Sibbes continues in discussing the government of Christ upon the throne of our hearts. In this chapter he expounds upon the second conclusion derived from this truth. The point in this section will be to show that the government of Christ "in his church and in his children is wise and well-ordered."

Quick Outline:

• Judgment and Wisdom
• The Need for Heavenly Light
• Where Christ's Government is Set Up
• How Christ Governs Us
• The Effects of this in Practice

Summary:

Sibbes begins by showing that spiritually regenerate men, because Christ has rule in their heart, will have a correct judgment upon spiritual matters. He does make a disclaimer that, "truth is truth, and error, error, and that which is unlawful is unlawful, whether men think so or not." A wise man, when Christ has the rule in his heart, will agree to these things. Therefore, we must "let truth have full scope without check or restraint, and let Satan and his instruments do their worst, they shall not prevail."

This then is the importance of receiving "heavenly light". If we have not been given the Spirit of truth then we will not be able to make correct judgments as we ought. Christ so works in our hearts and forms in us correct judgments that we often can be mistaken in thinking that "that good which is in [us] and issues from [us] is from [ourselves], and not from the powerful work of grace." Only through heavenly light being imparted will men have sound judgment.

Because of this we come to understand that "wherever true wisdom and judgment are, there Christ has set up his government, because where wisdom is it directs us, not only to understand, but to order our ways aright". What happens, then, is that Christ not only teaches that which we should do we are taught the very act of doing it. So that we are "not only taught that [we] should love, fear, and obey, but [we] are taught love itself, and fear and obedience themselves.

But how does Christ do this you ask? He does this by not only shining on us the light of understanding but by also doing a work upon our hearts to cause us to treasure that truth. If Christ does not do this might work by His Spirit then the truth "does us no good, but helps to condemn us." Unless Christ comes in and does this work we will not be wise and will have no true judgment, Christ must overcome Satan and take charge of our souls.

Discussion:

There is little that needs to be discussed from this chapter, it is all pretty straight-forward. One wonders how different our approach to sharing the gospel, preaching, writing, etc. would be if we really believed what is in this chapter. If we really believe that it takes a work of the Spirit to understand and treasure truth, then we would not be so surprised by the "ignorance" of the world. Why are we so surprised that some politicians argue for the killing of babies? Why are we so surprised that homosexuality is celebrated? Why are we so surprised that Christ is not treasured?

If we really get what Sibbes is saying here then we will preach the truth as it stands and not try to twist the truth so that men might accept it easier. The truth is they probably will accept it, because it is adulterated, tainted, and no longer the truth; that is what unregenerate men love to swallow--falsehood. Therefore, out of deep love we must be passionate about proclaiming the truth, all the while trusting in the sovereign mercy of God to soften men's hearts.

Pearls and Diamonds:

"Truth is truth, and error, error, and that which is unlawful is unlawful, whether men think so or not." (p.84)

"Let truth have full scope without check or restraint, and let Satan and his instruments do their worst, they shall not prevail..." (p.85)

"There is no natural proportion between an unsanctified heart and a sanctified judgment." (p.89)

"When the judgment of Christ is set up in our judgments, and thence, by the Spirit of Christ, brought into our hearts, then it is in its proper place and throne. Until then, truth does us no good, but helps to condemn us." (p.89)

"And Satan by corruption gets all the holds of the soul, till Christ, stronger than he, comes and drives him out, taking possession of all the powers and parts of soul and body to be weapons of righteousness, to serve him." (p.90)

Jonathan Leeman continues blogging through Willow Creek's REVEAL. Today he gives us Part 9.

Denny Burk responds to Rick Warren on The Colbert Report. So do I.

There is also a very good disussion on praise songs at Old Truth. There is some very good information on the history of praise songs. It would be interesting to contrast this with the history of hymns. I find it quite funny that sometimes our arguments over praise songs are the same as they were 250 years ago with hymns. Nonetheless, the point is really good that our music should be heady and hearty.

Steve Camp has a great article on the Sinfulness of Original Sin, along with a song [poem] in the post.

Mark Driscoll offers help to preachers setting a preaching schedule. (HT: Micah)

I think you are going to be seeing quite a bit of discussion coming out of Bethlehem in the coming days concerning interacting with Muslims. Piper offers answers to "How shall we love our Muslim neighbors". As always Christ is at the center.

Something that is pretty cool is the 9Marks report card. Very interesting stuff. Much can be learned in the first couple of pages as well. (HT: JT)

In other 9Marks news I can't help but wonder how Dever's statement, here,will fly in the SBC. Apparently Dever will continue cooperating with Acts29. His statement is excellent.

Dr. Mohler discusses an often ignored voice in the abortion debate, it is the voice they do not want to hear, the dad's.

