Josh King

Tolle Lege: The Expository Genius of John Calvin

Readability: 1

Length: 130 pgs

You may not believe me, due to the recommending of books on preaching, but I do try to exercise reserve in the books I encourage you to read. For those who faithfully sit in the pew eager to feast on God’s preached word you should be as desirous to know what is the soul and essence of preaching as you are to hear it. Don’t just listen to it, know what it is to be. Many think they have heard the preaching of God’s word when they have heard nothing of the sort. Not only should you know what true preaching is so that you can identify it, but so that you can rightly pray for the preacher. I am glad to know I am not alone in this assessment. Steve Lawson writes in the introduction to the Expository Genius of John Calvin:

If you are a preacher or teacher may you be challenged to a higher standard in you handling of the Word. If you are a supporter of one called to this ministry, may you know how best to pray.

Take up this little book, read, pray, and yearn for the adulterated heralding of the gospel.

Exposition is being replaced with entertainment, preaching with performance, doctrine with drama, and theology with theatrics. Desperately does the modern-day church need to recover its way and return to the pulpit that is Bible-based, Christ-centered, and life-changing. God has always been pleased to honor His Word – especially his Word preached. The greatest seasons of church history – those eras of widespread reformation and great awakening – have been those epochs in which God-fearing men took the inspired Word and unashamedly preached it in the power of the Holy Spirit.

‘Their [ministers’] whole task is limited to the ministry of God’s Word; their whole wisdom to the knowledge of His Word; their whole eloquence, to its proclamation.’ – Calvin

‘Let the pastors boldly dare all things by the word of God, of which they are constituted administrators. Let them constrain all the power, glory, and excellence of the world to give place to and to obey the divine majesty of this Word. Let them enjoin everyone by it, from the highest to the lowest. Let them edify the body of Christ. Let them devastate Satan’s reign. Let them pasture the sheep, kill the wolves, instruct and exhort the rebellious. Let them bind and loose thunder and lightning, if necessary, but let them do all according to the Word of God.’ – Calvin

A sermon rises no higher than a preacher’s soul before God.

‘We want again Luthers, Calvins, Bunyans, Whitefields, men fit to mark eras, whose names breathe terror in our foemen’s ears. We have dire need of such. Whence will they come to us? They are the gift of Jesus Christ to the church, and will come in due time. He has power to give back again a golden age of preachers, and when the good old truth is one more preached by men whose lips are touched as with a live coal from off the alter, this shall be the instrument in the hand of the Spirit for bringing about a great and thorough revival of religion in the land. . . .

I do not look for any other means of converting men beyond the simple preaching of the gospel and the opening of men’s ears to hear it. The moment the church of God shall despise the pulpit, God will despise her. It has been through the ministry that the Lord has always been pleased to receive and bless His churches.” – Charles Spurgeon

Genesis 26 & Millennia and Counting

Abraham is now approximatly 140 years old. He was 75 when we picked up his story in Genesis 12. We have seen the faithfulness of the immutable God of the covenant unceasingly bless him in all things. God even uses Abraham’s sin to sanctify and bring about His eternal purposes!

Has the well run dry? Can God supply last another generation? This is a grace consuming endeavor, will God’s steadfast love endure to the next generation?

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations… – Deuteronomy 7:9

God’s covenant faithfulness knows no generation gaps. God is not unable to relate to any generation. The covenant in which God was faithful to Abraham is the covenant in which He will be faithful to Isaac, and it is the covenant in which He will be faithful to you (Galatians 3:29).

Do you feel distant from the Old Testament? Are you unable to relate to Abraham? You may be 4000 years removed from Abraham, but His God as close to you in the same covenant relationship. Douglas Stewart reminds us:

If you are a Christian, the Old Testament is your spiritual history. The promises and calling of God to Israel are you historical promises and calling.

This then is a story not simply of God continuing on his faithfulness to Isaac, but to you. If you are in Christ, all the redemptive history recorded for you in God’s Holy Word is the story of His faithfulness to you!

How foolish of us to question God’s faithfulness to us in the last few hours or years when the last few millennia scream to us, “God is faithful” – eternally, unceasingly, immutably, and unfailingly.

Tolle Lege: How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth

Readability: 2

Length: 264 pgs

Author: Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stewart

I do not agree with everything Fee and Stuart write here, most critically I disagree with Fee’s translation philosophy. Still the benefits and skills you would gain by reading it are worth commending it. Reading How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth would go a long way to correcting many poor ways of reading the scripture such as asking it questions it was not meant to answer, reading it sentimentally, and flip and pickin’.

