Hidden In The Gospel

Preach the Gospel to yourself!

Is that something that you’ve ever been told to do? Maybe you’ve heard a preacher say it, read it in a book somewhere, or heard it on the radio. Maybe you’ve never heard it in your life and you’re not quite sure what it means. What does it mean to “preach the Gospel to yourself,” how would you go about doing it, and what would be the benefits of doing so.

The answer to these questions is the subject of William P. Farley’s new book, Hidden in the Gospel: Truths You Forget to Tell Yourself Every Day. Farley says of his new book: “This is a book about basic Christian doctrines, with an emphasis on practical application” (5). This idea that Farley writes about, “Preaching the Gospel to Yourself,” is not a new concept, and Farley freely recognizes that. He is unapologetic about building on the likes of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Jack Miller, and Jerry Bridges. Where his book differs, though, is that it not only speaks of what it means to preach the Gospel to yourself, but functions as a “tutorial” on how to actually going about doing it.

Definitions

So what is “Preaching the Gospel to yourself”? Farley allows Jerry Bridges to answer:

“To preach the gospel to yourself, then, means that you continually face up to your own sinfulness and then flee to Jesus through faith in His shed blood and righteous life. It means that you appropriate, again by faith, the fact that Jesus fully satisfied the law of God, that He is your propitiation, and that God’s holy wrath is no longer directed toward you” (11).

So, in essence, it is to remind yourself — through the good and the bad, the blessed times and the tragic times, the successes and failures — what the Gospel is and how it applies to your own, personal, life.

What exactly is the “Gospel” though? That, in itself, has been the source of quite a bit of discussion, debate, and full-length books. Well I agree completely with Farley here. He is not limiting the Gospel to refer only to Jesus’ death & resurrection, with an exclusive emphasis on His substitutionary atonement. It is that, for sure. But the Good-News, the Gospel, is much more. Farley is using “The Gospel” to speak about what he refers to as the “wide-angle” Gospel. He says:

“The gospel is good news about all that God has done in Christ to save sinners and redeem the cosmos from the effects of sin. It includes our election before the foundation of the world, Christ’s incarnation, his active obedience, his substitutionary death, his resurrection and ascension, Pentecost, and the final judgment. It also includes the hope of a new creation purged of sin and infused with the active presence of God” (12).

Amen! The Gospel is all of that. It is all that God has done in Christ to save sinners and redeem the cosmos.

Structure

So what does the structure of the book look like? Each chapter looks at a crucial aspect of the Gospel. The 8 crucial aspects of the Gospel that Farley looks like are:

1. Election
2. Incarnation
3. Active Obedience
4. Penal Substitutionary Death
5. Resurrection
6. Ascension
7. Return & Final Judgment
8. New Creation

After explaining the particular aspect of the Gospel, Farley moves to answer the question, “So What?” How does this particular aspect of the Gospel impact and affect my life? How does preaching this aspect of the Gospel to myself benefit me and help me?

Next, each chapter concludes with an example of what it would look like to preach that aspect of the Gospel to yourself. Finally, the end of each chapter has some discussion questions that could be used to facilitate a small group study.

Benefits

So why should you read this book? Why is it important for you to cultivate this discipline of preaching the Gospel to yourself? Farley offers 7 incredibly important reasons (14-17):

1. It regularly and repetitively exposes us to the glory of God.
2. It will help you grow in humility
3. You will be the most likely to gain deliverance from that three-headed monster — guilt, inferiority, and low self-image
4. It will accelerate your sanctification
5. You will be increasingly “abounding in thanksgiving” (Col 2:6)
6. You will be increasingly hopeful
7. It will culminate itself in worship

Conclusion

This is an excellent book, and one that I would absolutely recommend you getting for yourself and/or for those around you that you are able to minister to. From a pastoral perspective, I think that Don Whitney puts it best when he says of this book: “Pastors would have to engage in very little counseling if Christians prioritized what Bill Farley exhorts his readers to do … [and this] would transform the lives of Christians, their homes, and their churches.” Amen! Grab a copy today and being preaching the Gospel to yourself today.