I was wondering when someone was going to pick up on this. Two nights ago Rick Warren was the guest on The Colbert Report. I wanted to post quickly on this but felt it wise to wait until someone else "broke the story". This morning Denny Burk did just that. It is with much trepidation that I offer my critique. I do not want to be unfair to Rick Warren, and have my critique lost on the person or even worse turn into sinful slander. After watching this it broke my heart. I was infuriated, full of pain, and all sorts of emotions. I want to use such strong words as, "Rick Warren abandons the gospel", but I am not sure that is wise or totally accurate. Nonetheless I urge you to watch the clip. Here are my critiques:

There are a few minor critiques that taken by themselves probably would not have necessitate a post. These are not major issues, but still in my passion to be ever truthful I must mention them.

1. Warren's conclusion on God's purpose for Creation is typical modern evangelicalism. God created the world just for me and so he could love me. Now, God did create the world with a secondary purpose of creating us to display and give His love to us (not to mention other attributes). But the primary purpose (which Warren does not mention) is that God created the world and the galaxies and everything to display His splendor and His worth. When we put ourselves as the central purpose for Creation we open the door for neutering the gospel.
2. This is very minor and really a point of semantics, but I did not appreciate Warren's definition of fundamentalists as "someone that stops listening". It depends on what you mean by fundamentalist. Do you mean going back to the fundamentals and keeping essential these fundamentals? If so, then Warren is saying that the framers of the Apostle's Creed and the Nicene Creed are people that stop listening. Carl Henry is a person that stops listening. The list could go on and on, so his definition is not helpful and can be harmful to the discussion.
3. Warren's doctrine of eternity is also suspect. I am not certain where he gets the idea that life is a practice ground so we are not a doofus in heaven.
4. His statement about his book being historical Christianity made simple is very debatable. Saying there is nothing in that book that historical Christianity has not taught for 2,000 years is actually a little off. Actually, as we will see in a moment, the problem so often is not that he says things that are unorthodox; it is that often he fails to say things that are orthodox.
5. Warren saying I have connections at the end about getting Jesus on the show. I understand that he was just joking, and I'm sure given the situation I may have made the same joke. Perhaps I was just so upset at this point that it caused me to boil over, but I found the way he said that highly arrogant.

There are also a few major errors in Warren's presentation. Most of which lie in what Warren failed to say. Bryan Chapell tells a story in his book Christ-Centered Preaching that has stuck with me. Many times in his seminary classes Chapell has played a tape of a preacher's morning meditations. They all nod in agreement. When Chapell says that this man is the leader of a local cult, his students are always astonished. They argue that he clothes his heresy. Then Chapell says, "The radio preacher has not hidden his heresy; he exposes it every time he speaks in what he fails to say. The real problem is that evangelical preachers inadvertently and so frequently present such similar messages that Christians fail to hear the difference between a message that purports to be biblical and one that actually is."(p.267-268, First Edition) What did Rick Warren fail to say?

1. Jesus. The only mention of Jesus came from the lips of Colbert when he asked, "If we ask Jesus to come into our life will he?" To which Warren responded, absolutely. That's good, and maybe this should be in the minor section. Because we do not always have to mention the name of Jesus (although it certainly would be a good practice). Where I have a problem with his lack of mentioning Jesus is in the next points
2. Twice it was as if Stephen Colbert (or perhaps the Holy Spirit) were begging Rick Warren to preach the gospel. When Colbert asked, "Am I living my purpose", or "what is the purpose of everyday" that was an invitation to preach the biblical gospel. Warren could have easily spoke of Creation (but again remember his purpose for Creation is not God revealing His glory, but us) then moved into our sinning against our Creator. (This would not have been as awkward as it seems because you could have easily used Colbert's "am I living my purpose" as a launching point). After briefly (it would have to be brief, yet pointed, given the format) discussing the aspect of sin you could preach the Cross. Fairly easy within about a minute. Yet what did Warren do? He did not even mention Jesus, sin, God's glory nothing. He told Stephen Colbert that as long as he is being a good doofus then he makes God smile. What?!? Where does he get the notion that God gets enjoyment out of watching you be you? Colbert being Colbert would be blaspheming God and trampling His glory. God does not enjoy that!

That is enough of a critique. Where does this philosophy come from and what can we do not to slip into it? I believe it is a rejection of the truth behind 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5 as well as a rejection of the many places in Scripture that we see God's Word and His Gospel is His power unto salvation to those that believe. Warren has the underlying philosophy that we have to "make the gospel simple". There is a part of that which is true, but what often happens is that in "making the gospel simple" we neuter it of any value. In which case we end up preaching on things like purpose and fail to mention the name of Jesus nor be faithful to the biblically revealed Gospel. When men feel like they have to dress up the gospel to make it attractive interviews like this are all you are going to get.

Earlier I mentioned Denny Burk breaking the story. His belief is that Warren should not have even attended the show, so as not to cast his pearls before swine. That very well may be true, but Warren did not cast any pearls. This may be controversial but I am also not so sure that Colbert is swine. I am not sure I would go so far as to say Warren should not have appeared on the show. Maybe not. Maybe. What I do believe is that if were going to go on the show he should have not felt the need to clothe the gospel and preach it unadulterated. I've rambled enough, here is the video, tell me what you think: