"How dare you approach the mercy-seat of God on the basis of what kind of day you had..."

How dare you approach the mercy-seat of God on the basis of what kind of day you had, as if that were the basis for our entrance into the presence of the sovereign and holy God? No wonder we cannot beat the Devil. This is works theology. It has nothing to do with grace and the exclusive sufficiency of Christ. Nothing. 

Do you not understand that we overcome the accuser on the ground of the blood of Christ? Nothing more, nothing less. That is how we win. It is the only way we win. This is the only ground of our acceptance before God. If you drift far from the cross, you are done. You are defeated. 

We overcome the accuser of our brothers and sisters, we overcome our consciences, we overcome our bad tempers, we overcome our defeats, we overcome our lusts, we overcome our fears, we overcome our pettiness on the basis of the blood of the Lamb.

— D. A. Carson, Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus, 103

A Church Culture That Embodies The Implications of the Gospel is Hard to Find

Tony Reinke:

Wise pastor Ray Ortlund addresses this problem throughout his forthcoming book, The Gospel: How the Church Portrays the Beauty of Christ (Crossway; April 30, 2014). He writes this on pages 82–83: 

A gospel culture is harder to lay hold of than gospel doctrine. It requires more relational wisdom and finesse. It involves stepping into a kind of community unlike anything we’ve experienced, where we happily live together on a love we can’t create. A gospel culture requires us not to bank on our own importance or virtues, but to forsake self-assurance and exult together in Christ alone. 

This mental adjustment is not easy, but living in this kind of community is wonderful. We find ourselves saying with Paul, “For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things” — all the trophies of our self-importance, all the wounds of our self-pity, every self-invented thing that we lug around as a way of getting attention — “and count them as dung in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ” (Phil. 3:8–9). 

Paul did not regard the loss of his inflated self as sacrificial. Who admires his own dung? It is a relief to be rid of our distasteful egos! And when a whole church together luxuriates in Christ alone, that church embodies a gospel culture. It becomes a surprising new kind of community where sinners and sufferers come alive because the Lord is there, giving himself freely to the desperate and undeserving. 

But how easy it is for a church to exist in order to puff itself up! How hard it is to forsake our own glory for a higher glory! 

The primary barrier to displaying the beauty of Jesus in our churches comes from the way we re-insert ourselves into that sacred center that belongs to him alone. Exalting ourselves always diminishes his visibility. That is why cultivating a gospel culture requires a profound, moment by moment “unselfing” by every one of us. It is personally costly, even painful.

The Three Worst Qualities of the Gospel-Centered Movement

Good reminders here from Dave Moser.  His three point are:

• The gospel-centered movement has the potential to turn us into legalists about the gospel.
• The gospel-centered movement has the potential to turn us into worshipers of the gospel instead of worshipers of God.
• The gospel-centered movement has the potential to disconnect the gospel from our lives.

Read the rest for his explanations.  

No Longer Looking at Himself or to Himself

Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

We can put it this way: the man who has faith is the man who is no longer looking at himself and no longer looking to himself. He no longer looks at anything he once was. He does not look at what he is now. He does not even look at what he hopes to be as the result of his own efforts. He looks entirely to the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work, and rests on that alone. He has ceased to say, “Ah yes, I used to commit terrible sins but I have done this and that.” He stops saying that. If he goes on saying that, he has not got faith. Faith speaks in an entirely different manner and makes a man say, “Yes I have sinned grievously, I have lived a life of sin, yet I know that I am a child of God because I am not resting on any righteousness of my own; my righteousness is in Jesus Christ and God has put that to my account.”

(HT:  Tullian)

Don’t just tell people to believe the gospel but tell them what this “good news” is.

Nick Laparra:

Preachers and teachers need to be especially considerate to the language they are using. It can be very easy to slip into using a bunch of doctrinal terms and reference bible characters as if everyone knows who or what you are talking about. This assumes too much isolating the unbeliever or new believer and can create missed opportunities to share the gospel with the lost or help the new believer grow in maturity. Let us be considerate and take the extra time to explain every doctrinal term and use language that is common to our context and culture. This is the very art of teaching is it not!

Finally, I have noticed and caught myself often being sloppy with the gospel. Even us gospel centered disciple makers can be lazy and hear of people sin’s and issue’s and toss out a quick, “well you just need to believe the gospel.” We can take this precious word and mishandle it until it loses it’s meaning. Don’t just tell people to believe the gospel but tell them what this “good news” is. Pray through what aspect of the gospel they may need to hear. Do they need a reminder of the good news of the forgiveness won for them on the cross? Or do they need a reminder of the good news that Jesus is alive and will return one day to make all things new. Maybe they feel hopeless to beat sin and need to hear the good news that Jesus sent the Spirit to dwell in us. Explaining the good news of the gospel is powerful for everyone who speaks and hears it.

In addition, use God’s word to show these truths. God’s word is rich with explanations of the good news and is our best tool for revealing all that Christ accomplished for us on the cross. Use God’s word to explain the gospel and others will start looking to God’s word on their own to understand the gospel.

