A Little Down Time

I'm changing ISPs so I'll be down until sometime on Wednesday. At that time (or shortly thereafter) I hope to be able to post my review of BLJ.

SDG

-=-=-=-=- UPDATE 5/5/2006 -=-=-=-=-

I have finished Blue Like Jazz and am working on its review. It will take a long time, so I hope to post a few things here and there while I work on it. I know, I was hoping to have it done by now, but as if often the case, my idealistic timelines prove to be just that and have little basis in reality. :)

A brief comment on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

I'm a guest writer of an online religion and news journal; the link has been added to the links bar at the right. This is the first article that I wrote for it.

The Resurrection of Christ is the most important event in the history of the world. Without the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, then Christianity would have absolutely no foundation. Everything depends on it. The Apostle Paul rightly said this (quoting from the ESV):

1 Corinthians 15:12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
1 Corinthians 15:13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
1 Corinthians 15:14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.
1 Corinthians 15:16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.
1 Corinthians 15:17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

Without Christ being raised, a Christian's faith is futile, and we are still in our sins.

So then, how is the Resurrection important? John MacArthur wrote an excellent paper on it a while back, and I am going to quote his main points in this presentation and build on them a little bit, to attempt to explain the critical importance of the Resurrection of Jesus.

MacArthur's first point is The Resurrection Proves the Truthfulness of the Word of God. This is a critical point. It appears to be backwards; that is, people would normally expect the Word of God (The Bible) to prove the Resurrection, but the reverse here is true as well. Allow Dr. MacArthur to explain:

To sum up Peter’s argument [in Acts chapter 2], his logic would go like this. Psalm 16 refers to someone being resurrected. It can’t be David. Messiah was to come as David’s greater son, out of David’s loins. The Psalm refers to Messiah…Messiah will therefore be raised from the dead. And then he concludes in verse 32, “This Jesus God raised up again.”

The Old Testament then in Psalm 16 predicts the resurrection of the Messiah. If the Messiah doesn’t rise. If Jesus Christ doesn’t rise from the grave, the Bible is not telling us the truth. But the resurrection of Christ proves that the Bible speaks truth.

So, in order for the Bible to be reliable, the Messiah (Jesus) had to rise from the dead, and indeed He has!

MacArthur's second point is The Resurrection Proves the Deity of the Son of God. This, of course, is not to say at all that Jesus is another God, but is One with the Father. They are the same God, yet they are different persons (three when you count the Holy Spirit). They are the SAME in essence and EQUAL in power and glory; they form the One God, Who is Three in One. In any case, this isn't meant to be an exposition of the Trinity, so I'll move on with MacArthur's quote:

Romans 1:4 is the testimony of God the Father. He is the supreme witness. In Acts 13:30 it says, “God raised Him from the dead.” And God did it to give testimony to His deity. In Romans 6:4 it tells us as well that Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father. The Father wanted Him raised from the dead so through His glory or His power, His attributes, His essence, He raised Christ from the dead. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 19 talks about the surpassing greatness of God’s power. How great is it? Verse 20, “It is the power with which He brought about the resurrection of Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand.”

Again, God is the one who raised Christ. And He did it to give testimony to His deity. He is become in His resurrection both Lord and Christ. The resurrection, Peter says in Acts 2:36, shows Him to be Lord and Christ.

God raised Him to His right hand, that is, the Father raised the Son to His right hand. This is a position of power and authority, indicating that the Father is sharing His power and authority with the Son! Since God so flatly stated that He would not do this with anyone, then the Son must be God.

MacArthur's third point is The Resurrection Proves the Completion of the Salvation of God. I love this one:

Listen to Romans 4, wonderful truth, truth on which we build our lives. “He was delivered up because of our transgressions and was raised because of our justification.” In order for God to justify us, in order for God to declare us righteous, He had to raise Jesus from the dead. When it says His name shall be called Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins, that’s exactly what God wanted. But in order to accomplish it, He had to raise Christ from the dead. That was indispensable evidence of the completion and efficacious value of His death. It was the Father’s way of saying…Your death accomplished its intended purpose. It was God raising Him from the dead to affirm that what He did on the cross satisfied God’s holy justice. If He didn’t rise, then all He is is Jesus Christ Superstar and His death is the death of an ordinary man and has no saving value. But He did rise from the dead and He was raised by the Father for our justification. He was raised in order that in the sight of God we might be made righteous, in order that in the sight of God we might be without sin, in order that our sin might be dismissed and forgiven.

