Love is not some insipid woolly emotion offered to everyone in the same way irrespective of their response. Love is passionate. Infinite love is infinitely passionate.
God’s love has content.

He truly cares about us, and more than that he truly cares about the honor of his name and the glory of the trinity. God’s love is primarily turned towards himself as the most lovable being in the universe. For all eternity the Father loves and is satisfied in the Son, the Son loves and is satisfied in the Father. They both love and are satisfied in the Holy Spirit, and he also loves and is satisfied in them. Such love in such a holy being is also the source of wrath.

Imagine if you will that someone you love dearly is murdered. It is right and appropriate that you would feel anger. It is understandable that you would seek justice. As a believer that very impulse must be tempered, however, by the instruction to leave the due repaying to the one infinitely more wronged. “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19). We turn our wrath away by the sure and certain knowledge that someone else is wrathful on our behalf.

As finite beings, there is so much sin in this world that if we allowed ourselves to be wrathful at it, anger would consume us and there would be nothing left. Bitterness does precisely this to man.

But God is not carelessly indifferent as some imagine him to be. God’s anger burns with a holy fire precisely because he loves. It is not that love and anger are set against each other, and that somewhere in the middle a lukewarm God is forged. No, God is wrathful because it hurts him to see the destruction sin has wrought in the ones he loves.

We must not think that God loves us any less because he hates the sin that is determined to destroy us. If he didn’t hate the sin, it would be like someone gazing indifferently as their loved one was murdered.

He is angry because sin corrupts the world he cares for. He is angry because sin warps the way people see him. He is angry because the honor of the God he loves is trampled in the dust. His love for us, and his love for himself requires him to act. He is angry because holiness and justice, being in his very nature, must be vindicated or he would no longer be God. He cannot simply overlook sin and remain God. Or not the same God he has always been, anyway.

The whole argument of Romans is that God is faced with a dilemma. How can he be just and the one that forgives sins? It is only in the cross that a solution to this is found. It is not that Jesus saves us from an angry God. He himself is angry at sin. He is both the refuge and the one from which we must run. He chooses to offer us a way out. Then he warns us, that since this is the only way out, if we trample all over the offer, there is nothing left for us but wrath.

“Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
(Psalm 2:11-12)

There is not very many videos of Jack Hayford available for free online. It was a delight therefore to watch this one over the weekend and I really felt that it benefited me. I could hear God speaking to me through his Word. I encourage you to watch the following video and then consider booking in to our next 300 Leaders Conference where he will be speaking.

The video is followed by some notes I took when I watched it:

Psalm 119:165

Peace is wholeness or completeness. Let God’s Word help us become like this. People tend to think of religious people as being pious and inflexible. We do have boundary lines, but when God’s wholeness is lived out in relationships it imparts freedom. Your being needs to encounter the Book. Then you will be an influence. We are not called to merely make remarks about things that we disapprove of. There are ways we can prophesy our future. There is a biblical law of reciprocity. Give and it will be given to you. There are principles of life that rebound on you. Judge not and you will not be judged. Giving is to be pressed down and running over.

Be gracious and non judgmental. Relate to people in these ways. Love and receive people who are way out of line. It doesn’t come easily. Like a bay. Something is shaped in you. Wash out an area in you where goodness can come and favor and winsomeness to others. People will begin to recognize you as someone they can trust.

Everything about Jesus has this quality. People came to him. Something in him drew them to him. This kind of person is a witness for Christ. We are to be like this. It’s not passivity, but establishing the grounds for our witness.

Our goal is winsomeness. There is a power in simply letting people know we like them. We must never condemn. A simple example of condemning is to say “I am through with them..”. We mustn’t give up on people.

There can be something in us that blocks our relationships with others. It is not that our values are wrong. It is not that our gospel must not be spoken. Something in the way that we relate to others should open a tide of influence. People will be drawn to you and thereby to Jesus.

Jonathan Edward’s great work Religious Affections was introduced to us in yesterday’s quote.  In my mind there is probably no better book written to help us to grasp this vital subject (other than the Bible itself of course!)  We should by now be beginning to understand one of the most fascinating paradoxes, our feelings are meant to be a massive part of our Christian experience, and yet they are not always to be relied upon. This quote is vintage Edwards:

Some are ready to condemn all high affections: if persons appear to have their religious affections raised to an extraordinary pitch, they are prejudiced against them, and determine that they are delusions, without further inquiry. But if it be, as has been proved, that true religion lies very much in religious affections, then it follows, that if there be a great deal of true religion, there will be great religious affections; if true religion in the hearts of men be raised to a great height, divine and holy affections will be raised to a great height.