Language is a gift. Let us use it wisely and intentionally to create a culture that encourages and builds up generations to love and serve Jesus as his church!

Read the rest.

The Treadmill of Merit

Tullian:

I recently read this testimony from a guy who grew up in the pop-Evangelical culture of the late 20th century and who, for 7 years, was a full-time staffer at a large, well-known Evangelical para-church ministry. Sadly, I’ve heard this same kind of testimony from numerous people who grew up inside the church. As you can see from how he describes his experience, distinguishing law and gospel is not simply a theological exercise. Perhaps you can relate:

I experienced what happens when the Law and the Gospel are not understood and therefore distinguished. My Christian life, truly begun in grace, was now being “perfected” on the treadmill of the Law. My pastors did not end their sermons by demanding that I recite the rosary or visit Lourdes that week in order to unleash God’s power; instead, I was told to yield more, pray more, care more about unbelievers, read the Bible more, get involved in church more, and love my wife and kids more. Not until I came to the [theology of the Reformation] some 20 years later, did I understand that my Christian life had come to center around me and my performance: my life, my obedience, my yielding, my Bible verse memorization, my prayers, my zeal, my witnessing, and my sermon application. I had advanced beyond the need to hear the cross preached to me anymore…What had my Evangelical training done to me? The Gospel was critical for me at the beginning, critical for me to share with others, and still critical to get me to heaven, but it was of little other value. The “evangel” in Evangelicalism was missing. My training had me on a treadmill of merit.

The Importance of Asking "Why"

Ryan Huguley with an important post for gospel application.

Religion Based Application vs. Gospel-Centred Application

Timmy Brister:

Religion-based application focuses on what must I do first;
Gospel-centered application focuses on what Jesus has done first.

Religion-based application addresses only the fruit of our behavior;
Gospel-centered application strikes at the root of heart transformation.

Religion-based application says, “I must obey; therefore I’m accepted.”
Gospel-centered application says, “I’m accepted; therefore I gladly obey.”

Religion-based application explains that what you do defines who are you;
Gospel-centered application explains who you are defines what you do.

Religion-based application leads to emotional highs and lows based on shaky spiritual performances;
Gospel-centered application hitches your affections to your identity & acceptance in Christ.

Religion-based application has a philosophy of “try harder and do better”;
Gospel-centered application has a philosophy of “repent, believe, and repeat”

Religion-based application says my problems are manageable and I can fit it;
Gospel-centered application says my sins are massive and only Jesus can fix it.

Religion-based application emphasizes my will power and assumed competency;
Gospel-centered application emphasizes God’s grace in my weakness and dependency.

Religion-based application takes ten looks at self and one look at Christ;
Gospel-centered application takes one look at self and takes ten looks at Christ.

Read the rest for more explanation.  

Gospel Implications

Jonathan Leeman:

Don't be afraid of people who will make fun of you for being a Christian. Don't be afraid of those who might persecute you. Don't be afraid of losing your job, your family, or your life. Be strong and courageous. God alone is to be feared. Obey him.

Often it's our fear of the world that lies behind our disobedience. We fear what we might lose: our reputation, our money, our job, our safety, our lusts, our ambitions, even our life. So we try to take control of our circumstances and do whatever it takes to hold on to what we want.

Knowing that God is generous and faithful to his promises helps us be strong and courageous because we can trust his character as we pour out our lives for him.

This means that as Christians, we can be generous with our money and time, knowing that God cares for us and will provide for us. Don't worry!

This means we can take the gospel to tough neighborhoods and hostile nations, knowing that God will keep his promises---that his sheep in those neighborhoods and nations will hear his voice and that nothing can separate us from his love. Don't fear!

This means that we can have the courage to be faithful as parents and as spouses, doing what is right in those relationships day after day, even though the results are not always visible.Don't be anxious! Take courage.

Read the rest.


Books by Jonathan Leeman:

• Church Membership: How the World Knows Who Represents Jesus
• The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline
• Church Discipline: How the Church Protects the Name of Jesus
• Reverberation: How God's Word Brings Light, Freedom, and Action to His People

Some Questions for Recent "Gospel-Centered" Debates

Mark Lauterbach writes well.

‘Tis strange how self righteousness thrives at the foot of the cross. “Tis not surprising where the devil plays.

I am no blog-monger nor tweet afficionado, but it seems there is a web-buzzing about “Gospel” these days. It’s all about justification and sanctification (is there a hole in our holiness?), about law and grace, about gospel motivation, about depravity and regeneration, about feeding on our justification and the danger of self-righteousness.

I read all this and wonder. I wonder if, from my limited perspective, we are experiencing the work of the devil. I wonder if Satan, the master of jiu jitsu of the soul, is not doing what he always does — pushing us to extremes. I wonder if he is not going about stirring up strife between people who are gospel-focused, and pushing them to think they are the most consistent, the most careful, the most grace motivated. I wonder if he is not at work to make us think we are “more gospel centered than thou.” Really.

