Book Review: Gospel Wakefulness by Jared C. Wilson

Goose pimples. Or is it goosebumps? I've heard both (perhaps it's a regional thing like the use of the words pop, soda, and Coke), but if you're like me you'll get both when you read Gospel Wakefulness by Jared C. Wilson. This book is an impassioned plea for every Christian to not just believe the truth of the gospel, but to feel and be carried along by it too. In Wilson, I found a bit of John Piper's zeal for the passion and glory of God in the gospel for a new generation.

 Gospel Wakefulness was a welcome breath of fresh air in the midst of the onslaught of social justice books making the rounds with Christian publishers lately. Not because the ministry of mercy and compassion shouldn't be a priority for the church, but because that ministry will be an utter drain (if successful) and unbearable guilt (if not) if the Christian is not first firmly grounded in the truths here. Don't misunderstand me, this book is in no shade a social justice piece, rather it is the fertile soil from which a minister of mercy and every other type of thriving believer may grow.

My one concern is that this book be used for diagnostic, not division. What I mean is this: this book is not meant to determine who's on the inner circle. This book is not intended to determine who has risen to the upper echelon of Christianity. Rather, as I read it, my heart stirred and cried "Yes, that's what I've been missing. Yes, I feel that as I haven't felt much in a long time!"

The gospel is deeper, richer, and far more expansive than we know or feel. Wilson writes as one who has tasted and seen just a glimmer, and who calls us all along with him further up and further in.


Rating: Five out of five stars


Recommended for: Every Christian who hasn't felt their heart and spirit moved in a time 


This book was a free review copy provided by Crossway.

John Piper Giveaway: Week 3

And the goodie bag keeps getting bigger. This week we're giving away two books by John Piper. One looks to the future for its scope (Don't Waste Your Life) and one looks to the past—and Jonathan Edwards—for its inspiration (God's Passion For His Glory). 


Don't Waste Your Life is John Piper's plea to a new generation that has bought into the all-encompassing distraction that is the American Dream. God's Passion for His Glory is a book John Piper co-authored with Jonathan Edwards...sort of. It's actually a complete reprinting of Edwards' The End for which God Created the World with about one hundred pages of introduction, reflection, and biography by John Piper. 


Be sure to subscribe via RSS feed, Reader, or email so you don't miss any of the giveaways! You can enter using the PunchTab app below. RSS readers will need to click through to the post to see the widget.

Puritan Monday: Flavel on Christ and Our Union with Him

Four points from John Flavel:

First, That Christ and his benefits go inseparably and undividedly together: it is Christ himself who is made all this unto us: we can have no saving benefit separate and apart from the person of Christ: many would willingly receive his privileges, who will not receive his person; but it cannot be; if we will have one, we must take the other too: Yea, we must accept his person first, and then his benefits: as it is in the marriage covenant, so it is here. 

Secondly, That Christ with his benefits must be personally and particularly applied to us before we can receive any actual, saving privilege by him; he must be [made unto us] i.e. particularly applied to us; as a sum of money becomes, or is made the ransom and liberty of a captive, when it is not only promised, but paid down in his name, and legally applied for that use and end. When Christ died, the ransom was prepared, the sum laid down; but yet the elect continue in sin and misery, notwithstanding, till by effectual calling it be actually applied to their persons, and then they be made free, Rom. v.10,11 reconciled by Christ's death, by whom "we have not received the atonement." 

Thirdly, That this application of Christ is the work of God, not of man: "Of God he is made unto us:" The same hand that prepared it, must also apply it, or else we perish, notwithstanding all that the Father hath done in contriving, and appointing, and all that the Son hath done in executing, and accomplishing the design thus far. And this actual application is the work of the Spirit, by a singular appropriation. 

Fourthly, and lastly, This expression imports the suitableness of Christ, to the necessities of sinners; what they want, he is made to them; and indeed, as money answers all things, and is convertible into meat, drink, raiment, physic, or what else our bodily necessities do require; so Christ is virtually, and eminently all that the necessities of our souls require; bread to the hungry, and clothing to the naked soul. In a word, God prepared and furnished him on purpose to answer all our wants, which fully suits the apostle's sense, when he saith, "Who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption." 

John Flavel, works, Vol. 1 pp.17-18.

