Genesis 3:15 — “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” [ESV]

“What is this that you have done?”

Verse 13: “Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done?’”

What a wonderful concern does God express in this expostulation! “What a deluge of misery have you brought upon yourself, your husband, and your posterity? What is this that you have done? Disobeyed your God, obeyed the devil, and ruined your husband, for whom I made you to be a helpmate! What is this that you have done?”

God would here awaken her to a sense of her crime and danger, and therefore, as it were, thunders in her ears: for the law must be preached to self-righteous sinners. We must take care of healing before we see sinners wounded, lest we should say, Peace, peace, where there is no peace. Secure sinners must hear the thunderings of mount Sinai, before we bring them to mount Zion. They who never preach up the law, it is to be feared, are unskillful in delivering the glad tidings of the gospel. Every minister should be a Boanerges, a son of thunder, as well as a Barnabus, a son of consolation.

There was an earthquake and a whirlwind, before the small still voice came to Elijah: We must first show people they are condemned, and then show them how they must be saved. But how and when to preach the law, and when to apply the promises of the gospel, wisdom is profitable to direct.

And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?”

“The serpent deceived me…”

“The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” She does not make use of so many words to excuse herself, as her husband; but her heart is as unhumbled as his. “What is this,” says God, “that you have done?”

God here charges her with doing it. She dares not deny the fact, or say, I have not done it; but she takes all the blame off herself, and lays it upon the serpent. “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” She does not say, “Lord, I was to blame for talking with the serpent; Lord, I did wrong, in not hastening to my husband, when he put the first question to me. Lord, I plead guilty, I only am to blame, O let not my poor husband suffer for my wickedness!”

This would have been the language of her heart had she now been a true penitent. But both were now alike proud; therefore neither will lay the blame upon themselves:

“The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

“The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”

I have been the more particular in remarking this part of their behavior, because it tends so much to the magnifying of Free-grace, and plainly shows us, that salvation comes only from the Lord.

Let us take a short view of the miserable circumstances our first parents were now in: They were legally and spiritually dead, children of wrath, and heirs of hell. They had eaten the fruit, of which God had commanded them that they should not eat. And when arraigned before God, notwithstanding their crime was so complicated, they could not be brought to confess it.

What reason can be given, why sentence of death should not be pronounced against the prisoners at the bar? All must own they are worthy to die. Nay, how can God, consistently with his justice, possibly forgive them? He had threatened, that the day wherein they eat of the forbidden fruit, they should “surely die.” And, if he did not execute this threatening, the devil might then slander the Almighty indeed. Yet mercy cries, “Spare these sinners, spare the work of Your own hands!”

Behold, then, wisdom contrives a scheme how God may be just, and yet be merciful. Be faithful to his threatening, punish the offense, and at the same time spare the offender.

An amazing scene of divine love here opens to our view which had been from all eternity hid in the heart of God! Notwithstanding Adam and Eve were thus unhumbled, and did not so much as put up on single petition for pardon, God immediately passes sentence upon the serpent, and reveals to them a Savior.

An amazing scene of Divine love

Verse 14: “The Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.’” He should be in subjection, and his power should always be limited and restrained. “His enemies shall lick the very dust,” says the Psalmist.

Verse 15: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Before I proceed to the explanation of this verse, I cannot but take notice of one great mistake which the author of The Whole Duty of Man is guilty of in making this verse contain a covenant between God and Adam, as though God now personally treated with Adam, as before the fall.

For, talking of the second covenant in his preface, concerning caring for the soul, says he, “This second covenant was made with Adam, and us in him, presently after the fall, and is briefly contained in these words, Gen. 3:15 where God declares, ‘The seed of the woman shall break the serpent’s head; and this was made up, as the first was, of some mercies to be afforded by God, and some duties to be performed by us.” This is exceeding false divinity: for those words are not spoken to Adam; They are directed only to the serpent.