Let me be clear. I am grateful for the working of God to renew Gospel focus across so many denominations and churches. It was just not so 30 years ago. The Gospel was the entry message for the Christian life, and after that, it was all law. I preached that way for the first ten years of ministry, until God sent a messenger to correct me. Now it seems every day a new book is published applying the Gospel to another area of life!

But, in all this debating about Gospel motivation, have we been drawn into something that is a rat’s nest?

So, let me ask some questions...

Read the rest.

His questions:

• First, are we making the Scriptures harder to understand than they are?
• Second, I ask, are we confusing the internal function of the Gospel with the objective truth of the Gospel?
• Third, have we created both a new law and a perfectionism?
• Fourth, have we changed the “involuntary” working of God into a voluntary and conscious activity of the believer. Have we allowed our therapeutic, self-aware, constantly-checking-out-the-state-of-our-heart culture to shape our doctrine?

The Daily Gospel: Discipling Yourself

Great post here from Matthew Sims.

But What If I Don't Feel Authentic Assurance?

J.D. Greear:

If you were honest, you’d probably admit there are moments when you do not feel “Christian” at all. Moments in which you care more about what’s coming on TV that night than you do the spread of the kingdom of God in the world. Moments in which you have fallen to that same old temptation for the thousandth time. Moments when God feels distant, almost like a stranger. Seasons in which your emotions for Him are lukewarm, if not downright cold. When you don’t jump out of bed in the morning hungry for His Word. When your mind wanders all over the place during prayer—that is, when you can bring yourself to pray. Moments when you’re not even sure you believe all this stuff.
Does that sound familiar to you? Times like that are familiar to me. Not all the time, not even most of the time, but certainly more often than I’d care to admit.

What do you do in that moment? Pray “the sinners’ prayer” again? Should I call my old church and have the pastor fill up the all-too-familiar baptismal?

The answer is to keep believing the gospel, to keep your hand on the head of the Lord Jesus Christ. No matter how we feel at any given moment, how encouraged or discouraged we feel about our spiritual progress, how hot or cold our love for Jesus, the answer is always the same—exercise faith in the gospel.

On your very best of days, you must rest all your hopes on God’s grace to you in Christ. On your worst of days, it should be your refuge and your boast. Your posture should always be one of dependence on it.

Many people assume the “feeling” of being saved indicates whether or not they actually are saved. Feelings, however, are fickle and dangerously misleading, and Scripture never points us to our “feelings” for assurance. Feelings come from assurance; they are not the basis for it. Assurance is based on the fact of Christ’s finished work; our “feelings” of being saved come from faith in that finished work.

This is an except from J.D.'s forthcoming book. Check it out here.

Preaching the Book of Galatians to Yourself – Chapter Five

Guest post by BJ Stockman


Chapter Five

• Jesus set me free.  Therefore I will not submit to any “yokes” of slavery that are add-on’s to the Gospel no matter how spiritual they may seem.  My freedom hinges on Jesus’ work—nothing else.  (5:1)

• I will stand firm in the Gospel.  My right-standing before God is due to Jesus not something that I do or don’t do.  I stand firm in Christ not self.  I know that love for the Gospel will breed humble Christ-confidence not prideful self-confidence in my life.  (5:1)

• I recognize that if I receive something else besides Jesus, like circumcision, to increase my spiritual standing before God Jesus is no benefit to me.  The benefits of the Gospel come from Jesus alone. (5:2)

• When I receive religious traditions and law as well as the person of Jesus, I place myself under obligation to keep the whole law.  In light of this, I trust Jesus and thus reject everything else as a means to finding favor with God. (5:3)

• I know that seeking justification from law is falling from grace.  Falling from grace isn’t so much a direct rejection of Jesus, but an indirect acceptance of anything else besides Jesus to make me right with God.  If I treat Jesus as only a piece of God’s saving work, I sever myself from Jesus.   Therefore I will seek to sever all those things from my life which disconnect me from Jesus even if others think those same things connect me to Jesus. (5:4)

• I wait for the hope of righteousness through the Holy Spirit and by faith.  Righteousness comes from the work of the Spirit not through my works. (5:5)

• I believe that faith works through love.  Faith is not empty.  Faith is filled with love.  Therefore by faith I believe that Jesus alone means everything, and that religious traditions like uncircumcision or circumcision mean nothing. (5:6)

• I desire to run my race well, and I believe that I run best not by adding things to the truth of the Gospel, but by trusting the truth of the Gospel.  I will train myself daily with the Gospel believing Jesus’ work on my behalf.  I will begin my days not doing work for Jesus but trusting Jesus’ work for me. (5:7)

• God calls me to Jesus—not Jesus plus something or someone else.  God loves persuading people to the sufficiency of his Son not to self-sufficiency.  (5:8)

• I know that my life and the church as a whole can become filled with leaven—filled with things other than Jesus.  Since leaven spreads quickly I will seek to be on guard against any particles of the leaven of legalism and law-living in my life and the community of faith that I am a part of.  (5:9)