Miserable Sinner Christianity

For those who don't follow Reformation21.org [shame on you ;)], here's a good quote from B.B. Warfield worth republishing here:

"It belongs to the very essence of the type of Christianity propagated by the Reformation that the believer should feel himself continuously unworthy of the grace by which he lives. At the center of this type of Christianity lies the contrast of sin and grace; and about this center everything else revolves. This is in large part the meaning of the emphasis put in this type of Christianity on justification by faith. It is its conviction that there is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God. We must always be accepted for Christ's sake, or we cannot ever be accepted at all. This is not true of us only "when we believe." It is just as true after we have believed. It will continue to be true as long as we live. Our need of Christ does not cease with our believing; nor does the nature of our relation to Him or to God through Him ever alter, no matter what our attainments in Christian graces or our achievements in Christian behavior may be. It is always on His "blood and righteousness" alone that we can rest. There is never anything that we are or have or do that can take His place, or that can take a place along with Him. We are always unworthy, and all that we have or do of good is always of pure grace. Though blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ, we are still in ourselves just "miserable sinners": "miserable sinners" saved by grace to be sure, but "miserable sinners" still, deserving in ourselves nothing but everlasting wrath. That is the attitude which the Reformers took, and that is the attitude which the Protestant world has learned from the Reformers to take, toward the relation of believers to Christ." --B.B. Warfield

Following Jesus vs. Accepting Jesus

The concept of following evokes rich imagery—journey, process, adventure, and dependence. Accepting sounds like Jesus is put on our scales, and we decide his fate, like he is campaigning for our vote as he runs for Messiah. To accept Jesus does not call one to live as a disciple; it merely calls one to make a decision. Following calls for a series of decisions being made by the minute, keeping Jesus the focal point, refusing to look to the right or the left, increasing in likeness to his character and in closeness to his person.

- Bill Clem, Disciple: Getting Your Identity from Jesus

 Support the literacy of this blog by clicking this link and patronizing our sponsor!

To lead the church well, lead your family well

Jonathan Parnell over at Desiring God blog has written a great piece (with a cute story any father of a little girl will appreciate) called "Be a Real Husband and Dad". His larger point, however, is important for any church leader (current or aspiring) about leading his family:

In 1 Timothy 3:5, Paul tells us that men who can't lead their own household well shouldn't lead in God’s. This means we don't learn how to be pastors to then figure out the home stuff later. It happens together, if that home stuff hasn’t already happened first. What we do at home is more pertinent to our future ministry than the best class we'll ever take or any exegetical gold we'll ever dig up. Every bit of gospel growth we receive by means of our theological training is aimed by God to touch all of our lives. A solid seminary experience doesn't change just this view or that, but it changes us — as husbands, as dads, and then as leaders for the church as well.

And of course speaking of Desiring God, don't miss our ongoing John Piper book giveaway! This week we're featuring The Justification of God.

Attributes of General Revelation: NAPS

Previously in this post, we briefly articulated four of the central attributes or characteristics of Scripture as God's Word. Scripture is what theologians sometimes call "special revelation." In the writings of Scripture, God-breathed out what the prophets and writers should say so that the words were fully by men but fully the product of God's divine hand. The interpretations did not come about by men but by the Holy Spirit. 

Scripture describes another form of God's revelation and that is God's revelation in creation. God speaks in creation so that He is plainly made known and revealed.

Psalm 19:1-4 ESV The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,

And:

Romans 1:19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 

This is important because they really is a clear revelation of God in creation. On the one hand it is in all created things so that we might sufficiently and clearly see his glory, eternal power and divine nature. On the other hand, man himself is made in God's image (even with his sin) so that he has a conscious and bears the marks of God. It is "clearly perceived."

The problem with general revelation is not the content--contra Barth and others--there is a real and clear revelation of God. God has supernaturally made his creation to communicate to us who He is. It speaks just as much as special revelation in Scripture speaks. It is so clear that a person who has never heard the gospel, when they stand before God at the judgment will be guilty and be able to offer no excuse to Him.

The problem with general revelation is that the receiver of it (you and I) take what God gives us and we suppress it, reject it and rebel against it. In sin we deny all that it screaming forth all around us.

Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they obecame futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Humanity always takes the clear revelation and because it stairs us in the face we need to do something with it. So we make idols and false beliefs. All forms of unbelief takes the revelation of God (general and/or special) and has "do" something with to deny and suppress it. Our hearts are idol factories twisting the good revelation God has giving us so that our hearts become and stay darkened.