Adam and Eve stood by as criminals, and God could not treat with them, because they had broken his covenant. And it is so far from being a covenant wherein “some mercies are to be afforded by God, and some duties to be performed by us,” that here is not a word looking that way. It is only a declaration of a free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God the Father and God the Son had entered into a covenant concerning the salvation of the elect from all eternity, wherein God the Father promised that, if the Son would offer his soul a sacrifice for sin, he should see his seed. Now this is an open revelation of this secret covenant, and therefore God speaks in the most positive terms, “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

The First Adam and the Second Adam

The first Adam, God had treated with before; he proved false. God therefore, to secure the second covenant from being broken, puts it into the hands of the second Adam, the Lord from heaven. Adam, after the fall, stood no longer as our representative; he and Eve were only private persons, as we are, and were only to lay hold on the declaration of mercy contained in this promise by faith, (as they really did) and by that they were saved.

I do not say but we are to believe and obey if we are everlastingly saved. Faith and obedience are conditions, if we only mean that they in order go before our salvation, but I deny that these are proposed by God to Adam or that God treats with him in this promise, as he did before the fall under the covenant of works. For how could that be, when Adam and Eve were now prisoners at the bar, without strength to perform any conditions at all?

The truth is this: God, as a reward of Christ’s sufferings, promised to give the elect faith and repentance, in order to bring them to eternal life; and both these, and every thing else necessary for their everlasting happiness, and infallibly secured to them in this promise; as Mr. Rastan, an excellent Scots divine, clearly shows, in a book entitled A View of the Covenant of Grace.

This is by no means an unnecessary distinction; it is a matter of great importance. For want of knowing this, people have been so long misled. They have been taught that they must do so and so, and though they were under a covenant of works, and then for doing this, they should be saved.

Whereas, on the contrary, people should be taught that the Lord Jesus was the second Adam, with whom the Father entered into covenant for fallen man. That they can now do nothing of or for themselves, and should therefore come to God, beseeching him to give them faith, by which they shall be enabled to lay hold on the righteousness of Christ; and that faith they will then show forth by their works, out of love and gratitude to the ever blessed Jesus, their most glorious Redeemer, for what he has done for their souls.

This is a consistent scriptural scheme; without holding this, we must run into one of those two bad extremes. I mean Antinomianism on the one hand, or Arminianism on the other, from both which may the good Lord deliver us!

The seed of the woman, and the seed of the serpent

But to proceed: By the seed of the woman, we are here to understand the Lord Jesus Christ; who, though very God of very God, was, for us men and our salvation, to have a body prepared for him by the Holy Ghost, and to be born of a woman who never knew man, and by his obedience and death make an atonement for man’s transgression, and bring in an everlasting righteousness, work in them a new nature, and thereby bruise the serpent’s head, i.e. destroy his power and dominion over them.

By the serpent’s seed, we are to understand the devil and all his children, who are permitted by God to tempt and sift his children. But, blessed be God, he can reach no further than our heel.

To be continued…

We left off Part One after street preaching for the first. I will next try to cover the period of time from late August until, well, now.

September thru November could probably best be described by these verses:

1 Corinthians 2:1-2 “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

2 Corinthians 4:7 “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”

I write these posts praying that someone will read them and God would give them a spirit of power, love, and sound mind. Pray to God to be made more like Jesus. You will not be perfect. There will be trials. Humble yourself before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

Be wise where you spend your time. I spent a few weeks in September blogging with staunch Catholics (a fragment of which you can see in the “Sola Scriptura” post) and, as you can imagine, there was not much movement on either side of the authority of the Word of God discussion. Not having the extensive knowledge Church History that they did, plus not seeing the Holy Spirit apply the true, saving gospel to their hard hearts, I ended my participation. It was not easy, because I want to contend for the faith (Jude 3), however around this time I felt the pull of street ministry and began to read articles about public evangelism and watch other (good) street preachers.

Handing out tracts for the first time was a bit strange. Yes, the gospel is on the tract. Yes, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe. Yet it was out of my comfort zone. Thank God for the encouragement of Bobby, Alex, Peter, Mike, and Scott who helped me to see that a man is just that – a man, and that I should not fear him. Since preaching that first night, I’ve been out a few times. I feel at home on the street corner. Yes, people shout mean things at me. Yes, many walk by without responding. No worries. Most of the time that I’ve gone out has been after Georgia football games.

Isaiah 55:10-11, “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

Without these verses, I don’t think I could preach in public. These verses, along with Isaiah 58:1, Luke 14:23, and Romans 1:16-17 are the catalysts for what I hope is a permanent calling of God to this wonderful ministry. And not just public preaching, but also one-on-ones with family and friends.

