Elijah Prays For Rain from Adrian Warnock on Vimeo. Note that at the end of the video you will need to click on part two within the video player to watch the rest. You can also download the video in high definition from vimeo, or lower definition as well as audio from the CCK website.

In a couple of weeks time I will be at the Together On A Mission conference hosted by a man who I have been looking up to spiritually for three decades. I wanted to interrupt my blog break to share this sermon here to help those of you who will be joining us there prepare for the event.

This year's event feels like it will be more intimate. It will be a family gathering unusually with no outside speakers. Terry and the other speakers will no doubt be wanting to deliver messages that will shape Newfrontiers at this vital stage in our development. Can I strongly urge anyone who will be there, and also our friends from many different movements who cannot, to please pray for us. So, sit back, get yourself a cup of tea and watch this sermon, then put what you learn into practice.

Terry is a leader of leaders and through his ministry God has accomplished an incredible amount, including a movement of more than 600 churches in 50 nations. One thing that is perhaps less well known about Terry is that he is a real man of prayer. This comes across in the many prayer meetings he leads, and there is a long history of personal wrestling with God in prayer that has birthed this movement.

In this video Terry Virgo preaches on the subject of prayer using the prayer of Elijah. Be inspired to put into practice lessons from this prophet who James described as "a man just like us"

Please consider sharing this message on your own blog as I believe that in it God has a message for the church as a whole. If we will wake up, and begin to be more passionate in our prayers for God to act, who can imagine what God can do. Lets urge him "your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven"

The Full Series On Elijah By Terry Virgo

#1 - The Voice Of God

1 Kings 17:1 Download

#2 - A Man Who Stood Before God
1 Kings 17:1 Download

#3 - A Man of Personal Obedience
1 Kings 17:1-17 Download

#4 - I Have Commanded a Widow to Provide For You
1 Kings 17:7-16 Download

#5 - Trusting Through a Trial
1 Kings 17:8-24 Download - Download video

#6 - If the Lord is God follow Him
1 Kings 18 Download - Download video

#7 - Mount Carmel - Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
1 Kings 18 Download - Download video

#8 - Elijah Prays for Rain
1 Kings 18:41-46 Download - Download video

If my series on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which is now finished, has left you wanting to know more, then I encourage you to listen to three talks from my friend, Joel Virgo. Joel leads the Brighton Newfrontiers church, CCK. His first talk speaks about something I have blogged about previously, apostles today. The second goes through some of the gifts, and in the third he speaks about how the gifts can operate in meetings.

Joel argues for a different approach, depending on the size of the congregation, saying "the bigger the number of people in the room, the more important the leadership gift becomes in that meeting." He believes that the ideal size of meeting for the gifts to freely operate is around 100, although that does not mean they can't be used at all in larger or smaller meetings.

Also, there is one talk that I recommend more than any other if you are now eager to receive more of the Holy Spirit. Terry Virgo spoke at a Newfrontiers USA event on "How to Receive the Holy Spirit." You can download the audio, or read a testimony of how that talk led to a breakthrough for a man who had been seeking the Spirit for many years. Terry also has many other useful talks online

John Piper has a number of talks on the Holy Spirit available over at Desiring God. For example, "How to Receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

If you want to read more about this, I also recommend the following books. You will find you don’t agree with everything you read, not least because they don’t agree with each other! But, each of these books has something very useful to contribute to our understanding of this vital subject.

The section in Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology is probably the best place to start (as is the case with so many biblical subjects!) He has also written probably the standard work explaining the view of prophecy I hold to entitled The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today Grudem edited a four views book to which Sam Storms contributed called Are Miraculous Gifts For Today?

Daniel Wallace and James Sawyer wrote Who’s Afraid of the Holy Spirit. Read how two professors’ theological training had left them ill-prepared to deal with traumatic events, and their resulting journey away from what they called a spiritually sterile tradition to an experience of God’s Holy Spirit. Can cessationists experience the Holy Spirit without becoming out and out charismatics?

Don Carson’s book, Show the Spirit succeeds in steering such a middle course that I doubt anyone will agree with everything he says! But, it is very good to have your assumptions and beliefs examined in light of the exposition of this well-respected teacher. This book will leave both charismatics and cessationists a little uncomfortable, but definitely urges us to be open to the Spirit’s work.

A recent book from Crossway, He Who Gives Life is a very helpful and comprehensive theology of the Holy Spirit.

Gordon Fee's God's Empowering Presence examines every mention in Paul's letters of the role of the Holy Spirit.

Last, but by no means least, my friend Greg Haslam has recently written a fantastic book on the practicalities of pursuing the gift of prophecy today, called Moving in the Prophetic.

And there, for now, I will leave this subject of the gifts and this blog will move on to other things.

Tope Koleoso preached an outstanding sermon last Sunday on the subject of God's compassion. The challenge he gave us to share this compassion of God made the book of Jonah come to life in a fresh way. You can download the audio or video or watch it right here:

Over the next few days I will be serialising a lightly edited transcript of the sermon I preached last Sunday on the Holy Spirit's activity within the Church today. I appreciate this is a subject that many people have questions on, so I have opened up a discussion thread on Facebook and The Gospel Coalition Network for us to discuss these issues. Feel free to also submit questions or comments via a Twitter comment @adrianwarnock.

You can download the audio or watch the sermon right here:

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols however you were led. Therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking in the spirit of God ever says ‘Jesus is accursed,” and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts. but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of service, but the same Lord. And there are varieties of activity, but it is the same God who empowers them all in every one. . .All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he will. 1 Corinthians 12

Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you that you are present with us this morning. Thank you for being here in our worship. Now we ask you—come inhabit the preaching of your Word that this message will be helpful to us, it will be instructive to us, it will be inspiring to us, and it will result in a fresh release of these wonderful gifts of Holy Spirit among us, we pray. Amen.

For the last few months at Jubilee Church, we’ve been looking at the book of 1 Corinthians, and the title of that series has been “Authentic Christianity.” This morning, we’re looking at one more aspect of what defines “authentic” Christianity, the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The Activity of the Holy Spirit

The Spirit is here on earth because Jesus isn’t physically here anymore. Jesus promised that when he went away, he would send the Holy Spirit. In John 7:37-39 we are told that Jesus stood up at a great feast and shouted out the following: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” John then explains, “Now this Jesus said about the Spirit whom those who believe in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

Paul says something similar in 1 Corinthians 15:45, that the last Adam, which is a name for Jesus, became a life-giving Spirit. Something very special happened to Jesus as he rose from the dead and was ascended on high. He received power. There was an energizing of his body, if you like, as it lay in the tomb, and as he came back to life. He became a life-giving spirit. What does that mean? It means that right here, right now, today, on the A10 in Enfield, in the cinema here in Enfield, the same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead is available to you and me. The same power that re-animated a body that had been crucified and that had laid in that cold tomb for three whole days, that brought that body back to life, that same power. And it’s not just a power—it’s the person; he’s here in this room. He is that presence that we may have been aware of. Maybe as you came and you visited (you may not even be a Christian here this morning), but you’ve sensed a presence in this room. You’ve sensed a person is here. It’s that person who we worship. It’s the person of Jesus, but he’s made manifest through his Holy Spirit. He’s here by the Spirit. The Spirit’s job is to reveal Jesus to us, and to reveal the Father to us. He’s here.

Jesus said to his disciples, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you” (Acts 1:8). And then we see the fall of the Holy Spirit, tongues of fire come, and they stand speaking in other languages that they’ve never heard—the gift of tongues. We see the crowds wondering, saying, “What is this? What is going on?” Peter says, “This is what was spoken by the prophet, Joel” (Acts 2:16).

The prophet Joel promised a time when the Holy Spirit would be made available for everybody (Joel 2:28-29). He promised a time where it would no longer be, as it was in the Old Testament, that there were just one or two prophets, one or two special people who experienced direct communication with God. We were made to know God. We were designed to have a relationship with him. Adam and Eve had a relationship with God. God walked with them in the Garden, but sin broke that relationship. And by God’s grace he continually chose individual prophets in the Old Testament, and he would reveal himself to them. He would speak with them, some of them even face-to-face. And it was Jesus who would walk with them and talk with them and would explain things to them, but it was only a few of them that ever experienced that. Why? Because you cannot see God and live if you are a sinner. But because of Jesus’ death, because of his resurrection, a way was made open for all of God’s people to prophesy as it says in Joel. For all of God’s people to see visions, to dream dreams, to hear from God, to know God for themselves. It’s a wonderful promise. And it was fulfilled in Acts. Peter explained this as follows in Acts 2:32-33: “Look, this Jesus, God raised up, and of that we were witnesses.” (So they had seen Jesus. They had touched him. They ate with him since he had come back to life.) “. . . being therefore exalted on the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he (Jesus) had poured out that which you see and hear.”

There is an interesting verse buried in Galatians 3 that we often miss. You don’t need to turn to it; you might want to go look at it afterwards. Paul talks about Jesus’ death on the cross, and then he says that he died so that “we might receive the promised Spirit” (Galatians 3:14). So Jesus’ death and resurrection had a goal in mind. We tend to think that the goal is heaven, and that’s right, but the goal for us today is actually a foretaste of heaven on earth, and that’s what the Holy Spirit is. Ephesians 1 puts it this way—the Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing your inheritance. So we know we’re going to heaven because we have faith, but we know we going to heaven also even more strongly than that because of the Holy Spirit poured out on us. One of his key roles is to make us certain that we’re going to heaven.

Now, if someone says to me, “Adrian, I want to buy your house [which is unlikely at the moment, not least because it’s not on the market!] and they said I want to put a deposit down, they have to actually give me the deposit. Some people think that we just receive the Holy Spirit automatically, and that all Christians somehow have the Holy Spirit, and of course it’s true that you cannot be a Christian unless the Holy Spirit is working in you, producing faith in you, but there’s also available an awareness of the Holy Spirit’s activity, and unless we are truly aware of the Holy Spirit, it’s impossible to see how he can really be a deposit. I need to be able to phone up my bank and say, “Okay, he says he’s given me the deposit. Is the money in my bank account?” And, I suppose the bank manager could even lie, so, in some ways, the only way for me to really know is to go and pull the money out of my account and hold it in my hand, see it, feel it, touch it, maybe even smell it.

We know when we’ve got a deposit. We must understand and underline that— whatever else the Holy Spirit is in a believer’s life, the goal is for us to receive him, to know that we’ve received him, to experience him, to be aware of him, and to enter into this personal relationship with God, which can sound a bit weird in the modern world, but it is something that many of us in this room will testify—we know Jesus! There’s an old song—how do we know Jesus? He lives within our heart. That could sound a little bit trite, but actually it’s the reality. I KNOW that my Redeemer lives! Amen? Because I know God through him.

To be continued...

The other week I preached on Elijah's prayers at Kings Church, Ilford. The audio is now available to download or you can read the sermon notes here.

This is the video of a sermon preached by Lex Loizides (who I also interviewed) at Jubilee Church, London last Sunday. You can also download the audio. This message is a great introduction to the Christian faith and we saw a good response to the gospel as a result.

Interview With Liam Goligher from Adrian Warnock on Vimeo.

One of my favorite memories from this year's New Word Alive is meeting Liam Goligher. If you only want to watch one video from the event, watch this one. I am thrilled that this is the post I am sharing with you on my sixth blog anniversary (it was the 16th April 2003 when this journey began!)

Liam and I have spoken on the phone before, and from the first call I immediately knew that he was a real defender of the gospel. I heard him preach at NWA, and I was blown away. He has the full package: a thoughtful intelligent approach to the text, relevance, humor with biting illustrations, passion, and a big dose of that hard to measure thing called "anointing." His preaching brought the tangible presence of God and conviction. To be honest, and this is not an exaggeration, I think he is something of a British John Piper.

But it was only in meeting him face-to-face that I realized how much fun he is. We laughed a lot, as well as speaking about many important subjects. This included the need for preachers to let their sermon grip them personally and to pray for the work of the Holy Spirit, which must empower preaching. We also spoke about aspects of the gospel which are under attack and must be vigorously defended.

Liam also spoke about the need to remember to emphasize important aspects like the resurrection, which might not be under attack in the same way. We spoke about my book, and at one point he ribbed me mercilessly, but then was very kind about his own reaction to reading it.

Liam Goligher is the senior pastor of Duke Street Church, Richmond London, which is growing rapidly and currently has around 600 people who attend on a Sunday. Liam is on the committee which organizes New Word Alive, as well as being a regular conference speaker at other events. His preaching is available to listen to free online or to purchase on CD. He is currently preaching on Isaiah in the mornings and Revelation in the evenings.

Every Sunday is Resurrection Sunday. We celebrate Jesus' resurrection each week. The fact that Jesus is alive is the only possible explanation for the very existence of the Church. No other organisation claims that its founder rose from the dead. The church is united by Christ, empowered by Christ and directed by Christ. This is my sermon from last Sunday at Jubilee. I spoke about unity of Christ's body on earth. My main points were:-

• United by the Spirit
• Diverse in Role
• One in Value
• United in Heart

You can download the mp3 or watch it online here:

A couple of weeks back, my pastor Tope Koleoso preached from 1 Corinthians 5 on sex. It was a very interesting sermon and well received by our people. It has been referred to since at Jubilee as "that sermon"! I am delighted to be able to commend it to you here. You can download the video or audion mp3 or you can watch it online here:

Yesterday, the Rector of All Souls (who follows in John Stott's shoes) joined us at Jubilee Church, London, my home church. His sermon was greatly enjoyed by our church, again demonstrating the unity that is ours around the gospel.

The video is now available below in four parts, or you can download the mp3 or video files.

A few weeks back I preached a sermon from Nehemiah 8 entitled "Back To The Word." A video of it is now available to download. My notes and an mp3 are also available, and you can subscribe to our vodcast or podcast to get the rest of the series. A new sermon from the series is now available for online streaming.

I have been encouraged to hear that a number of those who heard have since been listening to or reading the Every Day In the Word reading plan. If you don't have a reading plan of your own, or the one you are using isn't working for you, why not join us?

There are still a few weeks to get into the habit of reading the Bible for fifteen minutes a day before the New Year starts. That investment of time this December could make 2009 the year you manage to read the Bible through.

As well as reading it on the Web (where it can also be read to you), you can print the plan, or subscribe via RSS, the podcast feed, and e-mail.

As I have mentioned previously, there is now a video sermon podcast available of preaching from Jubilee Church London. We are also streaming video sermons live at higher quality.

The guys are working to get our Nehemiah series online, and one of the most recent sermons made available is my sermon entitled "Building for the Glory of God." You can download the video via the vodcast or by right-clicking on this download link.

Over at the Jubilee Church London website we have introduced a new feature - video sermons. You can watch the first part of a very helpful sermon by my pastor right here, then watch the other parts, or download the video or audio files.

Many people found this a helpful sermon when it was preached, and Tope challenged each of us to consider whether we are truly saved or not. He quoted material from John Piper about regeneration and made the point that we cannot simply live as we choose, sinning continually and claim that we have been born again. I strongly encourage you to watch this sermon rather than listen to it, if possible, and let God's word do a powerful work in your heart.



Watch the rest . . .

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 APPROPRIATELY
     
     Psalm 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.

Last Sunday I preached on Nehemiah 3. You can download the sermon, listen to it right here, download the video via the vodcast or by rightclicking on this download link. or read the edited trancript below. You can

Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set its doors. They consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Tower of Hananel. And next to him the men of Jericho built. And next to them Zaccur the son of Imri built.

The sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate. They laid its beams and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. And next to them Meremoth the son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz repaired. And next to them Meshullam the son of Berechiah, son of Meshezabel repaired. And next to them Zadok the son of Baana repaired. And next to them the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord.

— Nehemiah 3:1-5

We are looking today at Nehemiah, chapter 3. We're going to look at the chapter as a unit, and although it can, at first glance, seem like a list of names, you can draw a sort of graph of the wall of Jerusalem with all the different gates and places that were built. It might seem like a kind of catalogue, but it’s actually a very important chapter, and it’s important for two main reasons.

The first reason is this—it demonstrates to us that God is interested in people. All of these men and women actually built something for God, and God made sure their names got into the Bible. That’s pretty exciting, isn’t it? So God cares about the individual. He cares about you and he cares about me. The second reason it’s important is because the whole book is about building. And today we’re looking at the chapter when they were actually doing the building.

WHY BUILD?
Why did they build? What prompted them to do it? Why were they interested in building? I think that while we don’t see it directly in this chapter, we have already seen that when Nehemiah arrived, Jerusalem was in disrepair—there was a shame, a mocking that was going on. The line behind that was a concern for the honor and the glory of God. We need to understand that Jerusalem was God’s home. God’s reputation was tied up with Jerusalem because Jerusalem was the place where God dwelt. Originally the temple was in ruins. That had now been rebuilt. But when you see the walls of the city in ruins, what are you going to think about God? “Oh, so your God is the kind of god that allows his precious city to fall into ruin, is he?” This is the problem we have today, of course, because many people look at the Church, particularly in the West, and say it’s in ruins. It’s a mess. So they were concerned for the glory of God.

So why build? We build because our motivation for the work is that God may be glorified. We’re not like the people who built the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:4. Those people said, “Come let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves.” There are many people today who are interested in making a name for themselves. I trust that we are interested, not in making a name for ourselves, but in making a name for Jesus. We want to see Jesus famous again in the earth. And not just infamous as a swear word, as a blasphemy that is used so often, as a name to be trampled in the mud, a word used in the same way that people use for excrement. One minute they’re saying, “Oh excrement!” (whatever that word might be), and the next minute they’re saying the name of our precious Savior. That has to stop. We want to see Jesus famous again. They wanted Jerusalem to be a place that was solid, strong, yet safe from enemies, but more than that, that it would demonstrate that God was who he said he was. That God keeps his promises. Because God’s reputation is on the line. He put his reputation on the line for the Israelis. And he puts his reputation on the line for you and me. If we’re Christians, he cares about us. But also the bounds on his glory. Jesus wept over Jerusalem in his day, saying, “Why could I not gather you?” Also, the heavenly Jerusalem is seen as a picture of the Church. We are the new Jerusalem. And one day Jerusalem will come out of heaven, the heavenly Jerusalem, and will be here on earth. The dwelling of God will be with men and women forever. We will no longer be separated from God.

You will notice that when Nehemiah comes to the people, he actually, in the short-term, doesn’t promise them anything. He doesn’t say, “I’m going to give you lots of money if you work.” Instead he says, “I’ll give you sweat.” It’s a bit like when Winston Churchill said—“All I have to offer you is blood and sweat and tears . . .” and the whole nation of Britain rose up as one man. Why? Because we have a desire within us to live for something bigger than ourselves. A reason, if you like, beyond ourselves. Living for the glory of God. If you live for the glory of God, then a number of things become the norm. It becomes normal to love God, it becomes normal to have a passion for his Church, to care about his bride, the bride that so many people diss today, that so many people are negative about today, hateful about, say all sorts of evil things about. God loves his bride and God loves his glory, and he loves those who love his glory. The question is very simply this—Will we do what God’s glory deserves? It’s not so much what God will do for us. It’s what we can do for God and for his glory. What can we do for God’s glory? If we will respect God and live accordingly, then God will actually honor us and bless us too. Our purpose is to be those who live for the glory of God. There’s the old Puritan saying, the old statement of faith—What is the chief end of man? It’s this—to glorify God and to enjoy him forever and ever.

WHAT EXACTLY DO WE BUILD?
We’re not building a physical temple. We at Jubilee meet in a cinema. We don’t even have our own building. But even if we had our own building we wouldn’t be so concerned about the building. What we are concerned about is the people. How are you building your life? The Bible thinks of our lives as being like a building. Matthew 7:24-27 says:

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And when the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does no do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.

There are many things that shake us in this world. Things can shake us individually. Things can shake us as families. Things can shake us as communities. Things can shake us as whole nations. And right now there are things that are shaking us as the whole world. We are facing some interesting financial storms at this time. We have to ask, “Were the banks building on sand or on a rock?” Oh, it can look very nice for a number of years. It can look very attractive. You can start talking about billions of pounds; in fact, trillions of pounds—and that can all be wiped out when the storm comes, as the foundations are exposed. I want to challenge you this morning not to assume that you have the foundation right. I want you to ask, “Have I got the foundation right?” Jesus tells us in those words how we know if we’ve got the foundation right. This is not how you get the foundation right. Please understand there’s a big difference here. Being a Christian is about a relationship with Jesus. But how do you know if you’ve got that right? How do you know if you’ve been born again? Let me tell you. Jesus said this—if you do the things Jesus says, that’s how you know. Do you do the things that Jesus says? Do you live a godly life? Or is your life no different from the world? Are you sleeping around? Are you consuming too much alcohol? Are you rowing with your wife or your husband in an inappropriate way? Well, Jesus would seem to say here—be careful! Is your foundation right? Look again at your foundation. The truth is this, of course—we all sin. We all fail. Even Christians who have been Christians for ten, twenty, thirty years still sin. I’m not saying we have to be perfect to know that we’re going to heaven. The question is simply this—is the foundation there? And what is that foundation? The foundation is Christ himself. He's the solid rock on which we stand. All other ground is sinking sand. If you stand today on the basis of “Oh well, I’m a good Christian. I go to church. I pray. I read my Bible.” That’s no foundation. No, Christ is the foundation, and what he did for us on the cross. Paul explains this very well in 1 Corinthians 3. I do want us to be slightly unsettled for a moment and again look at our foundation. Am I relying on Christ for my salvation or am I relying on my own good works? Do I think I can be good enough for God? No, none of us can be good enough for God. 1 Corinthians 3 says this:

. . . like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

And when I say “Jesus Christ,” what I mean is this—I mean his perfect life, his sinless life. I mean his undeserved death, taking our punishment for us. And I mean his resurrection from the dead, raised to life, glorious, victorious, conquering death that we might not have to suffer death eternally. Oh, we may taste death at some point in our lives, but we will not suffer it eternally if we are saved. That’s the foundation—his life, his death, his resurrection—what is laid, Jesus Christ.

