John Stott at Wheaton

Three talks on the authentic Jesus in 1998, with a Q&A in 2000, here.

I remember sitting in the chapel as he gave these talks. I knew I was up against something solid and real.

Already Under the Love

Eric Ortlund--

When you were having devotions this morning, or not; when you were rubbing your eyes and waiting for the coffee to kick in and going to work, you were under the love and compassion of an infinite Friend and Savior. When you prayed this morning, you did not have to compose your soul in order to win a hearing. If yesterday's failings were weighing on you, you did not have to become suitably humble and mournful in order for him to listen to you. You can say, "In my heart of (hardened) hearts, I still love that sin--deliver me from my impenitence," and his mercy quickly attends you.

Where Jesus Saw His Own Face

British Bible scholar and churchman Chris Wright--

We are . . . familiar with the idea that, as Paul put it, 'all the promises of God are "Yes" in Christ' (2 Cor. 1:20). But in a sense all the acts of God are 'Yes' in Christ also. For the Old Testament is much more than a promise box full of blessed predictions about Jesus. It is primarily a story--the story of the acts of God in human history out of which those promises arose and in relation to which only they make sense. . . .

It was the Old Testament which helped Jesus to understand Jesus. Who did he think he was? What did he think he was to do? The answers came from his Bible, the Hebrew scriptures in which he found a rich tapestry of figures, historical persons, prophetic pictures and symbols of worship. And in this tapestry, where others saw only a fragmented collection of various figures and hopes, Jesus saw his own face. His Hebrew Bible provided the shape of his own identity.

--Christopher J. H. Wright, Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament (IVP, 1995), 27, 108; emphasis original

The Kind of Man Jesus Loved

Hugh Martin, commenting on the church at Laodicea (Rev. 3:14-22), in a paragraph underlined and marked up in other ways by my grandfather, who left this book to me and who embodied with his life the very thing he underlined with his pen--

Jesus loved the enthusiast, the man who knew what side he was one and threw himself whole-heartedly into the struggle. He liked energetic action, as in the men who climbed the roof and broke a way through for their paralyzed friend, or in Zacchaeus who forgot his dignity and swarmed up a tree. He loved the generous giver. All four Gospels quote His saying, 'He who loves life loses it; he who spends keeps.' It sums up His attitude to life. He praised the man who banged on the door till he got an answer; He wanted men to show that kind of determination in the affairs of religion. He praised the widow who badgered the unjust judge into doing justice. He did not like playing for safety or burying one's talent. It is the peace-makers rather than the peace-keepers whom He blesses. Goodness is a positive active loyalty.

--Hugh Martin, The Seven Letters: Christ's Message to His Church (London: Carey Kingsgate, 1956), 107

No, by 'the kind of man Jesus loved' I am not denying the wonderful truth that Jesus loves all of his adopted brothers and sisters with a beautiful equality. Indeed, on one level, it was precisely the person who knew their poverty and inherent inability to generate any kind of enthusiasm for whom Jesus' heart broke and for whom he had a special care.

But you cannot tell me that there is not in the heart of God a special pleasure over, and even a special love for, those children of his who live all out for him. Whole-hearted earnestness. Not frothy frivolity, not artificial painted-on smiles. But a glad determination that picks itself up from the ground after every emotional leveling and rejoices its way back into sanity and hope once more.

What kind of September 2011 do you want to look back on in 2030?

Now go get it.

We Are All Papists

Here's how George Whitefield opens a sermon on Jeremiah 23:6, entitled 'The Lord Our Righteousness.'

Whoever is acquainted with the nature of mankind in general, or the propensity of his own heart in particular, must acknowledge, that self-righteousness is the last idol that is rooted out of the heart. . . . [W]e have contracted such devilish pride, by our fall from God, that we would, if not wholly, yet in part at least, glory in being the cause of our own salvation. We cry out against popery, and that very justly; but we are all Papists; at least, I am sure, we are all Arminians by nature; and therefore no wonder so many natural men embrace that scheme. It is true, we disclaim the doctrine of merit, are ashamed directly to say we deserve any good at the hands of God. . . .

This is the sorest, though, alas! the most common evil that was ever yet seen under the sun. An evil that in any age, especially in these dregs of time wherein we live, cannot sufficiently be inveighed against. For as it is with the people, so it is with the priests; and it is to be feared, even in those places, where once the truth as it is in Jesus was eminently preached, many ministers are so sadly degenerated from their pious ancestors, that the doctrines of grace, especially the personal, All-Sufficient Righteousness of Jesus, is but too seldom, too slightly mentioned. Hence the love of many waxeth cold; and I have often thought, was it possible, that this single consideration would be sufficient to raise our venerable forefathers again from their graves; who would thunder in their ears their fatal error.

--George Whitefield, Sermon 14 in Selected Sermons of George Whitefield

The Sweep of the Bible in Two Weeks

If a freshman in college or stay-at-home mom or aspiring deacon or friend from work or anyone else asked me how they might get a rough grasp of the macro-storyline of the Bible in a few weeks, I'd send them not to any secondary resource but to the Bible itself for a reading plan that might look something like this.

