Mortification of Sin

Another quote from a Puritan father via my friend Jeff Haavisto:

"The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business, all their days, to mortify the indwelling power of sin. (Romans 8:13)"

Taken from the book The Mortification of Sin by John Owen 1656

The Flaw of the Excluded Middle

    I have been recently reading a book given to me by a friend on evangelism. In it the author points to an article by the late missiologist Paul Hiebert entitled “The Flaw of the Excluded Middle”. The article is about how people live life at three levels.

    The bottom level involves those aspects of life directly encountered with the senses. At this level we plant and harvest crops, build homes, take out the garbage, fix broken stuff and other seemingly simple things.

    The top level deals with those things which are beyond what the mere senses can grasp, the things that are transcendant such as the meaning of life, destiny, true beauty and the infinite nature of God.

    The middle level is that between the bottom and the top where we deal with more immediate yet still profound questions to do with the past, the present and the near future. Things like accidents, tragedies, serendipitous discoveries and unexpected turns of events occupy the middle and it is here that much of life is interpreted and experienced.

    Many people experience their Christianity in the top level but not in the middle or bottom level. Heibert himself found this to be a challenge in his work in missions in India. He found that professing believers would often turn to shamans and luck charms when it came to dealing with life in "the excluded middle." I have found it a challenge at times in my own life to experience God in "the excluded middle." "Can I really trust God to provide for my children's college education?" "Will I be able to perform well in my vocation over the long haul?" "Will I have to endure this arthritic knee and locking shoulder for the rest of my life?" "Why do I feel depressed in the morning so often and how can I change?" Do you identify? I don't think I'm alone.

    Yet, the testimony of scripture is that God is present in the bottom, the top and the middle and calls us to invite him to bring the experience of salvation and the truth of the gospel into every level of life. His word is replete with this invitation both implicitly and explicitly.

Psalm 139 says,
“ ⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
⁹ If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
¹² even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.”

And Mt. 28:20 - “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age!” .

And the cry of the Seraphim in Isaiah 6:3 -
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
(note - the whole earth, not just the transcendent!)

    So much of the exhortations in scripture that flow from the context of the grace of God have all three tiers in mind. Take a look at Ephesians and watch how Paul masterfully blends the transcendent with the seemingly mundane and everything in between. The celebration of the glorious grace of God, his eternal decree in election and the revealing of his great mystery in Christ flows into the call to practically love and enjoy our church, our families, our spouse, our employees in every aspect of life. All of life is to be worship and the experience of God.

    I have found two things to be very helpful in this – remembering the gospel & prayer. In every situation and challenge I am learning to ask “What does the gospel say about this?” "Do I need to apply the forgiveness purchased by Christ's atonement?" "Is their a promise inherent in the gospel that I must cling to?" "Is their a truth about God and myself from the gospel which I must understand?" There are a number of these sort of “gospel questions” we can ask. I recommend Mike Bullmore’s article and teaching entitled, “Applying the Gospel to All of Life” to get a more complete picture of this.

    And the other thing is prayer – learning to take all things – whether issues at the bottom, middle or top of life and bringing them before our ever near God in prayer, crying out to him and depending on him, seeking his presence. As I have been able to do these two practices, with the help of the Holy Spirit and those around me, I have been able to avoid living life without God in the normally, “excluded middle.”

Hope this helps!

God Bless,
Paul

The Blessing is in the Doing!

Wow -the book of James is great!

I just spent some time in James preparing a message entitled, "The Blessing is in the Doing!" It seems James central concern is for authentic faith versus hollow faith. As I meditated on this wonderful book it seemed the entire book could be understood in terms of the hearer-only versus the doer of the word. Here are 15 differences I found in James.

