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For the context of Packer’s comments click here.
Social injustice and the OT Prophet
“…injustice is sin against God, and no consequences, however deplorable from the manward point of view, could equal the terrible significance of the religious fact to the prophetic consciousness. In short, it is not the circumstance that the rich injure the poor from which the prophetic mind in the first instance revolts, but what shocks and excites the prophets’ resentment is the bearing of the wicked conduct upon Jehovah and His rights. Hence the phenomenon that the conduct of the rich is condemned in equally strong terms even where it does not directly affect the lot of the poor and the weak.”
—Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology (Banner of Truth, 1948), p. 275.
God’s Punishment / God’s Discipline
Understanding this distinction is critical for the Christian life. Inadvertently overlapping punishment/discipline is not difficult to do. But if we do this we will be prone to legalism and condemnation and fall into a pattern of what John Owen calls “hard thoughts” about God.
So how does God discipline His children? Is this punishment for sin? Can punishment and discipline be distinguished by the cross? These important questions have been tackled by Dr. Alan S. Bandy, the Rowena R. Strickland Professor of New Testament and Greek/Assistant Professor of NT & Greek at Oklahoma Baptist University (2007 Ph.D. from SEBTS). I’d encourage you to read his blog post for details: “The Difference Between God’s Punishment and God’s Discipline” (June 16, 2009)
Gospel Translations
From Josh Harris:
Those doing or connected to work in international missions may be helped in their work by the volunteer-driven initiative Gospel Translations, which now distributes biblical resources in about 40 languages. Below is a sampling from their library.
Spanish
- David Powlison’s “X-ray Questions: Drawing Out the Whys and Wherefores of Human Behavior“
- Paul Tripp’s “Speaking Redemptively“
- John Piper’s “The Pleasures of God in Bruising the Son“
- R.C. Sproul’s “The Dark Night of the Soul“
- Jerry Bridges’ “Measuring Up“
- Mark Dever’s Nine Marks of a Healthy Church
More authors and topics at Libros y Sermones Bíblicos.
Portuguese
- John Piper’s For Your Joy evangelism booklet
- Alfred Poirier’s “The Cross and Criticism” (CCEF/JBC)
- Mark Dever’s “Raising Up Pastors Is the Church’s Work“
- R.C. Sproul’s “The New Birth“
More authors and topics at Livros e Sermões Bíblicos.
Chinese (Simplified)
- R.C. Sproul’s “The Book of Job: Why Do the Righteous Suffer?“
- John Piper’s “The Suffering of Christ and the Sovereignty of God”
- Mark Dever’s “Expositional Preaching“
- Mike Bullmore’s “Gospel Implications“
More authors and topics at 圣经的书和布道.
Other sites
- Italian: Libri e Sermoni Biblici
- French: Livres et Prédications Bibliques
- German: Biblische Bücher und Predigten
- Russian: Библейские книги и проповеди
- Dutch: Bijbelse Boeken en Preken
- Arabic
- Hungarian
- Malaysian
- Tagalog
- Swedish
- Indonesian
- Romanian
See all 40 at the Gospel Translations homepage.
Bunyan’s Blunder
Charles Spurgeon, in his sermon “Christ Crucified” (No. 2673), said the following:
…let me tell you a little story about Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. I am a great lover of John Bunyan, but I do not believe him infallible; and the other day I met with a story about him which I think a very good one.
There was a young, man, in Edinburgh, who wished to be a missionary. He was a wise young man; so he thought, “If I am to be a missionary, there is no need for me to transport myself far away from home; I may as well be a missionary in Edinburgh.”
Well, this young man started, and determined to speak to the first person he met. He met one of those old fishwives; those of us who have seen them can never forget them, they are extraordinary women indeed. So, stepping up to her, he said, “Here you are, coming along with your burden on your back; let me ask you if you have got another burden, a spiritual burden.”
“What!” she asked; “do you mean that burden in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress? Because, if you do, young man, I got rid of that many years ago, probably before you were born. But I went a better way to work than the pilgrim did. The evangelist that John Bunyan talks about was one of your parsons that do not preach the gospel; for he said, ‘Keep that light in thine eye, and run to the wicket-gate.’ Why—man alive!—that was not the place for him to run to. He should have said, ‘Do you see that cross? Run there at once!’ But, instead of that, he sent the poor pilgrim to the wicket-gate first; and much good he got by going there! He got tumbling into the slough, and was like to have been killed by it.”
“But did not you,” the young man asked, “go through any Slough of Despond?”
“Yes, I did; but I found it a great deal easier going through with my burden off than with it on my back.”
The old woman was quite right. John Bunyan put the getting rid of the burden too far off from the commencement of the pilgrimage. If he meant to show what usually happens, he was right; but if he meant to show what ought to have happened, he was wrong.
We must not say to the sinner, “Now, sinner, if thou wilt be saved, go to the baptismal pool; go to the wicket-gate; go to the church; do this or that.”
No, the cross should be right in front of the wicket-gate; and we should say to the sinner, “Throw thyself down there, and thou art safe; but thou are not safe till thou canst cast off thy burden, and lie at the foot of the cross, and find peace in Jesus.”
Update
This weekend it was a lot of fun traveling with CJ to North Carolina for the God Exposed Conference (9Marks) and to visit SovGraceNC. Throughout the weekend it was great reconnecting with friends at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, 9Marks, and the church. One unexpected treat was hearning a provocative summary of Churchill’s “alone” years (1932-1940) from the luminous Phil Sasser as he drove us around. Amazing!
Overall, I thought the GE conference went well. CJ’s Friday night message to pastors was excellent and instructive. I hope to have video of his message on 2 Tim 4:1-5 up on Vimeo as soon as possible. Nobody I know cares for pastors more carefully, more realistically, more humbly, and with more faith in God, than CJ. To hear CJ address pastors publicly is rare and always special. …
Returning to Maryland we were welcomed home with cool fall weather. This is my favorite season of the year, October my favorite month. This is mostly due to the cool wind the blows in (and partly because I despise pollen and cherish professional baseball). But the air is changing and I couldn’t be happier.
As the air transitions from heavy and humid summer air to the dry and cold air of winter, I am reminded of God’s faithfulness. Seasonal change should remind us of our heavenly Father. The seasonal shifts point us to the steady hand of God.
In Genesis, after the catastrophic flood destroyed the world, God made a covenant promise to Noah promising him never again to destroy the earth with a flood. Moreover, God chose to display his covenant faithfulness (in part) through the repetition of seasonal change. God promised Noah: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease” (Gen 8:22). This promise of seasonal transition was—for agrarian ears—good news! The changing seasons would make possible an annual harvest.
So there are many reasons why I love the changing seasons and why I love experiencing the cool air of October. But one reason why I love to experience the change in seasons is this—it reminds us that seasonal shifts occur by the steady faithfulness of our covenant-keeping God. His goodness and generosity is as tangible as cool air of fall and the coming harvest.
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UPDATE: GE conference audio/video here.
Tony Reinke 