Now maybe you do have the foundation right. But Paul says, “Be careful!”

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

There are two key questions that we need to ask ourselves here.

1. Do you have the foundation right? Are you a believer? Has God caused you to be born again? Has God granted you that new life? Are you aware that you are relying on him, on Jesus, on what Jesus has done? Have you truly repented from your sins? Have you truly given your heart to him? Have you given yourself to follow him? That’s just the foundation for that. But if that foundation is there, then you will go to heaven. But so many Christians stop there and say, “Well, if I’m going to heaven, that’s fine.” But notice this. Paul is saying here that there’s building to be done.
   
   
2. How are you building your life? Are you building your life for the glory of God? Or are you building your life for comfort? Are you building your life to get more money? Are you—dare I say it?—even shamefully trying to use God as a means to get more money so that you can be more comfortable? Nehemiah never offered them comfort. In fact, he said, “Come away from your comfortable houses now and work. Pick up the trowel.” I want to challenge you. Have you picked up the trowel in your own life? Or is your life a ruin? Is your life a mess? So many lives are wasted. So many lives are wasted by wrong decisions and the consequences of those wrong decisions working themselves out over years and years and years. Sometimes a life needs to be knocked down and rebuilt by the grace of God. If you have wasted your life, God can help you restore it and renew it. God is in the business of restoring. And he doesn’t just want you to get to heaven by the skin of your teeth. He wants you to get to heaven where he can look you in the eye and say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. We worked together. We built together. We built together in your life. We built together in your family." Its not just for the sake of your kids being comfortable and you having that nice modern life style, but for the glory of God.
   
   But notice this. It’s also about the Church. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus says this: “I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Actually, the church is built up with lots and lots of lives that themselves are being built well. If your life is being built well, God would challenge you, not just to be a passenger, not just to be a seat warmer in these nice comfortable seats, thinking, “Oh, yes, I liked that sermon. Or, I didn’t like that one as much. Wish we could get the other preacher back.” Or, “The worship was okay this morning.” No, the question is this—what are you contributing? Are you building the Church? Are you building the life of your neighbor? The person sitting next to you? The person in your small group? Are you actively seeking what God might want you to do? And I want to challenge your this morning. If you are a Christian here this morning, it’s time to pick up the trowel. And if you’re not a Christian, this is an opportunity to get a foundation that is laid by Christ. You see, only Christ can lay the foundation, but we all, with God’s help, can build on that foundation.

HOW SHOULD WE BUILD?
My third point is simply this—How did they build? And of course, “How then should we build?”

1. An interesting thing is this—when they built, they had a strategy. And they built in such a way that the work was designed in a very clever way by Nehemiah. Nehemiah rode around the wall and he identified different bits of the wall. And he said, “Okay. This bit of wall you can do. And this bit of wall you can do. This group of people—you can go there.” So they submitted themselves to Nehemiah. I wonder when you read a story like Nehemiah whether you have a tendency to identify with Nehemiah and say, “Oh, yes, God is calling ME to be a Nehemiah, and God is going to give ME a vision.” And maybe that’s right. God will give us a vision. But I wonder actually whether we ought not to be looking to identify with these ordinary people. Not everyone can be a Nehemiah. I know I’m not a Nehemiah. But I do know this. I can serve a Nehemiah’s vision. And I can build. And actually, I can build with a team alongside me. I haven't invented my own vision. I have no desire to do that. I’m building the Church of God that has been purchased by Jesus. And I’ve given my life to that. I’ve given my life to this place; to helping in whatever way I can. With maybe a group of people who are under me, if you like, who I’m leading and supervising and helping—yes.
   
   But what if the question is this—What can I do to help? How can I serve? There are many ways in which you can serve in church. There are all kinds of things. It’s not just about preaching. It’s not just about leading worship. Sometimes people come into church and the very first thing you hear from them is—“Oh, yes, I used to do this and that and the next thing in my last church.” But hold on for a second. The question is this—Will you just muck in? Will you just do what God is calling you to do? Will you just do what is needed? There are all kinds of jobs. Welcome people are needed to show others the way in from the car park when it's cold. And it’s going to get harder in the English winters soon. I can just see it now, shivering out there, while everyone in here is singing, “Oh, we worship Jesus!” And you’re saying, “You know, I’m just freezing for Jesus.” But that’s what you’re doing—you’re freezing for Jesus. And God will reward what is done in secret. There’s a God who will honor you and who will give maybe a bigger crown to you than to that person you're envying, who is at the front every week. God sees when you miss a sermon to go out and teach, not to a whole room full of people, but to a few kids. And I can tell you this. Thirty years on—I still remember one of my Sunday School teachers particularly. A lady called Janita Ring. She wasn’t a preacher on a Sunday morning. She didn’t lead a church. She didn’t do any of those things. But she inspired a young boy to love God, and I’m very grateful for Janita Ring. I’m very grateful for my Christian parents. I’m very grateful for all the other Sunday School teachers whose names I don’t necessarily remember, but I do remember the impact. And God remembers. God sees. There was some guy who invited Billy Graham to a crusade when he wasn’t saved. Imagine that! Your job in life could be to invite a young boy to a crusade! If that was all he did in his whole Christian life, that would have been pretty impressive, no? And I don’t even remember his name.
   
   
2. What we see if we look in the Scripture here is that every man is committed to the work, everyone of them. Look in verse 1—what do we have? The priests simply sanctify the wall. I wonder what that looked like. They said they sanctified the wall. Have you thought about that? It probably involved a lot of blood because everything in the Old Testament involved blood. The priests were pretty enthusiastic, and there were two other places that they built as well. Then you have the men of Jericho. In verse 2, we see the men of Jericho. They did their bit then in verse 7, the men of Gibeon and Mizpah. We’re talking about aliens. We’re talking about people who are not from Jerusalem. We’re here in London, God loves London. We’re building a church here in the midst of London for the glory of God that we want to see hve an impact on our city. We want to see a changing expression of Christianity in this city. We want to see people take notice that there’s something glorious going on. And some of us actually didn’t come from London. Some of us didn’t even come from England. I came from England, but not from London—God called me here, and God called many people here. We have many people in our church who God has taken from other nations— for example from Africa. Everyone can play a part. In verse 13, we have Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah—I mean, who are these people from Zanoah? In verse 8, we have the goldsmiths, and they also seem to be pretty keen. They get up to it again in verses 31 and 32. We have perfumers. I mean, whoever taught perfumers how to build a wall? And in verse 9, we see the ruler of half the district building, and that happens again, actually, later on—rulers building. And verse 10 is just someone building opposite his own house. Have you ever thought about your neighbors? What can you do for God with your neighbors? In verse 12, we see it says, “and his daughters helped,” so it’s not just the men, it’s the women too. And then we see a ruler building the Dung Gate. And we see goldsmiths and merchants, basically business people. Business people can make a difference for God. And many of you think, “I want to lead the church. I want to work for God full-time.” You can work for God full-time and be paid, not by the church, but by some other master.

So I urge the Christian—Please don’t be like the nobles. The Tekoite nobles wouldn’t stoop to serve their Lord. Perhaps a small group leader comes up to you. “Would you mind doing the Bible study this week?” And you reply, “Oh, I’m not sure I can really manage. I think I’ll leave that up to you. Because, you know, I’m still quite a young Christian.” And you think you’re being humble—you’re not. Actually, you’re being proud. You saying, “I refuse to stoop to serve my God.” Or someone comes up to you and says, “Would you come early one week and help with the teas and coffee?” And you say, “Well, I might be at a party the night before.” You won’t stoop to serve the Lord. That’s the posture of humility—to stoop. If it’s for the glory of God, then I will do it. Will you do it for the glory of God? It’s not about your glory. It’s not about your fame. It’s about the glory of God. Whatever he asks us, we need to be prepared to do it.

I want to close with one verse of a psalm. Psalm 127:1 says this, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” I want to ask you this, “Are you still trying to build your own house? Are you someone who maybe has the foundation right, but you know you’re building with straw. And you think, “It’s okay. I’ll get to heaven.” I would challenge you, because the Bible isn’t very clear sometimes about how we know, how we determine who is one of those people who is going to get to heaven by the skin of their teeth because the foundation is right. They do believe in Jesus. They’re just messed up a bit as their life has gone on. They haven’t really contributed. They haven’t really earned their place in the universe, if you like. And who will be the ones who Jesus will look in the eye and say this, “Away from me, I never knew you.” My passion is this—I don’t want anyone in this room to be in that group because there will be church-goers in that group. They will even be church leaders in that group, because the Bible says that there will be those who have cast out demons in the name of Jesus. There will be those who have healed the sick in the name of Jesus. And you sit there thinking, “Well, I’m all right. I’ll just scrape in by the skin of my teeth.” Are you so sure? Are you so proud that you think, “Oh, yeah, I know better than God.” See, what God says to you is this—Give me your whole life. Let’s do this business of life together. Let’s build your life my way. Let’s do things my way. And then on that glorious day when the fire comes, what you have built will stand a lot better than the British banking system. I saw a statistic today. Apparently if you want to put your money somewhere safe, they say send it to Botswana. The Botswana banks are safer than the British ones right now. That’s what it said! I guess they haven't loaned out so much money foolishly. Don’t be like the British bankers. Put your life on a firm foundation, on a sure foundation, on trust that’s not trust in some half-witted idea that money is going to keep on growing forever. No, it’s trust in the living God who loves you, who came, who died for you to save you, and to give you that new life.

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:


Psalm 121 is A Song of Hope in a world without hope. Today we see how true it is that unbelievers are well described as “having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).

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.

I have now published all the Mark Driscoll material from his recent visit to the UK. Don't miss the video interviews, and the Dwell material, as well as the talks from Brighton. There is a lot to absorb there. There are also three talks for church elders that I was not present at.

Since his return to the US, however, this man has been nothing short of busy!

He has interviewed J. I. Packer on Young Christian Leaders, and Homosexuality. He also wrote a series of blog posts on Spurgeon:

• Spurgeon is the Man, Part 1 — Introduction



• Spurgeon is the Man, Part 2 — Spurgeon was a Bible Guy



• Spurgeon Prayed, Laughed, Cared, and Evangelized, Part 3



• Spurgeon Wrote Books that the Haters Hated, Part 4



• Recap: Spurgeon is the Man Week

He has also preached a cracking sermon series which you can see here, and for which you can download notes by following the links. About fifty minutes into the first one he starts talking about our Newfrontiers prayer meeting. As he put it, it was like a prayer meeting on Pro-Plus. He then tells Mars Hill that some things are about to change around there, and gets them to pray for each other. Nice one!

Pray Like Jesus



The Lord’s Prayer



The Gethsemane Prayer



He has now departed for Australia for a well-earned holiday, but not before posting a blog from the airport, mentioning that his Macbook Pro is now loaded up with Logos software. (Get your Logos software from me with a 25 per cent discount if you are jealous.)

Oh, and I almost forgot. The cutest thing he has probably ever done is wave his built in MacBook Pro web cam at his rather noisy kids (where do they get that from???). The funniest bit is when he gets his wife to join in the fun. That expression is worth a thousand words! I hope his family enjoys him—he's all theirs now, at least until the Australian preaching tour starts!



The guy is like a dynamo, and on top of all that, Crossway now has nine books listed with Mark Driscoll as an author (although some are not out yet). The ones I've seen are uniformly helpful and engaging, and I commend them highly! One that is coming soon is Death By Love, and the website has just been released. Looks fantastic.

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:


Philippians 3 is a great passage. In some ways, it's one of my favorite passages, one God has kept bringing me back to over the years.

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)

UPDATE - At the moment, it seems the only way to download this message is to subscribe to the CCK podcast via iTunes. I hope this will be fixed soon.

Mark Driscoll returned to Brighton on Sunday evening and preached on Jeremiah 29 again.

As it was a young, mostly single congregation, he really went for it, especially strongly emphazising the material aimed at young men. If you know a single guy, dare him to download the sermon or listen to it online here:

A City in a City

Yesterday at Jubilee we were privileged to have Mark Driscoll here with us. This is the first time he remembers preaching in another church in many years. You can dowload the sermon or listen to it right here:


Incidentally, Tim Chester has shared his notes from one of the sessions of the Dwell Conference and plans to share from one of the others. I will post notes and video from the rest of the sessions from this Acts 29 day conference over the next few days. I also have video interviews to share from a number of people, including Mark Driscoll.

Mark took us to Jeremiah 29. Cities are marked by two things—density and diversity. London seems to be the most dense and diverse city he has ever seen. Originally Christianity was a city-based urban movement, although now it tends to be rural. Culture flows like a river downstream. By 300 A.D. around 50 per cent of people living in cities were Christian, while 90 per cent of those living in rural areas were not. Today that tendency is reversed and fewer Christians live in the cities than in rural areas. By 2030, 60 per cent of all people will live in cities.

The city of Babylon has a lot in common with Greater London. The Babylonians colonized many nations, a bit like the English did. Babylon was founded by Nimrod.

The local church is a small city living within the city living according to the values of God. In the kingdom of God there is racial harmony so it should be so in the Church. We should see repentance from sin and love for God. Our church needs to grow to become a city. With Jesus there is a better way of life. We do sex, marriage, love, parenting differently. We invite them to meet Jesus and have him change their life.


Jeremiah 29:4 “I have sent …” We are called of God to be a missionary wherever we are. Sent to the London area. We can reach the nations of the earth if we reach London. It’s like a hub or a crossroads. This is one of the most important cities, or probably the most important city in the world. Babylon was like that in previous days. God determines the times and places in which we live. If this city of London meets Jesus, the entire world will hear about him.

Verse 5 — Tells them to build houses, plant gardens, etc. Plan on being there for awhile. We shouldn't merely use the city, but invest in it. God will call some of us to move on, but many of us need to strongly consider staying here and giving our lives to London, investing our lives here for the good of the city. The first thing that a missionary needs to do is stay. Driscoll has given his life with his wife for one city, Seattle. Unless God shows up he will be staying there. Don't make decisions on economic ease, but on the kingdom.

Verse 6 — Take wives (well, the men, only!) and make babies. Multiply there and do not decrease. We must honor family, gender, sexuality, and parenting. If you are single, then aspire to be married. Men today shirk responsibility. We have to get the young men if we want to change the city. Single guys in their 20’s tend to shun masculinity, maturity, and responsibility. They are ruining the city—they take advantage of women, commit crimes, wives and girlfriends have to look after them, they murder their own kids by encouraging abortion. Young men must learn to be men—find their pants, get a job, marry a woman, and stay out of trouble. Men are like trucks, the more weight you can put on them, the straighter they drive, i.e. men who are lazy get distracted and tend to sin, load them with things to do and they will be better.

Men have to be independent and provide for their family. Anyone who doesn't provide for the needs of his family is worse than an unbeliever. His ten-year old daughter said of a girl kissing two different boys, “She doesn't have a good father.” In the city there is rape and abuse going on, as well as treating each other with contempt. We live differently here and we want the outsiders to have a better way of life and future.

We need to know and love the city. At the moment Muslims are moving into the city and having lots of children knowing that in a few generations they could control the culture. Do what is best for those who live in the city. Think about ways to do good for the whole city. If the schools are terrible, let the Christians go in and volunteer. Pray for the city, it moves the hands of God and it changes the hearts of men and women. God will change our hearts so that we will work to bring change to the city. Let people around notice that the church loves the city.

Verse 8 — Do not listen to false teachers. Satan will try and teach us false things so that we will do evil in the city. We need to know the truth well and defend it.

The gospel is that we are all sinners. We don't do what we are supposed to do, and we do do what we are not supposed to do. There is a broken relationship with God. It was only through God himself becoming a man and a missionary into human history that we can be reconciled to God. He went to the cross and substituted himself for us and for our sins. 2 Corinthians 5:21 — God made him sin so we might become righteous. The great exchange. Death to him, life to us. Separation to him, relationship to us. Condemnation to him, salvation to us. He is resurrected and ascended to heaven to build his city on earth. The storyline of the Bible is from the Garden of Eden to the city of the New Jerusalem coming from heaven. We will live together in a city. He will wipe tears from our eyes. Our hope, salvation, life, eternity, joy, is all in Jesus. There are two primary enemies of the gospel—idolatry and religion. Jeremiah says to watch out for false teaching. The temptation to idolatry would have come from the Babylonians, while the temptation to being religious would have come from the Jews.


Idolatry is THE sin according to Martin Luther. Sin is turning our worship from God to something else. The opposite of Christianity is not atheism, it is idolatry. We must keep ourselves from idols. If we don't worship idols, we won’t sin. The first of the commandments tell us that there is only one God and we must worship him alone; the rest are the implications. So if we worship God and not our image, we won’t lie. If we worship him alone, we won't covet. We put something in the prime place of glory and we then worship it by making sacrifices of time, etc. IF it is Jesus, then we will enjoy what God gives. But, if someone or something else is in that position, then it is idolatry. Romans 1 says people changed from worshiping God to worshiping created things.

Who or what do you worship? Your spouse? Your health? Your comfort? Your children? These are all good gifts but they are not GOD. Don’t worship them instead of God. If our spouse doesn’t meet all of our needs, then we get disappointed. If you expect comfort and peace and sinless relational harmony from your spouse, then you will get angry because that is something you can only get from God.

I recently posted what I trust will be a series which will be about sermons that have changed my life. It is way too early for me to claim that this past Sunday's talk by my pastor and dear friend, Tope Koleoso, will be one of those. But I could do a lot worse than allow myself to be shaped by a talk like this. I have previously shared a list of talks Tope has given that are available online, but much as I loved those talks, I believe this may be the best sermon I have ever heard him preach.

I don't want to give too much away because I want to encourage you to listen to this talk. He weaved such well-remembered verses as "Go into all the world ...", "I am not ashamed of the gospel ..." "How will they hear ..." and "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few ..." into a compelling tapestry that felt fresh and deeply impacting without condemning. He acknowledged that it IS easier to mix with people who are in your own "tribe"— your Judea as it were.

He challenged us that if we are not going beyond that, if all our friends are still very similar to us, we haven't yet allowed the gospel to have its full impact on us. He laid down the challenge that the gospel has two calls to it. There is a call to come, to receive from God. But then there is a call to go. In that going we are called to worship God and to be a witness. He spoke of our mission to reach the world one person at a time. He also spoke of our message. He explained that our message was nothing more complicated than a person—Jesus. We are to teach his cross, his resurrection, the call to repentance, and a promise of forgiveness. Still, today some demand signs and wonders, and others clever reasoning and wisdom, but we preach Jesus and him crucified. Tope also spoke of our methods and our motivation of love. My favorite line in the whole talk was, "If you want Jesus to go with you, go and make disciples."

I was profoundly moved by this talk. What was also exciting is that, once again this Sunday, a number of people made a response to the gospel. We are in the middle of a prolonged season where we have been seeing such responses on a weekly basis. Please pray for us that such things continue, and that as a church this sermon may indeed help to turn our focus outward and that we will see many more genuinely saved. The message is available to download or listen to here:

Here are some notes from the sermon I preached this past Sunday at Jubilee Church in Enfield Cineworld. You can download the audio or listen to it online in the following player:



I began by sharing the story of a mother who was diagnosed with terminal cancer and refused the abortion she was offered in order to give the gift of life to her daughter.

She told her husband, "If I am going to die, my baby is going to live."

Said her husband after she had died, "She knew all too well she didn't have long to live. So she put little Liam's life before her own."

Full story in the Telegraph.

The sermon is based on Philippians 2. The notes are very much just an outline, but they are nearly identical to the notes from which I preached. I have been experimenting with preaching from shorter notes, so I hope they will still at least make some sense to you. If not, you will just have to listen to the message itself.

We will come later in the book to the ultimate goal for living—to know Jesus. But one key way we express our love for God is by loving each other and the world. Jesus said in John 13:35: "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

It is this love for each other that I am going to call "living for the good of others."

What is our motivation to live for the good of others?

