Warfield on the joyfully exultant tone of miserable sinner Christianity

B.B. Warfield (1851–1921), from his essay, “’Miserable-Sinner Christianity’ in the Hands of the Rationalists,” in The Works of Benjamin B. Warfield, vol. 7, pp. 113-114:

We must always be accepted for Christ’s sake, or we cannot ever be accepted at all.

This is not true of us only “when we believe.”

It is just as true after we have believed.

It will continue to be true as long as we live.

Our need of Christ does not cease with our believing; nor does the nature of our relation to Him or to God through Him ever alter, no matter what our attainments in Christian graces or our achievements in Christian behavior may be.

It is always on His “blood and righteousness” alone that we can rest.

There is never anything that we are or have or do that can take His place, or that can take a place along with Him.

We are always unworthy, and all that we have or do of good is always of pure grace.

Though blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ, we are still in ourselves just “miserable sinners”: “miserable sinners” saved by grace to be sure, but “miserable sinners” still, deserving in ourselves nothing but everlasting wrath. That is the attitude which the Reformers took, and that is the attitude which the Protestant world has learned from the Reformers to take, toward the relation of believers to Christ.

There is emphasized in this attitude the believer’s continued sinfulness in fact and in act; and his continued sense of his sinfulness. And this carries with it recognition of the necessity of unbroken penitence throughout life. The Christian is conceived fundamentally in other words as a penitent sinner.

But that is not all that is to be said: it is not even the main thing that must be said.

It is therefore gravely inadequate to describe the spirit of “miserable sinner Christianity” as “the spirit of continuous but not unhopeful penitence.” It is not merely that it is too negative a description, and that we must at least say, “the spirit of continuous though hopeful penitence.” It is wholly uncomprehending description, and misplaces the emphasis altogether.

The spirit of this Christianity is a spirit of penitent indeed, but overmastering exultation.

The attitude of the “miserable sinner” is not only not one of despair; it is not even one of depression; and not even one of hesitation or doubt; hope is too weak a word to apply to it.

It is an attitude of exultant joy.

Only this joy has its ground not in ourselves but in our Savior.

We are sinners and we know ourselves to be sinners, lost and helpless in ourselves.

But we are saved sinners; and it is our salvation which gives the tone to our life, a tone of joy which swells in exact proportion to the sense we have of our ill-desert; for it is he to whom much is forgiven who loves much, and who, loving, rejoices much.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

What you can do with the gospel

Justin Taylor provides a sample list from two verses of what we can do with the gospel.

You can (and should):

• preach it
• hear it preached
• deliver it
• receive it
• believe it
• be saved by it
• remember it
• remind others of it
• stand in it
• hold fast to it

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.”—1 Corinthians 15:1-2

Whatever is not from faith is sin

"The most penetrating and devastating definition of sin that I am aware of in Scripture is the last part of Romans 14:23: "Whatever is not from faith is sin." The reason it is penetrating is that it goes to the root of all sinful actions and attitudes, namely, the failure to trust God. And the reason it is devastating is that it sweeps away all our lists of dos and don'ts and makes anything, from preaching to house-painting, a candidate for sin. In the original language, this is stressed even more than in our versions: it says, "Everything which is not from faith is sin." Anything, absolutely any act or attitude which is owing to a lack of trust in God is sin, no matter how moral it may appear to men. God looks on the heart." (John Piper)

Faith is being satisfied in all the God promises to be for us in Jesus Christ. (John Piper)

Every time you sin, you are diminishing your ability to find your joy and satisfaction in God.

Michael Oh: Gospel Growth in Japan

Michael Oh from Urbana 09 on Vimeo.

Joshua Harris: Michael's personal story and the history of enmity between Koreans and Japanese makes his missionary zeal all the more compelling.

