Desiring God Blog

(Author: John Piper)

Good children's books are profitable for adults. C. S. Lewis put it like this:

(Author: David Mathis)

This weeks sermon: "Behold the Lamb of God"

Like a great root—one that protrudes above the ground a few feet out from the tree trunk—John the Baptist appears at the outset of the Gospel of John and then falls to the background.

He is a bridge between the Old Testament and the New. He is prominent at the beginning of Jesus' story because he is part of the deep roots of the Gospel in previous Scripture.

Jesus didn't appear on the scene of history without historical preparation. God had been at work in Israel for two thousand years—and even before that—putting in place a historical backdrop that would make Jesus life and ministry more intelligible.

The highpoint of what John the Baptist proclaims about Jesus is that he is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." In this announcement are two shocking truths:

Regardless of race, nationality, ethnicity, or status, those who embrace Jesus as their Lamb and their Lord will be sheltered from the otherwise inescapable wrath to come.

(Author: John Piper)

A vague bad feeling that you are a crummy person is not the same as conviction for sin. Feeling rotten is not the same as repentance.

This morning I began to pray, and felt unworthy to be talking to the Creator of the universe. It was a vague sense of unworthiness. So I told him so. Now what?

Nothing changed until I began to get specific about my sins. Crummy feelings can be useful if they lead to conviction for sins. Vague feelings of being a bad person are not very helpful. The fog of unworthiness needs to take shape into clear dark pillars of disobedience. Then you can point to them and repent and ask for forgiveness and take aim to blow them up.

So I began to call to mind the commands I frequently break. These are the ones that came to mind.

So much for any pretensions to great holiness! I'm undone.

But now it is specific. I look it in the eye. I'm not whining about feeling crummy. I'm apologizing to Christ for not keeping all that he commanded. I'm broken and I'm angry at my sin. I want to kill it, not me. I'm not suicidal. I'm a sin hater and a sin murderer ("Put to death what is earthly in you" Colossians 3:5. "Put to death the deeds of the body" Romans 3:18.)

In this conflict, I hear the promise, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1John 1:9). Peace rises. Prayer feels possible and right and powerful again.

(Author: Noel Piper)

Brian Gault was born in Northern Ireland in 1960 with no arms due to the "completely safe" drug prescribed for his mother's morning sickness. I've just finished reading his autobiography, Look, No Hands.

At Bethlehem Baptist's Disability Ministry blog, you can read about some of the impact of the book on me.

(Author: Abraham Piper)

Remember to subscribe to the DG blog by email or RSS before Monday if you want a chance to win This Momentary Marriage.

Whether you subscribed a second ago or have been reading for a long time, just let us know you're a subscriber by responding to this post, and you'll be entered into the drawing.

We originally said we'd give away 100 of these books, but let's make it 125, so everyone's chances are a little better.

Thanks for reading!

(Author: Abraham Piper)

Registration is now open for our 2009 pastors conference:

Commending Christ: The Pastor, the Church, and the Perishing

Topic: Evangelism—telling the gospel

When: February 2-4, 2009

Where: Minneapolis, MN

Who:

Why

John Piper on this year's conference:

How much: $110 until December 31 (or $100/person for groups of 5 or more)

Register online.

Or call 888-346-4700, 8:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. CT, Monday - Friday.

(Author: John Piper)

There is no hope for God's people unless God causes them to return from their sliding and leaping into sin and unbelief.

The book of Lamentations is the bleakest book in the Bible. God himself had decimated the apple of his eye.

So how does the book end?

It ends with the only hope there is:

That is my only hope, and your only hope.

Jesus said to Peter,

Not if you return. But when you return.

He will cause us to return. Therefore "to him who is able to keep you from falling...be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." (Jude 1:24-25).

(Author: David Mathis)

Last week, John Piper spoke on the biblical foundations for Bethlehem College and Seminary under the title "The Earth Is the Lord's: The Supremacy of Christ in Christian Learning."

This message may be helpful not only to those interested in this particular school but also, more generally, to those involved in education at any level.

Piper sums up the goals of Bethlehem College and Seminary like this:

(Author: Jon Bloom)

The armies of Moab, Ammon, and Edom were on the move. Destination: Jerusalem. They were relatives of the Israelites; Moab and Ammon were descended from Lot and Edom from Esau. But this was no family reunion. This was a slaughter in the making.

These three nations bordered Israel and Judah on the east and south. And since the reigns of David and Solomon, they had off-and-on been subject to the kings of Israel, paying a tribute tax and providing forced labor for Israel.

