Justin Taylor's Blog, page 233

A Personal Testimony from King David

What would it be like it King David came to your church to offer his "testimony," especially related to God's grace and his pain regarding his three sons?

At New Covenant Bible Church yesterday, my pastor David Sunday gave a Scripture-saturated sermon (weaving together 2 Samuel and the Psalms), creatively presenting such a testimony.

You can download the sermon or listen to it below, as well as reading the PDF of the sermon manuscript:

I'll reproduce the introduction below, but again, you can read the whole thing here.

"And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?

My hope is in you.

Deliver me from all my transgressions.

Do not make me the scorn of the fool!

I am mute; I do not open my mouth,

for it is you who have done it.

Remove your stroke from me;

I am spent by the hostility of your hand.

When you discipline a man with rebukes for sin,

you consume like a moth what is dear to him;

surely all mankind is a mere breath!" (Psalm 39:7-13).

You may recognize those words from the 39th Psalm.

But I remember them as the anguished outcry of my soul.

I wrote them when God's rod of discipline was heavy upon me. I was spent by the hostility of his hand. All that was dear to me had been consumed like a moth drawn into the fierce intensity of a candle's blaze. I felt I could bear God's rebuke not a moment longer.

My name is David. King David. The son of Jesse, chosen of the LORD to be Israel's anointed King.

You may know me as "a man after God's own heart."

But to be honest, I have a hard time ever seeing myself that way. "For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me" (Psalm 51:3).

Oh, please don't misunderstand: I love God with all my heart! There's nothing I desire more than him. My soul thirsts for him, my flesh yearns for him like a desert traveler gasping for water.

But often I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Grievously I have sinned against the LORD.

Many of my sins are hidden—hidden from you, and even unknown to me—but the Searcher of Hearts knows them all.

And some of them you know too. You have heard the sordid tale of my sin with Bathsheba. I hate to talk about it, it pains me whenever I think of it—but as long as I live, I'll never be able not to think of it.

I exploited her. I demeaned her. I violated her. Then I deceived her husband, and when he proved to be a better man than I, I discarded him. I set him up to be killed as he was loyally fighting my battle.

I was—I am—a moral monster.

In the weeks and months that followed, outwardly everything appeared normal—I married Bathsheba, she was expecting a baby, and the Kingdom was prospering. I went to meetings, I gave speeches, I sat on my throne giving judgments, keeping as busy as a King can be, doing my utmost to put the whole debacle out of my mind.

But day and night God's hand was heavy upon me. Inwardly, I felt like my bones were wasting away. My strength was dried up like a stream in the July desert (Psalm 32).

I'd go to the temple, but couldn't pray.

I'd open the Torah, but couldn't concentrate to read it.

And worst of all, I could not repent. I could not bring myself to acknowledge what I had done.

I was comatose in my own wretchedness.
I was blinded by my own hypocrisy.
I was senseless to the bounty of God's grace towards me.
And I was reckless in the face of sin's consequences.

Those were some of the darkest days of my life. But I could not see that the darkness was inside me. The Enemy was within the citadel of my soul.

Then one day the prophet Nathan came to me. He told me the story of two men in a certain city, one was filthy rich, and the other, dirt poor. And the rich man robbed the poor man of the only thing he had–one little ewe lamb who grew up with him and his children.

When I heard this, I was furious! I could think of nothing but finding that wicked man and sentencing him to death.

Gladly I could have killed him with my own sword, because he did such a thing and had no pity.

That's when Nathan's gaze pierced my soul. He arrested me with his eyes, and I knew I was caught before he spoke a word.

To this day, I shudder when his next words echo in my mind: "You are the man!"

At last, I was stripped of my defenses. The monster within me was unveiled. My icy heart was melting. And I found myself trembling at the Word of the LORD, as Nathan drove the two-edged sword till it penetrated my inmost being–you can read of it in 2 Sam. 12:

"Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,

I anointed you king over Israel,

and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.

And I gave you your master's house

and your master's wives into your arms

and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah.

And if this were too little,

I would add to you as much more.

Why have you despised the word of the LORD,

to do what is evil in his sight?

You have struck down Uriah the Hittite

with the sword of the Ammonites.

Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house,because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.'

Thus says the LORD,

'Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun'" (2 Sam. 12:7-12).

What could I say? Though my whole world was crashing down upon my head, it came almost as a sweet relief to finally be found out—and as impossible as it was for me to admit it all those months, there seemed to appear before me a fountain of cleansing; I could hardly wait to dive in and lose all my guilty stains.

