"In Christ"

John Piper...

Being “in Christ Jesus” is a stupendous reality. It is breathtaking what it means to be in Christ. United to Christ. Bound to Christ. If you are “in Christ” listen to what it means for you:

1. In Christ Jesus you were given grace before the world was created. 1 Timothy 1:9, “He gave us grace in Christ Jesus before the ages began.”
2. In Christ Jesus you were chosen by God before creation. Ephesians 1:4, “God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.”
3. In Christ Jesus you are loved by God with an inseparable love. Romans 8:38–39, “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
4. In Christ Jesus you were redeemed and forgiven for all your sins. Ephesians 1:7, “In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.”
5. In Christ Jesus you are justified before God and the righteousness of God in Christ is imputed to you. 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake God made Christ to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
6. In Christ Jesus you have become a new creation and a son of God. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Galatians 3:26, “In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”
7. In Christ Jesus you have been seated in the heavenly places even while he lived on earth. Ephesians 2:6, “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
8. In Christ Jesus all the promises of God are Yes for you. 2 Corinthians 1:20, “All the promises of God find their Yes in Christ.”
9. In Christ Jesus you are being sanctified and made holy. 1 Corinthians 1:2, “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus.”
10. In Christ Jesus everything you really needed will be supplied. Philippians 4:19, “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
11. In Christ Jesus the peace of God will guard your heart and mind. Philippians 4:7, “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
12. In Christ Jesus you have eternal life. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
13. And in Christ Jesus you will be raised from the dead at the coming of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15:22, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” All those united to Adam in the first humanity die. All those united to Christ in the new humanity rise to live again

How do we get into Christ?

At the unconscious and decisive level it is God’s sovereign work: “From God are you in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:30).

But at the conscious level of our own action, it is through faith. Christ dwells in our hearts “through faith” (Ephesians 3:17). The life we live in union with his death and life “we live by faith in the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20). We are united in his death and resurrection “through faith” (Colossians 2:12).

This is a wonderful truth. Union with Christ is the ground of everlasting joy, and it is free.

Beautiful Feet

HT / Brett Sanner

The most terrifying truth about God...He is good

The Gospel - Love it - It never gets old!

In My Seat

Slow Down...Stop and Think...Behold

There is something about moments that I'm sure we're meant to wonder over.  Not wonder as in, "what's going on" so much as wonder as in, "WOW!"  Today, I dropped my son off for his first day of High School.  To fully appreciate this fact, you need to know that he has been home-schooled since the second grade.  

I am not quite sure what I'm feeling right now.

But, one thing I keep coming back to is the gospel.  In my concern, Jesus loves me...wow!  That fact, is enough to bring me to worship - to simply allow worry to fade and to trust the Saviour.

What do you do in the moments?  Where do you turn? Whom do you trust?  Take the time to slow down, to stop and think, to "behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God."  How often we hear these words of Scripture and simply just fly over them...

“In order for Jesus to suffer and die,
He had to plan way ahead of time
because he couldn’t die.

Immortal, He didn’t have a body
And yet he wanted to die.
For you.

So, He planned the whole thing
by clothing himself with a body,
so that He could get hungry
and get weary
and have sore feet.

The incarnation of Jesus is the preparation
of nerve endings
for the nails,
the preparation of a brow
or thorns pressed through.

He needed to have a broad back
so that there was a place
for the whips.

He needed to have feet
so that there was a place
for spikes.

He needed to have a side
so that there was a place
for the sword to go in. 

He needed to have fleshy cheeks
so that Judas would have a place to kiss
and there would be a place for the spit
to run down that the soldiers put on him. 

He needed a brain and a spinal column
with no vinegar and no gall,
so that the exquisiteness of the pain
could be fully felt."

"So I plead with you, when you’re reading the Bible and you read texts like: “He loved you and gave himself for you,” you wouldn’t go too fast over it. Linger, linger, linger, and plead with Jesus that your eyes would be opened."

(from the end of song by Json based on a sermon by John Piper)

HT / Challies

"Stunningly Gospelicious" by John Calvin

A big hat-tip to Justin Taylor for pointing this one out.  And for giving me such a SWEET title!