But it had been over 60 years since Solomon's death and Israel had split into two kingdoms. Their strength was divided. And the northern kingdom was weakened from its battles with Syria. The time was ripe. If they joined forces now, they could crush the army of Judah and plunder king Jehoshaphat's wealth. After that, maybe the northern kingdom.

Jehoshaphat caught wind of the impending attack. It didn't take a Pythagoras to do the math. His army was like a sandcastle facing a large wave about to break right on it. The kingdom of Judah would be swept away unless he got some very strong help.

Now, forget for the moment that you know the fairytale-like ending to the story. What would it have been like to be Jehoshaphat? A brutal death for himself and everyone he loves. Tens of thousands of his people were bearing down on him. Everyone was looking to him to do something to save them. Imagine the pressure.

Jehoshaphat really did trust the Lord and believed his promises. He did believe God could rescue Judah. He wanted to honor God by his trust. And, in this case, he didn't have many alternatives. Sometimes that is a great mercy.

He must have remembered his father Asa's mistake. As a younger king Asa had cried out to the Lord for deliverance when his small army faced one million Ethiopian soldiers and God had miraculously answered him. But in later years he abandoned that trust and forged an alliance with Syria. And God disciplined him severely for it.

So Jehoshaphat gathered the people of Judah in Jerusalem for a fast. They stood before the temple, and the king, in an act of great leadership, pleaded their case before the Lord and then said this:

Isn't that a beautiful confession? It is so child-like in its humility and faith. It is, in fact, another Old Testament picture of the gospel. We are powerless to save ourselves. But when we look to God and call on him for deliverance from the impending judgment, he brings about a salvation beyond our wildest imagination.

The reason God orchestrated Jehoshaphat's predicament is the same as his design in the tribulations and crises in our lives: he want us to increasingly find freedom from fear.

You see, real freedom is not the liberty to do what we want, or even the absence of distress. Real freedom is the deep-seated confidence that God really will provide everything we need. The person who believes this is the freest of all persons on earth, because no matter what situation they find themselves in, they have nothing to fear.

But the only way for sinners like us with a bent toward unbelief in God to find this kind of freedom is by experiencing repeatedly God's delivering power and his faithfulness. That's why we are to count it all joy when we meet trials of various kinds (James 1:2). They are making us free.

There are a lot of temptations to fear right now: political change, economic calamity, natural disasters, all on top of personal hardships. If you're feeling the wight of these things, you may be helped by the message, "Fear Not, I Am With You, I Am Your God." In this sermon, John Piper unpacks Isaiah 41:1-13, one of his favorite texts, and gives us what he calls "the key to overcoming fear." Remember that all these difficult things are working together for your good and for your ultimate freedom and joy.

God answered Jehoshaphat's faith-filled prayer in a spectacular way. He threw the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites into confusion and they slaughtered one another. Jehoshaphat and his choir-led army never had to lift a sword. And it took them three days to carry the plunder back home.

God's word to us through this story in all the crises we face is this: "Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God's" (2 Chronicles 20:15).

(Author: John Piper)

Jesus is concerned to give assurance to those of us who would read the Gospel of John in the 21st century.

For example, he prays for us in John 17:20, "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word." In other words, Jesus foresaw that after his departure everyone who would become a Christian would do so not by seeing his physical body but through "the word" of the eyewitnesses. This is possible because an eyewitness like John wrote the Gospel of John.

Another example is the way Jesus responded to Thomas who needed to see Jesus' wounds in order to believe he was really raised from the dead...

Read the rest of the article.

(Author: Abraham Piper)

We're giving away 100 copies of This Momentary Marriage to 100 of our readers.

If you're a subscriber to the DG blog, let us know by responding to this post. Please include your name and the address you'd want the book shipped to if your name is drawn.

(Yes, we'd be happy to send them internationally, so everyone can participate.)

On Monday, we'll randomly select 100 readers and send them each a copy of this new book on marriage.

Sign up by RSS or email if you want to be entered but aren't a subscriber yet.

(If you keep hearing about RSS, and have no idea what it is, then you may be interested in a tutorial on how to use Google Reader that I wrote awhile back. Follow the directions in that article, and you should be using RSS within 10 minutes.)

(Author: John Piper)

I thank God today for the service and the sacrifice of 24.5 million veterans in America.

Today is Veteran's Day. Formerly it was Armistice Day because on November 11, 1918 in a railway carriage in Compiengne Forest in France the Armistice with Germany was signed that ended World War I where 116,516 American soldiers died.

There are 9.5 million veterans older than 65. 2.3 million are black. 1.1 million are Hispanic. 276,000 are Asian.

When soldiers came to John the Baptist and asked, "What shall we do"—meaning, "How shall we respond to your call to repent?", John answered, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages" (Luke 3:14).

