Listening to: John Piper – Jesus Christ and the Rescue of Joy Part 1
Deu 28:47
(47) Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
Isa 55:1-3
(1) Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
(2) Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
(3) Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
Joh 6:35
(35) And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
Piper: The Nature of Saving Faith – is a coming to Jesus Christ to have your soul-hunger satisfied.
Piper: We were created to worship, and therefore we will worship something – pleasure, money, people – there are many options. But only the One who created the hearts with a void shaped just for Him will satisfy and fill eternally. Come to Him – believe in Him – and He will be most glorified when you are satisfied in Him.
Jer 2:13
(13) For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
(this morning – Lutzer was teaching on Laodicea. Not only were they lukewarm – worst of all, they THOUGHT THEY WERE ON FIRE FOR GOD. No repentance)
Piper: we are offered an all-satisfying fountain of life in Jesus Christ – and we are presented with it, sniff it, and we turn from it and say “Nope”. Then we turn to the dirt and scratch and dig and scratch and dig – I need water – I need water… hewing out our own cisterns which cannot hold water.
Lord Jesus... I fail seek You as my only source of joy, and I end up feeling frustrated and empty. In those times I fail to magnify and glorify You... help me stop seeking and expecting my joy to come from the world, and help me glorify God in whatever I do - and say like Paul said - to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
My Papa described his conversion journey/sanctification journey several times when I got to talk to him. It seemed he began with much self-examination against the Scriptures – searching the Scriptures and his own heart, praying that the Lord would prove his faith true.
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith;
2 Cor 13:5
Wherefore, my beloved… work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God which worketh in you both to
will and to do of his good pleasure.
Philippians 2:12-13
A little over a week before he passed away, he told us about a dream he had early on in his walk with Christ. He was struggling and praying and reading through a time of fear, maybe not completely convinced of the surety of his own salvation. He dreamed he was in a shipwreck, and the wreckage was strewn about in the churning waters – and he was hanging on to pieces of the wreckage in order to stay afloat. Then a huge wave of water came, looking like it would consume him – but it carried him safely to a rock that stood high and safe out of the water. He said the Lord gave him peace with that dream – because he knew he was safely on the firm Rock of Jesus Christ.
And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me,
and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come
to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put
thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with
my hand while I pass by
Exodus 33:21-22
Papa told our Pastor that, although age had diminished his ability to mentally and physically devour the Scriptures – he never once lost his appetite for the Word of God. In the last stages of his life, Papa felt led to pour over the Gospels and the New Testament again – meditating on salvation and God’s “keeping power”.
He also told Pastor Mike that the problem in our society today is that we have neglected to meditate on the holiness of God.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
Proverbs 9:10
An honest meditation on the holiness of God will bring us to a recognition of our utter inability to be holy.
(1) In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
(2) Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
(3) And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
(4) And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
(5) Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
Isaiah 6:1-5
Even the angels cover their faces and feet in awe of the mighty holy presence of God. They cannot help but cry out “Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD!” Yet we, who were created to glorify Him, sit in silence – failing to praise our worship-deserving Maker. The god of this world has blinded us to believe that our existence does not hang upon mercy and longsuffering of the Almighty Creator God who has the power to eternally condemn us.
(9) The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
(10) But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
(11) Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,(12) Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
2 Peter 3:9-12
Honestly, acknowledging our inability to be holy, and realizing the requirements of holiness, will lead us to reverence and fear of Almighty God. That reverence and recognition of the Almighty should lead to repentance in the fear of His Holy, righteousness, and just judgment.
The requirement of holiness is holiness. Sin cannot exist in the presence of holiness – it will be burned and destroyed. I think of like matter and antimatter (probably faulty – but we see through a glass darkly, 1 Cor 13:12). Due to the nature of each, antimatter and matter cannot exist in the presence of the other. Holiness cannot tolerate the presence of sin; and:
…the wages of sin is death;
but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:23
An honest examination of our deceitful and desperately wicked hearts (Jer 17:9), reveals the absolute necessity of an all-sufficient Savior.
It is necessary that Jesus lived a perfectly sinless life – for it is only perfection that can satisfy the requirements of holiness. Only holiness can fulfill that requirement, therefore the Holy Lamb of God came as a man – 100% God, 100% man –to die in the place of man who was unable to fulfill the requirement himself.
