Carl Trueman: Triumph of the King

"Based upon rational, empirical inquiry, one would have to say that the man on the cross is a filthy criminal of some kind. Why else would he be dying such an indescribable death as a punishment? 

The cross is a disgrace, both by the standards of Roman law and Jewish custom, and thus the one upon whom such a punishment is inflicted must be the lowest kind of criminal imaginable. 

In addition, one would have to say that he is broken, crushed, defeated.

As he dies on the cross we see no king, no victory over sin, no cause for rejoicing or glorifying the one who hangs there... 

However, approaching the event with the eyes of faith and with the criteria provided by God's revelation of himself, [one] sees a very different picture: not a sinner, but the only sinless man; not defeat, but triumph; not wrath, but mercy.

What we have on the cross is not the defeat of a criminal, but the triumph of the king of glory; not the victory of the powers of evil, but the victory of good over evil; not the hopeless curse of God, but the blessing of God by which all may be saved." 

[source - page 43]

Happy Reformation Day!

HT: Desiring God

Michael Horton: Law & Gospel

"In God's Word we hear both law (commands to be obeyed) and gospel (good news to be believed). The perennial temptation of the church in every age is to confuse these two words. 

Sometimes the law is dissolved into the gospel; more frequently, the gospel becomes absorbed into the law. We often hear calls to "live the gospel" or even to "be the gospel." In effect, this means that our own conformity to the righteousness that God demands becomes the message, rather than Christ's life, death, and resurrection. When God speaks his law, we finally have a true measure of our lives. There is no room for excuses. We have all fallen short of the glory of God, not only in what we have done but in what we have failed to do.

Yet when God speaks his gospel, it is a strange and surprising announcement. Although God could justly condemn all of us, he has planned and executed our redemption at the greatest personal cost: the suffering of his own Son. 

In the fullness of time, the Son became flesh. He fulfilled all righteousness during his life, in our place, and then bore our curse and was raised on the third day as the glorified head of his body, the church. All of our righteousness, holiness, and redemption are found in Christ alone; and because he lives, we too will be raised in glory beyond the reach of sin and death. 

The law promises life on the condition of perfect obedience; the gospel promises life in Christ alone, through faith alone. Only in Christ can any sinner dare to stand unashamed before the face of God." [via]

Jacob Goff: The Gospel For the Burned and Wounded

"If you are burned out by Christianity, if you feel you have failed the standards too many times, if you avoid God with as much intensity as you avoid your selfless friends, then perhaps you need to hear the gospel once more.

The gospel says, You are free by Christ’s blood because he says so. God has made a promise that won’t be broken. You didn’t earn it, and it’s not your job to prove that you could have earned it... It is unconditional, slightly offensive, and wildly liberating." [via]

Rod Rodenbladt: To Those Christians Who Have Failed

"Christian failures are going to walk into heaven, be welcomed into heaven, leap into heaven like a calf leaping out of its stall, laughing and laughing, as if it’s all too good to be true.

It isn’t just that we failures will get in. It’s that we will probably get in like that! 

We failures-in-living-the-Christian-life-as-described-in-the-Bible will probably say something like, “You mean it was that simple?!” “Just Christ’s cross & blood?! Just His righteousness imputed to my account as if mine? You gotta be kidding!” “And all of heaven is ours just because of what was done by Jesus outside of me, on the cross – not because of what Christ did in me” – in my heart, in my Christian living, in my behavior?!” “Well, I’ll be damned!” But, of course, that’s the point isn’t it? As a believer in Jesus as your Substitute, you won’t be damned! No believer in Jesus will be. Not a single one!" [via]

Betty McNeely: Mud-Pie Makers

"Here’s the grace message; We are not perfect. Our kids are not perfect. We don’t drive the perfect car, have the perfect house or the perfect figure. We don’t say perfect things, we don’t think perfect thoughts. But we are greatly loved by the only Perfect One in the universe and He loves us as the snotty-nosed, foolish mud-pie makers that we are.

We are His children and there is NOTHING that can separate us from His love."