From this we learn that repentance did not demand ceasing to be a soldier. The tensions between being a follower of Jesus as a soldier are essentially the same as the tensions of being a follower of Jesus in all the other authority structures of society that God ordains for the stability of the world (like business, education, government, and family).

There have been agonizing choices the veterans have had to make. May they (and we all) turn to the cross of Christ for the final resolution of what we have done. I am thankful they embraced the risk.

(Author: Mike Tong)

I'll start by telling you plainly that I want you to take advantage of our Christmas Special and get a case of Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ. Here's why:

This helpful little book says things like:

And,

And again,

I love this book because it gives me fresh words to use when I tell people why I love Jesus Christ. I love this book because it imparts a fresh passion for Jesus to those that read it. My joy in God is increased when I see others begin to rejoice in God. I'm a Christian Hedonist. That's why I'm a spreader.

So get a case and spread the word—Christmas is only about Jesus Christ.

* * *

Offer Details

(Author: David Mathis)

This week's sermon: "From His Fullness We Have All Received, Grace Upon Grace"

Moses is unique. No one in the Old Testament, other than God himself, commands respect like Moses. Exodus 33:11 says that God spoke to Moses "as a man speaks to his friend."

Moses alone knew God well enough to venture the audacious request, "Please show me your glory." God's answer was that, yes, he would cause his goodness to pass before Moses but, no, Moses could not see his face, only his back. The fullness of time had not yet come. It was not yet God's will to reveal himself in fullness. Not yet.

But the day came. God's eternal Word—God's own self and God's own fellow—became flesh in Jesus. And in doing so, God was overcoming the darkness in our world and the darkness in our souls.

Those who by grace are born of God have seen God's glory in Jesus—the glory Moses asked to see but wasn't permitted. Seeing the glory of Jesus means seeing the very glory of God. As Jesus himself says, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).

(Author: David Mathis)

It was a backwater German town called Eisleben on November 10, 1483—today marks 525 years.

There Martin Luther had his inauspicious beginning. He was born a poor boy, son of a coal miner. And by a strange providence, Luther died in the same town 62 years later on February 18, 1546, even though he spent barely any of his life there.

In the intervening 6 decades, the world changed—and Luther, under God, was the chief catalyst.

The pope excommunicated Luther in January of 1521, making him a marked man. For the last 25 years of his life, he lived with the awareness that each day could be his last. He often expressed surprise that he was still alive.

To the right is a 1526 painting by Lucas Cranach, which may be the most authentic portrait we have of Luther. And, so that you can join us in celebrating Luther's 525th, below is a timeline of his life, highlighting some of the most significant events of his 62 years.

Thank God for Luther—simultaneously righteous and sinful.

Timeline of Luther's Life

1483, November 10 - Born to Hans and Margaretta Luther in Eisleben
1484, Summer - Luther family moves to Mansfeld
1501, May - Enters university at Erfurt (age 17)
1502, September 29 - Receives Bachelor of Arts (age 18)
1505, January 7 - Receives Master of Arts (age 21)
1505, July 2 - Vows to become a monk
1505, July 17 - Enters the monastery in Erfurt
1507, May 2 - Celebrates his first mass as a priest (age 23)
1510, November - Journeys to Rome and is disturbed by its corruption (age 26)
1511, April - Transferred to Wittenberg to teach at the university
1512, October 19 - Receives his Doctor of Theology (age 28)
1517, October 31 - Posts his 95 theses (age 33)
1518, April 26 - Defends his theology at Heidelberg
1519, July - Debates prominent theologian John Eck at Leipzig
1520 - Publishes Address to German Nobility, Babylonian Captivity, and Freedom of the Christian; breach with Rome now irreparable
1521, January - Excommunicated by the pope (age 37)
1521, April 18 - Gives "Here I stand" response to the emperor at the Diet of Worms
1521, May - Kidnapped and hidden at Wartburg to preserve his life; begins translating the New Testament into German
1522, March - Returns to Wittenberg to lead the Reformation
1522, September - Publishes his German New Testament
1524, November 30 - Writes that he has no intention to marry
1525, June 13 - Marries escaped nun Katherine von Bora (age 41)
1525, December - Responds to Erasmus' Freedom of the Will with The Bondage of the Will (which J. I. Packer calls "the greatest piece to come from Luther's pen")
1527, Summer - Composes "A Mighty Fortress" during a season of sickness and deep depression
1529, October - Meets Zwingli at Marburg and is unable to come to agreement on the Lord's Supper
1534 - Publishes the complete German Bible (age 50)
1546, February 18 - Dies while traveling in Eisleben (age 62)