For our salvation, it is necessary that Jesus willingly laid His life down on the cross – to pay the wages of sin that He did not earn. His payment could then be applied as PAID IN FULL by the blood of the Lamb for those who would:
1. acknowledge their inability to pay,
2. repent (turn from sin, and to God) of their own wickedness in the sight of God, and
3. accept Christ's righteousness as their own.
It is necessary that He was raised from death, in a glorified body from the grave. Genesis 3:15 foretold the Father’s plan – Satan would be defeated:
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman,
and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Genesis 3:15
All these things are necessary, because holiness requires holiness of even the unholy. When the requirement is not met, sin will be consumed and destroyed in the presence of holiness.
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved,
let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with
reverence and godly fear:
For our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:28-29
God reveals His many-faceted nature to us through His Word:
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed,
The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious,
longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
Exodus 34:5-7
He is: holy, righteous, just - but also merciful, gracious, longsuffering, and the source of goodness and truth.
He is holy – and holiness requires holiness. And yet we are unable to be holy, so He provided a way to impute His own holiness and righteousness to us – through Jesus Christ.
In the Psalms, the Holy Spirit declares:
Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him;
that glory may dwell in our land.
Mercy and truth are met together;
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Truth shall spring out of the earth;
and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good;
and our land shall yield her increase.
Righteousness shall go before him;
and shall set us in the way of his steps.
Psalms 85:9-13
Jesus declared to His disciples:
Let not your heart be troubled:
ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again, and receive you unto myself;
that where I am, there ye may be also.
And whither I go ye know,
and the way ye know.
Thomas saith unto him, Lord,
we know not whither thou goest;
and how can we know the way?
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also:
and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
John 14:1-7
The Son of God was cursed and crucified to die in the place of sinners. His suffering and death satisfied the wrath that sin exacts in the presence of the one and only
Holy,
Holy,
Holy God.
Grace upon grace has been given to us who are in Christ Jesus – so that we can tell the world of Him and someday join the chorus in eternity that is singing:
Holy, Holy, Holy
Thou art Worthy
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
I hope that your faith is in Jesus Christ – and if it is not – I pray that God, rich in mercy, would command that His Light shine in your heart.
I pray that His Light would cast away the darkness that the god of this world below has cast upon it in the hope that you would not see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ on the cross for your sins.
The goal of Satan is to blind you from that Light –
but the goal of God is that you see His Son with arms outstretched, willing to accept His own wrath in your place.
This Light is given, that you might accept God reaching down to you in mercy, because you are unable pull yourself out of the tangled and miserable web of sin.
(3) But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
(4) In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
(5) For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
(6) For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith;
2 Cor 13:5
Wherefore, my beloved… work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God which worketh in you both to
will and to do of his good pleasure.
Philippians 2:12-13
A little over a week before he passed away, he told us about a dream he had early on in his walk with Christ. He was struggling and praying and reading through a time of fear, maybe not completely convinced of the surety of his own salvation. He dreamed he was in a shipwreck, and the wreckage was strewn about in the churning waters – and he was hanging on to pieces of the wreckage in order to stay afloat. Then a huge wave of water came, looking like it would consume him – but it carried him safely to a rock that stood high and safe out of the water. He said the Lord gave him peace with that dream – because he knew he was safely on the firm Rock of Jesus Christ.
And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me,
and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come
to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put
thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with
my hand while I pass by
Exodus 33:21-22
Papa told our Pastor that, although age had diminished his ability to mentally and physically devour the Scriptures – he never once lost his appetite for the Word of God. In the last stages of his life, Papa felt led to pour over the Gospels and the New Testament again – meditating on salvation and God’s “keeping power”.
He also told Pastor Mike that the problem in our society today is that we have neglected to meditate on the holiness of God.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
Proverbs 9:10
An honest meditation on the holiness of God will bring us to a recognition of our utter inability to be holy.