15 Differences Between the Doer and the Hearer Only
from the book of James.
1. The doer measures maturity by his doing, not his knowing, the hearer-only measures maturity by his knowing. (James 1:22-25, 3:13-18)
2. The doer understands salvation is not merely instantaneous but also a lifelong process, the hearer-only thinks he’s done when he first believes. (James 1:21,25, 2:14-26)
3. The doer is hungry for holiness, the hearer-only sees it as of little importance. (James 1-5)
4. The doer deals in specifics, the hearer-only in vague applications. (James 1-5 i.e. speech, generosity/wealth, humility)
5. The doer is reliant on grace and very glad for it, the hearer-only knows grace but doesn’t know the fullness of its blessing because he hasn’t truly struggled for holiness. (James 1:18, 21)
6. The doer confesses sin, the hearer-only only hides it or is unaware of it. (James 3:14, 5:16)
7. The doer relies on others for his growth in Christ, the hearer-only doesn’t seek this sort of depth in relationships. (James 5:16,19-20)
8. The doer pursues fruit in speech, the hearer-only doesn’t see his need to grow in godly speech. (James 1:26, 3:1-12)
9. The doer pursues fruit in deep relationships, the hearer-only avoids relationships or keeps them shallow. (James 1-5)
10. The doer avoids pride and pursues humility, the hearer-only is blind to his pride. (James 3:13-18)
11. The doer doesn’t boast about tomorrow but recognizes his desperate and daily need for God, the hearer-only can be boastful and self-sufficient and lives for his plans. (James 4:13-17)
12. The doer is prayerful, the hearer-only doesn’t think he needs to be. (James 5:13-18)
13. The doer is sober about becoming a teacher the hearer-only is eager to tell others what he knows. (James 3:1 ff))
14. The doer understands that the test is in trials, the hearer-only fails in trials. (James 1:2-5)
15. The doer’s hope is in the future, the hearer-only seeks comfort now. (James 1:12, 21, 2:5, 5:7-11)

Don't be overwhelmed but consider 1 small step toward becoming a better doer - that is where the blessing is! And remember - doing only can be done because Jesus has already done it all - and our righteousness is already complete in Him!

God Bless!
Paul

Encouragement from Romans 8

I hope you all are doing well as you find your joy and strength in the Lord and the amazing truth that the God of the universe has personally paid for our sins, forgiven us, counted us righteous in the Son and called us into eternal fellowship with him. When we grasp these gospel truths everything else falls into place!

I have been studying Romans 8 with our kids. It has been sweet to share these truths with them - and we haven't got past verse 13 yet!

There are some amazing promises from God in this wonderful chapter. Chapter 7 describes our sad predicament under sin, a seeming unconquerable foe for the believer. But chapter 8 promises us the God-given means to overcome the penalty, power and presence of sin. Let these verses encourage you:

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." (Romans 8: 1 -4, ESV)

[Our sin was already condemned - therefore there is no condemnation left!]

"Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit" (Romans 8:8-9 a , ESV)

[We can actually please God by the power of the Spirit!!]

"But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness . If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you." (Romans 8:10-11, ESV)

[The life we receive from the Spirit starts at conversion and completes its work in the final day of new sinless bodies - yahoo!]

"For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"" (Romans 8:15, ESV)

[We experience our adoption by the Spirit - God is our "dad" now - wow!]

"For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." (Romans 8:29, ESV)

[Our destiny in God's great love is to make us like his Son! - amazing grace & love!]

" What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:31-32, ESV)

[Why worry? We are guaranteed "all things", that is, all that is truly necessary!]

Take some time this week to prayerfully meditate on these verses. May God the Holy Spirit speak to your soul through these promises and fill you with faith, hope, love & joy and holiness!

Enjoying Repentance and Faith Today

I have been reminded lately of the essential experience for the Christian of repentance and faith. What we begin with at conversion we are continue in throughout our lives. To walk with God is to continually experience repentance and faith. But what exactly are repentance and faith?

Jesus said - "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:15, ESV) and "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matthew 4:17, ESV). Paul told of his mission as "testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." (Acts 20:21, ESV)

John Calvin said "For while Christ the Lord and John preach in this manner: "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand", do they not derive the reason for repenting from grace itself and the promise of salvation? Accordingly, therefore, their words mean the same thing as if they said, "Since the Kingdom of Heaven has come near, repent." - JC, Institutes, Book 2, Chapter III.3 -J.T. McNeill, Ed.

How do repentance and faith relate? Repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin. In order to reorient yourself to God you must believe that he is good and worthy and true, especially in regards to the gospel. With this you will also believe that sin is bad and unworthy and untrue in relation to God. We turn from self and sin and place our faith for forgiveness and righteousness and life in Christ alone. We can't have one without the other!