Mark Rogers: Last February Michael Oh, a missionary to Japan, gave a powerful sermon at the Desiring God Conference for Pastors, titled “Missions as Fasting.” In it he tells of his call to missions, describes the need for the gospel in Japan, and outlines his ministry there, before giving a moving challenge to forsake present comforts for the global exaltation of Christ. If you listen to it, your heart will grow for Japan and the glory of Christ!

D. A. Carson has described Michael Oh as “a remarkable young man, being used by God in ways that are wisely breaking all kinds of molds in Japan.” Molds need to be broken among the Japanese people, the second largest unreached people group in the world. After nearly 500 years of Christian witness, the evangelical Christian population is only 0.25%. Missionary work is legal there, but many missionaries labor for years and see very few come to Christ.

Oh started Christ Bible Seminary in Nagoya, Japan in 2005. Several other ministries have been started alongside the seminary, including a church plant (All Nations Fellowship), a lay-training institute, and a downtown ministry to young people.

We should pray for Michael Oh and all involved in this ministry. Some may want to consider supporting it, as they are in the process of raising $1.5 million for a campus. There is a desperate need for pastoral training and effective church planting in Japan, and Oh’s ministry has witnessed some encouraging fruit. For example, it is the fastest growing seminary in Japan, and over 90 people have been attending All Nations Fellowship – a remarkable number for a young church in a country where the average church size is 30-35 people. We should also pray for other faithful missionaries and pastors in Japan. May God grow his church for the good of that nation and the glory of Christ!

(HT: Joshua Harris)

Dr. Carl F. H. Henry: Five principles of engagement

Dr. Carl F. H. Henry (memorial page) sets forth five principles that had consistently guided his editorial policy when he was the first editor of Christianity Today:

1. The Bible is critically relevant to the whole of modern life and culture—the social-political arena included.

2. The institutional church has no mandate, jurisdiction, or competence to endorse political legislation or military tactics or economic specifics in the name of Christ.

3. The institutional church is divinely obliged to proclaim God's entire revelation, including the standards or commandments by which men and nations are to be finally judged, and by which they ought now to live and maintain social stability.

4. The political achievement of a better society is the task of all citizens, and individual Christians ought to be politically engaged to the limit of their competence and opportunity.

5. The Bible limits the proper activity of both government and church for divinely stipulated objectives—the former, for the preservation of justice and order, and the latter, for the moral-spiritual task of evangelizing the earth.

(HT: Christianity Today)

Sam Storms: Killing Sin with Christian Hedonism

Sam Storms in a message titled "The Practical Sin-Killing Power of Christian Hedonism" gave five ways for pastors to work for their own joy and the joy of their people.

1. Weave into the spiritual and intellectual fabric of your people the awareness that God's designs in the moral commandments of Scripture are to expand their capacity to enjoy him and not to inhibit it. (See Jonathan Edwards' sermon "Christian Happiness.")

2. Preach often on the bigness and the beauty of God.

3. Labor to turn their eyes from the pathetic, little, transient pleasures of what can be seen and felt and tasted to the grand and eternal pleasures of the glory that is to come.

4. Build into the mental, emotional, and theological framework of your people an understanding of how suffering serves joy. (For a good resource, direct your people to Matt Chandler's videos about the brain cancer he is facing.)

5. Be an example to them of joy in your own life and relationship with God.

(HT: Desiring God)

The center of every hope

“God is the center of every hope worth cherishing for man.”

—Geerhardus Vos, The Pauline Eschatology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986), 61

(HT: Of First Importance)

Better news simply does not exist!

“The gospel, in brief, is the good news about the person and finished work of Jesus Christ. Consider for a moment that the eternal Son of God relinquished the glories of heaven to become a man, a human being like you and me. He lived a perfect and sinless life (unlike you and me), fulfilling every requirement of God’s holy law in a way we could never hope to accomplish. And then in a glorious display of God’s love for sinners like us, he willingly received the full fury of God’s righteous wrath against sin by dying for our sins on a cruel Roman cross.

