Knowing Scripture

By R.C. Sproul

Having studied for some time the book of Daniel, which of course includes both historical and prophetical accounts, but of late concentrating mainly on future events and end times as declared according to the word of God, I felt compelled to go back and study the beginnings of creation and the opening chapters of Genesis in depth. The attacks upon God, His existence, His power, the authority of His word, creation etc. do not cease, however, there are great works being done by true disciples in such organisations as ‘Answers in Genesis’ and ‘Creation Ministries International’ against what appears to be mounting lies, heresy and blasphemy and we as fellow believers should study/continue to study at least some of the multitude of articles coming out of such ministries, always preparing ourselves with true, biblically and historically accurate answers for an inquisitive or attacking unbelieving family member/work colleague/fellow student and being a witness/living epistle to them for our God. Such articles should not take priority or take the place of immersing ourselves in Scripture but should merely complement our studies of God’s infallible and inerrant word in the quiet place. While beginning to study Genesis 1, I looked across to the bookcase and thought this book by R.C. Sproul may, in some way, further aid a knowledge of the Holy Writ.

J.I. Packer writes on the blurb of this book, ‘Knowing Scripture’, “If I were the devil, one of my first aims would be to stop folks from digging into the Bible…I should do all I could to surround it with the spiritual equivalent of pits, thorns, hedges and mantraps…But I should be very far from pleased to see this book by R.C. Sproul.” I am struggling in my mind, as I type, as to who I would recommend this book to. There are believers I know who are daily wielding the steak knife and digging deeply into the meat of the word, who may not gain a great deal from this book, while there are others sucking gently and perhaps, at best, monthly from the milk of the word who would never dream of picking up this book. I don’t know. I shall leave it up to the individual to decide whether or not to read this book. I’ll merely leave you with one of many quotes that could have been taken from this 125-page book that has, in my own case, brought to light new rules I shall apply while approaching a passage/body of text in the Bible and also reinforced existing principles.

In Chapter 4: Practical Rules for Biblical Interpretation and Rule #4: The Implicit is to be Interpreted by the Explicit Sproul writes “In the business of language we make distinctions between that which is implicit and that which is explicit. Often the difference is a matter of degree and the distinction can be muddled. But usually we can determine the difference between what is actually said and what is left unsaid though implied. I am convinced that if this one rule were consistently followed by Christian communities, the vast majority of doctrinal differences that divide us would be resolved. It is at the point of confusing the implicit and the explicit that it is easy to be careless.” One of Sproul’s examples of this statement is in the question of the nature of Jesus’ resurrection body. “I have seen descriptions of Jesus’ glorified body as being a body that has the capacity to move unimpeded through solid objects. The biblical warrant for such a claim is found in John 20:19: ‘When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst , and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’’ Look carefully at the words of the text. Does it say that Jesus ‘dematerialised’ and floated through the door? No, it says that the doors were shut and Jesus came and stood in their midst. Why does the author mention that the door was shut? Perhaps to indicate the amazing way Jesus appeared. Or perhaps merely to accentuate what he actually says, that the disciples were afraid of the Jews. Is it possible that Jesus came to His frightened disciples who were huddled together behind closed doors, opened the door, walked in and began speaking with them? Again, maybe Jesus did in fact float through the door, but the text does not say that. To construct a view of Jesus’ resurrected body on the basis of this text involves unwarranted speculation and careless exegesis.”

This book could be a helping hand on the way for some believers struggling in their interpretation of texts they have observed and studied but should not be a substitute for the place of prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit in a believer while studying and meditating day and night on God’s word.

Psalm 1!