In accordance with FTC regulations, I would like to thank P&R Publishers for providing me with a review copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Top 3 posts of 2014

2014 is officially over. And since everyone else is posting their “top” lists of 2014, I figured I’d do the same. So here they are … my top 3 posts of the year, ranked in order of page views.

1. ’50 Shades of Grey’ Movie

This post shocked me at the influx of readers it brought to my site. I was horrified and shocked when I watched the trailer for this movie and wrote this post back in July, and I continue to be so to this day. We are now just a little over a month from the release of this movie, and my prayer is still the same as it was back in July: That the many professing Christians who will be tempted to watch this with their friends or family will not give into that temptation, but that they will instead seek godliness and moral purity.

2. Apple Watch: iNeed?

This post was about a very interesting article in TIME magazine about the new Apple Watch. I am still curious as to what the reception will be for this gadget when it releases in a few months. Will Apple be the first to legitimize the “wearables” industry? I’m not sure, but if anyone could do it, it would be them.

3. Reformed Gospel Tract

And finally, to round out the top 3, is this Gospel Tract that I continue to be a huge fan of. It is still the one that I turn to most often, and I would highly recommend that you check it out for yourself or your ministry.

Recovering Redemption

Matt Chandler has been one of my favorite “celebrity pastors” to listen to and read for quite a few years now. So when I heard about his new book coming out, I was eager to get my hands on a copy. And what is this new book? Recovering Redemption: A Gospel-Saturated Perspective on How to Change.

Change. It’s something that we, as Christians, all want. We want to stop that habit. We want to change that attitude. We’re sick of dealing with and struggling with the same old things. Is there any hope? Will you ever get victory in that daily battle that you’ve been struggling with for months, maybe even years?

The answer: Yes. There is hope. You can change. But not on your own. And not with some 3-step how-to list of do’s and don’ts. The only true answer to lasting change and fighting against sin in the Christian life is found in the never-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ!

That is what this book is about, as the subtitle says: A Gospel-Saturated Perspective on How to Change.

Laying the Foundation

In the first 4 chapters of the book, Chandler lays out a full-orbed picture of the Gospel. Not the “cover-versions” of the Gospel (as he calls them), but the true, life-giving, saving Gospel that we are given in the Bible. In these chapters, Chandler looks at the holiness and righteous of God, the sinfulness of man, the payment made by Christ, and our response of faith and repentance. There are some great sections in these chapters, including 4 “false-gospels,” or ineffective ways that we seek to make ourselves right with God (pages 26-36) and a wonderful section on repentance, where he looks at true, godly grief vs false, worldly grief (pages 68-79).

Some Big Words

Next, in chapters 5 and 6, Chandler looks at some of the benefits of belief. He spends a whole chapter looking at justification and adoption. He makes the very important and helpful point that we must correctly understand what it means that we have been justified before God and adopted as his son/daughter before we can ever expect to move forward in our quest for a changed life. He says:

“So we are justified before the law bench of heaven.

We’ve been adopted into His heavenly family.

And because of these two all-consuming realities, all the ingredients are in place for us to deal strongly and confidently with whatever comes our way, including those many sins of ours that have been so adept at defeating us for so long” (95).

And in chapter 6, he deals with the topic of sanctification, showing that sanctification is a lifelong process of growing in godliness. I was thankful that Chandler introduces the reader to two often-forgotton words in the Christian life: Vivification and Mortification. He makes it clear that the process of sanctification, of becoming more like Christ, necessarily includes these two things: (1) Vivification – Our minds and hearts are brought to life as we set our minds on the things of heaven, on the Word of God, etc. (2) Mortification – Putting to death sin in our life … not just “dealing with” it, but killing it.

“If you can think of vivification as the life-giving plant food and fertilizer that you spade into your garden, mortification is the knuckle-busting process of pulling up the weeds” (103).