A quick story – after the Georgia/Auburn game on Nov 14th, I read Romans 3 downtown. My voice was strained from yelling at the game and an earlier mini-sermon, but I preached nonetheless. Someone was standing in front of me for most of the reading. When I was done, it turned out this guy was one of my residents when I was an RA in the summer of 2003. I was in my heyday drinking down iniquity like water (it’s in the Bible, see Job 15:15-16) and it surely blew this man’s mind to see his partying RA reading the word of God on a street corner. Bless God that he saw me! His life may be changed forever.

Here I must note that I do not believe the Bible only allows for street evangelism only. I have been taught that the Great Commission is an “as you are going” commission and it would unwise, I think, to only make the gospel known once a week when there is the internet, phones, etc. There is definitely a place for relational evangelism. A word of caution is that relational evangelism without the gospel is not evangelism. Befriending lost people, hanging out with them, while not introducing them to Christ is not evangelism. I have a friend who is not a believer who I see twice a year (he lives five hours away). I have to take advantages of those times to preach Christ to him. If we just hang out and he doesn’t hear that God is angry with him, he is dead in his sins and cannot save himself, yet Christ died accursed of God and become sin though he did not sin in order to set free cursed sinners like him…then what have I done with that time spent with my lost friend who I have known for over six years?

The point – keep the gospel in the middle of relationships that God is forming with unbelievers. And by the gospel, I mean contrasting the holiness of God with the utter depravity and wickedness of man, using the law to convict of sin and the gospel of peace to shed light into darkness. They may reject the gospel and therefore reject you. Many of them will profess to be Christians. Don’t worry. You are just obeying your Master. The evangelist don’t save souls, God does. It will be a constant battle between your flesh and the Spirit dwelling within you to not take credit for any soul that may be awakened or any sermon that is powerful. Pray. Read Scripture. Flee from the distractions of the world.

Please know I’m not perfect at evangelism. Obey the Holy Spirit. It is not possible to stop and talk to everyone you see in the course of a day about the true gospel. Pray. Take tracts with you wherever you go. God has only been my Father and counted me righteous through Christ for a little over two years. I’m still reckless and unrefined in a lot of ways. I’m still spontaneous and make somewhat odd decisions. Please pray that God would be gracious with me and keep killing my flesh.

Other good news: God has sent me people to have great one-on-one conversations with. Many of them are close friends and many back and forth facebook conversations, phone calls, and face-to-face visits have taken place. Surely there will be more to come to the future. Please pray for inroads with my family and co-workers, as well as God-worked repentance and true faith in Christ in my adopted hometown of Athens, GA.

Several years ago I read a book called Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller.  It was an intriguing book, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  His book was and still is immensely popular.  Many people I know have read it and endorsed to many other their friends and had I not had been privy to some seminars and discussions surrounding this book I would have blindly endorsed it to anyone and everyone.  Why am I boring you with this?  Because in his book Donald Miller goes into great detail about how he and several friends on a particular college campus made efforts to “redeem” Christianity by apologizing for what Christians have done in the past and what they’re currently doing that is not reflective of biblical Christianity.  It sounds nice, spiritual, endearing, but in reality it’s empty and counter-productive; many have described this message as the new gospel, which has aspects of the old gospel, but at the end of the day it falls well short of the historical event and message of Christ (I Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 1:16).  Kevin DeYoung in a recent post delineates between the old and new gospel and it’s a must read for those wanting to discern between the true and powerful gospel and a pseudo-one.  Enjoy

There’s just something about being in a group or club that cost you something.  When I was in college, I belonged to a fraternity and it felt good to belong to a group that not everyone was a part of.  Anyone that knows anything about fraternities of sororities knows that you have to be sponsored be someone already in the group that vouches for you and they say that you would be an excellent addition to our group.  However, this does not guarantee a spot in the group. First, you must rush, in my case for a week, where your fellow brothers, as they are known, can get you to do pretty much whatever they want.  Then they drill you with questions in an interview and if they like you, you’re in!  You are now part of the brotherhood!  You’re a big dog on campus now.  You’re part of an exclusive group that many want to be a part of and yet only a few ever get to opportunity to join. 