Interpretation that aims at, or thrives on, uniqueness, can usually be attributed to pride (an attempt to ‘out clever’ the rest of the world), a false understanding of spirituality (wherein the Bible is full of deep truths waiting to be mined by the spiritually sensitive person with special insight), or vested interests (the need to support a theological bias, especially in dealing with texts that seem to go against that bias). Unique interpretations are usually wrong. This is not to say that the correct understanding of a text may not often seem unique to someone who hears it for the first time. But it is to say that uniqueness is not the aim of our task.

The aim of good interpretation is simple: to get at the “plain meaning of the text.” And the most important ingredient one brings to that task is enlightened common sense. The test of good interpretation is that it makes good sense of the text. Correct interpretation, therefore, brings relief to the mind as well as a prick or prod to the heart.

The Doctor: Patience is Not Passive

We often think of patience as passive; but it is a very active virtue. Certain people have a reputation for being patient, but sometimes the real truth about them is that they are just dull. They are not sensitive, they do not react, and are more or less stupid. That is not patience. Patience is an active virtue, for which reason we are constantly exhorted to it. It is a virtue that has to be developed, so that it becomes strong and firm. – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans Vol. 8, p. 113

No Word

It is hard to imagine any greater pain than that of losing a little child. It is like an amputation, so that though one may learn to live with the loss, the parent is never the same again. In the English language we have a word for those who have lost their parents: an orphan. We have a word for those who have lost their spouse: a widow or widower. We have no word for those who have lost a child. It is as if the very thought is too painful to put into words. –Roger Carswell

Baby Josey King

Disclaimer: I do not believe there is a heavenly post from here to heaven. I don’t expect God to act as my mail boy. I don’t anticipate with hope the opportunity to say these things. My hope is much bigger; so much so that this little letter will one day seem trite. This letter was simply my way of grieving and expressing my faith. [Added 11.2.17]

Josey,

Oh, how we love you. We know so little about you, we’re not even sure if you’re our baby daughter or son, but we do know that we love you. Your mommy lept, shouted, and danced with joy when the pregnancy test revealed you were forming within her belly! She heralded your life to PaPa and Gran, Papa and Grandma! Her eruption of joy was the purest motherly delight I’ve ever seen. Oh, how she would have loved you!

Josey, you were bathed in prayer. You were the answer to a plethora of prayer. During your little life on this earth you swam in a sea of prayer. When others were told to expect you they told us of their prayers for you. Many rejoiced to hear of you. Many praised God because of His great mercy toward us in giving us you. God answered our prayer. He said “yes” and “no”. His “no” was a gracious “no”. I do not understand the grace of God in taking you, but His grace is not for me to understand, but to receive. I do not understand all the minutia of the suffering that occurs under the sovereign hand of God, but I do understand the greatest purpose He has in it—His glory. Majestic, eternal, unfading, effulgent glory; the glory you now bask in. This is my hope and my joy, even now.

Josey, your namesake is Joseph. His is a story of the grace of God abounding in blessing upon His covenant people. What was meant for evil by sinners within and Satan without, God worked for good. God’s grace is sovereign even over the sins of His covenant people. Evil spiritual forces will tempt us to sin in this trial, I will and I have. I am so frail. My faith is weak, but my God is faithful. The one who sustained and sanctified Joseph will do so for your mother and me. May your precious little life tell others that our story, like Joseph’s, is not one of our great faith, but God’s great faithfulness toward us in Jesus Christ.

We will miss and mourn you for now. But only for now.

Tolle Lege: Let the Nations be Glad!

Readability: 3

Length: 238 pgs

Author: John Piper

One way a books value can be determined is if it impacts you as deeply or more deeply upon reading it a second time. This is my second time to read through Let the Nations be Glad!, my first to read the second edition. I love the book more not less, not even just the same. I leave the book wishing for its message to burn inside my chest. This book is verging on being beyond the difficulty level I normally advise, but the message is so God-glorifying I persist and plead with you to read this book. It is a book about what God is about. It has become the book on missions in many seminaries and schools for missions, not without reason. It opens with one of the best sentences and paragraphs of any Piper book.

Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.

Worship, therefore, is the fuel and goal of missions. It’s the goal of missions because in missions we simply aim to bring the nations into the white-hot enjoyment of God’s glory. The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God. “The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!” (Ps. 97:1). “Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy!” (Ps. 67:3–4).

But worship is also the fuel of missions. Passion for God in worship precedes the offer of God in preaching. You can’t commend what you don’t cherish. Missionaries will never call out, “Let the nations be glad!” who cannot say from the heart, “I rejoice in the LORD…. I will be glad and exult in you, I will sing praise to your name, O Most High” (Ps. 104:34; 9:2). Missions begins and ends in worship.