Love is an affection, but will any Christian say, men ought not to love God and Jesus Christ in a high degree? And will any say, we ought not to have a very great hatred of sin, and a very deep sorrow for it? Or that we ought not to exercise a high degree of gratitude to God for the mercies we receive of him, and the great things he has done for the salvation of fallen men? Or that we should not have very great and strong desires after God and holiness? Is there any who will profess, that his affections in religion are great enough; and will say, “I have no cause to be humbled, that I am no more affected with the things of religion than I am; I have no reason to be ashamed, that I have no greater exercises of love to God and sorrow for sin, and gratitude for the mercies which I have received?” Who is there that will bless God that he is affected enough with what he has read and heard of the wonderful love of God to worms and rebels, in giving his only begotten Son to die for them, and of the dying love of Christ; and will pray that he may not be affected with them in any higher degree, because high affections are improper and very unlovely in Christians, being enthusiastical, and ruinous to true religion?

Our text plainly speaks of great and high affections when it speaks of “repining with joy unspeakable, and full of glory:” here the most superlative expressions are used, which language will afford. And the Scriptures often require us to exercise very high affections: thus in the first and great commandment of the law, there is an accumulation of expressions, as though words were wanting to express the degree in which we ought to love God: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.” So the saints are called upon to exercise high degrees of joy: “Rejoice,” says Christ to his disciples, “and be exceeding glad,” Matt. 5:12. So it is said, Psalm 68:3, “Let the righteous be glad: let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.” So in the book of Psalms, the saints are often called upon to shout for joy; and in Luke 6:23, to leap for joy. So they are abundantly called upon to exercise high degrees of gratitude for mercies, to “praise God with all their hearts, with hearts lifted up in the ways of the Lord, and their souls magnifying the Lord, singing his praises, talking of his wondrous works, declaring his doings, &c.”

And we find the most eminent saints in Scripture often professing high affections. Thus the Psalmist speaks of his love, as if it were unspeakable; Psal. 119:97, “O how love I thy law!” So he expresses a great degree of hatred of sin, Psal. 139:21, 22: “Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? And am not I grieved with them that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred.” He also expresses a high degree of sorrow for sin: he speaks of his sins “going over his head as a heavy burden that was too heavy for him: and of his roaring all the day, and his moisture being turned into the drought of summer,” and his bones being as it were broken with sorrow. So he often expresses great degrees of spiritual desires, in a multitude of the strongest expressions which can be conceived of; such as “his longing, his soul’s thirsting as a dry and thirsty land, where no water is, his panting, his flesh and heart crying out, his soul’s breaking for the longing it hath,”

Jonathan Edwards, A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections : In Three Parts … (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1996).

Has it ever struck you that trying to avoid sleep so we can accomplish more is as sinful as it is foolish. For sure we can do it for a short time, and there may be times when it is right to do just that. But for many burned out executives, sleep is something to be rationed so they can be more productive.  Actually, as John Piper tells us, God has designed our bodies so we simply cannot play that game without big cost. He has done this for a reason:

Psalm 127:2 says, “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved in his sleep” (author’s translation). According to this text, sleep is a gift of love, but the gift is often spurned by anxious toil. Peaceful sleep is the opposite of anxiety. God does not want his children to be anxious, but to trust him. Therefore I conclude that God made sleep as a continual reminder that we should not be anxious but should rest in him.

Sleep is a daily reminder from God that we are not God. “He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4). But we will. For we are not God. Once a day God sends us to bed like patients with a sickness. The sickness is a chronic tendency to think we are in control and that our work is indispensable. To cure us of this disease, God turns us into helpless sacks of sand once a day. How humiliating to the self-made corporate executive that he has to give up all control and become as limp as a suckling infant every day.

Sleep is a parable that God is God and we are mere men. God handles the world quite nicely while a hemisphere sleeps. Sleep is like a broken record that comes around with the same message every day: Man is not sovereign.… Man is not sovereign.… Man is not sovereign. Don’t let the lesson be lost on you. God wants to be trusted as the Great Worker who never tires and never sleeps. He is not nearly so impressed with our late nights and early mornings as he is with the peaceful trust that casts all anxieties on him and sleeps. “His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man; but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love” (Psalm 147:10–11, rsv).

