This book is on sale at Westminster Bookstore through July 30. From there you can find a 46 page excerpt in PDF format.
Archive for the 'Reading' Category
John 1:1-14 HCSB
In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created. 4 In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.
5 That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it. 6 There was a man named John who was sent from God. 7 He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. 9 The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was created through Him, yet the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. 12 But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God. 14 The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Philippians 2:5-11 HCSB
Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. 7 Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, 8 He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death–even to death on a cross. 9 For this reason God also highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow–of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth– 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Colossians 1:15-20 HCSB
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation; 16 because by Him everything was created, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities– all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together. 18 He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything. 19 Because all the fullness was pleased to dwell in Him, 20 and to reconcile everything to Himself through Him by making peace through the blood of His cross — whether things on earth or things in heaven.
Hebrews 1:2-3 HCSB
In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things and through whom He made the universe. 3 He is the radiance of His glory, the exact expression of His nature, and He sustains all things by His powerful word. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
How about memorizing all of them? I’m one for four so far.
A revival is a time of quickening or impartation of life. As God alone can give life, a revival is a time when when God visits His people and by the power of His Spirit imparts new life to them, and through them imparts life to sinners dead in trespasses and sins. We have religious excitements gotten up by the cunning methods and hypnotic influence of the mere professional evangelist; but these are not revivals and are not needed. They are the devil’s imitations of a revival. New life from God–that is a revival. A general revival is a time when this new life from God is not confined to scattered localities, but is general throughout Christendom and the earth.
…
…revivals also have a decided influence on the unsaved world.
First of all, they bring deep conviction of sin. Jesus said that when the Spirit was come He would convince the world of sin (John 16:7-8). Now we have seen that a revival is a coming of the Holy Spirit, and therefore there must be new conviction of sin, and there always is. If you see something men call a revival, and there is no conviction of sin, you may know at once that it is bogus. It is a sure mark.
–R.A. Torrey, How To Pray
Marks of Revival - J. I. Packer
Revival-and Renewal - A.W. Tozer
Revival Conditions - A.W. Tozer
What Is a Revival? by C. H. Spurgeon
Update 7/25:
The Spirit of Revival (pt. 1) - R.C. Sproul
The Spirit of Revival (pt. 2) - R.C. Sproul
MARJOE GORTNER-HOW FALSE PROPHET WORKS - YouTube
Psalm 19:7a HCSB
The instruction of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
The Irish Calvinist reviews a book called In My Place Condemned He Stood. In it he says, “The introduction into John Owen’s The Death of Death [in the Death of Christ] is worth the book.” I did some looking around and found this to be available at various web sites:
http://www.all-of-grace.org/pub/others/deathofdeath.html
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/owen/deathofdeath.html
Introduction and the book by Owen:
http://www.lgmarshall.org/Owen/owen_deathtable.htm
In My Place Condemned He Stood is a new book and I look forward to reading that one someday.
Westminster books often has free chapters for some of their books. This month’s newsletter has a few including the 1 and 2 Peter and Jude which has two chapters and 46 pages from Thomas Schreiner’s new book New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ.
This illustration is inspired by what I read in the book Trusting God by Jerry Bridges. It’s a wonderful, life-changing book that I read during a very stressful time in my life. Here is a quote related to the illustration:
[God's] sovereignty is exercised primarily for His glory. But because you and I are in Christ Jesus, His glory and our good are linked together. Because we are united with Christ, whatever is for His glory is also for our good. And whatever is for our good is for His glory.
God’s Sovereignty (TNIV for all these):
Isaiah 45:7
I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.
Psalm 135:6
The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.
Exodus 4:11
The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?
God’s Glory:
John 9:2-3
His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
Isaiah 40:3-5
A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Revelation 4:11
“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
Our Good:
Romans 8:28-30
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
I hope those who are color inclined can appreciate the text’s secondary colors that correspond to the triangle’s primary colors.
The Truth of the Cross by R.C. Sproul
In my first book review on this blog I’d like to start out with a passage of Scripture and a quote from the book.
“And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1-2 NKJV).
he [Paul] told the Corinthians he had determined to know nothing except Christ crucified. Clearly Paul was determined to know all kinds of things besides the person and work of Jesus. He wanted to teach the Corinthians about the deep things of the character and nature of God the Father. He planned to instruct them about the person and work of the Holy Spirit, about Christian ethics, and about many other things that go beyond the immediate scope of Christ’s work on the cross. So why, then, did he say this? The answer is obvious. Paul was saying that in all of his teaching, in all of his preaching, in all of his missionary activity, the central point of importance was the cross.
Those are mentioned on pages 3 and 4 and serve as a good basis for the book.
