Grace in Preaching and Grace in Listening

“Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.” - Psalm 119:73

“How much better to get wisdom than gold! To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.” - Proverbs 16:16

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” - 2 Timothy 2:15

“Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.” – 1 Timothy 4:13

“Woe then to the slothfulness of those who do not peruse the oracles of the Holy Spirit by day and night, in order to learn from them how to discharge their office.” - John Calvin, Commentary on 1 Timothy, p. 114

“But even today the careful selection, and clear and interpretive reading of Holy Writ is ‘the most important part of public worship.’” - William Hendrickson, Commentary on 1 Timothy, p. 159

“The Christian preacher has a boundary set for him. When he enters the pulpit, he is not an entirely free man. There is a very real sense in which it may be said of him that the Almighty has set him his bounds that he shall not pass. He is not at liberty to invent or choose his message: it has been committed to him, and it is for him to declare, expound, and commend it to his hearers…It is a great thing to come under the magnificent tyranny of the Gospel.”
- Donald Coggan, quoted by John Stott in, Between Two Worlds, pp. 126,127


Dear Christ Our Redeemer Friends and Family,

I have the distinct privilege of serving my all-time favorite church. God has brought folks to COR that are deeply committed to the Savior and that have a hunger for the Word of God. Each week they have a desire to have God speak to them through the Word as it is preached. This is nothing short of amazing. In the glorious Spirit-infused interchange between the printed word and Word of God expounded the congregation eagerly and gladly listens. There is evident grace to be commended when God’s Word is warmly received. All glory goes to Him. Consider this - how is it that God gives us an appetite and then He graciously commences filling us full? What a glorious God!

Every week it is my joy to spend time in God’s Word and then to bring that word to you. It is a stewardship and a sacred charge and something I do not take lightly. Each week as I prepare the message I’m thinking of you and praying for you. My desire is to submit myself to the ‘magnificent tyranny of the Gospel’ and then to get out of the way and allow God’s gospel to speak to God’s people. Thank you for trusting me with this charge. Thank you for humbly listening to God’s word. Thank you for hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Thank you for listening with joy.

Treasuring the glorious gospel of the Savior with you.

Dan

Words

“His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.” – Psalm 55:21

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” - Proverbs 18:21

“But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.” - Matthew 15:18

“Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” - Colossians 4:6

“And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.” –James 3:6

“For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.” – James 3:7-10

“…so rare a gift of the Spirit is moderation of language.” - John Calvin, Psalm V:237

“Good, godly communication is always dependent upon truth. Lies, falsehood and deception always subvert it. Lies not only distort facts, but they destroy the trust necessary for people to talk with one another.” -Paul Tripp, War of Words, p. 23


Dear COR Family and Friends,

This morning I woke up early thinking about words, and more particularly about words I’ve spoken or written that I would just as soon have taken back. Often when I speak or write what comes out is the result of intemperance and lack of true grace. It happened again last week in an email. It was an off-handed comment, but it revealed my heart. More often than not I speak out of a sinful heart. And my mouth, lips, tongues and vocal cords are simply the organs that formulate what has already been long-considered deep within. Evil speech proceeds from an evil heart. The vestiges of indwelling sin flail about inside of me like a wounded and dying animal and I acutely sense this struggle. I desperately want to be a man of truth and of godly speech.

Herein lies hope. In his book, War of Words, Paul Tripp says this, “The God who created speech and spoke the world into existence, the God who used human words to reveal Himself to His people throughout the ages, comes to this world as the Word, to people who have forsaken Him. He is not only a speaker of truth, He is Truth, and only in Him is there any hope for us. Only in the Word do we find hope to win the war of words and speak again according to our Master’s example and design. The Word became flesh because there was no other way to fix what is broken in us.” (p. 37)

The good news is that the thoroughgoing effect of the gospel will ultimately have its way in my life. My captivity is only temporary. Reversing the fate of Gulliver, the Lilliputians are sent away one by one. Christ has not only died for all of my words (past, present and future), He has put to death a sinful heart from where all of these corruptions begin, and has risen to liberate me from the continual bondage both of my words and my sinful heart. In the glorious and pervasive work of sanctification, progress is being made. Sin is being put to death. My heart is being bent more and more to the Savior. He is seasoning my speech more and more with grace as I see the gospel more clearly. In the gospel He has come to fix what is broken in me.

My prayer for COR is that all of us continue to grow in the grace of gospel speech. My hope is that our collective words would continue to reflect the reality of the Savior’s work in our hearts, because I know both you and I need this desperately.

I am grateful to God for you, and the increasingly evident work of grace in your lives.

Dan

A Week to Remember

I just returned home from Louisville, Kentucky, the site for this year’s ‘Together for the Gospel’. The speakers for this year were John MacArthur, Thabtiti Anyabwile, Mark Dever, R.C. Sproul, Al Mohler, John Piper, and C.J. Mahaney, and Bob Kauflin led worship. The teaching was incredibly rich, and in fact each session has already been posted here - http://t4g.org/08/media/. If you have the time, these would be very helpful for you to listen to. The session by Al Mohler is pretty tough going, but well worth it. It would be very difficult to choose a favorite session, but the one by Thibiti is very provocative and his message re-calibrated the way I think about race vs. ethnicity. Every bit as rich was the privilege of seeing old friends and making new ones. I came away with a fresh affection for the gospel, and love for the Savior. Dear friends we have an incomprehensibly rich salvation, and an incredibly gracious Savior. We will spend eternity exploring the riches of God’s mercy towards us through His Son.

