It's been almost two years since I've made a post on this ol' blog of mine. With my responsibilities as a husband and father, along with those connected to shepherding a flock, there isn't much time for posts of great length these days (or years!). However, sometimes this keeps me from quickly sharing things that I find personally beneficial. Therefore, moving forward, I intend to post articles, sermons, and quotes -- that I have read or watched -- for our mutual edification. Occasionally, I may write something from the overflow of my walk with the triune God of the Bible. We'll see.
This evening, I'm encouraging you to watch the following short -- but very powerful -- exposition of Mark 8:34-38, entitled "Sacred Schizophrenia" by one of my favorite preachers, John Piper. I assure you, it's worth every minute of its (approximately) 25 minute length. I pray you will be gripped by the gospel as a result of listening.
Are you discouraged by
your sin? Weighed down by the battle of fighting fallenness within? Are you
stuck, refusing to move towards God’s grace in Christ because of personal
regret and the condemnation of conscience? Have you stumbled into that same
transgression and think the Scripture’s truth about the Savior’s sacrifice no
longer applies to you?
Look to the person, perfection, and propitiation of Jesus Christ today! Start over.
In the following passage,
John Calvin penned an absolutely beautiful piece of prose in his Institutes of the Christian Religion.
Closing out his exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, he answers his own question,
“[Is] Christ alone in all the clauses of the creed?” His answer is majestic,
thorough, convicting, and instructive. Wisdom for the Church throughout the
ages is found here. We would do well to linger long in meditation on it.
We see that our whole
salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ [Acts 4:12]. We should
therefore take care not to derive the least portion of it from anywhere else.
If we seek salvation, we are taught by the very name of Jesus that it is “of
him” [I Cor. 1:30]. If we seek any other gifts of the Spirit, they will be
found in his anointing. If we seek strength, it lies in his dominion; if purity,
in his conception; if gentleness, it appears in his birth. For by his birth he
was made like us in all respects [Heb. 2:17] that he might learn to feel our
pain [cf. Heb. 5:2]. If we seek redemption, I lies in his passion; if
acquittal, in his condemnation; if remission of the curse, in his cross [Gal.
3:13]; if satisfaction, in his sacrifice; if purification, in his blood; if
reconciliation, in his descent into hell; if mortification of the flesh, in his
tomb; if newness of life, in his resurrection; if immortality, in the same; if
inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom, in his entrance into heaven; if
protection, if security, if abundant supply of all blessings, in His Kingdom;
if untroubled expectation of judgment, in the power given to him to judge. In
short, since rich store of every kind of goods abounds in him, let us drink our
fill from this fountain, and from no other. Some men, not content with him
alone, are bourne hither and thither from one hope to another; even if they
concern themselves chiefly with him, they nevertheless stray from the right way
in turning some part of their thinking in another direction. Yet such distrust
cannot creep in where men have once for all truly known the abundance of his
blessings. John
Calvin
Some songs just grab my
heart and won’t let go. The ones that do often have a blend of truth, melody,
and soul-stirring rhythm -- forging into an auditory powerhouse that captivates
the soul for Christ. The River by Jordan Feliz is just such a song! I providentially stumbled upon this song today. I
couldn’t help but play it over and over again. The same thing occurred at home
when I introduced it to my small tribe after dinner. The repeat button was
continually pressed as dancing and air-band imitations ensued for the better
part of an hour in our kitchen.
Your spiritual -- and
physical pulse -- will be quickened for our precious Savior whose work of salvation
at Calvary offers to cleanse from the deepest sin, the greatest rebellion, and
the deepest bondage. As Jordan says about The
River:
“The song itself
is an invitation to anyone who hears it—whether they’re stuck in pride and
legalism or wallowing down in the mess they’ve made of their lives—it’s an
invitation to take whatever we have and to run to Jesus. It’s an invitation to
go down in amazing grace and to rise up being made new.”
The simplicity and
profundity of this song -- both musically and lyrically -- remind me of
precious Scripture passages that reflect the same combination. Read them as you
listen to this heart-pounding song, and may its invitation drive you to the
river of God’s eternally refreshing and forgiving gospel this weekend!
There is a
river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.Psalm 46.4
Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and
behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple…Then he led me
back to the bank of the river. As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river
very many trees on the one side and on the other. And on the banks, on both sides
of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will
not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month,
because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for
food, and their leaves for healing.Ezekiel
47.1, 6, 12
And in
that day
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and the hills shall flow
with milk,
and all the streambeds of Judah
shall flow with water;
and a fountain shall come forth from the
house of the Lord.Joel 3.18
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it
is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he
would have given you living water.” John 4.10
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will
be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will
never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a
spring of water welling up to eternal life.”John
4.13-14
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life,
bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.Revelation 22.1
And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the
Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of
the water of life without payment.Revelation
21.6
“This
is our acquittal: the guilt that held us liable for punishment has been
transferred to the head of the Son of God [Isa. 53:12]. We must, above all, remember
this substitution, lest we tremble and remain anxious throughout life – as if
God’s righteous vengeance, which the Son of God has taken upon himself, still
hung over us.” John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion
“When
Satan attempts to draw you to sin by presenting God as a God all made up of
mercy, then reply that though God’s general mercy extend[s] to all the works of
His hand, yet His special mercy is conformed to the ones who are divinely qualified,
to the ones who love Him and keep His commandments, to the ones who trust in Him,
whose hope hang upon Him and fear Him.” Thomas
Brooks, Precious Remedies Against
Satan’s Devices