"Because of" (verses 1-2) NOT “if” — but “assuming there is”

• Encouragement in Christ (paraklesis) ;
• Comfort from love (paramythion) ;
• Participation in the Spirit (koinonia);
• Affection (splanchon – spleen - bowels!) ;
• Sympathy.

Also, we do this to complete our leader's joy!

What does living for others look like? (verses 2-5 and others)

• The same mind (agreement).
  
• The same love (warmth, compassion, undertanding).
  
• Full accord “with united souls” (a combination of the two above – i. e. TRUTH AND LOVE).
• One mind (not clones, but scratch us and we bleed the same way).
  
• NO rivalry or conceit = opposite = poor me 'no one talks' versus living for self.
  
• Humility, NOT Mariah Heap “ever so 'umble.”
  
• Count others more significant than yourselves.
  
• Look out, not only for your own interests, but for those of others = being kind to others. “IF ONLY EVERYONE WAS LIKE THAT.” JESUS WOULD BE LIKE THAT.
  
• Do all things without grumbling or questioning (verse 14).
  
• We are to do EVERYTHING for the good of others, not ourselves (e.g. ministry, workplace, etc.). CHOICES FOR THEIR BENEFIT ARE NOT EASIEST!
  
• Genuinely concerned for your welfare (verse 20).
  
• They all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ (verse 21).

How and why do we do it? Mixed in!!! (READ verses 5-13.)

• Constant refrain - “IN CHRIST.” This mind is in Christ—ours by union with him and by following his example.
  
• MODEL = DO LIKEWISE. He who lived and died for others.
  
• We have PURPOSE!
  
• CHOICES—He didn't grasp his right of equality. he laid his rights down.
  
• Made himself nothing, rather than self-fullfillment or getting that promotion.
  
• Made himself like us, not holding himself aloof as superior (e.g. racism).
  
• Became obedient—not independent. JOURNEY FROM HEAVEN TO THE CROSS.
  
• Sacrificed himself for us—not just his preferences, but his life! — OUR CHOICES.
  
• Another reason here is because God raises the humble up.
  
• James 4:6—But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
  
• Matthew 23:12—"Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
  
• Because we need to learn to OBEY this Lord over all! CHOOSE TO FOLLOW.
  
• Lloyd-Jones: Best summary of the Christian life is to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (verses 12-13).
  
• BY LOVING GOD, EACH OTHER, AND THE WORLD.

For the unbeliever, it's no use to just try and live like this. You need the Jesus who died for you and was raised for you to come and live in you and empower you.

These are notes from the sermon I preached at Jubilee last Sunday. They are shorter than usual, but I thought I’d share the outline with you anyway. You can listen to the sermon by downloading it or you can listen to it here:




I. HOW TO LIVE FOR THE FUTURE—Philippians 1:1-11

• Know Who You Are (verses 1-2)
  
  
  
  • A slave of the RISEN Jesus (NOT man) and saints—i.e. set apart and being cleansed.
    
    
  • Conduits of grace and peace.
  
  
  
• Know Where You Are Going (verse 6) BE SURE!
  
  
  
• Know Who You Are Going With — Long-term, heart-felt partnership (verses 5, 7, 8)
  
  
  
• Know What You Are Meant To Do On The Way
  
  
  
  1. Verse 5—“In the gospel,” i.e. live in the good of it and live for its progress, don’t just keep the chair warm! What do we do in its good ...
     
     
     
  2. Verse 3—Thankfulness that comes from remembrance.
     
     
     
  3. Verse 4—Prayer that is joyful and full of anticipation.
     
     
     
  4. Verse 9—Abounding, growing love.
     
     
     
  5. Verse 9—Desire to study. We will spend eternity with . . .
     
     
     
  6. Verse 9-10—Resultant wisdom/discernment, i.e. the ability to lovingly apply to life the things we learn.
     
     
     
  7. ALL of this results in verses 10-11—Purity that honors God.

II. RESULTS OF LIVING FOR THE FINAL DAY (Philippians 1:12-17)

• Verse 12-14—Confidence that comes from knowing even tough times are for our good, e.g. prison making confident!
  
  
  
• Verse 14—Boldness to declare this wonderful news!
  
  
  
• Verse 15-17—Preoccupation with the advance of the gospel above all partisanship, etc.
  
  
  
• Verse 17-20—Rejoicing, eager expectation, hope, “full of courage”, honor to Christ.
  
  
  
• Verse 21-30—Glorious indifference to our own life and its sufferings. “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22) Let’s study to be prepared to die well.

CONCLUSION
Live a worthy life and fight for the gospel—“It’s all about Jesus!”

BACKGROUND QUOTES

“Hence we have a service which is not a matter of choice for the one who renders it, which he has to perform whether he likes or not, because he is subject as a slave to an alien will, to the will of his owner . . .

[The slave is one] who not only has no possibility of evading the tasks laid upon him, but who also has no right of personal choice, who must rather do what another will have done, and refrain from doing what another will not have done.”

Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vols. 5-9, edited by Gerhard Friedrich. Vol. 10 compiled by Ronald Pitkin, Ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey William Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Electronic Ed., 2:261 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964-c1976).

“He is not merely putting up with his circumstances, he is going beyond that, he is exulting in his suffering. He is triumphant, he is jubilant. There is a marvellous element in this, he tells them, if they can but see it. This is characteristic New Testament teaching . . . Do not waste your tears on me or on my condition, says the Apostle.”

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in Ephesians—The Unsearchable Riches of Christ, Chapter 3, p. 17 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1972).

“Death was nothing to these apostles. They had already passed from death to life. Having passed from judgment to life in Him, they were not afraid of death. They knew where they were going—they were going “to be with Christ; which is far better” (Philippians 1:23).”

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Courageous Christianity, 1st U.S. ed., 173 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2001).

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. Watching the second video, I found Piper's love for his people compelling. He describes being eager to comfort and give assurance to the timid new believer, but also wanting to unhinge the complacent arrogant person who falsely believes he is reborn. Oh that such pastoral wisdom and love for others would characterize every Christian! Somehow he reminded me of a quote from C. S. Lewis I shared in the past. Here is an excerpt from Piper's sermon on Nicodemus, which I urge you to go and watch in its entirety.

Apart from God, we are spiritually dead in our selfishness and rebellion. We are by nature children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3). Our rebellion is so deep that we cannot detect or desire the glory of Christ in the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:4). Therefore, we if we are going to be born again, it will rely decisively and ultimately on God. His decision to make us alive will not be a response to what we as spiritual corpses do, but what we do will be a response to his making us alive. For most people, at least at first, this is unsettling.

My Hope: Stabilize and Save, Not Just Unsettle

So, as I begin this series, I am aware of how unsettling this teaching on the new birth can be. And O how careful I want to be. I do not want to cause tender souls any unnecessary distress. And I do not want to give false hope to those who have confused morality or religion for spiritual life. Please pray for me. I feel like I am taking eternal souls in my hands in these days. And yet I know that I have no power in myself to give them life. But God does. And I am very hopeful that he will do what he says in Ephesians 2:4-5, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.” God loves to magnify the riches of his life-giving grace where Christ is lifted up in truth. That is my hope: that this series will not just unsettle but stabilize and save.

What Happens in the New Birth?

So let’s turn now to the question: What happens in the new birth? I will try to put the answer in three statements . . .

1. What happens in the new birth is not getting new religion but getting new life.
   
   
2. What happens in the new birth is not merely affirming the supernatural in Jesus but experiencing the supernatural in yourself.
   
   
3. What happens in the new birth is not the improvement of your old human nature but the creation of a new human nature—a nature that is really you, and is forgiven and cleansed; and a nature that is really new, and is being formed by the indwelling Spirit of God.
   
   —John Piper

UPDATE
The written transcript of this segment of my interview with John Piper is now available. It can be read here.

This is the fourth and final segment of my interview with John Piper. You can also watch these preceding segments:

• John Piper on New Word Alive and Spring Harvest
  
  
• John Piper on Passionate Preaching
  
  
• John Piper on Prayer and Bible Study

I began this section by asking John which preachers he listens to on his iPOD. He mentioned a number of names, and if you have the e-mail address for any of them, why not drop them a line and tell them you heard Piper has been listening to them! I doubt many things will bring more encouragement to them than knowing that John Piper has found their work helpful.

When I asked about why he chose to leave the seminary setting and become a pastor, he explained that after a period of time studying the Bible, he felt God was saying to him, “I will be proclaimed and not just analyzed.”

He also spoke about the need for long-term stability in a church’s leadership team. He spoke about how his wife supports his ministry. “She's just so incredibly flexible that I married the right woman.” He spoke about what the Piper family home looks like. We even spoke about soccer.

Here are notes from a sermon I preached on the 27^th April at Jubilee Church. The mp3 is available to download here or listen to using the following embedded player-

“You shall not murder.” (Ex 20:13)

Ok, right at the outset, do we have any murderers here? No? Anyone planning on committing a murder? No? Good, so then we can all go home, yes? We got it straight, since we live in a Christian country means its Chicken for dinner tonight rather than human. Lets go get some coffee.

Actually there is some more to this commandment than first meets the eye.

No careless killing ESV footnote "also causing human death through carelessness or negligence" so see for example Ex 21:28-29 “When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable. But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.”

Deuteronomy 22:8: “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring blood-guilt on your house if anyone falls from it.”

Risk assessment is biblical! “[The Jew] was to do everything humanly possible not to cause the death of another person” -The Master's Seminary, Master's Seminary Journal Volume 11, 11:206 (Master's Seminary, 2000; 2003).

- Therefore, human life is precious we should take good care of it. Every human is made in Gods image and therefore worth looking after. It is the Christian faith that teaches us we are not just the outcome of millions of years of chance reactions. We don't kill because life itself is a gift of God. We should also support initiatives that reduce the risk of death or serious injury.

eg car and road safety - 1 in 200 risk of dying on the roads! So driving at no more than 30 mph in built up areas is a good idea due to the dramatic risk of death if hit faster. 95% live if hit at 20mph, 90% die at 40mph. Also wear seat belts, pay for proper maintenance, and buy the safest car you can afford.

-also health measures, smoking in public bans is good as it will lead to less premature death. Form of Russian Roulette – 50% will die prematurely loosing ave of 16 years of precious God-given life. In country after country smoking bans have led to dramatic drops in the rates of heart attacks – 17% in Scotland for example in one year. Christians should support the provision of good health care and also simple social changes that can make massive impact by saving lives. Especially in developing world eg lack of clean water.

However, although this commandment applies to careless killing, there were clear distinctions made in the punishment depending on the intent “(1) the weapon used, (2) the enmity of the killer toward his victim, and (3) premeditation” (Numbers 35. 16–24) -The Master's Seminary, Master's Seminary Journal Volume 11, 11:205 (Master's Seminary, 2000; 2003).

Similar rules are still used today.

What other things that might be called murder?

-We have seen that negligence such as careless fighting or driving, is surely potential murder by the broader hebraic definition. But what of some areas that may be less clear to some. Lets be very clear here -

-Euthanasia or so-called “mercy killing”- so far even the unbelievers cannot bring themselves to legalize this in the UK. How could we know someone really understood what they were asking for and weren't coerced or depressed? Bible simply says "no killing". This surely even applies to some of the grey areas being discussed such as removing food and drink via tubes from brain damaged.

-Assisting Suicide remains illegal, but what about neglecting to prevent it?. Psychiatric services should be used appropriately... sadly the quality of our services vary. But people have a right to be treated against their will when they pose a danger to themselves and are not in their right minds.

-Abortion? We all agree that life exists after birth. We believe it is wrong to murder a newborn baby. So surely life exists just before. When then does it start? There is no logic to our current term limits for abortion- loosely based on when a child might survive "independently" outside the womb. But when technology improves will that mean the date changes? And, since a baby is not truly "independent" are they less fully human?

Our question should simply be is this a human? Does he or she have the image of God? If so we must protect, not kill. John the Baptist leapt for joy in his mothers womb whom when he met Jesus (Luke 1:44) and Psalm 139 makes plain God saw us and knew us there as he knit us together.

-Contraception? Pre conception fine, anything that definitely acts post conception is clearly not. Some methods are controversial as to their mode of action (eg oral contraceptive pill, coil etc). Christians should examine the evidence for themselves, pray, seek advice if needed then make the decision their conscience is happy with.

-IVF? Christians undergoing this procedure may wish to speak with their doctors about the fate of so-called "spare" embryos. Although they are routinely discarded, this need not be the case.

-War? The police? Romans 13.1-4 "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.”

In the end this boils down to a simple question. If you were holding an armed gun, and had a chance to kill someone who was definitely about to kill another, would you be wrong to pull that trigger? The balance of the bible strongly suggests that you would not be wrong to do that.

So far, though, for the vast majority of us, none of this will have touched us. Perhaps there are some in the room who have had an abortion, if so, please bear with me as there is forgiveness for you as we will explain later.

But for the rest of us there is a danger that we will feel morally superior and proud of ourselves. So we haven't murdered... Big deal! If we think that makes us worthy of praise by God we are deluded!

Jesus punctures that bubble by saying “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” Matthew 5.21-24

Words can kill!

“Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” 1 Jn 3:15

“It is not only the act, but also the sentiment underlying the act, which is evil” - Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, Map on lining papers., 2044 (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1988).

“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning” Jn 8:44

Actual murder is just the extension of anger and bitterness. Billy Grahams wife was once asked if she had ever considered divorce during their long marriage her answer- "divorce, NO! Murder, YES!"

If murder is sometimes the ultimate punishment for some imagined harm done by its victim, forgiveness is the opposite. Far from merely not murdering our enemies, God calls us to love them and forgive them.

We are told to forgive as we have been forgiven and warned that he will not forgive us if we do not forgive others.

Christians should be recognized as those who practice the reverse of murder. If murder is treating someone as sub-human and a less valuable object then the opposite is surely thinking of others as more important than you and selflessly loving them expecting nothing in return.

You can't murder someone you love. Jesus said love fulfills the law - love God covers the first few commandments, love your neighbor covers the rest.

God is the ultimate forgiver. We see this in the sad story of King David. We see the king who is described as the man after Gods own heart that the smallest sin can grow to become a major one. Most murders happen as a result of an argument between for example husband and wife. It is even possible that by causing us to stop and realize how dangerous anger is that this sermon might prevent a future murder.

Owen once said “be killing sin or it will be killing you.”

In Davids case, laziness led to a roaming eye. In our day he'd have visited certain websites or the top shelf at the news-agent. Then, he went on the roof to catch a glance at a woman bathing. That led to adultery. That led to deception and trickery. That led to murder.

Sin is sin. We stand before God bankrupt. When you are bankrupt it doesn't really matter if you owe a few thousands or a few million. You simply can never pay. An eternity in hell facing the wrath of God wont wipe away our sins.

The scandal of the cross is that on it, a man was murdered. Without removing the moral responsibility for that act, and the fact that we are all guilty of killing the son of God....ultimately there was something else going on.

The cross was a judicial killing. God the Almighty poured out his righteous wrath and punishment on his son. Jesus paid our debt. Not only did he cancel our debts, he credited our account with his righteousness. If you are a christian this morning he is as pleased with you not just as if you never sinned but just as if you were always righteous or put another way he is as thrilled with you as he is with Jesus!

Murderers are Invited to become Christians. Why? Because God can even forgive murderers, So he can forgive you.

Yesterday morning I preached a sermon at Jubilee. The following notes are almost identical to the notes I used while preaching. You can download the audio or listen to it right here.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:8-11)

Do you remember the Mars bar advertisement? “A Mars a day helps you work, rest, and play!”—That was smart, because the advertisers knew that we all value those things. And some of us are much better in one of these areas than in others. Are you a good worker? Do you love your work? Are you committed to it? Many jobs these days demand much from us. Do you feel imprisoned by work? I found this on the Internet:

IN PRISON—You spend the majority of your time in a 10x10 cell.
AT WORK—You spend the majority of your time in an 8x8 cubicle.

IN PRISON—You get three free meals a day.
AT WORK—You get a break for one meal and you have to pay for it.

IN PRISON—You get time off for good behavior.
AT WORK—You get more work for good behavior.

IN PRISON—The guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you.
AT WORK—You must often carry a security card and open all the doors for yourself.

IN PRISON—You can watch TV and play games.
AT WORK—You could get fired for watching TV and playing games.

IN PRISON—You get your own toilet.
AT WORK—You have to share the toilet with some people who pee on the seat.

IN PRISON—They allow your family and friends to visit.
AT WORK—You aren’t even supposed to speak to your family.

IN PRISON—All expenses are paid by the taxpayers with no work required.
AT WORK—You pay all your expenses to go to work, and they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for prisoners.

IN PRISON—You spend most of your life inside bars wanting to get out.
AT WORK—You spend most of your time wanting to get out and go inside bars.

IN PRISON—You must deal with sadistic wardens.
AT WORK—They are called managers.

Are you a workaholic? Here's my definition of a workaholic:

Like an alcoholic, the problem is not work itself any more than it is alcohol. The real problem is simply not knowing when to stop!

People are workaholics for different reasons. For some of you this is due to fear of losing your job, or because things aren't good at home so you throw yourself into work outside of the home. Or maybe it’s because your identity is with your work, and you want people to value you. Maybe you feel indispensable. The truth is, you are not! All of us have an identity in our work (or what we do instead of work). After the service when we have our teas and coffees, lots of first-time meetings between people will occur. People will say, “What do you do?” It's not wrong to get a sense of who we are from our work. It IS wrong to let it totally define us. We should be defined by who we are—A CHILD OF THE KING. This is why I am so glad that often people here don't even know what I do for a paid job. Or do you wish you had a paid job? Or a better job. Work is what we do with our hands or our brain or a combination of both, so we ALL work. Never ever say, “I am just a housewife” or “I am only a cleaner!”

Or are you like some who say, "Sure I love work, I really love work—I could watch it for ages!". Some people make it their goal in life to do as little as possible and earn as much as possible. The image that springs to mind is the 'surfer dude—you have every TV channel going and your idea of a great day is when you watch a WHOLE series of “24” in one sitting! Or maybe you are someone who spends a lot of time on hobbies or sports.

The Bible has a lot to say on the topic we are looking at today. In the Bible there are 652 verses on work, 643 verses on rest, and 65 verses on play. Today’s message is, in a nutshell, that God wants us to be good at all three of these and to do all of them in an appropriate rhythm—rather like marching. “Left, right, left—work, rest, play, work, rest, play.” Let’s look in more detail at the words we just read from Exodus 20.

What Did This Commandment Originally Mean?

1. To keep one day each week special to remember God and to rest. But notice that it also says to work hard for six days!
   
   
2. Be a good employer, and give rest to those under your charge.
   
   
3. If God could take a rest, so can you! God is God and you are not. Rest reminds us we are not indispensable, and whenever we sleep the world goes on just fine without us!
   
   
4. What we see here is a biblical principle that says,” You need a rhythm in your life.” You need good habits, you need work, rest, and recreation. All of these need to be properly balanced.

How Did Legalism Distort This Commandment?

The Old Testament contains ever more complicated rules about what you can and can't do on the Sabbath. There are 39 categories of work described. For example, “winnowing” (separating wheat from chaff) becomes any activity to separate edible food from inedible, so picking out fish bones or filtering water is prohibited. On the other hand, “lighting a fire” leads some today to ban driving a car or switching on an electric light, or even going in a lift.

How Does the New Testament Apply This Commandment to Us?

Jesus was criticized for breaking strict Sabbath rules, and also for doing good on the Sabbath:

“One Sabbath he was going through the grain-fields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.

Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him" (Mark 2:23-3:6)

Jesus seems to argue that the Sabbath is for man, i.e. for his benefit. It is not to become an oppressive law. He also says it is fine to “do good” on the Sabbath.

It’s amazing how easily we tend to turn something that’s meant for our benefit—first into a duty, and then into a legalistic command. For example, take church attendance, small group attendance, and prayer. Each of these things is designed to give us a break from our weekly routine and to refresh us; to give us a chance to worship and/or study the Bible together. We would do well to get into the habit of just doing them every week. But too often we think of each of these things as “work” and “an effort.” We come home from a busy day and think, “Shall I go to small group?” That is our mistake right there. We would do well to build it into our lives in such a way that we don't have to make a decision, we just go! For when we try and decide, we are tempted instead to watch TV. I, for one, don't think I have ever regretted forcing myself out to small group because when I get there I am refreshed, invigorated, and I go home feeling so much better than when I started. But we don't ask you to turn attendance into a duty, still less a law. Rather, we commend it as good for you! If you love God and want to grow in your faith, just resolve now that you are not going to constantly be deciding whether to go or not, but instead you build it into the rhythm of your life—you make it a habit.

The New Testament clearly says that we are not under law (Romans 6). So when it comes to the Sabbath, the key issue is not following precise rules about what we can and can't do. Under the New Covenant, God's laws are written on our hearts and it becomes a heart attitude rather than a ritualistic legalistic rule. As Christians we are not bound to keep the Sabbath in the way that the Jews were. In two places Paul declares our freedom from the Sabbath and such religious festivals:

“Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ” (Colossians 2:16-17).