• I recognize that false teachers who sneak into the community of faith and preach another Jesus or in addition to Jesus will come under judgment.  (5:10)

• I believe that the cross is a stumbling block.  It is offensive.  I will not be surprised then when moralists are offended by the radical grace of Jesus, nor will I be surprised when false teachers attempt to undermine the centrality of the cross of Jesus in the church.  (5:11)

• Paul uses harsh language when speaking of false teachers.  He wishes that those who advocate circumcision along with Jesus as a means to salvation would go all the way and castrate themselves.  Therefore I will not be soft on false teachers who know better.  (5:12)

• I will use sarcasm for the sake of the Gospel to reveal the foolishness of false teaching.  Sarcasm is not to reveal my cleverness but to point people to Jesus.  (5:12)

• My freedom in Christ is not a freedom to sin.  Therefore I resist tendencies to turn the radical grace of God into license.  Instead Gospel-freedom moves me to serve and love others, not serve and indulge myself.  (5:13)

• Since the Law is fulfilled in loving my neighbor as myself—I will love Jesus and love other people.  Radical grace emboldens me to love radically not sin radically.  (5:14)

• I will not engage in biting and devouring other people through my self-centered words and actions, but will seek to build up the church.  (5:15)

• By faith I will walk by the Spirit so that I do not carry out the desires of the flesh.  I will not fight flesh with flesh, but flesh with Spirit.   (5:16)

• I know life is war and that an inner conflict of flesh versus Spirit wages within me, and within those in the church.  Therefore I will seek to live by the Spirit, and will strive to be patient with others and forgiving toward others knowing that perfection will not be achieved till Jesus returns.  (5:17)

• Because of Jesus I am not under the law, but led by the Spirit.  I will avoid living a life led by law, and pursue the Holy Spirit’s work in my life.  (5:18)

• I will seek to kill the following sins in my life: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and other things similar to these.  I take the warning of Paul against these things seriously, and will not play with sin.  I know that playing around with particular sins end in practicing and being addicted to the same sins.  At times I will examine myself and ask the opinion of others to see that I am not engaging in these sinful deeds.  (5:19-21)

• I know that those who practice and live consistently in these sinful lifestyles will not inherit the kingdom of God.   I will not lift my noses at others who engage in these things, but will live soberly knowing that I too could become entangled in them.   Also, I will not be controlled by my past when I have engaged in these things (even if the past means yesterday), but I now ask Jesus to forgive me and ask for the Holy Spirit to enable me to kill my sin and bear the fruit of the Spirit. (5:19-23)

• I desire and ask the Holy Spirit to produce the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in my life.  I know that these aren’t fruits plural but fruit singular, and that I am called to walk in all of them not just some of them.  I will not settle with my current level of maturity, but desire growth in the Spirit. (5:22-23)

• Because I have died with Jesus, I have died to the flesh and these sinful passions and desires.  Therefore I will live and act like I am dead to them, because I really have died to them.  I don’t kill sin in order to die to sin and in order to be alive to Jesus.  I kill sin because I’m dead to sin and alive to Jesus.  (5:24)

• Because I live by the Spirit due to the person and work of Jesus I will walk by the Spirit.  I know that this is not passive, but an active pursuit.  Therefore I ask God for help and for more of the Spirit’s work in my life.  I desire continual fillings of the Spirit so that I am empowered to walk filled with the Spirit.  (5:25)

• I know the Spirit hates boasting, and challenging, and envying my brothers and sisters in Christ.  Therefore I will strive to boast in others successes, encourage others in their faith, and rejoice when others are blessed.  I believe that the Holy Spirit works supernaturally, but sometimes the great work of the Spirit is found in the “simple” things like an encouraging word or holding one’s tongue.  (5:26)

Preaching the Book of Galatians to Yourself – Chapter Four

Guest post by BJ Stockman

Chapter Four

• As a son of God, I am no longer a slave to the elemental spirits of the world.  Satan and demons do not have authority over me because I am God’s son.  (4:1-3)

• I have been redeemed because God sent Jesus who is a man like me, yet who fulfilled the law of God on my behalf.  Jesus has redeemed me from living under the curse of the law because he bore the curse and fulfilled the requirements of the law for me. (4:4-5)

• I am God’s adopted son.  He did not have to love me, but he chose to love me.  (4:5)

• God has sent the Spirit of Jesus within me so that I have an intimate relationship with the Father like a child has with his/her Daddy.  (4:6)

• I am no longer a slave to anything, but Christ, and Christ is my brother and God is my Father. (4:7)

• As God’s son, I am an heir of a great inheritance beyond any wealth that can be achieved in this world or bigger than any estate in this world.  I am an heir through the means of God’s grace, and am an heir of God Himself and all that Jesus owns, which is everything.  (4:7)

• Because God has known me and chosen me, and I have known and chosen Him, I will not turn back to slavery to demons or anything else, but will live as a son in the freedom Jesus has purchased for me and in the victory Jesus has won for me. (4:8-9)