Special thanks to COR for releasing me to attend this, and special thanks to the T4G volunteers (Thanks Tom! It was great to see you. You are a dear brother and a faithful servant.), the T4G speakers, and to all the good friends that I saw there. What a wonderful time!

Also, I just finished listening to the new Sovereign Grace worship CD, Come Weary Saints (http://sovereigngracemusic.org/albums/category/sovereign_grace_music/come_weary_saints), and what a rich gift this music is. This was released at the conference and we’ll see if we can get some for the COR resource center. You will be the richer for having heard this.

Now I’m tired and need sleep. I’ll see you either at Parent/Youth on Friday or at worship on Sunday.

Dan

Good News

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;”

- The Prophet Isaiah speaking of the coming Messiah in Isaiah 61:1-2

“I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose."
-Jesus in Luke 4:43

“The main part of our salvation is the expiation of human sins by Christ’s death.”
- John Calvin, quoted in The Glory of the Atonement, p. 279

“The cross is the greatest surprise of human history. None of the religions of the world could even have thought of such a thing.”
- John Ensor, The Great Work of the Gospel, p. 12

“The completed work of Christ on the Cross tells us not just about man’s need of salvation, nor about how it was accomplished, but most of all about the God who saves. God is a God of grace.”
- Paul Wells, Cross Words, p. 233


This week I’ve watched the sad drama unfold in Eldorado, Texas. At one point I watched a video feed for a movie produced by a Christian ministry (http://www.lhvm.org/polygamy.htm) about folks that had escaped the bondage of Mormonism as practicing polygamists. At the end of the movie several ex-Mormons gave their testimony and one woman in particular gave a striking testimony to the gospel. She kept saying, ‘The gospel is good news and all that I had heard was bad news.’ Here was a woman nearly brought to ruin by false religion and steeped in the damaging practice of polygamy, and now she has found news beyond compare.

What is the only remedy for soul-sick sinners? Where is the only place to turn when every other news is bad? There is no consolation elsewhere. There is good news only in the gospel. In fact, it’s the best news and every other news pales in comparison. The good news of the kingdom is that the gospel in all of its fullness has come in the person and work of Christ. In the gospel a sinner’s transgressions have been forgiven by the only one who can, and in addition the sinner is clothed with the righteousness of Christ. In the gospel an amazing and glorious exchange has taken place. Every sin, without exception, has been atoned for in the work of Christ. For hell-bound sinners without hope this is good news for those who believe it. This is good news for you and me.

Dan

Thinking God's Thoughts

"For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come."

-Ephesians 1:15-21

"Thou movest us to delight in praising Thee; for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee."

-Augustine, Basic Writings of Augustine, vol. 1, p. 3

"In all the other sciences man is the one who of himself takes the first step in approaching the objective world, in subjecting it to his scrutiny, in compelling it to submit to his experiments - in a word, man is the one who proceeds actively to make nature reveal her facts and her laws. In Theology this relation between the subject and the object is reversed. Here it is God who takes the first step to approach man for the purpose of disclosing His nature, nay, who creates man in order that He may have the finite mind able to receive the knowledge of His infinite perfections."

- Geerhardus Vos, Redemptive History and Biblical Interpretation, p. 4, 5

"Gospel doctrine matters because the good news is so full and rich and wonderful that it must be opened like a treasure chest, and all its treasures brought out for the enjoyment of the world. Doctrine is the description of these treasures. Doctrine describes their true value and why they are so valuable." "Doctrine polishes the old gems buried at the bottom of the chest. It puts the gospel truth in order on the scarlet tapestry of history so each is seen in its most beautiful place."

- John Piper, God is the Gospel, p. 22

"Unveil yourself, God of glory. Wake us up to know you, Savior-King. Enlighten the eyes of our hearts. Drive away the darkness that blinds, chokes, and shrinks us. Make us see."
- David Powlison, Seeing with New Eyes, p. 1

The Christian has a different orientation than the non-Christian. By way of special revelation (the Scriptures illuminated by the Spirit) the Christian’s orientation is founded on certain objective criteria. God has revealed Himself to man via Jesus Christ through the medium of the Scriptures. What this means is that Christianity is revelational. In other words, God takes the initiative to make Himself known. Other religions may be predicated upon man’s search for and attempt at reaching God, but biblical Christianity reveals God as the One who discloses His character and nature through His Word. Regenerate man is the recipient of revelation. What we know about God, in the sum of all of His perfections, comes to us mediated through the Scriptures. He has opened our eyes to the gospel and has restored us to Himself through Jesus Christ. Sometimes I think I can see with great clarity and other times I think I’m mostly blind, but God demonstrates His love to us by opening our eyes to the riches of His grace in Christ. Not only has He manifested His love by His action of saving us, He has opened our blind eyes to see it through the Word written, and the Holy Spirit has given us the grace of faith to believe it.

If you believe in the saving acts of God on your behalf, you can thank God because He’s given you eyes to see it.

I’m thanking God for opening my eyes to the Gospel. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.