Not much has really changed since my days as a member of the Phi Simga Cia fraternity.  Yes, I am no longer a college student who likes to hang with my brethren, but I am part of another exclusive group, the church.  In many ways, the church feels a lot like my fraternity, for we have the tendency to be exclusive as well. 

Many members of the church world will call themselves the insiders and they want to separate themselves from the outsiders.  We don’t dare say we’re exclusive, but it’s how we act that gives that perception.  We have set in place external practices that separate us from the outsiders – our vocabulary or dress, who we associate with, and so on. 

We have become proud and judgmental toward the outsiders.  We often pride ourselves on how righteous we are, so much so that we can just look at someone and tell right away whether they are an insider or outsider.  However, with Jesus, the leader of the church, this wasn’t the case at all.  His messages and mission was to have everyone be an insider.  Not just to belong to an elite group of people that are super spiritual, but to belong to a group of people that wanted to be transformed into “new creatures”.  Jesus didn’t focus on what someone looked like or how they acted, rather he looked at the persons heart.

I have been a part of some wonderful churches in my life and every one of them has added to my spiritual walk with Christ.  Nevertheless, each one of them, some more than others, had their own bench markers.  Some of them could have had a pastor consumed with pride and was a glutton, but as he was growing or at least maintaining the church, he need not worry about his job.  But if by chance a church member saw him on the golf course smoking a cigar with a friend, you wouldn’t see him next Sunday at church.  Why is that?  Well probably no one would ever say that smoking a cigar on the golf course would be a worse sin than a life consumed with pride or a glutton.  Although for many in the church world smoking has become a bench marker for many.  It is one of the churches ways to tell if you are a wolf or a sheep. 

We all know that smoking is not the unpardonable sin, but it breaks many churchgoers unspoken bench marker.  Something like this could upset a church’s sense of identity.  It doesn’t matter really if you are Baptist, Catholic, Pentecostal, or Greek Orthodox I bet you can come up with your own set of bench markers.  This type of spirituality puts most of the focus on your position.  Are you in or are you out? 

However, Jesus is more concerned with people’s hearts.  He wants to know that they moving forward in their spiritual life, do they have the love of God and their fellow man in their life.  That is way many people were shocked in his day when He said that many of the religious leaders were outside of God’s kingdom, because they were more concerned with the bench markers than peoples heart.  John Ortberg in his book, The Life You’ve Always Wanted,” said it well.  He said “The ‘righteous’ were more damaged by their righteousness than the sinners were by their sin.”

This from the Henry Center blog.  We recently hosted College Church in Wheaton (IL) pastor Josh Moody, and I was deeply affected by his sermons and also his discussion with the students.  He is a strong, penetrating expositor whose style reminded me of one Lloyd-Jones.  Check out the content below to do yourself the favor of benefiting from his preaching of God’s Word.

The following is what we blurbed on the site.

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

The Henry Center is pleased to announce that Dr. Josh Moody’s recent Timothy Series lectures and Q&A sessions are now posted free of charge for the viewing of the general public.

October 20 & 22, 2009 | Dr. Josh Moody, College Church, Wheaton, IL

Dr. Moody was born in Surrey, England and holds undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Cambridge University. He currently serves as Senior Pastor of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois and served previously as Senior Pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in New Haven, Connecticut beginning in 1999. He has authored three books to date: The God-Centered Life: Insights from Jonathan Edwards for Today; Jonathan Edwards and the Enlightenment: Knowing the Presence of God; and Authentic Spirituality.

“The Necessary Foundation for Biblical Ministry”: 2 Timothy 3:10-17 | Audio
“The Necessary Vision for Biblical Ministry” 2 Timothy 4:1-8 | Audio
Interview Pt. 1 | Audio | Video
Interview Pt. 2 | Audio | Video

In an attempt to be more successful communicating and establishing the primary motivation for everything spiritual I have decided to work  with a homiletic that is specifically focused. This approach will enable us to be flexible in studying anything deemed important for the overall needs of our church family while emphasizing the greatest reason for studying and acting on these spiritual principles = LOVE OF GOD AND LOVE OF NEIGHBOR!

Approach In Brief:

LEARN:

Consider the things we as a church need to study/learn/know etc. and use our sermons and classes to communicate these things.

LOVE:

Then filter everything we learn through Loving God and/or Loving Neighbor. In every lesson/class we will ask and address questions like: How is this an expression of our love for God? How is this an expression of our love for others? How is this an expression of God’s love for us? How is this an expression of God’s love for others (saved, lost, struggling, weak, etc.)?  The primary purpose is to spend the year highlighting the motive/motivation of love in everything spiritual from God’s perspective and from ours.

LIVE:

Then apply these principles by discussing specific actions, life activities, practices, efforts, disciplines, decisions, etc. that manifest this same love motive in what we have learned.

I want the church family to participate with me. Lesson plans and PowerPoints will show these three elements in every sermon and class. We will work on using this same pattern in day-to-day life plans, decisions, etc. Together we will attempt to create a new and/or reinforce an existing paradigm that, SPIRITUAL LIFE IS A LIFE OF RECEIVED AND EXPRESSED LOVE FROM BEGINNING TO END!

“Lord, there are no streams but thine,
Can assuage a thirst like mine!
’Tis a thirst thyself didst give,
Let me therefore drink and live.”

John Newton, Olney Hymns, Book 3 (Hymn 94).

For our Christmas Eve services this year our theme is going to be “Memory Lane.” Christmas is so much about our memories. Our memories of family, friends, traditions, food, and obviously Jesus. Last night I was at my dad’s show and during the Christmas portion they told a story I’ve heard before about opposing soldiers in WWII. Last night the story made me think of the church. If the birth of Jesus can bring opposing forces together in WWII shouldn’t it be able to do the same with our enemies (friends, family, Church, etc) today?

I can’t think of a better memory to make this holiday season than reconciling a relationship that has been non-existent for some time. Whether that relationship is with a parent, grandparent, former friend, former spouse, or even Jesus.

When you look at the life and the purpose of Jesus it’s impossible not to see the reconciling spirit He lived His life with. I don’t know of anything that would bring more glory to Jesus than if all of us would be willing to come together with our “enemies” to reconcile for the simple reason that reconciling us to God is the main purpose of Jesus coming to this earth (aka – the Christmas Story).

I’m excited for both of our Christmas Eve services. This year we will have one service begin at 6 p.m. and the other will start at 11 p.m. So come hang out with us as we take a stroll down Memory Lane.

Let’s face it.  However you’ve scheduled your busy life (especially if you are bi-vocational like me), you gotta give time to reading the paper.  It’s called staying ‘culturally abreast’ of things, and it’s very important.

The last thing you want to be is an ill-informed but well-meaning chap.  Why not be informed alongside well-meaning?  Easy.  Read ‘The Week’.  No, I’m not being sponsored to give their readership some added profile……..I’m just saying what works for me.

Some years back whilst doing NF Leadership Training we had a lecturer (who shall remain nameless) who unfolded the machinations of his weekly schedule to us.  As a full-time (hate that phrase – we’re all full time!) pastor/elder, he used the practice of dividing his week up into 21 sessions (3 per day – morning, afternoon & evening).

He figured that ‘working’ in more than 14 of these sessions was tantamount to ‘pushing it’ in terms of your health (let alone your marriage, family etc!), and also that some of this time should be given over to ‘cultural study’.  This ’sessions’ idea…..well, that’s a whole new blog post I shall tackle sometime soon.

But the beauty of this publication is that it dips into the entire spectrum of news reporting (all the broadsheets & red tops rolled into one), thus granting you a flavour of opinion (politcal or otherwise).  It simultaneously keeps you entertained and up to date when thinking about relevant touchpoints in the culture around you (vital for preaching!).  The best way to buy it is online, which means you get a hard copy through the post AND the facility to read it online.  Perfect.

For busy pastor types

Of course, if you are bi-vocational, far from thinking it would be easier to imbibe the realities of life ongoing, it’s actually even more important to set aside time for such an exercise.  We are probably (don’t shoot me!) busier than our fellow elders who enjoy the privilege of operating all week for their churches, and we are therefore potentially more susceptible to dropping the ball when it comes to staying up with it.

Excuse me while I just put the kettle on………… I’ve got some reading to do!

