[W]e must not begin to question our relationship to the world’s first man, Adam, because every time you put the question I will make you ask the same question about our relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you say to me, ‘Is it fair that the sin of Adam should be imputed to me?’ I will reply by asking, ‘Is it fair that the righteousness of Christ should be imputed to you?’ – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans Vol. 4, p. 219
Author: Josh King
Hebrews 13:20-25 & A Gracious Storm
If you haven’t been in Tulsa the weekly forecast for the past two weeks is illustrated by the single picture above. I would love to visit Seattle and visit Mars Hill Church. I was curious about the weather as well, now I think I know what it’s like. When I walked out yesterday afternoon I was struck by something alien. What is this strange warmth tickling my skin? What are these colors? Why is quiet peace after the storm somehow more quite than the peace that preceded it? How is it that the bird’s songs seem sweeter? Do they sense the same things I do?
Hebrews is a category five hurricane for your soul. As it sweeps by it devastates the landscape. False hopes, strengths, and idols are decimated. False professors flee before it. Only those left tethered to the one true Anchor are left, and they are better for it.
I have found some of the deepest most abiding comfort in this precious book. It is true comfort. It is not built on the illusory; it is anchored in the deepest of realities, God Himself. I am so glad that peace does not come quickly or easily in this book. I am thankful for the storm and all it brought down. The storm was a mercy.
The same storm that wrecked my false securities also stirred the seas of God’s grace and peace and now they come crashing thunderously upon me. They are deep waves, mighty waves, surging waves. The Son is brighter now. Songs of praise spring forth spontaneously. The peace is deafening. Grace is crashing in.
Tolle Lege: The Courage to Be Protestant
Readability: 3
Length: 248 pp
Author: David Wells
Beginning in 1993 David Wells began writing a series of what would become four books that would rattle the evangelical world. These four titles, No Place for Truth, God in the Wasteland, Losing Our Virtue, and Above all Earthly Pow’rs, have recently been condensed and updated in his newest work The Courage to Be Protestant. A stout critique of contemporary evangelicalism, this more accessible version is not light, but needed reading. It is still serious reading, but more readable. I am glad to see the material presented in a way I can more readily recommend.
Most of his arguments are deeply developed so I would encourage you against reacting against the quotations below. I share them only to poke you towards reading it for yourself and discovering them.
Emergents, too, are standing outside the house that Ockenga, Henry, Graham, Packer, Stott, Lloyd-Jones, and Schaffer built in that earlier generation. The difference is that they know they are standing outside the house, whereas the seeker-sensitives, the marketers, still imagine they are living inside it.
If the postmodern world is going to be engaged successfully, it will have to be at this point. A soft, shapeless Christianity ready to adapt to any worldview may enjoy initial success, but it will soon be overtaken and lose its interest. The problem with all such adaptations is that those outside the faith soon see that they can reap Christian benefits on purely secular grounds without paying whatever small price is being asked for the adapted version of this faith.
…it is important to remember that culture does not give the church its agenda. All it gives the church is its context. The church’s belief and mission come from the Word of God. They do not come from the culture either thorough attraction to it or alienation from it. It is not the culture that determines the church’s priorities. It is not the (post)modern culture that should be telling it what to think. The principle here is sola Scriptura, not sola cultura.
The postwar resurgence of evangelical believing in the West gained a great deal of strength from the fact that its many churches and organizations could work together around commonly held beliefs. Centrally, these were the authority of Scripture and the necessity of the cross. The core was narrow, in the sense that diversity around belief was allowed, but it was deep. With the passing of the years, however, the core began to disintegrate and certainly, has been losing its depth. It has become very shallow.
Without the holiness of God, sin has no meaning and grace has no point. God’s holiness gives to the one its definition, and to the other its greatness.
The Doctor: The False Humility of Unbelief
I must press this point. To be uncertain of these things is not a sign of humility or of unusual spirituality and piety; it is a sign of unbelief, which is dishonoring to God… I do not hesitate to make the assertion that the only bit of logic that you and I can be absolutely certain of in this world is the logic of verses 9, 10, 11 in this chapter [Chapter 5 of Romans]. There is no such watertight argument in any other realm, in science, or in mathematics or anywhere else… I know that there is one argument that can never be refuted, and that will never fail one iota. It is this: “If while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved (in him and) in his life. That can never fail; it is absolutely certain. This is the only logic that can be guaranteed. – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in Romans Volume 4, p. 165
Gloriously Devestated
There are some lines in a good book, and some books altogether that are dynamite. They explode in your mind, rattle your souls, reverberate in your thoughts, and devastate your lives. After the initial blast you know something wonderful has happened but you have to wait months, even years for the dust to settle to realize the glorious destruction.
Has God’s Holy Word rattled your heart with more than nuclear force? Has His eternal Word, that Word above all earthly powers, Jesus Christ, gloriously blasted everything new? If so, eternity will come, the dust will then have settled, and the effects will eternally rapture our hearts to Him in love.