"Again, if we remember that repentance is turning from sin unto God, the turning to God implies faith in the mercy of God as revealed in Christ. It is impossible to disentangle faith and repentance. Saving faith is permeated with repentance and repentance is permeated with faith."- John Murray

"Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner out of a true sense of sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after new obedience." – Westminster Shorter Catechism

May you, today, by the power of the Holy Spirit, turn from that which is most vile (sin in any form) to enjoy and live for and depend on that whom is most glorious, worthy, faithful and enjoyable, the Triune God especially revealed in the glorious good news of Jesus Christ - his perfect life, his vicarious propitiating death for sinners like us and his universe-shattering resurrection to new life for all his people - even us!

God Bless, Paul

The Core of Contentment and the Secret of Sanctification

Have you ever been in a funk? Do you know what I mean - one of those periods of inexplicable discontent, despair and confusion? I recently found myself in such a state - once again. I had been aware of a number of things around me that weren't going the way I wanted - a $6,000 tuition bill, a broken furnace, not enough money for Christmas gifts, various overwhelming parenting challenges and some household maintenance we couldn't afford. - I found myself in a "funk".

My rotten attitude reached a peak when I was trying to pull out of the local gas station in our 6000 lb. Chevy Conversion van. Despite the well known Boston-driving maneuver of pulling halfway out into traffic, no one was letting me in. When I finally saw some daylight I gave the 5.7 liter engine all the gas we had and laid rubber as I fish-tailed my way into traffic - more out of frustration and sin than necessity. I knew my attitude was poor but I felt trapped in my funk.

After praying, reading the word and journaling in a desperate but confused effort to get out of my self-made mire, I got alone with God and cried out for help. The answer came not so much in a clear statement but in a fresh impression and reminder of what life in Christ is all about - my death, his life. And when I remembered this fundamental gospel message, it seemed that all my problems and unfulfilled desires miraculously turned from temptations to sin into opportunities to trust, enjoy and honor Christ - death to my selfish cravings and empty pride and life in Him and for Him by faith - I could feel the funk lifting!

Then the thought came to me - isn't this the very core of my contentment and the secret of my sanctification - my death, his life. Isn't this what the gospel is all about - my death, his life? Isn't this what maturity in Christ all about - my death, his life? Isn't this to be my joy and glory - my death, his life? I no longer dreaded my undesirable circumstances but was now trusting Christ to use them as he was pleased, even working death for me (that is my sinful self) but life in Him - death to my sinful demands but life in Him and His glory shining through his sovereign plan. I found myself content in Him and a good bit more pleasant!

I memorized two verses very early in my Christian life. They are sort of my life verses - in theory at least - and they well describe what I am talking about. Listen to God's word -

"I have been crucified in Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Gal. 2:20 (ESV) - and

"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this; that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised." 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (ESV)

God freed me from my funk by a simple yet powerful reapplication of gospel truth. Thank God!! All our trials turn from despair to joy when the truth of the gospel applied to our life reorients our world from self to Christ. May you find life and freedom from your funk through the wonderfully good news of the gospel! May the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ be the worst news for your pride and selfishness but the very best news for your joy and life in Christ!

God Bless - Paul

Entitlement & Misery

I am not a morning person - at least not for the first 30 minutes or so. It seems like indwelling sin is awake as soon as the alarm goes off but my new nature is still sleeping until a half-hour has passed. It was this way this morning.

I was "down" and just not too happy about life. As I drove to breakfast to meet with my good friend Jeff I sensed the Spirit of God addressing me. It went something like this -

"Why are you unhappy?"
I guess because I want something and I don't have it.
"Do you deserve ______?"
No.
"What do you deserve?"
Nothing. Well, worse - hell that is.
"What do you have?"
Jesus. Forgiveness, eternal life with God, his sovereign care over my life, a relationship with the most excellent being ever. ..... Oh how quickly I forget this. ..... Thank you God for what I have! Now I am happy!

I feel so much better!

I so often experience these struggles and so often need the reminder of the gospel.

I call this my entitlement attitude.

The gospel kills it and that's a good thing. May you be happy today not in having _____. But in having what you don't deserve, Jesus! May your entitlement attitude perish and gospel-centered gratitude prevail!

