Book Review: Justification and Regeneration, by Charles Leiter
Synopsis: Dealing with the two major aspects of man's sin problem before God – objective guilt and moral corruption – and the two major aspects of the redemptive work of Christ that overcome these problems, Justification and Regeneration, by Charles Leiter, is a book that explains in clear, simple, and eminently biblical terms the very heart of the gospel. Its value can scarcely be overestimated, in a day when the true gospel has been all but forgotten in much of Evangelicalism, and many believers struggle to live a truly Christian life in spite of widespread confusion and ignorance as to what constitutes the foundation of Christianity. To anyone who may be discouraged by a seeming lack of progress and real substance in his walk as a believer, in spite of a ready familiarity with all the emphases and strategems of American Evangelicalism, I enthusiastically say, “Read this book!”. It may be the most important book you read this year or for many years.
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Images of the Savior (5 -- Noah's Ark)
The Kingdom of God, composed as we have seen of all those who had placed their faith in God's promise of a coming Seed who should deliver them from sin and the Serpent, began to grow greatly from its small beginnings, when it was represented only by Adam and Eve and the first martyr, Abel. For soon after Abel had given his life for his testimony of faith, God added another seed to Eve, namely Seth, to strengthen her faith, and through whom he should continue the line from which she still hoped the Messiah should come. From Seth, God was in fact pleased to cause his Kingdom to continue, and whenever she began to be in any desperate straits, or on the brink of extermination, he blessed her with whatever grace she needed to survive and persevere. For first of all, we find the first report of a great revival among God's people in the days of Enosh, the son of Seth (Genesis 4:26). We must suppose that at this time the Church had grown very cold and hardhearted, as she has done many times throughout her history; but rather than let her love grow entirely extinct, God sent his Spirit to stir up the hearts of his people to call upon the name of the Lord. This is the first of what would soon become very many times of corporate revival, such as those in the days of Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 29-31) and Josiah (2 Chronicles 34-35), or much later, those now known as the Reformation of the sixteenth century, and the Great Awakening of the eighteenth century after Christ.
epistemic hubris
Have you heard this from someone recently? That "WE CANNOT KNOW, with certainty, what God has revealed, so anyone who thinks he does is proud or arrogant? We must, rather, they say, embrace God as mystery?" I don't know about you but I have heard this more than once in the past few weeks. In light of this shouldn't we be asking ourselves the following questions so we can, at least, maintain a degree of intellectual honesty:
Is not this assertion that "we cannot know" itself a dogma with affirmations and denials? Is not this itself a statement of knowledge? Is "we cannot know with certainty" not itself an assertion of KNOWLEDGE (a dogmatic assertion) as THE WAY to interpret Scripture? Whether conscious of it or not, this is what is called "double-talk" and those who believe this are doing the very thing they claim to despise, even in the very speaking of it. Its like Oprah stating on national television that it is arrogant to think Jesus is the only way, and then turning around and telling us the ONLY WAY is to believe that all religions lead to the same God. Is this not itself an arrogant claim ... a claim which must have a bird's eye view of knowledge to state it with such certainty.
The Apostle Peter said, "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God"(1 Pet. 4:11). Fact is, it is unavoidable to make any statements without making some kind of affirmation or denial. To claim no one can know about revealation with certainty is itself a claim to know how God operates with certainty. Where does the Scripture itself say that humility is characterized by taking what has God revealed to us (Deut 29:29) and saying we cannot understand it or cannot make statements with certainty, such that we much view all Scripture a total mystery? But this is not how God defines humility. Real humility is to think our thoughts after God, rather than impose our own thoughts on the text. True humility is to see ourselves in light of the glory and majesty of God. By this we become undone and recognize who we are before God and man. By this be come face to face with our own spiritual bankruptcy before God and thus understand that we are clearly no better morally than anyone. We have nothing in ourselves to recommend to God. Salvation by grace ALONE then, understood properly, should teach us that we have nothing to boast in, save in God's mercy alone in Jesus Christ. We are only beggars leading other beggars to bread. ANY BOAST then is contrary to the gospel of grace. True Christianity, according to Paul, is to worship in the Holy Spirit, glory in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. That our salvation is ALL of Christ. This is something God has revealed to us with certainty. If I have a conviction that only Jesus can save, not my self-effort effort, then this kind of certainty will make us the polar opposite of proud.
Those calling for epistemic humility tend the same ones who reject these central Christian doctrines described above which undo us and glory in Christ alone in favor of praxis, as if the two could be separated. But I would argue that by rejecting Biblical teaching such as Sola Gratia/Solus Christus, our praxis just becomes another form of moralism, which does not differentiate Christianity from any other religion. So it should be evident that this very way of defining arrogance and humility is itself broken and contradictory. Does not God define hubris as those who trust in praxis (works) rather than in Christ ALONE? That means Christ for our all in all, the Author and Perfector of our faith, who unites us to Himself that we might live. If Jesus Christ is not central to one's belief (not as a moral example, but as a Savior) then we have not understood even the very basis of Christianity and traded it for a philosophy.
Disintegration: Worshipping the True God in the Wrong Way
In the preamble to the Commandments God asserts, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Exodus 20:2). The relationship that God has established with us, freeing us from bondage, is the basis from which we can now serve him and serve others. Our law-keeping flows out of this new gracious, familial relationship that God has initiated. Obedience to the covenant occurs after we are made members of the covenant; obedience, in other words, is the result of being joined in union with Christ; This means that our obedience neither initiates nor maintains that relationship, since Christ's work is sufficient for us both now and forever. We obey because we are saved, not saved because we obey.