Honestly, with a broken and believing heart, I confessed: "I have sinned against the LORD"—that's all it took, and the floodgates of God's mercy opened wide.

Mercy there was great, and grace was free

Pardon there was multiplied to me.

Nathan said to me, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

To this day, I cannot get over it—"My Lord, what love is this, that gave so freely? That I, the guilty one, may go free?"

God has created in me a clean heart.
He has restored to me the joy of his salvation.
He has put a new song in my heart, a song of praise to my God.
He has not dealt with me according to my sins, nor repaid me according to my iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
Bless the LORD, O my soul! And All that is within me, bless his holy name!

How sweet it is to be forgiven! How sweet it is to know that when I stand before God, he will not see me as a sinner—he will receive me as a saint—a man after God's own heart!

"Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit" (Psalm 32:1-2).

But there is something very serious I need to tell you this morning. In doing so, I hope to spare you enormous pain in your lifetime.

It's been many years now since my sin with Bathsheba. I know I'm forgiven, and I believe with all my heart God won't hold my sins against me in the Judgment.

But it still stings.

Years have passed, all of them riddled with pain: I'm still suffering the consequences of my sins.

I'd do anything if I could go back to the point when lust first started rising in my heart, and repent then. If only I could change my vote—if only I could deny my lusts the power of reigning in my heart.

But I can't. I let the cancer grow. And God has been doing surgery on my soul ever since.

Know this, my friends: forgiven sins may still sting.

Be sure of this: pardoned sins can produce lasting pain.

The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir Sings Psalm 121

The song "My Help (Cometh from the Lord)" from their album "High & Lifted Up":

I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come?

My help comes from the LORD,

who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;

he who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD is your keeper;

the LORD is your shade on your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day,

nor the moon by night

The LORD will keep you from all evil;

he will keep your life.

The LORD will keep

your going out and your coming in

from this time forth and forevermore. (ESV)

Succession Plan at Bethlehem Baptist Church

Bethlehem Baptist Church:

The Succession Search Team (made up of elders from the former "Vision & Succession" Committee and our lead pastors) would like the congregation to be apprised of the timeline and status of the search for a pastor to succeed Pastor John. Please use the timeline for this process (as described at the December 18, 2011, Annual Meeting) as a guide to pray for our elders.

Note that if the Elders reach a positive consensus on March 27 to move forward with the applicant, the applicant will become a "candidate," and the second half of the timeline will be confirmed. Should the elders decide not to move forward with the applicant, the Search Team will pause its efforts until further notice.

You can read the timeline here.

May God grant the elders and the congregation of this church—near and dear to my heart—to be "in full accord and of one mind" (Phil. 2:2).

An Interview on the Joy of Calvinism

It was a joy to talk about Calvinism and the new book The Joy of Calvinism with Dr. Greg Forster, a public intellectual who converted to Christianity as an adult. You can watch our conversation below:

00:00 — Introduction

00:21 — Forster's Background – "I was lead to Christ by a man who's been dead for 300 years."

03:29 — The theme of God's love in Calvinism

04:35 — What does Calvinism "taste like?"

06:34 — Calvin's soteriology

07:21 — TULIP: Our simplification of the "5 points"

09:15 — The value of TULIP in highlighting the trinitarian nature of Calvinism

11:02 — The value of TULIP in negating the views Calvinism does not hold

11:25 — A few problems with TULIP

13:34 — Calvinism from the perspective of God's love

14:33 — A strange fact: Calvinism is drenched in joy

17:03 — The advantage of a layman's perspective

19:19 — Greg's vision for the book in the Church

19:36 — Why you should read this if you're not a Calvinist

20:40 — Why you should read this if you are a Calvinist

21:54 — Wrap-up: The Joy of Calvinism afresh

Schnabel at Gordon-Conwell

Congratulations to Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary: they announced the appointment of Eckhard Schnabel as the new Mary F. Rockefeller Distinguished Professor of New Testament Studies.

Recommended Reading on Baptism and the Lord's Supper

Michael Haykin, a Reformed Baptist historian, was recently asked for recommended reading on baptism and on the Lord's Supper.

First, on baptism:

Well, first of all David Kingdon, Children of Abraham: A Reformed Baptist View of Baptism, The Covenant, and Children (Haywards Heath, Sussex: Carey Publications, 1973). It is out of print, but it is the best twentieth-century study of baptism from a Reformed and Baptist perspective.

Paul K. Jewett, Infant Baptism and the Covenant of Grace (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., 1978) is a similar study and also well worth reading. . . .

