What Is the Bible Basically About?

Combining a portion of Tim Keller's talk at The Gospel Coalition's 2007 national conference and the art of Gustave Dore, Heath McPherson created this little video:

Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us.

Jesus is the true and better Abel who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out, not for our condemnation, but for acquittal.

Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void not knowing wither he went to create a new people of God.

Jesus is the true and better Isaac who was not just offered up by his father on the mount but was truly sacrificed for us. And when God said to Abraham, “Now I know you love me because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from me,” now we can look at God taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing him and say, “Now we know that you love us because you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love from us.”

Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserved, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us.

Jesus is the true and better Joseph who, at the right hand of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold him and uses his new power to save them.

Jesus is the true and better Moses who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant.

Jesus is the true and better Rock of Moses who, struck with the rod of God’s justice, now gives us water in the desert.

Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer, who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends.

Jesus is the true and better David whose victory becomes his people’s victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.

Jesus is the true and better Esther who didn’t just risk leaving an earthly palace but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn’t just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people.

Jesus is the true and better Jonah who was cast out into the storm so that we could be brought in.

Jesus is the real Rock of Moses, the real Passover Lamb, innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so the angel of death will pass over us. He’s the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light, the true bread.

The Bible’s really not about you—it’s about him.

HT: Collin Hansen and Justin Taylor

Phillip Jensen Book on Preaching

Phillip Jensen - the Australian Anglican, mastermind behind Matthias Media, and wonderful example of a faithful preaching ministry - has a new book on preaching, The Archer and the Arrow: Preaching the Very Words of God.

Click here to read some of the blurbs for this new book.

Click here to read Tim Challies' overview of the book.

Unseen, Yet Forever at Hand

A Sov'reign Protector I Have
Augustus Toplady, 1740-1778

A Sov’reign Protector I have,
Unseen, yet forever at hand,
Unchangeably faithful to save,
Almighty to rule and command.
He smiles, and my comforts abound;
His grace as the dew shall descend;
And walls of salvation surround
The soul He delights to defend.

Inspirer and Hearer of prayer,
Thou Shepherd and Guardian of Thine,
My all to Thy covenant care
I sleeping and waking resign.
If Thou art my Shield and my Sun,
The night is no darkness to me;
And fast as my moments roll on,
They bring me but nearer to Thee.

Kind Author, and ground of my hope,
Thee, Thee, for my God I avow;
My glad Ebenezer set up,
And own Thou hast helped me till now.
I muse on the years that are past,
Wherein my defense Thou hast proved;
Nor wilt Thou relinquish at last
A sinner so signally loved!

Connecting Church and Home

The videos from the recent "Connecting Church and Home Conference" at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary are now available. Click here to see them.

Edwards on Pride

Jonathan Edwards on the danger and deceit of pride:

[Pride is] the worst viper that is in the heart...

[Pride is] the greatest disturber of the soul's peace and sweet communion with Christ...

[Pride is] the most hidden, secret and deceitful of all lusts....

What a foolish, silly, miserable, blind, deceived, poor worm am I, when pride works.

--Quoted in Humility: True Greatness, C.J. Mahaney

Sanctification - God's Work, Our Work

"God's working in us [in sanctification] is not suspended because we work, nor our working suspended because God works. Neither is the relation strictly one of co-operation as if God did his part and we did ours so that the conjunction or coordination of both produced the required result. God works in us and we also work. But the relation is that because God works we work."

--John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied

Carl Trueman on Luther's Marks of a Good Preacher

Carl Trueman reflects on Luther's marks of a good preacher:

In Table Talk 2580, Luther outlines the qualifications of a good preacher in a way that is refreshingly practical. I will deal briefly with the first five marks today....

The first five are: ability to teach; possession of a good head; eloquence; clarity of speech; and a good memory. The list is interesting because it focuses first on practicalities, things often lost in the romantic spiritual notions of ministry we often have. In short, the person should be able to think and speak clearly, two traits which are often intimately connected. It seems like common sense, but these basic elements are often neglected by churches, seminaries, sessions, elder boards, presbyteries and classes. To put it bluntly: if you cannot put a decent, clear sentence into English and speak it in a way that others can understand, you are not called to the ministry, no matter how much that inner voice tells you that God is calling you to preach, or your mum tells you you'd make a wonderful pastor.