I have to emphasize these points because we need constant reminding of them lest we invert the order of the gospel. Today we are going to focus in on the third commandment which teaches us that we are not to misuse the name of our God. We select this commandment because in our individualistic age it is easy to forget that God is sovereign and, therefore, we cannot worship God anyway we choose. Moses read the third commandment as follows:
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7)
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An African-American Vision in the PCA
HT: Anthony J. Carter
The Eternal Treasure of the Unshakeable Kingdom
KINGDOM DISCIPLESHIP 101:
THE ETERNAL TREASURE OF THE KINGDOM
LUKE 12:13-34
REV. CHARLES R. BIGGS
In today’s text from Dr. Luke’s Gospel, Jesus teaches his disciples more on what it means to live our lives in light of who God is, his character, and his revealed Kingdom (as we learned in our last sermon on Kingdom Discipleship 101: Knowing God). As Christians, our treasure is located in heaven with Jesus Christ.
Now I realize that the title of the sermon today ‘The Eternal Treasure of the Kingdom’ may sound like the subtitle to an Indiana Jones adventure movie. That is not all that accidental! As with adventure or fantasy movies such as this one and with other classic stories, there is man’s search or attempt at attaining riches here in this present world (that we all identify with)- -only for the treasure and riches to be stolen or lost through foolishness (I think of Treasure of the Sierra Madre).
This “search for treasure story” is an archetypal or model kind of story that all can relate to because of an inherent desire all humans have for permanence and security. This “search for treasure story” is one we learn throughout Scripture as well: Man seeks and searches all his life to build a kingdom and live with lots of riches, but at the end he either loses the riches, or he dies (and then they do him no good).
In the Book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon called this “vanity” or “meaninglessness” or “chasing after the wind”.
Now many of us do not perhaps get involved in formal search parties to the end of the world for “lost pirate gold” or diamonds, or seek to move westward in an attempt at a great gusher of black gold.
We are tempted to live in this life as if there were no accountability to God with regard to what he has given to us. We are indeed tempted to live as if our possessions could never rust, perish or be stolen, and we are tempted to live like this because we seek permanence and security as those made in God’s image. When we do not have the permanence and security that we think we should have, we grow anxious, worried and insecure.
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Online Survey
A Christian group is seeking to collect data through an online survey. If you have time to take part in a 3 minute survey on the relationship between Christian doctrine and personal experience click here.
The Minister's Idols
"I submit, however, that buildings, bodies, and budgets often eclipse Word, sacrament, and discipline because this is often how congregations and ministers define themselves. It is hard to say who started it, whether ministers value those things because congregations do, because those are the sorts of things for which they are rewarded by the congregation or vice-versa. Ultimately it does not matter why we do it. What matters is that we do it. These are the status symbols that we covet: a growing budget, increasing attendance, and a bigger building. These are the idols that shape the program-driven church. These are the gods that drive the liturgy of the church-growth movement. These gods offer a covenant of works: do “this and prosper.” They promise tangible rewards to those who serve them faithfully. ." - R. Scott Clark
The Gospel and Pastoral Ministry
Recently, having heard John piper's amazing lecture/sermon given during T4G, my first thought about it was that John Piper is not deconstructioning the Text but it has deconstructed him ... it has gripped and taken hold of him and he was just being used as an instrument to proclaim it. Then today when I saw this quote by Andrew Purves, I thought it expressed this sentiment quite well:
Romans 6:17
But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were entrusted…
Andrew Purves, Reconstructing Pastoral Theology (pg. xvi)
Paul does not have it backward. One might think that doctrines are to be entrusted to believers, but believers are entrusted to doctrines, meaning by this the reality of God in Christ for us. It is the gospel that possesses ministry, not ministry that possesses the gospel. ...[T]he actuality of the gospel is the basis for the possibility of our ministry. It is not Jesus Christ who needs pastoral work, it is pastoral work that needs Jesus Christ. Just as faith lives not by human effort, but solely by the grace of God in, through, and as Jesus Christ, and through our incorporation into his life, so also ministry must be understood to be built not upon human striving for growth, well-being, and health but upon the grace of God which is understood now as a participation in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, on earth, in heaven, and as the one who will come again. The focus of pastoral theology, then, is on God’s extrinsic grace in Jesus Christ, on the gospel that is verbum alienum, a Word from beyond us, and to which gracious Word and to that Word alone pastoral theology and pastoral practice must submit in order to be faithful to the gospel.
Images of the Savior (4 -- The Life of Abel)
Very soon after God had made his first promise to mankind that he would send a Deliverer, he began to advance his redemptive design along several different lines, all of which would eventually culminate in the advent and work of the promised Seed, and his gathering together in himself a multitude of people, whom he had undertaken to bring back to God. This era of redemptive history is characterized by a series of highly notable firsts, which would set the stage for the promised coming of salvation by putting in motion those forces which should prepare the way for the coming of the Seed, and ultimately bring about the fullness of time in which God should finally send him; and also, they whisper ahead of time the way in which this Savior, when he had finally come, should go about his work of saving his people. Of these firsts, one of the most significant is the life of Abel, the first man born twice, which we will look into in due time; but for now, let us mention a few other notable circumstances that God had already brought about.
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