I, Isaac, take Thee, Rebekah
Moving from Romance to Lasting Love

By Ravi Zacharias

Rosemary and myself were bought this book as an engagement present and read it together a chapter at a time – 7 chapters – 7 sittings. However, they weren’t comfortable sittings as I read each chapter aloud. Each chapter is comfortable in length and can be read in a relatively short time, however, the content is not comfortable and makes the subsequent days uncomfortable while dwelling on what is written and what has been read aloud. Please don’t misinterpret the preceding sentences when I type such words and terms as ‘uncomfortable’, ‘weren’t comfortable’ and ‘not comfortable’. We weren’t created by our Godhead for comfort and it’s not the kind of discomfort you experience while sitting on a wet park bench or a jagged rock located in a precarious position overhanging sheer cliff. It’s an inner searching of your life; as past sins come screaming to light in your mind, you are left on some occasions with an utter unworthiness before God as He, in His sovereign wisdom, led and guided you to marrying a precious child of His while for days, months and years He has been dishonoured in deliberate sin and indifference. This was a difficult read, however, I praise God that this book was placed into our hands and we subsequently, as previously, examined ourselves against Scripture.

Ravi uses the background, meeting, courtship, marriage and life lived together of Isaac and Rebekah before God as a backdrop to this book. This 156-page book is full of wisdom and practical guidance for couples, both engaged and married. It is, as stated previously, a short book and of course is limited in that it obviously can not cover the multi-layered issues that may arise during the course of a deeply God-honouring and glorifying marriage but is a worthwhile purchase and read.

For some believers currently with girlfriend/boyfriend/fiancée/wife/husband I would recommend, before reading this book (which I advise if lending or giving to someone you inform them it may potentially not be an ‘easy’ read), you immerse yourself in Scripture (if you are not already doing so and please continue to do so for the remainder of your days), learning more of Who your God really is alongside which I commend reading ‘The Cross-Centred Life’ by C.J. Mahaney (which in itself should only take an evening) while laying hold of your justification, imputed righteousness and forgiveness of sins past, present and future.

I’m still reading a chapter every so often of Sproul’s ‘The Holiness of God’, which caught my interest, thinking it would be worthwhile reading after having looked at a number of the various attributes and Names of God in the ‘Abram/Abraham’ chapters of Genesis and will leave a comment on this book when I finish. However, over the last 10 days I entered a kind of ‘downer’, the cause of which I haven’t been able to pinpoint but I was feeling down, physically unwell and there were perceived strong barriers hindering me to pray. Old sins, dealt with on the finished work of Christ and His voluntary shedding of blood on the cross, kept coming to mind and my battle-plan over previous months aided greatly by Biblical truths contained within C. J. Mahaney’s ‘The Cross-Centred Life’ didn’t seem to work but instead I felt overwhelmed by guilt, shame and unworthiness over these past days.

This situation led me to pick up Piper’s ‘When the Darkness Will Not Life – Doing What We Can While We Wait for God – and Joy’, for which I personally can exhort you to buy and share. The book is aimed at believers going through a darkness in their lives, whether that be a short-term sadness, feeling of guilt etc. to long-term ‘depression’ and again I would strongly encourage anyone who knows of such a believer or if you yourself reading this is going through such an experience along the narrow way to pick this short book up and read whatever you can.

Piper quotes widely in this encouraging book – it is dedicated to the memory of John Owen, and much like ALL of Piper’s books it is saturated in Bible. Richard Baxter, John Bunyan, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones are all quoted from and a situation between John Newtown and William Cowper is also told, one which we all can learn from. A believer who perceives themselves going through a dark spell may not want to pick up a lengthy essay by a puritan or scholar, which could in itself be of great benefit and by the grace of God speak directly into their situation – but one of the things that could attract such a believer to picking up this particular book is its length – it is 79 pages – one-and-a-half line spacing and can be read in several hours. It’s hard to summarise this book for it is chock full of admonitions to fight on, to not get down and seclude yourself away feeling sorry for yourself but to wise up, get out of your bed, out of your front door and confess your sin to believers you know, mourn it, grieve over it, go to fellowship, praise God through song for His grace, evangelise, read missionary reports…I’ll leave you with the chapter and sub-headings of the book –

