basically good.” But I don’t think any of them are parents. I’ve got a 16 month old child. We don’t have to train him to hit his brother and sister; to steal from his brother and sister; to scream if we give his brother and sister something and don’t give it to him. And he has already learned how to bite. He’s 16 months! But people say that human beings are born good. They’re not born good. They’re born with a sinful nature. We are born with a bias towards sin, as the Puritans used to say. So basically, if you don’t believe in the total depravity of man, if you don’t believe that we have a sinful nature, then I would suggest that you borrow a two year old for an hour. That’s all you need.

But let’s look at the Scriptures. The Scripture is what we stand on. The Scripture is very clear about this in Ephesians 2: “And you were dead in trespasses and sins . . .” Dead people can’t help themselves. If we’re dead without Christ, we need him to make us alive.

U — Unconditional Election
In other words, God chooses us; we don’t choose him. Ephesians 1:4—he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. John 15:16—You did not choose me (says Jesus) but I chose you. Terry Virgo likes to say he imagines somebody in the congregation saying, “Hang on. But haven’t I got a free will?” And Terry says this, “Yeah, but God’s is freer.” The truth is this: actually we do have a free will, but we all freely choose to reject God. It’s only as God intervenes and woos us and changes our hearts and sends out his grace on us that we actually can be saved.

L — Limited Atonement
This is one that causes a bit of controversy and a lot of disagreement, but it’s mostly about a misunderstanding. I think all Christians will agree with two things about this. The first is this—that everything that Jesus did on the cross, the good of it, the full goodness of it, the eternal value of it, only gets applied to those who are Christians. Obviously, in order to benefit from Jesus’s death, you need to be a Christian, so in that sense it is a limited atonement. It is especially for the believer. It is especially for us. Jesus said this, “He laid down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). There’s a sense in which the death of Jesus was specific to certain individuals.

The second thing that we all can agree on is this: that actually Jesus’ death does have some benefit to everybody, and that the offer of the gospel is available to everybody as well. And it’s an honest gospel that says that if you are willing to repent of your sins and follow God, then you will be saved. So I think we need to be very careful in what we say about this. 1 Timothy 4:10 to me, sums this up, “We have set our hope on the living God who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.” So the very fact that the world is sustained at all and that Jesus didn’t just wipe it out the second that somebody first sinned is because of Jesus’s death. So everybody lives in the good of the cross all the time actually, and the offer of the gospel is a genuine offer to everybody, but the full benefits of the cross are only ever applied to those who are truly saved. I think sometimes this one is expressed in a way in which I would not agree.

I — Irresistible Grace
Jesus said “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44). When God sets his mind on you, when God sets his grace on you, your resistance is futile. You can run, but you can’t hide. And there may be some of you reading this who have been running. You’ve been fighting. And God is saying, “Stop fighting. I’m here. Now is the time to surrender.”

P — Perseverance of the Saints
I prefer to state it in this way: the persistence of God. “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:39-50).

Now, we all know people who appeared to be Christians and drifted away. The thing is this—it is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgment (Hebrews 9:27). I believe the balance of Scripture is very clear on this, that there are actually three possible verdicts on that day.

The first verdict is this—You’re not a Christian; you never were a Christian, and that means an eternity without God. It means hell. We do believe in hell. That’s one verdict. The second verdict is what I call a “well done” Christian. What I mean is this. When God looks at you and says, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You’ve followed me. You’ve served me. I’m pleased with what you’ve done.” And that’s what I pray for each of us. The third possible verdict is one that I call the “skin of the teeth” Christian. 1 Corinthians 3 talks about it like this: “As one saved through fire.” All your good works get burned up, but somehow, because of God’s grace, you somehow scrape in.

Now I would say that the difference between the slightly “scraping in” Christian and the person who is not a Christian at all is not one that we can sometimes easily discern. And that’s why we need to make sure really, brothers and sisters, that we are following after God. Because we don’t want to be those who miss it.