–John Piper, Taste and See: Savoring the Supremacy of God in All of Life (Sisters, Or.: Multnomah Publishers, 2005), 335-36.

I decided to attend the students’ event on my first evening at New Word Alive. This was partly because I wanted to pretend I was young again, but largely because I arrived too late for the “Adult” celebration.  Here are some brief notes I took during the session:

V1 ff Gods glory in creation
Psalms tell us god is enormous though we think he’s small, and we are small tho we think we are enormous.

God is a God of joy who rejoices in his creation. The message of Psalms is it’s God’s way or our way.

Our joy hinges on a relationship with the creator God.

v7 ff Gods glory reveled in his word
Specific revelation of who he is. The Old Testament is pointing forward to the cross, while the whole New Testament is pointing back to cross and resurrection.

God tells us exactly what we need to know about him and us in his book.

Gods word brings life. If you don’t know christ you are dead. If you know christ you were revived. Given life.

Finally, God’s word humbles us.

Yesterday evening I went to the adult celebration.  The student celebration covered the same psalm but by a different speaker.  In both cases the preacher aimed to help us to be overwhelmed in a godly way.  I heard reports of many being moved to tears during the student celebration where Nigel Styles was speaking; my good buddy and normally emotionally stable friend Sam Allberry looked quite moved afterwards when we met up. Here are my notes from the first session:

This psalm is not only about depression, it is also speaking about the exprience of exile.  We are all in exile here on a hostile earth and unable to fully get back into the presence of God.  The psalms are searingly honest. We don’t need pretense with God.  We hear the heart of the psalmist and we can listen in and pour out our own hearts.

There is a movement here from lament to hope.  We may feel this way almost daily since we live in a fallen world.

Three questions to help us learn from his experience:

1. Why was he troubled?

God had judged him, and it felt like he had been forgotten by God. Despite the fact that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, but we still live in a sinful broken world. The psalmist faces reality full-on. At one level we should feel downcast as we watch the news and see what is happening in a world being destroyed by sin. Unless we are downcast we will not turn to God.

2. Why was he hopeful

Despite his feelings about God,  he remains confident in him. He thirsts after him.  He is taunted “where is your God” but he knows God is with him.

3. How did he find hope in the midst of trouble?

He refuses to wallow in self pity. He counsels himself. He rebukes himself brutally. He commands himself. We must minister the truth to ourselves. He also cries to God.  He is very direct and argues with God, telling him how we wants him to act.

God wants us to long for heaven and to be with him.  The trouble for many of us is that when our lives are easy we settle for too little.  It is only our desires for God that will make life on earth livable.

To those who never clap in church, I ask, do you ever clap anywhere else? Do you clap at the end of a good play, or maybe even at the cinema as audiences were reported to be doing after Avatar?  If so, why do you do that? Surely because the actors are worth it.  Isn’t Jesus worthy of at least as much applause?

To those who never shout out with excitement in church, I ask again, do you ever shout anywhere else? Do you shout when your team scores a goal? If so, why do you do that?  Surely because you think the team is worth it.  If so, why do you not think that Jesus is at least as worthy of a good shout?

To those of you who never dance or jump in church, I ask once more, do you ever dance anywhere else? If some earthly hero of yours, a celebrity, was appearing somewhere and you were in a vast crowd, would you jump and scream with the rest of them? What about at a wedding? Or a club? Why would you do that? Surely because you think they are worthy of the natural behavior an excited person demonstrates. Is Jesus not worthy of at least as much excitement?

To those of you who never weep with joy in church, I say is he not worthy of such a display of emotion? To those who never simply sit in silence and mediate or sing a quiet contemplative song, is he not worthy of such attention? To those who will not raise their hands in surrender to the king, is he not worthy of our worship and adoration?

And to all of us, I simply say, King David had the right idea.  Somehow I suspect God agrees since such a large part of the Old Testament either comes from his pen or is about him.  Somehow I think the Apostle Paul agreed with King David as he told us to sing psalms.  It would be strange indeed if the Church is meant to sing psalms but not do what they say.  To all of us I say, it’s time to read the book of Psalms not as some ancient hymn book but as a manual for modern day worship.