Introduction: Faith Alone and the Fight for Joy
To Help Those for Whom Joy Stays Out of Reach
The foundation of Gutsy Guilt
The Great Work of Christ Outside of Us
Confusing Justification and Sanctification Will Kill Joy
John Bunyan Sees His Righteousness in Heaven
Start with Despair in Yourself

The Darkness of Melancholy
The Physical Side of Spiritual Darkness
The Place of Medication in the Fight for Joy

Waiting in Darkness, We Are Not Lost And Not Alone
How Long, O Lord, How Long!
The Ground of Our Assurance When We Cannot See Our Faith
When A Child of God is Persuaded that He is Not

Fold Not The Arms Of Action
What Matters is Your Duty, Not Your Joy?
Duty Includes the Duty of Joy
Will You Be a Hypocrite if You Obey Without Joy?
Thanksgiving With the Mouth Stirs Up Thankfulness in the Heart

Does Unconfessed Sin Clog Our Joy?
Confessing to God and to Man is Sweet Freedom
Give the Devil His Due, But No More
The Devil Cannot Abide with the Light of Cherished Truth

The Darkness That Feeds On Self-Absorption
How Bill Leslie Became a Watered Garden and a Spring
What My Eighty-Five Year Old Father Said Was Missing
The Aim is that Our Words Would Be the Overflow of Joy in Christ
Is the Cause You Live for Large Enough for Your Christ-Exalting Heart

Loving Those Who Cannot See The Light
The Amazing Grace of John Newtown’s Care for Cowper
There is No Wasted Work in Loving Those without Light

By way of introduction let me share with you a scenario of events through which God lead me to read this book on humility. Over the last months I have been thoroughly enjoying studying the Word and various books by reputed authors, and Adonai was, I believe, sanctifying me greatly. However, there came a time several weeks ago when my mind was being overwhelmed by so much truthful information and a number of other occasions. I questioned what was wrong since there appeared to be nothing happen out of the ordinary those several weeks ago and quickly realised a huge source of the overload was reading too broadly. Let me explain. While studying various portions of the Bible, or doctrines etc. I then would pick up a book at perceived random such as 'The Life of God in the Soul of Man' by Henry Scrougal and read it while studying the book of Daniel or the life of Abraham for example. While studying the mainly 'historical' early chapters of Daniel or justification in the life of Abraham and his being reckoned as righteous through his belief in God's promise of a 'Seed', I then would go and read an olde English book relating in sections to sanctification. This overload of broad reading came to a head two weeks ago while studying with Rosemary, my brilliant fiancee! We were studying Genesis 21 inductively as is our habit and preferred form of studying the Word and came to verse 22 and following. We both looked at it deeply, discussed it over in our minds and out loud and came to a view as to its meaning, however I couldn't let it go - I tried to search for extra truths and spent ages in quietness with a puzzled and bewildered look on my face - Rosemary at this stage wanted to move on. I had to take a 3/4 day break from studying due to mental exhaustion! There was no holistic structure to my studies and I was the worse for it. I decided in my mind that my reading OUTSIDE of Scriptural study would relate to the book or doctrine that I was trying to feed on IN Scripture. Maybe people reading this already practice such a habit and think I'm an infant for coming to such a practice only now or maybe you don't do this and think I'm typing nonsense. This led me to pick up a one of the many books I had bought while in Minneapolis - 'Humility - True Greatness' by C. J. Mahaney. I was studying Daniel 4 for leading a Bible study and saw a sin of King Nebuchadnezzar's was his pride, which led to the removal of his kingdom and his sovereignty until he would recognise who the Most High God is, and felt a relevant book to further my knowledge of this sin and to help in the fight against putting God second ahead of me would be 'Humility - True Greatness'. Like a number of C.J''s other books this is very practical in its content and quotes extensively from Scripture, much to my pleasure (see comments relating to Sex, Romance and the Glory of God). I would recommend this book to all believers - mature/spiritual infant; male/female; young/old etc. I just want to leave you with the first step on a road to true greatness in humility. C. H. Spurgeon states pride is a groundless thing and a brainless thing and the maddest thing that can exist. C. J. suggests that the first and most prominent step each day in order to help weaken pride and cultivate humility is to reflect on the wonder of the cross of Christ. You remember the request James, John and their mother made to Jesus - the brothers wanted to sit one at His right hand and one at His left hand in glory, however after Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection these men were transformed. James, from pride in his heart was transformed by the power of God and became the first apostle martyred. Why the change? What happened between the rather prideful request and the obedience to martyrdom by the sword? Christ died as a ransom for his sins. John was transformed as well - perhaps not martyred but John would have suffered greatly and especially so when banished to Patmos. From the prideful request John is transformed (read I John 3:16)...why? The Saviour died as a ransom for his sins. They and we who believe are redeemed, we have been bought with a price we could not pay. Humble service should remind you of Christ's death, His ransom, the price He paid. I now quote directly from C. J. - "Consider your own life for just a moment. Where would you be today if He hadn't ransomed you, if He hadn't liberated you? I'll tell you where. You would be self-sufficient, seeking to cultivate self-confidence for the purpose of self-glorification. But what happened to you? If you've been genuinely converted, you've been forgiven and transformed. And though for now there remains in you a temptation and tendency to sin, a fundamental and radical change has occured so that you have the desire to serve others and to see God glorified. We know the inner call to lay down our lives for one another because He laid down His life for us. What a powerful death! So make it your aim and lifelong habit, when you see someone who's serving, to be reminded of the sacrifice of the Saviour, for apart from His sacrifice there is no serving. True greatness is attained only by emulating the Saviour's example-and made possible only by the Saviour's sacrifice."