So, for those who have appeared to backslide, it may be that they were never Christians. It may be that actually they will be among that “skin of the teeth” brigade, or it may be actually—and this is what we should pray—that God will bring them back because God is in the business of restoring people. God is in the business of bringing people back, people we thought would never ever do it. And God says, “No. I will do it. I will do it. I will bring them back. I will complete the work I started.” And that’s the way to pray. Say, “God, you promised that you would complete the work that you started. I remember what you did in that person . . .”

Hebrews 3:14 actually says something interesting about this idea of perseverance. Because it really isn’t just the idea of “once saved, always saved” in a very simplistic way. You think if you go forward at a crusade that’s it. No! What it’s saying is that we’re expecting God to preserve our faith and keep us until the end. It says this in Hebrews 3:14—For we have come to share in Christ (and that’s the past tense—it has happened to us in the past) if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.” So we should expect that God will sustain us to the end, and at the end of our lives, to be able to look back on a lifetime of trusting God.

I don’t want any of us to drift away. Please don’t play fast and loose with God because he’s not mocked. It is appointed once for man to die and afterwards to face judgment.

Hope requires eternal security, but it is not passive — we don’t just say, “Oh well. I’m okay now. Let me sit back and put my feet up and coast to heaven.” 2 Peter 1:3—His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him, who called us by his own glory and goodness. Therefore my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. But if you do these things, you will never fall. And you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Why not aim for a rich welcome?

Hope also requires a resurrection — Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:19 where he says, “If in this life only we have hoped in Christ we are of all people most to be pitied.” Because actually, eventually it will seem as if God has let us down because we’ll die and evil will, in fact, touch us. Well, the truth is this, eternally these words are always true— God will keep our lives. God will keep evil from ultimately harming us. There is a glorious day coming. Jesus promised, “In this world you will have trouble.” I don’t see very many people naming and claiming that promise! And Jesus does keep his promises. But he also said this: “Take heart. I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

So we need to know this—death is coming. We can’t stop it. We can fight it and we can try to delay it, but we must remember that the timing is ultimately in God’s hands. But it’s also okay to walk in faith and obedience, trying to follow God faithfully, because actually, even under the New Testament, God does sometimes terminate somebody’s life early. Look at Ananias and Sapphira. We can pray for healing, and rightly so when someone gets sick. We can eat in a healthy manner. We can try to keep that weight down. We can stop smoking. It’s like playing Russian roulette with your life. Three holes, one bullet—a “one in three” chance of dying early—not a good idea. We can exercise. We can see doctors. But the point is this. Our hope goes beyond the grave because death is coming, even if we do all those things.

One day we will see him face-to-face. And what does that say? It tells me that we will still have a face. It’s not that we’re going to be some sort of ethereal spirit floating in heaven. We will know each other. We will be able to recognize each other. We have a hope that goes beyond the grave, And we will meet our departed brothers and sisters again one day. We will see them. And together we will see God.

Notice this: it says that he will keep our life, and he will also keep our going out and coming in. To me, that’s a physical thing. You don’t go out and come in if you’re a spirit floating ethereally, not even knowing if you’re you. You will be you. Hope requires that there is a resurrection. Hope requires that there is eternal security, and that God will keep us, but it’s not passive in that knowledge. Hope requires that God sends his gospel. Hope requires a God who is loving. Hope requires a God who is in control. Hope requires a lifted head. Hope requires a biblical outlook.

Hope requires an alert God. It requires a God who is keeping us and a God who is not sleeping. God never sleeps so that you can sleep. He’s watching over you. When you’re in the desert and you’re worried about wild animals coming to eat you, one of you needs to stay awake. You don’t all need to stay awake. You just need one to stay awake. One that’s trustworthy. God would say this to you—”I am trustworthy. Cast your anxieties on me. Don’t you realize that I care for you, and that I don’t sleep so that you can sleep?”