Generous use of Scripture is utilized including exposition of longer passages like Genesis 18 and rules about slaves and marriage in Exodus, which to me is a bonus. We even get some lessons in history like learning a bit about Anselm of Canturbury and how limited atonement was first widely articulated by Augustine. Useful but short personal anecdotes are used sparingly with Scripture taking center stage.
The book serves a wide audience. He uses theological terms but always defines them for those who may not have a wide vocabulary in that area.
Some other interesting topics he goes into:
- three distinct ways in which sin is described: debt, enmity, crime
- expiation and propitiation
- what blessed and cursed means in the OT (Gal 3:13)
- the sacrificial lamb and the scapegoat and how Christ fulfilled both parts of the sacrifice
- misunderstandings of limited atonement (a hot issue for some)
just to name a few of those that especially interested me.
I would like to have seen him go more into original sin. Maybe it wasn’t in the scope of this book.
This was the first book of R.C. Sproul’s that I’ve read. I thoroughly enjoyed his writing and teaching style and look forward to reading more of his books.
Other reviews:
I never knew until recently that the Greek word most often translated as hallowed only occurs twice in the New Testament.
Update: As Peter Kirk pointed out to me, this isn’t true. While the specific verb form may be used twice in Matthew 6:9 and Luke 11:2, it occurs many more times in the New Testament. Please see the ISBE portion of the PDF file. (And read it more carefully than I did the first time around.)
Matthew 6:9
Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Luke 11:2
When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.
I put together a PDF file of some definitions that I printed out for a Bible study using out of copyright sources and thought I’d make it available here.
Here is a quote from the book we’re studying:
By requesting that God honor his name, Jesus teaches us to ask God to make all creation recognize and revere his holiness. Of course, included in creation is the one praying. So in the same breath that we request God to make his name holy everywhere else, we also ask God to make our own heart honor him.
By praying, ‘hallowed be your name,’ we make God’s holiness our highest priority and ask him to promote his glory in, around, and through us. Thus the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer asks that all creation reverence God and that God exercise his will in ways that will advance his name in all the earth. The petition for God to hallow his name asks God to fulfill his righteous purposes for his glory.
–Bryan Chapell, Praying Backwards
If you’re like me and like reading lists of books others are reading:
These aren’t as scholarly as Mike’s but for what it’s worth I thought I would mention mine and see how far I’ve gotten at the end of the year.
- Ephesians by O’Brien (finishing as of now)
- The Truth of the Cross by Sproul
- Paul’s Letter to the Philippians by Fee
- Running Scared by Welch
- Colossians & Philemon by Lucas
- Polishing God’s Monuments by Andrews
- 1-2 Thessalonians by Beale (not set on that one yet)
- Suffering and the Sovereignty of God by Piper et. all
- First and Second Timothy, Titus & Philemon by McGee (not sure about that one but I already own it)
- The Epistle to the Hebrews by Bruce (not set on that one)
- I Will Follow Thee O God by Bridges
- The Letter of James by Moo
To get in some Old Testament I’ve been reading a Psalm a day and will be finishing that in a week. Then will read a chapter of Proverbs a day during May. Then possibly Ecclesiastes and Daniel after that.
This is sort of an update to a previous post. I’ve read five of the ten mentioned there and added some new ones here.
This is bound to offend many but I thought I would throw it out there.
Certainly, Scripture does not claim to be a thorough textbook on medicine, or physics, or any of the sciences. But psychology differs from these in two important regards. First, psychology is not a true science…. Second, and most significant, psychology, unlike medicine and physics, deals with matters that are fundamentally spiritual. In fact, the word psychology literally means, “study of the soul.” What are the deep psychological needs if they are not the spiritual issues the gospel is concerned with? And Scripture certainly does claim absolute sufficiency in addressing those needs: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17, emphasis added). “The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul” (Ps. 19:7). Scripture itself promises believers the most comprehensive spiritual resources: “everything pertaining to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3).
–John MacArthur
In other words, while the Bible was never intended to be a textbook for disciplines such as math or physics, it does claim to be an all-sufficient guide for godly living. Therefore, if the goal of Christian counseling is godliness in the life of the counselee, the counselor need not look beyond the wisdom found in the pages of Scripture to be equipped for his task. For if the counselee’s problem is spiritual in nature, Scripture is sufficient to meet the demand. On the other hand, if the problem is the inability to bake tasty muffins, a cookbook might be a better place to look.
–Matt Waymeyer
From:
2+2=4 and the Sufficiency of Scripture
Jay Adams is an author of books that deal with true Christian counseling. If you look at the table of contents (PDF file) of his book A Theology of Christian Counseling among others you’ll find that it’s about spritual maturity through Biblical principles.
I always thought that God’s providence means that He will provide. Apparently I got that wrong, probably in part because the word provide is within the word providence.