“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are.”–1 John 3:1

[via]

Martin Luther: Look Upon Christ

"Believe in Jesus Christ, crucified for thy sins. If thou feel thy sins, and the burden thereof, look not upon them in thyself, but remember that they are translated and laid upon Christ, whose stripes have made thee whole. This is the beginning of health and salvation." [via]

Grace in Marriage

[via]

Martin Luther: He Took Our Sins

“Christ is inno­cent so far as His own Per­son is con­cerned; there­fore He should not have been hanged from the tree. But because, accord­ing to the Law, every thief should have been hanged, there­fore, accord­ing to the Law of Moses, Christ Him­self should have been hanged; for He bore the per­son of a sin­ner and a thief—and not of one but of all sin­ners and thieves. For we are sin­ners and thieves, and there­fore we are wor­thy of death and eter­nal damna­tion. But Christ took all our sins upon Him­self, and for them He died on the cross. There­fore it was appro­pri­ate for Him to become a thief and, as Isa­iah says (53:12), to be ‘num­bered among the thieves.’

And all the prophets saw this, that Christ was to become the great­est thief, mur­dered, adul­terer, rob­ber, des­e­cra­tor, blas­phe­mer, etc., there has ever been any­where in the world. He is not act­ing in His own Per­son now. Now He is not the Son of God, born of the Vir­gin. But He is a sin­ner, who has and bears the sins of Paul, the former blasphemer, per­se­cu­tor, and assaulter; of Peter, who denied Christ, of David, who was an adul­terer and a mur­derer, and who causes the Gen­tiles to blas­pheme the name of the Lord (Rom. 2:24). In short, He has and bears all the sins of all men in His body—not in the sense that He has com­mit­ted them but in the sense that He took these sins, com­mit­ted by us, upon His own body, in order to make sat­is­fac­tion for them with His own blood…" [source]

Jonathan Edwards: Freedom of the Will & Corruption of the Heart

"The key problem with a sinner... is that though the human will is free, the sinful heart is corrupt, and  thus leads mankind to naturally choose sin over righteousness."

From: Jonathan Edwards: Lover of God

We Were Made For So Much More

“The artist's job is not to succumb to despair but to find an antidote for the emptiness of existence.” -Woody Allen

William Bridges: Exceeding Great Mercy

"You say, suppose that a man’s sins be exceeding great, gross and heinous; for I do confess that possibly a godly man may sin some sin against his light, and against his conscience sometimes; but as for me, my sin is exceeding great, gross and heinous, and have I not just cause and reason now to be discouraged?

No, not yet, for though your sin be great, is not God’s mercy great, exceeding great? Is not the satisfaction made by Christ great? Are the merits of Christ’s blood small? Is not God, the great God of heaven and earth, able to do great things? 

You grant that God is almighty in providing for you, and is He not almighty also in pardoning? Will you rob God of His almightiness in pardoning? You say your sin is great, but is it infinite? Is not God alone infinite? Is your sin as big as God, as big as Christ? Is Jesus Christ only a Mediator for small sins? Will you bring down the satisfaction of Christ, and the mercy of God, to your own model?"

From A Lifting Up for the Downcast [via]

Tullian Tchividjian: Good News For Those in Need

"The gospel is for those who have realized that they can’t carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. Only when God drives us to the end of ourselves do we begin to see life in the gospel. Which is another way of saying that only those who stand in need of a savior will look for or recognize a savior. 

Fortunately, Christianity in its original, most authentic expression understands God chiefly as savior and human beings chiefly as those in need of being saved." [via]

We Were Made For So Much More

"I wish everyone could get rich and famous and [have] everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that’s not the answer." - Jim Carrey [source]

Charles Spurgeon: Looking Unto Jesus

“It is ever the Holy Spirit’s work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus; but Satan’s work is just the opposite of this, for he is constantly trying to make us regard ourselves instead of Christ.

He insinuates, “Your sins are too great for pardon; you have no faith; you do not repent enough; you will never be able to continue to the end; you have not the joy of His children; you have such a wavering hold of Jesus.”

All these are thoughts about self, and we shall never find comfort or assurance by looking within. But the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self: He tells us that we are nothing, but that “Christ is all in all.”" [via]

Valley of Vision: Contentment

"Heavenly Father...

Let me willingly accept misery, sorrow, [and] temptations, if I can thereby feel sin as the greatest evil, and be delivered from it with gratitude to You, acknowledging this as the highest testimony of Your love.