Sometimes those we love turn on us. This is never more true than in any form of church leadership. It never ceases to amaze me how some members of Christ’s flock are quick to accuse their pastors. I do not work for a church, but I have an immense amount of respect for those who do so. Why? Because I know some of the pain that is their lot, being involved as I am in our church’s leadership team.

These men give up a lot. They are not well paid, and for sure no one goes into local church ministry to earn a good salary. They do not get much time off. Family life is often swallowed up in work. They find it hard to just switch off. They are bombarded by people in need, and those in dire situations. They give themselves repeatedly to care for the sheep. Sometimes it is the very sheep who the pastors have done their best to help who turn on them. Wild accusations that completely disregard the care the pastor has shown them are not that uncommon.

One of the psalms leapt out at me when I read it recently. It depicts so well the scenario I am describing. It also gives us the remedy. Unable to defend themselves, the godly pastor really has only one place to go: to prayer. I love the way the psalmist simply says, “but I give myself to prayer.” If you are a struggling pastor, do find someone you can speak to about it, but first follow the psalmist’s example. The one who called you is able to sustain you, lift you, vindicate your name, and uphold your cause.

If you are a member of Christ’s flock who has this tendency to bite the hand that God uses to help feed you, then please think again. Just maybe your pastor is weeping over you right now.

Be not silent, O God of my praise!
For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me,
speaking against me with lying tongues.
They encircle me with words of hate,
and attack me without cause.
In return for my love they accuse me,
but I give myself to prayer.
So they reward me evil for good,
and hatred for my love. (Psalm 109)

A couple of weeks back I preached at Kings Church, Ilford. I took a number of verses from Psalm 119 with the goal of inspiring us again how God’s word has life-giving power. You can listen to the sermon right here: God’s Reviving Word

Sam Storms writes on worship in More Precious Than Gold, 50 Daily Meditations on the Psalms (Crossway Books: Wheaton, IL 2009), 180-184.

Sam reports how a man once approached him and told him, undoubtedly sincerely, that he was uncomfortable with the way Sam worshiped. Sam’s reply? “I’m certainly open to correction, and I’m sorry you were offended, but I’m not particularly concerned with what puts you at ease. When the day comes that you are the object of my praise and adoration, I’ll pay a bit more attention to what makes you feel comfortable. Until then, I’m primarily concerned about what pleases God.”

Sam wisely shares 10 guidelines for the kind of worship that pleases God:

(1) Worship that pleases God is perpetual and constant (Psalm 92:2)

(2) Worship that pleases God is instrumental (Psalm 150)

(3) Clearly God delights in joyful worship (Psalm 92:4)

(4) Worship that pleases God is grounded in the recognition and celebration of his greatness (Psalm 92:5)

(5) Worship that pleases God is both loud and logical . . . Note well that worship here [in the Psalms] entails noisy songs.

(6) Worship that pleases God is physical (Psalm 95:6)

(7) Worship that pleases God is fresh and creative. (Psalm 33:3, Psalm 40:3, Psalm 96:1, Psalm 98:1, Psalm 144:9, Psalm 149:1)

(8) Worship that pleases God is public. (Psalm 96:3)

(9) Worship that pleases God ascribes glory to his name.

(10) God is especially honored when the whole of creation joins in celebrating his goodness and greatness. (Psalm 96:11-13a).

Martyn Lloyd-Jones diagnoses the problem with the people of Israel. His diagnosis also reflects on us today. He is speaking from Psalm 78:41.

The ultimate charge that he brings against them is that they were guilty of “limit[ing] the Holy One of Israel.” Now some translations translate this as, “they provoked the Holy One of Israel,” which comes to the same thing. They provoked Him in this way: In their unbelief and in their failure to receive His promises and to believe them and to act upon them, they stood between themselves and the many blessings that God had offered them and promised them so freely.

Now, that is the essence of the charge that the psalmist brings against these people. It is a very common charge in the Scriptures. In other words, the children of Israel, by their unbelief, because of their state and condition, had not been living as God intended them to live; they had not risen to the heights of their high calling. Rather they were living in a state of misery and weakness and sometimes utter dejection, though they were meant to stand out as the people of God, reflecting His everlasting and eternal glory.

David Martyn. Lloyd-Jones and Christopher. Catherwood, Seeking the Face of God : Nine Reflections on the Psalms, 1st U.S. ed. (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2005), 79.