Gospel Centered Everything

We just recently finished a 20 month series from 1 Corinthians . Wow, what a book! Paul does a masterful job of answering the Corinthians varied questions and crises all from a gospel centered perspective. David Garland says the following about this:

“The cross, its wisdom or its effect, is also pivotal in every issue except the one concerning headdress. It is central to his discussion of factions (1:18-31, 4:8-13) but also appears in his discussion of incest (5:7-8), lawsuits (6:7), sexual immorality (6:20), marriage (7:23), idol meat (8:11), the Lords supper (11:26), spiritual gifts (13:1-13), and the resurrection (15:3). [1]

In light of the all pervasive influence of Jesus as Savior and Lord, how are we experiencing the message of the gospel? How is it functioning in our lives? How is the truth of Jesus as Savior and Lord impacting us in the nitty gritty of life? 1 Corinthians clearly leaves us with the impression that there is no question or concern where the good news of Jesus as Savior and Lord does not speak.

Further resources:
How should the gospel function in the life of the local church? - Mike Bullmore
The Functional Centrality of the Gospel in the Life of the Local - Mike Bullmore

[1] David E. Garland, 1 Corinthians, BECNT, Baker Academic, MI, USA, 2003, p. 17

Love and the Christian

We are going through a series from 1 Corinthians 13. It is striking to hear Paul's loving rebuke of the Corinthians for their lack of love. They are indeed believers but seemed to have totally missed the command of John 13:34-15. I've been considering how we resemble them in falsely measuring our Christian maturity by many things but our love. May God radically change me (and us) to measure our success by grace empowered love - the one thing that does last! It is the difference between ultimate emptiness and the fullness of God (see 1 Cor. 13:2b and Eph. 3:19).

Check out these helpful resources:

Charity and Its Fruits
Jonathan Edwards
Love One Another for Love Is of God
John Piper
Love Thy Neighbour
CH Spurgeon
Gospel Charity
John Owen


The Church:
The Dearest Place on Earth
C.J. Mahaney et al
Nine Marks of a Healthy Church
Mark Dever
The Giver & The Gifts
CJ Mahaney, Dave Harvey & Jeff Purswell
The Non-Spectacular Gifts: Unimpressive or Unappreciated?
Jeff Purswell

True Spirituality.

The other week we focused on 1 Corinthians 12:1-3 where Paul begins his discourse on spiritual gifts and spirituality with the following:

1 Corinthians 12:1-3 (ESV)
¹ Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. ² You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. ³ Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

There is a very important lesson in this text for all Christians: There is no higher spiritual experience or state than that of being one who, by the power of the Holy Spirit alone, proclaims, affirms and delights from the heart in the absolute, fully divine, all wise, all-glorious, all-sufficient, saving, Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Simply put:

True Spirituality is a pure gift from the Holy Spirit, it is to confess Jesus is Lord.

Check out what our friend Gordon Fee says about this passage:

The ultimate criterion of the Spirit’s activity is the exaltation of Jesus as Lord. Whatever takes away from that, even if they be legitimate expressions of the Spirit, begins to move away from Christ to a more pagan fascination with spiritual activity as an end in itself.

Gordon Fee

How does this truth change what you think about spirituality? Do you measure spirituality by other things, like whether you speak in tongues or not, whether you understand and agree with reformed theology or not, whether you know church history well, even whether you lead a Christlike life or struggle? True spirituality is to confess Jesus is Lord from the heart. There is no greater spiritual miracle than to do so.

Knowing and Being.

So often we struggle with the relationship of knowing and being. Sadly, these two qualities are seen as enemies rather than the closest friends. I understand why, I think. Just look around - so much of our experience seems to point this way. We see that some of the most apparently Christ-like, loving people have a simple and very basic faith while some of the most knowledgeable people are too often arrogant and love-less. But experience does not determine truth, it only tests it. I would submit that the deepest lovers are the deepest knowers and the deepest knowers are the deepest lovers.

Check out Paul's approach in Philippians:

Philippians 3:10 "that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead."

Notice that Paul wants to know Him and become like Him. These two must go together. How do we become like Him? - by knowing Him. How do we know Him? - by understanding the word of God's teaching on who He is and what He has done. What is the objective? Christlikeness, not mere knowledge. But in order to get to Christlikeness there must be knowledge. You can not be without knowing. That is just as dangerous as thinking that academically knowing is enough. The measure of the knowing is in the being! The path to the being is in the knowing.

Check out Philippians 1:9-11
" And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so by pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God."

And finally, James:

"Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. "
James 3:13 (ESV)

So the word would teach us that knowledge and Christlikeness go hand in hand. I would submit the pre-eminent quality of Christlikeness is love. So put another way, love and knowledge go hand in hand, you can't have one without the other.

