Psalm 30: A Field Manual for Praise

Living our lives in this sin cursed world is very often not easy. Life is not a smooth ride, but more like a roller coaster with unexpected bumps and turns. And life is sometimes more difficult for us Christians. Our enemy Satan is after us and wants us.  He will do everything in his power to frustrate us, confuse us, and mock us. Thankfully our loving Savior is in control and is working all things together for our good.


David in Psalm 30 is experiencing his enemies mocking him. For it leads him to cry out to God for help and deliverance,  "O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me" (Psalm 30:2). David cries out to his God in prayer and God is faithful to deliver him. I love the expression of David crying out to God in prayer. It points to his desperation, faith, and brokenness before God. This verse therefore tell us much about how we ought to approach God in our prayers.


But David did not just move on after God answered his prayers. No. He then gives us a weighty exhortation to praise our glorious God. "Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name" (Psalm 30:4). I love this. It makes perfect sense. Praise humbles us and gives the glory to God alone.


Towards the end of the Psalm David basically extends the praise and opens it up a bit. "You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!" (Psalm 30:11-12)


We can to. We most definitely can when we think of the infinite kindness of our God giving us his precious son Jesus. I think the description of David's mourning into dancing is a perfect description of what our response is to the gospel.


Our own sin left us miserable. We had no way out, because we didn't want to get out. We wanted our own way. Yet God rescued us. He raised us to new life in Christ!! We discover how much we need Jesus, we cling to him, and treasure him as supreme! The gospel and only the gospel leads us to dance with infinite joy, praise, and thanksgiving! Do that now.

What Keeps Us Going?

Around a week ago I had a friend ask me, how do you stay happy in a world like this? His point was in the midst of all the chaos in this fallen world it sure is hard to stay afloat. I basically said to him that he was right, this world is fallen. Its not going to be perfect. We are sinners, rebels against God, so this world will not give us complete happiness.


On the other hand, I explained to him what keeps me going in the midst of the chaos. And it is this: The fact that Jesus, the eternal God, came to live on this earth for me. The fact that he lived a perfect life to give me righteousness that I so desperately need, that he died for me and rose again for me. (2 Cor. 5:21, Philippians 2:6-8, 1 Peter 1:24).


Every day we must come back to the gospel for encouragement. It is seeing and savoring the objective truth's of the gospel that keep us going. When we sin or when we see sin around us we must remind ourselves of our sinfulness, but also delight in the fact that there is a Redeemer-Jesus God's son. And put our trust in him, for he will come back to this earth again to judge unrighteousness.

Book Review: Everyday Prayers by Scotty Smith

I received Everyday Prayers: 365 Days to a Gospel-Centered Faith by Scotty Smith unexpectedly. It's funny how life works sometimes. Let me explain. I found a gift card in my dresser from a local Christian book store in my town. I figured it didn't have any money left on it, but to my surprise I found out I had $13 on it! After looking around the bookstore I decided to get this book. I'm so glad I did!

Everyday Prayers is also a book that Scotty did not intend to write. He started writing these prayers as a new way to do his "quiet times". Scotty then began to share his prayers with his friends, then some members of his church family asked him about his prayer devotionals, then he started a small email distribution list, and then a blog. Now we have this book.

The main point of all these prayers is what Scotty calls, "praying the gospel". This book is a passionate plea to understand and experience more of the gospel of God's grace. While many devotional books focus on what we need to do for Jesus, this book focuses on what Jesus did for us. To quote Scotty, "I intentionally always come back to who we are in Christ and who he is in us. Like Luther said, we need the basics of the gospel every day because we forget the gospel every day."

What I also loved about this book was that his prayers came out of meditating on a specific passage of Scripture. At the top of every page is a passage from God's word and then the prayer follows. I have benefited the most from this book when I actually get my Bible out and read the passage for myself first and then read the prayer.

I so agree with the other reviewer who said this book is a gift for the church. I have gone through Spurgeon's Morning and Evening devotional and it was a blessing, but I believe this book has the potential to do greater things.