“But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain” (Galatians 4:9-11).

Every day is a Sabbath day for the Christian—separated to God, for worship, and to rest from our labors.

“Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest. . . .

[God's] works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all his works. . . .’

[T]here remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:1-11).

How Do We Strive To Rest?

Abandon our trust in our own righteous acts to please God both here and/or to get us into heaven! Grace truly does mean there is nothing I can do to make God love me more or less than he does.

“For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:2-5).

We enter into a glorious liberty of knowing we have no law, no duties. But instead we have a relationship with Jesus and we love him and want to follow him.

Work with all the energy he gives us.

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

Do everything for him, and do it well.

Expect to be successful at work, be the best you can be! It’s not wrong to earn money as a Christian!

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

“. . .obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:22-24).

God is not glorified by Christians who are slack at work, and have no desire to work well, and perhaps no desire to even pursue a career. He wants us to be his representatives at work, or in the home as we work—what has God called you to be? To be the best you can be at work! Work is your mission. We have been SENT! We are:

SALT—to make our workplace less rotten!
LIGHT—to show Gods glory.
YEAST—to quietly infiltrate and multiply.

Sometimes it is hard to speak much about the gospel in certain careers. We should live the kinds of lives that lead people to ask questions of us.

I do believe God wants us to enjoy our work. Sometimes we don't enjoy it because we fail to appreciate what work gives us. Without work we couldn't afford to eat, drink, or for that matter play! We should be happy we have that job and try to enjoy it as best we can. I remember meeting people in factories when I was working there as a student. I was mainly doing it for the paycheck, but many had the same job for years and some said they liked the fact that it didn't tax their brains too much so they didn't feel tired when they got home. What are the good parts about your job? If you really hate it so much, is there possibly another job you could do?

Find your calling.

God is not looking for a place for you—he made you for a place! When you know you are in the right place, the place God has placed you, it will lead to contentment and a sense of ease.

WHAT IS IT THAT YOU LOVE TO DO, AND OTHER PEOPLE NEED YOU TO DO, ENOUGH TO PAY YOU?

Learn to be intentional and disciplined in your lifestyle.

1. Come to church EVERY Sunday, not as a duty, but because it brings refreshing. Similarly, come every week to your small group where tiredness will give way to renewal for your souls. Know when it is the right time to STOP work, go home, or take that holiday. But don't live for the beach!
   
   
2. Build a rhythm of work, rest, and play into your life. Make resting and playing a part of your discipline.

We need different spheres in which we can find identity. This can be through relationships and shared activities. It can be with workmates, family, or friends. It was good enough for Jesus. That was how he lived on earth.

“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 sleep” (Psalm 127:2)

If we get our rhythm right, we will not only thank God it's Friday, but we will also thank God it's Monday!

WE TEND TO PLAY AT OUR WORK and WORSHIP OUR PLAY. GOD INTENDED US TO WORK AT OUR WORK, PLAY AT OUR PLAY, and WORSHIP at OUR WORSHIP.

Come to JESUS and allow him to strip away your weariness and false sense of responsibility.

“Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.”
(Isaiah 40:30-31)
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

Come to Jesus. He has:

• A word to the workaholic or the weary person who is in need of refreshment—RECEIVE GOD'S REST.
  
  
• A word to the lazy—RECEIVE GOD’S YOKE—new enthusiasm for the work he has for you.
  
  
• A word to the non-Christian or backslidden—STOP STRIVING TO LIVE YOUR WAY.

Come to Jesus and find rest.

This sermon was preached by me on the UK's Mother's Day, which was on March 2nd. The audio can be downloaded or played here.


It was based on a number of verses:

Isaiah 66:13
“As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”

Isaiah 49:15-16 Good News Bible
“Can a woman forget her own baby, and not love the child she bore?
Even if a mother should forget her child, I will never forget you.
Jerusalem, I can never forget you!
I have written your name on the palms of my hands.”

Luke 13:34
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!”

Isaiah 40:1-2
“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned.”

Psalm 131:1-2
“O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.”

2 Corinthians 1:3-4
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”


1. GOD IS LIKE A MOTHER, BUT HE IS A FATHER

We are right to talk of God as a father, for the Bible speaks of him repeatedly as a father. The verses we have read liken God to sharing attributes of a mother. There are, however, no verses that say God actually IS a mother; however, God is compared to a mother, and he is even likened to a hen brooding over her chicks. But we should no more worship him as “Mother God” than we should pray to God the Holy Chicken!

Since men and women are both created in the image of God, it should really be no surprise to us that God reflects attributes of mothers as well as fathers in his dealings with us.

Matthew Henry, writing more than 300 years ago, reminds us that God comforts us and he does so “not only with the rational arguments which a prudent father uses, but with the tender affections and compassions of a loving mother.” (Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible, Complete and Unabridged in One Volume, Isaiah 66:5 (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1996, c1991).

Some things never change!


2. GOD IS COMPASSIONATE LIKE A MOTHER

Women tend to be compassionate, although one mum said when I spoke to her this week, “It depends on the time of day!”

When an accident happens in our home, my instinct is to ask what happened, how did the child get hurt, where is the bruise, was one of the other children somehow responsible? Andree often says, “Darling, please just pick them up and give them a cuddle.”

God created the world. Is it any wonder he should feel the same intense degree of warm love and care towards his children that a mother so clearly demonstrates to hers? In one of our verses God says in effect “no way would a woman reject her own baby,” before acknowledging that, then as now, sadly there are a few women who do indeed forget the child they bore. But God can NEVER forget! Why? Because of what happened on the cross when he “engraved our names on his hands.”


3. GOD IS SACRIFICIAL LIKE A MOTHER

Mother with a baby might say, “O-o-oh, do you need a nappy change, poor little boy?” But Dad might say , “O man, could you not have waited to do that? It was changed only a few minutes ago!”

Women put their careers on at least a temporary hold, and go through the pains of pregnancy and childbirth to have a child. Jesus once said when that “when a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.” (John 16:21)

God understands the pain that mothers go through, not just in labor but in the decades that follow. He has seen us his children go astray and reject him, but still he loves us. How amazing knowing that he was going to a city that had killed prophets before and would kill him, that he doesn't go in as a conquering manly warrior king. Rather, he says, “I am like a mother hen, cooing over you, wanting to gather you under my wings.” Surely God understands the thankless task of trying to win over kids when they are rebelling and think you hate them. The thousands of sacrifices the average mother makes for her children reflects upon the ultimate sacrifice of his life that Jesus would make.

Jesus died so he COULD gather his unwilling creation, like a mother hen would gather her chicks. He is hunting for them and searching for them right now to love them, forgive them, cleanse them from their guilt and shame, and make them into true children of God.

Jesus scorned the shame and pain of the cross because of the joy set before him— the joy of US as his children.

What a wonderful cry we heard from the prophet Isaiah—it was only made possible because of the cross. “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned.” (Isaiah 40:1-2).


4. GOD IS COMFORTING LIKE A MOTHER

When it comes to hugs and kisses, especially if they are upset, my kids look to their mum for comfort. They say I am prickly and need a shave! Do you think of God as prickly?

Just as a skillful mother is able to pacify and soothe the woes of her child, so is God with us. Who here is distressed? God will soothe you. Who is sorrowful? God will calm your troubles. Who here is stressed? God will cause you to rest in him.

God is the God of ALL comfort. Jesus told us he was sending “another comforter” to replace himself, which tells us that his role and that of the Spirit was to comfort us.

Our response to being comforted?

We feel understood, We feel calmed. Stress lifts. Anxiety passes. Our problem now belongs to the one whose wings we shelter under.

This is surely the perfect description of the mature Christian:

“O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.” (Psalm 131:1-2)

If you feel you are not there yet, you are probably right! Which of us is? But, that is our goal, arriving at a place where we trust God so much that we are not worrying about the events of our life, where we are calm and able to face the day.


5. GOD WANTS US TO OFFER COMFORT TO OTHERS

Perhaps you struggle with the question, “Why, God?” when you question something that has happened to you. There are a myriad of different circumstances life throws at us that make us ask that question. Bereavement, divorce, abuse by others, disappointments, sickness.

There are no easy or complete answers to the question “Why?” One answer is that God wants you to quiet yourself, stop examining things “too lofty for us to understand,” and instead be comforted by him so that you, too, can comfort others. But perhaps you need the comfort of others today . . . maybe you are far from the place that you can help someone else. Who here needs a touch from God? Maybe you need a touch from your neighbor.

Who here already knows from bittersweet, personal experience the truth that “God is the God of all comfort” — it is time you learned to pass that on! He comforts us SO THAT WE CAN COMFORT OTHERS. "But," you say, "I am not a pastor or a theologian." "I say," "God tells us to comfort each other with the comfort he has given us!" Church, are our conversations seasoned with the salt of comfort? Do we listen to the troubles of each other and show that we care? Do we help each other to find the strength that only God can give?

RESPONSE: Salvation, need of comfort, need to comfort others.

No. 9 on the list of most-read posts on this blog appeared on November 28, 2005, and simply linked to a sermon my pastor, Tope Koleoso, had preached on gratitude. Presumably it is a mark of the high percentage of my readers who are also preachers. It rates quite highly in a Google search for a "Thanksgiving Sermon."

Tope's sermon was very warmly received at the time. Oddly, it was preached entirely by coincidence on the Thanksgiving weekend as he felt prompted to preach on gratefulness. I am thrilled that it is one of Tope's sermons that is the most visited sermon page on this blog in spite of the fact that all that is available is a link to the mp3 file. I want to give tribute to my pastor, and thank him for all of his love and behind-the-scenes support of this blog.

Tope Koleoso, my pastor (Jubilee Church, London), didn't even realize that it was Thanksgiving this weekend and preached an outstanding sermon on the need to be grateful. There were some amazing parts where he opened his heart and shared some of the experiences he has had which led him to gratefulness. It was one of the best sermons— if not the best sermon— I have heard from him. You can download the mp3 or listen to it right here:

No. 15 on the list of most-read posts on this blog appeared on August 22, 2007, and announced a major gift from Sovereign Grace Ministries to the global Church. Their vast collection of audio messages are now available online for free. If you have not already taken time to explore this treasure trove, shame on you! In order to encourage you to check out this fantastic collection, the post is reprinted here in its entirety:

Carolyn McCulley just alerted us to the fact that the entire collection of Sovereign Grace Ministries mp3 messages have been made completely free to download. Carolyn was too modest to mention that her own talks are included, as well as a number of other ladies. Get browsing, and if you have an iPod, you might need to consider getting a bigger one! This is a phenomenal resource, as you can see by the following list of speakers with messages available:

Randy Alcorn, Mark Altrogge, Christine Bass, Ken Boer, Robin Boisvert, Gary Bowers, Mike Bradshaw, Mike Bullmore, John Butler, Craig Cabaniss, Solomon Campbell, Kristin Chesemore, Nancy Chouinard, Mickey Connolly, Steve Cook, Vikki Cook, Brent Detwiler, Jenny Detwiler, Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, Bob Donohue, Jim Donohue, Andy Farmer, Rick Gamache, Pete Greasley, Wayne Grudem, Joshua Harris, Dave Harvey, Kimm Harvey, Eric Hughes, Danny Jones, Bob Kauflin, Bill Kittrell Grant Layman, John Loftness, Marty Machowski, Carolyn Mahaney, C. J. Mahaney, Janelle Mahaney-Bradshaw, John MacArthur, Kenneth Maresco, Carolyn McCulley, Mark Mitchell, Albert Mohler, Mark Mullery, Aron Osborne, Jon Payne, John Piper, David Powlison, Mark Prater, Jeff Purswell, Michael Ramsden, Charlotte Richardson, Trey Richardson, Ken Sande, Phil Sasser, Pat Sczebel, Janis Shank, Steve Shank, Chris Silard, Eric Simmons, R. C. Sproul, Carl Taylor, Justin Taylor, Stuart Townend, Eric Turbedsky, Todd Twining, Terry Virgo, Bruce Ware, Darryl Wenger, Nicole Whitacre, Dave Wilcox

For me, once I have prioritized my own personal inner life and relationship with God, then my dear family, a clear third place in my affections is given without a moment's doubt to my local church. Family does come before the church, but of course our church is like an extension of my family and we all love being a part of it. It is hard to believe that it was as long ago as 1995 that we first joined our current church.

This past year has been another amazing one for all of us at Jubilee London. Serving as part of the core team and a regular preacher in this vibrant, multicultural, growing church is one of the biggest privileges of my life. It is no wonder that so many of our leaders and people are saying things like, "I have no intention of leaving." I know, for us as a family, we currently believe that we will be here for at least twenty more years, and are thrilled at the prospect. Why would we want to go anywhere else?

Who could forget our international giving day or the day we turned our main service into church in the park, or for that matter, the day the whole church got an invitation to a wedding? (Sadly I missed both the last two of these events, with the latter happening while George was being born.) The memorable events went on—Alpha, new small groups, clusters of small groups meeting together, men's and women's days, and of course, lots of different kinds of food from all over the world. People becoming Christians, getting healed, and yes, a couple of them dying very well, still full of faith in the Jesus that has now welcomed them into heaven. These wonderful memories will go on and on, but they just keep growing as more keep getting added!

Over the course of the last year we were also thrilled to have a number of well-known preachers visit us. I am humbled that I am still asked to share God's Word with the congregation. I preached ten times this past year, and all the audio and notes are available on the pages of this blog as follows:

• How to Define Revival and be Revived Personally


• Reviving Prayer (1 Kings 17:1 to 2 Kings 2:14)


• The Reviving Power of God's Word (Psalm 119)


• Resurrection Hope—An Easter Sermon (1 Corinthians 15)


• Missional Bible Study (Psalm 119)


• Abraham—The First Missional Believer


• Jacob—The Missional Rebel


• Alive Together With Christ (Ephesians 2:1-10)


• The Christian's Warfare (Ephesians 6)


• The Risen Jesus (Revelation 1)

Many of you will never get to visit our church, although, of course, we would be happy to welcome any of you! But you can visit with us by listening to our messages available as a podcast or at Jubilee Church's website.

This morning I preached a sermon at Jubilee. The following are almost exactly the notes I used to preach from. In the meantime you can download the audio or listen to it right here.

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Imagine Jesus . . .

Baby Jesus—weakness, stooping down, becoming one of us, close to us. OR, Jesus on the cross; suffering the wrath of God for us. Closest description of Jesus did NOT look like the cross, or a “gentle Galilean peasant,” or the baby Jesus.

Consider the scene . . .

The aging John—an island prisoner who has NOT recanted. He has not said, “We all made it up.” Perhaps they would have let him go. But how could he deny his friend? He was no Judas. ?the only one of Jesus' disciples left. There had always been speculation that he would not die his gospel denied. Soon he would be with Jesus again. O how he had missed him.

Jesus' best friend on earth . . .

“The twelve”—the inner circle of three. Only one who leaned his head on Jesus. Others understood most of the time! And Jesus was kind about it. If anyone had known Jesus, he had. NO flaws, perfect. Being with Jesus had been the most amazing experience of his life.

The change in John . . .

Sons of thunder plus wanting position. Now oozed the love of God. People said they could tell he had been with Jesus. It’s still true today—those who have truly been with Jesus are changed. NB Jesus is with us through his Spirit.

Perhaps he thought about possibly the strangest words he had ever heard Jesus say. Back then, must have struggled to believe that Jesus' leaving would be better for him, BUT he had known the Spirit of Jesus living inside him, working through him, assuring him that he had been saved. These past years he had not been alone. But, there was a part of him that missed being able to see Jesus, to hug Jesus.

Suddenly he was caught up into heaven. He had seen Jesus look a bit like this once before. The risen, ascended glorious Jesus.

READ Revelation 1:9-18

Immediately this Jew who had been schooled in worshipping only the one God fell on his face as though dead in order to worship his best friend. Who could stand before him?

Before he fell John managed to see enough of Jesus to give us this wonderful description. Have you ever thought about this image of Jesus? Have you let it fill your mind? Have you gazed on him? As we gaze on Jesus we will become like him says Paul in 2 Corinthians 3.

“Seeing is becoming.” (John Piper)

No full image, no statues, no worship.

“One like a son of man.” Earth, a few pounds lighter, new creation—a physical body.

God has incorporated human flesh into the divinity. Not only did God become man, a Man was now ruling in heaven as God. Everything about him was glorious.

Even his hair seemed to gleam. Reminds us of Daniel on the 'ancient of days.' Jesus who always has been and always will be. Another figure in Daniel—Jesus is mediator between man and God—he is both the Son of Man and the Ancient of Days! White hair could also symbolize his wisdom and judgment.

He was wearing a robe—like Christians in heaven. Jesus was dressed in his own righteousness—that he had also given his people to wear. A golden sash speaks of his authority. Like the high priests’ garments or those of a king.

His eyes flash like fire. One glance of some people’s eyes can make your knees go to jelly—teenage boy when the hottest girl in the school looks at him. Authoritative look of judge, parent. Jesus’ eye is watching you. He can see everything. He can look through walls and into hearts. Those eyes say, “I love you, but you don't want to mess with me.”

His eyes were confident, authoritative, but also gentle and full of love. Often we are over-familiar with Jesus and see him as a figure as it were in soft-focus—an English gentleman, perhaps Mr. Darcy. We need to see his majesty, glory, authority, power, and wrath against sin. O beloved, just one glance of his eye would be enough for our weak, timid, overly-gentle, soft caricatures of Jesus to disappear in an instant.

Even Jesus’ feet exuded strength and authority. For such an important part of our bodies, our feet can be pretty weak and pretty ugly at times. They are also incredibly vulnerable—e.g. a small stone in your shoe. Jesus' feet were solid bronze and symbolized God's glory in OT writings.

But the thing that would probably both terrify you and thrill you most about this figure was his voice. Like thunder, waves, Niagara falls.

When this Jesus speaks the world shakes. “Let there be light!” “A new heaven and a new earth.” When he says “NO!” to Satan, the devil just melts away. What this voice says goes. No one can challenge him. Just be quiet and obey. Do as he tells you before he deafens you.

When he says “This one is forgiven,” you are forgiven. When he says, “This one is righteous!” your sins evaporate and righteousness is credited to your account—something really does change inside so you will become what you are. If he says, “Be free!” you will be free indeed. If he says “Be healed” your sickness will go. If he says “It’s not good for them to be alone!” your perfectly designed by God marriage partner will be just around the corner. I hear you say “Where?!?!” Maybe you have met them already! Maybe they are right here in this room. Perhaps you need God to speak: “Open those eyes and look!”

Brothers, it is not for nothing that the ancient hymn says:

“He speaks, and listening to His voice, new life the dead receive.
The mournful, broken hearts rejoice; the humble poor believe.
Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb, your loosened tongues employ.
Ye blind, behold your Saviour come; and leap, ye lame, for joy.”
Out of his mouth came a sword. Some say this is justice. But, even if it is, with what does Jesus judge the world? By his Word – his living, active, sharp Word which pierces us. (Hebrews 4:12) For me, I think the sword here is indeed the Word of God, as we saw when we spoke about Ephesians 6. It is encouraging to realize that Jesus himself is fighting. In fact it’s his battle.

Then there was his face. What a wonderful face. What a shining face. What a gentle, but powerful face. Can’t see his face for intense brightness. But drawn anyway.

What is the appropriate response to this Jesus? That of Jesus’ best friend, the only appropriate one. Shock, reverence, awe—look it was FEAR! Like Isaiah who said, “Woe to me,” he FELL as though DEAD. WE MUST TOO! We were dead in our trespasses and sins, nothing to give, helpless and in need his help. OUR weakness, his superiority. Are you angry with God, saying “When I get to heaven I will have a few questions for him to answer!” You fool! If Jesus was to walk into this room today, you would not be able to remain in your seats. God could not be seen or else death would result. His nuclear-hot holiness burns up every trace of sin.

We are right to fear him. We would be fools not to. And, when the Bible says, Fear him,” it means simply that. FEAR HIM! Sometimes people come to us and say they are afraid of God. We would do well to tell them you are probably not frightened enough.

But the passage doesn't end there. Instead we see—wonder of wonders—that amazing word BUT. There are few words more welcome than that word in the right place. John is terrified in the presence of the fearsome risen Christ. He is there on his face. He thinks that’s it, I am undone. At that very moment, the passage tells us, “BUT JESUS reached out his hand, his right hand no less, and touches him” O, what is he going to do? Is he going to kill him? Is he going to beat him up a bit? Is he angry with him? Is he going to scold him for not being good enough?

What does he say? Does he say, “Be afraid, be very afraid!” No—he says “Fear Not!” Oddly enough, the Bible is full of commands to fear God. But when God turns up on the scene he always seems to say “Don't be afraid!” The reason for this is that God both wants us to fear him, and doesn't want us to be terrified of him!