Bringing It To The Ground

Finally, in chapters 7-12, the book brings this biblical truth “to the ground,” so to speak, bringing the theological truths and realities of the Gospel to bear on the practical, day-to-day issues of life. Chandler says:

“Having done a flyover of some key gospel ideas throughout the first half of this book, we’re now beginning our descent pattern, brining this payload of biblical truth down to the ground, where the Spirit of God can taxi its arrival into your everyday life” (117).

And bring it into every day life he does. Chapter 7 deals with the issues of guilt and shame; chapter 8, fear and anxiety; chapter 9, he deals with the continual process of pulling up roots and putting down stakes, or to put it in more familiar terms, putting off and putting on; chapter 10 deals with reconciling and amending relationships and chapter 11 looks at confronting and forgiving others; and finally, chapter 12 looks at the Christian life as a lifelong pursuit of joy — not joy in things of the world, but joy in God himself (the chapter will remind you of Piper’s Desiring God if you’ve read that).

In this last section, Chandler does a great job of tackling some of the big “root” issues in the lives of every believer, root issues that rear their ugly head in all sorts of sins, addictions, and behavior in our life.

Conclusion

This was a very good book, one that offers a helpful corrective to a lot of popular 12-steps to getting rid of this addiction, or 10 steps to ridding yourself of this sin. Chandler shows very clearly and very practically that the only source of real change in the life of the Christian is a continual remembering of the Gospel and a constant application of those Gospel truths to your life. I think that anyone who reads this book will be given 2 things: A robustly biblical picture of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, and a renewed perspective on how to change that is completely rooted in nothing other than this Gospel. And judging by the title of the book, I think that this is exactly what Chandler aimed for.

In accordance with FTC regulations, I would like to thank B&H Books for Providing me with a review copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review

REVIEW: Encounters with Jesus

Tim Keller has established himself as one of the top evangelical writers of today, especially in writing to an audience of skeptics and unbelievers. He has been given a unique gift and ability to interact with the intelligent skeptics on their level, which is most clearly seen in his bestseller, The Reason for God. Because of his church’s placement in the middle of Manhattan, surrounded by the young, intellectual-type, Keller has honed his ability to interact on their level with the truths of Scripture and Christianity.

In his new book, Encounters with Jesus: Unexpected Answers to Life’s Biggest Questions, Keller is at it again. The book comes out of two series of lectures that Keller presented a couple of years ago. The first series of lectures was given at an Oxford Town Hall in Oxford, England in 2012. Over 5 nights, Keller spoke to a group of students — most of them skeptics — on the various encounters that individuals had with Jesus in the Gospel of John (xii). These make up the first 5 chapters of the book, where in each chapter Keller looks at a different interaction that Jesus had with people in John. These include the conversation (1) with Nathaniel in John 1; (2) with Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman in John 3-4; (3) with Mary and Martha in John 11; (4) with Mary, Jesus’ mother, in John 2; and (5) with Mary Magdalene in John 20.

In each of the five conversations, Keller looks at a different fundamental life-question that Jesus is addressing in his conversation with the individual.

• Chapter 1 – Where should we look for answers to the big questions of life? Where shouldn’t we look for answers?
• Chapter 2 – What is wrong with the world the way it is?
• Chapter 3 – What, or Who, can put it right?
• Chapter 4 – How can He put things right in the world?
• Chapter 5 – How should we respond to what He has done?

As you read each chapter, Keller exegetes the passage at hand in the clear and concise way that we have all come to expect from Keller, which is what makes reading his books so profitable and enjoyable.

The second section of the book transitions from the conversations Jesus had with individuals in the Gospel of John and moves to how we, today, can encounter Christ — how we can encounter Him as savior. The basis for these chapters was a series of talks that Keller gave at the Harvard Club of New York City, where he “spoke at regular breakfast meetings to business, government, and cultural leaders over the period of several years” (xv). In these final five chapters, Keller looks at some of the pivotal events in the life of Jesus as they are presented in the Gospels.

