The God Who Is There: Finding Your Place in God's Story

by D.A. Carson

Neither of these categories—psalms and wisdom literature—brings the story forward very much.

They reflect the experiences, the insight, the revelation of God that his people turn over in their minds during these times.

Now we are told that when the Word became flesh, “he tabernacled among us.” Again, in John’s next chapter, Jesus insists that he himself is the ultimate temple of God (see John 2:19–21), the ultimate meeting place between human beings and God.

It is good to sing the “Hallelujah Chorus,” but we must also sing, “On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame”—because there God displayed his glory in Christ Jesus, who thus became our tabernacle, our temple, the meeting place between God and human beings.

John adds, “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given” (1:16). That is exactly what the text says—but what does it mean? It does not mean “grace on top of grace” or “one grace after another,” like Christmas presents piled up under a Christmas tree, one blessing after another. It means we have all received a grace in place of a grace already given. What does that mean? The next verse tells us: “For the law was given through Moses [which takes us back to Exod. 32–34]; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (1:17). In other words, the gift of the law was a gracious thing, a good and wonderful gift from God. But grace and truth par excellence came through Jesus Christ, not in the display of glory to Moses in a cave but in the display of Jesus and the bloody sacrifice on the cross. The law covenant was a gracious gift from God, but now Jesus is going to introduce a new covenant, the ultimate grace and truth. This is a grace that replaces that old grace. It is bound up with a new covenant.

As we walked, he asked me, “Don, you study mathematics, yes?” “Yes.” “If you have one cup and then you add another cup, how many cups do you have?” Well, I was taking some mathematics courses, so I said, “Two.” “If you have two cups and you add another cup, how many cups do you have?” I said, “Three.” “If you have three cups, and you take away one cup, how many cups do you have?” I said, “Two.” So far I was hitting on all cylinders. So he said, “You believe that the Father is God?”

“Yes.” Uh oh, I could see where this was going. “You believe that Jesus is God?” “Yes.” “You believe that the Holy Spirit is God?” “Yes.” “So if you have one God plus one God plus one God, how many gods do you have?” I was studying chemistry, not theology. How was I supposed to answer that? The best I could do was say, “Listen, if you are going to use a mathematical model, then let me choose the branch of mathematics. Let’s talk about infinities. Infinity plus infinity plus infinity equals what? Infinity. I serve an infinite God.”

“There is Aristotle, for government must be based on knowledge. There is Socrates, for government must be based on wisdom. There is Moses, for government must be based on law.” He went all the way around. Then he asked, “Any questions?” My friend piped up, “Where is Jesus Christ?”

Muhammad looked shocked. Picking up a line from the Bible verses he had been reading, he said, “I read in the Christian Bible that the law was given through Moses but that grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Where is Jesus Christ?”

Do you see how it looked to Muhammad? He was a Muslim. He understood about a God who has laws, who has standards, who brings terror, who sits in judgment over you, a God who is sovereign and holy and powerful. He understood all of that. But he had already been captured by Jesus, full of grace and truth, who displays his glory profoundly in the cross and becomes the meeting place between God and sinners because he dies the sinner’s death.

13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.

professing Christians whose lives are indistinguishable from those of unbelievers have no biblical ground for thinking they have been born again.

Where there is new birth—where it has genuinely come from God—you will see transformation. You will see change in the life.

where new birth takes place, there is a change of direction, of origin. There is a cleaning up in the life. There is a transformation. There is the beginning of life from God himself that shapes our existence in a new direction.

“Unless you obey Jesus’s words, you really have no part in it. You are not a Christian. Unless you love the brothers and sisters, you cannot possibly have been born again. Unless you overcome the worldliness around you, your life shows you have never experienced the new birth” (see 1 John 2:29; 4:7; 5:4, 18).

The new birth signals more than a profession of faith; it signals transforming power.

For unless you are born again, you will not enter into this saving, transforming kingdom of God,

Why Jesus Could Speak about Being Born Again (John 3:11–13) What gave Jesus the authority to speak like that? 11Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. John 3:11–13

make. You look at my provision, and you live.” That is the entire account.

If people are healed, if people gain eternal life, it is going to be the result of his sovereign grace: there is no other way.

On his cross Jesus provided the means by which we have new birth. By his death we have life.

in the very text where Jesus says, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged,” he goes on to say just five verses later, “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs” (Matt. 7:6), which means that somebody has to figure out who the swine are.

if people think “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” means that Jesus is abolishing all morality and leaving all such questions up to the individual, they have not even begun to understand who Jesus is.

we must be careful not to make silly mistakes as we read the biblical text by taking one verse out of its context, universalizing it, and remaining blind to the wonderful diversity of ways in which the Bible speaks of God’s love.

16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20All those who do evil hate the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21But those who live by the truth come into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

scintillating

First, what did giving Jesus cost the Father?

You who are parents, would you gladly give your child so that others might be spared death?

But God the Father gives his Son over to death for the benefit of mere creatures, ungrateful and sel...

Second, what love does Jesus h...

The measure of God’s love for ...

watch ...

Even when he is denouncing people for their sins, sometimes in very strong language (he actually says to some people, “You hypocrites! You blind guides! You snakes! You brood of vipers!” in Matt. 23:15–16, 33), at the end of his denunciation you find him weeping over the city.

the Master’s love is not only profound but pointed and shaped to address personal needs most accurately.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28–30, emphasis added).

“rested”

to ...

the ultimate rest is secured...

This rest that God provides is a function of God’s lo...

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I cant believe Carson even wasted his energy reading Spong

PROPITIATION “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith” (3:25, emphasis added). Or as the ESV rightly has it, God presented Christ “as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith” (emphasis added). Now what does that mean? We need to pause for a moment and work through this word “propitiation” or “sacrifice of atonement.” Propitiation is that sacrificial act by which God becomes propitious, which doesn’t tell you very much, does it? “Propitious” simply means favorable: to say that propitiation is an act by which God becomes propitious is to say it is an act by which God becomes favorable to us. He is set over against us in wrath, but now by this sacrificial act he becomes favorable to us. That is propitiation.

God presented Christ as a propitiating sacrifice. So does that mean that God, presenting Christ as a propitiating sacrifice, propitiates God? How can God offer a sacrifice that propitiates himself?

transcendentalize

Paraclete. It means someone who comes alongside and helps in a variety of ways.

in Paul’s letters, the Holy Spirit is sometimes called—this is stunning—the down payment or the deposit of the promised inheritance (see 2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5; Eph. 1:14).

down payment or deposit of that inheritance,