In the book Trusting God by Jerry Bridges, he quotes J.I. Packer defining it as:
The unceasing activity of the Creator whereby, in overflowing bounty and goodwill, He upholds His creatures in ordered existence, guides and governs all events, circumstances, and free acts of angels and men, and directs everything to its appointed goal, for His own glory.
Jerry Bridges himself has developed a more succinct version:
God’s providence is His constant care for and His absolute rule over all his creation for His own glory and the good of His people.
For further reference and Scripture:
Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary
Providence
literally means foresight, but is generally used to denote God’s preserving and governing all things by means of second causes (Ps. 18:35; Ps. 63:8; Acts 17:28; Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:3). God’s providence extends to the natural world (Ps. 104:14; Ps. 135:5-7; Acts 14:17), the brute creation (Ps. 104:21-29; Matt. 6:26; Matt. 10:29), and the affairs of men (1 Chr. 16:31; Ps. 47:7; Prov. 21:1; Job 12:23; Dan. 2:21; Dan. 4:25), and of individuals (1 Sam. 2:6; Ps. 18:30; Luke 1:53; James 4:13-15). It extends also to the free actions of men (Ex. 12:36; 1 Sam. 24:9-15; Ps. 33:14-15; Prov. 16:1; Prov. 19:21; Prov. 20:24; Prov. 21:1), and things sinful (2 Sam. 16:10; 2 Sam. 24:1; Rom. 11:32; Acts 4:27, 28), as well as to their good actions (Phil. 2:13; Phil. 4:13; 2 Cor. 12:9-10; Eph. 2:10; Gal. 5:22-25). As regards sinful actions of men, they are represented as occurring by God’s permission (Gen. 45:5; Gen. 50:20. Comp. 1 Sam. 6:6; Ex. 7:13; Ex. 14:17; Acts 2:3; Acts 3:18; Acts 4:27-28), and as controlled (Ps. 76:10) and overruled for good (Gen. 50:20; Acts 3:13). God does not cause or approve of sin, but only limits, restrains, overrules it for good. The mode of God’s providential government is altogether unexplained. We only know that it is a fact that God does govern all his creatures and all their actions; that this government is universal (Ps. 103:17-19), particular (Matt. 10:29-31), efficacious (Ps. 33:11; Job 23:13), embraces events apparently contingent (Prov. 16:9, 33; Prov. 19:21; Prov. 21:1), is consistent with his own perfection (2 Tim. 2:13), and to his own glory (Rom. 9:17; Rom. 11:36).
Webster
3. In theology, the care and superintendence which God exercises over his creatures. He that acknowledges a creation and denies a providence, involves himself in a palpable contradiction; for the same power which caused a thing to exist is necessary to continue its existence. Some persons admit a general providence, but deny a particular providence, not considering that a general providence consists of particulars. A belief in divine providence, is a source of great consolation to good men. By divine providence is often understood God himself.
There are so many web sites devoted to tips for almost anything you can think of–tips for using computers, getting stains out etc. Here is a blog post with tips for spending time with God. I know that sounds trite but I believe this is a very important message for the majority of of the people in the Church.
“I was basically getting spiritual crumbs from books, podcasts and my pastor. I was living vicariously through others’ relationships with God… While it’s good to learn from others, Jesus calls us to follow Him (not follow others who are following Him).”
Jesus does not say, Blessed is the one who does not think about anything–that person is a fool. He says be carefully careless about everything save one thing–your relationship to God. That means we have to be studiously careful that we are careless about how we stand to self-interest, to food, to clothes, for the one reason only: that we are set on minding our relationship to God…
Do not make the ruling factor of your life what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, but make zealous concentration on God the one point of your life.
Oswald Chambers sums up what the Sermon on the Mount is all about.
“He came to make us what He teaches we should be.”
The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount produces despair in the natural man–the very thing Jesus meant it to do. As long as we have a self-righteous, conceited notion that we can carry out Our Lord’s teaching, God will allow us to go on until we break our ignorance over some obstacle, then we are willing to come to Him as paupers and receive from Him. ‘Blessed are the paupers in spirit,’ that is the first principle in the Kingdom of God. The bedrock in Jesus Christ’s kingdom is poverty, not possession; not decisions for Jesus Christ, but a sense of absolute futility–I cannot begin to do it. Then Jesus says–Blessed are you. That is the entrance, and it does take us a long while to believe we are poor!
Commentary on the New Testament use of the Old Testament
There has been a lot of buzz in the biblioblogosphere about the book Commentary on the New Testament use of the Old Testament, D. A. Carson & G. K. Beale.
Some blog examples:
etc.
Here is an interview in Christianity Today with the editors of the book:
Two Testaments, One Story
Top evangelical scholars team up for landmark commentary on New Testament use of Old Testament.