Week 1

Sunday - Genesis 1-3
Monday - Genesis 12-17
Tuesday - Exodus 1-3, 12
Wednesday - Exodus 14, 19-20
Thursday - Joshua 23-24; Judges 1-2
Friday - 1 Samuel 8, 16; 2 Samuel 7, 11; Psalm 105
Saturday - Isaiah 7, 9, 11, 35, 52-53, 65

Week 2

Sunday - Jeremiah 30-33; Ezekiel 36-37, Zechariah 9; Malachi 3-4
Monday - Matt. 1:1; Mark 1:1-15; John 1:1-18; 5:39-46; Luke 24
Tuesday - Mark 14:1-16:8
Wednesday - Acts 1-2; 13:13-49
Thursday - Rom. 1:1-6; 16-17; 3:9-31; 5:12-21; 8:18-23; 1 Cor. 15:1-23
Friday - Heb. 1:1-4; 10:19-12:2
Saturday - Revelation 1; 20-22

How to Read the Bible

All the actual biblical texts should be read slowly and reflectively since they have a power of their own. The ancient method for reading the Bible is to involve yourself so deeply that you feel yourself as part of the story. This means that you are actually there. This is not a piece of pious fiction, but based on the way the text was written. It was designed as a living drama in which the audience is there as part of the action.

--J. A. Grassi, The Five Wounds of Jesus and Personal Transformation (Alba House, 2000), ix; emphasis original (HT: Peter Bolt)

Not the only thing to be said; but a neglected one.

Help in Gospel-Centered Bible Reading

In some recent teaching I drew up a list of books I've found helpful in how to read the Bible from a macro-perspective with Jesus as the point of the whole Bible. Maybe it would be useful to the odd reader of this blog.

Authors to read for further study on gospel-centered hermeneutics:

* = entry level
** = intermediate level
*** = advanced level

T. Desmond Alexander

*The Servant King: The Bible’s Portrait of the Messiah. Regent College Press, 2003. 172 pp.

*From Eden to the New Jerusalem: An Introduction to Biblical Theology. Kregel, 2009. 208 pp.

G. K. Beale

***A New Testament Biblical Theology: Transformation of the Old Testament in the New. Baker, 2011. 992 pp.

**“The Eschatological Conception of New Testament Theology.” In The Reader Must Understand: Eschatology in Bible and Theology. Edited by K. E Browner and M. W. Elliot. InterVarsity, 1997. 60 pp.

D. A. Carson

*The God Who Is There: Finding Your Place in the Story. Baker, 2010. 240 pp.

Bryan Chapell

**Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon. 2d ed. Baker, 2005. 400 pp. Note especially chapters 10 and 11.

Roy Ciampa

**“The History of Redemption.” In Central Themes in Biblical Theology: Mapping Unity in Diversity. Edited by Scott J. Hafemann and Paul R. House. Baker, 2007. 50 pp.

Edmund Clowney

**Preaching Christ in All of Scripture. Crossway, 2003. 192 pp.

**The Unfolding Mystery: Discovering Christ in the Old Testament. Presbyterian & Reformed, 1991. 208 pp.

Stephen Dempster

**Dominion and Dynasty: A Biblical Theology of the Hebrew Bible. InterVarsity: 2003. 267 pp.

William Dumbrell

**The End of the Beginning: Revelation 21–22 and the Old Testament. Wipf & Stock:2001. 216 pp.

Graeme Goldsworthy

*According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible. InterVarsity, 2002. 251 pp.

**The Goldsworthy Trilogy (Gospel and Kingdom, Gospel and Wisdom, The Gospel in Revelation). Paternoster, 2001. 586 pp. (esp. Gospel and Kingdom)

***Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics: Foundations and Principles of Evangelical Biblical Interpretation. InterVarsity, 2007. 341 pp.

**Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture: The Application of Biblical Theology to Expository Preaching. Eerdmans, 2000. 287 pp.

Sidney Greidanus

**Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method. Eerdmans, 1999. 392 pp.

Dennis E. Johnson

**Him We Proclaim: Preaching Christ from All the Scriptures. Presbyterian & Reformed, 2007. 494 pp.

Sally Lloyd-Jones

*The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name. Zondervan, 2007. 352 pp.

Vaughan Roberts

*God’s Big Picture: Tracing the Storyline of the Bible. InterVarsity, 2003. 160 pp.

O. Palmer Robertson

**The Christ of the Covenants. Presbyterian & Reformed, 1981. 308 pp.

Colin Smith

*The Plan. TGC Booklets. Crossway, 2011. 30 pp.

Michael Williams

*Far as the Curse is Found: The Covenant Story of Redemption. Presbyterian & Reformed, 2005. 319 pp.

Christopher J. H. Wright

**Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament. InterVarsity, 1992. 256 pp.

The Law and the Conscience

Luther, in the preface to his 1591 commentary on Galatians:

For a Christian the law ought to have dominion only over the flesh. When it is so, the law is kept within bounds. But if it presumes to creep into your conscience and tries to reign there, you must make the right distinction. Give no more to the law than is right, but say,

'You want to climb up into the kingdom of my conscience, do you, Law? You want to reign over it and reprove sin and take away the joy I have by faith in Christ and drive me to desperation? Keep within your bounds, and exercise your power over the flesh, but do not touch my conscience. By the Gospel I am called to share righteousness and everlasting life. I am called to Christ's kingdom, where my conscience is at rest and there is no law, but rather forgiveness of sins, peace, quietness, joy, health, and everlasting life. Do not trouble me in these matters, for I will not let an intolerant tyrant like you reign in my conscience, which is the temple of Christ, the Son of God. He is the King of righteousness and peace, my sweet Savior and Mediator; he will keep my conscience joyful and quiet in the sound, pure doctrine of the Gospel and in the knowledge of Christian and heavenly righteousness.'

When I have this righteousness reigning fertile in my heart, I descend from heaven like the rain that makes the earth fertile. That is to say, I come out into another kingdom, and I do good works whenever I have a chance.

--Martin Luther, Galatians (Crossway, 1998), xxii