Brad’s Blog

I just finished listening to a sermon by Tommy Nelson at Denton Bible Church. He is one of my favorite preachers to listen to. He has a great style and can communicate deep truths in a simple and engaging way. I have learned a great deal from him.

I have heard this sermon before, but I thought I would share the highlights here. You can listen for yourself here.

Tommy does a great job in explaining the purpose of the Law. He tells us that the Old Testament Law was never intended to save. The Law is a mirror. A mirror can not clean you, but it shows you where you are dirty and need cleaning.

The Law was primarily given to show us our need for a Savior. We can’t keep the Law. That is why Leviticus (what to do when Law is broken) follows Exodus (giving of the Law). The Law was in place to restrain evil, keep the nation separate, and guard them until the seed of Abraham (Christ) arrived.

The Abrahamic Covenant is the Covenant of Grace where a redeemer is promised through Abraham. That covenant is unilateral with no requirements by us. It is all a promise of God to provide a Messiah. It is an expansion of Genesis 3:15.

The Law (given hundreds of years later) did not replace or add to the Abrahamic Covenant. It was merely to train and to preserve the nation until the Promised One arrived. It provided shadows of what was to come for the nation with their promised Messiah.

It is similar to how you raise children. You give them laws and boundaries while they are young and immature to protect them until they reach adulthood. The Law did this until the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant with the birth of Christ and His subsequent death. When the seed of Abraham came and died (Christ), we were freed from the Law to live under grace and the Holy Spirit (cf. Jeremiah 31). You take care of a child while they are a child. The Law took care of the nation while she was immature.

The Law absolutely does not replace or add to the Abrahamic Covenant. It was a tool that was in place until the Abrahamic Covenant was fulfilled.

I am currently reading Desiring God by John Piper.

I am continuing with how Piper discusses conversion.  Piper begins by telling us how we have failed God. He explains how desperate our condition is before telling us the hope that can be found in Christ. He uses many passages of Scripture to back up his points.

Piper even justifies hell and the just-ness of everlasting torment. He explains how our sin committed against a holy God is infinitely bad. Tough subject to tackle and definitely not what our “itching ears want to hear.”

I love Piper’s simple explanation of the death of Christ. He says, “The death of Christ is the wisdom of God by which the love of God saves sinners from the wrath of God, all the while upholding and demonstrating the righteousness of God in Christ.”

Piper ends his discussion on our desperate need by saying, “If the most terrifying news in the world is that we have fallen under the condemnation of our Creator and that He is bound by His own righteous character to preserve the worth of His glory by pouring out His wrath on our sin, then the best news in all the world (the gospel!) is that God has decreed a way of salvation that also upholds the worth of His glory, the honor of His Son, and the eternal salvation of His elect. He has given His Son to die for sinners and to conquer their death by His own resurrection.”

Piper then begins to elegantly explain salvation and how it is applied to a person’s life. I really like how he defines words. He starts with the word conversion and defines it. Many words like this become buzz words in the Christian life, and we never stop to think about what they mean. He defines conversion as “repentance (turning from sin and unbelief) and faith (trusting in Christ alone for salvation).“

Piper then defines regeneration. He also gives the right interpretation that regeneration precedes conversion or faith. I would completely agree with this. If God does not first remove the blinders from our eyes and make it possible for us to believe, we would never trust in Christ as our Savior. It is simply impossible for us to trust in Christ in our unregenerate state. Piper even rightly states that faith is evidence of new birth and not the cause of it.

Piper concludes by discussing the necessity of good works and fruit that come after conversion. These works in no way save us or make us more saved but are a natural by-product that comes from the change within.

I am currently reading Desiring God by John Piper.

In chapter 2, Piper spends a great deal of time speaking about conversion. This is a good place to start because the rest of the book does not matter if an individual has not taken care of this first. Piper tells us that conversion is necessary and that true conversion is the creation of a Christian hedonist.

Piper speaks about the necessity of really believing God. He talks about how many people believe in Jesus, but this does not save them. This goes right along with the sermon our pastor preached this week on Galatians 3. Our pastor made the point of the difference in “believing in God” and “believing God.” This is also the point that James makes in the 2nd chapter of his book. He tells us that even the demons believe in God.

Demons have orthodox beliefs.  They have correct head knowledge.  In fact, they are one better than most people in that they tremble.  We see in Mark and Luke that the demons refer to Christ as the “Holy One of God” and  “Son of the Most High.”  Demons understand who God is - His power and sovereignty.  They understand that Christ is God and that there will be a final judgment and punishment.

