Triple-Fresh Picked Daily (26 May 2011)

This is "triple-fresh" picked... I was unable to post the past three days, so I've combined them all into one large edition:

Foundations: The new edition of this international journal of Evangelical theology published by Affinity (formerly The British Evangelical Council) is here... with articles by Carl Trueman and G.K. Beale (of Westminster Theological Seminary), Hywel R. Jones (of Westminster Seminary California) and more!

Graça Para Vocé: I am so thankful for the work of translators in converting articles and books from English to other languages. Grace to You lists several translations at their site... and I've just been made aware of two books that have been translated into Portuguese have been made available by Editoria Fiel (Faithful Publishing House) for free download. "Charismatic Chaos" and "The Gospel According to the Apostles" by John MacArthur are available in PDF format. Be sure to share these with your Portuguese-speaking friends and family.

Who is Harold John Ockenga?: I didn't know the answer to that question until today, but thankful that I do now. He was the minister of Park Street Church (Boston, MA) from 1936-1969, the founding president of The National Association of Evangelicals, and the founding president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Owen Strachan, (who is writing his doctoral dissertation on Ockenga) was interviewed by Nathan Finn (of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) about this founding "neo-evangelical", pastor-theologians, and The Gospel Coalition. Read the interview here: [Part 1] [Part 2]

Imputed A: I am so grateful for the active obedience of Christ and the imputation of His righteousness to those who believe in Him. The heart of the gospel is that we can do nothing to earn God's favor and cannot satisfy the just wrath that is necessary payment for sins. Jesus has fulfilled the law perfectly (active obedience) and gave Himself as a propitiatory (wrath-satisfying) sacrifice by dying for us (passive obedience)... now THAT is good news. Tullian Tchividjian (of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, FL) shares a story that is analogous of redemptive imputation over at The Gospel Coalition. Now, all analogies break down eventually... so by pressing this one too far, one might think that we are merely "virtually" saved that we might work harder to atone for our sins... but our salvation is definite and rests on the objective person and work of Jesus Christ: "Because we are, right now, under the completely sufficient imputed righteousness of Christ... threat of failure, judgment, and condemnation has been removed."

A Great Week for Battle: We live in a culture that is constantly challenging the biblical worldview. In order to prepare ourselves for spiritual warfare and defend the truth we hold dear, we must be biblically literate and equipped with weaponry that destroys strongholds and arguments and lofty opinions raised against the knowledge of God. "The Battle Belongs to the Lord: The Power of Scripture for Defending Our Faith" by K. Scott Oliphint (Professor of Apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary) is a great resource for such preparation and equipping... and it is only $5 this week (only 3 days left) at Westminster Bookstore! Pick up a copy for yourself (or several... to give to others) in order to better contend for the faith with gentleness and respect.

Ligonier Q&A: On May 19th, a few days before Harold Camping's (newest) rapture predictions fell short (again), R.C. Sproul hosted a panel discussion dealing with various controversial topics with guests Sinclair Ferguson, W. Robert Godfrey, Steven Lawson and R.C. Sproul, Jr. These pastor-theologians discussed dispensationalism, Harold Camping, regeneration, election, predestination, the sovereignty of God, postmodernism, and inerrancy.

Red Like Blood Giveaway: Win an ESV Compact Bible, three copies of "Red Like Blood: Confrontations with Grace" by Joe Coffey & Bob Bevington. Entries close at 6pm EST on Memorial Day.

That does it for this triple-shot edition of "Fresh Picked Daily"... make sure to follow me on Twitter and find me on Facebook for updates. I am also on The City. Soli Deo Gloria!

...as if we could smile our way out of treason.

I just started reading "Marks of the Messenger: Knowing, Living and Speaking the Gospel" by J. Mack Stiles... I am in search of good evangelism material so I can better prepare myself for sharing the gospel with others. It was a gift at Together for the Gospel and I have heard good things about the book, so I decided to give it a go... and I am enjoying it. The following is an excerpt I just read:

"...we were born rotten sinners to the core. We may be upright physically, but spiritually, we're dead on arrival. Left to ourselves we have no hope (Romans 5:19; Ephesians 2:1, 12).

It's not that we can't do loving or even amazing things—after all, long ago we were made in the image of God. But these are fleeting and inconsistent moments, and no part of anything we do remains unstained by sin (Luke 18:19; Romans 7:18). We think acts of worldly goodness can mask sin, but they only add to our debt since worldly deeds fill us with superficial self-righteous pride (Isaiah 64:6), as if we could smile our way out of treason. Our own meager good works could never help us avoid the death sentence that has been pronounced on us. We are chained to sin; we can't help but sin, for it is in our nature (Romans 7:5). And this sin cuts us off from God. In our natural state we rebel against God and all His ways (Isaiah 59:2; Ephesians 4:18)—and this wickedness spits in the face of God (Isaiah 50:6; Mark 14:65). We are as attractive to God as a corpse at a dinner party (Matthew 23:27).

Tough sell, huh?