I don’t know what is going on…my head is spinning these days…so much information – truths from the Bible, audio messages from Piper, Giglio, Reidhead, Beth Moore and from reputable books. This, in addition to personal realisations in a number of ‘works’ I have been involved in, has led to the beginning of a number of radical steps. Reidhead’s ‘ten shekels and a shirt’, Piper’s ‘God is the Gospel’, and Joshua Harris’ ‘Stop Dating the Church’ have aided me greatly. Reidhead’s sermon can be downloaded/streamed from sermonindex.net and I would encourage anyone reading this blog to download/stream and give it a few listens in a still place. Given that this is posted in Bottear’s ‘Books to Read’ section I shall concentrate on the two books I have referred to.

There is a common thread running through the books I have been reading of late, some of which have been posted on this site. Is it the authorship (all of which so far have been John Piper)? That would be a correct answer, however, the common thread I am referring to is that Christ is exalted and the God-head established in His rightful place and my heart cry is that many, many believers would saturate their minds with such reading and thoughts (Philippians 4:8-9) and live accordingly. God is the Gospel – what words can be used to describe this book? It speaks truth and much like the ever-increasing literary works of Piper does this by quoting and accurately interpreting Scripture in its context and against other Scripture. Piper, in relation to the Gospel writes “There is no Gospel where the glory of God in Christ is not shown. And there is no salvation through the Gospel where the glory of God in Christ is not seen." Wow! I just wonder how many have a desire and have a belief in the existence of God, heaven, eternity etc. in order to attempt in their own minds to save their own skins from the torment of hell? Piper states “The Gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God." I don’t know who may be reading this but if you have to think about the next question then please examine yourself against Scripture – if God was not in heaven would you still want to be there in perceived happiness? I truly hope you are lifting your eyes to heaven while at the foot of the blood soaked cross with the thought of the presence, the glory, the majesty of the lamb Who was slain in every thought and flowing through into every action? This book is powerful and Piper speaks immense relevant truth to the 21st century westernised church. Truths in this book and the Word together with Reidhead’s sermon have provided me with the opportunity to re-think where I’m at along the narrow way and to fix my eyes on the King rather than what ‘works’ I can do for Him. Lord, empty me of self and fill me with the afresh with the presence and power of Your Spirit and mould me into whatever vessel You would have me be for Your Name and renown.

