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While listening to Mark Driscoll on my Ipod this evening I was deeply moved by how he related predestination to a story about his daughter being almost hit by a car. The story went something like this, apologies to Mr. Driscoll in advance if don’t get it exactly right.
Marks daughter was about two years old and they lived by a very busy street and while they where outside getting into their car his daughter bolted in the direction of the busy street but was quickly caught by her mother and father who loving warned their young daughter that the street was full of fast moving cars and very dangerous. They told her that if she ran into the street again should would be hit by a car and die. Sometime later when Mark was outside with his young daughter she looked him square in the eyes and then turned and ran directly for the street! Mark pleaded with her to stop, but she just ran faster. What Marks daughter didn’t see and what Mark could see because of his adult scope of vision was that a large truck was barreling down the street at 45mph. At any moment the young child would be killed unless Mark intervened on her will and stopped her in her tracks. And he did! Just in time Mark pulled his daughter from the path of the truck with his strong arms. Mark didn’t ask if he could rescue her first and then wait for a positive response. He rescued her in spite of her rebellion!
I know that stories like this are imperfect when trying to describe things as great as the love of God, but bare with me just of moment. For anyone that has children this question will hit home the hardest. If you had a child who was in open rebellion and you knew for certain that if they persisted on their current path they would be killed. To what lengths would you go to stop them? Would you be willing, if it where in your power to change their desires so that they would, instead of running away from you, leading certain death, turn and run to you and thereby be saved? Would you give them a new heart so that they could obey and be saved, if it where in your power?
This is what God has done to you if you are a Christian. Jesus died to fulfill the new covenant with his blood so that we would have new hearts given us through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus pursued us in our rebellion and grabbed us from the clutches of the destruction that we so greatly wanted. Some might call this a violation of our free will, I call it Mercy, I call it Grace, I call it The Sovereign Love of God.
Follow this link to hear Mark Driscoll’s sermon on Predestination. Probably one of the most powerful I have ever heard.
To delight in the good of all the universe, but not to delight in God, is like being glad that a candle is lit, but being indifferent to the rising sun. Apart from embracing God as our chief delight, we are (quite literally) infinitely parochial. - John Piper
This is . . . the difference between the joy of the hypocrite, and the joy of the true saint. The [hypocrite] rejoices in himself; self is the first foundation of his joy: the [true saint] rejoices in God. . . . True saints have their minds, in the first place, inexpressibly pleased and delighted with the sweet ideas of the glorious and amiable nature of the things of God. And this is the spring of all their delights, and the cream of all their pleasures. . . . But the dependence of the affections of hypocrites is in a contrary order: they first rejoice. . . that they are made so much of by God; and then on that ground, he seems in a sort, lovely to them. - Jonathan Edwards
These quotes where taken from the following article at Desiring God. Very much worth the read.
An amazing testimony to the power and love of our sovereign God. You can find more info about their testimony here.
Amazing YouTube vid from Mars Hill Church in Seattle.
The Mars Hill YouTube channel can be found here.
Two powerful presentations of the Gospel message. The first, by John Piper can be found here. And the second, by Mark Driscoll can be found here. I pray I never grow tired of hearing the gospel message.
You never, never, never outgrow your need for it. Don’t ever think of the gospel as, “That’s the way you get saved, and then you get strong by leaving it and doing something else.”
No! We are strengthened by God through the gospel every day, till the day we drop.
You never outgrow the need to preach to yourself the gospel. - John Piper
Desiring God has an excellent article by Dr. John Piper on Signs and Wonders that is very much worth your time. If you believe as I do that these are for today you will be encouraged, if not, you will be challenged by Dr. Piper’s highly biblical treatment on the subject.
For the article click here.
What is the pre-eminent passion in God’s heart? What is God’s greatest pleasure? In what does God take supreme delight? I want to suggest that the pre-eminent passion in God’s heart is his own glory. God is at the center of his own affections. The supreme love of God’s life is God. God is pre-eminently committed to the fame of his name. God is himself the end for which God created the world. Better, still, God’s immediate goal in all he does is his own glory. God relentlessly and unceasingly creates, rules, orders, directs, speaks, judges, saves, destroys and delivers in order to make known who He is and to secure from the whole of the universe the praise, honor and glory of which He and He alone is ultimately and infinitely worthy. - Sam Storms
You can find the full text this quote was taken from here.
A great post on why we get stuck in sin. We must have our hearts and minds transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit through the message of the gospel. Until that happens we will be stuck in the endless suicidal spiral of idol worship. I have heard John Piper say many times. Sin gets its power by a promise to make us happier than God can. All sin has at its root unbelief.
http://purplecellar.blogspot.com/2007/04/why-we-get-stuck-in-sin.html
I have recently discovered a couple of excellent sites that I would like to share.
The first one is www.echoprayer.com A great tool to help you pray more diligently. You create a prayer list, set times for reminders and they are then emailed or sent via sms message at the time you specify. I’ve used it for about three weeks and highly recommend it.
The second is www.juststopandthink.com A wonderful 15 minute film that might just change your life. The Gospel message presented with clarity and passion.
If you are like me and tend to be enamored with the latest batch of electronic coolness please ponder this article by John Piper titled “How to be Spiritually Minded“. After reading this I thought hard about the amount of energy I expend thinking about things that don’t exalt Christ.
Desiring God has just released a very impressive major update to their website. 25 years of John Piper’s sermons are available for viewing and download. A wonderful God exalting organization.
From all eternity the ever-existing, never-becoming, always-perfect God has known himself and loved what he knows. He has eternally seen his beauty and savored what he sees. His understanding of his own reality is flawless and his exuberance in enjoying it is infinite. He has no needs, for he has no imperfections. He has no inclinations to evil because he has no deficiencies that could tempt him to do wrong. He is therefore the holiest and happiest being that is or that can be conceived. We cannot conceive of a happiness greater than the happiness of infinite power delighting infinitely in infinite beauty in the personal fellowship of the Trinity.- John Piper
For the full sermon text this quote was taken from visit this link.
I came across this while reading an article by John Piper today.
"What happened in the fall of man at Adam and Eve's sin was that they believed the lie that they would be wiser and better off if they did what they felt like instead of what God said. Since then, our hearts and our minds have been not just prone to make bad decisions but are deeply depraved. Sin is a condition of our hearts that produces all kinds of preferences that are contrary to God. Sin is like Satan offering you a beautiful ebony broach that you put around your neck. Conversion is God making the light go on and you see it's a roach. The devil had put a thread through an ugly, dirty, black, horrible roach and it's hanging around your neck and now you grab it and say, "Aah! Get that out of here!" As God awakens our spiritual taste buds, then we find sin to be distasteful and righteousness to be our delight. " - John Piper
To read the article that this quote was taken from visit this link. I highly recommend the article.