Why doesn't John need to, in that sense, fear Jesus? Because of what Jesus has just done for him—he has reached out and touched him. Because of who Jesus is- the great eternal one who never had a beginning and never had an ending. Because his best friend, Jesus, is now revealed for all to see as the eternal God—“The First and Last” Because he is also the one who is the living active one—the God who still delights in doing things. He is the one who died, FOR YOU, John. He is the one who was RAISED for you, John. And he is the one who holds the keys of death and hell in his hands. If he says you are one of mine, then the devil can't touch you, and the door of hell is locked to you and heaven is open wide!

This is the Jesus we come to today, beloved. The living one. The terrifying one. And yet the loving one, who delights in reaching his hand out and touching you. And when he touches you, amazing things can happen. Do you need Jesus to touch you? Do you need a healing? He is the healer. Do you need your guilt removed? He died so that you could be forgiven. Do you feel dirty because of your own sin or the sin someone else committed against you? His blood cleanses you from all shame and all uncleanness. Do you need a victory in your personal life? Your relationships? Your work? This Jesus is the triumphant one, and nothing, but nothing can stand in his way when he chooses to act on your behalf.

Let’s fall on our faces. Let’s worship him. Let’s feel his touch. Let’s get right with him. Become a Christian, or get so close to Jesus once more that it almost feels as if we are born again again! Then let’s stand up, and go from this place a people who are changed by him. Let’s go full of joy. Full of faith. Full of the boldness that comes from being with Jesus. Let’s invite people to our Christmas event to meet this wonderful Jesus so they, too, can feel his touch. Amen.

The MP3s of three talks from Mark Driscoll's recent visit to Scotland are now online. The first one is the only one I was there for, and for which I wrote notes.

God's Plan for the Church in This City (right click to download MP3).

The Gospel We Preach—A Message for Leaders by Mark Driscoll (right click to download MP3).

Driscoll is an important voice for the Church today. One thing he addressed in his well-rounded talk on the cross was the notion that Jesus died to take our shame. I came across the following post which demonstrates both the rarity of preaching that addresses this and its importance. Rik Fleming was undone by Mark Driscoll:

"On Sunday morning I was watching a sermon on the internet by Mark Driscoll titled “The Cross of Christ.” Something in this sermon got through to me for the very first time. Perhaps I have heard this before, but it had never been rooted in my mind and soul before now.

The truth of the gospel is this: Jesus not only took upon Himself my guilt, my sin, and God’s wrath for it on the cross—he also took upon himself throughout all of his suffering MY SHAME!

I have a B.A. in Biblical studies, an M.A. in theology, and I have a library full of books. Yet, somehow this truth had never gripped me.

Why?

I have 18 books on Systematic Theology and NOT ONE discusses shame or develops a doctrine of Christ in which is discussed how he has borne our shame. I have an entire shelf full of books on Christian counseling and yet not NOT ONE discusses the impact of shame on the mind of the victim and the sinner. (Perhaps I need to search for more books on the subject?)

The truth that Christ has borne our shame has significant implications for the believer—especially to those who have been sexually abused, molested as a child (like myself) or in other ways have been treated as less than a person who bears the image of God. Even more so, it is essential that those who have suffered such shame and then lived out of that shame by living in sin to understand this important aspect of Christ’s humiliation in the process of his crucifixion."

More information on the atonement is available in a series of MP3s from a recent UCCF student conference on the subject.

The following notes are based on a sermon I preached yesterday at Jubilee Church, London. It draws to a close our series on Ephesians. You can download the mp3 or listen right here:

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.” (Ephesians 6:10-20)

During World War II, if you lived in London you were in a war. You could try and deny it. You could pretend it wasn't happening. But to do so you would be a fool. Every air raid siren, every mad scramble to the shelters, every destroyed home would remind you—the enemy was REAL and he was coming to get you.

Some people today act like the world is at peace. It is not. We all face a danger more deadly than air raids or suicide bombers. There is an enemy who is at work to destroy the world. You and I were born onto a battlefield, and we will live all our lives and then die on a battlefield.

The devil has many schemes. Today we will look at some of the main ones. First, he has two over-arching strategies.

1. He loves people to become fascinated with him. It was his pride that made him evil. He wants the attention and praise that is due God. Every time someone visits a medium or reads a horoscope, he has succeeded in turning someone from trusting God for their future. We see a rise in all kinds of strange spirituality because people are looking for a power encounter. Sadly an experience of power is all too often not available in the church—which is the one place where it should be seen! Meditation which empties the mind, hypnotism, witchcraft, and many other similar things all come from the devil, and the Christian has no business playing with them.
   
   Even within the church the devil uses this strategy. There are those who spend much time praying against the "spiritual forces in power in the air" which they say are over an area, forgetting that Jesus is Lord and has already defeated the evil powers! Or they blame the devil for every cold that comes their way—we live in a fallen world; let's not give the devil too much credit. But in reacting to this ploy of the devil of drawing attention to himself, too often we fall into the opposite error.
   
   
2. The devil loves to make people ignorant of him and his schemes. In the sophisticated West we easily forget him. He is happy for us to do so. Dressing himself up as the god of Mammon, we fall in line and worship him more dutifully than the so-called "ignorant, and uncivilized" people who worship spirits. "More, more, more," says Mammon. Just a bit more. Feed your flesh. Feed the hunger I am causing. You don't need God, you need ME. More, more, more. Just a bit more. Then you will be happy. Last year's mobile phone? That's no good now—what you need is the latest ... the best ... your provider will even upgrade you for free if you sign up for another year's service!!

"Not ignorant of his schemes." 2 Corinthians 2:11 NIV.

He is often disguised.

“A thorough knowledge of the enemy and a healthy respect for his prowess are a necessary preliminary to victory in war. Similarly, if we underestimate our spiritual enemy, we shall see no need for God’s armour, we shall go out to the battle unarmed, with no weapons but our own puny strength, and we shall be quickly and ignominiously defeated.”

Stott, J. R. W. (1979, 1980). God's New Society: The Message of Ephesians (263). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Story of Jewish exorcists in Ephesus (from Acts). Need to be properly prepared!!! The burning of the occult books was also in Ephesus. So the readers were well aware of the role of the devil.

Don't underestimate Satan and his demonic powers!

Our enemy is powerful—“the cosmic powers ...”

Our enemy is wicked—“spiritual forces of evil.”

Our enemy is crafty—“the schemes of the devil.”

In this passage we see the antedote to some of the devil's schemes. Lying behind Paul's description of our fight and the armour we are to use are the ways in which the devil most likes to attack.

1. First, the devil encourages us to substitute ourselves for God. In Genesis it is the devil who tells Eve, “You will be like God” (Genesis 3:4). Of course, his real goal is not that we become lord, but rather that we end up worshipping him. Like he said to Jesus, he tells us he can make us lord if we just bow the knee to him. 1 Samuel 15:23: "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry" (KJV). Our response to this is simple—NO, we will be strong IN THE LORD, not in ourselves! James 4:7: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Do you realize that pride is demonic? We should flee from it as much as we flee from devil worship.
   
   
2. The devil loves to distract us by making us think people are the real enemy. But "OUR ENEMY IS NOT FLESH AND BLOOD.” He would even be happy if our focus was on opposing his servants. Behind every enemy of the gospel lies a far more deadly enemy—Satan. Our war is with him. Everyone else is just a casualty of war, enscripted by the evil master. When we meet someone who serves the devil we should still hold out the hand of Christian love to that person and aim to win them over! “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). We are not to be like that! We are not looking for someone to devour and criticize and prove wrong! He is the accuser of the brothers (Revelation 12:10). He sows disunity and bitterness between us. He loves to destroy relationships, especially marriages. Every time we give in to the temptation to be nasty to someone, we give the devil a foothold (Ephesians 4:27).
   
   
3. The devil teaches us to lie. He lied to Eve. “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4). Lies can be flagrant or they can be subtle. They are all of the devil. Jesus had the following very strong words to say of some Jews of his day: “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me” (John 8:44-45). Every "white lie" is inspired from the pit of hell. It's demonic. Every bit as much so as sorcery or devil worship! It is interesting then to see what the first piece of armour Paul mentions is—the belt of TRUTH. How do we primarily fight the enemy? By replacing his strategies and tools with the opposite. We fight a lie with the truth.
   
   
4. The devil teaches us to substitute our own righteousness for that of God's. There are a lot of theological arguments these days about the basic Christian doctrine of us having received from God an alien righteousness with which to cover ourselves and by which we can be justified. The picture here of a breastplate of righteousness expresses the image wonderfully. We are now clothed in the righteousness of God. It is expressed here as part of the armour because to inspire doubt in this righteousness is, of course, one of the devil's main schemes. We don't tend to think of doctrine as a demonic battleground, but it is. We don't tend to think of doctrinal error as coming from Satan, but it does.
   
   Let's see how Paul responded to the Galatians, who had slipped away from grace into legalism:

   “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—just as Abraham 'believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness'?” (Galatians 3:1-6)

   BEWITCHMENT. That's a strong, demonic word. Because this is one of the devil's KEY strategies. If he can persuade us to throw away our confidence in Jesus and substitute confidence in our own righteousness, he has won. For if we lose this, we lose the gospel. Never forget the enemy's role in leading the church astray doctrinally. How do we fight it? By cherishing doctrine and living in the good of it!
   
   
5. The devil prevents evangelism and the reception of truth. “Feet fitted ...” 2 Corinthians 4:4: “... the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” We fail to recognize this work of the enemy. When we share the gospel and some one fails to respond, we give up. We think “we did it wrong” or “they just aren't interested.” Then we become disheartened and are no longer ready to share the gospel. This is warfare beloved! We have to understand and recognize that rejection of the gospel is demonic. It is inspired by the enemy. So how do we fight this? We fight it by being ready to share the gospel!
   
   
6. The devil breeds passivity in us. There is another strategy we can discern here—the opposite of readiness is passivity. Adam was there in the Garden and did nothing. He said nothing. He sat by and watched his wife fall. That was surely as demonically inspired as Eve's active sin. This one is especially for the men among us, but it is also for each of us. Spending our entire lives sitting on the sofa flicking TV channels while we let the world quite literally go to hell is inexcusable. If the devil can inspire us to just sit back and do nothing he has won. This is particularly true in evangelism, but it is true in all of life. Have you ever thought that the raging desire in your heart to "just rest"—that longing to spend your life in leisure, might actually be demonically inspired? Of course, God invented rest and we need to rest! But to allow rest and passivity to rule in our hearts is to cede defeat to the enemy! This one is there throughout this passage—“stand,” “be strong,” “be ready,” “wrestle,” “stand firm,” etc....
   
   
7. The devil breeds doubt, fear, and mistrust. This is the opposite of faith. “Did God really say?” said the serpent to Eve. “God has withheld something good from you,” or “Will he really act on your behalf?” We, of course, fight this by determining to trust in God and not think he is a liar. That is my definition of faith: Not accusing God of being a liar! Growing in our confidence in God's love, power, and goodness really is a shield of faith that protects us.
   
   
8. The devil plays tricks with our minds. Thinking about salvation protects our minds. “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).
   
   
9. The devil misinterprets God's Word. He adds to it (“touch it and we will die”); he twists it (“every tree,” when God banned only one). Our offensive weapon is the Bible! Satan used the Scriptures to tempt Jesus. Beware of any preacher or book which tells you a complicated story of why a verse doesn't really mean what it seems to simply mean. This is one of the devil's favorite tricks. It means that even in our study of God's Word and the writings about it we must be aware of the devil's schemes. Remember the danger of pride in our learning. “'Knowledge' puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Corinthians 7:1).
   
   
10. The devil distracts us from prayer. This is why Paul urges us to pray here.

So how do we fight the devil?

• We fight him by using the opposite strategies.
  
  
• We fight him with the Word of God.
  
  
• We fight him in prayer.

In closing . . .

Which side are you on? We need to be wholehearted one way or the other. If the devil is God, why not serve him fully? If God is God, why not sign up as his soldier?

This second session, and sadly for Tope and myself our last session, was taken by Mark Driscoll. Mark was introduced by Andy Owen as someone who is a gift from God to the entire body of Christ.

Mark started by telling his story. His upbringing, salvation, and the way his father also was saved made a moving story. He was thrilled to be able to report that the gospel really does work.

Mark took us to Genesis 1-3 in order to look at our first father, Adam. The race is named man because men rule humanity. We are made in the image of God. We are to glorify God, because we are the glory of God—in the same way we look at our sons and say, “You are my glory!”

We are not incompetent idiots; we are made to be the glory of God. Whatever Satan tells us, remind ourselves we are the glory of our Father. The man and the woman are created like a king and queen to rule over all of creation as stewards.

We are equal by virtue of creation. But we are different. We have a culture that tries to raise people. We need to raise sons and daughters. Mark's daughters love to shoe shop, the sons love war! His sons were outside wrestling and one of his daughters brought them a snack. We are not as strong as each other. We are different. Equal, but not identical. We are good at different things.

God wants to bless his sons and daughters. Our God does not have to be manipulated to be good to us, he loves to be good. Fatherhood is to subdue the earth and fill it. Today fatherhood is not encouraged. If your father is the devil, you think differently about marriage, sexuality, and children. Wisdom is thinking God the Father's thoughts after him.

There is a distinction between lower animals and the human race. We were specially created by a loving Father to bear his image. Day begins in the evening. Begins with rest, then work! Prepare your heart to glorify your Father.

Biblical stories are often beginning-middle-beginning rather than our way of beginning-middle-end. So there is a re-telling of the creation story in chapter 2. Life is like that; it is circular in nature.

Only mankind was created with the hand of God rather than simply speaking out a command as he did with the rest of creation. God made us to also work the earth. Even in Eden, temptation was in the middle of the Garden. We have to choose every moment of every day to walk past temptation.

We must keep walking past temptation. The fool stops, sits, and then sins. If we do not work enough, we will sin too much. Work is a gift of God to keep us out of trouble. Young men are like trucks, they will drive straighter if they are carrying a heavy load. Work is worship. Everything done for the glory of God is worship.

Too many men have their life's ambition to make enough money so they can stop working.

God gives us plenty and wants to bless us. He gives us good things:

• A wife—so thank him for her rather than despising her and going after what God has forbidden.
  
  
• Your job—someone else's might be, for you, forbidden.

We each have a role to fulfil that is intended for us. We should not go after what has not been given to us.

The only thing that was described as “not good” before the fall was man being alone. Some single guys are strange, and what they need is a woman. There is nothing that sanctifies a man like a woman can sanctify him. Many young men run away from responsibility and think being alone is good. This is not true. The difference between a man and a boy is the responsibilities they carry. You need help! God is not denigrating the woman by calling her a helper. "Remember—the Holy Spirit is a helper. God is our helper. The woman is a helper suitable for the man. Our wives are designed by God for us. Burn the list you have for what you want your wife to be like if you are a single man. Your wife may turn out to be opposite to you in every way but still be your suitable helper—designed by God to help you.

God is not alone. He is trinitarian. Man does not have that relationship in himself. He cannot fully reflect God unless he has someone alongside him—namely a woman. The woman does not come from behind him, or ahead of him; she comes from the side of him. God brings the woman to him. The man has to talk to her! The first recorded words: he sang poetry to her. If you have any such ability use it, if not steal some!

The process is this: leave your parents, be your own man, meet a woman, get married, have sex with her. Don't get this order wrong. We become "one" with our Father. Out of the many there is one. Be a one-woman man. Men want sex, women want oneness. The ladies are more biblical. Sexuality need not be associated with shame. It is a great gift to have a clear conscience.

Eve became Adam's standard of beauty. Let your wife become your standard of beauty.

Everything falls apart in chapter three. The devil puts everything wrong. Pride is the root of all sin; self-esteem is just another word for pride. The devil was thrown out of heaven for being proud. He is not equal to God, he is a created being. He usurps the order and speaks to the wife.

The first attack was on the Word of God. Do we believe him or not? The words really matter. Satan comes and undermines hermeneutics. He misinterprets. The problem is not our ability to interpret the Bible, but our willingness to obey the simple words of the Bible. “Did God really say . . .?” Do not talk to everyone. She didn't have to talk to the devil. She adds “you must not touch it.” SO many people do that. God's Word is sufficient we shouldn't add to it. The devil then says, "God is a liar." But Satan is the liar. The temptation is always that God is withholding from us a good thing. He says, you don't need God you can be a god. We don't interpret the Bible, it interprets us. It reveals my sin. It teaches me about God and my need for him.

2 Corinthians 2:11—we must be aware of his schemes. He doesn't have many schemes. One is to attack your wife, one is to tell you there is something that God has withheld from you, and the other is to undermine you trust in God's words. Adam was not away. Where was he? He was there. What was he doing? NOTHING. That is the greatest sin of Adam and our greatest sin is doing nothing. We watch our countries go to rack and ruin. We watch the gospel undermined. We see false teachers. The world is full of men who do nothing, say nothing, give nothing, and change nothing. They are sons of the devil. You are the glory of God. You are not to act like sons of the devil. Satan attacks wives, and we must speak the truth to them. Adam was with her and didn't do this. Adam said nothing and did nothing. We need God's help to not be just like him.

Having spent yesterday evening listening to Mark Driscoll with church leaders, this morning's MenMakers conference was a men's event. The aim of the conference was to help us become “real men.” Sadly I will not be able to cover the whole event as we need to return to London. I will cover two sessions, however.

The first one was taken by the leader of the Destiny network of churches, Andrew Owen, who spoke about being “tested to making point.” God said to Solomon, “Be the man.” What does that look like? What makes a man? Jesus is the model man. Andrew took us to Luke 4 and the temptations of Jesus. No man has changed our world more than Jesus. Jesus must have told his disciples this story. He shared his private life with his disciples.

Why is there a need for a test? Most people don't like tests. But we are glad when we visit a doctor or dentist to know that they are certified. God tests us so we will be ready for new heights. Adam failed the test. Jesus is the second man and the last Adam. Like Adam, he is tested. Unlike Adam, Jesus passed the test. We can become like him and be real men.

We need to know our strengths and weaknesses. Our life with God begins with weakness, not strength. God wants to highlight our desperate utter need of him. Whatever we want to accomplish in our lives requires his unmerited grace. If your life is such that it wouldn't make a difference if God didn't show up, then it is too small.

Jesus was tested first to prove that he was the son of God. The last words Jesus probably heard before this were those God the Father said at his baptism when he had said this is my Son. We live in a competitive world and we can slide into a prove-it world. We can never do enough to satisfy that. Let God do what he is meant to do, and we should do what we can do. God is the one who builds the Church. Jesus' reply to Satan was, “It is written . . .” He aligns himself with God. Our identity is in God's words about us.

Jesus' second temptation was to worship Satan. We live in a fame culture. Popularity, success, and self-gratification are seductive. We are not to be those with an unhealthy ambition. Jesus knew that his destiny was for the world to be under his rule. He was being offered the same thing, but with a short-cut. Jesus knew what crucifixion would be like. He would have seen the crosses that littered Palestine. He knew what was coming to him. Here was a chance to get it without the pain. We are tempted sometimes to do it in a way that isn't God's way. We are not born to be blessed, but to be a blessing. We were born to make a difference. Our challenge is to purposely serve the cause of Christ and his kingdom.

Jesus' third temptation was to throw it all away. When we are in God's will, we walk under God's protection. Satan can't take us out. He can entice us to take ourselves out. God doesn't want us to throw it all away. There is sometimes a false drive to sensationalism. You have to believe in the supernatural to be a Christian. If you don't believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, you are not a Christian. We need the supernatural to be born again. But why stop there? We need the supernatural for our normal, not-so-sensational lives.

We must learn how to navigate life successfully. We need fixed coordinates in our life. What are the defined points? What is our course? What does God want for our lives? The fixed points are the Word of God, a non-negotiable. Jesus is our example. Commitment to God and our family are fixed. We need to keep in a good relationship with God. Then we will miss the shipwreck opportunities in our lives.

God is committed to bring us through to where he wants us to be. We might feel that we have blown it. But God wants to put us on the right path again. Let's live for a cause that is bigger than ourselves. We might live for a vision, but we will die for a cause. We need to re-Christianize Europe. We must give our lives for something that is worth living for. We are not to be insignificant. We must pass tests and then do what God has planned for us.

UPDATE The Audio of this talk is now available to download.

-----

Tonight's event took place in an ex-cinema, so I felt at home! It is the home of Destiny Church, Edinburgh. Destiny is a family of churches across Scotland, and they have some churches elsewhere in the world as well. The audience that gathered was a young one, and following an energetic time of worship, Mark Driscoll came to the platform to share with us. Here is a short video clip from the message. Following this, I will share my notes with you.

Mark spoke about the person of Jesus and his work on the cross. He said that he believed that it was important for preachers of the gospel from time to time to sit and hear the gospel.

He began in 1 Corinthians 2 — “... I resolved to know nothing when I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified ....” The only thing that must be preached is Jesus and him crucified. Apart from Jesus and his death, we have nothing to offer anyone.