I know we all live busy lives. But reading one of these prayers everyday will only take you 15 to 30 minutes depending on how deep you go with it. You will be encouraged in the gospel of Jesus, you will treasure Jesus more, and you will long for Jesus to come back triumphantly to reign forever with his bride!

The Father's Bargain

This might be my favorite couple paragraphs ever written by any man. This is a conversation between the Father and the Son about the people of God. Amazing!

Here you may suppose the Father to say, when driving His bargain with Christ for you:

Father: My Son, here is a company of poor miserable souls, that have utterly undone themselves, and now lie open to my justice! Justice demands satisfaction for them, or will satisfy itself in the eternal ruin of them: What shall be done for these souls? And thus Christ returns.

Son: O my Father, such is my love to, and pity for them, that rather than they shall perish eternally, I will be responsible for them as their Surety; bring in all thy bills, that I may see what they owe thee; Lord, bring them all in, that there may be no after-reckonings with them; at my hand shall thou require it. I will rather choose to suffer their wrath than they should suffer it: upon me, my Father, upon me be all their debt.

Father: But, my Son, if thou undertake for them, thou must reckon to pay the last mite, expect no abatements; if I spare them, I will not spare thee.

Son: Content, Father, let it be so; charge it all upon me, I am able to discharge it: and though it prove a kind of undoing to me, though it impoverish all my riches, empty all my treasures, yet I am content to undertake it!” (Works, Vol.1, p.61).

John Flavel

Paul Tripp Quotes Part 4

If you love God's Word more than you love your own view of things, you know that grace has visited you.

If you willing say "no" to your selfish desires and joyfully do the will of the King, you know that grace has visited you.

If you've quit asking the creation to satisfy your heart and look to the Creator for meaning and purpose, you know grace has visited you.

If you've quit pumping your ego and daily look into the mirror of the Word to see yourself as you are, you know grace has visited you.

If your prayers are an act of submission and worship and not a catalog of self-focused requests, you know grace has visited you.

If you speak not to advance your own agenda, but to give grace to the hearer, you know grace has visited you.

If you rest in the acceptance of God and have quit living for the acceptance of those around you, you know grace has visited you.

The story of Scripture isn't a human effort story or a rules and regulations story. No, it's a GRACE story from beginning to endless end.

For your hope to be reliable it must promise the ultimate renewal of all that sin has broken and this you'll only find in Jesus.

If your God's child, it's grace in which you stand. Don't fool yourself, there is no solid rock but Christ Jesus.

Man! Think!

I came upon a sermon by C.H. Spurgeon, called Without Money And Without Price. Spurgeon was talking about the surprising nature of free grace to us. We have it so innately in us that we must do something to get something. We often take this attitude with us with regard to God's grace. But Spurgeon makes a great point that if we think a little bit, we wouldn't be nearly suprised about God's radical grace to us in the gospel:



"Thus I have spoken upon the surprising nature of this fact (free grace). But I need to add that though I have thus shown grounds for our surprise, yet if men would think a little they might not be quite so unbelievingly amazed as they are. For, after all, the best blessings we have come to us freely. What price have you paid for your lives? And yet they are very precious. 
Skin for skin, yes, all that you have would you give for them! What price do you pay for the air you breathe? What price does a man pay for the blessed sunlight? Tonight when we lay our heads down upon our pillows the poor man’s sleep shall be as sweet as the sleep of him who reclines on down. Sleep is the unbought blessing of Heaven, you cannot purchase it! It is clear, then, that some of the best blessings we possess come to us by the way of free gift."

A Prayer About Being With Jesus

This is a prayer from this book and has been very encouraging.


