Resources from the Gospel Coalition

The Gospel Coalition has made available several hundred sermons, conference lectures, interviews, and articles by dozens of conservative Evangelical pastors and scholars. Many are names familiar to us all (Carson, Duncan, Piper, Dever, Driscoll, Lutzer, Begg, etc), and many were completely new to me. The sermons are indexed both by topic and scripture reference. They are also downloadable (for you ipod guys).

5 Solas RC Sproul

Dr. Sproul is currently doing a series on the five solas entitled God Alone. You can listen to this series on the Ligonier ministry website: http://www.ligonier.org/.

Reciting the Prayer Jesus taught His disciples and creeds

"And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our
daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen."
(Matthew 6:7-13 NKJV)

Here it is “do not use vain repetitions”. Well at least don’t be repetitive. This is why we don’t recite the prayer Jesus taught His disciples to pray in our worship services. These words will become commonplace and we have been warned about being repetitious. We will not recite this portion of Scripture. Could it be it sounds too high church?

Sometimes we recite the Psalms, or read the dark black and the lighter words from the back of the hymnal, this is fine. As for Matthew 6:7-13 no way! Christian assemblies who don’t recite Matthew 6:7-13 interestingly don’t usually recite the Creeds either.

I wonder what’s the real objection for not praying the prayer Jesus taught His disciples, or the Creeds? It’s not the prayer nor the creeds; it must be the person reciting. He is in disagreement with the statements below evidently.

The Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and
earth.

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord: Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell. [See Calvin] The third day He arose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.

The following is used by permission of David Dee, pastor of Christ our Life Church, Curran, Michigan.This is a part of the constitution of this assembly of believers and is directly quoted from it. Here is the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray:

As we go throughout our life as a Christian on Earth in this present World, wanting and needing to know and experience the character and capabilities of God in our moment by moment walk with Him as our Creator, Lord and savior;-remember that Jesus has taught us to pray in such a way so that as we “hallow” our Heavenly Father’s Name, we will always be able to trust and rest in the “fullness” of the true and real “meaning” of all that God is, and all that God does, in our life as His Child!

In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, (Matthew 6:9-13 NKJV) "Jehova-Nissi” The-Lord-Is-My-Banner (Exodus 17:15)

Hallowed be Your name. (God’s character is holy).

Your kindom come. “Jehovah-shammah” The-Lord-is-There (Ezekiel 48:35)

Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. “Jehovah-shalom” The-Lord-is-Peace (Judges 6:24)

Give us this day our daily bread. “Jehovah-Jireh” The-Lord-Will-Provide (Genesis 22:14)

And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. “Jehovah-Rapha” The-Lord-Who-Heals (Exodus 15:26)

And do not lead us into temptation, “Jehovah-ra “Ah” The-Lord-Is-My-Shepherd (Psalms 23:1)

But deliver us from the evil one. “Jehovah-Tsidqenuw” The-Lord-Our-Righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6)

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. God’s capabilities are kingly, [God is the King of kings, and the Lord of lords]; - and, God’s capabilities are all powerful, and infinitely glorious.

Now folks, really what is the problem? The prayer Jesus taught His disciples to pray is not the problem.

The argument that either is vain or repetitious is unacceptable, remembering: For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb. 4:12).

"Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You" (Psa. 119:11).

Really, this is about the dumbest statement of a Christian “I have repeated it so often it (the Word) has become commonplace and has lost it’s meaning.” If anyone feels reading Scripture repeatedly looses it’s power and effectiveness check out Hebrews 4:12 and Psalms 119:11.

In public worship, please, find another argument for omitting the prayer Jesus taught His disciples to pray and the lack of reciting the Creeds.

Ken Clouse

The Pope, Global Warming, and Homosexuality

"The tropical forests do deserve our protection. But man, as a creature, does not deserve any less," [Pope] Benedict told scores of prelates gathered in the Vatican's Clementine Hall.

"What’s needed is something like a ‘human ecology,’ understood in the right sense. It’s not simply an outdated metaphysics if the Church speaks of the nature of the human person as man and woman, and asks that this order of creation be respected." [1]

I do not know whether to laugh, cry, or say amen to the above quotes. It is good to know that the Roman Catholics are following the Scriptures in condemning homosexuality. However, I wonder is the Pope comparing homosexuality to destroying the environment because he is attempting to communicate the horribleness of sin to a culture which has little understanding of sin and believes environmental destruction is the cardinal sin. Or, does the Pope really believe that destroying the environment is comparable to the sin of homosexuality? Either way the effect is the same biblical truth has been compromised. The Pope has altered biblical truths to communicate to the culture, or the Roman Church has caved to the culture.