Cornelius Van Til used this understanding of Romans 1 to formulate his apologetic method. In an essay entitled "Nature and Scripture" in the book The Infallible Word, he applied the acronym NAPS to general revelation. Reading his essay first introduced me to this way of thinking. The thought that guides Van Til's thinking is that "God's revelation in nature was from the outset of history meant to be taken conjointly with God's supernatural communication" (p277). Revelation from God comes in a covenant character and so in creation prior to the fall we see the covenantal character.

Necessity: God did not create man in a state of independence but in a state of dependence. Adam in the garden was established as God's image and that entailed being a covenant bearer as God's vice regent. This into the position man was created man was given revelation that was absolutely necessary for his role. (1) He bore moral and regal qualities of God to exercise in the garden; (2) He was given given all creation as a display of God's glory.

This "necessity" was a consequent necessity in that once God determined to create, he could do no less than determine that it be necessary for his creation to display His glory. As the highest of all being, God cannot but glorify himself in all his actions. The structure and order of creation is a necessary reveal of God so that mankind is properly established in the garden.

Van Til also states that part of the necessity of general revelation is that it necessarily reveals the curse of God for sin in its post fall state. The creation groans await its redemption, thus imply that he clearly displays (reveals) the need of redemptive grace. Since God truly cursed creation it is necessary that the curse be proclaimed by the groaning of the creation.

Authority: Natural revelation is authoritative in that it tells us truth of God. In the pre-fall state, Adam without corrupt and with moral perfection and righteousness could understand and know God through what was made. Adam would have learned obedience in the garden by heeding the proscription against eating the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Adam's conscious in the garden would have also been a revelation of God. He was made to bear God's image. Created in a state of morality and as a moral being, the position in which he was created--in covenant--was binding to him, authoritative. As Van Til describes it "The mark of God's ownership was from the beginning writ large upon all the facts of the universe. Man was to cultivate the garden of the Lord and gladly pay tribute to the Lord of the manor" (p.273). In this way the revelation in the garden was authoritative.

Perpescuity: The revelation was clear. Note Romans 1:20 "his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world." The creation clearly displays who God is and something about his attributes.

Again, after the fall the problem is not with the creation that is sending the message and speaking, the problem is with those are listening to it. Consider how many people can see all the wonder, majesty and power of creation and still walk away denying a god exists or even suggesting we can never be certain.

We should point out that creation does not simply point out that there is 'a god'--as if it proves mere theism. Creation points to the God of the Bible. How? Creation was made subservient to a God who established a covenant order and hierarchy. It revealed the Covenant God. God set up Adam as his image in His creation. So in the garden man did not just see a non-desrcript presentation 'there is a god' but rather a descriptive 'this is who God is.'

Sufficiency: Here Van Til demurs a bit. General revelation is not sufficient in and of itself. It was never meant to function without Scripture. This is true is a post fall context where a person cannot get saved without coming to the light through the special revelation of God's Word and the illumination of that revelation by the Holy Spirit.

General revelation is not sufficient for all things in a comprehensive sense. However it is sufficient in the purpose for which it was created. Van Til notes it was historically sufficient. It was sufficient to give Adam what he needed to know in a prefall state--this is who God is and this is humanity's relation to him. It is sufficient in a postfall state to render all people everywhere without excuse.

Conclusion: The basic point is that we need to maintain that the creation displays the glory of God. It truly reveals God. It also lays the foundation for our understanding of redemptive grace.

The problem is that you and I in our sins do not listen to or respond to all that creation tells us. It goes to illustrate the depths of our rebellion and condemnation. Our hearts are so foolish and dark that we take the plain and obvious and make up false theologies and idolatries with it--all because our heart does not want to yield what the creation is calling out.

Thankfully as a Christian, you are regenerated. This means, next time you see something in God's creation, like for example a sunset, you have been equipped to recognize that this calls forth the glory of God to you. Rejoice and Worship.

John Piper Giveaway: Week 2

This week our giveaway is not for the faint at heart!

Originally published in 1983, this study was conceived as an attempt to understand how Paul defends the righteousness of God in Romans 9:14-23. It involves a broad effort to grasp what Paul means by the righteousness of God and raises the question of election and predestination. Monergism Books considers it "probably the best written exegetical defence of election in Romans 9 available".

Be sure to subscribe via RSS feed, Reader, or email so you don't miss any of the giveaways! You can enter using the PunchTab app below. RSS readers will need to click through to the post to see the widget.