I think I have found a new brother in the Lord to increase my joy in Christ--John Newton. He's the guy that wrote Amazing Grace. His life was one of Amazing Grace. Reading this man's writings and reading his biographies I am awestruck at the level of love this man had. I realize that his level of love comes from a deep sense and understanding of grace in his own life. He is a beautiful reflection of Luke 7:47. I think he loved much because the roots of grace were driven deep into his heart. Hopefully in the coming months you will see more Newton quotes. Here is a poem from his Olney Hymns.

On man, in his own image made,
How much did GOD bestow?
The whole creation homage paid,
And owned him LORD, below!

He dwelt in Eden’s garden, stored
With sweets for every sense;
And there with his descending LORD
He walked in confidence.

But O! by sin how quickly changed!
His honor forfeited,
His heart, from God and truth, estranged,
His conscience filled with dread!

Now from his Maker’s voice he flees,
Which was before his joy:
And thinks to hide, amidst the trees,
From an All–seeing eye.

Compelled to answer to his name,
With stubbornness and pride
He cast, on God himself, the blame,
Nor once for mercy cried.

But grace, unasked, his heart subdued
And all his guilt forgave;
By faith, the promised seed he viewed,
And felt his pow’r to save.

Thus we ourselves would justify,
Though we the Law transgress;
Like him, unable to deny,
Unwilling to confess.

But when by faith the sinner sees
A pardon bought with blood;
Then he forsakes his foolish pleas,
And gladly turns to God.

The sixth stanza (I think it's a stanza) especially hits me. As I think about how hopeless Adam was in his sin, I begin to remember my lost condition. Not only my lost condition do I remember but also my continuing battle with sin. When I begin to feel the weight of that hopelessness I am astounded that God in His free mercy (but grace, unasked, his heart subdued) reached down and saved me.

Just a reminder that if school is cancelled or dismissed early on Wednesday then we will NOT be having youth group! If that is the case this Wednesday (as an ice-storm is in the forecast) then we will either incorporate our second message on Zechariah into The Promised King or move straight to The Promised King and preach on Zechariah at a later date. Even if youth group is cancelled there will still be updates on the blog!

It is not too late to join us in Reading the Classics Together at Challies. Here are my thoughts on Chapter 4; again you can read the book for free here.

The central point of chapter 4 is that the "life, vigor, and comfort of our spiritual life depends much on our mortification of sin". As I read this I thought a fitting backdrop would be Edwards' 22nd resolution: "Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness, in the other world, as I possibly can, with all the power, might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of." If we are resolved like Edwards (or Piper after him) to pursue as much happiness in God as possible then we can learn from Owen that this comes from mortification of sin.

Owen does an excellent job of reminding us that the gift of "life, vigor, and comfort" do not come from mortification but they are fruits of our adoption and justification. But I think Owen is saying that if we are to pursue such joy (as Edwards spoke of) then it will come not only from our adoption and justification but also from our mortification of sin. Sin will do two things, says Owen: "It will weaken the soul and deprive it of its vigor. It will darken the soul and deprive it of its comfort and peace." Owen then launches into a gut-wrenching discussion of all that unmortified sin results in:

• It weakens the soul and deprives it of its strength
• It untunes and unframes the heart itself by entangling its affections
• It fills the thoughts with contrivances about it (in other words the flesh fills itself with thoughts about the flesh and how to gratify its desires, setting you on a downward spiral)
• It breaks out and actually hinders duty
• As sin weakens so it darkens the soul (As Owen says, "It intercepts all the beams of God's love and favor")

So, we see here the downward spiral that sin sets us upon. We become weak and as we become weaker we are more susceptible to temptation and on and on until our souls become increasingly weakened and our souls are filled with darkness. Therefore, we must see that all sin is deadly; and as Owen reminded us in a previous chapter it aims at the utmost. Because sin is so deadly we are therefore urged to be all the more fervent in mortifying it. If we desire life, vigor, and comfort (in other words joy in God) then we must be about this business of mortifying sin.