"When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus."  Acts 4:13


Lord Jesus, this simple story is simply what I need this morning. Peter and John, two unschooled, ordinary fishermen were radically changed and wondrously engaged in life because “these men had been with Jesus”—with you, the same Lord who lives in my heart and rules all things from heaven. Today, right now… more than anything else I need to connect with you, Jesus.
It’d be nice to hear others say, “He’s obviously been with Jesus. What else could explain his merciful heart for the broken… his outrage in the face of injustice… his calm in the midst of all kinds of provocations. What other motivation and reason would he have for loving so boldly, forgiving so deeply and giving so generously? Yeah, he’s been with Jesus, alright, because that’s surely not the guy we remember from a while back.” Jesus, as “nice” as that would be, that’s NOT AT ALL what I’m thinking about and longing for this morning.


I don’t really care what people think or don’t think about me right now… what they say or don’t say about me. I crave fresh fellowship with you in the core of my being. Union with you by faith is one thing, but vital heart engaged communion with you is quite another, Jesus.


Doing things for you is not the same thing as spending life-giving time with you. Thinking great thoughts about you is not the same thing as connecting intimately with you. Helping others understand the gospel is not the same thing as crying out from my unfettered refreshed heart…
Who do I have I in heaven but you, Jesus? And being with you, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but you, Jesus, are the strength of my heart and my portion forever… It is good, and it is enough, for me to be near you… my sovereign savior and my loving refuge.


Come, Holy Spirit, come. Ignite within my heart renewed affections and life-changing communion with Jesus. That’s what I need and want more than anything else. So very Amen, I pray in his most gracious name.

October Gospel Books

In the month of October there are three gospel centered books that are coming out. Just click on the book titles for more info.

1) Jesus + Nothing = Everything by Tullian Tchividjian (Releases Oct. 31st.)

2) Gospel Wakefulness by Jared Wilson (Releases Oct. 31st.)

3) Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary by J.D. Greear
(Released Oct. 1st.)

Certainty we can rejoice at what God is doing in many minds and hearts in rediscovering the gospel of Jesus. I'm looking forward to diving into one of these books for encouragement in my Christian walk. 

The Gospel is Outside Us!

I once read a story about Martin Luther and a friend of his. They were writing to one another and Luther's friend had some concerns about whether or not he was trusting Christ enough. The story goes like this:


Martin Luther was translating the Bible into German at the Wartburg castle and could only have contact with his colligue Phillip Melanchthon by courier. Melanchthan had a different sort of temperament than Luther. Some would call him timid; others of a less generous bent might call him spineless. 


At one time, while Luther was off in the Wartburg castle translating, Melanchthon had another one of his attacks of timidity. He wrote to Luther, "I woke this morning wondering if I trust Christ enough." Luther received such letters from him regularly. He had a tendency to naval-gaze and to wonder about the state of his inner faith, and whether it was enough to save. Finally, in an effort to pull out all the stops and pull Melanchthon out of himself, Luther wrote back and said, "Melanchthon! Go sin bravely! Then go the cross and bravely confess it! The whole gospel is outside of us."


A couple things to point out here:


1) Luther was not encouraging sin. If you read the account carefully, Melanchthon often had these feelings of doubt about his state before God. Luther was just responding to him based upon what he knew about his friend. And it did seem that he was focusing too much on his inner faith. So please do not take this account to mean Christians are supposed to not care about their own sin. Of course that's not true. But when we do sin, because of the work of Christ, we can and should go to the cross boldly. 


2) Luther was encouraging gospel confidence. I know from my own Christian life that two or three years ago I would've looked a lot like Melanchthon. I often looked to myself for assurance of my salvation. In other words, even though I knew Christ paid it all on the cross, I still had second thoughts about my state before God. I was somehow undermining the work of Christ by clinging to my own supposed righteousness. I had forgotten a simple truth that Luther rightfully stated, "The whole gospel is outside of us." In other words, even after we become Christians it is still by grace alone! Any progress that we make in obedience to God's commands is still by grace alone! And the great result of this mindset is that, in the end, we will end up living a more obedient Christian life.