• Chapter 6 – He overcomes evil for us
• Chapter 7 – He intercedes for us
• Chapter 8 – He obeys perfectly for us
• Chapter 9 – He leaves earth to reign for us
• Chapter 10 – He leaves heaven to die for us

Now, you may be thinking, “Why didn’t Keller include the 3 best-known event in Jesus’ life — His birth, death and resurrection??” Keller addresses this on page 104, saying that these events are more familiar to us, and generally more clearer to us. It is not, by any means, that he does not view these as “pivotal events” in the life of Jesus. Rather, he focuses on 5 pivotal events that are less known to us, and because they are less known to us, their significance to the Christian faith is less clear to us.

Not really knowing what the book was all about when I first got a copy of it, I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It was written, as I’ve already said, in a very clear and concise manner, as well as in a very engaging manner. As with many of Keller’s other books, I think I could use this for a variety of contexts. I could use it with a believer to think more deeply about the truths of Christ, who He was, and what He has done. But I could also use it with an unbeliever. Because of Keller’s writing and teaching style, I think that the book would not be, on the surface, intimidating and threatening to an unbeliever. But I think that as an unbeliever worked through the book, he would come face to face with the Jesus of the Scriptures and the truths of the Gospel. Keller says, as he ends the introduction, that his hope is that “whether you are looking at these accounts for the first time or the hundredth, you will be struck again by the person of Christ and what he has done for us” (xvii). His hope certainly became a reality for me as I read the book, and I trust it will for you as well. I would definitely recommend you getting a copy for yourself, and if you have an unbelieving friend who would be willing to read this with you, get them a copy too. You’ll be glad you did.

In accordance with FTC regulations, I would like to thank Dutton Publishers for providing me with a review copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

REVIEW: Gospel Assurance & Warnings

Paul Washer has long been on of my favorite preachers. As a new Christian in college, Paul Washer’s and John Piper’s preaching were what shaped my theology and saved me from heretical teachers like Rob Bell, whom I began to read immediately after being saved. Because of Washer’s role in the development of my theology as a baby Christian, I am forever thankful for him and his ministry (though I have never personally met him). So when I found out that many of Washer’s sermons were being recast and reformatted for books in this series, “Recovering the Gospel,” I was beyond excited. Not only did this put Washer’s preaching in a book format for me to use and refer to as needed, I also think that it will allow more people to learn from him who have maybe thus far not even heard of him.

This new book, Gospel Assurance & Warnings, is the 3rd volume in the “Recovering the Gospel” series (The first being The Gospel’s Power and Message, and the second, The Gospel Call and True Conversion). In this 3rd volume, Washer is dealing with the issue of assurance in salvation: How does one know they are saved? Is it simply by saying a prayer? Absolutely not! The pseudo-gospel of “easy-believism” that has so pervaded the evangelical church in America has led countless thousands (maybe millions) to believe they are saved because of a prayer they prayed 20-years ago, even if there is no evidence of the Gospel bearing fruit in their life today. This is exactly the thing that Washer writes to address.

In the preface to the book, Washer says,

“Each generation of Christians is a steward of the gospel message, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, God calls upon us to guard this treasure that has been entrusted to us. If we are to be faithful stewards, we must be absorbed in the study of the gospel, take great pains to understand its truths, and pledge ourselves to guard its contents…This stewardship drives me to write these books” (vii).

The book contains two parts. The first part looks at biblical assurance, and has 14 chapters dealing with different topics related to assurance, from false assurance to practicing righteousness. The second part looks at Gospel warnings, or warnings in Scripture to empty confessors. This part consists of 5 chapters, each dealing with a different aspect of Gospel warnings to empty confessors. The book is written with great clarity and conviction, as you would expect from Paul washer if you’ve heard him preach.

If you are a pastor, teacher, elder, deacon, or a lay-member who knows someone who is either (a) struggling with assurance and figuring out whether they really are saved or not, or (b) blinded by a false assurance, then this book will be a great resource for you to help you as you minister to that brother or sister. I pray that the Lord would use this book, and the others in this series, to help all Christians gain a greater understanding of the one, true, saving Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Listen to the sobering words of Paul Washer as he concludes the book:

“For the sake of Christ and for the countless multitudes that sit at ease in Zion, not knowing that their judgment draws near, we must repent of what we have done to the gospel and the church. We must throw off the contemporary distortions that have wrecked the greater part of a generation and return to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must preach with such clarity and earnestness that we who stand in the pulpit might be exonerated on the day of judgment and those who hear us might be without excuse” (251-252).