There is no doubt in my mind that the greatest need of the church today is for a true revival. Revival is, of course, primarily something God does. It brings great joy and delight. I fear that it has become so alien to us that we almost dare not pray for it. I would love to challenge us to realize that revival is merely the intensification of the Holy Spirit’s normal work in the church. As such, it is possible to experience even a local revival, or a revival in an individual. We should pray that God will wake us up, then try to stir ourselves, for a revival is ultimately about the church rising up to grasp all that God has for her.

I found these words inspiring, and they make great words to pray. But don’t merely pray and then be passive. Pray and then open your eyes to what God would have you do right now. It is interesting that the psalmist speaks of the need to go out to sow in tears in order to then reap in joy.

Psalm 126

When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then they said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
The LORD has done great things for us;
we are glad.

Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like streams in the Negeb!
Those who sow in tears
shall reap with shouts of joy!
He who goes out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
bringing his sheaves with him.

“Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.” Ezekial 19:30-32

In the above verse we see a classic example of God commanding us to do something we simply cannot. When I read this recently everything inside me yelled out “but I CANT do that God!” How can I create ANYTHING, let alone a new heart and spirit within me? And then it struck me. God urges us to do the impossible so that we will turn to him in desperation and plead with him to do for us what he has commanded. So, we see for example David praying,

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)

I know, I know — I’m supposed to be on a blogging break! But last night’s news about David Wayne was weighing on me this morning, and then I saw in my inbox this from Spurgeon’s Faith Checkbook devotion. It lifted me as only God’s Word can. May God be immediately present to you this Christmas!

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1).

A help that is not present when we need it is of small value. The anchor which is left at home is of no use to the seaman in the hour of storm; the money which he used to have is of no worth to the debtor when a writ is out against him. Very few earthly helps could be called “very present”: they are usually far in the seeking, far in the using, and farther still when once used. But as for the Lord our God, He is present when we seek Him, present when we need Him, and present when we have already enjoyed His aid.

He is more than “present,” He is very present. More present than the nearest friend can be, for He is in us in our trouble; more present than we are to ourselves, for sometimes we lack presence of mind. He is always present, effectually present, sympathetically present, altogether present. He is present now if this is a gloomy season. Let us rest ourselves upon Him. He is our refuge, let us hide in Him; He is our strength, let us array ourselves with Him; He is our help, let us lean upon Him; He is our very present help, let us repose in Him now. We need not have a moment’s care or an instant’s fear. “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.”

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The family band called Phatfish have been together for fifteen years, and I have interviewed one of the band members, Nathan Fellingham, here. I love all their music, some of which is designed for worship services, but all of which has the effect of making the truth of God’s Word impact me on a deeply emotional and spiritual level.

There is no doubt in my mind that when Paul said, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:14), he intended us to understand that one of the key ways we can teach and admonish one another is by singing songs to one another, songs in which the Word richly dwells. You can listen to excerpts of Phatfish songs online, and I’m sure you’ll agree that this is music full of truth. You can also watch a video here.

I’m sure that many of my American readers won’t be familiar with Phatfish, but I’d be surprised if any of my British readers don’t at least know of them. To celebrate their fifteen-year anniversary they have released a two-CD compilation album with remastered tracks covering their entire career. I would encourage you to show your support of this fantastic band and buy a copy at a specially discounted price for readers of this blog. Many of the tracks are worship songs that we sing at Jubilee Church.

Christian musicians rely on our support to pay their bills, and it’s only right that we fund them in this way. It might surprise you to know that very few Christian musicians are employed by their churches, so these purchases quite literally put food on the table for members of bands like Phatfish. In this way those of us who are blessed by Christian bands can, in return, help them continue to write and produce new material.

Buying CDs also means that we too will benefit. I’m sure that this double album will be played repeatedly, and if you listen to the lyrics, you will find that God’s truth affects you. For centuries Christians have understood that good songs and hymns can educate us in God’s Word and help us understand, retain, and be changed by this wonderful gospel we all hold so dear.

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.

Many Christian speakers, especially those from a similar school as Mark Driscoll, put a lot of emphasis on the cities these days. I believe it’s right for us to have a heart for the cities because Jesus has a heart for cities. Cities are like a magnet to anyone who loves people. There is an endless stream of people who you see every day. In a city you can never meet everyone. In a city, you can be in a crowd of people and still feel totally alone.