When Your Son, Jesus, came into my soul instead of sin, He became more dear to me than sin had formerly been; His kindly rule replaced sin’s tyranny.

Teach me to believe that if ever I would have any sin subdued I must not only labor to overcome it, but must invite Christ to abide in the place of it, and He must become to me more than vile lust had been; that His sweetness, power, life may be there.

Thus I must seek a grace from Him contrary to sin, but must not claim it apart from Himself. 

When I am afraid of evils to come, comfort me by showing me that in myself I am a dying, condemned wretch, but in Christ I am reconciled and live; that in my self I find insufficiency and no rest, but in Christ there is satisfaction and peace; that in myself I am feeble and unable to do good, but in Christ I have ability to do all things."

From Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions

Help Me O God

Yesterday I was rereading a message that I had prepared and taught last year, and I was taken aback by the outline. 

Grace, the grace that I was teaching that night, was absolutely scandalous. Had a Pharisee or a legalist heard that message I might have been run out of town on charges of antinomianism. 

It was a beautiful manuscript: God was big, man was small, our situation was dire, justice was deserving, yet grace in Christ was amazing.

Now, I fear that I have slipped into a state of apathy. The gospel doesn't seem to captivate me like it once did. I accomplish tasks, I stay busy, I minister, but I am afraid I am not as stirred by the love of God as I once was.

Father please help me to fall back in love with you. Please amaze me once more with your grace.

Exhortations can't help me, law will do little for me now, "how to" tips are for someone else - I need grace, I need the gospel, I need Jesus. 

I need my eyes to be opened once more to your scandalous and eternal love for this wretched man.

Please hear my cry O lover of my soul. Stir me once more. Lead me back to Calvary.

Mattie Montgomery: Fatherhood & Christianity

This is an interesting video that I found on Joe Thorn's blog:

Dane Ortlund: Divine Favor

"The gospel calls us to believe the unbelievable: the radiant sun of divine favor is shining down on me, and while the clouds of my sin and failure may darken my feelings of that favor, the favor cannot be lessened any more than a tiny, wispy cloud can threaten the existence of the sun. The sun is shining. It cannot stop. Clouds or no clouds, sin or no sin—the sun is shining on me. Because of Another." [via]

John Piper: The Gospel of God's Glorious Grace

“The gospel is the good news that God is the all-satisfying end of all our longings, and that even though he does not need us, and is in fact estranged from us because of our God-belittling sins, he has, in the great love with which he loved us, made a way for sinners to drink at the river of his delights through Jesus Christ.

And we will not be enthralled by this good news unless we feel that he was not obligated to do this. He was not coerced or constrained by our value. He is the center of the gospel. The exaltation of his glory is the driving force of the gospel. The gospel is a gospel of grace! And grace is the pleasure of God to magnify the worth of God by giving sinners the right and power to delight in God without obscuring the glory of God.” [via]

The Top Ten R.C. Sproul Lectures

Ligonier Ministries has compiled what they consider to be R.C. Sproul's top ten lectures. You can find them here. 

Be sure to check them out when you have the time. Personally, I found lecture #10 particularly convicting.

Valley of Vision: In Christ

"How great are my privileges in Christ Jesus!

Without him I stand far off, a stranger, an outcast;
in him I draw near and touch his kingly sceptre.

Without him I dare not lift up my guilty eyes;
in him I gaze upon my my Father-God and Friend.

Without him I hide my lips in trembling shame;
in him I open my mouth in petition and praise.

Without him all is wrath and consuming fire;
in him is all love, and the repose of my soul.

Without him is gaping hell below me, and eternal anguish;
in him its gates are barred to me by his precious blood.

Without him darkness spreads its horrors in front;
in him an eternity of glory is my boundless horizon.

Without him all things call for my condemnation;
in him they minister to my comfort, and are to be enjoyed for my thanksgiving.

Praise be to thee for grace, and for the unspeakable gift of Jesus."

From Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions

Tim Keller's New City Catechism

Tim Keller recently announced New City Catechism. “A joint adult and children’s catechism consisting of 52 questions and answers adapted by Timothy Keller and Sam Shammas from the Reformation catechisms.”

It is a beautiful app for your ipad. Download it for free here. 