God doesn’t sleep when somebody dies. He doesn’t sleep when somebody gets news that they may die. And he doesn’t sleep when somebody gets news that someone they love may die. He’s never asleep. He is aware of all those things and he can meet you in all those settings. He is your keeper. He will protect you through all those things.

God wasn’t sleeping when your name came up in the tally in heaven as to who’s going to get married and who’s not, and how we’re going to sort that out. You weren’t one he missed. He’s controlling your life. He is guiding your steps. And he will guide you, either to the perfect mate or to actually feeling content in the midst of your situation.

We think we can hide our sin from God. We’re fools. We think the darkness will hide it. Maybe we think that if we come out at night we can do certain things that no one else will see, and therefore sometimes God won’t see. But he never sleeps. He doesn’t slumber. He sees everything you’ve ever done, everything you’ve ever said, and everything you’ve ever thought.

He didn’t see all these things with a view to condemning you, saying you’re useless, and telling you deserve hell (although that’s true). He did it so that you might be forgiven. And he wants to highlight that to you right now. Your sin is worse than you think it is. But this is also true—God is better than you think he is, and he’s more gracious than you think he is. He chose David, an adulterer and a murderer, and said, “This is a man after my own heart.”

God can take the shame that you feel, the hurt you may feel, the dirtiness you feel. Jesus carried our shame on the cross that you might be full of hope, that you might be able to stand firm before God, aware of him, and fully in love with Jesus, fully secure in hope.

Yesterday I preached at Jubilee and thought, as usual, that I would share my notes and the audio here. But before I get to that, since it’s Monday and my habit in “normal” times is to share a quote with you from Doctor Martyn Lloyd-Jones, this quote is a good one to begin with as, in many ways, it sets the scene for what I was preaching on.

“What should we be seeking? We should always be seeking the Lord Jesus Christ himself, to know him, and know his love and to be witnesses for him and to minister to his glory . . . The Apostle Paul says that the height of his ambition is ‘that I might know him’. Not that he might have experiences, but that he ‘might know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings’ etc…. We should seek to know him and his love. You see, we are told of the Spirit, ‘The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us.’

Now take that great term again, ‘shed abroad’. Do not put your little limit to it and say, ‘Oh yes, I love God’. Paul says that the love of God is ‘shed abroad’ in great profusion, overwhelmingly, in our hearts. Now that is what we should seek. We believe in God, in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the doctrines of salvation. All right! But the question that confronts us at this particular point is not that of believing, but love! A belief that does not lead to love is a very doubtful belief, it may be nothing but intellectual assent. The emphasis of the Bible is always upon love …. ‘What is the first and the chiefest commandment?’ Not that ‘thou shalt believe in the Lord thy God’, but that ‘thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy mind, and all thy strength’ ….

There is nothing that will enable a man to do that but the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You can believe and in a sense have a measure of love; but the thing put before us is not just a measure of love, it is an abounding love …..

Here, then, is the question—to what extent do we know this love of God to us and how do we love God? We are meant to love him with the whole of our being and there is nothing that can make us do so but the love of God shed abroad in our hearts ….

This is New Testament Christianity! New Testament Christianity is not just a formal, polite, correct, and orthodox kind of faith and belief. No! What characterizes it is this element of love and passion, this pneumatic element, this life, this vigour, this abandon, this exuberance—and, as I say, it has ever characterized the life of the church in all periods of revival and of reawakening. That is what we must seek—not experiences, not power, not gifts. If he chooses to give them to us, thank God for them and exercise them to his glory, but the only safe way of receiving gifts is that you love him and that you know him.”

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Joy Unspeakable, The Baptism and Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Ed. Christopher Catherwood, Kingsway Publications: Eastbourne, 1995, pp. 360-361.