Even today I greatly struggle with this truth that my acceptance before God is based solely upon the work of Christ alone. Yet keeping this truth in mind we can live in great freedom knowing our standing before God is perfect because of our Savior Jesus! We are free. 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ

I have lately been thinking about the best way to present the gospel to the lost. I used to do what Ray Comfort teaches at "Way of the Master," but have noticed a couple things that I do not like. So here is my attempt to write out the gospel, and I want to credit Thabiti Anyabwile for helping me understand the gospel better.


A good way to present the gospel is in four categories: God, man, Christ, response.


1. The gospel declares that there is a God, there is none like Him. He is eternal, infinite, righteous, all wise, all knowing, and He is Creator. We as creatures, owe our Creator all love, praise, adoration, and honor. So this holy God made us in His own image for fellowship with us, and he is angry with us because we are sinners.


2. All have disobeyed God, all have dishonored God, all have turned away from Him, and therefore all deserve to die separated from God for all eternity in hell.


3. God is not only holy and righteous he is also a God of love. So God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, who took upon Himself our flesh, our likeness, and lived a perfectly righteous life to satisfy the holy requirements of God. Jesus died, suffering the wrath of God to pay the penalty for the sins of the world on Calvary's Cross, so that the wrath of God would be removed. He was buried, resurrected three days later, ascended into heaven, and He will come again.


4. Everyone who repents of sin, and trusts in Christ have Jesus' righteousness credited to their account, and has their sin nailed to the Cross with Christ, so that they bear it no more. They are justified, a miracle happens, they are made new creatures in Christ Jesus, they are united to Christ, and all the benefits of Christ become theirs through faith, who in the promise of everlasting life, receive the joy of being in the presence of God's love and glory throughout all eternity!


Our appeal to the lost is that they would first hear this message, understand it, trust in Christ, call upon his name, for everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. 

Gospel-Driven Sanctification

This is a quote from Sinclair Ferguson. I was really instructed and encouraged. 


The first thing to remember is that we must never separate the benefits (regeneration, justification, sanctification) from the Benefactor (Jesus Christ). The Christians who are most focused on their own spirituality may give the impression of being the most spiritual but from the New Testament’s point of view, those who have almost forgotten about their own spirituality because their focus is so exclusively on their union with Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished are those who are growing and exhibiting fruitfulness. Historically speaking, whenever the piety of a particular group is focused on OUR spirituality, that piety will eventually exhaust itself on its own resources. Only where our piety forgets about us and focuses on Jesus Christ will our piety be nourished by the ongoing resources the Spirit brings to us from the source of all true piety, our Lord Jesus Christ.


HT: Tullian Tchividjian

Jesus Is Big!

This is a chapter from Joe Thorn's book called, "Note to Self". I have been edified by this book tremendously. You can get the book here.


"Dear Self,
Take note-your view of Jesus tends to shrink over time. It is not that your theology itself drifts, but sometimes you so focus on one aspect of Jesus that you tend to forget the rest. The result is a shrinking Jesus (in your faith). And as your shrinking Jesus becomes small Jesus, he is easily eclipsed by your idols and ego.


The bigger and more biblical your understanding of who Jesus is, the more likely he is to be such an object of love and adoration that the idols that aim at capturing your attention and swaying your allegiance will lose their power. This is why you sometimes lack earnestness for the kingdom and the glory of God while you overflow with passion concerning temporal things. Instead of making a joyful noise and singing earnestly for the victory Christ has over sin and death, you express a dispassionate approval and mouth the words to the songs sung in worship. But there is often fire in your belly and shouts of joy when your favorite college football team is victorious over the competition. This is probably why the church is shrinking in North America-because small Jesus does not inspire awe, command respect, lead to worship, or compel us to talk of him (much less suffer for him). And small Jesus is too little to arrest the attention of the world.


So please remember-Jesus is bigger than you tend to think.  He is the perfect revelation of God, the radiance of his glory, the exact imprint of his nature; he is the Creator and Sustainer of all that exists. Everything belongs to him and exists for him. He is the author of your salvation, the perfecter of your faith, and the only one in whom you can find life."