Because God’s absolute and perfect holiness demands an equivalent holiness from all who come before him, in ourselves we are hopelessly lost and condemned. But Jesus, who had no sin of his won to pay for, took our place, paid our penalty, and suffered our punishment. Because his death as our substitute was perfectly sufficient to pay for our sin, God vindicated him by raising him from the dead. So now all who place their trust in Jesus’ work on their behalf and turn from their sin will be forgiven, counted righteous in him, and saved from judgment for all eternity . . . all by God’s marvelous grace. This is the gospel. This is the good news. Better news simply does not exist!”

- Gary & Betsy Ricucci, Love That Lasts: When Marriage Meets Grace (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2006), 21-22.

(HT: Of First Importance)

What the gospel teaches

“The gospel teaches that what could not be found in us and was to be sought in another, could be found nowhere else than in Christ, the God-man… who taking upon Himself the office of surety most fully satisfied the justice of God by His perfect obedience and thus brought to us an everlasting righteousness by which alone we can be justified before God.”

- Francis Turretin, Justification (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed, year not available), 29.

(HT: Of First Importance)

Top commentaries on every book of the Bible

Keith Mathison compiled a list of his top 5 commentaries for each book of the Bible. Check out his list at the Ligonier blog. Not everyone will agree with his selections, but it is a helpful list. Many of the commentaries are available with Logos 4.

Shai Linne: Spread His Fame

Shai Linne with "Spread His Fame." from Grace EV Free on Vimeo.

All praise to the name of the savior who reigns.
He’s taken our blame, embraced all our shame,
He’s raised from the grave so his fame we proclaim.
Salvation by grace through faith in his name.

All praise to the name of the savior who reigns.
He’s taken our blame, embraced all our shame,
He’s raised from the grave so his fame we proclaim.
Salvation by grace through faith in his name.

Jesus, the beautiful and blessed Son,
Immutable, majestic one
Who was resurrected from the grave
for the depraved.
He paved the path for some
Place faith in His passion, son
Be saved from the wrath to come.

He’s fabulous, His status is immaculate
I’m lacking the vernacular to adequately capture His glory.
Incomparable, unconquerable, all powerful, unstoppable
Absolutely phenomenal.

No obstacle He can’t navigate.
He’s God and so He fascinates.
With Him it’s impossible to exaggerate.

Lord of all continents,
Source of all consciousness,
His compliments are the consequence of His accomplishments
Every sphere of life, He’s the Lord of it
And every other power is either fraudulent or subordinate.

At first we snubbed Him,
Now His vessels of mercy love Him.
Your highest thought is infinitely unworthy of Him.
Beyond vocabulary His actions vary,
His wrath is scary
All His adversaries are imaginary.

He has no competitors.
Ask Nebuchadnezzar, bro
He’ll mess you up, have you eating grass,
You can bet He’s amazing.

He takes in blatant, flagrant vagrants, breaks them, remakes them, and shapes them
to hate sin.

Jesus!
There’s no better name!
That’ll never change and He’ll forever reign while we spread His fame.

So all praise to the name of the Savior who reigns
He’s taken our blame
Embraced all our shame
He’s raised from the grave so His fame we proclaim
Salvation by grace through faith in His name!

All praise to the name of the Savior who reigns
He’s taken our blame
Embraced all our shame
He’s raised from the grave so His fame we proclaim
Salvation by grace through faith in His name!

HT: Justin Taylor

What It means to think like a Christian

“The effort to think like a Christian is . . . an effort to take seriously
the sovereignty of God over the world he created,
the lordship of Christ over the world he died to redeem,
and the power of the Holy Spirit over the world he sustains each and every moment.
From this perspective the search for a mind that truly thinks like a Christian takes on ultimate significance,
because the search for a Christian mind is not, in the end, a search for the mind but a search for God.”

—Mark Noll, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, p. 253

HT: Justin Taylor