You can download my sermon or listen to it right here:

The Apostle starts this passage with the phrase, “Finally, REJOICE in the LORD” — and he is going to come back to that, but as he says that, he almost gets excited and goes off into a bit of a tangent, a diversion that will be our subject today. It’s almost as if that word “Lord” triggers something in him, because for him the Lord is, of course, Jesus. It excites him and he starts to think about our subject today. He starts off by saying, “Look, it’s good for me to remind you of these things.” And sometimes I think when we hear God’s Word, especially if we’ve been Christians a long time, we think, “Oh, yeah, I know it all” — and, in a sense, there will be nothing new today. So why does he say these things?

Paul gets angry. Preachers get angry. Why? Because TRUTH MATTERS. He has strong opposition to false teaching. Urges them STRONGLY to avoid DOGS—not talking about pets here! Talking about “street dogs,” dangerous dogs, potential killers. But can be disguised to look like sheep. Watch out for those who mutilate flesh. Outwardly appear on God’s side. Wolves in sheep’s clothing. So Paul then asks what are the marks of living as a true Christian?

MARKS OF LIVING AS A CHRISTIAN

• Christians have the “real circumcision” i.e. HEARTS cut out, new heart, regenerated, devoted to Jesus. It’s not about externals— circumcision, clothing, hair styles, etc. (verse 3).

• Christians are worshippers, every moment of every day, looking for opportunity to give God glory (verse 3).
• Christians worship by the Spirit of God — no confidence in the flesh, not man-empowered. Christians are Spirit-empowered (verse 3).
• Christians glory in Jesus—the one we honor, delight in. Paul could have written our church motto “It’s all about Jesus.”
• Christians have no confidence in human ability/qualifications (verse 3ff) Paul was the Jew of Jews. Thought killing Christians was serving God. You can be sincerely WRONG! He was religiously blameless, but a murderer!! Hypocrisy of religion knows no bounds. But we are not looking for holy people here, rather people who know they need God. Jesus didn’t come for the righteous, but for sinners.
• BIGGEST mark of living as a Christian is simply this: LIVING TO KNOW JESUS

WHAT DOES “LIVING TO KNOW JESUS” LOOK LIKE? WHAT ARE THE RESULTS?

A DECISION — everything is DUNG compared to the SURPASSING WORTH of knowing him, the risen, ascended, glorious, loving King. COUNTS everything unimportant. Do the math! (verses 7-8).

A LOSS — of everything! “I have suffered the loss of all things …” (verse 8).

A GAIN — “… that I may gain Christ and be found in him” (verse 8).

A HIDING PLACE — from the world “in Christ” and from God’s wrath (verse 9).

AN ALIEN RIGHTEOUSNESS — a righteousness that comes from outside of ourself, a goodness. But it’s only those who know Christ. “Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (verse 9).

But notice this! It doesn’t stop there! There’s a goal, not just that your sins will be forgiven, as glorious as that is. Not just that I might feel better, or not feel guilty anymore. Danger of turning gospel into merely something that deals with our felt needs. Rather, A PRECIOUS RELATIONSHIP — THAT I MAY KNOW HIM!!!! We were made to have a relationship with Jesus. He wants us to know him. That’s the goal! It’s not merely about being religious!

A POWERFUL FORCE — the power of his resurrection (verse 10). Christians should be conscious of the glorious power of the resurrection pulsating through their bodies. This is the heritage of the Christian. [Jonathan Edwards' quote—See below.]

A COMMUNITY OF SUFFERING — Not all glorious, however. Don’t want to deceive. We share also with him in his suffering Become like him in his death (verse 10).

A GLORIOUS RESURRECTION — But also become like him in his resurrection. A glorious resurrection to come, but also experienced even in the here and now. (verse 11). “Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead” — a perfect relationship with Jesus in heaven. But God says in this passage you don’t have to wait until heaven for “pie in the sky” when you die. There is cake on your plate while you wait! There is an obtaining, even in the here and now. Live the resurrection empowered life—know the power of God at work in me, experientially today to foretaste what will be mine in perfection in glory (verse 12ff).

Paul finishes the chapter by talking about an example for others to follow — “Imitate me, follow me, keep your eyes on people who are walking this way, copy them.”