• I will not be held captive to observing special days and religious traditions, but I will be captivated by Christ and not the shadows that pointed to him.  (4:10)

• I recognize that sometimes God uses physical infirmities, whether sickness or pain, in believers to further the spread of the Gospel.  More than physical prosperity I desire that the Gospel prosper throughout the world.  I will value the Gospel as the greatest good and not my own health as the greatest good.  (4:13)

• I will welcome those who have physical infirmities, and not despise them.  I will seek to do all I can to help alleviate the physical infirmities of others. (4:14-15)

• I desire Paul’s passion that Jesus be formed in those around me.  Similar to a mother enduring the pain of childbirth to enjoy a baby, I will endure all things to see that Jesus is formed within my friends and family.  When life is difficult, trials come, and those around me disappoint and begin to drift away from the Gospel.  I will not lose hope, but I will strive even more, even when it causes me emotional pain, to see that they love and trust Jesus. (4:19)

• I will listen to the true meaning of the law, as it always points to the freedom that Christ brings. (4:21, 31)

• I recognize that Abraham had a child of promise from Sara who is free and a child of flesh from Hagar who is enslaved, and that I am a child of promise who should live in freedom.  (4:22-28)

• I will not trust in a life of law-centered living, which is the false gospel of Ishmael and Hagar and Mt. Sinai, but will entrust my whole being to Jesus, which is the Gospel of Isaac and Sara and the Jerusalem above.  Therefore I do not need to follow the Jewish law to be a true son of God or to reach a higher level of Christian spirituality; I just need to trust the person and work of Jesus alone, which is the only pathway to Christian maturity.  (4:22-28)

• I will not take things into my own hands like Abraham did with Hagar to achieve the blessing of God, but I will trust God’s promises that he will accomplish what He promised in due time.  (4:23)

• I will live a life of joy because I am a child of the free woman. (4:27)

• I believe that God does supernatural miracles and brings supernatural blessing to desolate people. (4:27)

• I know that there are those, children of the flesh, who would seek to bring me back into enslavement according to law and legalism, and persecute me because of my freedom, doing it in the name of God and covenant.  I will not  submit to them and act contrary to who I am in Christ, as if I am a son of bondage to law, but will live as a son of God in freedom. (4:29)

• I believe that those who distort the truth of the Gospel of Christ and turn it into slavery to law, like Hagar’s children, are to be driven out of the church.  (4:30)

Preaching the Book of Galatians to Yourself – Chapter Three

Guest post by BJ Stockman

Chapter Three

• I will not be foolish and be cast under the spell of trading the true Gospel of grace for a different one.  My greatest remedy against false gospels is to be infatuated and continually familiar with the true Gospel.  (3:1)

• I will not be impressed with preachers that do not focus my eyes on Jesus Christ and whom do not consistently paint the picture of the crucified Jesus before me no matter how clever and inspiring and motivating they are in their preaching. (3:1)

• I receive the Holy Spirit by faith, not by works.  I desire more of the Holy Spirit’s work in my life, and I receive the Spirit by faith in the finished work of Christ not by doing works. (3:2)

• I will not pursue sanctification by works, but by faith.  I recognize that justification and sanctification are both by faith.  (3:3)

• When suffering comes I know that it is not in vain, but that the Holy Spirit is still working.  Therefore I trust Jesus for endurance through suffering. (3:4)

• God generously provides me with the Holy Spirit and works miracles through faith, not works.  I desire God’s gifts of a greater filling of the Holy Spirit and miracles, and I trust Him to provide them. (3:5)

• I will not despise the preached word, but will believe the preached word that glorifies Jesus and emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit.  I recognize that hearing the word is critical in building my faith. (3:1-2, 5)

• I know that God counted Abraham righteous because he believed God.  (3:6)

• I am a son of Abraham because I believe the Gospel.  My brothers and sisters who believe the Gospel are sons of Abraham as well. (3:7)

• The Old Testament Scriptures foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith.  Abraham had the gospel preached to him, as all nations are blessed in Abraham.  Therefore I will not ignore the Old Testament, but trust God’s word and God’s gospel in all the Scriptures. (3:8)

• The blessing of Abraham is upon me because I am a believer like Abraham. (3:9)

• When I work from law I am returning to the curse because I do not do all that is written in the law.  I refuse to live under the curse that the law brings, because I am now in Christ. (3:10)

• It is evident that no one is justified by law-keeping, because in the Old Testament God has made clear that the righteous live by faith.  God’s righteousness is imputed to me by faith in Jesus not by law-keeping, and I am justified before God by faith not by law-keeping.  (3:11)

• I will not live with the idea that the Old Testament was about law, while the New Testament is about faith.  God has always, in the Old and New Testament, said that the righteous live by faith not law. (3:10-12)

• Jesus, the Messiah and promised one of the Old Testament, has redeemed me from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse in my place.  Jesus has taken the curse that I deserve, and has blessed me with the gift of grace that I do not deserve. (3:13-14)