It takes three generations to lose the gospel. One generation believes, the next assumes too much, and the third forgets it or denies it. We cannot assume anything. If we say Jesus, Bible, God, cross, sin—we must not assume that anyone has any idea what we are talking about!

Martin Luther said that in our preaching of the cross, we should “ ... beat it into their heads continually!”

Many traditions love one side of the jewel of Jesus' death. Mark believes we must appreciate eleven sides of the cross. We must also think of it in the context of Jesus' whole life—his incarnation, holy life, death, resurrection, and ascension. We need to emotionally encounter the significance of the crucifixion and all that it has accomplished for us. The Jews couldn't understand how God himself could be cursed by hanging on a tree.

It is perhaps the most amazing thing that has ever happened—that the cross should become the most popular symbol in human history. To call the day Jesus died “Good Friday” is also astonishing. We must understand the theological aspects of the cross.

ELEVEN ASPECTS OF THE ATONEMENT

1. The Central Theme—Penal Substitutionary Atonement (PSA)
   
   We cannot assume anything. A war is brewing over this issue. This is the issue we must be willing to fight over. If we lose this, we lose the gospel. Mark said that if you deny this, you have essentially lost the Christian faith. Isaiah 53:5 — “ ... FOR our transgressions.” Romans 5:8 — “Christ died FOR us.” 1 Corinthians 15:3 — “Christ died FOR our sins.” Sin results in death. In the Garden of Eden, our first parents sinned in our place. They substituted themselves for God—they made their own rules and lived as though they were God.
   
   As we substituted ourselves for God, God substituted himself for us to fix this. Sin is only atoned for in substitution — e.g. in the sacrifices of atonement.
   
   What does this mean practically? I MURDERED GOD! He died for MY sin! He paid MY penalty of death. As MY substitute he endured what I deserve in order to give me what I don't deserve. If you lose substitution, you lose all sense of gratitude.
   
   
2. Jesus is Our Victor
   
   Jesus conquered Satan and demons. We don't like demons, so this is a good thing! Colossians 2:13-15 — “ ... disarmed the rulers and authorities ...” It looks as if Jesus is defeated on the cross. Isaiah 45:15 — “God hides.” He hid victory in defeat because God is humble. Those who are proud (like Satan) don't see it! We aligned ourselves with Satan. Being "spiritual" is not good if it's not the Holy Spirit. Satan is real. There is a real war. Revelation 12:10 — Demons accuse people: “You are a loser; you are not a real Christian ...” The devil condemns people and haunts them with past sin. He loves death and wants to kill. Jesus cancelled the rights that Satan and demons have towards the children of God. He has been defeated and disarmed. There is victory over Satan and demons for the people of God.
   
   
3. Jesus is Our Redemption
   
   Don't teach this from the pagan slave market. Rather, speak about God redeeming his people from the slavery of Pharaoh—in slavery to sin. We can't stop. We are not free. We can't escape. But just like the people of Israel, we have been set free to worship God! We are liberated to live new lives. To have joy. To worship God together as his people.
   
   
4. Jesus is the New Covenant Sacrifice
   
   1 Peter —“... precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb.” Blood disgusts us. We must identify the horror of blood and death as sin. God is as disgusted with sin as we are with blood. God is horrified by sin. We should be as horrified by sin as we are by blood. God was the first person to shed blood in the Bible—to cover the sin of Adam. The Bible is a bloody book. The first thing Noah did after the flood was to sacrifice. Noah was not "a good guy." Noah found GRACE. He found unmerited grace, and then he became righteous. After the flood, it was as though Noah said, “God should have killed me, too”—that was why he had to offer a sacrifice. “I deserved to die.” He, of course, promptly went on to demonstrate why— by getting naked and drunk.
   
   Hebrews is clear on this. We don't need a temple or a priest or a lamb because we have Jesus. His blood was shed for our sins. When sinned against we often say, “I want blood!” Well, you already have it. The gospel is the good news that we should have died, but instead we are loved. So we must show love to others!
   
   
5. Jesus is Our Justification
   
   No one will be justified by works of the law. God would not be good if he let everyone into heaven. If he did that, when we got there it would be like earth, full of hatred and sin and evil. God's heart is gracious mercy and forgiveness. But because of his justice, he has to deal with our sin. God's standard is perfection. No one can say they are perfect. Lust counts as adultery and anger counts as murder. People want righteousness, which is why hard firm religions attract people. When you go to the bathroom, that's about how impressed I am with your righteousness. Our righteousness is described by the Bible as human excrement and menstrual rags. God hates religion. He despises it. You must call sinners to repentance, and also call "righteous" people to repent of their religious righteousness. Righteousness is GIFT righteousness. It is the righteousness of God. “Jesus was the most despised thing in all creation on the cross” (Luther). Righteousness only comes from faith in Christ. When we stand before God it will be imputed righteousness—that is what will appear on our resume. I trust Jesus.
   
   It doesn't end with imputed righteousness. He gives us a new heart and a new nature. This gives us a desire to do right things. He gives us new power through the Holy Spirit to live life. He gives us a fulfilling life. We are regenerated. We change.
   
   
6. Jesus is Our Propitiation
   
   Four times in the Greek New Testament. 1 John 4:10 — This is love—not that we have loved God. It's not because you are a good person that God loves you. You don't obey so God will love you; you obey because God already does love you!
   
   Propitiation is how God demonstrates his love. God hates sinners. You have been told that God loves sinners, but hates sin. No, Gandhi said that! God often says he hates people. We are by nature sinners. “I hate the essence sum and total of what you are, but I really love you.” We have a sinful nature and commit sins. “God hates all who do evil.” God hates a lot of people. God's wrath is mentioned more than 600 times in the Bible. More verses talk about the wrath of God than those which state that he loves us. The gospel starts with “God hates you and it's going to go really really bad forever and ever!” Jesus suffered the wrath of God, and it is thereby taken away from sinners who are in Jesus. The question is not, "How can a loving God send anyone to hell?" The real question is, "Why does a holy God take anyone to heaven?" The passover demonstrates the wrath of God passing over the ones covered by the blood of Jesus. Jesus is our passover Lamb.
   
   
7. Jesus is Our Expiation
   
   This is different from propitiation. Propitiation takes away our wrath. Expiation deals with our defilement. This is often overlooked. Sins have also been committed against us. In 1 John it says that Jesus' blood purifies us from all unrighteousness. Expiation deals with the feeling of being dirty, a feeling that is experienced by both sinners and those sinned against. “Dirty people do dirty things.” Our identity is sometimes about what people have done against us rather than what Jesus has done for us. Feeling defiled, feeling dirty, is a huge issue. The scapegoat was set free. Sin was laid on Jesus and it was taken away. The blood of Jesus CLEANSES us. We are clean. We are clothed in white by Jesus. We should see ourselves and others that way. We can be clean. We don't need to manage, shift blame, or excuse sin; rather we need to face it and deal with it.
   
   
8. Jesus is Our Ransom
   
   There is only one mediator. Music, Bible translations, etc. don't mediate. If the music changes, we can still worship God. We owe a debt to God. Every sin or omission is a debt. We have a mountain of debt. We cannot possibly pay it to God. Doing good for awhile doesn't reduce our debt, it just doesn't increase the amount of our debt! A mediator pays the debt on our behalf.
   
   
9. Jesus is Our Example
   
   1 Peter 2:21 and Philippians 2 — “Christus exemplar.” Jesus has always been God. He came into human history as man. How did Jesus live his life? It wasn't a fake—like Superman and Clark Kent— i.e. God can't be tempted. Jesus DOES sympathize with our weaknesses because he was tempted. Jesus did not cease to be God. He set aside the use of his divine attributes. God knows everything, but Jesus had to learn. How did he do it? It was by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit filled Jesus. He was the Anointed One. All was done by the power of the Spirit. We can now also live Spirit-filled lives. Being spirit-filled means living the life of Jesus. We do what Jesus did. The Spirit led Jesus into temptation, into suffering. We suffer too (Philippians 1). We will be led into difficult times. We are perfected by our suffering, when we suffer like Jesus did, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Don't waste your pain or your suffering. Use it for a witness, use it for the gospel. Christians are like nails—the harder you hit us, the deeper we go.
   
   
10. Jesus is Our Reconciliation
    
    Sin separates us from God and each other. The cross brings us together. “... be kind ... forgiving one another as God forgave you ...” We are sinned against and either become bitter or become like Jesus. That is the choice we have. We often have two standards. When we sin, we want mercy; when others sin, we want hell. Bitterness is often caused by the person we love the most sinning in a little way against us. There are only two problems in a marriage—the man and the woman. We can either learn to forgive or let sin destroy our relationships. We can only be true community and reconciled in the cross. We need the Prince of Peace to know true peace.
    
    
11. Jesus is Our Revelation
    
    Who is God? Where do we begin? Start at the cross. Jesus reveals God to us. The centerpiece of Jesus' life is the cross. Look at the cross to see what God is like. Love and justice. Holiness and mercy. No other religion has a concept of God like that. Our God is not a god who asks for blood; instead, he offers his own. You can talk about the attributes of God all day; it is only in the cross that it all makes sense. The revelation of God comes together at the cross.

Mark closed with a few comments on 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 — the gospel must be reiterated to us, and we must remind our people of it. We must not assume it. If we do, they will deny it. It must be continually proclaimed and declared—not offered as a helpful suggestion! Jesus must be magnified. It must be RECEIVED. It is personal. We must be changed by it. We must go on believing it. It is central in every way. You can't teach marriage, parenting, work, or for that matter, anything, without the cross. It precedes everything else. The gospel gets passed on. Paul received it and passed it on. If anyone changes it, they are a demon. They are sent from Satan and they are going to hell. We don't change what we received!

It's all about Jesus!

• It is penal—Christ died.
  
• FOR our sins—it is substitutional.
  
• It is eschatological—Jesus didn't remain dead, but was raised. Forever is a really long time!

Fred Sanders has a great post interacting with Thomas Goodwin's exalted view of Ephesians. Goodwin is not alone. In the "Introduction" to his series on Ephesians, Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote this:

"It is very difficult to speak of [Ephesians] in a controlled manner because of its greatness and because of its sublimity. Many have tried to describe it. One writer has described it as 'the crown and climax of Pauline theology'. Another has said that it is 'the distilled essence of the Christian religion, the most authoritative and most consummate compendium of our holy Christian faith'. What language! And it is by no means exaggerated.

. . . . the peculiar feature and characteristic of the Epistle to the Ephesians is that here the Apostle seems to be, as he puts it himself, in 'the heavenly places', and he is looking down at the great panorama of salvation and redemption . . . The result is that in this Epistle there is very little controversy; and that is so because his great concern here was to give to the Ephesians . . . a panoramic view of this wondrous and glorious work of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.

. . . Luther says of the Epistle to the Romans that it is 'the most important document in the New Testament, the gospel in its purest expression', and in many ways I agree that there is no purer, plainer statement of the gospel than in the Epistle to the Romans. Accepting that as true, I would venture to add if the Epistle to the Romans is the purest expression of the gospel, the Epistle to the Ephesians is the sublimest and the most majestic expression of it. . . .There are statements and passages in this Epistle which really baffle description. The great Apostle piles epithet upon epithet, adjective upon adjective, and still he cannot express himself adequately. There are passages in [the] first chapter, and others in the third chapter, especially towards its end, where the Apostle is carried out above and beyond himself and loses and abandons himself in a great outburst of worship and praise and thanksgiving. I repeat, therefore, that there is nothing more sublime in the whole range of Scripture than this Epistle to the Ephesians.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. God's Ultimate Purpose—An Exposition of Ephesians 1, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1978, pp. 11-12.

It seems then that Lloyd-Jones ranked Ephesians very highly indeed. I suspect it is only his challenging views on 'sealing with the Spirit' that have stopped the Doctor's far shorter work on Ephesians from being as well known as his major work on Romans. I strongly urge every would-be preacher to do what I did decades ago and get yourself a copy and read through Ephesians with Martyn Lloyd-Jones as your guide.

Anyway, here is Fred:

[Goodwin] quotes Jerome’s comment that Ephesians is “like the heart in the midst of the body,” (quomodo cor animalis in medio est), and says that just as the heart is “the prime seat and fountain of spirits, and the fullest thereof,” Ephesians has everything important in it that you can find anywhere in Scripture. In fact, it has “more of the spirits, the quintessence of the mysteries of Christ,” than can be found anywhere else in the Bible.

And in case you don’t believe Goodwin or Jerome, Goodwin hazards the observation that Paul himself seemed to be aware that he’d written something especially specially special: In Ephesians 3:3, Paul says that a rich treasury of insight into the mystery of the gospel had been given to him, “as I said before.” Goodwin thinks “as I said before” means “up there, the last couple of chapters.”

If you are interested in finding out more about Ephesians, feel free to follow along with our church as we preach our way through this amazing book. Either subscribe to our podcast or visit Jubilee Church, London.

This is some notes from a sermon I preached last Sunday. You can download the audio or listen to it right here with this player.

The following notes havent gone through my usual 'tidying up' process and I thought I would share them with you without any real editorial input just so you can see quite how chaotic my mind truly is! If they don't make much sense to you, hopefully the audio will be clearer!

Paul begins this second chapter in the context of a glorious description of the power of God at the end of the last chapter – there were no chapter breaks when he wrote it. As we will see that amazing power of God was necessary to bring salvation to us.

1. the state of the sinner: OUR Problem without God - “Dead in sins”
life without God – is death
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
DEAD to God but alive to SIN. Look pretty alive dont we! But, we are not in the doghouse but dead. God made us for himself! Might feed the hungry and it is still sin - coz not done for the glory of God - Rom 1 falling short of glory .....its all sin if God is neglected our righteous acts are as filthy rags....Until we understand this, we willl never apprecaite our need of a saviour

It is not that we have too low a self esteem but that we dont think badly enough of ourselves without God!

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Mat 23:27-28)

What does being dead to God look like?
1. “following the course of this world” (v2)
Lead by peer pressure (the world) Copying others, not wanting to stand out, go with the flow....

Goes deeper than this - behind that peer pressure is the devil.
2. “following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” Enslaved to an alien power! NB devil is as close to us as the air we we cant escape = even as christians easy to embibe satanic attitudes.... This is a world of darkness - how at home do you feel in the world? disobedient to God. We end up with the devil inside us, and become his tool in his battle against God. There are two kingdoms in this world. If you feel at home in the world, you are most likely full of the spirit that inspires it. If it feels alien to you then perhaps you are a believer!

3. “lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind”
In the 21st Century West we live by unfettered desire - our modern culture is based on this! Money (NB the things money reprs), sex, power (promotion, to be the best, etc)
but also FOOD!
NB when we want what we dont get we war with others over it...

So Paul goes on to summarise
“by nature children of wrath” (v3)

BY NATURE sinners BUT WE ALSO CHOOSE TO SIN... FREE CHOICE.\ NO ONE EVER HAS TO TRAIN a child to sin! Sin has been inherited - "original sin" though there's nothing original about sin!

NB - "like the rest of mankind" - removes boasting! Helps us to understand history with all its wars etc

Helps us to understand the size of Gods grace and power -its depth
People live a miserable life - uninterested in God....
WE REBEL AGAINST THE HUMBLING CONCEPT OF THE GOSPEL WANT TO BE SELF SUFICIENT.....

One of the greatest phrases in the whole bible - “But God”
2. The MERCY of God - GOD'S Solution - “But God....by grace..through faith”

Not so much a theological theory of salvation, more a description of what happens to us when we believe!

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
-unmerited mercy undeserved. Not about what I have done, but grace from start to finish – he is RICH in mercy
-grace – because of the great love he has for us, made possible by what Jesus has done NOT
to show “the immeasurable riches of his grace”
by faith but THROUGH faith. Faith is a gift!

3. The Position of believer The Results for the Christian- “Saved, raised, seated in heavenly places”
exact opposite – once were dead, now you are ALIVE, once you were earthbound – following the ways of this world, now you are RAISED to heaven, once you were “walking” and if you were even aware of God you were trying desperately to please him whilst all the time failing in sin, now you are “SEATED” with him! ie - rest, completion, and victory!

– our position is now ABOVE the circumstances!
It is like God the Father looked in a grave saw a stinking corpse and said I want him to live and turned to his son and said will you go live on earth, die, and be raised so that he can live (based on Piper) He was UNITED IN OUR DEATH so we were UNITED IN HIS LIFE

Paul doesn't mention the death of Christ here, partly because he did briefly in chapter one, partly because they would have known about it and partly because the resurrection presupposes Jesus died!

Gods irresistible call that causes rebirth. There are many things I can do, and many things I cannot do. Raising the dead is firmly in the category of things I cant do! I cant save anybody!

BANCRUPTCY AS an example of this.....

Raised together with Christ SYN-Raised etc

How are we united with Christ?
1. as our representative - yes like if our head of state declares war , we are at war even if we disagree! ie he died and was raised on our behalf but also
2. mystical = actually incorporated in Christ’s body in some way... "I have been crucified....I died" (Gal)
3 experiential - We belong to heaven! We have a "second life"....
We can begin to experience the truth of this here and now - that is the role of the Spirit who is the "foretaste" -are you aware of His presence?

NB Must be one or the other....are you spiritually alive or dead? Imagine a doctor "mmm....I think he might be dead" no in between!

ARE you alive to God? Do you have a longing for his presence? Does your heart yearn for him?
If not, how can you be sure that you really are a Christian?

4. The Mission of the Christian “created for good works”
– our evangelism should be driven by a true state of how people are and gratitude for what God has done for us, but more than that for God's glory.
– there are things about God we would never have known if it weren’t for our salvation! Angels marvel at the church, more than creation!
– NB as we have said dead men cant resurrect themselves. It is ALL from God, and it is designed to stop up boasting!
– Good works don’t make us become a Christian, becoming a Christian makes us able to do good works!
– Tim Keller - religion I obey so I can be accepted. Christianity - I am accepted so I can obey...
DONT TURN FAITH INTO A FORM OF WORKS±
WE are NOT saved by faith. We are saved THROUGH faith. But BY grace.
Faith is not the cause of salvation, rather Jesus is.

We are shaped for righteous living,
--11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. (Romans 6:11-12)
● also a DESIGN to match –

GOALS/Respsonse
1. For anyone unsure of their salvation to become sure – know you are spiritually alive alpha..
2. For the rest of us to be more excited about our salvation and eager to share it

Last Sunday, my dear friend and leader, Tope preached the following sermon at Jubilee Church, London. This was the begining of a series whereby we intend to preach through the letter.

Many people say that Romans and Galatians prompted the Reformation. I think it is true to say that it is the book of Ephesians that prompted what some people are calling the "second reformation." Certainly it is foundational to what I believe as a reformed charismatic.

In this sermon, Tope focused on predestination. He did not cover the subject of being sealed with the Spirit as he did that midweek with the church instead. If you do want to read more about that crucial part of chapter one, I have written extensively about it in posts tagged "The Baptism with The Holy Spirit."

If you want to listen along to the whole series, you can subscribe using iTunes. You can also download the audio, or listen to it right here:

UPDATE
In January 2008, the following post was identified as the 15th all-time most popular post with readers of this blog. The 16th most-read post asked my readers to share a list of their favorite well-known living preachers.

In the post below I announced a major gift from Sovereign Grace Ministries to the global Church. Their vast collection of audio messages are now available online and are completely free to dowload. If you haven't already taken time to explore this treasure trove, shame on you!

***************

Carolyn McCulley just alerted us to the fact that the entire collection of Sovereign Grace Ministries mp3 messages have been made completely free to download. Carolyn was too modest to mention that her own talks are included, as well as a number of other ladies. Get browsing, and if you have an iPod, you might need to consider getting a bigger one! This is a phenomenal resource, as you can see by the following list of speakers with messages available:

Randy Alcorn, Mark Altrogge, Christine Bass, Ken Boer, Robin Boisvert, Gary Bowers, Mike Bradshaw, Mike Bullmore, John Butler, Craig Cabaniss, Solomon Campbell, Kristin Chesemore, Nancy Chouinard, Mickey Connolly, Steve Cook, Vikki Cook, Brent Detwiler, Jenny Detwiler, Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, Bob Donohue, Jim Donohue, Andy Farmer, Rick Gamache, Pete Greasley, Wayne Grudem, Joshua Harris, Dave Harvey, Kimm Harvey, Eric Hughes, Danny Jones, Bob Kauflin, Bill Kittrell Grant Layman, John Loftness, Marty Machowski, Carolyn Mahaney, C. J. Mahaney, Janelle Mahaney-Bradshaw, John MacArthur, Kenneth Maresco, Carolyn McCulley, Mark Mitchell, Albert Mohler, Mark Mullery, Aron Osborne, Jon Payne, John Piper, David Powlison, Mark Prater, Jeff Purswell, Michael Ramsden, Charlotte Richardson, Trey Richardson, Ken Sande, Phil Sasser, Pat Sczebel, Janis Shank, Steve Shank, Chris Silard, Eric Simmons, R. C. Sproul, Carl Taylor, Justin Taylor, Stuart Townend, Eric Turbedsky, Todd Twining, Terry Virgo, Bruce Ware, Darryl Wenger, Nicole Whitacre, Dave Wilcox

I preached the following sermon at Jubilee Church, London yesterday. You can read the notes, download the audio, or listen to it right here:




HEROES—At the outset I should warn you that Jacob is not your typical biblical hero. We often go to the Bible to learn about how to behave. We want to read about great men of God who we can model ourselves after. We want to learn how to behave, how to be a good father, a good husband. Jacob is not that kind of hero. Actually it is fair to say that none of the biblical heroes are without flaws. Jacob, I am sorry to say, had many flaws. He was not a good husband. He was not a good father. In fact, there is very little that we can positively learn from the way he lived his life. He constantly made mistakes. Initially, I wondered why this story was even in the Bible:

1. Because it is TRUE—an evidence for the Bible’s truthfulness we often forget is the terrible flaws of its heroes. No other nation on earth describes its founder in such unsavory terms.
   