The second book I have referred to is again extremely relevant to the 21st century westernised church. In this book - ‘Stop Dating the Church’ – Joshua Harris quotes accurately from Scripture and picks out specific descriptions of the Church as Christ’s bride, His body and His temple and describes our Lord’s vision for the church. To quote a reviewer “Not only is [the church] essential for our own spiritual well-being, it is the primary way in which we are called to minister to other believers, and to evangelize unbelievers.” Harris, in the US, has seen that rather than commit to a local body of believers, most attendees of congregations are merely ‘daters’ thus belittling God and His desire for His body. This, I believe, is also an issue that needs addressed in our context today. Through committed bodies of true believers who are part of the body of Christ, He is going to mobilise evangelism into surrounding communities, missions locally and further afield, expository teaching and preaching etc as per the early church. Harris gives a list (not definitive I’m sure Harris would admit) of what true believers should look for in a church and to commit themselves to this local body. Through various conversations I have heard many times “no church is perfect”. Yes, we are sinners and no church is perfect, but imagine a group of counted righteous, spiritually mature brothers and sisters each of whom know their spiritual gifts, how to use them biblically and culturally and who have a deep, deep desire to see God’s Name honoured, exalted and glorified in today’s secular society. What kind of a difference could God cause through a team of these like-minded believers? I have a desire at present to see such a team come together, but am waiting patiently on our Lord all the while sitting at His feet. This, as I’m sure you are aware is directed at you brother Boal!

What Jesus Demands from the World (John Piper)

Let me share with you a blurb written by Mark Driscoll (Pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle) regarding this, the latest book from John Piper. Mark writes "This is a peculiar book. It assumes that the four Gospels are true and unified. It assumes that Jesus not only does things for us but also makes demands of us. And it assumes that Jesus has authority over everyone regardless of their religion, gender, race, income, sexuality, nationality, or culture. You will likely not agree with every point. But you will hear from a Jesus Who is more than a soft-spoken, effeminate, marginalized, Galilean hippie-peasant in a dress and has the peculiar notion that He alone is Lord."

Piper himself writes "My conviction is that if we are willing to find in Him [our Lord Jesus] our supreme joy, His demands will not feel severe but sweet...It would be a cheap and superficial spin to give the impression that Jesus does not in fact often speak abrasively and sound severe. This is true not only toward His adversaries, the scribes and Pharisees - for example, in Matthew 23, where He calls them children of hell (v. 15), blind fools (v. 17), blind guides (vv. 16, 24), hypocrites (v. 27), whitewashed tombs (v. 27), and brood of vipers (v. 33). It is also true toward His disciples. For example, He says, "If you...who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children..." (Matthew 7:11); and to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man" (Mark 8:33); and again to Peter, referring to John's destiny, "What is that to you? You follow me!" (John 21:22).

"And after a blunt and jarring teaching in John 6 ("Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life," v. 54), John comments that when "many of His disciples heard it, they said, 'This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?'...After this many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him'" (vv. 60, 66). Such was the price of how He spoke. My aim is not to gloss over the tough implications of the word 'demands' [as in the title 'What Jesus demands...'] or to soften the "hard" sayings of Jesus; the aim is to be changed in our hearts and in our understanding to such a degree that the tough Jesus is as sweet to us as the tender Jesus." What an aim of a book! Within this book our brother John outlines in relatively short chapters 50 demands given by Jesus - I myself am only at 'demand # 10' but am loving it...I would recommend that if you buy / borrow this book to not read many chapters [demands] at a time but rather to read each one separately and to dwell on each one. This book could therefore be read as a 'filler' while reading another book...preferably the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.