I would encourage you to look up these verses:   Matthew 8:28-32; Mark 1:24; Mark 3:11,12; Mark 5:1-13; Luke 4:34,41; Luke 8:28-31

I will continue about conversion in my next post.

I am currently reading Desiring God by John Piper.

The first chapter of the book concerns the happiness of God. Piper jumps right in to discussing some really deep theological concepts. You have to give him credit for being willing to tackle some tough issues. He tackles God’s sovereignty and the problem of evil all within the first 50 pages!

Piper is smart to begin with a foundational doctrine in the sovereignty of God. This is the basis for his book. Piper states that the foundation of Christian Hedonism is the happiness of God, but the foundation of God’s happiness is God’s sovereignty.

I love his description of God’s sovereignty. He does a great job explaining the historic, orthodox position on this. Piper presents a very high view of God. He speaks a lot concerns God’s chief end is to glorify Himself. Once again, he anticipates and responds to objections throughout the text.

Piper explains God’s sovereignty with the best of them. He says, “If God is sovereign and can do anything He pleases, then none of His purposes can be frustrated.” This really reminds me of a quote by R.C. Sproul in Chosen By God (If there is any part of creation outside of God’s sovereignty, then God is simply not sovereign. If God is not sovereign, then God is not God.). Piper then tackles the problem of evil head-on. He uses many biblical illustrations to make his point.

Piper is tackling a pretty tough topic. He has to tackle even tougher topics to make his point. Piper is truly a good communicator because he writes not just to be understood but writes so that he is not misunderstood.

The first chapter is definitely one I will refer to again as reference material.

I am currently reading Desiring God by John Piper.

Piper begins his book with that great statement from the Westminster Catechism: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” He explains that the “and” is not two different chief ends but one in the same. He even suggests revising the statement to read, “The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.”

Piper tells us that he began his Christian life thinking that he basically had to be miserable to be serving God correctly. Piper goes on to explain why it is not wrong for us to want to be happy, BUT we must direct that happiness in the proper ways. Piper has learned in his life that if we truly praise and worship God for being God, we will fulfill the deepest longings of our hearts and experience true happiness and joy. Interesting concept.

Piper states that joy is not a mere option alongside worship but is an essential component of worship.

Piper does a good job of making sure that he is not misunderstood in what he is communicating. He anticipates wrong thoughts and motives to what he is trying to say and combats those.

I am currently reading Desiring God by John Piper. The book is subtitled “Meditations of a Christian Hedonist.”

You sure can’t beat the list of people who are recommending this book. The book has endorsements by John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, Jerry Bridges, and others.

The main message of the book is that “God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him.” Piper begins with defining exactly what he means by a Christian Hedonist. This definition will develop more as the book progresses. The main verse that Piper uses to sum up the book is Nehemiah 8:10 (The joy of the Lord is your strength).

Piper’s goal is to teach us to be thoroughly and completely satisfied in God. This is an interesting idea, and I am excited to see what he has to say on the topic.

So, you may wonder what a dog fence has to do with the other topics in my title. We recently installed an underground fence for our dog Tucker. In case you don’t know what this is, there is a wire that runs underground that is linked to a transmitter on our dog’s collar. When he gets too close to the wire, the transmitter will give a warning beep, and if Tucker does not turn around, he will receive a shock to remind him that he needs to get back in our yard. Pretty simple concept.

So, Dena and I have been working with Tucker to teach him the boundaries that he needs to stay within. He is a Westie (a terrier breed), so he is very hard-headed and strong-willed.

So, the training starts without the shock and just the warning beep while the dog learns the boundary. After a few days, we turned on the shock part of the collar. The first day with the shock turned on, we walked Tucker around the yard, and he did great. I stayed in the yard, and Dena left the yard, and Tucker stayed. But, then he got the real test. Dena stayed in the yard, and I left the yard. As he usually does, Tucker trotted right along beside me and did not even slow down at the boundary.

He got zapped really good. He let out a loud yelp, jumped and ran back into the yard. Needless to say, this experience really scared him. We spent the next several minutes playing with him and calming him down. Of course now, we are scared when he gets close to the boundary because we don’t want him to get shocked. We know how much it hurts him, and we want him to stay safe.

How similar this is to us and our relationship to God. God gives us a wonderful backyard to play in. He gives us all we need to be content in this life and safe. He sets up clear boundaries, not because He is mean, but to protect us. He does it out of love.

How often do we get close to the boundary He has established? How often do we hear the warning beep of our sin and rebellion but do not turn around? How often do we get “zapped” by our sin only to run back into the safe haven of our yard wanting love and affirmation and protection? How much does it hurt God to watch this happen?