People wonder why cities are such unfriendly places, but the truth is, you simply can’t stop and say hello to everyone you pass in a city, still less, pause and have a conversation. If you want to be stared at, try breaking that city social convention and even smile at someone you are passing in the street. They may well look at you as if you are about to rob them.

This aspect of living in a city reminds me of my attempts to engage a McDonald’s server when out with my son. In a city, when faced with that kind of experience, you have a choice. You either join everybody else in retreating like a shocked tortoise into the warm, protective, comforting, secure environment of a well-developed shell, or you resolve to continue fighting that tendency. Of course, as a city dweller you will have to develop your shell, which is essential when your face is squashed into someone else’s smelly armpit on a rush-hour train. But please try and remember, you can poke your head out of your shell from time to time. It’s right for us as Christians to try and be nice to people. I gave a couple of examples of my more recent attempts at reaching out to people in the city at the beginning of the audio of my sermon on Psalm 121.

Whether we like it or not, the truth is that what happens in our cities is influential on the rest of our culture. The shapers and influencers tend to live in cities. Cities lead a nation. The cities do truly shape the culture. Driscoll claims that cities are “upstream,” and that a society is shaped by its producers of culture, who mostly live in cities. In the past Christianity was an urban movement and the cities led us towards godliness. Today, in both the UK and the USA, the church has become a rural phenomenon by and large as the cities have led the way in rejecting the gospel. Sadly, cities are now leading our nations astray. It’s time that this trend is reversed. I thank God for the many Christians faithfully serving him in towns and villages. But I wonder—is it time for us to think carefully about our strategy for reaching the nations? It is time that we called our cities to repentance.

There is no doubt in my mind that one of the best things we can do for the towns and villages is support the establishment of large churches in the cities. If we allow the perverse trend to continue that has led to Christianity becoming largely irrelevant in the cities, then we doom the Church to an ineffective existence, with the best that we can hope for being small pockets of success surrounding those churches which are growing within a town or village. Most towns have limited influence outside of themselves, except perhaps on nearby villages or other local towns. Cities influence whole nations and beyond. A good city church should spill over into planting other churches around it, and even distant from it. It is not an accident that in the New Testament we find Paul planting reproducing churches in all the major cities of a region, and then saying, “I no longer have any room for work in these regions” (see the whole of Romans 15 for the context).

The battle for the souls of our nations is taking place in the largest cities of those nations. It’s time for us as Christians to take up arms and join this fight aggressively. For some, it may mean moving from a town or village to a city. There is no shortage of harvesting work to be done in our large cities. Jesus, for example, was born in obscure Bethlehem, raised in the town of Nazareth, and although he began his work in rural Galilee, it was not by accident that he headed to the biggest city of his nation for the climax of his ministry. He was born in a village, but died in a city. Perhaps we need an army of people prepared to do the same.

City people are different from country people. They have a tendency as a group to hold their opinions more aggressively, and be more anti-God, so you will see more opposition. They don’t respond as well to church fetes and other community building activities, or at least not all of them. They are more likely to find a church from a billboard or an Internet website than country folk. Still, having seen such an advert makes them more likely to say yes to that invite from a friend, which remains the best way of growing our churches. The trouble is, city folk may not have many friends. In a city it seems to be less about the building than in the country. A village church can be the center of the community, even for unbelievers. In a city, a church can grow large without a traditional building of its own. Schools and even theaters can be quickly transformed into church meeting places.

When you live in a city, you join a tribe that is mobile. You find people moving from one city to another with alarming speed. That movement could be for a quick business trip, a month of training, or two years or more of work placement. It’s no use trying to persuade such people to stay in a city; they won’t feel loyalty to the local that is felt by many in the country. There are many cities of Europe I can fly to more quickly than I can drive to parts of my own country. Many people living in cities feel much more connected to cities in other nations than they do to the rural areas of their own country.

Cities are such transient places that they need—even more than towns and villages—churches that will provide some stability for them. Those churches need a core of people who have bucked the trend and decided firmly that they are staying for the long haul. Could you be one such person? Is God calling you to move from a village to a city and settle there? Can you establish a community in a place where everything about life is fighting to disintegrate that sense of togetherness? Are you called to be a part of a church plant, or maybe even to lead one? Are you called to commit to putting down some roots and bringing stability to a church within a city? Are you called to engage in culture-changing activities within the so-called “secular space” of the influential workplaces of the city? Will you be one of the laborers our cities so desperately need?