Look and Live!

Any true Christian will confess that living the Christian life is not easy. Period. We have to deal with our own flesh, corrupt as it is, yet we also have a raging enemy around us in the devil. And to top it off we have this ungodly world influencing us against Christ every day.


What do we do? Where do we look for motivation? Where do we look for freedom and peace?


Well, one thing I've been blessed to learn from others is that the Christian life does not grow out of the cross of Christ. In other words, after conversion we don't just leave the cross behind. Rather, we grow and are revived the more we learn about what Christ did for us on that tree. 


I truly believe if the church would simply learn more about the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we would see remarkable growth in and outside the church.


Tullian Tchividjian explains how Christians grow, " Sanctification is the daily hard work of going back to the reality of our justification–receiving Christ’s words, “It is finished” into new and deeper parts of our being every day, into our rebellious regions of unbelief.  It’s going back to the certainty of our objectively secured pardon in Christ and hitting the refresh button a thousand times a day."


The church of Jesus does not need new topics to study, the church does not need new people with flashy speaking to attract people, no the church needs to go back to that blood-stained monument of the cross of Christ. 


So, look to the cross of Christ, look at his obedient life for you, look at his death for you, look at him rising for you, and go live likewise. 

It is Finished Indeed!

It is Finished! (John 19:30)

Our Lord Jesus uttered this saying, the sixth saying on the Cross at Calvary, saying “It is Finished”.  In this one word we have our glorious redemption explained.  Jesus’ fifth saying on the cross was, “I thirst,” that one speaking of his humiliation, but now in verse 30 we have the triumph of the cross.  What was finished? 


1. His obedient life: In Philippians 2:8, Paul explains that Jesus, “Humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”. Here we see that Christ had to live a perfect life for his sheep, we who are unrighteous people, need righteousness to stand before God. In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said, “I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law”. This is glorious news for sinners like us. Because of the Lord Jesus’ obedient life, perfectly obeying the law of God, us sinners have Jesus’ righteousness credited to our account by faith.


2. His sufficient death: Not only did Jesus live that perfect life for us, he went to that cross and died for us, he stood in our place. He satisfied the justice and wrath of God for us! His death was sufficient because Jesus is God. He is infinite, therefore his death is sufficient. Christ cried out, “It is finished” because it was! Christ accomplished the great work of redemption for his people.


3. Our Sin: Because of Jesus’ life and death for us, our sin is gone! Our sin is nailed to the cross with Christ and we bear it no more.  Sure, we still sin, and we will have sin in us till glorification, but the glorious news of the gospel is that our sin is not counted against us, because Christ bore it. As the prophet Isaiah says, “The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 54:6).


So because of Jesus’ life and death our sin has been removed, and we can only marvel at our Savior!

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!

O what a foretaste of glory divine!

Heir of salvation, purchase of God,

born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.

This is my story, this is my song,

praising my Savior all the day long;

this is my story, this is my song,

praising my Savior all the day long.

Everlasting Love of Christ

On one of his seven trips from Britain to America, George Whitefield was battling depression and feelings of failure and was stabilized finally only with meditation on God's love in Jesus Christ:

 Nothing could possibly support my soul under the many agonies which oppressed me when on board, but a consideration of the freeness, eternity and unchangeableness of God's love to me.

I need not fear the sight of sin when I have a perfect, everlasting righteousness wrought out for me by . . . Jesus Christ. The riches of His free grace cause me daily to triumph over all the temptations of the wicked one. . . .

 May he enlighten me more and more to know and feel the mystery of his electing, soul-transforming love. Nothing like that, to support us under present and all the various future trials. . . . But the Lord has apprehended us and will not let us go. Men and devils may do their worst; our Jesus will allow nothing to pluck us out of His Almighty hands.