Check out this link courtesy of monergism.com: Love and Knowledge: Living in Balance By Patrick Ramsey

Do You Know the Game Plan?

Thoughts from the Word– We have spent the past four Sundays springing from 1 Corinthians 10 and probing the topics of idolatry, our struggle with sin and Christ-centered holiness. So many times we can find ourselves on the playing field of Christianity and not really having any clue what we are supposed to do. The result often is that the opposing team runs roughshod over us (picture a gruesome threesome of the fallen world, the devil and our own sinful nature– the chief player and enemy coming straight at us). It is so important for us to grasp what the scripture teaches us about our life in Christ. This past series has been an attempt to give us “the game plan”. It can be summed up as follows:

1. OUR GREATEST ENEMY IS THE SIN THAT DWELLS WITHIN US.

2. OUR GREATEST WEAPON AGAINST SIN AND TEMPTATION IS THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST.

3. WE MUST BELIEVE AND APPLY THE GOSPEL IN ORDER TO SLAY INDWELLING SIN.

Consider the following passage (one among many like it.)

2 Peter 1:3-11 (ESV)
³ His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, ⁴ by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. ⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. ⁸ For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. ¹¹ For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Peter calls his readers to progressive holiness in this passage. But note something very critical here. Verse 9 says that if someone is not walking in holiness the problem is they have forgotten they have been cleansed from their sins. They have forgotten the gospel. Additionally, it is the promise of the gospel, received, that gives us all the power we need for life and godliness – verse 1-4. Because of the sure promise in the gospel that we are already cleansed and already new creations in Christ we are totally free from the penalty and power of sin. And, because of the sure promise of the gospel we can effectively battle the presence of sin that dwells within (until we see Him face to face). Because God has already decisively and irrevocably acted for us in Christ (before we had any say!) we can now walk out the realities of our salvation in Him. Listen to how John Piper sums this truth up as taught in Romans 6-8.

What we have learned from Romans 6 and 7 is that when we trusted in Christ as our Savior and Lord (as our Treasure!), we were united to Christ (Romans 6:5; 7:4). In this union with Christ we died (Romans 6:8; Colossians 2:20; 3:3) and rose again (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12; Ephesians 2:6). Therefore a decisive and irrevocable new creation came into being (2 Corinthians 5:17), and a decisive and irrevocable liberation happened (Romans 6:14, 18). We passed from death to (eternal!) life. Our decisive judgment is behind us - at Golgotha (John 5:24). We have moved from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of God's Son (Colossians 1:13).

But we also learned that our liberation from sin is not yet final and perfect. Decisive and irrevocable, Yes! But final and perfect, No! Sin still dwells within us (Romans 7:17, 20). Evil is present in us (Romans 7:21). The "flesh" is a daily troubler of our souls (Romans 7:25). We are not yet perfect nor have we already obtained our crown and prize (Philippians 3:12). We are liars if we say we have no sin (1 John 1:8, 10).

How then does the apostle Paul teach us to live? Will he say: "You are decisively and irrevocably new, so you can coast through life with no fight to become new"? Or will he say: "You are not decisively and irrevocably new and must fight to get to that place in Christ"? No, neither of these. He will say: "By faith, embrace all that God is for your good in Christ and all you are for his glory in Christ. Believe that. And now, with that confidence, fight to take possession of the territory that Christ has conquered for you. Fight to become in practice what you are in Christ."

John Piper, Already: Decisively and Irrevocably Free, Not Yet: Finally and Perfectly Free, August 28, 2001

Because we have a Savior and Lord who has won us a decisive and irrevocable victory let us fight with great joy and faith to gain the territory that is rightly his. Let us believe and apply the gospel! Let us use all the means He gives us (faith, the word, prayer, church and trials) to walk in His glorious ways, becoming more and more like our wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ – until we see Him face to face and receive our reward.

Got a clearer idea of what it is all about and what you are called to do? Ready to resist the opposing team and experience victory? I hope so. May the Lord bless you as you grapple with these life-transforming truths!

Check out these links:
Gospel-Driven Sanctification
Jerry Bridges


Already: Decisively and Irrevocably Free, Not Yet: Finally and Perfectly Free
John Piper


Christ and Him Crucified
C.J.Mahaney