Amen, brother Paul

In accordance with FTC regulations, I would like to thank Reformation Heritage Books and Cross Focused Reviews for providing me with a review copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Favorite T4G Quotes

Last week was a wonderful week of being challenged, comforted, encouraged, and taught by the Word of God at the Together for the Gospel conference. If you were unable to be there, or just want to watch the sessions again, you can do so for free until June by clicking here. I definitely encourage you to do so. Below are some of my favorite quotes from the 9 sessions.

Session 1 – Mark Dever – “The Certain Victory of Christ’s Church an Encouragement to Evangelism” (Isaiah 36-37)

“Pride causes us to care more about what our non-Christian friends think of us than what God will do to them in their sin.”

“If you get God wrong, you’ll get everything else wrong”

Session 2 – Thabiti Anyabwile – “The Happiness of Heaven in the Repentance of Sinners” (Luke 15)

“While a Christian must ascribe to a high morality, his morality doesn’t make him a Christian.”

“Has the happiness of heaven invaded our religious hearts?”

Session 3 – Albert Mohler – “The Open Door is the Only Door: The Singularity of the Gospel in a Pluralistic Age” (Acts 4)

“There’s no way out of this text than by denying it” (referring to John 14:6)

“All that stands between that statement and the truth is the New Testament” (referring to a quote by Brian McLaren)

Session 4 – Kevin DeYoung – “Never Spoke a Man Like This Before: Inerrancy, Evangelism and Christ’s Unbreakable Bible” (John 10:35)

“The one democracy that’s never consulted is the democracy of the dead”

“Jesus consistently treats biblical history as narratives of fact”

“Is it not plausible to think that Jesus knew Jewish history better than 19th century Germans?”

“Damn all false dichotomies to hell” (Quoting D.A. Carson)

“Submission to the Scriptures is submission to God. Rebellion against the Scriptures is rebellion against God”

“Preacher: When you stand behind the pulpit week after week, what will your people judge is the final word — you or the bible? Your experience or the Bible?”

Session 5 – David Platt – “Relenting Wrath: The Role of Desperate Prayer in the Mystery of Divine Providence” (Exodus 32)

“Prayer is a HUGE hole in the canvas of the Reformed resurgence”

“Moses is not changing the plan that God had offered; He is fulfilling the plan that God had ordained”

“Perhaps the greatest hindrance to the spread of the Gospel today is the people of God trying to do the work of God apart from the power and presence of God”

Session 6 – Matt Chandler – “Christ is All” (2 Timothy 1:8-14)

“Every one of us loves Pauline theology, but few of us want Pauline pain.”

“The more this is about you, the less you will evangelize. Get over yourself! You’re not that awesome. God doesn’t need you to be awesome. He needs you to be obedient.”

“No program, no system of evangelism, will produce a zeal for evangelism like knowing in whom you have believed!”

Session 7 – Ligon Duncan – “The Gospel by Numbers” (Numbers 5)

“If you’re going to bring people to Jesus, you need to know that He knows what to do with them when you bring them. He knows! He is the perfect priest. He is the perfect mediator”

Session 8 – John MacArthur – “Mass Defection: The Great Physician Confronts the Pathology of Counterfeit Faith” (John 6)

“I can’t live with weird, un-real beings” (talking about watching fantasy TV shows and movies)

“I don’t know who said that, and I don’t want to attribute it to the wrong person, because it’s so stupid” (referring to the adage: ‘preach the Gospel, and if necessary, use words’)

Session 9 – John Piper – “Persuading, Pleading and Predestination: Human Means in the Miracle of Conversion” (Romans 9)

“The depths of Romans 9 support the heights of Romans 8”

“My favorite conjunction in the Bible is hina”

“Unconditional election is very important for your assurance as you stand and trust in God’s promises”

“The doctrine of unconditional election destroys any sense of superiority”

 

The Best 23 Minutes You’ll Spend This Month

At the recent Cross Conference, David Platt preached a powerful sermon on Mobilizing God’s Army. But the most powerful part of all came when he quoted, from memory, all of Romans 1-8 in about 23 minutes.