--quoted in Arnold Dallimore, George Whitefield: The Life and Times of the Great EVangelist of the 18th Century Revival (2 vols; Banner of Truth, 1970, 1980), 1:407

HT: Thoughts On The Way 

The Deep Deep Love of Jesus

Sovereign Grace Music


Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me
Underneath me, all around me
Is the current of Your love
Leading onward, leading homeward
To Your glorious rest above

Oh the deep, deep love
All I need and trust
Is the deep, deep love of Jesus

Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus
Spread His praise from shore to shore
How He came to pay our ransom
Through the saving cross He bore
How He watches o’er His loved ones
Those He died to make His own
How for them He’s interceding
Pleading now before the throne

Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus
Far surpassing all the rest
It’s an ocean full of blessing 
In the midst of every test
Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus
Mighty Savior, precious Friend
You will bring us home to glory
Where Your love will never end

Christ has Risen! YES!

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." 1 Peter 1:3




See, what a morning, gloriously bright,
With the dawning of hope in Jerusalem;
Folded the grave-clothes, tomb filled with light,
As the angels announce, "Christ is risen!"
See God's salvation plan,
Wrought in love, borne in pain, paid in sacrifice,
Fulfilled in Christ, the Man,
For He lives: Christ is risen from the dead!

See Mary weeping, "Where is He laid?"
As in sorrow she turns from the empty tomb;
Hears a voice speaking, calling her name;
It's the Master, the Lord raised to life again!
The voice that spans the years,
Speaking life, stirring hope, bringing peace to us,
Will sound till He appears,
For He lives: Christ is risen from the dead!

One with the Father, Ancient of Days,
Through the Spirit who clothes faith with certainty.
Honor and blessing, glory and praise
To the King crowned with pow'r and authority!
And we are raised with Him,
Death is dead, love has won, Christ has conquered;
And we shall reign with Him,
For He lives: Christ is risen from the dead! 



Words and Music by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend

Watch the Dogs; Glory in Christ

The book of Philippians, written by the apostle Paul, is such a great and instructive book.  We have incredible statements like Philippians 1:21, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  We also have the great example of our Lord Jesus Christ in his humility (Phil. 2:5-8). We have the purpose of the book, which is in chapter 1 verse 27, “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.”

I could go on and on, but what I want to focus on is Philippians 3:2-3, “Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.”

In these two verses we have counterfeit Christianity and true Christianity.

Counterfeit Christianity (Phil. 3:2)

The first thing we must do is define the dogs. The dogs in this verse were basically people who were against the faithful professors of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The dangerous thing about these people was the fact that they did believe in Jesus Christ, but they wanted to add to Christ, therefore undermining the gospel of Christ.  They wanted to add that you could not be saved unless you were circumcised according to the law of Moses. Paul wrote about them in the book of Galatians (Gal. 1:6-9). These people were known as the Judaizers.  

Paul says keep a close watch on them so they do not harm the church.  Spurgeon said this about the dogs, “They are like to dogs. If they fawn upon you, they will bemire you, if they do not bite you."

Counterfeit Christianity glories in the flesh. This means that they trust or exalt human merit. 

Counterfeit Christianity says, “Yes, believe in Christ, but also add this…”

In our day, we might not have the influence of the Judaizers specifically, but we definitely do have people who teach similar doctrine. We have people who say they believe in salvation by grace, through faith, and in Christ. I, at one time, and many others would say, “What is wrong with that”? The one word that is missing in that sentence is ALONE. Change that one word and we have a completely different meaning. Counterfeit Christianity misses that one word.

True Christianity (Phil 3:3)

“For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.”

I love this verse; it is a great definition of a true Christian. True Christians glory in Christ Jesus! Alone!

We look away from our own righteousness, because we have no righteousness! Christians look to Christ, who lived perfectly on our behalf, died for us, and rose for us to secure our righteousness. The Christians gaze is upon the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who the Father is well pleased (Mark 1:11), the one who is infinitely worthy of our worship.