Further Thoughts on the Manhattan Declaration and a Response to Frank Beckwith

11/25/2009 – James White

I returned from a very enjoyable jaunt up and down South Mountain with my wife (on bicycles, of course) to discover that Southern Seminary President Albert Mohler had tweeted a link to my comments on the Manhattan Declaration. I am very thankful Dr. Mohler felt them worthy of notice. I said recently Dr. Mohler is the smartest Southern Baptist alive, and I gain much from listening to his podcasts (again while slowly cranking along on my quest to finish my second trip around the earth at the equator—only 2800 miles away now!).

Of course, one of the main questions I have received since posting my thoughts (and referring to those of John MacArthur) has to do with Dr. Mohler’s defense of his signing the document. It has never been my intention to excite that spectrum of folks who exist on the fringes of meaningful apologetics who are constantly looking for a new conflict, a new battle. Yes, I had read Dr. Mohler’s comments on why he signed the document prior to writing my article. I appreciate his position, but I beg to differ. I am thankful Dr. Mohler does not view the document as a theological manifesto requiring him to abandon a biblical view of the gospel. But as I and others have pointed out, it is difficult, if not impossible, to speak of what Christians should do, and in fact, must do, in the face of an ever increasingly hostile secularism, without doing so in the context of the gospel itself. In other words, a Christian who believes in the God-centeredness of the gospel of grace will respond differently to secularism than one who embraces a much more man-centered, works-oriented “gospel.” And given the long history of Rome’s violation of biblical teachings regarding the gospel (not just on the matter of sola fide, but the entire complex of doctrines that forms Rome’s sacramental system, including its rejection of sola scriptura, its sacerdotal priesthood, and its perfection-denying doctrine of the Mass as a propitiatory sacrifice), I, and others, find it impossible to speak in unison with a Church that claims to define “Church,” embody “Church,” all the while perverting the gospel of Christ. Our social duties are not separate from the gospel. They are defined by it. Now I accept that Dr. Mohler honestly believes the following words are true, and as a result, signed the document:
 

To Cont. Reading

“The following reasons may be given why children ought to love Jesus Christ above things in the world: He is more lovely in Himself. He is one that is greater and higher than all the kings of the earth, has more honor and majesty than they, and yet He is innately good and full of mercy and love.

There is no love so great and so wonderful as that which is in the heart of Christ. He is one that delights in mercy. He is ready to pity those that are in suffering and sorrowful circumstances as one that delights in the happiness of His creatures.

The love and grace that Christ has manifested does as much exceed all that which is in this world as the sun is brighter than a candle. Parents are often full of kindness towards their children, but that is no kindness like Jesus Christ’s.

And He is an infinitely holy One. He is God’s holy child, so holy and pure that the heavens are not pure in His sight, so that He is fairer than the sons of men, as the Psalmist says (Psalms 45:2). He is ‘the chiefest among ten thousand,’ and ‘altogether lovely’ (Canticles 5:16).

Because of His glorious excellency, He is compared to the sun, that is the brightest of all things that we behold with our bodily eyes (Canticles 5:10). ‘Tis He that is called ‘the Sun of righteousness’ (Malachi 4:2). So He is called the ‘morning star,’ the brightest of all the whole multitude of stars (Revelation 22:16).

He is so lovely and excellent, that the angels in heaven do greatly love Him. Their hearts overflow with love to Him, and they are continually, day and night without ceasing, praising Him and giving Him glory. Yea, He is so lovely a person, that God the Father infinitely delights in Him.

He is His beloved Son, the brightness of His glory, whose beauty God continually sees with infinite delight, without ever being weary of beholding it. ‘I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him’ (Proverbs 8:30). And if the angels and God Himself love Him so much above all, surely children ought to love Him above all things in this world.

Everything that is lovely in God is in Him, and everything that is or can be lovely in any man is in Him: for He is man as well as God, and He is the holiest, meekest, most humble, and in every way the most excellent man that ever was. He is the delight of heaven.

There is nothing in heaven, that glorious world, that is brighter and more amiable and lovely than Christ. And this darling of heaven, by becoming man, became as a plant or flower springing out of the earth. And He is the most lovely flower that ever was seen in this world.

There is more good to be enjoyed in Him than in everything or all things in this world. He is not only an amiable, but an all-sufficient good. There is enough in Him to answer all our wants and satisfy all our desires.”