Alistair Begg: Declared Righteous

Matt Chandler: Grace When We Fall

“The marker of those who understand the gospel of Jesus Christ is that, when they stumble and fall, when they screw up, they run to God and not from him, because they clearly understand that their acceptance before God is not predicated upon their behavior but on the righteous life of Jesus Christ and his sacrificial death.” [via]

Martin Luther: Christ is Our Righteousness

"So then, have we nothing to do to obtain righteousness? No, nothing at all! For this righteousness comes by doing nothing, hearing nothing, knowing nothing, but rather in knowing and believing this only–that Christ has gone to the right hand of the Father, not to become our judge, but to become for us our wisdom, our righteousness, our holiness, our salvation! 

Now God sees no sin in us. For in this heavenly righteousness, sin has no place. So now we may certainly think, “Although I still sin, I don’t despair, because Christ lives–who is both my righteousness and my eternal life.” In that righteousness I have no sin, no fear, no guilty conscience, no fear of death. I am indeed a sinner in this life of mine and in my own righteousness, but I have another life, another righteousness above this life, which is in Christ, the Son of God, who knows no sin or death, but is eternal righteousness and eternal life. 

For if the truth of being justified by Christ alone (not by our works) is lost, then all Christian truths are lost…On this truth and only on this truth the Church is built and has its being." [via]

Tullian Tchividjian: A High View of Law & Grace

"A high view of the law... demolishes all notions that we can do it–it exterminates all attempts at self-sufficient moral endeavor. We’ll always maintain a posture of suspicion regarding the radicality of unconditional grace as long as we think we have the capacity to pull it off. Only an inflexible picture of what God demands is able to penetrate the depth of our need and convince us that we never outgrow our need for grace–that grace never gets overplayed... 

So a high view of law equals a high view of grace. A low view of law equals a low view of grace."

Heavenly Identity

Matt Chandler: Created to Worship

“It is easy to see that you and I have been created to worship. We’re flat-out desperate for it. From sports fanaticism to celebrity tabloids to all the other strange sorts of voyeurisms now normative in our culture, we evidence that we were created to look at something beyond ourselves and marvel at it, desire it, like it with zeal, and love it with affection. Our thoughts, our desires, and our behaviors are always oriented around something, which means we are always worshiping — ascribing worth to — something. If it’s not God, we are engaging in idolatry. But either way, there is no way to turn the worship switch in our hearts off.” [via]

Tim Keller: Marriage & the Gospel

C. S. Lewis: Faith

“Faith…is the art of holding onto things your reason has once accepted, in spite of our change of moods.”

Jared Wilson: Living In Light of "It Is Finished"

[via]

We Were Made For So Much More

“Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there’s something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, ‘Hey man, this is what is.’ I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think, ‘God, it’s got to be more than this.’ I mean this isn’t, this can’t be what it’s all cracked up to be.” When Kroft asked him, “What’s the answer?” Brady responded, “I wish I knew. I wish I knew. I love playing football and I love being quarterback for this team. But at the same time, I think there are a lot of other parts about me that I’m trying to find.”  -Tom Brady interview with Steve Kroft, 60 Minutes, 12.23.07.

Gerhard Forde: Law & Grace

"The law says, ‘do this,’ and it is never done. Grace says, ‘believe in this,’ and everything is already done." [via]

Tullian Tchividjian: Good News For Those Who Have Crashed and Burned

"Failing to believe the gospel leads to slavery because now finding peace, joy, meaning, and satisfaction is up to me. I’m on my own. This is why we give into temptation–we’re desperately looking under every rock and behind every tree searching for something to make ourselves happy, something to save us, something to set us free. 

The gospel declares that I don’t need to save myself, defend myself, legitimize myself, justify myself, free myself, or in any other way, ensure that the ultimate verdict on my life is pass and not fail. The gospel frees me from the obsessive pressure to avoid the judgement of joylessness, the enslaving demand to find happiness. 

Walker Percy has described humanity as waiting for news. Christianity announces that the news has come: I’m not on my own. It’s not on me. 

We all know that “further, better, and more aggressive living” on our part isn’t producing life for us, and so the gospel comes as good news to those who have crashed and burned. What I need and long for most has come from outside of me–from “above the sun”–in the person of Jesus." [via]