• Jesus has suffered public humiliation and shame by becoming a curse for me so that I will not face the shame my sins deserved.  Jesus has removed the shame of my sinfulness at the cross, and he has completely absorbed God’s wrath that my sins deserved by taking my place and the place of all who believe. (3:13-14)

• Jesus became a curse for the purpose of giving me and the rest of the Gentiles the blessing of Abraham. (3:14)

• By faith in the finished work of Jesus I have received the Holy Spirit.  Jesus death on my behalf not only removes the curse it grants me the gift of the Holy Spirit. (3:14)

• Human covenants are not set-aside and neither are God’s covenants.  Since the law came after the covenant with Abraham, the covenant with Abraham is not annulled.  God’s law does not annul God’s covenant. (3:15, 17)

• I recognize that God’s promise is to Abraham and to Abraham’s Seed not seeds.  The Seed of Abraham is Jesus Himself, and therefore every nation is blessed in Jesus.  Since I am in Jesus by faith I am a son of Abraham and a part of a multi-national community of faith.  I will seek to have a global-perspective and not just a local-perspective.  (3:16)

• The inheritance given to Abraham came from a promise not from a law.  Therefore my inheritance is based on God’s promise not on God’s law. (3:18)

• I recognize that the law was added because of sin, until Jesus, the seed of Abraham, came.  (3:19)

• Faith in Jesus is superior to law-keeping, because the law was given by mediators, and in Christ God has dealt directly with His people.  Therefore I will spend my day running to Jesus not to the law. (3:19-20)

• The law does not impute life or righteousness.  In the person and work of Jesus is where life and righteousness are found.  God’s work in Jesus has imputed life and righteousness to me (3:21)

• I understand that the law is not contrary to the promises of God, but that the Scriptures shut up everyone under sin so that the promises of God in the person of Jesus would be received by faith.  The law and the Scriptures show me my sinfulness and my need for Jesus. (3:21-22)

• I, like King David, love the law, because I recognize that the purpose of the law is to bring me to faith in Jesus.  Through the law I see my sinfulness and I turn to Jesus by faith.  (3:23-24)

• The law is my tutor teaching me to go to Jesus, and now I live Christ-centered not law-centered. (3:25)

• I am a son of God because I believe in God’s Son, Jesus. (3:26)

• As my baptism has publicly declared, I am clothed with Jesus Christ. (3:27)

• I repent of my racism, and I recognize that in Christ God is making a diverse people one. (3:28)

• I repent of my feelings of superiority over people because of their class or social status, and I recognize that Jesus makes slave and free, rich and poor, employee and employer one. (3:28)

• I repent of my sexism and I recognize that men and women have equality in Jesus. (3:28)

• I am a part of God’s covenant people because I belong to Jesus not because I keep the law. (3:29)

• I am an heir according to God’s promise because I belong to Jesus not because I keep the law. (3:29)

Preaching the Book of Galatians to Yourself – Chapter Two

Guest post by BJ Stockman

Chapter Two

• I will entrust myself to others and seek the encouragement and correction of other Christians.  I will seek godly counsel and community, so that I do not live in self-deception and the error of hyper-individualism.  (2:1-2)

• I recognize that there will be some in the church who will seek to bring me back into bondage to man-made tradition and legalisms, and I will not submit to them even for a moment.  My aim is not primarily to preserve my own personal freedom and liberty, but so that the Gospel will remain with those around me and not be compromised by man-made religious traditions. (2:3-5)

• I will not be awed by the reputation of ministers of the gospel.  I will strive to honor them, but since God has no partiality, I will not give an improper amount of affection to them or treat them like a celebrity. (2:6)

• I will not have a narrow view of God’s work in the world thinking that his Gospel must work in the same way it does in my context.  God works through Peter’s and Paul’s alike, and within the circumcised and uncircumcised alike.  I recognize that the Gospel will effectually work through different kinds of men and women in different kinds of contexts.  I will seek to have Gospel-shaped humility in contextualizing the Gospel and Gospel-shaped integrity in the content of the Gospel.  (2:7-9)

• I will strive to remember the poor in everything that I do.  The grace and freedom of the Gospel launches me into compassion for the poor it does not exempt me from it.  (2:10)

• I am not surprised that Paul opposed Peter publicly to his face or that Peter stood condemned because he compromised the Gospel—the core of our faith.  I will not be a person saturated with negativity nor be on a crusade of doctrinal head-hunting, but I will be a person who recognizes that when church leaders compromise the Gospel they deserve rebuke. (2:11)

• I recognize that if men of God like Peter fear men, I will be prone to fear men too.  I repent of the fear of man in my life and desire the Spirit to work in my heart the joy of fearing of God.  (2:12)

• Gospel denial is not merely doctrinal, but practical.  I will strive to live out the practical implications of the Gospel in community, and not just understand the doctrinal principles in my head. (2:12-13)

• I recognize that even if my sphere of influence is small my actions influence other people in either adorning the Gospel or in bringing shame to the Gospel. (2:13)