From a stunningly gospelicious preface John Calvin wrote for Pierre Robert Olivétan’s French translation of the New Testament (1534)

“Without the gospel everything is useless and vain; without the gospel we are not Christians; without the gospel all riches is poverty, all wisdom folly before God; strength is weakness, and all the justice of man is under the condemnation of God. But by the knowledge of the gospel we are made children of God, brothers of Jesus Christ, fellow townsmen with the saints, citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, heirs of God with Jesus Christ, by whom the poor are made rich, the weak strong, the fools wise, the sinner justified, the desolate comforted, the doubting sure, and slaves free. It is the power of God for the salvation of all those who believe …” 

“It follows that every good thing we could think or desire is to be found in this same Jesus Christ alone. For, he was sold, to buy us back; captive, to deliver us; condemned, to absolve us; he was made a curse for our blessing, sin offering for our righteousness; marred that we may be made fair; he died for our life; so that by him fury is made gentle, wrath appeased, darkness turned into light, fear reassured, despisal despised, debt canceled, labor lightened, sadness made merry, misfortune made fortunate, difficulty easy, disorder ordered, division united, ignominy ennobled, rebellion subjected, intimidation intimidated, ambush uncovered, assaults assailed, force forced back, combat combated, war warred against, vengeance avenged, torment tormented, damnation damned, the abyss sunk into the abyss, hell transfixed, death dead, mortality made immortal. In short, mercy has swallowed up all misery, and goodness all misfortune.

For all these things which were to be the weapons of the devil in his battle against us, and the sting of death to pierce us, are turned for us into exercises which we can turn to our profit. If we are able to boast with the apostle, saying, O hell, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? it is because by the Spirit of Christ promised to the elect, we live no longer, but Christ lives in us; and we are by the same Spirit seated among those who are in heaven, so that for us the world is no more, even while our conversation [life] is in it; but we are content in all things, whether country, place, condition, clothing, meat, and all such things. And we are comforted in tribulation, joyful in sorrow, glorying under vituperation [verbal abuse], abounding in poverty, warmed in our nakedness, patient amongst evils, living in death. This is what we should in short seek in the whole of Scripture: truly to know Jesus Christ, and the infinite riches that are comprised in him and are offered to us by him from God the Father.” 

Jesus Saves "H"

God is still in the business of saving lives!  I love this story of another refugee - "H" - who has called on the name of Christ to save him.  Thanks to Brett from "Loving the Overlooked" for sharing the story.

In recent communication we asked you to pray for 24-year-old “H”, an Afghan born and raised by Afghan refugees in Iran. He is still living with us. In the first few weeks he would frequently say things like, “Scott, talk about Jesus” or “Talk about sin” or “Talk about grace”, etc. If I tried to talk about anything else, he would say, “Why did you change the subject?!  Talk about Jesus!”

Two Fridays ago, while waiting together for a bus, I said, “H, talk to me…about Jesus.”  He paused with a very serious look on his face and said, “Honestly…honestly…nothing else…I see Jesus in you.”

Well, I have to say I was momentarily stunned and had to choke back my emotions.  Of course, I immediately told him that if he saw ANYTHING good in me it was because of Jesus because I know (especially in these days) how dark and sinful my heart really is.

This past Friday, while riding the bus together, he turned to me and said, “Scott, will you baptize me…?”  When I asked him why he wanted to be baptized, he replied, “Because I believe in Jesus.”  I asked, “The REAL Jesus or the Jesus of Islam?  The Jesus of the Bible or the Jesus of the Koran?”  He answered, “The real Jesus! The Jesus of the Bible!”

As we talked more that night and the next day it became clear that his journey toward Jesus had, in the last week or so, drawn him to the place where he was ready to risk being disowned by his family and rejected or hurt by others to leave the religion he was strongly indoctrinated in all his life to follow Jesus as his God and Savior.  Apparently he called out to Jesus to help him overcome some strong temptations that he had never before been able to withstand, and Jesus helped him.  To him these were like “signs” that Jesus is more powerful and he wants to trust in Him.

Please continue to pray for “H”, for his growth in Christ, for his safety, and for continued guidance from God about where he is supposed to go and what he is supposed to do.

Join me continuing to pray for "H".  As well pray for Brett and his family as well as the entire team in Athens.  Their's is a ministry very near and dear to my heart.  Finally, thank the Lord for His continual outpouring of grace on the undeserved - namely, all of us.

A Calvinist Shares The Gospel

John Piper tells us how...