(1) In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
(2) Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
(3) And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
(4) And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
(5) Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
Isaiah 6:1-5
Even the angels cover their faces and feet in awe of the mighty holy presence of God. They cannot help but cry out “Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD!” Yet we, who were created to glorify Him, sit in silence – failing to praise our worship-deserving Maker. The god of this world has blinded us to believe that our existence does not hang upon mercy and longsuffering of the Almighty Creator God who has the power to eternally condemn us.
(9) The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
(10) But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
(11) Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,(12) Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
2 Peter 3:9-12
Honestly, acknowledging our inability to be holy, and realizing the requirements of holiness, will lead us to reverence and fear of Almighty God. That reverence and recognition of the Almighty should lead to repentance in the fear of His Holy, righteousness, and just judgment.
The requirement of holiness is holiness. Sin cannot exist in the presence of holiness – it will be burned and destroyed. I think of like matter and antimatter (probably faulty – but we see through a glass darkly, 1 Cor 13:12). Due to the nature of each, antimatter and matter cannot exist in the presence of the other. Holiness cannot tolerate the presence of sin; and:
…the wages of sin is death;
but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:23
An honest examination of our deceitful and desperately wicked hearts (Jer 17:9), reveals the absolute necessity of an all-sufficient Savior.
It is necessary that Jesus lived a perfectly sinless life – for it is only perfection that can satisfy the requirements of holiness. Only holiness can fulfill that requirement, therefore the Holy Lamb of God came as a man – 100% God, 100% man –to die in the place of man who was unable to fulfill the requirement himself.
For our salvation, it is necessary that Jesus willingly laid His life down on the cross – to pay the wages of sin that He did not earn. His payment could then be applied as PAID IN FULL by the blood of the Lamb for those who would:
1. acknowledge their inability to pay,
2. repent (turn from sin, and to God) of their own wickedness in the sight of God, and
3. accept Christ's righteousness as their own.
It is necessary that He was raised from death, in a glorified body from the grave. Genesis 3:15 foretold the Father’s plan – Satan would be defeated:
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman,
and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Genesis 3:15
All these things are necessary, because holiness requires holiness of even the unholy. When the requirement is not met, sin will be consumed and destroyed in the presence of holiness.
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved,
let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with
reverence and godly fear:
For our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:28-29
God reveals His many-faceted nature to us through His Word:
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed,
The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious,
longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
Exodus 34:5-7
He is: holy, righteous, just - but also merciful, gracious, longsuffering, and the source of goodness and truth.
He is holy – and holiness requires holiness. And yet we are unable to be holy, so He provided a way to impute His own holiness and righteousness to us – through Jesus Christ.
On the cross, the requirements of holiness, and righteousness, and justice, and the law were met – and they met through mercy, and longsuffering, and grace through the life and death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Psalms, the Holy Spirit declares:
Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him;
that glory may dwell in our land.
Mercy and truth are met together;
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Truth shall spring out of the earth;
and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good;
and our land shall yield her increase.
Righteousness shall go before him;
and shall set us in the way of his steps.
Psalms 85:9-13
Jesus declared to His disciples:
Let not your heart be troubled:
ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again, and receive you unto myself;
that where I am, there ye may be also.
And whither I go ye know,
and the way ye know.
Thomas saith unto him, Lord,
we know not whither thou goest;
and how can we know the way?
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also:
and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
John 14:1-7
The Son of God was cursed and crucified to die in the place of sinners. His suffering and death satisfied the wrath that sin exacts in the presence of the one and only
Holy,
Holy,
Holy God.
Grace upon grace has been given to us who are in Christ Jesus – so that we can tell the world of Him and someday join the chorus in eternity that is singing:
Holy, Holy, Holy
Thou art Worthy
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
I hope that your faith is in Jesus Christ – and if it is not – I pray that God, rich in mercy, would command that His Light shine in your heart.
I pray that His Light would cast away the darkness that the god of this world below has cast upon it in the hope that you would not see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ on the cross for your sins.
The goal of Satan is to blind you from that Light –
but the goal of God is that you see His Son with arms outstretched, willing to accept His own wrath in your place.
This Light is given, that you might accept God reaching down to you in mercy, because you are unable pull yourself out of the tangled and miserable web of sin.
(3) But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
(4) In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
(5) For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
(6) For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
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