Certainly, everyone would agree that we should be good stewards of the blessings God has given us, including our planet. However, to equate homosexuality and environmental irresponsibility seems to trivialize the sinfulness of homosexuality.

Sexual immorality in general and homosexuality in particular are pointed out in Scripture as exceptionally sinful because they are sins against one's own body (1 Cor. 6:18). God calls homosexuality an abomination and in the Old Testament economy death was the punishment [2] (Lev. 20:13). No where in Scripture will one find such condemnation of polluting the environment. Clearly, there is no biblical warrant for equating environmental issues and homosexuality. Homosexuality is absolutely more sinful than polluting our environment.

While believers need to clearly articulate biblical concepts to a biblically illiterate culture, we must communicate in a way that does not alter the message. In addition, the church must never compromise biblical truth to get along with the culture. What the Bible condemns as sin, we must condemn as sin even if our culture calls it good. Let us be faithful to God and his holy Word.

Pastor Jeremy Lee

Twining Baptist Church

[1] story available @ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,471426,00.html

[2] The gospel is universal as such many of the laws that were for the nation of Israel are no longer directly applicable such as the death penalty for homosexuality. My point here is not that we should institute the death penalty for homosexuality but to point out that it was one of the few sins punished by death. Since the punishment is more severe, the sin is more severe.

CHRISTMAS

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:5-11 NKJV).

I have been thinking lately about the birth of Jesus as it is recorded in the Gospels. Luke records in his gospel the words of Elizabeth the soon to be mother of John the Baptist v. 43-44 chapter 1. "And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy" (ESV).

Here are the familiar words of the “Christmas story.” "And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn" (Luke 2:7). In verse 8 there were shepherds watching their flocks, an angel came to them telling them news that would bring great joy to all people. Verse 11 says "for unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord." Verse 13 "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying. 'GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST AND ON EARTH PEACE AMONG THOSE WITH WHOM HE IS PLEASED.'” (ESV)

Christmas: “X-Mas”, (do you remember the ranting over the term X-Mas in years past?) Trees, gifts, food, plays, manger scenes, candle lightings in churches and the plays using the scriptures above, Luke chapter 2. We never learned much about He who was born. He was the son of Mary, the carpenters son, the baby in the manger, this is as good as it gets. In days gone by there was outrage about the use of “X-Mas” in place of Christmas, no outrage for the lack of telling who this baby was however.

Elizabeth knew who this baby was, she called him “my Lord”, John the Baptist in the womb knew who this baby was “he leaped for joy” in the womb of Elizabeth.

Isaiah, had he lived at the time of Christ would have know who He was.

"And one cried to another and said: 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!' And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said: 'Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts.' Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: 'Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away,
And your sin purged.'" ( Isa. 6:4-7 NJKV)

Isaiah knew Him who purged his sins.

Remember God is, God, the Son, the Holy Spirit, they are one, when we mention Jesus we are talking about God, Old Testament references to God include Jesus and Holy Spirit.

As stated in the Athanasian Creed Lines 13-16:

“And yet they are not three almighties, but one almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; And yet they are not three Gods, but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord;”

In Matthew 2:16, Herod kills all the male children in Bethlehem two years old and younger attempting to kill the baby Jesus who has fled to Egypt, his parents being warned in a dream to flee. These little babies knew who this baby was; one commentator remarked “they gave their life so He may give them eternal life.” This was (hopefully this isn’t a stretch) their worship. These babies I believe knew who He was.

Here is the baby Jesus,

"[God Himself] who made Himself no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. He is exalted, and given a name above every name. Every knee shall bow to Jesus, in the heavens, on the earth and under the earth. Everyone would confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:6-11).

Here is Jesus He is the Lord of hosts, the Lord God Almighty: "And one cried to another and said: 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!'" (Isa. 6:3 NKJV)

"The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!'" (Rev. 4:8 NKJV)

Christmas isn’t about X-Mas, food, trees, lights, candles etc. Christmas is the time to worship the King of Kings who became man; He came to be wounded, bruised and stricken for us: "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed" (Isa. 53:5 NKJV).

My friend if you can live without a sense of the Lord’s presence and are satisfied with mere outward Christianity, you are lost in your sins. Don’t be deceived. Jesus must be more than a baby in a manger. He must be your Lord and Savior, the Lord of hosts He Is.

"For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him" (Heb. 2:2, 3 NKJV)

Ken Clouse