That does not mean that you cannot be of great use to the church; but clarity of mind and speech are absolutely basic, just as important as godly zeal and sense of call (internal and external), for the office of preacher. We need to be careful that we do not over-spiritualize the call: just as someone with St Vitus' Dance should never be allowed to be a brain surgeon, so the one who cannot speak with coherence and confidence should not be in a pulpit.

HT: Ref21

To Christ for Help I Fly

No Help in Self I Find
John Berridge, 1716-1793

No help in self I find,
And yet have sought it well;
The native treasure of my mind
Is sin and death and hell.

To Christ for help I fly,
The Friend of sinners lost,
A refuge sweet and sure and nigh,
And there is all my trust,

Lord, grant me free access
Unto Thy pierced side,
For there I seek my dwelling place,
And there my guilt would hide.

In every time of need,
My helpless soul defend,
And save me from all evil deed,
And save me to the end.

And when the hour is near
That flesh and heart will fail,
Do Thou in all Thy grace appear,
And bid my faith prevail.

The Death of Sin, The Death of Christ

"There is no death of sin without the death of Christ."

--John Owen, Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers

An Example of Common Grace

My wife and I watched a PBS documentary on Augustus Saint-Gaudens the other night, which was a fascinating reminder of God's common grace. Saint-Gaudens was the premier American sculptor and monument builder of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His artistic ability was extremely impressive, and his sculptures are simply breathtaking. Among his most famous works are The Shaw Memorial, The Sherman Monument, Diana, Adams Memorial, The Farragut Memorial, The Phillips Brooks Memorial, The Puritan, and his design of American coinage.

Click here to watch "The Shaw Memorial" portion of the documentary (this sculpture probably demonstrates his skill and ability as much as any of his works).

God's Purpose in Showing Us the Evil of Our Own Hearts

"The purpose of God in showing believers the evil of their own hearts is to make them prize more highly the grace and all-sufficiency of Jesus."

--From the Introduction to Letters of John Newton

Pastors: Sheep Feeders or Goat Entertainers?

Strong yet wise counsel for pastors from William Still:

The pastor is called to feed the sheep, even if the sheep do not want to be fed. He is certainly not to become an entertainer of goats. Let goats entertain goats, and let them do it in goatland. You will certainly not turn goats into sheep by pandering to their goatishness. Do we really believe that the Word of God, by His Spirit, changes, as well as maddens men? If we do, to be evangelists and pastors, feeders of sheep, we must be men of the Word of God.

--William Still, The Work of the Pastor

A Fountain That Shall Ne'er Decay

Today the Living Streams of Grace
Samuel Davies, 1723-1761

Today the living streams of grace
Flow to refresh the thirsty soul;
Pardon and life and boundless bliss
In plenteous rivers roll.

Ho, ye that pine away and die,
Come, and your raging thirst allay;
Come all that will, here's rich supply,
A fountain that shall ne'er decay.

"Come all," the blessed Jesus cries,
"Freely My blessings I will give."
The Spirit echoes back the voice,
And bids us freely drink and live.

The saints below, that do but taste,
And saints above, who drink at will,
Cry jointly, "Thirsty sinners! haste,
And drink, the spring's exhaustless still."

Let all that hear the joyful sound,
To spread it through the world unite;
From house to house proclaim it round,
Each man his fellow man invite.

Like thirsty flocks, come let us go;
Come every color, every age;
And while the living waters flow,
Let all their parching thirst assuage.

Congregations Gone Wild

An interesting op-ed from the New York Times about the consumerist desires of so many American congregations (and how they affect pastors).

HT: Tim Challies

A Prayer

Lord, deliver us from the sophisticated pragmatism,

Which plagues and pilfers the purity of Your church.

Forgive us for being prayer-less and therefore powerless,

For being self-reliant to the point of thinking we’re self-sufficient.

Remove the Pharisaical façade of our self-righteousness,

And replace it with blood-bought humility and obedience.

Our Sovereign Fastened to a Tree

Jesus, Whose Blood So Freely Streamed
William Cowper, 1731-1800

Jesus, whose blood so freely streamed
To satisfy the law’s demand;
By Thee from guilt and wrath redeemed,
Before the Father’s face I stand.

To reconcile offending man,
Make Justice drop her angry rod;
What creature could have formed the plan,
Or who fulfill it but our God?

No drop remains of all the curse,
For wretches who deserved the whole;
No arrows dipped in wrath to pierce
The guilty, but returning soul.