Hebrews 13:17-19 & Treating Authority Like Bad Socks
When some things are abused you throw them away. Toys and socks work that way. I am in dire need of some new socks right now. A couple of pairs have holes in the heel and many of them have holes which my long toe (my long toe is not my big toe) loves to play peek-a-boo out of. My big toenail grows radically more than my other toe nails. Apparently I don’t clip it often enough and then cuts though my socks? My toenail neglect is sock abuse.
Anyway, just because socks are abused you don’t find people running around saying that socks are inherently evil or faulty. You may throw a pair of socks away, but not socks altogether. Authority can be, and is often abused, but that is no reason to throw it out. In our society sex is equally abused, why aren’t we so passionate to ban sex? Toys are abused by children, should we ban toys?
God gives leaders to his church. All their authority is a derived authority, not intrinsic to themselves. Obey and submit to them for your own souls. Find elders who are faithful to God’s Word and then be faithful to those elders. Put yourself in a position where your relationship to your elder will be a reflection of your relationship to God.
If you have authority issues with your elder most of the time I would advise one of two actions:
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Repent. If you believe your elder is faithful to the Word of God, your issues with him are issues with God.
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Move. If your elder is not faithful to God’s word find one who is and for the benefit of your soul and his joy in ministry submit to him in the Lord.
The Doctor: Disproportional Singing
I am no opponent to singing, we are to sing God’s praises in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs. Yes, but again there is a sense of proportion even here. Have you not noticed how singing is becoming more and more prominent? People, Christian people, meet together to sing only. ‘Oh,’ they say, ‘we do get a word in.’ But the singing is the big thing. At a time like this, at an appalling time like this, with crime and violence, and sin, and perversions, God’s name desecrated and the sanctities being spat upon, the whole state of the world surely says this is not a time for singing, this is a time for preaching. I am reminded of the words of Wordsworth about Milton, ‘Plain living, and high thinking are no more.’ It is almost as true of us to say plain speaking and high thinking are no more. We are just singing. We are wafting ourselves into some happy atmosphere. We sing together. Dear friends, this is no time for singing. ‘How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?’ (Ps. 137:4). How can we take down our harps when Zion is as she is? – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Revival, p. 63
Hymns I’m Angry I Didn’t Learn As a Child (8)
Come, My Soul, Thy Suit Prepare by John Newton
Come, my soul, thy suit prepare:
Jesus loves to answer prayer;
He Himself has bid thee pray,
Therefore will not say thee nay;
Therefore will not say thee nay.Thou art coming to a King,
Large petitions with thee bring;
For His grace and power are such,
None can ever ask too much;
None can ever ask too much.With my burden I begin:
Lord, remove this load of sin;
Let Thy blood, for sinners spilt,
Set my conscience free from guilt;
Set my conscience free from guilt.Lord, I come to Thee for rest,
Take possession of my breast;
There Thy blood bought right maintain,
And without a rival reign;
And without a rival reign.As the image in the glass
Answers the beholder’s face;
Thus unto my heart appear,
Print Thine own resemblance there,
Print Thine own resemblance there.While I am a pilgrim here,
Let Thy love my spirit cheer;
As my Guide, my Guard, my Friend,
Lead me to my journey’s end;
Lead me to my journey’s end.Show me what I have to do,
Every hour my strength renew:
Let me live a life of faith,
Let me die Thy people’s death;
Let me die Thy people’s death.
The Doctor: No Autopilot for Turbulent Tribulation
We can glory in tribulations because our faith enables us to view them in such a way as to realize that, far from working against our hope, they actually promote it, and, indeed, further it. In other words the reaction of the Christian to tribulations is not an automatic one. It is not a case of ‘Come what may, I’m always happy’. He is enabled to glory in them as the result of the application of his faith. Because he is a man of faith he is able to do certain things. Trials and tribulations come, and at first he is troubled, he is made unhappy. But he does not stop at that; he proceeds to deal with them. How does he do this? The Apostle gives us the answer. ‘Not only so but we glory in tribulations also.” How? “Knowing”: it is because of something we know. – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans, Volume 4, p. 66
Hebrews 13:7-16 & Vintage vs. Novel
Vintage does not mean dead, novel does. Coca-Cola is classic, it is vintage; that is it is old, but has enduring value. It has not aged. Crystal Pepsi was novel and it died. Novel often means faddish.
Jesus is vintage. He is ancient, eternal, and immutable. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. This does not limit our exploration of the divine; rather it speaks to the infiniteness of that which is explored. What must the magnitude of Jesus’ glory be if he is immutable, yet never monotonous or boring?
The dead teachers of the past heralded this Jesus (Hebrews 13:7). In contrast the false teachers so perverted and distorted Him that their teaching was strange, and diverse (Hebrews 13:9).
The vintage Jesus will live on and prevail, for He is the living one. The pseudo-novel Jesus will die, for He does not exist.
Spiritually, regarding Jesus, I hope to see you all driving a red ’52 Chevy rather than a modern hybrid with GPS, DVD player, and seat warmers. Don’t fall prey to the new – it is faddish, it will die, and you will find the quality exceptionally less.
No Other Boast 