Owen then closes with a beautiful analogy of a garden:

Now, as you may see in a garden, let there be a precious herb planted, and let the ground be untilled, and weeds grow about it, perhaps it will live still, but be a poor, withering, unuseful thing. You must look and search for it, and sometimes can scarce find it; and when you do, you can scarce know it, whether it be the plant you look for or not; and suppose it be, you can make no use of it at all. When, let another of the same kind be set in the ground, naturally as barren and bad as the other, but let it be well weeded, and everything that is noxious and hurtful removed from it—it flourishes and thrives; you may see it at first look into the garden, and have it for your use when you please. So it is with the graces of the Spirit that are planted in our hearts. That is true; they are still, they abide in a heart where there is some neglect of mortification; but they are ready to die (Rev. 3:2), they are withering and decaying. The heart is like the sluggard’s field—so overgrown with weeds that you can scarce see the good corn. Such a man may search for faith, love, and zeal, and scarce be able to find any; and if he does discover that these graces are there yet alive and sincere, yet they are so weak, so clogged with lusts, that they are of very little use; they remain, indeed, but are ready to die. But now let the heart be cleansed by mortification, the weeds of lust constantly and daily rooted up (as they spring daily, nature being their proper soil), let room be made for grace to thrive and flourish—how will every grace act its part, and be ready for every use and purpose!

As I think about this chapter I am struck with how stupid it is to let sin dwell within us. It does such damage; yet I continue to see its effects daily. I find myself at times caving in to its pullings and inevitably I experience what Owen says happens--a deadness of spirit. This chapter encourages me to run to the Cross at the least hint of sin and thereby seek its mortification.

I am sitting here trying to figure out how to interact with Time Magazine's article on Rob Bell. (HT: JT) In it he is heralded as potentially "one of the most important leaders of the 21st century". Indeed with a church that tops 11,000 he has considerable influence. My concern lies in this quote: "the faith needs someone who can defend its tenets in the argot [specialized vocabulary] of the day". If Bell is hoping to be that man then he is falling way short. If you want a little more information on Bell's doctrine I suggest checking out Mark Sohmer's review of Velvet Elvis. In it he categorizes the errors as follows: Under heresy we see a wrong view of the Trinity, Exclusivity of Christianity, mankind, and the gospel; under aberrant theology we see a wrong view of Jesus' purpose, heaven and hell, rabbinc judaism, hermeneutics, and influences.
So, as I am trying to think of how to interact with this article I am struggling with knowing whether or not to dismiss Bell as a dangerous heretic or a brother with aberrant theology. All I know is this--I will not be suggesting his books or Nooma videos to the sheep God has entrusted to my care.

Also, over the weekend Mark Dever wrote an article about the gospel. To be honest, I am not certain I understand it. His central thesis is this: "It is very important to [mentally] divorce the gospel from its implications and entailments. [Do NOT divorce these in your life and practice--that is James 2 hypocrisy!]" I think my problem lies in wondering what Dever means by "implications and entailments". If you read the comments I apparently am not the only one. I await Mark's response. My take so far is this: Dever is simply saying that our ministries should be comprised of preaching Christ and Him crucified and THAT is the gospel. It seems to me that his "rebuke" is not aimed at social gospel adherents or vague presentations of the Emerging Church. It seems to me that his rebuke is towards those of us who are so passionate about saying all of the right words that rather than just preaching the gospel we go into really lengthy discourses and reject formulations such as the God-man-Christ-response. All in all, I am awaiting Dever's more in depth explanation of this comment. It is probably a profound one but as it stands it is far too vague and leaves open far too many questions.

That's all that we have so far today. I would also like to give a woohoo! to the Cleveland Browns who are now 8-5!! For those Chiefs and Rams fans who tease me for being a Browns fan I will not gloat that the Rams and Chiefs combined have 1 less win than the Browns. The Brownies are playoff bound and I'm happy--and I am hoping that it's first round Pittsburgh vs. Cleveland. How sweet it would be to walk into Pittsburgh and beat them senseless! (By the way, I think being a Cleveland Browns fan is proof that I have a big view of God--what hope could I have unless I believed in the sovereignty of God?!?!?) Oh, also if you are a lover of fantasy baseball then go to Fantasy Baseball Heaven and join a winter league comprised of all those old-timey players...looks like it could be fun.