John Webster writes:

. . . the Christian interpreter is 'reconciled to God, drawn into the fellowship of the saints and illumined by the Holy Spirit'. . . . the Christian interpreter is one who has been extracted from the darkness of sin by the judgement and mercy of God, and set in the sphere of the church, the chosen race, the royal priesthood, the holy nation which is what it is by virtue of the divine call out of darkness into light.

Christian interpretation of Holy Scripture is determined by this setting; the 'hermeneutical situation' (that is, the constitutive elements of the business of scriptural interpretation, God, text and readers, and the field of their interactions) is not an…

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This is the second question and answer post with Jerry Rankin (read the first).

You have written directly on the subject of spiritual warfare. What led you to focus so much on this important topic, especially for missionaries?

If God’s ultimate desire is to be worshipped and exalted among all peoples, it is evident the adversary, Satan, who is jealous for God’s glory, is actively seeking to deprive God of his glory among the nations. 

Just as he robs God of his glory in our lives through temptation to sin, embracing of carnal values and self-centered gratification of the flesh, he is subtly imposing barriers to global evangelization. Scripture is prolific in alerting us to this spiritua…

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This is the first question and answer post with Jerry Rankin.

What do you think are the greatest challenges to the world Christian movement today? What do you think are the greatest signs of hope?

From the perspective of one who has a global overview of Christian missions today, it is evident God is moving in unprecedented ways to fulfill his mission.  He is using warfare, ethnic violence, political disruption, social chaos, economic uncertainty and natural disasters to turn the hearts of people to a search for hope and security that can be found only in Jesus Christ. There is an apparent acceleration in engagement of unreached people groups and a global harvest.

The greatest challenge …

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In the sermon descriptively entitled,

“That Hearing and Keeping the Word of God Renders a Person More Blessed Than Any Other Privilege That Ever God Bestowed on Any of the Children of Men,”

Jonathan Edwards writes:

The hearing and keeping the word of God brings the happiness of a spiritual union and communion with God.

‘Tis a greater blessedness to have spiritual communion with God and to have a saving intercourse with him by the instances of his Spirit and by the exercise of true devotion than it is to converse with God externally, to see the visible representation and manifestations of his presence and glory, and to hear his voice with the bodily ears as Moses did. For in this spiri…

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Every Friday morning at Desiring God the staff gathers for an hour of devotion and prayer. This morning David Mathis led us in seeing how the Bible's God-centeredness relates to its Christ-exalting, gospel-centeredness. It was a good time of being together and hearing texts like Isaiah 48:9-11 and 2 Corinthians 4:4-6.

There we were, huddled together in the staff lounge, exulting in the crucified and risen Lord and dreaming of his name being proclaimed in all the nations. And then it occurred to me . . .

There are all kinds of meetings going on around the world. Governement leaders and rulers of nations meeting together, conspiring, grappling for strength and prominence. The kings of t…

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Proverbs 9:8-9,

Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.

Last year Josh Harris preached a helpful sermon from Proverbs 9 entitled "Lady Wisdom's Food and Drink." He included a simple illustration (on the right) that helps us think about what our response to correction indicates about ourselves.  

Listen to the sermon:

(HT: Josh Etter)

The Apostle Paul knows who he is and he knows what is behind who he is (1 Corinthians 15:10). He says, "By the grace of God, I am what I am." This is not a flagrant statement that is meant to excuse character flaws. I'm not sure why it rings that way to my American ear (maybe I've listened to too much country music).

Paul simply knows who he is (1 Corinthians 15:9). He knows he is a sinner who Jesus Christ came into the world to save (1 Timothy 1:15). And he knows about the powerful grace of God in the source and work of his life, represented in verse 15a by the Manner. Paul is what he is, by the grace of God.

So it's free grace. Paul was destined for wrath and helpless. At no point …

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With Luke 1:26-38 open and the whole testimony of Scripture in mind, Kenny Stokes asked three questions about Mary in a recent sermon:

1. Should we view Mary as blessed?
2. Should we worship Mary?
3. How should we view Mary in relation to our salvation?

He concluded with three simple suggestions on how we should view her:

1. She is wonderfully and uniquely blessed
2. She should be honored
3. She should be imitated

He starts this part of the sermon at the seven minute mark.

Paul gives a two-part command in Philippians 3:17—join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who live like us. This idea of imitating Paul and leaders like him is not unique to this passage (2 Thessalonians 3:7-9; 1 Timothy 4:12; 2 Timothy 1:13; Hebrews 13:7). However, the Philippians 3:18 ground to the command carries a particular weightiness.

Paul tells us to imitate him and those who live like him, "for many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ."

Paul says that apostasy is the basis for why we should imitate him and those who live like him. Paul does not suggest the benefits of having a role model, he narrows…

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Many helpful summaries and explanations of the justification debate and N. T. Wright have arisen over the last couple of weeks surrounding the meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in Atlanta. One takeaway from the whole thing is the importance of articulating the relationship between our faith and our union with Christ.

Faith should never be exalted to a place that undermines Jesus and our union with him. No evangelical wants to do that. The “in Christ” reality is very good in the good news. A crucial question arises in how one might be “in Christ.”

In my opinion, this is a high point in John Piper's book, The Future of Justification. Piper quotes Wright from his essay…

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