Example not to follow: those who are enemies of the cross. But Christians don’t glory in the damnation of anyone. Don’t have enemies we are angry with, but have enemies for whom we weep. The belly is their god (their desires), running after flesh, whether food, sex, new clothes, etc. But for us, our bodies will be transformed, become like Jesus. They glory in their shame; we glory in our Saviour. Their end is destruction; our citizenship is in heaven. Not of this world (verse 17ff).

Background Quote

“Once, as I rode out into the woods for my health in 1737, having alighted from my horse in a retired place, as my manner commonly has been, to walk for divine contemplation and prayer, I had a view that for me was extraordinary, of the glory of the Son of God as Mediator between God and man, and His wonderful, great, full, pure and sweet grace and love, and meek and gentle condescension. This grace that appeared so calm and sweet, appeared also great above the heavens. The Person of Christ appeared ineffably excellent, with an excellency great enough to swallow up all thought and conception, which continued, as near as I can judge, about an hour, which kept me the greater part of the time in a flood of tears and weeping aloud . . . I felt an ardency of soul to be, what I know not otherwise how to express, emptied and annihilated; to lie in the dust and to be full of Christ alone; to love Him with a holy and pure love; to trust in Him; to live upon Him; to serve and follow Him and to be perfectly sanctified and made pure with a divine and heavenly purity.” (Jonathan Edwards, cited by Martyn Lloyd-Jones in An Exposition of Ephesians 1, God’s Ultimate Purpose, p. 275)

This is the final set of notes I will post. But come back over the next week or two for a series of video interviews, and over this weekend for some notes from other talks Driscoll will be giving around London. As mp3s are posted, we will also be adding download links to the individual summary pages, but you can also check online or subscribe to the podcast.

The final main session of the Brighton Leaders’ Conference was taken by Terry Virgo. More posts from this conference can be found on my TOAM08 label page. You can download the mp3 of Terry’s talk or listen to it right here:

Both Stephen and Philip are introduced as men who are playing their part in a rapidly growing church. Terry described Stephen in his first talk on Tuesday. Today he completes this mini-series with a look at Philip.

There seems to be two halves to the description of Philip. In the first half he is in a domestic scene looking after the needs of widows. Foundations must be built into lives before they can have a public ministry.

This evangelist wasn’t a loner with a ministry. He was known and loved in a local church. He wasn’t isolated. He wasn’t someone who just hadn’t fit in so decides to leave the church to “go and do his evangelism thing.” Rather notice what is said about him. He’s selected by the church. He has a good reputation. When the church wants someone reliable, his name comes up. He was recognized for being “full of the Holy Spirit” when thousands were full of the Holy Spirit. He somehow stood out in that way, suggesting, incidentally, that there are degrees of being full of the Spirit. He was gifted, but he didn’t push for his gift; he served, took his place so others could get on with their ministry. He didn’t demand to be recognized. He was willing to take a lower profile, to put God first.

Later on, he goes and preaches. The Apostles come and he doesn’t tell them to “get out of here,” he receives them. They came to bring the Spirit’s fullness and to remove someone who was getting too much profile. In our family life, we should teach our kids to be team players. Don’t insist on your own way. Don’t just “let them do their own thing.” Prepare them for the kingdom. Ephesians 4 says that the gifts are given to equip the saints so that they may become mature. A mature man looks like Jesus — someone who knows he has come from God and is going to God, and yet he washes his disciples’ feet!

Through love become one another’s slaves. Don’t take the attitude, “I’m not appreciated here so I’ll go somewhere else where I am appreciated.” Be a team player. His household was good. His daughters later are described as having prophesied regularly. [Incidentally, as a side note apart from what Terry actually said, it struck me once again as I was listening that there is no record of these daughter's prophecies being viewed as Scripture, and they are not recorded in the Bible. It still surprises me that some people persist in seeing all prophecy as equivalent to Scripture.]