–Jonathan Edwards, “Children Ought to Love the Lord Jesus Christ Above All,” Sermons and Discourses: 1739-1742, in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 22, Ed. Harry S. Stout (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 171-172.

This was originally posted by James White on the Reformed Baptist Fellowship Blog.

Humanists with a thin coating of religion won’t put up with this for long.

Reformed Baptist Churches tend to be between 50 and 350 congregants in size, generally. Here is a contrast. A “church” with 16,000 in attendance. Listen to the message.

While I did not add the text to this video, the final verse provided says it all.

Earlier this month, I was speaking at a Korean American church in Los Angeles. One or two of the chaps worked hard to put this video of it together, so here it is. If you can’t face the thought of actually having to look at me, then i completely understand.

Here is a pdf of the handout: Bible in Hour & Why It Matters

For those who’d prefer the text (infinitely preferable, in my view), here is the original article on which it was based (for CMF’s Nucleus magazine).

I was just reading a book that made a simple, but memorable point.  The author asked a carpenter working on his house what difference Jesus made to his life and work.  The answer was telling, “I suppose he makes me an honest carpenter.”  Is that all?

How often do we essentially preach a salvation ticket to heaven with morality for the present? How often do we fall painfully short of offering to people in our meetings what Jesus called “life to the full” or “eternal life” … now?  I believe many are failing to preach much of a hope for the future, with the watered down vesions of, or totally ignored subject of, the future.  Yet it is hard to say that the future is neglected for the sake of the present.  For many, the present life offered by Christianity is merely moral.

Have we become dulled and insensitive to the richness of life in fellowship with the God of the universe?  Have we over-simplified gospel preaching to a simple solution for guilt, but stripped it of the richness of reconciliation, regeneration, adoption, fellowship, not to mention the horizontal overflow of these vertical realities?

I’ll keep this post short and not chase down the theological possibilities.  But perhaps we would do well to evaluate the net presentation of the Christian life in our preaching – is it merely that now we can be honest carpenters?

Colin Gunton makes a comment that has captured my imagination (The Actuality of the Atonement, p 183):

The test of the church’s form of life … is not whether it merely preaches against contemporary idolatry and lies, but whether, first, its manner of proclamation truly reveals things for what they are, idolatrous perversions of God’s good creation; and, second, it develops a way of being in the world in which they are seen to be in the process of defeat.

Speaking the truth about contemporary idolatry and lies must involve more than a knee-jerk reactionary We Told You So kind of triumphalism.

For example, it’s not enough to simply point to the bankruptcy of the modern financial set-up in the wake of the GFC (like everyone else). We’ve got to be able to bear some sort of witness — however tentative and provisional — to God’s alternative. And that’s a lot more challenging. But what if we actually took this seriously? What would our preaching be like?

Likewise, becoming communities in which the victory God has won in Christ is actually being realised in anticipation of its final implementation is a big ask. It’ll need to take us far beyond being known simply for what we’re against.

How beautiful would it be if Sydney Anglican churches were known as places that love life — that go all out to see it flourish, to see new life welcomed or the end of life met with dignity and grace — rather than that simply institutions that stand against various forms of death (abortion, etc)? I know that many churches already are these kinds of places — or at least long to be. But can you get a sense of the possibility of becoming communities in which lies and idols give way to God’s victory?

Source

I’ve got preaching on the brain at the moment (preparing for 6th Dec).

A few preaching related posts around, which I am therefore appreciative of:

How to be a dull Preacher

Mike K puts forward a list. I like #10: Insert “Application = go & evangelize more OR feel guilty about ‘X’ “.

Best Preaching Lessons

Sandy Grant spells out some lessons he’s garnered on preaching. He kinda disagrees with one of Kellehan’s points of not reading from full text. I reckon if you can get away with just an outline, it’s better.

Sandy recommends raising the issue being addresses in the intro…have to think about this wrt my topical sermon.

The post also references a past Tony Payne Briefing article here.

Tony talks about “Tension & Release” in the message, ie the issue at hand being introduced and then resolved over the course of the sermon. This is also known as the “hook” that keeps people listening.

The tension & release concept is also prevalent in music as well, so makes sense to me.