   
   
2. It is there to teach us a message—possibly one of the hardest messages we come across in the whole of Scripture.

Romans 9:13 ". . . when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

I guarantee that you will have all kinds of questions about that verse; I know I do But the life of Jacob shows us that what the Apostle Paul says in Romans is true —God chose him not because of anything in him, but because he chose him. God's love for Jacob is so great that in comparison it is as though he hates Esau.

We have to ask ourselves a simple question: If we are a Christian, is it because of something in us or is it because of something God has done for us? When we look at an unbeliever, do we feel superior to them, or does it make us tremble to think that God could also have passed us by and left us in the mess we have made of our lives?

We might say, “Haven't I got free will? Yes, but God’s is freer!” (Terry Virgo)

God is the initiator. He can never be forced to act. He is sovereign and we must remember—HE IS GOD AND WE ARE NOT!

John Piper says it in this way, imagining what God might have said to Jacob:

"I have loved you with free, sovereign, unconditional, electing love; that is how I have loved you.

• My love for you is electing love because I chose you for myself above your brother Esau.
  
  
• My love for you is unconditional love because I chose you before you had done anything good or evil—before you had met any conditions—while you were still in your mother's womb (Genesis 25:24).
  
  
• My love for you is sovereign love because I was under no constraint to love you; I was not forced or coerced; I was totally in charge when I set my love upon you.
  
  
• And my love for you is free because it's the overflow of my infinite grace that can never be bought."

". . . Why do I tell you this?

• To humble you.
  
  
• To take away your presumption.
  
  
• To remove every ground of boasting in yourself.
  
  
• To cut the nerve of pride that boasts over Esau as though your salvation were owing to anything in you.
  
  
• To put to naught the cavalier sense of self-reliance that lets you dally in my presence as though you were an equal partner in this affair.
  
  
• To make you tremble with tears of joy that you belong to God.”

The story of Jacob is the story of God's unstoppable mission. Nothing Jacob can do will stop God's determination to bless him. It’s not about Jacob, it’s about God.

Actually that can be very encouraging for us. As I have been spending time getting to know Jacob, I have been encouraged. Here is a man who makes me feel like saying, If God can use him, perhaps he can use me too!

We see in the life of Jacob that it really is not all about him. We often say in this church that it’s “all about Jesus.” Jacob's life truly was “all about Jesus.” It was all about a plan that God had set in motion to call a people to himself. Jacob’s grandfather had received promises. Despite being a man of faith—the father of faith—he hadn’t really founded a nation. Isaac, Abraham's son, had repeated many of his father’s mistakes (passing off his wife as his sister) and had also not fathered a nation.

Jacob was an “expressive” leader, but he was not always received; he lived in the future, but tried to help God out. He got angry; he told people what to do; he wasn’t reserved. But somehow he was charming. He had strong reactions.

We can look at JACOB’S CHARACTER by examining some of the words he said.

Jacob’s first recorded words: “Sell me your birthright now.” (Genesis 25:31). And also verse 33: “Swear to me now.” He steals from and blackmails his brother, and then cheats him again.

“Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.” (Genesis 27:11). Not “But mum, that would be wrong!” and then lies to his own dad and steals from his brother.

We then see Jacob, whose name means “grabber” or “supplanter” or basically “thief” running away. When God appears to him, we might expect God to punish him, maybe strike him dead.

“He was in disgrace, had incurred the bitter hatred of his only brother, and had shown himself a thief, liar, and scheming, mercenary wretch.” (McMillin, Bib Sac Volume 91 [1934]: Jacob At Penuel).

But by his grace, God instead reaffirms his promise to bless him. God makes an unconditional promise to an unreliable man.

Genesis 28:13-15: “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

JACOB’S RESPONSE was to make God a conditional promise!

“If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God . . . .”

He would have made a good 20th century Christian—if God will look after me, I will follow him. Too often our faith is about what we can get out of God rather than how we can serve him.

We then see that when he meets the shepherds of Laban, he immediately begins to boss them around and tell them what to do!

He then BUYS his wife! “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”

Then he was tricked himself as he and Laban try to outdo each other in trickery.

He was a terrible husband (Genesis 29:30-31) “So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years. When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.”

He was incredibly insensitive. “Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” (Genesis 30:2)

He even let himself be bought for the night.

He had a RIGHTS BASED approach to life. He argued with Laban about who had tricked each other the most. Christianity is not a rights-based religion. Instead, it is about our responsibility.

Finally, having left Laban and heading back to an uncertain meeting with Esau, he humbles himself. His prayer is finally something we can copy!

Genesis 32:9-12 “And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’”

God never could prevail against one who used the weapons of “weeping” and “supplication.” (McMillin)

Jacob's wrestling with God was in some ways reminiscent of his life—he had been one who fought with God and man. God doesn't get rid of the fighting spirit, but directs it appropriately, and even names his people “one who struggles with God.” Are WE those who struggle with God?

“I will not let you go unless you bless me.” (Genesis 32:26)

“For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” (Genesis 32:31)

Why delivered? It was Jesus who would save him and allow him to be hidden in his brother, not as a deception, but by the will of the father, and not so that he remained unchanged, but that he would be changed by being united with Christ. In fact, he was changed.

God made him say and own his name one more time before it could be wiped away. This is what God wants us to do. It’s not “I had a bad father; he loved my brother, Esau, not me" or even “I am struggling with a problem.” NO . . . it was “I am a deceiver, I am a cheat, I am selfish. I am in need of you. I need your blessing, Lord. I have messed up my life, but you keep blessing me.”

Actually lots of so-called "fighters" are as fearful and weak underneath as we later realize Jacob was. We are just better at hiding it! Fear leads some to be timid, and others to put a brave face on things.

GOD OPPOSES THE PROUD BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. (James 4:6)

God does take on fighters sometimes. He certainly isn’t frightened of them. If, like me, you are a bit of a fighter by nature, then know that if God takes you on, it might be a painful process. He will bring you low. He will take the brash over-confidence of youth and strip it away like he did with Jacob. As an older man he is almost quite timid, frightened of Esau. Then when God gets you to a timid, dependent state, he will cause you to rise up again—this time in HIS STRENGTH rather than your own, acknowledging HIM as King, and this time because ONE MAN PLUS GOD is the majority. No one will be able to fight against you. Why would you go on fighting against people and God? Why not surrender to the KING and let him lead you to fight on HIS side?

GOD IS GOD AND WE ARE NOT!

Finally became humble. Then he humbles himself with his brother, and is honored for his faith in passing on the blessing at the end of his life.

“The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; and in them let my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.” (Genesis 48:15-16)

I love the way Isaiah 41 describes this way of God handling us:

But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are my servant,
I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand . . .
Fear not, you worm Jacob,
you men of Israel!
I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord;
your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge,
new, sharp, and having teeth;
you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
and you shall make the hills like chaff;
you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,
and the tempest shall scatter them.
And you shall rejoice in the Lord;
in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.

To become a valiant warrior for God we must first surrender to him and recognize we are “a worm.” Some of us have issues we need to resolve with God today.

Illustration of my debate with myself about getting up to go to the prayer meeting. You know what the outcome of this debate is going to be—give up the struggle and walk with God today!

This past Sunday I preached on Abraham. You can download the sermon or listen to it here. I will share some brief notes with you here.

Isaiah 51:1-3
51:1 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. 2 Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him. For the Lord comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.”

We should obey this passage and consider Abraham - we have much to learn from him.

In Genesis 12:1 The Lord said to Abraham, go and leave your fathers house and family to the land I will show you and I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and I will bless those who bless you and those who dishonour you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. And Abraham went...

These verses tell us that we can be in the blessing of God.

We might make a big event involving the media etc, but God starts a mission in other ways. He went to one man and said, 'GO!'

We can feel like an alien, being the only christian in our context. Abraham had to leave all that was familiar.

Summary of God's mission: 'Go, be blessed, be a blessing to others!'

Israel was characterised by being blessed and being persecuted.

God has put us on a mission....its His mission: To start a people.

GOD takes one man to bless the world contrast with what came before. Different nations initially a punishment but throughout the rest of scriptures were seen as a positive thing - multi-coloured wisdom of God.

God always chooses one person to bless the many. The summary of God's mission is this - GO, I will BLESS and then make YOU a blessing! Are we a blessing at school? Workplace? Family?

We will look at most of the words of Abraham since there are few better ways of getting to know someone than examining their words


1. THERE IS A TIME NOT TO SPEAK
Chapter 12

He doesn't speak in first half response to God "so Abraham went"

"So he built" SOMETIMES ITS BEST NOT TO SAY ANYTHING JUST OBEY
Don't give up the habit of meeting together, for example. When the bible says do something, we should do it, and when the bible says don't do something, we shouldn't do it.



2.THERE IS A TIME TO SPEAK MORE OPENLY

The first time Abraham is recorded to have spoken he makes a mistake. In verse 11 he tells his wife to say she is his sister, ie. lies by telling a half-truth. Being economical with the truth is not appropriate!

When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” Gen 12:11-13

When caught the first time he was perhaps wise to keep quiet and slip off...

Like us sometimes he didn't learn from his first mistake!

Genesis 20:2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

Genesis 20:11-13
Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. And when God caused me to wander from my father's house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, He is my brother.’”

He was a man of no tact!


3. THERE IS A TIME TO LAY DOWN OUR RIGHTS

He was meek, despite God having given him the whole land. He did not stand up for his rights.

Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. [1] Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.”

But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted my hand [1] to the Lord, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me. Let Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre take their share.” Gen 14:22-24

Meekness should be the characteristic of all christians.


4. THERE IS A TIME TO BE 'REAL' WITH GOD

He was honest with God BUT TRUSTED HIM

FAITH- trust but we can be honest "Oh Lord I believe help my unbelief"

Genesis 15:2-3 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue [1] childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.”

He is not 'making a faith declaration', but is being honest with God. God, you promised, but what is going on here? Abraham faced the facts, yet believed God. Do we face the facts?

....v6 And he believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness.


FAITH=TRUST and it is THE critical thing to our salvation and our ongoing walk with God.

We have all done things we are ashamed of, but we can still trust in God, like Abraham.

Romans 4:3-5, 16-25 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in [2] him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness...

That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. 20 No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”
23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24
but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

His faith was not perfect, and he is still called the father of faith despite his struggles TWENTY FIVE YEARS before had son

....v8 But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”


5. THERE IS A TIME NOT TO LISTEN TO OTHERS! or THERE IS A TIME TO NOT RUSH AHEAD OF GOD

Gen 16:2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children
[1] by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

Gen 16:6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.

6. THERE IS A TIME TO BE BOLD WITH GOD

There is a fine balance - sometimes we need to hold back and be patient, other times we need to boldly press in - knowing which takes wisdom.

Genesis 18:23-25, 27
Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”...

Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?”.......

There is a contrast between when we need to be patient, take a step back and wait for God, and times when we need to press in and be bold. Other wise Christians can help you make that distinction. It is important to make that distinction.


7.THERE IS A TIME TO TAKE MASSIVE RISKS AND MAKE MASSIVE SACRIFICES

Jesus said, that if we will not lay down everything for Him, we are not worthy to be called his disciples.

Remember, we do not have such an accurate route of communication with God. God WILL NOT ask you to copy Abraham by killing your son, but he might ask you to kill your dream. GOD MAY BE BRINGING SOME DREAMS BACK TO LIFE BUT MAY BE ASKING YOU TO LAY DOWN OTHERS.

Sometimes God might ask you to kill a bad relationship, for example, or to kill a good dream. You can sometimes lay down a dream with the faith that it will come back. Later God may say, 'let the dream live again!'

Issac represents the PROMISE OF GOD. Looking at the words of Abraham throughout this story is revealing....

Genesis 22:1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.”

Genesis 22:5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy [1] will go over there and worship and come again to you.”

Genesis 22:7-8 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here am I, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a
burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a
burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

Genesis 22:11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.”

Genesis 22:14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

ABRAHAM UNWITTINGLY PROVIDES POSSIBLY THE RICHEST PICTURE OF WHAT WILL HAPPEN AT THE CROSS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. THERE IS NO ANGEL TO STAY GODS HAND WHEN HE KILLS HIS SON. THERE IS NO LAMB TO TAKE JESUS PLACE, BECAUSE HE IS THE LAMB WHO TOOK OUR PLACE.

Isacc carried the wood up the mountain, as Jesus carried his own cross, both willingly. We can get caught up with blaming God for not looking after us properly but the truth is the only thing he "should" do is wipe us out the moment we first sinned. Jesus was the lamb who took our place, who took the wrath we deserve. God is more angry with sin than we think He is. It is only because of Jesus that His wrath can be turned away. That love that Abraham felt for his son, God feels for us.

The way Abraham trusted God should inspire us to serve the GOD who sacrificed so much for us and who has made us a part of the people of Abraham and hence caught up on the same mission Abraham was.

God wants us to go from being a consumer, to being a producer, in the context you are in. Have a part to play, however small. It is still a crucial part.

I got an email today from someone who is eager to get a hold of a copy of a famous series of sermons C. J. Mahaney once preached on every person God killed in the Bible. Apparently he has been in touch with Sovereign Grace Ministries and they cannot trace this series. I got to thinking, since I have quite a few readers, surely someone out there might have this series in an old tape or CD collection. I never heard this series, but I did hear one talk taken from it on the Ark of the Covenant and what happened to Uzza in 2 Samuel 6. This sermon was preached at Downs Bible Week. It was a message that changed many lives. But I do not think it is possible to get a hold of it today.

Anyway, all this got me thinking about all those talks we had back then about preachers like Henry Tyler, who was my hero and mentor. There are messages that were key to us at the time. What a shame if they would just pass into history.

So, how about a great sermon hunt. Subject to getting the relevant copyright permissions, I would be very interested in putting some of them online here as mp3s from time to time. So what great old messages do you have buried in a cupboard somewhere?

The following set of sermon notes reflect a message that I preached today at Jubilee Church London In some ways this sermon was connected to the three-part series on Revival I recently preached if only because the last message God's Reviving Word was also based on Psalm 119. The earlier messages, "Revival" and "Reviving Prayer" are also available.

You can download the audio (you may need to right click and save the file onto your PC) or listen right here using the following embedded player:

INTRODUCTION

There is one word that is coming to us again and again at the moment, that it seems that God is wanting to drop into our hearts is the word “missional”

Often when I hear the word “Missional” I am afraid that I have to confess I think of a scene from one of my favorite films - “Blues Brothers”. In it the two rouges who are the stars go to church and “see the light” it is a little tongue in cheek to be sure but they conclude at the end of the sequence “We are on a mission from God!” Well we really ARE on a mission from God. Like so many great films, the rest of the film simply tracks the journey of its main characters - as they seek to complete the mission they felt God had gave them. You can watch the clip here on my blog below thanks to YouTube.

What is a mission? Well to me a mission feels a whole lot like a journey. I would like to take us together today to what we can think of as the map for the journey – our mission instructions if you were. We will learn today how to handle this Bible in such a way that it will help us on our journey – keep us going in the right way – so we can fulfill this glorious mission he is putting in front of us.

If you are not a Christian here this morning, we will give you a chance to join us on our great journey, but lets see what the writer of the longest chapter in the Bible had to say about making sure we don’t loose our way on this great missionary journey God has set before us…

Lets turn to Psalm 119

9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it
according to your word.

It doesn’t say how can we keep pure – by sitting still and doing nothing…. We are meant to be “on a journey” doing something!


This book shows us the way – word is not just head knowledge we want to keep pure…by the word.

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


James 1:19-27 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”


There is a guarding, but a DOING in those verses…


How do we keep pure – guard hearts by the word – not just about keeping self away from certain people – At least part of how we learn to guard our ways is in the reading of the mistakes of others. If the man who wrote this wonderful psalm can become an adulterer and murderer we should be alert and careful!!!


Flee temptation….Like Joseph.


But not just do nothing – withdrawal from world is not the answer – the cry of the missionary should be to be “in the world but not of it” too many Christians are “of the world but not in it”
Religion is I obey so I can be accepted. The gospel is I am accepted so I can obey." Tim Keller
But the Christian life is not merely about obedience and trying to guard and stop doing certain things. We are supposed to be looking for something positive too – lets see the next verse.
How then can we get this life-giving word into us? We will see in psalm 119 several ways in which we should respond to and appropriate Gods word. The first thing to note is that we have to have an attitude that when we come to God’s word we are in fact coming to him, and expecting to meet the risen Jesus through its pages. The psalmist says

With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!(Psalm 119:10)

We must come to God’s word expecting to find him. We do not come merely to grasp some intellectual truths – to get our doctrine right – although of course that has its place. We come expecting the God of the Bible to leap off the pages of the bible to us. It is God we seek, and Him that we need. It is Him that our hearts long for! We try and fill our lives with all kinds of things.

The child who feels lonely and does anything he can to please his classmates. When it fails he starts to long to grow up and leave the torment that school is for some people. Then, he longs for a girlfriend, then for a wife, then for a better job a better car, a better house. All along the emptiness doesn’t go away. It doesn’t go away because it was meant to be filled by God.

Some of us try and replace God with other things. Dare I say it we can even do this with “mission” and “doing things for God” our work for God should not come out of an emptiness and a lack of purpose. No, we must first seek God be satisfied in him and then begin to reach others out of an overflowing fountain that is within. How do we seek God? We pray. We worship. We thank him. And, in the context of this talk , we seek HIM in the Bible. People say theology is boring. But theology is simply the study of God. Since when was God boring? No he satisfies us and gives us joy! So how do we get theology from out of this book and into our hearts? Lets read the next verse

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:11)

How do we store it up? First we have to read it! Be systematic – both big overview “the woods” and focusing in on one verse “the trees” Who here has read the Bible through from cover to cover at least once in your life? It is God’s love note to us. PICK A SMALL BOOK – eg Mark or Ephesians, Read it chronologically or From cover to cover (start in New Testament if you have never read it) pick a book and keep a check on which ones you have read when but BE SYSTEMATIC

Scripture memorizing is what is referred to here. But note it is not just a case of storing it in our minds – it is about getting it into our hearts. Wesley explains this as follows “I have laid it up in my mind like a choice treasure, to be ready upon all occasions to counsel, quicken or caution me.” John Wesley, John Wesley's Notes One the Bible, Ps 119 Whilst Spurgeon says - “There laid up in the heart the word has effect. When young men only read the letter of the Book, the word of promise and instruction is deprived of much of its power. Neither will the laying of it up in the mere memory avail. The word must be known and prized, and laid up in the heart; it must occupy the affection as well as the understanding; the whole mind requires to be impregnated with the word of God.” C. H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, Ps 119:11

Is it enough to know the word? I have met many Christians – no correct that – I have BEEN the kind of Christian who knew the word of God well but somehow it hadn’t affected my daily life as much as it should. Theology has to break out and show us how to live. The theology is where we start, but one thing I love about Tope’s preaching is he TEACHES us we need people to help us to learn how to live practically in the real world in light of this amazing book. We need teachers to help us, but ultimately our great teacher is God himself who has given us this book.

“Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes!” (Psalm 119:12)

We need to be taught – taught by this book – which reminds me of a verse in the NT - 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” (2 Tim 3:16-17)

We need nothing else for all matters of doctrine and ethical conduct. But, we can learn practical wisdom from elsewhere and we should read books that help us understand the Bible. What is more, the bible also doesn’t tell us how to choose between two equally good alternative choices. We need people to help us and teach us. But God wants us all to become someone who can teach others at least something from this book. In many ways that is what missional Bible study is all about – learning this message, living this message and then giving this message to others. – even if just on a one-to-one. To put it simply God wants us to learn the message, live the message, give the message. The next verse of the psalm states

“With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.” (Psalm 119:13)

To ourselves – lets not forget that’s where Who are we meant to declare God’s truth to? I believe we should start with ourselves. Reading it aloud can help in that process as the powerful impact of the words will be more clear. We can also use it like medicine - perhaps three times a day even - if there are verses that have spoken to you and that you know you have to get into your head to change- why not take it like a pill

We can also declare God’s word in prayer. God loves us to declare his word to him – and in spiritual warfare, and we can even imagine ourselves declaring them to the enemy of our souls in spiritual warfare. But, perhaps more importantly we can declare God’s word to others. Our mission is to share the very words of this book with others – that is why we learn it so we have something to pass on. Our mission is to share the very words of this book with others –learn it so we have something to pass on – USE THE ACTUAL WORDS IN OUR COUNSELLING AND EVANGELISM "Preach the gospel--and if necessary, use words." That's a falsehood and a misunderstanding of the gospel.

"Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous works among all the peoples!" (Psalm 96:3)
"One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts" (Psalm 145:4)

That second verse is an encouragement for all the children’s Sunday school teachers and perhaps more importantly to Christian parents. The word commend in that verse makes me think of the next verse back in psalm 119. If we want to learn how to pass on God’s word, it is vital that it is something we sound enthusiastic about – something we really believe in – something we love!

In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all
riches. (Psalm 119:14)

Do we love the words of this book? If we are honest sometimes we don’t delight in it. If that’s true, that’s where prayer comes back into the picture. We need to pray and ask God to change us. Lets do all the things we have mentioned so far today, and one more that we will come to now, but I wonder if it is perhaps one of the most important ones of all. There is some But don’t wait for the delight to come before you begin to feed off God’s word. Instead read it, study it, memorize it, and declare it and you will find that you begin to value God’s word more.

Mediation on Gods word is the final thing that we can do with scripture and it is perhaps the most important of all in appropriating the resurrection-power of God’s word. Meditation helps us to guard our thinking, that will help us to seek God in a text, and will definitely help us to memorize and store up scripture, and will allow the words of the Bible to teach us, is in many ways simply about declaring . If we meditate often on Gods word it will help us to delight in the Bible and see its worth. Like good food God’s word needs to be chewed upon – it needs to be meditated on .

I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. (Psalm 119:15)

Christian meditation is about filling our mind not emptying it. It is easier than we sometimes realize. If you know how to worry you know how to meditate. If you like meditation is about allowing the words of scripture to go through our minds and be examined from every possible angle in the way we would when we are worried about something. We must let the words run through our minds, both consciously repeating them, and as we go about our business letting them soak into us. I love to program my mind with a few verses of scripture, think on them for a while then go about my daily business. Often later that day, if I consciously come back to the same few words they suddenly make more sense. This is about letting Gods word shape our thought patterns, its about replacing bad thoughts with whatever it is we are meditating on, its about making his words a part of us.

When we are meditating we can ask the text questions – who? What? Why? When? How? Where? We can ask the vital question – So what? We are asking what do I need to do, think or feel differently as a result of this?

As an example of how meditation might proceed, lets suppose I had just read in the scripture that we have been adopted as Gods sons. This is how my stream of consciousness might flow - “I am adopted by God” - Who has been adopted? I have. By Whom? By God! What does adopted mean? It means he chose me. Why has he done it? I suppose because he loves me! When did he do it? Ephesians 1 says before the world was made. How did he do it? It was through Christ and his death on the cross. So what implications does this have? I suppose I should realize I am special after all if I am Gods adopted child- yes but remember you didn’t deserve it and it came at a great cost to Jesus- I guess I should be happy really – a child adopted by earthly parents would be how much more me if God has adopted me – wow – I should be really grateful too. You know what, I am grateful! What this day has in store for me doesn’t sound quite so bad after all….hey one last thought as I have to go now really – God never changes his mind – so I am safe, I am secure, he will never let me go! Wow….Thank you God! Later today when my boss is threatening me – I will remind myself “you are adopted by God!”

So we have seen that God's Word brings revelation, it revives us, it strengthens us, it gives us hope. Is it any wonder that this Word is so precious to the psalmist? Is it any wonder that the Bereans are honoured because of their diligent attitude to God’s word?

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

We too should receive this reviving Word with all eagerness, and in every way, allow ourselves to be moulded by this wonderful Book God has given us. It’s the only Book that can give life, can save us, can show us how to live. It really is God’s reviving Word. As we have seen then, if we want to be connected to the power of Jesus resurrection, there is no substitute for faith-filled Bible study and prayer. If your prayer and Bible study has become a chore, then may God himself thrill you once more and fill you with the ability to understand and apply his word and help you to pray. Since prayer and Bible study are so crucial if we are going to live a resurrection-empowered life is it any wonder the Apostles declared, "We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word." (Acts 6:4)

This sermon was preached at Jubilee Church on Easter Sunday 2007. The audio is available to download (you may need to right click and save the file to your PC) or to listen to online here:

Let’s turn in our Bibles to the book of 1 Corinthians. As you are turning there, you need to know that right now you are in the best place you could possibly be this Easter morning. You are right where God wants you to be. God has made an appointment with each and every one of us this morning. Some of you might be thinking, “Why did I come?” Well, at this moment you have come here to have this book, the Bible, explained to you. You need to know that this is the most important book in the world. If there is one day of the year that is the most important of the Christian year, it is Easter Sunday. You are here on the most important day of the Christian year. If there is one message that is central to this book it is the message of the Gospel. If there is part of the message of the Gospel that is so vital it simply cannot be ignored, it is the good news of the resurrection. We are going to look together today at the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. He is risen indeed!

We celebrate the resurrection every Sunday — for that is the reason why Christians from the earliest times switched to meet on Sundays rather than Saturdays like the Jews. They would gather early every Sunday before the dawn because Christ was risen early on a Sunday morning. Today, this is a meeting WITH Jesus, this is a meeting FOR Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15 — Verses 1-6 and 12-22
There are two groups of people — those who are standing firm in the word of their salvation and those who Paul warns might have “believed in vain.” If I was a “politically correct” preacher, I would begin my message by being inclusive, and perhaps speaking about the brotherhood of man. The trouble is, Paul doesn’t do this. Instead he distinguishes between people, and claims only some of them as his brothers. As a messenger, I have to be true to God’s Word! Paul is clear that there are certain things that are true of those who he can truly call his brothers. You have felt something of the “family feel” of this place, I’m sure, and afterwards you will be most welcome to join us. But I suspect that for some of you right now, you are thinking — what is it about those people — do they have something I don’t? The answer is, “Yes, you are right — we do!”

Some of you right now are thinking, “At least I am a Christian — I might not go to church much, I might not practice my faith much, but I am here today — what more does he want?” The truth is — a recent survey revealed that the majority of adults in the UK still think they are Christians. Paul would have one thing to ask us all this morning, “Are you holding fast to the word preached to you?” For many, sadly, they have not really had the Bible explained or preached to them. Perhaps you are one of them — you go to church for christenings, weddings, and funerals — hatch, match, and dispatch! Perhaps some Christmases and Easter, too.

I want to draw a clear line this morning — not so much between the Christian and the non-Christian, but rather between the Christian who is standing firm in his faith, who is walking with God, who is confident of his salvation — who knows God is pleased with him and he is on his way to heaven. On the other hand, there is everyone else. Paul issues that warning right at the beginning of our passage — “unless you have believed in vain.” Look, as James says, even the devils believe in God. “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” (James 2:19)

I want to give you a chance this morning to cross that divide and make your faith sure. There is one place to do that more surely than anywhere else, and it is the place we are gathering this morning. You might expect me to say we will come to the cross — and we will, of course, speak about the cross — but, in fact, we are coming to the empty tomb. For it is at the empty tomb that we meet Jesus — He is not dead, He is risen!

The good news is the story of Jesus and how the events of his life 2000 years ago still have a major impact on us today. What does Paul say is the most important thing?

What is the “good news” or “gospel” according to Paul?

There are three aspects:

• Christ died
  
• He was buried
  
• He was raised from death.

Historians are very clear about two things about Jesus — He existed, and He was crucified. There are no serious thinkers who doubt those two facts. Indeed, the whole edifice of history comes tumbling down if you claim that they are not true for there are no events of history that are better attested to than those. If we cannot be sure Jesus lived and died, then we cannot be sure of any event in history.

But the fact that there was a man who lived 2000 years ago, then died, is not a “hold the presses” news story. The fact that He was a great teacher is not even a major news story. The fact that He was reported to work miracles is not even as totally unusual as you might think. The fact that He founded a religion does not even make Him unique — although, admittedly, fewer people manage that one! Actually the fact that he hung on a cross and was crucified through no fault of His own is not even unique to Jesus — thousands of people were crucified.

• He really died – a professional executioner saw and confirmed it — the spear demonstrated it . . . THERE WAS NO BACK-UP HEART = “Drat! One has gone, just as well I have got another one spare” — He’s not Doctor Who!

There is, however, one fact about Jesus that makes Him unique. There is only one thing that marks Him out as totally different from every great figure in history. That is the fact of the empty tomb! Again, even secular historians admit that there was an empty tomb. So we have seen, there is no doubt Jesus lived, there is no doubt He died, and we can be sure He was buried. We can also be sure that there was an empty tomb and a movement was born in the months and years after His death that claimed He had been raised from the dead and was now worthy of worship.

Something dramatic happened to transform a timid group of good Jewish boys who knew very well that there was only one God and they must worship Him or go to hell. They became a bold set of preachers who would turn the world upside down and do so with a message that said “this man who you crucified God raised him from the dead, and we are now to worship him.” Not exactly a message that is easy to believe is it? Not something that you would make up.

One thing is for sure. If the Jewish or Roman authorities could have lead us to the body of Jesus, they would have done so. It simply is untenable to believe that explains the empty tomb. So what other options do we have — that the disciples stole the body and knew all along they were lying? That simply doesn’t make sense psychologically — for people lie to gain some kind of benefit; if these guys lied, they got killed for it — not one of them broke ranks and said, “Oops, we were only kidding.” YOU CANT SCARE ME WITH DEATH — Jesus already conquered it! No, Paul could point to 500 people who were willing to say “I saw Him.”

Could it have been a hallucination? No, hallucinations don’t happen to a crowd all at once like that.

We also have to explain the amazing phenomenon that has been the Church of Jesus Christ. No religion ever grew more quickly, and no religion today is as widespread. And the one thing the Church agrees on is this — Jesus rose from the dead. Millions of people have claimed to have met Him. Paul is very clear — if this didn’t happen, every Christian who has ever lived is to be pitied more than anyone. Everyone who has, at a funeral, believed their loved one had gone to be with Jesus is deluded if He is still buried somewhere in Israel. The apostles and every believer has falsely testified about God that He raised Jesus from the dead.

And if He is not risen, every great transforming work of the Jesus is somehow a delusion. Every great social reformer like Wilberforce or Newton who claimed to be driven by a call from Jesus should be locked up rather than revered as a great historical figure.

• Without the resurrection, the Christian religion comes tumbling down — like taking the bottom piece out of jenga.
  
• Christianity is the meanest cruelest HOAX if Jesus is still dead — it is cruel and sadistic. Here we are singing to a dead man, praying to a dead man, preaching about a dead man, worshiping a dead man, trusting in a dead man! If Jesus is dead, everything is changed.
  
• The resurrection is crucial. If it wasn’t for the resurrection, we would still be in our sins. How could Jesus work in us to forgive us and make us like Him if He is still dead?
  
• “BUT,” as Paul simply says here, “IN FACT, CHRIST HAS BEEN RAISED!”
  
• Jesus is NOT dead – He is alive. Every other religious leader is dead — no one else conquered death — only Jesus.

The resurrection was Jesus’ justification — it was God’s stamp of approval that He still loved His Son, and that the work had been done. Jesus had died for our sins; now He was being raised up for our justification (as Romans 4:25 puts it). It is not just that our sins are dealt with and that we are made morally neutral before God. It is not only “just as if I’d never sinned,” but also “just as if I’d lived a perfect life for eternity and was as pure and righteous as Jesus!”

Jesus still had merit left after the cross — it is not as if sin swallowed His merit up — quite the opposite! His goodness and merit swallowed up sin so that, although on the cross God couldn’t look on Him, God simply couldn’t abandon His perfect Son to the grave!

THIS IS THE GOOD NEWS! “All the love and acceptance which perfect obedience could have obtained of God, belong to you because Christ was perfectly obedient on your behalf.” (C. H. Spurgeon).

“Remember God has accepted us. The gospel of grace is a message of breathtaking freedom. It must be embraced with faith and thanksgiving. You are thoroughly accepted just as you are. Jesus Christ is your righteousness, and He is never going to change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. When you wake tomorrow, He will still be your righteousness, before you have done anything to enjoy God’s favor. You have to earn nothing. Your spirit needs to bask in the brilliant sunlight of this reality. You need to know it inwardly and celebrate it on a daily basis.” (Terry Virgo).

The resurrection is also the one thing that gives us hope. For if Christ has been raised, then as Paul says here — we, too, shall be raised if we trust Him.

The Bible is not very complementary about us without Jesus — it says we are “without hope and without God in this world.” (Ephesians 2:12).

• We are born spiritually dead.
  
• As we go through life, false hope simply makes us more desperate because every disappointment is like death to hope — “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.”
  
• We go through life feeling something is missing. “There must be more to life than this.”
  
• We are so far from truly living life to the full as God intended it that we are effectively dead already — we are dead men walking.
  
• We spend our lives trying not to talk about death, but knowing it is coming.
  
• When we come face-to-face with the man whom death could not hold, we have a hope. For the Christian, what Peter says in chapter 1 of his epistle, verses 3 onwards, is true.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead . . .

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:3–5).

Is that true of you this morning? If not, it can be! You can meet Jesus. You can be born again because of the resurrection. Your spiritual death can be swallowed up

• Sin does not win — Jesus does!
  
• Death does not win — Jesus does!
  
• He really did die for our sin and rise for our salvation, and we can sing to Him today, and can confess our sins to Him because He is alive.

He said — I am God. I have come to take away sin. I will die, and three days later come back to life again to prove it. He did prove it!

Solidify your faith this morning — dwell on this resurrection of Jesus, let it give you a firm foundation. Start with this issue when talking to the unbeliever about the message of the Bible — this is the big one!

What is the outcome for us of the resurrection?

• Our sins are dealt with and we are declared righteous.
  
• Born again — a new beginning, with the old behind us, including our fears and our guilt.
  
• A hope for the future that goes beyond the grace.
  
• A hope for now that transforms our lives.
  
• A relationship with Jesus — we can know and love Him even though we don’t see Him with our eyes.

I have come to the end of what I want to say to you, but let me give Jesus an opportunity to speak. This is what he once said, and I believe He would say to us today:

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26).

Do YOU believe this?

How do we become a Christian? It is a matter of becoming united with Christ — of putting our trust in Him. Of taking a public stand — “because, 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.” Baptism is the way we publicly demonstrate what has happened — we die with Christ, we are buried with Him, and we are raised back to life. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus — it really is good news. Do you believe it?

BACKGROUND QUOTES

“If the Lord Jesus Christ had not literally risen physically from the grave, we could never be certain that he had ever really finished the work. And what was the work? It was to satisfy the demands of the law. The law of God demands that the punishment for sin shall be death, and if he has died for our sins, we must not only be certain that he has died, but that he has finished dying, and that there is no longer death. He has answered the ultimate demands of the law, and in the same way he has answered all the ultimate demands of God. The argument of the New Testament is that when God raised his Son from the dead, he was proclaiming to the whole world, I am satisfied in him: I am satisfied in the work he has done. He has done everything. He has fulfilled every demand. Here he is risen—therefore I am satisfied with him.

Not only that. The Resurrection proved that he has conquered every enemy that was opposed to him, to God, and to us. He has not only satisfied the law and conquered death and the grave, he has vanquished the devil and all his forces, and hell and all the principalities and powers of evil. He has triumphed over them all, and he proves it in the Resurrection. The devil cannot hold him; death and hell cannot hold him. He has mastered them all; he has emerged on the other side. He is the Son of God, and he has completed the work which the Father had sent him to do.

And all this, of course, is of vital importance to us. It is only in the light of the Resurrection that I finally have an assurance of my sins forgiven. It is only in the light of the Resurrection that I ultimately know that I stand in the presence of God absolved from guilt and shame and every condemnation. I can now say with Paul, ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1) because I look at the fact of the Resurrection. It is there that I know it.

You notice how Paul argues in 1 Corinthians 15:17 when he says, ‘If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.’ If it is not a fact that Christ literally rose from the grave, then you are still guilty before God. Your punishment has not been borne, your sins have not been dealt with, you are yet in your sins. It matters that much: without the Resurrection you have no standing at all.”

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Assurance of Our Salvation: Exploring the Depth of Jesus' Prayer for His Own: Studies in John 17 (Originally published separately in four volumes, 1988-89, Wheaton, Illinois, Crossway Books, 2000), p. 492.

“. . . though Scripture, when it treats of our salvation, dwells especially on the death of Christ, yet the Apostle now proceeds farther: for as his purpose was more explicitly to set forth the cause of our salvation, he mentions its two parts; and says, first, that our sins were expiated by the death of Christ, — and secondly, that by his resurrection was obtained our righteousness. But the meaning is, that when we possess the benefit of Christ’s death and resurrection, there is nothing wanting to the completion of perfect righteousness. By separating his death from his resurrection, he no doubt accommodates what he says to our ignorance; for it is also true that righteousness has been obtained for us by that obedience of Christ, which he exhibited in his death, as the Apostle himself teaches us in the following chapter. But as Christ, by rising from the dead, made known how much he had effected by his death, this distinction is calculated to teach us that our salvation was begun by the sacrifice, by which our sins were expiated, and was at length completed by his resurrection: for the beginning of righteousness is to be reconciled to God, and its completion is to attain life by having death abolished. Paul then means, that satisfaction for our sins was given on the cross: for it was necessary, in order that Christ might restore us to the Father’s favor, that our sins should be abolished by him; which could not have been done had he not on their account suffered the punishment, which we were not equal to endure. Hence Isaiah says, that the chastisement of our peace was upon him. ( Isaiah 53:5 .) But he says that he was delivered, and not, that he died; for expiation depended on the eternal goodwill of God, who purposed to be in this way pacified.

And was raised again for our justification. As it would not have been enough for Christ to undergo the wrath and judgment of God, and to endure the curse due to our sins, without his coming forth a conqueror, and without being received into celestial glory, that by his intercession he might reconcile God to us, the efficacy of justification is ascribed to his resurrection, by which death was overcome; not that the sacrifice of the cross, by which we are reconciled to God, contributes nothing towards our justification, but that the completeness of his favor appears more clear by his coming to life again.

— John Calvin, Commentary on Romans, chapter 4

Beloved, the dying Christ has purchased for us our justification, but the risen Christ will see that we get it. The risen Christ has come to bring it to us, and herein we rest. Oh, that you would all rest in the finished work of Jesus on the cross, which is set forth to you in all its brightness by his rising again from the dead! Put the two parts of our text together, “Who was delivered for our offenses,” “and was raised again for our justification.” You need them both, trust in them both; trust in the Savior who died upon the cross, and trust in the Christ who rose again, and is now the living Christ; trust, in fact, in Christ as he revealed himself to John in Patmos: “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” Lord Jesus, as such we trust thee, as such we trust thee now, and we are saved!

— C. H. Spurgeon, Sermon 235

“Our reflections here on the Resurrection need to be set against a broad historical background. As a generalization - no doubt subject to qualification but still fair as a generalization - we may say that in the history of doctrine, especially in soteriology, Christ's resurrection has been relatively eclipsed. In Eastern Orthodoxy, if I rightly understand, the accent has been on his incarnation (with a view to salvation understood as theosis or deification). In Western Christianity (both Roman Catholic and Protestant), especially since Anselm (eleventh century) and the ensuing debate triggered, say, by the views of Abelard, attention has been focused heavily and at times almost exclusively on Christ's death and its significance. The overriding concern, especially since the Reformation, has been to keep clear that the Cross is not simply an ennobling and challenging example but a real atonement - a substitutionary, expiatory sacrifice that reconciles God to sinners and propitiates his judicial wrath. In short, the salvation accomplished by Christ and the atonement have been virtually synonymous.

My point is not to challenge the validity or even the necessity of this development, far less the conclusions reached. But in this dominating preoccupation with the death of Christ, the doctrinal or soteriological significance of his resurrection has been largely overlooked. Not that the Resurrection has been deemed unimportant, but all too frequently it has been considered exclusively as a stimulus and support for Christian faith (which it undoubtedly is) and in terms of its apologetic value, as the crowning evidence for Christ's deity and the truth of Christianity in general . . .

An unbreakable bond or unity exists between Christ and Christians in the experience of resurrection. That bond is such that the latter (the resurrection of Christians) has two components - one that has already taken place, at the inception of Christian life when the sinner is united to Christ by faith; and one that is still future, at Christ's return. From this it will be readily apparent how Paul's teaching on the fundamental event of resurrection reflects the overall already/not-yet structure of eschatological fulfillment in the period between Christ's resurrection and his return.”

Richard B. Gaffin, Redemption and Resurrection: An Exercise in Biblical-Systematic Theology Themelios, volume 27.2, Spring 2002, pp. 16-31. Online here.