Back to Terry. These daughters were not rebellious, but full of the Spirit. They were respected. They had been taught to listen to him. Must have been good relationships and an honoring of women. Philip had an exemplary home. It’s such a joy to have children of whom you can be proud.

Suddenly things change. Stephen is martyred. Philip moves into his second half. God in his sovereignty scatters the believers that the world may hear the gospel. Philip is alive to the opportunity. He knows God’s will. He follows the prompting of the Spirit. He is gospel intoxicated, not waiting for an official strategy. He goes with what God is doing. He is willing to move. He shares and takes every opportunity to speak. Philip heralded the good news. He preached Christ. What Christ did he preach? Not just enough to make vague statements. What kind of Christ should we present?

A Jesus rooted in Old Testament revelation.
The eunuch was reading Isaiah 53, which was, of course, something of a gift. Tim Keller says people are reacting to abstract theologizing that’s not rooted in the truth. We need to be assured of the message we have. This passage is classic and about the atonement. We must focus there, we must preach the cross. Don’t abandon that as our central theme. The cross didn’t need much description in those days, everyone knew what it was like. These days we need to explain it. We must break through that film that comes on people. We should publicly placard Christ crucified. God’s fury against sin was dealt with. We must feel it strongly. Let the cross captivate our hearts.

A Jesus with the good news of the kingdom of God. Philip was speaking of a phenomenal event. Jesus is the Messiah, the one God sent. He is raised and seated on high ruling and reigning. They glory in the resurrection. They proclaim that the tomb was empty. It’s not just a case of a man whose teachings were so great that “the dream lives on.” His death may have looked as if he were a fraud, as if it’s the end, without the resurrection. But he’s not only alive, he’s reigning. He is the Son of God with power.

A Jesus who had not lost his power to heal.
Philip is preaching and we see amazing things happen. The crowds heard it and saw it. These two men are provocations that our hearers also see the mighty implications of this Jesus being alive, being raised from the dead. Terry encouraged us to get behind Lex Loizides and the Front Edge program. Jesus is alive. Terry realized recently that he’d never taught on healing all these years. He was challenged to proclaim this and teach about this biblical Jesus. Speak about the Bible Jesus. Faith arises, hearts are stirred. “He preached Christ, not healings and miracles” say some commentaries. But it’s amazing at the end, so they were baptized. But then the text doesn’t mention baptism. He must have mentioned baptism then, just didn’t record that he said that. So he proclaimed the sort of Christ who can heal the sick and oppressed of the devil. He presented him as he was in the Bible. People got healed because he told people what Jesus was like and what he did. He didn’t present substitutionary atonement alone, but spoke of other things that Jesus did. In Galatians it is Jesus who supplies the Spirit to them and performs miracles among them. In the gospels he is either healing, coming from a healing, or about to do one. He is performing healings all the time. To preach Christ without even mentioning it is to preach an incomplete Christ. Jesus is still the same, yesterday and today and forever. Often uncomfortable with the teaching of those who go for healing. Well then it’s time for US to preach it like it is and go for it!

A Jesus who expected a whole hearted response.
He baptized them. For joy he sells everything to get the pearl. We need to be absolutely besotted with Christ and the kingdom. It is vital.

A Jesus who could bring joy to the city.
Mark talked about the cities yesterday. Church planting is not just going up the road to the next town. We need to go for it. God wants our tragic cities with their multiple problems. The gospel must break out in our cities. Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Spirit.

A Jesus with the nations in mind.
The nations come to our cities. We must be on our toes. God wants to go to the ends of the earth.

