Logos Bible Giveaway!

Logos Bible Software is celebrating the launch of their new online Bible by giving away 72 ultra-premium print Bibles at a rate of 12 per month for six months. The Bible giveaway is being held at Bible.Logos.com and you can get up to five different entries each month! After you enter, be sure to check out Logos and see how it can revolutionize your Bible study.

Logos Bible Giveaway!

Who wouldn’t try to get a free Bible?

Logos Bible Software is celebrating the launch of their new online Bible by giving away 72 ultra-premium print Bibles at a rate of 12 per month for six months. The Bible giveaway is being held at Bible.Logos.com and you can get up to five different entries each month! After you enter, be sure to check out Logos and see how it can revolutionize your Bible study.

If “free will” as people think of it does not exist, then…?

John Piper discusses concisely, Scripturally, and intellectually the issue of man’s free will in his recent blog post.  Assuming you understand his conclusion, I thought that this ending argument was profound and powerful:

One common objection is that, if we “cannot” do what is right, and “can only” do what is sin, then we are not acting voluntarily and cannot be praised or blamed.

Here is part of John Calvin’s answer to this objection:

The goodness of God is so connected with his Godhead that it is not more necessary to be God than to be good; whereas the devil, by his fall, was so estranged from goodness that he can do nothing but evil.

Should anyone give utterance to the profane jeer that little praise is due to God for a goodness to which he is forced, is it not obvious to every man to reply, “It is owing not to violent impulse, but to his boundless goodness, that he cannot do evil?”

Therefore, if the free will of God in doing good is not impeded, because he necessarily must do good; if the devil, who can do nothing but evil, nevertheless sins voluntarily; can it be said that man sins less voluntarily because he is under a necessity of sinning? (Institutes, II.3.5)

What an excellent illustration Calvin provides to answer such a frequent objection!

The Christian’s fear of God

Living a life of obedience to God is directly related to living a life of fearing God (Deut 6:2, Eccles 12:13, Neh.5:9, Prov 23:17).  Piper further comments on this in his book, Future Grace, on pg. 35:

And even these expressions about fearing the Lord are probably the flip side of trusting the Lord’s future grace.  In other words, “fear the Lord” means “fear the terrible insult it would be to God if you do not trust his gracious promises of power and wisdom on your behalf.”  That’s probably why Psalm 115:11 says, “You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord; He is their help and their shield.”  In other words, if fear is not mingled with trust it will not be pleasing to the Lord.  ”Without faith it is impossible to please [God]” (Hebrews 11:6).  The obedience that comes from fearing God without faith in his future grace will not be free, but servile.

After highlighting the examples of trust and fear resulting from David’s song (Ps 40:3) and the belief and fear that resulted from the Israelites witnessing God’s power against the Egyptians (Exod 14:31), Piper closes with these thoughts:

Fear and faith happen together in response to God’s mighty power and his promise of future grace.  To fear the Lord is to tremble at the awareness of what a terrible insult it is to a holy God if we do not have faith in his future grace after all the signs and wonders he has performed to win our obedient trust.  It’s this faith in future grace that channels the power of God into obedience (pg. 36).

Suppose God promised you these following things:

     Mercy (Lk 1:50)
     Favor (Ps 147:11)
     Blessing (Ps 115:13)
     Compassion (Ps 103:13)
     Salvation (Ps 85:9)
     Lovingkindness (Ps 103:11)
     Inheritance (Ps 61:5)
     Angelic protection (Ps 34:7)
     Goodness (Ps 31:19)
     Watch-care (Ps 33:18)
     Fulfillment of your desires (Ps 145:19)

Do you want them?  All of these are promised for the one who fears God.  The point is simple and straightforward.  If you refuse to fear God, then you are refusing the multitude of promises that God has made to you, promises that are meant to drive you closer and closer to Him, rather than the opposite.

What I want to be true about me!

Flipping through the pages of my first paperback friend, I found this section of writing from John Piper’s Future Grace boxed:

Henry Boardman wrote [about Charles Hodge], “Christ was not only the ground of his hope, but the acknowledged sovereign of his intellect, the soul of his theology, the unfailing spring of his joy, the one all-pervading, all-glorifying theme and end of his life.” (pg. 199)

What glorious words!  Next to this I wrote: “What I want to be [true] about me!”  Yes, my soul still echoes the same wish that I did two years ago when my eyes first fell upon such wondrous words.