There are older works, by authors like Alexander Carson, that are worthwhile, but these two are the best from the past century.

Then, for historical discussions of early Christian baptism I would recommend two small books: Hendrick F. Stander and Johannes P. Louw, Baptism in the Early Church (Leeds: Reformation Today Trust, 2004) is a gem and F.M. Buhler, Baptism: Three Aspects (Dundas, Ontario: Joshua Press, 2004) is a much-overlooked piece that helpfully deals with the archaeological evidence pertaining to early Christian baptismal practice.

And on the Lord's Supper:

Keith Mathison, Given for You: Reclaiming Calvin's Doctrine of the Lord's Supper (P&R Publishing, 2002): the best study of Calvin's vital thought on this ordinance.

Anne Dutton, Thoughts on the Lord's Supper, Relating to the Nature, Subjects, and Right Partaking of This Solemn Ordinance (London: J. Hart, 1748): a classic Baptist reflection.

And two contemporary studies—each small, but both powerful:

Ernest Kevan, The Lord's Supper (Welwyn, Hertfordshire: Evangelical Press, 1966).

Robert Letham, The Lord's Supper: Eternal Word in Broken Bread (P&R Publishing, 2001).

The Trinity and Preaching

Carl Trueman, teaching at the 2011 Proclamation Trust Autumn Joint Ministers Conference in England:

16-Year-Old Augustine and the Enjoyment of Wanton Sin

One of the most memorable sections of Augustine's Confessions is his painful, prayerful recollection of an event that had occurred 25 years ago.

Augustine says that as a 16-year-old, "I cared for nothing but to love and to be loved. . . . Love and lust together," he writes, "seethed within me. In my tender youth they swept me away over the precipice of my body's appetites and plunged me in the whirlpool of sin." "I was . . . floundering in the broiling sea of my fornication. . . . The brambles of lust grew high above my head and there was no one to root them out, certainly not my father" (II.2).

Despite his lust-filled teenage years, he focuses most of his attention upon an act that many might dismiss as good old-fashioned rabble rousing: petty theft from a fruit tree. But note carefully why Augustine, looking back, sees the sinfulness of sin in stealing these pears:

There was a pear-tree near our vineyard, loaded with fruit that was attractive neither to look at nor to taste.

Late one night a band of ruffians, myself included, went off to shake down the fruit and carry it away, for we had continued our games out of doors until well after dark, as was our pernicious habit. We took away an enormous quantity of pears, not to eat them ourselves, but simply to throw them to the pigs.

Perhaps we ate some of them, but our real pleasure consisted in doing something that was forbidden. . . .

It was not the pears that my unhappy soul desired. I had plenty of my own, better than those, and I only picked them so that I might steal. For no sooner had I picked them than I threw them away, and tasted nothing in them but my own sin, which I relished and enjoyed. . . .

We were tickled to laughter by the prank we had played, because no one suspected us of it although the owners were furious. Why was it, then, that I thought it fun not to have been the only culprit? Perhaps it was because we do not easily laugh when we are alone. . . I am quite sure that I would never have done this thing on my own. . . . To do it by myself would have been no fun and I should not have done it.

—Saint Augustine, Confessions, Penguin Classics, trans. R. S. Pine-Coffin (New York: Penguin, 1961), II.4, 6, 9.

This is worth some serious meditation on sin, the nature of pleasure, forbidden fruit, and the companionship of fools.

A Debate on the Continuation of Prophecy

Below is an hour-long debate/discussion between Ian Hamilton (Cambridge Presbyterian Church; Cambridge, England) and Wayne Grudem (Phoenix Seminary, Arizona) on the role and continuation of prophecy in the church today. Adrian Reynolds moderated the discussion, which took place at Proclamation Trust's 2010 Evangelical Ministry Assembly (EMA).

HT: Paul Levy

What Is "Theological Intepretation of Scripture"?

The opening line of a new essay by D.A. Carson's essay:

Theological Interpretation of Scripture (TIS) is partly disparate movement, partly a call to reformation in biblical interpretation, partly a disorganized array of methodological commitments in hermeneutics, partly a serious enterprise and partly (I suspect) a fad.

And here's the closing line:

I am inclined to think that what is most valuable in TIS (and much is), is not new; what is new in TIS varies from ambiguous to mistaken, depending in part on the theological location of the interpreter.

You can read the whole essay here, which is found in the collection of essays, Theological Commentary: Evangelical Perspectives, ed. R. Michael Allen (London: T&T Clark, 2011), 187-207.