When I write these notes, I do sometimes slip in things that strike me, so please understand they are never meant to be accurate transcripts. One thing strikes me about this passage, which Terry didn’t have to say, speaking as he was to a room full of charismatics — healings and miracles are not enough. Baptisms and repentance are not enough. It is so striking that none of those things particularly impressed the magician, Simon. It is surely one of the most obvious demonstrations that the receiving of the Spirit is not meant to be a private intimate secret affair that even the recipient might not realize it has happened. No, the man who had seen all those miracles was only impressed when the Apostles came, laid hands on people, and they received the Spirit. We are not told here exactly what happened. But it was enough to make this man offer money that he could also impart the Spirit. If it had been us, many of us would instead have offered money to be able to heal people! Whatever your theology of the Spirit is, make sure you have room for a dramatic encounter that somehow is so visible and impressive in its results that it is more dramatic even than healings. We have to expect an anointing of the Spirit that is tangible and vivid and has dynamic results.

Back to Terry. We also see here the need to be like Philip, who was eager to bring in someone from outside. We need to be those who ask for people to come from the outside, to ask for help. We need people who are like Stephen and Philip, who can say with humility, “It’s not mine, it doesn’t belong to me. It’s God’s ministry.”

Philip is whisked off from the multitude to one guy. He has a passion for the crowd, but also for the individual. He is not caught up in the moment of high profile.

Terry then spoke of how some leaders get as far as they can go in their gift and they have to make room for someone else to take over and take the lead. That takes a humble heart. It’s not failure. You can be fulfilled by doing this. Make room. I want you to move in and take over! That’s a difficult thing for a pastor to say. We need to hear stories that people in the churches have stepped down. It takes a lot of grace to do that. Wives can be jealous for their husbands. Be flexible, be humble. Stephen lost his life, Philip laid down his life so others could play their role.

What comes first is the kingdom. It’s about being besotted with Jesus. Having a passion for him. Let’s talk about the WHOLE Jesus, the Bible Jesus. The one who began to work, and is still working today. It will be hard, it will be tough. But let’s go for it! As we have as our motto on all of our literature at Jubilee Church, “It’s all about Jesus.”

This morning I attended the last session of the Leaders’ training track, Prophetic Encounter, led by Sam Poe and Phil Wilthew. Today’s session looked at “Pastors and Prophets Together Building the Church.” I also was able to get to the two previous sessions, which I summarized at these pages:

• Apostles and Prophets Together on a Mission

• Prophets and Prophets Together Giving a Fuller Picture

Sam serves on John Lanferman’s apostolic team in the USA. He and his wife, Marlene, have travelled widely, serving churches in the USA and other nations. In recent years they have been particularly involved in working together with churches in Russia and the Ukraine. Sam and Marlene are presently based in Tacoma, Washington, where they are part of a new church. Sam is also serving other churches related to Newfrontiers in that region.

Phil is married to Carole, has two children, and is an elder in City Church, Newcastle, UK. He serves churches prophetically, particularly in the north of the UK, and has a passion to develop prophetic teams.

More posts from this conference can be found on my TOAM08 label page. You can download the mp3s of this week’s talks by subscribing to the new Newfrontiers podcast, which will be an easy way for you to get access to the mp3s for free.

A prophet working in isolation can cause mayhem! But working with the local pastor produces both security and expansion in the people for whom he has responsibility.

Sam Poe began by turning to 1 Thessalonians 5. “Test everything. Hold on to the good, avoid every kind of evil.”

The focal point of prophetic ministry should be the local church. The application and expression of that ministry is in building up the church. What Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5 will require not just the prophets, but those in authority—teachers and pastors working together to ensure that prophecy is tested, weighed, and applied.

Prophecy can bring encouragement, direction, and prediction of the future, as well as warnings and correction. Mandates of this text are about prophecy.

SOME IMPERATIVES IN THIS PASSAGE

Don’t quench the fire by disdaining or despising prophecy.
Because of the excesses, errors, and eccentricities, we can reject it because of this. Root the pictures in sound theology. We need elders who will pastor as leaders the prophetic. The central purpose of prophecy is to build up. They also have a foundational effort. Encouragement or exhortation—it’s about helping someone reach for a positive future. Don’t ever use prophecy to try to get somebody to do something you want them to do. Life is full of trouble; prophecy brings comfort, which is more of a prod to get you going forward and to strengthen you in the battle.