That's one hard package to market. After all, it's not exactly the generous orthodoxy that speaks to the postmodern world today. Not exactly a message that's going to win friends and influence people, you say. Since this message is difficult to swallow, you can see why pragmatic evangelists leave it out and focus on other parts of the message.

But wait, there's more...

As we shake out fist (Job 15:25) at this Creator God, this perfect Holy God, and scheme against His rule, we inflame His wrath and judgment. It's God alone who deals with our lives as he sees fit (Isaiah 45:9; Romans 9:21; Revelation 2:27). But when things go wrong, we get it exactly backwards: we accuse God of evil and act as if it's our right to treat people as a choice—a choice to snub and exploit, and murder. As we speak against God, we breath out the fumes of rotting flesh, and death hangs about our necks (Romans 3:13).

These pitiful, self-justifying accusations against the Creator God add to our affront with God—as if we could put God on trial. Every time we accuse God, we reenact the kangaroo court before Pontius Pilate... with the same results: the murder of an innocent (John 19:6, 11). We are treasonous rebels who, without constraints, would murder and destroy God Himself to establish ourselves as God in His place (John 19:15). The astounding story of that trial before Pontius Pilate and subsequent crucifixion is that we are the ones on trial, not Jesus. It's a story of all of us. Don't miss that at the cross we see ourselves in all our sin and evil and wickedness (Isaiah 53:5-6; Romans 3:12, 19). All of us: from Mother Theresa to the lowest, vilest child molester. What awaits us—what we're all earned—is hell.

Does that offend you? Are you angry at these comments? Do you say, 'It's not true. I've never been in rebellion with God! It can't be that bad. I'm a good person. What about Gandhi? I love God we're friends; I'm spiritual; 'My god' would never say such things.'

But I contend that if this news, this bad news, offends rather than humbles, you are the one most in danger. For it's not said to offend but to instruct and to warn about a reality—the same warning my doctor might bring of a grave illness, but with far, far greater consequences.

Neither are these merely my opinions. Every thought in these paragraphs comes from the Bible, and these are but samples from an avalanche of indictments about our condition from the Scriptures...

...we must press home twin truths: our hopeless situation ('apart from Me you can do nothing,' John 15:5) and amazing grace ('He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy,' Titus 3:5). I think the sad tendency of well-meaning Christians who want to share their faith is to water down both. They say we're not so bad (you actually can clean up your act), and God doesn't really mean it when He says that the unconverted are enemies of God (tut, tut, boys will be boys).

There is a tendency to think that our sins are bigger than our sin—maybe because it's that rare case of language when the plural is smaller than the singular. Sins are those individual acts of rebellion—symptoms of the bigger problem. Our sin is the bigger problem: it's our condition or state which is in hideous rebellion toward a holy and good God. When Christians feel that sins (acts) are bigger than sin (condition), they see evangelism as an effort or moral reform rather than explaining the steps that need to take place to rip out our wicked hearts and replace them with new hearts—that amazing work of God that Jesus called being born again.

God would be perfectly just to let us stumble along in life, trying as best we could to eek out pleasure from the world and then, at death, face His punishment. The fact is we are under God's judgment already (John 3:36). But this God is not a God of justice alone. He is love (1 John 4:8).

God's love is His most magnificent characteristic. This is so assumed in Western culture it's practically lost all meaning, but one thing that distinguishes God's love is how His love, His perfect, tender self-sacrificing love, holds back His red-hot, scorching wrath.

He does this not by simply sweeping our sin under the rug. There's too much brokenness crying out for His justice for that to happen. Think how many have called to God for justice.

No, He demonstrates His love by sending His Son, Jesus, the Son He loves who is fully God, to live as a man, identify with our human condition, demonstrate through His earthly life as a man what God is like, and then bear the weight of our sin in His own body on the cross (John 3:16).

We see God's holiness satisfied when His love was nailed to the cross. It's the place where God's wrath and love come together—perfectly. Jesus died our death in our place; it was a substitution, a ransom, and act agreed upon by the Father and the Son to pay for the sins of the world, since Jesus was the perfect sacrifice. Jesus became a perfect blood sacrifice for all who would put their faith in Him. This is how we gain [receive] His forgiveness and His righteousness as well...

...After Jesus' death by crucifixion, He was buried in a borrowed grave, and in three days He rose from the dead. His new body bore scars from the crucifixion. The New Testament writers marked His bodily resurrection from the dead as a historical event, and they knew it to be the fulfillment of repeated biblical prophecies over thousands of years.

Today He demonstrates His great love and mercy by reaching into our world, personally, with an offer of life—an offer to individuals to be set free from the bondage of sin and death. It's the offer of life to the dying, those dying under God's judgment, so that the One who would slay us laid down His life to set us free (Romans 5:9)."

Reviews of Stiles' book...
Dan Phillips of Pyromaniacs
Mark Tubbs of Discerning Reader
Mark Lamprecht of "Here I Blog"

Daily Reading: Complete In Him

I continue my study of Michael P.V. Barrett's "Complete In Him" in chapter 5...