Could it be the command to rejoice in the Lord in verse 1 of Chapter 3 is directly related to the gospel?! Yes, says the Christian, I will rejoice in what Christ has done! I have no other hope for righteousness; I have not other hope except in Christ alone.

So, watch out for the dogs, watch out for those who seek to rob you of the joy of resting in Christ alone, in his righteousness. And glory in Christ by treasuring the gospel of Christ. 

Regeneration is Supernatural

One of the biggest problems with many Christian churches today is a false view of regeneration. In fact, a right view of the regeneration of a sinner is one of the marks of a biblical church. Regeneration is the same word as born again. Today we use the term born again much more than regeneration. Unfortunately, I believe that many Christian churches do not have a biblically solid view of regeneration. Many churches have portrayed a false view of man’s true spiritual condition and this consequently leads to wrong views of conversion. 

To start off I want to define biblically what regeneration is.  Regeneration is when God miraculously breaks through a sinner’s heart with a view of the glory of Jesus Christ. There are many passages in Scripture related to regeneration; I want to highlight a couple of them.

One of the best texts is 2 Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

The first thing to notice about this verse is Paul is referring to the creation account in Genesis 1. The earth was one time empty, dark, and without form (Genesis 1:2). God spoke and he created everything by a word. In the same way, Paul in 2 Corinthians uses the creation account to illustrate the new creation. In the same way, we are sinners, who loved darkness rather than light (John 3:19), we were caught up in the idolatrous pursuit of self exaltation undermining the glory of God at every turn in our lives (Romans 3:23). But God in conversion makes known to us the futility of living life for our own glory, God by the magnificent work of his Holy Spirit shows us the glory of Christ, and we now see the glory of the cross of Christ.

The next text that is a great picture of regeneration is Ephesians 2:1-6. “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.”

Paul, in this text, presents fallen man in his lost state before God, spiritually dead, with a heart that is unresponsive to God’s glory, not concerned with proclaiming and promoting God’s glory. Furthermore, all of us at one time followed the prince of the power of the air, who is Satan, all of us delighted in walking according to our own wisdom, according to our own fallen nature opposed to God.

But God! Blessed two words! God awakens us, he has mercy on us, he not only sends his son to be our substitute, providing eternal righteousness for us, he also sends his spirit to make us alive! That is sovereign grace! We do nothing! Yes, we do believe as a result, and we must believe, however, God makes it possible for us to believe.

Wrong views of regeneration invite people to do something to receive the benefits of the atonement of Christ.  They invite people to make a decision, to pray a superstitious prayer, or do something else that is not biblical. But someone will say, are we not called to repent and believe? Yes! We are! The problem is most churches in Christianity do not use the terms repent and believe. We have replaced repent and believe to accept Christ as Savior not Lord, and receive Christ as Savior and not Lord, to pray a prayer and ask Jesus into your heart, or something else that is not biblical.

The biblical view is to command men and women to believe in Christ, yet knowing that it is God who makes the person alive to receive the benefits of Christ.

Praise God for sovereign grace! Praise God for showing amazing grace to rebels like you and like me!

I Am the Crippled One!

I read a story about a little boy that is a good example of the love of God in Christ for us believers.

The little boy entered a Sunday school contest in reciting Bible verses. This little boy happened to be a cripple, who could hardly walk across the stage to recite the verses he had memorized. As he started to hobble across the stage as best he could, with his terribly humped back, an older boy who had come in off the street thoughtlessly cried out, "Hey, crip, take the pack off your back!" The little boy broke down in tears, and couldn't go on. A man came up out of the audience and stood beside him. He said, "I don't know what kind of a person would make fun of a little crippled boy, but I want to tell you who this boy is. He's my son, and he's got more courage than any of you! And I'm proud of him, because he is mine!" And he picked him up in his arms and walked off the stage.

I am, spiritually speaking, the crippled one! I am a rebel against God. Yet God in Christ has taken me in, he has forgiven me of all my sin. This is encouraging, life-changing, life-giving truth.