• I will be straightforward about the truth of the Gospel.  I will live a life that not only assumes the Gospel but makes much of it.  (2:14)

• In Paul’s rebuke of Peter I see that justification by faith alone in Christ alone is critical to the content of the Gospel, because Paul essentially says the same thing three times:
• I am not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus.
• I have believed in Jesus, the Messiah, and therefore I am justified by faith not by the works of the law.
• No human being can be justified before God by doing the works of the Law. (2:16-17)

• I understand that Gospel-repetition is central to Gospel-fidelity.  Therefore I will review the Gospel consistently in my life, and strive to preach the Gospel to myself everyday. (2:16-17)

• I believe that justification is God’s objective legal pronouncement over my life where he declares me righteous in Christ Jesus.  My standing before God is not determined by my life and actions, but my standing before God is determined by Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.  The future verdict at the final judgment when I meet God face to face has already been pronounced over my life in the present because of the person and work of Jesus on my behalf.  I have been justified by faith in Jesus’ work not my own works.  (2:16-17)

• I am saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.  His work on my behalf saves me.  My religious strivings and religious associations do not save me.  I recognize that law is not the way to a mature Christian life, but that Jesus is the way to a mature Christian life. (2:16-17)

• Though I am justified apart from works of the law Jesus is not a minister of sin.  Therefore I will not sin so that grace may abound. (2:17)

• I have died to the law for the purpose of living to Christ.  Therefore I live for Jesus not for law.  I will live by faith not by works. (2:18-19)

• I died with Christ at His crucifixion, and was raised with Him in His resurrection.  Therefore I am dead to law and Jesus is alive in me.  I will live life, all of life, by faith in Jesus who loves me and gave Himself for me. My Christian life is built on an internal relationship with the resurrected Jesus not on service to a written code of external law. (2:20).

• I refuse to nullify the grace of God by attempting to earn righteousness by law-keeping.  I recognize that when I attempt to be righteous by my own efforts I am saying that Jesus died for no purpose.  My righteousness is in Jesus alone.  By faith I receive the righteousness that God has freely given me in the work of Jesus. (2:21)

Preaching the Book of Galatians to Yourself – Chapter One

Guest post by BJ Stockman

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones asks a provoking question, ”Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?”  (Spiritual Depression, p. 20)

He then offers an equally provoking remedy to this condition: “The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself.  You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself.” (Ibid., p. 20, emphasis mine)

I too am convinced that preaching the Gospel to yourself is a wonderful “art” to develop as a Christian.  I need the Gospel every day, and because I need the Gospel every day I need ways in which to remind myself of what God has done in Christ.  Since Paul’s book of Galatians is a kind of Gospel punch-in-the-gut, I figured that’d be a good book to start preaching to myself.  Therefore I will be doing a series of blog posts on “Preaching the Book of Galatians to Yourself”.  I will be taking, for the most part, every verse in Galatians and turn it into self-sermons.

There are two main caveats to what follows.

First, it could be argued that some of these are more like resolutions from the book of Galatians, and that if a person took only one particular bullet point it could turn into moralism.  That is true. These bullet points are meant to be taken more in chunks rather than just one at a time. They are not meant to be some sort of positive-thinking or self-actualizing  mantra.  My hope is that they are Gospel laden.  However, if you want to call ‘em resolutions from Galatians go for it.

Second, some may think this is a bit individualistic and introspective.  I do not mean it to be so. Preaching the Gospel to yourself should lift you out of preoccupation with yourself and move you into preoccupation with God and what he has done in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  A preoccupation with what Jesus has done will overflow with greater love for God and greater love for your neighbor.