And when He was raised it was as if God said…I accept the sacrifice…I accept it.

That pretty well says it all on that one. :)

MacArthur's next point is The Resurrection Proves the Establishment of the Church of God. MacArthur states:

Fourthly, the resurrection proves the establishment of the church of God…the establishment of the church of God. Our Lord said He would build His church. Do you remember these words in Matthew 16? We preached on them a few weeks ago. “I will build My church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” What are the gates of Hades? It’s a Jewish expression meaning what? Death. I’ll build My church and death won’t stop it…not your death and not Mine. Jesus was, in effect, saying…I’m going to die but I’m going to rise…death is not going to stop Me from building My church. Ephesians 1:20 says that Christ was raised from the dead, seated at the right hand in heavenly places, far above all rule, all authority, power, dominion, every name that is named not only in this age, in the age to come. And He’s put all things into subjection under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. When He rose He took His seat, He became the head of the church. The resurrection is essential to the establishment of the church. If there’s no resurrection there’s no church. Anybody that says they belong to a church that doesn’t believe the resurrection doesn’t belong to a church. The true church is the church of those who have been given life through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Since Jesus was raised from the dead, then we have an authenticated start to the church of Jesus Christ. I agree with MacArthur completely; if someone won't confess the Resurrection of Jesus, then they have no place in the church. Paul, after all, gives it as a requirement for salvation.

Lastly, MacArthur gives his fifth point: The Resurrection is the Guarantee of Heaven. He brings it out with this comment:

Listen to these wonderful and familiar words, Jesus speaking, John 14, “Let not your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places, of it were not so I would have told you for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, receive you to Myself that where I am there you may be also.”

Right there Jesus is predicting His resurrection. He’s headed to death but He says, “I’m going right through death into the Father’s house to get a place ready for you and I’ll be back to get you.” If there’s no resurrection, there’s no place prepared for us. If there’s no place prepared for us, there’s no heaven for us. Everything depends on the resurrection.

I can only AMEN that! Since Jesus is alive and in Heaven preparing a home for us, we, as children of God (if we have placed faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior) have a guarantee of Heaven. Were Jesus not raised, then He wouldn't have been in Heaven to prepare any of it, and we'd have no hope.

Indeed, everything depends on the Resurrection.

Soli Deo Gloria!

David Hewitt

Think, Young Man, THINK!

Once again, I have run across a WONDERFUL post over at the Calvinist Gadfly that Steve Camp graciously posted there. You can find it HERE, and I strongly recommend reading it, especially if you are 18 or younger (though we can all benefit from it).

All Glory For Jesus Always!

A Lil' Bit on The Atonement

I'm indebted to Dr. James White in many ways. He's been a bit of a mentor to me, though we've never met. His candor and skill in exegeting the Scriptures is something I've appreciated ever since I became acquainted with his ministry several months ago. He, Dr. John Piper, and Dr. Tom Ascol are the top three people on my "I want to meet these guys" list. :)

With that said, he has a post on his site from today that I thought to be absolutely wonderful. It was a quote from C. H. Spurgeon on the Atonement of Christ, and I thought it so good that I wanted to post it here. And so, here it is:

But when Jesus Christ comes and puts his own sufferings into the place of our sufferings, the law is fully vindicated, while mercy is fitly displayed. A man dies; a soul is given; a life is offered the Just for the unjust. What if I say that, instead of justice being less satisfied with the death of Christ than with the deaths of the ten thousand thousands of sinners for whom he died, it is more satisfied and it is most highly honored! Had all the sinners that ever lived in the world been consigned to hell, they could not have discharged the claims of justice. They must still continue to endure the scourge of crime they could never expiate. But the Son of God, blending the infinite majesty of his Deity with the perfect capacity to suffer as a man, offered an atonement of such inestimable value that he has absolutely paid the entire debt for his people. Well may justice be content since it has received more from the Surety than it could have ever exacted from the assured. Thus the debt was paid to the Eternal Father. Once more. What is the result of this? The result is that the man is redeemed. He is no longer a slave. Some preachers and professors affect to believe in a redemption which I must candidly confess I do not understand; it is so indistinct and indefinite a redemption which does not redeem anybody in particular, though it is alleged to redeem everybody in general; a redemption insufficient to exempt thousands of unhappy souls from hell after they have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus; a redemption, indeed, which does not actually save anybody, because it is dependent for its efficacy upon the will of the creature; a redemption that lacks intrinsic virtue and inherent power to redeem anybody, but is entirely dependent upon an extraneous contingency to render it effectual. With such fickle theories I have no fellowship. That every soul for whom Christ shed his blood as a Substitute, he will claim as his own, and have as his right, I firmly hold. I love to hold and I delight to proclaim this precious truth. Not all the powers of earth or hell; not the obstinacy of the human will, nor the deep depravity of the human mind, can ever prevent Christ seeing of the travail of his soul and being satisfied. To the last jot and tittle of his reward shall he receive it at the Fathers hand. A redemption that does redeem, a redemption that redeems many, seems to me infinitely better than a redemption that does not actually redeem anybody, but is supposed to have some imaginary influence upon all the sons of men. (Charles Haddon Spurgeon, "Christ's Great Mission," Published 10/5/1916, delivered at the Metropolitan Tabernacle)

I can only say AMEN and AMEN!

And, on that note, add an exegesis of part of John 10 to the list of soon to be made posts. :)

Soli Deo Gloria!

The Old Cross and the "New Cross" by A.W. Tozer

I just read this post over at the Calvinist Gadfly by AW Tozer on the cross. It was profound and helpful, to say the least. Here is a sample:

We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to big business, the press, the world of sports or modern education. We are not diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an ultimatum. God offers life, but not an improved old life. The life He offers is life out of death. It stands always on the far side of the cross. Whoever would possess it must pass under the rod. He must repudiate himself and concur in God’s just sentence against him.

Follow the first link in this post to get there and have a good read; you won't be disappointed, but you might get convicted.

For God's Glory!

The 1689 London Baptist Confession

I have finished reading it, and have found it to be EXCELLENT. I can see why Reformed Baptists still reference it as their/our standard confession.

I strongly recommend reading it HERE. It will likely take a bit of time to get through it, as it uses a little bit of archaic language.

I would love to see this rewritten in modern vernacular and presented to Baptist churches as a proposal for a confession of faith. Since Southern Baptists hail from Particular Baptists anyway, it would be a good lesson in history as well as theology for our church members.

....of course, I've also often been called an idealist, but here's to hoping!

(HT: Patrick Hanley -- see, it WAS a short review!)

SDG

--- !!! UPDATE !!! ---

Thanks to a comment from a fellow blogger (b.preston) I have been able to locate an updated version of the 1689 Confession that is in modern English! Go figure, it is on the Founders website! You can locate it HERE and it will prove to be a much easier read!

A Wonderful Explanation of "Free Will"

James Spurgeon over at Team Pyro has written an excellent article about how man's will works. His illustrations are excellent! You can find it HERE. It is well worth your time.

For the Glory of my Jesus who I love because He first loved me!

New Posts Coming

I know it's been a little while since I've blogged. :) I've been engaging in discussions on other blogs, and also reading a bit. There are a few posts that are forthcoming, and I'll list them below:

1.) A brief review of the 1689 London Baptist Confession
2.) A review of the book Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
3.) A post on the critical importance of Doctrine
4.) A short explanation of biblical hermeneutics and the importance of context in it
5.) An exegesis of Romans 8:28-9:23

So, that is what is on deck. I might transpose the order on some of those, so we'll see, but expect them all in the next month or so!

Soli Deo Gloria!