Here’s a conversation between an unbeliever and an evangelist who believes in the doctrine of definite atonement (sometimes unhelpfully called “limited atonement”)—the biblical teaching that when Jesus died, God’s unalterable purpose was to cancel the sins and commute the death sentence of all whom he would give to the Son (John 6:39).

Unbeliever: So what are you offering me?

Evangelist: Salvation from God’s wrath and from your sin. Everlasting life.

U: How?

E: Because when Jesus, the Son of God, died, he absorbed God’s wrath, removed it, and he bore the guilt of sin for all who trust him.

U: Did he do that for me?

E: If you will have him—receive him—you will have all that he is for you and all that he did for you. If you will trust him, yes, he did it for you.

U: So you don’t know if he did it for me?

E: He is offering himself to you right now freely. He is offering you a wonderful, finished work of redemption—all that he accomplished in absorbing God’s wrath and cancelling sins. All of that is yours for the having, right now. If you won’t have it, it’s not yours. If you will, it is. There’s only one way to know if your sins were cancelled and your death sentence was commuted in the death of Jesus. Believe on him. His promise is absolute: If you believe, you will be saved. If you won’t believe, you remain in your sin, and under God’s wrath.

U: So what are you asking me to receive?

E: Jesus. Receive Jesus! Because Jesus really did these things. He really secured the freedom of his people from the wrath of God. He really bore their sins in his body on the tree. If you receive him, you are one of them. You are included. All that is true for you. He offers to you freely right now.

U: I thought I could know Jesus died for me before I believed? That’s what I’ve always been told: Believe on him, because he died for everybody.

E: I can’t say for sure, but the people who taught you that probably meant this: Jesus died so that the gospel could be offered to all, and all who believe would be saved. That’s true. But if I assured you before you believe that your sins were cancelled and your freedom from God’s wrath was obtained, I would mislead you. Imagine if I said to you, Jesus certainly obtained your deliverance from God’s wrath and certainly covered all your sins. Now believe that. What would you say?

U: I’d say, great. Now what if I don’t believe? Then I’m still saved, right? Since my sins were certainly covered. It’s done.

E: Yes, that’s probably what you would say, and you’d be wrong. Because I would have misled you. The good news that Jesus has for you before you believe on him is not that your sins are certainly cancelled. The good news is that Jesus really propitiated the wrath of God, and really covered the sins of his people. It is finished. And that is what I offer you. It’s free. It’s full. It’s complete. It’s glorious. And his absolute promise to you is this: It’s yours if you will receive him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.

Signs You're Growing In Grace

A very helpful list here from Scotty Smith:

A sign you’re growing in grace is less bombast about not being a legalist & more humility because you “get” the gospel.

A sign you’re growing in grace is less theological arrogance & greater appreciation for diversity in the Body of Christ.

A sign you’re growing in grace is you work much harder at remembering names and forgetting slights.

A sign you’re growing in grace is that everybody notices it but you.

A sign you’re growing in grace is movement from destructive cynicism towards redemptive engagement. Anybody can spew.

A sign you’re growing in grace is that you’re less like a drive-by-shooting with criticisms & more of a healing presence.

A sign you’re growing in grace is evident when you receive feedback non-defensively and give it clearly & lovingly.

A sign you’re growing in grace is evident when people don’t feel like they have to walk on egg shells around you as much.

A sign you’re growing in grace is when you say, “I’ll be prayin’ for ya”, and you follow through on at least 50%.

A sign you’re growing in grace is committing fewer homicides in your heart of slow drivers.

A sign you’re growing in grace is praying for our government rather than simply being cynical about our government.

A sign you are growing in grace is that you are more disgusted with your critical spirit than offended by others’ sins.

Love in the Truth.

HT / Timmy Brister

The Insatiable Appetite To Be Right Is Wrong

I need to be reminded of this everyday, because of my insatiable appetite to be right.  Sadly, I often climb aboard the "perpetual outrage machine."  Russell Moore has some great points of wisdom here.  

He writes:

"Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying we shouldn’t confront culture. Jesus did, as did the prophets before him and the apostles after him. If we are, as Jesus said, “fishers of men” then we’ll understand that the eco-system in which the fish live matters. But we defend the gospel; not ourselves. We confront culture willing to be, as Paul said, “wronged” and “defrauded” (1 Cor. 6:7).