Chapter 5: Union with Christ (The Security of the Gospel)

"To them [His saints] God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Colossians 1:27, ESV)

"For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority." (Colossians 2:9-10, ESV)

We should find our complete satisfaction in Christ. We have been filled with the supreme One... this is no mere fascination; it is consumption. We should be consumed and overwhelmed with Jesus.

"For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." (Colossians 3:3, ESV)

"Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us." (1 John 3:24, ESV)

"...we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit." (1 John 4:13, ESV)

"regardless of our personal failures, imperfections, and sins, the merit of Jesus Christ encompasses and subsumes all of our service to Him." (p. 94)

IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS

"The fact that our personal behavior neither adds to nor distracts from our acceptance before God in Christ is not license to sin or reason to abandon the pursuit of personal purity... Right thinking about the gospel produces right living in the gospel." (p. 95)

United to Christ Representatively

"Christ is the federal, covenant or representative Head of His people... [He] stands as our legal representative before God" (p. 96)

Adam; a representative man...

"For as in Adam all die..." (1 Corinthians 15:22a, KJV)

"Man needed a new representative who could and woul fulfill the requirements for life. God appointed His Son to that position. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only One divinely chosen and qualified to be the Savior of sinners." (p. 96)

"...even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15:22b, KJV)

"In His Incarnation, the eternal Son of God partook of the same flesh and bloof as those He came to represent—His brethren, the children given to Him." (p. 97)

"For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, 'I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.' And again, 'I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." (Hebrews 2:11-14), KJV)

Psalm 8...

"a messianic song highlighting the greatness and grace of God and pointing to the Lord Jesus as the only means by which fallen man can come to the enjoyment and experience of the priveleged rank God assigned to man in creation." (p. 97)

"What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet" (Psalm 8:4-6, KJV)

"The first word for 'man' emphasizes man's fr,ailty and mortality. The second expression, 'son of man' (Adam), also underscores man's inherent weakness and insignificance as earthy." (p. 97)

1 Corinthians 15...

"The apostle speaks of a man ('the last Adam', 'the second man') who, unlike the first man, honorably and unfailingly fulfilled the high station God intended for mankind." (p. 97)

"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven." (1 Corinthians 15:45-47, KJV)

"the Seconf Person of the Eternal Trinity was temporarily diminished to a position lower than that of the angels [Psalm 8:5; Hebrews 2:7] in order to perform the necessary obedience to merit and restore life to the race of which He was the Head." (p, 98)

"And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." (1 Corinthians 15:49, KJV)

Romans 5...

"unquestionably the most explicit bible exposition contrasting the corporate effect of Adam's disobedience with the corporate effect of Christ's obedience... God's just imputation of our guilt to Christ and His equally just imputation of Christ's righteousness to us are righteously legal acts because Christ is our covenant Head, our representative." (p. 98)

"I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages..." (Isaiah 49:8b, KJV) [see also Isaiah 42:6]

United to Christ Mystically

Mystical Theology: "Spiritual truth that surpasses human comprehension because of the transcendence of its nature and significance..." (p. 99)

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matthew 28:19-20, KJV)

A Spiritual Union

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love..." (Ephesians 3:17, KJV)

"Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead." (Colossians 2:12, KJV)

"And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." (Ephesians 2:20-22, KJV)

"As evidence that we have the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit not only that we are the children of God, but also that we share with Christ everything from His sufferings to His glorification (Romans 8:16-17)." (p. 101) [see also Romans 8:9]

A Spiriual Communion

Union with Chris's Death

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20, KJV)

"Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." (Romans 6:4-6 KJV)

"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead" (2 Corinthians 5:14, KJV)

Colossians 3...

"For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." (v. 3)

"Mortify therefore your members..." (v. 5a)

"put on the new man..." (v. 10b)

Union of Christ's Resurrection

"By His death, our Savior 'abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel' (2 Timothy 1:10, KJV)." (p. 103)

"Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved); And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:5-6, KJV)

"For if [since] we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection... Now if [since] we be dead [died] with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him" (Romans 6:5, 8, KJV)

"Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses" (Colossians 2:12-13, KJV)

"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." (Colossians 3:1, KJV) [see also John 14:19-20]

"It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him" ( 2 Timothy 2:11, KJV)

"And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." (Romans 8:17, KJV) [see also 2 Timothy 2:12]

Colossians 3...

1. "We are to seek the things that are above where Christ sits at the right hand of God." (p. 104)

2. "We are to set our affections on things above.

Union with Christ's Session

"As part of His earned exaltation, after His resurrection He ascended into heaven and took His seat of honor at the right hand of His Father... inexplicably yet absolutely, so did we." (p. 104-105)

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3, KJV)

"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us... hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4, 6, KJV)

"WE OUGHT NOT TO LIVE ANY PART OF OUR LIFE HERE WITHOUT THE CONSCIOUSNESS THAT WE ARE IN REALITY THERE." (p. 105

That is all for this week's edition of Daily Reading... Have a great week, worship well... Soli Deo Gloria!

Links...

"Beginning at Moses" (Michael P.V. Barrett's book on Christ in the OT)

Election (an article by B.B. Warfield)

The Principle of Imputation (a sermon/lecture by Phil Johnson)