With that in mind, here goes…

Chapter One

• Paul is a man on a mission sent from God not from other men, and thus I believe that his message to the Galatians is a message sent from God not from man. (1:1)
• I too am on mission sent from God.  God is a sending God doing mission on the earth and I am a Gospel-missionary to my surrounding context no matter what my social or “ministry” status.  (1:1)
• Paul’s message to the Galatians is sent to churches not to an individual.  Therefore I recognize that God’s Gospel is not just for me, but to a wider community of brothers and sisters in Christ.  I will not live a life centered upon “I” but upon “us.” (1:2)
• I receive the grace and peace that God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ has given me through the Gospel and within Paul’s letter to the Galatians. (1:3)
• Jesus gave Himself for my sins in order to rescue me from this present evil age.   Therefore one of the reasons my sins are forgiven is to rescue me from living a life committed to the values of the world. (1:4)
• God’s rescue and Gods’ gift of salvation in Christ are the plan of God.  It was God’s will to save me.  My salvation is a result of God’s initiative not my own initiative. (1:4)
• My salvation is more about God’s glory than it is about me. (1:5)
• I, like the Galatians, am prone to desert the true Gospel of the grace of Jesus for something different. Therefore I repent of my Gospel-forgetfulness and will seek daily Gospel-wakefulness (1:6)
• I recognize that there are those in the church who want to disturb God’s people and distort the gospel of Christ. Therefore I will not live gullibly, but circumspectly in life and doctrine (1:7)
• Any “gospel” message that de-emphasizes and de-centralizes the grace of God is a distortion of God’s Gospel.  Therefore I will reject any message that seeks to combine the work of man with the work of God in salvation.  (1:6-7)
• If any man or woman preaches a message contrary to the grace of Christ: let them be accursed. (1:8)
• Even if angels were to show up and give me a message different from Paul’s message to the Galatians: let them be anathema. (1:8)
• Since Paul repeats this I recognize that Gospel repetition is important, and I believe that any human being or any angel who preaches something contrary to God’s grace in Christ and that which is different than Paul’s message to the Galatians is to be damned to hell. Therefore I will not trifle and tinker with the Gospel, because it is a matter of an eternal blessing or an eternal curse. (1:9)
• I will not seek the favor of men, but the favor of God.  (1:10)
• The Gospel of Jesus Christ was not made up by men, but originates in God.  Since Paul was taught the message of the Gospel through a revelation of Jesus Christ I will reject any supposed revelation that subverts or minimizes his message. (1:11-12)
• In the Gospel I am a recipient of divine revelation not man-made tradition. (1:11-12)
• Before Paul became a Christian he was zealous for man-made traditions and was one of the best students of Judaism, and even persecuted the church of God because he thought he was defending the truth and doing righteousness.  In light of this, I will seek to be zealous not for man-made traditions and religion, but for God’s Gospel. (1:13-14)
• I, like Paul, have been set apart by God from my mother’s womb and have been called by the grace of Christ.  I am encouraged that God’s loving pleasure in me precedes my birth and precedes my faith in His Gospel. I am also encouraged that God’s call does not rest on my faith, but that my faith was born out of God’s call.  (1:15)
• I will seek to preach Jesus and not myself to those around me. (1:16)
• I do not need validation from the culture or men and women that surround me to confirm the truth of the Gospel.  God has already publicly validated his message by raising Jesus from the dead. (1:1, 1:16-21)
• I will glorify God when He saves wicked men like Paul, because I recognize first and foremost that he has saved wicked men like me. (1:22-24)
• I will not be frustrated by the fact that God chooses and saves those who have mistreated his church, ones I love, and even those who have mistreated me, but I will glory in the gracious work of God. (1:22-24)

The Impact of Ultimate Aquittal

Tullian T:

The judgement of others is a surface echo of a judgment that goes deeper. So if we’re living in an environment or we are in a relationship that feeds this fear of judgment with constant judging, we deflate and detach because it becomes discouragingly exhausting trying to satisfy the demands and appease the judgment of the other. We become depleted of the hope that we can ever attain the affirmation that seems so necessary for us to live and breathe and so the relationship flounders.

The fact is, that relational demand always creates relational resistance. Control produces relational chaos, demand produces relational detachment, criticism produces relational commotion.

Most preachers and parents, spouses and siblings, fall prey to the false idea that real change happens when we lay down the law, exercise control, demand good performance, and offer constant constructive criticism. And then we wonder why our spouse, or our children, or our friends, or our colleagues, or our congregants become relationally and emotionally detached from us. We are feeding their deep fear of judgement by playing the judge.

When we feel this weight of judgment against us, we all tend to slip into the slavery of self-salvation: trying to appease the judge (friends, parents, spouse, ourselves) with hard work, good behavior, getting better, achievement, losing weight, and so on. We conclude, “If I can just stay out of trouble and get good grades, maybe my mom and dad will finally accept me.” “If I can work hard at the way I look, maybe my husband will finally pay attention to me.” “If I can become more attentive, maybe my wife will finally respect me.” “If I can change, maybe my boyfriend will finally love me.” But, as is always the case, self-salvation projects experientially eclipse the only salvation project that can set us free from this oppression. “If we were confident of ultimate acquittal”, says Zahl, “judgment from others would not possess the sting it does.”

Read the rest.

God's Solution

Tullian Tchividjian:

Preachers these days are expected to major in “Christian moral renovation.” They are expected to provide a practical “to-do” list, rather than announce, “It is finished.” They are expected to do something other than placarding before their congregations' eyes Christ’s finished work, preaching a full absolution solely on the basis of the complete righteousness of another. The irony is when preachers cave in to this pressure, moral renovation does not happen. To focus on how I’m doing more than on what Christ has done is Christian narcissism – the poison of self-absorption which undermines the power of the gospel in our lives. Martin Luther noted that “the sin underneath all our sins is the lie of the serpent that we cannot trust the love and grace of Christ and that we must take matters into our own hands.”

In the promise of the resurrection, death loses its power.

Moral renovation, in other words, is to refocus our eyes away from ourselves to that man’s obedience, to that man’s cross, to that man’s blood–to that man’s death and resurrection!

“In my place condemned he stood, and sealed my pardon with his blood–hallelujah, what a Savior!”

Learning daily to love this glorious exchange, to lean on its finishedness, and to live under its banner is what it means to be morally reformed!

Read the rest.

The Great Exchange in a Diagram