We know our ultimate vindication comes later. We need not then respond back to unbelievers with sarcastic barbs and slickly packaged campaigns. We have the right to religious liberty, and we ought to protect it. But we don’t have, and we shouldn’t want, the right to be free from ridicule.

My outrage at the Darwin fish in front of me often has little to do with persuading the Darwinist that there’s a more excellent way. Instead, sadly, my zeal is motivated by the very same factors that cause me to bristle when someone bashes the New Orleans Saints or tells a Mississippi joke. I consider it to be an attack on me. When that is my response to revulsion at the gospel, that becomes satanic.

We ought to be willing to be ridiculed and scoffed at because our audience isn’t this present band of spectators. We can listen to our “opponents,” love them, and bear their objections with patience precisely because we are convinced the gospel is true."

Read the rest...

Love in the Truth.

Lifesavers

I had the privilege of speaking at a youth retreat this past weekend at Galilean Bible Camp.  It really was an amazing time together with both the teens and the leaders.  My main theme for the weekend was "Don't Waste Your Life."  At the end of the weekend, it was apparent that the Spirit of God had moved in a mighty way amongst us!  For that, I am so thankful. 

So what's with the "Lifesavers"?  As I was leaving, one of the campers, timid and shy, handed me a pack of Lifesavers candy.  

"I wanted you to have these" she said.  

"That's great, thanks.  I love these things", I replied.  

"I wanted you to have them, because that's what you did this weekend; you saved lives", she said.  

"Give thanks to God", I replied, "He does the saving."  

"Yeah, but you helped Him save mine."

God is good.  Not that I needed a reminder, but I've got a pack of Lifesavers on my desk to remind me that He is good, and He is "mighty to save".  So yes I will boast.  I will boast in the power of the cross and the gospel of my God.  May Christ receive all the glory; He is THE life saver!

Love in the Truth.

Free Audio Book

This months free audio book from Christian Audio is "Adopted For Life" by Russell Moore.  

The gospel of Jesus Christ—the good news that through Jesus we have been adopted as sons and daughters into God’s family—means that Christians ought to be at the forefront of the adoption of orphans in North America and around the world.

Moore does not shy away from this call in Adopted for Life, a popular-level, practical manifesto for Christians to adopt children and to help equip other Christian families to do the same. He shows that adoption is not just about couples who want children—or who want more children. It is about an entire culture within the church, a culture that sees adoption as part of the Great Commission mandate and as a sign of the gospel itself.

Love in the Truth.

Misplaced Faith

“There is always a danger that when we begin to see fruit in our lives, we’ll subtly begin to rely on that fruit for our salvation, instead of on Christ. Guard against that temptation, Christian. Realize that the fruit you bear is merely that — the fruit of a tree already made good by God’s grace in Christ. To rely on your own Christian fruit to secure God’s favor is ultimately to shift your faith from Jesus to yourself. And that is no salvation at all.”

- Greg Gilbert, What Is the Gospel?

Love in the Truth

HT / Z

The Gospel of Grace

I am a scoundrel by nature--unworthy of life. 

Like Adam my father—I was a sinner by choice.

Like Cain my brother—I was a sinner by birth.

Like Rahab the Harlot—I was a whore.

Like David the King—I was an adulterer and a murderer.

Like Jonah the prophet—I was a runner and a rebel.

Like Peter the rock—I have denied my Lord.

Like Paul the Apostle—I am still the worst sinner I know. 

Dead in the guilt of my sin…

Bound in the shroud of my disgrace…

Buried in the grave of my choices...

Sealed in the coffin of my hopelessness…

Forgotten in the despair of my helplessness…

I was dead in my sin—unable to respond.

But God, through the deep love and mercy of His compassion, for His own glory, granted repentance and faith in the gospel of Christ. And by the payment provided by His own Son, to satisfy the wrath of God deserved for me, through the sacrificial exchange of the Savior on the cross…

I have been ransomed from my condemnation, and raised from the dead! 

And Like Jesus—I am righteous!

In Him I am transformed—from scoundrel to saint, from prostitute to bride, from adultery to faithfulness, from murderer to rescuer, from running to standing firm, from rebel to obedient follower, from rejecting Christ to heralding the gospel, from worst of sinner to best of example…undeserving of it all.

This is grace!

Love in the Truth.

HT / Greg Lucas