[M]issions is demanded not by God’s failure to show glory but by man’s failure to savor the glory. Creation is telling the glory of God, but the peoples are not treasuring it.

Missions exist because worship doesn’t. The ultimate issue addressed by missions is that God’s glory is dishonored among the peoples of the world. When Paul brought this indictment of his own people to a climax in Romans 2:24, he said, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” That is the ultimate problem in the world. That is the ultimate outrage.

The glory of God is not honored.

The holiness of God is not reverenced.

The greatness of God is not admired.

The power of God is not praised

The truth of God is not sought.

The wisdom of God is not esteemed.

The beauty of God is not treasured.

The goodness of God is not savored.

The faithfulness of God is not trusted.

The commandments of God are not obeyed.

The justice of God is not respected.

The wrath of God is not feared.

The grace of God is not cherished.

The presence of God is not prized.

I hope your appetite has been awakened such that heart and mind salivation for truth has commenced. But hold off ordering the book just yet. Baker will put out a third edition next year along with a DVD and study guide. Or read the 2^nd edition now, and plan on reading the 3^rd edition next year. I did, and I will, and I anticipate loving it even more.

The Doctor: The Only Hope

The only hope for the creation, for the whole universe as well as man is in the character of God, and in the following way. God’s glory and God’s honor prohibit His leaving the world as it is. If God is God, the great Creator, and if God is all powerful, with all rule and authority at His command, then the very character of God makes it quite impossible that He should leave creation as it is at the present time. He cannot leave it in this condition of vanity, and in this condition of ‘groaning’ and ‘travailing’. It is inconsistent with the character of God that this should be the permanent state of affairs; and of course that is precisely what the Bible tells us. – D.Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans Vol. 8, p. 57

From Stirring to Collecting Dust

I once posted how some books are dynamite, they leave you gloriously devastated. You have to wait for years for the dust to settle to see just how big the devastation is. In another post I listed some of the books that have done this for me.

There are other books, you think that they are producing the same effect, but they are neither concussion bombs nor fragmentary bombs, they are functionally smoke bombs. You think there has been a rattling explosion, but they have changed nothing, they have only stirred up dust. Years go by, the dust settles, and their effect has been blown away by the wind. What are a few such books for you? Here are mine:

The Purpose Driven Church by Rick Warren
Wild at Heart by John Eldredge
Fresh Faith by Jim Cymbala

They remain in my library as reminders only, I seriously doubt I will ever reread them. These books that stirred up so much dust, now only collect them.

Genesis 22:1-19 & Supernova

Hmm… so what is this passage about? Are we to walk away from this passage having added to our list of things great saints do that we should also? Or do we walk away powerfully feeling why we should and how we can live so radically for so glorious a God? Let’s think it through…

We’ve been waiting for a son since Genesis 3:15 to pulverize the head of the snake. Hence all the dudes begetting dudes begetting dudes. This forms the tension of the Abraham narrative as well. We are quickly informed that Sarah’s womb is barren (Genesis 11:30). Thus we are waiting for a miracle baby, hmm…

Abraham then receives glorious promises, promises that pick up the echoes of Genesis 3:15, and these promises necessitate an offspring. This narrative is then constructed such that the child’s birth feels anticlimactic. Where does the story reach its peek? Not at the birth of the promised child, but at his sacrifice? Hmm…

The intense emotional element to the story is the bond and love between the father and the son, his only son, whom he loves. Hmm…

They are in union walking both of them together (Genesis 22:6, 8). The son is trusting and innocent (Genesis 22:7, 9). They are not divided, they are in harmony, this will be their most glorious moment – together. Hmm…

The son bears the wood on his back, placed there by his father. The father is the one with the knife and the fire (Genesis 22:6). The father must act upon the son, the son must lay down his life. Hmm…

Empowering Abraham to obey this command is a belief in God’s power and his promises (Hebrews 11:17-19). The promised child who is to be sacrificed must be resurrected! Hmm…

The name of the mountain, the area where the temple will one day be built (2 Chronicles 3:1), is not “Abraham obeys” but “The LORD provides”. A ram is substituted in place of another. Hmm…

It is in Abraham’s offspring that all the earth is to be blessed (Genesis 22:18). Hmm…

The Bible is a constellation of stars. Over every text we should cry out to God the prayer of Psalm 119:18. No star is lacking glory. To say one star shines brighter than another is not to disparage lesser stars, but to overwhelm us with the majesty of larger ones. This text is a supernova, it explodes with brilliant light.

Do not mute such glory by reading this text in a simply moralistic way. Obey God radically, yes, but dig down and notice the why and how behind such obedience – the glory of the Lamb and He who sits on the throne.

Yahweh has provided!