TEST them all.
All prophecy needs to be tested. Not to judge with a scowl on the face. The word in Greek is to examine something and evaluate it with the attitude or expectation of approving it, i.e. our attitude should not be cynical.

Maintain what is good — hold on to it.
This is good and we want to take it on board and take some steps. Otherwise it could be frustrating. Apostolic ministry and pastoral ministry are critical. Fan the flames.

Abstain from whatever is evil.
Sometimes something comes in the name of prophecy that’s not helpful. Sometimes there is no real weight in the prophecy.

HOW TO RECEIVE PROPHETS INTO THE LOCAL CHURCH

If you don’t have a well-established mature prophet in the life of the church, sometimes you may need to receive one of them. Ephesians 4:11 type prophets can help us lay firm foundations in the church. It’s the same foundation that they lay.

As the question, “Are they accountable to a local church and its leadership?” Don’t invite them if they aren’t! Every leader and ministry must be rooted into the life of a local church. Some are very trans-local and mobile, but where is home? Where do they come back to? Are they related to and working in a team with an apostolic ministry? They are meant to be working together. Find each other and be related to each other.

It’s important that the congregation has a clear biblical understanding of the place and value of prophetic ministry in the local church.

Phil Wilthew then added to this. Pastors and prophets are very different people. Pastors and prophets have the same job description –—i.e. to reveal Jesus. There are five ways this can work well.

Recognize differences.
God designed us to be different and complementary. Don’t be too quick to compartmentalize. We are a blend of gifts. Gifts are colors and shades, but not boxes. Pastors tend to be warm, loving, create unity, security, strength, consolidate, provide strong foundations, are measured and well rounded, not given to extremes, cautious of change, patient, good for the long haul with no short sharp fixes. They are amazing gifts to the church. Prophets are the perfect foil for all those characteristics, — they are direct, love change, can get frustrated with the status quo, look at what’s ahead, find it hard to live in the hear and now as they are looking ahead, don’t like maintaining and consolidating; they are impulsive, defensive, attacking, not measured, and dislike caution. Again an amazing gift to the church. There is a great potential for synergy, and also for challenge between them. Self-awareness is a great gift.

Practice love.
It’s simple, but worth saying again. Neither circumcision or uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. If you don’t have love, you are a painful cymbal. It’s not emotional, it’s something we do. Chemistry is important, but express faith and practice love. Don’t be right all the time.

Love enables honest communication.
Love enables you to talk honestly with each other. But can rebuke, spell out what’s what. Too many people have high honesty, but shallow relationships. Paul opposed Peter face-to-face. Don’t send an e-mail! Look in the whites of their eyes and realize I “need to talk to you honestly.” Gather pastors with prophetically gifted guys in the church into groups, teams. In times of frustration, don’t be impulsive in your communication. Utilize communication, especially with prophetic people who have gone silent and found a cave to hide in!

Develop proper teams.
The first is a mixed-gift team. Be with guys who are not like you. Cover weaknesses. Also need same-gift teams, too. So we need to mix it up and have different combinations.

Play to your strengths.
We need to look to change the areas where we are lacking. But, we will be most effective by getting better at what we are already good at. Get better at your gift.

Give good feedback to good prophetic people in your church. The worst thing for most prophetic people is silence. Do it in the meeting. “I just want to say thank you so much to the prophetic people who shared this morning. I was particularly blessed by this …” Also, provide personal feedback, e.g. “Thank you so much for sharing. Next time something that might really help you would be if you would talk slower and more clearly.”

Don’t always translate frustration as rebellion, or that they are out of kilter. It’s their job to plow things up. He hears God and mercilessly questions everything. A prophet is therefore seen as a threat and wants movement now. He is not a troubler. Ask prophetic folk what they are hearing. Work on the character of prophetic people in your church. Character training is of highest value. Rigorously challenge prophetic people on their time with God. Understand that accuracy is learned and developed over time. Need very positive encouragement and help.