Let me encourage you; indeed, let me urge you: WATCH THIS! It takes up about the same amount of time as a typical sitcom on television. I can promise you: You will not regret it. You will be edified. If nothing else, watch the section of him quoting Romans 7:13-8:39. WOW. It is one of the most powerful readings of this passage that I have ever heard.

Watch from 29:10 to 51:55 for the whole passage (Romans 1-8).

Watch from 46:25 to 51:55 for the section of the latter half of chapter 7 to the end of chapter 8. Seriously, that’s only 5 and a half minutes. We ALL have 5 and a half minutes to spare!!

http://vimeo.com/83002791

The Gospel Transformation Bible

My first thought when I had the opportunity to review Crossway’s new Gospel Transformation Bible was: How in the world do you review a Bible? Obviously I am not, here, reviewing the contents of the Bible itself. I’m not offering a review of the book of Isaiah, or of the book of James. Rather, I am reviewing the layout, study notes, and resources that this new Bible offers.

 

With the theme verse of Paul’s words in Acts 20:24, “to testify to the gospel of the grace of God,” the vision behind the production of the Gospel Transformation Bible was to have a “study” Bible that starts with the conviction that the Bible is a unified message of God’s grace culminating in Jesus Christ. Therefore, the purpose of this Bible, with its study notes, book introductions, and other resources, is to show the reader the grace of God in Christ throughout all the Bible.

 

Each book of the Bible begins with a short introduction to that book. For anyone familiar with any sort of study Bible, this is not a new thing at all. It includes the typical introduction stuff such as “Author and Date” and an “Outline.” What is unique, however, to this study Bible is the section called “The Gospel in __________.” For each book introduction, the editors and contributors to this Bible have given the reader a snapshot of how one can see the Gospel, the grace of God in Jesus Christ, in that book. I found this section to be quite helpful for a big overview picture, especially as you prepare to preach the Old Testament.

Within the Biblical book itself, there are not “study notes” like you’ll find in the ESV Study Bible or the MacArthur Study Bible, where there are notes on individual words, phrases, and metaphors. While there may be some of that in this Bible, the purpose of these study notes are more to show how a particular verse, paragraph, or section points to the grace of God in the Gospel.

In addition to the book introductions and the study notes throughout, the Bible uses the ESV translation, comes with cross-references throughout, a nice topical index and concordance, a daily reading plan, and a helpful introduction written by Bryan Chapell, the General Editor.

Overall, I was impressed by the layout and contents of this modified study Bible. While it’s not a typical study Bible that you may be used to thinking about, it is very helpful for serving the purpose for which it was created: To show the reader the grace of God in Christ throughout the whole Bible.

In accordance with FTC regulations, I would like to thank Crossway Publishers for providing me with a review copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review

Why People Don’t Make Disciples

“Maybe one of the reasons so many people in the church aren’t making disciples of all nations is because they’re not really disciples in the first place.”

This clip from David Platt’s message at the Verge conference is a powerful reminder of what the TRUE Gospel is, and how that affects us to spread the Gospel into and make disciples of ALL NATIONS!

“JESUS IS NOT A POOR, PUNY SAVIOR LOOKING FOR ANYONE’S ACCEPTANCE; HE IS A SOVEREIGN LORD AND KING WHO IS WORTHY OF EVERYONE’S PRAISE!!”

Reformed Gospel Tract

RIght or wrong, I have not really been that huge of a fan of Gospel tracts. It’s not that I necessarily have anything against them, I just always thought they were quite cheesy looking, and because of that, were never paid much attention by those to whom we give them.

However, as I was researching tracts yesterday for a packet I’m getting together to hand out at an event in a couple of weeks, I came across these very simple, very sleek, very Biblical Gospel tract. And what’s even better…they’re actually a pretty good price for the quality! Check these out for yourself and let me know what you think.

You can find them by clicking HERE