When Tucker got zapped, he had two choices. He could have run away from our yard. He would have run further into his “sin” and into the dark unknown and away from protection. Instead, he retreated into the safe boundary to rest in my arms of protection. This is the same as God’s true children. His true children run back to Him for protection and comfort, while others run away and further into sin and rebellion. It is heart-breaking to witness this happen.

Tucker still does not understand why the boundary is in place (he probably never will). But, he knows he must obey it. We may not know why God has placed certain boundaries on us, but we must obey them anyway. We must understand that His ways are higher than our ways, and His understanding is higher than our understanding (Isaiah 55:8,9). If this applies in my relationship with Tucker, how much more does it apply in my relationship with God?

My next book to read will be Desiring God by John Piper. This is yet another book that I probably should have read some time ago. I am anxious to read this book because I will be reading John Piper for quite awhile. His ministry website (DesiringGod.org) ran a sale a couple of weeks ago where all of the books were $5. Needless to say, I loaded up. Look for many Piper reviews in the months to come.

Also, I am starting to work on preparing my next adult Sunday School class that I will teach. I will be teaching in the Spring Quarter of 2008. The topic will be Amazing Grace: The History and Theology of Calvinism.

The class will be based up the DVD with other materials and discussion. I am really excited about teaching this class. I have watched the entire DVD, and it is superb. I would highly recommend it. A good place to purchase it is here.

So, I am sure that many of my posts over the next couple of months will revolve around Calvinism, salvation, and the sovereignty of God as I study this topic.

Well, this is my final post related to The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges.  Please click the book title in the previous sentence for my review on braddena.com.  I should have that completed within the next week.

Bridges moves along to talk about holiness and our wills.  Our wills drive our decisions and our character.

Satan tends to appeal to our wills through our desires.  Knowing this, we should continually be on guard for this and keep the Word of God closely in mind.

Bridges says, “There is absolutely no shortcut to holiness that bypasses or gives little priority to a consistent intake of the Bible.”

Bridges then talks about habits.  In our fallen state, we make a “habit” of sinning.  Pursuing holiness requires forming habits.  They will not come naturally.  We must work to make them habits.  The more we say no to sin, the more we will be inclined to say no.

Bridges wraps up by giving us practical advice on how to pursue holiness in a fallen world.  He summarizes by saying that “Above all, we must look to Jesus who, though He ate with tax collectors and sinners, was Himself, ‘holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens’ (Hebrews 7:26).”

We should remember that Bridges emphasized throughout his book that a holy life is an obedient life.

Bridges closes out the last couple of pages with this.  “God has provided all we need for our pursuit of holiness.  He has delivered us from the reign of sin and given us His indwelling Holy Spirit.  He has revealed His will for holy living in His Word, and He works in us to will and to act according to His good purpose.  He has sent pastors and teachers to exhort and encourage us in the path of holiness; and He answers our prayers when we cry to Him for strength against temptation.”

What a great God we serve! 

I am still reading Bridges The Pursuit of Holiness.

I am just really liking this book. It is interesting that the book has less to do with holiness and more to do with sin. I really like his approach. Holiness is such an abstract term to us. Sin on the other hand is very concrete. We can deal with sin. As we deal with sin, we grow in holiness. That last paragraph quote that I used in my last post really hits the nail on the head hard.

Bridges next discusses areas of Christian liberty. He discusses how an activity in and of itself may not be sinful but our response to that activity may be sinful. This gets at the heart of the matter. What is driving us? What do we put as first place in our lives? If God is not first place, we can not be growing in holiness.

Bridges puts a high view on God’s Word and its place to develop holiness in our lives. God’s Word is the primary avenue by which the Holy Spirit works in our lives. If we want to grow in holiness, then we must be spending time in the Bible.

Bridges also emphasizes that holiness is not an overnight event. It is a process. A big ingredient is perseverance.

Bridges moves on to talk about holiness in our bodies. He does not use easy things. He picks hard things like gluttony, laziness, materialism. Bridges says, “Gluttony and laziness, for example, were regarded by earlier Christians as sin. Today we may look on these as weaknesses of the will but certainly not sin.”

He talks about how we act according to our feelings, and our feelings rarely encourage us to act rightly.

Bridges then moves on to talk about holiness in our spirit and thought life. He uses an example that he has heard before. “If I could flash on a screen before us tonight all of your thoughts of this past week, you would have to leave town.”

Bridges lists some of our biggest struggles in our spirits and thought lives. He lists these as envy and jealousy, bitterness, unforgiving spirit, spirit of retaliation, and finally a critical spirit.

I plan to wrap up this book in my next post.