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

I want to introduce you to a very unusual book by Mark Driscoll and his writing buddy and professor, Gerry Breshears. I would go so far as to say that this is a unique book in that I have never seen anything quite like it.

If their first book together, Vintage Jesus, was a light cheerful book that offended some by its use of humor and at times edgy topics for illustrations, this new book by these two men is more of a grungy, almost dark book. The video over at the ReLit site leaves you in no doubt that this is a book that will wrestle with darkness, pain, and even demonization.

Certainly this book represents just a tiny sample of the ocean of pain that a pastor of a large church has to handle over the years. Some neoliberals argue that people who believe in penal substitutionary atonement do not engage with the real suffering found in the world. This book demonstrates emphatically that in Driscoll’s case this is simply not true. Such critics also argue that the evangelical’s gospel can become overly narrow, eventually focusing solely on the “felt need” of the feelings of guilt many still experience. Guilt, however, is far from the only reason people come to Christ. The New Testament is full of helpful ways we can understand what Jesus did on the cross.

Without in any way softening his commitment to the centrality of Jesus taking the punishment of sin in our understanding of the cross, Driscoll is far broader in his understanding of and application of the cross to hurting people’s lives today. From convicted child molesters, to cheating husbands and raped women, Driscoll shares pen outlines of the destruction manifest in the lives of specific people to whom he has ministered. He then shows in a letter written to each individual how a specific aspect of what Jesus has done on the cross can bring wholeness and salvation to them.

This is a vital book that should be read by every Christian who is serious about reaching out with the gospel into this dark and damaged world. I will share a video of Mark speaking about the book, followed by an excerpt from one of those letters that particularly struck me. You will have to buy the book to see exactly how Driscoll and Breshears apply the gospel to Bill and his violent, abusive father.

“As a little boy you rightly felt angry at your dad, and that anger rightly compelled you to confront his injustice and protect the rest of the family. Therefore, anger can be a righteous virtue, which explains why God gets angry at sin too. The Bible is full of examples of God getting angry at sinners. A few examples will illustrate my point clearly, but a reading of Leviticus 26:27-30, Numbers 11:1, and Deuteronomy 29:24 for starters, speak of God’s anger as being hostile, burning, and furious.

Flaccid church guys will often accept that in the Old Testament God did get angry, but they will say that Jesus was a nice, emotionless, flaccid church guy, just like them, who chose a hollow, fake smile over anger every day. But even Jesus got angry, furious, and enraged . . . [Here Driscoll cites Mark 3:5 and Revelation 19, but one could also add Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-17, Luke 19:45-46, and John 2:13-17.]

In speaking of God’s anger, I want to be careful not to give permission for us to lose our temper and rage, because that is a sin—the very sin your father committed repeatedly. However, because God is perfect, his anger is perfect and, as such, is aroused slowly (Exodus 34:6-8), sometimes turned away (Deuteronomy 13:17), often delayed (Isaiah 48:9), and frequently held back (Psalm 78:38).

Furthermore, God feels angry because God hates sin (Proverbs 6:16-19, Zechariah 8:17). Sadly, it is commonly said among Christians that “God hates the sin but loves the sinner.” This is as stupid as saying that God loves rapists and hates rape, as if rape and rapists were two entirely different entities that could be separated from one another. Furthermore, it was not a divinely inspired author of Scripture but the Hindu, Gandhi, who coined the phrase, “Love the sinner but hate the sin” . . .

Regarding God’s anger and hatred, it is commonly protested that God cannot hate anyone because he is love. But the Bible speaks of God’s anger, wrath, and fury more than of his love, grace, and mercy. Furthermore, it is precisely because God is love that he must hate evil and all who do evil—evil is an assault on whom and what he loves.

Therefore, Bill, your anger toward and hatred of your father are justifiable and are the healthy response to seeing your dad beat the mother and siblings you love. However, in a mysterious conflict of deep emotions, you continued to love your father just as God continues to love unrepentant sinners whom he simultaneously hates . . .

I know this will be difficult for you to comprehend, Bill, but Jesus has fully experienced what you have, and much more. Jesus was mocked and beaten, though he was without sin. He willingly substituted himself for those he loved and wanted to save . . . ”

From Death By Love by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears, copyright 2008, pages 127-129. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com.