Peace by such means so dearly bought,
What rebel could have hoped to see?
Peace by his injured Sovereign wrought,
His Sovereign fastened to a tree.

Now, Lord, Thy feeble worm prepare!
For strife with earth and hell begins;
Conform and gird me for the war;
They hate the soul that hates his sins.

Let them in horrid league agree!
They may assault, they may distress;
But cannot quench Thy love to me,
Nor rob me of the Lord my Peace.

New Hosea Commentary (NICOT)

Andrew Dearman's new commentary on Hosea (NICOT) has just been published, and WTS Books is offering it for 45% off of its list price until August 19th. They are also offering an extra 10% off of every NICOT volume's already discounted price with a purchase of 2 or more (so if someone buys 2 NICOT volumes they will receive an extra 10% off of each).

This is an excellent set of commentaries, and I have yet to be disappointed with any volume I own (but they are expensive, so this is an opportunity to take advantage of getting them at a discounted price).

Here is what folks are saying about this new volume on Hosea.

Mark J. Boda writes:
This is a welcome addition to the NICOT series. Dearman's commentary provides the most recent deep engagement with the ancient text of Hosea the prophet. Dialoguing with the best of scholarship, the commentary offers both detailed exegesis of the text with accompanying translation from the original Hebrew, as well as general overviews at key literary junctures to orient the reader to the progressive development of the book as a whole. Particularly helpful is Dearman's sensitivity to the social context of ancient Israelite households. He restores the vivid metaphorical colors of the book of Hosea long faded by history.

Tremper Longman III writes:
Serious engagement with the book of Hosea now starts with Dearman's commentary.

Bill T. Arnold:
This is a welcome addition to the NICOT series on one of the most important prophets of ancient Israel.... readers will not be disappointed by Dearman's thorough and penetrating exegesis.

Click here to find out more details.

Ray Ortlund on Gospel Militancy

Ray Ortlund had a great post yesterday on Gospel Militancy, explaining how the gospel of loving one's enemy fits with the biblical sentiment accompanied by verses such as Psalm 139:21, "Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? Do I not loathe those who rise up against you?" Here are the six explanations he gave.

One, gospel militancy is not personally spiteful.

Two, gospel militancy recognizes that Christ has real enemies.

Three, gospel militancy is (1) required by love for Christ and (2) compatible with love for his enemies.

Four, gospel militancy includes self-criticism.

Five, gospel militancy accepts suffering.

Six, gospel militancy is sustained by quiet confidence in the final triumph of Christ.

Click here to read the entire post (and see his elaboration of each point).

Timothy George's Top 5 Biographies of Theologians

Timothy George, founding Dean of Beeson Divinity School, provided a list of his top five biographies of theologians in the August 2010 issue of Christianity Today. Click here to see his list.

Impersonation of C.J. Mahaney

If you've ever seen and/or heard C.J. Mahaney, then you will love this impersonation of him by Jonathan Rourke (which is spot-on). And the fact that C.J. can laugh so hard at himself is a sign of how genuine his humility really is.

Jonathan Rourke as CJ Mahaney from Resolved on Vimeo.

HT: Andy Naselli for Justin Taylor

Having the Relish and Savor and Power of Truth in Our Hearts

To be led into a truth is more than barely to know it; it is to be intimately and experimentally acquainted with it; to be piously and strongly affected with it; not only to have the notion of it in our heads, but the relish and savor and power of it in our hearts.

--Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible

A Woefully Inadequate Understanding of the Ministry of the Holy Spirit

The following quote (a personal confession by Art Azurdia in his book, Spirit Empowered Preaching) is one I can certainly relate to. And my guess is that many of my fellow evangelical pastors can too.

By way of personal reflection I must say that it has been painful for me to acknowledge my woefully inadequate understanding of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. To be brutally honest, over the years my concern has been directed more toward avoiding charismatic excesses than it has been toward rightfully acknowledging the sovereign Spirit as He presents Himself on the pages of His own scriptures. Consequently, the majority of my efforts in pneumatology [the study of the Spirit] have been devoted to establishing what the Spirit does not do, almost to the complete exclusion of establishing the magnificence of His person and the indispensability of His ministry in any positive way (italics mine).

Let us move beyond focusing just on what the Holy Spirit does not do, and let us make every effort to establish the magnificence of His person and the indispensability of His ministry!

Free Audiobook for August

The free audiobook from Christian Audio for the month of August is Tim Keller's Ministries of Mercy.